Gradually I began making some noticeable money from my sites. Luckily, I didn’t have to survive on just that income, but it was a welcome addition to our little publishing company and my half-time job as a librarian.

I remember the thrill when I made $800 in one month after making much less up till then. Unfortunately, that didn’t last as I was using some software which the search engines soon noticed wasn’t really adding anything to the internet. Those sites fell way down in the search engine rankings, and my income plummeted.

But by then I had the bug. I was going to be an internet marketer, no matter what it took. I’ve read that only a tiny percentage of people who try to make money online actually succeed. I was getting stubborn and determined. Now I am not in any way a salesperson, but as a librarian — and, tra la, I was soon able to quit my job and be a former librarian, with more time to write — I do know how to evaluate quality in books. And that is where my best successes have come, from pages where I review books, ebooks, or DVDs, no sugar coating but real plus-and-minus reviews. I’ve also reviewed or recommended other products at times, when they were pertinent to my sites.

Probably the single most popular page on all my websites is one that gives really clear basic directions for how to do a particular task, with a couple of recommendations at the end of the page for further information. (I’m not saying what. You’ll notice if you surf internet marketing sites and forums, that people are often reluctant to tell you exactly where they have made money, for fear of the copy-cat effect.)

My husband got into writing websites as well. He is an expert on natural home building methods and his websites on the topic now gets thousands of visitors a day from all over the world. He spends hours most days helping people for no pay, but his site does have a lot of links to books he recommends, mostly at Amazon, and that’s where much of his affiliate income comes from.

We’re watching our internet income creep up gradually. Last year, it seemed our average affiliate income was about $1200 a month. Okay, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme as we do it, but there is something awfully pleasant about being able to rely on money coming in when the work you did for it was in the past and you are free to work on new projects — or go on vacation.

A couple of months ago, things jumped up for us. I launched a new site which took off, and Kelly tried something different with one of his sites. We set a record by making $1800 one month. The next month, it was $2200. Now we know about the economy tanking, but you wouldn’t tell it from our websites. In the past week, I’ve had four days in which I earned over $100 a day from affiliate income.

And so it goes. I learn more and try new things. Some work, some don’t. The key is to keep doing things, keep writing, keep learning.

You may be discouraged by reading this article… she’s been at this for years and isn’t making all that much! Keep in mind that I’ve never worked full time at this (well, except for short spurts) and that I’m more passionate about communicating my ideas than about monetizing my sites. I am frankly thrilled that my writings are read by hundreds of people a day on each of my main sites. My ideas on dog training (give me Ian Dunbar instead of Cesar Millan any day), on how to learn languages, on living abroad, on the science fiction of my father Cordwainer Smith, and more, are reaching people. That’s worth a lot to me.

Back in my llama ranch days, I wrote a book called “Llamas for Love and Money.” Notice the “and.” I don’t have llamas any more, but nowadays my theme is Internet marketing for love and money.

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Rosana Hart’s websites include www.training-dogs.com and www.mexico-with-heart.com.

My nickname is The Go-To Guy! and I’ve got a pretty wide ranging background. I got my first computer back in the mid-1980′s – a Commodore 64. In addition to playing video games, I taught myself a little programming. Later I went to college and studied filmmaking and animation. I mortgaged my soul to purchase an Amiga 2000 computer that I used to create 3D graphics and animation.

Between film school and my current career producing corporate videos, independent films, and websites, I spent 3 ½ years working on an automotive assembly line building cars (Mom was so proud of how I put my college degree to good use!)

I got a late start with the whole Internet business. I didn’t actually get online for the first time until mid-1996, but I started learning HTML right away and building web pages for practice. It was a few years before I built my first complete stand-alone website for a non-profit group in New York and another 2 years before I started building sites of my own. These were some pretty awful sites, too!

I’m completely self taught when it comes to web design and web programming. I’ve learned a lot and can handle many technical and design tasks on my own. But, I’m not an expert in any one thing. I rely heavily on websites like www.W3Schools.com for tutorials and quick reference when I’m working on a project.

One thing that should be glaringly obvious from this little biography is that I have absolutely no formal background or training in marketing – online or off. I’m a storyteller with a touch of geek mixed in.

Until a few years ago I expected that the Internet business I was dreaming about would involve hiring myself out to design and build websites or create online videos for clients. In short, trading hours for dollars. Not much different to what I was already doing. But, deep down I knew I didn’t want that and started searching for another way to make money online.

What I’m trying to say with all this is that I know a lot about the practical side of the Internet, but I’m still learning when it comes to marketing and promotion – I’m no marketing guru!

My Internet Marketing History

My personal Internet marketing story can be traced back to a blog entry I read back in December of 2005. Professional blogger Yaro Starak had written about how you could make money creating niche content websites with Adsense ads on them. Adsense sites were the hot idea being promoted back then.

I had been toying with the idea of creating some sort of Internet based business for several years, but hadn’t figured out how to get started. Yaro’s article laid out a logical approach that seemed attainable. So, with no market analysis or research I ran out and bought a couple domain names and started experimenting. This was not a wise approach to business.

At the same time I set up a blog and wrote about my Internet marketing experiments and anything else I felt like writing about. This turned out to be my first wise move.

My Unremarkable Early Results

After one year of researching and experimenting with my niche sites, I had earned less than $30 from all my efforts and spent at least $250 on hosting fees, domain registrations, and some lame (and expensive) attempts at Pay Per Click advertising (back then, Google Arbitrage was still a popular idea.) I was not a raging success in the world of marketing. I was all over the map trying every idea I found that seemed to make sense. I was never tempted to try Spamming or auto-generated websites, but I tried a lot of fad ideas.

As depressing as my initial results were, those experiments were not wasted. Every one of them was an investment in my education. I learned a huge number of valuable Internet skills which became foundational to my later success.

I learned about:

• Effective web design
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Ad optimization
• How to set up a WordPress site
• How to set up an automated system for selling and delivering digital products
• Keyword research
• Much, much more

I also discovered that the blog I created to document my experiments (and also to write about other projects I was doing) was far more popular than any of the niche sites I had created. Owning a well ranked website with good traffic is very useful for promoting new projects for yourself and others.

My Run-In With a Real Mentor

Along the way I had also found a number of excellent e-books on various aspects of Internet marketing. I had to wade through a lot of junk to find the gems, but I found them. The pivotal book for me was “5 Bucks a Day“, by Dennis Becker. I discovered it during a special offer sale he was running at the Warrior Forum (the 800 pound gorilla of Internet Marketing Forums.)

I had been learning dozens of business plans that all seemed like legitimate methods for earning money online, but I hadn’t focused on any one thing long enough to get real traction in my business. Dennis’ book is all about focus and breaking down your efforts into small manageable projects designed to earn a little profit consistently. Over time, you build a portfolio of profitable projects that adds up to significant income.

My newfound focus wasn’t the only benefit I got from Dennis’ e-book. He also started a membership forum for all of the people who bought “5 Bucks a Day.” And, it was there that I experienced the first of many $100 paychecks.

As a member of the forum I got very active helping other members and sharing my personal experiences in the world of marketing. All of the knowledge and skills I had acquired became the foundation for helping others.

On the forum I answered questions about adding video to websites and how to record better audio. I jumped in with tips for people building WordPress sites. And, I offered detailed reviews of new e-books and software I purchased.

The forum also gave me a chance to interact with Dennis on a regular basis. He provided a lot of encouragement and delivered a steady stream of valuable resources to members of his forums (that continues to this day.)

All the energy I put into giving valuable information to fellow forum members paid off in the excellent reputation I was earning. I became a respected member of the community and even struck up a few friendships.

Forum Marketing In Action

I continued seeking out new information about Internet marketing beyond the e-books, audios, videos, and software that Dennis provided in the forum. One e-book I came across was “Niche Marketing on Crack,” written by Andrew Hansen. The night I bought that book, I devoured it, and jumped on the forum to offer up my opinion of the content.

Dennis is very generous toward the members of his forums. If you provide valuable information in a review and include a non-affiliate link to the sales page, he doesn’t have any problems with members including an affiliate link as well. I included an affiliate link in my review of “Niche Marketing on Crack.”

Over the next several days I answered many questions about the e-book. Fellow members asked about the specific techniques covered in the book to determine if they already possessed the key skills discussed. They told me what they were trying to accomplish with their business and asked whether I though the book would help.

Some people I encouraged to buy the book and I recommended that others look elsewhere for the information they needed. As with any product, it was not right for everyone.

As a result of the helpful information I provided and the good reputation I had built up, the majority of the forum members who decided to buy the e-book used my affiliate link.

My First Real Internet Marketing Payday

In the month of February 2007, that one product review earned me $206.80 US in commissions in the first 48 hours after I wrote it. Over the next 4 months I earned an additional $129.25 US from that same review. That was my first real taste of marketing success.

For a guy who hadn’t earned a fraction of that amount for all of the work he had done over the previous year, the experience was an adrenaline rush – I was really hooked.

A short while later, Dennis opened another membership forum called “Earn 1K a Day.” I joined in a heartbeat and put the same kind of energy I had spent at the “5 Bucks a Day” forum into this new venture. It was the foundation for my biggest success to date, my “Rapid Website Development” video training series which has generated more than 10 times that first success before it has even had a public launch.

Where I Stand Today

Due to the increased focus on specific aspects of my business, even some of those initial bumbling efforts at marketing have begun to generate small but steady profits and have opened up new opportunities. My Internet Marketing Insights blog is an offshoot of the work I did on my first blog. It was started with a collection of my marketing and business articles from the old blog as the initial content.

Of course, I also continue to invest in my business education to help push me to the point where my publishing business generates enough revenue to support my family. In the past year I invested in a copy of John Reese’s “Traffic Secrets” course, Mike Filsaime’s “7 Figure Code“, and (most recently) Frank Kern’s “Mass Control” course.

The most satisfying aspect of all of this is the fact that I’m funding the growth of my business and my ongoing education with revenue from my business and not credit cards and income from my ‘day job!’ (Okay, technically I did charge Frank’s “Mass Control” course on a credit card before I had the money, but I’m hard at work finishing up 2 projects which should earn me all of the money I need to pay that one off – and what I’ve learned is definitely worth the effort.)

I made my first dollars online back in 2005. I still remember it. It was one of the best feeling’s I’ve had to date. Once you see that first bit of money trickle into your account, it makes you realize “I can actually do this!”

I made my first dollars by promoting an affiliate product through a viral report. I made about $50 in total for about three hours work. Not much, I know. But it showed me it can be done. And the thing is, I did EVERYTHING wrong.

Here’s a quick overview of the process:

1) Find a product to promote. I’ll use an example of a rebounder. You know, those little trampolines that people use to lose weight? Sign up with the affiliate programme and get your links to promote a few rebounders.

2) Write a report promoting the product but still providing decent information. So, for this report I would write about how to use rebounders to lose weight. The report only needs to be about five pages and throughout I would scatter my affiliate links for the rebounders.

3) Distribute as many copies of this report as you can (without using underhand tactics or SPAM).

Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

When I did it first time, I got it all wrong. I wrote in the IM niche (when I hadn’t made any money myself), the report was very poor quality, I promoted a completely unrelated product and I used underhand tactics to promote… BUT, I STILL made money!

Do you see how easy this method can be?

I recommend promoting physical products for this method. For example, you could write a report about how to take the perfect photograph and then at the end recommend the best digital camera for photography. Another great report would be a ‘review’ report. You could review the top 10 best digital cameras, or the top 10 golf clubs. The people who download this report are already interested to buy and it’s likely they’ll buy THROUGH you and you get the affiliate commission.

This is an easy way to make money online. It’s by no means a long term method. But, if you want a few bucks, give it a go!

James Penn is an experienced niche marketer who has developed and profitably marketed a library of niche info products and reports. To discover how to create an insane passive income online by creating tiny reports, visit http://www.shortreportprofits.com

James also runs a blog which details his trials and tribulations of being an internet marketer. He posts his tips, tricks, techniques and secrets that will help YOU to make money. Visit his blog at http://www.teenagemarketer.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_A._Penn
http://EzineArticles.com/?Heres-How-I-Made-My-First-Dollars-Online&id=1300458

Everyone wants them, but very few really know how it is done. Unique, targeted visitors to your website are worth their weight in gold, but you have to get them to your website first! If you are looking for a way to snag a few ready-to-buy visitors to your website, it can be done and it is much easier than you might have expected. Discover my formula for getting unique visitors to your websites, no matter how hopeless you are feeling you think it may be to do this.

Here is my story. Like everyone else I struggled for years to get enough unique visitors to my website in order to earn a few dollars. It was frustrating, to say the least. I tried everything, including buying traffic from so-called traffic brokers. I hate to admit it, but I am sure now that all I did was wasted my money.

Anyway, about a year ago, I created my first squidoo lens. I am still not sure why I created it, except that it was a nice challenge to actually build the page and to see if I could get people to look at it and leave comments. Then it happened! Almost by accident I started getting people to not just come by and look at my lens, but they were buying the affiliate product I was selling. In fact, they were going for the upsell version of the product which earned me a commission of $50.00 instead of the basic one which only paid $35.00.

Now, I said it happened almost by accident but that is not quite true. What is true is that I did not know why it was happening at the time. One thing is sure however, I had stumbled upon a formula that would not only bring me unique visitors, but those visitors were also targeted as well. So, I had the task of retracing my steps in order to piece together what I had done previously, and why it actually worked. It was hilarious! This is what happened.

First of all, my squidoo lens really helped me get visitors. Squidoo is what people refer to as a Web 2.0 type of website. It is interactive, easy to build, and most importantly, the search engines love squidoo. I believe it is much easier to get your squidoo webpage ranked on say, Google or Yahoo, than a regular website. But that is conjecture. I am certainly no expert on this.

Anyway, my squidoo lens really helped to bring in unique visitors from the seach engines. I know that to be a fact because I am able to track that information on a daily basis. The next thing I did, which really was the spark behind my success with this affiliate program, was the fact that I wrote and submitted articles to one of the most popular article directories online, EzineArticles.

This was a smasher! Of the forty plus articles I submitted to this directory, plus a number of others articles to the top 6 directories on the web, approximately 10 articles had links coming back to this specific squidoo lens. The last time I checked, I had over 203 links from 91 unique domains coming into my lens, and it is not even ranked in the top 100 of its category. If you have a squidoo lens, you can easily check this information by going to the free website squidutils.com, and looking for backlinks checker.

Looking back, I can state without much fear of contradiction, that my success with this affiliate program which allowed me to sell over 15 of these memberships, was a direct result of sending out quality articles that pointed back to my squidoo lens. Every article was personally written and unique. I also focused on two types of keywords; those that had the name of the product, and those that had very little competition. To lure unique visitors to your website, you just have to have quality content that they want to see, based on their needs. You can only gauge their needs by the keywords that you use.

But everything has a cycle, so sales are not as robust as they were before. Nevertheless, the principle of using unique content to send targeted, unique visitors to your website still remains effective. I am convinced that this is a proven formula for success on the Internet. but most importantly, it is free for anyone to use.

Anthony Chambers is an expert writer and marketer with an eye for the unusual marketing strategies that bring results. Are you struggling to find unique visitors to your website? Check out his free tools at: Get Unique Visitors Here.

Discover new ideas weekly at: Anthony’s Business Idea Blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anthony_Chambers
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-I-Earned-$740-and-Created-203-Back-Links-From-Unique-Visitors&id=1390649

ShareYourIMStory.com is a website devoted to bringing together the stories of regular folks who have discovered how to earn meaningful income through Internet marketing. Instead of the hype-filled tales of overnight millions that flood the Internet, we capture the story of that first baby step toward success — earning $100 — that inspires each entrepreneur to press on and set to work building the businesses which will one day be able to brag of bigger success.

If you want to share your story, simple visit the story submission page. Fill out the form and enter your story in the space provided. Once your story is received, it will be reviewed by an editor before being published to the site. If any revisions are required, you will be notified.

As exciting as it is to share your story and inspire others, there is more benefit to you as an author when your story is published. We allow story relevant links (no affiliate links please) within your articles to point readers to the websites and products you created or forum posts you wrote as part of the work that earned you that first $100. You will also be allowed one link to any website you wish to promote in the author listing at the end of your article.

These links will provide valuable links back to your websites that will improve your search engine rankings and direct visitors to you sites as well. As the reputation of this site grows, so with the value of these links.

So, don’t wait. Share your story today!

Andrew Seltz
Founder, ShareYourIMStory.com