Of course, you still have to bring people into the town. You have to offer services and products that people want to buy. You need to create a brand so that visitors know what they’re getting when they pass through, then persuade them to stick around because they like it. That’s work, but it’s work that’s available to anyone willing to do it.
The Internet provides all the opportunity that anyone could wish for and makes it available at a price that’s incredibly low. When you can create an ad-supported web site, in minutes, for free, you won’t be able to find an opportunity with lower entry requirements—or higher potential.
In this book, I’ve described the most important models that I’ve used to build my seven-figure Internet business.
I started by pointing out the size of the Internet’s opportunity. That you no longer need to be a geek, a programmer, or even possess any technical knowledge at all to become an Internet publisher means that the Internet’s opportunities are now available to anyone. That’s an incredible thing.
I then talked about what you will need to be a success online: You’ll need to be you. I explained how everyone has unique knowledge, and why that unique knowledge (whether it comes from the workplace or from the things you love to do in your spare time) has value. The Internet lets you cash in on that value.
Usually that’s done by creating content, and in Chapter 3, I discussed seven types of content that you can create and almost a dozen different ways of monetizing that content through advertising.
Web content is free; information products cost money, often lots of money. The source of the information is the same. You’re still telling people what you know about your job or your hobby, but you’re doing it in more detail than a web site allows... and charging a price much closer to the true value of that knowledge. Nor is it particularly difficult to create, sell, and deliver those products. You can even buy a shopping cart off the shelf these days.
When you sell your information products, you’ll be relying on affiliates, independent resellers who earn a commission for every sale. That’s an opportunity that you can take up as well. Much though depends on the connection that you manage to build with your audience. Whenever you’re selling online, you have to guide your market through a four-step sales process that takes leads from knowing you and liking you to trusting you and paying you. That’s particularly true of affiliate products, which work best when the links are delivered in the text as part of a personal recommendation.
Affiliate sales have to be made again and again. Subscription fees to membership sites are renewed automatically, provided you can deliver services and products of high enough quality to attract subscribers and keep them on board. In Chapter 6, I revealed the ingredients of a successful membership site and explained how you can build one.
Finally, when your brand is strong enough and your community’s trust in you is deep enough, you can even offer personal coaching, a wonderfully rewarding way to sell your knowledge and help people achieve their dreams.
Over the years, as Internet marketing has grown and matured, it’s developed ready-made systems that anyone can use and profit from. It’s not a cash register; it’s a cash machine, one that’s free for anyone to own and master.
It might not make the kind of KaChing sound you could once hear in stores across the country, but it is a business, and you can operate it.
As a thank-you to readers of this book, I am making a one-of-a-kind KaChing Button available to you for free! Just like the button pictured on the cover, this green button with the dollar sign makes the KaChing sound when pushed. I ask only that you include a nominal fee to cover the shipping and handling of your button.
To get your own KaChing Button now, visit www.KaChingButton.com/get/.
May you create an online business that pays and pays, with more than enough KaChing to go around.
Index
A
actions
ads. See also Chitika Premium ads
AdsDaq
AdSense simple creator of
banner
Chitika premium
Commission Junction
different approaches of
fees for
Kontera
LinkAdage
losing money on
Microsoft ContentAds
Morning Falls
revenues from
subject value of
targeting
units
VideoEgg
YPN
AdsDaq
AdSense
basics of
blending into page
Chitika ads alternate of
for content
different forms of
for domains
e-book
for feeds
format choices of
from Google
keywords
for mobile gadgets
program
reliable revenue source from
for search
seasonal ads of
simple ad creator program of
for TV/video/games
units/web site using
vertical units in
Yahoo! Publisher Network not compatible with
The AdSense Code
AdSense-Secrets.com
AdSense-Secrets.com/Kontera
ad-supported web sites
Adtegrity
advertising
affiliate
channels of
new FTC guidelines for
subject values and
traffic/prices of
AdWords
affiliate(s)
ad units placement influencing
advertising
Amazon’s system of
commissions of
DigsDigs.com and
earning/selling as
e-mail marketing of
as entrepreneurs
as independent business owners
links
making the most of
merchant choosing of
money making as
networks of
product/merchant choosing of
recommendations of
successful strategies for
-supported post
-supported sites
trust and
affiliate management systems
affiliate programs
Amazon’s two different
web sites and
affiliate selling
affiliate connections in
commissions in
e-mails in
FTC guidelines influence on
product delivery in
product recommendations in
recruiting publishers for
Affiliate Summit
Amazon
affiliate programs of
affiliate system of
text links recommendations and
AppCraver.com
Apple
AppleInsider.com
The Apprentice
Articulate.com
ask.joelcomm.com
AsktheBuilder.com
authors, established
automated online systems
AWeber.com
B
banner ads
Barefoot Executive
Barnes & Noble
behavior compliance
belief
big name companies
Blogger web site
blogs
comments on
micro-niches marketing of
simplicity benefit of
web sites of
Bloom, Levi
BloomBikeShop.com
books
Kindle
rejection and
Borders
bounce rates
branding
broadcasting in
elements in
identifying
identity and
smart buying decisions from
Twitter assisting
two steps in
Branson, Richard
Brin, Sergey
Brown, Dan
Bryxen Software
Business Week
buying decisions
C
Callen, Brad
Canada
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003,
Carter, Tim
cash registers
ClickBank and
Google handling
invention of
channels
for money making
performance tracked with
as tracking tools
Chitika Premium ads
AdSense alternate for
blending into page
countries not seeing
high click-through rates of
implementation of
location of
pictures/highlighting used in
search engine results and
users weren’t buying from
classes/lectures, recording
ClickBank.com
click-through rate
CNN
coaching
event organization
high-end
information delivered through
in-person
low-end
marketing
money making from
products for
telephone
trust in
Collins, Shawn
comments
blogs with
encouraging
Commission Junction
commissions
community
building
holding together
sites
web sites building
competition
computer games
computer knowledge
consulting services
content
AdSense for
compliance
exclusive
ghost/guest writers for
how-to articles as
interview posts as
list posts as
management systems
membership sites high quality
money making
money making types of
multimedia
news articles as
online business creation of
opinion articles as
review articles as
structure of
video
web sites layout and
writing
your voice/personality in
“content is king,”
content sites
Origami blog as
ReadWriteWeb.com as
TravelsWithSheila.com as
ContentAds, Microsoft
contextualization engine, of YPN
conversion rate
copyright
copywriters
Cosmopolitan
cost-per-action (CPA)
cost-per-click (CPC)
cost-per-engagement network (CPE)
cost-per-mille (CPM)
cost-per-thousand impressions
court cases
CPA. See cost-per-action
CPC. See cost-per-click
CPE. See cost-per-engagement network
CPM. See cost-per-mille
CreateSpace.com
D
Dallas Fort Worth Software Review
dating sites
DealofDay.com
Digg.com
Digital Photography School
DigsDigs.com
direct mail marketing
Direct Marketing Association (DMA)
DMA. See Direct Marketing Association
domain(s)
AdSense
names
public
Dorsey, Jack
double opt-in
dreams
Dreamstime.com
Drupal
DVD fulfillment companies
dynamic conversion
E
e-books
AdSense
formatting/size of
launch strategy of
length of
maximum length
