Everything you see on this page was free. That's right, it didn't cost me a dime. Not the software used to create this website, not the template, not all of the whistles and bells, nor the stories and information you see here. Not even my host server, Blogger. They were all free. Plus it all helps make money for me! Yes, you read correctly. This page earns real dollars generated by a neverending stream of visitors like you. I get paid by such Internet giants as Google and Amazon.com regardless. And, once this blog was up and running, I put it on "auto-pilot" and let it work on its own while I kick back and collect checks each month. I check in once in a while to see if everything is okay, but that's about it. So how did I do it and how does it all work you ask? It's actually very simple, really. There's no mystery here, no insider secrets. If you've got a desktop or laptop computer and are hooked up to the Internet, you can do the same. Anywhere from a few dollars a day to hundreds of dollars! And there's no catch. You don't need to buy a book, CD, special software, or subscribe to anything! Don't waste your money with those other guys. It costs absolutely nothing for you to get started making money by owning your own blog or website. All it takes is some know-how and time.
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Your clicks make me money!
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There's no mystery or secret involved. Here I'll show you step-by-step examples of
how to set up your own blog or website and start earning an income of your own. I'll
try to keep it simple (because it really is). Virtually every website you visit these days
has those Google sponsored ads or links somewhere on the page. That's because
the owners of those websites are earning commissions from Google for any visitors
they send their way. And Google isn't the only player on the scene. There are similar
services like Kanoodle's BrightAds, Clicksor and Amazon.com. And soon Yahoo!
will join them. I've highlighted just a few examples on this page. Just look for this:
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This makes
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These are accompanied by brief explanations of how they generate income. This site
is chock full of such opportunities. The beauty is that it didn't cost me a dime to set up
an account with Google or Amazon.com. And that also applies to most of the others
I've mentioned. Just follow these simple instructions:
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Make money online in 10 easy steps!
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#1 Create a blog or website
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First, you must have a website of your own. There are dozens of free web hosting
services, but with most there's a catch -- in exchange for the so-called "free" service
they will want to place ads on your pages. Unfortunately, you do not get paid for the
privilege. Why should they reap all the dividends?! That's why I highly recommend
Blogger (which happens to be owned by Google and is the one on which this site is
hosted). It's absolutely free with no gimmicks. Also, because it is a blog-based server
your site is more likely to be found by leading search engines and other bloggers
than a typical website. Approval is instant and Blogger's instructions are very easy to
follow and takes little time to set up. They also offer many attractive page templates
from which to choose. Click the icon below and bookmark it for future reference.
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#2 Free content for your site
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Once you've set up your blog or website, you need content. Choose a topic you'd like
to feature. It doesn't matter what it is so long as it draws visitors to your site. There are
countless resources available on the web that offer free content. Among my favorites
is FreeSticky.com. They feature links to everything from trivia, cartoons, comics,
news, entertainment, sports, and educational topics. Click the icon below and
bookmark it for future reference.
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#3 Free photo & image hosting
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Want to spruce up your blog or website a bit? Add some photos or image graphics to
give it a little more zest. But Blogger doesn't offer any method for storing them, you
say? No problem. There are numerous free photo and image-hosting services
available. Some are better than others when it comes to being user-friendly, ease of
uploading, and the amount of storage space they make available. The one I highly
recommend -- and that I use for this and other sites I publish -- is Photobucket. They
provide more than ample storage capacity for most people and it's extremely easy to
upload your digital photos and images. Click the icon below and bookmark it.
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#4 Google's Pay-Per-Click incentive
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Now that you've got your blog up and running it's time to starting earning some
money. Go to Google AdSense and set up an account. Google pays its webmaster
"associates" on a Pay-Per-Click basis, meaning that each time a visitor to your site
clicks a Google-sponsored link they get paid by the advertiser and in turn pay you a
percentage. It's basically a finder's fee. Google uses a sophisticated method of
delivering "contextual ads or links" to your site, meaning the links will generally relate
to your site's overall content. The more clicks your links receive, the more you earn.
It's free and there are absolutely no gimmicks. But you must first apply to become an
AdSense associate. It only takes a few minutes to apply. Be sure to carefully read
their policies and guidelines for acceptance. Google will not accept just any website
or blog. But if they do approve, you'll be notified within a few days and can get started.
Click the icon below and bookmark it for future reference.
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#5 Accept credit card payments
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You're almost done! Now that you've set up your blog and a Google AdSense account
you can start placing the ads on your site. If you have a product or service to offer for
sale on your site, or if you simply want to accept donations for what you believe is an
awesome blog or website, you'll need an easy method for visitors to pay you online by
credit card or direct deposit. The most popular and the safest method is through
PayPal. It's also the preferred method for eBay. Again, you'll need to set up a
merchant account with them. It's fast and approval is instantaneous. Click the icon
below and boomark it for future reference.
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#6 Get paid commissions
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Many blogs and websites feature books as "recommended reading." But in actual
fact, most of the links for the books you see will direct you to a bookseller, such as
Amazon.com. (I offer several such books and some software in the righthand column
of this page.) The website owner receives a commission for any visitor who may
purchase a book from Amazon.com simply for referring them via the link on their site.
You, too, can do the same. In addition to books (depending on the content of your
site), you can also sell other merchandise that Amazon.com has to offer, such as
DVDs, music, electronics, cameras, sporting goods and more. Again, like Google,
Amazon.com will review your site and application and site and notify you within a few
days if it's approved. Click the icon below and bookmark it.
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#7 Get listed by top search engines
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How do you lead a horse to water? In other words, how will you start drawing visitors
to your site? Well, you'll need to do some self-promotion. It will take some time before
people begin to discover your blog. The fastest way is to be listed on as many leading
search engines as possible, such as Google, Yahoo!, Lycos, Alta Vista, Dogpile,
Excite, etc. But, first and foremost , when you first create your blog on Blogger go to
"Settings" and then to "Basics" and select "Yes" where it asks "Add your Blog to our
listings?" After that, you need to submit your blog directly to the search engines. They
each have their own process for reviewing submitted sites and adding them to their
web "crawlers." This process is a little time-consuming and may take anywhere from
a few days to a month or more. But it's absolutely a must. You can submit your blog
directly to each of the ones I've mentioned, or have it submitted it for you through a
free service that I recommend, FastSubmit. I recommend doing both to assure
maximum exposure. Click the icon below and bookmark it.
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#8 Search engine optimization
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What is search engine optimization? This is a step many novices miss when setting
up a blog or website. Major search engines use a "web crawler" that seeks out
certain "keywords" and website descriptions in determining how to list a website or
blog and how high to rank it. The higher your ranking, the closer to the top of the
search results you'll end up. Correspondingly, visitors will find you much quicker.
Keywords are just that -- a list of specific words (anywhere from 10 to 20) that identify
the topics and content of your blog. So much thought should be given to choosing the
proper keywords and descriptions for your site and increasing its potential to achieve
a high ranking by the search engines. You must insert the proper keywords and
description into your Metatag (in the head of your HTML page template). Blogger
provides a method for adding descriptions to the Metatag, but it does not add
keywords. Therefore, you should substitute the Blogger-provided Metatag with one of
your own creation. But unless you're somewhat skilled at writing HTML codes, I
recommend using a Metatag Generator. Free Webmaster Tools.com offers one that
will create a custom Metatag for you. Click the icon below and bookmark it.
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#9 Track your visitor profiles
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Finally, you will want to keep track of the number of visitors to your site. And there are
many free visitor tracking services that are available. I'll recommend the one that I'm
currently using, StatCounter.com, because it offers the widest range of information
about who your visitors are, where they're from, when they visit, how often, etc. This is
absolutely essential in determining how well or poorly your blog or website is doing.
Setting up an account is instantaneous and the instructions are very simple. Click the
icon below and bookmark it.
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#10 Start making money!
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Well, that's all there is to it. It only costs you a little investment in time and a certain
amount of patience while setting it all up. The income potential is endless and
continues to grow every day. Some blogs and websites, like this one, require very
little care and feeding while others require much more diligence and maintenance. It
all depends on your content and how sophisticated you want to get. I've included
links in the lefthand column of a variety of other free services to enhance your blog
with even more features and make it all the more appealing and interesting for your
visitors. There are numerous sites and services that will do all of this for you -- for a
price. But why bother when you can do it yourself. Good luck and good fortune!
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