Making Money With a Website

A. Brainstorming ideas for your site

What interests you? If you could spend the next five years talking about any topic and get paid extremely well for it, what would it be? For Josh and I that answer was easy, travel. For you it may be surfing or yoga or philosophy or even jewelery making. The great thing about the internet is that no matter which you topic you choose, there is a way to make a decent amount of money from it. Just make sure you have the greatest site you are capable of creating, and consistently read and upgrade your site. Give yourself some time, and the results will come. If you have no idea what you would write about, here are a few ideas to boost your creativity:

1. Search for popular keyphrases in your topic – expand on them

2. Read the news. Write down what interests you. The Economist is my favorite source.

3. Start browsing web forums. Find out what people want. Start helping them get it. Free.

4. Start building a Google IG homepage, and populate it with feeds from interesting blogs and newsfeeds

5. Subscribe to our newsletter. Watch what we do.

6. Ask your friends what they think would make your favorite site better

7. Start hanging out in bookstores. Read as many books as you can for free. Purchase the ones worth keeping.

8. Find out what you think the world needs and give it to us. If we really need it (or if you can convince us we do), you will be successful.

9. Get a notebook for ideas. Put everthing in there. It will help later.

10. Start networking. Even before you build your site, build as many contacts as you can. Become a hub of information and contacts, and everyone wins.

B. Getting a Domain

Decide right now what sort of website you’re committed to creating. If you’re only interested in making a few dollars a day to supplement what you’ve saved for your trip, you’re best off using a free blog host. If you want to create a real living from the net, you’re going to need to pay for your own hosting. Even when you pay for your hosting, you’re not guaranteed an income unless you put in the effort. So decide and then stick with your decision.


Setting up your own domain gets easier every year.With the new paid for web hosts you can get your own domain for as little as $3 per month. With a few Adsense ads on your site you can easily cover this cost. It’s the only way I’ve ever done work, and if you’re serious about creating a great second (or even primary) source of income, don’t hesitate to spend the extra money. You’ll get your own easy to remember site, and you’ll be 100% in charge of how many people come to your site and how much money you earn.

It always makes sense to pay the little extra when it comes to hosting. If you choose to go with the cheapest webhost now, it could really cost you when your site gets big. Some of the budget web hosts charge rediculous amounts if your website gets more visitors than they alot you. This can cost thousands of dollars if you get a sudden burst of a lot of visitors.


I really only recommend the three best web hosts. They are Bluehost, 1and1, and Yahoo Small Business. In case you’re wondering which to choose, here’s a breakdown to help you decide:

Bluehost :

Pros: Huge storage, up to 6 domains hosted, a million visitors a month free
Cons: Really only cheap when you buy 2 years at a time, Not the best for small sites

Cost: As low as $6.95 / month

If you’re looking for a webhost to grow with, look no further than Bluehost. They’ll get you all the way up to your first million visitors a month, an amazing goal to shoot for. They also upgrade their plan every few months, so by the time you get your first million visitors, they may support 10 million a month. If you plan on making a full time living from your web site, go with Bluehost. You won’t be disappointed.


1and1:

Pros: Extremely cheap, made for small sites, beginners
Cons: Difficult to grow with, may use all of transfer if your site gets popular

Cost: As low as $2.99 / month

* 5 gigabytes of storage (5-5,000 web pages)

Hands down, 1and1 is the easiest way to get your site on the net and going. They’re by far the cheapest, and they really do have a great program for beginners to set up their first website without having to know HTML or CSS. If you can write, you can set up your website through 1and1.

Yahoo Small Business:
Pros: Great support, designed specifically for businesses, no contract

Cons: A bit pricier, not as flexible as some other hosts

Cost: Starting at $11.95 per month

If you plan on selling an ebook through your site, Yahoo is by far the best way to go. The $100 credit for Yahoo! Search Marketing will help promote your product for much cheaper than otherwise posssible through Bluehost or 1and1.

C. Building Your Site

1. How to make Content / Outsourcing

If you’re not interested in writing at all, don’t fret. It’s easy to subcontract all of your writing out to intelligent, real life humans in countries like India and Russia for cheap. Don’t be scared to do business with these people. Most of these countries have extremely intelligent, well spoken people who would love to work for a fair price. Every truly successful webmaster I have met has incorporated offshore help into his business. For some reason people in the first world think that because they can update their MySpace page they’re computer whizes who should command $20-$30 an hour. People in emerging markets are a little more reasonable.

Josh and I only trust two websites, Rent a Coder and Elance. They’ll do everything you need, from designing your site to custom programming to writing all of your content. You place a bid for the maximum you’re willing to pay, and people bid to be the one to do your project. It’s a great program, and the quality is top notch. If you’ve got a bit of capital to invest in your site, there’s really no better investment than content, and either site is the place purchase it cheap.

Even with a steady stream of offshore work, Josh and I still write a whole lot of content for our site. The reason is, well written, on topic content is worth over a thousand times more than content not created by an expert. Case in point, 1/2 of all the articles I spend more than an hour creating are picked up by major sites, and bring me thousands of visitors in a few days. No article I’ve subcontracted out gives me that sort of return.

That being said, you can create your own content that has the same level of popularity as mine. Just remember the following rules before you start to write a major article:

1. BE BOLD (The meek shall inherit nothing.)
2. BE VIRAL (Ask yourself, is this something people can’t help but share?)
3. BE ORIGIONAL (Is this something that could change the way you think about the world?)

4. BE HONEST (True honesty always rings true and is extremely rare. Always be honest.)

5. GIVE MORE (Give away as much of yourself and your ideas as you can. The more you give, the more you recieve. Universal principle.)

2. Web Design / Programs / Buying Templates

THE SOFTWARE TO POWER YOUR SITE

Joomla

Joomla is a complete content management system. Once installed, you don’t need to know any HTML or any other difficult computer language. All you do is login, and write your articles. They’re then automatically updated on your website and ready for your visitors to view. This is a great way to manage a site created for Adsense or Affiliate marketing.

It does take a while to get the hang of Joomla, though, so I recommend you only use Joomla if you’re committed to writing at least an article a day. Otherwise it’s too much work keeping track of all the different article types and categories.

Wordpress

Wordpress is a free blogging system. You log into your site, and you write mini articles or stories while traveling. There’s a complete writing interface just like word, and it’s extremely easy to use. Beginners would be much better off getting a Wordpress site up and going then trying to immediatly manage the much more complicated Joomla software.

One drawback to Wordpress is the lack of organization. If you want to grow into a large site full of articles, it becomes more and more difficult for your visitors to find the articles they are looking for on your site. The majority of your visitors will come from a search engine, and not necessarilly see all the other articles you have. Something to think about.

Photo Gallery

If you want to host your own photos on your site, there’s no better software to use than the free photo system, “Gallery”. It lets you create your own Photo albums with comments, and has a really great, easy to use interface. Gallery supports multiple users too, so you can get all your friends to upload their photos too.

One problem a lot of people have while they’re traveling is how to upload photos when their camera takes pictures at 5 megabytes each, and they’re stuck on a crappy third world internet connection. This is where carrying a laptop would almost make sense, to resize the pictures, but not quite. I recommend carrying a USB key with the free GIMP software on it to resize your photos while on the road. You’ll learn how to do all of this in the on the road portion of this ebook.

BUYING TEMPLATES

There’s so much for the modern webmaster to micromanage that it makes no sense for him (or her!) to worry about the site graphics and layout. Instead, we recommend you use premade site templates so you can get to the more important parts of running your website, like content and promotion.

You’re in luck if you choose to use one of the open source programs I just mentioned. There are hundreds of websites selling pre-made site templates to get your site up and running as quickly as possible. A few of them are more than a little shady, and Josh and I really only recommend the biggest and greatest, Template Monster.

Once you’ve paid for and downloaded your site template, all you need to do is insert your logo into your template. Get the The Gimp, and start following the tutorials. There you’ll learn how to change the site’s logo and text into the logo you create. The best part about the Gimp is that it’s free!

3. Making Your site SEO Friendly

Another great way to drive traffic to the affiliate program you are promoting without having to pay for traffic is using search engine optimization (SEO) to rank well in the ‘natural search’ listings.Having a website that comes up on Page 1 of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) for your target keyword means you don’t have to pay each time someone clicks on your website.

SEO is quite a big subject to cover, but I will try to briefly cover what is is and provide you with links to learn more about it later in this chapter.

If you type pretty much any search into Google or any other search engine you will usually get a few million results.If your website is not found on the first three pages, then you are holding a billboard out the forest, because very few people click past 3 pages of results.For this reason, it’s important to get your site on page 1, and prefertably, on the top 5 listings for the keywords that you are optimizing for.

Here’s an example of a website I optimized for the search “Jesus is my homeboy.” As an affiliate, I bought a domain and quickly set up a website to rank well for this search term.On the site, I sold the very popular Jesus is my homeboy tshirt that Madonna and Ashton Kuther made popular.I know you are thinking, who the heck types in “jesus is my homeboy?– Well, quite a lot of people actually.

[[overture screenshot for search “jesus is my homeboy”]]

Last month, there were over 11,000 searches for “Jesus is my homeboy.”Finding a product to promote in a very niche market with a high search demand and little competition is the formula for success.

As you can see, the Title of my homepage is the main keyword I’m optimizing for.The heading and subheadings are also related to or a derivitant of my main keyword phrase and I’m set up my site to act as an “authority” – providing links to various resources about the Jesus tshirt craze.

The two most important factors in ranking high in the search engines are providing valuable content that real people find useful.The second most important factor is the links pointing to your website.If you have useful content, such as articles on your website talking about your affiliate product, or if you set up a review site comparing different credit card offers, these websites will do much better than a website that is simply set up with your ads.

If people find the content useful, people will start linking to you.Since each link counts as a “vote” – the more links you have the better.However, be weary of joining any linking farms or trying anything that might get your site penalized (such as stuffing your keywords on your page, putting white font text with a white background, etc).For a listing of webmaster guidelines check out http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

4. How to add Adsense to your site (step by step)

Adding Adsense to your site is quick an simple. Here’s a step by step guide to getting Adsense up and running:

1. Click this link: and sign up.

2. You’ll be asked to enter your payment information. Do it. You can register as a company if you’re serious about your online business, otherwise register as an individual.

3. Click Adsense Setup, and then Adsense for Content.

4. Decide whether you want an Ad unit or a Link Unit. An ad unit displays a few links for someone to click, and a link unit displays a few link categories. When a user clicks a link category they’ll be given the option to click a few different ads. Experiment with both ad types to see which works best on your site.

5. Select your colors and your ad format. It’s best to select colors which blend in with your website, and to pick an ad format you can place in a “hot spot”. Visit Adsense Tips to find out where these hotspots are on your site.

6.Copy and paste your code into your site.

A. If you use Joomla, go to Components->Banners->Manage Banners. Enter your information for Adsense, and then enter http://localhost for your Click URL, and paste your adsense code into Custom Banner code.

B. If you use Wordpress, go this link , and download the Adsense Plugin for Wordpress. Follow the instructions there, and paste in your Asense code where appropriate.

C. If you use SMF, things are a bit more complicated. We’re going to need an Adsense plugin from JoomlaSpan.com. Click here, and follow the guide to getting Adsense up andrunning on your Simple Machines Forum.

7. Test, test, and then test some more! Experiment with different Adsense layouts and color themes. Google’s suggestions for what works best for all sites may not apply to your market. Do your own research and make your own conclusions on the best layout for your Google ads.

E. Promoting Your Website

1.Listing in Directories

There are hundreds of online directories that exist online. Getting a listing in these directories can help drive traffic to your website since these links are of high importance, will help boost your own search ranking. Some of the more popular directories (such as Yahoo) require an upfront payment ranging from $40-$299. The most important directory to get your site listed on is DMOZ. It’s a volunteer driven directory service, and every site that gets listed here gets crawled by the major search engines. Your site must be fully functional when you submit the link, or it won’t be included in the directory. Do yourself a favor and wait until your site is ready before submitting.

2. Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is great fun for the new webmaster. If you create a webpage that someone decides is worth bookmarking and sharing with their friends, and their friends do the same, you can quickly capitalize on your origionality and get a huge burst of traffic to your site.

There are a few major social bookmarking sites you need to know about. They are del.icio.us, furl.net, and Stumble Upon. Get yourself an account on each of these web sites and start browsing and socially bookmarking links. You’ll see the potential for rapid site growth.

Using social bookmarking, I was able to get 70,000 visitors to my site in my first week and a half.

You can do the same with your new site, just remember that your idea or article has got to be origional, and of a viral nature. An article abouthow the internet is changing the global consciousness would do well, an article about how to change a lightbulb wouldn’t. But then again, if you wrote a funny article, it might. Be origional. Be bold. Create something people can’t help but share. Your site will be flooded with visitors.

3. Link exchanges / How to Get Link

You’ll want to get as many links to you site as possible. The more links the better, as it increases your chances of getting seen by your web user. Not all links are created equal, though, and a link from an extremely popular website is worth more than hundreds of links from websites no one visits. Also, search engines put more relevance on web sites with links from popular web sites. At least for now, a link from a major web site is like a “vote” for your site. You get enough votes for your site, and it increases its relevance ranking, and becomes a more reputable place in the search engines.

One way to get a high ranking link commonly used now is to write an article for free for a major news site. If your article gets accepted, they provide a link back to your site. This will pay for itself quickly. A high ranking site can give you thousands of visitors in a day. It happened to me when I got put on MSNBC for my DemocraKey.

4. Incorporating Affiliate Programs on your Website

I really only recommend putting text affiliate links on your website. These are much more likely to be clicked on by visitors (I get about 10% of all visitors to click through my gear review affiliates, versus less than 1% for banners), and they’re also a whole lot more likely to buy if your affiliate offers the lowest price on the net, or damn near it. Amazon.com is my all time favorite, because of massive collection of products, and their notoreity for being the cheapest place to buy stuff on the net. Amazon has the highest conversion ratio (convert a click to their site into a purchase) of any affiliate program I’ve ever worked with, at 3% consistently. Anyone can sign up to be an Associate. Click here to sign up.

Once you’re an Amazon affiliate, you can start searching for links. Log in with your new affiliate account, and click build links. Scroll down and click text links. Go to Link to Any Page at Amazon.com, and enter the product page you’d like to use. Name your link, and then click get HTML. Copy and paste this code into your site wherever you mention the product name. Visit travelingforever.com for examples.