Creating Passive Income

Websites are not as expensive as you think. Figure out how to create your own site and bypass the plethora of over-priced web designers. You will find that they are inexpensive and relatively easy to design and maintain.

A web site is your own personal online hub. It is the foundation of everything you will do on the web from the point of initialization forward. A good web site is always a work in progress. It will not be unfinished, but you must consistently tweak your site for flexibility, keep it user-friendly, and its growth and expansion must match what's going on around the world wide web.

Once your website is up and running you can advertise, promote and sell your own products or develop an association with another entrepreneur, sell her products from your site, and pocket a percentage of the profits. Most entrepreneurs will agree to this type of arrangement because it creates a win-win.

In addition to your web site it's important to have a matching blog, Facebook page, and a Twitter account.

Affiliate advertising is an online marketing strategy where the advertiser or company pays the web site owner to promote the advertiser's products or services from his site.

Affiliate programs generally do not pay per click (as in PPC advertising) they pay you a percentage if a sale is made from your site. The web surfer clicks on the affiliate banner or link which takes her to the company's web site. If she makes a purchase you get a percentage of the sale. The visitor could even shut down her computer and return later and you would still get that sale because of "cookies" built into the process. Cookies that remember (because of the built-in code) that the web surfer initially came from your web site.

The three main types of affiliate advertising are: pay-per-lead, pay-per-click, and pay-per-sale. They are all performance based, which means you earn money when the reader actually performs one of the aforementioned actions.

Most major businesses such as Walmart, Dell, Yahoo, etc., have Affiliate Programs. They are free to join and once approved the companies will provide the HTML code for all types of banners that you place on your site or blog. For example, one of the more profitable affiliate programs are NetFlix, Web Hosting Companies, and Dating Sites.

Contextual advertising is a form of targeted advertising for text-link ads that appear on web sites and mobile browsers. The advertisements themselves are selected and served by automated systems based on the users content. For example, if your site or blog is about flowers, your ad content will primarily be about flowers, horticulture, or somehow related to the floral industry.

A contextual advertising system scans the text of a website for keywords and returns advertisements based on what the user is viewing and on the site's content. The advertisements may be displayed on the web page, as pop-up ads, or miniature videos.

Contextual advertising is also used by search engines to display advertisements on their search results pages based on keywords from a user's query.

A few of the top contextual ad programs are Google Adsense, Kontera, and Infolinks. A strong word of caution, if you sign up for context ad programs DO NOT CLICK ON YOUR OWN ADS, if you do you will be permanently banned from the program. Also, do not encourage others to click on your in-line text ads because this too will get you booted from the program. This is a fantastic way to generate some nice income from a web site and/or blog but if you choose this method it's best to place the code on your pages and forget about it. Simply check your stats daily but don't talk about it to others, and you cannot promote clicking. All of the by-laws are in the terms.

Don't skimp or be too thrifty when it comes to purchasing a computer. Look to spend in the $600 to $1000 range on a quality PC with at least a 2.2 Processor and a minimum of 3GB of Memory. The monitor is 17" or larger because you will do lots of multi-tasking; lots of windows open.

This is also why you need a good deal of memory. The investment you make on your computer will more than pay for itself. The payoff will be so great (if you stick with it) you will find yourself adding a second or even a third computer as your residual earnings grow.

Select one of the more reputable Internet Service Providers such as AT&T, Comcast, or Verizon (there are a few others as well). The modem will be provided by your ISP but it's up to you to select a quality router. See the Wireless Connectivity Lens for information regarding router selection and how to maintain your wireless connection.

More and more people are earning a living on the web. The Internet is open 24/7 and it will never go out of business. You work unsupervised because typically you are your own boss.

Blog and Website

If you're working from home as an entrepreneur you need both a blog and a website. The Blog gives you an instant community of bloggers to associate with and the website legitimizes your online enterprise. You will not be taken seriously as and Internet Marketer with only a Facebook, Myspace, or LinkedIn page. You need your very own home on the world wide web. The website is your foundation on the Internet and everything you do spawns from there.

Develop a Theme

You need a hook, lure, or theme for your website. In other words, 90% of your website content should be related. Do not place too much unrelated material on your site because this is a total turnoff to visitors.

Banner Advertising

Most major companies and many small and mid-size organizations offer an affiliate program. Without going into too much detail, you sell their products from your website or blog and you get a small percentage of the sale. Your banners and the companies you associate with should be related to your website. Do not venture too far into placing myriad, unrelated banners on your pages because it makes your site look too commercial.

Write

Almost everyone, at some point and time, thinks about writing a book. It has been stated many times that, "there's a book in everyone." That's easier said than done because it takes a lot of discipline to put together a book that is worth reading. That is why article writing on the Internet is so much easier and can actually be more lucrative than writing a book. Of course if you are a successful author of several books then you will make more money.

Write articles that are related to your blog and website. Article writing is free and there are several companies on the web that will pay you for your articles. The top writing sites are: Yahoo Contributor, Ehow, Hub Pages, Squidoo, Helium, Bukisa, Demand Media, Info Barrel, Text Broker, Life123, and ListMyFive.