Making Money Online with Ruth Harris

I remember exactly what obstacles had me fumbling around for answers and how difficult it was to find any information, at least for free. Many of the business-in-a-box programs that are being sold today fall way short of a complete package. How do you configure an autoresponder? How do you use a HTML editor and upload a site? Is there an honest FREE traffic company that works?

I have learned a lot along the way and that is the purpose behind Viral-Business.com. I would like to share the very same resources that I have used and continue to use that will take some of the sting away from your learning curve. Let's get started%u2026

One thing I have learned in life is that very few things happen by accident. You have to have a plan. First come your goals. What do you want to accomplish? Be specific: I want to earn $5000 per month within 3 months. Perhaps the most important step in building a successful business is establishing a solid foundation. Planning helps you envision the road ahead: the obstacles, challenges, forks and potholes that you might encounter.

I would like to talk a little about priorities and how they can help you plan for success.
A priority is an action or intention that takes precedence. How does this relate to online business? Plan out the steps to starting your business. First you need a product to sell. Next you need to establish your business image and name around that product, or niche. Third, you need an avenue through which to sell (will that be a blog, a website, a newsletter, or combination?) There are many more to come later, but these are the basic three you encounter when starting an online business.

Maybe your priorities are a little different. Maybe you have a website or blog and do not have a product to sell. Either way, do not skip the step of planning. Even if you are already knee deep in your business, take a step back and look closely at where you are and where you want to be. Setting priorities helps you focus on what is important to you at any given moment. Prioritizing helps you accomplish goals.

What is your goal? What are your immediate priorities for achieving that goal? Remember to plan the work and then work the plan!

You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and seeking expert advice, and having read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you know everything there is to know about building an opt-in list and have followed the expert's advices to the T and you still are not able to make a profit.

In fact, you may be losing money. You may be hiring writers to help you out, or there are other expenses incurred. Even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually purchases from you, you are still losing profit. You will realize this after a few months when you analyze your statistics and sales figures.

So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived right in without a plan. You chose a topic that you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This is just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn't mean they are going to buy instantly.

Here I will offer some advice. For those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture, and for those who are just starting, here are four ways to build a long-term, profitable opt-in list:

Get your customers to trust you first.

Build relationships.

Find a product or service that people want and need.

Make friends with other opt-in list users.

Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able help you avoid the pitfalls
and build a successful list faster.

Building a profitable opt-in list does not just happen overnight. There are many preparations to be made. Opt-in lists are more powerful if built from scratch. As your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be. Always make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.

Probably the biggest hangup for any new business venture is attracting customers. You have to advertise. But how can you possibly advertise when you are on a shoe-string budget? This is the predicament in which many new businesses find themselves.

There is a definite relationship between time and money. Personally, I usually find I either have the time or the money, but never both at the same time. From another perspective, if certain tasks take too much of your time, it might be worth paying money to someone else to do the task, thus freeing up your time.

So, while new business owners often find themselves lacking the financial resources, they usually are not as busy (with an overload of business, in this case) as they would imagine. In this case, time can be utilized in place of money.

There are many ways to promote your business that are low in cost and even free. These methods require a time investment, versus a financial one. Keep in mind that these low-cost and free methods will not produce overnight results. However, your dedicated efforts will result in a strong foundation for your business.

In the next few posts, I will be talking about several online and offline ways to promote your business that require time instead of money. These are the same resources I have used and still use to advertise my business.

Do not try to jump into each area all at once. Pace yourself. Give yourself a good start in each area and get used to devoting a certain amount of your time to the tasks involved. Then once you are comfortable, go on to the next area. As you progress, your time will fill up, not only with your advertising efforts, but with new customers.

The most frequent obstacle for people in building their business is lack of funds. However, lack of funds is only that, an obstacle. It is not a deal-breaker, or at least, it should not be.
All it really takes to succeed is time and determination.

I want to talk about some other free communities that you can join and use to grow your business. I will start with some older style communities and then talk about some newer ones.

The first community is AdLandPro: http://www.adlandpro.com/partner.aspref=rutheharris&pg=na This site allows you to join for free, build a profile for yourself and post free ads for your business. They also offer dozens of other advertising avenues. You can browse the community and send invitations for further communication to other members. You will find that without much effort at all, people will contact you! While this does not produce hundreds of new prospects at a time, over time it can help you add to your list.

Remember the tortoise and the hare? Sometimes slow and steady is the way to go. This is also just one avenue of exposure for your business, not the only one. The idea is to join several dozen communities like this. In the end, this one (free) method will start producing a steady stream of visitors to your site.

Another similar community is Business World List: http://www.businessworldlist.com/members/index.cgirutheharris This is also free to join, although they also have very low-cost upgrade options. The free option allows you to send an email to their list of over 68,000 members, every other day! You can also earn extra exposure by earning credits, but you do not have to. I have personally gained many new visitors to my site and subscribers to my own list by religiously sending out this free email. A list of 68,000 people is pretty big, and for being free, you really should give it a try!

These are just a couple that I personally have used to start my list from scratch. I still use them today simply because they are free and they work.

Again, just because you do not have a lot of money to spend on advertising, you must not give up. Remember that money may be an obstacle, but obstacles can be overcome. I came across the quote listed above in the Tip of the Day section and thought it fit in nicely with this topic. It is safer to sit back and say we can't because we don't have the money. It takes guts to stand up and fight and not give up, especially in the beginning when getting started is so hard.

I want to talk about another free advertising method you can utilize. If you have spent any amount of time online, I am sure you have heard of article marketing. I have to jump on the bandwagon here. I simply cannot emphasize this method enough because IT WORKS!

If you have already started writing articles, good for you. If you have not started yet, why not? Maybe you think you do not have anything to offer anyone? Maybe you see all the articles already written on your niche topic and think more is not needed. Or maybe you just do not know how to get started.

Writing can be very difficult, even for experienced writers. Whether you have problems coming up with ideas or your writing skills are not the best, or want to write and just cannot get your thoughts organized, you have to get over your fears and just start writing. Here's why you cannot afford not to write...

Article marketing is free and very effective at producing hundreds of quality, one-way links to your site. It also gives you the opportunity to build credibility in your niche market as an expert. The best part about article marketing is that people will be searching for the information you are writing about. This produces targeted, pre-qualified, visitors to your site looking for more information about the service you are offering.

Don't feel like you are an expert? Go ahead and research other article authors. Most sites allow you to click on the author's name. This will allow you to see all the other articles the author has written (as well as bio information!) What you need to realize is that it does not matter if that author wrote 2000 articles or 20, he had to start somewhere. At one point, that author only had one or two articles under his name.

So you are not an expert. Perhaps you are, in fact, just getting started. That's okay, you can still write. Every one of us has personal knowledge and experience that we can bring to the table. Think of it as on-the-job training. Start with looking at what your business is and what knowledge your customers and/or associates need to know to be successful. Find out what you need to learn about and learn it. Once you have researched this information, it is time to start writing.

The biggest reason why most online business owner do not write articles is their lack of confidence in their writing abilities. Most of the non-writers have either been out of school for a while and not written anything structured or professional since or did not receive very good marks in the writing courses they did take in school.

This is all very understandable. Frankly, some people might not be good at writing and that is okay. I encourage this group, however, to find another way to make it happen! You can outsource headaches such as these and still have your articles to submit so that you take advantage of the targeted visitors article marketing will produce for you.

Check out Elance.com (http://www.elance.com). Provided you have at least a small budget, find a capable freelance writer and pay them to write 50-100 articles for you on your niche topic. You might even just get 10 at a time.

Now for those who are ready to go and want to write your own articles, I would like to start with a few basics. Write about what you know. Everyone knows something. Hopefully you can bring some outside knowledge, even if you are in a new business. For example, you can relate customer service experience to pretty much any business.

If you are starting a new business venture and still need to learn more yourself, start with general knowledge about your business. You can give tips to readers on how to spot quality in a certain product line or compare general products made of different materials. Start with the general and work toward more specific topics related to your business.

Do not make this more difficult than it is. Take baby steps, in other words, tackle one piece of topic at a time. Remember, you need to write a lot of articles, so you want to keep your articles between 500-800 words. Make them comprehensive, yet not too lengthy.

Once you have your topic, make a quick outline of what you want your article to say. This will help you to stay on topic and keep your thoughts organized. Do not think you have to sound technical or ultra-knowledgeable with lots of statistics and jargon. Readers do not expect perfection, just quality.

Write for the common man, because more often than not, the people just like you and me and Joe down the street will be the ones reading your articles. In fact, write your articles as if you were talking to a friend over the phone or like you are in an elevator and was asked for advice on your topic. More to come...

We have already talked about the importance of article marketing. Articles dictate a lot in the success and the drive of traffic onto one's site. Article marketing has become a key element in producing targeted traffic and high search engine rankings.

But, it is not just about throwing a bunch of words together or putting up a blatant advertisement. There are certain requirements for them to be effective. These requirements must be met to obtain the maximum benefits an article will provide for your site. A well-written article will catch the eyes and interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more.

Here are some tips to help you write effective articles. Below you will read about four things all articles must have to be successful and helpful in marketing your site.

Keywords and Keyword Phrases
An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Toyota Camry, Meningitis, Tax Lawyer, etc).

The important thing is that you have an article that has the keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you maintain an auto parts site, you must have articles about cars and their parts. There are many tools on the Internet that provide help for a webmaster in determining what keywords and keyword phrases that are most relevant to your site and niche. You can use these tools to determine what keywords to use and write about.

Keyword Density
Now that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to "feel" its presence. Articles should have at least ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results.

Good Article Content
Like what is stated above, you cannot just riddle an article with keywords. A good, well-written article will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field or topic. As more people believe in you, they will come to trust you and your products.

Linking Articles
If you are going to submit articles to ezines and/or contribute your articles to newsletters and other sites, do not forget to include a link to your site. Come up with a short, 2-3 sentence resource box with a brief description of your site or your product.

If you have looked at the prices of autoresponders that are available online, you may have decided to search for and use a free autoresponder for your marketing needs. Using a free autoresponder is acceptable in certain situations.

Your first option for a free autoresponder should be the one that comes with your webhosting account - if you have a webhosting account. These autoresponders can easily be set up through the control panel of your website, and they do not contain advertisements from the autoresponder company or webhosting service. If you do not have a hosting account, or your hosting account does not include autoresponders, there are other options that you can pursue.

There are many free autoresponder services to choose from. These services are free, because the company makes their money by placing a small advertisement in each message that your autoresponder sends out. These advertisements may appear at the top of your auto responses, or at the bottom, depending on which company you use.

The most important factors to consider when using a free service are professionalism and reliability. Consider your business reputation carefully when making this decision. Some free services have issues with reliably getting your message to your list. Make sure that you research the company first before getting started.

Many paid autoresponder services offer a free version as well. These lighter versions of the paid autoresponders typically do not include many of the powerful features of the paid versions. If you do not need the more advanced features, this is a great choice.

These are all things you should consider when choosing a free autoresponder. The safest way to go, of course, is to pay for a reliable service with a stable company. Listed below are the top two paid autoresponder companies on the web today. They have both been in business for many years and consistently receive rave reviews.

http://www.aweber.com
http://www.getresponse.com

As the owner of your business, you are the only one who can decide whether you need a paid autoresponder service, or if a free one will do the job. If your list is small, a free autoresponder should do everything that you need it to do. As your list grows, you can consider upgrading. The most important thing is to be prepared to capture the name and email address of prospects and how to effectively communicate with them. More on that next time.