Introduction:
Never
did I in my wildest imaginings think that I would be involved in creating a
successful online business. What finally brought me to this was being fed up
with the direction my life was taking me, and my decision to take control of my
future and make a change. These changes
started out small, but have resulted in a complete renovation of my outlook of
the future. I was a mediocre student in
high school and joined the military shortly after graduation. After proudly serving my country, I had a new
sense of self-discipline. My goals were
clear and my drive was unrelenting. I worked through college and graduated with
a degree in education. I spent several
years as a high school science teacher while supporting a family. My teaching
career was robust and fulfilling, and I was able to provide for my family on
the meager salary that is so common in the educational field. However, through a series of unfortunate
events and family tragedies that happened seemingly all at once, I lost almost
everything. Sparing the details I’ll
confide that in a very short span of time I had lost dearly loved family members
and it that wake came depression, bankruptcy, foreclosure, repossessions,
divorce, and the loss of the career I loved. I was financially and emotionally
devastated.
For
years I went from job to job trying to survive before I landed a job where I
could make a living and repair the financial losses I had suffered. But I had lost my drive, my will to succeed
and flourish had withered away. Old injuries I had sustained in the military
had become aggravated again, and my mobility had become limited. Until one day
where I was on a social media site, just clicking away aimlessly. Something inside me asked “how many hours are
you going to sit here and scroll through other people’s lives?” I stopped. Then
every fiber in my being told me to do something. Anything.
I shook my head and looked at the
computer screen again, but not at the people who were posting endless pictures
of their cats or virtual farming games… I looked at the internet itself, and the
vast almost incomprehensible opportunities that it provides. And it’s all right there at our
fingertips. The next time my fingers
touched the keyboard, it was for a purpose, and I began the journey I am here to
tell you about today. How you can use
the internet to your advantage, and change your life for the better. My journey
to success continues, but yours could be just beginning. The following
information will help you get started in the right direction. This is not for everyone, and results will
vary with the amount of effort you put into it.
1. Find your niche.
What are you passionate about? What interests you? What can hold your
attention? What are your hobbies? You don’t have to be an expert in a field to
be able to tell others why you are interested in a hobby or topic. This brings us to what the definition of
‘niche’ is as it pertains to us; a topic, product or hobby that is the focus of
a social media or otherwise online media.
Put simply: something specific that you provide information on. Gardening, to use as an analogy, has a large online
following. People want to know about how
to grow plants in their backyard, but the topic is so general that the internet
is loaded with content about gardening. What if your favorite vegetable was a
tomato? Or more specifically, roma tomatoes.
And there are several types of roma tomoatoes (probably), so maybe that
could be your niche (again… this is an analogy). Other examples could be fan sites, news blogs
about specific events, and collections of articles about a specific topic. You
get the idea. Focus on something that you enjoy and use that as the focus of
your niche. People want to know about your niche, it’s up to you to get the
word out. How do you get your
information to your audience on the internet?
2. Create Content
This is where the rubber hits the
road. Creating content for your niche can be tricky at first but easier as you
get experience. What I mean by ‘content’ is loosely defined as media that
contains information about a topic. Pictures, articles, blog posts, video
reviews, websites are all examples of content. If you need graphics or stock
images, there are thousands online free and available for ‘commercial’ use
(Pixbay is an excellent resource). The
same goes for music [CLICK HERE for FREE MUSIC you can use].
I’m not going into all the avenues of content creation because there are
literally hundreds of different ways you can deliver information on the
internet. The point is, whichever direction you decide to go, research several
people already making content in the niche you want or close to it. This will give you an idea of what media you
may feel more comfortable with. Be flexible!
You may want to experiment with multiple types of media. Oh, and for heaven’s
sake don’t forget to BACK UP THE FILES ON YOUR COMPUTER!!! Creating content on a computer and having it
crash or get a big glass of tea spilled on it can be absolutely devastating!
[iDrive]
3. Social Media
Once you
have some content created, you want to share it with the world. If you haven’t
already, you’ll want to sign up for at least the ‘big three’ social media
giants (Twitter, YouTube and Facebook), and if you have, you may want to make
another account solely for your soon-to-be commercial ventures.
Creating YouTube content can be the
easiest or the most challenging content to make depending on what your niche
is. Know this: YouTube is one of the
most widely used SEARCH ENGINES on the internet. That’s right; people go to YouTube and search
terms like it was Google, Bing or yahoo. If you are doing reviews on products
it can be very easy. Looking at some of
the most popular videos on YouTube, one thing many of them have in common is
that they are SHORT. The shorter the video, the more of a chance the viewer will
watch the whole thing. When you monetize your videos you will want your audience to watch as much of the video if not
all of it in order for it to count toward your monetization. So keep it short
and to the point.
How to Make Money on YouTube: 101 YouTube Monetization Tips
Facebook
and Twitter are different animals altogether, although they can be extremely
powerful and influence the amount of traffic that you generate (we’ll talk more
about traffic later). On these platforms, you can chat, send messages, post
your thoughts, but most importantly, you can post your niche content and
links. Now, when we talk about your
niche content, on Facebook and Twitter you can also post links to articles that
pertain to your particular focus. Or
even articles you write on a blog. The articles you post can bring you income
as well! You don’t even need a website to start! See ‘EARN MONEY SHORTENINGLINKS’ to sign up for ad.fly. It’s the
ad with the little bee floating around my website.
By now you should know how to navigate around social media, but you may not know how to optimize these two. Posting your content is at the right time, at times when you may not be online (if you are still working your day job for example), and also they can help you manage your followers. Two of THE BEST programs to optimize your Twitter and Facebook presence that I personally use are HOOTSUITE and [ManageFlitter]. I have used both of these with fantastic results.
If you are feeling especially enthusiastic, you can start your own social media network! [SOCIALENGINE]
By now you should know how to navigate around social media, but you may not know how to optimize these two. Posting your content is at the right time, at times when you may not be online (if you are still working your day job for example), and also they can help you manage your followers. Two of THE BEST programs to optimize your Twitter and Facebook presence that I personally use are HOOTSUITE and [ManageFlitter]. I have used both of these with fantastic results.
If you are feeling especially enthusiastic, you can start your own social media network! [SOCIALENGINE]
4. Your own WEBSITE
Once you
have some content you can create a website (either before or after you have set
up your social media presence). You can do this a number of ways but the
fastest and easiest is going through a web hosting service. There are free websites that you can create
through Google, etc. Free sites are (of course) more affordable, but they are
limited in what you can do and make your site look like. Also, they may not be the best to be noticed
by other search engines (such as BING ).
However, there are affordable plans by reputable web hosting services that are also available (see links below). These services will often help you create your web page, and the more money you put up front the better site you will have. But since you want to start out small, that’s still not a problem because you can have a fantastic site for a just few dollars a month. I suggest you consider the following web hosting services: [FAT COW, GREEN GEEKS, HOSTING24]
However, there are affordable plans by reputable web hosting services that are also available (see links below). These services will often help you create your web page, and the more money you put up front the better site you will have. But since you want to start out small, that’s still not a problem because you can have a fantastic site for a just few dollars a month. I suggest you consider the following web hosting services: [FAT COW, GREEN GEEKS, HOSTING24]
Your mission should now be to drive
traffic to your website. By posting links to your website on your social media
accounts (along with plenty of content), you will draw people to your website,
and your content.
6. Affiliate Marketing (THE BIG MONEY MAKER)
Once you
have gotten this far, look up “affiliate marketing” on YouTube or Google.
Affiliate marketing is how your website will really make money. Affiliate marketing
is how you monetize your website by placing targeted advertisements that your
audience will see. Once your audience
sees an ad on your site, they can click on the ad. If they click on the ad,
they will follow the links that ad provides and go to the advertiser’s site
where they may purchase goods or services.
When they get that far, you automatically get a commission for the sale,
the lead, or sometimes even just the click itself.
Affiliate
marketing can seem like a complex process, and it takes time to see results.
But there is an ENORMOUS wealth of resources on the web for you to
research. This will also take some time
but it is an investment in your future, so learn EVERYTHING YOU CAN! I have
listed just a few links for your convenience below.
COMMISSION JUNCTION - One of the biggest resources in the business!
7 BIG MISTAKES NEW AFFILIATE MARKETERS MAKE
Good luck!
