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1. Start a Blog–This one is probably the most important of all 10.  Setting up a WordPress Blog is relatively easy to do and is free.  Blogs are a great way to build a presence online and once established can drive a lot of traffic to your site if done right.  (If you need help with this check out this Blog post for a free step by step guide)
2. Join a few forums–related to your niche and get involved in the conversation.  Don’t try to sell just meet new people in your niche and network.  Most forums will let you have a link back to your site in your signature line.
3. Comment on other peoples Blogs–related to your niche.  Take the same approach as the forums—don’t try to sell just leave relevant comments and be helpful.  You usually can leave a link in your signature when you comment also.
4. Write a few articles–related to topics in your niche and submit them to article directories like ezinearticles.com.  Your articles should be helpful and informative–not a sales pitch.  Then at the end of the article in the resource box you will have a chance to give a little bio and leave a link to your site.
5. Link with other sites–that are related to your niche.  Ask them to link back to you.  Try to find sites that have a page rank at least the same as yours and higher.  The higher the page rank the better when choosing links.  Make sure you are linking to sites that are relevant to your site and are helpful resources for your customers and be sure to get them to link back to you.
6. Join YouTube–and make a quick video about your business and what you have to offer.  You can link directly back to your site from the video page on YouTube.  YouTube can be a huge traffic source if you get a video that people like.  (For more ways to use video to promote your site check out this blog post)
7. Join Twitter–Building a following on Twitter is relatively easy once you get started.  Just find other people on Twitter related to your niche or people who may be interested in your niche and follow them.  Most of the time they will follow you back.  There are also other tools you can use to get more followers on Twitter quicker like Mr. Tweet.  And remember don’t make it all about selling–you need to be interesting, informative, and helpful to keep people interested in what you have to say.
8. Join FaceBook–FaceBook is similar to Twitter in the matter that you should find people to follow with similar interests that will be interested in what you are posting about.  I use my facebook acct to find old friends that I grew up with and have been amazed at how many friends I have caught up with.  **And have made a few sales along the way.  You can also link your Twitter account to your Facebook acct so everytime you post on Twitter your post will show up in your Facebook acct.
9. If you followed step #1 and you have your Blog set-up–then join some Blogging Communities like BlogLog and BlogCatalog.  These sites allow you to follow other Blogs and other people to follow your Blog.  You can also have it update your acct every time you have a new blog post.
10. Join some social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Technorati, and Digg.  When someone likes your blog post they can Digg it or Stumble it so others can see it to.  The more that is done the more you will be noticed and the more traffic you will get.

These 10 ways for free traffic are just a starting point.  Start out getting these things implemented and use them often and you will definately see an increase in traffic and will have done it all for FREE!

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I have been dabbling in a lot of different ways to make money online for some time now.  Even though my main source of income is still from my Children’s Boutique I am always looking for other ways to bring in extra income.  One way that I have been doing this is through affiliate marketing.  To be honest when I first started to learn about affiliate marketing I was so overwhelmed on where to start that I got really stuck and made no money at all.  But then I came across this course by Liz Tomey and it really filled in a lot of the missing pieces for me.  This course got me on the right track to making money with affiliate marketing and she also offers a great free follow-up course for further training called “Train Your Affiliates” which is an ongoing helpful tool to keep you on the right track to learning everything you need to know to be successful with affiliate marketing.   I wasted so much time and money trying to learn things on my own and this course really laid it all out to where it made sense.

I don’t recommend products lightly because I myself have wasted a ton of money and time on things that just gave you pieces of what you need to know but never give you the whole picture–but this wasn’t the case–it was actually very refreshing to find someone who wants to teach you how to succeed.  But don’t get me wrong there is an alterior motive for the top-notch training–if she teaches you how to be a great affiliate marketer than you can make her money too–by promoting her products as an affiliate.  It is a win win proposition and for the cost of the course you can’t go wrong.  Honestly I learned more from a week of working on her course than I did a whole year of trying to figure it out on my own.  So check the course out by watching this video.  Check back here often for more information on affiliate marketing also.

5 Day Cash Machines Will Show You Step-By-Step How To Create Autopilot Affiliate Income!

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Learning how to get traffic to your website is probably one of the most important things you can learn when it comes to running an online business.  The internet is so unbelievably huge and it is so easy to get lost in the crowd if you don’t know how to get relevant customers to your online doorstep.  There are numerous ways to drive traffic to your site and many of them are FREE or at a pretty low cost.  It just takes time to implement them and focus to continue to follow through with them.

One of the best things I ever did when it came to driving consistent relevant traffic to my site was to come up with a “traffic plan and schedule.”  For a long time I was really just running in circles with all of the tasks I needed to complete on my to do list that generating traffic really just got put on the back burner because I didn’t make time to focus on it.  I was busy focusing on other stuff like adding new products and learning new information on how to run my business that I ended up having the most important thing suffer–and that was actually getting people in front of my products for them to see them so they could actually buy them.  You can have some really great products but if no one knows they are there then no one will be able to buy them.

So that is where the “traffic plan and schedule” come in to play.  You have to set into place a plan of how you are going to get people to your site and when you are going to actually implement that plan.  What I did was go to “Google Calendar”–if you have a google account you will be able to find this in your account.  Set up a schedule with this calendar tool with all of the traffic tasks that you want to implement and consciously put them on a schedule to do.  Then just follow through with this scedule.  You will feel alot less overwhelmed when you have a plan and you stick to it.  This is really important especially if you want to build up traffic to your site on a consistent basis.  In my next post I will give you some more in-depth strategies on how to generate this traffic with Web 2.0 sites, ezine advertising, article writing, and more.

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Video is a great way to market your business!

It’s quite obvious that video has taken the internet by storm.  So much that it’s literally left some people in the dust scrambling to figure out what exactly to do.

For most, the thought of creating your own video scares the living daylights of them.  So you buy PLR videos, right?  The hard work is done for you, throw up some videos and you’re good.  Right?  Wrong?

Sure, a lot of the hard work is already done however, how do you make those videos yours?  How are your viewers supposed to know where to go to buy the recommended product?  And more importantly how do you brand the videos with your affiliate link so you get credit for sending these buyers?

If you thought creating video scared folks.  Guess what editing videos does!  There’s so many affiliate marketers who have PLR videos sitting on their computer just gathering virtual dust.  And leaving potential cash lying on the table!  Just waiting for the next affiliate marketer to swoop in and rip it right out from under your nose.  Sound familiar?  Sure it does!  I was one of those scared chickens too!

Truth be told though, you don’t need to be scared.  Even you can edit a video and brand it with your affiliate link so you can earn more cash.  It just takes a little research, a little practice and a whole lot of patience.  But it’s so very worth it.  Studies have shown that more customers and visitors prefer videos 2 to 1.  Two to one!

Why wouldn’t they?  You’re probably one of those customers as well.  Videos help you focus more on what’s being said and most importantly, when it comes from a learning standpoint, you’re able to see step by step, screen by screen exactly how to accomplish something.  This is so much more effective than reading a long page of text.

As you can see it’s well worth your time and energy in learning how to do this (especially when you see it’s not quite as difficult as you think it is).  It’s time to dig out those PLR videos, dust off the virtual dust and grab that money off the table before the next affiliate does.

Check out this new program that I recently bought about using videos to build your business.  It is by Liz Tomey and is called My Video Cash Machines. With this video series you will learn how to edit and brand your PLR videos with step-by-step video instructions so you too can use video marketing to explode your income. Just head to MyVideoCashMachines.com for a great program you won’t regret buying.  At the unbelievable low price of $17.00 you can’t go wrong.  It will give you all the information you need to get started marketing your business with video!

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The best thing I ever did for my business is “learn the basics” of running a business from home online.  When I say learn the basics I mean basic skills that really go along way for saving you money in the long run.  When I first started out online I really knew nothing when it came to do with setting things up on the back end.  I paid a fortune to a web designer to set up my first site “Barefoot Bella” and the Blog that compliments it the “Barefoot Bella Blog“–and don’t get me wrong they are  beautiful and work great.  In the end it was worth it because it got me started in business and it has been very successful.  But now that I know what I know now I would have probably done things differently and would be a lot further ahead in the game because I would have saved a ton of money.

I am not discouraging you from outsourcing things because lets face it we can’t all do everything ourselves– there is only so many hours in the day and if you want to be a true entrepreneur than you will definately want to outsource certain things so you can focus on building your business.  But I do highly encourage you in the beginning to learn the basics–so at least when you do get to a point where it makes since to outsource you know what to look for and expect from the quality of work you will be paying for.

So back to the basics.  There are a few key things that you must absolutely understand before starting out online and I will just give you a basic list to get you started.

• Pick a profitable niche—researching and deciding which niche to go into is important to get right from the beginning because lets face it the whole reason you are in business is to make money and if no one is interested in what you are selling than you will have a hard time making any money from it.
• Research and pick the right keywords to promote your site so people will be able to find you online.  You can have the best site in the world but if no one can find you it will be worthless to them and you
• Pick a domain name that relates to your keywords and niche(I recommend www.GoDaddy.com for buying domains).  If you are selling dog biscuits pick a name like dogbiscuits.com not one like fidosfood.com.  The closer your domain name is to your keywords and niche the more likely someone will be able to find your site.
• Find a good hosting company.  There are some great hosting companies out there that are inexpensive and have all the capabilities you will need to start out and grow your business when you are ready to expand.  My recommended hosting company is HostGator.  It is pretty inexpensive and gives you unlimited ways to expand.
• Learn to set up your own blog.  I paid for my first two blogs to be set up by someone else and they turned out great–but then I read this FREE report on how to set up my own blog and was absolutely amazed at how simple it was.  I set up a blog in about an hour and also learned a skill that I can offer other businesses that are looking for that service.
• Learn to set up your own website to sell products–or find an affordable company to do it for you.  Nowadays you can have a website set up and ready to sell pretty easily at a really affordable price.  There are even some programs with ready made templates and easy instructions to walk you through the whole process.  So before you go to a web design company and pay a fortune for them to do it all for you–do your research–you may find that all you need is just a simple way to get your product out there and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to do it.  But don’t get me wrong there are definately times when hiring someone to design your site makes since but just make sure you do your research to find what will work best for your individual project and what makes since for your budget.
• Learn the basics of search engine optimization.  When you are posting to your blog or adding products to your site to sell make sure you do it in a way that is search engine friendly–it will really do wonders for your rankings and help to get you more traffic to your site if done correctly.
• Find a good autoresponder service plan and start building a list.  I recommend Aweber.  The best thing I ever did for my business is start building a list of customers interested in my products.  Building a relationship with your customers is the best way to get repeat customers because you earn their trust by being reliable and resourceful in the area that they are interested in.
• Learn the basics of driving quality traffic to your site.  If no one visits your site no one can buy from you–so one of the most important things you can learn is how to get traffic and make sure it is quality traffic.  You really only want people who are interested in what you have to offer to visit your site because they are the people who will become your customers.  So find people interested in your niche and get them to your site.  Some basic ways of doing that would be to visit forums related to your niche and get involved in the conversations, use web 2.0 sites to find people interested in your niche,  advertise in areas that you know people in your niche visit.

There are many other aspects of running an online business from home but the items listed above are the core basic skills that are a must when it comes to starting out on the right foot and continuing on your road to success.  I will be adding some resources soon to help you learn these basic skills.  Or if you would like to subscribe to our email list you can receive free tips for building your online business right to your email in box on a weekly basis.

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Learn to set up your own blog with this FREE step by step report.

One of the best things you can do for your business is build a relationship with your customers and the people that are interested in your niche.  Having a blog is an easy and great way to build that relationship.  This free report will teach you everything you need to know to get up and running with your new blog.  The only thing I don’t think is covered in this report is how to find a theme for your blog, how to add the theme to your blog, which plugins you need and how to add them to it. Just do a search for free wordpress blog themes and wordpress plug-ins and that should get you started with setting that part up.   If you want more in depth training on blog set-ups and how to make an income with your blog I suggest looking at Yaro Starak’s free report at Blog Profits Blueprints.  This is a great resource for blogging beginners and will give you all the information you need to get started with your blogging success.

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These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn”t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don”t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need an easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’’s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you”ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’’s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it’’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival enjoy a spike in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at http://blogcarnival.com/.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it’’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn”t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box”. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I”ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won”t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time. To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link: Blog Profit Blueprints

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