Monetize Informer

100 of the Most Inspiring Business Videos on YouTube

2013-05-10T00:43:00.001-07:00

YouTube is filled with inspirational videos of all types, including those created by businesses or individuals looking to inspire others to succeed. Let’s look at 100 of the most inspiring business videos ever placed on this site.

Great Inspirational Tips for Business Success

Take a look at these cool business inspiration clips.

1. 9 Steps to Achieve Any Goal – Isn’t it great to know that you can make your business and personal dreams come true in nine steps?

2. ABCs of Success – A powerful strategy for personal and professional success.

3. Are You Going to Finish Strong? – Amazingly inspirational speech from an amazing man.

4. Biggest Business Mistake – Gain inspiration from this online marketer who wants you to learn from her biggest business mistake.

5. Business Ideas and Inspiration – Feel inspired by these business ideas and tips for ways to succeed.

6. How to Bring Inspiration into Your Business – Trusting your intuition to get the inspiration you need to make business decisions.

7. Life=Risk – This video highlights the risks some of the world’s greatest talents took to find amazing success.

8. Secret Formula for Business Success – A great video that explains a simple formula for business success that could motivate anyone to get up and moving.

9. The Power of Goal Setting – This video offers four great techniques on how to set goals for success in business.

10. Top 3 Lessons from Akio Morita – Check out tips from Evan Carmichael on how to find business success just like Sony founder Akio Morita.

11. Trusting the Path of Life – Explore why finding inspiration in business always requires trusting your life’s path.

12. Visualizing Riches – This quick clip from the DVD The Secret reminds us that we can achieve financial independence if we believe we can.

13. Wealth in Business – Great tips on how to become a wise business person while making a living following your passion.

14. When You Stop Dreaming You Stop Living – Great short motivational video on why it’s important to dream for what you want professionally and personally.

15. Why You Must Act on Business Inspirations – Video encourages you to act on those hunches you get in business that often turn into goldmines.

Home Business Inspiration

Starting a home business can be a scary prospect. Luckily these videos were created to provide you with the inspiration you need to get your start.

16. 3HourWorkDay.com – Awesome inspiration to create your own work-from-home business.

17. Business Money Inspiration – Money values from a young and successful home-based entrepreneur.

18. Exercise and Have More Success in Business – Online marketing entrepreneur inspires viewers to exercising, explaining why it can provide a successful business state of mind.

19. Finding New Business Ideas – Inspirational tips for prospective online home business entrepreneurs.

20. Finding Work from Home Inspiration – A man gives his inspiration for starting his home business. It may inspire you too!

21. Home Business Inspiration – This soothing video provides all of the inspirational quotes you need to start your home business.

22. How to Make Money Online – Feel inspired to make money online without being scammed after watching this informative video.

23. The Life of an Internet Marketer – Enjoy this uniquely-filmed video offering inspiration on starting a business as an Internet marketer.

24. Work at Home Business – If you’ve been thinking about starting your own work from home business, this video may just inspire you.

25. Secrets for Success – Finding inspiration in home business may require listening to these secrets.

26. Story of Inspiration for Online Businesses – If you’re looking for inspiration in starting your own home business check out this great video.

27. Young Entrepreneur – Get inspired by the success of 17-year-old young entrepreneur Christian Fioravanti who has had home business success for three years.

Humorous Business Inspiration

Sometimes a good laugh can be all the business inspiration you need, especially when that laugh is related to business!

28. Business Joke – If you’re in the middle of a business brain fart and need a break, this joke will perk you right up.

29. Conan O’Brien – This hilarious American Express commercial shows just how important the little details are in business.

30. Damn Funny Video Conference – Remember, when you’re primping for a business video conference, make sure no one can see you.

31. Drunk Business Meeting – Nothing like the drunk in the room to offer all the business insight you need. Pretty scary indeed.

32. FedEx Conference Call – Okay, this one is just funny–nothing more.

33. Finding Your Passion – Funny poem with quality inspirational advice for success.

34. Follow Your Dreams – Learn how to follow your dreams in business and beyond with this hilarious inspirational video.

35. Leadership Secrets from Santa Claus – This cute little video gives some great tips on how to become a business leader from Santa Claus.

36. Motivation? Do You Have Any? – Hilarious clip on ideas to consider if you’re lacking motivation.

37. No Excuses, No Regrets – A great video that focuses on leadership and success.

38. The Most Inspirational Thing Ever Said – If you’re about to make a business decision you might regret, just click on this video clip for what not to do.

Inspirational Business Quotes and Poems

Quick quotes, phrases, affirmations and poems that inspire success.

39. A Message for Big Dreamers – If you want to shoot for the stars in business and beyond, this video is a great watch!

40. Be Remarkable – This great video offers amazing inspirational quotes for business and beyond.

41. Create Your Best Year Ever – Steps to take to create your best year ever.

42. Don’t Quit – Great poem explaining why you should never give up on your dreams.

43. Dreams and Goals – Quotes to help you remember to always follow your dreams and push to achieve your goals.

44. Dreams are Whispers from the Soul – Great quotes and music giving tips on how to follow your dreams.

45. Inspiration for Success – Great affirmations to create the life and business you want.

46. Inspirational Quotes for Business People – Inspiring quotes for anyone looking to succeed in business.

47. Inspirational Words of Wisdom – Beautiful words of wisdom from legendary author Napoleon Hill to help you in business.

48. Life Success, Inspiration, Manifestation and Visualization – More great affirmations of success.

49. Keys to Great Success Affirmations – Reciting these affirmations could provide the inspiration you need to succeed.

50. Life is Life a Cup of Coffee – This is an amazing story for business owners who feel disconnected from their passion.

51. Success-Motivation-Inspiration – If you’re looking for success, motivation and inspiration in business, this is the video for you.

52. Very Inspirational! – Great business inspiration quotes.

Motivational Speakers and Keynote Addresses

Great speakers with the gift of motivating success in business and life.

53. Andrew Barden – Gain inspiration and learn specific small business marketing strategies from this business trainer.

54. Andrew Smith – Great business inspiration from this entrepreneur.

55. Andy Cohen – Funny motivational speech that discusses how magic in business creates success.

56. Art Williams – His “Just Do It” speech is inspiring enough to make anyone want to push for their business ambitions.

57. Dean Lindsay – Humorous keynote address at SPEAK! Conference from author Dean Lindsay on finding success in business.

58. Garrison Wynn – Funny, insightful keynote from business relationship expert Garrison Wynn.

59. Jack Canfield – Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul offers four amazing tips to inspire you toward wealth and success in business and life.

60. John Bell – Find great business inspiration from this impressive motivational speaker.

61. Mike Schlappi – Motivational speaker and top disabled athlete, Schlappi offers encouragement in business and life.

62. Oprah Winfrey – Talk about inspiration! Oprah Winfrey, the queen of business, offered a heartfelt keynote address to Stanford graduates.

63. President Barack Obama – Parts of President Barack Obama’s inspirational keynote address to students at Arizona State University.

64. Randy Pausch – Amazing inspirational final lecture from Carnegie Mellon University Professor Randy Pausch before he died in 2008.

65. Richard Branson – You can’t claim to have received real business inspiration until you get some from business guru Richard Branson.

66. Steve Jobs – This great speech by Steve Jobs encourages young graduates to stay hungry and foolish while they hone in on professional aspirations and follow their passions.

67. Tony Robbins – This speech title “What is an Extraordinary Life?” looks at how you define your personal and professional life.

68. Wally “Famous” Amos – Great speech by the founder of Famous Amos Cookies and father of the gourmet cookie industry.

Pop Culture Inspiration

Clips from pop culture that have done a great job of motivating entrepreneurs.

69. 40 Inspirational Speeches – 40 great inspirational speeches in movies that can motivate any prospective entrepreneur–and it’s all crammed into 2 minutes!

70. Amazing is Belief – Sports fanatics and business hopefuls could appreciate this high-energy inspirational ad for the 2010 NBA Playoffs.

71. Any Given Sunday Speech – While this speech isn’t specifically business-related, it inspires you to fight through your challenges inch-by-inch.

72. Evolve – This popular Gatorade commercial teaches us that we must constantly evolve in order to achieve greatness.

73. Failure – This Michael Jordan Nike ad reminds us that even though the best fail, it is these failures that push them to succeed.

74. Failure: The Secret to Success – This Honda commercial showcases a number of clips from individuals who used their failure to find success.

75. Money Making – Will Smith offers inspiration and tips on how to find success and make money in business and beyond.

76. Protect Your Dreams – Great inspirational talk given by Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) to his son in the movie The Pursuit of Happyness.

77. Rocky Balboa Speech – Rocky gives his son a powerful speech about how to win and find success.

78. What Do You Get Up For? – Cool Nike ad that reminds you that following your passions should get you up in the morning.

Success Stories

Nothing like a success story to show you what others have accomplished–and just what you’re capable of.

79. 14-Year-Old Millionaire – At the age of 14, Farrah Gray, born and raised in a housing project in Chicago, became a self-made millionaire. Truly inspiring!

80. Bill and Dave – Recap of the remarkable success story of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

81. Inspirational Business Stories – Brief video of business owners who have found success.

82. International Success Stories – The brief story of successful international health food product company, Innocent.

83. Most Inspirational and Motivational Video Ever – If this guy can find multi-million dollar success after bankruptcy, you can find success too!

84. My Bathroom Buddy – Great story from the founder of the successful eBay business, My Bathroom Buddy.

85. New Zealand Fresh Cuts – Sometimes inspiration requires hearing the story of someone who found great success before you.

86. Real Life Success Stories – A compilation of success stories from business owners who now earn six and seven figures.

87. Small Business Success Stories – These stories prove that starting your own succesful small business is possible.

88. Sweet Treats Entrepreneurial Success – Learn how a fun hobby turned into a successful business.

89. Teen Millionaires – If these teen millionaires can’t inspire you in business, no one can!

90. Third World Small Business Startups – You don’t have to be from a developed country to find success in business.

91. Young Millionaires Share Their Secrets – Another great inspiration video from young entrepreneurs who have successfully made millions.

Women in Business Inspiration

Women looking for business inspiration can visit these videos for the motivation the need.

92. Feminine Energy and Success in Business – Woman business owner talks about how collaboration and feminine energy create business success.

93. Inspiring Video for Women Entrepreneurs – Inspiring video clips and phrases from the Women Entrepreneurs Rock the World Event.

94. Million Dollar Mom – This mom started her own million-dollar business–an inspiration for any woman.

95. Mumpreneur – If you’re a woman looking for inspiration in starting your own business, this video (with a Part II follow up) will get you one your feet!

96. Welfare to Millionaire – She went from welfare to becoming a millionaire–maybe she will inspire you to do the same!

97. Why We Ladies Rock – This network marketing video shows just why ladies are dynamic and able to succeed in business. Very inspiring!

98. Woman, Thy Name is Entrepreneur – Amazingly inspiring video on the evolving perceptions of women in business.

99. Women Thriving in Business – Listen to women at this conference discuss how they found success in business in Part I and Part II of this video.

100. Yoga Stress Relief – Learn to relieve stress with these women to energize and inspire your business efforts.

My Viglink Review - GO or NO GO?

2013-03-23T22:59:00.001-07:00

To be honest, I wish I had no need for Viglink...

In fact, my decision to try them out was due to the fact that I was terminated from an affiliate program solely because I live in New York. If you're familiar with newly implemented "Nexus Laws" you understand my dilemma. If not, and you're interested (if you're an affiliate, you probably should be) a quick Google search will bring you up to speed.

But I digress...

Are you wondering how VigLink can help monetize links on your pages, and whether it's a good fit for you?

Here's my personal VigLink review...

Quick Overview of VigLink...

What You Do: Just install (copy and paste) a bit of code on a webpage, website or blog.

What VigLink Does: Whenever someone clicks a link on your website, VigLink tracks it. If that visitor goes on to buy something, and there's an affiliate program tied to that merchant (VigLink is tied to 12,500+ affiliate programs), they'll know... and you'll get paid. VigLink takes 25% of the commission, leaving you with 75%.

What Merchants Are Covered? (<---- are="" br="" can="" covered="" merchants="" search="" see="" to="" what="" you="">

Note: links that are affiliated already are left alone, meaning you get full credit for any program you want to join directly.

The Good: 7 Things I Like About VigLink

1. Easy to Install

For starters, VigLink is easy to install. A bit of code before the closing body tag, and you're done. VigLink then works seamlessly to turn the links on your page into potential sources of income.

2. Doesn't Override Existing Affiliate Links

This is a biggie. Your existing affiliate links are untouched and you'll continue to earn 100% of the revenue they produce. Amen.

3. Seamless for Visitors

VigLink does not change the user experience at all -- it's pretty much invisible to the average visitor.

4. More Clicks?

Affiliate links tend to be long and ugly, and some visitors go out of their way NOT to click them. With VigLink you link directly to the merchant. So when a visitor "mouses over" the link, they'll see http://www.Netflix.com, for example, rather than an affiliate link. I believe that many more people are clicking because of this.

5. Great Analytics

On top of tracking commissions earned, your dashboard also gives you solid analytics. Most clicked links. Best pages for revenue. Other sites producing outbound traffic, etc. This information is very valuable, and tells you a lot about how users are interacting with your site.

6. Found Money

VigLink produces income from links that weren't earning income before. So whether you didn't realize an affiliate program existed... or your site was rejected by the program administrator... or you were terminated due to Nexus Laws... or, you're just too lazy to sign up and post links... or you'd rather focus on content creation... you can still earn a sizable chunk of every sale you help produce.

7. Not Locked In

You can install VigLink today and uninstall it tomorrow. You can switch a VigLink with your own affiliate link at any time. It's nice to know that they take their cut when they're providing value... and if they're not... you can claim your full commission at any time.

The Bad: A Few Things I Don't Like

1. Their Cut Ain't Small...

When a commission is earned from a VigLink link (or should I just say, a VigLink), you get 75% of the commission. They take 25%. That's not exactly a small piece. They're providing a valueable service for sure, but you have to be comfortable with giving up what could be some real money. That said, if you have a better option and can use your own affiliate link, you're always free to. So while I'd be happier giving up less, it's hard to register this as a real complaint.

2. Some Analytics are Confusing (Me)

I like the range of analytics displayed for the pages I've installed VigLink. But I find a few of them confusing. For example, my dashboard is showing clicks for "links already affiliated by you" as 0. Yet, I know that I have other affiliate links on these pages and that they have been registering clicks. Does that mean these links are from programs not in their database? Not sure. My dashboard is also listing "pages on my site where VigLink is tracking purchases and collecting commissions" as 0. Huh? It's clearly tracking and I'm generating revenue.

3. Want Support? Dig a Little...

Like a lot of people who want to use a service like this, I initially had some questions. You should be prepared to do some digging to get the answers you need. There is a "community powered support" platform where you can search questions others have asked... or ask your own, and get responses from other users and VigLink employees. Certainly not the best or most efficient support, but so far this hasn't been too big of a deal.

Overall? Worth Getting Started?

In my humble opinion THE GOOD definitely outweighs THE BAD and by a pretty significant margin. While I'm not thrilled with giving 25% of my commissions away, all in all, my experience with VigLink has been largely positive. And I'd be earning less income without them. Given the flexibility and simplicity of the solution, I definitely I recommend it. For others like me who have fallen victim to Nexus Laws, it's a no brainer!

Now if you plan to use VigLink then click here to join VigLink

How Much Traffic Do You Need To Make $100,000 With Google AdSense

2012-10-30T01:30:00.003-07:00

Is it really possible to make $100,000 a year from Google AdSense (or by selling ads on your website/blog)? If so, how much traffic do you really need to make big bucks with Google AdSense?

How Much Traffic Do You Really Need To Make Money With AdSense?

Let’s say you want to make $100,000 a year from Google AdSense and/or Google AdSense alternatives.

Read: 20+ Google AdSense Alternatives You Probably Don’t Know

$100,000 divided by 365 = $274 a day.

So, you have to create either: 274 pages which earns $1 a day OR 548 pages which earns 50 cents a day OR 1096 pages which earns 25 cents a day (which sounds reasonable, right?). Let’s say you have 1,096 high quality blogposts and you earn $0.25 per click from AdSense.

I have analyzed the traffic and AdSense stats (using Google Image Search) of several websites including my own blogs and websites.

Read: How To Find The Traffic Of (Almost) Any Website

From my analysis, I found that the average Page CTR is around 1%. But it really depends upon your niche, web site design and other factors. In fact I have achieved a Page CTR of over 20% in 2007 for a niche website and was making $100+ a day from Google AdSense alone.

Google AdSense Glossary

Page Views

A page view is what Google counts in your reports every time a user views a page displaying Google ads. We will count one page view regardless of the number of ads displayed on that page.

For example, if you have a page displaying three ad units and it is viewed twice, you will generate two page views.

Clicks

For standard content ads, Google count a click when a user clicks on an ad.

For link units, Google count a click when a user clicks on an ad on the page of ads, after selecting a link in the link unit.

Page Click Through Rate (Page CTR)

The Page Click Through Rate (CTR) is the number of ad clicks divided by the number of impressions or page views that you have received.

Page CTR = Clicks / Page Views

For example, if you received 5 Clicks from 100 Page Views, then your Page CTR would be 5%. (5/100*100=5%)

Cost Per Click (CPC)

The Cost Per Click (CPC) is the amount you earn each time a user clicks on your ad. The CPC for any ad is determined by the advertiser; some advertisers may be willing to pay more per click than others, depending on what they’re advertising.

Page Revenue Per Thousand Impressions (Page RPM)

Page Revenue Per Thousand Impressions (RPM) is calculated by dividing your estimated earnings by the number of page views you received, then multiplying by 1000.

Page RPM = (Estimated Earnings / Number of Page Views) * 1,000

For example, if you earned an estimated $0.15 from 25 page views, then your page RPM would equal ($0.15 / 25) * 1000, or $6.00.
Estimated Earnings
Your account balance (or earnings) for the time period selected.

Source: Google AdSense Help

You can increase the Page CTR by using one of those high CTR WordPress Theme for Google AdSense. But I really wouldn’t recommend those WordPress themes as it will impact the user experience very negatively. Instead, you can focus on creating awesome content and driving more traffic so that it increases your Google AdSense earnings (or advertising revenues) naturally.

Now, let’s assume that you have a Page CTR of 1% and your average CPC is $0.25 (I believe it’s a quite achievable target unless your keywords have no advertiser competition – e.g. a recipe blog).

Some of the top paying AdSense niches are Finance, Internet Marketing, Technology, Web Hosting, Internet & Computers, Software, Health etc. and some of the lowest paying AdSense niches are Entertainment, Arts, Movies, Celebrity Gossips, News blog, Jokes, Wallpapers, Quotes, Recipes, Photo blogs etc.

So, You Want To Make $100,000 A Year With Google AdSense, Right?

As mentioned earlier $100,000 a year means you have to earn $274 a day. If your average CPC is $0.25 then you need 100,000/0.25 = 400,000 clicks a year (or approximately 1,000 clicks a day) to earn $100,000 a year from Google AdSense. Assuming that your Page CTR is 1% you need approximately 100,000 page views a day. Now, let’s say your “Bounce Rate” (it is the estimated percentage of visits to your website that consist of a single page view) is 100%. It means that you need 100,000 unique visitors a day itself to generate 100,000 page views a day.

In a nutshell, you need 100,000 visitors a day to make $100,000 a year from Google AdSense alone (with a CTR of 1% and CPC of $0.25).

But you are not using AdSense alone to monetize your website. Right? Let’s say you’re selling banner ads directly and is also selling CPM advertising which is an effective way to monetize your website.

Read: CPM Alternatives To Google AdSense

What are CPM ads?

CPM (Cost Per Mille) stands for Cost Per 1,000 Impressions. CPM networks pays for every 1,000 impressions you generate. If a CPM ad network is paying you $1 CPM then it means that they’re paying you $1 for every 1,000 page views you generate.

CPM Network earnings total depend upon your traffic quality but you can expect anywhere between $1 – $3 per 1,000 impressions. So, if you generate 100,000 page views a day then you can make $100 – $300 a day from CPM Networks. Again, you can earn $100 – $300 (or maybe even more) a day by selling banner ads directly to advertisers.

Now, you can split the traffic into three as you’re earning $300 each from 3 advertising networks. It means that you need 100,000/3=33,333 unique visitors a day (with a bounce rate of 100%) to make approximately $274/day.

Again, if you have an authority blog then your bounce rate will never be 100%. In that case you can expect an average page view of 1.5 per user. It means that 50% of your visitors exits from the landing page and others visit more than one page from your website.

All in all, you need approximately 20,000 visitors a day to generate 30,000+ page views and it can earn $274 a day which translates to $100,000 a year in advertising revenues. Need a little more help reaching that $100,000/year goal? Add commissions from Affiliate Programs as well into the equation and you can hit that $100,000 goal with much less traffic. In fact, in 2008 I was averaging $200+ a day from less than 200 daily unique visitors with affiliate marketing. It was possible because when it comes to affiliate marketing it’s all about traffic quality and not traffic quantity.

How many visitors does my site need to make money with AdSense?

2012-10-25T19:27:00.002-07:00

There is no minimum of visitors, pageviews or hits to get approval for the AdSense program.

Therefore there is no minimum of visitors, pageviews or hits to make money with AdSense.
The only limit is zero. Because if you have zero visitors, there is nobody to click on your ads.

Every visitor to your site is a potential clicker/buyer and therefore a potential moneymaker to you.
In general, the more people visiting your website, the more money you make.

The amount of money you make per visitor differs per website-topic, type of the site, size of the site, time of day/year, etcetera.

Sites with large quantities of original quality content are likely to earn more money than for example forums.
So it is possible that a site with 10 visitors a day makes more money than a site with a 100 visitors a day.

But in general, sites that offer quality content but only have 10 visitors per day or less, don’t even make enough money to pay for the domain and hosting.

If you have a site with quality content that has about 100 visitors per day, there is a chance you earn a few cents every day and maybe sometimes a dollar or more a day.

If you have a website with quality content that is visited by about a 1.000 people per day, you are likely to make at least 1 dollar per day. If your content is durable and will not lose its value, you will make that money each and every day, year after year. An asset like that can make you thousands of dollars in the long run.

A site with quality content that is attracting 10.000 visitors a day? A site like that is very likely to be one of your main sources of income. In some cases a site like that will be able to fire your boss, so to speak.

How a journalist make extra money on news content website

2011-11-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Forget what you might have heard: Journalists can earn money publishing online. Here are some tips for readers.

This article is designed to help journalists learn how to make extra money, or even a full-time wage, by publishing independently online. It is not intended to provide an online revenue model for established news organizations. Heck, they've got business managers. They shouldn't need a wiki to show them what to do.

Content websites typically earn money through one of four ways:

Commissions / Affiliate links
Advertising networks
Selling your own ads
Paid content
Sponsorships/Grants

Once you have ads on your site, you will want to compute the eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions) of revenue that each ad type is earning for you. You calculate eCPM by taking the total amount generated by an ad (or ad type), diving it by the number of pages on which that ad (or ad type) appears, then multiplying by 1,000. Let eCPM data help you decide which advertising type, layout and position work best for you.

Commissions / Affiliate links
Affiliate programs, such as Amazon.com's Associates Program, provided the first ways for early solo and small Web publishers to make a few bucks on their websites. In these programs, an online retailer will pay you, the publisher, a percentage on sales made after customers click through from your website to the retailer's site. Links can include traditional banner ads, search forms and links to individual products.

Because you only earn money when sales are made, affiliate programs will work best for you if your site's readers are consistently looking to make high-priced purchases -- for example, if you run a product review site. If you're interested in affiliate program, browse through merchant directories like Commission Junction and LinkShare to find retailers that offer products that fit your site's topic and audience.

Once registered with a merchant's program, you can create an ad or product link on your site using a snippet of Web code downloaded from the retailer. Some merchants go further and allow you to create virtual storefronts that match the design of your site, but where the retailer still handles all the inventory and commerce. Be careful setting up such arrangements -- unless you want customers coming to you for return and refund questions instead of to the retailer.

You'll want to note what percentage of a sale the retailer pays back to you, as well as the length of time after a sale that you get credit for the purchase. Some retailers limit credit to sales made on the initial click-through, but others will give credit for any sales made within a day or so. Also, some retailers will pay a commission on purchases you personally make after clicking your own links; others may kick you out of the program for doing that. Check a retailer's affiliate agreement and shop around for what you consider the best deal before putting links on your site.

Many publishers have found that links to individual products return more commissions than banner ads going to a retailer's home page. But the additional money those links earn might not be enough to justify the extra time that selecting and maintaining them requires.

Advertising networks
Most news websites earn the bulk of their money through advertising. But you don't need a sales staff to attract advertisers to your site. Ad networks can handle the sale and display of ads on your site. All you need do is drop a few lines of code into your Web pages where you want the ads to appear.

The most popular ad network for independent publishers is Google's AdSense program. AdSense is a "pay per click" (PPC) program, where you earn money each time one of your readers clicks on a Google-served ad. Since you earn money on clicks, rather than completed sales, PPC ad networks can provide a more reliable source of income for sites whose readers are not looking to make a purchase right away. Other notable PPC ad networks include the Yahoo! Publisher Network and Ad Voyager.

Most PPC ads are text, but some PPC networks also sell image and Flash ads. Ads are sold and displayed based on an auction system, where advertisers bid on selected keywords and phrases that appear on network websites. The ad network looks for webpages displaying its ad code, then matches what it determines the content of a webpage to be with the most appropriate keywords and phrases that advertisers have bid upon. The network then automatically weighs several factors in determining which ads to serve on the page, including the value of those bids; advertisers' remaining budgets for those bids; what percentage of readers have clicked on those ads in the past; and, in Google's case, the percentage of those readers who have made a purchase or read a designated number of pages on the advertiser's site.

Google's "Smart Pricing" program will adjust the amount paid to you for each click based on your readers' track record of making a purchase, or viewing a certain number of pages, on that particular advertiser's website. So if your site attracts motivated buyers, you remain in the best position to earn money.

Whatever you do, do not even think about clicking the ads on your site, or encouraging your readers to do the same. All PPC ad networks prohibit click fraud, and will boot from their program any publisher found to be inflating their number of clicks. Even well-intentioned discussion board participants can get a publisher booted from the program by encouraging other readers to click the ads to support the site. Google, for example, has suggested publishers concerned about their readers' conduct add this disclaimer to their site:

"Your postings to this site may not include incentives of any kind for other users to click on ads which are displayed on the site. This includes encouraging other readers to click on the ads or to visit the advertisers' sites, as well as drawing any undue attention to the ads. This activity is strictly prohibited in order to avoid potential inflation of advertiser costs."

If you don't think PPC ad networks will work for you because your site's target audience is defined by demographics, such as geography or a religious or political affiliation -- don't worry. Traditional ad networks such as BlogAds provide an alternative to the PPC networks. BlogAds sells its ads on a more traditional site-targeted model. Advertisers do not bid on keywords or phrases, but instead pay for their ads to be displayed a certain number of times on selected websites or groups of websites. BlogAds has become especially popular on political blogs, where advertisers can buy across a group of liberal or conservative weblogs.

Design to maximize online ad revenue

Since PPC ad networks target their ads primarily by topic, rather than geography or demographics, that makes these networks work better with niche topic websites than with sites that target their readers by geography or other demographics, such as gender, education, income or political affiliation.

For the system to work well for you, the PPC network's spiders must be able to determine a topic for each of your webpages and then must match keywords or phrases that advertisers have bid upon. That means the advantage goes to websites where each page covers a distinct and easily identifiable subject. So if you have a blog that covers a mishmash of topics on a single URL, you won't elicit the targeted ads that lead to high-paying clicks.

If you want to use PPC ad networks, organize your content to limit individual URLs to a specific topic. Break long blogs into individual entries. Archive old posts and stories by subject matter, not just by date and author. Stay active on discussion boards, keeping threads on topic and directing folks to more relevant pages should they stray toward other subjects. Use keywords in headlines, decks and URLs whenever possible. And spell out keywords, phrases and proper names on first reference, rather than using acronyms throughout the piece. (See, old fashioned copy editing rules *can* help you make money!)

Well-organized pages on individual topics also show up better in search engine results, attracting Web surfers curious about a specific keyword, who are more likely to click on a targeted ad. Publishers who create evergreen articles that are likely to attract a high number of links and clicks over time will do best in attracting search engine traffic to their ad-supported webpages. If you publish time-sensitive articles, which are not likely to have a long-enough shelf life to attract significant search engine traffic, consider swapping out or archiving articles on the same topic to a single URL, so that URL can get linked to and picked up in search results.

Where you place ads on a page affects how many of your users see them, and click. According to recent Google research, top performing ad formats include:

Large box ads placed in the middle of your main content column;
Skyscraper ads placed in a left-side column;
Leaderboard ads placed at the top and the bottom of the main content column.

Customize the ads' colors to match the background, type and navigational colors of your site, too, to eliminate "banner blindness" and maximize their visibility to your readers.

Then keep an eye on your ads to make sure that they remain relevant to your site. To a reader, ads -- like anything else on your pages -- are part of the content of your website. If an ad network fails to deliver consistently relevant ads, dump it and try something else. Respect your readers by not bombarding them with irrelevant advertising and they will respect you by continuing to read your site.

Think twice before installing pop-up, pop-under and screen "take-over" ads, too. Many readers steer clear of sites that block their access to the content they're looking for with aggressive advertising. Keep your website a safe haven for these ad-weary readers and you can build its audience over time.

How much traffic do you need?

With advertising, the more readers you have and page views you serve, the more money you can make. But how much traffic do you need to make a living from your website?

To make $36,500 a year, you'd need to earn $100 a day on your site (plus whatever expenses you incur). Let's assume your site is attractive to advertisers and earns $10 in ad revenue for every thousand page views. That would mean you'd need to serve 10,000 page views a day to meet this target. (And more if your site earns less than $10 per thousand page views.)

How can you attract that much traffic? If you are writing one article a day on subjects that will be out of date within 24 hours, it's going to be tough. You'll need to attract nearly 10,000 views each day for that's day article, since few people will bother reading your old, out-of-date work. If you write a fair number of "evergreen" features, which keep attracting page views long after they are written, you'll find the task much easier. If your site naturally deals with "perishable" news content, at least publish each day's new news to the same URL, overwriting or pushing down the old content, so that URL can build the in-bound links and search engine traffic that will help you attract new readers you need each day.

Reader-contributed content can also help you meet your page view goals. Well-managed, thoughtfully organized discussion boards and wikis can add dozens of new content pages a day to your site, with much less effort on your part than writing that many original articles.

Selling your own ads
If you don't want to share your ad revenue with a network, or if your site isn't the type to do well with PPC ads, you might consider selling space directly to advertisers.

First, you will need solid information about your site's visitors. Ultimately, what you are selling to advertisers is access to your readers, so you'd better know how many, and who, they are. A traffic tracking service like Google Analytics can provide accurate trafiic data that filters out hon-human traffic like search engine spiders and automated robots (which can account for up to 90 percent of a site's overall traffic). Make Money also provides reader tracking, along with some crude demographic information about your site's readers.

You should also consider conducting a survey of your readers, to get more detailed information about their demographics and behavior. SurveyMonkey provides easy-to-use tools to set up such surveys.

Once you have advertisers, you will need a system to serve and manage ads, such as OpenAds, as well as system to invoice your advertisers, such as Blinksale or PayPal. (PayPal's invoicing system does not require your advertisers to have a PayPal account, just a credit card.)

Set up a page on your site, linked from the header or footer, that provides data about your site's traffic and visitors, as well as a list of available ad packages. You might also provide a well-designed PDF version of the same data, as decision-makers often prefer "hard copy" versions of this information. (If you need free software to convert Word documents to PDFs, OpenOffice does this with a single mouse click.)

If your advertising page does not generate enough leads to support your site, you'll need to make cold calls to potential advertisers, via e-mail, phone or in person. You'll have the best luck with smaller businesses that do not place ads through agencies, but where the owner makes his or her own ad decisions.

Paid content
Given the variety and depth of information available on the Web, you have to provide truly unique content of high value to specific readers to get those readers to pay for it. The fact that a paid journalist wrote an article for you does not mean it's worth paying for to a reader. Detail-oriented publications such as Consumer Reports and Cook's Illustrated have had success selling the results of their independent testing online. And, of course, porn sites have been earning big bucks from paid content since the Web's earliest days. But general-interest publications, such as the Los Angeles Times, have found that walling off content to paid subscribers has generated less revenue than the company could have earned by selling advertising on freely available pages.

If you are certain that your content is unique and valuable enough that readers would be willing to pay for it, you'll need to select a way to handle payments from your readers. The system could be as easy as asking readers mail you a check in exchange for your putting them on e-mail content distribution list -- a method which offers the advantage of not requiring any advanced Web server security set-up. Or you could restrict access to certain folders on your website to readers whom you assign log-ins after they buy a subscription. Such restrictions are relatively easy to set up on Apache webservers. Payment can be handled manually via postal mail or phone, or automatically through an e-commerce storefront. (Many Web hosting packages include e-commerce storefronts.)

Sponsorships/Grants
Supporting a website through sponsorship or grants requires the least technical skill of these options, but the most interpersonal skills. You'll need to play the role of a salesperson, in addition to journalist and editor, in convincing a individual or organization to give you money to put up your site.

In either case, you'll need to identify individuals, or individuals within organizations, who might be willing to commit their money, or their organization's money, to your site. You'll need to make a written proposal, and often, an in-person pitch, and follow through until you secure your funding. Grants typically require a more structured application process than sponsorships, which can be sold through a formal solicitation or over drinks at the dinner table, depending upon whom you are working with.

How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site

2011-07-31T05:31:00.000-07:00

How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site

Ten Things You Can Learn from Google’s Success

2009-07-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

Ten Things You Can Learn from Google’s Success
Written by : Dhaval Doshi

Turning an idea into a business

Ideas are like sparks - they fly off in thin air. The challenge would be to convert the idea into a full-fledged project and commercializing it into a revenue generating business. When Google started off, they had an idea - one to make it easier for an Internet surfer to find precise information in the least possible time. Until the search engine had a lot of users, the company didn't know how it was going to generate the revenue to earn profits. Let alone profits, there was no business model in place to recover the costs! The idea struck to display advertisements next to search results. Google-owned sites that display ads generated revenues of $1.63 billion, or 60% of total revenues, in the third quarter of 2006. Additionally, its partner sites which also display Google Ads generated 39% of its total revenue - $1.04 billion. You may have an amazing idea to change the world or to serve a consumer gap, but where is the money? That's the million dollar question.

Superior Technology - Quality matters

Google as a brand wasn't built over a million dollar advertising budget. On the contrary, they did not advertise at all for their products services. The fact is that Google is superior. When they ventured into the Herculean task of downloading the entire internet and making the information available via a search engine query, they wanted it to be precise, easy-to-find and return exactly the information that a human would look for. No. They weren't pioneers. There were other search engine technologies at that time, but they were simply not that good with the results they got. If you are venturing into a business - quality matters.

Having things your own way

As a startup, Google had a major advantage - control over the business along with the required seed capital. Most businesses lose their liberty to venture capitalists. The control and focus of your business at its early stages is as important as the funds that the business needs at that time. Larry and Sergey, as founders cracked a winning deal with two of the most renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist firms. They had the advantage of having things their own way when it came to decision making since they didn't hire a CEO for long, thus, allowing the founders of the company to stick to their idea of commercializing the technology. As a startup, by getting to have your own way with the business gives you an edge.

Word of Mouth publicity

Marketing guru, Philip Kotler, gives reference to a study while emphasizing the effectives of word-of -mouth marketing for a product. More than 60% of the consumers in the study agreed that they made the purchase because one of their close relatives or friends had had a positive experience with the product. Google has never ventured into full-fledged mass media advertising of its search engine technology. For that matter, even the latest products are first tested by opinion leaders and then brought to the public through viral marketing tactics where a satisfied user invites another to use the service. Harnessing the power of word of mouth is indeed challenging considering the fact that tracing its success is a difficult task. In the Internet age, this too is not a problem though. Most companies fall prey to extravagant marketing budgets for mass media publicity with a marginal ROI. Why not interact with the consumer directly? Get your product/service tested and improvise it and let word of mouth marketing handle the rest.

Nurturing Innovation

Innovation sounds good in management books. Practically speaking, it loses its luster when the innovative idea starts to become a hindrance in the organization's focus. Google introduced a policy where an employee could spend 20% of his/her work time on his own ideas. Although, it sounded bizarre initially to traditional efficiency-hungry managers, it proved productive indeed. Some of the best products by Google came from the minds of its employees themselves - Google News, Orkut (an ever-growing online community) and many more. This was possible through nurturing of the project in its nascent stages by the founders. As the top management and decision makers of the organization, Sergey and Larry spent time looking at innovative products that could help them achieve their goal - make information available to users. Unlike many bureaucratic procedures that would hinder innovation in many organizations, it didn't take a lot of time for a project to get recognized as a fruitful one and gain funding by Google. As a business, the goal is not just in making profits, but also to innovate continuously in your field of expertise. Do you have a pet project? Are you up to date with the latest technologies that can help your business's future? In this age, it's not hard to get beaten up by competition because an innovative idea struck before you knew what was happening! The message is clear - Innovate and make it work for your business.

An honest brand image works - 'Don't be Evil'

Google is loved by users. The honest brand image they project is of an organization which is here to do good to the public at large. This has worked for Google. The very idea of projecting such a brand image makes them sound like a technological behemoth that is here to help the world in this age of 'Information overload'. Such a brand image allows them to still sound clean regardless of the number of lawsuits it's struggling with for all the wrongs it has done. Also there are other courtroom proceedings for copyright infringement which many of its users are not aware of. Moreover, it's not easy to give out all the information to the entire world – even that revealing strategic defense locations of a country! But still, Google is loved by the end-user because of the brand image it carries. Think of the PR that your brand does just by projecting its purpose!

Focus

Al Ries, well-renowned management guru, says, "Focus is Revolutionary. It goes against conventional thinking although it is extremely simple". At the end of the day, it's the focus of your company that matters. Google has a focus. The focus is Information. To narrow it down further, the focus is to provide accurate information in the least time possible and as accurately as possible. It follows its revenue generation model and seeks its feasibility in newer pursuits it ventures into. The Google Ad network gets greater exposure with its increasing partnership with external publishers (websites), as also its own pursuits - like Gmail. The focus remains the same here, in terms of generating revenue for its ever growing passion to provide information. If you have a focus in your business, you know what you want from a particular resource and you can chalk down a plan for an expanding business and yet retain its focus.

Company Culture

Employee Stock Options, Free Meals, 20% Work time for something you are passionate about. To work in an organization like this is like a dream come true. It not only suffices the basic needs of the employee, but also gives him the time to explore with his own ideas! In fact, this very thing has helped Google gain more attention in the media. The culture at Google has followed the founders' philosophy. They wanted Google to be the best place to work at. There is a lot that one can learn from Google's Human Resource Management practices - including placing strategic locations for placing food and refreshments!
Beat yourself before the Competition beats you
Competitive Benchmarking as a management practice of the traditional business. In this information age, you cannot stay at the top for long with cut-throat competition. Google states that it does not have competition. The statement implies that they work as per the needs of the user. They improvisation of products at Google gain more value by adding more features as per user feedback. The 'beta' version of most of its products are less for the purpose of measuring the performance of the product and more so for improvising the product as per user feedback. You can be the best in the industry if you listen to the end user rather than the competition. Improve your products even when you are at the top, before the competition pulls you down with something better for the consumer.

Think Big

To put it simply, Google has brought a revolution in this Internet Age not only for users but also for businesses across the world. The very reason why the Google Phenomenon is so hyped is because it has changed the way people use the Internet. When you think of it, this revolution started as a university project by two Stanford students! Thinking big and achieving it are two different things. But initially, it all starts with a thought doesn't it? So, think big, think something revolutionary. You ought to make money if you can change people’s habits in using your products. People don't search for information nowadays on the Internet, they simply Google it!

InfoMonetize disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Infomonetize.

Source:
http://www.chillibreeze.com/articles_various/working-at-Google.asp

Technology and Poverty

2009-07-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

Introduction

Today, technology is playing an increasingly important part in people’s lives. The Internet has revolutionized the access people have to information, and increased development in other technological sectors, such as telecom, have also produced change.

However, developing countries and the poor have largely been left out of this technology revolution. In some areas there is no phone access, let alone Internet access. Increasing access to information and technology can help poor individuals and families escape poverty.

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Technology and Poverty

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can greatly help the poor. They allow easier communication, create new economic markets, and allow greater access to information. Also, the ability to effectively use ICTs is quickly becoming a requirement to obtaining a high-paying job, regardless of location.

While the gap in ICT access between developed nations and developing nations is huge, much is being done to ease the passage of developing countries into the era of technology. This has worked in the past – the Green Revolution, which gave developing nations access to new farming techniques, increased food production in Southeast Asia exponentially. Now, organizations like the World Bank are funding programs to supply computers to rural schools in developing nations, train teachers in use of technology, and increase access to ICTs overall. One organization, called Practical Action, has the express goal of reducing poverty through technology, and pursues research and development programs in this area.

Technology can also open markets for poor individuals. Grameen Bank, working in Bangladesh, recently started a program that allows women to sell telephone access in rural areas without land lines. These women make almost three times the average per capita income, and also supply villages with a way to communicate with the outside world. Farmers, too, can benefit from technology – with Internet access, they can change the prices of their crops to reflect current values, and compete more effectively. As ICT access grows in developing areas with the work of the World Bank, Practical Action, and other organizations, poverty, in turn, will decrease.

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Sources

Bussolo, Maurizio. TECHNOLOGY’S CONTRIBUTION TO POVERTY REDUCTION? (PDF).

Education for the Knowledge Economy. 2006.

Practical Action: Information and Communications Technologies. 2006.

Science, Technology, and Innovation. 2006.

Yunus, Muhammad. ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: Alleviating Poverty Through Technology. Science. 1998.

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