In this world of economic recession who doesn’t want to make money? And making money while sitting home and writing topics which you like the most, is definitely an inviting offer. Why not avail it? In fact the best way to do so is by creating a blog of your own. There are countless web hosting websites which help you do that, some good ones which I can think about are www.wordpress.com or even www.blogger.com . The rest depends on you and what you want to do.

Making money online is certainly not a trivial job. Ask those who make small fortunes online and they’ll tell you that how much they had to do, in order to achieve their goal. There are people who start blogs, are active at first, but ultimately their blogs die down. Why does it happen? Is it that they’re not good enough? No! Some people who start blogs are much more educated and talented than those who are already the “kings of blogging”. The reason is that these people are not consistent and eventually loose heart when they’re blogs stop getting traffic.

“I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires………”—Abraham Lincoln

Hence, keeping in mind the above quote, everything dies or expires when it stops its struggle, just like water becomes stagnant when it stops running. Therefore, even your blog expires when you run short of ideas and stop posting on it due to any reason, it may even be laziness.

To create a successful blog, let me give you some tips:

• The main topic of your blog should be the one in which you’re most interested,
• Set up a goal at the start of your month,
• Use flagship blogs to attract traffic,
• Be short and concise in writing,
• What you write should be clear and easy to understand,
• Know your audience.

Apart from the above points one basic thing that you should keep in mind is that the niche that you choose for your blog should be the topic about which you’re most knowledgeable. It can be anything, from your hobbies to your work or simple writing. Use the above points to start a blog and use keywords in your blog in order to attract more traffic. if there comes a time when your blog receives less traffic or no traffic at all than do not loose heart, be determined and keep on writing, in the end you’ll surely achieve your goal.

Make your blog more informative. Add plug-ins to your blog to make it colorful and versatile. If you have multiple passions than you can always write about them. Rather than launching products, give your honest opinion about them and always “BE ORIGINAL”. Write about anything you can and want to write and keep on writing and there’ll be a day when your blog will be overflowing with money even more than you desired.

Guest post by Anil Gupta

Making money online is not too hard in today’s economy even if you have passion and will power to work hard. Here is the step by step process one can follow to start making money with a blog:

1. Start a blog – you must have a blog at least if you are aiming at earning some decent amount of money on internet. Create a blog around a topic you are most knowledgeable about and that people are interested in reading. You can use Google Trends service to see what people are actually searching most on internet recently. Once you have decided the topic for your blog, start a free blog on Blogger.com if you are new to blogging.

2. Seo friendly URL and Titles – if you are creating a blog about a particular niche, think of including any of your niche term in your blog URL. But try to limit your URL length to minimum. Because it will be ready difficult for your readers to remember your blog address if it contain lots of characters. Once you have decided a seo friendly URL for your blog, next comes your blog Title. Don’t forget to mention the keyword you want to target with this blog in your blog title.

3. Write articles – write some articles on your blog with an aim to target different keywords of your niche. You should first start with less competitive keywords and create articles around them. If possible, you should include videos and images in your articles to make your topic more understandable.

4. Submit your articles on social networks – Once Google cached down your latest articles, you should think of submitting some of your interesting articles on social network websites like Digg, Propeller, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Reddit. With these networks, you should aim at sharing your favorite stories with your followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook.

5. Google Adsense widgets - once you see some traffic coming on your blog from search engines, look for ways to monetize it. And when it comes about monetization, Google Adsense is everyone choice. If you already have an Adsense account, add Adsense widgets in your blog template where you want to show Google Adsense ads. And in case you don’t have an Adsense account, apply for one today with your best website or blog that you have.

Author Bio
Visit Anil Gupta’s scopeformoney.com blog for additional ways to make money online and in case you want to drive more traffic to your blog check 26 ways to bring traffic to your website.

If you’re looking to start an online business that revolves around a specific product, you need to know that you need to generate awareness and excitement among your target market to become successful. This is not just about letting your potential customers know that your products exist. It is making an impact that is big enough for them to take interest. The best way to go about this is to create huge publicity before your actual product launch. Listed below are steps you can follow to make sure you start selling your products as soon as they are available.

1) Develop Partnerships

Create a network with other entrepreneurs in your niche. Your partners can help you advertise your product as well as give you tips on how to approach your target market. You can offer them commission on sales so that you don’t need to shell out some money even before you earn anything.

2) Build Excitement Before the Launch

Be sure you make good use of all sorts of media to publish teasers and create buzz. You can publish videos, post in blogs, and attract attention in forums. Apart from getting your partners to help you promote your product, ask your friends and relatives to help you market it through word of mouth. You can also place a countdown timer on your site to encourage even more excitement for the day of your product launch.

3) Have a Proper Email Marketing Campaign

Allow people to sign up for updates on your website. This will give you an indication of how popular your offering has become even before it has launched. Keep in mind that each individual that subscribes to your list is already a potential customer. Provide them with free and useful information and continue to build up excitement through your emails. On the exact day of your product launch, you can send out another email to let them know that your product is already out for the taking. Try tracking which subscribers actually make a purchase as soon as you launch. After about a week or two, follow up on those who haven’t made a purchase.

You can also use your email marketing campaign to encourage your partners before and after your product launch. Since they have something to gain from the success of your online business, they wouldn’t mind getting follow ups from you. Just be sure that you treat them as partners and not employees.

It is impossible to have a successful product launch on your own especially if you are just a beginner and you still have no reputation to boast within your industry. If you don’t approach product launches correctly, you can easily end up with no sales or even no traffic to your website for weeks or even months after your products have been made available. You should welcome all the help you can get and follow time-tested tips to ensure success as soon as you launch.

While many people think the only way to make money online is to build your own website or blog and start from there, Piggy Bankin is one website in particular that bucks that trend.

Piggy Bankin is based off the concept of IFW’s, or Incentivized Freebie Websites. IFW’s are sites that provide special rewards, usually money, in exchange for you completing Free Trial Offers. In short, Piggy Bankin refers you to IFW’s where you spend a small amount of money (for shipping normally) on Free Trial Offers. Once you complete the necessary requirements on the site you are considered Piggy Bankin’s completed referral.

The IFW’s will then pay Piggy Bankin for you being their referral, and Piggy Bankin will then pay you a large percentage of that profit directly in to your PayPal account. They have a starter package with 3 IFW’s that can make you $100.

Just go to Piggybankin.com, fill out your name and email address; and you will receive full instructions on making your first $100.

There is no marketing knowledge or experience needed whatsoever. All you do is sign up for offers at the IFW’s and get paid!

The best part about Piggy Bankin is what happens AFTER you make your first $100. Once you complete the 3 websites in their initial email (which is sent when you sign up at Piggy Bankin for free) they will send you a HUGE list of IFW links that can profit you over $1000 along with various other perks. Piggy Bankin will offer advice on how to set up your own blogs and obtain your own referrals. The thing about IFW’s is you need to first complete the requirements on the site before you receive a referral link. So once you finish several sites on Piggy Bankin, you will receive your own referral links that you can make BIG cash off of.

Unfortunately Piggy Bankin is only for United States, Canada, and the UK at the moment.

Does Piggy Bankin really work?
As with all money making ventures online people are often hesitant due to being scammed frequently in the past. I can assure you that you will never run into this problem with Piggy Bankin. People are already using their system and getting PAID. You can have a look at the proof of payment posted at Piggy Bankin.

If you need some extra fast money, Piggy Bankin is a program that you should heavily consider. Piggy Bankin will show you the fast and easy way to earn your first $100 online. And once you earned the $100, I’m sure you’ll be interested to earn more. Thankfully, upon completion of the first 3 IFW’s you will receive over 15 more! Also, if you subscribe at Piggy Bankin you will receive frequent emails on even MORE ways to make money online.

Well folks the choice is yours, start making money online now with Piggybankin.com.

Right – thanks Hannah and Celia. I am back now so I will take the final slot and let you all know how it ended!

Day 5

• Peterborough – Lowestoft
• Distance Travelled: 115 miles (yes, that’s right, 115 miles)

It was a long hard slog over to the east coast, I didn’t finish until after nine in the evening. My motivation was to complete the task before the weekend so that myself and the ’support team’ could enjoy a little family time.

As it was so late I met with Lee Bromley from Submission Technology on the Saturday (they donated an absolutely amazing £500!)

Jason, Lee from Submission Technology and Support team

Unfortunately Darren Loud who heads up the affiliate team was off with the flu. I had planned to interview him for the blog so instead I caught up with Director, Neil Durrant on Monday. Here is his interview:

JB: You were the first cashback site in the UK. How long have you been running now?

ND: We launched in February 2003, so we have been operating for over six and a half years now.

JB: I understand that you have a lot of partner sites, who are they?

ND: Yes, strategically we are achieving growth by empowering key destination sites with a white-labelled cashback solution. We are currently working with GMTV, News International, Tiscali and numerous other partners. We have a number of exciting new partnerships to announce shortly, however the ink isn’t dry on those contracts yet!

JB: Have you hit any memorable milestones with member payouts?

ND:Our online cashback ticker has now surpassed the £115 million milestone. I’m proud that our little idea has turned into one of affiliate marketing’s greatest revenue drivers.

JB: How did the idea of cashback come about?

ND: At the time I was working in the affiliate space, providing consulting and promotional services for merchants. This was ‘back in the day’ before a dedicated UK affiliate network even existed. This time gave me the opportunity to thoroughly understand the space and identify what might and might not work.

JB: Any tips for our advertisers on how to get the best out of your site?

ND: Each advertiser has different opportunities that we can help them leverage. Our newspaper partner is also in a position to support promotional campaigns editorially, this allows us to produce a well-rounded cross media campaign to drive results. The best advice is to make contact with myself, Darren or Lee to allow us to explore how we can help!

Thanks very much Neil for your contribution and all of your support!

So…back to the trip. It is at this point that I would like to say thank you to a few people. Firstly I would like to say thanks to all the people who have donated to Kids Company – we have raised £1,265 so far – http://www.justgiving.com/CJ-goes-mobile/. Thanks very much – really appreciated

Next I would like to thank my support team (my wife) for all her support during the week. I kind of sold the trip as a week away as a family – well we all know that things turned out a little differently so thanks for your patience Helen.

I would also like to say thank you to CJ for supporting the idea in the first place. I have worked for a number of large organisations before and I can honestly say that it takes a business with a certain type of culture to back you when you request to engage our community with something a little different. In particular Hannah who organised most of the trip and content. On the note of working with good people please note that WE ARE RECRUITING – so if you want to work somewhere with an excellent culture then get in touch.

The most beautiful sign I have ever seen

So what did I learn on my travels?

• The UK is a most beautiful place
• ‘Miles’ are very underated. They go on for ages
• Plan every route! (better still get Doug to plan your route)
• Some people don’t know where they are, where they are going, or where they have come from
• When asking for directions if you don’t get an answer within a minute, walk away!!
• There are some really, really nice people out there – thanks Martin!
• Be nice to cyclists!
• Use Sudocream – it works, padded seats don’t!
• Be careful what you agree to when you are tipsy
• Don’t shout expletives at large blokes in white vans (who cut you up) in unknown territory and miles away from home
• Doug wears Y-Fronts:-)

Well there you go! Next year I plan to do the same and I challenge more of you to do what Doug did and join me for part of the route.

Last but by no means least I would like to thank my bike!

Hello everyone! As Hannah is on leave I have the dubious honour of sharing the latest installment from Jason’s adventure with you all. But before I pass over to Jason I’m going to grab my minute in the spotlight and introduce myself. My name’s Celia and I head up the PR over at Commission Junction (and across ValueClick) Right then, where was I? Oh yes Jason…

Wednesday’s report – in Jason’s words

• Leicester to Peterborough
• Distance – 42 miles

Day four was a very simple cycle route, no meetings booked for the morning so straight off we go, the only difference today was the weather – rain!!!!

Jason reaches Peterborough

The next morning…and an announcement

Shock horror…there is to be a slight change to the final leg of my journey. Don’t worry – the distance is still the same! But instead of stopping of in King’s Lynn on my way to Lowestoft I’ll be heading there direct – the distance will be 90 miles (ouch) it’s going to be a long day.

Why the change of plan? Well, its quite simple, I have no pre-booked meetings in Kings Lynn and as nice as an extra stop off would be in my adventure, having Helen and Eve move from hotel to hotel each day waiting for me isn’t as much fun for them as it is for me, so instead we are going to push on and try and finish the full distance today.

As my journey yesterday was relatively uneventful, I thought I’d brighten up this post with a few pictures of some of CJ’s furrier fans (my sister breeds Arabian horses http://www.lillyviewarabians.com/)

Jason with Arabian horses

Editors note: please excuse the bright blue horses eyes I assure you they are not possessed as they initially seem, the picture just needed brightening up and with that came the eyes!!

So the last stretch of Jason’s adventure is here 90 miles in a day – rather you than me Jason! I’ll update you on the final chapter this Monday…will he make it? Place your bets!!

We are recruiting for four positions in the UK office so if you are or know a brilliant person who can fill any of the following roles then please get in contact Cheryl on cingram@cj.com. Please, please don’t contact her if you’re a recruitment consultant as she will kill me!

• An experienced Sales Manager to work as part of our sales team to develop new business for Commission Junction
• An experienced Account Manager to work as part of the Commission Junction Agency team
• An experienced Account Executive to work across our portfolio of advertiser accounts
• A financial Accounts Assistant to join our finance team

Please get in touch if you can help!

The tally is at £1,225 for the Kids Company so far. Thanks to Elaine from AllKids for her generous donation. http://www.justgiving.com/CJ-goes-mobile/

Anyway – with no further ado let me hand over to Jason for Wednesday’s report

Wednesday’s report – in Jason’s words

• Lichfield to Leicester
• Distance – 40.1 miles (ahh that’s better)

After a tasty fusion curry in Lichfield the night before and some sleep I felt ready to take on today’s much shorter offering. Doug was waiting in his kit when I arrived as his team were working away on his many enterprises.

Jason and Doug at Doug's Office

As it was my third day cycling I felt like I was qualified to  give advice on how best to keep one’s behind from getting sore. The answer, which I will share with you all now is Sudocrem (which I luckily have in plentiful supply because of my 10 month old). Doug had obviously listened to my advice because he had bought his own ickle tub of it.

Jason and Doug setting off

Anyway – enough of that! We set off on a route that Doug had planned and I must say that this was a much better approach to cycling across England (editors note – hmmmm I would have thought that planning was fairly obvious actually Jase!). Instead of nightmare A roads and long windy roads that add 30 miles to your journey (sorry Martin) tis was a very pleasant B road cycle through Warwickshire and then onto Leicestershire.

We had agreed that this was not to be a race but instead to be a ‘bumble’ through the countryside and we did just that. I must say that this is a great way to have a meeting and it will go down as one of my best. We covered every topic you can imagine and pretty much chatted for the entire four hours. Something we decided on that regardless of whether you are an affiliate, a merchant, work in an agency or network – the one thing which makes people great in affiliate marketing is a slight tendancy towards OCD – to not be able to put something down until it is perfect.

What I will say is that Doug certainly knows his stuff and will always give advice and share knowledge. In his own words ‘you know how to find me, on my blog, the A4U forum – if you want to talk PM me!’ Now there is an offer!

We stopped for a bite to eat where I saw Doug do the most amazing thing. As soon as we sat down outside this cafe a big Golden Labrador started to bark ferociously at Doug. Rather like the film Crocodile Dundee Doug then proceeded to  (for want of a better word) ‘hypnotize’ the dog until he was practically rubbing its belly. It is official – Doug is a dog whispereer.

We ended the day with a 5 mile dowhhill ride to Leicester and then parted company. Thanks for cycling with me Doug – it was great spending the day with you

Jason and Doug at Leicester

Editors note – Doug has managed to buck the trend of the sweaty Jason ‘arm around’ and thrown his arm around him first, probably as a preventative measure. Good thinking batman!

Another day closer. Well done Jase and Doug. A special thank you to Doug for the day of non-drama. Undoubtabley without you he would have got lost.

Amazing – we have already exceded our £1,000 target and raised £1,050 for the Kids Company. Well done Jase and thanks to Julie Hegarty and Doug Scott for their generous donations yesterday http://www.justgiving.com/CJ-goes-mobile/ 

Jason is getting very tired but don’t panic! He is still going, cycling his little heart out. At the moment he has some company from Doug Scott which should keep his spirits bouyed. Here he is with Tuesday’s report.

Tuesday’s Report – in Jason’s words

• Sheffield – Lichfield
• Distance – 80ish (probably more as I lost count)

Tuesday started out much more smoothly then the day before. My meeting with Dominic Butterell and Nat Portman from Quidco started promptly at 9am at their offices.

Jason and Dominic

Here is a little bit of information from Quidco about their operations in Sheffield.

Hi, I’m Dominic Butterell and I am the Head of Quidco Member Support. The Member Support department is based in Sheffield and is made up of a team of dedicated and enthusiastic Customer Service Advisors dealing with member tickets and enquiries. We also have an experienced and knowledgeable payments team which invoice and apply payments to member accounts.

Fran Herrick and Natalie Portman are the Accounts Administration Managers and they each have a portfolio of affiliate networks – Natalie being responsible for the relationship between Quidco and CJ in respect of enquiries and SureShop. She works closely with CJ to provide a smooth and speedy journey for our members which is not always easy as the cashback process can be complex and long-winded on occasion.

At Quidco there is currently a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to streamline internal procedures and to agree deadlines and timescales with affiliate networks at the same time as revising our website in order to educate our customers and manage their expectations more effectively. All of this will result in the increased trust of our members which will benefit Quidco, affiliate networks and their merchants ”

Thanks Dominic – always interesting to hear what is happening in the world of Quidco.

After the meeting I set off towards Lichfield. Dominic and the city of Sheffield were kind enough to give me a parting gift – one MASSIVE, near vertical hill. Cheers for that!

It was quite an easy journey for around 20 miles until I hit the A38. I had thought I would be able to cycle along this in one straight line for 50 miles or so but this road was scary as hell.  I am talking a two-lane dual carriageway  populated by very large articulated lorries driving extremely fast and very close to me. I lasted about two miles and quickly realised that this was not a good idea.

I came off at the next exit and luckily saw another cyclist who I flagged down. His name was Martin and he was on his way home from work.  Martin very, very kindly pointed me to a cycle route which would take me to Lichfield so we set off only to realise that I had a puncture. Martin waitied patiently and not only pointed me in the direction but, as we were passing his house anyway, invited me in to check my bike was working properly.

His wife and daughter were as nice as Martin himself and made me feel really welcome although I am sure that they thought I was an absolute lunatic. I was given a nice drink, new inner tubes for my bike and Martin then cycled with me to route 54 on the National Cyclist Network.  Thanks a million Martin!

Editor’s note – thanks very much for looking after our Jason. I see that he rewarded you with a nice sweaty arm around the shoulder – lucky you! Anytime you are in London just pop into the CJ offices and we will return the favour!

Jason and Martin

After I left Martin I went along the road he suggested which was much much easier. However whilst it was a great deal safer it wasn’t as quick as the deadly A38 so I finally arrived in Lichfield at 9pm. I had been cycling for eight hours. I was tired but it was nothing a good curry couldn’t sort out

Good man! Hear more of Jason’s tales tomorrow at the same place.

Guest post by Jason VanTrees

When considering how to choose the best web hosting to use for making money online, there are some important things to consider. One should make sure that the web hosting of choice provides all the tools, resources, and value to use when creating money making web properties.

Benefits of Having Good Web Hosting

When marketers look for the best web hosting plan available to host their web properties, they should make sure it is fully equipped with the resources needed. Things to look for would include unlimited bandwidth, disk space, email addresses, add-on domains allowance, FTP Accounts, MySQL Databases and such. Along with so many unlimited options, there should also be access to well designed website templates to use on all your domain names hosted along with a Control Panel (Cpanel) loaded with useful features.

Web Hosting Coupon Codes and Guarantees

When it comes to valued and honorable web hosting, there are hosting companies available that go the extra mile by offering discount and promotional codes for new and even sometimes existing customers. One would also find that some web hosting companies will back there services up with full refund money back guarantees. By providing the customer with such value like these just goes to show how confident they are about their web hosting services.

If you are serious about creating web properties such as blogs, landing pages, forums, and websites towards making money online, using the best hosting company that will provide everything needed at a reasonable price to get started is very important. Choosing a good host provider to help ease the stress of setting up your web properties can allow you to concentrate more time on promoting and getting traffic to your web properties.

Author Bio
Jason VanTrees is an affiliate marketer who uses the Hostgator Baby web hosting package to host many of his profitable web properties. He recommends using Coupon Code ‘hgc25′ to get $9.94 off your new hosting purchase when signing up for Hostgator’s Baby web hosting plan as a new customer.