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Your Site Logs Can Help You Make A Ton Of Money

Im a busy guy. I own several traditional brick and mortar businesses, and I spend a lot of time online. Since last month Ive been spending a lot of time working on this blog and re-orienting myself on the Net.

So every morning I let my four dogs out, grab a cup of coffee and toast a bagel, then run upstairs and get on my computer. Some days I need to be out of the house at 9:00 AM to get somewhere, and some days I have nothing but time. Either way there are three things I do every morning after looking over my emails. First I go and post an article to five different article sites. This ensures that a steady stream of new one-way links to this website is being produced.

Then I go to my RSS reader and poke around for a while on the forums and blogs to see what is going on. I keep a notebook next to my computer and write down anything that I think I can use later. Then I get to the most interesting and important part of the morning I go to my awstats page.

Awstats is a basic site log analysis program that comes with most host accounts. Ive always wondered how accurate the hit counts and other numbers really are, but that doesnt matter because Im not looking for countsIm looking for trends.

Reviewing and understanding your site traffic logs can help you make more money by tailoring your site to meet the needs of your visitors.

The first place I stop is my average page counts by day of week. Ive noticed on AffiliateBlog that the traffic starts off strong on Monday, builds through Wednesday, then starts to trail off. Theres a small spike Saturday morning, but its a classic bell curve otherwise. What does this mean? It means that if I have something that I think is going to be well received I try to publish it on Sunday and get my pinging done for Monday. Ive also noticed that my RSS Feed subscribership follows the same pattern. This all makes sense, because people start off the week strong and end it tired including me.

I breeze by the countries and note the flags because I think its cool. Next I stop at the section that shows the robots visiting the site. I make sure all of them have been there recently (especially Google), and I make a note if it looks like something is not right. I recently realized that one of the minor robots had never visited, so I went to the site and submitted a listing. If youre curious about all the robots out there, go to Robotstxt.com and take a look. Make sure the major robots on the list have visited your site in the last month. If not, you need to get them there. Ive noticed that MSN, Yahoo and Google (in that order) visit my site the most. You need regular robot visits to ensure your latest content is indexed and available to prospective visitors.

Now we get to the fun part the list of the most-viewed pages. This tells you which content people are most interested in, and which content isnt really making the grade. The most popular post on AffiliateBlog has been The Ten Top Paying Programs at Commission Junction This Week. Oddly enough, a similar post about Shareasale is much farther down the list, meaning that people want to hear about top paying programs, but they want to hear about Commission Junction as well. I always watch for posts that climb up the line fast, and I always take note of them to brainstorm another entry that my visitors might like.

I get some search engine traffic but not much, so I glance at the keywords. Judging by some of the keywords that appear there, this section isnt very accurate.

Still there? Okaylisten up. Heres where you can really multiply your traffic, find some compatriots to work with and get some terrific insights into the minds of your visitors. Move down to the section that shows the external web sites that people are coming from. Understandthis is where your visitors saw something about you and clicked on it.

Go through this entire list. I look for blog sites, web sites, social bookmarking sites (like del.icio.us) and forums that have not appeared before or have moved up fast. I click on the link and see where it leads. Then I see the context in which my website appears.

Just as I do for people who trackback my blog (refer to it in their blog), I follow each link, get an email address and send off a quick email to the person thanking them for taking the time to mention my site. Nothing fancy just a quick thanks is fine.

The responses I get back are terrific. I would say that a large majority of them (80% probably) are responded to with amazement that I would take the time to acknowledge their actions. But why wouldnt I? If someone takes the time to recommend you the least you can do is acknowledge that recommendation and be grateful for it.

I love the site list because I find out some really interesting things. For example, my trackback to Googles blog when they bought Writely was actually listed on the Google blog page and brought me some traffic. And I was on the front page of del.icio.us for a little whilelong enough to get some hits that way too. Its really interesting, and its really fun to go through. SighI am a dork.

One last observationI noticed that the people bookmarking my page hovers between 7 – 10%, which isnt bad. My RSS feed list at Feedburner hovers at about the same range throughout the month, meaning that more people bookmark the site than sign up for RSS feeds. Ive pondered this all month, and Ive decided that a large majority of my visitors dont use RSS regularly. Thats why the new crimson box at the top of my blog pages has appeared today. I put together an email version of my RSS feed in digest form that Im going to make available weekly.

So theres a ton of information out there in that log file you just need to go over it carefully and think.

You might not think twice about how much energy you are conserving or wasting in your home – until you get your gas or electric bill.

With energy prices continuing to skyrocket from year to year, and utility companies passing along the costs to their customers, many homeowners are starting to take a harder look at ways to protect their pocketbooks.

A few simple steps now can go a long way toward reducing your energy costs and keeping them low for the foreseeable future. The following tips provided by Comfortex BlindCrafter Centers will help you conserve energy in your home and save money on your heating and cooling bills.

* Install insulating window treatments like Comfortex Cellular Shades. These innovative window treatments trap air between the shade and window, which in turn keeps warm air from escaping through your windows during the winter, and keeps hot air from entering your home during the summer.

* Caulk cracks and holes in your windows or install weather stripping to ensure that no cold or hot air escapes.

* During the winter, allow those rare sunny days to warm your house by opening window shades and blinds, but remember to close them at night.

* Install storm windows. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, storm windows can reduce heat loss through your windows by up to 50 percent.

* Move furniture away from the heat source. Blocking a vent makes the system work harder.

* Keep your fireplace damper closed when not in use.

If you are in trouble and need help with your debt, there are various debt help services from which you can choose. Whether your debt is more than you can handle or you just want to find a way to lower the interest that you are paying each month, there are services that can give you the help that you need. Many of these debt services offer debt counseling, loans, and debt negotiation.

Debt Counseling

Debt counseling is a popular debt service. It is all the more important with the new personal bankruptcy laws. Your creditors have a vested interest in having you seek credit counseling before you decide to declare bankruptcy.

These services are usually nonprofit, and can help teach you how to manage your money and deal with your existing debt. Many times, they provide a counselor that will work with you on your specific case. Debt counselors help you to find solutions that will help you lower your debt. They also work to help you pay off your debt more quickly.

If you decide to go with debt counseling services, you may want to check out the company before you become involved or give them any money. You can check with the Better Business Bureau to see if their are outstanding complaints against the company. You also want to know how they handle these complaints.

Check the online forums to see how others have rated their services. Remember there are various companies that promote scams on the Internet. So be sure to check the company out thoroughly before using their services.

Loans

Other debt services that are available to many people are various loans. There are debt consolidation loans and home equity loans that can help you to bring down your debt and pay it off gradually.

When you are looking at loan services, you want to look for a loan that has an interest rate that is lower than you are already paying. Do not be afraid to compare various loan from different companies. This is often the best way to deal with your debt if you have the choice.

Debt Negotiation

There are professional companies that offer debt negotiation services as well. These services can help you lower debt by having a staff member negotiate a deal with your creditors for you. They can aslo negotiate a payment plan that is more reasonable and manageable.

Often, these services can help you lower the interest on high interest credit cards so what you are paying each month will go more to the principal of what you owe. Often, debt negotiation can result in you being able to pay off your debt in a lump sum by reducing your total debt.

These methods of debt help all offer great benefits if you will take advantage of them. If you are in debt and need help getting out of it, consider the many debt help services. These services help you manage your financial state of affairs, and allow you to get your life back on track.

Why Affiliate Marketing Can Help You Make Extra Money At Home

If you dont have products of your own but still want to get rich quick, the answer is affiliate marketing. Through affiliate marketing you can start a lucrative business and start to make extra money at home!

How does affiliate marketing works

Affiliate marketing relies on a very simple concept to make extra money online. The idea is to promote the products and services of another company by using your own site. So even if you dont happen to have products of your own, you can still act as a medium for other companies. This has been proven to be a great way to make extra money online without hurting your budget. Basically you will need to refer customers to your affiliate companys products. You can do this through reviews, opinions, direct references, short articles etc. With every reference you will include a link or a banner ad that directs the customer to the affiliate companys site and thus start to make extra money online. Through every sale that gets made, you earn a good commission. Thus it presents a great way to make extra money at home. Some affiliate schemes even allow you to earn a commission for every click that happens. So even if the sales dont happen with every click you earn a commission!

Reasons affiliate marketing works

Affiliate marketing has literally stood the test of time. Since ages people have been using the marketing technique to make extra money online. There are many reasons that can be attributed to its immense success. For starters, there is no initial investment required because most of the affiliate schemes these days are provided free of cost. There is virtually no risk involved because you have nothing to lose as an affiliate marketer. This method allows you to make extra money at home without incurring any risk. Even if the affiliate company doesnt make a sale through your referral, if the customer clicks on your referred link, it can still earn you a way to make extra money at home in some cases. Another great reason to go for affiliate marketing is that it doesnt require you to have products of your own. This way you can make extra money online without actually owning any products. By simply referring other companies products you bring in the money in a very short time span.

Good incentives

One reason why people have been drawn to affiliate marketing is because of the incentives that are offered. This provides for a great way to make extra money at home while your site does your work for you! Usually the commission percentages are quite high which again provides for a great way to make extra money online. Best of all most affiliate companies will provide you all training and support, as well as advertising tools to succeed. Some even offer an incentive to join!

The Internet is full of people who have made it big with affiliate marketing. Now its your turn. Why sit back and wait for someone else to become the next millionaire. Do something about it! Check out Make Extra Money Online now.

Imagine for a moment going into a financial institution – such as a bank – and not having to stand in line to wait, or be made to fill out endless paperwork only to have someone look down at you and tell you that you aren’t qualified or don’t have enough assets for the loan you need. Imagine how good it would feel to be able to get the small amount of money you need without having to deal with the faceless banks, or the wrath of your relatives. Now stop imagining it and start discovering the great service and hassle-free way payday loan services operate.

We all have times when we need a small loan for an emergency. Things happen in life, and as much as we’d like to anticipate them and have a lot of money set aside, many of us know that simply is not possible. We also know that when you have a financial emergency is the time when the banks and other lenders don’t want to deal with you. Why does it seem the banks only want to help you out when you have money and not when you need money? Doesn’t make much sense does it?

Besides, who wants to go through all the hassle of dealing with a bank – the paperwork, the waiting, the endless cycle of sign here, call this number, etc. Besides, most banks don’t even want to deal with people who need small loans – they only want to go after the big sharks, those with a lot of money who want more money.

Payday loan companies solve all of these problems and more. They offer quick, hassle-free ways to get small loans to help you get through your cash emergency and get you back on the road to financial freedom. They don’t quiz you on what you need the money for, or tell you that you should have planned better – they are simply there to help you!

In fact, payday loan companies have some of the best customer service in the financial industry. Most of their office locations are staffed with helpful, knowledgeable folks who can walk you through the process. Or, if you prefer, you can take the modern, convenient approach of using an online payday loan service that can take you less than 10 minutes to complete the entire application and acceptance process! The very next day, in most cases, you’ll have the money waiting for you in your bank account and you never had to leave your house to do it.

When it comes to the application – it’s one of the simplest you will ever see. Usually you can complete a payday loan application in less than 10 minutes. They don’t need to know all your financial secrets, just some basics. A quick verification process – usually completed automatically – and it’s all wrapped up and you are on your way in no time flat!

So if you are in need of some financial assistance to get you through until payday comes around, and you don’t want to deal with unnecessary paperwork and hassle, check out the payday loan companies. They pack a lot of financial help in a very small package!

Your Site Logs Can Help You Make A Ton Of Money

Im a busy guy. I own several traditional brick and mortar businesses, and I spend a lot of time online. Since last month Ive been spending a lot of time working on this blog and re-orienting myself on the Net.

So every morning I let my four dogs out, grab a cup of coffee and toast a bagel, then run upstairs and get on my computer. Some days I need to be out of the house at 9:00 AM to get somewhere, and some days I have nothing but time. Either way there are three things I do every morning after looking over my emails. First I go and post an article to five different article sites. This ensures that a steady stream of new one-way links to this website is being produced.

Then I go to my RSS reader and poke around for a while on the forums and blogs to see what is going on. I keep a notebook next to my computer and write down anything that I think I can use later. Then I get to the most interesting and important part of the morning I go to my awstats page.

Awstats is a basic site log analysis program that comes with most host accounts. Ive always wondered how accurate the hit counts and other numbers really are, but that doesnt matter because Im not looking for countsIm looking for trends.

Reviewing and understanding your site traffic logs can help you make more money by tailoring your site to meet the needs of your visitors.

The first place I stop is my average page counts by day of week. Ive noticed on AffiliateBlog that the traffic starts off strong on Monday, builds through Wednesday, then starts to trail off. Theres a small spike Saturday morning, but its a classic bell curve otherwise. What does this mean? It means that if I have something that I think is going to be well received I try to publish it on Sunday and get my pinging done for Monday. Ive also noticed that my RSS Feed subscribership follows the same pattern. This all makes sense, because people start off the week strong and end it tired including me.

I breeze by the countries and note the flags because I think its cool. Next I stop at the section that shows the robots visiting the site. I make sure all of them have been there recently (especially Google), and I make a note if it looks like something is not right. I recently realized that one of the minor robots had never visited, so I went to the site and submitted a listing. If youre curious about all the robots out there, go to Robotstxt.com and take a look. Make sure the major robots on the list have visited your site in the last month. If not, you need to get them there. Ive noticed that MSN, Yahoo and Google (in that order) visit my site the most. You need regular robot visits to ensure your latest content is indexed and available to prospective visitors.

Now we get to the fun part the list of the most-viewed pages. This tells you which content people are most interested in, and which content isnt really making the grade. The most popular post on AffiliateBlog has been The Ten Top Paying Programs at Commission Junction This Week. Oddly enough, a similar post about Shareasale is much farther down the list, meaning that people want to hear about top paying programs, but they want to hear about Commission Junction as well. I always watch for posts that climb up the line fast, and I always take note of them to brainstorm another entry that my visitors might like.

I get some search engine traffic but not much, so I glance at the keywords. Judging by some of the keywords that appear there, this section isnt very accurate.

Still there? Okaylisten up. Heres where you can really multiply your traffic, find some compatriots to work with and get some terrific insights into the minds of your visitors. Move down to the section that shows the external web sites that people are coming from. Understandthis is where your visitors saw something about you and clicked on it.

Go through this entire list. I look for blog sites, web sites, social bookmarking sites (like del.icio.us) and forums that have not appeared before or have moved up fast. I click on the link and see where it leads. Then I see the context in which my website appears.

Just as I do for people who trackback my blog (refer to it in their blog), I follow each link, get an email address and send off a quick email to the person thanking them for taking the time to mention my site. Nothing fancy just a quick thanks is fine.

The responses I get back are terrific. I would say that a large majority of them (80% probably) are responded to with amazement that I would take the time to acknowledge their actions. But why wouldnt I? If someone takes the time to recommend you the least you can do is acknowledge that recommendation and be grateful for it.

I love the site list because I find out some really interesting things. For example, my trackback to Googles blog when they bought Writely was actually listed on the Google blog page and brought me some traffic. And I was on the front page of del.icio.us for a little whilelong enough to get some hits that way too. Its really interesting, and its really fun to go through. SighI am a dork.

One last observationI noticed that the people bookmarking my page hovers between 7 – 10%, which isnt bad. My RSS feed list at Feedburner hovers at about the same range throughout the month, meaning that more people bookmark the site than sign up for RSS feeds. Ive pondered this all month, and Ive decided that a large majority of my visitors dont use RSS regularly. Thats why the new crimson box at the top of my blog pages has appeared today. I put together an email version of my RSS feed in digest form that Im going to make available weekly.

So theres a ton of information out there in that log file you just need to go over it carefully and think.

Can you imagine anyone paying you good money for your photos? No? You know, I had all those photos from a recent trip to Rome, Italy, laying around and I thought it should be possible to make a few bucks off of them. First, I couldn’t think of a way to market or sell those images but then I discovered micro stock sites.

Micro stock sites are great: You register (it’s free) and then upload a few sample images. After your samples passed an initial review you start uploading and making money.

Let’s look how this works in detail:

Stock photography

What is stock photography? Imagine someone is creating a website about healthcare. To beef it up they want a few images of doctors, nurses, operating theaters and the like. Rather than hiring a photographer (sending him on “assignment” as it’s called in the business) which can be very expensive the designer decides to use stock photos, i.e. images that are readily available. Usually stock images are much cheaper than “bespoke” photos. So our designer would visit one of the established stock image sites and browse around a little until she finds some nice healthcare related imagery. After paying up (usually at the tone of $100 per image or higher depending on the use) she downloads the photos, puts them on the website and calls it a day.

Micro stock sites vs. traditional agencies

With a traditional agency our designer likely spent between $500 and $1,000 for half a dozen images of doctors, nurses and stuff like this. That’s small change if you are a Fortune 500 company, but what if you are on a budget or doing website design for a friend or a non-profit organization?

Enter micro stock agencies. Micro stock sites have stirred up the traditional market for stock photography over the last three years. What’s the idea here? Rather than charging $100 or more for a photo, on many of those sites you can get high quality images for less than $10, sometimes as low as $1!

With a payout of perhaps 25 to 50 cents per image this is not very attractive for professional photographers but an amateur can make decent money this way and should at least be able to finance her hobby. And remember, this is the Internet we are talking about: Make it up on volume. 25 cents per image downloaded may not sound like much but if you have several hundred or even a thousand decent and usable images, all of them submitted to the big micro stock sites even a paltry 25 cents per download can add up nicely.

What you need

Most micro stock agencies have the same requirements: You’ll need at least a four Megapixel camera (more is better, although you’ll be fine with between six and eight Megapixels), your images should be free of noise, properly keyworded and should picture sought after subjects. For example, good selling images are business or healthcare related or illustrate a concept or an emotion such as love, relationships, carreer and the like.

You Need Ebay Auction Software To Make Money Through Ebay

There is not much that is needed for starting an eBay online auction business. Besides the right eBay auction software, you also need to have a computer, an internet access and of course, an eBay account. You also need to have a PayPal account as many buyers prefer making payments in credit cards. And if you have PayPal with you, you are sure to find an increased demand for the products on your eBay auction site.

EBay has revolutionized the concept of online auctions. And to help you hold auctions much more easily and conveniently, eBay programmers have come up with various eBay software. You find eBay auction software like accounting auction eBay software, eBay checkout, eBay listing software, eBay api and eBay etailsolution software.

EBay etailsolution software are available from many eBay certified developers and companies. Channel Advisor is a great source for eBay etailsolution software which is used by many powersellers. You find lots of ecommerce applications offered here like listing automation, inventory management and customer service management. With Andale, you find many email management and listing management tools.

Infopia is an eBay certified developer that is a listing automation and inventory management software solution. In Marketworks, you find a new eBay etailsolution software that includes international listing and sales automation software to be used in eBay and other marketplaces.

In Wholesale Marketer, you find an eBay certified wholesale drop ship leader where you are offered access to over 90,000 wholesale products for auction. Here you find a reliable source of drop shippers where you can first try out their services, and then subscribe to it as a paid member. As the name implies, the eBay certified developer Drop Ship Source Directory is a directory of wholesalers and drop shippers. You also find a market research tool here with lots of free informational products on online businesses.

You Make The Money – Let Someone Else Sweat The Small Stuff

Most people with an entrepreneurial spirit are looking for the right opportunity for them. Many of them end up jumping from opportunity to opportunity, never really settling in on the system that will work good for them in their own particular circumstances. One of the main problems with these types of opportunities is that they look good on the outside but on the inside they are full of unrealistic dreams and just far too much work for the average person to be able to do. That is why in order for you to actually make money realistically in today’s marketplace, it is necessary for you to be able to start up a business and let somebody else take care of most of the work for you. It truly turns into a win-win situation. But does such an opportunity actually exist?

15 years ago, nobody would’ve thought that you could sit at home, behind your own personal computer and reach an audience that was almost unlimited in size. Most people that do have a basic understanding of how business and the Internet work, realize that it is not only a possibility, it is truly a reality. Any good business opportunity is going to make use of the Internet but not in the same way as many of the opportunity hopping systems make use of it. The Internet is commercial in nature, and it certainly is possible for you to build a successful, long term business by using it. By going with the proper system, you will be able to build your business by piggybacking on the strengths of those who both started and maintain the system to the benefit of everyone involved.

Automation is really the key when it comes to Internet marketing. Although there is some work involved, any good online home based business opportunity will take on the bulk of the work involved. There are so many different scripts and automated systems that can not only help you to understand how the business works, it can also put it on autopilot for you. The true leaders in these businesses know that they must take on the bulk of the work in order for their members to be successful. That helps you to be able to start your business and to maintain it in the time frame that you have available. They will be able to take care of everything from getting new leads to selling to those leads for you. Once you are in the system, the entire process should be fully automated.

Don’t fall for the marketing tactics of fly-by-night online business opportunities. Success can certainly be yours by choosing an opportunity that will not only fit in with your lifestyle, it will be able to help you with the process as you need it. In this way, you will be able to build yourself a successful business and to progressively grow it around your own existing schedule. Small successes feel good, large successes feel great and build you a future that you can actually see.

That’s right, you can’t make money on eBay until you learn the secrets of selling on eBay. When it comes to making money from home, one of the first places that people turn to is eBay. The only problem is that to make money on eBay, you must be a successful seller. There are a number of steps that you can take to become that successful eBay seller.

If you have ever dreamed of having an internet business, ebay has to be one of the easiest ways of achieving your dream. There is a lot to be learned and you won’t achieve success overnight. However, through hard work and determination you will make that dream come true to become a successful ebay seller.

Okay, here’s the thing about selling on eBay. It’s true, you can very easily start your own home-based eBay business with very little money and nothing more than a garage full of things you no longer want. But wait… Just how much money are you going to make, based on the amount of time you have to invest to create your auctions and the cost to ship them. Is it going to be $5 a hour, $20 a hour or $50 a hour.

If all you want to do is to empty out the garage and or basement and make a couple of hundred dollars that’s fine but if you want to develop an ongoing full or part time eBay business then you have better have a good understanding of what you are getting yourself into. Don’t think you can drop ship your way to some six-figure income either. I’m not saying it can’t be done but it won’t happen by hooking up with some drop shipper and start selling the same items that a hundred other sellers are selling.

You need to learn what sells and for how much, how to find a niche where there is less competition, learn how to make money on the back end of your sales, how to stay in touch with your customers to keep them coming back every week without spamming them.

Make sure you take advantage of every tool ebay gives you. Do you know what one of the most valuable tools ebay gives you and how to use it? It’s the About Me page. This is the only page on ebay that you can really call your own. This page can set you apart from your competition. Use it…

One last thing. Remember you are in business to make money. It is very easy to sell something on ebay if you have the lowest price. But are you making a profit selling at the lowest price? Most ebay buyers are very smart and will pick you clean if you are giving your stuff away. They will end up with a great deal and you will end up with no money in your pocket.