Can anybody make money from a free site?

[Tropical]

Hey folks, I am new to this forum stuff, I just became a member today. I am a newbie as you can see, and I am interested in venturing into becoming an affiliate to someone or company. I have a full time job , so I just want to earn some extra income. I have decided to try the dating market. Am I doing something silly? Is this a good way to wet my feet in the internet business? What is the best business for a newbie to start? what affiliate products , services, products realy bring in the money? Friends I would prefer responses from persons with experience and not persons promoting some get rich schemes or whatever!. People if you you can show me a way to begin to earn at least $500 US, $500 Gbp or $500 EUROS, you will make me a very happy man , why , because for my monthly income I earn a little over $500 US a month. I know some of you are saying no way. Yes that is so. Ok I am from a little island in the Caribbean and the Us Dolars and UK pounds has high value. I am seeking guidance anyway, I do not want to be a security guard for the rest of my life, you know, I am very ambitiuous and can dedicate at least 30 hrs a week to promote a good product or service. Let me say I do not have the dollars to advertise, I know how important that is , so what are some free methods of promoting my website and please guys /ladies criticise, the site , tear it up, I want to know how I can improve and make it better. So below is my first website.. Thanks in advance . i will be checking back to see the replies and responses... so here again is my first site
http://www.freewebs.com/successfuldating/

[Cedric]

People if you you can show me a way to begin to earn at least $500 US, $500 Gbp or $500 EUROS, you will make me a very happy man


I am very ambitiuous and can dedicate at least 30 hrs a week to promote a good product or service.

1. Spend your first 120 hours learning Search Engine Optimization.

2. Spend your next 30 -60 hours researching what profitable products are not highly competitive in the major search engines.

3. Spend your next 30-60 hours building a web site around the selected products/merchants.

4. Spend your next 60 hours developing link exchanges for that site.

5. Once your site has been listed in the major SEs, spend your next 5 hours determining how well you did. If you did well, go to step 6. If you did not do well, spend your next 60 hours re-learning SEO and tweaking your pages -- repeat as needed.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 as often as needed.

I can tell you that online casinos, loan services, insurance services, and more are highly profitable. That does NOT mean you will be successful in them or that you need them to be successful -- and they are certainly NOT fields I would recommend for a beginner (way too competitive).

Beyond that, successful affiliates are not going to tell you which merchants are profitable for them -- you are the competition. There is a LOT of help to be gained on the various affiliate and SE forums, but there is a LOT more homework you must do on your own.

[Tropical]

Hey cedric, I do appreciate your timely suggestions, but where can I lean about SEO's and those other stuff you mentioned? Thanks again...

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Cedric for a very realistic and well done summary.

Cedric knows what he's talking about, so follow the advice. There is a LOT of work and learning involved in order to be successful. Many affiliates never make money because they try to short cut the learning and work and just throw up some banners. Then cry foul - affiliate marketing does not work!
Liek any business with a strong upside for income, there is lots of work, time and skill that needs to come to play before the money will kick in.

Best of luck and come back with more questions as you get going.

[Cedric]

Hey cedric, I do appreciate your timely suggestions, but where can I lean about SEO's and those other stuff you mentioned?

One change: spend your FIRST five hours doing some research on where to learn all of the above (it can be found via any SE). Report back here on what you've found and I'll be happy to point out what I think are valuable resources (and maybe add a source or two).

[Tropical]

Cedric, I found some articles on google and I will report back here , in a few days time.

[jackson992]

Also, keep doing #4 daily if you want to rank on Google:)

[Gary Golden]

Get your self a "Domain Name" and hosting as if you are going to do the work build a name that will give you true long term value. Do not host your site on a free server as hosting is cheap enough these days.

Optimization is an ongoing process and not something to be done once and forgot about, it needs to be done on an as needed basis.

In order of importance:

1. Site Design
2. Optimization
3. Domain Name
4. Hosting

Then a lot of work on top of it and each day is a learning experience. The above post is a good starting ground! You need all of the above to SUCCEED, or course if you have high speed you can host your own site, though I choose to use someone else.

[Tropical]

The expert advice I have recieved from you folks cannot be mentiond in any known value. I must dsay however ,it is very daunting, there is so much material to read.But I am just beginning a journey of success.

[Tubby]

nobody mentioned, that having read everything, and learned from everything you read. Make your site original. What I mean to say is, when you have decided what type of site you need, look at your competition and ask yourself how can I do this better.
it is after all the people that will use your site that are far more important than the search engines in the long run. I use webproworld four or five times a week, the address was emailed to me, and I have never made a search on any engine for 'webmaster forums', (I never thought I needed one) It is this site that brings me here (Its usefull). . not google,

[homenotion]

Finding products that are profitable with out much competition has been a tricky one for me. I've found that when looking for search terms (I use overture) that the term should be within the 10,000 to 30,000 range for a search count. Anything higher may result in too much competition. Next you have to find someone selling that product that has an affiliate program. Lots of time can go into that as well. If you find an affiliate program be sure to read their agreement terms. Some are not as good as others and you don't want to be struggling to get paid.

Hope that helps.
ELizabeth
www.pro-marketing-online.com

[Tropical]

I would like to know why are the so call "affiliate gurus" so affraid of actually showing their sub-affiliates how to be as successful as they are. I mean you will go to their site and sign up and so forth because of some offers promised and then you will end up paying for sometimes, worthless tips and advice. That is the reason why I decided to join such a forum like this, so I can learn from others who have tasted success and they do have something to contribute and share and so far I am not disappointed. But there is a lot of info for a newbie like me here on this forum!
http://www.freewebs.com/successfuldating/

[homenotion]

I don't know what worthless advice you have paid for but I'm sure there's lots of it out there. I have paid for a few things but I can't say they were worthless, I've gotten a lot of benefit from them. There are also some very good free things out there as well. Ken Envoy puts out an excellent FREE ebook called the Affiliates Masters course. It will give you lots of good insight and tips to get started. Of course, very successful affiliates won't give you their most closely guarded secrets such as what products are the most profitable on the internet but they can give you some good tips on how to find them. Also, in my opinion there are no 'secrets', just more experienced people. When you've been doing it for several years you'll have all the 'secrets' too.

[Linda Buquet]

Tropical,

I would like to know why are the so called "affiliate gurus" so afraid of actually showing their sub-affiliates how to be as successful as they are. I mean you will go to their site and sign up and so forth because of some offers promised and then you will end up paying for sometimes, worthless tips and advice.

Sounds like you have joined alot of ebook or programs that are kind of more like MLM where affiliates recruit others. Typically other affiliates won't help you much after you sign up.
So learn more here and then try to find some good programs with a helpful affiliate manager.

[tml]

2. Spend your next 30 -60 hours researching what profitable products are not highly competitive in the major search engines.

In regards to this, I find this is my biggest problem. What techniques/systems can one use to conduct research on a nice area? I have been reading alot a wmw and other forums, and have not been able to find quality information on this subject.

[Linda Buquet]

tml,

Sounds like what you are looking for is a good niche.
I have seen some sites with advice on how to find good niche markets but don't have any of them bookmarked. Try Googling "niche marketing" and variations of that and bet you will find some resources.

[Charles Kenney]

2. Spend your next 30 -60 hours researching what profitable products are not highly competitive in the major search engines.

In regards to this, I find this is my biggest problem. What techniques/systems can one use to conduct research on a nice area? I have been reading alot a wmw and other forums, and have not been able to find quality information on this subject.

In regards to this, There is a software that you can get called Affilliates Alert. With this software you can search all of Click Bank to find the newest products that have been added to the Clickbank Market. It is a free software. You can check it out at: www.theinfobay.com
I hope this helps some, and good luck on your site.
Charles Kenney..

[Cedric]

In regards to this, I find this is my biggest problem. What techniques/systems can one use to conduct research on a nice area?

Get an account at WordTracker.com and learn how to use it... it is the BEST investment you will ever make and can pay for itself with one properly targeted page (not one web site, one PAGE).

Start skimming trendy magazines, web sites, and mail order catalogues (fashion, home decor, etc.) -- even if they're not to your tastes, you may just get inspired.

[Tig]

2. Spend your next 30 -60 hours researching what profitable products are not highly competitive in the major search engines.
Personally, I would say that is the most important of Cedric's suggestions.
I have a community Web site, Daffodil Valley Times, that gets around 8,000 visitors per day (not hits, visits), but it does TERRIBLE as far as affiliate advertising (luckily, profit isn't why I created the site!).
Picking the right product(s) is the answer. You can learn SEO, you can learn about competiton, you can learn marketing, but it won't help if you're trying to sell a product nobody wants, or creating the wrong type of atmosphere to sell an item.

Even more important, however, is believing in what you are selling. Don't try to sell something just to make a product. If you don't believe in it, people will know.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing. Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing. Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing.

Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing.

Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing.

Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing.

Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[scallihan]

Simply an unending process of finding what works for you. You need a product or service that sells and searchers who're looking for that product or service. You're job is to be a medium that connects the two. Success feeds on itself, so once you find a combination that shows results, stick with it and keep developing and refining what you're doing.

Don't expect instant success (don't quit your day job), but be prepared to spend at least a couple of years (or more) doing a LOT of learning before you MIGHT be able to approach doing affiliate marketing as a living, rather than just as a sideline.

[101homebiz]

I would imagine there are hundreds of potential affiliates asking this question.

If you would like to earn some cash fast (i.e. to finance your long term marketing career), a good way is to participate in paid surveys. I assume you have for sure an area where you can give detailled information some companies are looking for.

The second question would be if you would like to concentrate on:

a) Affiliate Programs: pays one time comissions (clickbank, comission junction etc etc).

b) Residual Income Programs: give you a regular income, allowing to build slowly a 2nd additional income.

c) a combination of both.


For both you will need traffic. This is the reason why the recommendation was to build your Website first and learn a lot of about SEO etc with the goal to obtain cheap traffic (since your profit)

Well, you may need to understand that SEO is a long term process that can take several months if no years, to get targeted and cheap traffic.

Since obviously a fellow marketer is probably not willing to wait such a long time, you may attempt to BUY traffic as:

1) PPC search engines (Google AdWords, Overture, FindWhat, Kanoodle, Looksmart). Here you will get instant traffic to your busines or

2) Purchasing leads: building your own Opt-in list with the goal to promote affilate or residual income generators.

Additionally, consider that in your first months you may probably not earn anything, but INVEST in your own business (Literature, Traffic, Residual programs) and it will take some time to "break-even". Most of the beginners oversee this point, get frustrated and give up. They will never earn cash with the internet.

For that you may need your BUSINESS PLAN, that will estimate potential earnings and investments, based on your BUDGET (in terms of Money + Time ).

If you follow the steps mentioned above, you may earn a full income after some time, depending on your budget and learning curve.

Good Luck!

Alex

[101homebiz]

I would imagine there are hundreds of potential affiliates asking this question.

If you would like to earn some cash fast (i.e. to finance your long term marketing career), a good way is to participate in paid surveys. I assume you have for sure an area where you can give detailled information some companies are looking for.

The second question would be if you would like to concentrate on:

a) Affiliate Programs: pays one time comissions (clickbank, comission junction etc etc).

b) Residual Income Programs: give you a regular income, allowing to build slowly a 2nd additional income.

c) a combination of both.


For both you will need traffic. This is the reason why the recommendation was to build your Website first and learn a lot of about SEO etc with the goal to obtain cheap traffic (since your profit)

Well, you may need to understand that SEO is a long term process that can take several months if no years, to get targeted and cheap traffic.

Since obviously a fellow marketer is probably not willing to wait such a long time, you may attempt to BUY traffic as:

1) PPC search engines (Google AdWords, Overture, FindWhat, Kanoodle, Looksmart). Here you will get instant traffic to your busines or

2) Purchasing leads: building your own Opt-in list with the goal to promote affilate or residual income generators.

Additionally, consider that in your first months you may probably not earn anything, but INVEST in your own business (Literature, Traffic, Residual programs) and it will take some time to "break-even". Most of the beginners oversee this point, get frustrated and give up. They will never earn cash with the internet.

For that you may need your BUSINESS PLAN, that will estimate potential earnings and investments, based on your BUDGET (in terms of Money + Time ).

If you follow the steps mentioned above, you may earn a full income after some time, depending on your budget and learning curve.

Good Luck!

Alex

[Tropical]

Thanks scallihan and 101homebiz I read your posts over and over.. I do still have that website. Now that I am on vacation I have made a few improvements on my site. Adsense and a templete change are a few additions. I believe if free stuff, so I placed ads on freeclassifed sites and I am trying to design a free banner sometime this week. I promise that my website is going to pay for itself when the time comes.


Residual income, that is something I have to venture into.

[Tropical]

A little update. I have been able to get less than a small handful of sales from my free website. It is not much, but hey, when you consider you get $39.00 per sale how can I complain. I am blessed! With just a week after adding adsense to a few of my pages on the site, I have already generated some "adcents"...got it ...smile...
So I ask this question since in April and I have an answer. You can make some money with a freesite. I am looking forward to next year when I will be able to afford a paid site. I just hope to generate more dough to pay for that kind of service.

[KenMendonca]

That's great Tropical.

Being an affiliate manager, I can't tell you how many people come to me and have no interest in putting the effort into becoming a good affiliate. Like everyone has told you, it takes time.

I wish we had alot more affiliates like you in our program at DentalPlans.com.

Good Luck.

[scallihan]

A little update. I have been able to get less than a small handful of sales from my free website. It is not much, but hey, when you consider you get $39.00 per sale how can I complain. I am blessed! With just a week after adding adsense to a few of my pages on the site, I have already generated some "adcents"...got it ...smile...
So I ask this question since in April and I have an answer. You can make some money with a freesite. I am looking forward to next year when I will be able to afford a paid site. I just hope to generate more dough to pay for that kind of service.

An issue with using a free site is they normally have limited bandwidth. Thus, if you do start making money, you may be forced to relocate your site to get additional bandwidth. There are plenty of hosts out there that can host your site (and domain name) for less than $10/month.

[testike]

Ok I am from a little island in the Caribbean and the Us Dolars and UK pounds has high value.

Just a guess. Is it Cypros? ;)

Anyway keep up good work ;) For non US people 500$/month is good money. Its my short target too, because i just started 3 months ago.

[spider2773]

I guess you have answered your question, but I to run a site on a free service, have done so for the last three years and I have made money from the site. I average about $100 to $150 per month through the various programs I promote. I am in the process of converting that site over to paid hosting just so I can get rid of the ads that pop up on my site.
If you want to take a look at my site here is the link
http://www.spidermanstangledweb.com

Good luck in your endeavors. From reading your post I think you are going to do well.

[Tropical]

Scallihan
You are correct with the bandwidth. I know if the site gets popular I will have to shift to a paid website. Hey who out there host site for $10 bucks? Seriously guys I am going the paid website way by January. However I will like to know approximately how much money do I need to fork out to build a site and have some company to host it? I am looking at a six months to one year plan. Can that be done for under $100 US.

testike
No, it's not Cyprus.Here is where I am from. http://www.svgtourism.com. You have to visite here someday.

spider2773
I did look at your website and it is quite obvious you are a spiderman fan. You are heading in the right right direction, in that you seem very versed in spiderman stuff and that is important in this busines, as long as you find your passion you will be successful. The only thing is the black background.

[scallihan]

"You are correct with the bandwidth. I know if the site gets popular I will have to shift to a paid website. Hey who out there host site for $10 bucks? Seriously guys I am going the paid website way by January. However I will like to know approximately how much money do I need to fork out to build a site and have some company to host it? I am looking at a six months to one year plan. Can that be done for under $100 US."

Check out NetGate Internet at http://www.netgate.net/ - They have an account for $7.95/month that includes 100MB transfer/day and 100MB storage. Also includes:

No setup fee
1 e-mail account
Domain name hosting
Control panel
Short hop big pipe routing to major backbones
Personal CGI (add your own CGI scripts)
Access statistics
Access to raw logs
Frontpage support
PHP
Perl 5, Tcl, python, etc.
FormMail CGI application
CGI Counter
SSI's
ReadAudio, RealVideo, Shockwave/Flash support
UNIX shell account
Multiple domain hosting ($2.95/month per secondary site; $9.95 setup)

The $7.95 amount is based on annual prepay ($9.95/month, otherwise). That's $95.40 for the year.

If you outgrow the 100MB traffic limit, they have accounts that provide 300MB ($17.95) and 500MB ($27.95).

NetGate has been my host since 1996 -- I recommend them highly.

[Tropical]

He scallihan thanks a million again. I am getting so much help here I just might have to in invite you guys to my country, St.Vincent and the Grenadines. http://www.svgtourism.com

[voasi]

Hey Tropical,

I use http://www.powweb.com for all my hosting needs. They offer 2000MB of space and some great features for $7.77/month. Customer support is key too when choosing a good hosting service and I can't say I have one complaint with them. They are very responsive and informative to any/all questions I have.

Hope that helps! :)

[acornwebworks]

I use NoMonthlyFees.com - $70 a year (that's $5.84 a month) - includes a free domain name (that you own), tons of bandwidth, 600 MB storage, lots and lots of features.

Good luck!

[Tropical]

acornwebworks how reliable is the service? Is your website always up and running? Do they monitor traffic to your site and provide stats? I am still hunting for a reasonable priced service so please have patience with me and my questions. As you can see my site is still free.

[JKomp]

Hi, I would spend my first 10000000 hours or however long it takes, finding myself a unique product or service i could brind to the internet. Dating has been done, people are dating through the internet for free already. I think there was even a proposal on WPW a little while ago.
Also when finding link exchange partners, get yourself business contacts and suck as much as you can out of them, help, advice etc.

[Tropical]

It is ok here. Presently I have laison with another friend and he is designing a website for me. My free site is doing ok. The sales are coming in slowly and the leads have doubled within the past three months. I have bought a domain name with my commissions and some software. Full blast off and launch in April.

[Tropical]

I am still into affiliate marketing. I only use the free sites as landing pages for my google campaigns. I have actually invested money in buying some domain names to promote my sites. It is amazing how your thinking changes when you have spent money on hosting,webtemplates and domain names. My first thought was "how am I going to recover these monies", well I did, with a few profits here and there. Now it seems like I am addicted in buying domain names. Is there a way to make money from doimain names?hmmmm...

[StephenR.]

More More More: It has happened to all of us at one time or another. You buy up domain names like they're going out of style and have strategic marketing concepts for each and every one. They are "in your eyes" absolute gold mines...and some actually could be with a lot of development.

however....

Actuality: You'll probably only get around to developing 4 or 5 of the 50+ domains you have registered unless your setting up disposable web sites (a growing marketing trend to promote Google AdSense). The others domains will collect dust at their respective registrars and the only time you'll even think about them again is when you get hit with the renewal fee.

Recommendation: If you're new to affiliate/internet marketing stick to one or two domains to start with and turn them into profitable resources. I don't mean meerly recovering your hosting and advertising fees either. Make them profitable.

The domain name game can become very expensive and addicting if you do not know what you're doing. Selling domain names on popular networks like Afternic is not an easy accomplishment so save your money.

[R2D2]

Yes I remember overdosing on them domain names. Went totally overboard buying "milestone" names, confirmation, babtism, graduation, barmitzva, funeral, birthday, retirement etc. etc. The idea was to run a similar strategy on them all with variations. In retrospect it was like trying to raise 10 newborns at once. One is a handful. The same logic applies to websites as in trying to feed 10 growing children with food that is meant for two. Some of them may survive but ...

[wwwbug]

you are lucky,many people here give you a lot of suggestions.What i can say is do your best to optimize your site with google and other search engine ,it will make you more and more lucky.you should only two things,the first thing is to find your products in Affiliate Market (http://www.ppcchina.com/search/affiliate-market/1-1.html) ,the second thing is SEO.Get an affiliate marketing ebooks (http://www.ebookdl.com/index.php?term=affiliate+marketing+ebooks&sm=Search&source=1&req=search),it can help you.

[Tropical]

I am not ging to give up. Although I am not earning thousands like almost every body in this forum, I will some day.