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,