Helpful Talk

I have had a couple online stores in the last three years. I built both using an open source software called OScommerce. Back then OScommerce was the best mySql/Php open source solution.

I am helping a friend build a store and took a quick look around to see what has changed. It seems not much has changed with OScommerece, this is not particularly a good thing. OScommerce remains a solid solution, and there are plenty of plug ins to install. However, Zen Cart seems to be more user friendly, it also seems to have a larger contributing community with quit a few pre-packaged plugins.

I found many Zen Cart users that raved about the easy installation. A couple years ago Zen Cart lacked in themes and plug-ins; this is not the case now.

Most the online stores I found that were small business stores used OScommerce or Zen Cart.  My own OScommerce store got about 100 hits a day and sold about $20,000 worth of merchandize and while it didn’t do my job for me, it was still perfect and I was happy with it (but I’m not a demanding person).

As one would expect, both Zen Cart and OScommerce work with paypal, accept text bulk uploads, have categories, themese, order tracking, etc..

I also researched Bid Ware but found a lot of complaints about its limitations and aparent need for a licencing fee.

I will install Zen Cart this evening and report back to you on how the installation goes.

Bottom line, if you would like to sell your own books or any products for that matter, check out both Zen Cart and OScommerce. They are similar and are both free OS online retail store software that anyone could install and use with just a little elbow grease.

Online Business Making Money Online, monetizing, Online Retail

I can’t give you an exact figure. It’s hard to say, I heard of a few people who made some decent amount, I mean close to $1000 a month, but the majority by far only makes a few bucks a month.

The best way to find out how much you’ll earn is to register, and try out AdSense. Many factors will effect your performance, from the amount of traffic to your ad placement.

On my first year with Adsense I made about $100. On my second year I made $120. My third year was $200, this year I expect $250.

How much have you made with AdSense?

Adsense & Adwords, Make Money Online Adsense, Blog Profit, Making Money Online

Before you can generate any income from your blog, you have to know who your readers are. In order to get an idea of who your readers are you must track your blog’s hits or web traffic. Google Analytics (http://analytics.google.com) is a free service that will get you website statistics and enable you to drill down and find much more than how many hits your blog received, but also how people are finding your blog, where they are coming from, what keywords they used and even what browser they are using.

This is the fifth article in a series of articles called Blog Profit. Integrating Google Analytics into any website is easy. Usually, I just get the Google Analytics JavaScript code and toss it in the footer template in whatever theme I use. This is very simple to do, but can get annoying if you keep switching themes. If you find yourself changing  your your blog’s theme, having a plug-in that separates the Google Analytics JavaScript code from your theme may save you a few minutes.

I’ve since used a few WordPress Plug-ins to save the Google Analytics code once and for all so I don’t have to re-add it to the footer every time I changed themes.

Some of these Plug-ins promise to add more control over tracking your readers with a simple user interface via the WordPress Admin pages. Knowledge is power, and knowing who your readers are will enable you yo profit from your blog. Below is a list of the most promising Google Analytics Word Press plug-ins:

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Blogging, Make Money Online, Web Development Blog Profit, Google Analytics, Making Money Online

There are many ways of making money with your WordPress blogs. This post is the third in a series of posts that will discusses many of your WordPress plug-in options that will help you monetize your blog and turn your blog into a money-generating machine.

Our third post will introduce more advertising WordPress plug-ins.

Many plug-ins exist that are non-AdSense or Amazon plug-ins. Furthermore, large website and blog supporting advertisers may feature their own WordPress Plugins to help you add their ads to your blog.

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Make Money Online, Online Advertising Blog Profit, Making Money Online, Online Advertising

There are many ways of making money with your WordPress blogs. This post is the second in a series of posts that will discusses many of your WordPress plug-in options that will help you monetize your blog and turn your blog into a money-generating machine.

Our second post is about advertising Amazon.com products on your WordPress blog.

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Amazon, Make Money Online, Online Advertising Amazon, Blog Profit, Making Money Online, Online Advertising

There are many ways of adding ads to your WordPress blogs. This post is the first in a series of posts that will discusses many of your WordPress plug-in options that will help you monetize your blog and turn your blog into a money-generating machine. Some of these plug-ins will require adding code to your theme, others will automatically inject ads between blog posts or within the post content itself.

Our first post is about adding Google AdSense to your WordPress blog:
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Adsense & Adwords, Make Money Online, Online Advertising Adsense, Blog Profit, Making Money Online, monetizing

Today I read an article by Darren Rowse on ProBlogger where he discussed 10 steps to guarantee you not to make any money blogging; and what’s better than giving advice on what to avoid rather than what to do?

All advice is good, if you listen. I found his article inspiring and very useful; but I did not like the tone or how it sounded when read. The article sounded too negative and condescending. I am sure this article was written especially to give advice in the form of what not to do, which is just fine. I just prefer advice when it’s positive, when it is about what I need to do to succeed rather what I need not do, people are more receptive to positive advice and positive criticism.

I went ahead and summarized the 10 points this time in the form of what you need to do in order to make more than 14 cents a month with AdSense. I did not agree a 100 percent with everything in Mr. Rowse’s article so I re-wrote these 10 points in my own words and based on my own experience.

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Adsense & Adwords, Make Money Online Adsense, Blogging, Making Money Online

Sitting in your underpants writing about something you enjoy (blogging) and making money from your website visitors is certainly an attractive thought.

Inevitably, the possibility of making money online is achievable, but it does require an ungodly amount of effort on your part, the blogger.

While anyone has the potential to make lots of money blogging, the majority of us never will. Blogging is like a business, most blogs don’t last beyond their first year.

Blogging is much more than just writing an article and waiting for people to read and click on your ads. You have to be a sales person and market your blog; you will have to publicize your blog and yourself. You also need to keep your blog Technically up to date.. There’s a lot more to having a cash-generating blog than most new bloggers know.

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Blogging, Make Money Online Making Money Online

Before diving into the ocean of affiliate marketing, it is probably smart to listen to what other more experienced affiliates have to say. Depending on what niche you plan on marketing for, different discussion boards should help you get a general idea and a feel for what’s up ahead. Below you will find useful discussion boards related to affiliate marketing:

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Affiliate Marketing Affiliate Marketing, Making Money Online