Make Money Increase Traffic & Subscriptions

1. Trade other forms of advertising with people who link to your website.  Trade e-zine ads, print ads, autoresponder ads, classified ads, e-book ads, etc. It doesn’t always have to be link for link or e-zine ad for e-zine ad. Just make sure it’s a fair trade for you.

2. Give away web space to people for free be sure to request they link to your site by placing your ad or banner to the site. This can lead to hundreds of web sites advertising your web site for only the cost of your web space.

3.  Join or create a web ring. A web ring is a group of web sites on a similar subject that have agreed to link together. Everyone who participates in the web ring is linked to your web site. To find a web ring “web rings” into your search engine of choice.

4. Create an online club or association. Tell your visitors what’s included in the membership and what it costs to join. Offer them a free
membership if, in exchange, they link to your web site. Just think, you will either make money or get some no-cost advertising and backlinks.

5. Allow people to use an online service or some utilities from your web site if, in exchange, they link to your web site. The online service could be an e-mail account, search engine submission, web page design, copywriting, proofreading, etc. If they don’t want to link, you could
offer them a subscription fee for the service.

6. Offer a free e-book to your web site visitors. The e-book should be related to your target audience. Allow them to give the e-book to their
own web site visitors by linking directly to your web site. You could also allow them to upload the e-book to their own web site and give it
away. Just include your link in it.

7. Offer your visitors a discount on all the products you sell if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get 50% off all our products!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get $8 off our brand new e-book!”

8. Offer your visitors a free e-book if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get a our new e-book for free!”  Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get five e-books with full give-away rights!”

9. Offer your visitors a free subscription to your private website if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say,
“Subscribe to our free e-zine and get free access to our private membership web site!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get a 3-month trial membership to our Members Only web site!”

10. Offer your visitors a free advertisement in your free e- zine if they subscribe. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our
free e-zine and get a no-cost e-zine ad! Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get a free classified ad!”

11. Offer your visitors a free, tangible gift if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-
zine and get our new report by mail!”  Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get our new tips booklet by mail!”

12. Offer free automatic entry into your contest or sweepstake if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get free, automatic entry into our contest!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine for a chance to win a huge advertising package!”

13. Tell your visitors that you offer original content in your free e-zine.  For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine
and get our all-original content!”  Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get the latest, up-to-date business news!”

14. Tell your visitors to read a sample issue of your free e- zine on your web site. For example, you could say, “Read a sample
issue before you subscribe to our free e-zine!” Another example, ” Check out a sample article before you decide to subscribe to our free
e-zine!”

15. You could offer your visitors free software if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine
and get our new marketing software free!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and download our e-book software for free!”

16. Offer your visitors a free sign up to your affiliate program if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say,
“Subscribe to our free e-zine and gain access to our profitable affiliate program!”  Another example, “Get a free subscription to our affiliate
training newsletter when you become one of our affiliates!”

17. Offer your visitors a free web service, like free e-mail, if they subscribe to your free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get a free bonus e-mail account!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get a free autoresponder!”

18. Publish some of your current e-zine subscribers’ testimonials on your web site. For example, you could say something like, “Why put
off subscribing? Just see what other subscribers are saying!” Another example, “Subscribe today and experience the benefits the people
below are experiencing!”

19. Publish any positive reviews you have received about your free e-zine on your web site. For example, you could say, “Just
read this review from (publication name) about our free e-zine!” Another example, “Check out our e-zine review in (magazine name)!”

20. Let your visitors know what’s going to be published in your next e-zine issue. For example, you could say, “Subscribe now so you
don’t miss our next issue about (topic)!” Another example, “Subscribe today and learn about how to (topic) in next week’s issue!”

21. Let your visitors know that they have the right to republish your e-zine’s content on their own web site if they subscribe to your
free e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and we will give you the right to republish our content on your website
or in your e-zine!”

22. Publish a list of well-known, famous, or respected people who have subscribed to your free e-zine. For example, you could say,
“Just look at who else is subscribed!” Another example, “Look at all the experts who have subscribed to our e-zine!”

23. Tell your visitors what a subscription to your free e-zine is worth in dollars. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to our free e-
zine. We used to charge $120 a year for a subscription.” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine! (Valued at $99!)”

24. Advise your visitors of all the benefits of subscribing to your e-zine. For example, you could say, “Just look at all the benefits
you’ll received when you subscribe to our free e-zine!” Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and get all these benefits!”

25. Let your visitors know how many people have already subscribed to your e-zine. For example, you could say, “Subscribe to
our free e-zine! 14,897 subscribers can’t be wrong!”  Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine! 13,976 have already subscribed!”

26. Let your visitors know that a subscription to your free e-zine is only available for a limited time. For example, you could say something like,  “Subscribe to our free e-zine before we start to charge for this original content!”  Another example, “Subscribe to our free e-zine and your subscription will stay free even, if down the road, we decide to charge a subscription fee!”

27. People love to FREE. A free e-book is perfect. People will visit your web site to get the free valuable information. Also consider start ing your own free e-book directory and allow other authors to submit their e-books.

28. Give away the full version of your e-book in exchange for testimonials to improve your ad’s effectiveness.

29. When you write and give away a free e-book you begin establishing yourself as an expert. This will enable you to gain people’s trust and
they will buy your main product or service quicker. You may get offers from other people wanting you to speak, consult, coach, etc.

30. Have a famous and respectable person on your banner ad representing your product, web site or service.

Blog Hosts: Free vs. Subscription

Every blog ‘exists’ somewhere. It may be on a server dedicated to nothing but blogs or it may be on privately-leased space a half a world away from the blogger. But in either case, the blogger needs to create his Blog Empire somewhere, and that somewhere will have implications for your blog as it grows into a household name.

Blog Learning Center recommends that you own your own domain name and use a paid webhost service to ensure that you:

• Have complete control over your content.
• Have a credible and professional image for branding.
• Have freedom to monetize your blog.
• Have freedom to move your domain from one host to another.
• Have access to 24/7 support.
• Have adequate bandwidth, disk space, and data transfer.

Free vs. Subscription

With the popularity of blogs exploding, a large number of blog-specific servers and companies have arisen to meet the demand for fast and easy blog creation. Many of them provide software that allows the blogger to quickly and easily set up a blog, sometimes in mere minutes. They allow certain modification (colors, columns, etc.) and provide tools that can have your blog looking sharp, even if you’ve never typed an entry in your life.

But they have drawbacks as well, especially for blogs that are more than just an online diary. They may not provide statistics. They may not allow you to host your own ads. They may even drop your entries once those entries roll off the front page. The solution, in many cases, is to pay a subscription fee which will free up features you need to make your blog profitable, unique, and professional.

Here’s a list of some of the more popular blog-specific sites:

Blogspot: Blogspot features free blogging and image hosting, and provides a very user-friendly interface. Those who understand HTML will be able to create nearly any layout they desire.

Blog-City: One of the easier blog-specific sites to use, Blog-City offers a wide number of pre-made layouts that do not require HTML knowledge to use. Functionality is limited, however, and some features are only available to those who pay an annual subscription fee.

Blog Drive: Blogdrive offers free blogging with objects such as tagboards, RSS feeds, and ready-made header graphics. Blogspot: Blogspot features free blogging and image hosting, and provides a very user-friendly interface. Those who understand HTML will be able to create nearly any layout they desire.

Xanga: is dedicated toward the “online diary” end of the blogosphere. It offers free but limited image hosting and WYSIWYG editing, but downloadable archives are only available by purchasing a premium subscription.

Each host – and there are many others - has many unique attributes and prices, and before you decide to use one of them, it’s wise to become familiar with what each offers. By the time you’ve finished this course, you’re going to know precisely what features you need to build your Blog Empire.

So review each host carefully; if it turns out they don’t offer what you need, it’s often difficult to take your traffic with you when you move.

If you choose a free host, one of the first issues you’ll deal with is the blog’s URL.If you choose Blogspot, for example, your URL will look something like “elborak.blogspot.com” with “elborak” being your blog’s name. That name must be unique across the host, and with millions of blogs out there, that’s not an easy task. And if your blog is named, “Spackle News,” it’s going to be harder for readers to find your blog at “spacklenews.blogspot.com” than if the name is “SpackleNews.com.” Fortunately, there are a few solutions to that problem.

The first solution is to use a forwarding service. You buy a fitting domain name for a few dollars a year, and the forwarding service will actually will forward your traffic from SpackleNews.com (or whatever your blog name is) to your blog. You can even decide to view your blog within a frame, so the URL appears as SpackleNews.com, while the browser is pulling data from another server. Frames do have the problem, however, of “holding” any document you link to within that same frame unless you do some fancy coding. That makes it harder for the user to escape or find specific data on your blog, a situation which neither of you will appreciate.

A second solution is to choose a host that will allow you to directly assign a URL to your blog even as it remains on their server. Be sure to check the features of any blog host you examine to see if they offer the ability to assign your own URL.

A best and final solution is to simply to purchase a domain name and webhosting. Then install a free application such as Wordpress to manage your blog.