Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Understanding Google Adsense

By Anthony M. Flores

Affiliate Marketing can be a great way to build wealth and capitalize on the traffic you are pushing to your site from PPC and SEO efforts. Basically you are letting Google put ads on your site via AdSense, and every time someone clicks on one of those ads, you get a commission. It isnt much, can be pennies at a time, or sometimes dollars at a time (depending on the cost of click youre sending to Google). But bottom line - as long as it costs you less to acquire those clicks than the commission youre receiving, it will make you money.

When it comes to promoting things with Google AdSense, you simply need to pay less than the cost of the delivered clicks. You can find various ways to get a low cost-per-click price, to direct traffic towards your website, and to discover long-tail terms that are searched for. For instance, you want to promote a high-dollar 'click' at your website, such as 'DUI Attorney'. What that ad is clicked on through Google AdSense, you can earn up to, and over, $30 for every click. This is significantly higher than other $3 per click search terms.

So, you've discovered a low-cost long-tail search term keyword, such as 'DUI Attorney Pasadena CA'. When you place a bid for a position that is lower, for example 25 cents for each click, you have hopes that these less expensive clicks will draw an audience to your website.

You also need to make sure that your site offers things relating to this click, like articles on DUI or traffic laws in Pasadena or anything of this nature, which will not only make people come to your site but be willing to click on the Adsense ad you are running, from which you are making $1 per click. You have to agree that this doesn't sound like that bad of a deal; however, if nobody is clicking on your ads, then you are going to be losing the money you have invested -- this really is a risky business. Not everyone has what it takes to make money through buying low cost clicks and then running them on their own websites. You are going to have to be willing to invest not only money, but the time and effort necessary to figure out exactly what is going to work the best to make a profit.

If you are going to put that much time into this effort, why not focus it on SEO for those same long-tail keywords? If you optimize your page right, you can still do the same work for less competitive words, and come up organically. Then it doesnt matter as much what your CTR is, and will cost you a lot less $$. The only thing you are spending is your time. Once that initial time investment is over, then it cannot cost you any money out of your pocket " Whether it works or not!

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Monday, February 1, 2010

Cheap Web Hosting - Ups and Downs

By Nicholas Halmond

In today's world, thousands, if not millions of people are trying to start some sort of website online. Most of them end up losing out on all kinds of money due to the lack of knowledge most individuals have in the beginning. We all seem to get bombarded by free website builders, social networking sites, and everything else, but most of the customized features for these sites are minimal. They simply don't have the same type of options an affordable web hosting site can offer you. However, it's not all "peachy" in web hosting sites.

Then again, you will find that most affordable web hosting packages have everything you need. Whether you're looking for a decent amount of space and bandwidth, they usually give you more then you would actually expect to be used. This gives you the opportunity to manage a blog, forum, or landing page depending on your setup.

What you should really focus on upfront is the types of back-up systems available. While it's something to worry about, there shouldn't be a problem finding a suitable site that keeps your information from being discarded in unfortunate situations. Plus, it's always nice to have back office help when needed, and FTP access if you want to upload files from the computer.

Through our own experience, we've noticed that speed and security is a vital part to your website's success. If things are going well you will eventually have a good amount of traffic coming in everyday. When traffic rises, your website may slow a bit depending on the bandwidth that is being used. However, if you compare the speeds to a free web hosting site, you will truly see a major difference and realize how much better it is for you to have affordable web hosting.

While there are many positive aspects to an affordable web hosting package, there are also issues that come along. We already mentioned multimedia capabilities, and when you mix this with high traffic your site will have a major slow down. When you reach this point you'll want to upgrade to dedicated web hosting for faster speeds.

Since you will be sharing servers with other websites most of the time, you could suffer if they're attacked by a virus. It's a major security even if you feel as though your site is secure. We always recommend backing everything up as an insurance plan so you can avoid any future issues.

Obviously you need to think about privacy as well. Most of the affordable web hosting companies you come across do not allow custom name servers to be made. If you want to overcome this obstacle, we suggest paying a small fee to enjoy WHOIS domain privacy. In the end though, dedicated servers provide much better privacy protection.

So as you can see there are a few minor drawbacks to using affordable web hosting. However, they are all in the later stages of your website's success. It's important to understand when you're starting any business, you should only spend what you need to in the beginning. Once you are able to accumulate the traffic and conversion rates that will bring you a return on your investment, then it will be time to take a look at dedicated servers. For now though, stick with affordable web hosting and keep the costs down. It will truly help you out in the end.

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