Archive for January, 2009

Affiliate link cloakers - to cloak or not to cloak?

So you’ve set up your web site and you’re promoting affiliate products.

Have you got a link cloaker?  Why do you need one?

Well there is some spy-ware that catches affiliate links when clicked on them and replaces the code with the developer’s code so you could be missing out on commissions.

What to do about it?

I’ve found a free link cloaking product called “Profit protector”

Screenshot of Profit Protector

Screenshot of Profit Protector

You can pay up to $67 for a link cloaking product. They are complicated to install if you don’t know much about creating databases.

Profit protector creates a java html file that you simply upload to your server and then point to it as per your standard link. People will have to have java enabled in their browsers. Most people do.

You can download this program here

Happy Cloaking!

The E-book is on the slow boat from China

Guru was great.. Until I gave a Freelancer my project. I paid the first installment on the 15th December. Heard nothing. Emailed them on the 23rd to ask what was happening and was told the person was on holidays so they couldn’t see his file.

I sent an email 2 days ago and got a lot of excuses why I hadn’t been contacted but that the e-book is almost ready! Not that I’ve seen anything of it.

Do I sound a bit annoyed? I am! lol

Definately won’t be using this Freelancer again.

On a happier note I’ve had 6 articles published by ezinearticles.com

I have two contributors of articles for my new website thats about to go up in a few days. (www.amindbodyandspirit.com)

I have e-books being written by two experts in their fields. Another is going to do a training course, and there’s another e-book coming from another expert in the next 4 months.

I guess I need to get this website up and running.

I discovered a program PPC spy it’s a free download that shows you exactly what keywords the PPC advertisers are using, how much their spending and how many clicks they get per day on what words! You can get the free download here

Online business checklist

So the desire for starting a business online business is calling you. You have some great ideas; have a lot of enthusiasm your ready to start. You’re going to make a large amount of money and be your own boss. Well wait a minute regardless of the claims of how easy it is to get rich off the Internet. You will find starting an online business is no different than starting a business in the non virtual world. Maybe you need to consider some things first to make this profitable and mistake free.

When contemplating starting an online business you need to take an honest look at yourself. What are your skills? What kind of interests do you have? Many people stared their online business in the fields that they worked. A graphic artist could start a web design company or produce custom graphics. You will also want to think of the type of jobs you truly enjoy.

Do your homework to start your online business. Do not make the mistake of putting all your efforts, money and time into a service you want and try and find a market for it. You can not make people like your service or product. Instead find out what the consumer would like and then design a service or product to fit that need. Also just like a real world business there is a certain amount of risk. By doing your homework you can lessen that risk by finding something people will buy and for how much. This allows you adjust your costs to make sure of a profit.

You also need to study your competition. Find out what they are doing and what works or what doesn’t work. The more information that you have in regards to the market and your competition the better chance of success you will have.

Starting your online business you need to have a plan and follow it. What will it cost to start? Where will you get that money? If you are going to ask for a loan you will need to have a business plan to present to the loaning institution. It is a good idea to have a business plan even if you are funding your online business yourself. It will give you some set goals to look at.

To get your online business going you will need to make a time commitment and keep it. It will be difficult to keep a full time job and work on your new online business. You probably will not be able to accomplish that unless you set a specific time to work on it. Starting an online business and making it profitable enough for you to work full time on it does take some time.

You have done the required research, taken the time and made the commitment for your online business. You feel that now have a great product that the world wants and priced that they can afford and you make a profit. You have one more thing to consider marketing. Your customers need to be able to find your product so they can purchase it. This can be done online, offline, or a combination of them both. You will need to continually study what works and what doesn’t until you find what works for you the best. However, remember what works today, may today may not tomorrow and be able and willing to change your approach to marketing as the consumers dictate.