Getting Started Online THE RIGHT WAY Guide - Part 1 of 4

Getting Started Online
It is recommended that you print this guide to read at leisure

This Getting Started Article is in 4 parts.
This is Part 1 of 4
To view Parts 2, 3 and 4 please do an Author search on Go Articles for Natalie Williams
The full, hyperlinked version of this article can be found at http://www.GettingStartedOnline.com

Intro
There is an enormous amount of information out there about "How to Succeed online". Most of the information is really good. However, it is long…. Very long. I've subscribed to so many 'email courses' and was excited when they first appeared I my inbox. I would read every word. Now, I delete the messages before I even open them, because I just can't take so much information anymore. I have brain-overload. There's point when good information becomes too much information. You just don't need ALL of that to be a success.

Now that I am educating people on how to succeed online, I have taken all my information and knowledge, condensed it down and created a simple, step-by-step guide to get you up and running. I am personally doing everything in this ebook and will show you one way I make my living online.

This type of business is for those who:

-want to work from home
-do not want to do "Sales calls" or have too much person-to-person contact
-do not want to have to ship anything
-are fairly well-versed in the ways of a computer or are very willing to learn
-have a lot of time to devote to their business and are willing to actually work!
-would like a nice sized, steady income for doing something enjoyable

This type of business is NOT for those who:

-want someone else to do all their work
-want to watch television while "Thousands of dollars" roll into their bank account
-don't know how to turn on a computer and don't want to learn
-are expecting to be a millionaire in a month, or even a year

There really are endless ways to make money on the internet. You could open an online store, sell on auctions, sell some type of service (web design, secretarial, etc).. and each way has its' own long learning process.

This guide is zeroing in on one particular way. Through your own website, ebooks and affiliate accounts. I began my whole online venture in August 2002. I decided I wanted to sell on eBay and wrote a journal all along the way detailing every experience, ever licensing procedure and every contact with wholesalers and drop-shippers. I turned that journal into an ebook and sold hundreds of copies through eBay. Everyone who purchased it raved about it for the honesty and details. I had many request for the second edition. I hadn't planned on a second edition…heck, I didn't even plan on the first one, it just happened. I am a confirmed journal-aholic. I have written in journals since my youth, so keeping a journal of what I was doing was not out of the ordinary. After seeing ebooks sold all over eBay, I created mine and it was the best decision I ever made.

Anyway, with requests for a second edition, I decided to create a whole website dedicated to assisting people who wanted to sell online. I'm very big on researching and through the months, I learned a great deal on business licensing, selling online, etc… So, the Online Sellers Association was born.

The time came where I grew weary of packing, shipping and eBay tracking. I decided to try and succeed without having to ship anything. Realizing that my ebook sold quite well and I never had to ship it, just email it, I decided to look into ebook sales.

This research led me to "Affiliate accounts", 2-tier, ClickBank and on and on. I now know it is completely possible to make a living online with digital products.

Here is the truth… IT IS WORK!! All these ads that promise you riches through selling ebooks while you sit back and the money automatically rolls into your account are highly inaccurate.

I have worked harder than I ever have, my children complained, my marriage went through a rocky time and my house was a mess (okay, so it would have been a mess anyway, but I like to blame it on my business)…. However, I will say honestly that if you work hard, follow my guidelines and use your creative mind, there will absolutely come a time when you can relax, take a vacation and allow your sales to process automatically. I began my whole online selling experience on August 29, 2002 and as of today, September 2004, I am extremely happy with my progress and am getting more successful everyday.

I have sorted through mountains of information, affiliate accounts, ebooks galore and am now creating this very condensed version to assist people in jumping over the mess and get right to the point.

There are many ways to do most of this for free, however, when it's time to pay for something, I speak out and will explain why.

I am giving you a "checklist" of what you should do to accomplish the goals, and I suggest you do go through it all, because I am not adding hype in this book. There will not be any parts you can just skip over.

Very Short Version: Here is what you will do to generate income from your free website. I am going to show you how to do most of this absolutely free. All it will cost is hard work from you.

1) Decide on a website theme.
2) Join affiliate programs that compliment your theme.
3) Create a free website filled with this information, affiliate links, articles, message boards, etc.. Gather visitors email addresses in one of two ways.
a) Make your site free, but only accessible if they register
b) Make your site freely available to the public, but entice visitors to give their email address to receive a free ebook or other incentive.
4) Create a free ebook, also with your affiliate links, preferably an ebook that people can re-brand. Give this ebook away everywhere.
5) List auctions with added links to your ebook, website, about me page, etc..
6) Promote everything on message boards, your website, newsletters, etc.
7) Create and send out a newsletter on a regular basis and in time, sell advertising space in your newsletter.

The biggest project is the marketing of your website. Getting visitors is the hardest part. I get over 500 new visitors to my website every week that I have a listing on eBay. I give them a reason to visit my site (free ebook, free information, contest) and a reason to join my site (they have to join to be able to see the website content, however, it is completely free to join, I just get their email address). This way, they receive my newsletter twice a week and by doing that, I am able to sell advertising space in my newsletter.

It is not simple, nor quick, nor too easy. This is not for the faint of heart. Sorry, I am not going to tell you lies that you will be rich overnight. But I will tell you that this CAN happen. If you are willing to really work, possibly alienate your family for awhile and push yourself to the limits, you honestly can achieve success on the internet.

If you want to sit back and purchase scam after scam on the internet, hoping to become a millionaire in a month, then stop reading this now. This is not for someone who wants to create a one page website, throw up a bunch of affiliate links, go to Hawaii and come back with 10,000 orders waiting. That is not reality.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE AND HOW EXACTLY DO YOU MAKE MONEY AT THIS?

Simply put, you are an affiliate if you sell something that belongs to a vendor (the creator/owner of the product) and you make money from it, or a commission. It is also sometimes called being an "Associate" or "Reseller"

You make money by promoting these products, enticing people to visit and purchase from the vendors site. When you become an Affiliate, you are assigned a unique ID that is attached to all web visitors that click on your links.

Vendors offer payment programs in a few different forms:

1. Pay-Per-Click: They pay you for everyone who clicks through to their site from yours.

2. Pay-Per-Lead: In most cases it is defined as somebody who signs up for a free trial or free service. You send a web visitor to the vendors site where the web visitor will sign up for something free that the vendor offers and you are paid a set amount for each person who signs up for the free thing, say a $1.00 per.

3. Pay-Per-Sale: You are paid a flat amount commission or a percentage of all purchases the web visitor makes while on the vendors site after they clicked through from your website.

You can be an affiliate for another company and sell their products or if/when you create your own product, you can become a Vendor and then other people will become your affiliate and sell your product(s).

Decide on your website "Theme". Choose a subject you somewhat enjoy.
You do not want to be stuck doing something you do not enjoy or have no interest in. My whole website is devoted to assisting people who want to sell online. I enjoy helping others, giving advice and leading them in the right direction. I want to help people stay away from internet scams and stop wasting their money. I especially want to help mothers who want to work from home because they seem to be targeted the most for these scams. I'm so tired of seeing ads for mothers to sell candles, homemade soaps, Mary Kay and Tupperware. I've been using computers for 15 years, PC and Mac's. I am well versed in programming, web design, hardware, and I can master just about any piece of software you throw at me. I'm not going to be happy sitting around selling scented candles.

Not grow tired of the subject easily

Don't choose something you think may not hold your interest for a long time. Don't think of this as a quick way to make money for the next 6 months. This could be your lifetime income if you dedicate yourself fully. It will take time and you WILL get frustrated, but hopefully with this guide, a lot of the hard work will be cut out for you. I don't want you to waste your time wading through scams and dead ends. Don't throw your money into slick campaigns. With my way, MOST everything will be free. If you do your work, you don't have to give hundreds away to advertise yourself. I am proof, I have done it, I am here. I have 3 children, go to college full-time and I made a success of my business.

Already have good resources for the subject

People will always say "I don't know anything that would interest anyone". That's simply not true. You haven't opened your mind to what you do know. Here's an example using someone who is most likely to say she has nothing to say of interest:

A housewife stays home with her kids, cooking and cleaning, carpooling and ironing. She could start a free website with resources for the stay-at-home-mom. On the website she would have affiliate links to companies that cater to housewives and/or work-at-home moms. She could write the following free ebook: "101 Tips to Stay Sane - A Housewife's Memoir". The ebook would be filled with her affiliate links plus a link to her website. She would then give this ebook away everywhere, on message boards, free ebook submittal sites, put a signature on her emails with a link to the free ebook, etc…

Open all necessary accounts for online transactions

eBay, the best advertising you will find for .30¢
List something for sale on auction sites that has to do with your theme. Using the Housewife example from before, she could list an iron for sale. Then in the listing, put a paragraph that says something like

"Are you going insane from being
a housewife? Get my free ebook
'101 Tips to Stay Sane - A Housewife's Memoir'.
Send a blank email to
housewife@yourdomain.com
and you will instantly receive the ebook."

She will have an auto responder set up so that when she receives email at that address with a particular phrase in the subject line, a reply will be automatically sent back with either a link to where they can download the ebook or the ebook will be attached to the email already.

Also in the email is a link to her webpage so the person will visit and hopefully join her website/newsletter list.
So for a .30 listing fee for 7 days (on eBay), she will have a ton of people just downloading her free ebook with all her affiliate links inside. Can't get much cheaper advertising than that. She doesn't even have to care if her originally listed iron sells.
Think about this… If someone is interested in an ebook "101 Tips to stay sane - A Housewife's Memoir", what ELSE would they be interested in, besides knowing where to find the best valium (heh!).

This Getting Started Article is in 4 parts.
This is Part 1 of 4
To view Parts 2, 3 and 4 please do an Author search on Go Articles for Natalie Williams
The full, hyperlinked version of this article can be found at http://www.GettingStartedOnline.com