4 Elements of a Successful, Profitable Website

I heard the frustration in the voice on the other end of my phone. “My web site costs me money each month, and yet I don’t make any money from it. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to have a web site anyway”.
Does this sound like your business? Do have a beautiful website describing your products or services, but you’re not sure what to do from there? Do you pay a web designer large sums of money to make changes every month?
Well, put on your happy cap folks because today I’m going to discuss some of the elements of the most successful and profitable websites out there on the Internet. It’s a widespread myth that the only people making money on the internet are the ones selling products about how to make money on the internet. Profitable websites come from all kinds of industries, all kinds of styles, shapes and colors. There are a few simple low or no cost things that any small business entrepreneur can do immediately to increase their web exposure, drive more traffic to their site, and ultimately make more sales.
Know Your Website Purpose
Before you start to create (or re-create) your website, consider what purpose it serves in your business? A website can be used to sell a product or service exclusively, to give information, as a brochure to attract more business or showcase projects, or even a combination of things. Let’s say, for example, that you sell fishing equipment. Your website might include articles for fishing enthusiasts, tips to catch bigger fish as well as a store for fishing equipment and supplies. This would be an example of a combination site selling multiple related products.
If you are an author selling a book, a simple sales site might serve you well. With a simple sales site, you have only one or two pages to the whole site, featuring the product you wish to sell. The only information on the site might be the letter describing the book, and links to “purchase now”. This is a simple and very effective method for using the internet to produce revenue from your site.
Lead Your Visitor to Action
Have you ever been to someone’s web site, looked at the front page, and left because you were confused? While it may be a common practice to put everything about your company’s product or service on the front page, it’s not a good idea, for exactly the reason I described above. You want your visitors to stay on your site and DO something. For each page on your web site, decide what you want your visitor to do. Should they sign up for a newsletter? Buy a product? Look at the pictures of your work? Make it clear and easy to understand and your visitor will happily tour your website.

Know Your Target Market
It is a common misconception with entrepreneurs that the product or service sold in the business is a good idea for “everyone”. While it may be true that everyone needs the product, not everyone will buy it. Therefore, you must know who you are trying to attract with your web site. Ask yourself these questions to get started:

• Are my customers male or female?
• What level of education do they have?
• What age group do they fall into?
• What are their hobbies? Interests?
• What do they read?
• Do they have children?
• What is their level of income?
• What are their biggest problems?

This will help you to get a clearer picture of your customers. With this information in mind, you can then begin to create marketing or advertising plans that will get in front of the best prospects to buy your product. Capture Visitors’ Names
One of the main reasons to even have a website is to capture the names and/or email addresses of your visitors. In this scenario, a prospect or potential customer visits your site and leaves his or her email address and first name with you. This gives you permission to send the person relevant email about your business, updates or special offers you may have. Maybe you have a new tip for using your product that your customers would want to know. Why not send the tip to both your customers and the people who have visited your site?
So how do you get someone to leave their name? You could offer a newsletter or weekly tips, a free e-course, e-book or special report. Offer a coupon or discount. Make your offer appropriate for the content of your site, and your visitors will gladly leave their email addresses and names. Put them at ease by letting them know that you are not collecting their names to sell to an outside source.
By capturing your visitors’ names, growing your list of email addresses and sending relevant, responsible email to your customers and prospects, you are building a relationship with them. In any business, the relationship is the intangible, powerful force that creates loyal, repeat customers.
Stephanie Frank, founder of the Balanced Wealth Network, specializes in helping others build passive income to enrich their lives. Her current project is “NetProfits:The Complete and Simple System for Online Success”, a system to help entrepreneurs use the Internet as a marketing tool.

Make Money Online (Without Spending a Dime)

Making money online used to pretty much require you to have your own Web site, products to sell and some marketing savvy. But a new generation of dot-coms have arisen that will pay you for what you know and who you know without you having to be a web designer or a marketing genius.
But it's hard to tell hype from the real deal. I did a search on "make money online" and "making money online", and much of the information out there is just promoting various infoproducts, mostly about Internet marketing. I see why people sometimes ask, "Is anyone making money online besides Internet marketing experts?"
So I put together a list of business opportunities with legitimate companies that:

• Pay cash, not just points towards rewards or a chance to win money
• Don't require you to have your own Web domain or your own products
• Don't involve any hard-selling
• Aren't just promoting more Internet marketing
• Give a good return on your time investment

In the interest of objectivity, none of the links below are affiliate links, and none of them have paid or provided any other consideration for their presence here. These are legitimate companies with business models that allow you to get paid for a wide range of activities. Help friends find better jobs.
Sites like ReferEarns, Zyoin, Who Do You Know For Dough?, and WiseStepp connect employers with prospective employees, many of whom are already employed and not actively job-hunting, via networking - the people who know these qualified candidates. Rewards for referring a candidate who gets hired range from $50 on up to several thousand dollars - not chump change. If you know a lot of job-seekers (and who doesn't these days?), this is a great way to break into the recruiting business with no overhead.
Connect suppliers with buyers.
Referral fees are a common practice in business, but they haven't been used much in online networking sites because there was no way to track them. Sites like Salesconx, InnerSell and uRefer now provide that. Vendors set the referral fees they're willing to pay (and for what), and when the transaction happens, you get paid. uRefer also allows merchants to set up referral programs for introductions and meetings, as well as transactions.
Write.
A growing number of sites will pay for your articles or blog posts. Associated Content and Helium will "pay for performance" based on page views for just about anything you want to write about. Articles on specific topics they're looking for can earn direct payments up to about $200. The rates are probably low for established writers, but if you're trying to break into the field and have time on your hands, they're a great way to start. Also, a lot of companies are looking for part-time bloggers. They may pay per post or on a steady contract. Our Weblogs Guide posts blogging jobs weekly in the forum.
Start your own blog.
You don't have to have your own Web site, or install blogging software, or even figure out how to set up the advertising. At Blogger you can set up a blog for free in less than five minutes without knowing a thing about web design, and Blogger even automates setting up Google AdSense so you can make money off your blog by displaying ads and getting paid when people click on the ads. To make even more money from it, set up an affiliate program (see below) for books, music, etc., and insert your affiliate links whenever you refer to those items. You'll have to get a lot of traffic to become a six-figure blogger, but pick an interesting topic, write well, tell all your friends, and you're off to a good start.
Related: Monetizing Your Blog
Create topical resource hubs.
Are you an expert on a particular niche topic? Can you put together an overview of the topic and assemble some of the best resources on the topic from around the web? Then you can create topical hubs and get paid through sites like Squidoo, HugPages and Google Knol. Payments are based on a combination of ad revenue and affiliate fees. You'll get higher rates doing it on your own, but these sites have a built-in supply of traffic and tools to make content creation easier.
Advertise other people's products.
If you already have a Web site or a blog, look for vendors that offer related but non-competing products and see if they have an affiliate program. Stick to familiar products and brands - they're easier to sell. To promote those products:

• Place simple text or graphical ads in appropriate places on your site
• Include links to purchase products you review or recommend in a blog, discussion forum or mailing list you control
• Create a dedicated sales page or Web site to promote a particular product

They all work - it just depends on how much time you have to spend on it and your level of expertise with Web design and marketing. Related: How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site
Microstock photography.
You don't have to be a professional photographer to sell your photos for money. People are constantly in need of stock photography for websites, presentations, brochures and so on, and are willing to pay for the right image. People generally search for images on stock photography sites by keywords, not by photographer, so you have the same chance as anyone else of having your image picked. Just be careful that you don't have images of trademarked brands, copyrighted art or people's faces that are readily identifiable (unless you have a model release), but just about anything else is fair game, and I promise - you'd be amazed what people need pictures of, so don't make any assumptions. If it's a decent photo, upload it. Some sites to get you started include Fotolia, ShutterStock, Dreamstime and iStockphoto. The great thing about this is that it's truly "set it and forget it".
The above list is by no means comprehensive, but it highlights some of the new and interesting ways to make money online without investing any money, without having a product of your own, and without having expert sales and marketing skills. Most of all, unlike taking surveys or getting paid to read e-mail, the potential return on your time investment is substantial.