Why Mini Sites Make So Much Money

Visit almost any restaurant, and you’ll see evidence of the increasingly common belief that bigger is better. Fast food restaurants zealously encourage their patrons to upsize their drinks and fries, and upscale dining establishments pile food high on their customers’ plates.

Many websites have taken the “bigger is better” theory to heart, too. Superstores like Overstock.com and Walmart have websites consisting of thousands upon thousands of pages. And they are doing quite well for themselves.

When there are so many large sites online, it may seem futile to try to get a piece of the pie. The average person doesn’t have the time or money to set up such an operation, let alone maintain it. But you don’t have to. A mini site can flourish in a land of Internet giants.

The reason mini sites work is because they do not directly compete with the big guys. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, a mini site simply seeks to do well in a small niche. In this case, smaller is better.

The most successful mini sites go after a small but underserved niche. They find a need that isn’t being filled, and they fill it. This puts them into a position to get better rankings in the search engines, because the keywords that people would use to find their offerings are not often targeted by webmasters of larger sites. With some good SEO, they can get targeted traffic at very little expense.

Once the visitors are at the mini site, the sales letter grabs their attention and, hopefully, convinces them to make a purchase. Those who are on the fence may sign up for a newsletter or free course. This provides the opportunity to maintain contact and persuade them to buy later.

A mini site can hold its own, even with millions of other web pages online. You just need a good niche, a quality product and a strong sales pitch.

Ready to learn more about mini sites??  Sign up for my newsletter at http://mikecollinsmarketing.com to receive your free Mini Sites Explained report.

10 Ways To Make Quick Money If You’re An Internet Marketer

Cash. We all need it. And sometimes the unexpected comes up and we need it in a hurry. Like when your car breaks down or your kids flush a barbie doll head down the toilet.

If you’re living paycheck to paycheck an unplanned expense can be catastrophic. You might have to borrow from your retirement savings or take a loan to pay off the bill. Or you might have to skip your summer vacation down the shore.

But for those of us who are lucky enough to make money online, unexpected expenses can be paid off with just a little bit of creativity and a plan.

In Instant Cash Report, I’ll share with you 10 super-powered ways to make quick money online.

The report is free…but its only available to my email subscribers.

If you’re already subscribed then check your inbox because I’ve already sent you the download link. Otherwise just enter your name and primary email address below and you’ll have your copy of the Instant Cash Report in minutes.

Don’t miss out on this one…if you don’t read this report today you could be leaving money on the table.

Ever Wonder Why You’re Not Making Any Money?

Whoa…I just read one of the best blog posts ever!

If you’re struggling to earn a living online and can’t figure out where you’ve gone wrong you need to read Leo Dimilo’s 114 Things I Wished I Knew as an Internet Marketer When I First Started.

Leo is absolutely spot on in this post and if you’re smart you’ll read it again and again until it all sinks in.  Seriously, Leo could have easily packaged this post into a report and sold it for $47…but instead he gives it all to you completely free. 

Read it now…you won’t be sorry.

How Has The Economy Affected You?

As financial markets around the world continue to go up and down like a yo-yo, a lot of people are scared.  Companies everywhere are laying off employees, freezing open positions, and cutting back any way they can…including salary increases and bonuses. 

I personally know a lot of people with hefty mortgages who are worried they could be out on the street if they lost their job (or if their cost of living continues to skyrocket while their salary remains the same).  They feel like they’re on a wild roller coaster ride that has gone out of control.

This lack of control is one of the primary reasons I started my own business to make money online.  The thought of being completely reliant on the whims of some faceless corporation scares the hell out of me.  I need to know that if times are tough I can fend for myself. 

That said, a lot of internet marketers are feeling a crunch too as consumers are less willing to open their wallets to buy new products and services.  Advertisers too may scale back spending which could hurt those that rely on AdSense or blog ad space for income. 

A lot depends on the niche…I think in general the “make money online” niche will continue to do well as millions of people looking to make extra money to supplement their income flood the internet.  Other niches will be less fortunate.  For some of my niche websites the last month has seen a drop in conversions that I suspect has a lot to do with the health of the economy. 

What about you?  What kind of effects have you seen?  And what do you see for your future?

77 Creative Ways To Make Money Online

Everybody loves having money…but not everybody realizes how many options they have for earning extra cash.  In this post I’m going to give you the ultimate list of ways to make money online.

I’m not going to go in depth for each money making idea.  Instead I’ll just post a short blurb here and then follow each of them up with a full post in the future…

Creative Ways To Make Money Online

1.  Start your own affiliate marketing blog or website.  You can make money promoting other people’s products.

2.  Build a readership and sell ad space on your blog.

3.  Join a paid blogging network and get paid for blogging about certain topics.

4.  Sell text links in your blog’s content.

5.  Put Google AdSense or other contextual advertising on your website or blog.

6.  Write and sell an ebook.

7.  Give away free reports with affiliate links in them.

8.  Buy Resellers rights for digital products and sell them.

9.  Turn PLR content into products to sell.

10.  Start a paid membership site.

11.  Start an online directory and charge for inclusion.

12.  PPC arbitrage.

13.  Become a virtual assistant and work from home.

14.  Be a ghost writer.

15.  Good at writing sales copy?  There’s a huge market for copywriters who can write effective ads and sales pages.

16.  Write articles for bloggers looking for content.  Check out Elance and Rentacoder for freelancing opportunities.

17.  If you speak a second language you can make extra money translating documents.

18.  Transcribe documents from paper to digital format.

19.  Data entry jobs can pay well…but beware of the many scammers trying to fleece you!

20.  Got a nice camera?  Sell your photos online at sites like iStockPhoto.

21.  Be a day trader buying and selling stocks.

22.  Forex.

23.  Start an ezine and sell solo ads.  You’ll need a large readership to make any money.

24.  Be a link broker.  Lots of people are looking to sell links and others are looking to buy.  Be the middleman.

25.  Start an eBay store.

26.  Sell stuff around your house on ebay.

27.  Buy stuff wholesale to sell on ebay.

28.  Dropshipping.

29.  Sell stuff on Craigslist.

30.  Design logos for websites and blogs.

31.  Design and sell blog themes/templates.

32.  Build custom websites or blogs from scratch.

33.  Create MySpace layouts.

34.  Create Wordpress plugins.

35.  Create and sell useful scripts.

36.  Design clipart/icons.

37.  Create simple software programs.

38.  Design an impressive “seal of approval” and sell it to websites looking to make themselves look more authentic.

39.  Get paid for taking online surveys.

40.  Get paid for web surfing.

41.  Get paid for reading emails.

42.  Get paid for digging, stumbling, etc.  Be prepared to be crucified by users of those sites.

43.  Good at gaming?  You may be able to win some cash prizes.

44.  Invest in virtual real estate on sites like Second Life.

45.  Make money on World of Warcraft.

46.  Take advantage of reward sites such as myPoints.

47.  Start your own niche search engine.  A highly targeted SE could find a loyal following.

48.  Flip websites.

49.  Buy and park domains that get type-in traffic.  Make money by placing advertising on them.

50.  Do the same with expired domains that still get traffic.

51.  Buy domains, develop them, and sell them at a profit.

52.  Online gambling sites….be prepared to lose your shirt.

53.  Create simple online games to sell.

54.  Record music to sell online.

55.  Use the internet to promote your offline business.

56.  Write resumes and help people find jobs.

57.  Become an SEO consultant.

58.  Become a link-building consultant.

59.  If you’re into arts and crafts, sell them online.

60.  New forums need help getting comments.  The owners will often pay you to post in them.

61.  Get paid to post comments on blogs.

62.  Get paid to manually submit websites to directories.

63.  Create a helpful eCourse and distribute it with an autoresponder like Aweber.  Mix in some affiliate links to make some money.

64.  Can you draw?  Draw little cartoons or artwork for websites.

65.  Create and sell instructional videos and tutorials.

66.  Get paid to search at sites like Winzy.

67.  Get paid for reviewing software at SoftwareJudge.

68.  Install scripts/troubleshoot for the technically challenged.

69.  Sell pixel ads on your site.  It worked for MillionDollarHomepage!

70.  Become a hosting reseller.

71.  Get paid for coming up with unique domain names at PickyDomains.com

72.  Sell your unused CPU cycles at CPUShare.

73.  Start a paid article directory.

74.  Build some Squidoo lenses and share in the revenue they generate.

75.  Write and sell articles to AssociatedContent.

76.  Design t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc and sell them at CafePress.

77.  Ask for it.  Years ago a woman named Karyn started a simple website that asked people to send her small donations so she could get out of debt.  They did!  She’s not in debt anymore.  Why not try something similar?

Well that’s about all I can think of?  Did I forget any?   If you have more  creative ways to make money online please leave a comment below and let me know.

The 9 Things You Absolutely Must Have To Start Your Own Online Business

One of the perks to starting an online business is the low start up costs.  You can literally get started on a shoe string budget of around a hundred bucks or so.  That’s pretty enticing to entrepreneurs who want to work from home or start a small business but don’t have much capital to back them up. 

When I set out to build my first website I barely had 2 nickels to rub together.  I needed to start making money quickly just to pay the bills and keep food on the table.  I had already tried to make money online with paid surveys and other crap that didn’t work, so I couldn’t afford to fail as an internet marketer. 

Since I had very little money to start with, I was very frugal with purchases.  I did everything manually…outsourced nothing…kept everything basic and simple.  I thought I was being smart by keeping my expenses to a bare minimum. 

Turns out I was being penny-wise but pound-foolish.  Sure I saved myself a few bucks here and there but I probably lost out on thousands of dollars in missed opportunities. 

If I was starting over again from scratch I would have invested a little more into my business and sooner.  But hey…my mistake can be your lesson.  Here are 9 things you must have to start your own online business…and most of them are free! 

1. A computer (duh).
2. A high speed internet connection.  You’re going to be spending a good deal of time online…if you’re still on dial-up its time to upgrade.
3. Decent writing skills.  You don’t need to be another Hemmingway but you do need to be able to get your point across clearly.  Don’t worry, writing skills can be learned and improved on.
4. A plan.  I wasted a lot of time trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do.  Do yourself a favor and pick a course of action early.
5. Focus.  The world is full of distractions both online and off.  You’ll need to stay focused if you want to stay on track.
6. Your own domain.  It costs about $9 at Namecheap and there’s no reason you shouldn’t have one. 
7. Your own hosting.  If you use a free host you own nothing and you have no real control.  You can get shared hosting for $6.95 at Bluehost (I use Bluehost and I recommend them).  For the price of a fast food meal you can host dozens of money-making sites.  It’s a no brainer. 
8. A way to capture email addresses and follow up with prospects.  This was my biggest mistake…I waited way too long to start this.  I should have been collecting email addresses from the start.  If I had my lists would be ten times what they are now.  There are several different services you can use to capture emails and build a mailing list.  I recommend Aweber because that’s what I use. 
9. A desire to learn.  Things happen fast online…new software, new methods, new authority sites pop up, old ones fall by the wayside.  You’ve got to be able to keep up with the times or you’ll fall behind fast.