I am loving Build A Niche Store software because it saves me so much time. Plus online stores make money, when created correctly.

I have been looking around the web at other BANS site and from what I am seeing most BANS marketers are just putting up the generic script and expecting their online stores to make money for them. Sorry…

… using the BANS script as is isn’t a good plan at all. Using the generic script just makes you like so many others and unless you have a very unique niche that no one is marketing to you are going to remain broke and frustrated.

On the other hand taking a bit of time to make your BANS site unique with a nice header graphic and some content for your best categories will help to keep your visitors long enough to see what you have to offer.

Build A Niche Store Doesn’t End At Building

I treat my BANS sites like any other site I own. I continue to add content periodically. Some sites I return every week or so to add more content but on my blogs I don’t usually go more than 3 days without adding content. Your BANS sites don’t need updating that frequently but the more you make it unique and content based the better you will do.

I am sure we all know by now that content is king/queen and without it the search engines will most likely ignore your site.

NOTE: Give the search engines a reason to return and index your BANS site deeper and deeper.

Go to TeraPeak.com and learn what categories and products sell the best on eBay. Then focus on those categories and products with more content in the form of text, pictures and even videos.

Example: I just spent $97 on a product I was going to forget about but then I watched a couple of videos on YouTube and was sold. The text didn’t sell me, the pictures didn’t sell me but the video did, so use them to your advantage.

Online Stores Make Money So Don’t Stop Building…

… just do it correctly.

I spend a lot of money on my hobbies so I thought hobby BANS sites would be best for me to start and for me I was correct. I also know that my friends spend money on the same hobbies so why not make money online promoting things I love.

I have a limited number of hobbies so it didn’t take me long to build those BANS sites now I am using TeraPeak.com to find other niches that I know about, remembering to return to my other BANS sites to add more content.

So online stores make money - when you do your research and spend time making them unique.

Make money online for free is actually possible with Squidoo.

This is old news but my Squidoo lenses really suffered after The Big G gave Squidoo a big slap. When I saw what little income I was making from this source all but stop I just dropped Squidoo and moved on to something else. All I could think about was all the hard work I had put into it, well I just got a bit ticked and quit Squidoo-ing.

Not that I lost a lot of income as I was only getting started with Squidoo but it still knocked the wind out of my sails.

What I didn’t pay attention to though and this is important was the traffic I was getting to my other blogs and websites. Instead I just stopped using Squidoo and only went back periodically to see if there was an increase in the income.

Well I am started my Squidoo campaign again and this time I will concentrate on the traffic Squidoo can generate for my other sites instead of seeing how much I can make on Squidoo.

My latest project is to get my butt back over to Squidoo and start talking about my BANS sites. Let’s see what kind of traffic I can generate to each build a niche store site.

I will use this particular Squidoo lens to share what I learn about BANS and how to make it better. I am already learning how to modify the BANS templates to make them more unique but I will leave the rest of what I am learning for my BANS Squidoo lens.

The process is pretty simple and only requires a few new paragraphs on my BANS Squidoo lens every few days to keep it fresh and growing. Plus search engines like fresh content so why put all that I have for this lens up in one sitting. Instead I will feed the Googlebot a little at a time.

I will also go through my previous post about Squidoo and link to my new BANS Squidoo lens to get a little more linking going on.

For those just starting with Squidoo remember to use this method to make money online for free. It doesn’t have to be used for BANS, I also use it to promote products and services I don’t even have websites for, instead it’s affiliate marketing for free.

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Do you agree that traffic is the life-blood of your Internet business?

It’s simple, No Traffic = No Business = Empty Bank Account, right.

So how do you get traffic?

With joint ventures and affiliates you’re relying on someone else to get you the traffic. Your business (and the size of your bank account) is in their hands. Save JVs for down the road a bit, start earning first.

With hocus pocus SEO techniques, you’ve got to stay a step ahead of the search engines and without a lot of experience in search engine optimization all I can say is: Good luck with that.

With Pay-Per-Click, you’re p-a-y-i-n-g…
… through the nose…
… forever and ever.

Ouch.

Question: What if you can get INSTANT targeted traffic to every single one of your sites, courtesy of the search engines?

No, not Adwords that’s Pay-Per-Click and you’ll be paying through the nose forever, right. Leave that for later and you will see that’s it isn’t necessary to succeed.

You NEVER ever have to pay for this traffic.

There is a whole world of buyers out there looking for what you have to offer. And you don’t need to pay Google (or anyone) for them to beat a path to your website.

Think about it… you can actually earn 5 or 6 figures a year without spending a cent on advertising.

This means you can start earning NOW, without an investment.

And you can do this whether you have your own products, or you’re an affiliate.

It doesn’t matter. But what does matter is that YOU get the traffic you need to make your living online NOW, starting today.

No matter how much you’re currently spending on Adwords, it’s too much. Why PAY for traffic when you can get the same traffic for…
nada… zip… zero… zilch… diddly-squat… and don’t forget… FREE.

I may sound like I am down on Pay-Per-Click. Well I am when it’s not necessary to make money online.

I am sure you would agree that there are hundreds of different ways to make money online, yet so many would be marketers just don’t seem to be able to make money online. The Internet is a medium that is particularly suited to entrepreneurs and people who have the ability to recognize a consumer or business need and quickly move in to fill that need.

You can see how people like that could make boatloads of money, but what if you don’t fit that particular profile. In all honesty, if you don’t have that “killer instinct” or possess a great deal of creativity you can still earn a great living on the internet. How?? Market other people’s information through ebooks with resale rights or resell rights.

I know for a fact that people are constantly in need of information and most have an insatiable appetite for knowledge. They want to learn how to do things, but they don’t want to spend a lot of time on research and fact checking. Most are more than willing to pay for the information, especially if it can be provided instantly and reliably. There will always be a healthy demand for accurate information, and that’s precisely why ebooks with resale rights are such attractive products to marketers. These types of books will always have an audience, and I can sell them over and over again without ever running out of products of having to pay additional fees.

eBooks or electronic books are usually short manuals or guides that tell people how to do something. In fact, a significant number of these manuals contain the words “how to” in the title:

• How to Sell Your Home in Less Than a Month
• How to Build an Online Retail Business
• How to Create a Website in an Hour
• etc.

The text is very straightforward and doesn’t contain the usual fluff can be found in traditional books produced by large publishing houses. I could immediately see how that kind of information would be valuable to people, so I figured that purchasing and marketing ebooks with resale rights could prove to be a lucrative venture.

For those that have not gained the expertise yet or those that have no desire to learn more can do quite well at providing other people’s know-how. Overall, it’s just far more convenient to purchase ebooks with resale rights than to come up with something on my own.

If you own a website, you already have an excellent marketing tool at your disposal. All you have to do is purchase some ebooks with resale rights and then make an order page on your site. Then you can deliver the books to customers via a download on your website, through e-mail, or on a CD-ROM sent through the postal service. Even if you don’t have a website, you can still profit from ebooks with resale rights. You’ll just have to find other ways to market your books, such as auctions or online bookstores.

I like the ClickBank MarketPlace for finding the ebooks that match my blogs and websites. I find ClickBank can be tough to find the exact product I need so I started looking for a better way. That’s when I came across CB Engine. It does everything I need and shows me all the stats for any product instantly and without a headache.

You can purchase a domain name for under $10.00 per year at GoDaddy.com and you get really affordable hosting for your domain(s) with excellent support at HostGator.com. I have been through a number of hosting services and for the price HostGator can’t be beat.

It’s true that everyone can make money on the Internet. All you have to do is find a product that people want and that you can gain access to. Ebooks with resale rights might be just the thing you’re looking for in order to break into online marketing, so check out some titles today.

As an online marketer you are your own boss, motivation can be a tricky thing. Those who work for someone else are usually presented with incentives to keep them motivated and working hard. But when you have no boss, it’s up to you to find ways to motivate yourself to make money online.

Taking the road less traveled is difficult at times, my friends and family basically just smiled. By choosing to be your own boss, you put your success in your own hands. This can be much more rewarding than working at an hourly job, but it is also much harder in many ways. There will be times when any business owner feels like throwing in the towel.

It is completely normal to feel like giving up at times. But when that happens, it is important to keep on keeping on. Here are some ways to do that.

1. What made you want to start an online business? Make a list of the reasons. Just getting started in business takes a tremendous amount of motivation, so going back to that time can help us get back into a similar frame of mind. Once your list is finished, keep it in plain site so you can refer to it daily.
2. Setting reachable goals and reward yourself for achieving them. Setting goals for our businesses helps us stay on track, and rewarding ourselves with something meaningful gives us the extra incentive we need to attain them. Seting goals should start with a big goal and little goals that will help you reach the big goal.
3. Network with fellow business owners. It can be reassuring to know that others have been where you are and come out on top. They may also have helpful advice to share about any specific problems you are having. There is no shame in asking for help. It sure beats giving up broke.
4. Consider investing in some motivational videos, CDs, books, or seminars. The people who make these have a knack for getting people on their feet and helping them succeed. There are lots of choices when it comes to these items, so if you don’t know which speaker or author to choose, ask a fellow businessperson for a recommendation.
5. Get away from it all. One of the biggest motivation killers is burnout. If you’ve been working long hours and not seeing the rewards you think you deserve, consider taking a long weekend and going on a mini-vacation. Have someone else attend to calls and emails if possible. When you get back, you can get back to work with a clear head.Get out that fishing rod and let’s go fishing for a day. On those days I can’t go fishing a nice long walk helps to refresh my mind.
6. Outsource. If there is an aspect of your business that you aren’t crazy about, you might consider hiring someone else to take care of it. This will free you up to work on the things that you are passionate about.

Staying motivated is essential to success. When we lose our motivation, our work suffers and we lose ground. By reminding ourselves what we want to accomplish and taking steps to reenergize ourselves, we can regain the momentum we need to get through the tough times.

The best way I have found to share my thoughts and actually make money online is create a blog where you can share your thoughts. And just on the chance that you have been living under a rock for the past few years let me explain what a blog is.

A blog, also called a web log, is a platform that will allow you to post your thoughts on just about any subject that you can think of. So your blog can be used for journaling, promoting, writing, and publishing, anything that your heart desires.

As a beginner there are a few things you can learn that will make your marketing work for you instead of just being work.

I spent my first 4 or 5 years online creating static websites that were tough to get good amounts of targeted traffic to but then I learned about blogging and everything changed.

Blog marketing is pretty easy if you have a marketing mind or are willing to learn.

I have noticed that a lot of people use blogging as their diary and a means to share their thoughts with other like minded people. Quite often these type of people are not into blogging to make money online.

Journaling is a great way to learn about blogging and the best way is to just do it. Get started today, not tomorrow, because tomorrow never comes, does it.

Blogging on a free service is, well free…

I started blogging on a free service, blogger.com, but after some time decided it was better to have full control over my blogs and moved to my own domains for blogging. Although for the learning process free is great and won’t cost you so much to learn the blogging ropes. No domain cost or hosting cost.

I love having my own domains when I create a blog.

The fact that I can modify my blogs as much as I want and having a unique blog is much better than having a template that looks like a hundred other blogs.

I also like to say what is on my mind and I don’t want a free service to tell me what I can and cannot say, not that I would say bad things but I like to say it as it is.

So, when you have your own blog on your own domain(URL), you are in charge of the content that is posted on it. You can decide what is said, and what is not. You are after all writing it all, right? So, the sky is the limit. Whether you want a blog that does website reviews and takes nominations, or you want to sell things that you make out of your home, the choice is yours.

Using your blog as a platform to get the word out about ‘whatever you want too’ is a great way to market and promote something to make more money online.

Don’t make blog marketing any tougher than it needs to be.

Don’t get in the mindset of getting rich over night. Instead get into blogging for the long haul and build content that readers will want to read and come back for more. That is when you will make money online.

I started with one blog that started making a few cents a day. That was a bit discouraging but the next month I was making more and each month after that. Then I started another blog based on another hobby I love to talk about and guess what, it started making a few cents a day for the first month and again it grew the next month and the next.

You have probably heard ‘rinse and repeat’, well that works great. Get one blog going at a time and then move on to your next but don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. I have been there too but why take the fun out of earning money from blogging by stressing out too much.

Each step you do teaches you more and more. Putting what you learn into action is where you zoom ahead of other marketers that are still dreaming of income.
Blog marketing is a great thing to learn. If you can sell things from a blog, you can sell them anywhere. Making money by using a blog is one of the most satisfying things that you will ever learn how to do. Just do not expect to make money over night, know that you have to work at it consistently everyday, and remember to put into it what you want to get out of it.

Email marketing isn’t as easy as it used to be, unless you are using iContact. Today you can send out emails that just don’t get to where they are suppose to which is in front of your subscribers.

iContact is the best option out there for anyone who wants to send out email newsletters.

iContat has:

• great inbox deliverability
• an extremely easy to use interface
• great prices that start at $9.95 per month
• lots of templates

iContact is an easy to use email marketing, surveying, autoresponder, and blogging tool that allows small businesses, non-profits, and associations to easily communicate online with their customers, prospects, and members.

iContact is affordable for just about everyone starting at $9.95 per month and scales upward based on list size. They also have an Enterprise product for larger organizations that starts at $660/month.

iContact has an easy to use interface and over 300 professionally-designed email templates. The application allows you to track the opens and clickthroughs on your emails, add a sign-up form to your web site, segment your list, and manage your subscribers.

Very important to me: They take care of managing bounces and unsubscribes for you. They also take care of making sure your message gets to the inbox of your recipients through their ISP relations, feedback loops, and whitelist status. If you are currently running into deliverability issues with your existing newsletter sending method, iContact will be very helpful and ensure inbox delivery of your messages.

The company currently has over 15,000 customers and 100,000 users. The product is used primarily by small businesses but also has a number of Fortune 500 companies like Bank of America, Ford, Nissan, Super 8 Motel, and International Paper, and political campaigns like Barack Obama ‘08. The company is based in Durham, NC and was founded by Ryan Allis and Aaron Houghton in 2003.

iContact is working to change the way businesses and non-profit organizations communicate online by making it really easy to manage all online communications from a single web application.

If you are looking for any easy and inexpensive way to put your emarketing on autopilot and get great deliverability, check out iContact.

An overview video is at http://icontact.com/www/video/introduction_video.html.

You can try a 15 day free trial of iContact at www.icontact.com.