Arloji Casio

Ugly websites can make more money

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik135C0UDaSkDk0qcWpr_Av8pATx7KNg_NmPW399gbq-ZkwiKivsJije-sTruQ-3iqy0iKKhP7YEEdt9KpoEqpVKYw2T4Fpv6cg8hB2PGifynYJ1nBe8sHFrQMejXAdMcjI3MRdRswSXI/s1600/situs+web+0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik135C0UDaSkDk0qcWpr_Av8pATx7KNg_NmPW399gbq-ZkwiKivsJije-sTruQ-3iqy0iKKhP7YEEdt9KpoEqpVKYw2T4Fpv6cg8hB2PGifynYJ1nBe8sHFrQMejXAdMcjI3MRdRswSXI/s320/situs+web+0001.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Often when people are developing websites, they want the best design and layout and it is a natural impulse to develop the nicest looking website possible. Interestingly though, the prettiest websites do not always make the most money.  Pretty websites  Visually appealing websites are often the goal of website developers. Well designed websites help add a professional air and credibility to a website. This helps especially when you are trying to sell a product or sell a service.  Visually well designed websites can also create a path for the eye of the visitor to the desired action or outcome. Encouraging them to take the action you want is usually accomplished through a combination of layout, color and text. A/B testing or eye tracking studies can help optimize such designs.  Ugly websites  A number of times when developing websites I have run across situations where a website makes money and when I further optimize or style the website, I end up making a lot less money. I have read about this and talked to other developers about the same phenomenon.  In my experience, this happens with the pay per click (ppc) revenue model rather than other revenue models and it seems this matches other peoples experiences.  It is possible that ugly websites seem unfinished and communicate to the visitor consciously or subconsciously that these websites are not the final destination. This in turn probably encourages them to click on ppc links to seek a better alternative result.  Leave an ugly website alone  Others have reported leaving websites alone, often for several years and discovering that they make good money despite outdated or unfinished design. Attempts to renovate these sites seems to reduce revenue and they just seem to do better when left alone.  If you are going to change the design or layout of a website that is already making money, then testing the new design before fully implementing it is very important.  Testing new website design and layout through A/B testing  But how do you go about testing such design changes? The best way is through A/B testing. A/B testing is often ignored by website developers and thought of as a rich man’s toy. Nothing could be further from the truth and I will discuss how you can use A/B testing in a later post.  What to do with an ugly website?  Ugly websites can be left alone to continue to make money. Security updates to software should be done of course. Alternatively if you have to change the design or layout, you should also think about changing the revenue model away from ppc or have a mixed revenue model. But either way, experience has taught me that ugly websites are not necessarily bad websites.  Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues.</div>

Ugly websites can make more money

Often when people are developing websites, they want the best design and layout and it is a natural impulse to develop the nicest looking we...

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Why I rarely build forums

Tips business 15.03

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCTq7csQq7ciNqlKrFLkBnITrgO7PQl2i-qoeVEn4LGCXVsZvoM10zen7KYjNFghs7o-WODzHB9F4Hv3SO-7IGt1fRoJ8tqLNS8jo2DNekKgY5KqB-timuaEMW3YoT40NrnsUff2hz0c/s1600/forum.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCTq7csQq7ciNqlKrFLkBnITrgO7PQl2i-qoeVEn4LGCXVsZvoM10zen7KYjNFghs7o-WODzHB9F4Hv3SO-7IGt1fRoJ8tqLNS8jo2DNekKgY5KqB-timuaEMW3YoT40NrnsUff2hz0c/s200/forum.gif" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Forums are a legitimate way to develop a domain but I rarely use them. Proponents argue that the content is created by users and it brings life to a website. This is true but does that outweigh the negative aspects of forums? In my experience, forums are rarely worth developing except in certain cases.  The origins of forums  Back when I started out on the Internet in the 80s before the web was invented, LISTSERV acted as a forum of sorts. It was really a mailing list but in many ways it acted as a forum. LISTSERV, created by Eric Thomas, is still around and available as a commercial program.  Even back then, we had the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_troll" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">trolls</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_%28Internet%29" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">flamers</a> which tried to disrupt the interactions. Now we can add sophisticated spammers to that list.  Why not to build a forum  </div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><li>Constant vigilance</li> <li>Minimal control over content</li> <li>Hard to monetize</li> <li>Harder to sell</li> <li>Hard to start </li> </ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Constant Vigilance  I was on twitter recently when a domainer asked for help to remove porn spam from their forum. They were not at home and were unable to remove the spam. Another domainer on twitter luckily stepped in and helped to remove the spam.  Forums need to be watched whether you are down the street to get a cup of coffee or heading off on vacation. Unlike blogs or websites, the degree to which they dominate your time rarely corresponds to the monetary value they bring in.  Yes, there are ways to stop spammers but it’s a war and spammers are getting ever more sophisticated. Upgrades in software and installation of various tools are needed on an ongoing basis.  Flamers and trolls can easily get in under the radar appearing as normal users. They can quickly polarize a community and destroy its integrity and value.  Finding moderators is the usual way of taking the burden off the site owner but these moderators need to have good judgement and be respected. Also you may need to compensate them if you cannot find those motivated enough in the community. You also have to wonder about the motivation of those who do volunteer.  Minimal control over content  Much of the content will be generated by the users of the forum. You do not have control over keywords and off-topic conversations often occur. There are ways to handle that but it requires strong moderation and a diplomatic touch.  Hard to monetize  Forum users in general tend to ignore ads or even reject forums with ads. The most common solution is to build a website around the forum hoping that the forum users will click on the ads there.  The problem is that forum users usually just bookmark the forum and go directly to the forum rather than through the website.  Subscription fees to forums is another business model but they are heavily resisted unless there is some very strong and unique content or tools. Money often needs to be spent to promote a forum with this business model.  Harder to sell  Well this probably goes without saying. You limit your buyers when you include a forum. Many buyers, especially experienced ones will know how much work a forum is and will often prefer a website without a forum.  The forum must bring something unique and essential to the table for buyers to be interested. Most often it is the contribution to the bottom line i.e. more money.  Hard to start  Depending on the topic, forums can be hard to start. Finding a core of passionate posters is difficult and managing the politics of the forum so that no one user dominates it can be tricky when the number of users is small. There are various tricks such as seeding the forum with people you know, paying for posts and advertising.  Forums may not be worth the time and effort  The most common mistake people make when starting a forum is underestimating the amount of time that is needed and how long it will take for the forum to become self-sustaining. The number of abandoned forums on the web is a testament to that fact.  The question you need to ask is: what else could I be doing with this time? You could be building more websites or off enjoying a holiday with family without the need to check a forum every hour.  For me, the choice is usually pretty simple. I can make enough money with websites or blogs and be able to take a break whenever I need to. That is more valuable to me than the extra visitors a forum may bring to my websites.  So that is my choice, what is yours?  Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues.</div>

Why I rarely build forums

Forums are a legitimate way to develop a domain but I rarely use them. Proponents argue that the content is created by users and it brings l...

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The power of mini-sites

earning 15.01

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWuEXbFgiMzdKc9t7TWYuE5nbwVKTfhAWvzXYA_iP1Qvk4MdDksT3it_dxJEuzB-kFI0E8VfeWefPig2XUS5OhHeU2l5gwz7UKhW9bQfs9_6AyRin3TcoWVJ20vsZ2Xj-lfe49wqLwaA/s320/83952124.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJWuEXbFgiMzdKc9t7TWYuE5nbwVKTfhAWvzXYA_iP1Qvk4MdDksT3it_dxJEuzB-kFI0E8VfeWefPig2XUS5OhHeU2l5gwz7UKhW9bQfs9_6AyRin3TcoWVJ20vsZ2Xj-lfe49wqLwaA/s320/83952124.png" width="212" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The development of domains into mini-web sites is often belittled but the potential earning power of mini-sites is attracting more interest these days. Though mini-site development is not a major part of my strategy, I do set up clusters of mini-sites from time to time. I wanted to share some of my experiences with this strategy.  Earning potential  Saving small amounts of money regularly can build up into significant amounts over time. This penny pinching approach is similar to a mini-site strategy. The key is to have a model that can be replicated over and over.  If you build 10 mini-sites a year to average $5 a day income per web site for 5 years, you are looking at  </div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><li>Year 1 $18,250</li> <li>Year 2 $36,500</li> <li>Year 3 $54,750</li> <li>Year 4 $73,000</li> <li>Year 5 $91,250 </li> </ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This is about a mini-site a month with time for vacations etc. Even if we drop this to $1 a day, you are looking at $18,250 in the fifth year.  Characteristics of a good mini-site strategy  </div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><li>Franchise thinking</li> <li>Evergreen content</li> <li>Low maintenance</li> <li>Relatively dependable income stream </li> </ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So lets go through each one of these.  Franchise thinking  Franchises are built around a detailed plan of how a business should run and they effectively clone that business plan down to the smallest details again and again. Mini-sites should be handled the same way at least within each business sector.  This templating allows quick implementation with minimal design variations. Images can be swapped in and out of the template design to suit.  Evergreen content  I am a great believer in evergreen content. This is content that does not easily go out of fashion or become outdated. For example, information on how to change a tire or how to boil an egg really will not need updating and so once written needs no maintenance. This saves an enormous amount of work and allows you to increase the number of web sites without overburdening yourself.  Low maintenance  Evergreen content contributes to low maintenance but other factors play into this also. Using a script or content management system is essential to handle large numbers of web sites.  </div><ul style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><li>Upgrading the software can become very burdensome if it has to be done one by one.</li> <li>Cost of licenses for multi-site development and costs of upgrades to software can be significant.</li> <li>Reducing the number of hosts you use will also help save time and money. </li> </ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Dependable income stream  There are multiple ways to generate income from mini-sites including affiliate marketing, ppc or lead generation. The important thing is that you do not want to be micromanaging your ad inventory to ensure reliable income. Finding a good revenue model should be one of the first items to check off your list before starting mini-sites  Of course I am assuming that all sites will continue to perform at a consistent level to calculate the income.  I hope I have given you an idea about the mini-site business model and that when designed intelligently, it can be a valuable, scalable, relatively passive income source.  One of the biggest issues people have with mini-sites is whether to use templates or content management systems.  Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues</div>

The power of mini-sites

The development of domains into mini-web sites is often belittled but the potential earning power of mini-sites is attracting more interest ...

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Making lots of money from AdSense

adsense, earning 14.57

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0px;"><img alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0P4L7tHaDdYwTQHE0lEEE2R2Xa4oNopclyjYzra7UaxjGQ0xLLGxIgBah3dCZFgmfT0o4NlvFl6cEfWQhFzjyvAdQ8t7UztkJ01wJVO0DwMeYQwwMA0W3atcBpwISdstBAi2YJ-nJSs/s1600/Google-Adsense.jpg" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid0P4L7tHaDdYwTQHE0lEEE2R2Xa4oNopclyjYzra7UaxjGQ0xLLGxIgBah3dCZFgmfT0o4NlvFl6cEfWQhFzjyvAdQ8t7UztkJ01wJVO0DwMeYQwwMA0W3atcBpwISdstBAi2YJ-nJSs/s200/Google-Adsense.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; height: 206px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 7px; margin-right: 7px; margin-top: 7px; max-width: 99%; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 2px; padding-right: 2px; padding-top: 2px; width: 206px;" width="200" /> </div> <div style="clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Some people really do get rich on AdSense earning tens or hundreds of dollars a month from their websites. I came across a post from a couple of years ago about AdSense superstars on The Worst Business Ideas blog and it is not the only one to name some of these top AdSense earners. The top earner is estimated to get about $300,000 from AdSense a month and those that earn over $10,000 a month have been referred to as the Fedex Club because there are unconfirmed reports that they receive their checks by Fedex. So how do they make this kind of money? </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Making big money from AdSense  There are really only two ways to make large amounts of money from AdSense:  </div><ol style="color: #333333; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><li>have a single website with a very large amount of traffic</li> <li>have many websites with decent traffic </li> </ol><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What they have in common of course is that in total they have a large amount of traffic. That is the key to unlocking the money. After you have the traffic, it is then possible to optimize positioning, colors etc to maximise the number of clicks and boost revenue.  The top AdSense earner  Markus Frind is thought to be one of the top AdSense earners. He build his free dating site, PlentyofFish, himself coding it from scratch and he and his girlfriend run the site. His key inspiration was frustration at having to pay on other dating websites so he set about creating the first free dating website. Because it was a first, it went viral and traffic grew.  One of the pieces of advice he gives, is to do the work as opposed to thinking through concepts. In his opinion, there are too many thinkers and not enough doers. Also he described his efforts as being like a video game that he was determined to win. “…defeat isn’t an option you just find some way to win.” Being first to market or buying your way into the market are the two routes he sees to be successful.  Interpreting AdSense earnings with caution  I have to add a note of caution to these declared AdSense earnings. If you are earning $300,000 a month from AdSense but spending $290,000 on advertising, then your profit is a hell of a lot smaller than is initially apparent. So while seeing photos of extremely large checks is great, any business lives or dies by the net profit. Buying traffic is very common and Google even enables this with their AdWords program.  Putting AdSense on your websites  AdSense is a good option for the small publisher as a supplementary income but as your website and your traffic grows, it is good to look closely at your website visitors and understand what they are looking for. Then you can see what other options you have for maximizing profit from each visitor.  Mixing various revenue models can work very well if you have diversified traffic. You can mix PPC with affiliates and drop shipped products for instance. This also makes your revenue model more robust because you are not depending on any one revenue stream. You should make sure though that you are not losing conversions from your most profitable stream to a lower profit stream. For example if you are making $10 a conversion from drop shipment, you do not want to lose that traffic to AdSense at 20 cents a click.  You can see that Markus’s <a href="http://www.plentyoffish.com/" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">PlentyofFish.com</a> website is really very simple and even somewhat ugly. He hasn’t spend the time or money giving it the glitzy look many other dating websites have but it still works well.  Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues.</div>

Making lots of money from AdSense

Some people really do get rich on AdSense earning tens or hundreds of dollars a month from their websites. I came across a post from a cou...

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Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

Internet, Tips Tricks 04.29

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache.techiemania.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Improve-Website-Conversion-Rate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://cache.techiemania.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Improve-Website-Conversion-Rate.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Here then are ten more tweaks (presented as problems and fixes), bringing the total to twenty. Hope they’ll keep you busy for a while.  <ol><li>Key Content Hidden “Below the Fold” - You have seconds to capture a visitor’s attention. If visitors need to scroll down to view vital content, you’ll most likely lose them. Similarly, if you have an important widget, such as a Facebook fan page widget, place it where it will be visible without scrolling down.</li> <li>Long Flash Intro - I hate sitting through flash intros designed to impress. Don’t you? Why would you want to subject your visitors to long (or even short) flash intros? Flash intros are dead time. Why not instead impress visitors with your knowledge and the relevance of your content?</li> <li>Clutter - Some websites have too much going on; they look like patch quilts. Others have ads that fill every nook and cranny. What can I say? Such sites are overwhelming.</li> <li>No Call to Action - What do you want your visitors to do when they visit your site? To buy? To subscribe? To leave a blog comment? Let them know what you expect, and if your request is reasonable, they may very well comply. If you don’t ask, they may not know what to do, and they’ll leave, perhaps forever, without taking action.</li> <li>Distracting Ads - Pop-up ads, blinking ads, glaring banners, sexy ads, scripts that forward to advertisers’ sites after a few seconds, inappropriate auto-playing audio, etc. I dare say, these are “the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” Make sure your ads don’t interfere with your content. If your ads are your content, then please disregard everything you’ve ever read on this blog.</li> <li>Images Not Labeled - Make your visitors and the search engines happy. Whenever possible, describe your images using alt and title parameters in your img tags. If all this is gibberish to you, worry not. Your web development or HTML guru will know what to do.</li> <li>Hard to Navigate Site - Don’t confuse your visitors. Keep your website simple and provide a site map if you can.</li> <li>Difficult to Understand - Write for your audience. Not everyone will have an advanced degree, some could have nothing or as little as a certificate from an online school – unless of course such people are your target audience.</li> <li>Spelling and Grammar Mistakes - There ain’t no excuse for bad spellin and grammar.</li> <li>Stale Content - Fresh content is good for SEO and for attracting repeat visitors. </li> </ol> Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

H ere then are ten more tweaks (presented as problems and fixes), bringing the total to twenty. Hope they’ll keep you busy for a while. Key...

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Focus Your Website or Blog for Better SEO

Internet, Tips Tricks 04.23

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkix0wulZcB5BzTzBwxHHJywLElDyFPgZx-At0R7NGN9141jGcpu6Fru8YPc7qBF_LXTXlpBMbuevzDs8m4aIsfwNtDQ6BgPXy0r9V-ia2q9Rws-7B58wPZwZ2ZwD3CShlDDgIWj-yEqc/s1600/keyword.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkix0wulZcB5BzTzBwxHHJywLElDyFPgZx-At0R7NGN9141jGcpu6Fru8YPc7qBF_LXTXlpBMbuevzDs8m4aIsfwNtDQ6BgPXy0r9V-ia2q9Rws-7B58wPZwZ2ZwD3CShlDDgIWj-yEqc/s320/keyword.gif" width="320" /></a></div>You’re creating content for your blog or website. You can create content haphazardly, or you can laser focus your web content to advance your site in the search engines.  A website consists of one or more web pages. Search engines index web pages individually.  For each keyword phrase that you care about, create a web page on your site dedicated to that keyword phrase alone.  Your Keywords Don’t All Need to be Popular  For example, your company name is probably a low volume search term, but it’s meaningful to you, all the same. It’s you who decides which keyword phrases deserve focus and assign each of those phrases its own page, either a static page or a blog post.  Real Time Web AnalyticsIf your website has been online for a while and you notice from your web analytics that certain pages are already receiving substantial traffic for certain keyword phrases, then those pages are evidently already focused on their associated keywords.  Throughout your site, link occurrences of your keyword phrases to their associated web pages, thereby helping those pages gain authority and climb the ranks of the search engines. When generating external links into your site, make a keyword phrase your anchor text and link to that keyword’s special page.  Edit Previously Published Blog Posts  Don’t hesitate to edit your previously published blog posts. If they’re your pivotal keyword pages, try hard to enhance them. However, review all your pages and update their links in order to sharpen your site’s keyword focus.  Stick with it, since search engine optimization takes time. However, with consistent effort, you’ll dominate the search engines one keyword phrase at a time.  Please subscribe, leave a comment, follow this blog and share this article with your friends and colleagues

Focus Your Website or Blog for Better SEO

You’re creating content for your blog or website. You can create content haphazardly, or you can laser focus your web content to advance you...

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Posted by: Admin

Arloji Casio

Ugly websites can make more money

Why I rarely build forums

The power of mini-sites

Making lots of money from AdSense

Easy Ways to Improve Your Website

Focus Your Website or Blog for Better SEO

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