How To Make Money Blogging

More and more people are realising that blogging is one of the best ways to start your own online business. It requires minimal start up costs, you can build an impressive and loyal readership over time and once you know how to monetize your blog it can also bring in a decent income that will keep on coming even on the days when you don’t update your blog.

There are several ways to set up a blog online. You could use WordPress, Blogger, or another free site that hosts your blog for you; or alternatively you can set up your own blog under your own domain name.

If you want to make serious money from blogging, you must have complete control over your blog – and that’s something the free blogging accounts won’t give you. You’ll be bound by their terms and conditions and that usually includes not being able to actively promote anything. There are plenty of people who have established a blog only to have it removed without notice some weeks or months later.

Featured Story: Click Here to find out how one “stay at home mom” is making $379/day working from home using eBay & Google. Read the full story here.

It will cost you a few dollars to buy your domain name and set up a web server that will host your blog, but the benefits will far outweigh the cost involved. It can literally be as little as $20 a year we’re talking about here – and that buys you total freedom.

Once you’re ready to set your blog up you’ll need to choose a good theme and layout for it. You might find one that relates to your choice of subject (more on that in a moment) or else there might be one you just like the look of. But there are thousands of templates available for you to use – a simple search on Google will reveal the ones that will be best suited to your topic.

But perhaps the most important question is what you are going to blog about. The whole world is your oyster here – some people blog about their lives in general; some blog about their jobs; some blog about their hobbies; some tell the world about their kids and what it’s like to be a parent, and still others blog about the weird world of celebrities. But whatever you choose to blog about it needs to be something you are passionate about. Don’t forget, you are going to be writing about this topic several times a week, and if you don’t have the enthusiasm for it, that will show in your posts – and no one else will have the enthusiasm to read them.

Okay – so you’ve got your subject. Now you have to start writing your blog posts. If you take a look at just a few of the blogs already online, you’ll notice that the length of the posts varies a lot. Some people only write a paragraph or two each time, but you’ll get better results if you go for something a little longer than this. Around 400 to 500 words makes for a good post with a lot of information in it; some people write hugely long posts that are thousands of words long and could be called an e-book by another name.

But you can also take the format of this blog, by posting a short blog entry which leads into a longer article. This has the benefit of highlighting a lot of blog posts on the home page of the site, and people can then click through and read the ones they like the most.

You should remember however that there are no real rules when it comes to blogging. Over time you will naturally find what works for you, and your blog will settle down into a nice pattern that both you and your readers will enjoy. You’ll find your character and personality will start to come through in your writing too; don’t fight against this as it is one of the hallmarks of blogging. It is, after all, a personal account of an individual’s life and experiences, so show people what you’re made of! You’ll get a more loyal – and bigger – audience like this.

So you’ve got your blog up and running and you’re posting to it on a regular basis. The next step is to get it in front of as many interested eyeballs as possible.

One great way to do this is to submit it to as many of the social bookmarking sites as possible. You can also join social networking sites and build a profile which contains a link to your blog. Other no cost ways to generate traffic include writing free articles for article directories with a link to your blog at the end, and creating signatures at the end of any posts you make to internet forums, and also in all the emails you send out. When you really start thinking about it, you don’t actually need to spend anything to generate plenty of traffic.

All we need to do now is monetize the blog itself. You’ll want to generate some money from all the visitors you’ll start getting, and there are plenty of ways to do this easily. Google Adsense is probably the most well known method – you can join the program for free and display contextual ads that your visitors will be interested in to maximise your click through rate.

There are also a handful of websites which give you the opportunity to get paid for each blog post you make on a specific subject. Pay Per Post and Review Me are two such examples, and they will pay you a certain amount of money to review a product or website for the owner. In a similar vein you can also review and recommend other people’s products through affiliate links inserted into your blog posts, and earn money on commissions earned through any purchases people make.

And once you’re more established you can offer ad space on your blog too, and charge a fee for both classified and display ads if you wish. What could be better than setting your own price?

But there is one final step you can take with your blog if you enjoy a change of scene every now and again. You can sell your blog! Once it is established and has plenty of revenue and traffic, you can usually sell it for ten times its monthly revenue.

And then, you can start all over again with a whole new subject!

So that’s it – profitable blogging in a nutshell. If you have any questions feel free to leave your comments in the form below. And once you’ve done that, get out there and get started building your first blog today
by .101waystomakemoney.com

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How To Make Money On EBay

There is a lot of money to be made as a seller on eBay. Thousands and thousands of sales are made each day, resulting in a lot of income for a lot of sellers. And there is still room for you if you want to get involved – whether you want to earn some part time cash or set up a whole new full time business on the side.

But where do you get your stock from? How do you get started? And how can you build a business that gives you PowerSeller status? Relax – you’re about to find out.

It’s easy work to get started earning money on eBay. Once you’ve signed up for your free account the best way to get a feel for what selling is like is to auction off some of your personal items that you no longer want. If you are going to start buying stock to resell, you’ll do better by getting some basic selling experience first.

Featured Story: Click Here to find out how one “stay at home mom” is making $379/day working from home using eBay & Google. Read the full story here.

While we are on the subject of stock, you’ll need to decide what kind of business you are going to set up. Of course you can sell anything you like, but if you want to make a name for yourself it helps to become known for selling a specific type of product.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean your product area needs to be a small one; on the contrary it could be quite large. You could sell toys for example – there’s plenty there to keep any seller going for months on end without selling the same thing twice. You do need to pick a popular product though, and it’s worth doing some research using eBay’s advanced search feature to find out what is selling and how much it’s selling for.

So let’s say you want to sell computer games, for example. There are hundreds of games you could buy to sell here, but if you don’t know which ones will sell you could lose a lot of money buying the wrong stock. By searching the ended listings you can see which titles consistently sell well, and which ones will produce the best profit for you.

Okay – so you know how to figure out what to buy. Now you need to know where to get it from. It stands to reason that no seller is going to tell you where they get their stock; that would be like giving away the keys to their business. In order to find the best sources for stock you need to do a bit of legwork.

We should mention here that there are two main sources for stock – wholesalers and dropshippers. Both have their pros and cons; it just depends on which method you personally prefer.

Dropshippers hold all the stock for you, so you only actually pay for an item once you’ve received payment from the customer. You may have to pay a fee to join the scheme in the first place though. If you choose to go with one or more wholesalers you will need to have the room to buy the stock, and the money to buy it in advance. This comes with more risk since you could buy stock that doesn’t sell, but with the tactic we’ve already covered for checking completed listings before you order anything, the risk here should be kept to a minimum.

So – back to where to find these sources. If you have a particular product in mind that you want to sell, the simple act of looking at the packaging can often reveal the name of the supplier. You can then check out their website to see what else they do.

Another method is to search for what you want on Google. This sounds deceptively simple and in fact many people don’t think of doing this. It can be a bit hit or miss, but it’s possible to find some excellent wholesalers through this method. Over time you will go from having one wholesaler to a handful of sources to get your stock from, and you can build up your product range as you start to grow.

Building your feedback is an important part of being a good seller and the higher you can get your score the better. It sets you apart as being a dedicated seller. And the faster your score climbs, the closer you get to attaining PowerSeller status.

The PowerSeller symbol is highly prized among serious eBay sellers, and there are five levels to strive for. The first is Bronze, and it’s a lot easier to reach than you might think. While you might set a goal for yourself to reach PowerSeller, you will find that if you build up your product range and gradually increase your sales, you will reach it in no time. And if you get off to a great start you might just do it in three months – the minimum time you can actually do it in.

Many sellers have their own shop on eBay, but it’s not necessary when you first get started. In fact you are often better off waiting until you have a good range of stock before opening a shop, since it can look rather empty if you only have a handful of items.

The final thing to think about is the price of the items you are selling. It stands to reason that if you sell a hundred different products in the $5 to $10 price range, you won’t make as much cash as you would selling a hundred in the $50 to $100 price range.

But you need to work out what you enjoy selling and what you can sell lots of to experience real success on eBay. Don’t go for expensive products just because they might bring a bigger profit. Go for your calling – that’s where you will experience the biggest success.

Above all, remember that it can take time to build a successful business – but if you’re determined to achieve real success on eBay you should be enjoying the journey.

by .101waystomakemoney.com

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Make Money Taking Paid Online Surveys – Free Membership

Are you looking for a legitimate way to make money online? Maybe you want some extra spending money. Or perhaps you need the money to pay bills. Either way, getting paid for filling out simple surveys can be a fun and lucrative way to earn that extra cash.

In fact, there’s quite a lot of money to be had — and the cool thing is that you can earn it in your spare time. Any time you can spare a few minutes — or a few hours, you can make money.

It’s easy too. Once you have signed up with the right survey companies, all you have to do is check your email and pick the best surveys, and you’re off to earning money every time you fill in the blanks.

Want to get started making money doing online surveys right away? Visit SurveyMastermind and enter your details. (It’s a completely Free service). Then you will start receiving surveys to fill out and start earning money. Click Here to get started now!

And if you’re wondering why anyone would care about your opinion, let alone pay you good money for it, read on. There’s a reason why you can make real money with surveys:

Countless companies, including the largest international corporations, are desperately trying to find out what consumers want. And they’re willing to pay a whole lot of money for market research.

But they still have a problem. How can they connect with you, the consumer? It’s not all that easy, so they hire survey companies to help them find out what people think about their products and what they would be most likely to buy in the future. They also want to know what it will take to get people to buy…

And if you sign up, you’ll become part of that cutting edge market research.

It’s really cool. You may have the chance to find out about new products long before they actually become available in stores. You might get to play video games that haven’t even been released yet. And you might get to watch trailers for movies that haven’t even finished filming yet. And the best part…. you get paid for your “efforts.”

That’s because paying for you to take surveys is the quickest and easiest way for a company to get the information and feedback they need. And believe it or not, even when they pay thousands of people several dollars each for fill it in even one quick survey, it’s cheaper (and more effective) for them than many other forms of market research. And it’s way cheaper than making a costly mistake.

Remember the NEW Coke? What a disaster that was! And it would have been so easy to prevent. All they had to do was ask people what they thought of the idea and they would have known better than to mess with a tried and true formula.

But noooo. The company executives thought they knew what was best — and they fell flat on their face.

So surveys can be essential for a company’s survival. And they know it and are willing to pay for it. So why not let them pay you?

Now you’re probably wondering what it will take to connect with those big companies and get paid for sharing your opinion?

All you have to do is find the right surveys… And the easiest way to do that is to join a club that specializes in helping consumers like you and me to hook up with the surveys that pay the most money.

We have searched the internet and found what we believe to be the best sites for online surveys. Unlike a lot of other survey sites out there, it’s a Free Service. Not only that, but they also specialize in connecting you with surveys that actually pay.

And as soon as you join and sign up with the companies they recommend, you will start receiving surveys to fill out… and start earning.

Want to get started making money doing online surveys right away? Visit SurveyMastermind and enter your details. (It’s a completely Free service). Then you will start receiving surveys to fill out and start earning money. Click Here to get started now!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is making money with surveys difficult?

Not at all. You just need to be able to answer a few simple questions and fill in some details, and you’re ready to earn a nice income from taking online surveys and helping companies with their market research.

How do I pick the right survey sites?

Start by joining a survey site that will connect you with the best sites. After all, how much you can earn will depend on which survey sites you sign up for. Some of those sites will pay you money every time you fill out a survey, while others use more of a sweepstakes approach, and offer cash and prize draws to those who fill out their surveys.

The sites that we recommend will help you find surveys that pay real cash for surveys. Many other sites will send you surveys that offer prizes and points, so you need to be careful.

No matter which site you sign up for, though, they ultimately all work the same way. You tell them your basic information and then they start sending you surveys whenever they become available.

How will it work?

First you join the survey site. Then, you’ll get access to a list of pre-screened survey companies which in turn will send you the surveys.

You sign up for several of those companies and fill out your profile with as much information as you can. This will help the site in deciding which surveys to send to whom.

Do all survey companies pay cash?

No they don’t. we will be sure to steer you towards survey companies that have lots of cash-paying surveys and away from those that don’t.

How much can I earn?

The amount you will receive for each survey or market research exercise varies between sites and countries, and it depends on the amount of time each one will take you. One site pays between $4 and $50 which is about average, although most surveys will be at the lower end of the scale. Of course, you can fill in several surveys per hour, so the earnings can add up.

Can I answer the surveys any time I want?

Yes you can. However, you should know that you’re usually competing with other survey takers. Each survey may only need to be answered by a set number of people and they often send it to more than is needed to make sure they get enough replies. The sooner you can complete each one and send it back, the better – and the faster your money will add up too.

Is there anything else I need to know?

Make sure you set up a new email account purely for use with your survey sites. After all, you will be getting lots of emails to plough through, and you don’t want them all going into your normal accounts. That way, you won’t have to sort through them to find your personal email. You also don’t risk missing a potentially lucrative survey in an inbox full of personal email.

How can I get started?

Visit SurveyMastermind and enter your details (It’s a Free Service) and you will start receiving surveys to fill out and start earning. Click Here to start now!

by 101waystomakemoney.com

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Why Investment Banks Make So Much Money

It’s a question as old as Excel itself.

“If investment banking is not that hard, why do you make so much money doing it?”

Sure, the hours are terrible. And as an Analyst or Associate, you’re respected just slightly more than a primate.

You’re always at the mercy of the client, sacrificing your spouse, children, friends, and social life in the process.

It’s extremely competitive, requiring a top-notch education, stellar grades and previous finance summer internships.

And you need to sit motionless in front of a monitor for 28 hours at a time.

All of these points are valid – but they do not directly explain why bankers make as much money as they do.

What Bankers Actually Do

When I say “banker,” I don’t mean Analyst or Associate and I certainly don’t mean Models and Bottles AJ; I mean a Group Head / Managing Director / BSD-type character.

You know, Ari Gold.

Bankers sell companies just like Ari Gold sells movie stars. And they get paid the same way as well: commission.

Just like movie agents, the higher the price, the more investment bankers can earn in commissions.

Ari Gold Wannabes

Think about a used car salesman: they’re paid a commission based on the profit earned on the cars they sell.

So let’s say they sell a car for $15,000, of which only $500 is profit – they might earn around $100 (20%) from that.

Not bad, but they’re going to have to sell a lot of cars to make bank.

Now think about another variation of Ari Gold: real estate agents. They’re selling much higher-priced items, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars or even more than that.

They might only make 5% or 6% on that, but 5% of $1 million is $50,000. Not bad for one sale.

But now picture the investment banker: he sells companies for millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars.

Deals worth less than $1 billion might come with a 1% commission, while deals worth more than that will scale down to around 0.1%.

But even 0.1% of $50 billion is… $50 million.

So that’s part 1 of why investment bankers make so much money: high-priced items with high commissions.

Other Financiers

But if you just stopped there, you might think that commercial bankers and wealth management guys would make bank as well: they manage billions and also earn commissions on their funds.

However, those commissions are lower than what bankers get and they have significantly higher expenses as well.

Expenses – What Expenses?

So now we arrive at the second reason why investment bankers make so much money: the margins.

Think about all the expenses that a commercial bank might have: you have to pay for all those physical branch offices, ATMs, tellers, checkbooks…

And you can’t exactly charge someone a 1% fee on $1 million just for depositing it in a checking account.

People Are Not An Asset, But They Are An Expense

Banks, by contrast, have almost no real expenses.

All you need to advise a company on a deal is a small office and 3-4 bankers – no factories, no manufacturing costs, no hordes of employee salaries to pay.

They do have to pay for office maintenance and other fees, but they’re tiny next to the expense profiles of “real” businesses.

Travel? Food and hotel expenses? On a deal, the client pays for those.

And even if the client didn’t pay, these expenses are nothing next to multi-million dollar fees.

Investment bankers make a lot of money because they sell companies for huge amounts of money while earning a generous commission and spending hardly anything in the process.

And what do they do with that generous commission?

Traditionally they have paid out 50-60% of revenue to employees in the form of salaries and bonuses: and that’s why investment bankers make so much.

Private Equity & Hedge Funds

The same principles apply to hedge fund and private equity compensation: both make a lot of money because a lot of money passes through their fingertips and they take a good chunk of it without spending much.

Private equity firms and hedge funds earn money from a management fee – what they charge to cover expenses and “manage” funds – and carry – a percentage of their return on investment.

The typical management fee at these funds is 2% – so at a $10 billion fund, you could earn $200 million just for sitting around and “managing” the money.

The carry is dependent on performance: funds typically charge 20% on their returns. So if they invest $100 million and turn it into $200 million, they would earn $20 million and then distribute $80 million to their own investors.

“2 and 20″ is the term used for this structure.

A few funds perform extraordinarily well and make most of their money from the carry – but plenty of under-performing funds actually earn more from the management fees.

Wait, But Shouldn’t the Markets Be Efficient?

If you’ve studied economics, you might be wondering how these types of business models with high marginal profits can last.

Shouldn’t the markets be efficient and force fees, salaries, and bonuses down?

Nope.

Applying economic theory to this scenario is problematic because you can’t quantify reputation and relationships, both of which are essential to advising companies.

It can take 10-20 years to become a trusted advisor to companies – so yes, marginal expenses are low and profits are high, but the barriers to entry are extremely high as well.

Will It Last?

Let’s look at private equity firms and hedge funds first.

In the old days, the “2″ part of the “2 and 20″ fee structure allowed investors to “keep the lights on” before they exited any of their investments.

It was never intended to generate more profit than the firm’s actual investments.

And most investors in hedge funds and private equity firms would say that they’re greatly over-paying for these management fees.

But who will be the first to propose lower fees?

As long as the investing process requires skilled individuals with years of experience, fees are unlikely to come down.

The only way this will happen in the future is if computerized investing takes over – but while that has happened on the flow trading and prop trading side, it’s not viable to let computers run $50 billion deals.

On the investment banking side, there’s even more of a case to be made for lower fees: in a lot of cases, bankers simply don’t add that much value.

It seems ridiculous that banks can often charge 7% on IPOs and 1% on M&A deals given that they take on little risk most of the time.

But once again, we come back to the same problem as above: who will be the first to undercut everyone else?

And that’s why the fee structure will continue: no one wants to accept lower fees if they don’t have to, and the high barriers to entry prevent disruption.

If The Market Were Efficient…

If the market were 100% efficient, fees would come down, firms with sub-par performance would go out of business, and companies would stop paying high prices for commodity services.

But the market is not efficient and bankers are creatures of habit, which means that high pay will continue into the future.

So if you’re breaking into investment banking right now, there’s no need to worry: you’ll still make a lot of money.

by mergersandinquisitions.com

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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.

http://entrepreneurs.about.com

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Should You Pay for On-line Ads?

There are so many free ways to promote your site on-line that one wonders when or if it would be wise to actually pay for advertising. However, at some point, you may get the urge to try some paid advertising for your web site and in order to make a logical decision about where to advertise and how much to spend, you´ll need to gather and analyze some important numbers. So put your thinking cap on, we're going to do some math...those dreaded word problems you hated in school.

First, gather the following numbers:

• In an average month, how many people visit your web site?
• In an average month, how many sales are completed through your web site?
• How much do you net on an average sale from your site?

Now calculate the following ratios:

• How many visitors does it take to create a sale? Divide the average number of visitors by the average number of sales per month. For example, if you had 1,000 visitors per month and you made 4 sales, then you know it takes approximately 250 visitors to establish a sale.
• How much revenue do you net per 1,000 visitors? In our example, if you make four sales when 1,000 people visit your site and each sale is worth $25 net to you, then 1,000 visitors will be worth $100.
• To break even on your advertising, what is the maximum amount of money you can afford to pay per visitor? In our example, if 1,000 visitors are worth $100, you can afford to pay 10 cents per visitor ($100 / 1,000 visitors = $.10 per visitor).

On average, you now know you can afford to pay $.10 per "click through."

Purchasing Advertising

Advertising is most commonly sold in one of two ways -- in impressions or in click through's. An impression occurs when your banner or advertisement is shown to someone. A click-through is when someone actually clicks on your ad or banner and comes to your Web site. When you pay for click through's you are only paying for actual visitors to your Web site.

When looking at on-line advertising rate cards, you'll see rates like $20 per cpm which means $20 per 1,000 impressions. Or in other words, you'll pay $20 for 1,000 people to see your advertisement. Notice this has nothing to do with how many people really click through to your site. So if you get a common 1% response rate to your ad, only 10 people will really come to your site for every $20 you spend (1,000 impressions X 1% response rate = 10 visitors).

At a 1% response rate you'd have to purchase 100,000 impressions to get 1,000 people to visit your site (100.000 impressions X 1% response rate = 1,000 visitors). This would cost you $2,000 ($20 cpm x 100). This means you'd have to spend $2,000 just to get 1,000 people to come to your site and for you to earn $100. So, as you can see, it isn't worth spending $2,000 to only earn $100.

In my calculations, it is rarely worth paying for impressions unless you earn a considerable amount of money on each sale. In our example of $20 per cpm, with a 1% response rate, you'd need to clear at least $2,000 per 1,000 visitors in order to break even! Not many sites can even hope to do this.

This very fact is why many people purchase click-through's instead of impressions. With click-through's, you only pay when people visit. Even, then, you want to make sure you don't pay too much for a visitor. As we calculated earlier, to break even with this example, you should pay no more than 10 cents per click through.

If you are convinced that you need to purchase advertising to promote your Web site, you have one of two options:

1. Increase your profit per visitor, OR
2. Decrease the cost per visitor (lower your advertising costs).

If I haven't thoroughly lost you, come back next week and I'll give you ideas for doing both.

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Apple Steve Jobs has died: February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, father of the Macintosh and the brains behind the wild success of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, has passed away, Apple has confirmed on its website. He was 56.

Jobs was the adopted son of a Mountain View, CA couple and grew up in Cupertino, the city where Apple is now based. He met his longtime friend and fellow Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak when he was 16 years old thanks to an introduction from a mutual friend. That was in 1971—years before the two roped in a couple more friends to begin working on their first computers for Apple.

Jobs founded Apple in 1976 along with Wozniak, Ronald Wayne, and A.C. Markkula Jr. in order to create personal computers that regular people could use at home—a young but budding market back in the late '70s. Apple saw some success with its first series of Apple II computers, but the first Macintosh was released to the public in 1984 and became a wild success. Although Jobs was ousted from Apple in 1985 following a power struggle between him and who would become the new CEO, John Sculley, he was never forgotten by the Apple faithful. Jobs made a triumphant return to the struggling company in in 1997 following Apple's purchase of Jobs' other company, NeXT Computer.

Since then, Apple has been doing (almost) nothing but going gangbusters on the technology world thanks to Jobs' ambitious-yet-ruthless management style. The original iMac, followed by the iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air, and now the iPad have all seen levels of success that were unfathomable in the mid-'90s. Jobs has arguably positioned himself as one of the most important people in personal technology between the late-1970s and today—a difficult title to strive for during such a technologically innovative time period.

But the legend of Steve Jobs goes much further—and will live much longer—than any single piece of technology that Apple has produced. From stories of Jobs firing people in elevators to recollections of him going to a neighborhood pool party with his son, Jobs somehow managed to maintain a personal reputation as chilled out Buddhist with a type A personality. His high standards, combined with his eye for simplicity, will certainly live on in Apple's future creations. But for now, we must say goodbye to the man who worked tirelessly to make it all possible: Steve Jobs.

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