One of the most successful online business models is the membership business model. Before internet marketers began to use Wordpress, they were using membership scripts on static webpages. Some marketers began to make big bucks, others achieved minor success but you don’t have to be a Wall Street Investor to know that monthly recurring income will beat the pants off a single sale any day!

If you’ve been marketing online for a number of years then you know of the mass pilgrimage from static websites over to the Wordpress platform. Most memberships have stuck with their static sites and membership scripts….simply because it works. Plus migrating a membership over to a new platform could end up costing big bucks, be full of bugs and cause you to lose your members….so why bother. Just keep cashing those checks>:)

Well, there have been membership plugins for almost the last 2 years. These plugins were clunky, odd to use and often times just didn’t work. Thankfully it looks like today’s wordpress membership plugins are caught up to their old static membership scripts. These new plugins do some amazing things.

I memtioned in another post about the Wishlist Membership Plugin, a wordpress membership plugin that is probably one of the most powerful plugins I’ve seen to date, because it can do everything short of bake a cake, it can become a little awkward and difficult to use…..especially for the newbie. Another negative about Wishlist is the cost, by far one of the most expensive out there. If you’re in need of everything Wishelist does and your pocket book is stuffed with cash, I invite you to check it out. Seriously, I condone the investment of the best tools possible to build your business, however, often times, finances dictate what type of tools you can invest in.  I’m sure the competition will cause a rethinking of their pricing. But, it you want a membership plugin that can do just about everything under the sun, give the Wishlist Membership Plugin a look.

I started this post because I was excited and wanted to tell you about one very inclusive and affordable wordpress membership plugins called Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been searching for a preferably free membership plugin, however, I found those to be generally lacking in more than one category. In specific I want the membership plugin to add the new member to one of my Aweber Autoresponder Lists. I couldn’t find a free one to do that. In fact, the less expensive ones won’t touch that function.

Once I started reading about all the functions Wordpress eMember membership plugin would do I really got excited….too many to list here, but it does handle the Autoresponder dilema. It’s super affordable at $27 dollars and I’m so excited to see that it will add new members to my selected Aweber Autoresponder list. We all know that building a list is one of the most important aspects of internet marketing. Once a visitor becomes a customer or a member, they will develop a  relationship and trust with you and consequently they are much more likely make a purchase, join another membership or take your advise. That’s why starting a free or $1 membership to access some type of valued content could be the beginning or your own online riches…..keep in mind, your list is a valued asset and don’t blast them with some offer every other day but deliver quality content or suggest they purchase a product only if you’ve had experience and can honestly recommend it.

What’s really cool is that the folks at www.tipsandtricks-hq.com have put together a series of related plugins that integrate with each other. This is so exciting, I can’t wait to give it them a try, they have an estore plugin….take all those ebooks and set up a store….or deliver your products, they have an affiliate plugin and a handfull of other plugins that all seem to be able to be integrated. I want to be upfront with you, I haven’t purchased any of these yet, but have done the research and as soon as I finish writing this post I plan on ordering the membership plugin…although I really would like to try the estore plugin but then again….the affiliate plugin looks like it would be of big help to me. Anyway, this plugin is integrated with other plugins these folks product….let me tell you just a few of the things that the Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin can do:

1. You can create various membership levels including a free
2. Selectively protect the full or a section of an article. Create different membership levels and select what content (eg. posts, pages) can be viewed by each membership level.
3. Very easy to use and it integrates nicely into your existing site. No site redesign or any changes necessary.
4. It is pre-integrated with the WordPress Affiliate Software Plugin. So if you decide to boost your membership signups by introducing an Affiliate Program (award affiliates that redirect visitors who become your member) later then all you have to do it activate the other plugin.
5. Fully Integrated with WP eStore Fully integrated with the WordPress eStore (WordPress Shopping Cart) plugin.

There appears to be a few negatives depending on your viewpoint. Although the plugins are very affordable, they appear to be single user license which means only one site per plugin, there is a multi-site license but I couldn’t find a developers license. I’m only guessing on this one, but I haven’t seen this company around until now which means they are fairly new to the plugin scene and there’s probably not enough history to determine whether their support is going to exist and exactly how good it will be….correct me on this if I’m wrong.

Despite those small negatives, these guys have put together an awesome group of plugins….if they work as good as they say, you can greatly expand they use of any wordpress site…..from membership site to complete ecommerce site! Just imagine what you could do with all the eproducts you’ve stashed away all these years….if setting up an estore or estore/membership site is as easy as they say,  you’ll be able to make good use of the products you have and get good materials into hands of those that need it.

Don’t forget, if you develop sites for others of offline markets such as brick and mortar stores, you now have the ability to easily set up an estore for your clients. Better yet, introduce them to the concept of online memberships and the benefits these have for promoting and distributing their products!

Once more, you can find the plugins at these links:

1. Wordpress eMember Membership Plugin
2. Wordpress Affiliate Platform Plugin
3. Wordpress eStore Plugin

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Although there are hundreds even thousands of different methods or ways to make money online it becomes very easy to be suspicious or ever think that all these methods of making money online are scams. Unfortunately some internet marketers get caught up into promoting their products and services by using hype, they might even exaggerate the money making powers of their websites. But overall, being able to make money relatively quickly and easily online is not some unattainable goal . . .more and more people are doing it every day. Before I go too much further, you should consider checking out an internet marketing forum that teaches a variety of different internet marketing business models such as the Earn1KaDay.com forum. I’ll use the rest of this article to discuss some of the more realistic ways of making money online.

Online Jobs:
Surprisingly you can find a lot of jobs online that actually pay by the hour. The better paid ones are considered to be contract jobs. Just a few examples of jobs you can find online are copywriting and editing/proofreading of web content/ebooks/newsletters, etc. Take a look at

1. Elance.com
2. Guru.com
3. RentACoder.com
4. GraphicDesign.com

Most of these hourly online jobs are typically boring jobs like sorting, but what the heck…money is money. This is one of the least exciting make money ideas but the jobs do exist if you look in the right places. It’s important to ask questions so you can eliminate getting scammed, consider asking the following questions:

1. Who will pay me?
2. When will I get my first paycheck?
3. Will I be paid a salary or will my pay be based on commission?
4. What tasks will I have to perform?
5. What is the total cost (if any) of the program?
6. What will I get for my money?

It may also help to check out the company with your local consumer protection agency, state attorney general, and the Better Business Bureau in the community where the company is located, as well as in the community where you live.

Posting in Forums: If you’re the type that likes chatting to other people, giving advice, asking advice, etc., you could get paid for this within certain forums. Owners of new forums have a problem if there aren’t a lot of conversations going on. They resolve this by paying for posts. If this idea appeals to you, jump in, share your ideas and get paid for it! To find forum posting jobs, just type “How to Find Forum Posting Jobs” in any of the major search engines.

Affiliate Programs: You’ve probably already heard of affiliate programs and the fact that they are one of the easiest ways to start making money online, some affiliate marketers make big bucks! The key with selling affiliate products/services is learning to generate traffic which you can then funnel to your merchant. Affiliate marketing is very popular and there is a learning curve involved but it has made millionaires out of many regular people. Consider joining an affiliate internet marketing membership that specializes in teaching affiliate marketing….one such affiliate marketing membership is Affilorama!

Gaming: Are you a gamer and your passion is gaming? Believe it or not, you can make some good money by gaming online. Top players get paid handsomely for participating in tournaments, attending gaming fests and endorsing products. And it’s not just for the big timers. Pretty much anybody can make a couple hundred dollars a week with this.

As an internet marketer, you will have to distinguish yourself from the competition if you want to succeed. You should know your target audience and know your competition even better. Do not let self-doubt stop you from accomplishing your goals. Every successful internet marketer gives their business the very best effort possible. Hard work and determination will make your home-based business a success and provide you with a steady stream of income.

Starting a home-based business is one of the most exciting and challenging endeavors you will ever undertake. A sound business plan and the will to succeed will set you apart from the competition. Choose the products or services you provide carefully. Make certain your services will be needed over the long term and make customer service your top priority. A loyal customer base is the key to the success or failure of your home-based business. A home-based business is an excellent way to gain independence and financial freedom. A sound business plan and a strong work ethic are all it takes to succeed.

Resources:

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2007/sb20070110_343896.htm

http://www.sba.gov/

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Organized

As you might guess, I’ve only just touched to topic of making and income online, so be encouraged because the internet is still the wild west of income producing ideas and methods.  For a more comprehensive list, I suggest you check out the article entitled 101 Ways to Make Money online.

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If you are reading this, then you’re just one of the many people looking to make some extra money online in today’s tough economy. I can tell you from experience that you are extremely lucky because of the many tools available and so many sources of internet marketing training, some free and some you must pay for. As more and more people are getting tuned into the idea of making money online, internet marketing trends are constantly and quickly evolving. Being able to identify the trends and tap into them with an up-to-date marketing plan can really set you ahead in your business.

Here are just a few of the current hot trends:

The Economy

Today’s rough economy is the subject of many business conversations. This goes for internet marketing as well. We will continue to see recession-proof internet businesses being marketed as well as various money-saving plans, tools, clubs and forums. If you aren’t already bringing up the state of the economy in your marketing, it’s time to start.

Less Hype Marketing

For a while, one of the biggest Internet marketing trends included lots of hype. So the web was made up of one big glaringly flashy advertisement after another, each competing for your attention. It finally seems to be hitting home that flash and hype is not the way to go. While it might initially capture some interest from your target audience, you’ll need to support it with great high-value content to keep them interested. Your customers are looking for solutions to their problems – make sure that you offer these in your marketing message.

Consider looking at an online membership designed to teach you the basic concepts of internet marketing. Earn1Kaday is one such membership and they basically teach the principles of several online business models and have a very active forum of experienced members. The content at Earn1KaDay is well worth the price, however, the help offered by the established members is priceless. As the name suggests, the purpose of the membership is to help you achieve a daily goal of making “X” amount of dollars a day! Many have accomplished $1000 a day, and some make much more.

The money is NOT in the list (exactly)

Most of you have heard the saying. . .”the money is in the list” or the leads that you can generate from your marketing. This is not exactly true. Building up a huge list really won’t do you much good unless you actually interact with the people on the list. The money is in the relationships that you develop with the people on your list. Learn how to develop relationships with people by using auto-responders, participating in forums, Facebook and Twitter, etc.

If you are new to Internet Marketing then you might not be familiar with the term “building a list”, however, it’s one of the first concepts you should become familiar with because it’s one of the most important processes in internet marketing. Building a list is usually accomplished by giving something away, an ebook or software, in exchange for their email address and name. Using a service like Aweber for building a list is one of the smartest first moves any internet marketer can make. Avoid cheap solutions or self hosted autoresponders because you’ll almost never get the type of email delivery that a professional autoresponder service like Aweber will give you.

Niche Marketing

Along With the economic downturn, businesses are focusing on more and more narrow niches. This is counter-intuitive but smaller, more targeted niches will bring you more traffic than large broad ones. See Niche Profit Classroom for 2 monthly niche products along with the necessary marketing packages….without sounding hypey, NPC has been one of the most impressive online memberships I’ve found in 8 years of learning about internet marketing.

Social marketing continues to dominate

And more and more businesses are tapping into this trend. It’s been proven that adding videos to your marketing mix increases traffic to your site as well as the amount of time a person spends on your page. Along with all of the other social media tools, the use of video is increasing dramatically. Some people are intimidated by the idea of doing videos. The important thing to remember is that your potential customers want to see other real people, not some sort of corporate actor, so just be yourself and you will draw more people to you and your business.

As internet marketers we do all these things in an effort to get website traffic. Without traffic to your website all your efforts will be in vain. You won’t sell your products or build your list….it doesn’t matter how pretty your website is or how good your offer is. One of the most effective methods of getting traffic to your website is with videos, otherwise known as video marketing. One of the most effective methods of creating a rush of traffic using videos is to use the tools at Traffic Geyser, in fact if you click on that link you can try it out for $1 for 30 days. This is a service that sends your videos to 100’s of video sites, turns your video to podcasts and a other services that you’re just gonna have to check out

Quick customer service

If you want to maintain relationships with your customers, you must respond to their needs immediately. If you can’t, they will turn to your competitor who can.

Knowing and understanding these general Internet marketing trends and then adapting your business to keep up with them can really put you at an advantage.

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Would you believe that it is easy to find a niche that can bring internet marketing success if you know where to look?  There is competition everywhere and if you are not doing things the proper way you will find yourself out in the cold and not able to benefit from the power of the internet marketing world. No matter how difficult it may seem, if you can follow some simple guidelines, you will find the competitive edge that is required for success. Here’s your first niche marketing tip, learn from others! Be careful though, so many marketers today have just jumped online and will parrot anything and everything they hear. These jokers have no personal experience you they want you to join their marketing lists so they can blast you day after day with one promotion after another! Before you trust someone, do a Google search on their name to see how long they’ve been around. Ask around different internet marketing forums like the Warrior Forum or Earn1Kaday to see if anyone has heard of this person. Stick with names like Jack Humphrey, Howie Schwartz or Jimmy D Brown, these guys are the superstars of Internet Marketing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to someone who isn’t highly visible….a good example would be a guy like Ed Chiasson, he can exploit a niche like no other and his tools are second to none! His program, Article Stalker, provides keyword rich content that is absolutely free and this content is needed  to keep visitors coming to your blogs and sites. However,  I highly recommend the Earn1Kaday membership/forum…. a good place to start off,  where you can learn many different business models and niches for  making money online.

The first thing that you need to do in order to be successful is to do a thorough search for a niche. There are many ways of finding a profitable niche, Niche Profit Classroom uses Amazon.com in a very effective way to determine the viability of a new niche. In fact the NPC method is so unique and but simple that you’ll wonder why you never thought of it! If I could give one niche marketing tip, I’d say, to pay attention to the numbers….numbers do not lie! Anyway, researching a particular idea can be accomplished through a variety of sources. There are books with wonderful ideas, past experience to guide you, and brainstorming some ideas and thoughts. These are just a few of the many different methods. One of the best sources however, is the internet itself and knowing how to use the information Google makes available.

Another Niche Marketing Tip involves the availability of search engines, article directories, and forums because you can maximize your results in the shortest amount of time possible. These tools can make the research process easy and efficient for you. You need to have at least some idea of what you are looking for and utilizing these tools can be invaluable to broadening your horizons and ideas.

Once you have done your research and screened the available niches, you need to pick the one that is most suitable for you. When you are choosing your niche, find one that you are passionate about, something that has meaning to you. This is an extremely important part of the decision. Passion is what makes you work on your project for hours and hours and always leaves you wanting more from it. Being passionate about your work gives you the ability to understand the whole market.

Passion is perhaps the greatest niche marketing tip because it puts you on a constant quest for every piece of knowledge that is available in your chosen field. The knowledge that you gain gives you a powerful edge over the competition. Your passion will also give your niche a personal touch. Every single person is passionate about different things. There are things that will work for some business people and not others. There should be a strong bond between you and your niche that cannot be destroyed by anyone or anything.

Another thing to keep in mind is that no one should ever try to reinvent things that are already perfected and working. There are a lot of people that try this and fail. They are able to find a niche that has great success and then they try to follow the exact steps with the false sense that this will lead them to financial freedom. It is nearly impossible to copy a niche that has had success in the past. Not having the ability to copy a niche is not saying that people cannot benefit from the success of these niches.

The ultimate niche marketing tip is the advice and encouragement for continual investment in your education….things change quick on the internet and you need to purchase and invest in your continual education. Follow those who are successful. A program like Niche Profit Classroom gives you all the tools needed define and discover a profitable niche. Earn1Kaday has a whole section of their forum dedicated to creating mini money sites which target specific profitable niche markets. In fact, Niche Profit Classroom provides every member with 2 complete niche packages a month, all the research is done, a high quality product is provided along with a special wordpress niche oriented theme. I’m so impressed with Niche Profit Classroom I’m going to keep my membership! The best way to go about this is to create a niche that works within the successful niches. There are endless possibilities in these niches if you just put some effort into it and use your imagination.

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