A Rule for Writing Content for Your Website:

Be Brief:

You should always remember to be concise in your writing. It should be clear and easy to understand, and easy to skim. It should not be so long that people dread reading it. If they do, they will just move on to the next website.

• Short sentences help.
• Bulleted lists help.
• Italicized or bold text help.
  

By being brief, you are making what you do say more memorable for visitors, and often more clear for the search engines.

For more on how quality coaching companies can help you build your website, visit www.thriveli.com.

AdWords: Google is Your Friend!

Google is the creator of dozens of useful tools, especially when it comes to the realms of internet marketing. Of these tools, one in particular stands out -- Google AdWords.

In short summary, Google AdWords allows you to get your website "sponsored," and placed in the first few entries on Google. You only pay Google when someone clicks on your Ad (thus, visiting your website), so it's relatively easy to make sure that this form of marketing is profitable.

While this is highly beneficial, you should only consider this service strongly if you are selling a product or service that has a real profit margin. Since you will be paying anywhere from 5 to 50 cents per click, you want to be sure that each "conversion" covers the cost of your marketing, and leaves you with a decent profit for your effort.

For example, if your online business is an affiliate website, and you gain profit only off of the Ads on your site, and you get an average of a dollar per Ad Click on your site, you probably don't want to spend a lot of money to get the clicking traffic to your website.

However, in e-commerce sites, Google AdWords provides an amazing marketing tool for your company. With appropriate keyword research and Ad writing, you may end up paying as little as a few cents per click. Since "target conversion rate" for an online business should be around 3%, that means that for every 33 clicks, you should have a sale. Imagine, for example, that you're paying 10 cents per click for traffic that is already searching for your product. With a 3% conversion rate, that means you're only paying $3.30 per sale. Depending on your profit margin, this may be an incredible boost in overall sales and profit.

AdWords requires a lot of research and a fair amount of maitenance to run effectively. To find out how a coaching company can help you in setting up an effective Google AdWords Campaign, help you market your website, and help you increase profit in your small online business, visit www.thriveli.com.

What should I pay for a website?

This is yet another one of those excruciatingly vague questions that most people in the online industry will hear quite a bit. The fact is, some websites are only worth $100 or $200 (like a custom design for a blogspot blog, as an example). Others have literally millions of dollars of value in them (like a website and database for a major car dealer, which keeps track of and can search for tens of thousands of cars, and has complex search criteria, a user sign up, custom made graphics, custom made promotions added on a regular basis, etc., etc., etc.).

Don't worry. You don't have to spend millions for your website. But you should know what you're paying for. But it is important for budgeting that you understand the cost of an online store website.

One way to separate "types of websites" is by comparing Custom Design websites to Template websites. There are several major differences to these types of sites.

• A Custom Website Design:
  
  Here are some positives about what you will receive with a Custom Website Design:
  
  
  • A fully unique website, built to your specifics.
    
    
  • The opportunity to modify or tweak specific features that you would like to change or alter.
    
    
  • The option to have special "moving aspects" on your website, such as a "flash banner."
    
    
  • Added customization.
    
    
  • Your banner creation is generally included. You could also purchase a logo design from the same designer or design company.
    
  
  Here are some downfalls to getting a Custom Website Design:
  
  
  • They cost significantly more. Designers charge anywhere between $60 and $150 per hour (on average). Even a simple website, to suit a small business's needs, will generally cost well over a thousand dollars. If you want to have more than a couple of pages, or any additional features, or if you want them to put in your products for you, it will cost well more than that.
    
    
  • You're "stuck with it." Once your website has been given to you, you cannot easily modify it yourself. This means your website is stuck as is unless you learn HTML, or continue to re-hire your designers for changes and revisions. With a website that's not changing, it's far more difficult to adapt to your market, and you will generally not be as well ranked with the search engines.
    
    
  • It's a little risky. Because you're hiring someone for their time, not necessarily for a specific product, it is very difficult to get a refund from a design company if you're not satisfied with your design. Most design companies have a contract which specifies that they only do a set number of alterations once they've made the website, even if you don't like it. This means that if your number of alterations runs out before you like the website design, you may be stuck with a low quality site.
    
    

• Template Website Design
  
  Here are some positive things about getting a template website design, or template website builder.
  
  
  • They are generally the same quality as custom website designs. Despite what designers will try to convince you of, most templates were made by professional designers in the first place, so the quality will be similar.
    
    
  • They are far easier to modify. If you don't know HTML coding, or have access to expensive photo editing software, it is far easier to modify a template website. Templates usually come with easy to use website modification tools, which allow you to change and add text, images, and more on your website. This means you can update more frequently, adapt to your market, and become more "liked" by the search engines.
    
    
  • They come with all the features "built in." While you have to pay a website designer to add a store for your online store website, all of the important features are already included in a template website.
    
    
  • They are easy to expand. It can be a large and expensive task to add a page on a Custom Website Design. However, adding pages, products, categories, etc., is very easy with Website Templates.
  
  Negative things about Template Website Designs:
  
  
  • Other people will have the same templates. It may be attractive and effective, but it's not unique. Other people will have the same borders, backgrounds, and navigation that you do as a result of what a template is. Of course, most people visiting your site won't notice this, and most won't have seen the other sites with the same design, but it is still a downfall.
    
    
  • You have to learn the builder. Even with dedicated customer care or technical support, you won't be given step-by-step-by-step directions on the website builder you are using, and there are some basic things you will need to learn. They may not be as complex as HTML code, but it is still something you'll have to pick up on.
    
    
  • You're limited in the templates you can choose. If you know for sure that you want a pure black website with gold navigation and and baroque styled frame around the site, with a maroon colored pattern outside of that, it's pretty unlikely that you'll find that specific of a template. If you're really picky about those aspects, templates may simply frustrate you, because they are confining in that way.

So which do we recommend? Well, neither and both. Each suits the needs of different people (or, more importantly, the needs of different online businesses).

In brief:

• If you know basic HTML, are okay with spending a little more, and don't mind spending money when you want to make changes, the advantages provided by a custom website design are likely worthwhile for you.
  
  
• If you don't know HTML, are on a tight budget, and don't mind investing little bit more time into your site when you need to make changes, then a Template Website Design is probably the best fit for you.

So, what can you expect to pay for each of these? Well, prices range and vary for each type of website, and especially with custom website designs you will need to do research into the special features of your site.

However, we can say that Template Sites that include an online store, an ability to expand pages, and the ability add products/images/etc., should cost between $700 and $2000. Custom websites that have the normal pages for a store website (Home, About Us, Contact Us, Privacy Policy, Shipping Policy, Store, etc.) should generally cost between $1500 and $4000.

We at Thrive LI provide resources for our clients using the Lightwave Builder, a wonderful Template Website Builder that allows for great customization. We also provide support for the builder, and can help you learn the program. We can also give guidelines, and help you make decisions about what to include in a Custom Website Design if you choose to go in that direction.

To learn more about other resources provided by Thrive LI, or to learn about how an experienced coaching company can help your online business succeed, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

Passive Income: The Truth

If you have been looking around at work-from-home styled jobs, you have undoubtably seen ads that try to convince you that you can "work from home, making hundreds every day while only working two hours per week!" Once again, we have to ask the question -- is this legitimate?

The truth is, this kind of pitch is an oversell of something that is very plausible. Affiliate websites, using Google Adsense or direct banner ads, can give a very fair amount of revenue. But what can you realistically make off of an AdSense website?

Many "non-experts" find that they can create an affiliate website that generates between $1 and $3 per day. This is, of course, after their website has been found by Google, and is being viewed by a fair amount of people. So, this ranges from $30 per month to $90 per month. And how much work does a website or blog like this take? Well, you should generally post about once per week to keep your ranking up and your followers happy -- so often under 1 hour of real work per week. So, for between 2 and 4 hours of work you can get between $30 and $90. That means you're paying yourself anywhere from $7.50 per hour to $45.00 per hour. Not bad, by any means!

However, I know very few people who can pay the bills off of $90 per month. So there are a few directions to go to increase this amount of revenue. Option 1 -- you can focus on making one or two websites very successful. Option 2 -- you can build a hundred different websites and increase your $90 to $9000 per month. Option 3 -- you can go somewhere in-between, focusing on a few websites (generally under 20) which all receive a higher income than your typical AdSense site.

There are downfalls with each of these methods.

Option 1, it is very difficult to find a single category or subject that will pay you enough to support you off of one website. It's possible -- that's where these people claiming their hundreds of dollars a day are coming from. It is also very difficult to do search engine optimization for a website well enough that you can make this kind of income. Sites like this will take a lot more care and attention, and will have to be a great "discovery" of a niche market that is not yet saturated.

In addition, if Google changes its search parameters and you're pushed down a page, your income may fall through the floor! You are far more susceptible to the whims of the internet, and most of us don't like our income to be based on something that risky.

Option 2 has very different problems. First, you will have to find 100 websites that can generate income. Though you can spout off a lot of gibberish without much effort, it won't make you much money. You have to find profitable keywords. No one is going to pay to have their farm animals sold online, for example, so you probably don't want to blog or make a website about farm animals. So you have to do the research to find 100 different websites. You have to then build 100 websites. Even if these are pre-made blogs, this is going to be difficult to do, and highly time consuming.

Also, to make even the $1 to $5 per blog, you will have to do some basic marketing for the websites, posting your link on directories, forums, etc. So the setup time for Option 2 is pretty massive. To set up 100 effective, money-making blogs, and market them, may well takes months of hard work. If you decide this is what you want to do, don't expect any less than a few hundred hours of work before your website are making you the money you want. In addition, you have to maintain these websites for them to be profitable! Even if you know your subjects, and can post quickly and effectively, you can expect to be working 50 hour work weeks.

Then again -- $9000 a month is nothing to scoff at, and if your objective is earning a lot of money, and you don't mind putting in the effort, this may be a viable solution for you.

Option 3 tends to be the most effective and successful. Setting up a dozen blogs or websites is far easier than setting up a hundred, and your general "labor" after setup will probably be somewhere between 6 and 24 hours per week, meaning that your schedule will be very flexible. However, you should still expect to invest the equivalent of 3-4 full time work weeks to get these blogs/websites up and running.

With effective online marketing and updating, which takes time, patience, study, and experience, you may well see each website generating $5 to $15 per day (this is a reasonable goal -- you will likely be frustrated if you aim too far above this). Just to make the numbers here more clear, with a dozen sites, that may be anywhere from $60 to $180 per day, or between $1800 and $5400 per month. This is the equivalent of somewhere between a $75 per hour to a $900 per hour income, for the time you are actually investing.


Of course, knowing the general outline of making money through blogs, or affiliate marketing websites, is one thing. Knowing the details of how to do is successfully is something entirely different.

For more information on how a coaching company can help you in building your own affiliate website empire, and generate great money online with a reasonable time investment, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

Business Blogs

Since you're here, on our blog, I think I can assume that you know something about what a blog is. However, for those who just happen to have stumbled across this Blog, allow me to go back to basics.

The word "blog" is a shortening of "Web Log," and thanks to Blogger, terms like "blogging" and "bloggers" have become more a part of our cultural phenomena over the last few years. This is because it's now very easy to set up a blog.

And "blogging?" Well, blogging can be anything. If I tell the world my grandma is sick on a blog, that's blogging. If I talk about my new girlfriend, that's blogging. If I talk about my political beliefs, that's blogging. If I talk about religion, that's blogging. If I talk about how vanilla is the best ice cream, that's blogging.

And most importantly, if I talk about my company, my products, and my company's quality, that's most definitely blogging! This is where blogs come in as a part of your business. Is it mandatory to have a blog for your online business? No, not mandatory. But it does help you with the search engines.

The more people link to your website, the more popular that site will become. The more relevant the pages that links are on happen to be, the more powerful that link will be. So by creating a blog, you can link to your website through a highly, highly relevant website. In short, you will start to get a better page rank, your search engine ranking and SEO will improve, and you may generate some independent leads through your blog.

So what should you include in the blog to make it most effective? Should you have just one, or multiple? How much does it really impact your ranking? How can you make sure your blog is visible?

Even after explaining a lot of the details, there are always going to be more questions. To find out more about how a coaching company can help answer your questions, and introduce you to many more ways to market your website, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

The Power of a Logo

One thing that commonly comes up during the creation of a business is building a Logo. Many people feel that having a company logo is unimportant, or at least not something that should be a preliminary concern for their business. Others (often those trying to sell you the logo) argue that a logo is the single most important thing you can do to help your business. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in-between the two extremes.

So, what is a logo? What is the real power of a logo? What does it do for you? Why is it important? What's a good amount to pay for one? What should you keep in mind in designing your logo? These are just a few of the common questions regarding logo design, and I'll go into each of them briefly.

What is a logo?
A logo is an image or stylized text (or a combination of the two) which identifies your business. It is not a photograph, it is not a picture of your product, and it is not a description of your business.

This logo should definitely be located on your website. It should also be located on all printed marketing materials, banner ads, business cards, etc. People should come to associate your logo with your company, so using it repeatedly will help ingrain the image into the minds of your clients.

Here are a few famous logos to help give you the idea of what a logo is:




What is the real power of a logo?

There are two major points to mention with a logo. The first major power of a logo is professionalism. Having your own logo gives a clear sense that your company has invested into itself. This makes your company feel more legitimate to your buyers. This is the primary way a logo will pay for itself. People are far more likely to buy from an online business that looks and feels professional.

The second major power of a logo is memorability. It is easier to remember your company when you are using a logo. You may know McDonalds without its logo, but when you see the golden arches, you instantly recognize "This is McDonalds." And what does this mean for you and your business? First, it makes marketing more effective by making your website and company more memorable. Second, it makes your website itself more memorable. Customer loyalty is one of the major keys to success, and having a solid logo can strongly help with this.

These are, of course, the reasons why a logo is important as well. No, a logo will not double your sales! No, it will not make your business miraculously appear on the first page of the google search engines. But it will increase your conversion rate, and it will increase your return customers.

What's a good amount to pay for a logo?

This is a difficult question to answer, but mostly because there are a lot of details that go into a logo. How complex is the logo? Is it just stylized text, or does it include a custom image or graphic? How many versions of the logo will you receive? How many revisions are you allowed to make?

A good price may be anywhere from about $99 to $999 for a solid logo for a start-up company. What we recommend is that you find a company that will give you at least 1 set of revisions (in other words, doesn't hand you a logo and refuse to do extra work on it), and preferably will give you two sets of revisions or more. We also recommend that you either find a logo creation company that will give you multiple logo concepts up front, or will give additional logo concepts if you are not satisfied with the first version. We also recommend that you find a company that will provide more than simply stylized text.

A good cost to pay for this type of logo is between $300 and $400. As an example of a good company, Clover Logos is the primary logo design company we recommend at Thrive. They have assisted dozens of our clients in creating an excellent, professional logo to help their business succeed.

What should I keep in mind when designing my logo?

You should keep in mind about 80 different things while designing your logo. However, there are a couple of basic principles to follow.

First -- make sure it reflects the tone of your business. Don't have a black and gray corporate logo for your children's toys business, and don't have a pink, yellow, green and orange bubble text logo for your office supplies business.

Second -- keep it simple. You should be able to shrink or expand this logo to the size of a business card or the size of a billboard, and it should still be recognizable.


In short summary, a logo is important for every business that wants to come across as authentic and legitimate. It is important to increase return customers. Don't kill yourself over the cost, but put it pretty high on your priority list (probably just below setting up your legal entity, website, and getting your products or dropshipper).

For more information on how a coaching company can help you with the creation and branding of your business, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

The "Buying Mood"

Though many people searching the web are interested in buying a product immediately, certainly not all people are. They may be looking to see how much a product costs, they may be comparing online products, or they may simply be daydreaming. "Wouldn't it be nice if I could buy this."

So, what can you do to turn these browsers and daydreamers into buyers on your online business? Well, there are dozens of tactics, but pretty much all of them full under the category of "setting the buying mood." Creating an atmosphere that encourages buying your product, providing incentives, and more, can help set this buying mood.

Here are just a couple of quick tips to help you in creating that atmosphere for your clients:

• Use emotion evoking images. If you're selling baby products, then you should definitely have some happy, laughing, smiling babies. If you're selling television sets, you should have a family or couple gathered around the TV, perfectly happy and content. Most people want to purchase these items because they have a specific fantasy of what the product is going to do for them. Help build that fantasy through emotion evoking images.
  
  
• Provide clearly visible incentives. And make sure you're providing something! Even if you have the same products at the same final prices, your competitor who has a visible "20% Off!" sale is going to close more than you do. Sales are a great way to do this. With many products, free shipping is another excellent way. Free gifts, buy one get one half off, and many other possible incentives will serve to increase your overall profit.
  
  
• Make sure navigation is clear and simple. Nothing discourages customers more than not being able to find the product they want on your site. If you have images of a product on your home page, make sure that image links directly to that specific product. Make sure all your categories are clearly visible on your site, immediately. People should never struggle to find what they're looking for, because if they do, they're likely to move on to the next website.
  

These are just a few of the things you can do to to increase your number of buyers by turning the casual browsers into your clients. When it comes to e-commerce, your conversion rate (the percentage of people that come to your website who actually purchase your product) can vastly alter your profit. Remember, the difference between a 2% and a 3% conversion rate could mean the difference between $50,000 and $75,000 a year.

To learn more about how a coaching company can help you build your website in a way that increases your conversion rate, and helps set that buying mood, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

What does it take to work from home?

Most people are aware that making money online, from home, is an increasingly popular profession. However, many people who would strongly prefer the work from home lifestyle don't pursue it. And why? Well, there are many reasons.

First, we all know it's true that the industry is full of myths. We can even safely say that the industry is full of scams. Some companies out there will tell you that you can "sign up today, pay just $29.99, and make $200 an hour within a week! Low cost! No effort!" Does this happen? Sure, occasionally. But it's pretty rare, and you can't try and view online businesses as the "easy form" of business.

The fact is, online business takes a lot of effort, research, and intelligence. Some people sign up for online programs and assume that their job is to "sit back and enjoy the ride." This will almost never make you any money.

There are many types of online businesses, ranging from affiliate marketing to dropshipping to eBay businesses to domain brokering and more. However, all of these take effort. Affiliate marketing, for example, is usually viewed as the simplest way to earn money online. Once your website is set up, it will generally take care of itself and make you money without your constant care and attention.

However, you still have to set up the website, and you have to set it up right! You have to market it appropriately, spread the word, get your link on the web, and make sure your keyword density, linking, and more are correctly done, or chance are you won't be making money with that website any time soon. In addition, the best way to make money with affiliate websites is generally to have multiple websites. Since they are so low effort, and the amount of income is low when compared to the potential revenue from eBay and Dropshipping, creating multiple websites is one of the very best ways to make a steady income through affiliate marketing.

Online business is not simple. Many people will try to convince you it is, but anyone who has experience with it will generally tell you the truth. It's hard, it's complicated, and it's time consuming. To quote Princess Bride, "anyone who's tells you different is selling something." Don't you think more people would work from home if it was as effortless as so many people claim?

So, with the amount of intricate details involved, what's the best way to start? Well, that's where a coaching company can be truly beneficial. Companies like Thrive, with years of experience in the industry, can help you in setting up your online business. With tools and resources ranging from help with website creation, online marketing, eBay business, drop shipping, and more, we can assist you in starting your online business, and put you on the road to financial independence. For more information on our services, and how we can help you succeed, simply visit www.thriveli.com.

eBay: Building Positive Feedback

One of the most popular forms of online business is selling on eBay. However, before you begin selling items on eBay, it's important that you get at least some positive feedback. Mostly, this is so people are aware that you are a legitimate eBay user. There is some debate about what a good feedback rating is to start selling at, but it is generally agreed that the lowest you positive feedback rating you'll want to start posting items for sale at is 10. The reason for this is that you get a gold star (yes, we're back in kindergarten!). This star label next to your name makes it quick and easy for potential eBay buyers to see that you are a real life person with some real experience on eBay.

Now, normally, you gain this positive rating by buying or selling items on eBay, gradually increasing your positive feedback. But as a small business owner looking to sell on eBay, you probably don't want to take a casual pace. So here are some tips for building that positive feedback as quickly and effectively as possible.

1. Buy things that are relatively cheap. Though you are not "buying" feedback, you should still view these purchases as a business expense. Don't spend $700 on a laptop unless that's something you would have done anyway. Since you can easily buy under $100 worth of eBay products to get this rating, you don't want to purchase the costlier items.
   
   
2. Buy things you need, want, or will use. For example, you've just started your online
   business. Chance are, you have or will have a home office to make running this easier. So buy some office supplies! Organizers, a printer if you don't have one, pens, sticky notes, etc., can both help your business and increase your feedback rating. Items like pens can be purchased for as little as 1 to 2 dollars, including shipping!
   
   Beyond purchasing items for your eBay business's home office, consider the following types of purchases. Birthday presents, gift cards or gift certificates for places you normally eat or shop, items for your favorite hobbies, and more. The end point is -- don't get things that you're going to throw away.
   
   
3. Don't buy "positive feedback boosting" items. Once upon a time, people were advised to buy recipes on eBay to boost their positive feedback. These recipes would cost as little as ten cents, and were e-mailed for free to the buyer. The payment was made, the positive feedback was given. So what's the problem with this? People can see the items you've recently purchased. If someone looks at your feedback and all you have is recipes purchased, then you will look worse than a new user in regards to legitimacy.
   
   
4. Buy from different sellers. If you get positive feedback multiple times from the same user, it will generally not count towards your positive feedback rating. Be sure to purchase from different eBay stores and users to make sure you get the positive feedback you're aiming for.
   
   
5. Pay right away, give positive feedback to your seller. There are two things you can do to make certain you get your positive feedback as a buyer. First, as soon as you win or buy an item, pay for it. Then, when you receive the item, unless there is a major flaw with the item, leave positive feedback for the seller. If you do these two things, there should be essentially no reason for them to give you non-positive feedback.

Once you've hit ten positive feedback, or more if you'd like, you can safely start creating items to sell on eBay. Of course, at this point there are many, many other tips, tricks, and tactics that can help you maximize your sales, and give you the most money for your time, effort, and investment.

For more information on how an online business coaching company can help you make the right choices with your eBay sales, simply visit www.thriveli.com.