When Google did their recent Page Rank update I was very surprised to notice that some of my pages had jumped from PR 0 to PR 3, or even 4. My freeware pages. This large jump didn’t seem to have affected most of rest of my website, so I was at a loss to explain sudden jump, or at least I was until I remembered my RoboSoft submission. Intrigued I took a closer look at some of websites I had submitted to. Several were ranked at PR 6, and some even as high as PR 8 or 9! Without realising it, I had managed to obtain around 100 one-way inbound links for each of my pages, with at least 50% coming from a PR 4 or higher site.

Despite Page Rank seemingly being less and less important in Google’s algorithm this jump was still extremely useful to my small site. Along with steady stream of visitors both to specific page for software and my homepage, my rankings also got a nice little boost. The moral of story? ‘Offline’ content can have a big impact on your ‘online’ rankings. So if you’re a coder, or are interested in programming in least, for sake of just a few hours coding and a few more submitting to various freeware directories you could get a real boost to your site.

THE FIRST LESSON LEARNED

Looking back on these last three years, I have learned a few things that I would like to share with you today.

First of all, you should never join any of those scam sites that claim you will make a lot of money fast without working hard.

The cold, hard truth is that there is no way that you can make money online unless you are willing to work hard!

The next time you read about an opportunity where promoter is telling you that you will not have to work hard to be successful, Stop! Stop and ask yourself "how hard this person is working" to part you with your money?

What about that email opportunity you are reading, where this anonymous person is telling you that you will not have to send other people email in order to make money? If he is being honest with you about nature of his business, why did he have to send you an email to get Your business? If his way is best, why is it that he is not practicing what he preaches?

You have to approach new programs with your eyes wide open! Be willing to read between lines to see if promoter is lying to you to part you with your money. Be willing to research on internet what other people have said about program that you are looking at. Be willing to discover and separate people who are trying to sell program, from people who are giving you an honest appraisal of program, from people who are just complaining about everything to hear themselves talk.

In end, it comes down to this. If you get involved with one of myriad of scam opportunities floating around out there, you will end up spending all of your money with zero rewards in your pocket for your time or effort.

THE SECOND LESSON TO BE LEARNED

Find a niche product to sell or promote. And then make your own website. If you don't know anything about how to become a webmaster, use Google to find forums about subject. Or, you can buy a ebook about web-mastering.

Don't expect to earn much money first year your website is online. Look at it as your learning period. Be persistent and don't take any shortcuts. It takes time to build a money making business, whether you make your business online or offline.

And finally, try to have fun while you are working on your website. It's much easier to become successful if you like work you are doing.

Good luck!

Torgeir Sunnarvik, Norway mailto:webmaster@everypleasures.com