Money for nothing?

Written by Chuck McCullough


Continued from page 1

But if you take what I've made from day one and divide it byrepparttar number of hours I put into it, you'll find that I probably could have done better with a part-time job flipping burgers.

And who knows, maybe I could have even spent more time with my family because when I clocked out from my part-time job, I would be off forrepparttar 131967 evening.

When you are bit byrepparttar 131968 Internet bug, you'll find yourself watchingrepparttar 131969 sun come up on some days...after an all-nighter!

The sad truth is thatrepparttar 131970 vast majority ofrepparttar 131971 "gurus" out there leave out this part ofrepparttar 131972 story. It doesn't sound quite as awesome to hear someone say they are making money with their website, but they might do better offering "fries with that."

At this point you are probably thinking: "Man! Chuck, what's up with allrepparttar 131973 gloom and doom?"

I'm trying to set your expectations appropriately. In my last job, one ofrepparttar 131974 most important lessons that I learned was to "setrepparttar 131975 customer's expectations."

When I went into a job that I knew would probably take 4 hours, it was better to tellrepparttar 131976 customer that it would take 8.

If I was done in 4 I was a hero. If I ran into major problems and it took 8, then I was right on time.

But if I had toldrepparttar 131977 customer that I should be done in 4 hours and it took me 8....

VERY upset customer!

It is all about perception.

You need to set your own expectations. Don't think that you can "build it and they will come."

Don't think that you can put up a site and instantly put it on auto-pilot.

If you don't userepparttar 131978 right approach to your business, you can easily find yourself onrepparttar 131979 list of "Internet failures."

The bright side to this story? Today, throughrepparttar 131980 "school of hard knocks" I have learned how to get a website up and running in a much shorter time frame, and with far fewer mistakes.

Looking back on it, what would I have done differently?

I would have invested in some training materials so I could learn what others have found to work, and not work.

I would have gotten my own domain name a lot earlier.

I would have invested in a decent log analysis tool instead of spending hours "counting clicks."

And, I would probably have doubled my "expected time to completion" :-)

Chuck McCullough is the owner of http://AffiliateMatch.com offering FREE articles, tips, hints, and real-world advice on how to make money with your website. Visit his site or join his FREE newsletter, The AffiliateMatch Informer by sending a blank email to mailto:newsletter@affiliatematch.com


So you want to run an awards program?

Written by Richard Lowe


Continued from page 1

You answer(s) to this question will determine how you proceed. If you are just trying to get traffic or increase your search engine ranking, then you do not need to put in anywhere near as much time and care into your program. Just create your graphic, a simple explanation page and make your award known.

If, onrepparttar other hand, you've got loftier goals, then you need to continue your thought process. Now that you've decided on your purpose, think about some other things.

1) Do you want a general award (best site) or a specific award (best Star Trek The Next Generation fan site with pictures of James T. Kirk?)

2) Do you want to allow automatic submissions (which means many people will who apply for your award will never even see your site?)

3) How specific do you want to get withrepparttar 131965 criteria? Some programs just say "you'll get it if I like your site" and others have pages of complex equations stating exactly what is expected to get an award.

4) This is very important: how much time do you want to spend on your awards program? A couple of hours a week? More? Less?

5) Are there specific types of sites that you do not want to allow? For example, many programs exclude adult sites and our own program excludes psychiatric sites. It doesn't matter whether or not anyone agrees with your exclusions - it is your awards program and you need to be comfortable with it.

6) Do you want to allow children under age 13? If so, you had better reviewrepparttar 131966 legal requirements involved (specificallyrepparttar 131967 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.)

In addition to all of this, it is also important to treat your awards program seriously, at least as seriously as your web site. As you hand out your award to more and more sites, you will find people judging you based upon whom you have judged. Give out your award lightly just to get some traffic, and you will find your own site judged lightly and visited infrequently.

Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips: mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com


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