SOME PERSONAL HISTORY

Just a few short years ago, I was a working stiff just like you.

One day, I bought and read a book called "Multiple Streams of Income" by bestselling author, Robert Allen. Immediately, I began my journey.

Every night after work and after my wife and children went to sleep, I would get online and explore different ways of using Internet to make money.

In 2 years that followed, I spent over $10,000.00 racking up credit card debt buying eBooks, membership sites, special reports, opt-in leads, and joining every "guru" recommended business opportunity that flew into my email inbox...

I stayed up learning, working and drinking coffee until 5:00 in morning month after month filled with hope of making money online.

In my 3rd year of working part-time to build an home based income, I finally broke through and earned over $100,000.00 in just 12 months from Internet.

BECOME THE MASTER OF YOUR LEARNING CURVE

Research lives of all of guru's. The one thing that you will learn is that my own experience is not unique. Most of high earners on Internet experienced a learning curve very similar to my own.

Chances are that your curve will also be similar to mine, but it is my hope that you can get to top faster than even I did. Three years was a long time to struggle, but every ounce of struggle was worth reward I have finally received.

In order to shorten your own learning curve, you must do a few things differently than rest of us did. You must become master of your learning curve.

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IS A STRAIGHT LINE

There is only one way to shorten curve on Internet, "you must plan to succeed."

Here is deal. Most people put up a freebie website and select a few affiliate programs to add to their website. Right out of gate, most people are running for finish line without any real plan in mind.

After a few short weeks, people begin to see writing on wall that says, "This is going to be a long hard road."

People check their hit counters daily for six weeks before they realize that getting traffic to their free site is going to be tough.

At this point, they begin developing their first batch of advertising. Then they spend countless months finding places to show their advertisements for free. Some make an even more drastic mistake by blowing thousands of hard earned dollars on their new and untested ads.

These are people who will learn facts of life hard way.

In time, they will learn how to make their advertising work for them. But most will earn very little money from their affiliate programs.

At this point in learning curve, most people throw up their hands and walk away from their dreams in utter disgust. Instead of a walking away point, this should have convinced struggling online entrepreneur that they were simply traveling wrong road.

YOU MUST PLAN TO SUCCEED

TITLE: 10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website For Cheap Or Free AUTHOR: Jen Merkel, Freelance Writer WORD COUNT: 1,482 URL: http://jenmerkel.bravehost.com Mailto: jen.merkel@cox.net

"10 Easy Ways To Promote Your Website For Cheap Or Free" © 2004 Jen Merkel

You've built your website and you're quite proud of it. The graphics look nice, it has a few interesting pieces of information and it showcases your subject perfectly. But how do you draw people to it and get that hit counter climbing without breaking bank? You’ve got your meta tags in place but you just can’t afford to pay humungous fee to be a featured advertiser on a mega-search engine. Here are a few easy and quick ways to publicize your website which are either cheap or free.

1. Link Exchanges

One of most effective ways to get traffic moving into your site is to list it as a link on other sites of interest to your target market. If you don't already know of another site similar to yours, just do a Google search using a few appropriate keywords. By using Google to do a search on words "link exchange" you will also find entire sites – some free, some with a fee – with directories of sites willing to exchange links. Once you find a site, see if they have a links page and scan it to make sure yours would be a good fit. Usually instructions on exchanging links are somewhere on website, but if they're not simply e-mail webmaster or site owner and ask if they have a link exchange program. Be sure your site does not compete with theirs. After all, you will have to reciprocate with a link to their site on your own. Corporate sites don't normally do link exchanges, you will have much better luck with a site owned by an individual or small business. If you don't have a banner, you can create one for free online. A very user-friendly site for this is www.addesigner.com, but there are several others out there as well.

2. Join a Web-Ring

Web-Rings are a way of driving traffic to your site from others similar to yours. You simply place a web-ring banner on your home page using specified HTML code and you’re automatically part of network. When a visitor clicks on web-ring banner at one member’s site, they are directed to next site in web-ring, potentially yours. There are some things to consider when joining a web-ring. For example, when one of your site’s viewers clicks on your web-ring banner, they are being directed off your site onto someone else’s. If you join a web-ring, find one matching interests of your target market that doesn’t have a large number of members competing with you. For example, if your site sells aquariums, join a site for tropical fish enthusiasts rather than one with for people who sell pet products.

3. Host a Contest

Everyone loves to win a contest, and if yours offers something of value to your target market you can spark a lot of interest. The prize doesn't have to be big - maybe a $10.00 gift certificate, a set of books, a pretty piece of jewelry you purchased on closeout, or of course one of your products. You may be able to get prize donations from your link partners or others in your network simply by offering them credit and a link on your site throughout contest. It's also smart to offer extra entries to a contestant if they refer someone else – word of mouth (or e-mail) is extremely powerful!

4. Win an Award

This may take some legwork on your part, but it could be well worth it in end. If your site is rich in content and appealing to eye, you have a good chance of winning some sort of web award. Simply do your Google search on "website award" or "site of day" and research links for application procedures. If you win, payoff will be privilege of posting an award banner on your home page for all to see. The site hosting award will literally be sending visitors to you by way of a link.

5. Put a Link in Your Signature Line

The easiest and quickest way to get publicity for your site is to put a link in your signature line. Every e-mail you send will announce your site, and including an enticing one-line ad such as "enter our contest to win a $10.00 gift certificate" will likely increase your traffic.

6. Join an E-mail Group