One of the great debates that continues to rage about owning a home business is do you need to have a website of your own.  Let’s break this down to two points of view so you can think about what is best for you in order to make money online.

1. The first point I would like to make is that you do not have to have a website to make money online.  For example, you may purchase leads so a landing page is not even necessary to develop your list of subscribers.  If you’re selling affiliate products, you just need to direct your list of subscribers to your affiliate sales pages rather than a website.

The company that you buy leads from builds your list for you and enters them into your autoresponder account.  In this scenario, your only job is to follow up and build a rapport with these subscribers.  By building a rapport with your customers you can greatly increase your reputation and trustworthiness with them.

Another example of not needing a website is to promote your affiliate products directly online in various ways. Many affiliate marketers will purchase a redirect URL and promote it as opposed to a promoting a bulky affiliate URL.

With this example you can analyze just how many visitors it has taken to create one sale.  You can then determine how much you need to increase your advertising to make more sales.  This will also let you know how much more money you are going to need to budget for advertising.

2. Now that we have finished the part about why you don’t need a website to make money online, I just want to say that in my opinion, you must have your own website in order to make a decent income online!!!

If you have your own website you are in complete control over how your business is marketed.  The ability to create reviews and promote affiliate programs within your own domain is worth its weight in gold.  Not to mention the money you will save by providing your own advertising rather than having to buy leads.

If you like to blog, you have one of the most important advertising venues available today.  People are making millions of dollars from their blogs every day and is an important part of branding yourself.  And don’t forget that it’s free advertising.  Monetize your blog and as your reputation grows so will your income.

You can also add landing pages to your website hosting account and build your own list directly. Having your own website gives you flexibility to do many things that you couldn’t do without one.

In the end it is all going to come down to what your business goals are and how you want to market your business online.  It is possible to make money online with both methods although I do believe that the only way to go is with your own website.  Good luck in all of your business endeavors.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

It’s hard when you first start your new home business because so many things require your attention.  These things are unavoidable but you can’t let them lead you down the road to developing bad habits.  Many home business entrepreneurs waste a lot of valuable time by not focusing on doing what is most important for their business.   So here are some home business tips for you to think about.

If I could only give you one business tip it would be to tell you to focus on building your internet marketing skills.  Internet marketers are not born, they are made.  Anybody with an average intellect can make a lucrative income if they just take the time to learn how and not give up in the first week.

We have the advantage of being able to learn on the internet how to effectively market our business.  There are absolutely no excuses for anybody not to be able to find study material for marketing their business online.

Training is available through videos, audio, webinars, e-courses, forums, blogs and purchasing training courses with workbooks and CD’s.  Let’s not forget about all of the social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Your goal when you started your home business was probably to be able to earn enough income so you wouldn’t have to endure the rat race of the outside business world.  Without learning how to market your business you will be doomed to fail.  But let’s not think about failing; let’s think about focusing our marketing efforts to become successful.

You should spend the majority of your time advertising and marketing your business and generating traffic. The more different forms of traffic you have coming to your website the more sales you will eventually make.

A key strategy to focus on is to promote a landing page and build your e-mail marketing list before your prospects get to your website.  This list can be of great value to you in the future.  It will allow you to follow up with your potential clients possible giving you a whole new income stream.

But even this strategy requires you to focus on traffic generation for your landing page.  You may have heard this before and you will hear it again, the most successful home business owners are the ones that get the most targeted traffic.

I hope these home business tips have been of some use for you.  If you are motivated and willing to focus your energy on educating yourself, your chance for success greatly increases.  Focus your marketing strategy on traffic generation.  Without traffic there will be no sales and you will be just another statistic rather than a successful home business owner.  Good luck and best wishes, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

Hey there guys and gals, have you taken a moment recently to think about how you might be able to use your internet marketing skills to make some additional income?  You can probably answer yes, everyday stupid!! (Please excuse me but there is a point to all of this, I promise)  This idea you may not have thought of, how about using your internet marketing strategies to help off line businesses.

If you look around you today, off line businesses are folding up camp left and right.  It’s not that these businesses don’t have something to offer I just believe that some may not be using all the tools available today on the internet.

Think back twenty years ago when the yellow pages was the information super highway.  If you needed something you just let your fingers do the walking.  Today if we are looking for a particular business we let the internet find what we need.  If a business owner today is not using the internet to drive traffic to his location, they have effectively cost themselves thousands maybe millions of dollars in potential revenue.

Let me give you an example, today if you want to find a local business selling guitars what do you do?  You Google it and that holds true for almost any product.  There may be twenty local businesses that sell guitars but only five have some form of internet advertising.  Which businesses are going to get the foot traffic, the ones that have decided to join us in the new century that’s who.

By helping these businesses, for a fee of course, gain an internet presence you are doing something to help yourself, the business and your community.  Use your knowledge of how to market a business to get these people going in the right direction and they are going to be very grateful.

The next point I would like to make is that some of these businesses may have a website. But it looks so cluttered and disgusting that people are leaving as fast as they entered.

You can turn a profit by cleaning up their websites and making sure that they have the proper search engine optimization.   A lot of these businesses probably don’t have the proper meta tags needed for a business website.

And finally, you may be able to assist some of these businesses that have a website by setting up a lead capture page for them.  A company that does most of its business offline is just as dependent on a list of potential clients as you or I.  Creating an e-mail follow up campaign for a business is also a way of generating some additional income for yourself.

I hope this article has made you realize that your internet marketing strategies are a highly sought after skill that can be used to assist others and also line your wallet or purse with some extra cash.  Remember, the local business owner is probably a very busy person who would gratefully pay you for your skills and services.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

If you have done any kind of research at all about generating traffic for your website then you already know how important it is to get high quality back links.  Today I am going to review a program that I have been using called Directory Maximizer that will help you get the back links you need.

A highly recommend way to get quality back links to your website is to submit your website to web directories.  I tried doing this manually and gave up just because it took forever to accomplish.  Time is not something I have a lot of so I put this on the back burner until a friend suggested I try Directory Maximizer.

Directory Maximizer is a web based company that will submit your website to over 1100 quality web directories for only 14 cents per submission.  You can decide how many sites you want to submit to for any given period.  I am doing 100 per week just to make the links appear more natural to the search engines.

Setting up my account was a breeze.  Your site description and keywords are entered in order to ensure proper SEO, (Search engine optimization), is accomplished.  The ability to manage multiple websites from a single account will also be an important feature for those of you with multiple websites.

A few more features of this service are; All submissions are recorded to ensure the same directories don’t receive multiple submissions, directories are constantly being added to the program, the ability to upload a list of submissions you may have made manually, orders for as little as $5.00 are accepted and all sites are reviewed for content and submitted to the appropriate category increasing the chances that your website will be approved for submission.

I have yet to find anything really bad with this service.  The average time to submit to 100 directories has been 3-4 days.  I have had only two sites that Directory Maximizer was unable to submit to and my account was credited immediately upon completion of my order.

All in all, Directory Maximizer is an excellent program that will give you high quality permanent one way links for your web based business.  If you are like me and need the back links but don’t have a lot of time, I highly recommend this program.  Click the banner below and get started today.  Good luck and best wishes, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

Failure to make money on the internet can be attributed to many reasons.  This also holds true for those who become successful on the internet.  So today I thought I would let you in on 5 marketing business online tips designed to help you be successful rather than just another statistic in the failure column.

1.  Make it a point to target a niche where people are currently spending money.  If you are not quite sure how to start a business online, try to reproduce what other successful internet business owners are doing.

What this means is try and sell products from a hot niche.  Some examples are work at home businesses, golf, hobbies and the weight loss craze.

2.  If you do not have your own product to sell online, think about joining an affiliate program.  Affiliates earn money by selling other people’s products.  There are tons of affiliate programs out there giving you a somewhat endless supply of products for you to sell.  Pick a few programs that peak your interest, try out the programs and learn everything you can about the product and or services.

3.  Try marketing your products by providing a review on your blog or home page.  This is an important step because people are always looking for a review of a product or service before they make a purchase.

4.  On your blog or home page, include a sign up form where an interested party can give you their name and e-mail address in exchange for something valuable like a free e-book or some free business tips.  The true power of becoming successful on the internet relies heavily on your list of potential prospects.

5.  Learn one effective way of marketing your business before moving on to another.  This will keep you from becoming too overwhelmed as you learn.  The frustration factor will also become less because there is a lot to learn when just beginning with a marketing business online.

This last point cannot be overstated.  Frustration is one of the greatest enemies for the newbie.  Many people fail with their online business because they fail to learn how to market their business correctly.  Marketing is everything so take your time and learn.  This is not a sprint, successful business owners are the ones that realize the marathon man is the one who will win.

I hope these five ideas will help your marketing business online become a successful endeavor.  Remember work hard, gain knowledge and you will set yourself up for a great future.  Good luck and best wishes, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

Today I am going to help you start your own home business.  I have some information for those of you who have not been able to figure out how to jump on the internet bandwagon.  Lets face it, there are a lot of different types of internet businesses but today I am going to talk about how to get started in one of the businesses that is a great starter.  So let’s start an affiliate marketing business online.

First let’s start off with the basics.  You need a website to make money on the internet.  This should be easy to understand but for the slow readers I’ll type it slower this time.  You need a website to make money on the internet.  So, you could spend a couple hundred bucks having a website built for you.  But times are tough and you may not want to fork out a bunch of dough on something you don’t even know is going to work.

Okay, I have a program that comes with a free fully built website.  It’s true that it is what is known as a cookie cutter type website but remember it is free.  The really cool thing is that it is fully customizable.  Take a look at my website, NetBusinessDirect.  This was once that free website.  But I downloaded an html. editor and learned how to make changes to my website.

Your first internet business is going to be a learning experience.  But you are preparing yourself for the future.  Once you learn how to master the art of affiliate marketing and are able to make your own website you will be set for life.  It does take time as all good educational programs do.  But your future is worth it.  I started with this same program six months ago and I have been able to do things I never thought possible.

I am by no means an html. guru.  (In case you are wondering html. is the language your website is set up with)  But I can successfully set up my website for the content I wish and properly optimize it for the search engines just because of this program and the wonderful support I receive from my fellow entrepreneurs.

So your first duty is to go the Plug In Profits sales page and create an account.  If you can’t afford the affiliate programs that have a monthly fee, don’t worry about it.  Several of them are free to join.  All you really have to pay for is your web hosting account which is $24.95 per month.  Even the web host has an affiliate program that pays you $10.00 per month per referral.  So with three referrals your hosting is free.

Ok, now that you have signed up for your account, before you do anything else or pay for any other programs to market your business I want you to contact me at support@netbusinessdirect.com.  We’ll have a little conversation about your goals and how much time you can put into your business.

Remember, every month you put off starting your affiliate marketing business online is a month wasted.  I wish I would have found this program a few years ago, who knows how much a month I would be making right now.  I’ll talk to you soon, good luck, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

We have all had a regular job outside our home business and in every job we had there was always that one slacker that made our lives a living hell.  Since you are now your own boss are you taking things just as seriously as if there was a manager looking over your shoulder or have you now become that slacker?  Let’s take a look at the work ethics of the home business owner.

Think back to your last job or even your current job.  Who is the one guy or girl that is so lazy that they make your work double because you have to pick up their slack?  Do you have the person in mind?  Ok, you can un-clench your teeth and read on.

Having a good work ethic, in my opinion, is one of the most important character traits a person can have.  With a good work ethic you gain the respect and admiration of many of your peers with the possible exception of that one person you thought of a minute ago.

Now that you are running your own home business a good work ethic is still required.  The reasons may be different but it is still important.  Having a good work ethic will bring you success a lot sooner, the more you work the more you will accomplish.  Don’t forget about the personal pride you feel after a job well done.

For those of you that may be bordering on being a slacker it may be time for you to take a step back and take a good look at the way you work.  Set goals for yourself and do your best to keep them.  Don’t start blowing off the work that is so vital to your business.  Try not to procrastinate with your business either.  This can be easier said than done but you must be disciplined and you must not put things off until tomorrow!!

The work ethics of the home business owner must not be any less than if you were working for somebody else.  If possible your work ethic should be higher.  Remember, this is your business and your livelihood that you are dealing with.  So I wish you good luck and best wishes with your home business.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

Submitting press releases is an often overlooked but highly effective way to spread the word about your products and services.  This type of marketing method is a bit different than article marketing.  So today I thought we could discuss how you too can master press release marketing in six easy steps.

1. A common mistake many internet business owners make when submitting a press release is that they do not offer newsworthy content.  The most effective time to issue a press release is when your business has something new to offer.

If you have a new product or are offering a joint venture are two examples when to issue a press release.  You will know when you have something to advertise about.

This kind of reminds me about the Dudley Moore movie Arthur.  When Arthur says to his butler Hobson,” Do you know what I am going to do? I’m going to take a bath”, and Hobson replies,” I’ll alert the media”.

2.  Give complete information about your news.  Don’t forget the writing guidelines you learned all those years ago, who, what, where, when and how.  You need to answer all the questions your readers may want to know.

3.  Don’t overlook the importance of your title.  Remember unless your press release is read it won’t do you much good.  So if your title is a bomb your press release won’t stand much of a chance in giving you any success.  So just like article marketing, your title needs to be captivating, rich with keywords and have a point to it.

4.  An easy to read press release is a well written press release.  It needs to be simple yet offer complete information for your readers.  Write simply with content in mind concentrating on facets and not fancy words.  Use few sentences as possible to get your point across.

5.  Make sure you have your contact information included with your press release so people will know how to contact you if more information is needed.

6.  Now it’s time for distribution.  Issue your press release to as many publishers that you can.  If you have time sensitive material you are going to want to issue it immediately.  You may also want to think about utilizing a press release service to help streamline the process.

I hope these six tips on how you can master press release marketing will help you gain some more traffic for your marketing business online.  A well written press release can have a substantial impact on your business and is worth the time it takes to accomplish.  Good luck and best wishes, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

If you don’t know what a backlink is then this post is for you.  A backlink is your website’s url posted on someone else’s website.  Backlinks are very important for obtaining traffic for your site.  The more backlinks you have the more traffic you can receive.

Today I am going to give you 5 ways to get backlinks and hopefully increase your website traffic.

1.  If you look at the bottom of this post you will see what is known as a resource box.  The resource box contains a little about myself and has a link pointing back to my website.  One method for increasing the number of backlinks you have is to write a lot of articles and post them to article directories online.  Each article will have your resource box, with your website information so readers can see what kind of promotions you are offering.

2.  Blogging is a great way to get backlinks.  Every time you make a blog post submit it to social directories, known as book marking, and you will have a valuable backlink.  Social directories love blog posts and so do the search engines.

3.  Make comments in other peoples blogs.  But only comment in blogs that allow you to have a link back to your website.

4.  Visit online discussion forums.  Most forums will allow you to have a signature that can be hyperlinked back to your website.  Use a keyword from your website and hyperlink it back to your website.  A post can stay in a discussion forum for a long time giving you backlinks for many years.

5.  If you are given the opportunity to write a testimonial for a product, jump at the chance.  A testimonial will give you a lot of traffic from a single backlink, especially if the product becomes a huge success.  Thousands of people could potentially look at the sales page with your name and website posted on it.

These are only 5 ways to get backlinks to your website or blog.  Use your imagination and do a little research, I am sure you can come up with others.  Good luck and best wishes, Tim Stokes.

The author, Tim Stokes, has several affiliate earning ideas and opportunities for those wanting to start a marketing business online.  Visit NetBusinessDirect.com today.

Hi everybody, today I want to tell you about a way to make submitting your articles a lot easier than how you may be doing it now.  In past posts, I have let you in on secrets that are designed to ease the load of working your internet business.  Well today I am going to share with you how article submission services can help you free up a boat load of time.

The particular service I want to write about is called Submit Your Article, (SYA).  This service will submit your articles to hundreds of article directories automatically.  It is the greatest time saver I have found for my business to date.

Article submissions are made to well known directories such as Article Base, Article Factory and E-Zine Articles.  Your first step after joing the service is to establish accounts with seven of the directories that will require a log in.  Other submissions are made using the company log in or to sites that don’t require one.  After that you are all set to begin your article submissions.

The article submission page is as easy as copying and pasting your title and article body into the appropriate spaces.  Submit Your Article is also ready for the search engines.  You can enter your keywords and a summary of your article.  There are also two entries for your resource box, one is for sites able to show html while the other is for non html sites.

After you preview you article you are ready to submit for release.  There are also two options to choose from before you release your article.  One is called article trickle.  Article trickle allows you to have your artcicle submitted during a specific time frame picked by you so not all of the directories will get your article at the same time.  This looks more natural to the search engines by not having a heap of back links all coming out at the same time.

The next option is for you to apply article leverage to your article.  This option will bring you to a new set of screens and will allow you to change the title and paragraphs of your article.  This will give you several different articles which will be posted to the various directories.

That is all there is to it.  I use SYA all the time, in fact I used it this morning to submit three articles spaced out to submit in four day intervals.  That means I can now focus my attention to other aspects of my business.  So click the banner below and join SYA today, it is the best article submission service on the net.  Good luck and best wishes and as always I will see you at the Affiliate Earning Website.  Tim Stokes