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So, you want to get paid for waking up? Think everyone's making a
million but you? How come your dot com isn't raking in dot dough?

What you have here is a failure to communicate. What we have done
here is simple: Assembled proven methods for turning your site into a
money machine.

Some techniques will be well known to you, others completely new. You
may be making profit-killing mistakes and not know it. Or you may be
just a step or two away from sending your site over the top.

Please remember one thing: The methods described below are not
theory; They do not come out of a book. Rather, they are gleaned from
the practical experience of men and women who started small, and made
it big.

Be clear on what your site is about. If you try to be everything to
everyone, your site is doomed. Your target audience is your target
customer base, and they use search engines to link to specific web
content. If your site stays on topic, people will stay on your site, and are
more likely to click on your affiliate partners.

Oddly, this mistake is often made by people who are at first experiencing
success. They think, "Wow, if hits are up with my snowboarding
content, they'll love some deer hunting content mixed in there!" This
dilution causes you to start losing your original viewers, while the new
content is usually inadequate. Go with what you know, and keep your
repeat visitors.

Your site's overall quality. There's a lot to say here, but we'll keep it
simple.

First, don't go nuts with the graphics. That does three very bad things.
One, it slows your page's download time; two, it distracts from your
page's real content, again muddying your message; and three, people
have a way of "tuning out" loud, garish graphics.

This goes double for images that blink, scroll, or flash, especially with
female i-net users.

Do not even think of using pop-up ads.

Next, update your site when needed. Nothing makes people hit the
BACK button more than outdated info. Who wants dead links, 2-day old
baseball scores, or last season's whatever? You are running a
business, so treat it like one.

Text is good. A great way to both speed up your site and comfortably
fit in more links is to use text. But be careful.

Unusual fonts; that is, fonts not usually offered with Microsoft or Mac,
will not translate to someone's computer that does not also have that
font. Result: Your vitally important message is displayed as gibberish.
Common fonts are usually offered in your user menu in black, those
somewhat rare are yellow, while those rarer still are red. A good idea is
to make your yellows and reds into Text Objects. Better still, stick with
common fonts.

With vendor text links, make sure they are crystal clear about the
product/service offerred, i.e. CubanCigars.com. Herein, you want to
avoid "promotional text"-- long, boring paragraphs explaining all the
reasons you really need Yukaway Toenail Cleaner. No one reads these
things! Go with what the billboard people have known for decades: The
average consumer looks at your ad for 3-4 seconds.

Match your vendors with your site's theme. Remember what we said
before about staying on topic? You are attracting a specific audience
with specific interests, while at the same time dedicating a finite
amount of site space to vendor links. So don't waste space.

You may have a buring desire to sell art supplies, but how well is that
stuff going to move on your Beers of the World site? Try to put yourself
in the mind of your visitor, which, if you really know your content,
shouldn't be hard to do.

Get seasonal. Not only is this a great time to get holliday/seasonal
incentives from your vendors, but it also provides an opportunity to
"seasonalize" your site. We are not just talking Christmas here. You
got your Kwanza, Yom Kippur, New Year's, ad infinitum. If
appropriate, try altering your site content to reflect the
season/holiday.

Follow the rules. Each affilitate program, web host, and vendor, has its
own required practices. Practices they expect you to follow. So read
the wordy legal agreements before you click "I agree." For example,
Geocities now maintains the legal right over anything you put on your
page!

Some hosts give you a free page, but won't let you sell on it, while
others require you to sell only their merchandise. Some firms/vendors
get testy if you sell the same merchandise from a competing firm, a
kind of Pepsi-Coke thing.

If you go with an affiliate that requires you place their link on your site,
then do it. They always check. The same goes for site content; If
your site's called Yay For Violent PC Games, but you tell the
firm/host it's Grandma's Happy Puppies, not only will they drop you,
but they will probably ban you forever as an affiliate. You don't need
that.

Related to this, be wary of putting "adult" content on your site. We
don't want to regulate anyone's tastes, but all companies are sensitive
about their image. If they see an adult product ad, they may drop you
like a rock. The same goes for your site content. Many firms review
sites before letting them sell their wares. If they see nudity, profanity,
or anything outwardly negetive, the rejection letters will be
forthcoming.

Finally, play it straight with the IRS. Your affiliates will report anything
they've paid you, and you don't want to have to explain why you did
not.

Stay on top of your affiliate status. Your affiliate vendors often have
periodic incentives, and permanent upgrades, both of which mean
higher payout percentages for you. These may or may not be delivered
in your e-mailbox, but may be in the mailbox your affiliate provided.

Note the expiration date for each of your affiliate agreements. If you
don't, after a time you'll be selling their stuff for free.

If you operate more than one site, be careful when your product links.
With many affiliate programs, i.e. Commission Junction, you must
specify on which of your sites a link will be placed. Be sure you know
what you're doing, or, again, you'll be advertising for free. We suggest
getting a free site somewhere and practicing putting links on it.

You might try "test buying" something yourself (or get a friend to do it)
from your site. Then wait a week or two and see if your affiliate tracked
it. If not, you probably didn't display the link properly, the vendor has
been dropped, or you have some e-mail to write.

Get a good host. If you're site's getting a lot of hits, that may be too
many for Larry's Free Hosting to handle. It may well be worth it to pay
for the DNS, the extra web space, and the web tools you need. Most
people grow into this, but it's amazing how fast a hot site will require
professional support.

This should be automatic if you decide to be a storefront; that is,
process purchases on site via credit card. If you go amateur on this one,
it could be you, mad guy, and a judge, so let the professionals handle it.

If you go dotcom, shop around a little. Not all dots are the same,
especially in pricing. But cheaper isn't always better. In fact, many
firms offer a dotcom along with many of the tools and support services
that will keep you out of a jam later.

Be choosy about who gets on your site. Pick the vendors with the
highest payout percentages, and stay away from those that offer only
"click-thrus" or "pay per click". These types often go from x amount per
click to start, to 0 per click after about a week-- a true bait and switch.

Do not, repeat, do not sell low-cost bulk goods from your site. For one,
that 5% cut from dog food sales isn't going to put you in a Porsche, and
second, never compete where you can't win. Bulk goods are, well,
bulky, and their shipping costs alone make the local Sam's Club or
CostCo a much more attractive vending outlet.

Make your site easy to use, and easy to find. There are three ways to
make your site easy to find: Submit, submit, and submit. Several
services will let you put your site on the major search engines for free,
or you may pay to have someone do it for you. If you do pay, you'll be
on a great many more engines.

What people forget are foreign search engines. A site in English could
and should be accessable by Australians, Britons, Canadians, etc. In
other words, half the English speaking world. This quite simply doubles
your customer base.

Everyone likes a site in which they can easily navigate. You are not
being clever in "forcing" people to scroll all the way down your site;
rather, they just hit the BACK button that much quicker. So put a lot of
intrasite and intrapage links on your site, and make it easy to get
around.