How To Build A Free Business Blog Infographics

Embed the image on your site:

<a href="http://101onlinebusiness.com/goal-setting-infographics.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://101onlinebusiness.com/images/freebusinessbloginfographics.jpg" alt="How To Build A Free Business Blog [Infographic]" border="0"></a><br />How To Build A Free Business Blog Infographics Bought To You By : <a href="http://101onlinebusiness.com" target="_onlinebusiness"><strong>101 Online Business</strong></a>

You might be researching web hosting already. If you started with the cheapest (shared) then you have probably come across some AMAZING deals.

You have, without a doubt, came across deals announcing – UNLIMITED resources for just dollars per month.

For Instance:
UNLIMITED web hosting
UNLIMTED bandwidth
UNLIMITED disk space

All for $3.95 a month!!!

Why the heck would you go for any other plan? This is your dream set up. You can host unlimited sites for a ridiculously low cost.

There is a catch though (isn’t there always?). Any shared hosting plan claiming unlimited is never unlimited. How could they ever make their money back? These companies will bury clauses into their fine print making sure that you can never use up too many of their resources. If you do…your sites go down. Simple as that.

Web Hosting Companies do this by limiting things like inodes (inodes store info on files, folders etc…) or by using unclear statements in there terms of service, like:


“Web Hosting ABC’s offering of “unlimited” services is not intended to allow the actions of a single or few subscribers to unfairly or adversely impact the experience of other Subscribers.”

Web Hosting ABC’s reserves the right to limit processor time, bandwidth, processes, or memory in cases where it is necessary to prevent negatively impacting other Subscribers


So basically, Web Hosting ABC won’t tell you exactly how many resources you can use, but if it gets to this unspecified level, then they will shut your site down.

Beware unlimited hosting plans, make sure you read the fine print first

One of the things I had a really hard time dealing with was figuring out what the differences are between the types of web hosting out there.

I started searching for web hosts and all of a sudden I realized I needed to do some homework, because there are a number of different kinds and I had no idea what each one was.

Luckily for you, I will guide you through this morass of information.

In general, when you are looking for web hosting you are going to come across these different types:

Free Hosting

Free web hosting can be found throughout the web. It is clearly the cheapest option, but it is also the one you should most likely avoid.

If all you want is a simple daily blog, then join up with WordPress.com or Blogger.com. They are both free and provide the hosting for your blog/journal. This is just about the only scenario I would recommend free web hosting.

There are other free web hosts out there, that actually let you upload a typical website but the problem with these is they are rarely reliable, usually ad filled and at the end of the day you don’t have complete ownership of your website. Avoid them.

Shared Hosting

Shared Hosting is usually the cheapest hosting option available. I don’t want to get too technical, but web hosting companies store your website info on servers. A shared account means you share a single server with a number of other websites.

This type of hosting requires that the hosting company provides the system administration. This is valuable for people who are new to the net, or who lack tech savvy because all of the scary tech issues (managing servers, installing software, security updates, backups, etc…) are controlled by the hosting company.

Usually this type of hosting provides you with a user panel to control it. The most popular seems to be cPanel. With it you can control just about every aspect of your hosting. See our companion guide, for a 68 page cPanel tutorial.

The downside to this hosting is that it isn’t as secure since you share a server with so many other users. It usually doesn’t perform as well either (speed wise). Shared hosting can also be tough to scale, meaning a traffic spike could kill your websites.
A final note – shared hosting is a great intro to web hosting. It lacks the flexibility of the other options, but for basic use it will be fine. If you do need more flexibility or power you can upgrade at a later date.



VPS Hosting

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. The key word there – virtual. This type of hosting let’s you have the functionality of a dedicated server, but in reality, VPS is actually a kind of shared hosting. Your “virtual server” will be included, along with others, on one physical machine.

While you share a physical machine, you have much more control than with shared hosting. For example – each virtual server on one machine can run it’s own set of software and reboot separately.

Besides the flexibility, another big benefit with VPS hosting is that it is easy to scale up your resources. If all of a sudden your website is the next viral sensation, you will be able to quickly get more resources to meet your traffic demands.

Also while not ideal, it is much more secure than a shared hosting platform. While you still share a physical server with other people, your virtual servers are so well partitioned they are their own isolated environment.

One downside to VPS hosting is that you could need some technical know how in order to properly run it. With shared everything is set up, your software is installed and cPanel (or an equivalent) is ready to go. Some VPS web hosting packages will expect you to handle those type of things yourself. To offset this, some hosts will have an option to choose a managed account for a premium price.



Dedicated Hosting

This is the cream of the crop of web hosting plans. That is why it costs the most (more on that later).

Dedicated hosting means that you get an entire server to yourself. Wherever your hosting company is located there will be a computer dedicated to you and only you.

There are many advantages to this type of hosting.

First of all it is the most secure. While no server is 100% secure from every nefarious attack out there, a dedicated one is the best choice if security is a top need for your website. Since the server is dedicated to one user it is also easier to pinpoint where potential problems are coming from.

Dedicated servers are faster as well. You don’t have to share bandwidth with people after all. They usually offer more resources as well. Even the most basic of dedicated servers will allow you to build multiple fast loading, busy websites. Like VPS hosting, it is also easily expanded to meet traffic needs.

On top of all that, you get the most flexibility as well. You can run anything you want on your own server. The downside being you will need the technical knowledge to mange the server yourself. Once again though, you can always opt for a managed option when choosing a dedicated server.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is a newer development on the web and it is currently a MUCH discussed topic. If you follow tech news, you have certainly heard the term cloud hosting before – most likely linked with Google and Apple’s cloud storage for music.

Cloud computing may seem like a VPS, but it differs quite a bit. Basically, instead of servers being dedicated to one(dedicated) or more(shared & VPS) users, all of the computers work together to create a giant network (or cloud) of computing power.

This makes cloud web hosting the most easily expandable/scalable version of hosting on the market. A traffic spike that could take down a shared, virtual or even dedicated server, can be absorbed into the “cloud” of servers since all of the servers work together.

If your traffic maxes out power of one server, it is ok because it is connected to more. In these cases you may have to pay for the added bandwidth use, but the piece of mind is worth the cost. Basically, you pay for only the resources you use with cloud hosting so usually it is a cheaper option than dedicated.

Reliability on cloud hosting is great as well, because if one server goes down it doesn’t mean that your site goes down, it just begins to draw resources from another computer in the cloud.

The prognosis isn’t all rosy though. Cloud hosting does have a couple of areas of concern. First off – where is your info? There is no way to really control the physical location of your data. It is part of the “cloud”. This might just be a mental hold up for me, and nothing to be concerned with but it is worth mentioning in my opinion.

Security is another questionable area. While cloud companies stress they are as secure as a dedicated server, you have to wonder. On a dedicated server you are on your own server. At the end of the day, multiple people are sharing physical hardware with cloud hosting.

By now you should already see the value in the list you created earlier. You can go through your list of needs and wants, and match them up with the above info to get an idea of which types of hosting you would consider. Of course before you decide, you better think budget…

Most people who want to buy web hosting have some sort of budget. If you can spend whatever you want with no thought, go ahead and ignore this section, but if you have a budget in mind you will want to read along.

When I started out online, I had to seriously consider my budget so I did a lot of research looking at prices for each of the above types of web hosting. Now keep in mind that the price recommendations I mention are based on an average package that should be good enough for someone new to online. The price you actually pay could be a little higher depending on your needs, or maybe even a little less.

Shared

I mentioned before that shared hosting is the cheapest. In fact if your sites don’t have to be secure and you don’t get much traffic you can run multiple sites off one shared hosting plan. This is perfect for people who are “dipping their toes” into the online world.

Every web host varies of course, but in general you can get a decent shared hosting plan for about $10/month. You could even get as low as $6/month if you prepay for a couple years in advance.

VPS

VPS is essentially a step up when it comes to web hosting. You get more options and resources, but of course you pay for more. VPS offers the same functionality as a dedicated server but usually at a lower cost.

Inmotion (Cnet rates best VPS host)

offers VPS packages that start as low as $39/month and rising to as high as $139/month. Even on the low end it is significantly higher than shared hosting but as detailed in the last section there are many benefits to VPS hosting.

One thing to keep in mind, is that VPS hosting makes it very easy for you to upgrade based on your needs, so if you start with a cheaper plan and need a resource boost, it is no problem.

Of note – the above plan prices I quoted are managed VPS servers, so the host will handle the heavy lifting tech wise. Managed VPS usually costs more money.

Dedicated

Going to stick with Inmotion, for comparisons sake and because they also provide highly recommended dedicated servers.

Their dedicated hosting packages start at $199/month. That may have made you gasp since it is a very high cost, but remember this is a managed plan, you can probably find cheaper plans out there but if you aren’t tech savvy you will have to choose managed.

No matter what, if you want a quality dedicated server you are looking northwards of $100. Dedicated servers are usually chosen by people who are already making money online and need to expand, or by businesses that want secure eCommerce.

A quick note – you can make some of your hosting back by selling hosting to friends who need it, or local business owners/internet marketers. If you have a fully dedicated server, you will be able to handle the extra sites no problem.

Cloud

Cloud hosting is most likely to fall within the same price range as VPS. Their main selling point is that you get all the benefits of dedicated server, but at a fraction of the cost. In the last section we went over a couple key differences between Cloud and Dedicated, so kep those in mind.

One of the oldest and most trusted companies offering cloud web hosting is Rackspace. One thing to remember is you pay for what you use in cloud computing, so some companies won’t have a monthly price, they will charge you per hour. Rackspace hosting starts out at 1.5 cents/hour for unmanaged, and 13.5 cents/hour managed.

The hourly cost is based on bandwidth and storage used etc… The good news is that you can start low and build your way up as you need it. Cloud hosting is the most flexible in that regards.

So a little basic math:

24 (hours in day) x 365 = 8760 hours per year
8760 divided by 12 = 730 hours (an average month)
730 x0.015(1.5 cents) = $10.95

So as you can see the most basic of all cloud hosting packages works out to shared hosting type of costs. A managed account would work out to just under $100 a month.

The very first question you need to answer before having a web hosting, has nothing to do with potential web hosts. Before you even Google the term “Web Hosts”, you need to look within first. Sorry if I am getting a little Zen on you, but this really is important.

You need to figure out what YOUR goals are.

Before worrying about technical details, you need to consider what you want to accomplish with your web hosting.

It is an obvious first step. If you just want a daily journal you can find that for free. If you have the next great idea for a social network, then you might be looking at a big investment.

Make a checklist of all of the things you need and plan to do on your website. Think of every action you want people to take on your site. Write down things like…

• How much traffic do you expect/need for your website?
• Do you want to sell things on your site?
• Will you be hosting large file downloads?
• Will you have hi def photography on your site?
• What are your monetary goals?
• Do you need an extra secure connection? (If you want to accept credit cards you might)
• Is website speed very important?
• Do you need email accounts?
• Will you need regular backups?
• Do you want to control the hosting yourself, or have it managed?
• Etc…

Your end goal here is to have a big list of things that you want or need in a website. You can even consider, splitting your list into two columns; things you need right now, and things you want eventually. Some hosting methods make it very easy to expand your operations as you go (while others don’t, more on that in next section). You may be able to settle for a cheaper hosting solution, while you build up your website audience.

Right now, this list might not seem extremely helpful, but when you begin your research it will be an invaluable tool. Keep the list handy when doing your research.

A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. (source:wikipedia)

In basic terms — Web hosting allows you to put your website(s) on the internet.

If you are interested in making money online, and you are serious about it – then you will one day have to deal with buying web hosting. Yes, there are some free options out there, but at some point you will max out those free options, and will need to turn to your own hosting.

Even if you don’t want to make money, and are just an online hobbyist – web hosting is important. Owning your own web hosting gives you a freedom on the net, that no free options provide.

When I started working online, I got to the point where I needed to buy web hosting. The only problem is, it was like a different language for me. I had no idea what I was looking for.

I eventually bought web hosting from an ad I saw on Facebook. Things went smooth at first, but one day I found all of my sites down and realized I had lost not only a nights profits, but Google ranking for a couple of my sites.

I had a hard time reaching customer service, and when I did, I ended up having to pay a higher monthly cost to cover my new found traffic (or so they claimed).

It was a nightmare. Luckily, I ended up working with a tech whiz, and he let me know I was paying too much, where I could get a better deal and more importantly what to look for in web hosting.

That is why I created this post. There will be more new posts answering your question that you must ask before you dive in and purchase web hosting.

Hopefully, you will be able to make an educated choice on what web hosting is right for you.

Starting a blog is one of the most accessible ways to make money online. If you are starting your first blog, you are being confronted with many choices about how to set up your blog, including selecting your blogging platform. A blogging platform is the software that will help you turn your writing into a website that can be easily navigated and accessed by visitors from around the world.

There are two basic platforms to choose from when it comes to successful blogging: WordPress and Blogger. Both of these options have advantages and disadvantages. Before you make your decision, you should read through the pros and cons of each and think about which will be best for your needs.

Blogger Advantages

It’s very easy for new bloggers to use. Setting up a blog with Blogger is as simple as following a few prompts. There is nothing to install. Some of the other advantages include:

Price: Blogger is totally free to use. You don’t have to purchase a domain name as the system will give you an address based on the name of your blog.

Ease of use: Posting to your blog is easy. You can also change the look of your blog very easily. This is all done through Blogger’s dashboard. If you have more than one blog with Blogger, you can access all of the blogs from the same dashboard.
However, Blogger does have some major disadvantages when it comes to creating money making blogs.
Lack of flexibility: Compared to other options out there, the design and function of a Blogger blog is very limited. You can download and install custom themes for the blog, but most look very similar. This means your blog won’t stand out as well in your niche.

Domain name: You will get a free domain name with your Blogger blog, but the domain name will be “yourblogname.blogspot.com” instead of “yourblogname.com.”

Ownership: You will never truly own your Blogger blog because the files and content are hosted on Blogger’s server.

WordPress Advantages

WordPress is the other popular platform for blogging. There is a free option that functions similarly to Blogger. However, there is also a free option that allows you to have your own website name. You install WordPress on you website hosting and hook it up to a domain name that you own.
If you don’t know how to do this, your hosting company should be able to walk you through the process.

Other advantages include:

Customization: WordPress themes are diverse and plentiful. Some themes will even make your blog look like an online newspaper.

Features: WordPress users have created tons of “plugins” that will increase the functionality of your blog and help you make the most out of your site.

However, WordPress is not without it’s problems. It is not as user friendly as Blogger, which can make it intimidating for newbies. You will also have to spend money to get your domain name and your website hosting.

Despite these disadvantages, most professional bloggers go with the WordPress option because they maintain ownership of their blogs and can customize them to their heart’s content.

Users of social networks are raking it in these days in terms of money-making endeavors. How to make money with Twitter is relatively late in coming, but the popularity of Twitter around the world today had made the social network a hot fad, second only to that famous one.

Basically, it is the community that powers any advertising-supported site, publication or TV show. This community (readers, viewers, and listeners) will use the site if it has great service.

There are several ways (and some sites, too) where you can begin to monetize (trying to make money) your Twitter account. Here is a short list.

Direct advertising

If you already have such a large following in your Twitter account, you can probably work on its monetization. Shop around for advertisers who will use your account in disseminating information about their product or services.

Another surefire way is direct recommendation. All you have to do is to recommend a product or a service for your advertisers. You can also work out an arrangement of promoting new products.

Affiliate marketing & links / sales

Affiliate marketing these days can be blended within Twitter. As for the affiliate links, you can always embed your link in your tweets using TinyUrl.com if you are pushing for a particular product or service.

If you have your own product or services to promote, you can tweet your sales or landing page for your followers. This is better than taking them to another site using your affiliate link.

Reviews

This is really the same as direct advertising where you suggests certain products or services you do not have the faintest idea of, only this time you are going to do a “paid review”.

Your review could center on particular products, services, or even people. (You can do some review of some artists who needs to sell his works.)

EasyTweets

The site earns by having you download their EasyTweets application, a rather powerful application whose capabilities are outstanding. The site allows you to manage multiple accounts quite easily

EasyTweets will do auto-follows for you. It works like if you like movies, you follow anyone who talks about it n the hope that they would follow you too. That would create for you one follower. With EasyTweets doing the auto-follow for you, anybody mentioning movies in their tweets will have your account auto-following them.

Pay per Twitter message

First, there would be a hypothetical username by the name of say, TokyoUsedTrucks, and every person in Tokyo could be a friend and would immediately be notified if there is a sale of used trucks in Tokyo. They might get these from Buy and Sell or Craigslist.

Used trucks dealers would like sending this message out once they have a new inventory of these used trucks. Messages would include URLs of sites, addresses, etc. The poster will be the one who will be charged for this.

In the end, though, it is not wise to completely monetize your Twitter account. The danger is that your followers will drop off because you turn your account commercial. Making money on your Twitter takes prudence and some savvy.

Internet Marketer’s Time Management Tip: Setting Goals And Monitoring Them
There are different important building blocks for efficient time management, whether you are an internet marketer or not. To effectively manage your time and how you schedule your projects, you have to start with setting your goals and monitoring them.

The reality is that there are so much going on around us. We live in a very fast-paced kind of lifestyle and we are always bombarded with distractions. It is important for us to determine and set our goals, even on daily basis. Setting goals will help you organize what needs to be done everyday.

It is very clear that without goals, we have no direction. Our goals should be achievable, specific, and realistic, however, they should not be safe. How can you expect growth if you will not be taking risks? How can a person’s skills and performance enhance without taking part in activities that will hone them?

How do you determine your goals? You start with answering the questions:
• What do you want to accomplish today or any given day?
• What projects should be accomplished first? Are there any deadlines?
• Do you intend to use free some time for personal reasons?
• What are your short-term goals? How about long-term objectives?

Goal setting help us meet our deadlines. If you are an internet marketer or even employed in traditional businesses and corporations, we understand the importance of deadlines. Without determining what needs to be done, we could easily shift our focus and energies towards other activities.

Identifying and working towards goals, help us create better plans. We get to map out the steps or methods. We learn how to make time estimates. How much time are we going to spend on a particular step to reach our goals by the end of the day? As we take each step, we sharpen our minds in assessing the situation and making sound decisions.

Apart from setting our goals and our plans to achieve them, we should also incorporate monitoring in our schedule. For long term planning, then you will need regular checking-up.

For example, you could set schedules for the week or for couple of weeks. You could set regular check-ups and evaluations for every three days to monitor the progress of your projects. Keeping a journal or a check-list will help get over what you need to accomplish and determine how far you are from accomplishing your aims.

If things do not go as planned, do not get depressed over momentary set-backs or obstacles in achieving your goals. Give yourself sometime to think and breathe. Having a clear mind will help you analyze and find solutions.

Efficient time management through goal setting will not only help you manage your time as an internet marketer, but in life in general. You feel less pressured and stressed-out since you know what path to take. You get to tackle your projects with enthusiasm and a clear mind. With proper goal setting, planning and positive attitude, you are definitely on your way towards your own success.

A website’s success largely depends on the marketing strategy used to promote it. Thus, an effective strategy equates to a profitable online business. And with some CPA marketing techniques, this wouldn’t be so hard to achieve.

CPA Marketing Tactics

Be guided with the following marketing tactics for your online business:

1. The Right Knowledge and Connections

Starting in this kind of online marketing may prove to be very tricky and complex. You’ll need to manage your website, create a domain and even transact with various CPA networks. Hence, you need all the information and help you can get. Research everything about Cost per Action marketing and all the strategies connected to this concept. If possible, you can also ask for some advice from people who are already successful in this field. This way, you can get foolproof tips and advice straight from the expert marketers.

2. The Perfect CPA Network for your Marketing
Choosing a legitimate CPA network practically determines your marketing’s success. So before negotiating with a certain network, you have to be sure that they are providing real and useful services for your website. Check out the required payment methods and see if they are legit. You can also look around for that network’s reputation through some user and client reviews.

3. Budgeting
While CPA marketing doesn’t require any initial expenses on your part, driving traffic to your site has. And this kind of costs may be uncontrollable if you don’t mange them immediately. That said, always remember to set your limits when buying CPA offers online. Moderate the number of offers directed to your site and make sure that they’re entirely functional.

4. Monitoring Your Progress
Tracking your progress throughout the marketing process is a good CPA strategy. Manage your campaigns and make sure that you’ll drop those that are no longer profitable.

5. Strategic Keywords
As with any other online marketing tool, CPA marketing involves using strategic keywords that will surely drive people to your site. Because of this, you need to carefully choose the keywords you’ll use for your website. Try keywords with high rankings but low competition rates.

6. Looking for Other CPA Marketing Networks
The Internet is a vast source of marketing networks. And taking advantage of such tools is definitely a great move. Do not stick with a single CPA network. Search the web for more affiliates to acquire additional CPA offers for your website.

7. Clever Techniques to Reduce Competition
They say that the web is such an overly populated industry where competitions are indeed stiff and abundant. Eliminate some of your competition by using unique and well-researched keywords for your website.

8. Profit Maximizing
Increase conversions for your site to gain profits for every visitor who comes to your page. You can use Google’s own paid traffic for this.

9. Gaining Your Target Market’s Interest
Your target market is responsible for generating profits for your website. Therefore, their interests should be your fundamental concern. Know the needs of your target audience and provide the CPA offers that will satisfy them.