This is the first post in (what will become) a series that will outline the steps you need to take to become successful in the online world, and not just become another site that fades into internet oblivion. These tips apply to online businesses too (we’re just big fans of the whole “Become a Better Blogger” alliteration thing we’ve got going), and following these tips will help to ensure you get noticed in the online community.

Okay, so as far as boring goes, this first post is pretty much the absolute epitome of monotony, and believe us when we tell you, the most important stuff usually is. But don’t worry, we’ve tried to make our maiden post as compelling as we can, but be warned – making “blog planning” sound exciting is kind of like trying to assassinate a cockroach with a toothpick (It’s hard, in case you didn’t pick up on the analogy).

Remember your career counsellor back in high school? The one that always gave you the “you’re-wasting-my-highly-valuable-and-precious-time” look? The one that always told you that you’ll get nowhere without a career plan? Well, as much as we all hate to admit it, there’s not a lot of denying that they’re right. Planning is actually important if you want to succeed at something, and when it comes to starting a profitable website, if you don’t have a plan, you’re not going anywhere.

Without trying to sound like a motivational speaker, the advantage of a website plan means that you know where you want your website to go, and you know the goals you want your website to achieve. It doesn’t have to be elaborate (in other words, no need for a multilayered, color-coded mind map) – all you need is a list answering a few basic questions. The perfect plan should set out in your mind exactly what your site is, what the goals of your site are and how are you going to achieve those goals?

What is your site?

Probably the most important aspect to your plan – what is your site? Is it a blog, a business website, a membership site? What are you going to write about, or what are you advertising? Many online entrepreneurs mistakenly begin with a unclear view of what they want their projects to be, and most often, they’re the ones who fail. By setting out the basis of your site on a sheet of paper, it provides a clear foundation for you to build everything else upon, and acts as a framework you can return to in order to ensure your blog is fulfilling its initial purpose.

What are the goals of your site?

By starting a website or blog, what are you hoping to achieve? Are you spreading information and contributing to a specific online community? Do you want to monetize your online venture? Set goals, short term and long term, to keep you motivated, and to give your site a direction. For example:

-In the short term, I want to attract 500 visitors a month from online advertising
-In the long term, I want to be accepted into an advertising network (e.g. BuySellAds – review here), so I can monetize my website.

How will you achieve these goals?

How are you going to make your site a success? Will you drive traffic through social networking predominantly, or will you guest post on relevant websites in your area to attract visitors? What steps are you going to take to put you plan into action?

It’s easy to dismiss the idea of website planning as pointless and unnecessary, and we can’t blame you – planning is seriously dry. But the truth is that by creating a solid future plan for your website, you are already a step ahead of any other startup, because you know what needs to be done, and how it’s going to get done. Of course the website plan is by no means concrete – it will change as the goals of your website change, but in the short term a reliable plan provides you with actionable steps to help you grow your website – an absolute essential for anyone who wants to be successful online.

Related posts:

1. Website Breakdown – the guide every startup should read
2. BuySellAds: The Definitive Review
3. Affiliate Marketing versus Advertising PPC: Which one is right for you?

Monetizing a website is an exciting yet challenging process, and depending on website traffic it can be very easy or extremely difficult. There are thousands of choices out there which will almost always come down to just two options – pay-per-click advertising or affiliate marketing? So what should you choose?

Advertising Pay-Per-Click

Let’s start with advertising. To keep it simple, we’re going to compare the most popular form of web advertising, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), a system used through countless advertising programs, the most well known being Google Adsense.

the advantages

The biggest advantage of using PPC advertising on your website is that it’s immediate, easy money. Earning 25 cents or whatever the amount may be per click is as easy as implementing a small amount of Javascript, and you’re earning straight away. The entire process of installing the advertising script, watching your profits grow and receiving your money could not be any easier, and this is the primary reason why these types of network are so popular among so many websites.

Recent advancements, particularly with the Adsense system, mean that advertisements are now targeted specifically at users using the information stored in their web browsers. How fascinating, I hear you say, but what this means for you is visitors are going to (potentially) click on more of your ads, more often, increasing your profit. And you didn’t even have to do anything.

the disadvantages

The problem, as far as PPC is concerned, is about your income, and how it can change very rapidly. PPC networks traditionally are very secretive as to how much individual clicks are worth, and this can be annoying, because your monthly profit can change very quickly.

The rules and regulations surrounding PPC advertising is enough to give anyone a headache, and limits some of the freedom you have for your monetization strategies… AdSense Policies

Using PPC advertising on your website can be a great for blog income, but you don’t have complete control over your marketing strategy. On the other hand…

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the other option here – so how does it compare?

the advantages

Affiliate marketing means you become the salesperson. YOU are flogging someone else’s product, and getting a cut of the profit upon that product being sold. The immediate advantage with this is that it allows you to work with products you choose – affiliate marketing provides much more flexibility in regards to what you are actually advertising compared to PPC. You can implement affiliate links wherever you like, you can encourage people to click on them however you like (within reasonable limitations) – the choices are up to you, and when done correctly your profits will be larger than what you would receive from equivalent PPC advertising. And above all, you’ll know exactly how much you’re going to earn every time someone buys a product using your link.

The sheer amount of affiliate products out there means you can advertise products relevant to your own website. For example, we are affiliates with WooThemes, a wordpress theme company, and we provide affiliate links in our Wordpress themes posts. Unlike PPC which can only estimate what visitors would be interested in, by using affiliate links we can directly target our visitors with relevant products that will benefit them.

the disadvantages.

What makes affiliate marketing great also makes it suck – there is work involved. Well, not necessarily, but if you want to make the most of affiliate links, you’ll have to put in the effort. Sure, a simple banner advertisement with a link will garner you some profit, but to make the most out of affiliate links, incorporating links strategically into content, recommending products to users, creating custom banner advertisements and trawling through the countless number of affiliate programs out there will mean you need to put in the work. But when done right, the reward will be well worth it.

Affiliate marketing does not provide that instant profit that PPC provides, either. Visitors clicking on a link is (usually) not enough to gain a profit – they have to actually buy the product for you to get a cut, meaning the products you are affiliated with have to be worth your visitors time.

So what’s the better choice?

Ideally, both. No one said the two cannot work together in perfect harmony – employ both systems to get the best of both worlds. But we know you didn’t read this blog post looking for that answer, so if we had to choose? Affiliate marketing would win every time.

PPC is a godsend for small websites, or for webmasters who want the easy option, but affiliate marketing affords you so much more freedom to advertise what you want, how you want, knowing exactly how much you can expect to earn off each purchase.

Related posts:

1. Simple, Effective Banner Advertising – 3 Great Tips
2. 13 Stunning & Inspiring Advertising Posters
3. BuySellAds: The Definitive Review