Well thanks to referrals, sub-affiliates, or whatever you want to call them it is now completely possible. In fact, most affiliate programs wish you would utilize this feature even more.

Referrals are new affiliates that you referred to the network, thus, receiving a percentage of their commissions. Most affiliate programs have some type of referral system setup, and it does not take away any potential commissions from you or the person you referred.

Regardless of the affiliate networks or programs you check, odds are extremely high that all the top earners have a good amount of referrals under them. It is completely free money, and you never know when you might refer the next affiliate mastermind.

While it seems like a relatively simple task, getting people to actual sign up underneath you does a require a tad bit of work.

Obviously, the easiest way would be to create a blog dedicated to how much money you make online, show reports, and then tell people how and what you used to do it, while using your referrer’s link to do so; however, not everybody wants to or can do this. So what do you do?

Find The Bottom Feeders

Even the biggest sites today were the smallest kids on the block just yesterday. The “small kids” are who you have to go for, and most of the time they will come to you first…

If your site has been around for even just a little time, then I’m sure that you have probably gotten loads of emails from people looking to develop some link exchange or something to that extent. Many of times these sites are farely new, and the owner does not really know about all the options available. This is where you come in.

Instead of just deleting the email and moving on with your day, take a second to visit the site and see how you would improve it. Make sure to note down if it looks like they are using any of the products that you are an affiliate for. If they are not, then obviously you know what to recommend.

If nobody is emailing you, then look up targeted web directories and look for sites that you can address. Email them and let them know what’s up, and why it would be helpful

Worse comes to worse, you have added a new business relationship to your network.

Be Honest

When it comes to trying to refer people, the worst thing you can do is sneak your referral link through. Sure some people may not notice, but most will and think you are just trying to spam them to get another referral signed up.

Be completely honest and upfront. Tell them about all their options (even if you are not affiliates with them), and why you picked yours. Odds are already high that you picking a certain option is good enough reason for them to pick as well. Make sure to also not point out every single option available, or at least don’t ask them to be referrer for all of them. This could lead to the site owner thinking you are only looking out for yourself, and not actually being helpful at all.

I personally only recommend affiliates that I have actually made consistent and a decent amount of money with.

Let them know that if they pick your option then would they mind signing up under your referral link. Make sure to point out that it does not effect them in any way.

Many people underestimate how beneficial tracking down referrals can be. Everybody has their own network and selling approach, so you never know who will do good and who won’t, and it really does not matter. At least by capturing the referral you are giving yourself a better chance to make more money without having to do any actual work. That is really what we all want, right?

By looking at our past history, we can see what businesses have done to be successful and what leads to failure. With this rather invaluable information, it should jump start our own venture because we have already had people make the mistakes we can avoid.

See what successful sites are doing.

Find the most notable sites in your related niche, and see what they are doing. Obviously, they must be doing something right. See how they integrate advertisements into their layout. What kind of content are they publishing? How are they getting readers to interact? What is their most popular content? How do they promote their own products?

There are several questions you can ask yourself. You can even run case-studies and see what has worked best for you thus far. Once you find the answers, implement these tactics to your own site.

Seems like a relatively easy idea, and it is.. so why not do it?

It is one thing to treat your online work has a real business, but it is another one to actually make it a legal one. Obviously, I am talking about incorporating your business, with the most popular and probably easiest form being a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

There are many various reasons why somebody would want to incorporate their business. A few include…

• Protect your personal assets. Setting up your business as a separate entity will protect creditors, lenders, or anybody who would want to come after you (legally).
• Continuity. If you have multiple partners or state powers in your will, a corporation can continue to go on with business.
• Access to money. Everybody already knows incorporating your business will help you look more legit, but it will also help you should you decide to find investors and other type of investment into your business. You also can’t get an your Employee Identification Number (business version of social security number) banks need to open business accounts and get business loans.
• Tax benefits. There are many tax benefits and loopholes available to small businesses, and incorporating allows you to take advantage of them.

While there are still also disadvantages to incorporating your business, bottom line is that you really won’t go anywhere unless you take some type of action.

You might notice that ASANT Media is an LLC, and all my sites and online entities fall under it.

The following are steps to turning your business into a limited liability company.

1. As an LLC you are required to register within the state you are headquartered in. So if your headquarters is your home, then that is the state you will register with. There are several legal sites like legalzoom.com that will take care of all the paperwork for you, but it can be costly, especially for a task that is pretty easy and not time-consuming at all.

2. While each state may slightly vary, they all basically require you to do the same thing. Fill out a form, pay some fee, and wait for your certificate to come in the mail. The best way to find the form is to simply run the Google search, “LLC in [your state].” So if you live in California then do “LLC in California.”

3. Find the site that has a .gov in it. It should usually be one of the top links. Look for the Articles of Organization for an LLC form (example for California). Either fill it out on the computer or by hand and print the form.

4. Mail the form and fee required to the address listed on the form.

5. Wait for about a month or so for your certificate  of organization to come in the mail.

That’s it! Steps 1-4 can literally be done in 10 minutes. Once you receive your form, you can now apply for an EIN, open any business accounts you may need, and actually have the knowledge that you are running a full scale business.

Just like any market, you need diversify. This does not necessarily mean creating multiple niche sites and running them, but, rather, offer more to your readers than just a blog.

More can come to mean anything, but one of the easiest and best solutions is a newsletter. Think of it like premium content for subscribers. While you may not be requiring people to pay for the subscription, at least you are grabbing their attention to hopefully profit off them in the long run.

But how do I get people to sign up for a newsletter?

1. Content – What they see is what they get. If you are not sharing something interesting, then there is a good chance the reader won’t bother subscribing.

2. Professionalism – Although email addresses can be created for free in a matter of seconds, many people are very protective when it comes to sharing theirs. After all, who wants spam? If your site does not look organized or there is no clarification who is behind it, then how can a reader really trust you with their email address? Keeping a tidy site layout and solid about page should keep your professionalism high enough.

3. Offer new subscribers something – Out of the years I have been doing this, I don’t think I have ever seen anybody offering nothing for your sign up. Most of the time people are willing to share some free eBook or other type of download with new subscribers. Lets face it. We all love free stuff.

4. Contest - Pretty self explanatory. Offer a prize, but make the rule to enter that you must subscribe to the newsletter. If you are producing a solid email then they probably won’t unsubscribe after the contest is over.

Once you are able to build a decent list, then be sure to actively drive out quality newsletters. Throw in some special tricks or secrets that only subscribers can see. Then talk about it on your site. For example, on my financial site I could send out an email with my top stocks for March, then create a post on the site saying what I just did, but do not tell them what the stocks were. Instead entice them to sign up to find out more and keep in the loop.

If you have a good email software, then you should be able to create autoresponders especially for the people that sign up off that page. There are many options out there, but the one I use is Aweber. Basically gives you customization freedom. You can try it no risk for 30 days.

If you want, eventually you can sprinkle some ads and/or affiliate links in there, but remember how easy it is for people to unsubscribe. If they think you are just sending them spam, then they will indeed drop you.

Create an extra service that makes readers come back for more

There are really several other ways to create extra incentives, such as: creating a membership program, produce an online workshop, draft up weekly niche market reports. You can learn it a little bit more about different incentives and about a program I am in the process of creating by signing up to Online Business Mastermind newsletter (Use the subscription box in the right sidebar).

Remember there is no right way to make money online. Be creative yet resourceful, and remember to think of each reader has a potential customer.

While I was always trying to get high Google search ranking, I never really comprehended the importance of it until a few weeks back. On my financial site, The Wild investor, I had published an article about 4 stocks to buy in 2009. Since than, that article has ranked in the top 3 for all the different ways to say the phrase “stocks to buy in 2009.” This alone has added hundreds of people to my daily traffic. So I did it, but now how do we see these same results for other articles?

By the way, TWI was recently hit to a level 0, so does page rank even really matter?

The following is a list of things that I feel should be done to rank high in Google searches:

1. Formatted Titles
2. Targeted Theme
3. Creating an Enticing Description
4. Tag Your Images
5. Cross Link
6. Quality Content
7. Get Linked

(To better demonstrate how to increase your search engine ranking we will pretend we are making an article on how to better your golf swing)

Formatted Titles – Be direct. Don’t use inside jokes, slang, or comparisons. Say exactly what you are doing in the article. Also make sure in WordPress that your permalinks are set to display the post name in the url rather than the string of numbers you may have.

To do that simply go into your WordPress Admin > Settings  > Permalinks > Select custom structure and fill in /%postname%/

Example: 4 Ways to Improve Your Golf Swing, How to Improve Your Golf Swing

Targeted Theme – Constantly reiterate what you are talking about in your article. If you are talking about ways to improve your golf swing, then make sure you remind the Google bots that is what you are talking about. Also throw in many related keywords. A good way to measure this is to throw an Adsense ad into your article and then see what ads come up. It might not be directly connected, but it also should not be horribly off.

Example: Use a keyword tool like Adwords and see what recommendations they give you. Once I get the results I like to order them by traffic volume and then use some of the keywords with good relevance, a longer phrase, but not the ones with too high of traffic. Try to go after the best words with the least competition.

Create an Enticing Description - If you are not already using the ALL in One SEO plugin, then make sure to check the 7 plugins I use on every site to make sure you are not missing any others. The plugin allows you to write a customized description for your article, so that people know what they are clicking on from the search page. Obviously the better the description; the higher conversion rate. The description should not be longer than 160 characters.

Example: 4 easy ways to increase your golf swing and lower your handicap.

Tag Your Images – Your images are not in there just to make your article pretty, they should also boost your search traffic. How do you think images are found when you do an image search? Either they are found through the file name or alt tag. If you are using WordPress, then you can easily add it through the media manager or just directly add it in the html. Simply add alt=”Your tag here” within the “img” code.

Your keyword should be related to the image. Usually people are not searching for the same thing between images and actual article.

Example: alt=”correct golf swing”

Cross Link – Link from within the site and outside the site. If you have related or helpful articles within your site, then link them within the article. Searches also see if you link to popular third party sites. Another good plugin for this is SEO Smart Links.

Example – You may link to a previous article about picking custom made clubs because they can help your game as well. At the same time you may link to golfchannel.com.

Quality Content – Lastly, just write good stuff. While you should not necessarily bother yourself with each and every method, odds are if you write a good article then you should perform well in the searches.

When I wrote my article on 4 stocks to buy in 2009, my first goal was not to rank high in the searches. I was in a stock picking competition, and I was just trying to put out the best article.

Get Linked – The great part about my stocks to buy in 2009 article was that all the members in the contest linked to each others work. So right away that was about 8 links. These links also managed their way onto several different social networks and even front page of a popular finance portal. Obviously the more prominent your article; the better results. Learn a simple method to get quality back links.

1. Who’s the competition?
2. Major players?
3. What communities exist?
4. Affiliate programs available?
5. Any multimedia targeted to the niche?

Competition?

By far the most important step is figuring out who your competition is. What are these people doing, how are they trying to make money, and does it seem like they have a good following? You can do this by performing a Google search. See why you think they rank high for certain keywords.

It is important to remember that just because they are competition does not mean that they can’t benefit you? Feel free to ask them some questions. Most people online like to feed their ego, and asking them questions on how you can be successful is definitely stroking their ego.

Who are the Big Dogs?

Who are the top players in your niche? While these people may be a little bit more preoccupied, it does not hurt to try and shoot them an email. It would be best to constantly track the content they put out. The best method to do this is through an RSS reader, such as Google Reader.

What Communities Exist?

Probably the best and somewhat easiest way to gain authority and notoriety is by actively being involved in message boards and forums. You will usually find that most of these community members are the real fanatics of the particular niche. If you can make a name for yourself with them, then it will go long ways to gaining traffic and authority to your site.

What Type of Affiliate Programs are There?

There are so many different type of affiliate programs out there (AM Certified Affiliates), and you are almost doing yourself a disservice if you don’t sign up with them. Your affiliate manager has tons of experience with gaining exposure, and they are dying to help you out. After all the more money your bring in, the more money they make as well.

What Multimedia Options Are There?

The internet is definitely moving from text to other multimedia outlets, such as podcast and videos. Scour services like YouTube and iTunes to see what is already available. Depending on your niche, you may be the first to break into this class of your niche.

Bottom Line: So we have covered the basis of trying to figure out how we should go about trying to overtake others already in the niche

Here are 8 steps to easily start your own online venture:

1. Research
2. Hosting
3. Create
4. Content
5. Share
6. Launch
7. Social Network
8. Maintain

Research

What niche or market are you going to enter? Whatever it is you have to make sure it is something you are interested in. Starting an online venture takes a lot of time, and if you are not interested about it, then it will be hard to get up and work on it because you won’t  be getting paid much.

Once you pick a topic, then do some Google searches and see what your competition is and what they are doing. Get a glimpse of what you will eventually be doing, and if it still interests you. Also try to brainstorm some good website names and narrow it down to what you like.

Also makes sure to to research what it takes to build the business. Your niche is just a cover for the actual business you have to run. Do you know what needs to be done? How will you eventually make money?

If things are already getting too overwhelming, then you may want to consider sitting out for a little longer. Online businesses are not for everybody.

Hosting

Depending on who you talk to, they will judge the importance of a hosting company, but, to be honest, it really does not matter. Especially if you are just starting out. You can always move hosting companies or change subscription. The key to good hosting is value for your money and customer support.

We HostMonster for all our needs, and haven’t had any problems. They also throw in a free .com domain with hosting, which saves you $10 or so.

Create

Once you have purchased your hosting, it is time to start getting down to business. You now have money invested into this, so time is money. Every minute you go without something on yoursite.com, you are essentially throwing money away.

Depending on your experience, it may take longer than you like, but get it done. Keep in mind that you can always make changes later. It is impossible to know everything you will need, so you can rest assured that you will have to make changes once you launch.

There are many resources online, and a simple Google search should solve most of your problems.

Content

It is important to have a substantial amount of content before you officially launch your business. Whether you are running a store, a blog, or whatever, if your site looks empty, then people are not going to spend much time at it.

You may also want to consider having a good amount of content ready to be published, once you launch your website. This will help lessen your load, while you spend time marketing. Learn how to attract visitors to your site.

Share

Many people opt to share after they launch, but that order could potentially weaken the effect of your launch. Share your site with friends, family, and anybody else in your network. For one, this can start the buzz going, and it also helps show some activity on your site when you are ready to launch.

This step can also act as a beta version. So if there are any problems, they can be fixed before you show off your work to people you don’t know.

Launch

There is really not much to do here, but get in the mindset. Start posting and sharing your site all over the internet, message boards, and anywhere you can think of. Your site is now live, so don’t make any drastic changes or create some errors, unless you warn your visitors.

Social Network

Get your business out there. Let people know about it. Join every social network you come across, and actively interact with your followers. Eventually you will learn what works and what doesn’t, but when you first start out the more exposure the better.

Also get to know your competition. Introduce yourself and ask how they have grown their business. When dealing with these people, it is a good idea to act naive or a little clueless. Most of these people will help you out more if they think you really want their help and look up to them.

If you’re promoting a product, then see if you can recruit some affiliates to help you out.

Maintain

The most important step. You won’t believe how many people get to this step and then quit. Most people have very short attention span. If you don’t constantly keep your customers or readers entertained or wanting to come back for more, then they won’t. Contrary to what you may think, there are thousands of other people with the same business as yours, and they are just as easy to find.

Make changes, updates, and/or add new content to your site. As you continue to gain experience, soon you will able to understand what needs to be done and how to do it.

Bottom Line: While there is really no 1,2,3 step method to creating a successful online venture, these are the basic steps to get started. How you individually work each step and eventually maintain your site, will decide the outcome.