Start a Blog Or Build a Website? Which is a Better Way to Start an Online Business?

By Julie Onofrio 

There are two ways to create an online business. You can either create a blog and use it as a content management system or you can build a full website. Which is better? It depends on your goals.

A blog is really just a software system. It has been equated with a personal journal but people are now using blogs to create online businesses. Wordpress is my favorite blogging system because you can set it up and optimize it just like a website. The best plugins to use are the xml sitemap and the SEO pack along with one of the spam filters. These plugins will give your blog/website the best chance of getting found by the search engines.

The one problem with blogs in general is that most of the layouts are very busy with too much information for a reader. The general way a person reads a webpage is from left to right and the left column is usually a nav bar in most websites because people are used to reading this way. If you are going to start a blog find a 2 column template and one that also does not go full width of the window to control where the readers eyes fall and want to move to naturally.

When you build a basic website with a tool like Site Build it!'s blockbuilder it will automatically set up the nav bar on the left and when you choose to center the page, your readers will be more interested in your content and ads or promotions.

I do both blogging and building sites with Site Build it! and SBI! gets me much better results even if I set up the blog just like the optimized pages on SBI! If you aren't familiar with Site Build it! Site build it! is a website and business development system. You can find out more on my website below.

Julie Onofrio a massage therapist turned infopreneur (website geek) specializes in creating optimized sites using Site Build it and has learned most everything about being successful online from their website and business building system that includes an xml sitemap and seo analyzer so your pages will be the best that they can be. You can find out more on her website - http://www.workless-playmore.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Onofrio

Make Money Online - The 3 Most Asked Questions Answered

By Steve Levi 

There are many different ways that you can turn your own personal thoughts and feelings into a virtual cash register. Millions of people in the world today have their own blogs. They write down their thoughts, feelings, and opinions on many different things. Something happens, however, when you notice that you have begun to develop a large readership. You realize that, with so many people visiting and getting pleasure from your work, there should be some kind of a payoff for you. Other than voicing your opinions of course. I am talking about making money from your passion. Making money from your blog has never been easier and I am going to give you some tips on how to do that in this article.

Below are going to be the top 3 questions I get in relation to how people make money online.

1. "What is the number one key to making money online"? Traffic generation, plain and simple. In any endeavor, whether it be your own website, affiliate marketing, or on a blog, if you are going to have any chance to make money, you have to get a lot of traffic. Now, there are many ways to get traffic, such as pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, and numerous social networking methods. Getting into that is beyond the scope of this article. Think of it like this, if the corner store on your street didn't have any customers coming into the store, they wouldn't ever be able to make money, right? It's the same on the internet. You have to create traffic in order to have potential for profit.

2. "What method can I use in order to make money online"? There are quite a few different ways that you can make a decent income by working online. The most popular is that of affiliate marketing. This is where you put ads, or text links, to products from merchants, and when a visitor on your site clicks the ad or link, they are taken to the merchant's web site. If that person makes a purchase, you will get a pre-determined commission off of the sale. Another is in using Google AdSense. You can sign up with the search engine giant Google, place some code on your website that creates the ads, and when your visitor clicks on the ad you get paid. Google AdSense is good in that you don't rely on the person buying something. This is called pay per click. There are other pay per click programs out there but, by far, Google is the most popular. Another way is to, of course, create and sell your own products. That is pretty self-explanatory.

3. "How much money can I make online"? Well, being perfectly honest, you can become quite wealthy from your online endeavors. The possibilities are literally endless. But, just as in the real physical world, you will get out of it whatever you put into it. If someone tells you that you can make thousands of dollars a day and you only have to work an hour a day to do it, well, chances are good that they are lying to you. But if you work hard, learn how everything works and apply what you have learned, you can honestly expect to make a good living while working from the comfort of your home.

I was just like you at one time, I was curious to find out if it was true that I could Make Money Online and then I accidentally stumbled across the website of a man that would become my mentor. Yaro Starak took me by the hand and taught me how to make a lot of money from the internet. It wasn't enough for him to tell me how, he took the time to show it to me, step by step, and eventually I began to Make Money Online on my own. I suggest you give him a chance to do the same for you. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Levi

Ideas For Your Creative New Blog Header

By Cassandra Germsheid 

Creating a header for your blog is one of the best ways to make it unique and stand out from the crowd. When you're trying to come up with an idea for your new header, you may be drawing a blank. I've got a few ideas that will help kickstart those creative gears in your head.

Just Text - I've seen a lot of great blog headers that are simply text. Using typography to make your blog stand out is gutsy but can result in a beautiful header. Find a snazzy font - there are tons of free fonts available on the web to download - and use your favorite image editing program to create a cool graphic with your blog title.

Add some text effects to make it anything but generic. You can even make it look like it's 3D, shiny, or glowing. Try using different colors for certain letters, add a copy of the text flipped upside down to create a mirror effect, or create text using other images. There are lots of ways to get creative with text.

Photography - Some headers are nothing but a photo. A scenic landscape, a city skyline, or a row of cute babies smiling for the camera can make a memorable image for your blog readers.

If you want to get even more creative, design multiple headers and have them rotate each time the page is refreshed. This is a great idea for people with photoblogs who like to showcase their own work.

Minimal - If you have a busy theme or you want to direct the focus on something in particular, you may want to choose a header that doesn't attract a lot of attention.

A simple blog title may suffice, or a small logo. This works well for blogs that already have a brand that is recognizable.

Grunge - There are lots of grunge images and textures that you can download for free. Grab a few, splice them together, and create your own unique header with them.

While you're looking for some grunge textures, find some grunge fonts to go with it. A dark grunge background with a white grungy text over top would look great on a personal blog.

Color - Using bright, vibrant colors for your header is extremely eye-catching. It could be something really abstract (in which case many examples can be found on free stock photography and images sites) or you can use a mixture of images that add a lot of color contrast.

In one blog header I designed, I took one image of an apple, duplicated it twice, and changed the color of the second two images resulting in a row of three colorful apples. It was simple and eye-catching at the same time and the same idea could be implemented for any niche blog using different images.

If you can't decide on one idea, why not try more than one? Some blogs are known to change their headers regularly. In some cases this could confuse your readers, but if done properly, it could end up being something that makes your blog unique. Your readers will expect the change and look forward to seeing what you come up with next.

Cassandra Germsheid is the owner of http://mamasontheweb.com where she helps moms and dads earn money online. Visit her site to learn more about how to make your blog unique. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Cassandra_Germsheid