Blitz Web Design Jamaica Web Development Blog

Web Design Jamaica Blog Post : How to Make Money Online

Date: September 7th, 2010

Introduction

In this day and age a website is more than just a static online entity. It is an organism that can either be stagnant and get lost in the online jungle or it can be a revenue-generating powerhouse whose worth rivals that of many ‘brick-and-mortar’ business operations (the net worth of www.facebook.com is currently priced in excess of $9 billion US dollars and the value of the Huffington Post blog was estimated at 70 million US dollars in 2008 ).
The main factors that drive up the value of an online company, particularly a blog, are site traffic, private investment and advertising revenue. Of these factors the main determinant is site traffic - number of unique visitors and number of page views - as this bit of information influences the level of investment that the website can attract as well as the premium that can be charged for advertising space. Sites with consistently high unique visitor numbers tend to enjoy steady streams of revenue if the advertising infrastructure is there to capitalize on this traffic. One of the advertising options that allow website owners to benefit from high site traffic is Google AdSense.

Google AdSense

Google AdSense is a marketing strategy which allows the advertiser to earn for every click that a site visitor makes on the ad link in that particular web site. This tool helps advertisers to display their ads to a wide customer base. Most sites that are monetized opt to display banner ads that are associated with their specific content, and hence, internet users who access these sites are exposed those specific ads that target products and services that they are inclined to have an interest in.
AdSense is equally dynamic and its wide range of advertising content offers website operators the ability to target their specific audiences and site visitors. It also helps to divert the traffic flow of customers to that particular site during searches, thus increasing the revenue earned via ‘click-through’ ads.

Payment starts as soon as the process of identifying and publishing suitable ads is completed and the process of receiving clicks on these ads begins. Also, Google AdSense offers greater percentage of payment to the publisher than most other web site advertising solutions. It follows an easy and reliable payment system. There are no checks or money orders in this process, and the mode of payment is ETF (Electronic Fund Transfer) to the host's bank account.
While Blitz Web Design does not guarantee any specific levels of income from this facility, many cases exist online and even within the family of Blitz websites where AdSense revenue is generated with very little input from the site owners/administrators. In the specific case of a particular news website that is currently hosted and maintained by Blitz Web Design, the site currently enjoys residual income of $350-$400 US monthly, which amply covers their hosting and maintenance charges.
Online Banner Advertising

Advertisers generally hope a banner ad will do one of three things. Ideally, a visitor to the site that has published the banner ad will click on that ad and go to the advertiser’s website. In this case, the banner ad has brought a visitor to the advertiser’s site that he/she otherwise would not have been able to have. However, the ad really becomes a success if that visitor becomes a consumer and either purchases something from the advertiser or books his/her services (depending on the industry and the nature of the advertiser’s business). At the very least, the ad has accomplished one of its objectives if the site visitor takes note of the contents of the banner ad and it somehow registers in their heads, which might mean that the visitor might decide to visit the advertiser’s site at some point in the future.
In the pursuit of these three objectives as well as the intrinsic benefits associated with branding, advertisers are willing to pay for banner ad space on websites that have high volumes of traffic, particularly if a large volume of this traffic matches their target demographic.

So there are several ways a banner ad can be successful. Consequently, there are several ways through which advertisers measure banner ad success. Advertisers look at:
• Clicks/Click-throughs: The number of visitors who click on the banner ad linking to the advertiser's Web site (publisher sites often sell banner ad space on a cost-per-click [CPC] basis).
• Page views: Also called page impressions, this is the number of times a particular Web page has been requested from the server. Advertisers are interested in page views because they indicate the number of visitors who could have seen the banner ad. Although they don't measure the effectiveness of a branding campaign, they do measure how many visitors were exposed to it. The most common way to sell banner ad space is by cost per thousand impressions or CPM (In roman numerals, M equals a thousand).
• Click-through rate (CTR): This describes the ratio of page views to clicks. It is expressed as the percentage of total visitors to a particular page who actually clicked on the banner ad. The typical click-through-rate is something under 1 percent, and click-through rates significantly higher than that are very rare.
• Cost per sale: This is the measure of how much advertising money is spent on making one sale. Advertisers use different means to calculate this, depending on the ad and the product or service. Many advertisers keep track of visitor activity using Internet cookies. This technology allows the site to combine shopping history with information about how the visitor originally came to the site.

However banner advertising revenue is generated, or however it is calculated, the reality is that the publisher of these ads stands to earn real income from hosting these ads on his/her website and from taking the appropriate steps to promote their online presence and drive traffic to their site. Locally, banner ad rates range from an average monthly range of $10,000.00 upwards . A reputable news related blog with international traffic stands to be able to attract banner ads from major business entities who target these markets and thus can earn even more substantial income over the long run.

Conclusion

While Blitz Web Design offers a banner ad application that includes Google AdSense elements in order to shore up the possibilities of earning revenue in the relatively short run, it does not guarantee any level of profit in any particular period of time. Neither does Blitz Web Design take responsibility if, for any reason whatsoever, the client is forced to shut down operations due to any financial losses incurred.

The most important and defining factor of the financial viability of owning and operating a website is the rate at which the volume of traffic is expected to increase over the first year and how this traffic will continue to grow after crossing that first hurdle. Tied in with this will be how much effort goes into the constant development and evolution of the online entity itself. In short, the ultimate determinant of the profitability of a website is the input of the operator of said online portal – the amount of effort that he/she puts into the development of the website and the level of investment that they are willing and able to undertake (and attract) at the outset in order to make this business work.

Visit Blitz Web Design Jamaica for all your website development needs. Go to our homepage at http://www.blitzwebdesign.com and view samples from our portfolio.

Get out of the Office...FOR GOOD!!!

Date: September 1st, 2010

When you show up at your office at 8:00am on Monday morning, will over 2 milllion people be standing outside, waiting to get in? An estimated 2.8 percent of the world's population (or approximately 179 million people) is currently online. With the growth of online technology, the culture of brick and mortar office buildings is being replaced by that of virtual offices that do not have the constraints of time, location, language, high overheads or limited human resources.

Websites are no longer expensive, or time-consuming to build. And now, with the help of a customised Content Management System (CMS), you can control the content uploaded on your website, without having to constantly consult with your web developer. This is one of many innovative features offered to every client by advanced firms such as Blitz Web Design (BWD).
Imagine a world where your virtual employee lives in India or London, and at the end of each business day you submit an e-mail with your to-do list for the next day, and wake up to see your business taken care of, and flowers ordered for your mother’s birthday and all you need to do is log into your company’s website.

A functional and eye-catching website ensures that a potential client has a good first impression of your business and often serves as the first point of contact. Apart from doing business via e-commerce (shopping carts, secure credit card transactions, etc.) – a website can pay for itself after the initial investment. There are tasteful Google ads, and banner ads that allow a website owner to profit from the number of visitors to their site – these advertisements alone can cover hosting or maintenance fees.
A customised website allows a business owner to set up a virtual office using a reliable internet connection, a smart phone and a merchant account with a reputable credit card company.

Visit http://www.blitzwebdesign.com or call (876) 977-6250 for more information, or to discuss partnering with Blitz Web Design to create your own website!

Why does my Company need a Website?

Date: Tuesday January 26th, 2010

Article taken from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/gettingstarted/article65204.html
Written by: Tim W. Knox

That's a good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most frequently asked questions of the digital business age. Before I answer, however, let's flash back to the very first time I was asked this question. It was circa 1998, during the toddler years of the internet.

I was giving a speech on the impact of the internet on small business at an association luncheon in Montgomery, Alabama. Back in 1998, which was decades ago in internet years, the future of e-commerce was anybody's guess, but even the most negative futurists agreed that all the signs indicated that a large portion of future business revenues would be derived from online transactions or from offline transactions that were the result of online marketing efforts.

So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.

Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.

Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.

That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.

One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.

You also mention that yours is a small operation, but when it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do.

Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"

Your website is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.