Author: WP Training Expert

Most social media is entirely virtual in nature, like the oft-mentioned Facebook and MySpace. These provide people the means to connect with each other on a virtual level, but do very little in the way of having people meet in the physical realm. (Of course, there’s always the chance that people on Facebook will choose to meet with each other of their own volition, but that’s something that’s arranged by the individuals on a personal level, and not something directly encouraged by way of the social media platform.)

With MeetUp, though, the game is entirely different. A MeetUp group is a way of social networking wherein physically meeting others in the group is the entire point of the website. There are literally hundreds of thousands of MeetUp groups in existence, and there’s absolutely no reason for one of them to not be directly connected to your business.

Having a MeetUp group is a great way to garner interest in your business, and since you have a physical place for your business to be, you have a physical place for your MeetUps to take place at.

There are many things that you could start a MeetUp group in honor of in terms of your business. If you have a car-based business, consider starting a MeetUp group to have people come to your business and discuss the history of a particular car that your dealership works with. Another great thing to focus MeetUps around is free (or paid) trainings – if you have a dealership, for example, you could teach people how to change a tire, fix a flat, or change their oil.

Giving away information is a great way to get positive attention focused on your business. Even better, in order for the participants in the MeetUp to get the information, they have to physically come to your place of business for the class. And when they’re at your place of business for the class, there’s no reason to think that they won’t do any shopping while there, right?

If you are interested in utilizing MeetUp-type media – which you should be – there are other sites that do similar things. There’s actually a Twitter offshoot site called TweetUp that has become a very popular medium through which people meet each other locally and use the power of social media to further the good of themselves and their communities. Another site worth checking out is Biznik, which allows members to join it through an online platform, but it’s local-community based and is a tool for the promotion of in-person local events.

While going virtual is a great way to get the word of your business out there on the waves, don’t forget that going virtual is an excellent way to get people to come to your physical store, as well. Starting groups through MeetUp and similar sites is a great way to accomplish this goal.

If you have been online for a while now, then you have probably heard stories of people who have become wealthy using the internet. While most people simply will not become independently wealthy this way, it can and does happen in some cases. Either way, it is entirely possible to make enough internet advertising revenue to add a nice chunk of change to your bank account. Regardless of what some of the hucksters would like you to believe, it’s going to take some time, and you need to follow a marketing plan that’s a good match for you.

Whether you already own a business of your own, or you are just toying with the idea, the internet is an excellent resource that you can use to increase your profits. What it all really comes down to is having something to sell, getting people to see your offer, and then convincing them that they should take advantage of whatever it is that you’re offering. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that, but those are the basics of how it works.

Perhaps you already have some experience with marketing in the offline world. This could range from buying air time on television and radio to putting up a billboard, from trying to sell a used car in your local newspaper to printing up business cards. All of these things, and more, are a form of marketing. While there are a lot of similarities between offline and online marketing, there are also some differences.

The main thing to realize is that the basic principles of selling never change. Convincing people to buy still requires the same psychology. That being said, internet advertising revenue is easier than ever to cash in on. Imagine being a small business owner who has a shop in an area with a low population. Sure, you have loyal customers that keep you afloat, but you know you could do better. Well, the internet marketplace covers the entire world. Suddenly, the whole planet is filled with potential customers! That fact alone is exciting, but it gets better.

Not only do you have incredible reach by marketing online, but you also have more control over your message, better customer tracking, and usually at a much lower cost than traditional forms of advertising. Yes, business owners really are in the middle of something revolutionary. If you aren’t yet taking part, then it’s probably a good idea to hop on board now…before your competitors get the edge and take a larger share of the market.

There are just so many ways to generate internet advertising revenue that it’s worth facing any perceived risk; real or imagined. The best part is that you can start as small as you like and then test and track your results. Then ramp up your efforts as you start seeing positive results. Your imagination is the only limitation on how much you can potentially earn, but even that will grow as you start making more and more.

When blogs first came out, they were typically used by people for updating their family and friends about various aspects of the blogger’s lives. While some people still use blogs for that purpose, a lot of people have found a way to make good money through blogs. They have found a way to make the search engines work for them and cash in from their visitors. However, it is next to impossible to make money with a blog unless you have a good blogging guide to help you along the way.

Okay, so what does it mean when I say bloggers “make search engines work for them”? That’s a fair question; allow me to explain. Search engines are in the business of making money. And the way they make the most money is by providing results that relevant to to the people using them. After all, if they didn’t return useful results, then people would simply go to a competing search engine to conduct their searches. The other thing they thrive on is fresh content because that’s what people are generally interested in. Blogs provide the best of both worlds: they are focused on a single topic, so there is built-in relevancy; they are updated frequently, so freshness is there as well.

A good blogging guide will show you how to make the most of both of these factors, plus another which we will get to shortly. When you are able to provide fresh and relevant content, your blog will start climbing higher in the search results. This is a good thing as most people will try searching with different words instead of digging too deep into the search results. If you can get on the first three pages of results, you have a chance to generate some decent organic traffic. The first page of results is even better, and the first one or two positions on page one are ideal.

So, now you know how important traffic is, and the general concept of how to get it. Now on to the other thing a good blogging guide will show you…how to make money with your blog. In other words, how to turn the traffic you get into a source of income. There are a few different ways you can make money with a blog, but it all comes back to treating blogging like a business.

One of the most important things you can do is buy your own domain name and hosting. While you can use free platforms like Blogger and WordPress, you still need to host them on your own site and pay for a domain name (such as www.nameoyourblog.com). Not only will it look more professional and give you more credibility, it will also give you more control over your content. See, if you use a free service, and host your blog with them using the free domain, they can delete your blog without warning. I don’t say that to scare you, but rather to stress the importance of hosting it yourself.