Wondering how Google decides which reviews show up first in search results? Here’s a breakdown of the factors that determine “most relevant.”
Google does not show reviews based on chronological order but by “Most Relevant.” This is called dynamic review, as it is based on specific criteria. So, what criteria are used by Google to decide if a review is more relevant?
Top Factors
Length
Word count significantly impacts how relevant Google considers the review. Generally, the longer the review, the more relevant.
Keywords
When a customer uses the business’s name in the review, it can increase the relevancy of the review.
Specificity
Customers who tell their story or example with the product or service rank higher for relevancy than generic text.
Local
Customers who have done reviews in the local area in the past are more relevant than customers with no review history or customers who reside in a different location than the business.
Time
The more time that goes by, the less relevant the review.
Top Nonfactors
Likes
Unless the review becomes viral, the likes it receives will not impact the relevancy.
Responses from Owners
Even though it is considered good business, owners responding to reviews do not impact the relevancy of reviews.
Negative Reviews
Google does not rank negative reviews higher than positive reviews. They both rank on the criteria listed above.
Google’s automated ranking systems are designed to present helpful, reliable information that’s primarily created to benefit people, not to gain search engine rankings, in the top Search results. This page is designed to help creators evaluate if they’re producing such content.
Self-assess your content
Evaluating your own content against these questions can help you gauge if the content you’re making is helpful and reliable. Beyond asking yourself these questions, consider having others you trust but who are unaffiliated with your site provide an honest assessment.
Also consider an audit of the drops you may have experienced. What pages were most impacted and for what types of searches? Look closely at these to understand how they’re assessed against some of the questions outlined here.
Content and quality questions
Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?
Does the content provide a substantial, complete, or comprehensive description of the topic?
Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond the obvious?
If the content draws on other sources, does it avoid simply copying or rewriting those sources, and instead provide substantial additional value and originality?
Does the main heading or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
Does the main heading or page title avoid exaggerating or being shocking in nature?
Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia, or book?
Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
Is the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
Expertise questions
Does the content present information in a way that makes you want to trust it, such as clear sourcing, evidence of the expertise involved, background about the author or the site that publishes it, such as through links to an author page or a site’s About page?
If someone researched the site producing the content, would they come away with an impression that it is well-trusted or widely-recognized as an authority on its topic?
Is this content written or reviewed by an expert or enthusiast who demonstrably knows the topic well?
Does the content have any easily-verified factual errors?
Provide a great page experience
Google’s core ranking systems look to reward content that provides a good page experience. Site owners seeking to be successful with our systems should not focus on only one or two aspects of page experience. Instead, check if you’re providing an overall great page experience across many aspects. For more advice, see our page, Understanding page experience in Google Search results.
Focus on people-first content
People-first content means content that’s created primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings. How can you evaluate if you’re creating people-first content? Answering yes to the questions below means you’re probably on the right track with a people-first approach:
Do you have an existing or intended audience for your business or site that would find the content useful if they came directly to you?
Does your content clearly demonstrate first-hand expertise and a depth of knowledge (for example, expertise that comes from having actually used a product or service, or visiting a place)?
Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?
After reading your content, will someone leave feeling they’ve learned enough about a topic to help achieve their goal?
Will someone reading your content leave feeling like they’ve had a satisfying experience?
Avoid creating search engine-first content
We recommend that you focus on creating people-first content to be successful with Google Search, rather than search engine-first content made primarily to gain search engine rankings. Answering yes to some or all of the questions below is a warning sign that you should reevaluate how you’re creating content:
Is the content primarily made to attract visits from search engines?
Are you producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results?
Are you using extensive automation to produce content on many topics?
Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?
Are you writing about things simply because they seem trending and not because you’d write about them otherwise for your existing audience?
Does your content leave readers feeling like they need to search again to get better information from other sources?
Are you writing to a particular word count because you’ve heard or read that Google has a preferred word count? (No, we don’t.)
Did you decide to enter some niche topic area without any real expertise, but instead mainly because you thought you’d get search traffic?
Does your content promise to answer a question that actually has no answer, such as suggesting there’s a release date for a product, movie, or TV show when one isn’t confirmed?
Are you changing the date of pages to make them seem fresh when the content has not substantially changed?
Are you adding a lot of new content or removing a lot of older content primarily because you believe it will help your search rankings overall by somehow making your site seem “fresh?” (No, it won’t)
What about SEO? Isn’t that search engine-first?
There are some things you could do that are specifically meant to help search engines better discover and understand your content. Collectively, this is called “search engine optimization” or SEO, for short. Google’s own SEO guide covers best practices to consider. SEO can be a helpful activity when it is applied to people-first content, rather than search engine-first content.
Get to know E-E-A-T and the quality rater guidelines
Google’s automated systems are designed to use many different factors to rank great content. After identifying relevant content, our systems aim to prioritize those that seem most helpful. To do this, they identify a mix of factors that can help determine which content demonstrates aspects of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, or what we call E-E-A-T.
Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn’t necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.
While E-E-A-T itself isn’t a specific ranking factor, using a mix of factors that can identify content with good E-E-A-T is useful. For example, our systems give even more weight to content that aligns with strong E-E-A-T for topics that could significantly impact the health, financial stability, or safety of people, or the welfare or well-being of society. We call these “Your Money or Your Life” topics, or YMYL for short.
Search quality raters are people who give us insights on if our algorithms seem to be providing good results, a way to help confirm our changes are working well. In particular, raters are trained to understand if content has strong E-E-A-T. The criteria they use to do this is outlined in our search quality rater guidelines.
Search raters have no control over how pages rank. Rater data is not used directly in our ranking algorithms. Rather, we use them as a restaurant might get feedback cards from diners. The feedback helps us know if our systems seem to be working.
Reading the guidelines may help you self-assess how your content is doing from an E-E-A-T perspective, improvements to consider, and help align it conceptually with the different signals that our automated systems use to rank content.
Ask “Who, How, and Why” about your content
Consider evaluating your content in terms of “Who, How, and Why” as a way to stay on course with what our systems seek to reward.
Who (created the content)
Something that helps people intuitively understand the E-E-A-T of content is when it’s clear who created it. That’s the “Who” to consider. When creating content, here are some who-related questions to ask yourself:
Is it self-evident to your visitors who authored your content?
Do pages carry a byline, where one might be expected?
Do bylines lead to further information about the author or authors involved, giving background about them and the areas they write about?
If you’re clearly indicating who created the content, you’re likely aligned with the concepts of E-E-A-T and on a path to success. We strongly encourage adding accurate authorship information, such as bylines to content where readers might expect it.
How (the content was created)
It’s helpful to readers to know how a piece of content was produced: this is the “How” to consider including in your content.
For example, with product reviews, it can build trust with readers when they understand the number of products that were tested, what the test results were, and how the tests were conducted, all accompanied by evidence of the work involved, such as photographs. It’s advice we share more about in our Write high quality product reviews help page.
Many types of content may have a “How” component to them. That can include automated, AI-generated, and AI-assisted content. Sharing details about the processes involved can help readers and visitors better understand any unique and useful role automation may have served.
If automation is used to substantially generate content, here are some questions to ask yourself:
Is the use of automation, including AI-generation, self-evident to visitors through disclosures or in other ways?
Are you providing background about how automation or AI-generation was used to create content?
Are you explaining why automation or AI was seen as useful to produce content?
Overall, AI or automation disclosures are useful for content where someone might think “How was this created?” Consider adding these when it would be reasonably expected. For more, see our blog post and FAQ: How Google Search views AI-generated content.
Why (was the content created)
“Why” is perhaps the most important question to answer about your content. Why is it being created in the first place?
The “why” should be that you’re creating content primarily to help people, content that is useful to visitors if they come to your site directly. If you’re doing this, you’re aligning with E-E-A-T generally and what our core ranking systems seek to reward.
If the “why” is that you’re primarily making content to attract search engine visits, that’s not aligned with what our systems seek to reward. If you use automation, including AI-generation, to produce content for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, that’s a violation of our spam policies.
by Mariska Wiese-Schalekamp – Website Developer at Glixie Media t/u House of Pixels (Pty) Ltd
Log into your WordPress Dashboard.
Go to Posts.
Select Add New.
Use the screen provided to create your post as desired.
Click Publish when you are done creating your post. The post will display on the blogging page of your website.
Add content
You’ve arrived on the blank canvas where you’ll add your masterpiece (AKA your content). But before starting this process, we have a few pointers. First, be sure to save your work frequently or write it in a separate Google or Word document and copy it over to the content management systems (CMS). This is a wise idea because,
while WordPress does save your progress automatically, it might not pick up on changes made if you lose your internet connection. Not to mention, drafting your content in a separate document is good idea so you don’t get overwhelmed by simultaneously formatting, editing, and writing.
Click the “Save draft” button in the upper right-hand corner to save.
Now, it’s time to add your content. To do so, copy-paste your original text directly into WordPress.
WordPress uses a block editor, which works exactly as you’d imagine — by creating blocks for each section of content you add. For example, paragraphs will be separated into blocks, as will images and headings.
Uploading Images
Once you’ve written your first piece, you’ll need to add images to your WordPress blog post. Adding images can make your content more digestible and visually engaging. To begin uploading a picture, press “enter” on your keyboard to create a new block. Then, click the “+” button in the top left corner to view the different blocks. Select the “Image” block.
Now, upload your image. You can either upload one from your computer, select one from the WordPress media library, or insert an image with a URL from a site like Flickr. Dont forget to add alt text to your image for accessibility and search engine optimization.
Once you’ve completed this step, your image should be visible in the block. You can repeat this process as necessary — if your article is long, we suggest adding a few images to break up the text and make it more readable.
Pro Tip: People recall 65% of the information they see presented visually — so don’t forget to use infographics on your blog!
Adding Links
Adding internal and external links is an essential way to boost your blog post quality.
The anchor text is also crucial for SEO as it indicates to site crawlers what the page you’re linking to is about. It’s easy to add hyperlinks to your content in WordPress. You can do so in two ways. The first way is to select the text you want to hyperlink. Then, find the floating menu box and select the link icon highlighted in blue below.
Add a URL in the box that appears.
Click “Enter” to insert the URL. And ta-da, you’ve done it!
The more straightforward way to add hyperlinks is by using a keyboard shortcut. Start by selecting the text you want to hyperlink.
Then, press Control+K (PC) to bring up the box and add your URL on your keyboard.
Pro Tip: Its up to you to decide whether youd like your links to open in a new tab. Generally speaking, if a link is external, or youd like the visitor to stay on the page theyre currently on, turn on the option to open in a new tab.
Format the post
Spoiler alert: It’s just as important that your content is organized as it is well-written. Without formatting in place, your audience is more likely to get overwhelmed by massive blocks of text and leave the page quickly (therefore impacting your bounce rate). Here’s how to format your post.
Pro Tip: Readers don’t want to spend time figuring out how to navigate your post, so make it easy for them with clear formatting. We’ll dive into how you can do so now.
Headings
To organize a blog post, use headings. Headings tell the reader (and the search engines) what is essential on the page using a hierarchy. It’s a win-win: Your readers know what to expect, and your site is more findable for search engines. Plus, it allows your readers to better pace their reading experience. And that’s not to mention how it makes your blog post look better aesthetically speaking.
Here’s how it works: An H1 is the title of a page and lives at the top of the hierarchy and the top of the page. A blog post only has one H1. If you add more, you risk confusing Google — and your reader. In other words, don’t do it.
H2s are subheadings. You might have one, two, or more of these in your post. H2s are next in line in the hierarchy of a blog post. They always go below an H1, and if you’re trying to rank for a keyword on Google, it’s a good idea to try to include it in at least a few H2s — without keyword stuffing, of course. H3s follow a similar order — they always go below H2s. Think of an H3 as a subcategory. All subsequent headings follow the same pattern.
Let’s walk through an example. Say you’re writing a blog post about the best dog breeds for families. Your H1 could be: “The 10 Best Dog Breeds for Families.” Your H2s could be: “Why choose a family-friendly dog breed?” and “What are the best dog breeds for families?” Under the second H2, you could elaborate on breeds that are recommended. To do this, add H3s such as “Golden Retriever,” “Labrador Retriever,” “Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.” And under each H3 you may add an H4s such as “Why Choose This Breed” where you can provide additional information.
This results in a more digestible experience for readers and search engines.
To change a heading in a WordPress blog post, find the menu box and select the paragraph button highlighted in blue.
Select “Heading.” Depending on the CSS settings your site has set up, you’ll see your text change in size and even color. To edit the type of heading, click the “H2” button in the menu box and select the appropriate heading.
Pro Tip: Use headings strategically; they should reveal to your readers what to expect in the following copy.
Images
Images also help readers navigate your blog post, so remember to format them properly. Formatting images in WordPress is easy. Here’s how.
Select your image and find the floating menu box. Next, select the format button — the one with three horizontal lines. Next, choose the alignment you’d like for your image. Here, let’s stick with a center alignment for the photos in our blog post.
Pro Tip: Stay consistent with your alignment so readers don’t get confused when reading your blog posts. If you use center alignment for one photo, commit to it throughout the post so readers know what to expect.
Preview the post.
Youve added content, images, links, and formatting for an optimal user experience. Now, it’s time to preview your post before it goes live. You’re almost there. See? Learning how to create a blog on WordPress isn’t as difficult as it may seem! First, select the “Preview” button in the top right corner. Then choose whether you want to preview a desktop, tablet, or mobile version of the post. We chose “Desktop” here. Finally, select the “Preview in a new tab” option.
Take a look at your post for any errors. If you see any, simply return to the editor tab and adjust as necessary.
Once everything looks good, congratulations! You are ready to publish your first WordPress blog post. Now its time to preview your post before it goes live.
Pro Tip: Don’t skip the preview step! It can be tempting to rush through to get your post to go live, but resist the urge. Previewing allows you to check for any issues with the content, formatting, or user experience.
Publish the Post
To publish the post, select “Publish” in the top right corner. You’ll see a few different options for publishing, but if you want this post to be available to anyone on the internet, select “Public.”
Add Tags & Categories
Finally, you’ll have the opportunity to add tags to your post. These help readers navigate your posts by similar topics. This is optional, so you can leave them blank if you don’t yet have a process to organize tags.
Your blog post is now live on the web!
Pro Tip: As your blog grows and you publish more articles, you’ll find it’s increasingly important you add tags so visitors can easily peruse your content. It will also be helpful for you as you navigate through your content and add related links. And once you figure out how you’d like to organize tags, don’t forget to go back and add them to older content.
Cryptocurrency, or “crypto” hit the headlines in 2009, when Bitcoin launched, but its origins can be traced back to the 1980s, when it was called cyber currency. An American cryptographer called David Chaum invented digital cash, which relied on cryptography to secure and verify transactions, but the requisite protocols and software that would facilitate a true digital currency did not begin to be developed until the 1990s. So what is cryptocurrency?
Cryptocurrency as we know it now is a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralised system using cryptography, rather than by a centralised authority such as a bank. The digital money is created from code which is monitored by a peer-to-peer internet protocol. It can be digitally traded and functions as a medium of exchange. In other words, it is an encrypted string of data, encoded to signify one unit of currency which has the same value all over the world, i.e., no conversion/exchange is necessary.
Investing in crypto
When it was first launched, Bitcoin was intended to be used for daily transactions, from low-value commodities like a cup of coffee to assets such as a computer. High-value items like real estate were even deemed to be suitable for purchase by Bitcoin. However, the reality was a bit different. Crypto was considered…and used as…an investment medium. Bitcoin was on an upward trajectory and investors piled in, but the bubble may have burst. One Bitcoin is now worth around $17,000. It was worth c. $69,000 in November 2021. Some analysts think it is unlikely to recover to 2021 levels. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, like non-digital assets, have been affected by macroeconomic pressures, including the war in Ukraine, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, and uncertainty around rising interest rates in the US and UK. Crypto has also been impacted by forces related to its digital nature: China has made cryptocurrency transactions illegal and FTX, the largest global cryptocurrency exchange, has collapsed.
However, a long-term investment portfolio could benefit from holding cryptocurrency. Market experts believe that Bitcoin could rally, although that might not be in the near future. Crypto could help to diversify a portfolio and provide returns when other investments are underperforming. But it’s important to understand that crypto is unstable and volatile and carries risk.
Legal tender
Cryptocurrencies do not have widespread status as legal tender, but they are regarded as assets in South Africa and can be tendered to a creditor as a valid and legal offer of payment, if you can find a vendor who accepts crypto. The number of institutions accepting cryptocurrencies is growing, but they are mostly in the US for the time being. There, it is possible to buy a wide variety of products from e-commerce websites using crypto. Examples include technology and e-commerce sites such as AT&T and Microsoft. Some luxury goods retailers accept crypto as a form of payment, as do some car dealers, from mass-market brands to high-end luxury marques. In the US, it is possible to spend cryptocurrency at a retailer that doesn’t accept it directly by using a cryptocurrency debit card, such as BitPay. This feature does not yet exist in South Africa.
Cryptocurrency is neither issued nor governed by any jurisdiction and exists purely within the community of users of the currency. We’ll look at the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in South Africa in a future article
Examples of cryptocurrency
Bitcoin is the most recognised cryptocurrency, as it was the first onto the scene. Others include Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Tether and Binance Coin.
BITCOIN
Since there is no centralised third party involved, Bitcoin was created as a peer-to-peer value transmission system based on encryption. A useful tool for conducting business between two or more parties, the Bitcoin blockchain is immutable, meaning it cannot be altered in any manner. There are only 21 million Bitcoin that will ever be created.
ETHEREUM
Developed in 2015, Ethereum is a blockchain platform with its own cryptocurrency, called Ether (ETH) or Ethereum. It is the most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Ethereum is a system that allows users to create decentralised apps and organisations, keep assets, execute transactions, and communicate. Users retain control over their own data and what is shared, so personal information is kept confidential.
LITECOIN
Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin but has been more innovative, developing systems for faster payments and processes to allow more transactions.
RIPPLE
Ripple is a distributed ledger system that was founded in 2012 by a company that has worked with various banks and financial institutions. Ripple can be used to track different kinds of transactions, not just cryptocurrency.
TETHER
Tether is a stablecoin, which means it is backed by fiat currencies like the US dollar or euro and maintains a value roughly equal to one of those denominations. Theoretically, Tether’s value should be more stable than other cryptocurrencies, and investors who are concerned about volatility tend to prefer it.
BINANCE COIN
One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, Binance, accepts payments in the form of Binance Coin (BNB). Binance Coin has grown since it was introduced in 2017, and it does more than just enable transactions on Binance’s exchange platform. It can be used for trading and processing payments. Additionally, it can be traded or converted into other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum or Bitcoin.
As a matter of interest, non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies are collectively known as “altcoins” to distinguish them from the original.
Cryptocurrency risks
Cryptocurrency is inherently risky. The same features that make it attractive contribute to its risk. Those who value the peer-to-peer concept and want to avoid “big finance” also need to understand that the lack of coordination and clarity on regulatory, financial, tax and legal treatment means crypto does not have the protection afforded other financial assets. Cryptocurrency investments are subject to far less regulatory protection than traditional financial products like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. And, unlike government-backed money, the value of virtual currencies is driven entirely by supply and demand. This contributes to the extreme volatility seen in the crypto market and can result in both significant gains and big losses.
Cryptocurrency is favoured by cybercriminals making ransom demands because assets are hidden and untraceable. There are also scams directly related to cryptocurrency, and this type of crime is on the increase. These include: fake websites which feature bogus testimonials and promise attractive, guaranteed returns for continued investment; virtual Ponzi schemes where cryptocurrency criminals promote non-existent opportunities to invest in digital currencies and purport to pay huge returns by paying off old investors with new investors’ money; and “celebrity” endorsements, in which scammers impersonate well-known names and promise to increase the victim’s investment in the cryptocurrency but instead steal the funds sent to purchase the crypto. One of the saddest scams takes advantage of those looking for love online. Con artists (usually men) persuade people (usually women) they match with on dating apps to invest in cryptocurrency.
Lastly, crypto, like any online activity, is subject to hacking, where cybercriminals break into digital wallets and steal the cryptocurrency. The blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency is secure, and crypto is not easy to hack into. But it is not unhackable. It is also not immune from human error. Password amnesia can mean the loss of all one’s cryptocurrency.
Benefits of cryptocurrency
Despite the risk, there are benefits to cryptocurrency. It is easy to move and store. It is internationally available. It is governed, or rather ungoverned, by multiple jurisdictions. Brokers are unregulated, making it more accessible. However, this last point is being addressed by the South African Reserve Bank at present. The biggest benefit in the African context is that it is available to anyone with an internet connection, which potentially makes it a useful tool for the half a billion unbanked in sub-Saharan Africa. (Data from the World Bank shows that around 45% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have access to a bank account, which equates to almost half a billion people excluded from financial services.) However, crypto needs to be purchased initially and loaded into a digital wallet with tangible funds, usually a debit card or electronic fund transfer (EFT). A credit card may also be used but crypto purchases with credit cards are considered risky. Some exchanges and some credit card providers don’t support them. This hurdle needs to be overcome and some of the risks mitigated before cryptocurrency can be considered a viable solution for the unbanked.
For more information
SD Law is a firm of experienced attorneys based in Cape Town, with offices in Johannesburg and Durban. If you want to know more about cryptocurrency, or need assistance with other digital concerns, including compliance with POPIA, cyberbullying and cybercrime, call Simon on 086 099 5146 or email sdippenaar@sdlaw.co.za.
You’ve thought about it every year. You’ve gone over countless online business ideas in your head and imagined what your life would be like if you could quit your job and generate money on the internet.
You could travel the world with ease, create a comfortable lifestyle for yourself and your family, and achieve financial freedom. You could finally escape the constraints of the 9-5 lifestyle and own your time completely.
But then, what happens? Usually, you spend some time considering the ideas but ultimately resort back to your comfort zone.
The steady income of your secure job, the ease of having somebody else tell you what to do every day (instead of trying to figure it out from scratch), and the consistent schedule.
You tell yourself, “You know what? This year is a little too crazy. I’ll start that online business next year!”
But “next year” never comes.
We’re here to tell you that 2022 is the year you should start your online business. There’s more opportunity than ever, and you should take advantage!
To help you get started, We’re going to lay out 27 online business ideas. Read through them, see which you connect with, and start doing your research. Then get started with one, it’s that simple!
27 “Easy to Start” Online Business Ideas
Here is our list of 27 online business ideas for 2022.
1. Start a Blog and Monetize it
We talk a lot about how to start a blog on this website, and for good reason.
In 2022, it’s easier to start a blog than ever before, and your blog can also be a big potential source of income (if you know how to monetize it).
Keep in mind that you don’t just start a blog and expect the money to roll in. You need to create content consistently, and it also needs to be content that educates, informs, or entertains people. In other words, it needs to capture their interest in some way.
What’s more, you need to sell something through the blog. This can be ad space, products, digital products, sponsored posts, coaching, ebooks, etc.
But if you’re willing to put in the work and you’re in it for the long haul, blogging can be extremely profitable (some bloggers make $50k per month or more).Here are some resourcesto help you get started with your first blog:
Affiliate marketing is basically the process of earning a commission by promoting somebody else’s product.
There are two main ways most people do affiliate marketing:
Information products. You promote products like ebooks, membership sites, video series, etc. This type of affiliate marketing can earn you up to 50% or more in commission, has relatively low barriers to entry, and it’s easy to find products to promote.
Amazon partners. Many affiliate marketers have success with Amazon. There are literally millions of products to choose from, and it can be quite profitable. For more information, you can check out the Amazon Associates Program.
Quick side note: Before you start affiliate marketing, it helps to have at least a basic knowledge of SEO and copywriting (more on each of these later).
That being said, you can read a few copywriting books and look through the beginner’s guide to SEO from Moz to help you get started.Further reading:
Here’s the plus side: if you try to go the route of affiliate marketing, the best affiliate marketers are focused on 3 main niches; dating, weight loss, and making money online. You would have to compete with the best of the best, and it’s not easy.
With the e-commerce route, in many markets, you’ll be competing against old-school business people who may or may not have any internet marketing experience. Many of them have glitchy, out-of-date websites, which leaves you a lot of room for improvement, and you can capitalize on their shortcomings.
It’s still not easy by any means. It requires hard work, and you need to stand out amongst the hundreds of thousands of e-commerce websites and online stores. But by filling a unique niche and executing the right marketing techniques, you can make your e-commerce store a profitable success.
Here are some tips to help you get started with your e-commerce store:
Find a profitable market. Brainstorm some ideas, do keyword research, and try to get as specific as possible. For example, there is probably a lot of competition for selling surfboards. But if you narrow it down to surfboard racks, you may have a better chance of standing out in the market.
Ask yourself, “Is the product expensive?” There are costs associated with manufacturing, distribution, reselling, etc. If your product isn’t expensive (at least $50 or more), there may be no profit left by the time you sell the product.
Ask yourself, “Is the product in a growth market?” If your market has already passed its peak (i.e., the VCR market) and is on the downslope, you probably don’t want to get involved. Instead, you want to get into an industry that’s on the upswing – that’s where you’ll have the most profit and growth potential.
Consider building a Shopify store. Shopify is a system built for e-commerce. With some basic web knowledge, you can set up a good-looking store very quickly, with a low-cost investment and with no coding needed. Shopify has a 30-day free trial too, so you can get started without spending a dime.
Here are some additional resources for creating a successful online store:
Have you ever thought of writing a book, but didn’t know where to get started? All the publishing nonsense, editing, and formatting, marketing, etc.?
With Amazon, you can self-publish a book fairly easily, and really make money from it. There are some simple and inexpensive guides to help you write your book AND have it generate consistent income.
Here’s the secret sauce: If you can launch your book and get a few hundred sales in the first week, Amazon will take over and start promoting it for you. This way you can make some real money from it. It’s actually easier than it sounds, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Here are a few tips for writing a book:
Validate the book by giving a survey to friends, an email list, and/or survey sites like PickFu. By validating your idea before you write the book, you’ll improve the odds of people willing to buy your book (and you’re not wasting your time by writing it.)
Create an outline and stick to it if possible.
Set aside at least 30 minutes to an hour each day to write.
Once the book is written and formatted, you can head over to KDP.amazon.com. Log in with your Amazon account, then under “Create a New Title”, select “Kindle eBook.”
Here’s a good strategy for your book’s launch week (to get 100+ sales):
Post a book excerpt on a relevant subreddit and link it to your book page at the end.
Post 1-2 guest posts during the launch week that link back to your book page.
Blast your email list multiple times.
By the end of the week, hopefully, your book has eclipsed the top 5,000 or 10,000 overall paid ranking. From there, raise the price to $2.99, and continue raising the price $1 at a time every few days until it stops selling (then, lower it back by a dollar). This will tell you the optimal price for your book.
(Here’s a case study of a book that used this strategy to launch successfully and consistently bring in $3-$4K a month in profit.)
5. Create a Digital Product or Course
Creating a digital product or course is similar to writing an ebook. You’re monetizing your expertise by teaching it to the others.
That being said, you don’t have the benefit of Amazon promoting your course. You have to do the promoting yourself through your own website, your email lists, and possibly through affiliate partnerships. You also need to create a compelling sales page that will convince visitors to buy from you.
If you don’t already have an audience, it might be better to self-publish on Amazon first. That way, you can validate your course idea, grow your email list (just make sure to have an email opt-in at the front and back of the book), and more or less create a rough draft of the course (since it will probably be similar to the book).Here are some additional resources to help you with an online course creation:
TheRiseToTheTop.com – David Siteman Garland’s website that’s helped thousands of entrepreneurs launch profitable online courses.
Monetize Your Expertise Podcast – Helpful episodes by online course expert Grant Weherley to help you start your fist online course.
6. Become a YouTuber
Videos are becoming more and more popular. From Instagram and Snapchat Stories to Facebook Live video, videos will only continue to grow. If you’ve always loved the thought of being behind the camera, now is the time you can take advantage.
Whether it be starting a vlog and getting ad revenue/selling products to your audience, or building a YouTube channel to drive more traffic to your website – 2022 is a great time to get started.
Not only will making YouTube videos help you tell better stories and provide more valuable content to your audience – it can also help you get profitable speaking opportunities.
The best part is, you don’t even need to go out and buy an expensive new camera – as long as you have a smartphone with a quality camera lens, you can start filming your first video right now!
It helps to have some coding knowledge, but it’s not an absolute necessity. There are plenty of software developers looking to collaborate with people on app creation.
Word of caution: the app market is saturated right now, so make sure you validate your app and do your research before investing lots of money in your idea.Here are some resources to help you in the app development process:
Facebook continues to expand and grow. Therefore businesses are spending more on Facebook ads. But here’s the problem: a lot of old school businesses don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to Facebook ads. Even newer companies don’t have the time it takes to learn the ins and outs so that they get the most return on their Facebook ads investment.
Consequently, they’re looking for Facebook ad specialists to step in and do it for them. Luckily, this is something you can learn fairly quickly. Once you do, you can reach out to businesses and offer to help create profitable Facebook ads.Here are some Facebook Ad resources you can learn from:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) refers to getting a website to rank higher for certain “search terms” in search engines like Google. When a website ranks higher, it gets more relevant traffic and in turn, can make more revenue.
This is another highly valued skill in the internet marketing world. That being said, it can be a bit difficult because Google is always changing its algorithms. With it, some of the rules of search change. You always have to be on the leading edge, learning, and testing new strategies.
If you can master SEO, companies will always be willing to pay you for your help.
10. Become a Copywriter
Copywriting is the art and science of strategically delivering words (whether written or spoken) that get people to take some form of action. It can range from anything to sales pages, to email marketing, to even quality blog content.
If you have a natural inclination and passion for writing, copywriting may be your ticket to earning online income.
It’s a great way to achieve freedom in your life. Not only does copywriting allow you to work remotely, but it also allows you to control your schedule. Plus, learning the skill itself will help you in many areas of online business (i.e. building a blog, affiliate marketing, etc. – when you can write in a compelling way, all of these become much easier!)
11. Skype Coaching
Do you have an expertise that you’d like to help people with? Then Skype coaching may be a potential option for you. Basically, you hop on Skype and provide assistance to your coaching clients. This can come in the form of daily, weekly, or monthly calls.
There are Skype coaches for just about everything – life coaches, health coaches, dating coaches, etc.
Note: It’s much easier to market your coaching services when you also have a blog on your coaching topic.
12. Buy and Flip Domains
You’ve probably heard of people who buy and “flip” real estate, right? They buy a house for a relatively good price, fix it up a little bit, and then resell it for a nice profit.
It’s the same idea for buying and flipping domains. Whether it’s your own domain, or whether you’re looking to buy somebody else’s site and flip it, this can be a good source of online income.
You can use resources like Empire Flippers to both buy and sell your domains.
13. Start a Podcast
A podcast can be a great revenue generator.
As you grow your podcast, you can offer paid sponsorships and sell your own products and services. Through the podcast, you’ll be able to earn the trust of your listeners, which makes them that much more likely to buy what you have to offer.
14. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is when you create an online store to sell other people’s products (i.e you don’t do any of the manufacturing or shipping). Then, you get a commission for each sale.
The benefit here is that you don’t have to risk buying up stock in a product and losing money if it doesn’t sell. The entry barrier is lower and you don’t have to invest nearly as much to get started.
If you’d like to learn how to dropship, Drop Ship Lifestyle is one of the best resources to help you get started.
15. Freelance Pay Per Click Consulting
(These are PPC ads)
You ever saw those sponsored ads at the top of your Google search results? That’s Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising in action.
It’s a form of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Put simply, it’s a way of buying visits on your site.
If you can master this skill, you can offer the service to other businesses.
16. Sell Products on eBay
Sure it’s a bit old school, but people are still making lots of money on eBay. To start selling, you can do something simple like head to a local clothing store and buy some clothing on sale.
Then, you can list it on eBay for a higher price, and if it sells, you can reinvest the profit in more clothing and continue making more profit.
It requires some strategy and planning but is surely a profitable way of online business.
17. Become a Web Developer
A web developer is someone who knows how to build a website from the bottom up. In order to do this, you need to learn coding, which will take time and hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, it can pay quite well.Here are some tips for learning to code and getting started with web development.
18. Invest Your Time in Graphic Design
Ever saw a beautiful sales page or a website design that really jumps out at you? That’s all due to a graphic designer.
Graphic designers are basically visual communicators. They design web pages, sales pages, logos, and really anything else that needs to look sharp.
To be a great graphic designer, you don’t need to be great at drawing, you don’t need a college degree, and you don’t need to buy a fancy expensive computer. But you do need to be a visual thinker, you do need to specialize in something, and you definitely need a portfolio.
19. Build Niche Sites
The idea behind a niche website is to target a specific niche (for example, a specific kind of photography), rank on Google for the keywords related to that niche, and then turn that traffic into earnings through affiliate offers or through selling your own products.
A lot of research goes into this – you should be ready for a bit of workload. If you create a good niche site, it can bring you an extra $500 a month or more.For further reading, check out this post from Sean Ogle:How to Build a Niche Site that Brings in $500 a Month
20. Start a Consulting Business
Do you have tons of knowledge in a specific field? Then you may have what it takes to be a highly paid online consultant.
As a consultant, you simply must apply the knowledge, skills, and experience you have in a specific field to help clients solve a problem or issue they have in that field.For further reading, check out this post from USA Today:How to Become a Highly Paid Consultant
21. Start a Paid Private Facebook Group
A paid private Facebook group provides you with the chance to create a highly engaged community.
It gives you a place to deliver your content, allows your community members to interact with each other, allows you to limit access to qualified members, and also allows you to moderate and control the group.
Note: If you already have a website and an email list, it’s easier to create a paid private Facebook group, but it’s not an absolute necessity.
22. Assist with Lead Generation
Businesses are always on the lookout for ways to create new leads. Leads, after all, are the lifeblood of businesses.
When you assist with lead generation, you basically play the matchmaker. You connect business with the leads for whom they can solve the problems.
23. Instagram Sponsorships
Do you love taking photos and dream of building up a great Instagram following? As you grow your following, more sponsorship opportunities will become available. For example, if your account is focused on fitness, you may be able to sponsor products like protein powder, supplements, etc.
24. Create SaaS (Software as a Service)
Google Apps, Dropbox, Leadpages – these are all SAAS.
SAAS is any kind of online software that you pay to get access to.
For this, you first must brainstorm/find an online service that people are willing to pay for on an ongoing basis. Once you create it, the challenge is to maintain it, which is not an easy task. That being said, it can be quite profitable if you can make it work.
25. Technical Writing
Ever wondered who wrote the instruction manual for that new TV? That’s the job of technical writers.
If you have a love for writing and like the technical side of things, then you may have what it takes to be a technical writer.
In 2022, starting an online store is easier than ever.
A few decades ago, creating a website wasn’t an easy task, especially for someone who wasn’t tech-savvy and didn’t know how to code. Nowadays, however, anyone with a computer and internet connection can launch an eCommerce business within a matter of minutes, all thanks to modern tools and website builders.
However, you have to decide on a couple of things before setting up your webshop; matters like what you’re going to sell, how to handle shipping and payments, and most importantly what marketing strategies to use.
Follow our step-by-step online store building guide and you learn how to start an eCommerce website quickly from scratch.Table of Contents
The first step that’s an absolute must-do is to pick your niche. As it’s often defined, a niche is a specific piece of a broader market.
Sorry if this sounds a bit too dictionary-like. Let’s break it down into simpler terms. Basically, when picking your niche, you have to decide:
What do you want to sell?
Who are you going to sell it to?
Why would they buy it?
These three questions may seem fairly obvious, but they’re actually far from.
Defining your ideal customer base and figuring out why they would buy from you will make your job much easier later on. The main mistake that people make is going too broadly in the hope that the bigger the potential market is, the more likely they are to get good sales. This is not correct.
If your target customer base is simply “people who breathe” then you’re going to have a hard time positioning your product in the market, promoting it, and explaining what’s so valuable about it.
Overall, focusing on one niche is better than going all over.
It’s best to start in an area that you already have a personal interest in, expert knowledge about, or passion for. It’s really hard to operate in a field that you know nothing about.
So, begin with your interests, navigate from there. Define who your ideal customer is, and what makes them want to buy the products that you want to offer.
A good starting point is to look at what your competition in the niche is doing. See how they position their products, who their customers are. Learn from that and build upon other people’s experiences.
2. Choose Between Dropshipping and Selling Your Own Products
Let’s start from the beginning by explaining two popular eCommerce scenarios:
Scenario no.1 is the traditional way of running an online store. In this model:
(1) you get products from the supplier or create them yourself → (2) you offer those products to customers via your website → (3) the customer buys the product → (4) you send the product to them
Here’s the dropshipping model:
(1) you start by listing the products on your website → (2) the customer buys the product → (3) the supplier sends the product directly to the customer
The main benefit of the dropshipping model is that you don’t have to hold any inventory yourself. This means that there’s no cost involved in making the products or storing them. In fact, everything you sell is pure profit since you only have to pay the supplier after you receive an order from your customer.
In the traditional model, you have to shell out money upfront to either obtain products from the supplier or get them created. You must do that before you can ever start selling them.
On the other hand, dropshipping won’t be for you if the products you want to sell are of your own production or need to be customized/personalized before they can be sold.
Overall, if you can, opt for dropshipping – and especially if it’s your first attempt to start an online store. Dropshipping is a great way to test the waters and validate that the products you want to sell are indeed something that customers will want to buy. Then, later on, you can expand and start offering your own products as well.
3. Choose the Exact Products to Sell
One of the great things about dropshipping is that there’s an abundance of different products to choose from in nearly every niche.
This is excellent news for businesses that are just getting started and don’t want to invest in their own product development. The overall steps are:
Research your niche. Examine what sort of products your competitors are selling, and what their best-selling products are.
Go to content sites on the web to find what type of challenges, products, or things in general your target audience reads about.
Go to niche-related forums and see what your customers talk about.
Search on Google with keywords most relevant to your niche.
Go to Amazon and do similar research. See what products sell well.
With all this research, you can now go to some popular markets and start looking for specific products you can sell.
The biggest market of this kind is AliExpress. It’s a regular eCommerce marketplace by most standards, but it also allows you to establish relationships with merchants and offer their products as a dropshipper. Go there and look for products that are in tune with the research you’ve done, and also seem like something interesting-enough for your customer base to enjoy.
We recommend getting started with between 10-50 products. This will give you more than enough stuff to make your store complete and also not overwhelm you with what’s going on as you work with the store on a daily basis.
When you’re putting together a list of products, keep the following things in mind:
Make sure that the product is available for shipping in locations where your target audience is. Also, the lower the shipping costs, the better.
Check the shipping times and make sure they don’t exceed what you would consider acceptable (we leave deciding what’s acceptable and what isn’t to your judgment).
If possible, avoid brand name products (you don’t want to depend on being able to sell Adidas sneakers, for instance).
It’s a common practice for dropshipping stores to set their margins at around the 50% mark. Meaning, when looking for products to sell, focus on the ones that are half the price compared to what you want to sell them for.
As we mentioned earlier, having a list of 10-50 products is suitable for a start. We’ll use that list later on when importing the products to your actual online store.
4. Come Up With a Business Name and Register a Domain Name
Choosing a domain name for your store is undoubtedly the most fun part of the whole endeavor. People love to name things. Especially businesses.
However. The name you end up with can have a lot of significance for your future success and ability to market the business effectively. Here are the things to keep in mind when brainstorming a business name:
Pick a Name That’s Easy to Pronounce
Imagine yourself talking to someone over the phone and needing to mention the name of your store. Do you have to spell it out for the other person to understand?
If you do, the name is too complex. Go for something simple and easy to pronounce on the first go.
Pick a Name That’s Easy to Memorize
This relates to the previous point, somewhat. Apart from being easy to pronounce, your name also needs to be easy to memorize.
You can achieve this in a couple of ways. Going with a completely made-up word as your name is one solution (think “Google”). Alternatively, you can put together two words that do have real meanings but create something original when put next to each other (think “Face-book”).
Pick a Name That’s Brandable
Your name should be original enough so that people won’t mistake it for any other similar business.
For example, if you want to name your pizzeria “Pizza Den” but there’s another business in town called “Pizza Pan” then it’s not a good name.
Pick a Name That’s Short(ish)
Not longer than a combination of 2-3 words. Any longer and it’s going to be harder to remember and less brandable.
Don’t Use Any Special Characters Or Numbers
Also forget about dots, underscores, dashes, etc.
Pick a Name That is Available as a .com Domain
The .com is the most popular and most important domain name extension of the bunch. If you’re brainstorming a name, don’t go for something that doesn’t have a .com domain available.
Best Domain Name Generators – Still stuck with choosing a domain name? Check out this article of the best 15 domain name generators that can help you out.
Finally, it’s time to build an actual online store.
Here’s the best part: you can do it all on your own, there’s no professional help needed, and you don’t have to sacrifice the quality of the final outcome. Your online store is going to be just as functional and just as good-looking as if it was built by a pro.
To make that happen, we’re recommending using WooCommerce.
Note: Before you can start building your online store with WooCommerce, you first need to create a website. For this check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to build a website with WordPress.
The last piece of the puzzle when attempting to start an online store is accepting payments from customers.
By default, WooCommerce allows you to accept payments via PayPal. You don’t need to do much in order to enable this payment system either. You likely already took care of it during the initial WooCommerce setup.
That said, you can choose a different payment system, or even use a couple of alternative systems at the same time. One of the reasons for this might be that some of your customers will prefer specific payment methods over others. So the more of them you have integrated into your store, the more sales you’ll get.
Two of the most popular additional payment methods for WooCommerce are Stripe and Square. These are particularly good choices if you want to accept credit cards (which you surely do).
Both Stripe and Square are free to get started with. However, like with every payment method, there are additional fees imposed on every transaction made (it’s the same with PayPal), so just be aware of that.
Getting a new payment method installed in your eCommerce store is simple. Those payment systems are all delivered as WordPress plugins, so you can install them the same way you installed WooCommerce.
After that, each payment system comes with its own setup procedure. Most of the time, though, all you have to do is sign up for an account and verify your details.
7. Start Marketing Your Online Store
There are many different things you can do to get the word out about your store, but we’re going to focus on just four here – the four that are the most likely to work in 2022 and going forward.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a relatively new way to promote your store. Most of it is done on Instagram.
The way it works is this:
Find people popular in your niche or recognizable for whatever reason.
Reach out to them and ask what their rates are for promoting products like yours. Also, pay attention to the size of their following and ask about the number of engagements they get under similar posts.
Agree on a run of two or three promotional posts, and send them your products.
Paid Ads
Paid ads basically don’t ever fail. If there’s a market for something, and you target that market with ads, you will get some sales.
The most popular platform for advertising your products is Google AdWords. Getting started with them is relatively easy, and Google has its own guides to take you through the initial steps.
Social Media Marketing
While Instagram certainly is the most on-trend social media network of today, this doesn’t mean that it’s the only place where you should promote your store.
Online store ASOS on Instagram
In fact, you should be present in all the places where your customers are likely to hang out. This, in the modern-day, means most of the popular social media networks. Or, at the very minimum, the top ones like Facebook, Twitter, and optionally Pinterest (if your customers use it).
Your approach to all these networks will be similar, but the goals and the way you construct your messages will be different.
The first thing you should do is research what your competition is doing and how they go about promoting their stores. Take note of their strategies and tactics, and see what you can adapt to your situation. Chiefly, pay attention to:
the type of messages they post
the posting frequency
how often they promote their products directly
what’s their general voice and how their messages make you feel
Next, set your own goals as to what you want to achieve through social media.
Most commonly, those goals should be building brand awareness among customers, and only occasionally promoting your products, and trying to generate direct sales. If you push your stuff too much, you’ll alienate people quickly.
The next step is setting a publication calendar in place and preparing some social media posts in advance. You can then publish those posts with the help of tools like Buffer.
Content Marketing and SEO
Nowadays, content marketing and SEO are the most effective methods to promote any website (including eCommerce stores).
The idea behind content marketing is simple: you give people insights on topics related to your business and thus generate interest in what you have to offer.
For example, if your store sells winter socks, then you can offer people advice on things like how to pick ski socks. You can deliver that advice in the form of a simple blog post. As people read your content, they also get introduced to your store and the socks that you have in your catalog.
The same principle can be adapted to any market or niche. Find out what people want to know and then create content that delivers that info to them.
When doing so, optimize your content so that it’s more discoverable via Google. It’s reported that Google is responsible for 94% of total organic traffic on the web.
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