As I mentioned last week, sellers decided to boycott eBay in response to the new fee structure, as well as the changes to the feedback system. Unfortunately, eBay is claiming that the boycott had no affect, even though an independant third-party saw a drop to 13.5 million listings at one point last week. Ultimately, they have no plans to roll back fees or feedback changes, and sellers are at a crossroad now.

Many sellers, both big and small, have vowed to leave eBay and never return. The problem, where do you go? eBay is a giant monopoly, and while others have tried to compete in the auction game, none have been able to make any headway. Some sellers have expressed plans to open their own ecommerce stores, in which to sell their goods. While that sounds good on the surface, it’s not as easy as they might think. The beauty of eBay is that you’ve got tens of millions of people visiting the site each day, and your listings are going to get more than a few views on any given day.

It should be interesting to see how this plays out.. I’d think this would be the perfect time to introduce a new auction website to the public. With the right amount of publicity behind it, things could really take off for them!

If you’re serious about taking your business to the next level, then you should consider attending the Elite Retreat in San Francisco this April. This is a serious seminar, with a serious price tag: $4,950!

But where else can you get some one-on-one time with the who’s who of the Internet marketing world? The Elite Retreat brings together Jeremy Schoemaker, Neil Patel, Aaron Wall, Andy Liu and Brian Clark together for two days of intense training that will take your Internet business to the next level. There will also be a special keynote by Guy Kawasaki.

I’m sure everyone would love to the go to Elite Retreat but very few people can afford that kind of entry fee. Not only that, but they’re capping attendance at 35 - And it’s already half sold out!

Lucky for you, John Chow and Rocket Profit have teamed up to offer one lucky winner a free ticket to the Elite Retreat! All you have to do is choose an offer from Rocket Profit, and explain in a blog post how you would market it. (PPC, SEO, E-mail, Social Media, etc) After making the post, you send an e-mail to John Chow with the URL or your post, so he can check it out. On February 8th, him and Shoemoney will sort through the entries and pick a winner. That person will receive a $4,950 ticket to the Elite Retreat, compliments of Rocket Profit. Good luck!

Edit: John is offering up another ticket to Elite Retreat!

Over the years, I’ve gone through a number of different web hosting companies. It’s a tough business, built on razor-thin margins, and often service and performance suffer as a result. Some hosts try to cram too many users on a single server, which results in pages coming up very SLOOOOWLY.. Worse yet, many places skimp on their support staff. Of course, you’ll never notice this when things are working correctly, but when your site goes down and you try to contact support, you’ll soon discover what a hellish experience it really is!

Thankfully, there are still some good guys out there giving us great service at reasonable prices. How does this sound?

10 Gigabyte Hosting Space
Host 6 Domains on 1 Account!!!
2,500 POP/Imap Email Accounts
250 GIGS of Transfer
SSL, FTP, Stats
CGI, PHP, MySQL
2000/2002/2003 Front Page Extensions
Free Domain Forever!
Free Site Builder (NEW)
Superb/Responsive Support Engineers
$6.95 Per Month

And BlueHost specializes in customer satisfaction.. Sure, I wouldn’t mind more domains hosted on one account, but most people don’t have such needs.. For $6.95/mo, nothing can touch it.. If you’re serious about your website, then sign up with BlueHost and put those worries to bed!

It’s a simple concept - Don’t rely on a single source of income, because if that revenue stream dries up, you’ll be screwed. And that’s exactly what happened with Henry and Wilson, twin brothers from Baltimore who got banned from Google AdSense earlier this year and lost roughly $200K as a result! AdSense was the only way they were monetizig their websites, so this was a devastating blow.

If Google suspects that you’re involved in click-fraud, they’ll ban you first, and ask questions later (if ever). It’s happened before, and it’ll happen again. It’s great that they’re so proactive when it comes to click-fraud, but many innocent bystanders have unjustly fallen victim to Google’s ban-stick.

Never let yourself rely on a single source of income or traffic. Making money online is all about maximizing income and traffic from multiple sources. Yahoo banned one of my sites about 6 months ago for no apparent reason, and my pleas to them fell on deaf ears. Has it affected my traffic? Sure, but I’ve worked around it, bringing in other streams of traffic to compensate for it.

Below are some AdSense alternatives that you should consider implementing on your site:

Some Good Affiliate Programs:

You’ve got nothing to lose, so try them out - The results might just surprise you!

My previous post outlined how to building a website. But if you’re building an actual e-commerce site, there are a few more things that you’ll need in order to get started.

1) Get A Dedicated Phone Line

Even though it’s a web-based business, there are still many people out there who don’t feel 100% comfortable placing orders online. Prominently display your phone number on each page of your site, so that if a visitor has a question or concern, they can easily reach you. You should have a dedicated phone number just for this purpose, and get in the habit of answering this phone with a professional business greeting. (eg. “Thank you for calling ABC Widgets. This is Dan, how can I help you today?”)

If you’re on a budget, I’d suggest going with a VOIP (voice over IP) solution, which offers a LOT of additional features, at a much cheaper montly price. I use Vonage, and I get unlimited local and long-distance calls for just $24.99 a month. I was previously paying $86 a month for similar features from my local provider!! (If you want to give it a try, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll send you a link good for a free month!)

Another option is to use a service like GotVMail. With GotVMail, your small business can sound more professional and streamline its communications by creating a virtual office that connects callers to employees wherever they are, on any type of phone – home, office, VoIP, or mobile - without any equipment to purchase or maintain. GotVMail combines a unique toll free or local number with a host of advanced features. It functions as a virtual attendant, hosted PBX system, and sales and marketing tool allowing your small business to always sound its best. It also allows you to better manage voicemails and faxes with message delivery – listen to voicemails and view faxes right on your computer.

2) Get a Merchant Account

You need to get a merchant account in order to accept credit cards. This is a very shady industry, and if you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself stuck in a long-term contract with a lousy plan that costs too much. You’re used to seeing credit card machines when you go to regular stores, but as an online business, you don’t need one. Yet they’ll try to convince you that you need to lease a machine, at “ONLY” $45-60 a month. An unbreakable lease. Forget that, find a provider that lets you run credit cards over an internet gateway (web interface), and save $540-720 a year!

Merchant Equipment Store is one of the largest merchant equipment and service providers in the country. Over the past four years, they have maintained a flawless rating with the BBB, having received not a single customer complaint! They scan the marketplace constantly to ensure they’re providing our customers with great service and equipment at consistently low prices. And with Merchant Equipment Store, you wont find any startup or hidden fees on merchant account set-ups.

In addition, you should sign up for a PayPal Business or Premier account. Many people still don’t feel safe giving out their credit card information, but are willing to pay using their PayPal account. It also gives the customer some options - They can pay using their PayPal balance, with funds in their bank account, or using a credit card. It costs you nothing, so start accepting PayPal payments today!

Hopefully this should help get you started on your new e-commerce site. As always, if you have any questions, just leave me a comment and I’ll be sure to respond to you as soon as possible.

So you’ve decided to setup your own website, hoping to become the next Amazon.com? That’s great! I also started out this way, and my business has really taken off. Hopefully I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I made along the way, and become profitable that much quicker.

1) Registering a Domain Name

This step should not be taken lightly - A good domain name is worth it’s weight in gold, and will be paramount in the success of your site. When you’re ready to register your name, you’ve got to lock it in with an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar. GoDaddy is the Number 1 registrar in the world, and I’ve got dozens of domains registered with them. At $8.95/yr for a domain name, it’s a great deal too!

Another registrar worth considering is Network Solutions. They’re been in the domain name game since the beginning. You often hear horror stories of domains being held hostage by registrar companies that have gone belly-up. With Network Solutions, you’ll pay a bit more for your domain name, but you’ll never have to worry about that scenario, as they’re the company that started this whole business!

2) Hosting Your Website

Most people start out with a shared hosting plan. They are low-cost, suit the needs of most growing websites, and are usually scalable to meet your future needs.

If you’re launching a site that’s going to get a ton of traffic or utilize a lot of resources, you’re best off going with a dedicated server. For most people, this will be overkill in the beginning stages, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind for when your site outgrows it’s current host.

Tread carefully here, as not all hosts are created equal. Sometimes it’s worth spending a few extra dollars a month to get RELIABLE service. I’ve been through a number of hosts over the years, and it’s been a real nightmare at times.. Below are a few hosts that I would suggest without hesitation:

3) Building Your Website

You’ve got the name, and you’ve got the server space. Now comes the hard part - Actually create the website. Unless you’re a web designer, this step is probably best left to a professional. But if you search out a web design company, you’ll usually end up with a quote in the $5000-$10000 range. This isn’t rocket science, it’s HTML and graphic design. There are plenty of freelancers that will do an incredible job for a LOT less. Check out the Sitepoint Marketplace, where you can find some of the web’s most talented developers! You could also try Elance, although I don’t have any personal experience with them.

During this step, you’ll need to decide which eCommerce platform you’re going to use. Don’t be afraid to ask questions on the forum, these people know what it’s like to get started, and are there to help.

Hopefully this helps you get started in building your first website. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll be happy to help.