Part 1: Calling ALL Young Entrepreneurs – Your Internet Business is Waiting!

Hello my fellow Generation Yers (born between 1980 and 1999)! I wanted to talk to you today about why you are in the PERFECT POSITION to make money online. More so than any other generation, you hold the key to entrepreneurial success, but you need to act NOW. In this article, I will provide you with action steps to begin making money online. But first, let’s discuss the advantages you have as a young entrepreneur!

What Makes Us Different

It used to be a common practice for people to work for companies for 30+ years. There was a special relationship between employers and employees. The employer made the commitment to support and retain the employee until retirement. The employer made the commitment to bust their butt for the company until retirement. Changing jobs was not common practice and was even viewed as risky or disloyal.

Today, the young workforce sees their careers in a much different light. We don’t expect to work for the same company until retirement. We don’t trust corporations and employee benefits the way our counterparts did. Most of all, we don’t want to become STUCK.

We’re looking for excitement, growth, and change. We want variety and fresh opportunities. We are self-reliant and don’t want to rely on a company to support us. Our generation will produce more young entrepreneurs than any other generation before us! And we live in the perfect day and age to make it happen.

What makes us so different? We grew up with computers! We grew up surfing the net. We know more about the daily use of technology than anyone else. We are the trend setters and the beta testers. Major companies look to us for feedback on product improvements and technological advancements. We are the Internet!

You Hold the Key to Internet Business Success

How many of you have MySpace or FaceBook accounts? And what do you do on those sites? YOU WRITE! You network with your friends and talk about your interests. You discuss your opinions and viewpoints on the world/products/services and you form relationships with thousands of other Internet users. Guess what… you’re a blogger!

You already have what millions of companies and bloggers all around the world painstakingly work for every day – A FOLLOWING! And with that following, you can earn your living online.

What is a blogger?

Easy – someone who writes about their interests and then monetizes their content. Sound like you? Well, perhaps the writing part, but let’s get you focused on the monetizing part.

Monetizing simply means setting up your content in a way that allows you to earn money. This can include adding advertising to your website/blog or referring readers to products and services through affiliate links. You need to implement certain tools to help monetize your content. So, let’s get you off of FaceBook and onto your own website!

If you spend the majority of your time writing and networking online every day, why not earn a living from it? Thousands of other young entrepreneurs already have! One name that comes to my mind immediately is Yaro Starak. He is one of my favorite Internet Gurus!

Yaro, also known as The Blog Traffic King (or the crazy haired blogger), is a successful young entrepreneur from Australia. He’s earned his living online for several years now by blogging about his interests.

I first learned about Yaro through some of my Internet marketing friends. I decided to see what he was all about by downloading his free Blog Profits Blueprint report. If you’ve ever downloaded a free report online, you know most of them are crap – just regurgitated information. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting much from his report. Boy was I in for a surprise!

His 50+ page report (more like a book) is one of the most comprehensive reports I’ve ever read on blogging. I was so impressed that I signed up for his Blog Mastermind Course, which has played a huge role in the success of my FresheVenture.com launch!

If you have any interest in making money online by utilizing your existing social networks and writing skills, I HIGHLY recommend you learn from Yaro. He is THE expert on blogging for profit.

Your Action Steps to Become a Blogger Today!

Below I have outlined action steps you can take to become a successful online entrepreneur. We’re going to make you an official blogger and online money maker!

1. Learn How to Blog for Profit

First thing you need to do is download Yaro Starak’s free Blog Profits Blueprint report. This will start you off on the right path to understanding the world of blogging and how money is made. Over the next week, read through his report and take notes. You may even consider joining his Blog Mastermind Course. If not, his free report will give you enough info to begin blogging successfully.

Also, check out The 10 FREE Become A Blogger Videos and The Roadmap Report. Both of these have helped me with my own blogging.

2. Choose Your Topic

You may already have a particular interest you tend to discuss more than any other, but if not, choose one now. Don’t give me the “I don’t know what to write about” or “No one else wants to read about that” baloney. What’s your favorite topic? Cell phones? Politics? Food? Art? World of War Craft? Fashion? Doesn’t matter what it is – someone else probably has the same interest. It’s a big world!

3. Determine Your Niche

Once you have a topic in mind, it’s time to refine it for optimal money-making results. To do this, you need to conduct a little market research. This doesn’t have to be painful and it’s one of the most important aspects to becoming successful online!

Visit Google’s Keyword Tool and type in your topic. Google will provide you with the most popular search terms related to your topic as well as some keyword suggestions. This information is your key to success. Look at what people are searching for online. Surprised by the results?

We need to carve out a niche for you so that you don’t have to compete with a billion other bloggers. So, look at the different variations of searches related to your topic. If your interest is fashion, perhaps there’s a niche for shoes or jeans. Maybe Rockabetty fashion is popular and not very competitive. Use your keyword research to determine your niche.

When you find a search term you might be interested in, copy and paste it into Google’s search engine and observe the number of results. How many competing web pages show up? 1 million? 500 million? The lower the number, the less competitive.

Lots of Searches + Low Competition = Best Niche! For more information on choosing your topic and performing market research, check out my FREE report, Fresh Start for Your Online Business.

4. Get Your Own Blog

Your current social media networks (i.e. MySpace) are great tools for you to start talking online, but they simply don’t provide the means to make money. It’s time for you to set up your own website.

First – Get Your Own Domain

Visit Network Solutions, FatCow or Name Cheap and purchase your own domain name. Try to avoid using general words in it like “jackswebsite.com.” Use the niche keywords you found in step 2. So, if your niche is Italian Shoes, your domain should be something like “italianshoefashionista.com” or “shoesfromitaly.com.” Using keywords in your domain accomplishes two important things:

1. It helps people understand what your website is all about.
2. It tells search engines what your website is about and helps you rank better in search results.

Second – Purchase Web Hosting

I want you to use WordPress to set up your blog. WordPress is FREE and is the most popular blogging/publishing platform online. Forget about Blogger and TypePad. WordPress is an open source program, which means thousands of coders work every day on cool plugins you can add to your site. It’s easy to use, completely customizable and very powerful. FresheVenture.com is WordPress driven!

In order to use WordPress, you need to purchase web hosting. There are a lot of affordable web hosting companies that offer easy WordPress installation. The web host I always recommend is Network Solutions. They are a big name in web hosting and have been around for years. I’ve used them for over 4 years now and will continue to in the future. You can purchase their standard monthly hosting package for just $11.95/mo. You can also get a free domain with an annual purchase of their web hosting.

FatCow is another hosting option I recommend. Many of my web design clients use them. They offer web hosting plus a free domain for $58/yr. I prefer Network Solutions’ control panel and company, but FatCow is another good option.

Third – Install WordPress

The web hosting solutions I referred to earlier have easy WordPress installations. For example, in your Network Solutions account you simply:

1. Click on “Web Hosting”
2. Click on “Manage Web Hosting”
3. Click on “Site Enhancements”
4. Click on “Open Source Library”
5. Click on the WordPress Installation
6. Choose a File Name for Your Blog (“blog”)

For more information, watch my video on how to use Network Solution’s Easy WordPress Installation.

5. Become Your Own Web Designer

Not only is WordPress the best publishing tool available for bloggers, it also gives non-web designers the ability to design awesome websites quickly. As I mentioned above, there are thousands of coders online designing plugins for WordPress every day. There are also thousands of web designers who provide free or low cost WordPress Themes (Website Designs).

For FREE WordPress Themes, check out WordPress’s Free Themes Directory.

For premium (not free) WordPress themes, I recommend Studio Press, Thesis, Affiliate Theme or Unique Blog Designs.

I use Studio Press’s Lifestyle Theme on FresheVenture.com (of course I customized it a lot, so you may not see the similarity). Brian Gardner (Founder of Studio Press) has really outdone himself with his WordPress designs. They are absolutely gorgeous and easy to install. If you know html/css, you can customize the designs quickly. If you don’t have any web design experience, his themes are perfect as they are.

Thesis has gained quite a bit of attention this year. It’s also an easy-to-customize design. I have not used Thesis, but I have heard great things about it (plus I’ve seen it used on A LOT of websites).

Affiliate Theme is definitely one of the most basic themes available for WordPress. It provides you with a control panel within your WordPress admin so that you can easily customize your website’s layout, colors, and fonts. If you don’t have html/css experience, you will find Affiliate Theme is one of the easiest WordPress Themes to work with. I purchased Affiliate Theme last month to check out its features. I guarantee you the team that put it together is knowledgeable and ready to help you in any way.

The creators of Affiliate Theme are from Unique Blog Designs. Many serious online money-makers use their themes. They offer modern, cool designs.

Congratulations Young Entrepreneur! You Now Have Your Own Blog.

In my next article, I will discuss publishing your blog’s content and getting some traffic by utilizing your existing social networks! For this week, you should focus on writing. And don’t forget to read Yaro’s free report!

Are You Ready To Start Your Own Money-Making Blog? What’s Your Topic and How Can I Help?

Topic Tags:

how to start internet business, make money online, market research, online business opportunities, wordpress, yaro starak, young entrepreneurs