Here at Vanilla-Chai, I am starting a new 5 part mini-series called “Website Series”. The Website Series explores ways you can set up your own website with very little out of pocket cost so you can start sharing with the world. Maybe you want to earn a little extra income from a blog, maybe you want to be able to share your pictures from that amazing trip to Jamaica, or maybe you just want to share advice with others. Whatever your reason for wanting to start a new website, Vanilla-Chai is here to guide you through the early stages of website creation.

Make sure to check back every day this week as I will be releasing 1 new chapter each day!

Finding A Web Host:

Finding the right web host is the most important part of getting your website up and running. Web hosts are important because this is where all the actual content for your website will be stored. Without a web host, you don’t have a website. Read more…

As affiliate marketing becomes more and popular, more and more people are finding ways to avoid clicking on these kinds of links at all costs. The average internet user can tell what an affiliate link looks like because it will contain a lot of gibberish code in the link. But I am here today to show you exactly how you “hide” those affiliate links of yours so that your visitors will never know the difference!

Read more…

Here at Vanilla-Chai, I am starting a new 5 part mini-series called “Website Series”. The Website Series explores ways you can set up your own website with very little out of pocket cost so you can start sharing with the world. Maybe you want to earn a little extra income from a blog, maybe you want to be able to share your pictures from that amazing trip to Jamaica, or maybe you just want to share advice with others. Whatever your reason for wanting to start a new website, Vanilla-Chai is here to guide you through the early stages of website creation.

Make sure to check back every day this week as I will be releasing 1 new chapter each day!

Choosing Your Domain Name:

For some people this step might seem pretty obvious. You’d be surprised though how many millions of people don’t know what the process of purchasing a domain name is like, as they have never had to do it before. So this guide (and subsequent ones) are written in a format that even the most inexperienced of computer users can follow.

Now, having a top-level domain name (ie, acmecorp.com) is not a necessity for your hobby or business, however it does look more professional and it makes your website much easier to find and navigate to. Just to give an example, which would you rather have for a domain name: Read more…

It’s no secret that in order to be a successful internet marketer, you need an audience. You need web traffic. Without it, you’re as a good as dead.

I’ve performed more searches than I care to even admit to on “free website traffic”. But all the search results are the same: either pay for your traffic or do things like submit articles to article directories, add a link to the bottom of your emails, add a link to your forum signatures, etc. The reason these methods keep getting repeated is because they work. I get that much.

What I want to know is, how do you bring traffic to your website? Have you utilized some unique methods that have worked for you? Do you take out ads in the local paper? How about hanging up flyers on telephone poles and at the local market? Do you purposely leave business cards on the table at a restaurant? I’ve even read articles that suggest using a display computer at stores like Wal*Mart and Staples and leave your website up for passers-by to see. You probably won’t get much traffic this way, but it’s definitely a unique approach! Read more…

If you’ve ever used Craigslist, then you know first-hand just how difficult it can be to get responses to your ads sometimes. You post and you post and you post- and it just never seems like enough. That ol’ truck is still sitting in your driveway. Or that apartment just isn’t selling. It may even be that potential employers aren’t taking your resume posts seriously. (I know that experience only all too well.)

So what are you supposed to do? Giving up seems to be the only obvious choice, right? Don’t give up!

If you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, Craigslist is the #1 online classified ad service. With more than 20 billion page views every month (roughly 650 million page views every single day) Craigslist certainly has it’s fair share of regular users. What attracts users to Craigslist is the fact that’s it’s free to register, free to browse, free to respond to listings and free to post your own listings (some listings do require payment, such as posting job offers, but for the most part Craigslist is free). Read more…

Finding people to follow you on Twitter can be very difficult. At least, it used to be. But not anymore!

I was aimlessly searching Google last night for ways to get Twitter followers for my portfolio account, @419Design, when I came across a list of websites that said you could get up 100 new Twitter followers every day for free. Sounds too good to be true, right? That’s what I thought anyway. I decided to give one of these websites a try anyway. I figured, worst case scenario, I wouldn’t gain any followers so I’d be no worse off than I currently was. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!

After trying the first site, I gained around 50 followers. Then 30. And on and on it went. Needless to say, by the time I was done, I went from 3 followers to over 200, and it took me less than 10 minutes! Read more…

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since my last post? My word, time sure does fly when you’re having fun!

Over the past couple weeks I have been severely busy with my latest project: 419Design.net. 4/19 is my own personal website- it is my portfolio and a resource and inspiration blog.

I don’t have a whole lot to say at this point, I’m pretty wiped out, haha. So I’ll just leave you with my link and let my portfolio speak for itself!

Click here to visit 419Design.

I apologize for not posting any updates the past couple days. I have been hard at work developing a brand new website- Dirt Cheap Web Traffic!

Dirt Cheap is the very first website to become part of the Vanilla-Chai family, nor do I anticipate it to be the last. At DC, you can purchase geo-targeted or category-targeted traffic for your website at “dirt cheap” prices. Plans vary in type from regular traffic, to traffic that can improve your website’s Alexa ratings to traffic for adult websites. We offer more than 25 different packages to suit your website’s needs starting at just Read more…

As Vanilla-Chai continues to expand, the demand for content is getting greater and greater. I’m adding as much as I can as often as I can but, truth-be-told, I don’t know everything. This is where you come in:

I am looking for assistance from anybody who is willing to volunteer their time and knowledge of how to make the most out of making money online. As of this point in time, I cannot afford to pay anyone, but I’m hoping that in future I will be able to. If you’re willing to donate some time to write an article or two, it would be greatly appreciated.

To learn more about what I’m looking for, please feel free to visit the article submission page.

Every now and again, I may choose to do what I call a “Spotlight Website”. These are reviews of websites that are not money-making websites, but I feel they are worthy of mentioning anyway. My first Spotlight Website is Lynda.com.

If you’re serious about starting your own online business, Lynda is an absolutely invaluable resource for you. Lynda is the premiere online software video training and tutorial library, covering hundreds of different topics from 3D Animation to basic HTML and more. Lynda is a subscription-based website, but they have more than 5,000 free videos to offer if you can’t afford to pay or if you just want to check out the site and see what it’s all about. Read more…