Category Archives: Blog

Makin’ Money on Ebay

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Ebay is a great place to start your own online business. First things first. If you don’t have an Ebay account you will have to go to Ebay.com and follow the necessary steps to open an account. Same goes for Paypal.com. If you choose, you can link your Ebay and Paypal accounts together to help streamline some of the billing processes. Ebay fees and shipping fees will be taken directly from your Paypal account so you won’t have to worry about keeping your Ebay account in good standing.

Assuming you already have an Ebay and Paypal account it is fairly simple to get started.

Login to your Ebay account and scroll over the “sell” tab on the top of the page. Then scroll down to the “sell an item” link and click on it. Here you can choose what category in which you will list your item. Click on “Browse Categories”. Now choose which category fits your item the best. Say “Books>Audio Books”. Click continue. Now you can enter an ISBN, author, or title, if you wish or just “continue listing without a product”. Now you are to the point of creating your listing. Start by creating a title for your listing. Create a description for your item add photos and set a price. Continue to fill in the blanks. If this is the first item you have tried to sell on Ebay just follow the rest of the directions and take your time and you will get it. After you have listed a few items you may want to have a go with Turbolister, which can help streamline the listing process dramatically. You can create tons of listings and save them and have them ready to list over and over again with just a couple of clicks.

There are a lot of things to consider when you start selling on Ebay. What are my costs? Where am I going to get the merchandise I want to sell? How much should I sell my items for?

Well your costs can vary. When selling on Ebay you will have 4 major costs. The cost of ebay fees, paypal fees, shipping costs and the cost of your merchandise. Ebay fees for example can vary depending on how much your item sells for, and which type of listing you choose to list it as. A fixed price listing cost more than a auction style listing. Click here for Ebay fees. Paypal fees can also vary depending on if you are set up for standard payments or micropayments. And your shipping cost can vary depending on the weight of the package, where the package is going, and which carrier you are using to deliver the package. Using the United States Post Office, a first class package weighing between 1 and 3 ounces will ship anywhere in the United States for $1.64, but this price is being raised in 2013. When starting out you may want to keep the cost of your merchandise down so start by selling stuff that you no longer need or have lying around the house. This is a good way of generating a little cash without spending any money at all.

So How Can I Make a Profit?

While you are selling off your unwanted merchandise, you need to search for anything that you can make a profit on. You can search on Ebay itself and find plenty of good deals on bulk quantity items and then break them down and sell them. You can also find stuff on Craigslist.org and garage sales. I would recommend finding a product that you have a continuous supply of. So let’s say you find a supplier for 9 volt batteries. Now you can start selling them and you will quickly get a feel for what it will cost you in shipping and fees, now you can apply the same model for other items of similar weight and size.

Patience is a virtue, perseverance is key. There is plenty of information out there there on the Ebay forums and other websites just do some research and spend some time and before you know it you will be making money on Ebay.

Check out a cool Ebay ebook here!

Ethics of Affiliate Marketing

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Affiliate marketing can be a great opportunity for people to make money online. When exploring the possibilities of affiliate marketing online it soon becomes apparent that there is are ethics issues involved. I personally think it is funny to see all of these infomercial websites out there that are trying to sell you something. I think it is funny and great. I think it is funny how overly dramatic the actors are in the commercial. And I think it is great how most of the infomercials are probably selling something that would actually be useful. There is a fine line between practicing good internet ethics and upsetting the sensibilities of the upstanding citizen trying to buy the “Make a million dollars in 10 minutes” video, because it didn’t have enough loud popup images to really grab my attention. OK so the point is be careful with affiliate marketing. Take into consideration what annoys you and try to avoid using that particular affiliate opportunity.

Affiliate Opportunities Abound

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Affiliate opportunities abound! Here at Melemy Group we are making some of these opportunities easily accessible. Since Melemy Groups inception, we have been interested in the music business and are in the process of becoming a Guitar Center affiliate and a Musicians Freind affiliate. Check out some of the other stuff we have been looking at. Clickbank.com is full of affiliate opportunities. Although some of these opportunities may be the cheesy infomercial type, there is still money to be made. Just do some research and keep at it and you’ll be cashing checks in no time.

Want to Make Your Own Website?

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Want to Make Your Own Website?  Think Twice…

Have you ever tried to make your own website?  If you have then you probably know how hard it can be.  First of all how do I start? I saw that Intuit.com ad on TV that said how easy it was to make my own website, I’ll start there.  So you sign up with Intuit for a free 30 day trial and say I’m going to make my own website.  Then you login.  But it soon becomes apparent that you don’t know what you’re doing.  So you hit a minor road block.  You finally give up, until you see Danica Patrick on the GoDaddy.com commercial.  Hey GoDaddy says I can make my own website.  I’ll give that a try.  So you work on building your GoDaddy site until you figure out how slow it is which is why I like to call it “SlowDaddy”.  So you’re having a little trouble as did I.  After talking with some friends who are especially computer savvy, you finally end up on WordPress.com hoping to finally get something off the ground.     

I am by no means an expert, but I have learned a little.  I am really starting to like WordPress.  But this is beside the point.  So let’s get back to the daunting task of building your own website.  And I say building because that is exactly what you are doing.  Imagine if you were going to build a house and you thought to yourself, I’m going to buy some bricks, some 2×4’s, and some shingles and I’m going to build a house.  Then you start laying some bricks.  But wait a minute you forgot the mortar to cement the bricks together.  You have to go back to the store and buy some.  So now you’ve got your mortar and you get your foundation together.  But now you realize that you need more than just 2×4’s.  Off to the store again.  This kind of back and forth motion should be expected when you are attempting a task that you are not sure how to complete.

Trying to filter through all of the posts and sites saying how easy it is to create your own website can be frustrating but I would recommend going with WordPress.  There is so much that goes into building a website.  From choosing a Content Management System or (CMS), to choosing your host, and your domain name.  There are practically an infinite number of themes available for purchase.  And when you buy one and start using it, it doesn’t live up to your expectations.  You soon find out that you still don’t know what you are doing.  So now you’re off to W3schools.com to start learning HTML, the language of the internet.  HTML is the basis for any website and there is a lot to learn in HTML but the good news is that your CMS takes care of most of it.  But it is still a good idea to get familiar with HTML.  Then you’re off to Cascading Style Sheets or (CSS), and then PHP.   And the list of languages goes on.    

The fact is that building your own website is not easy.  Okay, so now you are starting to get the hang of things.  You are getting familiar with HTML, CSS, your CMS, and your theme, “but not really”, and you want to start monetizing your website.  You sign up for a Google AdSense account and take a while to get acquainted with the application.  You have figured out how to copy and paste the code onto your website.  Great you have advertising on your website but no content.  So you decide to write a page about a particular work of art.  This is great! You’re first post.  You post it and it doesn’t look how you want it to.  This is where your experience with HTML, CSS, and your CMS will help you.      

Building a website is a constant battle.  Don’t expect to have a website up and running overnight like you hear and read all the time.  It takes a lot of effort especially if you are like me and don’t have much experience. 

My Advice

Make a Plan – Get a notebook and write your ideas in it.  Draw sketches.  Consider what type of site you want to build.  Do you want an About Us page?  Do you want a Contact page?  Visit your favorite sites to get some ideas and inspiration. 

Write New Content – I had a college professor or two tell me to write what I know.  This is good advice to start with.  But in the long run, what you know is not necessarily what people want to read. So find a niche!

Get Familiar with HTML, CSS, and your Content Management System (CMS) – Start with W3schools.  Learn the HTML tags.

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Get Help – Ask your friends and family for help.  If you have the finances hire help.

Practice!!! Practice!! Practice!  Be persistent! – The more you do and the more time you spend learning this stuff the better off you will be. 

Here is a Great Website!