Thursday 26 January 2012

How Facebook’s Expected $100 Billion IPO Breaks Down [INFOGRAPHIC]


Rumors are flying about Facebook Inc. going public this year. So, just how much money is the world’s largest social network worth?
Reports project that Facebook will go public some time between April and June. The company itself has remained hush-hush about the initial public offering.
The infographic below shows how the company’s projected valuation of $100 billion breaks down and whichFacebook Friends will be getting a piece of the pie.
Facebook’s IPO will be the biggest of any tech company in history — six times that of Google’s, according toAccounting Degree Online.

The company itself is preparing to raise $10 billion this year, according to reports, to push the company’s public value to $100 billion. More than Disney ($61 billion), Amazon ($88.3 billion) and McDonald’s ($95.6 billion).




Who will be cashing in? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder Eduardo Saverin, co-founder Chris Hughes and Sean Parker, Napster co-founder and Facebook partial owner (he owns 4% of Facebook). Zuckerberg will make an estimated $25 billion, owning 24% of the company.
And just how will Facebook reach the $10 billion excess profit by April or June? By increasing Facebook revenue from advertising, Facebook fan pages and display ads.

Source: mashable.com - Joann Pan


Tuesday 24 January 2012

Great New Way to Make Money on Twitter!

I came across this pretty cool site to make money from twitter in your spare time. How it works is that advertisers will pay you to send tweet adverts. This is something that is very easy to do if you are not too concerned that your followers may see some adverts from time to time. The good thing is that you have full control over what tweets you are sending out.

It's free to sign up. This is not a get rich quick scheme but will give you an additional income stream. If you are just starting out to make money online and already have a Twitter account, this will be very simple to do. Advertisers can pay anything from 10 cents per tweet to a few dollars per tweet. The amount the advertisers will pay you to tweet will depend on the number of your followers.  So, if you have a large number of followers, it will be worth your while. You can check it out here  http://sponsoredtweets.com/

Would love to hear your comments.

Saturday 21 January 2012

9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting

For many, creating a podcast is something that’s done solely out of passion. But even among those who do it strictly for the love of podcasting, after awhile, once you’ve built up an audience, there comes a time when you think to yourself, “I can’t keep doing this for free.”
Such was the case with many of the people I interviewed in my 15-part series, “Making Money from Podcasting.” From a $50 donation to cover an afternoon of babysitting to a six figure sponsorship, the people I spoke to have been making anywhere from pocket change to lucrative careers from podcasting.
What follows is a compendium of nine proven money-making techniques for podcasters. All are successful to varying degrees and some podcasters use a combination of methods. This summary provides an explanation of all the techniques, and tips from the podcasters who have pulled them off. For more tips, advice, and to hear the full money making podcast story, make sure to read and listen to each the interviews linked throughout this article.

1. Got audience? We’ll get you sponsors


ssicon_Mevio_Adam_CurryPodcast networks such as MevioPodtrac, and Wizzard Media welcome any podcaster that has an audience, because that means they can sell advertising against it. The networks collect shows, categorize them, and sell advertising on a CPM (cost per thousand) or CPA (cost per action) basis. Adam Curry, former MTV VJ, podcasting pioneer, and President of Mevio (interview), is looking for podcast producers that know their audience and can motivate them. Using either their show programming or social media, podcast producers promote show-specific coupon codes for their sponsors. Every time one is used, the podcaster gets paid. Of their network of 15,000 podcasters, Curry said he has three podcasters that will make between $500,000 to $1,000,000 this year.
Kevin Kastner of Alaska HDTV used to be a Mevio customer but left because he was unsatisfied with what he was being offered (he wasn’t willing to make a CPA deal) and the opaqueness of the deals. He had no idea how much Mevio was selling his show to advertisers. Curry said he splits all revenue 50/50 with podcasters.

2. Get your own sponsors


ssicon_Alaska_HDTV_Kevin_KastnerKastner left Mevio (interview) because he believed he and his partner could land their own sponsors and make more money. They did, and in doing so increased revenue 200 to 300 percent, said Kastner. But he admits it has come at a serious cost: his workload has increased more than ten-fold.
ssicon_Wizzard_Media_Rob_WalchWizzard Media offers a hybrid advertising solution for podcasters that want to make more money by landing their own sponsors, yet still need the crutch of an ad network to fill out any unsold inventory. Royce Hildreth, co-producer of Pregtastic, the podcast by and for pregnant women, uses this Wizzard Media hybrid solution. For podcasters that get their own sponsors, Wizzard Media will insert the ads for a flat fee, explained Rob Walch, Wizzard’s VP of Podcaster Relations (interview) and host of the Today in iPhone podcast.

3. Be like public TV, beg for donations


ssicon_Pregtastic_Royce_HildrethPregtastic’s Hildreth (interview) admits that the hybrid sponsorship alone isn’t cutting it, so he’s put up a begware button and instructed podcast hosts to say that the show costs a donation. He and his co-producing wife aren’t making a lot of money from donations, however. It’s usually enough to hire a babysitter for when they have to go to the studio to record another episode.

4. Give some away free, charge for the rest


ssicon_ScreenCastsOnline_Don_McAllisterThis technique comes in multiple variations. One of the innovators of this technique is Don McAllister, host of ScreenCastsOnline (interview), a weekly video podcast of “how to” Mac software tutorials. McAllister gives away every other episode and makes viewers pay for the rest ($57 for the first six months) which includes additional bonus content and hi-res videos.
ssicon_Izzy_Video_Israel_HymanThe formula has become his livelihood for the past three years, and it’s been copied successfully (with McAllister’s blessing) by Israel Hyman host ofIzzy Video (interview) and producer of Rolling R’s and Paperclipping.
ssicon_MacOSKen_Ken_RayWhen Hyman and McAllister first produced their podcasts they were completely free. It wasn’t until after a few years and some success that they started charging for some of their shows. Ken Ray, host of Mac OS Ken (interview), a daily podcast about Apple news, didn’t want to start charging for his free podcasts, so he created another show, “Day 6,” which can only be accessed through a paid subscription. Ray said the “Day 6″ show is designed to pay for his daily show.
ssicon_Premiumcast_PaulColliganApple doesn’t allow podcasters to charge for podcasts within iTunes, so if you want to create a paid podcast, you need to use a service such asPremiumcast.com which allows you to create personalized RSS feeds, explained CEO Paul Colligan (interview). Personalized RSS feeds allow for complete control over the podcaster/subscriber relationship, allowing you to serve different content (e.g., PDFs, video, or audio) and time the distribution, plus turn off a feed if someone stops paying.

5. Partial show free, full show paid


ssicon_Never_Not_Funny_Matt_BelknapOne of my favorite podcasts, Never Not Funny, is hosted by a great comedian I knew in Chicago, Jimmy Pardo. The show is 90 minutes long, but only the first 20 minutes is available for free. If you want the rest of the show, you need to become a paid subscriber ($19.99 for a season of 26 episodes in audio, $24.99 for the season in video). Like McAllister, Hyman, and Ray, the Never Not Funny podcast didn’t begin with a paid model. Pardo and his co-host and producer Matt Belknap (interview) created 100 shows for free first, and then switched to the partial show free, full show paid model. It’s paid off. Belknap estimates that 35 percent of their total listeners are paid subscribers.

6. Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it


ssicon_Personal_Life_Media_Susan_BrattonLaunching a radio or television network has enormous overhead. A podcast network doesn’t. Personal Life Media is an online network of blogs and podcasts that address personal life issues such as career, love, health, and finance, explained CEO Susan Bratton (interview). Unlike podcast networks such as Mevio and Wizzard Media which are just collecting a mishmash of programming, Personal Life Media behaves like a radio network that controls its programming and its overall brand. With her lineup of forty programs, Bratton can sell advertising packages by specific category that get from 100,000 to 250,000 downloads per month.
ssicon_ESPN_Marc_HorineUnlike Bratton’s Personal Life Media, ESPN didn’t have to start from scratch when creating its podcast network, ESPN Podcenter; they already had a brand and a radio station. When they first began podcasting five years ago, they repurposed some radio content for the web, but soon learned that it was more effective to create original podcast programming. Now with a lineup of more than 100 podcasts, ESPN sells integrated sponsor packages across multiple media that can include advertiser images that appear on the show’s icon within iTunes’ podcast directory, said Marc Horine, VP of Digital Media at ESPN (interview).

7. Build your brand to sell your services


ssicon_Duct_Tape_Marketing_John_JantschMarketing and digital technology coach John Jantsch is the host of the“Duct Tape Marketing” podcast (interview) which is also the name of his book and his consultancy. In his early days of podcasting, when he was a complete unknown, Jantsch would request interviews from well known social media types like Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin. Having them on his podcast raised his profile. Since, his consulting business has increased 500 percent and is now landing him six-figure sponsorships repeatedly, said Jantsch.
ssicon_Manager_Tools_Mike_AuzenneMike Auzenne, co-host of the Manager Tools podcast (interview), doesn’t charge for his podcast or take any sponsorship money. He just focuses on delivering great advice and actionable tips to be a better manager. The four-year podcast trust building exercise is working. All of Manager Tools’ clients come from hearing him on the podcast first, and as a result business has increased ten-fold, said Auzenne.

8. Sell an iPhone app along with your podcast


ssicon_Elsies_Yoga_Elsie_EscobarElsie Escobar is the host of the podcast Elsie’s Yoga Class Live and Unplugged (interview) which is simply an audio recording of her yoga classes. Though the podcast is distributed completely for free, she’s just starting to make money with a $3.99 iPhone application. The application, developed by Wizzard Media and available to any podcaster on a revenue share basis, lets Escobar and anyone else offer value add content for their podcast. Escobar uses it to add PDFs of routine sequences and quick access to 70 of her past yoga classes. It’s an ideal platform to be on since Wizzard Media’s podcast metrics show that 85 percent of people download podcasts through iTunes. Combine that with the 50 million iPhones and iPod Touches sold and you’ve got yourself a strong podcasting platform, said Wizzard Media’s Rob Walch.

9. Integrate sponsorship with the show’s editorial


ssicon_Slate_Andy_BowersDigital audio book seller Audible is a regular sponsor of many different podcasts. It is natural for them to advertise on podcasts, since their product is usually consumed in the same place: iPods. It was even more appropriate for them to advertise via sponsored editorial placements onSlate’s Culture Gabfest, a group discussion podcast of the week’s arts and entertainment happenings, explained Andy Bowers (interview), Slate’s podcast and video producer. The Culture Gabfest’s hosts were already consumers of Audible’s product and were eager to recommend books or take recommendations from listeners. Book recommendations fit in naturally with the show’s editorial and it also has increased engagement as they continue to track their success through a show-specific promotion code.
Source: mashable.com by David Spark

Thursday 19 January 2012

Any Thoughts on SOPA?

I would like to hear if anyone has any thoughts on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Lots of people are talking about it and it is the top trending topic on twitter and online at the moment. I came across loads of articles on the subject and it has got me interested in the topic and its implications to the future of the internet and would be interested if anyone has any thoughts on it. 


Lots of the big boys in the industry like Sony, Nike , Walt Disney are supporting it including the Rupert Murdoch ,Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, the world's second-largest media conglomerate.
Opposing it are the giants of the internet like Google and Wikipedia who came out with very creative ways of campaigning against the act.


Wikipedia had a 24Hour black out with a statement


“For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.”



'Yesterday's SOPA blackout proved that we're lost in a world without Wikipedia'- read one of the headlines of the Telegraph, a leading newspaper in Britain.





Google had this on their website 






Do you agree with SOPA? Do you disagree? What do you think of all the hype surrounding it?
Do you think it will impact on the future of our online businesses? 
Please feel free to leave a comment.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Making Money Online Tips


Working via telecommuting has never been easier as it is today. A whole new universe of industries is expanding on the net and continuously breaking traditional employment set-ups and structures. Take advantage of more convenient income generating activities by adhering to the following making money online tips featured below.

A huge number of professionals rake in extra cash by joining several affiliate programs online. The premise of these programs is very simple. You just have to partner with an online selling company and assist the business in turning in prospect customers. When a customer decides to purchase something from the company, an agreed percentage of the sales will be given to you. 

Online advertising still generates funds until today. There are two things that you need to take in mind when inviting sponsors to place ads on your site. First, you have to check how much they will pay according to the number of people who view the ads, and second you have to clarify how much will they pay for every click made onto the ads. Advertisers and third parties differ in offering rates, so needless to say you need to choose one that will maximize your earnings.

If you believe you have created a website that's so wonderful people definitely would go back again and again, then it would not be bad if you ask your readers to provide donations. Among the making money online tips you shall apply in here is the feat of convincing your readers that you need to maintain the website without sounding too pitiful of course.

In connection to wonderful websites, another channel through which you can earn steady extra income per month is by being a hired blogger. Today, there are hundreds of sites, blogs, and blog networks are in search of writers who can contribute content to their hubs. These companies pay in an array of ways, some matching cash to every written word, some to each finished article, and some to a fixed daily, weekly, or monthly rate.

If you're the type whose writing expertise is more academic than casual and/or entertaining, you can also try online jobs more oriented to research and analysis like dissertation indexing, research paper writing, and the like. If you've established yourself enough to be called a master in your domain, then there is a fat chance readers will want to get more from you and demand you to publish a book or a series of books which they will be more than willing to buy.

One of the most important making money online tips you must put in mind is being skeptical. True, working via the World Wide Web has a lot of perks, but that does not mean that everything comes off easily. Refrain from getting jobs and projects from sources that don't fully identify themselves. All business transactions that you will make, especially those that involve a big amount of salary, must be thoroughly discussed, agreed upon, and closed by a contract. You don't want to work long hours for a scammer who runs away without paying, do you?

Source:
goarticles.com
author: Ewen Chia

Monday 2 January 2012

Internet Marketing - 10 Tips For Success For the Newcomer

If you are new to internet marketing or thinking about becoming an internet marketer, then please do not sign up for anything, do not spend any money until you have read this article so many times it is always at the forefront of your mind. I am talking from painful experience, everything in this article comes from my painful experience of starting up in internet marketing. My number one passion is to stop others going through the anguish, financial pain and get rich quick schemes that I have had the misfortune to suffer. Do I believe in internet marketing? Yes, I do, however I want to lay out in this article the right way to do it to save you time, money and ensuring you work with the right people to help you. Anyway, below I have set out what I think are the top 10 practical guides to help you with your on-line business.
1/ Learn the Lessons from this Article!
I have written this article not to sell and to make money but to prevent you making the same mistakes I made when I started out in this business. Read this article over and over again so that you are always prepared for what internet marketing will throw at you. There are times when you will be completely overloaded with information and to be honest at a standstill with your business. Keep coming back to this article and the guidelines given here will help you stay focused and focus in any business is a key ingredient.
2/ Are they Really Going to Help You?
You will see many claims from people who want to introduce you to internet marketing and to be your "mentor". Do not get me wrong, there are good mentors out there who want to see you succeed. However you must remember that they will ask you to sign up for their program or service with a view to making money out of your future sales. Some mentors out there to be very honest just want to get you on board and take their first commission. The chances are you will never hear from these mentors again or if you do their help and advice will be as good as worthless. If you do go for a mentor then you will most likely have to spend money and give them commission. So why give money to someone who will not help you? Check out your mentor. Have they got many people under their wing? Can you talk to the people they are mentoring? How will they help you over this first 6 months? This is a key area you need to investigate thoroughly. Do not let them away with words, actually ask them what they will do for you over the first 90 days and get a plan from them to back it up. Only when you are completely convinced that they can help you achieve your goals should you sign up with them. Again, find the right mentor and you will have a much easier route to success.
3/ Put Your Credit Card Away!
Internet marketers reading this next bit will cringe and probably ask for a public hanging, however here goes, do not spend any money! You will see offer upon offer to sign up for automated systems that will generate so much cash without your involvement that you won't know what to do with the money that rolls in. If you have a list then that may be true but if you don't have a list then it will take you many months to start generating income. You may be asking what is a list? A list is large number of e-mail subscribers who have opted in to receive offers and information from you. It takes time to build a quality list, so if you don't have one do not expect the money to roll in from day 1 or even day 51. As a newcomer to the business you will get overloaded with offers to spend your money. Everything from buying a mailing list (don't) to the latest and greatest system that will quadruple your profits (yes, but only if you already have a list). You do not need money to get started in this business. The only thing you really need to spend money on is a PC and a broadband connection, everything else you can nearly pick up for free, no matter what anyone else tells you. Keep your cash in your bank account, keep your credit cards locked away and you have fully understood guideline 3. You can spend money once you have the basics in place and you are generating cash from your on-line business.
4/ It's Your Business
As a newcomer to Internet Marketing always keep your interests at the forefront of your mind. You will receive offer after offer, usually with the infamous time limited offer for that day only or at this price only if you sign up for today. Whenever you receive one of these offers, leave the page and you will find that offer gets even better with a lower price or a payment plan. Whenever any offer comes your way you need to decide will this help your business move forward in the way you have planned it to, will it take your focus away from your business plan or will it cost money and you will never recover the investment over a sensible time period, if at all. This is your business, do what is best for your business not what others want you to do.
5/ Internet Hype
There is a lot of hype and rubbish out there. In fact, internet marketing would be a much more pleasant place if people told the truth. Yes, there is a lot of money to be made on the internet but it is not just as easy as signing up for a program and watching the money roll in. Every advert should be precluded with "if you already have a list". No matter what program you join you need to have buyers that will buy from you. These buyers will come from the quality list that you have taken the time to build. Once you have a good list then good opportunities will come your way as other marketers will be asking for your help in promoting products so that they can get access to your list. You quite rightly will pick up commissions from all purchases from your list which is the way it should be. Build your list and then you are your own master.
6/ Information Overload
I think at one point I was receiving over 100s of emails a day to one account from marketers who had the silver bullet for my on-line business. How did I get into this complete overload? Simple, when you are new to the business you get carried away (go back to my first guideline!) with the amount of free offers and information that you receive. You get carried away sign up for this free offer, sign up for this free product and before you know it you are in information overload. One of the real problems to watch out for is the offer if you read a few mails a day then your offer will be posted to other internet marketers so that you can build your list. I seem to remember on my first day receiving around 30 mails and it just grew from there. I even tried to put filters on my email to prevent these coming into my inbox. The only way I could get out of this was to unsubscribe. How many offers did I read? Practically none of them and I am sure my email offers were read by the same amount of people, none! When you start out, select your business, build your plan and stay focused on it.
7/ Focus, Focus and Focus Again!
I cannot remember who came up with this phrase "Focus, Focus and Focus again"
Not just for your internet marketing business but for your whole life you need to focus. That is why the high achievers succeed and the rest of the population falters. Set your goals for all aspects of your life and then focus on achieving them. Set your goals for your on-line business and then go after them wholeheartedly. You cannot fail if you retain your focus and your belief.
8/ Don't Give Up The Day Job
Internet marketing is not a get rich quick scheme, although others will tell you differently. Start off with internet marketing part time, keep your day job until you have built an on-line business that can generate the income required to get rid of your day job. How long does this take? Some people manage it in about 6 months, others can take years. Internet marketing is not a substitute for your day job. Be patient, the money will come if you persevere. Remember the top internet marketers have put the time, effort and focus in over many years to be successful
9/ Patience
The internet and technology are ridiculously fast moving. When you are running your business do not get caught up in this. When you start put your fundamentals in place, monitor them and when you see the need for change or new systems then only buy them if they will add value to your business. Remember the tortoise and the hare. In internet marketing it is easy to become a hare chasing everything that you see. All you will do is divert yourself from your plan and most likely lose a lot of money. Take your time, be patient, stay focused and your rewards will come.
10/ Enjoy
Given the first 9 guidelines this one may come as a bit of a surprise. Enjoy your business. You have selected it so have fun with it. Internet marketing is an exciting environment. If you like learning then there is endless opportunity to learn and to grow your skills and knowledge. Not many people make money doing what they enjoy, most people are stuck in their daily routines and cannot wait to finish their work to get out. Internet marketing is not owned by major corporations so you do not need to work for one to be an internet marketer. You are also working for yourself so the hard work you put in puts cash in your pocket, not somebody else's. Your time suddenly becomes your own so if you want to take the family out for the afternoon then you have nobody to get permission from, just you.
I hope you found the article informative, it is not meant to scare people away from internet marketing, use this as a check-list before you sign up and when your new to the business to keep you on track. There are a whole number of other considerations you need to take into mind like your goals, your willingness to tough it out and how to get into the right mental state, however that is for other articles.
Can I just end by hoping that you do become an internet marketer and that you have a very successful and profitable business, here's to your ongoing success.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com


Author:Brian E McClelland