Make Money Using Ebay And Amazon

Everyone wants to make money on the internet and there are two companies that allow you to do just that. With Ebay and Amazon there are two ways that you can make money and it's very simple. Here's how you can make money using Ebay and Amazon.

One of the easiest ways to make money from both Amazon and Ebay is by joining their affiliate programs.

Making Money As An Amazon Affiliate

Joining the Amazon affiliate program, called Amazon Associates, is a simple three step process. There is an online application form where you give your name, email address, set a password and give details of your site. This gives you an Associates ID. Once your account is live, which takes only minutes, you can begin to create links to products in Associates Central. Your Associates ID is automatically embedded in the links you build.

There are many ways to use the links you create. You can link to specific products, use ads that rotate products within a particular category or you can even set up an online shop and host it on your website. You will earn money every time someone buys something. You can earn referral fees on video downloads and even gift certificates. Referral fees start at 4% but can rise as high as 8%.

Making Money With Amazon Sales

Of course, that's not the only way to make money with Amazon. You can also make money by joining the Amazon marketplace as a seller. This is also very simple, especially if you have already bought something from Amazon. The online retailer offers you the chance to 'sell your stuff' by becoming a vendor.

To do this, first select the category your item falls under. It can be DVDs, Books, Music or something else. The only condition is that the item be listed by Amazon (even if you didn't buy it there in the first place). Then you need to search for the item which will be easier if you know the ISBN or UPC number, though the title will also work. Make sure the item you have found matches the item you have for sale.

Next, you need to write a description of your item, which will include its condition. The right description will mean more people are likely to buy, so word it carefully. Set a price which is the same as or below the Amazon price for the same item. Check to see what others are asking for the same item and make sure your price is competitive. If you are asking a higher price than most, then it might be because your item is in excellent condition.

There are no fees for listing your item, though Amazon takes 99 cents plus 15% of the sale price. You get an email with a customer shipping label when the product has been sold and money is credit direct to your Amazon account. In some countries you can arrange for this to be deposited directly to your bank account. This is a simple way to make money with the unused stuff that is lying around your home.

Making Money As An Ebay Affiliate

Joining the Ebay affiliate program is slightly more complex than the Amazon affiliate program but it could be worth it. Ebay pays if you refer new members or for Buy It Now purchases. You get paid for new members if they use your affiliate link and bid or buy within the first 30 days, so the way you promote these links is important for your success as an Ebay affiliate. With a new member you could earn up to $20; if an existing member follows your link the payout from Ebay is more like 20 cents.

To join the Ebay affiliate program you need to wade through the complex Commission Junction signup form. This may take a while, but eventually you will get an email with all the information you need to get started. Make sure that you use tools such as destination tools, live content tools, the product kit and the RSS feed generator to make the most of the program. And look around the net for information on making the most of Ebay. You will need to do some research to make money, but it can be done.

Making Money With Ebay Sales

Research is also an important factor for the other major way of making money on Ebay, through sales. There are two ways to make money through Ebay sales. The first is by selling items individually. As with the Amazon Marketplace program, it is essential to see what your competitors are offering before you list your item. Look at the category, description and starting price they choose and see how best to position your item for a quick sale. Look at the bidding and buying patterns. Some people wait till the last second to put in a bid. Make sure that your item is listed at the right time of year - some items are best left for the Christmas shopping period.

In Search Of The Best Shopping Cart

If you do any online shopping, and many of us do, when you are ready to pay you will see a little shopping cart symbol that tells you it is time to start the payment process. But although the symbol makes it easy for us to know what's happening, the shopping cart icon hides a sophisticated process that you will need to understand if you are going to put online shopping facilities on your website. Here's what you need to know about shopping carts and a round up of some of the major players.

What Is A Shopping Cart And How Does It Work?

The shopping cart that you see is really a piece of software that runs a series of scripts to allow people to pay for goods and services. The shopping cart is only the start of the process, allowing people to add items and get a total, but when they are ready to buy, the shopping cart will pass them on to a secure payment gateway, which is where the money is actually collected.

In a speedy online process, the payment gateway takes the card details that you have entered, communicates with your card issuer or bank to verify that it's ok to take the funds, processes the payment and then returns you to the point specified by the retailer. So your shopping cart is both a front end and a back end for the payment process. This seamless experience is what you need to recreate for visitors to your site, but it's not as easy as it seems. There are hundreds of shopping cart packages out there and it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you.

Shopping Cart Compatibility

Shopping cart software comes in free and paid versions. Some shopping cart software has to be hosted on your own domain, while other programs are hosted by the providers. If you host the software on your own domain you have total control, but having the software hosted by a provider can help you test the waters if you're creating your first online store. However, you will have to pay a monthly fee which can be upwards of $80 and you may have to pay a set up fee as well.. Be warned, though, shopping cart providers can go out of business so be sure to make regular backups of all your customer and sales data. And there may be less opportunity to customize your shop than if you host it yourself.

Most web hosts offer a couple of free shopping cart programs, and you can be sure that those will be compatible with your hosting package. However, if you plan to purchase shopping cart software, then you need to be more careful. Shopping cart scripting can be in Perl, ASP, CGI, PHP, Javascript and other scripting languages so make sure the program you plan to buy is compatible with your web host. (PHP open source; ASP Microsoft integration)

How To Choose The Right VOIP Service Provider

Cheap phone calls - we all want them. The good news is that recent advances in internet technology have made it easy for us to get them. There are dozens of providers who offer an internet telephony service, but how do we choose the right one? Before we get to the specifics, let's have a look at what VOIP is and how it works.

What is VOIP And Why Do I Need It?

VOIP stands for voice over internet protocol. In other words, it's a way to send your voice over the internet, just like the packets of data that are exchanged whenever we send an email or look at a web page. VOIP is a digital technology that translates the sound of your voice into data and back to a sound again, all at lightning quick speed.

VOIP has been around for awhile, but it wasn't until recently that it became something to get excited about. That's because when VOIP was first around, everyone was on dialup, so data transmission was slow and making a VOIP phone call bore no resemblance to making a real phone call. It was slow, there was an echo on the line, sound quality was uneven and you could not conduct a conversation in real time. You can still have some of those problems if your internet connection is slow.

VOIP And High Speed Internet

But all those disadvantages have disappeared with the advent of high speed internet. Whether you're talking broadband, cable or DSL, the transmission technology has finally caught up with the voice technology. And there's another advantage, too. In the early days of VOIP, it could only be used to talk to someone who was also connected to a PC. Now, there are no barriers. There are adapters and other gizmos which ensure that your VOIP phone is a viable alternative to your analog phone. You don't have to be tied to your PC when you want to make or receive a VOIP phone call. And it's cheaper, too, since VOIP providers have no infrastructure to underwrite and are not subject to the same charges as phone companies. That means it costs you less than your regular analog phone service provider.

In this new improved market for VOIP providers are springing up everywhere and it can be hard to know exactly how to choose between them. There are a number of features you can look at when making your choice among the dozens of VOIP service providers. Here are some of the areas to consider. Think about which areas are most important to you when making your final selection.

Basic VOIP Features

Most VOIP providers supply many of the features that you would get with your normal telephone. These include caller ID number (you may be able to get the name with some providers), call waiting and call forwarding. Most will also provide voice mail but there's one advantage over your normal telephone - the ability to pick up your voicemail on the web. You may even be able to get your voicemail emailed to you as an attachment for even more convenience. And most providers allow free calls to other people on the same service, further reducing your phone bills.

Advanced VOIP Features

Some VOIP providers offer conference calling, where one person calls two others to set up a conference call. You will need to make sure that you have enough bandwidth though - each person on the line will use some of the bandwidth. It's worth checking to see what bandwidth a VOIP provider recommends before making your decision.

An even more advanced option is the ability to choose the area code for your phone, known as a virtual phone number. This means that if you make most of your calls within a certain area code, choosing this will keep the cost of your phone calls low. And if your family are all in a particular area code, choosing a virtual phone number with that area code will cut the cost of calls for them.

Other VOIP Features

There are other features to consider that may make a difference to your VOIP experience. VOIP fax and video phoning are available from some providers. Watch out, though, video is bandwidth hungry so make sure you have enough before getting started. You will also need software, such as the latest versions of MSN, AOL or Yahoo Messenger.

And if you are likely to make a lot of emergency calls then you will need to choose a provider that allows this. Call blocking may also be necessary. You may want to add a second line to your account, have a toll free number or be able to transfer calls. All of these features are available from some VOIP service providers.

With some VOIP providers you may have the option to access your service via a softphone. This is a phone that is attached to your PC and is run via a software program.. This can be useful for making VOIP calls while on the move. However, a provider who offers this option only may not be the best choice.

The Cost Of VOIP

With traditional phone services, you can end up paying a lot of money, especially if you make a lot of long distance calls. However, many VOIP providers allow unlimited long distance calls for a low monthly fee. This applies to the US, Canada and internationally. And even the basic call rates tend to be much cheaper than standard call rates, so this is another area where savings can be made. The cost varies considerably from under $5 for providers with a basic service to around $35 for those offering unlimited call plans. Business plans may cost a bit more, at around $80 to $90, but it's worth shopping around as prices change all the time.

Using VOIP With Your Existing Phone

A recent development in the use of VOIP has been the provision of analog telephone adapters which convert the VOIP signal for use with your existing phone. There are two different types of ATAs. One type plugs into your computer via a USB port and uses software, which means your PC must always be running. The other type works via Ethernet with your cable or DSL modem. This means you don't have to turn your PC on to make a phone call and can use your phone in the normal way.

What Is SSL And Why Do I Need It?

Web Hosts: How To Secure Online Data With SSL

What Is SSL And Why Do I Need It?

If you are dealing with sensitive data then you need a way to make sure it is protected. There's no point in making it easy for phishers and other fraudsters to get hold of sensitive information such as passwords and credit card details. That's why every online retailer of note protects your data - and you can tell it's protected when you see the tiny padlock on your browser window and the 'https' prefix on the website address. This protection is handled through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. The technology was created by Netscape in 1994.

How Does SSL Work?

SSL encrypts sensitive information as it leaves one computer. The data is then decrypted at the other end. If you've ever used PGP then you will know about public and private encryption keys. SSL uses the same principle. There is a public key which is used to encrypt data such as credit card numbers, identity information, drivers' license and social security numbers. When this type of information is entered on a secure website, a unique public session key is generated. When the information reaches the destination server, the private key decrypts the data. Anyone who tries to snoop on the data during the transfer should see only random data, rather than the information you want to keep private.

An SSL certificate is created by a certificate provider to be used on a particular server and domain. The certificate is created by a third party, just like getting in a firm to handle security. There are several well known SSL providers.

Major SSL Providers: GeoTrust

GeoTrust provides four different SSL certificates and two wildcard SSL certificates. The purchase price ranges from $249 to $599 for the SSL certificates (with renewal slightly cheaper) and from $995 to $1499 for the wildcard SSL certificates. Renewal of the wildcard SSLs is the same as the purchase price. SSL certificates are available to secure up to four domains, with 256 bit encryption. The certificate root is Equifax and most SSL certificates can be issued in ten minutes. Warranty amounts are between $10,000 and $250,000 depending on the certificate you choose. The certificate includes a Geotrust site seal, which may include real time date and time information as well as company information.

Major SSL Providers: Thawte

Thawte provides six different SSL certificates including one wildcard SSL certificate. The purchase price ranges from $149 to $899 for one year SSL certificates (with renewal slightly cheaper) and the wildcard SSL certificate is priced at $799. Renewal of the wildcard SSL is the same as the purchase price. Encryption level is up to 256 bit and Thawte also provides SGC super certificates. It doesn't take long to get a Thawte certificate though you will have to provide a lot of identity information to get one.

Major SSL Providers: Comodo

Comodo offers ten different types of SSL certificates, including two wildcard certificates and a free 90 day SSL certificate that can be used as a trial before buying a certificate. Certificate pricing ranges from $79.95 to $699.95, with wildcard SSLs priced at $449.95 to $749.95. Encryption is up to 256 bit, with the warranty amount up to $250,000 depending on the certificate purchased. Comodo also includes a HackerGuardian vulnerability scan with most SSL certificate purchases.

Major SSL Providers: Verisign

Verisign offers several SSL options, priced at between $399 and $1,499 for a one year certificate. With 128 bit encryption, the warranty amounts for Verisign SSL certificates are between $100,000 and $250,000. They also offer web based SSL management packages in various price ranges for bundles of ten or more certificates. Like other providers, Versign's SSL range includes some certificates with extended validation (EV) and server-gated cryptography (SGC). This is the latest in online security standards.

There are many other SSL providers, but these are the ones who account for most of the SSL market. Many others are resellers of this technology, and you may be able to get a better deal by choosing this route. Whichever provider you choose, look for the encryption level, the number of sites and subdomains you can protect and for user friendly features such as the green bar that lets you know a site is safe.

How To Install Your SSL Certificate

Installation of the SSL certificate will vary depending on the hosting control panel and host you are using. In many cases, Cpanel, Plesk, H-Sphere and others will provide their own instructions for how to install SSL. There is usually an SSL button on the control panel, which will walk you through the required steps. Cpanel, for example, allows you to paste the code for an SSL certificate into a form to generate the certificate. Although the steps you may follow may be different, most hosting providers have something similar. In many cases, there is a four step process, where you are required to generate some information on your server, pass this information to the SSL certificate provider, receive your certificate by email and install your certificate.

How To Start Your Own Web Hosting Company

Everyone knows somebody who has a website (or has his own) these days and they all need to be hosted. That's the reason that so many people think providing web hosting is a sound business idea. It may be, but you will need to know what you're doing before jumping in. After all, there are a lot of people doing exactly the same thing. Here is how you can start your own web hosting company. The only requirement is that you have your own domain name and website.

Before you even think about web hosting options, think about your new web hosting company as a business. Like any new business you will need a business plan. Even if you intend to fund the business yourself a business plan will help you develop your business in the right way and will help to keep you on track. It will help you to think about all the areas that are important for your web hosting business and will provide a road map for the development of your web hosting company.

Research Your Target Market

You will need to start with some market research. As part of your market research find out what products and services other web hosting companies are offering and how they are marketing themselves. Discover what market segment you should target and what your costs are likely to be. This will give you some ideas for how you can make your company different. Sign up for web hosting forums and seeing what people are most concerned about and what other web hosts are discussing. This will give you advance warning of future opportunities and may help you to decide where to position your web hosting business.

In thinking about starting your own web hosting company, there is one major decision that you have to make. Are you going to do it yourself or become a web hosting reseller? There are advantages and disadvantages to each option.

Do It Yourself Web Hosting

The DIY approach has the highest initial outlay, but all the profit is your own. If you are going to run all aspects of the hosting company yourself you will need a server on which to host others' websites. Your options for getting a server are to buy one or to lease one. Buying a server may seem like a good idea, especially since computers are no longer that expensive, but a good, reliable server is not cheap and don't forget you will need the latest technology and software for Windows or Linux hosting.

You will need to be realistic about how many websites you can actually host on your server. Overestimate this and you could be heading for a tech support nightmare - which you may have to handle all by yourself. You will also need to think about bandwidth, which means you need to get a company to provide that to you so that you can resell it to your customers.

An alternative to buying your own server is to lease a server (from a company such as Dell or Gateway) or dedicated server (from a company such as Rackspace.com or Cyberworldservers.com) and then resell the bandwidth to your customers. This saves you the up front cost of buying your own server, but it means you are not in control if there is a crash. When choosing a company to provide a server, look for one that has good customer support and as little downtime as possible. Servers do crash sometimes and you will need to be back up quickly so you don't lose customers.

Other costs that you will have to take into account are the costs of getting a control panel for managing the websites and the cost of technical support. All of these can add up if you are running a one person operation - and you will be working all day and all night, too, because most people expect 24 hour support from their web hosting company. So this is an important decision to make.

If you don't think you can be available all day every day you may need to consider taking on an employee or employees. This will make it easier for you to manage your own time but will make the cost of doing business add up. The employee will have to be paid even if you have had a slow month. However, it may be worth it so you don't have to do all the technical support yourself. Unless you employ a couple of people, you will still be working long days.

There are a couple more options for providing technical support. One is to include help desk software to manage support tickets or to set up a forum where your customers can help each other. A forum requires a low outlay and may run itself after awhile. You could also offer live chat to support your customers, though that may take time. Finally, you could outsource your technical support to a company which specializes in this area. It will add to your monthly costs, but could save you a fortune if your customers are kept happy.

Reseller Web Hosting

Another option for starting your own web hosting company is to act as a reseller for another host. This has several advantages, most of them to do with the time you save. Acting as a reseller requires a relatively low investment, with only the monthly reseller fee to pay. If you already have a couple of sites yourself, switching them to your reseller package could be cost effective. You do not have to worry about technical support, server size or bandwidth. All you have to do is promote and sell the web hosting package. Of course, this has its own challenges.

Some reseller accounts are anonymous, which means that you can brand your web hosting business as you like. Others require you to use the branding of the main host. With some reseller accounts everything is taken care of, which means that billing and any follow up are all the responsibility of the main web host. However, other resellers may require you to do your own billing so if you choose one of these you will need to think about how to handle that. This is the backend of your web hosting company and it is just as important as the front end.

Billing For Your Hosting Company

Most web hosting companies offer a choice of monthly or annual billing, and may offer a discount or incentive for the annual package. You need to think about options for taking money. Your choices are an online payments processor such as Paypal or setting up a merchant account so you can accept credit card payments directly. You may also accept money through the mail but this could be unnecessarily complicated, so it may be best to avoid this. An online payments processor is flexible and allows you to accept a variety of payment forms. In addition, it can handle automatic billing. If you are accepting payments online you will also need an SSL certificate so that your customers' sensitive information can be encrypted during online transactions.

How To Host A Gaming Server

Online gaming is a massive industry. The Entertainment Software Association says that 69 per cent of Americans play computer and video games, and 44 per cent of those play games online. Other researchers suggests that there are more than 13 million people playing MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games) worldwide. At close to $4 billion, online gaming is a huge market. That's why so many people like the idea of hosting a gaming server. After all if you already love gaming and spend a lot of time online, what could be better than going one step further and making some money while you're at it?

There are many other reasons why people may choose to host a gaming server. In many cases, it boils down to wanting to have more control of the online gaming environment than they can get from someone else's servers. Your own server means creating your own rules and a gaming atmosphere that you like, as well as the freedom to make modifications to the game that is running or update what you offer whenever you like.

Types Of Gaming Servers

When it comes to online gaming, there are two main types of server: centralized servers and distributed servers. Centralized servers tend to be used for MMOGs such as World of Warcraft and are often run by the companies that provide the software. If you are thinking of hosting a gaming server with other types of games, then you will need a distributed server. As the name suggests a distributed server is one of a number of servers that takes the game from a master server. The key to the success of a distributed server is ping - the length of time it takes for a packet of data to be transmitted from a game client to your server and back again. With ping, the lower the better, as the gaming experience will be smoother.

So what do you need to host a game server? The server is the key to a good gaming experience for both you and your users. They want a smooth and seamless game - and so do you, otherwise you will spend more time on tech support than on gaming. When choosing a gaming server, it's important to think about the hardware you will need. This will vary depending on the game you are running. Some games may need a high powered CPU while other games will be less memory intensive. So you need to find the best combination of CPU speed and memory for your games.

You can use your own PC as a listen server, but every time you shut it down the game will end and you won't be able to host many gamers. And for the best experience for all, you shouldn't play the game on your server, but on another PC. Instead consider a dedicated server. A major decision is whether you are going to rent or own a server. Owning your own server means that you are in full control, but you will have to be responsible for all maintenance and support, which can take up the time you would rather spend gaming. Having support on tap and backups will be essential if you are not to lose your customers.

Thinking About Bandwidth

You also need to think about the bandwidth you will need for running the games. A domestic cable or ADSL line may not provide the bandwidth and reliability you need as a gaming server provider and on a domestic internet connection there will be limits to the number of gamers that can play at any one time. Think about getting an even higher speed line for the best gaming experience for all.

An easier option is to pay a monthly fee to set up a gaming server on another company's equipment and use their bandwidth. This has the advantage of having almost unlimited bandwidth plus you don't have to worry about maintenance. This option will give you access to Windows or Linux/Free BSD servers, with a number of popular first person shooter and other games. You will have a gaming control panel to control games, mods and other aspects of the gaming environment.

However, there will be limits to the number and types of games, mods and maps you can offer as these will be regulated by the gaming server provider. Popular games include Call of Duty, Counter Strike, Day of Defeat, Doom 3, Half-Life, Natural Selection, Medal of Honor, Halo and Unreal Tournament, though there are many others. You will need to shop around for a provider as they all offer different games and mods.

The Importance Of Admin

If you are hosting a gaming server, good admin is what will keep gamers loyal. One part of being a good admin is being an active part of the gaming community. That means knowing and playing the game and taking part in discussions about what would improve the experience for gamers. Then all you have to do is put those suggestions into action.

Gaming is about fun, so a good admin has to minimize personal attacks, team killing, aimbots, software exploits and other forms of cheating as this will ruin the experience for most people. These practices need to be stamped on hard so that players will keep coming back. If you are running your own server then anti cheat software is a must. Most dedicated server companies provide anti cheat software (such as BanHammer, DMW Anticheat, GameGaurd, HackCam, Punkbuster or Valve Anti Cheat) as standard and will install more if requested by you. Lists of banned players (such as those provided by Punksbusted) are another anti cheat tool - these can be streamed between servers very quickly.

Game server providers will usually have their own rules, most of which will be enforced by the anti cheating software. If you are running the server, you may also have rules. It is important for the rules to be clear and for you and other admins to deal with breaches of the rules as soon as possible.

Many of those who host game servers say it is difficult to make money. Either you pay for equipment or you pay rental and this can be costly if you are funding it on your own. Don't expect to break even for a few months and you can anticipate dozens of support tickets each day from gamers. But if you love gaming and would be online anyway, there's nothing to stop you from giving it a try.

Spam Wars - Who's Side is Your Provider On?

Spam is unwanted junk mail that comes in various forms. The most common form is in email and if your host provider battles the unwanted mail, this is something that will benefit you in the end.

The different kinds of spam are numerous. Many people do not realize it, but anything bulk sent, such as jokes and family pictures, can be considered spam. However, this type of spam is acceptable because the pictures are cute and breathtaking and the jokes make us laugh. However, the commercial spam, the porn pictures, the fake lottery winnings, and other such emails are very unwelcome, and these are the ones you want to avoid getting.

Off site spam filters are always updating their databases with IP addresses. Users are continually sending them forwarded spam, loaded with the IP addresses of spammers. However, spammers have expanded how they are sending junk messages to the public. Hand held devices such as mobile phones and palm pilots are now targets of spam. They are also sending spam through chats, games, blogs, newsgroups, and search engines. And you can still find spam through the fax machine.

Hosting sites generally provide email addresses with your website. However, you need to find out if they provide spam and virus protection. You should not have to install filters for the sites contact email addresses. A hosting company can offer a variety of server level solutions to protect their users. Three main techniques are:

• Local Blacklist Filters
• Keywords and Regular Expressions
• Bayesian Filters

Blacklist filters are virtually useless in today's spam world as it is rare to see raw and unsophisticated spam arriving from the same address or IP too often. Blacklisting is generally only good for blocking email from those you no longer wish to hear from.

Keyword filters are more effective than blacklisting. They look for particular strings of keywords. If those keywords are present in the email, it rejects it. Some filters try to use regular expressions to build a sophisticated rule to prevent spam from reaching your inbox. Regular expressions are syntax rules to identify strings of numbers or text.

Bayesian interferences are the most sophisticated and effective method to preventing spam. This method takes a large data set compiled from previous spam messages, and scans the emails. If they do not contain any of the data the filter seeks, it is sent to your inbox. Services that offer this type of filtering prevent billions of spam from reaching inboxes.

Sending spam violates most Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) of ISPs. However, providers may be limited in their ability or willingness to enforce their AUP because they do not want to lose profitable customers. In addition, the United States has made sending spam legal, as long as it has some specific content such as a truthful subject line, correct information in the headers and email address, postal address of the sender in a conspicuous spot, and more minor requirements. If it does not contain any of this information, it is considered illegal. Also, aggravated or accelerated penalties will apply if the spammer harvested the email addresses from somewhere. This is against terms of service (TOS) of many sites, including Yahoo!, Hotmail, and GMail.

Detecting spam by email content is extremely popular. However it can be an inaccurate way to filter your emails. If you set a filter for "Viagra," it can be most effective against the senders of those spam. However, if your friend sends you a joke in an email that mentions "Viagra," it will get listed as spam. Also, spammers are starting to use numbers in place of letters like "I". Spelling words like "v1agra" will bypass the filter and end up in your inbox.