Everybody is talking about the social media these days. Just a few days ago we had Kutcher vs. CNN in the first Twitter challenge. The goal was to reach one million users on Twitter and also contribute to a great cause in the process. The social media industry may be maturing, but there is still a lot of money to be earned. Let’s not forget that as great as Facebook, FriendFeed, and Twitter are, they are not perfect. You all probably remember myspace and its dominance a few years ago. Where is it now? It’s barely holding on. Things change quickly in the social media, and that means entrepreneurs are always going to have the opportunity to make money with their products and services. If you are willing to learn new things and think outside the box, there is no limit to how much you can earn in this industry. With that in mind, here are a few ways to make money online from the social media:

1. Paid applications: writing an application for Facebook and Twitter is one of the best ways to make money online. As long as you provide a unique value, there is no reason you can’t monetize your work.
2. Free applications: free applications can help you get a lot of traffic back to your site and even promote your other products. You can’t beat free.
3. Services: there are many services that you can provide to folks who want to get in on this whole social media thing. You can help them achieve more followers or promote their businesses online. You could teach them how to get started with the social media. Consulting and coaching is one of the best ways to make money in this market.
4. Videos: you can take your service to the next level by creating a video product that shows people how to do things. It’s more than consulting. It’s teaching a lot of people how to get things done.
5. Products: you can always create products that let people do more with the social media. This goes back to item number 1 but these products will address a set of needs. You can create a program that lets people grab information from various social media sites and track their reputation across these networks. The sky’s the limit here.
6. Corporate services: most corporations are still not on board with a lot of things that are going on in the social media. They are proactively looking for solutions that help them manage their reputation and get more out of Twitter and Facebook. What a better way to make money than offering these companies a solution they can work with.
7. Reports: you can always sell reports as long as you provide real value. You can also put together a book if you have gotten real results on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

There are many other ways you can make money on social networking sites. The sky’s the limit here. You can create all kinds of mashups and get more specific with the above tactics. Social media is here to stay. Why not make

You don’t have to be a genius to realize the money-making potential in the iPhone world. The iPhone is still one of the hottest gadgets on the market, and things are going to heat up even more with the release of iPhone 3.0. What does that mean for you as an entrepreneur? Simple! You’ve got to start looking for ideas to take advantage of the new changes in the platform. The time is now to recruit your team and work on your ideas. The new platform will allow programmers to sell more add-ons from within their applications, which means you can earn even more money. But you’ve got to move quick and try to learn what others have done to generate revenue from their iPhone applications.

If you want to make a living from your iPhone efforts, you need to have an application that not only provides others with some value but could also go viral. Take iFart for example. It’s a very simple application that provides lots of fun memories for those who use it wisely. There are a lot of other apps that you can look at to get ideas about how to be successful with your iPhone development venture. Ultimately, it takes a bit of an effort to write applications for iPhone, so you don’t want to waste time and create something that people don’t want to buy.

Here is how to go about creating your own successful iPhone application:

• Address a need: this point is tied closely to the last two. The need to have fun, to kill time, to manage tasks, or to find things fast can help you sell more apps. Some needs people die to get. Some others, people rather address for free or pass completely.
• Market Research: do your market research to make sure what other applications address the same need as your app. You don’t want to create a paid application to address a need that is being fully addressed by a free iPhone apps on iTunes.
• Market your app: have you wondered why some application developers manage to extract $$$ from their customers even though their applications are not that much different from free iPhone applications on iTunes?
• Go Viral: you want to create an app that is not only useful but also encourages people to share it with their friends, colleagues, and others. The more innovative your app, the better chance you have of going viral.
• Customer Service: No matter how perfect your iPhone app is, there will be folks who will have trouble using it. Make sure to address their questions and create goodwill in the process.
• Updates: your job is not done once you have written your app. You’ve got to keep improving and listen to your customers to provide features that they are looking for.
• Add-ons: the new platform provides an easy way to sell add-ons for your apps on iTunes. Make sure you plan this out to maximize your profits.
• Price: Don’t get greedy. If you plan to have a long, profitable venture,  you may want to price your first app fairly low to allow enough folks to try your product and get to know your work. Just remember a lot of folks give their first apps up for free. Being greedy can hurt you in the long run. You can also create both free and paid versions to give your potential customers a chance to test your app for free and see why they need to upgrade.

There you have it. The more creative you get with your app, the better chance you have of make it big in this industry. Keep in mind creative doesn’t mean “cute.” You’ve got to provide a unique value to your users if you want to make it big time. I am afraid cute, useless apps won’t cut it here.

Your turn: how much success have you had with your iPhone applications so far?

There are many ways to make money on the Internet, but one of the hottest ways to make money on the net these days is by starting your own membership website. There are many folks who blog about what they love but don’t earn enough money in return. If you can offer value to your readers that others are not or can not, you may want to think about starting your membership site. Let’s say you know a lot about green technologies. You have two choices here. You can start a blog and monetize your knowledge through ads and affiliate marketing. Another way to approach this is creating a paid membership site that keeps your members abreast of all the developments in the eco industry. The choice is really yours.

Membership sites are not for everyone, but if you belong to one of the following groups, you should consider starting your own membership site:

• You have a unique understanding of an in-demand topic and want to start your first online business and want a stable recurring income.
• You already have an online business and want to add a continuity income stream.
• You already teach your topic offline.

Creating a membership website is not that easy. You have to plan rigorously to make sure you have covered all the basis. It’s not just about creating content and getting people to sign up for your membership club. You have to find the right niche, and you’ve got to have a scalable software. You also have to drive traffic to your website and grow a real community around it. None of this can be done without proper planning.

If you are planning to start your own membership site and have no idea where to start, don’t fret. As long as you sit down and put down a decent plan, there is no reason you can’t get your membership site going fast. Here is how to approach the process:

• Market: not every market is right for membership sites. You want to make sure you are in a market that is ready for your site. Not only that, you need to find a niche that people are interested in. You don’t want your niche to be too broad. You want to differentiate yourself from other membership sites on the market, and one way to do that is through your micro-niche.
• Plan: once you have found your niche, you’ve got to plan how you are going to provide value to your members. How are you going to host your content? If you are going to have video on the site, your hosting costs can go through the roof! You are going to need a plan for your content factory as well. You should create a structure around your membership site and develop your content accordingly.
• Software: you don’t have to break the bank to get your membership site going. There are many scripts that super membership sites are using that are not that expensive but are very scalable. Here are the top membership site software packages that you can use to start your own site fast:
  • aMember: aMember is the top membership site software on the market. If you watch the top membership sites (e.g. Immediate Edge) on the market, there is no doubt about the merits of this software package. It’s very scalable, and it allows you to integrate payment systems fast. It can also be used to setup free areas on site, requiring only registration, and no payment.
  • MemberWing: MemberWing is a Wordpress plugin that allows you to create your membership on the top of your Wordpress installation. It gives you similar options to aMember. If you are a Wordpress junkie, you should give MemberWing a try.
  • Easy Member Pro: another sophisticated membership software that allows you to create your own membership site fast. And best of all an affiliate program is integrated in Easy Member Pro as well, so you can start your own affiliate program fast!
• Design: once you have the software, you need to design graphics and other marketing material for your site. You want to create a killer logo and use proper images to make your site easy on the eye. You also want to make the site easy to use.
• Content: putting content together is probably the most important part of this process. You want to include case studies, videos, audio files, and even tools for your members. Your goal should be to over-deliver. And you don’t want people to feel they are not getting any real value out of your membership site. That’s the key to sustaining your success with your membership site.
• Automation: running a membership site is not easy, which is why you shouldn’t shy away from using automation tools to save time and get more done in less time. Make sure you open an affiliate program to automate your marketing and promotion processes as well.
• Community: don’t forget that your membership site can’t be successful without a real community. That is why you should create a forum to get your members involved and keep them coming back for more. Create support groups and provide bonus material in you forum and people won’t stop coming back!
• Marketing: you can have the best content on the Web, but you won’t be making any real money unless you can convince people that you have valuable content for them. That’s where marketing comes in. Have you noticed how some folks sell the same content you can buy on Amazon for $20 for $997 on the Internet? Marketing! We are not talking about magic tricks here. You just have to show people why they shouldn’t live without your site membership.
• Promotion: dont’ forget that getting ranked high on search engines can help you generate lots of leads. If you are thinking about starting your membership site now, don’t wait till 6 months from now to get your own domain. Register your domain today and optimize it for the terms you want to get ranked for. Who doesn’t like free traffic? Don’t ignore the social media either. It’s one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website.

Running a membership program doesn’t have to be hard, but there is a lot of planning involved. You can’t just come out of nowhere with your membership site. Make sure you understand the risks and costs and plan accordingly. These days there are a lot of opportunities in this business, but to win you need to plan and execute like a fox. If you do that, there is no limit to how much money you can earn.

Choosing a domain name for your business is perhaps one of the most important decisions that you ever make for your business. A catchy domain name not only helps you with your branding efforts, but it could also help bring a lot of traffic to your site. That is why you shouldn’t take your eyes off the ball when it comes to choosing a domain name for your business. Domains  may be cheap but that doesn’t mean you should take them lightly.

Here are a few tips that you should keep in mind in order to register the perfect domain for your startup or small business:

1. choose a clean domain name (no curse words)
2. choose a meaningful domain name.
3. go for a catchy domain (e.g. Digg, Treehugger, …)
4. stick with a short domain. Long domains are harder to remember and inconvenient to type out.
5. avoid using hyphens and numbers in your domain if possible.
6. avoid using other companies’ trademarks in your domain (that includes YouTube too!).
7. register all versions of your domain name.
8. register sibling domains for your future business plans.
9. do not register a .net domain without getting its .com version first.
10. work with domain registrars with a good track record.
11. do not choose a silly domain name, unless you are in the right niche.
12. keep an eye out for your brand in other people’s domains.
13. register your domain privately, if you are concerned about your privacy. Make sure you use a registrar that allows you to do this easily
14. ask your domain registrar to lock your domain.

There you have it. Choosing a domain name doesn’t have to be difficult, but you need to pay attention to what your business goals are and who you can afford to work with. Here are a few websites that allow you to get ideas for your domain names:

• http://www.dotomator.com/web20.html
• http://www.webscriptlab.com/domainnamegenerator.php
• http://www.hackslash.net/?page_id=48

I have personally worked with the following companies as they have the best prices and give you the best bang for your buck.

• 1&1 Domain registration
• Netfirms Domains
• GoDaddy Domain hosting
  
• Dotster Domains registration service

If you are looking for an affordable solution for your business domain needs, you can go wrong with the above companies.