Bytique

Welcome to Bytique

Dear Friend,

We live in a time where big business is booming, and small businesses are “non-essential“. If you are looking for an extra income, consider a part-time job that has the potential to pay you a full-time income. You have a unique perspective and have had a unique set of experiences, talents, skills and abilities that no one else has. My recommendation is that you have a website.

Why you want a website in 2021

Someone wants to know something you know. You have the potential to sell that information. By digitizing that information, through a video, podcast or website, you can make that automatic. When the process is automatic, it becomes “scaleable“, which means you can sell the same thing to more and more people, and at the same time. You make it automatic on your website.

But why not Social Media?

Social media is booming, and it’s free. So you might well ask, “why do I need a website?” Good question. There are two kinds of websites: your website and somebody else’s website. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, even Pinterest and TicToc and all the rest are somebody else’s website – where somebody else makes the rules and somebody else makes the profit.

Free Advertising

There’s another reason why you want to start a website now. I often get calls from authors and business people who want to market their new product. Yes, you can buy advertising, but it’s expensive. Your own website is very low cost, you can build your own email marketing list for next to nothing, and market your book or product for pennies.

How to build an email list?

It takes about a year to build your own list. If you start that when you start writing your book, you can keep your list updated about your new book, and you are published you will have a ready market. Same with any other product or service. Start where you are now and grow your business.

You want your own website

There are almost endless reasons for having your own website. They make money, they reserve your name, they bring you customers that can help you with social media, and help you launch new projects. All the reasons you want your own website are listed here. Learn more…

How do I get started?

Domain Names

Many people start with a domain name. This is a good idea if you know which domain you want. For example, you can register your name. This keeps other people with your name from getting it first, it clearly identifies you, and is easily “brandable“.

Start without a Domain

Some people aren’t sure of the domain name that they want yet. That’s OK. You can start without a domain name and come back to it later. Sometimes it will come to you when you are blogging about something. You can register one domain name and register a second one when you get the inspiration. It’s possible to sell the first one if you don’t want to keep it.

Already have a domain?

If you want to start with a domain name, you can choose one right here. If you already have a domain name, you can transfer it here if you want. There is a small cost to transfer a domain, but we will give you an extra year when you do, so the cost is almost nothing. Learn more…

How can I get a website without a domain?

Easy. Well, almost. Sometimes the domain you want is taken, or it’s considered a Premium Domain, which can be expensive. In these cases, you might want to start without the domain. You can start with a subdomain. Instead of example.com, you can get use example.bytique.com. The name you want to use is almost guaranteed to be available, includes an SSL, and gets you started with learning the craft.

Begin with a subdomain

When you are ready to start marketing, you can easily get your own domain and transition into your own website and expand. This makes a smooth and easy transition as you learn and grow. To get started, contact us and reserve your subdomain name. Learn more…

Website

How do I get a website?

There are two basic parts to a website: the architecture and the web hosting. The architecture is the software that builds the website. In the past, I coded the HTML by hand. I still do sometimes, but most often there are tools for this.

Types of Websites

The two I use most are Bootstrap (designed for mobiles and developed by Twitter) and WordPress (built by Matt Mullenweg). There is also Website Builder, which is a “drag-and-drop” system. WordPress now powers about 30 percent of the world’s top websites, and for good reason. It is founded on solid tools and maintained by a large open-source community. Learn more…

Hosting

What is web hosting?

There are two flavors: wordpress.com and wordpress.org. (The reason for this is their license. WordPress got the code for free and this license required them to give away the code with improvements.) The first is one very large multisite with millions of websites on the same database! The second is the very same code, which can be downloaded for free and installed on your own web server.

What are Web Servers?

Websites “live” on special computers which are connected to the internet, called web servers. This is called web hosting. People usually rent space on a server from a web hosting company. You can install WordPress or have it installed for you. There are a wide range of web hosting plans available, ranging from a traditional cPanel to Managed and Business hosting.

What kinds of Web Hosting?

As you attract more visitors, you will need greater capacity. You can start small and expand as you grow. WordPress can be easily migrated from one host to another without much problem. We also have VPS (Virtual Private Server) and Dedicated Servers available for even bigger web stores with higher traffic. Running your own server gives you larger capacity for less cost, but requires skilled maintenance. When you need an upgrade,we can help. The other thing you need is an SSL. Learn more…

Security

Do I really need an SSL?

The short answer is “Yes”. SSL is short for Secure Socket Layer and encrypts your sensitive data, such as credit card numbers. The modern world has lots of unscrupulous people who are trying to take advantage of online purchases. So much so that Google ranks web pages without an SSL lower. Sometimes browsers will not even show web pages that lack an SSL. You need an SSL to reassure your customers.

What kinds of SSL?

There are two basic types of SSL: Standard and Premium. Most websites only need the Standard SSL. We just introduced a new third category, called Managed SSL. Our Premium SSL covers multiple subdomains. Our subdomain hosting includes a multiple subdomain SSL. This is a great way to get started. Learn more…

Website Security

Most websites today, including WordPress, are built with a database and dynamic code. This does amazing things like remembering customer names and what they left in a shopping cart. However, this dynamic ability can be a target for manipulation. It’s a good idea to have strong usernames and passwords, and to add two-party authentication. This verifies that you are the owner of the website through your phone number, even if someone learned your username and password. Learn more…

Website Backups

A very easy to restore a hacked website is to store versions frequently. This eliminates the process of seeking out the problem and fixing it. If your website has been hacked, it’s often a simple process to restore from a safe backup. Backups are simple and inexpensive security. Learn more…

Marketing

Email Marketing

When visitors come to your website, it’s a one-sided conversation. You can’t ask them questions if they didn’t find what they came for. A good way to create a dialogue is to get their email address. This becomes the easiest way to begin marketing.

The best way to get their email address is a process called an “ethical bribe”. This means you offer them something that doesn’t cost you much, but has a high perceived value. You get their email, which doesn’t cost them anything and has a high value to you. A gift or an eBook will work.

With your own website, it’s a simple process to add an Email Marketing list signup. Learn more…

What is Search Engine Optimization?

Once you have a website and provide a product or service, you want to find visitors who can become customers. SEO is simply providing the best answer to the questions people are seeking. In the past, simply adding keywords was sufficient, however, today it’s much more sophisticated. You won’t be able to get much the search results in competitive markets. However, you can find a higher percentage in smaller markets. This is what I did with Uber. More on that below.

Why do you want SEO?

Advertising is expensive. Consider that most people find advertising annoying. It gets in the way of what they were looking for and often is distracting. It’s much more successful – and profitable – to find the people searching for your product or service, and make them an offer when they are searching. SEO is free or at least very low cost by comparison.

How do I find what people are searching?

There are some easy ways to find what people are searching for. Google anything, and look at the Google suggestions. Google is a machine. It can’t possibly know these search suggestions unless someone actually searched them. Copy these suggestions and search them. Sometimes there are lots of pages that answer the question and sometimes not. The obvious questions are very competitive. The most effective marketing is to find the less competitive questions and answer them well.

One Big pie vs. Small Pies

Competition over the big search terms can be fierce. These are big pies. Zero percent of anything, no matter how big, is still zero. On the other hand, any percentage of a smaller pie is something. And, there are lots of smaller pies. These are termed “long-tail” keyword phrases. Fewer people are searching for these terms, but there may be little or no competition!

Questions that have few answers, web pages that are a couple years old, or answered by forums are low-hanging fruit. If there are three top web pages for that question, the worst you can rank is number four. Make a better page and you can outrank your competition. Learn more…

On-page SEO and off-page SEO

On-Page SEO

Everything on your web page is on-page SEO. Find ways to answer those questions better than anyone. Include H2 headings, H3 headings (important) and subheadings, photos and graphs, quotes and links to other sources, be sure to add some bold and italic terms. Be sure and say how you are qualified and why your opinion counts. You can do that on an “About Us” page. Learn more…

Off-page SEO

Everything that people say about you is off-page SEO. This includes backlinks from other websites. Off-page SEO is a big part of the Google ranking formula. Google considers everything you do to get backlinks to be manipulating their system. Every link to your web pages tells Google you are doing something people value. An excellent way to get backlinks is to provide something unique.

Unique information is something that is not on the internet. This means creating something new, like statistics, charts or graphs of information, on the internet of off, that has not been put together before. People are lazy. If you create something valuable, they will link to it. You now have backlinks. Learn more…

Who do you know?

You don’t have to be an expert. You can add a YouTube video, and link to a book that you read. If you don’t have much personal experience, go ask someone. Find someone who just published a book on the subject and interview them. Most authors are delighted to be interviewed about their new book in exchange for linking to where someone can buy it.

Take your own videos and photos

Google Bots crawl the web a thousand times a day. If you really like a stock photo and it perfectly suits your purpose, use it. But, remember that Google has already seen that stock photo fifty times already today. What’s it doing on your website? Why is it relevant? If it’s relevant, say so in the alt tag and in the caption.

Be original

The alt (“alternative text for the visually impaired”) tags are what Google bot uses to “see” your photos. Consider that even if you aren’t a great photographer, your photos are original. Google will give you a gold star for originality. The same is true for original charts and graphs. You can even draw your own stick figures!

Join a forum in your niche

A specific market is usually called a “niche”. Many times people will join a MeetUp or a Facebook group or Pinterest or a forum in their niche. Join it. Don’t sell them. Listen.

Offer solutions to their problems. Nobody likes to be sold. But, everybody has problems. When you can solve their problems, they will seek you out for help when they need it. Only then, if you have something for sale that will help them, you can offer it.

The real purpose of social media

The real purpose of social media is to attract new customers to your website. You do this by participating and helping. If you start pushing or selling, you will soon become an ex member. This is how the world works. It’s always attraction, attraction, attraction.

How affiliate marketing really works

This is why affiliate marketing is so popular. When you master the art of helping people – really helping people – you will be wealthy. People will beat a path to your door. You don’t have to sell them. They will sell themselves. And, when they do that, price is not the main reason for buying. You can charge enough to make a fair profit.

Nearly all large companies offer affiliate programs. Look at the bottom of amazon.com or most large product ad service companies. They know that word-of-mouth from influencers and affiliate marketers is much more effective than advertising. When you register as their affiliate, you will receive a special code to add to any links to their store. This code tells the database who referred that customer. At the end of the month, you get a commission for the sales you referred.

How to be successful online

How I made $1000 a week with one website

I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area about the time that Uber was growing rapidly. One day I saw an ad on craigslist.org. The owner of a new car wanted someone to drive it for Uber. He would pay for gas and insurance and we would split the income 50:50.

That worked for me because I didn’t have a car at that time and I was looking for something to give me a break from my laptop screen during the day. I signed up to drive for Uber and started driving around San Francisco.

Soon, I had completed 50 trips and I got a bonus from Uber! As soon as I got a bonus, the owner of the car also got a bonus. And, then he began looking for new drivers. I soon realized that he was interested in the bonus.

I didn’t need a car

Then I discovered that I could also get Uber bonuses. But I didn’t need a car, I needed a website. Some people will go to uber.com and some people will ask questions in Google. I made a website that answered the questions people were asking Google about driving for Uber and people began signing up with my link.

When the drivers got a bonus, I got a bonus. And, all I did was make the website. OK, it was a good one. I spent about a month polishing that website. But it didn’t cost much. At first nothing happened. I forgot about it and was making other websites.

About six months later – sometimes it takes that long before Google trusts you – I started getting notices that people were driving. At first it was a few here and there. Then I was getting deposits directly into my bank account. Then it was a thousand dollars a month, and then a thousand dollars a week. That lasted for years!

I outranked Uber

Why didn’t people go directly to Uber? Good question. Some people went straight to https://uber.com and signed up to drive. Others want a second opinion. For that they go to Google and ask a question. For those people, I answered those questions better than Uber.

They wanted an independent answer to their question. Uber wasn’t answering their questions. I had been driving for Uber and I could speak with some authority about my own experience. I made a point of answering the pre-sales, or pre-signup, questions that people were asking.

You can too

You can do this, too. Find your unique skill-set, or experience, or perspective. Start writing about it, or video or photograph it. Find some combination that is unique. Make a website about it. Interact with your audience and find what they like with a poll or survey. Get some feedback.

Conclusions

There are lots of ways to make a good income online. Websites, Web Stores, Affiliate Marketing, Influencer, Reviewer, YouTuber and more. When you find your “groove” you can work when you want to and where you want to (mostly) and you can design your work in a way that makes sense to you.

Highly successful people found their passion their own way. Almost no one is highly successful working for someone else. In the past, a creative person was the rare exception. The world we are living in has become a place where almost anyone has the tools to be creative – video, audio, painting, singing, playing or composing music. Putting yourself online can multiply your audience – and your income.

Make a beginning

Find a problem and offer a way to make it better. Offer encouragement for the sad, teach urban gardening to folks without access to stores, create art in drab environments, start cleaning the streets and show before and after photos. Put guitar strings on a piano. Visit the isolated. Do something the make the world a better place. Make a beginning. Then make it better.

Let me know how we can help.

Cheers,