Author Bio: Joel Ohman is a Certified Financial Planner™ and serial entrepreneur. Some of his most recent web projects include a website with a bunch of easy to use tools for finding great domain names and a website that makes it easy to compare car insurance online. He is a newcomer to NickThrolson.com and would encourage you to check out the recent post from Nick with a review of Fiverr.

The acid test for any website in any market is quite simply if you can objectively take a look at your site as compared to the other top sites in your market and then ask yourself the question: “Is my website honestly the best website out of all of the other websites gunning for the same keyword?” and get a resounding “Yes, my site is the best.” If you cannot honestly answer yes then it’s time to get back to work and/or go back to the drawing board.

Give the Search Engines What They Want

The biggest mistake that many newbie SEO’s make is to try to “game the system” by “outsmarting Google/Bing”. Even if we put aside the ridiculous notion that any one person can consistently outsmart a team of highly paid and highly intelligent engineers for any amount of time let’s just first realize that if one truly wants to make a substantial amount of money with their website(s) then they will have to do one thing. Work hard.

Yup, I said it. W-O-R-K. So if it’s going to take a lot of hard work either way then why not put all of that hard work into actually building a great web property? Why try to scam and trick your way into getting your site ranked ahead of other sites that are much higher quality websites than your auto generated splogs will ever be when you can work hard and build a website that people can look at and honestly say SHOULD rank #1 because it is the BEST?

Assuming that Google wants to make money by having people continue to use Google instead of BING (and vice versa) then it is in Google’s best interest to want to provide the best results possible and the best user experience possible so that people will continue to use their web search rather than jumping ship to BING or another competitor. If this is the case then why not build the absolute best (honestly now – the best) website for a given niche and give users and in turn the search engines exactly what they want? (HINT: If you do this then that means that you will get what YOU want: loads of traffic and in turn hopefully you can convert that into loads of $$$)

Questions to Ask Yourself

It’s pretty easy to tell with some sites whether they are a top tier web property and deserve to rank for a competitive keyword phrase. Conversely, it’s also very easy to tell when a given site has no business ranking for anything (i.e. MFA “Made For AdSense” websites, auto generated “splogs” spam blogs, etc). However, most sites are not really one of the extremes. Here are some questions to ask yourself about YOUR website as you compare it to some of it’s competitors to see how it stacks up:

• Does my website cover the topic (topic = main keyword phrase that you are trying to rank for) in terms of content as thoroughly or more thoroughly than any other website? – For example, I own a website that has information on anything and everything to do with credit cards. I am constantly adding new high quality information to the website so that the websites will have every possible piece of useful credit card related information on it including credit card reviews, interactive calculators, humorous feature articles, etc. BUT what if I thought that I could just launch up a quick 10 page website and expect to outrank many of the other great websites in the credit card market that have thousands and thousands of high quality pages? Yea, fat chance.
• Does my website LOOK just as professional, creative, polished, etc as my competitors? – This one is not as important as the meat of the website (the content) but all the same the design of your website speaks volumes.
• Does my website have all of the functionality as my competitors? – For example, if you want to compete in one of the ultra competitive niches like travel, financial software, etc. and your website can’t even come close to a Hotels.com or a Mint.com then you are probably in trouble (which just goes to show that there are solid reasons why each of those sites deserve to have such high rankings in their respective niches).

What do YOU Think?

Do you find yourself tending to think short term and focus on quick results rather than on a long term focus on quality?

What are some other ways that one can evaluate their website to determine if it is best in class?

After many years of  searching, I’ve found what I have to do in life. I love helping people both online and offline. I’ve been doing it for friends for years and I want to extend my services to my readers. I can help with websites, marketing, branding and other services. I want to teach you and share my knowledge.

Friends and family have been coming to me for years with their problems when their computer is running slow or has a virus. I have no problem fixing these problems. I’ve also taught affiliate marketing. A good friend, Rajan Chopra, is a full-time doctor. I taught him how affiliate marketing works and he’s been very successful.

I recently helped a friend with her website. I got her on a server, set up a WordPress site, and sent her login details. Two hours later, she had her poems online. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to see her enjoying her site and expressing herself. Her website is at hbeepoems.com

What can I do for you? Let me set up your website in minutes with my good friends at Bluehost.

You can contact me via Skype @ nickthrolson.

Other Friends Sites PrettyObsessed.com

Looking back on NickThrolson.com shows how far I have come since I graduated high school in 2006. My goals were set and my blog has grown into successful platform for expressing my thoughts & helping my readers.

• My First Post I kept short & simple makes me proud where my blog is now. http://nickthrolson.com/hello-world/

• The Post I enjoyed writing the most is about never giving up on your dreams. I tell everyone I know if you have something you want in life never give up no matter how many things come in your way success is near.  http://nickthrolson.com/never-give-up-on-your-dreams/

• A Guest Post on my blog by Jim Kukral who is an industry expert when it comes to marketing very proud to have him as a guest blogger. http://nickthrolson.com/why-didnt-i-think-of-that/

• My Most helpful post is Getting Started as a Web Master I’m here to help you & want you to be successful. http://nickthrolson.com/getting-started-as-a-webmaster/

• A Post with a title I’m proud of is why the unemployed are turning to affiliate marketing. I know how hard it is to make a catchy title but sometimes a simple title says it all. http://nickthrolson.com/why-unemployed-are-turning-to-affiliate-marketing

• I wish more people would of read this post I often get asked who do I host with & who I recommend. http://nickthrolson.com/why-i-recommend-bluehost-to-new-bloggers/

With the current economy, people across the nation are looking for ways to generate an income or supplement what they have. Many people are turning to sites such as Fiverr, a website that has been getting a lot of attention lately as the place to go for extra money.

The Fiverr website builds on the growing trend of micro-entrepreneurship’s. Fiverr provides a marketplace platform where people with skills can go to post services they’re willing to sell. Buyers who need a specific task completed can search the list of offerings for those with the needed skills. All jobs, called gigs, are priced at $5. Sellers on Fiverr keep $4 of each gig performed.

Fiverr provides a complete platform for doing business. It provides communications, detailed work flows and automatically monitors your transactions and available earnings. An integral component of the Fiverr experience is the ability to leave feedback on completed projects. It provides a handy way for employers to find the best possible match when searching for workers.

Fiverr is a global marketplace with members worldwide. Thousands of jobs have been commissioned and completed. Fiverr members come from all backgrounds and professions. There are retirees, stay-at-home mothers and professionals from a variety of fields that offer their services. Some Fiverr sellers are supplementing their available income, while others are looking to generate income while they’re unemployed. Still others are looking to build a portfolio or a name for themselves. Some simply want to keep their skills honed, or do it for the love of their work.

For buyers, Fiverr offers a cost effective way to have one-time tasks, services or projects completed without the hassle and expense of advertising for a local source, then waiting for someone to respond to the ad. Fiver is immediately accessible 24/7, 365 days a year.

There’s a variety of categories from which to choose on Fiverr. New categories are added as the need arises. There are categories for graphics, videos, social marketing and travel, as well as writing, postcards and advertising. Other categories include music and audio, tips and advice, business, technology and programming. There’s also categories for gifts, silly stuff, and the fun and bizarre. Like the website says, it’s amazing what people will do for $5.

Fiverr members offer services ranging from writing stories and creating videos to tricking out websites. You can have postcards sent on request, or have a custom graphic or logo created. For the more adventurous, you can have your face or palm read, have your handwriting analyzed or have a custom caricature created.

Despite reports to the contrary, people are still losing their jobs. They’re not finding work as quickly as they might have a few years ago. There’s a need for a site like Fiverr, as evidenced by the sheer number of gigs that are completed each day. You won’t get rich, but you can easily make enough to pay the electric bill.

For more information, visit http://www.fiverr.com.

Inevitably, at some point in your life you’ve had a head-slapping, stop in your tracks moment where you say to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that???”. Every year thousands of creative entrepreneurs come up with a new product, or service, or website idea that makes it big, earning the creator either a giant paycheck or boatload of publicity, or both.

So why isn’t that person you? It can be.

Now is the time to act! Still not ready? Maybe you just need to hear about some people who have done it in order to get your juices flowing. Here’s a run down of some of those people who took their ideas (crazy as they may seem) and turned them into gold.

Jason Sadler is another one of those Web-entrepreneurs that have taken a silly or creative idea and turned it into Web gold! Jason created IwearYourShirt.com, a site that features him wearing a new shirt every day, each one sponsored by a new advertiser. In 2009 Jason successfully sold 365-days of sponsored shirt wearing, earning him just under $70,000.Yes, you read that right. Jason made almost $70,000 for wearing a different t-shirt every day. Doesn’t sound so silly now, does it? Kyle MacDonald bartered his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of online trades over the course of a year. That’s right, he used the power of the Internet and a creative idea to trade something of almost zero value, for something (a house) of actual real value. Alex Tew is the guy who came up with The Million Dollar Home Page.

A student at the time, Tew needed to find a way to pay for his education, so he took a chance and created a web page that sold 1,000,000 pixels for $1 each. Hence, ‘The Million Dollar Homepage”. In fact, Tew did sell all 1 million pixels and earned himself a nice paycheck, and tons of publicity in the process. These projects illustrate that even the simplest or craziest or weirdest or unusual idea can be turned into reality, and Web gold. It should also be pointed out that for every one of these types of projects that succeed, ninety-nine other similar projects never get off the ground. Personally, I’ve taken two stabs at viral glory with two sites that never did catch on.

If you want to see them in action visit AwesomeMillion.com and BigBrownBox.com. But just because success doesn’t come doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop trying. As all-time great Wayne Gretzky so famously quoted once, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”. It’s time to take your shot. What’s the worst that could happen? It becomes a hit and all your dreams come true? For inspiration, here’s a quick list of some risk-takers you probably know about that turned an idea into reality and into a huge success.

Red Bull energy drink – The idea was to create a super-caffeinated carbonated beverage and market it to athletes and the party crowd. Through some creative and unusual advertising, Red Bull now has $3.4 billion in sales.

Amazon.com – Who wants to have to go to a bookstore to buy a book? Jeff Bezos created Amazon because he realized that driving to the bookstore was an enourmous hassle and there could be a better way.

Polo – Ralph Lauren thought to himself, “What if we take a regular polo shirt, and add a little horse decal on it and price it at $50?” In 1994, he sold 28% of the company to Goldman Sachs for $138 million.

For over 15-years, Jim Kukral has helped small businesses and large companies like Fedex, Sherwin Williams, Ernst & Young and Progressive Auto Insurance understand how find success on the Web. Jim is the author of the book, “Attention! This Book Will Make You Money“, as well as a professional speaker, blogger and Web business consultant. Find out more by visiting www.JimKukral.com. You can also follow Jim on Twitter @JimKukral.