The hottest online money making thing today is blog marketing. It seems as if everybody and their brother owns blogs splashed with Adsense pay per click.

But why not do something different? Why not create a site that provides a niche service?

A perfect example is Cheaperthanhotels.com.

Cheaperthanhotels.com. has established arrangements with hotel chains and hotels across to meet the needs of travelers at the most competitive rates.

What does this website provide it’s users? Cheaper Than Hotels is a database of accommodation at hotels and apartments with the cheapest prices available. For example, a vacationer traveling to Britain to enjoy the UK nightlife can get great deals on London Hotels, Edinburgh Hotels or Glasgow Hotels with the click of a button and not have to go from site to site.

It’s clear that there is a need for travel information for vacationers. Cheaperthanhotels.com captures this need by creating a site to compare hotel rates around the world. You can create a somewhat similar service by starting a website about your local city.

Creating a website about your city, attractions, special shops, and tourist hot spots might seem boring for you, but you never know if there are thousands of people searching the Internet for information about your city.

You could even go a step further and visit your local shops, restaurants, and hotels and work out a discounts and deals to feature on your website.

If you just started a blog or website, or have had one running for a while, then probably you know how frustrating it can be to have low traffic. After all, you’ve spent a lot of time on your website, writing content, and there’s nobody’s there read your content.

SEO experts maintain that there are 3 major things that you can do to improve your website’s page rank (PR).

1. Write quality content
2. Submit your site to online directories
3. Submit your content to article directories

Just like athletes, we are all looking for that edge that can make our blog or website stand out and be successful. Here are 3 great software titles you should have installed on your computer that can to help increase your website or blog’s traffic.

Quality Content.

Ok, so if you’re a writing wiz, you REALLY REALLY don’t need software for this. All you have to do is just open up your blog or CMS software and just typing. But for the rest of us mortals, sometimes we need a little help for the time our brain hits the writer’s block.

Instant Article Wizard is an article research tool that can literally help you create a rough draft article on any subject in minutes.

This software automates the gathering of research information based on your desired keyword subject. It can drastically reduces the time to create high quality targeted articles. It is the easiest and quickest way to create articles and can make you look like an EXPERT on any subject or niche, even if you know little or nothing about the subject.

Directory Submissions

The benefits of submitting your site to a directory is two fold. First, it let’s people know that your site exists. Online directories are similar to a phonebook. Many Internet users use online directories to find what they are looking for.

The second benefit is an increase in one way links to your blog. As you know, the more one way links that point to your site, the higher the page rank.

I’ve found a nice (and free) piece of software that can make submitting your blog and website to these online directories a real snap. It’s called Directory Submitter.

With Directory Submitter, you can quickly and easily submit your website to tons of directories very quickly. What makes this software so nice is that it is available for a free download.

Article Submissions

Submitting your articles to an article directory can do wonders to your website’s traffic - especially if you take the time and write quality content.

The key benefit of submitting your content to article directories is the free exposure your website can get. If you article is well thought out and well written, you can become an ‘expert’ and other web publishers might include your article, on their website, e-zine, or newsletter.

The beauty of this is that when you submit an article for submission, you can include a link back to your website. Now, imagine hundreds of website or blog owners publishing your article (along with your bio line) on their website. Think of how many link backs you will get. Now 10, 20, or 30 of your articles on other sites.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of people that think they can get away with submitting junk and some how expect a huge surge in traffic. But if you don’t take the time to focus on quality content, nobody’s going to want to publish your work.

You can submit your articles manually to various article directories, or you can use Article Submitter. With Article Submitter you can quickly publish your articles to hundreds of websites, increasing your site’s popularity. Article Submitter is available for a free download here.

So you’ve heard that there is a lot of money to be made by writing articles. Sounds like a great idea, after all, writing articles isn’t rocket science. But how can you profit from your words?

Easy, simply use your articles to promote affiliate products.

To make money with articles that you place on websites, you will need a variety of good, solid, and well paying affiliate programs that will help to generate revenue.

When you pick an affiliate program, think about your niche subject. What company best complements your subject. If you’re writing about real estate, it wouldn’t make sense to promote lipstick would it?

Also, The most important thing to keep in mind when picking affiliates to promote is to keep your niche audience in mind. Otherwise you will be promoting a product to a group of people who do not even want nor need it. If your niche site targets parents of young children, then promote baby products. If you niche site targets gardeners, then promote gardening products.

Now, I know your probably thinking that the best way to your pot of gold is by promoting the highest paying affiliate program, right? A program that pays over $100 dollars might sound appealing, but how well does that product or service convert? In other words how well does it sell?

Before you get hazy-eyed by big dollar signs, remember that some products are bound to sell more than others. If you sell on product four times a year from a little known company that gives you $100 per sale or sell a well known product 3 times a week at the rate of $10 per sale, then you will make much more money with the $10 per sale product.

Lastly, there are two main ways to find an affiliate company for your niche website. You can sign up with a company that manages the accounts of hundreds of companies, big and small, and apply for the products within these accounts or you can do a web search for companies that would match well with your niche, visit their websites, and see if they advertise an affiliate program. Three of the most popular affiliate companies include Clickbank , Commission Junction , and Linkshare .

Clickbank deals primarily with info products and info services. Most commission rates per sale runs between 10% to 75%.

Commission Junction Having an affiliate account with Commission Junction, also known as CJ, will allow you to sell mostly physical products, with exception to Web hosting and Domain companies.

LinkShare - Similar to CJ, most of Linkshare’s businesses deal with actual physical goods which have to be shipped to the buyer.