The Internet is full of people quoting how they earn $1000+ dollars a day from their websites for little to no work at all.  Is there any truth to it?

Like most claims posted on the web, they are exaggerated.  BUT (and it's a big but) we ran a trial and can confirm that WITH work and commitment, you can create a site that earns you money while you sleep.

There is too much information to go into in this short piece so in summary, this is what you need to do...

1.  Find a topic on the internet that both you have an interest in and also has a following.  Nothing too major because you could never compete against the big boys and nothing too minor as 1-5 visitors a day won't help you.

2.  Get youself a domain name relevant to your topic/niche (www.whateveryouwant.com) and host it somewhere (here is as good as any place).

3.  Get writing.  You really want about 10-20 articles (400-600 words) on the topic in question and display these articles on your new site.

4.  Now comes the money making part.  Open up an account with google adsense, clickbank and/or amazon so as you can advertise their items.

5.  Integrate these ads into your site.  These ads tend to be displayed based on the text on your page and tags.  So for a web site discussing dog grooming techniques, the ads will tend towards dog shampoos, brushes and other relevant items.

6.  The big one.  You need visitors!  A well setup site using key phrases for that particular topic WILL make it up onto Google, Bing, ask, etc eventually.  There are a million and one techniques (all perfectly above board and legal) to drive visitors to your site.

7.  If/when they click on an ad, you earn money.  It's as simple as that.  Earnings can range anywhere from 0,16€ per click up to 3€.  That's right!  Every time someone clicks on an advert on your page you earn money.  Now don't try to pull a fast one and click on your own ads or get friends to because Google is smarter than the average person and knows most if not all the tricks in the book.

8.  It doesn't sound much to start with but do the maths.  Even 10 clicks per day could earn you from 1,60€ to 30€ a day.  Times that by 7 and it sounds better.  The magic is is that this is for one site, times your sites by ten then potentially times your revenue by ten.

We setup a site based around Health Insurance for Expats here - http://www.expat-health-insurance.com and although we are not set to retire just yet - it does work!

How can you be impartial and then have a shop?  It's easy.  We have signed up with Amazon to get access to their computing and components section.  It's all accessible from this site.  If you purchased anything then you would be redirected to the Amazon site for payment only.

They stock a very wide range of PCs and components including most of the makes and models we would recommend anyway.  If you are looking for an external hard disc to backup your information on or a wifi key to make an older computer wireless, then it's all there.  We just thought that...

• It's simpler to guide someone on purchasing a certain item if it's already accessible from the site.
• We redirect so many people across to amazon to purchase things that why not earn a couple of percent in doing so.

Feel free to browse it, use it or leave it.

You may have seen the new banner on the frontpage - "Join our Affiliate Scheme".  What is it?  What does it do?

We thought we would give this scheme a try.  We have tried to make this as simple as possible.  If you joined our affiliate scheme, then any new customer that signed up to our annual support package through you would earn you 5€.  We have placed a wide choice of logos, banners, adverts on the affiliate part of the site.  You choose one (or as many as you like of them) it will give you a couple of lines of code that you simply copy and paste into whatever.  Email, facebook, your own web site, a blog, the list is endless.  You can even tell people via word of mouth and as long as they give across you client code on ordering, you would earn the same commission.

It's not a pyramid sheme, nor is it an attempt to take over the world.  We just thought that we should reward people who recommend our services and gain us new clients because without you we wouldn't be here!

Feel free to email us or ring if you have any questions on this scheme.

What do you know about Cloud Computing?  Heard of it?  If it's all new to you then read on for an explanation.

Wikipedia version -

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, as with the electricity grid. Cloud computing is a natural evolution of the widespread adoption of virtualization, Service-oriented architecture and utility computing. Details are abstracted from consumers, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources.  It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. NIST provides a somewhat more objective and specific definition here. The term "cloud" is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another Web service or software like a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers.

Our version -

Cloud computing allows users to use programs that live on the internet and then to store the files they create on the internet in a secure area.  This means that if anything should happen to your computer, your information is still safely stored online.  The only real drawback is speed.  If you have a fast(ish) internet connection then it would be nearly as fast as running it from your PC.  There's not getting away from it.  The future WILL involve this form of cloud computing.

In order to "move with the times" we are currently undergoing a test install of a cloud server giving you access to cloud computing.  As always there's no cost to our clients to try out this service (and to hopefully get a better understanding of what it entails).  I will place an announcement on the frontpage when it is live for anyone that would like to try it.

Check, check and check again.

More and more sites we come across nowadays are getting hacked.  These hacked sites can range from "childish games" hacking right on up to "full scale" hacking.  If you have a website then if you can you must check it on a daily basis for..

• site availability (can you access your site)
• if you can FTP into your site check date stamps on files
• if you have an internal email feature send yourself a test mail
• check at the bottom of all main pages for any unrecognised text
• use the "view source" feature of most web browsers to see the code

Even if you have had a website designed and hosted by someone, then unless you are on a special pricing system whereby they will TOTALLY look after your site (it's rare and dear), it is ultimately your responsibility to backup your site and check for hacks.

A site that has been hacked soon gets reported to Google and Google will inform potential viewers accordingly.

That's enough to make most people run a million miles away from your site and probably never come back.

If you have found yourself in the unfortunate position of owning a hacked site then what can you do about it?

• Restore your backup.  You do have a backup don't you?
• Go though the code of your site are manually remove the hacked code (sometimes sites can have thousands of files)
• Start afresh.

We can help you here if you have the access information for your site and SQL databases (if used) and can give you a quote on the repair/removal of the hacked code.

It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid.

It's Christmas time, and out comes the new AVG 2011 Suite.

Up until recently we have been behind AVG with their free anti-virus program for home users.  Now people are starting to get bombarded with the obligatory upgrade to AVG 2011 Suite.  They have done a great job in stashing away even deeper the options for the free version and encouraging users to "try" the full version for 30 days.

Don't get me wrong.  I can fully understand why AVG want to sell their products as opposed to giving away the free versions, but it seems after the recent (and still ongoing) spate of calls received from clients, that people just aren't finding/selecting the free version.

This new all singing and all dancing suite plants itself firmly in between you and your internet connection so that when it decides to "cut you loose", your net connection suffers also.

For the past couple of months or so we have switched across to Microsoft Security Essentials.  It's a free download, with free updates and never tries to hard sell a full blown version.

If you currently are using AVG and are getting harassed by the upgrade, then I would strongly recommend switching across to the Microsoft offering.

/rant over

As you can see we have been very busy of the last couple of weeks redesigning the site and moving it over to a new host.  Little plug for "FastVision" especially Alan who has been exceedingly helpful (sounded a bit "Mr Kipling" then).

Not too many teething problems, just lots more areas to populate.  In our software category we have now included "Must Haves" like Peerblock, Microsoft Security Essentials and PC Decrapifier.

We have been fortunate to have had a fair few of our Articles printed on local papers and on other Expat sites around France.  If you haven't read any of these yet take a quick peek there might be something there worthwhile to you.

Right!  Off to the forums again to get some posts going.  If you have any queries or questions then by all means post something there and you will get a quick response.