“The sky’s falling…” 

That’s seems to be all we hear and see these days. 

The stock market’s down, age-old banks and insurance companies are dropping like flies, our retirement accounts are being decimated, we’re piling up so much debt that our grandchildrens’ grandchildren will still be paying it back, and on and on…

But did you know that many millionaires were made during the Great Depression of the early 30’s?  Most of these were the result of having plenty of liquid cash to invest in undervalued assets.  That’s the absolute best way to profit from hard times.  When times are tough, cash is king.  Because so many are already deep in debt or simply can’t borrow enough to keep afloat, those with cash to spend will find real bargains.

But what if you fall somewhere on the other side?  What if you’re in debt, barely paying the bills each month, or out of work?  How can you possibly find a silver lining to the dark cloud of the current economic environment?

What I would suggest is that you first stop thinking of the current situation as “bad” or “hopeless.”  I’ve heard these terms used a lot lately by friends and family, and thinking like this will only make things worse. 

Instead, try to think like an entrepreneur…

People still have money, and they’re still spending it.  I promise you this will not change.  Even if we were to enter a period far worse than the Great Depression (and this isn’t likely), people would still be spending money.  Granted, the items they buy might change, but the money will be flowing somewhere.  So you really just have to keep an eye on where the money is going and try to get in on the action.

One thing to watch for is mass panic. 

Gas stations are running out of fuel because of panic, banks have lost a lot of capital due to panic, retirement accounts are being depleted because of panic, and the list goes on.  The global economic system is based, in large part, on the perception of the masses.  When everyone feels good about things, they invest and spend.  When they don’t feel so good, they save and pay down debts.  And when they get really scared, they cash out their retirement accounts and stuff cash under their mattresses.  They’ll even start to sell off assets just to have cash on hand.

The media plays a huge role in this these days.  So watch the news.  When the news reporter says that it’s time to panic, get ready to buy assets at rock-bottom prices.  And when the President says this himself, you can bet that the wealthy are laughing all the way to the bank.

Just as businesses everywhere are “going green” to make a buck off of the new environmental movement, you can profit from the panic that results during tough economic conditions.  You can make money just by offering encouragement to those going through difficulties.  They’ll pay you to offer them hope in their darkest hour.  You can make even more by lighting a fire under them and pointing them toward the exit.  Show people how to make extra money in these “tough times” and they’ll invest in what you have to offer.

And here are a few ideas for you to profit online:

Offer free advice on weathering the tough economy. 

Provide tools for calculating debt repayment. 

Include links to affiliate programs geared to debt reduction. 

Include articles on investing in gold and other precious metals and place Google ads on the page for a little extra income.

Include articles on positive thinking, and run ads.  Or give away an encouraging ebook in exchange for an email address.  Then follow up with more encouragement with an occassional promotion for a niche-appropriate product or service.

There are many, many ways to profit even in the worst of times.  As long as you keep your head – even if you’re struggling financially yourself, you can make it through.  And with the right approach, you will actually end up in a better position on the other side as a result.

Although some would suggest keeping Google in the dark when it comes to their sites’ performance, I have a different opinion.  After working all last month to get my niche sites switched over from Commission Junction to the new eBay Partner Network, I decided to try to optimize my AdWords campaigns.  I send a lot of traffic to my niche sites using AdWords. 

Although I do use tried and true SEO strategies to get organic traffic, I’ve found that PPC traffic converts better for some reason.  I can spend weeks optimizing my sites to get them ranked for some decent-performing keywords, only to find that the majority of visitors coming from the search engines are just browsers.  I can send a fraction of the traffic to my sites using AdWords ads to get the same results.  It takes far less time and effort, and it allows me to focus more on building better content.

Anyway, I recently began optimizing one of my campaigns based on some knowledge I gained from a new StomperNet video on PPC ads.  I was able to improve my click-through rates dramatically using their strategies, and I was excited about the results.  But the excitement was a bit short-lived.

You see, I have my Analytics account tied to my AdWords campaigns.  I like to be able to track the performance of my campaigns down to the specific ads and keywords I’m using.  Using the StomperNet ideas, I was able to add a new ad that got a whopping 60% click-through rate. 

After seeing the results, I moved on to take care of other business.  I came back later to find that Google had doubled the minimum cost per click on my account and set my account to inactive until I raised my bids.  I was alarmed, and I waded through my campaign settings looking for an answer.  But the answer was only to be found in my Analytics account…

After clicking over to Analytics, I went to my AdWords campaign and clicked down to what I thought was my best performing ad.  Sure enough, the bounce rate for that ad was over 50%.  So, although the ad attracted lots of clicks and had relevant keywords for my site content, it wasn’t attracting customers - only curious clickers.  So, Google had done me a big favor by increasing my minimum cost per click.  They were actually saving me a lot of money.

After removing the offending ad, I soon saw my cost drop back to previous levels and all was well again.  I’ll continue to create new ads and research new keywords, but I’ll be sure to keep a close eye on the results in my Analytics account.  Some may call it the Google-slap, but I now prefer to think of it as a way to quickly learn how to improve the results of your PPC campaigns.

eBay recently launched their new affiliate program, called the Ebay Partner Network.  Commission Junction has managed their affiliate account until now.  If you’re not familiar with sites like Commission Junction and LinkShare, they manage the details of paying commissions to thousands of online publishers for many of the largest online sales sites.  With today’s launch of eBay’s new self-managed system, publishers will have more tools and resources available for promoting a huge array of products.

Plus, this is also great news for anyone selling on eBay.  With an army of affiliate marketers working day and night to promote your products, you’ll likely sell more with less effort.  If you haven’t heard, the number of web publishers promoting products on eBay is growing like wildfire.  That’s because eBay pays a percentage of their take on each transaction that is referred to their site via a third party publisher’s site.  And, what’s even better is that, as an affiliate publisher, you can promote products all around the globe through eBay’s partner sites in countries all around the world.

I’ve been making money as an eBay affiliate since last summer, and my income has grown steadily as a result.  I’ve enjoyed working with Commission Junction, and I plan to continue working with them to promote their expanding list of products.  I’m equally excited about the new eBay-managed affiliate program.  I’ve checked it out, and it looks very promising.  As I transition my sites to the new system, I’ll report my results.  You can see an example of one of their new affiliate web widgets in the sidebar to the right.  There are several different types of widgets available, and many more are on the way.

In the meantime, be sure to give the new eBay Partner Network a look.  It might just be the ticket to your online success.  And be sure to subscribe to the Profit with Your DotCom feed to stay on top of new and exciting ways to grow your new online business.