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Work at Home Business

February 26, 2010 By 1 Comment

I hear everyday from folks who have been searching for legitimate work from home for what they feel like is forever. They have encountered scam after scam. They have been taken advantage of numerous times. My advice to them? The best work at home job is the one you are going to start.

Many people are scared to take the plunge into starting an online business. That’s understandable, but you need to realize starting online isn’t anything compared to starting a storefront on main street. You don’t need to invest thousands, in most cases it can be done for less than $20.

Buy your domain through GoDaddy.com for less than $10 (if you use coupon code “BUY2010″ you can get your domain for $0.99 right now) and get Unlimited Domain Hosting Only $9.95 a Month through HostGator. From there, use HostGator’s tools and tutorials if you aren’t web savvy and you are well on your way to having an online business. Being online also means you aren’t tied down with inventory, etc. You can modify as you go the products, services and marketing tools you are using based on what is working and what is not.

You can choose an active or passive business model based on your passion and flexibility needs. An active model just means you will need to have a more active role. If you are starting a direct sales, virtual assistant, web design or eBay business, you will have to be available to take calls and emails from your customers or clients. If it is a passive model, like affiliate marketing or internet marketing, you may have less of the day-to-day upkeep. You will still have to work hard, it just won’t be in the same way.

Getting yourself a work at home job to cover expenses while you are getting up-and-running if need be is advisable. But please don’t let the entrepreneur inside of yourself settle there. Do one task everyday if that is what it takes to make your dream come true. Do something however. Every day that goes by not doing what you love is one day wasted. Even if you are doing what you love for someone else, it is one more day you are only making a small percentage of the profit as opposed to having it all for yourself.

Question about this post or something found within it? Please read my disclosure.
Filed Under: Running an Online Business Tagged With: , , ,

Craigslist and Jobs

February 25, 2010 By 2 Comments

How to Use Craigslist to Find Work at Home

Craigslist can be a great way to find work at home jobs, though probably not in the way you think. When I first started my Virtual Assistant business I was told by others in my industry to not bother with Craigslist. It was full of nothing but scammers and was a waste of time. I listened to those words of advice my first years in business. It came from the “experts,” I shouldn’t question their knowledge. Then one day I decided I’d do a little experiment.

I was already placing ads for an existing client, so I thought I would take 15 more seconds to throw up an ad of my own promoting my VA business. I came up with an ad of the services I offered and put in a link to my website. I did that every day for two weeks. At the end of two weeks, I had 5 potential clients contact me inquiring further about my services. In addition to those 5 inquiries, I also had a huge spike in my website traffic. Not just from those looking for my services, but from those looking to become a Virtual Assistant themselves.

I however do not suggest searching through Craigslist for jobs. There may be a few, but the majority of your time will be wasted and you will be finding yourself with a lot of spam and emails wanting your money. Craigslist is a spammers dream. They put up what looks like a legitimate job listing and they now have your email.

Instead, get your website together. Put up some examples of your work, if possible. Make a nice little ad with a link to your website and get it posted in the Service section and let them come to you. If you find after a few weeks you are not seeing any additional traffic or inquiries, tweak your ad a bit and ask a couple of people to review your website for anything you may be missing. If your ad and website are professional, you may find yourself with a new client.

If you need help getting your freelance business going, please see my Resources page. If you are already in business, leave me a comment letting me know if you have had any success with posting your ad on Craigslist. And be sure to come back on Monday, when we’ll discuss Elance.com.

Filed Under: How to Find Clients and Keep Them Tagged With: , , , ,

Clutter Kills

February 24, 2010 By 3 Comments

When we start a new blog or build a new website, it’s natural to look for a way to earn a passive income from it. There are dozens of ways to do it and hundreds of companies that offer the means to earn a few extra dollars. Choosing too many or the wrong ones can turn off your readers or potential customers.

If you are new to monetizing and don’t understand the benefits and drawbacks, it’s easy to want to throw it all up there and hope your visitors start clicking away. However, this is the worst method you can use. As an avid blog reader, it’s distracting and confusing. I see plenty of sites lately that have more advertisements than they do actual content. The sites are cluttered with Adsense, promotional widgets, tag clouds, category listings, and archives by date, a dozen flashy buttons to other people’s blogs, and buttons to a handful of referral sites. Are you promoting yourself or everyone else?

I recently visited a blog that had several great entries with quality content. I wanted to share it with my followers and I wanted to subscribe to this blog. I tried finding the magic buttons I was looking for, however with the 4-column sidebar I couldn’t. I got frustrated, exited the blog and today I couldn’t even tell you what it was. Not only did that blogger lose me, he also lost any potential followers I could have brought along for the good read. The blogger forgot to use his potential ad space to promote himself first.

You, your content, your service, and your products should be the showcase of your blog. If I’m trying to read what you have to offer and have 20 blinking buttons distracting my concentration there’s a strong possibility that I’m not going to get everything I can from your site. If your ad space isn’t promoting products that are relevant to your niche, I am going to be confused about your message.

Keep your site clean and be very choosy with what you are promoting. Try a couple for awhile and if they aren’t working, try something else. Just don’t try everything at once.

Filed Under: Running an Online Business Tagged With: , ,

Work at Home Jobs – Do You Have a Back-Up Plan?

February 23, 2010 By 2 Comments

Having been a member of work at home forums for over 5 years, I see several times every month people that woke up to having no job. They had no warning. They have no job. They are back to Square One. This was happening before the economy took its nosedive and it happens even more frequently today. This is why it is so imperative if you are working at home to not put all your eggs in one basket.

If you are a follower of my blog, you already know that I cover all my bases before starting anything. In fact, I was a member of work at home forums for 2.5 years before finally working at home. I was scared. I saw people investing all their time into one work at home job and then suddenly losing it. The work at home world and its competition means it is now probably going to take them months to replace that income. That is why I personally decided to start my own business as opposed to joining another rat race. I wanted to have several clients and I wanted to have that “back-up list” of people that had contacted me in the past that I could follow-up with if I lost one income stream.

You may not be ready yet to start your own business, which is perfectly fine. It is a little scary to get going, but for most work at home folks we eventually get to the point where we want to be in control of our work, our time, our income and our dreams. Which is why I strongly suggest to anyone getting into the work at home world, you need to find at least one freelance position. This will start getting you accustomed to the “be your own boss” mindset. You may have the chance to learn new things and work more as a collaborator as opposed to being just another number in the call center contractor world.

Think about what you love to do today. Do you love to write? Design websites? Make those flashy little buttons and banners? Maybe there is a passion that is all your own that you can turn into income.

Spend some time jotting down what you would love to do every day. If you are having a hard time coming up with ideas, visit some of the freelance job sites. Get your list and come back on Thursday when I will talk about finding clients through Craigslist. (Yes, Craigslist!)

Filed Under: Working at Home Tagged With: , ,

Do You Just Wonder Through Working at Home?

February 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

It was a long, hard journey to find a work at home job, start your online business, or get your fabulous new monetized blog going. You put in countless hours and you were so proud when you finally got it done. Then you found it leaving your pockets a little less full than you thought. Things did take off like you had planned. You are struggling with traffic. Now what?

Now, you have two choices. You can settle for second best. You can get up every day and wonder aimlessly through work at home life waiting for something to change. You can wait for an email to magically show up in your inbox one day giving you that work at home dream you envisioned. You can keep in the mindset that someday things will be different.

Or, you can make it happen. You remember why you chose this road. You wanted to have the life where you were paying your bills with plenty to spare, having tons of flexibility to care for and enjoy your family, and didn’t have to work as hard as you did when you worked “out there.” You wanted to be successful and proud of what you do.

Just wanting something is going to get you nowhere. Reading forums, eBooks and researching until you are blue in face is going to get you the same results if you do nothing more than that. Sometimes we get into the mindset that because we read about doing something, that’s good enough. It’s not. Research, plan, put it into action.

Everyday you are not doing something is a day everyone else is moving ahead of you. Someone took that good paying work at home job you read about, but didn’t apply to. Someone contacted that potential client or customer you were going to call tomorrow. The potential reader and her million dedicated, tweet-happy followers sent someone else’s latest blog post viral a few moments ago as you’ve been waiting for inspiration.

Make that first step to change things right now. You were strong enough to do it before, you can do it again. Success is scary, but it is well worth it. You know you can make more money, have a bigger business or gain a huge following for your blog. I know it, too!

Filed Under: Running an Online Business Tagged With: , ,

Blog Motivation

February 19, 2010 By 2 Comments

Finding Writing Topics

I see everyday bloggers asking how others find motivation to keep blogging, or they think they’ve run out of topics to write about. Personally, I have days that I am not motivated to write anything and other days I’m spinning out blog posts one after another in a very short period of time. The key to keep plugging away is to have a plan. Every business and person is different and what works for one may not work for another. I have a plan of my own that keeps me consistent and motivated.

My plan: I’m a serial list maker. My office looks like there was an explosion at a paper factory. There are pieces of scrap paper with miscellaneous lists and notes everywhere. I use my lists to jot down writing topics throughout the day and any pertinent details I want to include.

I take a few minutes (only a few) periodically throughout the day to browse my twitter streams and a few forums I visit and jot down things people are talking about and I think I can expand on. If there’s a blog post that interests me, I’ll open it in another browser for reading later in the day when I have moment.

My actual writing however occurs early in the morning. I’m an early riser, so before the rest of the world is awake is when I find I’m most productive. I go through my list from the day before and start researching, finding my keywords, products or links that pertain to my topic and get my posts and articles spun out. If a topic is taking too much time to find its groove, I save a draft and move on to the next topic until a later date. A typical blog post only takes me about 15 – 20 minutes with my SEO/product research and an article may take a half hour.

If I find I can keep writing, I do. Those blog posts or articles get saved for a day when I don’t have anything to say or I’m just not motivated to write. I find motivation in that itself, because even though I didn’t do anything I still did something.

Make writing part of your schedule. Try different methods and timing until you find what works for you. Once you have a plan you’ll find it is easier to stick with it.

Tell me how you write? Where do your topics come from? How do you work it into your schedule?

Not sure how to start a blog? Need help getting it out there and making you money? Try 31 Days to Build a Better Blog or 31 Days to Kick Your Blog in the Butt.

Question about this post or something found within it? Please read my disclosure.
Filed Under: Blogging Advice Tagged With: , , ,

Making Money Tools for Blogs 2

February 17, 2010 By 2 Comments

Want to learn affiliate marketing? A lot of people these days are looking for additional revenue streams, or wanting to get started with an online business. You’ve heard all the buzz around affiliate marketing and how people are earning great success online, but maybe you aren’t sure what it really is all about.

Affiliate marketing is essentially promoting someone else’s products or services and earning a commission on any sales you generate. Those sales can come from product reviews, banners on your website, etc. Sure it sounds really easy, but if you don’t have a clear understanding about what works and what doesn’t chances are you aren’t going to get the return you want.

It’s highly unlikely you can set up a website or blog, throw a ton of affiliate banners up and set back while the cash rolls in. It just doesn’t work that way. To succeed in affiliate marketing you need to know who your readers are, what they are looking for and then build a relationship where they trust your opinions enough to close the deal.

There are literally thousands of eBooks and other various products out there that will promise you a million dollars a year doing nothing. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. A lot of affiliate marketers are here today and gone tomorrow because they didn’t have a plan, didn’t understand the process, wanted an overnight success, etc. On the other hand, there are really great products available that will teach you the how-to without making false promises and providing you junk content.

Known as the ‘bible’ of Affiliate Marketing, Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook is a MUST-READ for anyone who wants to become an affiliate marketer.

In a style that is friendly and humorous, the Super Affiliate Handbook is peppered with real examples of what Rosalind did to become one of the most recognizable Super Affiliates in the world. And she doesn’t just tell you what she did right — she exposes the mistakes she made as well — to help you avoid potential problems.

Exceptionally well written, this book covers absolutely everything you need to know about making money as an affiliate marketer. I HIGHLY Recommended it.

Another great product comes from Tiffany Dow. I’ve followed many of Tiffany’s guides in my affiliate marketing and she provides methods that work over and over again. She shares it all in her products and then some. In How to Write Product Reviews for Affiliate Cash she shows you how to write affiliate product reviews the right way. Many people try the review method and fail. She gives you the how-to in order to make it a successful part of your affiliate marketing venture. Get it here.

Getting started in affiliate marketing is one of the best things I have ever done. I love the process and I love the rewards even more. If it’s something you’ve thought about, there’s no better time than now to get started. With these two guides you’ll have a leg up on the competition and a well-defined plan to become an online success story.

Filed Under: How to Make Money with a Blog Tagged With: , , ,
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