The Work/Life Balance and How To Make it Easier

Similar to the idea of creating a schedule, even if you are a busy stay-at-home parent juggling your writing with taking care of the kids, is the idea that break time must be integrated into your content writing schedule. There are a few ways to do this, and the break does not have to be longer than a few minutes. Still, giving your mind a free minute or five to refuel means the creativity has the opportunity to come back strong to finish the project at hand.

Take a Vacation – Okay, Just a Mental One But Still…

Have a photograph of a place that calms you or a postcard of a location you have enjoyed visiting or even one you want to visit. In those moments when you are tired of being at your desk, go to that location – in your mind. This method of travel is less time-consuming, cheaper and guaranteed not to lose your bags (even though you may be hoping to drop some mental baggage). This is a method used for decreasing stress, calming anxiety or a million other issues people face in a regular day.

Guess what? It works great to get you away from that work in front of you, for a short enough time that you can still get back to it and have it done before deadline.

Find Time For Fun, Even If That Involves The Dreaded Television

I recognize what a double-edged sword the television can be. It has been shown in studies to be bad for children, it shouldn’t be a babysitter, it squashes creativity… I’ve heard and read all about how bad television is for everyone. I still sit down with my kids to watch their cartoons once in awhile, and I still have my favorite shows to watch in my downtime.

Taking a half an hour or an hour to catch a television program in the middle of the workday does not have to be detrimental, according to Deidre Rienzo and The Marketing Mix. Rienzo says she fits her break in as a 15 to 30 minute window at lunchtime. This makes sense to me. You get the tasks completed you set for your morning and are taking time out to eat and recharge a bit. What harm is a bit of television at that time going to do?

Now, I recognize that once that 30 minutes turns into an afternoon of watching all the soaps or the SVU marathon (that one has drawn me in previously, I will admit) there is a problem. However, that is more my own time management to blame than a bit of time spent watching television.

Have A Word Calendar And Use Your Word Of the Day In a Sentence

This method may work for some but not all. If a mental workout is what you need, but a new direction has to be found far from your current topic, this may be your newest trick to add to your bag of distraction techniques. It is beneficial in two ways: it takes you away from the project on the computer screen and helps incorporate the new word into your vocabulary. Reading the word, thinking about the meaning and putting it into context are reliable ways to commit the word to your long-term memory. Therefore, you distracted yourself by doing something that may benefit you for the next project you have on your to-do list or one a month or year in the future.

Stuck On The Next Sentence In That White Paper? Brainstorm

Most freelancers have more than one project going on at once. If you are stuck in the middle of something and the deadline is closing in, the last thing you may think of is to stop and start brainstorming for another one. However, according to a writer for Copyblogger, that is a very opportune time to do that brainstorming. For those stuck in a rut or having an idea repeat over and over with no additional information getting through, it’s a great time to brainstorm with random word generators or exercises that bring in out-of-the-box ideas.

Brainstorming for one or more new projects gets those creative juices energized and flowing. Then, it is a minimal effort to switch them back to the partly-finished task. This means success on multiple levels and inspiration for the future.

When In Doubt Or Mired In A Moment of Writer’s Block, Exercise

Exercise triggers a release of hormones that make you relax, make you feel better and change your perspective on life in general. If you are at a crossroads and think you’ll never get that project done, what better time to get up and moving than that moment? Make yourself feel better, work out frustration in a way that improves your health, and you will be surprised how quickly the ideas start flowing again once you sit back down.

For some, the ideas start when the exercise is in full swing. Hopefully, you can keep them in mind until you get to a pen and paper if your exercise methods are swimming or running a mile.

Any successful schedule is about balance. Some executives take sneakers to work to walk or run on a lunch break. The luxury of a freelancer is that the exercise can be fit in at any scheduled break throughout the day, or as an impromptu distraction as suggested here. Make it work for you. That is what is important.

The thing about content writing, particular from your home office and on your own time schedule, is that working in breaks only enhances creativity by not drawing on it constantly for the entire time frame you planned to work that day. Giving the creativity a break and the mind a chance to focus elsewhere is important to the success of future creative endeavors. Don’t wear yourself out by forcing a schedule with no breaks. Instead, work in the breaks so they benefit your work schedule and keep you moving forward with the tasks at hand.

Html Guide

HTML. Or Hypertext Markup Language to you and me  :-) This is something that should be, in my humble opinion, be taught to every schoolchild on the planet.  Not only is it the hottest skill on the employment market at the moment, but it teaches logic and web design which will always be useful to just about anybody.


here's a good article on this http://blog.ezinearticles.com/2012/07/html-code-basics-for-expert-authors.html

You can easily learn the basics which will add style to plain text , and help you to simplify content for an easier reader experience.

Online working

Thinking of finding some online working jobs? Maybe to supplement your income or replace your day job?

Here's the way to go. You can be your own boss. Thousands are already making a go of it, it's not easy, it does take commitment and action on your part, but nothing is better than dictating your own hours, and working from home can be a very fulfilling experience.

You can join here now for as little as $1 :-)

This course from Adam Short stands out amongst all the rest. I have spent countless hours testing and researching other ones online and this is the one that  will have you earning in as little as three to four weeks.



Don't fall for the 'get rich quick' scams that are all over the net. You won't get the flashy car and four hour working week without putting in the work first.

Niche Profit Classroom shows you how to build a profitable business you can call your own, and it will keep bringing in passive income for you for years to come, with little effort on your part once you have the initial set up work done.

Of all the home working jobs this will definitely tick all the boxes for you, taking the most inexperienced by the hand and teaching you everything you need to know from the ground up.






Click Here  to find out more

How I Made Money Writing from Home

Becoming an online writer wasn't what I had in mind when I began looking  Online for ways to make money from home. I had noticed about working at home through a series on T.V., where a self made business woman provided ideas and authentic companies where people could find work from home. I was interested as I had been looking for a way to make more money for  several weeks when I ran across the series. I preferred to be able to supplement my earnings without limiting the time  I had with my family members . I was working an outstanding  fulltime job, but when the economy tanked and we were asked  to take a pay cut, I was considering how I was going to pay for everything. I was pleased to learn that no one was being laid off, however, taking a pay cut wasn't exactly the best information I'd acquired either. 
I searched through the various job  offers  and discovered several different customer assistance companies where I could work at home. 
I started up in Feb 2009 and began my online writing career. I wrote and acquired anywhere from $2 to $3 per article I launched. The more I wrote, the more I got paid. I went from $3 every week to $50 every week easily, though I want to emphasise that I wrote A LOT during this time.
Then I began getting frustrated by my limited opportunities and believed...if there's one site out there like this, there's got to be more.. There are a large number of sites out there willing to accept  your writing on just about anything. I have signed up for  many, some of which I am writing for, others that I tried and simply moved on. There are good and bad points to each one and while you should have no requirements of getting rich from writing, you can generate an outstanding second earning and some even make a affordable living from it alone. I've not been able to take that leap of belief just yet, even though I know in my heart that I can do it. There's just something to be said about having a fulltime job, but for those of you that are out there without that , or, like me, need a constant resource of more money you can make from home, try online sources. 
I would like to say that as of this guide, I am currently earning around $1000-$1200 monthly writing. I have had several weeks where I have been able to earn in the region of  $2000, but in my world, that type of effort is not maintainable. I have currently customized my focus from straight costs to creating a re-occurring earnings system (remember the earnings share?). By writing and publishing on ' work from home' sites that pay you for each pageview, I can make a recurring earning  each  month to supplement my income .

If you are looking for looking at online writing, try a few of these sites. Some are more difficult to crack than others, but know that making money is not going to occur immediately. You'll need an opportunity to perfect your art .

The following ar e a list of sites to sign up for paid writing:

Associated Content- Upfront payments and revenue share 
Mahalo- Revenue share 
Textbroker-Upfront payment only 
eCopywriters-Upfront payment only 
Demand Studios-Upfront only or Revenue share only 
Bukisa-Revenue share 
Suite 101-Revenue share 
Helium-Upfront and Revenue share 
Triond-Revenue share 
SEED-Upfront and Revenue share 

100 Words Every Author Should Know

"The Article Body Is Where You Give;
The Resource Box Is Where You Take."
- Christopher Knight, CEO, EzineArticles.com



Here's a great article from Ezine Articles, a place every online author should know and be a part of:

As a new author with Ezine Articles, you need to write ten articles, submit them for approval, and then you are ready to be published with them.

Here's a great article from Ezine Articles, a place every online author should know and be a part of:

Feel free to add some more you think should be in this list in the comment box below :-)

Where to make money online from your writing

Hi All :-)

To make life easy for you, today I'm going to list a few places online where you can make money from your writing skills.
If you are starting out online, maybe you've just been laid off or have been dreaming the dream of leaving your insufferable day job, then you're going to have to invest a little to give yourself a springboard to success.
After spending years searching online and wasting money on useless products I can save you lots of time and money by recommending Adam Short's online trainng. He really cuts to the chase, is highly respected in his area of expertise, and by following his expert guidance you will find yourself making money online in a very short space of time - as little as three weeks in a  lot of cases.
 As long as you are prepared to take action and follow the steps he outlines, then you will be gainfully self employed in no time.

Follow these tips on a blog post I wrote to help you achieve that optimum work/life balance
Click HERE

To give you some ideas of how to get started yourself, the following are really the best places to get noticed if you are looking for some writing jobs:-

Article Directories

Writng articles for a site like Ezine Articles are a great way to  make money while writing about other people's websites. If your article is good enough and original it will get traffic to the website you  are writing about, then perhaps get republished which will get links for you to your own website, and will make you money.

Blogs

Sometimes you can approach a popular blogger and ask to do a guest post on their site, which will get links back to your own site. This means more traffic for you to your site where you are selling a particular product, and targeted traffic means more sales for you.


Blog Comments

If you visit high ranking blogs and leave a comment containing a link to your own site, this can lead to traffic visiting your own site, which of course is what internet marketing is all about.

Forums

By visiting relevant forums to your niche, you can leave comments with a link to your own site, again inviting traffic to visit.


Your own Website

If you can write, you should have your own site, where you can write content about specific niche products, then place advertising around that content.

So there you have it, some simple steps above to get you started!

Quick links to making money from home

Hi All ,

I've found a few of the best videos for you to check out , saving you time, and most of all money so you won't throw any of your hard earned dollars away on any of the many scams on the net today :-)

Make money writing articles, check out this video from Youtube:-

Make money writing blogs ....

\
Make money writing freelance for others ...

These are just a few ways to consider working at home writing to make your own living.

How to do keyword research for your eBook

Hi All!

This post is going to teach you a good way to select popular keywords for your eBook.
This is important as it will ensure your writing will be found by the major search engines when people go online to find answers to their queries.


For the best training online to take you from newbie status to earning a living at home go here

Keyword Research

By most internet marketers, myself included, this is considered to be the most important
phase of the entire process. Your ultimate goal is to have your own articles and/or
website on top of the Google search results for search terms relevant to the product you
are selling. To be profitable, your keywords need to both be searched for by a fair
number of people each month and also to not have extremely difficult/established
competing websites taking up the spots you want.

“So how do I find good keywords?” For this step, head on over to
 https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Next, open up a new tab on your browser (or a new window altogether if you prefer). In this window, use your favorites menu to navigate back to the page of one of the products you were interested in.
Highlight its URL address and then go back to your keyword research tool tab. Click the
bubble that says “Website Content”, and then paste the URL of the product site into the
field given (see below). Now Google's tool will suggest keywords for you based on the
site's content.

Now, press “Get keyword ideas”.
BEFORE YOU BROWSE RESULTS: Go to the dropdown menu on the top right of your
results and select “Exact” rather than “Broad”. You are doing this because we only want
to see how many people are searching for the exact keyword phrase shown. With a
broad match, we are shown the searches for similar keywords which might give us
deceptive search counts for a keyword (for example a keyword might look like it has a
ton of people searching in when in fact people are searching another similar phrase and
targeting the one shown would result in very little traffic).


Now, here's the tough part: How do you choose which are good phrases to go after?
First, take a look at your product. Think, “what would someone looking for my product
search for?”

If your product is a guide for getting rid of acne, a phrase like “home
remedy for acne” or “how to get rid of acne” would be good to target.


Go through the list and copy every phrase that you like into a notepad window (or
something similar if you prefer). Next to the phrase, write down how many searches per
month it gets. This is the “Global Monthly Search Volume” number. In doing this, I like
to stick to phrases that are getting a minimum of 700-800 searches per month, but more
is preferable... To give you an idea of search volume, something searched 3,000 times
per month is looked up about 100 times per day.
When you're done going through the phrases Google suggests for you, don't be afraid
to try your own phrases if you think of some that are relevant but weren't suggested for
you. Any phrase you think would be a searcher willing to buy what you're putting front
of them, put into your notepad.


Alright, once you've got a good little list together (as many keywords as you can find!),
head on over to the Traffic Travis Website. This is a 100% free keyword research tool
we're going to use to evaluate if the keywords you've chosen are ones you can get onto
the top of Google for. Basically, we're evaluating how much competition a phrase has
and how strong it is.
Click the “Download Free” button and go through the steps to get your registration code
and download the program. Don't worry, you can ignore any attempts to sell you the
“Pro Version”, I myself still only use the free one.

How many keywords have you got that are “doable”? You want a lot, dig deep into the keyword
research tool and do your best to find as many keywords as possible. I like to find tons
so that I have lots of ideas when writing articles.You don't want to skimp on keyword
research so don't be afraid to spend some time looking for a product with good
keywords.

If you need some help with all of the above and lots more invaluable tips and advice, save yourself time and money by going here

How to choose a niche for your eBook

Choosing a niche can be the most difficult part of getting started on writing your eBook.

With hundreds of products online offering solutions on how to do this, the best one by a mile is this one.
 I recommend signing up straightaway, as without that kind of expert honest guidance you could be years floundering about wasting time and money. :-)

There are potentially thousands of profitable niches out there with hungry crowds searching for information
on a particular topic.
To help you discover which topics and niches are popular or gaining in popularity, I will write today about a few different sources to which you can turn to gain this information.

The first one is Google Trends. Just type in Google Trends into google and this will direct you to their site which gives detailed figures and results for which topics are being searched most for on Google.
Not only does it give you figures for how many people are conducting these searches, but also the regions and cities where these people are from who are entering these keywords to search Google for answers to their problem! Just type in the  keywords you think people are using in their search and on which you will be basing your eBook, and Trends will give you the information you are looking for.

Another free tool is Quantcast.com. On their homepage all you need to do is type in a website address related to a niche which you may think will be worth writing about, and it will provide you with a complete profile of the visitors to that site. Age group, gender, ethnicity, salary range, number of children are all details of the visitors to that site, very valuable information for you indeed, as you can use this to tailor your eBook to suit your audience. You need this to target your market.

A good tip is to take a visit to Amazon.com. Search for any eBooks already in circulation there and look up the reviews. Reading these reviews will let you know exactly how people's needs in this area are being met, and if there are any gaps in information in this niche that need to be filled. Figure that out and you're already half way there!

Visiting forums related to your niche is a very good way to check out what it is that people are looking for.
These forums are full of members talking about a specific problem which is common to all on that forum.
There you will find a wealth of information on what solutions people are searching for online .

Not only will the above suggestions provide you with all the information you need, but it will provide you with the necessary background details to tailor your eBook towards your target audience.

Remember, the more you know about the person for whom you're writing your eBook , the better your eBook will be, the better reviews it will receive, and the more money you will make!

So get started doing your research today, and get writing!

Go here for affordable in depth training and start making money online today. :-)

Your own eBook - tips on how to write it.

Tips on how to get started writing your own eBook




Hi all!

I've covered in my last post the benefits and advantages to writing your own eBook.
Getting started can sometimes be the biggest stumbling block, so here are a few tips to get you on the way to publishing your very first eBook.

1. Background preparation
If you have lots of ideas floating about in your head on one particular topic or niche, then creating a mind map is a way to get them all out onto paper. Start by writing the name of your topic in the centre of a blank sheet of paper. Extending from this written word , start by writing down each section or subsection relating to the topic. Chapter names, links to websites, shortened versions of each chapter should be all included here. Don't worry at this stage if it all looks a bit messy, for now just concern yourself with getting all those ideas related to your chosen topic out on paper.

2. You need a word processor  to type out your eBook. Choose a template you will be using all the way through as this makes it infinitely easier to go back and edit, and to number your pages while also including chapter names and sub-headings. Write in a simple font, one that makes it easy on the eye for your readers.

3. Write the outline of your eBook.
The purpose of this is to see how your book is going to be presented to your audience. You can refer to your mindmap for this so it's important that your mindmap was as detailed as possible.
Try to pretend you're the reader who knows absolutely nothing about this topic and is here to learn from the ground up. Ask yourself does the chapter or section order of your book make sense to somebody who is totally unfamiliar with this subject.

4. Writing your first few pages can be the most difficult part, however, you can write the book in whatever order you feel most comfortable with. It doesn't have to be started at Chapter 1. You can always come back to write that at a later stage, as long as it is presented in the correct form when you're finished , just start writing.!

5. Remember you are writing to provide information to an audience who most likely bought your book to address their need for information in this niche that you have chosen. Write to inform, tailor your content to suit the traffic you are hoping to garner. Be concise and clear in your writing, get some feedback from friends or relatives, that can be invaluable in giving some insight into your work.

Next time we will have a look at how to choose a niche if you are stuck on what topic to choose to write about.
If you have an idea or a passion you think might interest others, get creating a mindmap today, it's the first all important step in writing your own eBook.





Go hereGetting started

Writing your own eBook

Hi All :-)

I've been busily scouting the world wide web recently searching for ways to help you make money working for yourself from home writing.

The times we are living in are tough for everybody, whether you've been let go from your job due to the economic downturn, or just trying to make some extra money in your spare time.
It has become apparent to me, in my quest to spread some information on how to help yourself, that the biggest and most profitable market presently is in eBook sales.

If you're in doubt as to the profit potential of eBooks, just type in ''eBook sales'' into Google.
Sources have said sales are expected to reach $9.7 billion worldwide by 2016.
If that doesn't spark your interest then you must be asleep....;-D

So why write your own eBook?

An excellent way to start a home business is write on topics you may have some expertise in and can share
it with others who are seeking this information in an easily accessible format.

There are millions of people searching online everyday looking for information on every conceivable topic.
Someone somewhere will pay you for your expertise on a chosen subject.
You can write and publish eBooks without having a blog or website, and you can create a good income with little financial outlay.

Let's look at the pros of writing your own eBook:

More and more people are accessing the Internet daily, so exposure to your work is increasing.

It is easy to produce your own, no publisher or agent required.

They are easily distributed online, and if you ever need to update the content, all you need to do is update
your original edition and republish it yourself.

It is easily accessible to the buyer, all they have to do is download it from the website where you have chosen to sell it from.

All that's required is a computer, an Internet connection, and YOUR IDEA!

So begin now by jotting down some ideas , find the one that interests you most, the one you perhaps know
quite a bit about already.

Next post I'll be back with tips on how to Write your own eBook.


Make 2013 your year for working from home writing !

Keep dreaming the dream :-)

Onsite and Offsite SEO

Some more tips for you if you’re working from home writing content for your website folks.

There are two ways to make sure your site is primed for Google and their web spiders!

One way is onsite SEO, the second way is offsite.
To get a springboard to success online go here :-)

               The difference between onsite SEO and offsite SEO

SEO or search engine optimization, when used correctly can get you tons of free organic traffic from the almighty Google. When it comes to SEO practices, there are two main categories – Onsite SEO and offsite SEO. In this article I will explain the differences between the two and how you can target both of them.

Onsite SEO means optimizing your website or blog internally to boost your page ranking. There are many ways to do this – keyword optimization, onsite linking among posts and pages, using anchor text links, tagging posts, alternative text for images etc. Keyword density is an important factor as excessive use of a certain keyword can make you penalized.

Fully optimizing your website content is a pre-requisite for good SEO points but it won’t be enough, you’ll have to incorporate off-site SEO methods together in order to be ranked higher in Google.

Offsite SEO involves getting back links from various sources on the internet which does not belong to your website. Back links are basically people from other websites linking to your website. The higher quality the back link, the more Google juice you will get. People sharing your website on social networks and talking about your website also constitute as offsite SEO.

You can get a variety of back links from many credible sources such as other people’s blogs (of the same niche), Twitter, web 2.0 pages such as Hub pages and Squidoo, and even YouTube.

In summary, the key to getting high placement on Google’s search engine and successfully using SEO is to have good onsite SEO and offsite SEO. The internet has evolved from an information providing hub to a place of online social interactions which can be seen through social media sharing, blog commenting and reviews.

How to get more visitors to your site

Hello all :-)

Given the importance of visitors or traffic to your site or blog, I've decided to write some more for you today on my recent findings on how to do that.



Search Engine Optimization And Why You Gotta Use It


E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites.  For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.

Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.

But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I have mentioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make themselves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.

So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.

With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let’s just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.

So once again, what is search engine optimization?
 Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site’s existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.

Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.

You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site’s content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.

You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.

Try to search the internet for any useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.

If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.

Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result in better traffic and more business for your site and company.


Click here for the top in online training to get you earning in as little as three weeks from now.

Facebook as a marketing tool

Today's post is all about Facebook as a marketing tool for your home business, be it a website you're trying to promote, your writing services, or a product you're promoting online.

5 Tips For Using Facebook To Draw Traffic

Facebook Fan Pages can be a very useful tool for drawing massive traffic to your websites, Facebook page or blog. Fan pages are better than profile pages because of the ability to have “Fans” which will constantly be updated on their feeds by whatever you post on your Fan page.

The way to draw massive traffic through a Fan page is by getting your Fans to interact with the content you post on your Fan page. Here’s a few techniques for making that happen:

-Ask questions.One way is by simply asking questions of those who ‘like’ us on Facebook. Every day or two we pose a simple question that asks readers either for their opinion, to share an experience that they’ve had, to tell us something about the stuff they are interested in and so forth.

-Highlight important updates. The benefit of highlighting what’s happening on your Facebook page is it boosts the numbers of responses to the questions that you ask. Also, people who just joined the page can get into the latest updates on the site.

-Start a landing page. Just like how the usual landing page or opt in page works on your website, you can include one on your fanpage and encourage people to “like” the page so that they can get a free download to a free gift. This can help you to build your subscriber list fast and send them back to the Fan page for more updates.

-Advertise on Facebook. Advertise on Facebook and draw passive traffic into your Fan pages (preferably send them to your landing page). The more “Likes” you get, the more your business will get exposure on the newsfeeds of the fans and the more traffic you will get.

-Provide lots of useful content and send them to your blog. Use the Facebook Fan page as an “outpost” for your fans to get updates on latest blog posts or news on your website and encourage them to visit your website.

How To Use Facebook For Branding Purposes:

Whether you’re a high flying millionaire, an artist, a community person or a leader, Facebook offers a very useful platform for branding yourself among your audience. This platform is none other than the function called Facebook Fan pages.

If you scour Facebook you’ll pretty much bump into all sorts of Facebook fan pages catered to artists, local businesses and organisations.

 Here’s how you can start up your own Fan page for branding purposes:

Starting a Facebook Fan Page is free of charge. Simply scroll to the bottom of Facebook and select “Create A Page”. Once you’ve set up a page, enter in all the details pertaining to yourself or the figure you wish to brand. Make sure it is congruent yourself as not to confuse others. If you have a local business, set up a local business page and put in stuff such as contact information, maps, or post photos of your business logo.

Once you’ve set up your page, kindly invite your fans and existing customers to join you there. From there you can post updates, share interesting news or talk about your daily life if you wish to share it with your fans and followers.

Get them to interact with you and know you at a more personal level. Get existing customers to post testimonials or reviews of products of you have. These will serve as amazing social proof for others who wish to buy your products.

You can also organise competitions to create hype and get your followers involved. Get the news out to your followers using your Fan page and you’ll be swimming with new leads in no time.

Remember, if you wish to successfully brand yourself, you’ll have to connect with your followers at a personal level and show that you too, are like them

How to grow your business using video

Hi Homeworkers!

This post is a bit of advice on how to grow your business, be it online or offline.

How To Grow Your Business Virally Using Videos

We all have 24 hours in a day. The amount of leads we can generate in our business is limited to how much time we have, or is it? There’s one way to attract tons of leads and grow your business faster than ever – Through the power of viral marketing.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can grow your business virally using videos. Viral marketing is the marketing of word of mouth (or online sharing) which helps you grow your online business by leaps and bounds in a short amount of time.

With the emergence of social sharing video sites such as YouTube, people can easily upload videos for free and reach a wide audience in a short amount of time. The key is in creating good viral content which makes people want to share it.

Make some funny videos related to your content, hire a professional to make a cool video or if you have some skills in video editing, try making something cool yourself. Then, post up the video on YouTube and get people to view it.

Blast your video to your email list, ask your friends to watch it and encourage your viewers to share it with their friends. The more people that share or view it, the higher ranking it will get in the video search engine and hence, more people will see it in return.

Keyword research is also very important. In your video description, make sure you include keyword rich descriptions inside. This is because YouTube ranks very high in the search engines, so the more targeted your keywords are, the easier people can find your content and help your videos get higher viewership.

Most importantly, don’t forget to include a link in your description to a website of your online business or include a call to action at the end of your video.

Getting more visitors to your blog or site

Hi All,

Today my post is all about increasing your visitors to your blog or website. As traffic is the lifeblood of any website or blog, I've done another post about this  here

 This blog about working from home, being your own boss, and living the dream !


Chatting your Way to Increased Website Traffic

Millions of people are drawn to the websites every day just to chat.  Chatting is one of the most popular activities done by those using the web.  Many people admit that once they begin chatting, they become almost addicted to it.  The average online “chatter” will log on at least once a day for a chat.  Although there is no definite reason why people love this form of communication, there is something to be learned by their behavior.  When it comes to your website traffic, you may be able to utilize this chat “addiction” to increase website traffic.  There are two main ways you can use chatting to help your site.  One involves less startup time, but more maintenance time by you.  The other involves a longer startup time, but less maintenance.  Consider these ideas and begin using chatting to help your website increase traffic immediately.

If you are interested in using the chat audience, then you can certainly log in a few hours a day delivering advertisement to them.  This basically means that you can go into chat rooms with the purpose of posting your website link into the chat.  You can do this randomly, hitting a room, posting the link without prompt from other chatters, and leaving to another room.

Remember to contribute something to your audience, this is the best way to reach the largest number of chatters. The best way to do this is to join rooms that relate in some way to your website and its content.   However, by doing this, you will likely annoy some chatters, which is not good for your website.  You can decide whether the risk is worth it or not.

You can also be more personal about your advertisements.  This will call for going to rooms where you think the most selective targeted audience may be located.  For instance, if your website is about music, then you may want to visit chat rooms with music themes.  Once you engage in conversation a bit, you can freely and casually bring your website link into conversation.  You may gain more respect with this approach but you will likely not have as large of an audience as with the random posts.  If you are an avid chatter, then also consider adding your website link to your chatting profile.  As you chat, others in the room will be looking at your profile, without you even knowing they are doing so.  This is a subtle, but effective way to use chatting to help increase your website’s traffic.  Those that view your profile will likely want to check out your site and may even tell others about it as well.

Another way to use chatting to increase website traffic is by adding a chat element to your website.  This will likely take quite a while to set up.  Adding chat to your room is not the simplest thing to do.  It can however be a great way to draw people into your website.  This is especially true if your website is about a specific hobby, passion, or job.  If you have a retail site, it is unlikely that chat would be appropriate.  However, if your site is about stock tips, then a chat room would enable traders to discuss tips and information with each other, which would likely keep them and their friends coming back frequently.  One thing to remember however is that you should always monitor your website’s chat area every once in a while.  It would be unfortunate to have chatters using your room inappropriately or abuse certain policies you have placed upon chatters.  This would only make your website look unprofessional.

Using chatting to help increase website traffic is a free way to advertise.  If you do chat often, you have likely seen other chatters using this delivery as well.  Take note on which methods of chat delivery is most attractive to you when you see others doing the same thing.  This will allow you to have a view on both sides of the issue and likely help you to create a plan that is more effective.

  The more time and effort you put into this task, the faster you will see results, so go ahead and
  TAKE ACTION today!

Search Engine Optimisation

Hi All,

Today being New Year's Eve, I would like to wish you all the best for the coming year, keep writing and above all keep that dream of working for yourself  from home alive.

 Today's post is all about search engine optimisation, or SEO.

Baby Steps To Good SEO Practices

  Search Engine Optimization or SEO, is the art of getting your website or blog on the front page of Google Search for specific search terms. In this article, I will cover a couple of basic SEO steps which you can learn and apply to your online business instantly.

Keywords and keyword phrases. Keyword phrases are niche specific words that people search for. For example, a keyword could be something like “dog training” (2 keywords). A keyword phrase is a short phrase which contains the keywords you are targeting such as “house training for dogs”. Basically, you want to target these high search volume keywords and key phrases and use them in your blog posts or article frequently.

Your job is to find a right balance in keyword density. If you overuse keywords in your website, your website will come off as spam by the search engines. Try to keep density within 2-3% to be safe.

Are you the Authority site on the net? In general, Google gives pages with lots of quality back links, high traffic volume and social interactions such as blog comments a good page ranking. These kind of sites are referred to as “Authority sites”. Your job is to make your website become the authority site by adopting good SEO practices.

Tips for writing – As a general rule of thumb, include your keyword inside the title and on the first paragraph of the body. Whenever possible, bold or italicize the keyword or key phrase that you are targeting.

Finally, you should fill up your website with good, relevant content as the Google spider crawlers are getting smarter and smarter at picking up what’s fluff and what’s not. Adopt these good SEO practices and you’ll be on your way to tons of traffic.

Please feel free to leave a comment below or leave your email and I  will get back to you!

Using Youtube to gain traffic

Hi ,
It's time to talk traffic! Traffic is the term used online to describe the visitors to your site.
Today I've got a few tips for you about using social media to get more traffic to your site, and  we'll begin with Youtube.
If you  need help and are suffering from information overload as a beginner online then go here for the best and most affordable training online, it will have you earning three weeks from the day you register.

YouTube Tips For Marketing Your Business Using Videos

YouTube is the 2^nd largest search engine in the world and is the largest video search engine in the world. It is also currently owned by Google – The largest search engine in the world (as of 2011). Right now, there are millions of videos being viewed everyday and if you don’t tap into YouTube as a source of traffic and marketing medium for your business, you’ll potentially be leaving tons of money on the table.

Let’s look at some YouTube tips for marketing your business. The best way to market your videos is through viral videos. Viral videos are cool, interesting and valuable videos that make people want to share them with their friends. Thankfully, YouTube allows for easy sharing on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, and also allows fans to subscribe to a video channel for the latest updates.

Get a video up onto YouTube and tweak it accordingly. Make sure at the end of your videos there is a call to action so that you can tell your viewers to take the next action such as visit a website or follow you on Facebook or Twitter.

In the description area, always include your link to your website on the first line of the first paragraph. This helps improve SEO and gets a free backlink to your website. It is also the first thing people see when they watch the video.

In your description area, make sure you include high search volume keywords so that people can find your content easily. YouTube ranks high in the search engines so by putting your content on YouTube, it makes your stuff much easier to find.

Last but not least, promote your videos to your list of followers. The more people that view your videos, the more eyeballs it will get because YouTube will feature more popular videos in the front of the searches.

Next post will cover use of Facebook to market your site,

so until then, keep dreaming the dream :-)

Newbie marketers and struggling writers go here

Tips for online newbies

Hi everyone,

Here's the top ten tasks and tips I recommend to help you set up a blog or website for yourself online:
To get the best training online that will take you in an amazing three weeks to earning money go  here

1. Pick a niche.

 This can be about a passion or hobby of yours, but if your hobby is something obscure then it's likely not going to attract a lot of visitors to your blog or site!
 A good tip to help in choosing a niche, is to keep on the look out while going about your day to day business, chatting to friends about what their interests are,and asking them what they are likely to go searching for online .Checking out Trends on Google  can also give you some ideas.
Bear in mind though, if you're interested yourself in the subject matter, it makes it a whole lot easier to write about!
If you're a beginner in the online world, taking part in a good training course is highly advisable, you will save yourself  many months, even years, of heartache, frustration and timewasting. Go here for the best one on the web.

2. Choose and register a domain name.

The name should preferably include a word or words relating to your chosen niche, this is to make it easier for your site/blog to be found by the search engines.
For example, if you choose to write about dogs, then Allaboutdogs.com would be a good domain name.
I recommend www.namecheap.com

3. Hosting.

Hosting companies basically provide a place for you to store your files from your website,  a good hosting company will ensure your site is online and available for 99.9% of the time, so it is always advisable not to choose free hosting companies as they can disappear at anytime, and therefore so will your site.
I am using Google's Blogger.com to write this blog, it is free, and is a perfect way to hone your skills until you feel ready to invest some money into your online business.

4. Research your topic.

It is vitally important you know your subject matter, it really isn't good enough to find something online relating to your chosen  niche and then copy/pasting it onto your own site. This is plagiarism and most search engines will eventually penalise you for this by shutting down your site.

5. Outsourcing.

If you're not so good at the writing side of your business, this can be outsourced for a small fee to reliable places online like Elance.com, but sourcing articles on the cheap can be fraught with difficulties. The quality of your outsourced content  will need to be proof-read by you to make sure it is free from spelling and grammatical mistakes, and in my experience it is far more productive to write your own content.

 Practice writing about your niche regularly, and you will find that over time it becomes easier, the content will be original and fresh, and not to mention the fact that you are actually honing another skill to add to your skillset.

6. Take action.

Lots of newbies spend hours online researching  their next move. You can spend days finding newer and 'quicker' ways to make that first buck online. There are hundreds of products out there promising you riches in very short periods of time, all while taking your money, only for you to find they never really fulfill their  promise.
 There is no fast way to making money online, but nothing will happen for sure if you don't actually take any action on what you have learned.
Follow these steps, learn as you go, and don't waste any of your money on the false promises of some of these so-called gurus who promise you thousands in your first six months.

7. Stay focused.

Don't start more than one project at once. This will only divide your energies when what is required is consistency and focus for the first month to six weeks, solely on your new site, to get it established on a firm foundation.
 Add fresh original content on a regular basis to draw attention to your site from the search engine spiders, whose raison d'etre is to promote and encourage original, genuine and new content on the web.

8. Be consistent.

Don't just register your domain, get hosting, make one post on your site and then sit back. The key to success is consistency. Post some articles every three or four days, once a week to ten days if you're working full-time, just make sure you keep it regular. With patience you will see your archive (previous posts) building and this in itself can be a huge motivator. There's nothing quite like seeing your writing in print online for all to see :-).
 Use spellcheck and make sure to read over what you've written as nothing looks worse than badly written content, it screams 'I couldn't care less'  to your visitors.


9. Information overload.

This can be the number one reason why newbies fail to make a start online. The amount of information out there can be totally overwhelming resulting in confusion and procrastination. When starting out working from home or just setting up a site for yourself, a certain amount of self discipline is required to maintain your focus.
Set an allotted time for tasks such as reading your emails, checking out some online competition in your niche, researching your topic etc. If you don't do this, surfing away from the task in hand is all too easy, and next thing you know, two hours have passed with absolutely nothing concrete achieved in that time.
Set some goals on a daily basis for yourself,  it's a major confidence booster when they are achieved.  This is vital when starting out in an online business, which can be quite daunting at first, but once you begin to see your goals being met you will find it easier to keep that momentum going.

10. Be yourself.

Visitors to your blog in particular will empathise more readily with a blog which 'speaks' to them. Write as if you were actually speaking to somebody, your writing will stand out and will appeal to your readers encouraging them to return.  At the end of the day, unless you are just passing time and are not interested in eventually making some money, these visitors will become the lifeblood of your website.
The visitors you get to your site are called 'Traffic' and I will discuss  in a later post the best ways for you to increase traffic to your site.

Hope you find these tips useful,  until next time ,

keep dreaming the dream of working for yourself from home!




Newbies go here

Using link exchange for gaining traffic

Hi everyone,

Wow did my meetings with fellow online marketers get me motivated or what!! It really does benefit both you and your work at home colleagues to meet up once in a while.
I learnt there are many different avenues to take when working for yourself from home, if you decide to set up your own website, then here are some tips I picked up during the last week -

Link Market - Free Link Exchange, Link Building and Link Trade
Have you ever tried to exchange links, link building, or trade links? Was it hard? Use Link Market instead; - it is easy to use, free and very smart. It will save you hours of work.

When used sensibly, website link exchanges can draw an exceptional amount of website traffic and greatly increase your search engine outcome. Nevertheless, remember that too many link exchanges can be harmful. You do not want your website clogged with other website links. This can look tacky and cause visitors to turn away from your website almost immediately. You can write to other website owners and ask them to place a link from their website to yours, but there are a few rules of etiquette you should follow. When you ask another website owner to place a link on their website, remember you are asking them for a favor. They are under no obligation to comply. If you are asking this favor from a website with more traffic than your own, this can greatly improve your link popularity and generate more website traffic your way.

If you decide to become a member of a website club that exchanges links, do your research carefully. Here are the top five tips to get you started with your website link exchange:

1. Show respect. When asking another person to place a link for your website on his or her website, be sure to ask nicely. It is very important to remain respectful. Never sound demanding or brag about how great your website, products or services are and how the person you are asking would benefit from granting you this favor. Do not make it sound like they need you. Also, do not ask many questions or attempt to flatter the recipient of your request. This may make them to delete your email inquiry immediately. Your request should only run between 2 - 6 sentences, not half a page. Be polite when asking, but do not over do it. You do not want to sound like a fraud.

2. Make sure you proofread your request. Before sending out a request to another website, check your grammar and spelling. You want the recipient to see you as a professional, not as a person who cannot spell correctly. Spelling errors and bad grammar can kill any opportunity to promote your website quickly. Avoid using slang in your request. Nothing can be more distracting and annoying than a poorly written request.

3. Send your request from your website’s professional email address, not your own email address. It is unprofessional to request this favor from a personal email account or a free email account. For example, if your website is www.lovemydog.org, then send your prospective link associates your request through the website’s email address: contact@lovemydog.org. Do not use your own personal account or a free email account.

4. Have a nice, high quality looking website. This will help you to look more serious and professional than a low quality generic looking web site. Also, be sure your website content looks professional and is free of any spelling or grammatical errors. Lose the clutter. Websites cluttered with ads can be distracting and hard to read.  Having an attractive website will also help encourage other website owners to be more willing to work with you. Working with a professional is more attractive than being associated with an amateur.

5. Before you ask for your link on another person’s website, you can offer to place his or her link on your website first. This can increase your chances of having the other website place your link to their site. It can be as simple as one hand washes another. Just make sure that whatever links you use on your website have similar content to your own. It is better to have the websites compliment each other rather than clash with each other.

Exchanging web links is a great way to increase traffic to your website by increasing “link popularity” which can have a major affect on where your website appears on search engines. The websites that exchange web links with you will surely heighten your link popularity. This is especially true when the websites you are exchanging web links with have similar content as yours.

You can increase your targeted website traffic by exchanging web links with other websites. This will increase your link popularity and drive more people to your website through the links. Now do your research carefully and make your list on who you would like to contact for web link exchanges. Be careful to follow these top five tips closely and write away!
These tips are for those who already have a website set up but are just starting out in the world of online marketing.

More in a few days but until then,

keep dreaming the dream!