RESEARCHING WORK AT HOME: What I've Learned In the Last 13 Years

RESEARCHING WORK AT HOME: What I've Learned In the Last 12 Years
By Kelly Land © 2006-2009 All rights reserved.

Finding your legitimate online business is becoming one of the best ways to earn an extra income. Many moms are turning to this popular alternative in order to bring in a paycheck and spend more time with their children. Can't blame them! Could work at home be your career? An internet job isn't as far fetched anymore. Companies post job offers all the time, that's job information that YOU need to know!

Just the basics of living have become so costly that many can't even afford to buy a house in this day and age. Keeping the lights on, the phone on and food on table are starting to feel like luxuries with the income crunch.

I've been there. I was a FULL time Radio personality (which I have a 4 year degree for). Even with the degree, experience and references.....I was making LESS than $20,000 a year doing the morning show by myself! I was given no benefits either. I brought in about $225 a week and daycare was $90! This was supposed to be the glamorous job I'd gone to school for and the life I had dreamed of....it was hardly that. With my paycheck and my husband's we were living paycheck to paycheck.

After my second child, I stayed one more year like this and when the station I was with went off the air....so did I! But I still needed to make money some how! I decided to research telecommuting and find other ways to make that the $400 a month I needed for our budget. That $400 was bare minimums too. There would be no ordering pizza or renting movies. It would be a TIGHT budget. I'm going to suggest here, that you give yourself a little cushion - because it sucks not having ANY money left over.

What I've Learned About Work at Home:

• Don't put all your eggs in one "work at home" basket! Think multiple streams of income.
• Apply for a work at home job with a resume and cover letter - like any other job.
• Don't expect to make $40,000 a year. It will be less in most cases.
• Adjust your budget before you quit your regular job. See what it's like.
• Direct Sales companies ask for start up fees! Deal with it. This is typical and reasonable. They are great ways to make money at home if you're ambitious and take it seriously! Whiners need not sign up because it does take ambition and gumption to build a business like this!
• Be leery of "make money fast" programs. Yes-there are many legit ones -but
  you'll want to be extra savvy researching.
• It can be lonely working at home... have a network of friends and activities.
• It can be hard on your child(ren). They get lonely and bored too. Make sure you are ready with things to entertain them and maybe even playgroups.
• Be ready to be pulled in a million directions - work at home is for the multi-tasker.
• If you're going the "create a website" route -be original. Simply copying someone else's concept or material is a no-no. Eventually it'll catch up with you and maybe even get your site banned.
• Create a work at home job! Look around your community for ideas. Day care, typing service, errand service etc. For example - if you're a paralegal in an office right now - maybe you could be one at home for an attorney more open to telecommuting? Lawyers aren't the only ones turning to virtual assistants!

Don't get discouraged. Sometimes the right work at home option for you doesn't show itself right away. I invested tons of money into trying to start a gift basket business. Huge flop. Not sure what I was even thinking?? It didn't even really suit my personality and delivery the baskets was so hard to do with little kids and working around nap time.

So don't let your first venture into work at home be the only venture if that first one doesn't work out.
Just regroup and fine tune your plan.

Project Payday - A Legit Method to Make Money at Home

I have included Project Payday on my blog for all of my readers who write in asking if there are any legit online programs that they can use to make some quick money. Project Payday is not a get rich quick scheme - it is more like a work at home job. You don't need a blog or website as it involves getting paid to try out trial offers from online advertisers. There is work to this but you can realistically earn a couple of hundred dollars a day if you want to put in the effort.

I have written several posts about this and suggest you start with this one. Project Payday

Unfortunately Project Payday is only available to American users at this time.

CashCrate is another similar program and they do accept non-American residents. (A decent selection for Canadians) If you are American then you will benefit the most as they have a lot of offers for you. Btw - it's free to join.

Email Marketing: How to Make Money With List Building

One of the biggest weapons of Internet marketing, is email marketing. Apart from the relentless spam mail you may receive from email marketing, it shows to be an effective technique in modern day marketing. If you had a targeted list of leads to play around with, you will soon realize the true power of email marketing and how you can turn first time buyers to returning buyers.

The Key to Email Marketing

The idea of email marketing is to find targeted quality leads. This doesn’t mean you should go strolling around the web, trying to find an out of date list of supposedly 25,000 targeted emails to spam messages to, but rather, build up a list of leads 1 by 1 your self. What determines the success of email marketing is the quality of the emails in the list, rather than just the big numbers. The key to email marketing is totaling up the number of quality leads, that are already generally interested in the product your trying to promote. If there were a choice of 250 quality leads opposed to 2,500 leads, I’d go with the 250 quality leads in a heartbeat. That brings us to the next step, methods on how to find quality leads.

Methods on How to Find Quality Leads

The thing about email marketing that makes it so unique opposed to other styles of marketing like search engine optimization, is that email marketing generally turns viewer curiosity into buyers, whether it to be through video, through text, through audio, whatever, they make use of all of these opportunities to contribute on to their list and you should too. Here are some great methods to attract more subscribers to add onto your list.

• Offer a free e-book, or something enticing to give a reason for new readers to subscribe to your newsletter.
• Use video marketing in effect to your list building campaign.
• Carry on using web 2.0s like Squidoo, to contribute to your list of subscribers.
• Make use of popular article directories like EzineArticles, that have potential leads.
• Attract viral attention from social networks like Digg or Stumble Upon.
• Optimize to rank higher in the search engines.
• Look for leads offline.

The Best Part: Monetizing the List

After you have pulled through a couple of strings to get a reasonable amount of subscribers, your next response is to monetize off your list! Now, your first instance, may be to start sending messages right away, however, you don’t want to pester your list and scare away the targeted subscribers that you worked so hard to earn, but rather, savor that power. Timing is always a complex issue for most marketers as they want to make money now, but you must realize that you are dealing with people who put forth their personal information just to hear what you have to say. And the moment they subscribe and they see 10 messages being sent to them everyday, is the moment they will unsubscribe and worst of all, have a bad impression of you as a marketer. Supply a reasonable amount of messages that follow a certain routine that seems ethical and stand by it. To create a long lasting profit with your list, you must also learn how to maintain it. Being too hasty will just get you nowhere.

Here are some great affiliate networks you can join for free to promote products that are somewhat relevant to your listeners’ interests.

• ClickBank
• ShareaSale
• CommissionJunction

Maintaining Your List: How to Make Your Subscribers Happy

Probably the most hardest temptation of them all, is to not do anything at all, when you got hundreds, possibly thousands of potential leads. However, patience is also a key factor of marketing. The best thing you can do for your subscribers on top of my head at this moment, is to filter out the useless junk messages and only leave room for messages that are worth sending, sent. No one likes on-going junk mail that becomes so repetitive, that people begin to not to take you seriously anymore. Once that happens, is the moment you see declines in sales and the # of subscribers. If your subscribers are happy, so are your sales.

Forex Trading is Another Online Money Making Opportunity

If you are passionate about investing, then Forex trading will probably be an interesting subject to you. But if you don’t know much about Forex trading, you may want to look into it because it is one of ways that can help you make money online. The way of profiting with Forex trading works much the same way like stock trading. Buy low sell high or sell high buy low. Either way you'll make money.

The Forex is a worldwide market opening 24 hours a day; closing in weekend. Anyone can enter into Forex market anytime to trade currency. And getting started is easy. All you have to do is open a mini forex account with a reputable Forex company such FXCM INC, FX Solutions, GFT Forex and many more.

To make money online from Forex trading, you need to profit consistently from most of your trades. There are numerous Forex technical analysis tools, charts and strategies that can help you out on this. But it will take some time to learn how to apply them.

A fast way to do it without having to learn much about the technical analysis and charting is by trading based on Forex signals given by the experienced Forex traders. A Forex signal will tell you exactly when to buy or sell a currency pair. Accurate Forex signal will make you profit constantly. Speaking about accurate Forex signals, Vahid from Forexoma.com is a guy who has done well in providing forex signals.

Vahid has been trading currency for a living for the last couples of years. He has gained loads of knowledge and experiences in Forex trading. His Forex trading signals are working smoothly so far. You can have a look at his performance reports of the last two months to see how well his trading signals in generating profit.

If you are new in Forex and want to experience profiting with Forex, I suggest you give Vahid's Forexoma Live Market Analysis program a try. Joining the program, Vahid will send you Forex signal in daily basis to let you know when to buy or sell for potential profit.

You don't have to put in real money first. Just go to any of the reputable Forex companies, sign up for a practice account and you can start trading Forex right away following Vahid's trading signals. This is a way to test whether Vahid's trading signals are really accurate most of the time.

If you are getting favourable result from the signals and becoming more confident on the program, then you may start putting in money to trade for real profit.

Moreover, the Forexoma Live Market Analysis program isn't just providing trading signals, you will also get a lot of other useful materials like daily market analysis reports, trading system and training videos. All these materials will help you pick up more about Forex and sharpen your trading skill while you are using the signals. With more knowledge and experience in Forex, you'll be able to develop your own trading strategies then.

Is Forex Trading For Everyone?

For those who like Forex, it will be exciting to enter into Forex market, use the analysis tools and chart to find out when to buy or sell their favorite currency pairs and watch their profit grows.

However, there is financial risk involved in Forex trading. If you don't make profit from a trade, it means you suffer a loss. So, if you aren't the type of person who likes to take risk, then Forex trading isn't for you. And if you are really putting in your money to trade Forex, remember invest what you can afford to lose only.

Conclusion about Forexoma.com

Whether you are a complete beginner or already had some experiences in Forex trading, Forexoma is a useful resource site to you. You can sign up for the Forexoma Live Market Analysis program or just visit the site and read the published articles and tips that teach a lot of the basic and techniques of Forex trading.

Visit Forexoma now and learn how to make money online from forex trading.

Meeting the Challenges of Providing Freelance Services

Providing freelance services is not without its unique challenges. Forget those images you see of the work-at-home freelancer who becomes incredibly rich and only works a few hours each week. Providing freelance services is a business just like any self-employed profession and you need to be aware of the challenges you will face and have a plan of how to meet them. Once you know how to meet them and have success at it, freelancing becomes an even more enjoyable and profitable venture. Here are some of the challenges you will probably face and some suggestions of how to meet them.

Get over the shock of how difficult the work can be. Too many new freelancers go into it thinking that they will have set or reduced working hours but quickly find out that the opposite is the norm. This is especially true when first starting out and trying to build a market presence and client base.

Another reason why the work volume increases is because the freelancer has to handle all business functions from product creation to billing. In other words, both support and profit-making tasks must be handled by the same person and the result is extended hours on the job. The best way to meet this challenge is to stay organized by not collecting stacks of paper, having a good filing system, and taking the time to plan and set goals. This way you not only stay on track but know how to find the tools and information when you need them.

Being alone at work is a new challenge for many freelancers. A new freelancer is excited at first at being in solitude and quiet thinking that his or her productivity will soar to new heights. But in just a short time, a cabin fever effect sets in and the freelancer begins to miss the water cooler gossip, lunch breaks with coworkers, and even the annoying busybody. It's tempting to get on the telephone and call those you worked with before and chat for several hours wasting both your time and theirs. The best way to meet this challenge is to be a mobile freelancer. Get out and go for a walk or exercise occasionally. If you are freelancing using a notebook computer, such as is with writing, go have a cup of coffee at a coffee shop and take it with you. You'll find that by taking small breaks and moving around that your day will be more productive.

Pricing can be somewhat of a challenge in the beginning. What many freelancers do in the beginning is quote lower than usual prices for their services or products in order to gain entry into the market. This is known as penetration pricing and it is a technique that will give you initial sales but cannot be sustained for long. Keeping prices too low can put you out of business. Eventually, you should develop a strategy of not quoting your prices up front but first communicating to the client what they will get if they choose your product or service. Establish the value first and then quote the price. Otherwise you will always be quoting too high or too low to your customer.

How To Make Money With Ebook Kits

If you have been researching ways to make money online you probably know that selling informational products such as ebooks, reports, audio, video etc. is one of the most common and lucrative internet business models online.

However, the problem is that most of the ebooks you find online are junk and it seems almost every “Tom” “Dick” and “Harry” is selling ebooks some way or the other – and most of these people are making small pocket change if anything at all.

Why Most Ebook Sellers Fail

• Ugly Graphics: Have you seen most of the ebook cover graphics out there? They look like a 2 year old designed them. Would you go to a bookstore and buy a book that had an ugly cover? I didn’t think so. The same applies online. The ebook cover has to look great.

• Ugly Web Pages: even most of the web pages/sales letters for these ebooks look extremely unprofessional. When people come to your web page they must feel secure knowing that you look very professional online with a nice looking web page.

• Selling Single Low Quality Ebooks: most ebook sellers market ebooks that have no substance behind them. It is very hard to convince someone to pay $20 for one single electronic document. On the other hand, some sellers practically give ebooks away for $1 each which hardly pays the rent.

A better alternative is to market Ebook Kits …

What Are Ebook Kits?

Forget about selling single ebooks. If you really want to make some ‘real’ money you should be selling ebook kits. As opposed to a single ebook, ebook kits are a collection of ebooks all packaged into a kit. This gives the product a much higher perceived value.

Think of it this way. What if I came up to you and made you an offer with two options. As a first option I offer you one bag of peanuts at a cost of $1. With the second option I offer you a whole gift basket, which includes a bag of peanuts, cheese, candy, and a bottle of wine all for $1 as well. Which one would you rather buy?

Well, ebook kits work on the same principal. The prospective buyer feels like they are getting much more for their money when they buy a kit that includes several ebooks on the topic as opposed to just getting one ebook.
How To Market Ebook Kits

There are many ways you can market ebook kits. Here are just a few of them:

• Sell Ebook Kits Using Ready-Made Email Lists & Ezines
• Sell Ebook Kits On Ebay
• Sell Ebook Kits Using Facebook
• Sell Ebook Kits Using Craigslist
• Sell Ebook Kits Via Forums, Message Boards, and Online Groups
• Sell Ebook Kits Using Articles
• Sell Ebook Kits via a Blog
• Build A Huge Email Opt-in List By Giving away Ebook Kits
• Offer Ebook Kits as free bonuses when they purchase your other products and increase your online sales.
Author Bio

Richard O’Neil is a great example of someone who has achieved success with his ebook kits business. He has documented his exact methods in a free guide called: “How I Make $3,850 Per Month With Ebook Kits”. It shows you exactly where you can get hot selling ebook kits and how to market them successfully.

Intro to Work at Home Jobs

Work at home jobs are jobs that usually require you to use your computer. They are in high demand because there are lots of people that want to work from the privacy of their own homes. Stay at home moms, teens and disabled people are just a few examples of people that would like to work at home to gain some extra money. Working at home using your computer will not replace your day job (at least for most people). It will however provide you with an extra source of income.

Work at Home Jobs

Some of the more popular work at home jobs include blogging, paid surveys and affiliate marketing. These are popular because they are proven to work, and you control how much money you make. Blogging can be a great way to make money because of the awesome potential that it has. Look at Darren Rowse for example. He makes his income blogging. Affiliate marketing is another good way to make money online. A good place to start is with a site called ClickBank. They pay you to promote other peoples products. You get a commission every time someone buys one o your promoted products. Paid surveys are great for beginners. They pay you to take surveys about various products. These three ideas are a great place to start if your looking to work at home.

Beware of Scams

A simple Google search for the phrase “work at home” yields over 320 million results. Beware of work at home scams. One of the most common work at home scams is make money posting links with Google. This is also called the Google Scam. Beware of any jobs that require you to buy a kit or pay a small fee in order to sign up. These kind of sites will be scams almost 100% of the time. There are plenty of free opportunities out on the world wide web today. There is no need to chase the latest scam.

Finding Work at Home Jobs

There are tons of work at home jobs out there that can make you money. When searching for work at home jobs make sure you do your research. Find out what has worked for others. Dig a little deeper into things to ensure that you will be successful. Proper research and a little caution will ensure that you will find a good work at home opportunity that suits you well.

Author Bio:
I have had some success with work at home sites. I started with CashCrate and. This is a great place to start because its free and only requires a user to be 13 in order to sign up.