Online Income Possibilities

As the year draws to a close, it feels right to do a summation of how things have progressed. To be honest, starting this blog was done as a exercise in getting started (on the cheap) in the world of online business. Granted, it has been a heck of a learning curve (and still learning), but overall it's been fun and interesting.

New Products
In the upcoming year, I will try to make a point of at least trying out 1 new product per month that relates to running a online business. This will mean that I'll give the product a good test run, and then report back if it is worth spending your money on. The good thing about the majority of the products I'll be test driving is that they offer a money-back guarantee. I probably won't be asking for my money back on any of them as long as they can do one thing for me.

Teach me something new and of value. Regardless of the purchase price, if the material can show me something that is of value to me, then the price is worth it.

Comparison to Higher Level Education

I've used this analogy before, but consider the costs involved with going to college to be a lwayer. You will have your initial tuition fees, and then your book fees. What guarantee do you have that you will succeed as a lawyer?

None. They will tell you that if you work hard, and apply yourself, then you should do well enough to be able to enter the 2nd year. More tuition fees, book fees, apply yourself, work hard...and then on to your 3rd year. After you mamage to complet the course, you still have to pass the bar exam for your state.

After all of that, you still haven't landed your first client.

Running a online business isn't quite that complicated. You are still going to have start-up costs, and you should make a point of trying to stay current with any literature that can assist you in promoting and running your business. Just keep in mind that if you expect to be rich overnight, then you are in for disappointment.

I've done a previous post on the subject of article writing as a way of making money online. In that post, I provided a link to a product that I felt would help those (like myself) who wanted to be able to write better articles.

Write top quality articles for your website. Click here for more information

I'm not just recommending this product, I've actually bought it myself, and I do make regular use of it. I've mainly used it to help in creating articles I've used for this blog when it came to subjects that I had some knowledge in. Those of you who may have read that earlier post may think (and rightfully so) that it's a good idea, but why bother?

There are 2 sites online that will pay you for well written articles. I will provide the links to those and what is required. There are only 2 of many possible places that will pay you for your writings.

Yes, there is a catch. Mainly that they aren't going to buy just anything that you decide to toss out to them. It would be very nice if it worked that way, but life seldom goes the way we want. Before giving in to despair, both places will tell you upfront what is required in articles submitted.



Personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/pay-per-post-we-buy-articles

Now, the above link goes to a payday loan business. Here is a brief description from them about their article buying process:
"Normally we price articles at about $0.05 cents per word to a maximum of $25 per article. For those who submit articles and whose articles develop a readership or attract a significant amount of other sites linking to our own, we then may pay more to motivate that author to produce more content. Depending on your skill level, it may not be difficult to write one 525 word article."

So, you already know that they will mainly be interested in articles about the loan business. They even provide the keywords that they want in submitted articles, and where they should be placed. I submitted a article a few days ago (having made use of my copy of the article wizard) and received the following yesterday:
"Hi,

We have been reviewing your submitted article and are very interested in it. Can you resubmit it through a return email to this address? Thanks."

Thank goodness I'd saved a copy of the silly thing. I resubmitted it to the attached address, and I'm waiting for the reply now. I'll post again if I get the sale. If so, then I would have made back almost 40% of the purchase price of the software with 1 sale.

elance.com

With elance.com, this is more of a specific detail per article deal. Once you go to their site, you'll navigate thru the tabs for "Find Work", "writing and translation" and finally to "Article writing". Once you're there, you'll see numerous article writing jobs that are up for bid. The person wanting the articles will state what they want, and then prospective writers will respond with how much they want to be paid for the job. Obviously the person with the lowest bid will most likely get the job, but those with good rating can ask for more.

If you are knowledgeable in the subjects, or have a good skill for research, then these should be easy for you to do. Please feel free to go there now and see just what is available for you.

Once again, if you are interested in this area as a way of making money online, but feel your skills are lacking, I do recommend using the Article Wizard. Once again, here is the link:

Write top quality articles for your website. Click here for more information

In online advertising, one of the problems you’ve come across (aside from what to sell) is generating keywords (adwords) for your business’ advertising campaign. You obviously want these keywords to properly represent your business, but you also want to cover areas that don’t immediately spring to mind. You’ve probably already seen information that says to make a list of over 1,000 keywords, and others that say just a few keywords that really sell your idea.

Both of these areas are correct. You do want to have a few essential adwords. These will be at the heart of the business campaign. The additional adwords will help to draw attention to your business, and in a way that is really what advertising is about.

The amazing thing about the internet is that there are millions of people surfing the web at any given moment. This is the equivalent of millions of people walking by the door to a shop. If the shop doesn’t have a sign out front to catch the attention of the customer, that traffic will continue to just walk past.

The tools I will be discussing, when used separately, are excellent. But when they are used together as a system? The synergy is amazing! Your ability to sell should increase.

Bear in mind that when using Google (I say “Google” because they are rated as the #1 search engine), or any other search engine for your pay per click campaign, that you will be paying everytime someone clicks your ad. One of the tools I will be speaking about is avaialble, for free use, through Google. If you ever want to get a reference on how much you might have to pay per click of google ads for your business, this is the one to use.

https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox

This one is amazing. You enter, line by line, the main adwords you want to use. You can enter the amount to pay per click (or leave it blank if you want to know the amounts at max) and also the daily budget for your campaign. Another part that I find amazing is that it allows you to target the geographical areas for your ads. The results will show the potential amount of clicks, and the cost per day for those.

This next tool is also available online, and might fall into the category of secret information. I like to think (and maybe you do as well), that to be successful, you should try to copy success. If you’re in the business of making money online, then that means looking at the most successful online sellers, and then copying what they are doing. Here’s the tool to help you with that.

http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-density/index.php

Okay, what makes this one so amazing?
Simple, there are 2 ways it can be used to help you if you have advertising going to a web page or a landing/splash page. First, you can use it to analyze your own page and ensure that you have a good count of those words.

Now comes the secret part. Perform google searches (or whatever search engine you prefer) on some of your core adwords. Check for the top ads that seem to relate to your own business (or what you have to sell). Click those ads so that you end up at the advertisers page, and then copy the web address. Paste that address into the Keyword Density Analyzer Tool. Now you can get a fair indication of some of your competitor’s adwords.

Now, make a list of those, go back to the Traffic Estimator, and find out what it might cost you to use them.

At this point a magician might say “Ta-Dah”!

It might seem that this would be a difficult time to be starting up a new business, especially considering that it has been confirmed that we are in a recession (those of us in the USA). This is actually a very good time to get started, as I’ll explain.

People will be trying to get by without spending as freely as they once did. This means that they will not be calling on electricians when they need minor electrical/plumbing repairs done. Granted, for the really big jobs the call to the professionals will still happen, but for hanging a ceiling fan?

Two ideas spring to mind to meet those particular needs. The first (since I am partial to working online) would be to become a reseller of “How To” manuals for simple home repairs. If you check around you are bound to find a few e-books on the subject matter, in fact you could just act as the go-between for the buyer and the seller.

Another , hands on method, would to become a handyman. When I was a child, there was an older gentleman in my neighborhood. He would do minor repair work, and give a honest opinion if a professional should be called for the job. He did ceiling fan installation, minor plumbing…he even installed a water heater for my parents at one time. He would normally receive $30-$50 per job (which was less than half what professionals would charge). This might not seem like a lot, but he typically did about 20 jobs a week for a neighborhood consisting of 6 residential blocks. Those rates were also in 1970’s money.

Word of mouth was a wonderful promotion tool for him, and should always be a part of your own business plan. Get your customers to recommend you to their friends and family. Someone’s social network will always be better for the promotion of your business than simple advertising.

Let’s go to a much older idea for a home business. This one is really tied in to the downturn in the housing market. Take a walk thru your neighborhood. Check for the houses that have “For sale” signs on them, and no one living there. When you have a fairly decent list of these, contact the agency selling them houses (mostly it will be banks and mortgage companies). Find out who is in charge of those particular properties, and offer your services for general yard clean-up.

Inform them that you are available for mowing the grass, trash clean-up, and snow removal. Set a schedule for how often you will perform these tasks per month, and set a monthly fee. With a fee of only $40 per month, most will accept your offer. Why? because a house that looks well maintained will always sell more frequently than a house that looks “shabby”. In many cases your fee will be less than the possible fines a town might give for the grass not being mowed.

Once again, if you are fair with these organizations, they will spread the word for you, and supply you with additional business.

Effective advertising is a piece of a whole marketing strategy. Advertising should never be thought of as separate from marketing, simply because whenever a business advertises it is either supporting (or not supporting) the primary message and that defines the business. First and foremost, effective advertising is important for the product to reach various markets. Advertising catches the attention of the customer, however if its not going to be effective, its not going to serve the designated purpose.

The ability to reach your target market is the main goal .Your message has to have meaning for them, and the placement of your message is just as important. If your target group lives in a warm climate, an ad about enjoying a hot bowl of soup on a snowy day is not going to be the best of ideas. Targetted advertising is about participation. Effective advertising is one that causes the brand to be added to the consumers’ consideration set. The third factor , of course, is to lead to the consumers’ action, change attitudes and perception, and finally to purchase that brand. In a way, it’s a dance. The consumer is your partner, and is willing to go along with you as long as you are taking them where you both wish to go.

Considering that relatively few people are employed in the advertising industry, it can be amazing that businesses spend a lot of money on advertising. Buying the exposure time in the media does take up the bulk of the money- the most popular mediums are newspapers , television and radio . Business is involved with profit and concrete ways of achieving it. .

It was not expected for ads to do any actual, immediate selling. However, over the last decade-and-a-half, it has been demostrated that ads also have the power to persuade the consumer to buy. Advertisers advertise because competitors advertise, that is the main drive to advertise. If you can get away without advertising, save your money. In conveying new information, building awareness, (enhancing credibility, etc.) advertising has short-term power. The long-term power is seen by conveying brand image, attaching emotional values to the brand, building positive reputation, etc. The great power of advertising is seldom achieved in practice, but you shouldn’t give up.

One of the biggest expenses for any new business can be advertising, and for good reason. You can’t survive without effective advertising and effective advertising is expensive. This expense can be seen not only as money spent , but also in time spent researching. Advertising on the Internet is no different from other advertising media. It's a charge for each person who sees your message.

Internet ads are now following close behind. Website visitors will read and click on your advertisements when they are delivered in context with a specific search or area of interest. Your ad will be read when they read news in your product category.

Consumers will trust a feature in a reputable magazine (such as Car & Driver, or Consumer Reports) describing why the Ford Taurus is the best in its class more than they will a slick advertisement from Ford claiming that it stands above the competition. A reputation of safety wasn’e gained by Volvo through advertising. Before talking to a sales person, consumers prefer being informed , even if they plan on making their purchase off-line. An excellent example can be seen in the way that many car buyers are researching the fair price for the car they're interested in purchasing before they go to a dealership.

It should always be remembered that honest, congruent (and therefore effective) advertising is what we are seeking as a end result. From the profession and skill of advertising there are some valuable lessons to be learned . If the presented material treats the reader as intelligent, honest copy is more effective than "hype copy". Readers will believe honesty but see through hype.

Home based businesses have seen a dramatic increase in recent years. Many people are finding that working 9 to 5 is just not working as well as past decades. Home based businesses are flourishing. For many people the dream of being their own boss makes work at home employment their first choice. People are choosing to create their own jobs at home instead of traditionally seeking employment elsewhere.These businesses are now recognized as a viable source of new jobs and economic growth.

Among the difficulties facing home-based workers is that they often feel isolated from information and others with whom they could discuss home-based work issues. There are existing newsletters and many online support organizations provide a forum for discussions.

Home-based work requires a great deal of self-discipline, as we all have reason to know it can be difficult to get out of bed on a chilly morning. Home based businesses are fantastic for their flexibility, but you need to have the discipline to take time off and manage your time. Like many areas that we wish to succeed in, it can be a problem when find yourself so caught up in your business that you don’t take time for the other parts of your life.

For those who have children at home, there is the additional hazard of letting them know that, even though you are at home, you are still at work . Still, it is possible to schedule out time for them (and yourself, after all one of the resons you chose to work from home was to spend more time with family).

In practice, self-discipline is often difficult to test for in advance, unless the person has past experience in working from home, such as telecommuting positions or has been working as an independent contractor for some time.

While 2008 has brought new business challenges ( tighter lending standards, higher prices for energy and weaker consumer spending) a home-based business can tap the advantage of an agile, cost-efficient framework.

Thru experience, it has been shown that home-based businesses are no more risky (likely of going losing money/capital in the next 12 months) than non-homebased businesses. Experienced veterans in the field will tell you that when setting up a new business, one of the important things that can keep you going during the critical early days are encouraging signs. There is nothing more encouraging and inspiring than seeing small signs of success, such as your home based business starting to make some money or at least generating some sales and cash.

When thinking of ways to promote your new venture, online marketing is key to tapping into that success. Online marketing has shown itself to be the fastest growing flow of cash ever seen especially in this time of total financial panic. The cool thing about this is that you DON’T need your own product to promote.

Advertsing can basically be seen as a means to drive traffic to your business. In a teraditional retail business, the main idea is “LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION”. Online businesses (and advertisers) know that, world wide, there are hundreds of millions of people with internet access. This means that there are hundreds od millions of people in the form of “traffic” for your business. You just have to let them know you’re there.

Advertisers now have the ability to place their ads (text, banner, etc.) on very specific pages devoted to certain types of content and products. So if you are selling wool scarfs, you can have your ad appear on a site only when it is presenting an article on the wool scarf industry.

Advertising on the web is cheaper, and more flexible than traditional, offline ways. With the tools available thru the many search engines , advertising is also extremely measurable. It’s possible to see instant results on how well an ad camapign is doing, not only in terms of leads, but also actual sales.

Perhaps there are some special hobbies or talents that you possess, or maybe you’ve developed skills in areas such as writing or web design . You may even be a good salesperson, or have a drive to succeed; any of these gifts might be enough to start a home based business.