Home Business Resource Directory

Great Niche Website for Sale!!

2008-08-05T14:17:00.000-04:00

I am just WAY too busy for a site I created, Web Designing Moms. I am selling it on eBay. If you would like to learn more about it or make a bid, Click Here.

http://affiliate.wordtracker.com/r/699/a/155098/l/hp4kv6

Start a Home Business Writing...

2008-07-08T11:30:00.005-04:00

If you like to write and want to start a home business, or at the very least make a few bucks, writing may be the way to go. There is a VERY high demand for writers online. Website owners are looking for fresh content. They NEED it. Even those who write most of their own content look for fresh content. It is also a great way to help those who are selling a product or service. They need a good sales copy to promote their products and services.

3 main ways to earn money writing online

One: Freelance writing.

As a freelance writer, you will receive credit for your work. (If you have website or online business, submitting articles to places like ezinearticles.com can be a great way to add incoming links to your site or blog.) Depending on the size of the website you are writing for, the pay for freelancers may be small, or even non-existent. The exposure for your name and business may be all you get for your work. However, a good name is a great beginning to a lucrative and successful writing career.

Two: Ghostwriting.

Website owners hire ghostwriters to write articles for their website or blog, as well as special reports and eBooks that they sell or give away. The downside to this is that when someone ghostwrites an article for someone, they do not receive credit for it. Hence the term “ghost” in the name; the writer is invisible. The person paying for the work will receive the credit for it. This may not be a good thing for someone trying to build a good name for themselves in the writing industry.

On a good note, ghostwriters generally get paid very well for their efforts. The amount will vary from client to client. A beginning ghostwriter can expect to earn anywhere from $7 - $10 for a 450 to 500 word article. Once the writer has established their self and has a few regular clients, they can start charging more.

Three: CopyWriting.

Copy writing is a high paying form of writing. It is also the most specialized form of writing. Generally speaking, ghostwriters and freelance writers do not need any special skills other than being good writers. A copywriter however, needs to have a way with words and sales skills.

A copywriter can find work online writing advertisements and sales letters for the various websites and products found online. A copywriter will write this information in a way that makes the reader feel they cannot live without a certain product or service.

In closing, using a tool such as Writers Market and networking with other writers in forums will help you to find places that hire writers and you will gain knowledge to help you become more successful at your craft. There are also tons of freelance sites out there with job boards to help you find writing work. Once you get a good name for yourself, you may find people coming directly to you in hopes that you can complete a project for them.

Copyright © Home Business Resource Directory

http://affiliate.wordtracker.com/r/699/a/155098/l/hp4kv6

Choosing the Right Keywords is a MUST!

2008-07-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

Choosing the right keywords for your website is VERY important! Especially if you expect to receive any quality traffic. Without the right keywords, people may never find your site even if it has the exact information they are looking for.

Keywords play a big part in the way your site is ranked by search engines. You will want to make sure you use the right keywords to get those rankings up and bring those visitors in.

Tips to consider when trying to choose the right keywords:

1. Using a keyword tool such as WordTracker.com will help you to determine what keywords people are actually searching for in your niche, how stiff your competition might be for certain keyword phrases and can supply you with words you didn't think of.

2. A keyword that is searched frequently is not necessarily a keyword that you should use especially if you have a lot of competition. Think about who your competing with and possibly search for a better, less searched phrase to help target in on your market even better. Once you get more established, then you can take on the big shots.

3. Include several variations of your keyword phrases if possible. Don't go overboard though. People are looking for quality content and if you have articles on your site that has your keywords or phrases in it every other sentence they will most likely leave and never return!

These are just a few simple tips to get you started on the right foot with your keyword selections. You can find tons of information on choosing the right keywords as well as tips for using them correctly on your site by doing a search. Simply type in keyword tools, keyword selection, help with keywords, keyword training, and the like. You will find TINS of helpful information out there!

Copyright © Home Business Resource Directory

Secrets to Finding Your Perfect and Profitable Business

2008-07-03T14:20:00.001-04:00

Having your own business is the dream of many. You have the freedom to make all the decisions, hours and you could have the financial security that you desire. It’s all within reach. The first step is finding the type of business that is right for you... A business that you can put your whole heart into. A business that makes you excited...A business that will benefit you financially today and for many years to come. So what is that passion business?

Questions To Ask Yourself to Determine a Home Business

What do you love to do?

What do you desire to do most with your time? This is what will get you up in the morning and keep you motivated to overcome adversity. It’s your sense of purpose, your joy, and your motivation. It is at the core of who you are and it has been with you always.

To find your "business" passion, find a quiet location away from distractions. Close your eyes and imagine yourself working in your perfect job. What are you doing? Write it down.

What is keeping you from doing what you love?

Maybe you had trouble with the first question. Maybe nothing came to mind. If not then answer the following questions. Be sure and write them down. Writing them down makes them gives them more of a reality.

What would you do if you knew that you would not fail?
What would you do if money wasn’t a concern?
Who do you think you are – how do you label yourself?
What would you regret no doing before you die?
Lastly, what did you enjoy doing when you were a child?

Maybe too many answers have come to your mind. Or, you could be one of those fortunate people who has many things that get them excited. What now? Write them all down and rank them in the order that you find most enjoyable.

Any that you can’t see yourself doing 50 hours a week, or more, for the rest of your life? Cross them off. What’s left? Still too many? We’ll you’re a fortunate person! Hold on to that list and see how your answers fit into the next question.

Is there a type of customer you would find it easy to sell to?

Maybe you like people who:

Are in a particular occupation or industry.
With a particular hobby or recreational interest.
Are in a certain income bracket.
Are of a specific age, gender or background.

For example, maybe you’re an avid rock climber and would love to spend your days climbing but just can’t see a business in it. Maybe you could see yourself selling information and products about rock climbing because you enjoy speaking, and selling, to other climbers. Or, maybe you know enough about the topic to start an information type of business with a website.

What is your occupation?

Is there a need that you can solve there? What do your customers or colleagues complain most about? Could you start a business that solves that problem? Maybe you work for an alternative health corporation whose web site is always in need of editing, updating and their information, books, brochures, and the like are always behind schedule due to slow editing. Maybe you enjoy editing and have a great attention to detail. You could become a freelance editor and your old company could be your biggest client.

Do you have a hobby, talent or personal interest that could be turned into a home based business?

For example, maybe you’re an expert in breeding and training dogs. You could become a consultant in dog training. You could help people with puppies that still need to be house trained. You could write or sell books on the topic. You could start a blog or website about it. You could conduct podcasts or seminars about dog training You could even record How to train your dog videos and sell them.

Do you believe in a certain product or service that you might enjoy to selling?

Maybe you are an experienced mother and enjoy talking to other moms. Maybe you are a shopaholic and can share frugal shopping tips with readers. Maybe you love to hike and have a great base of knowledge about hiking equipment, you can become an affiliate marketer for a hiking or outdoors line or a store that sells related equipment. These are all opportunities to start your own business.

What is your personality type?

Do you like working alone, or with people? Do you prefer face-to-face contact, or phone and e-mail? Are you self-motivated or do you need to BE motivated? Are you organized? Do you prefer to work hands-on, or delegate? Are you patient? The answers, directly effect the type of business that is best for you. No matter how dedicated you are, if your personality clashes with the needs of your business, chances are you will not succeed. For example, if you decide that you want to be a consultant but you don’t like speaking in front of people, then it may be time to think of a new business idea.

What kind of lifestyle do you have?

Are you single/married? Do you have kids? If yes, are they older or younger? Do you have health issues that may limit you in certain areas? These too will affect your potential business. If your business will require a lot of travel or time away from home and you have a family, you may want to rethink your business idea to see if there is another way you can do it and not negatively affect your family, health, etc.

How much money will your business idea cost?

Will this new business require you to get an office or can you work from home? What form would you like your company to take (sole proprietorship, corporation, partnership, etc.)? Have you researched these options? Will you keep your job and work only part time at your business in the beginning? How will you find the finances to start your new business?

Do you have the determination to work for nothing?

Many businesses, may mean that you have to work on spec at first. Spec means that you create the copy and if the customer likes it, they buy it if they don’t well…you at least have a new piece for your portfolio. If your new business requires you to ease your way into it to gain experience, are you willing to work for free?

Also, there are some businesses that require time in order for a profit to be made. Are you willing to put forth the effort in the beginning for little or no monetary return?

Tips To Help You Make the Right Decision in Choosing Your Business

Do what you know. If you have spent twenty years writing and editing or you love to draw or design, consider how you can take your experience and turn it into a successful business.

Do what you love. This is very important. Success will be hard to find if you detest what you’re doing. Many people start a business to get rich and this is the wrong reason. You may get rich running your own business but if you’re not enjoying what you do then you’ve created an empire of your own suffering.

It’s Okay to do what others are doing. You need to just make sure that you do it better. You don’t’ have to come up with a new idea to be successful. Many businesses, even successful ones, need improvement. Consider what you want to do, evaluate your competition. Then, take the time to research and investigate what you can do differently and better than they do. Maybe you want to own an online store that sells scrapbook layouts. Well there a numerous stores that do that already. Is there a market that you can focus on? A niche? Maybe you can sell scrapbook layouts on a particular subject.

Focus on a niche. Never try to reinvent the wheel just market it to a specialized market. Many businesses have gone broke trying to be all things to all people. Try to identify a niche (one or two areas) that you would enjoy working in and think about starting a business in that realm. Focus on a niche and become an expert in your field.

Business Ideas for You to Think About

Become a Freelance Writer or Designer:

As a freelancer you are paid by the job that you do. You are self employed, which means that you are your own boss. You are responsible for your hours, your benefits, your deadlines, your marketing everything. You are not an employee.

If you think that freelancing is for you, hop online and visit the numerous website that connect freelancers with companies needing your services. You may also want to visit freelance forums and participate in discussions on how to get started as a freelancer.

Information marketer:

Do you know about a certain subject that people would pay for? Think about your skills, experience, and knowledge. For example, let’s say that you have an abundance of knowledge about growing and breeding orchids. There is likely a market for that information both online and offline. You could write a book, articles, newsletter, blogs, mini eBooks, etc. about how to breed a specific kind of orchid. You could even start a weekly podcast on the topic.

Offline, you could conduct seminars at your local recreation center or community education programs. You can charge for the seminar or offer it for free and market your book while you’re there.

"How-to" eBooks are big sellers are the Internet. And people are willing to pay for information rather than go to a public library or search endlessly for it at free sites.

Wholesale/Retail:

Many people make a good living buying things at garage sales and then selling them on eBay. You can sell anything from antiques to clothing. The possibilities are endless. If you’re not interest selling on a site like eBay, you can start your own online store and sell wholesale products that another company will mail directly to your customer. You don't have to stock anything!

Become an affiliate marketer:

An affiliate marketer is someone that promotes and sells a company’s products or services in exchange for a commission. You can sell just about anything that you’re interested in. It’s easy to find a program or product that you believe in and would like to sell, simply search the many online affiliate directories or visit a website of a product you think you would like to sell and look for their affiliate program. Here are a few programs that I have made some money with;

Researching Your New Business

Focus on filling a niche.

A niche is a specialized segment of people that are looking for your specialized product, information or service. You likely already have a good idea about who your market is or may be. Research it to make sure. Find out if there is a way to narrow the niche even more. Use the following tools to help you research your niche:

Keyword research
Take a survey
Create a Unique Selling Position (USP)

Brainstorm with others you trust.

People can give you some great insights...especially when their money is not on the line! You can use friends and family to generate business ideas or you can ask for their input on your ideas. Ask them how you can improve your idea and who might be interested in your products, information or services.

Ask around and Search through online communities.

Forums, chat rooms, social networks, and blogs are a fantastic resource. It is an excellent way to get a feel for your market, get feedback from people in your general niche or people interested in your product, information or service. It is also an excellent way to build relationships with other professionals.

Research your competition.

Look for ways you can gain an advantage over your competitors. Determine how your business will be better and different. Evaluate their website, how can you better position yourself online?

Owning your own business, doing what you enjoy, will likely be the best and most exciting decision you’ll ever make. Don’t wait. Start researching your ideas, and finding the perfect business for you.

Copyright © Home Business Resource Directory

Business Coaching Business

2008-06-12T14:26:00.000-04:00

The subject of “business coaching” has had a massive growth in popularity during the last few years. Not long ago, business coaches were a secret weapon, reserved for executives of large corporations. Today, more and more people are taking advantage of what these coaches offer. If you have ever thought about a career as a business coach, this is a great time to get started.

When you hear the word “coach,” you may think of a sports coach, pushing a team to success. A business coach may not wear a whistle around their neck or ask their clients to run around the track, but they do work with their clients to improve their weaknesses, capitalize on their strengths and find success.

As a business coach, you will have a lot of flexibility in the manner you choose to run your business. You may work with clients one-on-one or in a group setting. You can choose to coach your clients in person, via the telephone, email, through a web conference room or even through an online message board. The start-up costs for these various methods are all relatively low and do not require much technical experience.

To become a business coach, you do not need a special license or degree. If you choose, you can search online for courses that offer accreditation or certificates.

The hardest part may be deciding what subject to coach your clients on. It may be helpful to take out a pen and paper and write down topics you have knowledge in, that people may want coaching on.

One option would be to focus on an industry such as internet marketing or direct sales. This type of coaching program could be tailored to beginners or advanced students. Each weekly section could focus on a new topic within the industry, such as how to increase your click throughs or how to find recruits. Another choice would be to focus on an activity that people in every industry could use, such as advertising techniques.

If you have an existing business, you also have the option of tying that business into a coaching program. This works great for service providers. It gives you an additional stream of income, and helps you find potential clients, too. For example, a web designer could create a coaching program on how to increase your site’s activity by tweaking its design. On the other hand, a virtual assistant could create a coaching program on becoming more organized and efficient within your business.

Whether you choose to dive into business coaching full-time or use it to supplement your current income, creating a business coaching program is a great business idea.

Earn More Money Part-Time Than Your Spouse Does Full-Time

2008-04-29T09:44:00.000-04:00

Want to earn more money part-time than your spouse does full-time? And what’s more, would you like to do it from home? The answer is you can!

It is projected that over seventy-five million people will start their own businesses in the next five years. The reason why is more people are waking up and realizing that a nine-to-five doesn’t guarantee you the stable living it did back when our parents and grandparents were working.

In their day, you could expect to work at the same company from the time you started working until the day you retired, earn a decent income, and have the opportunity to move up the ladder.
That is not the case in today’s marketplace. It is has been determined that the average working adult will hold at least five different jobs in their working lifetime, and some of those in different fields of expertise.

With the economy ebbing and flowing as much as it does, no one is guaranteed anything unless they take their financial destinies into their own hands and start a business of their own.

If you are currently a stay at home mom (or dad), and your heart’s desire is to contribute to your family’s household income, you can through a home-based business. There are several million to choose from. And some of the great businesses out there have turned many people into millionaires!

So don’t think that just because you have a business that you do from home that you can only make an extra few hundred dollars a month…and that’s if you’re lucky. That is not the case. If you find a real opportunity, and by real, I mean one that has great leadership, great products or services that people are actually willing to spend their hard earned money for, and a compensation plan that really rewards those who want to change their lives, you really do have the chance to earn more money part-time than your spouse does on their full-time job!

In a lot of cases, spouses who start home-based businesses and become successful, often bring their working spouses home to be stay at home families! How awesome is that?

The opportunity really is a real one. It is not going to be easy. It will be a lot of hard work. It will take dedication and commitment. But if I told you that in one to two years, you would be able to earn enough money to be able to remain a stay at home parent and also bring your spouse home, would it be worth it to you?

Well, I’m telling you that you can. Get out there and see what’s available. The internet has brought so many options right to the tips of your fingers. Do your due diligence. Find something that meshes with your unique personality and go for it!

I guarantee that if you go to work and work as hard for yourself as you have working for an employer, the benefits you receive and the character you build will far outweigh the financial prosperity you experience.

So what are you waiting for? Start a home-based business and earn more money part-time than your spouse does full-time. And when that happens, bring them home so you can team up, double your efforts and really set your financial world on fire!

Go blaze a new trail!

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com/

Nicole enjoys spending time with her son, Jordan and her husband, Muri. She loves to travel, work her home-based business, shop and meet new people. If you would like to spend more time with your loved ones, please contact Nicole. www.fulltimefamily.com

8 Low-Cost Advertising Ideas

2008-04-04T11:44:00.000-04:00

Despite what you may have heard, advertising doesn't necessarily have to be expensive. In this article, I'm going to give you eight low-cost advertising ideas. These ideas can be used for both online and offline businesses.

1. Article Marketing is far and away my favorite method of promoting my business. If you write articles and allow them to be freely published, your articles become viral, meaning your articles can actually spread like a virus and have the potential to be viewed by hundreds of thousands of Internet users.

2. Targeted ezine advertising is one of the most cost-effective ways to promote your business. For example, you can purchase an ad in DEMC for around $50 and reach 36,000 people. For a list of suitable ezines to advertise in, visit BestEzines.com

3. If done properly, Google AdWords is still a very cost-effective way to advertise your business, despite rising pay-per-click costs.

4. Advertise in local neighborhood newspapers. In some areas they're called "Pennysavers," and in other areas they're simply known as "shoppers." Whatever they're called, you can place your ad in front of thousands of eyeballs for as little as $10 a week.

5. Buy television ads on local cable TV. Cable tv ads are cheaper than you might think, and you can target your ads to run in specific parts of your city. Check with you local cable company for more information.

6. Advertise on high-traffic websites. There are many websites that will allow you to advertise your products and services on their websites very inexpensively. Visit AdBrite.com for more information.

7. Advertising in a local direct mail package like Valpak can also be very cost-effective. And since you'll be sharing an envelope with other local businesses, you'll pay a fraction of what it might cost otherwise. For more information visit Valpak.com

8. Participating in online forums is an excellent way to get the word out about your business - and it's free. To find a forum related to your particular business, just go to your favorite search engine and type in the kind of forum you're looking for. For example, if you sell dolls, you would type in "doll forums." And if you sell real estate, you would simply type in "real estate forums."

Dale King is the owner of http://www.GuruKnowledge.org - The Ultimate Marketing Website!

If you're tired of all the money-making hype, lies and scams...read this! http://guruknowledge.org/pages/The-Super-Affiliate-Handbook

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dale_King

Top 7 Ideas on How To Harness the Power of the Affiliate Programs

2008-04-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

By Tiana Nelson

Affiliate programs are a powerful way to grow your small business. The basic premise behind the programs is to align your potential referral sources and other interested parties to increase your sales while compensating them for the marketing and referral efforts. There are various compensation models that can be utilized, but the most widely used ones are: pay per lead, pay per sale or pay per click. Which model works best for your business depends on the type of industry you are in and how much you are willing to spend to make it appealing to you and your affiliates. How should you go about utilizing the power of the affiliate programs? Read our Top Seven Ideas below and start harnessing new, but powerful small business marketing tool.

1. Create an appealing affiliate program with competitive compensation. Your main choices are to pay per lead, pay per sale or pay per click.

2. Use a third party provider to track your program and to increase its credibility. Some examples of the third party providers are AffiliateShop and Commission Junction. Affiliate Shop charges a monthly fee and helps you setup the program. They don't charge commissions on your sales. Commission Junction presents your program to their large network of affiliates, but they take a cut of your sales.

3. Publish a press release announcing the launch of your affiliate program. Great places to post your release are PRWeb, PR, or Free-press-release.

4. Submit your program to affiliate search directories. Here are some of the examples: Affiliate Scout and Affiliate Guide.

5. Contact related website that might be interested in working with you on referring potential customers and see if they would be interested in joining your affiliate program.

6. Don't forget offline marketing to potential affiliates. Depending on your business, there could be a multitude of potential referral sources: your customers, business referral sources, or business people interested in earning extra money.

7. Make sure that your affiliate program offers a two-tier compensation. In that case if your affiliate refers another affiliate to you, they would get compensation from the transaction submitted by the second-tier affiliate. This could be a powerful way to continue growing your network.

Now that you are armed with the top seven ideas on how to harness the power of the affiliate programs for your business, you are ready to use this great marketing tool. Also, don't forget about the potential benefits of using other business affiliate programs to earn additional income. If you haven't yet seen our very appealing affiliate programs, check them out on our website. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions and good luck!

About the Author: Tiana Nelson, CMA, CFM is a Business Development Manager at Preferred Capital Alliance, Inc, a Better Business Bureau accredited company that helps small- and medium-size businesses obtain business loans, commercial mortgages, and equipment leases.

9 Tips That Will Improve Your Speaking & Writing Styles

2008-03-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

By Darryl Mobley

Being able to communicate effectively is key to be successful. Here are tips that will help your verbal and written communication.

Tips to improve your speaking style

1. Make sure your speech is not wordy, chatty or unfocused. Get to the point.

2. Do not do a lot of hemming and hawing when you are speaking by making sounds like umm or ahhhh.

3. Use the words of personal power, definitive words, words of affirmation. Do not use words like kinda, sorta, maybe, coulda, shoulda, woulda ...those are not the words of leadership. They are not the words of personal power.

4. Stay away from you knows, like you know this or you know that. The key to an effective overall speaking style is to be precise in your language. Say what you mean, mean what you say and say it very clearly. Slang words used inappropriately can blow a whole speech for you.

5. Lead off every talk you give with a powerful headline. This technique works particularly well one on one or in small group speeches. When you use this technique, spend the rest of your time delivering on your headline and then sum it all up in the end.

Another fundamental of effective communication is being adept at writing. It has been said that people who are good thinkers are good writers. This is certainly true in today's society. If your thinking is flabby then your writing is flabby. Therefore, as you improve your understanding of how to write effectively, you will sharpen your thinking skills. Your thinking will become crisper, clearer and more compelling. Your writing will become persuasive and in most organizations a good writer gets promoted.

Tips for writing effectively

1. Make sure that you state your key point, recommendations or conclusions early in the document. Then support the finding or conclusion throughout the rest of your document.

2. Also let the reader know what you want him or her to do after reading the document early in the document. This helps them read with an idea of how to use the information.

3. Write short crisp sentences and paragraphs so as to keep the document reader friendly. We have a rule at my company that our paragraphs on a standard 8 ½ inch by 11inch sheet of paper will not exceed eight lines. The reason is that we have found that people tend to stop fully reading paragraphs that are longer than that. They scan and may miss key points. The longer your paragraph, the less likely people are going to read it.

4. Try to keep most documents to no more than one page--90% of most subjects can be communicated on one page.

© 2008 Darryl L. Mobley

About the Author: For nearly 25 years, super-achievers have praised "Life Acceleration Coach" Darryl Mobley. Darryl Mobley is brilliant when it comes to the strategies and action steps that lead to living a better life. Darryl Mobley teaches people How To Create The Life Of Their Dreams - personally and professionally - with more happiness, more income, better relationships and more success with his How To Create A Life Worth Living™ system. To get FREE tips on "Living a Life Fantastic" go to http://a1.successsubscription.com/

Ebook Writing - How To Write An Ebook As Part Of Your Online Profit System

2008-03-24T11:08:00.000-04:00

By Connie Ragen Green

Ebook writing is one way to start selling information products online. Information products are non-fiction topics that people are searching for information about. You can also create audio products and short reports, but writing an ebook will position you as an expert and give you a solid foundation to begin selling online. Here are some common misconceptions about what is needed to write and sell information products on the internet.

People believe they must be an expert in the field they are writing on - Nothing could be further from the truth. If you have personal experience and knowledge in your field you can turn that into a product that will help other people and sell very well online. Also, you can read more books and do research on your topic to become more of an expert over time.

Your product must be perfect before you can sell it. This is another misconception. Get your product out there and then improve it as time goes on. Many large corporations release products they know are defective, and then spend years updating and enhancing them. You can do the same thing. My first ebook was on real estate marketing. I sold it in its original form and then made changes every month for several months. People still bought it from the very beginning and emailed me regularly to tell me how much they had benefited from the information I included in the ebook.

People think that there are already too many people selling information on their topic. If there are others in your field that is a good thing. It means that people are interested in knowing more and will constantly be looking for additional information. If you think about it, you have probably purchased information from more than one source when you were interested in a topic. I know I have bought more than one book at a time on building websites, blogging, training my Yorkshire terrier, and more. You have probably done the same.

So now it is time to get to work. Working with a mentor can help you to jumpstart your online writing empire and make money with your ebook and other information products.

And now I invite you to join me for free weekly teleseminars that will teach you how to write, market, and sell your articles and ebook to increase your visibility, credibility and passive income by visiting http://www.ebookwritingandmarketingsecrets.com/

Three Home Based Business Marketing Secrets

2008-03-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

By Scott Oliver

Marketing is the part of business that no one seems to like. Perhaps that's because it's confusing and made to be even more confusing when you begin to read books on marketing and its applications to the business world. So, are there any secrets that actually work and that you can actually apply to your online business? The answer is yes. There are three home based business marketing secrets that you can keep in mind as you begin this adventure into running your own business - and as you become a success.

Less is More

One of the things that marketing professionals don't tell you is that you really don't need to do as much as you think you do. By simply adopting a strategy of telling as many people as you can, treating each customer with respect, and then repeating this cycle, that's going to bring in a lot of new business. Word of mouth advertising may not get as much press as it once did, but it certainly still works when it comes to smaller home based businesses.

You also want to keep in mind that these marketing secrets don't require a lot of time or a lot of money in order to be effective. Something as simple as adding your website address to your emails is just as effective as running a commercial on TV and a lot less expensive to implement. Think about smaller ways to spread the word instead of bigger ways. Target only the customers that have already shown interest in what you have to sell and you're certain to market for success.

More is Less

You also want to remember that a customer on the internet these days is accustomed to seeing a lot of advertisements, so they know when they are being 'sold' something. Instead of focusing your messages on sales exclusively, try bringing the customer information they can use - informational articles, etc.

When you put too many advertisements in outgoing emails or you simply push your company too much, you will turn off prospective customers. Even if they are interested in what you have to say, the more you talk to them about the same things, the more they're going to wonder what the 'catch' is and why they should buy from you at all.

Recognize that your customers are smart and that they WILL respond to you, even if you don't tell them about every sale or every feature for your products. You just don't have to beat them over the head with what you want to sell them.

Use Your Home Based Appeal to Bring People to You

By adding a personalized touch to your marketing strategies, you will begin to pull in more customers, almost without trying. So often, online businesses forget that it's their placement and location that allows them to be unique. Instead of downplaying the fact that you work from home, make sure that your customers know it. Show them pictures of your office and pictures of yourself to make the experience more personal. This is a marketing strategy that works no matter what you are selling. Since people aren't meeting you in person, the personalization will do the 'talking' for you, making a customer more comfortable with you.

Try adding a blog to your website that will introduce the kind of person you are and what you are capable of helping a customer with. Or you might want to include a video of yourself talking about your product or a personal story that relates to your product. The internet can be such an impersonal place, so try to connect with your customer more.

About the Author: Scott Oliver offers free video coaching to help you build a profitable home business FAST. Get an hour of "Website Traffic Secrets" and "Minisite Creation Tactics" for FREE -- immediate access here: http://www.InstantWebsiteBusiness.com

Top Ten Ways to Be a Success

2008-03-19T13:27:00.000-04:00

By Dr. Nicole Cutts

What's Holding You Back?

Are you ever frustrated or overwhelmed because you don't know what you want out of life or because you do know but feel like you can't achieve it? If you could accomplish anything you wanted in life, what would it be? What defines your Vision of Success? What can YOU do to achieve this Vision for your life? Are you doing these things? (If not, why not?)

Successful women and men who have attained great heights doing their life's work have used the ten techniques below.

Step 1- Find and Clarify Your Vision of Success:

If you don't yet know what you want to achieve that's okay. There are ways to find out. Ask yourself what you are good at, what you enjoy doing, and what you would be doing if money were no object. Write out an ideal scenario of you having and doing what you dream of.

Step 2- Define your Goals Clearly:

From your ideal scenario of your Vision of Success identify concrete goals. Define them clearly and write them down. Writing your goals down is very important and gives them more power than just thinking or imagining your success.

Step 3- Visualize Yourself Achieving Your Goals:

Before setting off on the path to success you must first be able to see yourself achieving your success. You must believe that you can do it. Your imagination is a powerful creative tool. Once we can vividly imagine something, it often opens the door to manifesting it (Gawain, 1997).

Step 4- Uncover Psychological Blocks to Success:

If you have difficulty with steps one and two you may have internal obstacles preventing you from having or keeping what you want. On some level you may feel undeserving of success and happiness and this may be reflected in a lack of achievement. To uncover these obstacles ask yourself how you truly feel about having what you desire. Is there any guilt attached to this? One way to uncover any blocks here is to write down why you deserve to be successful. This can reveal any feelings to the contrary. Examine where your attitudes about success came from. Write out all you fears and fantasies associated with being successful.

Step 5- Remove Psychological Blocks to Success:

Often just the awareness of negative attitudes and beliefs about success begins the process of letting them go. You can't force change, but there are different tools and techniques that may be helpful. Some of these include: positive affirmations, therapy, success coaching, support groups such as Visions Anonymous, and rituals to rid yourself of the negative beliefs e.g. write them down then burn/tear them up.

Step 6- Make a Clear Plan With a Timeline:

Consider creating a plan that breaks your goals down into 5-year goals, 1-year goals, 6-months, 3-months and 1-month achievements. After completing this plan you can do weekly goals that will put you on schedule for all of the other goal milestones. Be realistic here so you don't get discouraged.

Step 7- Chart your Progress:

It is important to assess your progress at regular intervals. Pick a day once a week or once a month, read your plan and see if you are on schedule. Reward yourself for achieving milestones. If you need to adjust your plan be realistic and do so. Also, be honest with yourself. Visions and goals can change. If you find that you no longer really want this Vision do not be afraid to change your plan.

Step 8- Enjoy Your Success!

Once you have achieved your goals and your Vision of Success it is very important to acknowledge this. Reward yourself, give yourself credit and allow yourself to feel the attendant good feelings. Don't just rush off to your next goal as if you take your success for granted.

Step 9- Cultivate Gratitude:

Having gratitude is important once you achieve your visions. Literally "count your blessings", give thanks, allow yourself to enjoy them, and relish the experience of the success you already have. This increases success by attracting more of what you currently possess. One simple way to do this is to write a gratitude list (listing everything that you feel grateful for).

Step 10- Give it Away:

Out-flowing (giving away our material gifts and talents) makes room for more to flow to us. When out of feelings of fear or insecurity, we cling to what we have, we cut this flow off. You must not only express gratitude for achieving success, you must share this success with others. Share your resources, time and talents. You are also giving it away when you tell your story to others so that they might be encouraged.

To learn more about these ten techniques or other aspects of Success Coaching visit Dr. Cutts' Website and sign up for a complimentary Success Coaching session

About the Author: Nicole Cutts, Ph.D. Leading Success Coach Expert specializes in Transforming People and Organizations for Success. Visit her website http://www.cuttsconsulting.com/ and sign-up for the FREE innovative and forward-thinking newsletter, "Vision for Success."

Job Alert! - Make Money Online Blogger

2008-03-17T16:54:00.000-04:00

This is a new feature at HBRD! We will post job opps on a regular basis. Subscribe --> to this blog to receive updates! :)

Make Money Online Blogger

Description: I am in need of 1-5 bloggers that have some experience in the ever-competitive Make Money Online arena. The posts should focus on SEO, Web 2.0, Better Blogging, Copywriting, Marketing, etc.

Each post should be 250+ words (no max). And will pay between $5-$10 per post depending on experience, and sample quality. Bonuses also apply. Big money bonus for front page articles on popular social bookmarking site, or for articles that get linked on popular blogs.

Writer should be a native English speaker, and able to write, and proofread their own content. Duplicate content will not be accepted, and will be grounds for withholding payment. Other than that, you will get paid every 30 days, for the previous months work, or we can work out other arrangements if necessary.

How to apply:

You can email me at http://onemansgoal.com/contact-me Make sure to include a writing sample, or links to writing samples. I will also need your availability. Let me know how many days per week you can post, and which days work the best for you, as you will have a regular posting day that remains the same every week.

IMPORTANT NOTE: HBRD does not endorse any work at home jobs. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure the job is legitimate.

Amazing Work From Home Jobs For You

2008-03-14T13:16:00.000-04:00

Work from home jobs are increasingly popular nowadays. This is made possible thanks to the technological powerhouse, the Internet. With jobs available over the Internet, more and more people are considering the idea of "home work". There are numerous reasons why people prefer to work in the virtual world. Although it can be pretty tough to find the ideal virtual job, the idea of working from home is very enticing. There are plenty of amazing work from home jobs for you out there. All you need to do is to choose one that suits you and your lifestyle best.

The job market is becoming more and more unreliable and this may be one of the reasons why people choose to work from home instead. People have realized that working from home has a lot to offer. Besides working in our own comfortable environment, most jobs are less stressful and people would not need to worry about a hectic schedule, difficult customers to deal with, a stuck-up boss, and nosy colleagues. "Own time own target." Most work from home jobs let YOU set your own target. So, you no longer need to work till you cry bloody tears.

Before you begin, you will also need to equip yourself with this essential kit: A personal computer, Internet connection, a stack of motivational books and tapes and a pack of patience and determination. Also, do remember to set aside a small amount of money to pay for the small fee to join the program. Last but not least, remember to include a few hours of work EACH DAY. If you have all these packed, then you are ready to go.

These "Virtual jobs" are good for stay home moms or for those who just want to earn extra bucks. Some examples of work from home jobs would include home typing jobs, data entry, at-home telemarketing, online network marketing, online paid survey, and customer service. This list is of course not exhaustive. These are the more common jobs that are available over the Internet.

At-home telemarketing jobs are best suited for those who feel at ease speaking to customers and selling goods and services over the phone. Some companies might only be hiring employees that have telemarketing or sales experience, but some are willing to train the right people.

As for a work-from-home customer service position, it will require some prior customer service experience. You will be required to answer customer questions, take note of reservations and processing orders. As such, it is necessary that you have excellent data entry and typing skills. You will need to have the right set of skills since you are dealing with customers and their questions, and solve problems quickly to maintain the quality of customer service. This is definitely the position for you if you are able to maintain professionalism when tackling the customers and their queries.

Virtual secretary jobs are suitable for those who have worked in the business administration line before. This job is also for those who have professional typing and other office skills. You can choose to work for a virtual assisting service, or start your own virtual assisting business. This job would require you to type documentation, plan meetings and events, maintain business calendars and transcription. Sometimes, you may also be required to do other clerical duties.
Working from home is definitely the "in" thing. Search the web today for more stay at home jobs that you might be interested in. Choose the right kind of job and you will no longer find working a painful chore.

About the Author: Kenneth Shorey is an expert providing valuable advice at http://ez-work-at-home.net/. He has been teaching thousands how to work at home on the internet to earn a good income. Click Here to get FREE business tips on making money at home.

It's All About the Schedules

2008-03-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

By Tamara Hancock

"How do you do it?"

I get asked this question daily by everyone from friends, to colleagues, to perfect strangers. When most people find out that I work from home, with children - they are impressed. When I let them know that I typically work around 40 hours per week - they are amazed. When they find out that I have five children...well, that's when they are blown away. Inevitably, the next phrase I hear - "Wow, you are my hero..."

There is absolutely nothing heroic about what I do from day to day. My time used to control me. I was tired, stressed out, and wondering what exactly about working from home was good for me and my family. After some time however, it became apparent to me that balancing family, home, and career simply comes down to one simple word. Are you ready? Schedules. I now know every minute of the day, what I am doing, and when I am doing it. Sound complicated? Not really, once you take a step back and look at your day, you'll realize you already live by a schedule for the most part.

So how do you create a schedule? I will share with you what I did. And no, it isn't an overnight process, but anything that is really worth it never is. But, you can trust me, follow these few simple steps, and you are well on your way to being organized - with your time anyway.
Before you can create a working schedule for yourself, you need to define the times you spend during the day doing certain tasks. The easiest and most practical first step to defining this time is to create your family schedule. Why? Because this is the schedule you already keep, without realizing it.

First, figure out what you do in a typical day for your family. Don't make any special effort to be scheduled or organized, just live your day the way you normally do, and take notes. What do you do through out the day? When do you do it? Are there typical things you do every day around the same time? If it helps, keep a notebook, and for the next few days jot down when you - and your kids - do certain things. For example, if your kids are anything like mine, you can set the clock by the time they wake up in the morning. For me, it's 6:30 AM. After they wake up, a chain of events is put into place...diaper changes, change of clothes, get dressed, and breakfast. Take a note of the time, when did you complete this chain of events? For me, it's around 7:30 AM. Track all repeating daily events, include nap time, lunch time, play time, and dinner.
Keep your notebook with you for the next few days; you'll be amazed at the similarities from day to day. Once you locate the similarities, you are going to start creating your schedule. I entered mine into an excel spreadsheet and color coded family events in green. For example, the block of time from 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM on my family schedule is blocked out in green. I know that every morning from 6:30 to 8:00, the kids and I are getting ready to start our day.

Next, you need to analyze the time you devote to your career. Repeat the same steps from above, only this time through, pay close attention to the tasks you complete each day to run your business. Don't necessarily pay attention to the times you do them, but rather WHAT you do. The whole purpose of working at home is to fit your career around your family, not the other way around. Look at your workload, what is it that you do? Are there client calls to be made? Do you spend a large amount of time returning emails, and written correspondence? Do you have your list? Good.

With the list in hand that you just created, look at the blocks of time in your schedule that are now reserved for family time. Do you see large blocks of time between events? On my schedule, between 8 AM and 10:15 AM there is a large block of time that does not have a daily repeated event. Now is the time to fill in your career duties. Let's look at scheduling time to make client phone calls. With your schedule in front of you, look for periods of time in your day when your house might be quiet enough to make a professional call. For me, it's between 10:30 AM and 12:00 Noon - why? This is when my two year old takes a nap, and my three year old has "quiet time". I blocked this time out on my schedule to make and receive calls. Continue through your working tasks, and identify times on your schedule that you can complete them. When can you return emails? What is a good time to research new projects? Do you see things falling into place?

Now, look at your schedule. There may be times left in there that are "free". If that's true, then you aren't done yet - and if it isn't true, you may want to take a second look at the tasks you do have scheduled. The "free" time is the most important time in your day. What is the "free" time for? This is time for your family, for your kids, for your home, and for you. We all made the choice to work from home so that we could be closer to our family. A lot of times it is difficult to draw the line between work and home, especially when they occupy the same space. This "free" time is the time you use to remind yourself why you decided to work from home in the first place. We use the time at our house to build play-dough creatures, color, and play Candy-Land. Sometimes we even go for a walk, or go to McDonalds. "Free" time is also used to clean house, go to the store, and impromptu visits to the library.

Finally, test your schedule out. The most important factor to making it work is to live by it. When your time is up on a certain task, you must move to the next. A schedule doesn't work unless you live by it. I am not saying that every day is going to fall into place, and every task is going to run smoothly every day. The fact of the matter is, we live in the real world and in the real world - things happen. However, when you have a schedule to go by when these "things" happen you will know what you have coming up, and figuring out a time to manage it won't be such a daunting task.

Like I said, I'm nobody's hero. I just took the time to figure out what others need of me, and when I have the time to do it. I now have control over my time, it doesn't control me - and that is an amazing feeling.

About the Author: Tamara Hancock, owns and operates her own small business, and also works as a Virtual Administrative Assistant from home. She designs and maintains several websites, enjoys baking, scrapbooking, and creative writing. She and her husband live in Phoenix, Arizona where they are raising their five children.

I'm A Mom-Trepreneur, And You?

2008-03-11T16:45:00.002-04:00

By Tamara Hancock

I love that line on all the doctors' office forms and school emergency contact cards that ask for "occupation". I've been creative in the past and put things there such as "Household Engineer", "Director of Residential Services" and my personal favorite, "CEO of Domestic Relations" but my new favorite title is Mom-trepreneur. It has a nice ring to it doesn't it?

So what is a Mom-trepreneur? Chances are if you are reading this, you are one. You work from home. You play from home. Most of all, you are the heart of your home. Sound corny? Sure it does, but honestly, look at it this way: As a mom, you bring comfort and happiness to your children, order and peace to your home, and friendship and laughter to your family. As a woman with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, you have found a way to provide for your family and home without sacrificing your time at home. Voila, Mom-trepreneur.

I know, I know, still a little cheesy, but lets step back a moment and take a look at what it really takes to be a Work at Home Professional, and Mom. When you work for yourself, it is next to impossible to take time off, nobody can do the job better than you can, and there is no room for sick days - in fact, getting sick is completely out of the question. As a mom, you work for yourself, there is definitely no substitution for you, and those sick days...well, you get the picture. There is no education that can prepare you for this job, no way to learn all the required tasks ahead of time, and definitely no way to plan for every possibility. Maybe that's why it is so much fun.

Now for those of you who aren't very familiar with me and what I do, I am the very proud mother of five beautiful children under the age of nine. Yes, lets just get this out of the way, I did say five. I love the faces of complete strangers in the store, and the unsolicited comments that I get are priceless. "Are they all yours?" and "wow, you have your hands full". The looks of awe and amazement turn to shock and bewilderment when they learn that I also work full time from home and own a small cake decorating business. And no, I don't have a nanny. The inevitable question always comes next "How do you do it all?"

Glad you asked. I'm a Mom-trepreneur. So what is a Mom-trepreneur, and how do I become one?

First - Build yourself a team.

The secret to success is not a secret at all. Are you ready? I'm only going to say this once...Teamwork. I know. Simple, easy, uncomplicated. My family lives, and works, as a team. We help each other out. We all have responsibilities - all of us, even the baby (her job is to laugh and bring joy to our day-she's only four months old after all). We all work together to accomplish our goals as a family. In order to be successful in any business, be it a traditional "job", or a work at home professional - having a support system, or team, is vital. No matter how hard you try, you can't do it all on your own without burning out. What good are you if you are tired all the time? Any successful entrepreneur in the "bricks and mortar" world of business has a team of hired go-getters. So do you. Your team, however, just gets paid in love, admiration, and in some cases - cookies.

Second - Know your limits.

I know. Easier said than done. A very important part of being a successful Mom-trepreneur however, is knowing when to say "when". This is difficult, I realize that. We all think we can do it all, clean the house, take care of the kids, go on a play date, write 3 articles for the upcoming newsletter, send business cards out to potential new clients, fold the socks, pick up the dry cleaning, oh - and make cookies for the upcoming bake sale at your kids' school. Sometimes, no matter how much you want to say yes, you are going to have to say no. Quality over quantity. There is only one of you, and you need to make sure you aren't wearing yourself too thin. Prioritize. It isn't going to hurt anyone of the socks don't get folded today, but I don't think I'd put off changing that diaper for too long. Put the important things first.

Third - Have fun.

Why did you decide to work for yourself in the first place? Was it to spend more time with your kids? Was it to have a flexible schedule to enjoy life with your family and friends? Just as in the bricks and mortar world of business, again, Entrepreneurs got into what they are doing because they enjoy doing it. Once it becomes too much, too stressful, too overwhelming, you lose the fun. Fun is why you are here in the first place. You love what you do. Don't let anything ruin that for you.

Lastly - Build a support system.

Mom-trepreneurs unite! Find yourself a group of likeminded individuals like yourself who also work from home such as the WAHPM discussion board at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/WAHPM. Network with them. Share ideas. They are your colleagues. It is entirely possible that someone may have the solution to an issue you've been experiencing. You may be able to swap marketing ideas. Whatever the case, you aren't alone in your business, you have a support system to trade ideas with and lean on when needed, and that is priceless.

That's it. You are a Mom-trepreneur. Welcome.

About the Author: Tamara Hancock, owns and operates her own small business, and also works as a Virtual Administrative Assistant from home. She designs and maintains several websites, enjoys baking, scrapbooking, and creative writing. She and her husband live in Phoenix, Arizona where they are raising their five children.

Work At Home Moms - You Can Make Money Too

2008-03-11T16:40:00.000-04:00

By Bruce Beard

Are you a stay at home mom that wants to make some extra money from home? Can it be possible to make a living from home? Sure it can. This article is for all of the stay at home moms who want to be successful from home. Just follow these steps, and you can be very successful from home.

Research

This is very vital when choosing the right online business. There are so many online business out there. Many of these online businesses are legitimate, but there are just as many that are scamming people for their money. It is hard hard to find a legitimate home business. During your research, you have to look into the founder of the business, the products that the business has, and the compensation plan. Many of the online scams do not have a person to contact, an address, or even a phone number. So, take your time, and do not find the first online business that you come across.

Getting Started...

After you find a business that you are interested in pursuing, it is time to get started. I know this can be a big leap, but it is a leap that will change your life. You will not a successful work at home mom if you do not take this leap.

Find a Mentor

Having a mentor is very important, especially if you are a new internet marketer. Your mentor will be there for you when you feel like quitting. He/she will also show you different marketing strategies that you did not know, and this will help you make money a lot quicker than you imagined.

Don't Give Up!

Starting a home business is not a game. You have to treat it like a real business, and if you do, you will be a successful work at home mom. There are going to be times where it is tough, but if you persevere in the tough times, you will become very successful.

In conclusion, stay at home moms can become very successful work at home moms. Your dreams can become a reality if you are dedicated and never give up.

About the Author: If you are a stay at home mom, and you want to become a successful work at home mom, visit Bruce Beard's website. Bruce Beard is a top internet marketer and one of the top internet earners in the home businesses industry. He specializes in helping others succeed in marketing online home businesses.

Home Business Idea For Moms - If You're Looking for A Home Business Idea For Moms, Read This

2008-03-10T17:18:00.001-04:00

By: Jenn Lawlor

Your looking for a home business idea for moms....

I'm so glad you're here.

Being a mom myself, I know what it feels like to type into Google "home business idea for moms"...it means you're REALLY looking. You want something you don't have.

Maybe you're desperate to stay home with your little one(s) or you're tired of spending your time working for somebody else, or you're just plain and simple tired of living on too little income and you want something better for yourself and your family.

Well, if you've done any looking so far, you've likely come across all sorts of "get rich quick" opportunities and some look good some don't. But how do you know what's right for you? I know you don't want to waste your time or precious money on something that's not going to get you where you want to be.

I'm going to show you why most home business ideas for moms are NOT good options for 97% of moms, and how TO find a good opportunity.

Most opportunities to work from home fall into two categories:

1. jobs that pay you by the hour to do (often) boring work from home, like uploading photos to the web or typing, etc.

2. network marketing/mlm opportunities that promise full training and support, the promise of 'getting rich' and then when the rubber hits the road they don't live up to your expectations.

But the reason I'm writing this article is not to leave you depressed and without hope. Look, I'm a mom myself who is growing two highly successful businesses online in the network marketing industry. You can too!

I am here to EDUCATE you so you can look critically at different opportunities that you come across.

First step is to determine whether you're looking for the stability of a job, or the extra risk and freedom that a home based business can provide. Be honest with yourself. If you're happy making $10-20/hour stuffing envelopes or uploading pictures to the net...then don't bother with the home business arena. Stick with what will make you most happy. And if it's a work from home JOB, then go for it. There's lot of opportunities for you to look at.

My suggestion when you've found something that looks appealing is to get onto some work-at-home mom forums (search through Yahoo Groups to find them) and post asking for other moms experiences with the company. Then you can find out the "insiders" experience before you dive in.

If you're looking to build a business from home that will bring you HUGE cash returns and you're willing to invest a little money and a LOT of dedicated effort in building yourself as an entrepreneur, I want you to know that it's completely possible. I'm doing it right now, but there are a few things you need to know.

To be an entrepreneur, you need to have:

1. The mindset that KNOWS you will succeed- you just need the guidance and support to get you where you want to be.

2. The dedication to actually DOING what it takes to succeed - learning from others, constantly growing as a person, and taking ACTION.

3. money to invest in a decent opportunity that will bring you the rewards you are looking for.

Now, if you're happy with a couple hundred extra each month, then you will look for a low-cost entrance to the network marketing industry. You can successfully do this by finding a mentor that has the time and the skills to show you how to do this. There's many out there, but you'll need to do your research to find them...

Take that to heart, friend. It is AS IMPORTANT that you find a mentor with the skills and time to show you how to succeed as it is to find a product or business to support. I might even go as far as to say...MORE IMPORTANT

On the other hand, if you're a serious entrepreneur who wants to be putting several thousand or multiple five figures in your bank account each month...

I suggest you DON'T look at traditional network marketing. It's just too difficult to do that in the short term.

Look, there's already 97% failure rate in the network marketing industry. It's HUGE!

You don't want to become part of that 97%.

And the quickest, easiest way to keep yourself in the top 3% in the home business arena is to plan on investing anywhere from $3000-5000 in a business and to partner up with a team of marketers who have the skills and TIME to show you exactly how you can start earning a significant income from home...from the get-go.

There's a whole lot more I want to tell you here....but I need to keep this article short.

I provide a whole lot of information about what I'm doing and how I'm helping other women entrepreneurs all over the net, so if you're interested in learning more, you won't have a hard time finding me.

I wish you the very best and look forward to watching women entrepreneurs step up and take a stand in this male dominated online network marketing world!

About the Author: Jenn Lawlor is a online marketing coach. She shows network marketers how to grow successful businesses online using the latest in cutting edge technologies.

Find out more about Jenn's latest business http://www.successdynamo.com/ or take a look at her training videos on youTube: http://youtube.com/freedomdynamo

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jenn_Lawlor

Make Money Online - Get Paid By Paypal From Survey Sites On The Internet

2008-03-09T15:32:00.001-04:00

By: Adam Woodham

To make money online, there is no easier way to do it than via a Paypal payment from survey sites on the internet. It's fast, secure, fun and simple for just about anybody to do. Here are some tips to help you get the most cash from the top places.

Millions of people want to make money online, but most don't know that you can make quite a bit of cash from survey sites, especially the ones that offer a Paypal payment to their members. With Pay Pal, you don't have to wait for two weeks to get the check in the mail and you don't have to wait an addition five days for the check to clear into your bank account. Even if these survey sites didn't offer a Paypal payment, they would still be the easiest way to make money online for most people.

Here is a trick to get straight to the top websites online. It all starts with internet forums. I can't tell you how many times I have used forums to find exactly what I wanted.

Remember, people love to brag to others when they find a hidden gem, such as a survey sites that pays very well and even offers a Paypal payment. There is not a better way for these folks to spread the word to others who are looking for the same thing than by posting in a forum. They find the cash makers and you reap the benefits of their findings.
If you truly want to make money online, getting cash from a survey sites that has a Paypal payment option is the only way to go.

About Author: Want a free Top 5 list of Paid Online Survey Sites that offer a Paypal Payment? Keep reading....

Adam Woodham is an expert on Paid Surveys. He has extensive experience making money online with these unique survey websites and runs the blog Free Survey Sites which features a top 5 list of the Top Free, Paid Survey Sites, along with a review of each.

7 Simple Steps On How To Start Successful Blogging

2008-03-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

By: Timi Akinyemi

Before you start blogging, you need to first and fore-most decide which area of interest you want to talk about. That is, your niche. You also need to decide if you want to blog for fun or for money. Another thing you need is the determination to forge ahead, no matter the obstacle or challenge you may encounter on the way, especially when you are blogging for money.

Blogging can be fun, whether you are doing it for money or for fun. This specifically applies to people who are very creative (I believe everyone is creative, all you need to do is develop it).

Blogs can be created free, without you necessarily having a website. Some of the sites that offer this service can be gotten from Success Site.

For the purpose of this article, we shall pick blogger.com as our example and guide. The steps for creating your own blog are as follows:

1. Create an email account with gmail.
2. Go to http://www.blogger.com
3. Select 'create blog' and follow the simple steps for creation.
4. Sign in to your blog using your gmail account name.
5. Click on customize.
6. Click on fonts and colors. Use this to customize the look of your site. You can change the template, if you like, it will only make your site unique and different. (Remember to save your changes).
7. Click on 'Posting' and select 'create'. This will enable you to write your article. When you are done with writing, publish the post.

Simple, isn't it? You can now go back and start blogging.

My own experience on how I started blogging can be found in Success Site at http://www.success-site.blogspot.com/

You can also check http://www.womanofclass.blogspot.com/ for issues that can help women.

Affiliate Marketing Secrets - 4 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Choosing Any Market

2008-03-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

By Zack Lim

The first step to start your own profitable affiliate marketing business is to find your own profitable markets that you can win in. Since the internet provides you with so much information, it might be very confusing for you to find your own profitable markets. There are 5 questions that you can ask yourself to help you find your own market.

1. Where and on what do you spend your majority of your disposable income on?

There are some people who are willing to spend money on activities that they are interested in. Do take note of markets that are rabid.

2. What are the things that you, your family members and friends are good at?

Everyone of us is unique and we will definitely know something that other people do not know. If you are good in certain activities, you might want to create your business around the area that you are strong at. You can also take note of the things that your friends are good at and leverage on their experience to venture into the market.

3. What are the topics that are currently very popular on the media?

You will need to be more observant on the activities that happen around you. There will be activities that might be the hot trend at the moment and you can capitalize on it. Do look out for more information from TV, magazines, books and etc

4. What are your own personal interest, hobbies and strengths?

You will have to really ask yourself and list down the interest, hobbies and strengths that you have on a piece of paper. Check through the list to decided on the market that you can be involved in. If you are in the market that revolves around your passion, you will enjoy doing your business and you will not find it to be a chore.

These are the 4 questions that you want to ask yourself that will help you to find your own profitable markets. Do take note that the market that you have chosen should be a profitable market where people are willing to spend money.

I would like to offer you Free "7 Days to Affiliate Marketing" course when you subscribe to my newsletter on Affiliate Marketing. You can get your instant access at http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com

From Zack Lim - The Up And Coming Affiliate Marketer who provide valuable affiliate marketing information at http://www.MyAffiliateMarketingOnline.com

NEW and very LUCRATIVE way to earn MONEY with your Website or Blog!

2008-02-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I am always looking out for new ways to make money online and get the most out of the websites that I own. Recently, a close friend shared an AWESOME opportunity with me.

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As you may know, major television networks are in trouble because their advertising earning are dropping. They are losing the market share at a dramatic pace. For the first time in history, website owners are sharing in the ad revenue that was formerly spent with the giant TV networks. Advertisers like Harley Davidson, HBO & Taco Bell are willing to pay you on 100% of your website traffic to make up for the loss of viewers that the big TV networks are experiencing. Do your online business a huge favor.

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AdSense Tips - Top 5 Tips To Increase Click Through Rates

2008-01-17T15:25:00.000-05:00

The Google AdSense program is now one of the most popular ways to make money online for webmasters. If you own a blog or a site then by simply adding AdSense you have the opportunity to make good income depending on the levels of traffic your site receives.

However just because your site receives traffic it does not necessarily mean that it will transfer into AdSense clicks as website visitors are now familiar with AdSense and can be very good at avoiding it. Here are some of the best ways to get your site visitors to notice your ads which means that the likelihood of ad clicks increases significantly.

Tip 1: Use More Ads

If your site is suffering from very low click through rates such as under one percent then adding more ads may help. The AdSense program allows 3 ad units and 2 link units. If your page has enough content then seriously consider integrating all these units into your site.

Tip 2: Place Ads Above The Fold

The location of the ads is very important in order to get the most clicks possible. Make sure that you place some ads above the fold on your website. The above the fold area is the part of your site that is first seen when the page loads without the visitor having to scroll down.

Tip 3: Place Ads Toward The Center Of The Page

The center of the page receives the most attention by web visitors so whenever possible center your ads or get them as close as possible towards the center of the page.

Tip 4: Use The Right Colors For Your Ads

Using the right colors in your AdSense ads can make a big difference in helping to blend your ads in with the rest of your site. Make sure the link color in your ads match the main link color on your site. It is also preferable to use a grey color for the ad URL, this will help to make the ad headline stand out more which should help to increase click through rates since most headlines are written to attract clicks.

Tip 5: Place Ads Directly In Your Articles

You need to place ads directly in your content in order to get them noticed more. If you have an article page then add an AdSense unit directly below the title of that article. Also you can use HTML tables to place AdSense units in your article paragraphs and have the text in your articles wrap around the ads.

Make sure that you are not squeezing your content too much so be sure to have enough space for large AdSense units and also enough text so that your articles still look good and readable. It is best to use the 336x280 ad unit as much as possible as it has been shown to be a good performer and also make sure to always remove borders from all ads as this will make the ads blend in better with the rest of your site.

Also remember that advertising works by creating an interruption in the user experience. Consider television and how you are shown ads without notice right in the middle of your favorite shows. This is done to force you to notice the ads so a similar approach needs to be used with AdSense ads to draw more clicks. Put your ads in positions that gently interrupt your visitors without making them want to leave your site. Apply some of these tips to help you get higher AdSense click through rates and make more money from your site.

Shakil is an online researcher, author and a regular contributor to a site that shows people how to make money online. Be sure to visit and also learn about affiliate marketing too.

2007-12-28T13:09:00.000-05:00

I am in the process of creating a variety of FREE Wordpress Themes, Blogger Templates, Website Templates and more for those who cannot afford good quality web design.

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Subscribe to our blog for the latest updates, designs, and contests!

December's Buy One Get One Free Extravaganza!

2007-12-05T11:46:00.000-05:00

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2007-11-06T17:47:00.000-05:00

Selling Products Online

When you are just starting out online everything can seem really scary and you will probably be unsure of yourself and your ability to make it in online marketing. Sometimes it really is not easy for people to get over this initial fear and they just either give up or do not put in the effort they need to succeed with online sales and marketing.

The internet is definitely one of our greatest modern tools that can be used every single day for different kinds of things that we need to get done. The internet can be used for so many things now that it seems weird to even think about leaving your home sometimes because it is so easy to shop, work, and stay in touch with people through using the internet. However, entrusting your income to online marketing all at once is not a good idea if you have never done it before so you need to think about it and set attainable goals for yourself to boost your confidence and help you learn how to work online. You can also look into systems that have been set up to guide you with ease into online marketing and working through the internet. Luckily for you there are a lot of these programs out there that will help you to success and basically guide you by the hand into learning and figuring out the internet and how you can start using it to your advantage.

Finding affiliate sites is a great way to boost your credibility online and start testing out your marketing techniques. You might get discouraged at first but as you gain more and more experience you will learn so many different ways to increase your income exponentially until you are simply amazed by how much you are making. If you are motivated and want to make money online and try to make money fast then you need to find a program online that can teach you about affiliate programs and marketing for your affiliate sites. If you learn how to become a great marketer on the internet then you will be able to make a lot more sales for the affiliate site and you will be really proud of yourself (not to mention extremely happy with the checks you are receiving).

The ClickBank mall is one of the best opportunities out there on the web because there are so many different products that someone is always looking for something. You can choose what products you want to display and promote so that you can get comfortable doing what you know best and then before you know it you will be hitting your goals and getting more and more experience in what you are doing. The Pro2 system for online marketing works with the ClickBank mall and other affiliate sites in order to show you how to make money fast and how to keep raising the bar and hitting it every time. You will be completely amazed once you start making money online all by yourself.

Joe loves to write about money making ideas and new discoveries online. You can make money online and learn to do online marketing through affiliate sites by visiting http://www.market-affiliate.com/ .

2007-11-04T00:48:00.000-04:00

Steps On How To Make Money With Your Blogs Easily

People make money from the blogs that the created quiet easily. There are so many ways starting a blog can be of help.

Many online businesses have created blogs as a cost effective way of promoting their website, build links, and to promote their products or businesses. Let us say that the firm deals with SEO, their blog is based around the same topic. This way, they can subtly offer their services while answering doubts of the members. Each posting they make, has a link to their website; this improves their visibility and drives targeted traffic to their site, thereby, improving their returns on investment. This is a most common way of using blogs to make money.

Some people start a blog, based on a topic that they are experts in and use their postings and the success of their blog to get them job offers from some of the top blogging sites. They use their blog to promote their services and in this way, they use the blogs to make money online.
There are certain writers with a flair for writing who are hired by firms that have started blogs to keep posting new and interesting threads, based on a topic relevant to the blog. They get to write for various blogs on a daily basis and thus supplement their income with the money they earn by posting to blogs.

Many people use blogs to promote the affiliate products or product that they market, they may start a topic relevant to the products and their use. They will again use posts with links to their website, in order to drive targeted traffic to their websites. They gain confidence of other bloggers by giving honest reviews of the products that they market.

Some people use CPC advertisements such as, adbrite or Google AdSense programs in their blogs thereby, monetizing their blogs. They have to work hard to get top listings in search engines and do all that they can to promote their blogs. It will be most effective if they are able to do considerable keyword research and select high paying AdSense keywords.

Some large firms have begun to realize the advantage of advertising or being advertised in blogs by their webmasters. They have begun to sponsor blogs paying huge bucks to be mentioned or have their website or products reviewed in the blogs.

In these ways, you may start making money from your blogs by working from your home, part-time. It is essential that you do your best to get top listings in search engines and that you utilize all tactics to maintain and recruit more members each day. Soon, you can become an expert who is making lots of money from blogs.

Mike Anson is an expert Internet Marketer who has been training others on Internet Marketing for many years. Visit his latest site Affiliate Marketing for Free information on How to make Money Online.

2007-11-02T11:37:00.000-04:00

Work At Home Data Entry Jobs

Many people are looking for work at home data entry jobs. The desire for the American Dream is still alive. People want more money and they want to spend time with their families.

You can see the demand for such jobs by evaluating searches done on the web on a daily basis. Please find below the Top Data Entry programs that I have found in the market place. This is just a few. The problem most people have is they are not sure if they are qualified to do the task asked of them. I recognized this from the feedback that I was receiving so I started doing research for the best two Data Entry From Home programs.

The hardest thing was going through the hundreds of programs to get rid of the Scams, non paying, non supportive or companies who would not even answer emails. You would be amazed at how many scam artist there are out the on the Internet. Anytime there is a lot of people making money they are going to try to get involved. It seems more and more in today's world that is to often the case.

It was necessary for both companies to have good Customer support, Training, Step-by-Step guidance on how to be successful and a money back guarantee. I also wanted to converse with them at least via emails to ensure that I would have the necessary contact in case one of my visitors needed my assistance.

I was able to identify two companies, one for advanced data entry and another for beginner level data entry. My next step was to evaluate whether or not the beginner level program also could encompass the more astute data entry operator, without having to purchase another program. Don't get me wrong many people will have more than one program, but I did not want it to be a requirement, therefore I wanted the beginners level program to have be able to support both levels.

The next thing I wanted to have a better understanding about was the requirements. I found that you really only need the following basic items:

Computer
Printer
Access to the Internet (High Speed if possible)
Business CardsEmail Address (Separate if possible)
Word Processor with Spell Check
Some Extra Time
Patience
A good work at home work discipline

I also found that the cost for these programs were minimal. At the time of my research you could enroll and get your business going for under fifty dollars. One has to remember that no matter which program you join you will have to have some patience and you will have to work from home. All to many people think they can join a program and the money will start flowing in. Once they realize they will have to do even minimal work they call the program a Scam and quit.

I believe this is an easy way to make money from home, but it does take some effort. Many people are making good money from the comfort of their homes and spending more time with their families. Please feel free to read more of this article by visiting my link in the resource box below. I always enjoy getting emails pertaining to my articles or my site. Your feedback is important to me.

Michael Comeau has been owner of many successful businesses over the years including his current online business which can be viewed at
http://www.workfromhome4dollars.com/ArticleDataEntry5.php
You may also find more articles by Michael Comeau at
http://www.workfromhome4dollars.com/

2007-10-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

OCTOBER!

Moms of Faith
http://www.momsoffaith.com/advertising.html-

Message Board Ads: Buy one get one FREE, ALL options!-

Featured Newsletter Sponsor: Buy One Get One FREE ALL Featured Options.(We Currently Have over 950 Subscribers!)-

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FALLing into Fun Contest!
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HOW TO ENTER:

You MUST be a subscriber to THIS blog to participate. (Being subscribed to this blog also gives you the opportunity to WIN prizes from our monthly drawings, updates on new features, and more!)

HOW?

Type your email in the little subscribe box in the upper right section of the sidebar –> and follow the prompts.

You MUST email me at contest @ designedbylara.com (w/o the spaces ) with the following:The email MUST be FROM the email that you SUBSCRIBED to this blog with.

Type in Subject: FALLing into Fun ContestTell me 3 FUN things you would like to do in your life if money was no object!

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Grand Prize: $75 Design Credit to be used for ANY purchase at Designed by Lara.

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2007-09-06T12:28:00.000-04:00

September Specials, Freebies, and a Contest you can WIN BIG in!

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- 20% off all Premade Wordpress Themes - Simply email me with the name of the theme that you want, and your Pay Pal email, and I will do the rest! http://designedbylara.com/premade-blogs.htm

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- Featured Newsletter Sponsor: Buy One Get One FREE ALL Featured Options.(We Currently Have over 900 Subscribers!)
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WHEN is the contest: August 20, 2007 - September 10, 2007. A random drawing of all eligible entries will be held on September 11, 2007 and winners will be announced by Friday, September 14, 2007.

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- You MUST be a WAHM
- Subscribe to our blog. http://designedbylara.com/blog
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2007-07-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

How To Make Money With Your Own Virtual Assistant Business
By Liz Folger, Work-at-Home Mom Expert

So you want to start your own virtual assistant business. Great! I assume you want to start your own VA business not only to own your own business, but also to make money. More
and more businesses are outsourcing and paying VA’s, and there is no reason why you can’t be one of them.

You’ve got your business name, all the office equipment you need, and you’ve got the determination to make your business a success. So now the big question is, how do you go about finding clients?

What Type of Services Will You Provide?

We all have certain areas where our talents and interests lie. You have so many choices as to what areas you want to special in. There’s a good chance you already have experience in some of the specialty areas.Maybe you don’t even realize all of the areas VA’s are working in.

Here’s just a small sampling of the services you could offer:

Administration
Writing services (technical or creative)
Proofreading and editing, research (online or traditional)
Scheduling
Bill paying
Simple website design
Newsletter distribution
Reminder services
Event planning
Concierge services
Research
Data processing/data management
Desktop publishing
Transcription services
Mail and email services
Telephone/fax services
Internet services
Bookkeeping
Purchasing services
Marketing services
Personal services

Once you know the types of services you are going to offer, it’s time to find you some clients.

What to Charge

It isn’t too hard to figure out what to charge. Start by contacting local support service businesses in your area. Ask them if they can send you a price list. Get several of these to learn what everyone else is charging. You don’t want to charge too much and you don’t want to under price yourself so you look like you don’t do great work. Find the happy medium and go with that amount. Prices are not set in stone. If you have to change your prices down the road, so be it.

Get Some Business Cards

If you want to look professional, make sure you get your business cards right away. You never know when you might meet someone who needs the services you’re offering. When that time comes, all you need to do is pull out your card and hand it to them. Never be without your business cards!

Here are some great sites where you can get business cards from free to as low as $10 for 250 cards.

Vista Print - Click on FREE business cards
Over Night Prints
DCP Print

(Try them out for free)

Tell Your Circle of Friends and Family About Your Business

Since you already have a relationship with your family and friends, don’t forget to tell them about your new VA business. While your brother might not need your services, there’s a good chance that he might know someone who does. You can start networking right away with those you already know.

Think about designing a letter or oversized postcard about your service and send it to everyone you know. Maybe even include a picture of yourself, the name of your business, the services you offer and ask that if they can’t use your service, to please recommend your business to others who might. If you send a letter, include a couple of your business cards for passing on to your possible clients.

Send Out Press Releases

A press release is a great way to start your business off with a bang. I want to mention here though that a press release is not something you just send out when you open your business. I’ll talk more about this a little later.

Here are some great places to find press release tips and templates:

http://www.press-release-writing.com/press-release-template.htm

http://www.marketingsource.com/pressrelease/releaseformat.html

Where to send your press releases:

Local Newspapers
Local Business Publications
Local Radio Talk Shows
Local TV News Stations

Online sites to send your press release for free:

http://www.prweb.com/aboutg.php

PrWeb is free and you can pick what area you want your press release to be distributed to.

Other reasons to send out a press release:

You’re offering a new service
Launching a website for your business
You’ve won a high profile client account or contract
You’ve had an unusual challenge or adversity and
overcome it; especially when others thought it couldn’t be done.
You participate in a fundraising event or you are to
serve in a charitable organization.
You’re offering or sponsoring a workshop, seminar, or conference
If you’re changing the company name, location, web
address, or product name

I’m The Answer to Your Problem

Convincing your future clients that they should hire you might seem a little scary at first. But once you build more clients, and they start telling you what a godsend you are, your confidence level is going to soar.

Here are some convincing ideas to consider…

Tell your future client why they need you. Maybe you work odd hours, or you have very reasonable rates. Go over the services you offer and why you are so good at what you do.
Explain to the client what skills you possess, your background, and your education.
You can help your client catch-up on a backlog of work that other employees aren’t able to get to.
You offer reduced costs and expenses for your client. They don’t have to pay you benefits or sick time.
You will help their business grow with your marketing techniques.
Thanks to the technology that is currently available, using your services will save the client money. Explain that you reduce overhead. They only pay you for work completed. They aren’t paying someone if there is no work to do. Plus your client doesn’t have to pay for sick or holiday time, or for health benefits.

It won’t be long until you’re confidence, strong and bright, shines through. You won’t have any problems explaining to a future client that you are the right person for the job, or that you are the solution to their problems.

So What Are You Waiting For?

Making money in a virtual assistant business can be done. Full time VA’s are making about $38.000 a year. This year, why can’t that VA be you?

For more information about this business visit: Bizymoms.com

2007-07-26T13:13:00.000-04:00

10 Reasons Why You Should Become A Virtual Assistant This Year

First of all, what is a virtual assistant (VA)? I like to explain it as a word processor gone wild. A VA is someone who works with clients, providing them with top quality support services without having to be physically present at a clients office. VA services are becoming more and more popular thanks to today’s technology such as email, the Internet, online instant messaging, fax, phone, and overnight delivery. Gone are the days of offices needing their support staff in the same building.

If you have a secretarial background or other support staff expertise and a love for computers and all the technology it offers, then here are ten very good reasons why you should start your own VA business this year.

1. Make An Income You Can Live On

It was reported by virtual assistant trade organizations that the average full-time VA working in the US would gross about $39,452 annually. Now that isn’t a bad income!

That is the type of money you can live on, even if you are a single mom.

2. The Need For VA’s Is Only Going To Get Greater

According to the George Washington University forecast of emerging technology, Virtual Assisting will become a $130 Billion Industry by 2008. Thanks to our growing technology, and the fact that it’s easier to just source out work to a VA due to the fact that a business doesn’t have to pay for any benefits when they out-source, this type of service will only get bigger and more in demand.

3. Are you feeling unfulfilled, unchallenged, and unmotivated? Is your current corporate job beginning to feel like a real drag?

Are you dreading getting dressed up, driving your commute to work, and working with a boss who is ungrateful and unappreciative? Do you love some parts of your job and despise other parts and wish you could do the parts you love more? Then becoming a VA might be something you need to look into.

4. Want to continue your professional working life without having to leave home?

Want the flexibility to work from home and have a better balance between work and life?

Maybe you’re thinking of having kids, or have had your first baby. You so want to continue your career, but you also want to spend more time with your children. Take a good hard look at the world of a VA. This type of home business will continue to give you the satisfaction of a career, while also offering you the ability to be there for your kids doctor appointments, their first step, school field trips, and running them around to after school events.

5. Gain the ability to work with people you want to work with.

Do you tend to click with certain types of people more than others? With a VA business, you can decide who you want your clients to be. Authors, salespeople, consultants, coaches, executives, entrepreneurs, and small business owners are just a few of the types of people you could work with.

6. The ability to do more than just one thing.

Looking for a little variety in your business? Don’t want to get stuck doing the same thing over and over again? Here is a list of just some of the things you can do as a VA.

Administration

Writing services (technical or creative)

Business/employee communications

Proofreading and editing, research (online or traditional)

Word-processing

Spreadsheets

Data entry

Database management

Message management

Scheduling

Bill paying

Simple website design

Newsletter distribution

Bulk mailing

Reminder services

Event planning

Special projects

Concierge services

Secretarial services

Research

Data processing/data management

Desktop publishing

Transcription services

Mail and email services

Telephone/fax services

Internet services

Bookkeeping

Purchasing services

Writing/editing services

Marketing services

Personal services

Santa letters

Proposal Writer

7. The ability to Niche yourself.

Choose just a few of the ideas above and take it one step further. Niche yourself. You might already possess knowledge in a certain area. You can contact those businesses you are already familiar with and work with them. Maybe in the past you had worked as support staff for a marketing company. If marketing is your thing, you can let businesses know that you can not only be their VA and take care of all their typing and database applications, but that you can also use your expertise to help them market their business.

8. Use the equipment you already have.

If you’re reading this article, then there’s a good chance you already have a computer, a printer, and fax capabilities. Why not start putting that equipment to good use and make some money?

9. The choice between working full-time or part-time.

Maybe you don’t want to work full time, but you need to do something to call your own. That’s great! You’ll be your own boss; you can decide how much or how little you want to work.

10. Being able to say you love the way you make money.

If just the thought of working with your computer and current technology makes you giddy, why not make money doing something you love? Grab hold of the opportunity to make as much money as you’d like and the ability to work from your home. You have the opportunity to decide who you want to work with, the type of work you want to do or not do, and your niche area. If this sounds like the perfect opportunity for you visit *** to learn more about starting your own Virtual Assistant Business.

For More information on this business visit: Bizymoms.com

2007-07-13T08:59:00.000-04:00

How to Find Ideas for Writing Articles

Writing articles every couple of weeks or so is a great idea for your online business but it can sometimes be hard to find good subject matter for your article. You write article after article and finally you just seem to draw a blank on what to write about. I am sure that has happened to all of us at one time or another.

When it happens to me there are a few things that I can do to find fresh ideas. These tips will work for you as well. Below are some good places to find interesting and fresh article content.

*Blogs - Blogs are a great place to find ideas for your article as many different things are discussed on blogs. People share their opinions, ideas, experiences and questions.

*Message Boards - Message boards are a good source of information as well. Follow the discussions and see what things people are interested in and need to know more about. I have written many articles from information I read on the boards.

*Email Discussion Groups - Again, get involved in the discussions. Find out what information people are looking for. Not only can you get ideas for your articles, but you can learn a lot as well and make some new contacts. Just go to Yahoo and do a search for the appropriate type of group for your business.

*Internet News Sites - Keeping up with Internet marketing news is very important for your business. Not only for writing articles but for keeping abreast of new developments, ideas, technology, etc. Research and write your articles to keep your readers informed as well.

*Read through your email - Take note of what people are asking you about and what they are most concerned with. Keep a file on hand and record all questions that can be used to create a powerful article.

*Subscribe to ezines - Ezines can be a goldmine of information and ideas. They allow you to keep up to date on the latest products, programs, biz opps, etc. Some of this information can make great articles.

*Do a survey - Write a two or three question survey and send it out to associates or discussion group members or better yet, your subscribers. Give your readers the information and news they are looking for.

For example: What questions do you have about Internet marketing? What resources do you need that you cannot find? Questions like this could give you some innovative article ideas.

*Read other articles - By reading other articles, you can come up with an unusual twist or angle for an overused idea. It sometimes helps to get different views and insights on the same old idea. NOTE: Never copy information or content from an article, ezine, or website.

*What would YOU like to know more about - Pick a topic you need to learn about, do some research and turn it into a resourceful article. This is a great way to learn while promoting your online business.

Always keep an open mind and eye out for article ideas. After awhile you will begin to se ideas automatically all over the net. Keep a notebook handy and when you think of an idea write it down in your notebook. I tend to think of ideas while lying awake in the middle of the night. I learned right away that if I don't write them down, they are totally gone by morning.

And remember, people want and need basic, straight forward, helpful information. They do not want or need college words, fancy storylines or over-dramatized articles.

Also, do not be afraid to give your articles a little personality, humor and best of all, heart. Write as if you were talking to the reader and doing your best to help them.

Articles are one of the most powerful marketing methods online. Don't let a little doubt stop you from making this big step towards success!

About the Author: Terri Seymour has several years online experience and has helped many people start their own business. Visit her site at http://www.seymourproducts.com for resources, $1 resell ebooks & software, free tutorials, affiliate programs, and a free ezine with bonus report: 77 Ways to Get Traffic! subscribe@seymourproducts.com

July Specials

2007-07-13T08:54:00.000-04:00

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2007-06-02T17:43:00.000-04:00

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2007-04-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

5 Revealing Facts About Starting Your Own Online Business
By: Rhonda White

The truth about working online is basically that it has its bad points as well as the good points. It’s not as easy as it sounds or everyone would be “successfully” doing it. Consider this question, ”Is starting an online business for you?” Get the unpolished, bare facts now:

1. When you start your own online business, you get to make the ultimate decision about what you want to do. You can take a hobby and turn it into revenue or take a simple skill and use this foundation for creating your own genuine business online. Above all you get to choose something that you really enjoy and be your own boss.

Negative: There may not be enough interest in your products or services to allow your business to grow. You need to realize that to become successful in your online business there needs to be a demand for your products and services.

Help: To avoid the ultimate disaster of complete failure, do some online research before you proceed further, in order, to determine if there is a definite demand for your products or services. Also, make sure that you’re choosing a business option for the long haul and not some type of trend that will soon whither away.

2. Depending on your type of business, you usually get to choose your own hours. Flexible hours can be wonderful when you have children or other type of activities that you like to participate in at various times.

Negative: Starting your own home business often requires numerous hours when first starting out. Usually you’re working on your own and have the sole responsibility of completing projects and scheduled tasks. Outsourcing is very difficult as well since funds are low during your first couple of years of business.

Help: Reinvest a certain amount of profit each month back into your business to make a faster progress with your business growth. Create a financial budget and use low cost marketing methods to allow your business a greater monthly profit. Set specific hours for work as much as possible and set a definite time to plan activities with your family outside of your work hours.

3. Marketing your online business allows many free advertising options. Your business startup costs are usually very low, depending on the the type of business you’re starting.

Negative: Online marketing is not always as easy as it seems. In fact, getting sufficient traffic to your site can be quite discouraging.

Help: Educate yourself all you can about internet marketing. There are tons of free resources; however, you need to be careful about getting the “wrong” information. Find some successful internet marketers by keeping a lookout online. You’ll often hear positive feedback from other business owners when they’ve found helpful resources that have helped them succeed. Look for some online forums dealing with internet marketing.

4. It simply feels wonderful to be “the boss” and make your own decisions. You don’t have to worry about “calling in sick” when necessary or begging the boss for a day off.

Negative: An online business can often times be lonely. You usually have no assistants or staff with which to discuss ideas. You also do not have additional support from leaders since you’re usually the sole owner of your business. Sometimes you have to work when you’re sick if you cannot afford to hire an assistant.

Help: Find an online or local support group in your targeted field and take time to communicate and learn from their mistakes and successes. There are numerous networking groups online that are often happy to discuss business issues with other entrepreneurs. To prepare for sick days, manage your time extremely well. There’s nothing like being sick and suddenly realizing you have a list of 100 projects you have to get done at the last minute because you procrastinated. As soon as you can afford to do so, train a virtual assistant that can work “on call” whenever you’re sick. Having someone to answer email and take care of other tedious tasks can be a big relief.

5. Once your have your online business up and running, you often have a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. You’re eager to work and build your business. Enthusiasm has you on top of the mountain. You’re now a full-fledged business owner.

Negative: Discouragement can quickly settle in with problems such as building your client base, web site hosting problems, work overload, customer complaints, overwhelming expenses, financial management, etc.

Help: Set goals that you can easily reach without getting overwhelmed. This will help you keep that sense of accomplishment. Make strategy plans for marketing and maintaining technical issues for your business. Seek expert advice in any area that you lack knowledge. Read useful information on business building issues. Hire a virtual (or local) assistant for bookkeeping if you lack financial managing abilities. You want to focus on your business needs rather than worrying over financial matters. Finally, get recommendations from online mentors regarding a good quality hosting company, email management, useful software that can ease the work load and other online matters that pertain to your type of business.

To summarize the matter, working online may have many negative points, but the positive can easily outweigh the negative when you educate yourself well in your online business adventure. You can avoid many pitfalls ahead of time by planning and preparing for problems before they arise. Owning an online business might not be for everyone, but considering the fact that it doesn’t take much expense to start your own website, it should definitely be something worth considering.

Article Source: http://faithandfamilyarticles.com

About the Author: Get your Two FREE Ecourses by Rhonda White: Home Business Marketing Ecourse, wahm-announce.com Affiliate Marketing Ecourse, mommyaffiliates.com

2007-01-24T22:49:00.001-05:00

NOTE: You WILL want to read this whole message! Really!

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So...don't miss the boat! HURRY!

2006-12-02T23:09:00.000-05:00

Been out for a bit...now that I am back, I have been very busy...I just built some new forums for HBRD. There are LOTS of cool features...and there will be tons of freebies, incentives, and perks for members!

JOIN NOW!

2006-10-11T21:23:00.000-04:00

Keys To Creating A Successful Home Business
By: Terence Young

Work life balance is no longer just a buzz word to be mentioned at a cocktail party to pass time, people in their multitude are starting to embrace it with a venom.

People are getting sick and tired of commuting for hours to a job that provides little satisfaction only to miss out on precious quality time with your family because you are exhausted at the end of the day. More and more people are now instead making a lifestyle choice and one of the most popular options taken is starting a home business. It doesn't take much to realize why this is so popular. Not only is child care expensive but the obvious benefit is the opportunity to dictate your own terms as to when and how you manage your work and family times.

So what the are critical keys to creating a successful home business that works.

1. Discipline. As with most things in life discipline plays a part but with a home business where you are the boss this is even more so. You have now managed to dwindle you daily commute to a little over a few minutes it takes you from getting out of bed to your home office. But what you save in commute you want to now create a work place schedule or habit that will enable you the greatest chance of success. Because we are at home we can all to easily fall into the comfort trap and start to be distracted with the housework, the kids, household errands and chores or even the dreaded TV. You wouldn't step out of the office with your employer to go run and errand so why would you now that you own your own business. Create a disciplined schedule for yourself with regards to work and there is no reason why you can't be flexible with it now that you are boss.

2. Motivation. There is a sense of being isolated when you first start out in a home business. When previously you enjoyed the company and interaction with fellow colleagues and the gossip you are now left largely to your own devices. You no longer have access to other people to give you advice and support. This doesn't mean you are alone in your journey you just now need to adjust yourself to your new found situation. Learn to setup KPI's or key performance indicators that you can be excited about and reward yourself when you get them done. Why not setup a target and once it is completed give yourself a break or an opportunity to run an errand if you so desire. Also look into small business associations. They are a great source of help and also gives you a chance to interact with other home business owners going down the same path as you.

3. Balance. After all you started a home business to get some family and work balance in your life right. All to often when we start out with our own business we want it to succeed. Unfortunately this may mean that you work longer hours then you previously did when you worked for someone else. You need to remember why it was that you started the business to begin with. If it was to enjoy a better balance then make sure that you aren't always working at the expense of spending time with your kids. Learn to switch off from work at designated times of the day such as time to pick up the kids from school etc so that you can really be in the moment and enjoy the time with them. Separate your work and home life and you'll find greater enjoyment with both.

At the end of the day starting a home business can be a greatly rewarding experience. You will gain freedom and a greater sense of control over your life.

Source: http://homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

For more personal growth articles visit: http://www.personalgrowthunlimited.com

This article is free for reprint, ONLY if you keep the source and author box in tact, with all links active, and do not change ANY part of this article.

2006-09-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

It's WaCkY WeDnEsDaY at HBRD!!http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/chatentry.html

Come join the FUN! Games...Prizes...and INCREDIBLE Deals!!

TONIGHT! 7pm - 10 EST!!!

Tell your Friends and EARN points for PRIZES!!!

Don't MISS IT!We also still have 2 spots available!!!

Only $2 a Spot!

RECRUIT! RECRUIT! RECRUIT!

MEET NEW FRIENDS! HAVE A GREAT TIME!

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS:
http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/page/page/3735890.htm

Sunday Sales Event (9/17)
Slumber Party Frenzy (9/23)
Fabulous Fall Festival (9/27 - 9/29) ~ HUGE 3 day event! Spots are fillingup FAST!
Shopping Extravaganza (10/21)
Beauty and Aroma Bash (10/28)
Tasty Treats Yum Fest (11/11)
Last Minute Shoppers Blow Out (12/2)

HBRD ADVERTISING SPECIALS, GOOD THRU SEPTEMBER 30th!http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/advertising.html

~ Buy any advertising option and receive TWO free weeks on the top of ALLForum pages.

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Come Join the FUN tonight!!! TELL YOUR FRIENDS and EARN points for PRIZES!!http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/chatentry.html

FREE!! Does it get any better??

2006-09-11T23:25:00.000-04:00

Come Join the Road to Success Team in a new Home Business Opportunity, This Weeks' Gift Shoppe for FREE. Sign up is FREE now through September 17 EST.

The first 25 consultants will be named FOUNDING CONSULTANTS (15% commission with the opportunity to upgrade to 25%).

There are no minimums...the website will be FREE...and there will be MANY great incentives and bonuses! PLUS, right now it's FREE so jump on the boat now!

Also, by signing up this week you will receive a FREE catalog kit $21 value!, and you will be entered into a drawing for 20 incentive points, a Superkit valued at $36.25, 50 small business-card sized baggies, 50 business cards, and a free $25 gift cert.

Simply EMAIL ME at Hisgirl0305@yahoo.com ASAP and let me know you want to get on the ROAD TO SUCCESS and I will send you a link to join this AWESOME business opportunity for FREE!!

Remember...it's ONLY FREE until September 17! HURRY!

2006-09-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

Our parties are going AWESOME!! We are having recruits sign up and sales are being made!! Don't miss another HBRD party!

Coming soon...FREE and low cost Business Directory!!

5 Key Elements to the Value of a Backlink
By: Anthony Kristovich III

Backlinks are an often-discussed, but rarely fully understood topic. Your site's reputation and Page Rank depend very greatly on backlinks, so knowing what makes your backlink reputation for your site more important and have more value is the next logical step.

So, you might ask then what things affect how much a given backlink is worth towards your reputation, and what can you do to maximize your backlink value.

While there are many things that affect how much a backlink is worth to your website, many are unknown to the world that search engines, especially Google, take into account. Thankfully, we know the 5 main things that make up most of your backlink score.

Page Rank. The page rank, or reputation, of the webpage that links to you giving you a backlink is the biggest factor. Page is ranked per page, not per website, and page rank is spread through outgoing links.

Anchor text. This is the text showing as the link text, the underlined text you click on (not always underlined, but you get the point). This text can have a very large impact on your backlinks. Google expects to see varied link texts in a normal situation, and it has been said that Google will only count a certain number of backlinks with the same exact text. Optimally, you want your keywords are you aiming for on your website to be in your backlink text if you can help it.

Relevant sites. It's Especially with Google's Jagger update, backlinks from relevant-themed websites is worth more than from unrelated websites. This means if you have a website about cars, backlinks from other car-type sites will give you more value than backlinks from a cooking website. This makes sense, as each backlink is a recommendation or a vote, and related recommendations have more authority or hold more importance.

Location. The location of the backlink to your website also makes a difference. The farther towards the top of the page, the more the backlink is weighed.

Age. The age of a backlink makes a difference. It may take up to 6 months to see the full effect of a backlink. This makes it a great reason to exchange backlinks with sites whose PR has not yet gotten to where it will, as you will get even greater advantage once they do reach that level.

So, the question of the day is what stuff can you help in reality.

Page Rank may or may not be an issue, as getting in a backlink while a website is newer will gain you a good advantage in the age category once they have grown to their potential. The main to remember here is to make sure they are a website that you would want to trade links with regardless of page rank.

Location you usually do not have much of a say in, and the age is out of your hands. So, the best concept is to concentrate on trading with websites whose content compliments your own, or is at least similar in theme for the best gain. If you can, try to get your target keywords into the anchor text if at all possible. Google definitely looks at the anchor text and takes this into consideration. Varied link text has been proven to give an added edge to a website and put it over the top into the lead.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Tony Kristovich is the owner of http://www.EZLinkSystem.com a link exchange website where you can register for free to exchange links with other webmasters like you.

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-31T23:37:00.000-04:00

We have a couple new features at HBRD....and some you may not have been aware of!

I finished creating our Shopping Mall...just in time for Christmas! I am offering only ONE spot per rep. It costs $10 a year, with FIRST option for renewal!

HBRD now offers reasonble priced Ad Writing Services for those who have trouble writing their text and solo ads.

We have several up-coming events in our WAHM Party Line. Including; Today...Freaky Friday, and coming soon...Sunday Sales Event (9/17), Slumber Party Frenzy (9/23), Our Fabulous Fall Festival (9/27-29) This is a three day event, and spots are going quickly! And in October, we have a Shopping Extravaganza (10/21).

Plus, we have our weekly parties; Wacky Wednesdays and Freaky Fridays. Click Here to view our complete schedule. Keep in mind that we book up to two months in advance, and we only allow ONE rep per company for all of our hosted events. So, get your spots early!

We offer 24 hour and weekend rentals...we help you promote...and we place your image and link in the room.

We offer personal party room rentals from 1 - 4 hours...we help you promote...and we place your image and link in the room.

We even offer you a way to MAKE MONEY with our chat room!

I will be adding more content articles, companies, and features each week. So keep our blog bookmarked...or join it to stay informed!

2006-08-25T00:51:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! Last night's party was a BLAST! A quick reminder...Sunday is our first Biz Opp Fair! 2-10 EST...ONLY a Buck a Slot!! Spots are filling up fast!

Here is one of several articles I put up yesterday...

Why Writing Articles Works Like a Traffic Magnet
By: Kurt Naulaerts

Article Marketing is hot. Every single day webmasters and program owners write and submit thousands of articles on any subject you can think of. The reason for this is that an article is content. And content is king. Before you start to think that this is another SEO technique that may or may not work depending on the current algorithms of the search engines, think about it.

EVERYTHING on the internet is CONTENT.

The internet is a veritable treasure trove of information. Good, bad, valuable or not, the internet is all about providing information to people. That is why smart internet marketers know that people want information from their websites, not just SEO enriched pages of advertising.

The loopholes that search engine optimizers have been trying to use for high ranking in the search engine has created a plethora of sites that boast high keyword ratios, thousands of irrelevant hyperlinks and sometimes even redirection. These redirected websites try to create an optimized web page that the search engines will rank high but actually redirect the viewer to a less search engine friendly site.

Well, the search engines caught on. The websites that were getting the highest placements were not always providing quality information or useful content. In fact, they not only lowered the ranking of these sites. They even removed them from the listings completely.

This sent a shock wave through the internet community and smart marketers realized that there is only one sure way to convince the search engines that they were meant to be at the top: Quality Content. And a quality way to provide content is through articles.

Not only do the search engines love content and articles, but visitors do too. By providing visitors with useful information and relevant links to other sites, they come back again and again! And that is not the only benefit.

Because website owners are now hungry for content, there is a huge market for informative articles that other website owners can use on their sites. By offering information to these sites in exchange for a hyperlink to your website, you get even more exposure, both to search engines AND customers.

So, if you want an easy way to provide content then start writing articles.

Ask yourself what kind of program you are promoting. What niche market does it belong to? What keywords are people searching for in the search engines to find your program? If you have answered these questions then you are well on your way.

Next, describe the topics of your program. Use your own knowledge. Search for info in the search engines. Explore your hard drive. Maybe you will find an ebook you had forgotten about.

Are you ready to start writing?

The headline determines for a great deal whether someone is going to read your article. How to, Discover, Why, X ways to, are fine starting points.

In the title and first paragraph mention your keyword. Use this keyword a few times in the rest of the article. Do not advertise in your article!

Do not mention links or URLs! An article is meant to be informative. It is not a sales letter.

And still the main reason why people write articles is to promote something. Surprise: you have a resource box! When you submit an article you may (MUST!!) include a resource box. This is your ad! You have about 5 lines to mention your name, a link to your site and to be creative in order to attract visitors.

Do you see the value of writing articles?

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Kurt Naulaerts and Barbara Smith are 2 marketers working closely together. They will be happy to help you on your way to earning a full time income online. http://www.webtrafficbuilderpro.com/BarbaraSmith.html

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

PARTY TODAY!!! 2-11pm (EST)

Come and join the fun! Prizes will be given all day long, and grand prize drawings at the end of the event! Don't Miss it!!!

2006-08-19T00:02:00.000-04:00

Whew! I have had a busy day! I added 3 new companies to our Home Business Directory. 4 new articles to our Free Content Directory. 1 new affiliate program and 1 new business tool.

Oh, and I forgot to mention...about a week ago I added HBRD to RYZE.

How To Use Forums To Promote Your Website
By: James Woolley

Forums are a tried and tested way of getting free traffic to your website. By posting on forums that allow sig files (those messages that appear below each post) you can indirectly advertise your website or affiliate program every time you post a comment. It sounds pretty straight forward, but a lot of people are still failing to make best use of this method of promotion. In this article I discuss exactly what to do and what not to do when posting on forums.

The first thing you should do is to find the most popular forums in your particular niche. Start by doing a search on your favoured search engines for relevant forums, and then read a few posts and see if they allow sig files. If they do, jot down the url of each forum, until you have a nice list of suitable forums. Then I recommend going to alexa.com and typing each forum's website address into the traffic ranking box and seeing how much traffic each forum gets. Ideally you want as low a number as possible for it's ranking, and as a rule I generally tend to favour forums that have a ranking of 50,000 or lower. This ensures you don't waste your time posting on forums that hardly anyone is visiting.

Once you have your list of forums you can start registering for them and creating your own sig files. This is where SEO becomes a factor, because not only should you create links that contain your main keywords that you want to rank highly for, but you should also vary them slightly so the search engines don't think that you are simply buying links, because they all use the same anchor text.

Now you can begin posting some messages. Your ultimate objective of posting on forums is to get people to click on your sig file and visit your site, however there is a right way and a wrong way of doing this.

The wrong way is by spamming forums and posting endless worthless comments that don't add anything to the topics being discussed. The end result of all this is that other readers of the forum will soon suss you out and regard you as a forum spammer and so will have no interest in clicking on your sig files and visiting your site.

The right way to get the most people you can to click on your sig file, without spamming forums, is to brand yourself as an expert in your particular niche. By bearing this in mind when posting each individual message you will start to become respected and people will naturally want to find out more about you and your website. How will they find out this information? Through your sig file of course.

There's a few other things you can do to maximise your click-thrus from sig files.

Firstly, if you are posting on forums for any length of time, you should change the wording of your sig file every so often. People get bored with seeing the same sig file over and over again, and tend to gloss over it after a while, so it's important to spice it up every so often (while keeping it keyword rich of course).

Secondly, on every forum you will generally find one or more epic threads, ie those threads that have simply taken off, with several pages of posts, each of which has been viewed hundreds, if not thousands of times. These are the kinds of threads that you should try and post a comment or two on for maximum exposure.

In addition you should also try and start your own epic threads. By being the first person to post on one of these threads your sig file could be seen thousands of times by other readers of the forum. The best ways of doing this are by either starting controversial topics that people will be begging to add their own opinions to, or by starting an open-ended discussion that could lead to many additional topics being discussed, all on the same thread. Either way your initial post containing your sig file could potentially get exposed to thousands of readers.

If you follow the basic guidelines outlined in this article you should create a steady stream of traffic to your website just from forums alone. Combine this promotional method with any of the other numerous traffic-generating methods, and you will soon have a high traffic website on your hands.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: James Woolley is a full-time marketer who runs a website and newsletter dedicated to helping people make money online through internet marketing. To subscribe to his newsletter send a blank email to jimsmarketing@aweber.com or visit http://www.jimsmarketing.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-16T22:48:00.000-04:00

10 Tips - What Is Successful Time Management?
By: Isabel Baldry

What is successful time management? This is all individual, but it always involves these elements: Good organization and structure, clearly defined and prioritized action plan, and finally some kind of satisfaction or enjoyment from the task.

Here are 10 tips to help you achieve all of this:

Tip 1. The secret to successful time management is closely related to the clarity of the goals you have set. Learning these basic secrets will surely benefit you so you can do all the things that you want to accomplish in a day and in a year. You need to be extrememly clear in your mind as to what you try to achieve.

Tip 2. Make sure that your goals are achievable. Some people set unachievable or over-ambitious goals, which can seriously mess up schedules and interim goals. It is vital that you set your goals correctly.

Tip 3. Asking the correct questions to yourself can help you determine your achievable goals. Learn to be honest in your answers to accomplish realistic goals. Asking questions is one of the basic elements in successful time management. Asking yourself is a therapeutic technique to help you find unanswered questions.

Tip 4. You need to have an action plan. Managing your time means putting in some serious action - using your skills and intelligence in achieving it. A clearly defined action plan is one vital step in organizing your time. The action plan should include a lists of your goals and your specific actions towards each goal - along with detailed responsibilities allocated to each step of the plan.

Tip 5. Time to get organized - and start with your PC. If you are storing files on your computer, make sure to have a tracking sheet on what you are saving and what are the files that are not needed or that needs to be updated. Much time is wasted searching for nuggets of gold on your PC among hundreds of unneccessary documents.

Tip 6. Learn to prioritize things. Write all the things that you need to accomplish in a day. Once you have the list, mark the most important things. If you have a long project, you need to break them into small projects where you can squeeze some on your daily activity. Remember to use the rule of important activities first. This is not a new rule of the thumb, but it is proven to be very effective.

Tip 7. Once you have categorized all the things that you need to do in a day, you need to put the amount of time you will spend on each daily task and activity. This is very important, so you need to put the exact and realistic amount of time where you can accomplish each activity within your day. Never waste time.

Tip 8. Don't overwork you time management and get caught in "paralysis by analysis". There are people who spend the whole day figuring out and making list of the things that they should do in a day. Bottom line, at the end of the day, they have a beautiful list but no real accomplishments.

Tip 9. Keep in mind that you are making a realistic goal to achieve your purpose. Remember that every plan have flaws. When you plan for your goal, you need to have actions. You need to plot your plan; you ask questions, are part of the plan and focus more on the results. This way you will be achieving your goal in no time. Once you have reached your goal, you will realize that you have achieved your goal and stick with your plan as predicted in a very effortless manner.

Tip 10. Find enjoyment in what you are doing. Even if the task is not that fun, try to find some nugget of learning - or focus on the bits you do enjoy. Procrastination usually happens when we are bored - so try to add some enjoyment into your tasks. If the task really isn't inspiring, add enjoyment by allowing yourself to celebrate once the most boring tasks are completed. Just add 5 minutes of something you really enjoy as a celebration, before hitting on the next boring task.

So now you know how to manage you time. Time to go back to work!

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Isabel Baldry is covering a wide range of interests for various publications. What is successful time management? To know, please visit http://www.acetimemanagement.com/

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

PARTY TIME!!

Come join the fun TODAY!!! Between 4:15-4:45 and 7:30-10pm
http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com/chatentry.html

2006-08-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

I added 5 new articles today to our free content directory.

I just got back to work on another new feature that we will have. I started it a couple of months ago...but life got busy...and the I dove into the Party Line instead. LOL. Anyway, it will be a shopping directory. As you know HBRD is the directory place! I have MANY more coming as well. Plus, some more GREAT ideas in the works. Stay tuned!!

Oh, I want to make sure to remind you, our debut party for the WAHM Party Line is Monday! I hope you can make our first SUPER Frenzy!

WE also have a HUGE three day event happening in September. Our Fabulous Fall Festival! Slots are already filling up! So, if you like to party...now's the time to get your spot!

And, don't forget we have parties every Monday and Wednesday. CLICK HERE to view our schedule. PLUS, we also allow you to rent our chat room for your own parties and events. And charge your own fees if you want! We offer many great features with our WAHM Party Line. Check us out!

OK...here is one of the articles I put up:

Make Your Money Online With An Affiliate Program
By: James Lowe

There are many good ways to make extra money online, but one way that stands out, at this time in internet history, is affiliate marketing.

In affiliate marketing, you search for and join an excellent affiliate program, and essentially help your merchant partner to sell his goods and services, either through direct salesmanship or through advertising. For your assistance efforts, in this regard, you will receive a percentage of the sales that you generate for your partner.

Having your own website is essential to your success with affiliate programs. As long as you have a well-designed site with a regular flow of visitors, making extra money online will not be too difficult.

Most of the work you will have to do in affiliate marketing involves creating, improving, and tweaking your website so that you can achieve more traffic.

Here are two tips you might want to consider when building and upgrading your web site. Following these tips will help you create a more content friendly site, thus enabling you to generate superior returns for your efforts.

Understand your market. Your site should cater to a specific niche market. Resist the temptation to be a site that caters to “one and all”, for you will make less money that way. Instead, analyze the current market and decide on the area that can yield the most profit for you.

Without specialization, your efforts will be wasted in too many directions, with the result that you may achieve mediocre results in all areas, but never outstanding results in one or two areas. Spreading yourself too thin is a very real danger and must be avoided.

You’re much better off choosing a topic or product that you know and love, than choosing five topics or products that you don’t understand. You won’t be making extra money online if you don’t specialize. Got it?

Advertise intelligently. Because you are a website builder, you must always keep the end product in mind. Will your finished site be something that people will want, or have to, get more of? Will they want to visit regularly, or will they be turned off by what’s there?

Many site builders make the mistake of just putting up banners and links wherever they can. If it were you visiting the site, would you actually bother to click on these ads, especially when they are nothing more but a nuisance?

You might manage to earn a few dollars using this method, but in the long term, you couldn’t possibly hope for long-term success. The deep secret is to use good links and banners related to your site.

Try to build your site with your readers in mind, and provide for what they will need and want.

In affiliate marketing, as in all other businesses, many people scrape by while others make a fortune. The difference lies in the strategies that they adopt, and in the intelligence they apply to their efforts.

You owe it to yourself to be included in the elite few. As long as you stay committed to excellence, making extra money online will not be difficult for you. Remember, you want to be a maker, not a scraper.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: James M. Lowe writes original articles, press releases, e-books, blogs and websites about home business opportunities. http://www.contenttomarket.com/ArticleWriters

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-07T23:46:00.000-04:00

I am excited to announce our newest feature! WAHM Party Line! If you are a WAHM and you like to party...or you are interested in renting a party room, then you will LOVE our new Party Line! We have tons of choices and opportunities for WAHM's who party!

To Kick off our new feature, we are throwing a SUPER FRENZY on August 14 from 10am-10pm. Spots are already filling up. Don't MISS OUT!

I also added 4 new articles to our FREE content directory! And there is so much more to come. We will be adding a shopping directory...just in time for the Christmas, as well as several other directories and resources over the next few weeks. HBRD just keeps getting better!!

Basics of RSS
By: Veronica Azam

You probably have seen this three-letter acronym in the course of your internet surfing. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary; syndicating means republishing an article that comes from another source such as a website.

An RSS is a means of publicizing updates about websites. It may or may not include a summary and photos of the latest posting. But those that provide summaries (thus Rich Site Summary) allow users to skim through the article so that they could decide later on if they want to access the website source. The RSS feed usually contains the title of the update originating from the website. It is also usually the link to the website source.

What are the benefits of RSS?

RSS gives benefits to both readers (users) and web publishers.

1. It gives you the latest updates. Whether it is about the weather, new music, software upgrade, local news, or a new posting from a rarely-updates site learn about the latest as soon as it comes out.

2. It saves on surfing time. Since an RSS feed provides a summary of the related article, it saves the user's time by helping s/he decide on which items to prioritize when reading or browsing the net.

3. It gives the power of subscription to the user. Users are given a free-hand on which websites to subscribe in their RSS aggregators which they can change at any time they decide differently.

4. It lessens the clutter in your inbox. Although your email address will be required to enjoy the services of online RSS aggregators, RSS does not use your email address to send the updates.

5. It is spam free. Unlike email subscriptions, RSS does not make use of your email address to send updates thus your privacy is kept safe from spam mails.

6. Unsubscribing is hassle-free. Unlike email subscriptions where the user is asked questions on why s/he is unsubscribing and then the user would be asked to confirm unsubscribing, all you have to do is to delete the RSS feed from your aggregator.

7. It can be used as an advertising or marketing tool. Users who subscribe or syndicate product websites receive the latest news on products and services without the website sending spam mail. This is advantageous to both the web user and the website owner since advertising becomes targeted; those who are actually interested in their products are kept posted.

What are the drawbacks of RSS?

The disadvantages of RSS use are brought about by its being a new technology and some user-preference concerns.

1. Some users prefer receiving email updates over an RSS feed.

2. Graphics and photos do not appear in all RSS feeds. For conciseness and ease of publication, RSS feeds do not display the photos from the original site in announcing the update except for some web-based aggregators

3. The identity of the source website can be confusing. Since RSS feeds do not display the actual URL or name of the website, it can sometimes get confusing on what feed a user is actually reading.

4. Publishers cannot determine how many users are subscribed to their feed and the frequency of their visits. Moreover, they would not know the reasons why users unsubscribe which could be important in improving their advertising.

5. RSS feeds create higher traffic and demands on the server. Most readers still prefer the whole update over a brief summary of the entry, thus they still access the site.

6. Since it is a new technology, many sites still do not support RSS.

How do I start using RSS?

There are two things needed: an RSS feed and an RSS aggregator or reader. The RSS feed comes from an RSS-supported website. There are also websites that provide a list of RSS feeds of different websites. An RSS aggregator is used to read the RSS feed from the source website. It scans and collects data on latest RSS feeds from the worldwide web.

An aggregator comes in two forms: a downloadable program also known as desktop aggregator and an online or web-based aggregator. Downloadable aggregators may require payment before they can be acquired, while internet-based aggregators are usually free of charge. All you need to do is to register an account then you are ready to use their services. Both versions allow you to customize or choose which RSS feeds to enter. Paid aggregators are usually chosen by more experienced users and they usually allow more freedom in customizing feeds.

1. Choose an RSS aggregator to use. For beginners, web-based aggregators are recommended since they are usually user-friendly

2. Scan the homepage of your target website for the RSS or XML button. It contains the RSS code you need to enter in the aggregator. Copy this code. Syndic8 provides a directory of websites that support RSS.

3. Paste the code (which contains the URL of the website) in your aggregator. There is a space provided for pasting the code.

After you have done these three easy steps, you can start reading the RSS feeds coming from the website. New postings appear as they are published real time at the source website.

RSS and Internet Marketing

The original idea of RSS came from Netscape, where their intention is to provide a means for users to customize their personal homepage to contain links to websites that interest them, similar to bookmarking websites.

The application of RSS to internet marketing was an unforeseen development to RSS technology developers. Since users are given the freedom to add RSS feeds to their aggregators, those who are interested in particular products and services available in the internet can now be notified real time. Marketing becomes more specific to interested people and not a hit-and-miss operation.

Those who intend to use RSS for marketing their products and services should consider linking up with email account providers, (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, Google mail); networking websites (e.g. Friendster, Multiply, My Space, Hi5); websites of newspapers and television network websites (e.g. New York Times, CNN) for medium to big-scale companies. Small-time industries can also look into networking websites as well as personal blog websites (e.g. Blogspot) and websites of clubs and organizations that would probably make use of their products or services e.g. a fishing supplies store can look for the website of their local fishing club for possible RSS marketing.

Clearly, RSS is an innovation in information management in the worldwide web as well as online marketing. We can expect better RSS technology in the not-so-distant future as its popularity increases among users and website owners alike.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Veronica Azam is an experienced and established ebay seller and ebook/home business entreprenuer. http://www.veronicaskloset.biz http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Veronicas-Kloset

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-06T16:12:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days I have added numerous articles to our FREE content directory and 2 new companies to our Home Business Directory. I am also working on a new feature for HBRD. We will soon offer a FANTASTIC venue for parties, events, and the like. This feature will launch in about a week. So, stay tuned for some GREAT deals!!

Good Sense Google Adsense
By: Lara Velez

I have enjoyed a steady increase in my Google Adsense payout during the past year. Let me share with you what I have learned.

Before beginning, I should mention that for Google Adsense Ads, text is BEST! Images can be distracting in a negative way to your visitors. Now, let's begin...

PLACEMENT: The best clicks for me have always been from the top letterboard. I highly recommend placing letterboard Google ads at the top of every page of your site. Or at the very least a 468x60 banner. I have also found that my bottom letterboard does well. This too should be placed on every page.

Another good spot is within the text of your content. It should flow with the text. The ads should not stand out.

APPEARANCE: It is crucial that your Google ads BLEND in with your site. The ad should have the same backround color that your site does, including the borders. There should be no lines. It should look like you typed the text in. Finally, you should set the text color to be the same as your content text. Remember, for optimum performance, Google ads should always blend and never stand out.

CHANNELS: These are an invaluable feature of the Google Adsense program. They really help you pin point what works best with your site. What works for me may not for you. You may find that a sidebar banner receives more clicks.

I suggest that you experiment with the channels and try out different placements and sizes. Give each of them a couple weeks. Keep a log and compare. Then you will know what your visitors tend to click on and can optimize.

This is something that you will want to do periodically to ensure continued success.

GOOGLE REFERRALS: Make use of their fantastic referral program. For me, the Adsense referral option does best. However, I suggest you play around with them and see what your visitors veer towards.

For the referral buttons, you should place them in plain view. You want these to get noticed. Look through all of the size and color options they offer, and choose the one that you feel will attract your visitors the most.

In closing, the best advice I can give you is to take the time to really see what works best and where for your site. And, even different pages within your site. If you take the time, you too will begin seeing a steady increase in your Google checks.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Lara Velez is a successful web publisher and owner of several informative websites and businesses. Including; Home Business Resource Directory, a site dedicated to helping people find and succeed in home business ventures. She also offers Web Hosting for family friendly sites with 99% up time, great prices, and MANY fantastic features.

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-08-02T21:21:00.000-04:00

We are kicking off August with a contest on the HBRD forums!!

I am giving away one FREE 6 month EXCLUSIVE Rep Listing! That's $115 value!!

What do you have to do? I'm glad you asked!

Post 25 or more helpful and informative posts and/or articles in the General Business sections of our forums between now and August 31 at 11:59pm EST and you will be placed in a random drawing for a FREE six month EXCLUSIVE Rep Lising!!!

You MUST post in the General Business section...(Ad Sections are NOT counted) some of the topics in the general business sections are; party tips, content articles, business tips, SEO, newsletter, blogs, etc.

Not a member? Join Now!

NOTE: If your company is already taken, don't worry...if you are the winner, as soon as it opens up, you will begin your FREE listing.

ALSO: If you already have a rep listing, and you win...you'll just get another 6 months for FREE!

This is an AWESOME opportunity for your business! Don't miss out!!

If you are unsure what an Exlcusive Rep Lising is, click here to find out more!.

2006-08-01T23:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I added some more great content! Here is a sample of what HBRD has to offer you and your business building!

Time Management In Your Home Business
By: Andrew Jones

One of the most valuable resources in your online home business is time. We each get the same amount of time each day, but it's what we do with that time that is so very important. You can spend that time on frivolous tasks and "whittle" away the hours or, focus your time and energy on tasks that will grow your business and bring you closer to your goals. Especially working from home, it's too easy to be lazy and waste your time.

Now something that I have just started applying recently and that has worked wonders for me is 8" x 5" Systems Cards. I saw this tip in a forum awhile ago (can't remember who that was to give them credit) but basically you write down everything that needs to be done on these cards. So simple and yet so powerful. This is easier and more immediate to be able to write things down as they occur to you rather than typing things into your computer.

So how do we work this? Well basically, whatever your goals or special projects are, you write down this goal/project at the very top of the card. This is the "Big Picture". Then you "chunk" this down into detailed tasks and place a small checkbox beside each task. Then all you have to do is get to work, complete each of the detailed tasks on the list and tick each item as it's completed. Once you have completed all the tasks, the "puzzle" is finished and your goal (big picture) has been achieved automatically.

Now, you may be wondering, "what's so special about this?" The point is that this is so dead easy and yet if you actually do it there is so much clarity about what has to be done, how it is to be done and your target remains in your sights the whole time.

Ok, so what if you have many projects on the go or some big projects to complete? My recommendation is to allocate a certain amount of time each day, whether that's 8 hours, 4 hours or whatever, that will be up to you to decide. Then break that down into one hour chunks and no matter what, just do that one hour of work on that project and then move onto the next project and do one hour on that, and so on. You will be amazed at how much work you get done and after a few days you will look back and marvel at the number of projects you have completed.

I have a number of different cards for different things. I have a separate card for each project or goal that I want to complete; a card for article topics that I keep with me at all times so that any ideas that occur to me, I can write it down immediately; a card with my marketing plan on it; and a separate card for each day of the week. Each day will have routine tasks that are performed every day such as, check emails and reply to any queries, forum time, traffic exchanges, checking stats, blogging and project/goals. Make sure that you allocate a certain amount of time for each item and tick them off as you complete so that you are accountable.

And then you will have certain tasks that are completed, say once a week. Such as, write and submit an article, check all your links are active, check your subscriber lists, and research, (example for adwords or adsense). Note: just make sure that it is research and not aimless surfing. You can allocate each of these tasks to a different day of the week on the daily cards. Finally, there will be tasks that are done on a monthly basis such as, submitting your link to the directories, tweaking web pages or sales copy, and planning your time. Have these on a separate card and tick off and date each item as it is completed.

The last card that I have is an "ideas list". Any ideas that I have at any time, I write it down straight away, no matter how crazy or stupid the idea sounds. This card (and the other cards) has the effect of actually freeing up my mind and my time so that whatever I'm doing in that hour, I can focus 100% in the moment and stop worrying about other things that have to be done. I'm more effective and less stressed than ever before.

Now, it seems like a lot of work to set-up these cards but once you do, and get into the routine of using them, it's actually far less work than not using them. The added bonus is that you are more effective in your home business and get a lot more completed and achieved. As with everything, consistency is the name of the game.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Andrew Jones has been a business owner for the past 10 years, and is now a Plug-In Profit Site owner. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://www.EasyCash-At-Home.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-07-30T00:39:00.000-04:00

I started a new Yahoo group got HBRD. There are fun contests and prizes for our members. You can even win an exclusive rep advertising package valued at $115!

Here is a link, if you want to join:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HBRD

I also got a few things up today. I put 3 new articles in our free content directory, 2 new companies to our mystery shopping directory, and 1 new business building tool. I am commited to consistantly adding new content, tools, and resources to help YOU achieve your dreams.

Here is one of the articles I added to our directory...

3 Things All Affiliate Marketers Need To Survive Online
By: John Savage

Every affiliate marketer is always looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication.

There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these top three marketing tips, you will be able to increase your sales and survive in affiliate marketing online.

What are these three tactics?

1. Using unique web pages to promote each separate product you are marketing. Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more.

Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an initial understanding of what the product can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractive and compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers attention in order to get them to read more, and even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers. If possible position them at the very top side of your page so they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect.

Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never to return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they thought they wanted, and later you will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word “free” because there are still older spam filters that dump those kind of contents into the junk before anyone gets to read them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not avail of your products and services.

3. Get the kind of traffic that is targeted to your product. Just think, if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in e-zines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest.

Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day.

Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day, that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistic.

The tactics given above do not really sound very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part.

Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end up maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers survive in. Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…
Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: John savage is a successful affiliate marketer and he has a great Blog where you can read about an amazing true affiliate marketing story. Go To: http://Super-AffiliateMarketing.blogspot.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-07-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today, I added another affiliate program to our directory to help you generate some more cash with your website. I also added 10 new articles to our FREE content directory! Below, is one of these fantastic articles...

How Google Detects Invalid Clicks - A Must Know For AdSense Publisher
By: Casey Yew

A lot of Google AdSense publishers are banned from the Google AdSense program for invalid clicks. Some of these Google AdSense publishers manage to get their AdSense account reinstated. However, majority of them failed to do so. As a result, they are banned from the Google AdSense program.

Google does not reveal any specific details about invalid clicks in order to protect their proprietary clicks fraud detection technology. Hence, you would not know who is generating these clicks on your site or where these clicks come from.

If you are not getting any details of the invalid clicks from the termination letter, it may be a good idea to learn how Google defines these clicks and ways to detect them.

Google defines invalid clicks as:

• Manual clicks intended to increase publisher’s advertising

• Clicks by automated tools, robots, or other deceptive software.

So how does Google detect these clicks and how would they know which clicks are invalid?

Google AdSense team uses three powerful tools to detect invalid clicks:

Detection and Filtering Tool: Each click on an AdSense ad is monitored by Google system. Google will record the IP of each click, the time of the click, duplicate clicks and various click patterns. Google will use these factors and filter out potential invalid clicks.

Advanced Monitoring Tool: Google uses its proprietary software to monitor clicks fraud activity. They are constantly working to improve their technology.

The Google Team: In addition, Google has a team that uses specialized tools and techniques to examine individual cases of clicks fraud. When Google system detects potentially invalid clicks, a member of this team will examines the affected account.

Despite the effort that Google put in to improve their clicks fraud detection technology, there are few innocent publishers whose AdSense account has been suspended or banned temporarily for different reasons. For example, a sudden spike in your AdSense earnings would probably raise the red flag in their system and cause your AdSense account to be suspended. If your AdSense account is suspended for invalid clicks which you did not commit, Google provides you a way to make your appeal:

http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py?contact=invalid_clicks_appeal

A Piece of Advice

When you are making your appeal via email, you should stay calm and plan the right strategy. You should be patient when dealing with Google and most importantly you should be polite when communicating with them. You may take initiative to provide them with all the documents they need.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: Start Making Money With AdSense Now. A Complete Google AdSense Guide for Beginner presented by http://www.startAdSensenow.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-07-24T14:15:00.000-04:00

Another 6 articles added today! HBRD has great articles to help you find success and build your website up with high quality content.

Here is one of the ones I added today:

10 Ways To Get Incoming Links To Your Website
By: James Woolley

Obtaining incoming links to your website fulfills two main objectives. Firstly it increases the traffic you could potentially receive to your site because the more links you have the more traffic you should receive, and secondly, by obtaining links from pages with a good page rank you can increase your own page rank which, although not the deciding factor, will help boost your ranking in the search engines.

Listed below are ten ways in which you can obtain these sought-after links.

1. Exchange Links With Other Websites This process, known as reciprocal linking, is common place on the internet, and is something most webmasters do. However, while it's something you should do, it's important to note that search engines place more importance on one-way links than two-way or reciprocal links.

2. Submit Your Website To Directories This is a good way of getting one-way links to your site (if a reciprocal link is not required). There are numerous directories you can submit to, offering both free and paid submissions. When deciding on whether paid submissions are worth it, you should look at the page where your link is expected to appear and see if it has a reasonable page rank, and the number of other links that appear on that page, with the fewer the better.

3. Build A Network Of Websites And Interlink Them When building multiple websites it makes sense to interlink them, preferably from a home page link for maximum benefit. This can be very beneficial if each of your websites is on a different server, but be careful if they are hosted on the same server, as the search engines will think you're deliberately manipulating their results, and will most likely prevent you from achieving higher rankings.

4. Write Articles This is a very powerful method of obtaining a lot of incoming one-way links to your site. By submitting your articles, which include the all important resource box with the link to your site, to multiple article directories you can pick up backlinks from not only these article directories but from other websites who pick up your articles and include them on their website or blog.

5. Write Press Releases Writing a compelling news-worthy press release about your site or related topic, can also result in multiple websites and news sources picking it up and linking to your site. This is a very effective way of obtaining numerous one-way links very quickly, but doesn't offer the long-term benefits that articles do.

6. Create A Blog Blogs are very easy to create with multiple websites offering free services, so there is no excuse for not creating a blog related to and linking to your main website. You could post anything - your thoughts, articles, or affiliate program reviews, for example, but make sure you include a link to your site in the links section, and at the end of each post if appropriate.

7. Leave Comments On Blogs And Guestbooks You've got to be careful with this method that you don't abuse it and start spamming other people's blogs or guestbooks. Leave legitimate comments, and make it look like you actually have something to contribute. For example, just saying “Great Blog!” and then leaving your link is rightly considered to be spam, and will also damage your reputation in the long run.

8. Post On Forums That Allow Sig Files Sig files are the line(s) that appear at the bottom of each message and act as a discreet way of advertising your site. You won't get a great deal of benefit in terms of page rank, as most forums do not have a high page rank for their threads, but you will build up a good number of links, and as forums generally tend to get spidered by the search engines regularly, they will follow the links to your site and subsequently spider your site on a regular basis.

9. Write Testimonials By writing and submitting testimonials to websites that you have previously purchased products or services from, you can get high-quality links to your site, often from the home pages of the sites in question.

10. Buy Links The final way to obtain incoming links is by simply buying them. This can have a dramatic effect on your page rank and subsequently your search engine rankings if you can get links from PR6+ sites, however the only problem with this is that most links for sale are often for a set period of time, usually a month, and so you have to keep buying them to maintain your higher page rank and rankings.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Author: James Woolley is a full-time marketer who runs a website and newsletter dedicated to helping people make money online through internet marketing. To subscribe to his newsletter send a blank email to jimsmarketing@aweber.com or visit http://www.jimsmarketing.com

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-07-22T00:29:00.000-04:00

I just added 5 informative new articles for success to our Content Directory. Below is one of them.

Blogging: It Just Keeps on Getting Better
By: Danny Warner

If you don’t quite understand blogging, you’re not alone. Over 62% of Internet users don’t understand the term and don’t know how blogging can dramatically change their lives. But after this article, you’ll be one of those in the know and poised to take advantage of this rapidly growing phenomenon.

Blogging has taken the Internet by storm. By the end of 2004, blogs had established themselves as an important part of Internet culture. In fact, in the same year almost 8 million people were using blogs as a form of self-expression, business building or a combination of the two.

The hype about blogging is well deserved. Blogs aren’t just a fad. Between 2004 and 2005 blog readership was up 58%. 6 million people worldwide use RSS technology to receive updated information from blogs all over the web. The blogosphere (or blog universe) is growing day by day.

Just what are blogs, you ask? A blog is a shortened term for “weblog.” Either term refers to a website where entries are made similar to a journal or diary. The entries are presented in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry on top. Although blogs were originally used like a personal journal on everyday events, they have evolved into a multipurpose tool. There are blogs on every topic imaginable, from food to politics to celebrity gossip. Generally, blogs combine the text entries with images, links to other blogs and other related media. Blogs are an accessible website that level the playing field online. No longer do you need to know complicated computer codes and figure out the technical aspects of web pages in order to have content online. Setting up your own blog takes just a few minutes and is completely free. The interface is as simple as using a Word processing program. If you can type, then you can blog.

Blogs offer a unique opportunity. Blogs differ from websites because search engines read them quickly and updated them in the search engine indexes. This means that between a website about a topic and regularly updated blog regarding the same topic, the blog will have the advantage in the search engine rankings. While this may not be as important for bloggers who are using the platform as a personal journal, this aspect is extremely important for those looking to profit from blogs. Using blogging as a tool to attract potential customers often work more quickly and more effectively than other types of websites. This can mean faster and better profits for you.

For people looking to make money online, blogs represent the perfect opportunity. They are easy to update, and extremely user friendly. They reduce the learning curve for having a website online, since they eliminate the need to know web design. Blogs are becoming a bigger part of mainstream culture. Over 32 million Americans read blogs, and are they are looking for helpful information on topics that interest them. They are waiting for new content and new blogs to read. The time has never been better to fill that need with your own money making blog.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Want to learn how some people are making large amounts of money through blogging? Let the blogging for money expert, Danny Warner, show you how. Visit Danny at his website by Clicking Here: http://TheBloggingCashMachine.com

Note: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-07-20T00:02:00.000-04:00

Faith Family Web Hosting

If you are looking for web hosting with Christian and family values, look NO more! Faith Family Web Hosting will provide you with the highest quality service, 99.9% up time, and the best services and perks on the web!

CLICK HERE to find out more!

2006-07-14T23:31:00.000-04:00

7 QUICK BUSINESS TIPS
By: Lara Velez

- Never argue with a customer! No matter what, they are ALWAYS right. Do what it takes to make them come back.

- Always be professional. Even if the customer or client is being unreasonable, always put YOUR best foot forward.

- Never miss a scheduled appt. Being late is a HUGE no no. Leave early to get there, but don't ever be late!

- Always listen intently. Customers are people. And people want to be heard. Sit up straight and look them in the eye.

- Give freebies and samples to your customers. They will appreciate it, and are likely to come back!

- Keep a friendly smile on your face no matter what! It really does make a huge difference. Not only for your customer's sake, but for you too! You will feel better knowing you stayed cool.

- Keep in Touch. Send your customers and clients post cards and flyers telling them of up-coming specials. Or, a special just for them!Copyright

© Lara Velez

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

This article is free for reprint, ONLY if you keep the source and author box in tact, with all links active, and do not change ANY part of this article.

About the Author: Lara Velez is a homeschooling WAHM. She is a published author, web publisher, web designer, and editor. She owns two successful websites, Moms of Faith – a place for Christian wives and Moms to find encouragement, support, and learn to become all God created them to be, Home Business Resource Directory – all the information needed to find and succeed in a home business. She also owns her own Health and Wellness business, Healthy Living.

2006-07-10T15:25:00.000-04:00

I am looking to add more home business companies to HBRD.

If you know anyone or already work for any of the companies listed below, I would REALLY appreciate your help. For your time I will give you a free two months home page 125 x 125 button ad or 50% of a 6 month exclusive rep listing.

I need the following information emailed to me at webmaster@homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Company Name:

Start up Costs:

Commission:

Perks:

Training:

Website (do you get one? How much $):

Ongoing Support:

Minimum Sales:

Additional Perks/Incentives:

Main Company Website/Phone:

COMPANIES I NEED:

Body Care/Cosmetics:

- Beauticontrol

- Choose Organics

- Daisy Blue Natural

- Fairy Line

- Jafra

- Noveau

- Sherry's Lavishing Soaps & Bath

- Spa Destinations

Books:

- Books by You

- LRL Books

- My Special Stories

- True Light Books

- Usbourne Books

- Wiley Ministries

Candles:

- Cera Bella

- Party Lite

- White Lilly

Children:

- Baby Park

- Big Yellow Box

- Noahs Ark

- Once Upon a Family

- 1800 Party Shop

Clothing:

- Maddy Bads

- Petra Fashions

- Silverware

Family/Home:

- Longaberger Baskets

Food/Kitchen:

- Coffee First

- Brown Bag Gourmet

- Gourmet Foods

- Gourmet Way

- Heavenly Delights

- Home Wine Tasting

- Kat's Coffee

- Tastefully Simple

- Traveling Vineyard

Health and Wellness:

- Fruita Vida

- Moms Win

- Stroller Strides

- Cyberwize

Insurance:

- Prepaid Legal

- Pro Card

Jewelry:

- Azante

- Charmed Moments

- Cherish Designs

- Fifth Avenue Collection

- Mandy Moo

- Premier Designs High Fashion Jewelry

Pets/Pet Care:

- Natures Paws

- Shure Pets

- My Pets Plus

Scrapbook/Craft:

- Claytime

- Close to my Heart

- Creative Memories

- Leaving Prints

- Stamp it Up

Stationary:

- Patty's Paper

Travel:

- Coastal Vacations

- Dugans Travel

- Sapphire Cruises

Writing:

- E-Books

- Red Rose Writing Agency

2006-07-05T22:31:00.000-04:00

Increasing your Business with Product Reviews
By: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso

A testimonial can be a wonderful thing for your business. Almost all successful companies use testimonials of some kind to show what they are saying about their business and products is the truth.

WHAT GOOD ARE PRODUCT REVIEWS?

- Give an unbiased review of a product
Sometimes we get so excited about our business, when we talk about our products it starts to sound like an ad. By giving the customer a chance to look at an unbiased review from someone that has nothing to gain from their recommendation, it gives the customer more faith.

- Better decision for the customer
Maybe they have questions or concerns about the product which they don't want to bother contacting anyone about. Some people are very quiet, and like to see what others are saying about certain things. By allowing them to read a review, you are giving them the chance to see the product from a non-ad side. They may or may not buy, but the main point is you'll have much more happy, valuable customers.

- Give suggestions to potential customers
Have you ever gone to a website and got lost in all the products? In an offline store, sales people can help point you in the direction of some interesting items. Online this isn't the case. Product reviews can offer that "suggestion" and point customers in the direction of those interesting products.

- Show your personality
In bigger direct sales companies, the competition between reps can be unreal. Having a product review written about you and your products can help bring your personality out. If a potential customer sees you as a recommended rep with reasons why, the chances of them going to you for their needs with this company is greater.

HOW DO I GET A REVIEW?

There's several different ways to have a product review written about you and your business. Some ideas include:

- Family or Friends
Most have tried your products, right? Ask them for some feedback, and what they think.

- Exchange Products
Find a rep for a non-competing business and swap products. You will need to find someone you trust to write a positive review.

- Freelancers
Some you may need to pay, but the rewards from a review can be much more that the cost of the article.

- Find Shopping Websites
Many websites online now offer to write reviews for you for free. It gives the website owner content, and you the chance to show off your best products. Mom's Market is one of these sites, and details on how to send in your product can be found at http://www.momsmarketonline.com/review-info.html

Product reviews can help your business in many different ways. If you have a personal website verses a company site, the rewards are much greater.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

About the Authors: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.DirectSalesHelpers.com for free weekly tips.

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-06-29T23:19:00.000-04:00

I just added some content to HBRD. Here is one of our newest articles for our FREE Content Directory:

Are You Chasing Your Visitors Away?
By: Terri Seymour

To keep your visitors coming back, the main goals of your website are for visitor participation and benefits. Provide an interesting, beneficial and useful website and they will come back! If your site is annoying you can be sure they will find another site to visit, never to come back to yours.

Here are some ways you can be sure to annoy your visitors:
(they might not annoy all, but probably the majority)

Frames - Chopping up a site with frames is a great wayto get your visitors frustrated. These frames are very obtrusive and make navigation and reading your site much harder. They are also disliked by the search engine spiders.

Overbearing Graphics - Not only are these blinking and flashing graphics distracting and unnecessary, they can also cause your site to download very slowly. Most people do not have the time to sit and wait for an extremely slow site, and will leave before even knowing what your site has to offer.

No Contact Information - I cannot stress enough howimportant it is to have your email address and other contact info on every page. This will add credibility to your site and always give your visitors a reason to be assured that you can be reached when needed.

Hard To Navigate -You want your visitors to be ableto get around your site without trouble. Have your links all together in a place that is easily seen. Have them in the same place on every page.

Inconsistent Page Design - I have been on some siteswhere after clicking on a link, I didn't even know if I was at the same site. The page was totally different and did not have any of the same information or links as the previous page. After trying to find what I was looking for and not finding it, I left. Please keep your site design uniform and consistent. This will make it much easier on your visitors.

Spelling and Grammar – Always proofread your web pages. Designing and building a professional website is a waste of time if it reads like a five year old wrote it. With spell checker, grammar checker, dictionaries, etc. there is no excuse for poorly written web pages!

Too Many Banners -If you want banners on your site,set up a banner exchange page for this purpose only. Do not have your homepage or other pages so loaded with banners that there isn't room for anything else.

Hard To Read Text - Do not use fancy text or pale text on a pale background. The easiest to read is a dark text on a light background. Also, if you use a textured or print background, be sure that it is not hard on the eyes. One site I visited had a weave look background that made the text so hard to read, after a few minutes of looking around I had to leave because I was getting a headache. If you think it is easy to see get a few more opinions just to be sure!

Music - Music used to be very common on the web.Practically every site you went to had music. More and more people started realizing that this was a major distraction and annoyance to a lot of people. If you really want music, have a choice for your visitors. Let them decide if they want the music.

Lack of Content -You've got to have content. Peoplevisit a website to see what the site has that will benefit them. Useful, helpful, practical content can't be beat! This would include resources, freebies, tips, ideas, information, interaction, contests, etc.

One thing you can do is visit several sites that pertain to your business. Study these sites and write down what you find annoying. Write down any reasons you have for leaving the site. Take note of what you like about these sites. Incorporate all these findings into creating a sharp, clean, useful website with nothing that will chase away your visitors!

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Find lots more tips, articles, and resources and a chance to own your own profitable ebook store with unlimited support at http://www.SeymourProducts.com Seymour Products offers a huge selection of ebooks and software only $1.00 each with resell rights. Business Marketing Bulletin loaded with resources, tips, fun and more! mailto:subscribe@seymourproducts.com

Note: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-06-26T21:37:00.000-04:00

Here is one of several articles that I added recently to our FREE Content Directory...

SO, YOU WANT TO WORK AT HOME
By: Jennifer Shircel

5 tips that you definitely need to know when you’re starting your search for a work at home job.

1) NEVER, EVER PAY FOR A JOB. Be very careful with this. Legitimate employers will not ask you for money. If you are looking to start a business (for example: Mary Kay, Usborne Books, Watkins etc.) you may have to pay for a set up fee, but this is to cover your kit that you will receive to start your own business. Some companies, however, ask for a start up fee when really all you will be selling is the “opportunity” for someone else to join that same company.

2) DO YOUR RESEARCH. Make sure you research the company everywhere possible. Check them out on the Better Business Bureau, the RipOff Report, ask other moms on message boards their experiences and anywhere else you can get some information on the company. Make sure that you also know what you are buying if you are starting your own business. Know what your “kit” consists of (if anything). There are millions of scams on the internet so be exactly sure of what company you are joining.

3) DETERMINE YOUR LIKES AND DISLIKES. If you hate selling things – stay away from direct sales companies. If you don’t wear makeup – don’t sell cosmetics! Many people do not consider any of this and jump into the first opportunity that sounds too good to be true. Find out what you love to do and go from there. Make a list of all the pros and cons to find out what will suite you the best. You’ll have a lot easier time making money if you are loving your job!

4) KNOW WHAT YOUR NEW JOB WILL REQUIRE. Many people jump into anything just to work from home and don’t have a clue how much time and effort it will take for them to succeed. Know what the company requires of you or how many “parties” you’ll have to do in order to make the kind of money that you want. Know what type of commissions you’ll earn and what it will take to earn the amount you’re looking for. You may be surprised how hard or easy it is to make the amount you’d like.

5) IT CAN TAKE A LONG TIME TO FIND A JOB. If you’re looking for a “job” instead of an “opportunity”, it can take many months to find one. Start looking around on the internet as soon as you decide exactly what you’d like to do. A few legitimate job sites on the internet today are liveops.com, alpineaccess.com and workingsol.com. Another good place to look for work at home jobs is CraigsList.com. Be patient and be optimistic! If you are truly determined to find a work at home job, you will.

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Jennifer is the owner of MomOnABudget - an excellent source for money saving tips, budget decorating, work at home ideas and more.

NOTE: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-06-16T22:59:00.000-04:00

HBRD Update!

I am so excited about all that HBRD is becoming! I have been working very hard to meet all of your needs!

I have added 3 new articles to our FREE Content Directory!

I added a Guest Book, so that you can post messages to HBRD and showcase your businesses!

And my personal favorite...a Calendar of Events! This is a FREE service to ALL of HBRD members. All you have to do is become an active member of our forums or subscribe to our blog (the subscribe box is located on the top right corner of our blog). Once you have done one of these, you can send me your events...contests, expos, online parties, etc....FOR FREE! And I will post them on our calendar!

Our Events Calendar link is at the TOP of EVERY page of our website!!

Anyway, I hope that you are learning a lot and that you find nothing but success in your business!!

2006-06-13T15:10:00.000-04:00

This is a great aricle that I just had to share with all of you!

Going Beyond Ebooks -
Adding Value & Usability to Your Info Product

Many people immediately think of ebooks when they hear the words "information product", but there's so much more you can do with your information products that will make your products more useful to your customers AND will help you make more money.

Why Your Customer Benefits from Different Information Formats:

People learn and like to consume information in different ways. Many people do like to read and printed reports or ebooks will do the trick for them. Others like to listen to information. They may want to download audios to their mp3 players, burn them to CDs so they can listen in the car or listen on their computer while they attend to other tasks. Some people may prefer to watch and you may even want to include video in your information products.

Why YOU Benefit from Different Information Formats:

When you offer different formats, you can increase the perceived value of your products. A product that is just a downloadable PDF may not be seen as valuable as a product that offers an ebook, audio recording and transcripts. This means, you can charge more for your information product...increasing your bottom line.

You can also reach more customers with your multi-media information product. Some people won't buy ebooks because they'd prefer to listen. Others may have slow Internet connections and can't easily download mp3s, so they would rather have typed information they can read. There are so many reasons why customers prefer different formats and it's easy to provide those formats...so why not go the extra mile.

Keep in mind accessibility. People with visual impairments may find it easier to listen to your audio and those with hearing impairments wouldn't be able to listen to your audio. Don't limit their options.

And Don't Just Limit Yourself to One Product:

It's tough to make a great living off just one information product and if you make a great product, your customers are going to want more. So, when you're creating your first information product, make a plan for additional ebooks. These can give more in-depth information on certain topics, could contain more advanced techniques or anything that your target customer would be interested in.

Alternatively, if you can't develop your own line of products immediately, ensure that you have some backend sales lined up and recommend further products through affiliate links. Always make the most of your marketing efforts!

About the Author: Alice Seba is an information marketer that loves to help people create easy-to-manage high-profit information product businesses. CLICK HERE to learn how you can stop working so hard and start earning more.

2006-06-10T17:10:00.000-04:00

Here is an article from our free content directory. You are free to use it on your website, blog, or newsletter, as long as you do NOT change anything, and you keep the source and authors bio in tact with ALL links ACTIVE.

7 Summer Survival Tips
By: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso

Will Your Business Survive Summer Break?

Summer is approaching and soon the children will be out of school. Is your schedule ready?
Some of you may know from past years, when the kids are out for the summer your "quiet time" during school hours is no more.

Here are some tips to keep the school age children busy while you keep up with your business:

1. Plan family days. Take a day each week to spend the entire day with your kids. Make it a weekly event. Do things such as go out for ice cream, going to the zoo, etc. Try to plan it for in the middle of the week.

2. Set aside nights and weekends. In addition to your weekly outings with the kids, make sure you set aside your evenings and weekends to focus on them.

3. Hire Local Neighborhood Kids. Is there a responsible child in your neighborhood? Hire them to take your children to the pool, the park, or other areas in the neighborhood. Preteens are always looking for a way to make some extra money, or someone to pay for their day at the pool.

4. Have crafts and movies lined up. Avoid the "I'm bored" comments by having several activities set aside for children to do for at least 2 hours, giving you enough time to finish a project or two.

5. Take breaks outside. Since the weather is nice, children will be begging to go out. Make sure you take a break daily to go out for even just an hour. Remind them when it's time to go back inside they will be able to go out again when you are finished working.

6. Trade Babysitting. Talk to other mothers in your community and trade babysitting. Remember the first tip? Take someone else's kids on your family day out, and ask if they will watch your children on another day.

7. Hire Babysitters. When all else fails and you need to get major work done, send them to daycare once a week. Don't feel guilty - it's only one day! Your kids need a break from you too sometimes, and the chance to play with other children.

Good luck surviving the summer, and don't forget to enjoy it yourself!

Article Source: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Authors Bio: Anita DeFrank & Kara Kelso, authors of Direct Sales Success, specialize in coaching direct sales representatives to reach their goal of becoming successful in their field. Visit http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/ for free weekly tips.

Note: You may use this article for reprint ONLY if you DO NOT change the article in ANY way, AND you keep the source and bio IN TACT with ALL links ACTIVE!

2006-06-08T23:48:00.000-04:00

HBRD Update

Well, I have done quite a few things over the past couple days. I finally finished playing around with my home page. I adjusted the template to all my sub pages...a LOT of work!

I added several new articles to our free content directory.

I created our business articles archive section.

And...I came up with a way to help fellow wahms and HBRD at the same time!

Introducing...the HBRD Referral Program! I am very happy with it and I think you will be too!

Till we meet again....

2006-06-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

HBRD Update

Today I spent most of my time tweaking our home page.

However, I also had time to add one article to our content directory and I added several new sections to our message boards...MLM discussion, Website building discussion and critique, Online event announcements, and Ad swaps for your website, blog, or newsletter.

I am currently working on a new referral bonus program. Participants will have the opportunity to earn anywhere from ten cents to forty dollars! Keep an eye out for more info coming VERY soon!

2006-06-04T23:50:00.000-04:00

HBRD Update

I added four new articles to HBRD today and one of them is FREE for reprint in our Content Directory.

The following home business articles can be found on our Home Page in the right column.

~ Home Business Comparison Sheet

~ SEO Dictionary

~ Start your Online Business

and...

~ Know your Business

...can be found in our content directory under "direct sales."

Talk to you soon...

2006-06-02T22:32:00.000-04:00

HBRD Update

I have been a busy bee today! ;)

I added two articles to our Free Content Directory:

~ What's so Scary about Business Planning?

~ Overcoming Writers Block

I also added a new Home Business to our Home Business Directory:

~ Chicken Soup for the Soul Supplements

AND...I updated our Advertising page...we are running some GREAT specials for June!

I am just getting started! I have HUGE plans for HBRD. My goal is to supply YOU with ALL the information needed to find, and maintain a SUCCESSFUL home business! As well as bring life to your current business!

2006-06-01T17:14:00.000-04:00

Helpful Tips for Promoting your Newsletter

Promoting your newsletter can seem like a daunting task. However, you can be successful if you are willing to do the work. Here are some things that I have learned along the way. I am sure that they will help get you started in the right direction...

MAKE IT AVAILABLE TO YOUR VISITORS: Place a sign up form on the top of EVERY page of your site and/or forums. By doing this, you are making your newsletter available to every visitor of your site. It is also good for those visitors that may want to sign up, but are busy reading content, and missed the form on another page.

MESSAGE BOARDS: Use your signature to promote! Message board sigs are a fantastic promotional tool. It’s like free advertising. Every time you post, there are countless opportunities for your sig line to be read.

BLOGS: Place a link on your blog. There are many potential subscribers out there that love to Blog. They exclusively search blogs for information. Make the most of your Blog, and use it to promote your business, products, and NEWSLETTER!

ONE of a KIND: There are thousands of newsletters out there in your niche. Make yours different. If you are a carbon copy of everyone else, why would people want to read yours? Be unique...originality goes a long way!

WORD of MOUTH: Once you have mastered the art of originality, your subscribers will tell their friends what a great newsletter you have. You can also have top monthly referral prizes, and newsletter promotional contests to get that word of mouth going.

FUN FACTOR: Have contests for subscribers. People love to win stuff. Be creative and keep your newsletter fun, informative, and easy to read. Ask your advertisers if they would sponsor a contest. You both win. They get free advertising and you get a great prize for your contest. This is another way to generate those “word of mouth” subscribers.

SWAP LINKS: Trade links with other relevant newsletters. Try to find newsletters that have the same type of readers, but are different enough topic wise for them to want to read both. Plus, it’s a great way for WAHM’s to support one another!

DIRECTORIES: There are MANY directories out there, including newsletter and ezine directories. Do a search. Ask around. The point is, get your newsletter listed in as many as you can.

I'm sure that you will see a steady increase in subscribers if you put these tips into practice!

Happy Promoting!!

Copyright © Lara Velez

Article Source:
http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

This article is free for reprint, ONLY if you keep the source and author box in tact, with all links active, and do not change ANY part of this article.

About the Author: Lara Velez is a homeschooling WAHM. She lives in the Sunshine State with her lovely daughters and husband. She is a published author, web publisher, web designer, and editor. She owns two successful websites, Moms of Faith – a place for Christian wives, women, and Moms to find encouragement, support, and learn to become all God created them to be, Home Business Resource Directory – all the information you need to find and succeed in a home business venture. She also owns her own Health and Wellness business, Healthy Living.

2006-06-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

The Beginning of the HBRD Blog

WELCOME!

This blog will be used for the following purposes:

~ help those in or looking to start a home business achieve and maintain success.

~ allow members to give and receive feed back

~ feature informative articles and tips for home business owners

~ site updates and new feature announcements

I hope that you will visit often and utilize all of the FREE information and help here, and at our main site: http://www.homebusinessresourcedirectory.com

Have a sucessful day!