3 Great Work Locations Outside the Home

One main complaint from work at home moms is that working from home is full of distractions. From a messy kitchen and piles of dirty laundry to overactive children and the monotony of your surroundings, too many distractions can create an unproductive mindset and environment. Because consistent distraction can lower your productivity drastically, consider hiring a babysitter or putting your older children in charge, and then visit one of these three places that will help you get back on track.

Get Outside

Get some fresh air and refocus. You could go to your local park, your favorite scenic spot, or even just your front porch. Working outside will give you new sights, sounds and smells, which can increase creativity, help rejuvenate you, and clear your mind so you can commit to your current project. If you need just a few undisturbed hours to make headway on a project, going outside is a fantastic office alternative.

Visit a Local Museum

Most museums are quiet, and they offer free Wi-Fi access to all visitors. When using a museum for temporary office space, head to the farthest collection or exhibit from the front door. The farther and deeper inside you go, the quieter it will be. The farthest corner of the museum will also have the least amount of unfaltering foot traffic, meaning you can focus for longer periods of time without disruption. When you need a moment, stretch your legs and look at some of the exhibits. It may give you some great ideas for your work.

Use a Library

This is not a new idea for work at home moms, but it’s a popular suggestion for a good reason. It’s quiet, it’s calm, and there are nooks everywhere, which makes isolated work easy, comfortable, and even desirable. Plus, if you need to research a topic or get fresh ideas, you’re at the perfect place. Keep in mind that your local library most likely has Wi-Fi access to use as you need it, so you don’t have to feel that you’re lacking Internet connection by working in a library.

Using temporary work locations doesn’t mean you should avoid working at home. It simply means that you have options to work around the distraction. Instead of letting distractions become a hindrance, use them as motivation to find focus and accomplish your daily professional goals. Distraction is normal. But what you do with that distraction and how you fix it is what can make you a stronger work at home professional. If the three suggestions don’t work for you, find unique places of your own that bring out your productivity and keep you on task.

How to Break Into the Education Market to Work from Home

Landing a job working from home in fields of education is difficult. But the key to doing so is by developing an online professional presence. Without this, it’s nearly impossible for job seekers to receive an offer.

What is a professional online presence? How do you start one?

A professional online presence is also known as a professional digital footprint. It is developed by creating professional online profiles, sharing job-related ideas, and networking with other professionals by using Internet tools such as blogs, social media outlets, and other websites that allow educators to share or collaborate with you.

Why is having an online professional presence important for breaking into the working from home job market in education?

Developing an online professional presence is marketing your technology skills. When you apply for a remote position, potential employers will do an online search of your name using a search engine. When you have a professional online digital footprint, your name and skills will show up in an employer’s search results. These employers will more likely want to interview you when they see that you are proficient with web-based tools.

If you don’t have a professional digital footprint, potential employers will not find your name in their search results. Employers will not consider you a serious job candidate if you communicate to them that you are not tech savvy enough to work from home remotely, and don't care enough to establish an online presence in this field of work.

Ways to Develop an Online Professional Presence

(Note: More details will be covered in future articles.)

1. Create a professional Twitter account. Make sure your profile showcases your knowledge in your subject area and doesn't include Tweets with poor or offensive language. Review educator profiles and follow the ones that fit your niches. Search educators using the search tool by typing in “#edchat”. When you follow someone, don’t be afraid to send a Tweet to say you are new to Twitter and want to network with them professionally.

2. Create a full LinkedIn profile. This will give you an online resume that showcases your skills. Your profile will show up in LinkedIn and Internet search results when employment recruiters are looking for job candidates. When you create your LinkedIn profile, you can choose which content is made public and which is not. It’s best to let your name and the summary of your skills show publicly. Leave everything else private, only to be seen by those whom you add to your network. Find educators you know in real life, and those you know from other social networks like Twitter. Send a request to add them to your network.

3. Create a professional education blog using a blogging platform like WordPress. Guest blog on established education blogs. To find established blogs do a Google search of “education blogs,” or find blogs through contacts in your Twitter or LinkedIn networks.

4. Request to write lesson contributions for education websites such as Read Write Think. Websites like this will feature you as the author of anything you create for them.

All the above methods are good ways to market your professional skills online. The process of starting is a time investment, but once you get it going, don’t neglect it. You must continue regular updates on all your social networks and profiles to show you are serious about your professional online identity. The great thing is, once you have it firmly established you will be rewarded.

5 Signs You're Ready to Start Your Freelance Career

The trick to starting a freelance career is knowing when to make the switch and leave your traditional job behind. Switching career types can come with a lot of hesitation and even fear, but identifying the signs that you’re ready can give you peace of mind and the motivation to get started. You don’t need to manifest all of these signs to know you’re ready to freelance. Sometimes one is enough.

Opting to Work Harder on Something You Enjoy

Preferring to work harder on projects you enjoy rather than work less on easier, uninteresting work means you’re ready to cut the cord and try it on your own. Working harder and longer are exactly the skills and abilities you need to make it as a freelancer, no matter the industry.

Willingness to Toss Aside Stability for Professional Freedom

Freelancing isn’t always stable. Some months you’ll make more than at your previous job, and other months will end with very little profit. It’s the nature of the business. There are ways to lessen the instability of freelancing, but no effort will guarantee constant stability. If the potential instability is worth the professional freedom that a freelance career offers, now is as good a time as any to get started.

Freelancing During Your Limited Free Time

If you’ve started supplementing your professional work with freelancing, it’s time to consider devoting yourself to freelancing. As a busy mother and professional, you don’t have much free time; filling your nights and weekends with freelancing projects shows your passion. Life’s too short to ignore your passions and your professional desires.

Already Considered the Pros and Cons

How many times have you thought about the pros and cons of freelancing? You’ve probably gone over the list several times. The cons might be intimidating, but not enough for you to give up on the idea. There comes a moment when it’s time to act on all your research and considerations. Now’s the time.

You Feel Ready

Set aside all the negative self-talk and natural worries about freelancing. Instead, focus on how you feel. Do you feel ready to freelance? Are you excited to try? If you feel ready, don’t let the uncertainties scare you away. Properly preparing for a freelance career should quiet those uncertainties and allow you to move forward.

Freelancing offers schedule flexibility and the freedom of choosing clients, which is a great option if you’re looking to be a work-at-home mom. You may hesitate to make the switch, but only you can decide if you’re ready. And once you decide that, a whole new professional world will open up, providing you with new opportunities and experiences that will only make you a better freelancer.

20 ideas to make money online

A cash cow for the enterprising, the Internet is littered with opportunities to make a fast buck. While it rarely qualifies as a solitary source of income, the Net can easily help you supplement it. However, the amount you earn depends on the time and effort invested. Go through these 20 options and find out which ones work for you.

Blogging
If you're a passionate closet writer who wants to be published but can't find a way to do so, make each keystroke your way to wealth by penning your own blog. Starting a blog doesn't require extensive technical skills but it's important that you have expertise in the field you are writing on. This will attract visitors to your site. Building a large following will enable you to earn profit by luring advertisers, writing paid reviews or getting commissions for promoting other people's products. Blogjohn is an example.

Paid Writing
If maintaining a blog is difficult for you but you still want to indulge your passion for writing, you can jot down articles for other blogs or sites such as Weblogs, Helium or PayPerPost. Writing an e-book can also be a good option. E-books are investment free, with no cost for printing and shipping. If you have a strong command over languages, you can become a copy editor, where Webmasters will pay you to read articles and correct grammatical errors, sentence fragments, etc.
Paid Writing Jobs

e-tuitions/Webinars
The demand for tutors is high and growing. So, if you like helping others learn, e-teaching could be the earning ticket for you. All you need to become an online tutor is expertise in your subject and a few spare hours per week. TutorVista, e-tutor, SmartThinking and Tutor.com are some of the sites you can enroll with. If you gain a good reputation as a coach, you could even conduct Webinars-lectures or seminars transmitted over the Net. College and university students are willing to pay to gain entry to a well-respected Webinar.

Affilliate/Reseller
For those who have the knack of selling, one of the best ways to make money online is to become an affiliate/reseller. An affiliate is a person who gets a commission for selling every product that he promotes, whether on his Website or through any other avenue such as eBay. You don't have to own the product. You only need to sign up for an affiliate program with a company and start selling its products under your referral link. Firms such as Amazon, Commission Junction , Linkshare or Click Bank have a large pool of products.



Buying/Selling domains
Buying and selling domain names is another way to make money from home and requires very little investment or time. You can buy domains at their registration prices or even cheaper and trade them at a profit. However, always research on sites such as sedo.co.uk, afternic.com, ebay.com or other domain auction sites to get an estimate of the hottest selling names. The best way to find good ones is to use terminated domain lists, which contain several expired names that are back in the pool.

Freelancing for Professionals
Freelancing is a great option for professionals who are experts in their respective trades and know how to ensure customer satisfaction. Various freelancing and project-oriented sites allow companies that need help to describe their projects. Freelancers and small businesses offer bids, ideas or proposals, from which the buyers can choose what they find most suitable. Websites such as Elance cover everything from programming and writing to data entry and design, while RentACoder focuses on software programming.

Advertising
You can sell space on your Website or blog for advertisements and you earn when these ads are clicked by visitors to your site. The sorting and placing of ads is free. The profitability of pay-per-click advertising depends on the traffic level of the Website and, most importantly, on the clickthrough rate and cost per click. Google AdSense is the most popular option, while others are BidVertiser, Text Link Ads and Blogads. Direct banner and RSS feed are some other forms of online advertising.

GPT Programme
GPT or Get-paid-to sites are becoming increasingly popular among teens. You get paid for signing up for free Websites, newsletters, playing games and filling out online surveys. These are suitable for people who don't have a skill set but want to earn extra money. Taking online surveys is simple- register with a few legitimate, paid survey sites and answer questions. The topics range from shopping to politics. This might not help you make a living, but you can earn good pocket money. Contests2win is one of the trusted GPT Websites.

Online Marketing
Once a Website is created and optimised for search engine (SEO), the SEM or Search Engine Marketing begins. A treasure trove lies hidden here. An SEO/SEM expert, who is responsible for marketing a Website, can promote it in various ways. These include article marketing, writing press releases, forum posting, blog posting, submitting your site to directories and search engines, social bookmarking, etc. Most companies don't do this in-house and pay you to conduct the SEM for them.

Making themes
As more and more people seek an online presence, the demand for Website templates and WordPress (Blog) themes will keep increasing. If you are good at Web designing and coding, you can earn a lot from designing Web themes. In this segment, there are mainstream Websites, such as TemplateMonster and ThemeForest, which act as a marketplace where you can sell your themes. Templates are sold and priced depending on the rights and features that are bundled with them.

Selling photos
If you enjoy photography and are good with a camera, you could be sitting on a huge reserve of revenue. There are people who will be interested in your collection of images. Nowadays, it's easy to take your photos to the public, providing a convenient way to build a secondary income stream. Many stock photo agencies, such as Fotolia, Dreamstime and Shutterstock, offer incentives for people to earn from their photos.

Support & service
Providing coding or fixing other Webmasters' issues is another great way to earn extra bucks. There are simple jobs ranging from adding a script to setting up sites, but knowledge of Web coding is essential. One can offer support for Web CMS (content management systems) like Drupal or Joomla. After you are comfortable with your own installation, you can help other people to set these up and configure them.

Stock/forex trading
Joining the stock/forex market may seem a bit risky. However, you can start small and continue researching till you gain experience in this area. Once you do, it will be easy to earn from exchanging foreign currencies and/or stocks. Their rates fluctuate depending on supply and demand, and economic and political influences in the world. The aim of any trader is to spot which currency/stock is likely to rise or fall in value against another. The more time you put in, the more you will earn.

Selling your own brand
If you have a flair for designing cool images, don't bother about creating your own inventory. As long as your design can be printed on a product, you can pocket some money. You can upload designs on various Websites such as CafePress, and if somebody orders these designs, the company will print them and distribute the products. It could be designs for T-shirts, hats, bags, books, posters, calendars, greeting cards, etc. You will receive a commission for each sale. Other such sites include Lulu and Zazzle.

Virtual Assistant
Small businesses always need help in running their processes, but may not be willing to hire a full-time employee. As a virtual assistant, you are expected to perform practically any administrative task that a traditional secretary or assistant would, such as make travel reservations, handle expense reimbursements or pay bills. You can do it from the comfort of your home, interacting with clients either online or by phone. Your expertise will decide how much moolah you rake in.

Inbound call centre
Many companies, who are facing space constraints, especially those in metro cities, prefer to hire workers outside their offices or outsource certain processes. You can set up an inbound call centre at home to handle such jobs. Research different companies that are outsourcing their work as they may have opportunities for inbound call centre agents. You can work for more than one company. This can be either a part-time or fulltime engagement, depending on your need.

You Tube
If there's a dramatic performer hidden inside you who craves applause and adulation, upload yourself on YouTube. You can be a filmmaker, musician or comedian who wants a wider audience. Your earnings will come from ads displayed on your video page. This process is similar to the pay-per-click advertising program common to other Websites and blogs. Sites such as Flixya and Mediaflix can be helpful in this regard.

Researching for others
Don't be morose if you can't write, design or code. Lack of talent cannot stop you from making money online. If you're willing to work hard for a few hours a week, you can take up simple research jobs for other people who don't have the time to do it themselves. You could search for opportunities in organisations that provide funding for research and offer to assist them through online investigation.

Building Applications
With smartphones gaining popularity, the demand for their applications, or apps as they are popularly known, has also shot up. There are over 3 million apps for the iPhone and over a million apps in Google's Android market. Most of these are selling like hot cakes. Developing and selling your own smartphone app is becoming a lucrative way to make money on the Internet. Apps cost virtually nothing to develop and entail no storage or shipping costs. So they enjoy the best profit margins.

Transcription
Medical transcription involves making written copies of oral material dictated by doctors or other medical experts. These may include history and physical reports, clinical notes, consultation notes, reports, letters, psychiatric evaluation and so on. The dictated material needs to be transcribed swiftly and accurately, which is the most challenging aspect of the job. To become a medical transcriptionist, you need to have a good knowledge of medical terminology and a high typing speed along with accuracy.

101 Ways to Get More Traffic and Subscribers

Traffic is the lifeblood of the web.
Without traffic your online business will die.
With enough traffic your online business can make you millions.
I hope the 101 tips in this article help you drive serious traffic to your website, and rapidly increase your subscribers!

1. Start with a Good Domain

A good domain is an advertisement and a lead magnet in and of itself.

.com domains are your best bet, but since millions of them are already taken it might take some time to find one that you like.

Godaddy is where I buy all of my domains.

Do some keyword research before you buy your domain and try to include keywords with good search volume. Make sure you select the [exact match] type of keyword so you get accurate results.

Choosing a great domain is one of the most important things you can do to help your online brand succeed so if you need to choose a domain check out these 20 tips for finding a great domain.

2. Create a YouTube Channel and Publish Videos


YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web, and they are owned by Google.

YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business
Be sure to track which of your videos get viewed and make sure that when a video gets more than a few views that you use the “annotation” feature of YouTube to add a call of action for viewers to go to the site where you want to drive your traffic.

Interlinking your videos with annotations can help you pick up more views and traffic as well.

Make sure to include a link to your website in the profile information of your channel.

3. Syndicate your Videos with OneLoad

Although the bulk of your video views will likely come from YouTube, by syndicating your video content to other video sites with OneLoad you will be able to pick up a considerable amount of niche traffic to your site.

When you are setting up your accounts on each of the different video channels be sure to include a link back to your website in your profile.

4. Syndicate your Videos with Traffic Geyser

Traffic Geyser is like Tube Mogul, only it is a paid version with more bells and whistles.
However, you can get a free 21 day trial of Traffic Geyser.

Traffic Geyser sends your content all over the web, to blogs, video hubs, and other Web 2.0 properties.

5. Watermark your Videos

A watermark is an image overlay on top of a video.

Before I publish any of my videos I watermark them with the URL of the domain I want to drive traffic to with a video editing program.

I use the screen capture video software Camtasia to add my watermark. Camtasia Video Tutorial
Camtasia works on PC’s and Mac’s and comes with a free 30 day trial.

6. Screencast Videos


I find that Screencast Videos are an excellent way to produce video content that you can use to attract visitors to your website.

Camtasia is great way to go, and Jing is another powerful option, if you are looking for a more affordable option (Jing is only $10 a year).

One way to entice users to check out your website with a screencast is by at the end of the video surfing to your website and talking for a short while about the cool things that visitors can find on your site.

7. Write Guest Posts


Reach out to bloggers with audiences bigger than your own and ask them if they would like you to write a post for their blog.

The Beginner's Guide to Guest Posting Even if this strategy does not convert to a huge influx of visitors, it will get you quality backlinks that will boost the ranking of your site in Google.

The bonus of this strategy is that you will build relationships in the process.

8. Build an Email List


An email list is an exceptionally powerful way to drive traffic at the click of a button, build a community around your site, and make sales.

The Rebel's Guide to Email Marketing: Grow Your List, Break the Rules, and Win (Que Biz-Tech)
Building an email list requires an Email Service provider. I recommend Aweber since they are very user friendly, have great customer service, and have a powerful form building tool. You can get started with
Aweber for $1.

Aweber’s form tool is important because great looking forms are vital to helping you build the biggest email list possible, which will be able to send you droves of traffic at the push of a button.

If you are on a tight budget you can get started Email Marketing with MailChimp for free, if your list has under 500 people on it. Be warned though, MailChimp customer service is pretty much non-existent, and from my experience it is impossible to get someone on the phone.

9. Create Epic Content

Content that goes above and beyond attracts traffic naturally due to the immense value that it delivers.

Epic content is not rocket science, it simply takes plenty of research to develop something that outdoes everyone else’s effort in a particular area.

10. Set up an Auto-responder Email Series


An Autoresponder is an email marketing tool that automatically sends emails to a subscriber in specific time insterals after they sign up to your email list.

List Sneakiness: How I Built My Mailing list with Aweber

I use Aweber to delpoy my autoresponders, and I have a different autoresponder series set up for every active blog that I own.

Ideally, you should have an autoresponder email for every important article on your blog.

Every email you write in your autoresponder should have a call to action designed to get the reader to click through to your site.

11. Give Away Free Stuff

Giving away high quality free stuff is a powerful way to drive traffic to your website, generate leads for your business, and make sales.

If you give someone $10 of value for free and then suggest a product for $1 people will be much more likely to buy compared to if you simply asked them for the $1 sale.

Free content is often shared, and the more value your free offer is the better your chances are of your content being shared virally.

12. Submit Your Site to Feedburner

Feedburner is a service owned by Google that takes your RSS feed and makes it easily accessible by a variety of RSS readers.

Feedburner also offers a variety of tools to track how many subscribers your feed has, as well as different ways to publicize your feed with widgets, and optimize the content in your feed.

13. Use Squeeze Pages


An effective squeeze page has a better rate of success for capturing new leads than any other form placement.

My squeeze pages get about a 50% opt-in rate, which is pretty healthy, and will build a traffic getting list fast.

Want me to design a custom squeeze page for you, just like the ones I use? Just contact me, I’ll gladly throw one together for you for $50.

14. Create an Ecourse


A solid way to strat an autoresponder series is by offering a 7 day email course where you send seven emails for seven days to build a strong initial relationship and trust with your subscribers.

I use this strategy for a few of my lists, with my Facebook eCourse, and my Twitter Tips and Tricks Course.

15. Write a Free eBook


If you have blog posts already you can simply copy and paste your content into a document, then convert it to a .pdf, and just like that you’ll have an eBook!

eBooks have a high percieved value and are a great way to build your email list.

I use this strategy with my free eBook The Social Media Strategy Guide.

16. Write a Roundup Post


Write a post that rounds up a bunch of awesome people in your niche.

This strategy is an effective way to build relationships with influencers, if you reach out to them and let them know you are promoting their content.

Building relationships with influencers often leads to them returning the favor by blogging or tweeting about you, and thus sending traffic your way.

17. Interview Experts in Your Niche


By interviewing an expert in your niche not only will you get great content from their answers, you will also be building a powerful relationship in the process.

18. Twitter Traffic


Twitter is a huge source of traffic for me, second only to Google.

I have been able to get tens of thousands of visitors to my sites by building my Twitter network on a daily basis with an awesome program called TweetAdder.

Check out a video review of TweetAdder I did to get a better idea of how this program can build your twitter network, and drive traffic to your site.Check out The Twitter Blueprint as well.




19. More Followers for More Traffic


Your goal with Twitter should be to network and build relationships, and these relationships will lead to traffic to your tweets.

More followers = more retweets = more traffic.

Here is one proven way to get more followers is to unfollow and refollow highly visible accounts, like @aplusk and some of the other most followed people.

People often follow the followers of these folks so every time you use this strategy you will pick up some new followers.

20. Create a Facebook Page


By putting your traffic where users spend most of their time online you have the best chance of it being viewed.

Currently people in North America spend more time on Facebook than any other website.

If you do not have a Facebook page yet for your website you are seriously missing out on a huge source of traffic!

Install a “Like Box” into your website so that your visitors will know you are on Facebook and join your page!

For Facebook traffic secrets grab free Facebook eBook.

21. Create an Infographic


Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling, I have seen many Infographics go viral.

If you have a little bit of design skill you can take stats about any topic spin them into a cool image, and then sit back and relax as your infographic is shared all over the web.

Make sure to include a url to your website within the infographic so that you can still get credit and traffic when your infographic is re-blogged elswhere on the web.

22. Create a .pdf Cheatsheet


Cheatsheets are documents with a bunch of important information about a subject that is intelligently organized so that someone can easily find the information they need.

People love content like this in .PDF format and if you create it the is a good chance that it will be shared.

23. Hold a Contest for Subscribers


You can do a one-time or a monthly contest where you give away a gift, like an amazon gift card, to one of your subscribers.

Offer this gift to the person who refers the most traffic to your squeeze page. You can track the traffic with bit.ly links. Encourage competition to get several people trying hard to send you traffic and win the prize.

24. Comment Contest


Another cool way to do a contest is to give a prize to whoever leaves the best comment on one of your posts.

This strategy can cause some serious attention to be attracted to the conversation taking place. I recommend installing a commenting plugin like Livefyre so people can easily share their comments to FB and Twitter.

25. Content Contest


Ask users to create a piece of content to enter your contest.

With the viral nature of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter a contest like this could attract plenty of attention and net you a ton of traffic and many subscribers in the process.

Get users to upload a picture to your page, or a video, and this will not only bring you traffic it will make your community members feel more connected with your brand.

26. Traffic Contest

Earlier this year I won a free ticket worth $2,999 to an SEO contest by being the person who sent the most traffic to the contest page.

The way this can be done is by each user having their own bit.ly url. All bit.ly urls have built in analytics that can be accessed by adding a + to the end of the link.


27. Get a WordPress Blog (If you don’t have one already)


WordPress is open source blogging software that is the best way to publish your content online.

I recommend installing a self-hosted blog with a hosting service like Bluehost so that you can install plugins like Ultimate SEO, and Google XML sitemaps, which will allow you to optimize your content for Google.

Please go through Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read


WordPress is a powerhouse, driving tens of millions of blogs online. Wordpress is also used by more of the top 100 blogs than any other platforms.

28. Install Social Sharing Plugins


At the very least your website should have Facebook and Twitter sharing buttons.





Share this offers a cool button that allows your users to share content to Facebook and Twitter, and a variety of other content hubs.


29. Start a Podcast


A Podcast is an excellent way to get content out to the millions of people with iPods and other Apple products.

Podcasts are a form of magnetic content that will allow you to build up an audience who you can form a strong relationships with.

These listeners actually hear your voice they are more likely to feel connected to you than if they simply read your content.

30. Ask People to Stumble Your Posts


StumbleUpon can be a huge source of traffic if your content catches on.

A great way to get your content going on StumbleUpon is to ask your friends to stumble it.

StumbleUpon recently surpassed Facebook to become the #1 referrer of social media traffic online, so it is worth your time to integrate StumbleUpon into your site with StumbleUpon buttons and badges.

31. Use the su.pr Link Shortener


Su.pr is StumbleUpons link shortener and I recommend using it to share the content you produce.

When you use Su.pr to shorten a link it will automatically submit your content to StumbleUpon.

32. SocialAdr


SocialAdr is a social bookmarking service that allows you to have your bookmark shared by others in the community if you share the content of others.

Users are able to choose the content that they bookmark, and whenever a site is bookmarked SocialAdr automatically bookmarks it on multiple bookmarking sites (over 20) at once.

33. OnlyWire


OnlyWire is a tool that allows you to send your content to up to 45 social sharing sites at once.





To use OnlyWire you must download an OnlyWire submitter to send your content to the different social networking and bookmarking sites, and this program works on Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.


34. Install a Facebook “Like” button

Facebook Like buttons are an excellent way to get people to share your content with the click of a button.

If you have WordPress I recommend the WP FB Like plugin.


35. Link to your site in your Email Signature


Every email you send is an opportunity to get traffic to your site.

Set up a custom signature with a link to your website, and the title of your site, and there is a good chance that it will get clicked.

The tool wisestamp allows you to add images and icons linking to your social profiles as well.

36. Customize your 404 error page


Hopefully your visitors never see your 404 page, but it is bound to happen as your site grows so it’s best to be prepared with a custom designed 404 page that suggests other content to your visitor, so they don’t bounce from your site.

37. Interlink your Pages


The more links you have within your content to other content on your site the better your site will rank in Google, which will mean more traffic for you.

Takeaway: Interlink the pages on your site as often as is relevant.

38. Emphasize your Popular Content


Make it easy for your visitors to find your best content.

The more visitors that check out your best content the better, since this is the content that they are most likely to share, which will bring you even more content.

Here is a Heat Map developed by Google that shows where users view a webpage the most.

To maximize subscribers experiment with the placement of your opt-in form, and try moving your sidebar to the left, instead of the right. I found that this conversion strategy worked great for my blog Smart Online Success.


39. Test your Website in all Popular Browsers


The tool browser shots allows you to see what your website looks like in different web browsers. I use the firefox and chrome browsers exclusively, but Internet Explorer is still the most widely used browser out there.

Different browsers will render websites differently so it is best to check and make sure that your site looks okay because a messed up site will cost you visitors.

40. Speed up your Website


When a website takes more than a few seconds to load some visitors will leave simply because they are impatient.

Google has revealed that site speed is a factor in their ranking algorithm.
I recommend installing the w3 cache plugin if you have a WordPress.org blog.
Optimizing images with Yahoo’s smush.it lossless image compression tool will also help.


41. Optimize your Images


Size, alt tags, and title are three ways that you can optimize your images so that they are found by image search engines, such as Google Images.

You can also optimizing images so that your site loads faster by using the lossless compression tool jpeg mini.

42. Get Quality Website Hosting


With shoddy website hosting your traffic might not have a site to visit.

Don’t mess around with Hosting, go with a host that is well established and has great customer service.

The web host I recommend is BlueHost.

43. Build Backlinks


Quality over quantity is a truth that applies to link building.

One link from an authority site can do more for your site than 1,000 low quality links.

One place to find affordable SEO deals is the website fiverr.com.

Freaking Idiots Guide Internet Marketing Bundle, How to Sell on eBay and Fiverr (Freaking Idiots Guides)

44. Build Backlinks with Article Marketing


Article Marketing is a great way to get your content in front of many different people, and direct them back to your site.

In the signature section of articles you are able to build links and send traffic back to your site.

I recommend using the links in your signature to send traffic to a squeeze page with a relevant opt in offer.

Article Marketing - A Boon To Online Businesses I am currently using the paid service Distribute Your Articles to sending your articles to many different content hubs across the web, allowing me to build many backlinks at once, and I will write a post in the near future about how well this service works to increase search engine rankings.

45. Use the Free Traffic System


The Free Traffic System is a tool that publishes your content and backlinks to blogs that are relevant to your niche.

Relevant links are worth more than irrelevant links so this system does indeed increase the rank of your site in Google.

46. Title Tag Optimization


By ensuring that your Title tags include the keywords that you are trying to rank for you will increase your chances of ranking in Google and getting traffic from searches containing those keywords.

47. Take Advantage of Mobile Traffic


There are over 4,600,000,000 mobile phones in the world and many of them are smart phones with Internet Access.

By optimizing your content for mobile you will be ready to take advantage of the plentifu; amounts of mobile traffic.

A great way to optimize your site for mobile devices is with the WPtouch plugin for WordPress.

48. Install a Forum


Forums are a great way to build a community around your site and in the process get plenty of user generated content.

Simple machines is free forum software that you should consider, and the best paid option out there is vBulletin.

49. Post Links on highly visible Facebook Pages


Craigslist forums are highly visible, and a great place where you can get the word out and drive some traffic to your site.

50. Squidoo

Squidoo is a Web 2.0 site that allows you to create “lenses” that tend to rank very well in the search engines.

How To Create A Squidoo Lens (Online Marketing) Link back to your website and there is a good chance that you will get some serious traffic as a result.

51. Hubpages


Hubpages is very much like Squidoo, only instead of creating “lenses” you create “hubs.”

Another important difference between these two web 2.0 portals is Hubpasges is more strict about duplicate content, so if you are going to post similar content to both Squidoo and Hubpages, post to Hubpages first.

How To Make Money With Hubpages Like lenses, hubs rank very well in the search engines and can be a great way to direct traffic to your site.

52. Add your Site to Directories


By adding your site to directories you will be able to pick up some high quality backlinks that will help your site rank well in Google

Check out strongestlinks.com for a list of directories that you can add your site to.

53. Add your Blog to Blog Directories


There are directories for blogs only and by adding your blog not only will you be getting link juice you should also get traffic from people who are browsing the directory.

54. Build Links with Other Web Masters


One way links are more powerful that two way links so if you have two sites then build links with other bloggers by linking to them with one site and having them link to the other.This way you both get one way links.

If you have three or more blogs you can apply this same strategy internally.

55. Do Ad Swaps with Other People in Your Niche


Ad swaps are a form of cross-promotion and a powerful way to build your email list while building relationships in the process.

The way ad swaps work is you find someone in your niche with a similar sized email list and you send an email about their opt-in offer, and they do the same for you.

Not only will you get the initial traffic to your opt-in page you will also get repeat traffic as you send emails to your new subscribers.

56. Press Releases


Press releases are a good way to get many links at once and potentially get the attention of main stream media in the process.

There are several paid PR services and a free solution I have heard mentioned a few times is called PRLOG.

57. JV Partners


If you have a product an awesome way to promote it is by finding other people in your niche and partnering with them to promote it.

Joint Venture Manifesto - A Beginners Guide to Online Partnerships JV stands for Joint Venture, and a JV works when both parties involved promote each others product.

58. Keyword Research


By using the Google Keyword tool you will be able to find keywords that are relevant to you with a low level of competition.

Traffic Travis is free SEO software that can show you exactly how many back links your competitors have so that you know how many you will need to build in order to outrank them.

59. Google AdWords


PPC Advertising is a good want to go if you have a sales funnel.

Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (Ultimate Series) When paying for traffic it makes the most sense not to send traffic directly to your homepage, but instead to send it to an optimized landing page or “squeeze page” where there is a single call to action such as subscribing to your newsletter so you can follow up via email.

60. Facebook Ads


Facebook Ads are awesome because you can hyper target your market.

You can choose to direct your ads to any age group, in any region of the world, who”like” pretty much anything.

Killer Facebook Ads: Master Cutting-Edge Facebook Advertising Techniques Due to Facebook’s massive user base you will probably still have a large group to market to even when you drill down to your ideal prospect.

61. Syndicate Content to StumbleUpon


StumbleUpon is now the #1 referrer of social media traffic, and has over 25 million users.

Entertaining and highly visual content stumbles well, so if your website features this type of compelling content you should certainly look in to StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon paid discovery (ads) is one way to get more views on StumbleUpon, and this solution has already been used by over 60,000 advertisers. Investing into StumbleUpon Ads can be a way to get the ball rolling and start your content going viral.

62. Solo Newsletter Ads


Solo ads are a list building technique. How they work is you pay a list owner and they mail a list for you.

Make sure to find a list owner with a very good reputation, and preferably one who guarantees a certain amount of clicks.Check out Solo Ad Secrets for more details..

63. Purchase Ads on a Website


There are many website owners who have invested plenty into building their blog and brand, but are willing to sell ad space for very cheap.

Send the site owner an email and you might be surprised at how cheap you can purchase hyper targeted traffic for.

Of course, you should link these ads to an optimized landing page.

64. Paid Site Review


By getting a problogger to review your site you can pick up quality backlinks and benefit from the exposure to their community.

I am willing to do a thorough review of your site and share it with my followers for $40, which is a pretty sweet deal since I often get more than this to send a single tweet.

There are many other bloggers who do reviews as well and you can find some of them at sponsoredreviews.com.

65. Business Cards


Make sure to include your url on your business card and let people know about your site when you give it to them.

66. Give out Swag with your URL


Everyone loves swag.

Make the swag you dish out as cool as possible so that people actually wear it.

If you just give out a plain t-shirt with your logo there is a good chance that it will end up in the trash.

Go to threadless.com for some inspiration.

67. Post Content on a Regular Basis


Regular content generates a regular readership.

Millionaire real estate marketer Dean Jackson of marketingmonday.com is a good example of how regular publishing can work very well.

Try to get your next few posts in the hopper so that you can always get your content out on the same day even if your week gets crazy and you don’t have a chance to create new content.

68. Be Controversial


Take a stand. The world belongs to the bold.

69. Choose a Smart Domain


Having a domain with the keywords you are trying to rank in Google for gives you a step up on everyone else trying to rank for those words.

70. Add a translation widget to your site


Want non-english speaking traffic?

Take advantage of traffic from non-English speakers with the Google Translate Tool.

71. Submit your Site to Search Engines


If your site is new make sure you manually submit it to Google, Yahoo, and BING, so that they know to crawl it on a regular basis.

If you have a WordPress blog install the Google XML Sitemaps plugin so that your site is crawled regularly.

72. Alltop


Alltop is Guy Kawasaki’s creation that does a pretty good job of syndicating all of the top stories about a huge variety of topics.

Submit your site and it provides another place for visitors to find you.

73. DMOZ


DMOZ is a huge directory and getting listed with them holds alot of weight in the search engines.

Every new link to DMOZ is manually reviewed, and few are accepted, so you may or may not be included but it is still totally worth a try.

74. Put Your Website Everywhere


Don’t be afraid to do a little bit of Guerilla Marketing.

Get business cards with an incentive for people to visit your site on them and leave them everywhere.

Go to an auto detailer and get a decal of your url for your car.

Get stickers with your url on them and stick them on people.

Do whatever it takes to get people to your site! :)

75. Ask your Readers for Feedback


What are some traffic tips that I could have mentioned in this post? Let me know in the comments below.

How else can I improve this site? Don’t be afraid to ask people what they think of your site and you might get some great feedback.

The better you can make your site the more visitors you will get over time from repeat visitors, and people spreading the word by word of mouth.

76. Track your Rank in the Search Engines


If you are regularly checking your rank in Google there is a good chance that you will make more effort to improve it.

Market Samurai has a rank checker tool that works great, or if you are looking for a less robust solution you can go with the free Rank Checker firefox plugin.

77. Get Guest Bloggers


Myguestblogger.com is a community of guest bloggers looking for blogs to write on.

Please go through The Guest Blogging Survival Guide for more details

78. Get an Awesome Design


If your site has a stellar design it will increase the chances that your visitors will come back for more.

A great design starts with a great Theme, if you are on WordPress, and two theme developers I recommend are WooThemes and Elegant Themes.

Another place to get awesome designs is 99designs. The way 99designs works is you put up a price for the winning design, and then bloggers compete to create the best design. The result is a bunch of designs that you can choose from to pick a winner.

79. Join a Forum Relevant to Your Niche


Forums are an awesome way to build your brand by helping people, and learn from other people who have already “been there and done that.” If you are interested in Internet Marketing I recommend checking out the Warrior Forum.

80. Distribute Your Articles


Article Marketing is a great way to spread your content across the web, and build links back to your site.

You can distribute your articles manually, or you can use the paid service Distribute Your Articles to send your articles to many article directories at once.

81. Network with Other Bloggers in Your Niche


The more relationships you build with other bloggers you can build, the better.

Go to blogging events and network with as many people as possible.

Tweetups are a great way to meet people if you are on Twitter.


Eventcast is a cool way to keep up with the events your friends are attending.

Knowing influencers is immeasurably valuable, and the reason why elite conferences like Shoemoney’s Elite Retreat and Yanik Silver’s Internet Marketing conference sell out despite a price tag on the tickets of thousands of dollars.


82. Install Google Analytics and Optimize Your Site


Google Analytics is easy to install into your site, and once you do you will be able to track a variety of variables that will give you insight into how to optimize your site.

If you have a WordPress blog the plugin Google Analyticator makes it exceptionally easy to install the Google Analytics tracking code.

By looking at the exit paths of visitors, for example, you can see which pages should be tweaked to prevent people from bouncing from your site.


83. Add your Blog to Technorati


Technorati used to matter much more than it does today in the blogosphere, but adding your blog to Technorati is still a very real asset.

Once you do this all of your blog posts will be imported into Technorati, thus giving your site powerful backlinks from an authority site every time you publish a post.


84. Spy on Your Competitors Links


Go to Google and search for the keywords you are trying to rank for. Once you know the pages that out rank you it’s time to spy on their backlinks.

To do this go to Yahoo (they show more results than Google) and type in

link:pageurl -site:domain.com

This will show you the links that are pointing to this page so that you can attempt to duplicate them.

85. Encourage Active Commenting


Answering comments with a question is a good way to keep the conversation going.

The first comment is often the hardest one to get, and to hedge against this a strategy I have seen used is for bloggers to break the ice by being the first to comment in the own post.

Ask people what they think about the post you wrote, and don’t put them down if they disagree, and you’ll have plenty of comments in no time.

If you are running WordPress consider installing the disqus commenting plugin, which allows users to login with Facebook or Twitter, and then share their comment with these networks.

86. Write about Twitter


From my experience I have seen that content that deals with Twitter tends to be shared on Twitter very liberally.

Writing about Facebook tends to retweet quite well also, and posts about Facebook are also “Liked” liberally on Facebook.

87. Do not install ads


Ads send traffic elsewhere on the web, and once your visitors click away they may never return.

If you’re thinking about installing AdSense try thinking about something else. AdSense is often called “the bloggers welfare program” since it sends your hard earned traffic elsewhere for pennies a click.

A saying I came up with, which relates to smart blog building, is “popularize, then monetize.”

I recommend building your email list and content base before you consider installing ads.

88. Include at least one Picture in Every Page on your site


Pictures say a thousand words, so use them liberally.

If you have budget then consider buying stock images from places like iStockPhoto.

Even if you don’t have cash to spend on images a quick Google image search will likely reveal an image that will work well for you.

89. Befriend the Giants


Twitter is a great platform for reaching out to people with bigger networks than your own.

90. Check for Broken Links


Use this link checker tool to scan your website and point out the broken pieces.

91. Start a Fight with Another Blogger


Don’t agree with everything you read.

If you disagree with another blogger, say so.

Everyone likes to watch a good fight, so this tactic can bring plenty of traffic your way.

92. Write Easy to Read Posts


List posts work well, and the same goes for posts with short and simple sentences.

93. Get a Favicon


This one won’t get you mountains of traffic, but it will help with both traffic and consistent branding.

Personally I only bookmark websites with favicons, and the sites I bookmark get more traffic from me.

I recommend using the favicon.cc tool for an easy way to make a favicon.

94. Write for the Reader, not for Google


Right now my articles that get the most traffic from Google are the ones that have been shared the most on Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon.

Sometimes when people are trying to rank for certain keywords they stuff those keywords into the content in an unnatural way.

Keyword stuffing tells your readers that you don’t care about them, and visitors will probably not return if they feel like you could care less that they are reading your content.

I recommend including your keywords only a few times in your content; once near the beginning of your article, once at the end, and in the Title. If you have your keywords in these three places, and in the URL, that is all you need.

Write your articles in a way that will be the most valuable for the person reading it.

By writing for the reader you increase the chances that your content will be shared, and sharing is more of a factor in Google’s algorithm now than ever before.

95. Help People


If you make this the primary goal of your blog you should have little difficulty building up a following, as the people who you help will sing your praises on social media.

96. Write a Post Every Day


If you write a post every day you stand a great chance at building up a strong readership, since people will check back often, knowing that there will always be fresh content.

All of the massive blogs on the net publish content daily.

97. Install a Contact Form and Respond to all Contacts


People use my contact form If you have a WordPress blog I recommend the simple plugin Contact Form 7.

98. Write a post that has a cliff hanger ending…


Keep readers coming back for more. In the next post I will let you know which one of these traffic tips has been the most effective for building my traffic.

99. Study Viral Marketing


Two Blogs that I highly recommend you check out if you want to learn Viral Marketing are ViperChill and Copyblogger. Reading these blogs has taught me some strategies that make me very dangerous to my competitors, and they can give you the same edge. Stay tuned to this blog as well, of course, for the latest viral

100. Be Persistent


Rome was not built in a day. Persistence is what separates the winning websites that enjoy the majority of traffic, leads, and profits, from the millions and millions of bloggers who let their blogs stagnate and die. The more you put into your blog, the more you will get out of it. So work hard, persist, and before long you will be reaping the rewards

101. Write List Posts


List posts cater to the short attention span that our generation has developed. They are very scan able and easy to write.

I write lists posts first by writing the list points, and then by filling in the details once I have my list down.

Legitimate home based business opportunities

Normally, at the beginning of each year everyone sets those unattainable goals that only tend to frustrate.  Consequently, why should this year be any different, right?  Not so fast!! This year you are going to set that one goal and give it everything that you have to reach it.  Rather than trying to lose weight or quit smoking, this year you are going to research and find those legitimate home based business opportunities that will enable you to quit your nine to five job and do something that you really want to do.  Perhaps you just want to stay at home with your kids, or possibly you want to work in your ‘jammy’ pants.  It doesn’t matter what your goal, what matters is that you start working toward it.  During my research, I have found three legitimate home-based business opportunities that might interest you.
The first is taking a passion and creating an online business.  I am talking about taking the garage sale passion of so many people and turning that into a very lucrative business.  This type of business can be online and/or brick and mortar.  In the beginning, I would suggest purchasing your treasures and later selling them on eBay.  As your business improves then you could start buying products wholesale subsequently selling them at a profit on either an eBay store or on your own site.  Some Resellers can make a lot of money and some even a comfortable living off sales such as these.  Setting up an e-commerce business like this can be fairly easy.  Some of the decisions that you will have to make will be:

• whether you want to operate as a used reseller or a bulk reseller
• decide if you want your own online website, or if you want to continue with eBay
• if you decide to continue your eBay relationship, then an auction account will need to be set up
• do you feel that handling a single product will suffice or will you want to offer a combination of products
• obtain your products through garage sales, craiglist or bidding on defaulted storage units, (aka Storage Wars)

Additional investigation into legitimate home based business opportunities has revealed the field of virtual assistant is growing very quickly.  Virtual assistants are like secretaries were in the past.  Normally virtual assistants are self-employed and work on a contract basis.  They offer professional administrative support and other specialized services to businesses, entrepreneurs and others who do not have enough time to complete their work.  Virtual assistants work remotely and receive their assignments by phone, fax, email or by instant message.   Normally a virtual assistant will perform secretarial services. Although some specialize in IT support, graphic design, web design and marketing.
Setting up your virtual assistant office is going to be similar to many other office arrangements.  The list should include:

• a room decorated so that you look forward to walking in there each day
• sizeable desk or a regular computer desk and an additional table
• comfortable chair
• computer with at least a Pentium 4 processor and 2 GB of Ram
• writable CD ROM
• 17” monitor
• good printer with a scanner
• online fax services
• high-speed Internet
• affordable long distance
• a good backup system
• consider a headset with microphone

This business is probably going to have several long days so don’t get it in your mind that your eight hour days will continue after you start this endeavor.  You will need to do a ‘bang up’ job for your clients.  That way, your client list will grow, and consequently, your income will increase.  You are an entrepreneur, and you are working hard to create and maintain a home-based business.

As my research of legitimate home based business opportunities came to a close the last enterprise, I found to be promising was blogging.  This small business has the potential to bring some large profits.
Normally, a blog is considered a personal journal and in truth most of them are, but today you can blog about anything.  I have a couple of blogs that I maintain. One contains articles about starting your own home-based business.  With each of the articles, I try to locate and research as many as three home based businesses at a time.  Then I describe each one and give my preferences.  The other blog that I maintain gives tips and articles about customer service.  I usually describe what I feel is good customer service and how businesses can offer incentives and train their associates to make their patrons feel at home, glad that they stopped by, and most importantly will return as a repeat purchaser.
To help me maintain my blogs I have become affiliated with several companies.  My favorite enterprise has several reasons that I promote it.  Those include:

• Low start-up costs:  It is free to join, and you receive a free website.
• Training is free:  There are weekly webinars that you can replay if you miss.  In addition, there is a set of 14 webinars that give you all of the information that you need to become a successful affiliate marketer.
• Great Products:  There are five different affiliate income streams for you to choose from.  You can participate in one or all five.
• Community Forum:  A forum is available for you to go for answers or just for social fun.
• Three tiered support:  When there are problems, you have three different levels of support.  The levels range in intensity from simple forum questions up to technical questions.

Internet Income University is my selection from all the legitimate home based business opportunities. I have access to everything needed under one roof to become a profitable affiliate marketer.
Do you have any experience with internet marketing or starting your own business?  Please share your thoughts below; I’d love to hear from you!

Low Cost Business Opportunities

Are you looking for low cost business opportunities? There are a few ways you can make money with a home based business that can be done for people on a budget. Here are a few ideas.

 1. Virtual assistant.

 A VA provides administrative and clerical support for clients from their home. You must have excellent grammar and spelling. Good communication skills, and knowledge of computers are also required. If you have experience with Excel and word processing you will have the necessary skills to apply for jobs online. Virtual assistants do such tasks as transcription, customer service, and responding to emails. You should have a good computer, printer, fax machine, high speed internet connection and an office or area in your home where you can work undisturbed.

2. Affiliate marketing.

This is one of the low cost business opportunities that has tremendous potential. An affiliate marketer promotes products and when a customer makes a purchase they earn a commission. There are thousands of products you can promote. This includes electronics, clothing, cookware and much more. Many companies offer free affiliate programs for entrepreneurs to earn extra money. There is a lot of affiliate marketing training offered online that you can find by doing a Google search.

3. Ebay.

Selling products on Ebay is another one of the popular low cost business opportunites. It is best to get started slowly and learn what items are popular. Remember also that you must pay shipping costs. You can find inexpensive items at stores that are having closing out sales, or clearing out discontinued items. Garage sales and flea markets are other possibilities. As you start selling items and get positive feedback, people will see you as trustworthy and it will be easier to make future sales. It is possible to earn a very good income from Ebay once you have the experience.

4. Tutoring.

 If you enjoy working with kids, and like to teach others, tutoring may be a good fit for you. As with other low cost business opportunities, you need a computer and high speed internet connection. There are companies online that hire tutors. You can have flexibility and work the hours that are suitable for you. You can also advertise to find tutoring jobs on your own if you prefer to be independent.

 5. Freelancing.

 Online jobs for freelancers include copywriting, website creation, graphics and accounting. There is a great demand particularly for writers. A lot of entrepreneurs are looking for people to create content for them. Several online companies hire freelancers or you can also advertise on sites like Craigslist for clients.

Recommended Freelance Jobs for You

Real writing Jobs
Get Paid To Write!!!
Make Money Taking Pictures!

6. Blogging.

Having a blog is one of the low cost business opportunities that can provide residual income. You can blog about any subject you enjoy and are very knowledgeable about, although you also should pick topics that people are searching for information about. You can then promote products or services related to your topic. You can even create your own product, such as an instructional ebook, and sell it. Blogging can be a very fun way to earn income because you can write about things that you are passionate about. These low cost business opportunities are all proven methods that people are using to make money at home. Affiliate marketing and blogging require some skills to be able to earn income, but they are not difficult to learn. 

Make Money with Blogging