Wednesday, May 21, 2014

How to use your computer to get money

Most people use a computer for entertainment, but it really is a tool for getting money.

You can watch netflix and play games with a computer, or you can use it to earn money.

How can you earn money with a computer?  You can use it for writing and programming.

Writing articles for money is a way to use your computer to earn income.  There are sites online that will pay you for articles.

Writing articles for income usually means writing content after following instructions.  The person requesting the article might have keywords and details about how they want the article written.  Writing these types of articles requires extra effort on your part.

You don't just have to write articles for others.  Your computer can also be used to write content for yourself.  You can setup your own websites and blogs and use your writing talent.  You could come up with your own ebook and use a free website to help sell it online.

Your computer can be used for more than playing video games like angry birds or watching movies online.  Come up with a plan to spend time on the computer creating your own product.  It might be software or an ebook.  Just come up with something and start promoting it using the internet.

Even if you don't want to take the extra step of writing your own products, there are affiliate programs that you can join.  Affiliate marketing is not easy, it will take work.  Get creative and come up with ways to build up an income using your computer.

I was just online the other day and watched a video that showed how to make income through data entry.  The amounts of money were not that high, but it seemed like they were making some money.  If you are not making money with your computer right now, you should even consider doing something like data entry.  

Just getting into the habit of typing faster can be a benefit.  You keep practicing and building up your writing muscles and it will become easier to create your own writing.  The faster and better your typing skills means more content with more chances to earn money.

Your writing might be for your blog or for your free ebooks.  People are using ebooks to drive traffic and make affiliate income.  They create good quality ebooks and add links inside.  They might even include a resources section at the end with affiliate links.  

Now it is time for you to get started with using your computer to earn money.  Computers are not just for fun and games, they are used for business, so get with it.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Clicks and Conversions

Clicks and conversions are a big part of the online business.  Most people are just focused on getting traffic, but there is a big problem with just getting a lot of traffic.  What if they people that click on your offer don't end up buying?  You just lost some money.  

If you only had two people click on your offer, but one of them ended up taking the offer, this would be ideal.  You don't want to waste your money on ads that do not generate conversions.

The truth is that people are different.  Someone might see your offer and immediately jump for it, but others see it and they turn up their noses.  This is just a part of online marketing.  Everybody has their own tastes and desires.  One of the issues with online marketing is finding the right audience for what you are attempting to sell or share.

There are always going to be new places to sell stuff.  Most people know about the big shopping malls.  They brought a lot of different businesses into one central location and allowed people to walk around and buy what they wanted.  The shopping mall model had limited space, but now we have the online model and there are not really any limits to the number of products that you can provide.

One of the newer places to market and advertise is on social media sites.  These sites bring lots of people online where they can share information.  It is also a great place for online ad people to promote products.  

One of the big benefits of using paid social media ads is that they have plenty of people ready to view the ads.  Have you ever been on facebook?  They get demographic data so it makes it really easy to find the prospects that an advertiser is looking for.  

The bottom line is that you can get lots of traffic and clicks on an offer, but if they are not taking action and buying to getting into your lead funnel, you are wasting money.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Site Content for Blogging

Why are people going to show up to your site?  They might be looking for the answer to a question.  They might be interested in learning something new.  They could just want to be entertained.  One thing is certain, the person sitting on the other side of the computer is looking for great site content.

Plan your site content

Planning might seem like a big waste of time to some people, but it should not be a part of your thinking.  No matter what sport, you always see the head coach and the players come up with a game plan and a practice schedule.  They practice over and over again before playing the game.  Your blog is prime time and it needs site content.  Don't you think it needs a plan and some practice?

How much site content do you need?


Only you can determine how much content you want to share on your blog.  You can start off small with the level of site content and over time it can grow. 

You don't just have to do all the site content writing yourself. Find good sources online for articles.  They might require a little bit of rewriting with your own words.  Just think about the evening news.  They really cover the same stories, but usually from a slightly different angle.  Do the same thing with the content for your blog.

Mailing list site content

Newsletters are a part of the online marketing plan.  Site content can keep your readers informed through their email accounts.  

Get access to high quality content that is focused on the niche and deliver it on your schedule.  Each time your prospects open an email they are building their relationship with your blog.


Article Home Based Business

Write articles.  Why write articles in a home based business?  The need for articles is not going away. 

Most people are thinking about blogging when they create articles.  Blogs are the front page facing content that people need to keep their sites fresh.  Lots of people have more than just one blog, they are going to need more content.

The article home based business does not take a lot of tools to get started.  You just need a computer and your writing skills.  Open up your favorite writing program and get to work.

You might also want to look into keywords for your articles.  Article content can be leveraged in different ways.  You might even give some articles away for free.

Look for online outlets to sell your articles.  Some people like to buy articles with plr rights.  You could spend some time creating articles in your home business on your own time.

Brainstorm different topics and create content around it.  You might even want to setup some of your own sites and post your content there.  What about using google ads to monetize some of your content?  What about turning your articles into ebooks?  These are long term income goals for writing articles in a home business.  

The article home based business could be expanded.  High quality content could also be used to sell products through affiliate marketing.  Just something to think about.  Get started with your own article home based business.  Take action.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Start Your Own Challenge

Create your own 30 day challenge.  

You might decide to make 30 videos for youtube.

What about doing 30 days of mp3s from your blog posts?

You could do 30 days of writing ebooks.

What is your challenge?

30 days of affiliate marketing challenge

Decide to start something new and then take action

Come up with a plan

Write it down and start completing the steps

What if you wrote 30 days worth of blogging material?

You could have enough blog posts to put your blog on auto pilot.

Your posts could be turned into a free ebook.

You could make simple videos and mp3 files.

You could turn your videos into a physical product.

Start thinking different about your home business.

7 Options for Your Home Business

Article Marketing

Take your thoughts and put them into articles.  You can build up your writing skills and promote products and services with writing.  Content is something that people like to read online and offline.  People can hear the same information, but have a different view point.  Just think about it, do you think rush limbaugh has the same outlook as al sharpton?  They might be talking about the same subject, but they have different opinions.  This can be your reason for writing articles.  Come at content from your point of view.  Some people might like it and others will not be able to stand it.  There is always a need for new content.  Do you think the huffington post will have new stories tomorrow? 

Blogging

Create your own blog.  There are free blogs like this one ( blogger.com) and others that you have to pay for ( buying web hosting and putting wordpress on it ).  You can do your blogging day to day, or you can do your blogging on autopilot.  Write a bunch of articles, buy them or get them.  Post the articles when you want.  Think about setting up all the articles to be published in the future or publish them one day at a time.  It is up to you.  Blogging can be more than just writing text.  Create images, take pictures and load up mp3s.  You can go in lots of different directions with a blog.

Ebooks

Create your documents and save them as pdfs.  Learn how to sell your ebooks online in stores like the amazon marketplace.  There are lots of places where you can sell ebooks these days, but you want to probably get your work into amazon.  

Ebooks don't have to just be for sale.  You could also go the free route.  People love getting stuff for free and you could create free ebook info to help drive traffic to your sites and offers.

Videos

Who doesn't go to youtube to watch videos?  Do you have a youtube account?  If you don't have one, you should think about getting one.  There are lots of ways to make videos.  You can create slideshow videos with software.  You can use digital cameras or even smartphones.  Get started making videos and see where you can take it.

Mp3 audio

I just finished doing a workout and it is really cool to put on your headphones and listen while you exercise.  I am not alone in this type of exercise.  You might have content that is buried on your blog or hard drive that could be turned into mp3 content.  Get the recording program called audacity and start bringing those blog posts that look like characters from the walking dead back to life.  

Paid advertising

What happens when your sites are not getting any love online?  The search engines might be sticking a hand in your face like the best defender in the nba finals.  You still have another option for getting traffic.  It is not going to be popular, but you can pay for it.  There are lots of paid ad options.  Some don't take a lot of money to get started.  You might even find a voucher that you can use to get started.  Give paid ads a try.

Mailing Lists

Do you have a mailing list?  If you are going to do affiliate marketing, you want to have a list.  Build up relationships with people online that care about your topic.  Leverage free content to get them to sign up.  Leverage your content again to keep your list going strong.  A mailing list can be just like your own magazine.  Create strong articles and content, and also include product offers and services.  

Create More Streams of Income

How many different income sources do you have?  One income stream is just not enough.  Things are constantly changing and you need to have multiple ways of getting money.

Spending some of your time to learn about new business options is a great way to take advantage.  Most people are just thinking about one income stream, probably a job.  But things can change quickly.  A job might get eliminated or transferred.  You might just get fired for no reason.  Make sure to prepare for the unexpected.

Starting a simple small business or a home business should be something on the table.  What skills do you have?  How can you bring those skills into the marketplace?  You might want to start selling services online or offline.

You might want to consider internet marketing or affiliate marketing. Don't think that you don't have enough time to start a home business.  You have to make time for it.  What if you have a great book idea and you complete it?  What if you could build up an extra way to earn money?   What would you do with it?  You could save money, pay down bills or invest into something that could grow over time.  

Take the first step towards building more streams of income.  Find a small business or a home business that you can put into action.  It could be something simple like blogging.  You are taking a step to the other side of the table.  You might even consider becoming a consultant.  Write down your plan and start putting some action behind it.  

Solutions Right in Front of Your Face

You have to start looking for solutions.  Sometimes you are going through the motions, but you are not really paying attention.

Just a quick little example.  You might have a computer, but you never pay attention to the manual or really dive into all the different things it can do.

I have a laptop computer.  I didn't know that there was an sd card reader already installed on the machine.  I had already purchased a usb card reader for another machine, but I had no clue that the laptop was already equipped with one. 

You have access to lots of information and products already.  What are you overlooking that could be put to work in your business?

You have skills and talent that is just laying around collecting dust.  You should take an inventory and see how you can turn your skills into something that is productive.

It could be a simple recording or a short video.  It could be a quick ebook that helps someone else learn what you already know the easy way.  

We have lots of tools, but sometimes we don't use them.  Brainstorm to see what you can do.  You might be shocked by the results.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Youtube Videos - Use it for education

Don't just use youtube for fun and games.  Watch some of the educational videos on topics that can help you learn more.

I just finished watching a few youtube vids on speed reading.  Reading is a skill that is really useful.  Picking up your reading levels helps.  You want to get the information in as soon as possible.

One of the presenters on the video made a good point.  I am just getting started, but the topic was related to typing.  When you start up learning a new skill, you are not going to pick up speed because you are still in the learning phase.  Once you learn the basics and you put in the practice, your speed will improve.  

Youtube videos that are viral and funny are great, but you can also use it to build up more of your skills.  I am not just focusing on speed reading when it comes to training videos.  I also watched a bunch of videos on the python programming language.  It is a powerful programming language that can be added to your coding tool belt.  

Don't just think about youtube as entertainment.  Use it for learning something new.  There are lots of great videos on cool subjects that can expand your mind.  I am just getting started with the speed reading, but I want to get better and really improve my reading comprehension.  


Put articles to work

You have a boat load of content and you have plenty of good domain names.  How are you going to turn the free content that you received into real value?

Create webpages filled with the interesting content.  I am not going to lie.  Some content that you get for free is going to be really hard to read.  The solution is to use your best effort to create a better version of the information in your own words.  

Another option is to create an audio version of the content.  Read it to yourself first and then record an audio mp3 file that you can share online.  You could give it away for free or you might want to turn it into a product that you could sell.

Start using your creativity.  Come up with a way to bring the content to niche audiences.  People sometimes have access to the same information, but they can view it differently.

The free content that you might receive could be used to help build up bigger and better articles for your blogs or reports.  Your articles might approach a topic from one direction, but the free articles could give a different view point.  You might want to compare and contrast the different views.

Now, it is time for you to think about how you can do it yourself.  Do you have free articles sitting on your hard drive?  Don't let them sit there collecting dust.  Come up with a way to use them for your benefit, and for the benefit of your online and offline readers.

Problems and Solutions

Are you asking more questions to help move your business forward?  Doing the same things over and over again that don't work is a waste of time.  You have to be ready to adjust.

Business is all about making changes. Business is about seeing the demand and filling it.  New products might create new services.

New computer hardware brings the need for new computer software.  The smartphone caused a lot of changes to the business world.  What is changing in your business?  Are things still being done the old way?  Is there a better way to get your tasks done?  You have to keep trying new things and asking more questions.

Are your sites effective?  Are they a waste of your time?  Could you use more leverage in your business?  Start asking more questions and testing new options.

You might have great plans for your business, but the market is moving in a different direction.  Find the big problems of the day in your business, and start to come up with solutions.


Scared and Afraid

What is holding you back from starting your own business?  There are tons of free resources online.  You can start writing today and setup contextual ad programs.  You can start creating an information product today.  

Are you afraid to fail?  Are you afraid of looking stupid and falling on your face?  This is something that has to be overcome.  A business is just another way of earning money.  

What is it going to take for you to jump the mental hurdle to start your own company?  There are so many people that have skills that are just getting wasted.  They have talent, but they are waiting on someone else to give them a job.  This is not smart thinking.

Business owners have to look at the market and bring something to it.  They have to see where the problems are and come up with solutions.  What problems do you see?  Is there a way that can turn a problem into money?

You might see a need and decide to create a product to fill it.  What about creating a digital product?   Think about all the people that have electronic readers.  They are going to want more content to read.  Do you have a story to tell?  This could be a business.  Write a story for the amazon kindle.  Post it in the amazon kindle store.  Think about all the people that buy books.  
What else can you do?  Can you take the first step and get over your fears of failing?  If you don't like to write, you might be able to get into programming or web development.  

What about making website and blogs and selling them?  You can learn new tools and put them into practice.  You can display your design talents.  You could use one of those services to offer your skills to start.  

What if you decided not to wait any longer?  You could start building niche websites.  You don't have to wait for someone else to get you going.  

Get over your fear and be ready to take a step toward your goals.  Write down what you want to do and start moving towards it.  You might write a free blog and start earning with it.  You could then move on to your own web hosting.  You could then start levering your web hosting into wordpress blogs.  You don't have to stop.  

Take the first step and start getting things done.  The first step will lead to other options that you didn't see before.  What are some of the problems that you dealt with along the way?  Could you create something to help the next person taking that journey?  

Nothing starts off great the first time.  There are going to be some failures along the way.  You have to make up your mind that you are moving forward.  Keep taking steps.  New trains of thought will lead to even more ways of thinking.

Write down your business name and what you want your business to do.  Create your own map.  List everything that you want to do.  Put it on paper and then start working on them.  Think about how you can get the things done.  Mark them off and keep moving forward.

Add items to your list as you go.  Don't be afraid.  You might fail along the way.  It is okay to fail, but just don't stop.  Correct yourself and move forward.  Learn from your mistakes.  

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Change the Format

You keep on creating new content and posting it online, but you notice that the amounts in your accounts is not going up.  The number of views is not going up drastically either.  It might be time to start doing something different.

Doing the same tasks over and over without seeing an improvement should be time for change.  If you are writing lots of good quality content, but the online audience is not going for it, start doing something different.

Instead of waiting on pennies from online ads, think about taking your content in a new direction, in a new format.  So your blogging is not picking up steam, start writing some ebooks.  Give away some content with your affiliate links installed.  

One of the benefits of giving away content in a pdf format is that you don't have to worry about getting your site banned.  The content is there and available for download.  Use online sharing sites, or take it to the next level and offer a printed version of your information. 

Your content is valuable in more ways than just one.  If one format is not working, decide to try something new.  Give some new life to your old blogging content.  See if you can revisit some of your old content and transform it into a different format for audiences.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Internet Business Choices

He walked into the room and sat down in the leather chair in front of the computer screen.  He hit the firefox icon on the windows xp desktop and opened up the web page showing the latest developments on the internet.

This was the beginning of the day for the person writing a quick story for web content.  The story could focus on anything.  It might be about a home business owner that decided to give consulting a try.  There is always a need for a good consulting service.  So the new web writer decided to pick up a book called the official get rich guide to information marketing.  He opens up the book and starts to read.  

The story makes sense.  Writing tons of articles for other cheap writing sites just didn't make any sense anymore. The question of what they were doing with the articles was always a question that didn't get answered.  Were they putting that content on blogs?  Were they making ebooks and sell them over and over again?  What if they were paying a few dollars for a few articles and then putting those articles together in ebooks and selling them online year after year?  

The web writer might have finally decided to look at the work that was being produced and looking at it from the other side of the table.  How hard would it be to setup a website or a blog?  How hard would it be to create a consulting service or sell ebooks?  The writer had to finally get away from the employee mindset and start thinking like a real business owner.  There is a difference in working on a job and owning a business.  The web writer would have to do more jobs initially.  Just doing the job of writing is not enough.  He would have to learn about marketing and leadership.  The ability to focus would also be put to the test.  

The web writer did finally realize that a business is different from working on a job.   A job might come with a boss and a steady paycheck, but it could also be taken away at any time.  A business has the potential for unlimited income.  

The web writer will have to take action and deal with rejection.  It is still just a process and the web writer understands this.  Just like the first draft, the web writer understands that there will be small victories and defeats.  The web writer leans back into the chair and imagines the long term effects of getting started now on an internet based business.

Writing for Your Home Based Business Idea

The web writer has an unlimited source of material.  All they have to do is use the tools that they have.  This could be something simple like a regular computer.  Not even the latest and greatest computer models like the apple macbook pro.  They could use an old windows xp computer that is connected to the internet.

Writers can come up with stories all day long.  It is related to business because stories can be used in lots of different ways.  The web writer does not have to punch a clock or wait for approval.  They can just decide to sit down and start using what they have to get a product done.

Just think about not having to put expensive gasoline into your car.  The web writer can just walk over to a computer and then create content that has long lasting power.  The stories can be generated talking about the current topics or they can be timeless stories that will be interesting in the future.

So what are you waiting for?  You could be taking this time to open up microsoft word or notepad to start creating that story that everybody online is just waiting to read.

The next time that you are walking around, look to see if people are reading information on those tablet computers ( the amazon kindle or those cheap irulu tablets).  These mobile devices are selling and people are going to want to read something on them.  Can you write a good story?  How do you really know unless you give it a try.  This could be your perfect home based business.

Business Barriers and Mobile Webpages

Your competition is only a few clicks away.  Someone sitting with smartphone or a tablet computer can jump into the online publishing world.  They can come up with an idea for a site and have it online in a matter of minutes.

The barriers of entry to the online world are low.  Everybody is selling everything.  People are posting real world products for sale with smartphone devices and placing classified ads.  They are creating apps.  They are producing items that customers can touch and digital products.

What kind of business are you going to start?  What about digital training?  There is always a new group of students that are ready to learn.  What do you know how to teach?

Can you create webpages?  Sure, you can make them.  If you don't know how to make webpages, you can outsource it.  Read the 4 hour work week.  It is about using leverage these days.  

Everything is changing.  People use to read webpages at a desktop computer, now they need mobile ready webpages.  There are probably still a lot of business owners that have not changed their original online webpages that they had built before the year 2000.

Now, companies have to be ready for different types of devices.  The laptop and the desktop are not the only game in town.  Responsive pages can change based on the type of device viewing the page.  Businesses need webpages for tablet devices and smartphones.  They don't want to the mobile web user.