Make Freelance Writing Your Full-Time Job

From About.com

Understand What You're Getting Into
Ready to make freelance writing your full time job? Don't make this transition blindfolded! Doing your research now will save you a lot of heartache later.

Market Yourself As a Freelance Writer
The next step to making freelance writing your full time job is to start marketing your skills to potential employers. Jobs can either come to you, for example through a writers website, or you can go to the source of jobs and stary applying. On the other hand, if you're aiming to make full time money from magazine article or trade publication writing, you'll need to start pitching your ideas and articles to editors right away.

Manage Your Freelance Writing Income
Once you secure clients and gigs, you'll need to carefully manage the three main elements of your freelance writing income: invoicing, banking and taxes. You will submit your invoice, usually via email, after the project is complete. However, those in the magazine/trade publications markets may get to forego this step due to internal processes. After you receive your payment (hopefully on time and in full!), you'll need to carefully track these expenses in anticipation of tax time. Once tax time hits, you'll be able to provide your tax preparer with all of the documents and numbers needed.

Achieve Freelance Writing Success
Once things get rolling, you have to keep them rolling. Things such as getting along with your editors and networking with other writers will keep your writing in business. Keep in mind that editors are the gatekeepers of work. Keeping this relationship productive and positive will keep the work flowing.

Another area to explore is writer's communities. No where can you learn about your new job better than from those who have been there. Seek out veterans and reach out to others who are just starting out, and you will soon find yourself well-supported and well known.

Mystery shopping - Part Two

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mystery shopping or Mystery Consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services. Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks—such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way – and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences.

Mystery shopping began in the 1940s as a way to measure employee integrity. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and video recordings. Many mystery shopping companies are completely administered through the Internet, allowing potential mystery shoppers to use the Internet to register for participation, find mystery shopping jobs and receive payment.

The most common venues where mystery shopping is used are retail stores, movie theaters, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments and health clubs, as well as health care facilities. In the UK, mystery shopping is increasingly used to provide feedback on customer services provided by local authorities and other non-profit organizations, such as housing associations and churches.

Methodology

When a client company comes on board with a company providing Mystery Shopping services, a survey model will be drawn up and agreed to which defines what information and improvement factors the client company wishes to measure as part of the mystery shopping process. These are then drawn up into survey instruments and assignments that are allocated to shoppers registered with the mystery shopping company in question.

Some of the common details and information points shoppers:

* the date and time of the pre-visit phone call
* the name of the store on each side of the store visited
* number of employees in the store on entering
* how long it takes before the mystery shopper is greeted
* the name of the employee(s)
* whether or not the greeting is friendly
* the questions asked by the shopper to find a suitable product
* the types of products shown
* if or how the employee attempted to close the sale
* whether the employee invited the shopper to come back to the store
* cleanliness of store and store associates
* speed of service
* compliance with company standards relating to service, store appearance, and grooming/presentation

Shoppers are often given instructions or procedures to make the transaction atypical to make the test of the knowledge and service skills of the employees more stringent or specific to a particular service issue (known as scenarios). For instance, mystery shoppers at a restaurant may pretend they are lactose-intolerant, or a clothing store mystery shopper could inquire about gift-wrapping services. Not all mystery shopping scenarios include a purchase.

From there, the shopper will then submit the data collected to the Mystery shopping company in question. The data is then reviewed and analyzed before quantitative and qualitative statistical [analysis] reports on the data are then returned to the client company that enables measurement against the previously defined criteria.

Statistics

The mystery shopping industry had an estimated value of nearly $600 million in the United States in 2004, according to a 2005 report commissioned by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA). Companies that participated in the report experienced an average growth of 11.1 percent from 2003 to 2004, compared to an average growth of 12.2 percent. The report estimates more than 8.1 million mystery shops were conducted in 2004. The report represents the first industry association attempt to quantify the size of the mystery shopping industry. Similar surveys are available for European regions where mystery shopping is becoming more embedded into company procedures.

As a measure of its importance, customer/patient satisfaction is being incorporated more frequently into executive pay. A study by a U.S. firm found more than 55% of hospital chief executive officers surveyed in 2005 had "some compensation at risk," based on patient satisfaction, up from only 8% to 20% a dozen years ago."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ran a segment on this topic during a January 2001 episode of the news magazine program "Marketplace".

Fraud

There exists a scam that uses mystery shopping as a premise for fraud, where a person is sent a bad check with a request to deposit it into their bank account, wire a portion of the money through a wire transfer company such as Western Union and keep the remainder as a mystery shopping fee, and informed to mail the money immediately as the test is evaluating response time. People who wire the "remainder" discover the check is bad and lose the money they transfer and the wire transfer service fee in addition to the total amount of the check, often leaving them in debt to their banks.[6] One scam involved fraudulent websites using a misspelled URL to advertise online and in newspapers under a legitimate company's name.

Valid mystery shopping companies will never send their clients a cheque to cash prior to work being completed, and their advertisements will usually include a contact person and phone number. Cheques received from mystery shopping companies should only be in payment for work performed, and can always be taken to a bank to be verified. Most fraudulent cheques sent out by scam artists can be easily spotted and identified by a financial professional.

Mystery Shopping

Ever fancied going out to dinner or shopping and getting paid for it? Then you might consider becoming a mystery shopper.

What is mystery shopping?

A vast amount of companies are interested in knowing what their customers/clients think of their services and/or products in order to right what may be wrong and help them to improve customer service and productivity. To obtain this crucial data from a non biased viewpoint they hire Mystery Shopping agencies, who are trained market researchers, to gather the information on their behalf. This is where you come in. As a Mystery Shopper you will pose as a regular customer but will actually be collecting essential data set by the client and briefed to you via a questionnaire. Mystery Shopping companies are always on the lookout for trustworthy and reliable people to carry out assignments for them. Assignments vary from restaurants to shops, banks to fitness centres, the list is endless.

Sounds like fun? It is but it's no joke, your reports are vital material, so you've got to be commited and be able to complete each job as specified on your worksheet by your agency.

What qualifications or skills do I need?

You don't need any particular qualifications to become a mystery shopper, basically anyone can do it, any age, any background. However, you must be reliable, observant, have a good memory and be able to give an accurate, unbiased view of your findings. The job also requires discretion as in effect you are akin to an undercover reporter, therefore at no time must you reveal that you are a mystery shopper during an assignment.

How much money can I earn?

Mystery shopping companies pay between £4.00 - £20.00 per job, averaging at around £7.00. Some jobs pay more, some a little less. Costs incurred during a visit, i.e. buying food, drink or shopping will be reimbursed and some companies pay traveling expenses too. You won't get rich from mystery shopping but you will earn some extra cash and a host of freebies in the process including food, cold drinks, hot drinks, sandwiches, groceries, magazines, petrol, hotel accommodation, fitness lessons, small electrical items, software,cd's, dvd's and much, much more! Payment is made either monthly or fortnightly via bank transfer.

What is involved in a mystery shopping job?

The first step is to register with some agencies. Once accepted you will be given an assessor number that you must quote in order to enter the shopper page on an agents website, or quote via e-mail or telephone if need be. All agencies have their own system of distributing assignments but most of them offer jobs via their website. Assignments are on an ad/hoc basis and although some agencies notify you by e-mail when jobs become available, it is strongly advisable to check in on a regular basis to ensure you don't miss out on all the best assignments. Once released jobs disappear quickly! You will be notified if you have been accepted to carry out an assignment and will receive a brief detailing what is required of you together with a questionnaire - everything is explained in detail including times, dates, job description and what you need to look out for. Jobs usually take about an hour to an hour and a half to complete including travelling. If for any reason you accept a job then find that you can not complete it then you must notify the agency as soon as possible in order to give them sufficient time to reallocate it to someone else. It is best not to accept an assignment if you are unsure about whether or not you will be able to complete it. Once you build a good rapport with an agency and prove that you are a reliable assessor you will be offered more evaluations.

What to do after an assignment is completed?

After completing an assignment you are usually required to fill out an online questionnaire within a set timeframe, this is usually between 8 - 24 hours of job completion. The best thing to do is to enter your results onto the system as soon as you can while the details are still fresh in your mind. Some questionnaires are longer than others but should take no longer than fifteen minutes to complete.

A Word Of Warning

You may come across some sites that ask you for money, either to join their agency or for a list of Mystery Shopping Companies. NEVER sign-up with a mystery shopping agency that asks you for money - becoming a shopper is always FREE. And please do not pay for a list of agencies, a comprehensive search on a major search engine will give you the same results. We will be adding new agencies on this site periodically. You can either join our Newsletter group or bookmark this site for updates.

10 Part-Time Jobs You Can Do From Home

Working from home is typically seen as an alternative to jobs that require you to work from an office or outside location. Part-time work-from-home jobs are a great way to earn extra cash during your free time at home. A few jobs may require an on-site presence on the weekend or periodically, but in general, these are options that won't disrupt your daily gig.

1. Tutor
Pay: $10.90 to $18.85
Job Description: Provide one-on-one or group instruction. Tutor individuals from your home.

2. Childcare Worker/Babysitter
Pay: $7.82 - $10.18
Job Description: Care for children, organize and participate in recreational activities, discipline children, etc. At-home childcare workers can also provide before-school and afterschool care.


3. Wedding/Party Planner
Pay: $31,049 to $43,668
Job Description: Party planners conceive, organize, and execute special affairs such as weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, and bar and bat mitzvahs. They custom design an event to suit their customers' needs and budgets.

4. Answering Service
Pay: $9.46 to $12.69
Job Description: Answer incoming calls from offices (i.e. doctors offices, apartment complexes, etc.) after normal business hours and relay information per specific account protocol.

5. Scheduler
Pay: $11.92 to $17.51
Job Description: Handles client calendar and updates appointments as needed.

6. Medical Biller
Pay: $11.88 to $15.72
Job Description: Medical Billing and its related occupations continue to be the fastest growing opportunities in health care. Insurance companies and the government are spending more time and money researching and controlling claims’ fraud, abusive practices, and medical necessity issues. Because of this, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and other providers are hiring more.


7. Freelance Writer
Pay: $28.78 to $45.62
Job Description: Freelance writing work generally requires at least one field of expertise. Create technical writing documents or blog about sports, politics, entertainment, etc. Writing assignments can also include grant proposals or academic projects.

8. Caterer
Pay: $9.47 to $11.97
Job Description: Cook food for events, i.e, parties, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, prepare specialty items, hors d'oeuvres, etc.


9. Desktop Publisher
Pay: $15.98 to $21.30
Job Description: Complete assignments involving word processing, including page layouts, charts and computer graphics utilizing desktop publishing equipment and integrated software packages. May require an associate's degree in a related area and experience in the field or in a related area.

10. Fundraiser
Pay: $35,349 to $51,291.
Job Description: Responsible for achieving an agreed money-raising target by approaching trusts, corporations, statutory bodies, major donors, individuals and other sources, and by running events. Fundraisers work with individuals, communities, businesses and charitable trusts to raise awareness of the charity's work, aims and goals.

Link to the original article

Drop shipping guide - tips, companies, resources and directories.

What is drop shipping?

Drop shipping can be a very simple and effective way to get involved in ecommerce. Many established online merchants are now turning to dropshipping companies as a means of minimizing stock on hand, decreasing overall shipping costs and cutting down on delivery times to customers.

Drop shipping allows web site owners to send single/low quantity unit orders gathered on their web sites to manufacturers, or wholesale warehouse companies, who in turn ship the items directly to the customers of the web site owner; i.e. you do the promotion and collect the payment, and the dropship company looks after order fulfillment.

Other advantages of the drop shipping model

*

Because a dropship companies can buy in huge volumes, they will also be able to offer you the best prices on products and shipping, usually wholesale, which will return a greater profit to you.
*

There's no capital investment and no danger of you suddenly having a pile of outdated items in your inventory
*

Using drop shipping allows you great flexibility in terms of product range - promote a dozen items or promote a thousand!
*

Instead of worrying about inventory and delivery, you get to focus on listening to the market and discovering the products your visitors you want - and then being able to rapidly add them to your site.

Challenges and dangers of dropshipping

Many wholesale companies will have an interest in teaming up with you in a dropshipping arrangement as it's an easy way for them to generate extra revenue, but there's a number of points to consider and things to look out for:
Pricing points

Don't accept that the first drop shipper you come across will give you the best deal - shop around for the most suitable wholesaler company.
Drop ship fees and charges

Some dropshippers will have a handling fee over and above freight costs - it's important to know all the costs involved so you can calculate your profit margins accurately. Any wholesale company that wants to charge you a regular "participation" fee should be avoided - the only time you should have to pay a dropship company *anything* is in connection with a specific order.
Shipping

Is the drop shipper using "Clumsy Cal's Discount Express" or Fedex? Will the company ship international? You'll want to ensure their shipping methods will see your clients get their products in one piece.

Also bear in mind that you may need a specific type of shopping cart in order to handle drop shipping. Many shopping carts only allow for one "ship from" zip code in the configuration for freight calculations. If you are dealing with a number of drop-shippers you may have dozens of point-of-origin zip codes - and this can be a real headache if freight is based on distance.
Accounts

Will the drop shipping company automatically debit your credit card on each order you submit, or can you get monthly payment terms? When you are starting out with a company, they are unlikely to offer credit, but it's good to check if this will be possible once you've established credibility.

Support, returns, refunds

The last thing you'll want is to be caught up in a nasty situation where you have a number of returns - and have to foot the bill. Ask the dropshipping company about their returns policy, what kind of support they'll offer you for their products and about any guarantees associated with their products - and get it in writing.

Chargebacks can also be an ominous problem; particularly when dealing with high cost, low margin goods as you'll have little or no comeback with your supplier in many instances.
Chargebacks - a fatal blow for drop shipping

A chargeback is where a consumer has filed a complaint with their bank against a company regarding a transaction for any number of reasons such as a claim the goods were not received, unauthorized transactions or any of a myriad of grievances. It's important to understand that the chargeback process is heavily weighted in the favor of the consumer. A chargeback is a great consumer protection mechanism, however there are unscrupulous individuals out there who abuse it.

If a chargeback is instigated, it can be a lengthy and frustrating process to challenge it. If your challenge should be rejected, you'll be stuck with the full amount of the sale being debited from your merchant account plus chargeback fees that are usually around the $30 amount. Additionally, if your level of chargebacks is high enough (1% of transactions or 1% of total transaction value), you may be penalized in the form of higher transaction fees and ultimately, it will put your merchant account at risk. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and as one of the most common reasons for a chargeback is a claim of an unauthorized transaction; effective fraud screening is a must. Learn more about fraud screening.
Credibility

How long have the drop shippers been around for? Do they respond to your requests for information rapidly and professionally? Young dropship companies and wholesalers have the habit of going belly up quickly, or growing too rapidly and as a consequence basic good customer service suffers.
How do I get into drop shipping?

It's fairly simple:

* Set up a web site that includes a dropship friendly shopping cart and credit card processing facilities.
* Find wholesale suppliers of products you wish to sell that incorporate drop shipping as a business method.
* Open an account with the company.
* Gather content and images relating to the products you've chosen, incorporate them on your site and shopping cart.
* Collect the order and payment from your site.
* Provide the supplier with the customer details.
* The company then bills you at the special price you have agreed upon; fulfills the order and sends it to your client - in most cases with labels referring to your business/web site instead of the dropshippers

How do I find drop shipping friendly suppliers and companies?

There's a couple of approaches you can take to find suitable dropship wholesalers.
Direct contact

You can contact wholesale suppliers directly who produce/stock goods of interest and inquire about a drop shipping partnership; although you should be a little cautious, especially if the company hasn't been involved in these kinds of partnerships before.
Search engines

The other way to go is to hit your favorite search engine and search on the terms:

"drop shipping" + product of interest
or
dropshipping + product of interest
or
"drop ship" + product of interest
or
"dropship" + product of interest

Ensure you encapsulate in quotes where indicated above to ensure the results you get are the most relevant.
Dropship resources directory

Shopster provide drop shipping resources internationally - and a free trial of their services. Tons of products, companies and suppliers to choose from in their directory, plus eBay integration, fraud prevention and online/phone customer support.

If you're based in the USA, try Doba - they are eBay certified, list 1.2 million products and add about five new wholesale suppliers and companies every week to their directory. Doba are currently running a free trial membership, so you can take a good look around the service without spending a cent.

If you're based outside the USA, give OneSource a try. They give you access to lists of over 1,000,000 products from over 234 different categories in their directory. Like Doba, OneSource lists the *real* wholesale drop shippers, not retail companies or middlemen with links to wholesalers - it's definitely worthwhile

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
____________________________

Copyright information.... This article is free for reproduction but must be reproduced in its entirety, including live links & this copyright statement must be included.

Link to the article

How drop ship works?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to wholesalers, who then ship the goods directly to the customer. The retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price.

Procedure

Some drop shipping retailers may keep "show" items on display in stores, so that customers can inspect an item similar to those that they can purchase. Other retailers may provide only a catalogue or website.

Retailers that drop ship merchandise from wholesalers may take measures to hide this fact to avoid any stigma, or to keep the wholesale source from becoming widely known. This can be effected by "blind shipping" (shipping merchandise without a return address), or "private label shipping" (having merchandise shipped from the wholesaler with a return address customized to the retailer). A customized packing slip may also be included by the wholesaler, indicating the retailer's company name, logo, and/or contact information.

Small business

Drop shipping can occur when a small retailer who typically sells in small quantities to the general public receives a single large order for a product. Rather than route the shipment through the retail store, the retailer may arrange for the goods to be shipped directly to the customer.

Online auctions

Many sellers on online auction sites, such as eBay, also drop ship. Often, a seller will list an item as new and ship the item directly from the wholesaler to the highest bidder. The seller profits from the difference between the winning bid and the wholesale price, minus any selling and merchant fees from the auction site. A seller is permitted to list items that are currently not in his/her own possession, provided that he/she follows eBay's policy on pre-sale items.

Custom products

A new emerging trend in the drop ship business is private label drop shipping, in which a manufacturer produces a custom item for a retailer and drop ships it. The range of private label drop shipped items varies from simple keychains and t-shirts with custom logos or pictures to customized formulations for vitamins and nutritional supplements.

Benefits

The two main benefits of drop shipping are - no upfront inventory to purchase and a positive cash flow cycle. A positive cash flow cycle occurs because the seller is paid when the purchase is made. The seller usually pays the wholesaler using a credit card or credit terms. Therefore, there is a period of time in which the seller has the customer's money, but has not yet paid the wholesaler. Often,[citation needed] web retailers starting their own business will confuse drop shipping services with those offered by a fulfillment house.

Risks

As in any business, some risks are involved in drop shipping. For example, back ordering may occur when a seller places a shipment request with a wholesaler, but the product is sold out. Back ordering may be accompanied by a long wait for a shipment while the wholesaler waits for new products, which may reflect badly on the retailer. A good wholesaler will keep retailers updated, but it is the business owner's job to be aware of the quantities that the wholesaler has available.

Scams

Drop shipping has also featured prominently in some Internet-based home business scams. [1] Scam artists will promote drop shipping as a lucrative "work from home opportunity." The victim who buys into this scam will be sold a list of businesses from which drop-shipment orders can be placed. These businesses may not be wholesalers, but other businesses or individuals acting as middlemen between retailers and wholesalers, with no product of their own to sell. These middlemen often charge prices that leave little profit margin for the victim, and require a regular fee for the retailer's usage of their services.

Make money and clean up with EBay

Until about a year ago, my eBay experience was pretty limited. Actually, it mostly consisted of answering the door and signing for packages containing items my husband had ordered from the online auction house late at night after I had gone to bed.

Yes, some people watch late- night talk shows; He shops for weird stuff online.

One memorable arrival -- oh, there have been a few -- was a package in plain brown wrapping about the size of a large tissue box. I know what you're thinking. Relax.

Anyway, I signed the courier's electronic notepad, then headed up the stairs and deposited the package on the dining-room table. As I did so, I noticed that on the customs form, the contents of the package were listed as "antique surgical tools."

I am not kidding.

Add the fact my husband's last name is Hyde and you have the makings of a Victorian horror story.

But I never woke up with a tip of my finger missing or a bandage on my kidney area. No, it seems my husband, who is of the arty persuasion, planned on using the strange occluders and retractors in a multimedia art piece.

I haven't yet seen the art piece, but I have seen my interest in EBay grow.

OK, it's not as eclectic an interest as his. I order clothing, not creepy collectibles.

And I don't go crazy. I hate clutter and, after recently talking to home-organizing experts for this column, I am even more mindful of the popular clutter-free fan's rule that states when you bring an item into a house, you should try to take something else out.

EBay can help with that.

Read more

Sales of Small Businesses on the Rise

The economy is struggling, but sales and valuations of small companies are up, according to the latest data.

It's time to spruce up the window displays and organize your accounting records: Despite the economic downtown, sales of small businesses are starting to boom.

Business marketplace BizBuySell's latest quarterly Insight Report on nationwide sales trends shows a 48% jump in the number of businesses listed on its network that sold during the first half of 2008, compared to the year-earlier period. A total of 3,894 businesses found buyers, up from 2,640 in the first half of 2007.

Listing rose in tandem: BizBuySell.com had 41,674 active listings on its site in 2008's second quarter, up from 29,468 during the same period last year, a 41% increase. Most promisingly for business owners, the prices buyers are paying have also increased. The median sale price for businesses tracked by BizBuySell was $200,000 in this year's second quarter, up from $186,000 during the same period last year.

BizBuySell, the largest nationwide marketplace for buying and selling small companies, compiles its sales data from closed-transaction reports sent in by brokers. For-sale-by-owner deals closed directly are not included in the totals.

Read the full article

AARP's Best Employers for Workers Over 50

The AARP “Best Employers for Workers Over 50” is an annual recognition program that awards companies and organizations whose best practices and policies for addressing the issues affecting our aging labor force create roadmaps for the workplaces of tomorrow.


1. Cornell University
Cornell University ranks number one among AARP’s Best Employers for Workers Over 50 in 2008. From numerous programs and perks to foster professional development and work-life balance, employees can pick those tailored to their specific needs. In response to employee and retiree feedback, Cornell University offers a special program called Opportunities for Healthy Aging.
Age of Workforce: Forty-three percent of Cornell’s employees are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 15.5 years.

2. Scripps Health
One of AARP’s top-10 Best Employers for Workers Over 50 in 2008, Scripps Health places a high value on experience, with a goal to retain and recruit internal talent. The Scripps Alumni Network maintains relationships with former employees and retirees and serves as a foundation to recruit back to the organization. The network has a membership of more than 800.


Read the full article

How to Choose a Good Domain Name For Your Website

By Georgi Jivankin

If you have your own business or you are planning to start one, it's essential to have a memorable domain for branding it. In this article I'll give you some tips for choosing a good domain name for your business website.

Be creative. A good domain name consists of easy to remember words. Don't try to think of complicated or long names, because they will simply get out of your visitor's heads when they close your website. Use general vocabulary and avoid technical or complex words.

Be unique. Select your domain name properly so it won't interfere with your competitors in your niche or business. Do not use common names such as brands, companies or products in your domain. Avoid abbreviations, unless they are something very familiar for the average Internet user or consumer.

Be smart. Think like a marketer and see which words will be best for your SEO optimization and PPC advertising. Usually the search engines love the domain names containing dashes or underlines, but you should avoid them, because it's not comfortable for your users to type long domain names and also they are not suitable for mouth-to-mouth advertisement.
One of the mistakes many marketers and business owners do is to use misspellings in their names. Do not use them, because you simply do not look professional. For example, do not use "4yu" or "4u" instead of the original "foryou". Yes, it's easier to type "4u" instead of "for you", but you will confuse your customers and while they are trying to access your website, they may land on a competitor's website instead. And last but not least, do not use numbers or other symbols in your domain name. It's not generally accepted in the Internet to use digits or other symbols in the domain names, so it's better not to use them unless you have a good reason to do so.

Make Great Money Part Time Buying And Selling Domain Names

By Jonathan Street

This truly is the business to get into in 2005. It's a red hot opportunity that savvy investors can make a killing on when you know how. And this article will walk you step-by-step through the money-making process.

Don't be put off by the term "investors". I'm not talking big money down here. As long as you've got a spare £5 a week then great money can be made for only half an hour of your time. Like the sound of that? Thought so.

There's a few ways you can make money buying domain names and selling them on for profit. And I mean PROFIT. You'll see why people will be scratching at your door to buy off you in just a moment.

Let's start with the basics.

All domain names are only registered for a limited amount of time.Registrars can choose to use the name for a period of between 1-10 years. After this the rights to these domain names expire and the user has to renew the name again. If they don't do this it will be placed on hold for a short time and then deleted. This means it is then availible for anyone who wants to buy it!

This Is Where You Can Cash In!

20,000 expired domain names are made availible each and every day. Some of them are very attractive and well-established names.

Example. Last year the owners of Race.com carelessly didn't renew their registration fee. It was grabbed (the term used to describe purchasing an expired name) by a savvy 'investor' for a few pounds and sold for thousands and thousands back to the old owner.

The owner was willing to pay huge sums for to the investor because he had built up qualified traffic over X amount of years and didn't want to lose all the previous custom.

Now I admit that making a sale for thousands is rare, but is certainly possible.

The likeliness is that you can buy a domain name and register it for £5-£50 and then sell it on for anything from £150 - £1000. Do this with five domain names a week, and your looking at a big sum of money for only a couple of hours work.

It's not just businesses that have carelessly let their domain name that will buy off you. It's other businesses too that will buy the name to get the old owners' traffic. It's a legitamate way of increasing your customer base.

And if the old owner and a new potential owner get into a bidding war...well..the sky really is the limit.

So there's two main reasons why people will be willing to pay YOU a couple of hundred pounds for a domain name.

a) They carelessly let the domain name expire. That means that they will pay you to get the name back to ensure that they don't lose their existing traffic that they may have built up over years and years.

B) They are a business in the same field as the one that has let the name expire and therfore will pay you to secure the exisitng custom of a rival.

Here's step-by-step how you go about this fantastically profitable part time business.

There are several sources of expired domain name information and reserach tools, some free and some that require a payment of a fee.

www.wehavethem.com supplies lists of names due to be deleted. Www.DeletedDomains.com allows you to do some searching free and more extensive searching for a $99 annual fee.You can search for names that are due to be deleted and also allows you to bid on newly deleted names that have already been grabbed by other 'investors'.

What you are looking for is an expired domain name with traffic in the last month of anything over 1500. Ensure that the site is an actual consumer site. There's no point buying a domain name if the previous site wasn't selling any goods.

If you see a site that had tens of thousands of visitors in the last month GET IT. The likeliness is that the previous owners will be itching to get their name back off of you due to its obvious success.

Also if you see a name with a large qualified traffic thats due to expire and has a high traffic volume use an automated grabbing system such as www.snapnames.com and www.pool.com. These will ensure the second they become availible you will have registered them. The cost is about $60 but only if they get the names for you. Definately worth it in my eyes.

Remember you could easily sell the name for hundreds, maybe thousands.

Things need to be avoided for Affiliate Marketing

Although anyone can start an affiliate marketing business but not everyone can achieve success in affiliate marketing. What is the reason? Well, there are 10 of them, actually. There are 10 affiliate mistakes that deter people from succeeding in affiliate marketing business. To avoid all these mistakes, you first need to study them and understand them thoroughly.

1. Believing that visitors would only click on their affiliate links. Although the task of an affiliate is only restricted to pre-selling, pre-selling isn’t just limited to displaying the affiliate links. It also entails enticing visitors to click on them by listing out the benefits of the affiliate products, giving positive recommendations by writing reviews to encourage readers to check out the products.

2. Promoting too many affiliate programs at the same time. If an affiliate markets 8 affiliate programs at the same time, he or she will have 8 affiliate marketing campaigns to handle. Most probably, the affiliate will find difficult to manage all his campaigns and unable to concentrate on each one of his or her affiliate programs in this situation and ends up losing money.

You should begin with one affiliate program; choose a program that you are passionate about. Then put your best effort to market the product. Test different marketing strategies to see which one works best. Once you are making a steady commission with the product, then maybe you can look for second affiliate product to sell.

3. Believing that using a single method of marketing technique is sufficient. There are people actually think that submitting a few articles to article websites will generate the amount of traffic they expected. But this is wrong. Focusing only one marketing technique will limit the number of potential buyers you can send to your affiliate merchant’s website

4. Failing to improve the performance of your marketing campaign. Many affiliates tend to concern on checking their daily commission only and have no interest on studying and analyzing their marketing campaigns performance. When their campaigns don’t work as expected or don’t generate sales, they will fail to make corresponding adjustments because they don’t know which aspects of their campaigns need to be improved. It is essential to learn every aspect of our marketing strategies. Which marketing techniques are attracted most visitors? How many unique and returning visitors generated? How long do they stay in our website? Where they come from? These are the questions that could help us enhance the performance of our affiliate marketing business.

5. Promoting affiliate products that are lacking of demand. Some affiliate programs offer extremely high sale commission to their affiliate. But the products aren’t sellable and thus earning nothing.

6. Failing to find an affiliate program with a proven record of consumer satisfaction. The trustworthiness of a company relies on how people view it. If the affiliate program has established good relationships with their customers, then it has established a brand which is recognizable for its excellent service. You will find easier to pre-selling such an affiliate product.

7. Failing to keep abreast with the latest developments in the industry. There will come a time when the marketing knowledge we know would become obsolete, more so in the field of internet marketing where everything transpires at a rapid pace. You have to constantly update yourself with the newest trends, techniques and news in this field to always keep your competitive edge.

8. Failing to invest on knowledge. Knowledge likewise evolves and you have to evolve with it. Buy noteworthy eBooks, special reports and the likes… those which would teach you the latest tactics to help you conquer your field.

9. Resting on your laurels once a semblance of success is achieved. Success is not eternal. You have to sustain it. If you leave your business alone once it shows the promise of success, you’re just setting it up for failure.

10. Though that affiliate program can help you become rich fast. No, affiliate program isn’t a “get rich quick” scheme. You have to put in a lot of effort and time, and some capital before you can make money in affiliate marketing.

Real work-at-home jobs

After the birth of her daughter, Carrie Opara knew she didn't want to return to her old job as a mental-health counselor. But finding legitimate work she could do at home was no small feat.

She tried a multilevel marketing plan and wound up in debt. She looked on the Internet and found plenty of scams. Finally, she heard about LiveOps, a Palo Alto, Calif., call center that hired people to work out of their own homes.

Within two years, she was earning about $2,000 a month working 30 to 35 hours a week from her home in Columbia, Md. -- about what she'd made previously as a counselor. Her shifts can be as short as 30 minutes, although she typically works five-hour blocks while her 6-year-old is in school, plus some nights and weekends when her husband, a certified public accountant, can take over child care.

Opara said she still faces the challenges familiar to every working parent: how to work enough hours, spend enough quality time with her family "and still figure out how I'm going to clean my house, make dinner and do the grocery shopping." Not having to commute or pay for child care, however, are big bonuses.

"It's fit in perfectly," Opara said, "and we also like the flexibility."

Technology is opening up new opportunities for parents and others who want to work at home. Finding and landing legitimate, profitable work still isn't easy, but here are a few venues to try:

A call center in your home
In recent years, you've heard a lot about companies routing their customer-service calls to workers overseas, but a less-noticed trend is the growth in home-based call-center workers.

Thanks to the Internet and better call-routing technology, more companies are finding they can outsource their order-taking, sales and problem-solving calls to home-based workers, said LiveOps board member Bill Trenchard. LiveOps not only runs an outsource operation, Trenchard said, but it also provides technology for companies that want to set up their own home-based call centers.

Read the full article

Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

Find Work From Home Opportunities
By Jennifer Wolf

Looking for legitimate work from home jobs can be daunting. There are so many scams out there, and frankly, many distracting "career opportunities" that don't live up to their potential. To protect the investment of your time and energy - which are extremely valuable - consider the following:

* Know your qualifications. Make a list of the unique skills and talents you have to offer. For example, if you're looking into companies that "homesource" their customer service representatives (that is, they hire individuals who can do the job out of their homes), then having a smooth, pleasant, and clear phone voice is essential!

* Know what you are looking for. In addition, make a list of the jobs you are looking for. What interests you? What are your scheduling and income needs?

* Have realistic expectations. It can take months and years to develop the credibility with a legitimate work from home company to get to the point where you're earning the equivalent of full-time work.

* Realize that you may still need child care. Working from home while taking care of your kids is extremely demanding. You may find that you need to hire sitters for at least part of the hours you'll be working from home.

* Be honest about your capabilities. Don't sign up for a work from home job that requires you to have a faster computer than you really have, or one that demands a quiet, peaceful atmosphere in the background at all times if your kids will be present during your work hours.

* Avoid jobs that require extensive, unpaid training. In general, stay away from opportunities that would require additional schooling or unrealistic amounts of unpaid training time.

* Avoid jobs that require you to spend money in order to apply. This is a sure sign of a scam!

Want to start a Subway franchise?

by John Serand

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have your own sandwich restaurant, but are hesitant because of the competition, fear no more. You can become a subway franchise owner and you will have the backing of a well-known sandwich shop with thousands of successful stores already.

Step 1:
Review the franchise program information on the Subway website and fill out the online form to request a brochure.

Step 2:
Register for an online seminar to find out more information. Attend one in your area to receive the most pertinent information. Subway also offers trade shows with valuable information on how to become a franchise owner.

Step 3:
Submit an online application to become a Subway franchisee. Required personal information on you, your spouse and partner (when applicable) include: education and business background, liquid and fixed assets and references. You also indicate a preferred geographical franchise area.

Step 4:
Learn more about the next steps while your application is being processed. You can find an area that is open for development, contact the regional sales manager with further questions or look into getting a loan for your Subway franchise.

Step 5:
Receive notification from the Subway development team that your franchise application is approved. A representative from Subway will help with the process once you have decided to become a franchise owner.

Step 6:
Secure a loan for your Subway franchise store. Loan amounts vary based on the location and size of the restaurant. Subway offers loan programs and financial support for all of their franchise owners.

Step 7:
Work with a Subway representative to purchase an existing Subway for sale or to find a location to build on.

How to select a affiliate program?

Your success in affiliate marketing part depend on the kinds of affiliate programs your are marketing.To make your affiliate marketing campaign works, you obviously need to participate in an affiliate program that offers worthy and quality products. Below are some tips that can help you choose an affiliate program that is good for you:

1. Affiliate programs that are associated with many experts in that particular niche usually are in certain level of standard and quality. Joining one of these programs will assure you that the products of the program you will be promoting are in good standard.

2. The program that is catering to a growing target market. This will ensure you that there will be more and continuous demands for your referrals. Ask question. There are forums and discussions you can participate in to get good and reliable feedbacks.

3. A program with a compensation plan that pays out a residual income and a payout of 30% or more would be a great choice. There are some programs offering this kind of compensation. Look closely for one. Do not waste your time with programs that do not reward substantially for your efforts.

4. Be aware of the minimum quotas that you must fulfill or sales target that is too hard to achieve. Some affiliate programs imposes pre-requisites before you get your commissions. Just be sure that you are capable of attaining their requirements.

5. Ask for program recommendations in the community forum of your niche. The experienced marketers who see your question may recommend you the reliable programs they have success with. Other things you can ask about are like is the program offers a real and viable product? Does the program provide a lot of free tools and resources helpful to affiliate? and any other questions you think are essential.

Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts.

Affiliate marketing is also the name of the industry where a number of different types of companies and individuals are performing this form of Internet marketing, including affiliate networks, affiliate management companies, and in-house affiliate managers, specialized third party vendors, and various types of affiliates/publishers who promote the products and services of their partners.

Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner.

Affiliate marketing—using one website to drive traffic to another—is a form of online marketing, which is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers' marketing strategies.

Read the full article

Job Opportunities for the Green Economy

A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments

By Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim of the Political and Economic Research Institute | June 3, 2008

This new report, sponsored in part by the Center for American Progress in advance of a major clean energy jobs study to be released by CAP and PERI later this summer, provides a snapshot of what kinds of jobs are needed to build a green economy in the United States. We focus on six key strategies for attacking global warming and highlight some of the major "green jobs" associated with each of these approaches.

The six green strategies we examine here are: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power, and cellulosic biomass fuels. We show that the vast majority of jobs associated with these six green strategies are in the same areas of employment that people already work in today, in every region and state of the country. For example, constructing wind farms creates jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers, among many others. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting relies, among others, on roofers, insulators, and building inspectors. What makes these entirely familiar occupations "green jobs" is that the people working in them are contributing their everyday labors toward building a green economy. We therefore consider and refer to the strategies examined in this report as green investments, in addition to global warming solutions.

We present data on employment conditions in 12 separate states: Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. For each of the 12 states, we report the number of people who are employed in each of the occupations that will be affected by our six green economy strategies, and what the average wages are in each state for each of these job types. We then also provide data on the national employ-ment picture for each of the job categories we examine.

What is clear from this report is that millions of U.S. workers—across a wide range of familiar occupations, states, and income and skill levels—will all benefit from the project of defeating global warming and transforming the United States into a green economy.

Read the full report (pdf)

Housing bust is boom for ‘board-up’ specialists

Contractors keep lid on blight, help lenders manage repossessed homes

By Jane Hodges
MSNBC contributor
updated 10:39 a.m. ET, Tues., Sept. 9, 2008
Jason Norton, a 27-year old contractor in the San Francisco Bay area, knows how to handle sophisticated remodeling projects. But these days, instead of installing granite countertops or spalike master bathrooms, he handles the lowest common denominator of contracting work: boarding up windows with plywood, hauling junk to the dump and visiting color-matching scanners at Home Depot and Lowe’s to identify which exterior color will best cover up graffiti.

Norton works for homeowners, but his clients aren’t the usual folks: They’re lenders and banks who have repossessed properties through foreclosure proceedings. With the credit markets in turmoil, home prices falling and foreclosures on the rise, the number of lender-owned homes is soaring.

Banks and lenders are in the business of making loans rather than managing property, so many have little or no staff to oversee the homes’ upkeep. Yet with foreclosures mounting, they have more property than ever before to manage. That’s why “board-up” guys like Norton have no lack of work.

Read the full article

Paid Online Surveys

If you have the time, you can earn money by responding to online surveys. I used to receive some emails from America Online about this. But never responded. Today I checked the website and find the following information.

About Online Surveys
Opinion Place® gives you a chance to express your opinions, get rewards, and help shape products and services you use everyday.

Companies want your opinions so they can make the best products and services. By providing truthful and accurate information in our online surveys, you help these companies build the products and services that are right for you. As a bonus, you get FREE rewards as a "thank you" for your time.
Here's how it works...

* Start by answering a few general questions about you and your household for possible survey assignment. Opinion Place surveys are randomly assigned based upon the general questions you answer.
* If you qualify for a survey, we’ll let you know the subject, survey length, and the reward amount you will receive for completing the survey.
* Unlike other survey sites, you DO NOT need to agree to receive emails. Try taking a survey right now! You are able to control if you want special invite emails to take surveys.
* Surveys are conducted on behalf of reputable businesses who are solely interested in your opinions. You will not receive marketing materials or be asked to buy anything as a result of participating in Opinion Place surveys.

Surveys will ask you about particular products or services you may or may not use. Companies make important business decisions using your advice, so please answer each question as completely and as thoughtfully as possible. Many surveys take as little as 10-15 minutes but the longer the survey, the greater the reward. Opinion Place allows you to take a survey every 14 days.

Opinion Place keeps your information completely confidential - companies only want your anonymous opinions. We don't charge membership fees or sell your personal information. Our clients are only interested in looking at the information from all participants combined; they will not look at your individual responses.

Opinion Place website

Tory Johnson's Tips to Make Money at Home

BY TORY JOHNSON
April 4, 2008

These days it seems like everyone is looking for recession-proof ways to make money at home. Here are some options:

Home-based customer service agents. Business is strong for home-based customer service providers. I talked with several companies that look for home-based customer service reps and they say they are looking to recruit at least 20,000 new agents through the end of this year. The reason? Some large companies are cutting back on staff positions to save on salary and benefits. One of the first departments they look to outsource -- because they can -- is customer service. From banks and retailers to infomercials, consumer-focused companies require people to answer calls from customers.

Among those now recruiting: LiveOps, West, Convergys, Alpine Access, Arise, VIPDesk and Working Solutions. Each company has a different business model, pay scale and criteria for certifying new agents, so visit their Web sites to determine what may be the best fit for you.

Read the full article.

Choosing a Business Partner

by David Berghouse

I'm not going to go into the obvious criteria for the selection of partners such assuring they have the appropriate skills, experience and money - these should need no comment. The problem is that these criteria are often as far as most peoples' consideration goes. The questions of temperament, personality, values are generally not considered. This does not only concern their suitability to deal with customers in, say, a retail situation, but has much wider ramifications. It has a bearing on the chances of success or failure of the whole business regardless of the field in which you are operating.

Some of the essential questions to be answered include:

* How their temperament/personality interacts with yours.
* Are your working styles compatible?
* How partners expectations will be realised.
* Is there trust between the proposed partners?
* How they respond, as against react, to adversity when the
'chips are down'.
* In an adverse situation do they act constructively to solve
the problem or react to defend their ego.
* Their personal security/maturity - can they accept constructive
criticism without getting defensive. Again, do they act
constructively to solve the problem or react to defend their ego.
* Their emotional satisfaction in life. People that are frustrated
in and with life tend to have short fuses (they operate close
to the threshold of coping) and quite often can be fickle in
their own commitment to their goals.
* And not insignificantly, is there fun built into the partnership ?

If the answers to these points are negative, do not go into business with that person.

However on the other hand be realistic: you won't find the perfect partner, so some allowance for other peoples imperfections are needed.

And, be honest: you're not the perfect partner yourself, either.

In difficult business circumstances you need people who can be constructive and contribute to the solutions of the problem. You do not need some insecure ego-tripper who drains your emotional energy dealing with their hassles, so leaving you without the energy to work on solutions to the problem at hand.

Remember that the decisions that you make regarding the structure of the business are very difficult to alter at a later date once the business is operating.

Who's Hiring Now

America's Most-Wanted Workers
By KATE LORENZ, CAREERBUILDER.COM EDITOR

Though the U.S. economy has softened this year -- headlines warn of mortgage woes, layoffs and escalating gas prices -- there are still jobs out there ... you just have to know where to look. We dug deep into Bureau of Labor Statistics data to find industries that are still adding jobs despite a rising national unemployment rate.


Health Care
With a large segment of the population entering retirement age, health care remains strong adding more than 196,000 jobs so far this year. All sectors of the healthcare industry experienced growth from January to July 2008. Ambulatory healthcare services (which include doctor's offices, outpatient care centers and home health services) experienced a gain of 106,800 jobs. Hospitals added 71,300 positions, while nursing and residential care facilities grew by 18,200 jobs.

Additionally, social assistance (like substance abuse and mental health counseling) added 18,400 jobs. Indeed, 30 percent of large health-care employers (50 or more employees) expected to expand staffs in the third quarter of 2008, according to CareerBuilder.com and USA Today's "Q3 2008 Job Forecast."


Government
The federal government, which employs more than 1.8 million civilian employees (except for the U.S. Postal Service), has added 33,000 jobs so far this year. At the state level, 39,000 new jobs were added; the local government, which added 124,000 jobs from January to July 2008, remains the strongest sector of the industry. While government staffing levels are often subject to budget and administration changes, there will be a growth in specialized areas related to border and transportation security, emergency preparedness, public health and information analysis.


Read the full article.

Tory Johnson's Work-From-Home Tips

Job Opportunities for Everyone
By TORY JOHNSON

Whether you're looking to contribute to your family's finances or earn some cash to cover special or unexpected expenses, many people want more ways to make money at home.

From freelance to full-time gigs, we have a range of fields and resources below to help guide you in discovering the options that exist. Only you can decide if an opportunity is right for you.
Tory Johnson
During a Take Control Tour last year, Tory Johnson helped Skye Starner, a Colorado mother of three, find a job she could do from home.

Don't limit yourself solely to responding to advertised openings. Sometimes the best way to land a home-based job is by calling someone you'd like to work for and offering your services.

Virtual Customer-service Agent

A growing work-from-home opportunity is to answer the inbound customer calls for companies like J. Crew, 1-800-flowers, Virgin Atlanta or Walgreens. These major players and many others like them outsource their customer-service calls to companies that hire U.S.-based virtual agents.

Set your own hours and pick an account that's ideally suited to your knowledge and interests. In addition to having a pleasant voice and strong customer-service skills, you must have high-speed Internet access, a computer, a landline, and a quiet place to work -- all of which you pay for on your own.

Expect to make an average of between $8 and $15 an hour depending on your experience, call volume and accounts. Be prepared to work a minimum of 20 hours per week, although some agents work 40 hours to 60 hours when their schedule permits.

Among the companies that hire inbound and outbound agents to explore:

Alpine Access hires virtual agents as employees. Other companies, including LiveOps, West and Arise, Working Solutions, Accolade Support, Customer Loyalty Concepts, Sci@Home, Reps for Rent, Overflow, ACD Direct.

Each company has different needs based on location, hours, clients, payment schedules, skills, knowledge, etc., so be sure to check with a few of them to determine the best match for you. Some pay hourly wages, while others require that you incorporate in order to work for them.

Create Your Own Product Line

Ever dream of seeing your slogans and artwork on T-shirts, mugs or hats? You can turn that dream into reality -- and into cash -- without investing even a penny in expensive start-up costs like equipment and stock.

Read the full article.

How To Make Money Online

Fifteen billion smackers: That's the value Microsoft recently slapped on Facebook when the computer giant invested $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Mark Zuckerberg's online social-networking site.

You could seethe with envy--or you could chase your own fortune on the Web.

Some online businesses require only a few hundred dollars in equipment, while others demand significant hardware and perhaps even a warehouse. Some might make you rich; others might just cover beer money. And all involve various levels of time, capital and technological skill.

"Some people have dreamed about owning their own business and have not followed through because of the investment in resources," says Jim Griffith, head of eBay University, for those aiming to set up shop selling goods at the online auctioneer's site. "The Internet allows people to at least try without making a large initial investment."

Army veteran Brandi Ramos of Springfield, Ill., did it. As a single mom in need of extra income, she started her online retail career peddling "big and tall" men's clothing on eBay.

Three years later, Ramos, 32, makes a good living working online out of her 600-square-foot basement packed with hanging displays and baker's racks piled with tupperware containing underwear and belts. Ramos aims to offer quick service, answering all e-mails within four to six hours. She claims to net $25,000 on $100,000 sales a year, and even earns a few bucks per order on shipping.

If managing inventory seems too big a chore, play virtual landlord and charge other retailers monthly fees (or per-transaction fees) for the opportunity to market their products on your site. Amazon.com (nasdaq: AMZN - news - people ) nabbed 28% of its revenues this way in 2006.

Craigslist is another take on this model: The 25-person company, worth a reported $2 billion, charges businesses to post help wanted ads in San Francisco, New York and L.A.; it also collects fees for apartment listings in New York City. Total page views per month: about 5 billion.

Then there's every pajama-clad blogger's dream: producing content supported by advertising dollars. Selling advertising is how thousands of established online media outlets pay their electric bills. They charge advertisers two ways: by the number of overall Web pages (called "impressions") served up, and by the number of people who click on the ads.

Setting up a blog requires not much more than a basic publishing program, a server and software to track ad clicks. The hard part, though, is attracting enough eyeballs to make it worth someone's while to pay to advertise on your site.

To have any prayer of attracting large advertisers, sites need to attract at least 500,000 unique visitors per month, says David Hauslaib, publisher of Jossip.com, a media and gossip blog that counts Coca Cola (nyse: KO - news - people ) and Sketchers among its advertisers. Sadly, even if you do generate enough traffic, the "click-through" rates on ads tend to be quite low--in the neighborhood of one half of 1%.

Read the full article.

How to make money from the comfort of your home?

With the economy going bad everyday, companies are continuing cutting jobs. Everybody feel the pressure of losing his/her job. How do we deal this situation? Do we worry all the time and pray not losing our job? Just by working hard at your work cannot guarantee that you will not lose your job. Instead I think the best way to deal with this situation is by finding ways to make money outside of your regular job. If you can make enough money elsewhere, you don't need to worry about the security of your job. The purpose of me starting this blog is to exchange ideas with people with similar desire to become financially independent. Please feel free to add your comments. By working together and with determination, I am sure we can all find ways to be financially successful.