Choosing Your Blog Topic - and Making Money

Choosing your blog topic is easy.

Choosing a blog topic that will make you money..... not so easy.

Here are some tips.

#1) Write about something that you enjoy. I put this first, because... well, it's 4:58 am right now, it's important to me to be excited and WANT to write in my blog. I have several blogs and each morning I pick which topic I feel motivated to write about. Why did I pick this topic... Well, I enjoy looking for new ways to make money from home.. and I enjoy sharing that information. My friends are a little tired of me constantly trying to tell them about these great opportunities... so, that's where you come in... my extended circle of friends! :)

#2) Write about something you know. Let's face it... I may enjoy airplane rides... but I don't really know ANYTHING about airplanes. This also ties back into writing about what you enjoy, you are going to have to do a certain amount of research. Perhaps googling your topic in the morning to get ideas... or checking other industry specific resources... Unless your topic is your family... or (in my sister's case) her backyard garden... then you may have to do some research

#3) Third party content. I never thought about this when I first started blogging, but my readers are happy that I eventually did... Sometimes I access third party content that is related to my topic... it gives that particular entry the different voice that is required to keep people interested. Of course, you have to have permission to reprint someone else's materials, but if your topic is popular there will be other means for putting together the daily entries that are required to keep your blog popular

#4) Popularity. Many blogs are found by chance... if your topic is too popular, you will be buried pages and pages down from the initial search, if your topic is too obscure, very few people will be searching for it... It's a fine line, start with doing some searches of your topic. Go to Blogcatalog.com and see what the most popular blogs are being written about...

#5) Affiliates. As I've pointed out before, a great way to make money with blogging is by attaching affiliate advertising to your blog. These are links that will pay you a percentage if someone clicks through and purchases the product. There are a couple of different ways to locate affiliates in your topics... and I will go over them in a later article, but for a sneak peak at some popular affiliates you can go to www.sharpstarters.com a page devoted to "Money Making affiliates"

...yawn... only 3 more blogs to go! I love this job.

Have a great day!

How to Make Money Blogging

How to make money blogging, this article is courtesy of Rob Benwell, you can check out his ebook for more info.

There are two ways of making money blogging, one more profitable than the other. First of all, small business owners find a great advantage in the use of blogs that provide rich informational content and the opportunity for great marketing promotions. But let's take a look at how you can turn blogging into a profitable activity. There are two possibilities: you either get paid for allowing other business owners to advertise on your site or you can include the blog in one of the many affiliate programs that enjoy such a popularity on the Internet nowadays.

In case you choose to exploit the advertising potential of your blog, the best program to work with is Google Adsense; you'll get paid every time an ad on your site gets clicked, regardless of whether this action converts into profit or not. The logical question that may rise here is: how can you get more clicks for the ads on the blog? Don't think about clicking your own ads to make some more money; fraud clicks are a very hot subject in the business, and Google teams are very efficient at identifying them. Such dishonest practice could cost you dearly if you dare to use it.

You can increase the profitability of the ads on your blog by taking advertising into consideration when you design the site. For instance, the fonts and colors used for the ads should be only slightly different from the rest of the page, without standing out. Why? Because the more visible you make them, the more likely it is that they'll annoy the user, and the entire purpose of your blog is to get people to spend quality time on the page. Adsense is a program that displays only those ads that are related to the domain the blog tackles with, so that you cannot complain about too large a number of irrelevant visitors.

Last, but not least, you can use the blog as part of an affiliate program, which involves promoting the products or services of a specific business. For instance if you've got a blog dealing with diving, you can very well turn into an affiliate for a company that sells diving equipment. The amount of money you are supposed to get is usually part of the individual agreement you sign with the other party, and it usually depends on how well you manage to use the blog to actually convince people to purchase one of the products. Friendly links, special discounts, promotions and e-news letters are all part of an affiliate campaign that could turn a simple blog into a great revenue generator.

For more information about Making Money Blogging, check out Rob Benwell's Site by following this link.

Put Your Spare Time and Writing Skills To Work

Have you ever wondered about the people you see on the news that make a living blogging? You know, you see them in their pajamas with a cup of coffee, sitting at their computer a couple of hours a day, writing about topics they find interesting.

Have you ever wondered how they find those choice jobs?

Personally, I have struggled with finding extra income doing something I love, and have always thought that adding advertisers to your blog was the only way. I, like many, just thought that these people must be exceptionally gifted and have a HUGE following to have reached that level of blog popularity.

Now, I'm not saying that they aren't. I'm just saying that you don't have to be to earn a nice income blogging on topics you hold near and dear. There are several companies that offer payment for bloggers willing to write about specific topics.

The best way to find these opportunities is to google keywords like: Pay to write blogs, Get paid to write blogs, or something along those lines.

I am currently reviewing a company called PayPerPost. It looks great, the customer service or "customer love" as they refer to themselves is exceptional. I found this company by following the below link:

Your Momma blogs...and we pay her to do it! I though that was funny, and I looked into the opportunity from there.

When I checked out the site, I found several great things about this opportunity.
#1) It's Free. That's right. Guess what that makes it... a legitimate opportunity.
#2) The customer support is very friendly and knowledgeable.

If you are thinking about signing up, one word of caution.

When setting up your account, you will be asked for your blog categories. These categories are very specific and important to the opportunities that you can accept. AND you can only change your categories once every 30 days.

My suggestion is that you read through some of the successful bloggers material to review the types of entries that are working for other bloggers, and also to get an idea of what categories are popular with the opportunities.

5 Ways To Earn Money While The Kids Are At School

In today’s day and age more and more people are supplementing their income with side jobs. That means they go to work 9-5 then they pick up extra hours in the evening or the weekend to try to make ends meet. Over the years I have spoken to many successful people to find out how they started their business. All of these people have one thing in common, they worked hard.

The old adage, nothing is free; is absolutely true. If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme, this isn’t it. These are 5 bonifide business opportunities in 5 niche markets. It doesn’t matter how great the idea, if you aren’t willing to go door to door to sell it, then no one is going to buy!
Having said that, here are 12 great unique businesses you can start for under $100.00

#1) Dog Waste Management – Yeah I know, it’s gross. But I know someone that rakes in (no pun intended) hundreds of dollars a week, cleaning up peoples yards. He sells weekly or bi-weekly contracts depending on the number of dogs. His expenses include, gloves, bags and he opted for a separate pair of shoes for work. He charges $20.00 a visit for contracted clients and $40.00 for non-contract. He said it’s approximately 5 – 15 minutes per yard. He averages $700.00 a week, doing 5 – 7 clients a day. (plus if you wanted to do a mailer, you could go to the town and purchase a list of the people who have licensed dogs)

#2) House Cleaner – Not everyone is cut out to clean. I’m one of those people that is happier paying someone else to clean. There are two schools of thought with cleaning, you can show up and use the homeowners cleaning supplies and appliances (i.e. vacuums) or you can bring your own. The women I hire usually use my stuff and leave me notes when they are getting low on supplies. They only come if I agree to let them come every 2 weeks and they charge from $45.00 to $75 depending on the size of your house.

#3) Nanny or Babysitter – As a parent of 3 small children I am constantly looking for qualified person to watch my kids, especially in the summer. Again, not everyone is cut out to watch someone else’s children. And if you don’t have the temperament, then don’t even try. In New Jersey, Babysitters are getting between $10.00 - $15.00/hr. That’s a long way from the $2.00/hr when I was growing up!

#4) Sell on eBay -- the nice things about eBay is that you don’t have to have money to make money. One of the biggest sellers on eBay is CHILDREN STUFF. Toys, Clothes, books... Its work, and you need to make sure you do the research before you list your stuff, but you can make good money on eBay, especially if you are interested in selling other peoples things on consignment. Then you will actually get paid for your time. eBay has some great help pages to help you get started.

#5) Tele-work – Normally I wouldn’t suggest this type of work for parents of small children, but this article is specifically geared towards those 2 – 6 hours the kids are at school. Many companies outsource their customer service to individuals working in a home office. You can locate these opportunities the same way you would locate regular jobs, you simply go to the job search engines (like http://www.careerbuilder.com/ or http://www.hotjobs.com/ ) and use one of the following keywords: Telework Telecommute or telecommuting. AND remember, you don’t have to limit it to your zip code or even your state. If the work is remote and from home then it doesn’t matter where the company is located. One word of advice: NEVER PAY for the opportunity to work. If the company wants you to send money even if it is a small amount, it is a scam. You wouldn’t expect to have to pay to work anywhere else, then why pay to work remotely. Right?

Telecommuting is great, but only works if you are able to talk on the phone uninterrupted without noise in the background. That means, you will only be able to do it while the kids are at school.

Well, those are 5 great job ideas for earning money while the kids are at school.

Each one of these jobs will produce as much money as the time you are willing to put in.

Don’t forget, it’s always easier with another person. If you know another mother looking for an opportunity, think about joining forces and teaming up.

Enjoy and let me know how you do! You can read other articles and get other ideas on my blog http://mombloggerworks.blogspot.com/.

Real Tips for Mom’s looking to work from home

If you are anything like me, you have spent as many years as the age of your oldest child trying to work from home. It’s an ancient struggle, earning enough to live and having enough time to enjoy your children while they are young. I have been at this for 7 years and I have some practical tips and suggestions.

I know, I know, everyone reads the ads that promise riches and you think… Then you get to the website and they urge you to make a small investment. And you think, “Well, I gotta spend a little money to earn a lot of money sounds ok” Actually, if you think about it, it doesn’t make any sense. Would you normally pay someone to let you work? No, they pay you. If you are required to pay for anything… then you are getting scammed. ESPECIALLY, if you are paying to get a list of “opportunities”. Let’s face it, the only one that is going to actually make money is the person selling the list.

Have you checked:
http://www.hotjobs.com/
http://www.careerbuilder.com/
http://www.monster.com/

Yup, those are the sites people looking for jobs usually try. The difference is, if you are looking to work from home you would use different keywords. You would search “Telecommute” or “Telecommuting” or “Telework”. Go ahead, try it. The nice thing about looking for Telecommuting work is that you are not bound by locality. You could live in Florida and work for a company out of Idaho.

You will find a lot of the “scam” companies or educational companies place ads for these types of positions and once you access the link you will find they want you to pay for the training required to get the position. But there are several positions that are ALWAYS available to telecommuters.

The two biggest categories are Sales and Customer Service. I hate sales. I despise calling people and trying to sell them something. That’s what sales people do, as much as I despise it… it’s really where the money is. Most sales positions are paid on commission, that means the more calls, the better your chances of making money. I prefer having customers or clients call me… that is generally customer service. Since I’m a bit of a computer geek, I also apply to the technical analyst or help desk support ads. Customer service positions generally are either paid per call or hourly. Not as lucrative as Sales, but not as stressful either.

Here’s the other thing. As a mother of three small children I have spent the last 7 years dipping into various opportunities and almost all of them are a no go with young kids. If you have to spend any time on the phone, you just can’t. As you know, you will have 30 possible 45 minutes of nice quiet time PROVIDED you haven’t picked up the phone. As soon as you pick up the phone to take or make a call, all of the kids that that opportunity to either start fighting or they all need to discuss something…with you… simultaneously… very loudly.

The trick is to find something that you can do at home that doesn’t involve phone calls. Start by making a list of things you can offer a perspective employer:

Legal Transcription – Typing Legal Documents from Tapes (if an attorney’s office has extra work it usually means the attorney has recorded documents to be typed on tapes. The secretary listens to the words using a transcriber machine. If you pick up work from an attorney, they will probably lend you a machine with the tapes

Collection Letters – if this is done properly, you can have a series of letter templates that you would just plug in the addresses and print out the letters and envelopes. If you are writing the letters on behalf of a company, then you can save the documents on a disk or flash drive and let them print them out. If you are collection the money for a commission, there may be added expense for P.O. Box and postage and what not.

Data Entry – Could be anything from entering amounts and dates into a spreadsheet to accessing the company database and entering customer information directly into their proprietary system.

You get the idea right? Think about all of the things that you are qualified to do in an office. Then think about how you would be able to do them at home.

So, once you have compiled your list of things you can do from home, you need to plan your strategy. Start close to home, check your yellow pages and compile your list of local companies that may need secretarial help or check your local job opportunities.

Your introduction letter needs to sell your services to your perspective employer. Your letter need to explain how the employer will benefit from hiring you, how qualified you are for the position and allude to a money saving aspect without stating how much you want to earn.

Save the rest for the interview.

I have one last comment before I say, “good Luck” and that is… Spell check your introduction letter AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure the letter is formatted professionally.

Good Luck