The Truth About Paid Online Surveys - A Question and Answer Session

With thousands of people trying to find a way to make some extra money online everyday, paid online survey sites are popping up everywhere. With so many out there (some good, some - well, not so good) it's hard to determine what to believe. In an attempt to clarify the ins and outs, and the myths and realities of paid online surveys, I've composed a series of questions and answers to help you sort everything out. We'll start with the basics and then get into the nitty gritty.

Question: Is this for real? Why would someone pay me to take online surveys?
Answer: Yes, this is for real. There are literally hundreds of legitimate market research companies out there who offer incentives for your opinion. Companies have come to these firms to get public opinions on their products or services and are willing to pay them to find out what you think. They then pass some of that payment onto you.

Question: What are the surveys about?
Answer: Just about anything that you can think of. You may be asked to review a movie trailer for a new movie, what kind of peanut butter you like, what restaurants you frequent, you name it. From barbeque grills to medical questions to appliances to what you had for dinner last night. There are sites for specific age groups, professions, hobbies and interests. The surveys are generally very interesting and these companies are looking for your opinion on how to shape their products.

Question: How does it work?
Answer: Each company works a bit differently, but here are the basics of online surveys. You will sign-up for a paid survey site. You will enter some basic demographic information (age, gender, etc…), and when they have a survey available in which they are looking for someone who fits your profile, they will send you an invitation to take a survey. The invitation will usually contain a link directly to the survey and the incentive they are offering for you to take the survey. Just click on the link and take the survey to qualify for the reward.

Question: What kinds of incentives are offered?
Answer: The incentives vary for each site, but generally the incentives take the following forms: cash, gift certificates (Amazon gift certificates being the most popular), merchandise (DVDs, small appliances, electronic gadgets, cookware, etc…), and charity donations. Each survey site will offer one or several of the above incentives for your participation in their surveys. Some will offer these straight out, for example "get paid $5.00 to take this survey", some offer these in the form of a drawing and others have a point system in which accumulated points can be "cashed in" for the items above.

Question: Will you get spammed by signing up for paid survey sites?
Answer: No, but you do have to be careful. There are some sites out there that are simply advertising firms posing as paid online survey sites. Here's my advise on how to tell the difference. First, if they offer you a chance at a fantastic prize for signing up, such as a car or a boat, I would be a bit weary and do some more research before you sign-up. Second, if the survey to sign-up for the site consists of a lot of questions as to whether or not you want more information on other products, walk away, you're certain to get spammed. Just remember that a legitimate market research firm will not endorse a product or service, they are supposed to be unbiased. Third, read the privacy policy if you have any concerns. The majority of the sites out there are legitimate and will only email you if there is a survey available or if there is important information they need to notify you of.

Question: Should you pay for a database of paid survey sites?
Answer: No. There are several reasons why you shouldn't pay a dime to take online surveys. First, with a little effort you'll be able to find all of the sites yourself - free. There are a lot of free sites that have pretty good lists and also a few really good free sites out there that have comprehensive free paid survey directories with hundreds of listings. Secondly, market research firms are actually prohibited from charging people to participate in surveys and frown upon anyone who does.

Question: Can I get rich just by taking online surveys?
Answer: I've had so many people ask me if there are going to be able to retire by taking online surveys. Well, that's just not going to happen. Where it is possible to make a decent amount of money by making referrals or by running a survey related website, you're just not going to be making a full-time salary by simply taking surveys. There are a lot of sites out there advertising that you can make thousands of dollars per week or make $45 dollars and hour for taking online surveys (you can actually make $45 dollars an hour for a particular survey, but you won't always make that much and it may only be a 10 minute survey).

Question: How much can I make?
Answer: That's really hard to say. It really depends on a number of factors. How many sites did you sign-up with? How often do you take the surveys you are invited to take? What is your demographic? Etc… But I won't just leave you hanging at that. I would say, if you sign-up for a number of survey sites, take the majority of the surveys you are invited to and are not limited in life experience, you could make perhaps $1,000 to $2,000 a year in cash or something equivalent. Mostly you will get smaller payments ($1.00 to $10.00) for a survey but I've seen them pay as much as $200. Treat this as extra cash, not a career. You can easily make enough to take the family out for dinner, buy a few extras, get a few nice things for around the house or save it all for your Christmas shopping.

Question: So, is it worth it?
Answer: Yes, I think so. Whereas, it's not going to make you filthy rich, it's certainly an easy and fun way to make a few extra bucks. I find the surveys to be enjoyable to participate in and for the time spent, the compensation is pretty good.

That wraps up this question and answer session. Hopefully this article has shed some light on the world of paid online surveys. If you cut through the hype and know what to look for, online surveys can be an enjoyable way to make some extra money. You'll get to see new products before they come out, give your opinion on how to make existing products better and get paid to do so. Not too bad for a few minutes of your time.

About the author: Chris Ohlson is the owner of Free Paid Surveys.net,
www.freepaidsurveys.net
With a comprehensive listing of over 300 paid online survey sites
and dedicated to providing straight-forward and honest information
on paid online surveys.

9 Simple Ways to be an Effective Blogger

Plan to start blogging? Here are 9 tips to ensure you are on the right blogging track.
1. Focus your expertise
Always begin your blog with a theme or a focus. Although you can start one blog for all topics - both business and personal issues - it’s also best to separate your business from your personal blog particularly if the target audience is different. This helps you focus on the theme of your blog and enable you to blog easily without running off tangent!
2. Blog regularly
Commit time to blogging. Blogs are a little different from websites because blogs are expected to be updated more regularly than websites. Be sure to update your blog regularly. For example, I blog twice a week but I do blog extra if I have the time. However, if you worry you cannot blog regularly, try this time-saver tip of mine – set aside a day to draft 4 or 5 blog entries all at one go. Use them on days when you’re pressed for time or have writer’s block and cannot think of anything to blog about.
3. Show your personality
Don’t be afraid to show your personality when you blog. In fact, a blog is the best place to show the best bits of yourself – share as much as you can about how you feel and why you say the things you do. Don’t be afraid to use humour or honesty. Your readers will love you for being frank. Having said that, do set some personal rules as a blogger. My personal mantra is that I don’t cuss or have four-letter words in my blog.
4. Encourage feedback
Your blog exists because you want to start ‘conversations’ with your readers. You have an opinion to share and you want others to share theirs too. Some bloggers prevent their readers from leaving comments by turning off the Comments feature on their blog. I say enable your readers to provide you feedback but moderate comments – remove those which are rude. If you worry about spamming, plug in extra security by getting readers to register before they can leave comments and get the comments sent to you for approval prior to being posted to your blog.
5. Use photos to sell
Photographs always capture attention and convey emotions. They also help break the monotony of large sections of text. Remember to re-size them before you upload them to your blog. This keeps photograph sizes standard and consistent. I use photos which are re-sized to 400 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall. Don’t have gorgeous photos? Get them free from free stock photo sites such as freefoto.com or sxc.hu
6. Include links to other blogs
Include links to other blogs or websites. The mistake most people make is that they don’t want to link out because they’re worried their readers will leave. Don’t worry about them leaving - focus on writing quality engaging content. Your mission is to get them hooked enough that they will bookmark your blog and return often!
7. Use proper grammar and spellcheck
I can’t stress enough the importance of using proper grammatical language when blogging. You don’t have to be an expert in a language to use it well. Just remember that what you blog should be easy to understand without spelling or grammatical errors.
8. Ensure readability
When you blog, keep in mind that you need to ensure that your readers will be able to read easily. Follow newspaper conventions: use subheads to break up long paragraphs, keep one idea to one paragraph and use bulleted lists if the information is too unwieldy. Don’t torture your readers by having white text on a dark or black background. It hurts the eyes! Black text on white or light background always works best.
9. Be personal
The easiest way is to constantly use ‘you’ and ‘I’ liberally throughout your blog. This keeps it casual, friendly and easygoing. You definitely don’t want to blog in the third person because that would defeat the purpose of your blogging. Imagine you are having a conversation with your best friend. Use this mental image when you are blogging and you’ll never be stuck for ideas or words!
About the author: Krista Goon is the co-founder and business partner at http://www.RedboxStudio.com, a web design and web consultancy firm based in Penang, Malaysia. She has been blogging since 2003 (she writes for 3 different blogs - all on different topics) and has given talks about blogging. Find out what else she is raving (or ranting about) in her blog over at http://www.MayaKirana.com

Proven Techniques Help You Blogging - Guaranteed!

The more you understand about any subject, the more interesting it becomes. As you read this article you'll find that the subject of Blogging is certainly no exception.If writing is an art, then, blogging is one way of using words to come up with an art. This is because people who are into blogging are the ones who are artistic on their own sense, carefully choosing words that would best describe their feelings, sentiments, wishes, desires, and everything.Basically, blogs were first introduced as weblogs that refer to a “server’s log file.” It was created when web logging hit the virtual market. Since its inception in the mid-1990s, web logging gradually saturated the virtual community making the Internet a viable source of greater information.However, with web logging, you still need a web site and domain names, but with blogging, you do not need anything just an account with blog providers. In most cases, these kinds of blogs are free of charge.With the onset of blogging in the industry, personal journaling had been a common ground for people who wish to be known all over the world. However, not literally famous as this is not a case on being popular or well-known personality.Generally, blogs are created for personal use. Like a journal, people can write their daily adventures, sentiments, and whatever ideas they want to express online. Nevertheless, with the advent of the online businesses, blogs had gradually taken the limelight in providing businesses a chance to boost their productivity online. This is where the business blogs have taken the limelight.Business blogs are, basically, created to advertise the services or products of a certain web site or online business in order to increase online sales.Moreover, business blogs are also one way of promoting the company so that the other readers will know that a certain company exists online. With blogs, entrepreneurs are able to establish a name in the virtual market through articles that can be very useful in the reader’s life. From there, you can make money out of blogs by simply syndicating it to your business’ web site. This can be done through the RSS technology.So, if you are thinking to create a blog, whether for business or for pleasure, you need to know some tips that could help you get through and make your blog one of the interesting blogs online.Here’s how:1. Consider your audienceEven if your blog is generally personal, still, it would be better to consider the minds of your readers. You have to think of something that would interest them. It's really a good idea to probe a little deeper into the subject of Blogging. What you learn may give you the confidence you need to venture into new areas. After all, most of the reasons of people who write blogs are not at all confined to their own personal motives. Most of them would love to be “heard” (or read) and would love to be known, in some way or another, even for just a minute. Hence, it is very important to come with a write up that everybody can understand, not necessarily that these people can relate to it but they can understand it.2. Pictures speaks a thousand wordsTo make your blogging worth the browsing effort of your readers, it would be extremely nice if you will put some pictures in it. It does not necessarily mean you have to place a picture of yourself. Any photographs will do as long as it does not pose danger or insult to anyone who will be reading your blog.3. Make constructive and beneficial blogsEven if you are free to write anything you wan to say to the world, still, it would be better to create some write-ups that would be beneficial to your readers. After all, its information technology that you have there so better be inclined to provide information rather than sheer quirky entertainment.4. Avoid making multifaceted and complicated blogsIn order to have an interesting blogs, try not to use some highly technical and highfalutin words. After all, it is not a science discourse or a debate that you are making, so better stick to simple facts and short blogs.Bear in mind that most people who use the Internet usually do more scanning than scrutinizing each site word for word. Therefore, it would be better to come with blogs that will not bore your readers just because you have these lengthy articles.5. Make it interactiveAs much as possible and if your capacity will allow it, make your blog interactive. Yu can do this by placing some video or audio clips in your blog.You can even place an area for comments or for some feedbacks. In this way, you can get some impressions or reactions of other people. Who knows, you might even gain some friends just by making them feel at home in your blog site.Indeed, blogs are not created just for the mere fun of it. It also has its own purpose in the world of the Internet.Therefore, for people who wish to harness their craft, as far as writing is concerned, blogs are the best way to do it.As they say, blogging is the contemporary term of creative and commercial writing.Take time to consider the points presented above. What you learn may help you overcome your hesitation to take action.
About the author: Wirat Muenpan is the webmaster of Article Ecommerce , Free Article E-commerce Internert Marketing For Reprint http://www.article-ecommerce.com

CPA (Cost-Per-Action) Affiliate Programs

CPA is an acronym or short for Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition. The term CPA is not new. If you browse through the Search Engines using the keyword phrase "cost per action" or "cost per acquisition" you will find numerous websites with CPA related articles dating from 2001 - over 5 years ago.
In a nutshell, CPA is a performance based online advertising payment system in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as a lead, a sale or registration. In other words, merchants/advertisers determine what actions they want to reward and how much they are willing to pay for those actions.
Lead, Conversion or Registration
The actions defined in a CPA or Cost Per Action agreement relate directly to some type of conversion, with leads, sales and registrations among the most common and does not include deals based solely on clicks such as AdSense, which are referred to specifically as cost-per-click or CPC.
The definition of a Lead, Conversion or Registration can vary from one CPA Affiliate Network to another.
A lead or conversion may simply be considered to be no more than a website visitor providing his/her name and eMail address.
In another example, to be considered a lead or conversion, a website visitor may need to complete and submit a 1 page or 2 page application form. In this example, the product in question may be a home loan or payday loan. But it does not matter to the publisher whether the applicant gets the loan or not or has to wait 30 days before they get an answer from the lender. Once the visitor has completed the desired or contractual action, the publisher has earned a commission.
In another example, a lead or conversion may simply be achieved by a website visitor completing a small website form and paying a small $postage fee via a credit card for the advertised product to be sent to their mailing address.
What all this means is that publishers i.e. website owners, get paid not on how many times an ad is seen or even on how many times it's clicked, but according to how many people click on it and take the action specified by the advertiser on his/her site.
Comparison of CPA Affiliate Programs with Cost Per Click or Cost Per Sale Website Monetization Models
CPA Affiliate Programs are very similar to other popular website monetization models whereby a publisher takes advantage of the arbitrage opportunities between low cost traffic and high paying contextual ads or products paying high affiliate commissions.
In one Scenario low cost pay-per-click or other traffic is driven to a website or landing page displaying high paying contextual ads. When someone clicks on the low cost pay-per-click ad, they then get referred to the website or landing page. If that same someone then clicks on a high paying contextual ad, the publisher earns a commission.
In another Scenario low cost pay-per-click or other traffic is driven to a website advertising high paying affiliate products or directly to the advertiser's own website. When someone clicks on the low cost ad, they then get referred to the Product page(s). If that same someone then orders and pays for a product the publisher will have earned an affiliate commission.
The subtle difference between the first scenario and the second scenario is that in scenario 1 the publisher gets paid with a % of the value of the click regardless of whether the visitor purchased the end product or not. In scenario 2 the publisher only gets paid if the click resulted in a Sale. In CPA (Cost-Per-Action) Affiliate Programs the publisher gets paid if the click resulted in a lead.
CPA Affiliate Network
Before you can engage in a CPA Affiliate Program you will need to apply for affiliate membership in one or more of the 50+ CPA Affiliated Network Companies. All applications are stringently reviewed before they are approved.
Once your application is approved there are essentially 7 simple steps to start generating profits:
1. Find the ultimate high paying, high quality CPA Campaigns to advertise;
2. Identify appropriate Keywords;
3. Register your Domain, prepare and upload your Landing Page;
4. Set up super Low Cost P-P-C Advertising Test campaigns;
5. Monitor and Identify Profitable Test campaigns;
6. Turn Profitable Test Campaigns into fully-fledged Campaigns;
7. Rinse and Repeat;
CPA Affiliate Programs can work well with any type of advertising or traffic generation but are especially extremely profitable when undertaken with a pay-per-click advertising program.
Caution - CPA Affiliate Programs are very profitable and are currently fashionable. All Internet marketers should start looking at CPA Affiliate Programs but before they engage in this activity they should make sure that they have read and fully understand pay-per-click advertising.
About the author: Stephen S Alison is a retired "bean counter" who spent 26 years in middle management positions for major US financial institutions in Europe and a further 10 years as an adviser/consultant to a number of European financial institutions. He owns and operates a number of "hand built" niche websites including: http://www.1clickflipping.com and CPA Affiliate Programs

9 Steps To Success In Affiliate Marketing

1.Join an Affiliate Program: Join programs that interest you personally. There are affiliate programs for almost any product or service you can think of so do some research and find one that is right for you. If you have a passion for your product niche it will be a whole lot easier to stay motivated.

2.Build your own website to promote your product: You will need to build a website with your own domain name (ie. yourname.com) and pay a monthly fee for hosting as opposed to going the free route and sharing a domain (ie. freespace.yourdomain.com) If you don't know much about web design that's quite ok. You will find there are lots of companies out there who offer very affordable website design.

3.Start a reciprocal linking campaign: Start exchanging links with other websites in your niche. You will find lots of webmasters willing to add a link to your website as long as you return the favor. The more websites that link to you, the higher page rank you will have in the search engines, therefore leading to more traffic to your website.

4.Start your own newsletter: The newsletter can simply consist of articles related to your products and website. Always add a signature containing a link to your website at the bottom of each newsletter entry. That way when people read your articles they can continue on to your website. If you don't want to write your own articles, there are many websites that will let you use theirs for free.

5.Build an Email List: Owning your own email list is one of the most important tools you can have as an affiliate marketer. The best way to build a list is to buy leads, that way you don't have to worry about getting in trouble for spamming. Lots of companies sell quality leads (email addresses) consisting of people who want more information about your products. With every lead you buy you can in turn sign them up for your newsletter.

6.Get an Auto Responder: With an auto responder program you can make the process of buying leads and adding them to your newsletter completely automated. You can save hours of time with this approach.

7.Write your own Articles: To be successful with affiliate marketing you will eventually have to write an article or two. This may sound a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but after you have been building your business for awhile you will get into it. Always include a signature at the bottom of the article containing your website link. Then post your article on as many websites as you can. Lots of sites let you post for free.

8.Add an Article page to your website: Post all of your articles on this page and any others you find related to your niche. Having an article page will add content to your website and will help with your page rank since search engines love websites with lots of relevant content.

9.Join an Online Forum: Becoming a member in a forum is a great way to stay current with the products in your niche. Talking with fellow entrepreneurs will keep you motivated and help generate new ideas as well as answer any questions you may have.

About the Author: Curtis Sexton, If you would like to learn more about the ideas discussed above, contact me or visit my website: http://www.homeworksolutions.biz/ curtissexton@gmail.com

Make Money With Adsense Writing Articles

Making money with Adsense is all the rage now. And there are so many different ways to make money from Adsense But no matter what type of website you have, you must be displaying the Google ads, getting traffic and traffic that clicks on your ads to make any money.

So to help you along your way, here is a method you've probably not tried and most people probably won't as it does take effort and time. This will make it easier for you to be successful with it.

You see, most people seem to want to keep switching from automatic software generators to bombs to portal sites to directory listing sites, which is fine, but the best way is to stick to creating unique content that's informative and of high quality.

This method is not the only way to make money with Adsense, jeez there are probably hundreds and hundreds and lots that we all have not even thought of yet. But as I said before I really feel that this is the best method for long term success, simply because it's been working well in different ways since I began Internet marketing a while ago.

What you need to do is create a site that has thousands and thousands of pages of content on all sorts of subjects and then you get your traffic for free via organic search engine searches, which is all well and good if you want to wait awhile, but this article is all about making money quickly.

Every page on your site should have an adsense box on it and that is how you will make your money.

Now, trying to write thousands of pages of content yourself before making any money would be difficult, you'd lose interest very very quickly and even if you tried to buy that much content would be lunacy.

Plus to build a publish a website with that much content would alert the search engines who would think you are spamming them.

I've always preferred to make money constantly even if the project is only half done or in progress. I find it gives me incentive to keep going.

So this is how you need to approach it.

1. Register a catchy domain name, something like fiveminuteguides.com or learnitnow.com

2. Start writing little 500 to 750 word action plans or checklist on all sorts of topics such as your favorite hobbies and other interesting topics.

3. Publish your website with your articles and remember to add your Adsense boxes, one in the middle and one of the right hand side.

4. So you've published your site up, you have a page up on a certain topic that had a fairly high search rate and Adsense payout rate, now what? How do you make money with this page.

Write articles! For every one fly fishing type checklist write 10 to 20 articles on all sorts of subjects to do with your topic.

But how do you get people from reading your article to going to your website?

Well, not only would you mention your site within your article, (slip it in humbly) you also have your article byline you can use for that purpose.

For example

"For a complete checklist for your first fly fishing trip visit blah.com"

or

"For a complete step by step checklist for catching large Trout visit blah.com"

So not only will you make money instantly from your website, you will also build tons of quality content over time and you will have hundreds maybe even thousands of articles all over the Internet working for you around the clock and your site will do a heck of a lot better in the search engines due to all the incoming links!

This is a very rough outline, but you smart people out there will be able to run with it and add new ideas I haven’t even thought of. This is one of those money machines that will make you money on demand pretty much for the life of the Internet.

About the author: Justin Bryce runs a number of websites for Internet Marketing. If you want to save time writing articles or just grab private label articles go to http://www.nicheprivatelabelarticles.com/ Plus you can check out Jeff Paul , Jim Fleck , Mal Emery (http://www.lazy-internet-marketing.com/)and other top internet marketers.

Blogging Advice - Give Your Readers What They Want

Web gives a lot of exposure; weblog stabilizes the exposure with a profound purpose. The purpose of a Weblog is to complement e-newsletters, serving readers in a way that extends a blogger's expertise and leadership in the market.

So, what is it that is expected from a blog? A blog is considered to be a place to inform and to be informed. Straight talk is what readers consider to be an ideal blog message. Straight talk is a four or five sentence of direct, informative content about a specific issue or bit of news.

Blogs consists of human expressions and is expected to have a soulful purpose. Blog posts are expected to be a personal post, as it can convey blogger's emotions. So, these messages are mostly written in first person singular and are rich in emotions. Blogs are also expected to provide details from the writer's life: missed flights, break-ups, rodents under the stove, computer breakdowns, muggings, and tamale recipes and more.

A blogger should always remember that if there are doubts that readers will discount the article entirely based on its context; they shouldn't consider linking it at all.

Authentication of the message is one important aspect that a blog post is expected to adhere to. Blogs are expected to be clear about its source. This avoids chances where readers may cease to trust the bloggers. These chances may take shape if discovered that the information source has been disguised or the blogger didn't make the source of an article clear. The readers might have evaluated these sources differently had they been given all the facts. Into every aspect of the practice of weblogging, transparency is one of the weblog's distinguishing characteristics and greatest strengths.

A writer's goal and priority should always be clarity.

It is a bloggers responsibility to focus exclusively on producing content that attracts the reader. What determines the right kind of content? This can be determined by reading other blogs and hitting whatever is hot in discussion or high in trend.

The most compelling bloggers are necessarily the ones with the most insightful analyses and the best links; besides this the most successful are those who get the reader interested in their own ongoing story. Because bloggers on similar subjects link to each other, the reader finds it easier to understand opposing points of view. For bloggers, not linking to others is a death sentence for their ratings.

About the Author: Chris Hickman owns a full info site about Weblog blogging. Check Out his site at http://www.ez-weblog-blogging.com/

Get Paid to Blog

Everyone is complaining about PayPerPost. I'm not. I like the idea. Hell, I think it's a great way for some people (re: people like my sister who have no idea how to generate actual revenue online) to make some money with their websites. Come on, what's wrong with getting paid to blog? It sounds like a win-win situation to me.

Sure, you could use Google AdSense, but guess what? AdSense requires a very high level of traffic to generate anything worth your time; but, with PayPerPost, you don't need a high level of traffic, just a decent PageRank and the ability to deliver advertisers the content they want.

PageRank is easy to get: get link backs from relevant websites and get your website listed in dmoz. Delivering what the advertisers want, however, is a bit more difficult than that, but I've got a few tips that will help you keep the advertisers happy and the money rolling in:

• Mind your subject matter. Sure, that "jet turbine" offer looks promising, but if your blog is about jelly making, you should probably steer clear of that offer.
• Follow the rules. If an offer requires you to link to a certain site X number of times in your article then DO IT. You will not get paid if you do not follow the requirements of the post. Make sure you pay special attention to the minimum number of words in the article as well as any required phrases, links, and photos.
• Be mindful of the tone of your article. Advertisers generally prefer a positive tone in the article you’re going to write about them. The advertising requirements will list a tone that you should follow: either negative, neutral, or positive. Don't write a negative article when the advertiser wants a positive one, or you won't get paid.
• Maintain a 1-month archive. If the article is not accessible on your website for a month you will not get paid for the work you've done.

Sure, some bloggers might complain about the service, but those people are living in some fantasy world where every blogger can generate an obscene amount of traffic and get rich with AdSense, but if you want to get paid to blog then PayPerPost just might be your answer.

About the author: Jason Pullara has run a successful sole proprietorship in New York City building, repairing, and maintaining workstations and personal computers for local businesses and consumers for 5 years, and currently runs a successful content

Freelance Blogging: Get Hired To Blog And Earn Thousands A Month

Blogging gives you a great way to learn some extra cash. You can even turn blogging into a full-time career, or a new business. Getting started as a freelance blogger is simple. All you need to do is create a blog, make a few blog posts (these are your work samples), and then look for blogging gigs.

Create a blog If you don't already have a blog, creating a blog is your first step. You can do this very quickly. Creating a new blog at blogger.com (which is owned by Google) only takes a minute or two. This is your "sample" blog. Think of this blog as your blogging portfolio.

Your blogging topic can be in any subject area that you choose, but give some thought to your potential clients - don't make your blogging topic too personal. If you have expertise in a particular area like finance, technology or health, make this the subject area of your blog.

Write some blog posts Now your blog has been created, it's time to make some blog posts. Your entries are published in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry first. Your first entry can be a brief statement (no more than 100 words) about the general topic of your blog.

For example, if your blog is about dieting, you could summarize the areas (recipes, weight lost tips, health tips) you intend to cover. Or your first post could be an introduction: tell your readers who you are, and why the topic of the blog concerns you. Or you can skip the idea of an introductory post altogether, and just jump into your topic.

Look for blogging gigs Great - you've created two or more blog entries. Now it's time to look for your first blog-job. Your first step is to write a blog post about your availability to blog. You can make this entry detailed, or extremely brief. If you wish, you can add a link to your online resume or CV.

Where do you find blogging jobs? You'll find that several sites have already been set up to match bloggers with companies that want to hire them. Enter "blog jobs" into a search engine to find your initial leads.

You'll also find companies looking for bloggers at out-sourcing venues like guru.com. However, be aware that on these sites, you're competing against others for gigs - don't be tempted to underbid others. Under-bidding is a bad idea because it's terrible marketing. Once you set your price low, it's hard to lift it. Have an awareness of what blogging is worth, and set your price appropriately. Companies which want bloggers don't want the cheapest option - they want the best they can afford.

So there you have it: everything you need to know to get started as a freelance blogger today. Create a blog, make some entries, get a gig. Good luck with your blogging career. If you're a born blogger, you can turn your freelance blogging into a full-time career.

Good luck, and happy blogging.

Abouth the author: Angela Booth is a veteran copywriter and blogger. Her ebook, Blogging For Dollars: How to become a career blogger -- in your PJs, if you want, is available at http://www.abmagic.com/Blog/blogging.html You can visit the book's blog at http://www.dollars2blog.com/blog/ Angela will show you how to turn a humble blog into a great career, or a lucrative business.

Google Adsense Tips

he Amazing Google Adsense Program is today towering like a Colossus in the Internet. It has helped some smart Internet Marketers to make huge amounts of money, while at the same time it is interesting to note that many new Internet Marketers and Internet Home-Based Business Entrepreneurs are receiving their first pay check from Google Adsense rather than the main affiliate program. Given below are the Tips, What, How, Who, Why, When and Where of Google Adsense in a nut shell. Adsense Tip: What is is Google Adsense: Google Adsense is a program designed by Google that can generate advertising revenue for your website. Relevant Text and Image ads. targeted to your website content are delivered by Google. Additionally if you place a Google Search Box in your website, relevant text ads. are displayed when a search request is made by a website visitor. Google will pay you for all valid clicks. made by your website visitors on the ads. or search results pages. Another new addition is the Google Adsense Referrals Feature , whereby you can generate additional income by displaying Google’s Referral Buttons on your web pages. Adsense Tip: How to get started with Google Adsense: You have to apply to Google Adsense by completing an online application form at https://www.google.com/adsense. Once the application is approved, you will be able to participate. You then have to copy and paste a HTML code that is provided by Google Adsense into your web pages. The code creates relevant ads. to the content of the page. When a visitor clicks on it Google pays you. Adsense Tip: Who can participate in Google Adsense: Anyone who has a website can join the Adsense program but not adult and hate sites. You have to comply with Google's program policies. It is Free to join. Google has a massive advertiser base and they have ads. on the ready for all categories of businesses. They also have ads. ready to match different types of content sites, from a pet store site to that of a highly sophisticated technological site. Google Adsense can be used in many languages. It is also targeted geographically and hence Global business can take advantage of this and webmasters living in any part of the world can participate. Adsense Tip: Why Participate in Google Adsense: The obvious answer is to make money from home. It does not cost you anything if you have a website, so why miss the opportunity to make money from home. Google pays you monthly if your earnings reach $100.The Google Adsense checks are a blessing to a large number of newbies with low budgets eager to make money from home. Some webmasters feel that Adsense ads. can lead their visitors away from their site. This possibility is there but if you have a website with good content they will always come back. Adsense Tip: When to Participate in Google Adsense: The Adsense program is Web related and hence you must have a website to participate. Once your website is ready and the contents optimized, you can submit your application. The Adsense program is not restricted only to high page rank sites as some seem to think. Google approves most of the sites but ensures that they are of acceptable standard. Normally they are approved within 2-3 days. Once approved you can immediately participate in the Adsense program by logging into your account. Adsense Tip: Where to place Google Adsense ads. in your Website. The Adsense ads. can be placed anywhere in your web pages, but there are specific areas in your web pages that are recommended by Google which have been found to generate more clicks. According to Google and our own experience: Ads placed above the fold tend to perform better than those below the fold. Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page. Ads placed at the top of the page and at the left generally perform better than others. Ads at the bottom of long articles and those that are integrated or merge with the content too perform very well. Of course there are other strategies, such as creating high paying keyword content pages to suit individual sites and also generating more traffic to your site. These have to be implemented too, to ensure success. The Google Adsense Program has come to stay. It is a great way to earn an additional income for most webmasters and a big income for some who have made the Adsense Program as the main source of income. Which ever way you look at it the Adsense Program is a happy hunting ground for all and these Tips can help you get started. About The Author:Copyright © 2006 Kanaga Siva Kanaga Siva has a wealth of experience in Marketing and also operating a successful Home-Based Business.For quality Articles,Ideas,Advice and recommended Affiliate Programs, visit his Business From Home http://www.business-fromhome.com/Website.

Make Money Online By Selling Information

The Internet has been dubbed The Information Superhighway and it certainly lives up to the name. Everyday, millions of people use the Internet and the World Wide Web to seek out information; whether it's reviews of a new dishwasher, cheapest deals on package holidays, what's on at the local theatre or tracking down old friends. Chances are, if you're looking for information, it can be found somewhere online. Whilst the Internet is undoubtedly a rich sea of data, not all of it is useful information, relevant to the consumer. This, combined with the desire for instant gratification that the Internet instils in its users, builds up a demand for the right information - right NOW! Despite the hype about making money quickly, easily, out of thin air or the dot com boom there is money to be made on the Internet. It's a simplification of the process, but if you're someone with the capability to meet some of this demand for information then you have an opportunity to make money online. As a supplier of information, you have the ability to help make the Internet more useful for the consumer by delivering what they want, when they want it. You can, of course, charge a fee for providing this convenience. Whether or not you actually make a sale is another matter. Just like most other purchasing decisions, if the consumer considers the value of your offer as being greater than its cost (or the pain of not purchasing) then you're likely to make a sale. Get the balance wrong and they'll likely move on. Whilst a lot of information is freely available online, it's widely accepted that the age of the commercial Internet has arrived. Some may argue that there shouldn't be any cost associated with information and whilst you may be able to find the same information at no cost somewhere on the Internet, often the time saved and the convenience of getting exactly what you want is considered worthy of the expense. As an example, you could try and borrow someone's copy of a newspaper or you could pay to access the latest breaking news from the comfort of your own desk. Unsurprisingly, a large number of people chose the latter when the New York Times switched to a subscription model back in 2003. There's a great demand for information online. If you're one of the people who can supply to this demand, especially if the information is specialist or niche, then there's little to stop you from charging for your services. With a suitable marketplace to pitch your offer, there's nothing to hold you back from trying is there? About The Author: William Lee (www.wlee.me.uk) helps to distribute content freely from United Articles (http://www.unitedarticles.com/). He also offers a free desktop XML feed generator tool (www.internetmarketingfool.com/xml_feed_generator) to help others distribute their content.

Earn Money Blogging

Creating A Blog For Your Business Can Help You Increase Your Profits One of the more searched for terms among the major search engines is "blog". The word blog is meant to describe a web log, or online journal, that is used to post personal thoughts on the products and services offered by your business. A blog can also be used to make announcements to your customers and provide them a place to give feedback and make comments. You may include any information you desire in your posts to your blog that are related to your line of business. Articles, questions, and opinions are all appropriate blogging subjects. Starting a blog is simple and there are several blogging tools available to you. Some are free to use and other, more powerful blogging tools can be found for a small monthly fee. In general, blogging tools are user friendly and do not require the knowledge of HTML or complex computer skills. Creating a blog can give your business increased visibility and give your subscribers a forum in which to receive product updates, advice on how to effectively use your products, and post questions or comments about your line of business. To bring your blog to the attention of your target audience, you can link your blog to other blogs, include links to your blog in newsletters or on your web site, and you may even want to include a link to your blog in your email signature. Blogging can help you increase your profits due to increased visibility, which will undoubtedly lead to increased web site traffic and lead to you earn money blogging. Make sure to only include pertinent information about your niche or line of business in your blog. Most bloggers are happy to link their blog to those belonging to others. The sharing of information and ability to post thoughts and comments makes for a winning situation for all concerned. Starting a blog for your business can be a great way to help you increase your profits and share important information with the public. About the Author: Nell Taliercio For more information about home based business go to http://www.mommysplace.net/

Do You Want To Make Money Online?

There are actually many different ways to make money online. Some of them are obviously more lucrative than others, however. Also, there are many scams for supposedly making money online that don't really work, and you end up losing money. As a general rule, if the online money making opportunity asks for money, it is probably not a good thing. Legitimate ways to make money online will not ask you for money to get the job. The only exception to this is for home businesses. Many home businesses require an upfront investment from you. If you decide that a home business is the best way to go for making money online, then you will probably have to spend some money to get started. However, many people have been very successful with home businesses. One way that people are making money online is by having several different income streams. This means that you do a bunch of things online that make a little bit of money, which turns out to be a reasonable amount of money when you add them all up. For instance, some people fill out surveys, do some writing, read emails, sell things on Ebay or even do affiliate marketing. These are all ways to have multiple streams of income making money online. There are actual jobs available online. However, there is a lot of competition for them. Telecommuting from home is one of the best ways for making money online. You need to have an excellent resume and to do a lot of research to find the companies that are hiring people with your skills. As with any way to make money, the best way of making money online is to follow your passions. First find something you love to do, then find a way to use it for making money online. You also need to consider your time commitment. Find a way to make money online that won't take up all of your spare time if you are already working a full time job. Once you have determined how you plan to make money online, spend the time you need. Many people start an online business but lose interest and quit. Find a business that you love so you want to stay with it. Finding a way to do what you love is the best way to make money online. © Jon Viney, 2006 About The Author Jon Viney – Webmaster: Income for Life - Work at Home Work 2-4 hrs daily Earn $50-$75 Hr http://www.work-at-home-directory.org/

How Newbies Can Make Money Online - Earn While You Learn From

Quick Start - Earn While You Learn No need to wait before you can start making money, you can start earning affiliate commissions now. You don't even need a web site or any products to do this! You will be amazed how easy this is to do - just spend one hour every day promoting affiliate sales and earn while you learn! What Is An Affiliate? In internet terms, an affiliate is simply anyone who promotes the sales of someone else's products or services and in return receives an agreed commission for any sales resulting from their referrals. There are affiliate schemes for just about every product / service you can think of, and most of them are free to join. Each scheme has it's own terms and conditions that you should carefully read before joining. Some of the important things to look out for are: * Is the commission based on a fixed value or is it a % of the selling price * Anything less than $10 is not worth the effort - look for upwards of $25 * How often are your commissions paid and is there a holdback * Do you get paid only on the first purchase or for repeat purchases * Is there a minimum amount before you get paid * How do you get paid e.g check, PayPal, bank transfer etc * Do they provide you with on-line reporting to view your statistics How Do Affiliate Schemes Work? When you join an affiliate program, they give you an affiliate URL (link to the merchants website) that contains your unique affiliate identification code. Whenever someone clicks on your affiliate URL, they are taken to the merchants website and a record is made that they were referred by you. This is usually done by means of a tracking "cookie" which is a small file that sits on the visitor's PC. Whenever a visitor / customer makes a purchase, the affiliate program checks the cookie and knows that you must get paid commission because you were the original referrer. This is a very simplified explanation of how affiliate schemes work. The first thing you need to do is get some help in the form of step by step instructions and coaching videos designed specifically for newbies. About the author: Internet Business Buddy makes it easy for newbies to become successful internet marketers. Learn the insider secrets on how anyone can now make profits online. For a limited promotional period you can get a free copy of his life changing system (reports and video tutorials) by visiting http://www.internetbusinessbuddy.com/?thankyou-page=313 now.

Why Work At Home? Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting A

Home-based businesses are the trend of the future. An increasing number of men and women are now opting to work at the comfort of their homes. Many of them are tired of office politics and being forced to give up their weekend for the good of the company. They are rediscovering the benefits of working at home. A home-based business is a great chance for many people, especially parents of growing kids, to strike a balance between career and family. An apparent advantage that a home-based business has over a traditional job is the freedom from the daily commute to office. Moreover, technological innovations in the past decades have created an unprecedented environment for home-based businesses. Transactions are being made over the Internet everyday, with huge profits and hundreds of thousands of niches to be tapped into. Working from home is now viewed by many as their ticket to realizing their full potentials. The amount of money you could earn online is proportional to your own performance, without waiting for the boss to give you a raise or promotion. Whether your home-based business provides you with the sole means of support or just generates another income stream, its earning potential relies on your self-motivation and dedication to build momentum for it. The financial benefits of working at home seem to be very attractive. However, starting a home-based business is not for everyone. If creating a successful home business is easy, everybody would be doing it. Before you jump at the chance of starting your business, ask yourself if you're willing to make the sacrifices to make your dream come true. To be more specific, ask yourself if you're the right type of person for a home-based business. Having a home-based business means you're the boss. You're totally responsible for the success or failure of your own business. Are you able to work independently? Do you have the patience and perseverance with which you can overcome hardship and lead your business to full bloom? Are you excited about learning new things everyday? You need to equip yourself with necessary skills and knowledge to stay ahead of the competition. An important factor that determines the fate of any home-based business is consistent promotion. Do you have the drive to push yourself to make marketing plans and follow them on a daily basis? If your answers to these questions are positive, then congratulations and welcome on board. I used to get negative comments from people when I shared with them my own business. They often labeled what I'm doing as a scam. The fear factor always holds people back and prevents them from starting a home-based business. They are so afraid of failure that they're reluctant to give it a try. To some extent, they envy those people who took action and have a home-based business. This is something they dream of but can't achieve. I'm sure you'll get derogatory remarks from time to time like I did. And my view is: follow your heart and do what's interesting to you. You'll find a business that suits your needs because there are unlimited opportunities out there. Stay focused with whatever you're doing. Your success is the best revenge for their cutting words. About the author: Wayne Wu is the owner of home business ideas and opportunities website located at : http://www.ecominfozone.com/. Visit his site for free Internet home business tips and website marketing secrets. Also, be sure to check out his blog at: http://www.ecominfozone.blogspot.com/ and download his 'top pick' free e-book at: http://www.ecominfozone.com/dotcomology.html

Paid Surveys: Everyone has an opinion. Why not get paid for

If you are just beginning to explore methods of making money on the internet, one of the easiest ways to get started is to join a growing number of people who make money in their spare time by participating in paid online surveys, focus groups, and product testing. These programs include anything from watching movie trailers online and giving feedback, completing 5-minute opinion polls, or testing products like perfume or cologne. There is an equally wide range of compensation for those who contribute a bit of their time and opinions. Some researchers with offer free products in exchange for your time. For example, a survey conducted by a popular music magazine might entitle you to a free one-year subscription to that magazine. Others will enter each survey-taker into a sweepstakes; for example, one in 200 people who complete the survey will win $200 in cash or a free mp3 player. Some will offer a voucher for goods, such as $10 off any order at Amazon.com. Many paid surveys offer straight-forward cash compensation. It is not uncommon to receive $25.00 for a survey that takes 15 minutes to complete. That is not bad considering it is something you can do in your pajamas while enjoying your morning coffee and bagel. In addition to cash compensation and prizes, many people enjoying participating in the process which decides which products will be sold or not. Why are companies willing to pay for your opinion? That's simple. It is estimated that companies in the US alone spend 300 billion dollars a year in advertising and market research. It makes sense for these companies to pay a small group of people to test a product before launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign. The information gained through this kind of research is invaluable for the company. For the user, paid surveys are ideal for college students, busy parents, or anyone who wants to pick up a bit of extra money, as well as anyone interested in advertising and marketing. The great thing about taking paid surveys is that once you announce yourself as someone interested in contributing their opinion, you will receive e-mail invitations to participate. If you are too busy, if the subject of the survey is not of interest to you, or if the compensation is not what you are looking for, simply decline the invitation. On the other hand, if the survey does spark your interest, complete it and payment will be on its way. Can you think of a better way to make money? Some people who take online paid surveys make an extra $500 or so per month to cover car payments or student loans, while others devote 5 or 6 hours a day to it and make a full income. About Online Survey Networks While it is possible to surf the net and find sites where you can register to participate in paid surveys, it is highly recommendable to join a survey network, which will give you instant access to THOUSANDS of programs that are ready to pay you for your opinion. The best survey networks charge one-time nominal registration fee. This registration fee covers customer service, allowing for easy-to-follow instructions and tips on how to get started. The customer service also works to check all of the sites they recommend, so you will not wind up at a bogus site that will take you personal information and not pay you for your time. Joining a survey network ensures your privacy and cash compensation. Once you join the network, you will have access to thousands of paid surveys, and can easily pay off the cost of your registration by taking one 30-minute survey. After that, all of the profit will be yours, and the networks do not subtract a commission or fee from your payment. There are three excellent survey networks that have a reputation for reliable lists and excellent customer support. For beginners, a good place to start is Survey Scout (http://www.easy-learn-to-earn.com/survey_scout.html), as they offer a free software tool that safely automates the process of filling in your name and information when your register for surveys, in some cases cutting the time to register for a survey from 5 minutes to 30 seconds. Express Paid Survey (http://www.easy-learn-to-earn.com/express_paid_surveys.html), and Paid Surveys Online (http://www.easy-learn-to-earn.com/paid_surveys_online.html), are also excellent reputable networks. Obviously, the more networks you join, the more safe survey sites you will have access to. The more survey sites you register with, the more invitations to participate you will receive. The more paid surveys you participate in, the more you will receive in cash or free products. About the author: John Case is the author of http://www.easy-learn-to-earn.com/, a free guide to making an income online, and maintains an SEO site at http://www.awordsworth1000pictures.com/

Paid surveys-Simplest way to make money online.

There are thousands of websites which will post ads that says something like this "TAKE THIS INTERESTING SURVEY AND GET A 1000$ GIFT CARD".This definitely can't be considered as a paid survey.If you read the terms and conditions of this type of surveys you will easily find out that you will have to sign up for their sponsors trials and offers to receive the reward. So what actually is a real paid survey? Surveys conducted by a legimate market research firm who are hired by a company to gather information about a certain product or a type of advertisement and the result they get from people helps the company in decision making in the future about how their products should be modified and what type of advertisements are more effective. Where and how can i find legimate firms offering real paid surveys? You can easily find sites and people who are selling information about paid survey companies for a price of $50 or less and can be more at times.But if you choose this option u are getting fooled.The fact is that u can find all the information they are selling,for free,by using any of the good search engines.You can also look for sites offering free lists of paid online surveys. Incentives offered:- Incentives offered by the paid survey companies vary from site to site. Generally they take the following forms.Cash,Gift certificates,Merchandise(DVD's,small appliances,electronic gadgets etc)and Charity donations.EaCh site will offer one or more of the above for your participation in an online survey.Some will offer you straight cash(eg:-Get $5 for taking this survey),Some will enter you into sweepstakes after you finish their survey(eg:-Take this interesting survey and 1 out of 100 will win $200).There are some sites which offers points system in which accumulated points can be redeemed for cash or other incentives. In my opinion you need not pay a single dime to get a database of paid survey companies because with very little effort you will be able to find all the information yourself for free.In fact market research firms are actually prohibited from charging people to take part in surveys.So if any of them asks for you to pay money to get paid u can be sure that its a scam. If any of u have the feeling that you are going to get rich by taking part in online surveys that surely will not happen(unless u win a sweepstake).But from my experience i know that it is definitely possible to make a decent money from taking online paid surveys.Make sure you have signed up for as many survey sites as you can so that you will get a lot of survey opportunities every month. How much money you can make depends on a number of factors like ,how many site you signed up with?,how often you take part in surveys?,what your demographic is? etc. Think of this as a hobby and the earnings from this as extra cash and not as a career.Eventhough its not going to make you filthy rich ,taking online surveys can be an enjoyable way to make make some extra money easily,a chance to see and use products before they are introduced to the market, a chance to express your opinions on the products u are currently using.It definitely is not too bad for a few minutes of your time. About the author:Sushith Mundayadan,Publisher of http://brokencodes.blogspot.com has a wealth of experince in online money making.The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses and his continual research into further business improvements.