Offering a service to help transition into a work at home life could make it possible for you to start building a source of income.  Let’s just take writing as an example; many internet marketers in all kinds of fields need to farm out lots of writing jobs because they don’t have the time to do it themselves or they don’t feel comfortable with the writing skills they have.

Writing for pay is still a way to exchange time for cash but at least you could start promoting yourself while you are still preparing to leave your full time job and spend a couple of hours working at home building your client base.

To-morrow I will write about other ways to work at home and build passive income, meaning that you would not be just exchanging your time for pay, but create income that goes on bringing income to you such as affiliate marketing.

If you decide that you do want to start offering writing services you probably would want to use a blog to promote your services and you can set up a WordPress.org blog like the one you are reading here now rather easily and offer your writing services. If this is new to you it’s quite possible to find lots of free information on the web.

However if you want to get started without too much delay and get plenty of help guiding you through every step not only of setting up your blog but also the best advice about offering writing services I’m happy to be able to recommend  Ghostwritercash.com offered by Tiffany Dow and Craig DeSorcy. There is also a forum to discuss any problem you might run into with Tiffany or Craig and get into discussions with other Ghostwriters … that’s usually a good way to learn about what is successful!

Image via Wikipedia: One of the advantages of working at home is the great sammiches you can make!

Related posts:

1. Working for Yourself… Could you Truly Cut it? part 1
2. The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing (3)
3. When Is A Work From Home Gig Too Good To Be True?

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Anytime I clicked on an affiliate marketing link that took me to a Lee McIntyre presentation I tended to be put off by his lengthy video tirades and repetitious stories about his meteoric climb to success!  Well, after reading James Penn’s blog post I have to admit that his methods have worked for Lee and for his affiliates too!

That finally piqued my interest, and I spent $5.00 to join Lee’s  Internet Automation Plan and for a very limited time you too can get your hands on it for a mere fraction of its true worth: $5.00, yes that’s right five dollars!

So here is an excerpt of James Penn’s interesting blog post

“Lee and I started out at pretty much the same time and worked in the same niche to start with. We both taught how to profit from eBay by selling eBooks. We promoted each other’s products and worked together to build each other’s business. Gradually we both moved away from teaching eBay to teaching internet marketing.

Over the past three years, Lee’s business has taken off astronomically and I know recently he was making over $100,000 per month selling his own info products and generating over 500 subscribers per day.

In this blog post I’m going to show you how he’s done it and how you can emulate him.

I have gathered this knowledge of how he’s done it by reading every email Lee’s ever sent to his subscribers, by being a customer (or receiving review access) of nearly all of his products and by being an affiliate of Lee’s …

Only a small handful of VIP customers have had access to this training up until now so my best advice is to go check it out while you still can!

Not only will this step by step show you how to automate your business to the point where you only need to work 1-2 hours per day maximum…

…but it also shows you how Lee grew his business from $20K to over $100K per month in the space of just 30 days!

I gained access by investing $5.00 and I can vouch for the quality of all the information presented on that site. You can get valuable marketing insights and if you want to rake in multiple commissions signing up as an affiliate, click on

Internet Automation Plan

My best wishes for your success,

Fran

Related posts:

1. The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing
2. Year 2011:Making My Blog More Profitable
3. Internet Marketing:How Does an Aspiring Internet Marketer Get Started.

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The author Suzanne Myers has written a tight report that thoroughly covers what the readers want to know about a niche and what makes one profitable … she explains the two main factors that motivate people’s decision to buy.

Then, she goes on to describe various ‘tests’ she performs every time she wants to uncover a hot profitable niche so she has a good idea of how profitable it might be before spending any time promoting it.

The report is split up in short chapters with a title:

What is a Niche:

Suzanne explains with some clear definitions and good examples how a niche is a segment of a larger market,followed by a definition of a target market.

Why You Want A Hot Niche With Buyers Anxious To Buy:

2 pages on how to find a popular topic and attract buyers ready to make a purchase

Solve A Problem Or Entertain:

Explains some real reasons why people buy online such as solving a problem or seeking information on hobbies and entertainment …ways to solve a problem or take away pain …and offering the solutions leading to sales.

The Book Store Test:

How to successfully scan different magazines to uncover niches and evaluate the advertisements.

The WalMart Test:

How to determine where your niche might stand in relation to Walmart Shopping.

The Google Adwords Test:

Suzanne says that although she does not use the Google adwords, she likes to check the pages featuring products she is interested in promoting to determine if a niche has potential and she includes a screenshot of a Google’s ad page. I learned a few useful bits of information about what to look for on that page that I will be able to profit from.

The Clickbank Test:

For ebooks and Information Products … shows a screenshot of the Clickbank Marketplace with useful suggestions.

The PLR Test:

A couple of pages describing what PLR is and short descriptions of the author’s seven favorite PLR sites … very useful because she obviously has tried a few other ones for her own marketing.

Hot Niches Ready To Promote:

A description of a service Suzanne provides where she goes through all the steps outlined in this report to come up with hot niche ideas and puts them to the test. She then puts together an Affiliate Niche Pack that she sells.  I will write another review about that service.

What’s Next:

A short list of the steps you will be taking if and when you want to promote your niche. Getting a domain name,hosting and more with some recommendations.

This is a very useful report … I have been doing affiliate marketing for some time and I know good information when I see it, there is nothing pushy  or phony in this report.

The helpful links Suzanne provides are affiliate links and that is part of doing business,  it saves us the time of looking them up and we’re not paying one penny extra.

The price for this 20 page report: 
How to Uncover a Profitable Niche in Just a Few Hours only $7.
You immediately will be invited to get your own affiliate link to sell the report for $7

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1. The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing
2. Year 2011:Making My Blog More Profitable

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My plan for this blog in early 2009 was to share what I had learned during the many months I was gathering information with a special emphasis on baby boomers … any revenue I expected to get would come from referrals to products I recommended in my free email course or in some blogposts  … not through a bunch of advertisements on the blog …

Here is an excerpt of an article titled ‘How does an Aspiring Internet Marketer get Started‘  I wrote a few weeks ago:

“There is a lot of free information on the internet and it’s very tempting to spend hours everyday reading and gathering all the information you think you might need to start some form of internet marketing business.

Wandering from blog to website to blog you could be spending a lot of time somehow believing that you will find all the information you need to start your own business and of course this might happen if you know what you’re shopping for!

When you go shopping for ingredients for a meal you start with a list in hand for the specific ingredients you know you are missing so when you explore the internet for information it would make sense to be looking for answers to questions you already have!

However, if you don’t have a definite plan, you’re going to run into business models you had not even thought about so you get a glimmer of another way you could be doing business and begin to follow that path until some other tempting offer catches your eye!

Then you have the problem of copying, printing and filing all that information … I know what that’s like because I did it all and I ended up more confused in spite of the piles of so-called information I was accumulating and all my newsletter subscriptions.

I got some binders, and spent many hours organizing and filing so that even if I was not actually in business yet I had a file clerk … ME! At the end of a day spent in that file clerk role I would sometimes experience the sense of accomplishment a company employee gets after a job well done but only for a moment – no paycheck!”

To get back to Jackie Lee‘s article, she says:

“Do you know what work you need to be doing today, and tomorrow and the next day?

Creating a profitable business comes down to, first and foremost, clarity.

You have to be clear about what you’re doing, what your business model is.

If you aren’t clear you’re going to end up spinning your wheels.Taking ineffective action. Wasting time chasing money around.”

OK! I don’t want to be wasting time chasing money around … but I do want to generate more  income and I prefer to not have a bunch of ads greeting my visitors.

So I’ve made some decisions and here’s what I need to begin with:

1. Offer some useful and desirable services providing me some affiliate commissions

2. Pursue and maintain connections with other people online that provide value to my clients and me.

3. Write helpful blog posts and articles that will benefit readers interested in a home business.

4. Continue to offer free downloads with valuable information.

This list will probably be growing in the coming days as my plans take shape.

Related posts:

1. End of Year Home Business Inventory: Conclusion A Blog is not a Business!
2. Internet Marketing:How Does an Aspiring Internet Marketer Get Started.
3. Year 2011 New Direction: Where Do I Go From Here?

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Happy New Year to all my visitors and to the whole world!

I’ve spent most of December involved with family and holiday events.  I have also given a lot of thought to a blog post I wrote after going through Melissa Ingold’s end of the year course that I shared with you on this blog, consisting of a set of six free lessons.

The first lesson was about taking your business inventory for clarity…  So I did and as a result wrote  a blog is not a business!

Then Jackie Lee  published a related article titled: What is Your Business on her blog Internet Marketing For Mommies

Here are some of the questions she asks:

What is it that you do online to make money AKA ~ your online business model?

Are you creating a website that you love that will sell things ~
be it goods or services?

Do you know what you’re doing?

You have to be clear about what you’re doing, what your business model is.

If you aren’t clear you’re going to end up spinning your wheels.

Creating a profitable business comes down to, first and foremost, clarity.

And there is that reference to clarity again!

When I had a gift basket home business from 1998 through 2006 I knew exactly what my goals were:  sell gift baskets and in order to do that I maintained an attractive website with good photos of baskets in different gift categories …

I won’t bore you with all the details that involved but I can tell you that it was a lot of work! Nevertheless there were clear goals and outcomes – when I got an order I got paid for the gift basket and delivery charges.

That answers Jackie Lee’s question: Are you creating a website that you love that will sell things be it goods or services? Yes, I loved creating beautiful arrangements that gave pleasure to the buyer and the person receiving the gift, and in that sense I had a good business … but it needed to be taken to
another level to be really successful.

I was making an income BUT not in a range that would allow for adding workers so it was a whole lot of work for one person … the only part I was able to outsource was the deliveries because I had the clients  paying for them.

As I have related in my About page, I couldn’t help reading a lot about affiliate marketing and I transitioned to an online business and created Apprentice Marketer Gazette because I hoped to share the information I was
getting with other beginner marketers … that was one clear goal I had.

More in a few hours …

Related posts:

1. Time for Remodeling – Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011 #4
2. Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011
3. Add-Ons and Construction:Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011 #5

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Image via Wikipedia

If you haven’t downloaded lesson #5 in Melissa’s Ingold’s free course “Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011″,  I want to  remind you to do so …

Melissa says in lesson 5: ” … nobody fits perfectly into any particular stereotype, but let me give some examples of common behavior among online entrepreneurs. You might be able to see where you fit in and where you might start correcting your approach to projects.

Are you…
1. The Serial Project Builder: Many online entrepreneurs build one project after another, without taking the time to really research, evaluate and take the steps to ensure the project is a success. Then they’re left with a bunch of stuff with little traffic, fewer sales and not much to show for all that hard work.

2. The Project Starter: Another type of “typical entrepreneur” (if such thing exists) will take so long on each project, over think things and get so paralyzed they don’t launch it. Sometimes they get paralyzed on their first project and never get anything launched. Others will serially start projects that don’t come to fruition.

Don’t be like 1 or 2. Instead, be someone who:
Does their research (and we’ll talk a bit more about this shortly)
Plans all the necessary steps of a successful project
Plans how each step will be completed
Executes the plan fully”

This short lesson (only 8 pages) packs a lot of solid and helpful information!
Even if you’re just planning to start an online business, you will get so much
helpful information!

Here is the link again: Taking Your Business Inventory

List of the six lessons:

Week 1: Taking Your Business Inventory
Week 2: Operation Clean Out
Week 3: Maximizing Efficiency
Week 4: Time for Remodeling
Week 5: Add-Ons & Construction
Week 6: Long-Term Planning

Melissa Ingold is the CEO of Internet Marketing Sweetie, and she is a full-time entrepreneur with over 8 years of experience working online. She has built a successful online business through information product marketing, affiliate marketing & management, membership sites, and content marketing.

Here’s wishing you success in your business!

Related articles

• Serial Entrepreneurs & Self-Sabotage (theworkathomewife.com)

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1. Taking Your Home Business Inventory for Clarity
2. Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011
3. Time for Remodeling – Getting Your Business Into Shape for 2011 #4

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I plan to offer a PDF format e-book with more detailed information about the Move-on part of this system of affiliate marketing.  I believe there is enough information in these five posts to get many of you started setting up your first blog with the resources I recommend here and in the Recommended Resources Page.

The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing e-book will be in PDF format and offered with a free download link on this site by the end of September.

~~#~~

OK! so here’s the fifth and final post in this mini-series …

Go to GoDaddy, where you can buy a dot info domains for under $2,   open up your previously downloaded keyword list for dog training and try to find an available  domain matching the largest volume of keyword searches and the smallest number of competitors.

After looking at a bunch of keyword results, let’s say you want to go with dog-training-book.info … because after discovering that the plural version is taken already, you did another keyword search for “dog training books” and found that the singular version was also good in search volume.

You should go to Google,  type the keyword phrase in with quotes and see how many competing pages there are.

You find 47,000 competing pages and according to Google, there are 14,800 searches per month for that specific keyword phrase. More if you count other similar phrases, such as “ dog training book reviews” or “best dog training book.”

So you bought the domain and you want to put a blog on that domain. You can do your site however you like – but Google likes blogs that have regular content posted to them, and blogs are easier to manage than static web pages.

To show you how to upload the blog, we’re going to use Hostgator. On your dashboard, you’ll see your Nameservers listed on the left sidebar of the dash. You’ll need to go back into GoDaddy (or wherever you purchased your domain), and switch the Nameservers so that they reflect your hosting account. (video tutorials are on both sites)

Within Hostgator, first we want to add the domain to the hosting account. Click the Addon Domains button first.

Type in your domain info and the other data will auto-fill for you. Create a password for the domain and click Add Domain at the bottom.

Then after you’ve added the domain, you’ll want to launch the blog. On your dashboard, click the Fantastico button:

On the left sidebar, you’ll want to click the WordPress link under the Blogs section.

It will take you to a screen where you can then click new Installation.

The next screen is where you’ll fill in all of your site admin details. Now if you want the main site to be where the blog is hosted, as I do, then you leave the spot blank where it says, “Install in directory.”  However, maybe you want to put an opt in squeeze page on the home page – if that’s the case, then you might want to put the word blog in that space, so that the blog’s URL will be located at dog-training-book.info/blog which is how many people do it.

Then click Finish Installation when you’re through. On the last page, it will give you a URL directing you to your blog’s login.  It will look something like this: http://dogtrainingbook.info/wp-admin/ if that was your URL.

Don’t worry too much about being able to follow the above instructions:

Here is a link to GoDaddy.com – World’s No.1 Domain Name Registrar

And a link to reliable, low cost hosting HostGator.com

They both have tutorial videos on site.

Make Your First 100 Dollars a Day is a blog about making money online, where you will find a link to a list of 43 WordPress videos teaching everything about setting up a WP blog and much more!

All in all, there are 43 info-packed videos that will take you from A-Z in the blogging world! All for the modest price of $7.00 … there is a Content List describing each video and more on the Make Your First 100 Dollars a Day site.

Also,  you can watch the videos online if you would rather not download such a big file.

PS. As you read at the start of this post, this is the last installment of this mini-course series.  An extended  e-book in PDF format with all the information about Build-and-Move-on will be
ready by the end of this month and offered with a free download link on this site.

Fran

Related posts:

1. The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing
2. The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing (3)
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Head to my two favorite places – ClickBank and PayDotCom. Those aren’t the only two affiliate communities available – you also have the chance to market tangible items through sites like Amazon, for example. There are many others but let’s get started with these for now! (see recommended resources)

In ClickBank, I can instantly see a whole list of affiliate options when I type in (in quotes) “dog training.” The ClickBank products you see almost all pay out at over $20.00 per sale.

You want to go through and review each sales letter to see if you feel it will convert well. Then use the Create Hoplink to create a file of your affiliate links. You’ll want to cloak them, of course – but have the raw link on file for your own records. There are 30 products listed on ClickBank at the time of this writing specifically for dog training.

Next head to PayDotCom and check out what’s there. (see recommended resources )

Now you can go with smaller, more niche specific products to promote, or go with a more broad dog training product that has a higher price tag (and ultimately more commission for you).

In the PayDotCom system, you see products specific to each breed, but you also see a $97 product with a 50% payout that covers dog training in general. You’ll want to pick and choose among the pages of product possibilities based on how you set up your email capture system to promote your free report.

If you have a site specifically for Pekingese dog owners, then go with that e-Book. But mix it up and see if the higher priced product converts better with the same crowd. You want to give them many choices on what they buy … and make more successful sales!

If you decide you do want to promote tangibles, go to Amazon and see what types of things are available in your niche. Conducting a quick scan for dog training, I find print books, dog training collars, DVDs, whistles, clickers and more.

Step 3: Set Up Your Home on the Web

It can be a WordPress blog on your own domain or a minisite with a squeeze page on it or a full-on content site with hundreds of articles – a WordPress.org blog is the easiest one to install and you can easily find a theme to match your niche’s subject out of the hundreds of free theme offered on the WordPress.org site. (see recommended resources)

You will need a domain name and the first choice is between dot.com, dot.net, dot.org that cost around $9 to $10. A dot info domain only cost $1 to $2 and some people believe in them …  it does seem that when that option is seen through a non marketer’s eye it doesn’t matter.

I asked several of my non-marketing friends about domain extensions “You know how there is dot.com and dot.net and dot.org? What do you think of when you hear about a dot.info domain? What would you consider that site to be?”

All of them said they’d consider it an information website – an authority site. They wouldn’t expect to see a sales letter there (consumers avoid sites they think will do nothing but sell to them if they’re just searching for information). They like to find valuable information that’s not biased.

So let’s think about that, then. If you, as an affiliate, have a dot.info domain and you construct it PROPERLY with good information so that when they land, they see value and get freebies in exchange for opting to your list, they’re going to have a good first impression of your site.

Do not worry about getting  more details about some things in this article, I will be adding more informative e-books and videos at: http://apprenticemarketergazette.com/links-recommended/

more in next post … please leave some comments.

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