Work at Home Resources, Internet Marketing, Pro Blogging

Overcome Intimidation: English Skills and Blogging

Gayla — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:44:09 +0000

Forget those fears. I’ve found that so many people are intimidated by their lack of ‘proper English’ skills and let it stand in their way. Rather than allowing it to be a hindrance, they could even turn it into a niche. I’ve seen a few blogs that play on those faults rather than allow them to detour them from fulfilling a dream of writing.

Regardless of a persons education level, I believe everyone has an opinion that’s valuable, or a story to share that others would be interested in. It doesn’t take an A-List personality to make a view more valuable.

If you can’t overcome that fear, I recommend creating blog posts in a word processing program so you can do spell and grammar check. It may not be 100% full proof, but at least it will ease the intimidating factors enough to open doors for possibility and to never be afraid to ask for help!

I once helped a girl now who struggled with her writing skills and let them keep her from writing. We finally got her to a point where she was ready to take the chance. Once the fear was removed, she took off like there was no tomorrow.

While I have written about making your blog as professional as possible, and working on issues of spelling and grammar, I would advise anyone who struggles in this area, not to let it stop you. In fact there are several people who blog as a means of helping them improve their language skills.

While some people do get razzed about it, I think the exercise of blogging, in and of itself, gives new skills and a means of practice that gives confidence. Confidence to have a voice in ways they may never have discovered in other mediums.

I also think the rest of us who sometimes get picky about grammar, sometimes need to loosen up a bit and rather than getting too condemning, we must remind ourselves that others come into blogging from different backgrounds and perspectives.

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Are You Making These 5 Blogging Mistakes?

Gayla — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 03:32:13 +0000

An experienced blogger shares the 5 mistakes she noticed in her own blogging. Check out the top 5 blog mistakes that most bloggers make early on, including:

Ignoring social media
Never commenting
Posting too much
Publishing at the same time everyday
And writing in large blocks of text

With just a few tweaks to correct these “mistakes,” your blog will be cleaner, and more polished version – a version you can be more proud of.

Read the full article at 5 Blogging Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making

Top Reasons to Choose Affiliate Marketing as Your Online Business

Gayla — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:57:26 +0000

If there is an easy way to earn money online, affiliate marketing is it. I won’t mislead you. It does take a great deal of time to develop an affiliate website and create content to support affiliate products. Keep in mind, you don’t have to have a website, and could go with an advertising based system alone, but in my personal experience, a website is the way to go. Life is easier when you build your business around selling products or services of other people.

Once an affiliate site is in place, affiliated merchants handle everything related to products, orders and customer service.

Many people choose to promote affiliate programs just because they are simple and independence from the usual ties that bind in traditional business.

There are dozens of benefits to affiliate marketing, my personal top 10 reasons for considering the affiliate marketer method of earning are:

No Development Costs

It can be costly to develop and produce a new product. As an affiliate, that won’t be a concern.

Low Cost Set-up

If you have a desk, an Internet connection, a computer and word-processing software, you have the essential tools to get started.

No Fees or Location Limitations on Distribution

Most affiliate programs are free to join. The only limit to market reach is the willingness, or lack thereof, by the affiliate to promote their website.

Thousands of Products and Services to Choose From

Almost anything you can imagine is sold or traded online! Years ago, while explaining the vast amount of information and product availability, I used an example of “vintage bottle caps.” Remarkably, there is a market for them and obviously customers who buy them because Bottle Cap Co. has built an entire business around selling vintage and retro bottle caps.

Affiliate networks like Commission Junction, Shareasale and Linkshare, take the stress out of finding products related to your business website.

No Merchant Account Required

Forget the difficulties of collecting customer information and purchasing details. The merchant handles payment processing, so you never have to be burdened with chargebacks, fraud or your merchant account being penalized or banned.

No Inventory to Carry

Not having storage concerns for inventory-on-hand, it doesn’t matter if you live in a tiny apartment or your parents basement. Affiliate marketing is a method of earning money from anywhere, at any time.

No Shipping Costs

Packing supplies or postal rates will be of no concern. The expense and time it takes to ship products to the customer’s falls on the merchant.

No Customer Concerns

You will never have to deal with unhappy customers. The merchant handles all customer related matters.

Yes, You Can Make Money While You Sleep

No other business will generate income while you sleep; attend school functions or sit in the waiting room at your doctor’s office.

High Income Potential

With an affiliate business, income is restricted entirely by the desire, effort and imagination of the affiliate marketer.

The Internet provides an endless supply of possibility to generate an income. As you begin to explore your own desire and potential, keep in mind, there are more frauds than possibilities.

Takeaway Messages:

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is

It does NOT always take money to make money

Do NOT EVER give out personal information such as bank account and social security number without a thorough investigation (you are welcome to email me if you are unsure)

Do NOT EVER click the links within an email – If it says it’s from Facebook, go to Facebook. If it says it’s from Linkedin, go to Linkedin. If the email says it’s from your bank, go to your bank. Always check the email address in the FROM line against the email address within the body of the email. I provide an example of a scam email and the technique I use to confirm validity in my post Scam Alert: Your Paypal.com transaction confirmation

The only investments you should make are:

Domain name and hosting (I do offer free installation for those who purchase through my links)

A premium blog theme (only if you want to)

Quality graphics (only if you want to)

Recommendations for hosting, graphics and themes here

Educational materials by reputable sources (you can email me when in doubt)

If you’re on a tight budget or just tight with cash like I am, you might make an effort to check Amazon daily for free ebook offerings. I explain how to locate the free offers in my post How to Find Free Kindle eBooks on Amazon

The offers change every day – sometimes multiple times a day. You can snag some great business related books for free! Keep in mind, just because the books are “Kindle” ebooks, you don’t have to have a Kindle to get them. Amazon allows you to read them right from your computer with Kindle for PC.

Cheers,

Gayla

The Ultra-Thin–Energy Efficient–LG OLED TV Launches with Intro Price Tag of $12k

Gayla — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:19:27 +0000

Just in time for March Madness! For anyone in or near Indiana, you know just how important television quality is this time of year.

If you are willing to take out a second mortgage, you could get your hands on the latest and greatest in televisions. LG is taking orders for the new 55-inch OLED TV with a starting price of $12,000. LG is saying your new set will arrive in March. The South Korean electronics company also mentions partnerships with Activision, Verizon, Google, and Disney for its OLED line, and has given hints to a third size for launch in 2013. And here I was excited about our recent 60-inch Sharp purchase for $900. I should probably go ahead and add this to my husbands 2020 wish list.

(Reuters) Feb. 14, 2013 — LG Electronics Inc. said on Thursday pre-orders for its 55-inch next-generation televisions costing over $10,000 have topped 100, and the firm will start selling the TVs on Monday in South Korea as it tries to steal a march on rivals.

Aiming to outdo competitor Samsung Electronics Co and burnish its reputation for TV technology, the world’s No.2 TV manufacturer started taking pre-orders for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs some six weeks ago.

Tipped as the technology most likely to replace liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs, LG’s OLED model costs up to five times more than LCD equivalents due to flat-screen production challenges.

Samsung has yet to announce when it will start production of OLED TVs.

Given the high price, the new technology is unlikely to sharply boost profit margins, but LG hopes an early move to OLED will help it revive its sinking profitability at a time when Japanese rivals are benefiting from a weakening yen.

December-quarter profits in LG’s TV division tumbled to around one tenth of year-earlier levels, as it bumped up promotional spending in the year-end holiday season.

LG said it was aiming to raise flat-panel TV shipments by 15 percent this year.

OLED technology is more energy-efficient and offers higher contrast images than LCD, and is so thin that future mobile devices will be foldable like paper.

OLED displays are already used on Samsung’s popular Galaxy S and Note smartphones, but panel makers have yet to address manufacturing challenges to lower costs to compete against LCD panels, particularly for large screens for televisions and computer monitors.

Apart from men and their commitment to sports – is there a show on television that is SO addicting that you would want to race out and buy a $12,000 television to enhance your viewing experience?

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Passive Income–Affiliate Marketing–Targeted Traffic and Money with Kindle: Links Worth Sharing

Gayla — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:11:39 +0000

During the eight weeks leading up to Christmas, Angie at The Work at Home Wife set a personal challenge to generate passive income on Squidoo. Her challenge was to create one Squidoo lense per week. The results are in and she is sharing the details. See how she did Squidoo Money: November Earnings

Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it. When working online, passive income is usually the result of affiliate marketing. I encourage you to follow some, if not all, of The Top 30 Affiliate Marketing Blogs to Keep an Eye On in 2013 – I subscribe to more than half of the blogs listed.

It’s tough for small businesses to compete with large corporations when it comes getting your name and brand in front of the consumer. If you want to be competitive, your marketing methods need to be creative. Kim at Work in My Pajamas shares 5 creative methods to consider to land your first client or simply to generate more clientele

In August 2012, Amazon revealed that for every 100 hardbacks and paperbacks sold through their site, customers were downloading 114 ebooks. That was just two years after the introduction of the Kindle. Do you think you have a book in you waiting to be written? This is a great opportunity to jump in and give it a try. Finch Sells provides start to finish detail on writing that book for Kindle and then selling it on Amazon. Check out the post Make Money on Kindle: $345,000 in 5 Months?

Many people are under the impression that making money online is as simple as slapping up a blog and waiting on traffic. This ain’t no field of dreams people. Just because you build it, does not mean they will come. It’s up to you to dive into cyberspace and find your followers. Once they arrive at your site, they may become a loyal follower and read what you have written. They will likely buy your products, so you can see how important it is that YOU find THEM. Zac Johnson shares tips on how you can find followers without using the search engines. Read Your Blog Won’t Survive Without Targeted Traffic, So Here’s How to Get It! to learn more.

I’m always looking for great things to read. Share your favorite blog post finds by leaving a comment. I’m a Do-Follow kind of gal.

Cheers,

Gayla