Workism.com

There are times where you might be stuck on something with your business, and not be sure what to do next. This could be at the very beginning, where you are not sure how to start your business, or it could be later on where you are trying to figure out how to advertise, or earn more money from your business.  No matter when this happens, there are a lot of free resources that you can use in order to help you.  Here are some of them:

• Score - Score is great if you are looking for some free one-on-one mentoring.  They offer a list of possible mentors, and you can find someone who has the knowledge that you are looking for.  You can then talk to them and they can answer your questions, and help you with where you are stuck.  They also have articles to help you learn as well.
• Entrepreneur - While it is a magazine, their website has a lot of free information as well.  They have articles on how to choose your business, how to grow your business, advertise, etc.  You don’t need to be a subscriber to get access to the website, and you can really learn a lot about a many different topics.
• SBA - The Small Business Administration is a government run website, and offers articles, courses (both online and all over the country), and other free help.
• About.com Home Business - Just like every other section of About.com, the home business section has many articles about home businesses.  They have articles on starting a home business, financing your business, keeping your home and business separate, and a lot more.
• Forums - You can search and find business forums where you can read about people in the same situation as you, and see what kinds of answers they got.  You can also post your questions as well, and have many people answering you, trying to help.

As you can see, there are many ways to get free help for your business…so if you are stuck, don’t give up!  Many other people out there have been in similar situations, and will be more then happy to help.

We have gone over a few ways to get free and cheap traffic online…but how about advertising your business when you’re out in the real world?  There are many ways to advertise when you are going out, doing your regular business.  You can advertise while running errands or even shopping at the mall.  Here are just a few cheap and free ways you can advertise while out.

• Wear a T-Shirt.  Create a T-Shirt (or you can order one online) that has your website, phone number, or any other important information you want to get across on it.  When you go out and run errands, wear the shirt.  Think about a crowded mall.  If you have an interesting or cute shirt…imagine how many people will notice it?  Plus, it’s a one-time expense, but you can wear the shirt multiple times, and many will get to see the shirt and hopefully visit your site.
• Print out flyers.  If you print out a bunch of flyers with your website listed on the bottom (so someone can tear off the website address), you can put them up anywhere you find public messages.  This can be at the library, supermarket, laundromat, and other places.  This way, for just a few cents of printing out a flyer, many people can see your ad.
• Similarly, get business cards.  You can make them or get them printed very cheaply, and then give them out to everyone!  You can even leave them places so that others will find them.  If they like what your business card says, they might visit your web site.
• Put an ad in the local paper.  Usually a little ad in a local paper doesn’t cost too much, and you can get many people in your neighborhood to visit your website!
• Advertise with your car.  There are many signs you can get specifically for your car.  If you drive around a lot, think about how many will see your car, and therefore see your ad.  When you’re stuck in traffic, people have no choice but to notice your ad!
• Try welcoming committees.  Many towns have a welcoming committee, and will give a free gift basket to new neighbors.  These usually include free stuff, as well as coupons for local businesses.  If you can give away a free sample, or have a pen or something useful created with your website logo on it, you can get people to notice you that way as well.

As you can see, if you keep your eyes open, there are a lot of ways you can advertise when out in the “real world” doing your daily activities.  The more people who see your website address, the better!

If you are a looking for a way to make money on the Internet, you can create your own product.  If you have a lot of knowledge in a certain area, what better a way to earn an income than to share the information with others? 

There are three main ways you can create digital products to sell on the web:

• E-book:  You can create an electronic book that others can read on the Internet.
• Audio:  You can create an audio file - such as an interview between two people that others can listen to either at home, or on the go.
• Video:  You can create a video so that others can not only hear what you have to say, but see examples, or a step-by-step on how to do something.

The great thing about creating digital products is that you only have to create them once, and then you can sell them forever.  If you set it up right, it can all be done automatically.  This means that while you are sleeping, someone could buy your product and the product would be delivered right then to your customer.  When you wake up the next morning you will see the extra money in your account, and not have to do anything since everything was already done automatically!  By having your own product, you get all of the profits, instead of having to split them with someone else. 

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to earn money on the Internet, this is a great way.  You will need to pay for a domain name, and get hosting…but other then that, all the money you earn is pure profit.

Now that you have a website, you probably want to get as much traffic as possible to your site.  As you probably know, there are many ways to get traffic to your site.  Some are free, and some cost money.  Obviously, you would like to take advantage of as many of the free ways as possible.  Here is a list of some of the free ways you can get traffic to your site:

• Use a Signature.  Every time you send out an email or post on a forum, right underneath your name you should have your website.  This is because if people like what you have to say, they might check out your website.  If you are posting really helpful posts, this can be especially good.  This way, many people will get a chance to see your website.  Also, by posting your website as your signature in a forum, you will get links back to your site which helps with search engine rankings.
• Get Links to your Site.  Do a search on the web to find other websites that are similar, or complementary to your website.  Email the webmaster, and see if they will put a link to your site.  You can do the same with theirs.  This way someone who is already interested in the topic may come to your site.
• Classified Ads.  There are many online classifieds that will allow you to list your ad for free.  This will allow others to see it and visit your site, as well as give you more links back to your website.
• Write Articles.  When you write an article and post it on an article directory, you have a bio section at the bottom.  If someone enjoys your article, they may want to see what other information you have to share, and might visit your website.
• Have good quality content on your website.  When you have good content, the search engines will notice it.  Then, when someone does a search in Google, Yahoo, or another search engine, your website will come up as a good result for your topic, and you will get even more traffic.

There are many ways you can get free traffic to your website.  You just have to get your (website) name out there, and before you know it, you will be getting tons of traffic!

If you are looking for a low cost way to get traffic, you should consider taking a look at Pay Per Click (PPC) opportunities.  Here are the 3 major ones, but many others.

• Google AdWords
• MSN AdCenter
• Yahoo! Sponsored Search (Sign up and get a $25 credit)

Even if you don’t know offhand what PPC is, you have come across it many times.  You know how when you search on Google there are some results on the right hand side?  Those are ads.  Also, many times ads appear on web pages. 

If you want to advertise to people who are interested in what you are talking about, this is a great way to do it.  What happens, is you create an ad (or multiple ads)  to promote your website.  Then, when someone either searches something similar to what you are promoting, or is on a site that is similar, they will see an ad about your site.  If they are not interested, nothing happens.  If on the other hand they are interested, they can click on the ad, and be brought to your site.  You will get charged only if the person clicks your ad and goes to your website.

The great thing about this is that you are only getting targeted traffic.  If they aren’t interested, they won’t click.  Another nice thing is you can set how much you want to spend per day, and per click…so you don’t have to worry about going broke because of advertising!  You can set it to only pay .05 cents per click (it will let you know if that will get you anywhere though), and up to $1.00 a day if you would like.  That way, the most clicks you will get in a day is 20, although many more people might have seen the ad.

It’s a great way to get some targeted traffic without spending a lot of money.  I really recommend it if you are trying to get people to your site, and don’t want to spend a lot.

Jean-Philippe Schoeffel (of Niches-In-A-Box and VisitorSense.com) has done it again.  This time, he is giving away a special report on Secrets to Niche Mastery.  He will be opening a new site “How to Turn Sites Into Money” on April 9th, and decided to give people some great free information in the meantime.  You don’t have to sign up for anything, you can just download the pdf for free at the link above.

A great way to make money on almost any website or blog you have is by using Google AdSense.

If you already have a blog or a website that gets traffic…but wish you could earn money with your website, Google AdSense is the perfect solution.  With Google AdSense, some ads that are related to your site will show up on any web pages you put them on.  Since the topics will be similar to your site, some of your visitors may be interested in the ads and click to visit the sites.  Whenever someone visits one of those sites, you will earn a little bit of money.  Over time, this can add up!

If you don’t have a website…it’s still not a problem.  Think of a topic that you are very passionate about, and create either a blog or content site.  If you give people good and helpful information, they will visit your site.  Once they are there and read what you have to say, they might be interested in visiting some of the sites on the ads.  Again, if they do, you will earn a little bit of money.

Another great thing is that you don’t even need to spend any money to create a site like this!  If you want to start a blog, you can go to blogger.com and create a blog for free.  You can then put AdSense on that, and then you are set.  You can have a blog that earns an income, and you didn’t even have to spend any money to do it!

Google AdSense is really a great way to monetize a site, especially when you don’t have anything to sell, but have some great information to share with the world.

On Friday we talked about why you want to join an affiliate program.  Of course, now the question is…where can I find a good affiliate program, and what companies have affiliate programs?  While most of the time if you go to a company’s website, you will see a link at the bottom of the page for affiliates if they do have a program, that isn’t always the case.  Many times you will find them listed in one of the bigger affiliate companies though.  Here is a list of many affiliate programs, and some of the companies that belong to each.

• LinkShare.com -Linkshare is one of my favorite programs, as they have a lot of companies that are retail stores that most people have heard of, so they can be easier to promote.  Some examples include:  Target, Apple, GameStop, J&R, Lands’ End, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and many, many more.  The way their software is set up, it is very easy to create links, and I really recommend them.
• Commission Junction - CJ is another great program that has a lot of companies that most people have heard of.  Some examples include:  CompUSA, eBay, Gap, Old Navy, Payless, Staples, and many more as well.
• Be Free - Both Be Free and CJ are owned by the same company, but their interfaces are very different.  There aren’t that many companies using Be Free, but there are some big ones that do!  Some of the companies you will find here are Best Buy, Expedia, Gateway, Rand McNally, Ace Hardware, and more.
• Performics - When I first joined, I wasn’t that impressed, but new companies keep joining all of the time, and I really like using their interface now.  Some of the bigger named companies they have are Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Eddie Bauer, Kohl’s, GNC, and many more!
• ClickBank - If you are interested in promoting e-books and other software, Clickbank is a great resource.  You will find many different digital products you can promote.  You can also sell your own digital products through ClickBank as well, which is really nice since you will automatically have affiliates helping you sell your products, and you decide how much to pay them.
• Chitika - Chitika is an interactive product merchandising kiosk, where you can have comparison shopping right on your website.  You can put products, and it will show the store with the lowest price.  While I have not had a chance to use it much, I think it’s a great idea, and can’t wait to play around with it a little more.
• Amazon.com - Everyone knows Amazon, but did you know you could refer people to Amazon and earn money if they buy something?  Under “Amazon Services”, click on “Associates” and you can sign up.
• Share A Sale - Share A Sale has a lot of companies as well.  While some of them you might not have heard of, a lot of them are great.  Here are a few that you have probably heard of:  Checks Unlimited, Best Deal Magazines, Batteries.com, Luggage.com, and many more. 
• Fusion Quest - Fusion Quest has a lot of companies as well, and are worth taking a look at.  I just joined them recently, and like it so far.  They are also a lower cost solution if you are looking to create an affiliate program with your product.

The ones listed below are still affiliate programs, but they are set up a little differently.  In these you are promoting a specific offer.  These can be great as advertisements, etc.  They are all still helpful in helping you make money, and I belong to these as well:

• Azoogle - They have a lot of offers to choose from.
• CPA Empire -Besides paying commissions, they also have a rewards program where you can earn Visa Gift Cards!
• Hydra Media -They have a LOT of offers, and I am enjoying promoting them.
• Kolimbo - They have a lot of offers to choose from.
• NeverblueAds - They have a lot of offers to choose from as well.

There are many more, but here’s a list to get you started.  I am signed up with all of them, so I know they are all real, and reputable.  Have fun with it, and earn a lot of money!

When you are looking for a way to monetize your business, or even start one, why should you consider joining one or more affiliate programs? 

First let’s talk about what an affiliate program is.  Many times in business, when you help another person or company sell a product or service, they will give you a small percentage of the profit.  Basically, you get money for sending the business in their direction, since they would probably have not gotten the business if you hadn’t pointed the customer in that direction.  There are many companies that are more than happy to share their profits with you if you spread the word about their website.  You can become an affiliate of the company, and when someone buys something through your link, you will get a portion of the profits.

Now, you might be thinking…why would I want to help someone else sell a product, when I can make more money if I sell my own?  Here are a few reasons it can be very profitable to join affiliate programs:

• You don’t have to figure out a product to create, or spend the time doing research, designing, and creating the product.  You have already made products right there to promote!
• Many of these companies have spent countless dollars trying to figure out how to best market their products.  This benefits you since many times you can just use their advertising on your sites!  You have the use of these great advertisements without having to spend the time or money to get them created.
• Many affiliate programs are for companies you have heard of before.  Let’s be honest…do you think it will be easier to sell a product you created - when no one has ever heard of you, or a product from Target, Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, etc? 
• You will get many products and companies to promote at just the click of a button!  Then instead of just the one or two products you created, you can promote many products, in any categories you want. 
• It’s an easy way to make money off of a website you already have.  Do you have a site about your favorite hobby?  Well you can join an affiliate program for a company that makes products for your favorite hobby, and put them on your website.  Then, when other people who are passionate about the same hobby come visit your site, they may purchase these products.

It can be very profitable to join an affiliate program.  On Monday I’ll share with you some of the many affiliate programs that exist, and what I think about some of them! 

When you work at home, you might feel like you don’t have some of the same tools that people have at big businesses, because you aren’t willing to spend the money.  The truth is, there are many tools that can help you with your business that are free.  Here are some that can help you:

•  Vitalist - This is a great tool for helping you keep track of lists.  It will also let you divide the lists into different tasks and projects.  There is even a section for waiting on others, so you can put that in as well if you are waiting for someone to get back to you.
• TaDa List and Remember the Milk - These are two other list based programs.  Since everyone likes creating lists differently, you might like a different one of these then someone else might.
• BaseCamp - This is a project management tool.  It will let you keep track of lists, deadlines, and milestones.
• Google Calendar - This is an easy way to keep track of appointments.  You can even share this with others so they can see when you are free and when you have plans.  Since this is online, you will be able to see your appointments on any computer, even if you are not at home.
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets - If you don’t have Microsoft Office, but still want to use word processing and spreadsheet tools, this is a great option. 
• Pear Budget - This can help you with your budgeting and help you keep track of your business expenses.

There are many applications that you can find free versions of, so many times you don’t need to spend any money in order to get the tools that can help you with your business.