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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.

I received my first issue of Revenue magazine, the how-to-guide on affiliate marketing this past week.  I should start by saying that ever since I have started my own business, I’ve been looking at different magazines, to see what kinds were helpful.  I now have a subscription to Entrepreneur, Inc, Fast Company and more..and while I enjoy reading them, none of them really deal too much with the completely online entrepreneur who does a lot of affiliate marketing.

I don’t have to look any further.  Revenue is great.  It’s completely targetted towards people who are affiliates, or run affiliate programs.  Even most of the ads were interesting to me.  So I am very excited, and already can’t wait until the next issue.

If you’re interested so far, I have something even better to tell you…they give away free subscriptions depending on what you do for a living.  Even if you can’t get a free subscription, it’s only $17.49 for the year, which isn’t too bad at all.  I have to tell you, just from reading this one issue I’ve already gotten a lot of ideas…so I am excited.

I figure if I feel this way, someone else might be interested as well.  Enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

Writing up that last post yesterday reminded me how much I now rely on one piece of free software - KeePass.  In KeePas, you enter all of your logins, passwords, and the URL’s that are associated with them.  It then makes it very easy when you come to a site you need to log into, you just double click on the login or password field, and it will copy the login or password to your clipboard for 10 seconds, giving you just enough time to paste it into your browser. 

Since almost everything has a login and website these days, there are a lot of passwords to remember!  Especially since you really shouldn’t re-use the same password over and over.  So it can be hard to remember 10 or more passwords.  With this program, you just have to remember the password to get into the program itself, and you’re set.  This is good though, because if someone uses your computer, they won’t be able to get into your password file. 

I really recommend this free software - especially if you belong to as many affiliate programs as I do!  It really makes things a lot easier.

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!

Last week was the eComXpo, held twice a year.  It is a virtual tradeshow, and really incredible!  It’s almost as if you are at a “real” trade show, with booths, people at each booth, and lots of information.  Of course, you are doing all of this in the comfort of your own home!

There were over 550 exhibitors in this one, and you were able to go to each company’s booth, and find out more about the company.  They even had a lot of contests going on where you could win iPods and more.  The part I liked the best was that each booth had at least 1 (and usually many more) employees available to chat with.  It was a great easy way to find out more about a company, since many times it can be hard to get in contact with a real person to ask a question.

The next one is October 9th - 11th.  Since it is completely free to attend, I recommend going.

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.

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When working at home, it may be hard to manage your time wisely.  There is always something else that needs to be done - both with your business, and around the house.  Here are some tips to help manage your time better.

• Set certain hours.  Even if you can’t work 7-8 hours in a row, try to set a specific schedule so you know during those hours you should be working on your business, and not doing one of the many other things that need to get done.
• Make lists.  If you make a list the night before, you will know exactly what you want to accomplish by the end of the next day.  This will help you make sure you get certain things done, and also help so you don’t spend all of your time on your business.
• Multi-task.  If you’re waiting for someone to get back to you for your business, it could be a great time to do the dishes.  If you’re in the middle of doing the laundry and are waiting for the clothes to dry, it could be the perfect time to write that email you keep putting off.

It can be difficult to manage your time well when you are working at home.  If you try to do a few of the above items though, it can be easier for you to make sure you get the most out of your time.