Getting Your Online Home Based Business Up & Running Smoothly

Not long ago a really good friend of mine lost his job. He was angry and felt a little hopeless at first, but after a couple days of feeling sorry for himself, he realized that there were a lot of opportunities for him to make money working from home. This is something that he and I have talked about for a long time but he never really got it. He was always asking me what I do for a living but he never took the time to really understand because he didn’t need to.

He never flat out said it, but I think he always assumed I was just a lazy bum who needed to get a “real” job. But in reality I have a better job than him or anyone I know and it’s called running my own online home based business! Anyway, I was able to get my friend on the right path and he is now building up his own home based business on the internet. He couldn’t be happier that he lost his job now!

Today, online home based businesses are easier to set up than ever before and it can be done for really cheap or even for free. They allow you to work from home while setting your own hours and literally being able to work in your pajamas.

The biggest challenge that many aspiring home based entrepreneurs face is establishing tangible business goals and setting a daily schedule to follow. The reason why it is so important to establish a goal is to focus your mind on what you are trying to accomplish with your home based internet business. For example, many people will say that they just want to make money (a lot of it). While there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money online, it is important that you clearly define exactly how much money you want to make and how you are going to do it. You need to write this down on a sheet of paper and place it where you will see it every day. You have to also create a realistic day-to-day schedule to follow.

Many people hate the idea of establishing a daily schedule. It reminds them too much of work. The danger in not establishing a daily schedule is that it may become too easy to simply procrastinate and drift from one online business idea to another. People who do not have a clearly defined set of daily activities will more often than not become bored, confused, frustrated, and not get any real work done. The reason why these people struggle is usually because they never bothered to establish a home business goal and a daily schedule that is designed to help them reach their goals in the shortest amount of time possible.

If you are interested in starting an online home based business, you really need to take it as seriously as possible. That means you will have to set clearly defined goals and create a day-to-day schedule that is filled with activities that are designed to help you move in the direction of your business goals each and every day.

Remember you are running your own home based business. It’s not a hobby or something you are just going to try out for a while; it’s a serious thing that can have a significant impact on your financial future. Just because you are working from home online and don’t have a “real” job doesn’t mean you can slack off. If you want your online business make money and succeed, you need to do whatever it takes to make that happen!

So, with that being said, let’s get to building it…

How to Start an Online Home Based Business

There are many ways to start an online home based business. For example, if you have experience in web design, you can start your own business designing web sites for other online businesses. You would need to promote your home based business online by using some of the numerous internet marketing methods available. To add to your credibility you should get testimonials from current clients to post on your website.

Many people start online home based businesses through auction sites such as eBay, uBid, Bidz, Amazon, and a few others. They pick the products they want to sell, write up a description, take pictures of them and put them up for auction. Those with an extensive product line sell products on these sites every day. If you don’t have a product to sell, there are plenty of dropshipping sites that will set you up with products. They will even ship products to your customers.

Some people start an online home based business from scratch. They have a particular expertise and interest in a product they are selling. For example, a martial arts expert may decide to start selling a line of training equipment online. He would start out by developing a website then try to promote his home business through search engine optimization, pay-per-click ads and various other internet marketing methods.

And those are just a few quick examples. There are literally thousands of different ways you can start a home business online or offline.

Whatever online home based business you choose, you will need to market it. Internet marketing can be difficult. Many people start out with free ads and social media to get some exposure. Then they start using pay-per-click advertising and SEO. Those who pay more get the best exposure but you must make sure you are getting back more money than you are paying. Exposure is often through prodigious “search engine” sites such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. With the proper keywords and marketing techniques, you can ensure that your website will rank high in these search engines. That way, anyone looking for topics related to your website will find your site and make you money in one way or another.

One key thing to do is build a list of prospects so you can send out emails to them about products and services they may be interested in, which you will also earn money from any sales you make. There are few things more valuable to an internet marketer than his own list of names and email addresses.

Some people run online home based businesses working as an affiliate marketer. Their online ads are designed to sell various products online and get commissions just by advertising their sites. The companies usually pay them through direct deposit, check, or PayPal.

It is up to you as to which online home based business you would like to start. There are many opportunities out there for you to take advantage of but it is highly recommended that you do your research before joining any program or sending them anyone money.

Work at Home Employment – Things to Be Aware Of

Today, more than ever, work at home employment opportunities are everywhere. So how can you determine whether or not a particular opportunity is legitimate? This is an important topic to talk about because there are a lot of work from home scams that often lure people in with hyped up promises and never deliver on any of them. Let me tell you what you should look for when evaluating a work at home employment opportunity.

Perhaps the most important factor is that no legitimate work at home employment opportunity will ever make you pay money up front. Does this make sense? When was the last time you applied for a regular job and were told you had to pay for the privilege of being hired? I know, it’s completely absurd. However, there are a variety of somewhat dubious home employment opportunities that require an upfront payment before you can begin working. While in some rare instances these arrangements are legitimate, the overwhelming majority of them are completely fake.

Don’t get this confused with home business opportunities, network marketing businesses, programs teaching you how to make money online, or many other ways to start a home based business online or offline. Those will almost always have a fee and can often be great ways to make money from home. However, any real work from home job or online employment opportunity should not charge you anything to be hired. Make sure you know the difference before you send any of your money.

Something else you need to be aware of is that some work at home employment opportunities require you to give them your bank account information before you can start working for them. Yes, that’s scary! Usually this is so they can pay you via direct deposit or so they can use it for verification purposes. Quite honestly, I would never give my private banking information to some random company that I found on the internet. Do you understand where I am coming from? Make sure they are 100% legitimate and that you have actually been hired for real before you do this.

Yes, there are many legitimate companies that pay you via direct deposit and that collect your banking information. However, you should be VERY suspicious of any company that immediately starts pressuring you for your bank account details in order to be hired for their work at home employment. Do LOTS of research and be absolutely sure they are legitimate before you give them any of your private information, especially your bank account information or SSN!

There are plenty of employment opportunities that allow you to earn great money working from home. In fact, a lot of large multinational corporations are starting to pay their employees to telecommute. This means you could be employed at a major company yet not have to go in to a formal office every day to do your work.

Typically, if you want to be hired for a work from home job, you will need to be good at speaking with people on the telephone, have good computer and typing skills, be self-motivated, and own a computer with an internet connection. Obviously every work at home employment opportunity will be different but those are some things you can expect to need for just about all of them.

Now, all you need to do is get out there and start researching reputable companies that hire people for work from home employment.

Buying a New House – But You Work at Home?

We have our house for sale – its actually perfectly setup for someone who works at home as I do – but we are selling because we want to downsize our mortgage and spend less time fighting the garden.

But it got me thinking – what makes for the perfect home if you are looking for the best house for a home business? What does the work from home professional need in their home? Well, I have quite a long list having been renting for a few years – here’s some of them.

Requirements for a “Work At Home” House

  • Must have a good sized separate room, which I can call an office, or at least an extra bedroom that I can turn into an office. Having a separate office space, which you can close the door on is not only helpful psychologically – it also means that you will probably get a better tax deduction (check with an accountant or tax professional for the details on this).

  • I need some space, a view and lots of natural light. I also need warmth because I live in a very cold climate during the fall and winter months. You may need something cooling if you live in a more tropical climate.

  • Must have sufficient power points and phone/internet line connections – a quality and fast internet connection goes without saying. Improved wireless networking means that its no longer necessary to physically attach printers and modems to your computer, but they all still need power – so if you have the choice – you can never have enough power points!

  • If you employ a staff or have local clients that visit you at home it’s probably important to have a separate entrance to your work at home office if at all possible. You don’t need the kids answering the door to the client, or have them walking through your cluttered up house to get to the office area! Equally, you probably don’t want employees encroaching on your family space – so therefore you will probably need an office with a kitchenette and separate toilet too.

As my work at home business is entirely online based, I don’t need to deal with clients or employees in my home – so rather than looking for a self-contained home office – I want a room with a view, some space, good lighting, and insulation.  What I might do is take the largest bedroom and use it for an office. Where I live anything that is advertised as an “office” by a real estate agent really means “tiny cupboard” or large landing!  The key thing for me is to get a property that has an excellent internet connection – this is not as simple as you may think – in new suburbs there are often not enough fast connections to go around!

So whether you are looking for your next home or your first, whether you work at home or in a more traditional job, take a moment to sit down and really think about what you want from your next home, before you hit the streets checking out houses for sale!

Work from Home Nurse Jobs – Nursing Telecommuting

Work from home nurse jobs are extremely high in demand right now but with that demand comes a lot of competition. It’s such an ideal situation for so many nurses that a large portion of them want to do it and are currently seeking opportunities. Not to mention the income potential is amazing! Getting one of these work from home nursing jobs most likely won’t be easy but it is possible.

At first glance, it seems like nursing is not a job you can do from home. But work at home nurse jobs do exist and can be a great way to make a living.

A work from home nurse job might consist of doing telephone consultations to help assess health concerns of a patient over the phone. Or you might just give general health advice to people who call in. Another great work from home nurse job you can do is to teach nursing classes online as an online instructor. A nurse might also work at home as case manager. It also may be possible to get a private work from home nurse job caring for a patient in home. Although in that case it would most likely be their home, not yours.

There are many companies that hire work from home nurses to do various jobs. A basic requirement for getting one of these home nurse jobs is to actually be a nurse and be up to date on all your certifications. You’ll most likely need a college degree, and have the skills and certain equipment necessary to perform the job from home. You will need to be highly qualified to land one of these due to the nature of the work and the competition you will be up against.

Some places that have been known to hire work at home nurses are:

-Humana
-United Health Group
-McKesson
-Fonemed
-Intracorp
-Sirona Health

Hospitals, clinics, and health care facilities in your area might also have nurse jobs available that allow you to work from home. You can also often find work at home nurse jobs being advertised on the major job search websites such as careerbuilder, monster, indeed, craigslist and others. Check your local paper for possible private opportunities that might be available in your area.

Basically, you just need to use all the resources available to you both online and offline in order to find the right work from home nurse career for you.

A 7 Minute Guide To Email Marketing

Direct email marketing is one of the most effective and widely used marketing techniques in nearly every industry. The barriers to entry are very low, and the return on investment tends to be quite high. Some recent research has suggested that the effectiveness of email marketing may even be improving as attitudes change and young people gain influence in the business world.

Here is your quick, seven minute guide to getting starting with email marketing.

Do you market research. Email marketing is still marketing, so do your due diligence in finding out who it is you’re trying to sell to and what types of things motivate them.

Develop an email marketing strategy. Don’t just start hammering your list with ezine articles or special offers. Take the time to develop a plan: how do you get a subscriber from the point of signing up to the point of buying? Build trust, and then capitalize on that trust.

Don’t spam. Don’t buy mailing lists, build mailing lists. Any mailing list you buy is going to be a waste of money anyway, as it won’t convert and most of the messages will end up in peoples’ spam boxes.

Build your opt-in email list. Put together a nice prominent signup form, and display it above the fold on every page of your site. You can even use a slider to overlay the signup form over the rest of your content. Another option is to build a separate signup page or a squeeze page that exists only to sell free subscriptions your mailing list.

  • Be sure to describe the benefits of joining the list.
  • If you can, collect a little bit of demographic information that you can use to segment your list.
  • Remember that if you do business offline, you can get people to subscribe face-to-face. Speaking engagements are a great place to pimp your mailing list.

Invest in an email marketing solution. I know it seems cheaper to pay $15 a month for AWeber or ConstantContact, but those services become pricier as your business grows. They are popular and I do think Aweber is a very good solution. I’ve used it for some of my niche lists for many years. However, if you are really looking to stay in this for the long haul and turn your email marketing efforts into a real business, then I recommend plunking down the money for a software solution that you can keep using forever. I recommend the Active Campaign software and because I’ve used that company for years, I can personally vouch for the software and the support you’ll receive. It’s far and away the most mature email marketing application you’ll find.

Split-test different versions of your message. Write a few different headlines and see which one converts the best. Play around with different layouts and different calls to action. If you take my advice and use the ActiveCampaign software, you can set it up to test multiple versions at the beginning of a mailing and then automatically pick a winner to send to the rest of your list.