Make Additional Income by Performing Keyword Research

Whether you’re a virtual assistant, copywriter, web design pro or search engine optimizer, keyword research is a useful and necessary service you can add to your lineup.  Anyone with a website or blog who aims to rank high in the search engines can benefit from professional-quality keyword research.

Why Would Others Pay You to Perform Keyword Research?

Because, as a trained professional, you will gather and evaluate data and make confident decisions. You won’t be an amateur who doesn’t understand the finer points of this craft and guesses at which terms are best to use where.

The issue lies in the fact that most people *think* they know how to conduct keyword research.  Either that or they believe it solely depends on search counts.  But because they haven’t been trained and they don’t stay on top of the latest developments, they aren’t aware of the little things that can make a huge difference.

For instance, did you know that Wordtracker presents annual search counts?  Most people believe they deliver daily counts.  They did, years ago, but their website states (in several places) that the search totals displayed on their site are for a 365-day period.  Just imagine if you incorrectly think you’re comparing daily Wordtracker results with monthly Google results?  You’re research is going to be seriously flawed.

An Ongoing Source of Revenue

Conducting keyword research is not a one-time event.  New products and services are coming out all the time.  New ways to describe things are constantly developing. For instance, “search engine copywriting” has gotten several new names over the past few years.  You now hear it called “SEO content writing” or “keyword optimization writing” among other things.

If search engine writers wanted to attract traffic from every possible source, they would need to continually research new keywords to optimize their website pages for.  The same is true for every other industry.  Here’s another example.

There are major differences sometimes in what keywords a company uses and which ones customers use.  A client of mine manufacturers those big inflatable advertising balloons that are shaped like soda bottles or giant products.  The company called these “cold-air inflatables” or other industry-related terms.  Their customers, however, used phrases like “giant advertising balloons” and so forth.

As you can see, there are numerous reasons your clients would need repeated keyword research, meaning you have an ongoing source of revenue IF you learn to do it right.

Is Keyword Research That Hard to Do?

Not when you know how   The problem is, most people don’t take the time or spend the money to get professional training.  If you aren’t shown the right way to conduct keyword research, you will almost certainly hang a hard left turn that takes you down the wrong path.  If your research doesn’t produce results for your clients, you’ve wasted your time as well as your clients’ time and money.

Here’s what I recommend.  It’s a keyword research guide I wrote called “Demystifying Keyword Research.” No, don’t worry… it’s not a $100+ complicated ebook that will take you 6 months to read.  In fact, it’s not for sale at all.  But I will GIVE you a FREE copy.

Included in this guide is everything you need to know to conduct professional-level keyword research, choose the best search terms for various web pages and more.  It’s a mere 25 pages long, but don’t worry: I didn’t skimp on any of the information you need to know.  I just took out all the fluff and boiled down the good stuff into an easy-to-understand, quick-read format.

How do you get your free copy of “Demystifying Keyword Research?”  Simply click to this page now http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keywordreport.html and start creating a new and profitable source of income for your business.

Is it Time for a Copywriting Face Lift?

I just had to laugh! During a recent conversation about how often you should change your copy, I had one person tell me “Well, if there were any good copywriters out there, they’d be able to write it once, and it would work forever!” Oh really? Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

It is extremely rare for advertising copy to last for extended periods of time. Changing your copy is a given, the reason being that people and events change. Since we, as copywriters, are reaching our customers on an emotional level, we have to stay in tune with what’s going on in their lives and their worlds. Let’s look at an example.

Say you rent mailing lists. Your primary benefit might be that you have the largest lists available offering a minimum of 100,000 names per category. Things are going great, and you’re renting lists like wildfire. But then – right in the middle of your success – the postal service increases rates substantially.

All of a sudden, your rentals begin to drop dramatically. Here you are screaming about the largest lists available anywhere, and your customer is thinking about how much his postage expense is going to skyrocket.

The businesses you rent lists to are now very concerned. What *used* to be your biggest benefit is now your biggest deterrent. Your customers no longer want to rent lists that have a minimum of 100,000 names. Instead, they’d love to be able to rent much smaller lists – in the 5,000 to 10,000 quantity range. Yep! You guessed it. It’s time to change your copy, USP and all!

Any number of aspects can cause a change in focus for your target customer, and therefore a need to rewrite your copy. Here are some of the more common ones for businesses:

    New tax laws
    New mandatory expenses (such as a postage increase)
    Starting a new business
    Closing a business
    Stock price increase
    Stock price decrease

Business to consumer sales can be affected, too. Personal circumstances that change every day include:

    Buying a new home
    Retiring
    Getting married
    Getting divorced
    Having a baby
    Receiving a tax refund
    Receiving an inheritance

What do I recommend? Twice a year, take a good, long look at your copy. What has changed in your marketplace? What laws, regulations, or events have been implemented or have taken place? Will these things have an impact on your customers? How will you respond to them?

Take that information and compare it to what your current copy says. Is your message clear? Are there benefits you need to update or change? Is your copy still making the most positive impact on your potential customers that it can?

If not, don’t hesitate to make changes. After all, your copy is your key to new customers and repeat customers. And, as I said in the beginning, hardly any copy will last forever. Eventually, everybody is due for a copy facelift.

Want a quick and easy way to learn web & SEO copywriting? Get Karon’s self-paced Step-by-Step Copywriting Course.  Lessons, examples and answers walk you through every aspect of writing expert-level copy for your site. Get details, watch videos & more at http://www.CopywritingCourse.com.

How Poor Usability Can Kill Your Copy and Conversions

It’s funny how we, as website owners, don’t always think like our visitors. A course of action that might seem perfectly obvious to us may stop our visitors right in the middle of their buying process. Take, for instance, e-commerce–type copy. Do you realize that what happens after your customers read your copy could make or break your sale? I’m not talking about shopping cart abandonment. I’m talking about good communication that keeps the buying cycle moving forward. Let me give you a real-world example.

One website offered custom-designed gift bags. The photos on their site were gorgeous. The copy seemed self-explanatory until I got to the request for quote page. There I found a form that asked questions I wasn’t expecting. I was supposed to explain my preference of fabric color, the type of handle I wanted and a description of any accessories that should be added to the bag. I had no idea how to answer.

Because the copy stated that each gift bag was custom designed, I assumed I’d be given options to choose from. Instead, as it turned out, I was responsible for knowing precisely what I wanted and also for describing it in detail in writing on the request for quote form. It set me back a little.

Since most people aren’t very comfortable with writing, I can easily see how a page like this would immediately stop visitors and send them packing. I could place the most compelling copy ever written on the sales page for these bags – copy that would have visitors primed and ready to whip out their credit cards. But after clicking to a request for quote page like the one described above, most would likely not order.

Would that be the fault of the copywriting? No. Yet most site owners would assume the text wasn’t doing its job. Low conversions, in this case, would be an error in the sales process.

Web Page Copy Doesn’t Involve Just One Page

Unless you’re talking about a specific landing page that is created for the sole purpose of receiving clicks from a targeted PPC ad campaign, there are very few instances where the copy on one web page won’t be affected by the pages around it.

Visitors click in and out of pages and back and forth throughout your site. They can also enter your site from literally hundreds of different links around the Net. For this and other reasons, you have to consider where they might come from and where they’ll be headed.

How to Test

One of the best ways to make sure your site flows as it should is to ask several outsiders to take a tour. Have them start at one of the many beginning points (a search engine listing, a link to you from another site, your home page, etc.) and click through just as a customer would. Ask them to make notes about what they didn’t understand as they go along so you’ll know where to tweak your copy.

You may even choose to give them specific tasks to complete while they are there. For example, ask them to read the copy and then explain the benefits of a new product or service you’ve added, or ask them to tell you the process for registering for the members-only area of your site.

Another good idea is to draw a flowchart of your website. Seeing all the pages on paper can oftentimes give you a better understanding of how the copy on each page might affect all the others surrounding it. Once you take a look at the big picture and get some feedback, use that information to shore up the weak copy on your site.

When you take time to see things from your visitors’ perspective and then implement adjustments accordingly, you’ll begin to notice increases in conversions. And that makes all the work worth your while.

Need to write copy that impresses the search engines AND your site visitors? Karon’s Step-by-Step Copywriting Course holds the key. Get details, watch videos & more at http://www.CopywritingCourse.com.

Are You Asking the Right Questions in Your Copy?

It’s a common approach to writing copy.  You begin by asking questions.  Why?  To evoke thoughts in your readers’ minds, to stir up emotions, and to get customers thinking in the way you want them to think.  But have you ever thought about how you phrase your questions?  Are you doing it in a way that will have the greatest impact on your readers or are you just throwing questions on a page?

Behaviorally speaking, not everybody responds in the same way to the same questions.  Those with different communications styles will relate in a variety of ways depending on how you phrase your sentence.

Using the DISC Behavioral Profile, let me explain what I mean and show you how you can start asking the right questions in the right way to suit your customers.

D = Dominance

Those who fall in the Dominance category of the DISC profile are described as: in control, powerful, confident, visionaries, and risk takers.  These people can be managers, CEOs, high-ranking military personnel, entrepreneurs, and the like.

Those who are considered high in Dominance want to stick to business. They expect the facts to be presented logically.  They want presentations to be clear, specific, and to the point.

This group of people will respond better to specific “what” questions.  For example, let’s say we’re developing a headline for an ultra-fast printer.  You wouldn’t want to write a headline that asks, “How Do You Cure a Need for Speed?”  That question is vague; it’s not specific, and it begins with the word “how.”

CEOs, upper management, and others in this category aren’t the least bit interested in “how” you do anything.  They are visionaries.  They look at the big picture, not the little details.  Details are somebody else’s job!

Instead, try rewriting that headline to include the word “what” and to be specific, like this: “What Cures a Need for Speed?”

You can see a similar relation in other behavioral styles (I, S, and C) and the types of questions people in each prefer.

I = Influence

Those high in Influence are generally found in the sales field or other fields that require a lot of people/social interaction.  They move fast and want to focus on people-oriented tasks.  They love to give their opinions and to be asked for their thoughts on a matter.  They love to be the center of attention.

This group responds well to “feeling” questions. Not just about themselves, but also about others.  For example: “Remember the excitement you felt when _____?” or “How would your child feel if _____?”

S = Steadiness

Those in the Steadiness group want to be seen as people – not a number.  They appreciate logic, a touch of personal interaction, and they are detail-oriented.  They are generally slow decision-makers and are not wild about taking unqualified risks.  Those who fall into the Steadiness category make up 40% of the general population and come from all walks of life.

People high in steadiness would be likely to respond better to questions beginning with “how.”  Possibilities include “How many times have you wished ____?” or “How often do you ____?”  They also respond well to questions that make them think, like “Is your copy getting results?”  They’ll likely want to know what you can do about it if the answer is “no.”

C = Compliance

When describing someone who falls into the Compliance category, these phrases come to mind: critical thinker, prepared, quality-oriented, incredibly detailed, specific, and slow decision-maker.  You’ll generally find these types working as engineers, bankers, accountants, scientists, and the like.

Those high in Compliance will respond best to questions including statistics and questions that force them to look at all sides of an issue/problem.  For example, “68% of All Drivers Pay Too Much for Auto Insurance. Are You?”  Another idea is “Widget or Thingee… Which Makes the Most Sense?”

Phrasing your questions in a way that allows your target customers to relate only makes sense.  When you hit a nerve – people will respond.  Asking the right questions… in the right way… within your copy will get you one step closer to closing the sale.

Copy not getting results?  Learn to write SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. While you’re there, sign up for your free 7-part website copywriting tutorial.

Does Your Website Need an Overhaul? Self-Quiz.

How long has it been since you sat at the computer with excitement and enthusiasm and put up your first website? A day? A week? A year? A decade?

No matter when you created it you likely missed a few things in your rush to get online. Don’t worry! We all do it. It’s similar to the ‘cobbler’s children have no shoes’ sort of deal where you never spend as much time and care on your own stuff as you do on your clients.

Well I’m here to tell you to take the time to create a good pair of shoes (err…website)!

What you need to do is look at your website objectively, like you’re a new visitor who’s never been there before. Scroll around and see what you see. Or better yet, ask your kid or your mom or your neighbour to take a look at your site and watch what they do when they get there, where they go and what questions they ask you (this works best if they’ve never been there before).

You can also take this self-quiz to see how many of the website basics you’ve got down and what you need to work on:

1. When someone comes to your website and scans your header is it clear to them what your site is about?

2. Would your tagline make total sense to a stranger on the street?

3. Are you collecting leads from your website?

4. Does every page have a purpose?

5. Is it clear what you are offering on your site? (selling a service, a product or offering free information?)

6. Are you getting found in the search engines through ‘keywords’ that your marketing is typing in?

7. Do you have an about and a contact page?

8. Are you linking to your most important social media profiles? (twitter, facebook, youtube)

9. Are you using graphics to enhance your site’s image (versus bad images that take away from your image)?

10. Can someone find out how to contact you in 10 seconds or less?

11. Is your website font easy to read and large enough for your target market?

12. Is your branding consistent?

13. Can people find what they are looking for? (You got them there, now can they get to their goal easily?)

14. Do your links stand out? (Typical linking rules are blue font, bold and underlined)

15. Is your style and colors consistent?

16. Is your content well-written and easy to understand? (No extra info – straight to the point)

17. Is your content easy to read? (Use of headlines, sub-headlines, bullets, bolding, etc)

Honestly answer all these questions and you’ll probably have a little bit of work to do.

Did you get them all right? Really? Then way to go! (…and maybe you should come partner with me! lol)

If you’re like most people and you have some work to do I’d like to offer you some help. My WordPress website design course is meant for people just like you who have a new or existing website and are ready to really unleash the power of what a website can do. To do that I offer a program that runs all year long, has been attended by over 100 people and has a track record of taking the newest of newbies and turning them into website designers.

Are You Making These 3 Deadly Website Copywriting Mistakes?

It’s a common question.  “What copywriting mistakes should I avoid?”  There are many, but the 3 I chose might surprise you.  Why?  Because while these can potentially cause the greatest amount of damage they are not ones most copywriters talk about.

Why?  Because these aren’t the “sexy” copywriting mistakes.  They aren’t the quick-fix aspects. They require thinking and judgment and… … work!  However, they are the ones that – when implemented correctly – can drastically boost the performance of your copy and content whether that be a blog post, article, web page, email or other forms of text.

Copywriting Mistake #1 – Writing Without a Plan

Regardless of what you write, you’ll get better results if you perform due diligence with a little prior planning.  In fact, if you go through the planning phase of copywriting, chances are the copy will all but write itself.  How so?

Because research allows you the opportunity to get to know your target customer, organize your thoughts, outline features, benefits and end results, get your creative juices flowing, and much more. It also allows you to overcome what might otherwise become copywriting mistakes.

Take this article, for instance.  When I started, I didn’t just lay fingers to keyboard and begin rambling on.  I thought about the topic I’d like to approach.  I looked into keyphrases that might be a good fit. (For this piece, I chose “copywriting mistakes” and “copywriting mistake.”)

Then, I gave some thought about what – specifically – I’d like to accomplish in the article.  What, precisely, did I want to communicate to you?  Those became the “3 copywriting mistakes” mentioned in the headline as well as the outline for my writing.

All that was left to do was fill in the blanks.

The same applies to writing website copy.  When you follow a process for outlining features, benefits and end results, researching keywords, and creating a skeleton of what the page should accomplish, it all falls into place much easier.

Copywriting Mistake #2 – Writing About Your Company/Product Instead of To Your Site Visitor

One of my biggest pet peeves – and one of the most common copywriting mistakes I see – is ignoring your site visitors.  Indulge me for a minute as I climb on my soapbox.

If someone walked into your office, shook your hand and asked how you could help them, you would not immediately begin to rattle off everything you believed to be a strong point about your product or company.  No.  What would you do?  You’d start getting to know the customer.

You would ask questions.  You would find out what their problems/challenges are.  You’d get details on specifically what they want to do/accomplish and then you would address their exact issues.

Instead of “we do this and we do that and our company… let us help… we, we, us, us, our, our, our…blah, blah, blah” you would speak to the customer who is seated in front of you.  Instead of “we-ing all over yourself,” you’d say something like this:

“Mr. Smith, you can get to where you want to go. It’s not as hard as you think.  You can improve the image others have of your company and help reinforce your brand with a system that offers 3 important advantages.  First, you’ll find that ____________________________….”  You get the idea.

Does that mean you can never use “us” or “we” or “our?”  Certainly not!  But keep it to a minimum.  I’d venture to guess you should you those words less than 10% of the time.  After all, it’s not about you… it’s about the ones who have the money:  your customers.

Copywriting Mistake #3 – Thinking Copywriting Only Happens on Your Web Page

If you plan to write search engine optimized copy, you’ll have to understand that your copy actually begins in the search engine results pages (SERPs).  The title tag and the META description tag create a little advertisement for you in Yahoo!, Google, Bing and the other engines.

Let’s say a surfer types in “black cowboy boots” (for example).  The very first exposure that customer has to your web page is what they find in the SERPs. Which of these tag sets grabs your attention?

    Black Cowboy Boots – Black Cowboy Boots

    Black cowboy boots are manufactured by all of the major cowboy boot makers. This most popular boot comes in various styles depending on your needs.

    

    Black Cowboy Boots – Free Shipping and Return Shipping

    Buy cowboy boots with a price guarantee and top rated customer service. You can compare multiple … Dan Post Boots Eel Cowboy – Black (Men’s) $249.95 …

    

    Western Spurs, Tshirts, Western Wear, Art, Posters

    Black Cowboy Boot with Spurs keychains · Black Cowboy Boot with Spurs Key Chain by White_Wedding. praying cowboy pet clothing · praying cowboy dog shirt …

I don’t know about you, but I’d be clicking that free shipping one with the price guarantee!

You have to write your title tag and META description tag as an advertisement. Tell the surfer why they should click to your page as opposed to the other 10,000 in the SERPs. What’s in it for them if they click to you?

So, now you know.  And now that you know, you can avoid making the 3 most deadly copywriting mistakes small business owners make.

Want to learn to write web and SEO copy the right way?  Karon’s Step-by-Step Copywriting Course walks you through.  Get details about this home-study course today at http://www.CopywritingCourse.com.

The Value of Watching Over The Shoulder of A Pro

Ever thought what it would be like to sit beside a seasoned web developer and learn as they work?

Years ago, a marketing manager decided he would hire a web development company to build them a web site. He then instructed a young lady who was among his staff to spend an entire day at the web developers’ offices to learn how to update their new site.

The young lady was excited as she was really curious. At the same time, she was also nervous. Would it be difficult? Could she handle this? What if all this is way over her head?

She was awfully lucky that day because she got paired with a designer-developer who patiently answer questions and freely shared his knowledge.

Sitting side by side, he show her how to update the site. Later, he began building a web site from scratch. At every action, he took time to explain what he was doing and why he did things that way, while she watched and took it all in.

That woman is Lynette Chandler. She says, that single, simple event, changed her career direction forever. It sparked a new passion. Lynette took this new found knowledge, built upon it and used it to create a profitable business with services and products ranging from web development to WordPress plugins, themes and more.

Lynette is fully aware just how fortunate she was to have been paired up with an experienced, professional developer who was willing to do what he did. So many are afraid of you stealing their ‘secrets’ they don’t necessarily tell you what’s going on in their head as they work. But he did and Lynette recognized the immense value in that. In the early days of her business and even on occasion today, she often draws upon what she learned from him.

That’s why, when Lynette started customizing a theme for one of her own projects recently, she decided to record it, explain her steps, the decisions made as she went and why. The result is a 5 part video training that is raw and unedited; filled with golden nuggets and instantly usable knowledge for any web developer or anyone who wants to work on their own web design.  Watching it, would be as close to sitting next to Lynette as you can get. Just like she did with her mentor.

You can learn more or get a copy of this recording at http://techbasedtraining.com/?p=2987

While you’re there. Make sure you check out her other training courses. Lynette is a wonderful and patient technical teacher. Someone you’d enjoy learning from.

Building Your Own Free Website or Blog

So you’re ready to start your own website. You decide to take matters into your own hands and Google “build free websites myself”. What you see next boggles the mind! The options are all over the map. From website builders to coding to Dreamweaver and beyond. It’s confusing and frustrating trying to figure out what exactly to choose to build your own website for free. I’m going to offer you some advice based on my own ten plus years experience building free websites for myself. First, it doesn’t hurt to learn a little HTML. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language but that’s not really all that important. What you need to know is that it allows you to see websites in more than just plain text, it makes them look ‘pretty’. Websites wouldn’t have bolding, different sized fonts, images and more without HTML. Learning a little HTML is not as complicated as it sounds. A great website to learn from is W3Schools. Next, you’ll need to decide what type of program you’ll use to create your website. You can get both free hosting and free website design from a number of places but I would caution against getting free hosting. If you don’t pay for hosting then you won’t own your own website. That means the company where you host it will have complete control over what ads they show on your site as well as the ability to pull your website down anytime they see fit. Now, I’m going to recommend to you an easy way to set up a website that is going to allow you to easily edit and update your website. Sound good? The program I use for all my own websites is called WordPress. WordPress is a free software program that is largely customizable. WordPress also has add-ons that are called plug-ins. These plug-ins are also free and are developed by experts who want to get their name out there. The plug-ins add tons of extra features to an already great program. One of the best things about WordPress is that you can edit your website in much the same way you edit a Word document. There is no need for coding experience or complicated updating procedures (though as mentioned earlier a little HTML knowledge will be useful to you). Now you might be wondering how to make a website with WordPress. First you start with a great host (such as Bluehost) that offers cpanel and Simple Scripts. Using Simple Scripts you can install your new website within a few clicks and a few minutes. And now if you’d like to walk away with at least one completed website, ready to turn a profit, I’d like to invite you to learn all about it through my online video, webinar and email coaching program that is designed to teach you everything you need to know about creating websites and blogs with WordPress.

How to Get Started Creating a Training Video

Making tutorial videos is easy once you learn how. There are many different software applications that you can use to make tutorial videos. If you want to create training videos that can be used in the workplace to teach employees how to do various tasks as well as inform them of company policy and rules then you can do that. If you want to create training videos that you can sell for a profit you can do that also. Whatever reason you want to create training videos can be accomplished.

If you want to know how to create a video tutorial follow these steps:

Step 1: Choose your software – There are various software packages that you can purchase or download free to get started creating training videos, such as: Camtasia, Avi Screen Capture, CamStudio, Copernicus, Adobe Captivate and others. Choose based on your budget and whether there is enough training for you to learn how to use the software efficiently.

Step 2: Decide what you want to demonstrate – Get a good idea in your mind about what exactly you want to demonstrate how to do in your training video. Knowing what you want will help you with step 1 and the following steps.

Step 3: Practice your skills – Ensure that you know how to do what you want to instruct someone else on how to do. Practice doing it over and over to make sure that you aren’t missing any steps. Write notes as you learn.

Step 4: Learn how to use the software – Now, it’s time to practice using the software that you’ve downloaded or purchased. You can likely find training videos for your choice that will help you learn what you need to know. Practice using the software so that you can record your desktop without interrupting to learn how to use the software.

Step 5: Write a script – Using all your notes create a script about what you want teach. You don’t have to follow the exact working in the script but it is a good idea to at least follow your steps so that you don’t accidentally skip over something important. Even the smallest step is important to the novice.

Step 6: Record – Now that you’ve practiced, and know your script, you can go through the process of recording your screen so that you can create a training video for your employees, clients, or others.

Step 7: Edit – Once you’re doing making the raw footage you can use your software to edit what you’ve created to make it look as professional as possible.

Step 8: Publish – Choose your format and let the software do the rest. Then upload the files to the place you want your students to view or purchase it.

Step 9: Market – Make a sales page, or send out an email with your tutorial so that everyone you want to view it or buy it can do so.

Step 10: Earn or learn – You can put up your video tutorial for sale or for free, it’s up to you what you want to do with your training video.

Making Video Tutorials can be one of the fastest products you will ever create and there is nothing like the power of video! Learn how to create quick video tutorials for fun and profit by visiting http://videotutorialprofits.com.

4 Reasons Why You Might Want To Consider Affiliate Marketing.

Many all over the internet are utilizing affiliate marketing to either supplement an existing income or to create an income from home. Affiliate marketing is when you promote affiliate products and are paid when you make a sale.

Here are four reasons that you might want to consider if you haven’t started affiliate marketing already.

1. No start up costs: Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to start earning money on the internet because it costs you nothing to sign up and participate in various affiliate programs. You don’t have to worry about paying for products on a monthly basis and some affiliate programs don’t have a quota that you must reach to get paid on a monthly basis. There are even some affiliate programs that pay instantly.

2. A wide variety of products: What’s your passion? Is it health, network marketing, food, self improvement or maybe another area? There are so many different types of affiliate products that you can promote that will be in the same niche as what you are already doing.

If you have a health and wellness blog, find affiliate programs that are centered around health and wellness products or if you have a website that shares recipes with your readers you can opt to use food and kitchen related affiliate programs.

If you are a network or internet marketer you might want to look for products to promote that center around helping other marketers like autoresponders, PLR and information products.

3. You can greatly increase your income: Depending on what you’re promoting, how you promote it and if it meshes well with your niche you try to combine it with, you can create a nice income from home by using affiliate programs. Affiliate programs can be promoted alongside whatever else you are already doing.

If you’re blogging already, you can use banner advertising or article marketing to promote products to your readers while still supplying them with quality content. When someone clicks on your link or banner and makes a purchase you earn. The more this happens the more your earnings are increased.

4. Affiliate marketers usually get a large chunk of the profits: It ‘s not uncommon to see affiliate marketing programs offering 30%, 50% or even 75% of their profits to their affiliates. Why in the world would they offer up so much of their profits? The answer is quite simple … traffic.  Affiliate marketers can bring in so much more traffic than the owner of the product and program can bring in by them-self .

More people promoting make the amount of traffic and sales so much greater. In exchange, affiliate program owners are happy to pay an amount that is more than fair to ones who are bringing in sales.

Alice Coaxum is a homeschooling mother of four, PLR writer and internet marketer. She is the owner of ShopForPLR.Com where you can find quality PLR articles, blog posts, emails and reports at affordable prices.

Seven Qualities of a Good Website

What are the qualities of a good website?

It’s a lot simpler than you think!

A good website is simply a site that provides it’s target market with what they desire. Now this wouldn’t be a very long or useful article if I left it at that so I’ll expand on this idea by providing you with seven tips to reach your target market with your website:

1. Easy to Read -Don’t make it hard for your visitors to read the information they’re looking for. Use a font that is large and easy to read. Also don’t make the background of your writing dark and your actual writing light. For example white text on a black background is terrible for reading, so are bright reds, pinks, greens, etc. Don’t mess with this or you’ll lose readers. Keep your text black on a white background for the easiest readability.

2. Easy to Find – Don’t hide the good stuff. Make sure your website navigation makes sense and makes it easy for your visitors to find what they need. It’s best not to have a huge selection on the main  page of your website. When faced with too many decisions people usually choose none. Make main categories and then drill down to deeper pages if you need to.

3. Lead Them Through – Don’t expect your visitors to find their way through your site. Take every opportunity you can to lead them through and show them the way.

4. Provide Basics – The basic pages most websites will need are a ‘Home’, ‘About’, ‘Contact’ and ‘FAQ’ page. Most people expect these pages on a website. Provide them.

5. Have a Clear Purpose – Do people know what your website is about when they hit the main page? Is the purpose clear? Make sure your visitors know what your website is about and how it can help them. Don’t make them search for this information or they might end up going somewhere else.

6. Offer Solutions – Are people coming to your website with a problem? Don’t just offer information, make sure to offer solutions. If you are providing information be sure to lead them towards the next step. This will help connect your visitors to what you want and allow you to make more money.

7. Test, Track and Tweak – No website is perfect in the first go. Think of your website as a brand new baby and stay by it’s side as it learns to talk, to walk, to ride it’s bike.  Make sure you pay attention to your website and watch as it grows and you’ll be amazed at how intuitively you will be able to make decisions as time goes by.

There you have some qualities of a great website.

Knowing how to best build your own website is how you build a strong, unshakeable foundation for your online business for years to come.

Join me as I teach you in this online video, webinar and email coaching program everything you need to know about creating websites and blogs with WordPress.

You Can Start Your Own Transcription Business From Home

There are hundreds of ways to make money on the internet these days. Providing services may be the most popular and fastest way to get money coming in quickly.

The problem many people face with providing services is they require training or previous experience to get started. A transcription business can be started on the ground floor with little or no experience at all, and more importantly almost no start up costs are involved.

Running a transcription business from home can be both flexible and profitable. You set your own rates, giving you control over the money that is coming in. You also set your own hours, giving you the flexibility to work when you want and where you want. Want to take a week off to go camping with the kids? No problem, just let your clients know you’ll be out of town for a week and not available. You can always take preorders to complete their projects upon your return.

It can also be a portable business, all you need is your computer with the ability to download and play the audio your clients send you and you can transcribe from just about anywhere. Having the ability to be mobile can be hugely beneficial. Personally, I found this very helpful when my grandfather was in the hospital and I wanted to go visit. I just packed up my laptop, traveled to Pennsylvania and stayed at my mother’s house for two weeks. Portability is definitely a good thing in any business.

A transcription business is also an interesting one. Yes, you’re still typing every day, but the audio will never be the same from day to day. You get to listen to something new every day, and sometimes you even get to learn something new from your assignments. It’s never dull, that’s for sure.

Transcription Crash Course is an easy to follow guide to help you start your transcription business today. What are you waiting for? Get started now.

Finding Work at Home Transcription Jobs Online

A lot of people want you to believe that finding freelance transcription is shrouded in mystery. The truth is it’s really not. Yes, there are some things you need to know, but there’s nothing mysterious or mystical at work here, it’s a lot like any other job search you might do. Let’s take a look at a few things you should know when looking for work at home transcription jobs.

The first thing to take into consideration is do you need training or not. A lot of companies that offer the option to freelance transcription work don’t want to take the time to train new folks, so they prefer you already have a basic idea of what you’re doing and maybe a little experience as well.

The next thing to take into consideration is the amount of time you want to work per week. A lot of companies require that you take a minimum number of audio hours per week to transcribe and this may be more than you’d like to handle each week.

If you’d like to work one job at a time or maybe just handle overflow work, your best bet is to try bidding on freelance job sites. There are actually many companies looking to outsource work at home transcription jobs via these platforms, sites like Elance, oDesk, Freelancer, etc…. You can bid on the jobs and have total control over the amount of work you take on each week and the turn around times. It’s great if you need major flexibility.

Another thing you want to look for when you’re applying for freelance transcription positions with larger scale companies is what do they offer their clients. Do they offer various types of transcription and will you be able to choose which department you’re in or will you have to bounce back and forth from legal to general? Do they require additional training or a particular software program?

In most cases you can use any software you prefer, but there are a few companies that require you to log in remotely and use only their software programs. Check the requirements before you apply so that you’re not surprised later on.

Finding work at home transcription jobs doesn’t have to be a difficult process and it can lead to some great career options in the future. Take your time, do your research, and be prepared before you put in applications.

If you need an overview or a little help in getting started, Transcription Crash Course gives you everything you need to get started as a general transcriptionist quickly and easily. You don’t need any special skills, and unlike some business models, you don’t need a ton of start-up capital. In fact, if you have a computer and an Internet connection, you’ve got everything you need!

Work at Home Typing Jobs Are a Reality

If you’ve been looking into working at home you’ve probably seen plenty of ads that claim you’ll make hundreds of dollars per week typing from home. Unfortunately, many of these ads turn out to be ad typing scams that ask you to spam places like Craigslist and other free databases online.

The reality is that you can make money working from home with a typing job, by offering transcription services. This doesn’t require experience or a lot of funding. In fact, you can get started with little or no start up costs at all.

You might be wondering who exactly is going to pay you to type these documents from your home computer. Here’s a shortlist of a few people and places that need transcription services regularly.

    Internet Marketers have information products and interviews transcribed.
    Podcasters have their shows transcribed to distribute in text format on their blogs.
    Legal offices have client interviews transcribed for their records.
    Insurance companies have client phone call recordings transcribed for easy referencing.
    Busy bloggers and site owners have voice notes transcribed to turn into articles.

Those are just a few to give you an idea of the demand for transcription services online today. There are plenty of other opportunities out there to offer your services and make a decent living as a transcriptionist.

So, what’s the pay like? I’m sure you’re wondering. In today’s economy everyone wants to make a dollar. Transcriptionist rates vary with experience, type of files handled, and turn around time, but a general or legal transcriptionist can make anywhere from 30 dollars per audio hour to 160 dollars per audio easily.

Why is the rate per audio hour? Rates are a little different in the transcription world, instead of charging per hour that you’ve worked you charge by the length of the audio or video you are transcribing. Don’t worry though, this usually works out quite well and your hourly rate is quite decent in comparison. Of course, with more practice you become more efficient and it’s like giving yourself a raise without changing your rates.

Transcription Crash Course is an easy to follow guide to help you start your transcription business today. What are you waiting for? Make your work at home dream a reality today.

7 Reasons Why WordPress Rocks for Websites

When I created my first website I did it from ‘scratch’. That means I hand-coded every line of the site in HTML coding. It was time-consuming, pain-staking and some times down right frustrating.

Many years have passed and these days getting your website up is NOT the hard part. WordPress makes it very easy to get a site up in a matter of minutes (I timed myself one day and had a site up and ready to post to in 10 minutes!)

Sure there are still older, more costly and more complicated ways of building a website but why bother when WordPress is ALL that you need?

Here are 7 Reasons Why WordPress is Best:

1. Install in MINUTES – your website can literally be up in it’s most basic format in a matter of minutes. This involves using a great host like Bluehost and they’re three-click installation.

2. It’s FREE – Oh yeah, you don’t pay a cent for this highly advanced website and blog software. Is that Cool or what?!

3.It’s a Website – If you want just a website WordPress can be that.

4.It’s a Blog – If you want just a blog, WordPress also can be that. OR if you want a WordPress and blog combined you can do that too.

5.It’s Got RSS – If you’re not familiar with RSS the most important thing for you to understand here is this: By setting up your site or blog with RSS you allow people to ‘subscribe’ to your content and get updated automatically whenever you add something new.

6. It’s Extremely Flexible – There are thousands upon thousands of add-ons called ‘plugins’ that you can get for WordPress and make it do just about anything you can dream of. From stopping spam, adding audio to automatically updating your site and more.

7.It’s Easily Customized – Again, there are thousands of WordPress ‘themes’ available that allow you to create a very customized look without paying thousands for a completely custom site.

The important thing to understand is that WordPress is not just for blogs. It can be a very powerful website design program. And another bonus is that you can edit your site anywhere at any time! No need to wait on website designers or worry about what files are the most recent – it’s all online for easy access.

So there you have seven reasons why WordPress just plain rocks for websites, blogs or both.

If you want some examples of what else it can do and if you’re ready to learn how to set up your own or your clients sites then join me as I teach you in this online video, webinar and email coaching program everything you need to know about creating rocking websites and blogs with WordPress.