Developed in 2009, CEO Ryan Holmes took social media to another level by creating Hootsuite, a social media management system that allows businesses and organizations to send campaigns through multiple social networks. From Facebook and Twitter to Foursquare and LinkedIn, Hootsuite is able to support all of your businesses social media needs.

How Hootsuite Evolved

Holmes came up with the idea while he was working for the company Invoke Media. Needing a program that was able to manage multiple networks, he realized that there was nothing that would serve his needs. He then collaborated with his associates and created a Twitter dashboard which was called BrightKit, and essentially had taken care of his social media needs.

Realizing that he was onto something that could benefit people all over the world, He decided to rename the platform Hootsuite and after funding from big named companies such as Blumberg Capitol and Hearst Interactive Media, created the platform that is now being used by over three million members.

How it Helps

There are so many social media sites, and more are popping up every  day. It can be hard for companies to manage all of their business needs, and sometimes very confusing. With Hootsuite’s Social Analytics, you are able to receive custom reports such as Facebook insights, which allows you to manage your fans and feed, and see your trends over time.

Google analytics gives you the ability to trace revenue and give you site traffic data. Twitter will track your followers and mentions, as well as Google+ analytics. Companies are able to share the updates with any Hootsuite user, making it possible to keep everyone up to date.

About Teams

Hootsuite Teams gives you the opportunity to organize your business by incorporating your real life teams into your social media management. Built both for large scale companies and small businesses, Hootsuite Teams will give your team the inclusion that they need and will make it easier to manage permissions for the different levels of employment. Send messages to specific teams or company-wide with Message Assignments, making it quick and easy to keep your team members informed.

Conversations

With Hootsuite Conversations, you are able to chat with teams right inside the Hootsuite dashboard. Whether you need specific people or if it needs to be a company-wide conversation, you are able to invite anyone, making it convenient to discuss matters at any time. You are also able to send messages to internal conversations, this way teams are able to discuss strategies and share across their own social networks. Best of all, this is all able to be done within your Hootsuite dashboard, making it convenient and worry free.

Publishing Features

Hootsuite gives you the most efficient and easy publishing features such as message scheduling and a bulk CSV uploader, as well as RSS feeds and Geo-targeting for Facebook posts. With the ability to search by hashtag and @mentions, you are saving valuable time that will allow you to focus on other important aspects of your company.

The Ow.ly URL  shortener gives you shortened links and file sharing, while also giving you tracking and site visit information that will help you see what messages are most effective with your audience. Hootsuite’s mobile app is available through the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Keitai, making it even easier to stay on top of your business needs no matter where you are.

With a platform like this it is important that information be kept private and secure. Hootsuite’s security allows you to login and out from any location so that you do not have to download or save any valuable information. You do not have to share passwords with your teams, keeping the information that needs to be secured safe.

Hootsuite’s Membership Levels

There are three different levels of membership to Hootsuite. The free version will allow you to have up to five social profiles, message scheduling, quick reports, and 2 RSS/Atom feeds. Hootsuite Pro, which is now being offered with a free 30 day trial, gives you unlimited profiles, message scheduling, 2 users, 1 Enhanced Analytics report, Google Analytics integration, Facebook Insights integration, and unlimited RSS feeds.

After the 30 days, Hootsuite Pro is available for only $9.99 a month. Hootsuite Enterprise gives uncapped team members, unlimited social profiles, social media security, enhanced analytics, unlimited analytics reports, tier 1 enterprise support, and unlimited RSS feeds. Hootsuite Enterprise starts at around $1500 a month. There are no long term commitments so you are able to cancel or adjust your options as you need to.

Awards and Accolades

Hootsuite has won multiple awards including Best Social Media Management Tool 2010 through the Mashable awards, Best Application at Shorty Awards 2009 and Canada’s Top Digital Companies through The Digi Awards 2011. Companies such as McDonald’s, Sony Music, Pepsi Co, and many more are currently using Hootsuite.

Pricing Downsides

While Hootsuite does offer many features that may help your companies social media needs, there are some con’s. While there is a free option, it does limit the user to what they are able to accomplish using that particular version. Even at $9.99 a month, users are still not able to take advantage of all that Hootsuite has to offer.

Posts do not stream as they do with an individual feed from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Instead, they have to be manually updated every time you want to refresh them. There are also many options and tabs to navigate through so it may be hard and confusing for someone to use that is not familiar with it.

Analytics reports can also be very expensive, giving you only one free report per month, and each report after that costing an additional $50. You are, however, able to get free reports from Ow.Ly. Using a custom URL shortener is also expensive at $49 per month, and that is on top of the amount that you are already paying for the plan that you chose.

Is It Worth It

Hootsuite may be expensive in some aspects, but one really has to think about the amount of their time is dedicated to managing multiple social networks to aid in their company’s success. This is time that can be spent focused on other aspects that needs attention, and can create an ease in your company.

You have to ask yourself how important something like this is to your company and how will you and your employees benefit from it. While you may end up spending a little money, you are also allowing your company to advance to the next level in technology, showing customers and employees alike that you really do care about the business and its needs.

Getting Started

By taking advantage of the free 30 day trial, you will be able to see the advantages of Hootsuite, and find out if it is really something that will help you and your company in the long run. As a Pro member you will also receive prioritized responses to any questions you may have or any help that you may need, giving you piece of mind that you will be able to navigate and learn the ins and outs of Hootsuite in no time. The variety of platforms that are supported make it so that no one will be left out when it comes to creating teams and keeping people in the know.

A big part of a company’s success is reliant upon social networks, making it crucial to ensure that you have a program that you can rely on. Hootsuite is constantly working on ways to improve performance and make it easier for companies to take advantage of all that social networking has to offer. Do not let your company be left behind.

Ever wonder which freelance sites do the best job when it comes to helping you contract or find freelance work online? It is of great importance to take precautionary measures by researching the best freelance sites, before signing up.

No matter if you’re a freelance worker or an employee looking for freelance workers, doing some due diligence can certainly save you some time and money, later on down the road.

There are many freelance websites willing to tap your talent and give you an opportunity to earn good money from the comfort of your own home. And in the same respect, if your looking for talent, there are sites that can supersede your expectations. On that note, we are going to briefly review the top ten freelance sites in ascending order of popularity.

This will give you a true picture of what to expect once you register with each of them. It’s our sincere hope that you’ll find this top 10 review useful in your quest to find your perfect source of income or contract employee, part time or full time.

Top Ten Freelance Sites in Ascending Order of Popularity

10. Freelancer

Freelancer.com normally has thousands of jobs posted on a daily basis. You can bid on programming, writing, marketing or any other freelance roles that you feel you are good at. The registration process is quite easy and you can start working as soon as after your application is approved. You don’t have to deposit any money to start bidding but you’ll have to part with 10% or $5 for any payments received via the site.

With Freelancer you can receive your payment through Moneybookers, wire transfer, PayPal or via the Freelancer debit card. Home to around 3 million freelancers, this site provides you with a fantastic chance to put your talent to good use and at the same time, make some money.

On the downside however, if you don’t like congested websites, you might have difficulties using this one. The site’s layout and the huge number of jobs that are normally lined up are squarely to blame for this scenario. Apart from experiencing difficulties while navigating through the site, you may also be turned off by its intuitive nature.

The process of hiring workers is also a bit complicated and you might just find yourself missing out on some bids that you would have been well placed to handle.

9. Fiverr

Fiverr.com is number nine in our review of the top ten freelance sites. Fiverr is a huge online marketplace for small gigs that retail from around $5. If you have an amazing talent, idea, experience or anything else that you feel can attract a buyer, this is the right place for you.

On the other hand if you are looking for services that are difficult to find anywhere on the globe, this is the only site to try your luck. The site has thousands of gigs posted on a daily basis from millions of creative freelancers who are categorized in 3 different levels, based on several aspects.

On the downside however if you are a freelancer, you’ll have to part with 20% of your earnings. This is a huge proportion especially considering the amount of effort invested towards delivering goods or services to clients.

Another issue that makes this site a bit hostile to use is the fact that it can be changed at any time without notifying the users. Some users have also complained of their accounts being banned without any explanation.

8. Rent-A-Coder

Rent-aCoder.com is another of the top ten freelance sites that often goes unnoticed despite its growing popularity. Once you register for an account here, you’ll access a huge number of jobs that are normally filtered based on skills e.g SEO writing, virtual assistance jobs etc. (You have to fill a particular section of the application form with details of your experience).

You can start bidding as soon as your account is confirmed; you don’t have to pay a single cent for this. However, once your work is approved, a certain amount (around 15%) will be deducted from your earnings as service fee.

7. Amazon Mechanical Turk or mTurk

mTurk.com is one of the most reputed websites for both contracting and locating freelance work. Developed by Amazon, this fantastic online workplace offers a superb opportunity for freelance workers to exercise their passion, through a friendly user interface.

Apart from being a wonderful meeting point for prospective buyers and sellers, mTurk has established its position as one of the fastest growing websites for both getting freelance work and finding freelance workers.

However, low pay and fraudulent HITS are a few of the qualms that lower mTurk’s ranking.

6. PeoplePerHour

Peopleperhour.com was started in 2008 and it is known to offer free membership as well as paid membership opportunities for Standard, Gold and Platinum plans. At this site, you can bid for a number of projects depending on your membership plan.

If you want to get the good projects, you will need to invest in a Platinum or Gold membership. Plus, with a profile system that allows you to rise up amongst the best based on what they call “economic activity/month”, you can become popular really fast.

This growing site has its fair share of challenges. As a beginner, you might find it a bit difficult understanding some of its aspects. However, with the site’s developers frequently introducing new features, you can definitely expect the site to rank higher among the top ten freelance sites in a few years time. Bottom line; this is a site worth your attention.

5. 99Designs

As the name suggests, 99designs.com is a design-oriented freelance website. Here, buyers post different types of contests such as page designing or logo designing. Freelancers need to post their best work. The person with the winning design usually bags lots of cash.

Although at first this may appear a bit time consuming, the site offers a good opportunity for people who want to put their talent into good use.  Payment methods include Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal.

As a new freelancer, you may find it a bit risky displaying your samples to people who may be after duplicating your ideas for no pay. However, if you are a good designer, you can earn good money here. 99 Designs could have ranked higher in our top ten list of freelance sites if it wasn’t for this tiny loophole.

4. Project4hire

Project4hire.com is a fantastic place to start your online freelancing career. This site offers a plethora of opportunities for freelancers ranging from web development jobs, language translation assignments and content writing to multiple other fields that require specialized skills and talent.

If you are a requester, you’ll have every reason to smile upon receiving high quality services at this site from a team of talented individuals who come from the US, UK, Canada, India and Easter Europe.

Since its establishment, the site has received positive feedback from its users. However, there have been some rare, but minor, issues that have emerged in the recent past that have ranked it as the number four freelance site on our list.

3. Guru

Guru.com is one of the largest freelance websites that has been around since the 1990s. With almost fifteen years in operation, this site has proven to be among the best, especially due to its easy-to-use and attractive design that has allowed millions of freelance workers to interact with prospective buyers in a friendly environment. One can doubtlessly conclude that this is a secure place for anyone seeking to get full value of their money and services.

As regards to disadvantages, one may point out the high fees charged for services offered here. In addition, many buyers are unrated and thus judging their past becomes difficult. However, with more and more features being introduced to improve the overall user experience, you can only expect to see this freelance site topping different top ten lists in the near future.

2. oDesk

Quality-wise, oDesk.com is one of the best freelance sites today. Since 2009, the site has grown rapidly and this has seen the number of jobs posted here grow steadily in almost all fields. Once you you’ve registered with the site (free), you’ll be able to access jobs within your category of skills.

This site charges a mere 10% for all payments made via its system which is a good rate, especially considering the high availability of jobs. The site also offers a good and secure avenue for buyers seeking to get good value for their money.

One of the main areas that we found worth some improvement is the statistics section of the website, where frequent updates would go a long way towards creating a complete user experience. Otherwise, this would have been the best site on our top ten list  of freelance sites.

1. Elance

Topping our list of the top ten freelance sites is the UK based website Elance.com. Elance is a global database of jobs. Anyone can work here as long as they posses relevant skills. So far there are more than 1.5 million registered buyers who post more than 60 thousand jobs per month.

Due to the huge availability of jobs and options, one can make lots of money without having to leave their home. Apart from being suitable to millions of freelance workers, this wonderful site is an excellent place where buyers can get quality services at reasonable prices.

We found very few demerits associated with this site. In fact most of the issues that we came across can easily be dealt with by carefully reading the sites terms and conditions section. We can emphatically conclude that Elance is so far the best freelance site online!

In summary, from this list of top ten sites for contracting and finding freelance work, you can choose your favorite and start making money OR hiring your dream team at once. Hopeful as we are, you’ll make an informed decision after weighing the merits and demerits of each site listed above. All the best!

Drop shipping is basically a supply chain management technique through which the supplier allows you to sell their  inventory of products in your online store without you ever physically handling the stock. For listing products from various drop shippers, you can use TripleClicks and other auction websites. When you get a sale, you just have to forward that order to a drop shipper. First the consumer pays you for the product/s, then you pay the wholesale rate for the same product to the drop shipper. Once the payment is settled, the items will be delivered to the customer along with your details printed on the package.

The biggest plus of using a drop shipper is that you will not have to deal with overstock which can badly affect your resale. Additionally, a drop shipping retailer will not need a warehouse or storage facility, neither will he be responsible to handle packaging and shipment of products. This leaves him to focus his efforts on marketing and customer service.

On paper, all this sounds like a piece of cake. In reality, however, the online world is a beast and can make things complicated beyond imagination. When you are working as an online merchant, you are not just looking for buyers for your products but also competing against many sellers who may have far greater experience than you.

Getting Started

To get started right away, select wholesale items from a drop shipper that can be listed in auction sites or if you have a website or online store, that’s even better! Once any item is sold, you will receive the payment. Subsequently, you will forward the order to the drop shipper along with all consumer specifications, i.e. name and postal shipping address. Upon receiving the order, the drop shipper will ship the product directly to your buyer for you. The difference between the wholesale price and the retail price will be your profit for the sale of each commodity.

The Benefits of a Drop Shipping Business?

Listed below are some good reasons why an ecommerce retailer must consider drop shipping.

Your Product Line

When you own a physical store there is a limited space available to hold the inventory. Plus, there are additional costs associated with maintaining an inventory and you can only offer a limited number of products. With drop shipping, however, you get to offer as many products as you want which was not feasible otherwise. Only online merchants with drop ship arrangements get the opportunity to showcase unlimited products.

Quick Access to an Assorted Market

There is no denying of the fact that the online market is huge and when a merchant gets access to it, he will be receiving a good profit. The moment you post a product on your ecommerce platform, it will be available for selling. People working in the drop shipping business have less waiting time because it takes just a couple of weeks to deliver the product to its buyer, directly from the manufacturer. Hence quicker access to the diverse online market.

Testing New Product Lines

Drop shipping retailers never have to get hold of the inventory which negates the risk associated with selling new products. You can test a whole new range of products without adding inventory. Let’s consider the example of a retailer who sells equine gear for the category known as western style of riding. But every now and then, the retailer gets visitors who request for English style equine related apparel. Following the request, the drop shipper will just have to contact a supplier offering English style apparel to explore how the new product line would sell. Introducing and selling new product lines will not involve any risk or investment from the retailer.

Lower Capital Investment

Online retailers working with a drop shipping business plan don’t have to maintain an inventory. Therefore the burden of risk and investment is shared completely by the manufacturer and the drop shipper does not have worry about upfront investment. So the retailer will have reduced investment. Against conventional beliefs, most ecommerce beginners don’t require much investment at all to start selling products.

Where to Locate Drop Shippers

When you have jumped into the drop shipping business arena, you will need a list of drop shippers and manufacturers besides customers. Since you are serving as the middleman or the retailer, you will have to research for reliable drop shippers who can fulfill your successful sales. Most usually, if the drop shipper is from the same country or zone as your intended consumers, shipping products will be easier. Below, I have listed numerous resources for locating companies will drop-ship their products for you.

Drop Shipping Resources to Consider

The following are some of the best resources online for drop-shippers. Some are completely FREE to join, some require a small fee and some require monthly fee’s, it just depends on what you choose to do. My recommendation is to research them all and choose the one that best fits your own personal situation and what you would like to sell.

There is nothing wrong with joining more than one. In fact, this is exactly what I recommend IF you can’t locate all the products you would like to have drop shipped through just one. In reality, the more you join, the more products you’ll have access to sell.

• WorldWide Brands
• Doba
• SaleHoo
• Drop Ship Design
• Wholesale2B
• Inventory Source
• Product Sourcing
• SimpleSource
• Drop Ship Direct
• Wholesale Dropshippers Directory
• Wynit
• Green Supply
• Petra
• Simplx
• HieNote Directory
• Dropship Commerce
• National Dropshippers
• Operation Dropship

Choosing Items to Sell

Not every item in any store makes good selling material. You have to conduct market research to understand the buying trends. After that the products you list should have sufficient demand and the supply should be managed accordingly. Check advanced search in eBay and enter product name and sort it by “price highest first” and then check on “completed listings only”. Save a copy of the search results and keep a note of the best selling products available.

Maintaining Your Account

For correspondence with the drop ship supplier, your account should be displayed as a retailer. Use email; send a letter to the supplier in order to find out how you can be the retailer of their products. Before conducting business with any of the suppliers, ask them clearly if they can drop-ship the products to your customers.

Asking for Shipment

You need to stay in touch with your distributors or suppliers and give them your customer’s shipping address. Before you sell any products, don’t forget to check if it’s still in inventory in case the supplier ran out of stock. In this case, if the product was not available in stock, the shipment for the item you sold could be delayed, which leads to dissatisfaction and negative feedback from the client. Coping with the inevitable out-of-stock situation might be difficult but it’s better to have no sale than to disappoint willing customers.

Pitfalls to Be Avoided

While doing business, you need to exercise caution in order to avoid any significant damage. Just like any other business, a drop shipping retail store will carry certain risks. You just can’t avoid every other risk which might be an opportunity in disguise. However, there are certain pitfalls encountered by drop shipping retailers. Just stay prepared and watch out for any such pitfalls.

Choosing a product that has the highest competition as given by advanced search on eBay can kill your business even before starting it. Products with maximum competition appear to be quite promising since they have great demand but from a retailers’ point of view, they give less or no sales at all. Some of the beginners in the drop shipping industry opt to start their business by listing products that belong to competitive niche like electronics or computer hardware. Any such product line that has great competition due to increased market demand, must be avoided.

Being Fooled by Fake Suppliers

Avoid being fooled by fake suppliers who either deliver poor quality products or are the reason of miscommunication. If you haven’t been fooled by such suppliers in the beginning of your drop shipping business then I would be surprised because most people fall into the trap of fake supplier’s right at the entry level of their business.

What to Look for in a Reliable Drop Shipper

As you are aware, drop shipping involves purchasing the goods from the drop shipper and then getting them delivered directly to the customers, after making the sales. This process is literally the opposite of wholesale retailing where you are bound to order large quantities of goods, store them safely in an inventory and then hope to resell them for a good profit. In drop shipping, you play it safe since you won’t have to purchase a product until it’s been sold to the consumer. However, before you begin a full-fledged online retail business there are some important things to be considered for an online merchant. The most pressing issue here is to get access to a legitimate drop ship supplier but the resources provided above should be more than adequate.

Final Words

We hope this article has answered most of your questions about drop shipping and we would love to read your comments below. As you can see, finding a drop shipper and establishing an online business requires ample planning. However, the initial investment is fairly low and the return on investment is quite fast, all the best reasons to operate a drop shipping business.

Fiverr is a marketplace for individuals who are looking to sell services or who are looking for someone to perform services for around five dollars. However, it’s possible to make more than five dollars per gig on the site. Some people have managed to turn Fiverr into a profitable enterprise for themselves. The variety of jobs available on the site and the variety of services offered are simply staggering. Fiverr could very well be the road to financial independence.

The Diverse Selection

Part of the appeal of Fiverr has come from the fact that people can buy and sell in a very broad variety of categories. Along the margin of the page, you’ll find everything from old standby services such as Graphics & Design, Music & Audio and Programming. Delve a little deeper, however, and you’ll find the Fun & Bizarre category, one of the most interesting places to go on the site.

Where most online marketplaces have been geared toward one service sector or another – i.e. programmers – Fiverr is very diverse. Programming and other technology services are popular, but the site is also home to voice-over artists looking for gigs, people who will test products and even people who offer very odd services, such as singing Happy Birthday to you in Welsh wearing a wool hat.

Part of the site’s appeal is that it enables people who do have some odd skill, to market it. Whether you sing poorly and want to market that skill or you’re an experienced PHP programmer who just needs a few small jobs to fill up your workweek, it’s likely that you’ll be able to market yourself on Fiverr.

Why Use Fiverr?

The reason to use Fiverr may vary from person to person, but the main concept is the same. To make money doing something you enjoy and do it at your own convenience.

Fiverr allows users to do just that and also provides a simple and easy way to join the site and start posting ads right away. Perhaps the best perk for using Fiverr is that it’s FREE to sign up. You can also post as many ads as you want without getting charged for them.

The only time you have to “pay” Fiverr is whenever someone has paid you for a service you have posted. Of the $5 you are paid by a customer, Fiverr receives $1. That’s not too bad, especially since you have several different ads getting seen by millions of people every day.

By using Fiverr, the only thing you have to focus on is yourself, the services you provide, and being able to make a sale. If you’re new to Fiverr, it’s nice to know that you don’t need to provide any sort of information that you may not be comfortable entering online. Plus, you can cancel your account at any time for any reason. There is no crazy cancellation process like many other websites make their users endure.

Give Fiverr a try and see if you can get some customers. With no risk involved and a great potential to make some cash, why wouldn’t you want to use Fiverr?

Do Some Research

After you have looked over Fiverr and decided you are interested in posting some ads for your services on their website, you will want to do some research to discover just how much competition you will have in your niche.

Writing, marketing, and SEO services are among the most popular, so if that’s what you have to offer, you want to make sure you have the ability to beat out most of your competitors. You will also need to look at your competitor’s ads to see how you can make yours look better and more enticing.

By doing some research, you will have a better chance at posting a great ad and get more customers at a quicker rate.

Post Impeccable Ads

A well-written and enticing advertisement on Fiverr is the key element in getting clients. Your ads are also the first chance of contact with online users, so you’ll want to make a good impression. If you create a great ad, the more likely you will get clients within just a few days of posting. Take your time when writing your ads and make sure you’re providing enough information for the services you have to offer.

You’ll also want to make sure you have an awesome ad that will make people want to work with you. In each of your ads, you should provide multiple ways  for clients to contact you (even though Fiverr already gives clients the option to email you). Be available for emails, chats, phone calls, and texts. Potential clients will love being able to ask you questions or talk about specific needs before paying for the service you’re offering.

Having your contact information in your ads is the best way to do this and make yourself seem very friendly. Don’t forget to give your ad an eye catching title and consider adding a video to pack a bigger punch.

Work Overload

Remember that you are offering services for only $5, so plan accordingly. Don’t offer to write a 50 page story or create a full website for that small amount of cash. You’ll be working way too hard for the money and your job satisfaction will suffer. Even though you want to do a great job and make your clients happy, you do not want to overload your time and schedule.

You should offer to write a few pages or a very short story with an option for clients to purchase more pages from you. This is a fantastic way to make your customers come back for more. If a client is in need of having a website designed, offer to do a mock-up. If the client likes what they see, you can discuss price options and see how you can work it into both your schedules and still make enough money for your time.

As most Fiverr users are seeking “extra” income, it is very important that you don’t accept to many customers that it takes time away from your full-time job. You want to allot yourself enough time to comfortably complete your jobs without becoming overwhelmed.

Market and Rank Your Services

Remember to use Facebook, Twitter, and various other social networking sites to market the services you have offered on Fiverr. Using this strategy allows you to have much more exposure and it may lead to more people having an interest in you doing some work for them. Try to have your services posted on blog sites or write a guest blog that describes the services you provide. Use SEO strategies to rank your sites on Google, Yahoo and  Bing.

Do what you can to make your services known and offer special deals to customers that found you on other websites as another way to get customers to take advantage of your services. Remember to keep your ads fresh by creating new content for your ads and finding ways to offer improved services as you gain more experience on Fiverr.

Provide Quality Service

Be sure you’re providing quality service if you want your customers to be satisfied and get positive feedback and reviews from them. Building a business on Fiverr can be simple if you know how to keep your customers happy and give them excellent work for their money. Remember that after ten successful transactions, you can “level up” and start charging more for your services.

A happy customer will be more likely to work with you again and will refer their friends and colleagues to you as well. Quality service will also make you feel better about the work you do for your customers and when both sides of the paycheck are happy, everyone is happy.

Monitor Reviews

As you continue to provide work on Fiverr, you will want to keep track of reviews previous customers have posted about your services. A lot of negative feedback can stall your sales. You need to address these complaints as quickly as possible.

Talk to Your Customers

Communication is your most important tool in promoting customer satisfaction. A lot of people tend to think that emails and online comments are all it takes to successfully communicate with customers. This is not the case. Customers feel neglected and forgotten when the only way they can speak with their service providers is through an online account.

Don’t leave your customers feeling neglected. Give them your phone number or even offer to chat or Skype with them. You can set up an appointment and devote a certain amount of time to that specific customer. And who wouldn’t be satisfied with that? By talking to your customers, you can also discuss the details of your work to ensure you’re doing exactly what they want and can greatly improve your chances of satisfying your clients, one service at a time.

What are the Downsides to Using Fiverr to Make Money?

• Undervalued/Overvalued Services
It has been fore-mentioned that each gig is priced at around $5. Making a crazy gig offer that would cost just $5, which is usually pretty reasonable, may seem too much for a task that is actually pretty simple. For example: $5 for your message on a balloon of your choice. In this case it would cost you less to buy the markers and a balloon, than it would to pay someone on Fiverr to do it for you. Then there are the serious gigs which include medical consultation, business consultation and song writing for just $5. The key is to get your gig just right for everyone involved.

• Possible Account Banning
A dedicated user reported via a rip off report that his account was banned for no actual reasons even though he was selling his services regularly. This will definitely sow doubts in the minds of users who believe that Fiverr is a scam. However, putting this entire situation aside Fiverr does pay you even if they ban you. To save your account from being banned, its best to thoroughly read and understand the terms of service of the site. Sometimes self-promotion can become a reason for the banning of your account.

• Potential Changes at Any Time
Fiverr can surface changes at any point of time, and this is very much mentioned in the terms of service as well. Probably this is the reason as to why certain users are banned. It could be that they did not pay attention to the changes of the site and have (by certain means) violated the restrictions that are freshly imposed.

• Faking Testimonials
An email ID is the only thing required to register with Fiverr. It is because of this that many people create bogus accounts. It’s not just accounts, they go to the extent of putting up fake phone reviews and testimonials as well.

Have Fun!

Even if you encounter the problems previously mentioned, the one thing you should never forget is to enjoy yourself when working on Fiverr. You’re making extra money and you’re providing a service that you have a passion for. Take time to constantly improve your ads and keep marketing your business on any websites you can. Also, don’t forget to brainstorm new ideas on how you can continue to beat your competition. Keep your customers happy and you’ll be swimming in Fiverr money in a flash!

Have you been searching online for work from home data entry jobs OR are you entirely new to the field of data entry and just curious about it? Either way, the following information should be helpful. Data entry is a job that consists of inputting data into a program such as word processor or spreadsheet, as well as various online tools, like a secure database and people work . There are a lot of jobs that can be classified as data entry (you will learn about some of them later).

Many people are into data entry work because so many positions are available, and depending on what industry you are working in, it’s possible to move up the career ladder fairly quick. Furthermore, most of the positions do not demand extensive knowledge, training, or experience. Data entry does not pay as much as other types of freelance work (such as web design) or telecommuting jobs, but it is one of the easiest, if not the most convenient.

However, data entry can be quite boring; you usually do the same thing over and over. Hence, you may lose your focus. You may want to experiment with different ways of keeping your data entry jobs flowing as smooth as possible. For example set a break point after so many lines, or pages of entries; then occupy your mind for a short time with something unrelated. After the break, return and set another goal.

What Are the Common Requirements?

The required skills and knowledge for a data entry job can range from the simplest or the most basic to the most complex. You can find jobs that do not need any special education or experience at all. As long as you can follow the instructions and type, you are good to go.

Just the same, some of them need technical knowledge. For example, in medical transcription, companies often prefer those who have medical knowledge background such as doctors, nurses, or students who are part of the industry due to lingo and abbreviations used in that field.

Data entry work from home is also performed online, so basic knowledge in the use of computers and software is a definite requirement. For instance, you need to know how to use word processors and spreadsheets. If you’re transcribing audio files, you should be educated on the equipment as well as the software you may need.

The Various Types of Data Entry Work

As mentioned one of the biggest reasons to get into data entry is the many career paths you can pick:

Transcription

Most of the data entry jobs today have something to do with transcription. As its name suggests, you need to put media files such as videos or audio into text or writing. The most typical transcription is medical transcription. Health care providers especially doctors need to create reports for every case they make, but knowing they have so many patients to take care of, they just don’t have the time to transcribe. Hence, they usually record their findings or references and send the files to a transcriptionist. The latter, in turn, listens to the recording, writes what is heard, and sends the document to his client. Other kinds of transcription are academic, government, business, and police. Transcription files may be research, case studies, meetings, conferences or many more…

Research

If you love to spend a lot of time online, are a quick thinker, and possess inquisitiveness, you can be a researcher. You are tasked to look for the information the client is looking for; it can be extremely varied, from statistics to news, names, and contact details. You may then be asked to place everything in a spreadsheet or Word document. Sometimes they will request slight paraphrases or synopses on the data you’ve gathered.

Spreadsheet Specialist

A researcher can also be a spreadsheet specialist especially if he/she needs to use such software. Most of those who work with spreadsheets, however, do more than just label rows and columns. They may be asked to generate certain figures, graphs, charts, or maps. They also need to format the spreadsheet according to the specifications of the client. Indeed, a high level of knowledge in spreadsheets is very much needed.

Medical Billing Officer or Clerk

Another kind of health care-related data entry job you can get into is medical billing. In this field you are like a data entry clerk. Your job is to input invoices and/or bills that the health care facility needs to collect from their patients’ insurance.

Writing

Writing is actually another form of data entry since you create text and you do research. But because this is broad, it has become a completely different profession. Some of the writing jobs you can do are technical, creative, web, SEO, sales, academic, and many others.

How to Look for Data Entry Jobs

If you think you have the skills needed and you’re eager to try any of the above-mentioned data entry types, then it’s time to look for a job.

Obviously you can begin your search online, especially in search engines. Just go to Google, Bing or Yahoo and type “data entry jobs.” Some of them are reviews or articles about the topic, but many of them are links to employment. You can also filter out the searches by using advanced tools such as “24 Hours” to find out the latest job posts.

Another option is to head to bidding websites like vWorker or oDesk. These types of sites already have a special section called data entry, and all you have to do is to choose the job you want. If there’s one disadvantage, it’s the fact you need to compete with other candidates and there can be hundreds, depending on the offer. Furthermore, because clients already have several possible choices, it’s easier for them to offer lower-than-average wages for your effort.

Craigslist is another website you can visit. Go to the main heading that says Jobs and browse particularly in the writing/editing section. If you’re interested to apply for the job, use the e-mail provided by the client or the one generated by Craigslist.

Some data entry teams have also gained notoriety because they’re getting bigger. These include Executive Data Group. You need to sign up to be part of their website and to access their training materials, tools, and their extensive list of jobs you can apply to. This may certainly be one of the fastest and easiest ways to locate global data entry work.

Though it’s more difficult, you can also obtain online data entry jobs when you approach professionals or businesses that might need data entry specialists such as the health care facilities within your area.

Is Data Entry a Scam?

A lot of people these days are wary of applying for a data entry job because of the associated scams. Granted, many data entry jobs aren’t true at all, but so are other types of freelance work, such as writing, web designing, and web programming. There will always be some individuals who rip off others across all industries.

Nevertheless, there are telltale signs you can keep in mind to drastically reduce your chances of becoming a victim:

Read reviews. Gather as much information as you can about the website. What do other people say about the opportunity? Did they achieve success? What are the common issues they meet?

See to it there’s a money-back guarantee IF a fee is involved. Usually you need to pay a small fee when you sign up to some data entry websites. The amount is used to cover for the training materials or tools, and it’s more often than not a one-time fee. Nevertheless, some scammers follow this procedure. The only difference is that they normally don’t offer a money-back guarantee.

Ensure that you’re redirected to a secure website. When you’re about to pay your fees, you’ll be sent to another page, a secure one. The purpose of this is to guarantee that when your data is transmitted over the Internet, hackers won’t be able to see it. But how do you know the page is actually secure? Look at the address bar. It should display HTTPS instead of HTTP. The “s” stands for “Secure”. You can also look for a golden lock or key at the bottom of the screen.

Is affiliate marketing dead? Not even close! AffStat, which helps determine the benchmarks for affiliate marketing, has more than 1,000 members. In Clickbank, more than 100,000 affiliate marketers have signed up to take advantage of one of the biggest directories in the world.

Indeed, affiliate marketing is still very much alive and stable despite the intense competition from other e-commerce solutions including direct Internet selling and several blogging-for-money options. Yes surely there is room for you, but only if you know how to play your cards right and that’s what I’m going to show you how to do here.

How Does It Work?

Over the course of this article, you will often hear the term “affiliate marketing.” In fact, you already read it a couple of times in the previous paragraphs. To make sure that you will appreciate it more and to avoid ambiguity, let me properly define it first.

Affiliate marketing refers to the process of promoting other peoples products and/or services as an affiliated marketer on the Internet. On the other hand, affiliate products and/or services are those that are currently offered by other companies through what’s known as “Affiliate Programs“.

Disadvantages of Affiliate Marketing

There are no perfect systems, and even affiliate marketing has its own defects. Knowing them can help you decide if this is the online business you want to do.

Perhaps a big issue in the industry is saturation. Hundreds of thousands of people have gone into affiliate marketing, which means you’re up against a lot of competitors. The ability to distinguish yourself and stand out has never been clearly emphasized until now.

Marketing may still mean spending a good amount of money. After all, you need to register a domain name,  build a website, or start a blog and perhaps learn PPC, banners and/or other paid marketing methods. Affiliate marketing success also doesn’t happen overnight, and unfortunately for some it may never happen at all.

If you don’t choose your affiliate network correctly, you may end up one of the many who have been bitten by scammers. These are usually businesses that don’t pay their affiliate partners their deserved commission by scamming them out of it in one way or another. However, we have used all of the ones listed here and know they are legit.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing

One of the biggest advantages of affiliate marketing is that the idea is very simple and thus easy to follow. Seriously, what’s so hard about promoting other people’s products? A lot of people have been doing it even before the Internet boom (think of the door-to-door salesperson). Plus you don’t need to maintain your own inventory either. Inventory refers to the items that you have to physically store somewhere for re-sale, and that in itself is already a huge cost for any start-up business. Besides, inventory means you have to buy the items before you can re-sell them. There’s a huge risk of not recouping your investment.

Support for affiliate marketing is extremely strong, perhaps because it has been around for a very long time. You can now download comprehensive reports, case studies, blogs, books, and journals to help you on your journey. There are also highly knowledgeable super-affiliates who can act as your mentors.

Affiliate marketing can certainly make you rich; hundreds are already earning six-figure incomes. As long as you strategize properly, you’ll be one of them. There are also multiple ways you can learn how to earn affiliate income. Aside from commission, you may enjoy referral bonuses every time you recommend someone to the program. You can also earn more money if the people you recommend sign up and start earning.

Steps to Becoming an Affiliate Marketer

1. Look for products and/or services to offer. There are already many websites that help you search for good items. I already mentioned Clickbank. Another fantastic option is Commission Junction. These websites already have thousands for you to choose from.

2. Sign up. If you are ready to do some affiliate marketing, you can then sign up to any of these services to get access on certain marketing materials provided by your potential affiliate marketer. You can also get details like how much commission you will get and the overall description of the product.

3. Get your affiliate link. Choose the product you want to sell, then generate your referral link. This is the link that you’re going to use for promotion.

4. Start marketing. Don’t forget to include your link in all your marketing materials. If one of your readers or prospects are interested in what you’re offering, he/she will click on your affiliate link. Subsequently, he/she will be brought to the company’s main e-commerce page. If they buy through your link, you can enjoy your commission.

Best Tips for Being Successful

1. Create an affiliate marketing plan. Doing any kind of business without a master business plan is like sailing or hiking in an unknown mountain without a compass. You’ll surely get lost or scared and go back to where you came from, which is “9 to 5”, living paycheck to paycheck job.

When crafting your plan, determine the following:

• The best niche markets to get into
• Sources of products/services
• Commission
• Promotion methods
• Promotion schedule
• Potential earnings over a period of time

2. Limit your niches to 1 or 2. In affiliate marketing, you’re not bound to any kind of limitations. You can sell as many as hundreds of categories, which a lot of super affiliates are doing. But you’re new and trying to figure out how everything works. Dealing with so many is surely going to overwhelm you, and you’ll instantly lose your focus. Start with at most two, use them for testing, and once you found the best system, replicate the strategy to your other affiliate products.

3. Diversify your strategies. Though PPC and other paid options give the fastest results in terms of profits and traffic, you need to compensate them with organic ones (or those that hardly require money) such as blogs, message boards, as well as social media marketing. You also have to do search engine optimization. The organic strategies can be your long-term solutions.

4. Be careful with the gurus. Online you’ll find hundreds of “gurus.” These are people who claim they have the secret formula or the winning affiliate system. Be cautious when listening to them. A number are just one-hit wonders. Just because they’ve succeeded in one affiliate niche doesn’t mean they already have all the answers to the business. Review the system they offer and research their past affiliate records and other online businesses.

5. Build a page. There are a couple of web pages you need to create to be very successful in affiliate marketing. One is a landing or opt-in page. It’s usually a one-page website that allows you to convert your readers to leads by persuading them to sign up to your autoresponder. It’s easier to nurture people who are already part of your network. Moreover, more often than not, those who sign up are individuals who show a high level of interest to what you’re offering.

You also need a website-and a very good one at that. Another option is starting a blog where you can further interact with prospects or leads.

6. Be realistic with your expectations. Don’t be easily disheartened if the commissions come in trickles at first. In fact, it may take around 6 months to a year before you can finally feel the effects of good marketing. Again, you have to remember that you have hundreds of competitors, and some of them already have a steady following. Nevertheless, if you simply follow the steps I mentioned above, especially the diversification of your advertising methods, soon you’ll find the figures go up.

7. Treat Affiliate Marketing like any other business. Bring all your attention to promotions, market every day, understand what and to whom you’re selling, keep track of your profits, and expand once you’re ready. As they say, if you want something badly, you need to work very hard for it. After all, in reality, affiliate marketing is no joke.

Even if the economy is good, or if you’re living from paycheck to paycheck, you’ll find things still a bit harder. Fortunately I can give you a comprehensive list of some of the best online and offline business ideas that guarantee fast money – without falling prey to “get rich quick” scams. You may want to read more specific articles for each of them on my blog, but you can get a good overview here:

Affiliate Marketing

Competition is indeed tough in affiliate marketing simply because it’s one of the oldest Internet revenue generating systems around. However, new methods of promotions are now available, and the niches have expanded greatly, giving you plenty of options and better chances of succeeding.

In hindsight affiliate marketing is a simple idea; sell products and services offered by companies by promoting your referral or affiliate link. If one of your leads buys the product or opts for the services using your link, you get a commission. Commissions can greatly vary depending on the product, company, method of advertising, and other affiliate programs offered. It’s not impossible to get 40 to even 50 percent for every sale.

Dropshipping

If you love to sell products and have them delivered in your customers’ homes but don’t have the money to invest in inventory, then dropshipping is the ideal business for you. Its concept is a combination of affiliate marketing and direct selling. It’s like; since you don’t maintain any inventory, you don’t physically handle the stock. Instead, you choose your preferred niche, pick the right dropshipping company, sign up to their program, and if somebody buys an item from you, you inform them of the purchase. Then they would be the ones to send the product to your customer.

On the other hand, it works like direct selling since the package bears your name, address, and even the name of the business. Moreover, you decide how much markup you want to charge. A markup is a percentage or price you add on top of the current retail price of the item, representing your profit.

Telecommuting

You don’t have to sell a product to start an online business. Rather, start with the talent you have. Telecommuting is one of the hottest businesses/professions in the world today. It offers a wealth of benefits, including the chance to get out of the 9 to 5 job, the opportunity to do the things you love, and the prospect of earning huge amounts of money without selling anything.

You also have several choices when it comes to telecommuting. Some of the in demand jobs these days are writing, proofreading or editing, website designing, web programming, social media promotions, e-mail marketing, virtual assistant, translation, and transcription. Of course, you can always begin your own niche or demand, with a little creative thinking.

eBay

There are other auction websites out there, but eBay remains the biggest, the most reliable, and the most comprehensive since it already provides all the tools a seller needs to promote his/her own product. It has also spawned several mini eBays to capture regional markets. Perhaps the only problem you’ll ever have with eBay is the competition. Though it’s huge, it’s still one website, and it already has thousands upon thousands of sellers, including the powersellers or those who have earned millions from the business.

On the upside, like affiliate marketing, eBay has been there for so long; looking for great materials and tips to study is now extremely easy.

Direct Sales

Are you a home-based business that’s looking for a way to expand? Do you have a product you want to sell without spending too much money? Then you can opt for direct selling. As a start, you can begin with a blog. In fact, some make use of their social media accounts such as Facebook to start selling their own creation. The best step, though, is to build an e-commerce website. This is a website with a shopping cart option. If a customer wants to buy something from you, he/she doesn’t have to send an e-mail. Instead, the customer can go directly to check out.

Coaching

If you have the talent to motivate people or you are already an expert in a certain field, then it’s high time to get into the business of coaching. This is actually one of the most lucrative jobs online. Imagine, you can run a comprehensive course for a thousand dollars, plus create information products such as DVDs and e-books. As a coach, you can also earn money through webinars, podcasts, and teleseminars. Moreover, you can get invited to offline seminars and even create your own radio or TV show!

Local Auctions

If you have some great stuff to sell, you can begin a local auction and promote it online. This way, those who are not within your area can participate. This type of business is a win-win situation: you can get rid of your unneeded items, give them to someone who needs them, and earn profits in the process.

Another option is to broker on behalf of your friends or basically anyone. It’s like Christie’s though in a much smaller scale. You can earn commission every time you sell an item, or you can buy the goods, add your markup price, and sell them through an auction.

Personal Services

This is very much like freelancing; it’s just that you’re doing this offline. You can be a personal chef, shopper, designer, arts and crafts maker, dog walker, gardener, landscaper, driver, and baby-sitter, and personal house cleaner. Most of these jobs don’t require a lot of your time – around 4 to 5 hours max – and yet you get paid by the hour. This is a perfect job if you want to keep your present work since you can do it over the weekend.

Business Selling

Facebook bought Instagram for billions of dollars. A lot of companies have been sold for millions. If you have a knack of creating something beautiful and bold, then by creating it and putting it up for bid, you can definitely get rich by selling businesses.

Earning Tips:

You don’t earn anything if you don’t work hard for it. All these jobs demand some work from you, especially time, talent, and effort. Some of them may also ask for money. Unless you’re willing to give these things a try, you’ll never be able to do any of them, and you’ll never have the chance to boost your income or get out of the rat race.

Be very careful. All the above-mentioned jobs allow you to earn money fast, but they’re not get-rich-quick schemes. You don’t earn thousands of dollars overnight. In fact, in affiliate marketing, you may have to wait around 6 months before you can see the fruits of your labor. They are considered fast methods, though, since you can already earn more than you do when working on a 9 to 5 job, investing the same amount of time, talent, and effort.

One of the things to keep in mind to avoid falling into “get rich quick” traps is this: if the potential or benefit sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Focus, focus, focus. You know what they say; jack of all trades, master of none. You’ll never be able to fully maximize any online business if you handle too many of them at the same time. Unless you already have a team, it’s best to bring all your energy and resources to one business today. Then create a good team that can handle it on your behalf, then move on to another business venture.

Market and keep track. It’s not enough you promote your business. You also need to monitor the success of your strategies. Sometimes your own mistakes and poor tactics are preventing you from earning more.

Are you considering joining Strong Future International (SFI) but need to know if it is worth your while? This in-depth review will help you make a more informed decision…

What Is Strong Future International (SFI)?

SFI is an MLM business that started way back in 1998 as Six Figure Income. It started with just one product but now boasts of more than 54 thousand different products available in most countries of the world. It has since changed its name to Strong Future International and also owns the internet superstore: Tripleclicks.

How Can You Make Money With SFI?

Since you are obviously reading this review because you want to find out if you can make money legitimately with this networking business, I will take you through the many different ways SFI members actually make money. This will help you decide if it is something you can do or not. Here they are…

1. Direct Commissions

The first way to make money with SFI is through their direct sales program. This refers to the 45% of the commission volume you make every time affiliates whom you referred buy something at TripleClicks. It also applies to TripleClicks members that were referred by you.

But what do they mean by commission volume? This refers to the maximum profit margin possible with a product or service. This is the difference between the wholesale cost of such a product and its selling price at TripleClicks. So if the wholesale or base cost of a product is $200 and it is sold for $300 at TripleClicks, the commission value or CV would be $100. So the affiliate gets 45% of $100 or $45.

What I find interesting about earning from your referrals with SFI is that you keep earning from whatever they buy for as long as they remain members. That’s for life!

Furthermore, affiliates don’t have to worry about fulfilling orders. Their work is just to send over referrals. The system takes care of fulfilling orders and every other thing associated with the payment processing.

2. TripleClicks Executive Pool

SFI has an executive pool where they put 40% of the commission volume (profit margin) of every product sold at TripleClicks. Every affiliate who reaches the “Executive Affiliate” level within each month is eligible to share in this executive pool.

However, what share of the pool you get depends on how many versa points you accumulate in a given month. These are known within SFI as VersaPoints. These points are given for the completion of a number of different activities. You can even earn these points just by bidding on products being sold on TripleClicks.

One thing I must point out is that you’ll earn more shares the higher up the ladder you are. For example, a Platinum Team Leader will get many more VersaPoints than a Bronze Team Leader. This is their way of rewarding hard working members of their network.

3. Co-Sponsor Commissions

While regular affiliates get only direct commissions on products sold at TripleClicks, executive affiliates have an additional opportunity to earn more. They get paid 15% of the commission value for every purchase made by any affiliate they co-sponsor. This means that for a product that has a profit margin of $100, such a person gets 15% as co-sponsor commissions.

Please, take note of the fact that this commission does NOT override other commissions. They all run simultaneously provided you meet SFI’s eligibility requirements.

4. TCredit Bonus

This is a special bonus that is available only to SFI affiliates who have maintained a minimum of “Executive Affiliate” status for two or more months. The higher your level, the bigger the TCredit bonus you get each month.

TCredits are sold at $1.99 per unit, or in packs of 10, 20, 50, and 200. These are useful if you want to enjoy the full benefits of your TripleClicks membership or intend to build up your SFI business.

5. ECA Referral Program

Affiliates who are at “Executive Affiliate” level or higher can refer companies to sell their products on TripleClicks. This is known as their Ecommerce Associates Program (ECA). Once any such referrals are approved, the affiliate gets a 10% commission for every product sold by that company on TripleClicks for life.

For example, if a merchant referred by X-Affiliate sells a total of 3,000 units of their products in a month and each gives TripleClicks a profit margin (or commission value) of $25 per sale then that means the total commission value generated by that merchant’s sales is 3,000 X $25 = $75,000. The referring affiliate gets 10% of that amount or $7,500!

6. SFI Pay-Per-Action

SFI offer’s many supplemental ways of making money with their TripleClicks network but in addition, they also offer two separate actions that are available at the time of writing this review (SFI promises to roll out more in the future). Any SFI affiliate can earn up to $11 for any referral they send who signs up. The other action is referring people to sign up with TripleClicks. This yields $5 per sign up.

What Are The Weak Points Of This Network

1. The odds are stacked in favor of the seasoned internet marketer. Every affiliate can have their replicated site up in less than no time and this means that those who are more experienced in the game can differentiate more easily and so attract more qualified leads. But in fairness to the network, there’s NO shortage of training for anyone who’s motivated to acquire the necessary skills to get the job done.

2. The free sign up makes many people NOT invest the energy necessary to make it work. This makes for a very poor affiliate retention rate. Many people get the leverage necessary to produce results when they actually pay money to join a network.

What Are The Positive Points Of The SFI Network?

Anyone who takes the time to study this network and its e-commerce platform (TripleClicks) will tell you a number of points that are stacked in favor of this network. Here are some…

1. Sign up is totally free. You don’t have to pay to become a member. This is definitely going to be very attractive to people who do NOT have so much money to start up an online business.

2. They have a very good compensation plan. So you can invest your time in the knowledge that it would be well worth it.

3. You can earn as quickly as you are willing to start working.

4. They provide very detailed training (free of charge) so you don’t have to figure things out all by yourself. The internet is full of a lot of distracting voices. It is definitely an advantage to have clear guidance from people who are interested in your success.

5. It gives a good opportunity for you to create residual income. That’s one sure way to build wealth: Work once and get paid for it over and over.

6. You determine how much or little you make. The system obviously gives you bigger rewards if you work harder and smarter.

7. Getting paid is very easy. You can even choose to get your money via Payoneer MasterCard.

My Conclusion…

While many people can stand outside and say a lot of unsubstantiated trash about this SFI network (Strong Future International), it is definitely an opportunity to make money from home. It’s just that it requires your brain, motivation and hard work like every other legitimate system for building wealth.

If you’d like to build up your Twitter following, one of the best ways to do that is to tweet often and tweet about things that generate interest. There are some differing schools of thought as to what NOT to tweet. For instance, some say don’t tweet famous quotes, others use them often. Some say, don’t tweet about what you had for lunch, others say go for it. Whatever your feeling on various “personal” tweets, here are some good ideas for using Twitter to build your business, specifically.

1. Respond to an Expressed Need

Programs like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck will allow you to keep up with keywords used by your prospective audience. Then when you come across a tweet that asks for help with something in your niche, it’s a cinch to respond with information that answers a question or meets a need.

Of course, you can offer help on any topic you know something about, but specifically responding to needs in your own business niche is a great way to build your online reputation and brand yourself as an expert in your field without in-your-face advertising.

2. Respond to Complaints

Too often companies ignore what their customers are saying on Twitter or another social media platform. Instead, monitor your company name and use the opportunity to respond to criticisms and complaints in a positive way. Offer a solution or a fix to the problem. Apologize profusely. Whether the complaint is justified or not, do your best to appease the critics. That in itself will go a long way in settling an issue.

3.  Announce a New Product or Service

What better place to make an announcement about a new product launch than on Twitter? Tell your audience what’s going on with your business. Build up the excitement about a new product, or even an upgrade. Get people involved. Even offer a giveaway to the one who gets the most retweets for your announcement. Generate buzz and use it wisely to promote your business, again without blatant sales talk.

4. Send out Updates and Industry News

Keep up-to-date with what’s going on in your industry and share appropriate pieces of news with your followers. This can be anything from new technology to recalls. Whatever it is that is currently of interest to you and other folks in your field of business is game.

5. Respond to Trends as Well as Randomly to People You Don’t Know

You’ll be surprised at some of the friendships you can create by saying “Good morning!” or responding to the same. If someone asks for an opinion, give them one. It’s an opinion, it doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. But any back-and-forth conversation can generate rapport and build relationships. And that’s what Twitter is all about—SOCIAL media.

6. Offer a Sincere Compliment

Whether it’s for an article, a photo, an avatar, a background or anything else to build rapport. Twitter is more about building relationships and personal branding. Use it to help people get to know you. That way, when they want to buy whatever it is you sell, they’ll look to YOU and not your competitor.

7. Share Photos of Your Workplace

Whether it’s a brick-and-mortar storefront or a home office with a messy desk, share your space. Think about how you feel working at home with no direct personal interaction. Then remember that many other people feel the same. Especially those who spend a lot of time on Twitter. Sharing your business life with them will help you both feel more connected and less isolated. That’s a huge plus for home based business owners in particular.

8. Connect Others

If you have a Twitter friend who offers a certain service or sells a certain product, and another Twitter friend mentions they’re looking for that service or product, connect the two. Respond to the need and copy your second friend on the Tweet so she knows the recommendation came from you. You’d like someone else to do the same for you, right? Providing a connection is an excellent way to show others you care about their businesses as well as your own.

9. Make ’em Laugh

But avoid the crude jokes, risque humor, or racial slurs. While some of your audience may think they’re funny, is it really worth turning off those who are offended by such things in an attempt at making online friends. Instead, keep it clean and you’ll get a lot better response overall. And have some fun in the process.

10. Share Tips About Your Business

Create a long list of tips that you would like to share with your Twitter followers then load them into Hootsuite or Buffer so they drip feed into your account over time. One tip an hour, if you have a bunch, is ideal. You can wait a couple weeks and reload your tips to recycle them, but give it some time before you do. And be sure the tips are truly something that will help your audience, not just promote your business.

11. Make a Point of Thanking Others

Even if all your followers do is retweet your comments, let them know you appreciate them. If they offer feedback to a question, give you a recommendation for something you asked about or share a great video link, tell them you noticed and you liked it. People like, and need, to be appreciated. Do that and they’ll take notice of who you are and begin to consider you an online friend. That’s a huge part of using social media for business.

12. Host Product Giveaways

Use tweet contests, random drawings and comments as a method for finding fans to give a freebie to. Not only can you build your business by getting some products in the hands of consumers, but you can have some fun, and get folks interested since people LOVE getting things free.

13. Offer Twitter Follower-Only Discounts

Offer a deal to those who follow you on Twitter. Tell them they’ll have to contact you directly to claim their coupon code and they must be a follower to use it. The same tactic could be used to offer free downloads and resources instead of giving them to just anyone in the Twittersphere.

There are hundreds of ideas for things you can tweet about for your business. These are a mix of some common ones and some more unusual ones. But all of them serve the purpose of building a rapport and a relationship with your followers and helping to brand your business online. That’s the best thing you can do with Twitter if you’re a business owner, don’t you agree?

Building a free website isn’t your best option for doing business online. The branding and reputation building benefits of owning your own domain name and self-hosted site are innumerable. But sometimes, when you’re just getting started in business, there is simply no money available to build a traditional website.

If that’s your situation, there are options. In fact, there are many places online where you can build a free website. Some of them are better than others, of course. But these four will give you a good place to start. You should definitely opt for your own domain name and your own hosting account as soon as you can afford it, though.

Yola

Many sites that let you build a free website, especially in the past, usually require ads to be displayed. Yola, however, is an ad free site that uses an award-winning Sitebuilder to make it easy to quickly and easily create a nice site without unwanted advertisements.

Once you sign up with Yola, you will need to enter your business or site name and choose a category for the site. There are several options to choose from including Arts, Home Decor, Consultants and more. One nice thing about Yola is that it fills in some basic text for you, based on the type of site you choose. But it’s hard to go back to change the style of business, so if you use this Sitebuilder, be sure you pick the right type of business at the start!

Yola is easy to use to add new pages, edit the text, add graphics and more. It’s a great option for beginners who don’t want a blog and who have no desire, nor time, to learn HTML or other website design languages. This is one of the many possible sources to help you build your own website free, then upgrade later if you choose with packages starting at $4.95 a month.

Webs

Webs is a different style site builder that lets you choose from a variety of template styles based on whether you want a personal, business or non-profit website. You can choose to create specific pages such as a store front, testimonial and contact page, among others. And you can choose to register a domain name if you like or go with a free sub-domain, for example, yourbusiness.webs.com which is a good way to start.

Like other free sites that let you build a website of your own, Webs will take you through a guided tour if you’re new to website building, in general. Otherwise, you can choose to get started editing your pages and customizing them to fit your needs.

Webs isn’t quite as easy to use as some of the other site builders, but they offer a much higher level of customization than many so if you have some knowledge and computer skills you can do well with a free Webs website.

Weebly

If you have your own domain name, or want a new one without having to pay monthly hosting fees, Weebly may be a good choice for you. They allow you to build a free website with either a sub-domain or your own domain (new or existing).

Weebly also has a lot of options that aren’t as easy to find in the other free site builders such as a discussion forum, an online booking tool, a blog and more. You can easily set up Search Engine Optimization (SEO) using the title, keyword and description field; add Google Analytics and AdSense, and set up a PayPal or Google Checkout shopping cart with a simple click of the button.

Weebly is one of the most popular site building tools that offer free websites and it’s easy to see why with all the options available to you. They have many more design options and you can even add additional editors if you want to allow others to work on your site. It’s definitely one of the more powerful free sites that let you build a free website with no experience and at no cost.

WebStarts

WebStarts boasts over 2,224,000 free websites created with their free website building tools. They offer a drag and drop interface that lets you simply drag the element you want into place so you don’t have to know any programming or HTML at all. Like most other free sites, you can choose to use a sub-domain or a domain name of your own and you can get listed quickly in the major search engines since WebStarts sites are made to be search engine friendly. There are additional fees, however, to use various features.

You can choose from hundreds of possible fonts and designs when creating your site. And WebStarts also offers free advertising to all their new customers, which means you don’t have to spend $100 in Google Adwords advertising, $50 in Facebook advertising, $75 in Amazon Advertising, $25 in Bing/Yahoo advertising or more. That alone makes setting up a site with WebStarts a smart option.

You can also create members only pages, a discussion forum and even custom email accounts, which is practically unheard of for sites that allow you to build a website free. WebStarts offers a much more diverse template selection than many of the other free sitebuilders, but their interface requires a greater knowledge base than most so it’s not as useful to rank beginners in the world of website design.

WebStarts also promotes their paid features much more heavily than most free sites and seems intent on pushing the paid upgrade, their affiliate program, and other features that make them money rather than promoting their free services. While that’s understandable, if you’re looking for a truly free place to build a website online, this might be good for a secondary site, but it’s not your best choice if it’s the only free site you use.

Many More

There are probably hundreds of other places to build a free website. There are without a doubt dozens more. Each offers its own set of features, and each has its own pros and cons. The goal is to find the one that works best for you and meets your business needs as fully as possible without taking up too much of your time with a heavy learning curve.

Look over these options and choose a free website that will let you get your business online, promote an affiliate program, or serve as a secondary site for whatever your needs. But remember that these and the other places online to build a free website should only be a starting point, to helping you get a full-fledged business site of your own up and running as soon as you can.