Managing your internet business and finding time and focus can be a challenge for just about anyone at one time or another, it has been for me.

It takes planning, research and strategies to achieve success as a business owner, you’re responsible for making important day-to-day operating decisions as well doing the job of writing, selling, marketing, accountant, analyst, etc.

Having all those responsibilities, and a life too, can drain your time and energy.

Here are a few things that have helped  me that I think can help you too.

Save Time Writing  Content

We all know that providing useful content is important but creating great content takes time and isn’t easy for everyone.

It use to take me several hours to put together one blog post, add that to all the other writing I do and that can soak up a good portion of your day.

What I’ve realized is you don’t have to spend hours creating content, there’s an easier way.   

I often use PLR (Private Label Rights) content.  You might say, Liz that’s cheating!  Not really. This isn’t content I buy and just post all over the web, by the way, never do that.

PLR content and articles give me something to work with each morning when I write my first blog post or when I just can get the ideas flowing. You can find PLR for just about any topic you can think of, and it’s ideal for getting content written fast.

I’ll choose an article from a PLR Pack, rewrite the title and header, add my own voice, add a few of my own personal comments, tips or strategies to the body and then sum things up in the end.

I can have a blog post written and published in about 30 minutes; 45 tops, where creating a new post from scratch could take me hours just to come up with an idea.

You won’t want to use PLR for everything, but if you write articles to post to article directories, write guest posts, or have niche sites that needs fresh content added now and then, PLR is ideal for all of that.

Beware: not all PLR content is quality based.  These are the only PLR choices I use:

http://www.homenotion.com/blog/where-to-buy-plr-content-for-your-website/

Put your Email Autoresponder on Autopilot

One of my biggest marketing assets is my email list, but I don’t spend time writing to my list every day.  I do write personal messages every now and then, but for all my niche sites I make full use of my email autoresponder, which means I can load up my autoresponder with pre-written emails that automatically go out to my readers whenever I want them to get their next email.

It takes a bit of time to get the emails created but once they’re done, they’re done, I can move on to something else.

If you you’re overwhelmed with how to create all those email messages and don’t have days and days to create them all, I rely heavily on Lisa Rae Preston’s Instant Niche Emails.  Lisa gives you a year’s worth of emails that you can tailor for whatever your topic.

Simply customize them and toss them into your autoresponder. I’ve saved tons of time doing this.

Stay Organized and Plan

I’m not a natural born organizer but I’ve learned to be out of necessity.  If I can keep my business organized, I can save myself from wasting time and frustration.

But being and staying organized is a conscious effort, you might need to really work at it in the beginning, but once you form that habit, you’ll do it without even thinking.

Also planning and sticking to your plan is huge when it comes to getting things done.  You can’t wake up in the morning, scratch your head and spend 30 minutes deciding what you’ll do today.  Have a plan in place.  If that means planning your day the night before or planning it a week or month in advance, do that.

Have a to do list setting in front of you every day, not a wish list    Your list has to be things you can realistically accomplish in the time you give yourself.

If you have personal things to get done, work them into your list, but plan carefully, paying special attention to the things that are the money makers first, leaving the less important things for last.

So for example, if you’re working on writing an ebook that will be a large source of income when it’s finished, that’s something you’ll want to work on first before doing anything else.

Take a Break and Re-Energize

Believe it or not taking several breaks during the day can save you time and help with focus.

You lose brain power the longer you sit in front of your computer.  It will take longer to get things done if you don’t take a break.

I can be struggling for several minutes on writing a piece of content that I just can seem to get right, but if I get up, go outside take a few deep breaths, do a few stretches, pet my cat, eat a my yogurt or just do something that will take my mind of what I’m doing,  I can come back to my computer and crank out that next bit of content in just a few seconds, amazing how that works.

What things are time wasters for you in your business and how do you manage them?   I know there has to be a few social media complaints out there

Guest Post by Brianne Walter

A high ranking on the Google Search Results Page (SERP) is the dream of most online businesses which are looking for a break.

But what if you’re not looking for a permanent high rank on the SERPs, and are simply promoting a seasonal offer at your otherwise busy website / shopping site?  Then the sudden hype created by Google Adwords may just do the trick of generating some quick traffic to serve the purpose.

Depending on whether you are looking for short-term or long-term benefits, you can go with either of these advertising modes basically. SEO is free and Adwords is a paid campaign. Let’s take a look at how well they fare against each other.

Organic SEO

What’s so organic about it?

SEO is a tried, tested, and cultivated effort to rank high on the SERPs and stay there indefinitely. It is not a simple hurried one-time effort to gain prominence.

Pros:

• Organic rankings can be achieved by adopting certain optimization techniques that find favor with search engine’s indexing algorithms, which constantly scan the websites, evaluating them on predefined criteria and ranking them accordingly.
•  It is more natural for users to visit organically ranked sites as they indicate the credibility of a site, achieved by strong, consistent adherence to content relevance, inbound links from authentic sites and a steady stream of traffic.

Cons:

• Big players are always ranked high by virtue of their seniority in the sector and online space. New entrants will find it quite difficult to compete for the high ranks.
• The time and effort involved in quite high and it may take a while to reach the required ranking.
• Indexing algorithms are prone to constant changes and website contents need to be refreshed/updated to meet the latest guidelines, making the process a continuous one.
• Probably more cost-effective than Adwords.

Google Adwords

Google Adwords is actually a Pay-Per-Click sponsored service where the website owner chooses the keyword and position, basically when, where and how his/her advertisement will figure on the top or left of the Google SERP. The owner/you will be paying a fixed amount to Google each time a visitor clicks on your ad on the SERP. Irrespective of whether you are a veteran or novice, your ad ranks high above or alongside the natural search results, provided you can fund the operation.

Pros:

• Instant attention once you pay up for the Ad position and keyword selection.
• Probable sudden spurt in visitor traffic, if your offer is interesting enough.
• The process is active as long as you can continue to fund it.

Cons:

• Not advisable to those with budget constraints. Bid amount will vary based on keyword and position. Top positions and competitive keywords come with a higher price.
• It takes time to experiment the process if you are looking to monetize the effort.
•  Traffic drops as soon as the ad is taken off the SERPs.
•  Sponsored links are hardly accessed except when they are exceptionally unique or interesting.

Both Organic SEO and Google Adwords are means to capture the attention of the online user looking for specific information using the Google search engine. If you want to stay in the lime-light forever then Organic SEO is the way to go.

However, a combination of both techniques will be ideal to promote a new website, Adwords to get the initial attention and then followed up with a well-designed SEO process to build a brand name in the long run.

About the author:  Brianne is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and luxury. Beside this she is fond of gadgets. Recently an article on steam support attracted her attention. These days she is busy in writing an article on grand marnier.

I love reading ebooks and I love creating them, they’re also a favorite source of income for me.

Because of that I’m sort of an ebook pusher, I push just about everyone I know to create their own ebooks with the talents and knowledge they have, and each of us has so much to offer.

But I also know most people don’t know how to create an ebook or even how to get started.

Even before  you begin writing it all starts with committing to taking action and believing in yourself that you have something valuable to offer.  If after that you still find yourself dragging your feet, below are a few simple things you can do to get the ball rolling and keep it rolling until you get it done.

Analysis Paralysis is NOT Allowed

Don’t let analysis paralysis keep you from getting started, because it will if you let it.  If  you have a topic that people are interested in then just start writing.

I keep a notebook for all my projects and I keep them close at hand.  When I have ideas or learn new things I jot them down, no particular order just get them down on paper.   This is just an idea stage so don’t get caught up with organization just yet.

If getting ideas for content is stumping you, go to the people that are most interested in the topic and find out what they most want to know.

Visit online forums and take a look around, what common threads do you see?  Visit Amazon and review related books.  What common topics come up in each book.

If you have an email subscriber list, send an email asking what topics are hot with them.  You can even give them a free giveaway in exchange for their feedback.

A survey or poll on your website also works well.  I use Surveymonkey.com, and it’s free!

Create Your Outline

Next, create an outline for your project.  Your outline will basically turn into your table of contents, so start with your main topics and break them down into sub-topics as you see fit.

I usually create my ebook using a word processor like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org which I’ve been using a lot, and it’s open software so it’s free

Create your outline and brainstorm each section until you’re happy with the results.  Then you will need to go through each section and research each specific topic.

If organizing and outlining isn’t easy for you, try Jonathon Ledger’s Write That Report.   For $7 it’s completely worth the time it saves you with getting your thoughts and ideas organized into a logical format.  I use it for all my guides.

Formatting Your EBook Contents

Once your book is completed, make sure you format it using the format options within your word processor and create headers and sub-headers.  This makes you book look professional, but you’ll also need these when creating your table of contents.

To create your table of contents using Microsoft Word, go to Insert > Reference > Index and Tables.

Using OpenOffice, go to Insert > Index & Tables

Next, edit and proof read your ebook.  This is the toughest part for me.  I can read though my book 20 times and still find errors and change things.

Don’t let this get out of hand.  Go through the book first with your spell checker and make all corrections.

Always read through the book for grammatical errors also catching improper word spellings like ‘there and their’ or ‘meat and meet’, etc.

Next read through for content and logic.  I like to give my book to someone else for this task.  A third party always has a better view of the flow and the logic, and they can give you some great content pointers as well.

Formatting your eBook for Distribution

Once your book has been formatted, you’ve created your table of contents and it’s been proofed, it’s ready to be formatted for distribution.  This can be done in one of two ways.  Format it as a PDF (portable Document File) or as an HTML document.

I personally prefer creating a PDF.  Openoffice will create a PDF for you instantly by clicking the create PDF button.  The downside there is that Openoffice doesn’t secure the document, meaning once the document is published on your website, it’s free for anyone to access.

That may be OK if the document is something you are giving away, but if this is a priced product, it won’t be secure from the freebie seekers.

To get around that I use DLGuard to secure my books.  DLGuard has a lot of features but my main purpose for using it is that it secures my books online so that freebie seekers can’t access it unless they pay for it first and so far it does a great job of that.

Getting It Done…

Your ebook project can’t happen if you don’t get started.   Time and focus can be a problem, but if you really want to make it happen you have to overcome that.

Start with taking just 20-30 minutes a day.   My best time is the morning so if there’s something I absolutely have to do, I know I can get it done then.

Start with where ever you are in the process and make a list of what needs to be done.  Task each thing out for the next several weeks or months. If you don’t finish what you need to do in that 20-30 minutes a day, that’s OK, leave it to the next day, but every day do one thing, no matter how small.

If you can stick to that schedule, you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come in just a few weeks.  You’ll also be immensely proud of yourself and your accomplishment.

What tips can you offer for ebook writers on how to create an ebook?  Share them with us

Ever hear someone say that affiliate marketing sucks?  That’s because for many people, affiliate marketing does suck!

Why is that?  Affiliate marketing is suppose to be an easy way to make money online, right?

You don’t need your own product, you don’t have to deal with shipping, inventory or customer service and some of the commissions, especially with electronic products, can be as much as 50-100%.

So what sucks about that?

It sucks because many affiliate marketers don’t make any sales.  They find a product they like, they spend time setting up a website, they write, read and promote, and after all that they have zip, zilch, nada, no sales.

That’s discouraging to anyone trying to make money online.

In the beginning, affiliate marketing wasn’t my best money maker either.  It wasn’t until I made some pretty significant changes that things began to turn around.

For starters,  affiliate marketing takes work, but not just any work, you have to do the things that make the affiliate marketing business model work.   Simply creating a pretty website, posting affiliate links and expecting people will click and buy, is a recipe for failure …and that does suck.

Don’t follow the failure path, here’s how to get situated on the right track…

1. Find a Focused niche

Skincare is not a niche. Shoes is not a niche.  I can say that now because those were my first affiliate sites.  Big mistakes.

These topics are too broad and it’s hard to get a handle on what to sell much less what people coming to your site are actually looking for. A good niche has a much narrower focus.

For instance, if you love skincare what about skin care is most appealing to you?  Find a niche market by focusing in on a subset of skin care, then focus in on a demographic.

A good example might be anti-aging skin care for women over 50.   Anti aging is a common concern for women, and it’s even more of a concern for the demographic of women over 50.   See how that works?

2.  Create a Themed Website

Create a website around a theme as opposed to a product.   You could certainly create a site around one specific product, but what happens when that product no longer exists?  I prefer to create a site around a specific interest or problem and find several quality affiliate products that will complement the theme of the site.

Start by creating a WordPress blog or you could even create a traditional website using any number of  easy website builders.  Once your site is created, add related categories and populate it with useful, interesting information that your target audience wants to know about.

3. Don’t Promote Junk!

Chances are that within your specific niche there are tons of products and services to promote. You’ll also notice that there’s a lot of junk out there, and that goes for any niche.

Learn to be choosy with the products you promote, find the best affiliate marketing programs by choosing carefully. Make sure you promote quality products and that the product’s website has a good presence with a smooth sales process.

I personally like to try the product or service first before I promote it.  It’s hard for me to be convincing and compelling if I don’t.  Not everyone likes the idea of having to buy the product or service first, and if you’re one of those natural born marketers that could convince anyone to buy anything, then by all means go for it, but for most of us, it’s smarter to try the products we promote first

I also like to get to know the affiliate manager. If the affiliate program is a good one, the manager will go the extra mile to help you promote giving you personalized help and ideas.  After all if you’re successful, so are they.

4. Create an email Opt-in List

Affiliate marketers new to the business sometimes shy away from email marketing.   That’s another mistake.

Having even the tiniest email list of subscribers  can make you some exceptional money because those people on your list are INTERESTED. What better target market is there?  They’re actually asking you to tell them what great things to buy.

But don’t be misled.  They won’t buy immediately. Build their friendship and their trust first.  Help them get to know you and you them.  Once they begin to know and trust you, that’s when they’ll take you up on what you are promoting.

If you need help creating your list, sign up for my free email tips and  you’ll have a targeted list built in no time.

Bottom Line…

If you think affiliate marketing sucks because you just can’t make a go of it, believe me, you can.   Your problem may be that you’re probably missing a few key strategies.   Once you find a focused niche, create a blog or website that addresses issues people need to know about, find great products and build a list of interested people, it’s just a matter of fine tuning things before the sales will begin rolling in.

Blessings,

P.S.  I love affiliate marketing, but I struggled in the beginning too. It wasn’t until I read Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook, that I was able to fine tune my affiliate marketing business.   In a nutshell, this book was the one thing that showed me exactly what I was missing and what I should be doing and focusing on for making the sales I needed.

…and when you realize what you were missing, it’s like the flood gates just open up

These are 8 of my favorite ways to create one way in bound backlinks Quickly.

But don’t feel that you need to use all  8 methods.

All of the methods listed work very well and will start generating traffic quickly, however pick the 3-5 methods that resonate with you the best and use them consistently.

The operative word here is ‘consistently’.

No method works without creating a plan for getting it done and then doing it every day.  So don’t give up, keep at it and you WILL see results

1. Comment on Relevant Blog Posts

Building links with blog comments is a quick and easy way to get backlinks.  Just be sure that whatever comments  you make they are relevant and useful, otherwise  your efforts will be wasted.

To find relevant blogs to comment on that accept comments without requiring you to login, use these search strings to enter into the Google search bar.

• site: .com inurl:blog “post a comment” -”comments closed” -”you must be logged in” “ADD YOUR KEYWORD”
• site: .org inurl:blog “post a comment” -”comments closed” -”you must be logged in” “ADD YOUR KEYWORD”
• site: .net inurl:blog “post a comment” -”comments closed” -”you must be logged in” “ADD YOUR KEYWORD”

When making comments,  use your best keyword phrase in the ‘Name’ portion of the comment box and deep link with the complete URL of your page you are trying to build links for.

If  you find that your comments are not accepted, then try making sure the blog is using ‘Comment Luv’.

2. Guest Blogging

Good content is king and if you can get your content on a topic relevant authority site, you’ll not only be building some great backlinks, you’ll be getting some awesome traffic as well.

But writing great guest blog posts and writing them quickly can be a tall order.

Your guest blog post doesn’t have to be 1000 words, in fact 300-400 words is fine, however be sure your post does the following:

• Has a narrowly focused topic
• Has a catchy, compelling title
• Offers useful, specific information without a lot of generalizations

Next find bloggers that you know in your niche and send them the guest blog post.  Don’t ask them if you can send a blog  post, that wastes everyone’s valuable time, simply send your post and ask the blog owner to respond if they use it.  That way if they don’t use it you can use it somewhere else.

Also you’ll want to know when your guest post is published so you can Tweet and Facebook it.

3. Article Marketing

Article marketing is still an excellent way to generate backlinks.  Publish articles on ezines, information sites, media sites, and article directories.

The best success I’ve had with submitting articles is to find article sites that require unique articles that you haven’t posted on other sites around the web.

To find quality sites to submit articles to, do a Google search using the following:

 intitle:”submit an article” yourtopic

4. Social Bookmarking

A super quick way to get backlinks is to bookmark your content on “social bookmarking” sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, LinkedIn and Reddit and yes, even Twitter has social bookmarking ability.  If  you’re not sure how to use twitter for social bookmarking, you can find out more about that here:

http://www.homenotion.com/blog/social-networking-and-social-bookmarking/

Bookmarking your content pages on these sites allows others to see your content and share it with others.  Most social bookmarking sites are free. Simply set up an account and start bookmarking.   If you have a WordPress blog try using the Twitter Facebook Social Share plugin.  I use it here on Homenotion, that way I can book mark each post with just a few clicks.

5. Forum Interaction

Go to topic specific forums and answer questions that forum members have.  Use forums that allow you to attach a signature line to your entries.  This is useful if  you’re trying to get traffic to your home page but it can also work for getting links to internal pages as well.

To find a forum in your niche, simple enter into Google ‘yourtopic forum’, without the quotes.

6. Create Mini Sites

Mini Sites are simple 3-5 page sites that offer good content related to a specific topic and contain links that point back to your main website or specific website pages.

You can create mini-sites using these tools:

www.Squidoo.com
www.Blogger.com

7. Create a Testimonial

Whenever you purchase and use a product, get some extra mileage from the product by writing a testimonial for the product.   Most product owners are thrilled to get a good testimonial and will also allow testimonials to contain a live link back to the author, this shows a credible source.

Testimonials don’t have to be long but they should explain why you chose the product or service,  what you liked best and who would most benefit from the product.  If you can include a head shot with your testimonial.  It may not be used but it’s another was for the product owner to show a credible source.

8.  Create a Press Release

If you’ve just published  your website or blog, create a press release.   In your press release you can get a live link back to your website containing your anchor text.

If you’ve never created a press release before Webwire has a press release format that you can follow to create your release.

Once your release is created, send to PRweb which is a leading press release site.  PRweb does charge a fee however the publicity and backlinks you’ll get far outweigh the cost in value.

We just got back from the first NAMS Conference 2012  in Atlanta on Monday, and today I’m just starting to recover from an awesome, intense event.

This was only our second time attending but it was even better than the NAMS live event we attended last August.

This time was even better as we saw lots of familiar faces and made some great new friends and joint venture partners.

But, honestly, the best part of NAMS are the workshops.  With all the information and intense motivation the speakers left us with, you can’t help but feel recharged and ready to apply what you’ve learned.  I know I have

And as a work at home business owner myself where you wear all the hats and depend on keeping yourself motivated and charged up, an event like this can be powerful.

What Makes an Event like NAMS So Worthwhile?

Attending internet marketing seminars like the NAMS conference can make a difference in your business because you’re meeting people that do what you do every day!   Talk about being able to relate.

Does everyone attending NAMS work all day at home like I do?  No, in fact many of them still have day jobs, but those folks have commented to me over and over that events like NAMS gives them ideas and motivation to get things done so they CAN eventually quit their jobs.

And let me tell you, just expressing your goals and intents to others is a big step to getting things done.  It’s like the people you meet are holding you accountable, and you don’t want to disappoint them

The best part of NAMS are the workshop sessions which covered things like marketing, setting up your business right, virtual event secrets, keyword research, public domain blueprint, and email list building tips.

I especially loved the sessions on:

• Kiss Your Day Job Goodbye and work with your partner with Dave and Mary Morris.  Invaluable ideas and motivation, especially for me as I’m working on my Husband to join me.
• Setting Your Business Up Right with Dan Morris, Regina Smola.  If you’re not sure what  your doing is the right thing, this has been an awesome guide.
• How To Launch Products Faster with Jack Born. I create information products and anything that can help me crank those things out better and faster is up my alley.

I couldn’t sit in on all the sessions as there are 4 sessions presented at one time,  but I’ll get the sessions I missed on audio.

What I Came Away with This Time from The NAMS Event

I certainly feel renewed,  but I also have a six-month to do list.  That’s a big deal for me because I’m a procrastinator and someone that tends not to plan. I know, shame on me    But this time I not only got a plan to work from, it also gave me the ability to really determine what my money making goals are and create a monthly, weekly, and daily task plan to get those goals accomplished.  That’s going to be a big help for me.

And as I move forward in the weeks ahead, I’ve got lots of information and ideas about the NAMS topics covered that I’ll be able to improve my business with.

My Final Thoughts

If attending a live event like NAMS isn’t the right thing for you just yet, that’s OK, you can easily join the NAMS monthly membership and each week get live webinars, audios and videos you can listen to and watch from home.

I hardly ever miss a recording because they’re that valuable to my business.

I’m home now and excited to put my plans and ideas into motion.  I’ve even got my plans together for attending NAMS8 in August.

Let me just say that I don’t attend many live events only because they can be so impersonal and salesy, but NAMS is not like that at all.  It’s fun, friendly and the members of the faculty genuinely care about YOU.

If  you’re serious at all about your online business, learn all that you can, but make it easy on yourself by getting in on things like weekly training webinars,  accountability groups, useful forums, worthwhile article directories, monthly Q&A calls and so much more.  Those are the things you get with a NAMS membership.

Click this link to find out more about all the NAMS benefits and features.

You won’t find anything as comprehensive or as affordable.

It’s Valentine’s Day!  One of my favorite days of the year

Were nothing without the things we love and the love we share with others.

And of course I’m reminded of all the things I love; here are 26 of them:

• Jesus, Bible Study and My Faith
• My Awesome Husband and Very Best Friend
• My Kids – Hugs and Kisses
• My Kitties who stick with me through thick and thin and never disagree with me
• My Online Business and those I’ve helped over the years
• Affiliate Checks
• My Amazon Kindle and a good book
• Swinging in my Hammock on a sunny day
• My 4 mile walk I do with my friends 5 times a week
• Chocolate and Port Wine
• Lunch on the Beach at my favorite restaurant
• My Keurig Coffee maker
• Growing Roses
• Sleeping In on A Rainy Morning
• Relaxing in a mountain cabin
• Yellowstone
• A good thunderstorm
• Sailing on the Bay in San Diego
• A Live Symphony Concert
• Italy
• A Cheesy Pizza when I’m really, really hungry
• New Shoes
• Shopping at Amazon
• A good romantic comedy
• Playing Balderdash
• My house when it’s just been cleaned

…and yes, I love Valentines Day

How About YOU, what things do you love?

Last week I posed a question on LinkedIn to find out what people are feeling with regard to SEO & social media.

You can see the conversation here:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=91705712&gid=2678518&commentID=67632094&trk=view_disc&ut=3ZfFFpfcj5W541

I’m wondering with all the buzz afloat about how Google is monitoring how much your content gets tweeted, liked and linked to within social media, how might this affect search engine rankings for those that don’t do social media at all?

I get a mixed bag of responses, but the favorite answer seems to be that both will be important.  However with so much emphasis on social media today, will SEO now become less important?

If you look at the latest Google Panda update, it was directed at sites containing extensive advertising with little quality content and spammy backlinks which hurt a lot of websites, and rightly so,  but what’s coming next?

Of course, no one knows exactly what Google will do in the future, but it makes sense that if a site doesn’t have good traffic and appear on the social sharing circuit with favorable response, then it could lose it’s ability to rank well in the search engines in future months.

In fact Michelle MacPhearson explains it well in one of her latest videos stating that your SEO strategy now needs to include social sharing.

http://www.michellemacphearson.com/how-to-start-a-blog-that-matters/

Final Thoughts on the  SEO & Social Media Direction

I’m thinking that content will always be king but social medial may be the new queen.

If Google is going to give its users the best search experience possible, which is what they claim, they’ll rely more and more on how the public views the content as opposed to how well it’s optimized for the search engines.

Or maybe we should consider that social media will actually become part of the SEO strategy, which many say has already happened.

I’d love  your thoughts on this