Thanks to the internet, there are now so many options available to anyone who can write, or who enjoys writing – and the truth is, it can become a very lucrative way of making money.  There are many women who are working as freelance writers online and making a full time living from it.

So, where do you start?

Set Up A Website To Showcase Your Work

One of the first things I would recommend to anyone just starting out, and who hasn’t established a name for themselves yet, would be to start a blog.  Set the blog up as a place for you to show off your writing talent, and let potential clients have a place where they can read some of your material to get an idea of your writing style.

While this isn’t necessary, it really does give you a place to have clients get to know your writing ability, as well as somewhere that they can contact you through.  It is such a good idea to have an actual website that you can give as a contact for anyone interested in hiring you.

The best part is – it doesn’t even have to cost you anything.  And, you don’t need to have any technical knowledge whatsoever! (While I always do recommend that you set up a site on your own domain, that you own – I realize that it isn’t something that is easy for everyone to do.)  So, when you are just starting out, using a site like Blogger is just fine.

Blogger even has the ability now to set up static pages as well as blog post pages – so that lets you set up a page that gives information about you, a page with contact information – and even a page with some samples of your work.

(I will do a future post showing how to set up a basic WordPress site – and can do a quick post about Blogger too if you are interested.  Just comment below and let me know if you would like to learn more about it).

Build A Portfolio

After you have a blog set up, get a couple of articles written up that you can use to send to anyone who wants to see samples of your work.  You can give them the address of your blog as well, to let them see even more of your writing – but having a few articles that you have written is something most people will want to see as well.

One thing I can suggest you do is set up an account at Ezine articles.  This is a great way for your own site to get exposure (you can put a link to it in the resource box at the bottom of the article), and can be used to draw clients in.

Why not write some articles explaining the importance of quality content written on a website?  Or, write an article explaining the importance of having your own product, and how hiring a ghostwriter can help to grow your business tenfold.  (These are just ideas – but you get the picture).  Then, lead them back to your site.

Once you have a few articles submitted to Ezine articles, (I believe it is 10), you should be able to reach Platinum Author status – which will allow you to have a badge to display on your site saying that you are a “Platinum Author with Ezine Articles”.  This can be another great way to show off your talent and ability on your site for potential new clients to see.

Set Up Freelance Site Profiles

Meanwhile, at the time that you are writing and submitting these articles, you should be setting up profiles on some of the top freelance sites.  A couple that I can suggest are Odesk, Elance and Guru.  Take a look through some of the top earners on the sites, and model your profile around how they have set theirs up.

You can start looking through the job postings on the sites, and even start putting bids in.  Remember, it is going to take some work to get your name out there and build up some feedback, so it is very likely you will be having to work for peanuts for the first few jobs in order to compete and get some work.  You are bidding against people in other countries where they can afford to do the work for a lot cheaper because the money they earn is worth more than it is here.

But – don’t let that discourage you!  There are still people out there who will want you, you just need to find them;-)

Offer Your Services On Marketing Forums – Warrior Forum

Now, if any of you have read my guide on working from home, you know that one of the best places I always suggest you go to find work right away is the Warrior Forum.  That is where I got started, and I still have clients I work for that found me through there.

The Warrior Forum lets you post either a classified ad – (I believe it is around $20) – or what is called a Warrior Special Offer.  For a WSO, you need to have so many posts before you can post one, and it is sometimes hit and miss as well.  There are so many special offers going up each day, that now it is a bit more difficult to get noticed.  Sometimes your offer can be bumped off the first page in a matter of hours.

The forum is full of Internet Marketers who are always needing content written – for websites, for articles to submit to directories, some will even want ebooks ghostwritten for them that they can sell.  It is a great place to get your feet wet.

Put up a classified offering to write articles or other content that they need.  State that you are just starting out and want to build up a portfolio.  Offer to write for less than you normally would.  You can look through the offers that are up now to get an idea of the market – but if you offered to write articles around 500 words for $5 – you will likely get some people interested.

I wouldn’t suggest undercutting yourself too much.  You are going to need to put your prices up eventually – or you will get burnt out fast.  (Trust me, I know what I am talking about!)

When I first started out, I started with low prices.  Then, I had a hard time having to put my prices up.  I felt guilty, and was afraid I would lose my clients.

You might lose a couple, but that is fine.  You need to be paid for your time, and the work you are doing – and if you are a good writer, people will notice and will want to pay the price to have you.  If you end up writing articles for people and only ever getting $5 for them – trust me – you will get tired of it pretty quick!

Writer Forums & Resources

Another great place for anyone starting out is Absolute Write forums.  You will find tons of information about freelance writing, and you can find some good work through here as well.  They have a ton of threads with lists of publications:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16663

and so many other really informative posts that can help you get going.

You can find people posting paying jobs here and you can really learn alot by reading through everything.

Writer’s Market

I actually found this site through a thread on the Absolute Write forums – and though I have never used it myself, it has some very good feedback by other writers who have.  It is a paid membership – something like $5 a month, or you can get a yearly subscription for $40.  It might be something worth trying out as well for anyone just getting started.

If there is anyone out there who has used this site, I would love if you could leave a comment and let us know what you think about it – whether it is worth trying or not.  And, if you end up signing up from here – make sure you come back and let us know what you think!

WAHM Forum

And, of course, we can’t forget the WAHM forum.  There are people who actually post there for work – but it has a good section for WAHM writers that you can really learn a lot from.  Take the time to read and learn, but don’t forget that sometimes the best way to get started, is to just jump in and learn along the way!

Just Jump in And Get Started!

So – I hope I have given you some good resources and information to get you started finding paying work.  Remember – it will be a learning experience, and you will pick up so much just by getting your name out there and trying.  Get your site set up, and start offering your services at a bargain to get some feedback and reviews that you can post on your site.

I started out by offering to do some proofreading for free for a couple of people.  One of them, was a well known and big name marketer who I had purchased a guide from.  I noticed a ton of spelling and other typos – so I actually contacted him myself and offered to go through and fix the mistakes I found for free.

He was thrilled – and you can bet that having a testimonial from him on my site definitely helped when other potential clients came to look.  Not only that, but I ended up getting some writing work from him which was a huge bonus.

Get out there – and start finding people who need your writing abilities!  There are lots to be had on the internet, and it can open doors to the print world as well.  You can meet people online who have contacts, and you can learn about opportunities that you wouldn’t normally know about if you weren’t involved in the industry online.

Next time, I will write a bit about writing keyword optimized articles, and using SEO principles – which is an asset that many people are searching for in their hired writers.  If you can offer extra skills, it will open more doors for you – and having the expertise to do SEO articles will definitely give you an edge!

NOW AVAILABLE AS A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!!

I just have a quick post today – because I wanted to get it up as quickly as possible!

I just received an email from the author of the “Complete Internet Marketing Moms Start Up Guide”, Kelly McCausey, letting us know that she has finally released her physical book in digital format!

This is great news for anyone who has been holding off buying this great guide – it is now available to you as an INSTANT DOWNLOAD for just $20!  The hard copy version has long been one which I have actively recommended to my readers, which is available through Amazon for $24.97.  Now, you can have it sent to you instantly to read, for even less than that!

If you have been wanting to get a copy of this great guide – which really covers all the basics of getting started in Internet Marketing and working from home – then you can read everything that is included in it here:

The Complete Internet Marketing Moms Start Up Guide

This really is a great starting point for anyone wanting to work from home on the internet – and $20 is not a lot to pay for information like this!

On another note – I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who got back to me from my email the other day.  I had some incredible feedback and suggestions for topics that you guys are interested in learning about, so just to let you know – I am working on putting together some great posts for you!

Some of the topics I had mentioned to me a few times were things like learning how to get started with Freelance writing on the internet, how to set up a blog, getting started with affiliate marketing (whether you need a website, how to set one up with no experience and not alot of money), ecommerce and finding a “niche”.

So, keep your eyes open here and I will be bringing you some great information to help you get started!  And, if there are any other topics or questions out there for any of you getting started – go ahead and let me know!  I will do my best to answer them, and if I don’t know the answers, I’ll find you someone who does;-)

But, I have made a conscious decision this year that I am going to also make sure that my business is taken care of as well – and while I am still going to be as busy as I can doing everything I need to do every day to grow my business, (sadly, at the expense of my spring housecleaning, but that is another matter altogether!), I know that I can’t possibly do everything that needs to be done.

Time For A Leap Into The Great Unknown!

So, a few days ago, I took a gigantic leap of faith, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that all will work out!

I went ahead and hired a few people to work for me that I can outsource some tasks to – link building, writing articles, and things like that.  While I enjoy writing, and write all my own content for my blogs, I do sometimes have others write articles for me which I can submit to directories or use for content on other sites.

I worry that I won’t be able to afford it, and I worry that I won’t even have enough work for them off the bat.  But, I wanted to give a couple of the people I interviewed a chance to work with me, and I am so glad I did!

It is amazing how it feels to have a bit of the weight lifted off your shoulders!  Knowing that other people are working with you, to help you.

And, I have to say, that the ones I hired all seem like genuinely nice people – and I look forward to having them on my team.

But Can I Afford It?

I will worry for the next little while, because it is going to cost me some money.  But, I had a bit of a revelation the other day, which I would like to share with you, because it could be something you struggle with in your own business as well…..

As I was getting ready to purchase yet another “system” to add to my marketing efforts, I kind of sat back and let myself really think it through.

Did I really need another system to learn?  Why not keep working with what I do know, and keep moving it forward as much as I can?

Because this is really where I believe many of us who are getting into Internet Marketing struggle – and that is always looking for more answers, more strategies, more money making ideas, without really following through with what we already know.

While it is good to always keep learning, there comes a time when you just have to trust that you already know enough that if you just take that knowledge and keep applying it – even though you might not see results immediately – and trust that you can build from it.

Anyways, while what I was thinking of buying was something that would compliment what I already am doing, I held off.

The very next day, I decided that the money I was going to invest into that new “system” would be better spent on having people working with me, doing the small tasks that need to be done, but that we all put off doing while we keep searching for the next “magic” bullet.

So – that is what I am doing.  This week, I will take that money and pay my team of people I hired, and go from there.  I don’t know if I can afford to keep doing it – but I am going to take it one week at a time.  If I see even the tiniest bit of return, then I will take another leap of faith next week and get some more work done.  And, I will just keep going from there, week after week.

If you are at a point in your Internet Marketing career, (if that is the path you have chosen to work at home), where you already have learned enough to get started with something – anything, as long as you get started – then just get started.  And, before you get ready to pull out your wallet and buy that next big thing, make sure you really sit down and decide if it will truly add to what you are already doing.   If it doesn’t – consider taking that money and investing it back into your business.

Perhaps that will be the missing link you have also been looking for!  I know I am really hopeful it will be for me

As I had mentioned in a previous update – I had 2 orders within just a few days of finishing up the first site.  I have had a few clicks here and there since then.

Meanwhile, I had built another site – this one using keywords for my domain name, after doing some keyword research to choose my niche.  This site is taking a little longer to get the traffic to it, simply because it is new.   The first site was one I had for awhile, so it was already getting some traffic.

I have had 2 more orders yesterday on my first site – so in total, I have had 4 orders out of about 80 clicks.  And I think I should also mention – I have really done nothing to promote these sites yet.  I am going to do some social bookmarking and link building – but really, up until this time, I have done nothing.

That isn’t a very bad conversion rate at all, when you consider conversion rates on some digital products.  So, for anyone who doesn’t think using Amazon is worthwhile with the lower comission rates, remember – you have the trust factor with Amazon that you just don’t have anywhere else.

It is so much easier to make a sale through Amazon simply because everyone has heard of it, they trust it – and many people have even already purchased through them.  And, although it seems that so many people complain about the commissions for Amazon, really it is on par with many other companies that offer an affiliate program.  The thing you need to remember is that with physical products, there are many other costs involved for the merchant – they have had to pay for the product at cost, then there are all the other costs with running a business, such as paying employees, overhead and everything else.  So, of course a physical product simply cannot offer the commission structures of a digital product.

But, in my opinion – when you are working with the trust factor of Amazon, not to mention their incredible upsell sequence they offer – it is just much easier to convert visitors to buyers with Amazon.  2 of the 4 purchases I had were for things that I hadn’t put on my site, the customer was just picking them up to add on to their order while they were buying the original product.

So – if you were to get enough sites out there, or get enough traffic to your sites with Amazon feeds – I really do think this is a very viable money stream to add to your affiliate marketing efforts.  I know I am getting a few more sites put up this week – I will let you know after a few weeks how things are going.

Meanwhile, go ahead and get your own Amazon sites set up!  The sooner you start building them, the sooner you will see just what possibilities there are!

Here is the link to my original article, which outlines what kind of model I was using.  There are some links that you can use to get information on keyword research, choosing a niche, setting up a WP site – everything you need to get started.

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Step One

Affiliate Marketing Case Study – Update

I would love to hear your own experiences with Amazon, or your thoughts on using Amazon as a possible revenue stream!

If you have been online for any length of time you’ve been exposed to a blog in one way or another. In fact you’re probably using one yourself and understand the importance of a small business utilizing a blog for several reasons such as increasing traffic, building a relationship with your readers, etc.

Not all people are as fortunate as those of us that know the importance of blogging. Speaking on a local level if you’ve ever had a conversation with a small business owner who has a brick and mortar business you have probably come to the conclusion that some of them don’t even know what a blog is!

That’s where a Virtual Assistant who loves WordPress, has a creative side and doesn’t mind working mostly behind the scenes can utilize their services by becoming a blog consultant. Then you can start evangelizing to small business owners in your local community not only the importance of blogging, but the truth – blogging is smart for business.

So exactly what is a blog consultant?

It’s someone passionate about blogging. They love blogging in general but more importantly they understand the importance of blogging for small business owners and want to share that understanding with small business owners, especially on the local level.

So if you’re that VA mentioned above and are passionate about blogging and want to share that passion with others then be sure to check out Become A Blog Consultant. If you’re not a VA that’s ok too, this course was created for anyone who has a passion for blogging and wants to share it with local small business owners.

If you go here, you can watch a quick two minute video and see a real life client example and sign up for a 16 minute audio that will help you decide if this is for you.

Become A Blog Consultant

This post might get long winded, and maybe go a bit all over the place, so I do apologize.  I tend to write as though I am talking, and as happens a lot of the time I am talking, I can go in about 5 different directions by the time I am finished!  But, I will do my best to keep you with me;-)

I have been working online for a few years now – and I am proud of the fact that I have never sold myself out to make money.  What I mean is, I know there are markets, and niches I could go into that would make me very good money.  However, I can’t – in my own conscience – do it.  Not that I am saying that those who do are bad people – but I just know that it isn’t something for me.

At the end of the day, I am accountable to me, and my kids.  Truth is, my number one job is being a mom – that is first and foremost.  And, I can’t let myself go into a market that I myself am not comfortable with.  

But – that isn’t the real point of the post.  The point is, that when you are working online, as it is with any job, you need to be who you are, and you need to be doing things that are in line with your beliefs and your personality.  The experts can tell you to go and do a hundred things – but if you don’t believe that what you would be doing reflects who you are, then you will have a hard time being committed to it.

Now, I might take a lot of heat over this – but, I personally have always had a very hard time going and doing a massive social bookmarking campaign.  I have tried to do it the way the experts say I have to – but I do feel sometimes like I am taking advantage of a service that really isn’t meant to just post links to my personal pages.

Don ‘t get me wrong – I have stumbled my pages, I have “Digged” them, submitted them to tons of others, but I do still have a hard time setting up profiles on hundreds of social sites just for the purpose of building the links back to my site.

I know that there isn’t anything really wrong with it – but for some reason, there is just something about it that I feel is a bit “spammy”.

Perhaps that is why I don’t have a huge following on my blog – although it could also do with the fact that I had left it sitting idle for almost a year too…….I do have some RSS subscribers, (Thank you, by the way!), but I am nowhere near the numbers of some of the really big blogs – and don’t know if I ever will be.

Some days, I feel like I am writing to myself.  I don’t know if I am writing any useful content – I hope that I can give some entertainment to some of you, and maybe even offer some advice and tips that can help, but it is difficult to know sometimes if you are really doing things right.

I love to write – and that is the reason I am blogging.  I would love to have a huge following some day, but I will have to find my own ways to build the traffic to my site – methods that I feel comfortable with.  I want my readers to know that I am genuine – when I write something, it will be as honest as possible.  That is who I am – and I am not going to change that.

I know that some people would say that I will be eaten alive in the “Online Marketing World”, but I believe that everyone has their own way of doing things, and I hope that by remaining loyal to who I am, and who I would like my kids to be, then maybe I will be alright and carve out my own little corner on the internet that allows me to make some money, doing something I love.

I am not saying not to take any advice, or follow any techniques you are being taught – far from that!  You will not learn anything new if you aren’t prepared to try what experts are teaching you.

But, don’t follow blindly.  Make sure you are learning techniques that you are going to stick with – or else you will continue running in circles wondering why everyone else has succeeded online, when you haven’t.  The truth is, if you aren’t comfortable with what you are doing – then you won’t keep doing it.

Take blogging for example – I think one of the reasons I had such a hard time committing to this blog in the beginning was that I was being told – “You need to research keywords, write articles around them optimize everything for those keywords, repeat every day for a new article”.  And, that is great for article marketing, and for niche blogs – but for a blog that I really wanted to enjoy, and to offer genuine material for my readers – that just wasn’t something I could commit to every single day.

Now – if I post once or twice a week – I am happy.  I am sure there will be times I will go longer – and maybe some days, I just might have more than one thing to say.  I don’t know – but I will follow my gut on that one.

And – hopefully, I have put this article together in a way that makes sense.  I know there is alot of information out there – find something you love, learn all you can – take what you feel is right for who you are, and start applying it.

That is how you will “make it”.

After just one day of having the Amazon plugin installed, and completely redoing my site…….I had 3 orders through Amazon!  I only had 6 clicks – but 3 of them ordered!

I was so surprised – and I know that it does help that I was already getting traffic to the site, but it still isn’t a large amount – averaging about 40 a day.

Because Amazon doesn’t show any amounts until the order is actually shipped (I believe), I didn’t see until today what I had even made.  It isn’t a huge winfall by any means – only $8 and some change – but seriously….if you can’t see the potential in this, then I don’t know what to say!

Get enough of these sites out there working like this every day, and you will start to see something building up that will continue to make you money every month.

So – I am back to work now on another site to start building up my niche blog real estate!

I already know how to set up a blog and had a pretty good idea of keyword research already, but I still picked up some very good tips that I didn’t know about.  I didn’t watch the videos about installing the WordPress blogs or anything like that, but for those of you who are just starting out, and who have no idea of how to do any of this stuff – trust me, there is no better resource out there.  He literally walks you through every single step.

Anyway – I am kind of adding some of my own twists to it, but for the most part, I will be doing things as outlined by him.

The first blog I decided to do, was actually one I have had for awhile but hadn’t done anything with.  It is a site about cats – so following with this model, I decided to use Amazon to display products that people would be interested in.

In the course, he says to find a keyword rich domain name, which this blog isn’t, but I wanted to do something with it, so thought this would be a good one to start with.  It is already getting traffic to it, has been indexed and has some age, so I thought that would be an advantage – even without the keyword domain name.  The site is www.aloveforcats.com

The first thing I did, after I decided I was going to try using Amazon for most of these sites, was get a plugin that would make my work a lot easier.  I know that a lot of people say that Amazon is a waste of time, because their affiliate commissions are so low, but my thinking is that everyone knows about Amazon, and has already likely shopped with them – and they already have that trust factor, so it is easier to convince people to purchase.  Plus, they have a ton of stuff to choose from – more than just books – so it makes setting up niche sites very simple.

I will likely still do some sites using Clickbank products – because the payouts are very good – but for now, I am setting up these Amazon sites.

If some of this seems foreign to you, or if you are confused about any of it – I do really suggest you sign up and start going through some of the videos he provides – very informative information that you can use in all areas of Internet Marketing.

So!  I had mentioned getting a plugin which pulls in Amazon data.  I did some research, and ended up going with one provided by a fellow Warrior at the Warrior Forum.  The plugin is www.wpzonbuilder.com.  It is very simple to use, and it seems to be working very well.  It was affordable too, and if you are planning on doing a bunch of these sites, this is the most cost effective and simple way of getting them done.

Once I got the plugin set up, I started doing some more keyword research.  I already had an idea of keywords I would be targeting, but I went through and did some of the things I learned about in the videos – and found some more.

Then, I simply set up my categories, and started adding the products through the plugin.  It took me a matter of maybe two hours, from start to finish – and a lot of that time was me having to redo some things that I did wrong (I forgot to add categories to some of the products – so I had to go and redo that).

But, everything went fairly smoothly – and I am pretty impressed so far.  I have it set up now that more products will be added over the next few weeks – and meanwhile, I am moving on to the next step today, which is building some links, submitting my sitemap and some other necessary tasks to get the traffic built up that is coming in.

I hope you will follow along – and give me a kick every now and then if I am falling behind!

And, go ahead and sign up at www.supersimpleblogging.com – like I said, it is completely free and you are going to learn a great deal about affiliate marketing and some of the more technical things that might be holding you back from starting.

Enjoy!

Today’s post may be considered off-topic maybe – or a bit of a rant perhaps.  And, as always, I am just going to start writing and see where the post even goes…..

Yesterday, I was looking through a few of my RSS feeds to see if there was anything new I should read about.  I stumbled onto a blog post about Kate Gosselin doing Dancing with the Stars, which basically asked readers what their thoughts were on moms who had ambition and how they were seen by others.

The post isn’t what got to me – (even though Kate Gosselin is not one of my favorite people, I don’t really feel it is any of my business how she conducts her life).  What got to me was where the comments started heading.

I was a stay at home mom for a couple of years before I started working from home.  And, my mom was a stay at home mom my whole life.  So, when I read comments that are truly ignorant and completely out of line towards stay at home moms, I tend to get a bit worked up about it.

Here is the original post:

Is Mom Ambition a Bad Thing?

It was a good post, which opened up to some great discussion.  But, when it got to the comment that:

Most ambitious moms has more to offer a child. Someone that cooks,cleans, watches soaps, and shops all day has few skill to transfer to their young. Also, moms that have to ask their hubby for spending money show that they are not adults or responsible. If mommy does not have goals, daughter won’t either.

Wow!  Just….wow.  Comments like that just really get to me!

I can’t believe that in today’s society, women are attacking each other for their personal decisions – but as if that isn’t enough, they are still spewing forth such completely ignorant garbage!

First of all, that is NOT what stay at home moms are doing!  Sure, maybe there are some, but to put every single stay at home mom into that category is just insane!

Most stay at home moms that I know, are doing pretty much what your daycare worker is doing day in and day out – only difference is, that daycare worker is seen as contributing to society because she has a J-O-B which she gets paid for every day!

Guess what?   When your kids are home all day, there are meals to make, and a house to keep organized.  When kids are in school or daycare all day, your house doesn’t get near the mess that it does when they are home.  And, because most of these stay at home moms have sacrficed a good career – (I gave up a career as a nurse) – the family finances are usually very tight.  So, there days also consist of trying to make do with what they can afford.

We don’t lack ambition – in fact, I think any woman who chooses to give up a career and stay home with her children is very ambitious!  No one can even imagine what is involved in being a stay at home mom, but it seems like there are sure a lot of people who feel they are experts – because they go out and contribute to society by working, they feel that they are “above” the ones who are simply staying at home.

And then to say that moms who aren’t working can’t transfer any skills to their children?!  I can’t even begin to write about how far from the truth that statement is!

I learned more from my mom than anyone else I know – and I am hopefully passing on that knowledge to my kids.  I would far rather be passing the skills of how to be a good person, how to care for people you love – and skills like that compared to maybe teaching them the skills of say, internet marketing or building an effective website!

I get really upset by these kind of comments, and I can’t even begin to put them all into a post like this, because I know that everyone has such opposing views.

Personally, I can’t understand how anyone can judge or make any kind of statements on how someone else chooses to live – be it going to work outside the home, staying at home with the kids – or even working from home.

In the end, we are all moms.  We are doing the best we can.  If you don’t agree with how I am doing it, that is fine.  You are welcome to raise your children your own way, but that does not give you the right to say why you think your way is better than mine.

And, I would never choose to do that to another mom.

What are your thoughts on these kinds of comments?  Do people seriously still believe that stay at home moms are not being good role models for their children?  Why do moms always feel that they need to attack other moms for how they are doing things?  There will never be a right or wrong – all we can do, is do our best.

**Photo Credit:  Yoshi Aka