Dr Black gives great tips for Stay at home mums on how to make money online

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Got an internet connection and a laptop/smartphone? Then you can make money

Ask Dr Black is a new weekly column in which computer scientist Dr Sue Black answers your tech-related questions - whether you're worried about your kids online or want to protect yourself against online identity fraud.

Great question! The world of work is going through a quiet revolution. There are so many ways now to make money online. With just a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection you have access to myriad opportunities.

Here are 7 ways of making money from home:

1. Freelance

We all have skills that others don't have. Think about all the things that you can do that someone might pay for, from office skills like admin or being a virtual assistant to social media or web design. Elance is a well known freelance portal.

2. Human intelligence tasks

You can make money answering questionnaires, watching videos, searching for information or tagging images through sites like Swagbucks and Qmee andMechanical Turk.

3. Flog your gear

Do you have lots of books or clothes that someone else might be interested in buying? You could post your stuff up for sale on a website like eBay, Gumtree orCraigslist. If you have lots to sell you could also sell through Amazon.

4. Make stuff

Traditional handmade goods are very popular at the moment, perhaps there is something you can make and sell online? Crafts are sold online through specialist websites like Etsy or more general sites like eBay. You can set up your own online store using Shopify or design products like T-shirts and mobile phone cases and sell them through CafePress.

5. Teach

Do you have expert knowledge in a specialist area? You could be an online tutor with TutorHub teaching subjects as diverse at maths, art, law, flute and psychology as well as different languages.

6. Write

What book could you write? Perhaps you have always wanted to publish short stories for young adults? There's money to be made writing ebooks especially if you can get generate a large readership.

7. Affiliate marketing

If you have your own website you can become an associate with companies such as Amazon and eBay and earn up to 10% on the products sold through your site.

There are now roughly 1.5 billion English speakers in the world, that's plenty of people to sell to, or work for. Once you have identified what will work best for you get out there into the global marketplace, the world is your oyster.

GettyGot an internet connection and a laptop/smartphone? Then you can make money Ask Dr Black is a new weekly column in which computer scientist Dr Sue Black answers your tech-related questions - whether you're worried about your kids online or want to protect yourself against online identity fraud. Great question! The world of work is going through a quiet revolution. There are so many ways now to make money online. With just a laptop or smartphone and an internet connection you have access to myriad opportunities. Here are 7 ways of making money from home: 1. Freelance We all have skills that others don't have. Think about all the things that you can do that someone might pay for, from office skills like admin or being a virtual assistant to social media or web design. Elance is a well known freelance portal. 2. Human intelligence tasks You can make money answering questionnaires, watching videos, searching for information or tagging images through sites like Swagbucks and Qmee and Mechanical Turk. 3. Flog your gear Do you have lots of books or clothes that someone else might be interested in buying? You could post your stuff up for sale on a website like eBay, Gumtree or Craigslist. If you have lots to sell you could also sell through Amazon. 4. Make stuff Traditional handmade goods are very popular at the moment, perhaps there is something you can make and sell online? Crafts are sold online through specialist websites like Etsy or more general sites like eBay. You can set up your own online store using Shopify or design products like T-shirts and mobile phone cases and sell them through CafePress. 5. Teach Do you have expert knowledge in a specialist area? You could be an online tutor with TutorHub teaching subjects as diverse at maths, art, law, flute and psychology as well as different languages. 6. Write What book could you write? Perhaps you have always wanted to publish short stories for young adults? There's money to be made writing ebooks especially if you can get generate a large readership. 7. Affiliate marketing If you have your own website you can become an associate with companies such as Amazon and eBay and earn up to 10% on the products sold through your site. There are now roughly 1.5 billion English speakers in the world, that's plenty of people to sell to, or work for. Once you have identified what will work best for you get out there into the global marketplace, the world is your oyster.

Choose the Right Topic If You Want to Make Money from Your Blog

It really is possible to make a decent living or at least generate side income by blogging—but you have to have a strategy. Problogger points out three key factors that influence how successful, revenue-wise, your blog might be.

Can I Really Make a Living by Blogging?

Dear Lifehacker, I'm thinking about starting my own blog. I don't expect it to make me…Read more

The first factor might be the most important: Choosing what your topic will be. If you’re blogging for fun and don’t care about making money online, you can write about anything. If you do want to make money, though, you’ll need to find a profitable niche and choose a topic that is broad yet also specific:

One of the first things you want to think about is your niche and whether it is profitable. Some experts advise being a big fish in a small pond, but I think the exact opposite. You should try the big pond because that is where the money is.

While your great Aunt Mary’s unique recycled dress quilts might be amazing, not that many people are as interested in reading about them as about quilting in general. Don’t limit your topic too much.

When I first got started, I created a site selling inflatable boats online. Can you imagine how many people might buy inflatable boats online? That’s right, not many.

To find that niche, Problogger recommends looking at keywords that advertisers pay the most for, using tools like Google Adsense to see average prices per click or SpyFu, a paid search engine marketing tool (with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you could try it just for this purpose). Similarly, take a look at affiliate programs at Commission Junction to get a feel for potential earnings. 

Of course, you should be interested in the topic too and be able to write about it, but these are other considerations if you want to get cash out of your endeavor. Check out the full post for other important factors.

http://lifehacker.com/choose-the-right-topic-if-you-want-to-make-money-from-y-1699725331

How to Make Money Online - Top 5 Ways to Make Cash from your Computer at Home

6 things to Avoid as an Internet Marketer

Right now millions of websites are getting promoted through something known as internet marketing. This contains several different elements that you can work within to get moving forward. Getting to a point where you’re being seen online through a variety of different pages is not simple. Setting up a website right now, and not having a fully-fledged marketing company, you are going to end up losing out. With a good strategy in place, you will see a full-fledged push forward with a lot of traffic moving through the right areas.

With targeted traffic, you could essentially guarantee success for your site, no matter what you’re trying to build. Amidst the components that you should be working on, there are several things that you shouldn’t be working on. It’s within that world that you should look at a few taboos that could sink your progress fast.

Here’s the short list of the 6 “no no’s to avoid doing…

Buying Fake Friends

Starting with social media, it’s imperative that you do not buy fake friends, followers, or boost your posts within the arenas that are labeled as “sketchy”. This is something that is going to cause you a great deal of harm down the line. It’s imperative that you look into building your friends and followers organically. If you aren’t sure how to do this, hire a professional manager to keep track of all your social elements and build results for you. There’s nothing worse than having a profile with millions of followers and 99% of them are fake.

Traffic Shortcuts

Do not buy traffic from anyone online. There are very few, and this means an absolutely scarce amount of people online that can deliver on the premise of targeted traffic. Unless you’re buying this through PPC or another tried and true resource, you will end up with a low or nothing return on your investment. It’s absolutely important that you do not take this shortcut which is tempting. No major page is going to send you unique, targeted traffic without spending a great deal of money, and isolating the right framework. This is major time and money waster.

Black Hat SEO

Do not purchase anything that could be deemed as “black hat”. This means that you are going to end up dealing with a variety of issues that are going to cause irreparable damage to your reputation. The problem with this issue is simple, you are going to end up dealing with something that has short term results. There’s nothing good that can come with getting a short term success of attention only to get throw into the back burner of search engines. As soon as algorithmic shifts occur within search engines, you will end up losing market share as a result of this. Do not follow anything that is deemed negative by the seo optimization community, it will not pay off in the long term and your ip will wind up being banned.

Social Media Bot Posts

If you’re going to work within the confines of social media, don’t set up a “bot” to post on your behalf. Not only that, don’t just throw in an RSS feed and forget about it. While this may work marginally for some, it will not outdo the power of internet marketing in a slow and steady manner. Social media is best utilized by honest posts, and sincere updates from your business cycles. If you can work within the slow moving progress of natural implementation, you will see results. If you go this route, your audience will diminish and eventually walk away for greener pastures overall.

Negative SEO Practices

Perhaps one of the most interesting of options that you are going to find online is this solution. Negative SEO means that a company or a provider is going to deliberately do negative postings and links to a competitor’s domain name. That could be like putting an anchor on their page online, as search engines will start to diminish their reach thanks to the updating. This is a sabotage that is not going to pay off over time. It could end up causing your reputation to drop as there’s something that will lead to the company you’re working with. Nothing good can happen from distributing negative SEO of optimization to a competitor, it’s unethical and should not be done.

Posting False or Fake Reviews

This is a bad one, posting anything bad about anyone to get a leg up on competition is just dirty pool. As well, it has the potential to blowup in your face when people see “through the lines”, your sterling silver reputation will be sullied pretty quick. A real taboo way to move up the ranks for sake of getting sales is not worth it. Worse yet, leaves you wide open for a lawsuit in some cases. So be honest and be real.

The above taboos are just some of the things that you should avoid when working within the confines of internet marketing community. While they may have marginal results, they will not provide substantial benefits down the line. It’s best to not to do the mentioned above, and avoid any company that will promise these things. Take your time to build things slowly, and you’ll gain results and respect in a much better manner.

http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/internet-marketing-taboos-6-things-avoid-01178465

Pinterest Bans Affiliate Marketing Links

On February 12, 2015, Pinterest announced that it would “automatically remove all affiliate links, redirects and trackers on Pins.” This is important news because merchants with affiliate marketing programs could see a drop in revenue from that channel, depending on how many affiliates use Pinterest to drive traffic.

…merchants with affiliate marketing programs could see a drop in revenue from that channel, depending on how many affiliates use Pinterest to drive traffic.

Pinterest is a social media platform that enables users to curate collections of most any online content. For example, a fashion blogger can create a collection of links to her favorite denim jeans. These collections are known as “boards,” and each link is called a “pin.”

The fashion blogger has fans that she built up via her blog. Those fans could follow her to various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. And whenever those fans see a product recommendation from her, no matter what platform it’s on, they may be inclined to click through and complete a purchase. Pinterest is simply another way for bloggers to interact with their followers.

This Pinterest board, managed by New York-based blogger The Glamourai, features 290 pins related to fashion, and has 17,374 followers.

So how is this related to affiliate marketing? Say that the fashion blogger monetizes her content through affiliate marketing. She has a blog post on her site that features a review of various denim jeans, and that post contains affiliate links that her followers can click through to purchase the jeans. This is traditional affiliate marketing.

Pinterest vs. Affiliate Marketing

However, with the advent of social media, the blogger can now post those same affiliate links on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other social sites. She is simply communicating her product recommendations across multiple channels in the hopes that her followers will click her affiliate link and complete a purchase, thus generating a commission to her.

But now, Pinterest is blocking all those affiliate links. The pins remain, but the links are blocked — the pin still appears on boards, and can be shared, but click-through functionality is removed. This is not a surprise to affiliate marketers, as Pinterest has blocked isolated affiliate links in the past. But this is the first time that the website has issued a comprehensive ban on all types of affiliate marketing.

Revenue for Pinterest

The ban comes at a time when four-year-old Pinterest is considering how to generate revenue from its 70 million users. In April 2014, Pinterest launched a test for “Promoted Pins” that enabled brand advertisers to pay for promotion on a cost-per-click basis. There is also industry speculation about Pinterest partnering with payments company Stripe to add its own “buy” button to user-generated content within the next three to four months. This move could place Pinterest in the role of the affiliate.

In fact, Pinterest experimented with the affiliate role in 2012, when it partnered up with Skimlinks (an affiliate marketing tool) to auto-convert pins into affiliate links. But the Pinterest abandoned that practice after it came under fire for not disclosing the practice to its users.

By banning affiliate links, Pinterest could be paving the way for another attempt at affiliate marketing, perhaps a transparent attempt at monetization.

Reliance on Pinterest?

There are still methods for affiliates to benefit from Pinterest. For example, the fashion blogger who curated a board featuring her top denim picks could link each pin to her own blog post, which could link to the retailer’s ecommerce site for affiliate commissions. While this approach could work in the interim, affiliates should not depend on Pinterest for that traffic. If Pinterest implements a “buy” button, the blogger’s traffic from Pinterest would likely reduce. If a retailer wants to benefit from a blogger’s Pinterest following, the retailer would likely need to work directly with the blogger, outside of an affiliate relationship. The retailer could compensate the blogger for curating a board, paying her a fixed amount instead of a commission.

In short, if a retailer’s affiliates use Pinterest as part of their marketing mix, that retailer will likely see a decline in affiliate revenue based on these changes. However, affiliates that depend mainly on Pinterest for their revenue may not be adding any value to your affiliate program anyway. These affiliate are building their success off a single site, instead of creating unique value — the heart of true affiliate marketing.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/81802-Pinterest-Bans-Affiliate-Marketing-Links

Internet Marketing Tips For Your Service Business

The blessing and the curse of Internet marketing is that it’s there for you to manipulate as much or as little as you’d like. Internet marketing can do scores for you but if it’s not done properly or with the right fail-safes in place then all of your effort could be for naught. Here is a beginner’s guide to Internet marketing for your service industry business that you can follow to online viability.

Decide On What You Want From Your Internet Marketing

The first key to success for Internet marketing will actually take a lot of navel gazing. What is your business? Who is your customer? Where does your service reach? Where would you like your service to reach? You may think that something like this has nothing to do with your online marketing but it actually does. Say you opened up a corner bistro cafe in a suburban neighborhood. You may have always imagined your customer would be the upper-crust literati of your town. But if the reality is that your biggest customers are kids with skateboards who like your dessert selections, then that is your customer. That doesn’t mean that it will always be that way but you need to embrace the full reality of your business. If you don’t want those kids in your cafe anymore that’s something that an Internet marketing campaign can help you alleviate.

Tip: Make sure you know the amount and volume of traffic coming through then target the traffic you want! All of this information comes from installing Google Analytics. Now here’s a sneaky Google Analytics tip. Check out Google Webmaster Tools, Google Insights, and Google Trends. All of these tools are free and will give you exactly what you’ll need.

What does your competitor have for breakfast?

The next thing you need to do, once you know the customer you have and the customer you’re trying to reach, is you need to get deep in the weeds. That is you need to know your industry and your local competition inside and out. What are the nearest competition doing in their Internet marketing campaigns? What are similar businesses in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Rio, Japan, or London doing? This is going to take a little bit of work on your part but by looking to what others are doing you can see what works, what doesn’t, what you think is brilliant, and what you’d rather not do. One good idea is to find out what these businesses are doing on social media and follow them. You might get some great free advice from a business owner in another part of the world which you can take and use for your business!

Tip: If you find something that works somewhere else, it can’t hurt to “borrow” what’s successful! It’s called “Adapting” and you’ll find adaptable marketing strategies all around you. Stopping for lunch at McDonald’s? Swipe their upsell strategy and ask if your customers want a complementary product or service or maybe you can create a sort of “value meal” bundle of products and services.

Stake Your Claim

The next step in your Internet marketing manifesto is you need to establish yourself in the online world. The same way you would go around to local businesses and introduce yourself in person, so too do you need to do the same thing in the online world. That may be something as simple as becoming a Twitter follower or it may actually mean partnering with neighborhood businesses which complement one another. If you’re a dry cleaner and you’re out in front of a strip of hotels with banquet facilities it would make a lot of sense to try and corner that market by offering discounts to banquet customers. The good news is that everyone is looking to score some kind of “online-only” deal so if you offer them a percentage discount, that’s only going to earn you more traffic. If it’s a wedding party then the chances of the local wedding guests using your cleaners for their finery is even more pronounced. Plant the seed in the guests mind and then let it grow!

Tip: Set a goal to have at least ten conversations a day where you ask what you can contribute to a fellow small business owner and be sure to share your business, who your ideal customer is and how folks might recognize them.

Choose a social platform that YOU love and enjoy where your customers also hang out

Concurrent with your laying down virtual roots then you need to of course get on the social media front. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are three of the big players in this sphere but it’s something you can’t be passive about. If you set up a Facebook page, make one offer for a limited time and then fall off the face of the earth you’re going to lose the interest of your subscribers. You shouldn’t make hourly notices either; that’s the other end of the extreme. But if you’re a bar, restaurant, or masseuse and you make a weekly post about your service business, that’s fine. If you’re an accountant you probably want to ramp up your social media and Internet marketing campaign around the end of the year and during tax season. That is something you may not have time for but doing so will only enhance your Internet marketing presence.

Tip: Social media is the place to play, offer contests, and get customers sharing with their networks! Don’t be overwhelmed by contests, there are lots of different platforms that can help you successfully launch social contests and drive traffic and generate leads and sales. One platform I’ve tried is HEYO. It’s really easy and has had a lot of success, especially on Facebook.

Create Some Content

Once you’ve had some success with social media marketing then you can start a blog. This is where you can “pull back the curtain” so to speak and really begin to let your devoted customers get a peek at how things run. People love videos so YouTube is a good place to get familiar with as well. But you can post notes about specific deals for customers on your blog for that night. You can also show people the prep for some of your favorite dishes, the mixing of your best cocktails, or the best tricks which have been turned at your skate park. Brainstorm with the youngsters; they know what’s up!

Tip: Don’t worry, you don’t have to be overwhelmed by creating a ton of content. Brainstorm a list of topics and then you can create a variety of content around the same topic. Write an article, turn it into a podcast or video, interview an expert or a customer on the same topic. The possibilities are endless!.

Be Consistent, Persistent, and Creative

Once you begin Internet marketing it’s like the scarlet letter; you’ve got to keep doing it or your business will become stale. The problem with this is that the online marketing world is always changing; you have to “keep up with the times” or your business is going to be as stale as a buggy whip!

Tip: Your marketing has got to keep pace with the current trends! My favorite source for the latest trends is Trendwatching.com. They do extensive research on consumer trends and report on them. But here’s the other sneaky tip. Their web site is ALWAYS state of the art. So you’ll kill two birds with one stone with this one.

Baby Your Brand

It may seem like you’re constantly talking about your business, product and services, it’s new to your customers. Just when you think you’re repeating yourself and being boring — keep at it at least another five times! This means that your brand has to have a solid logo, an easy to repeat and remember message and a way to stick in your customers brain. Protect your brand, feed it and nourish it. It’s worth the effort.

Tip: Is your logo stale or too complicated? You may need to do a redesign. When I need a logo on a budget, I go to 99Designs where you can submit a project and for one price you can see dozens of potential new designs. Get your customers involved in helping you choose your updated look, it’s a great way to engage with your customers and build your brand at the same time.

Service businesses are so focused on delivering on great customer experiences, there often isn’t time to bulk up your marketing or your brand. Just remember, don’t make your marketing a drudgery or just one more thing on your to-do-list. Make your marketing an opportunity to engage and enroll your customers in with your business. It will not only build loyal customers, it will attract even more new customers.
http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/internet-marketing-tips-service-business-01167979

How to make money blogging - Blogging Like a Rockstar - Your guide to create a money blog

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Are You Ready for Pinterest's Buy It Now Button

We All heard the news that No more Affiliate links will be allowed on Pinterest BUT dint expect it to turn into A Buy IT Now PIN…..

Move over, Pinning. Here comes buying.

Pinterest, the digital scrapbooking service, is laying the groundwork for an e-commerce offering with a “Buy” button that could launch in as little as three to six months, according to multiple sources. One of the people cautioned Pinterest may wait longer to roll it out, while another said the shopping feature would likely start as a limited test.

The Buy button would allow Pinterest users to order and pay for some of the products they discover on Pinterest without leaving the company’s website or app, these people said. Currently, Pinterest’s 70 million monthly visitors use the service to save and share images of things like recipes, furniture, food and clothing. But since Pinterest burst onto the scene several years ago, industry observers, analysts and users have been waiting for the day that it would transform itself from a digital corkboard into a digital mall.

The company has focused its near-term strategy on advertising, introducing Promoted Pins in May with a handful of big brands, and also recently introduced an “Install” buttonthat lets users download iPhone and iPad apps from within Pinterest. But a big part of what has excited some marketers about Pinterest is its potential to become a spectacular e-commerce platform. For example, it’s logical to assume people are signaling some interest — if not clear purchase intent — in a product when they Pin an image. By adding a Buy button, Pinterest is aiming to shrink the time between wanting something and buying it.

A spokeswoman for Pinterest* declined to comment on the company’s e-commerce strategy. Instead, the company responded: “Part of our strategy to help people discover new things, save them, and do these things in real life has always been to make Pins more useful.”

To handle the payments processing, Pinterest is close to an agreement with Stripe, a young payments company that has similar arrangements with Facebook and Twitter, according to industry sources. A Stripe spokeswoman declined to comment.

It’s not clear whether Pinterest’s advertising and commerce products will be integrated. But one could imagine a scenario in which retailers that incorporate Pinterest’s Buy button could also pay Pinterest to promote those images on the platform, similar to how some brands pay brick-and-mortar retailers to position their products more prominently than competitors’ in stores.

Pinterest’s e-commerce plans come as other social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter begin to experiment with their own Buy buttons. These tests, coupled with the rise of discovery-driven commerce apps such as Fancy, Wish and Wanelo, may have forced Pinterest’s hand in introducing a shopping function sooner than it had originally planned.

We All heard the News that Affiliate Links will be banned from Pinterest but are ready to start buying directly from Pinterest …..

Despite coming late to the game, Pinterest has an advantage over Facebook and Twitter because its users are already coming to the site to find new products. Its user base is also larger than any of the startup apps mentioned above. The challenge will be managing its users’ expectations, as it probably won’t hold any inventory of the products being sold. That means Pinterest won’t control the shipping process, which could make the shopping experience uneven for users. Pinterest will be counting on the sellers to do a good job with order fulfillment, while users may still blame Pinterest if something goes wrong.

The company will also find itself competing against Amazon, which has dabbled with Pinterest-like layouts in the past, as well as eBay, which has unabashedly taken cues from Pinterest’s grid format in its new homepage design and its iPad app. Then there’s Google, which is contemplating adding Buy buttons to some of the ads it shows next to search results, according to a recent report.

As the field has become more crowded, this was a plunge Pinterest had to take. Not only to live up to its hype and valuation — currently $5 billion after raising more than $750 million — but because the opportunity is too big to pass up. Last year, eMarketer estimated that the global e-commerce market would surpass $1.7 trillion in sales in 2015.

* Pinterest executive Joanne Bradford is an independent board member of Re/code’sparent company Revere Digital and has no involvement in our editorial process.

http://recode.net/2015/02/12/pinterest-is-working-on-a-plan-to-introduce-a-buy-button-as-soon-as-this-year/

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10 Simple Ways To Make Money Online, And Get Rich Doing It

We’ve all been there. Whether you’re trying to get that last $50 for rent by the weekend or saving up for something bigger, there are a couple of things you can do right now to earn money fast.

Some of them take a few weeks and a little effort; others are almost instantaneous windfalls. If you get a mix going, you can have a steady stream of income.

1. Kickstarter

We’ve all heard the story of the guy who wanted to make potato salad and ended up with $65,000. For no money, no time and no effort, this man walked away with 6,500 times as much money as he had originally asked. We can’t all be that lucky. But, if you have an idea or a concept, there may be a way to gain help from the crowdfunding community – and get paid for doing it!

2. Elance

Have a skill that works well in the professional world? Good at editing, design or something similar? Sell your skills for your own price, and set your own work level.

3. Fiverr

$5 for your effort might not seem like much, but imagine it multiplied by 10. Or 100. Or 1000. Use your imagination, put your skills up on the web, and see if someone will pay for it.

4. Online surveys

Online surveys are the easiest way to make money fast. Just fill in a questionnaire and wait for the money to roll in. While it may take a few surveys to get a substantial amount of money, you can’t really complain – this is the least effort for most reward.

5. Paid web searches

That’s right, you can get paid to Google! Just add a small plugin from Qmee.com to get paid for spending 15 minutes Googling that book you can’t write remember.

6. Mystery shopping

Like shopping? This one’s for you. For a fee, you go shopping and send the hiring team survey answers, to better improve the stores you shop in. This one is great, because normally they pay out more than you’d spend, or they reimburse your purchase. This one ranges from McDonalds, to department stores and even to government departments!

7. Create stock photos

Got a camera? Have an eye for good-looking photos? You can sell them as stock photos for other people to use for their projects, such as book covers. You don’t get paid for each download or use, but you do get paid for selling it.

8. Freelancing

Similar to Elance or Fiverr, this one takes the idea of doing something – anything – that you’re good at, and making money off it. Sell cute teddies on Pinterest, make comic books for people on Deviantart, it’s really only limited by your skills and imagination.

9. Sell on eBay

Have a heap of junk lying around the house? Sell it! The smaller and more obscure the item, the more it usually sells for.

10. Sell your story

Run out of other options? You can sell your story. Whether it’s the true story of the horrible boarding school your parents forced you into, or the made-up story of the ghost that tapped you on the shoulder, you can sell almost anything on the internet. Just give it a whirl!

Now if you had no idea where to start, give one or even a few of these ideas a try and you could soon be well on your way to earning some good money from working online
http://thefusejoplin.com/2015/01/10-simple-ways-money-online-rich/

9 Ways You Can Become An Affiliate All-Star

Affiliate marketing has become a trending topic in the digital marketing community, and for good reason! This low-risk, high-reward opportunity is great for those who want to monetize their love of a product.

Despite some claims, affiliate marketing won’t make you an overnight millionaire. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make a serious profit. Successful affiliates are advocates for the products they’re referring – and they’re reaping the rewards!

Keep reading to find out if affiliate marketing is right for you – and tips on how you can become an affiliate all-star.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Think of affiliate marketers as the middlemen between clients and brands. Is there a product or service you don’t hesitate to recommend to family or friends? Partnering with these brands is a great way to get rewarded for your endorsement.

Affiliate marketers earn commission by referring traffic and sales to a retailer’s website through their own promotional efforts. Prospective affiliates can join a program through a merchandiser directly or a network that manages multiple affiliate programs.

What Are The Benefits Of Affiliate Marketing?

• Low-Risk, High Reward: Becoming an affiliate usually doesn’t requires no start-up fees or investment.
• Advanced Tracking Tools: A good affiliate program provides you with the tools to measure your campaign’s effectiveness.
• No “Selling” Experience Required: It’s as simple as creating good content.
• Not Your Average Job: Create a steady flow of income by promoting a company’s products and services.

Choosing A Niche

When choosing an affiliate marketing program, first ask yourself a few questions:

• Are you knowledgeable in the topic?
• Is the content something people are searching for?
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Is there room for growth? Can you add value to the content?

Your answers will help you identify if a niche is right for you.

How Do You Drive Traffic?

When you sign up, you’ll receive a unique affiliate commissions code. This is used to track the visitors and sales that were directed from your efforts. But how do you drive traffic to a merchandiser’s website in the first place?

Some common affiliate promotional strategies include:

• Blogging
• Building up an email list
• Social Media
• Videos + Podcasting
• Writing reviews
• Word-of-mouth
• Paid advertising
• Banners
• Email Marketing
• Social media ads
• Contests

Don’t be afraid to get creative in your approach! Blogs like Affiliate Tip, AM Navigator, ShareASale and ABestWeb are great resources for campaign inspiration.

How Do You Build An Audience?

There are a number of tracking tools that give you the power to track the reach of your campaigns. Some frequently used services include:

• Google Analytics is a free service that lets you measure your advertising ROI, track your social reach and manage your applications. With its suite of features, you can analyze visitor traffic and ensure you’re getting the most out of your marketing efforts.
• Page Insights provides information about user activity on your Facebook page. You can view metrics, identify your most engaging posts and gather information on your audience.
• YouTube Analytics lets you monitor the performance of your channel, with up-to-date metrics and reports.

9 Ways To Be An Awesome Affiliate

What’s Next?

Have a passion for email marketing? Consider becoming an AWeber affiliate! You’ll receive 30% recurring commission for every referral that signs up for our service. And we provide you with the tools you need for success. Visit our Partners page to get started.

http://www.business2community.com/brandviews/aweber/9-ways-can-become-affiliate-star-01134078

Pinterest Marketing: How To Get Pinterest Followers (3 STEPS!)

How to Make $300000 A month on Youtube

YouTube sent Torontonian Evan Fong this YouTube bag when he broke 10-million subscribers on the video site. (Evan Fong/Instagram)

Twenty-two-year-old Toronto native Evan Fong is about to crack the Top 25 list for most YouTube subscribers, passing Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber.

And he'll do it by playing video games.

Approaching 11 million subscribers and two billion views, Fong's YouTube channelVanossGaming is part of a massive trend: a subculture of young people are tuning out of TV and are instead going online to watch other people play and talk over video games.

A source with knowledge of YouTube's payment structure estimated Fong could be making in the neighbourhood of US$300,000 a month from his videos.

"If you're really into gaming there's not really anything on TV," says Fong, who typically gets between four to 14 million views for his content daily.

"Viewers really like the authentic type of content from regular people just playing games because they can relate to that.

"And I think that's a huge reason why people prefer to watch YouTube videos. It really is a totally different experience and it's something you can't find on TV."

In a typical VanossGaming video, Fong and a group of friends chat, laugh and make jokes over gameplay from popular titles such as Grand Theft Auto V or Call of Duty: World at War.

The trend was recently lampooned in a South Park episode, which featured Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, who uses the alias PewDiePie online. Kjellberg has the most-viewed channel on all of YouTube.

When something is targeted by South Park you know it's a very big deal culturally, says Joshua Cohen, founder of the industry news outletTubefilter.com.

"It's a very good testament to how viewing habits have changed for younger generations, what's appealing to them and what makes sense for them to watch," Cohen says.

"Gamers have developed one of the most massive and ardent fan bases in the world on YouTube. It's pretty impressive."

Never expected success on YouTube

Fong dropped out of university in his second year as his YouTube channel began exploding in popularity. He says he never expected to get paid to play video games.

He launched his channel back in 2011 but didn't spend much time on it at first. He was focused on playing junior hockey and chasing a U.S. scholarship.

"In the early days I remember maybe 1,000 views was something that would be off the charts for me," Fong recalls.

"It took, I would say, about a good year and a half (to start becoming popular). It started really slow and I didn't take it really seriously. It wasn't something that I strived to do to the best of my ability like I do now."

When his hockey dreams didn't pan out he went to school full-time. His parents were understandably concerned as his YouTube channel stole more and more time from his university studies.

"It was something they weren't always fully supportive of. Even though there's a lot of potential for somebody starting a YouTube channel it's obviously not a guaranteed path. They just basically wanted to make sure I was still taking school seriously," Fong says.

"But I was very conservative. I never wanted to stop university and risk that opportunity. So what I did was I made sure I was successful enough on YouTube before I (dropped out). I probably stopped school a lot later than most full-time YouTubers did."

While his channel's growth is still meteoric, Fung is level-headed enough to know it could stall — or crash — at any time.

"Anything on the Internet can blow up and go away," he says.

"You're only as good as your last video on YouTube."