5 Tips to Increase Blog Monetization

Today, I listened to an audio recording of an Internet marketing coach critiquing a work at home Mom’s blog. The coach, Carrie Lauth, was giving the blog owner tips on how to make more money with her blog.

I took down some notes and synthesized them, and now I’d like to share them with you. I myself was surprised to learn a few new things. I’ve been blogging for about a year now - not for money primarily - and I’ve been hungrily reading and studying about blogging.

Anyway, here in no particular order are the main lessons I learned from Carrie’s blog critique (with some of my comments in parentheses):

1. Add affiliate recommendations where they would naturally fit in your blog post. For example, when mentioning a book, include an Amazon affiliate link. You don’t necessarily have to say that you recommend that book, but simply add a hyperlink to it or to a related E-book or other affiliate product. (I agree that affiliate links should appear where appropriate but I don’t agree with linking to a product that I do not personally recommend)
2. Post affiliate links to products that your readers would be interested in. In other words, don’t place affiliate links to everything you’re involved in. Choose only those that would be meaningful to your readers. Place other affiliate products that are not directly relevant to your readers on a separate page entitled, “Recommended” or “Resources” or something similar. Write a short paragraph about each affiliate product.
3. Use sidebar buttons wisely because this is prime space in your blog. Google Adsense should be above the fold. Include an opt-in box so readers can easily keep receiving your content. Use only appropriate hyperlinks depending on your target audience and the blog’s purpose. It’s a great idea to have a button with the html code for linking to the blog, so others can link to you without asking for permission. (Wish I knew how to add that html code button!)
4. Google ads perform better when the background color of the ads is the same color as the background of the blog text. Making the Google ad url color blue might be better than another color, because Internet users automatically associate blue with clickable links. (Now this I didn’t know!)
5. Use your blog content to make other money-making products. For example, put together the content of several blog posts into a book. Or develop one blog post into a short report that you can sell for $5 to $7. Capitalize on your own expertise to produce and sell information products. (This advice I love!)

These are my notes from only half of Carrie’s website critique. You can listen to the entire critique at Carrie’s blog.

Listen and learn!

Related article:

Seven ways to make money on the Internet - no scams!

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How to Get More Work Done in Less Time

Work at home moms have limited time and energy in which to do our work. We often have to squeeze our work time during nap and bedtimes, or when all the children have gone to school. And even then we still have household chores and other family responsibilities to contend with. Therefore, we need to maximize our productivity. Not only do we need to get as much work done as we can. We also have to do as much HIGH-QUALITY work as we can during the limited time that we do work.

Try these 10 tips to rev up your productivity:

1. TV diet - Watching TV puts the brain in a passive mode and hampers creative thought. TV also tends to make women feel inadequate, probably as a result of seeing all those impossibly thin women. Watch TV in moderation for entertainment, but keep your brain in tip-top shape by limiting the amount of time you do it. One hour a day is more than enough. No, it doesn’t count as research!

2. Exercise - Getting your muscles moving and fresh oxygen circulating in your body will help keep your mind alert and active. Exercise is good for both your body and your brain. Adequate exercise also helps us sleep better at night. More on that later.

3. Sunshine - Scientists have made us afraid of sunshine but the truth is, we need a little of it every day. Lack of exposure to daylight is one of the causes of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression that commonly occurs in winter when people do not get any sunshine at all. Lack of sunshine depresses our emotions and zaps our energy, which in turn can limit our productivity. So as much as weather permits, get at least 10 minutes of sunshine a day — wear sunscreen of course.

4. Nature - Nature has a natural order and beauty that is beyond our human capacity to conceive of. If you need inspiration or a brilliant idea about anything, look to nature for answers. Contemplate a flower, the sky or even something you cannot see, such as the wind or the sound of birds.

5. Prayer - Prayer or, if you’re not a believer, meditation enables the brain to quiet down and focus. It helps improve our ability to concentrate, which is essential to our productivity. Prayer and/or meditation also calms our emotions, leaving our minds free to think and create.

6. Distraction - Sometimes the solution to our problem unfolds when we’re preoccupied with something totally unrelated. If you find yourself stuck or blocked, take a 15-minute break and do something else. Read a magazine, bake a cake, play tag with the kids — anything to get your mind off your work. When you get back to it, you’ll be surprised with the fresh insights you have.

7. Caffeine - Caffeine stimulates the brain and keeps us alert. If you’re feeling sluggish, a little caffeine may be all you need to jump-start your productivity. The important word here is “a little”. Getting addicted to caffeine will hamper your productivity in the long run. Why? Because it makes you dependent on an external thing to get any work done.

8. Sleep - Lack of sleep turns our brains into mush. The sleep-deprived brain requires much more time and energy to focus, concentrate and generate new ideas. In addition, lack of sleep makes us crabby — not the ideal state to be in when we want maximum productivity. So if you’ve been sleep deprived make time to sleep longer or take a power nap while your children nap. Staying up all night to work will back-fire on you eventually.

9. Free association - Sometimes our brain edits itself too rigorously, making it near impossible to think effectively and creatively. Quiet your inner editor by doing free association exercises. Begin by writing down a word and then the next word that pops into your brain, and then the next, and so on and so forth. Or go through the alphabet and list down the first word you think of when you get to each letter. Take note of the first words that come to you; don’t try to think only of words that relate to your current work or problem.

10. Routine - Work at home Moms usually squeeze work into those odd hours of the day when we have “free” time. However, try to have some set time periods — around the same time every day — when you do the same type of work. I’m talking about consistency rather than rigidity. Doing the same type of work at about the same time every day trains our brains to be warmed up and ready to go at predictable periods of the day.

The best way to keep our productivity up is to take care of our bodies and work with the natural rhythms of our minds. Forcing our bodies and brains to work to the point of or beyond exhaustion will harm the quantity and quality of our work rather than enhance it. Take good care of yourself and you’ll produce high-quality work in less time.

Related article:

20 Productivity Tips for Work at Home Moms with Young Children

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How to Create a Top-Notch Freelance Writer Online Portfolio

One of the first pieces of advice I received from other work at home Moms when I told them about my venture into freelance writing was to put up an online portfolio.

I knew it made sense. Who isn’t on the web nowadays? And what better way to showcase one’s work, attract possible clients, and generate assignments than an effective website?

Although I was sold on the idea, it took me at least a week before I finally sat down and began creating my freelance writer online portfolio. I was clueless about how to begin. However, I knew that it had to be done, so I began by registering a domain. That was easy because I decided to use my own name instead of a business name (which I would have had to register with the government first).

Actually writing the content of my website took another few days. I read Internet articles about the topic. I looked at other freelance writers’ online portfolios. After a few days, I started writing the pages for my website. I scanned samples of my work and uploaded them. I signed up for a free contact form to give my readers a way to contact me without splattering my email address on the Internet.

Since then, I have revised my website almost a dozen times! Every day, I learn something new about marketing my services and I use it to tweak my website. My first draft was stiff, plain and a bit lifeless. I felt embarrassed about selling myself and worried that the copy was too hard-sell. I still make changes every day so it’s a work in progress.

If you’re planning to put up your own online portfolio, here in no particular order are some of the best advice I’ve gathered these past few weeks (of course, whether I’ve applied all of them to my own portfolio is another matter):

1. Pay for web hosting.

Resist the temptation to get a free or dirt-cheap online portfolio. The lay-outs are usually terrible and you have limited control over the content. Besides, having your own website shows that you are a professional who is serious about this freelancing business. Isn’t www.yourname.com more impessive than www.freewebsite.com/yourname?

2. Know whom you are targeting.

Identify your niche and focus on it. Something I’ve learned from Shelancers is that those who specialize can charge more than generalists can. Decide on the type of client you want to work for, or the specific assignments you want to do, and build your website around those. Your niche will also help determine which samples you will post.

3. Enable the reader to contact you from every page of the website.

The action you want from your reader is for them to hire you. To do that, the first step is for them to contact you with details of their requirements or expressing a desire to explore the possibility of working with you. Make sure you have a contact page and a link to it on every page of your website. Some freelancers include a telephone number. Think about whether you’re comfortable with this.

4. Showcase your most effective work.

Sure, one of your articles may have been a literary masterpiece, but what impact did it have for your client? What goal did you help them achieve? Was it effective aside from being a good read? Therefore, it is necessary to…

5. Explain your work.

Include a brief background about each work sample: What were its objectives? What results did it generate? Why are you proud of it? How did it help your client?

6. Follow basic principles of sound design.

Although you’re not a designer your website should still be uncluttered, easy to read, with plenty of white space, and easy to navigate. If you’re clueless about setting up your own website, then consider paying for the services of a web designer and web master.

7. Consider how you will get potential clients to your website.

Will it be a “passive” website that people find out about because you gave them the link? Or will it be the type of website that will rank high on search engines allowing potential clients to find you? The latter is better in terms of generating job leads, but will require SEO work. Ultimately, the answer is really up to you.

8. Be clear and assertive about promoting your strengths.

Your website should market your services, so don’t be shy about it! Clearly state how your clients could benefit from your services.

9. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.

In all likelihood, you will never meet your prospective client face to face, so let them know you as a flesh-and-blood person. Post a flattering photograph of yourself (I’m guilty of not doing this; I don’t have a nice enough picture yet). Place a link to your personal blog.

10. Make sure your portfolio shows you in the best light

I almost didn’t include this because it’s common sense. Make sure your website doesn’t have typos, grammatical errors, distorted graphics, non-working links, and other elements that will portray you as unprofessional and careless.

Your online portfolio is more than your business card on the web. It is your Internet persona, your head hunter, your link to prospective clients. Make sure it works hard for you.

Related links:

Build a Killer Online Portfolio in 9 Easy Steps.

How to Create an Online Writing Portfolio in 2 Days

How to Build a Portfolio That Gets You The Job

Freelance Writer Online Portfolio: Providing Potential Clients Examples of Your Work Using the Internet

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Freelancing writing is an easy and inexpensive home business for a stay at home Mom to set up. According to an article in Yahoo!, it can also be one of the most lucrative. However, many newbies may not be aware that there are start-up costs involved in putting up a freelance writing business.

If you’re thinking of launching a career as freelance writer, here’s a list of 10 items to budget for:

1. Computer, printer, home office supplies - These are basic home office equipment which you probably already have anyway. You’ll also need paper, printer ink, folders and other basic home office supplies.

2. Business name registration - If you want to use a business name other than your own, you may have to pay to have it registered. Consult your local business bureau on the procedure and costs involved.

3. Internet connection - Broadband, please. You’ll need the Internet to market yourself, find clients, do research for your articles, do research on your competitors, network with potential clients … the list is endless.

4. Website hosting and domain registration - Every freelancer needs an online portfolio to help attract clients and show off sample work (here’s mine). Don’t use a free blogging service. It doesn’t look professional and you don’t have enough control. You could also easily lose your website. I use Bluehost and so far I’ve been happy with its reasonable prices, unlimited domains, and ease of use. Caroline Middlebrook has a free E-book on setting up a WordPress site. That’s how I learned. Or you could try Yaro Starak’s video guides. If you’re absolutely clueless about putting up your own website, it might be better to hire somebody to do it for you.

5. Various insurance plans - Depending on what your government and your spouse’s employer provide, you should consider buying: life insurance; basic or extended health insurance; and, disability insurance.

6. Professional services - You’ll need the services of an accountant so you can do your taxes properly. Unless you plan to set up a corporation, you probably won’t need a lawyer. Depending on your capabilities, consider also hiring a web designer and graphic artist.

7. Marketing tools - Aside from your website, you’ll need business cards and a letterhead at the very least. Again, if you have no artistic abilities, hire a professional graphic designer to create these for you and have them printed professionally. Don’t print them at home!

8. Freelancing networks - Consider joining networks and job boards for freelancers, such as Elance. Actually, you can bid for up to 3 jobs a month for free in Elance but to enjoy the full features, you’ll need to pay a monthly fee of $9. Not bad. I’ve just joined Shelancers, a network of female freelancers. Aside from a directory listing, Shelancers also provides various resources for its members. Although I haven’t gotten a job through Shelancers yet (I’ve only been a member for a couple of days), I have already learned so much. I especially like meeting other stay at home Moms who are trying to balance family and earning an income at home. The best thing is meeting Moms who have succeeded! Besides, I’m tired of getting advice (from men, no doubt) like, “do only one thing at a time.” Don’t they know that multi-tasking is the only way Moms get everything done?

9. Training - No matter how good you already are, you need to keep learning. There are so many ways to make money at home as a freelance writer and you will have to pay to get good advice, guidance and mentoring. Also have a good dictionary, thesaurus and other reference materials.

10. Babysitting - The day will come when working during naps and after bedtime will no longer cut it. And that’s a good thing! Invest in your sanity and productivity by hiring a babysitter, even if for just a couple of hours every day. The more work you get done, the more income you’ll make.

If you’re thinking of starting a career as a freelance writer, remember to include these items in your budget. Other types of freelancing will have similar costs. It isn’t that daunting, and having all these things covered will give you peace of mind.

Related articles:

How to prepare financially for your home business

Home office productivity for Moms of young children

Countdown to being a work at home Mom

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by norasun

Stay at home Moms spend a lot of time doing housekeeping so we’re always on the lookout for the latest gadgets that will make our lives easier.

I bought the Swiffer Vacuum after reading dozens of reviews, many of them saying that it’s really good for picking up Cheerios from the floor. And which toddler’s home isn’t always littered with Cheerios? After one month of using it daily, I’ve come to the conclusion that I love-hate my Swiffer vacuum.

10 reasons I love my Swiffer Vacuum:

1. It’s really easy to use. Even my 7-year-old daughter can use it.

2. It’s fun to use. The two girls sometimes argue over who gets to clean the floor.

3. It looks nice and sleek.

4. It’s light enough to carry up or down the stairs on one hand while balancing the toddler on my hip with the other hand.

5. It does pick up Cheerios easily, as well as crumbs, dust balls, spilled cornmeal and whatever small, dry stuff kids and hubbies can track inside the house.

6. I bought it for $11 less in Canadian Tire than it sells in the regular grocery stores.

7. It vacuums and dry-wipes the floor at the same time.

8. It swivels and can get into small spots.

9. Even though its juice has nearly run out and it’s about to go dead, it can still pick up dust balls.

10. It gets more dirt in less time and with less effort than I could with a broom and dust pan.

10 reasons I hate my Swiffer Vacuum:

1. It takes forever to charge: 24 hours before first use and 16 hours thereafter, and then….

2. … it stays charged for only about 10 minutes — not quite long enough for me to clean the entire house.

3. The disposable refill pads are wasteful. You have to toss it after one use. Why couldn’t they have made washable pads? I’ve decided to make my own washable pads to do my share to save the environment.

4. The filter needs to be replaced every 6 months. Why couldn’t they have made washable filters?

5. You need to drain the power before recharging, which forces me to clean the floor for 10 minutes even when I only wanted to clean around the high chair for 2 minutes.

6. It’s not inexpensive enough to buy another one so I can clean the entire house every day.

7. You can’t use it to wet-mop the floor. You’ll have to buy another Swiffer product for that. Ugh.

8. It doesn’t work on carpets or rugs. You’ll have to buy another Swiffer product for that. Uggghh.

9. It can’t pick up larger, sticky items, like pitted dates.

10. Like any other vacuum, it’s noisy.

So would I recommend the Swiffer vacuum? That depends. If you need to sweep the floor every day and can spare around $37, then go for it. However, if you haven’t been having any problems using your broom and dust pan, then you probably won’t miss anything.

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I have resumed reading The Girl’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur and now I realize that setting up a home business is more complicated than I thought.

I’ve been thinking of registering my freelance editorial business, mainly for the tax benefits. Even if I did it as a sole proprietorship there are still many business-like things to consider. For instance, I’ve just been reading the section about insurance and now know that I need to get at least three types of insurance: expanded health insurance (to supplement the provincial health insurance provided by Ontario); disability insurance (to help replace my income should I become too ill to work); and, home-business insurance (to cover the cost of my laptop and other home office equipment should they get damaged or lost). Whew!

And now that I’m about to get my certification in childbirth education, I’m considering registering that business as well. Then I would need even more insurance, such as general liability insurance - to protect me should, for example (and God forbid!) a client slip on the floor during a class, break her ankle and decide to sue me.

No wonder authors Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio called this chapter “The scary stuff: legalities, licenses, permits, financials, and funding”.

Now I have to buckle down and figure out a budget to cover “the scary stuff”, including fees for a lawyer, an accountant, and an insurance broker. I have to admit, this business of setting up a home business is not that easy.

At least I have this book. I’m the type of person who needs step-by-step instructions for the simplest things. And setting up a home business is far from simple.

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Loneliness is a common experience for stay at home individuals. Even an introvert like me needs human interaction to stay sane and happy. And I mean interaction beyond one’s spouse or partner and children, especially if, like me, you spend the entire day with a semi-verbal toddler who always needs to be cleaned or fed.

Having spent 14 years in my last job, I made lifelong friends of my co-workers. No wonder I miss them terribly now even though I’m living my dream of becoming a stay at home Mom - especially after the little one is napping and I’m the only one stirring in the house.

It doesn’t help that I moved across the globe to become a stay at home Mom, and I’ve landed where everyone outside my family, save for four people (relatives), are complete strangers. It isn’t that simple for me to pick up the phone and call a friend. It’s expensive and we are separated by 12 hours’ time difference. Besides, the four people I know have full-time jobs or are in school and wouldn’t be home.

Rather than wallow in my isolation, here are seven things I’ve been doing and plan on doing, to ease the loneliness:

1. Get out of the house everyday.

Now that spring is here, I indulge in a daily walk every afternoon. I strap the toddler in his stroller and take in the fresh air and all the greenness for at least 15 minutes every day. It’s great for my body and for my mind. I always come home feeling refreshed.

2. Keep in touch, the high-tech way.

Most of my friends and family are thousands of miles away and it would be too expensive to call them often. Fortunately, we live in the digital age. Last weekend, we had a video chat with some good friends and boy did it feel good to hear and see them in real time. Technology rocks! We used Skype (with the friend who wasn’t using a Mac) and iChat (with the friend who was). No web cam? Instant messengers are the next best thing. And there’s always Email.

3. Minimize TV watching.

It’s easy for a stay at home Mom to get trapped into the TV viewing habit. After all, you can do household chores, entertain a toddler or even surf the Net while doing it. But I’ve noticed that watching too much TV leaves me feeling a bit depressed and detached. Besides, it isn’t good for my toddler (which I’ve been telling parents for a decade now while I was still in UNICEF).

4. Keep a positive attitude.

One of the things I learned from Flylady is to always smile, even if I don’t feel like it. I try to do this even when the toddler has just had a screaming fit, or when I’m worried that DH still doesn’t have a job. Somehow, it works. What we do on the outside affects how we feel on the inside.

5. Make new friends.

I have to admit, my older children are better at this than I am. In fact, their social calendars are filling up fast. I have the feeling it may be difficult for me to make new friends at this stage in my life, but I’m not giving up yet. I have run into parents of toddlers in the library and park. Maybe I’ll overcome my introversion and bring cookies to our next-door neighbor. Maybe.

6. Create or join a network of like-minded individuals.

I’ve got virtual networks on Facebook and Yahoo! Groups but I think a network you see face-to-face is better. As soon as we have a car I’ll join monthly meetings of the local La Leche League or maybe attend a knitting group.

7. Talk about it.

I write a weekly Email to my friends back home about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of immigrants in Canada. I began writing them when I was very depressed and homesick and thought we had made a big mistake moving here. Being able to express myself, even in writing, truly helps ease some of the pain. Talking to DH about my feelings of isolation also helps a lot.

Surprisingly, I didn’t find a lot of articles about loneliness in my favorite work at home websites. I did find these:

How to overcome loneliness when you work at home

10 tips for overcoming loneliness

6 practical and powerful ways to overcome depression

If you’re thinking of becoming a stay at home parent, seriously consider how you will cope with the inevitable feelings of loneliness.

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Since my last post, I’ve moved halfway around the globe to Canada. I hadn’t anticipated the impact this would have on me physically and emotionally. I’ve only been able to do the most basic things to keep myself and my family functioning and blogging was all but forgotten. I realized that with the major changes in my life, I needed a home business that was really easy and took almost no time at all. And so I tried … paid surveys!

I signed up with Survey Club and almost immediately received an opportunity to make $4 by joining an online music club and then giving my feedback about it. The whole process took probably 20 minutes and the next day, I had $4 in my Paypal account.

Pumped up by this instant gratification, I did as advised and signed up for half a dozen paid survey membership sites — all for free. Actually, the advice was to sign up for at least 10, but I hadn’t had the time for it. Some sites require you to fill up voluminous pre-screening surveys — to place you in the proper demographic for the surveys. These take up a lot of time.

Six weeks later, I have made … still only $4 from the surveys! I have filled up dozens of them but all I got in return was the chance to win this or that raffle and to accumulate points. I have not won a single raffle. Neither do I remember what the points are for.

Meantime, I have found a website that will pay me $5 for a 250-word article. Takes a bit longer than answering a survey but I will definitely make more money than I have so far from answering surveys.

Perhaps I have simply signed up for the wrong survey membership sites. If you’ve had better luck from paid surveys, do let me know how you did it.

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I’m on Day 10 of my work at home project, the Thirty Day Challenge. I have identified one niche for internet marketing and am now writing three articles for it. I need another niche and fast! With our move to Canada one week away, just keeping up with the challenge is proving to be a challenge in itself. However, I have managed to join a team so I’m trudging along. Perhaps, as for others, it will be more like the Sixty Day Challenge for me.

So far, I have learned how to do market research on possible niche topics using Freewordtracker, Google and Google Trends. The techniques that Ed Dale and his colleagues teach are so simple but unintuitive that they’re so cool! And then Mike Stenhouse and Mike Mindel put these together in an amazing tool — Wordtracker GTrends.

The “golden nuggets” technique is used to “mine” for the ideal niche — one that has a lot of demand but little competition. You’ll have to go through the challenge yourself to fully appreciate what I’m talking about.

I got a bit sidetracked because I had misunderstood the bit about measuring the amount competition for a particular niche. Fortunately, I found some clarification in the Thirty Day Challenge forums, so I think I’m back on track to finding one more niche.

Just got an E-mail today from Ed saying that the Thirty Day Challenge has just produced another millionaire. Now that’s encouraging!

Watch out for my next article: How to avoid work at home scams, part 3. In case you missed the earlier installments, here are the links:

How to avoid work at home scams, Part 1: Do your research

How to avoid work at home scams, Part 2: Use only legitimate job leads

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I’ve spent hours online looking for legitimate sources of work at home job leads. You know what? I was disappointed. Thousands of websites promise work at home jobs and home business ideas, but most of them make me suspicious. They make promises but show no accountability. Some sites didn’t even have an “About” page! Or it was buried too deep under all the advertisements!

I looked for websites that checked out job leads before posting them. Sites that charge a fee to access the job listings did not even make this claim. Unless they said so, I assumed that they did not screen the job leads.

So after days or research, I only came up with three websites that I feel confident enough to share with other aspiring work at home individuals: Read the rest of this entry »