Wednesday, July 25, 2007

What can YOU do working from home

We'll take it you've already tried the various work from home ads, considered envelope stuffing, telephone answering services etc., and have had your baptism of fire sending off cheques for £15, or £50, to some millionaire who's promised to share his secrets with you.

And you've figured that none of that works. Well, you've come to the one place on the net that won't ask you for a penny to explain how you can make a million.

If you belong to the generation that does not believe that the world owes you a living, and you're willing to work for your daily bread, why work for somebody else? Here's a collection of ideas of what you can do at home working for YOU.

1. Running a website or a web based business. No! You do not need to be an expert in anything web related. You don't even need to know a lot about computers or how to build/manage websites. The trick is to identify what exactly you are good at, what you like doing, and open your mind to ways you can make money out of it. Or find someone who's already done it and buy him out. Buying a website.

2. Writing articles for other websites. Again, no special skills required. You don't need to be a published author, you don't even need to be good at writing! You can be stumped by spelling, perplexed by punctuations, and absolutely grim at Grammar but you can still make a living by writing (Yes, it's not all articles. There's demand for things like putting together useful resources, browsing through various websites in a particular niche and compiling a list of the best ones, collecting phone numbers off various sites in a particular industry and building a directory, and various other opportunities that don't require a PhD in English Lit).

3. Buying and selling products you are familiar with on auction websites like eBay and QXL - from doll houses to motorcycle spares.

4. Converting your hobbies or skills into a business from home (which may or may not use the internet). Some examples:

- Genealogy

- Pet Grooming/Minding

- Pottery/Painting/Other Craft Work/Teaching Craft Classes

- Knitting, Needlework, Alteration Services

- Baking/Cooking/Teaching Cooking

- Recording/Editing/Archiving of Photos/Music/Video

- Child Care, Teaching/Tutoring

- Reading (proofreading)

- Languages (translating)

Put your hobby/skill to work for you....

5. Other local opportunities: Apart from hobbies and skills there may be openings in your local area for a particular type of service that is not currently being met. And, the laws of supply and demand dictate that if there's no competition people are likely to be willing to pay you a high price for your services. Some ideas:

- House/Office Cleaning

- House Minding

- Door to door leaflet/local paper/coupon distribution

- Window Cleaning

6. Virtual Assistant opportunities: A VA is described as an independent entrepreneur providing administrative,
creative and/or technical services from the comfort of their own homes/home-offices. There are several organisations on the web catering for and advising VAs.

Earn money from home - the tools you need

• Open FREE Internet banking accounts to receive payment.

Generally, the Internet trades in US dollars wherever you are in the world and payment through an online service is a more economic way of exchanging dollars to your local currency than paying in a cheque to your bank. Many affiliate programs require you to have an online account from one of the major services so it is prudent to join all three. You can also pay on line for services like web site hosting and purchases at auctions for instance. They are free to join.

Join PayPal here, one of the biggest. You will need to give credit card details - see here.

E-gold is another popular payment service, especially with investment programs, though more difficult to fund. Your new e-gold account can be funded using the following agents:
londongoldexchange.com accepts credit cards
icegold.com - bank wire transfer
eurogoldsales.com
paybygold.com
goldex.net - accepts credit cards
goldnow.st
goldage.net
cambist.net
anygoldnow.com
getgold.ws

Stormpay seems to be in a state of flux at present and best avoided.
• Disposable email addresses.

Get a free email address from Inbox to use and keep your main address for private use and spam free(-er!). They have recently increased your space to 2Gb or 5Gb, depending on your country, but it still pays to keep your Inbox tidy. Good housekeeping!
Make a folder called, say, 'Keep', and put in there all emails with your sign-up details for programs you have joined. It will be easier for you to keep your Inbox clear and avoid deleting important information by mistake.

Zwallet, a previous choice, seems to have stopped working for me and others.
• Keep your copy of Windows clean.

You will be visiting a huge number of websites so will pick up a huge number of cookies, temporary files, registry entries, etc.
Windows is not very good at keeping itself clean so a regular session to keep Windows in 'top tune' will make the web earning experience safer, easier and faster.
I use and recommend WinOptimizer which does the job well (and a few other jobs beside). It's easy to download and install and works 'straight out of the tin'.
• An 'always online' connection to the Internet

If you intend to earn money on the Internet you will be spending some time on-line. It will pay you to keep your overheads down. Go here for info on Free ISPs in the USA and UK unlimited phone connection for only £9.99 per month with no ties. If you log on to the Internet in the UK for more than about 150 minutes a week then it will pay you to sign up for an unlimited connection where your local phone call costs are included. Broadband/Cable is now more commonly available and makes 'always online' surfing magic!
• A dedicated credit card for the Internet

Get another credit card for internet use only and keep the limit low. Using plastic online is in fact safer than using it in a restaurant but it helps to keep your online finances separate, so check with your existing card supplier for a second account or go to this page for detailed information

Ways to make money on the Internet

I'm talking small, but real money to start with - not the ' $1000+ in a week ' scams.

First, you need some 'tools'.

An 'always online' connection to the Internet.
A dedicated credit card for the Internet.
Open FREE Internet banking accounts to receive payment.
Dedicated email addresses.

Second, you need some income.

High yield investment programs (HYIP) return high yields on your investment but are also high risk and of limited duration. Get in early with a sum you can afford to loose and earn 20% daily for a few days or 2% daily for a few weeks/months. Most use e-gold as a 'currency' so you will need to open a free account here... To help in deciding which programs to invest in and when to pull out I have kept the statistics of several current sites and also of sites that have closed. This is a very volatile market but can be very profitable and exciting.

Trickle income, like these sites below, build up a bank balance and give you confidence

MyLot is a great program for people who like to chat and earn a few dollars a day at the same time! The range of subjects is enormous and from all over the world. Upload pictures from your computer, list your passions and other features. But beware - this program can become infectious!! Payment is by PayPal so you will need to get a free PayPal account . If you can't get PayPal in your country then they will pay by E-gold.

BlueBayptr is a great PTS ( paid to search ), PTC ( paid to click ) PTJ (paid to join or sign up) and PTR ( paid to read ) program and, unlike some, has a low payout threshold of $2. This amount can be quickly reached by joining other programs from the Paid to Signup section, searching on links in your Inbox and clicking on banners in the Paid to Click area. I earn about $7 a month on my own searches. Payment is by PayPal so you will need to get a free PayPal account. If you don't do proper searches (see below) then you will not be sent many paid links.

Here is a tutorial on how to make a valid search . It will take longer than the 40 seconds shown to finish loading three pages but if the advertiser doesn't get paid, you wont get the links in the future.

Rpoints is aimed at UK/Euro surfers comparing prices of goods.

An example of how Rpoints worked to save me 36% off my UK car insurance is here...
Just to show that you can save money and make money using Rpoints.

You can buy almost anything at the best retail price and then get an added discount with Rpoints. Go to the page called 'recurring' where comparing prices with Kelkoo and others earns about 2p to 6p a click up to a max of about £1 a day. Ultra-cautious about awarding points, Rpoints take a week or more to check, then credit, your points and then a month or more to validate them before you can cash in. A good forum explains all this. But, once the ball is rolling and you're clicking every day, the cash rolls into PayPal at £5 minimum a time and in £sterling too so you can have dollar and sterling PayPal accounts to save on exchange rates.

Higher Payouts.

Normally I avoid very high payout programs where it sometimes takes a year to reach the minimum by which time the site may have vanished!

You WILL get paid with these programs; about $35 to $50 a month for just these programs and there are dozens more to choose from. Join up, add to your favourites or put an icon on your desktop by dragging on a links page for each program and visit the sites at intervals through the day and earn a bit each time. It soon adds up.



TIPS -

1. Write the address and log-in details for each site in the back of your diary. It is easy to forget your user name and password and you can continue to earn money on another pc when away from home.

2. Get into the habit of regular visits. Most sites will cancel your account if you don't make use of it and any money earned will be lost.


Third, make a web site of your own and get advertisers on it.

The final group of earning programs can be placed on your own web site.
First you need a website with content interesting enough to attract visitors.
Think of a subject that you know a lot about - you, your family, your job, your hobby - whatever it is, focus on it and provide detailed information; facts, figures. Try to make your web site the definitive source of information on your chosen subject.

With a web site designed you need a domain name and a hosting service. It is like an address to the house where your web site lives. I use Easily to buy my domain names and Cirtex to host them, both companies give excellent service and support.

Promote your website using the points earned from working the PTS, PTR and PTC you joined above in section two.

Once you have a web site with solid content you have a 'product' to sell. Many of the top programs will not accept you as an affiliate unless you have a web site of substance.

The star payer is Google AdSense. They pay for clicks and pay very well and cleverly match their ads to the content of your page. They are choosey about the sites that can join and demand a reasonable standard of content. Sign up for AdSense. here. If you have a busy website you will earn good money with AdSense.

A good affiliate scheme is TradeDoubler . where you can join up for free to any of dozens of schemes under one 'roof' . All affiliate schemes have a minimum payout limit of around $50 so grouping schemes together as with TradeDoubler . [aimed at European web sites] and Commission Junction [aimed at North America but covering the world] means that you can get a cheque earlier.
Lots of companies would love you to join them as an affiliate and will pay you a commission when your visitors buy some of their products. It makes sense to join up with companies compatible with your site. Amazon sell a lot more than just books now and pay 5% to 7.5% commission by targeting specific books with a link from your site.

Bravenet has a lot of free goodies to add to your web site to attract more visitors and can help in setting up and hosting a web site. They also offer 50mb of free space on their servers to store your password protected back-up files and sensitive data.

Slide or Glide In ads are the latest medium and build income fast from your web site. I use GlideNetwork. The small ad windows load onto your page for 15 seconds and then automatically disappear. Rates vary but pay for CPC and CPM with a payout limit of >$5.00 to Paypal. Not affected by popup killers as yet so impressions are good.

Pop-up windows are better selling tools than banners and PopupTraffic.com will pay you $3 to $4/1000 impressions depending on whether the popup is in front, behind or on exit or all three for $11/1000, the choice is yours. This is the best you will get on the net and they pay monthly without fail. Popup killer browsers will reduce your income but they have introduced a new 'layer' glide in ad when meeting a popup blocker that pays $3 cpm. A busy site will still earn more than the $25 minimum for a cheque to be sent each month.

Banner advertisements, love 'em or hate 'em, are part of the Net. Place these standard sized banners from AdBrite on your page and earn up to $1/1000 impressions depending on validity of visitor. Note that these are impressions or CPM rates, your visitor just has to see them, they do not have to click on the ads or buy anything. That is why the rates are lower than ' pay per click ' banners. AdBrite pay out monthly by cheque for earnings over $10 and pay me regularly.

Remember, these are all free to join; you have no outgoings other than your normal internet connection which you have anyway. To be perfectly frank, the only downside to these deals is that it takes up your time to organise the links, and your browser and/or web site will run a bit slower while advertising banners load.

The Internet is fast changing - please let us know if a good deal comes along or if you find a crooked deal; contact simetric.co.uk and we will check it out and give it an unbiased opinion.