I have been working my work from home online business since April 2001 and have seen so many start an online business only to give up and quit shortly after.

Once blogging became available I thought I would give it a try but wasn’t sure about it so I went with free hosting and blog services. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out like I had hoped and I almost just gave up on free blogging.

Before I just dropped blogging all together I was talking with a friend who said I should try hosting my own blog and that started something wonderful.

Hosting My Own Blogs Today

Now I am not saying to spend a bunch of money and by your own servers. I am talking about buying your domains like I get from GoDaddy.com and then getting it hosted on a services like HostGator.com. Both are affordable and have top notch service 24/7/365.

True Blogging Success Takes Targeted Traffic

Learn quickly that without traffic to your blog it’s going to be a little tough to earn a living. This should tell you just how important, better yet, vital, to your blogging success. Learn early how to get web traffic that’s targeted to your niche.

There was a movie that came out years ago called ‘Field of Dreams’ and as I understand is where the phrase ‘If you build it they will come’ came from. This doesn’t really work in the blogging world so don’t be fooled into thinking you don’t need to do any more than build your blog site.

I learned this lesson with my first gardening related blog. After a year it was still only earning pennies a day. This was about the time I started learning how to work a blog and how to get traffic that converts to income. So I decided to try and fix my initial gardening related blog and also starting a new garden blog to see what would happen.

Long story short, even though I used the same but rewritten content for both sites that first site has never recovered or even come close to matching the more than one thousand unique visits my new garden blog gets.

I started the first garden blog in 2006 and the second garden blog in 2007, exactly a year apart.

Even though the first site has never caught up with the second site I am making good money with both now because I took the time to learn what I wasn’t doing right.

Go After Relevant Backlinks

Everything I do for my business is thought out in advance today. It makes that much of a difference.

When I plan an article or blog post I already have plans to write more than one article on that topic using relevant keywords in each article. I do use The Best Spinner to help me rewrite unique and readable content.

I write an article for my blog, publish it and then start an campaign to gain relevant backlinks to that page.  I don’t stop with just one article though because I need lots of links to keep a head of others trying to pass me in the search results.

What I Do To Get My Backlinks

1. It has to start with writing quality content for my blog. My content has to keep my readers reading, right.
2. I research keywords so I can have a strong keyword focus.
3. I write more relevant articles using specific keywords that I publish to top article directories.
4. Every article I publish is unique, vitally important today.
5. My keyword match the article I link to for relevance to the search engines.
6. Each link in my article is keyworded with related phrases that match the page I link to.
7. I like to be a guest blogger in a relevant niche.
8. I also do a lot of value added blog commenting and linking.

Having a strong backlinking campaign on the go for each of your blog posts is going to give you the edge you need to pass all the slackers and those NOT in the know.

Link Deep Into Internal Blog Pages

Don’t just link to your main page, like I did for so long. You need to link to your internal pages so they get some ranking going. That’s going to help your entire site.

What I do when writing an article to publish that will point to my blog is to make sure I point to a relevant page and not just to the domain or main page. This creates deep linking.

If I have just one link for an article, depending on where I publish it, I will point to an internal page. However if I am allowed more than one I will also point a link to my main page.

The key to making this work most effectively is to take care with your keywords so that they point to relevant pages, not just any pages. It makes the difference between seeing money in your Paypal account and wishing you did.

Forums Are Great For Getting Traffic, However

I have wasted a lot of time on forums but I am not saying forums are a waste of time, not at all. Forums are a powerful way to get traffic but also to establish relationships in your niche.

There is a problem with forums and it’s due to liking them too much and sticking around long after you’ve already created a link back to your pages. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up too much with forums as it can drain away the time you have to make your business more productive. It has to be a balance.

I will visit forums during my work day, but this is work time so I work while I am there. I respond to posts, write a few of my own and then get out of there. However at the end of my work day I can do what I want, so often I return to my favourite forums and hang around to chat a bit. It still has benefits for backlinking of course.

I saved this one for last because it can make such a difference to your business.

Do Invest Time And Money In Your Business

By investing time I mean you will dedicate a specific amount of time each week to the success of your blog. That can take some money to get things going but is well worth the investment.

I talked about purchasing your own domain like I do at GoDaddy.com and hosting your own blog at a good but affordable place like HostGator.com.

Also investing your time writing unique quality articles that will help you gain that traffic and ranking you need to succeed.

I will write a single article, that I wish to point back to another unique blog post on my site. I also make sure it’s keyworded like the article I wish to link to. Then I publish it, once only.

Next I rewrite the article completely so that it’s once again unique. I have a CopyScape account I use to check uniqueness so that I am not publishing any duplicate content.

Then I make sure the link text is varied a bit to cover a variety of relevant keyword phrase for that niche. Then I publish it to another site and it’s unique and relevant, plus I like to make the helpful of course.

In conclusion. Everything I do for my business is focused on specific keywords for my niche which I find using two paid tools. 1. Keyword Elite and 2. Micro Niche Finder.

Blogging can be really powerful when done properly and is so worth learning to do right.

I’m a work at home marketer enjoying the benefits of affiliate marketing and the Internet.

I have about a dozen sites going at any one time and market to a variety of niches which mostly revolve around my hobbies and interests.

I have turned my work from home idea into a full time thing now but must admit it wasn’t as easy as I had been led to believe.

Start With Niche Research

Start with niche research, now that’s sound advice. I seriously wonder at times just where I would be today if I had started my online business with a little research. A niche or market may seem good at a glance but once you start to evaluate it you may find it has way too much competition or exactly the opposite, no competition and no money.

Guessing isn’t going to make you money unless your guessing is really based on experience.

Research, the proper niche research, is so vital in a world of net savvy users who expect quality.

I Began Blogging About Things I Love To Do

Once I invested time researching niches in my areas of interest I started a fly fishing blog, two actually and on the same domain. Now I was blogging about something I actually know about, fly fishing and fly tying.

After a couple of months of posting informative and keyworded fly fishing related articles I monetized my fishing blog and started making a bit of money.

I did the same thing in the home garden niche and now have two blogs about gardening where I live and they make me money as well.

I find it so much easier to come up with quality content in niches I have a strong interest in. So today, if I were to hand out any advice about Internet marketing it would be to find something you love to talk about, but the niche you choose has to have people making money.

I had someone put it this way: “Think a year or two down the road. Will you still have something to say about the niche you’ve chosen.” It made me sit back and look at a few of the niches I was in. I was already struggling with a few that were only a few months old.

Are You Credible Enough For Me To Buy From?

I never thought about it much until I started evaluating my web site traffic.

One day it dawned on me that I don’t often buy from sites I’ve only just found. In the back of my mind I just don’t trust people. I will buy from sites where I have confidence in the site owner and that takes a bit of time and reading usually. Often more than 5 visits.

I have expectations when I am clicking search results links in Google. I expect quality and the info I need to make me want to buy, even if I am already in the mood to purchase. So many things can turn off potential customers you will never see again.

A few things that immediately turn me away:

• Lack of topic focus. Has every topic under the sun
• Content reads like it’s been over spun
• Too many distraction such as flashing banners and ads

Ask yourself this question when you are creating sites and content.

“Knowing there are many other great sites I can find, why would I want to stay on your site?”

It really comes down to knowing what you’re doing.

If you can’t be bothered creating quality for your visitors why should your visitors stick around? Make your readers happy and you stand to make some excellent money working from home.

Learning how to become a super affiliate isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.

My advice is to learn from a real super affiliate, Rosalind Gardner through her Super Affiliate Handbook. It certainly has helped me.

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Do you know what makes the difference between an average blog post and a great blog post? What keeps you reading a blog post?

Most of us tend to read blog posts day in and day out and before we know it we are picking and choosing posts that keep our attention. We need to keep this in mind when we are writing blog posts.

Ask yourself if you would really read the blog post you’re writing, before posting.

Let’s go over a few things that will help you keep your readers longer.

Give Readers A Positive Experience

My visitors/blog readers is where my income comes from so I try to keep that in mind when creating content. Ponder this point for a minute: You may only get one chance to impress your reader, don’t take it lightly.

Your readers could be converted into customers but not if they don’t stay on your page long enough to reach your money link. If you don’t make a connection before they leave your site you may never see them return.

That’s lost revenue.

Go The Extra Mile For Your Readers

Your readers come to your page with expectations and if you don’t meet those expectations you can lose your reader and the potential income. So do give them what they expect and then go the extra mile to really impress them.

Slacking off or not learning how to write great content is what causes the vast majority of wannabe marketers to fail to make any money, at all.

It’s All About Your Reader

Online marketing is always about your reader. Not readers, but reader, each is an individual that can add to your bottom-line so focus on your individual visitor. Just like I am focusing on you now.

Even if people won’t admit it their mindset is ‘What’s In It For Me?’ What are they going to get out of the article you just posted?

Why Do Readers Visit Your Site?

Visitors don’t just come to your page to say HI unless they are already comfortable with you and your site. Example: I have a few fishing buddies with blogs. I visit their new pages to see what’s up and to say hi. I don’t do that for most blogs I visit.

Usually when I visit a site or have visitors arrive at my sites the visit was initiated by a search engine query. So it’s about getting answers to questions or learning more about the topic.

Unique Content Will Show You As The Expert

I can write an article in no time flat but that doesn’t mean it’s a good article and your reader will pick up on that really quickly and likely leave.

Dedicate, no INVEST, time creating a quality article or post that’s unique. Show your reader something they won’t see on 120 other similar blogs. It takes more time and thought but will produce better results for a longer period of time.

That will likely take some research if you’re not an expert but you know the more research and writing you do the closer you actually are to being the expert and your visitors will get to experience that.

Niche research is vital and learning more about your target audience will make you a better blogger. This will also help you rise in the search engine ranking. The closer to that coveted #1 position in search results the more income you can make.

On-Line And Off-Line Research

When I learn more about fishing for my fishing related sites I don’t do all my research online. I do quite a bit of research in the field, well in the lakes and rivers actually. Don’t limit your research to online only.

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I love being able to work from home and make my living online. It sure beats the daily comute. Well I still have a commute but it’s about a minute now from the bedroom to the kitchen for coffee and then to my office which overlooks our home garden.

I started after quitting my day job and was basically broke but that’s one of the cool things about working at home. You can start your online business without much money at all.

So really it’s fairly easy to work from home, even if you have a full time job because you can do this in your sparetime until you decide to take it to the next step.

As I started making money online I put it back into my business to grow it faster so I could make even more income.

The first thing I needed to do was come up with a business idea I could do as a work from home business.

Let’s go over a few business ideas that can make you money working from your home.

Work From Home Idea #1. Google Adsense

For Adsense you don’t even need any money to get started. You can just use a free blogging site that allows you to place ads on your pages.

You can start with a WordPress blog or a Blogger blog as they are both free services.

I will tell you that I prefer to own my sites after Blogger.com techies shut my account down based on one person complaining. They didn’t even check my blog to see if the claim was true, which it wasn’t.

I had to contact Blogger.com and ask them to look at my site. A week later they turned my account back on. They didn’t even apologize for turning it off without a real reason.

I learned my lesson and won’t use a free blogging service again. Instead I now purchase my own domains from GoDaddy.com for less than $10 each.

Adsense is owned by Google and is a way to place relevant ads on your blogs and websites. Adsense evaluates your content and displays ads based on your ever changine content.

There are alternatives to Google Adsense which I have tried over the years but nothing works as well as Adsense at this point in time.

Work From Home Idea #2 – Promote Products From Amazon

Amazon is not only a great place to find products to promote but it’s also where I go to see what’s selling the best in the niches I already have.

Start by becoming an Amazon affiliate so you can make money promoting products. Once you’ve become an affiliate you will be given an ID unique to you that you will use to promote and earn money.

Work From Home Idea #3 – The Clickbank Marketplace

The Clickbank Marketplace is one of my favourite methods for making money working at home.

What is Clickbank? Glad you asked.

Clickbank is a database of thousands of digital products sold by vendors, who are people just like you and me. These vendors or sellers not only promote their products but so do others, as affiliates of Clickbank.

What’s really cool is that you don’t have to be the owner of a product to make money with it. You can earn commissions, usually between 50% and 75% of the products you sell.

Clickbank has numerous categories to choose from so you can basically find an ebook for most things you can think of promoting.

The fact that these ebooks are digital they take no storage and you don’t have to even think about storing them, that’s Clickbanks job. All you have to do is promote them and sell them over and over.

Work From Home Idea #4 – Virtual Assistant

What is a virtual assistant?

A VA is an idividual who is contracted to provide professional administrative services which could include an number of things such as:

• Word processing
• Data processing
• Creating business plans
• Even marketing support
• Human resource support
• Research
• Web design
• Graphic design

As a virtual assistant you could cover a lot of things but each individual usually focuses on their strongest points for best results.

Most of my business as a VA has been by word of mouth because I am good at what I do.

Work From Home Idea #5 – Freelance Writing

If you have writing skills you can put them to good use as a freelance writer.

When I am in need of quality content I hire a freelance writer that has skills in my area of interest. Not all freelancers will do as most have unique knowledge.

However a good freelancer will know how to research a topic they don’t even know and still produce quality content.

You can even hire freelance writers to product ebooks you can then turn around and sell on Clickbank.

As a bonus here is a sixth work from home idea I used to make some quick money when I first started working at home.

Work From Home Idea #6 – Web or Graphic Design

Not everyone who would like to work from home has the skills to create websites and graphics but if you do you can make some great income.

My first income was designing websites for people locally. It started with a friend who was happy with his one page site and the graphics I created.

That friend showed all his friends and before long, I’m talking days, I was swamped with people wanting websites created. I never once had to advertise as word of mouth kept me busier than I could have imagined.

In conclusion: These 6 work from home ideas are just the beginning. There are lots of things you can do from home to make money that don’t even involve computer knowledge but that’s for another post.

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