20 Scam-Free Ways to Make Money Online Fast

Cathy is in need of a legitimate way to make money online fast. She writes in: “I was a nurse for almost 30 years when I became disabled from a car wreck. I am a very tough person (I’m a redhead!) I went out last October and bought a new PC to try and make money online, but all I have succeeded in doing is getting further in debt. I know you know what I mean by all the scams that I fell into.

I have been reading A LOT and trying to learn as much as I can. I have run into conflicting stories, though. I just don’t know where to start. I am not a computer tech, nor that knowledgeable about how to start. I am NOT asking for a handout; just a helping hand in the right direction.

I’m not expecting to make tons of money today, but ANYTHING to help me get started in the right direction. I have saved thousands of lives and now I can’t even get through the month without running out of food!”

Cathy has the right attitude — she’s not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, but instead a legitimate way to make some extra money online.

Having been sucked into some scams myself in the past, I know how difficult it can be to find real ways to make money online fast. Thus, I’ve compiled this list. Some ways require knowledge of certain skills, but all these skills can be learned. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest picking one of these ways and learning more about it, then trying it out!

Note: None of the 20 ways listed below contain affiliate links (that is, links that make me money if you click on them.) This list is for your benefit, not mine. Enjoy!

1. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

Mechanical Turk is a great way to make some extra cash. You probably won’t make much more than a few dollars an hour, but it’s also dead simple to complete many of the tasks. Most tasks take less than a minute to complete and pay a few pennies. If you do a lot of MTurk, it could add up to at least some fun spending money. Sign up for free, then complete qualifications to earn access to higher-paying tasks.

2. Sell stock photos.

iStockPhoto is just one site that allows you to sell stock photos; there are others. Before you decide to go crazy and upload your whole album, take note of what’s selling well and try your hand at doing something similar. iStockPhoto also works for those who know how to render images; some of their most popular images were created on a computer! Have three killer stock photos ready for iStockPhoto’s inspection; they will want them when you sign up.

3. Sell stuff on eBay.

Start by selling your own extra stuff. Then, once you get a feel for selling your extra stuff, go door-to-door in nicer neighborhoods in your town. Develop an eye for what will sell and what won’t (old laptops, for instance, could be a gold mine–if you know how to format them to get rid of the previous owner’s personal data.) Sign a contract where you take 25-30% (or more) of the gross sale. Your customers will be happy to get cash for their old junk, and you’ll make some good money selling other people’s stuff. eBay

4. Become a freelance article writer.

It may not pay well, but there is a growing demand for this. Write 200-300 word articles and submit them to article directories. Potential clients include bloggers, marketers, and small businesses. You can write articles in a niche in batches and sell them as a package to one or more clients, or you can offer your services for hire per word or article and let your client give you direction. A foundation of keyword research is important to succeed at this job (unless you’re just taking direction from a client), but keyword research is learnable.

5. Write articles for magazines or other publications.

If you have a background in journalism, or just a passion for it, you can try your hand at submitting articles to publications. Don’t just randomly fire off articles, however; have a plan and, preferably, a contact at the publication you wish to submit to. The good news is that there are publications in pretty much any niche you can think of. To see some publications that are hiring, visit Online Writing Jobs, PoeWar Freelance Jobs, and Writing.com.

6. Transcribe audio files.

An easy job; doesn’t pay well, but also a quick way to make some money. Sign up on eLance or oDesk to start, and/or advertise your services in entrepreneur forums. Requires good hearing and a good command of the English language. You may also want to invest in a foot pedal if you plan to transcribe often. Make sure you know how to transcribe interviews before you start your first job.

7. Become a virtual assistant (VA).

There are entire books written on how to become a virtual assistant, so this job is definitely worthy of more research. My advice: Focus on one niche (I just hired Lisa Morosky of VA for Bloggers, for instance.) Also, reach out to potential customers directly and let them know what you can do for them instead of hitting up freelance web sites. Finally, you may want to consider resources such as AssistU, which provides training for up-and-coming virtual assistants.

8. Write articles on eHow.com.

If you understand the basics of keyword research, you can make a good monthly income from eHow. eHow pays you a percentage of the ad revenue they make from each “How to” article you create. You can crank out a few articles a day with relative ease. Try this for a month; assuming your article titles match up with what people are searching for in Google, you can make a significant income. The great news is that you write your articles once and get paid month after month. I’ve seen figures of $100-$150/month for 30 articles. Make money writing for eHow.com.

9. Do some videos to promote affiliate products.

Enjoy making silly videos? Even short, silly videos can sell products online. Find an product worth promoting that has an affiliate program, then target your video toward potential customers of that product. In your video summary on YouTube, place your affiliate link for the product, and after the video, do a 30-second still frame showing a short URL where people can buy the product. If your video is funny, informative, or useful, you may sell some products. Big tip: Try to promote a product that makes you a fair amount of money for each sale, but doesn’t cost a whole lot for the potential customer. You can find products on Commission Junction, for one.

10. Write an ebook targeted to people who need help.

Alexis Dawes created a product called “Desperate Buyers Only”. I interview her for an upcoming case study on Inspiring Innovators, where she mentions that she is able to make up to $97 from ebooks as small as 12 pages. The key? Finding people who are incredibly desperate for the information you provide and then doing good research to find a real solution to their problems. The result? Happy customers whose problem is solved, and money for you — a win-win situation! Caveat: It may be tough to find a real desperate buyer niche (Alexis reveals some in her case study). Here are some hints: When were you last in a situation where information would have either saved you a lot of money or a lot of pain? Has someone else close to you been in a situation where they could have used information to avert pain? Think legal, medical, and financial niches.

11. Build a small niche website.


Yes, you can make money online.
I run a few small niche websites. For instance, How to Convert PDF is a tiny site that has free videos on how to convert other types of documents into PDF format. It sells a piece of software called PDF Creator, and I make a few dollars every time someone buys from that site. I promoted the site using pay-per-click ads and it was profitable. Don’t copy me directly, but do find the intersection of people needing help and a tool, ebook, or software program that will help them fix their problem. Then, create a website designed to get them to buy it!

12. Help local businesses develop an online presence.

Local businesses are struggling. Many have websites, but aren’t getting any results from them. Others don’t have websites at all. You can help by learning search engine optimization, how to set up an email list, and more, and then implementing these for local businesses. If you typically hang around geeks, web marketers, or the Web 2.0 crowd, you may be surprised how many business owners are 10 years (or more) behind you! If you can deliver results, business owners will happily pay. Find customers by going door-to-door.

13. Learn WordPress, then offer to install plugins and upgrade it.

I hired David from Web Geek 4 Hire to upgrade my blogs and install new WordPress plugins. He charges $5 to upgrade a plugin…great for him, since most plugins only take a few minutes to upgrade, and great for me, since if anything breaks, David gets to clean up the mess! You can make this a full time position; there is a ton of demand for these services. Find customers by contacting bloggers directly. Get references from bloggers who understand the value of outsourcing these tasks.

14. Become the go-to person for installations of a particular piece of software.

Anything from Amember to Quickbooks is fair game here. In the hosting industry, iDevAffiliate and Plesk Billing were the pieces of software we would have paid a lot of money to have someone else deal with. The more niche and more complex/annoying/frustrating the software, the better! Even if the software company offers free installation, you can make hundreds or thousands of dollars training business owners or their employees on its usage. Focus on one piece of software and become the trusted expert. Create videos and tutorials using screencast software like Camtasia to increase your profitability; this may also lead into a niche product that you can sell. (Amember offers “free installation”, but it took my boyfriend and I over 10 hours to configure it properly. That’s definitely something I would outsource next time!)

15. Interview other people and sell the interviews.

I experimented with this in 2008 and made over $800 from one interview. The key here is to understand a pain point that people are experiencing, interview an expert, and ask the expert the questions that the people experiencing the problem are having. Then create a small website and sell the interview. There’s more to this, including having good copywriting skills so your website sells the interview well, and knowing where to advertise, so don’t expect to immediately pull in hundreds of dollars. That said, it’s a neat way to quickly create a product. Get the interviews transcribed, then string a few interviews in the same industry together as a membership site or bundle that you can sell for more money.

16. Become a freelance “web geek.”

From configuring a shopping cart to installing and tweaking blog themes, there are virtually unlimited projects out there for geeks who enjoy working with small business owners to get them up and running online. Find people looking for web geeks on the Warrior Forum or other places where entrepreneurs gather.

17. Enter logo and design contests.

Fancy yourself a good designer? Try your hand at creating a logo or other design that a company loves! 99 Designs is the most popular marketplace. Beware, however; you won’t get paid unless your logo wins against many others, which makes many designers unhappy. In my opinion, this is a great way for a budding designer to build a portfolio and learn quickly what clients love.

18. Create Twitter backgrounds and e-covers.

Competition is stiff, but if you are a savvy designer, this is a good way to pick up extra dollars. Even better, if you are an artist, this is a good way to make your art skills pay off. Consider that every design will need to have a reason why the customer should buy the book or follow that person on Twitter to have a real impact. Twitter backgrounds, in particular, are in hot demand right now. For measurements and caveats of Twitter backgrounds, read “How to create your own Twitter background.”

19. Submit websites or blog posts to social media websites.

Not very exciting work, but in high demand from bloggers and small businesses. This involves setting up accounts on all of the social bookmarking services and then bookmarking your clients’ websites or latest blog posts to help them get more traffic. You may be competing against software that does this, but in many folks’ opinions, it’s better to have a real person do it. Even better is if you can goose your accounts with plenty of friends and become a star on a few of the services; then every site you bookmark has higher credibility and you can charge more. To get an idea of the social media sites you will need to sign up for, start at socialmarker.com.

20. Edit audio for others.

This is something that is fairly easy to learn and also in high demand. On Windows, one good program to edit audio is Sony Sound Forge. I use Sound Forge Audio Studio, but if you are doing this professionally, you might consider the upgrade to Sound Forge 9. Get the hang of editing out “um”s and “ah”s from audio. Even better is understanding the “flow” of an interview conversation and editing out portions that don’t make sense. Finally, learning to find and add intro music really gives podcasts that professional touch. Advertise your services on oDesk or eLance. I pay people to do this for the podcasts I am setting up on Inspiring Innovators, and it’s a job that can definitely be done from your house.

10 New Ways to Make Money Online

So you want to ditch your corporate cubicle and join the ranks of web workers? But you have a mortgage, maybe a dependent or two, and a taste for Venti Mochas from Starbucks? You can make money in the new economy, though it might not be as easy or cushy as keeping your old economy job.

I’m not talking about advertising or affiliate marketing or selling your junk on eBay. Those are so last millennium! I’m talking about the new new economy.

1. Offer your professional expertise in an online marketplace.These days, you can do more than just sell your old books via Amazon and your old Coach handbags via eBay—now you can sell your professional capabilities in a marketplace. No longer are you limited to looking for a permanent or contract job on Web 1.0 style job sites like Monster or CareerBuilder. The new breed of freelancing and project-oriented sites let companies needing help describe their projects. Then freelancers and small businesses offer bids or ideas or proposals from which those buyers can choose.

Elance covers everything from programming and writing to consulting and design, while RentACoder focuses on software, natch. If you’re a graphic designer, check out options like Design Outpost or LogoWorks–you don’t have to find the customers, they’ll come to you. Wannabe industry analysts might sign up for TechDirt’s Insight Community, a marketplace for ideas about technology marketing.

2. Sell photos on stock photography sites. If people regularly oooo and aaaaah over your Flickr pics, maybe you’re destined for photographic greatness or maybe just for a few extra dollars. It’s easier than ever to get your photos out in front of the public, which of course means a tremendous amount of competition, but also means it might be an convenient way for you to build up a secondary income stream. Where can you upload and market your photos? Try Fotolia, Dreamstime, Shutterstock, and Big Stock Photo.

3. Blog for pay. Despite the explosion of blogs, it’s hard to find good writers who can turn around a solidly-written post on an interesting topic quickly. GigaOM is always looking for bloggers with great content ideas and solid writing skills. How do you get noticed? Comment and link to blogging network sites. Write blog posts that are polished and not overly personal (although showing some personality is a plus).

4. Or start your own blog network. If you like the business side of things–selling advertising, hiring and managing employees, attracting investors–and have the stomach to go up against the likes of Weblogs, Inc., GigaOmniMedia, b5media, maybe you should make an entire business out of blogs. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll get a lot of time to write yourself though.

5. Provide service and support for open source software. Just because the software is free doesn’t mean you can’t make money on it–just ask Red Hat, a well-known distributor of Linux that sports a market cap of more than four billion dollars. As a solo web worker, you might not want to jump in and compete with big companies offering Linux support, but how about offering support for web content management systems like WordPress or Drupal? After getting comfortable with your own installation, you can pretty easily jump into helping other people set them up and configure them.

6. Online life coaching. Who has time to go meet a personal coach at an office? And don’t the new generation of web workers need to be met by their coaches in the same way that they work: via email, IM, and VoIP? You could, of course, go through some life coaching certification program, but on the web, reputation is more important than credentials. I bet Tony Robbins isn’t certified as a life coach–and no one can argue with his success. For an example of someone building up their profile and business online as a coach, check out Pamela Slim of Ganas Consulting and the Escape from Cubicle Nation blog.

7. Virtually assist other web workers. Freelancers and small businesses desperately need help running their businesses, but they’re not about to hire a secretary to come sit in the family room and answer phone calls. As a virtual assistant, you might do anything from making travel reservations to handling expense reimbursements to paying bills to arranging for a dog sitter. And you do it all from your own home office, interacting with your clients online and by phone. You can make $20 and up an hour doing this sort of work, depending on your expertise.

8. Build services atop Amazon Web Services. Elastic computing on AWS is so cool… and so incredibly primitive right now. Did you know that you can’t even count on your virtual hard drive on EC2 to store your data permanently? That’s why people are making money right now by offering services on top of AWS. Make it easier for people to use Amazon’s scalability web infrastructure like Enomaly has with elasticlive, a scalable web hosting platform built on AWS.

9. Write reviews for pay or perks. If you blog for any length of time on a particular topic–parenting, mobile phones, or PCs, for example–you will likely be approached to do book or product reviews. You can get free stuff this way, but are you selling your soul? Is there any such thing as a free laptop? These are decisions you’ll have to make for yourself, because no one agrees upon what ethical rules apply to bloggers. Even less do people agree on services like PayPerPost that pay you to write reviews on your blog. Check out disclosure rules closely and see whether such a gig would meet your own personal standards or not.

10. Become a virtual gold farmer. A half million Chinese now earn income by acquiring and selling World of Warcraft gold to gamers in other countries. If you’re not a young person living in China, this probably isn’t a viable option for you. But what’s intriguing about it is the opportunity to make real money working in a virtual economy. People are making real-world money in Second Life too.

Work from Home Successfully [FAQ plus 20 Tips and Tricks]

With new work from home opportunities emerging every day, it’s possible to survive and thrive as a remote worker.
In this article, learn how a veteran of a work from home situation does it. Whether you work from home once a week or permanently, these answers to common questions and essential work from home tips and tricks will help you be more successful.
Work from Home – An Overview

Making your new work from home arrangement actually work is tough. I’ve seen people try and fail to work from home. I’ve seen others succeed and grow. In this article, I’ll share how I do it. I hope that what I share here you can apply to your work from home situation, whatever it may be.

Did You Know? While some people scoff at working from home as all perks and no responsibility, it’s really just like anything else: it has it’s pros and cons, and doing work from home successfully is very hard work.

Over the years, I’ve worked very hard to make my work from home arrangement a happy, productive, and rewarding stage of my career. Successfully working from home in a fast-paced, high performance, results-oriented company like Quicken Loans is not easy. Yet over this time period, I’ve created new initiatives, lead a team of 12 and project teams of 75, worked with all sorts of Clients, managed external partnerships and lead several different high-profile projects all from central command: my home office.
Work from Home – FAQ

Here are answers to the five common work from home questions:

1. Is it realistic for me to think I could work remotely?

It depends. Are you really self-motivated or do you (consciously or unconsciously) rely on others to help direct your day, priorities, and projects? Can you handle being alone and only interacting via phone, email, and instant messaging (IM) for long periods of time? Are you open to changing your work habits to match the styles of the people you work with, even if it may be a minor inconvenience to you? Are you open to accepting criticism and changing your approach quickly? If you answer yes to these questions, then you can work from home! If not, you’d have to seriously consider whether or not you can make it. To work from home successfully you need to master lots of different communication techniques, be open to continuously improve yourself, practice extreme flexibility with those you work with, and hone your instincts about what is happening at the office that you cannot physically see.

2. My big concerns are about communication; is it possible to stay in the loop while remote?

Yes. However, it takes a multifaceted approach to stay in the loop. Since you are not physically in the office, you have to find other ways to have “physical presence,” the non-verbal factor that makes up 90% of communication. Without it, you have only the words you say and the tone you deliver it in (the other 10% of communication). Be sure to check out the Work from Home – 20 Tips and Tricks section below for ideas to overcome physical presence and be a great communicator.

3. What are the challenges of having good communication with your Clients and meeting their needs?

The single biggest challenge about working remotely is you miss out on the intangible conversations: passing someone in the hall, over hearing a project team talking, getting pulled into a conference room as you walk by, etc. It’s possible to recreate some (but not all) of these scenarios while remote, but it takes extreme flexibility in how and when you can be reached to make it happen. See the Work from Home – 20 Tips and Tricks below for more info.

4. Do you spend so much time on overcoming the communication hurdles that it negatively impacts your productivity?

No. If you are committed to it, the amount of productivity you can have when you work from home is extreme (even without working too many extra hours, which is very easy to do). In fact, I believe the skills you learn while working from home actually improve your productivity. You learn how to effectively manage your work, your team, your Client relationships, etc. without physical presence. These skills are useful and reusable whether you are working from home or not.

5. Would you recommend working remotely to someone else?

I definitely recommend work from home opportunities to other people, but only if you can honestly answer yes to the 4 questions in #1 above. Working from home can be a very rewarding experience for those who can make it work.
Work from Home Guide - 20 Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned

1. Start your day off right. Get up, have breakfast, take a shower, put on something other than pajamas, etc. – you get the idea. Remember, how you treat yourself on the outside reflects what you are thinking on the inside. Be good to yourself and it will show in your communications. Remember, when you work from home you only have your voice and tone, so everything you say and do will be scrutinized.

2. Create a dedicated work space with a door you can shut. You need a place where you do work that you can leave at the end of the day. To work from home successfully, you need to maintain a strong mental focus on what you do. You don’t want to have your work everywhere around your house, and you definitely want a door you can shut when needed. It’s also a good idea to conduct a home audit to assess those often overlooked projects that need to be done in your home or workspace.

3. Buy a headset with a good mute function. You want the headset so you can still have both hands-free while on the phone. A good mute function (i.e. it works, and others cannot tell when you switch mute on) will be an asset for you. It’s critical that your co-workers do not hear other noises in the background. That can disrupt important meetings and build resentment that you are at home.

4. Use a cordless phone. It’s hard to sit in the same spot in your house all day. Also, people who work from home generally work more (i.e. during times when others are commuting, etc.), so you need to be able to get up, stretch, do some things around the house, etc. A cordless phone, including a headset with a good mute function, is key.

5. Use two monitors with your computer. There are studies and articles that show adding a second monitor will boost your productivity 20-30%. It’s totally true. A second monitor is critical to anyone who wants to work from home.

6. Leverage a web cam. One of the things you can do to regain physical presence in your communications is use a web cam. A web cam plus an instant messaging tool allow others to see you and for you to see them. This is critical in building rapport and communication with others. I highly recommend at least your team (if you manage one) and the person you report to have web cams.

7. Partner with your Team Leader (i.e. who you report to, some people use the term “boss”). The person you report to is a critical component in your work from home success. You should meet with this person once per week via phone to review what you have accomplished in the previous week, and what you plan to accomplish next week. It’s also critical that you make yourself available to this person whenever necessary. If they are going to trust you to work from home, you have to be transparent and accessible to them.

8. Develop key relationships with your team. You need eyes and ears in the office because you don’t have them. If you have effective work relationships with team members, work with them to support you while you are remote. Calling team members just to check in (i.e. without a specific need) is a helpful way to do this.

9. Master your phone system and conferencing tools. Phone conversations, conference calls, and voice mails are three critical tools in your work from home toolbox. All three of these tools allow you to inject tone into your communications, something that is lacking in email and IM. Each of these scenarios is an opportunity to create memorable communication experiences with the people you work with. Most phone systems have additional, rarely used features (like scheduling voice mails) that you can leverage to your advantage. Be sure to check the Dot Connector 10 Tips to Improve Your Voicemails for other ideas to help you.

10. Master your instant messaging (IM) program. IM is a useful tool for communicating with folks quickly and orchestrating events in the office. Need someone to jump into a conference room to join a meeting? Use IM to coordinate that. Knowing the full capabilities of your IM program can help you leverage it effectively. Be careful, however, not to use acronyms and abbreviated words too frequently. Not everyone will know what you are saying, and when you work from home, you need to be a clear communicator, not a confusing one.

11. Master your email program. Email will be a lifeblood of your work at home expereince. However, it’s important to remember that if you “match the medium to the message” (i.e. email is not appropriate for every message) in your communications, there will be times to use email and times not to use it. Check out the Dot Connector Email Management Series to get control of your email.

12. Leverage a screen sharing program. There are several tools that let you share your screen with people in the office, and vice-versa. This is a crucial technique for participating in meetings, as you can follow the presentation slides on your screen or present your slides just like you were in the room. These tools also help you train others on how to use other tools, websites, etc. and vice-versa.

13. Go back to the office regularly. It’s up to you to define how frequently you need to revisit the office. Some folks go back twice a year, some every quarter, and some even go back monthly. It all depends on your unique situation. However, it’s critical that you do have face-to-face time with people you work with.

14. Be memorable when you are in the office. Be animated in discussions and meetings, walk around the room in key meetings, and volunteer to give presentations to large groups. The key is to create experiences and situations where the people you work with will remember you when you are not there. Also, by doing this you create visuals in people’s minds that can augment your lack of presence in your communications when you work from home.

15. Go out to lunch. You need to leave the house. Going out to lunch is a great way to take a break, interact with other people, and refresh your mind for the afternoon. It is great to save money on lunch by eating at home, but forcing yourself to go out will help freshen your perspective.

16. Drive conversations. You have to tell your story, or someone will tell it for you. It’s critical that when you work from home, you make your point in discussions and meetings. People will forget that you are on the phone. They will talk over you and sometimes not hear what you say (especially if you are on speakerphone in a conference room full of people). Therefore, it’s critical that you are assertive in your speaking and focus on getting at least one major point/idea in each discussion.

17. Match the timezone of your co-workers and Clients. To make the transition to work from home easier, it’s important to match time timezone of your co-workers and Clients. For example, if they are primarily in the Eastern time zone, work and take breaks similar to business hours for Eastern time.

18. Stay organized. Staying organized is another key to successfully working from home. If you get too disorganized your productivity can drop exponentially, since you don’t have co-worker interactions to help change your attitude and boost your focus. Keeping accurate to-do lists and a strong mental focus can help you stay focused and organized.

19. Send hand-written cards to people. Not only is this a great thing to do in general, but for people who work from home it’s a critical tool. This is another way to make up for your lack of presence in the office and make yourself memorable to your co-workers and Clients. When you work from home, it can be easy to slip into “doing mode” and forget the intangible communication tools you would use if you were in the office: asking how people are doing before you “talk business,” saying thank you when someone does something for you, and reaching out to people just to see how they are.

20. Match your sense of urgency to your co-workers and Clients. It’s very easy to be “over urgent” when working from home. Issues sometimes seem bigger than they are. Sometimes it seems you are getting inundated with co-worker communications. Your workload can seem insurmountable. When you get these feelings, it’s time to get organized, re-prioritize your work, take a break, and have a discussion with someone in the office to get a sense of the “vibe” there.

Bonus Tip #21. Create a virtual “stop by to chat” scenario. If you lead a team remotely, one of the hardest things to recreate is being able to have your team stop by to chat. To solve this, call into a conference line at the same time every day (say, at 3pm for an hour). Then, let your team know they can reach you at that time. This will help create a “stop by” and chat opportunity while you work from home.

Bonus Tip #22. Dig deep to compare and understand potential internet service providers. Costs and promotions for internet service and wireless internet can very widely. I’ve also found that actual infrastructure for delivering the high speed signal can vary widely too. So, be sure you make the investment in researching both wireless internet service and traditional internet service providers.

Work At Home Tips And Tricks

I know there are tons of places out there offering work from home advice and information. I have been in the work at home market for a couple years.
I've explored several different opportunities and aspects of working from home. Some seemed interesting, some seemed fun, some were scary, some just did not pay much of anything.

I'm creating this lens to put some of the different work at home avenues to the test. I will be adding new modules on a regular basis, detailing options for work at home. Check back often to catch the latest work from home option.

I am also going to include a guest book , so guests can provide their feedback and experiences with the different work from home opportunities. Let the world know what worked for you and your home business.

I will also include some products to help you gain knowledge about working from home, organize your work space, or make your work from home day more productive.

Oh, and some of the products and ideas I am going to post later are just plain fun, because at the end of the day everyone has to have a little fun. Right?

By the way my favorite work from home job is writing! I love to write about anything and everything. I've been blogging for a couple years now, check out my blog about Squidoo, Thoughts of a Squidoo Lens Author. I also blog for b5media at Mother Earth's Garden and She Knows Parties. I have also done a little ghost writing.

About a year and a half ago I discovered Squidoo. I have a blast creating lenses here at Squidoo! The best part? I make money directly from my lenses (several hundred $$$ per month) and I make money indirectly from Squidoo through affiliate links, and traffic my Squidoo lenses send to my blogs, and other websites.

Working from home, if done correctly can be a very rewarding experience. I would like to share the information I have gained with others. I am hoping to help others who are thinking about trying the work at home market find a business that is right for them, and their lifestyle.
Work at Home Tips And Tricks # 1
I am going to include some tips and tricks for working at home. They will be scattered in with the other modules. I hope you find them useful in your work at home venture.

Here is the first one...

Set Goals
These goals can take several forms, some great goals to set are:

1. How many hours a day will do you plan to work your business? How will you work this into your daily schedule?

2. What are your networking goals? How many outside contacts do you need to make? This includes prospective clients or customer contacts, networking with peers.

3. What is your income goal? How much do you want to make per day, per week, per year?

4. Where do you want your business to be in a year? In two years?

Write these goals down, and post them where you will see them every day.

Six Effective Tips to Work from Home

In recent years there has been an increase in home based employees and I am among the masses who now call their home their office. I am self employed but whether you work for yourself or an established employer you are likely to face obstacles similar to those that I encountered. Early on as my business was first established I made a few mistakes and fell into the common pitfalls of working from home. I have since learned to overcome those obstacles and I would like to share my tips for working effectively from home with you.

Setting up a functional workspace is critical to the success from a work from home employee. Try setting up your space so that it contains all of the necessary equipment that you need. You may decorate your workspace so that it is aesthetically appealing but try to keep distractions to a minimum.
Establishing a working schedule is also important. Having regularly scheduled hours when you work will help you to be more efficient during these times. Be sure to schedule work time as well as break times so that you will not become overwhelmed. One of the pitfalls that some work from home employees fall into is working too many hours. In an office there is a clear signal to the end of the day as other employees start to leave the office for the day but at home employees sometimes have difficulty ending their day.
Being able to motivate yourself is critical for the work at home employee. In an office situation, you have a supervisor and co-workers who motivate you to complete your work but when you are working at home, you only have yourself to push you to succeed.
Maintaining a professional attitude is also important for the work from home employee. If you have frequent client interactions, be careful to answer the phone or respond to their emails in a professional way. A home office may be an informal environment that affords you the luxury of dressing casually but client interactions should always follow certain decorum. Keeping your interactions businesslike will ensure that the client does not begin to doubt the amount or quality of work that is being put into their projects.
Considering hiring a day care provider is another tip for working from home. Those who have young children may find it difficult to attend to the needs of their children while fulfilling their job obligations. For this reason it may be worthwhile to have a day care provider care for your child during your working hours.
Avoid volunteering for too many activities. Many people will assume that because you work at home you are free to help them run errands, pick up their children from school or be an emergency babysitter if their child has a cold. While you may want to help your friends and family members, it is important to make it clear that your work is just as important as theirs and that you have obligations to take care of each day.

These are the tips that helped me to work effectively from home but you may find other tricks or ideas that help you to improve your efficiency and productivity while working from home. The important thing to remember is that your home based job deserves the same attention and dedication as an office position. Following the tips that I have provided will help you to become a lucrative and productive home based worker.

Top 30 Tips for Staying Productive and Sane While Working From Home

Those of you who know the joys of working from home, whether you’re self-employed or freelancing or telecommuting, know also the joys of procrastination and the lures of laying on the couch.

Now, I’m as much in favor of a good nap as the next guy, but a nap should be a break, not your default work mode.

On the other hand, working from home tends to blur the boundaries between work and personal life — if you work too hard, you will have no personal life left.

So how do we stay productive, and at the same time stay sane? As I recently quit my day job, I asked the readers for their advice. They came through, as always, and I’ve chosen a few of my favorites for others to use as a guide (well, I’m going to use it as a guide too).

A few caveats, before you dive into the list: Again, these are from the readers, so you guys deserve all the credit. Second, I edited them, so any typos are my fault. Third, this is a compilation list, meaning that some tips may seem contradictory — that’s because the best way to use this list is to find the ideas that work for you, and give them a try. If they don’t work, come back to the list and find a few more ideas. Don’t try to implement them all, and certainly not all at once.

Thank you, readers!

1. Define your spaces; separate work from home. Have a room dedicated to working. Don’t do it wherever you happen to be. Set aside some space, preferably a room (it doesn’t have to be big) to be your workspace. That way, when you enter it, you know consciously what you’re there to do: go to work. It changes the state of mind from “I’m at home” to “I’m at work”.

2. Set regular hours, and stick to the schedule.

3. Don’t stay unshaved in pajamas. Instead, have breakfast, have a shower, get dressed. Then make a list of sensible tasks for the day and get started.

4. Close the door. It’ll be very easy to leave the door to whatever room or space you set apart to be your workplace open. Don’t do it. If the door is open, that represents something to you, and to your family. To you, it represents the idea that if it’s a bit tough, or you don’t feel like working today, you don’t have to. To your family, it represents the idea that Dad is around, and I can go and talk to him.

5. Keep your desk and general work area tidy. A tidy workspace helps keep a tidy mind, which helps make your day more productive.

6. Turn off the telephone when you need to work without distraction. Turn off IM and email notifications too. In fact, if possible, shut off the Internet.

7. Don’t stop working if it’s a hard day. There’ll be times when you haven’t got any ideas, or just don’t feel productive. Train yourself to do some work anyway. It’s a short fall from “It’s just not happening at the moment” to “It’s a bit tough, I’ll stop for the day”. Next thing you know, you never seem to get anything done.

8. Keep three lists of three. The first list has three things you will do today. The second is three things you’d like to get done, but aren’t essential. The third is three things that need to be done at some point. That way, when you’ve trogged through your days work, you don’t end up sitting twiddling your thumbs.

9. Start the day properly. Have a good breakfast, spend some time alone to just sit and do whatever. Relax, let your mind wander. Pray. Just make sure that your mind isn’t in the “I hate working” frame of mind.

10. Have a good chair. Mesh backed ones, or good comfy leather perhaps. It’s worth spending some money on.

11. Keep a notepad and pencil nearby. Jot down ideas for blog posts, projects, anything that springs to mind. Then have a pinboard to stick them on. Look at it twice a week to refresh your mind of things that could be done sometime. Some of the best work you’ll ever do will come from random bits of inspiration.

12. Give yourself breaks. Don’t be locked in the room all the time. For every hour you work, have a 15-30 minute break. Give your mind time to digest what it’s just done, then come back. You’ll improve the quality of what you produce a hundredfold.

13. Don’t go back to work when you’ve finished. Had a great idea for a post? Fantastic, write down the basics on a note, and pin it up. Don’t go back to work when you’ve finished.

14. Schedule, if possible, around your natural schedule. Some people peak in the morning, others in the afternoon, still others at the witching hour.

15. Have a pint of water by your desk all the time. Try and work up to drinking a few pints a day, if you don’t already.

16. Be careful what music you listen to while you work. Music, TV, the weather… Just about everything will influence your mood. Some you can’t change, some you can. Make sure that you surround yourself with things that will give you the best frame of mind for whatever you’re about to do.

17. No turning on the computer for a quick email check or to do 1 little thing until you’ve gotten “ready for work” as mentioned above. The nuance is if you have nowhere to be, that 1 little thing leads to showering at 2 in the afternoon with a splitting headache because you’ve forgotten to eat etc.

18. Know when to stop. Don’t work late into the night. Set defined times when you’re going to work, and then when it passes, stop. You can have a bit of leeway here, but make sure that you don’t end up letting work run your life.

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” - Ovid

19. Don’t work an eight hour day. One reader works about 5 hours, in four blocks of an hour, with a 20 minute gap between each. If you do more than that, your attention might start to wander, you’ll be restless and your work won’t have it’s normal level of quality.

20. Designate certain days for certain work. For example: file everything on Friday afternoon, no later than Saturday morning. This allows you to walk out of your office for your “weekend” without feeling like you left work unfinished.

21. Set boundaries for those around you as well. Schedule your work time and make sure the kids and spouse know that you are unavailable for playing, chores, etc. during this time.

22. Sound Canceling Headphones. Seriously useful if you have a 3-year-old.

23. Pay attention and crunch numbers with your accounts regularly. You are less inclined to watch television when you realise how much it can cost you to mess around. Put a reminder that “work NOT done = no money”.

24. Have a good lunch. One readers suggested that something with good carb content works best. Puts you in the mood for the second half of the day.

25. Track your time. One reader suggested a simple program called gtimelog (http://mg.pov.lt/gtimelog/). You enter what you’ve done when you’ve completed it. It’s very simple and stays out of your way. At the end of the day, week, you can see a summary. It also allows you to break out work time vs. fun time in a simple manner.

26. Set online times. You don’t always need to be accessible for chit chat. This may be more applicable to telecommuters than the self-employed.

27. Don’t allow work to consume your life. Easier said than done when working from home. Make sure you set limits for the amount of time you will work.

28. Make time for people. When people ask, give them what you can. Respond in some way to every email. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get around to it. You don’t have to reply that day. Just make sure you do. It matters.

29. Say thank you a lot. Figure out who the people who have helped you and your blog (or your business) the most. If you’re a blogger, that’s the readers, not the people who gave you mentions on their big blogs. The people who have given their time and energy to helping you get where you are. You owe your life from this point on to them. Make sure they know you’re greatful.

30. Be grateful you’re working from home and not in some cubicle! That gratitude will motivate you to work harder, so you can continue to work from home.

See also: an excellent post at Productivity 501 on this topic (disclosure: I was one of the ones interviewed).

And lastly: EffingTheDog, a humorous productivity blog, interviewed me recently. Check it out. It’s a Stephen Colbert-type interview, so take it as a bit of fun.

How to Come Up with Fresh Blog Post Idea Fast

Generate Fresh Blog Posts Ideas
Sometimes, I do get stuck and out of idea to write new blog post. Blog posts idea do not always come automatically, ideas are generated through experience. I do have a lot of technical stuff to write about blogging and make money from blog but there are some ways to generate quick ideas and start writing new posts to your blog.

I am going to share with you the methods to generate ideas fast and write new fresh blog posts everyday.



I believe most bloggers do have problems to come up with new ideas to write fresh contents for their blog. When you are out of idea, you sit in front of your computer, stare blankly at the screen and wondering what should I write for my blog today? Sometimes, if we are lucky, ideas do pop-up but most of the time, staring blankly at the screen bring us no where, wasting our time and write nothing at all.

Read Other Blogs
Normally, what I do when I am out of idea, I will start reading other blogs. I will read blogs that are related to my blog but sometimes, I will read gadgets or lifestyle blogs. Undeniably, reading blogs that are closely related to my blog is a good way to generate ideas but sometimes, I am overwhelm with all the information and got myself too tired to get fresh ideas for my blog. So, I end up reading gadgets and lifestyle blogs to relax myself and keep myself up-to-date with the new gadgets and find out lifestyle of other bloggers.

Sometimes, ideas will suddenly pop in my mind when I am reading blogs and I find it interesting because ideas pop in my mind more often when I am reading gadgets and lifestyle blogs.

Add a Twist to Create New Blog Posts
When ideas pop up, I will normally add a twist to it and guess what, I got a new blog post idea.

Google AdSense Section Targeting Tutorial

How to Implement Google AdSense Section Targetting on Blogger's Blog
I believe that most of us already know what is section targeting of Google AdSense. The explanation is as shown below. Section targeting is important if you want to make more money from Google AdSense. You can increase AdSense earnings by using section targeting because it makes the AdSense Ads more relevant to your blog visitors.


Benefits of AdSense Section Targeting
Section targeting for Google AdSense means you use a piece of codes to make certain part of your blog posts more appealing to AdSense bots. You use the codes to create a section for the AdSense bots to target it as your main content and it will show relevant ads for your blog.

Google AdSense Section Targeting Codes
The codes below is the section targeting codes of Google AdSense. If you want to make sure that the AdSense Ads appear on your blog are more relevant to your blog contents. Section targeting increases AdSense Ads relevancy of your blog and this could help you make more money because users can get relevant ads to click on.

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->
YOUR BLOG CONTENTS HERE
<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

The example above is the usual way you enable Google AdSense section targeting on your blog. This method is simple and effective but you will have to always copy and paste the codes above whenever you update your blog. For me, I feel it quite time consuming to always do it manually. So, I make it easier using the methods below.

Implement Google AdSense Section Targeting Once and For All
If you want to implement Google AdSense section targeting once and it will apply to all your blog posts, you can follow the steps below:

Look for the 2 codes below in your blog's HTML (Expand your blog's HTML):
<data:post.title/>
<data:post.body/>
Change the codes above to the codes below by applying Google AdSense Section Targeting:
<!-- google_ad_section_start --><data:post.title/><!-- google_ad_section_end -->
<!-- google_ad_section_start --><data:post.body/><!-- google_ad_section_end -->

I highlighted the codes in red. So, try to make changes according to the picture above.

Finally, "Save Changes".

That is it. You have successfully implement Google AdSense Section Targeting on your blog. Now, the AdSense bot will take some time to check your blog and display more relevant ads on your blog.

Make Money Online | How Much Efforts Have You Put In to Make Money Online?

Few days ago, I published an article about an Analysis on Millionaire's Blog, f you have not read it, you might want to read about how millionaire bloggers are making money from their blogs. If you have read that article, you will know that if we want to make money from blog, we have to work as hard as those millionaire bloggers.

How much efforts have you put in to your blog? Are you really passionate to make money from blog? Discover more in this article.

Daily Traffic Surge

It is quite unexpected that Earn Money From Blog experienced a daily traffic surge on 17 September 2011. The total page views on that day is roughly 900 page views in a single day. Look at the picture above, that is the day Earn Money From Blog gained so much traffic in one day.

The reasons for the traffic surge on that day is still unknown but it is a good sign if this traffic can continue. I am now working on Earn Money From Blog 2.0, please visit my new posts on Earn Money From Blog 2.0. I had written a post about Chitika payment. Chitika payment is another unexpected payment I got this month.

Visit Earn Money From Blog 2.0 and give me some opinions for improvements. Thanks. :)

Ad Igniter: Make Money Using CPM Ads (Good Performance CPM Program)

Hi all readers,
If you have notice that I have move my blog to Earn Money From Blog 2.0, you might have noticed that I write a lot about search engines optimization and Google Adsense on Earn Money From Blog 2.0. What I am going to share with you here is Ad Igniter.

Ad Igniter can be considered as another AdSense Alternatives but the idea of making money is CPM based. CPM mean cost per 1000 impressions. This is very an amazing opportunities to make money from our blog because if your blog does not have AdSense, Ad Igniter can be a good opportunity to make money.

Since Ad Igniter helps you make money by the number of page views, it gets a lot easier to make money from blog. All we need is getting page views not the number of clicks. I have tried Ad Igniter since yesterday, it works quite well for Earn Money From Blog.

The publishers rate currently are as shown below:

US : 0.87.
CA : 0.85.
UK : 0.85.
DE : 0.75.
FR : 0.50.
REST : 0.03-0.50.

The above payment rate is based on 1000 impression. So, if you could generate 1000 views for your blog, you could be making those money easily everyday. That is simple right? No more headache to get clicks on ads.

Affiliate Marketing Companies

Affiliate marketing companies manage hundreds of affiliate programs and oversee the matching of merchant sites with effective advertising. The programs cover a wide interest base and cover all topics. Every web site, no matter the content, can benefit from extra revenue which such a program can help to provide. The process of researching effective advertising can take up a lot of valuable resources that could be better spent elsewhere. Such companies that specialize in the field are committed to taking the guesswork out of the process and bringing quality business partners together "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD" (Isaiah 1:18).

Those who run web sites and companies which sell products can mutually benefit from an effective partnership. The process is a simple one where a web site hosts space to advertise a particular product or service. Interested users are able to click on the ad or a link provided, which will in turn lead them to the merchant's site where the product or service is sold. The merchant takes care of all the details surrounding the sale and is responsible for all subsequent actions. The profits are then split evenly between the seller and the site which provides the link, therefore, both parties profit, the former for being able to make easy money, and the latter with free advertising. People who are interested in an affiliate marketing companies can easily find information on the different types and processes that are available and find one that best fits the needs of their business. The Internet is an excellent source of information and several sites can be found that offer applicable tips and advice.

Affiliate marketing companies can generate a lot of benefits. Merchants benefit by being advertised among a much broader base than would otherwise be possible on their own. More people are apt to visit sites that are informational when they want to find out about a product, versus going straight to a merchant. More business is generated when people have a better knowledge or understanding about a product or service before they are asked or pressured to make a purchase. Affiliate companies can save merchants a lot of time and money that would otherwise be spent on researching and tracking down effective locations for advertising.

In addition to generating more interest in and traffic to merchant's sites, affiliate programs allow merchants to have access to more customers, due to the fact that more advertising usually means more sales. Everyone can benefit from the advantages that such partnerships that affiliate marketing companies provide. Those who are interested in a particular product or service are able to research the item while simultaneously having the ability to research and buy a product. Customer service is of the utmost importance for businesses which rely on sales for success. Affiliate marketing companies which provide easy ways for customers to research and purchase an item are able to secure future success as satisfied customers are likely to not come back and recommend the services to others as well. 

Technological advances have given rise to thousands of electronic ventures and have allowed for hundreds of people to start their own businesses in ways that are easier than ever before. In fact, experts in the field believe that affiliate programs are the next big thing in Internet sales. Affiliate marketing companies can be an excellent way for many home based businesses to get off the ground. One of the main benefits for affiliates is that they can start advertising products to sell and do not have to worry about managing the products. The details for the sales are all handled by merchants, so all the owner of a website has to do is refer potential customers to the applicable locations where the actual sales commence.

Owners of websites are able to benefit from such companies as well. The simple act of placing banners or other means of advertisement on a website is easy and does not take a lot of managing once an advertisement has been placed. Visitors to the sites can then click on the advertisements or links and be directed to the merchant's pages. Ads are able to be crafted in a way that mesh seamlessly into the content of a site and created in ways that will not detract from the overall feel of a web page. Tasteful methods can be implemented to provide an overall tasteful an unobtrusive manner. Assistance from affiliate marketing companies make a lot of sense for people that are either just starting out in the electronic business world, or those who would simply like to make some additional cash with minimal effort.

The consumer market can be very competitive and effective advertising can prove to be the key to success. Affiliate marketing companies can help businesses to gain that much needed edge over the competition by bringing together mutually benefiting partnerships. Those who are able to work together can prove to be more profitable than those who try to make it on their own. Businesses that desire to sell products can save a lot of time and money that would otherwise be spent on advertising, while the affiliate site is able to earn money by simply having a few additional ads on specific web sites. Due to the fact that there are thousands of affiliate programs, all who are interested in the process have a very good chance of finding a partner that will not only assist in producing profits, but will serve to satisfy customers.