Ensembleway - Performing as One

Effective Sales Page

With hundreds of thousands of sites and articles available, how do you catch people’s attention?

How do you turn words into sales?

The HEADLINE.

It must be catchy and engaging and

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Think about the last time you read through a newspaper, magazine, or some other printed periodical. How do you decide which articles to read and which articles to skip?

The headline.

If the headline doesn’t grab you right away, engaging your interest and curiosity, then you’ll most likely move on without checking out the article at all.

The same concept holds true for your sales page; a great headline is absolutely vital to getting visitors to stick around and keep reading. Newspapers often use a main headline and a sub-headline to enhance the likelihood that you’ll stop to read an article. On an Internet sales page, though, you need to use three different headlines:

1. “Gotcha” Headline
2. The Main Headline
3. The “Still Gotcha” Headline.

Each of these has a very specific purpose and must be used in a very specific way if you want to produce maximum results.

THE “GOTCHA” HEADLINE

This is the first headline the visitor reads, located at the very top of the sales page. It doesn’t need to be huge in size or long in length. What it does need to do, though, is grab the attention of the specific prospects you’re going after. So, you’d write it one way if your main prospects are teenagers, for example, but write it in a completely different way if your main prospects are senior citizens.

THE MAIN HEADLINE

This is the most important headline on the whole page because it is the largest, the most eye-catching, and the most concise description of the product’s biggest benefit to the prospect. It needs to literally jump off the page at the reader in a size that’s too big to ignore. Most importantly, though, is the emotional reaction this headline creates in your prospects. If you can capture them emotionally, then you’re well on your way to converting them from prospects to sales.

THE “STILL GOTCHA” HEADLINE

Lots of sales pages don’t use this third headline and that’s a big mistake. Why? Because this type of headline serves to reinforce the message communicated in the main headline and clarifies for the prospect exactly what benefit or advantage they can expect to gain from making a purchase.

One of the biggest mistakes when it comes to any of these headlines is to use too many words and make it too long. Remember, just a few really powerful words will be exponentially more effective for you than a lot of words strung together in a long, drawn-out explanation.

The opening act must grab the prospect’s interest on a level that’s strongly emotional and it must hang on to that interest intently.

One of the common mistakes we see on Internet sales pages is when people launch into selling their product or service too soon. While you, of course, want to sell your prospects aggressively, if you do it too early or too quickly, you’re likely to get the opposite effect of what you desire.
That’s why the opening act is so very important. When you capture the prospect’s emotional interests, they are suddenly much more interested in the rest of the sales page because they feel a “personal” connection to you. Appealing to their emotions, then, is a powerful sales tactic that isn’t a classic pushy sales approach.

But how can you best grab prospects in an emotional way and with a high level of intensity? Take a look at these proven techniques:

Emphasize the benefits prospects will enjoy once they get their hands on your product or service.
Emphasize the positive ways their life will change and improve once they get their hands on your product
Emphasize the positive feelings they will experience once they get their hands on your product or service
Emphasize what they will have more of (time, energy, money, success, etc.) once they get their hands on your product or service
Emphasize what they will have less of (stress, difficulty, debts, struggles, etc.)

You don’t have to go into great detail about each of these things during the opening act; this is just an introductory opening – the full details will be discussed later on in the sales page.

HONESTY & AUTHORITY

Everybody who spends any time on the Internet is aware of the huge number of scams, frauds, and other sleazy activities out there and your prospects are no exception. You’ve already succeeded in overcoming their initial skepticism because they are looking at your sales page, but now you have to do a bit of extra work to convince them to let go of any lingering doubts or worries.

Establishing your honesty and authority with the prospect makes it easier for them to make the move from interested visitor to satisfied customer. Times are tough nowadays, so getting prospects to spend their increasingly scarce money requires you to be even more creative and authentic about demonstrating your credibility and trustworthiness.

How do you go about doing this? The best way to look at it is that you want to promote your honesty and authority both early and often. Don’t bury this information deep into the sales page where prospects have to really dig to find it. If you do, they are never going to find it because they will have stopped reading a long time ago.

Here are some effective ways to go about doing this:

Talk about specific results, not just generalities
Use real numbers to describe a benefit or an activity, not just estimates
Use testimonials that touch on key features or benefits you want to emphasize; these are most effective when you include the full name of the person whose experiences the testimonial describes
Be sure to mention any special certifications, credentials, expertise, or experience associated with your product
Highlight positive reviews, quotes, and mentions of your product from reputable outside sources
Always, always include a real contact address complete with address, email, and phone number; this reassures prospects that you are indeed a real person and not just another scammer on the Web

Unfortunately, true honesty, integrity, and authoritative knowledge are quite rare on today’s Internet. For every one person like you who is focused on making a legitimate business out of your efforts, there are dozens (or more) of people out there focused on finding new and creative ways to scam unsuspecting prospects out of their time and money.
When you firmly establish yourself as being honest and authoritative regarding your product (beginning early in the sales page and continuing throughout the sales page), you dramatically increase your potential results.

INSPIRE WITH BENEFITS

Your prospects aren’t going to fall all over themselves to make a purchase just because you have a great product or service; no, you have to capture their emotions and inspire them to take action by describing and emphasizing the most interesting and positive benefits they will enjoy after they buy your product or service.

Benefits are quite different from features; a feature is some attribute or function of a product or service, while a benefit is some advantage, help, or aid that results from owning and using the product or service. The key to presenting benefits successfully is to identify which ones are most important to your specific prospects and then emphasize them from highest priority to lowest priority.

Research tells us that people reading Internet sales pages do much more scanning than reading, so if you want to capture attention and clearly communicate benefits of your product or service, then you need to present them in a bullet point format. For instance, let’s say I want you to know my product has many benefits, such as being easy to use, increasing your vocabulary, and improving your writing skills.

Can you quickly and easily find the product benefits written in the paragraph above? No, of course not. Now let’s try it in a better and more effective way.

My product has many benefits, such as:

It’s easy to use
It will increase your vocabulary by at least 15%
It will improve your writing skills by at least one full letter grade

See the difference? The bullet points make each benefit stand out more clearly to the readers, making it easier to catch their attention and tap into their emotions.
Don’t be afraid to include a long list of benefits as part of your sales page; think of each and every thing you can, right down to the smallest little positive outcome you can figure. Once you have your list, put the benefits in order of priority with the highest priority coming first. This way, your prospects will read the most powerful benefits first and also have an easy time scanning through the entire list without taking too much time or effort.

INFORM WITH FEATURES

Think about the last time you went shopping for a bicycle. You probably looked at a number of different factors when comparing different models; most importantly, the specific features offered by each model. Items such as the number of gears, the type of brakes, and the type of seat are all examples of important features you looked at and considered.

The same holds true for your product or service; you have to include information about the features (and sometimes specifications) offered so that the prospect will know exactly what they are getting when making a purchase from you.

When you communicate the features well, your prospects get the kind of details they need to make a buying decision. This is why you need to be as accurate and as thorough as possible. You’ll gain two advantages by doing this:

You will increase the conversion rate from prospects to paying customers because your sales page will provide the detailed information needed to demonstrate the value of your product and entice the prospect to make a purchase.
You will receive fewer complaints and/or requests for refunds because customers will know what they are getting in advance and there will be no unpleasant surprises for them.

In most cases, you’ll want to list the features in the same basic format (bullet points) as the benefits we talked about in the last section, but with a few minor changes. Because the features represent the details of your product or service, you’ll need to use more text to describe everything clearly. You may need to use sub-bullets to get all of the information in there without becoming too text-heavy and hard to read.

Everybody likes to think they’re getting a good deal when they buy something, but exactly what goes into a good deal can vary a lot depending on the product, service, and situation. In most cases, though, the best way to increase the value of something so that prospects see it as a good deal is to add in some sort of extra bonus.
This strategy is used all over the place. For instance, if you buy cable television, chances are, your service provider has a number of different “packages” available with various combinations of channels and services; each package is offered at a price that’s lower than if you were to buy the individual services separately. Another example is when you purchase a combination meal at your favorite fast food place; the cost of the meal is generally less than the cost of each individual item purchased separately.

The same approach works very well when it comes to Internet marketing and creating an Internet sales page. You want your prospects to be strongly enticed to purchase the main product or service, so to sweeten the deal a bit, you offer an extra bonus item. Maybe it’s an ebook written on a similar subject or perhaps it’s a “special edition” version of a poster, print, or the like. Whatever it is, when you offer an extra bonus, you make it harder and harder for the prospect to walk away without making a purchase.

The best bonuses are those things that customers would very likely be willing to buy separately from your main product; adding bonuses like these to your main products is what makes your offer appear to be such a great deal to them. Just as importantly, the best bonuses are those things that cost you as little as possible to provide. By keeping your costs down, but still adding value for the customer, you increase customer satisfaction and increase your profits at the same time.

No matter how much (or how little) you pay to get your hands on the bonus items, always include a specific value for the item when you’re promoting it on your sales page. Why?

Take a look:

Buy my ebook today and get this special workbook for free!
Buy my ebook today and get this special workbook (a $50 value) for free!

Which one of these is the most compelling offer statement? The one with the value attached, of course. It’s just one more way to remind your prospects that making a purchase from you is not only an excellent decision, but an excellent value for their money as well.

Obstacles and How To Overcome Them – Working At Home Moms

No matter what kind of business you hope to start or even if you intend upon becoming a telecommuter for your existing company, there will be obstacles you’ll have to face. From finances to your own fears of isolation, working at home all the time is not necessarily rainbows and sunshine every day. You’ll have good days and bad days. You’ll even face roadblocks that stand in your way of even getting started. Fortunately, there are things you can do to tackle just about any obstacle that stands in your way.

Financial Roadblocks

Perhaps the biggest obstacle that will stand in the way of opening a home-based business is the money issue. This might not apply if you’re going to become a telecommuter for your existing company or another one. Should you be starting from scratch, however, it can be a huge roadblock to overcome.
To give yourself the best footing to start on, do look at that budget closely as suggested before. If you find you fall short, these tips can help you come up with the seed cash you need to make a serious go at your dream:

The Savings Plan
- This can take longer than other options for overcoming cash flow problems, but it can put you on better financial footing over the long haul. Rather than borrow money, this obstacle buster simply requires that you start building your business nest egg on your own. You can do this by remaining in your regular job and saving money from your checks. You can also consider launching your business part-time at night to build up cash, contacts and income. The latter option keeps your day job money coming in and can add to it with the part-time venture. Overall, this is a pretty prudent way to overcome money issues.
Loans
- Small business loans, mortgage refinances, second mortgages and other lending options might be available to you to seed your business. This route can jumpstart your dream and give you cash in the bank to live off for a time, too. The danger here is that you will have to make repayments. Essentially, funding a business with loans involves starting out with the books in the red. Still, if your business idea is good enough and your skills are high enough, it can be a great way to go.

Grants
- It is sometimes possible to obtain grants to open a small business. This will depend a lot on what you plan on doing. If you are eligible for grants, they are well worth applying for. The fact is grants can give you money you need without involving repayments. Government and foundation grants may both be available. Do look into the option, but plan on a big application process. If you are successful in getting grants, make sure the money goes exactly where you said it would, too. Doing otherwise can get you into a lot of hot water!
Investors
- Family, friends or other acquaintances might want to get in on your business on the ground floor. While this is probably the least recommended option, it can fuel your business dreams rather quickly. Do count on having to pay back these loans or offering up a piece of your business to these “partners.”

Money issues can always be overcome if you have the determination to make it so. Consider your options and move forward with the choice or choices that work best in your case.

Family Resistance

Family resistance can also be an issue when you’re considering the idea of becoming a work at home mom. If you don’t have their full support, you could be in trouble.

Here are some tips for overcoming the issues that may arise:

Highlight The Benefits
- Make sure your partner fully understands what you working at home can mean for your family. While you will have duties to tend with, you will, ultimately, be more available to your family.
Talk Up
- The Potential Savings Point out how much you will be saving in gas, lunches out, fast-food dinners and childcare. These expenses can add up very fast and even may offset any losses you’d face from leaving your present job if that’s your intent. Many moms discover they spend just about as much as they make at work on these expenses that can be eliminated from a budget sheet if you work at home.

Highlight The Possible Earnings
- Make sure your family knows you’ve done your homework on your business idea. Show them the earnings protections, the potential clients and so on. If you have clients signed on already, this can be a quick mind-changer for certain.
Give It A Trial Run
- If your partner just isn’t sure you can pull it off, prove it. Start your business on a part-time basis and grow it with care. Once it’s off the ground, transitioning and not jeopardizing the family’s income will be possible. Keep in mind, your partner likely supports your decision 100 percent, but might fear the “what ifs.” This is okay. Just prove to your partner and yourself that it can be done.

Family resistance is generally very easy to overcome. If you’ve done your homework, you should be able to sell your plan pretty well.
If you’re like most people, however, the hardest sell job will be with yourself. You have to believe you can do it to make a successful go at being a work at home mom. One of the biggest obstacles you’ll face on this front is deal with isolation.

Fears Of Isolation

Working at home can lead to a sense of isolation. Make no mistake about it; you will have to be proactive on this front. Unless you are perfectly happy to deal with people only over the phone and e-mail, you’ll want to make some provisions for a social life in advance. Keep in mind that some business ideas will have you outside the home more than others, but you will still likely want to come up with a plan to conquer and overcome fears of isolation.

So, how can you make sure your needs for adult conversation, networking and interaction are met? These things can be lifesavers for work at home moms:

Join A Moms’ Group
- This is a great way to get out of the house and spend some time with your little one away from your new “office.” When your join a mothers’ group, you’ll be able to meet new people and feed your need for conversation. At the same time, you’ll give your child much-needed interaction. Many mothers groups offer a full schedule of activities that you can pick and choose from. Some even offer nighttime events to get you out of the house with just the girls.

Set Client Meetings
- Out Of The House If you’ll be selling, working as a consultant or doing anything that can get you out of the house, take advantage of the time at least once in a while. Although the plan is to work at home as much as possible, going out several times a week isn’t a bad thing. In fact, can be good for you and your child both. A little chance of scenery and faces never hurt anyone!
Join Networking Groups
- Take the time to join networking groups, your local chamber of commerce or other business organizations. Do this and you can kill two birds with one stone. Not only will you enjoy some adult interaction, but you can also boost your business at the same time.

Go To Meetings
- If you will be telecommuting or even working as a consultant, make a point of attending meetings in person once in a while. This will get you out and about and give you some time to recharge your batteries among other working adults.
Keep In Touch With Friends
- Rely on the same old support network you’ve had for ages to keep you going when you work at home. Call on your friends for girls’ nights out, fun lunches or movies on the weekends. Just because you now work at home, doesn’t mean you can’t get out of the house!

Plan Date Nights
- Make the time to get out with your spouse or partner. One night a week or even one night a month staked out for working on couple time can be a much-needed change of pace. Plus, this can help keep your relationship fresh and strong.
Enjoy A Hobby
- Get out of the house on your own by pursuing a hobby you’ve always wanted to do. Take a class, learn to play tennis, just do something that sounds interesting to you on a personal level. Volunteering can also be an excellent way to get out and do something enjoyable. Even an hour a week driving meals to the elderly can have a big impact on your psyche. Keep in mind that doing nothing but working and taking care of your family will burn you out fast. You have to have something that’s all your own, too. Even if it’s one hour a month doing something you love, do it!

Don’t worry that working at home will turn you into an isolationist. You can overcome this obstacle fairly easy.

Exploring Your Options

If you’ve been working for your existing employer for a time and love the job, but want to stay at home, telecommuting just might work for you. Should your employer already use telecommuters, you’ll have a leg up. If not, take the time to discuss this with your supervisor and his or her superiors.
Telecommuting is becoming more accepted in major workplaces. There are even a number of Fortune 500 companies that allow their employees to work from home all the time or part of the time.

The benefits of taking your work home and staying with your existing company can be extensive. They include:

No Learning Curve
- If you do at home what you already do in the office, the learning curve will be non existent. This is a great way to have your cake and eat it, too.
Extension Of Benefits
- If you do stay employed with your present company, you won’t lose out on any benefits offered. This can be a very big deal for some families, so don’t discount the value.
Guaranteed Income
- Your family won’t lose a dime if you telecommute. In fact, it could end up making more thanks to the cost savings of working at home we’ve already discussed. This can be a huge perk for you and your family. It can also work well as a tool to use in convincing your family that working at home is right for you.

Telecommuting does have its pros, but there are a few cons to consider, too. If you do choose to stay with your existing employer, you will be restricted to a set salary. Chances are your hours will also be monitored. This can take away from some of the freedoms you hoped to enjoy by working at home. Carefully consider the ups and downs of this choice before proceeding. There are other options out there.

Consulting In Your Field

Okay, so maybe you don’t want to work for your current employer any longer. Or, maybe you have discovered your company just won’t allow telecommuting for whatever reason. Don’t take this as a roadblock you can’t get past. If you have built up your skills in a particular field, you might be able to transition yourself into a consultant position.

Should you decide to strike out as a consultant, you might be able to “work” for your company on your terms. Keep in mind, however, that you will lose on-staff status. This also means, however, that you can consult for other firms that can benefit from your knowledge, experience and skills.

Consultants are in high demand in a variety of fields. From legal and operational consultants to design, management and beyond, many companies call on an outside set of “eyes” on a regular basis. Many are also willing to pay a very pretty penny for professional consultants.

If you do want to transition into a consultant position, consider these things to jumpstart your effort:

Approach Your Existing
- Company Depending on your skills, this can be the fastest way to enjoy a solid consulting contract. Your company may delight in the idea of taking you off the payroll and saving on the benefits, but still having your skills available.
Join Trade Organizations
- To find other opportunities, make sure you join trade organizations and keep up with meetings, publications and even online want ads these groups put out. This can be a great way to find jobs in your field on a consulting basis.
Get On Government Bid Lists
- Make sure to get yourself listed as a vendor with city, county, state and federal agencies that might benefit from your skills.Government consulting contracts can supercharge careers and offer steady income.

There are ways to stay in your existing field and use the skills you’ve honed over time to earn you money from home. If you want a complete change, however, there are ways to make it happen with little to no retraining. Of course, you can always retrain and launch anew if you want to enter a new field all together.

Writing Your Future

One of the more steady and lucrative options out there for work at home moms with professional backgrounds involves writing for a living. Freelance writers are in high demand in just about every field imaginable. As more companies take their businesses online, they need people to write their content, update their blogs, craft special reports and so on. This option can enable you to work in your existing field, parse, and it can allow you to branch out to other interests, as well.

If you want to get into writing as your new business venture, you will need to have some basic skills. Beyond being able to string a sentence together, it will be necessary that you have a decent writing style, understand grammar and be able to handle the pressures of deadlines.

Some of the options available to freelance writers include:

Blogging;
Report writing;
Public relations writing;
Search Engine Optimization content creation;
Technical writing.

Writing for a living can be an exciting and rewarding career choice. For work at home moms who can write, the possibilities are almost limitless.

Data Entry and Other Similar Options

Writing might not be your thing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put keyboarding skills to work for you. Data entry positions and other related jobs are always in high demand in freelancers and telecommuters. Having a professional background can be a big boost for breaking into these fields, too.

Some of the related fields to consider beyond data entry include:

Medical billing;
Medical transcription;
Transcription;
Working as an online personal assistant;
Billing agent.

Sales And Beyond

If your skills lie in the area of sales, you will find a world of possibilities open to you. The reality is that selling is one of the easiest ways to get into a business, but it can be one of the hardest to succeed at. Still, if you’re good at it, the sky will be the limit.

Should sales sound good to you, related options include:

Working As A Representative
- Big, established companies that sell house wares, cosmetics and other similar products recruit salespeople all the time. In these cases, salespeople are independent contractors that set their own hours, work their own territories and so on. This can be a great way to enjoy “owning” a business without having to reinvent the wheel.
Franchise Possibilities
- This is another great way to go if you do want to own your own business and reap all the rewards. Franchises can give your business instant recognition and the support you need to get off on the right footing.
Other Possibilities
- It’s possible to turn a hobby into a business, create a product to produce and sell, launch a Web site and so on. These options can rely on the skills you already have or enable you to develop new ones to go on a different path entirely. Don’t leave any stone unturned on this front if you want to do something entirely different.

The possibilities for working at home really are limited only by your imagination. Whether you want to stay in your existing field or branch off in a new direction entirely, there are ways to make your work at home dreams become reality. Just take the time to truly explore your options, do your homework and see what road works best for you and your family. If retraining or new skills are needed, relax. You can pick up training a little easier than you might think.

Is Working At Home Right For You

You love the idea of being able to work at home and relish the notion of spending more time with the family, but you’re just not sure this is the right road for you. Don’t sweat it – you are not alone in your doubts. Just about every woman who has ever launched a successful at-home career has faced them. Still, it’s smart to be sure.
Working at home does require a lot of dedication, discipline and patience. It’s just not for everyone, and that is perfectly okay. There are a few things that should be carefully considered if you’re intending to become a work at home mom. Even if you are a stay at home mom, adding a career into the mix can change things a bit. To make sure you’re going in a good direction for you, it is important to review such things as finances, family support and your ability to cope with the prospect of working at home. Some moms thrive in this situation, but others wither.

FINANCIAL POSITIONING MATTERS

If you’re planning on leaving a paying job to work at home, having a good handle on your finances will be a must. In most cases, it will take some time to build up a business or freelance venture enough to replace a workaday job. Beyond the capital needed to launch the business, you will also need a nest egg to cover the startup period.

How much money to set aside will be dependent on a number of factors, including:

Your monthly bills
- Understand just how big your contribution is to the family’s budget on a monthly basis. Make sure to have figure covered for at least a few months. Three months can do the trick, but it’s a conservative (and safer) choice to shoot for six to even 12. Keep these figures separate from what you’ll need to give your business venture a fighting chance as success, as well.
Anticipated extra expenses
- Establishing a business at home can take a little upfront capital. Beyond what is needed to cover the family, you’ll also want money for equipment, marketing, licensing and so on. A small business loan might work in some cases, but for many at-home operations, you’ll be on your own with startup costs.
Projected “red period”
- While business plans might not always pan out exactly on schedule, have a good understanding of your particular venture’s anticipated period of running in the red. You’ll want to make sure you have the money available to cover this period and keep growing the business. Be realistic here.

If finances are standing in your way, consider seeking out loans, activating a savings plan or just working at your business part time at first. There are ways to make your dream happen even if the cash isn’t available as quickly as you’d like it to be.

FAMILY SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL

Going into an at-home work venture without solid family support for the idea can prove to be a huge mistake. If family members do not understand that work time is important or that work calls shouldn’t be interrupted with blaring rock ‘n’ roll music from a teenager’s room, than an uphill battle will need to be fought.

To make sure your family is onboard, ask yourself these things:

Have I discussed the idea thoroughly with all family members?
- If you haven’t, you will want to do so. Making sure everyone who is old enough understands that just because you are home doesn’t mean that working hours are any less important is vital for your chances at success.
Will older family members provide backup during emergencies?
- Work at home moms still need to attend meetings, meet deadlines or get out and network. When the need for serious focus time presents, it is imperative to have someone who can step in and take care of childcare and/or household duties.
Will family members pitch in?
- Just because you’re working at home doesn’t mean you can or should handle everything. It will help you immensely if family members will pitch in with chores and do their part to make sure everything in the household flows smoothly.

Working at home after being out in the world can be a bit of a challenge for an entire family to adjust to. If you’ve been a stay-at-home mom, the challenges can be even greater. After all, everyone is used to having you there to help them.

Moving into an at-home career means that even if you are there, sometimes priorities will have to shift focus. If your family is truly onboard, you will have an edge in whatever endeavor you pursue.

SELF DISCIPLINE GETS THE JOB DONE

It will not matter at all how much money you’ve socked aside to get started or how supportive your family is, if you can’t motivate yourself, you’re in trouble. Self-discipline is one of the most important traits to have when attempting to launch at at-home career. This goes for telecommuters who will work full-time for companies as much as it does would-be entrepreneurs.

To make sure you have what it takes on this front, consider asking yourself these things and answering with frank honesty:

Am I motivated?
- If you don’t have the motivation and drive to get up in the morning and get to work, an at-home business will be on shaky ground from the start. While half the reward of working at home is to be around more for the family, you will still need to operate with drive to enjoy business success. Just like raising your children, an at-home career will require time, attention and some serious nurturing.

Can I set hours and stick with them
- When you own the operation or work as a freelancer, you can set your own hours. Actually doing so can be a very big help in making sure life is balanced out better. Of course, you can knock off early to play with the kids once in a while, but you will need stick-to-it-ive-ness on a more-or-less regular basis.
Can I resist temptations?
- One of the issues that self-discipline can overcome involves resisting the temptations to do other things beside work during working hours. When no boss is breathing down your neck, it can be all too easy to watch television, play on the computer or even tackle housework instead performing work-related functions. Give in to temptation too often and your venture might not fly.

HANDLING ISOLATION

Depending on what type of business you plan on pursuing, you might find yourself cutoff a bit from other people. Computer-based careers, for example, can have you working at home and never actually getting out and seeing people beyond the family for days on end. While this is not a problem for many, it can drive some women bonkers. Make sure you know where you stand on the issue before you move forward with a career choice that could put you in this position.

If you want to deal with the potential problem of isolation head on, there are some things that can help. They include:

Joining networking groups
- This is an excellent way to get out of the house on a weekly or monthly basis. Plus, it can assist you in making sure your business gets its name out there.
Accepting local clients
- Even if your business happens to be computer-based, there is nothing wrong with accepting and soliciting local clients. This can get you out of the “office” once in a while and help you grow your business, too.
Planning off-time activities
- It can be extremely beneficial to plan off-time activities that do not involve staying in the house. Even a trip to the park with the children every few days can keep sanity in check. Grocery runs do not count!
Volunteering at your children’s schools
- Even volunteering once a week, month or for every field trip that crops up can get you out of the house and help you meet other people. This can also serve as a great way to show your children how much you want to be involved in their lives. After all, if the business is yours, a “boss” won’t be able to say you can’t take off two hours every Tuesday to lend a hand at a school.

Making the choice to work at home can be an excellent one. To make sure the move is right for you, however, do take the time to examine the ups and downs carefully and answer questions about yourself and your situation honestly.

Boost Online Sales

Got a product or range of products that aren’t selling as fast as you would like them to?

Selling online is an art and a science, and the smallest changes can therefore have profound effects on your success. In this article, you will discover five strategies that will drastically boost your sales – all in less than 7 days.

1. Redesign Your Site With Psychology in Mind

If you were manager of a store , then one of the biggest aspects of your job should be to make sure that you organized the stock and the layout of the store in general in a way that was highly conducive to sales and that would encourage people to discover your products and offers and to buy, buy, buy. And it would be your job meanwhile to ensure that the products they bought were the right ones – the ones that you had large quantities of, or the ones that you got the most profit for. You would be constantly moving things around, trying different combinations and layouts, and seeing what worked best for your profits.

Well if you run a website that has a webstore, or if you are in the process of building a web store, then things are no different. It’s still your job to make sure that your products are going to sell as best as possible and to apply a little thought to even the smallest details of your store.

Avoid Distractions

If you’ve ever visited a landing page selling something like an e-book then you will be familiar with the long narrow strips of text that they feature. The reason for this? It is devoid of distractions meaning people will stay on your site and be more likely to click ‘buy’ rather than to be distracted by an article.

Use Contrast
Contrast works in two ways x both physical visual contrast that will make your colors and images stand out, and contrast in terms of the products you are going to have on display. With regards to the first, I am obviously referring to the use of contrasting colors to draw attention to the items you want people to look at, and this is a very simple way to direct people’s gaze. And by the second point I mean placing items of differing prices next to one another to accentuate them in different ways. By putting a very expensive item next to a very cheap one for instance you make the cheap one seem really cheap and you let people click buy without feeling guilty (because they can say ‘I’ll just go for the cheaper one then’), whereas the expensive one becomes the luxury item that people who want to go for the most elite option can go for.

Think Color
Color psychology can also play a big role in your sales success. Light, “cool” colors like blues are fantastic for getting people to spend longer on a page (because they’re calming), whereas colors like red raise the heart rate and encourage impulsive behavior. Think about how you can take advantage of these facts!

2. Make Them Work For It

You might think that making someone work to get to your buy button would be a bad move as it would put them off, but actually in some cases it can be very useful. The other reason those landing pages work so well for instance is because they force the viewer to scroll down for ages, at which point they feel like they’ve committed to buy.
Meanwhile if you have something that everyone is looking for and you know people want, then hiding it somewhere on the site can be a great way to make them look at the other offers you have. Consider your best deals as ‘bait’ and you can then tempt them to buy more.

You can even make your product seem more “exclusive” by creating certain conditions that exclude members or make them take more actions. For example, you may sell an item only to members of your exclusive Facebook
group!

3. Upsell

POS stands for Point of Sale, which is the point at which the customer gets out their credit card to buy. On your website that’s wherever they enter their details and this is the perfect opportunity to offer them something else to add to their order. That way you can offer them the option to increase their purchase incrementally (which never seems like much) and you can do it when you have already gotten past the ‘barrier to sale’ which is the effort involved in committing to buy. They already have their card in their hand… so why not add a gift wrap? Or a small token if it means they can combine postage?

This is highly effective because it lets you slightly increase the amount the person is spending with you once they have already committed to buying. Getting out the wallet and deciding to buy is a huge “barrier to sale.” Once your customers are at the checkout then, you’ve done the “hard part.” There is no reason not to try and increase the value of their purchase.

4. Collect Serious Data

If you run an online business, then collecting data is one of the most important aspects of it and is something you need to prioritize as a crucial element. Failure to recognize the importance of collecting data about your
customers, about your products, about the market and more can lead to your missing out on some seriously big opportunities and even cause you to barrel headlong into some serious mistakes. Read on and we’ll take a look at why data is so important, and at what you can do with it.

Who’s Buying?
The first thing to look at is who is buying your products, or perhaps clicking on your ads. In other words – who are your customers? Where do they live? What’s their budget? And what are their hobbies and interests?
This is very important because it shows you who your target audience should be. You may find that you’re actually targeting entirely the wrong kind of audience – that you thought your products would sell to middle aged men, but actually it’s teenagers who are more interested which will allow you to correct course. Likewise you might find that you are simply missing out on some potential opportunities.

Who’s Looking?
There’s a fine line between someone who buys your products and someone who just looks at them. Your job is to find that line and then to make sure that as many people cross it as possible. Normally, the people looking at your products but not buying will be people who have seen your marketing and have become interested but decide against making a purchase because they think your offering is too expensive, or because they think the competition offer a more compelling purchase.

In such a case then you might decide to use some more direct marketing showing how your product is a market leader, or you might decide to cut the price for a limited time. It’s only by testing different price points and different deals though that you’ll stand a chance of making them sell.

Testing
And when you start testing, that’s when collecting data becomes even more important. If you cut the price of your products and you then find that they start selling like wildfire, you will need to know precisely when the increase in sales began so that you can be certain that it was the change in price that caused the increase.

Likewise you’ll want to get detailed information about who was most affected by the price cut. It might be that a select number of your potential customers were driven away by the price cut assuming it meant that the quality was lower. Perhaps then you need to sell two slightly different versions?

What is Selling?
This brings us nicely on to another point – identifying which of your products are selling the best so that you can focus more effort on them and use that feedback to direct future products to develop. You don’t want to invest too much time or money into something that has been shown not to sell.

Feedback
Getting data is also important when it comes to promoting your business. If you ever want to get an investment from a big corporation, or if you ever want to work with a big partner, then you will need to get feedback regarding your business so that you can present the raw data for promotional reasons.

5. Use More Persuasive Sales Copy

When you get a professional website design as a company this is an important investment for your business. The idea is that you are creating basically a virtual advert that any one can find in order to get more information about your company and to learn about your service. At the same time your web page design will be created in such a way often that they can order your services or products online and in this sense it then becomes a virtual shop too – or at the very least a portal to your services and more information.

This requires a good and professional website design that is easy and intuitive to navigate, that is pleasant on the eyes and reflective of your business and that will grab the attention of viewers and not let go. That’s not all this is dependent on though.

It’s also of course dependent on your business being good – of your offering good services and at a good price and of your clever strategies to pique people’s interest. And then it’s reliant on the content and your marketing spiel…

Your web designer will handle your website design in terms of the programming and graphic design. They might even handle some SEO for you. However, for the most part the actual copy and content will be up to you – the writing that greats your customers when they find your page and the writing that sells your products or describes your company. This is up to you and you need to make sure that you design it to be as effective as possible.

In other words, unless you hire professional copy writing, it’s up to you still to sell the product and through the medium of the internet where people have little patience and little time for anything that can be quite tricky. So how do you go about writing content that will grab people and draw them in?

Rule number one is to grab their attention right away. This is always important, but in the case of the internet where we are used to short snippets of information it’s paramount. State simply and boldly at the head of each
sentence what it is that your company provides and if you’re marketing a product likewise state right away what it is that it does. Don’t open up with a fun quip or rhyme – state simply ‘this device will wake you up on time every morning’ or ‘we design the very best logos and brands for companies’. Once you’ve hit them with the facts, it’s then important to start to let them know in detail why yours is the best. Don’t be afraid of a little hyperbole, but also be sure to create a narrative that involves the reader and draws them in.

People like stories – which is why many sales pitches online tell of the author’s success or describe what life is like with the product. At the same time people like to be engaged directly so use the word ‘you’ a lot and ask rhetorical questions. ‘Do you like paying too much for your car insurance?’.

There’s much more to writing a good sales pitch, but this will get you started on the right lines – and combined with good web design it will convert the visitors to your site into paying customers with the best possible efficiency.

With these five changes, you’ll have highly optimized your sales process and can expect to see a huge uptick in sales. Enjoy!

Create An Online Brand

Brainstorm and Research Your Brand

That’s why in order to get a good one, you have to start to brainstorm early. It’s going to take a while to come up with a brand name that you love and that is also available as a domain name. One thing is certain: most two-word-phrased domain names are already taken. You will probably have to go with three words or more, or you might try purchasing a smaller domain name from someone who is squatting on it and waiting for a buyer to offer him/her some money.

Do Reserve Your Personal Name

Even if you’re not going to use it for business, you will want to reserve as many profiles and even a domain name with your name in it. Celebrities with established careers already have lawyers who do this on a regular basis for them. However, if you start your business brand and then you suddenly achieve fame in the middle of it all, you’ll probably end up paying someone else to give back your personal brand name on the Internet. There are many opportunists out there who go out and try to reserve names like Paris Hilton or other notables with large followings. If your following increases, so will the number of fake spammers out there, and you want to be ready by having already reserved your name on the biggest sites like Facebook, Twitter, and a personal branded .com name.

Research Availability

Hop online now and check to see what’s available for your domain name possibilities using Whois.net. You can check a variety of different extensions besides .com sites. If the domain is already reserved or bought, you will see the owner of the domain name. It will also tell you who you can contact should you want to try and buy the name. Otherwise, you can get onto popular hosting sites of your choice and try to register the domain name. Whois.net will also tell you (when it’s not available) what other names you might try to reserve instead that are available. Typically, they are prefixed with the word my or something similar, but are slightly different. You can even register the domain name right there for a charge of $9.95/year.

Promote Your Brand

Online, if you want to be known as an expert, all you have to do is to claim to be an expert and then help others with your expertise. People learn who you are by interacting with you and can make up their own opinions about you and your company. The interactivity and the ability to reach people all around the world for very little money is what levels the playing field between companies and individuals. Information isn’t as segregated as it once was, and it’s also quite a bit more transparent. Now, no matter how much a big company spends on promoting some defective product, odds are that there will be numerous online complaints that are easily accessible and that dissuade new customers from purchasing a defective product. In the same vein, if you have a spectacular brand and some wonderful product or service, you can promote the brand and the positive vibes by sharing that information online to attract new customers.

What You Should Do Online

There are a few places online that you can leverage to get the most positive publicity with minimal effort. You could spend a lot more time plastering the World Wide Web with your own press release, but ultimately, as a business owner, you just don’t have the time to do too much promotion. Even if you can do the following list, you should seriously think about hiring a company or an individual to help you publicize your offerings online in a manner that will get you more exposure.

Online business cards
- Replace your paper cards with a digital version that allow you to share it much more easily online.
Digital resumes
- If your personal experience is important to your business, be sure to update archives with your personal digital resume.
Portfolios
- You might have a freelance company or be a solopreneur who is interested in showing off some of your work via your online portfolio.
Website
- This can be a formal site or a blog, as long as it is a central place to show people who you are and what you’re up to with your business.
Social networks
- These include Facebook and Twitter and are great for getting traffic back to your site.
Email campaigns
- Simple ways to directly market to your audience.

Online Business Cards
In the past, you would do business and help to create brand awareness through a paper business card. While there is still a place for these quaint relics of the past, the more modern versions use an online, interactive component to share your personal brand digitally so that there is less chance that it will get lost or overlooked. Besides, when was the last time you saw anyone pull out a rolodex of business cards to contact anyone? With so many businesses promoting their brands online, which costs far less and is more effective, it pays to step into the information age with enthusiasm.

E-Business Cards

A copy of the paper business card in digital format is easy enough to create. Distributing it is far more efficient than trying to hand someone a paper card. You can go to places like www.Businesscard2.com to use the service to create your own e-business card. These types of cards have the advantage of being able to be transmitted to other people’s electronic gadgets, like their cell phone, and will store your email in their directories. With so many phones having messaging capabilities, it puts your online email address right at their fingertips, with little intervention on your part.

In addition, you can add other types of links to these business cards that can be viewed on phones with Internet capabilities. You might want to add your Facebook and/or Twitter profiles or any other site that you use for branding you or your business.

Brand Your Digital Media

Your digital media can include ebooks, CDs, and videos on YouTube. You alone know where all of your digital media ends up residing. It can also be sales promotional tools like DVDs and USB drives. Add your brand information there and make sure it comes up in auto-run mode so that when people use your products or services, they are also seeing your official e-business card that tells them where they can find more of your products or services or learn more about your brand.
People love getting novel gifts for sales promotions and having your brand printed on them and in digital format is not going to bother them. If it is an item that they use frequently, it’s like having a mini-commercial installed on their tool that will be a little annoying, but will also be very valuable for when they want to know who to contact for more of the same products and services. Never underestimate the power of a clever business card. It can lead to referrals and more business with very little upfront work.

Digital Resume

Paper resumes are good if you’re looking for a job, but they aren’t very good if you’re trying to promote your business online. Putting up a list of your accomplishments and some of your past achievements is a good way to let people know what circles you travel in and what type of quality they can expect from you. Businesses that are in consulting or freelancing can also benefit from digital resumes that list their previous projects. You can write up several, differently formatted resumes that highlight your strengths and promote your past experience. In some cases, you can even add that to your business profiles.

Branding On-Job Boards

When you’re on a job board, you are competing against hundreds, if not thousands, of other people who are looking for work during this recession. It’s a shame, but many human resource people aren’t even going to read your resume. They might grab a bunch of electronic resumes and stick them through a resume reader looking for specific keywords. That’s why part of branding your resume is to use keywords that will best describe your skills and experience, and that might also be searched by offline companies.
It’s important to be as detailed as possible, like including the names of the equipment you work with, software programs and versions, or languages that you speak or program in. Include keywords for the type of experience you have, whether it’s technical, management, or retail. It’s also important to include several different copies of your resume, one in HTML format and one in text format, so that they can download the right format and chug it through their resume readers.

LINKEDIN

In addition to using bulletin boards like Monster.com, you are sometimes better off using a social network like LinkedIn.com that allows you to post resume information for other professionals to view. It’s also a great place to post this type of information because, unlike Monster.com, LinkedIn.com allows you to request recommendations from people. This way, you not only have a viewable resume that is searchable in search engines, but people viewing it can see how many other people have nice things to say about you.
LinkedIn.com is a great place for professionals who are out of work and for those who still have a job to network. It’s great for people who are business owners who want to network with their customers and who want to offer a professional look at who they are and what they do. However, this isn’t really enough to make up someone’s mind. A portfolio of past projects will give your profile life.

Portfolios

Portfolios provide a visual and audio way to influence someone with your brand, not just with written text. A good portfolio has samples of your best work for new customers to review before making a buying decision. Artists have long used paper portfolios to get into the best schools and to show new customers their work.

Digital portfolios can include anything from photography snapshots of offline work, music .jpgs, and video content. It doesn’t have to be just about your written work. The more you wow and dazzle your viewer, the more likely they are to buy from you.

Exhibit Your Niche

The sample within your portfolio should be used to showcase your brand. What is your niche and what makes these pieces representative of your expertise? If you’re a musician with a specific style, you might want to showcase that style to attract more work. If you’re a writer with a talent for specific niches or styles of writing, be sure to include pieces that reflect that information in your portfolio.

When trying to project your brand online, don’t mix it with too many other styles or niches that aren’t related to your own brand. This just dilutes the power of your portfolio and leaves people confused about who you are and what you are offering. Try to stay within your niche of expertise and try to send a strong message that you excel in this area.

Sites With a Portfolios

You can include your portfolio on freelance sites, like GetAFreelancer.com and MySpace.com. Some sites do better with different audiences, and it’s not unusual to have one portfolio in one area be different from another portfolio to cater to different audiences. For instance, MySpace.com caters to a younger audience, and their style is more bold than professional places like GetAFreelancer.com.

However, this is just the audience that buys music and loves to experiment with musical styles and videos. You might put music on here that appeals to this demographic and include different music in a different portfolio elsewhere. Match the portfolio to the site you’re posting on.

Include multiple formats so that if one format isn’t easily viewed, another one will be. That goes for Word documents, images, and musical files. You don’t know what people have on their PCs, and when a file doesn’t play, it can make you look bad, even if it’s not your fault. Including some helpful hints for playing files and opening them can help people be aware that proper software needs to be on their systems in order to view those files.

Using Social Networking Websites to Promote Your Blog

Do you know what is the main purpose of a social networking website?

If you are an avid internet user, you likely do. Social networking websites are online communities that make it easier for internet users to meet and communicate with each other.

If you are an internet user who enjoys using the internet to meet new people, there is a good chance that you already belong to a social networking website. What about an online blog? Do you have one of them? If you do, do you know that you could use your social networking website to promote your blog?

Promote your blog? Why would you want to do that? Honestly, if you have to ask yourself that question you probably shouldn’t even have one. The whole purpose of a blog is to document your thoughts, views, and opinions on a particular topic, issue, or subject. What good will your blog do if no one reads it.

In addition to sharing your thoughts with the rest of the world, did you know that you could also make money from your blog? You can sign up for affiliate programs or other programs like Google AdSense. If you are using your blog to make money then you will defiantly want to promote it.

When it comes to promoting blogs, there are many blog owners who decide to let the search engine do the work for them. Search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN use special techniques that reads the content on your website. That content is then used to rank your website with particular keywords.

This means that you run a blog on graduating from high school in New York, there is a good chance that your blog will appear in searches done on New York high schools. Although many blogs are successfully ranked in search engines, not all are. That is why you are advised against relying solely on search engines, when it comes to promoting your blog.

As previously mentioned, if you love meeting with or talking to people online, there is a good chance that you belong to a social networking website or community.

The individuals that you talk to and that are in your community are likely the individuals that you wish to target. Since most social networking websites work to connect internet users who have the same goals and common interests, there is a good chance that your online friends will enjoy reading your blog. But, before they can read your blog, you have to let them know that it exists.

When it comes to promoting your blog on social networking websites, you have a number of different options. Your first option is to include a link to your blog in your community profile or profile page. This will allow other community members to checkout your blog, only if they wish to do so.

The other way is to inform your online friends of your blog through private messages. Once you join a social networking website and create or join a network of friends, you should easily be able to communicate with those friends.

Sending each of your friends a private message with information and a link to your blog tends to be more effective than just placing a link in your profile or on your profile page.

Although there is a good chance that you are already a member of a popular social networking website, you may not be. If you are not already a member, but would like to become one, you will need to find a social networking website to join. This can easily be done with a standard internet search.

In your search, you will likely find a number of popular network sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, FriendFinder, Yahoo! 360, and Orkut. Before becoming a community member at one of these networking sites, you may want to first examine the website to ensure that it is everything that you want it to be.

As you can easily see, there are a number of different ways that you can go about promoting your blog on online social networking websites.

You never known, but, in addition to promoting your blog, you may also make new friends along the way.

Staying Safe with Social Networking Websites

When it comes to internet safety, a large amount of focus has been placed on teenagers and the use of social networking websites.

Although it is important for teenagers to be careful when using these popular websites, they are not the only ones who should be concerned with their safety. If you are an adult, who enjoys networking online, you should also be cautious when it comes to meeting and communicating with other internet users.

Although social networking websites are a great place to meet other internet users, especially ones with interests that are similar to yours, they can also be dangerous. In recent years, there have been numerous reports of instances when individuals were harmed when they went to meet an individual that they met on an online social network, which includes dating websites.

If you are not careful and cautious, the same thing could happen to you. This does not mean that you should be filled with fear; however, it does mean that you need to be cautious online.

One of the many ways that you can protect yourself, when it comes to using online social networking websites, is by watching what you post online, particularly in your profile. You may not know this, but a large number of networking sites, including MySpace, FriendFinder, and Yahoo! 360 allow all internet users to see your profile or profile page.

These internet users do not necessarily have to be a member of your online community. This means that although your networking community may be safe, there are still unsavory individuals out there who could easily obtain your personal information.

In addition to the information that you make available to other internet users, including member profiles, you are advised to be cautious when making contact with other internet users, especially those that contact you. A large number of social networking websites have open memberships.

Essentially, this means that anyone can easily join and become a member. Just because someone says they are who they are doesn’t necessarily mean that they are telling the truth. If at any point during your conversations you feel that you are speaking with someone who is making you feel comfortable or not telling the truth, you are advised to end your conversation.

For many individuals it is enough to chat with others online, but for some it is not enough. Whether you are asked to meet with an online friend or if you initiated the meeting yourself, you are advised to be cautious. You will not want to meet with an individual who you have only known online for a short period of time.

For safety reasons, it is advised that you speak with one of your online friends at least a month before agreeing to meet with them. If and when that meeting does take place, you are urged to have it in a public place. That way if your meeting does not go as well as you had originally planned, you will be able to ensure your safety by having others around you.

The above mentioned precautionary measures are just a few of the many that you should take. Although you may be worried about hurting someone’s feelings or losing an online friend, you shouldn’t be. Your safety is far too important to be concerned with what others will be thinking or feeling.

Top 4 Ways – How to make money at home

A lot of people are now making money at home, and everyone is doing it differently. If you are wondering how you can make money at home, here are the answers.

The Internet is a thriving haven of money-making opportunities. If you know where to look, and is prepared to maximize your skills and knowledge, you can find plenty of ways how to make money at home, simple with the use of your computer. Venture into the online work environment and choose from any of these top five money-making opportunities online.

Website Marketing

Website marketing is one of the top ways to make money at home. As more and more people are becoming exposed to the world of media discourse and the Internet is becoming easier to manipulate, the number of websites on the World Wide Web is also increasing.

Nowadays, anyone can create his own website, publish it to the Internet, and earn money from it. The world of website marketing may be a bit tricky, but once you learn the tricks of the trade, you can drive traffic to your website, get people to advertise on it, and get rich as you sit in a comfortable chair at home.

Freelance Professional Services

Offering freelance professional services is now a widely known way to make money at home. A lot of people are now offering their professional services online to clients worldwide. With no other effort needed, a person can make use of his skills and knowledge to make money at home.

There are online communities where service providers and customers are interacting and transacting. If you are an artist, you can offer web design, graphic design, and even photography services. If you are a writer, you can offer writing, proofreading, and editing services. In addition to that, if you are looking for a pressure-free job, you can simply offer data encoding

Entrepreneurship

If you can provide services online, you can also sell goods. This is where Entrepreneurship comes in. Majority of goods that are being sold nowadays are also being sold or advertised on the Internet. The shift to a web-based society has also affected the world of entrepreneurship and has transformed it into “entrepreneurship” instead.
There are now a lot of community websites wherein people are trading and selling, and websites that are dedicated to selling. You can sell virtually anything online, and the benefits are plenty. You can reach more people with your products when you decide to sell it on the Internet.
More people, even outside of your network, and even those who are not on the lookout for the kind of product you sell, can easily come across your product on the Internet and be lured into buying. Through entrepreneurship, you can sell products and make money at home, without having to face the woes of a full-fledged, actual business.

Hassle-Free Online Opportunities

If you haven’t decided to make money at home, why not just increase your present income through hassle-free money-making opportunities online, such as taking surveys? Now, companies are shifting their market research online, and to extend across boundaries, they are offering to pay people to simply answer some surveys.
There are a lot of survey sites on the Internet nowadays. All you have to do is sign up for these survey sites to get access to a lot of surveys. You can take as many surveys as you can, so your income will be entirely up to you.
Each survey will only take you a few minutes to answer, so you can gauge the number of surveys you can take every day. This is a good way to make money at home, even just during your free time.

Six Ways for Kids to Make Money

However, there are more unusual ways. Some of the ways listed below are from my own childhood, when I was always looking for another way to make money.

1. Be a chef. At about eleven years old, I used to sell meals to my brothers (I had four of them). I got 25 cents for scrambled eggs or a sandwich, and more for more complicated meals. My brothers preferred to stay in front of the TV and let me cook for them. Since the food was already provided by my parents, the income was pure profit.

2. Computer whiz-kid service. Many young kids know a lot about computers. My nephew was getting paid for programming by the time he was fourteen, but even younger kids can show old folks how to use a computer and the internet for a fee. Learn a few more skills, and they can even set up computers for new owners who are using them for the first time. Letting grandparents spread the word would be a good marketing ploy.

3. Household carnival. I charged my brothers five cents for a wadded up piece of paper selected from a bucket full of them. Most had a penny or two inside them, but a few had a quarter. It was just one of my “carnival” events. I also had them throwing pennies at a bowl across the room, which I kept, of course. If a penny stayed in the bowl they won a dime. I’m almost embarrassed to say how much of their hard-earned paper route money I took from them.

4. Collect returnable. We collected and returned cans and bottles for a deposit as kids. Now that more states have return laws, it’s an even better way to make a little cash. During the Cherry Festival, when I lived in Traverse City, Michigan, adults came to town just to collect the cans that people threw all over. With a 10-cent deposit, they were collecting more than $100 worth per day according to several of them. If the kids wear gloves, leave broken cans and bottles alone, and use hand sanitizer, this is a safe way to make money.

5. Personal services menu. If there are many people in the family, a great way for kids to make money is to sell their services. They can make a menu of things they’ll do and how much they charge for each. It might include washing windows for 50 cents each, for example, and maybe $1.50 to walk a dog. If the list is copied, it could be handed out to all relatives and possibly neighbors too.

6. Rummage sales and flea markets. If parents agree, kids can have rummage sales, selling not just household things, but arts and crafts and refreshments too. Parents might even take their kids to a flea market to set up a stand.

Make Money Selling Products

There are many individuals who are misinformed when it comes to making money online.

You can make money on selling products that you didn’t even create.

Unfortunately, a large number of individuals believe that you have to be trained in a particular field or have special talents. The reality is that skills and training may increase your chances of finding a legitimate money-making opportunity; however, they are not required.

All you need to do is find an opportunity that requires little or no work and then you could be on your way to making money.
An opportunity that requires little or no work; if you are wondering how this is possible you are not alone. Most individuals are taught to beware of these business opportunities because most of them are scams. While you will find scams online, there real business opportunities out there that would not require you to put in long work hours.

One of those business opportunities involves selling a product that isn’t even yours. You can do this by acquiring the private label resell rights for a particular product. These products are most commonly e-books, software programs, and content articles.

The first step in taking part in this amazing business opportunity is to find a private label product that currently has its resell rights available for sale. This can easily be done a number of different ways. Perhaps, the easiest way is to perform a standard internet search. If you are interested in purchasing the resell rights to an e-book, you will want to perform a standard internet search, using the words private label e-book resell rights.

If you are looking to purchase content articles, software programs, or something else, you will need to replace the word e-book with what you are searching for. By performing this internet search, you should be provided with links to websites offering resell rights for sale.

An alternative to performing your own research is to seek recommendations from those that you know. If you know of anyone who has participated in this money-making opportunity, you may want to ask them for advice. While product recommendations are good, it is still advised that you closely examine each product offer before making a final decision.
If you do not know anyone who has participated in this type of opportunity, you can easily speak to those that you do not know. What is nice about the internet is that it allows you to connect with a wide variety of different people. These people may be able to offer advice or inside tips when it comes to obtaining the resell rights to a particular private label product.
Once you have found an individual who is offering their product for sale, via private label resell rights, you will need to consider their product. You will want to make sure that it is not only a quality product, but one that you will be able to sell.

This is important because you will be buying the right to resell the product. Since you will be investing your own money into this business opportunity, you will need to make sure that you are successful. If you are absolutely sure that you have found a quality product that you can market and sell to the general public, you can go ahead and strike a deal with the product creator.
Although obtaining the resell rights to a product, such as an e-book, software program, or collection of content articles, will not require a large amount of work on your part, it is important to remember that you will have to do some work.
To effectively sell the product which you acquired the rights to, you will need to market your product to the general public. Of course, unless otherwise stated in you resell rights agreement, you should be market the product in any way that you see fit. In other words, this means that you should still be able to make money no matter how much or how little you want to work.