Success Starts With 'Out of the Box' Thinking

I just posted a reply to one of Dekat's topics on 'making money as a SAHP'

I use to paint for a local 'craft' wholesale company that sold folk-art type stuff to hardware and grocery stores. The pay was not good, but the hours were. I could usually work in my own time, and paint when I had time. I got good enough that I could line items up and paint ten at a time.

Eventually, I was good enough to paint items that people would pay $10 - $50 for. I use to paint folk art designs on discarded kitchen cabinet doors, painting the trim to look like a frame. I got as much as $50 for one that was 10 inches square and $75 for a regular one. My success was based on the fact that I could do original work that wasn't seen elsewhere.

It just brought to mind the fact that I didn't just 'get here' because I got lucky. This has been something I've been arguing with my son over.

We live in a very rural area, and my son has been facing a lot of flack at high school. The teachers have been making him feel like university is a pipe dream for him, and he should do factory work or learn to milk cows. (not that there isn't good money in that)

One teacher said to him, 'well, maybe you'll be one of the people who just luck-out.' Well, I had to flip over this. We make our own luck.

If I never took that painting job, I wouldn't have learned how much rich people were willing to pay to have their house cleaned. If I hadn't worked in the flea market, I wouldn't have met people who taught me that anyone can succeed.

If I hadn't met those people, I wouldn't have tried to start a house cleaning service in a city that already had the 2 major franchises in it. Then, I wouldn't have learned that no one is dealing with the 'Persian rug/tropical shower' types of homes properly. My clients actually taught me the right way to look after their homes. Of course, I learned the hard way that you cannot hold clean crystal shards, one in ten will slip out of your hand :(.

But, if I hadn't been working for these people, I would not have learned about networking. Networking people taught me about diversification, surviving recessions, and rebuilding.

That is why, three years after a major crash in the IT industry that crushed 3 of the major IT companies, and put 42% of our clientele out of business, and cost me $35 000.00 - That is why I am now just about back on my feet.
Luck? - Bah! humbug
Go make your own luck . .


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Office Decor

I have a blog where I spend a lot of time telling work at home writers how to decorate their offices. The decor of a home based office is vital. It effects the writer's production, their self esteem, and their ability to work longer without stressing.

I tell people to get a few novelties. I didn't come up with this. Bradbury did the same thing. Of course, I would rather have a digital photo frame than a skull, but to each their own.

Work At Home Survival

I often read blogs and articles written by other bloggers. One of the easiest ways to reduce the loneliness, and feelings of alienation, are to connect with other work at home freelancers.

WHAM, is a community of people who work together. There is no university to teach us how to survive and thrive. We must teach each other, and learn through trial and error.

A blogging community like communiati.com can help us meet friends and mentors who can teach us. I have learned, and I have taught, over my 14 months as a blogger.

I am still learning.

The most important thing I've learned is not to neglect my physical or emotional state for the sake of a deadline.

Sometimes, it is better to go to rest fora couple of days, even if it means passing a deadline. A couple days rest can make the difference between health and spending a week sick in bed - like I just did.

This is the hardest lesson for me to learn. I naturally view resting, waiting, or just needing a break as procrastination or wasting time.

I am trying to consider my health as an asset to the business, and my key to success.


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Blogging For Money - Or Not!

I often wonder if I blog for money, and to talk with people, or if I am addicted to blogging. I missed my daily fix. For 17 months the morning routine included one blog post a cup of coffee and checking emails. If the day was stressful, I stopped and wrote another blog post.

I am a habitual creature. I'm the first to admit it, but blogging feels different. Is it really possible to experience something socially through a digital venue? Do people really connect when they blog at a community site like this one?

I write at 11 blogs, but only one social blog. I wouldn't miss any of the others if they went down - not emotionally. However, I did miss my other gracepub blog when things went wild in January. I missed the morning routine. I missed seeing your familiar.... username.

Is the ability to work in a community like this, and make friends that you miss, proof of society's enduring ability to adapt to any situation? Or, does it mean that we all work too hard?

Or - are we using the few dollars that Google pays us as an excuse to continue our addiction with blogging? I do make money every month, but nothing near the promised $1200 – but then, I didn't know that I was loosing as much as 90% to the blog host from my Google code, and not given anything on the 'admin's' ads.

It is something I've been pondering for a few weeks while I hunted for a new 'home.'

Reviews

Making money online with Google takes some practice. I am not a Google guru, but there are some things that will help writers earn more money with Google - writing reviews.

Price comparison sites do a big business. People want to find products to buy, but they also want to find the best price. The Internet made it easy to shop for an mp3 player, wood stove, or even an automobile.

Google Attacks My Wages Again

I read the following article and had to cringe. My main blog went from PR3 to PR0 - that's right. PR-ZERO. It was a hard blow. It isn't like I qualify for payday loans. This is how I make a living.

Welcome to webmaster's paranoid hell!

For SEO reasons I have very few external links on my main page. Can't see why Google downgraded my main site. I have been at PR6 for years.

Herein lies my main beef, with Google you never really know where you stand; you are constantly walking on eggshells. No matter how good your content or your site is - one misstep and you could be in the doghouse. All your hard work can be taken away in a heartbeat.

It wouldn't matter so much if it was one of the other two major search engines downgrading your site but this is Google.

Free organic traffic from Google is vital to any online site or business. I would take traffic from Google over any other source of traffic on the web, except for traffic coming from my articles on other sites, and even that traffic probably originated from a search in Google.

Google and Google PageRank have always been important to me - that's one of the reasons a sudden large drop causes so much concern. There's another important reason Google PageRank is important to me.

Most SEO experts mistakenly believe PageRank is meaningless because Google is not giving us the true ranking of any site or revealing all the backlinks, which is supposedly one of the major factors in how Google ranks sites. While this fact is obviously true, it has caused many to jump to another conclusion.

Because Google is not giving us the real ranking, many webmasters have dismissed PageRank as a vital element in their sites. Don't make the same mistake.

Google PageRank is extremely important if you're doing business on the web. The higher PR you have, the better. But it has nothing to do with keyword rankings or first page SERPs.

What many SEO experts fail to realize (not really their business) is the whole "perceived" value of PageRank.

Google, hate it or love it, has become the most respected company on the web in the eyes of the majority of the web's users. It carries enormous weight and prestige. The "perceived" value of a high PR7 or PR8 is extremely valuable.

We are not talking about link selling; we are talking about how a perspective business partner or customer will treat your site or business.

The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous websites, including two sites on Internet marketing. For the latest web marketing tools try: http://www.bizwaremagic.com

Google Basics for Business

Google dominates the search engine world, despite the fact that the conversion-to-buyer rate at MSN is much higher. This forces most ecommerce businesses to try and dance Google’s waltz, without fully comprehending the ins and outs of how Google works.

Navigating Google is difficult. Most SEO optimizing specialists and SEO Internet marketers do not understand what they are doing. In fact, most of them are so far behind the times that their information is useless. Summer 2007 saw the latest change in Google’s algorithm leaving many ecommerce businesses with sharp decreases in traffic.

What is a Google Algorithm

The Google Algorithms are basically the math formulas used to determine which web pages rank high in the searches, and which ones rank low, or are banned. Google changes the rules every 18 - 24 months to help them sweep away websites that are not optimized and MFA (Made For AdSense) static sites.

Google also makes changes to meet the needs of the webmasters. When Google brought in their inbound link ranking system, it gave many webmasters an opportunity to build link farms, gaining an unfair advantage. In response Google now looks for content around a link. If there is no content, then the link has no value.

When Google started to focus on content, webmasters and programmers created Content Management Systems. Unfortunately, until recently, Google could not read database pages. Now, the programmers have created a static page method of page creation, and search engines learned how to read content off databases.

Search Engine Optimization

Many webmasters do not understand what this means. And, many SEO optimizers do not understand what this means. To many, it still means coding a page so that the keywords are highlighted, and under .05% of the content (including link bars). They believe it is a method of web design.

Ecommerce businesses are still scrambling to pay SEO optimizers big bucks to make their pages rank high, when meta tags and SEO tricks have very little importance. Now, the search engines are looking for good content, with heading titles, and a site full of similar content, with articles linked together using the same ‘keyword anchors.’

Google’s new algorithms have made it possible for many small ecommerce businesses to build their page rank, and search engine rank, without ever paying a dime to a SEO specialist.

The Google Sandbox and Supplemental Index

Both of these cause chills to run up most webmasters spines, but only because they are not understood, Google does not have a Sandbox. Yes, it may take a few months to get your website listed and showing up, inbound links may not appear for a long time, and a website may not show up when searched - but that is not a sandbox. It is just a backlog. One way to overcome it is to take part in Google’s PayPerClick program. Even if you only invest $20 a month, being a part of that program immediately links your site, so you do not need to wait.

The supplemental index is as easy to get out of. First, take a look at the meta information - is it too generic? If so, then do not use keywords but use keyword phrases. The keyword ‘ecommerce’, is too generic, so is ‘ecommerce business.’ However, ‘learn how to start an ecommerce business’ will help that page target.

Next, make sure the page is linked to a high ranking page. This can be done by putting links inside the page - or by adding it to the website’s navigation system. Within a short time, that page will no longer be in the supplemental index.

Should You Put Google Ads On Your Ecommerce Site?

One of the biggest debates in the ecommerce world is whether to post PayPerClick advertisements on a website, or not. Many sites are using video advertisements to improve the look and feel of their sites. Others are hoping that PayPerClick will offer a passive source of income, but this short-term thinking may cost the company serious profits.

The purpose of a PayPerClick ad is to take a visitor from your website and put them on another website. This person leaves before they ever see the host company’s squeeze page, buy-now page, or Social Networking tools. This means that a potential customer is gone for good. The problem is - the ads on the host company’s website represent the competition.

PayPerClick Passive Income

On one side of the debate is the idea that PayPerClick lets ecommerce businesses generate some revenue from people who were going to leave the website anyway. The problem arises when the website looks at the actual numbers.

It takes several months before Google starts registering clicks, even if thousands of people have already clicked the link. Even when Google does start registering links, they rarely register more than one half of the actual links. In many cases, Google counts less than half.

Then, there is the Page Rank Trap. Google only pays a percentage of the money promised, based on the site’s page rank. A site can build more than 10 000 inbound links and 1000 pages of content and still have only Page Rank 3, earning about .05% of Google’s promised payout. Many sites (non MFA - Made For Adsense) work for 2 - 3 years before they earn $100 a month.

A website can make hundreds of dollars a month from Adsense, as long as the primary purpose of the site is to generate PayPerClick traffic.

PayPerClick Traffic

Many ecommerce businesses sign up for a PayPerClick program through Yahoo or Google to generate traffic. While the search engine advertising companies promise that they do not favor their advertisers, it is foolish not to. They are only cutting their throats letting sites which do not use their ads to rank higher than the sites who do use their ads.

From this side of the fence, PayPerClick is a good deal, because you are the company stealing customers from the competition. However, very few PayPerClick programs give the advertiser control over sites they appear on.

Google does, to a certain extent. It is possible to visit a major competitor’s site, which generates millions more hits than your site does, and place an ad on their pages. However, this does not guarantee that these same people will not click off your website.

Rule #1 of Sales
The first rule of sales is to hook a potential customer. This means keeping them on the host ecommerce site, and encouraging them to click through the links until they reach the buy now page.

There are some crafty ways to do this. For example, make the link bar to squeeze pages and buy-now pages look like PayPerClick ads. Another trick is to lead people from one website owned by the host company to another of their sites, in effect, creating a big circle.

However, make sure that the main pages are optimized with no=follow code in the links. Search engines penalize this type of ‘black hat’ SEO trick. The no=follow code in the ads will prevent the search engines from penalizing the site.

Both of these tricks will keep potential visitors inside the company’s ecommerce sites.

Another trick is to use a ‘default’ internal search tool. Instead of Google’s search, use one that defaults inside the ecommerce network’s sites, instead of on the world wide web.

Keeping customers is the only way to increase profits, and retain customers.

How Do I Get So Many High Ranking Posts?

I've read a few posts where people ask me how come I have so many posts in the Hall of Fame. It is fairly simple. I follow the outline in my course, and I follow the advice in this blog.

Directory Submissions

That said, there are a few ways to fast track. If you want to make money from your blog, and you want to increase traffic and hits, there are a few ways to do it.

I mentioned one good method in the last post. Another is to submit through a directory submission tool. This is different than a website submission. Directories are not search engines.

http://www.directorymaximizer.com/

This is the service I use. They have 1000 directories in their list, and are always adding more. There is no 'reciprical link needed' increasing the value of the links. Each one costs $.14 and you can submit to as many as you need at a time. If you only have $15 to invest this month, then that is good.

After a few months you will have submitted to them all. This service has a 60-80% acceptance rate on the PR3 and higher sites.

I submit to the PR3 and higher sites first, while they are still new and looking for members. The PR0 sites will take anyone. The PR3 and higher sites will also pull your page rank and traffic exposure site up faster.

Page Rank Increased

But, beware of buying links based on the PR of the home page. A directory with a PR8 will not help you if it is on the home page, and the page your site appears on only has a PR0. (PR zero)

I have heard of the sites promising that if you pay a high price for a listing on a site with PR8 pages that your site will increase. I understand the theory. I was taught the theory in class. But, I've never actually seen a person who paid $200 for a listing on a PR8 site - a single link - actually benefit from it.


PS. If you don't use heading titles and the meta tag section of this blog, or any blog, this advice probably will not work as well as I say it will.

Pay Per Post

I think one of the hardest PPP companies to get started with is Pay Per Post. They only allow the submission of one blog. It must reach a certain level of rank, hits, and posts before it is accepted. Then, you need 10 accepted posts before you can submit more blogs.

To make about $1000 a month a blogger needs 10 blogs that are 'attractive' to advertisers. So - PPP doesn't want to see your 'main' promotion or focus blog. They want to see a general blog that will attract as many posts as possible.

I haven't been there long enough to find out what blogs earn the most money on PPP. The categories are business, entrepreneur, marketing, - and have given me access to about 3 - 5 posts.

The trick to making money online is to visit these sites daily. The jobs appear and disappear quickly - however, some sites also give more opportunities to bloggers who post the most blogs. This means that you want to post a lot of posts. I do not know if PayPerPost does this, but I'll let you know.

Feel free to send an article on PPP or post a reply if you have any thoughts.

Using Paid Directory Submissions 101

I've read a few posts where people ask me how come I have so many posts in the Hall of Fame. It is fairly simple. I follow the outline in my course, and I follow the advice in this blog.

Directory Submissions

That said, there are a few ways to fast track. If you want to make money from your blog, and you want to increase traffic and hits, there are a few ways to do it.

I mentioned one good method in the last post. Another is to submit through a directory submission tool. This is different than a website submission. Directories are not search engines.

http://www.directorymaximizer.com/

This is the service I use. They have 1000 directories in their list, and are always adding more. There is no 'reciprical link needed' increasing the value of the links. Each one costs $.14 and you can submit to as many as you need at a time. If you only have $15 to invest this month, then that is good.

After a few months you will have submitted to them all. This service has a 60-80% acceptance rate on the PR3 and higher sites.

I submit to the PR3 and higher sites first, while they are still new and looking for members. The PR0 sites will take anyone. The PR3 and higher sites will also pull your page rank and traffic exposure site up faster.

Page Rank Increased

But, beware of buying links based on the PR of the home page. A directory with a PR8 will not help you if it is on the home page, and the page your site appears on only has a PR0. (PR zero)

I have heard of the sites promising that if you pay a high price for a listing on a site with PR8 pages that your site will increase. I understand the theory. I was taught the theory in class. But, I've never actually seen a person who paid $200 for a listing on a PR8 site - a single link - actually benefit from it.


PS. If you don't use heading titles and the meta tag section of this blog, or any blog, this advice probably will not work as well as I say it will.

*Best of Both Worlds

The objective of this blog is to teach people how to make money writing paid posts. While I love work at home, I occasionally run across a sponsor that makes me miss certain aspects of the 'work for hire' world. When you are working for a paycheck, receiving credit is so easy.

Payday Loans from paydayloanquotes not only offers short term quotes, you can pick your own terms and interest rates. I was never familiar with the payday loan idea until I ran a cleaning company. Our teams would receive their checks on Wed, and cash them using a payday loan service.
The idea of using an internet service is not new. I've been writing articles for 'free content' sites on the benefits of payday loans for about three years. They are just another form of obtaining credit, but easier than approaching the banks, and cheaper than using credit cards.

I checked out this site and decided to write for them. They appear to be one reputable and have a great FAQ section.

Fast Track Your Blog to Higher Page Rank and Traffic

There is a quick way to fast track your blog and get it ranked. It will only cost $20.00. Join Google AdWords. Here is how it works. You sign up for a Google Adwords account. Invest $20, Google says the minimum is $50, but they will accept $20.00 https://adwords.google.com/select/Login

To enter your blog or website into the program, they must rank and spider (read your website) within 24 hours. Your website is instantly submitted - no sand box. Your site is instantly ranked. And, it is rated for the campaign. Also, you will receive traffic to your site for the $20.00.

This reduces the time needed for your blog or website to be added to searches, receive search traffic, and to receive a Page Rank. A higher page rank equals more money from Google Adsense, more traffic from searches, and more exposure on the web.

However, there are a few 'tricks'

1. There should be 20 - 50 posts in the blog, even if these are 'free content' articles, reviews you wrote, or daily muses.

2. There should be at least 30 - 50 back links to the site. These can all be from another blog, forums, or directories. Many of these can be inside your blog, navigation links.

3. There should be inbound links from your site to other 'relevant' sites to help make your keywords solid. a) only use keyword anchor that matches the keywords you want Google to focus on. b) make sure the site you link to has the same keywords in the titles, links, and meta. c) use the keywords in meta information and titles on your blog

Following these rules will fast track your blog or website.

Ethical Blogging Rules

I must admit that Trick Falls made me start to think. One of the problems I face is that much of what I do, and how I do it, has become habit. When I am writing for new writers and work at home professionals, I often forget the 'little things.'

Trick falls asked about disclosure in a blog, and making readers feel like they have been 'advertised to' when they are reading. This forced me to take a good hard look at my blogs. I knew that I had disclosure. But, I never really thought about how I do it.

First, there are organizations that help bloggers with disclosure and ethical problems. There are several companies like womma that help bloggers learn how to use full disclosure and ethical blogging.



There are also disclosure badges from PPP and other places that let people know a post has been sponsored. I also use a comment such as:

This post is my thoughts and my message for the day. I thank XXX company for sponsoring it and allowing me to continue bringing this information to you free



Pay Per Post is one of the most ethical, and profitable, paid posting sites.

If you would like to make some money by writing a review for my blog, and let the world know about the information I give away free, then please click the red bar above. PPP will pay you to review my site.

Family & Work at Home

I've recently seen an increasing number of web blogs that are dedicated to the concerns of elderly care. There are more options now than there were more than a decade ago. Today, people can expect to live longer. In fact, I recently read that people at 60 are now as healthy as 40 year olds were only twenty years ago. This means that before I retire, my parents will need my help.

It brings up a few questions. My father is becoming violent as he grows older. I am sorry, but I do not want to live with a violent person in my house. It will make it difficult to continue working. I have secretly started looking at care homes. I have been looking into the options available so I can arrange the right kind of care when it is time.

I've been focusing on news and tips from care experts that manage community forums. I haven't contacted care yet, but I am also starting to plan for my own retirement. I don't want to force my children into the place I am now.

How to Buy Website Traffic

Guest Writer: Mark Walters http://www.CashFlowInstitute.com


There are several reasons to buy web traffic. An ecommerce business will not be in business long before they realize that 100 000 visitors does not generate much income. Instead, they need to be attracting 500 000 – a month. Even at that, their success rate will be low.

This causes many people to consider buying ‘hits’ to their website. There are several reasons why a website might need to buy hits. If they are a social networking ‘content management’ site, built to pre-sell a product, then they might want to consider buying hits to increase their statistics. The higher their stats, the more they can charge for advertising.

An ecommerce business needs to increase their hits to increase the Return On Investment (ROI). But, is all traffic good traffic?

Quality Traffic

Even if you have read everything about Internet Marketing Expert alive on this planet talk about web traffic. Some claim that websites need as much traffic as possible, others claim that 1000 target audience visitors are worth more than 100 000 random visitors. One things most gurus believe, is that a website will earn one sale from 10,000 visitors, even if the website breaks every ecommerce rule in the book.
First step is to build a sales page, and then used Google’s Adwords to drive traffic to the website. In fact, build several. Keep stats on which ones do well, and even measure whether one does well in the winter, another does well in the summer.

Bad Traffic

Driving traffic to a site is easy - give something away free. But, like a bricks and mortar business, those people must be willing to purchase something. Most sites will receive comments from visitors demanding the paid products free. They will not pay. They have no money. This is ‘bad’ traffic. These people have money, they are just not willing to pay for the product.

Bad traffic drains the company’s bandwidth, increases the load on the Server, and makes it expensive to continue giving the product away for free.

This is where Google can come in handy. Changing a few keywords, for a few weeks, can help the business owner ‘find’ the Good Traffic.

Good Traffic

Generic keywords can bring in the wrong type of visitor, but so can using the right keywords. Offering something free will bring in traffic, but most of it won’t have any interest in the service or product. They will just want something free.
Good traffic will still only provide a 5% click through rate, but that is often enough. Instead of offering a product free, offer the ‘introductory’ or ‘sample’ free. This alerts people to the fact that there is something for sale on the other end.

"Good Traffic" equals "Targeted Traffic!"

Targeted Traffic

One of the best ways to find targeted traffic is to go to social networking sites that ‘pre sell’ your target audience and then advertise on their sites. Another way is to advertise, or write for, newsletters aimed at people who are interested in purchasing your product.

Buying Traffic

There are hundreds of sites that promise to drive targeted traffic to your site. Their initial cost is fairly reasonable. If the number of people hitting the site is the only factor, and the income is generated from advertising or Google, then buying hits may be profitable. If nothing else, it will work to increase the page rank of the site.

Unfortunately, these lists go out of date almost before they are created. It may take a website more than a year to build a list of ‘people interested in learning how to start a business.’ By the time the list is public, those who signed up are probably already in business, the majority are looking for free information and are not buyers, and the remainder will just delete the emails.

New Paid Blogging Site

I've been reviewing sites that have paid blogging. I am trying to find ones that do not have a lot of rules, take newer blogs, pay more than $5 for each post, and let bloggers pick and chose the advertisers they want to post on their site.

I found that in smorty. click the link below. It gets a 5/5 review from us.

What Do You Do to Relieve Stress?

I've tried all sorts of fun ways to take a break while working online, from playing games like tetris to online casino. There are advantages to all of them. The poker sites - no cash ones - let you connect with real people, take a 10 minute break, and then go back to work.

The important thing is to research the game sites. Find one that rates the different sites and gives warnings. It isn't very important, unless of course you want to use real money, or you want to go into tournaments. The important thing - as in all internet businesses - is to find a good review site first, and then compare the sites.

There are dozens of ways to relax. I've tried most. I've played RPG games, and signed up for game sites. I've kept fun blogs, and I've kept daily journals. It doesn't matter what you do, the important thing is that it is fun, and it helps you relax.

Google Basics

Google dominates the search engine world, despite the fact that the conversion-to-buyer rate at MSN is much higher. This forces most ecommerce businesses to try and dance Google’s waltz, without fully comprehending the ins and outs of how Google works.

Navigating Google is difficult. Most SEO optimizing specialists and SEO Internet marketers do not understand what they are doing. In fact, most of them are so far behind the times that their information is useless. Summer 2007 saw the latest change in Google’s algorithm leaving many ecommerce businesses with sharp decreases in traffic.

What is a Google Algorithm

The Google Algorithms are basically the math formulas used to determine which web pages rank high in the searches, and which ones rank low, or are banned. Google changes the rules every 18 - 24 months to help them sweep away websites that are not optimized and MFA (Made For AdSense) static sites.

Google also makes changes to meet the needs of the webmasters. When Google brought in their inbound link ranking system, it gave many webmasters an opportunity to build link farms, gaining an unfair advantage. In response Google now looks for content around a link. If there is no content, then the link has no value.

When Google started to focus on content, webmasters and programmers created Content Management Systems. Unfortunately, until recently, Google could not read database pages. Now, the programmers have created a static page method of page creation, and search engines learned how to read content off databases.

Search Engine Optimization

Many webmasters do not understand what this means. And, many SEO optimizers do not understand what this means. To many, it still means coding a page so that the keywords are highlighted, and under .05% of the content (including link bars). They believe it is a method of web design.

Ecommerce businesses are still scrambling to pay SEO optimizers big bucks to make their pages rank high, when meta tags and SEO tricks have very little importance. Now, the search engines are looking for good content, with heading titles, and a site full of similar content, with articles linked together using the same ‘keyword anchors.’

Google’s new algorithms have made it possible for many small ecommerce businesses to build their page rank, and search engine rank, without ever paying a dime to a SEO specialist.

The Google Sandbox and Supplemental Index

Both of these cause chills to run up most webmasters spines, but only because they are not understood, Google does not have a Sandbox. Yes, it may take a few months to get your website listed and showing up, inbound links may not appear for a long time, and a website may not show up when searched - but that is not a sandbox. It is just a backlog. One way to overcome it is to take part in Google’s PayPerClick program. Even if you only invest $20 a month, being a part of that program immediately links your site, so you do not need to wait.

The supplemental index is as easy to get out of. First, take a look at the meta information - is it too generic? If so, then do not use keywords but use keyword phrases. The keyword ‘ecommerce’, is too generic, so is ‘ecommerce business.’ However, ‘learn how to start an ecommerce business’ will help that page target. Next, make sure the page is linked to a high ranking page. This can be done by putting links inside the page - or by adding it to the website’s navigation system. Within a short time, that page will no longer be in the supplemental index.

Are You an Opportunist?

The definition of an opportunist is a person who takes actions, makes decisions, and incites changes without regard to principles or consequences. In the business world an opportunist is someone who builds wealth by taking money, often unscrupulously, form another. Another business definition is one person who skips from one business opportunity to another, like an MLM junkie, staying with each long enough to cause problems in the community and then leave.

There is a third trend in the business world. This involves someone who exploits trends, conditions and the marketplace to cut a niche that may not have been there before. On the bad side is the ticket scalper. On the good side are the multitude of companies taking advantage of global warming and consumer’s environmental enlightenment by bringing them products and educating the public.

Out of the deluge of opportunist will arise two types of business people, the entrepreneur and the solo-preneur. Each of these classes have worked hard to make success a habit. These people make an art out of finding good opportunities. But, where do you find an opportunity?

If you are an opportunist, then you want to pave the way, not follow the crowd. By the time the scam artists have posted the ‘get rich quick’ sites, you have totally developed the market and may be on the cutting edge of new breakthroughs.

But, where do you find opportunities. The first place to find them is among the general population. In the brick and mortar world, an opportunity is found by offering people something that helps them take life easier, solves a problem, or increases their wealth.

In the Internet world, an opportunity is something that makes the world a little smaller. If you can find a way to bring products and people, or people and people, together then you found a powerhouse.

One of the most difficult aspects of the ecommerce world is to convince people to buy. While internet shopping is growing by billions a year, most people do not go online to shop. They go online to socialize. That is where most opportunities are found - in the social circles.

A good listener will find opportunities. They will follow the forums and blog communities, listening to people’s rants and social concerns. An opportunity is hidden behind every rant. Every web site that solves a problem also creates one. The new problem is an opportunity.

Opportunities are also found in the areas where current businesses do not want to venture. Remember that the web lets people experience things from the comfort of their own home that they would not normally attempt in the real world.

When online gambling became big, many opportunity seekers asked themselves, ‘what is the problem with this industry.’ They found their opportunities in the problems, namely gambling and social weakness. Now you can find fun and safe ‘no cash’ gambling sites, you can find free gaming sites that offer a sterile version of gambling, and you can find support groups online. None of these industries existed before online gambling created a problem.

Online education is another area where may savvy businesses jumped in and made life easier. Now there are hundreds of tools that make it easier to teach an online course, platforms where people can manage their courses, and student services. Each of these did not exsist five years ago.

There are new markets and products waiting for an opportunist to turn them from a problem, or an idea, into a sound business product.

Why Small Business Owners Need a Networking Group

The number one benefit of a networking website, or group, is that it gathers resources that group of business owners knows will work, and brings together people who can make the programs work.

Surfing for Business Opportunities

Most work at home business owners start by surfing the net, looking for business opportunities. They usually become victim of a few scams, or a program that will not work for them, before finding a networking group.

For example, many new work at home business owners are quickly attracted by the affiliate programs on the web. They expect to build a passive stream of income. While the possibility is there, the probability of a new small business owner making a substantial amount of money is very low. Content Management Systems do well in the affiliate field. They have thousands of pages, with hundreds of thousands of hits. Their sole purpose is to attract people who are looking for the products they promote.

Most new business owners fall into two or three scams before they find a network where the webmaster has worked to bring together resources and tools to help their members succeed. Once a small business owner finds a good network and resource website, they have a place that will help them succeed.

Save Money

Small business owners who belong to a networking group will save money in the long-term. They avoid wasting money on programs that do not work – like Pay Per Click, and focus on programs that do work, like niche marketing.

Each new member benefits from the collective intelligence of the group, and by the intelligence of the web site owner. We mentioned above that affiliate marketing does not work, but a web site that is designed to help business owners succeed can only succeed if the information and products are good.

Trust

This can reassure new business owners. Any website that has built up a vast list of inbound links, is willing to give away free information, and prepares a plan for success, can be trusted based on the time needed to build up a vast resource, and the cost of building a complete ‘small business start-up’ kit.

This cannot be started over night, it takes time. Most ‘get rich quick’ schemes are here one day, and gone within three or four months. They never have time to build up a list of inbound links. Other websites do not link to them. In the end, the only websites that succeed are the ones who benefit small business owners and have them link to the site, refer other potential business owners, write reviews, and come back to buy more of the proven products.

Learning

The small business world is constantly evolving. The Internet world evolves faster than the brick and mortar world. What works today, may not work tomorrow.

It can take new business owners months to learn the current trends and find ways to increase their profits. However, belonging to a small business organization will save them time by brining all the learning resources needed into one place. A network can also save time by weeding out the weak performing products and techniques, warning against the scams, and explaining how to use the new resources properly.

Page Rank & Promotion

The internet works on page rank. The higher the Google Page Rank, the higher the web site will rank in Google searches. A small business owner that networks with other similar businesses can exchange links. Each member in the network is in business, so when they link, they are joining business-to-business websites. A few dozen B2B web links will increase page rank higher than a thousand Business-to-communities, or business-to-online store, or Business-to-private website links.

So, next time you think that those web sites with all the products are just ‘out for your money’ and have very little to offer – think again. They can save time, money, and help you find places and methods to promote your business, reducing the time between start up and wealth building.