One of the most discouraging things about working from home is the isolation. As a teacher, I was used to being surrounded by people. I was responsible for 20 or so kids at a time and got to interact with adults every single day. We did things after school (happy hour!) and just had a great time together.

While teaching was not the right path for me, I really miss those folks. I miss working with people and getting to talk face-to-face. I get to stay home with my two little boys and do things to “get out” of the house, but that’s not quite the same thing as interacting with like-minded people who know what you’re going through.

It’s important to me to get to bounce ideas off of people. I like to have people to look up to. I like to offer a helping hand when I can.

While the format is different, it’s still possible to have a “work community” that offers all of the things you might be missing when you work at home.

I’m fortunate in that I discovered early on that I needed and wanted to interact with other small business owners online. It started out as a way for me to learn the craft of online marketing, but it turned into something much more. The people I was learning from, brainstorming with, and caring about became my colleagues.

• I can ask them questions as they come up
• We can collaborate on projects
• We can moan and complain when things change
• They can ask me questions on things I might have a little more experience with

There is one main place I consider to be the online equivalent of “my office” and that’s Earn 1K a Day. I simply don’t know of a better community anywhere online. You’ll find me praising this membership all over the Internet, because it’s truly different than anything else out there (and I know…I’ve belonged to several online communities).

These people are there for me — whether it’s a personal or business issue.

I’ve learned invaluable lessons from being a part of this community. They are always there to pick me up when I’m down, and to give me an even bigger boost when I’m already feeling on top of the world. People like this firm up my sense that there is

The point here isn’t to sell you on Earn 1K a Day (but yes, I have included my link), it’s to sell you on the fact that you need to find an online community that understands what you are going through. It can get very lonely working online, and it’s missing a lot of what a job outside of the home would offer. Finding a great community (whether it’s the one I belong to or a different one) is key.

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Are You Ready to Give Up?

The longer I work for myself, the more I realize that not everyone is “cut out” to live this lifestyle. I’ve had no less than 5 family members and friends come to me, directly wanting to learn how to work for themselves to earn money from home. Exactly 0 of them have actually followed through.

Part of the problem is that the reality is very different from the fantasy many have when they start out. There is a learning curve. I remember struggling to put up my first site on WordPress. It seemed so daunting. But, I checked out videos on YouTube, used trial and error, and got my first blog up.

After having coached a fair amount of people now, there are some big differences I’ve noticed between those who succeed and those who give up.

These are generalizations, mind you.

Those who do not succeed:

• Come up with every reason in the book why this won’t work, that won’t work, and this other thing won’t work either (ugh!)
• Do not take the initiative to research something they don’t understand (YouTube rocks for techie-dunces like me!)
• Just want to learn, learn, learn, without ever taking action
• View IM as a hobby
• See this as a quick fix for money problems or long-term wealth, but haven’t and won’t take the step to get some sales buttons out there!

Those who do succeed:

• Know that the most successful people in the world make an incredible number of mistakes to get where they are
• Know that you can’t make money unless you actually have things for sale!
• Have a lot of initiative — they aren’t afraid to ask questions, but they know that a simple web search can save themselves a lot of frustration
• Have incredible motivation BEYOND making money

That last one is key. Do you have motivation beyond making money? Even that’s not a sure bet. I’ve known people on the brink of bankruptcy who know this is an option, and choose to twiddle their thumbs anyway (they just talk about why it won’t work!). You have to get rid of the doubts…you have to just dive in.

So, no, online marketing and freelance writing is NOT for everyone, and that’s okay. If you’re ready to give up, take a long hard look at your motivations and what you’ve done so far to try to make it online. It’s okay to want to do something else. But, if you take that long hard look and realize, “hey, I actually haven’t done enough to be successful online yet, let me give it another shot,” you’ll be glad you did

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Recommended Resources

Earn 1K a Day $1, 7-day trial

Welcome to the Friday newsletter!

Increasing conversions is every affiliate marketer’s goal. It can be frustrating to know you’ve done everything “right,” but still have no commissions show up in your affiliate stats panel.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as an affiliate marketer is to be as specific as possible in my promotions. You want to catch people in the moment they are ready to buy (at most, one step before they are ready to buy).

Think about how you tend to research and buy products online. If you’re like me, then you search around for product reviews, specs, lowest prices, etc. before you make your final decision. So, if they see your product at the beginning of the buying cycle, your conversions are going to be lower because they aren’t quite in “buying mode” yet.

However, if you get them right as they are searching for “specific product X,” then your chances of getting an affiliate sale are very high!

You can develop product-specific websites (which are easy to rank for, in general!) or larger sites with product-specific pages. Either way, your goal should be for people to land on these pages right as they are about to buy. Your content is going to push them over the edge!

If you switch your mindset from creating general sites trying to catch commissions wherever you can, to being as specific as possible, I think you’ll find that your conversions go up. I’m not saying you can’t make great money with more general sites, but you’ll tend to get higher conversion rates with more specific sites and pages.

If you’re frustrated with Amazon, eBay, or other affiliate sales, think of how specific (or not) you’re being.

I do want to note here that I’ve just released an Amazon affiliate course, based on my experience and testing working on my own sites and client sites. Check it out here: Amazon Affiliate Course. (Use the coupon code “listmember” to get $10 off).

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Efficiency in Marketing

I’m currently in classes to get my master’s degree. I absolutely love the content and research that goes along with these courses. What I do not love, however, is group work. It’s not that I don’t like interacting with people (I absolutely do!), it’s that I find so much of it inefficient.

Something that would have taken me 1 day to do has taken 3 weeks of back and forth and time wasting. Perhaps that is why I’ve chosen to become a business owner It makes me wonder just how much time is wasted out there in the working world…and at home.

How efficient are you? Do you take a long time to read? write? make decisions? build? It’s not that there is anything wrong with taking your time on certain things, but where can you become more efficient? What has taken YOU 3 weeks to do that could have been done in 1 day?

I’ve had to learn a huge lesson in efficiency this past year working at home with a 3 year old and a baby. I can only work during very specific (and varied) times…like right now, it’s nap time That means I have to get as much done as possible, as quickly as possible. I also have to maintain the level of quality my customers and clients have come to expect.

It’s been a great, but tough, lesson for me. It’s helped me become much more efficient to get more done in less time. The time taken to complete tasks really does shrink or expand out of necessity (or the lack thereof).

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That’s it for this Friday newsletter! I hope you enjoyed it. As always, I love to hear your comments, thoughts, and suggestions! What have you done to become more efficient? What are your top affiliate conversion tips?

Remember, my new Amazon affiliate course is here: Amazing Niche Marketing … use the code “listmember” to get $10 off

Happy Black Friday!

Welcome to the first edition of the Work at Home for Moms newsletter! There is a lot to cover this week, including why I’m writing this newsletter in the first place.

As many of you may have noticed, I don’t mail my autoresponder lists all that often. To be very honest with you, it makes me uncomfortable to do so. When I do send something out, it’s because I’m very passionate about something. It’s either something I’ve bought myself or something I’m putting out (so I know it’s great ).

When I do mail out, I get the nagging feeling that I’m not providing enough value to you all. That is NOT who I want to be as a marketer. I want you to know that I’m here to help in any way I can. You’re not on my list or reading this blog just so I can market to you…you’re here because, hopefully, you feel you can get something of value from me.

I love that! It’s my goal to help moms, dads, and anyone else who wants to comfortably work from home, to be able to achieve their own goals. It makes me exceptionally happy when I hear that I’ve helped someone. Marketing in and of itself is NOT at all fulfilling for me. What is fulfilling is being able to help people. Warm and fuzzy feelings all around

So, this is the first edition of my newsletter. I’ve noticed that I really love being able to look forward to seeing newsletters and posts of value from people like Paul Myers, Dennis Becker, Tim Castleman, Tiffany Dow, and so many others I admire so much. They don’t just mail their lists to make a buck, they really care and offer a lot of value.

That’s my goal here as well I also love getting questions. It keeps me in touch with what you need and want. Feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment on the blog if you need feedback, want to bounce ideas around, etc.

Let’s get to it!

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Making Money During Christmas

Making money during Christmas is a lot of fun for me. First of all, I absolutely love this time of year. The air just feels better, vibrant, and more alive. People are just nicer to each other. It’s amazing! I also love that there is a ton of money flying around. If you’re even a little bit motivated, you can make money as an affiliate during Christmas.

My favorite way?

Promoting Christmas toys!

My father instilled a love for toys in me. In fact, he still asks for toys during Christmas — last year it was a remote controlled helicopter on his list. He’s a minister with a lot of serious things going on, so I guess it’s a fun escape for him. Anyway, this just proves the point that Christmas toys are fun for everyone! They are fun for the kids (and adults) who are going to get them, as well as for those who are buying the toys in the first place.

What’s even more awesome is that more and more people are turning to the web to buy their toys. They don’t want to fight the crowds and deal with the insanity. Heck, my cousin ended up needing stitches after her Black Friday experience last year! Staying home is a much better option — and people are doing it in droves.

Here is a quickie method I would (and do) use to make money as an affiliate for Christmas toys:

• Look at the Amazon Toy best-sellers http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/toys-and-games
• Decide which toy you would like to promote
• Come up with a fairly generic, but highly related domain name. For example, for the Leapster 2 Learning Game System, I might choose the domain “learninggamesystem.com,” or similar. This helps you avoid any trademark issues.
• Write 3 articles on this toy, with very tightly focused keywords. For the toy mentioned above, you might write articles on “Leapster 2 Learning Game System Sale” and two others containing the main toy keyword.
• Post the 3 articles one at a time, over the span of a few days
• Ensure you have Amazon, eBay, or whatever else you want to monetize with set up on the page (Adsense can work well!)
• Start getting traffic — PPC is a GREAT way to do this if you have the cash. SEO can work quickly as well. Just last week I threw up a site with a single article on it, and it’s ranking on the first page already for a hot-selling toy. Act fast if you want to use SEO, though.
• Rinse and repeat — do this with as many toys as you can, leading up to the holidays. One smart tactic is to choose toys/products you know will be hot sellers all year round

This method is very simple, and just plain works. Your articles should be well-written, informative, and helpful to the buyer. Picture them on the other end of the computer screen. What do these parents want for their children? Are they trying to find the best deal? Paint a picture of the joy on their child’s face.

Also, I’ve found that large, tightly focused graphics work incredibly well when promoting toys for Christmas.

Questions? Ask them on the blog! I’ll be happy to answer

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How to Improve Your Writing

Obviously, this is a very, very broad topic! There are countless ways people can improve their writing. I’m always trying to find new ways to do just that. Another consideration is that writing that moves me may not be writing that moves you. Some people are incredible sticklers for grammar and what is “correct” that they shiver with disgust at seeing anything less. I’ve had people write to tell me when I’ve made a mistake — I’m the first to admit it and welcome the help

It’s also important to consider that writing for the web is a very different thing than academic writing. In many cases, you’re trying to sell something. Perhaps you’re trying to sell a service. Perhaps you’re trying to sell a product. You might own that product or are an affiliate for that product. It might be the case that you’re a ghostwriter (like me!) and you’re writing in someone else’s voice to give their business a boost.

That calls for some great writing! I’m going to lay out some tips that come to immediately to mind for writing on the web. One or more of these tips might stand out to you as something you can latch onto. Writing for the web can be fun!

• Always think about who is at the other end of the computer screen, reading what you’ve written. Who are they? What are their burning desires? What do they look like? What’s going to get them to take action?
• Paint a picture for them with words
• Systematize your writing — everything from the research, to the organization, to the writing and editing can be systematized for much faster writing
• Don’t make your writing hard to understand — people are on information overload. If it’s complicated, be accurate, but interesting
• Don’t just rewrite other articles you see on the web — you’d be surprised at how many people do this without giving it a second thought. You should be researching from high-quality sources, checking your facts, and synthesizing the research adding your own spin. What’s the something new that people are getting from your writing that you’re not getting in other places?
• Don’t feel like you have to write like anyone else — write like you! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought to myself, “boy, I wish my writing had spunk like hers!” Then I realize that we all have different styles and talents. It’s a great thing!
• Study copywriting, even if you’re an article writer
• People value writing because many of them don’t enjoy doing it themselves.
• You really can become an “instant expert” as long as you proceed wisely
• Systems, systems, systems — this will make you more efficient so you can become a better writer overall

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Time Management Tips for Working at Home

Working at home is an enormous challenge. This is especially true if you’ve got little ones running around. Recently, I was explaining what I do to a group of people. These people thought being a WAHM was such an alien concept. Surely I must be making $2 an hour? Surely my kids are just plopped in front of the TV all day?

Ugh. Ignorance is frustrating.

Anyway, that is not the case at all. I actually have about 2 hours a day to work — that’s it. I have an amazingly wonderful husband who is very supportive and helps me out, so there’s that. I’ve also had to develop some incredibly effective time management strategies.

Again, here are some tips I hope you can put to use right away to manage your time at home. I’d love to hear your tips as well! It can get overwhelming with 2 little ones, no matter how efficient you try to be!

• The #1 tip I’ve gotten in my time as an Internet marketer comes from Jason Fladlien. I should only give myself 60 seconds to make a decision — that’s it. I need to choose a new domain name and stew about it for hours? Heck no! I make the decision in 60 seconds. Stewing over the little things was a HUGE productivity killer for me. In that time you spend going back and forth over relatively unimportant decisions, you could have moved your business forward in a huge way. This one is huge for me.
• You need something to keep you on task. http://teuxdeux.com is a great one. The Apimac timer is a great tool. My favorite, however, is the Action Enforcer software. It’s amazing! Really and truly amazing.
• Set office hours. Let your family know when you are working and when you are not to be disturbed. It takes 20 minutes to refocus on something, so having someone wander into your work space is a productivity killer
• 15 minutes IS enough time to get something done. I used to be of the mindset that if I didn’t have a solid few hours to work, it wasn’t worth getting started. As a very busy mom running here, there, and everywhere, I now realize that it absolutely IS worth it.

I hope some of these tips have helped you!

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Suggested Resources

1. Earn 1K a Day — This is my #1 favorite Internet marketing purchase of all time. So much so, in fact, that I’ve been a member for 3 years! They’ve helped me buy a house, talked me through things when I’ve been stressed out, given me actionable business steps that have led to huge breakthroughs in my business, and have been some of my best ghostwriting clients. Here is a link to a $1 free trial

2. Action Enforcer — Seriously, THE BEST productivity tool out there for Internet marketers. You have to have it if you have productivity or procrastination issues!

3. Black Friday Bundle — This is a HUGE deal that includes WP-Twin too. I own most of these products and they ROCK!

Questions? Comments? Just let me know!