So far in our website building series we’ve talked about getting hosting for your website, how to choose a domain, and how to decide what kind of website you want to have. Well, we work at home moms definitely can’t gloss over the glue that holds all of those things together…choosing your niche!

In fact, you can’t very well choose a domain name if you don’t have your niche picked out. Also, the kind of website you want to build might be dependent on the niche you choose as well. You might find that a certain topic warrants a certain look or feel to your website.

There are many different factors that go into choosing a niche. Some people do quite well choosing something they are intimately familiar with or passionate about. In fact, that is what this website is for me. I’m very familiar with being a work at home mom, and I am passionate about sharing this kind of lifestyle with other moms.

Another person might be very passionate about everything to do with scrapbooking. I don’t know a single thing about scrapbooking, but you can do quite well with that niche! The point is that you really can earn a good income using the things you’re good at, really enjoy, or have a talent for.

You do need to be careful to make sure the niche will be a viable one for you. Just because you like underwater basket weaving does not mean other people do. Or, other people might like it, but they are not willing to spend any money on it.

Since you want to make money online, you need to choose a niche that people are spending money in. there is no need to create your own niche, all you have to do is get in front of the traffic/people who are spending money anyway, and get them into your own funnel.

This can all sound incredibly complicated, so here is a simple step by step you can use to find a great niche:

• Make a list of the things you enjoy and spend money on
• Make a list of the problems you spend money on (ex. acne, parenting problems, pet ownership problems
• Browse Magazines: If there is a magazine about it, people are spending money and are interested in it!
• Do some keyword research using Wordtracker’s free tool or sign up for Nichebot (my favorite because it gives you the best data that you can make money from). Make sure your niche has keywords that get a lot of traffic, and hopefully get low competition (that means you can easily target them)
• Make sure your possible niche has affiliate programs so you can make money
• Decide on a niche that you are interested in (because you’re going to invest a lot of time one it) and that can generate money for you.

That’s almost it! Way too many people make the mistake of choosing a niche that no one is spending any money in. For that reason, I want to reiterate that you need to be sure people are spending money before you start spending time on this.

Go to Clickbank.com and find your niche

Go to Amazon.com and find your niche

Go to eBay.com and find your niche

Are there products people are paying money for in any or all three of those places? Are there Google ads that pop up when you do a search in Google for your niche? If so, there is a good chance that people are actually spending money in your chosen niche, and that it’s a good one to go after for you work at home moms.

If you’re stuck, and don’t know where to get started, be sure to join my newsletter, and get two free eBooks I’ve written on how to succeed as a work at home mom!

In previous posts I’ve talked about the importance of getting hosting from a reliable source, like Bluehost.  We’ve also discussed the importance of having your own domain name that is relevant to what your site is about.  One of the next things you need to do is to decide what kind of site you want to have.  Or rather, how you want to set your site up.

There are many different choices these days.  One choice you have is to use a standard HTML template, like what you can find at OSWD.org.  Many different people submit these templates for your use, and there are some really great ones to choose from.  Of course, it helps to have at least a basic understanding of HTML design.  It’s not as hard as it sounds, though there is a learning curve.  I suggest downloading a free HTML editor that has “What You See is What You Get” functionality, such as Kompozer .  You can learn HTML at W3Schools.

Another great option is to use WordPress.  This blog is created using WordPress, but you can also set it up so that it looks like any other website.  You can see my Early Childhood Career site to see what it looks like when setting it up to lose its “bloggy” features.  It’s very functional.

If you’re new to WordPress, there is also a learning curve.  The plus is that you can do things a lot faster, and make changes more easily than with HTML.  It can also be more SEO (search engine optimization) friendly than HTML sites, largely because of the plugins you can install.

I highly recommend and use Firepow to help you get your WordPress sites up and running (and profitable).  Just to give you a hint, I can set a WP site up using Firepow in about 5 minutes (not including original content, but including article directory content ), whereas without the software it can take me anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Definitely check out my Firepow Review for more information (it only took me days to make back my investment in the software.)

Don’t forget to join the Work at Home for Moms newsletter.  You’ll get two free eBooks (Instant Cash for WAHMS and and the WAHM Mindset), and great tips via e-mail

You’ll often see me say that you shouldn’t spend a lot of money to get your online business started, especially until you can afford it. Well, I took that to extremes when I first started out online. Oh sure, I bought eBooks and other Internet Marketing tools, but one thing I was cheap about was buying domain names. This is a huge work at home mom mistake.

The more I heard about setting up your own Virtual Real Estate empire online, the more interested I became in setting up niche websites. I saw that domain names where only around $8 or so, but for some reason I thought it was a brilliant idea to set up subdomains. “I’m saving so much money!” I thought.

(If you’re unclear, a subdomain is set up on a main domain. For example, if your domain was puppies.com you could set up a subdomain so that you would type in fruit.puppies.com. It would be a separate website, but you’d be much better off with fruit.com being its own domain )

Well…this was definitely not the thing to do. For one, it looks unprofessional when you have one main domain with a lot of subdomains in between. For another, Google tends to treat subdomains as being lesser than a targeted “real” domain.

Yes, it could be very tempting to just stick with one domain and set up free subdomains. There also is a time and a place to do that. However, if you’re planning on building a real business and having assets that will rank high in the search engines, you need to have separate domains for your niche websites.

Again, this is not a blanket rule, but for the most part you should invest in your business. Also, if you plan on having sites that you can sell in times of money trouble or when you get bored with a certain niche, it’s almost certain you’ll want them on a separate domain name.

It takes time to build enough traffic to get money coming to your site. If you spend a lot of time building links (submitting articles, setting up Squidoo lenses, HubPages, etc) they will all be going to your subdomain and not to a real domain that you could later sell.

So, don’t make the same mistake I did (thankfully I wised up fast. This would definitely be work at home mom mistake if you want to have your own network of profitable websites.

Don’t forget to sign up for your free Work at Home Mom eBooks to get started building your profitable online business today (you’ll find many more great tips just like this one!)

I have many moms ask me what they can do working from home. There are many answers to that (and you can find several right here on this blog). I would say that no matter which route you choose to go online, you will need to have your own website.

I have recommended Bluehost to host your websites, and you can always get a domain name at Namecheap.com or GoDaddy.com (I prefer Namecheap because it comes with privacy protection…that’s important when you have kids).

While it’s important to have all that in place, it’s just as important to know what you’re going to do with it. You have to have a plan of action for your website. What are your online goals? In a future post we’ll go over business planning, but here is some food for thought for you:

You can:

• Choose a niche topic and blog about it
• Create niche websites covering a variety of topics
• Create an authority site about your topic of choice
• Set up a website for your existing business
• Sell crafts
• Offer services (such as site creation or ghostwriting)

As you can see, there are a large number of different reasons you need a website. The good news is that web hosting is incredibly inexpensive these days (we’re talking under $10 per month). All you need is a domain name (included with Bluehost hosting at the time of writing), and a plan for what you’re going to do and you will be good to go.

The best part is that no matter what you decide to do, there will always be room on your host should you expand your plans or change your mind. I have many different websites out there and there is no problem at all with this since there is so much room on web hosts these days.

What is your website going to be about?

(Psssst…don’t forget to pick up your two free Work at Home Mom eBooks…they’ll help you get started.)

I come across many stay at home moms who aren’t even aware of the possibility that they can stay at home and earn money at the same time. They tend to think their only options are to work outside of the home, or stay at home and pinch pennies.

I’m here to tell you that stay at home moms working from home are more common than you think. More mommas than ever before are hopping on this trend, and with good reason. If you are tired of scraping by or you just need to bring in some extra income this is perfect for you.

First, you have to get rid of the doubts that are in your mind. I can’t tell you how many people are shocked and surprised that I can earn a living online. It’s still so new that many people think it’s impossible to earn online. It’s definitely not, and it’s never been easier to get started than it is today.

You need to do as much research as you possibly can to figure out the best at home job for you. I will also say that it’s much easier to start your own business than it is to work on growing someone else’s. The day I started marching to my own drummer was the day I started earning a full time income from home.

This post is meant to be an inspiration to you as much as anything else. I’m a stay at home mom working from home, so I know exactly how you feel. It’s scary to consider that you will need to return to work at leave your kids with a sitter, when what you really want to do is be with them. Working at home is the answer you need!

I’ve put together two free resources to help you get started. The first is “Instant Cash for WAHMS” and the second is “The WAHM Mindset.” Click to download free WAHM ebooks.

This is one book I wish I had found a heck of a lot earlier than I did.  It’s absolutely amazing.  You probably realize that one of the easiest ways to build your online business is to follow someone who is already successful.  This can cut out a lot of the trial and error that can hold you back and frustrate you.

20 Ways to Earn $100 Per Day Online is a collection of exact business plans you can follow to earn a full time income online.  It’s written by several different authors, each with their own method of generating this kind of income.

That means there is literally something for everyone.  It doesn’t matter whether you want to be a ghostwriter or an affiliate marketer, you’ll find a proven business model in this book that will work for you.

This is hands down the best ebook for stay at home moms out there.  That’s because you have the drive to succeed online.  When you combine that with one of these powerful business models you can’t lose.

The bottom line is that if you pick one of the methods in this book and focus on it, you will be earning a full time income online.  There are no two ways about it.  Your hard work and determination will definitely pay off.

Need more motivation?  This book was compiled by Willie Crawford, one of the most successful marketers online.

Start your journey with 20 Ways to Earn $100 Per Day Online (that’s $3000 per month!)

After you’ve ordered your hosting package from a company like Bluehost you’ll want to explore your cPanel. I remember my first moments with the cPanel very vividly.  Mostly that I had no idea what I was doing!

Thankfully, Bluehost really does have one of the easiest set ups I’ve seen.  Everything is nicely organized by category (unlike with Hostgator, where I also have an account).  You should be able to find everything you need.

Let’s say you want to set up a WordPress blog like this one.  What you need to do is find the little blue smiley face man called “Fantastico.”  After you have found him and clicked you’ll see a list of options on the left.  Find the blog section and select WordPress.  You can follow the directions and quickly and easily have WordPress set up on your site!  Viola!

If you’re more interested in having a standard HTML site you can choose to download a free template from http://www.oswd.org.  You’ll need an HTML editor like http://kompozer.com.

After you’ve added your content and made the right changes in your HTML editor you can upload it to your host with an FTP client like Filezilla.

This is obviously a quick and dirty explanation, but you really need to dive right in to really understand all of this.  It might seem incredibly frustrating, but the fog will soon clear and you’ll be on your way to creating profitable websites

Get hosting today if you haven’t already.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Money Mommies Newsletter

and receive two free ebooks as a thank you.

After you’ve found a great Web Host you need to decide which package you want to get.  Thankfully, they are all relatively cheap these days, and with good service too   If you’re just starting out online, you should do find with a basic package.  If you find a host you enjoy and your needs grow, it’s very easy to shoot off a support ticket and have them upgrade your hosting for you.

The important thing is that you make sure you will have a little room to grow with the package you choose at first.  For instance, right now you might be thinking of creating just one website.  After you get your feet wet you might want to create dozens of them.

It’s for that reason that you want to get hosting that offers you unlimited (or many) domains.  This makes life easy for you.  Another requirement you should have for choosing a good web host is that they offer cPanel.  cPanel is the easiest way to manage your sites.  If you’re new to working online I’d say this is an absolute must.  Bluehost offers a well organized cPanel.

It might all seem daunting now, and there is a learning curve to having your own websites, but it’s definitely worth it when you see those checks start to roll in!

One of the hardest things to do as a work at home mom is to mange your time.  It seems like the demands of your household always mesh with the demands of your business.  Work at home for moms doesn’t have to give you such a headache.

The first thing you need to do is to find some kind of balance.  You cannot be working so much that you neglect to take care or your household.  Likewise, you can’t get so distracted at home that you forget to do the things you need to do to run a profitable business.

It’s definitely helpful if you create a schedule.  Post this schedule so that everyone in your family sees it and understands your work hours.  This will help them to see that you have a real business and that mommy is off duty at certain times of the day.

Of course, you know that you’ll never be off duty, but it’s the perception that counts

Another important thing is to manage your time well.  It’s so easy to get distracted when you’re working online.  You need to avoid distraction whenever you can.  Otherwise you’ll find that you’ve been working all day long with little reward.

Work at home for moms can run smoothly if you plan ahead

Sign up for two free ebooks to

Get started as a WAHM today

When I first started out online I didn’t have any clue what a host or a domain name was. I remember wandering around the Internet forever trying to figure out exactly which end was up. I want to make the process so much easier for you!

This will be the first of a three part series about what a host is, choosing the size of the package you need, and getting started with your web host.

The first part is understanding exactly what a web host is. In a nutshell, your host (or “hosting company”) is where your website lives. These hosts have what are called servers. This stores all the information that is relevant to your website. For example, the host of this blog is called Hostgator. I also have another host for some of my sites called Bluehost.

If you don’t have a host, your sites won’t have anywhere to live. There is another component that you need to be familiar with as well. That is getting a domain name. Your domain name is exactly what it sounds like…the name of your website. The domain name for this site is http://www.workathomeformoms.net. The domain name for Goolge is http://www.Google.com.

Your domain name needs to “point” to your website in order to work. That is called its DNS. Don’t worry about that for now, because the first time you set up hosting with either Hostgator or Bluehost they will give you a domain name included in the package. They will automatically point the name to your site’s “house” or server.

It’s actually a really nice system

Just like you run your household, you also need to run your website. You can access your site’s information through the control panel of your host, called CPanel. Now, there are obscure hosts out there who do not run on Cpanel, but they are often confusing and certain things are not compatible with them. It’s definitely recommended that you stick with the tried and true since they are so cheap and work so well.

Have you thought about creating your own website yet? You should if you want to work online from home. That way you can start your web presence. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to be selling services such as ghostwriting or creating your own network of hundreds of niche sites, getting a hosting company is a great first step.

Here is the host I first signed up with, and a great one to use: