10 Great Videos on Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best online money makers for home based businesses. You can use knowledge you already possess to promote other peoples' products and gain a commission. Start up costs are low, and you can concentrate on marketing without the additional tasks of producing and dispatching products, tracking payments and so on.

Of course, there's a lot to learn and understand to make you an effective affiliate marketer.

Below I've pulled together ten great videos on affiliate marketing from people who know the business. They will get you started and give you a real insight. When you've done watching them, read further about affiliate programs.

What is affiliate marketing?
A quick introduction by Joel Comm

How affiliate marketing works
Excellent overview from Rosalind Gardner

Finding niche markets
Tools you can use to find niches

Niche markets and Clickbank
Using the popular affiliate programs on Click bank - Jason Siebold

Using Commission Junction
How to sign up with another favourite affiliate site.

Choosing the right affiliate product
There's more to it than how much they pay.

Pre-selling your affiliate products
With the right approach, you can increase sales.

Sugarrae aka Rae Hoffman
Affiliate marketing insights from this well-know marketer

Affiliate marketing in a recession
Excellent thoughts and advice from Rosalind Gardner.

Sponsored link - Site Build It!
They've helped many people to success - are they right for you?

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Eight ways to make money writing online

If you enjoy writing and can turn out readable prose there are several ways of making money writing online. Here are some ideas.

Blogging - Write your own blog. It's free at blogger.com and wordpress.com. Many people believe it is better to host a blog on your own website rather than have it hosted on these sites. Get the wordpress software free at wordpress.org. Make money from your blog with affiliate products - either hosting affiliate ads or better still, text links from your posts - or pay per click such as adsense. You could also link to your other money-making sites such as your Amazon shop.

Blogging - Paid per post. Get paid for each post you write. Sign up with Pay Per Post. They advertise companies who pay you to write posts about their products. The amount you get depends on the company, the product and how well-read you blog is. You can use your own blog or have one hosted by Pay Per Post.

Articles - Promote your own product. Write lots of articles and post them online at article directories like ezine-articles. Articles are most often used just to generate links to your site. But if the link points to your product page you can make money directly, just make your article informative and not 'spammy'. You are unlikely to get a huge number of click-throughs, but it may be worth it if your product is high value. Most directories will not accept affiliate links.

Articles - Write articles for other websites. If you can show real expertise in a subject, email webmasters of suitable sites or online newsletters and offer to write articles for money. You may have to do some for free at first, unless you are well known in the field.

Articles - Go freelance. Sign up on sites such as elance and guru and post your CV/resume. People wanting articles and other writing work done tender for work on these sites and you can bid to do them. Know your own worth and don't continually accept low paid stuff. Once you've done some work, look for repeat work from the same client.

Squidoo and Hubpages - Write your own pages. Create pages (called lenses on Squidoo and hubpages on ... well, you guessed it!) on subjects of your own choice and post them free to the site. Make money with affiliate links, Adsense, Amazon shop and so on. Hubpages rotate your Adsense and theirs so that you both make something. Squidoo put some Adsense on your lens as well as yours, they take a bit of the revenue and give the rest to charity. A nice touch is that you set how much you get and how much the charities get. These sites have a great social feel and there is lots of help and advice.

Cafepress - Write and publish your book. Write your best seller, How To guide or whatever and upload it. Cafepress handles the printing, binding and dispatch. You decide on the design, size, how many and all that. Costs vary according to what you want to do. This is the only method in this list of making money writing online where you have to pay out in order to earn.

eBooks - Write and sell. eBooks, particularly of the How To type, are very popular because they are relatively cheap and can be downloaded instantly. Write your eBook and convert it to .pdf. Then upload and sell it from your website, online store such as Payloadz, or through affiliates on Clickbank (you'll need your own micro-site for this).

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5 Causes of business idea failure

It is a sad fact that many home based businesses fail to get off the ground. Even more fail to prosper as well as they should. Sometimes it's the business idea or business model that is at fault. Here are just some of the reasons why people come up with ideas that are not so hot.

1. Not identifying the customers. Whether you start an online or offline business, you should identify exactly where your customers will come from. Don't try to sell to everyone, at least at first. Instead, try to identify a section of the population that you will serve. Maybe it is people in a particular area, or who work or do certain things at a particular time. Maybe your customers come from a certain age or status group, or hold particular opinions. Will your product appeal to people with specialist interests? Start thinking broadly and focus in. You may identify more than one group. Do you need a different approach for each?

2. Not identifying a unique selling point (USP). What is it that you will do that makes you stand out from the rest? This doesn't have to be a totally novel idea or new product. It just has to provide to a group of customers a solution that isn't provided by anyone else, or at least by few enough people that there is room for you. It could be offering an online solution to businesses that don't usually operate online. It could be a simpler, more direct or quicker way to deliver your products. Maybe different opening hours or a unique location.

3. Avoiding competition. If there is competition, there must be a demand! You need to focus on your customers and on your USP, but you won't be able to avoid competition completely or for long. Even if you start with no competition, if your idea is any good you will get competition. Being afraid of competition can lead you to operate in an obscure niche where there just isn't enough trade to make your idea a success. You can't avoid competition, but you can stand out from them and be a success.

4. Thinking more about solutions than needs. Businesses become successful because customers have a need for what they supply. If people don't need what you provide, they won't buy, even if your idea is fantastic. Of course, there are different values to 'need'. People need food to survive, their need for a great dining experience is about pleasure, social interaction, status. So needs are identified by the customer and will change over time. How many people 'needed' a MP3 player ten years ago?

5. Being inflexible. When you've just come up with a world-beating idea, it can come as a bit of a blow to find that no-one else thinks it's so hot after all. It calls for a bit of fine judgement as to whether you stick to your guns in the face of mounting scepticism, or modify or, in the extreme, scrap your plans. Getting your market research right will help you to decide. Market research doesn't have to be elaborate - at it's simplest, it's just about talking to people. But the more evidence you can gather, the more you will be able to determine whether your idea needs to stay, alter, or be shelved.

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10 Reasons to start your own home based business

There are many reasons for starting your own home based business. Each would-be starter and each business owner will have their own set. Here are just a few.

1. Be your own boss

This is a big draw for most small business people. Taking on the responsibility, setting the standards and the pace, making decisions, they are all part of the attraction. Of course, you will sink or swim according to how good you are as your own boss! Make plans, have a schedule, be good at time management. Try to share some of the load by running ideas past friends, family and advisors. You can’t shift the responsibility, but it can give you assurance. If you are successful you did it yourself, if it doesn’t work out, well, that was you too.

2. The variety

With the new skills you will acquire and the thousand and one tasks that need to be completed, being the owner of your own home based business is one of the most varied positions around. Tackling and overcoming many challenges is one of the rewards of small business. But getting hooked on the variety can be a problem. Make sure that you spend the majority of time on your core business, doing those things that you are good at. Outsource the things you are not good at or that prevent you concentrating on why you went into business in the first place.

3. It’s not so difficult

Starting and running your own home based business is hard work. You will need to learn new skills. It will take dedication and persistence if you are to succeed. But it’s not difficult. All the knowledge and skills you need are within the grasp of the average person. What you do need is the right information and the right advice.


4. Following your interests

Many people start their own business in areas that fascinate them. It makes sense to do this, because the knowledge and the enthusiasm will see you through when things get intense. It’s not vital, of course, to do what you know – look at Richard Branson when he started Virgin Airways – but it is vital to get the right information and advice. Take on a partner, employee or advisor to plug any gaps in your knowledge. This should be part of your business plan.

5. Using your creativity

A great part of having your own business is having ideas, working them through and seeing them deliver rewards. Of course, some businesses provide greater scope for creativity than others. Only you can judge where your real talent lies. Play to your strengths

6. Making money!

It usually takes some time for a start up business to become profitable. In the early months, or sometimes years, money can be short whist the business becomes established. For some, the object is not to make more money but to maintain a standard of living whist getting more satisfaction from what they do. However, your own business may well pay you better than your former income. And, if you hit the right business model, with hard work and a bit of luck, you could see a very substantial return.

7. New experiences, new career

Your own home based business can see you launching out on a new career. Perhaps at first you will work part time at your business whilst still employed. You may start a business similar to your employment, or you may branch out in new directions, perhaps converting a hobby or an interest into a money-making enterprise.

8. No commuting

One of the great advantages of working from home is losing the dreaded commute into work. You gain back the time, save the money and perhaps save the need for a second car, at least for a while. It pays, though, to set aside a work area from the rest of your home, so that you can get organised and feel ‘at work’ even if it is only the spare bedroom.

9. Hours to suit yourself

Along with no commuting can come the ability to work the hours that suit you. This will depend to a large extent on the sort of business you run. Internet businesses in particular allow flexibility in working hours, since the business will run on automatic whilst you are offline. Businesses that need direct interaction with customers in real time – taking and filling orders and answering enquiries, are obviously less flexible.

10. Satisfaction

There is a huge satisfaction to be had from conceiving, starting and making a success of your own business. Building something of your own and providing an income from solely your own efforts is a great source of pride.

Whatever your reasons for starting your own home based business, good luck!

10 Best Home Based Business Ideas

It's a frequent question: what are the 10 best home based business ideas? Of course there is no real answer, but here are ten home based business ideas for online start ups. They pass some basic tests to make them accessible to most people. They are simple and inexpensive to set up, can be started part-time if necessary, and with much of the work done at times to suit yourself.

None of these need extensive business knowledge to at first, but the more you know about starting and running a small business the better. You'll find information elsewhere in these pages and links to more outside help to get you started in your own home based business. None of these are get rich quick schemes or home working scams. Usual note: all businesses need dedicated hard work to succeed.

10 Best Home Based Business Ideas - no, but well worth considering, and in no particular order.

1. Art and photographic design sales - open your own free online store, where you can sell your art designs or images on various media. Two good sites are CafePress and Zazzle.
   
   
2. Craftwork or handmade goods business - sell your craftwork or handmade goods through your own free store on a website dedicated just this kind of enterprise. Find out more at Etsy.
   
   
3. Writing - there are many outlets for people with writing skills. If you want to publish your own work try Lulu. If you prefer to look for freelance work and post your CV online, look at Guru or elance.
   
   
4. Freelance services - many people choose to use their existing professional or personal skills as freelancers. Once again, Guru and elance are good starting points for finding work and advertising your skills
   
   
5. Sell ebooks - selling ebooks and other virtual goods is attractive because you can sell an item again and again. You can write your own or buy them with 'master resale' rights to sell again. Or you can acquire ready built stores with a stock of ebooks from, for example, Website Deals orInstant Pay Sites.
   
   
6. Affiliate marketing - affiliate marketing is where you advertise other people's goods and services in return for a percentage of the sales receipts. There is a whole range of marketing methods you can employ. Learn more about affiliate programs.
   
   
7. Use your pastimes - people use the internet to find information on their pastimes and interests. They are also interested in buying products to go with those interests. Find out about starting a business based on your pastimes.
   
   
8. Start an online service - such as a dating agency, auto sales and so on. Website Deals have a range of off the peg sites for sale.
   
   
9. Online stores for offline goods - ebay is probably the best know - they have stores on their site as well as the auctions. Note: for the UK you need ebay.co.uk. For other countries, follow one of these links and find your own country at the foot of the page. An alternative to ebay is creating a store on your own website with inexpensive online store software to get a fully functioning ecommerce store.
   
   
10. Write a blog or Squidoo lens - write a regular blog on a any subject for free at Blogger or WordPress. Squidoo 'lenses' are web pages you write and publish for free. Again, they can be on any subject, and you can write as many as you like. You can make money on blogs and Squidoo by affiliate programs or Adsense.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Can I Start a Home Based Business Online with No Money?

The answer is Yes - and No! You can do it, but I wouldn't advise you to. Let me draw you an offline comparison. You want to start a window cleaning round with no money. You borrow a ladder and find an old bucket and a rag in the garage, and you're off in business. But very quickly you find that the ladder isn't long enough, the bucket leaks and the rag does't clean the windows like a leather would. You spend hours walking your round because you don't want to buy fuel for your car, and nobody takes you on because you don't look like you can do the job. What is more, you are spending so much time knocking on doors looking for business that you don't have time to clean many windows anyway. See what I'm getting at?

Would you have been better off investing a little money on the right equipment, budgeting for fuel and having a few nice leaflets printed and delivered? Of course you would. And it's the same with an online business or any home based business. Notice that I use the word 'invest', not 'spend'. Business is about investing money to make more - hopefully much more. It's about calculating, or estimating, how investing money in different ways will affect your business. And ultimately, it's about figuring what return you will get on the money and time you invest.

The temptation with your own home based business, but particularly online, is to always try to do things for nothing. I'm not against free stuff, some of it is great and I'll talk more about it below, but if you never invest money, your business will look cheap, it will be inefficient and it will grow much more slowly. Those things directly affect the main areas of your business: your reputation and image; your return on time and money invested; your business growth, which is particularly vital in the early stages of your business.

That established, what should you be investing in your own home based business? The actual amount will vary of course depending on what you are trying to achieve. A part-time home based business will have more modest ambitions, at least initially, than a group of experienced businessmen launching what they believe is a world-beating idea; and the budgets will reflect that. I would suggest you need a few hundred pounds (or dollars or your equivalent) as a minimum. You may not need it all on day one, and you should distinguish between start-up and working capital costs. And you must have a business plan, something that online business people in particular tend to miss out. Elsewhere on this blog you will find information on business plans.

So what can you get online for free?

By that I mean stuff that is worth having.

Free introductory periods. Many software products come with a month or so free introductory period, after which you have to pay to continue using them. The products include web builders, auto-responders, bulk emailers and so on. Most offer the full software facilities during this period. It's also a good method of trying before you buy.

Free introductory versions. For many software packages and web services you can sign up for free, with an option to upgrade to a paid package. These always have fewer facilities than the paid options. They may be good enough for you long-term in some cases, but for many you will quickly become frustrated at the reduced capabilities.

Search Engine Optimisation. Still the best way of getting yourself noticed online. You can do it all for free if you have the skills, and there is a lot of advice out there, not least from Google themselves - just have a look on google.com for 'business solutions'.

Writing. Write your own articles, blogs, web pages, whatever, and not only will you be saving money but also creating the unique content that the web loves and searchers are looking for.

Advertising. Some free advertising is not worth bothering with in my opinion. I would include free entries in ad directories, unless you have a business aimed at a local community that might actually go looking for you. Others are potentially useful, like InstantBuzz (find them under Links on this page). The two main questions to ask yourself are: will these ads reach my prospective customers, and, would I pay for this advertising if I had to? If the answer to both is yes, it's probably worth trying.

Social networking. Provided you follow the rules and the spirit of each site, networks like twitter, del.icio.us, flickr, youtube and so on can be a great way of spreading the news about your business.

Free web pages. You can write your own blog on blogger.com, your own 'lens' on squidoo.com or the equivalent on several other sites. These can be alternatives to having your own site, but are probably better seen as gateways (portals) to your main selling areas.

Free hosting. Some sites offer free hosting for your website, especially if you buy your domain name through them. Look out for the facilities you get, as they may quickly be outgrown by your site, or just not be good enough to begin with.

Free email contact lists. These should be double opt-in lists. The free versions often have restrictions on how often you can download. http://freeffas.com for example, allows you to download just once a month in the free version. These lists may not have members relevant to your own business.

What should you pay for?

Customer interface. By this I mean anything that your customers come into contact with: your site, blog, emails and so on. Unless you are confident that you have or can acquire the skills, get some to do it for you. Online work is usually inexpensive. See elance.com and guru.com

Advertising. You should have an marketing budget and paid advertising can be well worth while. Adwords is the product from Google ( google.com business solutions again). You can also find companies with full advertising campaigns to suit most budgets.

Things you are not good at. We all have different capabilities. Play to your strengths and spend most of your time on things you are good at and which contribute most to your business. Pay someone to do the rest.

Things that take a long time. Balance your time budget with your money budget. If the choice is between investing a small amount of money and investing a huge amount of effort, choose the cash option.

Invest wisely, both your time and your money, and you'll see a good return.

Is a Home Based Business Right for Me?

Well, before I try to answer that question, let me ask you another - are you the right person to be running your own home based business? Now don't get me wrong, business people come in all sorts, so it's not about fitting a profile. It's about finding the right motivation and characteristics in yourself. So let's try out a few things. Can you answer 'yes' to most of these questions.

Are you:

• Full of mental energy that you want to use up?
• Self-motivated?
• Prepared to put in an effort?
• Prepared to stick at it?
• Organised (or able to get yourself organised)?

OK so far? What about some of the things you don't have to be to run an online business. Well, you don't have to be a computer geek or a business genius. You don't have to be rich or ruthless or with out principles. And you definitely should not want to get rich quick or make money fast because you're broke. If you need money fast, a business of any kind is not for you.

So, if you are right for a home based business, is it right for you? There are many kinds of home based business of course. My interest is in online marketing and below I'll explain why I think online marketing is an ideal business to run from home. But whatever business you are contemplating running from home, there are a few things you must have. They are so obvious that they are easily forgotten. They are: Time, Space, Money (at least a bit of it).

All businesses are time-consuming. Realistically, you need at least two hours a day to run the smallest of businesses. More is great, though if you're running a spare time business you may not want it taking over your life. For an online business you don't have to work every day, just put in the time as and when you can. You need space to work and think. That's physical space and mental space, away from the many other things in your life. And you need at least a bit of money. Online businesses are cheap to set up and run. You can do it for nothing at all, but it's almost impossible to achieve full success, and it will certainly take you far longer. This will be a topic for a future post from me, so come back soon!

The last bit today is to give you a quick feel for why I think you should seriously look at online marketing for your own home based business. A few bullet points will do:

• It's not necessary to have your own products.
• But you can find products if you want them.
• Your business can have a physical reality or exist just online.
• You can have multiple income streams.
• You can work where and when it's best for you.
• The business will look after itself while you're offline.

And - the basics are easily learned. If you want to start learning right now have a look at my beginners' classroom. It's a free service, there is no 'sign in' or obligation, and you can go back to it again and again. Beginners' Classroom