Keyword Research

In my last post I wrote about my focus on article writing while I was still studying the e-book Affiliate Masters Course. Well, in the assignment for the 3rd day of study, the focus is on brainstorming possible themes for a website and using the array of keyword research tools for finding demand of those words along with potential competitors for those types of websites.

Though the research tools are not unknown to me, the SearchIt feature brings all the tools you need into one convenient window...and it's FREE! If you build your website through them (SBI!) then there is a more advance version that you have access to, but, for free, this tool is great.

Since I am totally certain of my website theme, I've made a new decision. I have published 9 articles to my Hub Page account in 5 months. (You can find links to my articles in the HubPages box on the right hand side of this blog. Scroll down a bit...) My goal is to write and publish 1 more article, for an even 10, then focus on the work in the Affiliate Masters Course. After I finish this course I will have created my basic "blueprint" for my intended website. Since that is my next big step, instead of spending time writing general purpose articles, I'm going to pour my energy into the course and any article writing will be to create content for my site.

When you have a strong feeling about something, I believe it is never a bad thing to allow yourself to change course. Who thought doing keyword research could be so invigorating and inspiring?

On the Countdown To Creating My Website

Lately I've been spending my time writing articles. I have set a goal to write and publish 1 article a week, and so far, 2 weeks running, I've achieved my goal. From a course I am reading (yes, more education!), the underlying lesson is to do well you must be able to create excellent content when working online. People come to the internet seeking something. Not to be sold, but to learn about something. If I want to be a success online, to be able to provide my visitors good, informative content, rich with keywords, I have to develop this skill.

The goal of writing also allows me to continue to put into practice some of the skills I learned from Honest Riches, such as article directory submission, linking to the articles from my signatures in forums and re-writing then submitting the articles to EzineArticles.

Another benefit to this goal is I am creating the good habit of having to brainstorm for article ideas, researching for keywords, creating story outlines and then actually producing the finished article and publishing it to my HubPages account.

If you have been reading some of my prior posts, you may remember that I did a lot of "learning by trial and error". During this phase I felt it was important to register a domain name for a review I was planning to write. After doing my research (you can find the results in the sidebar), GoDaddy.com was the least expensive/best reviewed site for registering my domain. Now, keep in mind that I was not planning to build a website with this domain, but to "re-direct" the address of one of my reviews so the URL would look more professional. Well, since I have begun writing regularly, I have been able to use both of my domains with articles.

Since beginning to experiment with all the facets I could from Holly's book, I feel like I've covered a lot of ground and benefited with a lot of experience. My thoughts keep returning to the ideas I have for my niche website, so that is where I am headed.

Before I begin my website, I've 3 courses to finish. A while ago I began a writing course, mostly geared towards writing a book, but some of the exercises are universal for any type of writing. With daily study this course will be completed this week. Next, I will complete my Affiliate Masters Course from SBI! From what I have read, there are a lot of research tools that are offered and by the end I will have a blueprint for my website! After that I want to do one more free e-book course, also from SBI! called Make Your Content Pre-Sell. Since websites are mostly about good content, I don't want to waste my time writing the site pages before I take advantage of what this course will teach me. Since the SBI e-books are totally free, I figure I have nothing to loose by studying them.

The timeline I imagine for beginning my website will be by May. It actually feels great to have a clear cut goal and timeline laid out. No more running around wondering what I will do. And since I have decided that I will be using SBI! (Site Build It!) to build my website, I'm not even stressing about whether or not I'll know how how to build it and bring in traffic. It's all part of what they offer.

Well, I just wanted to bring the blog up to date and note that other than a lot of reading and article writing, I'm expecting some quiet time ahead, little to no frustration, and no more feeling like I'm running behind. Since I have my own plan, I no longer feel like I'm behind the "crowd". No longer am I following, but I'm finally walking on my own path.

Affiliate Network Programs That I Trust

Embracing the belief that I can "learn by doing", I wanted to see what types of companies and products the various affiiate networks offered, so I set out on a "signing-up" spree. The affiliate networks I selected were from the list Holly presented in Honest Riches. My main quest was to get signed up, then later I would concentrate on which companies I would apply to represent.

The affiliate networks I choose were:

Plimus
(If you are going to buy Honest Riches, wait to sign up with Pilmus. You will be automatically accepted as Holly's affiiate.)

Half.com

Commission Junction

LinkShare

Amazon Associates Program

Clickbank

HD Publishing

5 Pillar Affiliate Club

Affiliate Future

shareasale.com

Share Results

TIP: Have a small spiral or notebook available before signing up for the affiliate networks. With each network you sign-up for you will be required to have a user name and password. Though you might keep the same user name, it's never a bad idea to have some slight variances with each password. I've never had a problem with my online identity, but just to be safe I change it up. The spiral I have keeps all sign-in info. organized and within easy reach.

TIP: Some of the different networks offer tutorials. Make the time and commitment to utilize whatever training tools are available...especially since it will be free! My favorite training, so far, is from the 5 Pillar Affiliate Club . Between the detailed marketing resources to some of the e-books that they offer, it would rate "right up there" for me, even if it had nothing to do with an affiliate program.

Affiliate Programs: Who can you trust?

As I wrote earlier, the first affiliate network I signed-up with was Pilmus, so I could represent Holly's book Honest Riches. Since I had found Honest Riches to be a legitimate course on how to make money online, it was easy for me to trust signing up with Pilmus to be an affiliate, as this is the company Holly has chosen to handle her affiliate program.

Having trust in the affiliate companies you sign-up with is extremely important since they are the ones you are trusting to send you your earned commissions! For those new to affiliate marketing you have two basic ways to proceed: sign up with a network or sign up with individual programs. If you sign up with a network, you can represent several of that networks offered affiliate programs. When you earn commissions, your payment is processed to that network, then all the commissions due you are combined into one monthly payment to you. In comparison, if the company you want to represent as an affiliate offers the program on their own, as opposed to thru a network, you can sign up and receive your commissions directly from the individual company.

How do you know which networks or companies to trust? Do your research, look for reviews and ask people you know and trust who they use and suggest. The way I've "met" people who's opinion I trust is through a few online work-from-home forums.

The final thing I've learned is if you use a product that you think is great and feel would be a terrific niche to represent, find out if the company offers an affiliate program. If they do not, then send and e-mail and ask how you might be able to represent their program. I did this once and the company offered a discount code that the customer could use, then it would track for the commission that would be credited and paid to me. When I first approached the company and they said "yes", that they would create a program for me, I sort of felt like the dog that chased the car, and the car stopped! It was exciting and a bit scary at the same time!

In closing, the main reason I feel that affiliate marketing is a smart way to begin when learning to build a legitimate online business is that it does not require you to house and ship any product. It does help to buy the product or have familiarity with the "thing" you are representing, but from there, all you do is promote and send interested buyers to the company! It's the smart way to start.

Make quick work of your accounting

Accounting...bill paying....record keeping. If someone asked you right now to show them your record keeping and bill paying routine, how would you feel? Embarrassed about how sloppy it is or comfortable because it's all under control?

For anyone who would be embarrassed I say, get over it and get with it! A long time ago, when my husband and I first started our business, I had to go from using a simple personal checkbook to learning to use the type of accounting system that would satisfy our CPA. The good news is that with QuickBooks Pro 2009 the double entry system that accountants require is achieved simply by entering your bills and payments data. Once we sold our business and retired I began using the personal accounting program, Quicken Deluxe 2009. Again, it's just a matter of entering your data as you spend money or pay bills.

What does this have to do with those trying to earn honest income online with internet marketing, affiliate marketing or building a website? It is very possible that once you begin to have success with your business, you will have income streams from a variety of sources. If you start off organized then your time can be spent on building your business, not trying to make heads or tails out of a messy accounting system.

Set yourself up to be a success, from the start.

Affiliate Streams of Income and related points

Making my official "entre" into Internet Marketing, my first affiliate network to sign up with was an easy choice. With the sea of a zillion programs and products to choose from, I think it's best to choose one you know about. For me this meant signing up with Plimus to be an affiliate for Holly's Book Honest Riches.

Since signing up to be an Honest Riches affiliate, there are a few points I've learned along the way to take into consideration:

1. The affilate commissions will vary, from very low to very high commissions.
2. The payout can be a one time commission affiliate program or a lifetime commission affiliate program.
3. When starting out, it helps to choose programs or products to represent that you can use and market from a 1st hand experience. (Notice I didn't say "sell"?)
4. Start with a program or network that you know is legitimate. You can discern this by what you read in blogs, forums and online. Try searching for the name+review in your Google search and see what types of feedback you find.

The temptation to sign-up with any affiliate program you read about and lots of affiliate networks can be a big mistake...think about it, how many things can you do at once? Or, do well anyway.

Once you decide on an affiliate program to represent, you will have access to marketing links that you can use in text or banners to market your product. When you start posting your links, keep in mind that there will be sneaks online who will try to "steal" your commissions from you. The best way to prevent that happening is to "cloak" your links. Once you have a website there are a lot of ways and products you can use to cloak your links, but before that, there are a few free products that I have found. Not only can you gain the benefit of protecting your links, but with many programs you receive statistics for the number of clicks as well as where the clicks came from. After trying Addme.com, URLFreeze and Clickfire.com, the free link cloakiing program I use is ViralURL.com. One word if warning: before you sign up for this progam, consider getting a free e-mail account. Right after I signed up I did receive some spam mail as part of the marketing program they offer for their members who have upgraded to the paid service.

Speaking of free e-mail programs, I'm a total gmail.com believer. I really expect to eventually convert all my e-mail addreses to gmail so I'll never have to change again! (I know, never say never.)

AdSense for Google...It makes sense, even if it only makes cents!

Do you know what AdSense is? No matter if you said yes or no, picture a sandy beach. Now, imagine picking up just a mere pinch of sand and looking at the individual grains. If you were to see one single, solatary individual grain of sand, by itself, could you ever imagine, in your wildest use of your mind, that if multiplied by some unknown quantity, you could have enough sand grain volume to create that beach you were initially picturing?

Now, picture a penny! Do you see where I am going? One penny does not seem like much, but multiplied pennies do add up. And, once you do a little preparation, they add up without you lifting a finger. That, in a nut shell, is what AdSense "does", to me.

The reason I am writing about AdSense is because it is one of the reasons behind why I decided to host my blog on Blogger.com as opposed to a free blog on WordPress. With a Blogger.com blog we are allowed to add the AdSense "widgets" (element or feature) to our blogs, which in turn is allowing us to earn revenue from the ads generated and clicked on by the readers to our work. On the other hand, WordPress' free blog does not allow you to have AdSense or Yahoo ads for income generating.

To sign up for AdSense you can go to Google.com and select the option for their program and just follow the steps from there. Honestly, adding the adds in Blogger is such a snap. One important thing is to pay attention to the tips you will find when placing AdSense ads on your blog. Tips such as making the ad background color blend with your template so it appears to be a part of your site...not a blatant stand out "GOOGLE AD". When I was first surfing I did not realize that the Google ads were not part of the web page content, so who knows how many clicks I provided for websites to make money from!

As of today, with the various places I have written and published articles, here as well as on my HubPages, the total dollar amount I have earned from AdSense is......$4.34.....OK, so I may not have enough grains to fill a sandbox, let alone a beach, but as far as I'm concerned, that's $4.34 worth of sand that I was "given" by Google, just for generating content that brought in traffic, that then, clicked on one of their ads.

I'll take that!

Joining WFHF (Work From Home Forums)

Back when I had a "real" job, I attended several of the dreaded Chamber of Commerce "After Hours" events. I say dreaded because out of all the dozens of people attending and socializing, very few had anything more than gossip to talk about, when the whole idea was to network and exchange useful business ideas. Well, recently I joined several of what I consider the online equivalent of the "After Hours" mixers: Online Forums.

If you search, you can find a forum on just about any topic you have an interest in. Now, these aren't "chat rooms" where conversations are flying by with dozens of people "chatting" at the same time. The Forums are static "discussion" boards where people post questions or topics and other people "post" their answers or replies. From my observation and experience the discussions can become quite active and sometimes even heated, but, all in all, they are mostly beneficial.

For anyone new to forums, the easiest way to find what you are looking for is to do a general search such as: Work form home forum or Forum for work from home moms. Once you get the search results, visit the sites and have a look around. The best forums are active ones. You can check the activity by looking at the threads and posts and seeing the date of the post and date of the last reply, how many views the questions have had along with how many replies. After you have found a few you think look promising, go ahead and sign up. Then, post in the "I'm New" thread, and spend some time reading. You really can learn a lot from these boards....and, you really can learn how to spot the ones out only to promote and scam! My advice is use the same cool head and character assessment online that you do IRL.

One of the most useful elements of posting in forums that I find is the chance to add a link back to my blog or anything else I may have published online through the "signature" feature. The signature will be found in your User Control Panel and it's here that you can add a URL of your choice. Sometimes you can add several. In fact, for others who are just starting out, the use of a signature can be one of your first ways to begin "advertising" your site or blog and drive traffic to it, and do it for FREE! As a little test, I created a link in my signature to my GPT (getpaidto.com) site and in a couple of days actually had 2 click through's for more information.

Hey, 2 clicks may not be a lot, but it's proof that this free strategy works!

Domain Names: Choosing and Using

It's amazing how time flies. This is marked well for me when I look at the last entry I made back in December and it's now the 2nd week of January, 2009. After time off to just "be" and enjoy the holiday, I'm ready to continue sharing my experiences and discoveries about learning to make honest income from the internet.

After creating this blog and getting a few entries I began doing some thinking about another lesson I had learned from Honest Riches, and that was on getting a domain name or two. My first "big" project I wanted to do was to write a review of Honest Riches, for I felt and still feel, very positive about the quality and benefits offered by what Holly teaches. With this as my motivation, I set out to decide from whom I would buy my domain name. Not wanting to make a hasty decision, I did my usual research. After that, not wanting all that work to go to waste on just me, I created an entry on my blog....you can find the results of my research on the right hand side titled Web Hosting. In the end my choice was to buy the domain name from www.GoDaddy.com . My decision was based on the low price and the good reputation of GoDaddy.

Of course, before buying the domain, I had to do a lot of creative thinking on what my domain name would be....GoDaddy.com has some good pointers that I used in my brainstorming session, and that combined with trying out some of the keyword research Holly teaches, I was able to come up with two domain names that I liked.

Be prepared, however, that when you purchase the name, there will be more expense than you might expect. To have the name registered privately, there is an extra fee. The purpose in this is so your name, address and phone number are not publicly displayed with regards to the "ownership" of the domain. Well worth the small fee!

Oh, the 1st domain that I am going to use is: HonestRichesHonestReview.com and will link to my book review on Honest Riches.

During my life there have been so many times that I've just "sat" on the fence...full of ideas and lists, but never putting into action what I need to in order to achieve something. This time, I'm not just "thinking", I'm "doing". Whether you are using Honest Riches or another program, maybe not even related to internet marketing, dare to believe that you really can do what you dream. At some point you have to start. Once you've started, it gets easier and easier to add up your achievements, like, buying a domain name.

Blogging For Profit

By now you may be wondering how I could have been blogging for several months now, but have just written about setting up my blog. Easy to explain: I kept notes of my experiences and have been trying to get them all transferred into my blog. Looking forward to finally getting caught up in "real time". So, that's that!

One of the new "terms" I picked up from Honest Riches is to "monetize" a blog or website. With Blogger.com you can monetize your blog in two ways: AdSense by Google or sign up and incorporate banner and link advertising through affiliate programs.

My first choice is to implement AdSense advertising. If you are not familiar with the AdSense program, it is run by Google and to participate you enroll in the program. After you are accepted, you follow the directions and with Blogger, you use the easy to navigate options to ad the text and image ads to your site. It's automated so that the ads are chosen by Google and are targeted to be relevant to the content of the page they are appearing on. The "monetization" is created by revenue generated on either a per-click or per-impression basis. From what I've gathered, think in terms of less than pennies on the dollar. A low return, but again, all you are doing is letting the ads appear on your site.

At least by adding AdSense I have taken the first step towards "blogging for profit".

HubPage is NOT A Blog? Who would have known!

Remember a few posts back when I said I had begun to feel like some of the concepts and terms Holly had written of in Honest Riches had started becoming more clear to me? Well, I had a lot more clarity about to come my way. HubPages.com is a wonderful site. A site I am very glad I joined. A site I'm greatly looking forward to using. What I realized, however, is that HubPages is a Web 2.0 site. A site that is created by the content the subscribers produce and post. Within the pages posted (which can be thought of as articles or stand-alone websites) the pages can link out to many places, such as, for example a website or A BLOG. But, so you don't end up with the same misconception I did, I still had not signed up for a blog host...even with all of this.

One thing I'm not is a quitter! By this point in the game, I'm sure it was well after midnight, but since I felt pretty safe that the 3rd time would be the charm, and I couldn't miss now, I forged ahead and set forth to sign up for Blogger.com. OK, so maybe the name "Blogger.com" or "Bloggspot.com" should have been like a beacon for me before now, but no time for regret, for I'm on a roll now.

All was fine in the sign-up process, until I had to create my account with Google. For some reason I could not get the "verification letters" to be accepted in the "verify you are a real person not a robot" box. I tried 5 or 6 times to no avail, then finally thought to clear my cookies. After a quick trip to Internet Options and a clearing of the cookies, I found sweet success with creating my Google Account- and in turn, SUCCESSFULLY CREATING A BLOG! Whew!

A Blogging Belly Flop

Well, I wanted to make a splash in the blogging experience pool, but instead, I did a belly flop. Here I thought I was signing up for a blog hosting site, but come to find out, PayPerPost.com is really a site where you can get paid for blogging about particular topics. But, to do that, you must have your own blog! Arggh! Of course, I don't realize all of this until I've spent all the time it took to sign up and get my account open.

By this time I was determined to create a blog before I called it a night, so I decided to turn back to Honest Riches where I compared and contrasted between the choices she offered on Web 2.0 sites and made a decision: I would sign-up with HubPages.com. Alright, I go through the registration process, get into the site and start looking around and reading some of the profiles, sort of to get an idea on how to set things up. Well, the more I look, then go back to Holly's book, then go back to the HubPages site, the more I think I need to find the tutorial and online help section, for I just was not understanding where the Blog section was and how it fit with the rest of what I was seeing on HubPages. No worries. I began to read.....

I Wanted To Blog...

Blog, Blog, Blog...I had heard this term for so long, but what it actually "was" sort of still evaded me. Hey, since when did having a lack of knowledge keep me from jumping in.

The way I actually began writing this blog started when I was looking over the free surveys offered to me on GetPaidTo.com, the paid survey site I began using. When I saw an offer for signing up to a site called PayPerPost.com. Well, I followed the link and decided to look the site over. The site looked legit, but before I filled out the info, I did a quick online search for reviews or feedback on PayPerPost.com. Finding nothing negative, I decided to "go for it"! I was so excited, for I was finally signing up for a blog!

I felt a bit uncertain since this blog site wasn't one that Holly had mentioned in Honest Riches, but even if it ended up that my first blog would be one that was just for practice, I was ready to stop standing still and move a little deeper into the water...heck, I felt like I was still standing on the edge, barely dipping my toe in the pool. I was ready to make a splash!

Learning some things from Honest Riches

Reading Honest Riches is like "getting a hipp education" to phrases that have become part of the common lingo of the world, but somehow eluded me, until now. I'm also learning that it really is possible to create an Internet Marketing business without a website....and in fact, static websites, as I know them, just may not be the very best way to get high search engine rankings. Who would have ever thought that?

When I was sharing with my husband some of the things I'm learning about, such as blogging for profit, social networking sites, Web 2.0 sites and forum listings, he said it not only sounded like I was learning some quality information, but, that I was enjoying learning it. He was right.

The first time I thought about getting ready to try my hand at blogging, I posted on a forum asking for opinions on who thought which blog sites were the best, and why. Unfortunately my thread did not generate any discussion. Not to worry, I came to the conclusion that when the time was right, I would make my decision based on the sites that Holly talks about in her book. (Little did I know how soon that would be.)

Honest Riches: The Study on How To Make Money On the Internet

Finally ordering Honest Riches felt like a really big step for me, for once I made the decision to purchase Holly Mann's book, I knew I had to make a commitment to myself that I would see reading the book through to the end. In the back of my mind were a few guilty memories of projects started in earnest, but left unfinished. Since I truly desire to find honest ways to make money online so I can work from home, honoring my commitment should not prove too difficult.

Ordering and downloading the Honest Riches was really easy. After the e-book was on my computer, I decided to go on and burn a couple of back-up copies for safe-keeping. In fact, since the newest version, Honest Riches 3, is 277 pages long, to have it in paper format for ease of reading was my next step. Since I had a spare 3-ring-binder on hand, I just used a manual hole punch and a simple notebook for my pages. Starting out, I decided to print off the book in blocks of about 40 pages, thinking I would read each allotment, then go back and print off the next block of pages. Each evening I would try to read the pages I printed earlier. The last thing I wanted to do is rush, but, the other last thing I wanted to do is wait!

Somewhere between 30 - 50 pages in, I realized I wish I had been taking notes, highlighting or even just making references and jotting down page numbers of points, tip and how-to's for future reference. Wanting to do this right, and with the best benefit I can, I grab some notebook paper and start reading Honest Riches from the beginning, again. ( I prefer taking hand written notes, but you could just as easily put your notes in a word processor document. ) If repetition and taking notes was how our teachers thought we learned best while in school, why not use those same techniques here? Now, if you try this, it's not so much to write down every detail, but rather an outline of the information you think you will want to refer back to….really simple outline of ideas, notes to look up websites, and page numbers. I think when these notes will really come in handy is when I start to put together my first site and need to know how to research and submit it to get ranking on the search engines, like Google and Yahoo. It's one thing to read it and have it make sense, but another to actually remember what to do the first time!

Two Goals Accomplished: Legitimate Survey Site & Ordered Honest Riches

In my last post I outlined some of my goals to get me back on track...I've done well with 2 out of 6 goals.

I researched and found a legitimate paid survey site to work with: GetPaidTo.com .

Now keep in mind, I am only doing online surveys to make a little "seed money" for my Internet Marketing start up expenses. My main objective is to utilize Holly Mann's Honest Riches so that I can actually learn how to make a "pipeline" business online. Usually, in working, people are doing the physical work themselves, like carrying buckets. They must carry buckets, of "water" to actually "get" the water...or, they must do the work in order to make the money. To have a pipeline, where the "water" flows freely, whether or not you are there, is what I am trying to do. I want to create income streams that flow with or without my being "on the spot". So, to make that happen, I've achieved the 2nd goal of my list: I ordered Holly Mann's Honest Riches.

Ordering was really simple. Once my order was confirmed, I was able to download the e-book right to my computer in a PDF file. Because I like the safety of backups, I burned a copy of the book to CD, then, because I prefer to have a paper copy of books, I printed the book out. No short task, for the book is nearly 300 pages long.

Remember I said I had done well with 2 out of 6 of my goals? Fact is, I'm not giving up. The goals I have accomplished are things I've really been trying to do, so with those under my belt, I'm more motivated to get the rest of myself in order with the other things.

As soon as I get into reading Honest Riches, I'll let you know how I'm doing and if I'm learning anything!

Internet Marketing Can Be Addictive!

Even though I'm not yet really "marketing" anything! There is so much to learn, so much to try, it is never ending…and because it is something I am enjoying, I don't want it to end. Just look around my house and desk at the evidence of "things left undone".

Part of this is totally "me". When I find something new that I am interested in learning or working on, I get pretty single-focused. And, you see, this competes with my natural preference of being somewhat organized and "scheduled" with my housework and deskwork. Realizing this upfront is probably a good thing, so hopefully I can "nip it in the bud". My incentive to buckle down and get caught up comes from wanting to get rid of that "knot" sitting in the middle of my stomach. You might be familiar with this. Think back to when you were school age and it was 6pm on Sunday night. If it was during the school year and I hadn't finished my homework or studies, I would always get that sinking feeling when the theme music for The Wonderful World of Disney television show would come on. Hearing that music signaled to me that the weekend was almost over and if I didn't get busy, my battleship would be in line to be sunk, come Monday morning!

Well, I may not be hearing the Disney theme music, but I am feeling that lump in my stomach, and I don't like it. As much as I want to do nothing except for Internet Marketing oriented tasks, it's time to "face the music" and set my priorities. No matter what, if I stay up until 3am every night working, there will still be more to do. So…how should I approach this? How do I divide my time so that I keep moving forward, yet get my discipline back to reign in the wildness of my home and office?

Ok, here is my plan:

Get back to what I know, first, and get a handle on my responsibilities. My dad once told me, when I was really behind in a course my freshman year of college, to knuckle down and get caught up, THEN, keep working and get a little bit ahead. I'm going to do that. Get caught up on my deskwork, bills and such, then get caught up on the housework and laundry.

Prioritize what needs to be done, in order, with regards to my Internet Marketing business so I can stop trying to do too many things at once, and ending up feeling guilty for not getting anything completed.

Focus on researching legitimate paid surveys to sign up with
Be more diligent in making timely blog posts
Order Honest Riches
Read Honest Riches

Make myself get back to exercising at least 3-4 times a week. All this sitting at the computer is starting to find it's way into the old muscles! Now this one is going to be easy, for I have a great collection of exercise DVD's and workout equipment.

Set a "stop working" time: Computer off at 11pm. (Since it's 10:37pm right now, I'd better wrap this up if I want to post it tonight!)


My conclusion is this: Excess in moderation is fine! There is nothing wrong with pouring myself into learning all I can about Internet Marketing, but, do it smart. I plan to be around a long time, so instead of running down the mountain at full speed, I'll take it a bit slower, and walk. I'll still get there, but in my own time!

Survey Says: Legitimate Paid Surveys Exist...But do they?

You know how I've said that during the time up until now I have been reading a lot in different online forums? Well, one topic that seems to be found in most "earn money at home forums" is the discussion on honest ways to make money online. I had remembered seeing a thread topic about "Legitimate Paid Surveys" and how some people were writing that you really could get paid for surveys. As it always seems, in the middle of what looks to be a good home based business opportunity, somewhere there is a monkey-wrench thrown in under the cloud of concern about the likelihood of "paid surveys scam".

I guess what bums me the most about any idea that sounds good, but is overshadowed by the potential of scam, is that instead of being able to just go forward with working the idea, time has to be spent doing research to determine the legitimacy of the idea. *Sigh* Alas, this is where I try to remember the old adage "Haste makes waste". I know that if I don't do the research, I could potentially waste my time, and worse, risk wasting some money and "business" happiness, if I do get "taken" by scam offers. Resigned to doing the research, I set off to see what I could find for "Paid Surveys Review". I found some, but for the most part, what each "paid to take surveys" user review consisted of was a list of links to paid survey sites with a brief account of the type of money making opportunities, being either surveys or offers, or both, and how great the site was. Nothing I found really made me feel like the reviewer had actually been a "user" of the sites. I mean, some of these reviews had over 50 get paid to take survey links. That's a lot of companies to sign up with! I'm not saying they were being untruthful, but, it did strike me as a bit questionable. Alright, I'll go ahead and say it…I was looking for something to give me the same feeling of confidence I felt when I found Holly's book, Honest Riches, and her website.

Not finding what I was looking for, I made the decision to select a handful of survey sites that had been mentioned in the majority of the GPT (Get Paid To) reviews and join them with the plan to try them out and take my own notes for research, then write my own review with the type of information I was unable to find online myself.

When I get the research completed and the review written, I'll come back to this post and put a link to it. Actually, this is kind of exciting…ok, so maybe I'm not researching Rocket Science, but, I'm finally doing something, um…sort of "tangible" for making some money online! (Or so I hope!)

7 Day's and Counting

Well, I had challenged myself to see what I could learn online about the things Holly would be teaching in her book along with trying to make some money over the next 7 days.

To get started trying to make some money, I decided to concentrate on two areas I knew something about, Half.com and consignment store selling. For those of you just joining my Diary, HERE is a link to an earlier entry telling about how I first became involved with selling books and Cd's online, first with EBay, then with Half.com. It actually felt good to be getting back to looking around the house and gathering up more books and Cd's to list for sale in my online store. Once I had completed this task, I continued to gather and sort through the larger items that I had originally intended to sell on EBay. Instead of getting back into the online auction program, I wanted to see how I would fare with selling through an IRL (in real life) consignment store. We are fortunate to live within the neighborhood of several of these stores so putting this part of my plan into action was very convenient. Another bonus for trying the consignment store? After they picked out the items they thought would sell, it was a breeze to take the remainder of things to donate to the charity shop where I received a receipt for Income Tax deductions. OK, so no actual $$$ yet, but, the foundation was getting set.

Getting a bit "itchy" to start learning, I decided to delve into seeing what all I could learn online. There are several forums for people interested in working from home and making money on the Internet, so I set about to reading as much as I could, and from the forums, I found links to independent articles and peoples websites and blogs, also packed with information and ideas. Once I started reading, my mind felt like a sponge, absorbing all these random bits and pieces of information, ideas, techniques and terminology, all about things I knew very little to nothing about. It was exciting because even though I was totally confused by all this new information, I was so inspired to keep reading. At one point a little switch turned on in my mind and I started brainstorming…which was really funny since I really had no idea what I was brainstorming about!

Now, this is where I will tell you to take note and consider doing, not as I did, but as I wish I had done. As I said before, I didn't know how I would use all this information I was picking up in the forums, articles, blogs and websites, but, I started jotting down notes, website addresses, and creative ideas on a little scratch pad that I grabbed in haste. There were actually several times that I had a thought, but my lone scratchpad was in the other room, and by the time I went to write it down, my thought was lost. My mind was in such a "free form" that the ideas were just flowing. Afraid that when my initial excitement subsided, the potential blast of creativity would also diminish, I wanted to take full advantage of this great moment in time.

What would I do differently? Instead of using a little scratchpad which resulted in my having page after page of random notes and website addresses, I would start organized instead of having to get organized. Just like when taking notes in school, having the proper supplies available is key. Everyone has the way they work "best". For me, I like combining handwritten notes with computer document files. What I eventually did was take all my random notes and determine how to categorize them.

I then purchased a writing tablet just for this purpose and began rewriting my notes into the tablet, by my categories such as:

Article ideas: For Reviews or Blogs
Items to incorporate in Articles
Blog site possibilities
Blog site theme ideas
Article submission sites
Forums
Web hosting options
Pay per Post sites
Domain name ideas
Affiliate Companies: Are there programs for the following products I am interested in? (my list then followed)
Money making ideas

In addition to purchasing the writing tablet, I purchased a small spiral, dedicated as a place to write my login name and passwords for various sites I was signing up for.

In the event that I had a brainstorm when I was away from my desk, I placed a small scratchpad and pen in my nightstand, by my sofa, and in the car…when I did find that I used the pad to capture an idea or thought, I made it a point to transfer the note into the appropriate category in my writing tablet as soon as possible. To get an idea of the types of products I'm referring to you can click here to see examples. In fact, it's through Amazon.com, so you can even buy if you need anything.

Though I am jumping ahead in the time line, I want to tell you of the program that I am using to write my blog entries, for if I had realized how great it is early on, I would have probably been using it alongside, or maybe even instead of, my writing tablet. It is my Microsoft Office OneNote computer program. For creative purposes, I really like the flexibility of this program, much more than Word or other word processing programs I've used. If you can picture having a notebook with dividers, where you can open up to a page and jot down a thought or quickly take notes, anywhere on the page, and have it automatically saved…then you have a tiny idea of how cool this program is. Anyway, if you want to see it for yourself, you can check it out here, it's the Microsoft Office Home and Student program with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

During the process of all of this research, note taking, brainstorming and organizing, I had read several times about something some people were doing to make "easy" money online, and I began contemplating if I should try it. Hmmm? After all, I was supposed to be trying to make a few dollars this week for my "expenses". I decided that I would approach this idea like everything else: do a little research along the way and make an informed decision, only taking action when I felt confident that it was the right thing to do. So, I did!

How Seeking Honesty Led Me To Honest Riches

Have you ever sat down to do a Google search on your computer, and when you finished and got up, were shocked to see how much time had passed? That's what happened to me when I started my search for a program that would teach me how to build an online business. It seemed to take forever. My results gave me a lot of sites that were close to what I was looking for, but usually they felt all hyped up and fake. A lot of my results led me to several blog sites and things called Ezine articles that promoted online courses. One such site even said that it was set up almost like a college course, which I liked. But then, when it said that it also gave you 15 personalized, hosted websites to help you make money online, I said "good-bye". In my mind if they are giving me 15 sites, then who says my sites are going to be any different from the other 15 sites another "student" has? And another. And, so on. This sounded like they were not really teaching how to build an online business, but more giving some basic information then supplying you with an online vehicle pre-destined to make THEM money, via you, the student. All said and done, I spent about 2 hours typing in variations on the phrase "course on how to build an online business". In doing all of this I learned something that I now use quite a lot. In one of my results I saw that a course was being reviewed, so I clicked on the link and was able to read a more refreshing perspective of the course I was considering, as compared to only what I had read on the courses product information page. I liked that. Getting an individuals thought's on the product. Just when I was about to head over to Amazon.com to try and find a book to order on this, I thought about adding the word "honest" to my search terms. When I hit enter and my new page of results appeared, I nearly could not believe my eyes. An official site called HONEST RICHES. The summary text below the main titled link read (this is a direct cut and paste of the text):

"How to Make Money Online. Resources, information, recommendations & HONEST legit advice and methods. What it takes, what is involved and how to do it"

Once I followed the link and read some of the product review, I was so excited. Everything I read sounded exactly like what I was seeking…a book that would teach me what I needed to learn, and how to apply it. Because of my earlier disappointments that I've written about in prior posts, I didn't buy right away. Using my handy little "review" trick, I searched all different ways to check out Honest Riches. I tried to find something bad about it, looking for a negative review, searching RipOffReport.com, even searching for some sites that rank and compare online products and programs. (I'd love to post links to some of the places I did my research, but in all my excitement, it never dawned on me to save any sites to My Favorites folder for later use.) After another couple of hours, I was convinced that Holly Mann's book was legit, popular and well received. It took all my discipline to hold off on buying the book right then. In fact, I made a vow to myself that I would actually wait 7 days before making any decision that would cost money. This was on August 3rd, 2008.

You might be wondering that if this book was so wonderful and exactly what I was looking for, then why on earth, after all the time and effort I had put in on everything, would I wait to buy the book and get started studying? Well, everything about the book felt right, to the point that I wasn't having to convince myself of anything just to feel ok about ordering the book. However, by waiting 7 days to give myself a "cooling off" period, I wanted to see if my excitement and commitment to wanting to start this learning process and then follow through with it, would be as high and determined at the end of the week.

During the self-imposed 7 day waiting period, I decided to challenge myself a little. First of all, I wanted to do as much reading online to get a better understanding of what might be involved in building an internet business, sort of like my own "introductory course" to what I expected Holly's book to be about. Second, I wanted to try and make some money, either online or offline, that I could put towards paying any of my "start-up" expenses I incurred with this new endeavor. Between all of these projects, I was hoping that the 7 days would fly by!

By Sunday night, still the same date of August 3rd, I knew that I was definitely going to purchase Holly's book, but, I had made a commitment to myself that I intended to keep. So for the next 7 days I would keep myself busy and see what all I could learn on my own and see how much money I could make to put towards building my new business!