Photo by green kozi (flickr)

Are you setting goals so tight that you can’t breathe, let alone work? This is how I felt several months ago after I made my schedule. I had so many goals that I wanted to accomplish and very little time to accomplish them. As a result, I felt burdened and my motivation to accomplish these goals plunged.

Don’t let yourself make the same mistake.

Are You Claustrophobic? Give Yourself Room.

Ambitious goals are fine. Over ambitious goals aren’t.

I was so certain that I was doing myself a favor by creating next-to-impossible goals to achieve. After all, if I worked harder, wouldn’t I achieve more? That was my mindset. And what really happened? I lost motivation. I began to procrastinate. I became lazy. Some part of me didn’t want to spend 24 hours of the day working, and so I didn’t. I stopped working completely for a few days, before I slapped myself in the head and re-planned my goals.

You see, at the time of creating them, I had no idea that they were next-to-impossible goals to achieve. It was late at night and I was sure I could wake up in the morning and complete my goals no problem by 5pm. I just had to put more effort into it and work harder. I knew my goals were more strenuous than the norm. It was only later when I realized that my over ambitious goals just weren’t working for me.

How to Avoid Tying Yourself Down to Your Goals

How do you avoid making the same mistake I made? Well, there are a few things you can do.

• Set your goals when you’re actually functioning. When I set my over ambitious goals, it was late at night and I was extremely tired from a long day of work. I figured I could use that extra time before bed to plan out the day for tomorrow. At that time of day, I clearly wasn’t thinking and my fogged up brain was confusing me with superwoman.
• It’s fine to want to over-achieve, but make sure you have time to eat, sleep and relax. If you thought that you could work continuously non-stop for hours, you’re sadly mistaken. Your body naturally needs a few relaxation periods. If you don’t let your poor fingers rest, your body will shut down.
• Only work for a set number of hours, and set a deadline in which you’ll stop working. I find that I work best in the morning, so I try to stop working at 5pm. If you don’t have a set deadline in which you’ll stop working, you’ll have nothing to look forward to and you’ll just stress yourself out. Don’t do more work than you can handle.
• Set several easy-to-achieve goals and only one or two difficult task(s) per day. Easy goals are often more fun to work with. Difficult goals aren’t. Maintain your motivation by setting several goals that are easy to reach. Do your difficult tasks first and know that your easy-to-achieve goals will follow. You’ll become more productive.
• Give yourself breathing room. If you don’t like achieving multiple goals a day, strive to achieve several goal a week. That way, your deadline is further away. I find that if I set daily goals, I’m less likely to complete them than if I set weekly goals. It also becomes stressful if I set daily goals, as I’m afraid I’m not going to complete them in time. When you set weekly goals, spend a few hours to complete each one every day. By the end of the week, you’ll be amazed with what you accomplish.

Related Posts:

1. Demand Studios Work Challenge: June 21, 2010

After reading very disturbing comments on a Suite101 review, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about this topic in more detail.

Photo by Razvan Caliman (flickr)

Specifically, why would some people work their asses off writing for web content sites only to get a small return? Many copywriters seem to think this way, as it just doesn’t make sense to them why someone would work for pennies and accept low pay. They seem to think that other freelance writers out there, often the ones just stepping in the door, aren’t getting what they’re worth and therefore are the reason why the rest of the world believes that freelance writing is a low paying job. When people believe this, why would clients spend over $1,000 for a direct mail package? What’s the purpose of wasting so much money for a brochure when writers shouldn’t be charged so much?

Before you start thinking that web content writers are destroying income opportunities for the rest of us, here’s the thing: Clients who do think that freelance writers should be given low pay are the ones inexperienced with working with freelance writers for hire. Experienced clients recognize your worth, and so pay accordingly. They recognize that good copy is worth every dollar spent, for it makes the difference between a converted paying customer to a prospect “just browsing.” Inexperienced clients are the ones you have to convince, and many of them can’t afford you anyway.

Now that we’ve cleared up this “freelance writers are ruining the trade” fiasco, let’s talk about the real problem: Why would someone work for peanuts? Well, let’s take a closer look…

A Closer Look at Content Websites

There are various content websites out there that hire writers to work for them and, in return, writers get ongoing residual income. While income might be low in the beginning, it does get better later on – especially when articles have had time to age and more content is added. Many content websites that pay per page view are just generally low paying and, in my opinion, not worth a writer’s time. Other opportunities, however, allow writers to earn based on how well the ads perform on the site. These earnings are often over ten times better than any site that pays based on page views alone. Such companies include Demand Studios, Suite101 and Info Barrel.

For example, Associated Content pays a very low upfront payment (around $2) per article. Writers then earn a certain amount of money per page view (which is also low). The only way you’d be able to make decent money from Associated Content was if your article became popular and received tons of page views. However, if you were to take this same article to, say, Info Barrel and earn based on ad performance, your article would probably make a lot more. Why? Because ad clicks would probably skyrocket with the number of page views you’re getting.

Even so, earnings in the short run are very low compared to earnings you might receive if you were writing copy for clients. So why would freelance writers do it? Is it just because they’re inexperienced?

Write for Residual Income: Why Go This Route?

• There’s less work involved when you write for residual income. When just getting started, any given article might take around an hour or two to create. However, as you become more experienced with writing web content, the time spent will reduce drastically. You’ll most likely spend anywhere between 25 minutes to 45 minutes to write a quality article – assuming that you know the topic well of the article that you’re writing about. If you’re writing copy for clients, however, it might take days to finish an assignment. Clients also demand more quality from you and, many times, you’ll get faced with rewrites.
• You aren’t bound to an article when you write for residual income. If you don’t like a specific article topic, you can just delete the article or stop writing it. When you write copy for clients, not completing an assignment can have dire consequences. Your client won’t do business with you any longer, for one. You’ll also be known as a freelance writer who doesn’t follow through, and finding business will become rather difficult.
• You continue to make money month after month, without even adding new content, if you write for residual income. This is a key point to consider. Many freelance writers write for residual income solely because of this one benefit.

  Think about it: After a few years of hard work, you’ll be able to just stop writing for content websites, not do any work whatsoever and make enough money to get by. What would you then do with your time? Would you focus your time on family? Would you pick up a hobby or do something that you love (not writing, that is)? I don’t know about you, but I get all excited month after month when I’m still receiving PayPal payments from eHow (and I haven’t written for them in months!). That’s the power of residual income. Sure, you can start a blog, put up some ads and blog daily. However, content websites give you an advantage. You don’t have to start from scratch and slowly build up your page rank. The content site you’re writing for already has a high page rank to begin with, so you get indexed on search engines faster.. and your article gets on page 1 of Google faster as well.

  You just cannot simply do this as a copywriter. What happens if you stop writing copy for clients? Your earnings suddenly cease. In other words, you need to keep writing copy in order to keep getting paid.

• You can write continuously about topics you’re passionate about when writing for residual income. With content websites, you can choose what topics you want to write about. Many times, the topics you choose and the articles you write are on subjects that you enjoy. With copywriting, you can choose which industries you want to target and what type of writing you do, but sometimes only writing about topics you’re passionate about can make it harder to find business. Some freelance writers find themselves doing assignments that they aren’t too crazy over, as a result. Sometimes it’s just because one assignment offers more pay than another.
• You can do very little promotion, if any at all, when writing for residual income. Copywriters have to promote themselves constantly if they wish to make a steady income. When writing for residual income, you don’t have to keep trying to impress clients multiple times a day. All the work you could want is right there. What you then do with your work is entirely up to you. Whether you promote your articles or not, you’ll still make money.

Write Copy for Clients: Why Go This Route?

• You earn a lot more money at a faster rate if you write copy for clients. When writing for residual income, money comes gradually and sometimes it can take years to make a living. When writing copy for clients, you don’t have to wait long for that big paycheck. You also control how much you make, as you can set your own rates.
• There are no surprises when writing copy for clients. As a copywriter, you know how much you’ll make per assignment. You’re also getting paid handsomely for the amount of effort you put in. When writing for residual income, there might be some cases where you’d spend a lot of time on a given article, only to find that the article doesn’t make any money.
• You get paid for your time when you write copy for clients. You get paid for every single second you spend on a project, if you set your rates to reflect on how much time you’ll probably spend on the assignment. When you write for residual income, how much you make with each article will vary, so how much you get paid per time spent on an article is disproportionate. Some articles may not make any money at all.
• You don’t need to worry about ranking high on search engines when you write copy for clients, unless you specialize in SEO copy. Copywriters are more focused on writing clear copy, growing a company’s brand or increasing sales. Search engines don’t really play a major role, so copywriters don’t need to do extensive keyword research. Freelance writers who write for residual income need to make their articles rank high in search engines in order to maximize their earning potential.
• Many freelance writers work closely with big companies when they write copy for clients. As copywriters becomes more advanced in their field, they can target Fortune 500 companies and get hired to write assignments for them. Such an opportunity is often exciting, as some freelance writers even find themselves working with companies like Wal-Mart, Bank of America or AT&T.

My Stance

Personally, I’m in the middle. I understand why freelance writers would write for content websites and clients. I don’t necessarily think that one group is better than the other. Both groups have their benefits and both groups have their disadvantages. However, I am leaning more towards the residual income end, as it just seems more promising.

You can make a living off of residual income if you put the effort into it and spend many years writing web content. Lots of people have done it. However, to do so would take serious amounts of effort. Once you do start earning enough money, though, you don’t have to write another article in your life. Though, if you like to write like I do, you would probably keep writing articles every now and then. Or, you could take on a hobby – like writing fiction novels – and not have to worry about whether your book will be a best seller. You can just write novels for fun. If a book does get on the best selling list, great! More money for you.

I’d much prefer to do the extra effort now and not have to work later. However, I think the best way to make a living is to do a little bit of both: Write for residual income on the side while you continue writing copy for clients. That way, you’re building a residual income stream, making a name of yourself and decreasing the amount of effort you’ll have to spend working in the long run. Besides, a little extra money every month doesn’t hurt. It can only help.

Related Posts:

1. Before Writing for Demand Studios (Part 2)
2. eHow Writing Platform Switch: Good or Bad?
3. Overcoming Strict Demand Studios Copy Editors (Part 4)

While browsing Google Reader, I came across an article called Finding the Rhythm by Trent Hamm, author of the finance blog The Simple Dollar. This article discusses key methods on how to know when your work rhythm is failing and how to pick it back up again to become more productive. While reading the article, I thought about past activities I’ve done and how they’ve affected my productivity.

Photo by Julie Jordan Scott (flickr)

For example, this morning I took a nice long shower before beginning my day, when usually I would take a shower later in the evening. After the shower, I proceeded to drink my daily cup of organic coffee and then got to work. What a difference! Drinking coffee didn’t exactly make a noticeable difference, since that was something I was already doing anyway. But the shower, without a doubt, increased my productivity a great deal. Having a shower in the morning by itself probably wouldn’t have done much. But combining the shower with the cup of coffee made a complete difference in how well I worked throughout the day. I was no longer drowsy, my damp hair emitted a nice pleasant smell of violets and blueberries, and my skin just felt incredibly soft and clean.

Finding Motivation: My Story

After I realized just how much a morning shower, along with a cup of coffee, was able to keep me energized enough to work, I started thinking about other ways I could improve my day. Finding motivation to write and work in general has always been a problem I’ve struggled with. I was finally ready to put an end to my depressed, gloomy mornings, where all I’d want to do was curl up in bed and drift quietly off to sleep. This sense of feeling energized, truly energized, inspired me to make other changes in my lifestyle so that I could find motivation and maintain that motivation to work.

I analyzed my work habits closely, paying careful attention to what worked or helped inspire me and what didn’t work as well. I think part of my morning gloom was a direct result of my rather dim office environment, so I made the room brighter. I opened the blinds on my office window. Another amazing difference! The sunlight helped energize my mind and spirit. Besides, I enjoy looking out the window every now and then to see an occasional bird chirp on a nearby branch or a car roll by. I also felt refreshed and ready to make my goals reality.

Looking back, I remembered how I felt after a long relaxation period where I would just enjoy life as it was, without any worries. So, I set time aside each day to read a book or play video games – wherever my mood took me. Now, I spend an hour or two after noon to just relax. Once my relaxation time ends, I’m able to get back to work with renewed motivation. Spending some time to just sit on the sofa and watch my aquatic frogs make their way across an aquarium I have set up in the office also helps me to find peace of mind when I’m especially worried or stressed out.

Finding Motivation: How to Adapt a Routine

The simple things you do throughout your everyday life make a huge difference in whether you struggle throughout the day or you’re able to find motivation and become productive. Take my story, for example. I would have continued to struggle if I hadn’t of analyzed my lifestyle and tweaked my mornings so that it would be easier to work. Even now, I’m still tweaking. I’m not happy with how late I wake up in the mornings, so I’m going to bed earlier and waking up earlier as a result. I want to be up to see the sun rise every morning. I also find that waking up earlier gives me more time to get things done.

What can be changed in your lifestyle? Here’s some suggestions.

• Find a time you work best. When are you most productive? Analyze your sleeping schedule. Do you work best at night or in the mornings like I do? For a few days, work at different times. Find out when you’re most motivated and when your motivation wanes. If you’re a morning person, go to sleep earlier so that you can wake up earlier and establish a routine.
• Analyze your work environment. Are there certain things you need that will make working easier (for instance, a fan)? Can you rearrange the room to make office supplies more accessible? Can you maybe add a few pictures, a new sofa or a fish aquarium to make everything more pleasing to the eye? After all, if you don’t enjoy being in your office or feel dread every time you step into the room, why would you enjoy working there? Organize your work space how you like. If privacy is a problem, consider setting up a room with a door and then putting your office hours on the outside of the door so that family cannot bother you while you’re working. If you have kids, talk with your spouse and organize times where you can work in peace and your spouse can take care of the kids. If that won’t work out, consider hiring a babysitter or pay a friend to come along during certain days so that you can get work done.
• Have a goal or plan with an end result clear in mind. Goal setting often motivates you to work on achieving them. You have a reason to work and you know what the reward would be if you carry through with your work. Do you need to do a $5,000 project for a client? What can you do with that money? Well, you can use it to pay the mortgage so that you don’t lose your home. No one wants to live homeless. You can use it to help your child get a quality education so that you will one day see your child graduate, get married and have all those grand-kids you were dreaming about. You can use it to buy yourself a new high-tech computer. The main point is don’t just work blindly. Have a clear goal and a clear reward to give yourself a reason to work.
• Consider the consequences of not working. If you tend to procrastinate (like I do), think about what would happen if you do procrastinate. Think about the extremes. What would be the end result if you don’t get that assignment done in time for a particular client? Well, that client probably wouldn’t hire you again. That client might also tell other potential clients about his negative experiences working with you. Then, you’d lose even more work than you bargained for, you won’t make money and you’ll end up homeless. Ouch! No one wants that.
  
  If you’re a professional blogger, what would happen if you skipped a few days of publishing quality posts for your blog? Well, you may lose readers. People will think your blog is just too unstable to stick around, unless there’s a valid reason why you didn’t post. You may also lose money in the long run, as not as many readers will be interested in visiting. Your blog will ultimately fail and you’ll have to find a new profession, or else you’ll end up homeless. See where I’m going? Think about the extreme consequences of not working and you’ll be more motivated to keep those fingers moving.
• Record your accomplishments. Here’s my secret technique to finding motivation. *wink* On a piece of paper, make a list of all the accomplishments you want to achieve. Leave a space below each list item. Within the space, create a single horizontal bar where you will record your progress. For example, let’s say your goal is to make $10,000 a month. Using a ruler, sketch out a horizontal rectangle (that you will use as your bar) and, on the bottom side of the rectangle, number the bar. Start at $1,000 and end with $10,000. Record your progress as you go along. When you earn your first $1,000 for the month, fill in that section of the bar to show that you’ve already achieved the $1,000 mark. When you earn the full $10,000, celebrate! Put a sticker next to the achievement, go out to eat for a special dinner or buy yourself something special that you’ve always wanted (instead of something that you necessarily need).
  
  
  
• Read inspiring stories. Often, the successes of others help fuel our energy so that we can find motivation and get back to work. Search for specific case studies on Google of people who have achieved what you want to achieve. Just knowing that your goals are possible can help motivate you. Buy inspiring books intended to help you achieve your goals, whether it is to write clearer copy, get more blog subscribers or set better goals for yourself. Read as much as you need until you’re able to find motivation again.

Post Your Input

• How do you find motivation?
• What have you changed to better suit your lifestyle?

Related Posts:

1. The Importance of a Writing Workspace
2. Writing Qualities of a Demand Studios Writer (Part 1)
3. Debate: Write for Residual Income or Write Copy for Clients?

Thinking about using your own name to title your blog? Or maybe you’re unsure of a blog title, so figured your own name would be the best way to go? Choosing a blog title isn’t easy, that’s for sure. However, choosing a blog title is also one of the most important steps of blogging. In years to come, people will associate your blog with your blog title. So, you want your blog title to be the best it can be.

Photo by Brian Burger (flickr)

Should you use your own name to title your blog? Well, it depends on your own personal preferences and what you want your blog to offer. Many top bloggers will advise against using your own name, though there have been some successful bloggers who have made it to the top using their own names as their blog titles. For example, Chris Garrett made a blog with the domain name of Chrisg.com and it’s doing quite well. That doesn’t exactly mean that your blog will have the same result. Let’s take a look at why you should and shouldn’t use your own name to title your blog.

Using Your Own Name to Title Your Blog – Pros

• You touch people on a more personal level when using your own name.
• As your blog increases in popularity, your name increases in popularity as well.
• When buying a domain name, your name will almost always be available for purchase.
• You can sell services more easily, since clients searching your name will see your blog in the top search results.
• Readers will often call you by name, and you’ll be less anonymous to them.

Using Your Own Name to Title Your Blog – Cons

• Readers will have more trouble determining what your blog is about, especially if there is no tagline.
• It will be harder to get your blog off the ground if your name isn’t well known, since not many people will be searching for your name.
• It will be harder to compete with other blogs in the same niche, since key keywords will be missing from your blog title.
• Unless you’re already popular, it will be hard to build a popular brand.
• If you have a hard-to-remember name, readers will have trouble remembering the name of your blog if they like your content.

Conclusion

So, should you title your blog with your own name? That, ultimately, is up to you. For first time bloggers, it might be better to choose a blog title that relates to your niche. However, if the main purpose of your blog is to promote services (copywriting services, for example), you might benefit from naming your blog with your own personal name.

Try this test: Looking at the pros and cons, ask yourself whether readers will actually benefit from your name taking on your blog title. If no, title your blog something else. You can also try asking family or friends for their opinions.

Post Your Input

• Are you using your own personal name to title your blog?
• What advice can you give to new bloggers to help them with choosing a blog title?

Related Posts:

1. Choosing a Blog Title Isn’t Easy: The Process I Went Through
2. 6 Major Benefits of Blogging and How to Incorporate Them on Your Blog
3. What is a Blog?

Why create a blog? If you’re asking this question, most likely you don’t know the benefits of blogging. There are many reasons why people blog. Some just do it to pass time. Others do it for money. Still others do it to teach.

Take a look at the most essential benefits of blogging. As you read each one, ask yourself if your blog makes use of the benefit. If it doesn’t, find ways you can incorporate it into your blog. If you do all these steps on a regular basis, I guarantee that you’ll have a successful blog within the next 6 months.

Don’t have a blog yet? You don’t have to make one now, but you should (even if it’s just to try). You can create a free blog on Blogger or WordPress for now, but consider moving your blog to your own hosting as the blog grows.

6 Major Benefits of Blogging

1. You gain popularity with your blog.

One of the major benefits of blogging that new bloggers seek is popularity. Bloggers want their blogs to be popular. However, popularity doesn’t happen to every blog. Many people give up before their blogs have the chance to truly develop.

How it Works: As you blog, your website will get indexed into search engines, and other people will have access to your content. If they like the content or what you have to say, they may subscribe to your blog to get notified every time you post something new. As more and more people have access to your content, the number of individuals who subscribe to your blog will increase. Visitors will start to comment, conversations will get started, visitors will refer your blog to friends, more readers will start flooding in and your blog will gradually grow into a popular community of people and new ideas.

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Too often, bloggers just focus on the benefits of having their blogs indexed by search engines. If you look around, search engine traffic plays a minor role in the traffic of many top blogs.

So then, how do people like Darren Rowse, author of ProBlogger, or Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits, get their blog traffic? They do so by guest posting, publishing updates in social networks, commenting on other blogs and so on. The list goes on. Now, this doesn’t mean completely ignore search engines. Just don’t limit yourself to search engine rankings. Popularity will come to the bloggers who truly want it. All it requires is determination and the will not to give up.

2. You can make money with your blog.

You hear about people all over the Internet making a living from their blogs. In fact, some people create blogs just to make money. However, your blog won’t start making thousands of dollars the day after it’s created (or even months after you make your blog). Just like blogging takes time to build popularity, it can provide very lucrative income if the effort is put in.

How it Works: You might decide to put up Adsense ads the second you make your blog, or you might wait to put up ads until you have more visitors. You might decide not to put up any Adsense ads at all and, instead, go for affiliate marketing. Visitors come to your blog, look around, like your content and purchase a recommended product. Some visitors don’t see what they’re looking for on your blog, so they click on an ad to hopefully find what they’re looking for there. Other visitors don’t purchase or click anything at all, but they do read your content and subscribe to your RSS feed (which means potential earnings from them in the future). Over time, your blog begins to generate lots of money as more people find your website.

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Play around with different sources of income. If you’re not having much success with Adsense, try an Adsense alternative or play with affiliate marketing. If that doesn’t work out, try to make a useful eBook and sell it to your readers. No matter the money-making method you try, you won’t make money right away, and you won’t start making full-time income within the first month you blog (not usually). You’ll need thousands of readers in order to make a living online, only because more people will have access to the products or ads on your website.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on just one source of income. There’s a reason why many people like having multiple streams of online income. What happens if your main source of income stops making money? You’ll be in trouble if you were dependent on that one source of income. Vary your income streams a bit. Contemplate setting up online courses in addition to selling eBooks. Use affiliate marketing in addition to Adsense. Most importantly, have fun with it! Play around with each income stream to determine what works and what doesn’t. Only then will you reach your full earning potential.

3. You can network with other people as a result of your blog.

There are many benefits to networking and creating new online relationships. For example, if you’re a copywriter, someone you networked with the day before may refer you to a potential client. If you’ve created your very first eBook, someone you network with may decide to give it a boost and help advertise it for you on their blog. Networking can be a very important benefit of blogging.

How it Works: Someone visits your blog and likes your content, so they comment on a few blog posts. You see the comments and reply back to them. If the person interests you, you head over to his blog, read a few posts and decide that you want to comment on his blog as well. Seeing your comments, the person then shoots you an email thanking you. A conversation starts. The next thing you know, you’re talking about a new eBook you’re planning on launching. You haven’t made it public yet, but you want this person to have a look at it and tell you what he thinks. You offer him a free copy, he accepts and goes on to say that he truly loves your new product. He loves it so much, that he’s going to help promote it on his blog. You’ve just made a new relationship, received a lifetime reader and now have someone interested in promoting your eBook as well – all in one day!

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Interact with your readers. Reply to comments. If no one is commenting, ask your readers to let you know what they think about a certain point made in a new blog entry. Don’t be afraid to visit your readers’ websites or shoot a few emails their way. Start conversations, link to blog articles that you like from other people and your good deeds will be returned. It may not be in that form (person links to you as well), but it most certainly will come back to you later (person promotes a product, for example).

4. You gain authority with your blog.

As you blog more about a certain topic, readers see that you really know the topic in detail, even if you don’t and you’re learning along the way. Some people create blogs for this very reason. They’re passionate about a certain niche or subject and want to learn more, so they create a blog around the subject. As you build authority, more readers will want to purchase products from you because they trust that you know what you’re talking about.

How it Works: Someone searches on Google for ways to treat fish fungal diseases. Browsing Google search results, the person clicks over to your article on how to treat fish fungus. After reading the article, he finds additional articles related to the same problem. Impressed with your content, the reader then visits your About page and discovers that you had created an eBook about fish keeping. He goes ahead and purchases the eBook.

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Do research before posting a blog entry, especially if you don’t know anything about a specific topic. If you do know a topic very well, you have an added edge, since you’re already experienced and had most likely already solved the same problems your readers have now. Make sure your blog posts are useful. Useful posts can either answer a question or solve a problem. Try writing multiple blog entries about the same topic. If you already wrote an article on choosing baby names, write another article on the top 10 things a mother should know before having a baby.

5. You gain trust with your blog.

When you blog, you usually share experiences about yourself that relate to the blog post you’re writing. If you don’t, you’ll have a little introduction about yourself on your About page. When you post frequently, readers are more exposed to your work, what you do and your name in general. Readers will get to know you on a personal level and will relate to what you’re talking about. This creates trust, one of the essential benefits of blogging.

How it Works: A visitor goes to your blog with a certain question in mind. After reading an article and having that question answered, the visitor then starts browsing other blog posts. She’s impressed with your genuine knowledge and experience, so she heads over to your About page. It turns out, you’re also a work-at-home mom! She subscribes to your RSS feed and tries out a program that you recommend.

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Don’t shy away from your readers, and don’t be afraid to get personal. I don’t mean describing how you prepared waffles this morning for breakfast and topped the waffles off with strawberries, unless it relates to the subject of your blog. Just don’t be afraid to tell the reader your past experiences that might help the reader solve a specific problem outlined in the blog post. For example, you write a blog post on how to raise aquatic frogs. You then tell your readers a heart-breaking story of how your first aquatic frog died as a result of bad frog care. Your readers learn from your experiences and, at the same time, learn more about you on a personal level. As they learn more about you, they start to trust you. As a result, they’re more likely to try out recommended programs or buy from you.

6. You can increase sales or clients as a result of your blog.

Tons of people are using their blogs to promote their products or services. By providing information about a specific market or niche, they’re able to sell products or promote services related to the same market or niche because they’ve built authority.

How it Works: You have a blog dedicated to providing information on how to increase sales and attract leads with direct mail. A business owner comes to your blog through a search engine and sees that you’re pretty knowledgeable about direct mail. Seeing a link on your sidebar, the person clicks over to your online portfolio. The business owner then tries to contact you about maybe doing a direct mail package for her.

How to Make Your Blog Benefit: Publish posts related to the product or service you’re selling. When people see how well you know the market, they’ll be more eager to buy from you or hire you. Through your content, you show them that you know what you’re talking about. Post frequently and stick up a section on your sidebar or header that links to your product or services page.

Related Posts:

1. What is a Blog?
2. Using Your Own Name to Title Your Blog: Pros & Cons
3. Choosing a Blog Title Isn’t Easy: The Process I Went Through

In a previous post 10 Practical Ways to Make a Living Online, I discussed 10 of the most common ways to make online income. However, we’ve gotten some really good feedback, so I’ve decided to expand on the topic a little further by listing 7 more ways you can make a living online. I hope you enjoy!

1. Making eBooks

eBooks have become increasingly popular on the Internet, mainly because buyers are able to read the eBook immediately after purchasing it. Creating an eBook also doesn’t require as much hassle as publishing an actual book. Most writing applications, like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Office allows you to convert regular text files into PDF format for eBook publishing. You will need the full version of Adobe Acrobat installed, though, before you can convert the file.

Bloggers and freelance writers everywhere are creating quality eBooks and making thousands of dollars in eBook sales. If you have a unique writing style or know a topic very well, creating an eBook might be right for you. Read Ed Zivkovic’s guide on how to create an eBook for more details.

2. Consulting

If you know a lot about a certain area or subject, you should consider offering your own consulting services. The job of a consultant is to work closely with clients, giving advice to help them with a particular project or skill. Successful consultants have a keen eye for finding problems and helping their clients solve them. As a consultant, you’ll need to market yourself well in order to find clients for your consulting business to make a living online.

Many copywriters offer consulting on the side to go along with their other services. However, you don’t have to be a copywriter to get into consulting. Read more about consulting and what to expect on the Reference for Business website.

3. Writing Books

Ever dream about being a bestselling author? Now is your chance! There are many writers who put book writing aside for whatever reason and swear that they’ll write at least one book in their lifetime. Guess what? They never do. Instead of putting it off, start writing that book. Books can bring in a fabulous residual income and, even if you didn’t want to write books full-time, making money year after year from doing nothing is a pretty good deal. The money can also save you in tight spots.

Read Shevonne Polastre’s article 6 Ways to Publish Your Own Book for more inspiration.

4. Taking Pictures

Photographers can make a living online selling their images. What’s even better is that you can continue to sell the same pictures over and over again, without adding new images. In fact, anyone can sell their photos online. You don’t have to be a professional photographer. All you need to have is simply a digital camera and a computer to transfer your photos on.

Read Dean’s article Be a Good Photography Seller for more information on selling photos online.

5. Selling Art

Have a talent for painting brilliant masterpieces? Can you transform a canvass with a single lump of charcoal? You should consider making a living online with your art. There are tons of websites that allow you to do this. Etsy, for example, is an online store that allows visitors to sell their handmade items. If you are unsure of pricing, you can also always browse the art of other people and see what they’re pricing their work for.

For more information on selling your art online, check out the article Selling Art Online: Information on Where (and How) to Sell Art on the Internet on Emptyeasy.com.

6. Making iPhone Apps

Creating iPhone applications is a fabulous side income for programmers and, if the app is successful, can net in thousands of dollars of online income. However, you never know whether an iPhone app will become successful or not until it’s released. Some apps make extraordinary amounts of money and some make nil.

You don’t have to be a programmer to create an iPhone app. You can simply share an idea with a programmer and net in part of the profit once the app is created. How to Create Your First iPhone Application by Jen Gordon is a must-read for individuals interested in the process and looking for an informative guide.

7. Auctioning Items

The most popular bidding website is eBay. In fact, eBay started out as purely an auction website, though now visitors can buy items at a set price. Many people prefer this method of earning online income because they can just buy an item for a low price and resell it at a higher price. Auction sites can also be very lucrative, as you never know what the highest bid will be.

eBay isn’t the only auction site around. There are others all over the Internet for a variety of items. J.D. Roth offers a fabulous guide about auctioning items for sale on his blog Get Rich Slowly.

Related Posts:

1. 10 Practical Ways to Make a Living Online

Have you ever asked yourself what a blog actually is or, more precisely, what the meaning behind a blog is supposed to be? If I chose 20 random people and told them to describe what a blog is to them, how would they respond? More importantly, would their responses be the same?

Let’s look at what famous bloggers have to say:

‘A blog is a type of website that is usually arranged in chronological order from the most recent ‘post’ (or entry) at the top of the main page to the older entries towards the bottom.’

- Darren Rowse, author of ProBlogger

‘Blogging is the ability to write fairly well and work diligently [and] the opportunity to reach thousands of people for fun and profit.’

- Leo Babauta, author of Zen Habits

‘A blog is basically a type of website, like a forum or a social bookmarking site. As such it is defined by the technical aspects and features around it, and not by the content published inside it.’

- Daniel Scocco, author of Daily Blog Tips

Huh? All three of these bloggers seem to be saying something different. However, all three answers are valid. Ask anyone – your wife, a co-worker, a friend – what a blog is, and that person would probably give you a different answer as well.

So, then, what is a blog? Well, we all agree that it’s a website. But not just any website. The purpose of a blog is to share your thoughts and past experiences with your readers. Blogs don’t usually promote specific products, though they can. A number of bloggers have affiliate marketing integrated in their content. However, blogs are mainly informational sources to help readers learn more about something or improve something in their lives.

Photo by dougwoods (flickr)

A reader will usually come to a blog with a question in mind. For example, if your blog is about healthy lifestyle choices, someone might go to your blog for help with staying slim and eating healthy. The reader will then browse your topics for specific advice that will answer the question – How do I eat healthy foods in order to stay slim? If the reader does not find an answer to the question, she may leave your blog and find another one that will answer her question. However, if she does find what she’s looking for, she may even continue to read further about other topics on your blog that might not have anything to do with the original question. If you have personal experience with eating healthy foods and you share your experiences, your reader will probably come back to your blog later, since she will be able to relate to you and your blog will become valuable to her. You also now have authority because you had already went through the same events she’s going through right now.

What is a Blog to Me?

A blog is a place where you can build a community around a topic that you’re passionate about. Readers will want to read about topics that interest them and that they can learn from. By blogging about specific topics that interest you, you attract readers who are also interested in the same topics. If you have personal experience in your niche, readers will begin to look up to you and seek you out for advice.

A blog shouldn’t just be about sharing your interests. You should also use your blog to help readers to grow or improve in certain skills or to help visitors with solving a particular problem. While some blogs don’t necessarily do this, the majority do. Readers should benefit from your blog in some way or they won’t come back.

I’m passionate about personal finance and earning online income at my own pace, without a boss looking over my shoulder and watching my every move. Being independent and having the ability to control my own future financially is something I’ve desired to do for a long time. Cash Campfire is a blog that helps readers to accomplish the same goals I wanted to accomplish – to be financially free. Through my experience, visitors learn how to build their online income to the point where they can eventually make a living off of it. Readers can also share their experiences and grow with the community by participating in comments or contacting me directly.

What Separates a Blog from a Website?

• Blogs have archives. Archives are filing cabinets, if you will, that file previous posts away as new blog entries are added. Every time a blogger adds a new post, the posts behind that new post move further and further down the list on the front page until the post disappears from the front page completely. If you look at the archives of the blog, you can quickly find the old post again under the date the post was created. You’ll also be able to access other posts that were posted within the same year or month. Choose a different month and more old posts will pop up.
• Most blogs have comments. While every blog can display comments, some bloggers choose not to on their blogs, mainly due to the constant spam they receive. However, most blogs do have comments, allowing you to participate in conversations related to the topic of the post you’re reading. To comment, just simply type in your message in the “Leave a reply” field, your name, email address and website url (if you have one). If you’re commenting for the first time on some blogs, your comment may have to be approved. This is just to prevent spammers from leaving comments just to promote their products or websites (and not really to add to the conversation). However, if you’re an active participator of a specific blog, your comment may show up immediately. Some blogs moderate all comments, though, and some don’t even allow comments at all.
• Most bloggers blog about a specific topic or niche. Cash Campfire, for example, provides information on earning online income. Darren Rowse’s blog, ProBlogger, has a more specific niche and gives useful tips on how to start and maintain a successful blog. Though not all bloggers have a specific topic that they write about (some blogs are just used as a journal), most successful blogs will have articles that evolve around one specific topic.
• Blogs are usually updated on a regular basis. How often the blog is updated depends on the author of the blog. Bloggers can update a blog monthly, weekly, daily or even multiple times per day. New posts keep readers coming back for more, if they like the content.
• Blog content can be syndicated in feed readers or email accounts. Feed readers, like Google Reader, are handy tools for readers that want to be notified whenever a blog publishes new content. They can even read the new content on the feed reader without having to go to the blog. These feeds are known as RSS feeds and every blog has them. You can quickly subscribe to a blog’s RSS feed by clicking the orange RSS icon in Firefox.
• Blogs can receive trackbacks or pingbacks that notify the blog when someone else links to it. Many blogs disallow trackbacks, but trackbacks are handy to blog authors that want to know when another blog is linking back to theirs. They’ll also have an option to link back to the blog backlinking them.

Still confused? For further reading, check out Gayla Baer’s article Should You Become a Blogger on The Freelance Writing Jobs Network.

Post Your Input

• What is a blog to you?
• What types of topics do you provide your blog readers?

Related Posts:

1. 6 Major Benefits of Blogging and How to Incorporate Them on Your Blog
2. Using Your Own Name to Title Your Blog: Pros & Cons
3. Choosing a Blog Title Isn’t Easy: The Process I Went Through

Photo by Sarah (flickr)

Could entrepreneurs really be taking over the economy? This was one question Amy Cosper, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, posted in the December 2009 issue of the publication. Do we now live in an age where entrepreneurs rule the economy?

Entrepreneurs most certainly rule the Internet. Today, millions of people are establishing themselves and their businesses online. They don’t have a choice. Lots of people were hit hard with lay offs in 2008, as companies had to downsize just to stay afloat. So, people began becoming more independent and sought out ways to make a living online, after it was clear that companies wouldn’t be hiring them. Many people chose an entrepreneur lifestyle; it’s easy to see why. After all, why wouldn’t they? They were their own bosses now. They controlled how much money they made and how many hours they worked. They controlled their future.

Now you can too.

This guide is meant to be a resource to help you make a living online. A simple list of ideas or suggestions to help you achieve your online goals, if you will, that will point you on to the right path. Test them, practice them or devote your time to them. You can control your own future. And what better way to do that than online?

10 Practical Ways to Make a Living Online

1. Copywriting

There are thousands of entrepreneurs earning online income through copywriting. Copywriting is just any form of copy (Ex: an article, brochure, ad) written by a professional freelance writer at a set fee. Writing copy is a very lucrative profession and requires incredible amounts of work. However, with enough experience, you can easily make over $100,000 a year.

Copywriters can literally write about anything, though they usually specialize in a certain market or service. This is because companies like to hire copywriters who are experienced in their type of field. Tons of books have been dedicated to the subject of copywriting and you can easily find some on Amazon. Popular, well-known, books include Start & Run a Copywriting Business by Steve Slaunwhite, The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman, Secrets of a Freelance Writer by Robert Bly and The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly. For further information about copywriting, visit Copyblogger.

2. Blogging

Almost everyone has blogged at one point in their lives. Many people are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year blogging. Look at Darren Rowse of ProBlogger for example. He’s able to make a living online with just the money he’s making from blogging. Of course, blogging takes hard work in order to be successful.

You can make money in a variety of ways with your blog, ranging from selling ad space to selling eBooks. You also don’t even have to be a professional freelance writer. You just have to know the subject you’re writing about. For more information about blogging and advice to get you started, browse the ever popular blog ProBlogger.

3. Graphic Designing

Do you like dabbling with Inkscape or Photoshop and making intriguing designs? Graphic design may be your next big money-maker. Simply set up an online portfolio displaying your samples and offer your graphic design services. You can also make money selling WordPress or forum themes if you’re familiar with those platforms.

Graphic designing can even be used as a fun hobby to supplement other sources of income. If you didn’t want to make graphic designing a business, you can also just sell your work on a variety of websites that accept creative logos and themes. Visit How to Earn Money As A Graphic Designer for additional ideas on where to sell your designs.

4. Writing Web Content

There are many websites on the Internet that pay freelance writers to write content for them. Popular websites include Associated Content, Demand Studios, Constant Content and Helium. There are tons of others as well.

Many content websites pay writers residual income or continuous payments over a long period of time, so that writers can get the most out of their articles. However, there are some websites that pay writers upfront or one time payments. Find out more about web content in the article Exploring Web Content and Web Content Sites. Tons of freelance writers are making a living online with their web content.

5. Inventing

Do you like to solve problems? Are you an incredible thinker? Invent something useful and sell it online for a decent profit. You don’t even have to manufacture the product. In fact, you don’t even have to be within 20 miles of the product in order to make a living online. Simply give someone else your product idea (the manufacturer, for example), have them do all the work and then reap a percentage of the profits!

You will need to research competition and trends, however, before you start forming ideas. Tamara Monosoff wrote a terrific article on how to position and sell your invention. I also suggest reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss for a more detailed guide.

6. Programming

Anyone with the motivation can become a programmer. However, the journey may be rough, and it will require hours of study in order to familiarize yourself with the different languages and code. Those who know how to program have endless money-making opportunities ahead of them, ranging from selling applications to checking the security of websites. You should consider investing in programming books, as there will be many languages you should be familiar with (C++, Java, Visual Basic and so on). You can also specialize in one or two languages.

To get started, browse the W3Schools.com website.

7. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing refers to when someone, usually a business owner or webmaster, recruits referrals to specific sites or networks in return for a reward. The reward can be money or a gift, though money is rewarded most often.

When people talk about affiliate marketing, they generally refer to affiliate networks like Commission Junction or ClickBank. Commission Junction and ClickBank may be popular affiliate networks, but they aren’t the only affiliate networks around. Not many people know that affiliate marketing encompasses a wide variety of networks, like freebie websites.

Affiliate marketing is a broad term and can refer to any website that you refer others to for profit. Because the term is so broad, many people can use affiliate marketing and make a living online. Tons of websites have an affiliate program. Take a look around. Have you ever hosted a website? Your hosting company probably has an affiliate program. Have you ever bought anything online? That site almost definitely has an affiliate program. There’s dozens of sites you can use for affiliate marketing. Darren Rowse describes affiliate marketing nicely on his What is Affiliate Marketing? article.

8. Selling Niche Websites

Do you like to optimize websites for search engines? There are tons of webmasters that will buy websites that are already getting traffic. For some people, starting a website from scratch is hard work. They don’t want to deal with that hassle. There are even auction sites that attract visitors interested in buying niche websites and will allow you to list your niche site for sale. Flippa is a popular website where people can auction off their niche websites to the highest bidder. Some people even earn over $13,000 for one niche website with Flippa!

Before listing your niche website for sale, you’ll need to know the basics of switching domain names and hosting servers so that you can transfer the website on to the buyer. Read the domain name transfer tutorial and the WordPress server switch tutorial before you get started.

9. Investing

Investing is a risky business, but it can also be a profitable one if you know what you’re doing. There are different forms of investing, ranging from real estate to Forex investing. Whichever form of investing you choose to take part in, you’ll need to do some heavy research in the area to reduce any risks.

Though investing is risky, there are many people who are able to live a comfortable life solely from the money earned from investing. The Investing 101 course will teach you a great deal of what you need to know about investing before you get started. You should also do additional research to increase your earning potential.

10. Creating Online Courses

You can make a living online just by hosting online courses and sharing your expertise, especially if you already have a Web presence. Many online users are eager to spend money to learn new skills. If you’re a professional in your area of expertise, people will want to learn from you. You can also charge as much as $300 or more per course (per person, mind you) if you are exceptionally well known.

Bloggers especially find online courses to have great money potential if used alongside their blogs. Their blogs also help build their brand and authority, so more people want to learn from them. Best Universities offers a wealth of online course materials geared to help you get started to make a living online.

Related Posts:

1. 7 More Practical Ways to Make a Living Online
2. Demand Studios Work Challenge – June 9, 2010

One of the hardest tasks of creating a blog is choosing the blog title. You want your blog title to be creative, relate to your niche and, at the same time, attract traffic to your website. In fact, choosing a blog title can be just as difficult as launching your blog for the first time and increasing your subscriber count. On eHow, I touched on this topic briefly with my How to Choose a Personal Blog Title article.

It takes time to craft a blog title that will turn heads and make visitors on your website want to stay. At the same time, you also want a blog title that goes with your theme and overall brand. A blog on simplicity, for example, wouldn’t have a long or complex title, since the blog deals with simplifying your life. Just like a blog about peace and calm wouldn’t have a logo displaying loud, bright colors, since this would have the opposite effect of peacefulness.

Choosing a Blog Title: The Process

Let’s take a look at the title of this blog, Cash Campfire. Before making the blog, I had a plan about what my blog was going to be about. I knew that I wanted to create a blog that described my successes and failures at making money online. There was my niche. Then, I thought about everything I wanted my blog to offer. I considered making a blog that would only focus on residual income, but I didn’t want to only limit myself to that category. So, I decided to create a blog that focused on online income instead.

I thought about the benefits of online income and what I would want to learn while browsing a blog with this category. In other words, I put myself into the shoes of my potential readers. Obviously, I would want to increase my earning potential. But, I would also want to keep my online income constant so that I would always have money at my disposal. This is where things got interesting. With a thesaurus in hand and a handy title generator, I put my creativity to work.

“Money,” I typed into the generator. The list populated. But, as I scrolled down, nothing stuck out. So I used “Cash” instead. “Cheetah Cash” caught my attention. I liked it! Doing a domain search, though, I found that the domain was taken. Moving down the list, I saw that “Cash Campfire” was one of the results. A few seconds passed as I considered it. Well, I liked the double “C” effect.

Then, a light bulb suddenly flashed in the dark recesses of my mind. Fire can both be constant and, when left alone, spread throughout an entire rain forest. Fire was the perfect metaphor! Money can be constant and, just like how a fire can increase in intensity, money can increase as well – as long as the effort is put in. Advice and tips to help readers maintain constant income, while increasing their earning potential, was what I wanted to share with my readers. This blog title was perfect, I thought. I could just picture my logo: Flames licking the corners of one-hundred dollar bills, as it grows in intensity and maintains its consistency.

I had found it! And I wasn’t about to let this idea pass. I did a quick check to make sure that the domain name wasn’t taken. It was available! Hence, Cash Campfire was born.

Of course, I went through a lot more planning than that. It actually took me two days to come up with a good blog title. I also had friends help me with the final decision, as I had at least four other candidates to use for my blog title if “Cash Campfire” didn’t work out.

Post Your Input

• Do you have a potential blog title you intend to use for your new blog? Fill us in!
• What tips or advice can you give new bloggers struggling to come up with their own blog titles?

Related Posts:

1. Using Your Own Name to Title Your Blog: Pros & Cons
2. What is a Blog?
3. 6 Major Benefits of Blogging and How to Incorporate Them on Your Blog

If you have a trade rating (TR) of 4 or higher and you think you’re ready to move on to Method 2 of freebie trading and recruit your own referrals, buckle your seat belts. It’s going to be a long and entertaining ride. But, if you’re new to freebie trading or think you can still benefit from Method 1, I suggest reading my Beginner’s Guide to Anything4Free: Method 1 post to familiarize yourself with the process. For a more detailed overview on Method 1 and Method 2, read my Project Payday review.

First, you’ll need to master the art of patience before freebie trading can become a rewarding hobby. There are so many factors of freebie trading that is beyond your control when diving into Method 2. Referrals will go on hold, offers will take centuries to credit and questions will pile up in your in-box, among the few. It will become your duty to help your referrals go off that hold, explain how to submit missing credit requests to speed up the process of offer crediting and answer all questions in your in-box, one by one.

You’ll also need to be flexible. Some days will be hectic, and you’ll have to bustle about answering questions, initiating trades and responding to trade thread inquiries. Other days you’ll find yourself refreshing the Anything4Free forums tab a hundred times, just to see if you have any new messages.

Photo by Zack Mccarthy (flickr)

With Method 2, the core of your freebie trading efforts will evolve around your trading thread. However, your trading thread shouldn’t be the only thing you should focus on. See my guide on recruiting referrals to freebie trading websites for additional things you can do to attract referrals. Though, since one of our main objectives in Method 2 is to make an effective trading thread, we’ll focus on that in this post.

Before Making a Trading Thread on Anything4Free

Before you create a trading thread, you’ll need to list your trades in the trade manager so that potential referrals can initiate trades with you. You do this by going to the Trade Manager and then the “Add Trade Offer” link in the manager menu. Until you are able to collect more trades, the trades that you add will be the first 4 trades you completed with me or previous trade mentors.

1. Choose the types of trades you want to display in your trade list. You can choose from the following:

   • Referral for Referral – Referral for Referral trades are used if you want to increase the variety of trades you have in your trade list and raise your TR. Basically, you complete a trade for someone else, get paid after the offers credit, have that person complete a trade for you and pay them for the completed trade. You earn money from the trader you’re working with and the freebie website the referral completed offers on. You also pay the trader for completing offers as your referral.
   • Referral for Cash – Referral for cash is the traditional approach to freebie trading. You pay your referral a certain amount of money to complete a trade with you, and you get paid from the freebie website the referral completed offers on.
   • Referral for Other – Referral for Other is used if you want to exchange something other than cash with the other trader.

   No matter what type of trade you do, you will receive your payment from the freebie websites you completed offers for as long as your referrals complete their offers under your referral link.

2. Choose a timing for the trade. The options are the following:

   • On Green – Your referrals will complete the offers under your referral link and go “green” once they receive credit for the offers completed. You then pay the trader, submit the account for approval and get paid from the freebie website. Paying “On Green” is mostly used so that referrals receive payment quicker. However, because you submit the account for approval AFTER you pay the referral, you risk the chance of getting scammed (the referral going on hold because he/she provided false information or his/her credit card was bad when you submit the account for approval). If a referral goes on hold when you submit the account for approval, you do not get paid.
   • On Approval – The referral gets credited for all the required offers, you submit the account for approval, the account gets approved successfully (and does not go on hold), you pay the referral the amount due and then you get paid from the freebie website. By using this option, it might be slower for the referral to receive payment, but there is no risks involved. You’ll get paid no matter what. If the referral’s account does go on hold for whatever reason, you can help the referral get off hold and, if this doesn’t work (the referral provided false information purposely, for example), you don’t lose any money because you never paid the referral yet in the first place.
   • Same Time – This option is mainly used for “Referral for Referral” trades. Basically, you both complete the required offers and you both pay each other after each trader goes “green.”
3. Choose the order of the trade. If you’re paying referrals after they complete offers for you on the freebie website, I suggest the “Partner goes first” option, since your referral will have to complete the required offers and get credited first before the trade is complete. The “same time” option is generally used with “Referral for Referral” trades.
4. Fill in the freebie website information. Enter in the website name your referrals will be completing offers on, your referral link for that freebie website and a link to the offer list on the freebie website so that referrals can see the offers before committing to a trade.
5. Decide how much money you’ll pay each referral for completing offers on the freebie website. When choosing pricing, look around the trading forums and see how much money other traders pay for the specific trade in order to determine the average. You can pay higher or lower than average, depending on your needs. Higher payments generally attract more referrals, though you’ll earn less when subtracting that amount from the money the freebie website will give you.
6. Choose a color for your trade. Many traders like to color code or group their trades into a specific color group. You can also pin certain trades so that they show up first in the trade list.

Creating a Trading Thread

Once you have your trades up in the trade list, you’re ready to start working on your trading thread. However, I suggest first buying premium membership on Anything4Free, since premium membership gives you access to the Beginner’s Trading Post section of the forums. With premium membership, you also receive an expanded in-box for more saved in-box messages, 2,000 or more points to use in the Anything4Free store, a reduced response time (so that you don’t have to wait several minutes before you can respond to a private message or send private messages) and access to the pinned waiting list. Premium membership is only $30 for 6 months or $50 for a year.

To be more successful and recruit more referrals, access to the Beginner’s Trading Post is essential. You only receive access if you have a TR of 3 and below or have premium status. If you don’t have premium status, it may be hard to find referrals in the other trading sections (Referral 4 Cash Trades, Referral 4 Referral Trades and Referral 4 Other Trades). Beginner traders can’t access any of the three above trading sections because they don’t have a TR higher than 4, and many traders that hit a TR of 4 or higher aren’t interested in doing any more trades because they are already preoccupied with recruiting their own referrals. If you don’t mind waiting and have mastered the art of patience, you may not need to buy premium membership. However, I highly recommend it.

• Decide which trading sections on the forums you’ll like to put your trading threads in. The trading sections are the Beginner’s Trading Post, Referral 4 Cash Trades, Referral 4 Referral Trades and Referral 4 Other Trades. You can choose to create only one trading thread for one specific trading section, multiple trading threads for each section or one trading thread for each section. However, you can’t make more than one trading thread in one section. Once you decide on which section(s) you want to use, click the “New Topic” button on the upper right corner of the trading section. The following blank page you’ll use to fill out your trading thread.
• Make a catchy heading for your trading thread. This can be the tricky part. Your heading can make the difference between multiple referrals a day and no referrals at all. You want your heading to be unique and memorable. Try to spice it up a bit and go with a theme. For example, would you click on a heading that reads “Are you a hungry newbie? Fresh hot money served here!” or “Need referrals! I pay quick! Make money here.” The answer is obvious. The first heading isn’t only unique, it’s creative. Being creative, it attracts attention. You want your heading to turn heads and make potential referrals click to view your trading thread. Without a good heading, you have no business.
• Make the body of your trading thread. Don’t just toss on links to the trades in your trade list and hope potential referrals will be inclined to click them. Organize the structure of your trading thread. You wouldn’t first build a house without putting up a framework, would you? Not unless you want your house to topple down before you could even live in it. Well, freebie trading is pretty much the same thing. Before your trading thread can be successful, you need to first build your framework. How will your thread start? What sections should you include in your trading thread (Ex: About Me, Benefits, Advantages, Features)? How will you entice potential traders to initiate trades with you?
• Analyze the competition. What are other traders putting in their trading threads and how can yours be different? You don’t want to copy another trader’s trading thread. That’s just dull and boring. Besides, it’s plagiarism and you’ll get in a lot more trouble doing that. Instead, find out what other traders are saying and determine what they’re leaving out. To rise on top, you need to provide the best service, or appear like you are. For example, some traders don’t offer bonus packages. Should you? If an idea strikes, use it.
• Put links to each of your trades in your trading thread. Make a list of all your trades or group them together into similar categories. For example, group all of your ZipNadaZilch trades together and your ZeroPriceTags trades in a separate section. You can even color code specific groups. Start off each list item with the trade name and end each item with a link to initiate the trade. Between the name and trade initiation link, include how many credits traders will need to acquire and the link to the offers of the freebie website listed. Some traders like to browse the offers of a freebie website first to make sure that they can complete them.

After your trading thread is complete, bump it three times a day so that it can stay on top of all the other trading threads. You can only bump a trade once every 6 hours. Use the feature wisely and test certain hours per day to determine which hours give you the most response. For more information on acquiring referrals, read my guide on recruiting referrals.

Related Posts:

1. Beginner’s Guide to Anything4Free: Method 1
2. How to Get Referrals on Freebie Websites
3. When to Submit a Missing Credit Request on IFWs