How I Got My Site Back Up On Google Search After Being Penalised

This is part of the learning curve in my SEO journey. I have many sites working for me online. Some were built many years ago and some are pretty new. And for all my sites, SEO is a must so that I can get free traffics from Google. But SEO is always a long journey. And it does take some effort to have your sites ranked well on Google search, especially for the competitive keywords.

I have one of my site penalised by Google 4 months ago. The site ranked very well for some competitive keywords and it has generated very handsome income for me on daily basis. But after the site being panalised by Google, the traffic and business for that site has dropped drastically.

Check out the video below. I am sharing my experience on the Google penalty (how I got my site penalised by Google), and how I got the site back up in the Google SERPs again!

There are a few lessons learnt here:

1. One has to accept that there is always down time in any businesses. So it is always good to diversify your portfolio and niche. Most important, we have to learn how to embrace the down time.

2. Engage a decent SEO company if you want to outsource your SEO works. Make sure you do your due diligent check and ask for week report on their work to make sure they are doing a property job.

3. When you site is penalised by Google. Do not give up on the site. Keep building links and other SEO works. The more links you have (good links built professionally and naturally), the more credits Google will give you. And therefore you are going to have your site back up on the Google Search Result Pages soon.

The Effect Of Domain Name On SEO

Before you go and register a domain name and hosting package for your new website or online venture, you may want to think carefully for the domain name for your new site.

When come to choosing a domain name, there are few things we have to keep in mind:

1. Business/Website Nature

Before I touch on the effect of domain on SEO, it is important for me to point out that you should not decide on the domain name solely base on SEO advantage. You should also think of the benefits of domain name to your business.  A domain must represent the business or website nature. For example if you are running a business selling dog food, you may want to consider DogFood.com, Dog-Food.com, PetFeast.com etc. You want people to be able to tell what you are selling by just taking a look at your domain name. By having the right domain name will also help in the Branding of your business. Very few people will remember the domain name once they leave the website. It is therefore best to have a business nature related and also easy to remember domain name.

2. SEO Benefit

A lot of SEO guru would tell you that domain name has little effect on SEO. The truth is no one really know how much weight does the domain name carry when come to SEO. But one thing I am sure is that it does make a difference when you have your targetted keywords in your domain name. Take a look at the sample below:

I was searching on Google- “Recycle Bag’”. You can see that Google highlight the Title Tags and also the Domain names that show the keyword Recycle Bag. Therefore if you want to target certain keywords in your business, it is always a good idea to have the keyword in the domain.

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Focus is the Key to Success Online

I am going to cinema in an hour time, not with my wife but with my close friends this time, for mid night show. I am a cinema goer and it has become my weekly routine. Since my wife is now enjoying her holiday in Australia for 2 months, I therefore have to drag my friends along to the show.

I have decided to do a blog post before I leave my house to the cinema. I want to share with you my internet marketing experience.

I really can’t recall how I ended up in ‘make money online’. Make money online is a very fascinating phrase for many others who have no idea how people become millionaire selling online. It is also a very frustrating phrase for many others who have been trying to chase their online millionaire dreams because they just can’t get any fruitful results from their internet venture. Some blame that it is too competitive online. Of course there are some who just love to jump from Guru A to Guru Z and lose the momentum after that.

People who jump from one Guru to another or buy one product after another always think they know most of the things online but they just can’t make a dime online. I know how stressful and discourage it is after paying so much money to learn ‘how to make money online’ but ended up getting nowhere, because I was one of them before.

For me, the reason why I failed online is because I was trying to do too many things at one time. I tried to sell on eBay and Amazon, and I tried to do affiliate and email marketing and promote both digital and physical product. I then thought mastering SEO will make me ‘unbeatable’ online. But why I still not making any money online then? Yes, I have been too greedy in my learning curve. I tried to master everything but in fact I ended up being general and a mediocre in everything. Having said that, I have No regret at all because whatever I have learnt does help to build a solid foundation for my future success in online business.

I didn’t give up even though I don’t really make decent money online. I just keep trying out different things as usual and not until beginning of year 2008 that I realized I have to focus on one thing at a time. I then choose to start with the easy one, which is to sell on eBay. eBay is a big market and the traffic is there ready for you.  I do not have to do the marketing and eBay will send the customers to my listing 24/7.

It went off quite well and I finally started to see some REAL money coming in. And I know I have to explore further rather than sitting on eBay. As the product is selling well on eBay, I am sure it will also sell if I set up my own e-commerce site. With some keyword analysis and SEO (which I have learnt before), I managed to get my e-commerce sites up on the 1^st page of Google SERPs and enjoy the free traffics and good money daily!

There are many things, areas or niches that one can explore online. It is so wide that people always get greedy and want to dominate every single one of them. Therefore we always see people ‘swing’ from one niche to another even before they master or succeed in one. Focus and become specialist of that particular niche is the key to success online.

So the take away here is- be focus and claim the authority in your very own niche

Google Is a Myth

It is always a myth how Google rank the sites. There is no black and white rules written on the board for you and me to follow as Google like to keep the secrets inside their magic box. And because of this, there are a lot of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) ‘professors’ out there teaching different SEO techniques and a lot of times they are saying things contradicting to one another. For example, some are saying the domain name is important and best to choose the domain name that is similar to the keywords you are targeting, i.e. if your target keyword phrase is ‘green living’, then you ought to go for something like GreenLiving.com or Green-Living.com etc. Some are saying the domain name is irrelevant to the keywords and Google do no give extra ‘points’ to the site having keywords in their domain name.

All we know is – Google is BIG… as in B-I-G big. Google have over 19 data centers in the United States and at least 17 more all over the world. And each of these data centers are sitting on a 500,000 square feet of land EACH, with a cost of around $600 MILLION each. YES- $600 MILLION!

You and me are adding a HUGE proportion to the web every second!

So people always thought Google is a very complex beast. Google have very big brain and No one really know or understand how Google rank the website. Sometimes just when you think you are getting close, they change their algorithm again. According to Google Chief Engineer- Matt Cutts, Google tweet their search algorithm around 1 time every day. So that explains why certain sites may drop from 1st page to the 3rd overnight! But there are certain things of course still remain unchanged. For example the importance of backlinks. Check out the video below (filmed recently) and listen to what Matt Cutts has to say:

Click here to view the embedded video.

How Google Work

Even though no one really knows in detail how Google rank the sites. And no one knows what has been changed in the search algorithm from day to day. But we do know how Google work. I found this very good image/flow chart from ppcblog.com. And I am sure it will fascinate you if you are really keen to learn SEO. It is a big image, so you may want to right click and save it onto your computer to read.

Image Source: PPCBlog.com

Go ahead and start at the top and follow it all the way down. This chart takes you from adding new content to the web to how pages are returned and ranked when a user searches Google for related terms and phrases.

Don’t be scared by me saying ‘No one really knows how Google rank the site’. If you read carefully, I also said that there are certain things which we know Google consider to be important. So if you want to be successful in your internet venture, spend some times learning SEO 

101 Top Tips for Working From Home- Make Money Online

Lots of people want to work from home; no commuting, more time with the family, and the glitzy promises of wealth draws a lot of people in. But if you’re going to be even remotely successful at this, you have to know what you want, what you are comfortable doing and what to expect. Whatever you doing, remember online business is not a GET RICH QUICK scheme. Just like offline business, it has to be carried out in an ethical manner.

The following is a list of tips taken from all manner of at home workers, including friends’ and my own experience and sharing. Some of them may sounds familiar or are ‘common sense’ to you but they are worth mentioning as they are the FACT and will affect your decision to jump onboard as what to venture into online. The tips are applicable everywhere, no matter where you are- Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, UK, US, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand ..etc.

I have slotted them under different headlines, i.e. the workplace, computer and software, the attitude, at home workers-which one are you, wholesalers and turnkeys, choosing a market, communication, payment online, advertising around, outsourcing, honesty, avoiding scams, avoiding viruses, trojans, spyware, and infections, your health while working from home, the Myths busted! And lastly I also give you a bonus- Free money making website designed for you and also show you how to grab yourself a FREE Domain name.

The Workplace

Work from home, so as it goes, your workplace is your home. So you need all the basic things at home to start with – internet connection, computer and time.

1. Get high speed internet. If you work at home, communication is paramount; your customers, your clients, and everyone who is depending on you has to be able to reach you and you have to be able to talk back.  No matter what online job you have, you’ll need communication and your internet (especially those doing email marketing) and phone link are your ties. A wireless internet connection is preferred.

2. Pick somewhere comfortable for you to work, with everything close at hand. A lot full time marketers or experts will say that you can work anywhere you like as long as there is internet connection- your bed, your couch, the kitchen table, wherever, and of course this is true, but not 100% ‘correct’. My personal experience tells me that you should have a home office (more organize) if possible. Not only will it be distraction free (at least less nuisance for those with kids and lots of family members), but it also allows a bit of physical separation between work life and home life, even though they both happen at home.

3. On the other hand, if you are going to be on the phone a lot (important for network marketers), then have a quiet place to work because there’s nothing more unprofessional than having your customers hear your kinds, the dog and the television going in the background.

4. Have kids?  Don’t fear; you can still work, if you are organized.  Work while they’re napping, playing, or eating, but don’t forget that you can put it down if your child needs you.  If you have a baby, prepared to work like a demon when he or she goes to bed; that’s just the reality of the situation.

Computer and Software

5. A good computer is key. This can be a laptop or a desktop; though a laptop allows you increased mobility. For many people nowadays, having more than 1 computer is very common.

6. Keep up with the latest software in your field; if you want to do a simple web design, then you may need a dreamweaver or xsitepro; and if you are a SEO (search engine optimization) expert, you may need additional tools like Wordtracker and SEO Recon to help you in your works. In other words, you need the best software of your business to make your work easier and efficient. If you have the intention to file your income, just like any offline businesses, you may need things like tax programs and spread sheets.

7. Know your software. If you’re running an internet business, you’ll need shopping cart software and you’ll have to know how best to use it and how to implement it. You also have to know how to maintain it so that you do not have to BEG for people for help every time you need to upload new product or make changes to your listings.

The Attitude

8. You have to be independent, driven, passionate, and a bit of a workaholic.  You will rise or fall under your own power, no one else will make you work.  That’s the reality of the situation of working at home. But once the system is up, or your business is running smoothly, then you can relax and let the system works for you. Your working hour will subsequently reduce.

9. Understand that your office is your home and you won’t be able to physically escape it.  In order to survive this, you have to have mental walls between your home life and your work life.  This takes practice but it will cut down on your stress levels.

10. Start slowly.  When you’re starting out in the home based business, then it’s best to start slow rather than jumping immediately from a job with secure paycheck to one without.  Every kind of home based worker has to start out at the bottom and this means that you won’t be getting a lot of money for a while.  You also have to get used to a radically different pace of work, so it’s best to ease into things.

11. Don’t sell yourself too short (for those providing services online, like graphic designer, programmers, etc).  Yes it’s a highly competitive field and yes for a while, you will not be making very much money, but don’t let that stop you or make you feel like you only deserve a bit of money.  And never shortchange yourself on respect; if someone who hires you doesn’t respect you, then drop them, no matter how much money they are paying.

12. Be FIRM about your time off.  A lot of new at home workers worked all day every day and burned out.  You wouldn’t work at a job all day every day that was out of an office, so why should you do it at home?  Because you’ll feel pressured to!  Don’t succumb to that pressure; tell yourself, your boss/clients what days you’re available and what days you’re not.  Outsource if you have to.  And don’t forget about the annual vacation!

13. If you are providing services online, be professional and courteous to your clients, customers and bosses; this is what will get you rehired, get customers to come back, and make your job overall easier.  At the same time, though don’t be a pushover or a doormat because you will be dealing with a lot of people and chances are some of them will try to walk all over you.

14. Have focus-focus on your projects and don’t let them pile up on you.  Finish one before moving onto another or finish a chunk of one before moving onto another if you have a few on the go.  Set deadlines for yourself and stick to them (to the best of you ability) so it will be less stressful for you.

15. It’s a lonely life at some points; if you are very sociable and outgoing, it’s may not be the job for you.  If on the other hand, you prefer contacting people through, msn, skype, text or telephone and you like to work alone, then it’s a great career for you.

16. Crunch your numbers!  When you see how much (or how little) you’re making every week, you’ll feel motivated to work harder so you can make more.

At Home Workers-Which One Are You?

Figure out what kind of at home worker you want to be; they’re all different and suited for different people.  Read more to learn about the different kinds.

17. Survey taker:  Survey takers are the lowest rung, pay wise and work wise.  All you do is fill out surveys, the more the better.  However, it’s fast work and you can get not only cash, but coupons, free samples and other things.  BUT, be aware that you will never get rich from doing this; you will not make a lot of money at all and it’s only good as a very side income.  Also be very careful of scams; if you have to pay to take the surveys or pay to get the sites that offer them, it’s a scam.

18. Freelance Writer:  Do you enjoy writing, researching, and don’t mind seeing your work under someone else’s name?  Then look into writing.  This job is probably one of the lowest paying in the hierarchy (unless you get on a good retainer), but it’s consistent; there will always be someone looking for writers.  If you’re lucky and work hard, you may get a retainer which is the holy grail of freelance writers.

19. Freelance Graphic Artist:  On the other side of the scale, do you enjoy doing digital art and are good at it?  Then look at being a freelance graphic artist.  Graphic artists design things like logos, pictures, mottos and even e-book layouts; really, anything to do with art.  They are paid better than writers, but it’s harder to get into; you need a portfolio and the more skills you have with art programs the better.

20. Freelance Web Designers:  Web designers are in demand and they are paid well.  You will be creating the websites for your customers and that means you have to know things like HTML and internet codes and be able to design a competitive, customer friendly website.  Web designers are paid well for their work, but be prepared to put in some good hours for it.  You also have to keep up with all of the latest layouts and designs to remain competitive for your customers. Some clients would request to have the websites to be SEO friendly. So you have to know more than you suppose to know!

21. Virtual Assistant:  Virtual assistants are just like any assistant in a business, but from home.  You’ll be doing things like answering calls, organizing things to do with the business, (and sometimes more personal things like shopping), handling customers, researching, and whatever else your boss needs you to do.  Virtual assistants make great money-$20-$55+/hour, but they also do a lot of work.

22. Mystery Shoppers:  Mystery shopping is a bit of an intangible field, but if you enjoy shopping and secretly critiquing stores and restaurants, you’ll enjoy this stay at home job.  Just be sure to clarify what you’ll be paid and how much because some employers will pay in things like coupons and discounts as well as money.  And some mystery shopping opportunities are scams, so be very careful.

23. E-commerce:  If you are an online business owner, you get to run your own business selling your stuff online.  This means that you truly are able to make your own hours and decide how things will be run, but more rides on you; you have to make your business succeed by your own power (and the strength of anyone you hire).  This is considered the penultimate work at home opportunity with countless people trying and failing.  You have to really be persistent to succeed in this, but if you can do it, you’ll be amazed at how well you will do. But it is also a truly competitive area, so you must have your own niche (good product) in order to succeed. If you don’t have the capacity to set up your own e-commerce site, then you can always make use of eBay, Amazon, Shopping etc to sell your product. The good thing about that is the traffic or number of people visiting your products is there for you. Some of the most popular shopping cart online are:  OsCommerce, ZenCart, Magento, Joomla, and even WordPress.

24. Affiliate Marketing: If you don’t have your own product to sell like those who own the e-commerce websites, you can always sell other people products. There are lots of physical and digital products online which give very good commission if you sell for them. You can always go to Clickbank, Paydotcom, Amazon, Sell Health etc to search for good products to promote. Online gambling and adult products also offer lots of commission when you sign someone up for their businesses. A lot of internet marketers like to use email marketing to promote the affiliate products nowadays. If you have your own product to sell, that is even better. You just leverage on other people to sell for you.

25. Network Marketer: It is a new name for MLM (not so new in fact).  A lot of people are phobia of MLM. But when you tell people that you are doing network marketing online, then people will feel better when you approach them. Networking marketing is a very Big Market online. A lot of offline MLM companies are shifting online. People are recruiting downlines online and the basic principal is still the same as offline MLM. The cost of signing up some popular MLM is not cheap, it can go up to few thousands USD easily. No doubt that there are many good network marketers online.

26. Blogger: Blogger can be millionaire too! And there are lots of people blogging to make money. Blogger make money via Google ad sense, commercial advertising, or promoting their own or other people products via writing. You have to have your edge and theme when you write, and constant update is crucial. To keep you going and stand out among the crowds, you must love what you are doing and know what you are writing. You know how many blogs being created every second worldwide? Check this BBC Web.. If you want to create your own blog, you are recommended to go for WordPress.com, WordPress.org (for your own domain name), Blogger.com.

27. Service and Platform Providers: If you are creative enough, then you can create a platform for people to carry out some activities on your site. Example, eBay is an auction platform, Elance or Scriptlance is a platform where web designers, graphic designers, writers, etc can sell their services. Or you can provide hotel or hostel booking platform, e.g. Hostelworld and Rooms4bid (coming soon) and earn commission from every booking. This is a very good way to make money as the effort involved is less once the system is set up and the return is very good.

28. Forum and Membership Sites: There are many people setting up forums on certain subjects and trying to build up the member base. For example, forum that is popular for internet marketer is Warrior Forum or Digital Point; forum which is popular among Asian football or soccer fans is Asian Bookie, Asianbookie ; forum which is popular for HYIP is TalkGold . So when the forums grow popular, the site owners can start charging for advertising, and also start collecting membership fee. A monthly fee will make sure you have your monthly pay! But most people prefer to go for life time membership. You may lose some of your members of you go for monthly fee system.

29. Software Developer: If you are an IT genius (in fact most of the times it is the idea that counts), you can always create software that help to make the life easy for people online. Example, there are tones of Twitter software that helps people to follow and unfollow people- Twittollower There are also lots of software that help to submit your press release to lots of PR sites. And in the market, a lot of software developers come from India. As long as your software is good, then it will sell with some marketing efforts.

30. Trader: Nowadays you do not have to go to the trading floors to trade. You can stay at home to trade in the share market, the currency (forex trading is red hot now). But the statistic shows that only 5% of people making money trading online. So as people always say, if you know how to do it, it will be easy for you. If you do not know how and have no discipline, then better stay away from this! Try to go to Google and search for Forex trading, you will see tones of results coming out. Do you know how much those companies pay Google in Pay Per Click (Google Adwords) Campaign? It ranges from 15USD to 70USD per CLICK!!! So you can see how good profit is it for the trading platform provider.

31. Educator: There are many Gurus teaching online. They are selling their courses online; they teach via webminars and they sell you product after product. But not everyone can become ‘Guru’. You have to prove yourself before you are recognized as Guru. Relationship building and branding is very important for every Guru.

32. Telecommuter:  A telecommuter is someone who has a traditional job, but spends part of the job at home, either because of transportation costs, a preference and ability to stay at home, and/or it’s cheaper for the employer.  Telecommuting is growing more common as computers, internet, and programs that can turn computers into things like fax machines grow more widespread.  While not precisely an at home job, since you will have to go to the office every so often, it is a stepping stone.

33. Website and Domain Flipping: Website flipping and also selling of good domain name is also a business by itself. One must make sure that the website is generating good money before they can put up for sell. Example, the best place for selling your website or get people to bid for your good domain name is at Flippa, Sedo.

34. Drop Catches:  A lot of time people tend to forget to renew their domain names or people purposely let them expire because businesses are no good. So picking up the expired domains will give you some good traffic from sites that link to these domain names or people who have bookmarked them before. So what you can do is to build the site up and start your own selling! Some people will make it into a flipping site.

35. Consultant:  You can be the consultant online, be it a consultant for search engine optimization, consultant for business development, consultant for relationship matter etc. Don’t be surprise that there are many people paying for online consultation.

36. Project Manager: There is also position for project manager online. For some online projects, it involves some coordination among programmers, designers, marketing site, logistic etc. Therefore some site owners prefer to outsource all these tasks to a project manager to coordinate the project. The pay is always very good and but you will have to report to your boss and also deal with several parties involved in the project.

37. Directories: You can set up your very own directory for people to list their sites or businesses with you. And you can do it for free or charge a listing fee when you grow big and popular (with high PageRank). A lot of people submit their sites to the directories not only for better exposure and more traffic, but also to build back links to their websites (for SEO purpose). It is recommended to start your own directory for certain niche, e.g. for digital products, health products or even adult products.

38. Paid to Post: There are a lot of forums out there and especially for the new set up, the forum owners may offer people money to post in the forum (pay per post). And also some business owners may engage your service to pay in forum to advertise their businesses. So, whenever there is demand for certain thing, there will be supply for it in every market.

39. Adult Entertainment: If you are under age, forget about this option. If you like to dress up kinky and talk to people through the webcam, ah ha…! then you can consider those adult webcam service websites. Or you like to talk dirty? Then you may qualify to earn big money when people call you up for your service- people pay premium to the phone call they make. You want the links to those sites? Call meJ

40. Sell Photos: If you are good at photography, you can consider selling your photo online at places like Fotolia , PhotoStockPlus etc. This will enable you to make money out of your hobby.

41. Arbitrage: You may have heard of the word arbitrage in financial term, but there is also sport arbitrage that you can look into. Those involve in sport arbitrage make use of the difference in odds at different bookmakers to make money. There is always software that helps to collect the odds from different bookmakers and show you the arbitrage opportunity. But there is also risk in sport arbitrage- you must have enough cash to place your bet with different bookies and you also have to be fast before the odds change!  My experience tells me that it is NOT Easy and Time Consuming. Check out the SportsArbitrageGuide.

42. HYIP: This is something you may not want to get involve if you do not have the hearth to take the risk. HYIP stands for High Yield Investment Program. Of course most of them are scams. But if you can take the risk and know when to pull back, it may be a ‘good’ investment to throw some money in HYIP- I am not encouraging you to do so here. A lot of them promise you 10% return per week, and some even promise you 10% per day. So it is again up to you to make your own judgment. A lot of times, the early birds will make money! Talk Gold- TalkGold is my favourite forum. Buy Stay away if possible:)!

43. Product Creation: You can create CDs for sale online or even helping people to produce CDs and ship on behalf of them. For example Kunaki, they help not only to produce digital cd / dvd, they also help to publish and ship for their clients. And most important, the cost is reasonable!

44. Hosting: You can be a reseller for hosting companies, or join their affiliate program. A lot of time they are paying you up to 1 year of hosting fee for every customer you recruit for them.

45. Google Adsense: Advertisers pay Google to list their websites on the SERPs and also at some content related pages or websites. If you own a website, blog etc, you can always opt to have Google Adsense on your sites (monetize your sites and this can be done easily via the Blogger or WordPress platforms). Google pay you certain amount (the guess is Google is sharing 50-50 the profit with you for the PPC campaign) for every click on the ads that come from you website. But DO NOT click on the ads yourself or even engage someone to click on the ads as Google can penalize or ban you for life if you get caught. There are many people being penalized for that and that proved Google is better than FBI, KGB or CIA!

46. Link Monkey: There are lots of people providing link building service. Link building is important for your website. A website with good links will be regarded by search engine as important and popular site and hence rank the website higher in SERPs. You can help people to build links (to directories, blogs, press release, article submission etc) and charge a lump sum for your service, and come out with a simple report to your client at the end of the day. But be careful here. Bad links may spoil your website ranking.

This list can go very long here. What I am trying to tell you here is, money is everywhere online for you to earn.

Wholesalers and Turnkeys

47. If you want to sell some physical product and you do not have one, then you’ll need a good drop shipping wholesaler.  Drop shipping wholesaler stock and ship out the items for you and you keep a percentage of the profit.  This cuts down on your workload and gives you more of an inventory for your goods.  However, there are a lot of wholesalers that are crooked, inexperienced, or just wrong for your business, so look around for one. But keep in mind that the drop shipper may not have the item in stock sometimes so you must be updated with their inventory from time to time. You can find a good drop shipping wholesaler here: wholesalerdropshippers.

48. Know where to find coupons.  Wholesalers, shippers and suppliers, and warehouse merchants have promotional coupons that allow you to save money on large shipments every month.  You just have to track them down on the company website and take advantage of them.

49. If you’re brand new to the online business world, then you don’t want a wholesaler, but a turnkey system.  The turnkey system takes over much of the running of your business for you; you can have it do things like advertising, website building (it’ll be a basic one, but still) and the stocking and shipping of your goods.  Turnkeys are great for beginners, but once you get the ropes, then you’ll want to move to a wholesaler so you can customize your website the way you want it.

Choosing a Market

There are a few different kinds of markets.  Before you jump in, decide what you want to do because each kind of market requires different kinds of work, advertising, and different needs to make the business work.

50. Services vs products: do you want to sell your time or your goods?  Services include things like: writing, graphic design, web design, consulting, accounting, and customer service.   Goods are anything material (physical or digital) to sell.  You can mix it up too-sell your writing and e-books for example, or design web sites (website flipping) and sell clothing, health product like, vaginal odor or premature ejaculation cure product etc..  It’s all a matter of preference.

51. In order to get into selling your services, it’s best to start with a third party site (e.g. Elance , RentaCoder) that hooks up workers with employers and then offer yourself up for long term work whenever possible.  These long term partnerships allow you to have steady work and ask for raises and bonuses whenever applicable. There are also professional copywriters, e.g. John Angle, who set up their own websites providing copywriting services to high budget customers .

52. When you are selling your products, you can basically start up your own website and go; however, if you want to start off fast, then you can set up shop in eBay or Amazon to get started and then start your own website when you have more capital.

53. Niche vs Mainstream:  Niche markets are markets for things that (a) only a few devoted customers will want such as rare books, antique lamp shades, or (b) more specific items that people are looking for, example Bamboo charcoal home air purifiers (instead of bamboo charcoal), edible bird nest of Borneo (instead of bird nest)  .  Although you won’t get as much traffic, you will get more interested traffic and thus you’ll be able to raise your prices a little.  Mainstream markets are markets in things like books, clothing, video games, and linens; stuff everybody wants, but can find in many different sites, so you have more competition and you’ll have to charge less.  However, you’ll get more traffic (provided you can rank on top of search engine result pages-SERPs) and more places to advertise.

54. Figure out what to sell.  Go with your strengths and what you already know a lot about so that it’s easier to establish yourself as an expert and so that you’re more passionate about your work. If you do not know what to sell, try to search on eBay to see what are the most popular items people are looking for. Download this free report to learn how to find the most popular product on eBay.

Communication

Choose your communication method.  There are several ways for you to get in touch with your customers, clients, and bosses and the more you have the better.  However, some ways are more practical than others, so choose which ways you want to use carefully and then stick with them.

55. Email:  Email is the most common way to get text, files, and pictures across to someone else.  Choose a business email account that you are comfortable using and, if you are using it for advertising, will not excite the notice of spam filters.  Business email accounts are best for this.  If you are working for someone else, you just need a reliable account that will allow you to send things securely and without fail. If you are running a few businesses and have few email accounts, you can consider importing your different emails into your Gmail account, Window Mail, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird etc. That would save the hassle for you to check different email every day.

56. Telephone:  If you are going to be dealing with customers on a one-on-one basis, then you’ll want a telephone.  Opt for a Bluetooth wireless headset with quick access to a mute button (especially if you have kids) and make sure you have a cheap, reliable service provider. Any website that provides a telephone number for customer service will definitely have more sales!

57. Instant Messaging:  Instant messaging is most useful for casual conversations, brainstorming, and updating or asking questions about a project.  It shouldn’t be used for transferring files since the files could carry bugs or the computer receiving them may not have the compatible programs.  For a bonus in professionalism, limit the use of ‘texting language’; it makes you look unprofessional, unless you’re just having a friendly chat.

58. Virtual Desks:  Virtual desk software/websites allow both you and the people you work with to upload and share files, discuss work, and assign tasks.  These sites are usually free for simple use, but if you want to do a broader range of things with more people, someone will have to pay a fee.  Virtual desks are very useful though for managing people and tracking their work output.

59. Skype:  Skype warrants a special mention because it does instant messaging, phone calls, and video calls all in one for a very low cost or free if you’re only using it for instant messaging.  Skype allows you to do national and international calls at a vastly reduced rate from the regular phone service, making it extremely popular.

60. Of course, the best thing to do is to do a combination of things depending on circumstance; just be sure to choose methods you’re comfortable with and can keep up with. I am sure you do not want to publish your phone number on your website if you are selling porn movie. Live Chat will also increase your business if you have one on your website. People want solution fast, remember this.

Payment Online

61. Make sure to have secure payment for your customers through shopping cart software.  Even when you know it’s safe, make sure to tell them that it’s safe and why it’s safe for their peace of mind.

62. Have a secure line for your own banking and money management and always make sure to change your passwords regularly.

63. Use a secure online transaction site such as PayPal which guarantees the safety of your buying and selling and can even transfer money to your bank for free once you reach a certain amount of money in the account.

64. Allow max 3 clicks for people to get to the payment site. If it takes more than 3 clicks to get to the payment site, then your sale will definitely drop.

65. Statistic shows that with the logo of credit card or Paypal and few called to action on your website will increase the sale!

Advertising Around

66. Research the best ways to advertise your business.  Depending on what kind of home business owner you are, different methods work better.  For example, if you’re selling physical stuff, try Google AdWords to start with, which will generate traffic to you site fast; if you’re a web designer or writer, try a third party that hooks up workers with employers.  Do a search of the best places to advertise yourself and your products and find out what you need to do in order to obtain visibility.

67. Get an email address that isn’t one of the most common ones; email accounts like hotmail and yahoo are often viewed as spam email slots, so you’ll be taken less seriously when you send out email advertisements. If you have your own website, you can always set up a professional email address that attached to your domain name. One can get a FREE domain here with Host Monster.

68. Get to know your social media!  Nowadays, an online business does not do nearly as well without a page on a social media site as one with one.  Some of the ones to get to know: Facebook and Twitter are the hugest, but if you want to go more low-key, you can find social media that is more related to the products and/or services you’re offering.

69. Blogging.  Blogging is now one of the most common forms of communication; it lets people tell a wide audience all about a given topic.  It’s also fairly fast to write a daily entry in your blog, and yet it heightens your visibility and makes you look more like a professional and experienced in your field. Take advantage of the blogs to build links to the websites that you want to promote.

70. Spend the money (when you can) to hire a good graphic designer/artist/animator to create advertisements with real bang and that will attract new customers.  Although a bit pricey, it’s well worth the cost when you see your traffic jump.

71. The more you write/advertise/draw/talk about yourself, your company, your products and services, the more notice you get.  However, you’ll probably need help with this, so remember to look for your assistants.

72. Join some forums and communities related to your product.  When you do this, and actively participate, you make yourself into an expert in your chosen field which leads to trust which leads to sales.

73. Learn your article directories; these are places where you can submit articles about yourself, your company and your niche-the more the better. Ezine Articles is a very popular directory, but there are others like GoArticles etc.  These are free places to advertise and it’s fairly easy and straightforward to submit articles. It is good for back link building too.

74. Video advertising: Video advertising is a strong and powerful tool. You can post any video regarding your product and add a link in the description (do not forget to show your website link in the video too). The most popular place for you to post your video is of course YouTube. Other websites like MetaCafe, Google Video etc are also good for advertising. Listen…. The number of videos being viewed on Youtube is more than 175Mil per day (or inbound link to Youtube per day)! So do not underestimate the power of video marketing.

75. Keep everything updated, one way or another.  Even doing one article a day to a few directories and a couple forum postings a day is a good way to boost and maintain your visibility and that help your Google Ranking. Consistency is the word.

Outsourcing

Almost all the things you want to do online can be outsourced, if you know HOW! Of course you will have to pay for that. Easiest way is to recruit someone to be your project manager and she or he will sort and source everything out for you.

76. You can always ask for help somewhere along the line; even small online businesses will want to outsource at least one person to handle some of the work load.  Remember that just like paying for any start up materials, hiring on the right person or people is an investment. You can outsource any kind of work for your business; marketing, graphic design, research, customer service, website design; anything that you don’t want to do or can’t do well can be outsourced to someone somewhere.

77. Do your research into outsourcing carefully; check out any prospective employee/partner carefully by looking into their portfolio, their credentials and what other people have said about them (if possible).  Use either an outsourcing firm or a website that hooks freelancers up with businesses, depending on your needs and budget.

78. It’s best to get a couple constant employees/partners rather than bounce from person to person.  That way you can ‘train’ these people to do the work you want your way and you’ll know what to expect from that person (such as billing, schedules, quality and quantity of work and the temperament of that worker).

79. The Three Rs of keeping your employees happy and working well: Respect, Rehire, and Rewards.  As long as you respect, rehire and reward (i.e. pay promptly and fairly) your outsourced help, you’ll have loyal, helpful workers who will enhance and strengthen your business, turning what may have seemed like a financial liability into an asset.

80. Be very careful of inexperienced, unserious, and even scamming outsourced workers.  These people may not be as experienced as they claim (for example they may claim to be English speaking, but can’t write very well), they may be very slow or scattered in their work, and they may even try to take your money and run without delivering anything.  This is why you should be careful who you choose, work out a fair payment schedule (such as half upfront, half on delivery or all on delivery), and screen your potential employees to be sure they are what you want. Some platform providers like ScriptLance allow you to pay by installment via their escrow service.

Honesty

81. Honest dealings with your customers will get you more loyal customers.  Even if this means telling them that you’re out of stock, the site will be down or you have a virus on your computer that could spread, honesty is always the best policy.

82. Never promise to deliver more than you can give, even if it makes you look small time.  If you promise the world and fail, you not only look dishonest, but you look disorganized and furthermore the dreaded word scammer will start floating around about you.  Once word gets out that you’re a scammer, it’ll be really hard to scrape your reputation back up, so don’t even go near the danger zone.

83. Ebay is a typical example. People used to be able to buy Positive feedbacks on eBay, but now this is banned and people are not allowed to sell even digital products on eBay. This tells how important is it a positive feedback means for all sellers on eBay. The feedbacks that you are getting on eBay will affect the decision of the buyers.

Avoiding Scams

834. Unfortunately, working from home means going online a lot and this means you’ll be targeted by every single low life looking to make a quick buck off your new work and lack of knowledge.  Know how to avoid the scams, both in finding work and in dodging ‘offers’ and always listen to your gut. Always do your own Due Diligence before you jump in any offers. Forum is a good place to do your due diligence.

85. Never ever pay money to work.  You should never have to pay anyone to give you work; they should be paying you. However, if you’re looking at some networking opportunities, you will have to pay a start-up fee for materials, but always check the company out to make sure it’s legitimate.  If the company doesn’t have a real address and a phone number you can call them at, they’re not real.

86. Opportunities for business will not come through your email.  A lot of spam emails are scams; they deliver nothing but heartbreak.  You have to do your research to find a legitimate niche for your skills and even when you find it, you may still find yourself dealing with scammers and fraudulent clients.

87. Be professional and use some common sense.  If it looks too good to be true, it is.  If you need money, don’t broadcast it all over creation; that just summons the scammers to try to ply you with promises for fast easy cash.

88. Stuffing envelopes, medical billing from home, craft assembly, email processing, purchasing a list of companies looking for at-home workers, and typing at home are all examples of classic scams; they all ask you to pay money for whatever you ‘need’ and then send you nothing useful.

Avoiding Viruses, Trojans, Spyware, and Infections

89. An anti-virus program. You need a good working antivirus program because you’ll be cruising all kinds of sites (especially if you are a writer/researcher) and exposing your computer to all manner of viruses, Trojans, and spyware, so you need a line of defense. For most of the new computer, the anti-virus always comes together for free.

90. Never ever click on an unsolicited link from an email you don’t recognize.

91. Don’t add contacts to your messenger whose name you don’t recognize, they don’t have anything in their profile and they don’t send you a message.  These are spammers at best and virus ridden at worst.

92. Have a ‘spam’ email account which you can use to do research that requires memberships and newsletters.  That way you can sort it out at your leisure and not have your business inbox clogged.

Your Health While Working from Home

93. At home workers run the risk of becoming overweight and out of shape due to the hours spent in front of the computer.  In order to avoid this, make sure to go out on walks every day.  Not only will this help you keep your weight down, but it will also let you clear your head and work better.  By this token, make sure to leave the computer for breaks so you don’t get sore eyes or shoulders and neck.

94. Because the job can be dull, a lot of people eat more to stave off boredom.  Don’t fall to this trap!  Drink water and eat healthy snacks instead of junk or just go on a walk or read for a few minutes to take a break.

95. Working from home can make some people insular; if you are already anti-social, this career will make you more so simply because of all the time spent working.  Avoid this by inviting people to come over sometimes, going out yourself, and by talking to people face to face instead of just over the ‘net.  Remember, in order to stay mentally healthy, you need contact with the outside world!

96. At home workers tend to be workaholics in order to stay self motivated to work, but don’t let you yourself get overwhelmed.  Know the limits of your abilities and your time and don’t take on more than you can handle or you’ll burn out quickly and not be able to do much of anything.  It’s worth taking a day off to recharge so that you can work better when you get back to it.  Or else the same theory of ‘stay home when you’re sick’ applies even when you work at home.

The Myths Busted!

97. You will not get rich quick, I mean not over night, not over few months time.  Just like any business, you’ll have a slow start up and dry periods.  Make sure you have some outside source of income, especially in the first year where you’re just starting.  The old adage of Five holds true: in the first five weeks you’ll want to quit because you’ll be making little, in the first five months, most will start seeing some lights at the other end of the tunnel; but in five years, you’ll be doing a lot better and some people may already become millionaire (base on fact of many online marketers), so be persistent and understand that you won’t get rich quick.

98. You will not be only working a few hours a week and making tons of money at the beginning if you want to make it a full time job.  You will be working several hours a day, just like any job, and hopefully making some money.  If you have a big project, you may have to keep on top of your business, hire people if needed (and supervise them), write content, get pictures, research, the list goes on.  It’s a job, like any other, but once you get rolling, some things will get easier, some things will be almost automated, some things you’ll get used to and some things you’ll hire others to do. Then you will work few hours a week at your own flexi hours. But…but if you just want an extra income, then working part-time or few hours a week will also generate you handsome income in long term.

99. You will not exactly be making your own hours; just blocking out the best times to work during the day.  You still have to work a certain amount of time per week in order to get everything done.  However, you can pick the best times to work, such as nights or mornings depending on your temperament.

100. When you are really into internet marketing, you will keep buying because you have made some money. And you will be attending internet courses, classes, conferences and also gathering with the likes. It is a good practice as things change every day online. You may be interested to find out what other people are doing, or you are interested to know how people make their money online. As I stated above, there are so many ways you can make money online!

101. The last tip I am giving you here is…. Check out Instant Cash Inbox and grab yourself a free money making website which I already set up for you! Good luck and check out my blog, from time to time for freebies and guides on making money online.

By all means, the 101 top tips are for your reference and I am sure there are things that I missed out above. I welcome you to comment and contact me anytime. Cheers…..

Brought To You

By Addy Kho

http://www.InstantCashInbox.com

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Search Engine Optimisation

It seems like I have not been updating my blog for long even though my last post was on the 18th Jan. It shows that there is some sort of attachment between me and addykho.com, and of course with my readers too.

I was in fact away for few days to enhance my own Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) knowledge. I may be the only one in East Malaysia with the Advance SEO qualification (or one of the very few in Malaysia), I must say that SEO  for me is  still a really fascinating subject and for many others may consider it as the ‘Black Box’ of internet world.  With the knowledge of Advanced SEO, one would at least know what Google is looking for or what Google likes so that your website can be ranked higher in the search engine result pages  (SERPs).

In layman term, SEO is about the skill to please Google or other search engines like Yahoo and Bing by optimising your website and also by popularising your website so the search engines would rank your website higher in the search results. We shall put more weight in Google because it dominates around 80% of the market share at the moment. That is why I always regard Google as the King Google.

No doubt that it is everyone’s dream to rank on top 5 of the SERPs because being on the top 5 of the SERPs, you will capture 90% of the traffic (SEO Researcher). So what is the 90% of the traffic means for you?  Business and Money of course! But not everyone knows what is required in order to get there.

Imaging if you own a website and ranked on the 3rd page of Google SERP for certain keywords.  Do you think there will be many people go and click on your website? Do you think you will have a lot of businesses online? Of course NO.  There are companies who paid hundred of thousands USD in order to be ranked on the top 5 in the SERP. Those companies are willing to spend that kind of money because they know being in the top 5, the rewards are worth more than what they have paid for.

Google Search Personalisation

Let’s put aside the SEO for now. I will  touch on SEO in many of my future posts. What I am going to share with you today is the personalisation of Google Search. Google has been talking about personalisation of search results since 3 or4 years ago. But this is fully implemented only last month.

So what is Google search personalisation? Google, being the ‘Man In charge’ of the internet, make use of your web history (if you log in your Google account) or anonymous cookies on your computer (if you do not sign in your Google account) to study your surf pattern or behaviour and return you with the search results accordingly. In order words, the search results coming back to you and me may be different. Example, if you search for ‘France Vineyard’, your results may be different from mine if you have certain fond on one particular vineyard (example Vineyard ABC). You may have clicked on Vineyard ABC few times before and Google detected your preference and therefore rank Vineyard ABC on top of your SERPs. So you see how Google has evolved over the years. Watch the video below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So with these changes, Google has made the SEO more unpredictable and also more challenging. But it is not without solution. If you want to get rid of the noices which may affect your search result ranking, you just have to clear your web history or disable customisation. So you see, Google will ‘invade’ your privacy first, but they then allow you to opt out if you do not want Google to track your search pattern or history.

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