What You Should Know Before You Make Freelance Design a Career

When I was working in the corporate world back in the late 90's early 2000's, I dreamed of someday running my own freelance design company. You might be in that position today, or perhaps you've recently made "the jump". What I've found (as is often with a lot of other aspects in my life), is that what I imagined in my dream and what I experienced in reality were two very different things. This isn't necessarily bad, but all too often I've noticed that people expect their dreams and reality to sync up perfectly - they rarely do.

If you're considering a career as a freelance designer I'd first want to congratulate you, this can be a wonderful direct for your life. At the same time, I am reminded of a quote in the movie, "Rudy", which is one of my favorites. One of the practice coaches barks out a grim reminder to a rag-tag group of no-name football player in front of him who were hoping and praying they would earn a spot on the Notre Dame team, "...let me tell it to you as clean as I can...if any of you has any fantasies of running out of that tunnel with your gold helmets shining in the sun, you best leave them right here".

In the framework of becoming a freelance designer, let me tell it to you as clean as I can. If any of you have aspirations of making a 6 figure income by running a design firm from a beach lawn chair, all of your clients would be wonderful and all you would need to do was put in 3-4 hours a day - you'd best leave the right here. If you've been considering starting a design firm, and I just burst your bubble, I apologize. Better you learn the truth now, than go in being naïve like I did. Don't get me wrong, with the right knowledge, training, talent and effort, you can make a load of money doing what you love, but it's a challenging road.

Below you'll see 2 different sides to the same coin, I first cover what I imagined running a freelance design firm would be like before I became one, the second section is what really happened in reality. You'll notice that #1 on the dream side will match up with the #1 on the reality side, and so on...

The Dream:

Set your own hours.

Work with the clients that you want to.

You directly control how much or how little you make.

You decide what you're going to do for the day.

You can have a lot of variety in your day so you're not always doing one thing over and over.

You have much more creativity to design what you'd like in a freelancing environment than a corporate environment often provides.

You won't have to deal with those crazy people in sales and marketing anymore (if you've ever been in a corporate or production environment, you know what I mean)

You'll have an opportunity for more people to see and appreciate your creativity.

You won't have a boss standing over you demanding the impossible.

You have the ability to make a lot of money as a freelancer. You'll no longer be on a fixed income.

You'll find exhilarated and inspired at times.

You'll have the opportunity to work with wonderful business people and learn about entirely new industries you may never have known anything about before.

The Reality:

Often the hours you set are long hours.

Might be forced into working with clients you don't want because you're not getting enough business.

How much you're actually bringing in might not be enough.

Some designers wake up and wonder, "What the heck should I do today - what should I be doing?"

You have to be willing to do a lot of things you perhaps don't want to (networking, dealing directly with clients, handling complaints, sales calls, etc.).

Clients ultimately decide what you're going to design. You'll have more creative freedom most of the time, but you'll quickly find that you can't just design whatever you feel like.

You are the sales and marketing department.

Being more in the public eye, you'll naturally be subject to more criticism by people that may or may not like you work.

You may find you're working with 5+ bosses all standing over you demanding the impossible.

You may run the risk of losing a lot of money as a freelance designer. You may find your income going up and down.

At times you'll feel frustrated, uninspired and drained.

If you're in freelance long you're going to run into some people that aren't of the highest quality. In every group of people out there you'll find bad apples - clients are no different.

This quick post isn't meant to discourage you, only to paint a realistic picture in your mind before you make the jump to freelance designer. I've been a full time entrepreneur and a freelance designer for over 4 years now - smartest thing I ever did. I would never go back to work as a full-time employee for a company...I am not they'd want me anyway :)

Are you a starving freelance graphic artist?

Are you having trouble finding clients?

Do you wish you could unlock the secrets to get paid more?

Hey, surfing the internet for free information is fine, but it's not going to help you grow your business - it's not going to help you really succeed. It feels like you're making progress but you're really not. Trust me, I tried doing this for a couple of years and it got me nowhere. It wasn't until I invested some time and some resources into my future - I hired a business strategist for $1500...but I tripled revenue that year. The point is, if you think you'll figure success out on your own, you're fooling yourself.

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How Much Money Can a Graphic Designer Earn?

The amount of money you can earn as a graphic designer varies. Many different factors determine what an employer or client pays you.

One significant factor affecting your pay rate is demand of skills. If your skill is specialized or is in high demand, then you know you can demand a higher salary. It is important that you keep current with new technology so you can better determine if you can earn money at what you do.

Another factor -- besides demand and specialty -- is talent. Of course you need to produce a product that clients or employers want and desire. However, it is more than that. You need to convince clients why your particular design works for a company, product, movie, commercial, website, etc.

Beyond demand and talent, you also need determination. You must have the attitude that you will never give up until you are employed in the field that you enjoy. This may mean sacrificing some things at first, but in the end you will be happy for succeeding.

Flexibility is another key factor that determines how much you will earn. It does not mean you need to accept design jobs that conflict with your interests. Exercising some flexibility can help you earn more revenue. For instance, perhaps you desire to take on smaller projects that large companies would never take the time to do. Likewise, maybe you want to work for a slightly lower rate if the client offers you bulk work.

You decide which job or projects to accept -- but don't be too choosy either. Remember why you are doing this, and do not continue to work for low rates because you want your clients to refer you to other people.

Another factor that will determine how much money you earn as a graphic designer is your overall experience. If you have been designing for several years, then you have perfected your craft far more than someone who has only been doing it for a few years.

Your experience is very valuable, but don't take your experience for granted. You will need to keep learning and willing to try new projects. Otherwise, other designers can surpass you in experience and cause you to lose clients or an important job.

During slow economic times -- or when you need to take a temporary job right out of college -- do not forget about your craft. Take time to keep learning during that period in your life when you think it may be impossible to find a job.

Speaking of using your talent and gaining experience, any avenue you can find to implement your skills is valuable. For instance, some graphic designers have developed their design skills creating flyers, free ad logos for companies, and so on.

Some graphic designers volunteer to work on advertising campaigns for non-profit organizations on a pro-bono basis. This experience, even if it is just temporary, will help add items to your portfolio.

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How to Become a Freelance Graphic Designer

The delivery of the World-wide-web has absolutely changed the landscape of infrastructure people take pleasure in these days. Besides providing a seemingly unlimited supply of data, the Internet access has moreover spread out a wide range of possibilities to individuals in addition to businesses as well.

Probably the most rewarding fields where freelancing is widely trendy is graphic design. Nowadays, an increasing number of creative designers are engaging in freelance for the reason that they could have the artistic freedom they have been craving for.

The most well-liked group of creative designers are graphic designers. They are entrepreneurs who have self-governing strength united by a sense of adventure. Developing their unique bold idea of success, graphic designers now embark to freelancing so they can have the artistic independence they yearn for. In spite of getting to working unlimited hours, increasingly more designers are hooked on doing freelance production as this means that they can have more assignments and tasks as well as they've got added chances of generating currency in the method.

Graphic designers are those people who are branded to come up with and make visual presentation and design of varied merchandise that consist of online pages, record covers, soap packing containers, and even cat food cans. The works of these folks usually are done on a assignment origin consequently they are known to act beneath severe time constraints so they can construct excellence ideas or yield.

To have the ability to be a flourishing graphic designer, you will need Adobe Photoshop CS5 with Image Ready therefore you're going to get essentially the most from the images you'll use. This version is without doubt one of the most recent from Adobe as it offers best picture-editing answer that is ideal in support of print in addition to for the Web as well.

Other than this, additionally, you will require Illustrator so you could potentially rework your imagination and ideas into beautiful graphics that you could apply in print, within the Web, as well as in dynamic digital media as well. Last of all, you will also could do with QuarkXPress, one of the leaders concerning desktop publishing or else In Design CS5 so as to get expert publishing results together with this kind of inventive finesse, independence, productivity enhancements along with precision.

Without a doubt, being a contract designer shows that you possess terrific visual communication knowledge in order to convey a specific implication-either an inspiration or view-to a defined set of individuals by means of print or graphic media. As the occupation of graphic designing evolved through computer systems and digital skill, the growth of demand for the sector also increased.

But prior to you ultimately choose to develop into a freelance graphic designer, you will need to discern primarily who your targeted market is. For anyone who is planning to go self-employed, your market will certainly include design groups. Other than that, your prospective consumers might incorporate agencies that have forthcoming promotion or projects. Allow me to share a few guidelines you are able to do to strengthen your freelance shift in the role of a freelance designer:

1. Strengthen your set of connections. You can apply this as a result of attending design conferences in addition to interacting with supplementary self-employed creative designers, exhibitors, guest speakers, and the comparable. You can also strengthen your network by means of going to neighborhood clubs, art-house cinemas, galleries, as well as café bars consequently you can actually come across community freelance designers as well.

2. Make your portfolio. Because this serves as your calling card, just be sure you create a reputable portfolio for your purchasers to refer to.

3. Craft your own branding. For anybody who is ready in a contract opportunity being a designer, you should be proficient to produce your individual branding just as in every small business therefore you might earn a definite status in the precise line of work.

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How to Become a Freelance Writer and Make Six Figures Your First Year

Freelance writing is one of those careers where you can easily break six figures - if you know a few things going in. Many struggle needlessly for years either just eking by or giving up altogether. Here, we'll discuss the number one "secret," if you will, of making six figures - your first year - as a freelance writer.

And the secret is to... specialize, then capitalize.

The Road to Becoming a Six Figure Freelance Writer: 2 Reasons to Specialize

Ever wonder why professionals like doctors and lawyers specialize? It's because it's easier to make a name for themselves and make money quicker. Let's look at each of these reasons separately.

Build Client List Faster: When you market yourself as a niche writer, i.e., you specialize, it makes it easier to find clients because you can easily hone in on your target market. For example, let's say you want to become a real estate writer. It's so easy to find potential clients to market to. You can start with professional real estate organizations like the National Association of Realtors and the Real Estate Buyers Council.

If you didn't know any professional organizations to start with, all you have to do is do a Google search, eg, type in the phrase "Professional Real Estate Organizations" and start clicking.

Almost every niche has some type of professional association, so it's easy to do this type of research to find prospects you can contact about your freelance writing services.

Increase Your Hourly/Project Rate: When you specialize, you can dramatically increase your income -making it much easier to become a six figure freelance writer. How/why?

In essence, you harness knowledge you already have to turn our more work - in less time. The reason is, as you work with the same subject matter over and over again, you save time on research, writing, editing, etc.

This means you turn the project around quicker, which means you make more.

Over time, this will increase your take-home pay more and more, because the more knowledge and experience you gain in a discipline, the faster you work and the more clients you can bring on, etc.
See how specializing can turn you into a six figure freelance writer quicker than not specializing?

Same skill set. Different clients. Higher rate per hour/project.

I experience this first-hand all the time. My SEO writing firm has several clients it writes articles and blog posts for on a weekly and monthly basis. The content covers the same subject matter over and over again.

When these clients first starting using us, it was subject matter that my writers and I were only vaguely familiar with. Almost two years later, we're practically experts on these clients and their subject matter.
Now, we turn out 400-word articles and a 250-300 word blog posts in 30-45 minutes. Initially, it took anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours.

So, You Want to Be a Six-Figure Freelance Writer Quickly?

Then specialize!

Does it mean that you can't take on writing projects outside your niche? No, absolutely not. But if you specialize, nine times out of ten, you'll become so firmly entrenched in your niche that it's the only type of writing you'll find yourself doing.

And remember, this is a good thing, as you make more money. And, when you're striving to take advantage of freelance writing opportunities so you become a six-figure freelance writer, every project counts.

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What Can One Learn Through AdWords Training?

Effective utilization of Google's AdWords can make it possible to advertise a website on world's most popular search engine. AdWords training and courses can help a novice webmaster to use this advertisement tool in the most appropriate manner.

Google' AdWords is an established advertisement tool that can help a website to gain exposure to millions of people in an inexpensive and reliable manner. For this, it is necessary for a website owner to learn about important aspects of this website advertisement tool. AdWords training courses can help you in this direction. Here are few things that you would learn from such training courses related to AdWords.

Creating AdWords AccountIn order to utilize the advantages of AdWords, you are required to set up a new user account online. AdWords training modules can help you gain relevant information in this direction.

Placing Advertisement Bids

AdWords training can help you to place your advertisement bids using AdWords. Apart from this, the training can help you to change your advertisement bids time and again. This can further help you to save costs on using AdWords and make maximum profits out of it.

Choosing Right Keywords

AdWords online training can help a website owner to choose right set of keywords that can target maximum number of audiences for your website. This is in fact the most important part of using AdWords. Also, one can learn about the tips to handle negative keywords for the website.

Choosing Right Advertisement Place

Training of Google AdWords can help an AdWords subscriber to choose right websites for placing the ads. This can help the user to avoid the advertisements to be placed at bad neighborhoods.

Market Research Tool

With the help of AdWords training, one can learn about the best usage of market research tool included in the package. This tool helps the website owner to choose the right section of the online market, from where there is highest probability to obtain the maximum traffic.

AdWords Diagnosis and Reporting

Finally, the training courses for AdWords can help one to diagnose the advertisement campaigns, evaluate their results and modify them, if required. Also, this can help the user to prepare reports about investment and returns on using AdWords.

There are many more benefits one can expect out of AdWords training modules. So, it is appropriate to undergo a training program for better use of AdWords.

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What is the Best Google AdWords Tool?

If you have been on the Internet for any length of time and have tried you hands at AdWords, you probably have wondered if there is that one best Google AdWords tool. Well, to be totally honest I would say no and that is because I believe that anything can be improved upon. Having said that, I will also be quick to say that there are some that have come pretty close to doing it all.

What you will usually find are Google AdWords software tools that either analyze, generate, build or spy on existing competitor campaigns. Some of these tools include AdWords Accelerator, AdWords Analyzer, Adword Generator, Ad Spy Pro, Adgrenade and Google's own AdWords Editor. While these tools are great in what they do, there is a recent arrival to the Google AdWords Tools landscape that combines the functionality of several of these tools, with integrated SEO, Affiliate Income and viral Marketing and traffic generation.

Lets quickly see what each of these Google AdWords tools can do for us.

Adword Accelerator: Google AdWords accelerator is an AdWords tool that gives you a new way to build Goolge AdWords campaigns. Its clicks per day estimator (CPD) functionality allows you to judge the viability of a market based on the volume of searches in that market. It is a good thing to quickly build AdWords campaigns and discover niche markets but what if the niche markets are in niches that are overly competitive, your AdWords campaigns may be choked out, especially if you are a new Google AdWords marketer. To gain the competitive edge, you need to analyze the market.

AdSpy Pro: Like AdWord Accelerator, this AdWord software tool has the ability to scour the web and gather intelligence about existing AdWord ads. This software tool tells you how many affiliate ads are running for each keyword, its expected profitability, and even shows you the exact ad copy and where it redirects if any.

Adword Analyzer: This is another AdWords software tool that makes building your AdWords campaign a little more easier. AdWord Analyzer has the ability to quickly and automatically identify and retrieve a comprehensive list of keyword phrases related to your niche market, searched on during the previous month and find the number of advertising campaigns that currently running for that keyword. This last part is very important because it is the piece that lets you know if you can compete in the market or not based on how many campaigns are now running for your desired keyword. Having analyzed and found a good and profitable niche market, you need to create AdWord ads for your keywords. And in AdWords, one ads fits all is not very desirable. You want to test different ads and determine which ones yield a good ROI. But building ads take a lot of time and effort

AdWord Generator: AdWord generator is a Google AdWords tool that enables you to generate Google AdWords on the fly. With this tool, you can create thousands of AdWords ads in seconds that fall under the same theme, customize the heading and quickly upload your ads to your Google AdWords account.

Adgrenade: Like AdWords Generator, this tool helps you create AdWords ads on the fly, mixing and matching supplied keywords to create unique heading automatically for you ads. You ads can then be exported to Google's own AdWords Editor for editing if any and uploaded to your Google AdWords account.

Google AdWords Editor: This is a tool provided by Google to help you build and edit your ads on your computer and quickly upload to your AdWords account.

PPC Web Spy: This Google AdWords tool is one that combine the spy functionality of the other tools mentioned above and with its special proprietary technology, makes your affiliate link the number 1 and number 2 results for any searched keyword on Google. It automatically optimizes your affiliate link and inserts it into the closest matched offer for any searched keyword on Google on the computer where it resides. And because it allows you to brand itself, it becomes a most viral marketing and traffic tool for the users.

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AdWords Success - Wealthy Affiliate Beating Adwords Review

This article provides a review of "Beating Adwords" the Google AdWords course from the owners of the internet marketing community Wealthy Affiliate. This an all inclusive AdWords course that guides readers from the initial setup of AdWords accounts and Campaigns all the way to advanced techniques using the AdWords system.

Having read and implemented many AdWords courses available online that promise to show you the road to riches using Google AdWords network is now shock that ultimately, some are more effective than others (surprise, surprise). After having read about the Wealthy Affiliate website and upon a referral from a colleague, I decided to see if they had anything valuable to add to my AdWords knowledge base.

After purchasing these types of courses there are four specific things I expect from the authors that I feel add value:

1)            Significant valuable AdWords information beyond just the basics of creating and setting up an

account/campaign (as a matter of fact, I hope that this info is removed altogether but I have yet to find

a course that does just that)

2)            Profitable techniques and little known information to achieve AdWords success

3)            Insights on Managing and Analyzing your results

4)            AdWords advice on how to play nice with and avoid being penalized by Google

With that said, the following is my take on how Beating AdWords met my criteria for the above.

Goal #1: 4 out of 5 stars

Beating AdWords contains quite a bit of beginner information. The first 4 sections of the course is basically designed for the Pay per Click (PPC) advertising and AdWords newbie. As mentioned above, I would personally prefer to omit this info from the course (once you learn this stuff, you will never need a refresher, believe me). The information on Affiliate Programs and choosing what to advertise contain some useful points but thankfully, the rest of the course builds logically and clearly to more advanced techniques and information (though you have to wait until Section 5 in the course to really start diving in). Bidding techniques, Ad optimization, Traffic Cost/Profitability techniques and Ad Copy instruction provide you with solid techniques to kick start your campaigns or get flagging ones back on track.

Goal #2: 5 out of 5 stars

At the end of the day, the most important question I'm asking of any AdWords course is, "can this course help me make money?" Some of the best information contained in this course certainly can (and so far, has) help you achieve profitability with Google AdWords. The most helpful thing about this part of the course is the discussion of relevance and how it can be implemented in your campaigns from start to finish (tips to eliminate non-buyers from clicking your ad is another BIG one).

It's no secret that Google LOVES relevancy, not only in your ads but also in the pages to which those ads point. Beating AdWords delivers here with added instruction on how to set up a "landing page" (if you're using one) so that it works in concert with your AdWords ads for maximum relevancy. If you've been using AdWords, you know what lacking relevance can do to your campaign, especially after the Quality Score slap that Google issued recently. This course helps you fix your relevance issues and avoid being punished by the AdWords system with things like Inactive Keywords and inflated bid minimums.

Goal #3: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Beating AdWords section on analyzing and tweaking your ads for success includes how to use both the Google Tools as well as some proprietary methods that can be obtained through membership at Wealthy Affiliate. In my opinion, being able to EFFECTIVELY monitor and tweak your results can be the difference between success and failure with Google Adwords.

It is important that you obtain as much information on this topic as possible from as many sources as possible in order to incorporate effective techniques into your own system. Beating AdWords makes a significant contribution to this type of user knowledge base by covering good A/B split testing strategies, page optimization techniques as well as other approaches that can work together with an AdWords campaign (such as capturing leads if you can't capture the sale to maximize the benefits of all traffic that comes to your pages).

Goal #1: 5 out of 5 stars

Beating AdWords does an excellent job in helping you to make sure your campaigns are Google friendly. As mentioned earlier, Google takes relevancy very seriously. If your campaigns and content are not in line with "the rules", you can find yourself burning through ad spend unnecessarily or getting banned altogether.

This section of the course deals with the Google Quality Score and ways to work within its guidelines and maximize your benefits by doing so. Ad Grouping, Ad History, Effective Page Content and Relevance are all discussed and they do a good job in instructing you on how to implement in a logical, step by step manner (you'd be surprised at how many course authors do NOT do this).

This type of information is invaluable if you use AdWords as your internet advertising platform. Google goes to great lengths to protect its integrity when it comes to search and ad results. Making sure you are well informed on how to work with them should be a top priority of anyone serious about AdWords success.

Conclusion:

I subtracted .5 stars from Beating AdWords due to the large amount of material early in the course designed to assist the beginner in getting situated with Google AdWords. Though there is definitely a lot of useful and valuable information in the subsequent sections that can be directly implemented by AdWords users, I prefer the newbie information to be kept to a minimum. It is also one of the more "reasonably" priced AdWords courses. The relevance, targeting and Google Quality Score sections will help you fine tune your campaigns and, in my case, help you fix ones that are under performing (or downright tanking).

As with any profitable and effective AdWords course (if you have the time and money to find GOOD ones), Beating AdWords is written by those who understand how to succeed and profit on the platform and also have insights into how Google "prefers" that you use their system. However equally, if not more important, Beating AdWords is one of the courses that can help you to avoid doing the things that result in failure. In my experience, that's half the battle won.

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Make Money With, Writing, Blogging, and eBay

I'm going to show you three quick and dirty ways to make income online, by working as much or as little as you want, from anywhere in the world, whenever you choose

Freelance Writing

Online freelance writing jobs are plentiful, if you know where to look and can distinguish the legitimate opportunities from the potential scams.

Most people don't have a clue about the wide variety of writing opportunities available to them all over the Internet. These include writing simple articles, press releases, and even complete e-books.

Some clients pay upfront for your material, offering a certain amount per word or per assignment. Others will pay you per the hour for other writing and publishing related tasks such as proof-reading and editing web content.

Freelance writing networks such as "The Freelance Writing Jobs Network" are a great place to start looking for writing jobs and advice. And then there are what I call "freelance matchmaking" sites or "job boards" like Elance.com and Freelancer.com.

On these sites, almost every day, thousands of businesses post various types of writing projects, gigs and requests. If you get aggressive in applying for these open spots, then there's a virtually unlimited supply of writing opportunities that can make you money relatively quickly.

When starting, reply to as many project requests as possible, offer to work at a reasonable rate (but not dirt cheap), and be quick and responsive.

Landing that first gig is always the hardest step, but once you've built up a portfolio and some clientele, you'll get more and more consistent work.

The key to making money with freelance writing is to quickly produce as many quality pieces as you can for your portfolio, and then use job boards and social networking strategies to promote your writing. The more traffic you get to your online work, the more companies you'll have approaching you to write for them.

Here are some additional tips when setting up your portfolio:

1. Set up a professional web page with your resume, contact information, and some writing samples.

2. Establish yourself as a reputable, talented freelance writer by submitting only your best quality work to potential clients.

3. Network with other busy writers who may be able to send extra work your way. Participate in writers forums by writing useful comments and including links to your website and online work.

Making Money with eBay

If writing is not your thing, then hop on over to eBay.com and you can start selling almost anything you can imagine within just minutes.

Imagine having access to 100 million cash-spending buyers. That's exactly the kind of gold mine that's waiting for you on eBay. It has over 100 million registered users, all of whom are out there shopping for great deals.

To become a successful eBay seller, first you must first figure out what to sell. You can sell your own items, check out trade shows in your local area, or search online directories like Doba.com and Alibaba.com to find hot products.

Here's how to get the most out of your eBay listings and auctions:

1. Create good titles and descriptions, and include quality photos of the items. Write descriptions that stand out, but do not make them obnoxious by using all capital letters or excessive punctuation. Also, be honest about any defects in the items you have for sale.

2. Consider starting your own eBay store for selling large quantities, since they have a longer run time than typical auctions. Participate in the eBay community and read the forums to stay involved.

3. Other ways to get traffic to your auctions and items for sale include creating an page on eBay and linking to your auctions from other sites. You also could register a domain name dedicated solely to promoting your own auctions.

Once you find a hot product, keep selling it, and then gradually find more and more products you can promote. Over time, your income will grow exponentially.

How to Make Money with Your Own Blog

Blogging is another easy way to make money online. The secret to profitable blogging is to focus on a particular that is, your area of expertise or a very specific subject that is popular in the search engines.

Here's how to get started blogging:

1. Like freelance writing, you should approach blogging with the intent to write unique, quality content. Offering useful information and establishing yourself as a trustworthy resource to your readers will quickly lead to lots of word-of-mouth traffic to your blog. Readers can tell if you do not know what you are talking about, so do your research and focus on producing quality content.

2. Starting a blog is as simple as getting a free account at WordPress.com, Blogger.com, or another blog hosting site. You can also pay for a domain name and hosting services if you want to personalize your blog even more. I suggest you start with the free options.

3. Once you have established your blog, then you can focus on monetizing it by incorporating relevant ads through advertising networks like Google AdSense or Chitika. Affiliate programs such as Amazon also are becoming increasingly popular ways to earn extra revenue. In addition, you could sell private ads or review products on your blog.

4. Promote your blog by utilizing social networking opportunities such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogging forums. If you're creative, then you'll find endless opportunities to promote your blog throughout these social communities.

Freelance writing, selling on eBay, and blogging are only three of the many ways to make money online. They might require an initial investment of time and effort, but you are likely to see some quick income and even huge profits in the long run if you follow these hints.

CoffeeShopMillionaire.com is the new, Internet revolution that's helping people like you to start their own dream business, create absolute financial freedom, and escape the rat race for good, faster than they ever thought possible.

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The Perfect Internet Marketing Strategy Used By All Experts

Is there a perfect Internet marketing strategy that has been proven to be very lucrative? Stop searching. We are about to share with you the secrets of making money online. This strategy has been proven to work many times over.

To make serious money online, you must always have a serious business plan. The plan should include a strategy that is both realistic and can be easily executed. Numbers are important, but if you are just starting out, don't worry about the numbers just yet. Focus on acquiring the right knowledge. Once you see how the different pieces fit together, everything else will fall into place, just like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The first piece of the puzzle is traffic. As an Internet marketer, your success is directly dependent on your ability to create traffic. The more traffic you can generate, the more money you are going to make. This is true for all business models. It doesn't matter if you are using AdSense or trying to market products as an affiliate. The more targeted traffic you can generate, the more money you are going to earn.

Here is a quick and simple tip to traffic generation. Don't just focus on one traffic generation method. There are many ways you can promote a website - offline advertising like print ads, PPC advertising, banner advertising, social media marketing, etc. My personal favorite is search engine marketing. SEO can provide a steady stream of traffic to your sites without you having to pay a single dime. It's a source of long term traffic. SEO is easy to understand and doesn't require a huge budget upfront to get started. So I highly recommend picking up a good SEO book and start learning about the basics as soon as possible.

The second piece of the puzzle is products. These can be your own products, or they can belong to someone else. If the products are developed by other people, you will be promoting them as an affiliate. In other words, you make money only when a sale is made. You will be paid on commission basis. There are pros and cons to both approaches. At the end of the day, as long as you are picking hot products to sell, you will end up making good money. So how to pick the right products? That is a story for another day. But typically, you would do your research and find out what sells well in the niche that you are in. That will point you in the right direction.

The final piece of the puzzle (and often, this is what is missing), is to have a full range of back end products. After a customer buys from you, what comes next? You can up-sell with more products. It's an easy way to double or triple your income. Try it!

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Promote Your Website Using Social Networking And Bookmarking

You will agree with me that website promotion and optimization is an integral part of web design and hosting. In the course of creating a web page, there are some various salient points you need to consider and ensure you did not omit as a professional webmaster. These facts are necessities you cannot ignore if you want search engine crawlers to index your web page completely with no mistakes. Having a website with good architecture, beautiful color blending and other seasonal enhancements like flash file, videos and animated images is good but it is not enough to make your website appear at the top pages of search engines like Google. Website promotion is intense and verse just like its counterpart website optimization and monetization. Inexperienced webmasters on many occasions refer website promotion as website optimization and vice versa hence they commit blunders and mix things up as a result of their ineptitude. But after going through this write up, you will be able to clearly distinguish between website promotion and website optimization or monetization. Moreover you will be able to discern the importance of website promotion and how it can be achieved using social networking and bookmarking. Website optimization or monetization is a contemporary of website promotion but there is a thin line of distinction between them. While website promotion involves the various means webmasters employ in the course of making their website appear in the top pages of search engines. Then website optimization or monetization in its basic perspective involves the various online programs we engage in other to earn a few bucks for ourselves. Most of these programs like Google Adsense, Affiliate marketing etc are designed in such a way that before you can earn from it you must have promoted your website well enough to be listed in the top pages of various search engines. Now you can see the relationship between website promotion and optimization. In summary, you can only rip the full dividends of website optimization or monetization only if your website is well promoted and placed in search engine web pages.

Having grasped in detail what website promotion and optimization is all about. The big question is how you can promote your website to soar high in search engine web pages. There are various ways in which a successful webmaster can effectively promote his/her website but we are going to only deliberate on two unique methods which are social networking and social bookmarking.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

There is a cliché in internet marketing that says you get traffic from traffic. This relatively means that one is able to get traffic from search engines not because you rank high in that search engine but because that the search engine gets traffic. Nevertheless you should always endeavor to submit your website or blogs to search engines that have high patronage from the public. So I will advise that you submit your web pages to popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and AOL. Social networking is a great way of harnessing traffic to your website. There are lots of social networking websites nowadays but the very popular ones are Twitter, Facebook and Google +. In the course of this write up I am going to extensively describe how you can tap in to the goldmine that Twitter has provided and drive all the traffic you need to your web pages. There is no gain saying that Twitter is the biggest social networking website and the most trafficked websites in the internet presently. For you to get started with Twitter simply go to Twitter.com and set up your profile. It is really easy to understand but always remember to post your website on your profile for your followers to see and visit it. It is true that twitter has enormous traffic but you need to know how to use it effectively before you can rip from its verse traffic base. Twitter is simply a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allow its users to send and receive messages known as tweets. Tweets are text based post of up to 140 characters displayed o the authors profile page and are easily accessed by the authors subscribers referred to as followers. The secret towards excelling in twitter is for you to be active. To be active in twitter you have to post your tweets several times daily, reply to your followers tweets and most importantly ensure that you follow many people. It is very important to follow a lot of people in twitter so that you can stand a chance of them having access to your tweets which ordinarily they couldn't have if you do not follow them.

We want you to know that we have unraveled the main points you need to know about Twitter as a type of social networking strategy for harnessing traffic to your website. We want you to always remember that social networking is an already proven method of website promotion and optimization because it is where most people are once they set up their server (any computer in a network like a computer connected to the World Wide Web).

Because social networking is fun you might not know when you are stuck up in it all day. So I suggest you make out time for each method of website promotion and optimization lest you forget to pay attention to all of them.

SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Just like social networking, social bookmarking is a key element of web 2.0 and a very good way of harnessing traffic to your website. Social bookmarking is a very easy, free and fast way of website promotion and optimization. Social bookmarking are places where registered users can list or bookmark their favorite websites while tapping in to the pool of traffic possessed by these websites. The twist is that users can share their bookmarks to other users of the social bookmarking website thereby generating massive backlinks to your website. And you know that search engine spiders love backlinks and that quality backlinks will definitely improve your website PR (page rank) in search engines.

There are various social bookmarking websites scattered all over the internet but I am going to illustrate in details how you can use Onlywire (a social bookmarking website) to promote and optimize your website real fast. To get started with Onlywire you have to register on their platform for free after which you will be presented with a list of other social bookmarking websites that you will also have to register with. Go back to Onlywire and key in the username and password you used in registering in those websites, save it by clicking the save button. Follow the instructions provided by Onlywire and remember to move Onlywire icon in to your tool bar for you to start social bookmarking.

Then go to each page on your website and click the Onlywire icon in your tool bar and it will take you to a page in Onlywires. Fill in the required information and remember to tag each page with the right keyword before you submit. Onlywire will subsequently send that bookmark together with its tag to those social bookmarking websites that you initially registered with at onlywire.com. You are required to repeat this process for each page on your website and any time you add a new page.

This will assist grossly in positioning your website at the top pages of search engines like Google whenever any member of those social bookmarking websites key in a keyword that is relative linked to the keyword tags in your onlywire posts. Your website pops up hence you get the required traffic you need, isn't that beautiful and fast.

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Adsense - Improve Your Earnings by 5 Folds

You may find many AdSense Gurus on the net, offering you thousand ways to improve your Google AdSense earnings! Mind you guys, just buying some genius AdSense template and expect it to produce thousand dollars a day is a sure impossibility!

I am telling you with my practical experience that nothing would work unless you are prepared to go that extra mile. You should get hold of the AdSense secrets that are unique to your site. You must be prepared to make continuous changes and measure effectiveness on a continuous basis.

Following are simple but effective steps successfully followed by the author, which may help you to improve your AdSense earnings by five folds or even more! However, keep in mind that nothing would work unless you customize these options to suit your requirements.

The Best Position - This is always the demarcation point which decides you should be earning in hundreds or thousands! You must identify the most likely position where the reader would be most tempted to click. At first you might have to follow what AdSense Gurus have suggested. However, you must keep in mind that what they have said is not unique to your site.

You should be bold enough to do your own research and identify the best positions unique to your site, 'cos there could be exceptions to what AdSense Experts have proposed. Best example I can quote is 'Plentyoffish.com' a dating site which earns half a million Dollars a month just by displaying a single Google ad in each page with completely different link color format than the rest of the site using!

White Is In Demand - Having more white space around the article and the Ad will definitely increase your click through rate. In my case, this is one of the real secrets behind the high click through rate in my AdSense ads. Your objective should be to get the reader's attention to the AdSense ad and the article. Therefore, it is important to have other areas blank as much as possible to centre reader's attention to the Ad and the article. Remove all unnecessary items which are cluttered around the article and the Ad and have more white space on either side of the page.

What is Your Ad Size? - Highly effective Ad formats are 336x250 and 768x120. However, it is up to you to find out the best size for your site. These are the widely tested and accepted sizes. Try them out and see the outcome.

Be Discreet - I personally don't prefer to server image ads in my AdSense campaigns because they dilute the effectiveness of the Ads. It is starkly obvious to the reader that they are clicking on Ads and the sole purpose of putting them is to make money! Just don't make it so obvious! Instead, include text ads which are relevant to the theme. Place the ads where the reader is likely to seek a break while reading the article or your copy.

Artistic Way To Be Discreet - The font, color and texture should match with the rest of the page. This will make the ad looks like part of the article. You have the options to use either an ideally matching color or a contrasting color. Either way is effective.

Use The Maximum but Have a Balance - Always try to use maximum number of AdSense ads in each page. Don't lose balance however! Ads should not dominate the page.

Measure the effectiveness of Ad units - Always make use of Google AdSense channels to identify which position or format has produced high click through rates. Be prepared to change the Ad format, color and position according to your findings. These simple but effective methods surely drive you more income you never ever expect if you are prepared to follow those in your own way. Find out your way out today.

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Make Money With AdSense - AdSense Secret For Everyone

When you want to make money with AdSense, even if you are a newbie at the program, you will be surprised and excited to learn about the AdSense secret that can be used to make money on the internet using AdSense. Google instituted the ad revenue sharing program in 2003 and many web site owners have taken advantage of the simplicity of the program in order to generate passive income for their web sites. A simple bit of code is placed on the web site that generates links to other sites where a product or service is marketed. When the link is clicked, the web site owner receives a payment from the advertiser.

Follow the rules

                                     

To make money with AdSense, you must be certain that you read and understand the policies and rules as set up by Google and described in the agreement that you signed when you registered your AdSense account. The policies limit the type of sites where you can place AdSense ads, for instance. You must focus your web site on the keyword rich content, rather than on the ads themselves. That is what Google wants to see in the AdSense web sites. It is up to the web site owner to apply the rules correctly.

How it Works

Once you have set up your Google AdSense account, you can add the code to any blog, web site or forum that you run. The account is tied to the web site owner so that you don't need to reapply when you open another site. Just be certain that each of your sites complies with the AdSense policies. To make money with AdSense, you should concentrate on improving the content of your own web site so that more people are drawn to your site and appreciate the information and content that they find there.

Customize the Ads

Your next step to make money with AdSense is to decide on the style and format of the ads that are placed. Many marketing studies show that the size, placement, color and general theme of the ads can make a great deal of difference when you are preparing your ads. Use any or all of the recommendations that can be found in the quality tutorials that are available on the subject of AdSense. You can use Google AdSense ads in conjunction with affiliate ads to add relevant content and a more organic feel to your web pages.

AdSense with Blogs

You can make money with AdSense very effectively by using blogs. Since people expect to find a wide variety of relevant information about the product niche when they go to a blog, they also are more likely to click on one or more of the AdSense ads found on the blogs. There is even software to help web site owners place AdSense ads directly into their blogs. Because the AdSense ads are fully customizable they are more likely to blend with the theme and appearance of the web site or blog.

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Be Your Own Boss: Top 5 Freelancing Jobs

In this tough economic climate, some people are turning to consulting and freelancing when full-time positions at companies aren't readily available. In fact, freelancers and consultants who aren't committed to long-term employment at a particular organization have the ability to network widely, develop their portfolio and enjoy a variety of different projects and assignments. The key to successful freelancing is catering your specific skill set to the appropriate industry and offering services that will benefit that client or company. Freelancers must be extremely self-disciplined, have well-honed entrepreneurial skills and be able to work in a number of different settings.

Let's take a look at five of the most "freelance-friendly jobs."

1.     Graphic Designer: Graphic design is another occupation popularized by the expansion of the Internet. Traditionally, graphic designers have worked in the print medium, but current graphic designers work just as much, if not more, on the internet. Graphic designers who freelance are usually tasked with the visual development and creation of a company's messages and brand design.

2.     IT Consultant: IT consulting is one of the most in-demand freelancing jobs. As companies across the globe continue to implement technology to help their businesses run more effectively and to more efficiently meet company objectives, IT consultants are employed to advise and instruct businesses about this technology. IT consultants also help businesses stay ahead of the curve by keeping software and IT systems up to date and implementing new versions when applicable.

3.     Copy writer: Freelance copy writers enjoy versatile kinds of employment. Qualified writers are needed in all types of businesses and because of this copy writers can be employed in almost every business sector. Copy writers are tasked with the enormous responsibility of writing copy to promote a business or person. In doing so, they must articulately persuade readers and consumers of the value of a product or company. Copy writers who freelance often enjoy a variety of different projects and assignments. 

4.     Photographer: More than half of professional photographers are self-employed making photography an extremely freelance-reliant field. Photographers often specialize in a specific type of photography like wedding, commercial, or scientific photography and through specialization can differentiate themselves.

These five examples of popular "freelance-friendly" jobs are five of many. Other popular freelance work can be found in writing, interior design, translating, and recruiting fields, among others. Can't find a job at a business or corporation, but have a valuable set of skills coupled with experience? Freelancing or Consulting may be the best way to showcase these skills, earn a stable income, and participate in exciting and diverse projects. 
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How to Search For the Best Freelance Jobs Online and Find Freelance Employment

When the economy goes through a downturn, and the recession hits the job market, it is prudent to look for supplementary sources of income in advance to secure your future and that of your family in troubled times. The internet is one of the best places to search for freelance jobs online and freelance employment opportunities.

There are thousands and thousands of such jobs and all you need to do is to search for them. However, just by typing in "freelance jobs online" or "freelance employment" in the search engines, you won't be able to find a good job that will satisfy your needs. You might go on for months searching for that right job and that dream job will prove to be elusive for you although in the internet you shall come across both freelance jobs online of the basic level as well as of the highest level.

When you are searching for the basic level job positions, the best technique which you can adopt is the narrowing down of your options to the most fulfilling, rewarding and the best ones. This is the way to search for good freelance programming jobs, freelance web developer jobs, and freelance web designers jobs etc.

You can search for these freelance jobs online in the job posting sites of the free variety which can be done from home, in the newspaper online advertisements and in various company websites. There are also many renowned and reputed and trusted job portals in the internet where you can post your detailed and up to date resume and bio data.

And you can sign up for these sites for free. These online job portals will send you notifications and addresses and information about freelance web designers' jobs, freelance web developer jobs, and freelance programmer jobs etc. Usually these online job portals are patronized and favored by the HR departments of various well known, reputed, large, medium and small companies.

If you have the requisite qualifications and experience to boot, you will be called for interview and if you crack the online interview, you will be selected for the job.
It is impossible to hunt through 56 million websites. The best way is to go for the sites with the highest rankings which record the maximum amount of traffic, as advised by Alexa certified traffic ranking.

Three other ways of getting hold of freelance web designers' jobs, freelance web developer jobs, freelance programmer jobs are business networking, partnerships and referrals. Suppose you have done a good job in the past and your client is happy with your output. He will refer you to his friends and colleagues and in this way you will find more work and freelance projects without having to spend tons on advertising.
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