A newbie to work-at-home overwhelmed

Hi Andrea,

If you are referring to the url in your signature as your website, you are going to have a hard time getting traffic to it. Posting in forums is one way. You could also post in the free classified ads sites.

Because that site is not a unique site (there are probably hundreds of the exact same), you will never be able to get free traffic from the search engines to it.

If you are new at making money online, don't try to promote making money online. That's what probably 99% of people do and the majority of them don't ever end up really making money online. (Those are my own statistics based on watching people come and go).

If you really want to make a go of this Andrea, I suggest you read through my note to Teddy (above) and read the free Affiliate Master's course I mentioned.

I'd really love for YOU to be one of the minority who succeed online!

Blessings,
Angie

I am relatively new to working from home as well. I couln't agree more with SouthernGent's post on doing a background check, etc. I always use the BBB. I would also like to add that you should try to contact the company before you sign up. This lets you find out if they answer questions in a timely matter and if they offer enough support. There are legitimate opportunities out there for just about any type of work. However, it does take time to find them. Just do your research and you will be fine.

Hi Darren,

It's really important to figure out what you like doing and what your skills are in. There are a lot of data entry positions online or envelope stuffing but most of these pay a small amount of money which from your post I'm not sure you'd be happy with.

If you are serious about making a commitment to a business and learning about how to be successful in the network marketing industry then I would strongly recommend that path. These businesses are not free to start but most are under $500 and many have positions starting around $100.

When considering a network marketing company it's really important to interview and check out the person who you will be joining under. Make sure that they're as committed to your success as you are and that they plan on sticking with you as you learn. All to often in this industry people are brought in and then abandoned so make sure you won't be one of them.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do and please update us.

Carrie Hogue

Being overwhelmed is common for starters. You just have to work hard and push through that first month or two and you will be on your way.

AOxford

Many will tell you the best way to get traffic to your site is to write articles, for publication in article directories.. lots of articles. Make sure your url and affiliate links work.. that they connect properly. You can spin articles for publication in different article directories, but some question the wisdom and effectiveness of doing that.
Experts will advise you to start at least one blog related to your business, and to keep it replenished with good content. The point is to create a flood of backlinks to your website. It is essential that you sites employ the keywords that will draw targetted traffic. This requires some research on the major search engines, especially Google.
Generating traffic to your sites takes time, and hard work.
If you are truly committed to your business then eventually your persistence will be rewarded.
I'm rooting for you Andrea!

You have neither said what you are looking for nor what your skill base is. Help to you will therefore be general.

There are many ways to make money at home. Forget typing and stuffing envelopes scams. There are real jobs and opportunities.

You could look for freelance sites to begin your career. These are sites that require some skill but you stand an equal chance of being selected for a job.

You could also try internet marketing- selling other people's products. This is quite good but it requires a level of skill and it's heavy work.

If you have money, you could invest on an already performing opportunity. You need not buy a business outright- you can buy equity and either be active in management or simply sit back and enjoy the return.

One final way is to build your online business. This need not be expensive but it will require patience and sacrifice.

Hi Angie,

Thanks for those encouraging words. I did start a website on one of my hobbies and ended up on Goggle's first page. I am still trying to understand how... I have banners etc on my site for affiliates and also adsense. I still battle to get traffic and clicks on my banners and google ads, but I think traffic is the biggest problem.

If you would let me know what ebook you read about affiliate marketing I would really appreciate it. Also sorry to be so dumb but what is SBI?

Again thanks for all your help !!

Teddy.

Hi Teddy,

I'm happy to do what I can to help you along the way. If you'd like to send me your website address through the contact form of one of my sites or via the private message service here in the forum, I'll take a look at it and see if I can give you some pointers.

Or, you could even just put the url in your signature if you don't mind everyone seeing it and my review of the site.

The ebook I was referring to was the free Affiliate Masters Course and you can download it for free from my site via the page in my signature link below where it says free ebooks. You don't have to leave an email address or anything, just help yourself.

As for SBI, that stands for SiteBuildIt and it is a website business building package. It includes a domain and hosting, but more importantly takes you step by step through the entire process of building a successful income earning website.

I'm so grateful for the program because I doubt I would have ever gotten anywhere without it. It's fantastic, but it definitely takes effort and commitment.

Don't worry. Not knowing something doesn't make you dumb. I felt like I was learning a foreign language when I started out. Sometimes we start to throw terms around after a while and forget that people may not realize what we are referring to. My apologies.

Well, let me know if I can be of further help.

Blessings,
Angie

Hi Angie,

I have added my blog to my signature and would appreciate your review. It might also help newbies like me to learn what a good site should be. I think your pointers could help us.

Thanks again
Teddy.

Hi Teddy,

Wow! What a coincidence. My husband just bought his first RC plane a few weeks ago. I'm afraid I'm in for it!

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with blogs, per se. My sites have an automatic blog feature that I utilize, but I've not built a traditional blog. I build static sites, so there will be some differences in the structure, but basic principles would remain the same.

It looks like your Alexa ranking is pretty good, so I would guess you get some decent traffic. About how many unique visitors are you averaging per day?

My first thought upon clicking through to your site is "too many ads." Your look(template) is nice, but I think all the ads are making the pages load very slowly.

I tried clicking to several of your articles but every one of them came up empty except for the Google ads. Your template didn't even load. It's possible it's my connection, so perhaps another forum member can double check and see if it's just me.

I tried it in both Firefox and IE, thinking maybe it was a browser issues since I've been having a bit of trouble with my Firefox lately. I had the same result there.

Anyway, here are some basic tips that I've learned to follow that you can implement on your blog if you like.

When writing an article or page/post for your site, you want to focus on one particular keyword phrase. If you've done some keyword research on your subject, choose a phrase that has pretty high demand with fairly low competition.

Place that exact phrase in your Heading, First Sentence, and near the End of the article. Depending on the length of the article, you'll want to sprinkle it in another time or two (for about 400-500 words).

List your main keyword phrase first in your list of keyword tags, and only add a few others that you specific use in the content. This sends a clear message to the SE's about what your page/post is about. When you put 20-30 tags, it waters it down a bit.

On the subject of Adsense, you want to use one or two Ads per page, but try to keep it above the fold (the top visible part of the page when it loads. This generally increases your click thru rate.

If you place them in amongst the content of your article, you end up getting a higher click-rate as well.

Those are just some of the basic building principles that I've used with some success that I learned through SBI. Perhaps you can adapt them to suit your blog to see if it improves your results.

Blessings,
Angie

happywife

Hi Angie,

Thanks for the info. My blog receives very little traffic, down to 5 visitors a day and that is my problem. I must say though I have been neglecting my site for a while but need to start "fixing" it up as I see it has dropped to Goggle's second page. It has been on page 1 for a long time but with very little visits.

Thanks for your input I really appreciate it.

Teddy.

No worries. For what phrase or phrases were you on the first page of Google?

The phrases I used was RC Jets as that is where I originally started my site not having a clue what I was doing. I see now I am pr2 probably because I have deviated from RC Jets and also neglected my site a bit. Going to try get back to pr1.

Well, I'm going to confuse you some more.

PR does stand for Page Rank, but it has nothing really to do with which page of Google you are on.

In fact, PR2 is BETTER than PR1! So you don't want to try to go back the other way.

PageRank is more referring to the "authority" value that a particular page has and is generally associated with the number of links pointing to that particular page from outside sources (not the only criteria, but the main one).

I really don't worry to much about PR, although it's always pleasant to notice an improvement.

I'm more interested in actual traffic because the more visitors usually equates to more money earned.

In order to improve your standing in the search results (closer to page one), you need to follow the formula I outlined above.

1. Do good keyword research (high demand/low supply).
2. Write good content about those particular keywords and use the keywords properly.

Getting some backlinks (links back to your site from elsewhere) is something you should do gradually and periodically as you are building the site up. It does help too.

Did you look at the Affiliate Master's Course yet?

Blessings,
Angie

Gee thanks for that Angie !!! I will follow your advise as I need to do some work on my site to improve it.
I haven't looked at the Affiliate Master Course yet but most certainly will this week end.

Thanks Angie you're a star!!

Teddy.

Happy to help.

happywife

Hey Angie, I started today to improve my site... I think I am the confussed one as when I said my blog was pr1 I meant page rank 1. I didn't know there was a difference page rank and pr, I thought it was the same. I was ranked on google page 1 but slipped to page rank 2, but still don't know how I to google's 1st page.
I have started using your advice to try improve my status...

Hey Angie,

I also meant to say I am pleased to hear your husband bought a plane. I hope he gets the right training to fly as once he is flying "solo" I am sure he is going to love it. I have seen many novices progress to flying without their trainers, and to see the joy on their faces when flying solo is so great. I really love radio control flying as well as jumping out of planes at 15000 feet but my jumping out of planes is come to a stand still as my wife has a fear of my parachute not opening one day.

Enjoy life
Teddy

Hi Teddy,

Maybe I'm not explaining it too well.

PR is page rank. You've got that part right. But PR/Page rank does not refer to where you are listed in the search engines. It does not mean you are on the first page of Google search results.

That is referred to as search engine ranking, not page rank.

When you say you are PR1 do you actually mean you ARE on the first page of the search results when someone types in your specific keywords for a page?

Or are you referring to actual PageRank that is shown when you have the Alexa toolbar installed that shows PR and Alexa ranks?

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My husband bought the RC plane from a friend who has gotten into it a bit and had purchased a few. He likes it okay, but he much prefers to fly himself.

He has a powered paraglider (familiar with it?) and would much rather be in the air than to be on the ground with an RC plane in the air.

At least I don't have to worry about his parachute opening because he takes off with the wing (chute) already opened!

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Glad to hear you are trying to implement some of the suggestions I've made. You may not see benefits over night, but the results do come when these principles are followed.

Blessings,
Angie

happywife

I think I am getting it all wrong and by the looks of things got a lot to learn about PageRanking. My pr I refer to is Alexa and a plugin for WordPress I use for my blog also says PageRank 1, but from what your are saying I most likely not on Google's first page.

To change the subject... Last night I was poking around Google Adsense as I have it on my site and found something interesting. Long ago I setup a blog on Blogger as it was part of a course I was doing (30 Day Challenge). I haven't given it much attention but by looking at the "channels" in Adsense reports I found that half of my paying clicks were coming from Blogger. (I only make pennies from Asense by the way). Might be something to consider?

I do know about powered paragliding as a friend of mine (also big into RC planes) has just bought a share in a paraglider. He says it is the most awesome experience.

PS - I have started reading Affiliate Master's Course and so far it's great.