Since the job market has yet to fully recover from the economic downturn of 2008, many people have turned to working from home either out of design or simple necessity.

Full-time jobs are incredibly hard to come by these days, and even low-paying opportunities are flooded with applicants. Since many experienced job-seekers are settling for anything they can get, that means other hard working Americans are being pushed to the side. To compensate for that crush, people have begun working from home.

But, starting a home-based business is no easier than it ever was, and most people find they have to pick up side work in order to make ends meet. Is this actually a viable strategy?

Regrettably, many times it is not.

Here are a few reasons why you should reconsider your strategy and look for side work when working from home won’t always pay the bills.

Finding Side Work when Working From Home Just Doesn’t Cut It

First off, working from home means you have to generate every opportunity, and you must do so without a team to lean on. That means that even simple side jobs, such as babysitting or writing blog articles, will require you locate the opportunities and apply for them individually. You may find that this is as rigorous as if you were applying for a full-time position.

People looking for babysitters have plenty of options, but freelance bloggers are up against thousands of out-of-work English and Journalism graduates. It can take several months to locate the opportunities, receive the work and develop a timely payment system, and during all of this time, your monthly expenses won’t simply wait for you to catch up.

If you don’t have an emergency fund to draw from, you could find yourself running out of time. This is a sad reality for many.

Juggling a number of side jobs also means inconsistent pay and a more complicated financial picture. People with one steady job find their finances incredibly easy to navigate. They can set their monthly budget based on the paychecks they receive, and therefore chart the best time to pay their bills.

Side work is not always consistent, which means you may make significantly more or less one week than the following week. It’s tough to plot out monthly expenses with this sort of schedule. Additionally, you’ve got to deal with all the infrastructure you’ll need in place to handle your tax situation.

Depending on the work, you may need to set up one or several corporations or LLCs, all of which take start-up costs, and you may even need separate bank accounts and a tight ledger come tax time. You could find you spend as much as a quarter of your time managing it all, which is 25% less time you have to actually get the work done.

Finally, you could develop enough work to cover your bills, but it might take an unsustainably heavy workload to do it. Many people who work two to four jobs to pay the bills can find themselves working as much as 80 hours each week. This is a comparable schedule to a lawyer or a stock broker, but for a bare fraction of the take home pay.

Additionally, you don’t get paid vacation or sick days, and the work doesn’t get done if you’re not there. That means no downtime, and no flexibility if issues come up in your life that you need to handle. A wedding magician, for example, only gets paid when he shows up, and if his children are sick or his wife goes into labor, he either skips out on his family priorities or loses the day’s pay. That could throw the whole month off if you don’t have much of a margin.

Burnout could come quickly under these situations, and all that work may still not leave you prepared to pay your bills. Think long and hard about the lifestyle you can sustain before you get in over your head.

Outsourcing is all about using your time effectively. It’s about trying to decide which tasks you should do yourself and which ones are best outsourced.

Sooner or later, there is going to be a time in your business, if it hasn’t come already, where you will have to hire people to do work for you.

When that time comes, you’ll need to decide whether it’s best to go with a freelancing site, or one of those micro job places.

There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to both, and in this post I will discuss them to give you a better idea of what to consider.

Micro Job sites VS Freelancing sites

What work do you need done?

If you have a simple banner you need created, a single article you need written or a quick editing job, it is probably best for you to try and use micro job websites.

Doing that will ensure that you get your job done quickly, and that it will be completed at a reasonable price.

There are places online where people will do simple tasks for five or ten dollars. You can try someone out, pretty much at no cost, and see if they’re good enough to work for you.

Then, if you like their work, you can hire them full-time or part-time.

What’s more, most micro job websites allow you to accept or reject the work that gets provided, so you really don’t risk anything. You never need to pay for low quality service. This is a huge plus as I’ve gotten some pretty crappy work handed to me from some freelance sites in the past.

On the other hand, if you have a complicated project, and you don’t want to divide it up into little micro jobs, then it is probably best for you to go with the traditional outsourcing services where you’ll be able to find dedicated workers to work on whatever you need done.

Speed and efficiency is key

When you work with micro job websites, you need to be sure that your job is quick and easy to complete. People on these sites try to do as many simple tasks in an hour as they possibly can, to keep their hourly wages up.

If your task is complicated or takes a long time to get done, the service will most likely be of low quality, or your job will not get done at all.

Again, if your task is time consuming, you should consider hiring someone by the hour or on a fixed-price basis. Both of those options are available to you through conventional freelancing websites.

Avoid hassles

There are literally no hassles when you work with micro job sites. I mean, the worst thing that can happen is you’ll lose a little time finding someone to work for you and then reviewing their work. That’s better then paying for sub-par work, losing both time AND money, and maybe having to find someone else to complete the project instead.

That’s it!

Getting low quality work done for you is not very common, but it does happen. If it happens to you, just forget the experience and move on.

With a dedicated freelancer site, if you don’t have experience hiring people, you might have to deal with workers that rip you off by wasting a whole lot of your time on the job (not to mention money), or people that are late with their work if you have deadlines that need to be met.

Sometimes you might never even see anything delivered at all. This is rare, but unfortunately does happen.

Most beginner employers have a hard time deciding who to hire, so a micro job site is a great way to find out what you need to be aware of, what to get ready for and what to pay attention to when hiring workers to work on your projects.

Make the call

I hope that you now know whether to use micro job sites, like Fourerr, Fiverr or TenBux, or conventional freelancing sites like oDesk and Elance for your next project. Both of those options are great, it just depends on what it is that you need done.

About the Author:

Thomas De Vos is the creator of Micro Job site Fourerr.com, the world’s biggest place for micro jobs costing only $4. He has a wealth of knowledge when it comes down to Online freelancing and micro jobs.

Photo source from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

If you run any sort of retail business, you know that customer loyalty is one of the most important elements of success. In the marketing world, it is commonly known that the most expensive proposition is developing a brand new client. It takes the most money and resources to bring someone new into a financial interaction with your brand.

Therefore, it is critical that you do everything you can to gain repeat business. And, many companies increase their repeat numbers through providing some sort of customer loyalty program. These programs work regardless of your industry and can increase revenues even after offering deep discounts.

Remember, people love getting free stuff, and the more you offer a current customer, the greater the chances they’ll bring friends and family to you as new customers. And that takes no additional advertising spending. So, if you don’t have one of these programs in place, it’s time to start.

Here are 5 keys to keep in mind while you build your customer loyalty program.

1. Foster Consumer Engagement

The most important element is designing the program so that it fosters consumer engagement. That means your customers are drawn to interact with your program in a two-way relationship. It will all come down to figuring out how to get your customers emotionally involved with your brand. Do they see you and your employees as real people? Do they understand your mission, and want to support it? The stronger the connection you can foster, the more participation you’ll get in your program.

2. Offer Two-Way Value Proposition

You’ll want to make sure your customer loyalty program offers a two-way value proposition. Basically, whatever you offer your customers should give them the most possible value, while costing your business the least amount of money. This will guarantee that neither you or your customers feel taken advantage of, thereby insuring the loyalty program is successful. You’ll need to do enough research to understand what your customers are looking for. Remember that this doesn’t always mean discounts. You don’t want to devalue your brand by showing your customers they could have things for less. Instead, create tiers of rewards that acknowledge them with purchases, and consider free gifts over discounts.

3. Maximize Information Gathering

Now that you’ve got a solid customer loyalty program in place, you need to take full advantage of the data you receive from your customers. Keep in mind that the program is also an easy way for you to collect marketing information. Regularly ask them to describe their spending habits, and that info paired with how they spend on your brand will help you set rewards, adjust your offerings, and tweak pricing. Use everything technology now makes possible to maximize your information gathering, without becoming a nuisance.

4. Develop Strategic Partnerships

With that information in hand, it’s time to develop some strategic partnerships. There are tons of loyalty programs, and giving your customers the opportunity to interact with other brands every once in a while through your program will help retain their interest. Make sure whatever other brands you bring to the table are high-end, and add value to your own brand.

5. Focus on Quality, Not Price

Finally, don’t get caught up in a price war. Again, remember that you don’t want your main loyalty offering to be discounts, or that is all your customers will want. They may stop interacting with your loyalty program if you stop offering discounts. Additionally, they may wait for the discounts, and not buy from you until things go on sale. That could end up skewing all of your projects. You can use a mobile website builder to create coupon programs at will, but unless discounts are a core part of your business plan, keep your focus on quality and not price.

Infographic provided by: http://www.phoenix-training.co.uk/

When you strive for effectiveness, stick to the simple. Online forms are a foolproof way to reach two goals at a time: get in touch with potential customers on your website and entice them to take some action in pursue of your own sales goals. Once this is done, you have visitors already on the verge of performing a sale and their contact data at your hand for further connection.

In the internet marketing community, this is known as a sales funnel or conversion funnel. This is the path that you want your potential customer – your website visitor – to take.

While at least one form is usually present on every website (commonly in the form of a newsletter opt-in), not each one is properly optimized to convert all the casual visitors that hang around and leave traces in Google Analytics. The good news – you can easily shape your forms for best results. Forms will work 24/7 for your business as a dedicated salesperson would.

Unique Selling Proposition

This is the key point for your entire marketing strategy. To fill in a form already means a transaction done in your favor, so you should display a strong Unique Selling Proposition (USP) that can motivate indifferent people to take action. State clearly what makes your business worthy and unique, in such way that I, a casual visitor, would get the picture and feel there’s something for me there.

Once you’ve done this, make sure you highlight the immediate advantages for me to submit your lead generation form: get a free e-book, gain access to a private area of your website or whatever incentive you would like to use. Put the USP right on the form header and use a lively text for the submit button such as “Grab Your Free Copy Now” instead of the old grey “Submit form”.

Smart Goal Setting

To start over in structuring your conversion funnel, define the action you need visitors to perform in order to call it an achieved goal. Do you want them to simply fill in a contact form? Request a callback? Make a direct purchase? Whatever goal you would like to set, it’s important to shape your form accordingly, so that visitors won’t lose time in getting the point.

Typically, a form stands at the bottom of the conversion funnel, right where people land when searching for a notion on your website. Irrespective of the traffic source (homepage, landing pages) you should use Call To Action (CTA) buttons and links to direct visitors as quickly as possible towards the form that closes the desired transaction.

Equally important is to adapt the form to your goal. For example, if your aim is to perform instant sales, use an order form that supports payment in-place instead of an elusive contact form that only requests vague user information with the promise that you will get back to them. Once there is a gap in communication, conversions fade away. Assure your visitors that the split second they submit the form, a real need of them is going to be fulfilled.

User Experience

You hear a lot of talk over UX Design these days. The primary aim of your web forms is to be reachable and easily filled in. Friendly user experience plays the key role here.

Place your form in a visible spot of your webpage. For contact tabs, the most effective placement is in the header or footer of the page. You can craft multiple landing pages, tailored around each keyword in your field, and place the form on each page. It’s recommended to have at least three types of forms on your website: a newsletter subscription form, a contact form and a specific lead generation form.

To enhance visitors’ trust, display a link to the privacy policy and other guarantees regarding your product right on the form. Design the form to be user friendly and inviting. Use a small number of fields, request only the essential information and reduce typing stress as much as possible by having choice fields instead of text boxes. Include a contact number beside your form, for users who would like to speak to you in person. And don’t forget to thank your customers for filling in the form, through a confirmation lightbox or e-mail.

Statistics

Forms are a great marketing tool. Not only do they gather user information in a painless and organized manner, they also let you explore inside demographic data about the submitter. If you use a web form builder, like that from 123ContactForm, seek for a feature that would allow you to capture the referral of users who submitted the form and their system data.

It’s useful to find out the users’ country, IP and the browser used, for general statistics as well as for development purposes and fixing glitches. If the form is submitted from mobile terminals, you will know you have to optimize your website for this, if you haven’t already.

Follow-Up and Test

Your form is up and running, conversions flow at a good pace. However, the process of lead generation is nowhere near the end. Actually, it’s a continuous learning cycle, where you can always tweak some more in the light of new conclusions you draw from experience. It’s always beneficial to draw reports over the data users submit in forms and use conclusions to create customer personas and deliver targeted marketing messages.

About the Author:

Laura Moisei writes for 123ContactForm web form builder that helps small businesses get in touch with their customers. Laura is a dedicated blogger and small business consultant with a passion for technology.

If this is your first time here on my blog, first of all, welcome. Every month I do a detailed income report, showing you exactly where my income comes from. This gives you an idea of the various income streams that are available, as I strongly believe you shouldn’t place all of your eggs in one basket.

This is also a way for me to measure my success (or failure) from month-to-month. Each month will vary in income, and that’s all part of working from home as an affiliate and internet marketer. This acts as a motivator for me to keep pushing forward to reach my goals.

I hope you find these income reports helpful and give you encouragement that it is possible to make money on the internet.

This past month was a little different than most, and I’ll explain why at the end of the report. So for now, let’s see how I did last month…

Income from ReplaceYourSalary.com

• PayDotCom – $28.17
• Clickbank – $28.45
• Responsive Data – $39
• Google Adsense: $118.28
• Project Payday: $40.80 (commissions earned from promoting the program, not actually using it)
• AdFish – $105.20
• Advertising Sold – $310
• E-Junkie – $29.60
• Paul’s Backlink Service Affiliate Program – $36

Total = $735.50

Income from Proofreading/Editing Services

It’s an honor for me to be able to provide a high quality and much needed service, and it’s been an honor serving my clients. You can learn more by visiting the link below.

• Professional Proofreading Services

Total = $45

Income from My Micro Niche Adsense Site

Google Adsense earnings for this month from the site totaled $4.29. This amount is included in my total Adsense income as reported above.

Total Online Income

Total online income IS…

$780.50

Google Penguin Update

As you probably know, Google updated its ranking algorithm, dubbed Google Penguin. As a result, many websites were a hit, including this one. Rankings have dropped, some not so much, while others pretty severe.

April’s slight decrease in income is a result of those lost rankings. This site held the top positions for some of the most competitive search phrases. While I didn’t engage in any black-hat SEO tactics, some of my link building was questionable in the eyes of Google.

There are a number of different types of backlinks Google wants to see, and now that I know they are and what I need to get more of, I’m taking corrective measures to get my rankings back up. Until that time, you can expect to see a decrease in earnings.

This month (May) will be more evident of this, as Google Adsense earnings are almost non-existent. I am confident I can bounce back and get the income back up to over $1,000 a month and eventually higher and higher.

How Well Did You Do Last Month?

Was your website hit by the Penguin Update? If you feel comfortable, I would love to hear how well you made out with your online endeavors last month as well.

Feel free to share with us by leaving a comment below…

These days, when you think about it, who doesn’t have a website? It’s definitely a great way to market yourself, your brand and to keep people updated on the things that you have going on in your life.

However, if there’s one thing that doesn’t come up, perhaps nearly as much as it should when it comes to them, is what is the ROI (Return On Investment) when it comes to having one?

Not just the investment of money (paying for the name of the site, the web designer, etc.), but the investment of your time and efforts when it comes to posting content on it, too. This is one of the main reasons why exploring the various options for monetizing your blog or website is so important.

If you’re looking for some ways to earn an income from your website or blog, here are 5 ways that you can make money via your own “page” in cyberspace in no time.

1. Start a Newsletter

When it comes to creating ways to make money for your site or blog, one of the easiest things to do is to create a database so that you can send out newsletters. This is because it’s both an efficient and effective method for staying in communication with your visitors by transitioning them into subscribers. If you use a company like Constant Contact, they even have options for putting up a PayPal link (for soliciting donations) or discount coupons within your newsletters. Other options include GetResponse and Aweber.

2. Offer Specials

Okay, this isn’t really talking about a “Deal of the Day” necessarily. This is more about expanding the content that you have on your site into more tangible opportunities. You could host a conference centered around your site or blog’s theme. You could offer consulting services. You could even develop a mentoring program where, for a small fee, people could receive instructions/information on how to do things that you have learned within your own field. The possibilities in this category are endless.

3. Sell Products

Nothing says “branding” like merchandise, and even in this economy, it’s something that people enjoy purchasing. It could be a cool T-shirt or mug. It could be a self-published book or (even better) an e-book. If you’re a musician, you could post a link connecting people to your Amazon or iTunes page. Anything you can think of that people can use and will help them to remember where they got it from is worth exploring for the purpose of eCommerce.

4. Sell Website Templates

Believe it or not, this continues to be a pretty popular way to monetize a site. In an ElegantThemes Review from last year, it was revealed that the owner makes almost $40 to get access to all of the templates (over 60) under that theme. Selling websites on a website might seem a bit odd, but think of it as being like the groceries of the Internet; websites are something that someone, somewhere, is always going to need. So, why not be the person that can help them out?

5. Get Sponsorships

Just like you’re trying to find ways to draw more traffic to your website, so are other individuals. If you’re a start-up, blog rolls or a list of your favorite websites on your home page is a good way to get your name out to other people and companies. However, as you become more well-known, it’s then time to start looking into getting some sponsorship. Based on the amount of hits that you get, there are companies and websites that will be willing to pay you a certain amount to have their logo or a link to their site on your own. It’s just a matter of reaching out to them and sharing your reasons why advertising with you would be worth their time and money. If you have enough traffic coming your way, it won’t be a hard sell.

Oftentimes, when we think of people who need liability insurance, we automatically think of doctors and lawyers. The truth of the matter is that the word “liability” is defined as being “something disadvantageous.”

Therefore, being that insurance is what protects people in case something unfortunate happens, then when it comes to the question if liability insurance is needed for a home office, the answer is a definite, “Yes.”

Now, let’s get into some of the specifics as to why you need liability insurance for your home office.

First, You Need Business Insurance for Office Equipment

Did you know that over half of all home offices are uninsured? This is mostly due to the fact that many people who work out of their home do so under the assumption that their house insurance will take care of any loss or damage that happens to the equipment that is in their office space. In some circumstances (albeit rare), this may be the case. However, for the most part, home policies do not cover the loss of business records; they only offer around $2,000-2,500 for lost or damaged office equipment, and they do not offer protection for business liability issues (such as a client suing for negligence, defamation of character, etc.). And if you have a laptop, you’ll probably only get about $200 with the current house insurance policy that you have should something happen to it away from home.

There are many kinds of policies to cover these issues, including Homeowners Endorsement (which basically raises the amount of coverage that you currently have), Business Owners Policy Insurance, and Home Office Insurance. Your insurance provider should be able to assist you with answering any of the questions that you may have concerning these.

Then, Get Business Liability Insurance

If you read the news on a regular basis, then you’ve probably noticed that virtually anyone is vulnerable when it comes to a lawsuit. If you work in the media and someone believes that you defamed their character, they may want to file suit. If you’re a personal trainer and a client feels that your training caused them physical harm, they may want to file suit. If you have an advertising agency and someone believes that you violated their copyrights in an advertisement, again, they may want to file suit.

Business liability insurance covers these kinds of scenarios because these kinds of policies protect you from any expenses connected to settlements that were made out-of-court, litigations and also judgments (including court and attorney fees). Liability business insurance also typically covers any physical injuries that may have happened while clients were in your home office or any property damage that may have occurred as well.

Do keep in mind that they usually don’t cover business things like employee injuries or punitive damages and they certainly should not be used in place of auto insurance for your business. You will need to take out a separate auto insurance policy for that. For more information on the kinds of business liability policies that are available in your state, you can visit websites like BusinessInsurance.org or BusinessInsuranceQuotes.com.

Last summer, US News and World Report did an article on how entrepreneurship is at an all-time high (the highest it’s been in 15 years, actually) for people ages 35-44. Sure, the motivation is mostly due to the economy, but with more and more people opting for freelancing and contract work, this also means there are more and more people looking for ways to get health insurance benefits. If you’re one of them, check out some of these health benefit options for freelancers.

We’ll take a look at four health benefit options if you’re a freelancer or do any kind of work from home and don’t have a traditional job.

Private Health Insurance

The first thing that comes to mind is probably this one. When it comes to getting private health insurance, it’s simply a matter of contacting a health insurance provider like Humana or Blue Cross Blue Shield to see what rates they have available for individuals. Unless you have a pre-existing condition, the monthly rates aren’t too much to bear. eHealthInsurance.com has a list of companies within your state that can provide you with a policy that works best for you.

High-Deductible Health Plan

This is an option for people who don’t find themselves needing to go to the doctor for much more than annual check-ups. The upside to this plan is that you typically don’t have to pay high monthly premiums. On the other hand, the deductibles can be a bit steep. Plus, you have to pay for your healthcare needs out of your own pocket until you have reached the price of your annual deductible. Another option for people that don’t see a doctor much is obtaining a health discount card. This is so you can get a discount on some of the services offered by medical professionals; however, if you go this route, make sure to keep in mind that it’s not an insurance policy. It’s more like the Kroger Plus card that you keep on your keychain, only it’s for medical needs instead of groceries.

Join Through Where You (Freelance) Work

There are some websites that contract workers and provide insurance coverage for them through their company. Take oDesk.com, for instance. If you go to oDesk.com/benefits, you will see a variety of health care options that they have available to their subscribers including a Wellness Plan (a pretty standard health care plan) and what they call a Catastrophic Plan; it covers situations where hospitalization is required. They also have a plan that combines the two. You can also look into freelance workers support sites and unions for health care coverage. For writers, there is (for example) the National Writers Union (NWU.org). You have to be a member to get the details, but they do have policies that offer dental and vision. The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE.org) offers some really fair quotes on health insurance policies as well.

Short-Term Health Insurance

Some people freelance for a living, while others pick up contracted work to do while being in between jobs. If you are someone who fits into the latter category, then you might want to go with the short-term health insurance option. If you’re not use something like a COBRA plan (which usually means you’re paying hefty fee to remain on your former employer’s insurance for the next 18 months or so), then there are companies that will give you a short-term policy for a period of time until you can find some employment. In this case, again, the monthly payments are low but the deductibles are pretty high.

High-Risk Pools

For individuals with a pre-existing health condition, sometimes they can find it difficult to get health insurance. For them, there are high risk health insurance pools in existence that vary from HMO and PPO plans to point-of-service plans and various kinds of Health Savings Accounts. For more information on these, visit High-Risk-Health-Insurance.com or HealthInsurance.org (put “risk pools” in the search engine).

The job market continues to be difficult to crack for the millions of Americans that find themselves out of work. The economy is improving, but not quick enough to realign the glut of people vying for job openings. Highly qualified people find themselves going up against tons of candidates for every possibility, and recent college grads are struggling to compete against much more experienced applicants.

So what sorts of options are available?

Many people have turned towards ways to make money at home, either as the beginnings of a new small business or a stopgap to pay the bills before something more consistent comes along. People have been making a living from the comforts of home for years, and advances in technology have made it even easier.

The internet offers tons of opportunities, and mobile meeting communication services and the proliferation of smartphones give people the chance to make money without the need for a traditional office. But just because the opportunities exist doesn’t mean you can forgo some careful planning in advance of the transition to working from home.

Not every opportunity is real and consistent, and you don’t want to waste time getting involved in a scam, or working too hard for too little return.

With that in mind, here is a look at a couple of real options for making money while working at home.

Customer Service Representative

Companies large and small have begun outsourcing a lot of the work traditionally handled in their office. It saves the organization money while offering work opportunities for people who may not be geographically close to the company’s business address. The larger the business, the more customer service issues that need attention.

Many American companies outsourced these jobs across the world, to massive phone centers in India. But there has been significant backlash as the economy struggled, and these same companies are now looking to move these jobs back onto US soil. You don’t need a ton of education or experience to work as a customer service representative. In many cases, an associate’s degree in communications will suffice.

Starting salaries are around $30,000, so while it may not be an option if you have a large family, it is a consistent source of revenue for people just out of school.

Teacher

There are tons of opportunities for those that want to teach but don’t want to be stuck in a classroom all day. The popularity of online degree programs has soared in recent years, as people go back to school with an eye towards bettering their career while hanging on to their current job. If you have a bachelor’s degree in education, you can take advantage of this niche and teach an online course. The benefits of traditional teaching may not all be there, but the pay is more than decent.

Travel Agent

If you love to travel, you can certainly find work as a travel agent. All you need is a bachelor’s degree in business, and you can start your own travel agency online. People are always booking trips, regardless of the poor economy, and there is plenty of room to plant your own flag in the leisure industry. Since more and more people book their travel online, not needing to carry the expenses of a traditional office can actually work in your favor.

Writer

With millions upon millions of websites and blogs needing content, anyone with a degree in English, communications or journalism can get work writing copy. If you have a real talent for writing, you can even make a good living on it. You get to choose how much or how little work you take on, so it can work within any schedule. And if you’ve studied or have experience in technical writing, you’ll earn a very nice wage. Check out Craigslist to hunt down your initial leads.