Everything to do with your shak.
So, unless you live under a rock, you know that Michael Jackson died yesterday. In honor of him, I decided that I would share this great performance of “Billie Jean”. This was the performance that introduced the world to the moonwalk. No matter what became of him later, Michael Jackson was a great entertainer.
RIP Michael Jackson.
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As someone who works from home, I’m always looking for ways to increase my productivity. Right now, during the summer, it is especially difficult to manage my son at home. While I do have some childcare options, it doesn’t compare with hours spent at school. However, my son pales as a distraction in comparison to the distractions available online in the form of social media. Your home business productivity probably suffers as well, due to the Internet.
Kyle at the Suburban Dollar wrote an interesting post for Moolanomy. It is about improving your work from home productivity. One of the points he makes is that Twitter is a distraction. But Twitter isn’t the only social media distraction. Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Mixx, Propeller and other social media outlets can sap your time. Answering requests for help from others can be distracting and time consuming. Here is what I do to help limit my social media distractions and work more efficiently:
* Start out the day by clearing my inbox and answering all social media requests.
* Decide which post will be my focus for social media, write that, and then submit and promote it.
* Do my other writing, avoiding social media.
* Check my inbox (briefly) once an hour while working, and only take care of the important messages.
* Choose one time during the day (after lunch, usually) to clear out the inbox and handle social media requests.
* Finish my projects and end my work day.
* Before shutting down for the evening, clear out the social media once more.
How do you handle the distractions of social media?
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One of the necessities of having a home business (or any business, for that matter) is promoting it online. There are a number of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) methods you can employ to get noticed by Google, but not all of them will result in long-term success. In fact, one of the biggest pitfalls of online promotion is using techniques that may garner really good short-term results, but leave you buried in the long run. Here are 4 SEO pitfalls to avoid as you try to gain more visibility for your home business online:
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Even though there is a recession on, there is no reason not to improve your marketing efforts. And the good news is that you do not have to spend a great deal of money to market your home business a little bit better. Small Biz Bee offers some great suggestions for improving your marketing — even during tough economic times:
1. Improve your customer service.
2. Say “thank you” to existing customers.
3. Go and connect with old customers.
4. Set up a blog. If you have a blog, keep track of traffic with Google Analytics (it’s free). Find ways to tweak your traffic using social media or by promoting your content in other ways.
5. Google yourself, and then go where people are talking about you to make connections.
While these items don’t usually require an outlay of cash, they might take time. So carefully consider your next step, and figure out what you can do to encourage continued customer support, and build your online presence. You will need to invest some time in it, even if you do not invest any money.
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I saw an article on ProBlogger today that really caught my attention. The article pointed out some of the more interesting findings of a study from Eyetrack III. Here are the points that ProBlogger singled out from the findings:
1. “Dominant headlines most often draw the eye first upon entering the page”
2. “Smaller type encourages focused viewing behavior…. larger type promotes lighter scanning”
3. “a headline has less than a second of a site visitor’s attention”
4. “For headlines — especially longer ones — it would appear that the first couple of words need to be real attention-grabbers”
5. “Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performed best”
6. “Shorter paragraphs performed better in Eyetrack III research than longer ones.”
7. “We found that ads in the top and left portions of a homepage received the most eye fixations”
8. “Size matters. Bigger ads had a better chance of being seen”
9. “Close proximity to popular editorial content really helped ads get seen”
10. “the bigger the image, the more time people took to look at it.”
11. “Our research also shows that clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixations on homepages”
I think that these findings can be very helpful to you. You can improve your online writing by giving you something to focus on when you are developing content. Creating smaller paragraphs and attention-getting headlines are more likely to encourage readers to visit your Web site. If you are interested in drawing ad revenue, the information about ad placement and size can also be very helpful.
This information is not just for bloggers and professional writers. You can use the information for online copy and product descriptions on your home business Web site.
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On Sparkplugging the other day, I read about an interesting opportunity to earn a little extra money for your home business. It’s called Constant Content, and it serves as sort of a clearinghouse for online content. While it is geared primarily at freelance writers, I can see how someone with reasonably good skills could use it as a source of income, even if writing isn’t your main focus. It matches up writers with people who want to buy online content. Lorna Doone Brewer describes how it works on Sparkplugging:
The way the site works is you, the writer, turn out an article on any topic that pleases you (unless responding to a request, more on that later) and submit it. You set the price and decide if you only want to sell usage rights or full rights. There is a strict approval process that ensures only top quality articles get into Constant Content’s article database, but once you’re in, potential buyers can view and purchase your article. Constant Content takes a percentage off the top (35%) and the rest goes into your account, which is paid out at the beginning of each month if you have $5 or more pending.
She goes on to say that you can get between $25 and $50 per article (minus the 35%) and as much as $100 or more, depending on the quality of your work. And I like that the article are carefully screened for quality. I have been Associated Content as my “fallback” when I have a little extra time to make a little extra cash, but Constant Content might be more profitable. AC will accept just about anything, regardless of quality. However, with Constant Content, your article has to sell in order for you to make money. On AC, you just get your money (even though it’s less).
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As technology advances and the world changes, there are increasing opportunities for working from home. It’s all about fulfilling a need. And, over at Home Biz Notes, Mary Emma Allen offers a great idea for a home business idea: Help other businesses go green.
With green business becoming more prominent, and President Barack Obama focusing on the environment, it can be a good idea to do something in that niche. Here are some ideas suggested by Mary Emma regarding things you can do to either position your business as green, or help other businesses:
* Start a blog about green business practices, including tips to make a home business greener.
* Become a consultant to help other businesses become greener (you may need some sort of certification).
* Offer information about becoming a greener business, and let others know what you are doing to make your home business green.
* Produce items that comply with green standards, and advertise this.
Can you think of ways to benefit from being a green home business?
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With recession on, many people are looking for ways to make money from home, selling skills they already have. Freelancing is one way to do that. If you are look for resources for your freelancing skills, you might consider reading a blog post from oDesk about the Top 100 Freelance Blogs.
oDesk has done the work of putting together a list that includes:
* Top freelance blogs.
* Freelance graphic design.
* Freelance illustration and animation.
* Freelance software development.
* Freelance Web design.
* Freelance blogging.
* Freelance writing.
* Freelance marketing and copywriting.
* Freelance lifestyle.
* Freelance social media.
* Specialize freelance blogs.
With these resources, you can learn more about freelancing with your own skills, helping you better reach clients and learn the ins and outs of freelancing.
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Tax Day has passed, and another tax season is over. One last fun video from this year’s tax commercials.
Happy Friday!
If you are looking for a fun contest, head on over to Freelance Parent at Sparkplugging. The gals at Freelance Parent are holding a caption contest for a picture of a cat trapped beneath a laptop. Leave a comment with your caption, and you could win a really cool prize.
This is the sort of picture that helps you get through the day: a freelance cat. The contest is open until April 5th.
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