Great resources for all of you who are marketing your websites

Hi all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you a prosperous and happy 2010! I came across a great website with all sorts of resources for marketing your sites, and I wanted to share it with you. Many of the things are offered free of charge, and there is a neat tool that checks to see if your website is in the top 100 in several search engines. Here's the site: Search Engine Rankings - Instant, online reports of web site rankings in 8 top search engines and web directories, including Google, Yahoo! Search, Bing (MSN), AOL, AltaVista, AllTheWeb, Yahoo! Directory, and Open Directory (Dmoz).">

Another great site for marketing resources is a Boomja's Internet Marketing Directory

I'm a bit partial to Boomja because I work for them, but they truly have one of the best directories of marketing resources I've seen.

Check both of them out, I'm sure you'll find something useful at each site. Why my sudden interest in internet marketing, you ask? Well, I am planning to leave my regular job and work from home. This plan has been in the works for quite some time, and it is now coming down to the home stretch. Part of my plan involves some marketing, so I have been doing some research in preparation. I will keep you all posted as my plan progresses. This is a huge and risky move for me, and for my family. We could win big, or lose it all. Nothing is ever gained by playing it safe, though, and I am ready to take the gamble. I hope you will all tag along as I chronicle my trials, tribulations, and hopefully, my successes. With some luck and lots of hard work, I believe I can do this, and perhaps you can find some information or inspiration that will help you make the leap into the work at home world, too.

Some tips for oDesk

I have had few folks email me because they are having trouble getting hired on oDesk. I do believe it is hard to get hired as a newbie, so here are some tips for a successful oDesk experience:

1) Once you are signed up with them, take extra tests in areas you are familiar with. Take as many as you think you can pass. While you are testing, open a second browser window to look up answers if you're stuck. oDesk doesn't expect you to know everything, just smart enough to find it. Assuming you score well, it will be posted on your profile, which will attract employers.

2) When you are applying for a job, make sure your cover letter is perfect. Send samples of your work, especially for writing jobs. Tell them why they should give you a chance to prove yourself as a newbie.

3) Make sure you aren't bidding too high. Be sure to look at the average bid for the job, then bid lower. An average bid means that some have bid higher and some lower, so if you want the job you will need to underbid the average.

4) Look for jobs other than your main interest. For example, if you are looking for writing jobs, consider data entry. Try to get a few small fixed price jobs to boost your "rep" on your profile. The more positive buyer feedback that shows on your profile, the more likely you are to be hired for a bigger, better paying job.

5) Apply for as many jobs as oDesk will allow. Apply for anything you are capable of doing. You will build a good reputation quickly. The more jobs you do, the more jobs you will get.

6) Do not ever agree to be paid outside of oDesk. You will risk being banned, and you will probably get scammed (I did). If someone is so broke that they need to save a couple of bucks on oDesk fees, do you really think they will pay you at all? I wish I had realized this when I first started, because I got scammed out of several thousand dollars. It was a hard lesson learned, and I am tellng you in the hope of saving you from the same heartache.

Don't give up! If you keep applying you will get hired. Once you get that first job, more will follow.

More about oDesk - the real earnings are not always immediate

I decided that you folks might benefit from hearing a little more about oDesk and how it has helped me to not only earn money from home by simply doing data entry jobs, but has taught me the first steps toward truly earning a full time income online. I will explain to you how this opportunity came about, and hopefully you will benefit as much as I have. I don't stand to earn anything from this post, I'm not even posting a referral link, but this is too exciting not to share it with you.

One of my first (and best) online data entry jobs entailed working on an online resource directory called Boomja. I had never heard of it, but I didn't need to know anything about it, I only needed to research and enter data. I soon discovered that Boomja is a massive online directory for virtually anything you would want resources for. I must admit that I found the job a bit challenging at first, but I stuck it out and it became second nature. I finished the first job and was thrilled when I was offered a second one, and then a third. Now, this is the first benefit; ongoing work that is familiar and has become easy to do. I became curious about the Boomja directories, vaguely recalling an email telling me I could build my own. At that time, I was still trying to figure out how to enter the data, building my own directory was not anywhere on my radar. I finally went and checked it out, and sure enough, I found that it is free to build a directory based on the topic of my choosing. I had to submit an application, which was approved within 24 hours, and I then received a comprehensive instruction manual. The manual included not only the basics, but great information about how to market the directory, monetization, keywords, etc. That's the second benefit; the directory instruction manual has taught me so much about marketing sites in general. I went ahead and started my directory, added Google AdSense, and viola!, every page I completed loaded AdSense ads. We're talking hundreds of pages here, all included in my AdSense account. Therein lies benefit number three; passive revenue from AdSense. So, if you're following this so far, I am not only being paid to build directories for other people, I am learning how to build a rockin' directory of my own. Finally, I have been offered the opportunity to be paid for marketing the directories on sites like Digg and Reddit, and I will be receiving an instruction manual to show me the best way to do that. Guess what I will do with my new lessons? You guessed it, apply it to my own directory. My directory is already earning a small amount, and it's not done, nor have I marketed it very much. I am so excited at the potential once I complete it and truly begin to market it. You can also have this same opportunity. Just go to Boomja.com and see if it looks like something you want to try. I suggest you take a look at other directories before you apply. As with any other legitimate income, this is not a free ride. There is a lot of work involved in setting up a Boomja directory, I have been working on mine for months.

As I said, this is just too good not to share. If you are willing to put the time into, there is a tremendous amount of income waiting for you through Boomja directories. See, I told you, no referral links, just info you can use. Happy earning!

So, you want to earn money working from home...

Let's face it, times are hard for most of us. We all need to earn some extra cash, right? Unfortunaltely, there are lots of unscrupulous scammers who earn their extra money by scamming the rest of us. You can earn part time income from home, even full time income, if you are careful to choose the right job source. I have been working from home in addition to my "regular" job for several years. Did it make me rich? No. Did it pay some bills and buy some groceries? Absolutely! After watching so many people get scammed, struggle, and ultimately get nowhere, I decided to share what I have learned.

If you really want to earn money working from home, the best site, hands, down, no competition, is:

The On Demand Global Workforce - oDesk

Keep in mind, the operative word here is "work". When you sign up with oDesk, you will work. There is no easy money. You won't just sit back and collect your cash. You will take a competency test to qualify you. It is not a hard test, but it does require reasonable intelligence. You will need to take some time to look around the site, read the FAQ's, and understand what you are doing, before you apply for your first job. When you apply, be prepared. You will need to submit a cover letter to introduce yourself. There are guidelines for a good cover letter on the site, so don't be afraid of it. You will also need to be prepared to install an IM service on your computer, most use Yahoo Messenger. Many prospective employers will use this for a live interview. If you have already done some data entry work, have your data entry resume ready to copy and paste during the interview (if you didn't submit it with your cover letter). There are many other jobs available, not just data entry. There are one day jobs, long and short term jobs, part time, full time, hourly and fixed rate jobs. This site is a work at home Nirvana! The best part? You won't have to worry about getting scammed, they are completely legit.

If you sign up for eDesk work, please come back and post about your experience, good or bad, so others can benefit from your knowledge. Oh, and tell em' firemom31 sent ya!

Check back for my next post - Earning from Captcha data entry.