Category: WordPress

Make Money Selling Gift Basket Online

In previous posts, I wrote about how to start a gift home business from home, how to make it successful. Now, we will look at adding another layer on your gift basket business to put it online so you can sell it people in other cities and state. Creating a website is simple enough or you can hire an affordable web designer to build a website for you.

For more ideas for making money online read: Build a Website to Make money for step by step guide.

How To Designing Your Gift Basket Website

When creating your gift basket business chances are that you’ll be advertising it to family and friends first so that they can easily spread the word along to their other family members and friends as well. However, one thing that many people and gift basket businesses don’t think about, though, is creating a website to go along with their basket business. But in today’s modern society one can hardly ever get along in the business world without first having a legitimate website to identify itself with. A website will not only add spunk to the creative gift basket business, but it will also give it some sort of personality that can be great for any business if it’s hoping to attract customers.

The first thing that you’ll want to do when designing your gift basket business website is to have everything neatly laid out on your website so that your customers and potential buyers will be able to see everything you have to offer. This includes making categories, making sure that the product information is accurate, as well as including pictures so that everyone can see what you’re selling. In addition, if you are going to allow custom gift baskets to be ordered from a variety of different products then there also should be a separate website section for that!

Another issue that you’ll want to have clarified on your website is the ordering process. As with any business the ordering process should be smooth and easy. This is obviously very simple to do when creating your business in the offline world, but in the online world there needs to be much more thought put into it, especially if you want your gift basket business to succeed. There should be at least several large buttons that read “Order Here” or something else to that effect so that your visitors will be able to tell where the ordering form is.

Perhaps another creative idea for designing your gift basket business website is to give your customers interesting content to read. For example, if you have a sports gift basket business then your website could possibly include some updates on the latest football, basketball, or baseball games. In addition, if gourmet chocolate gift baskets are being sold then having a couple articles devoted to the history of chocolate and the many different varieties of gourmet chocolate may not be a bad idea.

Of course one issue that perhaps lies underneath everything else that was described above is the actual website design itself. There are many businesses that may just have a plain white background, but on the World Wide Web it has been said that businesses only have a matter of seconds to hold and keep their customers’ attention. Adding relevant images, pictures, and patterns to your website is a great idea!

All of these things are important, though, if one is going to succeed in the online world with their gift basket business. Having an organized site, as well as making sure there are interesting designs and content to look at and read are all very important to your business!

Email Marketing Tip: Make Money With Second Wave Of Sales

Email Markting Tips: How to Open the Door to a Second Wave of Sales

By Amanda Gagnon

Click. Creeeaaak!

That’s the sound of a subscriber opening your last marketing email – and opening a mental door to more information on that particular subject.

Then there’s that other sound: the silence. That’s a subscriber who didn’t open their door this time.

In one scenario, you got to share some information. In the other, you didn’t. But in both, you’re still standing on the doorstep. So what to do next?

Make the Most of Your Doorstep Status

In either case, if you shrug and walk away, you’ve given up. Stick around and follow up. Sending a second email based on who opened and who didn’t can prompt a second wave of purchases.

This is called behavioral targeting: responding to subscribers’ behavior to get more response from the list and promotions you already have in place. It’s so effective, 71% of our customers report that they plan to do more of it in upcoming months.

And it’s easy as 1-2-3 clicks. AWeber’s new QuickStats show you just who did and didn’t open each email. Follow up with each group with the steps outlined here.

Don’t Just Stand There – Go In!

Your marketing emails probably cover a myriad of topics. For example, if you own a restaurant, you might promote your menu, your wine selection and your catering service.

When you see people consistently open messages about one of these things, you’ve found your niche for that particular topic. Follow up with them!

Source: Aweber Open door tips

  • If they’ve shown interest in a product you’re advertising, put together a compelling reason to purchase with a call to take the next step.
  • If they usually open the emails you send about a particular topic, go more in-depth. Provide helpful details, tell background stories.
  • Explain where you hope to take things, and ask questions. These are your interested customers. These are the people who know most about the topic and will have the most helpful feedback to give.

How to Knock at the Unopened Doors

Sometimes, it’s not anything you did. Your readers are swamped with work or on vacation or their lives have changed and they’re no longer interested.

And sometimes they just aren’t gripped by what they see in the inbox.

So try again. Let a little time go by to make sure you aren’t sending into the same circumstances. Then change the way you present the content and resend it to just the people who didn’t open it.

Here are some suggestions for changing the presentation:

  • If your email is a newsletter that covers several topics, the one your subject line mentioned the first time might not be the most interesting to your readers. Choose a different subject as the primary content and change your subject line accordingly.
  • If your email covers just one topic, try changing the subject line. Think about what problem or question someone might have that your email answers, and highlight that.

If Knocking Doesn’t Work, Ring the Doorbell

You might notice that some of your subscribers haven’t opened a message in a long time. These are fatigued subscribers. They’ve checked out, but they haven’t left the building yet.

Ask them to stay by sending them emails designed for reactivation.

Knocking Around the Block

There are also messages you could send to follow up with subscribers who clicked (or didn’t click) on your links and who purchased (or didn’t purchase) from your emails. We’ll be talking about those in the next few weeks, so keep your eyes open!

Do you send messages to subscribers based on whether or not they opened previous emails? What do you send them?

Click here to try Aweber Risk Free for $1

Free Blogging Tools

When you are starting out on blogging, many of us are short on money. It is said we need to spend money to make money and it is true to certain degree as having right web tools and blog software can sure enhances chances of success with hard work. You can start off with free resources at first and add right tools as you see fit to make your blog successful.

Free Blog Platform:

We started on free blog platform and can tell you from experience that hosting you own site is best way in long run. Most hosting cost $7 or less and worth it. However, we wanted to pointed out a few free ways to get you started blogging.

  • Free Blogger : Starting a blog on blogger platform is very easy, all you will need is a gmail account and you are way.
  • WordPress.com : This free wordpress platform is great but does not let you add any advertisements

Free Blog Tool:

  • Feedburner.com : Feedburner is a Free tool to manage your RSS and email Subscribers
  • Google Analytics : Google Analytic is Free service to monitor your traffic and visitor statistics to your blog or website.

Free Video and Audio Tutorial:

Note: Some videos may or may not be available to view. As it is not on my site, I can not control it. However, there is a transcript of the video still available to read, so check it out.

Free Plugins:

Free Plugins : Part 1
Free Plugins : Part 2
Free WordPress Plugins

Free Themes:

Blog Related Services for Free

If you want to promote any products and make an affiliate commission, you can use

  • E-junkie Shopping Cart and Digital Delivery> for Free.
  • Join shareasale.com, Earn Cash!

Subscribe to Blog Success for Free

You can subscribe to Home business Ideas blog for Free, as we have tons of articles on tips, blog software, web tools reviews and of course free information, discount coupons information.

You can Subscribe Via RSS or Email. Free Useful tips and No Spams, We do not share your email information with anyone.

Make Money With Email List: How to Use Words Properly

As a website owner or blogger, you may decide one that having a email list is best way to generate an income. Perhaps, you have decided to give away free ebooks or create a landing page for your product and wondering why sales are not impressive or no one is signing up for you newsletter. It could be your words. below are some tips if you are using aweber email list.

aweber2Try Aweber Email Marketing Risk Free

How To Use Words Properly in email List:

You write words in your marketing emails. Many or few, you use them to communicate your ideas.

But you don’t write words to communicate alone. You write them to request an action. Sometimes it’s subscribing, responding, purchasing – whatever you want readers to do.

The words that carry most of the weight of the request are the few at the end, where you normally provide a link to proceed: your call to action. This is the decision point. The words you use here could sway readers either way.

So how can you know which ones to use? You can guess, based on your own preferences. Or you can know for sure by running a split test.

A Case of Textual Turn-Off

The Cabot Heritage Corporation, a stock advisory, ran a split test on two opt-in buttons. The buttons were identical in design and location. The difference was in the wording: one read “Send My Free Report”; the other, “Start My Free Subscription.”

Just two words changed, but that change had a powerful effect. The “subscription” button decreased conversions by 22.9% in the span of just two days.

What Happened Here?

Different words trigger different associations, and those can make or break the response.

In the above case, it looks like readers associated “send my report” with a single contact and “subscription” with regular communication, requiring more commitment.

But your readers’ responses will partly depend on your subject and the relationship you already have. The phrase that crashed and burned for Cabot Heritage might take your opt-in rate soaring.

That’s why you need to test for yourself. But when you do, don’t forget to…

Think About the Long Run

In Cabot Heritage’s test, it looks like people preferred the idea of one mailing to regular updates. But whichever button they pushed, they were added to the same mailing list.

It would be interesting to see how people who didn’t expect regular mailings reacted when they started getting them. Did the unsubscribe and spam report rates go up with the opt-in rate?

When choosing the words you want to test, keep in mind that you need to set correct expectations. A well-informed subscriber is a happy subscriber.

How To Test Your Call to Action

Your first step is to write several options that set those expectations and fit the usual “voice” of your brand – how you usually represent your brand in writing.

There are several approaches you could take:

You could go with a simple directive.
You could put words in the subscriber’s mouth.
You could restate the benefits that the subscriber will get.

Once you’ve designed a few options, split test them against each other. (If you use AWeber, here’s how to test your web forms and your broadcasts.) Soon you’ll know just what phrase calls your audience to action best.

Who Answers When You Call?

Are you getting the response you want from your calls to action? Are the subscribers you collect interested and engaged? Do they click and purchase?

Have you split test your call to action in the past? How could you test it now for an even better response?

Share your thoughts below!

By Amanda Gagnon Source:  Do your Words scare people?

Freelancing: How to start a Web Designer Gig

Laid off? Can Not find a job?

I have a good friend, who lost his job in dot com bust in silicon valley and then again in 2009 down economy. Steve is great at technical stuff and overall smart and hardworking guy in real life like many who got laid off around that time.

No matter how hard he worked to send resumes and phone interviews, he was unlucky to find a job. He was simply unlucky, after 3 months of not having an income , he was bored and frustrated to say the least.

Steve designed a website for me in his free time and he did a great job that other people started to like these simple jobs and now he is working from home, making websites and web designs for others. When you have driven past Steve’s apartment, the last few months, you may have noticed that his Honda Civic is usually in the driveway. That is because Steve now works at home with some of his friends and they are freelancer for anyone who may need web design work, logo work and so on.

How to be a Web Designer Freelancer

If you love web design and are technical savvy, you might just be perfect for web designer jobs at big companies as a staff designer like many people. However, if you like to be your own boss or not finding a job like my friend, you may want to look in to freelancing web design jobs.

Now with web presence for everything, web design is key ingredient for many big, small business to have a web presence. It is not only lucrative, but it also gives you freedom of starting your own small web design business. I am simply not good at web design, creating custom logo, coding css and html codes, I know little stuff but when it comes to big issues, I call my friend to help me. Two of my sites are designed by him and you can check out his company with his other friends at .

There are a few Benefits of Web Designer Freelancing

  1. Freedom to work from home
  2. Freedom to work anytime, as web design can be done at anytime.
  3. You can be your own boss or work for big Company as a web designer.
  4. Once you make name for yourself, business will be word of mouth and keep coming
  5. You can set your own rate for charging the web design fees as long as they are reasonable.
  6. Flexible work hours, waking up late can be okay

Possible downside of Freelancing:

  1. Until you established your self there might be no income coming in
  2. Even if you get a project, it might not be steady income
  3. Sometimes you need to do rush project, working 80 hours a week
  4. Self discipline is needed to be motivated when working from home.
  5. Social life can be lonely being working from home

What are Available Resources for Web Designer Freelancing?

So, if you decided that you want to start a freelancing job, what are the resources available to you? Some sites can bring you lot of potential clients and opportunities.

Some of the best sites you can find potential clients and advertise your services are;

elance.com

freelancer.com

Some sites may charge to place your ads in it, some are free. I have not tried it but I see some advertisement on craigslist.com for web designer, so you may want to look in to it.

When is a good time to start?

Good time to get started is now, the sooner you will start, the sooner it will start to work for you. Remember Rome was not build in a day so do not expect immediate success right away. As a freelancer writer I know it takes time. Good luck.

How to Achieve Your Goals

Importance of Goal Setting

Everyone has goals in life. Sometimes we have single goal, sometimes we have many goals and do not know where to start and how to maintain the enthusiasm for reaching our goals.

Goals can come in small and big size both, short terms goals are as important as long term goals and we need to choose both types of goal in our life. For example, short term goal would be save money for bills next month and long term goal could be saving for retirement funds.

I have goals and given up many times, I have found three ways to be motivated to keep going until I reach my final goal and maintain it and I thought of sharing it here for all of you so we can all achieve the final result and be successful at reaching the goal.

If You Could Achieve One Goal in 24 Hours

3 Tips to Achieve and Maintaining your Goals

Before you set a time to set your goals for your life, you should also check to see if going after that goal is current time is worth the effort. Making choices for goals can be time consuming but it sure saves headache and time later on to make sure your goals are fit for the lifestyleyou are going after.

1.Set Target for Your Goal:

Having a goal that is measurable, specific and realistic makes a difference. We can have short term and long term goals. Long terms goals can be broken down in to a smaller chunks to make it easier to achieve.

For example, losing weight is a general goal that is not specific. You want to have a goal such as losing 30 lbs in 12 months is measurable, specific and realistic. That yearly goal can be broken in to monthly or weekly tasks that will help you keep motivated throughout the year to keep working on the goal and maintain it once you achieve it.
2. See final results and Benefits of the Goal

Many of us make goals and resolutions but give up on half way through. It is because we do not see the final end result or benefits of reaching that goal. It could be losing weight goal, final result could be looking great in any outfit, beautiful for girls and handsome for men. Being attractive to opposite sex is a great confidence booster for any of us, keeping that in mind, we should continue to work on the goal, when going gets tough.

When things are hard, think of the final results and benefit of reaching that goal to keep focus until we reach the goal.

3. List the Goal Obstacles

Many times, reaching goals can be tough as people do not think of any possible setbacks or obstacles that can come between reaching the goal. Nothing is easy in life, at least not so much cakewalk. Having a right expectations and back up plans always helps when obstacles come in between you and your goal to make you successful or looking beautiful.

Keeping commitment and focus to keep going to reach the final results is necessary to reach any goal for most of us. Sometimes we want results overnight, losing weight, becoming financially free or getting success can take time sometimes and patience is a great virtue for it. Once you finally reach your goal through obstacles and issues, your confidence and self esteem will soar and you will be able to tackle more goals to make your self more successful at whatever you desire.

Good luck.

How To Set Up Blog Guide and Series

In 2008 when US economy went down and many people’s job were lost or in jeopardy.  I was one of the person who felt I needed to have an alternative ways to make money to make sure that me and my family can survive in tough time. I started searching for many business ideas and work from home schemes to make extra monies. Sad to say, many things I found were not legitimate and one have to spend money in order to get started.  I was in search for a make money home plan that did not involve spending much money up front. I came across making money online as a viable home business ideas for me.

I have been blogging for over 3.5 years and start to make a about $300 a month now. Now, this is not get rich quickly ideas, as most make money quick are fraud and scams. Starting a blog is one of the easy way one can make money from home, for someone who is in between job or someone who wants to make more money from side or even great for stay at home mom to start a blog.

I have created a series of articles to show you what I learned over the years and most of it is free or cheap enough for you get started out in. You can search this home business ideas blog to find the series, or I have made it easier for you and put all articles in one post so you do not have to go searching for it.

Some great posts to see how I got started:

About Us and our Journey

Step by Step guide to Get Started in Blogging

How To Set Up Blog Series (10 Article series)

How to Set Up Blog: Part 1 -Start a Free Blog

How to Set Up Blog: Part 2- How to Write Content

How to Set Up Blog: Part 3: Where to Find Writing Ideas

How to Set Up Blog: Part 4: On Page SEO

How to Set Up Blog: Part 5- Off Page SEO Part 1

How to Set Up Blog: Part 6- Off Page SEO 2 and Pagerank

How to Set Up Blog: Part 7- Get Traffic to Your Blog

How to Set Up Blog: Part 8- How To Monetize Your Blog

How to Set Up Blog: Part 9: More monetizing Blog Ideas and Tips

How to Set Up Blog: Part 10: Build Relationship for Success

Hope you enjoy this series and get started on making money online from home a reality for you today.

Also,You can learn more about favorite blogging resources and tools reviews for further details.

There are also reasonably priced web design,template and blog transfer services, if you are interested, you can use them as they have done great job with out web design.

How To Set Up Blog: Part 10- Build Relationship

In part 1 of the series,we learned how to set up a blog,in part 2 of the series,we looked at how to write to attract readers,in part 3 of the series,we looked at where and how to get ideas for what to write on your blog,part 4 of the series we looked at how to optimize on page SEO to attract traffic to your blog. In Part 5 of the series, we looked at how to optimized off page (outside your blog SEO for increasing traffic to your blog). In part 6 of the series, we looked at how to set up an off page SEO and Google Page rank. In part 7 of the series, we saw on how to get more traffic to your blog website. In part 8 of the series, we looked at two popular ways to monetize your blog. In part 9, we looked at more ways to monetize your website, blog and make money from it. In last part of the how to set up blog series, we will learn how to set up relationship with bloggers and readers for continuation of your blog success.

See previous post in how to set up blog series: How to Set Up Blog:Part 9:More monetizing Blog Ideas and Tips

Part 10 – Interactions Between Blogs

As your blog’s content increase, people in your niche will definitely mention you for intelligent or interesting discussions. This is, in a sense, an initiation of an interaction. When people speak of you, you should thank them for the mention and build up the interaction!

When you use a traffic tracking script such as the free www.statcounter.com, you can see where traffic comes from. If a large number of visitors come from a certain blog, you can be sure they have mentioned you in their latest post or linked to you from their sidebar or links page. What you should do is pay them a visit, leave constructive comments on their posts and build up a conversation!

Build Relationship:

As you continue doing this, you will start to gather a lot of friends in your niche. This is helpful later on when you decide to do collaborations such as interviews. In fact, when you’re out of ideas for writing on your blog, you can interview other blog owners in your niche! Human beings are curious creatures, so naturally they would like to know more about a person whose writings they read so often.

If you’re using WordPress, Textpattern, MovableType or any other advanced blog engines, you can also post trackback links on your posts. This means you can post an article about what other people have posted! Your particular post will then appear as a link on that post you have written about. This is definitely a great way to get traffic if you post brilliant insights about a post on a very famous blog. Since the famous blog already has a per-existing pool of readers, this is like a shortcut to hog their visitors! The only thing you would want to observe is to keep your posts sensible and insightful, or you’ll be viewed as a spammer.

On the other hand, if you’re using Blogger, you would not be able to use trackback links. However, you can post insightful comments on other people’s blogs and subtly include a link back to your blog. You can make it seem like you’re pointing to your blog as an extra reference to the subject of discussion. Of course, this technique is not only limited to Blogger users and users of other blog engines can employ this strategy as an additional traffic source.

Linking and Trackbacks:

Trackbacks and pingbacks help you gain backlinks and traffic to your blog from other sources. You should also link to good blog posts from your blog friend or other related niche sites as a professional blogger who wants to make sure that readers get the great information. Believe me, in my blogging experience, when I have stopped being selfish and wanted to genuinely help others, I had started to make money and you will too.

Get Started To Blog Right Way:

Now you have learned in this 10 part series of How to set up a blog properly, what to write, how to write, how to do on page and off page SEO (search engine optimization), how to monetize your blog and build a relationship to continue your success from working from home and making money with your blog. Good luck!

To See all How to Set up Blog Series Click here: How to Set up Blog articles

See Complete How to Set Up Blog Series and Step by step Guide to Start a Blog

You Might also be Interested in;

Also,You can learn more about favorite blogging resources and tools reviews for further details.

There are also reasonably priced web design,template and blog transfer services, if you are interested, you can use them as they have done great job with out web design.

See Complete How To Set Up Blog Series

What You Need To Know About Taxes and Online Business

Taxes: They’ll Catch Up On You

This is part of tax series, when you have a online business and not paying taxes can be a blow for you and your LLC or Corporation. What do you need to know about paying taxes for your online business?
Doing business online is starting to be a much
preferred way of transacting business both by the
sellers and the buyers not only because it is way more
hassle-free than real shopping but also because it
provides a chance for a tax-free business transaction
to transpire.

However, the happy days of transacting business
without worrying about the taxes that come along with
it will soon be over because on July 1, 2008,
Washington will be joining 18 other states in America
that oblige certain online or e-commerce businesses to
pay and collect sale taxes.

If you have an online business or if you are planning
to start one, then you will also be required to
collect taxes from your consumers or costumers if ever
you are residing in a state that requires you to pay
taxes.

A State Law Passed In 2007

The changes to be implemented on July 1 are the result
of a state law passed in 2007. The certain state law
changes the way the taxes are calculated – a major
alteration that spurs some headaches and confusion
among all online retailers.

Take this situation for example: if you decide to shop
and purchase in a shop or store, you are obliged to
pay the tax rate depending on where the store is
located. However, if you decide to have the stuffs
that you purchased delivered to your doorstep, you are
obliged to pay for the tax rate of your state.

In technical terms, the tax system will be changed
from origin-based to destination-based.

The Tax Is Not Levied On The Business

Yes, you read that right – the tax is not levied on
the business, instead, it is levied on the part of the
consumer. It is the obligation of online businesses to
collect tax from its consumers and remit it to the
state.

The government is strictly issuing penalties for
businesses that fail to adhere to the law.

Online businesses are not excused from this law, in
fact, more law enforcers and agents are being sent to
check on the legality of online stores and businesses.

One common Internet myth is that the Internet Tax
Freedom Act allows online businesses from being
exempted from collecting sales tax from their
consumers. It is truly considered as one big myth
because in reality, it does not actually stop the
states from collecting sales tax on online businesses
and other e-commerce.

Sure, the Internet Tax Freedom Act does not impose
sales tax on Internet access fees but aside from that,
taxes are already imposed.

When You Make Money Online, You Have To Pay Taxes When
you earn, you really have to pay taxes; it’s a known
fact and perhaps what we can call a bittersweet
reality. Sure, it may be a bit difficult on our part
to surrender a part of our hard-earned money for tax
dues but the truth is, everyone is doing so.

Taxes and Your Online Business

Taxes: Do You Have to Pay when You Blogging?

One of the confusing thing for new blogger is do they have to pay taxes even if they make a little money only. While I am not a tax expert, I know thing or two from owning a business and having my own financial person to help me with taxes. See also: What Do You Need To Know About Blog Business taxes?

If you are a neophyte in realm of online business, then perhaps you have a lot of questions that are
plaguing your mind and one of them may be all about whether you are obliged to pay taxes for your online
business or not.

Calculating and paying your duly taxes alone is already one confusing ride, and surely it will get
more confusing if it will be mixed with an online business.

However, as they say, there’s no problem that cannot be solved. With just a few tips and guides, you can
find out how to pay taxes for your online business without any hassles or problems along the way.

The Charm Of Online Business

Before we talk about taxes and your online business,
let’s discuss first why more and more people are
getting attracted to starting their own online
business.

Well, first of all, it is very hassle-free compared to
having a business in the non-virtual world. You see,
in online business, you only have to type and click
for your business to boom.

Very minimal manual labor is needed in an online
business and one can even get to work at home in their
pajamas while managing their online business.

Now the question is: are online businessmen or
entrepreneurs exempted from paying taxes? The answer
is no. All individuals who are earning money online
are required to pay taxes.

Sure, the government can’t possibly keep track of how
much money each person generates online but then
again, it’s one of the citizens’ responsibilities to
go ahead and be responsible enough to pay for their
taxes.

The Real Deal About Most Online Businesses

The truth is, not everybody who does business online
is honestly paying their due taxes. Most online
businesses include shopping and it’s a known fact that
most if not all shoppers despise paying sales tax and
adore a bargain that is luxuriously tax-free.

The Internet is actually considered to be a great
venue for tax-free shopping which lures more and more
customers each day. Online retailers have been using a
no-tax shopping tag line to attract more online
shoppers to their business.

Sounds like a win-win situation, right? Online
shoppers enjoy numerous tax-free shopping sprees and
online retailers don’t pay their taxes. Most people
probably think that doing business through the
Internet is considered to be tax-free.

However, the fact is, some Internet sales are actually
subject to what we know as “sales tax” and online
consumers are the ones often responsible to remit any
unpaid sales tax on whatever online products they have
purchased.

They can actually remit it directly to their state
come tax-paying time.

Collecting Sales Tax The process of determining
whether you should pay taxes for your online business
or not may be quite confusing and overwhelming –
especially if it’s your first time to get involved in
online business.

However, here are just some few tips you should
remember: the obligation to pay the so-called “Sales
Tax” can be determined by the location of the
customers, and not the seller.

If a business does not actually have a physical
presence in a particular state (an example of this
would be your online store or business), it is not
required to collect sales tax from costumers in that
certain state.