One of the hardest things to do when you have a home based business is getting the right message to the right people at the right time. Basically, how you market your home based business, when you market your business and what you say to your audience will determine home based business success or failure. Here’s a couple of things I’ve done that work, and they can be done when you’re on a tight budget.

1. Home Based Business Expos~~I’m always on the lookout for affordable opportunities to showcase my home based business to people who are looking for a chance to make money from home. Getting involved with a Home Based Business Expo is the perfect blend of getting your marketing message to the right people at the right time. Look online for local networking groups or home based business groups in your area. Moms who work at home can try www.momslikeme.com. Most every major city has a chapter you can join for free. Here you can network, share experiences and discover new vendor opportunities at home based business expos in your town. Many times, you can receive advance notice and the cost to participate will be less expensive than if you wait until the last minute.

2. Print your own postcards~~This is why I love Vistaprint! It seems like every week of the month Vistaprint runs a special on 4×6 color postcards. Normally its 100 free postcards with you paying shipping and handling (a small fee). The reproduction is flawless and high quality. You can use these free postcards to promote your business effectively and affordably. We all know a picture is worth a thousand words, and everyone loves eye appealing graphics, be creative and put your work on a 4×6 postcard and distribute them to strangers on the street, or ask area merchants if you can leave some of your cards there. I find that when I think about where my target audience shops, it helps me to come up with ideas and places to leave the postcards. Record shops, restaurants, gas stations are just a few places that will allow you to leave promotional merchandise.

3. Use Twitter to announce your offline marketing appearances. Why not? Its free, and if you’ve targeted followers to your niche, maybe some of them might be in your local area and just show up. Or if they’re not in your area, you could still get a bunch of well wishes in the form of tweets and retweets.

4. Business cards will always be acceptable. Again, I use Vistaprint and get 250 free business cards so whenever I am out and about, I have some cards to pass out. It also helps to have some business cards available if you do Home Based Business Expos. Spread them out in your vendor booth on your vendor table so people who are just looking can take one. Think of business cards like a click on an internet ad. Even though your customer was just looking, they saw something they liked, and that’s why they took the card. Eventually that ‘looking customer’ will buy, sooner or later.

5. Text message all your friends and family. Yes, it still works. Text messaging all your friends and family when you are going to do a Home Based Business Expo helps because they will show up just to cheer you on. We all need support with our dreams, and friends and family will do just that.

These are just 5 ideas to market your business offline and get your product into the hands of people who can make a decision right now. Sometimes we get so involved with our online efforts we forget about the old fashioned way to do business, actually getting out there and meeting people. Marketing your home based business fast offline can sometimes bring you more customers quicker than online.

{This weekend I’ll be at the 25th Annual Kwanzaa Holiday Expo marketing my Scripture Glimpses Postcards, Calendars, T-Shirts and coffee mugs. If you’re in St Louis, look me up!}

Scripture Card Psalm 27:4

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Here is a list of legitimate Make Money From Home Opportunities I’ve compiled for you. These are all opportunities that I use or have used that has paid me either by check or paypal. Some of them require writing (Pay Per Post, Associated Content), or mystery shopping (Mysteryshop.com), CPA Network Affiliates (Hydra, Copeac, Filinet and Pepperjam Network), MLM (SFI) and Google Adsense.

All of these make money from home opportunities are legitimate and represent an honest way to make some extra money from home. If you are only looking to make money on a part time basis, then any of the fore mentioned home based business opportunities will do the trick. However, if you are looking to make money legitimately from home on a full time basis, then be prepared to put in the work, learn all you can about the ways to market these opportunities, and put those resources into action.

Most people think that making money from home is a get rich quick scheme. That if you make money from home that you are automatically a shyster or a scammer. Not so.

Legitimate make money from home opportunities exist, and when you find one, you must understand that you will have to put in the work in order to make IT work. You just don’t enroll or sign up for a make money opportunity and magically the money starts to roll in. No, it doesn’t work like that. I spend 30-40 hours a week promoting, writing and networking my various money making opportunities. The income I make is no accident, its the result of hard work and dedication.

There are times when I want to quit, when I get frustrated, but that’s all a part of being a business owner. There will be times like that, so expect it, and get prepared.

Here is a list of legitimate make money from home opportunities that you can explore. They don’t cost anything to join, so you can try them all out for FREE.

1. SFI
2. Pay Per Post
3. Hydra Network
4. Pepperjam Network
5. Filinet/MonetizeIt
6. Associated Content
7. Google Adsense
8. Mystery Shops

These are all legitimate make money from home opportunities. They pay me constantly and are responsible for my being able to write this blog and stay online! Have fun and make some money…..!!!

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The past two nights I have been keeping late hours. No I haven’t been hanging out at the clubs. Instead I’ve been transformed. Transformed into an internet marketing consultant and coach.

I guess that’s what you could call it. When you help other people understand and implement practices and techniques that help them become successful in MLM, internet marketing and other home based business opportunities.

One of the reasons I’ve been up so late is because my clients are from other countries, one from Uganda, the other from India. Both were delightful people, willing to learn in a virtual classroom at 2AM (my time).

The single common denominator that these two had was ‘how do I get started with…’ Apparently, getting started with an internet marketing opportunity is the most intimidating step a new marketer can take. You’ve joined the company, now what? Making money online from home just got a little difficult.

The gentleman from Uganda is a member of SFI, and if you’ve been reading my posts lately, you’ll know that I’ve been giving daily tips on how to be successful with the program. SFI teaches you how to promote and be successful with any internet marketing program by being an invaluable resource for all things relating to writing successful headlines and ad copy; to choosing which marketing techniques are most reliable and worth your time. SFI also gives you opportunities to advance to the next income level without having to spend a dime. Its free to join, and you don’t have to sign up for autoship.

SFI gives you all the tools you need to succeed in internet marketing, just because. They offer step by step marketing strategies and aids that provide you a roadmap to achieve. Thousands join SFI everyday from all over the world, because its easy and free. SFI was designed for the ‘little guy.’

I’m usually not available for middle of the night counseling and consulting, but if you want to sign up and become financially self sufficient making a part time or full time income from home, then let me know, and I will help you get started.

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Q. Can SFI be done successfully part-time?

A. Yes, in fact, most SFI affiliates do SFI part-time. You can start your SFI business on a part-time basis without giving up your current source of income until SFI is generating the income you require. And the best part is you can continue to operate indefinitely on a part-time basis. What would you do if you were financially independent and most of your time was free to do with as you pleased? This is why so many people are flocking to SFI. And that’s why we say that SFI puts the freedom back in free enterprise!

Q. How much money can I make?

A. The bottom line is you’ll get out of your business what you put into it. It works…if you do. But that’s the beauty of it, too; you are in control—it’s up to you how far you take it. And don’t forget, SFI offers the opportunity to earn residual income. This basically means that for the work you do just today, you have the potential to earn money not only for today but also for potentially years to come. To learn more about the SFI compensation plan, click HERE.

Q: Is it really possible to make a large income working at home?

A. According to Entrepreneur Magazine, the average home-based business household earns $50,250 a year. And about 20% of all home-business households earn in excess of $75,000 a year. And then there are the tax benefits; In the United States, even if your home business isn’t generating a profit yet, it can put $5,000 or more in your pocket in tax write-offs. Consult your accountant to learn more about this.

Q. I don’t know anything about marketing. Does SFI offer help in this area?

A. Most people are not experienced in marketing, especially on the Internet. That’s why we’ve made it easy with specific, step-by-step marketing strategies and aids for referring customers and sponsoring new affiliates. Click HERE for more information.

SFI also provides a multitude of easy-to-use marketing aids and an extensive affiliate Training Library to teach you everything you need to know. With SFI, your business can be up and running in just hours, allowing you to earn while you learn.

You can also contact your upline and ask for help. Your sponsor and other upline members may have additional resources, such as a Team Leader co-op, that you can draw on for further growth of SFI business. Go HERE to contact your upline.

Q. Is SFI just another “get-rich-quick” scheme?

A.“Get-rich-quick” is a fairy tale. If overnight riches are your dream, your odds are probably better playing the lottery than running a business—any business. We’re sorry, but we won’t insult your intelligence with promises of overnight wealth. That said, we’ve paid out many millions of dollars to our affiliates who’ve applied themselves. Indeed, as thousands of our affiliates will attest, there’s huge money to be made in SFI, if you’re willing to do the work.

Q. What are the costs involved in starting and operating an SFI business?

A. This is one of the most powerful features of SFI. It’s completely free to become an SFI affiliate, and there’s NEVER a requirement to purchase anything. Compare that to buying a franchise. Even a lesser-known franchise can require an investment of tens of thousands of dollars—and that’s just to get started. On top of that, you’d likely have rent, labor, product costs, and much more. With SFI, you can literally “start on a shoestring.” Yet, SFI’s income potential is just as great if not greater than most franchises.

Of course, ANY business, to become successful, requires some sort of investment in marketing and pursuing customers. The good news with SFI is that we’ve developed dozens of free, almost-free, and inexpensive marketing techniques that you can get started with right away.

In other words, with SFI, you can choose to invest money OR YOU CAN INVEST TIME to build your business, making SFI one of THE most affordable and practical businesses in the world.

Q. SFI sounds too good to be true. There must be fees or a requirement to buy something, right?

A. No. There is NEVER any cost required to be an SFI affiliate. It is true that thousands of SFI affiliates DO purchase SFI products for themselves. It only makes sense, after all, to buy from “your own store”—especially those items you are already purchasing from somewhere else. Remember, however, purchasing from your own store is TOTALLY OPTIONAL and NOT a requirement to run your SFI business.

Q. How does SFI compare to similar business opportunities?

A. See for yourself; download our comparison chart.

Q. I have no experience. Can I really succeed with SFI?

A. There are no guarantees, of course, but people of every age, from every part of the world, and from every background and walk of life are making it in SFI today. SFI was designed for the “little guy”! If you have the desire, you can succeed with SFI.

Q. What kind of people make good affiliates?

A. Friendly, positive, self-motivated people with a vision of the future and who are teachable and willing to learn. No experience is necessary. If you want to be part of the Internet revolution and build an exciting, profitable, global business, you’ll LOVE SFI!

Q. Is SFI a “real” business?

A. It’s very real. SFI is part of a growing global industry with annual gross revenues estimated at over $100 billlion, involving major multinational corporations and tens of millions of independent business people in every country of the world.

Q. I really would like to get serious building an SFI business, but I just don’t have the time. What should I do?

A. That’s precisely why you should do SFI. Besides creating financial freedom, SFI has been specifically designed to create personal freedom for you so you can do all the things in life you really want to do but don’t have the time for now.

Q. What kind of products does SFI have?

A. SFI’s exclusive online store, TripleClicks.com, offers thousands of products and services in the following categories:

• Apparel
• Arts & Crafts
• Beauty & Fragrance
• Books
• Business
• Collectibles
• Computers
• Education
• Electronics
• Financial Services
• Food & Beverage
• Gifts & Flowers
• Health & Wellness
• Home & Garden
• Jewelry
• Live Entertainment
• Magazines
• Miscellaneous
• Movies, Music & Games
• Personal Care
• Pet Care
• Phone & Tech Services
• Real Estate
• Romance
• Sports & Outdoors
• Tools & Automotive
• Toys, Kids & Baby
• Travel
• MaxMalls

You can browse the entire TripleClicks.com product line HERE.

Q. Do I have to sell products door-to-door, make phone calls, hold parties, or attend meetings?

A. Only if you wish to. One of the greatest features of SFI is that success can be achieved using a variety of methods. You choose the methods with which YOU are comfortable, whether Internet marketing, direct mail, telemarketing, meetings, flea markets, in-home parties, or other methods. For tips on attracting customers, see this list of Customer Referral Methods.

Q. Do I have to stock and deliver products?

A. Only if you wish to. As an SFI affiliate, your customers can order everything direct from SFI through its exclusive online store, TripleClicks.com. SFI tracks your commissions and automatically sends you your commission. SFI also handles all payment processing for your customers, product shipment, customer service, returns, refunds, etc.—all at no cost to you. For tips on attracting customers, see this list of Customer Referral Methods.

Q. Is SFI a “pyramid scheme?”

A. Definitely not. In pyramid schemes, income is generated solely on the process of recruiting others into the pyramid who pay a fee to get in. Sometimes a product or service of questionable value is involved (one that is never retailed to the general public). However, generally what you’re buying is the right to recruit others into the scheme. This is illegal. Also, in pyramid schemes, those who get in first and who are at the top of the pyramid win, while most everyone else loses.

In SFI, on the other hand, there is NO COST required to participate, and affiliates are paid ONLY on product movement (both at wholesale and retail)—never on recruiting. And, unlike illegal pyramids, in SFI, no matter where you’re positioned in the network or when you join, you can advance to the very highest income levels and even earn more income than those above you in the network.

Q. I’ve tried businesses like SFI before and it didn’t work for me.

A. Let’s say you’ve just moved into a new city, and you decided to go out to eat that evening. Unfortunately, the food at the restaurant you picked turned out to be horrible. But just because of this one bad experience, you surely wouldn’t swear off eating at all the other restaurants in the city, would you? Of course not! It’s the same thing here. You just need to link up with the right company—a company like SFI.

Q: Isn’t having a traditional job safer than going into business for myself?

A. That depends on your definition of “safe.” In the United States, statistics show that out of every 100 people who start in the working world at age 20, only five will be financially independent by age 65. Undoubtedly, you want to be in that top five! Unfortunately, the odds are stacked heavily against you…unless you create an independent source of income, a business of your own that is limited only by your own desire and ability—a business like SFI.

Q: SFI is confusing to me. Is there a Web page I can access that will break it down for me?

A. Yes. We suggest you start with the simple To-Do List on your SFI homepage.

Q. What if I’ve got more questions about SFI?

A. See our 24/7 Help Desk HERE.

Q. What should I do next?

A. If you haven’t reviewed your To-Do List at your SFI homepage, take a few moments and do so now. The actions listed there will provide you with direction, links to marketing methods and aids, training articles, and much more.

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Nowadays it seems that everyone is having a blog, but many have no idea how to drive traffic to blog. I hope today’s discussion can shed some light to bloggers who are struggling to drive traffic to their blogs.

From time to time, I get people asking me if they should advertise their blog to get traffic. My advice is always ‘No’. If you have a new blog, remember, advertising it is not the way to get traffic. There are some exceptional cases of course. But in most cases, advertising is not a good traffic source for blogs. (Blog plays a different role in advertising. I may discuss this next time.)

Have you heard of gurus saying that blogging is a way to get traffic?

Yet bloggers are scratching their heads wondering how to drive traffic to blog.

Shouldn’t blogging generate traffic? If so, why do you need to drive traffic to your blog? Shouldn’t you just keep blogging and your blog should generate traffic on its own?

Well, you know things are not that simple.

A new blog is capable of generating traffic on its own ONLY IF it’s optimized for search engine. Else, you’ll have to think of ways to drive traffic to the blog and that can be tedious and even frustrating to some.

In my opinion, if you were to start a blog, it must be optimized for search engine. That’s the laziest way to drive traffic to your blog.

How do you build a search engine optimized blog?

There are just two things you need to do.

1) Write search engine optimized posts

Most bloggers simply blog whatever they like to say. You can do that if you are Paris Hilton. If not, you’re not likely to attract people to read what you’re writing.

A ‘purpose-driven’ blogger will do careful keyword research and optimize his article for search engines before posting it to his blog. Almost every blog post is his arrow that aims to shoot down the top position in the search results.

2) Build backlinks

The objective of a blogger should be to turn his blog into an authority site.

My definition of an authority site is one with a high PageRank. To get a high PageRank, you have to get many backlinks to your blog.

The game of search engine optimization is unfair. Authority sites receive more attention and better rankings from the search engines. You can write very good content but if your blog has no backlink, you’re not likely to get much attention.

Link building is boring and tedious. And you won’t see the return immediately. But it is necessary.

Did I say ‘necessary’?

Besides the normal ways of getting backlinks, such as submitting articles, press release, forum marketing etc, there is an innovative way that you should explore if you are serious.

It’s to create a free online application that people are interested to link to. If you don’t know how to create one, you can always get a freelancer to do it. But you need to come out with the idea.

For example, in the blog industry, many bloggers create free WordPress plugins. Useful plugins get lots of recommendations from other bloggers and thus backlinks.

Final comments

Building a blog that can drive traffic on autopilot takes time and effort. In the meantime, you should look for other ways to drive traffic to your blog. The way I recommend is to build a list. You can easily build a list through advertising and offering something for free. Then you can send this list to read your blog.

This is the beginning stage, when you have to actively drive traffic to your blog. If you keep following the two steps above, your blog will eventually get traffic from the search engine automatically. This is when your blog can become your faithful and passive traffic generator. This process can take 3 to 6 months, depending on how hard you work.

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There is one fatal mistake that internet marketing newbies make, that is, trying to make money online.

I’m not trying to be a wet blanket here. I simply want to highlight to you the way Nature works.

Let me share with you a little story:

Recently I was trying to teach my nephew swimming because he told me that he was very interested in learning it.

For those of you who have learnt swimming, you know that before you can swim, you have to learn many things like how to kick your legs, how to blow bubbles in the water etc.

When I taught my nephew how to kick his legs, he tried it for a while and then ask, “I know how to kick now, but why I still can’t swim.” Throughout the session, while learning how to swim, he kept asking me why he still can’t swim.

My nephew is 7 years old. His reaction towards learning how to swim reminds me of many internet marketing newbies.

Many newbies are eager to learn how to make money online. Whenever they learn something, they want to see the money immediately.

The attachment to making money online is often the seed of failure.

Learning to make money online is similar to learning anything else. One should first master the basics.

When the basics are mastered, making money online is just a natural outcome.

This is how the Nature works. If you can recall how you successfully learned a skill, any skill, you’ll agree with what I say.

So what are the basics in internet marketing?

Too many.

Common basics include:

- search engine optimization;
- how to write ads;
- website creation and many more.

You don’t have to learn everything. But you must understand that the more basics you learn, the more money you can make online.

When I first started, I knew nothing about html, SEO or sales letter writing. Like many newbies, I was reading gurus’ newsletters, buying ebooks and courses. Nothing worked for me until I stopped thinking about making money and started learning like a student.

Remember the time when you were schooling? Having to ’swallow’ those lengthy and boring words and make sense out of them? And trying to understand those technical jargons that look alien to you?

That’s what I mean by learning like a student.

If you are simply reading a “how to make money” ebook as if you are reading a novel, you are not really learning like a student. You are merely entertaining yourself.

I know. It’s hard to be convinced that you will make money online if you simply focus on mastering the basics of internet marketing. Just like my nephew who can’t see how learning to kick can eventually make him swim.

But that’s how Nature works.

When the basics are mastered, making money online is just a natural outcome.

By Kenneth Koh |

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The other day I did my first audio utter about GBG 10-in-one liquid multi vitamins as a viable way to make money from home. I joined up with GBG because my sister who is also a distributor, began to show me evidence that the product was working on people she had sold it to. I was blown away by the potential to just sign up two people at a time, and help folks get healthy at the same time.

Well, this morning, this was in my email inbox: the March 2009 issue of Network Marketing Business Journal, featuring a lead article about GBG 10-in-one being the best home based business opportunity to join if you want to quickly make money from home. The name of the article, by the way is: “The American Dream Is In Trouble: And We Found The Answer”– GBG was named company of the month.

This is powerful, I thought to myself. People will be able to see that I am not just hawking another home based business scam, that this is a legitimate opportunity to dig yourself out of financial disparity and back into financial prosperity.

With a $20 monthly investment, you can begin to build a legacy that will offer dividends for generations to come. Its simple, you recruit two (2) people to market and promote GBG, the more people you have under you, promoting and marketing, the more money everyone makes. And its affordable, for as little as 65 cents a day, in 3-6 months you could begin seeing a difference in your financial situation.

Try it, you can cancel your $20 monthly payments at any time, there is no obligation if you are not satisfied.

GBG-10-in-one is a dietary supplement I am proud to represent. I take it everday, and have noticed an increase in energy within the last 7 days. Did I also mention it contains Pomegranate juice, Acai, Mangosteen part of the super food chain?

Check it out, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

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