Work from Home Base

Most people who dream about having their own home based business put it off for one major reason – their health insurance and other benefits.  Health insurance is important to any home based business owner, as you are the sole source of income for your business.  If you fall ill and need treatment, your business and livelihood suffer without health insurance.

So, what are your options when it comes to health insurance?  First, if you are married, you have the option to obtain spousal coverage through your husband or wife’s group insurance.  If it is an option for your, then use it, as it is often much less expensive that purchasing your own individual policy.

Another option is to obtain group health insurance, which is beneficial as the health insurance plan cannot turn you away for any health problem.  As a single home based business owner, you may not think you are eligible for a group policy, but many companies are now offering health insurance plans for “groups” of one.  However, these policies vary by state and company, so you will need to do some research to find out if you are eligible.

Finally, your third health insurance option is to obtain your own individual coverage.  If you are healthy and have had no pre-existing medical conditions, then finding an individual health insurance plan can be relatively easy.  Due to these plans being subject to underwriting, a health assessment will be performed, and your state of health can determine whether or not your application is approved.  Individual coverage can also be more costly depending on pre-existing conditions, or you may not be covered for any treatment related to the condition for a specific period of time.

Also, you will need to consider how much health insurance coverage you want, as the amount will determine your overall cost.  Are you looking for vision, dental, or long term care insurance?  Prescription coverage?  It is important for you to look realistically at your budget in order to determine how much health insurance you can afford.

Read the rest of the article here: Health Insurance for the Home Based Business Owner.

Download the Home Based Business Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He specializes in showing people the best way to Make Money Online.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

Learn about the research that you must do before you build your website to ensure success.

Is your Website Doomed for Failure Before you’ve Built it?

One of the things that many people overlook when building a new website is keywords. I have to admit, I did exactly the same thing myself when I started out. You can build the flashiest, most professional looking website, with lots of great content, but if you don’t think about keywords first your website is most likely to be doomed for failure - at least as far as search engines are concerned.

Visitors from search engines are the most targeted types of visitor that you could hope for. People coming to your site from a search engine are actually looking for the information that is on your website. What you need to do is find out which keywords these people are using when they search in Google, Yahoo or MSN and ensure that your web page(s) are optimized for these keywords.

When researching your keywords you need to make sure that you

1. Choose keywords that people are actually searching for. Don’t optimize your site for keywords that people rarely search on.
2. Choose keywords that are not too highly competitive - unless you’re an SEO whiz that is

If you keep these two goals in mind when choosing keywords you will have the best chance possible of rising to the lofty heights of the search engine results pages.

So, what’s the best way to do keyword research? I’ve tried many different tools, but my favorite by is Wordtracker. You can sign up for a free trial of Wordtracker   but if you’re serious about your keyword research consider using the full version as it allows you to select unlimited keywords and includes results from 8 different search engines, 3 different directories and 4 different pay per click engines, compared to 1 search engine and 30 keywords in the trial version.

Once you’re logged into Wordtracker I recommend using the “Keyword Universe” to brainstorm for keywords. You just need to type in any keywords related to your area of interest and then use the built in thesaurus to find related keywords and synonyms. For example if I enter the keywords “internet marketing” Wordtracker returns 300 related keywords including “web site marketing”, “promotion” and “online marketing”.

Wordtracker then allows me to view a list of all the keyword searches that have included my keyword phrase. If I click on “web site marketing” Wordtracker returns 118 rows of keywords that include that phrase, for example “web site marketing”, “web site marketing strategy”, “web site online marketing” and more.

If I like the look of these keywords I can just add them to my  basket and continue choosing keywords until I have 100s of keywords. For this example I’ll just add the 118 results to my basket and continue on to Wordtracker’s “Competition Analysis”.

At the competition analysis phase I have a number of search engines, directories and pay per click engines to choose from. I can choose a maximum of two search engines, but for speed I normally tend to just go for Google, since it represents 35% of all searches. I can always go back later and look at other search engines if I have a good set of keywords.

Now the interesting part begins…

Wordtracker returns me a table with the first 100 keywords from my earlier keyword selection. The keywords are displayed in order of “KEI”, which means “Keyword Effectiveness Index”. This is a measure to allow you to quickly identify which keywords are likely to give you the best results. Keywords with high KEIs are the best targets as these represent keywords with a combination of a high number of searches and a low amount of competing websites.

Other important statistics provided by Wordtracker are:

24 Hours – The predicted amount of traffic for a single day, for this search engine only (Google in this case)

Competing - The number of competing websites for this keyword phrase.

Here’s an example of two of the results returned from my “marketing web site” search:

Example 1
“marketing web site design”
KEI - 54.256
Count - 46
24Hrs - 17
Competing - 39

Example 2
“web site marketing”
KEI - 0.256
Count - 505
24Hrs - 171
Competing - 998000

You can see from these examples that the most popular keyword phrase here is “web site marketing”, with approximately 171 searches in Google every 24 hours. However, this keyword phrase has almost a million competing websites, so if you decided to target this you would have a long hard slog to get on the first page of the search results.

In this example, my preference would be to choose the “Marketing web site design” phrase. Although there are 10 times less searches on Google per day for this keyword phrase, there are only 39 competing websites. So the chances are that I can get onto the first page of search results very quickly. I could also combine this keyword phrase with a few others from my research to build up the number of visitors to my site.

Once you have finished researching and have a good keyword list, ensure that add your keywords to

 - the page title
 - the h1 and h2 tags
 - the image alt tags
 - the keyword meta tags
 - the copy itself

Also make sure that you include the keywords in the anchor text when you are linking to your site from another site.

Going through this exercise of choosing keywords each time you set up a new website or create a new webpage will ensure that you have the best chance of getting targeted search engine visitors.

Time management is key to running your home based business, as there often does not seem to be enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to do.  However, if you focus your energy and know how to prioritize, you will find that your business will run more smoothly, and you will get more done in less time.

Don’t be fooled by all of the people who tell you it is so simple to develop time management skills.  If you haven’t developed them by now, the process will take time and energy, especially if you have a lot of priorities coming at you all the time.  However, those priorities are the first place to start for better time management.  Make a list of all the things that need to be done.  Then rank them in order of importance.  If you have a program like Outlook or Entourage, this process can all be done on the computer, though a piece of paper works just as well.

It may seem that everything you have listed is important, and it probably is, but learn to identify what is more important.  Ask yourself what would happen if you did not get to the task right away.  If there is little consequence, then it should not be toward the top of your list.  Time management always begins with prioritizing tasks.  It keeps you much more focused on what needs to be done versus what you want to do.

The next task in time management is that you need to learn to allocate time to your tasks properly.  Even for those who have effective time management skills, this can be a difficult thing to do.  Estimate the amount of time you think it will take to do each task, then add 40 percent to that amount of time.  Most people grossly underestimate the time it takes to do things, so if you add in that amount of time, you will save yourself a lot of grief later.

Also, make sure you schedule your tasks during your peak times.  In time management, you want to do things at times of day that you are at your best.  For example, if you are at your peak in the afternoon, then you should focus on work during that time, because you will be able to focus better and get more done.  This strategic time management will make you much more efficient.

Finally, while you are developing your time management skills, you may want to minimize your need to multi-task.  Focus on one thing at time.  Don’t worry, though, since you allocated time to each task, you won’t miss anything.  You will find that being able to give a task your full attention will make you much more efficient.

Read the rest of the article here: Time Management for Your Home Based Business.

Download the Home Based Business Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in showing people the Best Home Based Business and the Best MLM on the internet.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

It takes only a few minutes and is easy to setup your own weblog using the Blogger weblog system.  By completing only three simple steps, creating an account, naming your blog and choosing a template, you too can join the thousands of people now blogging on the web. Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide to help to get you started using Blogger

1. Go to Blogger.com and click on the arrow that says “Create Your Blog Now.”  You’ll be asked to create a username and choose a password that you’ll use to access your Blogger account;  choose a display name that will be used to sign your posts (e.g., moody mom, bloggerx, etc.) and provide an email address. You’ll also be asked to check a box indicating that you accept Blogger’s Terms of Service . Then click on “Continue” to go the next screen.


2. On the next screen to name your blog (e.g., The Blog Report, Myrah’s Insanity Report, etc.) You can choose any name you wish. After you choose your blog title, you need to choose your URL address. This is the web address that people can click to access your blog. Again, as long as it’s not taken, you can choose any address you want. Remember, the shorter and easier to spell the better it will be for people to remember.  Also remember, that many thousands of people use Blogger to host their weblog and it may take you a while to find a web address that hasn’t already been taken. Finally, for security purposes, you’ll need to provide word verification by typing in the box the word that is displayed above the box on the screen.  Then,  click “Continue” to move to next screen.


3. On the next screen, you’ll need to choose a template for your blog. This is the design of your blog, what your blog will look like to visitors. Blogger provides 12 different templates to choose from. Pick your favorite. You can change the look of your blog at a later time by choosing a different Blogger template or using of the hundreds of free templates that are available across the Internet.  After you choose your template, click “Continue.”  Blogger will begin creating your blog.


4. Once it’s created, click on “Start Posting” and write your first post for the world to see. Click on “Publish Post” and Blogger will tell you it is publishing your post. Then click on the “View Blog” tab and you’ll find that you’re officially a member of the blogging world.

Work at home part-time and at another job full-time and find yourself in a time crunch a majority of the time?  It can be tough balancing both jobs and trying to be successful at the same time.  Knowing how to create time and manage it better in order to work at home part time effectively can make your life a whole lot easier.

One way to keep track of the work you are doing when you work at home part-time is to have an activity log.  Try it for a week.  Include all your daily activities and how long it takes you to complete each task.  This log will help you see exactly where your time is going.

Second, it is easy after a long day at your full-time job to come home and be distracted from your work at home part-time job.  Your log will help you see just how much time you are devoting to these distractions.  It will also help you determine how to curb those habits and be more effective in your work at home part-time job.

Now, if you apply the same techniques to your full-time job, you can free up some time to work on your work at home part-time responsibilities.  However, this advice also comes with a serious warning, as many bosses do not like you to work on outside jobs when they are paying you to do their work.  It is important that you are on top of your full-time work before you start working on your work at home part-time work.

Use your log to develop a schedule for your work at home part-time business.  To-Do lists are a great tool to be able to prioritize what needs to be done and when it needs to be completed.  Daily to-do lists are virtually a necessity in work at home part-time businesses, as it keeps you focused.  Be sure, too, to develop a schedule that is realistic with real time schedules for tasks.  Also, set time limits for tasks that are ongoing.  Creating this type of discipline is important for balancing your work at home part-time job with your full-time job and, most importantly, your life.

Learning to say “no” is one of the most effective time management tools if you work at home part-time.  However, if you do not learn to decline projects, you will find yourself under increasing stress.  Make sure you know exactly how much work you can handle and keep yourself within your limits.

Finally, you need to learn to use your down time effectively for your work at home part-time business.  Use your “waiting room” time to get some work done.  Also, time spent traveling on airplanes, buses, cabs, etc. can all be used for minor tasks.  It will help you save time later.

Read the rest of the article here: Tips For Those Who Work at Home Part-Time.

Download the Home Based Business Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in helping people start their very own Work at Home and Home Based Business on the internet.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

Statistical evidence that millions of people are in fact making a good living working at home in their own business.

You may be wondering whether or not normal, reasonable people actually make a living by working at home. If so, you are among a quickly growing number.

Since the catastrophic event that took place on September 11, 2001 our economy has undergone drastic changes. International technologies such as the Internet have caused the beginning of a world wide ‘economic leveling’. These technologies have also provided opportunities to work at home that were never before available. In the last few years the price of gas and oil has sky rocketed, making the commute to and from work very expensive. Yes, many people are looking for alternative ways to make a living and the prospect of working at home is becoming more and more popular.

How many people work at home? We can’t say exactly but according to IDC, a top national research firm, as of the year 2002, over 20 million home based businesses existed in the U.S. Various surveys have indicated that the number of home based businesses will continue to increase dramatically for at least the next 5 years.
An article in Newsweek Magazine (2002) projected that by the year 2005 50% of the households in the US would be involved in some form of home based business.

Reports from many sources over the last 5 years indicate that families with home based businesses make substantially more money than employees.
A survey conducted by IDC indicated that the average income for home office households was $63,000 in 2002. Now that number is undoubtedly higher.

Yes, literally millions of people are working at home, are self employed and are making more money than the average employee. The number of home based businesses is growing rapidly and will continue to grow over the next few years.

When I first started building Singaporedirectory1, I was asked quite a number of times by friends and relatives: “Isn’t it easier to just type something into Yahoo and Google?” Well, I myself hardly spend much time on directories searching for information. So, Isn’t it really a waste of time to build directories?

Unlike in the past, directories today serve a different purpose. They are hardly meant for information searching. Instead, directories serve as validation sites for search engines today. Websites included in reputable directories are often ranked higher in search engines.

This essentially means that if your site is accepted by www.abc-directory.com, abc-directory thinks that your site is worth a visit by search engine robots, and hence should deserve higher ranking in search engines. (For example: you may type “Singapore directory” in MSN. Do you find us on the 6th position?). For newbie internet users, this is what I meant by search engine ranking - ranked top in search engines for keywords that you intend users to find your site.

How will directories help your site in search engine ranking?

- Increase relevancy of your site with certain keywords and phrases
Search engines are robots crawling the web, and see all websites as a vastly interconnected “spider web”. Directories are organized in categories recognized by popular keywords (eg. Education, business). This helps search engines to determine which categories should a website falls under, and the theme of keywords and other websites that it should be related to.

- Directories serve as Expert documents for search engines
Besides bringing relevant search results, search engines want to deliver good quality websites to internet users. Importance of websites is often determined by the top down organization structure of directories. Hence, directories with certain quality control and good hierachy ranking structure helps to determine whether a site is worth visiting. Let us take a look at Google’s Pagerank technology: Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B”

- Protection from spammers
There are millions of spammers on the web constantly trying to manipulate search engine result to boost their sites’ ranking. Search engines search the web and index pages using web robots (or commonly called “spiders”), with the shortfall of not having human eyes of directory editors. This can be dangerous when spammers try to cheat the robots. However, spammers are not able to get through the human eyes of directory editors. One or two directory editors may accept a site, but Google may analyse the links from as many as few hundred directories pointing to a site.

Will search engines treat all directories with same respect?

Certainly NOT. Directories are built by human editors. And there are certain downsides:

a) Directory listing can be outdated very fast

Buidling a good directory requires effort and time. Often, website listing found in many directories are not updated, and broken links can be found in many directories. This is especially so when websites today are updated more frequently. It is indeed time consuming to maintain a directory with more than few thousand links. Directories that are more accurate with their listing is definitely more welcomed by search engines.

b) We also come to a question of fairness here

If editors themselves own affiliate sites, isn’t it possible that they manipulate their own directory listing and prevent certain listing of competitive sites. Well, search engines are not stupid. They accumulate analysis from many other directories to determine proper ranking for a website.

Feel free to visit article: Directory submission tips for further reading.

MLM, or multi-level marketing, has come under some criticisms of late, mostly due to a misunderstanding of what MLM is and isn’t.  Many people believe that an MLM is no different than a pyramid scheme, but in fact, it is a legitimate business model.  In fact, it can be a very lucrative business for any home based business entrepreneur.

MLM is a business model involving the direct selling of products or services through the personal recommendation or endorsement of independent representatives.  If you are the representative, you receive a commission on the sale for giving the recommendation or endorsement.  Most products that use MLM are not advertised in the mainstream media or in stores.

MLM goes on to create an upline and a downline through recruiting.  As an independent representative, you recruit other independent representatives to directly sell those products and services (your downline).  You receive a commission on their sales.  Your upline includes your recruiter, the person who recruited him/her, and so on.  They earn a commission on your sales.  In fact, it is not so different from multi-tier affiliate programs.

However, this structure is how most people confuse MLM with a pyramid scheme.  With MLM, the products or services sold have a proportionate value to the amount invested.  In a pyramid scheme that value is highly disproportionate or the scheme just involves the basic transfer of funds up the pyramid.  For instance, the most classic pyramid scheme is the one where you get a letter telling you to mail money to the person at the top of the list, cross it off, and put your name at the bottom.  Then you mail out letters to so many people and eventually reap the rewards when your name gets to the top of the list, which it never does.

It is important to note pyramid schemes that are disguised as MLM programs, as there are some people out there trying to take advantage of those wanting to get involved in MLM programs.  If you are looking to get involved in an MLM program, then make sure that your investment is proportionate to the product or service you will be selling.  Remember, pyramid schemes are illegal, and you participate at your own risk. 

Read the rest of the article here: What is MLM and Can It Be a Valid Home Based Business?.

Download the Home Based Business Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in showing people the Best Home Based Business and the Best MLM on the internet.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

The word “podcasting” is used often around the internet these days, although many people are still not exactly clear on just what a podcast is!  Simply put, a podcast is a blog (web log) that is made available in audio format.  The audio portion is a standard MP3 file that contains a program or “show” that can be created by anyone.  Think of it as a radio talk show that can be transmitted from a computer.

The podcast transmission uses Real Simple Syndication (RSS) technology.  It may seem complicated but, as the name implies, it is actually fairly simple.  There are many resources available to help people learn how to record and set up a podcast.  The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow.  In fact, with just a few easy to learn skills, some low-cost (or free) computer programs, and the basic computer equipment and internet connections that you probably already have, YOU can create a podcast and host your own show. 

In addition to setting up a podcast, you’ll also want to provide a written blog that offers helpful, supplemental text for your podcast material.  For example, you may briefly mention a topic in your podcast and then tell your listeners: “For more information on this topic, please see the web site….”  In this way, you can expand the amount of information your subscribers receive from your transmission. 

When you have set up a blog and website, anyone with an internet connection can subscribe to your show.  Listeners will use an RSS “aggregator,” such as Doppler or Ipodder.  Both of these are FREE downloadable program that allow others to subscribe to any podcast of interest.  They’re easy to set up and can be pre-configured to check for new podcast updates at set intervals.  In this way, a subscriber doesn’t have to be “tuned in” to your podcast at a certain time; he can just receive notice of an update that is automatically downloaded to his computer and then listen to it at his leisure.  Subscribers listen to these files just like their music files, using Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any other similar audio program that is compatible with MP3 files. 

Needless to say, the topics of a podcast are limitless.  For example, maybe you have a special interest (even expertise) in fly fishing.  What a great idea to have a podcast devoted to the art and adventures of this great sport!  You can share techniques, stories, and even take live calls during pre-set transmission times.  Podcasting offers you the opportunity to become a true “internet personality.”

It’s a difficult ride if you want to work from home and yet, the most important people in your life are against the work at home concept. It’s a dream to you but it can be a nightmare for people who care for you. The whole idea of not having a stable income makes them worry about you, so, don’t blame them. For all you know, you’re terribly confident that your plan will work and you know you can commit to your new work at home business…you know that but THEY don’t.

It’s a difficult ride if you want to work from home and yet, the most important people in your life are against the work at home concept. It’s a dream to you but it can be a nightmare for people who care for you. The whole idea of not having a stable income makes them worry about you, so, don’t blame them. For all you know, you’re terribly confident that your plan will work and you know you can commit to your new work at home business…you know that but THEY don’t.

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The first step you will need to take to help your family members accept your work at home decision is to understand how they feel. I know, I know, this is a time when you want others to understand you and accept your decision. You’re tired of working for someone else and want to have the freedom of spending time with your family and friends, instead of lounging around in the office day in and day out. And here I am, telling you that you should understand the very people who are opposing you?

This is not a secret but think of it like some kind of a psychological plan. ever heard of the term ‘reverse psychology’? Ok, you’re required to use this and let me tell you this…it works like a charm! If you do this right, you will convince your family members that working at home is the best option for you.

Say things like, ‘I know you care for me, love me and want what is best for me….’, ‘I understand what you’re saying…’, or ‘You’re absolutely right in saying that, I can’t say you’re wrong’. When you’re talking to them in a non-attack way, they will back down and bring down their fences. This is an amazing way to help your family members accept your work-at-home decision. It’s true, my own family members were not to keen on me wasting my law degree to start a work at home business either – to them, I am wasting my degree, wasting my talents and wasting my energy. And they don’t want to see me suffer, be disappointed and face financial problems. Being parents, they want what is best for me and in their eyes, working at home is NOT the best moneymaking opportunity. Over the years, I have finally opened my parents’ eyes to the working at home concept. They finally accepted it that I communicate with clients from all over the world and that I am being paid for the work that I do and that my income is comfortable.

As for the spouse, this is a little bit trickier. You see, in 2-income families, if one person wants to start working from home, the other spouse would have to be prepared to give up more of his or her income to cover for the stuff that is supposed to be covered by the now-working-at-home spouse. At least during the first few months of the business, that is. I mean, for 3 to 6 months after working from home, you’ll have to expect to dig into your savings or the spouse would have to cover for expenses, so, naturally, he or she would be a little bit disgruntled with the fact. They’re not being selfish – they’re trying to deal with you breaking out of the comfort zone. Everyone, including you, hates that. So, don’t expect your spouse to welcome the idea of working from home with wide open arms. There’s bound to be some skepticism.

And skepticism from your loved ones is good too because it will keep you on your toes and you’re feet remains firmly planted on the ground. So, the best thing to do with your spouse is to discuss the idea with him or her, sit down and plan the finances. For example, dig into your savings to cover for contribution to expenses, working part-time, telecommuting, cut down on expenses, selling the extra car, remortgaging, etc. Find a way and a plan to ease the discomfort for your spouse. Make sure he or she has nothing to complain about your working at home decision. It’s incredibly difficult to accept, trust me, if you’re not the one who wants to work from home. If you’re on the other side of the fence, everything looks so bleak and uncertain.

Break through their barrier not with force, but with gentle compromising and understanding. Then, you’ll get their full support for your work at home business.