Work At Home Musings

The down economy has people pinching their pennies. I know so many people that are looking for work are in a job that they would love to change, but don’t dare right now. A friend of mine works in managed IT services, and would love to take on more responsibilities, but employers are not promoting or hiring right now.

That is why I do what I can to make a little extra income at home. I try and substitute teach while I can and I do make some money blogging. What are ways that you bring in extra money to help make ends meet?

I just joined the Nielsen Home Scan Panel. You have heard of Nielsen Families before. These are participants that give their opinions on a variety of things. Their new program is all about shopping. You are sent a barcode scanner (similar to a Symbol LS2208) that allows you to scan in all your purchases each week. It doesn’t take as much time as you might think. Simply scan in the barcodes of items as you put them away. You receive points for scanning and taking online surveys. These points can be traded in for electronics, gift cards and other items. My daughter is hoping that I save enough points to get her an Apple iPod Touch.

For more information about the program, visit Nielsen Home Scan.

I have met a number of work at home moms and dads that are independent insurance agents. They provide life, medial and auto insurance quotes for families and individuals. Often, it is difficult finding individuals that are interested in buying insurance without an life insurance lead.

Today, many people today use the internet to compare prices and shop for life, medical and auto insurance. These individuals are more likely to change insurance providers if they can find a better deal online. If you are an independent insurance agent, using a lead generating company can help increase your business and find people who are interested in purchasing your offerings. Make sure that you understand what you will be getting for the price of each lead. You may want to start with a small number of leads and see if the leads are good quality before purchasing more.

Every website or blog, at some point in its existence needs to be optimized. Many times, web owners have installed scripts or used images that actually slow down the website. The first step to optimization is to check your website. Web Page Analyzer is a free tool from Web Site Optimization that will analyze your site and and calculate page size, composition, and download time.

I tried it for this blog. My results showed that this blog takes 9.68 seconds to download if the user is on a T1 line. If they are using a 14.4K modem, the page takes 253.45 seconds to download. What a big difference. The analysis also warns me if I have graphics that could be compressed or if I am missing the width and height attributes. At the bottom of the analysis are recommendations. For example, I have over 28 images on the home page and I should reduce the number for better loading time. There are a number of suggestions that I can use to make this blog better.

Another service that Web Site Optimization offers is conversion rate optimization. Conversion Rate Optimization involves persuading visitors to take some action that will benefit you. Such as making a purchase, or subscribing to your feed or newsletter. This type of optimization is very useful if you feel that you are not getting the results that you want from your website or eStore.

After much consideration, I have decided to update my main work at home site. It was becoming increasingly difficult to constantly update the website. Instead, I have opted to present the site in a blog format while still giving it a website feel.

If you have a home business that you want featured, contact me and I will feature you! If you work for a direct sales company, let me know your experiences and I will include it on my main site.

I will also be featuring articles on how to start your own website using a blog format that will help keep your customers informed about your products and provide a way for you to sell your products directly as well.

When I first started blogging, I had to manually add images and ads to my blog. This was kind of a pain. Now, I have changed to using OIO Publisher. OIO Publisher is one of the best ad managers ever invented for blogs. When you purchase OIO Publisher you get to set prices for ads on your blog. Maybe you have banner space available and want to be able to sell this space for $15 a month. It is easy to set up and a link on your blog can direct your advertisers to purchase ads directly from you. No hassles from third party companies!

Another great feature is being able to place any default ads you want. Suppose you place ads for an affiliate program. Go ahead and make one or more of these your default ads. These will take up space until you have a direct purchase.

If you are serious about placing quality ads on your blog, I would highly recommend OIO Publisher!

There are a lot of work at home scams out there. I am always very careful about what I try and I read numerous reviews before I sink any money into them. Here is one that I have heard some very positive reviews about.

This program is called Plug-In Profit Site. What is different about this program is that it can generate multiple streams of revenue from one website. Instead of just promoting one product, you can actually use six different affiliate programs including Empowerism, SFI, Internet Marketing Center, Traffic Swarm and Internet Marketing Warriors/Host4Profit.

First, you need to obtain your own domain name on your own hosting account. You will be able to purchase your hosting account through Host 4 Profit, one of the six income streams that you will be promoting. Second, you purchase this Home Business. Plug-In Profit Site then lets you customize your own site. You can even offer many different products and services.

As with any Home Business Ideas, you will have to do some work. Researching a good niche and finding a good place in the internet world is probably the hardest part. Fortunately, the Plug-In Profit Site can provide tools to help you make money after all the research in done.

If you are looking for a home business, you could have your own Plug-In Profit Site by visiting http://www.HomeBusiness.us.

My first craft show was last Thursday and it went moderately well. I think my table probably sold one of the most. I have another one on December 4th and hope to sell off my remaining items. What I have left I will use for teacher gifts. Here are some of the items that I sold:

York Peppermint Patty Gift Bags

Hershey Nugget Tins in Orange or Blue

Bookmarks (made by my daughter)

Tins with Note Cards

Candy Tins using Decor Elements from Stampin’ Up!

Snowman Soup

Post It Note Holders

I have a craft show today and am totally stressed out about it. I always think that I am going to forget something that I need to bring. I have some really cute items and after I take pictures, I will post them. I have found that stress is a really good fat burner! I think I have lost about 5 pounds!

You can earn free gas money by allowing your car to have advertising on it. A new company, GasForFree.com is an online site that matches car owners with advertisers. If you are accepted you get free gas (up to $299 per month) for just driving around town with an advertisement on your car.

Some of the conditions include:

* Drivers must have a valid Driver’s License to qualify for this program
* You must have valid insurance and be the registered owner of the vehicle
* You must drive at least 1,250 miles per month (some exceptions apply for shorter commutes in high-density, metropolitan areas)
* GasForFREE works best on late model vehicles. Some exceptions made for older/specialty vehicles