If you are pondering on this question, you are not alone. You may be considering starting one, or you may be some way down the line and wondering whether you have made the right decision - but at some point we all wonder whether it is really possible to have a successful online business. Well, here are some words of encouragement.
I just logged into the PlugInProfit (PIPS) forum and found a post from someone who started their business in 2003. They have not been on the forum for a while, but had returned to express thanks to certain people (one of them Stone Evans, the founder of PIPS) for his success. He is now a full time internet marketer.
What was the secret of his success?
From his post I gather that he LISTENED to other people’s advice and mentoring. He had COMMITMENT to his business, even though he struggled for several years. He also READ lots of inspirational books to keep hime going.
He ended by telling anyone who is struggling, never to give up and that persistence will pay off.
It doesn’t have to take five years - it all depends on how much time you have available to run your business - but the point here is very clear: In order to have a successful online business, you need to learn from others who are successful, and make a commitment never to give up on your business. Get support and get inspired.
When I joined the PluginProfit site (PIPS), I was very excited about the business opportunity it offered. Being able to promote six affiliate programs under one roof (especially as that included Success University - one of my favourite programs) seemed like a very good idea. The step-by-step training it offered was also very attractive to one who had to learn affiliate marketing from scratch.
However, like many newbies to the business, I found that it was going to take longer to make a profit than I originally thought, and while the training and the support was excellent, found myself struggling to focus on any effective system of marketing, and falling into the trap of paying for advertising schemes that gave little or nothing in return.
Then, last January, something happened that was to change things, not only for me, but many other PIPS members. The PIPS Power Group started, and I jumped in, knowing that this was just what my business needed: Six successful PIPS members who were willing to personally mentor and guide other PIPS members towards success.
Without this group of highly motivating, honest and helpful people I may well have given up before now. But joining the PIPS Power Group was the best thing that I ever did for my business.
While before I lacked focus, and struggled to find a coherent system that would get my website noticed in the search engines and provide targetted visitors, I now know exactly what I need to do each day to build traffic and increase my ratings on a weekly basis.
One of my most recent achievements has been to reach the level of Counselor in Success University. Without the support and teaching of these six mentors, I do not think I would be at this level right now. My business as a whole is progressing. My income is increasing.
I cannot express enough how proud I am to have been a member of the PIPS Power Group since the day it started. The group is growing rapidly, yet still retains the feeling of a small community of like-minded people who all help and encourage each other.
If you are already a member of Pluginprofit - then I urge you to join this group, learn affiliate marketing from the best and get your business growing with speed, focus and confidence.
If you are not a member of PIPS, you can join HERE - and then join the Power Group HERE.
Starting a home based internet business is an exciting and fun way of building an income. Here, I am going to list a few of the advantages, with points to be wary of as well.
I love the internet, but no matter how careful you think you are, it can still be easy to be taken in by clever advertising and be the victim of a scam - and it happened to me recently. Freelance Home Writers appear to offer a great service for people who are interested in earning money from writing: training, jobs, e-books and more.
They draw you in - often with an email saying you have been “selected” to register with a special $2.95 registration fee. If you read the small print, you will find that this is a seven day trial period and there is then a monthly charge of $49.95. However, they also state that if you are not satisfied, there is an 8 week money-back guarantee.
I joined, but found that most of the material on the site is easily found elsewhere for free. There is no “direct connection” with employers - just a searchable list of jobs that you can find in many freelance writers’ databases such as Elance.
What I do find suspicious about this company is that there are never any follow-up emails, and because I became very busy after I signed up, I almost forgot that I had joined until I saw the money going out of my account!
Remembering the 8 week money back guarantee, I sent them a message through their online contact form asking them to cancel my account and refund my money. I received no reply.
I then sent them an email, asking the same thing. I have had absolutely no response. My account is still active, and this month the second payment of $49.95 went out of my credit card account.
I have now contacted my bank and they have stopped any further payments, and are going to try and help me get my money back.
I have since come across this forum thread and found that other people have had the same problem with this company: http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/14_7144_0.htm This thread also gives some good links to free sites if you are interested in freelance writing.
I have to admit that I did the very thing that I am often warning others not to do! That is, sign up for something without doing any research or asking around.
But it goes to show that these people can make these offers look incredibly genuine. Also their website does look legitimate - and a newbie could easily think that they are getting a good deal and be paying this ridiculous fee for months before realising that it is a con.
So - let this be a warning! Don’t give your credit card details to anything until you have a) read the small print, and b) done your research!
And, whatever you do, stay away from Freelance Home Writers!
Ros Bott
PS. Are you looking for a legitimate business opportunity that has a mission to change the world? You’ve found it here.
What kind of steps are you taking towards finding financial freedom?Slow steps, careful steps, stumbling steps, quick steps?Foxtrot?The truth is, if you have started to take your first steps to financial freedom, you need to be sure of where and how you are placing your feet.
When people first start thinking of how much money they could make running a home based business, many of them do not stop to think about the steps they need to consider, but reach out and try to make a huge leap without looking at what they are doing.Most of these people will either fall flat on their face when they trip over the first obstacle, or fall down the gaping hole that they did not see beneath them.
This weekend I had a marvellous Skype call with an affiliate marketing expert in Central America (isn’t Skype wonderful? Here I am, in a little village in Warwickshire, talking to someone in Chicago, just like he was sitting across the desk from me - all for free!)
Anyway - I digress.
Let me explain. I am a member of the PIPS Power Group, which is a support service for anyone who is a member of the Plug-In-Profit Site (PIPS). It’s run by six highly successful PIPS members, who generously give their time to help us mere mortals achieve financial freedom with our businesses and give us lots of affiliate marketing advice.
Because I am short of time lately (building my life coaching business and training to present coaching programs in schools), I was worried about how to market my home business effectively with only a couple of hours to spare.
So I decided to take advantage of the free half hour consultation that is given by some of the mentors, and I spent a very nice 45 minutes talking to Jeff Casmer, who gave me some very positive and focused advice: to focus my time on article writing and blogging, as these are the most effective ways of increasing backlinks and building traffic.
Now, you might think I could have got this advice anywhere - but the point is that sometimes we need to have specific, one-to-one mentoring, otherwise we can get swamped by the opinions of different people and end up in square one. Jeff also gave me some detailed instructions on the most effective use of keywords for my articles.
I now feel focused and re-enthused. I know what I need to do each day and each week, and that I will be making the best use of my time.
The point I am trying to make, is that anyone who is working on an online home based business really should have a mentor and some kind of support. Where are you going to find yours?
If you happen to have a sponsor who is very successful, you could use them if they are willing to help. Otherwise, you can search the forums for experienced affiliate marketers and ask if they would be prepared to mentor you.
Of course, if you are a member of PIPS, then you can join the PIPSPowerGroup and get the best mentoring on the web (in my opinion!).
Finding affiliate marketing advice doesn’t have to be difficult. There are plenty of people who are very happy to help you achieve what they have already achieved. After all, that’s what this business is all about: helping others to achieve success.
Anyone setting up an online home business will need to learn internet marketing. For the person who is new to marketing online, it can at first appear to be an overwhelming and difficult area to understand.
Many people sign up for affiliate marketing sites because they see a way of earning some money quickly and easily. Unfortunately, unless they know how to market an online business, or have very good training, the system will not work for them. This is usually because of a misconception about how quickly it is possible to make a profit, and because they do not understand the basics of internet marketing.
I remember my first few weeks of my new affiliate marketing business. I was so excited I could hardly sleep, and I could hardly bear anything that took me away from the computer for a few moments. At the same time, there was so much information coming at me from various training programs, emails and well-meaning sponsors, I also felt completely overwhelmed. As an affiliate newbie it is very easy to slip into information overload and spend so much time leaping from one piece of information to another that you are not actually getting anything done.
If this sounds like you, then don’t worry - you are certainly not alone! There is a lot to learn when you start out, and it’s very difficult to know where to start. You feel that you want to do everything at once; you start one thing, and then think you should be doing something else…
If your affiliate company has a training program (and if it’s a legitimate one it certainly should have) then make sure you read it step-by-step.
If you have joined several affiliate companies, you might be tempted to try and follow every training program - and end up horribly confused! The best thing to do is to start off with one piece of training from one program. Take the program you like best of all and do the first thing that they suggest - and do it until you feel confident with it.
Once you’ve mastered this one thing, go on to the next thing. And so on.
This may feel slow - but believe me, you will be making far more progress than if you jump from one thing to the other and try to learn everything at once.
You will hear it said many times in this industry that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time; there is no rush. Your business will build in time - and you need to give it time.
Be selective about the newsletters you sign up to - will you really have time to read them all? Pick one or two that you feel will really help you and forget the rest.
So if you are an overwhelmed affiliate newbie, slow down, breathe, relax and enjoy. Just make sure you do something every day that will progress your business.
People looking for an affiliate program to start or add to their home business may have come across SFI (Strong Future International), and be tempted to join. It’s free to join, it’s very popular and it’s been going a long time. But does this make it the best online opportunity, or is an SFI home business just another affiliate program that will sit around and provide you with nothing?
Of course, how much you earn from an affiliate program is up to you. If you do nothing, you will receive nothing. Like any other program, you need to actively promote it and give it time to build before you give up on it. And of course, it’s much easier to do this if you like the program in the first place.
So, what’s to like about SFI? What makes it so popular and why would you want to join?
Well, the first thing of course is that it’s free to start with. Of course, you will receive higher commissions and benefits once you upgrade to Executive Affiliate status - and this does not necessarily mean spending money (although this is the easiest option). You can become an EA by selling a certain number of products. Alternatively, you can buy SFI products yourself or take out a membership to the IAHBE (International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs). This will cost around $30 per month.
Many people wait until they have a few affiliates before they become EA. That’s up to you. Of course, you won’t earn any money until your affiliates upgrade to EA status themselves, but being an EA sets an example to those in your downline and you will earn double the commissions as an EA.
The next best thing about SFI is that there is so much training available on the site, including an online forum and many different ways of earning money. You can choose to concentrate solely on promoting the business opportunity, or you can sell SFI’s many products, including cleaning products, pet products, magazines, toiletries, technical services and much more - or you can do both!
SFI also provide innovative ways of earning more sales through their merchance programs and the EyeEarn program. To become a member of EyeEarn you pay a one-time fee of $20, put a sticker on your car, wear a t-shirt - and you will receive a share of affiliates who join up via the world-wide advertising. This means a steady stream of affiliates every month as long as you remain a member.
What I like about SFI is that they are always coming up with new ideas and new ways of earning money.
So, what are the downsides, if any?
Well, everything has its downside, and if SFI has any it is in the fact that there are so many options available it can be quite overwhelming when you first join. But there are some good “Getting Started” pages for the beginner, and if you devote a little time to finding your way around the site, this shouldn’t be a problem.
The other downside is that although it is relatively easy to quickly build a downline (due to the fact that it’s free to join), only a minority of these will become EAs and earn you money - so it can take a little while before your income reaches the kind of levels you are seeking. The trick is to welcome your affiliates warmly, look after them, don’t pressurise them into upgrading, and make sure you answer any of their questions honestly. It’s a numbers game - the more affiliates you have, the more chances there are of having more EAs, so you just need to keep going with it. In time, it can provide you with a very nice income.
So, is it the best online opportunity? The honest answer is, I don’t know - but then I don’t believe there is such a thing. I know that I like it. But whatever program you choose, its success depends on your commitment and how much work you put into it.
If you want to find out more about an SFI home business and see if it’s the kind of program for you, click here.
Any website owner wants one thing first and foremost: Traffic. Without traffic to your website, there will be no sales. It’s a bit like setting up a market stall in the middle of the Sahara Desert! No matter how great your products are, or how beautiful your website is, it won’t mean a thing if no-one can see it!
There are, of course, many ways of increasing traffic to your website, but I think most experienced internet marketers would agree that one of the best ways (and, in fact, one of the cheapest) of increasing traffic for website owners is through marketing with articles.
Now, some people find this a little daunting. Perhaps you are not a natural writer, or perhaps English is not your first language or you may have no idea how to go about submitting articles and how it all works. How do you get traffic to your website by writing articles?
This ebook is a step-by-step guide in how to submit articles, how much to write, how often you should submit and how to track your submissions.
They’ve kept it fairly short, so it’s easy to read and simple to follow. You will find that article marketing is much less complicated than you might have thought, and you will be well on the way to getting targetted traffic to your website within days. You can download this FREE ebook below:
By the way, this book is fully re-brandable, so if you are a member of Article Marketer already, you can re-brand this book and give it away to others.
If you would like to find out more about the submission services provided by Article Marketer, and their own training courses, CLICK HERE.
Marketing with articles is fun, free and effective, and produces targetted traffic for website owners, plus you build credibility within your industry. You cannot afford not to do it!
I am a career life coach and writer and I live in the UK, close to the historic town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
I have found that affiliate marketing and the personal development industry are extremely strongly linked, which is why I have added a motivational flavour to my website (www.wealth-city.com) and the way I run my business.
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I have been interested in personal development for many years and I am passionate about the power of positive thought and the law of attraction. I know, through experience, that we create whatever we believe in.
I started in network marketing towards the end of 2007, and I love the amount of support and motivational material there is available for people in this business, if they are prepared to look. I am so eager to help people in this business, I also offer a motivational newsletter to anyone who signs up as an affiliate under me!
My main interest is history - particularly family history, and I write novels that usually have a historical twist.
I am a career life coach and writer and I live in the UK, close to the historic town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
I have found that affiliate marketing and the personal development industry are extremely strongly linked, which is why I have added a motivational flavour to my website 
