Ezinearticles.com Expert Author

Just a quick update...I've been taking it easy the last couple of days. No real progress on my website or squidoo lens lately. I did, however, manage to get 2 articles approved on Ezine Articles, which is exciting for me! They give you a cool little logo to add to your sites, which you can see here:

Pretty cool, I know...Hopefully I'll start to see some traffic here though!
That's all for now, I've been paid by a couple more paid e-mail and survey sites, so I'll add those links sometime over the weekend. More later...

Frustrated With Google Pages

What a terrible day! Google Pages is driving me absolutely crazy...I just can't get my website to look right. Nothing looks right. Adsense works on half the pages, text is all screwy, and half my images don't load. That's what I get trying to use software that's still in beta, I suppose...

So after messing with my site for 2 hours, I decided to scrap the whole thing. I'm starting a new one, using XSite Pro. No more messing around with "free" HTML Editors!! I don't have the patience for them!

XSite Pro has been praised for its ease of use, and many people I know love it. So I decided to go ahead and invest in it. I haven't had time to really use it yet, just peeked at the interface and user manual. Hopefully I'll have my site up sometime soon.

On a positive note, I did update My Squidoo Lens again! Added a bit on transcription, with a few links for newbies. If I can't get my website up, at least I have my squidoo lens! In fact, I might just have to head over there now and add some more...

Squidoo Update!

Ok, I finally got enough material to put my Squidoo lens up on the site. There are quite a few links to "real jobs" which aren't listed here (yet). You can drop by and visit it by clicking this text. It's far from being done, but it's a decent start. Expect major changes in the next few weeks...

I also just realized that Squidoo actually pays you!! You earn commission on any affiliate sales you make from your site, as well as a portion of all of the adsense generated. Kind of a cool bonus for creating a lens there! I encourage everyone to stop by and check it out.

No progress on my website yet, as I've been playing around with my Squidoo Lens all evening. I just need a couple of days off, so I can get all of my projects completed. Or at least online...

Squidoo Lens Posted

I've been staying busy this weekend trying to figure out all of this new (to me, anyhow) technology. My website is almost finished, at least its preliminary form. Google Pages is pretty basic; My site looks like it was developed in 1994! So I'm on the lookout for a decent HTML editor. I'll eventually get my own domain as well, but thats at least a month away.

If any of you are familiar with Squidoo, I just started a lens over there. You can find it here. Right now it's just a link to yesterdays blog entry; I'll add more original content as I learn how to optimize my lenses. I'm going into tutorial shock, learning how to blog, make lenses, and web pages!

Work At Home Obstacles

For many people, the idea of working from home seems refreshing and inspiring. No more daily commute, no more office politics, and no more daycare bill. While these are all positive aspects of working from home, people need to realize that a home based career is not without its drawbacks. There are many obstacles to overcome in order to achieve a successful home based career.

The most obvious obstacle is the challenge of finding a legitimate at home job. Telecommuting is a fairly new industry, and unfortunately there aren’t many resources available for job seekers. Scams, on the other hand, are a dime a dozen. It is important to research your potential employer and verify that the work is legitimate.

Training can be another hurdle to overcome. You are on your own; there is nobody standing behind you, critiquing your progress. If your training manual is unclear, you must be the one to take initiative and get it straightened out. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when your only contact with your trainer is through e-mail and phone calls, small problems can take days to resolve.

You also must be able to manage everyday distractions. The power will go out 5 minutes before your shift. You will have friends stop by your house unexpectedly, because they think you have the flexibility to work when you please. Children will need attended to, even though they’re supposed to be taking a nap. At some point, everything that you can imagine going wrong, will go wrong. You must expect these distractions, and have a plan in place to deal with them.

The last obstacle to overcome is time management. It sounds easy to work from home 40 hours a week, but the reality of it is, you are still working. You will still have job related stress, and you will still need downtime. The house will not clean itself, dinner will not cook itself, and laundry will not fold itself. Even if you have a separate office area, you will face reality as soon as you step outside the door.

Working from home can be very rewarding, but as with any important decision, you must weigh the pros and the cons. It is easy to look at the positives and overlook the negatives. If you approach your new career with a sense of balance, you will allow yourself the best chance to succeed.

Working on a Website

Home Based Income Ideas has undergone some minor aesthetic changes, the old site was kind of empty. I swapped templates and re-organized the sidebars, making the blog easier to navigate. Expect more changes in the near future, as I'm new to blogging and have much to learn!

I've also been working on a website to house all of my "work from home" links. I'm using Google Pages to build the site, and have been impressed with my results so far. It's a fairly basic site (I don't know HTML, and have never built a website before), and I should have the "framework" online in the next few days. Of course it will go through major modifications as my HTML improves!

Blogging For Money

Blogs can be a *huge* moneymaker for anyone interested in working from home. Millions of people read millions of entries every day, creating an ideal platform for "product placement." Businesses love to promote their products to the masses, and blogs can provide big time targeted exposure. Bloggers can capitalize on that fact by posting product reviews in their blogs. Simply submit your review to the company, get it approved, post it on your blog, and get paid. Most companies will pay anywhere from $5-$10 per post, with a maximum of 2 posts per day. And they don't require you to write a novel, either. Usually posts between 75-150 words will suffice.

So what do you need in order to get paid to blog? Most companies need to see that your blog is already established. Meaning that it has been online for a while, you've kept it updated regularly, and you're generating decent traffic to it. That's not to say you need thousands of unique visitors per day, but if nobody is reading your blog, it's unlikely you'll get paid for your opinions! Working knowledge of HTML and a passion for writing are also helpful, but if you're blog is already established, then you shouldn't have too much trouble.

So what companies will actually pay you to blog? There are several, but the three I recommend most are Pay Per Post, Blogitive, and Blogvertise. They are all legitimate, paying companies, and all of them are free to join.