To All Dads

Click HERE for the most inspirational clip... All dads really need to see this.

Did you know… International Networking Week Is February 2 to 6, 2009.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Thomas Edison

Web 2.0 - Blogs, Social Networks and Social Bookmarks

Web 2.0 has gotten a lot of people buzzing about joining different social sites to get more exposure for themselves and their business.

What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is a new generation on the worldwide web that includes blogging, social bookmarking, social networking, wikis, podcasting, file sharing etc. It brings people together to interact, to share information and to build communities.

You've heard of these networks like MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook. You know Blogger, Squidoo and Live Journal. Do Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Technorati ring a bell? How about a network for bloggers like Twitter? So, are you ready to join the masses of Web 2.0?

Many of you are already there blogging, bookmarking, sharing files through YouTube, and building relationships in a variety of networks.

Here's a closer look at blogs, social networks and social bookmarks that are part of the Web 2.0 generation.

Blogs
Blogs were once known as online journals. They are much more than that today. There are hundreds of new blogs created every day and they are becoming a commanding presence online. Some people prefer blogs over websites because they are easier to maintain. Blogs are social and content is ever changing. For the most part blogs and websites go hand in hand; driving traffic both ways.

Social Networks
Social networks have been around for a long time and there is not one social network site that is a one size fits all. People who share similar interests get together to form communities or niches. If you have a business, carefully choose your niche social network as you don't want to waste time networking with others who aren't your target market. It's much easier to network with people who have similar interests as you.

General interest social network sites include the likes of MySpace and Facebook where you can customize your own page to make them fun and interactive.

Twitter is another type of social network and micro-blogging for people who want to keep in touch through simple and short messages also known as "tweets". Keep up-to-date with your family, co-workers and friends around the world and see what they are up to. Follow you, follow me.

Social Bookmarks
Think of when you bookmark or add a website to your Favorites on your own computer; social bookmarking is the same thing except you tag a website and it's stored online where you can share with your friends. You can also use a search tool to search what other people is tagging that are of interest to you and vice versa.

Social news like Digg is different than a social bookmarking site like Del.icio.us as it focuses on blogs with current news, breaking headlines, technology and other topics of interest. These usually engage others in open discussions.

How does Web 2.0 benefit you?

They all drive traffic to you whether you're sharing bookmarks, twittering, or networking. Don't spread yourself too thin. In order to use Web 2.0 to your advantage find the right ones that cater to your needs and target your market for it will bring much greater rewards.

S McIntyre owns www.WorkAtHomeSpace.com a free work at home resource focusing on telecommuting companies, daily job leads, articles, resources and more. You can also visit her blog HealthyPerspectives.blogspot.com featuring health topics, nutrition, recipes & fitness for maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

My Lemonade Award

I am so happy to say that I have received an award from "Kids-Accessories-By-Kidcessory". Thank You for being a reader. Lisa is a work at home mom in sunny South Florida. Mother to a brilliant 6 year old boy and beautiful 2 year old princess and wife to a wonderful hardworking man.

Feel free to visit Lisa here: www.kids-accessories-by-kidcessory-haven.blogspot.com

Now, the way the “When Life Gives You Lemons, make Lemonade” Award (for short, The Lemonade Award) works is:

1) You must link back to the person you received the award from.
2) You have to nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award!

Here are my 10 blogs that are deserving of this award.

1) www.menopausalmonster.blogspot.com

2) www.parentzone.blogspot.com

3) www.thriftymommaramblings.blogspot.com

4) www.delightfuldivasinbusiness.blogspot.com

5) www.thekrazykraftlady.blogspot.com

6) www.frugalhomemakerplus.blogspot.com

7) www.dailyblonde.blogspot.com

8) www.outnumbered2to1.blogspot.com

9) www.whatworksforus.blogspot.com

10) www.themommyblog.net

Congrats on having a great blog and I look forward to reading more from you all.

The Inaguration

Way to go!!! Jamie Foxx

Of course, like so many others, I am watching the presidential ball....Right after the official first dance of the President and First Wife, Jamie Foxx comes out..... He does a little chit chatting and then makes a comment about how black the president must be from the way he was dancing. And then Jamie tried to demonstrate the presidents dancing. (by the way, the president was dancing much better than Jamie gave him credit for).

Now, Jamie wanted that to be funny. But it was not.... And you could clearly see that the president was not thrilled by that comment. I think someone needs to remind Jamie that the president is half white as well...I am sure this part of the ball will be on somewhere in the news....Watch for it.... Yes, it was that embarrassing.... LOL.

Do You Have Passion?

Do you have passion in your job? Do you wake up excited and look forward to your work? So many people are miserable at their job. They hate the work they do but stay because (especially now) jobs are hard to come by. Or they stay because it's all they have ever done.

Believe it or not, I have come across a alot of people that enjoy the work that they do. They love their job. They do wake up excited and look forward to their work.

So if you are looking to ditch your boss, work from your home and help supplement your income, then check out Wahm Job Finder.

How You Can Make Money Blogging

You have created a blog and your blog is dedicated to a niche industry. Have you ever thought that the blog could make money for you? We would look here in this article, ways and means, to make money blogging. Lets first have a look at what are the prerequisites for a blog needed to make money:

1. Blog needs to be dedicated to a niche market.
2. Updated regularly.
3. Enough back links (Don't worry for it. Directory submission would be enough to begin with)
4. Good blog host or application (Blogger, Xanga or Typepad recommended), and
5. High quality articles or news items supported with images. Get the above criteria in place and Hooray--You are ready to Make Money Blogging.

Top 5 Ways to Make Money Blogging

Lets now take a look at top 5 ways using which you could make money blogging:

1. Google Adsense
Google Adsense delivers text and image ads to the authorized websites/blogs depending on the content of the website. Small code is required to be pasted at proper locations on a webpage and Google automatically recognizes the page. Google shares the revenue it gets from the advertisers whenever a visitor clicks on these ads.

Google bills advertisers on price per click basis (PPC). Advertisers are required to pay only when any visitor clicks on their ads. They bid against each other for the keywords in order to receive better placement and thus prices for each keyword differ from one another. It is better to choose keywords for your blog which pays high $ per click.

2. Amazon
Amazon Associate program is another important way to make money blogging. The Amazon Associate program gives opportunity to website/blog publishers to promote any product from its inventory by adding a predefined code to their website/blog, which, when clicked by a visitor, takes them to the relevant product page. Once the visitor buys the product, the blog owner will be compensated with a commission.

3. Blogads
You can use Blogads as an effective tool to have a better control over the advertisers in your blogs. You can analyze and compare your profits with any one of your online agencies. Blogads can be simply specified as an advertising service used for the web logs or blogs. From the total money generated by Blogads, it retains 20% of it and the remaining money is paid to you through PayPal or checks.

Alternative Services:

* Crispads, is another useful network focused on the blogs. You can put your advertisements in their blogs using Crispads. You can move through their RSS/ATOM feeds that help in generating revenues.

* Tagword, It is similar to Blogads. It makes you select the ads and their price.

Users can place their text-based ads in the site within minutes and the ads will be displayed instantly on the website.

4. Affiliate Programs
Your affiliate programs can help you earn a lot of money for selected products and services. Lot of websites offers you to become affiliate members. These affiliate programs can provide a better reach and an in-depth exposure to the products. The commissions for the sales differ according to the quality of the product, sales and marketing strategy involved. You can gather information related to the commissions by looking into the catalogues of Link Share and Commission junctions.

5. Text Links
Text links has emerged out to be the best form of moneymaking source that you can use instead of cluttering or crowding the page with ads. You don't have to make these text links prominent within your website. This link can act as an extra value to your site and will also help to promote the rankings of other sites. In most of the cases you will find these text links placed in the bottom of the web pages. The best part of this strategy is that the publishers send and accept links as the market continues to grow.

Article Source: http://www.thewahmshack.com/articledirectory/

By: Matt Bacak

About The Author: There are many strategies to making money on the internet, but nothing makes sense unless you have a big list. Email Marketing is the most profitable way to make money on the internet. Discover how to use the internet and turn your computer into a cash gushing machine. Sign-up right now for Matt Bacak's FREE online newsletter to find out how to do exactly that, Go here: www.promotingtips.com

Increase Liquor Sales In Ohio

So I am watching the news this morning and I hear that Ohio has a 5% increase in liquor sales from last year. Hmmm, I wonder, could it have anything to do with Ohio being one of the hardest hit states for job loss? (being sarcastic)...LOL... Sounds like all the job loss here is turning people to drink. Yes, Ohio needed an increase in something, but I'm thinking an increase in liquor is not what we were looking for.... LOL.

7 Steps to Starting Your Business

I've finally decided to start my business. Now, WHERE THE HECK DO I START?'

Sound familiar?

This question comes up a lot and I'm always surprised by the "words of wisdom" seasoned entrepreneurs give. Things like "make a website," "get your business license," "buy this software," "read this book," "write a business plan" or "open a business bank account."

This is great advice if (1) time is not of essence and (2) money is no object. Don't get me wrong, those answers are correct. But I find they often miss the point by adding unnecessary burdens like anxiety and expenses to someone who's just starting off. Most people I speak with don't have the luxury of time or money. They want to get their business up and running quickly and start attracting clients so they can start making money to care for their families.

If you fit the latter description, don't despair. I've come up with 7 steps to help you get up and running in no time.

Specify what you do. This is probably THE most important step. You can't start marketing yourself without being absolutely clear on what services you offer. Split your list in two -- services you DO offer and services you DON'T offer. Keep this list handy; you'll find as time goes on, this list will narrow down to what you really love doing and everything else. This first step will help you define your specialty.

Determine who do you it for. You'll often hear people (especially coaches) say you "must" choose a target market, or niche, if you want to succeed in business. It's true that narrowly defining a target market IS important. But when you're starting off, you can't know who you like doing business with until you've had a few contracts. Start the process by listing the types of people or companies you like to work with. Remember, you want to be more specific than saying something general like "stay at home moms," "small business owners," "lawyers" or "baby boomers." This second step will get you closer to identifying your target market.

Decide on your fee. Just because you're starting up a business doesn't mean you have to low-ball your fees. Base your decision on these 3 factors: (1) What is your competition charging? (2) How much are your potential clients willing to pay? and (3) Can you have financial freedom asking for this fee? Your decision may be mostly based on intuition or experience. Remember to ask for what you think you're worth and don't accept anything less.

Get business cards. And I don't mean cards printed on your friend's "really good printer." These days, you can get professionally printed business cards for cheap. Don't worry if you haven't yet chosen a company name; just use your name to start with. Once you've decided on a company name, a logo and have started getting clients, you can order more cards.

Design your 30-second intro. You must be able to answer the "So, what do you do?" question in 30 seconds or less. Remember, your audience is tuned in to the WIIFM channel ("What's in it for me?"). If something in your pitch doesn't pass the "so what?" test, it's best to leave it out (like "Hello, my name is Cristina Favreau and I'm a Certified Coach." Really! Who cares?). Make it compelling. Talk about the benefits of doing business with you. Identify what makes you different from your competition. Get help to brainstorming ideas. Practice it, until it comes naturally to you.

Network. Once you've complete these 5 steps, you need to get out there and start networking. It'll be difficult and scary at first, especially if your pipeline is empty, but the more you do it, the easier it gets and the more your pipeline fills up with contacts. Great places to start are local chambers and business networking groups. You may also want to join a few online groups where the people you identified in step 2 hang out.

Market your business each day. Marketing is telling people what you do over and over again. You have a limited budget, so stick to inexpensive strategies: give a referral, give away a free report, write a newsletter and blog, offer a free introductory session, give a presentation at your local networking venue or anything else you can think of that will get people to start seeing you as an expert in your field, even if you're just starting off.

The trick to these 7 steps is to keep it simple. Just because you have limited cash flow doesn't mean you can't be successful. Your strategies at the beginning should be to get your name out there and to get clients.

Obviously, these 7 steps are not the end-all-be-all of starting a business. There's still more to do. But going through these steps will give you a solid foundation to build on. In a following article, I'll share with you the next steps to take, once you have these ones in place.

Cristina Favreau is Mom to 2 kids under 2 years old. As a Certified Coach and Get Clients Now! Licensed Facilitator, she helps service professionals make marketing & self-promotion easy to understand & implement, starting at your level. Within 3 hours, she’ll help you identify where you’re stuck in the marketing process & come up with an action plan of immediate strategies to gain momentum. Visit www.cristinafavreau.com or blog.cristinafavreau.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

And The Countdown Is Off

The return of my FAVORITE show is coming....9 more days to go till kick off time. I love a show that gives the audience so many different plot lines to the story. Where you never know if you are right or wrong. And just when you think you understand something, they throw in another twist.....I Love It..... And I can't wait!

Finding The Time To Work Your Business

When you are working long hours and you have a home based business that you also want to pay attention to and work, it gets very frustrating when you notice that so much time has passed and you have not touched it, worked it or even thought about it.

So this is where the big questions comes into play. How important is it to you? How motivated are you? How badly do you want it?

Is your home business just a hobby, something to do to pass time? Then this won't even apply to you.

I have found that if you designate certain days for certain activities, it seems to work much better. Using Mondays for kids and family time, Tuesdays for their home business, Wednesdays for activities that your children may be involved in, Thursdays for working your business and Fridays for cleaning and errands. (examples).

Some people have the 3-4 hours each night that they can spend working their business. And some do not. They may only have 2-3 hours to spare a couple times a week. And if that is your situation, it can still work. Alot of people have started out working a couple days a week for a few hours, but, over a period of time their business was built and allowed them to come home full time. Of course, more each week will get you home sooner.

So many people have started out in my business with just a few hours each week to work. The key thing to remember is being consistent in what you do. If you can only work on Mondays and Wednesdays, then you need to work those days each week. Stick with the schedule. Allow this to be routine, just like brushing your teethe. This needs to become habit. For every time you call off of work to go out with the girls, you are one day less closer to your goal.....

Cindy Ashworth is the owner of www.successfulwahm.blogspot.com and www.mykidsmywhy.com. Cindy is a single mom, working her way to become a full time work at home mom.

LOL

The Power Of A Woman

If you go to www.danijohnson.com you can join for free. And use alot of the resources she has to help build your business. Of course there are items that you can purchase but for someone just starting out and using a minimal budget, I suggest using everything she has that's free. Dani moves me. Eventually I would love to go to one of her Quick Start Programs, but for now I am happy using her tools. And thought I would share with you all.

Peace And Relaxation

I find this picture so peaceful, relaxing. From past years with my sons father, I found the most relaxing thing I could ever do was to go fishing.....And fishing in the rain is the best. I have not done that in years.....But I can still feel the peace come over me, as I bait my hook and throw the reel in and sit back and wait for a bite. All the problems and worries from the day would just disappear. And peace overcame me. I have not had that feeling in a long time but will make time for fishing this year with my kids and myself.