Anyone who is looking at earning money online will find that affiliate marketing pops up pretty often as a preferred method. And for some, it works very well. For some, they can actually get rich from affiliate marketing. It really seems to depend on the person and how far they are willing to go in order to learn how to do this type of marketing effectively.

I, for one, have had little success with affiliate marketing, but this could be due to lack of concentration on one project! However, about a year ago, I did a little thing called the 30 Day Challenge, which was a challenge put together to help you earn $10 within 30 days. The concept was an excellent one and I learned a lot from the course, but never had much time to put it into action as much as I should have. Instead, I set up some niche sites and then got busy with other stuff.

Recently, I started to notice that I´m building up affiliate earnings here and there . . . many of which are coming from those niche sites that I haven´t touched in a year! It´s not much, around $100 in total . . . but we´re also talking about something I´ve basically ignored for the past 11 months! So this is an area I´m determined to take the time to explore more fully.

One thing is for sure . . . if you are interested in getting into affiliate marketing, don´t expect to get rich quick. You will only get frustrated and it just isn´t worth it. You will also need patience to take the time to learn HOW to actually make affiliate marketing work and then go off the beaten path. The most innovative affiliates are the ones you see earning thousands every week, and you can bet they have a few tricks up their sleeves!

Affiliate marketing is not for everyone, but if you are interested in learning more about it and internet marketing in general, here are a few good links:

Alice Seba´s Internet Marketing Sweetie blog is a good place to start learning the basics from another work at home mom.

Lynn Terry is another wahm who is happy to share her internet marketing expertise with you.

Tori offers not just internet opportunities, but offline ones too . . . but she has a lot to teach the average wahm about affiliate marketing, including which ones to use and which are scams.

If you are really serious about learning everything there is to know about affiliate marketing, you will definitely want to check out Associate Programs.

Do you have experience with affiliate programs? Are you interested in sharing with us in the comments? Go for it!

It can be tempting as a freelancer to take that huge steady job and just ignore all the little inconsistent ones that are coming in. After all, getting a check in the mail every week or month is pretty nice! You can actually budget, something that can be very difficult for freelancers and knowing when the next money is coming is a big relief.

BUT, it´s not all it´s cracked up to be. Freelance jobs are fickle and I can tell you from personal experience that your big beautiful job won´t last forever. They never do. And then you´ll be stuck scrambling to build your freelance business up from scratch again, taking on those inconsistent jobs that you spurned in favor of the steady one.

Putting all your eggs in one basket might seem easier, but when that basket falls . . . you´ll be left with nothing. So, it´s a good idea to spread yourself out a bit. Here are a few things to consider.

Is it REALLY that great? Do the math on your steady job. Can you earn more taking on one-time gigs? I have a blogging job that pays a certain amount per month, per blog, but when I do the math, figuring out the number of words written, etc. I could earn four times that amount by taking on other jobs. That doesn´t mean you should underestimate the value of a steady paycheck, but keep it in mind.

Can you outsource? Most freelancers want to take on all the jobs themselves, but there are advantages to outsourcing the occasional high paying gig. You get to keep your clients while still bringing in that steady paycheck and collecting a small percentage off the other job.

Is it possible to downsize? This is what I recently did with the blogging job, dropping the blogs that were taking up too much time and causing problems . . . it meant a cut in pay, but now I can work on other projects that actually pay better, but aren´t steady. Sometimes, having a specific amount of your monthly income coming in steadily is fine, then make up the rest with other jobs.

Freelance moms have a lot up in the air and it can be very tempting to just take the easy route. After all, you´re comfortable with your steady client, you know just what they want . . . but bills will still need to be paid should the job end and you can save yourself a lot of stress by having other methods of earning.

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Many work at home moms feel a bit uneasy about asking for money, even though they´ve earned it. If you have a service that you provide, like freelance writing, you really can´t afford not to bill clients. And there´s no point in hoping they will pay you all on their own!

Keep Track

First things first, you should have an agreed on rate at the beginning of the project. Whether you are charging by project or by the hour, or page, it is vital that you keep track of your time and what you spend it on. A simple spreadsheet is perfect for this, Excel works well. You will want to keep track of the date, hours worked and what you did with those hours. This is as much for yourself as for the client. If you charge by the project, this information will help you see if you´re charging enough.

Write an Invoice

There are plenty of invoice templates out there, particularly if you have an accounting program. However, you can also make one up easily enough in Publisher or a similar program. Your company information should be in the upper right corner, with the hiring company´s information below. You will also want payment info, of course. This can be as simple as having the project name with the set cost beside it and marking it as owed.

However, if you are working by the hour or on several smaller projects, you will want something a bit more detailed. In this case, each task should be listed, with the number of hours spent (if billing by the hour) and the total cost for each task and a grand total at the bottom. Make sure that you also include the fee per hour on the invoice.

Online Billing

If you use PayPal, billing is even simpler. Just click on the “Request Money” button and you will be able to fill in the basic information which PayPal will then send to the client. This is a good way to go if you have a client who isn´t interested in paying, since you can later start a dispute in PayPal if they don´t pay up.

Follow Up

What do you do if your client doesn´t pay? If you are using an online service like PayPal, you can open a dispute, which can drop their reputation if they don´t pay, limiting further usage of the service. Most clients will pay up pretty fast if this is the case.

If you are doing things the old fashioned way, it might be a good idea to send a warning letter, but you should talk to a lawyer first to find out what your options are. This is why it is always a good idea to have a contract at the beginning of a project, particularly if it is a large one that requires plenty of hours and large sums of money. I also would get some of the cash up front or after the first task is finished.

For example, when I do a large number of articles for a client, I require them to pay me after every ten articles, to avoid issues down the road.

What do you do with non-paying clients?

Ever thought about buying a fixer-upper, making it beautiful and then selling it again? A lot of people have considered this with houses, but what about a website or blog?

I recently read a comic book (yes, a comic book!) by Ed Dale of Thirty Day Challenge fame, describing how to turn website real estate into a proper business. It sounds easy when you see how he describes it with a stuffed koala bear. I´m sure it isn´t that simple, but it is certainly something to look into if you are interested in flipping websites.

Basically, the idea is that you start with your own site or blog and build it up to the point that it has good traffic and is earning some money through ads or affiliate links, etc. Then you turn around and sell it for twice the annual profit. Take half that profit and reinvest it in an existing, small blog or site and spend a bit of time building the traffic up on that one, only to resell it.

Technically, you could just keep buying and selling site after site, or you could expand into doing several websites at once, building the business to the point where you are selling a website or two each month. If you happen to be good at getting traffic and converting it, this could be an excellent business idea.

What do you think? Would you ever sell your blog or website for a profit?

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There are two basic methods to go about earning more from your business. You can go with both or focus on just one. Often it is far more effective to focus on just one method and make that work, but if you know what you’re doing, you can double up.

Increase Customers

If you want to earn more, you can start by bringing in more customers. This could mean bringing out a new product, or simply boosting your marketing campaign for existing products and services. For many entrepreneurs, expanding your advertising campaign means stretching out of your accustomed area.

Let’s say you sell water bottle holders that you market to joggers and athletes. If you have already advertised extensively to this market, it might be time to look for new customers who would enjoy using your water bottle holders. Perhaps children would be a good market, or travellers. By expanding into new areas, you will find new customers and if you find you have already saturated one market, it is definitely time to look for ways to branch out. Ask yourself who would benefit from using your product and if you can slightly alter it or the presentation to serve another purpose.

Bringing out new product allows you to reach more people, as well. If you are selling your regular water bottle holders and bring out a refrigerated one, you will suddenly get the attention of not only existing customers, but anyone who wants to keep their water cold. The same goes for design. A hip new design might reach teens, while your original, earth toned version was preferred by adult joggers. It’s a good idea to think about your target markets and consider superficial changes to your products in order to appeal to each group.

Sell More Product

Obviously, if you have more customers, you will sell more, but what about selling again to your existing customers? They have already proven that they are willing to part with money for your products . . . why not take advantage of that?

There are a couple of ways to go about this. One, you can develop a whole new product to sell to existing customers. This should be something that goes well with your existing product. A good example would be a software game with expansion packs, or a series of books.

The second method of selling more is to make your product or service something that people will want more of. Anything that can be used up is a good way to sell again and again, food, for example. If your customers enjoy your homemade cookies, they will be back for more . . . and more, and more.

Have you used either of these methods to gain more sales? Which would you like to use?

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