6 Tips In Working Online From Home

To be successful in working online from home, there is more you should do than just have a computer and strong Internet connection. Remember that this setup is unlike the traditional office environment. You need to make certain adjustments in your working style, schedule, and even attitude to ensure productivity. There are certain working online tips that can help you perform well.

1. Have a definite work place. This can be a spare room anywhere in the house or a space in your bedroom. One thing you have to keep in mind is that your work place or home office, as what others like to call it, should allow you to function with little or no distractions. It should be well-lit and -ventilated and spacious enough to accommodate your other office gadgets. Once you have identified your work place, orient your household members about it and request them not to trudge in whenever you are working.

2. Determine your working hours. Though there are online jobs that require you to work during specified hours, some jobs allow you to work anytime of the day. Choose the time when you are most productive and be very disciplined. Just like in a corporate office, you are not supposed to leave your work when you feel like it. Keep in mind that you should maintain a professional attitude even without a prying boss or officemates.

3. Set daily goals. Doing so can help you identify your priorities and allow you to manage your time. Write your goals in a journal and see if they are met at the end of your working day. Without outlining your daily goals, you seem to be shooting aimlessly and might achieve nothing in the end.

4. Get away from online distractions. There are many of them really—social networking sites, video streaming sites, downloading sites, among many other things. Not only can they slow down your computer, they can also take much of your time. Consider this, the full 30 minutes you spend watching a video is possibly the same amount of time you need to type one thousand-plus words. And you don’t want that significant loss, would you? It’s not that you are not allowed to visit any of these sites; it’s just that you have to make good use of your working time and be as productive as you can be. Remember, there’s a proper time for play.

5. Take some breaks. The other extreme tendency in having a work-from-home online job is overworking. This is because work is just within reach and it is easier for you to spend more time doing it than relaxing. Working too much is not the way to do it, as this can potentially burn you out. Rest when you need to. Take your meal on time. Have coffee breaks. Take a day off.

6. Go out regularly. Since your job now only involves you, a computer, and a virtual community, you need to socialize and get connected with people. You can, for instance, have a movie date with your best friend or a slumber party with your former officemates. Never spend a whole week locked in the house; find a way to spend at least a day somewhere.

While these tips can help you function well, much of your success in working online from home still depends on your perseverance, dedication, and patience.

3 Simple Steps to Your Own Website

By Liliana Elena Gonzalez

@LilianaElena

Do you have your OWN website? Having professional presence on the Web increases the opportunities for getting new customers and reduces marketing costs.

Having a website is like having a house or an office. Depending on your activities, you will decide the type of it. Let me tell you it’s easier than you think – all you need is directions that you follow and you will soon be online.

But how much it will cost? For $10 - $20/month you can have a working website (Imagine: YourOwnWebsite.com), available to anyone in the world with internet access. That’s a trip to your favorite fast food joint. (Yes, you can afford it!)

There are 3 basic components required to building a personal, custom website.

- A domain name
- A hosting account
- Content written in a notepad, word or similar

To fully understand these terms, think on the web as the mortar and brick world:

You live in a home (or have an office) that is built on a certain piece of land (that you rent or buy). That piece of land has a specific address.

Your website (a collection of individual web pages) sits on a hosting account that you rent. That hosting account is found at a specific address – called a domain name.

Your Home/office = Your Website
Your Street Address = Your domain name
Your plot of land = Your hosting account
Your physical house/office = Your web content

Therefore the 3 step process to any website:

STEP 1: Choose your address
STEP 2: Build the house or office you want
STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet

Let’s explain each step:

STEP 1: Choose your address (a domain name)
With the internet you can choose what you want your address to be (your domain name). What are you selling? What would make a cool name? Understand that after over 25 years of domain registration – a lot of good names have been taken. So get creative, and be unique but understandable. An easy place to start with is your full name for a family/personal site or your product name for a business site. Make a list of about 10 possibilities that you like in this format www.yourdesiredname.com Move to the next step.

STEP 2: Build the house or office you want

There is one thing that is really important and that ONLY you can do! That is come up with the content and the idea. Think about what you have to offer and what problem it solves for your visitors and prepare your content so as to answer that problem. E.g. If you are a real estate broker/agent , you can answer your clients questions through your blog and direct traffic to your listings page. Write simply, write short, write clearly. As time goes on, remember to keep your site fresh. Keep the content updated and relevant to your ideal visitors.

Now, before jumping on the next step, you need to decide what kind of site do you need. There are several options in templates and wizards to help you build exactly what you want (no special skills required):

Wordpress blog: easy to install application
WebsiteTonight: Professionally designed Web page templates.
SmartSpace: easy-to-build Web site, blog, photo album and social page
Quick Shopping Cart: create and publish a stand-alone Internet store
Quick Blogcast: your own blog, podcast—or both—anytime


STEP 3: Rent some space on a computer connected to the internet (A hosting account)
Go to Dominiador store (feel free to look into others, but don’t waste your time searching for the cheapest, remember: you pay for what you get), and type your first domain name choice. You will be informed if that name is available or not. Keep trying out your names in order of your preference until you find on that is available.

While in the process, the program will give you the chance to select your hosting account. Select your hosting to match your activity (see choices at STEP 2), when you finish the process, the hosting company will instruct you on how to access you account.

The goal of this article was to give you easy steps of how to get a website for yourself. Naturally you can learn more about each step (stay tunned for more posts in this blog), but now you can start the journey. Create your list of domain names, decide what type of site you want and build your content and purchase a hosting account (including the domain name you want).

A journey of a million miles starts with one step – so go to step 1 and start. (Don’t worry – this is not a long journey – but it’s exciting!).

7 Keys To A Successful Internet Business

By Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

Have you ever thought about starting an internet business? It could really be as simple as opening a free blog, free page in Facebook, or on the other end of the scale, as complicated as building your own, professional, dynamic, ecommerce business . Regardless of your approach to internet business, to ensure the success of your business, you need to know of, and apply the following 7 key points.

1) Demand--

Lets say for instance, that you have a really amazing product, and a website that looks like a million dollars--but what if you have no demand for your product? In saying that, you aren't going to be left with a sword in a gun fight. In the online world, there are many ways to advertise and generate demand for your product. There are the choices and possibilities of advertising in Ezines, joint ventures, affiliate programs, referrals, and even as simple as encouraging word of mouth. Remember, without demand, what do you have? No sales. Where does a business without sales end up?

2) Order--

Its all well and good to have visitors to your website, but they don't do anything for us unless they become a customer. However, its not as easy as it first appears. Now, once your visitor has turned into a customer, you need to ensure that them becoming an actual customer, is as easy as possible. A straightforward and simple ordering process will do wonders for your business. Less clicks and less time it takes for a customer to complete his or her order, the better it is.

3) Payment--

If there was any part of your business that you would not want to get wrong, it would be this--how payment is actually being transferred between you and your customers. Generally, when taking into account online businesses, the most popular method is credit card transactions. Not only are they an easier and quicker method than most other forms of payment, but it also goes to a psychological level. Credit Cards exude a "buy-now, think-later" attitude. Taking this into account, as a business, you'd be making more profit and sales if you accepted credit cards. However, in saying that, it would also be a wise decision to use alternative methods of payment. After all, the easier it is for your customer to find ways to pay you for your product, you'll see a more efficient increase both in sales and customer numbers.

4) Fulfillment--

Now payment has been received from your customer, the path isn't clear just yet. This is a mistake often made by new businesses. Your products need to be delivered, remember! Generally, if you sell digital products, the industry standard is for the product to be delivered instantly; generally through a download link. Your customer expects this, so ensure this is in place. Physical products require more attention to detail; namely physical delivery. Ensure that your customer is informed every step of the way. Communication is essential. If at all possible, send your customer a means of tracking the product through the course of its delivery. Feeling insecure is something your customer should never have to experience.

5) Service and Support--

A good and trusted business will always endevour to provide and utilize excellent customer service support. To a decent extent, your online business customer support will determine whether or not you get repeat purchases, or if your customer requests a refund. The support abilities of your internet business should be efficient as possible; after all, this is the industry standard. At the least, a well-structured and timely e-mail support service should be available to the customer. The more professional your online business becomes, so should your support methods. More advanced methods such as utilizing online helpdesks, FAQs, live chats, a ticket system, a knowledge base, will help greatly; these are just examples, there are more support methods out there which you can use.

6) Security--

The internet business world is filled with people who are honest, trustworthy, and are willing to do everything to help the customer. But, on the other hand, the opposite is also very true. And as such, the internet community at large are getting more aware of ways to protect themselves from the Internets less desirable people and activities. Namely, E-commerce frauds.

Because of this, it is up to you and your business to ensure that your visitors are protected, and to prove to them that they can trust you. Simple things, such as using a secured server to process your payments, can help more than is seen on the surface. A digital certificate can also help your business, so purchase one if you can. Physical mailing addresses, and even a phone number where your customers can contact you. Whatever you can do to provide your customers with some piece of mind.

7) Community--

Your online business has begun to flourish, and you have now received more than just a few sales--by now you should be thinking about starting a community. A community in any sense is about belonging to something; in this case its no different. Use your customers as a community development team for your product. Use their suggestions and comments to develop and change your product(s). Not only is this an excellent way to increase product ideas for your business, but with every new product release or update, you'll see an increase in sales ratios, and you will also have built a loyal customer base.

Well there you have it! Utilizing and practicing these 7 keys will not only help your online business grow and flourish, but will also ensure your customers are happy, too!

Image credits: Foto Search

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