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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Godaddy.com

I am, by no means, a computer geek. So when my boss asked my to build her a quickie website one afternoon, I immediately went into panic mode! Luckily, for me, we discovered an internet company called Godaddy.com that specializes in, among other things, website design. In fact, they have a product called Website Tonight that basically prompts you to design your very own site and have it up and running within a matter of hours!Well this all sounded great on paper, but I was still a bit skeptical. Even my boss was a tad leery of Website Tonight's promises. However, for the minimal costs involved we decided to go for it and Godaddy.com did not disappoint.

The Website Tonight product features three price levels. The Economy package offers five website pages and is priced at just $4.49 for an entire year. The Deluxe plan includes 10 pages and costs only $8.00 for the year and the Premium package provides unlimited pages at just $11.69 per year. We opted for the Economy deal for our first attempt with the option to upgrade at a later time provided we are satisfied with the service. Buy, hey for $4.49 a year, even if we aren't satisfied we figure we'll just chalk it up to experience.Once the product is purchased, you immediately have access to a few hundred website templates. There are pre-built sites and blank sites to choose from. If you are really adventurous and plan on importing lots of pictures and graphics, the blank templates work great. If you're a novice, like me, the pre-designed sites are the way to go.

Godaddy.com displays site samples related to many types of businesses and allows you to choose from several background colors. If your specific business is represented in the options you can literally just drop in your information and you're good to go! But for a more customized page you can delete the specific graphics on a desired template and simply replace them with your own, while retaining the color and format of the chosen format. Next, you can delete the sample's print and add in your very own text. You can also specify how many pages you want your website to contain. This amount is based upon your purchased package. The Website Tonight program from Godaddy.com easily walks you through the development of additional pages like: contact, services, about us, testimonials, etc. Simply add in your t ext and move on. The system allows you to import a certain amount of pictures, logos and graphics with just the click of a button. And when your finished spellchecking, another click of a button launches your brand new website. The whole process of Website Tonight on Godaddy.com, from start to finish, took me around three hours. Not bad for a beginner! And now that I've experienced Website Tonight, if I had to do it again, I know my site would be bigger and better!

Godaddy.com offers a plethora of other internet based services like domain names, web hosting and more. They will even custom design a website for you costing around $1000 per year. For more information on Website Tonight and other web related products, log onto www.godaddy.com.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Extra income

Everyone could use a bit of extra income, and there are some excellent opportunities available online - if you know where too look. Before I started earning money with freelance writing online I spent several months doing research and learning which systems would work best for me. Now I successfully earn a part-time income from working online, and know that it is possible even though the Internet is filled with scams and opportunities that promise hundreds and only pay pennies or nothing at all. So how do you earn money online and never have to spend a dime?

Associated Content

Associated Content has been the best freelance writing opportunity for me since I started working part-time from home. They offer the best of both worlds - upfront payments and PPC (pay per click) opportunities. On average you can earn between $3 to $5 per article, but this can vary based on the quality of the article. Once you have written for a period of time, and proven you can write quality articles some higher paying opportunities can become available. Also, because of the upfront payment system, you can earn money freelance writing immediately rather than having to wait for your PPC earnings (also called passive income) to build up.

Helium

Originally Helium offered PPC opportunities only, but recently that has changed - in fact they have made a number of changes that have improved the quality of the site. They now offer upfront payments in addition to PPC, but the upfront payments are not nearly as lucrative as Associated Content. Upfront payments start at 50 cents and can go as high as $2.50, based on the number of articles and writing starts you have. Also, they hold contests and have a marketplace looking for specific freelance articles giving you a chance to earn more per article. It takes a bit of effort to earn money on Helium compared to other sites, but once you start and gain a bit of momentum it can be a worthwhile opportunity. And like Associated Content, your earnings are immediate making it easy to reach their minimum payout of $25.

eHow
When I started with eHow I was a bit skeptical on how much you could earn on advertising PPC only, especially if you only have a few articles. On average a how-to article will earn between $1 to $5 a month, with some earning nothin g and others exceeding the average. This is another site where it takes some time to earn income - because you are earning a passive income rather than getting upfront payments. However, this does have an advantage. Passive income will earn you income without any additional work - and will continue to earn income from month to month. So ever though you may not see a large monetary reward immediately, after a few months of effort your hard work will pay off.

Hubpages

Allows you to determine if you want to earn income for posting articles or "hubs." Hubpages lets you choose to earn with Adsense, Amazon, Ebay, and other options. Similar to eHow, it will take some time for your hubs to gain momentum - the best rule of thumb to follow is the more hubs, and the higher the quality, the better. Once you have some hubs going, average earnings can be from $20 to $50 a month. Some do earn more but the highest earners have hundreds of hubs written, and write high quality hubs - it is possible to earn a lot of money with this site with the best earning $1000 or more a month. However it will take a longer time for your efforts to show in your account, but if you are willing to work hard your efforts will show.

Today

Gives a take on freelance writing by paying you to start a blog, and as most bloggers know if you start a blog yourself it can take months to earn your first dollar. Today pay you $1 per 100 word post (you are allowed only one paid post a day) with the opportunity to earn more, once they evaluate your blog each month. Now, $1 per post doesn't seem like much but if you write one post a day you will earn your $50 payout in 2 months, and they work on a PPC system as well. And if you write quality posts and get a pay increase in a month then it may take less than 2 months to earn your payout. It is a slower way to earn income, but compared to writing for other freelance writing sites which require a minimum of a 400 word post or article, your writing time will be significantly less.