The Joy of Working Online at Home & Surving the Penguin Update

I just love working at home online, I have no boss, no-one to answer to and no-one to check up on me, or ask me, what are you doing? why is this not done, why haven't you showed up for the last few days?

I show up when I want I write when I want, and I do exactly what I want when I want.

A bit like Google, they seem to go along for so long, not doing much, everybody settles down then Bang! Big G shows up every once and a while and say hey look at what we have been doing, and we all try to work out what they have been doing.And I do think this is a frustrating part to most, just when we are sailing along thinking we have "made" it or "worked" it out, it all changes, some take those changes and just charge on, others moan, and some just give up.

But change is good, it keeps us all fresh.

This is why working online at home is not for everyone?

Some people need someone to hold their hands, to tell them that what they are doing is great, and the working at home online is not suited for those types of people, I love being answerable to no-one. But google......yes you heard me google, as they are the people who decide whether you have a page worthy of visits for them to send you traffic, they are the only ones I answer to.

I have helped many people online, and some have indeed went onto have good success, and others have not, or not what they had expected. Working online is a roller coaster, there is nothing certain in Internet marketing.

Take the latest Penguin Update from Google, This to me has been the most significant roll out by Google yet, and to be honest its not the last.

BUT nothing has changed, with this roll out, all Google is doing is making sure everyone plays by the rules. You duplicate content - you lose
you try to build 100s of crappy backlinks you lose, you abuse the alt tags you lose, you keyword stuff you lose
you just think you can write a page and it will rank high, without updating and making relevant all the time - You lose.

You have too many adverts above the fold  you lose (Squidoo anyone?....hmmm theres room for thought there, just look at the above fold of the pages, of a Squidoo Page one of mine here, my content is pushed down by the advertising.

where is the fold on the page
 

 (The fold (red arrow region) of the page is where you can only see to that point without scrolling down further. Squidoo maximise their AdSense advertising on the prime locations of a page. )

Call me cynical but, I have noticed huge traffic drops recently, is this why? ( huge traffic drops to myself is not a worrying factor, I could lose 5,000 visitors  a week and not feel it, as they have reached their ceiling payouts for tiers, even with that dramatic loss, and I know my pages are still maintaining sales etc)  But to newbies I would be worried at this.

When I started working online 4 years ago these were all big no-nos anyway? So people who are shouting about being affected have only tried to win by manipulating the system! Although they will shout and scream it is everyone else fault and how dare Google do this, but I see nothing different?

So how to survive Googles Updates.....
If you are building quality pages, using a basic knowledge of SEO, and work that page, and I mean work it, I want to see sweat being poured into these pages, some just want to put a page together and leave.....I personally have had no success at this, my pages that do well are updated constantly, tweaked, evaluated, I keep good record of traffic being brought in and where traffic is leaving my pages too.

This lets me build even more content, content that Google loves and people are looking for....
So how to survive this latest update.....
Spread you work around find good publishing platforms or start your own websites. That way you are not tied and reliant on 1 specific online publisher. (Yes this is hard, I recently have spread my wings, But the effort I am putting in on my other ventures is adding and complimenting to my Squidoo earnings = Still earning more money every month)

Do not rely on anyone, if you hear information, go and study it yourself, there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Be sure that you are the one accountable for your online progress.

People are saying backlinks are worthless now, rubbish, the whole point of the Internet is linking, Good links, good quality articles linking back to your pages, nofollow, do follow, social bookmarking, people talking about your page is a good thing!...

and just keep producing high quality content, whether its your pages, or your linking articles, make sure you never scrape on your content.....hey who said it was easy!

NEW PAGE as Penguin 2.0 is released - The Way forward for Affiliate Marketers like you and Me

Who is really in charge of Your online business

Not often I go against the grain, however I am this time....

It seems we live in a world where, we (the majority) are sheep, yes you heard me, sheep.
Flocks and flocks of sheep. Darting about looking for who or what to follow next.....
We follow, we are happy to follow in fact it is easier to follow, who we think we should follow, and who others also follow.
We see their success and we want it too, so....we follow them.

Then someone else comes along and oh-oh,no you cant do that and this is why, and their case presented is very convincing.
We all run around in a bit of a state, and then someone else who has that emulated position within the group of sheep, steps out with their voice of reason within the madness and confusion, and proceeds to tell us what we have been doing is wrong! Then proceeds to tell us what to do now.  Which we find out later down the line was a load of rubbish too. 
(top Tip about working online - learn now that a shortcut now is a LOT of work later on!)

anyway they state their  point plain and clear and yes we all start following them, until ....
all  change...and it happens all over again....?

I write this recently as I have ran around like a headless chicken recently, changing things that HQ had changed so I had to combat those changes with my changes, with what the people I followed told me I had to change to help my business

Are you confused yet? my head is hurting too....

2 things happened recently for me to realise and ask myself who is really in charge?

I was devastated recently to find out some of the people I look up to follow, listen to what they have to say shared they could not break earning the $500/$600 dollars a month mark.....What? I thought they were earning $1,000's.

I re-read this statement, and thought ? I am listening to you, I had by-passed that milestone long ago.

I have worshipped you and listened to what you had to say, you have written explicitly on how to make money online? you share tutorials with others,  and if you said it It must be good or in recent cases certain things were bad for my business then I would move mountains to get it implemented....
I removed myself from them, stopped following their email alerts, and I have just went on my merry way.
guess what earnings are up.  my niche websites are coming into their own, Google loves them, I have spread my little wings, and
guess what, I still see the same posts, the same bickering....anyway you get what I mean.

My Sales are fantastic and projects out with my normal are on the move. In fact the only person I have been reading is actually not a sole person but google webmaster tools, they keep me updated and let me know of any changes, I should be considering google is my friend and sends me lovely organic traffic, I am going to listen to him/her.

2. without going too into detail, an announcement that this is disastrous for us and we should do this now to help us and now all the ones who did do it are/could/will most likely need to un do the work.

these people seem to thrive on controversy, people see then as authoritative figures? sorry I don't, I see them as a pain in my growing business ass.

so

No more listening or taking advice from others, as actually you should be following your own dreams, not someone elses.

How do I know who really is earning money online? How do I know that those people who claim they are making money really are? And then how do I know I should be listening to them?
I say don't, be your own person, be creative, don't copy (for goodness sake do not copy, you will be found out)
one of the places I write at online is Squidoo, and they drummed it into me, Unique Useful, updated content, It is what will always win and get you to the top.

And if you work in partnership with any online writing platform, for goodness sake accept what they say is it.... they own it, they are in charge and if you do not like it. tough, their rules. You signed up to them.

 If you do not like it any more leave, no ones asking you to stay.

And in the mean time keep your thoughts and negativity to yourself as it is getting annoying.

Go and whine somewhere else, as actually you are stopping me and others from achieving my success
I like it, I like the changes that make it fresh.
I continue to earn and keep earning good money with the changes, and it gets more every month, why should I be complaining?
And if working in partnership with them is making me money then I should be listening to them, and only them!

I have decided from this experience I will become a stand alone, thinker, not a sheep and a follower.

Serenity Prayer: available to Buy

I think the Serenity Prayer Wall Quote sums it up!and I shall purchase for my office wall. God grant me the serenity to accept things I can not change, the courage to change things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference wall art wall sayings

I feel I need a little Disclaimer : everyone is allowed their own views and opinions, I am all for freedom of speech. however what I am saying is, I will listen to those opinions I may even act on these opinions, BUT before I do anything I shall carry out my own research and make my own decision, not just follow the pack.
I want to be the car steaming ahead whilst the sheep run in circles

NOTE: Google Penguin 2.0 What does this mean for Affiliate Marketers now

Lisa

5 Mistakes People make trying to Earn Money Online.

Of course we all want to know How to work on the internet, and make millions....When starting out writing articles, creating a blog or even working on your own webpage.
You will come across many programmes that claim to make money fast online. They are going to show you how to do it, my advice is run in the opposite direction.
I was so excited to achieve my goal of making money online, and being able to have the choice to continue working at home, or going back to a JOB, I wanted to go and shout it from the rooftops, and tell people how I did it.  To show them how they could do it.
Was it easy, no it was a very rollercoaster journey. And if you ask anyone who works online, is it easy, what do you think their answer will be? Do you know most people who work online will make no money, as they can easily fall into several traps.

Part of the reason I made Moms work at home Blog, is to indeed share with you my tips that I have found helped me go from zero earnings to a steady income online. Including what I have learned to do (= make money )and what not to do, (= make absoloutely no money) working online. 

How I make money online:   I use affiliate marketing, reviewing products, blogging, building unique Free webpages like on my favourite place Squidoo.I now have earnings on a spreadsheet to help me keep track of what is working what is not. (this could be a tip in itself, as if maybe I had kept track of what works and did not work in the beginning, I could have fixed the errors of my ways!)
But there were many mistakes I made in the beginning, probably making my journey a little harder, but hey you learn.
Working online does not come with a job desription, you dont turn up one day and have someone to hold your hand walking you through the steps. No-body to be acountable when the figures or money does not come in but yourself.
I am going to give my 5 top Tips that I learned that did NOT make me any money, before you fall into the

1. Do not buy! I made $1,0000 in 10 minutes or Signing up for the programmes that claim to make you money online. For a FREE

Why? It is never FREE, or that easy, they make money from your buying their products, then the guy who buys the product realises he has been conned, so takes on the same strategy used when he was conned into buying it and sells you it, and so the cycle continues.

Solution: You can get all the information you need for free on the net, it takes a bit of looking, but its all there. Join forums, there are hundreds of great forums that will have the answers tucked away in their threads, pure golden nuggets of information. So use the searh facility for your query, Type in the keywords you are looking for such as "backlinks" I bet you get exactly what you are lookng for, and for FREE. 
If you come accross someone who makes claims that cause you to raise your eyebrow, put their user name through Google, see what does come up. Do they have good articles, where else can you see their work online? What do others say about them on profile pages etc. Look at the comments section, what are others saying about them. (this is my main online Bio)

 2. Do not join all affiliate programmes just because you think it will make you money, it won't. Joining every affiliate programme you can sign up for, promoting it, seeing no return and moving on to the next hot product to hit the market...waste of your time.

 Come on admit it, the first thing you do on a page is look for the affiliate sign up. I lost count how many affiliate programmes I was a member of.  I now have built and established a good working relationship with a core of trusted reliable affiliate programmes that I will use and fully endorse. And that am satisfied will only give exactly what is being promoted and value for money


Solution: Research your niche market, sometimes hidden in the depths of the ebook seas,  there are absoloutes gems, out ranked by the Gurus who have pushed their products with SEO, hype and rubbish to the top of the pile. Choose 1 produt, research it, buy it love it and stick with it, if you dont then your readers won't either. It is so much easier to give your honest testomony of why this is a great product. It is easier to write your artile when you know what you are talking about.

3.  Annoying your Visitors to your web page.
Being sent to a page after reading your review and then realising it is not what you were really looking for and then you try to leave, and some smart alec thought hey lets add  pop up ads that annoy your visitors when you try to leave the page, and then another pop up saying "are you really sure"Of course I am sure!  This will make you lose any visitors and creditbility you already have, and I just want to leave this page, I am not interested in what discount you have to offer me, and I would not return to the page that sent me there. So thoroughly chek out your affiliate programmes, capture pages etc.

4. Flashing Banner adverts.
Do you ever click them? I know I don't. i hate them, and the majority of people online do too, we know it is going to lead to our email addresses being used in all sorts of scam and emails.
So think about it will your visitors. they take up space they look nasty to the eye, slapped in the middle of your text. 
Solution: It has been proven that text links convert, in fact I make more money and get more clickthroughs  using text links than I do with product pictures.


5. Copying someone elses work
I spend a lot of time online, and I can spot a copycat straight away. And anybody else who works online starts to work out the authentic from the re-gurgetated sraped material. In fact I could direct you to around 10-20 pages off the top of my head that "scrapes" ideas and even layouts, and then I would direct you to the original page. Don't do it, its cheap and its nasty, and once people start to work it out. You are finished.

Solution: Be Unique, provide Useful Content, and be honest. If you are that impressed by someones work, say that, link to themm  let them know you are a fan. Heck you can still make your page, but let them know and credit their idea within your work. Send a quick mail to the original author saying thanks you inspired me. Its amazing the power of that.
But do not steal their content.

If you have not started a blog, then I really suggest you do, many free places, to start with ( I have always taken the Free options)
See why having a blog is a great way to compliment your online work. I made a page about how to make money Blogging  which I share ideas, stats and traffic insights, how I used hot Topics, and hard to find items,  and why you should consider selling more expensive items too. Check out the huge sale I made.  these are still live, and although I do not spend as much time as I should they all serve a purpose, in my online adventures.

Did these mistakes ring true for you? Or do you have your own list of what does not work, when working online. Would you like to know about something specific, Drop me a comment.