Long Overdue Update!

It's been way too long since my last update. I do post regularly on my business blog though.

Ok, since my last update I have been keeping up with submitting my site to link directories and articles to article directories. I've been slacking on the traffic exchanges. This last few weeks I haven't been doing as much as I should though. I had some surgery so my mind has been elsewhere, but I will be back in action soon.

Newsletter subscribers have increased by 122 since my last update (almost 2 months). Referrals in my various programs have been minimal: SFI 17; LAB 3; NPN 1; MPM 1; IMC 1; H2U 6; GDI 2

I've got to get my mind back in the game and I will, I think I just need a little time to get there. I'm not out though so don't think I'm giving up, because I'm not!!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Slow Month

I'm sure others can relate. This month has been very slow. Everyone is enjoying the last month of summer I'm sure! I am but I'm also looking forward to school in a little over a week lol.

As for what's been happening this month: I invested in some Get Response opt in leads. They are coming in slowly but that's ok. My list has grown a little bit. I've had about 39 subscribers (20 from the power leads). 12 SFI referrals (1 EA), 1 GDI referral, 3 LAB referrals, 1 MPM referral and 5 Hits2U referrals.

I just joined My Power Mall as it is a newer part of Hits2U so I have to learn more about that. I'm not rushing though as I have lots of other stuff to do with my PIPS business. I'm doing the usual everyday stuff like, writing and submitting articles, blogging, link submitting, traffic exchanges, and classifieds.

I'm hoping what is said about business picking up in the fall is true. I'm really looking forward to my business taking off! I have a lot of plans lol. My husband really needs a break from working so hard!

Here's to good and successful business.....on to another month!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

I Feel Success Will be Mine

I'm still loving what I'm doing. Here's an update on my progress this month: 19 subscribers to my newsletter, 10 referrals in SFI (1 EA), 4 referrals in Leisure Audio Books (1 upgrade), 1 full PIPS referral, 1 referral in NPN.

I know this is just the beginning and things will be picking up month after month. I've been submitting to article directories, social networking sites, blogging, posting in forums, and submitting to link directories.

This new program that has become part of PIPS looks very promising and I'm looking forward to see how things go with it. This new program is called Leisure Audio Sales (LAB). They have over 6000 titles meticulously sorted into 160 categories in a feature- packed store. You can check out the store here and the business opportunity here, which is free to join by the way;)

Here's to continued success!!

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

My Second Video

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Small Update

Well, it's been a while since my last update. Not much has been happening so that's probably why I haven't updated lol. Not much to say. I've been getting a sign up and/or subscriber here and there. My links have gone up to over 1200. I've been busy submitting articles, submitting links to link directories, blogging, posting on forums, and placing classifides.

I signed up for a new list building service. The mailing option just opened up so I sent my first mailing yesterday. It's called List Bandit. We'll see if it makes any difference.






My Home Business Blog has been getting quite a few hits from the search engines. Several different key words and phrases have been producing results. Some of the weirdest phrases too lol. How about "regulations regarding dog groomer" lol. I like that one. I'm on page 1, position #2 on google. I think it's kinda funny.

My main website, Work at Home Business Opportunities has been getting a few hits here and there from the search engines. It's coming along slowly but surely.


To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

My First Video!

I got some inspiration from someone on the forum I post on (thanks Jessica) and made my 1st video. Check it out below and leave a comment to tell me what you think!



To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Get quality links through article directory submission!

Search engine optimization is getting more and more difficult by the day. The search engines are evolving at an incredible speed, making it harder for us SEOs to rank our websites highly.

With that said, there are a few tried and true principles that we need to do when optimizing our website. The first of which, and the one that I always tell people to concentrate on is getting quality, 1 way links pointing to your website.

The more quality links you can get pointing to your website, the higher you will rank, period.

While there are many black hat tricks and tactics that you can do for short term gain, I would suggest NOT spending your time on those things. I would focus my entire effort on figuring out how to get other websites to link to yours without you linking back to them. That is the biggest key to ranking well in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

Doing this is easier said that done. One of the easiest known ways to get quality, one way links is by finding website directories and then submitting your website to them. This can be a very tedious process, but always a very rewarding process at the same time.

You can either submit your articles to these directories manually, pay someone to do it for you, OR you can use one of the article directory submission programs out there. The best program for the money that we've found is a program called "Article Submitter" created my internet marketing expert, Brad Callen.

This program allows you to submit your articles to over 700 article directories and can save you an incredible amount of time in doing so. You simply enter your article details into the software once, and then select the directory you would like to submit to. The software will then, automatically fill in all of the submission criteria for each directory and allow you to quickly submit your articles.

Not only does this save you time in submitting your articles, but it saves you an incredible amount of time in just finding these free directories online. I highly suggest grabbing an article submission program if you decide to take advantage of one of the easist ways to get quality, 1 way links to your website.

You can learn more about Article Submitter and how you can download your FREE copy here:

Article Submitter

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Positive Feedback

Well, since having my new site I've been getting positive feedback. I'm glad people like it and find it appealing to the eye. I think it really makes a difference whether or not people stay on your website or come back to your website. If it's not easy to navigate or nice to look at, people won't stay or come back right?

Anyway, I hope it brings more visitors to my site and people will feel comfortable there. With all the links along the top I think it's easier to find what they want.

I found a new directory submitter that I really like. Check it out here. So far it seems very easy to use and best of all it's free. I'll update on the effectiveness once I submit to more directories.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

I love this "work"!!

To add to the previous post, I had another signup in Hits2U and GDI. In SFI one of my affiliates upgraded to Executive Affiliate, so that's exciting.

My credits have gone way down in my TE's so I really need to build those up again. I've been working on my site here and there so my surfing is slacking. This week I'm going to concentrate on writing an article, submitting it and surfing. Of course blogging and posting on the forum as well.

I still love doing this. It really makes a difference to love what you're doing. When you dread "work" every day, it's not very inspiring and motivating is it? This "work" is something that I'll be doing for years to come!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

My New Website

I've finished my new website. Aside from a few glitches it went pretty smoothly. I think I got them all worked out. I'll be touching it up here and there. Check it out here.

Adding on to my last post, I got another 2 signups in Hits2U, a signup in SFI and a signup in GDI . No new subscribers for my newsletter.

I haven't been doing too much surfing or anything since I've been working on my site. Now I have to surf to build my credits up, I've been slacking.

I joined a couple new programs today. VitalViral and Traffic Hoopla. They help build downlines in different traffic exchanges. I'll give it a try and see how I like it.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Advertising Your Home Internet Business

Advertising your home base internet business is not as hard as it sounds. As a matter of fact, more and more savvy methods of advertising are cropping up that help entrepreneurs to not only get the word out about their home base internet business, but to provide useful services to the community while doing so.

Sure, in the early days of internet marketing it was customary to
design banner ads that were full of neon colors and moving characters.
Webmasters soon discovered that customers did not appreciate this kind of advertising and soon eliminated much of it from their pages.

This left those with a home base internet business scrambling for new
solutions. While banner ads are still around, they have undergone a great
change. They are now tastefully designed with an eye to wittiness rather
than shock value. Additionally, generous affiliate programs ensure that many webmasters are once again working hard to spread the word of any home base internet business that is willing to share a bit of the profit.

Yet there are also other modes of advertising your home base internet
business within your own community. For example, if you own a doggie biscuit business that relies on internet orders, why not pass out fliers in your community with the web address? Additionally, you will be able to attend pet shows and spread the word there.

Print ads in major dog fancier magazines will target an audience most likely to purchase your product, while sponsorship of local events – such as toy drives during the holidays – will not only benefit your community but also your business! If you have a family that is very supportive of your efforts, you may even get the kids involved – a little dress up fun in a nice costume is a definite perk – handing out samples of your doggie biscuits.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Progress

Well things are moving along smoothly. It's slow but I don't mind. I love doing this. In a couple years I'll look back here and it'll all be worth it. This month I've had 11 subscribers to my newsletter. That may be nothing to those that get that many in a few hours, but to me, it's great lol. I've also had a couple sign ups in SFI.

Other programs I'm involved with are Hit2U, which I got 4 signups and NPN which produced 1 sign up this month so far.

I'm looking forward to many more!!

My back links have been rising. They went from about 660 to 860 recently. Maybe some of my articles I submitted in March are finally getting published! I'm also getting a bit more traffic to my site. I still have a long way to go but even a little bit of progress is good. I'm still keeping busy submitting articles, placing classifieds, blogging, forum posting and clicking.



To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Stumbleupon

Stumbleupon is a social network I heard about in the Plug-in Profit Site forum. It seems pretty cool. you vote for and review sites and people do the same for you. I'm very new to it so I have a lot to learn.

Sign up at Stumbleupon then go to my stumbleupon site and add me as a friend. After that go to my Work at Home Business Opportunities site and vote for it and leave a review.

When you sign up there is a toolbar to download and you can vote from there.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Apsense

I found this new business network that may interest some! It's free to join and the first 2500 members get a free 1 year VIP membership!

By joining Apsense, a newly launched business social network, you can connect with business individuals with common interests, meet new friends or business associates, start your business blog, and even build your own private social network!

Please take a few minutes to visit our website, learn more about us and register for a FREE Membership.

Right now, during the pre-launch period from May 4 to May 21, 2007, the FIRST 2,500 Members Will Get a Free VIP Membership Upgrade! Please note that during this period, registration is by invitation only.

We are taking this opportunity to give our closest friends and their friends a chance to take advantage of our Social Network before the general public. This is a way of saying 'THANK YOU" for your help and support during the development of this MOST ANTICIPATED Business Social Network Community!

The website address is: http://www.apsense.com/invite/tmartindale

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To find the best Work at Home Business Opportunities so you can stay at home visit:
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Advertising

I wanted to share some links for advertising. All are free to join and some have an upgrade option. Hopefully this can help someone with advertising their business. Be warned, there are a lot of links lol. Here goes....the first link is a link to a former blog entry that has some traffic exchange links....

Blog Post

Start Exchange

TrafficG

Easy Hits 4 U

WebBizInsider

Traffic Roundup

Xtremehit

Hits4Clicks

Cash Clicking

ClickThru

BraStart

Pro Hit Plus

Wolf Surfer

USFreeAds

Have Fun!!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Jump Start?

Well I invested in something called guaranteed referrals. This program matches your business with people who fit the profile. These prospects fill out their information and state what they are willing to pay to start a business and are matched with business opportunities that they may be interested in. I'll be happy to even get a couple sign ups. I ordered 500 so we'll see how it goes. It may take some time to fill the order.

I'm still submitting articles, blogging, and posting on forum to build my back links. I have over 600 now so they're going up regularly. I'm still working on getting regular traffic to my site and increase the numbers. Slowly but surely!! This business takes a lot of persistence, patience and hard work, but I'm up to the challenge!!!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Finding the Right Online Business

So you've decided to start trying to make money on the internet....where do you start and what company do you choose? Affiliate marketing is becoming more and more popular. It's easy to get started and virtually cost free.

In minutes your new work at home business could be up and running. Fill out a form and register, then you're off! Pick a product or "niche" that interests you so you will enjoy promoting it. Learn all you can so you can give quality information about the product or "niche".

The company usually will provide a website to promote so it's very easy to start advertising your product. Search the internet for places to advertise. There are plenty of free or paid ways to advertise on the internet.

My recommendation for a work at home business on the internet is the Plug-In Profit Site. It provides you with a website that YOU own. It is your own domain hosted by Host4Profit. You can do what you please with this site, like promote other programs or change the look of it. With PIPS you also get training that is like no other. A step by step guide that walks you through this new adventure. It shows you exactly what you can do to get your business started and become successful. You can follow all suggestions step by step or pick and choose what interests you.

If you want to make extra money, check online, you'll be surprised at what you can find.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Information Overload

It is very easy to suffer from information overload when starting a work at home business. Especially on the internet. There are so many products and programs out there, we may wonder where to start. I have so many e-books and reports and software that I haven't even looked at yet! Everywhere I turn there is something new. I pretty much have to put my blinders on and avoid buying all the latest information and/or gadgets. I'd definately be broke if I didn't.

To just sit there and read an e-book or report is impossible right now. I just don't have the full concentration. That's the good thing about the "30 days to success guide", I'm given the basics and I can pick and choose what I want to do or spend.

Some days I feel unproductive because I'm jumping here and there, reading this or that and it doesn't feel like a lot is being accomplished. Then I realize that I just have to stop and refocus. Go back to basics!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Business on a Tight Budget

So, I'm sure we can all relate to finances being tight at some time or another. If the budget is tight how are we supposed to run a business? Well that's the beauty of working online. It's the cheapest way to go. There's tons of free or cheap advertising out there. Traffic exchanges, article writing, free classifieds, link exchanges, link directories and I'm sure there are several other ways to advertise your business.

Even the business itself is usually pretty cheap. Pay a small monthly fee and your good to go. Not to mention the savings from working at home. No fuel, meals out, wardrobe for the office/work place, child care, etc. This is the perfect "job" for me since I have 4 kids and 1 is home everyday and 1 is home 2/3 days a week. The older 2 are in school full time.

If you're on a tight budget but want to work at home and try to earn a little cash, check out the internet. I'm sure there is something that will suit almost anyone. PIPS is a great start, you get all the training you need for any business. Easy to follow and step by step instruction make it perfect for beginners.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Common Misconception

You know what I hear a lot? "Why haven't I made any cash? I've been doing this for 2 weeks!" It's amazing how many people think they are going to get rich over the internet just by signing up with a program. They think they don't have to work! This is a business...a real business. You have to work, promote and most of all, be patient. It WILL NOT happen over night, period.

It can take years for a brick and mortar business to make a profit. On the internet, a profit will be made much sooner and with spending a lot less money! My PIPS business cost about $70 to start up. How many businesses do you know of that only requires $70? Not many. To maintain my business it costs about $90-$95 per month. How many businesses cost only $90-$95/month? Not many.

If you have a brick and mortar business, you're looking at rent/lease payments, utilities, insurance, phone/fax, office supplies, fuel for going back and forth, advertising costs, employees, and I'm sure there are tons more expenses! It's a bargain to have a work at home internet business.

PIPS is a great way to start because it gives you all the training you need step by step. There is no guess work involved. You can also branch out and include other opportunities on your website! This is a great way to start!

So, bottom line, don't think financial freedom is going to drop into your lap over night with no work involved! It just won't happen. Unless you win the lottery of course lol. Wouldn't that be nice?

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Never Give Up!

This business can get frustrating, overwhelming, complicated and the urge to give up can sneak up! The most important thing to remember is DO NOT GIVE UP! Some things can be difficult to understand but that is when asking for help may be necessary. Don't ever think that asking for help is a sign of failure because it's not. Not everyone understands everything.

From my experience, HTML was like reading/speaking a different language. Now, after trial and error and just doing it, I understand a bit of it. I know I don't even understand half of it and that's ok, I'll learn eventually.

This whole marketing thing was foreign to me too. I've never done anything like this before so I had to learn it mostly through trial and error. I'm still learning and will find something new every day to learn.

So anyone who is thinking about giving up on something, think twice. Take a little break then go back to it with a fresh mind.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

"Job" of a Lifetime

I often wondered...how can a person do the same job day after day for years and years? It seems a person would get tired of doing the same thing day in and day out! I'm sure there are some that do, but there are others that love doing what they do. That's great if you can love something enough to want to and look forward to doing it over and over again.

I am one who gets bored easily and quits doing whatever it is I'm doing because I just can't stay motivated to continue. My big downfall, unfortunately. Although I can truly say that since starting my work at home business I look forward to it each and every day! That's why I'm on the computer all day lol. I can really see myself doing this forever. I think of the future, years from now, and this is what I'm doing.

It's already been over 5 months and I'm into it just as much as I was when I first began. It's fun and I can be home with my kids, what could be better? Here's to many many years to come!!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Solo Ad

Today my solo ad went out. I have a new prospect for my newsletter already. I've done a couple other solo ads before and didn't get one sign up for my FREE newsletter. This time I used a different solo ad company. We'll see how it goes. I sent to 500 people. The other ads I've tried went out to 5,000-475,000 people with no results. I guess I just had bad luck with that company.

Since I got my first sign up I've been looking forward to another. I know it's coming, I can feel it. I love doing this too. How many can say they REALLY love their job? Probably more say no than yes!

The PIPS opportunity has taught me so much. I never thought I would be doing this. I can't wait to really get rockin'!!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

The Post I've Been Waiting to Make!!

I got my very first full PIPS signup!! I was doing the happy dance. Now I just hope I know enough to help her as best as I can lol. I think I can give her some useful advice if she wants it. I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.

Sure there are some frustrating times but it's worth it. I plan to make this business a success, I don't care if it takes 5 years!!

See I told you you'd hear about my first sign up!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Why it's Worth it!!

These are my children. I added the extra pic of my daughter because that is how she looks now. She was about a year in the group photo. She'll be 2 in July. My kids are 11.5, 9, 4.5, and 1.5!

This is what it's all about! My children are the driving force for me to continue with my work at home business. I want them to have what they need and most of what they want, within reason lol. I think about how life could be and it makes me work that much harder. It may take a few years, but I'm ok with that.

It will be totally worth it if I succeed at financial freedom. My kids will have the money to go to college or university, I can pay for weddings, and we can take family trips!! That is my ultimate, long term goal.

Also, my husband won't have to work as hard and he can get a job that he really likes. Maybe if it gets really successful he can do what I do! That would be awesome. No answering to anybody. We can work when we want and how much we want.

My dreams WILL come true eventually, I know it!

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

How Much Time to Spend On Business

It seems like I'm on the computer from sun up to sun down! I think in the beginning or until things get going a lot of time is required to start the wheels of a business rolling. I spend my days submitting articles, blogging, clicking on the traffic exchanges, and posting in forums. A schedule is important but it seems I can't get a set schedule down right now. I'm on and off through out the whole day. My kids get what they need and then I'm back on the computer.

You know what takes up the most time? Those pesky traffic exchanges! I have to click continuously or my credits go down and I have to catch up all over again. I try to spend at least an hour of continuous clicking a day. I think I spend more time than that though. It takes a while to get the credits up. I also notice that if I don't click I don't get many hits to my sites. All along I thought I was building up credits so my site could be seen while I was away. When I click a lot I can get over a hundred views but when I don't I get maybe 10!!

It defeats the purpose of building credits, I think. I want my site seen when I can't click! Oh well, it gives me a reason to click every day. Can you tell I'm not too fond of this whole clicking thing? I seem to post about it a lot lol.

I tried the article submission, as I wrote about in an earlier post, but it doesn't seem to have done much so far. I got one confirmation and my links have not went up significantly. Hopefully soon they will. My links go up and down a lot. I should only check it once a month so I don't see so much fluctuation. Google is so hard for links. I had 7 then it went down to 1 then it when up to 7 again and now it's at 5. I think I should have more than that. When I do a search lots come up and a lot of higher PR sites have my link.

I still have not gotten a sign up for PIPS but I know it's coming soon. I'm still remaining positive and I still love the program. I've learned so much from it. My day is around the corner and believe me you'll hear about it lol.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

10 Ways to Advertise Your Business

If you have a work at home business that you run over the internet with a website you will need to get the word out and attract people to your site. There are several ways to do this. Just remember to have a budget and stick to it. Make a plan and do something every day to advertise your work at home business. It is a competitive world out there so try to be unique and original.

Your advertising needs to pop out at people to get their attention. If they’ve seen it a hundred times, they’re not going to pay attention to yours. Make your potential customers want to see what you have to offer and want to keep coming back for more. It can be challenging and hard work, but in the end it will all be worth it when your business is a success.

These are some of the things you can do to advertise your work at home business. Advertising both online and offline can bring customers to your business. Here are some ideas.

Make a unique and exciting web page. If you are working online, this will be the heart and soul of your business. Make it as interesting as possible. You want potential customers to want to stay and read all the information you have to offer and buy your products.

Write original articles and submit them to article directories. Use your website in your resource box and people will visit your website if the article intrigues them enough.

Submit your website to link directories. The more exposure and back links to your site you can get, the better. Find link directories that are popular and have lots of traffic and you’ll have visitors in no time.

Place online and offline classifieds. Find classified sites, there are paid and free, and submit eye catching ads. Make the title pop so people will instantly be drawn to it.

Hand out flyers with your website address on them. Make flyers with a slogan or picture that will make people stop and look at it. Don’t be afraid to use some color.

Get some business cards made up with your website address on them. Hand these out whenever you get a chance. You can add color to these also.

Make use of the many traffic exchanges on the internet. Find as many as you can and pick the ones that interest you. Use as many as you’re comfortable with because you’ll have to surf and click for an hour or so a day to earn views to your site.

Post in forums. Giving people advise on the things you know is building a reputation for you and putting a signature with your name and website address may send people to your site. It’s also a great place to learn from others that are doing the same or similar business as you are.

Tell everyone you know about your business and before you know it they will tell others. It’s like a chain reaction, word of mouth can be powerful.

Make a capture page. Sometimes they are called squeeze pages or splash pages. Make it short and to the point to grab the attention of the person reading it. They will put their name and email in the opt in form and become a subscriber in your list. You can send them your offers for as long as they are a subscriber.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

2006 - 2007 "Online Marketer Of The Year"

My friend Stone Evans has been nominated for the 2006 - 2007
"Online Marketer Of The Year" award. Check it out here:

http://www.onlinemarketeroftheyear.com/stoneevans

You'll have a chance to login to Stone's personal computer
and watch him compete against the top marketers in the world
including:

Dan Kennedy, Joe Sugarman, Robert Allen, Mark Joyner, Yanik
Silver, Mike Filsaime, Rich Schefren, Nick Marks, Gary
Ambrose, Alex Mandossian, Anik Singal, Armand Morin, Bill
Glazer, Bill Harris, Brad Antin, Brad Fallon, Carl Galletti,
Dan VanOrman, Dave Lakhani, David Frey, David Garfinkel,
Donna Fox, Eric Holmlund, Gauher Chaudhry, Harris Fellman,
Jeff Johnson, Jill Lublin, Joel Comm, Joshua Shafran, Keith
Baxter, Lorrie Morgan Ferrero, Liz Roberts, Lynn Pierce,
Marc Harty, Matt Bacak, Michel Fortin, Dr. Mike Woo-Ming,
Perry Marshall, Rhea Perry, Ray Edwards, Rick Raddatz, Ryan
Deiss, Shawn Casey, Stephen Pierce, Stu McLaren, Tellman
Knudson, John Carlton, Frank Rumbauskas and Russell
Brunson.

You will have a chance to watch all of these legendary
marketers LIVE and vote on who gives the best content.
Because they are very competitive people and want to win
this competition - they aren't going to hold ANYTHING back.

To register for this FREE webinar series, please enter your
name and email address in the form on the right on this
page: http://www.onlinemarketeroftheyear.com/stoneevans and
you will be given a free ticket to this webinar series.

It's like the "American Idol" for Internet marketers...

Enjoy the competition! :-)

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Another Day at the "Office"

The last few days have been spent submitting my articles to many directories. I also found a site called SubscribeMe.net. I submit an ad and they send it to 1,000,000 readers from different ezines.

I've also been blogging, forum posting, traffic exchanges (20 of them), and link exchanging. I need to write another article. It's hard to concentrate with 4 children running around! They are wonderful children though;)

Stone Evans, the maker of the Plug-InProfit Site, had generously offered to do a rotation of PIPS members sites when he presents a "webinar". He has been nominated for Marketer of the Year! All the nominees put together a 60 minute "webinar" and show us how they do their online business. I can't wait! It all starts April 16th and Stone's "webinar" is on the 25th.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Cool New Finds!

The last few days I've been trying out some new tools I found. One is called Crazy Browser. You know how I have to click, click, click to keep my credits up? Well I still have to do that but this makes it a little easier. All my traffic exchanges are put into a group and I can open them all at once! When surfing I just push F3 to go from page to page. I get 12 TE's in there and click away! It's pretty cool.

Now, another thing I found, while visiting the Warrior Forum, is called Artemis Lite. I submits your articles to tons of directories andthe best thing is it's FREE! I love FREE! It was a little frustrating at first because I couldn't get my article formatted properly.

That's where the next cool tool comes in. This article formatter is awesome. A guy on the Plug-In Profit Site Forum helped me out. It's takes 2 seconds to get the article formatted.

The only problem is that when I submitted my article using Artemis Lite, it stopped responding. I'll be trying it out again today. It submitted to 500+ directories. We'll see how it goes.

Today I'm going to make another splash page I think. No sign up with the other one yet.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

My Splash Page

I've been busy the day or two. I made my first splash page. I had a little help with the code by using a splash page generator. I then changed it to the way I liked it. I'm going to make some more to see what else I can come up with. My HTML knowledge is pretty minimal. It's all trial and error with me. I make a change then check it out to see if it looks ok. I go back and forth, back and forth. I've been experimenting with Evrsoft First Page. It's an HTML editor so it makes it a lot easier. I just downloaded it a couple days ago. Before then I was doing the back and forth thing, which was a pain.

I still haven't gotten my article into the directories because I was working on my page. I was also working on signing up for traffic exchanges, like I didn't have enough before. I installed what's called Crazy Browser and you can go through all the traffic exchanges pretty easily. I have 12-13 going usually. As you may have read in an entry I posted in March, I just love clicking;)

Ok, it's time for me to start submitting my article.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Poductivity

Today I felt productive. I did some changes to my website, blogged, wrote an article, posted on a forum and of course the never ending clicking! Tomorrow I will go nuts and post my new article to a ton of directories. If you read the previous post my article is similar to that only without the refrences to me and my situation personally. Sometimes it's a little difficult to concentrate around here with the kids. Today my hubby took over and I stayed in my room and got some things done. Hopefully tomorrow will be a productive one also.


To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

The Pros & Cons of a Work at Home Business

Some will say working at home is the best thing they've ever done. Some will say that they would rather go out of the home to work. Everyone has their own preference. Some can tolerate commuting back and forth to their job, but others cannot bear the thought of it.

I've only been working at home since October '06 and I can tell you some of the pros and cons that I've experienced so far. I've been a stay at home mom for 11.5 years now so I'm used to being home with my children. I know there are some that need that little break from home and the kids when they go to work. I know I sometimes wonder if I should go out to work when I get overwhelmed at home. I know I would not be happy though. I want to see my kids grow and see every one of their milestones.

When my second son was 3 months old I went to work. After a few weeks my son preferred my mom over me. That killed me. I did not want that. I had others taking MY children to the doctor because I was working. I hated it. Needless to say, a few weeks later I quit. Now that I have four children, I wouldn't be able to keep up on the house and the kids if I was out working so a work at home business is perfect for me.

There are some things I've discovered over the last few months. The pros to working at home are being home with my children/family and being there when they get home from school. I don't have to commute back and forth in busy traffic. Not unless you count 6 people in a house with only one bathroom. That is the extent of my commute. I save money and wear and tear on my vehicle. I save money on food. I don't have to report to a boss and have deadlines to meet. I can work at my own pace and make my own hours. I have more free time since I don't have to come home and do housework and laundry.

Some of the cons include difficulty in concentrating when everyone is around. I am easily distracted and frequently interrupted. This is understandable though, if I'm the only parent home. The kids need things and my one year old requires more from me obviously. Because of this I find myself up way too late doing the things that require my full attention. It can be easy to say "oh I'll do that later" since there are no deadlines. You have to keep motivated because not having a boss to report to can make it easy to slack. Since I don't have an official office I don't have the quiet that I need during the day. I do as much as I can during the day that doesn't require a lot of thinking or concentration. I save the other stuff for when the kids go to sleep. When I do go to my bedroom/office one or more of the kids are banging on the door. I tend to not even bother.

Some people require adult conversation. Not being around other people besides kids can really cause a person to go stir crazy. That's why it's important to get out sometimes. Go to dinner and a movie with your spouse, lunch with friends or even just a walk to clear your head of all the demands of the kids. Me personally would rather quiet and to be by myself sometimes. At the end of the day I'm tired of talking and I'm tired of noise. That's probably why I'm up too late.

Ok, so now you know some of my pros and cons of working at home. Some may agree with these and some may not. Everyone has there own tolerance and preference. Weigh these and make the decision that's right for you.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Frustration

Frustration is a normal part of starting a work at home business. There is so much information to read, learn and soak up that it can get a little overwhelming. I have e-books and learning material stored on my computer that I haven't even gotten to yet. It's a big world out there on the net, you can get lost. If you try to consentrate on one or two things at a time it is much easier to focus and limit frustration.

Another frustrating factor is the time it takes for a business to take off. When not using paid advertising it takes longer to get yourself out there and noticed. I'm trying to relax and not get too impatient. I'm in this for the long haul so I'm willing to wait for my business to take off. I know it's coming....one day soon!

I'm submitting articles and clicking like crazy. I try to post in the forum. I'm kind of shy so it's sometimes hard for me to get involved. I feel like I don't know enough to give opinions on some things. There are lots of people that know so much that I feel like an idiot compared to them lol. I'm learning though and I hope one day I can give great advice and opinions like the others. Posting ads is another thing I've been doing. Not much success with this as very few actually click on the link. I get the most views from Craigslist.

Well that's it for me today.

To Your Success

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Warrior Forum-Plug-In Profit Support

If you've never heard of this forum you need to go there and check it out. If you become a PIPS owner this forum has the most supportive members. They give honest, helpful advice that can be used to better yourself and/or business. I've learned a lot reading the posts there. I check in everyday to see if there is anything new that I can learn and usually there is. If it isn't something to learn, it is seeing how supportive everyone is.

I urge any new Pipsters to post there and read everything you can. You'll learn a great deal.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

I Love This Business

Working at home is the best! I get to stay home and take care of my kids, keep up on housework and laundry (not that it's fun or anything), work only when I want to, there are no deadlines to meet or bosses to report to or impress. This is the ideal business for me since I have 4 kids and I want to see them grow and be here at all times for them.

Sometimes it is difficult to get work done when the kids are asking for this or that or just being loud. It's hard to concentrate. I do most of my work on the couch so I call that my office lol. I usually wait until the kids are in bed before I do anything that requires concentration. I click away when they are up.

In a prior post I was complaining about google only giving me one back link. Just today I checked and I have 7 now.

Ok, that's it for today.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Addicted

I'm telling you, I'm addicted to this business. I can't wait to get on the computer. I'm on and off all day in between taking care of the kids and the house. It's actually fun for me. I never thought I'd say that about any kind of work! This is something I can do for a very long time because it's never boring. I find something new everyday, whether it's a new article directory or some kind of software to play around with.

I was thinking about making a totally new website so it's different than all the other PIPS sites. I don't want to ruin any progress I'm making with my current site though so that's something for the future when I'm more established in my business.

Today I submitted more articles, clicked as usual (I can't wait 'til I can buy credits), posted some ads and blogged. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Ok I think that's it for today. See it's midnight here and I can't shut off my computer. I have to force myself! Must get to bed, kids have school in the morning. Seriously, I'm done for the day.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities
PIPS

Another Day Working the Business

I've been submitting articles and building up links to my site. My site went from a position in the 150's to the 4oo's using my main keywords. It's at #11 with other keywords. Google is confusing! I have 1 measly backlink to my site according to Google. Total backlinks, using Link Popularity Check, I'm at about 380. I have a long way to go in order to get my site higher up on Google and start getting traffic. I really don't get any traffic right now. I have my Plug-In Profit Site sales page on 8 different traffic exchanges. I will list them below. All the advertising I do is free so it takes a while longer to start seeing the traffic roll in.

I'm still waiting to get my first sale in PIPS, but I know it'll happen soon and I can't wait. I've gotten some sign ups in SFI and I have spillover in Empowerism and Success University. I make a little cash from SFI and Empowerism.

I promote a couple other programs also that I make a little money off of. They are GDI and NPN. I have faith that everything will work out and I will start making good money in my business. I'm sticking to this and I will make it successful for my family! They deserve it.

Ok, here are the names of those traffic exchanges:

Traffic Swarm

Hits2U

Hit Safari

TS25

Hits 24/7

I Love Hits

URHits

Traffic Pods

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale

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To find the best Work at Home Business Opportunities so you can stay at home visit:
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Click, Click, Click

Traffic Exchanges! All this clicking has my wrist hurting. I'm not paying for any credits right now so I have to click a lot to keep my credits up. When I start making some cash I'll pay for credits. Anything's better than clicking all day. I have 7 or 8 traffic exchanges going at once so you can imagine how many times I click!!

Today was spent clicking, of course, submitting articles, updating some classifieds, blogging, gave my link to someone on myspace and exchanged links with another site. More of my articles have been accepted into article directories. I'm building up my links, slowly but surely.

To Your Success

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities

Squidoo

Well, I just made a Lens at Squidoo. Never heard of them until about a month ago. I didn't get into it though, until I read a discussion about it on the forum I post at. I decided to see what it was all about. I made a very simple one since I'm new to all this. I'm going to look at some of the other lens' to get some ideas. I'll update it every so often so don't forget to come back to see any changes.

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To find the best Work at Home Business Opportunities so you can stay at home visit:
Work at Home Business Opportunities

The Beginning

This is the journey of a complete newbie, Tara (that's me), building a successful home business. It all started early October. My sister had been doing online marketing for about 8 months and she was making some cash. That's when I decided to give it whirl. I signed up with a program called SFI. I got some pointers from my sister about advertising. I signed up for Traffic Swarm and started submitting to directories.

In the meantime I was doing searches to see what kind of other programs were out there. About 3 weeks later I found a program called Plug-In Profit Site. I was signed up with a few of the programs that PIPS requires. SFI, Traffic Swarm and Internet Marketing Center so I thought "why not".

PIPS has definately been a learning experience. The training alone is worth every penny. I've even learned some HTML. A lot of it actually makes sense to me now. It all looked like mumbo jumbo to me before. Well, it still does, but not as much!

I have been busy submitting articles, submitting to link directories, traffic exchanges, placing classified ads, blogging and posting in a forum. I did some SEO (I think) on my website. I'm not sure if I did it properly. My keywords are starting to show up in the search engines but I have a long way to go in order to get regular traffic to my site. I think this is the most difficult part of this whole journey.

Well, that's it for this post. I'll keep updating on this blog every other day or so.

To Your Success,

Tara Martindale
Work at Home Business Opportunities