Archive for June, 2010

How to Plan Your E-Commerce Website

June 30th, 2010

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I think I am writing this short post about how to plan your e-commerce website so that I can sort of “bookmark” this article at 6 Revisions, so that when I build my e-commerce site in the future, I can find this article.

That’s how good I think this primer on e-commerce site planning is. If you are working on a site that is going to sell anything at all, then you should check out this article at 6 Revisions.

Here are the points this article hints you should pay attention to:

What do you want your site to do?

Who’s going to buy from you?

Do you require special features?

What E-Commerce Platform are you going to use?

Have a look at this article. It should help you get your head around all the steps necessary to getting your online store set up. It also has some great examples of successful and well-made sites.

Freelance Writing Online: 3 Places to Start

June 30th, 2010

freelance writing onlineIf you’re looking for a couple of places to get started freelance writing online for pay, there are a few good places to start.

Suite 101 is a website where you write articles about whatever topic you want to and get paid for your efforts.  Sign up for Suite101.com and get started. I know a few people who make pretty decent monthly checks from Suite101, but of course they write quite a bit AND they write smart, keeping keywords and research in mind.

The first place I started writing freelance online was Associated Content. It’s not a bad place to write and earn if you know how to write SEO copy that targets specific keywords.

The reason is that you get paid per pageview (on top of the initial fee you are paid for your work, which can be anywhere from a dollar to twelve dollars). As you move up the ranks at AC, which are dictated by how much traffic your articles receive over time, you earn more money per thousand pageviews.

But this isn’t exactly going to pay your bills since the highest you can get paid is $2 per thousand views. Still, it’s a good place to write and make money. You just need to know that it’s not going to be a career for you.

Hubpages is another very good place to write online, even if it takes time to start earning. You don’t get paid anything up front but you do get a 60 percent share of the revenue your written pages earn from Adsense, eBay affiliate links, and Amazon affiliate links. This is a cool site because you can edit your work for eternity and write pretty much anything you want as long as it meets Hubpages decency and quality standards (which really shouldn’t be a problem for any serious writers).

A lot of people start at Hubpages thinking it’s a good place to promote their personal websites and blogs, and often these same people realize that they can do better the other way around.  Read an article I wrote a while back about how to make money online with Hubpages.  When you’re done reading that article, you may also be interested in 5 ways to make more money with Hubpages.

Try out all three of these online writing sites and get a jump on your freelance writing career.  The reason I think it makes sense to try out as many writing sites online is because you should keep trying to find one that clicks really well with you.

It may be the style of the publishing system that gets you or it may just be the look of your published articles, but you should keep trying until you find a writing site that works well for you. The more comfortable you are writing somewhere, the more writing you will do, and that’s really the point.

Where do you do your freelance writing online? Leave responses in the comments below.

Need a Freelance Writer? Find One on Odesk

June 2nd, 2010

If you’re looking to hire a freelance writer or writers, I highly recommend oDesk.com (and not only because this is an affiliate link).

I started using oDesk two months ago and have hired three different freelance writers through the site.  One of them was from Ohio, another was from Serbia, and a third was from Indonesia.

I had one writer who was a waste of time, but two of them worked out brilliantly and I hire them intermittently for projects and will continue to do so.

oDesk made finding writers very easy to do since it is a site aimed at ease of use for the people who want to do the hiring, aka the “Buyers.”

You will start by putting up an assignment, where you explain what work you are looking for and how much you want to pay, and freelancers will “Bid” for the job.  You can look at their qualifications, previous work, and ratings from other buyers in order to choose the best worker.

There are no additional costs to setting up an account.  What you decide to pay your workers is what you pay (obviously after you come to agreement with the freelancer).  The 10% fee that is oDesk’s share comes out of the total.  So if you agree on a total price of $10 for two 500-word articles, you will only pay $10.  The freelance writer will receive $9.

I have had no problems with oDesk and I recommend the site to at least one Internet entrepreneur a day.  You can find freelance writers who specialize in blog content, or article directory articles, or web copy.  And you can find very competitive prices and high quality work, since you will be able to review multiple bids from many providers.

To My 12 RSS Subscribers: Thanks!

June 2nd, 2010

This is a message to the 12 people who are currently following the RSS feed for this blog, Gainfully Unemployed.

Thanks for following and I hope I make it worth your while to stick around.  If I can help you out in any way, let me know.  I’d love to connect with you!

12 is not a huge number, but I am appreciative of every single person who finds it worth his or her time to subscribe to my feed.