moderndaypeasants.com

Status for Recent Ad Contest

Regretfully I’ve canceled the “6 months free advertising contest” due to a general lack of participation.

I will continue to try hard to add new information and offers that will assist you in your online aspirations and businesses.

Please consider taking a moment to fill out the brief 1 question survey in the right hand sidebar.

Your responses are appreciated and greatly help me in determining your wants, needs and expectations from this website.

Earn Extra Money Online as a Customer Service Agent

If you have great customer service skills you can earn extra money online as a call center agent.

I recently stumbled across a company by the name of Working Solutions who hires home based sales and service agents to work as virtual employees in all types of fields such as health care and pharmaceuticals, travel and hospitality, communications, utilities, financial services, retail, technology, etc.

The hired reps generally work anywhere from 20-40 hours per week averaging about $9.00 to $13.00 per hour with the ability to earn as much as $30.00 per hour on special projects.

If you’ve been searching for a legitimate way to earn extra money online now is your chance.

You can apply at their site but know up front that the application process seems to be fairly rigorous.

This company has been around since 1996 and will only hire skilled professionals.

You should expect an exam to test your skills, a phone interview and background check.

The upside is if you are really looking to work from home and possess a strong work ethic you could very well find yourself earning a regular paycheck while setting your own hours.

They pay by direct deposit or check by mail.

For anybody having past customer service experience, this could be an excellent opportunity to earn some real extra money online.

eBay Selling Tips Part Two

eBay selling tips part two is a follow up post to further help you with your eBay selling and/or eBay business.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out the original eBay selling tips you can check it out now at the aforementioned link.

That being said, let’s go ahead and get started with the additional tips.

1. Get a tax ID and or reseller’s license. The cost is relatively low…usually about $25.00 to $50.00 depending on your state. You will find that it will help tremendously in the way of securing legitimate wholesale companies who are willing to sell their products to you at a wholesale price. If you’re unsure how to get this just check your state’s Department of Revenue website or your local area Chamber of Commerce.

2. Once you have enough inventory consider starting an eBay Store. The basic package runs about $15.95 a month but includes many benefits not available to regular eBay sellers such as real time reporting, pageview statistics from your shoppers, the abilty to offer discounts with markdown manager, exclusive merchandising features and much more.

3. Customize your templates and or listing backgrounds by learning more about html. eBay allows the use of html in your listings to change color, add images and pictures, change text, layout width and length and etc… Try visiting a site called FreeForm. It’s free to use and may help quite a bit.

4. Consider setting up an LLC or incorporating your business for legal protection against law suits and to help with taxes and write offs and such. You can usually download the forms from your state’s Secretary of State website but it can get complicated doing it yourself. There are many websites online who will do this for you as well for a fee. Some are higher priced than others and some are just plain criminals. I’ve read good things about CorpNet, Incorporated if you would rather have somebody else handle it for you. Setting up a corporation is serious business and should be treated as such. If you have a personal attorney you might consider talking to him or her first.

5. Use item specifics when setting up your listings. When you list a product on eBay, the “Sell Your Item” form will ask you specific questions about the item your selling such as color, size, brand and many other questions based on similar listings. You’ll want to add as many item specifics as you can per listing. The reason is because many people searching to buy on eBay are searching for specific things and they will use the eBay functions to narrow down their search. If you don’t have the item specifics filled out your product may easily be skipped over.

6. Try to start and end your auctions at optimal times. You’ll want to do this for increased sales of your listings. Saturdays and Sundays at noon is a good time. If you must end them through the week try to end them around 5:00 to 7:00 PM. This should give everybody enough time to get home from work. Also keep in mind the different time zones.

7. Always Preview your listings. This will accomplish two very important tasks. By remembering to preview your listings before listing it you can be sure to fix errors and also check that your listing is easily readable with proper spacing between benefits and selling points.

8. Take great photos. How many times have you purchased an item on eBay that had a terrible photo? Probably not too often! Get yourself a good digital camera with high megapixel capability. Don’t be afraid to show different angles of the product and use different lighting when needed.

9. Keep track of your costs. There are fees involved when selling a product or products on eBay or anywhere else. To be profitable, as with any business, you must have a real understanding of your true product cost. Not only will you have the cost associated with the purchase and shipping of the product when you bought it wholesale but you will also pay other fees such as listing fees, final value fees, shipping cost and shipping materials, Paypal and credit card fees and so on. It’s critical that you always know and understand what fees are involved in selling a product otherwise you may sell a boatload of stuff and find out that you’re in the hole at the end of the month.

10. Make an effort to find your own niche market. Everybody and their mother sells electronics on eBay. This makes the competition stiff and keeps your profits low. Try to find a niche product in high demand by a relatively small group of people. This can help ensure the future success of your eBay business.

Ok… that’s about all the eBay selling tips I have at this time. I truly hope these tips help you to succeed in your eBay business. Stay focused and try to keep it fun and I’m sure you’ll do just fine.

Earn Extra Money Online Selling Your Own eBook

Did you know you can earn extra money online by writing and selling your own eBook?

Sure you did! I’m certain you’ve seen lots of eBooks for sale on the internet and may have even purchased a few yourself.

I bet you didn’t know, however, that Amazon.com..one of the world’s largest eBook retailers..reported eBook sales growth at 207% through May of this year. I’m sure it’s even higher than that now.

Platforms such as Kindle and iPad are being built and improved to accommodate the world’s thirst for knowledge while at the same time making it easier for writer’s to market their books.

With that being said….a person who has extensive knowledge in a certain field, a solution to a complex problem or the ability to entertain people with their written words could earn a butt load of extra money online by writing their own eBook and publishing it for sale.

A couple years ago I wrote my own eBook but went about it in all the wrong ways. I thought it was just a matter of writing the book, converting to PDF and offering it for sale. I soon found out there was much more involved such as publishing, copyright protection, designing the cover, graphics, images and etc.

Then I ran into an even bigger problem which was proper marketing and distribution.

Yes…it seems that if you really want to earn serious money online selling your own eBook you must do more than just offer it up for sale on your website.

In hindsight it probably would have been much smarter for me to use a product like eBook Pro
to design and customize my eBook because their system is not only proven but also pretty much point and click publishing and distribution.

Sometimes it can be extremely advantageous to learn from others who have already been down the road you’re now trying to drive on.

Having the proper knowledge and tools up front can make all the difference in the world.

Still….if you possess the gift and ability to write words that will enlighten or entertain a large group of people you should do it.

You never know….you’re eBook might just possibly earn you some notoriety along with a life changing amount of extra money.

Don’t Be Afraid to Get Involved

Why am I telling you to not be afraid and get involved?

On September 9th, 2010 I did something I’ve never done before.

I offered a contest for 6 months of free business advertising on the front page of this blog and the winner is going to be announced October 31st, 2010.

I put certain conditions on the contest because instead of charging money for the advertising I wanted your participation and unique ideas. This is an effort on my part to reach out, interact and communicate with others in similar fields.

Still, to this date, nobody has entered the contest!

What are you thinking?? Hurry up…time is running out!!

I can only assume that some of you are either too lazy or too afraid to get involved. I’m hoping most of you are just still getting your ideas together.

If it’s laziness then I can’t help but please don’t ever be afraid to get involved with anything that has low risk and may have a positive outcome for you and your business. If you’re afraid to take chances you are seriously limiting your success.

Is it such a crime that I’m asking for your involvement and your ideas?

This blog is about ideas…..It’s about being unique and different so why wouldn’t I put conditions on the contest?

Hopefully it will help us all expand our minds and get outside the box.

I guess I could have just as easily sold the advertising spot for cash but how would that help those of you with lower budgets? What’s more is how would it help any of us expand our minds? Sometimes we can and should take the path of least resistance but not always. In those other instances we have to walk the walk in order to be able to talk the talk.

Do something good…..do something to amaze us….do something cool or funny.

The best idea wins!

Get your peeps together and use your noggins.

Learn more about the free advertising contest here.

We’re all looking forward to your ideas!

Don’t be afraid to get involved.

Meet Greet and Engage

It’s ironic that a reforming social introvert like myself would be writing a blog post titled “Meet, Greet and Engage” but that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Meet greet and engage or “MGE”, as I like to refer to it, is a system I use to remind myself the importance of “social conversation” and “brief encounters” as related to personal life and/or business.

The biggest thing I’ve learned so far in my new life journey is that you can’t advertise or backlink your way to the top.

While the above mentioned tasks are certainly needed, it’s more about connecting with people.

The non social offline world we live in is horrible and I was certainly no different until recently.

Nobody makes it a point to say hello….nobody introduces themselves……nobody engages anybody!

We’re like a bunch of zombies just walking aimlessly in the streets without purpose.

So I have begun to make it a point to meet, greet and engage with the world. Offline it ranges from initiating conversation with perfect strangers to seeking like minded social meetings and everything in between. In the online world I try to spark up conversations as well through the use of blogging, genuine blog commenting, social networks, email, etc…

Meeting and engaging with others, in general, can do wonders for our own personal lives as well as our business lives.

You never know who’s sitting next to you in a train station, at a coffee shop, restaurant or anywhere else for that matter. You could be sitting right next to somebody with a connection to your business and never even know it because you failed to say hello and introduce yourself. The same applies to online forums and social networking groups and such.

You can meet and start a conversation with almost anybody by simply complimenting a piece of clothing they may be wearing or maybe saying “Hi, I’m ___, how are you? Twenty minutes later you just might find that you have much in common and end up exchanging business cards.

To understand the positive effects of MGE you only need to remember how it was on your first day of a new class in school or possibly your most recent organized meeting you attended.

You know what I’m talking about. At the start everybody is quiet and nobody knows anybody. The teacher or organizer requests that everyone stand up and introduce themselves and you suddenly feel that sick feeling in your stomach. But by the end of the day you found that you made at least one friend or contact if not many and nobody laughed at you.

So we basically just need to take this process and use it on a daily basis. It’s not as scary as you may think it to be and I promise only 1 out 10 will bite….lol.

For me it’s easier to remember MGE than it is to remember Meet Greet and Engage. By keeping the notion of MGE at the front of my thoughts I’m able to grow faster on both a personal level as well as a business level.

The more people I meet and engage, the more well rounded I become and the more successful I feel.

Please share some of the ideas you have used to meet, greet and engage with others and how has it helped you to grow on a personal or business level.

Climb Aboard the Mobile Phone Marketing Train

So far just this week I’ve received three text ads on my mobile phone from companies marketing products such as personal refinance, movie downloads and business incorporation.

It’s quickly becoming ever so clear to me that mobile phone marketing is here to stay and offers much opportunity to thriving businesses all over.

I mean think about….a large portion of the world now owns a mobile phone. I think the real number is somewhere around 4 and a half  billion people walking around with that little computer right by their side, in their pocket or in their purse.

The business world is becoming increasingly aware of this notion as well.

Most customers have their home computers turned on for only about an hour per day, however, they have their cell phones on all day long.

It’s a viable way to keep your name and offers in front of potential clients in an ongoing manor.

Serious Internet Marketers have been toying around with the notion of earning money with mobile phone marketing for the last few years but the problem has always been that nobody really knew how to tackle and harness it.

Until now that is…..

Meet Kim Dushinski.

She’s the President of Mobile Marketing Profits, a marketing firm that provides mobile marketing training and tools to marketing professionals and entrepreneurs. In addition, she also authored the best selling book, The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns.

The successful entrepreneur and 1988 graduate of the University of Denver used her 20 years of marketing experience as well as her personal mobile marketing research to write a book and build a website that teaches people how to earn money with mobile phone marketing.

You can check out her site and learn things such as how to start a mobile phone marketing business, creating text message campaigns, how to build a mobile website or even purchase a full mobile marketing business in a box.

If you’re still unsure about the longevity of mobile phone marketing all one needs to do is look at the emphasis the biggest search engines namely Google, Bing and Yahoo have placed on optimizing for mobile search.

Remember…the best way to brand your business is by keeping your name forever in front of your perspective clients. Keep them posted and up to date on what your company is doing differently.

Maybe it’s time we all climb aboard the mobile phone marketing train for it appears this will surely be the leading online marketing application very soon.

Earn Extra Money Online Referring Free Classifieds

Today I offer another cool way to earn extra money online by simply referring people to free classifieds.

Just about everybody working online and particularly website owners are always searching for new ways to promote their products as well as their websites. I mean it’s kind of tough to grow a business without mass exposure right?

Free Classifieds Ads are a perfect alternative for doing just that. These classifieds are on a national level as well as the local level by zip code.

It’s free to sign up and when a member referred by you decides to become a premium member you will earn a healthy 40% of the purchase price. If you want to become an affiliate just click this link: Earn money from free classifieds!That’s an above average percentage for a simple referral. Everything is tracked with assigned affiliate tracking numbers. You can earn extra money referring your affiliate link by email or on a website. Cookies are stored for 30 days meaning when somebody visits with your link and upgrades within 30 days you’re going to get paid.

Premium members enjoy special benefits that regular members do not such as unlimited advertisements, spam protection, free hosting for images, free fully automatic classified ad renewals, a link to your website, no final transaction fees when you make a sale, insert PayPal and instant pay buttons, free unlimited html ads, 15% discount on feature ads, full account management features and the list goes on.

To a thriving business it’s almost like having your own online store which is already search engine optimized.

The company website has been around since 1999 and they are one of the biggest classified sites on the web.

I actually have ads posted on this site as we speak. If it wasn’t the outstanding program it is, I wouldn’t even bother recommending them.

To top things off you will also earn 5 percent of sales generated by affiliates who sign up under your link so it’s actually a two tier affiliate program.

It’s really a win win for everybody. You get to refer your closest business acquaintances to a service that could help grow their business tremendously and you earn extra money for doing it.

A person who knows a lot of people in business can earn a bunch of extra money online just for referring others to one of the oldest and best free classified sites on the internet.