Google has introduced a new program called Friend Connect.  What Friend Connect does is create interactivity to your website by engaging viewers to comment on your articles or posts.  It can be used on both blogs and traditional sites enabling your viewers to join and comment freely about your content.  One of the great features about Friend Connect is that you can use sign-ons that you already have for Google, Yahoo, Open ID and others.  It’s a great tool.  You can see it on our site www.homebusinessresearch.com.  There are a whole list of widgets that you can get for your site as well.  Of course it’s for free.  Get more info at www.google.com/friendconnect

Entrepreneurs by nature are risk takers, willing to completely submerge themselves in a business venture and work at it until it’s successful or fails completely.  Generally there isn’t any middle ground for these types of individuals.

Today’s mantra is very different.  The team approach, consensus building and becoming agents of change within an organization are the themes of the day.  Good managers build consensus with there colleagues before they run with the ball.

What does all of this have to do with finding your ideal online business?  Plenty.  Before you decide what online business you want to be in you need to decide what group you fall into.

Entrepreneurs or consensus building agents of change?  The difference is more than marginal as entrepreneurs are their own worst enemies at times, boldly going where no one dared go before and making decisions at the speed of light.  If you like to work in groups however, and thrive on feedback and consensus you may not be the best online business owner, as decisions tend to be based on your own internal consensus.  If working in groups does appeal to you then perhaps an MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) or Network Marketing business makes more sense for you.

What this means basically is that you really need to be a little of both types to succeed in today’s Internet business environment.  Running any business requires quick decision making and the Internet is no exception.  However the critical nature of the decision is not as important with online business, as  programs, sites and products can be changed within minutes.

There are multiple avenues to go down in finding the right online business.  In fact there may be more than one avenue that you’ll have to try before you become effective.  Take your time and avail yourself of first, free information, there’s a lot of it on the Internet.  Second, there is paid information such as statistical data from data research companies.  And finally just looking at what other companies are doing and what drives them is one of the best ways to research your ideal business.

New online businesses tend to be quite draining physically, mentally and financially so try to plan out how much of any of these you can stand before you begin.  The net result though, when you are successful is like no other.  A sense of pride and accomplishment can offer much solace.

When I first heard of Twitter I had no idea what it was, but I was curious.  I looked into it and signed up only to get more information.  As near as I could tell everyone was Tweeting about the most mundane things.  It seemed that Twitter was not for me.  Some time went by and I started to get more email about Twitter apps and how people were using the service to enhance their online businesses.  But how?  I looked into it a little further and found that there were hundreds of categories that people were Tweeting about. Tweets are updates that you make that everyone who follows you gets.  A tweet can be no longer than 140 characters.  So a Tweet is short and sweet and gets right to the point.  Now here’s what I love about the Internet.  Twitter has spawned an entire industry of Twitter related services and products, one being shortening your “Tweets” to 140 characters.

There are hundreds more but I won’t go into them in this post suffice it to say that Twitter is growing in leaps and bounds.  To answer the next question on your lips, “how can Twitter help my online business?”  The most basic and simplistic answer is traffic.  You see The whole Twitter process is building a following of people that are interested in your topic of expertise or that they are interested in what you have to say.  If you are still lost, hang on I will make my point.  Tweeting on Twitter means that you are following interesting people and some, but not all of them are following you.  Each update or Tweet that you make is seen by all of your followers.  Now we are getting to the interesting part.  Let’s say that you just wrote an interesting review, on your blog, about a new product or service that you are selling.  In between your regular Tweets you place an update about your  blog post with a shortened URL within your Tweet.  Many of your followers will click on that url and go to your blog post.  It’s almost like having an Instant Messaging Service to thousands of potential customers.

There are rules however, no one likes to be constantly Tweeted with promotional stuff.  If you don’t like someone your following you can remove them from your list of people you follow.  Likewise if you are not adding good information people will remove you from the people they follow.

The important message is that Twitter has opened a new communication technique in the form of a cross between Instant messaging and Blogging.  It’s called micro-blogging and I think it’s here to stay.  If you are a Twitter member and would like to follow me My Twitter ID is @HBRHomeBusiness.  If you want a crash course on Twitter try Twittasaurus- The Twitter Manifesto

I’m sure you are tired of seeing so called “free” ways to make money from home that turn into some type of scam or prompt to spend more money when you sign up. This is not one of those offers. This isn’t an offer but a simple way to get started making money without the benefit of experience, money or product.

Here’s the first part, open a Blogger account. Go to and open a free Blogger Blog. This is really easy, anyone can do it.

Next Step: Become a Google Adsense publisher. Go to Google Adsense and sign up for a free Adsense account. (You will use this later on your free Blog.)

Next Step: Open a free Twitter account. Just go to Twitter.com and sign up.

Putting it all together:
Once you have set up your Blogger blog, it’s very easy to add Adsense advertising to your pages and posts. Each time someone visits your blog and clicks on an ad you get paid from Google. The important part is having something worthwhile to say on your blog. Most people start out writing about topics they know or care about. If you can’t write or just don’t want to you can always go to an article directory* and find articles that compliment you topic. Google Adsense will feed off of this content and place ads relevant to the article post. The important thing is to have lots of content and posts so that people who visit will stay and read your posts or articles.

Back to Twitter. The purpose of your Tweeter account is to promote your site. If you don’t know what Twitter is it’s most easily explained as a live instant blogger. Twitter posts must be 140 characters or less, so they must be succinct. Your posts can have a url back to your blog. You will need to have a your URLs shotened to fit within the 140 character limit. You can find a free service at Mashable. Twitter is so hot right now that it’s the perfect time to start “Tweeting.”

There you have it, a foolproof, free and easy way to start making money at home.

I made the following statement in a prior post about building traffic:

While there are a number of paid ways to jump start traffic flow, many site owners don’t have the capital resources necessary to generate the needed traffic. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a willingness to roll up your sleeves. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

I want to emphasize the fact that it takes some effort to generate free traffic, but the benefits are much more than the traffic within itself. When you utilize a blog in conjunction with a website you are not only generating traffic you are establishing and creating valuable resources that in turn will enhance your relative position in the search engines. Most search engines look for interactivity as a sign of importance. When you think about it it makes a lot of sense. It’s a great way, for a search engine, to gauge the popularity of a website/blog and at the same time determine if it is an “authority” site. Two things happen here. The more interactivity, within the blog/website, the higher the rank within the keyword search and the added benefit is the page rank. In the case of Google, you can see your page rank by downloading the Google search bar to your browser.

None of the aforementioned happens overnight. It takes time and you need to build momentum.

There is so much activity on the Internet today about Social Portals or Social Communication it’s hard to sift through all of the noise and find the real data. I have been playing with Twitter to see if there is anything to the noise and hype, so I thought that I would share some information about my experience. I have been using a tool called the Twitter Traffic Machine ( I love these marketing names) The Twitter Traffic Machine is a crash course in how to utilize Twitter as a tool for promoting your business or product. It’s actually a very clever system that can power your Twitter account into a magnet for individuals interested in your interests or products.

The main thrust of TTM is sourcing other Twitter members as followers. The more followers you have the more individuals you can get your message in front of. Your message may not always be a commercial but something relevant to your Twitter topic of Interest. For example if you Tweet political news of the day you could use this system to help you acquire a large following. TTM boasts getting somewhere around 16,000 followers within 90 days. I will report back and let you know if it does or not but I can say that within a few hours I had several hundred followers for one of my Twitter accounts. That in itself is pretty amazing.

Back to the main topic of this post, “Can Twitter Help Promote Your Home Business?” The answer is yes, and it’s an inexpensive tool to drive traffic to your website or blog. I had no idea how popular Twitter was until I set up an account and started Tweeting. As far as the Twitter Traffic Machine it’s fairly priced and well put together. It’s not rocket science either It’s easy to implement. Also if you Google Twitter tutorials there are some great free tutorials about how to set up and use Twitter. I think that right now is a great time to get involved.

The question posed is do social bookmark tabs within posts actually help with building traffic.  In today’s Web 2.0 environment it seems that social bookmarking has become a mainstay in yet another dimension to the communication of Internet information both personal and commercial.  As with any transmission of information the result is an increase in viewers and traffic.

Personally I think it’s a great idea and I think that it’s going to get even bigger than it is now.  Along with this come new products such as BookMarking Demon, Social Networking On Squidoo and Social Media Profit Coach.  Although you can get started by simply joining as many bookmarking sites as possible.  The list is growing constantly however it may be helpful to get a leg up by reading up on this phenomenon.

If there is one thing that I like to tell colleagues is that the Internet is always evolving and changing so you must stay abreast with new technologies and trends.  Social Bookmarking is an example of a trend that has evolved from a personal tool to a personal and commercial tool.  That’s the great part of the Internet, you never know what’s going to happen next but you can be assured that someone will utilize it somehow to make money.

What’s your opinion?

There are a lot of ways to earn an income or supplement an existing one by working part time from home.  One of the fastest ways is to join a surveys group.  I’m sure that you have seen these types of ads on the Internet about earning  money for shopping or reading ads or a number of other activities revolving around the survey business.  Most of these are legitimate however that’s not the issue.  Do your research well as it could take you a long time to make any serious money.

There isn’t anything wrong with taking surveys for money, however the issues lie in the details.  If you have done any research you pretty much know that surveys for pay require you to take surveys and submit the results.  The more surveys you take the more you make.  Sounds as if you are industrious you can make a lot of money.  Here are some facts:

• Not all surveys pay well.  Some only pay a few dollars others pay more.  The chief complaint I have heard is there aren’t enough of the $50 and $75 range.
• Focus Groups pay well but it’s a commitment of time, several hours as well as transportation.  Make sure you check out all of the details.
• Reading emails – This can really eat up a lot of time and the pay per email may only be a few cents.  Once again ask about the details.

There are several companies that are well known that aren’t scams.  Three that I’m aware of are Survey Scout, they have been around since 2003. Paid Surveys, Also has been around for a while and Taking Surveys one of the newer ones but the buzz is good.

Stick with the well known entities and you should be okay. You just need to know what you are in for before you join up and make a commitment.

If you are looking to make a few dollars at home but your budget won’t allow you to spend any money, this article is for you. I outline a simple four step process that can get you up and running within an hour for no cost outlay.

You probably have heard about ClickBank or PayDotCom, two major sites that represent thousands of products, mostly digital downloads, in literally hundreds of different categories.  Either of these two sites costs zero to join as an affiliate.  The concept that I’m sharing with you is simple.

Find a niche that you are interested in promoting, better still, make sure that it’s a popular one by doing some research on your own. Then promote the products for free.

1) Find out what people are searching for.

The free Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/T5/intl/en/index.html) and can be loaded on to the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.  This little tool is handy and here’s how you can use it.  Let’s say that you are interested in golfing as a niche but you want to know what specific golf items people are searching for.  Type the word golf into the Google Toolbar and it will immediately provide you with suggestions for your search term based on current searches.  So now you can get a picture of what specific golf information people are looking for.  You can also use free keyword software to help you understand how popular a specific search term is from Good Keywords http://www.goodkeywords.com/

2) Sign Up with ClickBank or PayDotCom.

Now you need a product to sell.  ClickBank and PayDotCom are two reliable sources on the Internet to look for products to sell as an affiliate.  Go to www.ClickBank .com to sign up free as an affiliate or www.PayDot Com.com to sign up free to become a PayDotCom affiliate.  If you are interested in PayDotCom you will also need to sign up with PayPal signing up with PayPal is also free.  There are other sites that are free as well such as Kolimbo, http://www.kolimbo.com/
Shareasale, www.shareasale.com or the Google Affiliate Network.  For the time being try the ClickBank and PayDotCom first then you can progress on to the others.

3) Get a free Blog.

It’s important to have your own website when you are promoting affiliate products because it gives you an opportunity to “pre-sell” the product before your customer goes to the official product website.  Additionally it’s important because in step 4 (below) you will want to submit your articles to the most popular article directories and the top directories will not allow you to have a “self-serving” type link that does not directly go to a site that you own or manage.  You can get your free blog at Blogger https://www.blogger.com/start which is owned by, guess who, Google.  You also have the WordPress option at http://wordpress.com/ which is also a free blog with a lot more flexibility in design.  Neither of these requires you to have a website or domain.

4) Start Promoting.

Some people may tell you that promotion is the biggest and most important issue in making any money on the Internet.  I would agree and I will also add that it’s by far the most costly issue you have in promoting a product, however I’m going to share a simple concept with you that will get you on the road to making money as an affiliate.  It’s called article marketing and it’s very easy to do.  Once you have picked a product or products to sell based on your research above you can promote it/them by writing articles.  One of the best ways to do this is to write a “lite” review about the product.  You can get research information on the product by going to the product site or just Googling the product.  Make sure you put at least 300 to 500 coherent words together about your product.  Remember that you should not hard-sell your product because it’s a turn-off to the reader.  Your article should be informative such as  “did you know that product A has the following features and that many users have found that they can now do X.”  The more you can entice people to look beyond your article and click on your site for more information the better off you will be in making a sale.  Once you get the reader to click on your blog link now you have a targeted potential buyer.  Use this opportunity to create excitement about your product and why the reader needs it and should buy it.

Since all of this has cost you $0 you can start to promote more than one product at a time.  Remember that picking products to sell requires some work on your part.  The more research and targeting you can do the better off you will be and the more successful you will be as well.

Once you have started to make some money you can slowly start to acquire more advanced tools to help you.  You will find many of these tool at our Specialty Software Guide.

Good luck