How to Turn Your Love of Scrapbooking into a Profitable Business

For those who have a passion for scrapbooking, making money from their hobby is a dream come true. It's not such an absurd idea, many people are doing it and you can too.

Scrapbooking is now used by adults as a way to remember and preserve the special moments in their life. It is the fastest growing hobby in the United States right now. Scrapbooking is used for everything from holding photos, poems, newspaper cut outs, cards and just about anything else that has sentimental value to its owner.

There are several profitable ways to make money with your love of scrapbooking and this article will show a few of them.

Become A Scrapbook Consultant

Companies like Creativememories.com and Scrapinasnap will pay you to sell their products for them. They are always advertising positions for sales consultants on their website.

Teach A Scrapbook Class

If you have a love for scrapbooking and you have the knowledge, even the basic knowledge of putting a scrapbook together from the start, you can teach a class on it very easily.

Community colleges and education schools are always looking for new ways to raise revenue and teaching short courses is a great way to do that. Go talk to your community college and ask them if they would be interested in your services.

Make Scrapbooks For Other People

This is probably the best way to get started making money with your love of the scrapbooking. This is a pretty competitive business and your scrapbooking skills must be of a high nature.

If you want to learn more about how to make money scrapbooking for others, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Scrapping4Others. This is a forum dedicated to professional scrapbookers and will answer all of the questions you need to know about making scrapbooks for others.

Start An Online Scrapbook Supply Store

Setting up your own E-Commerce store to sell scrapbooking supplies is not as hard as it sounds. The easiest way to do this is to become an affiliate (reseller) of an existing scrapbooking store online. These companies will pay you a percentage of the sale every time you make a sale you don't have to stock any inventory at all. That's the beauty of becoming an affiliate.

Freelance Scrapbooking Writer

Scrapbooking magazines, online websites, forums are always looking for writers to write about scrapbooking for them. You can even write your own ebook and sell it. The ideas are endless.

RESOURCES:
Six Figure Freelancer - I reveal quick-n-easy tactics that generate a 6-figure income by writing content online ...

Freelance, and Become Your Own Boss

A person who freelances is like an independent contractor. They take jobs in their field. Usually it is writing, photography, or web design. They contract people with their resumes and people hire them for specific jobs. An individual who freelances needs to work quickly without someone looking over his or her shoulder. They can complete jobs independently. There are many jobs that can be found on the Internet for someone who can freelance a specific type of employment.

A freelance worker makes their living going from job to job. Once a job ends they find someone else that needs a specific task accomplished and they work for them. A freelancer can go through many different employers each week. There are many types of jobs available and it can be a daunting task. This is because some days these individuals work and on other days they do not. It all depends on the demands of the job at hand.

Through certain websites a freelancer can find various work that they can do to make a living. This type of employment opportunity can be a nice change from other 9 to 5 jobs. The person can be their boss and does not need to commute if the job is mostly done from the home. Through Internet resources these jobs generally does not require out of the house maintenance.

A freelance worker can do their job from the comfort of their home. They search mostly online for an opportunity. These individuals show a keen sense of freedom. Another aspect of this type of work is the individual needs to be able to complete the job on time. All of these jobs require a person to be dependable as the person is on contract and the company that has hired them probably has a choice of individuals to do the job. So if one does not deliver, one has lost the business. On the other hand if the company is pleased with a persons job, in all probability, the next time a similar job comes up the company will automatically hire that person instead of going through the ritual of sifting through job applications.

There is, however. one disadvantage that one has to consider before taking on freelance as a career and that is the uncertainty of work. There are times when one may be flooded with jobs and on other days there may be no assignments for one to work on. As a result, there could be an uncertainty of income.

Resources:
How to Make a Fortune Writing for Fortune 500 Companies - Here's How You Can Make an ABSOLUTE FORTUNE Writing for Fortune 500 Companies... even if you don’t know where to start, who to talk to or what to say! -- Guaranteed!

How to Create Winning Concepts and Copy Every Time Even When Faced With a Terrifying Job!

It doesn't matter how new you are to copywriting, or how old...the fact is, there will be times when you'd feel more confident with the brains, talent, and experience of a writing partner.

Perhaps you're writing for a new client who 's in an industry you know nothing about. Perhaps you've been asked to come up with some very high level concepts. Or maybe you're getting paid partly based on response rate, and you simply want to make sure your package is as good as it possibly can be.

The answer to these and many other copywriting situations is to call in another copywriter. Share the fee and make sure you hand in perfect work. Not only will you find tremendous relief in "buddying up," but you'll get the work done faster and the results will be better, making for a happy client who comes back.

This is not an unusual arrangement in an advertising agency. Typically a junior writer will do the hard work, a copy chief will go over the work, and finally a creative director will put the stamp of approval on the work after possibly adding their 2 cents.

And when it comes to concepting, a copywriter is often paired with an art director, or a group of copywriters and designers may be assigned to come up with ideas.

In the freelance world, many copywriter "gurus" achieve guru status because #1 - they don't take jobs they don't think they can win, and #2 - they hire as many as 5 copy chiefs to go over their work.

Some months ago I found myself in a "copywriters bake-off," as the client called it. I would be up against 3 other writers in the concepting phase for a plum job for Intuit, one of the world 's leading software companies.

Was I intimidated? After writing copy for 19 years, and more than 30 packages for software, I can say that...YES, I was!

But before I put my creative hat on I thought about whom I could bring in. I decided on Carol Worthington-Levy, a well-known graphic designer with many direct marketing awards for results.

My strategy was twofold: not only would I submit concepts from two heads rather than one, but I would submit them in an actual design format which would come across much more impressive than the text format I anticipated my competition would use.

The strategy worked, the client loved the concepts, and I won the job. (Although I then found myself competing against 3 other teams in the copy phase!)

More recently one of my coaching students had a new client and wanted validation of the copy she'd written. She sent it to me, and while it was an excellent piece, it did need a stronger headline. Working together we came up with a headline that would have been difficult to improve upon.

The next day my coaching student sent an email that her client was positively thrilled with her work, and had made only minor edits.

So whenever you feel your chest tighten up with that old (unnecessary) feeling of anxiety, call on a colleague who has proven success with whatever type of project you're tackling. Just the thought of bringing in a partner should make you feel more relaxed.

Recently I called on Richard Rosen, my old employer and internationally recognized direct marketing guru. He 's used to paying me for copywriting; but in this case I needed his help on crafting a strategy. Knowing ahead of time that I'd want to call him for help with a particularly complicated product launch, I worked an extra fee into the budget to pay for his expertise.

So open up your thinking: whom do you know who has knowledge and experience you can leverage? If you don't know of anyone whose ability you're sure of, ask around for a referral, or go to the Web site of a pro you don't know personally, but whose work you respect. If they can't team up with you, they'll know who can.

Copywriters are an anxious bunch, often fretting over imagined insecurities. Buddying up with a copy chief (or other expert) eliminates the jitters and allows you to learn from a pro. If you think about whom you can bring in to a difficult project, you'll find that you can eliminate one of the copywriter 's biggest self-defeating obstacles - that of insecurity.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Master copywriter and coach Chris Marlow publishes a free ezine for copywriters who want to quickly build a profitable business. Visit: http://www.freelancersbusinessbulletin.com/

Free Online Yellow Pages for Moonlighters

Moonlighting can help make ends meet in a tight budget, according to Personal Finance writer Liz Pulliam Weston, but how does a moonlighter find customers? The cost of traditional "Yellow Pages" advertising can be out of reach for cash-strapped individuals, so how do they make their skills and availability known to people who need their services?

ServiceInABottle.com is the answer.

ServiceInABottle.com gives moonlighting service providers a way to reach service consumers, without the cost of traditional "Yellow Pages" advertising and without the hassle of having to periodically replace expired listings on a classified advertising website.

ServiceInABottle.com, launched in January of 2008, offers free online "Yellow Pages" advertising for moonlighters. The advertising does not expire and it can include descriptive images and documents. A listing includes who, what, and where details for a local service provider.

Website: http://www.serviceinabottle.com/

Using Message Boards for Internet Marketing by Carl Hoffman

Internet marketing is a very wide term which can be used to encompass a variety of marketing techniques which are used online. Banner advertisements, website promotion, search engine optimization, email marketing and affiliate marketing all fall under the umbrella of the term Internet marketing but there is even more to Internet marketing than those concepts.

Promoting your website or business on message boards can also be considered to be Internet marketing. In fact this is one of the simplest and least expensive Internet marketing options available. This article will examine how savvy business owners can use Internet message boards wisely. It will also explain how message boards can be misused and rendered ineffective as well.

Message boards are essentially online meeting places. In general most message boards are focused on a particular niche subject and encourage those who share an interest in this particular subject to get together to discuss relevant issues, ask questions, provide advice and even just socialize.

Message boards can focus on any subject imaginable they may focus on a particular baseball team or just the sport of baseball in general. Message boards can focus on subjects such as politics, television shows, bands, current events, jobs, hobbies or any subject imaginable.

Savvy Internet marketers can take advantage of these message boards to reach a target audience without investing a great deal of money.

Consider a business in which the focus of the business is to assist people in finding jobs which offer telecommute options. The concept of working from home is becoming increasingly popular and there are many websites which focus on this subject. Likewise there are also many message boards devoted to the topic of working from home.

Here those with an interest in the subject meet to discuss issues such as finding employment where working from home is an option, working around the schedule of your children, setting up a home office, dealing with friends or family members who don't respect your working hours and paying taxes on freelance assignments.

A business owner who actively participates in this message board can take the opportunity to post a link to his website when it is relevant and offers something of value to the conversation. This is worthwhile because the message board features a high concentration of your target audience members.

When using message boards to promote your business, it is important to ensure you are following the rules associated with the message boards. Message boards may have restrictions regarding the posting of links and failure to abide by these restrictions may result in you being banned from the message board.

For this reason it is important for anyone who is interested in using message boards for promotion of their business to carefully read the user agreement to ensure they are not violating any of the rules.

It is also important to simply use common sense when promoting your business on a message board. Just because the rules do not restrict posting links, does not mean you should spam the board with your link. Take care to only include your link when it is relevant. This will prevent message board users from assuming your link is just worthless spam.

Finally, when using message boards to promote your business it is important to be courteous to other message board users and to keep all posts professional. This is important because you and your business are much more likely to be taken seriously if you act professionally and responsibly.

You should maintain this degree of professionalism even in posts which do not include your business link. This is important because other message board participants will remember you by your user name and will not be likely to take you seriously if you have previously made posts which were offensive, mean spirited or inaccurate.

Remember,it is important to act as a representative from your company at all times.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Visit Carl Hoffman's website at http://www.cehoffman.com/

Is It Possible To Make Money Working From Home? by Paul Jesse

It 's no wonder the idea of earning a comfortable living while staying at home appeals to millions of people, and for almost as many reasons. With the costs of child care, transportation and other expenses that arise from simply having a job, some are finding that it can be lucrative to establish a business from home, saving money at the same time.

But what really is involved with working from home, and can money actually be made without spending a fortune in start-up costs? Here are a few helpful tips and ideas to consider on your road to making money working from home.

First, in order to be sensible, one must explore the realities of working from home such as; do you have the discipline it takes to be profitable? To many of us the thought of having no boss looming over our shoulders or barking orders at us to be highly enticing. Alternately, make sure you find ways to stay motivated and remember the importance of being focused and success-driven.

Once you've established that you mean business, so to speak, and are determined to succeed, you must decide if you haven't already what it is you're going to do to make money. With the advent of the internet and a myriad of technological advances, it really is possible to stay at home and earn an income in a variety of fields.

Some of the most popular legitimate home-based businesses that can be quite prosperous are ones that you can do right from your home computer. With a decent internet connection and a PC that has a good word processing or graphics program you can earn money in a number of ways. Have you always been told you have a flair for words? Then consider a career in writing or some aspect of the world of journalism. There are a multitude of writing and proofreading jobs available for those who know their way around subjects and predicates. Use a search engine to look for freelance writing or editing and proofreading jobs and be prepared to spend some time in front of your computer.

Maybe you have experience in medical terminology or are an excellent typist? In that case there are hundreds of companies that hire transcriptionists to work from home, and not only in the medical field either. Some hire people to do telemarketing or internet marketing from home in which case you could put your savvy sales skills to good use. And there are those who even hire administrative assistants and look for secretarial services from people working from home.

If graphic design is your forte, perhaps you can start a web design service and create web pages for internet sites. Millions of companies are constantly in need of updated logos, business cards, letterhead and brochures. Not to mention the need for professionally done flyers, press releases and business letters.

There are also several other types of profitable home-based businesses that are enhanced by the internet and technology. Consider a wedding consulting service with your own web page detailing what you offer. There are careers to be had in the real estate and insurance industries along with tutoring services and even in the world of photography or music. Or maybe you've always had a special love for animals and want to try your hand at starting a pet sitting service?

Whatever it is that you are talented or skilled at, there 's always a way to make money doing it from home. With a lot of research and a little common sense, you can easily earn a healthy living and become your own boss.

Holding onto your first job while trying out your new business part-time, and also building clientele in the process, is an excellent idea, especially if you're leery of a complete transition right away. This gives you the opportunity to explore several options if needed before deciding on what 's exactly right for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Jesse is a retired government employee, private pilot and author of numerous home business articles. He earns commissions from several affiliate programs every month. He invites you to visit his website. http://www.sheamarketing.com/

How Important Is It For Copywriters To Have An Agency Quality Website? by Chris Marlow

Over the years, I've had several copywriters ask me how important it is to have an "agency quality" website. My answer is always the same: it 's very important if you are prospecting other than locally.

When you prospect locally, the client can meet you personally. But when you prospect nationally, your website, "telephone" personality, and marketing materials form the basis of your prospective client 's impression of you.

Fortunately, it 's not difficult to find a designer/webmaster who can help you build a high quality site at a reasonable cost. And some of my students do a very nice job of creating a quality site themselves.

Because I've found national prospecting to be far more profitable than working with local business, I encourage my coaching students to prospect nationally (and sometimes internationally), and create a website that supports a sophisticated positioning.

What, exactly, constitutes an "agency quality" website?

Here are five pointers for creating a website that convinces quality clients that you are the right copywriter for them (plus two common mistakes to avoid):

1. Make sure your website has a "you" orientation. The Home page should not talk about "you" except in the context of what you can offer a client.

2. Have a "unique selling proposition" (USP), or positioning statement. Why are you "the best" choice? Do you serve a particular niche? Are you an expert at some important element of copywriting (e.g., offer development, headlines, concepting, etc.)? Make sure your USP "shines through" on your Home page.

3. View your entire site as a lead-generating tool. If you write a direct response package, you first try to get your prospect into the envelope. Once inside, you attempt to lead your prospect through the package, with the end destination the reply card or order device.

Use the same principle in designing your website and its navigation. Always send your prospect to the "contact me" page, or the page where you offer more information. As with any lead-generation effort, your only goal is to get your website visitor to respond.

4. Create an offer, and offer it on your website. Unlike general advertising, direct marketing is defined by the offer. If you don't have an offer, you're not employing the most fundamental rule of marketing, and it will cost you responses.

5. Pay attention to look and feel. Copywriters have the right and responsibility to make sure the end product produces leads or sales.

This means that the copywriter should offer the art director some level of direction on look and feel (without overstepping bounds, of course).

A clean, well-organized website that exhibits a "professional finish" will offer a sophisticated client some level of assurance that contacting you will not be a waste of their time.

What NOT to do on your website:

First and foremost, don't "preach to the choir." Because the world of copywriting is new to new copywriters, they have a tendency to "tell what they know" on their website.

But a quality client (usually mid-size to large companies and organizations), doesn't want to know why copywriting will help him. He already knows that, even if he doesn't know how to write copy himself.

What he 's looking for is validation that you could be the right copywriter for him.

Websites that attempt to "teach" generally attract clients who need teaching (oftentimes small business with a low appreciation of what good copywriting can do for them, and an even lower threshold for paying reasonable fees).

The second mistake I see is mentioning price on the Home page (or anywhere in the site, for that matter).

Quality clients do not put price first, and any discussion of price usually comes after the copywriter has a complete picture of the marketing problem that needs to be solved.

Not long ago, one of my coaching students complained that his prospects seemed fixated on price. After going to his website I noticed that his Home page positioned him as more attractively priced than other copywriters.

This positioning inadvertently created a USP based on "low price" - something we copywriters should always avoid.

Bringing up the subject of price on your website will actually cause your prospect to put it front and center. Best to let pricing discussions occur "naturally" in the process of landing a job.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Master copywriter and coach Chris Marlow publishes a free ezine for copywriters who want to quickly build a profitable business. Visit: http://www.freelancersbusinessbulletin.com/

Public relations professionals to gain access to growing online community of freelance journalists

Public relations professionals and media editors are to benefit from a fast-growing networking website (http://www.journalistdirectory.com/) for freelance journalists launched today.

The site is the new home for the Freelance Journalist Directory, produced by the people behind popular media services such as Response Source, SourceWire and FeaturesExec.

The site enables PR professionals to search for freelance journalists who may be working in their sectors and allows editors to search for and contact freelance journalists with a view to commissioning them.

The Freelance Journalist Directory has been enhanced with many social networking features, such as the ability for freelance journalists to add pictures and links to their blogs and other social media profiles.

The number of journalists listed has increased by 30 per cent since the new site was announced to freelance journalists eight weeks ago and more are joining the community each day. A total of over 3,500 freelance journalists have added themselves to the site to date.

Establishing relationships with key freelance journalists can be a highly effective PR tactic. Freelance journalists often specialise in one or two subject areas, so they normally cover the same topics on a regular basis. They are also very good at selling ideas into media outlets and are often quite prolific – particularly in producing online media content, seen as increasingly valuable among the PR industry. Many freelance journalists also write influential blogs in their specialist sectors.

The site is completely free to use for freelance journalists and commissioning editors.

New Copywriters Are Looking For a Recession-proof Home Business

Veteran copywriter and writing teacher Angela Booth reports that people with writing skills are looking to copywriting to provide security against recession.

"Where last year hobbyist writers would be working on a novel or writing short stories, this year they want to capitalize on their writing skills" she said.

She went on to explain: "Their thinking is that copywriting is a form of writing that’s recession-proof. No matter how good or bad the economy gets, people still need to buy and sell, and as long as there are buyers and sellers, there will always be a need for people who can write copy"

The other big benefit of creating a copywriting services home business, she says, is that copywriters can write from anywhere, and at any time they choose. Some of her new students moonlight in their new careers, pleased that they have a safeguard if they’re retrenched from their day job.

When asked whether it’s hard to start a copywriting services business, Angela said there were a couple of things new copywriters should do:

* Build up a copywriting portfolio - essentially writing samples. Angela says that most of her new students already have experience in writing marketing materials in their jobs, so they can mock-up samples of their writing quickly;

* Promote your copywriting services - online and offline and get your first clients: copywriters are in high demand, especially online, to write marketing materials for Web sites, so it’s easy even for new copywriters to land clients.

Angela Booth is a well-known copywriter who’s been writing copy for 30 years. She teaches copywriting skills with her course "Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success" at http://abmagic.com/Copywriting/copywriting.html

Sixth annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards

The Web Marketing Association has launched its sixth annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The Competition Web site is located at iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is February 15, 2008.

Awards will be presented within each of the industry categories and advertising formats such as:
Online ad (including banner, pop-up or interstitial)
Online ad Campaign
Rich media online ad
Rich media Campaign
Email message
Online newsletter campaign
Microsite/Landing page
Integrated ad campaign
Ads the client did not choose

The Internet Advertising Competition Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (advertising and interactive agencies, corporate marketing departments, etc.) involved in the process of developing Internet advertising. Entries may be submitted online at http://www.iacaward.org/. The deadline for entry has been extended until February 15, 2008 and will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium.