Avoid These Home Business Scams

Everybody wants to work from home.We are all aware of the benefits of working from home. Work at your leisure, do what you enjoy and earn money in the bargain. Who would not like this luxury. But with the mad rush for people to work from home, scamsters seem to be making a quick buck and many people have fallen prey to them. The following are a few scams one needs to be careful about before engaging in work at home opportunities.

"Envelope Stuffing Scams"

This is possibly the most infamous. You are required to stuff envelopes which the company sends you after you have paid a fee with a promise that you will be paid for every envelope you stuff. The problem is you never get paid and you lose the money you have invested in buying the envelopes.

"Data Entry Scams"

You see many advertisements promising you instant wealth just typing from home. But what do most of them turn out to be? Well, typing Google adwords as prescribed by the company, pay for the keywords that are suggested by them and simply advertise for " Data Entry " jobs which leads the customer to their site. In other words all you are doing typing Google Adwords using your money for advertising their site and getting a small commission in the bargain. More often than not you end up burning a hole in your pocket with Google Adwords as we all know it does not come cheap. You could do this on your own with a Clickbank and Google Adwords account and don't need to pay money to do it.

"Call 1-900 Scam"

You would have to call a 1-900 number to get more details on a home business opportunity or a work from home job. These numbers are not toll free. So you pay for the call and end up getting information which is of no use to you.

"Sending E-mail Scam"

You are promised income by just sending e-mails. For this you have to pay the company for the necessary instructions. In return you get a list of e-mail id's to which you have to send e-mails. Here is the catch. You will probably end up spamming people and get penalized in the bargain.

These are just a few scams. There are probably many more on the net. One needs to be careful before spending one's hard earned money. A simple search on Google for Home business scams can give you more information about the scams doing rounds on the net.

(C) Writing Career

Moonlighting Your Way to a Freelance Copywriting Career

If you are moonlighting as a copywriter and want to go full-time, you can. But be sure to have a plan in place first. Owning your own business can be great, but not if you fail to plan for the first year's up-and-down income.

1. Be sure you know why you want to go full-time.

Reason: "I want more freedom and flexibility."

Full-time copywriting is great for more flexibility during your workweek, but taking longer breaks like vacations can be tricky. You will need to plan for this.

"I'll make more money as a full-time copywriter than I do as a [fill-in-the-blank]."

You well may! Full-time copywriters easily earn from $50,000 a year to $85,000 and many of them earn more. It is not uncommon to earn $120,000 a year for an in-demand copywriter, and this is NOT the stratosphere. But be aware that it takes some time to get there! Plan to buy your own health insurance and plan to get slammed with self-employment taxes. And cash flow can be very challenging.

"I have always wanted to own my own business."

Good for you! It's a fantastic way to go, especially for parents who want to be more available to their kids. Go for it, just plan for it.

2. Make a financial plan.

- Have clients ready to go so you know you will get paid right away. If you've been moonlighting as a freelancer, then this should not be a problem. You will need to ramp up to full-time, so ramp up your networking and marketing outreach.

- Whittle down the expenses. Boat, 2nd mortgage, credit card debt... you do not want to get into working for yourself and be laden with debt at the same time.

- See if you can add your employer as a client. It happens more often than you think.

3. Make a timeline.

Plan your planning! Decide when you are going to have your financial plan ready, including when and how you are going to cut out unnecessary expenses and/or pay off debt while you are still employed. Then plan your marketing and pump up your client list. You will be really busy for a while until you quit your job, so take care of your health!

Then write that resignation letter! Be bold, dream, don't be afraid. You can do this!

(C) Writing Career

Do You Know Why Clients Buy Your Freelance Services?

Do you know why your clients buy? Seems like a pretty simple question, right? Not really, when you dig deeper under the surface. How you answer is critical to the success of your business.

To begin, understand one simple fact: prospects and clients buy for their reasons, not yours. They could care less about your company and your mission statement or the long list of product features you so skillfully articulate.

They only care about the outcome your offer provides them. They want the benefit, the impact, the improvement, the comfort, or the security it will deliver. Most small business marketing fails to address these crucial client needs directly. Instead, they focus on the greatness of their product or service and miss what is important.

Freelancers are often their own worst enemies. Frequently, they are not communicating on the buyer's level of motivation. They are too busy figuring out how to "sell" the product than finding out the reasons the client "buys".

The problem comes down to the marketing strategy that is employed. Are you pushing your product or are you pulling the client through the marketing process?

There is a very important distinction here. Since buyers only care about their needs and take action for their personal reasons, why should they pay attention to why you think your product is so great?

When you push your services or products, you are essentially telling the client that they should buy from you because of your reasons. With this egocentric approach you often run into a stone wall of objections and delays. Pushing the service or product forces them out of their comfort zone and places unnecessary pressure on their decision making process. A relentless assault of closing techniques pushes them away from a purchasing decision on their terms.

Pulling a buyer through the purchasing process is much more effective. When you pull you are leading them to the purchase like leading a horse to water. You gently guide them through your features and benefits and come to a decision on their terms. If they resist you have not educated them enough with information to motivate them or you haven't addressed their objections sufficiently.

The buyer will only make a decision when they are comfortably satisfied your offer has met all of their purchasing criteria. As a seller, you must pull them through the process and always let them stay within the limits of their comfort zone. It's by staying within these boundaries that trust is established and a long term relationship is built with the client.

Also remember that the purchasing process is completely rooted in the perceptions of the buyer. They have ultimate control over the process, not you. Your job as a freelancer is to develop all your communications to make them comfortable and lead them to the best outcome...purchasing your product or service.

Always be aware of which method you are using - push or pull - and adopt it to the buyer's personal reasons for purchasing and you will enjoy continuous success.

(C) Writing Career

Use RSS Feeds to Connect with your Clients

In the 'good old days' - about three years ago - you used to keep in-touch with your customers using phone calls, email messages and face to face meetings. Nowadays the world has changed. People expect even more frequent updates, yet it's nearly impossible to meet with every business contact on a regular basis.

Thankfully, blogging has come to the rescue. Setting up a blog on your web site - and having an associated RSS feed - means you can keep in constant touch with your clients and potential customers. Plus you don't have to email them and they can get your latest news without having to visit your web site.

So how does this all work? A blog is really a fancy name for a web page that gets updated regularly. It's nothing special. There are several methods of writing 'blogs', but they are nothing more than computer programs which allow you to easily update a web page. Far and away the easiest way to start a blog is with a website called blogger.com.

However, for keeping in touch with your customers, RSS is the key. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. What this means is that your blog can be automatically delivered to people who want to read it - you don't have to send it to them and neither do they have to come and collect it. All they need is the address of your RSS Feed and their RSS Newsreader can do the job for them. There are several RSS readers available and new web browsers incorporate the ability to read RSS feeds and keep them updated.

Whenever you add new content to your blog, the RSS Feed automatically gets updated in everyone's Reader program or web browser. That means you are guaranteed to be able to keep in touch with clients and prospects. You don't have to do anything other than produce the content. Equally, you don't face the problems of email filters and anti-spam programs blocking your email. Furthermore, people tend to read RSS Feeds because they have subscribed to them whereas they tend to ignore non urgent emails.

As you can see, there are several advantages to Blogs and RSS Feeds. But it doesn't stop there. Search engines love them. That's because blogs provide fresh and new content - precisely what searchers are looking for. Hence the search engines are actively pushing blogs higher up the search engine ranking. This means if you don't have a blog for your business, you are seriously reducing your chances of a high search engine ranking. You need a blog nowadays to get noticed by the search engines.

So, blogging is essential. Not only does it improve your web presence, it also means you can keep in touch with clients and prospects more easily. And all the marketing research you can find will tell you that keeping in regular touch with your customers is an important component in gaining new business. So get blogging!

(C) Writing Career

The Benefits Of A Home-Based Freelance Business

Taking advantage of a home-based freelance business opportunity can afford you many benefits. There are not only the monetary benefits, but lifestyle benefits as well. Whether lifestyle or monetary, these benefits can be far greater than the benefits you receive working for an employer. If you are already working in your own home-based freelance business or just entertaining the idea, be sure to evaluate your options and consider the value of the benefits you will receive. home-based freelance business opportunities can provide you with independence and financial freedom if you make smart decisions.

It is not always money that motivates people to start a home-based freelance business. Sometimes the intangible benefits are more important factors when considering home-based freelance business opportunities. One of the more powerful draws to working from home is the sense of freedom you gain. You can set your own schedule, work the hours that are most convenient for you, and have time available for family obligations and leisure activities. Parents with children in school often think about what home-based freelance business opportunities may be available to them. Teacher conferences, after school activities and the ability to be home when the children are out of school are strong motivators in making the decision to start a home-based freelance business. Working from home gives you the benefit of flexible hours and the freedom to adjust your schedule according to the needs of your family.

Stress reduction is another benefit of operating a home-based freelance business. Any business will likely produce its own kind of stress, but certain stressful factors can be avoided when you take advantage of the more promising home business opportunities that are available to you. You will have no daily commute, you will save money on gas and automobile expenses, and you will have the extra time in the morning and evening to relax and interact with your family instead of spending that time getting to and from work. If you plan properly and budget your time wisely, being your own boss can reduce the stress you feel due to constant demands and co-worker interruptions.

A home-based freelance business opportunity cannot only give you the benefit of earning money while working from your home it can give you many other benefits as well. A home-based freelance business is the perfect chance for you to attain financial and personal freedom. There are numerous home-based freelance business opportunities available to you. Research each one carefully and make sure you are willing to put forth the effort that will be required in order to succeed.

(C) Writing Career

Are Online Marketers Overlooking The Gold In Offline Businesses?

Most internet marketers focus heavily on the most common ways to make money and sales online like pay per click advertising, search engine optimization and the selling of products like ebooks that can be downloaded digitally.

But according to the author of a new groundbreaking report Offline Gold For The Online Marketer the most lucrative field for online marketers could be selling internet marketing services to local businesses.

Andrew Cavanagh was an offline business owner for over a decade before entering the online business world as a writer, copywriter and marketer.

Over the years he discovered that small business owners are desperate for any kind of marketing information and especially information on how to market their businesses online.

Many businesses have been "stung" paying thousands of dollars for websites that never really sell anything and they're thrilled when someone with some internet marketing knowledge offers to help them increase their sales and improve their customer service and follow up with online solutions.

The real key, Andrew Cavanagh says, is to create a "direct response" website. A site designed to turn prospects into real buyers for an offline business and turn existing clients into repeat buyers.

If you can do that, and most internet marketers already have the skills required, then you can charge business owners in your local area $1,500 to $5,000 or more to help them.

Best of all this kind of consulting doesn't cost anything to start. You can literally walk into businesses in your local area today and walk out with checks in your pocket for helping the owners with their online marketing.

For a step by step system on how to sell your internet marketing services to businesses in your local area read the full report Offline Gold For The Online Marketer at http://www.copywriting1.com/wso

The Internet Is Going Local

The late, great Cory Rudl once said:

"...the biggest change I see heading our way is a shift from the global market to the local market....the Internet is going local! Here is the secret: If you realize this and the power it will have on society... can you find a way to capitalize on this? If you have ideas and position yourself now, you will be an incredibly wealthy person!" (excerpt from The Internet Global).

Cory's prediction has come true -- the Internet IS going local. The question is, when will small business owners realize it?

According to The Kelsey Group, "70% of U.S. households now use the Internet as an information source when shopping locally for products and services... Findings also suggest the Internet is poised to surpass newspapers as a local shopping information resource."

The search engines have laid the groundwork and put some incredible tools in place. Google Local Business Center lets business owners add or edit their company information to Google Local. MSN & Yahoo have their own Local Search offerings. Most of them are free (for now), just there for the taking.

Tell that to small business owners. Try talking to them about local online advertising and this is what you might get:

- "Oh yeah, the Internet. That's for selling stuff to the world, but all of my customers live here."
- "I tried the Internet, it didn't work for my business."
- "I have a website but it gets no traffic - what a waste of money!"
- "The Internet is for products - I have a service business."

...and so on. It may be hard to believe, but many of them have no clue how much the Internet could help their business.

Yet they will pay exorbitant prices to advertise in those heavy 20 pound behemoths known as the Yellow Pages.

If you think about it, Yellow Pages are ridiculous: a teeny tiny rectangle's worth of information that you can't change for a year, on the SAME page as your competitors' ads. And for that they charge you hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.

But the Yellow Pages are familiar, so small business owners stick to it. And since most of the Yellow Pages are online now, many will get basic online listings by default.

Still, it's a shame that so many small business owners have such misconceptions about the Internet. A lot of that is a due to all the hype and craziness of the early Internet days, when they got sucked into paying huge sums of money for worthless websites that they thought would magically bring customers through their doors. Those experiences left a bitter taste in many a business owner's mouth, which still lingers today.

Okay, well that was then. It's time to turn the page and move forward. How can we help small business owners wake up and smell the coffee?

A little bit at a time.

Help your neighborhood businesses get the message. Even if their eyes glaze over when you mention it, tell small business owners some of the ways you use the Internet in your life. If you have family or friends who own businesses, make sure they get their business online.

Encourage every business owner you meet to get an Internet presence -- not a glorified brochure, but something that helps them to connect and build relationships with visitors and customers.

Don't try to convince them, just inform them in a friendly, non-threatening way. Forget the hard sell, especially if you're in the web design business.

Tell them that if they're NOT using the Internet to attract and communicate with local consumers, they're losing money.

Then put your money where your mouth is and patronize local businesses that DO get it. Eventually the others will get with the program ... or they'll go out of business.

(C) Writing Career

Are You Ready To Become A Self-Employed Freelancer?

If you are interested in starting a business, or taking over one, you face a daunting task that carries a level of risk and excitement not possible in the 'employee' world.

If the financial independence of self-employment appeals to you - no boss, no income limits as to time and wage, and the ability to let your personal drive determine your compensation - then you will no doubt be eagerly going over the many options available to release you from your current job.

However, the rush of financial excitement must be tempered by the necessary cost of time, money and effort in properly setting yourself up independently.

Despite income claims made by business opportunity companies, or competing businesses, you must be ready to accept the reality of not seeing personal income for several months - or even years.

Starting a self-employed business on the side, while keeping regular employment as your financial security, is a wise method of ensuring your income.

Another option is to have substantial savings that permit you the freedom to pursue your dreams unencumbered with other employment. However, the savings must also be capable of carrying the costs of developing a business along with providing for your material needs.

Do you also recognize the time that is required in starting your own business? In some ways it is almost unnecessary to bring up the point since your passion will likely drive you to spend many hours in your pursuits. If you have other obligations; family, job, social etc. then you will have to consider if you CAN devote the time needed to get your business off the ground.

Having discussed both money and time, you must recognize that there is much more effort extended BEFORE a business is profitable than at any other time in your business. Yes, once you are getting work and are satisfied with the income level you may be very busy indeed but you will then be compensated for it. When you are still cultivating your business - marketing, doing free jobs, searching for clients and customers - you may not be seeing any income, or a very meager one, which makes your EFFORTS seem immense.

Do not falter! If you come to the point when you are working your hardest and doing everything your business requires but still not seeing monetary results, you may hit a psychological wall. This is where truly entrepreneurial individuals see an obstacle to overcome as opposed to a dead-end to their hard work. Passion for their work and the strong desire to work for themselves overcomes any perceived barriers and moves them to keep going and ultimately becoming very successful.

By persevering you will certainly see the fine fruits of your labors and prove to yourself and others that the benefits of self-employment far outweigh the mediocre status quo of the typical worker's daily grind.

(C) Writing Career

Tips to Earn Some Cash with Content Publishing

You have read all over the internet about how easy it is to make money with something called content publishing. Well, it's true; you can make some decent money online with content publishing. There are however, a couple of things you need to know before you'll be able to generate significant money from Google's Adsense or any of the lesser known context advertising systems.

First on this list is "original content." Do not fall into the trap of obtaining private label content for use on your context advertising site and using it without truly making it yours. This cannot be stressed enough. In order to get the biggest benefit from your private label purchases, you must re-write the content to make it unique. The search engines love unique content and it makes absolutely no sense to purchase the right to re-write the content, making it your very own, and then not exercise that right. There are so many people who buy private label rights and then do nothing with them. One of your objectives must be to make your content stand out from the crowd. The search engines will reward you with a higher ranking. This will translate into more visitors and more clicks on your ad links.

That brings us to another issue that you must not forget about: traffic generation. You could have the best looking site on the world wide web, but if you get zero traffic you will not make any money from it. Like it or not, traffic generation is something that you must work at to be successful in content publishing. Sure, at some point you should be able to count on getting regular traffic from the search engines, but how long will that take? In the beginning, you will need to drive any traffic that you get to your site. Traffic doesn't just magically appear. It takes some hard work, but in the end the payoff can be significant.

Traffic generation can be accomplished in two ways, free traffic or paid traffic. Free traffic generation methods include link exchanges with similar sites, signature lines in emails or forum posts, free classified ad sites and many more.

Paid traffic includes sites where a specific amount of website visitors can be purchased. Be very cautious about using paid traffic sites as these sites may send traffic that is untargeted and therefore potentially unresponsive. It's obvious that the kind of visitor you want is someone who is interested in the content on your site. Although this is obvious, it needs to be stressed.

Random web surfers who land on your site are very unlikely to spend much time reading your content or clicking the ads. The kind of visitor you want is someone who is actively looking for the kind of content you have published. These visitors are very likely to click on relevant ads and that is one of your main objectives as a content publisher.

(C) Writing Career

3, 2, 1...Blast Off Your Freelance Business Blog

Has your blog begun to stall or are you trying to figure out what to do to get it going again? Have you been trying to get your blog started but do not know how to get started? Then this article will provide you with ways to blast off your blog to grow your business.

Basic steps
The first area that you should make sure that you have in place is the foundation for a successful blog (back to the basics). Here are few things that you should keep in mind:

(1) Make sure your blog has a niche topic so you can make a concerted effort to reach specific blog visitors. For example, if you have a hobby such as collecting rare books, then your main topic should be concentrated on reaching web visitors who need a rare book.

(2) Use categories/tags that are sub-topics of your main topic. Going with the previous niche topic, then good sub-topics would be: authors, genre, illustrated, modern, historic, etc.

(3) Content is key to building traffic to your website. Make sure that your content includes the keywords that you want associated to your niche blog.

Next Steps
Once you have the basics in place, then you need to create a "community" within your blog. Building a "community" means that you want to create a reason for repeat visits by your blog visitors. This will help you in the long run to one day setup a membership website. What does it take to build a "community"? Glad you asked. Below is a short list of things you can do.

(1) Create a way for your web visitors to contribute to your blog. This can be done by allowing them to comment on your blog posts or by allowing them to submit content to be considered for posting to your blog.

(2) Ask your web visitors to submit a link for consideration to be added to your "blogroll" in exchange for them putting a link back to your blog from theirs.

(3) Visit article websites such as www.EzineArticles.com and find articles that are in your niche. You would have to give credit to the author of the article but it is a great way to add content to your website.

Final step
Give your blog visitors a reason to come back by rewarding them for continuously visiting your blog.

(1) Give-away freebies to your blog visitors.

(2) Create a way for them to tell-a-friend about your blog.

(3) Have a contest for guest authors in your niche topic to be guest authors on your blog and ask them to share a link to the article on your blog from theirs.

(C) Writing Career

Savvylance Launches Online Market Place for Freelancers and Webmasters

It has always been a dream to a freelancer to get a desired project, paying good bucks similarly on the other hand many businesses want their projects to be completed without appointing highly paid employees. http://www.savvylance.com/ is the perfect market place for both parties.

Online Freelance market place is a platform for Freelancers & Webmasters, Webmasters post projects and select qualified freelancers at the price they want. Freelancer post their resume, skills and bid on projects what webmasters post, in this way webmasters can go easy selecting a good freelancer. They both have to pay small commission to the market place in return projects security and payment is secured for both the parties via escrow.

Freelancer can be anyone a Programmer, Content writer, Web designer, Web developer, an SEO and many more, in today professionals want to be more free and try their hand working individually that’s why they want to work freelance. Freelancers are also experienced and can work perfectly with the economical rate. Businesses are also look for freelancers to complete their projects to cut their project cost, in this way demand of qualified freelancers has been increasing every day.

Webmasters/Project creators can be an individual, business or website who want to complete their projects like custom programming, web designing, web developing, seo, content writing, marketing research, data entry and lot more. What they want is to get those projects done in the quickest way without appointing highly paid employees. They choose freelancers who complete the projects remotely worldwide.

Working At Home as a Freelancer

When most people decide to work at home, they have visions of how easy and convenient it is going to be, rolling out of bed and rolling up to the computer in your home clothes, or being able to work and still never missing any of their favorite soap operas and talk shows during the day. Unfortunately, there is a lot more to contend with after making the decision to work at home than no more suits and no more commuting.

To work at home successfully, a person needs a great deal of personal motivation and self-discipline. After all, there is no train you are going to miss and no boss you are going to tick off by showing up late if you can't get yourself out of bed by eight in the morning. Instead, people who work at home have to be their own boss and monitor their own schedule in this regard, which can be difficult if you're used to being motivated by the strict schedule imposed by your office environment.

On the other hand, for many individuals who don't necessarily function optimally during "normal" working hours and who prefer a more alternative approach, the work at home option can be a blessing because it allows them to work at home when it is convenient for them. In many cases, this arrangement will make someone more productive, not less. Having a flexible working schedule is a home business advantage but it can also lead to failure if not managed properly.

If you are planning to work at home, the best thing you can do is to set yourself a few ground rules and make sure you stick to them. Plan your workdays in advance - know when you are going to get up and start work, when you will break for lunch and when you will quit for the day, just as you would at office.

If you work at home, your schedule doesn't have to be the same as it would at the office, but it needs to exist in order for you to be productive. Set yourself a designated work area where you will work at home and try to keep it as separate from your non-work life as you can.

After all, one thing many people who work at home learn quickly is that you don't always appreciate being at home as much when you're not working if you're also at home when you are working.

(C) Writing Career

How to Turn Your Stimulus Check Into a New Career

By now, millions of Americans are receiving their economic stimulus checks from the government. You wouldn't think that a $600 check could radically change anyone's life, but Scott Fox, author of the book INTERNET RICHES: The Simple Money-Making Secrets of Online Millionaires, disagrees. In his new free eBook, Seven Simple Steps to Stimulate Your Success Online, Fox shows how you can take that money and turn it into your own online business with minimal start-up costs.

Scott Fox's eBook will teach you how to:

• Register a domain name and create your web site


• Get your site on search engines


• Set yourself apart from your online competitors


• Use online marketing tools to optimize your success

For anyone who's tired of working for someone else, this eBook will open up a whole new world of possibilities. An online business is ideal for entrepreneurial people who want both financial independence and a way to work around their schedules. Whatever your dreams, whatever your skills and interests, there is an online market waiting to be tapped. Seven Simple Steps to Stimulate Your Success Online is the perfect place to start. Download it for free at http://www.scottfox.com/7-simple-steps-stimulus-ebook.html.

Master Photographers Offer Insight and Expertise

World-class photographers will share their insider know-how and answer photography questions on technology, artistry, and technique during a new, weekly podcast hosted by web entrepreneur Dr. Audri Lanford. The series, "7 Photography Questions," kicks off today with an interview with master flower photographer Tony Sweet, the 2006 Nikon Legend Behind the Lens.

The schedule of podcasts (http://www.7photographyquestions.com/) includes:

- Tony Sweet, June 3. Answers the 7 Biggest Questions About Photographing Flowers.

- Lewis Kemper, June 10. Capturing the Moment in Nature Photography.

- Scott Stulberg, June 17. Getting Started Earning Money in Stock Photography.

- Rob Sheppard, June 24. Creating the "Wow" Response in Your Photographs.

- Jim Zuckerman, July 1. Fireworks, Twilight and Night Photography: Photographing Fireworks, Lightning and the Moon.

- Roy Toft, July 8. Photographing Wildlife in the Wild.

Digital Photography Tips and Tricks

Every day, the market is increasingly crammed with digital cameras, and it can boggle the mind to figure out which one to buy, and how to use it. Should you buy based on megapixels? How much is enough zoom? Should you invest in a digital SLR, or would a smaller, point and shoot camera be more than enough? And, once you've taken the picture, what's the best way to store, edit, print or otherwise display it?

Blogpire Productions is happy to introduce Picture Snob to help you answer just these questions. Packed with real-world advice from photographers and camera nuts, Picture Snob offers product reviews, industry news and tips and tricks on everything from cameras, digital frames, printers and scanners to software, digital printing services and photo sharing services

"People get overwhelmed by all the options in digital photography, and rightfully so," says Susan Moriarty, the brains behind Picture Snob. "There'll always be a next best thing, but it's truly about understanding a few key features to find what works best for you. Then you can get on with it and have fun!"

She adds, "Once you've gotten comfortable with the digital camera, there are the issues of storage and display. We're still evolving there -- digital photo frames, web-based sharing and custom publishing are just the first of many offerings to come."

"Digital photography is entertaining. How many times have you seen someone take a picture and then folks crowd around to laugh and interact right then and there, maybe do a second take or another funny face? Photography has become an experience for all involved. After the initial investment in a digital camera, you are free to experiment, create and play at no added expense. The options are truly endless."

Website: http://www.picturesnob.com/

Free Teleseminar Series Features World's Top Writers of Money-Making Sales Copy

Every week through early August, A-list copywriter David Deutsch is hosting a free teleseminar series with one of an all-star lineup of renowned copywriters and super-successful copywriter-entrepreneurs.

"There is no easier, quicker, more dependable way to make money online or off," says David Deutsch, ''than by learning how to use words to persuade people to act. And that's what copywriting -- and OPERATION COPY QUICK-START -- is all about.''

David knows about making money with words, since his sales copy (http://www.copyquickstart.com/pr) has sold millions of dollars of products and services for clients such as Boardroom/Bottom Line Books, for other large book and newsletter publishers, for Fortune 500 companies, and for small entrepreneurs.

Guests featured on these calls include some of the best-known copywriting and marketing legends in the direct response world:

- Jay Abraham is the copywriting and marketing genius other copywriting and marketing geniuses turn to for advice. With breathtaking brilliance and simplicity, his "Strategy of Pre-Eminence" will give you the surest and fastest way to win over prospects and dominate your market.

- Dan Kennedy, well known business author, ''Millionaire-Maker'' and ''Professor of Harsh Reality,'' will reveal how he writes more copy in a morning than many copywriters write in a month ... copy that's famous for pulling money out of prospects' pockets like a high-powered magnet.

- Herschell Gordon Lewis (on behalf of AWAI) may well be the world's best-known writer and direct response consultant. You'll never look at copy the same way again after he shows you exactly how to use just the right words to get just the effect you want. (And we'll surely ask him about his cinematic career as ''The Godfather of Gore''!)

- John Carlton, king of hard-hitting, can't-stop-reading-it copy, will reveal how he comes up with the powerful headlines, hooks, and rock-'em, sock-'em body copy that makes him one of the most successful, respected and feared copywriters working today.

- Joe Vitale, one of the stars of the movie ''The Secret,'' will reveal how writers and marketers can use the power of attraction -- plus, how to write copy that's literally hypnotic.

- Clayton Makepeace, copywriting legend, will show you how to add the super-charging power of emotion to your copy. And how he makes millions writing copy for clients without being a "writer-for-hire."

- Yanik Silver, a hugely successful Internet marketer, will show you how to create not just the income you want, but the total lifestyle that you desire. (And wait until you hear about his lifestyle.)

- Matt Furey, acclaimed Internet marketer of products that condition your body and your mind, will teach you how to make $100,000 or more a year writing simple emails that take just 10-12 minutes to compose. (It's how he built his own multi-million dollar business.)

- Brad Antin and Bill Harris (Centerpointe Research) are co-creators of the revolutionary seminar, How to Think Like a Marketer. Brad will reveal a simple image that, if you keep it in mind, will magically transform the power of your copy.

- Michel Fortin, super-successful Web copywriter and master of the long-copy sales letter, will reveal the crucial, easy-to-improve skill that's guaranteed to make your copy far more tantalizing, compelling and responsive.

- Michael Morgan will reveal how he came out of nowhere to become a million-dollar copywriter and Internet marketing superstar. Just by having fun.

- Brett McFall, an international copywriting and marketing superstar based in Australia, runs 9 super-successful online businesses, as well as the world's largest Internet marketing seminar. Gary Halbert once said of him: "This guy will make you millions."

To sign up for the series and receive the phone number and passcode each week for each call, go to http://www.copyquickstart.com/pr.

Why Imagination Is Key To Freelance Success

The average person thinks of a business person as either some kind of poker-faced accountant or some cherubic extroverted sales person.

You rarely read an article in the popular medium about an imaginative business person or often hear of one who is highly creative, artistic, and imaginative.

The popular concept of a business person espoused by the media is someone who is rather dull and linear in their thinking. They are referred to more often as "hard-nosed" and "practical." In fact, many business people themselves buy into this erroneous stereotype.

Yet imagination is the heart of business success. While corporations themselves may appear to be based on buttoned-down rules and regulations, the entrepreneurs who started them have all, without exception, been highly creative and imaginative. Those corporations that remain innovative and progressive still retain some themes of imaginative expression.

Napoleon Hill, in his perennially popular book, Think And Grow Rich, goes into great detail about the seminal role of imagination in business success.

He talks about two types of imaginative faculties: "synthetic" imagination and "creative" imagination.

Through synthetic imagination, a person arranges old concepts, ideas, plans, and business models into new combinations. Now while nothing new is created, the new pattern yields surprising results.

For example, the self-help grocery store where customers do all the work of shopping is now very familiar to us, and we can't even remember when things were different.

However, the original business model was to have people come up to the counter of a shop and present their list to the sales clerk who would then run around the store and fetch it for them.

Now, with the use of aisles, clear directional signing, and shopping carts, the job of a store is to keep it stocked and check people out.

In fact, even this idea of checking people out is becoming obsolete, with many stores now offering people the option to check themselves out. Thus, the customer does all the work. Pulling out and wheeling the shopping cart, selecting products, and checking themselves out, and carrying their own bags to their cars.

The result of this arrangement is that everyone is happier. The customer gets to be in control of their shopping experience and the retailer can handle many more customers.

The creative imagination borders on the mystical.

Here is how Napoleon Hill describes it:

"Through the faculty of creative imagination, the finite mind of man had direct communication with Infinite Intelligence. It is the faculty through which 'hunches' and 'inspirations' are received. It is by this faculty that all basic, or new ideas are handed over to man. It is through this faculty that individuals may "tune in," or communicate with the subconscious mind of other men."

An example of creative imagination is the invention of the original recipe of Coca Cola, which went on to spawn the entire soft drink industry.

Business, then, is far from being a game of conservative rule-playing. It is humming with imaginative ideas on how to serve the marketplace. This aspect of business is seldom mentioned in the media and we are often mislead to believe that creative and synthetic imagination is only the domain of the artist.

The business person, especially the entrepreneur, who starts to exercise more imagination, will notice many more ways to make money, creating new channels of supply and demand for the marketplace.

(C) Writing Career

Four Ways To Use Niche Marketing for Your Freelance Business

Many freelancers use niche marketingto help them succeed in the over crowded Internet marketplace. The Internet has allowed freelancing to be easier and makes running an online business almost automatic. This means there is even more competition than ever for customers.

Niche marketing solves that problem. It is a way to focus your attention on a single group of customers that is most likely to buy your product or service. This group is going to be the most loyal and they will make up your biggest profit base.

Once you have done your research and defined your target niche market you have to learn how to use it to your advantage to make your business successful. Here are four ways you can use niche marketing to boost your earning potential.

1. Advertise where your niche market is most likely to look. A niche market is going to be people with similar backgrounds, ideas and interests. It shouldn't be too hard to define some places where your niche market is most likely to frequent.

2. Say the right thing. You have to talk to your niche market the way that they talk. For example, if your niche market is a teenager, then use some teenage lingo and speak to them in a way that they will understand. Do not talk down to your niche market, but rather go to them on the same level and communicate with them. If you need help find someone in your target niche and ask him or her for his or her opinion.

3. Make sure you are addressing a unique need. You want to stand out from your competition and address a need that nobody else is addressing. You may have to do a little market research to find out what people want that they are not getting from the current products or services that are already available to them. But it will be well worth your time.

4. Make sure the price is right. The whole point of finding your niche market is so that you can cater to their needs. One of the most important things you can do is to make sure that the price you set for your product is one that your niche can afford. If you are selling something to a niche market that is in a medium income bracket then you don't want to price your product for those that are in a higher income bracket or you will lose sales.

Making the most of your niche marketing efforts is essential. There is no point in using niche marketing if you are not going to take all the necessary steps to ensure you are using it right. Niche marketing can be very successful if you do everything you can to ensure you are taking full advantage of it. Once you find a hungry niche market you will discover that it was well worth all of your time and efforts.

(C) Writing Career