Tuesday 25 August 2015

How to Survive in the Business of Blogging

If you are increasingly finding it difficult to generate income from your blog despite your best possible efforts, it is high time you must create a contingency plan to keep you dream of becoming a successful blogger alive. 

Successful bloggers have to work out ways to enhance the visibility of their blog to beat the competition and identify unique methods of creating quality content to increase traffic, and at the same time to ensure that they get a high return on investment.

However, as I said in my earlier post, blogging is something that does not create income in a short span of time, especially if you are new in the business of blogging. Therefore, it is important to generate income from other sources to maintain and support your blog.

To create quality content and to promote your blog you require investment not only in terms of time but also money and efforts. 

Moreover, to create a successful blog, one needs the skill to create quality content, online marketing skills, and knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO).

However, research studies show that despite best possible efforts, a majority of bloggers have not been able to generate enough income from their blog and are increasingly finding it difficult to meet their monthly expenses. 

To survive in the business of blogging, you must share your secret of success with your readers. Always remember, "the secret of becoming a successful blogger is to let others know your secret of success". To survive in today’s highly competitive blogging business, you must identify ways to generate alternate income. 

This article will mainly focus on methods to earn money from alternate sources so that you can support and maintain your blog until the time you generate enough income from your own blog. 

I have listed some of the methods of earning money online from various sources other than blogging:

Methods to survive in the business of blogging


1.      Online freelancing: it is one of the most popular methods of making money online to meet monthly expenses. Online freelancing sites provide the opportunity to the freelancer to sell their expertise. You can work on these sites as a freelance writer, online marketer, graphic designer, programmer, data entry operator, virtual assistant or translator to earn regular income. 

To know how and where you can earn income from online freelancing work please read my post Skills that can help you earn money online. The money that you make on online freelance sites can be used to learn new skills to make your blog more effective.

2.      Online Surveys: though you cannot depend on surveys to earn a regular income, it can help you earn money in the long run. You can register on various survey sites to receive online surveys so that you can create more money. To know how to make money through surveys please read my article Are online surveys genuine or a scam. The money that you make from online surveys can be used to promote your blog. 

3.      Sell online: there are several popular sites that provide you a platform to sell your services or products online. Here you can sell you eBooks, old mobile phone, and various other items that you find are no longer useful for you. The money that you make selling your old stuff can be used to buy a custom domain name or registering in paid blogging platforms. It will not only help you to reach out to targeted audience but also help you improve the layout or design of your website.


4.      Other methods: there are various other methods that can be employed to make money online such as writing  paid reviews for other websites, products or services, affiliate marketing and writing Guest posts. However, it is extremely important that you should choose the platform and client carefully to ensure prompt payment and regular work.

 Do you think it is important to have an alternate source of income to survive as a blogger? If you liked this article, please share it with others and share your opinion with us.

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Thursday 20 August 2015

Are Online Surveys Genuine or a Scam


Online money making is generally perceived as a scam. Online surveys are generally notorious for the scams, but there are many survey sites that provide you genuine opportunity to earn money online. 

However, these methods cannot make you rich. Or, you cannot depend on survey sites to make your living. You can treat these sites as a saving account and withdraw the money once you hit the mandatory limit to redeem money.

For example, Onepoll is a London based online quantitative survey company where you can earn £2.5 as soon as you join them. You can also earn additional £4 for referring your friends or family members. How you can do this:



Open ‘Onepoll’ in your browser and sign up for the site. It hardly takes 2 minutes to register for the website. That’s all! The amount will reflect in your ‘Onepoll’ account once you log into your account. Your account will look something like this:




However, you will only be able to withdraw the amount once you reach the mark of £40 in your account that means you will have to regularly check your mailbox or log into your account for new surveys so that you can make more money.

It may take 6 months or even a year to earn enough points to make 40 pounds. The survey usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete and the company pays you 10p to £1 for each successfully completed survey.

One person can hold only one account, and it is important that you must furnish correct information. Most importantly, it is neither mandatory on your part to participate in all the surveys nor it is obligatory on the part of the company to send you surveys on a regular basis. It is a platform where you receive the survey once in a while. However, reviews of most of the leading online survey companies show that majority of the people have managed to earn more than $40 within six months.

Points to remember when registering for online surveys:



  • Choose the survey sites very carefully. Most of these sites do not allow users from the third world country or developing countries to sign up. Make sure to read the reviews of the registered users when registering for the site.

  • Never pay for signing up.

  • Never share you primary mail address. Use secondary email to keep track of the surveys and don’t forget to log in regularly to check new surveys.

  • Withdraw the money as soon as you reach the limit to redeem money as it will protect you from future risks like shutting down of the website.

  • If you don’t get paid even after complaining to their support team, you must try their social media channels to complain about your grievances.
It may be possible that users living in third world country may not receive as many surveys as the users in Europe and USA. I have summarized the answers of some of the questions that the users might like to know.

Why online survey site pay you?


Survey companies pay you for sharing your opinion about a product or service.

How can you withdraw the amount?


You can use your Paypal account or your bank account to withdraw the money.

How long does it take to withdraw the money?


It may take two to four weeks to receive the amount in your account. It entirely depends on the money transfer policy of survey companies.  It is always a good idea to sign up on several reliable survey websites as it will help you earn money on regular basis.


Name the top online survey companies that pay the most?



Ipsos i-say, Swagbucks, Crowdology, Onepoll, Mysurvey, Pureprofile, Toluna, YouGov, Vivatic and Opinion outpost


Do you think you can make money with online surveys? lease feel free to share your opinion with us. If you liked this article, please share it with others.


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Saturday 8 August 2015

5 Advantages of Online Freelancing over Blogging

Freelancing advantages

Blogging is something that does not generate results in the short run. To reap the benefits of blogging one has to show a high level of patience, determination and courage to write unique and original content consistently. Sometimes bloggers are left with no option other than slowing down or completely refraining from writing their blog for a long period of time.


If blogging is your hobby and you are not directly dependent on it for your monthly expenses, you can easily cope with this phase. However, there are hundreds and thousands of bloggers who are directly dependent on their blog to meet their expenses. Many of them are working out ways to earn money from their blog. In such a situation, one has to look for other sources of income to meet one's monthly expenses.

There are many online freelancing jobs where you can reap the fruits of your efforts instantly provided that you have the right skills, experience, and attitude to carry out the job. If you are finding it extremely difficult to generate enough income from your blog and looking for an alternate source of income to meet out your daily expenses or support your blog you can sign up for online freelancing sites to earn money online. Some of the advantages of online freelancing jobs over blogging are:


Advantages of Online Freelancing Over Blogging


Regular Source of Income



Unlike blogging, online freelancing sites provide you the opportunity to earn income on a regular basis. You get paid for helping out clients in establishing their own websites or running their business. If you have some experience in the field of blogging and have relevant skills to establish and market a website you can earn a lot of money on the online freelancing websites. Clients are increasingly looking for people with relevant skills in online marketing, blog writing, logo designing, content writing, programming and SEO techniques.




Significant Improvement in Skills



A good client on an online freelancing site not only pays you for your services but also helps you learn new skills. Different clients have different requirements and their expectations from the service providers are very high, therefore, they keep on suggesting how to do the work differently. It not only forces providers to come up with new ideas but also help them acquire new skills.

Online Freelancing Helps You Create a Successful Blog


Most of the successful bloggers have learned the tricks of the blogging trade on online freelancing platforms. Online freelancing sites provide you the opportunity to share your problems, ideas and opinion on their forums. These forums enable you to discuss your problems and issues that you face in your field of work. You get the opportunity to meet successful professionals who have been doing extremely well in their field of work. You can capitalize on their experience, expertise, and knowledge to establish yourself as a successful blogger.





Online freelancing is not a hobby it’s a profession


Unlike blogging, online freelancing is a profession where you get paid for your expertise. Most of the clients pay you on a weekly basis and provides you with enough work to keep you busy throughout the year. Building your reputation on these sites is a sure shot way of getting more contracts and establishing links with high worth clients. On the contrary, a blog takes a significant amount of time to generate income. 


You don't need multiple skills to establish yourself on online freelancing platforms


Blogging requires not only expertise in writing skills but also the ability to market and present your content effectively. Inability to use right layout, SEO techniques, templates and online marketing techniques can put your blog in a difficult situation. 


On the other hand, online freelancing sites pay you for your expertise in any field; it can be content writing, search engine optimization, online marketing, programming or designing. 

If you liked this article, please post your comments and share it with others. 

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Monday 3 August 2015

How to Start Your Online Business


The concept of owning an online business has gained unprecedented importance in recent years. The reasons for the growing popularity of online business are many including low investment, high return on investment, flexibility, equal opportunities and minimal legal formalities. The good thing about starting an online business is that anyone can own it including, housewives, students, retired personnel, employed as well as unemployed people.

I am sure most of you are aware of various methods of making money online but the key to run a successful online business lies in your ability to understand the nitty-gritty of the online business. Blogging, online freelancing, e-commerce, selling on e-commerce sites, sponsorship advertising, affiliate marketing and online consulting are some of the popular methods of earning money online.

Also read: Skills that can help you earn money online

Categories of Online Businesses



Blogging is one of the most popular methods of earning money online; however, success in this field depends on your ability to write consistently original and useful content that can help you reach out to a larger audience. 

Blogging allows you to write on a wide range of topics that interest you most. To write an original content, you must have in-depth knowledge of the field you want to write about. There is no harm in gathering important information from online sources that you want to pass on to your readers. 

However, at the same time, it is important that you should focus on what you have learned from your own experience rather than re-writing the content from other websites. 

Some of the most popular blog hosting sites are Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, and Posterous. You can join these blog hosting sites to own a blog and write on topics that you find interesting and informative. 

Once you have successfully set up your blog you can earn money from various sources such as affiliate marketing, Google Adsense or sponsorships advertising.


Sell Online


Sellers are increasingly using on-line e-commerce platforms to sell their products on-line. E-commerce sites enable the users to sell their products online from the convenience of their home. Some of the leading places on the net where you can sell you stuff are Amazon, e-bay, Swappa, Craiglist, 99 Designs, Quikr and unsurprisingly Facebook. 

Sponsorship Marketing

Sponsorship advertising has gained immense popularity in past couple of years. In this method of money making you use your network to advertise or market the product of your advertiser. You can write your reviews about the product to reach out to the targeted audience. IZEA and SocialToaster are great places for social sponsorship. 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a process of promoting your clients’ products or services to the targeted audience. The company pays you a certain percentage of the profit on every sale that you successfully make. Interestingly, affiliated marketing is the main sources of income for the majority of successful bloggers.


Last but not the least; freelance writing is increasingly becoming popular owing to huge demand for unique and original articles, effective sales promotional letters, email marketing, and content writing. 

Blogging business has also boosted the demand for freelance writers consequently a number of new freelancing platforms have emerged to fill the gap between demand and supply. You can work as a freelance writer on several platforms to sell your services to the clients across the world. One of the advantages of online freelancing jobs over blogging is that unlike blogging you don't have to wait too long to earn money on these sites. 



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Sunday 2 August 2015

How to Earn Money Online as a Translator


Online translators are in great demand these days. Globalization coupled with technological advances has made the world a global village. Nowadays, you have several opportunities to earn money online as a translator. Clients are increasingly looking for people who can translate important documents for them. Translators having skills in French to English translation, German to English, Hindi to English translation and vice-versa are in great demand these days.

Make money as a transltor

Where can you earn money online as a translator?


If you want to make money as a translator, the easiest way is to join Upwork.com. However, there are various other online platforms that provide you opportunities to earn money online but I am not sure about their payment protection. Upwork.com provides you payment protection to ensure that you get paid for your hard work every time you work for a client. This freelancing site is free to join and offers several translation jobs to the freelancers. 

Moreover, the website provides several money withdrawal options to the workers. You can also use your bank account to withdraw the money from the company irrespective of your location. You receive the money within three to four days from the date of withdrawal. Moreover, the site provides you the opportunity to interact with clients from across the world where you can establish long-term business relationship with the clients.


Other leading freelancing platforms for translators


Furthermore, you can also try your luck on other online translation platforms such as Gengo, Transperfect Translations, Protranslating, and Translatorscafe. Translation job is very challenging and demanding where success depends on your ability to exceed the expectations of clients. However, right skills, experience, and right platform can significantly help you to earn money online.

However, making money online as a translator is not easy and there are several problems you might experience as a freelancer. Therefore, it is imperative on your part to have patience and exceed the expectations of your clients.

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Skills That Can Help You Earn Money Online