Daily Routines

This is when of my biggest downfalls. I have no day-to-day routine. I just do things when I see they need to be done and move on. I have no predictable plan of attack or reasonable structure to my day.
So far, this works for me. It may not work for you. And, it may not be the best thing that works for me either. I may be (okay, definitely would be) more productive and focused if I had a routine. Eventually I'll get there.

I think that talking to other work-at-home professionals is a good way to get started. Ask them how they structure their time and activities. It's a great way to figure out what will and will not work for you.

Experiment a lot. Move your schedule up, down, and all around until you find something that works for you.

As for me, I'm trying. I've started substitute teaching again and so each day brings a new work time and that makes it difficult to pin down a good work-at-home schedule. As I delve into this a bit more I'll post the resources I'm using and whether or not they're working for me.

The Well-Fed Writer

This is a great read for anyone considering freelance copy writing as a career. Copy writing includes online articles, business brochures, ads, headlines and so on.

Peter Bowman's easy style will help you get your idea off the ground...even if you think you have no clue what you're doing. Right now, I have this checked out of the library, but I will be buying a copy second hand when I have to return it.

Oh, and he endorses what I've thought all along, you don't need to be the best writer. Just be persistent and put yourself out there. There could be writers better than you but they may not be getting their names out to the big clients. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The early bird gets the worm. Just trying to see how many euphemisms I can squeeze into this post. That would seem to be all.

Good Morning!

Professional Blogging

There are opportunities for bloggers to make money posting or ghostwriting for other networks or right on their own blogs.

I began this blog pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to format it and get it up and running. Now I also blog elswhere and it has become a comfortable habit for me. I am still playing around with different formats, monetization, and concepts but I get the general idea.

I run Green Kids, an online source for eco-friendly tips to raising children. I also generate (hopefully) thought-provoking discussions everday at Question of the Day.

If you already run an active blog you may be eligible to sign-up with companies like PayPerPost that will pay you to post a specific blog on your own site. Read the fine print about how long the blog must remain active.

Here's a short list of professional blogging job boards:
Bloggerjobs
Problogger
Performancing (I haven't had any luck here yet, but it's a very informative site)
SimplyHired (has a few ads for professional bloggers)

Problogger also has a plethora, that's right plethora, of great blogging and social media info.

Depending upon your personal goals; professional blogging may be for you. It's an excellent way to diversify and most of all its fun!

Content Production and SEO

I know that I have seriously been neglecting my duties here at Morning so let's jump right back in and I will try to catch everyone up with what I've been learning and doing!

Demand Studios continues to be my rock at the moment. I think content producing is my wahm forte. Content producers write articles that cover niche topics. These articles are then sold to webmasters and online marketers to use on niche sites where they earn revenue through ads and affiliate programs.

Whew! Yeah, I've been busy. Content producers write articles that have a certain density of the keyword phrase (usually the title phrase) in them so that search engines (like Google) will find the content, and thus the site, easily. More traffic from the search engines equals more people clicking the ads which means higher revenue to the site. The way I'm doing it right now I end up selling my rights to the material and therefore get no revenue share from the site but I do get that upfront fee of $15 (that's the Demand Studios payment...depending on which content-seller you write for the pay will be different).

You can also produce content for your own use. Building niche websites with ads and affiliate links means that you then keep 100% of the profit instead of selling your content to a large house for upfront payment. This kind of building takes a lot of time and effort. Since I'm back to substitute teaching I don't yet have time to learn web design in order to accomplish this. But it may be exactly what you need!

I hope that this post lays out search engine optimization (SEO) clearly for you. That is the easiest, no-frills way to explain what niche content does for a site and a webmaster. Well-optimized content is the most important part of building a monetized (for profit through ads) site.

Check out SEO for Dummies for more in-depth discussion of content producing for search engine optimization.