Almost everyone who’s anyone doesn’t mind some side income. So, if you already blog, why the heck not earn some side income from it? Well, that’s what I thought when I started blogging back in 2008. Then,I blogged a lot. As in almost everyday! My food blog, The Food Site, is updated daily while this blog also saw lots of regular updates. Over the years, of course, I do get some traffic to this blog but my food blog has the most traffic. Till today, it is still drawing loads of traffic from the search engines. That’s why, it is now a real great asset for me. I keep getting emails from advertisers interested to place ads in that blog. That’s not all, I am earning adsense income from it too! Now, if that’s not a wonderful way to get some side income, I don’t know what is!

What about this blog? Well, this is actually my ranting blog so I didn’t actually use it to earn money online…still, I do add some earn money online links here, some affiliate links here, adsense and a few ads. So far, no requests from advertisers to place ads here. This may be because this site is not focused on any topic. It has several topics and if you were to ask me to place it in a specific category, I’d be lost! It’s what I would call a mixed interest blog with a wide range of topics. Still, sometimes, I do earn a few dollars here or there from this blog.

Other than this two blogs, I have other earn money online blogs that are raking in more than this blog. Yep, those are set up purely to earn me some side income. How are those performing? Quite good but not as good as I wanted to. Not putting in enough time in those blogs (like I did for my food blog), those blogs are merely scraping by only. Of course I could have earned more from those blogs but to do this, I need time and lots of effort to do it. There are steps to it and if I had followed all those steps (as taught by these two keyword gurus, I’d probably be earning thousands each month now.

Sigh.

If only I am not so effing lazy.

And short of time.

And a master of procrastination.

Oh well.

I made resolve after resolve to really do the work needed (and then I’d be free to really rake in the money everyday!) but somehow something would turn up.

Things like my kids falling sick, me falling sick, urgent work to be completed at my studio, a sudden urge NOT to do anything…excuses and disruptions a plenty! A case in point, it took me two hours to complete this post because every 10 minutes or so, my daughter will want a glass of water, some snacks, need to go to the toilet, need to change her nappy, wants to play, wants a snuggle…*sigh* that’s the thing with toddlers, they still don’t understand the concept of ‘wait, mommy is busy’.

So, I am not gonna resolve to do anything this time. Instead, I will just take one day at a time and do what I can when I can.

GTG right now because demanding, drama queen toddler is complaining of a stomach ache. :)

Once in a while.

Or whenever I need to let off steam.

Or just to mumble, grumble, rant, pant, chant…whatever.

And what have I achieved from blogging? Oh well, at least I did earn some $$ from it. Aside from that…

I learned HTML so that I can set up my blog properly.

I learn all about monetizing one’s website to rake in the money.

I learn about Google adsense and how it’s not easy to try to earn something from that.

I learn about Internet marketing and how it doesn’t matter how many regular readers I have but what’s more important are organic traffic in order to get clicks to earn the $$ from adsense.

I also learn that getting loads of traffic is also kinda good cause it also means higher ranking and higher ranking means I get more advertisers interested to purchase ads in my sites.

And yes, making some sorta living from blogging and maintaining websites is actually possible.

So, am I going to continue doing what I m doing? ABSOLUTELY!

So, here’s to more online income coming my way!

And if you wanna try out how to earn money online EFFECTIVELY, go visit my sifu (master) over at the Keyword Academy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No lies.

No tricks.

No pills.

No side effects.

No joke.

Not barely enough, though.

~SIGH~

I embarked on my earn money online journey two years back and it got postponed when I got pregnant and further delayed when new baby arrives…and until now, I still have not had the time to fully concentrate on building more links, adding more posts, doing all the online work needed to get me more money-making traffic and clicks.

Well.

DESPITE this, income from my sites (yes, I have more than ONE frigging website. If anyone tells you that they can earn money online just from one freaking website, well, not everyone can do it. Admittedly some managed to do it but most of us, do it with multiple sites!) have been steadily increasing. This is DESPITE my not having time to work on my websites to turn it all into money making sites! This is DESPITE my lackadaisical attitude towards building more valuable links to my sites, creating more posts in my sites, adding more valuable keywords to my sites…(which is ALL crucial towards earning money from blogs and websites).

So.

This just proves one thing. My sifu /master in earning money online are REALLY, REALLY good. Seriously. They are so good and their method really works. Now, if I do ALL that they taught me, I’d probably be swimming in USD now. The fact is I am like the black sheep amongst their many students (hangs head in shame), I only executed part of what they taught me and still…er…dragging the rest of what I should be doing.

You want to earn more money online? Go check out my master in earning money online now!

One fine day.

Just wait and see.

But if the exchange rate were to plunge even more and if it really goes down to RM2.20 for each USD, I will have to set new goals already, maybe aim for USD$2000 instead.

SIGH. Stupid stinking blardy exchange rate. Why don’t you drop when I went holidaying in US? Damn you.

Anyway, I was just about to let out some stress and tension and all the crap crowding my mind here. That’s what blogs are for, okay? For me to write and publish crap after crap after crap regardless of whether anyone ever reads it or not. Not that I really care. I used to care about the amount of traffic I get to this blog…now, I am just not bothered. No traffic, I don’t care. No comments, I don’t care.  It’s not as if I ever get any money from this blog.

Hmm…come to think of it, maybe I should just convert this blog into an earn money blog instead of keeping it personal? Yep, that would be a very, very good idea. I will create earn money posts and draw traffic to these posts and earn money from it. After all, this blog is aged and ranked and whatever on Google so its easier to rank for keywords if I do it correctly.

So, yeah, I will use this blog to earn money also. Now, excuse me while I map out a complete earn money blogging plan for this good old sounding board blog.

Since the previous owner is a really close relative, they have continued to stay on in the shop to help with the operations in these initial few months to ‘train’ up my husband and later to train me too in the workings of the shop. And yes, I am still at my day job. So, now, I am like superwoman already. I have a demanding, stressful 9 to 5 job, a 24/7 365 days a year job as a mother, a food blogger, an earn money online blogger, a freelance writer and now, to add on to my list of jobs, I am also an entrepreneur. I am partnering with my husband in taking over the shop.

Before we started on this life changing journey, we have no idea what it entails and now that we’ve got our feet wet…OMG. My husband is stressed to the max over the operations and management and administration of the business. Me, I am stressing out over the same thing on top of stressing out over the income, expenses, P & L, etc…We have learnt the really hard way that it is never easy to set up your own business and sometimes, it is easier to be working for people than to be an employer!

If you are intent on becoming an entrepreneur, here is a to-do checklist you need to go through first:

1. Market research – you need to know your customer base, your competitors and who you are targeting and whether it is a viable business venture.

2. Capital – you need large sums of money, preferably your own savings or soft loans from your loved ones…borrowing from the bank may be an option but all banks do not give out loans to new ventures, only to established companies so you may end up taking up personal loans which has very high interest rates.

3. Company name & branding – you need to put your company name out there and imprint it into the minds of consumers, especially your customer base in order to get customers

4. Administration & management – you need an organised way of running the business from stock taking to delivery of goods to keeping books so that nothing goes missing, unaccounted for or customer orders not fulfilled on time.

5. Marketing and sales – you need to do extensive marketing to generate sales and you need to train up your sales team so that they are able to get more customers for you

6. Labour law, company law, Malaysian laws – whatever you do, always make sure you are adhering to all of the Malaysian laws especially when it comes to human resources and consumer rights. No point trying to bend the laws and get fined or worst, shut down because you wanted to save a few cents.

These are just a very basic outline of what you need to do when starting a business. It is never easy when running a business. Contrary to the preconceived notion of most people that being your own boss is much better, it is NOT TRUE. When you make the transition from employee to employer, you will have a whole set of other headaches such as:

1. You worry about your business income day in day out because you have rent to pay, suppliers to pay and employees to pay

2. You have to deal with difficult clients on top of dealing with difficult employees

3. You can’t even take fake MC all the time because it is YOUR business and YOUR income so you are FULLY responsible for it

4. There is no fixed monthly income, no contractual bonuses, no travel claims, etc…you have to pay yourself from your business income and the perks you get  is only if your business is generating a good income.

5. You will probably feel guilty taking long leave or worse, be worried all the time when away on holiday because again, your livelihood depended fully on your business.

Of course, there are good sides to becoming an entrepreneur but this is a warning post so that aspiring entrepreneurs will know what to expect when they quit that day job!

And yes, I will be quitting my day job pretty soon….I can’t be superwoman with so many jobs indefinitely. I will probably drop dead by 40!

So, how do you earn money online and make $1000 (and that’s in USD, mind you!) a month? And how long does it take?

You will need to spend up to a year of hard work to reach that target. Of course, if you are extra hardworking, you may be able to reach that target in about 6 months. But, a year is a safer bet.

I am not going to list out all the ways and methods here cause it will probably take hundreds of posts to fully explain the mechanics of it all. BUT. I will list down some basic rules and the stuffs I am doing now to reach this target. Just so you know, I have been on this earn money online journey for quite a while but I have yet to reach that target because well…I let other things veer me off track.

When you want to earn money online, through blogging, through internet marketing, through paid posts, whatever way you chose, it is always important to note that you need to put in a modicum of effort into it. So, instead of concentrating on this, I played hooky. A LOT. Heheheh….I’ve been so caught up in FB games (that’s Facebook games to the uninspired) that I wasted too much time earning points and whatnots instead of using the time to reach my earn money online goals. *hangs head in utter shame*

Sigh. No point regretting now, right?

So, I am starting anew. I have already removed most of the FB games and vowed to never touch them again. Hopefully. Heheh. Then, I am diving right into my online work to earn money and reach that target in the shortest time ever. How am I gonna do it?

Well, I already have my numerous earn money sites. So, I will go back to work on them now. Here are the steps to take for beginners:

1. Find profitable keywords you want to target

2. Create websites / blogs based on the keywords

3. Write at least 10 posts based on the keywords on the websites

4. Place adsense strategically on the sites

5. Write 10 articles for each site and post it to article sites like Ezine articles with links back to the site

6. Search for similar sites and ask to exchange links with the site owners

7. Write more articles and post to more sites like Hubpages, Squidoo with links back to your site.

8. Repeat 5 – 7 every day.

9. Write a new blog post for your site for every 8 articles you post to article sites.

10. Continue to do that diligently and you will see the $$ rolling in pretty soon.

So, how do you target keywords and how to know what keywords are profitable? Well, if you need help and someone to guide you along, try joining The Keyword Academy for FREE! They are really, really good and their method really works! Trust me, after following their methods, I’ve doubled my online income so I believe I will be reaching the $1000 per month target pretty soon.

1. You must have the moolah (meaning money!) either your own savings or from a soft loan (as in your parents’ money) to be able to last you between 6 to 12 months. This is to ensure that you are able to stay afloat in the initial months when you are just starting out and getting sales.

2. Getting a bank loan may seem like a good idea but do remember, bank loans means you have to pay the loan every month and if your business is just starting out and you are not getting enough revenue in the beginning, how are you going to service the loan?

3. You may think it’s so much more fun and better being your own boss but remember, even if it’s a small business with limited staff, you have to deal with employees and that means the table has turned. You will have the headache of dealing with lazy employees, employees who under-perform or problems hiring good employees.

4. You no longer work fixed hours because it is your own business and you will have to spend more time making it a success so that you don’t end up bankrupting your business and yourself!

5. It is all about money and sens from now onwards as you will be thinking about covering costs, paying your employees, paying your debtors, paying yourself and whether you are making enough revenue to do that.

6. There are no fringe benefits anymore because you will be paying for your own medical, your own insurance, your own annual leave, your own allowances and claims.

7. You won’t have a carefree holiday because you will be worried about your business, whether your employees are keeping it going or not.

8. You can’t just decide to quit because your livelihood now depends on it and there’s your debtors and employees to consider too!

9. You are on your own literally. All decisons, big and small, are up to you now. If you make a wrong one, your business, you and your employees will suffer.

10. The risks of failure is always there as in any business, you are taking a chance and depending on revenue through sales so if you don’t work hard at it, you could fail miserably.

All that being said, don’t let these scare you from wanting to venture into business on your own.

1. You need to set up websites and maintain them

2. This means you need to post to the websites regularly

3. Do website maintenance regularly, such as updating the plugins at all times, ensuring everything is in order, etc.

4. You also need to get more organic traffic to earn some adsense income

5. By building links to your site

6. Which means you either trade links with other sites which also takes time

7. Or you send in articles to article sites like Ezine articles, Hubpages, etc.

8. Most of your time will be spent writing those articles

9. And you have to continue doing that AT ALL TIMES

10. In the meantime, you can also start setting more websites

11. So that you will have multiple streams of income from various websites.

12. And again, you need to build links to those websites

13. Through link trading and submissions to article sites.

14. If you are earning through affiliate programmes and paid posts

15. It also means you need to vigourously promote your affiliate products

16. And spend time to write paid posts

So, you see? Whoever said earning money online is easy?

Being a working mom is NOT easy. It is even worse when I have so many side income work on top of my regular, full time job. It means that on a daily basis I have to:

• Wake up at crack of dawn LITERALLY
• Rush like mad to get my kids ready
• Brave the traffic to drop them off at nursery / babysitter’s
• Go to work
• Fit in expressing breastmilk in between working hours (Yes, I am still fully breastfeeding! We DO NOT have infant formula at home)
• Brave the traffic again to pick up son from nursery and baby from babysitter’s
• Get son to eat his dinner & feed baby (luckily hubby helps by either preparing dinner or buying dinner)
• Gulp down my protein shake
• 15-minute exercise (no matter how busy, exercise is a MUST for our own health and to de-stress!)
• Gulp down my very light dinner (have to watch the waistline you know!)
• Boil water / wash the plates
• Load clothes into washing machine and get it started
• Play with pre-schooler and baby (quality family time!)
• Feed baby
• Tuck both kids into bed
• Start online work, website work and article writing work
• Go to sleep at around midnight
• Wake up at least twice a night to feed baby
• Repeat routine every work day

The weekends are just as bad, if not worse,  because I still have to wake up early, bathe both kids, give them breakfast, boil water,  cook lunch & dinner, sweep the floor, mop the floor, do laundry, keep pre-schooler occupied, feed baby every 2 hours, put them down for their naps, do more online and writing work, exercise, fold and keep laundry, etc…

So, who says we working moms had it easy? In fact, it only meant that I have MANY jobs (not in any particular order):

• As a mother
• As a breastmilk supplier
• As the second income earner
• As a wife
• As an online marketer
• As a blogger
• As a foodie @ The Food Site
• As a writer
• As a part-time homemaker (since I still DO have to do housework when I get home)

So much so that I have lost count of the numerous times I…

• boiled water (why can’t we just drink from the tap without risking diarrhea and food poisoning?)
• do the laundry (please, please, please someone invent self-cleaning clothes! I’ll be the first to buy them)
• change diapers (can’t wait to toilet train the baby!)
• sweep the floor (please, please, please someone invent self-cleaning floors too)
• mop the floor
• wash the dishes

If only there are more than 24 hours a day or that I do not need to sleep at all….sigh…

How did I manage to balance so many ‘jobs’ each day without keeling over and die of exhaustion? Simple.

Exercise & Yoga

Some of you may think that exercise will only tire me out more but that’s not true! In fact, when you exercise, even for 15 minutes a day, it clears your mind, it trains your muscles, it works your heart for cardio health and it gets your adrenaline up. A few times I skipped my daily exercise and after a few days, I feel lethargic, tired and not up to anything! So, I fully subscribe to exercising daily, whether it is a brisk jog, or some strength training routines or yoga poses. It is a totally ‘ME’ time to clear the mind, de-stress, lose the tension and get your body into shape.

Oh yeah, it’s also great to help me get rid of all of my pregnancy weight! YAY!

Each time I post something, I received spam comments. Dammit. That’s why I have to screen all the comments and no allow it to be published automatically. Or else my blog will be full of spam comments. So….

SCRAM!

GET LOST!

You stupid annoying, irritating spammers. If you are so free, please go spam all those politicians’ blogs. They have like thousands and thousands of readers, not like my paltry little blog which is probably being read by me and any stray souls who happened to wander here thanks to Google.

Anyway, this month is a really sad, sad month for my earn money online endeavour. Darn. Google adsense income is down by almost 30%! That’s what I get for neglecting my other websites and link building and traffic generation work. So, what other make money online stuff have I been doing other than generating income from those websites?

Oh well. I have been doing real part time work. Writing articles for $$.  It’s for a shopping website so I am sorta doing online work. At least I am getting paid for it rather than leaving the income to organic traffic which is rather erratic and sorta sad if I don’t work on it. So, you see, there is no such thing as easy income. Don’t believe all those lies about easy money, easy earn money online crap.

There is no such thing as a free ride in this world, much less free, easy income. The sooner you realize this the better. Which brings to mind all those email scams and even SMS scams that has been making the rounds.  I still find it absolutely unbelievable that people still fall for that!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

If you get an email / SMS telling you that:

• You won some contest you’ve never entered or heard of and won a lot of cash
• Some tycoon’s heir needs your help to move money out of his country
• You have been picked to be a winner of some lottery and won millions
• Some businessman/woman promising to pay you to help him to do simple stuffs like banking in money for him/her

Or anything that sounds like the above, DELETE it. Any email / SMS that asks you for your personal details cannot be trusted. That’s because other than cheating you of money, these fraudsters also do identity theft so you do not want to end up with a long list of trouble and debts because someone used your identity!

But then, I guess this warning is pointless because it seems that people still keep falling for such old tricks all the time. So, if you are one of them, I save you the trouble. Just gimme the money :grin:  At least I will invest it in something worthwhile…like setting up more money making websites or buying more savings bonds, unit trusts, etc….