Why You Want to Keep Your Domain Registration and Website Hosting Separate - Guest Post by Tiffany Dow!

Domain registration and website hosting go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. Sites that offer both domains and hosting offer it to consumers as a convenience - a way of keeping everything neatly organized under one roof. But what you may not know is that if that roof blows off - say the company goes out of business or implements unfriendly rules - there goes your domain as well.

Many people (especially newbies) don't always look at the complete picture when choosing hosting - they look for ways to save money. Finding a hosting company that's also in the business of registering domains can be an expensive and painful lesson if you're not careful.

Some companies have hosting contracts that most people don't read thoroughly in their excitement at setting up an online site. What they miss is that the contract allows the company to hold on to your domain for the length of the contract.

Let's say you're with a hosting company and don't like that their site is down more than it's up and the fact that their customer service is terrible. You decide that you now want your domain registration and website hosting separated.

So you get hosting with a new company and contact your old one wanting to do a domain transfer. You get told an emphatic no. When you try to fight back, you discover that thanks to the contract, they're holding your domain hostage for the remainder of the contract.

This means that you have to continue paying for their hosting and can't get your domain released until the contract is up. Another way that some hosting companies will hold your domain hostage is by offering you a free domain name that you don't get when you stop using their services.

What you don't know is that the company registers the domain in their name. You might think that when you sign up for a domain via web hosting company, you then own that domain and all the rights that go with it.

But even if it's your business, even if you're paying every month for hosting, they're the legal owners of that domain. You can't transfer it or move it unless you want to buy it from them and you can bet that'll cost you a pretty penny.

While they're not doing anything legally wrong, it is an outrage. You'll find that some web designers also offer to set up domains for customers. They do it in their names, technically becoming the legal owner. Never allow a company to register your domain for you. Always do it yourself.

The best reason to keep your domain registration and website hosting separate is that you want to be in control of the domain. You don't want to decide to change hosting and then find out that you have to turn around and pay extra money to get your domain released to you.

Check out her website here:

Domain Registration and Website Hosting

Guest Post - 3 Guaranteed ways to make money online 100%

Found this post by Samir of indihow.com and asked if he would allow me to share it with you guys.

Hi guys!

I wanted to list these three ways to make a small guaranteed income daily from the internet. I find a lot of threads here about how to get started online. These 3 methods (maybe 1 maybe all 3 depending on your skills and dedication) will even help the newbies earn enough to start their own self-hosted websites in a month.

1.Textbroker.com: $10-$50/day
Find a topic of your choice and write 100-1000 word articles to earn daily without having to look for clients.



2.Microworkers.com: $5-$30/day
Start sharing on twitter, facebook, youtube etc., or adding links to your PR1+ blogs, writing paid reviews of 50 words and above on your blog, post on forums and blogs etc. and get paid daily.



3.Webanswers: $1-$5/day for the first few weeks
Answer 20-30 easy and small questions daily to start earning residual Adsense income.


And please add to the list any sites you are sure will be a source of guaranteed income.


Regards,

Samir

Indihow - How-to Technology Blog

More Writing Opportunities

I just found a few more sites that I would like to share.

Are movies, comics, and video games your thing? I found a site that will pay $15 per review of these types of things. Worth checking out if those are your passions. Animation Arena.

Good at explaining things? Writing World pays 5 cents per word for exceptional how-to articles, which is a great rate for an up and coming freelance writer. Here.

I also came across another place full of ads for people looking for writers. See it here.

Next Step in Freelance Writing!

Today I made a big step in my Freelance Writing career and wanted to share it with you. I just opened up my own site to direct my clients to. You can see it here. I am insanely excited! Because of this I am going to share some places to find clients.

• WarriorForum. I link to it in my side bar. It is a forum all about internet marketing and making money online. Tons of people there hire writers and it is a great place to find clients. I have found my two highest paying clients there.
• Craigslist. There is a section especially for writing gigs. Checking it in many different towns is a great idea.
• Outsourcing sites. They may not pay as much as the average client but you can find a lot of work on sites like Elance and Odesk.
• Freelance Writing Gigs. Lots of new gigs posted almost everyday! Check this one out for sure.

I hope this helps out some up and coming or experienced freelance writers, and if you maybe aren't interested in writing but need website content, check out my site! 

For Work At Home Moms and Another New Site

My last two blog challenges have all been about reading other blogs and promoting my own, so not much to post on that, so today I will be bringing updating you on For Work At Home Moms.

For those that don't know, forworkathomemoms.com is my website that I have recently created. Today I was lucky enough have my best friend offer to help write for it. She is a single mom who is currently in school doing online classes to stay home with her son. I think she will bring a unique view to the table and help us reach even more struggling mothers. So I would just like to say thank you do Audrey for her help. I appreciate it and I'm sure the readers at For Work At Home Moms will as well.

I something just for you guys into writing, I found another site for you guys!

Software Judge

They pay people to write reviews of software. I'm currently waiting to get a response on the review I sent in, I'll post back and tell you how it goes but I have several friends that have said they are having a lot of success with it.

New Informational Website

I just want to introduce you to a new site that I just started. It is still very rough. I will be adding a lot of content to it written by me as well as many work at home and student mothers I have met. I hope it will become a great resource for work at home mothers and student mothers alike! Please check it out and comment to tell me what you think. I'm still working on picking a theme, I know the current one is a little bland. I want to focus on getting some quality content up for now.

http://forworkathomemoms.com/

Day 2 - Resources for Freelance Writers

Today's challenge in "31 Days to Build a Better Blog" is the list post, meaning a post with a list in it. I spent a while trying to brainstorm a topic for this list, so following my theme of talking about freelance writing, here is a list of useful resources for new and experienced writers alike.

• Online dictionary and thesaurus - Every writers knows these will be great resources. Words being the main tool of writers, having access to their meanings, synonyms, and antonyms is a very powerful thing.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) - It is always a good idea to stay brushed up on your grammar and technique. This site is full of great writing exercises for new writers, out of practice writers, or any writers that just plain knows their weaknesses. (Mine is commas.)
• OpenOffice.org - An all in one office suite. Basically, a free alternative to Microsoft Office. Does word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and powerpoint presentations. You can even save your documents in the Microsoft Office formats.
• Article Checker - Checks for duplicate content on the web. It is usually a good idea to run your articles through it just in case. Most people will put their articles through a similar site when they are received and refuse them if they do not pass.
• Grammar Checker - While not 100%, it may catch some grammar mistakes you miss. I know I always make sure to use it before sending an article to a client.
• Text Analyzer - Analyzes your text for keyword density, word count, and more. A very useful tool. 
• Citation Machine - Helps create citations in the proper format.
• Wikipedia - Online encyclopedia created and edited by the public. A great place to start your research since you will find information on almost everything here. Remember though, it is edited by the public so important facts should be double checked.
• Online Encyclopedia - Search on many different online encyclopedias for information.
• Wikimedia Commons - Tons of images that anyone is free to use or contribute to. A great resource for finding images for articles and blog posts.

I hope this was useful. If anyone has a useful tool to add to the toolbox, feel free to comment below!

31 Days To A Better Blog - Day 1

I mentioned before that I was reading the book "31 Days to a Better Blog". Each day there is a blog challenge for me to complete to both make this blog better and make me a better blogger. Today's challenge is the "elevator pitch" which is a pitch that is short enough it could be done in the time of an elevator ride. So here it goes. Let me know what you think. Once it gets tweaked I will change the blog description to match. Below is the "elevator pitch" followed by a shorter pitch that the book suggests coming up with for things like forum signatures or business cards.

Are you a stay at home mom, unable to work, or just want to make some extra money working from home? Well I know I would. Amanda's Work At Home Adventure is just that, an adventure in working at home. I'm traveling and navigating the internet in search of legit ways for normal people to make real money working from home online.

Amanda's Work At Home Adventure - A Journey for legit ways to make real money online.

What do you think?

Update - Textbroker

I sent in my sample for Textbroker.com and got approved. There were so many articles to choose from! Your pay is based on ranking. The average writer will probably be a 2 or 3. A level 3 makes around one cent per word. It isn't amazing but it took me around 15 minutes to write up a 300 word article on Thailand. The better you right the more of a chance you have to rank up as well. The higher the rank, the more jobs and better pay you will receive. I noticed well over 100 offerings for level 2 writers though so even if you are new to writing or out of practice, try out Textbroker.com for some extra money.

On a more personal note, I just purchased the book "31 Days to a Better Blog". I expect it to be a good read. Watch out for a new blog post every day with "31 Days" as a label as part of the book is a blogging exercise for each day. Don't worry, it won't be taking the place of the information I normally post!

Another Website For Freelance Writing

I was recently shown a new site called Text Broker. It seems to have some real potential! I will post back with how I do with it as I just signed up. The way it works is you sign up as a writer, fill out some basic details, and write a sample based on the prompt they give you. From there you receive a rating. That rating will decide which jobs you can take. There are hundreds of open jobs... you browse the jobs, accept one, write the article, and submit it to get paid. Of course, submitting a low quality article can have your rating lower and if you don't follow instructions your article can be denied, but I have heard a lot of success stories with this site. More when I receive my rating and do a few jobs.

Link

Four Big Mistakes People Make Working From Home

1. Buying products that promise big money.

Almost every ad you see that promises "big money in ten seconds flat" is exaggerating. Sure, there are tons and tons of ways to make money online, and I have personally met people that make six figure incomes working online... but just because something works for one person, doesn't mean it will work for another. Free resources, like WarriorForum which I link to on the right, are much more trustworthy.

2. Not reading enough.

When getting into any online work at home venture it is important to read! You need to know what you are doing, know the process, know the challenges, and know the risks. If you don't learn about what you are doing you might as well be purchasing one of those over the priced get rich quick books, because you aren't going to get anywhere. Find what you want to do, read about it, take notes, and plan your approach.

3. Reading too much.

Reading too much can be just as bad as not reading enough. Information overload is one of the worst enemies of newbies. There are so many ways to make money, so many business models to follow. It is easy to try and take in more information than you need. Pick your business model, pick your niche, and read about that and nothing else. If it ends up not working, you can come back and read about something else, but multitasking and trying to learn about too much will just slow you down in the long run.


4. Reading and not doing!

This is the real killer with most newbies.  Most people get started in working from home by reading... the real trick is you need to put everything into action! For every hour you spend reading and learning, try putting an hour into actually working on your project! If it is freelance writing, start writing an article or reading about your niche you want to write about! Make a website or start a blog if that is your method. Don't just learn, do! Learning isn't going to earn you any money unless you actually sit down and get to work!

Don't fall victim to these newbie mistakes. Just remember, the key to success is to find a good, trustworthy source, pick your business model, learn, and then, most importantly, DO!

Mystery Shopping - Make Money Shopping And Get Free Stuff

Now I'm sure all of you have seen those ads for mystery shopping. "For one small payment of $29.99 you could be doing real mystery shops tomorrow!" Ads like that have actually really hurt the industry because these are scams, and it really discourages people from finding the real places you can mystery shop. In fact, there are several corporations that do provide mystery shops to people and not a one will make you pay a penny to sign up! Before I share the links with you I would like to clear up a few things about mystery shopping.

• If you don't know what mystery shopping is, mystery shopping is when a company pays a shopper to show up at a business and act as a normal customer and report back to the company about your findings. This is how many large corporations find out how well their stores and businesses are dealing with their customers. It is a very important and legitimate service.

• You need money to start. The company will not give you the money before the shop, they will pay you after.
• You will not make a living mystery shopping. At most you will make a little extra cash and get some free goodies. There are some with some good pay but they will have higher requirements.
• Where you live matters. Bigger cities will have more shops. Though, I live in a rather small town and there have been several in my town as well. 
• There are a lot of scam sites offering mystery shops that aren't legit. If you aren't sure, google "Is ____ a scam?" and you will get all kinds of answers.

Now on to the fun part, finding sites for mystery shopping! A great resource for all mystery shoppers is the MSPA website. That is the Mystery Shopper Provider Association. Companies post their ads for mystery shops there. the MSPA also offers mystery shopper certification. For some shops, this does improve your chances of getting a shop, but there are tons that you can get without it so it is only for the serious mystery shopper. From that site you can read tons of resources on mystery shopping as well as apply for shops. Most will link you to independent sites that will have larger lists of shops available. I'm going to list the ones I have used and can say work amazingly well. I would suggest that anyone interested in trying mystery shopping signs up for these sites below. (There are only two I have actually tested so far.)

Best Mark - Link

My experience with Best Mark has been good. When you log onto their site there will be a list of shops that you can do based on location, history with the company, and preferences. They have an easy to use schedule where you pick the shop and time slot you wish to do it and then simply come back and fill out the report. You do need to be very exact when meeting their requirements because you will not get paid if you don't do everything listed.

After you complete your shop and report you will email them copies of your receipts. Most shops you simply get reimbursed. There are always tons that are offering up to $25 in food reimbursed at places like Applebees, up to $20 reimbursed at hair salons, and up to $40 at auto repair shops. Some shops will even pay extra on top of that. The auto repair ones usually pay fairly well. They also have shops at video game stores where you bring a 15-17 year old with you to see if the store will sell them an M rated game and you normally get around $11 for it. Great if you are already going to the mall.

Secret Shopper - Link

This site has a similar interface to Best Mark. The main difference is that if you want to do a shop that has already been filled you can ask to be put on a waiting list for when that shop becomes available again. They also tend to do a lot more flat payments and seem to have shops in more smaller towns. I got a really simple one from here where I had to go buy a few small groceries and report on how clean the store was, how many check stands were open, and get the name of one employee that was helping customers outside of on the check stand. I was reimbursed for $9 of groceries and paid $7. That is $16 extra dollars in my pocket and I just did my normal grocery shopping and took extra note of the store while I was there!


Mystery shopping can be a great way to make extra cash or freebies. Great for mothers, Great Clips hires mystery shoppers all the time and they allow you to get the haircut for either yourself or a child. And who doesn't like being able to go out to dinner knowing it isn't going to hurt your pocket book? Feel free to comment with any questions or if you find a useful site for mystery shopping!

If you want more information and tend to be the book reading type, here are some great books on mystery shopping!

Freelance Writing and Constant Content

Lately I've been reading a lot about affiliate marketing. It is very interesting and seems very promising. In the next few days I will most likely post up a blog explaining what it is. For now though, I'm looking at something someone will not need much extra knowledge for and can make some quick cash. I'm personally looking into this so I can start my own website with the money I make.

The reason I'm focusing on posting about sites for writing is because writing is one of the most wanted products online. Almost everyone that wants to make money online will have a website, e-book, or blog and a lot of them either are no good at writing or would rather pay someone else to do it and use their time to promote their site. This means there is a huge market for people to write articles, e-books, and reviews for people to use on their websites!

Fiverr - Link

Fiverr is a website where people list things they will do for $5. People can hire them and pay $5 for the job, or you can offer to do jobs and when complete you will receive $4 for the work. I haven't had luck yet but I haven't posted many gigs yet. It is a great resource for if you need writing done or many other small jobs, as well as if you want to make quick money. I know a lot of people that have made a quick $20, it is all about posting up a good enough gig and finding someone who needs it. People can also post on the site if they have a job they want done. You can click their name and message them if you have a gig that fits their needs. In fact, if you look on the right, I have a wiget listing my Fiverr gigs. No matter what you are good at, there is probably someone on Fiverr that would want it done.

Constant Content - Link

Constant Content is one of the biggest sites webmasters buy their content from. You simply write an article and send it in. When it sells, you get paid. Everyone I have spoken to has said their articles sell, and the more you sell, the more traffic you get through the articles you have for sale. Meaning your articles will sell faster the more you submit. Definitely check this out if you know how to write! And if don't write, bookmark this because eventually you may be in the market for buying content!

E-Lance - Link

E-Lance is an online freelance website. Companies hire writers, web developers, graphic designers, translators, and tons of other freelancers on there. Personally, I have had little luck because it is full of people that will work for nothing and have a confirmed history with the site. This is something you may want to dabble in if you have skills outside of those that include writing articles and things you would want to do for Fiverr, or if you have a large portfolio for people to look at.

I'm open to more suggestions if people have other freelancing or writing sites! Feel free to post them here, on twitter, on facebook, or email me! And on that note, please feel free to follow this blog and our twitter as well as like our facebook to get up to date information on new blog posts or new findings in between blog posts!

If you are interested in writing and are not sure if you are "good enough" or just want to brush up or learn the basics, these highly recommended books may help as well.





The first book is one I would seriously recommend to anyone who has never done any formal writing before. It is very easy to read and understand and covers the basics beautifully.

The second books a great reference for writers of any level. Covers basics and more advanced writing in one book, though a little bit of a harder read than the first if you are new to writing.

The third book specifically refers to article and e-book writing, the type of writing most people will end up doing if they are working at home. A good reference if you are a mid-level writer getting into the business of writing for profit or if you have already finished reading the first book.

ChaCha - Quick Easy Gas and Food Money

This is the first 'legit' way of making money I found. Honestly, it is a lot like doing surveys in that you won't earn much money very fast. I make maybe $4/hr currently though there are more experienced people that make closer to $7/hr. The main reason I like ChaCha is that it is very fun and you do learn little bits of stuff, and it is very simple. The job I do on there I get paid two cents per question but it takes mere seconds to answer them because you don't actually look up the answers, you simply click an answer someone else already gave for the question. I answered questions while watching a movie and made $10. Bam, gas money. It is how I plan to pay for my start up costs for earing money online too!

So, ChaCha is a quick way to make some quick cash in your spare time. There are no schedules, you answer as many or as few questions as you would like... I would suggest you check it out if you are looking for a way to make enough to cover some food or gas until you figure out something better.

becomeaguide.chacha.com

If you do sign up, I would appreciate it if you would use nebby4t@hotmail.com as the referral email because I do get a referral bonus of 10% of your earnings and every penny helps!

Who is Amanda? And what are these adventures?

Hello! My name is Amanda and I'm am 23 years old. I'm sure you guys all know how hard it is to find a good job these days, and even with a good job, be able to afford rent, food, gas, and other bills and that is exactly what turned me to finding ways to make money online, and I mean real money, not scams or filling our surveys. After starting to read about making money online I realized a few things.

• The internet is full of scams for unsuspecting people looking for a way to pay their bills.
• There are tons of very confusing ways people make money.
• There are a lot of very unhelpful people on forums.
• There ARE good ways to make money.
• I CAN do this, and so can you!

I'm learning along the way, and what better way to keep track of what I learn and share it with others than to keep track of my adventures online! Here I will be reviewing sites I try, talking about business ideas I read about, and telling you how I do. I'm always interested in hearing if someone else has an idea or a site they aren't sure about, I'll see what I can figure out about it because I'm always looking for more ideas!