Manila Freelancer

The blogging phenomenon is big and growing by the minute, and you can surely be in it! However, if you are not a writer, do not be daunted. There are people who blog using music, as a way of releasing their emotions and showing off their musical artistry.

People even blog using photographs: photobloggers, as they are called, can better express themselves through images. Photoblogging can be a good way to let your emotions run wild especially if you have no time to sit down and think of what to write – and especially if you are a traveler who likes to take pictures of your tours.

How Can You Earn Money Through Photoblogging?

One way to earn residual income from photoblogging is to be an affiliate program member. Affiliate programs will post ads on your site. Whenever your site visitors click on these ads, you get commissions. All you need to do is to specify what kinds of products will appear on the ads posted on your site.

Another way for you to earn money through photoblogging is to provide visitors with smaller, lower-resolution versions of your images, but sell your images through digital photography marketplaces. You can also have a secure shopping cart software package installed on your site so that people can buy your pictures from you.

How Can You Earn More Money?

The key to getting people to buy your photos is to not only take good ones and high quality ones, but to take pictures that you know they might use. You have to be prepared, however to surrender your picture ownership rights.

Read more on the legalities surrounding selling and owning pictures, and do research on other ways that your photoblogging can be both an exciting and financially rewarding experience.

Do you want to increase your blog traffic and readership? Guest blogging simply means you submit a blog post at someone else’s blog or vise versa. One of the proven benefits of guest blogging is it can provide your readers a consistent number of post with different interesting views related to your niche.

Guest blogging therefore helps to attract more loyal visitors to your blog besides helping to establish your online brand in the niche market and lets you reach out to a bigger and wider audience with the purpose of promoting your online home based business or simply your blog.

Guest blogging can be a fun, fulfilling and lucrative but that’s only if you get the kind of online reception that inspires you to produce better work – and get rewarded for it.

Be an effective guest blogger with these tips:

Find the best blog for your interest and writing style.
The type of blog you write for matters, especially if you want to make some impact as a guest blogger. You can’t write for a tech-heavy blog if you’re not in on the industry and know nothing about gadgets and the technology, for example. Guest-blog for websites that offer topics that interest you and which you know something about.

Research can help.
You have to know your host before you come to party. What type of audience does the blog attract? What type of style is prevalent throughout? What types of comments are left by readers? Who are the other guest bloggers? Are there rules you have to follow? Knowing your host blog well will help you write articles that people will actually want to read.

Find your own voice.
Although you should try to ‘blend in’ to become part of the blog you’re writing for, you should be able to write using your own style. Be yourself while at the same time write according to the established style, culture and rhythm of the site.

Bloom where you are.
As a guest blogger, your role is to ensure that you add value to the site. You have a different skill, a different talent. Look for an aspect on the blog you’re writing for that you can fill or improve. If there’s a gap there that you can write about, your readers will be grateful for your writing.

Oh Btw:) Manila Freelancer is looking for Guest Bloggers!

Knowledge is the best weapon against work-at-home fraud. To that end Work-At-Home Scam Prevention Week (March 17-23, 2008) will provide work-at-home wannabes with important information and resources to find legitimate home-based income opportunities and avoid scams.

Work-At-Home Scam Prevention Week is the brainchild of Leslie Truex a work-at-home mom who has been guiding would-be home-based workers towards legitimate work opportunities since 1998 through her website WorkAtHomeSuccess.com. “The majority of email I receive asks for my opinion on a work-at-home opportunity and more often than not, the opportunity is a scam,” says Truex. “I created WorkAtHomeScamPrevention.com and Work-At-Home Scam Prevention Week to give people who want to work at home a place to get the information they need to evaluate work-at-home opportunities, and also keep them abreast of new scams.”

Truex reports that the most common work-at-home scams found today include envelop stuffing, assembly work, email processing, payment processing jobs (fake check scam), data entry and typing, rebate processing, and some business opportunities. “There are many legitimate ways to make money at home and these opportunities are easy to find. But people need to understand the difference between the legitimate work and the scams. One rule of thumb is that if it advertises fast, easy money without any experience, it’s probably a scam.” [More]

Sure, you could just sit there in front of your computer and while away your time by browsing websites, chatting and sending messages, videos and photos.

But why not turn your love of the Internet and use it to earn cash and some rewards?

Here are 5 ways you can stop wasting your time online and make money instead:

Sell stuff online
Got old books, figurines, comicbooks, usable bicycles, last season’s handbags just gathering dust in your attic or closet? Sell them online through Amazon, eBay Philippines or any of those local auction sites that offer auction, swapping or free listing services.

Make money out of your expertise
These days, simply knowing how to do something can mean cash in your pocket. Be a freelancer offering consulting, design, copywriting or programming services. There are sites that post freelancing jobs for your skills and allow you to offer your expertise.

Teach or offer advice
You can also earn money teaching language and dispensing advice online. Since you are not limited by location or geography, expect to communicate with people from anywhere in the world, which opens up doors of more opportunities for you.

Sell photos
Are you a talented shutterbug? Then stop wasting your time storing your photos in a hard drive and make money from them instead. If you have excellent skills in photography, sell your photos on sites such as Big Stock Photo, Fotolia, Shutterstock and Dreamstime. And yes, don’t forget the extra exposure you get from Flickr.

Make money from your blog
If you have your own, make money from ads or offer subscription memberships for premium content. You can also join a blog network and get paid for producing great content and offering excellent writing skills.

With such a huge growth in the number of websites and the resulting difficulty in finding an available domain name, it is tempting to grab the first one that sounds like it might do the trick. However, a small amount of homework will pay big dividends - follow the ten steps below to obtain the optimal domain:

1. AVAILABILITY If it’s not available you can’t have it - simple!

2. COPYRIGHT Ensure that you do not breach copyright or infringe trademarks with your choice of domain.

3. EXTENSIONS It’s widely acknowledged that the best TLD (top level domain) is .com. However, in the UK, web users are more than used to .co.uk so this is equally acceptable for UK websites. If .com isn’t available and you use .net instead (for example), check that .com isn’t either a competitor or that the ..com site content is acceptable! Always try to get the .com, your country TLD or .net in that order. Web users are still not used to .biz or .info.

4. BE GREEDY! If more than one TLD variant is available, buy as many as you can afford and set them all to point to your website. This is a form of brand protection and prevents unscrupulous competitors trying to cash in on your hard-earned web traffic.

5. BE MEMORABLE Make sure that potential web users will remember your domain name and that they can spell it properly.

6. BE PRONOUNCABLE Try telling people your web address over the phone - can they understand what you tell them? Or do they give up and try someone else’s website.

7. BE DESCRIPTIVE If you are a new business, very few people will remember or search for your domain name if it is your company name. Try choosing a domain name that is descriptive of your products instead e.g. cheap<>.com. Try testing it with a hyphen as well as using just one word.

8. OFFLINE MARKETING Use your domain name in your offline marketing literature and ensure that it is as visible as possible. However, if your domain name consists of more than one word, that isn’t hyphenated, try using capital letters e.g. which is easier to read - littlefishwebdesign.com or LittleFishWebDesign.com? Domain names are not case sensitive so your clients will find your site whichever version they use.

9. BUY YOUR DOMAIN FOR LONGER Search engines are now looking at less obvious information such as how long you have bought your domain name for. Domain names owned for less than two years are though to be penalised, so buy your domain for as long as possible.

10. OWN YOUR DOMAIN NAME If you use a web designer or third party for your domain names, ensure they are registered in your name and that you have a signed agreement with the company that they will release all the details (including password) to you, quibble free, if you choose to move to another design or hosting company.

About the Author:
Emma Kalson is the owner of www.littlefishwebdesign.com and has been designing websites for about 10 years. She doesn’t believe in unnecessary bells and whistles on websites and wants to help remove some of the myths surrounding website design and search engine activity.

Camera accessories are not always a necessity but they can enhance your photography experience and add to the functionality of the device. Here are the top camera accessories every photography newbie should have:

Memory cards
If you’re using a digital camera, it probably already carries a built-in memory. Although that would suffice, as your photography hobby grows, so will your need to take more pictures or shoot more video footages. Built-in camera memory can only do so much. Find a card with a high capacity or buy two that has medium-capacity for emergencies.

Optical zoom lens
The basic function of the zoom lens is to get you closer to your subject. So for those very personal shots up close, get yourself some additional lens to capture far-off objects.

Tripod
A tripod may seem like a very trivial choice but it will come in handy if you want to work independently, shoot a steady picture or even take photos of yourself. A tripod is bulky but it will prevent a shaky camera shot.

Camera bag
A durable if not the best camera bag not only holds your camera, it also protects it from dirt, dust, heat and moisture. And it will also hold other accessories as well.

Printer
With a photo printer, there’s no need to download your photo or video files onto a computer for printing. Feed your memory card onto the printer, make a few changes and start printing.

Editing software
Do you always take less-than-perfect photos and videos? An editing software will fix all that and make you look like a pro. This is an excellent camera accessory to get because it lets you modify your photos and just have fun.

Mint.com is an online money manager that is aimed at being “the first free, easy and secure way to manage and save money online.” Not only is Mint free, it saves you money. While existing personal finance software packages require hours to set up, a passion for accounting (is that possible?) and hours of weekly maintenance, Mint is virtually effortless.

With Mint.com, users can get up and running less than three minutes. After that, revolutionary, patent–pending Mint technology does the rest, with virtually no more work required. Mint automatically pulls bank, credit union and credit card transactions and gives an up-to-date view of your money. In addition, Mint goes beyond visibility and analysis providing personalized money–saving and money–making suggestions. Mint provides users an average of $1,000 in savings opportunities during their first session. Plus, Mint is proactive—alerting you when you are overbudget, have a low balance, need to pay a bill, and more.

Mint is safe and secure: we never know your identity and we provide bank–level data security. [More]

If there’s one topic you like to talk about online and you have an online forum as part of your website or blog, make sure to maximize this opportunity to monetize it and start earning money on your blog. Creating and maintaining an online forum is an effective marketing machine and it is a proven method to gather targeted audience according to most internet marketers.

Do you want to generate quality traffic and make money at the same time?

Build a discussion forum that will attract participants and members and you’re well on your way to making money online. Here’s how:

Use your online forum to promote your business.
To do this, it’s best to use your website and offer your online forum as one of the web pages. That way, visitors can view your website, find your forum and join. You keep them logged on to your website so any promotions or ads that you may be hosting from there will be easy for your members and visitors to access.

If you’re hosting a photography forum, for example and are selling photography books, lenses, camera and accessories related to photography hobby, your visitors can easily find those photography related ads on your site and buy from you.

Use your online forum for opt-in signups.
If you’re running an affiliate program, take advantage of the traffic generated by threads in your online forum. Invite members and other affiliates to post and start discussion threads or start one yourself. You can then offer more advice and tips or provide visitors with the opportunity to join your program.

Link back to your site.
If you’re maintaining an online forum that is independent from your website, always provide participants with a chance to get to know you better. Provide a link back to your website from the forum to make sure that visitors will find their way there. When they join you as members or subscribers or buy merchandise, you’ll start making money online.
AirAsia has confirmed that it is to launch flights to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) in April, and then Hong Kong and Haikou in China in May 2008, growing its route network to a total of 93. The 3 new routes are part of AirAsia’s aggressive Airbus A320 rollout programme to further strengthen its network in the region.

Beginning 15 April 2008, Ho Chi Minh will receive AirAsia’s brand new Airbus A320 at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. This is further strengthened by AirAsia’s sister company, Thai AirAsia who will be starting its inaugural flight into the city on 4 April 2008. Fares will start from RM49.99/US$10.

By 15 May 2008, AirAsia will start Kuala Lumpur-Hong Kong services with fares starting from RM49.99/HK$99. Hong Kong has long been on the radar for many business travelers and a shopping haven for many tourists. The bustling city is one of the largest financial centres in China, a major international air hub for some of the biggest airlines in the world and a popular tourist destination.

Situated at the north of Hainan Island, Haikou is China’s biggest island with over 8 million in population. AirAsia will launch a direct flight into Haikou from 22 May 2008 with introductory fares starting from RM29.99/CNY68, AirAsia will be tapping into a market of 400,000 Hainanese who are based in Malaysia.

Haikou enjoys a long coastline that features beautiful beaches. The city has many sightseeing attractions including important historical sites such as The Wugong Temple, the Tomb of Hai Rui and the Xiuying Emplacement, the scenic Nanli Lake, great Hainanese food, and even has the ‘kissing fish therapy’ (fishes that nibble at one’s body as part of an underwater skin-cleansing care). With so many attractions, Haikou is a tropical seaside city in every way.

Kathleen Tan, AirAsia, “At AirAsia, we have created new travel demand and with our low fares, we know we will continue to do the same for the three new destinations. The region is getting closer with enhanced connectivity and we are determined to bridge the cultural gap and foster closer ties between families and friends by working closely with Tourism Malaysia to boost traffic between the countries.”

Yes, you can trade money to make more money. With forex trading, you could participate in the biggest, most active market in the world. But before that, learn what forex trading is and what it is not:

Forex trading
Forex (sometimes FX) stands for foreign exchange. It refers to the trade that involves the currencies of different countries in the world. It is so big that on a daily basis, money amounting to over US$1 trillion is traded.

Forex trading is not limited by geography or office hours because it is a market that runs 24 hours, beginning Sundays and ending on Fridays. The exchange involves the buying and selling of at least one currency pair. Although traders can choose the currencies they want to trade, they generally stay with the major pairs.

Forex trading also offers higher leverage than the stock market. It has superior liquidity, which means there’s always someone somewhere you can trade with.

What forex trading is not
Forex trading is not personal trading. If you want to participate, you don’t need to go find an office or building to do business. There is no central exchange involved. Instead, there is what is called the interbank market. This lets anyone trade using just networks (such as computers and the Internet) and telephone.

Forex trading is not easy money. You need to learn and understand how it works in order to deal effectively. Forex trading is also not a zero-risk investment. At any time, you could win big or lose big, depending on how the market goes.