SofiaShop - Authentic Beauty Supply

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Friday, February 5, 2010

How to Increase Twitter Followers quickly


You may ask why it is important to have a large twitter followers. It is very importance for online business as twitter is great tool to keep your customers, followers updated with your trends, news, etc.
It's a quick and easy way to communicate. But it takes a little more effort to build targeted audience, who are interested in what you are talking about. There are services out there that promises to help you growing your twitter followers but don't fall for it so easily. It does grow your followers but not targeted followers. This means you may have a lot of followers but they are not interested in your message and eventually return a low response rate.
Follow simple steps below to grow your targeted followers without paying a dime.

  1. Register for a twitter account. If you have multiple businesses, you may want to have a twitter account for each. This allows you to keep targeted audience for each business separate.
  2. Search for a specific niche of your business. And follow as many as you want. I usually follow 50-100/day
  3. Open to view a profile in the niche and follow their followers. It's most likely that their followers are also in the same niche. To save time, select the list view so you can follow in just a few clicks.
  4. Setup your time, eg. 15'/day to search and follow people on your niche. Stop 1 day in between to allow them response to your request.
  5. When you reach following limit (twitter will alert message), you can use automate program like huitter.com or buzzom.com to remove those who don't follow you back.
  6. Keep doing that regularly and you will be surprised of the return rate.

Follow me on twitter for more tips/ideas on work from home, financial freedom blog. And for mom, you can buy authentic beauty supply from my store http://sofiashop.ecrater.com/.

Friday, January 29, 2010

How to Make Money on eCrater.com



After expanding to Blujay.com market place, I expanded my online business of selling authentic beauty supply to eCrater.com as another step on my quest of financial freedom. eCrater is pretty new but it soon gains its popularity as an eBay alternative but its greatest advantage is 100% FREE martket place and moreover, you can create as many eCrater store as you like.
eCrater is designed as a store front and it also has feedback system as eBay does. It's traffic is pretty good and it auto submits your listing to Google products. It's simple to get started selling on eCrater: here are steps I took:



  1. Register on eCrater with username/password. If you sell on many martket place, it's best to use the same user name so your customers can recognize you.
  2. Select payment options: it's best to offer both google checkout and paypal
  3. Setup Category and select represent category pictures to show on your store's home page
  4. Create Product and upload upto 10 images/product. Your product image is best when it's in square and min 250x250. If you don't see the images after uploading, it may because your browse is not configured to show temporary files stored at port 8080. After a few days you will see these images after they are moved to a permanent place on the server. Only a few users face this issue and I am one of them. 
  5. Configure shipping policy, US sale tax, etc. 
  6. Upload your logo and put some text on your homepage to tell what your store is about
  7. Then you are ready to take order.
  8. To promote your store, you can join eCrater community to promote your store and learn different ways to promote your store from other sellers
  9. Another cool feature of eCrater is you can create a widget and add it to your blog or other website.
If you like to see how an eCrater store looks like, visit my store: http://sofiashop.ecrater.com/. I also have other stores http://sofiashop.blujay.com and of course my blog where I write journal of financial freedom steps I tokk: http://financialfreedomwish.blogspot.com/ I would appreciate any feedback for improvement.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

How to Make Money on Twitter


If you have a good number of followers on your twitter account, why don't you take advantage to make some cash. It's perfect way to make money online. It's easier than you thought and the concept is not new. And remember it costs nothing for you to try. If you don't like it, you lose nothing. But if you do, you can earn some cash.
The following simple steps will show you how:




  1. Go to adly.com and register for an account. You only need email address and a twitter account. It's easy and FREE. Try Adly here.
  2. Adly asks for your permission to access your account. It will analyze your account and suggest your price per ads. If you have about 1000+ followers, it may pay you $2/ad. 
  3. You will have the ability to change your price, higher or lower. If you set it too high, there may less or no ads offers or you have to wait for a little longer.
  4. When there are ads available for you, Adly will alert you. All you need to do is go to your account, review and accept what ads you want to publish on your twitter.
  5. You may want to sign up for many ads providers for 1 twitter account to increase your cash flow. 
  6. Remember to continue building up your twitter followers. The more targeted audience you have the more response you may get. You may want to check out my other post on how to increase twitter followers. 
Follow me on twitter for more tips/ideas on work from home, financial freedom blog. And for mom, you can buy authentic beauty supply from my store http://sofiashop.ecrater.com/.


Wednesday, January 27, 2010

How to Make Money with Blujay.com

As part of my journey to find financial freedom, I have started a small online business to sell beauty supply and my goal is to sell authentic products with reasonable price. I first listed my products on ebay.com but then decided to find ebay alternatives because ebay costs more than the profit I could make. It does not mean that I am totally against ebay. It is still a very good marketplace that I can use to promote my product. I will discuss this in another article.

In this article, I'd like to introduce blujay.com as one alternative to eBay.com . It offers many advantages including but not limited to 100% free market place, no listing fee, no commission, no charge of any kind. It's designed as a store front where you can list as many products as you like. You can offer both google checkout and paypal as payment methods.
The design is so easy and straight forward to work with and you can give it a try by following these simple steps:





  1. Go to blujay.com and click on Login/Register where you specify your user name, password, etc.
  2. After register completes, you can list your items immediately.
  3. You can create custom categories for your store or select universal ones from the list
  4. Add product description and image. Blujay does not have strict restriction on image size or dimension. It allows you to add up to 4 images per product.
  5. To save time, you can select 'Copy Ads' and modify the ads so that you don't have to enter data many times
  6. Blujay will submit your listings to Google product and it's a plus because your listings can be found easily with search engine.
  7. You will get email notification when an item is sold. And you can view your order and update your status and contact your customer, etc.
  8. Blujay is simple, but sufficient for you to start your business. You don't need a sophisticated tool to start your small business while you have not made enough project to cover the cost piling up on the other side.
  9. One drawback of blujay is that it does not have feedback system where buyers can rate sellers. This feature is really a must for some sellers and who need that would also try ecrater. I have an article on ecrater as well.
If you have shopping mood today, visit my stores and my blog and let me know what you think: http://sofiashop.blujay.com or http://sofiashop.ecrater.com/ or http://financialfreedomwish.blogspot.com/ 

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

How to Make Money by Selling Book on Half.com

Many of you may have read my previous articles about How to Sell Books on Amazon. This article is its extention. If you have been in the book selling business, you know how important it is to attract more customers or in other words, to increase your sales.
One way to do that is to increase your market presence. I am already a seller on Amazon and now I am expanding book selling business to Half.com.
It's an Ebay own company, however, it's totally FREE to list book and only collects commission if the item is sold. And you can list books, textbook, movies, music, games, etc. To start selling on Half.com, you can follow simple steps below:















  1. Register to be a seller on Half.com: Even though you have Ebay ID, you still need to register as a seller on Half.com. Go to http://www.half.ebay.com/, click on My Account link at the top of the page to log in to your account. you can use the same user Ebay name/password for Half.com
  2. Click the "Start Selling Now" link in the "Selling" box on the left side of the page.
  3. You need to enter credit card and phone to verify your identity
  4. Enter your direct deposit information so you can receive payments. It's your checking account. Half.com will not deposit to saving account.
  5. Choose the shipping methods. You have to support Media Mail, but you can also offer Expedited Mail. You will get shipping credit reimbursement depending on the shipping method.
  6. Click on "Register" and it's done.
  7. You can start listing right after registration and you can do a single listing or multiple listings or bulk listings.
  8. You also have option to list books on Ebay marketplace as well, but you have to be Business or Premium verified Paypal account (you have to pay a small fee). And listing fee may apply if item is sold on eBay.
  9. The good thing is, your feedback for Half.com will be counted as Ebay feedback, so it really increases your Ebay reputation if you do good on Half.com
  10. When your item is sold, Half will charge commission and what you will receive is selling price of item sold - commission + shipping reimbursement. For more commission rate:  http://pages.half.ebay.com/help/seller/getpaid.html
Remember you have to pay the extra if your shipping cost is more than your shipping credit. For more infohttp://pages.half.ebay.com/help/seller/fulfill.html

Half.com is currently available on US only, so US residents, take your advantage now.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

How to Automate Twitter Posts

To continue with my twitter series, I'd like to share some tips on automating your tweets. It's a good practice to save your time and to give your audience updates promptly.
Here are some simple steps:

  1. Use one of free automate twitter websites. You can go with a paid service to have a better GUI, feature, but I think Free service is sufficient. I use futuretweets.
  2. Go to futuretweet. Login with your tweeter account and allow it to access your account.
  3. Type some tweet and then set time/date you want to post tweet and finally save the posts
  4. You can schedule as many tweets as you want. It previously has recurring feature however it is taken off due to new twitter policy.
  5. Twitter allows only 140 characters per post. If have a long link, you should shorten it with tinyurl.com (it's free)
  6. What I did was to schedule tweets for a whole week or for every 2 weeks and let set it aside. That helps me to get organized, planning and can concentrate on other tasks as well.

Follow me on twitter for more tips/ideas on work from home, financial freedom blog. And for mom, you can buy authentic beauty supply from my store http://sofiashop.ecrater.com/.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Make Money with Scour Search Engine

Earn money with Scour!


I am sure you know how to use Google or one of the search engine to search the internet. But those search engines do not pay you a dime. Do you know that you can earn some extra cash just by searching the internet. Yes, it's true with SCOUR.COM. That is what I am taking advantage of. The pay rate is not a lot, but it's fun and at the end you get some extra cash. Nobody gives us money for doing nothing. Why not turning what you do into cash.
When I found scour.com, I use it ever since. It is the search engine that combines all search results from Google, Yahoo, MSN. You can get all results at one place with scour.com. How cool is that!
It's absolutely free, Scour gives you 150 points for just to sign up. You earn 1 point per search, 1 point for rating and 3 points for adding comment. When you earn 6500 points, you can redeem for $25 gift card. It may takes a while to accumulate the points but it will add up before you know that.
If you like Scour, you can refer your friend and earn points from your referral.
If you don't like it, you can unsubscribe any time. Nothing lose to give it a try. I am sure you will gain just as I enjoy using it now. You can click on the link SCOUR.COM to join. Enjoy your extra cash.





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Monday, December 21, 2009

How to Make Passive Income by Writing for eHow

I've heard about eHow a while ago but I was skeptical. At last I decided to give it a try. It turns out to be true and I made my first few bucks in just a week with a few simple articles. How awesome it is! See my proof:



If you want to earn some extra cash or passive income working from home, write for eHow. Many people even making a living just by writing for ehow. Here are some simple steps to begin:
  1. Go to www.ehow.com and register for an account. It's Free. You don't have to pay a dime. But you need to give your tax information. You can start writing right after registration.
  2. Pick a topic that you have in mind. You can write about what you like or your hobbies. I think it is best to write what you like because your articles will turn out great and it will attract more readers. But if you don't have a topic in mind, do not worry. Ehow gives you a list of requested topics you can write about. Ehow will embed ads into your articles. The more people view ads, the more money you make. Think about it.
  3. Use simple sentences, words. You don't need to follow academic grammar rule. Be simple and informative. That's what readers want.
  4. Remember to put keywords in your articles. Think about what people will search in Google or Yahoo. If you use the right keywords, you will attract more readers. That's how you make more money.
  5. Find pictures for your articles. Pictures mean thousand words. You can post your photos or find some relevant photos on the internet as long as you cite it correctly. However, photo is not required.
  6. After completing your articles, you should put them in correct categories. You can add many categories as they are applicable to.
  7. And finally you can add keywords to the keyword section. Remember to use keywords in each step as well.
  8. After submitting your article, eHow will review and publish it, usually 1-2 days. And you can revise it as frequent as you want.

It usually takes me 10-15 minutes for a article and these articles keep generating money for me. (See my eHow on the right hand side.) I really enjoy eHow. Give it a try and you won regret. Good luck.


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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Make Money by Selling Used Books on Amazon

Did you know that you can make money by selling used books on Amazon?
Yes, it's true and it's what I am doing as another step to my financial freedom. My husband bought a lot of books and after one or two readings, they sit on the shelf forever. I did donate them to Goodwill a couple of times and then I found a better way to get back some cash and save money to buy new ones. This keeps my book budget low but does not cut on my reading.



  • Amazon offers an easy and free way for you to sell used books. It takes only a few minutes and cost nothing for a basic account. 
  • If you don't have account with Amazon yet. Go to Amazon.com and sign up for one. You will need a valid credit card number and billing address to be a seller on Amazon. 
  • A valid phone number is also required. Amazon will call you and ask you to enter the pin number. This number will display when you submit your application. The verification takes only a few second after you enter your pin. You can then start selling immediately. 
  • You can select which books you want to sell. And enter ISBN number found from the back of your book to Amazon. It will search from the database and display the book. All you need to do is to enter price and condition information. And then submit your listing. 
  • To increase your selling chance, you may want to list with the lowest offer price. 
  • If your book is sold, you will receive a notification email. Then you can package and ship using media mail. Amazon give you 3.99 credit for each shipment. So you don't have to worry about shipping cost.
  • Amazon will collect a commission about 15% from your selling price if it is sold. It costs nothing if the book is not sold for 60 days. Your listing will end and you will have option to re-list. 
  • You always can increase your inventory by buying used books from garage sells or from thrift store. Goodwill is also a great place and I got $1 for a book and sold for $10. What a great deal!
  • Give it a try and you will surely find it useful.
I've started around 2 months and here is my performance.







I am not making any money posting this since Amazon does not offer referral program. But because it helps me a bit financially so I think it is helpful to you too. 
As a work at home mom, nothing is better than making money but take less time to manage it.
If you would like to help me. You may buy from my Amazon store on the right hand side or from my book store Ezhello.




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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Make Money from Free Online Survey - Top 5 Free Online Survey

My first thoughts of making money online is to answer online surveys. From my research, there are many websites out there that you pay membership fee to answer survey. To me, they are scams. You should not pay a dime to start making money online and you can earn real money from legitimate online surveys absolutely FREE.
I've tumbled around and tried dozen of online survey sites and finally come up with the top 5 list. You can try them, ABSOLUTELY FREE and make extra cash. This list will save your time researching, tumbling around like I did. Enjoy some extra money. Any suggestions are very welcome.
Read on my other posts where I review each of these websites in details.


My Rank
Name
How to Earn
Cost
Try Now
1

Cash Rate
survey, shop with cash back, referrals, contest, prize shop


FREE
Try Now
2

Treasure Trooper
survey, shop for cash back, referral


FREE
Try Now
3


InboxDollars

survey, play game, shop for cash back, referral


FREE
Try Now
4
Opinion Outpost
survey, reward


FREE
Try Now
5


Survey Savvy
survey, reward, referral, Sweepstakes


FREE
Try Now



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Make Money to View Ads - Top 5 Free Paid to View Ads Sites

Continue with my first step to financial freedom (see my post Make Money from Free Online Survey - Top 5 Free Only Survey), this post is my second step to it. I went online and digg into another stream of online income: Paid to View Ads. Yes, you get paid to view ads.
You can join the following FREE, click to view ads for 30 sec each and get paid. Paying range varies, but ranging from 1 cent to 15 cent. But it adds up. Here are my top rated sites:


My Rank
Name
How to Earn
Cost
Try Now
1



YouData
view ads, affiliate


FREE
Try Now
2



ClixSense
view ads, affiliate


FREE
Try Now
3
WordLinx - Get Paid To ClickWordLinx
view ads, affiliate

FREE
Try Now
4
MatrixMails - Get paidMatrixMails
view ads, affiliate, read email


FREE
Try Now
5



NeoBux  (referrer = ezhello)
view ads, affiliate


FREE
Try Now







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