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Six First Income Streams Recommended for Bloggers

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The post Six First Income Streams Recommended for Bloggers appeared first on ProBlogger.

First income streams recommended for bloggers

This post is based on episode 198 of the ProBlogger podcast.

If you’ve been blogging for a while but haven’t started monetizing your blog, you might be wondering what income stream you should add first.

This can be a sticking point, whether you’re a new blogger or have been blogging for a while.

There’s no one “perfect” income stream to start with (though I’ll be making a recommendation at the end of this post about the one that suits most blogs).

What you pick will depend on your topic, your audience, and more.

Different Factors Affecting the Income Stream You Choose

Your Topic: Some income streams suit certain topics better than others. For instance, bloggers writing about spirituality or politics often find advertising doesn’t work so well.

What Your Readers Want: Your reader’s intent matters too. If they’re on your site because they want information, it might make sense to sell them an information product. If they’re on your site to connect with others, they might instead be willing to subscribe to a membership community.

Your Audience Size: As your blog grows, so will your income from most income streams. Some income streams won’t really work at all with a small audience, particularly Google AdSense.

Your Readers’ Location: If you have a lot of local readers, that can lead to specific opportunities such as selling advertising to local readers. If your audience is global, something like Amazon’s affiliate program might work well for you.

The Source of Your Traffic: Some types of traffic monetize differently from others. For instance, traffic from search engines can be a good fit for Google AdSense, but traffic from social media might convert well into affiliate product sales. Email works really well if you’re selling a product.

Six Different Income Streams You Could Try

#1: Amazon’s Affiliate Program

Amazon’s affiliate program is called “Amazon Associates”, and it attracts some mixed feelings from bloggers. (If you’re not sure what an affiliate program is, we’ll be coming to that in a moment.)

One issue with Amazon Associates is it’s simply not available for some people. Amazon won’t let you join if you’re in certain states due to tax laws. And Amazon isn’t available at all in some parts of the world.

But most of the complaints I hear are that Amazon’s commission isn’t very high (it’s normally 4%, though it can be higher on certain products) and that the affiliate cookie only lasts for 24 hours.

Personally, I find the Amazon Associates program works well for me, particularly on Digital Photography School.

There are a number of reasons for this:

  • We have a very US-based audience that knows, likes and trusts Amazon.
  • Some of the products we promote are high-value ones (e.g. $2,000 cameras). And even 4% commission on those quickly adds up.
  • Amazon will give you a cut of everything a person someone buys within 24 hours of following your link. I often get commissions from people buying books, cosmetics, jewellery, and even nappies (diapers).
  • Amazon’s links are easy to integrate into a blog, and they provide a number of tools and widgets you can use.
  • Amazon is really well optimised for holidays such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so you can promote special deals at these times.

While Amazon won’t be a perfect fit for every blog, it’s a good first option as you can be up and running with Amazon affiliate links in just a few minutes.

Further Reading:

The Ultimate Guide to Making Money with the Amazon Affiliate Program

How I Made over $500,000 With the Amazon Affiliate Program (podcast episode)

#2: Other Affiliate Programs

Being an “affiliate” for a product means you recommend it to your readers and get a commission each time someone buys that product. You’ll get an “affiliate link” to the product with a special tracking code so your commission can be correctly credited to you.

There are a huge number of affiliate programs out there, and you can promote almost anything. For instance, my wife Vanessa has a style fashion blog where she promotes a number of different physical products. She also writes about books and recommends those using affiliate links to Australian stores (as most of her readers are Australian).

Some online stores have their own affiliate program, but many will use an affiliate network such as Commission Junction, Commission Factory, ShareASale or LinkShare. These work well for bloggers, as your commission from several different stores can be pooled together into one payout (so long as they’re all on the same network).

If your topic isn’t a good fit for physical products, you can promote virtual products that are often information based such as ebooks, ecourses or membership sites. Some of these will pay quite a high commission, with 50% considered normal.

You can also promote software products. On ProBlogger, for instance, we recommend hosting options, tools, landing page sites, plugins, WordPress themes, and so on.

Many of those affiliate networks will have software products, too. Other good options here are the networks Clickbank and E-junkie.

Whatever you’re promoting, make sure it’s a product that’s on topic and matches what your readers want to buy. You should also be sure it’s high-quality and something you’re happy to be associated with through your recommendation.

Further Reading:

My Tips for Making Money As a Blogger Through Affiliate Marketing (podcast episode)

How to Use Affiliate Programs to Boost Your Income Stream

#3: Join an Advertising Network

I see a lot of bloggers start out this way, particularly those who’ve already built a bit of an audience. Advertising doesn’t work well if your audience is very small, as you won’t get more than a few cents from it.

One popular option is Google’s AdSense network. Some bloggers don’t like it because they find they don’t make much money for it. My experience is that you need a lot of traffic, and it works best with US audiences.

Another good network to try is Mediavine. There are some restrictions on who can join based on your traffic and niche. But the bloggers I know who got accepted say they do a lot better from it than from AdSense.

Mediavine doesn’t represent some categories (e.g. politics and religion), and your blog should fit into one of these areas: food, parenting, DIY, health, fitness, fashion, travel, crafts, education, entertainment.

You’ll need to have 25,000 “sessions” (visits to your site) each month as measured by Google Analytics. If you have less, you might not get accepted.

Further Reading:

AdSense Turns 10 Years Old: Why I’m Grateful for it!

How I Diversified My Blogging Income Beyond Having All My Eggs in the AdSense Basket

#4: Sponsorship

This is a slightly different type of advertising where you find a brand that’s willing to work with you directly, cutting out the “middle man” of an advertising network. Again, you’ll need some traffic for this to work.

There are a variety of ways you could sell sponsorship. For instance, you might offer:

  • A banner ad on your blog
  • A sponsored post (written by you or the sponsor)
  • A sponsored giveaway or competition on your blog

With Digital Photography School, we often offer sponsors a “bundle” of different things – perhaps a banner ad on the blog and in the newsletter, some social media promotion and a competition.

Further Reading:

Partnering With Brands Theme Week: Advertising 101

One Screenshot You Must Include When Pitching a Sponsored Post

#5: Creating Products

Up to this point, the methods I’ve shared are all about promoting other people’s products – either as an affiliate or by working with them as an advertiser or sponsor. These methods all involve sending people away from your site to buy someone else’s product.

That works well, especially when you’re starting out. But another option is to create your own product that you sell through your blog.

This takes quite a lot of work, particularly if you’re going to sell a physical product that needs to be designed and manufactured. Even a virtual product such as an ebook takes time to create.

My first product was an ebook, which included some previously published posts along with some extra material. It took me three or four months to create it and get it ready to sell.

Selling your own product works best if you’ve got an engaged audience rather than a lot of fleeting traffic from search engines. Ideally, you want to get your readers onto an email list, because email is a great way to sell products.

If you’ve already built up an audience, and your readers are engaged and interested, a product could be a great first income stream. You can include your readers in the development of the product. They could even help fund it through a site such as Kickstarter.

Further Reading:

9 Key Ingredients for Creating the Perfect Sales Page

Creating a Product Library for Your Blog (podcast episode)

#6: Selling Your Services

The final income stream you might try when you first monetize is selling your services. This could be linked to an existing business (e.g. if you’re an accountant, a lawyer, or a child behaviour therapist), or you could start providing a new service that relates to your blog.

One avenue many bloggers go down is to freelance on related topics. For instance, if you’ve got a fashion blog, you could write copy for fashion site. If you’ve got a parenting blog, you might be able to land a column with a parenting magazine.

When I did a recent survey of about 100 full-time bloggers, I found more than half of them offered freelancing services such as writing, consulting, and coaching. So that’s another option to consider when you’re starting to monetize.

Further Reading:

How to Earn Extra Money Freelancing While Starting a Blog

10 Tips to Help You Land a Job as a Freelance Blogger

Which Income Stream Should You Try First?

The options we’ve been through are:

  • Amazon’s affiliate program
  • Other affiliate programs
  • Advertising networks
  • Sponsorship
  • Creating a product
  • Providing a service

Any of these could make a great first income stream for your blog. But if you’re not sure which one to choose, I suggest going for affiliate marketing (either with Amazon or with another brand).

Affiliate marketing has a very low barrier to entry. Many programs will approve you instantly. You can get links straight away to put into your blog posts.

While you might not make a lot of money from affiliate marketing in the early days, you’ll learn a lot. You’ll see which products your audience are interested in buying. You’ll discover whether they prefer physical or virtual products, or whether they’re more likely to buy high-priced or low-priced ones. This can help you work out what type of product you might want to create.

Affiliate marketing can also help you to figure out which brands might become sponsors for your blog. For instance, if you find jewellery does well on your blog, you might reach out to some jewellery stores or manufacturers.

A Couple of Important Things to Remember

Remember, making money from blogging takes time. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. Most bloggers have more than one income stream, particularly if they’re blogging full-time. Many will also have tried some things that didn’t work for them.

So if the first income stream you try doesn’t work for you, hang in there and keep experimenting.

And while some bloggers talk about “passive income”, making money from your blog isn’t really passive. You’ll spend time building your audience, creating a product or building relationships, and so on.

So by all means experiment with income streams. But don’t do it at the expense of other important things, such as creating great content, engaging with your audience, and promoting your blog.

Image credit: lucas Favre

The post Six First Income Streams Recommended for Bloggers appeared first on ProBlogger.

      


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 25th, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

Protecting business Information

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You're reading Protecting business Information, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Introduction

With the rapid growing of technology and information, protecting customer and business has become increasing important because hackers today target a lot of business from small to large size hoping to gain information about either the customer or the business so that they can sell the information and make a profit, this can, in turn, hurt the business and its reputation because the customer will no longer have trust in the business and will leave the business to do business somewhere else. On top of that, the company that got compromised will also have to pay law suite money when going to court.

Protecting Business

It is simply not enough to rely on technology and services alone to protect business data because when it comes to information security, security is a process and not a technology. Technology can only help to protect the data but like all technology, it is only as good as the person show designed it. The IT specialist will have to innovate new idea and new ways to protect their business data and infrastructure. New product is always being invented to help IT professionals protect their organization data and one of them is called the Dell EMC Integrated Data Protection Appliance which according to Robb D. this device “is a pre-integrated appliance that is said to be simple to deploy” and it was designed to support a wide range of network and application including both physical and virtual platform. “It also supports multiple hypervisors and can extend to the public, private and hybrid cloud for long-term retention”. (June 2, 2017). Although relying on appliance to protect business data is a good idea, user must remember that one technology is not good enough to keep the data safe, the user must create other strategies to harden the network and service such as using the latest encryption technology and make sure the algorithm it provides is AES or advanced encryption standard which is the strongest encryption right now for any technology to encrypt network traffic.

Protecting Data at Rest

Protecting data at rest is another important strategy for securing data for any organization with information technology, and dealing with threat intelligence. While traffic moving through the network can be encrypted using Virtual Private Network, Firewall, and other appliance, it is also important to use encryption software to encrypt data at rest because when data that is stored on a hard drive or at a destination unencrypted, the hackers can use malware and other malicious software to copy and steal data. If the data is encrypted while it is sitting on a server or a hard drive, even if the hacker can make a copy of the data, it would still be very hard for the attacker to decrypt the data. One of the best encryption used by many small businesses and large enterprise today is the PGP or pretty good privacy algorithm and Symantec has developed a software that uses the PGP algorithm to help user encrypt their data stored on the server. If the business wants to save money and still want to use the PGP algorithm to protect their data, they can use a software called OpenPGP which is an opensource tool that works similar to Symantec that provides the same security and the best part about OpenPGP is that it is completely free to use for anyone. Anyone can take the source code, edit the software based on their business needs and compile the software to run with their system. According to OpenPGP “OpenPGP is the most widely used email encryption standard. It is defined by the OpenPGP Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force as a Proposed Standard in RFC4880” so using this will provide the same security measure and will meet government compliance for protecting corporate data.

You've read Protecting business Information, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you've enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 25th, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

Mogo Review: Free Credit Score and More

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There are currently three companies in Canada that provide customers with an updated credit score, for free, on a regular basis. I recently published a detailed review of two of those companies, Borrowell and Credit Karma, so it was time to add Mogo into the mix.

All three companies offer a wide range of financial products and services. For example, in addition to free credit reporting, you can obtain a credit card, apply for a personal loan, or even a mortgage. In this article, I’ll cover all of the services Mogo offers, to find out how they stack up against the competition.

It’s been said that people who check their credit score more often, tend to have higher credit scores. That’s why services like the ones offered by companies Mogo are so important. Historically, Canadians have had to obtain their credit score directly from the credit bureau, either Equifax or TransUnion. But the process was cumbersome, and for a long time, cost money. Companies like Mogo make the experience much more seamless.

Free Credit Score

When you sign up with Mogo, you’ll receive an updated Equifax credit score, for free, every month. I should point out that you won’t receive a full credit report, just your credit score. Borrowell and Credit Karma provide both a score and a detailed report. This may or may not be important to you, but it’s worth noting.

Mogo makes accessing your credit score extremely easy. When you sign up, they’ll send you an updated credit score immediately, and then follow up every month with an update. This is a great way to see how your score is trending, either up or down. If you notice a drop in your score, you’ll have an opportunity to dig deeper, to find out what might be happening.

Other Mogo Products and Services

With Mogo, you can pay to receive protection against identity theft, and fraud. You can also apply for a personal loan, a mortgage, or a prepaid Visa card. They also have an app that will enable you to buy and sell bitcoin, something that will appeal to a growing number of Canadians.

Identity Theft/Fraud Protection

Mogo helps protect you from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft, with MogoProtect. For $8.99/month, they’ll send you alerts if they suspect you could be at risk of fraudulent activity. One way they do this is by checking your Equifax credit report on a daily basis, for any new inquiries. Anytime a company does an inquiry on your credit bureau, Mogo will let you know. You can then follow up to make sure the inquiry is legitimate, and stop a fraud attempt before it’s too late. I noticed on their website that they are currently offering this service free for the first 12 months, so it’s definitely something to check out.

MogoCrypto

Mogo provides members with a crypto exchange, where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency right from your mobile phone. This is a unique service that, to my knowledge, is not provided by either Borrowell or Credit Karma. With MogoCrypto, you can transfer funds to or from your primary bank account very quickly. According to Mogo, funds can be moved in as little as thirty minutes. There is a 1% fee for bitcoin transactions.

Mogo Lending Products

In addition to the services I’ve listed above, Mogo offers a range of credit products, from a prepaid Visa card, to personal loans, even mortgages. Before we proceed, however, I should caution you that the interest rates offered on Mogo loans can be excessive if you don’t qualify for their best rates. Let’s take a closer look.

MogoCard

MogoCard is actually a prepaid Visa card, which means that you’re using your own money when you spend. The advantage here is that MogoCard offers cashback on purchases, which is something you won’t get when you shop using your bank’s debit card.

Mogo also doesn’t charge an annual or monthly fee for the card. The cashback is 1.5% on domestic purchases, and 3.0% on foreign purchases. For example, if you were to spend $1250 per month purchases ($1000 domestic, $250 foreign), you’d accumulate $270 of cash back in one year, which is pretty good for a no-fee card.

MogoCard makes it easy to add funds to the card, by syncing to your primary bank account, thus allowing you to transfer funds online. Currently, all major banks are supported, as well as Tangerine and ATB Financial.

Because the MogoCard is a prepaid Visa, it means that the target market for this card is customers who have less than stellar credit, and aren’t able to qualify for a regular Visa or Mastercard. So, the prepaid option won’t appeal to everyone. But if you have poor credit, or have never had a credit card, the MogoCard is a good option.

Mogo Personal Loans

While Mogo offers customers personal loans ranging from $2,000 to $35,000. Loans can be paid in full, at any time, without any penalties. That said, my recommendation would be to look elsewhere, due to the high interest rates.

While Mogo advertises rates as low as 5.9%, it’s unlikely that the majority of clients will qualify for this rock bottom rate. On the flip side, loan interest rates can be as high as 46.96% for the highest risk borrowers. This is closing in on the rates offered by payday loan companies.

By comparison, Borrowell’s highest loan interest rate is 29.19%, still very high, but nowhere near Mogo levels. Regardless of where you’re shopping for a personal loan, I can’t advise strongly enough to avoid high interest rates at all costs. Here’s an example that illustrates the negative impact that a high interest rate loan can have on your overall financial situation:

$15,000 loan @ 29% Annual Percentage Rate (APR), amortized over 60 months (5 years)

(figures are approximate)

Monthly Payment = $476.00

Interest paid over 60 months = $13,567

Total payments over 60 months = $28,567

Can you imagine? If you used that $15,000 loan to purchase a used car, you could end up paying over $28,000 for the car. At 45% interest, you would pay over $22,000 of interest, and more than $37,000 for a $15,000 vehicle.

So, while I appreciate that companies like Mogo, Borrowell and Credit Karma make credit available to borrowers of all risk levels, there is the potential to get into trouble by taking on a high interest rate loan.

MogoMortgage

Mogo recently launched MogoMortgage, which is essentially a mortgage broker service. This means that when you apply for a mortgage through Mogo, they will find you find a suitable mortgage, as well as a competitive interest rate, from a leading Canadian financial institution. According to the website, Mogo will do everything from helping you shop for a rate, to handling the documentation.

While the application can be completed online, you can speak with a Mogo mortgage representative anytime you have questions. Currently, Mogo only offers mortgages to clients who have less than 20% of the purchase price available for a down payment, otherwise known as a high ratio mortgage. They also require borrowers to have a minimum credit score of 640, which is pretty standard.

How Does Mogo Compare?

There are things to like about the Mogo product offering. For starters, they make it easy to stay on top of your credit score, with free monthly updates. If you ask me, regardless of which provider you use, this is a service every Canadian adult should take advantage of.

Their no fee, prepaid Visa card, offers a generous amount of cashback and is a convenient alternative for customers who are unable to qualify for a regular credit card, for whatever reason. And if trading bitcoin is your thing, their crypto exchange mobile app is certainly worth looking into.

Overall, while Mogo should certainly be considered a viable option, there are two things that prevent me from recommending them over Borrowell or Credit Karma; the inability to provide customers with a detailed credit report (credit score only), and their apparent focus on high-rate lending to those already having financial difficulties.

Mogo Review: Free Credit Score and More appeared first on MapleMoney.


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 24th, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

How to Earn PC Optimum Points

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The PC Optimum loyalty program was launched in February 2018, with the merger of two long standing rewards programs; Loblaws PC Plus, and the Shoppers Optimum program, from Shoppers Drug Mart. As a longtime PC Financial customer, I was thrilled to see the two programs come together, as it meant more opportunities to earn rewards. Not only that, but I was pleased to see that it remains one of the most generous loyalty rewards programs available to Canadians.

How Much are PC Optimum Points Worth?

One of the best things about PC Optimum points, is that the math is easy. That’s not always the case with loyalty rewards programs. With PC, 1000 points is worth $1. Because points can only be redeemed in multiples of 10,000 however, it’s better to think of it in those terms.

  • 10,000 = $10
  • 20,000 = $20
  • 30,000 = $30
  • 40,000 = $40

You get the picture. There is one exception to this. Sometimes, retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart will offer special redemption days, when they’ll give you more value for the PC Optimum points you redeem. I’ll explain how that works a little later.

Different Ways to Earn PC Optimum Points

Now that you have an idea how points are calculated, let’s take a look at the many different ways that you can earn PC Optimum points. You’ll notice that some of these programs are very lucrative. I recommend that you try to take advantage of as many as you can, to get the most bang for your buck.

Shoppers Drug Mart Purchases

You’ll earn 1.5% (15 points per dollar) when you purchase eligible products at Shoppers Drug Mart. This can be considered a respectable rate of return for any rewards program and is slightly more than the regular 10 points per dollar (1%) earned on regular spending at other participating retailers.

If you’re looking to amplify your points earning power, however, you’ll want to take advantage of the following options available to PC Optimum members.

Targeted Offers and In-Store Promotions

When you register with PC Optimum, you’ll receive personalized offers tailored to your shopping habits. Each week, simply load the offers you wish to take advantage of and receive the bonus points when you purchase the items on your list.

The targeted offers can be pretty lucrative, in fact, I’ve received up to 200 points per dollar spent on an item. That’s more than 13X the regular earn rate of 15 points on the dollar. In addition to the weekly offers, look out for in-store promotions that are available to all PC Optimum members wherever PC products are sold, including Shoppers Drugmart, Loblaws, and Esso locations.

Shoppers 20X Points Days

Shoppers Drug Mart also runs 20X points promo days from time to time. You definitely want to keep your eyes open for these, as they boost your point value per dollar from 1.5% to an incredible 30%! You do have to be careful with these types of promotions as they tempt you to spend money on things that you don’t need or normally wouldn’t buy. But if you stick to the items on your list, it’s worth shopping on 20X points days.

Shop Using a PC Financial Mastercard

If you’ve been a long time MapleMoney reader, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of earning credit card rewards. It’s a great way to save money on anything from travel, to gas and groceries, or even getting cash back. Of course, the caveat is that you use your credit card responsibly, by paying the balance in full every month. After all, there is no use earning points, if you’re paying interest at 19.99%.

PC Financial has three Mastercards that will enable you to earn PC Optimum points when you shop with your credit card. When you apply, PC Financial will automatically assign you a card based on your anticipated spending level, aka personal or household income. That said, each card allows you to accelerate your points earning, without an annual fee.

PC Financial Mastercard

When you shop at Loblaws, or any of its subsidiaries ie. Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, you’ll earn 10 points for every dollar you spend, or 1%. At Shoppers Drug Mart, that increases to 25 points, or 2%. Lastly, purchases at Esso/Mobil gas stations are worth 3% in PC Optimum points.

PC Financial World Mastercard

The PC World Mastercard is similar to the basic card, but takes the earning power up a notch, by doubling your points at Loblaws & family stores to 2% (20 points per dollar spent), and 3.5% on Shoppers Drug Mart purchases (35 points on the dollar).

PC Financial World Elite Mastercard

The PC World Elite Mastercard is PC’s top tier mastercard, and from a rewards standpoint is on par with many of the premier credit card offerings available today. With the World Elite, you’ll earn a whopping 3% when you shop at Loblaws stores, and 4.5% at Shoppers (45 points per dollar). Keep in mind, all of this is available without an annual fee.

Here’s a tip. If you’re considering applying for a PC Financial Mastercard, try to time it when a welcome bonus is being offered for new customers. This can be a great way to boost your PC Optimum points balance.

Learn More About PC Financial Mastercards

Redeeming PC Optimum Points

PC Optimum points can only be redeemed in multiples of 10,000 points. In other words, if you wish to redeem points against a $65 purchase, you could redeem 60,000 points, and then pay the $5 remaining. As I mentioned earlier, I like this for it’s simplicity. PC Financial makes the math for earning and redeeming points easy to understand.

As I mentioned earlier, there are times when Shoppers Drug Mart will offer you a higher dollar value for your points. For example, they may give you a $65 value when you redeem 50,000 points, instead of the regular $50 value. Watch out for these redemption offers, as they can be very attractive.

To use points when shopping, simply present your Optimum card to the cashier and let them know how many points you want to redeem. Keep in mind that you won’t earn points on the value of items that you’re redeeming points towards.

Where Can I Earn and Redeem PC Optimum Points?

In addition to Shoppers Drug Mart, you can earn and redeem PC Optimum points at more than 2,500 other Loblaws-affiliated retailers. This includes personalized weekly offers and in-store promotions. Here’s a list of some of the many stores that participate in the PC Optimum rewards program:

  • No Frills
  • Zehrs
  • Loblaws
  • Shoppers Drug Mart
  • com
  • Independent
  • Dominion
  • Esso/Mobil
  • Extra Foods
  • Fortinos
  • Atlantic Superstore

Maximizing Your PC Optimum Points

If you ask me, the 2018 merger of PC Plus and Shoppers Optimum was a big win for consumers. Not only did PC Financial maintain the generous earning power of the old programs, shoppers now have a larger network of retailers from which to earn and redeem points.

On their own, the PC Financial Mastercards make this a loyalty program worth considering. In fact, it’s the single best way to maximize your point earning capability. But even if you don’t shop using a credit card, you can still earn big by taking advantage of the 20X points days, targeted offers, and other in-store promotions.

How to Earn PC Optimum Points appeared first on MapleMoney.


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 24th, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

What I learned After Sending 100,000 Newsletters

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No one can argue with the power of newsletters and how effective they are in getting re-visitors to your blog. Neil Patel stated himself it’s impossible to get 100,000 people to your blog a month without an active email campaign. However, you need to have the right elements in place when sending emails. What good are emails if they don’t get opened and people don’t click on the “call-to-action”? I’ve worked with over 20 people in the last year many of them large business owners. They would often consult me on SEO and effective email marketing. Last year, with “2” of my clients, I sent out 100,000 newsletters over the course of 11 months and learned a few cool things.

Let’s get started…

Duration

When sending emails you have to be careful because sending too many can overwhelm the subscriber. You have to figure out the right frequency and it should depend on the following factors.

  • How often you update content.
  • How valuable the content.
  • The day and time sent during the week.

If you update content daily then send an email every week with a breakdown of the content published last week. This way the subscriber can choose which one they find engaging. Sending emails everyday when you publish might NOT be appealing especially when your content isn’t always up to par. Next,

It’s important to send the breakdown email on a Tuesday since this is still the beginning of the week and people have cleaned out their junk emails normally done on Monday.

Go Mobile

We knew that 44% of people visiting the website were surfing through their mobile phones. Installing Google Analytics in the backend will provide you with device information. This is why it was more important to ensure our newsletters are mobile-friendly. If we didn’t make them mobile compatible then that’s a potential 44% of visitors NOT engaging with our website. The good news is that ESP’s like Aweber.com make it very simple to create mobile-friendly newsletters and even provide you default templates.

We saw an impressive 77% open rate on newsletters sent.

Always Reply

One of my customers wanted feedback so sent out a newsletter asking a simple question: What do you think about our new web design? Many people responded and we made it a point to respond to every email message that came through. We received several emails back acknowledging our replies and they even mentioned they would visit the website more often. The lesson is…

To always reply back to emails your getting in response to newsletters. Many people when they get a reply back will appreciate the effort and this will build loyalty going forward. As a matter of fact, after the 11 month trial, we actually saw an increase in traffic.

Add First Name

This is very important and we doubled our open rates by simply adding a first name. The next time you send out emails it’s important to always include their first name in the subject line. It’s NOT only professional, but builds a level of respect. People also acknowledge messages with their first name because it’s a personal touch. Here’s something else,

Include your domain name when sending messages because it builds brand awareness and people are more incline to open emails from companies they recognize. We split tested both options and doubled our open rates adding first name. When we tested newsletters by adding and removing company URL, the results were very impressive. 20% more people opened newsletters when domain name was included and we attribute this to people simply recognizing us as a reputable source.

Wrapping It Up…

These were the biggest things we learned after sending out 100,000 newsletters. When trying to figure out the right date and time, it will really depend on your niche. However, as a blogger your better off sending on weekdays preferably on Tuesday and Wednesday because weekends people tend to be away from their email. They also want to avoid any contact with work during their time off.


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 23rd, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

What I Did When I Felt Lost and Purposeless

posted from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/msDMJL2baiE/

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”  ~Lao Tzu

About a year ago, I came across an e-course titled “Find Your Purpose in 15 Minutes.” I found this course during a time when purpose was something I was actively looking for. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure what to do next, and without anything to work toward I was looking for a new motivation to pull me forward.

The e-course I stumbled upon represents a society increasingly concerned with fulfilling its destiny. There is an unsettling pressure, particularly from the self-help community, to live a life of purpose. And when I couldn’t find my destiny, let alone fulfill it, a sense of failure washed over me.

Now, I cannot tell you whether it is possible to find your purpose in 15 minutes, because I never purchased the e-course. But I can say it is entirely possible to find meaning in a purposeless life.

The Appeal of Purpose

Purpose can provide an answer to the question “Why am I here?” It can give you a sense of direction and drive forward in life.

Some people might find purpose in meaningful work, using their skills and talent to serve the needs of the world. Others find purpose in raising a family, caring for loved ones, or being an active member of their community.

Having a purpose will make you feel like you are doing what you’re supposed to do. Like you are living out your life’s mission and making a contribution.

In a world where most of our basic human needs are met, I suppose it’s no wonder that we are now looking to become more deeply fulfilled. When you no longer have to struggle for mere survival, it’s only natural that you pause and ask yourself what it’s all for.

The Problem with Purpose

Living a purposeful life sounds wonderful, and I’m not here to devalue anyone’s purposeful existence. Rather, I would like to remind those that haven’t found purpose yet that life can be meaningful and fulfilling without it.

The problem with purpose is not at all the actual purpose, but rather our intense attachment to finding it. Doing work we love, contributing to the world in a meaningful way, and leaving our mark has become such a prized endeavor that I can often sense a deep existential worry creep into conversations with my peers.

For example, I’ve noticed that many of my friends feel angsty when they don’t know what to do next in life or when they aren’t sure if their current endeavors are what they’re meant to do. I too have felt uncomfortable with the fact that I am not serving the world in big and meaningful ways.

We seem to collectively feel that if we don’t have some grand end-goal to fulfill we are somehow failing at life. And with this, we are passing on the opportunity to create a meaningful life without having a purpose.

The Alternative to Purpose

This is where I would like to offer an alternative. Not to purpose itself, but to the glorification of purpose and the frantic gold-rush that we have embarked on to find that one thing in life that will bring us meaning and fulfillment.

I do believe that living a meaningful life is important. Having no sense of why you are even on this planet can feel restless at best and nihilist at worst. But instead of anchoring yourself in finding purpose, I suggest you anchor yourself in values instead.

Personal values are guides that can help you navigate the road map of life, even if you don’t know where you’re heading. More importantly, they’re a lot easier to find than purpose.

Think of a few people you admire. What values do they exemplify? Courage, empathy, ambition? If you look up to anyone, it’s most likely not because of their achievements, but rather their character, which has helped them reach those achievements. What in their character would you like to improve in yours?

Personal values allow you to live anchored in what is meaningful to you, whether that’s serving others, being brave, or taking radical responsibility for your life. Values, unlike purpose, allow you to infuse meaning into every present moment rather than only finding meaning in one noble cause.

If you value kindness, for example, then living from a place of kindness can transform mundane daily activities into opportunities to be kind. A boring job can become a playground where you practice your kindness. And an annoying family member becomes your opportunity to show up with compassion and consideration.

My Journey with Purposelessness

I used to navigate life with a sense of urgency, always moving forward in an attempt to fulfill my mission in life. I would set goal after goal, convinced that once I had achieved them a sense of meaning would arise.

But as I worked through the common milestones in life, the meaningfulness never came. So I would continue to set new goals, certain that I just hadn’t found the one thing yet that would make me feel whole.

When I was stuck at a major crossroads last year, I slowly shifted my focus from finding my purpose to adding meaning to the everyday. A year later, I still don’t know what I am meant to do in life, but I am content to live in the question for now. To sit with purposelessness.

In the meantime, I find meaning in cultivating my character by living out my values. Personally, I value courage, tenderness, and depth at the moment, so I use everyday activities and challenges to put these values to practice.

The value of tenderness, for example, encourages me to soften my inner self and stay open to life in the face of hardships. I try to cultivate this part of my character by always being compassionate with others, particularly those who challenge me. I also practice tenderness through self-compassion, allowing myself to be weak and vulnerable at times when staying strong is not the compassionate option.

I live a life of courage not only by doing things that scare me, but also by truly listening to what my heart wants and speaking my truth. Nurturing courage has faced me with some nerve-racking situations, such as quitting a job that no longer fulfilled me, but rising to those situations has given me the strength to forge a life that feels true to who I am.

Lastly, I try to cultivate a sense of depth in my life. Rather than scrolling through Instagram, I often spend hours getting my teeth stuck in an interesting book. And rather than traveling the world, I have made it my mission to revisit old favorites over and over again. To get into the nooks and crannies of a city I know well, sucking out the last little marrow from its foundations, offers me a deeper way of traveling not found in weekend getaways or exotic backpacking trips.

Nurturing these values has given me the chance to see each and every moment as an opportunity to grow and develop my character. While I’m figuring out the why for my life, values keep me on track with the how. And, unlike purpose, I can swap out and play with my set of values as much as I’d like.

Perhaps one day I will stumble upon my purpose. Or perhaps I will look back on my life in old age and finally recognize that I had been living my purpose all along, and finally understand what it was all for. But for now I am simply curious to experience life as it unfolds, finding meaning along the way by anchoring myself in values.

If you’re currently feeling a little lost in life, then know that it is okay to sit with that feeling. Know that it is okay to not fix away this feeling in 15 minutes. And know that if you simply show up every day with an open mind and unfold your soul into the tapestry of possibilities, your path will be full of meaning and wonderment, even without that illusive thing called purpose.

About Lizzy Dean

Clarissa is a dreamer and a writer from the UK. After a health crisis in 2016, she now chronicles her attempts at cultivating a slower and more meaningful life on her blog clarissadean.com. On this platform, she explores how to live in the question and anchor into the present in a non-judgemental and (self-)compassionate way.

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

The post What I Did When I Felt Lost and Purposeless appeared first on Tiny Buddha.


By |2024-02-27T11:18:22+00:00September 23rd, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

10 Things You Can Start Doing Today to Succeed With ZERO Talent

posted from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/10-things-you-can-start-doing-today-to-succeed-with-zero-talent/

Sometimes you see someone great and we say they’re talented and that’s how they got there. We put ourselves in victim mode  when there’s so much we can do to produce results and become successful.

Here are 10 things you can do even if you have no talent at all:

1. Being on Time

Time is the most valuable commodity so it’s disrespectful to yourself and others if you waste it. Being on time is something that is very much in your control. People who are always late underestimate how much time it takes to get ready and go somewhere. It’s a habit which is formed from a lack of discipline. Seriously I would know. I used to be late all the time. These days not so much because I’ve decided to consciously change that and I’m still working on it.

2. Work Ethic

This is a prerequisite to becoming successful. You reap what you sow in life. Think about people like Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Will Smith, Conor McGregor. They all have one thing in common, an insane work ethic. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t have this then you’ll never realise your full potential.

3. Effort

Putting maximum effort into everything you do works in conjunction with your work ethic. If you’re doing this and on the highest leverage tasks, then you will get an insane amount more done than everybody else.

4. Body Language

A lot of the times communication is non-verbal and the way you carry yourself is more important than what you say. Strong body language can literally change your physiology and state which people feel. Two minutes of a simple power pose can increase your testosterone levels by 20 percent. Isn’t that remarkable? Make good eye contact, stand up straight, don’t fidget. Those are signals of a confident person that is comfortable with themselves. Study the greats and see how they communicate non-verbally.

“Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.” – Will Smith

5. Energy

Energy management is even more important than time management. You will be more successful if you can sustain high energy levels for a long period of time. To manage your energy in the best way possible, think about the thoughts you are having, how you are moving your body and what your nutrition is like.

6. Attitude

Choose a positive attitude as often as you can. No one wants to be around someone who is negative and negativity doesn’t lead to success. No external event can effect you unless you allow it. Always find the silver lining.

7. Passion

Align yourself with what you love. Passion is one of the things that makes life worth living. When you are passionate about something, it constantly excites you. To truly be great at something, you’re going to have to love it. It’s a tough process to mastery and is near impossible if no passion is there.

8. Being Coachable

Being coachable is one of the keys to success. It’s what was reiterated at a recent seminar I went on. If you’re someone who is always arguing with the guy that is where you want to be, you need to stop. You’re wasting your energy. They’re there for a reason. They have produced results and if you want to produce the same results you need to listen. First emulate and then build your own style. Learn from those who came before you.

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants” – Isaac Newton

9. Doing Extra

If you over deliver people will always remember you. You reap what you sow and that’s what remarkable people do. You always have more left in the tank than you think.

10. Being Prepared

Preparation breeds confidence, which is essential. Whether it’s playing a sport, making a presentation or going on a trip, you need to be well prepared for the task at hand. A lot of the times we see success and we don’t see that most of it is due to preparation. The relentless planning, practice and review. As Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. This makes you proactive (planning things before they happen) vs reactive (planning things after they happen) which is a way stronger position.

We can do anything in our lifetimes. Absolutely anything we want to and I’m a strong believer in that. I will not let anyone tell me otherwise. It’s up to us though to cultivate the traits needed to achieve what we want. It’s not about degrees or financial status, it’s about your habits. Make no excuses as all of these are in your control so go now and grab life with both hands and actually make it happen!


By |2024-02-27T11:18:23+00:00September 22nd, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

5 Secrets to Building a Strong and Dominant Sales Team

posted from https://addicted2success.com/entrepreneur-profile/5-secrets-to-building-a-strong-and-dominant-sales-team/

For the past 10 years, I have been working with this multinational company as the head of the sales department. In my 10 years of experience, I’ve realized that having a strong team of employees is what makes a business stand. If your team is weak and uncooperative, you can never grow your business or reach success.

For every business, the sales team happens to be the backbone. Ask why? Well, that’s where the profits and revenue come from. If you don’t have a strong and dominant sales team at work, things are going to be really difficult.

In this guide, I will share with you the 5 key secrets to building a strong sales team:

1. Selflessness

Ego is one of the elements that lead you to your downfall. If you want cooperation from your team members, you need to be selfless. Having unnecessary ego can make you look bossy, so you need to show selflessness to be a successful leader. Selflessness is one of the most critical elements of building a lasting team.

When you are working for a company, whether big or small, you cannot always take credit for the success that has been achieved with the help of your team. The success you have is because of the joint cooperation of your team. As a good team leader, you need to be selfless and share successes with all your team members.

After all, you alone are not responsible for the success. Everyone contributed equal efforts and therefore, they should be given credit too. Sadly, most team leaders don’t realize the value of their team and try to grab onto the limelight alone. This is where you are betraying your team. Try to be selfless with your team, and you will see the difference in performance.

2. Understanding and appreciating your individual roles

If you want a better outcome from your team you need to first understand and appreciate your individual values. Being a team leader is not easy. Your team looks up to you for guidance and the right advice. When you look at the bigger picture, you should be able to picture yourself in a position where you have sacrificed your time and credit to support your team.

Let’s say, you have a big task to handle. You instruct your team on what needs to be done and then engage yourself in leisure activities. This is not the way to support your team. As a good leader, you should be sacrificing your time too and work with them to achieve success.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

3. Improve communication on priorities

Communication is very important when you are working with your team. I have seen many team leaders who only communicate when there is a need. If that’s how you handle your team, you will never be able to establish a connection. You need to make your team feel more like your friends rather than your employees.

This kind of relationship can be established only when you leave communication open. Your team members should be able to communicate with you whenever it’s needed.

Try to be a part of the team instead of bossing them around. Don’t make your team feel like they are below you. You should treat everyone equally with respect, because only then can you expect productivity and performance from them.

Also, having proper communication can solve problems both big and small. This is why many of the top companies focus so much on improving the communication line between the employees, team leaders, and bosses.

4. Focus on your KPI’s

By KPI, I mean your key performance indicators. Focus more on those who are actually giving their 100%. Appreciate them for their good work. Set them as examples before other members of your team. However, that doesn’t mean you will neglect the rest of your team.

You should appreciate the best performers and encourage others to do the same. That’s how you run your team. You need to maintain a balance between the two categories of performers.

“Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.” – Reed Markham

5. Hunger to attain success

You need to have the hunger to attain success. However, you alone cannot make everything happen and that’s why you need to encourage your team to be equally passionate about their work. You need to show them the meaning of success so that they put in 100% to be successful.

What you should do is use yourself as a good example before them. When they see their leader dedicated to his work and working for success, they will follow you too. Work together and achieve the impossible. You and your team both need to have the same level of hunger to attain success.

These five elements can help you to build a strong sales team. They are the blood and soul of your company. Therefore, make sure that you are paying full attention to them. If you found this article helpful, share it with your friends and acquaintances. They may also find it useful.

What about this article resonated most with you and why? Share your thoughts with us below!


By |2024-02-27T11:18:23+00:00September 22nd, 2019|Blog|0 Comments

5 Key Steps to Becoming a Successful Blogger

posted from https://addicted2success.com/success-advice/5-key-steps-to-becoming-a-successful-blogger/

Blogging…the great form of getting your thoughts onto the web while being informative or entertaining, or both! If you’re new to the whole blogging scene and want ideas before you start your blogging adventure, keep reading because there’s some simple, yet effective steps.

1. Consistency Is Key

The more consistent the better. Posting content at a minimum of once or twice a week is when Google and other search engines will start to notice your activity and start to rank you. If you are lazy and just publish whenever you want, Google won’t be so sure of that and won’t rank you anywhere near as much if you were to be consistent.

Quick note, to be consistent means to still have great content. Don’t get sloppy because not only will your readers notice but guess who will notice? Yes, Google. This is the first step and one of the most important steps to becoming a good blogger.

2. Links Don’t Always Mean You’ll Rank

Don’t just put in any links because it’s a “source” and fills out your blog more. Linking out can sometimes damage your rank, not improve it, even if it’s relevant, and here’s why! The reasoning is because you need to make sure the website your referring/sourcing back to looks established and professional.

Another reason is that if you go onto a blog and see links left, right, and center, it looks like spam and unprofessional, not to mention it looks like you haven’t put any effort into your own content and just found relevant content and spammed them into your content.

“If you want to continually grow your blog, you need to learn to blog on a consistent basis.” – Neil Patel

3. Spread the Word

In this day and age, with the greatness that is the internet, spreading the word about your blog hasn’t been easier! Pinterest is one of my favorites. Using Pinterest is one effective way to quickly gain a lot of attention, and here’s what I do to increase traffic looking for related blogs and content that I’m putting out.

As Pinterest is considered a search engine and not as much of a social media platform, it generates a lot of organic free traffic. Additionally, it’s super easy to use. The beauty of it is that you can link back to your website from posting great looking pictures/graphics to appeal to an audience searching for relevant content.

To put into perspective how great Pinterest is, I’ve had Pinterest up for around 1 month and have been posting pins back to my website here and there, not putting in as much as I should actually. Want to know how many people I reach organically? 2,600 organic people will see my own pins I have put on Pinterest that link back to the relevant blogs on my website and that’s just after 1 month of putting a few pins on here and there using Canva for the great looking pins. I would advise you to look into some YouTube videos on Pinterest too before it gets too saturated/competitive.

Quora is another one of my favorites. Quora is a Q&A type of website, where people will ask questions they want answered. As long as you have an account, you can answer those questions. So, how does this benefit you? As long as you provide a great answer to someone’s question, you can link back to your website/blog that will be relevant to your content.

For example, let’s say your blog is about photography and there’s a question about which is the best starter DSLR camera for a beginner. Great, you have a blog that is relevant to that question, go in and answer it, give your opinions on a few cameras and then you can mention, “hey, I’ve done a full-blown blog on this topic which would be more informative for you here”. Then, link it in as a hyperlink so it looks cleaner than just posting it as a full link.

Now that you’ve posted the link in your answer, anyone who searches for an answer on Quora about the best beginner DSLR cameras and comes across the original posters question will see your answer in the answers section. There’s a possibility they will click on your link over to your blog, and there you have it, more FREE organic traffic.

4. Guest Posting

Guest posting is where you find a website similar to yours that has more authority and traffic than yours. Check to see if the website you’re interested in accepts guest posts (usually you will find a link in the header or footer for this). Once you know they accept guest posts, write an article that you haven’t already published and if they accept your guest post then you will get their traffic laying eyes on your post.

The beauty of this is that you can link back to your website through the article you submitted on their website or in the Author Bio section and once their traffic reads through your article, if they like it, they will click through to your site to check out the other content on there.

You will have traffic stumbling upon your post that links back to your website, which can lead to more traffic on your website and then you gain more authority through that, which means higher ranking in the long run. 

This means that the website you guest posted for gets good, relatable free content for their visitors and you get free traffic to your article and website. Everyone ends up happy.

“The process for finding, creating, and consuming information has fundamentally changed with the advent of the web and the rise of blogging.” – Ryan Holiday

5. Repeat

This is as important as all the above steps combined. To be consistent, you need to repeatedly keep posting your content. To get your website name and content out there, you need to link out. (although still be cautious as stated above).

You need to be active and repeat what you do on the above-mentioned Pinterest and Quora within your niche. Additionally, you need to get those guest posts out there, even if you get one a week because that’s going to add up to a lot of exposure in the long run. Repeat, repeat and repeat.

This is not a “short cut” guide to become a successful blogger, it is steps to continuously grow your content far and wide, so that all can find and enjoy your content you put out. 

Do you have a blog? If so, share it with us in the comments below! We’d love to look at it!


By |2024-02-27T11:18:23+00:00September 21st, 2019|Blog|0 Comments