2017 - Page 2 of 9 - ivetriedthat

Advanced Ads Review: The Ad Platform You Have Been Looking For

Published On: November 14, 2017

Off the back of our recent review of AdRotate Pro I thought you might like to know about some of the other options there are when it comes to adding adverts to your WordPress site.

Today I’m going to review Advanced Ads by Thomas Maier, a fully featured plugin that has some interesting takes on advertising.

Advanced Ads

Like most premium WordPress plugins nowadays, there is also a free version of Advanced Ads that you can pick up to try. It is fairly feature filled on its own with only advanced features being reserved for the premium plugin.

The plugin has been around for 3 years with regular updates. It has also been downloaded over 800,000 times and has over 50,000 current installations.

This might not be quite like AdRotate, but unlike that plugin Advanced Ads scores an excellent 4.9 out of 5 on WordPress.org user reviews with a similar number of reviews (about 100 less).

The premium version is itself split into several plugins: the core premium version and additional addon plugins.

What do you get?

Advanced Ads Pro (the core premium plugin)
Ad Tracking
Responsive Ads
Geo Targeting
PopUp and Layer Ads
Selling Ads
Slider
Sticky Ads

There’s also another addon called Genesis Ads, specifically for Genesis theme users, but this can be gotten for free from the Advanced Ads site.

Some Requirements

Unlike a lot of premium plugins, you are still required to have the free version of the plugin installed and activated. Why I don’t know as surely the premium version could have been self-contained.

As well as that if you are looking to use the Selling Ads addon, you’re required to install and activate Woocommerce – more on this later.

Initial Setup

Barring needing to have the free version installed and active, installing Advanced Ads is pretty simple and can be done via a manual upload like most plugins.

The settings are fairly detailed, especially with the addons active as they add to the settings.

General

These are the core setting and should be reviewed. They cover a wide variety of things from settings to beat ad blockers to disabling ads in different areas.

AdSense

As AdSense is one of the most popular ways to add adverts to a site, it makes sense there are specific settings for it.

Selling

Basic settings related to selling adverts.

Pro

Focusing on advanced features like cache busting, click fraud protection and lazy load.

Tracking

Advanced Ads provides some good stats and this settings area allows you to fine tune what you see and what’s tracked.

Creating Adverts

Adverts in Advanced Ads generally require three things: the advert itself, a group and a placement.

Placement

Placements set where the advert will be displayed and there are a lot of different options especially with all the addons active:

Manual placement (shortcode or PHP code)
Header area (code)
Footer area (code)
Before content
After Content
In Content
Widget
Header Bar
Footer Bar
Left/Right “Sidebars” attached to the content area
Left/Right bars attached to the browser windows
Background
Random Paragraphs
Above Headline
Exact Middle of content
Custom Placement
Post Archives
Popups

These placements will help you position your advert exactly where you want them to go and once set up can be used with any advert or group.

Groups

Groups are optional but are very handy for keeping adverts organized. They can also be set to randomize adverts or show a specific number of ads, amongst other features.

Adverts

Adding a single advert in Advanced Ads is simple yet can be a little bewildering when you first get started due to the sheer number of options available.

To begin with you can add a title and the type of advert to be shown. The types are quite straightforward with Plain Text and Image being the most commonly used.

The ad parameters section is where you’ll insert your add code, whether this is plain text or the JavaScript provided by services like AdSense. You can even insert PHP code.

The layout options allow you to tweak the placement by adding margins and alignment, and also to add specific IDs and Classes should you wish to make further changes via CSS.

The Display Conditions section allows you to target this advert based on numerous different options such as geolocation or what page the visitor is viewing. You can add multiple conditions giving you a very granular level of control which is excellent.

Finally there are stat related options specifically for the advert.

As I said earlier, there’s a lot going on when you create a new advert but most of it isn’t necessary for day to day advert creations. Minimizing the various sections helps but I feel like there are too many options shoved in front of you and some of these could be hidden better to help feeling like you’re wading through options.

Features

When it comes down to it most advertising plugins will have quite similar features, so expect to see a lot the usual when checking out Advanced Ads.

Some of the more unusual features include the following:

Ad Blocker Beating

Advanced Ads has a built in system that you can tweak to help get past ad blockers. After all you’re not going to make money if no one can see your advert.

AdSense Violation Warnings

When using third party advertiser networks, there’s usually a lot of rules and it’s often easy to fall foul of them.

AdSense is no different so Advanced Ads has an in built system to notify you if your adverts are going to cause issues, potentially saving you from having your account banned!

Visual Composer Compatibility

This isn’t the right place to weigh the pros and cons of page builder plugins, but if you use the popular Visual Composer plugin be assured that Advanced Ads will integrate with it.

AMP Ads

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a Google initiative to serve pared down versions of site to mobile users.

Being pared down means a lot of features on a site are removed. Advanced Ads does its best to make sure you AMP ready pages are also monetized with ads.

Addons

When you buy Advanced Ads you can just buy the core premium plugin and any addons separately, but it’s really good value to just buy the bundle of everything.

In this bundle you get the following add on plugins:

Responsive Ads

This addon allows you to set what size adverts appear at different screen resolutions, and even disabling the advert if needed.

While most themes will reduce the size of an image in order for it to be responsive, this might not be suitable from an advertiser’s point of view. Instead swapping it to a different size can provide a visible and therefore clickable advert.

This plugin also handles AMP adverts.

Geo Targeting

Allows you to show a specific advert or hide them for people coming from specific locations. This can be useful to target specific countries with country appropriate adverts.

PopUp and Layer Ads

One of the weaker Advanced Ad plugins, this addon allows you to add an advert or other content to popups. While this can be useful in that you can pop up any content and advertise on it, most existing popup plugins are more feature rich.

A VERY basic advert showing how you can add basic HTML and advertising code into a popup.

Selling Ads

This plugin allows you to sell advertising space on your site. It does a great job of making it easy to sell adverts because it is connected to Woocommerce.

That is also it’s down side. If all you’re doing is selling a couple of advertising space then having to install and set up Woocommerce as well as the advertising platform is a bit much.

If you already have Woocommerce installed and sell other products you also need to be aware that you’ll need to remove or separate the ads from other items on sale.

The requirement of Woocommerce aside, it really is quite simple to set up a product as the plugin integrates directly with Woocommerce.

There are a couple of other issues I had with the selling ads plugin.

First is a minor one: there was no simple link option. While most people might not need this, selling links for local businesses is fairly common and the Advanced Ads plain text option is simply not restrictive enough.

Secondly the Selling Ads plugin does nothing to the ads overview section. This means it can be quite difficult to find which adverts were purchased by which customers as you have to click the advert, and then click the link to go to the Order in Woocommerce.

You can go in via Woocommerce and click through to the order but it would have been nice to have been able to look at the advert list and see which adverts were for which customers.

Slider

This allows adverts to be shown in a slide show manner effectively rotating them. This is quite a useful feature as you can show multiple adverts in the same spot plus the movement attracts the eye. That being said it would have been nice if this was just built into the pro plugin itself rather than as a separate plugin.

Sticky Ads

Oddly enough this addon allows you to create adverts that stick in place even as the user scrolls. There are other features as well such as backgrounds and header/footer placements.

Support

Support for Advanced Ads is excellent. I had a couple of questions after I bought the plugin and sent them off on a Friday expecting to hear back Monday or Tuesday. Instead I got a response on the Saturday and even had an email conversation throughout the day.

Obviously that might not be typical but I also checked the WordPress.org support section and all questions have been answered and most of those were answered in less than 24 hours which is excellent!

Statistics

Selling or just using adverts on your site means you need statistics. After all there’s no point showing an advert if it doesn’t perform.

Advanced Ads stats section provides details on impression and clicks and is broken down by date and by advert so you can get a general overview or more specific data.

My only bugbear here is that the chart used is not responsive so smaller screens (even laptops) will need to scroll to see data.

Developer Friendly?

Advanced Ads has a basic codex on their website and has enough hooks, filters and functions to achieve most things.

It’s still not really easy to extend, but I found with some work it’s still possible – for example I managed to create a single link option for the plugin with a few hours of digging into the code.

As such it beats a lot of other advertising plugins simply by allowing you access to it on a code level.

The Bottom Line

Advanced Adverts is a solid advertising plugin with a heck of a lot of features and so many options you can fine tune things to your specific needs.

The bundle price for the premium plugin and addons is a reasonable €69 for a single site (about $82) and this includes support and updates for a year. There are more options that further improve the value such as 10 sites for €199 (about $234).

Usability wise, the plugin could be a little more streamlined and easy to use, with unnecessary or uncommonly used settings hidden away but that’s a minor point.

Most light users would likely get away with just using the free version, but those that require more complex setups or more control (or those simply wishing to support the developer) should pick up the Pro version as it definitely adds those advanced features.

My only real gripe is the required integration with Woocommerce in order to sell adverts. Yes it makes it easier to use an existing and popular ecommerce site, but not everyone will want to add a full blown ecommerce system in order to sell a few adverts. It would be nice to see a simple in built sales system in the future.

The question you most likely have is: does it do what I want it to? The answer would be yes. Advanced Ads built in features will cover pretty much any eventuality and if you’re looking for an advertising platform plugin for your site you should definitely consider this plugin.

How to Start a Calligraphy Business on Etsy

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:December 17, 2019

Cursive writing has been slowly becoming extinct for decades, but a surprise comeback has ignited a passion in the form of calligraphy. So I put together this quick guide on how to start a calligraphy business to help you cash in on your exquisite handwriting.

If you’ve always loved gliding your fancy pens onto paper and create classy handwritten posters, greeting cards, invitations, envelopes, menus and other creative letterings on a wide range of media, now’s the time to get started.

How much do calligraphers make?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, calligraphers and other fine artists earned abour $49,000 in 2018.

Many calligraphers also sell ready-made products on top of their custom orders, which ensure that even slow periods could produce money in the end.

Like any business, marketing will also dictate the sales you’ll receive, so learn how to spread-the-word (both offline and online) your calligraphy products and services.

Here’s how to setup your business and get started:

How to Start a Calligraphy Business in 6 Steps

1. Practice Makes Perfect-for-Selling

Calligraphy is a skill not many people have, but if you practice often and take time to learn from books, online courses and workshops, you’d find your artwork getting better by the day.

It could be feedback from your friends on social media, or a 100-piece wedding invite gig offer from an acquaintance, but you’ll definitely know when your work is store-worthy.

2. Gather Your Startup Capital

Let’s face it:

You may have started calligraphy as a hobby, but once you turn it into a business, you’ll require some kind of startup capital to buy more equipment and supplies, such as pens, markers, ink, paint, brushes, calligraphy pens and stocks of specialty paper (parchment and calligraphy paper).

If you’re going to promote your work online, you’ll need extra cash to set-up a website, produce business cards, invest in a good camera and set aside marketing funds.

Depending on the amount of supplies you already have before you decide to put up a calligraphy business, your startup capital could be as little as $100 or as high as $1,000.

And since you won’t have an employee or a brick-and-mortar store, almost all your sales would be for profit.

3. Decide on an Angle

In order to get the attention of customers, you have to develop your own style.

There are tons of resources online to get inspiration.

Check Pinterest, download as many fonts as you can, visit websites of other calligraphers to see what kind of classic and modern calligraphy styles are out there.

Fortunately, handwritten calligraphy can be so similar that no person can copyright their work.

Using quotes, lyrics, and other copyrighted words and then selling them for profit, on the other hand, is against the law.

Once you’ve decided on a calligraphy style and practiced it to perfection, you then have to figure out a game plan to market your handwritten work. Do want to focus on the wedding industry, or diversify and try out various markets?

4. Price & Sell Your Product on Etsy

(If you’re new to Etsy, be sure to check out our guide on how to setup a store and sell on Etsy before continuing.)

The minute you’d decide to sell calligraphy, you have to be ready with pricing (even if you don’t have any customers yet).

There’s nothing more off-putting to would-be buyers than when they catch you unprepared.

It can be tricky, since this industry doesn’t follow a “one size fits all” pricing. However, you can compare prices of other sellers on Etsy and go from there.

Many calligraphers start with a lower price than market prices, but don’t go too low that you’ll end up losing money.

You can increase prices as your skills improve. As a starting point, note that calligraphers charge about $1 to $5 per wedding invitation, but those would longer text can be priced a lot higher.

Before you market your product on Etsy, make sure you have your own ordering system in place.

Set up a work calendar, so you can easily check if you can accommodate orders as they come in.

When creating an Etsy listing, ask customers to fill-up a quick questionnaire that includes deadline, number of orders, writing media (watercolor, ink, markers, etc.), colors, and information about the text that will be handwritten.

Do the math and send your customer a quote. If he/she agrees with the price, create a new Etsy listing specifically for that customer. Begin the work once your customer buys that customized listing.

5. Join a Community of Creatives

The comeback of calligraphy also resulted in various communities popping up both online and offline.

Join a calligraphy group where you can learn from people who have successfully turned their craft into a profitable business.

It’s also a great way to discover new calligraphy styles, develop marketing skills, and seek feedback from people who knows best.

Aside from regular contests, these groups also hold calligraphy exchanges which are a popular pen-pal-like activity where participants send and receive handwritten postcards and other artwork by mail.

Both contests and exchanges are a fun way to practice your skills and receive much-needed feedback, especially for those who are just starting out.

6. Master Your Craft

It doesn’t matter if you’re busy with customer orders or not, but you have to spare time to master new skills, new calligraphy techniques, new media, and more.

Adding specialties to your offering could double your earnings significantly.

The Bottom Line

You can thank Instagram and Pinterest for the rise in calligraphy over the past few years and this is creating huge opportunities for people to launch their own businesses fueled with nothing but their own creativity and the power of Etsy.

While you’re here, check out these 29 other online jobs for artists to see how you can put your other artistic talents to good use.

9 Profitable Ecommerce Ideas You Can Try in 2018

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: November 7, 2017

It’s never easy to pick a business niche, especially when there are tons of great ideas already in development. But if you’re planning to set-up an ecommerce business in 2018 (Proven Amazon Course will show you how), you can take a cue from technology trends, in-demand products and customer-centric preferences. Whether you’re looking for products to sell in an online store, or a service to offer, here are some ideas you could check out:

9 Ecommerce Niche Ideas for 2018

1) Drones – Drones having been reaching new heights throughout 2017 in various industries and is expected to become a $17 billion industry in the coming years. Aside from military use, drones are making a big splash on journalism/film (aerial photography), logistics (express delivery), disaster management (sending supplies, gathering information or conducting rescue operations), agriculture (precision crop monitoring), law enforcement, and more. Of course, drones will continue to its increase its popularity in the travel/photography industries for personal use.

2) Organic Beauty Products – Consumers are becoming more aware of the health and environmental effects of beauty products. Sales of organic or natural beauty products have been dramatically increasing up to 20% per year since 2015. Check out food-, oil- and vegetable-based hair and skin products with a focus on key ingredients like essential oils, vitamin C & E, seaweed, oatmeal, honey, coconut and other fruits.

3) Product Customization – For anyone who wishes to expand an ecommerce store, there’s a huge opportunity for product customization in 2018. This will work depending on the industry, such as clothing, shoes, cosmetics, furniture, or gifts, among others. And since technology has advanced to the point where customization is simpler at less the cost, business owners can add another income stream without having to develop new products.

4) Urban Farming – People are realizing the convenience, environmental importance, and health effects of farming in urban settings. Vertical farming, in particular, is a growing sub-niche that has been embraced all over the world through 2017. Even the government is on board with this upward trend with laws being amended in various states to accommodate urban vertical farming.

5) Subscription-based products and services – The success of subscription-based steaming Netflix isn’t done yet even if its streaming service has exploded in the last several years. Aside from a projection that this industry will reach over $200 billion by 2019, Netflix has inspired many companies that now provide a subscription option with its products or services. A great example of this is Dollar Shave Club, which earned over $615 million within 5 years; by shipping its members shave kits on a monthly basis.

6) Essential Oils – The natural health and wellness industry is all about essential oils in 2017 and it will continue to be a big deal in the years to come. What’s interesting about the popularity of essential oils is that consumers are welcoming them with open arms as they become more aware of natural health, even if the FDA continuously published reports against it.

7) Apps – App development has been a booming industry for a few years now, but there’s more to be invented or copied. Yes, even copycat apps can become successful in the app world. Just look at Uber clone Gofer or Tinder clone Igniter. The best thing about creating apps is that anyone with the right idea can jump into this world (for example: Yahoo!’s $30 million acquisition of Summy from a 17-year-old). With the right app idea that aims to solve a particular problem, an app can sell for millions of dollars.

8) Wedding – This multibillion dollar industry may feel saturated with tons of businesses already in operation for decades, but note that as the trends change year by year, more business opportunities open up for startups. Photobooths, mobile bars, venue decorators, and other sub-wedding niches weren’t always a part of the wedding industry, but brides and grooms ate them up when these businesses were introduced.

9) Custom Fitness Products – The fitness industry is a massive industry that has always had an impressive outlook, but customization of fitness products seems to be an exploding trend in the late 2017. If you have an ecommerce business in this field, try adding a customization option to accommodate the growing needs of consumers to “own” the products they buy.

Turn Your Idea into a Business

Coming up with an idea is half the battle. Turning your idea into a revenue generating business is another feat entirely.

One of the best ecommerce training platforms I’ve come across is Proven Amazon Course. The platform and online community comes highly recommended. Jim Cockrum teaches his students how to leverage the power of Amazon to build successful six-figure ecommerce businesses. Head there now and get moving today.

The Bottom Line

The cool thing about these business ideas is that it can apply to any kind of capital you may have. If you wish to have a product-based business but don’t have enough capital, dropshipping (where your partner with wholesalers who handle everything from stocking to shipping) can help you solve your financial dilemma. Service-based businesses also require a smaller investment that the product development route.

If you do try any of these ecommerce business ideas, remember that mobile usage will contribute the biggest chunk of ecommerce sales in 2018, so make your websites mobile-friendly or develop an app to support your business. Other technology trends you can incorporate into your ecommerce business include the use of virtual reality or 3D shopping, artificial intelligence, customer-centric automation, personalized shopping, one-click payment, and the merging of online and offline shopping.

How to Sell Lesson Plans Online: Earn Cash While Teaching

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:January 26, 2022

Teaching is a noble, fulfilling profession.

It requires a combination of passion, vision, and purpose to mold a nation’s future generation.

Everyone knows a teacher’s importance in a student’s life, but the reality remains that it’s not the best-paying job in the world.

If you’re one of many teachers who love teaching but feel anxious about the lack of financial stability, here’s your chance to learn about making some side cash from selling your lesson plans and other educational materials to other teachers and educators.

Just to be clear, this isn’t like term paper industries where students hire ghostwriters for them to write term papers and other homework for them and basically cheat their way to graduation.

Instead, teachers can sell their lesson plans to fellow teachers and educators.

But why would other teachers buy lesson plans?

Teachers regularly spend hours preparing their lesson plans in advance, as well as updating their established lesson plans for them to be relevant with changes in the times, new students, and as required by the school curriculum.

Lesson plans that have been tweaked, updated, and tested on students are coveted by teachers who want to skip the trial-and-error phase and make a good impression on students immediately.

The teachers who buy get effective lesson plans with minimal time and effort, and the teachers who sell earn money for their excellent work. Everybody wins!

Today, learn all about how to sell lesson plans online.

Can You Sell Your Lesson Plans Online?

The very first question you need to answer is whether you’re allowed to sell lesson plans that you’ve made.

If you’re a teacher currently employed by a school and are planning to sell lesson plans that you’re using in your own classes, you’ll need to check if you own the copyright to those lesson plans and other materials you’re using in your class.

The National Education Association states: “If your employment contract assigns copyright ownership of materials produced for the classroom to the teacher, then you probably have a green light. Absent any written agreement, however, the Copyright Act of 1976 stipulates that materials created by teachers in the scope of their employment are deemed “works for hire” and, therefore, the school owns them.”

So even before you plan to sell your lesson plans, it’s important to resolve this first.

Where to Sell Lesson Plans Online

The good news is that you have plenty of flexibility when it comes to offering your educational materials for sale.

Below are some of your best options.

Teacher Marketplaces

Online teacher communities and marketplaces are membership sites that are targeted to teachers and educators.

Selling your lesson plans here ensures that your lesson plans are seen by your target audience, which is other teachers and lecturers.

Here are the most recommended teacher marketplaces you can join.

1. Teachers Pay Teachers

TeachersPayTeachers is one of the first and one of the biggest teacher marketplaces around, with over 7 million teachers and over 5 million free and paid content. TeachersPayTeachers is also home to many teachers who are enjoying six-figure incomes from selling on their site.

TpT was founded by former NYC public school teacher Paul Edelman in April 2006, sold it to Scholastic Inc. in December 2006, and then bought it back as a private business in March 2009.

TeachersPayTeachers has two kinds of teacher-author or seller accounts – basic (free) and premium (with a $59.95/year membership fee).

Teachers with a basic seller account have a 200MB file size limit, paid only 55% of every sale, and must pay the site 30 cents per resource. Meanwhile, those with premium seller accounts have a much bigger 1GB file size limit, receive 80% of every sale, and pay the site only 15 cents per resource sold (and only for orders totaling less than $3). Payments are made monthly via Hyperwallet.

2. Tes

Tes started out in print over a hundred years ago as the Times Educational Supplement. Today, they are a global digital community including teachers, educators, and schools working together to enable great teaching worldwide.

Becoming a Tes author allows you to share your educational materials to members of the Tes community, either as free downloads or paid-for resources.

The royalties you get for your paid-for resources are dependent on the value of your sales over a 12-month rolling period. For instance, to qualify for the highest tier (Gold), you’ll need to have more than £6,000 in sales over a 12-month rolling total sales value.

What makes Tes stand out as well is their comprehensive author academy, which helps beginners and expert-level teacherpreneurs with strategies to creating their lesson plans and educational materials, as well as how to make sure that authors are following copyright laws.

Plus, it’s a chance to gain a wider audience, as Tes is currently reaching 192 countries and 13 million registered users.

3. TeacherSherpa

TeacherSherpa is an online resource for teacher-created resources.

Free members can only download two resources every 30 days. Paid members can download unlimited resources for $9 monthly or $49 yearly.

You can sign up to be a Content Contributor to earn monthly royalties: $0.25 per download on the first 1,500 downloads, $0.50 per download from 1,501 to 3,000 downloads, and $1 per download on any download above 3,000 downloads.

While you won’t earn much on royalties, TeacherSherpa offers you a chance to promote your materials and your social media and shops on other websites.

Digital Marketplaces

There are also online marketplaces specializing in selling digital goods, and they can be solid platforms for you to sell your lesson plans.

By selling to the general public, you open the door for a whole new audience to see and purchase your lesson plans. Parents who homeschool and part-time tutors browse these sites for teaching materials, too.

Here are some of the best digital marketplaces to sell your lesson plans.

1. Amazon Ignite

Tech giant Amazon created the Amazon Ignite service to help teachers and educators who are selling their lesson plans online.

It’s an invite-only service; that is, you’ll need to apply to be able to sell on their service. To start the process, click “Request Invitation” and answer all the questions about what materials you’re planning to sell, your website address if you have one, and anything else you’d like them to know about your digital educational resources.

If you do get accepted, you earn 70% on all sales. For products under $2.99, they deduct a $0.30 transaction fee. They pay via direct deposit once a month.

It looks like they vet their sellers carefully and are likely to accept those teachers who are already selling their lesson plans.

2. Etsy

Etsy isn’t just for handmade products and crafts. It’s also a popular marketplace for downloadables and printables.

Their most popular digital products would probably be journal- or planner-related, but shoppers also search for lesson plans and educational resources here.

3. Sellfy

Another popular platform for selling digital products is Sellfy, where you can sell just about every digital file imaginable.

Sellfy supports large files (up to 10GB), and unlimited products and bandwidth (for paid members). They also have cutting-edge security features to fight piracy and protect your customers’ information.

They also have built-in marketing tools to help you increase your sales, such as email marketing, upselling features, and discounts and coupon codes.

You can start selling digital products for as low as $19 per month.

Sell Your Lesson Plans Online on Your Own Website

When you’ve dipped your toes in selling your lesson plans on online marketplaces, you can “graduate” to building your own website and selling your materials there.

This will take up more of your time in terms of maintaining your website, promoting your resources, and engaging with your audience.

However, running your own website purely with content that you’ve created means that you control every aspect: from your price point to sales to your branding.

Best of all, having established your presence and resources in other sites can help you direct traffic back to your site if you indicate your website on your materials. If buyers like your lesson plans, they may be curious enough to check out your site and see what else you have to offer.

Plus, having your own website means you can branch out into new things more easily, such as offering physical books and modules, video courses for teachers, or consultancy services for schools.

For inspiration, check out the site Two Little Birds Teaching by Jen Regan. Aside from selling digital resources on her site, she also has a TeachersPayTeachers store.

How to Create Lesson Plans and Resources That Sell

You already know your target audience, and you’ve battle-tested your educational resources. Here are some more tips and strategies to increase your sales and profits.

What Other Resources Can You Sell?

You don’t have to limit yourself to selling lesson plans.

Aside from lesson plans, you can also create the following materials:

Lesson plans
Worksheets
Syllabi
Study guides
Lecture presentations
Exams, quizzes, tests
Flash cards
Outlines
Infographics
Games
Posters and bulletin board ideas

Selling Strategies

Here are some of the selling strategies you can use when offering your lesson plans online.

Create something worth selling.

As you’ve probably seen when you browsed the different marketplaces, there are plenty of teachers selling educational resources, so the content you create and sell should stand out among all others.

One strategy is to package your lesson plan with worksheets, activities, quizzes, and other relevant materials so that it’s an all-in-one deal.

You can also offer different supplementary materials for the same lesson by learner aptitude (e.g., beginner, intermediate, and advanced) so that teachers can provide materials that are appropriate for learners.

Learn how to price your lesson plans.

Most teachers set their prices based on how much time it took to create the resource, the prices of similar products, and their target profit margins per resource.

They also factor in possible discounts and sale prices.

Give out free samples.

Just like free samples in physical stores, free samples of your work help potential buyers get a feel for the quality of your work.

If they like the results, then they’ll buy the other materials you’re offering.

And teachers won’t keep it to themselves; they tend to tell other teachers about your materials, widening your potential buyers.

Plus, when your free samples are effective, those who get it can review your work, give you feedback, and help you improve your materials.

Try to target niche learners

Lesson plans for preschool, elementary, and high school learners are everywhere, and there’s plenty of competition, as you will learn when you start selling your own materials.

But if you can try to target more specialized learners, you might be able to command higher prices for your lesson plans.

For instance, you can try selling lesson plans for adult literacy, special education (SPED) students, or English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

Pros and Cons of Selling Lesson Plans Online

Before you make a final decision on whether to sell your lesson plans, consider these pros and cons.

Pros

1. You’ll earn money for your efforts.

As I’ve mentioned above, selling your educational materials lets everyone win; buyers get a proven lesson plan, while sellers earn money for their hard work.

2. Making lesson plans for sale makes you become a better teacher.

How’s that?

Constantly thinking about your buyers (other teachers) and their students makes you motivated to improve your lesson plans to be more relevant and engaging.

Not only will you improve your product but you’ll also improve your lesson plans and your teaching techniques.

Cons

The major drawback is being prone to intellectual property theft.

The concept of teachers buying from teachers isn’t bad at all.

What ruins the entire concept of helping each other is that some teachers selling lesson plans online are passing off someone else’s work as their own.

Creating lesson plans take a lot of knowledge and a lot of hard work (which is why teachers buy them in the first place).

But there are some teachers who, instead of selling lesson plans they’ve actually created, buy existing lesson plans, do very minor tweaks (e.g., changing a clipart, changing the font, etc.), and then turn around and sell them in their stores, claiming them as their own.

In a perfect world, teacher marketplaces would have strict controls in place so that this doesn’t happen, but these incidents fall through the cracks.

If you’re still dead set on selling your lesson plans online, this is something you’d have to bear in mind and check with the teacher marketplaces where you plan to sell whether they have policies and safeguards in place to prevent this type of intellectual property crime.

Final Thoughts

Selling lesson plans and other educational materials online is a great idea for teachers since they’ve been creating these resources for years on the job.

Building an online store provides a potential passive income for teacher sellers, while helping fellow teachers prep for school with less time and effort.

However, if you’re interested in other ways to make side cash, check out our list of online jobs for teachers.

Are you planning to sell your lesson plans? Or have you already tried to sell them? Share your experiences and concerns with us in the comments!

Get Paid to Perform Easy Tasks at Clickworker.com

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:November 2, 2017

Clickworker.com is a Germany-based microjob website similar to Amazon’s mTurk. It was founded in 2005 as a company specializing in internet data services, but was turned into the microjob platform it is today since 2011 with a user base of 150,000. By 2014, Clickworker has expanded its workers to over 700,000 people.

Clickworker.com follows the concept of crowdsourcing, wherein businesses post or advertise a detailed task and workers have to complete them quickly. Available microjobs include data entry, writing, translating, web research, surveys, and more. These tasks take a only few minutes to complete, which is why Clickworker is advertising a $10/hour rate offered to workers.

How to Join Clickworker.com

Anyone can join the clickworker network by simply filling out your user profile and completing two assessment tests. Any Native English speaker can easily pass these tests, but those with higher scores are prioritized with more jobs. Check out the available tasks, complete them by following all the instructions and get paid on a weekly or monthly basis.

Clickworker.com works with UHRS (Universal Human Relevant System) for workers living outside the United States. Tasks available for non-US citizens are scarce on clickworker, which is why you’ll need to go the UHRS site (using Internet Explorer) to check out the list of microjobs and complete tasks from there. UHRS becomes accessible and inaccessible to users, depending on the volume of work available for a particular country. In some countries, UHRS never becomes available, so make sure to check if your location would be a problem.

How Much Can You Earn with Clickworker?

Like other microjob sites, clickworker.com won’t make you rich. Depending on how quick you can finish tasks, you can earn anywhere from $5 to $12 per hour. Some pioneers of clickworker.com have been earning $20/hour for tasks they’ve mastered for months. Simply put, the best way you could earn more than $12/hour is to find a task that you can do super-quickly.

Note that the tasks may require a learning curve, so you’d have to practice for a few weeks before arriving at an acceptable hourly rate. Most users work extra-hard for a month to earn the first EUR 5 payout threshold.

Payments are sent out via PayPal or a bank account in a SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) country. The Clickworker website states that payments are processed either weekly once your balance reaches $10 via PayPal, or monthly via bank deposits.

Clickworker Issues

The main problem of Clickworker.com is that the users waiting for microjobs are much larger in number than the available tasks at any time. This means you’ll have a ton of competition for cents or a few dollars for every task. Depending on your current employment situation, clickworker may not be worth the time you spend on hunting for tasks. But for students or those with some free time, completing clickworker tasks occasionally and saving up your earnings for an entire month can give you a way to spend for an extra expense you wouldn’t earn anywhere else.

As a full-time job, clickworker wouldn’t be ideal. There’s no guarantee of continuous work, which means your income potential would go up or down depending on task availability.

Many users report technical issues on tasks, which can be frustrating if you’re in the middle of completing the task. In addition, completed tasks aren’t technically “complete” until they have been reviewed, and it seems that reviews aren’t instant. As a result, your account balance wouldn’t be updated instantly as well. The upside to these two issues though is that clickworker.com’s e-mail support replies quickly and efficiently. You can also get 24/7 support from the Clickworker community.

The Bottom Line

Clickworker.com is a legit website that pays its clickworkers properly. If you are given access to UHRS on top of clickworker, you’d have more options for gigs to choose from, and your earning potential could double.

There are some benefits of clickworker and UHRS, such as being able to work from home or outdoors and be in total control of your work hours. You also won’t have to worry about customer acquisition, since these two platforms take care of task distribution.

However, like most microjob sites, you’ll need to complete a ton of tasks before you can earn a decent amount. If you found a continuous gig that you find enjoyable to complete, then you’re lucky and could probably finish the tasks more easily than others.

SEO Audit Checklist: 20 Website Elements You Should Fix for Better On-site SEO

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: November 2, 2017

If you’ve been focusing all your SEO efforts on social media engagement, forum posting, guest blogging, and other off-site SEO tasks that aim to get a link back to your website and in turn, increase visitors and conversions, it’s all good. But if you’re doing all these and your organic searches are still getting dismal numbers, it’s a huge sign that you’ll need to double-check your website and fix on-site SEO issues.

On-site or On-page SEO involves dozens of small tasks that help turn an ordinary website into a search engine-friendly website, but here are the 20 most commonly forgotten website elements that you should check out:

1) Proper use of No-Index Tag – When the “noindex” tag is applied to any post or page, search engines will not index those pages. If that is your intention, then so be it. But if you’re not aware of such a tag exists, make sure to remove the no-index tag now.

2) Attention-grabbing titles – Titles should stir the curiosity of visitors and make them click the post. Of course, the title should be relevant to the entire content. If possible, include the keywords on the title tag, but ensure that it would make sense and not added just for the sake of keyword placement.

3) Meta description – Meta descriptions provide search engines and potential visitors with additional information about a post. It is the first 140 characters posted on search engine results, so make sure they count by including important keywords and giving an interesting summary of your post.

4) HTTPS – In 2014, Google announced that they are weighing secured sites more when it comes to ranking. Since then, studies from Moz and other SEO industry sites have shown that over 75% of websites on first pages use HTTPs.

5) Header tags – Header tags are used for sub-headings throughout a page. They are named from H1 to H6, but search engines read H1 the most. As such, it’s important that words, phrases or sentences with the H1 tag convey additional information related to the overall content of your page.

6) LSI – SearchEngineJournal defines LSI or Latent Semantic Indexing as a “mathematical method used to determine the relationship between terms and concepts in content.” In short, LSI refers to synonyms of keywords. Since search engines can now understand the concept of synonyms, using LSI for content can improve SEO rankings without using keywords with the old-and-tired robot speak style.

7) Multimedia content – Search engines can only read text, so all pictures, videos, and audio content that you upload won’t have any bearing when it comes to ranking. However, if you follow proper formatting for these types of content, it could benefit your SEO efforts significantly.

8) URL – By default, all posts published via WordPress and other CMS (content management systems) are given a specific URL or permalink structure with a random number like domain.com/p=1234. Simply changing the end of your URL with a more specific word or phrase like domain.com/Onpage-SEO-guide can make a huge difference.

9) Underused or overused anchor texts – Anchor texts are the clickable texts in a hyperlink. When linking to another page within the site, or a third-party site, it’s important to use keywords relevant to the page. Not on does this technique reduce bounce rates, it also helps search engine bots “understand” what your content is about and index your page properly.

10) Keywords – If you’re still stuffing keywords all over your posts, you should trackback and edit them out or change them into LSI instead. It’s no longer acceptable to trick search engines into checking out your pages with keywords splashed all over a page. Search engines can see through this, so make sure to write with your readers in mind.

11) Encourage engagement – To reduce bounce rate (the amount of time visitors spend on your site’s page), encourage your visitors to check out more content from your site by installing “similar posts” plugins, adding social-sharing buttons, encouraging them to comment, posting more multimedia content and more.

12) Sitemap – Does your website have an XML sitemap to help search engines crawl through your site? If you answered yes, double-check if it’s still functional. Add sitemaps for photos and videos as well to bring more SEO juice via your multimedia content.

13) Canonical URLs – In cases where pages are doubled with the same content, adding the HTML link tag rel=canonical into the page you deem more important. Once you’ve done this, it merges the two (or more) similar pages into one without having to delete any of the pages and being tagged with duplicate content.

14) Responsiveness and Site speed – Slow-loading websites may be due to unnecessary plugins, web hosting, and other causes, but this is often easily fixed. Make sure page loads is under two seconds and pass mobile-friendly tests.

15) Fix broken links – SEO is all about user experience and making it easier for search engines to find your site. But when your site has 404s, non-indexed pages, and other errors, not only do these errors lead to demotion from search engines, they also cause bad user experience.

16) Incorporate semantic search concept – Google’s Hummingbird update updated how search engines understand keywords. The literal keyword/phrase used for SEO in the past (example: New York personal injury attorney) can now be forgotten completely since Google takes a cue of the searcher’s location and intent of the search. Adapting to these changes can improve rankings and boost site visitors.

17) Robots.txt – One of the most basic, yet overlooked site element is the robots.txt. This allows or disallows web-crawlers to crawl a part of your website or not. It is the first thing search engines look for when examining a website, so make sure yours was done right with proper instructions.

18) Ads – Wrong placement of ads can turn any webpage unreadable. Make sure to study the size of ads, try out ad placements, and examine ad loading times whenever you decide to monetize your website with ads.

19) Navigation – Your site menu should be organized properly so that the most popular pages are featured where visitors could easily view them. Take advantage of the internal linking opportunity from every navigation space available, either at the main one on top, side or bottom.

20) Mobile-friendly – Mobile search is the future – the number of people using their mobile devices for searching the web has overtaken desktop users. Updating with the times avoid turning off your visitors with an outdated site.

On-page SEO is just as important as link building or Off-page SEO. Use the checklist above and give your site a free website audit to determine if your website is doing alright, SEO-wise or if it needs to undergo some changes. You’d be amazed that even the slightest changes could improve your site’s traffic and conversions significantly.

Join Crowdsourced Contests for a Chance to Win Cash

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:November 1, 2017

Crowdsourcing contests are ideal for people who are in-between jobs and those who are not yet ready to commit to a full-time career. Since there is no guarantee that you’ll win each contest you participate in, crowdsourced contests are not recommended as a source of income. Instead, these contests could be an exciting way to master your skills when you’re practicing to become a graphics designer, copywriter, video producer and more.

For those who have free time and would find it fun to get a chance to win cash prizes or gift cards for a few minutes of work, here are some of the websites to check out:

Idea generation

This category of contests involve sharing your name ideas, may it be for a company name, tagline, or even domain names. I talked about the three major crowdsourced contests of this kind – Naming Force, Squadhelp and CrowdSpring – in this guide.

Picky Domains caters specifically to domain-naming contests, so if you’re a regular visitor of GoDaddy and love finding out memorable domain names, don’t miss out on the fun.

Tongal lets participants pitch ideas for music videos, commercials, and other creative media. Prizes for these contests range from $1,000 to a whopping $10,000. In addition, winners also get to receive residual payments – often around 5% to 10% of the amount prize.

Logo and other graphics

This type of contest requires a bit more skill and effort than naming contests. For a pro graphic design artist, creating a logo could take just 5 minutes of his/her time, but can take an entire day for someone without experience in Photoshop and other graphic design tools.

Logo Force – Unlike other crowdsourced contest sites on this list, Logo Force lets clients invite participants to join their contests. Not everyone will be invited, so there’s less competition. Once chosen, not only will the participant receive a cash prize, he/she also receives contact info of the client, which means the business relationship has a chance to grow beyond the contest.

Logo My Way, Logo Contest, Logo Arena and LogoTournament also host logo-designing contests. Some sites like 99 Designs, DesignHill and Design On Click have web design, newsletter graphics, Facebook cover other design-related contests beyond logos and often have higher amounts of prizes. Create My Tattoo, as its name suggests, host tattoo-design contests.

Threadless is a popular t-shirt design platform that sells and prints designs of its creative members for a fee. The site also holds t-shirt design contests with cash prizes regularly. Submitted designs are voted by the crowd, and the winner receives $1,000.

Writing

If you have a knack for crafting beautifully-written ad copy, slogans and other texts, this type of contest is for you. One great example of this is BoostCTR (now Boost Media), which gets the help of copywriters around the world to write 30 to 40-word copy that will be used by clients for online ads. BoostCTR isn’t open for new writers anymore, but you could check out Copy Shoppy for similar copywriting contests.

Some contests are aimed at collecting feedback or reviews from people. For example, StartUpLift pays $5 to a user that can provide the best review for a particular website (or $10 for a certain app). BountyIT used to be an option similar to this, but it seems contests aren’t updated anymore.

Other Crowdsourced Contests

Zooppa caters to big brands that are looking for video content and graphic design. The cool thing about Zooppa contests is that the prizes are huge and sometimes include high-value products like newly-launched cameras.

Kaggle is a platform of crowdsourced contests involving data science. It’s highly competitive with experts ranging in the field of mathematics, statistics and real-world machine learning that team up to make educated predictions. Prizes start at $5,000 and can go as high as $1,500,000.

How Much Can You Earn?

Idea generation contests have an average prize amount of $10. Note that Tongal’s $1,000 contest prizes are a rare exception. Logo design contests usually range between $100 and $300, but higher prizes may be offered for other graphic design (such as website header or Facebook cover) contests.

Contests that require more amount of work but higher prize amounts, such as video production and data science analysis, can be a worthwhile hobby for professionals. Imagine earning thousands of dollars for a video you made during your day off from work.

The Bottom Line

The best thing about crowdsourced contest sites is that every posted contest includes a description of the project and amount of prize to be won. Based on this client-provided information, participants can determine if the contest is worthy of their time…or not.

If you’re passionate about a sub-niche, such as t-shirt or tattoo design, the fun in joining these contests will serve as a driving factor for you to join. But without a guarantee of payment, it would be frustrating for some people.

I recommend joining crowdsourced contests only if your skill set or line of work is somewhat related to the contest. If not, it would be better to skip these contests completely.

Work-from-Home as a PPC Consultant

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: November 1, 2017

PPC (pay-per-click) consultants are experts working in the shadows to manage the online advertising campaigns of a company. Their job involves a lot of internet marketing tasks like keyword research and mastery of ad programs from Google AdWords, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other platforms. Because pay-per-click advertising is an effective, yet costly endeavor, companies hire PPC consultants to ensure the job is done right the first time.

If you’re confident of your Internet Marketing skills and looking for a challenging career that you can perform at the comfort of your own home, then check out PPC consulting as a home-based job.

PPC Consultant Qualifications

The best thing about this job is that you don’t need any diploma or formal education to become successful. However, you do need an in-depth portfolio that would prove you can reduce advertising cost, while improving ad performance and click-through rates. This includes:

Certification – This isn’t a requirement to all PPC consultants, but it helps in proving that you know what you’re talking about. Google’s AdWords certification, for example, involves two exams about online advertising in general and AdWords fundamentals. Google AdWords is the world’s largest pay-per-click advertising service and the search engine giant makes the annual certification exams harder each year, so becoming a Google AdWords Certified Partner would pave the way for better opportunities.
Google Analytics report samples – You can have one of the most in-depth resumes in the planet, but if you can’t show a report that your clients could check to see your deliverables, how can you prove that you’ve managed a successful ad campaign in the past? Having report samples readily available (even with sensitive company information of former clients blocked out) can give new clients a sense of how you manage accounts, track conversions, measure success, and organize information in general.
Ability to use Important PPC tools – PPC involves a lot of research and data, but tools make it easier to handle these tasks. Unfortunately, many of them have a learning curve that only extended use could solve. As a PPC consultant, you should be well-acquainted with tools like SpyFu (for competition research), Ahrefs (SEO tool with PPC functions), SEMRush (PPC ad monitor and competition analysis), Google Trends and Google Keywords Planner (keyword research), Microsoft Excel (exporting large amount of PPC data), and PPC Protect (PPC budget management), among others.

5 Things That Make You Better than the Next PPC Expert

What separate you from the next pay-per-click expert online are these 5 important things:

Excellent communication skills – After selling your skills to a potential client, communication continues to be an important aspect since you’ll need to explain everything about the job from your ad campaign plan to actual results, fees, methods used and recommendations to help website traffic improve, among other important issues.
Proof of ad campaigns with significant spend – It’s common for a pay-per-click expert to claim success over a personal blog’s ad campaign. However, if you can show past work with a campaign involving a significant amount allocated to PPC ($10,000/month or more) and supporting reports to show how you managed this amount, you’ll be in another level in the PPC world.
Free assessment – Real PPC experts are willing to study your case, provide recommendations and an estimate of costs. This gives potential clients a chance to see your strengths and determine if you’re the best person for the job. An assessment includes information about the client’s competition, business goals, budget allocation, and detailed action plans.
Transparency – Ad campaigns require a unique account for every platform, such as Google AdWords, Facebook, etc. A good PPC expert must ensure all accounts created are owned by the client and provide a comprehensive report detailing where every cent went. PPC consultants who have been in this ever-changing field know too well that they cannot make guarantees. You’ll need to be transparent from start to finish, especially if the campaign isn’t getting desirable results.
Research and analytical skills – Experienced PPC consultants continuously research and analyze data even in the middle of a campaign. They examine the performance of keywords, specific ads on every platform used, and adjust as necessary with the go-signal of the client.

How Much Do PPC Consultants Make?

Freelance PPC consultants charge two kinds of fees – one for set-up (wherein the client takes over once you’ve began the ad campaign) and the other is for management fee (charged monthly because PPC consultants manage everything).

Set-up fees range from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on how big an ad campaign your client wants. Monthly management fees can go as low as $300/month or 10% to 15% of your client’s monthly spend (the monthly budget they have for the PPC campaign).

The income you earn as a PPC consultant depends on the services you’d be providing. Tasks like copywriting, ad design or restricting existing ads may require extra payment on top of the monthly fee.

The Bottom Line

PPC consulting is a continuously growing field – AdWords (Google’s own PPC platform and the biggest of all pay-per-click programs in the world) accounts to 95% of the search engine giant’s annual revenue.

PPC done right leads to businesses making an average of $2 in revenue for every $1 they spend on AdWords, which is why pay-per-click managers, consultants or experts have been in-demand in recent years. However, PPC consulting is one of those jobs that experience is a must. You simply cannot “just wing it,” especially since you’ll be handling your clients’ advertising fund for them.

If you do land a career in the PPC field, the income potential is substantial and job outlook is promising. Plus, you can completely perform every aspect of your job at home.

3 Sites that Pay You to Recommend Company or Product Names

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: October 30, 2017

Crowdsourcing (outsourcing tasks to a crowd) is a powerful concept that can be adapted to a wide range of industries, such as entertainment, finance, IT, and more. It has branched out into sub-niches like crowdsolving (solving a problem as a group of people), crowdsearching (modern-day search party), crowdfunding (funding a product or cause as a group), crowdvoting (gathering reactions or ideas of a group of people), and more.

Today, there are even inducement prize contests that are based on crowdsourcing, but with a cash prize element in exchange for idea generation. Earlier versions of this include IBM’s 2006 “Innovation Jam,” which yielded 46,000 ideas from over 140k participants around the world, and Netflix’s 2009 “Netflix Prize” recommendation-algorithm $1m contest that increased the platform’s prediction algorithm to over 10% thanks to the idea from the winning team BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos.

Eventually, crowdsourced contest sites that cater to businesses popped up everywhere. They provide a platform for businesses in need of help with naming new products, services or startups and hundreds of participants from all walks of life giving out their ideas in hopes of winning cash prizes.

How Do Crowdsourced Contest Sites Work?

Every participant must join the crowdsourced contest site, check out available contests, and enter their name recommendations for a chance to win a prize. Most contests only give prize ranging from $10 to $500 to the participant with the best answer, but some contests also include smaller-amount prizes to second and third placers.

Businesses rarely disclose their names, but they include as much information needed for participants to be able to churn out recommendations properly. For example, an IT startup providing internet marketing and website creation is looking for a “quirky and memorable” company name that shows the professionalism and fun side of the company. Prize amount is displayed, so participants can decide whether to join the contest or not.

In most crowdsourced contest sites, participants can recommend as many names as they want, and join as many contests they like. There’s no technical skill or educational requirements required from participants, so all you need to do is your creativity and ability to follow instructions.

Getting Started with Crowdsourced Contest Sites

If you have some free time and want to join brand-naming crowdsourced contests, you can start with these 3 sites:

1) Naming Force – With Naming Force, a client creates a contest and allows members to recommend names within 7 to 10 days. Once the submission period ends, Naming Force members have up to 3 days to vote for their favorite entries. The client reviews leading suggestions within 7 days and picks the winner. If the client fails to choose a name, the name with the most votes automatically gets picked and the one who recommended it gets the prize.

Participants earn higher ranking every time they submit more names per contest.
Participants with high rankings increase the number of submissions per contest. This is because some clients can set the number of times a participant can submit a name.
Average prize amount is $100, but it may also range from $50 to $500.
Prizes are set by the clients.
Prizes are sent via PayPal
Naming Force is only open to U.S. citizens.

2) Squad Help – Founded by Chicago-based entrepreneur Darpan Munjal in 2011, Squad Help doesn’t just help with naming brands or companies. They also help clients find logo design, taglines or slogans through the work of contest participants. Out of all crowdsourced contest sites, Squad Help has the largest online presence (from Facebook to Twitter). Participants can jump right in a day after registration. New members can join select contests and can enter up to five entries per contest.

Your entries are instantly checked for Trademark issues and domain (URL) availability. If the system accepts your entry, you’ll see a green flag pop up. If not, a red flag will notify you and you can try again.
Some contests are invite-only and past winners (Tier A Category) are the only ones eligible to join
Some clients require participants to sign a Non-disclosure Agreement before being allowed to join the contest
Prizes range from $50 to $300 with an average of $100.

3) CrowdSpring –This platform was founded by Ross Kimbarovsky in 2008. Like Squad Help, Crowd Spring also offers various crowdsourced services, including email templates, design, and more. This is a favorite among creatives since they are allowed to communicate with clients and receive feedback from their submissions. Crowd Spring is also known to police projects properly, which reduces the chance of creatives to get scammed.

Creatives can register without a fee.
Enter as many contests as you wish.
There’s no limit as to how many entries you can submit per contest.
As prize, winners are given 60% of the package fee a client chooses.

Are these Sites Worth Your Time?

There are downsides to joining crowdsourced contest sites. First, there’s tough competition. Second, there’s no guaranteed income from participating in these sites. And lastly, your creative name suggestions will be out in the world without much copyright protection and you can’t do anything about it when they get stolen.

On the other side of the coin, naming products or businesses doesn’t require tons of skills or an impressive resume. Just put on your thinking cap, get creative and hope that you win. I don’t recommend using these sites as your main source of income, but if you have spare time, you can always check out what’s available and join in on the fun.

How White Labeling Can Save Your Clothing Ecommerce Store a Ton of Cash

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:October 21, 2017

Anyone who has built a clothing business, whether big or small, will have to decide which path to take: whether to create products from scratch or buy white label products instead. It’s one of the many decisions fashion brands and clothing stores should consider early in the business planning. And rightly so, because this decision would greatly affect the company’s budget, marketing, and other future endeavors.

The term “white label” originated from the music industry. In the past, when DJs and radio stations receive demos from artists, they place white labs on the discs or tapes to keep competition from seeing the details of the new music they just played. The term has since reached other industries and is used to describe business deals wherein manufacturers produce a particular product and distributes this to multiple resellers. The resellers simply receive the products with their own customized, branded labels.

White-labeling has been used in ecommerce more than any other industry. In retail and fashion, the white-label term refers to the white label where the company’s logo and marketing is placed.

It’s the Secret of Huge Retailers

Big retail stores are able to sell various items with their branding, even without finding suppliers and going through the entire production and quality testing processes. Because the third-party manufacturers will be the one sewing labels into the product, retail stores are able to sell the clothing straight from delivery.

The main advantage of white-labeling is the low cost involved in stocking items to sell. This is particularly useful if you’re starting out your online clothing store without funds to pay for equipment, labor, and technology.

However, companies have two options when it comes to white-labeling. They could either:

buy white label (what huge retailers do)
sell white label (what smaller companies do)

Buying White Label Clothing

As a newbie in the fashion industry, going with a white label route reduces the chance of issues from sourcing to production. Other benefits and disadvantages of buying white-label clothing include:

PROS

No huge investment required for equipment, labor and technology
No need to conduct trial-and-error
Focus on other important stuff, such as marketing products
Save money by buying in bulk

CONS

The downside to buying white label clothing is that there is no customization involved in the process. This means you can’t dictate a manufacturer about things like fabric material, design, fit changes and so on. You’re only given a catalog of stock clothing to choose from.

This route is ideal for companies that prefer to begin the business with a bang. Because their initial investment can all be used straight to buying white-label clothing, the chances are high that the first round of products are professionally made as if the company has been doing this for years. Even reputable companies can suddenly switch to buying white-label clothing during busy seasons or whenever supplier issues occur.

Selling White Label Clothing

Smaller companies that want to expand their market, but don’t have much marketing experience can sell white label clothing to increase sales. However, this isn’t a perfect business model either.

PROS

No marketing involved – once the items are delivered to the purchasing company, they’re already sold
Only sell products you know how to produce
Increase sales with every third-party company that buys your clothes
Focus your energy with what you love, whether it’s hand-sewing wedding dresses, or producing clothes in bulk manually
Save advertising/marketing money

CONS

If you’re only starting out and have no experience with clothing production, it may cost your company a lot money when you’re still looking for vendors, equipment, or people. In addition, if your company has little manpower, they may not be able to handle higher volumes of clothing production. In most cases, the purchasing company dictates the project deadline.

If your clothing business already has a following, don’t expect to get credited for your work because as soon as you decided on selling white-label clothes, you can’t tell anyone if a huge retailer is selling these clothes with their own label.

This route is ideal for small companies who wish to expand their market quickly, but don’t have enough funds to accommodate an expansion. By selling white-label clothing, companies will be able to increase their demand, meet more third-party companies willing to stamp their labels on white-label clothing, and sell more items at a faster turnaround rate than going the retail route.

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re buying or selling white-label clothing, the bad news is you’ll lose some control over the project either at the production level or marketing level. But if losing this control means your company will be able to benefit from the potential for partnerships and business growth white-labeling could offer your clothing line, then maybe you should look into this business model.

17 Ways You Can Get Paid to Test Websites

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Last Updated:December 8, 2022

Now more than ever, websites need to be inviting, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, so much so that companies are willing to pay for website testers to do these tests for them. You can take advantage of this need and get paid to test websites.

Website testing ensures that website design, navigation, usability, and overall user experience are all positive experiences for the vast majority of visitors to a given website.

These tests are usually done when the websites are initially being built by web designers and search engine optimization (SEO) companies. But companies also want their websites tested by third-party users so that the experience is similar to their everyday visitors.

In this article, you’ll learn how to get paid to test websites: what requirements you should meet and where to look for user testing jobs that pay well.

What You Need Before You Start Website Testing

If you want to become a website tester, you’ll have to be at least 18 years old and pass simple tests. While requirements vary from one website-testing company to the next, the typical requirements include:

Working computer with a stable, high-speed internet connection
USB microphone and webcam (some companies require voice-based feedback)
Installed program or plugin (required by some companies which you’ll be using to complete feedback)
Common web browsers (Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer are the top browsers worldwide; you may be asked to test a website in a particular web browser)
PayPal account (most companies pay through PayPal)

Some website-testing companies have regular tests available, while other tasks are only available for seasoned testers. This is why you should consistently deliver quality performance with each testing task.

Every website-testing task can be completed within 5 to 30 minutes. Depending on the instructions and the complexity of the tasks, payment ranges from $5 to $15 per test.

20 Sites That Pay You To Test Websites

Businesses outsource their website testing needs to companies specializing in website testing. If you’re interested in extra cash and want to provide feedback to companies pertaining to their websites, make sure to keep this list nearby and apply whenever slots open.

1. Enroll

With this website, you’ll have to provide feedback about a site’s usability, design, logo, content, and more. You can use your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, whichever you prefer.

The lengths of different tasks vary, which means your earnings can vary as well. Even 13-year-olds can get paid to test websites through this app. Payment is sent only once a month via PayPal.

2. TestingTime

TestingTime is a platform that recruits test users for user and market research.

You’ll be asked some questions when you sign up to make sure you get matched to the study that’s the right fit for you. Then, you’ll be invited to take part in the study via email.

Studies involve testing websites, apps, and sometimes physical products, gadgets, and even food. You get paid for your insights and feedback.

You’ll need Skype or Zoom installed on your laptop or PC, since the customer will communicate with you there and send you instructions about the task. Tests here take longer, about 30 to 90 minutes, but pay higher.

3. TryMyUI

With TryMyUI, users have to perform usability tests on apps or websites consisting of recorded video feedback and written answers to a quick survey. Tests take no longer than 20 minutes. Testers are paid $10 for each completed test, which is sent every Friday via PayPal.

4. Testbirds

Those 18-year-old and older from anywhere in the world can be a Testbird and test software bugs. These programs are usually downloaded, but some are web-based with instructions to use a specific web browser.

Testers usually earn €20 for a simple usability test but have the opportunity to earn more cash if they’re able to find more serious bugs.

5. Userfeel

Userfeel testers conduct usability tests on websites and then send voice-recorded feedback, so you’ll need a microphone to do this gig. You’ll need to register to their site and then take a qualification test. After 7 to 15 days, you’ll know if you’re qualified.

Each test takes about 10 to 20 minutes and pays $10 each. Users are paid weekly via PayPal or Amazon gift cards.

6. UserTesting

UserTesting accepts testers 18-year-old and above who speak English fluently. They accept voice-recorded feedback after each 20-minute test, so you’ll also need a microphone to do this gig.

There are also mobile-based tests available on this site. Users receive $10 on PayPal for every completed test seven days after submission.

7. Userbrain

Before you’re qualified to get paid to test websites for Userbrain, you need to take a Qualification Test. If you get approved, you’ll be asked to download a recorder software for Google Chrome or iOS and then you can start receiving paid tests.

Because tests are shorter, around 5 to 15 minutes, users are only paid $3 per test. The good thing is you can request a payout to your PayPal once your balance reaches $10.

8. uTest

uTest is known to be the go-to provider of big brands like Google. Users can test websites, apps, eBooks, and other types of projects.

To start working as a freelance tester, you must complete a full uTest Profile, audition on the uTest Sandbox, and then wait for invitations to participate in projects. Payments vary depending on the complexity and type of project.

9. IntelliZoom

IntelliZoom is UserZoom‘s participant sourcing engine.

Users can access tests via PC or mobile, as long as they can download the UserZoom testing software. Every test lasts around 10 to 20 minutes, with payments averaging $10. Audio and video feedback are required. User Zoom sends payment via PayPal within 21 business days after the test feedback has been approved.

10. Userpeek

This up-and-coming player specializes in remote usability tests. While the software is currently still in development, you can leave your email address and join their private Facebook group so they can contact you once they’re live and operational. You can be one of their first testers.

11. test IO

This crowdtesting vendor provides real-world QA testing to companies who need their websites assessed. Become a tester in minutes by registering and indicating all the devices that you can use to test.

As soon as you qualify, you’ll get invited to do your first test as soon as one is available. You can earn by reviewing apps, completing scripted test cases, or finding critical bugs. They pay once a month through PayPal, Payoneer, Skrill, or bank transfer.

12. Userlytics

Userlytics is a global operation looking for part-time testers around the world to get paid to test websites, mobile apps, and other digital user interfaces. Get paid from a minimum of $5 up to $90 for your insights into your PayPal account.

You’ll need a desktop computer with Mac OSX 10 or higher or Windows 7 or higher to download the Userlytics Recorder, or a mobile phone with iOS 11 or higher or Android 5.0 or higher to download the Userlytics App.

13. Respondent

This research study platform conducts surveys, website testing, and focus group studies for various businesses and companies. Sign up to be a respondent through your Facebook, LinkedIn, or email address. Start going through the projects and choose the ones that interest you. You can get paid up to $40 for a 20-minute session or $100 for a 60-minute session into your PayPal account.

14. Loop11

Loop11 is a highly popular remote usability tool that provides businesses to design tests of their websites and pay website testers to do the testing. To become a Loop11 tester, you need to complete a brief qualification test, during which they’ll test your webcam and microphone to know if you can express your thoughts out loud.

15. PingPong

PingPong is an all-in-one platform for businesses that need remote user experience research; they take care of everything from tester recruitment to payouts.

You can earn €10 to €100 per session for participating in user interviews and user tests, paid into your PayPal or through your bank account through Transferwise. You’ll need a computer to be a tester; they currently can’t conduct user interviews via smartphone.

16. Intuit

The company that sells products such as TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint is looking for small business owners, accountants, self-employed workers, and those who pay bills and taxes to test their products and provide them feedback.

Tell them what you like and don’t like about their products. For each 30-minute interval you complete, you’ll get paid with a $50 digital gift card.

You don’t need to be an Intuit customer to register to their user research program.

17. Checkealos

All you need is a PC, smartphone, or tablet, as well as a high-quality internet connection and an email address to register with Checkealos as a tester.

You can get paid to test websites about cars, banking, insurance, virtual reality, ecommerce, and applications.

Each feedback session lasts around 15 minutes and pays €8.

Note that some of these websites close registrations occasionally, but reopen eventually. Many of these website testing websites send e-mail notifications when tests are available and rarely have quick deadlines.

The Bottom Line

Not everyone is cut out for website testing, but if you can follow instructions, spot errors, and express your feedback concisely, you’ll be able to complete testing tasks easily. You probably won’t get rich testing websites, but if you join multiple sites at once, you can earn a decent amount of side cash.

Other ways to make money as a tester

If you’re interested in testing other stuff, check out our other articles below:

Everything You Need to Know about Working as a Home-Based Travel Agent

Written By:Steve Wrzeszczynski

Published On: October 10, 2017

Imagine earning $10,000 to $100,000 a year planning vacations, booking airline tickets, creating travel packages, offering the best cruises, and reserving hotel rooms other similar offers to people looking to travel soon. Now imagine you can perform your job as a travel agent in the comforts of your own home, even in your pajamas.

If it sounds like something you’re looking for, there are a few things you should know in this line of work, such as:

There are two ways to begin working as a travel agent – start your own travel agency, or work for an accredited host travel agency.
Whichever path you take, the starting investment cost is low. You’ll only need a computer (or laptop), printer, stable internet connection, phone, and your own website.
Many host travel agencies require agents to have some experience in the sales, customer service, or travel industry. If you’re switching from another career, there are training programs you can complete online.
There are general travel agency packages, such as airline, hotels, and cruises, but sub-niches that cater to a very specific kind of travel deal also sell like hotcakes. Take Kari Bonnes’ own home-based originated Marvelous Mouse Travels, which she built alone and is now home to over 100 part-time agents.

How Much Can You Earn as a Travel Agent?

As travel agents, you obtain access to travel-related deals and you earn a commission every time someone books a deal from you. If you’re planning to work with a travel agency host full-time, you can make an average of $30,000 a year. Of course, this depends on your sales skills, target market reach, hours worked, percentage given by your host agency and other factors. Travel agents who have cornered a specific niche, such as destination wedding, often earn a lot more. Special rates are also given to bilingual travel agents.

If you’re a wanderluster and love traveling yourself, you’ll love the perks this job offers. For one, some big corporations provide familiarization trips to its best travel agents, allowing them to “test out” the product themselves, visit these locations being offered and sell travel deals more effectively. There’s also the massive discounts agents can use when booking airline tickets, hotel rooms, and other travel deals. Some companies even provide a home office (laptop, mobile phone, etc.) for its travel agents.

How to Get Started with Your Travel Agent Career

Jobs for online travel agents come in various terms, from “reservation agents,” to “destination planners,” “travel consultants” to “reservationists,” but all of them are under the travel agent umbrella. Here are some companies and travel agency hosts that offer part-time and full-time opportunities:

Airlines – You can work as an airline booking specialist with companies such as American Airlines, JetBlue, Delta and more. There are part-time and full-time work available, but once these companies open slots for home-based work, they fill up pretty quick so make sure you get notifications from Indeed.com.
Hotels, Resorts and other kinds of accommodations – Hilton Worldwide, Best Western, Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels’ Flex@Home Program are some hotel chains that hire home-based booking agents. Other companies like Hotel Tonight offer similar opportunities, but instead of just one hotel, they handle bookings for multiple hotels.
Car rentals – Car rental companies like Enterprise, U-Haul and Hertz hire people to work from home and pay an average of $11 per hour.
Cruises – Cruise.com is one of the most popular cruise booking agencies of its kind, but other companies like Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Norwegian Cruise Lines also offer home-based jobs to travel agents.
Event destinations – Some companies provide solutions for hosting events in another destination. Take Active Network as an example. This company offers sports companies a wide range of services that cater to sporting events.
Travel planning – When customers require customized travel plans, companies like Cruise Planners and Disney Vacation Planner are there to make it as hassle-free and money-saving as possible. It involves everything from booking flights and accommodations, buying tickets, reserving seats on restaurants, events, and more.
Credit cards – Even credit card companies have entered the tourism industry. American Express offers its card holders many domestic and international travel perks year-round. The company hires travel counselors to serve as customer support and sales reps for this product offering.
Business travel – Anything goes with companies offering business travel solutions. From car rentals, hotel bookings, to restaurant reservations at another state or country, your job is to tackle all the needs of business travelers. Great examples of this are FROSCH, BCD Travel and Red Butler.
Sub-niches – Super-specific travel deals are offered everywhere. Some examples include:

Disneyland – Disney is a favorite travel destination, so it’s no surprise that dozens of companies offer travel agent opportunities aimed at selling Disney tours. These include Mickey’s Travel, Tiggerific Travels, Love The Mouse Travel , Off To Neverland Travel, Mickey Travels, Mouse Hunters Travel, My Mickey Vacation Travel, and Mouse Counselors, among others.
Navigation – AAA helps travelers with navigation and roadside assistance. Virtual travel agents are there to cater to customers’ needs.
Destination Wedding – DestinationWeddings.com has a membership fee, but it offers commission-based program for Certified Destination Wedding Specialists.

The Bottom Line

Note that many of these jobs require some experience or training. If you’re serious about a career change, check out Travel Leaders Group travel agent programs, where you can join a virtual class or learn independently. There’s a fee involved in both programs, but you can land a position with Travel Leaders Group or one of its partner companies after successfully completing the program.

If you don’t have money to spare for a legit travel agent program, you can also learn a lot from National Association of Career Travel Agents or Home-Based Travel Agent Resource Center.

The work-at-home job opportunities in the travel and hospitality industry are plenty. Check out the links above if you’re interested in a career in this field with the chance of a real income while working in the comforts of your home.