What Is Fiverr?

Here's a brand-new article I wrote about starting a small business on fiverr.com.

How to Start a Micro-Business on Fiverr
By Amanda Laughtland

On Fiverr, sellers offer goods and services for five dollars, and buyers use PayPal to purchase those goods and services. The website functions as an international marketplace and an intermediary, processing payments, handling disputes, and taking a commission of 20 percent from every sale.

On the one hand, you might well be thinking, "What am I going to sell for just four dollars?". On the other hand, Fiverr is more complicated (and offers more earning potential) than its name would suggest.

Outside of the active community of sellers on Fiverr, a lot of people don't know that Fiverr has a small but significant series of levels, and as you advance beyond the basic level for new members, you have opportunities for sales beyond the five-dollar mark.

The key to making more than pocket change with Fiverr is to become a Level One seller, at which point you can add extras onto your five-dollar gigs. There's also a Level Two, and then there are Fiverr-selected Top Sellers, but simply breaking into Level One marks a solid step toward more income through the site.

For example, if you want to offer article writing services, you might offer a 250-word article for five dollars, with the option of a 500-word article for ten dollars, and maybe another option for a set of three related articles for 20 dollars. We're still talking micro-business, but it can become a nice part-time job, especially for someone who wants to work from home and needs flexible hours.

All sellers must start out with five-dollar gigs with no extras. You need to be on the site for 30 days and have completed at least ten orders to earn the Level One status; you also need to maintain high ratings from buyers.

And so we return to the question: What are you willing to do to make four dollars? Some sellers create gigs that are worth far more than the price tag, biding their time to reach higher levels where they can restructure their gigs and add extras. But why not give serious thought to that four-dollar question?

There might be smallish jobs you'd gladly do for just a little cash. What skills do you have? What jobs are easy for you to finish quickly? Do you have (or could you put together) an e-book that teaches valuable tips that aren't readily available elsewhere? Maybe you have something you're already putting time into (like a website, Twitter account, or Facebook page) that you could leverage into a Fiverr gig.

My best advice is to find something you like to do. When I signed up on Fiverr, I knew I wanted to do writing-related work, but I didn't want to be on the computer for hours to earn less than a penny per word. So I started by coming up with some gigs that utilize my skills in writing and blogging but also involve buyers in sharing the writing tasks.

Whatever you decide to do, be sure to browse the different categories and listings on the site to see what other sellers have to offer, and definitely take time to visit the Fiverr Forum (linked at the bottom of the main Fiverr page) and talk to other sellers for some friendly chat and good advice.

Amanda Laughtland is a writer, editor, and publisher who teaches English at the college level. She offers a range of gigs related to writing, publishing, and the arts on her Fiverr page, located at http://fiverr.com/teenytinypress.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amanda_Laughtland
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Start-a-Micro-Business-on-Fiverr&id=7429647

Marissa Poppens on Following Your Dream

Marissa Poppens is an artist and graphic designer. She owns Poppen Fresh Media LLC, a 3D visualizations, graphics, web, and animation design company located in Denver, Colorado. Offering a wide range of services, Poppen Fresh Media primarily focuses on marketing for small to medium-sized businesses through creating an eye-catching and unique identity. Poppen Fresh Media delivers high quality results because Marissa takes the time to work with each customer one on one and takes time to make sure each customer’s ideas and visions come to life with fresh ideas and fresh designs.

Kind thanks go to Marissa for sharing the following guest post.

As an independent multimedia artist and marketer for the past eight years, I've been through a lot of ups and downs. If you can take away anything from my personal experience, it’s this: if you have a dream, follow it and don't be afraid to ask for help. Other people want to see your dream happen just as much as you do.

In 2010, I was at a networking event where I really started asking for help in pursuing my dream of having my own multimedia business. I ran into the lady who had sold me my first car. I asked her for some business consulting tips, and she agreed to meet with me later. Upon meeting with her the following week, she connected me with somebody who had office space available. Unfortunately, I had no money at the time, but I decided to ask if I could trade services. The landlord agreed and set me up with office space for a year.

I've been able to grow my business for the past two years by meeting likeminded people and asking for help. I don't always get what I want right away, but I often do gain something that helps me continue expanding my business.

My advice is to go outside your normal group of friends, and tell everybody what your dream is. My own experience has taught me that if you’re truly passionate about your dream, people will want to help you. A lot of the help I've gotten I haven't asked for directly, but people have just connected me with others who can help.

Get out there and start asking. No favor is too big! Companies don't happen overnight with the way the economy is, and things take time. Don't get discouraged. It’s going to be a struggle, but without struggle, there is no progress.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Marissa!

How Articles Help Promote Your Business

This is a good background article (reposted here with the permission of the author) on the value of marketing your website by posting written content elsewhere on the web and linking back to your site. The author focuses on placing articles at article-focused websites, but I would venture to add that posting on blogs is likewise effective in getting the word out about your projects. The more good content you can post, the more likely that your name will come up when someone searches for your subject area on the web.

Web Marketing Strategies - Article Marketing
By Geoff Hoff

You may have heard that article marketing is one of the best web marketing strategies, one of the best ways to build credibility for your business, build traffic to your site and help your rank in the search engines, but are still unsure of exactly what article marketing is.

Simply put, article marketing is writing short articles on a topic of interest to people who would be interested in your products and services, then posting them on one of the article directories, such as EzineArticles. The articles do not need to be long. In fact, around 400 words is a perfect length. In that amount of space, you can present good information to the reader and present yourself in a good light so the reader will want to know more about you.

Be conscious of what information people will be searching for when deciding on topics for you articles. You can do research at Google; simply search for Google Keyword Tool. It is a great resource and is free to use. Find search phrases that people are using to find information on the Internet. When you have found one or two that has reasonable amount of usage, use that phrase in the title of your article, in the first paragraph of the article and once or twice throughout the article. This way, when people are searching for information on that subject, there is a much better chance they'll find your article.

Having good information is vital. If someone reads your article and it is just an advertising for your services, they won't be interested at all. (In fact, most of the article directories will reject that type of article. That makes sense. They want useful content on their site.) The place to talk about you and your business is in the "resource box" at the bottom of the article.

Just like a good article will make the reader want to know more about you, a good resource box will make them click through to see what you have to offer. In the resource box, include a bit of information about you and or your company, and offer something of value if they click on the link to your site, such as a free report, video or audio with more information on the topic. Another great practice is to use "anchor links" in your resource box. What this means is, instead of just putting the web link there, use good key words and make that the link. This will help give your site authority with the search engines.

Geoff Hoff has spent his life studying creativity and the last several years studying marketing. He teaches people to reawaken their own creativity and then to bring that creativity to their business.

In his report, " Creativity and Internet Marketing " he gives you simple, practical ways to reawaken your own creativity. You can get it free at his blog, http://GeoffHoff.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Geoff_Hoff
http://EzineArticles.com/?Web-Marketing-Strategies---Article-Marketing&id=6935125

A Slice of Retro Advice

What can an author from the 1930s-1940s teach us about business-related communications today?

Plenty, according to career consultant Andrea Kay, in her article about applying the principles of Dale Carnegie. She offers a good example about using Carnegie's techniques of listening and asking questions to turn a difficult job interview in a better direction.

Try Visual Journaling for Creative Flow

If you're looking for ways to bring more creative energy to your work, why not give visual journaling a try?

It's like keeping any other type of journal except that you incorporate visual elements in addition to (or instead of) written text. You can use any media you enjoy in your visual journal, and it can be a fun way to finally utilize that cool sketchbook or notebook someone gave you as a gift but you haven't used yet. I like to use inexpensive materials like crayons, magazine paper, and a children's watercolor set.

There's a great resource/community for art journaling on Ning. This article in Psychology Today looks at visual journaling from a healing/therapeutic angle, and this article on creativepublic.com comes from a more business-focused approach, looking at the benefits visual journaling can bring to your work.

We spend so much of our time in front of screens that it can be good for our thinking to take even a few minutes a day to jot down a few words with a pencil, draw a doodle with a marker, or glue down a couple of scraps of paper.

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting Best Business Bytes. In the days to come, this blog will introduce you to a variety of businesspeople from a wide range of industries. We'll discuss creativity in the workplace, the challenges and benefits of working independently as a freelancer or sole proprietor, and many other issues. Most importantly, we'll learn from concrete examples as individuals share their own experiences, advice, questions, ideas, and more.

Please check back with us very soon!