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The Complete Guide to Creating Effective Square Banner AdsJuly 9

If you’re selling a product or service online one thing you might choose to do is advertise it. One increasingly popular form of advertising is the 125 x 125 pixel (or small square) banner ad, usually displayed in a grid formation in blog sidebars. Their compact dimensions make them perfectly suited to this format.

In almost every case, advertising in this manner will cost money. In return, you’ll be hoping to get click-throughs, exposure, name recognition–and ultimately, more sales. In this post I’ll be explaining what makes an effective banner ad, and some common pitfalls to avoid.

Designing for conversions

In this case, it’s impossible to put the cart before the horse. Before you place an ad you’ll need to design it, or have someone design it for you according to your specifications. There are certain qualities you should be striving for, and certain qualities you should be striving to avoid.

Good qualities

Eye-catching/attractive. A good banner ad is visually interesting. It doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it does have to attract the eye and stand-out from its surroundings. It should do this without cheap tactics like garish animation and gaudy colors, as these things may make your product or service look dubious. The clever hook will go to waste if nobody ever notices it. The banner on the left is a good examp

A Practical Guide to Earning Six Figures: Re-inventing What You HaveJune 29

This is the final part of a three part series. If you’re learning to earn six figures, start here, then move on to here.

Many people struggle with the duality of enjoying their current work while yearning for an increased income. Our Freelance Switch survey showed that many freelancers are working part-time to supplement their core source of income (salaried work). What do you do if you love being in your profession but know it’s unlikely to ever allow you to earn six figures a year?What should you do if you know freelancing is not the right choice for you?

You’ll need to supplement (or eventually replace) your income through strategies that are high-yield, low time, and enjoyable in their own right. If you’re already working 40 hours a week, the time you spend trying to set up supplemental income streams should not feel like work. Ultimately, I would suggest taking up an income-producing hobby.

Investing. A friend of mine delivers newspapers from his car during the day and spends between 5 - 10 hours a week buying and selling stocks. The latter produces most of his income, but he’s unwilling to leave the first job because of the friends he’s made at the newspaper warehouse. He’s mathematically minded, so investing suits him well. Income earned is also no

A Practical Guide to Earning Six Figures: Reboot Your CareerJune 27

This post is part two in a series. If you’re learning how to earn six figures, start here.

If you’re not overly attached to your current job and would be willing to switch it for something better, this route is for you. Some of the things that prevent us from pursuing new and better jobs really don’t matter as much as you think.

1. I don’t have the skills to do anything else. That’s kind of irrelevant. You can learn anything with enough time. You might not be naturally gifted, but a gift simply doesn’t compare to dedication. Just because you don’t have the skills now doesn’t mean you won’t have them in six months or a year. You don’t have them because you’re not trying to have them yet.

2. I’m not qualified. You could pick what you want to do, and then get qualified, but that can be expensive. Going back to school may not fit with your schedule or your lifestyle, either. Instead, I’d suggest you focus on entering a field where you are often judged on your skills rather than your qualifications. Many types of freelancing fit this bill, while also commanding high hourly rates. I’ll explore this point further in point #3.

From here on, this article will mainly outline the possibility of becoming a six figure freelancer. If this idea doesn’t appeal to you (please read the article first, maybe I can change your mind) I’ll present anothe

A Practical Guide to Earning Six Figures: Changing Your MindJune 25

How to have the freedom and flexibility to live the life you want.

Hello push-back, hello skepticism. You don’t want to read this post. You don’t want to like it. You don’t want to have your aspirations tugged at with promises the author can’t keep. And that’s fair, because too often, that’s the story of the web. Big promises, big disappointments, and a whole-lot of self-interested voices.

You’re ready for me to tell you about my six figure income; how I got there, and how you can too. Hey — I might even offer you a discount on my $99 eBook.

Unfortunately, I’m not earning six figures, and I don’t have an eBook. I don’t have any landing pages replete with bright-red lettering and enthusiastic testimonials from people who may or may not exist. I don’t have a product, or an agenda, aside from describing the journey I’m on to transform my life.

Like many of us, I hope to do that by transforming my income. Best of all, I think I’ve got it figured out — and I’d like to share what I’ve learned with you.

Deconstructing six figures

Pipe-dream? I don’t think so. The idea itself sounds unassailable, of course. Some people are made to be well-off, while others are ordinary. The six-figure earners have ideas that we don’t have. They’re entrepreneurs with money to buy their dreams. The list of assumptions grows ever-longer.

I started to believe these assumptions might be false when my line of work

Building Trust In a Virtual TeamJune 25

This is a guest-post by Chris Bowler.

With all the technology available to us today, no matter what your company’s setup is like, you most likely have a few virtual coworkers. Most corporations today are at the very least a heterogeneous environment — traditional offices mixed along with off-site coworkers or staff working from home. Some companies are completely virtual. And research suggests that the biggest challenge to having an effective team is trust amongst these coworkers.

Why is trust so vital to a successful, productive team? In the simplest terms, a team works together to be productive. And in order to work together, rather than work simultaneously, team members need a level of comfort with the abilities, competencies, and intentions of their teammates. Trust enables a team to focus on tasks at hand rather than protecting each member’s own interests. The interests of the group become the interest of each individual.

How to Build Trust

So how can a team build trust? Different tactics will work for different types of groups, but there are some general concepts that will work for any team.

Social Interaction

This is probably the most important idea. Getting team members to know each other is crucial, and meeting in person is generally the best way to do that. Even if a team is geographically dispersed, the benefit of meeting in person should be measured against the cost of getting a group together. Of course budget an