Everybody wants to save money — that’s a given — especially when it comes to shopping online for items for home and office. But where do you find the deals? How do you find the best places to shop online? The Shopper’s Toolbox can help. We’ve covered the five categories that consumers have the tendency to shop for items in:

1. Coupon Sites
2. Rebate Sites
3. Sites that have the best deals
4. Companies and sites that offer FREE shipping
5. End Of the Line items (or EOL items)

The following covers each of the categories, as well as listing links/sites to look at and a brief description of what you will find there for those special shopping needs. So take a look, and then take advantage of all the hot deals that you find there.

1) Coupon Sites

1. Link: – Visit this site for numerous printable coupons to use in the stores. There are 50+ coupons here and a variety of items to save money on.
2. Link: – This is one of the bigger coupon sites on the internet. There are 10 shopping categories, 383 coupon or promotional codes, and 1,893 stores to shop through. This is definitely the site to go to for shopping discounts on the internet.
3. Link: – HotCoupons advertises that they are the largest online coupon website. There are thousands of free coupons here and you can search out deals by typing in your zip code to shop for deals locally, regionally, and nationally.
4. Link: – Valpak has been around for years. These were those big packs of coupons that would show up in your mailbox from time to time. Now they’re available online en masse. Shop for printable online coupons by entering your zip code.
5. Link: – FREE printable coupons for numerous top name brands. You’ll usually find anywhere from 80-120 coupons listed here. Just print them up, take them to the store, and redeem them.
6. Link: – The consumer can look for coupons either by category or specific website such as Best Buy, Dell, Old Navy and Wal*Mart — just to name a few. But you can also search out anything from Apparel and Clothing to Travel and Vacations.
7. Link: – Coupons for the US and the UK. You’ll find printable coupons for Grocery, Rebates, Restaurants, and Travel — and lots of them. Online and offline coupons are both available at this site.
8. Link: – This is another one of the larger coupon sites. You can even specify certain sites to get e-mail notifications from for your favorite items, as well as a listing of all kinds of free samples you can have mailed directly to you.
9. Link: – Deals, deals, and more deals is the theme here with this site. It is a membership site, but one that seems worth it. Evidently, a mom did a lot of work putting this site together. There are all kinds of useful shopping tips here as well.
10. Link: – Coupons and coupon codes is the format here, and they all help you to save money when you’re shopping online and offline. There are over 600 businesses listed in the index on this site. Enjoy the savings.

2) Rebate Sites

1. Link: – This site is one that the consumer must visit before starting to shop online. It’s definitely a good site to find ways of getting cash back on a lot of online purchases. There are a lot of categories to shop through, daily coupon listings, and so on.
2. Link: – If it’s consumer electronics, or computer hardware and software that you need, then this is a site you should visit. This site targets just these three categories and nothing else, but it is still a good site to bookmark.
3. Link: - This is a membership site. The focus is online rebates and “In-Club” coupons. Anytime you purchase an item from this site the rebate coupon (if one applies) gets set up to print.
4. Link: – Rebate coupons from literally thousands of brand names can be found at this site. Some free shipping is available here, also. The consumer signs up with a login name and password, and then starts looking at all the bargains.
5. Link: – This is definitely a site for the consumer to investigate. Find your favorite store, shop for whatever items you need, and then earn money back when you make your purchase.
6. Link: – If you regularly take advantage of a lot of coupon shopping and rebates, then you should probably sign up at this site. This is what is referred to as a “tracking” site where you can check the status on your rebate/promotion claim.
7. Link: – This is pretty much a technologies-oriented rebate site but there are a lot of really great deals on hardware and software applications. In fact, after making a couple of purchases on certain items, you qualify for a free one.
8. Link: - This is interesting reading and is basically an article about rebate sites to avoid based on consumer’s experiences. There are other links to more articles as well . About.com is a valuable source of information on all kinds of consumer issues.
9. Link: – This is the place for the handy person, a.k.a. the Do-It-Yourself individual. There are monthly listings for rebates on all kinds of their products. This is a good site to look at if you’re planning a home project anywhere in the near future.
10. Link: – This is a good membership site for rebates on a variety of things for the home. Sign up, make a purchase, and get a gift card in return (usually a $10 value at the least). Every time you purchase something, you get a gift card.

3) Sites that have the best deals

1. Link: – This is another great site to visit for all types of shopping deals. The categories, with the number of their related sites listed in parentheses, are Clothing (476 sites), Computers (1,413 sites), Electronics (1,768 sites), Home and Garden (431), and Jewelry and Watches (673 sites).
2. Link: – You will find some of the best internet prices involving a lot of retailers here. The site is primarily oriented towards computers and consumer electronics, but there are some really big savings on items listed here.
3. Link: – Find coupons, deals, rebates and more on a variety of sites from Amazon to Zappos. Just a word of caution though; this site is set up to change deals every day, so the mentality of thinking about it (rather than buying it) may result in the item being gone when you finally decide to buy it. If you see it, it’s wise to buy it then, not later as it will most likely be gone.
4. Link: - Start your vacation at this site. They list some great deals on air fares, cruises, hotels, etc. all over the world. Plus there are tons of travel-oriented articles to read and get ideas from.
5. Link: – This site is also one to explore. There are over 1,000 stores and over 4,000 deals listed here. From Automotive to Travel, this site is a definite destination for the internet shopper.
6. Link: – There are free online coupons and discounts from over 850 different stores here. They list daily bargains and feature a different retailer’s buys everyday as well. It’s worth it to look at this site since it lists lots of the bigger national retailers.
7. Link: – Here are more free online coupons, deals, and discounts for the consumer. There are over 3,300 great buys listed here from all kinds of retailers as well as a variety of travel sites to choose from. Be aware that there are a lot of time-sensitive buys at this site.
8. Link: – This site is referred to as Deals Plus and has over 200 deals listed daily. One of the really good values was an Ethernet Fast Switch that listed for $16.99, but after the rebate was only $1.99 — just as an example. But there are so many more great buys to look at.
9. Link: – This site lists a multitude of retailer shopping categories, but the primary focus is on cameras, computers, and electronics. There was a $449.00 GPS unit that was priced at $124.99 and then there was a $20 rebate on top of that.
10. Link: – This is another consumer electronics site, but there are lots of items to pick from. You’ll notice towards the top of the homepage that there are links to deals for every day of the week, so there is a lot more to investigate than just the home page.

4) Companies and sites that offer FREE shipping

(NOTE: there are a lot of companies that will ship for free, however they do impose minimum order amounts to qualify for that, so be sure you investigate the deals thoroughly.)

1. Link: - Free shipping offers from retailers saves you money on gas. There are roughly 750 different businesses listed at this site where a person can obtain a coupon that is good for free shipping from the particular retailer.
2. Link: – Get free shipping from over 1,000 stores when you visit this site. Additionally, there are other offers for coupons, consumer price protection, and return shipping. This site will save money when you use it.
3. Link: – This is a great site for tracking down free shipping deals with internet retailers and more. The page is updated daily, so be aware of that. Also, not all the coupons are for free shipping. Some coupons only reduce a portion of the shipping costs.
4. Link: – You can visit this daily for the latest updates on deals, coupon codes, and free shipping offers at your favorite retailers. It lists the codes and their expiration dates which also helps you to take advantage of the time frame.
5. Link: – Here, you will find free shipping coupons and savings on items up to 75% off the listed prices. The links on the site take you to a variety of locations for shipping coupons and promotional codes as well.
6. Link: – Free shipping coupons as well as a variety of other types of printable coupons can be found at this site. There are over 3,500 promotional codes available and over 11,000 coupons for name brand merchants. This lists daily “hot buys” as well.
7. Link: – Coupon codes, discount codes, free shipping deals and more is found at this site. There are deals listed for over 1,000 stores. There are daily listings and a lot of time-sensitive deals here so be sure to read carefully.
8. Link: – Free shipping offers for over 1,000 stores are listed with this site. You’ll need to be thorough here with this site, because some of the deals are not always free, and there is a price on the coupon itself. However, incidents like these are rare.
9. Link: - This site cross markets with merchants that either offer free shipping or at least discounted shipping when you buy from merchants here at this site. It lists the amount of shipping that you’ll save with each merchant on the list as well.
10. Link: - Here you will find coupons as well as free shipping coupons for literally every item you might need. Most of the merchants offer the discount on shipping, but unless the particular coupon accompanies it, you aren’t given the discount.

5) End of the Line (EOL) items

(NOTE: Usually these are items that are unique or one-of-a-kind items that are no longer being manufactured. So whatever bargain you are interested in, you may want to think about buying it when you first see it because it will most likely be gone if you pass it over and then come back to it later.)

1. Link: – This is one of the better sites for one-of-a-kind values on quality consumer electronics. Though these items have been discontinued by the manufacturer, they come with a one-year warranty, so you’re not buying them “AS IS” and are protected against any defects.
2. Link: – This site is targeted towards children’s party items and decorations. They offer a great selection of products, but they are all one-of-a-kind items. What you see right now could be gone quickly.
3. Link: - CD Direct has a nice assortment of CD and DVD related accessories but not many are often listed. Supposedly, there are new items posted everyday. This is also a wholesaler site as well. So chances are, if you miss out on one bargain, there will always be others.
4. Link: – This is a great site for kid’s games and toys with some really great bargains as well. There is quite an extensive assortment as well.
5. Link: – Though most of the items involve clothing related bargains, there are over 18,000 other products listed as well. This site is definitely filled with all kinds of one-time deals. And the assortment literally changes every 24 hours.
6. Link: – This has always been one of the better shopping sites for searching out great bargains, but they also have a separate section for EOL items and it is filled with a big inventory. There are roughly 20,000 items listed here at any given time, so there is always a chance at finding what you have been looking for at an excellent price.
7. Link: – If what this site advertises is accurate, you could spend a lot of time shopping here. They boast that there are nearly 25 million items and over 5,000 retailers and vendors to choose from. Indications are that this is an exaggeration but not to the extent that it is all advertising hype — there is a lot to see at this site.
8. Link: – There are numerous EOL items and popular brands listed at this site. There are over 6,000 pages of product with 36 items listed per page. If you do the math, that equates to over 217,000 items — not a bad selection is it?
9. Link: – Whether it is flowers and gifts, home and garden, sports and outdoors, you can find the bargains here. However, there are over 3,500 items so it’s worth the visit. There are daily featured listings that are in other categories as well.
10. Link: – This is kind of a long link, but CafePress has always been known for their huge assortment of clothing and household items. There’s over 9,000 items at this link that they are listing as EOL items, so visit this site when you get a minute and take advantage of the savings that they are offering.

On a closing note, a lot of the EOL sites that you find online are in the UK. Why that is the case is unknown, but it is something to be aware of. Not all of them will do business with the US or Australia, so check on that before ordering anything.

1. Are You Suitable: Gold and platinum cards usually only suit those with an above average spending. So, unless you pay the balance of your credit card bill outright every month then avoid a card with a rewards program. If you ever pay interest then you’re far better off having a credit card with a low ongoing interest rate. If you only spend around $1000 or less a month on a card, there’s not much value to be gained in rewards programs. Typically you’d pay more in annual fees than you would earn in rewards.
2. Legitimate Reason: A credit card with a rewards scheme is all fair and dandy but look for a card that gives you suitable rewards for your needs. Ask, are there any rewards which you would find really beneficial? Do you want shopping or travel rewards? If you wanted travel perks, do you even have the time to take an extra holiday? etc.
3. Points Capping: Apply for a rewards credit card that does not put a limit on the points you can earn per month. Reaching that limit can be all to easy when you make a few large purchases in a month. After that your points will be maxed out.
4. Big Spending: Gold and platinum cards usually have high annual fees, sometimes as high as $400. Therefore, cards like these are are only suitable and worthwhile if you spend a large amount per month, such as $5000 or more. So you see that big spending is needed per month along with the ability to be able pay it off each month.
5. Possibly Ideal For Small Business: I’ve got three points to make on the idea of using a rewards card in business. Provided that you spend a considerable amount on the card per month it could be a legit purpose for a gold or platinum card. So, realistically if you were to spend around $5000 per month on goods and services you’d be able to rack up some decent perks. Bear in mind, you must be sure you can and will pay off the balance each-and-every month to make it worthwhile otherwise you’ll be getting hammered by the high interest rates. Lastly, you must apply the same discipline to a business credit card as you would to your personal credit card… that is, do not spend beyond your means!

According to recent market data, young Australians are getting themselves into severe levels of personal debt. Australian financial information providers, Dun & Bradstreet, put it down to inflating interest rates, rising fuel costs, rising rents, HECS fees and greater availability and reliance of credit. Add to the mix, a youth mindset which says “buy now, pay it off later” in a culture increasingly addicted to instant gratification and we find ourselves with a huge problem.

The recent debt study found that:
1. NSW and Victoria had the most debt referred for collection.
2. Areas outside the CBD’s had the most debt stress.
3. Young Aussie men have more debt stress than women.
4. Over 60% of consumers are defaulting on small amounts (less than $400)

8 General Tips You Need to Consider
So if you are suffering personal debt stress and wanna be grow up to be debt free, here are our 8 general tips you need to consider:
1) Change the way you think about money. Learn how to organise your money life. Be wise and frugal with your dollars.
2) Gain some perspective into your money situation. Pen and paper time! Jot down what you’ve got in each bank account and credit card, incoming money and upcoming repayments for loans etc.
3) Develop the habit of saving for things before you buy them.
4) Organise your pay so that a certain amount gets automatically siphoned to a bank account earmarked exclusively for paying bills.
5) This is a no-brainer. Before taking the plunge on purchases ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”
6) Get yourself onto the best and most suitable credit card. If you struggle to clear your balance each month, change to a low interest credit card for lower repayments. Or for extra breathing space (of up to 6 months) don’t be afraid to transfer your existing credit card debt to a balance transfer credit card. Use the time to get your spending whipped into line.
7) Get a headstart. Pay off credit card debt as you spend it instead waiting for your statement.
8 ) Use a free credit card debt calculator to see how much its gonna cost you to pay off your credit card. Use tools like these to set goals for breaking free of debts.

If you’re on a tight budget the idea of cooking healthy meals on a regular basis can seem daunting, and it’s very easy to fall into a rut eating the same foods over and over again.

However, the good news is that it is possible to cook healthy meals for your family, while living frugally.

Check out these simple, yet effective tips for healthy eating on a budget:

#1 Eat before you shop. This is a total no-brainer, but if you shop hungry you’ll be more likely to impulsively buy, rather than sticking to what you actually need. So, make sure you grab a healthy snack prior to hitting the aisles!

#2 Purchase only what you need and can use. Do you discard food each week? If you don’t have a weekly menu plan you’ll end up with foods you can’t use, and you may even forget things you do need. Try setting aside some time each week to write a list of meals for the week ahead, then produce a detailed shopping list from that plan, and aim to stick to it when you get to the supermarket.

#3 Take advantage of shopping incentives. If your store offers a frequent shopper program, sign-up to receive advanced notice of special offers, and other money saving information. You should also keep an eye on local newspapers and flyer’s for specials, particularly on costly items such as meats, fruit and veg.

#4 Create your own price book. This is a system for tracking store prices so that when you see an item on offer, you’ll immediately know whether it’s a good deal, or not. You’ll want to record the date, store, item, size, price, unit and sale price. Admittedly, however this isn’t for everyone, but you may find it a useful practise.

#5 Shop in season. Buying fruit and vegetables that are in season will be much easier on your pocket. Search the web for a list of items if you’re not sure what’s in season. Another option is to go for frozen produce, which prevents wastage and is more cost effective. Tinned fruits and veg are also fine, just opt for the lower salt version of vegetables, and fruits canned in natural juices.

#6 Buy in bulk. Purchasing apples, oranges, potatoes, onions, etc. by the bag, rather than per piece can work out much cheaper. However, this is only cost effective if you can use them. Large packs of meat, re-portioned at home can also be good value for money.

#7 Experiment with stores own brands. Most of the time the only difference is in the price, not the quality of the food.

#8 Avoid pre-packaged foods such as ready meals, pre-cut vegetables, or diced meats as they tend to be much more expensive. Ready-to-cook meats are also more expensive, for example marinated boneless chicken, or seasoned roasts. A cheaper option is to purchase plain meat, and prepare yourself at home.

#9 Vary where you shop. Visit your local ethnic store or local fresh food market for a variety of different foods not available at mainstream stores, it can also be a great way to save money, particularly if you buy in bulk.

#10 Buy coupons on ebay. You can often pick up coupons for different products online, or check out sites such as Hot Dockets for money saving deals available in your local area.

#11 Cut down on junk food. Soft drinks, chips, and cookies are a major drain on the family budget. Instead of eating this highly processed junk, try baking your own cookies and cakes, or switching to water, tea and coffee rather than the more expensive sugar-laden alternatives. A cheaper and healthier substitute to chips would be unbuttered popcorn.

#12 Get creative in the kitchen! Cook at home using a few basic ingredients, check out 25 Minimalistic Meals: 5 Ingredients or Less. If you struggle to completely ban convenience foods, why not try making your own? For example, a homemade pizza will cost you around $3-$4, while a frozen or take away pizza can cost anything from $7-$20.

#13 Make meals go further. You can extend your meals by adding extra vegetables, grains or pulses. For example when cooking spaghetti bolognese substitute half the meat for canned beans, onions, and carrots; this will save money and make the dish healthier. Remember, meat should only make up a small part of your meal, it shouldn’t be the main focus.

#14 Make use of your freezer. Cook extra portions of curries, soups, stews, and casseroles and place in the freezer for a later date. One-pot dishes save on prep time, money, and dish washing, and are the perfect option for those with a busy schedule.

#15 Occasionally eat away from home. You can save a considerable amount of money if you make eating away from home only for special occasions rather than a weekly event. Check out your local newspaper for special meal offers at nearby restaurants.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic formula when cooking on a budget. It does take a little planning, creativity, and effort. However, the benefits to your health and your pocket will make the extra effort worthwhile long-term!

Melanie Thomassian is a professional dietitian, and author of the award winning Dietriffic.com.

Perhaps you are the sort of person who likes to live life by the seat of your pants! What I mean in terms of personal finance is that you run your money between what comes in and what goes out on a very tight line. Perhaps you assume that since nothing bad has happened to you up until the present, that things will continue to go like this. However, what would happen to your personal finances when an emergency happens that cost you around …… say $2000? What would you do? Do you have enough money saved away to absorb the loss? and when is your next pay cheque coming in?

Let us give you 10 real life scenarios when a personal warchest (emergency fund) would be helpful:

1. Car Breakdown - Engine trouble, a cracked radiator or temperamental electronics will instantly set you back $100’s of dollars. And if you’re one of many Australians who drive with only third party car insurance you’ll have to cop the repair bill on the head. For example, a friend once drove from Sydney to the Gold Coast but suffered major car trouble en route (thanks to his own ineptness!). With no NRMA cover, the car worth nearly $5000, blew its head gasket resulting in $1500 in repairs plus an extra unscheduled two week stay on the Gold Coast! It wasn’t all bad news though. My friend is a surfer and the Gold Coast isn’t a bad place to break down! However, now you see how he could have done with a personal warchest instead of going into debt on his credit card.
2. Computer Crash - It happens all too often, especially if you are Windows user (cough cough). Outside of warranty cover, if your desktop computer dies because it needs a new hard drive or say your laptop battery dies you will need to fork out substantial money to get it back up and running.
3. Urgent Travel - If for some reason you need to urgently fly interstate or overseas, it won’t be cheap, especially because of the lateness of booking your flight and hotel. Here is a real-life scenario: I once worked with a British ex-pat living here in Australia. Sadly, a close relative died suddenly and he had to request time off work and book a flight home all within 24 hours. Asides from the grief, the costly last minute flight, the lost income from work and the mortgage repayments still needing paid, the whole thing would be a big hit for anyone to take.
4. Sudden Health Problem - Assuming you don’t have private health insurance, if you became ill or broke a leg in a sporting accident, unfortunately Medicare won’t cover all the costs. Depending on how far away from the hospital you are the cost for the ambulance alone is substantial. And depending on the severity of your injury you could be in for hefty bills in terms of costs associated with rehabilitation (crutches etc) plus the lost income.
5. Unexpected Bills - Have you ever received an unexpectedly monsterous phone bill? or have you ever been invoiced for something which you bought and subsequently forgot about? or are you one of the 1000’s of motorists sent a nasty fixed camera speeding ticket via the post? If so, your personal finances could easily take a big hit. Ouch!
6. Theft - You should always try to protect your assets - your health, your home, your car and your investments. But if you don’t have insurances or coverage then you’ll be especially wise to set up an emergency fund. Whether its the theft of your car or some other household item… it not that often that you’ll get it back.
7. Accidental Damage at Home - Its no secret that Aussies love flat-screen HDTV’s because over the last few years since they arrived in the market Aussies have gone out and bought them en-mass! Consider though the cost of repair and maintenance to your beloved 40″ plasma screen when the warranty runs out. Your initial investment of $2000+ is too high to simply write off if your screen goes on the blink. Repairs due to a technical problem or smashed screen regularly exceed $500. Often tho, the cost of repairs can be the same as the cost of a brand new TV.
8. Investments Take a Dive - If you rely upon your stock market investments to make money, you especially would be wise to build up a personal warchest in the event of your portfolio takes a considerable drop.
9. Storm Damage to House - Of course you should protect your most important asset by having home and contents insurance but what if you are one of the many Aussies who aren’t covered sufficiently? Could you absorb the cost of roof damage due to a fallen tree and still be able to make mortgage repayments? Think of flooding which could ruin your flooring and kitchen appliances. Tradesman call-out fees and work costs are usually very steep. Remember storm damage won’t be limited to the wild weather experienced in July 2007.
10. Job Loss - To some degree or another, we all live in a state of suspicion about our job security. An economic downturn could cause big employers to lay off workers. How much money have you got in savings to sustain you until you get your next job? Its a very prudent idea that you save up enough money before making a switch to a new job. That way your transition into the new and somewhat unknown territory is made more confidently. In the case that you should lose your current job or simply not transition well into your new job, can result in weeks-upon-weeks of stressful, unpaid job-hunting to get through the recruitment process and into regular paid work.

Its a Flamin’ Good Idea

Of course you cannot plan for every bump in the road but if one of the above were to strike you today, would you reach for your credit card? or have to dip into your major savings account earmarked for your house deposit? There’s no doubt that a credit card is the fastest way to solve most emergency situations that involves money within your credit limit. However, for the purpose of emergencies credit cards can have negative effects on your long-term financial plans.

There are two options:

• Plan Ahead: Earn interest on money set aside for the emergency before it happens.
• React After: Pay interest on amount owed on a credit card or personal loan after it happens.

Why not use money which you actually have stored away for the purpose of emergencies instead of putting yourself in debt. Personal warchest money which you put away should ideally be put in a smart place i.e; choose a high interest savings account which is linked to your checking account. This rules out a fixed deposit savings account which would give you the highest interest rates. But it would be no use in the event of an emergency.

Set a Realistic Goal
So if you’re interested in setting up an emergency fund, ask yourself how much is needed and how much is realistic? For example, open a high interest rate savings account and set your own goal. Perhaps start by adding a small amount of $100 every month for a year. At the end of the year, you’ll have $1200 stored away for a legitimate emergency all the while its earning a respectable level of interest. You’ll be well on you’re way to absorbing unexpected and unwanted costs.

We’re all guilty of this: wasting time checking stats. The problem is that once you get hooked, it’s like an addiction to crack. Statistical crack isn’t easy to wean yourself off, but you’ll fail to do so at your own cost. Just how much time do we waste peering at log files and CTR reports? Too much! In light of that revelation, here are a few ways to break the habit and free up more productive time.

Traffic Analysis

There’s nothing that can while away the hours like analysing traffic data and SERPs.

1. Checking Log Files: It’s true that if you want to be really anal analytical about where your visitors come from and what they do, there’s nothing like analysing a raw log file. The problem is they are such massive wastes of time! Check them every now and then or archive data for the month before running a report.
2. Analytics: O boy! Once you get hooked on this one it’s nigh on impossible to get out of. You start off looking into referrals and keywords then get hooked on bounce rates and end up glued to ecommerce values. Analytics is without doubt brilliantly useful and simultaneously a massive waste of time. If you want those numbers to improve then it’s time to break the addiction.
3. Wordpress Live Traffic Plugins: Ultra addictive and incredibly interesting, these plugins let you see traffic as it hits your blog live. It’s the live bit that does the damage, the ultimate in time wasting distractions. Don’t even go there, unless you have a spare screen and can let it stay open in a window where it could be hacked to look like something out of The Matrix.
4. PMetrics: Like the many free Wordpress plugins, PMetrics will show you where traffic comes from. However, it’ll give you enough information to get you hooked like you wouldn’t believe. IP addresses, geographical locations, keywords, pages viewed; it’s all here and more. A great package indeed, but keep that tab closed if you want to get anything done.
5. Checking SERPs: There’s nothing like getting into the morning routine of checking SERPs to waste time, particularly if you check manually. It’s easy to address though, get some proper tracking set up and make sue of that time to rank higher. SEOMoz have some good tools, as does SEO Book.

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If you are starting a freelance business, chances are you want the freedom to be your own boss. However, there are a lot of responsibilities that come with this freedom and if you want your business to be successful, you’re going to need to get some management techniques in place. No matter what kind of freelance business you’ll be running, you will only be successful if you can be a good boss of yourself. Here are 50 tips to help you make sure that your freelance business is successful and, most of all, profitable!

Planning

Probably more so than any other business, being a successful freelancer has effective planning at the core. Plan everything. Plan for lean times as well as for success.

1. Set up a schedule: Although you now have the freedom to work when you feel like it, you will need to have some sort of schedule in place to stay productive. It is all too easy to shirk your duties when you’re working for yourself.
2. Set up a home office: You can greatly improve both your productivity and your state of mind if you have a set space for your work. This is also important for tax reasons, since you can write off this portion of your home.
3. Manage your family: You may want to spend more time with your family, but they will also need to understand that work time is sacred. Set boundaries so that you have enough peace and quiet to function.
4. Keep your office space sacred: Sure it’s tough when you’re in your own home, and toys or other stuff can easily migrate to your office. However, you need to keep this space sacred by keeping it work related and free from clutter.
5. Communication: If you don’t have a separate phone line for your home office, you should get one installed. You’ll sound a lot more professional if your kids aren’t answering the phone.
6. Set up a break time: This is similar to your lunch hour at work. You need time to recharge during the day and although it’s tempting to eat lunch at your desk, separating the two is very beneficial to your state of mind.
7. Set boundaries on work time: When you work at home you quickly find that it starts encroaching on all areas of your home life. Set up specific work times and don’t let the two overlap on a regular basis.
8. Dress the part: Sure, working at home means that you can stay in your pajamas as much as you want. However, studies have shown that making an effort with your appearance can greatly improve productivity.
9. Learn to be flexible: There may be times when home life interferes with work life and vice versa. You’ll need to be flexible to avoid stressing out. Even though a schedule is important, you may not always be able to keep it.
10. Master the art of the deadline: Part of being a freelancer is burning the midnight oil to make a deadline. Learn not to procrastinate so that you’ll get your projects done on time.

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Presenting a good CV can truly make or break your chances at getting a job. The CV is your voice telling the perspective employer what makes you stand apart from your competition. It also highlights your experience and unique qualifications. It is essentially a marketing tool that is selling you instead of a product.

In essence, your CV is the gateway to a job interview so it had better be good. Listen up!

Getting Organised

1. Organise your information: Organise your information before getting started. Have all of your dates and documents prepared and close by for easy reference.
2. Plan your CV layout: Set up a template or background for your CV. Design a heading at the top of the page and create any other formatting you will be using.
3. Examine the field: Look at the field in which you are looking to get a job. Read some job ads for that field and use the information you find to determine what you need to be include in your resume.
4. Include relevant personal contact details: Fill in your contact information. Name, address, e-mail and phone number should all be neatly placed at the top of the page.
5. Verify your information: Make sure that you verify all of your information and fact check all of your dates, phone numbers and addresses.
6. Know the job requirements: Know the requirements of the job for which you are applying. Make sure that when you list your responsibilities you include tasks and skills that are relevant to what the requirements of your desired job are.
7. Decide on objectives: Decide on what you want your professional, vocational or research objective to be. Formulate your wording and fill it in.

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So the call has come in and you’ve finally gotten that much anticipated job interview. What do you do now? Run out and celebrate with your friends or make sure that you are both physically and mentally prepared to do your very best on your big interview day? Being prepared for your job interview can be the difference in whether you get the job or not.

An interviewer can easily tell which candidates for the job came in prepared, and which ones are just winging it. By making sure that you are both mentally and physically prepared for your job interview, you give yourself a much better chance at coming in a winner. Here are 50 tips for before, during, and after a job interview to make sure that you are completely prepared for the entire interview process.

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Just like businesses operating online can make money through offline methods, there are a number of ways that people can generate money offline using the internet for support. In today’s world there is very little sense in having no presence on the internet because as figures show, more people are spending more time browsing, researching and socialising online. Just because you run an offline business rather than an online one, it simply does not mean that you cannot use the internet in a variety of different ways in order to boost your offline business and to stay in touch with customers past and present. You will be surprised at how successful some of these tactics can be at keeping in touch with your customers. So here are ten of the most interesting and cost effective ways that income can be generated offline simply by using the internet.

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