So, do you have any online social network accounts? Adults who don’t have a social network account - e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook or even Twitter - might be doing themselves a huge disfavor careerwise. In the midst of this recession, many people are out of work, with many more concerned that they’ll be laid off.

While there are mixed opinions about whether job sites are really the way to find work for most careers, at least many job seekers seem to agree that referrals from friends and colleagues tends to be a sure way to finding work. So the wider your network, the better your chances of finding a new job. Even if you’re employed, you can stay on top of the job market.

In addition to networking, and whether or not you’re looking for work, there are ways to stand out in a recession - things you can do to shore up your job seeking approach and your attitude to career. Or you could always work for yourself - be a freelancer, contractor and an all-around entrepreneur/ webpreneur.

[Flickr: billaday - CC license]

Sure there’s a recession on, but people bootstrap startup companies all the time. So what does it matter if you start one now? If you’re thinking about starting a business, here are some tips from ReadWriteWeb.

1. Don’t focus on growth; focus on cash preservation
2. Work out how to monetize social networks
3. Don’t make new commitments, look for opportunities in mobile technology
4. Strike while there is less competition
5. Look to the virtual world and expect to nurture your product for 7-8 years

Looking for startup funding? Brainz has an article on sources of business startup funds. And when you’re working on hard on your business just remember to have balance and use problem-solving techniques to achieve your entrepreneurial goals.

This weblog is primarily focused on online businesses, many of which you can do at home. As I’ve said before, I’m not talking those envelope-stuffing types of scams. For example, I’m a freelance online writer, and I’ve been working from home for over a year now - with about 6 months of that being mostly full-time, often more.

But what if you’re expanding beyond the home - or even skipping it altogether? What’s more, what if you have very little capital and want to build a startup business pretty much from scratch? Well, the Bootstrapper weblog is for you. A client has asked me to edit the blog and contribute articles about bootstrapping, entrepreneurship, cash flow, financing, general business startup issues, productivity, tools and more. It’s an extension of the essence of what I had initially intended for this blog. I’m very excited about this project, and I hope that you’ll check it out, may be even participate in the comments. I’ll also be accepting (paid) submissions to Bootstrapper in the future.

Backround: Introducing Domaining

One of the most traditional (and profitable) ways of making a living online is domaining.

Domaining is simply investing in a domain name in much the same way as people invest in real estate: You buy the domain, sometimes put some time and money into improving it, and hope that the property appreciates.

There are all sorts of basic domaining precepts, for example, a .com domain is generally more valuable than a .net, which in turn is more valuable than a .biz.

One of the most overlooked aspects of domaining (which is why I am explaining it here) is the benefit of exact-match domains.

What is an Exact Match Domain?

An exact match domain is simply a domain in which the keywords that the site is targeting are precisely the same as the domain name.

For example, the site CurrencyTrading.net is targeting two sets of keywords, Currency Trading and Forex Trading.

It is considered an “exact match” domain, because the phrase “Currency Trading” is actually the name of the site.

Why is Exact Match Valuable?

Exact match domains are valuable simply because any time a person talks about or links to a site they will use the name of the site. In this case someone might blog, for example, “I read an interesting article over at the site Currency Trading.” The reason this is important is because the anchor text that people use when linking to a site determines which keywords the site ranks for. Thus, rather quickly the site will rank for the “exact match” term.

How Should I Approach Exact Match Purchasing?

Exact match .com domains for competitive keywords are predictably very expensive. But, for about 15-20% of the cost you can obtain the same exact match in a .net or .org variety. These get the same benefits of exact match search engine rankings for only a fraction of the price. While you might be losing some revenue from type-in traffic, it usually isn’t enough to compensate for the price differential.

[Note: I wrote this a few months ago and some info has changed, as indicated in italics.] Sharpen your proverbial pencils all you bloggers. If you have a blog (or six) that has been around for at least a few months and has garnered a bit of link and search engine juice (see TLA’s Blog Juice Calculator), you might qualify for ReviewMe (which I reviewed elsewhere). ReviewMe is like PayPerPost (PPP), but with far more lucrative payout potential. There’s a US$25,000 giveaway, given to qualifying bloggers who review ReviewMe by following the instructions. [Giveaway is long over.]

What’s different about ReviewMe? Several things. I helped beta test ReviewMe, so

1. Full disclosure. You need to indicate somewhere in your review that you are being paid to write it. You are not required to be positive, but you must write at least 200 words and link to the advertiser/ review requestor. [Payperpost now requires disclosure.]

2. Better payment. It’s based on your site’s ranking, according to a special formula to determine traffic and popularity. [Payperpost plans to measure their publishers' sites' performance in order to increase payouts where appropriate.]
3. Opportunity for better pay. More lucrative payouts later, as your blog grows in rank. But it’s self-fulfilling: as you add reviews, more links will come in, at least from the advertisers, if not elsewhere. So if you enjoy reviewing products and services and feel you can maintain your sense of integrity, this could be a lucrative opportunity.]
4. Multiple opportunities. PayPerPost, last I checked, had some restrictions about how many of your sites you could simultaneously review on, which might actually amount to zero. ReviewMe uses a different system and allows up to six weblogs on supported blogging platforms.

That’s it in a nutshell. Yet another service will be launching very soon called Sponsored Reviews. It uses yet another methodology and seems to have an interesting way to match up bloggers and advertisers. In fact, it almost seems like a combination of PPP and ReviewMe.

Are you a tutor? Do you have Skype? It’s free and is on my list of 13 services/ tools/ resources you need for running a small online business. Skype lets you talk to people for free (or cheap) over the Internet. Newer versions of Skype also allow video calling. It’s a perfect tool for earning money as a tutor.

Tutors Without Limits (TWL) is an organization that lets you tutor students over the Internet from anywhere in the world. Sign up is free, you set your own rates, and you pay a small transaction fee.

There’s a billing system, a means of keeping accounts, setting schedules, running reports, etc. The personal profile dialog runs in a separate web browser window and is extremely detailed. Expect to spend at least 15-30 minutes setting up, in addition to the 3-4 minutes you spend registering.

I should point out that I originally started this post almost two months ago and haven’t had much time to finish it. But when I last talked to someone (via email) at TWL, they were about to allow tutors in Canada and elsewhere. At the time, you could be a tutor from anywhere, but you couldn’t get paid. I still haven’t had much time to get into this service indepth, let alone set up my own tutoring niche. But I figured I’d rather share what I do know, as brief as this post is.

So, if you have skill or knowledge that you think you could teach to other people using VoIP software and the infrastructure at TWL, I recommend you spend some time on this opportunity. It could be just what you want, as well as a low-cost way to start an Internet business.

If you’ve run any sort of business in the past or are running one now, you know that a significant portion of your monthly business costs can come from long-distance calls - or even local calls. That’s why many small business owners love the idea of free phone calls directly from their computer. (See 13 free or cheap tools, resources + services for more free tools for running a small online business.)

Calling from your computer is similar to regular calling, but you have the choice of using software (soft phones) directly on your computer or using a special phone, either wireless or with an USB cable. (If you have a computer that’s 3 years or less, it has USB ports on it, possibly in the front. They’re thin and long - about a half-inch.)

The best part about soft phones is that if you are calling someone else with the same soft phone, the call is free, even if they are half-way across the world. There are also promotions for some soft phone-based VoIP services. One is SkypeOut from Skype, which currently allows people in Canada and the United States to call any landline or mobile phone in these two countries for free, until Dec 31st of 2006. Skype is doing other similar promotions elsewhere.

Gizmo Project has a permanent promo offering free calls from pc–to-phone (computer to landline) to 60 countries, provided caller and callee have registered (free). Gizmo is based on an open standard known as SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). This simply means that you can call any other soft phone based on SIP. On the other hand, Skype is proprietary and cannot communicate with most other soft phones (although there are some efforts towards inter-compatibility).

Sightspeed does not have any free promo calling, that I know of, but they do have free video conferencing for up to four people in total. And their video calling quality is one of the best. All you need is an inexpensive videocam and a fair amount of RAM memory free. The person you are calling, provided they have Sightspeed, can see you even if they don’t have a videocam to reciprocate with. Skype has video calling as well.

If you are looking for other soft phones, here’s a list of 10 Skype alternatives. some of which are mentioned here already. The drawback with most softphones is that while you can call out to regular phones (and sometimes mobiles), for free or for reduced rates, they are not inter-compatible with each other - with the exception of SIP-based soft phones, as indicated above. There are a few new free software packages that bridge some of the soft phones and IM (Instant Messaging) text clients.

IM text clients such as MSN Messenger (now Windows Live Messenger), Yahoo Messenger, Aim Pro, Google Talk, etc., started out as text-mode only chatting software. Now, all of them have VoIP capabilities. (Although Google Talk cannot call out to regular phones or mobiles without also using a free softphone called Talqer.)

Both the text IMs and VoIP softphones have converged into a single style of client software that can be used for text chat, voice calls, video calls (some), file transfers, and more. Skype has the added advantage of an add-on (free) called Jyve, which will let you consult and be able to bill for calls. I’ll get more into Jyve and another similar service called Ether (which does not use Skype). If you have some unique skills and a good telephone manner, you could turn that into a home-based consulting business either full- or part-time. For this and this reason only, I recommend that you get a copy of Skype. (Not to mention the free calls to landlines and mobiles if you live in Canada or the US, until Dec 31st, 2006.)

Ultimately, there are a lot of choices for softphones, and which one you actually pick should depend on your location and needs. If you want high-quality video conferencing, I’d recommend Sightspeed. If you want free calling to landlines and mobiles in North America (excluding Mexico), go for Skype. If you want open source software that can connect to other similar networks, go for Gizmo Project. I actually use all of these, plus all of the IMs mentioned above, but for call-out, I use Skype for the free promo in North America.

In the near future, I’ll get deeper into how to use all this free VoIP software to run your business. For now, consider it seriously, as it can save you considerable money that could make the difference in your business (even if you have a bricks-and-mortar business). If you can’t wait for focused reviews of each soft phone or text IM, you can visit any of the following sites, VoIP Lowdown, VoIP Sol, or VoIP Now, for general news about VoIP.

What is PayPerPost? It’s a portal where companies can advertise requests for writers, and bloggers can answer those requests. PayPerPost is actually a great opportunity for those of you that don’t mind writing about some company’s product or service. The tone of writing can be neutral, positive or negative, but is set by the requestor. Payment per post is varies, and might be anywhere from US$3 up to $35.

For their initial trial, PayPerPost were only open to American bloggers because they recorded tax ids, etc. They are still in beta, however international bloggers can apply now, too.

So what’s the problem? Well, to be able to respond to a request for writers, you need to “register” a blog. You can only register until you have had 10 paid posts approved there. So if you publish more than one blog, to handle different topics, you are out of luck until you’ve been approved for ten posts on the first blog. What’s more, you have to have 20 of your own posts published within the past 90 days on your registered weblog before your it will be approved.

This is a shame because they don’t make this information front and center when you “add” a blog. So if you do not have a single blog that can cover multiple topics, you may not be able to respond to some requests. That is, if you have any desire to maintain relevance. Since I signed up a while ago but did not attempt to accept a writing job until much later, I forgot about the 20-posts rule, but didn’t recall anything about having to have 10 payperpost posts on a weblog before being able to register another weblog.

Foolishness. It penalizes people like me who write a number of blogs but don’t focus on one. So if you want to sign up at PayPerPost, browse all of the current writing requests before you decide which of your blogs, if any, would encompass MOST of the topics you will want to write about. Your blog cannot be an “I ate breakfast at 10 am today, isn’t that cool” type of diary blog. I’m guessing that PayPerPost’s rule of one blog at a time means that their clients miss out on a lot of exposure opportunities.

Conclusion: Payperpost is a potentially good opportunity for a certain type of blogger, and while it won’t make you rich, it could earn you a bit extra. But if writing about other people’s products isn’t your thing, maybe talking about them is. Voice over work can be fairly lucrative, and you can do it from home and promote yourself at Voice123.com or Voices.com.

Here are some resources that come in handy if you are running an online business or otherwise doing work online to earn money. (Note: some links are my own affiliate links. I will not be offended if you decide not to use them.)

1. Blog hosting or blogging platforms - To run a business online, you need either a website or a weblog. Weblogs are easier to maintain and often enjoy higher rankings in the search engines. Get free blog hosting at Blogpost (via Blogger), Wordpress.com, etc. Have your own web domain? Want to run a weblog? Get free Wordpress weblogging software at Wordpress.org. Read more about free domains and hosting plans.
2. Search engines: Google.com, MSN Live, Yahoo Search - Great search engines, to find information on whatever it is you want to write about.
3. Google Trends - A great way to compare the relative popularity over time of two to five topics.
4. Paypal merchant account - your bank won’t give you a merchant account? No problem. Sign up with Paypal for free and start accepting credit cards on your website.
5. Google AdSense - got a site? Want to earn money by running contextual advertising?
6. Firefox web browser - one of the best web browsers around.
7. Skype VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) soft phone software - make free/ cheap phone calls from your computer. [Read more about VoIP software, hardware and services at VoIP Now.]
8. Ether - Have a website (even a free one) and want a way to promote your phone-based consulting? Get paid for your talk time by clients.
9. Skype + Jyve - Combine Skype with Jyve to have the ability to charge a consulting fee for your time directly from the free Skype soft phone.
10. 101 Resources for self-published writers - article. Planning to write a book or e-book to promote your business? Check out this list of resource links.
11. Copyblogger - a weblog about quality writing for your website/ weblog by the immeasurable Brian Clark.
12. Successful-blog - a weblog about successful blogging by the exceptional Liz Strauss.
13. Tubetorial - a weblog with video tutorials on marketing and promoting your Internet business, by the incomparable Brian Clark and friends.

Note: I will talk about using Ether or Skype and Jyve in much greater detail in the future, including case studies about how to setup, pricing your time, promoting yourself, etc. I will also expand on some of the other items above at a future date. If you want to know about something NOW, feel free to drop off a comment and I will try to move the priority of an item up. Finally, I’ll expand this list in the future, but in a separate post.

Recently, I wrote about voice over work as an unusual way to earn online. That post is fairly general but it referred to Voice123.com, one of many sites that act as a portal for voice over talent and talent seekers. After that post, Stephanie from Voices.com let me know about that portal. So I signed up for a guest account and am giving you a quick synopsis. I’ll do it as a comparison to Voice123.

Voices.com recently changed their from interactivevoices (or was that voicesinteractive) and has been doing a marketing push. But despite the fact that Voices.com and Voice123.com are both voice over talent portals, they are quite different in approach. I don’t want you to think that I’m favouring one over the other because I’m a (guest) member of both, but while I like Voice123.com, I really like voices.com. I haven’t paid for membership on either site yet, but I’m probably going to sign up for Preferred membership, at US$99/year. There’s also the Premium membership at Voices.com, which is $199/yr. Voice123.com only has a free “guest” membership and a US$199/yr membership.

For both sites, guest members can look for work and be contacted by talent seekers (anonymously). But guest will be unable to contact seekers. For that you pay a membership fee. Neither site represents talent on a commission basis. As I understand it, laws stipulate that an agency choose either a commission structure or amembership structure.

Voice123.com sends job postings via email to all members (guest included) on a frequent basis. I get up to 20 job postings in a single day. I can turn them off but don’t want to. All enticements I guess, as I actually ran out during a thunderstorm mid-week to buy a mini-studio setup (M-audio’s Fast Track USB unit and a Behringer starter microphone. More about setting up a studio in a future post.), in anticipation of creating several demo readings. But as I cannot apply to jobs for either site, I’ll have to spend the time doing demos and promoting myself on my Sound Alchemy Online website (no promo there yet).

Voices.com on the other hand has only sent a single email with a few jobs listed. I’m not sure why that is. Still, this site offers several very inexpensive e-book resources, including a collection of sample scripts for your demos and a 150 page guide to voice over success. They’re only US$9.95 each, and you can also pay with Paypal (without a credit card-backed account, which I really like). Oddly, these resources are extremely hard to find from the home page. I had a hard time going back to find them. But they’re more than worth the $9.95 each, and I’m in the process of reading them. As for Voice123.com, I don’t know if they offer similar ebooks, but I didn’t see any.

Both sites have a blog, which keep you up to date on new job postings, industry news, and all sorts of tips for your success. I’ve subscribed to both (Vox Daily, Voice123 Blog) using Bloglines (an RSS/ Atom web/news feed aggregator) and plan to start reading them regularly. One bit of advice to Voice123: show a larger excerpt of each blog post on the blog home page. You’ll improve your readership of those who do not use Bloglines or similar subscription tools. By contrast, Vox Daily has more posts and far more tips for your success in voice over work.

Conclusion: I’m going to fence-sit on this, but if I was forced to choose a paid membership, I’d pick Voices.com’s Preferred membership for US$99/year. Still, if you are interested in this kind of work here is my suggestion, in stepwise form:

• (1) Sign up for guest memberships on both sites.
• (2) Write up a profile for yourself, using the instructions given. You can look at mine as guidelines: Voices.com, Voice123.com. They are almost identical, and there’s nothing wrong with that. (I’m also going to be writing about voice over work, etc., at Sound Alchemy Online, as a way to promote my skills outside of either portal. If you are serious, I suggest you do something similar.)
• (3) Use job search feature (or email alert feature) to browse the kind of jobs there are. If you find a lot of work that interests you, consider getting a membership. Remember that there is competition for certain types of work, and the more unusual voices you can do, the less competition you’ll have. (My friend John, for example, can do pretty  darn good Liverpudlian accents a la John Lennon and the Beatles.)
• (4) If you are pretty serious about doing voice over work as a supplement to your income, and seriously think you’ll get enough work, consider putting together a small recording studio. You really don’t have to spend a lot (<$200), and your profit margin will be higher than if you had to go to a studio each time you bagged a gig. I’ll tak about the basics of a voice over studio in a near future post over at my Sound Alchemy site, and will have a link from somewhere on this site.
• (5) Whether or not you buy some audio gear, you should come up with several demos. While their quality doesn’t have to be equal to a finished piece, if your dogs are talking trash to your kids in the background, don’t even bother posting that demo. On the other hand, if you have a talking dog, maybe s/he can get voice over work themself.

I don’t want this website to end up being only about voice over work, so henceforth, such discussions will be over at Sound Alchemy Online. Keep an eye out over there.