Times are tough for most us. Christmas is here and we are scrimping and saving to make sure our families have the fun filled Christmas they desire. Most of us are working part time at our internet business too, while still maintaining a full time job. We juggle our time and our money to build our businesses so that eventually we can work our business full time and quit the 9 to 5 headache.

Well I can’t much help you with your time, but I can help you to shave a few dollars off of your bottom line of your business. I’ve put together a list of tips that I hope will help you reduce the cost of running your business and in turn help you grow your business.

1. Stick to a budget. Get your business to a point where it is at least breaking even. To start, your first expense maybe only web hosting. There are lots of very cheap web hosting companies out there. Most are only $7 bucks a month. Get your business to a point where it is making at least $7 a month. This will pay for the web hosting and your company will survive. Anything else you make can be invested back into your business for content, new domains, training, etc.

2. Free Autoresponders. When you first start out, start with a low-end free starter package at one of the major email autoresponder companies. I know that Mail Chimp and Get Response both offer free email service for very small lists and infrequent mailings. Use them until you get a larger list. Once you have a larger list going it will be for itself.

3. Don’t Make Knee Jerk Purchases. With Christmas here I’m sure you’ve been inundated with product launches and irresistible offers. Try not to be spontaneous. Marketers are wanting a good Christmas for themselves too and are marketing you heavily this time of year. Research the products you want and save up to buy them. If they are good valuable tools for your business they will be around later. Resist the marketing hype surrounding product launches. It will save you in the long run.

4. Be your first affiliate for products you want to buy. Is there a new ebook, gizmo or gadget you just HAVE to have? Sign up to be an affiliate first! That way you can be your first customer! This really helps offset the cost as well as reduce the risk. If you don’t like the product ask for a refund. If you like the product, BLOG ABOUT IT and make some sales from it!

5. Look for a Guarantee. Be sure products you buy come with a guarantee. Always look for a guarantee with any product you buy. If you’re not 100% SATISFIED!! GET YOUR MONEY BACK! There are a lot of crap marketing ebooks and software out there. If you don’t like whatever it is you bought, you want to make sure you have options.

6. Ask around. There are a lot of different forums out there that are filled with very experienced marketers. Post questions and ask for REAL testimonials. You’ll find most people are very candid and will give you real honest answers.

7. Use Those Guarantees. If you don’t like a product or it doesn’t live up to your expectations then get your money back! This ties back in to number 5.

8. Search for Coupons and discounts on popular products. Warrior Forums and other Membership sites often offer discounts. If you search Google you can always find Godaddy coupons that will get you new domains for only $7.49. It never hurts to do a search.. you could easily save half of the cost.

9. Use Caution with Upsells. When you buy a product many marketers will try to up sell you. Godaddy is especially famous for it. If you don’t need it now, don’t buy it now! This is where you can easily get stuck with information overload. You buy more than you originally wanted and get lost wondering where to start.

10. Create a Plan and Stick To It. Stay focused. If your goal is niche marketing then work on niche marketing until your making money with it. If your goal is info products, then work on them until you are making money at it. Jumping around from business model to business model is the sure way to failure. Stay the course and beware the shiny object that will lead you astray.

Do you have any tips of your own? How have you shaved some dollars off of running your business? Leave a comment below and let us know! We’d love to hear about it.

Photo Credit: dotbenjamin

I think the number one issue people have is getting enough traffic to thier site.  I’m sure everyone can agree that you can NEVER have enough traffic to your site.

With that in mind I’ve put together my list of things that are sure to help you increase your traffic to your site.

Here are my TOP 40 tips to blogging and getting better traffic to your site.

1. Write posts that are current and about whats hot today.
2. Bookmark your site to social bookmarking websites, i.e. stumbleupon, del.icio.us, reddit.
3. Be consistent and post regularly.
4. Join groups in your niche on Google and Yahoo groups, and then include your URL in yoru signature.
5. Share your experiences with anyone you can, be an authority in what you’ve learned.
6. Write posts that are easy scan.
7. Article Marketing, Article Marketing, Article Marketing
8. Have an e-mail signature and put your URL in your signature when contacting someone through e-mail.
9. Join mybloglog, its a great way to socialize.
10. Use feedburner to easily add RSS subscriptions to your blog.
11. Add Lucia’s Link Love plugin – inspire visitors to comment by offering do-follow links after 5-9 comments.
12. Be honest.
13. Be original.
14. Comment on other blogs, not just the top blogs.
15. Make or use a good design.
16. dont ignore questions in your email.
17. Read other blogs and tell others about them.
18. Write about blogging.
19. Give credit to those that inspired, it makes your writing more useful.
20. Create a lens or hubpage that highlights your best posts.
21. Make content or info product that is worth buying but you give it free this will build a great list.
22. Use original images/photos on your posts and use the alt tags on those images – this will gain you tons of traffic from google images.
23. Share your secrets.
24. Try and become a guest poster on other blogs.
25. Submit to EzineArticles, ArticlesBase, GoArticles, Buzzle, and ArticleAlley.
26. Add tweetmeme to your posts.
27. Never copy posts or use duplicate content.
28. Work on your SEO and make it as good as you can.
29. Create a WordPress Theme, and submit it to the WordPress directory. Don’t forget to include with your link credit.
30. Comment in forums.
31. Add a sitemap, This helps search engines index your site.
32. Use pingoat to ping your blog after every post.
33. Target keyword phrases in the titles of your posts.
34. Write eye catching blog post titles.
35. Spell check and grammar check your articles and posts.
36. Use YouTube to promote your blog.
37. Admit your mistakes.
38. Take one day and dedicate it to building more traffic to your site
39. Write long, definitive posts.
40. Be patient.

Do you have tips of your own that you use? Leave me a comment and let us know how you get traffic to your blog!