Are you a stay at home mom looking for extra income?

Here are three great choices if you are serious about finding an extra income as a stay at home mom:

My Top 3 Choices:  Extra Income for Stay at Home Moms

1) Direct Sales.  There are a multitude of direct sales companies to choose from selling a huge variety of products.  Avon is probably the oldest and most well known of these.  Find a company selling products you would enjoy yourself and appealing to a large consumer base.

Example:  Just Jewelry - A lucrative money making opportunity for stay at home moms.   Unlike other jewelry companies, the jewelry is affordable and gorgeous making them an easy sell.  Wear the jewelry or share the catalogs and watch them sell super fast.  Earn 50% commission as soon as you become a consultant.

If you can stick to one thing and have the interest to consistently get out there and meet people, then direct sales might just be for you.  If you prefer something more private, read on.  After giving direct sales a shot as a Just Jewelry consultant, I eventually realized it was not for me.

2) Start an Online Store.  Ecommerce is growing by leaps and bounds.  Start an online store selling products at a competitive price.  Finding the right niche is usually the biggest challenge,  second only to finding a good supplier. I recently started an online store myself using BigCommerce.  The technical aspects have been easy. The challenge for me has been finding a good supplier and the high cost of shipping.  The lower the shpping cost the better, so try to think of small things to sell! =)   If you need help getting started, let me know. I do offer assistance to those getting started in e-commerce and will help you decide if your idea is a feasible one.

2 )Affiliate Marketing.  My favorite method of making an extra income online is through affiliate marketing.  I enjoy it because you don’t have to deal with customers, there is no recruiting or sponsoring involved and (best of all) no selling to anyone.  In fact, nobody has to know it’s your site!

There is a learning curve involved.  You will want to know how to pick the right niche and how to approach your efforts.  Be careful out there — there are a heck of a lot of self-proclaimed gurus ready to take your money in exchange for their coaching.  Do your research!

I am not saying you shouldn’t invest in your affiliate marketing education – on the contrary. I wish I had done this early on. It would have saved me a LOT of time.  Had I known about Chris Farell’s membership site before I would have been all over it.  There are others out there, but for the very beginner I believe his is the best.   They have a trial that offers the opportunity to see if it’s a good fit for you.  (This is how I found out I was too advanced for this program).

So go ahead, give affiliate marketing a shot.  Learn the basics of SEO, put up a few sites of your own ( I recommend a self-hosted WordPress site) and cash in.  Tip: Save on hosting with Hostgator coupon code DIYSEO2011.