Does it Cost Money to be a Mystery Shopper?

No. There are resources that you may or may not choose to purchase. That is entirely up to you. However, there is no up-front fee to become a mystery shopper.

You may also choose to become certified (which I suggest) for a mere $15. You write a short test which determines your understanding of process. Once you pass that test, you are a Silver Certified Mystery Shopper. Preference is often given to certified shoppers when schedulers are offering assignments. Why, you may ask? Because if someone was serious enough to dole out $15, they're quite often serious enough about mystery shopping to do a good job. You will make your fifteen dollars back from increased number and better quality assignments.

Where do I Sign up?

Check out Mystery Shopping Providers Association and Volition to begin with. They have great resources and fabulous message boards/forums that will help answer all of your questions and get you started as a mystery shopper. You can get certified with Mystery Shopping Providers Association, if you wish.

Where Can I Find More Mystery Shopping Resources?

Check out IFHB's Mystery Shopping Resources!

Also, make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available to you while completing your reports. Quite often a digital watch or one with a second hand is required to time a purchase. Also, a small recorder is handy to take notes on once you leave establishment. Neither of these are required unless otherwise instructed but they do come in handy.

Good luck with your mystery shopping and enjoy fabulous perks!!!

There are two basic types of links; reciprocal links and one way links. Reciprocal links occur when you trade links with another website. These are important because not only do they help in your rankings, they also generate traffic from sites that you link to. One way links are a bit different. These are links that point people to your site, but do not point your visitors away from your site. As a result, they are more valuable. Not too many webmasters are willing to give away one way links, but there are a couple of good techniques that you can use to get them.

1. Write articles and offer them for publication. You will be pleasantly surprised by number of sites and Ezines that are looking for quality articles to use for content. By placing your resource box at end of article, and including a link to your site, you can generate dozens, if not hundreds of one way links to your site. To find sites that accept articles, simply do a search for 'Free Website Content.' You will find several good sites. Also think about joining Directory of Ezines. Many of publications listed there accept articles, and some of them will even invite you to write for them on a regular basis.

2. Visit several forums and bulletin boards that deal with stay at home jobs. Especially, those that are directly related to your field of expertise. Many of these allow you to include your URL in your signature block. By participating in these forums, you will be able to create many more one way links to your site. Just make sure that you offer sound advice, and make relevant posts. If you don't, you could be considered a nuisance or worse, a spammer.

The addition of content in form of articles and links to your site should be an ongoing process. If you concentrate on these two things and continually add to your site, you will not only move up in search engine rankings, but you will end up with a site that has great value to your visitors. Add to your site every day. Remember, you are in competition with a lot of other related websites, and chances are,they are already be doing this.