4. Less distraction equals more work.

It's no secret that often hardest place to work is at office. There is a world of distractions there ranging from ringing telephones to chatty co-workers. Even telecommuting part of time can reduce these distractions and make work more efficient. And if everyone comes to office at least one common day a week, meetings and review sessions can be held on this day and rest of week left for more intense work.

There are some challenges to telecommuting for both employees and their companies, but if you really want to telecommute most of these can be handled with a few simple strategies:

1. Communicate.

If your employer feels face-to-face communication is important for your business, suggest that all of employees come to office on at least one common day a week. Meetings can be held on these days, and you can go over what you've accomplished while on your telecommuting days.

2. Set and track goals and progress.

One of biggest fears of employers when it comes to idea of telecommuting is that they don't have any way to monitor what employee is doing through workday. It takes a lot of trust to assume an employee is hard at work when they are out of boss's sights. Help eliminate this concern by coming up with ways to track and share your progress. This will also help you make sure you are making most of your opportunity while still fulfilling your work responsibilities.

3. Delineate between your workspace and your personal space.

It's just good practice to have a spot designated for your work. Even if it is kitchen table, set yourself up in morning and pack your things back up in evening when work time is finished. This will help you stay on track when working, and not be tempted to work when it is your personal time. It will also serve as an indicator to your family of when you are working and preferably not to be disturbed.

If you are looking for more information on telecommuting, such as how to approach your boss with idea, you can contact The American Telecommuting Association for some more information. They sell some booklets on telecommuting topics, but their site (http://www.knowledgetree.com/ata.html) also has free information available.

Here are a few types of advertising for your home business you should consider:

(1) Classified Ads - cheap and short to write. (2) Article submission - write an article and post for free. The rewards reaped can be enormous in long term. (3) Paid ads in E-Zines - hit those seldom used small niche markets! (4) Link exchange - can you bring in traffic from another site? You betcha! (5) Newsgroup and Discussion lists - join in on discussions and pass out a small blurb about your business at end. (6) Sig files - after all your online! Make use of all of emails you send out daily. (7) Flyers - yep, offline!

The bottom line here is not to stagnate. Search engines are important but not only way to promote. Its better to balance your site optimization with other promotion strategies. If one method fails you at least have others to fall back on.