Working from Home? Here are 3 Ways to Ramp Up Income

Whoever said working from home was easy, never had to do it for more than a few days, at most. As all home-based entrepreneurs have learned over the years, doing a 9-to-5 gig from the privacy of an extra bedroom or rec room can be challenging.

In addition to demanding children, dogs, and neighbors, there's a seemingly endless supply of distractions and attractions. Unless you figure out how to master the requisite amount of discipline, you end up working 12-hour stretches just to get a typical day's workload taken care of.

What are some of the most effective but lesser-known ways to boost your at-home earning power without having to add more hours to the schedule? Here are three tactics that will lend a hand in your quest to work less, make more, and be happy doing it.

Work Ergonomically

If you treat your body well, it will repay the favor by letting your work longer stretches without complaints. Unlike commercial offices, home offices lack the advantage of ergonomic workstations.

When your house is your office, you have to do the designing yourself. What's best for hands, necks, backs, eyes, and general comfort?

Shop for ergonomic wrist rests, keyboards, chairs, mice, and headphones. And don't forget to set screen brightness low enough to keep your eyes safe. Blue-light glasses are wonderful for anyone who suffers from eye strain.

Finally, calibrate the chair and monitor height so you're able to sit upright and gaze slightly upward to see the center of the screen.

Move Beyond Traditional SEO Tactics

When you promote yourself via a blog or commercial website, think outside the SEO box and add some muscle to your marketing with a fresher, smarter way of getting noticed.

Intent SEO techniques can lead to higher revenue by helping you outrank the competition.

What's it all about? In its most basic form, intent SEO means adding unique, intention-oriented words to your keyword phrases.

Say you sell hand-made jewelry on art sites; a solid SEO term might be “custom jewelry.” You can rev up the term's wattage by adding verbs like “buy,” “order,” and “give” to target customers based on their browsing intentions more accurately.

When you rearrange your entire SEO strategy to focus on intent, the customers who arrive at your site will be more ready to make purchases.

Don't Waste the Home Office Deduction

It's incredible how many people miss out on the home-office tax deduction. If you file a U.S. Self Employment Schedule C form with your tax return and use a dedicated space in your residence for nothing but your job, you're entitled to take an expense deduction directly off your earned income total.

There's a long version and a simplified option. The latter is a no-brainer. It gives you a deduction of $5 per square foot of space, up to a max of $1,500.

With self-employment tax rates being what they are, that translates to about $225 cash money in your pocket at filing time. Your mileage may vary, but it's never wise to leave money on the table.

Have you ever worked from home?