Free Writing Center

First, a little bit about how I came up with the idea to offer online PC support on this blog. One of my favorite writing gigs is the work that I do over at MakeUseOf. The writing crew over there are some of the most talented and technically savvy folks anyone could ask to work with. One of the things that I love about MUO is that it pushes me to try to come up with interesting ways that you can “Make Use Of” Internet technologies in ways that most people don’t know about or even consider.

One of the things I really want to do is provide my blog visitors with a direct line of communication with me, and in that spirit, last month I tested and installed the VZOchat service on my blog. This service is fantastic and it’s an excellent way to offer videoconferencing over the Internet. The one drawback I noticed is that in reality, most people who are sitting in front of their PC really don’t want anyone seeing them - so they shy away from video chatting. I believe this is probably why videoconferencing never really took off as a major online service.

Offering Easy to Use Online PC Support Services

On the other hand, everyone loves to text chat. The popularity of IM services like Skype, Yahoo Messenger and the many other instant messaging services proves that people love to text. One of my favorite ways to get tech support when I used to be an Ebay Powerseller was through Ebay’s Live Support chat service, when they offered it. So, in my latest article at MakeUseOf, I decided to alter my videoconferencing approach into a text chat approach. It didn’t take very long to find the best service out there to accomplish offering high-quality online PC support - LiveZilla absolutely rocks.

The LiveZilla support software is really easy to set up - the Wizard does everything for you. It will FTP the files to your web server (assuming you have your FTP details), and once installed on each PC that you want to use to answer calls, you’re done. The last step is distributing your chat room links either through your blog, emails, Facebook - wherever. As you can see to the right, I’ve decided to use the LiveZilla service to offer online PC support sessions as well as SEO advice sessions at various intervals of payment.

Offering Your Expertise for Pay

Why charge for your LiveZilla online support service? Well, as a writer or blogger, the odds are pretty good that you’re very busy most of the time. If you’re not updating your blog, you’re fine-tuning your website theme or writing articles for other clients. The fact remains that there are people out there who could really use your advice and technical expertise. Do you want to help them? Sure. Do you have time when you could be devoting that time to writing another article that helps you earn more income? Of course. If you have to choose - which would you go for?  Time is money - but you can still offer your expertise to your visitors who really need help, and are willing to pay for it. Think about it - most people are stuck with several options. One, ask a family member who claims to “know computers,” but who ends up messing things up worse in the long run. Two, hire a guy down the street who’s going to charge $60 to $80 an hour. Or 3, someone far less for a quick 15 to 20 minute chat session where they can ask their technical question and get a straight and knowledgeable answer.

Now, you can offer your blog visitors an option where they can pay peanuts to chat with you for 10 minutes, get a quick answer to their technical question, and their done. You haven’t wasted any of your time, and you’re putting your experience and expertise to excellent use for your blog readers and website visitors. It’s simple, easy, and you can add it as one more stream to your many streams of income earned on the Internet - it’s win, win for everyone.