How Blogging Can Help You Market Your Business

by Mercedes Aspland

If you have an online business you will be looking at ever increasing ways to market it online. The aim of this article is to give you some advice on how to use blogs to your advantage.

There are two ways in which you can use blogs, the first is to set up your own blog and build a community that way. The other way is to get involved with other people’s blogs. We would recommend doing both to have the maximum effect. Below are a list of our top tips for each of these ways.

Setting Up Your Own Blog

1. Categorise Your Content. Make sure you properly categorise the information that you put into your blog. If you make sure you use your keywords in the categories it will help with the SEO of your blog.

2. Submit to Blog Directories. You want to get your blog seen by other people and a good way to do this is to submit it to blog and feed directories.

3. Write Regularly. Set yourself a schedule for writing content for your blog and stick to it. If your visitors get used to seeing regular content then they will keep coming back to read what you have posted.

4. Respond to Comments. If you have contributors that write interesting comments and ask questions you should respond to them. This will give you a reputation as a useful resource and will give your blog more colour. It also helps to build a proper community on your blog and keeps people coming back.

5. Research Your Industry. Make sure what you are giving to your readers is up to date and is something they will find interesting.

This is great for your site in a number of ways. Firstly you will be adding pages to your site which will help your SEO efforts. In addition as you get more people using your blog they will likely link to you and thus increasing your page rank and your position in the search engines. Finally it will make you appear an expert to your potential customers and so will increase the chance of converting them to sales.

Contributing to Others Blogs

1. Write Valuable Comments. Make sure your comments add to the content of the blog. This will make you a valuable member of the blog and of the community as a whole.

2. Come Back Regularly. If you leave a comment come back to see if anyone has answered. If they have then you may wish to come back and continue the conversation. Again this will make you seem valuable to the other users.

3. Research Blogs. Have a look around and find the popular blogs, ones that most people are getting involved with. This is where you will probably find the content that is best to get involved with.

This will help in a number of ways. Firstly each post will give you a link to your website which will help you with improving your search engine rankings. You may also find that you get traffic to your site directly from the posts that you make. Finally you will build yourself a reputation within the industry and so may find you get referrals from people that like what you have to say.

Blogging is not the only way to get your website publicity but it is something that every website owner should consider in order to get themselves some free advertising.

If you have found this article useful then you can get more information from Dazines – search optimization, London UK. Dazines – website design and web development company London UK

Smart Women Create the Right Web

by Joy Chudacoff

Earlier this week, I was taking an early morning walk with a good friend and smart woman and we ran into a few spider webs (literally!). It’s the time of year when spiders are spinning and carefully crafting their webs together in a way that will serve and protect them. This got me thinking about how Smart Women always create a strong and sturdy web in their lives both at work and at home.

If you look up the word “web” in the dictionary, one of the definitions is “anything put together in a careful way.” It’s essential that women take the time to put their lives together in a careful and thoughtful way. Why? There are so many options and opportunities for women in the world today. You have so many choices on how you choose to live your life. What’s most important is to make those choices authentically. And then from that place of authenticity, spin your life together, design and build it with energy and passion. Let it be a life that soars with meaning to you, the designer. If you choose not to do this, then your life just “happens.” It can begin to unfold in unpredictable ways with no meaning or direction. Putting your authentic life together involves having people who are supportive and loving, an environment that provides relaxation, and a place for inspired creativity.

In your business life, when you have a Big Idea, dream or goal, it’s essential that you build a web that is super strong in its marketing message as well as making sure that you have solutions on how to manage your time well so that you get the right things done during your day. When my friend ran into the spider web, it was a challenge to pull all of the sticky threads off her hat and sweatshirt. A well-designed spider web is very sticky. Have you created a product or service that carries a message that will “stick” with your target market? When your target market needs your product or service, do they immediately think of you or someone else? A spider knows that in order to build a strong web, she needs the support of strong tree branches to protect her from the wind and other elements. This is true for you as well. Having a strong support system in your life (both personally and professionally) is key to making it happen—to help you go to the next level.

In my Women’s Success Circles last week, we spent time focusing on the essential ingredients you need to put together your own carefully planned web for success in business. We had a conversation about marketing, time management and the importance of coaching during this building phase. We also talked about self-care, which is paramount to living a life full of purpose and passion both at work and at home. Smart Women know that life doesn’t just happen—you make it happen in your own carefully, planned out, thoughtful way.

As you begin to put together your own web to make it happen, ask yourself these questions: Do you have the right support system to hold your idea in place and make it successful? Have you created the right marketing message for your target market so that your product and service will “stick” with them? Have you created the time and space that you will need to build and grow your Big Idea, dream or goal? Do you have the right environment around you to make it happen?

As we finished our walk that morning, we stopped to gaze at one of the most carefully crafted spider webs I have ever seen. It was nearly a perfect Circle with all of the fine sticky threads placed in precise proportions. And what was the spider doing? Resting peacefully, right in the middle. Smart Women and smart spiders know one thing for sure: When you are living a life full of passion and purpose, that also means time for rest and relaxation—a time for reflection—a time for you.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Joy’s Blog at Smart Women Smart Solutions Blog .

Joy Chudacoff is the founder of Smart Women Smart Solutions, a Certified Professional Coach and Motivational Speaker. To read more articles by Joy and learn more about her Women’s Success Circles workshops, teleseminars or keynote topics, please visit her website, www.SmartWomenSolutions.com or contact Joy at joy@smartwomensolutions.com.

Local SEO Tips – Don’t Ignore the Gems in Your own Backyard

by Alice Seba

If you sell a service or product online you may not want to ignore the potential customers right in your own backyard. There are a number of potential local businesses who may be interested in what you have to offer, and as more and more people are using the internet for local searches you’ll want to make sure your website is optimized to attract these local clients.

One way to attract more search engine visitors locally is to use local keywords when optimizing your site. For example, if you offer web design services in Arizona, research keywords and include keywords with your location when optimizing your pages.

You should also submit your site for free local search engine listings. There are several local ones to choose from but Google and Yahoo are the two big ones. When you submit you can add details about your business including your address, office hours and so on. You can also grab a link to a map of your location which you can place on your website.

When targeting local clients, placing your local address, phone number and a link to a Google map of your business at the very bottom of the page footer may help in your local search engine results.

Local city business directories can also be a good source of leads and traffic, but make sure you research the directory to see if it will actually produce results for you. There are many business directories popping up and you’ll want to choose one with a good reputation and which can produce results.

But don’t stop there; remember to include your website address on your business cards and local mailings so that local customers can view your website at their convenience. With many local business owners yet to get into the online marketing game, by starting early you’ll stand out from your local competitors.

Alice Seba is a full-time online business owner that thrives on helping others say good-bye to their J-O-Bs forever. Sign up for her “Internet Marketing Prescriptions” to cure what ails your online business: www.InternetMarketingPrescriptions.com

Are You Charging Enough?

by Carrie Wilkerson

Women are often hesitant to assign a fair value to what they sell or do. Pricing is a very important part of a business, especially when you are dealing with goods and services.

Running an at-home business requires prudence with pricing for the simple fact you probably do most of your sales online or through mailings. Retaining customers is imperative, but when it comes to pricing, you first need to know the type of customer you are attracting.

About.com categorizes customers into a few basic sub-groups:

-Economical Shoppers. These are the women who dig through piles of clothes and discount items in order to find the perfect sale. Or they get to the store at 5 a.m. for the “early bird specials” during the holidays.

-Status-oriented Shoppers. This type of shopper could care less if she pays one dollar or a thousand dollars for a pair of pajamas, just as long as they are a particular brand or from a particular store.

-Convenience-oriented Shoppers. This woman is on a schedule, and she is willing to pay extra for convenience.

-Assortment-oriented Shoppers. This could classify a majority of women, especially with the rise of major department stores and shopping centers. These shoppers are the one-stop-shop kind of ladies.

-Personalizing Shoppers. At-home businesses and boutiques focus on these shoppers because the women like to spend money at places where they know the person or feel as if they know the owner.

Once you know the kind of customer your at-home business attracts, setting a price for your product or service can be a little easier. There are some essential steps to follow when setting prices for your business, and powerhomebiz.com sums them up nicely in seven easy steps.

Step One: Keep your prices realistic. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to follow the crowd when setting your prices. Your business has certain cost structures and expenses to meet, and your pricing should reflect this.

Step Two: Cover all your costs. Make sure when you set prices that you are meeting overhead. Your pricing should also reflect what you paid to get the merchandise in the first place. Your goal is to hit the middle line and not set your prices so high that you can’t meet your expenses, or too low and you can’t cover the initial cost of the product.

Step Three: Keep in line with inflation. Inflation doesn’t just affect the housing market. It plays a role in your business too. Keep your prices in check with inflation because as it rises, what you pay to make or sell a product will also rise. This may require you to raise the cost of your product once a year, but explain the rise in pricing to customers.

Step Four: Don’t forget to factor in salary. This is critical, so pay close attention! Your efforts with an at-home business need to be recognized in your salary. So price your items with this in mind. You are the one keeping the business going, right? Well, don’t forget to pay the hand that rocks the cradle.

Step Five: Low pricing won’t always bring in sales. Having your prices set too low doesn’t always mean you will attract more customers. This goes back to knowing your clientele. There are shoppers out there who pay extra money when they know they are getting an exclusive or high-quality product.

Step Six: Price low, but keep it smart. If you’re just starting out with your at-home business, having a solid, but low price can be a prudent way to get customers knocking down the door. Just bare in mind you are shooting for repeat customers and if you need to raise prices later on, you might loose clientele. So be smart if you feel you must start low and make sure you customers know the product is quality.

Step Seven: Use Discounts Cautiously. This last step is important to follow because at some point in your business you will need to hold a sale or special discount. Discounts are great to use when you’re trying to get rid of bulk items or out-dated merchandise. It is also nice to offer discounts for bulk purchases or large orders by your customers. And when sales are down, using the discount can help pick things up a bit.

Pricing might seem as intimidating as purchasing a three-thousand dollar Waterford vase, but it’s really a sheep in wolf’s clothing. You just have to know your financial status and where you want the business to go before setting a price for your goods and services. As your business grows and prospers, your pricing will move right along too.

Carrie Wilkerson is the voice of experience. From corporate life to teaching high school to direct sales, she has ‘been there and done that’ professionally and personally. An ‘overnight mom’ to 2 toddlers through adoption, her priorities instantly changed and so did her workplace. She’s now built several businesses and coached others to do the same while overcoming extreme debt, losing 110lbs and having 2 more children, for a total of 4 children, ages infant through 12! As ‘The Barefoot Executive’, Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definite resource for helping women achieve extra income and career goals while working from home. the-barefoot-executive.com

Starting a Small Business – Twelve Questions to Consider

by John Huegel

Here are twelve questions that you should consider when starting a new business.

1. What is your product or service idea? Are you making a product or delivering a service?  What is the need in the market that you will serve?  This is the “what”.  If you can define the specific product or service you want to deliver in a paragraph or two, it will help you to focus on the “how”.  Try not to be too general.  Instead of “Photography” consider refining it to “In-home baby, child and family photography” or some other more specific area.  You can always broaden it later.

2. What geographic area will you serve? If you intend to run a mail-order business, you may not have geographic limitations. However, if you have a product or service that is locally deliverable, such as a store, restaurant or in-home service, a pin on the map will define where your business will exist, but from what demographic areas will you draw your customers?  Will these demographics change during the week or year?  If you have a business where you travel to your customers, consider making a map to clarify your served area. Draw a shape to enclose the area where you want your primary market to be, from which you expect to get most of your business.  Make another larger one which would be areas you would consider servicing but in which you would incur higher costs or longer times to deliver your product or service.  And then define the third area, in which you may consider delivering services for a higher price or other consideration.

3. What is your competition? Do some research.  The phone book, internet, chambers of commerce and personal contacts are all good sources of information.  Try to identify each of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, and think of ways you can operate your business that will overcome their strengths and will take advantage of their weaknesses.

4. What skills are needed to operate this business? Think beyond the actual craft or product.  You’ll need marketing, selling, customer service, accounting and bill paying, web and computer skills and more.  beside these tasks and skills, note which things you do well and don’t do well.  Be honest, and think about a plan that will either improve your skills, or will bring into your business someone who can coach your or will do these things for you.

5. What equipment or resources do you need? Again, thinking in terms of three levels is helpful.  First level, what do you need to barely operate the business out of your home or a small space?  You may have most of all of these things now.  You don’t want to go into large debt just starting your business, so keep this level “bare bones”.  Next level, what would you need to establish a firm base for growth?  That may be better equipment, a better place, or more machinery.  You can take this list and make it your “grow as you go” list – as your sales come in, you can divert those early profits to growing your business to the second level without incurring additional debt.  Third level, think about if your business was making $1 million per year, or per month.  What would that business look like?  That distant view may help you lay a stronger foundation in the first two levels to support growth.

6. How will you enter the market space? Few businesses succeed without an initial push.  Do you have friends, relatives or local businesses upon whom you can count to give you some business and exposure?  How about a press release and grand opening celebration?  TV coverage is good, as are reviews in the paper and online.  You may want to think about some initial marketing and advertising strategies to get your word out there.  Also think about the best time of year to start, where your investment is most likely to generate sales and awareness.

7. How will you define and market your brand? Every business has a brand identity.  People will associate your brand in different ways.  Are you tailoring your product or service to a value market or upscale crowd?  Will your customers come from retail, commercial, government or industrial areas?  Naming your business and products will impact how people perceive your business.  Would you rather buy from “Joe’s Cheesecake” or “The Cheesecake Wonderland?”  Describing your lower cost offerings as “value-oriented” instead of “bargain” creates a completely different customer impression.

8. What processes to you need to define and standardize? Regardless of what you do, customers will expect you to do it the same all the time.  Consistency or the lack of it will very much impact how much repeat business you receive.  Some key processes are customer contacts (phone answering, greeting), delivering the product, cleaning or preparing your business, soliciting and accepting customer feedback, pricing and specials, just to name a few.

9. What are your compliance obligations? Do you need to collect sales tax?  If so, how much and in what areas?  How often do you need to report tax and income?  Do you have licensing and permitting to deliver your product or service?  Do you have medical or board of health compliance requirements?  Do you have to notify customers of any potential risks?  Are you required to have specific insurance coverage or law enforcement clearances? Sometimes, a conversation with a similar business owner in a non-competing market will open your eyes to compliance issues that you did not originally know.  You may also want to talk about how to structure your business: Sole proprietorship, partnership (lots of risk), Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) or other structure.  If you run a business from your home, there are tax, permitting and zoning implications.

10. What pricing and policies do you want? Pricing will of course affect your profitability.  Make sure you can clear a profit after all of your costs are covered.  As a new business, you probably don’t want to be the highest or lowest price in your served area.  Set prices too high and you may not get any business.  Price too low and you risk being ignored by all but the most value-conscious customers, and being branded as “cheap”.  Your policies will influence your customers’ experiences.  Will you refund money?  How do you handle scheduling, deposits and cancellations?  Will you accept credit cards or bill the customer?  How will you deal with past due accounts?  Will you offer discounts, and if so, to whom?  Will you have employees?  What policies do you need to define for them?

11. How will you fulfill the customers’ needs? Imagine the moment you deliver your product or service to the customer.  How will they receive it?  Will there be packaging or presentation technique that must be followed?  If you deliver a service, how will your appearance, professionalism and quality of work be observed?  Where will you obtain your supplies or services?  Can you get samples and make contacts at trade shows or other venues to develop your supply chain?

12. How will you measure your success? Sales and profitability are just two measurements of success.  How about customer satisfaction?  Will you perform formal or informal surveys?  Will it be obvious to you if your customers are happy or not?  What is their rate of referring you to their friends and associates?  If you don’t know how your business is doing from the outside, you can’t fix it from the inside.

Don’t let these questions intimidate you.  Instead, use them to build a more complete business plan, expose your weaknesses and highlight your strengths.

To continue your business journey, consider joining a chamber of commerce, industry group or web forum where other like-minded business people can offer support and feedback.  Good luck with your business!

John Huegel is a photographer in the Erie, Pennsylvania area who specializes in Seniors, Dance Studio, Families and other groups. He is active in many charitable and volunteer activities in the Erie area. His work can be seen at http://jhphotomusic.com

Steps to Writing Effective Press Releases

by Diana Ennen

Want to get the most media attention and spotlight for your business? Then the first place to start is with a great press release. Now I can almost see half of you leaving now, dreading the thought of having to write one of these. But wait. I’m going to show you easy methods to make your press release work for you and get the attention it deserves. Ready? Let’s go.

We’ll briefly go over the basics because of their importance. Editors want to see things done the RIGHT way. I would bet that a lot of good releases simply get tossed out just because they aren’t set up properly. To a busy editor, that all too familiar three-second glance says a lot for you and your business and if you’ve done your research enough to warrant that release to be placed in their newspaper or magazine or even on their website.

Here are your essentials:

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE” on the top left of the page.
Your contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and website follows. Double check this. No, triple check this. You don’t want to waste a good release because they can’t get ahold of you.

The headline is next, normally in bold and centered on the page. Summarize what the release is about and capture their attention. Spend almost as much time on your headline as you do writing the release. It’s that important. Make sure to get those valuable keywords in there and hopefully in the first few words.

The press release body starts with the location of the release and the date (Margate, Florida, January, 200X.)

Most press releases are between 400-500 words, and no more than a page. The first paragraph has the most important information. Don’t save the best for last, it won’t get read. Make sure that you explain the title of the release in this first paragraph.

It is recommended that you write press releases in the 3rd person and use short sentences and paragraphs. Do not go over board, trying to dazzle the editor, it won’t work.

Target your release. You will be sending your release to a specific audience so make sure that in your release you keep to what would appeal to that audience. What don’t they know that you can add? Nothing works better than getting an “AAH HAA” when an editor is reviewing your release. Also, keep in mind with the Internet today, that press releases, or news releases as they are now frequently called, are read by your target audience just as much as the editors. The buyers of your products or services are reading this, tell them what they need to know.

Provide statistics. Do some research and find some relevant information that applies. Research and make sure that if you are providing accurate quotes and not from some fly by night company. Remember your reputation is riding on this release. (Well, not exactly, but you don’t want the editor to read this and red flag you.).

Provide a quote from yourself or include relevant quotes from experts in your field that will reinforce what you are saying. You can approach authors, leaders in your Industry, and other experts in your Industry for a quote. They will normally appreciate the added publicity and you get the quote you’re looking for. For example, as an author I’ll often get asked to provide a quote for an article on home-based businesses or the virtual assistant industry. I welcome the opportunity as it provides me more publicity.

The last paragraph should be your call to action. You’ve talked the whole release about your business or product, now tell them what to do with this knowledge they just got. Too many leave out this vital step.

At the bottom of the release include ### to indicate you are done.
Double check this for accuracy. At this point, you’re tired and done with the Release. Well if it goes out to the world with the wrong web address, you’ve wasted your valuable time even writing the Release.

That’s it. The basics for writing a press release. Now one other thing I’d like to add in, they work. They truly do. You also want to make sure that you submit them out, but that’s another article.

Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker are the co-authors of numerous books including Virtual Assistant: the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Virtual Assistant the Series Workbook, and Virtual Assistant – The Series: Working Virtually, A Guide to Working Remotely as an Employee. Stop by their site for complete information on starting your own VA business www.vatheseries.com.

Deep Links Make Your Web Site More User Friendly

by Rafferty A. Pendery

Deep linking is the creation of a link that points to one of the interior pages of your web site rather than pointing to the home page.

An article submission strategy that utilizes deep linking can increase the ranking of all the pages of your web site.

Here’s an example of how article submission using deep linking increases the usability of your website. Patients consult dentists for a wide range of problems. They may want dentures, implants, veneers, braces or just a filling. So the dentist is going to want his web site to contain information on all of these services. His home page will probably contain a brief overview of the practice and should direct the visitors to the interior pages that contain specific information on the services he offers. It would be beneficial to the dentist’s practice if each of the services he offered were to rank high on the search engines. This result can be achieved quickly and economically through the use of several well-established optimization strategies.

Article submission is an off-page optimization strategy that has been around long enough to achieve a track record of proven effectiveness. Deep linking is built into the Web technology of HTTP and URLs by default because HTTP does not actually make a distinction between “deep” links and any other links. Combining these two proven techniques will reap a greater return on your web marketing investment.

An article that contains a “deep” link simply contains a link that takes the reader directly to the page of your website that relates to the content of the article. This type of link can quickly provide the reader with the specific solution they’re seeking while increasing that page’s ranking on the search engines.

Deep linked articles can be used to create a multitude of inbound links to each page of your website. A dentist can write an article about veneers. Then he can have a service publish this article on numerous article directories. Each directory allows him to include a link to his site from that directory. If he adds a tag to his usual website link he can point an interested reader directly to the veneer page of his website. If he submits his veneer article to several hundred directories, he can gain many backlinks to his veneer page. A search engine seeing many backlinks to his veneer page will consider his page more relevant and increase its’ ranking for that keyword. This technique can be applied to each service the dentist offers. This will result in his website and each of its’ pages ranking high across a wide range of keyword searches.

There are several things you should keep in mind in order to utilize this technique. Good design and construction enhance the effectiveness of deep linked articles. You should make sure your website is built on a web technology that supports deep linking. Your site should also be designed right from the beginning to orient visitors who may be arriving directly on one of the sites’ interior pages. Each page should contain the company name or logo in the upper left corner and it should contain a one-click link to the homepage. Try to make each page “stand alone” and not depend on information contained on higher-level pages. Each page should include links to other pages that are directly relevant to the current page. Look at each page from the viewpoint that this is the first page a visitor might be seeing.

If you ask someone over to your house you wouldn’t just give your visitor the street you lived on, you’d give him or her your house number too. Article submission using deep linking is like giving your house number to everyone you’d like to invite to your website.

Deep linking works because it is more likely to satisfy users’ needs. And by providing this enhanced usability your website and its’ pages gain in relevance and ranking.

Internet Marketing Consultant, Rafferty Pendery, explains the use of deep linking to build a more natural and powerful link campaign. Article Submission helps gain links to your website without having to pay for each link or spending lots of money to get valuable links.

Entrepreneurship is Like Parenting: Nurture Your Business in Good Times and Bad

by Debra Gould

Your business was conceived the moment you had the idea that would free you from the daily grind of working for someone else. You worked hard to bring that business into the world; drafting a plan, coming up with a name, finding a designer to create your logo, a developer to get your website online, all of that is like labor. That business is your baby.

You were there throughout its infancy losing sleep, doing what you could to keep it growing, healthy and thriving. You put everything you had into it; you read everything you could get your hands on about growing your business just like a new mother devours parenting magazines and how-to books. When a business is new, it’s almost a novelty. It’s thrilling to watch something you created from nothing grow into something bigger. When you’re complimented on your brand you feel proud as a parent showing off baby pictures.

Then as your business moves from its infancy, all of a sudden the adrenaline has worn off a bit. You see how much work it is just to keep everything going. Of course you love your business, your baby, but the long nights are catching up to you, and you’ve been tending to it all by yourself; it’s taking all your energy. It’s at this stage that we are likely to lose our momentum when it comes to building our businesses.

If you’re coming out of the infancy stage of your business as we slip into an economic recession, you might be tempted to give up, more so than if the economy were good. As a parent you can’t just decide you’re bored and discard the baby, moving on to something else, so as an entrepreneur why would you just let your business fade away?

As a parent, when times are tough and you’re feeling challenged, you look for support, whether it’s from a spouse, another parent, or an online network made up of people in the same situation as you. You continue to nourish your child when money’s tight (like you must continue to invest in marketing your business) and you think about how rewarding the entire process will be in the end.

No matter what, you owe it to yourself and your business to realize its true potential. If you give up the moment you start to lose momentum, or you fear the economy will force you out of business you’ll never know what could have become of your enterprise, your dream, your baby. Like parenting, being an entrepreneur is one of the most rewarding things you’ll do in your life.

If you haven’t read The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It (which should be required reading for entrepreneurs) you should pick up a copy as soon as you can. Author, Michael Gerber spends a great deal of time forcing you to look at your business as if it were a child going through different developmental stages. He takes you through the reasons why most small businesses fail and how to prevent that outcome yourself.

Debra Gould, president of the internationally recognized home staging company Six Elements Inc. has no trouble attracting clients. An entrepreneur by the age of 30, she also created The Staging Diva® Home Staging Business Training Program with 1000+ Graduates worldwide & is the founder of the Directory of Home Stagers. To learn more visit www.stagingdiva.com.

11 Ideas for Service Businesses

11 Ideas for Service Businesses
by Carrie Wilkerson

Women don’t realize that the same tactics they use for personal relationships are the very same skills they need for business networking, which is far more than making a few phone calls or handing out business cards. Networking, plain and simple, is about building relationships and that’s what we do best.

Women tend not to see social contacts as potential business generators. We often think that if we’re making pleasant conversation, we’re not doing business. Just because you’ve made a friend out of a colleague doesn’t mean he or she still can’t provide business opportunities for you. And you might just make a colleague out of a friend. Many leads can be generated from family and friends whom you thought were only social contacts.

Of course, we’re not all social butterflies with a long list of friends. But if you want your home-based business to succeed, you’re going to have to make an effort to get out there and make yourself known. Here are some ideas about where you can do a little networking – and make new friends in the process!

Local and National Organizations

Local business organizations are a great place to start. In addition to the chamber of commerce, most communities have business organizations or clubs where potential clients might be found.

National organizations are a valuable resource, such as the National Women’s Business Council found online at www.nwbc.gov. Their mission is “to promote bold initiatives, policies and programs designed to support women’s business enterprises at all stages of development in the public and private sector marketplaces — from start-up to success to significance.” Their website offers links to mentoring programs and resources across the country as well as events and seminars, which brings us to our next networking resource.

Conferences, Seminars and Shows

Conferences, seminars, and trade shows are a wealth of networking opportunities. If you can’t afford the registration fee, you could offer to volunteer, putting yourself in contact with new people and saving money at the same time.

Online Potential

We have the technology. Use it. Online forums are a great way to make new contacts and spread the word about your business. Don’t make the mistake of becoming too impersonal, though. A virtual relationship can be just as fruitful as a fact-to-face encounter. Take the time to become familiar with online environments. Check out bulletin boards, discussion lists and chat rooms. When using online forums, be sure to include a signature with your message that explains what services you have to offer. Keep an eye on posts that might be connected to your business goals, and send them a friendly, introductory email. But don’t try to make a sale with your first email since it might cause you to be banned from the forum. Plain old email is also an effective way to introduce yourself and request a short meeting to explain your business. Just call the office first to make sure you’re sending it to the right person.

Scout the Next Opportunity

Keep an eye out for opportunities. Even if you’re just driving to the post office or grocery store, look around and take notice of any new businesses that might benefit from your services. Read your local newspapers and magazines to keep up with new developments in the community and new networking opportunities.

Any one of these tactics on their own will probably not be effective. It usually takes about five contacts to see any results. Persistence is the key. As women know, building relationships takes a lot of commitment and hard work but we’re more than up to the challenge.

Carrie Wilkerson is the voice of experience. From corporate life to teaching high school to direct sales, she has ‘been there and done that’ professionally and personally. An ‘overnight mom’ to 2 toddlers through adoption, her priorities instantly changed and so did her workplace. She’s now built several businesses and coached others to do the same while overcoming extreme debt, losing 110lbs and having 2 more children, for a total of 4 children, ages infant through 12! As ‘The Barefoot Executive’, Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definite resource for helping women achieve extra income and career goals while working from home. Visit: barefoot-executive.com

A Business Plan- Is It Necessary?

A Business Plan – Is it necessary?
by Carrie Wilkerson

The plain truth is, business owners of any size that take the time to outline what they will offer, what they’ll need to start and what their goals are more likely to succeed.

What exactly is a business plan? It really isn’t a mystery; it is your plan for making your business a success. Not only will a good business plan help you in securing funds for starting your business, it can help you think about every aspect of your business, from who you plan to sell your services to, to what you’ll need before you even start selling your services.

You might even find yourself avoiding some common pitfalls of smaller businesses, such as not anticipating enough funds to keep you going for the first year of business or realizing that you may need assistance in an area you don’t have experience in, such as technical support or bookkeeping.

A business plan doesn’t have to be dozens of pages long, but it should include basic information about your goals in both the short and long term, your business and how you imagine you’ll run it, and what your start up costs will be. The following are a few things that should be included in your business plan.

The first thing in your business plan should be your purpose. Think about what you want to accomplish with your business and what your goals are. From there, describe your business. Here you can describe exactly what your business is, when and where it was formed, the structure of the business, who the owner is and who is operating it.

From there, you can describe your market. Who do you imagine your customers will be? Here, you can also go into better detail about what you’re offering, why there is a need for your particular service or goods, and what makes your business better or different from your competitors. From there, you can go on to explain how you intend to meet the needs of your market. How are you going to produce your services or the goods you intend to sell, and how are you going to deliver your goods or services to your customers?

If you’re not truly a one person business, include information about who your staff is and what they will do, as well your suppliers.

The next thing in your business plan should be your time table. Do you want to reach a specific goal in a certain amount of time? This is the area where you should detail what your financial goals are.

Finally, outline your financial requirements for starting your business. This is not the area to skimp — if anything, overestimate the amount of money you’ll need. Too many small businesses fail to count on enough operating money at the beginning and find that they have to close their doors all too soon. Don’t make this mistake!

Really sit down and itemize everything you’re going to need to get going, including advertising, your business license or fees for setting up the structure of your business, computer software, even keeping your utilities going in your home (if you don’t have any other income), plus the cost of operating your business for a fixed amount of time without profit.

Writing a business plan for your home based business shouldn’t be something to be afraid of. If anything, a business plan will help you focus, get all your goals and ideas on paper, and help guide you in making your business a success.

Carrie Wilkerson is the voice of experience. From corporate life to teaching high school to direct sales, she has ‘been there and done that’ professionally and personally. An ‘overnight mom’ to 2 toddlers through adoption, her priorities instantly changed and so did her workplace. She’s now built several businesses and coached others to do the same while overcoming extreme debt, losing 110lbs and having 2 more children, for a total of 4 children, ages infant through 12! As ‘The Barefoot Executive’, Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definite resource for helping women achieve extra income and career goals while working from home. Visit: barefoot-executive.com

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