Blogging Archives - Page 10 of 20

Using Twitter to Increase Traffic to Your Home Business Site

: Image via Wikipedia

You’ve probably heard about how Twitter can be a great tool. And it can. It’s a good way to spread the word about a particularly interesting post. (Or to regularly update via some sort of something like Twitterfeed.) Easton at Visionary Blogging sent some helpful Twitter tips for increasing traffic to your web site. Here are 3 ideas that I especially liked:

1. Place Twitter buttons on your articles.

2. Share original in your tweets, not just RTs of other people’s stuff.

3. Share useful links to your web site regularly.

Of course, there is such a thing as overkill, and you want to be careful. No-one likes Twitter spam. But you can use moderation and share helpful tweets and interesting posts from your home business blog. And find new followers and maybe get a little extra traffic.

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Finding Inspiration for Your Blog

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

One always wonders how to continually come up with content for blog posts. Indeed, when you are trying to find inspiration for your home business blog, it can be frustrating to draw a blank. The good news is that there are some places you can turn to find a little help in getting started. Some of the places I like to look include:

* News reader: This can collect up news and the latest posts and headlines from your favorite sites. News sites, industry sites and other blogs. It is easy to skim the news reader for good topics.

* Email alerts: You can receive alerts in your email inbox when something is published on a topic you have interest in. Email subscriptions to your favorite newsletters can serve the same purpose.

* Your life: Look at what is happening in your daily life, and use that for inspiration for blog posts. If you have giveaways and contests, that can also make a good subject for a blog post.

It you’re still stuck for blog post ideas, you can head to GregWolejko.com and see this list of lists containing blog post ideas.

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Finding Freelancing Opportunities

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

: Image by Brajeshwar via Flickr

When you work from home as a freelancer, it is vital to look for opportunities. If you want more opportunities, you might want to look in more places. Laura Spencer, at Freelance Folder, has some great suggestions for increasing your chances of finding more freelancing opportunities:

* Follow instructions: You are more likely to get a look if you follow the instructions on the job posting.

* Be first: You want to be one of the first to respond to a job posting. Spencer says that Monday morning is the best time to look for freelancing opportunities.

* Consider the source: Instead of going to a job aggregator site, look at the original posting site. You might get a jump on things before the job is aggregrated — and seen by more people.

* Use social media: It sounds funny, but it’s true. An active social media presence can help you find freelancing opportunities. I have received gigs via LinkedIn, Twitter and StumbleUpon.

* Have a web site: A web site allows you to be found more easily, and provides contact information and a resume. You can also have a blog on your web site to draw even more traffic.

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Your Home Business Should Have a Blog

by Miranda Marquit 2 Comments

With Twitter getting so much play these days, it isn’t surprising to find that some think that blogging is dead. However, your home business should probably still have a blog. Adam Singer, at The Future Buzz, points out that a blog can be very helpful to a small business. He reports the following numbers from Technorati’s annual report on what’s going on in the blogosphere, in terms of professionals who have blogs:

1. Those with blogs have 71% greater visibility in their industry.

2. 63% of businesses claim that clients purchases products and services after being drawn to the site by the blog.

3. More than half (56%) of small businesses say that their companies are considered thought leaders now that they have blogs.

4. 40% of business owners with blogs have been asked to speak at conferences.

One of the biggest advantages to having a blog for your home business — especially one that is frequently updated with useful and well-written content — is visibility. You are easier to find, and it provides you with a professional image, and with the reputation as an expert in your field. And you can use blogging as an effective communication tool. So, while business blogging may take an investment of time and even a little money, in the end, the dividends it pays can be pretty substantial.

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Effective Communication for Your Home Business

by Miranda Marquit 3 Comments

When you are starting a home business, it is important that you understand the keys to effective communication. Whether you plan to blog, advertise in the newspaper or use some other type of marketing medium, you need to understand how to communicate effectively.

To this end, Problogger offers the three principles of effective communication. These are:

1. Provide a message.

2. Make your audience care about the message.

3. Provide a way for the audience to remember the message.

No matter what setting you are in, these three principles apply. Your personal life can even benefit from the application of these communication principles. And, of course, your home business will benefit immensely if you can get people to hear, care about and remember your message.

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Watch Out for Bad SEO Services

by Miranda Marquit 3 Comments

Image via Wikipedia

One of the big money makers online right now is the area of search engine optimization (SEO). This is the process by which you tweak your home business web site or blog so that it is easy for search engines to navigate, and so that it has the qualities that search engines recognize in sites that are worthy of climbing in the rankings. There are many SEO firms out there that promise results. But you have to be careful

Susan Payton, the Marketing Eggspert at Sparkplugging, offers this on the main thing to watch out for:

[T]here are companies who will promise to get you to the #1 position in the search engines. It’s crap. No one can guarantee where you’ll be in search engine results. Often this means you’ll be #1 for your company name or other search term that no one’s looking for. That’s not what you want. You want a company that uses ethical search engine optimization efforts to organically move you toward the top.

Ethical search engine optimization includes such things as using keywords naturally in your web copy, writing good headlines, having properly tagged video and images, and using strategic linking to useful information both on and off your web site. Even social media can be helpful in SEO. There are companies that can help you do this, but you have to wade through a lot of the bad while trying to find them.

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Learn to Set Up a Successful Facebook Page for Your Home Business

by Miranda Marquit Leave a Comment

: Image via CrunchBase

One of the things that can really help your home business is to set up a Facebook page. Indeed, a Facebook page is one of the cardinal necessities of social media promotion of your home business. But you need to do it right. Susan Payton wrote a great post on Mashable about setting up a Facebook page that can help you with your home business. Payton points that some of the items to include on your Facebook page can be:

* Company overview

* Company contact information and web site

* Interesting company-related videos

* Press releases

* RSS feed from your home business blog

* Twitter updates from your business

* Company news

* Interaction with customers

If you are interested in setting up a Facebook page for your home business, I suggest you head over and read the article on Mashable. It will take you through essential elements of a good business Facebook page, and help you set one up.

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Avoid these Social Networking Mistakes

by Miranda Marquit 1 Comment

: Image via Wikipedia

By now, we all know that social media is a tool that can be used to help you promote your home business. But there are some definite dos and don’ts when it comes to social networking. Allison Boyer at Bizza offers four social networking mistakes to avoid:

1. Combining your personal profile with your professional profile.

2. Forgetting that you have a profile, and failing to keep it updated.

3. Becoming infamous. Yes, you want to be well-known. But not for being a jerk.

4. Sending visitors to your social networking page to an empty site.

Now, I have to admit that I am a major offender with #1. My Facebook profile is a combination of my professional and personal life. Oddly, I don’t feel too badly about that. Sometimes I feel bad for my actual friends and relatives, but since you can just ignore annoying things on Facebook, I don’t feel that bad.

Are you making any of these social networking mistakes with your home business?

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Use Social Media to Promote Your Home Business Blog

by Miranda Marquit 4 Comments

One of the tools that you can use in your home business marketing efforts is your blog. A blog filled with interesting and useful information can be a great way to draw people to your home business web site, as well as build your online presence. However, it is important to promote your home business blog as well.

Darren Rowse, from Problogger, offers some great tips in this video about how you can promote your home business blog using social media.

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Working from Home: Sick Days

by Miranda Marquit 1 Comment

: Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

Every so often I get sick. And, as a blogger, I write about it. When you are working from home — especially if you have a home business — you don’t really get sick days. There is always something to do. So here I am, getting stuff done.

Prioritizing your home business workload

The good news, though, is that you can have an abbreviated day if you have workload priorities. When you aren’t feeling well, do an inventory of what you need to get done. Then prioritize it. Are there some things that can be put off until tomorrow? If so, shift those items around. Do only what is necessary. After all, if you don’t have your health, you will be in bigger trouble later. Do what you need to, take care of yourself, and get everything else done later.

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