Crystal Martin - Latonia’s Dream Shoppe

Name: Crystal Martin

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a 27 year old SAHM/WAHM of two children, a son and a daughter. I have been
married for nine years to my highschool sweetheart. I love creating gifts and
crafts for my family and friends. I have really enjoyed designing my site. I
love learning new things. I hope to create a family atmosphere on my site and I
would love to include my children in my ventures. Church, Family and Home are
the most important things in my life and to carry that over into my business is
a wonderful feeling.

What is your business name and web address:
Latonia’s Dream Shoppe
www.latoniasdream.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
My mom passed away in 2003 and she always made my Easter Baskets and gifts for
me. She loved to draw and create crafts. She passed this love on to me and my
children and this site seemed like a perfect way to honor her memory. The chance
to do something I love to do and to stay home with my children in the process
was very appealing to me. it has strengthened our family in such a way that I
could never begin to describe, while also lettng me feel my mother’s spirit with
me in a new way.

Tell us a little about your business:
We create a variety of Beautiful Gift Baskets/Candy Bouquets, Handmade Purses &
Totes, Custom Candy Wrappers, Handmade Soft Sculpture Dolls and any more Gifts
and Crafts! We offer something for every occasion and strive to create
customized gifts for every customer. Our customers satisfaction is our goal and
together we can come up with a gift perfect for each individual. If you are
looking for something and we don’t have it, simply send us a request and we will
try our very best to create exactly what you are looking for!!!

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
Stay true to yourself and your instincts! Be Kind! Be Patient! Trust in the Lord
for He will guide you through! ‘Treat others as you would have them treat you’
is the best way to forge ahead to meet your goals. Don’t be afraid to try
something new because it may be your calling!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Free Samples and Word of Mouth. The MomPack has helped to get the word out. It
is a wonderful advertising/sharing experience.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

Just because someone hurts your feelings or an idea doesn’t pan out, doesn’t
mean you have to change who you are or how you choose to handle your business.
Someone didn’t like my ideas but instead of giving up, I pushed ahead with my
ideas and have come such a long way.

Who’s buying your products and where are they coming from?

I just discovered a new piece of software called Conversion Gold.

The script allows you to copy and paste a little snippet of code within one or all of your websites and produces reports of the conversion rates that your sites receive.

These reports will tell you such things as who are buying your products, where they are coming from and how much they are spending.

For those using Pay Per Click campaigns it can be a pain to have to login to each of your accounts to see what kind of performance you are getting, with Conversion Gold you can simply login to your admin area and receive all reports in one place - just having that ability is what sold me. I will now be able to check all of my sites in one place.

I am just getting started with the software and will keep you all up to date, but I think that it is going to be a winner in my book.

You can view an online demo of the software in action right now.

4 Ways of Increasing Your Profits Using Images

Images not only can create an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere for users,
but they can also (and more importantly) help you gain credibility, and
ultimately sales if done correctly. Here are some great ways to increase your
credibility:

1. Self Portraits/Customer photos

Having a photo of yourself on your sales page will help your customers feel more
at home, and that they’re dealing with a real person, and not just a machine.
This increases your credibility in the viewer’s eye because it adds a personal
touch, and you will see your sales increase when you employ such methods. A
great place to place a self portrait is in an ‘about me’ section of your site or
newsletter. If you don’t have a section like this, you should consider creating
one because this, just like the image will increase your credibility and your
conversion rate.

Another way of using pictures to increase your conversion rate is by using
customer photos. You should place these on customer testimonials, and when
people view them, they will see that this is a real customer that is satisfied
with your product, and they will carry much more weight this way. Testimonials
alone are a great way to increase conversions, so don’t hesitate to make them
even more effective by adding customer photos. The only problem here is
acquiring the photos themselves, since many people do not have a self portrait,
but that shouldn’t stop you from asking your customers for them, and maybe even
offer them discounts for some incentive! The choice is yours.

2. Product Packaging

Product packaging images - this means, regardless of what you’re selling, be it
tangible or intangible, to offer images of your product. If you’re selling an
ebook, create an ebook cover. If you’re selling an actual book, show a photo of
it. What this does is explain to the viewer of your site that your product is
‘real’ and that they’re really getting something when they’re spending their
money. It’s been proven that simply showing an ebook cover on a sales page can
increase conversion rates by over 50%! You can’t afford to miss out on something
so simple that will increase your sales this much, so make it a point to have
some product packaging!

3. Physical Evidence of Product’s Success

This can mean an infinite number of things depending on what you’re selling, but
in a nutshell, try to include a photo of something that lets your site’s
visitors know that the product you’re selling actually works. Some examples: If
you’re selling a book on internet marketing, show a picture of a check you’ve
received while using the techniques explained in your book. If you’re selling a
book on bodybuilding, show before and after pictures of someone who has
practiced the methods explained in the book. These kinds of things will
drastically increase the viewer’s excitement in your product and will get them
itching to whip out their credit cards!

4. Soothing, Pleasant Graphics

You want your site’s look to be welcoming just like a big soft sofa, so your
viewers are visually relaxed and not constantly being annoyed. Things to avoid
are animated icons and bright/flashy/uncomplimentary colors as these are very
unprofessional, leading your visitors to believe your product may also be
unprofessional. Plus, these things may turn away some visitors altogether, so do
your best to avoid them. Train yourself to use softer colors, softer gradients,
softer backgrounds, etc. And you (and your visitors) will reap the benefits.

If you practice some or all of these methods you will see great improvements in
your conversion rates, so don’t take them lightly. People will read interesting
copy, but nothing builds credibility like a bit of positive imagery. Hope you’ve
learned something!

Barrett Phillips is webmaster of Baphi.com and Author of ‘Simply Design -
Aesthetics That Sell’
His book offers tutorials on Ebook Cover Design, Logo Design, and Web Page
Design geared towards intenet entrepreneurs.?http://www.baphi.com/

14 Ways To Persuade Your Web Site Visitors To Give You Their Email Address

1. Ask visitors to subscribe to your e-zine. It’s a good idea to also give them
a freebie when they subscribe.

2. Have them sign-up to get access to download a free ebook. The subject of the
ebook should be related to your target audience.

3. Give your visitors a free membership inside your member’s only web site. Have
them sign-up to receive a user name and password.

4. Hold a free contest or sweepstakes at your web site. Ask them to give you
their contact information to enter.

5. Offer your visitors free consulting via e-mail. Have them fill out a web form
to e-mail you with their questions.

6. Hold an interactive poll on your web site. Ask your visitors to e-mail you
their vote or opinion.

7. Ask your visitors to sign-up for a chance to get a web site award. Have them
e-mail you their contact and web site information.

8. Have visitors fill out a survey on your web site. Give them a free gift as an
incentive to complete the form.

9. Offer a free online service from your web site. Have visitors fill out their
contact information to sign-up to the free service.

10. Ask visitors to sign your guest book. Tell them they will get a free gift in
return.

11. Offer a free affiliate program for your visitors. They will have to sign-up
in order to receive marketing materials and commissions.

12. Allow visitors to submit a free classified ad on your web site. Require them
to give a valid e-mail address in order to post an ad.

13. Give people who visit your web site a free course sent via autoresponder.
Just ask them to fill out their contact information to receive the free course.

14. Offer your visitors free software to download. Have them sign-up to get an
access code to unlock the software.

Lise Godin is a student at Success Universtiy.

http://lise.successuniversity.com/slim

They have assembled over 50 of the most amazing minds on the planet to bring you
the most advanced online courses on SUCCESS ever assembled. Now you can even
Earn While You Learn with their Business Opportunity. For a Special Offer go to:

http://lise.successuniversity.com/slim

Jillian Vest - White Lily Candles

Name: Jillian Vest

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a young mom of two wonderful little girls Kylie who is 23months and Allison
who is 8months and I am also a wife to a wonderful man who is a marine. We live
in Virginia and are getting ready to move to North Carolina this December since
my husband is being transferred down there.

What is your business name and web address:
I am a consultant with White Lily Candles and my website is
www.crazy4candles.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
I have been a stay at home mom since the birth of my second little girl in
December 2004 and I wanted to still be able to help my husband provide for our
family so when I found White Lily and their wonderful products as well as their
great opportunity I leaped at the chance to become a consultant and I am so glad
that I did because now I can help with some of the little things as my business
grows.

Tell us a little about your business:
White Lily candles makes hand-poured soy candles, luxurious bath & body
products, hand-dipped stuffed animals dipped in your favorite white lily scent
and votive holders and there are always new products coming. We also hold
fundraisers for those in need of some financial help by making a candle in their
name and donating a part of the purchase price to them. The candles smell
wonderful and they burn until all that is left is the little metal peice at the
bottom and the body products smell great as well, leaving your skin soft and
smelling wonderful for hours after you applied it even after sleeping or washing
your hands numerous times!

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
The only advice I can see giving is to keep at it, do not give up! Your business
will succeed it just takes time and patience and lots of advertising to make it
grow. Word of mouth is a wonderful thing and when you have a wonderful product
such as white lily for example you will have customers for life, just keep at it
and you will do great!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Word of mouth from family and friends, link exchanges with other wonderful work
at home moms, being a member of the mompack which is a great group of moms who
each help promote each other and last but not least not being afraid to ask
someone you don’t know if they would like to try your product.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

I am still so new at this that I do not have one of these experiences yet.

Mention that you were referred to me through this website and I will give you a
free gift with any order of $25 or more, this applies to orders sent directly to
me and not through the company website.

Kim Bagley of Mom’s World Online

Name: Kimberly Bagley

Tell us a little about yourself:
I work at home while raising my 2 daughters, Brooke-3 yrs, and Faith-18 months.
I sold my CPA firm in March 2005 in order to stay at home with my 2 girls. It
was very important to me to be able to raise them myself and not rely on someone
else. I started my online businesses in April 2005 in order to bring in extra
income to help with finances. I love what I am doing now. I truly feel that this
decision was what God intended for my family to do.

What is your business name and web address:
Mom’s World Online

Mom Finance
Viral Profits

Southern
Style Gourmet

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
My children!! I never desired to work from home until I had my 2 daughters. I
felt like they were growing up too fast and I was missing all of the important
milestones in their lives. So I decided to make a change. It was worth the
financial sacrifices we had to make. God has certainly provided for us.

Tell us a little about your business:
Mom’s World Online provides low cost unique baby and inspirational gifts. My
mother has made diaper cakes, shopping cart covers, stroller covers, and
numerous other baby gifts for local customers for about 3 years now. I decided
to start Mom’s World Online to help her market her products worldwide and later
decided to add the inspirational line as well.
Mom Finance is an avenue for WAHMs to use to get financial advice from me (a
CPA) and business tools to build their businesses. My goal is to provide
personalized service to help other moms feel comfortable in asking their
business questions.
Viral Profits offers an arsenal of of products with resell rights along with
professional autoresponders, ad tracking, internet marketing tools, tutorials,
and a unique compensation plan. Hundreds of business building ebooks are offered
with a low monthly subscription.
Southern Style Gourmet offers great meal plans and gift baskets as well as
unique kitchen accessories.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
Just do it! No matter how you think you can’t because of monetary worries, you
can make it happen. You may have to give up some "extra’s" at first, but if you
work your business hard and stick with it, you will become a success and in the
meantime fulfill your God given gift as a mother to your children.

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Word of mouth and joining several yahoo groups have offered a great return for
Free advertising. I would suggest to all WAHMs to join as many internet groups
as appropriate to network and market their businesses.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

Ummm. I haven’t really had any negative experiences from customers, but I guess
the negativity I received from family members when selling my CPA firm to stay
at home was the most difficult. The world’s view of success is advancing your
career, etc. and I guess that is what my family expected me to do. I gave up a
great paying job to stay at home with my girls. I do not regret it one bit, but
I do get negative reactions from people when they hear of what I gave up. Some
might call me crazy, but I feel that it was the right decision for me and my
family.

Do you have any specials going on that you would like to share with our
readers:
We just started a wholesale/dropshipping program at Mom’s World Online! If
anyone is interested in carrying our products visit: www.momsworldonline.com/dropship.htm
to get more details.
If anyone mentions this article when purchasing any of our products at Mom’s
World Online, I will refund 20% of the order total upon their purchase!

Carrie Farrimond - Bear Hugs

Name: Carrie Farrimond

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a 32 year old WAHM. I have been happily married for 5 years, and we have an
adorable 17 month old son. We have a Golden Retriever named Chewy, and a cat
named Boo Kitty. I enjoy scrapbooking, playing video games, reading and going to
movies.

What is your business name and web address:
Bear Hugs - http://www.carriesbearhugs.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
I resigned my teaching position in June 2004. I knew I wanted to stay home with
him rather than have him go to daycare. Once I didn’t have the demands of
teaching anymore, I decided to focus my professional energy toward learning to
build a website and marketing products I love to create! VIOLA! Bear Hugs was
born.

Tell us a little about your business:
I am so excited about the new products on my site! They are pet announcements,
pet scrapbooks and recipe scrapbooks. I also create handmade birth
announcements, photo birth announcements, baby shower invitations and scrapbooks
& calendars for all occasions.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
Keep at it! Don’t give up, and remember it sometimes takes years to get your
business up and running the way you want it to be. I am still plugging along,
and it is almost a year after I started!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
By far, word of mouth. Well, word of my family’s mouth! Without my family, and
my in-laws, I never would have gotten started.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

I didn’t do enough research on merchant accounts. Before you decide to venture
into anything, DO YOUR RESEARCH! Ask questions, look at many different companies
and ask others who may have experience in the topic you are looking into.

Do you have any specials going on that you would like to share with our
readers:
I always have specials! There is always something on sale on my site.

Patty Woods - Claydybug Creations

Name: Patty Woods

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a military wife on 19 years with three boys. I started sculpting over 20
years ago when I started making miniatures. I love visiting new places and
learning about the area I’m in, which helps when you move as often as the
military wants you to :c)

What is your business name and web address:
Claydybug Creations ~ Hand Sculpted
Portraiture and Gifts


http://home.earthlink.net/~claydybug_creations/

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
I have always loved creating something with my hands and this enabled me to
stay home with my kids while contibuting a little to our fun money.

Tell us a little about your business:
I create hand sculpted portraiture and gifts. I love creating something from
nothing. My newest venture is in creating items for consultants to help
promote their businesses.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
Yes, time management. I have learned that the hard way and am still trying to
apply it when I get involved in my creations.

Paula Dodds - TheVirtualChoice.com

Name: Paula Dodds

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a WAHM to two adorable little girls: Brady, age 5 (after 9-15-05, age 6),
and Emma, age 3. I work from my home office as a Virtual Assistant, focusing
mainly on Writing and Editing, but doing a variety of administrative tasks for
small/home-based businesses. I also am a consultant for Kat’s Coffees & More.

What is your business name and web address:
My Virtual Assistant business is run under my own name and my site is at
www.TheVirtualChoice.com.
My Kat’s sales site can be viewed at:
www.TheCoffeeNut.com.

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
Having my first daughter inspired me. I went “back to work,” helping the company
my husband worked at with a project they needed extra hands for. It lasted four
days (not even one full week). I couldn’t be away from my daughter! So I found a
job working from home and then expanded it into my own biz.

Tell us a little about your business:
I do a lot of web content writing and writing articles. I also
edit/type/proofread manuscripts and texts for a variety of authors. I get to
read a lot of interesting stuff!
I still offer my original services, too. Basically, I just take care of the
administrative “burden” that weighs small and home-based business owners down. I
follow up with their customers, answer emails (occasionally phone calls), print
information, organize direct mailings, coordinate their bookkeeping with their
accountants, interview new staff… Okay, I am a Virtual Girl Friday!

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women who are
interested in working from home:
DO IT! But first, do your research, find something you’re good at and you enjoy,
and have a financial “cushion” or some other source of income. Join groups
online/locally with other women who are looking to work from home and who
already work from/at home. Ask ALL of your questions!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
The most effective advertising method for me has been word-of-mouth and customer
service. It’s like the old business saying about upsetting one customer/client
and they’ll tell 10 people, make one happy and they’ll tell three to five
people. If you keep your clients and customers happy, they will promote you.
One great additional tip about keeping them happy: (shh, BIG secret) Find a way
to cross-promote whatever you’re offering with whatever they are!

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

After our second daughter was born, I had to go back into the hospital for
another surgery. I took on a small contract after my c-section but before my
gall bladder removal, and I ended up making SOO many mistakes on it. I really
ticked off that client and he hasn’t been back since. From that experience, I
learned that moms and business women DO need to take time for themselves.
Everything really does fall apart if you don’t. It’s much better for your
business (and your finances) to take a little time each day and really let
yourself heal if you’ve been sick or under the weather.

Julie Maher - Website Design Company

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a stay at home mom and an entrepreneur. I split my time with my family that
I love more than everything else and my online business.

What is your business name and web address:
WDCo - Website Design Company
http://www.websitedesigncompany.biz

I also have a special section for WAHM located at:

http://www.websitedesigncompany.biz/mompacksection.html

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
Spending more time with my family was my priority. Now only one salary was not
enough so I decided to put my passion to work for us!

Tell us a little about your business:
I am a website designer. I create websites, banners, online newsletter, and so
much more! I now have a new service that will full launch on September 1st: It
is called Traffic for WAH. It worth a look!

http://www.websitedesigncompany.biz/trafficforwah.html

Into The Mommy Spot Section, Prices are near to nothing. I feel concern in
helping as much as I can other mothers that try to put their business off the
ground.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
You need to be persevering in your project. Putting time and money in it and
most important, having faith and believe in your products, and ideas. Being able
to be a super Mom working at home is not as simple as it looks like and it needs
forces and discipline!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
I tried several methods before deciding to open Traffic for WAH. This is the
main point why I created such an option. I tried it myself before opening it,
and results was amazing! Also, being a proud member of The Mom Pack has been a
revelation for me. So many helpful moms on this network, and a lot of them are
looking to appraise their websites and traffic.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

There is bad customers in any kind of business. I didn’t met mine yet - lol! I
am quite lucky to meet only great and outstanding customers! Hmmm… maybe once,
someone wanted to promote my business through a network and sent the website
from one of my competitors instead!

Jill McAllister of Jill’s Original Artwork

Name: Jill McAllister

Tell us a little about yourself:
I’m a wahm full time artist. married to my best friend for 12 years and
counting we have 3 kids 2 boys ages 8,5 and a baby girl 1 year old We have
english mastiff and a quaker parrot. We live in Florida. I started painting when
I was 13 and started selling my artwork when I was 14

What is your business name and web address:
Jill’s Original Artwork
http://www.jillsartwork.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
I always wanted to be a sahm and my business just kind of started on it’s own
and I’m just kind of along for the ride

Tell us a little about your business:
I hand paint one of a kind gift items, home decor, commissioned artwork etc.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women
that are interested in working from home:
It is SOOOO worth it. It’s a lot of work but don’t give up and don’t ever
let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Word of mouth and happy customers

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

To make sure customers know all the details because they never read everything
before buying.

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Ebay Auction Ebook for Moms

August 19, 2005

Auction Mommies Ebook The Ultimate Step-by-Step eBay Auction eBook for MOMS Moms, Learn the Tips, Techniques, and Secrets and Join Thousands of Work-at-Home Moms Who are Making Money and Having Fun Becoming eBay Online Auction Powersellers in the Comfort and Chaos of Their Very Own Homes Moms With Babies, Toddlers, Tweens, and Teens. Start Making Money….Become An Auction QUEEN Learn More…… CLICK HERE

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10 Money-Saving Tips for Home Businesses

August 17, 2005

One of the most common obstacles many home-based working moms face is trying
to start or run a new business on a limited budget. The first few years of a
business are usually the hardest financially. Some moms leave full-time careers
and substantial salaries to start a new business. Others start a home business
as stay-at-home moms wanting additional income to support their family as well
as a professional outlet to balance their diaper-changing days.

In either case, starting and running a home-based business takes money. How
much money will depend partly on you and the type of business you choose to run.

Below are our top 10 tips to save you and your home business money:

1. Do your own market research by talking to potential clients or customers.
Many new home business owners skip this step only to come back to it later (or
wish they had). Those who start businesses without doing any type of research,
risk the possibility of their target market not needing or wanting their
particular product or service. The competition may be too fierce, or there may
not be enough potential customers to support the business. Or perhaps, the
product isn’t priced correctly. It is just as important not to price your
product too low as it is not to price it too high. Talk to others in similar
businesses as yours to see how much they charge and what they offer for that
price.

2. Team up with other non-competitive businesses that target the same market
to do some co-marketing. For example, desktop publishers and print shops can do
a direct mail campaign together advertising both of their services or buy an ad
in a local publication and split the costs. Neither is in competition with the
other. They also can hand out business cards or flyers for one another as well
as give word-of-mouth referrals. It’s a great way to double one’s marketing
efforts while splitting any advertising costs.

3. When you have a satisfied customer, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals.
People like to help others especially new businesses trying to succeed. Show
pride in your work and people are sure to notice, and when they do, ask if they
know any others you can send a brochure or sample to. Another great way to
encourage referrals is to offer a discount or special offer for any customers
who are referred to you.

4. Barter or trade your services for other products or services you need.
Associations and organizations are not only great places to network; they are
also great for finding businesses that offer services and products you need.
Look for businesses you could help with your product or service and offer to
barter or trade for theirs. (Be sure to check with your tax professional for tax
issues involving bartering and trading.)

5. Find another home-based working mom to swap babysitting with. All
home-based working moms need some dedicated time to work on their business
tasks. By swapping with another mom, each can work on their businesses without
adding to their childcare costs.

6. When buying new office equipment, go to a place that offers a low-price
guarantee. You can save time and money by shopping at places that will refund
any difference in price if you find the product cheaper elsewhere.

7. If you are looking for computer equipment, consider buying used equipment.
Look in the classifieds and talk to others that may know someone looking to
upgrade. Ask for warranty information and make sure the machine is in good
working condition. Also take a look at the computer companies offering
refurbished machines. Some are priced accordingly and usually come with some
type of warranty.

8. Send postcards for direct mail solicitation. They are cheaper to print and
less expensive to mail. Another advantage is that they are more likely to be
read since they take no effort to open.

9. If you hire sales help, pay by commission only so you only spend money if
you make money. A salesperson can increase your sales without adding any
up-front fees or salaries.

10. Use pre-printed design papers for letterhead, brochures and business
cards if you only need a small amount. The papers can be found at most large
office supply stores, and they are great for new businesses trying to get
started on a small budget.

Lesley Spencer, the founder of Home-Based Working moms (http://www.hbwm.com)
has helped thousands of moms start their businesses in the 10 years that she has
been in business. Their group provides networking, support, media opportunities,
and more. By actively being involved in such a group you also increase your
chances of success because of the power and support that she offers and the
opportunity to network with other professionals. Getting connected with positive
“winners” in the entrepreneurial world is just another way to succeed.

These money-saving ideas should help with your budget but new business owners
also need plenty of drive and determination to succeed. It takes time to develop
and grow a business. So be patient and give it all you’ve got!

Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant:
the Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, Words From Home, Start,
Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business & the Home Office
Recovery Plan. She specializes in publicity and book marketing and is president
of Virtual Word Publishing

http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and
http://www.Publicity-VA.com.
Articles are free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.

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Free Website Promotion Guide - Website Promotion Mistakes

August 17, 2005

When webmasters have created their final master piece, their next step is to promote, promote and promote. This is a vital step in survival of your website and will increase your sales and visitors.

Many webmasters, especially beginners, gets so excited and want to take major steps so that they can get hundreds of visitors next day. Sometimes they try to adopt many illegal ways to promote their website. This causes their website to be banned from major search engines and as well as it is disliked by many people. Conclusively this decreases your website reputation drastically.

Its cause is sometime a wrong advice or some people do these steps purposely to increase traffic without knowing its side effects. We will discuss here these website promotion mistakes and we would advice you to never use these techniques if possible.

Never Submit Your Website When Under construction:

It is always better to submit your website when it is fully functional. This leaves a real bad impression on directories or search engine, wherever you submit to. If your visitors see a under construction sign, many of them are not going to come again, especially if this sign stays for longer.

Do Not SPAM:

Spamming can be of different types. I would concentrate on email spamming now. Never force anyone, by sending them emails, to view your website or product, especially if they have not subscribed for that. There are many offers available on net that you can get thousands of emails list and use it for your advertising. Never trust them whatever they say. You are not going to gain anything; however, you could make more enemies and get your website banned sometimes.

Redirectors:

Many websites use redirectors or set their fresh rates too high. It really has a bad effect on search engine ranking. Try to avoid them as much as possible.

Avoid Wrong Methods Of Web page Optimization:

Many people still use those old methods to hide text by changing its color with back ground color so making it invisible to see. Do not also try to hide text with layers. This was good enough in 1995 when search engines were in their developing stages. Now they have got quite intelligent to overcome such techniques and give penalty to websites using such technique.

Don’t Create Doorway Pages:

Many search engine optimizers did reverse engineering and get lot of knowledge about search engine algorithms. They used this knowledge to create doorway pages or welcome pages or jump pages, which were used to get first 10 positions in search engines. These pages were very well optimized for search engines and ranked very well.

That is good if your website is very much dynamic and its pages are not well ranked by search engines. But how could spammers can stay away? Then every spammer used these techniques excessively and conclusively it became difficult for people to get relevant content. Search engines then realized this trend of increasing such vast amount of doorway pages and they penalize those websites now which use these techniques. So I would recommend to never using this method to promote your website.

Don’t Involve in Link Making Schemes:

I would recommend you to increase your page rank but not by using unreliable link producing schemes. Search engines have become very choosy about which type of links a website is having.

So it is better to never involve in links farms, auto link exchange programs, site networks. Search engines penalize hardly those websites who try to artificially increase their incoming links or suddenly gain so many links in very small amount of time.

It is better to get links by legal ways. Get them from quality websites and try your best to inbound links only.

Keyword Frequency:

It is always advised that you should not stuff your web page only with key words, instead of using your primary keyword hundreds of times, pay your attention to contents. If you are really so concerned about your keywords then it is better to use different keywords at different places in your website.

Don’t Spend Your Time On Scrap:

Sometimes we may have seen websites showing guaranteed no. 1 position in search engines or submit your website to 1500 and plus search engines. They are lire mostly. Because there are only about 10 major search engines which receive about 95% of the internet traffic. All other search engines are smaller ones and get their primary results from major search engines.

It is a real wastage of time and money if you are going to use those schemes. Sometimes they also optimize your website in such way that it can even get banned, so be careful.

Don’t Buy Untargeted Traffic:

Many websites claim that they will send 10,000 visitors or so. What do you think, will that be targeted traffic and will that traffic change into your potential customers? Think carefully and then decide before choosing any such type of offer.

Allen Johns have been successful, in industry of online marketing, for 7 years. He describes most of his skills and experiences in his online website Website Promotion Guide – A Free Promotion Guide

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Michelle Suman - JamSum Limited

August 16, 2005

Name: Michelle Suman

Tell us a little about yourself:
I have an AAB in Applied Computer Sciences. I have been married to my high school sweet heart
since September 1999. We have to beautiful children a girl, Hannah(4 1/2 years old) and a boy, Riley (3 years old). Been a wahm since 2001 when my daughter was born and was laidoff to be a contractor at my job.

What is your business name and web address:
JamSum Limited, http://www.JamSum.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
Well after you weigh all the options and the cost. It is less expensive to stay
home and work. The best thing was that I would be able to see my children grow up.

Tell us a little about your business:
JamSum Limited is a small full service technical and creative business solutions company focused
on the small to mid-size business community. Our mission is to provide high quality technical and creative solutions to meet the business’ needs.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are
interested in working from home:
Make sure you doing something that you enjoy. If you are not doing something you enjoy it will not last. Make sure you do research on what you want to do.

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
I do a lot of networking through HBWM.com and Ryze.com. I also advertise in newsletters and newspapers. The best advertising method I have noticed is word of mouth. Nothing says it better than a happy client.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:
Make sure if you are in business doing a service to make sure you get everything in writing. I was burnt a couple times in the beginning by not having a contract with a client. Now everything done at JamSum is through contract. I layout what JamSum will provide and what is the responsiblity of the client.

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Terri Seymour of Seymour Products

August 16, 2005

Name: Terri Seymour

Tell us a little about yourself:

I have been married for 23 years and we have two boys, Jesse 20 and Dustin 13. We are a very close family and enjoy outdoor activities. I love working online and having the opportunity to meet so many different and wonderful people.

What is your business name and web address:

Seymour Products
www.seymourproducts.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:

For most of our marriage I have been a SAHM, but due to the economy, I wanted to contribute to the family finances. I decided that I would rather be able to stay home and make money so I can continue caring for our home and family in the manner they were used to.

Tell us a little about your business:

We started Seymour Products to give everyone a chance to build their own successful home business. I know there are similar opportunities out there, but we try to offer benefits not available in other opportunities. Our goal is to help countless people become success and to be one of the most talked about home business opportunities on the net.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are interested in working from home:

First of all, it does seem overwhelming at times. I know it did for me! It might take some time to get focused and start feeling organized, but it will happen. Do not let yourself get too frustrated, or discouraged. Stick with it and you can become a success. Network with other Moms who have been through the same thing. This will give you strength and encouragement to continue and achieve your goals!!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:

By far it has been my articles. My articles have brought me visitors, sales, distributors, improved search engine ranking, respect, trust, and more. I have been writing articles for several years and I plan to continue as long as I am in business!

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:

I have had a couple bad experiences with customers. What I did learn was you have to believe in yourself and your business and do what is right for you. Do NOT let a customer bully into doing something you know is wrong. The old saying, “The Customer is Always Right” is a crock. But ALWAYS treat them with respect. If they sink to name calling or other childish tactics, do not let yourself resort to the same thing. Remain firm, but respectful, polite and mature!

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Selling to Everyone Means You Sell to No One

August 16, 2005

1. Selling To Everyone Means You Sell to No One

If you do not target your offer, it will confuse your customers. People are not patient. In a recent survey, 73% of people claimed to be “insanely busy”. If you do not develop a target customer profile and appeal directly to them, you will lose customers. And they will never come back to your site again.

2. Web Flea Market: Buy a Web Site or Get a Grocery Coupon

People are selling Web Sites, classified advertising, pre-paid legal services, long distance phone cards, and reminder services via affiliate programs…All on the same Web Page!
Think about that the next time you go to your grocery store. Do they offer to sell you a Web Site with your pickles? Flea markets diminish the value of what you are selling. Most people who own these sites tell me they depend on selling a high volume of low price items. How do I know this is a doomed approach? Visit their sites and see if there is any life there

3. Huge graphics that make your site take 30 seconds to open, which is all the time you have to sell your customer on staying.

The worst thing about computers is that they enable us to do things we just should not be doing. Graphic design is a skill; most people get some Paint program and have absolutely no sense of size, or what the graphic makes them look like. If you want to SCREAM AT YOUR AUDIENCE AND BE OBNOXIOUS, then use big graphics.

4. This site has xxxx number of visitors (How many bought?)

Does it really matter to anyone how many people visit your store? The sure sign that a store is visited often is the success and profits of the owner. All the rest is empty bragging.

5. Explaining what technology you use, frames, etc.

To this day it amazes me how people explain the technical design of their Web Page. If you use any reference to technology, you are distracting your customer. Keep it simple.

6. Download the following plug-ins to get this site working.

No one will spend ten minutes downloading the plug-in to see your cutesy message. Avoid plug-ins, with the possible exception of Real Audio.

7. No place to send an email, or gain a free report.

After spending all this time to create a site, most people forget to ask for inquiries. They just think people will work hard to contact them. Assume that a person will visit your site once, and never return unless you remind them to via email.

Ash Kawa has written hundreds of articles specializing in helping people succeed when the competition is tough. President of a successful Website Hosting Company http://www.hostforwebsite.com [$0.75/month & Get Un-Limit Movies & MP3 Songs on your PC!]

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Ellen LaFleche-Christian of Moonlight Creations Jewelry

August 16, 2005

A Vermont work at home mom shares her experiences.

Name: Ellen LaFleche-Christian

Tell us a little about yourself:
My name is Ellen and I’m a WAHM of two children. Sarah is 12 and David is 8. My husband and I and our children live in a small farmhouse in the woods in Vermont.

What is your business name and web address:
I have a few.
Moonlight Creations Jewelry http://moonlight-creations-jewelry.com/
Holiday Mail Train http://holiday-mail-train.com/
and ellenlafleche Auctions & Sales http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/ellenlafleche

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
For years I had a very stressful job in our local government as an elected official. My health and my family suffered until I decided to become a WAHM.

Tell us a little about your business:
Moonlight Creations Jewelry specializes in affordable handmade beaded jewelry & accessories custom made the way YOU want. The Holiday Mail Train offers personalized holiday letters for children including letters from Gracey Ghost, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Start a new holiday tradition today. I also offer new and gently used items on eBay including books, crafts, VHS and more.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are interested in working from home:
Do something you love. Life is too short to spend it doing something you hate.

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Word of mouth is the most effective advertising method for me. Thanks to all of my wonderful customers who have shared my website with their friends & family.

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from:
Make sure that you have your own style. So many jewelry makers offer all the same products. It’s best to be unique.

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Can You Really Make Money With Google Adsense?

August 16, 2005

I’m sure most of you have heard of Google Adsense. If you haven’t jumped on board with the millions of people that are using this as means to make extra cash, you are missing out!

I signed up with the service when it first came out and to be honest I never did much with my account, mostly because I didn’t have the time and eventually forgot about it.

Well, what a mistake I made.

During the late months of last year I was reading some messages posted on various boards that I frequent and Adsense was and still is a hot topic. So, I thought I would login to my dusty Google Adsense account and start creating some ads to place on one of my sites.

Well, I had the ads there and what did I do? I completely forgot about it AGAIN!

December came and out of the blue I remembered the ads on my site and decided to, yet again, login to my account and check my stats. I was quite surprised to see that I was actually receiving some clicks and cash!

I began concentrating on finding information on how to really maximize using Google’s service and have found many sites that offer great advise.

One tip I learned is that you need to test your efforts to see what is or is not working and go from that. I came across a product called AdSense Gold, which at first I was reluctant to purchase but after visiting the site several times I decided to give it a try.
I must say it was money well spent. Since I have begun using the techniques mentioned in the e-book and using the Adsense Tracker software I have seen huge improvements with my click through rates.

I am on my way! As a newbie to the Google Adsense world, I now see why this is such a hot topic and truly do believe with the right help and advice anyone can make great profits.

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Why Niche Marketing Yields Good Profits

August 16, 2005

Have you ever been told to find your niche? In business, finding your niche can prove both profitable and personally rewarding.

Niche Marketing is the key to many successful organizations. From the small company that focuses on their niche, putting all their efforts towards it, to large companies with countless product lines, niche marketing is extremely important. For example, if you are a company that produces fishing products, you may have several different product lines and market segments or niches that you sell to. You have fresh water fishing, deep sea fishing, fly fishing, etc. You don’t want to market your Fly Fishing gear in a publication whose niche is deep sea fishing or vise versa. Therefore, it is important to focus your marketing dollars in each individual niche. There are certainly larger publications that cater to a much general audience rather than a niche one. However, are you going to capture your niche market as well as if you practiced niche marketing?

Passionate Fly Fisherman will more than likely respond more to articles in a Fly fishing specific publication then a general fishing publication. These niche publications are more knowledgeable and focused on their subject. It is sometimes better to know a lot about something then a little about everything.

Niche marketing is all about showing expertise and knowledge in your chosen niche. Also niche marketing is cost effective in that it is going to be less costly to advertise in a publication such as “Fly Fishing in Salt Water” magazine then in “Field and Stream” magazine.

For those trying to find their niche, the web is a great place to start. First think of what your niche is. What are you knowledgeable and passionate about that you can transform into a profitable business? How can you know if your niche is marketable and measure your competition? Web sites such as Inventory Overture (http://inventory.overture.com) are a great place to start.

At Inventory Overture, you are able to type in a keyword describing your niche and see how many people are searching that keyword in the past month. High amounts of searches, many times mean more competition and the need to narrow your niche. However, it also means a lot of interest in the subject. After using Inventory Overture, go to a search engine and type the same keyword and see how many sites are already marketing you niche. Ideally you want the keyword to be searched enough on Inventory Overture to be relevant but not in as many Web sites that the competition is unbearable. So find your Niche, narrow it, market it and start reaping the rewards.

Evelyn Lim is an online publisher of a FREE newsletter aimed to help all aspiring internet business owners. She also hopes to educate her readers on skills to acquire multiple sources of online income. To subscribe to her newsletter, please visit http://www.e-BizMap.com or her blog at http://www.EvelynLim.com .

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Rules Of Thumb For Marketing To Your Past Customers

August 16, 2005

by Joy Gendusa

Keeping in touch can dramatically increase business, when done properly. It’s a fact that your customers are your best leads. This means that the most likely people to purchase your products and/or services are the ones who have paid for them before. It’s also a fact that it costs far less money to keep a customer than it does to go out and get a new one. These are the two reasons that using direct mail to keep in touch with your customer database is a must. There are a few principles to follow when marketing to contacts in your company database that can maximize your bottom line.

Rule #1 - Collect all of their information. It sounds like a no-brainer but you would be surprised. The more information that you have on your customers, the more likely it is that you will be able to get in touch with them to let them know about specials or to remind them it’s time for their next service. Also, don’t neglect to ask for your customers’ email addresses, most everyone has one and most will give it up pretty easily.

Rule #2 – Don’t treat your customers like prospects. Make sure when you collect the information in your database you differentiate between people who have placed an order in the past and people who have not. Customers want to feel like you are paying attention to them and when they have placed a few orders with you and are still getting your “10% for First Time Buyers” postcards they tend to feel unappreciated. Bottom line, if they don’t qualify for an offer you are sending out, don’t send it to them.

Rule #3 – Don’t let your designs get stagnant. When you are mailing to databases of people that you have never spoken to before, it is OK to send them the same postcard multiple times. It helps to increase recognition and will eventually increase your response rate. Dealing with customers and prospects that you have already spoken to (meaning they already know most or all of the details of your business) you need to mix things up a bit. Your mailings should be attention getting and informative. If you have started offering a new service recently, a piece designed to let your database know about it would be a smart move. The main point is to keep your company in the front of their mind and to keep them reading your promotion.

Being great at what you do is not always enough to keep the customers that you have earned. With all of the competition out there today you need to be constantly reminding your customers that you are the best at what you do. Direct mail is the best way to give them that reminder.

Always remember to keep mailings that you send to your database informative, attractive and most of all current. Personalize everything that you can and make sure that what you are sending to a past client actually pertains to them or their company. Anything less and your customer may start to drift, and the only people that are going to be happy when that happens are your competitors.

About the Author
Joy Gendusa founded PostcardMania in 1998, her only assets a computer and a phone. By 2004 the company did $9 million in sales and employed over 60 people. She attributes her explosive growth to her ability to choose incredible staff and her innate marketing savvy. Visit http://www.postcardmania.com

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Stephanie Davies of Mystickal Incense & More

August 16, 2005

A 26 year old WAHM from Missouri shares her inspiration and a business lesson learned.

Name: Stephanie Davies

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a 26-year-old WAHM from mid-Missouri. I am happily married to a wonderful man, and I have an 8-year-old son who keeps me busy. I own and run the company Mystickal Incense & More, which I created, and we sell handmade incense, tarot card readings, and web design services.

What is your business name and web address:
Mystickal Incense & More at http://www.mystickalincense.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
Many different reasons…I would say the primary reason was to be able to make money while being able to spend time with my family. The secondary reason is because I am extremely fond of good incense, and spent hundreds of dollars on other people’s incense. So I decided to start making it myself so that I could make a pure, better quality incense product for myself. Soon I decided to start selling it, since I enjoyed it so much!

Tell us a little about your business:
My company makes its own incense from unscented sticks and cones (both punk and charcoal). We dip the unscented sticks or cones in either high-quality essential oils or fragrance oils and let them soak for a full 24 hours, then let them dry naturally for a very high-scented and quality product. Our incense has less smoke than most commercially available incense, and more fragrance. We also offer tarot card readings, which I have been doing since I was 13 years old, and I am very skilled with. I also offer website design services at a ultra-low cost for WAHMs like myself who can’t afford to spend much. We offer banner design, logo design, and webset design from only $5.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are interested in working from home:
Absolutely! First you need to research your product very well. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before you begin. Having a budget planned out will help as well, and making sure that you have enough money for all start up costs. I can’t emphasize the research part enough! And make sure you have the dedication and commitment it takes to stay by your business in the long run! Most of all - follow your dreams, you never know where they may take you!

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
By far, word of mouth! It is extremely hard to sell incense or scented products over the internet, as obviously are computers are not scratch-and-sniff! So I rely on my customers to pass the word about the experience they had with my incense!

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you learned from: Well, I have a tendency to give away a lot of free products, to let people know what my incense is like. However I was going overboard with it and giving it to everyone I knew or met! If you give away too much of your product on samples, contests, freebies, or gifts…you will end up losing a lot more money than you make.

Do you have any specials going on that you would like to share with our readers: We currently have several specials going on, including that new customers get a FREE ten-pack of 11″ incense sticks in their choice of scent with their first order - just enter coupon code FREESTICKS in the coupon box at checkout. All customers get 10% off their order of $25 or more, with coupon code TENOFF.

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