Home Business ABC's Work From Home Blog

A Blog relating to home business, work from home and making money online featuring the top home based business opportunities.

Friday, June 30, 2006

Blogging for Business - Should You?
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com

So you've heard that having a blog is a good idea for your business, but are you sure WHY it's important? Understanding how blogs operate and how to use them for your business will give you great payoffs for your investment of time and energy. Not using your blog effectively will simply waste this fantastic resource.

WHY SHOULD I 'BLOG FOR BUSINESS'?

Blogs are a great method for giving your business credibility. Whether you post about industry news, recommend links to related topics or post valuable inside information or experiences, your audience will view you not only as a commercial venue but as a business interested in its community.

You can also use your blog to build traffic to your commercial site and to build a list of interested prospects. All of these issues are solid tools for marketing your product or service online.

WHY BLOGGING IS GREAT FOR CUSTOMERS

Blogs are not viewed the same as a typical website or sales page. The postings are often less formal or are presenting readers with interesting tidbits that entertain or inform about your topic or industry. Regular postings that draw the attention of your target market will build interest in your product and establish you as an 'expert' as well as create a good relationship with your prospects.

Since you can offer subscriptions to your blog through services like Bloglet.com, your prospects can easily receive notice of your recent postings right in their email inbox. By regularly posting relevant information your prospects will look to you first when needing the service or product you provide.

Since many blogs offer readers the ability to post comments you immediately provide an opportunity for feedback or questions. This can clue you in to what your market needs or thinks, which can quickly be responded to in your next post.

BLOGGING FOR TRAFFIC

There are several methods of traffic buildings with blogs. One method is through the blog provider. Often the provider offers readers the option of searching for blogs with a word or phrase. Using that phrase in your blog or title will bring interested visitors.

The other method is through search engines. Search engines love fresh content and blogs make this easy. Simply 'ping' your blog to other media (this announces your update) and the search engines will pick it up. Using commonly searched words and phrases may give you the top ranking you were looking for. You can also link to your business website with the phrase and increase traffic directly to your sales page.

Finally, you can add an RSS feature to your blog. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) allows other websites to run the content from your blog. Every time you make a post the information will be automatically updated on sites featuring your RSS. This is attractive to sites with topics related to yours since they will benefit from the fresh content and you will benefit from the exposure.
If you haven't jumped on the blogging bandwagon yet you've been missing out on one of the cheapest and smartest marketing tools available. Creating a blog is easy and profitable - so make yours today!

About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Set Up Your Online Business for Less
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com

Are you starting an online business with a small budget? That's OK. Online businesses are one of the lowest cost businesses to run - if you know what you need to pay for and where to go.

Follow these suggestions for getting your website set up inexpensively while not sacrificing quality. There are some things you need to pay for (and this will tell you how much) and other things you can do just as well for free.

STEP ONE: GETTING A DOMAIN NAME

There's no reason to pay more than $10 for a domain name, so feel free to shop around. Domains are important because they give you credibility as a business.

Free websites do not enable you to have your own domain name so instead you end up with mybusiness.freespace.com instead of mybusiness.com. See the difference? Your customers expect you to put some money into your business and this is a clear tip off that you are not doing that - and for $10, why shouldn't you?

STEP TWO: FIND A HOST

Hosting plans vary considerably. Much of what you pay for will be determined by the features your hosting account provides with its service.

Are you setting up a simple, one page site? You could probably use a low cost host for $5 per month. Do you need some extra help with templates and layout or expect a high amount of traffic or downloads? You may have to pay more but it can be well worth the extra expense to have integrated webpages already set up or to ensure your host is providing you with enough bandwidth to handle the traffic on your site.

Never use a free host, unless perhaps you want to start with a blog or similar format while you get your own website up and running. Free hosting usually means you pay in other ways - lack of a domain name or a lack of quality. Many free hosting accounts are for personal use only and do not allow commercial accounts. Try to get recommendations from others when looking for a good host.

STEP THREE: DESIGN

As previously mentioned you can find professional templates on some hosting services. These can give your website a professional polish without the expense of hiring a designer. You are limited, however, on the look you choose depending on the variety of designs available.

Templates are also available to others so your site may have the same appearance as someone else. If you need custom work done consider hiring a freelance web designer from a site like elance.com or ask a local student studying web design. Freelance sites often put you in touch with new designers who will charge less while building on their experience and adding to their portfolio.

Spending money wisely is important when starting any business, but some free services will cost you in reliability or image. On the other hand there are some cheap deals you may not hear about so don't give your hard earned money (or worse - your credit) for a service you can pay less for and get the same results.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Faster Home Business Profits
Copyright © Greg Chadwick
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com

Way too many people believe the Internet is a place to get rich quick with no effort or sweat needed. You just publish a web site and poof you have a home business. Please do not hold your breath waiting on results from an Internet business started with that thought process. Home business owners turning blue or choking are signs that they did not read this article.

The good news is starting an online home business is worth every second it takes to do it right. Imagine being your own boss for incentive, then use your brain and motivation to make it work. The lack of time will always be a factor in creating your business, given the fact we all have jobs, kids, family or some other distraction. To add more time to your business day use the proven techniques and strategies not shortcuts!

Imagine being able to sit down at your computer and find your home business already built in a box just waiting for you. By using content sites and article sites, you can easily find ready to go ebooks, software, products and even complete web sites, ready to build a business with. They just do not include the marketing any business requires.

Take a tour of sites like Infogoround, Surefire Wealth, and SiteSell. You will find ideas and solutions for any home business. None will be successful overnight. Success takes considerable effort and motivation and it all starts with you and a great idea.

And do not overlook your greatest asset which is the skill and knowledge you already have. Business online takes passion and chances are passion on the job got you many years of experience that you can easily share for profit. The book "Make Your Knowledge Sell" can be found on any search engine. Get a copy of it and see just how much money your knowledge can make.

Many topics and themes great for home business and affiliate sales have already been built. Take advantage of that by joining sites that sell content and ideas you can modify to suit your specific purpose. These days you can start a home based business in just minutes to hours, but above all things, have a marketing plan before you start. Then use content sites, article sites, and proven marketing tactics to get the job done.

In all cases however, the lack of an action plan is the fastest way to a home business failure. "Look before you leap" is a well known phrase and the answer for faster home business profits.

Friday, June 23, 2006

The Stress of Self-Employment

We've all heard the freelancer boast, "I went to work in my pajamas today" or "Since I started working from home, I'm able to spend more time with my family."

Just as these are all wonderful and true, there are plenty of reasons for the self-employed entrepreneur to encounter terrific amounts of stress. Sometimes more than if they worked for a high-powered company.

Aside from the stress of having to find new clients and new jobs, freelances often experience stress because jobs come in crazy, sporadic bursts. One day your schedule is almost empty, and the next day it seems like you can barely keep up.

Deadlines can be overwhelming, and when one is overwhelmed, productivity plummets. The brain is no longer focused on creativity and action, but is scattered and reacting (not acting.)

When deadlines stack up, here's what to do. First, reduce stress by... Stopping. Sounds a bit radical, and it's really hard to do. But just stop. Listen to a great song. Go outside. Do anything that clears your mind for ten minutes.

Then Examine The Situation. There will be items that need to be done pronto, tasks that can be done later that day, and an exercise or two that can be done later in the week.

Sometimes an assignment will have to be delayed. It's hard to pick up the phone and make the call to say "I'd like to get a little more time on this job," but you'll be surprised to find how pleasantly effective this can be. Many clients often have no problem with a moderate delay. Give it a go, and give yourself one less stress factor.

Next, physically arrange the tasks before you in this manner. Yes, in stacks: Right Away, Later Today, Tomorrow, Delay.

You've just begun to take control of the situation. Even though the work ahead of you hasn't changed - it is still daunting - you will have the means and the organization to manage it.

If the nature of any of your tasks allow it, call upon a colleague who can help you. If you've never done this before, now is the perfect time to start. This form of subcontracting will cost you part of your profits, true... but in a pinch it allows you to get the job done, which is your number one priority. The nice thing about this sort of arrangement is your colleague will most likely send jobs your way when he or she gets overloaded.

It is easy to say that advanced scheduling and personal time management can ward off the majority of these problems. But the reality is... in the world of self employment, deadlines can go from zero to mind-boggling overnight.

The truth is, it's not a good idea on many levels to turn jobs down; and so we tend to take them all on. With a little resolve and these tricks up your sleeve, you'll get the jobs done well.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Setting Up An Online Store
Copyright © Greg Chadwick
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com

It is said that ebay is the very opposite to a physical company or career, such as brick and mortar. It is also said that ebay can significantly increase the odds of selling what you are intending to get rid of. Gaining profit is as easy as 123 on an online sales and auction block. An online ebay store is a very simple and effective method of building a profitable and successful business. By having an ebay store of your own, you make it possible for everyone to view what you are dealing with all in one convenient place. When everything you are selling is grouped on one site, you then manage to obtain a larger audience, and cover your demographics.

This not only entices multiple purchases, but also looks professional in the process. This again will drive more business your way. By having a larger stock and inventory, then you may feel you need, will allow you to cross-reference as well. Whenever you have an ebay icon in your seller box, ebay in turn supports the operator, and gives many promotions for their business. The ebay directory is set up to promote all stores within association, and you will have your own address on the web. It is now very easy for you to get information to your buyers such as, product promotions and or sales, by way of the ebay e-mail marketing tools. These tools are available to anyone associated with ebay. This e-mail service is another great way to generate further, or repeat sales for the clients. Is makes for a very strong networking tool.

It is not hard to set up an ebay store, in fact once you do set one up you will ask yourself why you have not done it sooner. You will need a Pay Pal account that is in good standing, store prices and levels, and a feedback level of 20 or above. The cost of an ebay store can vary; it can be very cheap all the way up to near bank breaking, depending on the actions of the account. It is totally up to you and your business to set the cost for the store. There are three levels of ebay store accounts, basic being a very simple account that primarily caters to the small business person. The second account is the featured account. This account is for medium growth sellers that are looking to expand in the near future. Finally the anchor account, this is for the sellers that have extremely high volumes of traffic and sales. What this all boils down to is, the more you spend on your account the more traffic you can expect to your product. This however does not ensure more sales. To obtain more sales to relate to the traffic you will need the drive to succeed.

About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.Home-Business-ABCs.com
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Sunday, June 18, 2006

The method of generating traffic to your site using Pay Per Click is one that has been taking off by way of storm lately; many people are getting their sites flooded by potential buyers. This is where you want to be as well, right in the thick of the traffic. This is the best way to generate the viewers that you seek for your business. If you can spare some time, and are willing to manage your campaign, this method could be an extremely valuable tool to generate the needed traffic to your site. This of course will require you to do some homework.

The name of the game here is keyword targeting; it is very possible for up to 90% of all generated traffic to your site can be a direct result of pay per click methods employed. In theory this is great, but it must keep in mind that bidding still must remain low on cost. The general assumption is that there is only one method of obtaining a pay per click campaign that can be successful this is not the case. It is true that Google Adwords, and Overture are great tools for this campaign, but they are not the only ones. When you use one of these web giants, you can guarantee that you will be seen on the search engine within a good page rank if of course you are willing to pay the price for that spot.

This is where the bidding comes into play; you will need to bid on the keywords that will place you on the top of the list. This can indeed be a rather trying event, as you can be sure that you are not alone in the bidding. It is not unheard of for a larger corporation to bid as much as 100 dollars for a particular keyword to ensure they get high page ranking. After all it is the word that people are using most to search for their information, this will in turn raise the bidding. Often once you have landed that bid, the cost of maintaining it can be steep as well. Sometimes it can run up to 5.00 per click coming out of your pocket. If you are getting many clicks per day however no sales on your site, you will run into a problem as it will cost you money.

You will need to find a keyword that is directly related to your site, and what you have to offer. Tire kickers need not apply in this scenario; you do not want to pay for window shoppers. By calculating the value of a single customer, you can get a pretty good idea on what you can spend on any particular bid. This too will keep you from over spending and falling into financial trouble.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Traffic Exchange services provide an interface where you view or "surf" member's websites and in exchange other members view your website. You earn credits by surfing the traffic exchange and viewing sites. Those credits are used to display your website to other members. You can also purchase credits if don't want to spend your time surfing other member's sites.

There are 3 main types of traffic exchanges: manual exchanges, auto surfs and toolbar exchanges.

Manual exchanges are by far the best. There is a surfbar with a timer. When you start your surf a countdown timer starts. It's generally between 15 and 30 seconds. This is to ensure that people actually look at your website while waiting to view the next site. When the timer is finished you press the appropriate button to advance to the next site. On most surfbars you have to press a certain color button, or click on the highest number, or click on the correct image. These are randomized to prevent cheating.

Auto surfs in my opinion are a complete waste of time. The person surfing does not have to actually view any sites. They simply start the surf and the surfbar automatically advances to the next website in the queue after 15 or 20 seconds.You could be washing your car, or out shopping while the auto surf is earning you credits. Most have no mechanism to get people to actually view your website. So what's the point?

Toolbar exchanges are becoming quite popular but their clickthrough rate is extremely low. You download a toolbar which installs on your browser. People's text ads are shown on other member's toolbars. The problem here is that the person has to actually click your ad before they view your site. You can go along browsing normally while your toolbar is showing ads and earning you credits. I find I barely notice them and am rarely enticed to actually click on them.

The whole point of joining a traffic exchange is to gain exposure for your website, product or service and hopefully generate some sales or get signups from the other members of the traffic exchange and vice versa. Traffic exchanges do work and are a no cost or low cost form of advertising.

Popular Manual Traffic Exchanges:

Traffic Traderz
Traffic Swarm
Traffic Roundup
Traffic Generation Network
Web Biz Insider

Popular Toolbar Traffic Exchanges:

Instant Buzz
Free Traffic Bar

About the Author:
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Greg Chadwick is the Owner Operator of the Traffic
Traderz Manual Traffic Exchange
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