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An ongoing column by freelance writer, Lisa Gonzalez, owner of
www.keywordprincess.com
First of all I would like to send a big shout out to all your work at
home moms and work at home mom “wanna-be’s” who are looking for that one
opportunity to make your dreams happen. I also want to thank Nicole Dean for
giving me the opportunity to share my own work at home mom experiences with
all of you! This is the first article in my column that will be filled with
valuable information to help work at home moms succeed. If you have any
questions or any particular topics that you would like to know more about,
e-mail me because this column is ultimately for you.
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Online Business Promotion
This week we’ll continue this discussion about business promotion but
we’ll explore a few ways to promote your business online. I want to mention
a message board that I came across the other day, work at home moms were in
fact talking about business promotion and I ran across a post from one work
at home mom who said she’s afraid of online business promotion. Afraid? I
thought, how could anyone be afraid? Her post went on to say that she isn’t
very computer literate and that a friend of hers actually had to fill in all
of the information for her to join the discussions on that message board.
Okay, I can say that for a novice maybe it can be somewhat scary but where
there’s a will there’s a way. I wouldn’t say that to gain some understanding
you should invest in computer classes but if you can afford it, then it
wouldn’t hurt. Otherwise just a little more time on your computer will help
you out. Get to know you’re computer…I did and mine is my best friend. I
admit, I’ve had some computer classes in the past but just knowing the
basics of your computer can help you.
I believe and this is my personal view, that articles are the number one way
to promote a business on the Internet. Because my own business is writing
articles for websites, maybe I am biased but content is King now. E-zines
and websites are looking for cost effective ways to gain original content
related to their sites without paying an arm and a leg for it. That’s where
you come in.
If you’re business is dealing with make-up, write up an article about a
topic related to make-up and post your e-mail or your web address in the
byline to tell people who you are and what you do. The same goes for
anything else! Pottery, home décor products, vitamins, crafting products and
share your wisdom. If your article is good, people will follow the link to
your site or e-mail you to find out more.
Look for websites that accept free article submissions and post your
articles, you’ll be surprised to see your article promoting your business at
a dozen different sites. Find websites with lots of work at home mom
information and proposition them, tell them what you would like to
contribute as a regular columnist on a particular subject.
The best thing about the Internet is the wealth of things that are free!
Websites are free, web design is free, web e-mail is free, advertisements
are free, message boards are free and the list goes on and on. Moms who are
looking to work from home are also looking for free information. They wander
through board after board, reading about different businesses and how they
too can be a work at home mom. Use these forums and message boards to your
advantage, post anywhere and everywhere that gives you an opportunity.
Take advantage of web designers who offer services for free. Post your own
website, you can be in control of all the content of your site and study SEO
politics to gain a good ranking.
Don’t forget free advertising, classified sites or new websites that offer
free ad spots. Never, ever turn down a chance to promote your business.
Think of what you can lose by not promoting.
If you’re going to pay for advertising, which a lot of moms are, make sure
you’re paying for a valuable service. A good example is newsletter
advertising. Be leery, make sure that the newsletter reaches your target
market, the site that distributes the newsletter is respected and read and
stay away from pay per click advertising. A lot of newsletters are selling
ads on a pay per click scale and pay per click is tricky. You pay a fee
every time someone clicks your ad and it’s sad to say but some of these are
scams.
Remember that promoting your business is a vital part of your business and
the more you promote, the more successful you will be. Have fun promoting
however you choose and explore all of the ways you can promote, especially
the free ones first.
Keep an eye on this column because I received a couple of e-mails just
yesterday talking about e-mail scams or spoof mail as it’s called. A lot of
us work at home moms do have various online payment accounts set up with
PayPal and others, knowing how to protect yourself is important. If you have
any information to contribute please feel free to e-mail me with tips or
experiences.
About the author: Lisa Gonzalez is a wife, a mother to three rambunctious
boys, a successful work at home mom, a freelance writer, a Spanish
translator, a pizza junkie and she has two websites,
www.zonemom.com and
www.keywordprincess.com
If you would like to contact her for subjects in this column please do so
at: gonzalezinc@lowcountry.com
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