I’ve been busy, busy lately!

In the meantime, I’ve put all my “venture”s under one roof and you can see them all at Moomettes Magnificents on Bonanzle.

I’m employing many of the wonderful techniques that Betsy, over at Smart Moms shares. A great way to empower and market your WAHM eBiz. Come exchange Links with me on my Blogroll and PLUG your site!

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses

If you own a home based business, more than likely you are looking for creative ways to market your business. Thankfully with the internet, there is a whole online world just waiting for you! By creating an online marketing strategy you can essentially market your business for free and drive traffic to your site. And the great part is that most of these routes are few and don’t require a lot of time or effort.

Here are just a few simple ways to market yourself and your business online!

Blogs: A great way to get started is simply to start a Blog. A blog is completely free and is a glorified online journal. Blogger and WordPress are two of the more popular hosts. Look around and see what you like and then just get started. Keep in mind the goal of your blog. Is it to promote yourself, your business or simply to talk about your daily life? You can start out slowly by just posting a couple times a week, however, if you really want to utilize your blog as a resource for traffic, make it a goal to post something worth reading on a daily basis.

Forums: Forums have become an increasingly popular way to network with other people. There are thousands to choose from, so just start looking. Whether you go to Yahoo and type in groups or Google “forums”, you will be amazed at what you find. Try to find groups that will allow you to promote your business as well as gain insight and knowledge from others. It might take a while to find a good fit, but don’t give up. A good forum can be an excellent resource for you when you’re first getting started as well as an excellent tool once you’re established!

Articles: The purpose of articles is to drive more traffic to your site or blog. To do this, you simply write an article on any subject, include your bio with links and then submit them to various article submissions sites. Once accepted, your article will be on these sites for anyone to read or use for their site, blog, eZine or other publications. Whether your article is viewed by curious readers or is published on other sites, the traffic you generate can be very rewarding.

Since articles are a free resource, be sure to write articles often. Make it a goal to write at least one a week, if not more. Post them on several different article submission sites and then site back and watch your hits and sales go up!

Blogs, forum, and articles are just a few simple ways to start generating traffic and creating a presence online. All three are simple and free ways that you can begin to target a cold market on a daily basis; reaching potential customers from around the country and world! If you begin to focus daily on these three sources for marketing, you will quickly start to see your traffic increase. Be consistent and offer helpful information and you will surely see your sales increase!

Betsy Canevari is a Work at Home mom with a toddler. Her passion is to help other women learn how to make money by working at home. For more great tips for marketing online, visit her Work at Home site.
_________________
Betsy Canevari
Smart Moms ~ Smart Business
Join our free 7-Day Fitness
Boot Camp
Visit our 4FabMoms Blog.

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

Related posts:

1. How to Get Your College Degree Online While Staying Home with your Kids
2. How To Start a Product Review Blog: Work At Home Ideas
3. Girlfriends Guide To The Business of Blogging Online Conference – December 8-10

Don’t miss this year’s biggest Ultimate Blog party yet:

Hop on over to the Ultimate Blog Party at 5 Minutes for Mom! Participate during the Week of March 20-27! Opportunities for Prizes and links to some great Blogs! Now’s a great chance to find some new Blogs, Ideas & see what other moms are doing!  Moomettesgram’s Musings, Mar 2009

To get in on the action read the whole article at Moomettesgram’s Musings!

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

Related posts:

1. How to Get Your College Degree Online While Staying Home with your Kids
2. How To Start a Product Review Blog: Work At Home Ideas
3. Girlfriends Guide To The Business of Blogging Online Conference – December 8-10

My one-year Blogoversary has recently passed.  To me, it seems as if I’ve been blogging forever.  In fact, it’s difficult to imagine how I operated my websites and online businesses, such as my eBay Store and Shoppes sites without having a blog!

As recently as two years ago, I had read that blogs existed, but didn’t know how to even go about finding one.  Entrecard provided a great opportunity to find blogs from all categories.  I’ve also since become a frequent poster at BlogHer, Kirtsy, Cafe Mom, MommyRanks, The Mom Blogs and Mom Bloggers Club.

Blogs have been around for many years. They started out, in the beginning, as great personal journals for Internet users who wanted to share their daily lives with their family and friends. Now, fast forward through the years to today; where they are now commonly used as business tools as well as private diaries of sorts.

Blogs are basically mini-websites authors use to post information about a specific topic. Some blogs share experiences of an author’s career path, while others provide up to date news concerning the topic their blog presents.

What Makes Blogs Such a Great Tool to a Business Owner?
Blogs can provide so many opportunities for business to reap rewards that no business website should be without one. Here are some of the benefits a blog can provide any business owner:

A blog can drive more targeted traffic to their main site.

Blogs are favorites of search engines.  They provide up to date content on a regular basis, so search engines will find them easier. Blogs can also be linked with other like-minded blogs to allow for more click-through visitors. Social bookmarking sites, social media sites and even message board forums love them as well. People will refer their friends to them when they see something they like.  I enjoy participating in Blog Carnivals where I get to meet other bloggers and see what they’re writing about.  Often you can find banners in sidebar columns ~ there’s usually a Blog Carnival going on somewhere in the blogosphere!

Blogs make it easier to gain return visitors.
If a visitor likes your blog, they’ll keep coming back to see what else you have to say on a specific topic. Business blogs can be linked to the main company site as well. The more times people stop by, the more chances an owner has of getting those visitors to your business site.

Blogs allow one to easily gain expert status amongst a target audience.
The more you blog about your site’s topic, the more you come across as an expert in that field. A visitor can be awed by the information you’re offering them and could look up to you as an expert on a particular subject. Now, the next time they need to buy a certain product or need help with something in that area, they will think of you first.

Blogs are user friendly and inexpensive to boot.

There are blog programs that you can sign up for free or for a very nominal fee. I started out at Blogger, and then transferred Moomettesgram’s Musings over to WordPress and my own domain. Most blogs are easy to set up as they generally walk you through the process step-by-step. There aren’t too many marketing tools that are as easy to use and inexpensive to obtain. This alone makes a blog painless to your business budget.

Business blogs are easier when it comes to upkeep.
Blogs are fun to use, which makes them much easier to maintain. Posting regular tidbits of your chosen topic keeps a blog updated without a lot of hassle. I’ve since gone on and established a blog on my Virtual Assistant website. Updating websites is essential, but can be time consuming and confusing as well.

The biggest benefit business blogs provide is…

Building Rapport with Your Target Audience.
This is, by far, the best benefit you can obtain from a blog. Blogs have comment sections where readers can leave messages for you to let you know they liked what you said in a post or to add their own thoughts on the topic at hand.  I’ve also added Comment Luv to my comments section, thus enabling your most recent blog post to show up, giving you added exposure and links in to your site!  It’s a Win-Win situation for both of us!

You’re building a relationship with your target audience that can help gain trust from them as well as find out what they’re looking for in a product. This is your way to get an inside look at what your customer’s wants and needs are without spending lots of money on marketing surveys and advertisements that don’t work.

Blogs can give your business everything mentioned above and more. Adding a blog to your arsenal of marketing tools is a must do for any online business owner.

Now don’t forget to comment on this article!

Related:
Full Time WAHM (Work at Home Mom)

Natural Mom Business Guide

Business Coaching

Barefoot Boot Camp

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

Related posts:

1. How to Get Your College Degree Online While Staying Home with your Kids
2. How To Start a Product Review Blog: Work At Home Ideas
3. Girlfriends Guide To The Business of Blogging Online Conference – December 8-10

I’d like to acknowledge special thanks to my recent Entrecard and Red Hot Drops Advertisers! If you missed them the first time around, please take a moment to visit these special Blogs!

Make Money Online ~ Work At Home
My Two Cents Worth
Up the Hill Gang
The Sewing Mom
Roxiticus Desperate Housewives
Confessions of an Organized Mess
Life and Me
This Side of Eternity
The WAHM Blog
Crayon Writer
Mommy’s Little Corner
Mom Reviews
The Mom With Brownies
Moms ~ Check NYO
Is 8 Enough?
My Thousand Loves
Regina’s Family Seasons
Thinking Outloud

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

Related posts:

1. How to Get Your College Degree Online While Staying Home with your Kids
2. How To Start a Product Review Blog: Work At Home Ideas
3. Girlfriends Guide To The Business of Blogging Online Conference – December 8-10