Whether you’ve been following my journal on becoming a WAHM Baby Boomer all along, or are new to blogging, there’s always something new to learn about online business strategies.  The Web 2.0 field is evolving constantly, and there are many things you should be aware of.

Social Media Optimization

Maybe you have read a blog post or article on someone’s website. At the end of each of my articles or blog posts, you’ll see that I have a host of different social media icons that will enable you to favor the article to different sites.  Run your cursor over them and names like Technorati, Digg, Reddit, and Delicious pop up.  Some blogs have characters that represent the same social bookmarking sites.  What are these characters and what do the names mean?

These are links to social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking is much like what you would do with an actual bookmark. Physical bookmarks are used to mark a page or a passage that you want to find again at some point. This goes for social bookmarking icons as well. If someone wants to find that particular article again or let others know about it, they can bookmark the address on a site and mark it with keywords for future reference.

Not all social media sites are the same. The principle is the same across the board, but some social bookmarking sites specialize in different media.

Squidoo specializes in creating lenses that showcase an area of expertise of the lens owner. On my right sidebar, you’ll see that I’m a Squidoo Lensmaster and have created many different Squidoo Lenses in my areas of expertise.

Flickr concentrates on photos, and many of the photography blog authors that I visit will upload their photos to that site.  Some bookmarking sites deal with movie or music reviews in contrast.

Before choosing a social media strategy, find a site that caters to the content or type of business that you conduct. That will draw the most traffic to your business. If there is more than one, then join all that apply. One thing to remember is to create content that people will be interested in and use to track back to your business website. Remember that your site readers will mark your pages and posts on these sites because they find them informative and useful and think others will too.

Through quality content, a business owner can easily create a nice following of readers and possibly higher search engine rankings with the use of social bookmarking sites. For the purpose of content, look around the more popular bookmarking sites and see what others are viewing and find interesting and useful. That is the type of content you want to focus on with your websites. Investigating the more popular social bookmarking sites will make it easy to track down competitors and find out what your target market deems as useful information. Using these bookmarking sites will increase the visibility of your content and make it easier to market to your specific target customer or reader.

You’ll also be able to see that I’ve added on bottom footer links to various blog directories.

Social bookmarking is a simple, but effective way to bring traffic to a business website. Add bookmarking icons to your blog or website to help increase the chances of someone adding it to their favorite list of content.

© C. Matthews 2010

Why You Should Use Social Bookmarking as a Business Tool For Your Blog is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

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Continuing in my chronicles of trying to develop a work-at-home lifestyle in preparation for retirement, I’m going to address the issue of “getting your family on-board” and used to the idea that the dining room table is no longer for dining.  It has now become my “staging area.”

Years ago when we were young, childless and full of energy, I used to entertain quite frequently (and quite elegantly, I might add.)  Those days are over, and I now need my dining room for my eBay Store shipping area, as well as for all the items for my product reviews.  Convincing the family that I am indeed, quite serious about this venture, has been to say the least, challenging.

Taking on a home business venture is difficult enough. Getting your family to support you may be the difference between your business success and failure. From your family’s point of view, this working at home thing has both it’s good and bad points.

Your “too young for school” age children love having you at home because they like doing things with you, whether it’s baking cookies or playing in the sandbox.

Your school age children find it pretty handy having mom at home to drive them to their soccer games or have their friends over to play. They even like having you come to school to volunteer in their classroom.

Teenagers are a harder sell. They like that you can drive them to the mall or bring them to work. They however may not be really fond of the fact that you always seem to be around.

If, like me, you might be a Baby Boomer Grandma, working at home might seem like an open invitation to drop the grandkiddos off at a moment’s notice when a babysitter is needed.

Now your husband probably sees both sides. He loves that his wife is home taking care of the house and the kids and making a nice supper each evening. He’s even proud of what and says he supports you in what you are doing and may even be amazed at how you manage to pull it all off and make it seem easy.

He’s not as keen on the fact that your income has dropped if you used to have a “real” job and are not making the same amount of money as a WAHM. He probably is not too crazy about the idea of having to pitch in more in the evenings so that you can get some work done. You’re busier when he wants some attention and he has trouble understanding why, when you’re home all day, you need to work in the evening.

The hardest person to get on-board may be your husband. He may not be convinced that you’ll actually make any money with your venture.

So how do you overcome your family’s objections to your working at home and get them on your side? Holding a family conference to discuss the issue is probably a good first step. During this conversation it’s important for everyone to have their say and to share their feelings. By hearing what your children and husband think and how they perceive your home business venture, you’ll know how best to explain your ideas.

Try to elicit a promise of your spouse’s support for at least a period of several months, so you will have some time to get up and running. If he is very much opposed to your venture at least try to arrive at a compromise with him. Perhaps suggest that if you’re not showing an income after a specified period of time, you’ll give it up, put it on hold for awhile, or go back to work.

Come to some mutual agreement that you can both live with. This is how it becomes a win/win situation. You’ll work even harder to prove you can do it and he’ll be happy knowing that there will be a resolution.

Your family needs to realize the benefits of you working at home rather than outside the home. Point out how much extra help you’d need and the extra chores they’d have to do if you weren’t working at home. This is usually a pretty persuasive argument when it comes to the kids and maybe even your husband too.

Talk about your feelings regarding having your own home business, whether you are considering a career as a real estate agent, eBay entrepreneur, boutique online store owner, or Etsy owner.  Discuss how important it is to you that they support you. The guilt card, when used properly, can be very effective.

Involve everyone in the decision about your venture. Listen to each and every family member and take their feelings into consideration and ask that they do the same for yours. You can even try offering rewards for their support. They don’t have to be monetary awards either, spending time together and showing them how readily available you can be to them when they need you will help you be on the way to getting and keeping your family squarely on your side.

Why You Should Use Social Bookmarking as a Business Tool For Your Blog is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

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Now that Holiday Selling Season is getting into full swing, here’s a tip I’d like to pass along to help your sales and get some FREE ADVERTISING.  Online Shopping is going to be very popular this year, given the exhorbitant cost of gas, and many people are going to be looking for ways to stretch their hard-earned dollars.

When you go to post, most bump sites require the following:

1. The picture of your Auction or Fixed Price or Store Inventory item that is in your computer.

2. Your title of your auction (just copy and paste the title of your auction that you created in eBay)
a. with the mystery auction site, the last word of your title can be “mystery”
b. when you cut and paste your title from eBay, just delete the last couple of words & type in mystery.

3. The item # of your auction (usually found on the right hand side of your auction)

VOILA! YOU JUST DID FREE ADVERTISING!!!

http://www.auctionbump.com/
http://www.askmrbump.com
http://www.auctionpimpin.com
http://www.auctionwonderland.com
http://www.bumpyourauctionshere.com
http://www.magiesplace.info
http://www.powersellingmom.com
http://www.theirishshamrockcompany.com
http://www.dejacreations.com
http://www.paulajeansjewelryandcloset.com/
http://www.dorkauctions.com/
http://www.ebwiz.com
http://www.fetchbid.com/free-ads/
http://www.freeauctionbees.com
http://www.funtasticauctions.com
http://www.inspiremeauctions.com
http://www.learn2earnok.com
http://www.marvinjoe.com
http://www.MysteryAuctionBump.com
http://www.onlinestorelinks.info
http://shareyourwares.kftbdesign.com
http://www.shawnsbidness.com
http://www.storepromoter.info
http://www.wheresyourbid.com
http://seasonedwithtime.com/AuctionBumpPage.html

http://www.MysteryAuctionBump.com

http://www.paulajeansjewelryandcloset.com

Why You Should Use Social Bookmarking as a Business Tool For Your Blog is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

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As a small internet business owner, I’m always looking for ways to maximize my exposure on the web. Recently I came across Network Solutions. This is a company that specializes in helping small businesses start and market their businesses on the Web. In addition to domain name registration, they offer Web site design and hosting, e-commerce solutions, online security products, and search engine marketing and optimization.

Through Webinars and Seminars, Network Solutions explores issues such as pay-per-click and search engine optimization techniques, and provides practical knowledge about strategies, tactics, and solutions for marketing online. Network Solutions has designed all of these resources to lead, guide, and teach small business customers how to succeed online.

Network Solutions also offers ideas to small business owners for improving business practices in ways many may not have even thought or known possible. The events also provide opportunities for small business owners to network with one another and learn from each other.

If you’ve been downsized or outsourced, you might be interested in network solutions jobs. etwork Solutions is looking for bright, talented team players! They’re looking hard to locate talented, passionate, and dedicated people who want to build and grow their careers with a company like Network Solutions®. Perks include a comprehensive health and welfare benefits program, Matching 401K program as well as Flexible Spending Accounts.

Check them out ~ Network Solutions is there to help you any way they can!

Why You Should Use Social Bookmarking as a Business Tool For Your Blog is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

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If you’re an eBay Seller, or a WAHM who has an online ebiz, you have to check out this terrific site that I came across in my surfing.

Everyone likes FREE ADVERTISING ~and online marketing surf sites, are really cool. There are many out there, and I’m on several ~but I’ve found Shopping With Moms to be among the best.

Once you submit your site to Traffic Exchanges, you can start to surf. The more you surf, the more exposure your site(s) get!

The surf ratio is 2:1. Don’t always have time to surf? You can buy “hits” for a nominal fee. The more you surf, the more exposure you gain through “hits”. Although you never see your own site when you surf. You can add banner, web sites or text adverts. You’ll also be able to get a discount on purchases when you shop through the site. I’ve come across many interesting sites that I’ve bookmarked for future reference. You can also add your ‘blog’ listings on there. Only family friendly, and non-frame breaker sites.

And who said the best things in life aren’t sometimes FREE?

Why You Should Use Social Bookmarking as a Business Tool For Your Blog is a post from: Moomettes Magnificents

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1. Facebook Tutorial: Social RSS Helps to Promote Your Blog or Business
2. How to Make Your Blog More Social: WP Plug-Ins to Help Your Social Network
3. Tips to Amplify Your Social Media Presence on the Web