Boosting Your Home Based Business with Blogging

In terms of personal necessity, blogs act as an avenue for you to express yourself. It can serve as a memory bank for articles you dragged from the internet. It functions like an organizer and thus keeps you updated on everything. A blog is nevertheless a personal website.
The functions of a blog don't stop there. In the field of business, a blog is also used as an instrument. There are thousands of companies that have adapted blogs to push their businesses at the summit. Focusing on the power of the internet, these companies manage to trust their blogs for the growth of their businesses. They have actually gambled in a sure win game. Knowing how many people surf the web everyday these companies are geniuses.

How about those smaller enterprises? Do blogs suit them? By all means, yes.

Home based businesses need a blog much more than any other types of businesses. Or shall we be more specific by saying that such type of businesses necessitate more promotion than that of the mainstream businesses. Since their business place is far off from the central marketplace, people need to be informed and be aware of the existence of these smaller enterprises through blogging. By means of blogging, these types of businesses are given a chance to be known and be noticed. They can gather an audience and later on customers by means of these super business channels, or Blogs.

Here are some advantages of  having a blog for a home based business:

» Blogs are an all-in-one package. HTML is hard to learn and a little time consuming. By using blogs you will not have a problem with the appearance since it is preset for convenience purposes. It is very simple to change fonts and colors, add images and links with no knowledge of HTML or CSS at all.

» You can post any thing on blogs without any hassle at all. Plus you can post any time. Nonetheless, posting is not a problem.

» Since blogs are not e-mail communication, spam has no place in it.

» Blogs are convenient because you can easily make as many as you need to cover your subjects or topics.

In order for your blog to be beneficial to your business, there are a few things that you will need to do.

1. You must update your blog, two to three times a week at least.. New updates leave something to look forward to on the side of your audience. It will leave your audience asking for more. Never overlook all current information and issues that will surely catch their attention.

2.  Your blog must have a place for comments, reactions and suggestions. It will help you reach the audiences tastes and desires through their own feedback. Criticism is an essential tool for growth. Just take every criticism positively.

3. Do not forget to link your blogs to other resources. It will help not just you and your business but also your customers.

4. Simplicity is not ugly. Complicated layout and color will attract customers easily and also can shoo them away easily too. Remember that content is more important than anything else on your blog.

5. Lastly, keep your good values intact. That will require you to have an ample amount of patience, a comforting aura, proper relationship through words, etc. You may not have a large audience at first, but it will grow with time.

More entrepreneur and business articles

Advice for Starting Your Own Business

Are you thinking about setting up your own business? Have you an idea for a new business but are unsure about how to proceed? If you have answered yes to either of these questions, this article could be of benefit to you. I am going to write about how to plan and create a successful small business.

Many people are looking at ways in which they can become self-employed as they have had enough of being dictated to and  are fed up owith long and frustrating commutes to work. They want the freedom of being their own boss and to be able to choose their own hours of work.

Leaving a full time career can be quite a scary prospect however. The security of having a regular income and other benefits such as a pension and a share save scheme can seem hard to let go. I am sure many people whether rightly or wrongly have opted to stick with this security and to merely keep their business plan as an idea, which they never see through or use.

Other people are willing and happy to take the risk and see it as a way of getting out of the rat race.

When you have an idea for a new business you then need to think of a name to call it. I would keep this name quite short as it makes it easier to remember for people. It obviously needs to have something to do with the business sector you are entering.

You will now need to work out how much money you will need to set up the business. This can be quite daunting but is essential. In the short term I would advise to keep these start up costs as low as possible, you can always buy or rent better machinery in the future as an example.

Once you are aware of how much money you need, you then have to find it. You may have enough yourself via savings or a redundancy payout, however most people are not in this position. If you do not have enough money, you could try and raise money via the family, by seeking a partner or by releasing the equity from your house. There is also the option of a business loan.

The next stage is to market your product or service. There are many ways of doing this including:

The internet via a website

An advert in the newspaper

Direct marketing in the form of leaflets

An advert in the yellow pages

Exhibitions

Trade fairs

I would advise finding out where other people from your industry advertise as they will have tried and tested many of the above options.

You then need to work out how much to charge for your product or service. I always keep these charges fairly low at the outset in order to attract as many people as I can and to get some income in. I then hope that word of mouth will take over and the idea is that after a few months I will be in a position to increase my fees.

It is also important to realise that we will make mistakes along the way. When this happens we need to think positive and not beat ourselves up. It is an experience we can learn from.

Always have belief in yourself. At times any business will go through a rocky period, this is when we need to be strong. In my opinion the more work we put in, the more rewards we are likely to obtain.

Self-discipline is one of the keys to your success. Being able to choose your own hours of work may seem like a dream but it can prove to be many peoples downfall. We have to ensure that we work the required amount of hours. It is far too easy to stay in bed for that extra hour or to arrange yet another game of golf. These things are fine once you are established, but this is a long way off at this stage.

Four Easy Steps to Building Your Business

Creating a successful and profitable business is no easy task. It’s reliant on many outside factors, including competition along with timing and demand, which you have very little to no control over at the beginning. Assuming all of these outside factors are in your favor, having a sound business plan can lead to having a successful business. Here are five steps to consider when you’re building your business from the ground up:


1. Determine your business. What are you selling?

This question isn’t as easy to answer as you may think. For example, Nike is in the sportswear business, but the truth is that when you buy a pair of Nike shoes and a t-shirt at the mall you’re buying a lot more than sportswear — you’re buying an image, a feeling. You're buying the Nike brand. Richard Thalheimer, the former CEO of The Sharper Image and the founder of RichardSolo.com, has worked in specialty retail for more than 30 years. When asked what business he’s in, he’ll tell you “convenience” or "innovation" before he specifies any particular industry, and he's built one of the most powerful brands in America. Keep in mind, there’s more to a product than, well, the product. Your brand is what sets your product apart from your competitor’s.


2. Select your market. Who are you selling to?

This step is a bit less interpretive as the first, though equally important. Who are you selling to - or more importantly, what do you know about this person? Understanding your consumer is a key to success. What do they do? Where do they hang out? What do they watch on television? These are just a few of the questions that you should be able to answer about your consumer. Knowing the answers to these questions can answer a lot of questions of your own when it comes to a devising a marketing strategy. Richard Thalheimer understood his market for The Sharper Image, probably as well as they understood themselves. From an article in the LA Times, Tracy Wan, who was president and chief operating officer under Thalheimer says "Richard has the amazing ability to figure out the things that people want to have." This ability to perceive your consumer's desire can only be a result of knowing them like your neighbor.


3. Create a marketing strategy. How do you speak to these people?

This is a culmination of understanding your brand and your consumer. As mentioned in number two, understanding your consumer can answer a lot of questions concerning your marketing strategy: Where should you advertise? What's the voice of your brand? What kind of prices are reasonable for this demographic? In order to engage your consumer, a.k.a. sell your product to them, you must know where your advertisements will be noticed, how to speak to them, and how much they will be able to spend, among many of things. Really, this step should have been combined with the last because who your market is dictates your marketing strategy entirely.


4. Learn by example. Seek advice from those who have done it.

There are ton's of books written by professionals who have already started their own business and have been successful in doing so. One that comes to mind immediately, as we've already mentioned him a couple of times, is Richard Thalheimer. "Creating Your Own Sharper Image" shares the story of how he grew his tiny office supply company, The Sharper Image, into the thriving enterprise that it has become today.


Remember, building a successful business in not all about the dollars and cents. Equally as valuable is your brand equity and your ability to engage your consumer, which is only attainable by understanding them. Assuming there is a demand for your product, and you can compete with the other brands, following these four steps will guide you in the right direction.

Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur

Studies have shown that successful entrepreneurs possess these characteristics:


1. Self-confidence

This is that magical power of having confidence in oneself and in one's powers and abilities.

2. Achievement Oriented

Results are gained by focused and sustained effort. They concentrate on achieving a specific goal, not just accomplishing a string of unrelated tasks.

3. Risk Taker

They realize that there is a chance of loss inherent in achieving their goals, yet they have the confidence necessary to take calculated risks to achieve their goals.

Entrepreneurs are people who will make decisions, take action, and think that they can control their own destinies. They are often motivated by a spirit of independence which leads them to believe that their success depends on raw effort and hard work, not luck.

So which of these three main characteristics is the most important? Believe it or not, it has to be self-confidence. Without self-confidence, nothing else is possible. If you don't believe in your abilities, then the first challenge that arises may knock you off the path to achieving your goals. Here are a few things to keep in mind for maintaining a higher level of self-confidence.

Positive Thinking

Well, it all starts with a positive attitude, doesn't it? Believing that something good will happen is the first step. Negative thinking simply is not allowed. You must truly believe that there are no circumstances strong enough to deter you from reaching your goals. Remember too, that positive thinking can be contagious. When positive thinking spreads, it can open doors to new ideas, customers, friends, etc.

Persistent Action

Now all of the positive thinking and believing in the world is useless if it is not applied towards a goal. You have to take action, no excuses are allowed. This action must also be persistent. Trying once and then giving up is not going to be enough. Keep at it one step at a time. If you can't get by a certain step, then find a creative way to try again or just go around it.

At the beginning of this article I identified a few traits that are common among successful entrepreneurs. You should be able to look ahead and see yourself where you want to be. Now, just maintain a strong belief in yourself and your skills, stick with it, and don't give up. If you can do that, you're already half way there!

Business Plan Outline - The 5 W's

Business plan outlines are all unique. The one common thread is that all business plan outlines help the business owner answer the five W questions: who, what, when, where and why.


If any of you ever worked in journalism or as reporters, then you know that what you want to do when you investigate anything is answer the 5 W's. A business plan outline is a concrete method for investigating a business idea, so answering the 5 W's just makes sense.

Business Plan Outline of the 5 W's

Who are you?
Your business plan outline should detail your certifications, industry experience, and credentials. List the business credential that you've already received or those that you're planning on getting in the early stages. This part of the business plan outline also lists the staff you project needing and what their qualifications will be.

What do you plan to sell?
In your business plan outline you need to include a discussion of what it is you are selling. Are you selling products, services or both? Once you know what you are selling you then need to discuss the revenue and profit associated with your products and/or services.

This part of the business plan outline also includes your preliminary sales and marketing plan. What will you be doing to gain your clients and how much time and money will you spend doing so?

When did you launch or when do you plan on launching?
 This information is critical to outside investors and it will also help to keep you on track.

Where are you located?
Here you will indicate the types of facilities needed to run your business. Will you work out of your home or rent office space?

Why is your approach unique?
This is a critical question that your business plan outline must address. You need to explain your number one differentiator. Somewhere in your business plan outline you must make space for detailing the proposition that sets you apart from everyone else in the market.


Business plan outlines help you structure your answers to the most important business planning questions. These questions can are summarized as the 5 W's. By answering these questions, your business plan outline will lead you to discover and detail the exact "how" of your overall business operations.


How To Write A Business Plan… Made Easy
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Free Advertising Sites

I found some more free advertiseing and classified sites yesterday that I wanted to pass on to all of you. I like these sites a lot because they are easy to use and I've already seen lots of hits to my blog after posting my ads yesterday morning. They are all pretty much set up using the same system so once you get the hang of it you'll see how easy it is.

Advertyze is great because it safely and spam free sends targeted email advertisements.

Swom  is one I like a lot because you can advertise your business, services and expertise. You set up a profile where you review the company you work for and then you choose what you have to offer other people and then you can select people and their businesses and services based on what you are looking for.

Free Ads Planet This one is a forum for advertiseing.

My Free Adboard is what I have recently posted in the menu tabs across the top of the site. It's just a basic classifieds board, really easy to submit to or sign up for your own.

Text Ad Profits I love this site and think that it is one of my favorites. You post free text ads that you can save so after the first time you use it all you need to do is hit send the next day and your messages go back out again. It is very simple and fast.

My Daily List Builder - Another good one for free classifieds posting. If you join you can also post html ads and text links to your site.

I've seen results from each of these in just two days so I really think they are all good sources of free advertiseing that you should try.

Blog and RSS Directories

I made this giant list/directory of directories for blogs. Everyone with a blog should submit it to as many directories as possible. I have almost finished the list myself and my backlinks have greatly increased and my page rank went up too, but nobody really knows how that works so I don't know if that matters or not.

If you don't have an RSS feed for your blog, try Feedburner.com and set one up then submit your blog to all of these RSS search engine directories.

RSS Search engine Submissions

http://www.bloglines.com/

http://www.solarwarp.net/submitrss.php

http://www.leighrss.com/rss-add.html

http://www.blogdirectory001.com/?section=signup

http://www.5z5.com/Suggest-A-Feed/

http://www.feedplex.com/add-url.php

http://www.2rss.com/index.php


Blog Directories to Submit Your Blog To

http://topblogarea.com/

http://www.blogarama.com/

http://www.bizymoms.com/blog-network/index.php - Click on blogger network at the top, then add your blog  in the tabs on the next page. You need to go to your control panel and add your rss feed.

http://thehlmn.com/ fashion and beauty site, email your link, maybe banner too

http://www.dmoz.org/ This is a huge directory that you definetly want your blog in. Make sure it's in the right category or you will be rejected.

http://www.bloggerblackbook.com/bloggers/

http://www.topbabyblogs.com/cgi-bin/topblogs/accounts.cgi - just like top mom blogs

http://www.topmommyblogs.com/blogs/accounts.php

http://herblogdirectory.com/submit.php two levels to upgrade to for $5 a year or $10 for a month

http://bust.com/Girl-Wide-Web/ This is not what it sounds like from that title. I promise, no porn, just a really badly though out name. Click on the tab that says girl wide web then click submit blog in left sidebar

http://alltop.com/submission/ Another one of the top sites you want your blog in.

http://www.hotvsnot.com/addurl/info/?c=  super quick and easy

http://www.bloglines.com/

The Mommy Bunch - http://listing.thesocalledme.net/  - for mom bloggers

http://www.blogtopsites.com/

http://us.loadedweb.com/  There's also a free twitter directory you can submit to.

http://mompack.com/mom2mom/

http://www.mommyblogs.com/  - register and you can add your blog to your info.

http://themomblogs.com/blogs/profile.php

http://www.thefindbuzz.com/add_blog  - blog directory for shopping/review sites

http://www.wahmsthatblog.com/get-listed.php  for WAHM moms but they will accept blogs from all mom's, you can list your blog in three categories for free

http://csahm.com/blogs-by-moms/  blog directory for christian stay-at-home moms

http://www.sexyblogtop.com/  a site to submit adult blogs

http://geekyspeaky.com/links/

http://www.directorycritic.com/add-enterdetails.html  - this is for submitting directories, so if you have one on your site go ahead and submit

http://indexking.net/submit.php  free listing or $4 for a featured one year listing

http://submitblog.buzzerhut.com/

http://gowebguide.com/add.php  upgrade to a paid subscription to list deep links, $9 sponsored for a year, $5 premium for a year

http://www.boingboing.net/suggest.html  suggest a site for free

http://www.bloghop.com/account/index.htm

http://www.weblogalot.com/Ping / super quick and easy, just use your rss to ping them

http://honeylion.com/directory/addlink.php

http://www.a1weblinks.net/submit.php  upgrade to no reciprocal for $7.95 or featured for $12.95

Pay to Submit Blog Directories

http://www.blogsbywomen.org/ $5.00 for lifetime listing or featured listing for $30 for 3 months and $55 for 6 months

http://www.delightfulblogs.com/submit.php  $15 one time payment or $45 for 4 months featured with four other blogs at the top of your category and on the Delightfulblogs homepage

http://www.bloggingfusion.com/submit.php  $1.99 regular link, $12.99 w/ 3 extra link submissions, $39.99 yearly with 5 extra link submissions

http://www.bloggeries.com/submit.php  $39.99 one time or $54.99 annually for featured link

http://www.avivadirectory.com/submit.php  $49.95 for one year or $149.95 for a permanent listing


Top 100 List to Submit To- These are list that people started that you can submit your blog too and then as people click the link on your site it counts as a and  vote for yout site you'll move higher up on the list.

http://www.gotop100.com/directory/weblogs-and-xanga.html  - has around 20 list to submit too in this category

 http://bizwomenbloggers.gotop100.com/

http://thedomesticdiva.gotop100.com/

http://msbizbloggers.gotop100.com/index.php


Websites with Directories to Submit To

 http://www.zimbio.com/  - Online magazine, submit is in the left sidebar under "Citizen Journalism" join Wikizines to submit your blog post to or just use what they suggest, great site, ping your blog to import post, they advertise you blog post for you in the zines

http://hipmamasplaceblogs.blogspot.com/2008/09/how-to-submit-your-blog.html - you have to email your info.

http://momfuse.com/business-directory/  you can pay to upgrade to a premium listing or add a button to the site for $15 a year

http://www.today.com/submit-blog


Blogging Communities

http://www.blogcatalog.com/widgets

Blogged -  http://www.blogged.com/directory  blogging community, here is my profile if you want to follow me and I'll follow you back

http://www.blogher.com/

http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/submit_blog.html  also has paid listings starting at $8 or $60 a month by sponsoring a category on their site

http://www.bloggapedia.com/  free listing or featured listing for $49.99

http://fuelmyblog.com/  - search for MandaBlogsAbout and we can follow eachother

http://www.theblogfrog.com/Users/Home.aspx  search for manda if you want to be friends

http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/  sites not working so well, takes a while, have to claim blog with code


Search Engines

Bing
http://www.bing.com/docs/submit.aspx


Google Blog Search
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping


Yahoo Directory

http://dir.yahoo.com/  - submit site is in small print on the top of tthe right side of the page