Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
If you’re thinking of sharing your business via Facebook, creating an effective profile is important. It’s easy to go into Facebook and set up a profile that doesn’t do much to reflect what you’re about. So here are some tips for Facebook beginners.
1. Be careful
It’s wise to exercise care when you set up your business profile. You may or may not already be on Facebook to socialize, but it’s a good idea to keep your business Facebook page separate. It’s also a good idea to limit who reads your status updates so that your personal news does not conflict with your professional news.
You can use Facebook’s privacy settings to control who sees your updates. And remember, privacy settings aren’t perfect; some cross-over is possible, so take care what you post. Some things you don’t need to share!
2. Your name
Most business people suggest using your real, full name in your profile – another good reason to pay attention to privacy settings. But you’re a business, so you want your name out there. Using your real name makes it a lot easier for people to get hold of you.
3. Your avatar
You will need to choose an avatar. Some successful business people suggest using a professional picture of yourself, but it’s entirely possible to get a good photo with your home camera. Let your “look” reflect the mood of your business (you don’t want to be pictured in overalls, for example, if your business is a professional marketer; but overalls would be an excellent look for a gardening business). If you have some photo software on your computer, you can adjust the background and so forth to construct a good avatar.
You can also use your business logo as your avatar. Various sources disagree as to which is the most effective from a business perspective, so ultimately it’s up to you and what you’re comfortable with. Consider your avatar’s look and colors, and see if it makes an effective avatar or not.
4. Think like a client
If you were a prospective client of your business, what would you like to see on a profile? Be thorough and truthful, but keep your prospects in mind. There are some things your clients don’t need to know, and other things they should know – remember, this is a business profile. Include those aspects of yourself that coincide with your business intent.
Something else to consider are online resources such as free printed guides and tutorials.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
There is more to Facebook than friends and contacts! Advertising with Facebook is an up-and-coming way to enhance your business. If you’d like to consider advertising with Facebook, here are some tips on how to make it work for you.
1. Determine your demographic
Known variously as your “target market,” “target audience,” “demographic,” and so forth, determining just who it is you’re selling to is a step that shouldn’t be skipped. Facebook actually offers tools for you to research your demographics’ Facebook presence – find out the groups, events, and individual profiles that are relevant to your business.
2. Build your own business community
Facebook is about making connections. Building communities via Facebook is a good way to conglomerate members of your demographic and find new ones. For example, your clients and fans may join one of your groups and invite their friends to join as well. Keep it interesting and lively by holding discussions, virtual events, providing exciting information, and so forth.
Another note on community building – remember that this is a feature at the heart of Facebook, so direct sales ads tend not to do as well. The majority of Facebook users are on the site because they want to form relationships, not necessarily because they want to buy something.
3. Facebook resources
Facebook offers guidelines and tools for advertising. Check out www.facebook.com/FacebookAds for details on how Facebook recommends you advertise through them. You can develop your ad through a tool offered at www.facebook.com/advertising, too. You can just begin with an image and a brief tagline or description. Your ad will appear on the right side of those Facebook pages you have targeted.
4. Key words
It’s a good idea to learn to integrate key words into your ads. These are words that are gleaned from people’s profile information, and you can use these key words in your ad to customize it to a particular demographic. In fact, what you find in people’s profiles is key to filtering out who is in your target market and who is not.
5. Set a budget
Setting a budget will help prevent you from experimenting with a lot of different ad techniques, thereby wasting money and time. Your advertising campaign should have a definite budget limit, and your goals need to be clearly defined alongside it. In other words, you need to know just what it is you expect for your advertising dollar.
6. Look at the ads of others
Consider doing some research – click on the ads you see on your Facebook page, and see what they are up to. What kind of ads seem effective? Which ones have an approach that appeals to you? Which ads keep appearing over and over, indicating they have something that’s working for them?
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
An online business thrives and survives based on their traffic. The more traffic you have, the more potential customers you have. And the more customers you have…Yep! The more profits you’ll earn. However, you don’t always want to have to spend an arm and a leg to gain traffic. Here are seven cost-effective ways to increase traffic to your website.
#1 Social networking – Social networking is free. It costs time and energy; however, there’s little else to do on a social networking site except interact. And that’s how you drive traffic. Whether you’re using a Facebook fan page, a Twitter page, LinkedIn or another social networking site, the key is interaction. Create a compelling profile. Interact, share and comment. Then when it’s appropriate, post links to your website and website content. You will drive traffic to your site.
#2 Comment on industry blogs – You’d be surprised to find out how much traffic a blog comment can generate. Subscribe to industry blogs. When appropriate and relevant, comment on new blog posts. Be sure to register with the site and to include a link to your website. Fellow commenters are sure to visit your website, as are other blog readers. It’s a great way to drive traffic. Of course, make sure your comments represent you and your business effectively.
#3 Publish – Publishing is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. Publish on article directories. Publish on other people’s websites. Publish in print and online magazines. And syndicate your website content – this will help it get published all over the web. Each time someone reads something you’ve published, they’ll visit your website.
#4 Blog – Blogging is similar to publishing. However, in addition to posting to your own blog, try to become a guest blogger. Write posts for other relevant blogs. And be sure to link to your website in your profile or author’s resource box.
#5 Giveaways – While the above four tactics are free, giveaways aren’t. You can give away free content like a downloadable report or online course. You can also give away something that’ll generate a lot of attention, like a Kindle or an iPad. Make sure, however, that your giveaway is related to your niche. When you’re giving something away, be sure to promote it. Spread the word on social networking sites. Blog about it. Ask others to share the link.
#6 PPC/CPM – Advertising is not free either. However, if you handle a campaign strategically it can be very cost effective. If you’re using this tactic to drive traffic, make sure you’re sending visitors to a specific page. For example, send them to a sales page or an opt-in page. This way you can track results and keep a tight hold on your budget.
#7 Affiliates – Starting an affiliate program can take time, but it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Affiliates can send traffic your direction. You only pay when their traffic results in a conversion. It’s extremely cost effective.
Generating traffic doesn’t have to be expensive. Before you implement any new tactic, create goals and a plan to achieve them. Test and track for success. Repeat any and all successes.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
Facebook offers a number of business-building benefits. One of the primary benefits Facebook offers is the ability to market your business. You can use Facebook to drive traffic, build awareness and attract attention for a launch. Here are three essential tips for a successful Facebook marketing campaign.
#1 Build a following
Facebook is a social networking site. The best way to build a great marketing campaign is to build a great following. This is accomplished by:
* Interacting with people on Facebook and bringing them into your community. Invite people to friend you or become Fans
* Supporting your prospects through comments, sharing and linking to their sites and informative content
* Offering tremendous value through posts, links and valuable information. You can link to your website and blog posts. Motivate a click by creating a compelling headline and teaser for your post.
#2 Engage and interact
Marketing on Facebook is only effective if your friends and followers feel they can trust you. You earn their trust by engaging with them. They’ll learn to like you and believe in your brand promise if you:
* Provide valuable information on a consistent basis. For example, create a daily tip and post it on your profile or Facebook Fan page.
* Post offers and promotions they can benefit from. For example, you can create a one-time promotion for Facebook Fans only.
* Occasionally entertain. Entertaining can be through sharing stories, videos, links and photos.
#3 Integrate effectively
One of the keys to any successful marketing campaign is integration with your other marketing strategies. When you integrate your Facebook marketing tactics with your other tactics, you’ll receive the best results possible.
For example, you can add a Facebook feed to your website or blog. You can add a “post this on Facebook” feature. You can add a “find me on Facebook” button or call to action to your email signature.
And with many other social networking sites you can integrate your efforts. For example, if you have a Facebook Fan page you can also link it to your Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn page. You can combine your Twitter and Facebook posts for double coverage.
Facebook can help you build awareness. It can create a community, motivate a purchase and launch a new product or service. Identify your purpose for using Facebook as a marketing tactic. Create goals and embrace these essential tips for Facebook marketing success.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
Every online and offline business operates through a series of practices. Practices are essentially systems you’ve established to accomplish something for your business. For example, when someone sends you an email inquiring about your products or services, what you do with that email is considered a practice.
How you communicate your practice is considered a policy. Many businesses publish a number of their policies. For example, a return policy or a privacy policy. When you maintain good online business practices and policies, you retain customers.
There are essentially five criteria a policy or practice is evaluated by. It must be:
* Fair and reasonable – Additionally, if you state a policy or a practice you must follow through on it. For example, if you say a client can return a product within thirty days, you must honor that agreement.
* Communicated clearly – Your practices don’t all need to be published on your website. However, they should be communicated clearly when it’s a relevant time to do so. For example, during your shopping cart procedure a customer should be made aware of your return policy. They should also be made aware of your return policy when you thank them for their order and/or when you ship or deliver the product.
* Effective – Your practices should help you accomplish your goals. They should also support and enhance your customers’ overall experience with your company.
* Transparent – Your policies and practices need to be clear and easy for your customers and prospects to find and understand.
* Legal – They need to be legal so you and your customers are protected under the law.
One of the most common practices is your data collection practice and subsequent privacy policy. People want to know how you collect their information and how you protect their privacy. When you make this information readily available on your website and it’s communicated clearly, it’s fair and reasonable and you follow through, you’ll keep customers. It strengthens your relationship with them.
Business Practices Offer Business Benefits
Each practice you create and put into action becomes become part of your business. When your business practices support both you and your customer, your business will run efficiently and effectively. When you miss something along the way, you risk losing customers.
Good business practices support you to:
* Communicate effectively
* Motivate loyalty
* Enhance word of mouth
* Spur positive reviews and feedback
* Generate testimonials
* Operate efficiently
* Profit consistently
Take the time to review your business practices. Do they support your customer to have a fantastic experience? Do they support your success? Are they fair, legal, communicated effectively and honored? When you respect your customer through your business practices, they’ll return again and again. It’s one of the best ways to establish long-term success through customer loyalty.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Wish, Member Contributions
An SEO boost can be invigorating both for your profits and also for your mindset. It’s an accomplishment that can have a serious impact on your business. Here are seven ways to give your website an SEO boost.
#1 Target an easy search phrase – one that has lots of demand and little supply. These phrases are often the phrases that are three or four keywords long. They may begin with “How to” or “Tips for”. Use keyword tools to help you find those unique keyword phrases to focus on.
The reason for targeting these easy search phrases is that you can quickly achieve a top page rank. You can then use these content pages to link to other pages within your website – the pages where you ideally want your traffic to go.
#2 Social bookmark your key pages – Choose a few key pages and list them with social bookmarking sites. Sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious. Social bookmarking sites create both traffic and incoming links.
#3 Link to your key pages from social networking sites and blogs – Commenting on blogs and participating on social networking sites drives traffic to your site. It can also give you an SEO boost. People may link to your website and specific pages on your website once they learn about your valuable content and information.
#4 Internal linking – Targeting the same key pages, create an internal linking structure within your website to draw attention to these pages. You can identify a keyword or keyword phrase you’re trying to optimize and link to pages that use those keywords.
#5 Write more content on your niche keyword phrase or phrases – Content is ultimately what search engines index. The more relevant content you have, the more value the search engines place on your site. Creating keyword-focused content can give you the SEO boost you’re looking for.
#6 Make sure your existing content is optimized – This is accomplished by:
* Placing keywords in your headline
* Placing keywords in your subheadings
* Placing keywords in your first and last paragraph
* Place relevant and supporting keywords throughout the body of the copy
#7 User-generated content – You can use interactive features to motivate user-generated content. This content can give you a great SEO boost. Look for opportunities to ask for contributions. For example, ask advice and then let people post their responses to your site. (Of course you have full rights and control over the content).
Boosting your search engine optimization takes a goal and a plan. Choose the keywords or keyword phrases you want to focus on. Then embrace these seven tips to increase your ranking for those keywords. Watch your rankings increase and your traffic grow.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
Julianne Alvarez-Wish is a military wife, mother, business owner, professional writer, blogger and legislative advocate. She is the Director of Communications for Our Milk Money, the Colorado State Leader for the National Association for Moms in Business and the owner of Buy By Mom and Buy By Mom Blog. She is the Colorado Springs Stay-at-Home Mom Examiner for Examiner.com. She also blogs at A Wishful Thought. Her passion, purpose and goal is to help parents work from home so they can be home with their children.
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