Reading time: < 1 minute
When you work from home, it can be a real challenge to get your business tasks completed without repeated interruptions.
What can you do to minimize the distractions and be more productive?
There are four keys to creating a home office environment that allows you to minimize those distractions and stay focused.
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes
Guest blog alert! I’m at CWAHM this week. I was invited to post two guest blogs at Jill Hart’s CWAHM website this summer and they’ve just posted the first of the two so I wanted to share it with my blog readers. I’ll share the second one once it’s posted, too. If you’re a work at home mom, their newsletter’s full of great tips – both business and homemaking articles.
Summer time means we’re usually outside more, away from the computer, and getting some sunshine. That can make it difficult to stick with some of the marketing plans that rely heavily on the internet. Not sure what to do to stay active with your marketing while busy enjoying summer with your family? Here are a few low-tech and off-line ways you can get in some business marketing while you’re off to the beach or park.
Click here to continue reading -> http://cwahm.com/wordpress/2010/articles/guest-post-simple-summer-marketing-ideas/
(P.S. For Ultimate Blog Challenge participants, this post is 151 words, not including my PS here. Try featuring a little blurb and link to somewhere else you’ve published an article (even Ezine Articles!) as one of your posts. It’ll build your credibility as well as let you re-purpose your work and create a new blog post without writing a whole new article.)
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
One of the strategies I use to build a following on Twitter is to share helpful tips and articles as often as possible. If you’re doing the same, consider using this strategy to take your tips to the next level.
1. Start by compiling a list of 30 short tips on a specific topic. Remember they need to be under 140 characters. And if you want to encourage others to re-tweet them for you, keep them even shorter (around 100 characters or so).
2. If some of the tips you want to share are too long, write a blog post or article explaining it, then add the URL to the tip. Use a URL shortener like Bit.ly to make sure it’s not too long.
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
When you’ve got a goal of posting every day for a month, it can be a challenge! Make it easier with these tips:
Plan Your Content In Advance
Get your content plan ready and it’ll be as easy as following a map. Start with a calendar for the month. Look at what else you’ve got happening during the month. Are there any holidays? Promotions or special offers you want to share? Are you launching a new product or offering a teleclass? Is there a product you want to promote as an affiliate? Block out the dates that you want to be sure you’re sharing posts around a specific event or topic and then you can see what’s left to fill in with other topics.
Write Topical Series
If you’re launching a new program that teaches readers how to create and paint their own neon purple widgets, then plan for a week or so of posts with content cenetered on that topic. For example:
Reading time: < 1 minute
How many visitors did you get to your website or blog last month? Want more? Not sure how to get more traffic?
Join Michele Scism of Decisive Minds, LLC, and me tomorrow as we share what’s working for us to generate more traffic to our blogs.
We’ll be focusing on blogging but many of the tips will apply to any website. And I’ll be sharing my favorite “set it and forget” type of tips (because who’s got time to add more things to their to do list?). So come listen in!
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
My first post on this topic was pretty popular so I thought I’d give it a second round. Marketing can feel like this huge overwhelming thunderstorm that hangs over our heads when we’re running our own businesses. As if we’ve got TIME to deal with ONE MORE THING! But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Believe me, I understand! If I had to write a 50 page marketing plan and spend 4 hours a day implementing it… well, either it’d never happen… or I’d never get anything else done and never have time to complete the services I need to for my clients and create the products I offer. Or, I’d never get to play with my kiddos and my house would look like a hurricane hit it. There just aren’t that many hours in the day. If I wanted that much stress I wouldn’t be working from home with my own business. Always remember the reason you started your business – I’m pretty sure that “So I can go legally insane and end up in therapy!” wasn’t on your top ten list of reasons, right? Yeah, it wasn’t on mine either.
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
It’s summertime… sunshine, beaches, camping, holidays, and kids out of school… are you missing out on posts from your favorite blogs with all that busyness?
I posted a few weeks ago about how to setup your own blog to allow readers to follow you with RSS but didn’t share how to setup your own RSS reader for you to follow blogs you like. (Scroll to the bottom of this post for a video explaining RSS.)
Why would you want an RSS reader? All your favorite blogs in one place, easier to stay caught up with. It’s a great time-saver and makes it much easier to stay engaged with those you’ve chosen to follow and learn from.
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
I’m writing this from the airport at 7:03pm. My goal is to be done at 7:13pm and schedule this post. I’ve got 30 minutes until my plane boards and I can complete three small tasks to move my business forward. Here are some ideas:
1. Write a quick blog post and promote it.
Jot down some random thoughts about something helpful for your readers. Try a top ten list (like this one!) or top 5 list. You can polish it later and use it as an article, in your newsletter, for a podcast, in a video, etc. Take time to tweet your post and add it to your Facebook status. If you’re using Networked Blogs, it will tweet/update for you.
If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of posting in 10 minutes, check out Michele Scism’s 10 minute blog post ideas: part one and part two.
2. Write a few thank you cards or emails.
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes
If you’re a law of attraction / positive thinking fan, you’ll like these cards I created a while back. Each card has an inspirational quote at the bottom and space on the top for you to write down your tasks to complete and then things that you need to allow/trust the universe to bring you.
Just click here to download free. No opt-in required. The link is to a ZIP file which contains three PDF files.
If you’re not into Law of Attraction don’t panic – you don’t have to download these, and I rarely post about these sorts of topics. I’m still analyzing a lot of stuff in my head, to be completely honest. :)
If you’d like, you’re also invited to sign up for the mailing list (top right corner of the page) and get even more great free stuff from me including worksheets, checklists, and special reports, and then weekly business articles from me. Or connect with me on Facebook using the box on the right side of this page.
Reading time: < 1 minute
This post is going live early Monday, June 7th, but I’m writing it Wednesday night, June 2nd. How’s that happen? Scheduled posts!
Here’s how to schedule a post in WordPress:
[Read more...]
| Email: | Or RSS:  |
 | Michelle Shaeffer on Make Your Point More Memorable with Images |
| Michelle Shaeffer on Top 5 Mistakes New Work at Home Moms Make |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 4 Ways to Minimize Distractions in Your Home Office |
| Michelle Shaeffer on What Will You Do for a Banana? |
| Michelle Shaeffer on Homework? But I Graduated a Decade Ago! |
| Michelle Shaeffer on 101 Women Bloggers to Watch |
| Michelle Shaeffer on Becoming a "Reverse-Paranoid" |
| Michelle Shaeffer on Becoming a "Reverse-Paranoid" |
| Michelle Shaeffer on Becoming a "Reverse-Paranoid" |
 | Shel Horowitz on Becoming a "Reverse-Paranoid" |
 |
 |
 |
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes I’m writing this from the airport at 7:03pm. My goal is to be done at 7:13pm and schedule this post. I’ve got 30 minutes until my plane boards and I can complete three small tasks to move my business forward. Here are some ideas: 1. Write a quick blog… [Continue Reading]
Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes If Forrest Gump was right, and life is like a box of chocolates, and you never know what you’re going to get… I want you to think of your blog and your business as if it were a cupcake. The cake part is what you do–your services or your… [Continue Reading]
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes My first post on this topic was pretty popular so I thought I’d give it a second round. Marketing can feel like this huge overwhelming thunderstorm that hangs over our heads when we’re running our own businesses. As if we’ve got TIME to deal with ONE MORE THING! But… [Continue Reading]
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes One of the strategies I use to build a following on Twitter is to share helpful tips and articles as often as possible. If you’re doing the same, consider using this strategy to take your tips to the next level. 1. Start by compiling a list of 30 short… [Continue Reading]
Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes If you’re reading my blog, I think it’s safe to assume you’ve got a small business, correct? (And small doesn’t refer to how many items you sell or your revenue, just that you’re either a solopreneur or a business with just a few employees.) Why are you in business? … [Continue Reading]
 |  |  |  |
Shel Horowitz (2)
Sukhraj Beasla (2)
Uzi (2)
Deb (1)
Denese Bottrell (1)
Leisa LaDell (1)
Lisbeth Tanz (1)
Maureen Wielansky (1)
Ria (1)
william chaney (1)
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
StumbleUpon
LinkedIn
RSS