Remember eMoms at Home? Well, they´ve grown, expanded and changed their name to Sparkplugging! It was a huge change for the site, which had recently gone from being a single blog written by Wendy to a network of blogs.
Sparkplugging is even bigger and better and I´m happy to share some of my favorite blogs on the network, and there are even more coming in the next few weeks!
Sparkplug CEO is Wendy´s new blog and it covers the business side of working at home. Definitely a good read.
The Home Office Organizer is a great help for any of us who are struggling to get organized at home!
Ask the Coach is an excellent brand new blog with three different business coaches to answer your questions for free.
Believer in Balance is a blog for anyone who is striving to find that fine line between being a workaholic and losing your business to housework.
And, of course, there is Freelance Parent, which is definitely a HUGE benefit to any freelancing work at home mom. I absolutely love this blog and it´s a must-read in my book.
Now, this isn´t a complete list of blogs on Sparkplugging, so I highly suggest taking a trip over there and having a look for yourself. There are even more blogs coming, soon, so bookmark the site and check back frequently.
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Are you a work at home mom running your own business? Add your biz for FREE to the At Home Mom Business Directory.
Promotion is a major part of any business, but it´s often pretty costly. Rather than spend a small fortune, why not use one of the following five methods to promote your blog for free?
1. Write a guest post. Writing an article for someone else´s blog or website is a great way to get publicity and free advertising . . . to a whole new audience who might not have known about you. However, writing a guest post doesn´t mean just throwing random thoughts out there, tailoring your writing to the target audience of the other person´s blog will bring you far more traffic. Also, your post should be of high quality, even better than what you write for your own site, if possible!
2. Join a blog community. Getting involved with a community like MyBlogLog can really help you find other similar blogs to read and will bring in more traffic to yours as well. Be sure to be active, though, if you never add new friends or frequent the site, you won´t get much benefit from joining a blogging community.
3. Use social media. Working hard on building a worthy profile on a social media site such as StumbleUpon will let you create a network of friends where you can promote their websites and blog posts and they will do the same for you. Don´t use social media sites just as a promotion thing though, they´ll kick you out pretty fast. Be sure to bookmark any interesting sites that you come across, not just yours.
4. Get listed in blog directories. There are a lot of different blog directories out there. Not all of them are worth joining, but if you see one that seems to have a lot of activity and is being mentioned around the blogosphere, this can be a great way to boost your popularity. Take the time to enter your blog in three or four directories each week and you will also see your backlinks increase, which can help your rankings.
5. Link to other blogs. This often results in a link back to your site. While it´s not the only reason you should link out, catching other bloggers´ attention is never a bad thing! You can also boost your content value by letting your readers know about other resources that are available to them.
Each of these five free methods of promoting your blog can be a good way to bring in a little (and in some cases, a lot of) extra traffic. If you run a business blog, more traffic is going to mean more sales and more money coming in, so it is worth doing a little extra work to get more traffic and make your business more successful.
Subscribe now in your feed reader so you don´t miss a single article from At Home Mom.
Are you a work at home mom running your own business? Add your biz for FREE to the At Home Mom Business Directory.
Did you know that many people prefer to buy from a work at home mom than a big company? Other moms certainly do and for this reason, dozens of new work at home mom directories have sprung up to allow other women to buy products or hire services that will support a family.
You can use this work at home mom craze to your advantage and promote your business as a work at home venture. How? There are many ways. Including a single phrase at the bottom of any correspondence, virtual or real, can help. Something like “Thanks for supporting a work at home mom.”
Another idea is to get your business listed in work at home mom business directories. There are quite a few out there and I would suggest going for free ones to start off. Don´t pay for a listing unless you are sure it will help boost your sales. Here are a few free work at home mom business directories to get listed in. While this may not drastically boost your sales, every bit helps and some directories have buttons that you can include on your website that show you are a wahm.
Free Work At Home Mom Directories
My Mommy Biz - There is a paid listing as well, the link will take you to the free one. Every week one of the businesses on the list is featured for extra publicity.
Attachment Parents in Business - This is actually a site for work at home parents, not just moms, so if your husband is a wahd, let him know.
BlogaMama - Here you can list your blog, as opposed to a website.
If you know of any other free work at home mom business directories, please share in the comments.
Did you know that November first is All Saints Day? Technically, the second is The Day of the Dead, but it is often celebrated on the first as well.
For weeks now, I´ve noticed even food vendors bringing out wreaths and bouquets of dried flowers for people to purchase and place on the graves of loved ones and this got me thinking. Do you capitalize on holidays? Obviously, big ones like Halloween or Christmas are going to offer great opportunities to provide discounts, contests and even specialize products . . . but what about other holidays that are a little less publicized?
Here are a few examples that you could use, to encourage clients to flock to your products or services for a special day. I´ve only included a handful of ideas here, you can check out this site for more.
January
- Book Blitz Month
- International New Year´s Resolutions Month for Businesses
- National Hot Tea Month
- International Quality of Life Month
- Women´s Self Empowerment Week (1-7)
- National Thank Your Customer Week (7-11)
- Home Office Safety and Security Week (13-19)
- Trivia Day (4)
- Get to Know Your Customers Day (17)
- Fancy Rat and Mouse Day (20)
February
- American Heart Month
- Bake for Family Fun Month
- Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month
- Spunky Old Broads Month
- Women´s Heart Week (1-7)
- International Coaching Week (3-9)
- Random Acts of Kindness Week (11-17)
- Wear Red Day (1)
- Mardi Gras (5)
- National Chili Day (28)
March
- Deaf History Month
- International Mirth Month
- Save Your Vision Month
- Holy Humor Month
- National Ghostwriter´s Week (1-7)
- Girl Scout Week (9-15)
- Act Happy Week (17-22)
- I Want You to be Happy Day (3)
- International Scrapbooking Industry Day (4)
- National Common Courtesy Day (21)
April
- Cancer Control Month
- Informed Women Month
- National Kite Month
- Soy Foods Month
- Laugh at Work Week (1-7)
- Young People´s Poetry Week (14-20)
- National Volunteer Week (27-5/3)
- International Children´s Book Day (2)
- Walk on Your Wild Side Day (12)
- Earth Day (22)
May
- Awareness of Medical Orphans Month
- Get Caught Reading Month
- National Egg Month
- National Correct Posture Month
- National Family Week (4-10)
- Teacher Appreciation Week (6-12)
- Work at Home Moms Week (19-25)
- Mother Goose Day (1)
- Cinco de Mayo (5)
- Towel Day (25)
June
- Dairy Alternative Month
- International Men´s Month
- World Infertility Month
- Rebuild Your Life Month
- National Headache Awareness Week (1-7)
- Men´s Health Week (9-15)
- Freedom from the Fear of Speaking Week (29-7/5)
- Pen Pal Day (1)
- World Environment Day (5)
- Family Awareness Day (15)
July
- Blueberries Month
- National Horseradish Month
- National Make a Difference to Children Month
- Social Wellness Month
- Rabbit Week (15- 21)
- National Independent Retailers Week (20-26)
- Scrabble Week (25-30)
- I Forgot Day (2)
- National Ice Cream Day (20)
- Gorgeous Grandma Day (23)
August
- Black Business Month
- Get Ready for Kindergarten Month
- National Inventor´s Month
- What Will Be Your Legacy Month
- World Breastfeeding Week (1-7)
- Weird Contest Week (10-15)
- National Safe at Home Week (25-29)
- Respect for Parents Day (1)
- S´more´s Day (10)
- Sandcastle Day (16)
September
- Baby Safety Month
- Menopause Awareness Month
- National Coupon Month
- Shameless Promotion Month
- National Waffle Week (1-7)
- Balance Awareness Week (14-20)
- Tolkien Week (21-27)
- Be Late for Something Day (4)
- National Grandparents Day (7)
- Michaemas (29)
October
- Celebrate the Bilingual Child Month
- Eat Better, Eat Together Month
- National Dental Hygiene Month
- Women´s Small Business Month
- No Salt Week (1-7)
- Financial Planning Week (6-12)
- Kid Care Week (19-25)
- Child Health Day (1)
- World Smile Day (3)
- Universal Music Day (11)
November
- Family Stories Month
- I Am So Thankful Month
- National Adoption Month
- Vegan Month
- National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week (9-15)(2008)
- World Kindness Week (10-17)(2008)
- Better Conversation Week (24-30)(2008)
- Sadie Hawkins Day (1)(2008)
- Sandwich Day (3)(2008)
- Have a Bad Day Day (19)(2008)
December
- Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month
- Safe Toys and Gifts Month
- National Tie Month
- National Write a Business Plan Month
- It´s About Time Week (25-31) (2008)
- Posadas (16-24)(2008)
- Special Kids Day (3)
- Human Rights Day (10)
- World Peace Meditation Day (31)
People love personal touches and if you can give them that in a business transaction, they will most likely come back for more. There are many ways to add a special something to your orders and transactions, here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Take note of birthdays and send out a little card, nothing over the top, just a short note saying “Happy Birthday from YOUR COMPANY”. If you like, you can include a gift certificate for a free product or sample, but just the card is fine. Whatever you do, don´t turn it into a salesletter, that won´t go over well at all.
- Add something special to your packages. If a client has ordered a good amount, or is a repeat customer, why not treat them to a freebie? A simple addition of a low-cost product (perhaps an applicator sponge with an order of custom foundation or something similar) will be unexpected and welcome. You can bet that customer will think of you the next time he or she needs the same product.
- A personal note, handwritten is a great way to thank someone for ordering. The fact that you took the time to write a note is often very touching. Of course, this only works if your business is still fairly small, if you´re sending out a thousand orders a day, you can´t possibly write a note for each one!
- Taking a moment to think about your packaging can do wonders for your business. Don´t get too complicated, but perhaps the addition of a simple ribbon and bow to a feminine product would be enough to make it stand out from the rest.
How do you personalize your business?
