You can see the offer here at -MM July Pricing Special

Even though this is a tragic loss for one of our fellow members – this is a great opportunity for you to take action in your online business and create a new future!  I can’t tell you enough about Mom Masterminds and how it has helped me in my business.  Definitely worth every penny – and I didn’t have an opportunity like this!

Hope to see you at MM!

Here’s what you need to know and do if you are looking for a real work-at-home job online.

1) Understand that you aren’t going to sign up to work at home. Telecommuting work is found in the same way that traditional work is found and usually involves an application or resume, and interview process.

2) You can’t pay to get hired. Any company that says you can work for it by sending some money is not offering a job. It’s okay to invest in a good work-at-home job database or hiring a professional resume writer, but you should never, ever, ever, pay to get hired. Let me add here that a legitimate company will never need to use your personal bank account to do business either. Never pay money nor use your bank in a work-at-home job.

3) Be open to many job types. Instead of thinking, “I want to sit home and type,” think about all the skills you have that can be used at home. Are you a good researcher? Do you have good phone skills? Are you highly organized? Are you creative? Can you write persuasively? Make a list of all your skills, experiences, talents and hobbies and search for jobs that need those attributes.

4) Learn to do a job that has a high demand for workers. There are certain job types that have many job openings right now such as copywriting, customer service, web and graphic design, medical transcription, writers, and more. If you can’t do any of these jobs, why not learn how? Most can be either self-taught or learned through an online or correspondence course.

5) Look for work where jobs are posted. Most people get in trouble because they look for the wrong types of jobs in the wrong places. Use job search sites not search engines to find work-at-home jobs. Visit reputable work-at-home websites (offer articles, tips and information beyond affiliate programs) to learn about working at home and also to get job leads.

6) Be professional. I can’t believe some of the email I receive from people who want to work at home who tell me they can type and yet their letters have typos and grammatical errors. Or they say they want to work at home, but provide no information on what they are qualified to do. You have one chance to convince a potential employer that you can do the job. The employer doesn’t care about your childcare hassles or illness. She only cares about finding the best person to do the job. All your interactions should focus on what you can do for the employer.

Today, the opportunities to get hired to work from home are endless and continue to grow. But if you are to get hired, its important to understand what work-at-home jobs are, why companies offer them, and how you can position yourself to get hired. By understanding the six telecommuting rules outlined here, you will find legitimate jobs faster and improve your chances of getting hired.

Leslie Truex is the author of The Jobs Online Toolkit which provides step-by-step details on finding and getting a work-at-home job, including a list of over 300 companies that are frequently hiring. Visit The Jobs Online Toolkit and start applying for a job today!

Every year the members of Mom Masterminds create an amazing offer to all their subscribers called the Mom Mastermind’s $5 May Madness Sale. Members of Mom Masterminds offer some of their best products for only $5! The offer is only good for 10 days – starting on May 10th and going on until May 20th. Amazing! Why?….Why not! As a member myself, I am offering low cost advertising here on the HBRD Business Directory and Shopping Mall. You can adverstise your business for one whole year for only $5.00!

Mom Mastermind’s $5 May Madness Sale Here is what you can get for $5 –

Affiliate Marketing Sweetie System
Regular Price: $37.95

How Video Helps Women in Online Business
Regular Price: $7.99

Real Life Guidance Guides
Regular Price: $11.99 – 19.99

Become A Blog Consultant
Regular Price: $27.00/mo

Mom’s Talk Network Advertising
Regular Price: $10.00/mo

The Small Business Study Social Networking Guide
Regular Price: $20.00

Scrapbook Business Success
Regular Price: $9.00 – 19.95

Lifetime Directory Listing in Christian Moms in Business
Regular Price: $17.00

Hot Seminar Series
Regular Price: $19.00

Blog Internship
Regular Price: $10.00/week

25 Christian PLR Articles
Regular Price: $15.00

Internet Marketing Business Clean Up Self-Study Course
Regular Price: $47.00

PMS & Cravings
Regular Price: $14.99

Online Marketing for Offline Business
Regular Price: $49.97

Lawn Greetings 101
Regular Price: $19.95

Keyword Research
Regular Price: $30.00

How to Use Squidoo
Regular Price: $14.97

7 Types of Publicity & How You Can Repurpose Them for Affiliate Success
Regular Price: $17.00

Promote Your Business with a Video
Regular Price: $49.97

Blog Posts, Customization, Custom Graphics (That’s us!)
Regular Price: $12.00 – 50.00

Organized Assistant (The Spreadsheet with Brains!)
Regular Price: $25.00

Advertising for your Direct Sales Business
Regular Price: $29.97/year

Marketing 101 for Small Business Owners
Regular Price: $19.95/mo

TechBasedTraining
Regular Price: $19.98 per course

Weekly Meal Plan
Regular Price: $10.00/mo for 12 months

Kids’ Business Ideas
Regular Price: $9.97

How to Build Backlinks Quick and Easy
Regular Price: $10.00

Learn to Re-write PLR in less than 10 minutes
Regular Price: $10.00

SEO for eBay sellers – Part One
Regular Price: $12.99

Aweber Basics: Getting Acquainted With Your Autoresponder
Regular Price: $19.97

iThrive Membership
Regular Price: $20.00/mo

Virtual Event Case Study
Regular Price: $17.00

SMART Guide to Life Balance
Regular Price: $10.00

Advertise Your Product or Service Based Business at HBRD
Regular Price: $15.00/yr

Blogs de Mamis
Regular Price: $17.00
Important notice: This product is in Spanish

Reports from Premium Web Mastery – Empower yourself to Master Your Online Presence
Regular Price: $7.00

Twitter and Facebook icons
Regular Price: $15.00

40 minute telephone coaching session w/ Coach Nikki B.
Regular Price: $59.00

As I said before…..Amazing! With such great deals, I plan on doing a little shopping myself!

To learn more about each product or service offered, click here! You don’t want to miss out on these amazing deals, so hurry and order your products and services today! Offer ends May 20!

Some businesses hire companies to generate highly qualified leads.  Because these lead generation services are designed to the business owner’s specific needs, they offer a significant return on investment.  This option is often expensive, and therefore best suited to businesses with generous marketing budgets.

Purchasing lists of names to be used for telemarketing, direct mail, and internet marketing is less expensive and still somewhat qualified.  The drawback of this method is that lists become outdated very quickly, making it more effective for an email campaign than a costly direct mail program. 

Internet marketing offers a simple, immediate, and low-cost method of reaching a wide audience.  Using a website, business owners can generate their own leads by offering an opt-in newsletter subscription, give-aways, contests, and surveys.  Publishing a sign-up form on the website provides a large mailing list which owners can use to market new products or services. 

Employing a capture program on the website will provide information on every visitor to the site, providing useful demographic data which can be used to tweak product offerings and marketing strategies that will generate future leads.

Marketers who sell products or services locally often offer incentives to generate new business.  Direct sellers, for example, hold product parties hosted by their customers, who in turn receive rewards based on sales volume.  During the party, the seller will gather names of guests who wish to host a party in the future, thus ensuring ongoing business prospects.

Another simple practice employed by sales professionals is simply to ask their satisfied customers for referrals.  Being referred by a prospect’s friend or colleague gives the business owner more credibility, thus making the first contact more likely to be amenable.

Qualified leads are those that meet specific criteria.  For example, women are a better-qualified market than men if a business is selling baby products, while people in sunny locales are more likely to buy sunscreen than residents of rain-prone areas.  While maintaining a large pool of leads is important, the quality of those leads must also be considered.  The more qualified a lead, the more likely it is to generate a sale. 

Market research is essential.  Business owners who know their market will profit most in the lead generation efforts.  By knowing as much as possible about one’s customers and employing a variety of methods to capture their interest, business owners can generate a constant supply of qualified leads, ensuring steady sales and a growing customer base.

Marketing your new business task list:

#1  Get listed.  This is an easy step, get your business website listed on the search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  Once you’re listed then you can go about increasing your search engine ranking. To get listed, you can submit via your website host if they offer submission services. If not, simply visit each search engine and manually submit your URL.

#2  Create content.  Content is one of the best marketing tools if not the best marketing tool available to a business owner.  Articles can be written and published on your website which in turn will drive traffic to your website as people search for information on your industry topic.   Additionally, articles can be published on article directories which will drive traffic to your website in a number of ways.

#3  Become a social butterfly.  Connecting with other business owners, people in your industry and prospects is a great way to marketing your new business.  Social networking, meeting with others on forums, membership sites, chat rooms, social networking sites like LinkedIn, and even in blogs, is a great way to build relationships and credibility in your industry.  Social networking is a great marketing tool because it isn’t about “Selling” but rather it’s about relationship building.  For those who are uncomfortable cold calling, and who isn’t, social networking is a valuable marketing tool.

Once you develop relationships, joint venture partnerships often develop which lead to more marketing opportunities and more customers.

#4   Connect locally.  Local networking is a great idea too.  Local small business associations, chamber of commerce and community education offer excellent opportunities to market your business.  Additionally, business owners can post brochures and flyers with some local brick and mortar establishments to connect with local prospects.

#5  Start a lead generation campaign.  Lead generation campaigns, building your subscriber list or opt in list, is the number one best way to get the word out about your business.  The approach is a little different because you’re not promoting your business when you implement a lead generation campaign but rather you’re promoting what ever it is you’re giving away to encourage subscribers to sign up.  For example, many business owners give away a free report or e-book.  This is what you promote with your lead generation campaign therefore it is important to come up with a lead generation product which offers benefit to your prospects and has an appealing headline or title. 

Marketing your business is an ongoing process and the sooner you get started the better your results.  As your business grows your marketing strategy will evolve however the most important thing you can do is start.

#1 Ask for referrals. There’s nothing wrong with doing this. In fact, customers are often happy to refer you to others, they just need to be reminded to do so. And, if you can create a referral program where your current clients receive a discount or credit for your services, then all the better.

#2 Be professional. If you’re an excellent person to work with, you’ll keep your clients – even if your rates are a bit higher or your timeline a little bit longer than others. The truth is, we place a high value on our business relationships, at least the clients you want to work with do. And if you can build a strong relationship with your clients, you’ll keep them for the long haul. They’ll also talk about you, and word of mouth is a great, and free, marketing tool.

#3 Communicate on a regular basis. You don’t have to have an opt-in list or an email marketing campaign, but if you regularly connect with your clients, you stay in the front of their mind when they have a need or when someone asks them for a recommendation. Here are two approaches to client communication that you can utilize to fit your business. They are:

- Promotional Email – Send your client list an email once a month, or more often if you like, highlighting a promotion. For example, “10% off any orders of $50 or more for the month of April.” 

- Informational Email – Send your client a note when you’re thinking of them. For example, “I saw this article and thought of you.” This helps build a relationship to them and it’s a great way to stay connected.

#4 Get Social! Participate in social networking, blog and be a guest blogger. Generate awareness about you and your services. One new client can turn into many new clients over the course of a year – just through social networking.

#5 Be helpful. Be willing to help and inform others in your community even when there isn’t any apparent reward. Whether you believe in the law of attraction or not, when you give to others, they give back. This doesn’t mean you give away your services; what it means is that you’re willing to help others by providing insight, information and a listening ear when they need it without expecting anything in return.

If your client is trying to resolve an issue and you can help them with your experience, help them. They’ll appreciate it and you never know when they’ll be able to return the favor.

Much of the art of keeping clients has to do with building relationships, and it’s also intricately linked with getting new clients. Word of mouth from satisfied clients is a wonderful way to fill your schedule with your ideal clients and projects. Connect!

1. When was the last time you updated your website design or functionality? If it’s been more than a year since you’ve done anything to your website other than add content, then it’s probably time to at least give your website a few touch-ups.

2. Does your website design still accurately reflect your company personality, brand, vision and mission? Businesses change and grow and you can easily outgrow your website design. If it no longer represents who you are and where you’re going as a business, it’s time for a makeover.

3. Is your website able to accomplish all that you need it to accomplish? Old website platforms may not be able to handle all of the functions and features you’d like to offer your audience. For example, including a opt in box to encourage customers to sign up for your mailing list.  

4. Have you rebranded your business? If you’ve rebranded your business then your website most certainly needs an update.

5. Is your website poised to handle the future? If your website already has a retro look and feel, it may not be ready for what the future has in store. A touch-up now may prevent you from having to do a complete overhaul in the near future.

What you can do to spruce up your website

* Upgrade or fix the navigation. Navigation, or how your users are able to get around on your website, is essential to them staying on your site and revisiting it. If things are difficult to find, you can bet impatient website visitors will not stay. Navigation is an important function and is a good way to update your website.

* Design. When people think of makeover this is what often comes to mind and yes, you can change or update your colors, design, layout, logo, and graphics to give your website a fresh look and feel.

* Search engine optimization. Hopefully you’ve been updating your keywords and SEO tactics as your business grows and your audience changes. Internet users have become significantly savvier when they search and it’s important to keep up with the trends. This is more of a behind-the-scenes makeover and can be handled by a SEO professional or by you or an educated administrative assistant.

* Functions and features. Today’s prospect likes to interact online and that means offering web 2.0 features and functions.  Most often this doesn’t require a complete overhaul but rather adding some user-friendly items to an already existing site. However, if your platform hasn’t been updated in a long time, you may need to upgrade to stay current.

To stay competitive, it’s important to assess your website on a regular basis. Every six months to a year is a good idea to keep things fresh, innovative and interesting to your audience.

As a business owner, you are both the boss and the employee.  Some people can thrive in this type of situation and achieve more than they could in a traditional work environment.  For other people, this situation can spell disaster.  To be a successful home business owner you need to increase your productivity in your business. Every once in awhile you should stop and ask yourself the following questions to ensure that you are staying on track with your business goals.

Are you focused on your business?

It can be easy to lose focus when you work at home, as there will always be other things competing for your attention.  It is difficult to work at home when there are other things that needs to be done also. To combat household distractions, set an hour timer for work followed by a 15 minute break to tend to small household distractions. If the distractions are thwarting your productivity, take your business elsewhere. Mobilize your business and go to a coffee shop or park. With less distractions around you will be able to concentrate more. Remember, it is okay to let the house cleaning wait for a few hours while you work on your business. A clean house can’t pay your bills, but those few hours you put into your business could reap you many financial rewards.

Not only is focusing on business tasks important, but it is important to be focused within your business.  It is easy to get sidetracked with new business ventures and other ideas. It can be hard to spread your time and energy over too many projects. If you find yourself working on many projects, concentrate on the projects that are primary to your business needs. Other projects that are not as tightly woven within your target market can be set aside for the time being. Focus on your business priorities first by write down all your projects and prioritize them by importance.

Are you being productive?

At the end of the day, do you ever feel like you worked all day but accomplished nothing?  Take a look at the tasks you are working on, and whether they are actually important to your success.  If you find yourself getting sidetracked by surfing the web, chatting in forums, or reading blogs, try to schedule time for those activities after your “real work” is done.

On the other hand, if you feel your time is being sucked away by answering email, updating your website, or collecting research for an upcoming information product you are working on, try outsourcing those tasks to a virtual assistant.  This will help you free up some time to work on business tasks that need more attention.

Are you reaching your goals?

If you find that you are constantly missing your goal deadlines, you may want to take the time to revamp your goals.  Create an action plan that will be easy to follow and help you get to your end result.

SEO

Simple SEO Tips to get you Started

Keywords

You really need to do research and find out what niche works best for your website. Once you do that focus on two no more than three keyword/phrases. Once you know what they are, make sure you have them through out your page. Do not over use them though. It must be well balanced.

Make sure you have some bold, italicized and/or underlined. Not all…just a few here and there.

Use H1, H2 and H3 tags for the keywords/phrases. Again, balance is the key…NOT keyword spam! Search Engines are smarter than you think!

Quality Content.

You cannot just throw some words on a page and expect to have a heavy hitter site. Quality content that is relevant to your niche is vital.

Write better. Write more. Write Frequently.

Articles should be at least 300 words. Try not to go over 2500. Too long and you may lose readers. We live in a busy age. Get to the point.

PLR articles are very helpful if you need some help writing content. However, do not rely solely on them.

Hire writers and invite guest bloggers. There are MANY great writers out there who would be willing to write for $5/$10 a piece. Guest bloggers are also a wonderful…free option.

Links.

Never. Never. NEVER overdue the links. Exchanging links is great. However, having a million links on your main page is not going to help the SEO of your website. Scatter then throughout the site on pages that are beneficial to THAT link.

Create a “link exchange” page. However, do not call it that. Call it Web Partners or something without the word link in it.

Use NO Follow Tags on links that are not paying to be there or that are not specifically required to be no follow.

Become link savvy. Be picky and careful what you link to…especially on main page and other important internal pages of site. Example: If you have a pet food site the majority of your links out should be beneficial for pet owners.

These are SEO tips that I have used and still use. Since implementing them I have noticed better ranking for my websites, increased traffic and better business all around. Try them out and see what happens after a few months.

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