Why Your Home-Based Business Needs a Website
Tags: Building a Website, Business, Home Based Business, SnapPages, Website
Posted in Building a Website 
2 Comments »
Recently I’ve received a lot of emails from readers asking various questions about websites and blogs, and if in fact they are really needed to run a successful freelance business from home.
Before launching The Work at Home Woman I had no experience with building a website, or blogging for that matter, and the whole process seemed very intimidating not to mention expensive! But as Steve of SnapPages so eloquently puts it, “no business—regardless of its size—should be without a website. This is especially true for home-based businesses, where your website may be the only impression you ever get to make with your customers”.
That’s why when I found SnapPages I contacted them to write a guest post for The Work at Home Woman, and tell us a little bit about their service. Not only does SnapPages provide low cost, professional looking websites with hosting – but you can incorporate a blog into your website which is imperative to remaining competitive in today’s market. So here’s Steve to tell you a little about SnapPages and website creation. more
30 Free Directories to Get More Traffic to Your Site
Tags: Blogging, Building a Website, Getting Traffic, Holly Reisem Hanna, The Work at Home Woman
Posted in Blogging, Building a Website 6 Comments »
By Holly Reisem Hanna
You’ve built a professional website for self promotion and now your ready for business, but you don’t have any customers. Building up traffic to your website is one of the most important elements to getting new clients via the web. There are many ways to build up traffic to your site, search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, pay per click (PPC) advertising, social networks like Twitter, online forums and groups and online directories.
To help you build up traffic to your site we’ve come up with a list of 30 FREE directories where you can submit your URL. more
A Website or a Blog – What’s Right for You?
Tags: Blog, Blogging, Building a Website, Business, Website
Posted in Blogging, Building a Website 3 Comments »
Article by John Wood
You’ve spent your time wisely. You’ve been improving your writing skills. And you’ve done your homework. You’ve developed a great business idea. Now the time has come to map out your strategy for taking it online.
One of the first decisions you have to make is should you start a website or a blog? The answer to that question depends greatly on what goals you want to accomplish online.
Today I’m going to look at four factors that may determine whether you go with a blog or a website …
1. The level of your ongoing commitment you’re prepared to make.
Starting a blog is the easy part; maintaining a blog takes time and effort. That’s because blogs are hungry beasts. To keep them happy, they need a continuous stream of new, fresh, relevant content. And because blog posts are usually stamped with the date and time, if you don’t update your blog for an extended period of time, people will notice – and they may lose interest in your blog. And not only that, your reputation may suffer.
Have you ever been to a blog where the last post was from say, May of 2007? I always think to myself: “Has this person gone out of business?”; or, “Is their business fading away, and they’ve all but given up?”; or worse, “Is the blogger still alive?” Starting a blog is not something to be taken lightly. It requires a high level of commitment to be successful.
Of course, websites also require a commitment. You’ll need to add new content to your site to keep the search engines happy. But you don’t have to update it on quite such a regular basis. Which means, if you’re busy doing other things or want to take time off, your site will still flourish and continue to generate revenue without you.
2. The navigation structure that will best help you achieve our online goals.
A blog organizes its posts usually by date or by category. It’s not the most logical format when it comes to letting your visitors know what your site contains. Some bloggers have chosen to add static pages to their sites to make it easier for their readers to access important information.
A website’s navigation structure is far more intuitive and easier to follow than a blog’s. If done right, your viewer will quickly be able to size up the type of information your site contains and how to access it. This is key if you’re looking to sell products and/or services on your site. A website’s navigation structure is simply better suited for e-commerce transactions.
3. The level of technical expertise required by each.
Very little technical expertise is required to start a blog. You can generally get a blog up and running in a few minutes. And adding additional features (like Google Adsense, YouTube videos, Twitter integration, for example) is relatively easy to do. Unless you’re doing advanced template customization, the technical expertise required to set up a blog is relatively low.
On the other hand, creating a website does take longer and does require more technical expertise (especially if you’re planning to build it yourself). Plus, because the navigation is more complex, you can’t just put together pages willy-nilly. Everything has to work together just right.
4. What you want to accomplish with your site.
Blogs are ideal for topics that are prone to constant updates. For example, politics is a perfect topic for a blog. New things are constantly happening that “political junkies” are eager to read about. Blogs are an excellent choice if your goals include establishing yourself as an expert on a particular topic or creating a bond between you and your prospects and customers. Plus, they are a great vehicle to get customer feedback. I’m not saying you can’t do these things with a website, but the interactive format of a blog fits in perfectly with the above goals.
As mentioned, if your main goal is to sell products and/or services, a website makes sense because of its superior navigation structure. If you’re, say, a copywriter or graphic designer looking for an easy way to show prospective clients samples of your work, a website will work just fine.
Choosing between a website and a blog is one of the first major decisions new online entrepreneurs have to make. Choose the wrong format, and you could lose months, even years, of precious time. Choose the right format, and you’re business will thrive and flourish right from the get-go.
This article appears courtesy of The Golden Thread, an e-letter from AWAI that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on how to build your freelance copywriting business. For a free subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/thegoldenthread
Tips for Working With a Graphic Designer
Tags: Building a Website, Graphic Designer, Home Based Business, Website Design
Posted in Building a Website 1 Comment »
Many of you will need to work with a Graphic Designer or Web Programmer to create a custom logo, blog design or website to help you market your home-based business. There are some key elements you should consider when choosing a Graphic Designer or Web Programmer, by taking your time and doing some research you can help to establish a positive working relationship.
Once you find a designer whose style you like, check out their website for contact info (phone & email address), testimonials, rates, experience, qualifications and samples of their work. It is also important to perform a Better Business Bureau check and Google search on their company to see if they have any negative ratings or reviews.
Continue to investigate the designer, email them and see how quickly they respond to your inquire. If it takes them more than 48 hours to respond this could be a sign of how they will answer to correspondence in the future. Get feedback from some of their previous clients, and see if they have any negative comments.
Now that you’ve decided on a Graphic Designer, it’s time to sign the contact. The Graphic Designer will have terms and conditions that protect themselves, but you also need to protect yourself. I’ve heard of so many people paying upfront for services only to be left with a half finished project, don’t let this happen to you! Agree to pay half upfront and the other half when the project is complete. Also agree upon a time frame for the project to be completed, how many revisions are included and who will insert the content; make sure to get this all in writing!
When discussing the design of the website or blog you will need to be very specific! Email your designer websites and blog styles that you like. You will need to tell your Designer exactly what you want; how wide you would like the text area to be, how many navigational tabs you would like, what type, color and size of font you want to use, if you want a newsletter function, an RSS feed, shopping cart and how many sections you want each page to be divided in to.
For help picking out a color palate for your website or blog check out COLOURlovers, it is a fantastic resource that offers tons of different color palates, colors and patterns. Another great resource is Dafont.com they have over 8000 different fonts to choose from and most of them are free.
By keeping the lines of communication open and clear you can help to establish a happy working relationship with your Graphic Designer or Web Programmer.