By Jessica Wiener

Why is it so important for work-at-home moms to promote themselves online?

First, they often work alone, making it difficult to establish a professional network and get referrals. Second, the current economy is causing many people who are unemployed or underemployed to work as freelancers. There are great opportunities in certain fields for those who have the right skills, but competition for the best jobs can be fierce. Finally, many people look for specific services online. If you don’t have an online presence, then you simply won’t attract clients.

Here are some proven—and inexpensive—tips for promoting your home business online:

1) Look for free ways to promote yourself, utilizing all of the social media tools at your disposal, like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Set up a free blog using Blogger or WordPress, and check out Flickr and other photo sharing sites. (more…)

By Amy Kinnaird

Here we are staring down the holidays already, and I am doing a little bit of reflection on some things I learned this year.  I recently realized that a lot of things I do year round in my garden are very similar to things I do in my business!

Keep reading to see how my garden grows (and my business, too).

I get by with a little help from my friends.

Raking takes no time at all with my husband to help. He quickly rakes, and I hold the bag and get those leaves or pine straw squoonched down in the bag. And this year in my business I discovered that going with my gut and outsourcing work to new colleagues opened up my client base and helped me quickly grow my business like I couldn’t do otherwise.

My work space is very important.

Surprisingly, my gardening tools are more or less organized in one area of the garage. I can quickly run out, grab my gloves and clippers, and spend ten minutes pulling weeds or sprucing up a little. (more…)

By Holly Reisem Hanna

A few weeks ago I met one of my online mom entrepreneur friends for breakfast. Not only was it great to get out the house and have some real life conversation, but generally when you get together with another creative mind – the ideas just start flying.

This day was no different.

I told her about all of the projects that I was working on and vice versa. But then she asked me if I knew about Pinterest? I had no clue what it was. She told me a little bit about it and how she was fascinated with how it could be used to promote small businesses. (more…)

By Dawn Berryman

Do you consider yourself a strong writer or do you struggle with getting the words out on paper? Writing really is crucial to your marketing efforts. Blog posts, product descriptions, website copy, e-newsletters and press releases all need to be written with care. Your writing style has a lot to do with how you engage readers and how you will turn them into customers.

As important as writing is, it isn’t something that you should stress out about. Relax. When you are writing about something you know inside and out, it should flow rather easily. Having confidence in your knowledge base will help. If you’re still struggling, here are 10 of my favorite tips that might help.

Just Write: Save editing for later. Don’t over-obsess with grammar and punctuation at the beginning. Get your thoughts and ideas out first; then think about the technicalities. (more…)

By Sue Kirchner

Do you own a service firm? Are you a solo-practitioner? Then building your brand needs to be a top priority. In fact, I would argue that it is more important to build a brand around a service than a product. Why? Services are intangible. Delivering an experience or selling your expertise isn’t like a product you can pick up, poke or test before buying. Even if a consumer has never heard of the company selling the product, if the product looks OK, they’ll buy it. The same is not true for a service.

Clients Buy on Faith

A service is experienced at the time it is delivered. There is no returning it. The client buys a service based on a promise that it will be delivered as described. Faced with this uncertainty, clients have a hard time evaluating the best choice available and may even fear the decision. (more…)