I recently purchased a domain name for a new blog I’m thinking of starting. Considering how full my plate is these days, I need to start a new blog like I need a hole in my head; But I really couldn’t resist. This blog will be personal –it will be about my experience moving back to my hometown to care for my mother (handling her heath care, financial affairs, housekeeping/maintenance, etc.) as an only child, masha’Allah.

There’s actually a term that refers to those of us who are caring for an elder parent or family member while raising young children – the “sandwich generation.” Technically I’m too young to be a part of this generation, but it describes my situation very accurately nonetheless. Allah knows best, and so this is the role he has decreed for me to fulfill and I am more than willing to do so. My family is learning a lot about patience, compassion and love through this experience. Insha’Allah I’ll reveal the site to you once it’s up and running – that probably won’t be until Fall because I’m up to my eyeballs in personal and work projects right now.

If you’ve been thinking of setting up a blog for profit, or a website for your business, don’t underestimate the importance of choosing the right domain name.  The right domain name can draw people to your site. Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Choose a Domain Name That Ends with “.com”

Yes, these tend to be the most expensive domain names available, but there’s a good reason for that: most people automatically assume that business domain names end with “.com”. Sure, you can set up your blog or website domain name to end with “.net”, “.biz”, “.info” or another extension besides “.com”, but you will probably have to put more effort into marketing and branding to build recognition and credibility because most people consider a “.com” to be the standard in domain name urls – especially for businesses and blogs.

2. Make Sure Your Domain Name Describes What Your Site is About

Don’t try to be too clever because it could backfire. The best domain names tell visitors what the site is about before they even visit it. Don’t keep your visitors guessing – let them know upfront what to expect when they arrive on your home page.

You also want to be careful about creating a domain name that’s too long. Most online experts recommend keeping the url between 8 and 15 characters. Anything longer may be more difficult to remember.

3. Do Keyword Research First

You want your site to be indexed and rank well in major search engines like Google , Yahoo! And Bing, right? Take time to do some research to find a keyword-rich domain name that others are using to find similar information. This is a very simple SEO tactic, and you’ll get better results by utilizing other seo-related strategies to boost your site’s search engine rank; but it’s a very good place to start.

Don’t make a hasty decision when buying your domain name. Think strategically to get the best results in the long run.

How many articles or blog posts do you write each month? If you’re like many home business owners and online marketers the answer may be “dozens.” Of course you might write more than that too. It can be a lot of work, energy and time to write all of that content. Are you making every article count?

1. Social Networking. Make sure to link to each new article or blog post, regardless of where you publish it, from your chosen social networking sites. Link to it from Facebook, Twitter, and consider adding it to social bookmarking sites like Digg too.

2. Email marketing. Create teasers for the content you’ve published online and send email messages with those teasers to your opt-in list. It’ll send traffic to your website and help keep you in front of your prospects. A weekly wrap up is a great way to highlight your new content, connect with your prospects and motivate sales.

3. Rewrite. Rewrite your articles and blog posts. You can use them for article marketing purposes. You can also send them to your email list. This is particularly effective if you rewrite articles for article marketing purposes and send them to your email list. You’re not at risk for duplicate content and you’re providing information to your prospects.

4. Repurpose. Use your articles and blog posts to create reports, ebooks and information products. There’s a small caveat here. You probably don’t want to charge for this content unless it provides significantly more value to readers than the free content you’ve already published.

For example, you can collect ten to twenty articles on a common topic and create a free report from them. You’ll need to add transitions, an introduction and enough new unique content to make it valuable. It’s a great way to provide information to your prospects. You can also monetize the report with affiliate links.

5. Snippets. Pull snippets from your existing articles and blog posts and share them online. Post helpful tips on Twitter and/or Facebook. You can hire a Virtual Assistant to publish five to ten snippets a day. Provide value without creating new content.
It’s important to know that you can also use existing reports and ebooks you’ve written to create articles and blog posts. Simply reverse the process and extract content from the report to create a blog post. Personalize it and you’ve provided value, new content and search engine fuel.
With each piece of content you create, create a plan to maximize it. Rewrite it. Repurpose it. Reuse it in a different format. Create a plan to make every article count and you’ll build a comprehensive and extremely effective content marketing strategy.

Words hold a lot of power. many business owners worry more about the design of their website, brochure or flyer than the content. While the design is an important part of capturing a customer’s eye, it’s the words – the copy – that gets and keeps their attention. The information you provide is what determines whether or not your customer will purchase your product or service.

When you go online, you’re not looking for a design. you’re searching for information. When you pick up a brochure or booklet, the information inside will determine whether or not you consider making a purchase.

Copywriting is the art of writing to sell or achieve a specific goal. Anything from a landing page to an advertisement employs some type of copy writing skill and technique. You can use these same techniques to improve your content. Of course it’s about more than just words. It’s how you use words to engage, inform and appeal to your target audience that leads to the desired result: more sales.

Headlines!

The headline of your article or blog post is vitally important. It motivates people to read your article. Presumably, your article or blog post has a goal. Thus the more people who read your content, the more likely it is you’ll achieve your goal.

For example, you may want to promote an affiliate product in your article and your goal is to earn commissions. If your headline attracts attention, you’ll increase your readership and thus your click through rate will increase. More readers means more profits.

So how do you write great headlines? Try these techniques:

• Ask a question
• Make a promise
• Offer a benefit
• An Appeal to emotions
• Use numbers
• Make an announcement

Call to Action

Once you’ve motivated someone to read your content, make sure they take action. Again this ties back to the purpose or goal for your article or blog post. If you want people to read more content on your website then include a few relevant links at the end of your article. Tell them to click on the links to learn more about your niche. Always include some sort of call to action, even if you just want them to leave comments on your blog.

Use Examples

One great way to really get your reader involved in your content is to use examples. In a blog post you can use personal examples. In your article content you may want your examples to be more general.

Examples help paint a picture for your readers. Instead of just telling them something, you’re showing them too.

Visual Aids

More and more content online is also using visual cues to make it interesting to the reader. Any sales letter is going to have many subheadings, bold lettering on words that need to grab attention and bullet points to draw the eye down. In addition to formatting your content for easy online reading, consider using photos, graphics and other images to help inform your reader.

It’s not uncommon for a blog to include a photo in every single blog post. Additionally, if you’re writing a how to article you might include a few demonstration photos. If you’re writing a review you might include an image of the product you’re reviewing. And if you’re writing an informative article you might include graphs, charts or screenshots.

Using a few handy copywriting tactics for your content can help improve readability, reader response which could lead to more sales. Try implementing a few of these ideas and watch your results soar.

Driving more traffic to your website or blog might sometimes seem like rocket science, but it’s not. It’s a lot easier than you might think. But it does take work . How do you drive traffic to your website consistently? Here are several proven traffic sources and methods to help you bring more people to your website.

Leverage High Quality Content

High quality content is what will bring you the most traffic over time. To build a business successfully means to have high quality content that people want to come back to and send to their friends.

What’s the best ways to leverage high quality content?

The most obvious way is to put it on your own website. You should have more high quality content on your own site than any other site. Another way to leverage high quality content is to have your content published on other people’s websites. One great way to do this is to guest write for other blogs.

What does this mean? Basically, you write a piece of content exclusively for someone else’s blog or website. The article is highly informative and really hooks others in. At the bottom of the article is a link pointing back at your site.

There are many places you can publish your content. These include article directories, other people’s blogs, Squidoo & Hubpages and more. The bottom line is to really get your content out there to as many people as possible.

Explore Other Methods of Traffic

Try publishing a YouTube video and see what happens. Experiment with PPC to see if you get a good response. Start a Twitter or Facebook page and see how your audience responds.

Once you start getting decent traffic from your website, expand out to other methods of gaining traffic.

Chances are, only a couple methods will really work for you. But if you don’t try it out, how will you know?

Interviewing Other Experts

One great way to gain both traffic and credibility for your website is to interview other experts on the topics they’re known for.

This does two things. First, it provides high quality content for your own readers and subscribers. But it also links your site with the person you’re interviewing.

The person you interviewed will often post a link to the interview on their own website. Even if they don’t, you’ll still get massive credit in your industry and in the eyes of search engines for interviewing those experts.

If you interview 10 experts, you will almost certainly get at least 5 backlinks back, resulting in both increased rankings and a lot of traffic.

There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. The most important thing is that you’re implementing something today. If you take action, you will always see results. Select the one that appeals the most to you and put it into action now. Gauge the results, then take the next action from there.

I had some really great conversations with a few different sisters this week, each on the cusp of embarking on some very exciting projects. Although each sister is engaged in a an entrepreneurial pursuit completely different from the other, they shared a similar concern:  a hesitancy to join what has become the social media revolution to spread the word about her biz.

Interestingly, I encountered this type of apprehension among Muslim business women frequently. So much so that when I established my Twitter account for Muslimahs Working at Home, I was pretty shocked to see just how many sisters were actively utilizing this powerful networking platform. I find sisters who are hesitant to participate in social media site avoid it for one or more of the following reasons:

1. They have no idea of how to get started and find the concept intimidating.
2. They feel they don’t have the time to spend on social media.
3. They think it could lead to exposure to haram (impermissible) situations, or unlawful mixing of the sexes.

It’s true, social media can be a bit intimidating at first; it can become a time consuming activity, and you can open yourself up to some pretty deviant people and situations; but it doesn’t have to be that way. You have quite a bit of control over how you utilize social media, who you connect with, and how you choose to interact. Here are some tips to help you promote your business effectively:

Create a social media strategy

Ask yourself: what do I want to accomplish? Are you looking to make more people aware of the products or services you provide? Do you want to drive more visitors to your blog? Are you looking to “meet” and build relationships with others within your niche/industry? Each of these objectives can be met through social media. Once you know what you want to accomplish, you can plan a strategy to keep you focused and help you meet that goal.

Focus on building meaningful connections with others

Social media is about engaging in the social aspects of the Internet and getting to know others. Take time to start and join in conversations with others and let them see a bit of the real you. Being personable and approachable makes a big impact on the web.

Don’t over promote your business

One of the biggest mistakes some business owners make when they first begin using social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is to constantly post updates about themselves and what they’re doing or selling. Put yourself in your follower’s shoes – how do you feel about receiving constant posts from someone who only seems to think of herself?

Spend some time sharing interesting links to other blog posts and websites, repost updates from your followers, and if you can try answering questions posted by the people you’re connected to. Helping others is a big part of socializing and networking online.

Keep things businesslike

If the primary purpose of your account is to bring attention to your business, be careful not to post too much of your personal information and opinions. When others Google you, your updates will show up in the search results. It’s okay to share some personal information, because it adds an important personal touch to the brand you’re building; but you don’t want to go overboard. This is also a good way for sisters to keep “unwanted attention” at arm’s length.

Post updates regularly

I hate it when I get really interested in a blog, or any other social media account, only to find that the person no longer posts the content I’ve come to eagerly look forward to reading. Real life situations are sure to come up from time to time, but it’s still important to post as regularly as possible to maintain a presence and establish a strong brand identity.

Have you gotten business through social media? If so, please share!

Women have a lot to be responsible for on a daily basis. We handle the  children, chores, housework, shopping and maintain the home, women have turned to technology for help. Reaching women in this age of digital technology requires a lot more than just television commercials and radio ads.

Women these days rely are relying on iPads and smart phones to provide constant access the information they need while on the go. If you want to get their attention, you need to meet them where they are.

Consider these statistics if female consumers are your target market: according to A. C. Nielsen NetRatings (2008-09), 40 percent of all women online in the United States have kids who are under eighteen years of age. That actual number is in the millions. These women range in age from their twenties to mid-forties. So where do you go to satisfy such a wide age range?

Younger women (35 and under) are more likely to tap into emerging web and mobile technology. They like using social networking media like Twitter and Facebook. They don’t just using technology for information gathering, but also keeping up with family members and running their businesses. Online entrepreneurship is one way that moms can create new streams of income and care for their children at the same time.

Older women are not alwasy as comfortable with all of the latest digital fads, but they are using the Internet to their advantage. Like younger women, they like shopping online. It is easier to shop online because you don’t have to bundle the kids up and drag them off to the store.

But, don’t be fooled. These women are savvy shoppers who participate on forums and read product reviews before choosing a website to buy from. With control of the majority of household spending, this accounts for billions of dollars. This translates into lots of time spent online.

For the businesses, reaching moms online is twofold. One, it requires providing them the information they need in easy-to-access formats. Provide helpful content on your website as well as videos, podcast and product reviews and regular participation on social media websites. Secondly, make your presence known on social sites like Twitter and YouTube. Creating how-to and informational videos save female consumers time when searching for information. It is easier than you think these days to create and upload videos.

Want to reach out to women in the digital age? Learn what technology they’re are using and create a strategy to tap into the market.

This global economic crisis has had two interesting effects on the small business sector: it’s left many struggling financially to stay afloat, but it’s also spawned a large number of solo entrepreneurs who are using their skills and experience to create an income. Setting up shop in the midst of a global economic crisis isn’t easy, but it’s doable. In fact, smaller, home-based businesses have an advantage over big businesses during financially hard times. It’s much easier for a home-based business to remain small and lean while waiting out market changes. A home business doesn’t have all of the fat the “extra” big businesses have to deal with. This can be an opportunity for you to not only survive this financially challenging time, but possibly flourish. These tips can help:

Take Full Advantage of the Web

The Internet provides an excellent platform to help you launch and operate your business from home successfully. You can easily reach out to a local or global audience, depending on your target market. You can network with others and market your website, products and services. You can use the web to create a web presence and develop your brand.

Keep Marketing Consistently

Marketing is how you let others know about the products or services you sell. If no one knows about them, you won’t have customers, and you won’t make money. Market consistently – even when you’re busy – to keep business flowing for maximum profitability.

Don’t Automatically Lower Your Prices

Make a careful evaluation before you take action. You may need to rethink your pricing structure in order to ensure longevity, but be careful if you do decide to slash pricing. Marketing research has shown price indicates value in the minds of consumers. Some buyers will automatically go with a lower priced option, but many assume higher priced products/services also mean higher quality.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

You can choose many online tools to help streamline business operations like administrative and invoicing duties. You can also utilize tools to automate certain operations, like marketing, and even implement cloud-based applications.

Pay Attention to Customer Service

I often say that customer service is a dying art. That’s what it feels like to me in most cases. So when I encounter a business that treats me like they appreciate my business, I am very impressed and also very likely to do business with that company again. Show your customers you appreciate them by offering a discount the next time they shop with you, something for free or a referral incentive.

Have you made any changes to your business to help weather the sluggish economy?

I owe a lot to Twitter for helping me secure two of my steadiest clients. Wait, that didn’t come out right – let me try again: I owe my time spent networking on Twitter, and building genuine relationships with others in my industry, with helping me secure two of my steadiest clients.

Do you see the difference in those two statements? The first might have lead you to believe marketing my business on Twitter is what brought me more business. The second statement correctly reveals that the process of getting to know others in my industry and allowing them to get to know me in return led to those colleagues sharing business leads with me, which I followed up on and am happy to report have become a steady source of my income.

Where exactly am I going with this? I realize that many entrepreneurs are still under the impression that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are vehicles for marketing their products and services. And they’re wrong. I used to think that way too. Then I started getting followed by a mass of self-proclaimed Internet marketing experts which led to being bombarded by streams of sales pitches and ads. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit. I noticed no one else seemed to like it much either. Then I started paying attention to a few noted social media experts who were constantly saying that social media is simply about being social – networking and building relationships. Starting conversations, joining conversations, answering questions, helping others and, well, socializing.

I didn’t get it at first. I was there trying to earn a living and attract business. I didn’t see where socializing fit into my plans. I had no idea what I was doing, but eventually I started regularly interacting with other freelance writers and copywriters and before you know it I really began to appreciate the camaraderie and information I received from the links they shared.

One day a writer friend sent me a DM (Twitter speak for Direct Message) explaining that she had a regular client with a project he needed completed, but she was too busy to take it on. She trusted me to handle the client for her. I was stunned at her generosity. I expected freelancing to be cutthroat. I was also very greatful because I really needed the money.

The same thing happened again. Another writer friend had a client searching for another resume writer to contract overflow work to. Although I had no previous experience writing resumes professionally, the client took a chance on me because of my writer friends kind words; and I still write for that client today. It wasn’t Twitter that brought me the business; it was the relationships I’d developed with these writers that led me to these opportunities. I finally understood.

Social media is a big part of how we use the Internet now. Unfortunately, a lot of us are still confused about how to use it for business. Here are f0ur tips to help you build your business and your network:

Don’t get caught up in quantity over quality

There are lots of people on Twitter and Facebook obsessed with getting the most followers or sending out massive numbers of Tweets and updates. Social media works better when you focus on quality first. Choose to connect with people who can teach you something or provide valuable information.

Remember people do business with people they know, like and trust

I know I do, especially when making purchases over the Internet. Social media can help you build a loyal  customer base by providing a platform for you to demonstrate your intentions, ideas and expertise.

Network effectively in less than 15 minutes a day

I tip my hat to those who seemingly spend all day on Twitter and Facebook. Granted, some of those people have automated updates posting periodically throughout the day, but there are others who are constantly connected. I admit that sometimes I’m on more than I should be – after all, I do have client projects, kids, my mother, my husband, and other responsibilities that require me to tear myself away from the web throughout the day.

Don’t feel avoid social media because you only having a few minutes a day to spend networking. And don’t feel guilty thinking you should be putting in more time. If you can’t, you just can’t. Thankfully, you can show up a few minutes a day and still reap the benefits. You can even use social media tools like Hootsuite to post simultaneously to multiple social media sites all at once.

Keep it simple

The “social media gurus” can make social media seem so intimidating, but it isn’t really – or maybe it’s as complicated as you make it. I say keep it simple: Sign up, create an interesting profile, follow/friend people that interest you or have the same things in common as you do, and engage them in conversation. Lather, rinse and repeat.

One of my work at home business coaching “guinea pigs” (a term of endearment I assure you) and I were having our weekly Skype chat late last night (well, it was morning for her since she’s currently living in Sudan). The topic of our “discussion” was building her client base. The first step: focusing and narrowing down her target market. When I asked, “Who are your ideal clients?” her instincts led her to rattle off a very long, general list that, well, included just about everyone who might consider paying for her services. Most of our chat time was spent narrowing that list considerably.

It’s natural to want to reach out to everyone when selling your products or services, but it’s not an effective strategy. Many people on your potential client list may or may not buy what you’re selling. It’s better to focus your energy and efforts on individuals and/or companies that are MOST likely to need what you’re selling. As I told my Muslimah business owner in training, if you spend your efforts trying to sell to any and everyone, you’ll just end up spinning your wheels. Time is a very valuable resource we entrepreneurs can’t afford to waste.

Spend your time instead focusing on a specific client profile and researching to learn as much about that market demographically and psychographically as possible. Your goal is to get inside your customer’s head and  learn all about her likes as well as what she finds necessary and important. What are some specific problems that this particular market faces? How can you help?

Once you determine how you can solve your target market’s primary issue, or make their lives better in some significant way, formulate a marketing message that shows them what you can do for them. Some businesses use this opportunity to “toot their own horn,” listing their own credentials and trying to sell themselves. It’s important to keep your message focused on your target audience. It should be benefits-oriented, meaning you SHOW them in a clear, concise manner  with your words exactly how they can benefit from buying your product or service. Don’t make the message all about you; focus on what your product or service can do for the customer.

Narrowing your marketing  prospects down to a specific target market can be challenging, but you’ll find it’s much easier to sell to the people most interested in the niche you serve. Remember the old saying: “You can’t please everyone,” so don’t waste your time trying.

About a week ago, I was watching a somewhat controversial website being profiled one evening  on Nightline News. This website specializes in selling jewelry. There’s nothing particularly unusual about that, until the news journalist revealed that it’s an auction site that caters to a very unique niche market – all of the jewelry sold on the site comes from women who have jewelry as the result of a broken off relationship/engagement/ marriage and have decided to cash in on these gifts. In order to put an item up for sale, you must share the personal breakup story with the world as part of the product description. The website is called www.exboyfriendjewelry.com; and while it’s not necessarily my cup of tea, it’s a perfect example of how choosing a niche, or narrowly focused target market, can work to your benefit in business.

A niche is a specific interest or need where there is a demand for information, products or services. A target market refers to individuals (or other businesses) with similar interests or needs. When many home business owners first put out their “open for business” shingle, they try market their products or services to everyone because they assume that by reaching out to everyone they’ll make more money. On the contrary, specializing in one specific area, and becoming known as the “go to” person for a specific niche, product or service can actually increase your profit potential.

When you become known as the best at what you do, you become what is known as an expert, or specialist; and people are willing to pay more to work with a specialist. For instance, a job candidate with an IT backbround who’s looking to have his resume redone will pay more to work with an IT resume writer who’s familiar with his industry and industry jargon than a general resume writer.  If you were planning a party and needed cupcakes, you’d probably be willing to pay more ordering from a specialty cupcake shop if you went to Publix instead.

Of course customers will also expect more when they choose to do business with someone who specializes in a specific niche, so be prepared to deliver.

If you’re having trouble choosing a niche for your home-based business idea, here are 8 suggestions that might help:

1. Start with something you are passionate and knowledgeable about.
2. Determine the demand and need for what you’re offering – is it broad or is it targeted?
3. Use keyword research to get ideas flowing, starting with a broad topic like “sports” and narrowing it down bit by bit until you find what fits you and you’ve turned it into something very specific and targeted.
4. Don’t be afraid to be different. Ask yourself: “What makes me the best of the best in my niche?”
5. Offer bonuses and free ebooks to get people interested in your products and topics.
6. Emphasize the positive characteristics and benefits of whatever your product or topic is, what makes it the best, highlight that focus on it and position yourself to be the best.
7. Check out the competition. Are other websites involved in your niche? Are they broader or more narrow than you are thinking? Spend some time researching to find out.
8. Talk to people to find out if they are they interested in your product or idea. What do they think are the best points?  Get feedback from outside sources, neutral parties, and from people involved in similar businesses to collect a variety of opinions and thoughts.