Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

If you have a home business website and do not offer an email opt in function then you are potentially losing out on an awful lot of business. Spam is a big no no in the world of successful internet marketing so building an opt in email address list is priceless.

You may have spent days, weeks even months building your home business website. Your analytics tell you it is receiving a steady amount of traffic, yet your actual sales are not going up too high. Before you blame the product look at the way your site is set up. You have no guarantee those who surfed to your site will ever return again, so you may have only one shot at capturing their long term interest in your company by grabbing their email address.

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You are most likely aware of the value and effectiveness of using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to market your home business. However, you may not be familiar with Yahoo Answers; another effective site that many home business owners overlook.

Yahoo Answers allows any Yahoo subscriber to ask almost any question they can think of to a community of over 30 Million subscribers (and that is in the US alone) and then reward points for the best answer to their question. Frequently the answers to a Yahoo Answers question will rank very high in a Google Search so if you can get a “Top Answerer” ranking on Yahoo you will get double exposure for your business.

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Just as they should be, most home business owners are completely enamored by the products or services  they offer. After all, having a passion for what you do is essential for home business success.

The problem is too many entrepreneurs tailor their products or services around their own personal likes and dislikes, giving little thought to what the actual consumer wants. If your product has no real appeal then all the clever marketing in the world is probably not going to make more than a couple of sales. Therefore, market research is one of the most important things any home business owner should do before a website launch.

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Many home business owners use email as one of their primary forms of communication with their customers and clients. On one hand this is great: it cuts down on phone time, your customers can easily send a request at any time of the day and, emails are much “greener” than traditional faxes.

However, there is a downside. If you overlook one email from a regular client or customer the relationship could suffer. Therefore organizing your email inbox is as essential as organizing your desk, if not more so.  Here are a few ways you can manage your emails more efficiently:

Set up regular times to check your inbox: Checking your inbox twice an hour wastes precious time that could be spent far more productively. Set a schedule for checking emails and it’s not a bad idea to let others know what it is, so they know when to expect a reply.

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Establishing a lively forum can be a great promotional tool for your  home business but, many have a problem getting their forum noticed. Here are a few ideas for a successful forum:

As usual, content is king – Before you begin creating the categories and topic areas for your new forum think carefully about what your target audience’s interests really are. Begin with the most pressing and popular issues then expand as your forum grows.

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