Grow Your Business With Great Design

It's the Big Brand System

Master the Basics with Personalized Help

"The Big Brand System is the only online course that teaches small business owners how to successfully design their own marketing materials. Whether you do business online or offline, and whether you sell products or services, the Big Brand System will teach you to create effective marketing materials that get results. Weekly lessons will build your knowledge from the ground up, so you will master the techniques you need to create professional looking marketing materials that work."

Pamela of The Big Brand System is giving away 3 free courses.

Find Out More Here.

Online Web Strategy: Build and Grow an Awesome Website!

Michelle here stopping in to share with you another great resource I came across:

Awesome Fear Wrangling

What is it exactly? 

Hot off the presses, Awesome Fear Wrangling teaches you how websites work.  It offers a collection of ebook and interviews from leaders in the industry to teach you a web strategy for your very own online success.

This resource also provides consulting and Do It Yourself E-courses to help you buiild and grow an awesome website!

If fear is holding you back from builing the Online Empire you desire to have, check this resource out here.

Creating Compelling Content for Search Engines

I know it has been a while since I posted but as I said in my last post, I will not waste your time or mine posting useless information here. Soooo the fact that I am writing today, means I have something GOOD to share.  It's all about SEO Copywriting and creating content that the search engines just love.  I am not the author but again, I am just sharing.

Brian Clark, founder of Copyblogger has written a 28 page report which he is graciously offering for free.  The report provides a step by strep strategy to get people to link to your website, causing you to rank well in the search engines.  That's great for us small business owners trying to get our websites noticed right?

I've been a follower of Copyblogger for some time now and they offer nothing but the greatest information on SEO, copywriting and other stuff on how to run your online business.  Get your instant download to How to Create Compelling Content That Ranks Well With Search Engines today.

Help Me Get On The Home Page!

Hi There-

I'll get right to the point. I'm trying to get featured as the #1 Blogger on the Bizymoms home page for Yonkers or NY.

All I have to do to be featured is get as many of my widgets published on other sites as possible.  So, if you don't mind please copy the widget below and add to your blog or website.  I really appreciate it.


Thank You In Advance!  Here is the widget:

Michelle'is a featured blogger in Yonkers moms& New york Click Here To view more

Need Some Motivation?

The sole purpose of this blog is to share information, ideas and experiences.  Hence, the reason I don't post several times a week and not real often.  When I write a post here, I want it to be something YOU actually get some use out of.  If I include an affiliate link, you get use from that too.  Now without further ado.......

Working 9-5

Do you work 9-5?  Is your time cut short promoting your business due to your day job?  Are you having difficulty balancing your day job's responsibilities and your home business?

I feel your pain.  Balancing having a day job and a home business can be daunting.  There are however, things you can do to keep your sanity.  I've been working on some strategies that I think can help.

Check out this article I recently wrote on How to Balance Having a Home Business and Day Job 

Also, come back here and share your strategies for balance.

Copywriting and the Benefits

One of the big deals in the world of internet marketing and running a successful website is getting folks to buy what you are selling.  Many approach the marketing process by offering fancy pictures and listing the features.

While offering good quality photos that represent your products are indeed important, how you market with the written word is just as important.  It doesn't matter if it's your written advertisement, your blog post or your website.  What people read is what stirs them to action.

For me, I've discovered that while I can sometimes be a little comic in my writing as well as keeping it "conversational", I don't know that I'm all that good at copywriting in general. Therefore, I realized that what I don't do well, it's best to pay someone else that does do it well to do it.  (A lot of do's I almost got myself confused).

March Madness?

March Madness is a popular term for season-ending basketball tournaments played in March. The NCAA basketball teams fight to see who will be crowned the number one team form a single elimination tournament.

Now what's that got to do with your business?

The One Inch Secret

Let's face it.  If you are running an online business, you have more to contend with than just your competitors.

Your potential customers arrive at your website and many click away because they have never heard of you and are leery to hand over their credit card information because they aren't quite sure you are legit.

Well, in just 3 1/2 Minutes You Can Upload This 'One-Inch Secret Weapon' To Key Pages On Your Website...Increasing Your Sales Conversion Rate Instantly And Automatically...And I've Got The
Split-Test Results To Prove It.

Click here to discover the "One-Inch Secret"
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Note: this link does contain my affiliate link but I'm using this too so I will not recommend anything to you that I am not using myself. Watch the difference this one little gadget makes to your website.

Are You Lacking Focus?

It's really easy to get distracted from your business and lose focus.  You can get distracted from:

• Marketing your business on a regular basis (online and off)
• Your regularly scheduled work tasks
• Interacting with like minded professionals and even...
• Why you started your business to begin with

Could it be that your loss of focus is a result of what you are actually focusing on?

Now, you know I don't claim to know it all. I only share what I have learned and please feel free to add your learnings to mine.

What I'd like to share today is something I read that seems simple, yet so profound:

How Five Bucks A Day Can Change Your Life

Who wants to only earn $5 a day? Certainly, we all want to earn more than that right?  Especially as home business owners and entrepreneurs.  However, I just read a book that completely changed my business life as I know it.

It's changed how I will run my business going forward.  This book has helped provide me with the FOCUS I need to be more successful and I invite you to join me...

Viral Marketing to Explode Your Business

So what's all the fuss about Viral Marketing?

It's actually quite simple because you don't do as much work as active internet marketing.  Simply adding your website's link using action oriented keywords like Give Me My Free Health Report can send your link viral.

Learn Internet Marketing At Your Own Pace

Being an internet marketer, you don't have to learn it all on your own or by trial and error.

Why sit in frustration trying to figure out how to drive more traffic to your website, or how to write effective ad copy or how to build a responsive mailing list.  The internet has been around long enough that experts have have been born and have cornered being successful. Now I know everyone says they are an expert but trust me when I tell you, that is sooooooooooo untrue.  It can be compared to what the Bible says, "You shall know them by their fruit." Check out the following helpful internet marketing resource.

Blog Design Give Away!

It's a new year, and my blog needs a new look! Thank heavens, Angie at 5 Vinez Monkeys is giving away a new blog look to one lucky reader courtesy of her business, Angela Vinez Designs. You won't want to miss this giveaway! Stop by before 11:59pm ET on January 27th and enter to win!

How To Niche Your Business with Market Research

Internet marketers have a different job to tackle than our brick and mortar business counterparts.  While it is easier to start an online business, many of us make a critical mistake by not doing proper market research.

To set the record straight, market research is NOT the same as keyword research.  Your keyword research should not be completed until after you have thoroughly done your market research.

At a loss how to perform market research so you can find your niche and ideal customer?  I was too until I came across this extensive and very handy e-book that teaches you step by step how to niche your business with proper market research. Here's a link to receive a free copy of "How To Do Market Research and Niche Your Business."  Read it thoroughly and you will learn the mistakes that so many internet marketers are making when starting an online business.

Broken Computer

This week has been some week.  My computer decides it doesn't want to work anymore so I am completely without this very important resource without which I can't even run my business!

Fortunately, I got it repaired...at a hefty cost and a week stolen from my business life.

The last post I wrote was about Creating Your Mission Statement.  I hear crickets out there because only one person has replied to that post.

It's important as small business owners that we reach out and support each other.  What is your company's Mission Statement?  Share it so others can provide you with eedback and ideas as well as get ideas for their own businesses.

Happy Weekend!

PS Today's my birthday so give me the gift of your comments today!

Your Mission Statement for 2010

Aside from having written goals for your business, you should also have a Mission Statement.  I entitled this post Mission Statement for 2010 but that's just to provide focus if you don't have a mission statement.  Maybe you already have one. Great. Or maybe you need to change it.  Either way, having a mission statement keeps you focused on why you are building your business to begin with.

I sometimes think that big whiz companies making it harder than it has to be.  Your mission statement doesn't have to be some elaborate, crafty statement. It just has to answer, what is your business' purpose and why does it exist?  Do you want to become a major service business with an active customer base yet not have it be drudgery?  Your mission statement could be as simple as "Growing and Enjoying It."

What's Your Mission Statement for 2010?

Please share it.  It can be as whacky or as formal as you like. It's all about YOUR business.

Green Business Tips and More

As business owners we have a responsibility to not only our customers but to our environment.  Have you ever thought about making your business more "green?"

I do my part as much as possible to become a greener business but I admit I do not know it all.  I did however find a resource that I think you will truly enjoy.  Eco-Office Gals helps you to grow your business green!  Providing green tips, green blogs, green product reviews and much more, this blog has it all.

Check out Eco-Office Gals today for more information on making your business more green...and while you are at it, check out their virtual assistant services.

What good is making a bunch of money when there will be no planet left to enjoy it on?

New Year's Resolutions Don't Work

Have you made a new year's resolution to be more proactive in your business? Maybe your resolution was to do what you could to make more money or to stay focused. The problem with new year's resolutions is they are usually unsuccessful. Here's why....

Notice when you make a new year's resolution like be more proactive or stay focused, it lacks substance. What are you going to DO to stay focused and be more proactive? Haven't answered those questions as part of your resolution have you?

Not to worry; Just the fact that you are thinking of making changes in 2010 to be more successful is a step in the right direction. Now write out a plan that includes:

• Short term (3-6 months) and long term goals (1-3 years)
  
• Steps to accomplish the goals (your daily marketing plan should incorporate this)
  
• Tools and resources you plan to use to reach your goals (ex: social networks, online or offline ads, press releases etc.)
  

Here's to a more successful year!  Share your success with the rest of us.  I'd love to hear about what your plans are for 2010 and some of the wins you've had in 2009.