Working From Home – Top 5 Mistakes People Make
Working from home has several benefits and can be one of the most rewarding experiences for not only yourself, but for your family. However, if you are thinking about establishing a home office, it is important to understand what this would ultimately mean to you. Taking your personality and working ethic into account, it is imperative to do your research and understand what it will mean for you and your family if you do decide to forgo the traditional working environment for the two second commute.
Establishing a home business for yourself may mean you are your own boss, but being the boss can have its difficulties. If you are contemplating working from home, it is important to understand and avoid the five common mistakes people make:
Separation Anxiety
If you work from home, it may be difficult to separate your home life from your work life. You are accessible to family members all day every day, so it can be easy for you to be taken advantage of. Set up your office in an area of your home that is separated from the rest of the family. Whether it is in a spare bedroom or in the basement, it is important to disconnect your work from your home.
Hidden Flexibility
You may have the ability to work flexible hours, but it is important not to take this for granted. It is also important not to allow others in your life take your availability for granted. Yes, working from home allows you to take time off when your child falls ill or you plan a last minute vacation. However, it is important to establish business hours for yourself and stick to them. If friends or family ask you to take time off during your set hours, you should be firm with your working schedule. Respect your work and others will follow suit.
Home is too Comfortable
Essentially erasing your commute to the office can be a positive experience. You may be able to work in your pyjamas, but it is still essential to step outside and get away from your working environment. Change into clothes that make you feel like a professional and go outside for a walk at least once a day. It is also important not to allow the television or Internet take your focus away from your work.
Isolation
As mentioned above, it is important to step outside of your home at least once a day. When you work alone in your home, you may risk isolating yourself from the rest of the world. Because of this, you should make a point of meeting with friends and past colleagues for lunch at least twice a month. Escaping the confines of your home will give you a sense of being a part of the working world, without the headaches of commuting, office politics and disgruntled bosses.
Working from home can be a satisfying experience, however before you decide to set up your home office, it is important to recognize and avoid potential mistakes in order to achieve the success you desire and deserve.
Serena Carcasole is a business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. For more info: http://www.vbsondemand.com / http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Tel: 905-915-1203 / Email: [email protected]
Tweet Yourself to Success – Why Twitter is Valuable to your Business Marketing Plan
Some people refer to it as a micro blogging platform and others refer it to a mass public instant messaging tool, regardless, while social networking has been expanding and becoming a popular business tool with the likes of Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter has seemingly been looked upon as the distant not so admired sibling of the three popular sites. While many people question whether this social networking tool is a waste of valuable time and energy, the truth is that it is quite beneficial once businesses and professionals learn how to use it.
In order to achieve success with Twitter, it is important to learn different ways this site can be used. After all, the site doesn’t attract millions of successful business owners and celebrities for no reason. It is no doubt that this social networking tool’s tweet is bigger than a lot of people may realize.
First of all. following someone’s tweets is extremely easy. It is simple to find individuals or businesses that interest you and keep up to date on their day to day activities. When you follow someone, you will see their updates and the same goes for when someone chooses to follow you.
When you are allowed to post as many updates as you wish (in as much as 140 characters) to a large network of people, especially people you may not normally have contact with, the opportunities become endless. Effective communication achieves success and this site allows its users to communicate as often or not as often as they wish. Whether there is a new product or service to disclose, interesting news or insightful information, individuals and businesses are consistently keeping followers in the know. It is much like a mini blog feed.
Here are some interesting ways you can use Twitter to tweet yourself to success.
Follow People who Interest You
Search for people and businesses who not only interest you but who may provide some sort of benefit for you. Whether it is beneficial information or possible contacts, you should take calculating steps to follow those who aren’t going to waste your time and who will provide you with something to take away and learn from.
Offer Valuable and Interesting Information
Of course some people will only tweet about what they ate for breakfast or what their plans are for the weekend, but Twitter can be so much more than just a juvenile social tool. The site can open up a land of opportunity for those who are willing to use it as such. Provide useful and interesting information to those who are following you and you will catch the eye of the very people you may have been intimidated to connect with previously. Post informative links and statements throughout the day to remain at the forefront of the very people you are hoping to connect with.
Use the Tools Available to You
Get the most out of Twitter by taking advantage of its many support applications.
Save yourself some valuable time by connecting your Facebook updates and Tweets with the Facebook for Twitter application. Using this tool will allow you to update your status on the two sites at once.
But what if you use several social networking sites? Ping.fm allows you to update your status on all major networking sites including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
If you use FireFox, the TwitterFox will allow you to see updated Tweets straight from the web browser.
Are you going on vacation and won’t have access to a computer for regular tweeting? Using the TweetLater tool will allow you to schedule your tweets for when you are away! TweetLater can also send you emails with any activity you may wish to read up on, allowing you to track conversations and join in when you have a moment.
Take it in Stride
Don’t get caught up in every single tweet that crosses over your page. Don’t waste your valuable time going through every single tweet. Scan, read and reply to information that interests you only.
Serena Carcasole is a business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. For more info: http://www.vbsondemand.com / http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Tel: 905-915-1203 / Email: [email protected]
Three Must-Follow Rules to a Successful Blog
In the current age of Web 2.0 marketing strategies, business owners must be available to their customers. Gone are the days of the untouchable CEO, especially if you’re trying to do business online. You’ve probably heard it before, but here it is again: People do business with people they like.
And one of the easiest ways to make yourself accessible to current and potential clients is to set up and regularly maintain a blog for your business.
Before we dig in, let me be perfectly clear: A blog is not a get-rich-quick scheme. Blogging isn’t going to make you a millionaire overnight, but a good, content-rich blog will help you grow your business over the long haul.
With no further ado, let’s get right to basics, starting with the first rule to a successful blog.
Successful blog rule #1: Content is king
Before you write the first word in your blog, you need to determine who your target market is and what they need from you. Once you figure that out, you’re ready to start brainstorming content.
First and foremost, you need to make sure that your content is interesting and relevant to your readers. If you’re a lawyer trying to reach out to potential clients, you shouldn’t be blogging about gardening. You might make a few friends who share your interest in gardening, but you aren’t going to land any new clients from such a blog. (However, feel free to use a separate, personal blog to chat away about your gardening interests to your heart’s content.)
So how do you come up with fresh content for your blog? Here are a few ideas:
- Keyword popularity tools – use these to find out if people are actually searching for your topic of choice, and if they’re using your chosen keywords or a more popular synonym.
- Networking groups and forums – join a few that serve your target market and join them, even if you spend all of your time “lurking” and not participating. Just pay attention to hot topics and questions that remain unanswered.
- News alerts – create Google alerts for your top keywords and watch for news, press releases, blog posts, etc., surrounding your topic of choice.
- Related blogs – find blogs that cover topics similar to yours and subscribe to their RSS feeds to keep an eye on what they’re discussing.
- Amazon.com – search for an item similar to what you’re trying to sell, and Amazon.com will show you similar items that other people have searched for and bought.
Successful blog rule #2: Choose a theme for your blog to save time and headaches
Finding a theme that works well for you will save you the time and stress of trying to consistently find fresh blog content. A blog theme will also help you create a blog that is well-developed and of interest to your readers – which keeps them coming back for more.
Possible blog themes could include:
- Seasons and major holidays
- Unique, little-known holidays and special events, like Electronic Greetings Day
- Regular reviews of books, magazine articles, etc. that are of interest to your niche market
- Reviews of seminars, webinars, teleconferences, etc., that are of interest to your niche market
- Independent product reviews
In fact, you could incorporate your chosen blog theme into all of your marketing efforts. A few examples include converting your online articles and free reports into a series of blog posts, inviting readers to chat about subjects covered in your most recent newsletter, and expanding a client’s testimonial into a mini-interview to help potential clients see the benefits of working with you.
Successful blog rule #3: Consistency, consistency, consistency!
Some well-meaning bloggers get on a roll and start off strong with one blog post every single day, but then once the newness wears off (and real life commitments kick in), they find that they don’t have the time to blog every day on a consistent basis. So they miss a day at first, and then they miss a few days, and all of a sudden a week (or more!) has gone by with no new posts.
Missing a blog post can happen to the best of us, but doing so on a regular basis is a sign that your blog schedule isn’t right for you.
Many blog experts say that publishing new blog posts at least once or twice per week is desirable, but the most important aspect is to be consistent.
If you commit to two blog posts per week, set a schedule for yourself (for example, say that you’ll post to your blog every Tuesday and Thursday) and stick with it! If you get on a roll with new blog ideas, great – get your ideas down in writing (either the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper, or you can take advantage of most blog’s draft feature that will let you save drafts for future editing and publishing) to save for those times when the ideas just aren’t flowing.
Maintaining a regular blog can (and should) be a stress-free and possibly even fun way to connect with your current and potential clients. If you’re not taking the time to reach out to them, you better believe that someone else will – and that someone else will take their business, too.
Serena Carcasole is a business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. For more info: http://www.vbsondemand.com / http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Tel: 905-915-1203 / Email: [email protected]
Survey your Connections – A Creative Social Networking Strategy
The world of social media doesn’t just involve socializing. Social media marketing is quickly becoming quite a large part of business marketing campaigns worldwide. Businesses, big and small, are using social networking sites to capture the attention of clients, and in the process are finding a wealth of new opportunity.
While social networking is an excellent tool, it doesn’t just stop at sending out tweets, status updates, answering questions and writing up blog posts. Social media is evolving so quickly that the opportunities for Internet marketing are now endless.
The trick to succeeding with the ever evolving world of the Internet is to think outside the box. Whether you are sending out a blog, a white paper or a survey through social media, you have to ensure you are not only targeting the right people but that you are providing excellent thought provoking content that will get you noticed.
How do you effectively capture the attention of your audience while networking online? And how do you guarantee you all come away with valuable information?
An excellent method of attracting the right audience through social networking sites is to distribute a survey and report. Using this strategy provides you with the ability to get into the minds of your niche market so you are better able to achieve business success and offers your market with some helpful information to take away with them. The most important aspect of social media marketing is to narrow your focus. Once you have focused on a specific group to target, it is time to provide them with valuable information so they gain interest and want to come back for more.
Here are five ways to conduct an effective online survey and see results:
Be Professional
When you consider distributing a survey to your targeted group, you have to make sure they will know who their information is going to. Otherwise they may not be willing to participate. An excellent tool is Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey provides excellent value. At only $200 a year, this tool allows you to add your own logo and brand. Placing your logo and brand on any information you send out to contacts will set you apart from your competition and help them recognize who you are.
Remember that Keywords play a Big Role
Whether you are tweeting or sending a status update about your review, it is important to ensure the correct key words are in place. Think of enticing words such as the word FREE. And tell your audience what they will receive in return. Provide a reason why someone would want to participate and think up words that would be attractive to your connections.
Develop Key Questions
Think about making some of the questions focused on personal information. Consider asking for an email address and name. You would be surprised just how many people are willing to provide this information in the right circumstance.
Connect with a Fire starter
A fire starter is someone who is popular and has many online followers on their social networking sites. All a fire starter has to do is mention a topic and the buzz will be set. It’s much like dropping a match in the center of a wood pile and watching it catch fire. If you do not have a large following online, consider connecting with a fire starter and having them send out a buzz for you. Of course offer incentive in return, such as your report or a copy of your Ebook upon completion.
Deliver what you Promise
If you promise to provide a free report, you must be prepared to deliver it. And be sure to answer any questions or concerns participants have. If the report is based on a business or event, answer to participant needs and provide contact information whenever possible.
Conducting a survey is an excellent way to generate interest, acquire contacts and learn more about the needs and expectations of your niche market. Follow the steps above to achieve your business success and become a recognized participant in your social networking circle.
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Serena Carcasole is a business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. For more info: http://www.vbsondemand.com / http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Tel: 905-915-1203 / Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn Strategies for Business Success
Social media is more than just being social. Social networking sites are excellent resources to achieving business success. Once looked upon as a place for job seekers, LinkedIn has gained a positive reputation for helping businesses gain clients.
The popular social media marketing site is an excellent tool as it is business focused, provides the opportunity to connect with millions of people and allows its users to join groups and take part in conversations that interest them. The networking site is beneficial to companies big and small; however in order to garner all of the benefits offered, one should know the correct way and the incorrect way to use it.
What are some strategies you should be taking to use LinkedIn to your full benefit? And what should you avoid doing, in order to ultimately gain clients and reach business success?
Easily View Networks
You should be asking yourself who you wish to network with; what is your niche market and how do you find them? Once you answer this question you will know what types of contacts would be beneficial to connect with. You can also search for contacts through other people’s networks.
Know why you are participating
Know what your LinkedIn objectives are. Are you participating to gain business recognition? Are you participating to grow your network and create clients? Having a clear understanding as to why you have signed up for an account in the first place will help you achieve your ultimate goal.
Create Positive Relationships
Once you decide to take part in social media marketing and sign up for LinkedIn, it is important to nurture the connections you make and create relationships out of them. People want to buy from people they like and trust. You should be getting people to like and trust you.
Be genuine and don’t pitch your business. Be a real person and let people know the real you. Too much corporate talk won’t draw in connections. Being genuine helps people see the real you and therefore helps create trust.
Add only Connections that are Relevant
How relevant are your connections? Add people who are going to be the perfect prospect for you and will be able to provide you with something, whether it is another connection or new business.
A Profile that Stands Out
Your profile gives you credibility. A poor synopsis of who you are won’t bring in relevant contacts. Ensure there is enough information on your profile to help you get noticed and establish yourself and your business as professional. Be sure to enhance your professional summary with SEO strategies, using key words people would search for in Google.
Take Advantage of LinkedIn Answers
Ask questions regularly to let other users know who you are and what you and your business is all about. Asking and answering questions will get you in front of potential clients as well as establish you as a professional.
Take Advantage of Polls
Polls allow you to ask a question and rate the answers. Your poll questions will go out to your immediate networks. You will be making contact and letting your connections know you are still available without being intrusive.
Take Advantage of Group Discussions
On the left hand side of your profile, you will see Groups. When you are a part of a group, you can take part in discussions. When you contribute to discussions and add your professional opinion, just like the answers section, you establish yourself as a professional and put yourself in front of potential clients.
Know how to Invite People
LinkedIn has its own introduction line, but if you hope to establish a meaningful connection with someone, you should be using your own personal opening line. Be personable and let the person know where you two met. Say something like “Hey (insert name), we met at (insert event) and I would like to get to know you further. Would you like to connect on LinkedIn?” Sometimes you have to remind people why and how you know one another. If people don’t know who you are, they most likely won’t accept your invitation.
Export your Contacts
Once you start making connections, keep track of them by exporting your contacts to an Excel spreadsheet. You can do this by clicking on contacts, scroll down to the bottom and click on the link “export connections”. This is a great way to keep track of birthdays, phone numbers, and how strong the contact is for you.
Social media marketing, such as LinkedIn, can be very rewarding for you and your business, as long as you know how to use the tool to your full benefit.
Serena Carcasole is a business consultant and the President of Virtual Business Solutions ON DEMAND, a premier virtual assistance firm helping entrepreneurs around the world to succeed and grow their businesses. For more info: http://www.vbsondemand.com / http://www.vbsondemand.com/category/blog Tel: 905-915-1203 / Email: [email protected]