Hot Press For Product Sellers

One of the fastest ways to grow your business is to find your products reviewed in the editorial pages of a magazine or raved about on a hip website.

But short of a few obviously famous publications, where are the best places to get your products noticed? Among my clients, the following are the most popular:

CoolMomPicks.com — If you produce products for moms or children, set your eyes on this website!

SheFinds.com — If you sell awesome stuff for women, you’ll want a feature here.

MomFinds.com — Ditto above if you sell stuff for moms.

Modish — Perfect place for those of you who make stuff by hand

UrbanBaby.com — Yep, more baby stuff

FunkyFinds.com — I think this one speaks for itself

So, now that you have a list, just send them an email, asking about their advertising rates and their product submission process. You can do it!

What To Do If Your Twitter Account Is Hacked

If you’re following me on Twitter, you probably noticed an “interesting” message inviting you to watch a webcam. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

This was not me.

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Top 4 Forums To Market Your Natural Handmade Products

If you’re creating products for the natural market, whether your focusing on women, children or the whole family, a few forums stand out as places where the crunchy crowd hangs out. Naturally, I’m going to share:

1. Mothering.com — Perfect for those of you who are making natural, organic products for children and women.
2. TheBabyWearer.com — This forum is geared specifically towards moms who are buying or making baby slings. But those same moms tend to be crunchier than the average bear. You’ll have a greater chance of interesting them in your wooden toys or organic cotton t-shirts.
3. AmityMama.com — This community has been around for years and is a wateringhole for natural family living proponents.
4. HippyMom.com — Busy community for moms into natural products.

Remember, go in with the intention to make friends and get to know people. Give it three months before you start mentioning your business or products. Give it six months before  you give up. Post at least once per day and read for at least an hour.

Let me know how it goes!

How Often Do You Post On Your Blog?

I’ve been guilty of it, too.

You post on your blog every day for a few weeks and then suddenly life gets in the way. So you start posting every other day.

The next thing you know, it’s been three months since your last post and you’re not sure how to get back into it.

So, let me ask you: How often do you post on your blog?

Would you like some ideas for generating ideas when you realize that you’re not sure where you’re going with your blog?

10 Totally Free Marketing Tips

Staring down the barrel of a recession makes one very much aware of where every penny goes. You never know when your “well” is going to dry up. Naturally, one of the first things most small businesses do is start cutting out unnecessary spending.

This, of course, is a smart reaction. And if you’ve been reading any business blogs or columns, experts are advising you to keep that marketing budget intact.

But what if you didn’t have a “marketing budget” to begin with?

There’s no reason why you can’t reach out anyway. Consider these 10 free marketing tips:

1. Participate in the conversation on blogs related to your market and product. When you add value to the conversation, readers of the blogs will see your expertise and many of them will follow your link back to your site.
2. Add a link to your business site in the signature of forums you post on. Make sure it’s OK to do so on the forum first, of course. Then get busy posting!
3. Post a link to your recent blog posts on Twitter. Tweet about what you’re doing related to your business or product.
4. Setup a page on Facebook promoting your product. Start a group. Post your latest blog posts in your profile.
5. Optimize your website for high search engine rankings for your specific keyword phrases.
6. Write articles and submit them to article directories and websites in your industry that accept guest authors.
7. Write for other people’s successful blogs.
8. Add a signature promoting your website to all your emails.
9. Create informative pages related to your product and industry on Squidoo, Hubpages and Google Knols.
10. Create a contest in which you give away a free product or two (or 10). Email your list and ask your customers to spread the word about the potential freebie.

Avoid “Burn Out” by Balancing Work and Family

Many people turn to a home business in an effort to be able to spend more time with their family while earning an income. While it is never easy to be a full-time working parent outside the home, it can be just as hard, if not harder, to be a full-time working parent from home.

When your family sees you at home, they may automatically feel that you are at their service. One child may need a ride somewhere, another child wants you to find something they are looking for, and your spouse wants you to run to the store and buy something for dinner. On top of all of that, you have clients expecting you to complete various projects for them, as well.

To help your family understand your new routine:

1. Hold a family meeting and explain how important it is that you have time set aside for your business. It doesn’t matter if you leave the house and work from an office, or if you work from the kitchen table, work is work. Your family wouldn’t come to an office outside the home and ask you to do all those miscellaneous tasks, working from home should be no different.
2. Make sure to set aside time for your family, just as you would for your clients. Working from home will allow you to have a flexible schedule and that gives you the opportunity to attend school functions and other activities.
3. Make sure you don’t over schedule yourself and spend too much time working. Your family needs to have some quality time with you; and you will need their support, too. Starting a new home business can be draining. It will be a lot easier with the support of your family.
4. Ask your family to help you with the household chores. Set up a schedule where everyone pitches in with various tasks. Depending on the age of your children, they may be able to help with things such as emptying the garbage, vacuuming, doing laundry, preparing their own lunches for school, or even preparing dinner for the family. If you have a spouse, make sure that they are involved, too.
5. Ask a young teenager in the neighborhood to come over and “entertain” your children while you work for a few hours. A younger teen without a lot of prior babysitting experience will charge less than an older teen. Since you will be in the house, you can take over in case of an emergency. Your young sitter can play with the kids, read stories to them, etc – and you can have three or four hours of uninterrupted work time.

Balancing work and family will never be easy, but with practice – and patience; it can be done.

What Does SEO Stand For And Why Do I Need It?

If you’d like to hear a fun interview about SEO, head over to my friend Jenn Givler’s Create A Thriving Business podcast. She and I discussed search engine optimization last week and had a blast doing it.

Creating a Contest for Publicity

People love the prospect of winning a prize and that is why contests are a great way to gain publicity. Another reason that contests are great for publicity is that you can create buzz for your business before, during, and after the contest. You can use a contest to gain exposure for a product or service that you offer, or to create general traffic to your website.

When deciding what type of contest to have, take a look at the type of business you have and who your target market is. If your goal is to create traffic for a website devoted to cooking, you can hold a “worst cooking disaster” contest where entrants can write in about their biggest kitchen mishap. If you have an information product on a subject related to babies, hold a “pretty baby contest” where contestants can send in a picture of their infant.

You can also do a search on the internet for unknown holidays or other events that are taking place that may have something to do with your business. For instance, June is National Iced Tea Month. In using the above example of a cooking-related website, you could hold an Iced Tea Recipe Contest. June 18 is National Splurge Day. You could create a contest that asked the contestants to name their favorite “food splurge,” such as ice cream, cake, etc. Or you could create a contest asking entrants to describe the biggest splurge they made on a cooking appliance, such as a Panini Press.

You do not have to offer an expensive prize for the winner. If you are creating the contest to gain publicity for an information product that you have created, perhaps you can give a free copy to the winner.

Another option is to find sponsors to help contribute prizes to the contest. Find some websites that offer complimentary products or services to what you are promoting. For instance, if you have a website that provides information on how women can start their own business, you can find a virtual assistant, transcriptionist, life coach, etc. who may wish to donate a couple hours’ of time as a prize. In exchange for their donation, make sure you give them lots of publicity on your contest page and in your communications with the media.

Send in press releases to the media several weeks before the contest will begin. Follow up with a press release while the contest is in full swing. Then send in another release after the contest is over and the winner has been announced. You can also ask your sponsors to send in press releases to their local media and to the winners’ local media.

Don’t forget to follow up with the people that entered the contest but did not win. Send them an email and let them know you appreciate their efforts. You can make them feel like a winner by offering them a special discount on one of your information products, for instance.

Top 25 Ways To Market Your Products

Whether you’re starting your business, trying to climb out of a slump or survive during the recession, you need to market your business.

As a matter of fact, scaling back your marketing during a recession is the worst thing you can do to your business. With fewer people spending money, and possibly fewer people buying your products, you’ll need to reach out more to gain the attention of those who are still buying.

Below is a list of my top 25 ways to market your products. Some of them are online methods and others are offline. Many of them are free. Enjoy!

1. Send out a press release to PR directories and local media.
2. Update your Google Maps Listing.
3. Write articles and submit them to article directories.
4. Join a forum related to your niche and share your expertise.
5. Tell everyone you know about your products.
6. Contribute to the conversation on blogs in your area of expertise.
7. Buy a classified ad in the newspaper.
8. Submit your site to DMOZ.
9. Post on your blog regularly — at least once a week.
10. Provide appropriate information on sites like Wikipedia.
11. Host a contest and give away a product.
12. Research keyword phrases that your ideal customers use to find your products.
13. Join a social networking site related to your target market and spend time getting to know people.
14. Setup an account at Google Webmasters Central and analyze your website.
15. Give a business card to everyone, post them on community bulletin boards and leave them with your tip. Include them in each package you send to a customer.
16. Submit your products to Google Base and other comparison shopping sites.
17. Join the local Chamber of Commerce.
18. Create a video of people using your product and submit it to Youtube.
19. Offer discounts to specific groups of people, such as members of a forum you frequent often.
20. Install Google Analytics on your site and keep an eye on your website’s growth and referrals.
21. Ask for referrals
22. Continue your marketing education by subscribing to marketing-related blogs (Like this one!)
23. Contact other business owners who offer complementary products to see if you can work together to benefit both your businesses.
24. Keep your customers up to date on specials or new products. It’s easier to sell to an existing customer than to woo a new customer.
25. Offer free samples.

Smarter SEO On The Mom’s Smarter New Year Resolution Tour

You’re soon going to learn that my goal for 2009 is to SIMPLIFY MY BUSINESS. I have lots of plans, and I’ll be sharing them with you soon.

But first, I’d like to share that one of the main things you can do to simplify your business is to work smarter. You know what they say, “Work smarter, not harder.”

With this thought in mind, Kelly McCausey has put together the Mom’s Smarter New Year Resolution Tour.

This new online event that will span across the entire Mom’s Talk Radio network between now and Valentine’s Day. It’s a show by show track of fun ‘resolution’ focused topics for all of the different areas of a mom’s life.

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