by Lori Cunningham
I know many mom friends and bloggers who have small home businesses. Networking works well, but it is tough to make your products AND get out there to mingle at the same time. Advertising is helpful, but it can be costly.
How Can You Get Your Name Out There?
Whether you make jewelry, cakes, stuffed animals, take family portraits, or sell Christmas ornaments, you can spread the word much more efficiently on the Internet. Here are the important steps you need to take to build your business online:
1. Create a Facebook Page – creating a page in Facebook is free. If you don’t do anything else online, do this at the very least. Here’s what to add to your page:
- Describe your company
- Have an About Us section where you tell why you started the company. Let your personality shine through
- Post pictures of your products
- Post pictures of people enjoying your products
- Post updates on what projects/new products you’re working on
- Invite your friends to become a “fan” of your page
2. Create a Webpage – this is easier than you think. Weebly.com is website where you can create a free website and they’ll host it for free. I’ve fiddled with it, it’s VERY easy to use. I also searched and found Intuit which allows you to build a webpage and they’ll host it for you for $7.95/mo. Once your business grows, register for a domain name so people can find your website more easily by typing in the name of your business. Add to your website the same information you added to your Facebook page.
3. Learn about SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Learn more about SEO from Hubspot. In simple terms, it means thinking of keywords that match your business. For example, if you sell cakes, your keywords could be homemade cakes, Angry Bird cakes, homemade buttercream icing, little girl birthday cakes, etc. You want to choose words that describe your cakes but are not as common. If you search for cakes on the Internet, you’ll get pages and pages of websites with better SEO than your site. Choose less
common but more refined search words and your site will be picked up better from the search engines.
After you’ve selected your keywords, put them all over website in relevant ways.
4. Consider adding a blog to your website. Or start a blog instead of a website. Update your blog with stories about how you started your business, what project you’re working on, your most favorite product and why, an interview with different customers, etc. Make it personal so people can get a feel for who you are and get to know the human side of your business. Be sure to add your relevant keywords to your posts whenever possible.
5. Link to Other Websites and Ask Them to Link Back
To improve your traffic stemming from Google search and other search engines, encourage your friends with blogs/websites to link to your website/blog. The more inbound links you have the higher amount of traffic you’ll get when people are searching for your keywords.
6. Advertise Your Business in Other Social Media Venues
There are plenty of other free resources available to get your name out there. Here are a few to consider:
- LinkedIn.com – as you link with new friends and business associates, they can see the info. you added about your business and webpage.
- Pinterst.com – a fun way to post pictures in different personal bulletin boards of things you like from your webpage. Post some of your products here and others who like them will re-pin them. You need an invite to join and add to your bulletin boards. If you need one, leave me a comment with your e-mail and I’ll send you an invite. However, you don’t need to be a member to see everyone’s bulletin boards.
- Twitter.com – Twitter isn’t for everyone, but it’s a great way to advertise your latest blog post or a page from your website. You need to follow others on Twitter, many will begin to follow you as a result. To find people to follow, search for your product, say “cakes” and find people interested in them to follow.
- Join network groups you find on LinkedIn.com, Women’s Small Biz Network, Mom Bloggers Club, and many more. Search for your product type online along with”women” or “mom” and “business network,” to find the right networking group for you.
There are tons of places to see your products, many of them free or with a low percentage of sales cost. Here’s a great resource to pick and choose which sites work best for you: Beyond eBay: 50 Niche Sites to Sell Your Stuff Online. Creating your own storefront online would be great too, but it will add to your monthly cost. The cheapest I saw in my research was eBay at $15.95 (plus insertion fees), though I’m sure you could find others for less, though the search opportunity might not be as advantageous for you as in eBay.
Will your business take off once you establish and maintain an online presence? Who knows, but you’ll certainly never know unless you try. There are definitely people out there who would love to use your product…if only they knew how to find it. Taking your business online gives you further reach than you ever thought possible. With this New Year, make plans on how to expand your business online. I wish you all the best. Moms rock!
picture credit: office.microsoft.com
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i love this 🙂