{"id":5641,"date":"2012-01-01T00:48:42","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T17:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/?p=5641"},"modified":"2012-01-04T13:44:14","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T06:44:14","slug":"expand-your-small-business-to-new-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/expand-your-small-business-to-new-heights\/","title":{"rendered":"Expand Your Small Business to New Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/01\/expand-your-small-business-to-new-heights\/mh900443323\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5660\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5660\" title=\"MH900443323\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900443323.jpg?resize=325%2C325&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900443323.jpg?w=325&amp;ssl=1 325w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900443323.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900443323.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/a>by Lori Cunningham<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I know many mom friends and bloggers who have small home businesses. &nbsp;Networking works well, but it is tough to make your products AND get out there to mingle at the same time. &nbsp;Advertising is helpful, but it can be costly.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #800080;\">How Can You Get Your Name Out There?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>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. &nbsp;Here are the important steps you need to take to build your business online:<\/p>\n<p>1. <strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Create a Facebook Page<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/create.php?ref_type=sitefooter\" target=\"_blank\">&nbsp;creating a page<\/a>&nbsp;in Facebook is free. &nbsp;If you don&#8217;t do anything else online, do this at the very least. &nbsp;Here&#8217;s what to add to your page:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe your company<\/li>\n<li>Have an About Us section where you tell why you started the company. &nbsp;Let your personality shine through<\/li>\n<li>Post pictures of your products<\/li>\n<li>Post pictures of people enjoying your products<\/li>\n<li>Post updates on what projects\/new products you&#8217;re working on<\/li>\n<li>Invite your friends to become a &#8220;fan&#8221; of your page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>2. &nbsp;<strong>Create a Webpage<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8211; this is easier than you think. &nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/weebly.com\" target=\"_blank\">Weebly.com<\/a>&nbsp;is website where you can create a free website and they&#8217;ll host it for free. &nbsp;I&#8217;ve fiddled with it, it&#8217;s VERY easy to use. &nbsp;I also searched and found&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/websitebuilder.intuit.com\/get-a-website2-stpc?channel=ppc&amp;cid=IG28441\" target=\"_blank\">Intuit&nbsp;<\/a>&nbsp;which&nbsp;allows you to build a webpage and they&#8217;ll host it for you for $7.95\/mo. &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Add to your website the same information you added to your Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. &nbsp;Learn about SEO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5665\" style=\"border-style: initial; border-color: initial;\" title=\"MH900400347\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2012\/01\/MH900400347.jpg?resize=325%2C325&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2012\/01\/MH900400347.jpg?w=325&amp;ssl=1 325w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2012\/01\/MH900400347.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2012\/01\/MH900400347.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. &nbsp;Learn more about SEO from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hubspot.com\/search-engine-optimization-kit\/?utm_campaign=SEO&amp;utm_medium=ppc~8594616049&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_source=Google&amp;crcat=Search+SEO~seo&amp;crsource=adwords&amp;crkw=what%20is%20SEO&amp;crcampaign=8594616049&amp;wspapp=8594616049\" target=\"_blank\">Hubspot<\/a>. &nbsp;In simple terms, it means thinking of keywords that match your business. &nbsp;For example, if you sell cakes, your keywords could be homemade cakes, Angry Bird cakes, homemade buttercream icing, little girl birthday cakes, etc. &nbsp;You want to choose words that&nbsp;describe your cakes but are not as common. &nbsp;If you search for cakes on the Internet, you&#8217;ll get pages and pages of websites with better SEO than your site. &nbsp;Choose less<\/p>\n<p>common but more refined search words and your site&nbsp;will be picked&nbsp;up better from the search engines.<\/p>\n<p>After you&#8217;ve selected your keywords, put them all over website in relevant ways.<\/p>\n<p>4. &nbsp;<strong>Consider adding a blog to your website<\/strong>. &nbsp;Or start a blog instead of a website. &nbsp;Update your blog with stories about how you started your business, what project you&#8217;re working on, your most favorite product and why, an interview with different customers, etc. &nbsp;Make it personal so people can get a feel for who you are and get to know the human side of your business. &nbsp;Be sure to add your&nbsp;relevant&nbsp;keywords to your posts whenever possible.<\/p>\n<p>5. &nbsp;<strong>Link to Other Websites and Ask Them to Link Back<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To improve your traffic stemming from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Google <\/a>search and other search engines, encourage your friends with blogs\/websites to link to your website\/blog. &nbsp;The more inbound links you have the higher amount of traffic you&#8217;ll get when people are searching for your keywords.<\/p>\n<p>6. <strong>&nbsp;Advertise Your Business in Other Social Media Venues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are plenty of other free resources available to get your name out there. &nbsp;Here are a few to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn.com<\/a> &#8211; as you link with new friends and business associates, they can see the info. you added about your business and webpage.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5663\" title=\"MH900316821\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900316821.jpg?resize=325%2C325&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"325\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900316821.jpg?w=325&amp;ssl=1 325w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900316821.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900316821.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 325px) 100vw, 325px\" \/><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pinterest.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pinterst.com<\/a>&nbsp;&#8211; a fun way to post pictures in different personal bulletin boards of things you like from your webpage. &nbsp;Post some of your products here and others who like them will re-pin them. &nbsp;You need an invite to join and add to your bulletin boards. &nbsp;If you need one, leave me a comment with your e-mail and I&#8217;ll send you an invite. &nbsp;However, you don&#8217;t need to be a member to see everyone&#8217;s bulletin boards.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter.com<\/a> &#8211; Twitter isn&#8217;t for everyone, but it&#8217;s a great way to advertise your latest blog post or a page from your website. &nbsp;You need to follow others on Twitter, many will begin to follow you as a result. &nbsp;To find people to follow, search for your product, say &#8220;cakes&#8221; and find people interested in them to follow.<\/li>\n<li>Join network groups you find on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groupsDirectory?itemaction=mclk&amp;anetid=2072898&amp;impid=&amp;pgkey=anet_search_results&amp;actpref=anetsrch_name&amp;trk=anetsrch_name&amp;goback=%2Egdr_1325187107953_1\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn.com<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/womenssmallbusinessnetwork.com\/groups\" target=\"_blank\">Women&#8217;s Small Biz Network<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mombloggersclub.com\/page\/mom-bloggers-club-marketplace\" target=\"_blank\">Mom Bloggers Club<\/a>, and many more. &nbsp;Search for your product type online along with&#8221;women&#8221; or &#8220;mom&#8221; and &#8220;business network,&#8221; to find the right networking group for you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>7. &nbsp;<strong>Look for Online Storefronts to Sell Your Product<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>There are tons of places to see your products, many of them free or with a low percentage of sales cost. &nbsp;Here&#8217;s a great resource to pick and choose which sites work best for you: &nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/becomingacomputertechnician.com\/beyond-ebay-50-niche-sites-to-ell-your-stuff-online\" target=\"_blank\">Beyond eBay: &nbsp;50 Niche Sites to Sell Your Stuff Online.<\/a>&nbsp; Creating your own storefront online would be great too, but it will add to your monthly cost. &nbsp;The cheapest I saw in my research was <a href=\"http:\/\/pages.ebay.com\/storefronts\/start.html\" target=\"_blank\">eBay<\/a>&nbsp;at $15.95 (plus insertion fees), though I&#8217;m sure you could find others for less, though the search opportunity might not be as advantageous for you as in eBay.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>Once you get an online&nbsp;presence and extend your reach online, the chances of your business popping up in the search engines are far greater. <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Will your business take off once you establish and maintain an online presence? &nbsp;Who knows, but you&#8217;ll certainly never know unless you try. &nbsp;There are definitely people out there who would love to use your product&#8230;if only they knew how to find it. &nbsp;Taking your business online gives you further reach than you ever thought possible. &nbsp;With this New Year, make plans on how to expand your business online. &nbsp;I wish you all the best. &nbsp;Moms rock!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<address>&nbsp;picture credit: &nbsp;office.microsoft.com<\/address>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have a home-based business and want to extend your reach?  Want to expand your network tenfold? Curious on how sell your product online?  Follow these steps to spread the word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,14],"tags":[1018],"class_list":["post-5641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dads","category-how-to","category-moms","tag-sell-your-product-online","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/p-content\/themes\/atahualpa342\/images\/articles\/2011\/12\/MH900443323.jpg?fit=325%2C325&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wellconnectedmom.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}