New Oz-E-Wahm Directory
By · CommentsI’ve been working on this on and off for nearly a year, and today the Oz-E-Wahm.com Business Resources Directory is launched …yay!
As a special offer for the launch, you can get a Platinum listing at only $50 for the whole year – just use the coupon LAUNCH on checkout. Also, as a bonus for all my blog readers, all new listings will have the oppportunity to be featured in the WAHM Stories category on the Oz-E-Wahm site. This will feature a full interview with you, plus links back to your site.
The newsletter is also starting up this week, and platinum directory members have the opportunity to be our featured WAHM there also – totally free.
Click here to submit your listing
For those who don’t know about Oz-E-Wahm, we’ve been online since 2006, and in that time established the site as an excellent resource for work at home mum and small business information and tips.
Oz-E-Wahm enjoys excellent search engine rankings, and has several thousand unique visitors every month. Oz-E-Wahm.com ranks particularly well in Google for the following highly competitive terms – without quotes around the phrase!
online business: #2 in the world and Australia
home business: #8 in the world and #7 in Australia
work online: #2 in the world and Australia
online businesses: #4 in the world and Australia
online business ideas: #4 in Australia
working from home online: #3 in the world and #2 in Australia
The site attracts thousands of wahms and wahms-to-be every month, making it an excellent place to advertise your WAHM or family products and services.
List Building, Subscriber Relations and a Special Offer
By · CommentsWelcome to the last instalment of Marketing Monday for July. Today I’m going to recap what I’ve posted about over the month, and if you stay tuned until the end there’s a very special offer just for my blog readers. If you’re ready to take your email marketing list to the next level (and who isn’t) you can grab something that will help you get much more out of your customer list for less than a morning coffee.
So, what do you need to do to have a successful mailing list?
#1 Establish Trust. There must be a relationship of trust between you and your customers. They need to feel like you are there for them consistenly with information that provides a benefit and improves their lives. They need to feel as if they can count on your ability to consistenly provide value. The more your customers and prospects are able to trust you, the more likely they are to not only come back for more themselves, but also recommend you to their friends.
#2 Market your list. Building your list is the first and foremost aspect of the success of your business online. Without your list, you don’t have very much else to fall back on. Grow your list by:
- Inserting an opt in box on your website so visitors can sign up for your mailings.
- Submit your articles to directories with your name and website included so readers can find you for more information.
- Participate in relevant joint ventures to build your list.
- Offer potential subscribers something. In exchange for their email address they receive a quailty free short report, and eBook, audio or video product or even an online class or workshop.
#3 Target a niche. A highly targeted list is better than a broad list any day, they’ll more easily become paying customers. Once you have a growing list of targetted customers take great care of them, these people are precious, hold on to them for dear life by treating them with respect and consistenly offering value.
Building your own list doesn’t have to take hours a day, nor cost a fortune. You and your business deserve the best, and getting up and running quickly and efficiently is a huge part of that process. Click on the link below to download my ten page report on How to Turn Subscribers Into Buyers for the very special price of only $2.50! This week only, and the report will be removed from the blog and sold at a much higher price.
This is my thank you to you for reading my blog. No hype or hard to understand instructions, just seven different strategies to really put your email list to work for you.
Instant online download – just $2.50 this week only!
Are you ready to outsource?
By · CommentsA problem experience by many small and home businesses is simply the time to do it all, and still try to have a life somewhere in there. But what can you do?
You’ve been working hard on your business, and things are picking up speed. Often, you have more work than you can handle, and find yourself constantly working ‘in’ the business and never on your business. Sound familiar? I have definately been there myself, and it is an extremely common problem for work at home mums. You really aren’t ready to bring on an employee, but what can you do to keep up with everything? It is time to consider outsourcing some of that work.
Outsourcing is becoming an increasingly popular way for small businesses and solo-preneurs to increase productivity while keeping costs under control.
The best place to begin outsourcing is with a task that you don’t do well or one you don’t particularly enjoy doing. You should spend your time working on what you are best at in your business, what makes the business stand out and that no one else can do as well as you.
When you are struggling with a project or regular task due to lack of skills or lack of interest, it is bound to slow you down and take more time than it needs to from your hectic schedule. By outsourcing that task, you eliminate the time drain and the frustration. You are freed up to work on tasks that are in your expertise, which adds to your bottom line.
A quality outsource partner will spend time understanding what you need as well as what you want in your business. By carefully looking at your target market, your products and services, your desired outcomes and your budget, you will work together to develop a plan. Once all the necessary information is gathered, your new virtual partner will complete your project while you devote your time to other things.
Outsourcing can be used for a wide variety of office tasks. From accounting and payroll to content production to graphics and websites, outsourcing can help you add an extra pair of hands to your small business – which translates to extra hours in your work week.
If you’re already taking advantage of this, what do you outsource? For those who are new to outsourcing, take the time to think what tasks you would like to be rid of, and then go for it!
How to build targeted email marketing lists
By · CommentsWelcome to the third instalment of Marketing Monday! If you missed the first two posts you can read them here:
The topic for this month is turning subscribers into buyers.
This week I’m going to let you in on some secrets on how to make sure your email marketing list is targetted.
Although many readers will know the importance of building your list up, you may not be aware of how a highly targeted opt-in list will give you much greater rewards.
First, think about who is your business’s target market. Knowing who these people are and what they value not only gives you something to focus on, but will help you find new contacts that will be interested in the information you have to provide.
Start with a broad topic – is your site about parenting, online shopping, business information or services, or something else? From there, think about the more specific areas of your business. What is the unique services/products and qualities that you focus on. By narrowing down your area of expertise you’ll have a well defined niche to market to, rather than loads of broad ‘hit and miss’ exercises.
Don’t be alarmed if you see people unsubscribing at first, it’s much better to have a highly targetted list of a few hundred than a huge mailing list who aren’t really interested in what you have to say.
If you would like to have more than one newsletter, you might want to break your niche into smaller chunks again – for example ‘babies’ and ’school aged’ or ‘home business’ and ’small/medium enterprises’. This will allow you to send highly targetted information to these smaller segments of your list. Some email marketing software also allows you to create segments within your list that you can automatically send to without having to bother with a whole new mailing list.
Once built, a targeted and specific niche mailing list is the key to making money from your list. Specialising makes it easier to become the expert and provide a range of highly targetted, quality information.
Once your subscribers gain that feeling of trust with you, they will recommend your site or mailing list to their friends. This is one of the great ways your list will keep growing; only now it’s with people you know are very interested in what you have to offer.
My daughter has been happily entertained for three hours
By · CommentsAnd it’s all thanks to this amazing playdough recipe! I spent quite literally 20 minutes making two batches of this playdough for her yesterday, and she has now sat happily at the table making all sorts of creations for hours on end. Costing just small change to make, this recipe is an absolute must for the busy work at home mum!
No Cook Playdough Recipe
Ingrediants:
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup salt
3/4 of a cup of cold water (you may need a little more or less, just depending on your batch)
A liberal amount of food colouring (I used about half of those little bottles you get in the four packs)
1 Tbs of vegetable oil (or any cheap cooking oil)
Method:
Sift flour into a large bowl, then add salt and mix together.Add the tablespoon of oil to the mix, and stir well to combine.
Add the food colouring to your water and gradually add to your dry ingrediants (I found about 1/3 at a time worked well). Stir until mixture resemebles a crumbly dough.
Tip out on the bench and kneed for a good few minutes. The dough will come together and become smooth. This is a great time to kneed in a bit of glitter, which my daughter just loves. If your playdough is a bit wet at this stage, just kneed in a bit of extra flour too.
That’s it! Will keep for ages in the fridge, and if they mix up colours or spread it all over the floor, just make another batch. I will never buy expensive pre-made dough again.
Enjoy!
And now for something completely different …
By · CommentsAre you busy? I know I am – being a working mum means very little time to myself, especially now in school holidays. However, it’s the me time that keeps you going when your three year old draws on the wall with crayon (note to self: keep crayons on the top shelf!) or when you have a tough client or just a plain old bad day.
Here are a few tips I have to make sure you get some ‘me time’, what do you do?
#1 Add it to your schedule. That sounds like a given, right? Yet many people skip this step. They schedule doctor’s appointments and children’s playdates but not time for themselves.
#2 Make it routine. When something becomes a habit, part of our normal routine and lifestyle, we’re more likely to do it and more likely to miss it if you skip it. Creating regular me time whether it is daily or weekly is a great way to make and keep a commitment to take care of yourself.
#3 Partner up. If you know other work at home mums, then they too are probably looking for a little me time. Consider partnering with them for childcare. You can swap and watch each other’s children, without the huge costs of childcare.
#4 Ask your family for help. Often partners just don’t notice how frazzled you are unless you tell them. However it pays to create a plan in advance. Create a plan of action and present it to your family asking for their support.
#5 Learn to say no to others and yes to yourself. There’s always something else that needs to be done. Always. Learn to say no and to prioritise your tasks, keeping in mind that you are always top priority.
How do you take some time for yourself? I’d love to hear your advice 
.
Picking search engine keywords
By · CommentsFor today’s online businesses, search engine visibility is a must. But how do you get yourself ranking well in the SERPs (search engine results pages)? One significant determining factor of search engines success is the ability to choose the right keywords. Ideally, you want keywords that have high demand and lower supply but many people don’t know how to go about finding those golden nuggets. Keyword research is one of the things most people are aware of but really don’t know why they’re supposed to do it or how to do it well.
Essentially, with keywords, you’re looking for the words or phrases that everyone is searching for and few websites are providing. It takes research, quite a lot of research, to find these terms but once you do, you’re on the way. Let’s look at how it’s done.
Step One. Choosing Your Basic Keywords
To start, choose a main topic your business is about. For example, if your business is about coffee makers then you’d start with that basic keyword. However, the keyword “coffee makers” is liable to be a very competitive keyword and if you’re just getting started in business, trying to optimise your site for it is like swimming upstream. It’s better, easier, and more profitable to optimize your site for more niche specific keywords like, Italian made coffee makers or single serving coffee makers.
Step Two. Finding Those Niche Specific Keywords With High Demand And Low Supply
Visit Google Adword’s keyword search tool here. Enter your keyword/keyword phrase here and you’ll see a list of possible keywords along with supply and demand data in the form of advertiser competition and approximate search volume.
The ideal is to see a low advertiser competition and a high search volume. That means many people are searching for your keywords but there aren’t many businesses targeting those keywords. Good demand and low supply.
Likewise, wordtracker.com, a subscription based service, will show you how many searches have been conducted for your keyword phrase, how many they predict, how many pages Google lists for that search term and a number called KEI or Keyword effectiveness indicator. The higher the KEI, the better. The higher the predict number, the better and the lower the Google number the better – combined they indicate high demand and low supply.
Once you have your list of keywords narrowed down to niche specific keywords with high demand and low supply, it’s time to make use of these keywords, write content utilising them, optimise your website for them and start driving traffic to your website in droves.
More on this in another post …
Growing your business with blogging
By · CommentsA lot of businesses could do with a boost these days, but don’t have a huge fund to invest in advertising or promotion. Blogging is a great way to grow your business, without the huge costs. It adds credibility to your business, helps brand you and your business and creates the kind of community and authenticity prospects are craving. People no longer care to do business with a nameless faceless entity; they want to know who they’re doing business with and what they’re about. A blog helps you accomplish this, thus building your awareness and customer base. Here are a few tips and strategies to use blogging to grow your business.
#1 Blogging is a fine balance of information and entertainment. On a business blog, often people do want to get to know you and your personality however only if it relates to helping them solve their problems. So too much information isn’t necessarily a good thing. For example, let’s say you have a niche specific coaching business and you coach stay at home mums who are trying to open their own business.
Your blog will ideally offer tips, strategies and advice on how to handle the struggles that those mums face. You can, and should, mix in stories that relate to the blog posts however, blogging about what you had for breakfast or how the date you went on last night didn’t go so well, isn’t relevant or helpful to your readers. So be personable and share stories as they relate to your business. Ask yourself if it benefits the reader, if it doesn’t, get rid of it.
#2 Blog frequently. A blog helps draw traffic because it’s updated frequently and thus can achieve a higher search engine ranking than your website. Yet if you only blog once a month not only are you short changing anyone who subscribed to your blog, you’re shortchanging yourself because the search engine results are going to suffer. The great thing about blogging is that you can write thirty posts in one sitting and then schedule them to be posted over the next thirty days; you don’t have to sit down every single day and write something. Find a posting schedule that works for you and also benefits your readers and the search engines, a minimum would be once a week.
#3 Be sure to link to your website. One of the advantages of a blog is that people often land there instead of your website, due to the search engine optimization features. If you want to drive traffic to your website home page, make sure there is at least one link to it.
#4 Have patience. It takes time to build up a following and for some it doesn’t really ever happen. Does that mean your blog isn’t working to help build your business? Absolutely not. Many people may read your blog posts without subscribing or commenting but if the information they found was helpful, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
#5 Choose your blog host wisely. There are many free blogging hosts, wordpress, blogger, typepad and so on, but for a business blog you should really be hosting it on your own domain. Wordpress is free blogging software and offers a number of SEO features, tagging, analytics and so on, and is very easy to use.
Blogging helps you build your business in other not so obvious was as well. You’ll learn what your audience likes to read and comment on. You’ll also learn more about what their problems are and how you can solve them and thus build your business. All in all, blogging is an exceptional way to connect to your audience, build traffic, and sales.
Do you use email marketing?
By · CommentsMost businesses with an online presence use email to some extent every day. However, many are yet to realise the potential they have already available to them in the form of email marketing. Cheap and effective, email marketing is a brilliant way to keep your brand in the forefront of your client’s minds.
As well as sending out a regular newsletter, consider these tips for just some of the ways you can use email marketing to benefit and grow your business:
- New product launch: send an email a week or so before a new product is due, and then the day before, including a special offer or coupon.
- Put the information you have to good use, and send out birthday greetings to clients and customers
- Offer your list readers a small free gift or discount occasionally. This is an excellent way of rewarding customer loyalty and making sure they’ll stay subscribed to hear your other messages.
- Use your mailing list program to run a small mini course or answer common customer enquiries with autoresponders.
- Pay attention to your link click-throughs and rewards those who follow through with a discount or offer, such as free shipping.
- Pre-qualify your messages by using custom fields that apply to your business (for example: first name, state or color preference) to send out highly relevant emails, personalised, rather than sending the same generic message to everyone.
Make your email marketing messages brief, easy to read, personalised, and with a little bonus every now and then, and you’ll keep your customers reading.
Need to grow your business?
By · CommentsYour dream is coming true, you had the right idea… and the talent. But running a business takes many different skills and you’re not sure how go to the next level.
This year, I am speaking and a sponsor of the third annual Business Mums Conference, with the theme of Recharge Your Business. Di Padgett from You Are Special is the keynote speaker, and along with the other presenters, will give you practical information to help you get to the next level.
Networking opportunities, exciting workshops and practical information you can apply to your business right now.
The conference is June 20 and 21, 2009 at the Holmesglen Conference Centre in Melbourne, and if you come along let them know that Lucie from Oz-E-Wahm sent you.
Book now at www.businessmumsconference.com.au
If A Teen Can Do It….
By · CommentsSo Can A Mum.
Here’s an article that is a must read for some inspiration to keep you moving forward with your internet business. $8 bought her a dot com and now 3 years later her business grosses over 1 million, not bad for a teenager.
Read the full news story here >>>
Great Quote – 18-06-07
By · CommentsFound this quote on The Tall Poppy and I just had to share:
The Lord gave us two ends – one to sit on and the other to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most.
Ann Landers.
heynounce – announce your new site
By · CommentsCheck out this little tool that I found whilst surfing. It is a site announcer and great for announcing new websites. It’s called heynounce All you need to do is register, and add your site. You can also help other new sites get to the top of the new site listings by clicking on their little tree icons and helping them grow….a bit cute really isn’t 
How Popular Are You?
By · CommentsHere’s a relatively new site I just found – URL Fan - there About Us page descibes the site as:
://URLFAN is an evolving experiment designed to discover what websites the blogosphere is discussing all in real time. It does this by cultivating the content of thousands of RSS feeds and parsing billions of pieces of information.
Now every website owner can see who’s talking about their site in real time and how they compare to every other site on the Internet. There are many sites designed to rank the “traffic” of a website, such as Alexa, however ://URLFAN is different. We rank sites according to their popularity in the fast moving and growing world of RSS feeds.
So yes the site is only new and they are working hard at getting domains added, this site could be big, it’s like joining Technorati and Alexa so go check them out.
A Mum With A Passion
By · CommentsSarah from Quilt Fabric Delights is a mum with a passion for fabric. Sarah learnt to sew some 20 years ago and has never looked back. She truly has a flair and some of her creations are just gorgeous. 
Sarah recently opened her own online Fabric Store aptly named Quilt Fabric Delights. This has been a dream of Sarah’s for some time and what a fabulous dream to pursue. I am totally in awe of women that sew and not just your everyday stuff, Sarah it seems can make just a about anything with some fabric and her machine.
I am sure that this is one Aussie WAHM that will be hearing alot more of in the future.
Next you are looking for that right piece of fabric be sure to stop by Quilt Fabric Delights.
Does Your Blog Need A Whammy?
By · CommentsFor those of you that have followed my progress for a while you will know that I am all for supporting and encouraging mums to give an online business a go!
Many of those mums have jumped onto the now very popular blogging bandwagon, only to wonder if it is actually doing anything for their business. I mean who wants to be writing blog posts every day and never knowing if anyone is actually reading them? Does that sound like you?
Then you need to have a look at our Community Blog Whammy, which is aimed set up for Australian Online Business Mums with Blogs. The main aim of the Blog Whammy being to increase the traffic and interaction on the members blogs. The Whammy also helps to build a network of like minded women which is a valued resource when you are working at home in isolation.
If your blog could do with a little push in the right direction then come on and join us over at Blog Whammy.
Setting SMART Busines Goals
By · CommentsSetting SMART Business Goals: Setting golas for both your personal and business life is something that everyone knows they should be doing. There is an endless supply of information available on the subject of goal setting. However are you setting SMART goals? Goals that are are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Related?
To read the entire article click here >>>
Open The Doors To Your Site
By · CommentsWith Incoming Links: Incoming links; that is a link to your website appearing on another site, can be likened to ‘entrance ways’ to your site. The more of these ‘entrance ways’ you have to your site the more people will see those ‘entrance ways’ as they travel around the internet and the greater potential for traffic to your site.
To read the entire article click here >>>
Taking Us Mums For Granted
By · Comments“In our own world today, motherhood is rarely sufficiently honoured. One day each year, there are brunches and corsages and little gifts of love. But the rest of the time? As a culture, we do not respect that great gift of mothering. Women’s work in raising the next generation is taken for granted. Yet it is a vital service to humanity one that deserves to be acknowledged continually.”
This post on Nicole’s Modern Goddess Blog really struck a chord with me, as a mother of two young children I see this line of thinking everywhere, mothering being taken for granted. In fact even my husband thinks like that to a certain degree, you know with the old, “what have you done today dear” line every now and then when he comes from work.
Well let’s see, I got out of bed, did 2 loads of washing, hung them out, folded and put away the 2 loads from yesterday. I ironed the clothes for the day, made lunches, made breakfasts, did a general tidy, stopped the kids from squabbling, drove the kids to school, came home made the beds, swept the floor, played with my daughter and read her story and it isn’t even 10 am yet…..would you like me to continue with the rest of the day dear??? As the years pass I see more and more people wondering what us ‘mothers’ really do all day.
It’s not until you swap places or that they have a baby themselves that can begin to fathom the monumentous task that we tackle each and every day. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. My children are the absolute light of my life and I cherish each and every day I have with them, I am so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be their mother.
And once again I am blessed to be reminded of what is really important by my dear friend Nicole, The Modern Goddess.
Too Much Time On Your Hands
By · CommentsFor many new work at home mums business doesn’t just start rolling in the door from day one. Building your business is damn hard work but it also brings a great deal of satisfaction as well.
Often new business owners seem to have a lot of time on their hands waiting for the phone to ring or for orders to come in so that they have something to do. Remember that old saying, ‘A watched pot never boils.’ How true is that and what a chuckle I got reading Jacqui’s blog post about waiting for her emails to come into her inbox and hitting refresh over and over again.
I am sure we’ve been guilty of it, just sitting staring blindly at the computer screen waiting for it do something, anything would be nice Is this you? Do you find yourself doing this regularly? How do you stop yourself from hitting that refresh button over and over again or from checking your send/recieve button on your inbox?
10 Ways To Increase Traffic To Your Website
By · Comments10 Ways To Increase Traffic To Your Website: here’s 10 easy ways to help create some traffic, let me know how you go with them
1/. Article Marketing
2/. Newsletters
3/. Posting on Message Boards
4/. Using Relevant Keywords
5/. Blogs
6/. Affiliate Programs
7/. Viral Reports
8/. Interviews
9/. Press Releases
10/. Teleseminars
To read the entire article click here >>>
Overcoming Bloggers Block
By · CommentsOvercoming Bloggers Block: Writing regular pertinent blog posts is an area that most bloggers struggle with from time to time. The common ailment of writers block or bloggers block as it is generally known in the blogoshpere can strike at any time and generally when you least expect it to.
If you keep in mind that a blog is a personal promotional tool for your website and that it should allow your readers to get to know a little about you, then allowing your blog to ‘feature’ your voice should help alleviate some of the bloggers block that is bound to occur. Read entire article here >>>
You’re going somewhere
By · CommentsOk just a quick one tonight, but you really must jump over to the Diva Days blog and check out this You Tube Video and song, it’s awesome. Just another to add to the confidence boost that us WAHM’s need to not only give to each other but also to ourselves.
Enjoy the song and let me know what you think. Click here >>>
