Archive for December, 2008

I am ready for vacation to be over and return to some sort of normalcy. Yet we still have a week left, company coming, New year’s eve party at our house, football to be watched, junk to be ate, the list goes on. I actually want to work in and on my business.

I was thinking why is it I’m ready to work, what is my motivation? I think the biggest thing is I love what I do. I love every aspect of my business.

Because I enjoy the above things, it gives me purpose to my business day. When my top priorities are taken care of, I am motivated to work my business. What are your reasons? Are you motivated to work your business every day?

In my last post I asked if your scrapbook business was blogging and gave a few tips why it should be. I told you about my friend, Jennifer, and her blogging solution. Her *5 Day ONLY* Sale is about to end and I’ve received lots of questions about the Blogging For Business System. I wanted to take the time to answer these questions for everyone, because you’re probably thinking some of the same questions.

Question: How long will it take me to set my blog up using her system?

Answer: This depends on how fast you work on your computer and how much content you will add to your blog. But she would estimate about 3 hours total including 1 hour to watch the DVD.

Question: Is this system only for Typepad blogs or does it apply to Wordpress?

Answer: The first 30 minutes is for any blog including Wordpress. She will go over key strategies to getting started blogging, search engine optimization, and more. The resource guide has amazing resources and links to lessons for Wordpress & Typepad. The last 30 minutes of the DVD is geared for Typepad, because this is the system she uses to walk you through setting up your blog.

Is getting a blog for your business up and running one of your goals for 2009? If not, it should be and I’ll share with you why:

If you’re looking for more clients and more website traffic, a business blog is one of the top tools I recommend. Even Google says you should have a blog if you’re looking for more website traffic. I don’t know about you, but I tend to listen to Google.

But you’re probably thinking I just don’t have time for blogging or I don’t even know what I would write about. I thought the same thing before I started my business blog, but since I’ve been blogging my business has taken off!

My friend and online marketing expert Jennifer Haubein has a solution for entrepreneurs who are ready to get started blogging with little effort.

December 15-19th Jennifer’s “Blogging For Business” system is on sale in honor of her Christmas birthday! If you purchase during this *5 day ONLY* sale you will receive a 29% discount.

If you don’t yet know Jennifer, she’s an experienced online marketer who teaches small business owners how to easily get more website traffic & let your website do the work!

How are you holiday sales going?  There is still time to grab some last minute sales this holiday season.  Today I thought I would share an article with you with a different approach to holiday marketing.

Holiday Season Sales Or Slump? Use The Holidays To Market and Sell
By Angela Booth

During the holiday season, you’re busy buying gifts, attending celebrations and doing the hundred and one things that make the season so frantic.

But what about your business? You can get a real business hangover after the holidays if you forget that you’ve got a business to run.

You’ll want to relax and take a few days off, but don’t drop the ball completely. Holidays or not, the bills will keep coming in, and you’ve got to keep moving and keep your business humming.

If you’re tempted to slacken off, tell yourself that your competitors are almost certainly not guzzling champagne or lounging on the beach in Tahiti, they’re working harder than ever.

Here’s how to keep sales steaming along during the holiday season:

* Send greeting cards to customers: all your customers. Your customers are your personal gold mine. Say thanks. Offer them a special holiday deal;

Who couldn’t use a daily quote to kick start their day? I love receiving these motivational quotes in my inbox each morning to start my day off right. Today’s quote:

“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

And did I mention-it is free!  Click image below to start receiving your daily, free power quotes.

Question: How is digital scrapbooking going to affect actual scrapbooking in terms of sales and product, as well as scrapbooking for hire?

Today technology is constantly improving and changing. For example, each year computers get faster, more memory, better processors and more advanced. You purchase a new top of line laptop and within months a faster and more advanced one is now available. With this said, I do believe digital scrapbooking will continue to gain momentum and popularity. As a traditional scrapbooker you have to cater to your customers and their needs.

Why is Walmart forcing others out of business? Walmart offers convenience, lower prices and one stop shopping. Why go the grocery store, clothing store and craft store when you can get it all in one place? Digital scrapbooking offers convenience and affordability as well. With the ability to reuse digital papers and elements, pricing is more affordable. However, scrapbooking is always changing with fads and new items. Therefore, digital scrapbookers will continue to purchase more and more. So what can you offer your customers in the form of conveniece and affordability? Conveniece in that you are scrapbooking their cherished memories for them. Affordability, may take some creativity. Try purchasing wholesale or using sketches to save time and therefore your hourly pay.

One way of promoting your website and product can be achieved for free. As an additional bonus, this free method can boost your sites and sales, doubling and even tripling your income. What is one of the easiest ways to promote your website in order to generate traffic and increase your earnings? Articles. Writing and submitting articles to article directories gets your name and business in front of thousands of potential customers.

Here are some additional benefits that writing articles can give your Internet business.

You could be losing clients, profits and peace of mind if your business is lacking this one thing. Organization. Organization makes any business more efficient, but in scrapbooking, it plays a key role. If you scrapbook for others, nothing is more frustrating than trying to sort through piles of embellishments to find just the one that you need. You know you purchased it and you know you put it somewhere. Now that you need it, it is no where to be found.

It can be costly to your business as well. How many times have you repurchased a tool, a certain piece of paper or an embellishment, because you either could not find it, or had forgotten that you purchased it in the first place? Not to mention the time you spend looking. Time is money. All the time you spend searching you could have been scrapbooking.

When meeting with potential clients, you need to be organized as well. If you portray disorganization, what does that say to your client? If you are disorganized in your meeting, how organized will you be with their pictures. In essence you are organizing their memories. Therefore you want them to feel comfortable working with you. A sense of disorganization on your part is a major turn off and could lose you the sale.