How To Set Up A Direct Sales Business Blog

When it comes to Direct Sales, many consultants these days are chosing to start an online business blog as a way to reach out to their established customers but more importantly…as a way to attract new ones.

Before you make the decision to start a business blog, you need to contact your Direct Sales Company to make sure you are allowed to have one online & to see if they have any company rules regarding online advertising. You also need to make sure you have the time to stick with updating your blog before you even get started.

After you have made the decision, it’s now time to decide where you want to build your blog online. Two of the most popular sites for online blogging is Blogger and Wordpress. You will want to open up an account and get your blog set up. Once you open up an account, you can pick out a design. There are thousands of free online blogger and wordpress templates for you to choose from. Once you select one, you need to install it onto your blog.

Now that you have that completed, it’s time to get busy making some posts onto your blog. When it comes to blogging about your business, it is important to keep your new blog strictly about business and not your personal life. In addition, you don’t want your blog to come off as a big fat spam ad…so make sure you fill it up with informative content about your company, your services, your products and so forth. Once you got some content onto your blog, it will be time to advertise its web address.

You can advertise your blog online by joining a few online blog directories, putting your link in your signature tag, announcing it on your Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In Accounts and so forth. There are many ways to advertise online and you can find additional ways to do that by reading other articles here on our blog.

My best tip about blogging for business is to keep at it. People don’t just magically find your blog…just like they don’t just magically find your business services, so it’s your job to promote your new blog & to keep it fresh & updated with new posts.

Happy Blogging!

Shelly

5 Ways To Add Content To Your Blog When You’re Not A Writer

Good content is important to a blog because that’s what bring people to it, but what happens when you’re not a writer? Don’t worry you don’t have to be a writer to blog.

Hire a Ghostwriter
A ghostwriter can transform your ideas and opinions into a professional and well-written article or post. When you work closely with a ghostwriter, your ghostwriter can infuse your voice and personality into a blog post so it sounds like you and not someone you’re not. No one will know a ghostwriter wrote it unless you say so.

Tip: Get recommendations from your business associates or friends on finding a reputable ghostwriter. Check their references and ask for writing samples.

Have Guest Bloggers
You can find several guest bloggers to help you add original content for your blog. Guest bloggers bring a new perspective, expertise in a subject you’re not familiar with and reach out to a broader audience.

Tip: Look to your fellow bloggers to be contributors or network through social media sites. Many are happy to take on this opportunity as it benefits them in getting more exposure for themselves and their business.

Buy PLR Content
PLR stands for private label rights. These are articles sold in bundles to a limited number of people. Depending on the PLR terms of use, PLR articles can be used as is, completely or partially rewritten or repurposed.

Tip: Avoid unlimited sale of PLR articles which means if you don’t rewrite the content, there could be thousands of the same content found on the web. To have original content on your blog consider writing it in your own words and add your own ideas and knowledge. It’s the only way to guarantee you won’t have the same content on your blog that is plastered everywhere else.

Few places to find quality PLR articles:
EasyPLR.com
ThePLRPlace.com
AllPrivateLabelContent.com

Article Directories
You can find thousands of expert authors on article directories who write on a wide range of topics. It’s extremely important if you go this route to include and make all links clickable in the author’s resource box.

Tip: When using reprint articles on your blog, you should write your own introduction. For example, tell your readers why you chose the article or offer your take about the article.

Vlogging
Video blogging is great way to add personality and a personal touch. It also allows your visitors to see a real person and hear a voice. You can perform demonstrations, show how-to make something, offer tips etc. which is easier than trying to find the right words to write.

Tip: Have a good microphone and web cam. The most popular place to host your vlog is on YouTube.com.

As you can see, you don’t have to be a writer to blog, you just have to know where to find the resources and these five resources are excellent ways to add content to your blog.

Sophia McIntyre offers ghostwriting services working with you to create quality and professional articles.

She’s the founder of WorkAtHomeSpace.com, a free work at home resource focusing on providing work at home company listings, daily telecommute job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related topics.

More Twitter Tips on Social Networking

Many know now why Twitter is a good choice for marketing yourself and your business. You get a lot of exposure, spurts of high traffic and it can be extremely viral. Do it wrong and you get nothing.

Twitter is social networking. It’s more than a two way street. It’s like a traffic jam or an opened store front. Eventually people who don’t know each other will find something in common to talk about and if you talk long enough, you’ll become friends.

When you haven’t seen a friend in a long time and one day you bump into them, it’s a great surprise. You’ll have lots to catch up on and talk about. Wouldn’t it be a bit odd if you haven’t seen or spoken to a friend in a long time and out of the blue get an email from them asking for a favour? I would find it a bit strange.

The same goes with social networking sites. To be effective you have to be present and you have to be engaging. Before you build your business relationship get to know a bit more about the person each day. Things happen and people get busy or their priority change. Don’t automatically assume that because you’ve chatted and gotten to know each other a bit in the past, you can solicit your business to them. Both parties have to be willing. There’s no point in introducing your business to someone who’s not on the same page as you. Take the time to rebuild and reconnect.

Social networking is not about the numbers. It’s quality. It’s not possible to connect with all of your thousands of followers on Twitter and that’s fine because you follow people for different reasons, right? It’s not about “I’ll follow you and you follow me”. Choose and find people that you want to inspire, help, grow and that they can do the same for you.

~Sophia

Business Blogging – Topics That Can Drive Readers Away

When it comes to blogging for your business, you really need to pay attention to the type of posts you are putting up for your readers to read. If you post the wrong topics on your business blog, you will drive your readers away which defeats the purpose of blogging for your business.

I read hundreds of blogs each and every week. Some of these blogs are business blogs, some are personal blogs and some are a mixture of both (which I totally disagree about mixing business & pleasure together on a blog).

There are some topics that should never be discussed on a business blog (unless you have a business blog that is totally geared towards a certain industry) and I would like to touch upon those today.

When a customer or potential customer is reading your business blog, they don’t want to read about the following topics:

Your Love Life
Your Home Life Is A Mess
Your Spouse Left You
Hate Words, Curse Words, etc.
Your Neighbors or Your Boss
etc. etc. etc.

A Business Blog is just that…a place where you can share information with others about your business, the types of products or services you offer and a place for you to give indepth service & product knowledge. It is a place to give your readers more information about your business…it is not a place to gossip about your love life, your family or your neighbors.

Case In Point: Just last week I went to check out a persons business blog…but yet…when I got onto her blog, 90% of the posts were chit chat family and personal stuff. What turned me off even more was when I saw a lot of inappropriate language (including curse words) on what she calls “Her Business Blog”. Geesh, that is one sure fire way to drive your readers away for sure and more importantly, it makes you like UNPROFESSIONAL.

So here is my advice….if you want to post chit chat family stuff, you are better off to make a second blog. Keep one blog for business and one for personal.

You want to draw potential customers to you and not drive them away.

Shelly

Twitter Tip: Keywords

Like many things, using anything properly will only yield successful results. There are many right and wrong ways of using Twitter.

People who use keywords to find and follow people related to their niche must not just rely on their keywords or key phrases. It’s important to visit the person’s page and read their profile, maybe click on their website and take the time to read their Twitter stream.

I often wonder how people find and follow me and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s based mostly on their keyword search. I had mentioned a job lead called “Basketball Logger” and the next day NBANewsUpdate is following me. I could care less about basketball and it’s so not related to my niche. If I’m casually chatting with friends about dogs, there’s no reason why I should get a sudden surge of dog followers, but you know I do.

I understand using keywords is helpful when it comes to finding and following new people to connect with, but make sure you take the extra steps to ensure you are following the right people for the right reasons.

~Sophia

Customer Service Tip – Be Nice But Firm About Business Policy

At times you are likely to encounter a stubborn customer or two. It is important to not give into customer demands…especially if those demands go against your Direct Sales Company Policy or Business Policy.

You want to be nice to your customer but firm with issues regarding customer policy. Don’t cave-in just because they threaten to go elsewhere. It is better to stay within your business policy guidelines than to step outside of them and get into trouble.

Shelly

How To Get Started Writing Product Reviews For Your Blog Site

Getting started writing product reviews and posting your reviews on your blog or web site isn’t as hard as you might think. This article will give you some general information on how you can start your very own product review blog.

The first thing that you need to do is come up with a name for your review site. Once you have that, it is time to pick a blogging platform. You will find that those who write product reviews and post them on their blogs usually choose blogger or wordpress for their blogging platform. In my personal opinion, one is not better than the other, so the choice boils down to your personal preference.

Before you get started publishing any type of review, you need to educate yourself on the laws for your state and country. Here in the U.S.A. we need to have a Terms of Service and Disclaimer Policy posted on our sites. You can find several free examples of these online by doing a web search. You will need to get one posted up on your site before publishing any reviews.

Your next step is to write some sample product reviews. I suggest picking a few items from around your house and write honest and unbiased reviews about those items. You will want to include graphics with your review showing how that item is used in a real life home setting.

Once you have some sample reviews posted, it is now time to advertise and promote your new site. You will need to generate as much traffic to your site that you can. It is also recommended that you add a site tracker widget to your blog so that you can provide traffic information to the companies who request it.

I recommend that you draft up an introduction letter about you and your site so that you can contact the companies you are interested in and offer them your product review services. Some companies will accept this type of information via email and others will require that you postal mail your press/media kit to them.

Setting up and getting started with your own product review blog is not very hard. It will take a lot of hard work, time and patience before it takes off and requests roll in.

Shelly Hill is the co-owner of the Two Classy Chics Product Review and Giveaway Blog with her business partner Chris Carroll. Shelly and Chris have been promoting businesses online for the past 12 years. Both ladies are professional ghost writers and article marketers. You can visit them online at http://twoclassychics.blogspot.com

Writing Tips – Most Commonly Confused and Misused Words

Thank goodness for spell checker, but wait, spell checker won’t detect correctly spelled words used incorrectly in a sentence. Your best bet is have a friend or virtual assistant proofread your articles and blog posts.

The most commonly confused and misused words are often homonyms — words that sound the same, but are spelled differently. The only way is to really pay attention to the homonyms when you’re proofreading. Words that uses apostrophes should be read aloud and fully.

For example:
Grandma’s house is 10 blocks away.
Grandma’s (Grandma is) sitting on the porch knitting.
Grandmas like to sit on the porch and knit.

Here are the most commonly misused words.

there, their, they’re, there’re
here, hear
principle, principal
to, too, two
you’re, your
loose, lose
then, than
effect, affect
accept, except
assure, ensure, insure
compliment, complement
it’s, its
no, know
new, knew
weather, whether
whose, who’s
past, passed
site, sight, cite
alot – it should be a lot

Even the best writers make mistakes, so take the time to read every word carefully.

~Sophia

Common Mistakes Newbies Make On Twitter

When it comes to social networking and networking your home business online, often times people will turn to social media sites such as Myspace, Linked-In, Facebook and Twitter.

Today I would like to discuss Twitter and the mistakes I often see newbies (new users) do on Twitter that can drive followers & business away from them.

Here are some things you should NOT do on Twitter.

1. Do not send business information, sales information or business links to people via DM (Direct Message) unless that specific user asked to receive that information from you. This includes automatic DM’s that folks send to everyone who is now following them. (Thanks for following me type of DM’s)

2. Don’t Tweet business links 24/7. No one wants to read tweets that contain your business link over and over and over again. If you do that, you will be labeled as a link spammer.

3. Don’t do keyword searches for your area of interest on Twitter and then send @ reply business spam messages to users. A lot of users will report you for spam & block you from their Twitter streams & accounts.

4. Do not set your Twitter account up on auto-pilot aka, Tweet later type of services unless you plan on logging in every day and tweeting in real time too. Tweet later type of services is where you set up an account with them, draft up your Tweets and have that service post your tweets on Twitter for you.

Part of networking is being real, connecting with and chatting with your followers. You can’t do that if your Twitter account is on 24/7 auto pilot.

5. Watch what you tweet. No one wants to read tweets about what you did in your bathroom, bedroom, etc. Furthermore, leave the trash talking potty mouth at the door. You don’t want to offend your followers by discussing inappropriate content or using foul language.

For Twitter to work for you…you really need to mix up your tweets. Yes, tweet about your business and provide some business tips…but also spend some time chatting with your followers so that they can get to know you and you can get to know them.

Do you have any ‘mistake’ type of tips you would like to share with our readers? If so, leave them in a comment!

Shelly

Social Media Business Tip – Be Careful What You Post

I am constantly amazed at what people publicly post on their Twitter pages, Facebook pages and their personal blogs. However, people need to realize that people do read this information and it can shed a very bad light on you and your business if you are not careful about what you are posting. Furthermore, your posts will be archived and indexed by search engines for years to come…even if you delete it.

It is really inappropriate to use abusive language on these types of social media sites and when a potential customer or client stumbles upon your words…trust me, they will move on to the next person who can service their needs.

So our tip for this week deals with watch what you post & say on various social media sites…including your business & personal blogs.

Shelly

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