Archive for Blogging
Business Mums Blog Awards
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Do you have our favourite blog?
It’s that time again. Business Mums Network are once again conducting the Blog Awards.
We are on the hunt for Australia’s favourite blog by a business mum. This year, there is a twist, we will be running these monthly. Each month will have a different theme - for September we are looking for a blog by a business mum who blogs about her business.
Some examples are:
This is just a tiny selection of blogs.
We have some great prizes on offer for the winners, and simply by nominating your favourite blog, you can also win some great prizes.
If you’re looking for some blogs so you can nominate someone, have a look at the blogs that were nominated last year as well as the blogs on Business Mums Daily.
For more details about the Blog Awards, click here.
If you want to go straight to nominating, click here. If you enter your full details and join our VIP list, you are eligible to win some great spot prizes. You can nominate as many blogs as you like.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyFriday Five - Inspiration
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Inspired by a post over at BusyMum 2010 on inspiration, this weeks Friday Five is some of the things I do when I need inspiration and I’m stuck!
- Take a break - if I can, sometimes taking a break from what I’m doing can help the inspiration come. It can be as quick as making a cuppa and coming back to the computer, or it may be taking the weekend off.
- Read some blogs - depending on what I need inspiration on, sometimes reading some blogs can help. Sites such as Blog Whammy and Business Mums Daily have great blogs to read.
- Music - listening to music can often help too. The sort of music I listen to depends on my mood and what I need inspiration for. Annette talks more about this on her blog.
- Watch TV - yes, sometimes watching TV can provide inspiration! Again, it depends on the sort of mood I’m in, what I need inspiration for and what is on TV at the time. For example, last week I did a post inspired by The Collectors, a show on ABC I don’t normally watch, it just happened to be on at the time. You can read the post here.
- Kids - as business mums, we have kids. There are times when things our kids say or do can provide inspiration, whether it’s for a blog post, new product or service, or even a business idea! Spend some quality time with your kids and pay attention, you never know when inspiration will strike. Just make sure you have a notebook with you to write down your ideas so you can continue having a great time with your kids.
These are just 5 things that help me, especially with blog posts, but also for other things. What things help you with inspiration, especially at times when you really need it?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyHappy 2nd Birthday to my blog…
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2 years and counting...
Do you believe it’s been 2 years since I started this blog? OK, so it’s 2 years and 3 days, but who’s counting?
If you’re interested, here’s my first post on this blog.
Over the last 2 years, I’ve tried a lot of different things, different sorts of posts, and different topics.
It looks like we share an anniversary with Be A Fun Mum. To celebrate, they have shared 12 great blogging tips. Click here to check them out. There are some awesome tips there. I’m not sure I can add much.
One tip I could add is not to be afraid to try new things. These could be new sorts of posts, using guest bloggers, or even mixing things up a bit with pictures. Whatever you do, however, make sure you keep the theme of your blog in mind (for example, if you are blogging about owls, don’t suddenly add in a post about steam trains.)
For all our readers, thank you for reading and following this blog. I hope you’ve found the tips here useful.
If you have any other blogging tips you would like to add, either to the list on Be a Fun Mum or the one I added here, please add a comment. As it’s the birthday of this blog, there is a gift for the best blog tip.
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If you have an online shop, it is obvious that you use images of your products to show customers what they are buying. Product images can be used in a number of other ways to promote your business. Some of these will be obvious and others you may not have thought of using before.
Good product images can be worth a lot - not only in terms of sales. They can also increase brand awareness and encourage people to visit your shop in the first place.
- Annette Piper Jewellery uses product images in her blog posts. Each post features one of her stunning pieces of jewellery and she relates the post to the image in some way.
- I regularly see marketing pieces by different online shops featuring photographs of their products taken in different ways.
- Use a product image as part of a Facebook welcome image or even the profile image. This will not only show off your products, it will give your business an interesting profile image.
- Use your images as promotional postcards.
- Have some stock images of your products you can use for the media if requsted.
These are just a few ideas how you can use product images. Have a play with different settings and layouts for your photos, and if you aren’t experienced, it pays to invest in having some great photos taken.
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Do Something Different
There are many things a business can do to be different, and I love it when I find examples of business mums that are doing this.
This week, I have found some examples of businesses that are doing things a bit differently.
- Spellbound Creative have a yearly design package. This means you buy hours each month that can be used for any project you need. Most graphic designers charge by the hour or by the project.
- Your Cheeky Monkey uses Fregie sacks (reusable cloth bags) for all their gift packs.
- Leaf Journals uses their own story starter products as inspiration for weekly blog posts, showing off their products as well as encouraging others to join in.
- Creating Order from Chaos has started an ‘in real life’ declutter club to support clients while they are getting organised.
These are just a few examples of the many I have found. What do you do in your business that is different from what everyone else does? Share what you do, or what you have seen others do, by adding a comment to this post.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyChange of Scenery
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A change of scenery can help the ideas flow
Do you ever run out of ideas for blog posts, marketing, or anything else in your business where you need to be creative? To get the creative juices flowing, try a change of scenery.
A change of scenery could be anything from moving away from your computer and sitting outside with a notepad and pen. If you have a laptop, try sitting outside in the sun.
Other places could include a local cafe, play centre, or even showing up for school pick up early and sitting writing or brainstorming in your car while you wait.
The change of scenery may also involve other people. Call up some fellow business mums and get together and brainstorm together and for each other. Come along with one issue each, for example topics for blog posts or how to market a certain product or service, and write down all your ideas for everyone involved.
It’s amazing how a simple change of scenery can help the ideas flow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For your daily dose of business mums websites and blogs, check out Business Mums DailyFriday Five - Cool blog add ons
Posted by: | CommentsI have been looking around at some cool blog add ons that I’ve seen around the place. These can enhance your blog to help you promote your business and your blog. These are five I’ve been playing with recently.
- LinkWithin - This is one add on I’ve seen on a lot of blogs and have only just added. This goes through and finds related stories to recommend to your readers. It is very easy to add and activate and the plugin will do the rest. It will look at past posts and recommend them to your readers. All you need to do is make sure that any products you recommend or reports you have for sale are still current.
- Signature - A while ago I discovered a signature plug in. This works the same way as a signature in your emails or on a forum by adding a block of text to each post. I use this to promote my other sites & blogs, driving traffic from here to there. It is also useful if you are having a sale or promotion for your business. The one I am using is called FT Signature Manager.
- Akismet - this is a plugin that comes standard with WordPress and is a great one to stop spam comments. If you are using Wordpress and don’t have this activated, then activate it. It saves so many spam comments.
- Biz Directory - I added a directory to my blog following last years Blog Awards. It is a great way for me to promote some of my favourite blogs as well as a place where other blog owners can promote their blogs. I’ve got it set up so that I approve any links before they are live, meaning I can make sure they are all blogs by business mums.
- InLinkz - If you want to do link ups or create your own blog carnival, then this is a useful site. I found it through the Childhood 101 link up. It’s free to use and you simply add in a bit of code to the end of your post so your visitors can add in their links in response to your question or challenge.
I hope you enjoy these cool add ons and find that one or more of them will enhance your blog. Most of these are for Wordpress as that is the platform I use and know.
What are some of your favourite add ons for your blog? Please tell us about them, and when you add your comment, let us know whether they are for Wordpress, Blogger or another blogging platform.
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Blog about your products & give readers more information
Time for another blog topic idea. I have been thinking about blog topics quite a bit lately as I’ve been putting together some new reports for my site.
One thing to use your blog for is to give customers more information on your products. In most online shops, the product description box has a limited size and you may not be able to include as much information as you would like. This is a a great way you can use your blog.
Create a blog post or four about your products. Some of the information to include could be:
- Why you chose that product to stock
- Reviews and testimonials from customers
- Ways customers can use that product
- Video instructions
I’m sure you can think of your own ideas too. Make sure you include a link from the product description to any blog posts you have so shoppers can read more if they are interested. Also include a link from your blog posts to the item in your shop so your readers can buy it.
If you are stocking someone else’s products, you may find that people are searching for more information on that product and landing on your blog.
One blogger that has done this really well is Monique over at Your Cheeky Monkey. Her recent post about Cuski Comforters is a perfect example of a product information blog post.
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Use the discussion for blog posts
Yesterday I read a great post on the Backpacks 4 Aussie Kids blog. Backpacks 4 Aussie Kids puts together backpacks full of necessities to give to kids in care, many of whom have left home with nothing.
The post I read was about the carer allowance foster parents receive - you can read the post here.
The reason I am talking about this is the post came after a discussion on their Facebook business page. You can view their business page here. The discussion is posted on their wall.
Starting discussion on your business page can be great inspiration for blog posts. You can use the responses to do further research and blog about reality vs perception on a topic, or even blog about the topic in general.
There are a few different ways you can use your business page to generate discussion. The most popular seems to be posting a question on your wall as it will show up in the news feed of your “likers”. The other way is to use the Discussion board feature of the pages. If you do use the discussion board feature, write a wall post letting people know it is there and invite people to take part in the discussion.
If you are a member of a few different business pages, there may be discussions on other pages that can spark blog posts, just as the Backpacks 4 Aussie Kids discussion inspired this post.
One thing to remember, if you quote people in the discussion, make sure you acknowledge them. It is also a good idea to ask their permission to use their quote.
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Posted by: | CommentsOn one of my other blogs, I have been participating in the Childhood 101 “We Play” link up. This link up happens each Tuesday - everyone involved posts about something they have been playing with their kids, along with photos, then we post the link back to Childhood 101.
While most of those taking part have preschoolers, I’m still having fun sharing the things my older boys (6 & 8 ) are doing. The traffic on my blog has also gone up, as has the number of comments as the participants go and read the other posts and leave comments as they go.
As well as new readers and extra traffic for my blog, I’m sure Childhood 101 has received more traffic and readers as everyone who takes part includes a link back to Childhood 101 in their posts.
If you are interested in getting involved in the We Play link up, click here.
I was thinking about doing a business mum link up - maybe along the line of marketing ideas or similar - anyone game?
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