Friday Five

Friday Five – Saving Money on Boxing Day

December 21, 2012 By Melissa Leave a Comment

The Boxing Day Sales are a tradition here in Australia. Most shops, especially in big shopping centres, have sales where they slash prices.

If you are hitting the sales this year, keep an eye out for specials on the following products to help your business.

Wrapping Paper – if you offer free gift wrap as a Christmas promotion, then Boxing Day is the time to stock up for the following year. You will need space to store it, however most wrapping paper is half price or less. If you’re lucky, you will be able to find paper that looks generic and can be used during the year.
Christmas Cards – as with wrapping paper, the prices of Christmas cards are cut dramatically. If you send cards in the mail, stock up ready for the following year. Pick up an extra pack or two if you’re not sure how many to purchase. They can always be used the following year or for your kids to give out at school.
Decorations – Christmas decorations in all shapes and sizes have reduced prices. These can make a special gift for your best customers or suppliers, as a gift with purchase, or even something to spruce up your office. Pick up a few decorations for use the following year. These can also be used as teacher gifts or as a gift for the person who just shows up for a cuppa in the lead up to Christmas.
Packaging – there are a number of boxes and gift bags that can be used as packaging for your products. Some are obviously Christmas themed, however there may be plain ones that can be used during the year. If you go looking through the piles of items in the sales, you could come home with items that can be used for your business during the year.
Office Supplies – there are some shops that discount almost everything. If you are smart with your shopping you could save money on supplies for your office – from paper to office equipment. If you are planning on buying something in the sales, make sure you do your research before Christmas so you are sure you have a genuine deal.

Do you have any other tips on how business mums can save money in the Boxing Day sales, or have you got a bargain that can be added to this list?

Filed Under: Christmas, Friday Five, Seasonal

Friday Five – Top 10 Lists

September 23, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Top 10 lists are an easy way to create free reprint articles, blog posts, content for your newsletter and present information to customers, both present and potential. There were more ideas in last weeks posts.

While these lists are great, sometimes it can be hard to work out what to write about. Here are five ideas for things you can use to write your Top 10 Lists.

Top gift ideas – with Christmas, Mother’s Day, birthdays and any other occasion, lists of your top gift ideas can be created. This can either be from your products, or products that some of your alliance partners provide. Don’t forget to link to affiliate programs where available.
Top reasons people should buy from you – customers often won’t read long lists of text, however they may read a short list of 10 points. Compile a list of things that set your business apart from your competition and list them as a Top 10 List, and don’t just limit yourself to customers, include wholesale accounts too, if that is what you are wanting. Bibska Bibs recently did this on their Facebook page – Top 10 reasons to stock the Bibska brand.
Top archived blog posts – if you have a blog, create a post or page listing your Top 10 Blog Posts. You could pick 10 random posts, or have a theme, such as your Top 10 posts with school holiday ideas.
Top tips for customers – compile a list of 10 tips for your customers. It could be tips how to use your products, general tips related to your business, such as parenting tips if you sell baby products, or any other points that may be useful to your customers. A general list such as this could be a great free reprint article.
Top recommendations – one easy way to create a list as well as promote some of your favourite businesses, is to create a list with your top recommendations. Decide on a theme, such as your favourite blogs, and turn them in to a list. You never know, those on your list may return the favour and recommend you to their database.

This is only five ideas for Top 10 Lists. Do you have any ideas to add to this list? If so, add a comment and see if we can expand on this.

Filed Under: Blogging, Facebook, Friday Five, Seasonal

Friday Five – Uses for Top 10 Lists

September 16, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

An easy way to create content for your website or promotional material for your business is with a Top 10 List.

Before you create your list, it helps to know the purpose for your list.

This weeks Friday Five will give you five places you can use your Top 10 List.

Blog post – lists are an easy way to create content for your blog, and can be done regularly, just like the Friday Five lists that I have here.
Free Reprint Article – general information lists, such as a list of toilet training tips for a parenting website, make great free reprint articles. Make sure the information is general and you have written a bio box for the bottom of the article promoting your business.
Newsletter information – lists make great content for your newsletter as they are easy to put together and quick for your readers to read.
Promotional Postcards – these are a great way to promote your business as well as give some useful information to customers and potential customers.
Facebook Updates – one way to provide interesting updates is to post a list over a period of time, one point per update. You may want to post one point a day, or even spread the list out over a single day. Then compile the points to make a list for use elsewhere.

Now that you have some ideas of where to use Top 10 Lists, next week I will give you some ideas for general topics for your Top 10 Lists.

Filed Under: Blogging, e-Newsletters, Friday Five, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Old Blog Posts

September 9, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

If you have been blogging for a while, you will have built up an archive of blog posts. These posts can be valuable to your business, and not just providing old posts for search engines to find.

This week, I look at five ways you can use old posts to promote your business and provide value to your customers.

Post archive – if you are on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site, find some of your old posts and use them as status updates. You may find that your old information is topical again and can bring people back to your blog.
EBook – compile some of your blog posts into an eBook or report. You can either sell this report or use it as an incentive for people to sign up to your email list.
Re-write as an article – there are many websites out there looking for content. Could your old posts be re-written as an article to submit to these sites? It may be as simple as updating some of the information or making the posts a bit longer, and then adding your bio box on the bottom.
Re-write as a blog post – has it been some time since the information on your old post was published? Re-write an old blog post so it’s fresh again and re-post it. You may have a whole new audience now that will find that information useful.
Promotional tool – blog posts can form the basis for other promotional tools, including postcards, posters and information sheets. Glean relevant information from old posts, you never know what gems you may have.

Blog posts contain valuable information that can be re-used to promote and grow your business.

Do you have any other ideas of how you can use your old blog posts?

Filed Under: Blogging, Branding, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Outsourcing Tasks

September 2, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

A while ago, I did a Friday Five with tasks to outsource. Following on from Wednesday’s posts about whether or not your business can run without you, I thought this would be a good topic to revisit.

I won’t repeat what was in the original post, as those five tasks, bookkeeping, email newsletters, packing orders, advertising sales and cleaning, are still relevant and great things to outsource. Instead, I will come up with 5 new tasks to outsource:

Blog posts – there are a couple of ways you can outsource your blog posts. One is by hiring a copywriter to ghost write some posts for you, so all you have to do is to publish them. Another way is to invite guest bloggers to submit articles to be published on your blog.
Facebook & Twitter updates – ideally, you will do you own social media updates, after all, that’s the idea behind social media, however this is not always possible. There are companies that exist to help businesses with their social media. The other thing you can do is simply have a staff member or your virtual assistant set up as an admin on your Facebook page or has your Twitter details so they can post updates when you are unable to.
Website updates – updates can be anything from adding or removing products to updating your home page with a new welcome message, or anything else you can think of. This is a little job, but vitally important, and is a job you can outsource to a virtual assistant.
Publicity - getting media coverage is something business mums can do themselves, however it is time consuming and can be hit and miss. There are an increasing number of PR firms that exist to help the small business owner get publicity, so you can outsource this without it costing you a huge amount.
Graphic Design – with the graphics programs that exist, it’s easy for anyone to come up with some basic graphics for their business, however they may not give quite the right image for your business. By outsourcing your graphic design, not only will you get graphics that will show your business in the best possible light, but you will take a lot of stress of yourself.

I hope these five things will give you some food for thought of tasks you can outsource so that your business can run without you. Can you add to this list?

Filed Under: Friday Five, Outsourcing

Friday Five – Reasons to read your local paper

August 26, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Most people receive a local paper, some people get more than one paper each week! There is a temptation to simply toss it in the recycling bin, however your local paper can be a valuable resource to help you grow your business.

This weeks Friday Five has five reasons why you should read your local paper:

Local events – most local papers have a list of local events that are on the next week and beyond. These could be anything from markets to business networking events to public speaking workshops to just about anything that is on in your local area. These can open up opportunities for promotion, networking and growing your skills.
Profiles - local papers often include profiles of businesses run by Mums, especially if there is an interesting story behind the business. This is a great way for you to find out about other business mums in your area. You can then contact them to get to know them, and also support their business by buying from them.
Opportunities - by reading the articles and other parts of the paper, you never know what opportunities may present themselves for your business. For example, a few weeks ago I read about a new op shop that was opening up that wanted to support community groups. I was able to let a community group I’m involved with about this. While this isn’t directly business related, it is an opportunity that would have been missed if I hadn’t read my local paper.
Promotion - as well as possible markets to sell your products at (see events), you may also find other opportunities for promotion. This could be writing a letter to the editor or responding to articles or opportunities that may be advertised in the paper. And don’t forget about the contact details for the editor to send in your own media releases!
Research - if you have a business that is based in and targets your local area, your local newspaper can provide you with some valuable research, especially finding out what is happening in your local area. This could be anything from council decisions to activities at the local primary school to new businesses opening up (including potential competitors or alliance partners) and more.

I hope this will give you a new appreciation for your local paper. You may not have time to read the paper cover to cover, but it is well worth making the time to flick through the paper to see what stands out. You never know what opportunities may come your way.

Filed Under: Friday Five, Growing your business

Friday Five – Do more than Like a page

August 19, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Most business mums I know have a Facebook page, and like many, many other pages. Especially with the various marches and silent tagging that go on.

Facebook are also constantly changing their rules and enforcing them, resulting in many pages being removed without notice.

So, this week I have five ways to do more than simply like a Facebook page to support your favourite business mum businesses. As word gets around, some of the business mums who like your page will do the same, helping you all grow your businesses.

Subscribe to their newsletter – even if you receive regular updates by looking at your wall and their page, keep up to date by subscribing to their newsletter. This will also give them a way to contact you should anything happen to their page.
Buy something – this may seem obvious, but the best way to keep a business going is to support them financially. So, buy something from your favourite business, and do so through their website rather than through their Facebook page.
Link to them – there are many different ways you can link to your favourite business mums businesses, and not to their Facebook page (though you can do this too). This could be a links page, referring to them in a blog post, recommending them in your newsletter. By spreading the word about them, it will help keep them open, and you never know, they may link back to you.
Add a comment – if the business has a blog, or their business IS their blog, add comments as you read a post. Bloggers love comments and this is a great way to show them that you are reading and value their posts.
Encourage them – being a business mum can be lonely, and it can be easy to wonder if we are doing the right thing. Encouragement could be as easy as sending them an email or a card in the mail to say that you love what they are doing and to keep up the great work, as well as the above ideas.

It is important to support fellow small businesses. You can also encourage your Facebook likers to do the same to you.

Filed Under: Facebook, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – When someone tags your page

August 12, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

There are many different reasons people will tag your business page on Facebook, most likely it’s because they like your business & your page.

If people tag your page, either from their personal profile or business page, there is a chance you will get new people liking your page as a result of this recommendation.

In general, these tags are a good thing. There is the odd occasion when a page you don’t like tags you, however this doesn’t happen often.

So, what do you do when someone tags your page? Here are five suggestions to be a great tag-ee, and hopefully, encourage more people to tag your page.

Like the page – if you don’t already, visit the page that tagged you and return the like.
Comment on the post – find the post that tagged you and thank them for the tag. If you are liking the page as you rather than from your page, tag your page so people will know where you are from.
Add the page to your favourites – if you like the page and think it will be useful to your likers, add the page to your list of favourites. This will also automatically like the page as your page.
Return the tag – if you regularly tag other pages, and you think your likers will find this page useful, return the tag.
Visit their Website – as well as liking the page, visit the website of the business. You never know, you may find a new favourite blog or online shop.

If you have any tips you would like to add to this list, please add a comment. It doesn’t take much to let people know you appreciate them promoting your business, and word gets around.

Filed Under: Facebook, Friday Five

Friday Five – Making the most of a march

August 5, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

On Monday, I talked about growing your Facebook fan base through Marches. Today I have a few tips to make the most of the marches.

Participate Fully – one of the comments I made on Monday was they only work if everyone participates fully. Well, make sure you are one of those people. If for some reason you can’t sit for the whole time and like pages, let the organisers know and be sure to come back later to finish the march.
Welcome people who post on your wall – A lot of people just like the posts on the wall. I’ve found that it’s a lot friendlier and you get a better response if your reply to each person to welcome them to your page. Some people may post a comment as well, be sure to reply to their comment, even if it’s simply to thank them for their comment.
Make your posts different – it may be tempting to post the same thing on each persons wall. This is likely to be seen as spam by Facebook and your posts will be hidden. Change your posts slightly each time and this can reduce the chance of your post being hidden.
Make a comment – when you are posting on walls of new pages, take some time to comment on the business. It could simply be that you like their products or photos. It doesn’t have to be long or detailed, just something to show you are taking an interest in their business & not just posting because it’s part of the march.
Post something on your page – With marches, there is the danger that your wall will be taken up with lots of posts by others, and your own posts will be pushed down. Take a couple of minutes to add some posts of your own. One of the easiest ways is to re-post a relevant blog post via Networked Blogs. For example, last Friday I was in a hug with Mums Who Make and re-posted the blog post about finding your hidden fans, especially as it was relevant to others on the hug.

I hope these tips will help you to make the most of any marches, hugs, tours, or any other similar program to help you grow your fans on Facebook.

Filed Under: Facebook, Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Reasons to move to your own hosting

July 29, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Last week I talked about having your own domain name. This week is all about having your website in your own hosting space. Here are 5 reasons for moving your website to your own hosting space.

Flexibility of design. Many free websites are limited to using their templates. You may not be able to upload your own design to reflect your business and branding. Having your site hosted will give you much more flexibility in your design.
Flexibility of features. Many free websites are limited to what you can do, even a blog hosted on WordPress has its limitations. With your own hosting you can do much more with your webspace.
Support from your host. In most cases, a web host has great technical support to help you get your website online, and give ongoing support when needed. They will also keep an eye on things to keep your site online.
No Redirection. If you have your domain pointing to your free web space, there is a redirection. This may not hide the fact you are using free web space, so customers may notice and this can affect your credibility as a business. Having your site hosted will mean you don’t have to worry about this.
Pay by the month & flexible plans. Many websites will let you pay by the month and offer flexible options so you can upgrade your account as needed – as the size of your website increases as well as the traffic you get. This means that hosting is not as expensive as you think.

I hope this helps you decide to move your site from a free website package to your own host.

Filed Under: Friday Five, Growing your business, Promoting your business, Starting Out, Technology