Featured – Page 11 – Business Plus Baby

August 6, 2012August 6, 2012

Freebies you can use to get people to sign up to your mailing list

It’s not easy to get people to sign up to your mailing list these days unless you give them a freebie as an incentive. This article looks at ways you could create your own freebie e-book, plus audio and video.

And it’s not as difficult as you may think.

By the way, if you’re not sure why why you need a mailing list, I have the perfect post for you here: Why you must have a mailing list.

I have a free e-book and it does bring in subscribers to my mailing list (have a look here). But e-books have been floating around the internet for a long time now, so it’s well worth considering something different, like video or audio, to pull in your audience.

Creating freebie e-books

A word of warning, though. Any freebie is better than no freebie at all, so if you find yourself procrastinating because creating your freebie is just too daunting, just get stuck in and get an e-book done. Continue reading “Freebies you can use to get people to sign up to your mailing list”

August 1, 2012

Dealing with guilt as a business mum

As business owners and mums we have the best of both worlds. We get the satisfaction and mental stimulation of running a business and we get to see more of our kids than we would if we had a traditional job. Well, that’s the theory anyway! 🙂

That said, it can be very difficult to juggle all of our commitments. We want to be able to have everything and do everything and often that just isn’t possible. Then something gets pushed to the back burner and we feel guilty about it.

Guilt usually happens when you don’t feel you are giving one aspect of your life or work the attention it deserves. It’s probably one of a mum’s most difficult emotions to manage. It can feel overwhelming and it really can hold you back from achieving what you want.

The good news is that you do have certain qualities that can help you manage or overcome your guilty feelings. Here are some things to think about… Continue reading “Dealing with guilt as a business mum”

July 30, 2012

So what is PR… exactly?

Introducing my latest guest blogger here at Business Plus Baby….Julie Sherwood of www.getinthepress.com. Welcome Julie!

PR is all about getting the press to talk about you and effectively gaining ‘free advertising’ for your business. PR – or public relations – is the art of getting news about your business in the press. It’s an area that is often overlooked in small businesses, but can reap fantastic rewards if taken the time to understand.

Understanding how PR works is the first step in generating press coverage for your business. Continue reading “So what is PR… exactly?”

July 24, 2012July 25, 2012

Do I need a website if I’ve already got a Facebook page?

Is a website an essential tool for small business?

That was the question asked last week by Beth Murrison on a Facebook small business networking group that I belong to.

(In fact, you’re welcome to join the group! It’s hosted by PR Emma Collins and you can join here facebook.com/groups/EmmaCollinsPR/)

The responses to Beth’s question fell somewhere between ‘YES!’ and ‘it’s not absolutely essential, but you really ought to seriously think about it’.

Beth creates artwork for children on name plaques and canvases, plus other items like cushions and cotton bags. Up until last week she’d been selling from her Facebook page, but hadn’t found Facebook as effective for sales as she’d hoped. Continue reading “Do I need a website if I’ve already got a Facebook page?”

July 20, 2012July 20, 2012

Does WordPress drive you nuts?

Here’s the problem. Just about everyone recommends WordPress as the best way to run a blog (me included). I’d also recommend it to you if you’re setting up a business website that isn’t a blog.

It really is that good.

But anything this powerful does, of course, have a downside.

WordPress is so flexible because you can adapt it in virtually any way you want. You can add themes and plug ins to give you any look or feature you could possibly want – and many of these are cheap or even free. But that does mean a lot of fiddling around. Not a major problem if you’re a techy, but most of us aren’t.

So you end up doing one of three things: Continue reading “Does WordPress drive you nuts?”