Kristie T’s Home Business Blog Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.

If you want more traffic and sales, you need to get a hold of some basic search engine optimization techniques for your site. But the task of overhauling your existing website to make it search engine friendly can feel overwhelming.

Here is an an excellent search engine optimization article about the SEO basics. It tells you what you need to do, and what order to do it in for top search engine rankings.

This is the best article on search engine optimization I have seen and really easy to follow.

Related posts:

• SEO as you go strategy
• The future of SEO
• Linking Strategies to Avoid Like the Plague

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Do you do your own brochure design? If you like to make your own brochures, flyers etc, then you’ll definately want to check this out!

If you were ever wondering how to make a brochure that really works, then here’s a helpful tip for you. It’s a brochure designing tip from a real expert!

When I need to design a flyer, I have a “swipe” file I turn to. In it, I have examples of the best postcards, flyers, brochures, salesletters etc. that I have collected over the years. These are things that have really turned me on from a marketing perspective.

And when I go to create a new brochure for instance, I get out the top 3 brochures I like from this file, analyze what’s cool about them, and then incorporate it in my design.

And recently I came across something that makes it even easier to know exactly what to put in those brochures and flyers to really make them pop!

Karen Saunders is a highly sought after visual branding expert. She works with a lot of the top authors and speakers. And she has a brand new book that offers great tips on how you can supercharge you logo, business card, flyers, ads, and more!

It’s called “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal.”

Karen shows you how to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling persuasive sales tools! - And she makes it so easy, anyone could do it!

There is some really solid information how to plan, design, and print your own professional looking marketing materials. And that helps you save money when you can do it yourself.

Want to discover 6 secrets to unleashing the WOW in your brochure design. What if you could know the secrets of a 1st class graphic designer that would help you create amazing marketing materials in a few hours, would you want to know how? Find out now how to make your brochures sellhere.

Until next time,

Kristie T

P.S. Recently Karen was invited to present her Visual Branding tips at Mark Victor Hansen’s Mega Marketing seminar. So she’s definately on the “hot” list of gurus to check out! Trust me, her stuff is powerful! You’ll learn from a visual perspective how to make powerful marketing materials that excite, connect, and engage your customers so they want to buy!

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If your business is a little slower than you would like? Then you might want to think about focusing more on marketing to your existing clients. It’s much easier to get business from marketing to your existing client base than it is to get business from new prospects.

Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing is marketing consultant for the financial industry. She is a fellow member of my local National Speakers Association chapter in Illinois.

Here are 5 tips for delighting your clients!

1) Live by the 80/20 Rule - businesses get 80% of their revenue from 20% of their clients.

2) Market to your existing clients . . . it pays!- use a mix of phone calls, letters, cards, client-focused seminars, and client reviews to strengthen client relationships and build upon them

3) Ask your clients what they want. - Keep track of your score card. How do you rate? (satisfaction, delight, service, communication, your staff) Listen, take notice, and work to improve your results.

4) Think of imaginative ways to set your business apart.

5) Establish a KIT (Keep In Touch) Program. - let your clients visibly feel that you are there for them, thinking of them, always having their “back”

So there you have it - ways to show your customers they are #1 in your book! Share your innovative ways of marketing to your existing client base here.

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Do you get lots of word of mouth business? Great if you do. That means you do great work and your customers love to spread the word. In order to set the stage for referrals, of course you have to love your customers, give them outstanding service, and be worthy of a referral. Outside of that, are you >tag>asking for referrals from your customers?

You can ask for a referral after someone makes a purchase. In fact, you can setup an autoresponder after a couple weeks just to ask for the feedback and if they know of anyone else who could benefit from your service.

You might even think of offering them a referral fee as a thank you.

You can call, write a thank you note and ask for the referral, or even send an email.

Here’s a sample referral letter you could use:

Dear Alexis,

Thanks so much! I appreciate in advance any referrals you may have.
Your Name

People are generally pretty nice and are happy to send you referrals if you just ask.
What have you done to ask for referrals and build word of mouth for your business? Share your comments!

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When you are competing with the Walmarts of the world, the best to build customers loyalty is with personal love and attention. That’s why business building greeting cards are so effective. I just got a nice card from our real estate buy George with Remax that we used to buy our first home from. You see, George always sent us little love gifts to let us know he was thinking of us. Every New Year’s we’d get a chocolate champaign bottle (or some other yummy gift). Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and legally celebrated holiday, good old George still sends us a card. And it’s really helped us feel in touch like he still cares. Oh course you know who we’ll call when it’s time to buy another home — George!

Here is are two web sites I found that has some really cool business follow up greeting cards.
Business follow up greeting cards from NisaCards
Business loyalty building cards from Success Concepts

Share your keeping in touch strategies for your business customers here.

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I read a report today by Christiane Holbrook of Legacy in Action about the 4 Deadly Sins of Entrepreneurs that I found interesting and wanted to share with you.

Here are the top 4 things that throw entrepreneurs off track in their business.

1) lack of balance (even balance-phobia - a fear of slowing down)
2) lack of focus - action inertia - you have so many ideas you don’t know where to start
3) lack of direction - you get easily sidetracked
4) lack of leadership skills - ability to motivate and inspire those around you

E-myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It is a great book for people who struggle with these 4 deadly sins of entrepreneurs.

Share your thoughts on which ones of these entrepreneurial sins you suffer from here.

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Wish you could attract customers effortlessly? When you know what their deepest pain is, and show how you solve it, it’s easy to attract customers.

Fabienne Fredrickson, Client Attraction Expert of offers these questions to help you design your client attraction system.

What is it that keeps them up at night worrying (as it relates to what you do)?
If they were to “pull their hair out” about something, what would it be?
What is the biggest struggle they encounter on a daily basis?
What is the biggest obstacle they deal with?
What is their biggest money/time leak?
What is the one goal that seems unattainable to them?
If they wished they could learn how to do ONE thing and one thing only, what would that be?
What is the biggest improvement they could make in their lives/business (as it relates to what you do)?
And finally, what would they do ANYTHING and pay (relatively) ANYTHING to solve/get rid of/achieve?

When you answer these powerful questions, you can incorporate it into your marketing. By speaking their language, you’ll be able to attract all the business you can handle easily - without the struggle! Try it, it works!

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Does your product or service stink? Well, if it does, you’d sure want to know about it. In fact, finding out what you could use a little tweaking allows you to turn an ordinary offering into something superior that really solves your customers problems.

Check out this blog entry on The Brand Builder Blog.

I just love his little “doggie” buttons on his site. Very creative!

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Are you heading out of the office or going away on vacation? An out of office or vacation autoresponder let’s people know about your absense and when you will return. It’s a great way to provide a prompt response to let them know you received your message and when they can expect to hear back from you.

How a vacation autoresponder works is that when someone sends an e-mail message to info@yourdomain.com, your vacation autoresponse system automatically sends a reply back to the person.

Then just be sure to shut it down or delete the autoresponder when you return from vacation.

6 Tips for writing an effective vacation autoresponder message:

1) Put in the subject line something that indicates that you are away on vacation or out of the office

2) State when you left, what you are doing, and when you will be back

3) Indicate whether you will be checking messages while you are away and when they can expect to hear back from you.

4) If it’s an urgent matter, let them know how to reach you or who else they can call.

5) Add your contact information at the bottom

6) Include a call to action, special offer, upcoming events, a special report they can get on your website, or industry news.

Here is a sample vacation autoresponder message:

Subject: Vacation autoresponse for Kristie T

Thank you for contacting Webmomz, I will be working offsite on Monday and Tuesday May 15 and 16 with limited voicemail and email access. As a result, I will respond to your message when I return to the office on May 17th.

If this is an emergency, you can reach me at 555-555-5555 or call YOUR BACKUP PERSON at 555-555-5555. Or if this is your first time contacting Webmomz, please visit our website at www.Webmomz.com to learn more about how we help you turn your passion into profits on the Internet.

Sincerely,

Kristie Tamsevicius
Webmomz.com
Phone: 847-244-8450
Email: kristie@webmomz.com

Get a free home business success course online at www.Webmomz.com.

P.S. Right now there are 30 tickets left for our spring marketing conference. To reserve your spot or get more information, check out our website at www.Webmomz.com.

So, I hope these tips serve as a helpful reminder on how to write a vacation autoresponder that helps your customers know when they will back from you.

Hope you have a super vacation with lots of fun in the sun! Don’t forget the sun tan lotion!

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As a work at home parent, summer always presents a challenge - how to get work done and keep the kids happy! And this summer, I am super excited to have 4 of my neices and nephews spending 2 weeks at our house in June. So I’m been brainstorming with my mommy buddies for fun ideas to keep 6 kids (my 2 and my brothers 4) happy.

So thanks Kelly Nell, Chris, Aurelia, Darina, Dawn and Marie for helping your awesome ideas that contributed to this list! I LOVE my awesome mommy entrepreneur friends!

You can see all 83 Summer Activities for Kids here.

Do you have any ideas for keeping the kids happy in the summer? Share your fun summer activities for the kids here.

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