Imagine that you sit down at your computer one day, type in your domain name, and instead of the business website you’ve worked to build you see some crazy page that’s definitely not your website. What happened? What do you do next?

You may see a suspended hosting page asking you to contact your website host, or a domain parking page that says your domain expired and displays links to your competitors!

It can happen to you if you don’t know how to keep your website safe. Here are the two things you must know to keep your website safe.

1. Who is your domain registrar and when does your domain name expire?

A domain registrar is a company who offers domain name registrations. Do you remember where you registered your domain name? Did you save your registration emails that listed the date your domain expires?

You *must* know who handles your registration and when it needs renewed. If you can, extend the registration for several years.

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Summer is upon us! This is the time of year to spend quality time outdoors with your kids and family. It’s also time to bring out the grill and patio furniture. Also, if you have a pool, get busy with cleaning it out for some summer fun!

Summer time can be a slow time for some home businesses. Although, It will depend on what type of business you have to determine if you will experience some slack with your business sales and traffic. Kids are home from school, and families go on vacations. Of course, that means many people will be busy during summer months and also spending less time online visiting your blog or website. That usually means a stall with your business.

If you experience a stall with your business this time of year, do you tend to get depressed and thus, experience some demotivation? I have been there many times! However, what an ideal time to kick your writing opportunities into high gear!

Don’t get down in the dumps during summer! Instead, especially if you don’t have any kids or summer obligations; take the opportunity to get in deep with your writing. Why not join an article writing challenge? Or maybe, start writing that eBook or online course you’ve put on the back burner for so long, or perhaps do some videos for your home business. For most people online, the opportunities are wide open to take advantage of during slow times.

Above all, DON’T ignore your business during the summer months! Most times, if you do, your business will suffer. And when it’s time to get going with sales, leads and sign ups come this fall, you will fall short even more of much needed traffic for success.

10 Writing Opportunities to Think About

* This is the ideal time to freshen up your blog or website with new writing material

* Get started with writing some eBooks for your business

* Start a writer’s group with your home business associates

* Take a free online course

* Study the writing markets; looking into what the various markets are looking for, guidelines, etc..

* Contact old clients and offer some freebies. This could lead to new client projects

* Prioritize your email list, paying close attention to your top clients

* Write up and schedule some blog posts for the fall and winter months

* Polish up on your resume and cover letters

* Declutter your home office and re-organize

There are all kinds of things you can be doing during the slow summer months that will benefit you and your business. However, don’t let those things take priority over enjoying a fun-filled summer!

Tammy offers more articles on writing and also her freelance writing services at Freelance Writing Jobs and Services.

You can also find Tammy at her Grandparenting Articles and Tips blog.

What exactly is a spider? Electronic spiders, also known as bots or crawlers, are how the search engines find your site. These spiders are sent out on a mission to find information on the millions of websites that exist. These spiders crawl through the web making lists of words found on websites. These words are the key to people finding the information for which they search.

The spiders will begin crawling through the most popular of websites. They will then begin building their list of keywords and will extend their search by following every link on each site. If there is a link to your site anywhere on the web, the spiders will find it.

Each search engine will have its own rules and standards but the process is basically the same. The spiders, however, can only read textual content and cannot click buttons or use drop down menus. They have limited power and capabilities.

Once the spiders retrieve the information, it is collected in a database which is how the search engines determine your ranking. This information is what people find when they use keywords to search for websites.

So with this in mind, you want your site to be spider friendly so they visit you often. There are things you can do to invite the spiders to visit your site.

What the Spiders Like:

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“Our lives are one big puzzle and all of the puzzle pieces must fit together. If not, the picture of life is distorted and has little to no value.”

This quote is from a book called FaithLeaps: The Christian Mom’s Guide to Passion, Purpose and Profits. It was written by Alyssa Avant. This quote really made me think about how my life was a few years ago. I was in a job (or two) that I hated. I kept feeling like I just wasn’t in the right place, but I was scared to move on…scared to take that “Faith Leap”. I was finally forced into it. The company I was working for started to decline financially and they were laying people off left and right. It turns out that it was the best thing for me. I really wish that I would have read this book a couple of years ago. I honestly don’t think I would have spent 4 years of my life being miserable.

Have you ever felt led to make a career change? Do you feel like God is telling you that you should work from home to be with your kids? Maybe you are like me and He is telling you that you simply shouldn’t be in the job you are in. If so, I suggest you get the book “Faith Leaps”. It will help you decide what path you should take.

Get your copy of Faith Leaps: The Christian Mom’s Guide to Passion, Purpose and Profits in paperback here or in the Kindle version here.

Amy Royce has two children and has been married since 1995. She is an affiliate marketer and a Virtual Assistant. She enjoys helping others through the programs she markets and the tasks she performs as a VA.

Sales presentations can be daunting, and nothing is worse than an audience who is completely losing interest. If you can’t keep your audience motivated during your presentation you lose your chance to deliver a great impression about your company and what you do. In order to keep your audience on their toes, you have to make sure they remain involved in the presentation throughout, and the best way to do this is to ask them questions along the way.

Successful direct sales strategies every time- ask questions, don’t invite them

Many people have offered sales presentations in the past and tried the classic approach to audience interaction- asking members of the audience if they have any questions themselves. However, this type of approach too often results in awkward dead air and takes the confidence out of even the most expertly prepared messages. Turn the tables and ask the audience questions you’ve prepared instead, and you will be surprised to find audience participation and attention increase simply because you are asking for their input.

Direct Sales strategies that work- make your audience feel important

When you offer a sales presentation, your audience wants to know that they hold value in your eyes. After all, they are the ones taking time out of their day to listen to your ‘pitch’, so you need to make sure you prepare questions ahead of time that will require thought on their part for excellent (and useful) feedback. What you’re doing when you ask pertinent questions of your audience is passing on the message that you need their input and value their participation. When people feel needed and important, they are more likely to listen to your presentation eagerly and value what you represent more as well.

Your audience is a very valuable key to your success with a sales presentation. It doesn’t matter how expertly designed your sales presentation is, how detailed and to the point you are, if your audience can’t be bothered by what you are putting in front of them. You have to give your audience reason to pay attention, and asking them questions is a fabulous way to keep them perked up to your message the entire time you present. Not only will you get invaluable feedback your company can benefit from, but you will gain the respect of the people you present to by asking for their input all along.

Your presentation is your best direct sales and marketing strategy so make sure that it is the best it can be and you will surely reach your goals.

Deb Bixler provides direct sales training for consultants on how to increase cash flow at home by putting systems into place that create a consistent cash flow.

Work at home ideas are generously scattered throughout the world wide web, however, the main thing you need to do before you start looking is decide what you want to do. You have work at home jobs, (telecommuting), or a business of your own, so you need to do some thinking first.

For work at home jobs, you will work for someone else that pays you a set salary for the work that you do. For most telecommuting, you will of course need certain skill sets, as well as a well written, professional resume and cover letter.

However, for some jobs…there are waiting lists and it may take awhile to land the job you want. There are many home based job categories you can check into. The keys for finding a job online are patience, experience, basic search skills, and the willingness to put forth the effort and put in a hard day’s work for your pay. Search on job boards such as; careerbuilder, genuine jobs, and dice.com.

If you decide you want to run a business you need to decide what type of business you want to get into. You have direct sales or one of your own to consider. Direct sales businesses are ones that are owned by a company that you would be a representative for. If you choose to create a business of your own you could do coaching, you could be a virtual assistant, web designer, or perhaps, sell on eBay and Craigslist.

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Direct sales business depends largely on your ability to get new clients. In my day to day conversation with those who are in the industry, I meet people who have 5 exceptional skills but struggle to make ends meet. The culprit is the inability to find new clients due to fear of rejection. Since fear of rejection is an internal struggle, the best approach to overcome it is also internal.

3 Mindset Tweeks To Overcome Rejections

Ask Yourself: What Is The Worse That Can Happen?

If someone you invited to your home party presentation turns you down, what is the worse that can happen? For one, you lost a client. You might also feel rejected by your potential client, especially if she is a close friend of yours.

But if you really think about it, you’ve got nothing to lose but everything to gain. Instead of feeling blue, give yourself a pat on the back. Be proud of yourself for doing your friend a favor. You invited her to check out a great product or a service. Be proud as well for having the courage to share it with others despite your fear.

Tell Yourself: You Don’t Need To Hit All The Pitches

Even the most successful direct sales marketers get turned down from time to time. It is normal. It is a fact of life. They call it the law of averages.

Not all the seeds that you plant will grow into a full grown tree. Even the best baseball players hit only one out of four balls thrown by the pitcher. The best NBA player makes only 50% of his basketball shots. Here is a great acronym to inspire you: “SWSWSW”. Some will, some won’t, so what….

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Being a business owner can be such a rewarding feeling. You can say without a shadow of a doubt it’s one of the best things you could do for yourself and for your family. As a business owner you have the ability to set your own work hours, take time off to take care of a sick family member, and so much more. When you have a say in everything that goes on in your business you know you’ll be successful.

But, what happens when you don’t have time to do it all? What happens when you want to do something, but you have no idea how to get it done? What happens when you reach a point where you can’t grow anymore because there just isn’t enough of you to go around?

Believe me, this happens to more business owners then you’d imagine. So, by all means, you’re not the only one having these issues or concerns. The best thing to do is figure out a way to fix the problem before it gets too bad.

One of the best ways to handle these types of issues is to hire a Virtual Assistant. Your VA will be able to handle the tasks that make you cringe, the ones holding you back, and the ones preventing you from hitting your son’s track meet or your daughter’s dance recital. She can do the tasks you need completed, but can’t seem to get done or she can help you do the tasks that really require two people to handle.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. All this is going to do is slow you down, cause you stress, and make you lose control. Instead, hire a Virtual Assistant and make your life easier. You’ll find when you do your business will run smoothly, you won’t have stress, and you’ll have more time to do the things you want to do for your business and your family.

Whenever you bring up the word success to a room full of entrepreneurs and business people,you will always get a wide variety of definitions.

While there is no hard and fast way to define home business success, the business world does tend to allow for criteria that result in more substance.

Measuring success in your personal life is much different than the success you will find in business. Your personal feeling of success is no one else’s concern. But the way you define success in your business life affects your employees, suppliers, customers and your family.

Set Goals

Can you define home business success by using numbers? Yes, you absolutely can. A business is created to generate revenue by providing a product or service. As a responsible business owner, you can track your own success by comparing your actual numbers to the ones that you put in the projection part of your business plan. You can gauge success by how often you achieve your goals and by the changes you make when the goals are missed.

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Technology is a great way to promote your upcoming business meetings. You should learn the basics when it comes to using technological resources to promote your business meetings so you can have a great outcome every time as well as the feedback you need from your team.

Blogs for business meeting planning create awesome feedback

Several free blogging websites allow you to set up your upcoming meetings with details and comment sections regarding what will be covered. What makes a blog so great is the ability to have your entire team sign up for alerts to updates, and a comment page that allows them to post feedback that they forgot to mention when the meeting was in discussion. A blog is a great way to manage the content of a meeting itself as well as promote upcoming meetings as they are posted.

Twitter and Facebook boost your business meeting planning strategy

With caution, meaning make sure your Facebook and Twitter accounts are for business only, these types of media outlets are great for keeping your team in the loop. Since these updates coincide with media outlets your team is likely already using, you can quickly reach your entire team for meeting updates and planning schedules without feeling like you’ve left anyone out.

Facebook groups for your team will give them a private forum to discuss and meet online. This provides great value in connecting long distance team members. Having online meetings and discussions will enhance the live meetings.

Old-fashioned technology is still tops

Finally, phone, email and text messaging still work great for keeping your team informed of all the meetings you have coming up. These avenues are particularly great if you aren’t hip on advancing technology (which you should be to help your business succeed). In using these types of technologies, you can safely alert your team to any business meetings you have planned without venturing too far out of your comfort zone.

Technology is wonderful for keeping business meeting planning in check

From a simple blog that you can set up in minutes to allow your team to offer great feedback to a simple email that you can send to everyone at once, technology and media outlets allow you to quickly keep your staff updated and informed of any meetings you have coming up in the future.

Since keeping your team updated on any meetings you have scheduled is important to helping your business thrive, now is a great time to start using technology to your advantage.

When using a wide variety of technological resources you are sure to find one that will match the direct sales team training needs for every consultant’s personality.