Work at Home Moms Articles – WAHM Articles

So you’ve written a great blog post. It got comments, got shared, and now it’s quietly collecting dust in your archives. How can you revive it and get some more mileage out of that content?

Replay It

Feature it again on your blog. You could…

* Repost it as a new post with an intro that it was previously posted and X has changed since then or X is the same and still of value (this works if your archives go a few years back)

* Highlight it in your sidebar along with some of your other favorite posts in a “Must Read” or “Greatest Hits” style section

* Create a page with all your posts on topic X including it

Reuse It

Have you shared it with your ezine subscribers before? Might make a nice feature for your next issue.

Or, what about offering it as a guest post or article for reprint? If it’s older content then it’s already been noticed by the search engines and it’s safe to share with other sites so long as you’re credited and it’s linked back to you as author.

Recycle It

Run it through the “recycling” plant and turn it into something new and fun like…

* A brand new blog post expanding on your original thoughts (link back to the original)

* A series of articles for a new autoresponder

* A special report you can offer free to subscribers

* Create a YouTube video with the content

* Create a slideshow with the content

* Present a webinar based on the information

* Record an audio version to share as a podcast or audio tip

* Use short tips from it to share on social sites

* Add it to your Facebook fan page

* Design an infographic if it’s numbers related content

There are lots of ways you can get more out of your content so if you’ve got something great, go find a way to get it shared with more people it can help!

Want more blogging advice? Get it at http://www.michelleshaeffer.com

Michelle Shaeffer believes that building your business online shouldn’t mean teetering on the edge of insanity. Drawing from 15+ years of experience in designing hundreds of websites and helping small businesses owners from crafters to coaches to authors market themselves online, she helps frazzled online business owners overcome technical problems by choosing the right solutions to for their websites, blogs and social media to get noticed, inspire fans, thrill clients, and serve their tribes.

Do you work with work at home moms? If they’re your main audience, you’ll want to bookmark this post now so you’ve always got something easy and helpful to tweet.

10 Quotes to Share:

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” Lily Tomlin

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies.” Oprah Winfrey

“I work with wonderful people who support me… the business needs to serve the family rather than the family serve the business.” K Ireland

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.” Betty Bender

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” Vidal Sassoon

“It’s not what you do once in a while, it’s what you do day in and day out that makes the difference.” Jenny Craig

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” ~Judy Garland

“I am not afraid…I was born to do this.” ~Joan of Arc

10 Tips to Tweet:

Always remember why you chose to work from home. Keep priorities in order and everything else will fit around it. #workathometip

Kids love to “play” office. Give them their own space with office supplies and let them “work” while you do. #workathometip

Create an inspirational working area for yourself. #workathometip

Night owl? Morning person? Know your natural rhythm and base your schedule on it. #workathometip

Track your time. Know your biggest time wasters and look out! #workathometip

Learn what motivates you and build that into your schedule/plans. #workathometip

Don’t forget to take breaks to stretch, hydrate, and care for yourself. #workathometip

Working from home doesn’t mean you’ve got to stay home. Get out in the sunshine and network! #workathometip

Find another work at home mom to buddy up with–you can encourage and keep each other on track. #workathometip

A “do not disturb” sign and a pair of headphones can work wonders for reducing distractions during your office hours. #workathometip

Do you have time to market your WAHM business? Many work-at-home-moms market their businesses regularly when they start out and are desperate for that first paying customer. But when they get busy with clients, their marketing often falls to the wayside… until they realize they don’t have any work lined up for the next month. Then they swing back the other direction and heavily focus on marketing again.

When your marketing follows this pattern, you can waste a lot of time wondering which marketing technique to try next, and figuring out how to make it work. Instead of continually growing, your business will jump ahead in short spurts.

If you take the time to create a marketing plan, your business will always be growing because you’ll always know what to do next. You won’t get “stuck” when you have a plan to keep moving – even during busy times.

Begin to create your marketing plan by deciding what types of marketing are good for your business. What has worked well for you in the past? Is there anything new you want to add to your marketing mix?

Next, plan your marketing. Instead of focusing on the final goal – for example, an exciting publicity campaign for your new website – break the entire process down into steps. This way, you can see the big picture, but will only focus on one step at a time.

For instance, if you would like to promote your business by writing articles, you might break your marketing into these steps:

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I work from home. I also homeschool three little inquiring minds. I’d never tell you it’s easy. But it’s the right choice for our family and we make it work.

How can you make time, and find the energy, to run a business from home when you’re also homeschooling?

Be Sure You Know Your “Why”

If you’re juggling both homeschooling and working at home, the #1 piece of advice I would offer is to know why you’re doing each. Be 100% convinced of your decisions.

There are rough days but if you know you’re doing what’s best for your children by homeschooling, and what’s best for you/your clients/your mission in the world through your business, the question isn’t, “Should I give up?” but instead, “How can I make this work better?”

It’s that certainty that will drive you to get it all done. You’ll find the time and energy to push through the challenges and succeed.

Plan Smart, Be Flexible

Have a daily plan. Scheduling to the minute doesn’t work for me, but I do schedule general blocks of time for each duty. I know generally when I’ll be focused on teaching and when I’ll be focused on business.

Never do three times what you can skip doing completely. If you’ve ever tried planning out your own school curriculum, you know it’s extremely time consuming and can make your head spin to match books to guidelines and cover everything. I have three kids. I’d have to go through that process for each of them. I don’t do it. Instead I choose curriculums that come with the plan ready to go. I take those plans and lay them out in my homeschool daily plannner as I look over each week (I use “The Well-Planned Day” and wouldn’t survive without it). I know exactly what’s required each day to complete our school year on time. It’s worth the money to know my plan is solid and I can focus my time on their learning instead of my planning. Explore your options. There are many curriculums that come with planners ready to go.

Look for areas where planning can save you time. For example, plan your meals and shop monthly. Try freezer cooking and learn to use a crockpot. You’ll save hours of “what’s for dinner?” and last minute trips to the grocery store.

Be willing to be flexible and forgiving with yourself. You’ll have to bend a bit on the days where your kids need more support or when you have a business emergency.

Guard & Leverage Your Time

Learn how to guard your time. Don’t spend hours chatting on the phone, or watching TV. We all need some down time to relax, but if you’re watching a couple hours of TV nightly, you shouldn’t be wondering where your time went…

“When people say to me: “How do you do so many things?” I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel: “How do you do so little?” It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don’t. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.” ~Philip Adams

Keep your priorities in mind when you’re deciding what to do. Make it a point to learn how to do things better and faster.

Look for places in your homeschooling and your business where you leverage your time to spend it on the most critical tasks and outsource, automate, or delegate the rest.

Get Support

Don’t try to do it all alone. That’s a recipe for quick burnout.

Ask for help. Involve your family and share the duties of housekeeping and meal time.

Get support in whatever form you need. Maybe it’s a charter school. Maybe it’s a mastermind group or business coach. Maybe it’s involving your kiddos in group classes, or having your spouse or another mom share teaching or kid care duties.

Want more? Click here to Visit Michelle’s “Juggling it All” page for free ecourses on crockpot and freezer cooking, menu planning tips, and more.

Article directories like WAHM-Articles.com are filled with content that we can use to get more readers to our websites and more subscribers for our ezines.

Great content is key to getting traffic from the search engines and getting readers to stick around and browse our websites once they’ve found their way there. We can also use compelling content to encourage our visitors to opt-in to our ezines and lists.

Here are 7 ways you can leverage free reprint articles:

1. Use them as website content. This is the most obvious use for articles. Add them to your website as blog posts or articles. Here are some tips: http://michelleshaeffer.com/speedy-fast-blog-posts/2011/07/12/

2. Use them as content in your ezine. Second most obvious use for articles. Make it easier to get your ezine sent out consistently by using free reprint articles.

3. Create a free ebook for your subscribers. Find a group of 5 or 10 articles on the same topic that go together well and compile them into a free ebook to offer on your website when people opt-in to your ezine or list.

4. Setup a free ecourse. Choose a group of articles that are either on the same topic (all marketing strategies), or go together in a natural progression (how to register a domain, how to setup a website, how to promote a website, etc). Then load them into your auto-responder with one new article going out every 2 or 3 days. That’s it and you’ve got your own free ecourse to offer subscribers.

5. Present a series. You can also used themed articles to present a series on your blog. Set a new article to post each day on the topic and encourage readers to subscribe to your RSS feed to get the next items in the series.

6. Be a curator of good “stuff” on the social networks. Many article directories, including WAHM Articles, have sharing options built right in for visitors. Look at the bottom of the articles for “Share This” or similar links. Share the best articles you find with your Twitter followers, Facebook fans, and other social network connections.

7. Write and submit your own articles. The best way to use free reprint articles to get more readers and subscribers? That’s right — write your own articles!

Tip: Be sure to always check the terms of use at the website you get your articles from to see what you are and are not allowed to do. For example: http://www.wahm-articles.com/terms.php#Publisher

Generally, these are the types of things you should never do with free to reprint articles:
- change them in any way
- create deriviate works (like audio or video)
- claim authorship or ownership
- sell them or include them in a product for sale
- charge access to them
- add them to an area of your site that you charge for access to

If in doubt, contact the author of the article directly and just ask for permission for the use you’d like.

Would you like to learn how to promote your business with article marketing? Grab a copy of “Establish Your Expertise with Articles” for just $7 at http://michelleshaeffer.com/self-study/article-marketing/

Michelle Shaeffer’s Twitter profile describes her as: “Caffeine powered, Libertarian gal enjoying life with my kids and husband. Empowering entrepreneurs.” That sums it up nicely. You can find her at helping to simplify online business at http://MichelleShaeffer.com or serving up ideas for bloggers at http://DailyBloggingIdeas.com.

Whether it’s blogging, writing articles, working on a print book or an ebook, creating a sales page… it seems like there’s always something on the “writing to do” list of a work at home mom. And with so many things on our minds it can be tough to create the space in our schedules and in our heads to stay focused and write well.

If you struggle with getting your writing done and out there to the world, know that you aren’t alone.

“Every writer I know has trouble writing.” -Joseph Heller, American Novelist and Playwright

What can we do? Any creative work is challenging to force on command. It’s hard to sit down and command our creative muse to pour the right words out onto the paper. But learning how to write well even when we don’t “feel” like it is a skill worth working towards.

Schedule Time to Write As Consistently and Often As Possible

By creating a habit of writing you’ll find, over time, that it gets easier to get focused faster. Schedule a time once a day or once a week to write. My time is on weekends because it fits with my schedule. I block out several hours to get my writing and blogging done.

Don’t just write when you have to. Write for fun, too. In a journal, on Facebook notes, whatever you enjoy. Don’t let writing become a chore every time you do it.

Choose A Physical Space You Feel Comfortable In

Do you work best in a quiet, uncluttered space? Outdoors in nature? Somewhere busy with background noise? Surrounded by your favorite photos and quotes? Wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of coffee? At the local cafe or library?

Learn what helps you write best and work to create that atmosphere for yourself. But don’t let it stop you from writing if you’re not in your ideal space. If you really want to write, you’ll figure out a way to get it done where ever you need to.

Know What Tools Bring Out the Best in You

Do you write best on screen? In a pretty journal? On loose leaf paper? With pink ink or a pencil? Which research and editing tools are more helpful for you?

Some of my best blog posts were written out by hand in a notebook before I typed them up. Anytime I’m doing serious editing (not every blog post, but any ebook or similar project) I’ve found I do better if I print out my work on paper then mark it up with notes and edits.

Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she’s learned to help other home based business owners balance, manage, and market their businesses. Connect with her at http://www.michelleshaeffer.com.

Yesterday we featured a logo from a wonderful site that belongs to my very good friend Michelle Shaeffer. Click here if you missed the logo.

No matter what your website content is and why you have a need to have a site online hosting is the most important thing to have. Without it nobody would see your site. If you choose the wrong one you could see more down time than up time and that’s not a good thing when you’re trying to make money online. This is why choosing the right host is important and it’s a decision you don’t need to take lightly.

Today we’d like to introduce you to CreoCommunico. Michelle Shaeffer is the owner and she does a fantastic job making sure her servers are always up to day and that her clients are happy with the service she provides.

When you choose CreoCommunico you’ll receive free setup and no hidden fees, you’ll have 24/7 support ticket response, 350+ video tutorials to help you do what you need to do, and so much more. Michelle’s prices are very reasonable and the amount of space you receive with each package is perfect.

Choosing the right host is important and you’ll know you have made the right choice when you choose CreoCommunico. Michelle has a number of websites she has created and hosts through her own company so you know it’s the best. Michelle also offers an affiliate program so it’s easy to refer your favorite hosting company and make a little extra cash.

So if you’re unhappy with your current host or looking to bring your business online, CreoCommunico is the way to go. Michelle will take care of all your needs and then some.

Here are ten ways you can get more traffic to your blog.

1. Blog Consistently

 So blog consistently. You don’t have to blog every day, but create a schedule and stick to it. Maybe you can blog 2-3 times weekly. Or maybe blogging every Tuesday works for you. Be consistent.

2. Share Your Blog Posts

Don’t just put great content out there and wait for people to find it. Let them know it’s there. Share your blog posts on the social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Look for smaller social networks and forums that your ideal readers are active on and share your content there, too.

3. Let Others Share Your Blog Posts

Make it easy for your readers to share your blog posts with their friends by offer “share” buttons. Check out ShareThis or LinksAlpha.

4. Offer an RSS Feed and Email Subscriptions

Use FeedBurner or FeedBlitz to make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog with an RSS reader or by email. If you can get them to subscribe, you’ve got a much better chance of them continuing to read your blog.

5. Comment on Other Blogs

Identify other blogs on the same or similar topic as your blog and go join their communities. Leave helpful comments on their posts. Each comment gives you a link back to your blog (be sure to put your blog URL in the website field as you enter your comment).

6. Guest Post on Other Blogs

Are you writing guest posts yet? It’s a great way to get yourself noticed. Many blogs accept guest posts, and not just the “big” ones. Be a good guest blogger by submitting your best work (proofread and ready to go), then staying actively engaged by replying to comments on your guest post and promoting it to your readers and on the social networks.

7. Send Out an Ezine

With a regular ezine you can include links to your latest blog posts and drive traffic back to your blog. Try MailChimp for a free mailing list if you’re just getting started. Or, if you’re a business blogger go with 1ShoppingCart’s autoresponder only package or AWeber.

8. Get Listed in Blog Directories

Listings in blog directories can help you get traffic to your site, and they also help you build backlinks to your blog. Here are some directories to start with.

9. Do Interviews and Feature Others

Interviews are a great way to provide helpful content for your readers and drive more traffic to your blog. You could do audio interviews and post the mp3 to your blog (try http://freeconferencecall.com) or you could do interviews via email – you write up questions and send to the interviewee and they send back their answers when it’s convenient for them.

10. Participate in a Blog Challenge

Have you participated in a blog challenge yet? There are different types of challenges so look around and see what’s coming up soon. Some challenges are “post every day” types or “X posts in X time” while others involve a task a day. What they have in common is that a group of bloggers come together to meet the challenge and support each other. By actively participating and getting to know other participants you’ll find that you can not only increase traffic to your blog but also build relationships and opportunities.

If you’re looking for a blog challenge to participate, I co-host several that repeat throughout the year so I invite you to join me in the 31 Days Blog Challenge  or Ultimate Blog Challenge .

Now, pick one of these 10 strategies and put it into action!

Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she’s learned to help other home based business owners balance, manage, and market their businesses. Visit her website here.

Social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube can be excellent marketing tools or they can steal massive amounts of time out of our busy days.  Which way is your social networking leaning?  Are you getting results?  Or just wasting time?

Here’s how to shift from spinning your wheels to generating traffic, making connections, and reaching your goals.

1) Define your goals for each network you’re active on.

Why are you on Twitter?  Is it to connect with specific people?  Build traffic to your website or blog?  Get noticed and build credibility as an expert in your niche?

Why are you on Facebook?  Do you want to build a fan base through your company’s fan page?  What will you do with that fan base once it’s established?  How will you market to them or encourage them to connect with you off Facebook?  Are you trying to reach existing fans and clients or do you want to reach out to new potential clients who haven’t heard of you yet?

For each network that you use, figure out exactly what goals you want to reach and write them out.  If you don’t know your goals, you won’t know when you’re getting results!

2) Brainstorm what you need to do specifically to reach those goals.

If your goal is to build credibility on Twitter, what will you do to reach that goal?  Look at what tips you’re sharing, who you’re retweeting, what RSS feeds you’re sharing and how you’re leveraging your conversations with other tweeters.

If your goal is to connect with new potential clients, are you actively connecting with others using websites like Twellow, WeFollow, JustTweetIt, and similar sites to find targeted people to follow?

Break down your actions into daily, weekly, and monthly steps so you’ve got an easy to follow action plan.

3) Implement your plan.

Now follow your plan.  Set a timer when you login to the network, and see how fast you can complete your steps.  After doing this for a few days you can get a realistic idea of how much time you need to spend daily to be effective.

4) Measure your results & adjust as needed.

Based on your goals, evaluate whether you’re getting the results you want.  Don’t try to evaluate results from a few days or a week of following your plan.  It can take some time to get results.  You’ll need to build connections and be consistent.

If building traffic is your goal, you can use tools like your website statistics, click trackers, and custom landing pages to see if you’re getting more traffic from your efforts.

Adjust and improve as you go.  If you aren’t getting clicks through from Twitter you might need to work on your headlines or join a tribe.  There are always ways to tweak your strategies to reach your goals.

Michelle Shaeffer has been a work at home mom for more than 10 years and loves to share the tips and strategies she’s learned to help other home based business owners balance, manage, and market their businesses. Visit her website here.

Do you think about growing and promoting your business, but stop yourself with the thought that you’ve got to get just *one* more thing into place before you can do that? One more little thing you want to get perfect on that website before you start giving out the URL and going after business?

Either get it done or just go with it the way it is! Your business, your products, your services, your website will constantly change and evolve–and may never be quite “perfect” to the standards in your head, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t ready to get out there and help people and serve them with your expertise or products.

I’ve got little post-it sticky notes all over my file cabinet and bulletin board with inspirational/motivational quotes and one of them is “Done is better than perfect” (Scott Allen).

Perfect would be great but no matter how many times we go over something, a typo may slip through. One typo doesn’t spell disaster for an otherwise fantastic product or ebook. If that graphic on your website isn’t positioned *exactly* perfect or you might want to try a different font in your logo, don’t let that stop you from launching your online presence.

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