Grow Your Business Online And From Home

Work-at-home entrepreneurs have many choices when it comes to marketing. Below you'll find 50 simple ideas that you can adapt to your own needs.

Some ideas are geared toward online audiences while some target your neighborhood and involve getting to know local businesspeople.

It's a good idea to choose a few methods from each category and make them work for your own business. Give each one a try to see which works best for you and your business.

Online Marketing Ideas

1. Start a Blog and write 2 – 3 times a week. Start simply at WordPress.com or Blogger.com.

2. Post articles online that others can use with your byline and signature information – visit EzineArticles.com.

3. Regularly comment on blogs that relate to your business – you can find some great examples at AllTop.com (which list the top blogs in the world and divides them into categories for easy searching). (In fact, look for my RaisingGreatFamilies.com blog there! We're proud to have it listed.)

4. Visit Meetup.com and instigate a gathering relevant to your line of work OR join an existing group.

5. Check out Podcamp.org or Barcamp.org to see if they work well for your business.

6. Create your own Facebook profile.

7. Join groups on Facebook that relate to your business and post regularly.

8. Create your own Facebook PAGE and use it like a mini website to promote your business.

9. Become a source on HelpAReporterOut.com.

10. Suggest a story about work-at-home entrepreneurs to a blogger or offer a post for other people’s website by joining BloggerLinkUp.com.

11. Write an ebook and offer it for free on your own website or Facebook Page.

12. Send a press release about your business to PRWeb.com or PRLeap.com.

13. Reply to questions on Wiki.Answers.com and similar sites.

14. Open a Twitter account and send 2-3 tweets a day about what you are doing in your business.

15. Distribute monthly eNewsletters to your clients (having captured their names on your website or Facebook Page).

16. Put your business in both online and print directories.

17. Use Google to search for forums that are in your niche (use your keyword followed by the work “forum” to find these) and become involved with the chatter on the forum (NEVER “sell” on these – participate and leave your name with your contact information below it).

18. Write pieces for other companies' eNewsletters.

19. Keep in touch with classmates through Facebook.

20. Search Twitter for people who tweet about your type business and begin to tweet back and forth with them (find them using keywords at Search.Twitter.com).

21. Optimize your blog by using keywords in the titles of your posts.

22. Videotape short weekly talks and publish them online.

23. See if Affiliate Marketing is right for you – search Clickbank.com.

24. Trade blog ads with other work-at-home entrepreneurs.

Neighborhood Marketing Ideas

25. Join groups like the Lions Club or the Chamber of Commerce to Network.

26. Ask potential clients about their needs and follow up with them – don’t be bashful: if they say “NO” you’re in the same place as if you hadn’t asked them; if they say “Yes,” then you have new business!).

27. Ask clients for recommendations.

28. Send out a mailing to local businesses and then follow up with two additional mailings (we call that Sequenced Mailings).

29. Get other work-at-home entrepreneurs to package their promo material with yours.

30. Offer referral bonuses to clients.

31. Offer the first meeting for free with a potential client.

32. Mark the end of large projects with your clients in a public place – make it festive, memorable, and fun.

33. Attend local business mixers to meet new people and collect THEIR business cards – it’s less important to give yours out (though certainly do that if someone asks for it). Then follow up with everyone you met and keep them informed about how you can do business together.

34. Print and distribute business cards, using BOTH sides of the cards (and make an offer on the back – something like “Email for my free report, 7-Steps To Business Success.”

35. Leave your brochures with businesses where your target clients might frequent – but make this brochure gives an offer for some free information NOT a three-panel brochure about your business that most people don’t want to read (just as you don’t read most other people’s brochures like that).

36. Sponsor a local event that would appeal to your target client and then tell them.

37. Print coupons and put them on local bulleting boards – again, offer some free information.

38. Speak about your business at local events.

39. Partner with an entrepreneur who has a business related to yours.

40. Schedule a regular mastermind meeting with several entrepreneurs in your area – make time to chat about what each is doing and find out how you can help each other.

41. Visit your local bookstore each week to plan your schedule (I call that my Dreaming, Planning, Scheming Time) and chat with folks who are there – you never know what other local business person might need your services.

42. Give a class in your area of expertise – local school districts often sponsor these.

43. Volunteer your time to local charities.

44. Write some ‘case studies’ that closely parallel work you just completed and send them with a PostIt Note greeting to prospects.

45. Contact local businesses to find the right person to invite for an early morning cup of coffee – and suggest s/he tell you more about his or her business – when you offer to learn about someone, they often tell you a LOT (much of which can help you find more business for THEM and for YOU).

46. Create a 3-part postcard mailing campaign to prospects in your area.

47. Keep in touch with former clients.

48. Develop a contact at an employment agency for leads.

49. Put coupons for your services in gift bags.

50. Track down local giveaways and donate something.

Some of these ideas will cost a bit of money but many of them are free and only require your time and thought.

Make time each week to explore a new marketing option. Be creative and see how you can tailor each item to your specific needs and let us know how you're doing.

Give us progress reports so we can all be inspired by each other's success. And leave a comment here with YOUR ideas that can be added to this list – let’s grow it to 100 Simple Marketing Ideas!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: You can find me here:

http://twitter.com/UltimateWAHDads

http://facebook.com/CharlesSeymourJr

http://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesseymourjr

To learn more, stay in touch with my blog – I'll keep you informed so that YOU won't have to do the heavy lifting. Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog – Click HERE To See More!

PPS: Do you have trouble writing? Turn Your Words Into Gold – Go Here To Learn More! NOW is the time to start.

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Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

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Marketing Ideas – 50 Simple Marketing Ideas You Can Use To Grow Your Business

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Dan Kennedy's partner in Glazer-Kennedy Insiders Circle To Speak To Entrepreneurs

Delay and you will miss out on one of the most important nights you will ever experience (if you are an entrepreneur or have your own business).

Bill Glazer shares his message that there is enormous, exciting opportunity for the marketer who acts creatively and aggressively at a time when competitors cower in fear.

September 9, 2009, marketing guru and author Bill Glazer makes a very special visit to Philadelphia to speak at GKIC-Philly. We are a group of local entrepreneurs and business owners who get together once a month to discover ways to make our businesses even more profitable.

The principles I teach, blog about, and create podcasts about are all direct-response techniques as taught by Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer.

7-Steps To Survive and Thrive In The Recession… and Beyond

Bill will share his energetic ideas for a Recession Escape Plan…. How to Make the Recession Irrelevant.

As president of GKIC, Bill speaks around the world on laser-focused ideas to make your business successful, and I can assure you that having him at our meeting is a real treat for all of us.

During this timely talk, Bill reveals to you immediate ACTION IDEAS to implement in your business right away. He will guide you through all 7 steps, giving you real-world examples that you can apply to your own business right away.

Bill has also agreed to:

• conduct an E-X-T-E-N-D-E-D Question & Answer session to address your specific needs…
• bring along a limited number of Collectors Editions of his just released new book on OUTRAGEOUS Advertising That's OUTRAGEOUSLY Successful for a special book signing during the breaks.

Seats are filling fast and when they are gone – they are gone!

Join me at this special business-building opportunity by following these simple steps:

1. Go to the sign-in website to learn more and to sign up.
2. When you sign up, be sure to put my name, Charlie Seymour Jr, in the How Did You Hear About Us field – All those who sign up through me will be eligible for a drawing that night to win some Dan Kennedy materials.
3. Only those filling in the How Did You Hear About Us with my name, Charlie Seymour Jr, AND who attend the meeting where Bill Glazer speaks will be eligible for my personal special drawing. Be sure to see me AT the meeting – only those present will be eligible for the drawing that night.

I often describe our monthly GKIC-Philly meetings as "my oasis – a time for ME: to learn, to share, to gain new ideas from my fellow members."

THIS meeting I describe as AWESOME and NOT TO BE MISSED.

I know Bill personally; have heard him speak often; listen to his monthly CD of tips, tricks, and solutions; and always have a pad of paper handy to jot down his ideas so that I can use them in my business immediately.

He's the real deal. He'll have lots of ideas for you. You want to be there.

See you there!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

PS: This will likely be the only time Bill will be speaking in Philadelphia and you really should attend. Register now before all the seats are gone.

PPS: The meeting will be on September 9, 2009 from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at the Penn Oaks Golf Club just south of West Chester, PA USA. Light refreshments will be served and there is a modest fee. Register now, read all the information, and be ready for a GREAT evening with Bill Glazer.

PPS: Learn More About Bill Glazer and this One-Time-Only Meeting, and Sign Up to Join Me – Click Here Now!

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Bill Glazer Coming To Philly

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Sharing With My Mastermind Group, I Want To Be Sure To Share With You Too

Thought I'd follow up about Bit.ly since I'm using it extensively and it has taken me a while to figure it out.

1. Did you see that TweetLater is now using Bit.ly? Nice endorsement for this sweet F*R*E*E product that shortens your links AND lets you track the results!

2. I was confused about HOW I could FIND the metrics once I shortened a link and used it in Tweets, blog posts, etc. Then I discovered the SEARCH capabilities – if you put your Bit.ly link in the Search box and press Enter, you get the graphs of how well you've done. HOWEVER, that is only what has been done on TWITTER. Still good info, but not all the info I want.

3. THEN… probing further, I found out how to find ALL the results. Just add a "+" after the link and you get all the info. Really sweet.

For instance, if you click http://bit.ly/me7q, you go to my Lead Generation Video on Lead Generation. (It's a Lead Gen free giveaway magnet designed to show people some of my knowledge and trade this 68 minutes of jammed-packed info for their name and email address.)

HOWEVER if you click http://bit.ly/me7q+ (notice the "+" at the end), you go to the page of all the metrics. And they can be VERY helpful.

I used to use Ad Trackers in 1ShoppingCart all the time so that I could see how well my campaigns were doing. HOWEVER, when 1SC would screw up, not work properly, fight with Comcast (my ISP) and blacklist a whole section of the US (which I used to discover even when even they didn't know it had happened), I couldn't find any metrics AND my site would shut down because my links wouldn't work. I'm hoping that Bit.ly (without the possibility of email blacklisting since it doesn't send emails for people) will be much more reliable.

Now… how do you know what your Bit.ly link is when you have HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS (as I now do)?

Let's face it, not everything you post to the web, Twitter, a blog needs to be tracked – you'd be drowning in follow-links and never be able to find any of them.

I just want to find important links that I want to keep track of (like who goes to my blog posts, my Ezine, my offer of great products I've discovered): I just keep a simple Notepad file open and keep those important links list there. I keep them in blocks by category (like Charlie's Blog, Ezine, LizSeymour.com, etc) and then list the Bit.ly link, the full link, and a note about it. Like this:

http://bit.ly/10UEzs – Marketing Power – Stand Out To Shine and Think Big (created April 23, 2009)

Well… that's it for now! Hope after reading all of this you learned a bit (or is that you "learned a Bit.ly")!

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

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Opportunities Abound For Work At Home Dads, Even In THIS Economy!

How often do we have to hear it from or read it in the news? The economy is the worst since our parents (and for some of us it's our parents' parents) were young. It's really awful.

All indicators are down. My personal retirement fund has shrunk by about 50%. Unemployment is rising (about 6.5% in my county), and if it hasn't touched your family, you KNOW a family it has struck.

What do they say: it's a Recession when your neighbor loses his job: it's a DEPRESSION with YOU lose your job! It sure feels that way! (Seems to me the only time you feel worse is when everyone tells you that the economy is GREAT but you just lost your job – that happened to me once and that feeling is burned into my brain and heart, still searing my insides.)

And the effect ripples through our town, county, state, country, and world. You can't escape that we're part of a SYSTEM, not a series of individuals. Someone losing a job in Maine doesn't buy as many groceries so the farmer in Texas doesn't plant as man crops and the family in California has to pay more. And on and on and on.

And Bernie Madoff can only account for about $67 Billion of this, so there are many other factors at work.

And when I was a kid, I remember my Dad talking about the economy (he later ran a major real estate firm and was on the Board of the Philadelphia Fed… so he had learned a thing or two).

And if there was one major lesson I learned from him it's that OPPORTUNITY is just as great in any part of the cycle (for indeed, economies are cyclical).

So… that means that there are opportunities abounding right now.

And if you follow Internet Marketing (especially Information Product Marketing), perhaps you just witnessed Frank Kern (one of the really good guys) sell more than $4,000,000 worth of CDs and booklets, teaching people how to succeed in today's economy. And this was in about 26 hours.

But For Many, Where Did The Dream Go?

But for people watching their 401(k)s being drained or their IRAs tumble, it certainly must feel like the sky has fallen. And if you're sitting at home instead of going into that job in an office, store, warehouse, or factory, the pain can be intense.

Or Perhaps You've Been Saying, Take Me From The Rat Race

Or, perhaps you still have a job but are nervous that you might be next to go. Here in the Philadelphia, PA USA area, apartment developer Steve Korman has pleaded with companies (many of which he owns stock in) to remember that firing people leads to more firing. He'd like to see a corporation earn less, but keep all of its people working.

Not many corporations share his thoughts.

Or, You're Already Working At Home And Think, How Can I Turbo Charge My Work At Home

You know how it is to have the freedom of working from home. No commute. No expensive lunches out. No boring meetings that take up so much of your time.

But with the way the economy is now, you really need some help to turbo charge your results. Going back to an office job just isn't in the cards for you, even if the economy had any jobs available.

I've Been There Too

As a Work At Home Dad since 1991 (longer, really, since from 1977 – 1991, I sold $247,368,657.97 worth of Investment Real Estate and though I worked for a large real estate firm, I did much of my work from home), I recognize each of these stories… and each of the opportunities they bring.

Oh, it may not FEEL like an opportunity when you're faced with being fired or the potential of a layoff, but it can be.

So, I've dedicated myself (with the help of some of my very smart friends) to help Work At Home Dads.

Dads Have Been Forgotten – But NO MORE!

When you search the Internet, there are all kinds of opportunities for Stay At Home Moms, but the Dads have been forgotten. And with the economy the way it is, we Dads can use all the help we can get. It's said that 82% of all the recent layoffs were to men!

I have created several family-centric sites (RaisingGreatFamilies.com, ILearnedItAllFromMyKids.com, FathersAndTheDaughtersTheyLove.com among them) and my professional photography business was all related to families (Family Portraits, Weddings, Bat and Bar Mitzvahs, Theater).

Over the next few months, I will openly share information to help Work At Home Dads. The site just starting, so be sure to enter your name and email address and I'll be sure to let you know when those resources are available.

Time We Banded Together, Men: Form Our Own Mastermind Group!

There's nothing like the power of when creative and hard-working men join together. Hey, not being sexist – my wife would smack me if I did that (to say nothing about my two successful daughters), but it's time for us men to band together to make the family economy work for each of us.

I look forward to hearing from you – hearing your ideas, your greatest concerns about working from home, hearing about some of the solutions you have come up with. Let's share this information to help all of us.

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad, succeeding in this economy

Friends, if you like this post, please leave a comment and retweet it. And I've made it easy – just click on the icon below. Thanks!

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