I published part 1 of this the other day, so I will follow up with part 2 today. Normally I would show case another home stager’s articles. Debra Gould doesn’t need a lot of extra promoting because she does it so well herself. But then again, this is one of the ways she does it. And that’s just one of the lessons I am trying to share with you.

—-

Home Staging Marketing Tactics That Will Put You Out of Business – Part 2

Many design-oriented individuals decide to become home stagers without any kind of business training or marketing knowledge. While they mean well, they often stumble into some terrible marketing tactics that will likely put them out of business faster than you can say, “What were they thinking?”

In part one of this article series, I discussed why using sex appeal and inappropriate humor are awful ideas for home stagers trying to build their businesses and be taken seriously.Today I’ll share another marketing tactic that will probably put your home staging business under:

Offering a guaranteed sale

It’s surprising how many ways home stagers can find to bankrupt their businesses. I recently heard that some home stagers are now guaranteeing the sales of their clients’ homes.

In a tough economy and slow real estate market, one can guess why a home seller would want a guarantee when they’re investing in home staging services, and one can see why a home stager would be tempted to provide it, knowing how effective staging is in getting a quicker sale and wanting to do anything to attract new business. But, if a stager is in business for the long run, they really have to explore the business rationale behind providing a sales guarantee.

I am against home stagers making any guarantee of a real estate sale from their staging because of the numerous factors involved that the stager has no control over. No matter how well a home is staged, there are several factors that will help determine whether a home sells or not.

For example:

* Is the house being listed in the right season? (Christmas and Spring Break are known for being poor times for real estate sales)
* Is the house priced correctly for its location, size and market conditions?
* Does the house have the features buyers are looking for in that area? If it’s a one bedroom home in a family neighborhood, it’s going to be a tough sell no matter how well it’s staged.
* Will the agent do an effective job of marketing the property?
* Will the home seller maintain the home in showing-ready condition 100% of the time?
* Is the home seller going to make it easy to show by not requiring lengthy notice, preventing showings during certain times, etc.?
* Will the home seller keep the house sparking clean and odor free during all showings?
* How are the agent and home seller going to handle offers they receive? Negotiations break down all the time for different reasons.
* Will the home seller accept any offer? More goes into an offer than the price.
* Will the home pass inspections?
* What if the buyer doesn’t get financing and the deal doesn’t close?
* What if there’s a natural disaster, political or economic event that interferes with the real estate market when the house is listed?

A home stager can guarantee that a house will show better when it’s staged, but they can’t guarantee a sale unless they’re prepared to buy the property themselves! It’s a much better business practice to gather statistics from past clients about the average amount of time properties remain on the market after you stage them and how that compares to similar properties in that price range at the time.

Collect testimonials and be prepared to share your track record and show off your knowledge of the local real estate market, but don’t guarantee a home sale.

In the third and final installment in this article series, I’ll discuss why giving away free advice can sink your home staging business.

Students of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program learn how to operate a profitable home staging business. Creator and expert home stager, Debra Gould, has been an entrepreneur for 20 years. She has taught more than 1000 people from across the world how to start and professionally market their home staging businesses

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debra_Gould

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Technorati Tags: Article Marketing, eZine Articles

Below is another article from my series celebrating Home Stagers who write articles. Now many of you may still get the shivers remembering writing themes in high school. Not everyone is a Shakespeare after-all. But check out the article below. There is probably not a single one of you who couldn’t have written it. It’s all stuff you know inside and out. That’s not to take anything away from Julie Rieman who wrote it. She deserves praise for taking the time to jot out a quick list of tips and putting them on paper. You should do the same thing. And while you may be tempted to just post on Active Rain, posting articles on article directories will do you more good in the long run.

First you must emotionally detach yourself from your home. With any luck it will not be yours for very long! What you are living in is about to become just another piece of real estate available for sale. That being said, take inventory of your necessary possessions and begin packing away everything that you can live without.

Strive to create the most neutral environment possible. This will attract men and women alike. Prospective buyers will more easily visualize their own furnishings in the property if it is not cluttered with your belongings.

Remove excess furniture and instantly have a larger room! This is especially important for small spaces. If you have a sofa, love seat and chair consider removing one piece. Many rooms have just two upholstered pieces and look beautiful. The same rules apply to the bedroom. If you have access to a baby crib why not turn the smallest bedroom into a nursery? Add only a rocking chair and the space will appear enormous!

Wallpaper is typically a huge turnoff to home buyers. Everyone has different taste in decor and leaving paper on the walls will limit your buying audience. All they see is work as they will become responsible for removing it. Consider taking the paper down yourself or hire the job done. The small investment now will become a huge payoff later.

Color plays an important role in the home buying market. Stay away from bright colors when selling. That neon yellow bedroom MUST go! The hot trends today are the darker creams and taupes. A fresh coat of paint will go a long way in freshening your walls and buyers will feel your property is move-in ready!

Clear the counter tops of all small appliances but replace with living plants and a couple of strong scented candles. The benefit is twofold. The counter tops appear more spacious and the scented candles (I recommend apple pie or cookie dough) leave a nice aroma in the room.

These are general tips that apply to every home. You may want to contact a Staging professional to address your specific needs. Remember a small investment now could tremendously increase your property value!

Julie Rieman is an accomplished instructor in the arts faux painting and interior redesign. She offers two and four day classroom or online interior redesign training. If you live in the Twin Cities area, you can invite Julie into your home for a personalized consultation.

For more information about any of her decorating services and training opportunities please visit: http://www.allaboutredesign.com http://www.allabout-walls.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Julie_Rieman

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Technorati Tags: Staging tips

It’s been a beautiful fall day today. The sun is shining and the temps are a very acceptable mid 40’s to lower 50’s. I managed to leave the computer and tend to my garden. I dug up the Dahlia Bulbs, now that we have had our first hard frost. I spent a moment enjoying frosty leaved somethings, ornamental endive and maroon mums that serve as the front corner of my garden on the street side. This is their time of year.

Today started out great for me despite it’s sad underpinnings. A friend of mine is dying, in all likelihood, from gall bladder cancel. I said in all likelihood, but he hasn’t succumbed and if anyone can beat it he will. He’s in his mid 40’s and a stalwart member of my Toastmaster’s Group

He is our club’s star, having won many a local contest and usually being a top performer at our weekly meetings. Ours is what you might call a mature club, we have people who have been there 30 and 40 + years. He was clearly one of the younger members and a major contributor in every way. We roasted him this morning, and I rose to the occasion and did a particularly good job, if I say so myself.

In my brief, less than 3 minute presentation, I indicted my friend for being a Trophy Hog, a Trouble Maker and a Rabble Rouser. A trophy hog because he always managed to rise to the occasion and give a great performance no matter what role he played in our weekly meetings or contests.  He won a lot of trophies. A trouble maker, because he always took the trouble to use our training manuals and to actually try to do better every week. And finally, I called him a Rabble Rouser because he was an excellent critic in a constructive sense.

One role at our meetings is to evaluate speakers, to praise them, give them a suggestion or two, and then to once again stress the positive.  We call it a sandwich. I accused him of preparing Hoagies stuffed with meat rather than the typical pettifore offered up by many, with cutoff crusts and chicken salad for filling.

In my conclusion I observed that Mike understood that the world does not reward average people very well, and that he just decided to be extraordinary. He is, and a model I can strive to emulate.

I understand that you don’t know Mike, and perhaps I shouldn’t post this on the blog, but at the same time, I’m up on my ability to poke fun and yet tell a story about Mike today. And I’m up on the idea of how much I appreciated having had a chance to learn and compete with him.

While he was in his wheel chair today, I fully count on seeing him again in an upcoming speech contest. I know I will have my work cut out for me. But next time, I’ll beat him.

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Technorati Tags: Friends

Opening soon is the Halloween Giveaway, an internet marketing free for all that is literally free for all.

I just donated three items to the giveaway, a HTML Primer, the one I use to look up stuff when I need to play with more complicated HTML, 7 Questions you didn’t know to ask about web hosting, and my super affiliate marketing wizard.  These and many more products and software items will be made available for free.

Why, the donors like me are looking to build out lists of people interested in internet marketing tools and related topics. You will undoubtedly get follow on emails, read the ones you like, store them in a special folder, and if some bore you, just cut them off. Each of them will have an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Check it out you may find more than one item worth checking out.  Halloween Giveaway

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

If you’re a blogger, chances are you’ve heard of trackbacks. Most likely, you probably don’t know what these are and what they have to do with your blog. That’s alright, as most people don’t quite understand how trackbacks work and why they are useful for a blog.

In this newsletter, we’re going to go over trackbacks–what they are, how they work, why they are important to blog traffic, and how to get more trackbacks. After you’ve read this, you’ll know practically everything there is to know about trackbacks.

What are trackbacks?

The concept of trackbacks is a bit hard to explain. So we’ll use an example to explain it in the best way possible.

OK, say you see a great blog post on another person’s blog and want to link to it on your blog. You could do this the old-fashioned way by manually putting a link on your site to that blog. However, if you do it this way, the person whose blog post you are linking to won’t know that you are linking to them unless you tell them.

This is where trackbacks come in. A trackback is a program which will notify the owner of a blog when one of their posts has been linked to at another blog.

How do they work?

A blog that has a trackback system set up will have a link at the bottom of every blog post. This link will say something like “Blog This!” Anyone who clicks the link can then put a link to that blog post on their site. The person who posted the original blog will then be notified via email that their blog posting has been linked to. Additionally, the link that was clicked (“Blog This!”) will change to “Trackbacks”. From that point forward, the “Trackbacks” link will keep track of how many people have chosen to blog about that particular post. So after the first trackback, it will say “Trackbacks: 1″. The number of trackbacks recorded will be updated as they occur.

Why are trackbacks important to blog traffic?

The easy answer is that trackbacks are important because they increase awareness of your blog. Trackbacks also make a blog seem more credible. After all, people have to think your posts are good enough to be trackbacked.

Anytime a person makes a trackback on your blog, they make a post on their own blog about your blog. This, in turn, lets their readers know about your blog. Chances are, their readers will want to visit your blog to see what the big deal is. If they see something on your blog that they like, they’ll keep coming back for more, which means you’ll have a whole new fanbase of readers. That means more traffic for your blog.

Can you imagine what would happen if 5 different bloggers trackbacked a post on your blog? Depending on how popular their blog is, that’s potentially as much as hundreds of new readers for your blog! Pretty incredible, right?

Also, every trackback made, assuming it is a legitimate one (and some trackbacks are spam, especially if they are there only to link to another site) adds credibility to your blog. Blogs with high amounts of trackbacks look credible because lots of people like the posts enough to trackback them.

How can I increase the number of trackbacks I get?

The easiest and best way to increase trackbacks is to frequently post. If you post frequently (2-3 times a week), people will have quite a few posts that they can trackback. However, it is important to make sure that your posts are of a good quality. Quality blog posts are those that people can relate to and are easy to read. If you post a long boring rant, people probably won’t want to trackback that. But if you post a decent sized rant that is entertaining (and that people are likely to agree with), you’ll get trackbacked.

The number of trackbacks you get is totally dependent on the number of visitors your blog receives and how frequently you are able to make quality posts. If you’ve got a good amount of visitors and write good blog posts, you’ll get trackbacks.

To your success,

Earl Netwal
Micro Business Specialist

P.S. Trackbacks are a wonderful thing for every blog. You are able to know when your blog posting has been posted about at another blog, plus you potentially gain more visitors. It’s a win-win situation for you! For more information on Blogging go to http://www.askearlabout.com/blogging

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Believe it or not, it’s actually possible to make money from blogging. One teenager has, in fact, earned $5,000 a month just from making posts on his blog! Of course, not every blogger is this lucky. It does take some skill, and some luck to make money from blogging. What it also takes is some knowledge of how
exactly to generate income just by posting blogs. In this newsletter, we will go over three specific methods of making money on your blog: Adsense, Pay Per Lead, and Affiliate Links.

This approach allows you to make money blogging even if you do not have your own business. But be careful, some of these approaches could be counterproductive on a business blog.

So how exactly do I make money on my blog?

You do it by working with another company that wants to use your blog as a form of advertising. It sounds like selling out, right? Not exactly. The advertising can be as in your face or subtle as you want. And it can still make you money, provided you have enough visitors to your blog.

What is Adsense?

Adsense is a program offered by Google. The program, if installed, will display ads provided by Google.

How do I get Adsense?

You’ll need to go to Google.com, first. At the bottom of the screen is a link for “Advertising Programs”. Click on that. Then click on the link for “Adsense”. Scroll down on the page that comes up and click “Click Here To Apply!” You then fill out the form with information about yourself. After 12-48 hours, Google
will notify you via email whether or not your site has been accepted. When you’ve been accepted, set up your ads by doing either of the following:

1. If your blog is hosted on Blogger.com, you can set up your AdSense ads by going to your profile, selecting settings>template>add an element. Then select AdSense and login with your account info. Next, you’ll configure your ads and save the template. That’s it. This is one of the reasons Blogger is so popular for non business blogs.

2. If you are self-hosting your blog, you’ll have to set up AdSense in more of a manual way. You’ll create your ads(which can be as small or as tall as you want) and then copy the HTML/Javascript code Google gives you. Then you’ll paste it into your blog(on the left, right, or top of the screen).

For the first few days, the ads displayed by Google will be Public Service Announcements. After the ads have been up a few days, though, the ads will switch to ads that are relevant to your blog.

How does Adsense work?

Every time a visitor clicks an Adsense ad, you get a little bit of money(usually around 30-60 cents). The amount you get for each ad clicked depends on the number of unique visitors you receive on your blog. The more visitors, the more money that can be earned.

Google will then send a check or pay you through Paypal once you’ve made at least $100 from the ads.

It is important to remember that Google will penalize you if you click your own ads, or if you ask visitors specifically to click ads. So don’t do that!

Pay Per Click

Pay Per Click is basically just like AdSense, except you don’t just work with Google–you work with multiple companies.

BidVertiser is one such company you can sign up with to do Pay Per Click advertising.

How do I get Pay Per Click

You sign up with a site like Bidvertiser and then follow their instructions to set up the Pay Per Click ads on your site.

How does Pay Per Click work?

It works by paying you money each time someone clicks an ad that you display. You won’t get paid for multiple clicks from the same user in the same visitor, nor will you get paid for someone simply visiting your site. You only get paid for legitimate clicks.

Affiliate Links

Affiliate links are basically links which people pay you for. Companies will actually pay owners of popular blogs to post links on their blog. You can do as much Affiliate linking as you want.

How do I get Affiliate Links?

You can get Affiliate links by searching for “Affiliate Link Programs” on the internet. Once you find an Affiliate link program that looks good to you, sign up for it. Then you can follow their instructions for putting the link(s) on your blog.

How do Affiliate Links work?

Like the other two methods mentioned above, Affiliate links work by paying you money each time they are clicked. You get paid for each click per unique visitor.

So that’s it. There’s three legitimate ways to make money from blogging. It is important to keep in mind that the amount of money you are able to make depends on how many visitors your blog draws. If you draw a lot, you’ll make a lot. If not, the money you earn will be modest. But it’s still extra money, so why not do it?

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

In our survey of 186 home staging businesses, Home Stagers were asked their opinion as to whether Staging tended to benefit clients most in terms of having a faster sale, or a higher price.

Respondents were not allowed to say both.

They were also asked the same question for three different time frames:

1. their entire career
2. past six months
3. projections for the future

The clear majority respondents overwhelmingly felt that the primary benefit was faster sales in all three time frames, but especially so for the past six month time frame.

While still predominantly picking faster sales, noticeably more people picked higher prices as their projections for the future.

Realtors were particularly strong in seeing the benefit as faster sales.

The “top dogs” were among those most likely to predict home staging generating higher prices in the future, although the majority of the “top dogs” also thought quicker sales the primary benefit.

The next most bullish group for higher prices were those with less than 2 years experience.

Conjecture: The nuances of this question suggest that newbies may be reflecting the optimism they bring from their classrooms and fresh positive attitudes.

The fact that those with 2-4 years experience were among those strongest to suggest quicker sales may reflect more practical experience in the recent market downturn, while the Top Dogs may be delivering a stronger product in the marketplace, resulting in more higher prices.

There is clear overall consensus that quicker sales is the dominant benefit. This suggests that this it the point that Home Stagers should then be emphasizing in their marketing. For many of today’s markets that is just the message many homeowners want to hear.

To see what some of the people who have read my survey reports have to say about them, go to http://www.squidoo.com/house-staging

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Did you know that designer shoes and handbags are are available at Amazon.com? Spurge on yourself, and show your design sense with quality accessories. Just as the right accessories can give a home the pizazz to get noticed, designer accessories will show the world that you are a successful professional in your own right.

Amazon now hosts Endless, a designer boutique offering Shoes and Handbags from the world’s top designers. Enjoy an intriguing display of fashion and get fast free shipping and Amazon’s guarantee to assure you of a delightful shopping experience. -etn

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.

Technorati Tags: Designer shoes & handbags

Blogging, what is it?

You’ve heard talk about blogging but are one of those people who don’t quite understand what it is.  That’s alright, as we’ll go over what a blog is, the history of blogs, what they are used for and why they are important to your online business.

What is a blog?

A blog is essentially like a journal where people can post their thoughts and have them read and commented on by anyone.

What is a blogger?

A blogger is someone who creates a blog and posts on it.

Brief history of blogs

Weblogs, simply known as blogs now, haven’t been around for that long. The roots of the blog can be traced back to 1994 when people kept online journals (diaries) in which they wrote about things in their life.

Our current blog has been around for an even shorter period of time. In 1998, Open Diary created a site in which its users could post blogs that had the ability to be commented on by other people.

The popular free blogging site called Blogger was created in 1999 by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan. Blogger was later purchased by Google in 2003.

Despite the fact that blog sites have been in existence since 1998, they have only been popular for 4 or 5 years. In 2001, how-to-blog manuals were published and the phenomenon has only taken off since that point. Today, more and more small business people in brick and mortar businesses are learning to turn its power to their advantage.

What are blogs used for?

In the very beginning, blogs were usually used to talk about a person’s life. People would make blog posts about things happening in their life, thus using the blog as a public journal.

Over time, the use of the blog evolved. People began using the blog to post their opinions about everything from politics to religion to sports to music, among other things.

Nowadays, blogs are even used to make money–one 20-year-old makes $5,000 from Google per month because he has Google Ads on his blog. Businesses have also begun to effectively use blogs for their own purposes.

Why are blogs important to your online business?

Millions of people from all over the world read blogs every day.  Those who have a blog are given a lot of exposure–there is the potential for them to have millions of unique readers each day.

Can you imagine having a million people see your business’ name each day? That sounds pretty incredible, doesn’t it? Yet, that’s exactly what could happen if you create and maintain a successful, well-read blog. And that’s actually a pretty easy thing to do.

So how exactly can you use the blog to help your online business? Well, you can use it in a variety of ways.

You could:

-Use the blog to discuss things related to your field of business.

For instance, if your business was Home Staging, you could discuss things related to preparing a home for sale, uses of color etc., and how an actual staging works, thus showing potential customers your skills and insights and thereby building your credibility.

-If you have employees encourage them to have their own blogs to talk about your services/products. The more active blogs that reference your business, the more exposure you’ll get.

-Use your business blog to keep current or past customers updated on new services/products available.

-Post news about your business, as well as start rumors about potential happenings in your online business.

-Get feedback from current and potential customers on your products/services. For instance, you could make a post on a new product or project, giving details about it. Then your existing customers or potential customers could give their opinion on it.

-Promote your online business on your blog by making blog posts with information on what your business offers.

-Install Adsense on your blog and make extra revenue from ads clicked, thereby helping your business to be more profitable.

There are really a lot of possibilities to how you can use a blog to help your business, even more than those listed here.

Blogs that are hosted on your site (by using a program like WordPress) can help your site achieve a higher ranking in search engines. This is because blogs are search engine friendly (Google is known to list them after only a few days, whereas it takes regular web sites weeks to appear on a search engine).

Having a high search engine ranking is crucial to having a successful online business. Blogs help you to increase your ranking, which will increase your business.

The great thing about blogs is that they are easy to use and also very effective. Start a blog today and watch your business’ notoriety grow.

To your success,

Earl Netwal
Micro Business Specialist

P.S. Blogs offer your business the chance to be known by millions of people. If you’re looking for a surefire way to gain customers and increase revenue, try business blogging! And even if you only want to dozens to thousands of people, they can be a powerful tool to set you ahead of your local competition.

P.P.S. To use a word press blog which I recommend for businesses, you need to have your own web site.  You should anyway, if you are serious about using the internet to build your business.  When setting up a web site you have two important decisions, your URL or name and the web hosting service you decide to use.  This second step is more important than most people realize when they are starting out.  Below I have a link for a Free Report on Web Hosting.  Whether you have your web site now or not, you should learn more about web site hosting. It’s one of the fundamental basics to understanding the mechanics of the internet.  Free Web Hosting Report

Setting up a web page is only the beginning to online marketing. Now you need to get it seen by potential customers. This used to be challenging in many markets, but there has been a big change in what matters. Today, what matters is being seen on the Google Places Page, and you don't even need to have a web site to do that. (although you should.) The good news is that its free, and if you know what you are doing, you can maneuver yourself to the top listing in many markets. That's one of the skill sets I bring to the table. If you would like to get your Google Places Page properly set up send me an email at enetwal@gmail.com and put "Free Initial Evaluation" or something similar in the subject line. Be sure to include your current web site and contact info.