Integrating and Using Social Media for your home Business

It's no secret that we're living and working in a digital age.

That's why it's vital that you utilise social media for your home business or company. We're already living in an age full of helpful technology and digital networking, and connecting with other people and businesses is easier than ever, thanks to the wonders of the internet.

Whether it be through Facebook, Google+ or Twitter; it's crucial to develop and maintain an online presence. Through a succerssful use and utilisation of Social Media, you'll find that not only will your customer or consumer base grow substantially, but the level at which you'll be able to develop and converse will feel much more personal, which is good for both the customer and you.

My business partner and I have recently started our own hlepful course teaching other small home businesses how to best utilise and grow through social media. All we need is your name and email address, and we will send you anything and everything you need to know.

You can sign up by clicking here.

Twitter Tips!

For anybody using twitter to market their business it is always tempting to immediately begin to promote their goods and services right away! However in a social network community like this you will get more for your efforts by placing your emphasis on making friends. The very idea behind ‘networking’ to begin with is to establish common grounds with others, and then share your interests. In order to do this, you must first get the attention of other twitter users, but in a disarming and friendly way. Your approach needs to be a likable and casual one since the key is to put others at ease with your presence. Remember, at most online communities you are an intruder until such time that people feel comfortable enough with you to accept you into ‘their’ community!

Here are 3 tips on how to approach people on twitter that will help you ‘break the ice’ more quickly thus allowing you to begin promoting your goods and services.

Humor

If the opportunity presents itself when you have the chance to lend a little humor to any exchange do so. Who does not like to smile or laugh? This also helps to quickly establish you as a more likeable individual with the other people on twitter. Remember, friends is what you want to establish and this is an important first step in doing so!

Insight

Using humor is a great way to gain the favor of others as we mentioned above but insight will also help you to gain respect. By adding an insightful comments people will tend to regard as somebody who has something unique to offer and this will make you more interesting to other twitter users. Even if others do not agree with what you said, you have still caught their attention nonetheless!

Understanding

By displaying a little understanding as to what others may have said or even feel, you are demonstrating a very human side to your personality. This will help you become all the more engaging to people since they know you are not only understanding but likely compassionate as well! This is when you really begin to relate to others at these online communities and also when you know you have been accepted by them! Now is the time when you can begin to tactfully make ‘suggestions’ about products or services of yours. Be careful however not to focus too much on business or you will diminish the relationships you have already developed!

Using twitter to help promote a business and/or generate traffic can be tricky and frustrating if you do not focus on ‘connecting’ with other twitter users. The people you find at most any social network community do not like ‘renegade marketers’ who bust onto the scene interrupting conversations with their sales pitches. It is wise to be mindful of the fact that these online communities are primarily for casual socializing, so as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do! You want to achieve two things and that is to get the attention of other people on twitter and then to gain their acceptance. Then and only then will your marketing efforts ‘bear fruit’ and this may take time. The 3 suggestions offered here serve to put you in a position to get noticed more quickly by reflecting a likable and/or helpful personality. Once you have achieved this status of acceptance, your ability to more effectively promote anything to other people on twitter will increase dramatically.

Driving Traffic to your Blog - Jargon Free

In today's uber-competitive and ever-growing online business industry, getting traffic to your site can mean the difference between having your company flop so hard that you lose everything, or, quite conversely - having it blossom and potentially gaining a host of new clients!


So the first step is simple (assuming you've already got your business a webpage of it's own).
You advertise it. 
Now I don't mean spam other businesses or your Facebook friends with links saying 'click this, click this!'. I think we can all agree that's just bad etiquette. Instead, it's good to start by finding other similar businesses or blogs online within your niche or expertise. Do they have a forum? Do they allow comments on their page? 
If so - why not read what others in your business area are talking about, and what the latest news is within your niche? Engage others and maybe have a discussion on your opinions and feelings on whatever topic it is that you're talking about. Most forums and blogs that allow you to comment have a simple set-up when you write your post. They'll ask for your name, your e-mail address and then they'll ask (and this is the important bit) for your website. This is where the magic happens. You will link back to your website here, and then others can choose to click that link if they wish. This is called 'Back-linking'.


Back-linking plays a very important role in online business; especially if you're running a business from home or utilising a blogging platform (which I assume you are, since you're reading my blog right now).
I won't go into the small and frivolous details of it, but the reason you'll want to back-link is because of something called 'SEO' (Search Engine Optimisation).
What SEO means, for you - is that search engines, such as Google or Bing will check your website every day, and automatically check how many back links your site has leading to it (from other sites or forums) and put simply - the more back-links you have; the higher your website will rank when people search for whatever business it is you run.


For example, say you're running a home business like I am, and that your business sells stationary to other businesses or individuals. If you've been commenting and posting on other websites, linking your own - then Google will see this and put you higher up on the search page every time somebody searches for 'Home stationary company' or 'Home business stationary' and other combinations of whatever it that your business site is about.


So remember, the key to getting views on your site - which in turn mean more customers or clients, is first finding other similar businesses and engaging people that are interested in your niche.