As an article author, the worst thing you can do is not promote what you write. You can’t expect the article directory you submit it to, to handle all of the promoting for you. It just won’t happen.

That’s why it’s important to submit your articles to directories and then promote it with all the tools available to you. There are a few article directories that give you the ability to include your Twitter information and they’ll post it to your profile once it’s approved, but most directories don’t have that ability. Every article directory I’ve used offers a share button for each article and that’s what you need to use to promote it.

Click here to read an article I wrote that talks about using Twitter to market your articles. You’ll find valuable information that will help you to increase your readership and the traffic to your site. It’s a good idea to use these tips with every article you publish so you continue to reap the benefits for years to come.

Now that you have your marketing plan in place it’s time to sit down and decide how often you want to do each of the 10 things you placed in your plan. Just to review, here is a list of the items in our marketing plan.

1. Twitter
2. Facebook profile page
3. Facebook fan page
4. LinkedIn
5. LinkedIn groups
6. Forums
7. Article marketing
8. Banner and button ads
9. Blog posts
10. Newsletters

One valuable tool to use is Hootsuite. You’ll want to sign up for this service so you have the ability to publish posts in Twitter, Facebook, Facebook fan page, and LinkedIn. One post will have the ability to go to four or more places within a few seconds and you only have to do it once and it’ll go to all of the places you set up. Hootsuite gives you the ability to create a post for all of your groups you’re signed up for or you can do it for just one. The greatest thing about Hootsuite is the ability to schedule your posts.

It’s a good idea to decide how many posts you’re going to make in Hootsuite each day and how many in a day you want to do. For Twitter it’s good to do between four and six a day, but it’s crucial you step in and reply to people, make other types of posts, and post tips or suggestions during each day. For Facebook it depends on the amount of time you want to spend in there. You’ll want to drum of traffic in one way or another and encourage people to join in on the conversation.

If you plan to outsource tasks it’s a good idea to create a plan so you both know what’s going to happen and when. Your VA can post in Hootsuite for you, she can submit your articles, manage your blog, and create your newsletter. A ghostwriter can write articles and blog posts for you. Create a Google Doc that contains general information, for example, if you plant to have four Twitter posts a day, you can add a time for each post. If you plan to do two posts a day to Facebook so they hit your fan page and profile that can be accomplished as well.

When you know exactly what you want to accomplish with your marketing plan and you’ve written it all down, you’ll be less likely to forget what you want to accomplish. This plan will also help you to achieve your goals.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. She enjoys helping her clients reach their goals through the tasks she offers. If you’re ready to create your marketing plan and put it to work for you, click here to visit her site.

Once you’ve decided on your business goals for the year you need to put a marketing plan into action. It doesn’t matter if your coach looking for new clients, a direct sales rep looking for more customers or a speaker looking for new gigs, marketing is the way you’ll achieve those goals.

The first thing to do is look at all of your options when it comes to the tools you use to market your business.

1. Twitter
2. Facebook
3. Facebook fan page
4. LinkedIn
5. LinkedIn groups
6. Forums
7. Article marketing
8. Banner and button ads
9. Blog posts
10. Newsletters

All of these options are considered marketing tools if you use them properly. When I use properly I mean you must use them in a way that will build trust and encourage people to visit your site and buy from you. For example, if you use Twitter only to market your business, it’s not going to work and you won’t grow. However, if you use it for both conversations, helping others, posting tips, and marketing your business you’ll gain the trust and more than likely you’ll increase your profits.

To make these tools work for you, there needs to be a plan in place so you know what to do each day and week to reach your goals. You need to put on paper what you plan is and then schedule it on your calendar for each day so you don’t forget what needs to happen. The best thing to do is use a Google calendar so you can set email and popup reminders for each tasks.

You need to utilize your time and if possible outsource a few of these tasks to a Virtual Assistant or Ghostwriter so everything is achievable. Here are some tips to help you accomplish a marketing plan.

Each one of these tools will help you achieve your marketing goals and grow your business. But, you need to remember the only way that will happen is if you continually work them so your goal is achieved. If you only make posts on Twitter once every couple of weeks or you only submit an article once every few months it’s not going to happen. It’s important that you work these tools daily or weekly.

Creating a marketing goal will help you achieve the goals you set for your business. When you don’t have a marketing plan in place you will have no idea what you need to do and when because you won’t have it written down. Your marketing plan needs to go with your business goals and you need to keep them in the same place.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. She enjoys helping her clients reach their goals through the tasks she offers. If you’re ready to create your marketing plan and put it to work for you, click here to visit her site.

Your blog is a tool you should use on a regular basis. It’s a good idea to post every day because of the traffic you’ll draw to your site. If your blog is connected to your site, you’ll see the traffic to your site pages will increase as well.

There are so many ways you can increase the traffic to your blog, but if you don’t use them correctly, it won’t happen. You also need to remember that you may find some ways won’t work at all and that’s ok. You need to try things a few times before you stop just to make sure it will work. Here are a few suggestions for you to consider when you’re marketing your blog.

1. Amazon

Amazon is a great place to purchase books, clothing, and other items, but did you know they also give you the ability to add your blog as a Kindle version? Amazon will set a price and when someone subscribes to your blog you’ll receive a percentage of the monthly fee that’s assessed. You’ll need to promote the links so others know your blog is there for them to subscribe to.

2. Social Media

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are perfect for blogs. You can set your blog up to automatically post to your sites or you can handle the posts yourself. You need to do this with each post at least two or three times so you make sure your followers see your posts.

3. Newsletter or Ezine

Add a link to your newsletter or ezine so your subscribers will see it and click through to read what you have to say. One suggestion is to add a section to your newsletter or ezine and highlight your favorite post for the week or month.

4. Article marketing

Article marketing is a great way to increase your traffic to your site, but did you know you’ll be able to increase the traffic to your blog when you include a sentence and add a link to it? Article marketing is free to do and the increase in traffic will be worth the time it takes to write the article.

A lot of people promote their websites, but they don’t even think about the blog. If you use your blog correctly promoting it will be very valuable for your business. When you use these four suggestions to promote your blog, you’ll see the value in promoting it.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s a Ghostwriter. She enjoys helping her clients reach success through blog management. If you’re ready to take your blog to the next level, go to http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com to see a list of services she has to offer.

As a busy business owner you may find it’s difficult to do social networking like you know you should. Social networking is one of the best ways to build trust with your market and show others about your business.

With that said, it’s important you find ways to do the social networking posts at times when your market, followers, and friends will see them. It’s possible to set reminders on your calendar so you will see pop up reminders, receive text messages, or receive emails reminding you to do those, but it may be impossible if you are in the middle of a task and can’t stop.

If the calendar option doesn’t work you should consider scheduling your tweets and Facebook posts. There are several options for you to consider. Each has it’s own advantages and disadvantages, so you’ll need to consider that before deciding which option to choose.

1. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a great tool to use when you’re tweeting regularly, but it’s also a great tool to use when you’re scheduling your tweets as well. This is an easy to use tool and scheduling is that much easier. Another advantage to using TweetDeck is it doesn’t appear to be scheduled.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is another tool you can use for regular tweets and for scheduling your tweets. This platform is easy to use and works well for both options. This is another option that won’t allow your followers to know you’re scheduling.

3. SocialOomph

SocialOomph is a platform that’s used strictly for scheduling tweets. While it’s possible to use it for regular posts it’s not as easy as you can’t see posts from your followers. This platform allows you to schedule for multiple Twitter accounts as well.

Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are valuable to your business when you use them correctly. Whether you have the ability to continually be online during the day or not you need to keep your presents known at all times while your followers could be online.

If your market could be online after you stop working for the day it’s a good idea to schedule posts during that time so your market can see your business. You don’t want to lose potential customers or clients because you didn’t show them you were there for them.

Scheduling posts works well when you are working your business and need a little bit of help. It’s also possible to have your Virtual Assistant help you with social networking by scheduling posts for you. Using this option is a great way to continue to grow your business when you can’t be online to do it yourself.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She enjoys helping her clients reach success through social networking and other tasks she offers. For more information, go to http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com.

It’s the beginning of the week, what are you doing to achieve your goals? You need to plan now for the week. Decide how you’re going to market your business through article marketing, blog posts, Twitter, and Facebook. How will you use those tasks to take your business to the next level?

Each one of those tasks is free to use, but you won’t have success with them if you don’t use them. You may also have forums, other social networking sites, guest blog columns, articles columns, and many other ways to grow your business, but they’re dead in the water if you don’t take advantage of them.

If you don’t have time to make it happen, you need to consider outsourcing some of your work. Each one of these tasks can be outsourced to a Virtual Assistant or a Ghostwriter. They can take these free services and make them work for you and you won’t have to do a thing, but sit back and wait for the emails and requests to come through.

Sit down and plan your week and see what you can outsource to a Virtual Assistant or Ghostwriter so you can reach a higher level of success. You’ll be glad you did!

Attending conferences or events for your business is a great way to meet others that are helpful in your business and you may learn a lot from those people that put on the events. They’re crucial in the growth of your business, so it’s really good if you can find a way to attend.

As a Work at Home Mom, you may find it difficult to leave your children with someone else. If you’ve never left your children with a babysitter or if you promised you’d never do that again, you may struggle with a way to attend one of these events. Here are a few things to consider when it comes to making an event work.

If you have a friend or family member that is not busy at the time of your event, you may want to consider asking her to come with you to watch your kids. Depending on where you go and the age of the person you bring with you, you’ll be able to plan things for them to do during the day while you’re at your event. Things like the park, the zoo, the amusement park, and a movie are just a few of the many things your children and the person watching them would be able to do to stay busy.

Another thought is to bring them with you. Now this may pose a problem if you’re not prepared. It’s a good idea to bring a lot of snacks and juice boxes and you need to make sure you bring a lot of things for them to do such as color books, cross word puzzles, a portable DVD player with headphones, an iPod, or other things that don’t require talking or a lot of people.

One last option is to use a daycare center that’s provided in the conference hall. Most events offer this because they know people have families that they don’t feel comfortable leaving behind. If you use this option you’ll have the ability to visit when you can and not feel terrible about it. This’ll also give you the ability leave right from the center to go out for dinner and do an activity or two as a family.

Growing your business is a high priority when you work from home. Most times if you don’t grow you’ll run the risk of needed a job outside the home and that means you’ll have to place your children in daycare. Attending conferences and events can help you grow your business in the way you want. When you use these suggestions you’ll be able to feel comfortable bringing your children to the event as well.

Corrie Petersen is a successful Virtual Assistant and she’s the owner of WAHM-Articles.com. She enjoys helping her clients reach success through the services she offers. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, click here to visit her site for more information.

The holidays are coming and it’s the time to start heavily promoting your business. No matter what type of business you run, it’s a good idea to create a special and promote it. There are ways to make a special work even if you only offer a service. So the best thing to do is to offer a percentage or dollar amount off of your regular price.

There are a number of ways to promote your special, but you may find it’s hard to do this on your own. You have the normal things you do every day for your family and your business and this is an added task to your list. So how will you handle this added task? The best thing to do is have your Virtual Assistant (VA) help you with the added tasks that will be required to make your special a success.

When you decided to have your VA help you, you’ll need to decide how you’re going to handle this process. Your VA already has the normal tasks she’s working every day, so you’ll need to decide if you’re going to have her do the new tasks in addition to what she’s already doing or if you’ll change her tasks for a month or two. Once this decision is made it’s time to start promoting your special. Here are some suggestions for you to have your VA do to help you reach success.

1. Social Networking

Social networking is a great way to grow your business. Your VA can schedule your posts for Twitter and Facebook using a program like Hootsuite or Social Oomph. Schedule these posts for once a day until the last two weeks before the deadline. The last two weeks will require additional posts so it’s a good idea to do those twice a day. The last four days should have three posts a day.

2. Newsletters and emails

It’s a good idea to have your VA help you with newsletters and emails. She can help you with this task as well. Writing the content is one option and another is to take your content and insert it into a newsletter platform and send it out for you. These types of things are a good way to get your special in front of your subscribers. It’s a good idea to send one out in mid November, another the first of December, and two or three a week until the day it expires.

These are two of the many options you have when it comes to marketing your holiday special. The best thing to do is allow your VA to help you market them so you’ll have the success you set out to do. When you do this, you’ll have more time to grow your business and spend time with your family.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. She enjoys helping business owners reach success through the services she offers. If you’re ready to start marketing your holiday special and business, click here to see what she has offer.

Social networking is important to any business. With more and more businesses starting to realize they need to use it as a form of marketing and advertising, they are also realizing it’s important to have help.

There are several things a Virtual Assistant can do to help you with social networking.

1. Brainstorming is something she can help you with when it comes to ideas to post. Sometimes it’s hard to decide what to post and that’s where she can help you. She will have the ability to give you more ideas then you would have come up with on your own.

2. She can schedule posts for you that will go directly to your Twitter account at the specific time you want so your followers will see them. Hootsuite, Social Oomph, and TweetDeck are programs you can have your Virtual Assistant use to schedule your posts.

3. If you have trouble writing posts that give enough information and don’t go over the 140 character limit that you have with Twitter, your Virtual Assistant can help you make these posts the best they can be.

4. Your Virtual Assistant can make comments on posts you make on your fan page. Some people are afraid to be the first one to post because they don’t want to be the first one to start the conversation. When your Virtual Assistant starts the conversation and continues to make posts it will keep the conversation going.

5. Virtual Assistants can help you create a calendar with topics for each day so you’re ready to make posts each day. When you have a topic at your finger tips you’ll know exactly what to talk about.

6. Discussions with your followers are important when it comes to building trust. Your Virtual Assistant can post comments to people and she can do retweets. While there are certain things she won’t have the ability to post, she will be able to handle a lot of the posts for you.

7. Finding more friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter is important when you’re trying to grow your business. Your Virtual Assistant will be able to help you find new people to add to your lists.

8. Twitter has lists you can create to help you work more efficiently. These lists will help you keep your customers or clients in one place, people you want to keep close tabs on, and many more reasons. Use
them to your advantage so you’re making Twitter work for you and you’ll make it easier for you.

Social networking can be time consuming and difficult to do when you’re busy and don’t really have the time to do it. When you hire a Virtual Assistant to help you with this task, you’ll have more success and you’ll find your business will grow due to your efficiency.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. She enjoys helping her clients reach success through social networking and other tasks. Click here to find out how she can help you reach this same level of success.

Increasing your business is the most important thing you must do on a regular basis. If you don’t increase your traffic, you won’t increase your income. This is why it’s so important to regularly do tasks that help you increase your business.

The best way to increase your traffic is to use techniques that will help you do this with ease. There are so many different things you can do that you may feel overwhelmed. That’s not what you need to deal with everyday so you should consider using the ones that are easy to do. Here are the three I recommend all business owners should use on a regular basis.

1. Networking
2. Blogging
3. Article marketing

These three techniques are my favorites and ones that I use all the time. They have helped me grow my business better than any other technique I have used. Now that’s not to say others won’t work for your business because it’s possible they’ll work better than these three.

These are the three I enjoy the most and the ones I use regularly. When they’re used correctly and on a regular basis, they’re sure to grow any type of business.