Using a Blog to Drive Traffic to your Ebay Store. eBay has over 233 million users in their online marketplace community. eBay provides a safe trading marketplace for us, but eBay is also very competitive. There are ways to use the internet to drive more traffic to your store.

Blogs are a great, free, fun, marketing tool. Blogging began as a way for individuals to write public daily journals, or have an on-line diary for the world to see. Eventually, blogs started showing up in searches on search engines, so the marketing sector jumped on the benefits of blogging. There are many free sites where you can start your own blog. If you have knowledge in a certain area, start a blog and talk about it. Your blog doesn’t have to be about your eBay store, but it helps drive traffic there if that is your goal.

The purpose of a blog is to create a place on the internet to promote your website and drive traffic to it, to communicate with your customers and target audience, as well as to network with others in your field. Post intelligent, useful information about your topic and then put a plug in about your business. Give away tidbits of information for free, and then can post a link to your site, blog, or specific products that you sell. Encourage interest in the products you sell in your eBay store and provide a link.

Your blog posts will come up on search engines. You can go on the internet and use material that others post – I often use quotes from Entrepreneur Magazine and Business Week. Just be sure to give credit to the author and publication if you use an excerpt form someone else’s work.

You can also use a blog as a mini-website and add your affiliate links, Google Adsense, and other advertising to create a passive stream of income. It is important that you write on it regularly, at least 3 times a week, to keep it updated and keep fresh info going to the search engines. You should also seek out other blogs that are in your same industry or niche, and and leave comments, and leave your website or blog address, it is imbedded in their code and you are spreading yourself around the internet – FREE advertising. When leaving comments, be sure to read the post and leave an insightful comment, not just comments like “Good article.”

I can’t tell you how much a blog really works – I have received paid consulting jobs and made other fantastic business connections just because the right person visited my blog and liked what they read, or because I visited theirs and left a comment and they in turn, checked me out. Also, if others in your field find you and like your blog and your info, you can trade links and boom – more free advertising.

If you find a blog you like, offer to write a guest post for them, more free advertising. Just make sure you are offering quality, intelligent information and then add a link to your site or your blog at the end, in your signature. Your “give” is the article, your “take” is where you leave your links in your signature.

I make it a habit, part of my weekly routine, to comment on other people’s blogs a few times a week. I even keep a spreadsheet of the “good” ones, those with lots of other comments, and visit those regularly. Then, the other commenters will see you, and there is more traffic to back you – and the opportunity to make more great business connections.

Every eBay seller should have a blog dedicated to their eBay business. I have 3 blogs for 3 different target audiences: For my eBay consulting business (target audience, eBay sellers), a pet blog (I have affiliate programs where I earn money on selling pet items), and a business blog for work at home moms.

Networking has many perks and advantages that appeal to almost all industries and professions. Regardless of your work schedule, career path, academic path or networking commitment, working individuals can find several ways to stay in the networking loop. Networking is not just restricted to entrepreneurs, professionals or students. School Teachers can also use networking to build professional and social relationships with their colleagues and bosses, parents of their students as well as family and friends.

Listed below are helpful tips which School Teachers can quickly use to network like business pros!

School Events and Functions

We all know that School Teachers lead business lives and can be overworked and overstressed. So naturally, networking or building professional and social relationships may be desired but hard to achieve with the demands and workloads. A great way to off set that and take advantage of opportunities is to start networking at school events and functions. Come armed with business cards at the next PTA meeting, school fundraiser or sporting event. PTA meetings are excellent ways to network and meet the parents or guardians of the students. Asking a few questions, making a few connections and following up will definitely expand your network and encourage growing relationships. Networking is not just restricted to the parents or guardians of the students, but also reach out to sponsors, partners, vendors, volunteers and associates of the school.

Teacher Associations

Take advantage of local and national teacher associations, groups and organizations. It is an excellent way to develop professionally, get a break from the kids and broaden your horizons. Going to conferences, meetings and gatherings can be an excellent way to find out new information, link up with colleagues and gain resources for teaching and for your students. Also, consider traveling as a way to expand your network and meet people outside of your community. School Teachers can schedule trips during school breaks or low teaching seasons during the semester. There are so many opportunities and chances to learn as well as teach others, share experiences and excel in your profession.

Online Networking

Another good way to stay connected and develop relationships and skills is to network with other teachers on the internet. Look up teacher groups on popular social and business networking websites and connect with others. It is an excellent way to meet people without having to impose on your daily schedule and routine. School Teachers can network online after hours, on the weekends, on holidays or on vacation. This type of social and business networking can bring unity and support to all participating parties as well as increase awareness of issues within your profession and industry.

Lately, it seems that everyone wants to accomplish something, just look at sites like 43things.com. The ambitions posted on these sites run the gamut from wanting to get more organized to traveling the world to earning more money. If you are a working mother, you know you are just as ambitious as everyone else out there. You also know that your career is the vehicle to achieving those aspirations. Unfortunately, you probably feel like you are barely able to keep your head above water much less establish any professional goals beyond bringing home a paycheck. Complicating matters even further, working mothers have hurdles to jump that their counterparts probably don’t even have on their radar.

Working mothers have two jobs – being a mother and being an employee. There is no way to keep your family life from seeping into work. You may be able to leave your work at the office but you can’t ever completely leave your family at home. How many times have you left work early to take a sick child to the doctor or to attend a parent-teacher conference? Do you feel like you have to ‘sneak’ out of the office right at five o’clock (whether your work is finished or not) so your child won’t be the last one picked up at after-school care – again? Do you feel like your commitment to the company and your career is being questioned when you put your family first? As if all of this juggling isn’t tiring enough, the second shift begins as soon as your “outside the home” job ends. There is dinner, homework, little league, dance class, scouts, and on and on and on.

Another equally important challenge you face is the delicate task of having to weigh each decision you make between the needs of your family and the good of your career. Do you entertain clients or have drinks with the boss after work or do you go to your son’s baseball game? Do you apply for the promotion that will relocate your family across the country or do you put your career on the back burner until the kids are grown? There is never an easy choice and I bet you tend to second guess your decisions and feel guilty no matter what choice you make. In fact, I would guess that there isn’t another segment of the population who feels as much guilt as working mothers.

Let’s face it, mothers work because they need to – either they need the income, they need to fulfill their desire to work, and/or they feel the need to provide a better life for their children than is possible on one income. But, if you are stressed out, always on the run, and don’t have quality time to spend with your kids, is having a career fulfilling that need or is it causing undue hardship on your family? This is one of those times when it pays to do it right. If you are going to work, shouldn’t it be for a career that is rewarding, both intrinsically and financially and that also allows you to enjoy your family life?

For working mothers, life is exhausting (as if I need to tell you)! You are constantly being pulled in multiple directions, expected to perform miracles that few could accomplish, and take care of everyone around you – all without dropping a single ball and a smile on your face. And somehow, we manage to pull it off, day after day. Not always with a smile and occasionally a ball or two drops, but the ship stays afloat – even if it means that your own goals get sidelined. But wouldn’t it be great if it wasn’t so difficult? It is possible to have it all – a great career and a meaningful family life – without having to work even harder than you already do. The key to success lies in:

 Prioritizing. What comes first, right now? How do you know where to focus your attention if you don’t know what is most important?

 Finding time for those priorities. How do you fit it all in- time for your family, your career, and yourself – without sacrificing?

 Goal setting. How will you know what direction to go in if you haven’t established solid goals? You’ll quickly wear yourself out running in circles. Do you know what you want out of life, personally, professionally and financially?

 Planning. A comprehensive plan to achieve your goals will keep you focused and on the right track.

 Making choices that are aligned with your priorities. This is the number one key to eliminating your guilt and feeling good about your decisions.

 Surrounding yourself with a supportive community. Have you ever noticed that when you are around people who are drowning in misery that they bring you down with them? The opposite holds true, as well. If you surround yourself with people who are positive, goal-oriented, and supportive, your attitude soars and the possibilities really are endless.

 A rolodex full of resources. No one can, or should try, to do it alone. Having access to resources that can pick up where you want to leave off makes all the difference in the world.

By taking these steps, you are empowering yourself. You are taking control of a chaotic situation that will result in a positive, meaningful life and a career that is both rewarding and affords the lifestyle that you want – all with less stress and guilt. That means a better mom for your kids, a better partner for your significant other, and a happier YOU.

Your Assignment:

The first step to taking control of the chaos is to prioritize. What is most important to you right now? Is it finding more balance between work and family? Making more money? Spending more time with your kids and significant other? Whatever is at the top of your list, come up with three action steps you can take to get closer to your goals. Keep your priorities at the top of your mind at all times and you will see that your decision making process will get easier and the guilt you struggle with will begin to fade.
About the Author: Read more about this and other topics related to wahm

Restaurant fundraisers can not only be quite successful, they can be great fun. You like to eat don’t you? Well, so does everyone else. There’s the attraction right there. Offer something that has to do with food and they will come. It’s like dangling a carrot (pun intended).

Why Restaurant Fundraisers Work

They involve food and everyone loves food. They are a way for the whole family to affordably do something together. They set the stage for social interaction with others of like interest. They are a breeding ground for brainstorming fresh ideas. Challenge everyone to come up with another way to raise some funds. They’re an enjoyable way for people to give.

Participating restaurants give a portion of their sales from your group directly to your fund raiser. Most restaurants require everyone identifies themselves with the group in order for the percentage to be in effect. If it’s a fast food establishment, be sure to request that you also get percentages of drive thru sales.

Restaurant Fund Raisers. Get the Word Out!

If you want the best, easiest way to get the word out about your restaurant fund raisers, put down the megaphone and listen up. The web is your best friend. Posting online allows for the use of awesome multi media tools that you can use to your advantage in your quest to spread the word. A simple email containing a link to the web page about your restaurant fund raiser is all it takes.

Bring your guest to a personalized, interactive web page about your event. Add pictures of, for example, the school, the PTA board members, students, and more. How about adding the restaurant’s logo, menu, address, phone number, and hours of operation? Post a blurb on how the money is going to be used and how much you are trying to raise. How about posting a video or an audio related to your fund raiser? Get RSVPs back and allow for all to see through your web page who is or isn’t coming. You made need RSVPS if you are going to be in a small, locally owned restaurant. They’ll need to plan for your guests ahead of time.

Sending out email reminders will also help you out a great deal. Think about it. If this is for PTA, what do you think is more effective? Sending home paper reminders in the kids’ folders that may not get seen until well after dinner or an email popping in front of the parents’ faces at work as they were just thinking what a hectic day they had and don’t feel like cooking while standing on tired feet?

You can also set up to receive donations online for those who can’t make it or for anyone wanting to give extra. Simply go to Events Listed. Everything is easy to set up and easy to manage and you’ll have access to over 60 multi media web tools, none of which require technical experience.

You can also allow for your group to network online together with incredible ease, both before and after your restaurant fund raiser. You can use this web page for as long as you’d like – and it’s free.

Eat well. Make some friends. Use the web. Make some cash. Easy as pie (pun intended).

I don’t know about you, but once the cooler weather sets in,
I have the urge to head to the Appalachians, sit around a
campfire and sip cocoa with my family. It’s a bit harder
for me to focus on business with the Autumn leaves so
lovely!

What about you?

Here are a few ideas that will help you keep the momentum
going in your business even while you play a little bit.
Soon enough it will be too cold to spend much time out
of doors, so better go enjoy it now.

Blog When Nobody’s Home

Just because you are out playing doesn’t mean your blog
has to shut down. If you use WordPress you can schedule
blog posts in advance. Write a bunch of them and have
one a day added automatically. If your blog is on Blogger, you
might want to write several posts, save them as a draft,
then pay a Virtual Assistant to post them for you.

Keep In Touch With Subscribers

Most newsletter management systems allow you to schedule
broadcasts. If yours doesn’t, get a new one! I use Aweber
and WahmCart and highly recommend both.

Load up your autoresponder with informative emails to keep
selling your product for you as well as prevent
your customers and subscribers from forgetting you.

Invest In Strategic Advertising

My favorite form of advertising is free, but spending a few
dollars towards some valuable advertising can bring you new
business while you do other things. It’s a smart investment.

For instance, Kelly McCausey’s WC magazine offers VERY
reasonable advertising costs.

Get Others to Publish You

If you’re doing article marketing (and you are, aren’t you?!),
why not have an article distribution service like iSnare send out
several of your articles to thousands of publishers?

While you’re away from your computer, other people are adding your
articles to their sites and getting you additional traffic,
search engine rankings and expert status. It feels really nice
to log into your email program and have dozens of emails saying:
“We have published your article here…”

The same applies to press releases. Craft an informative release
and send it out to media outlets that reach your target market.

One of the wonderful things about an Internet business
is the ability to create passive income. If you set
things up properly, you should be able to get away
with playing a little and still earn money. Now,
go jump in a pile of leaves somewhere.

Traveling physical therapist assistant jobs in the US are ideal for physical therapist assistants (PTAs), offering them excellent career opportunities to work in a wide variety of settings in various locations. The experience in cross culture treatment procedures and methodologies they learn from senior physical therapists through these travel assignments will be highly beneficial in all their future PTA assignments.

Today more and more patients in the US want high quality therapy services to be done in the comforts of their premises, since they are finding it difficult to regularly commute between health clinics and home/office. To address the needs of such patients, most healthcare firms are employing traveling physical therapist assistants who are required to work in various environments such as homes, acute care facilities, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation centers, schools, and universities.

Often candidates who have passed two year or four year physical therapy assistant program are eligible to apply for these jobs. Depending on the qualification and expertise in the field, attractive salary packages and benefits are offered for traveling physical therapy assistants.

Some of the benefits provided include:

o Life and health insurance
o 401 (K) savings plan
o Section 125 Cafeteria plan
o Continuing education and completion bonuses
o Travel allowances

As major healthcare employers are recruiting directly from staffing/placement firms, availing services of these consultancies will be highly beneficial and time saving for candidates. These recruitment firms can provide jobs that are either permanent or temporary and they can also provide jobs that are part time, full time or weekend traveling physical therapist assistant jobs, depending on the candidates’ requirements and preferences.

To avail of placement services, physical therapy assistant candidates can register free on the websites of the recruitment agencies. As these recruitment firms have tie-ups with major healthcare providers in all states in the US, they can help you get employed in your favorite location in the US. The professionals working in these firms can assist you in preparing good looking resumes and they can also provide you with tips for successfully attending interview sessions. Most recruiters have physical therapy assistant jobs for US trained as well as international candidates. They assist foreign candidates in immigration related procedures including obtaining necessary temporary work visa. They can also assist these candidates while relocating to other states in the US.

For healthcare employers, these staffing/recruitment firms offer highly competitive and affordable services. Almost all staffing firms have their own well maintained online database of professionals from which employers can instantly find the right talents for all their traveling physical therapist requirements.

We’ve all at one time or another in our lives been an employee. We’ve been on that end of the employer/employee spectrum but if you are now a business owner or in an upper management position you realize how things are different. Finances become more relevant and how much money coming in versus how much is going out is an important issue especially, if you are a small or new business owner.

As an employee, a five minute break to get a cup of coffee from the break room can turn into a fifteen to twenty minute break when you run into a co-worker and a conversation develops, a quick question to a co-worker can become a ten or fifteen minute non-work related conversation that began as a work related question and it isn’t given a second thought. Situations like this although they may seem harmless and yes they are very common in offices big or small can be costly to the bottom line.

It’s time to take a realistic look at that lost business time.

Let’s just take for example, an office of perhaps twenty individual all of whom are hourly employees who routinely take an additional ten minutes daily in idle non-work related talk (which is not unrealistic) which can cost your company as much as 3.33 hours daily at a rate of $25 an hour per employee would end up costing your company $1,665 a month averaging out to $19,980 annually. Now that’s a lot of money.

When you look at it as “it’s only 10 minutes” you don’t really realize how that converts over a long period of time. As an employee one may not take those ten minutes as important but as an employer or business owner, you should.

This is where you may want to consider other options. What other option do you have? That’s easily answered – virtual assistance, off-site office help.

With most virtual assistance businesses, you can acquire the office, clerical, administrative or personal services you need and pay only for the time used to fulfill those needs. No more paying for idle non-work related chit-chat that doesn’t bring you any income. Find out how a virtual assistant can help you increase your bottom line.

Healthy Food Fundraising

As obesity runs rampant in America, PTA’s, school districts, and school boards are turning more and more often to healthier alternatives to the classic cookie dough fundraiser or candy fundraiser that has dominated the landscape for years. Fundraisers that sell healthy foods instead of unhealthy foods are clearly the future of fundraising.

Problems with “Old Fashioned” Fundraisers

For as long as anyone in the fundraising community can remember, the most popular fundraisers have been those that sell cookie dough or candy.

Cookie dough fundraisers have seller’s pre-sell cookie dough to customers out of catalogues. The dough is delivered frozen, which means that the group who sold the dough needs to be there when the truck arrives so their cookie dough doesn’t spoil. Cookie dough is also ridiculously high in fat and sugar and is made with raw eggs which can make people sick.

Candy fundraisers range from chocolate bar sales to lollipop sales. No matter what kind of candy fundraiser you are doing though, you buy your candy ahead of your sale and then either set up shop on a corner or in front of a store, or, you go door to door. Candy, obviously, is chock full of sweeteners and sugars, among other unhealthy products.

Both candy and cookie dough fundraising are being banned because neither is very healthy.

Why Healthy Food Fundraiser Make Sense

Healthy food fundraisers are just what they sound like and can be conducted in one of two ways. The first way is to have a healthy foods bake sale. Instead of selling cookies, cakes, and other sweets like a traditional bake sale, groups can sell organic breads, all natural preserves, and healthy trail mixes.

The other way to have a healthy food fundraiser is to do a pre-sell fundraiser, similar to frozen cookie dough, but with healthy, non-spoilable products. Some fundraising companies have started offering organic bread kits, organic pizza crust kits, all natural trail mixes, and even organic dog treat mixes that can be sold from a catalogue to raise money.

Everyone in your Town Creek Subdivision knows you. You wave to them as you come home from work.

You’ve got lots of friends. One guy takes his new Remington rifle to hunt with you in the Fall. Another likes to come over to watch your favorite NFL team on your Magnavox 52″ HD TV.

You and your wife attend the PTA meetings because of your kids. You see everyone at Deerfield Community Church on Sunday. You coach the Little League baseball team.

You know it’s essential to meet lots of people to get ahead in your business, so you are a member of the Civitan Club and go to monthly luncheons. You meet clients for a cup of coffee at Starbucks to get better acquainted.

But are you personally branded in your hometown?

In the foregoing paragraphs are the branded names of Town Creek Subdivision, Remington, NFL, Magnavox, PTA, Deerfield Community Church, Little League, Civitan, and Starbucks.

These names are branded, but are you?

Do folks in your town know you, like these branded names?

How many people in town actually know you?

Are there 500 or 5000?

How much more income could you earn if you had the same branding as those branded businesses and institutions?

Corporate branding is essential to business.

Rolex is so branded, that you wouldn’t think of buying a Rolex watch at a discount store. Or, a Rolls Royce.

“Coke” is so branded from over a century of marketing and advertising that even a picture of that little curve-shaped bottle without seeing the logo communicates the brand instantly!

Personal branding, like corporate branding, is also critically important to every professional, entrepreneur, and small business. But most don’t know how to achieve it, or think the cost is prohibitive. Most of the self-employed have never dared to imagine that they too could become indelibly stamped in the public mind like the national brands.

Without a second thought of hesitation, we all know that television is the single most influential branding venue in the world. If you can be seen constantly on TV – either locally or nationally, you will become branded! TV branding is how any national icon is born!

But the restrictive, limiting factor in TV branding is the cost of TV marketing and advertising.

Gunthy-Renker raked in $1.5 Billion in sales last year creating TV infomercials at a cost of up to $425,000 each. The most successful of the infomercials who branded themselves on TV last year was the George Foreman Grill, that sold 65 million products.

The “cause-effect” of corporate branding is readily apparent.

Personal branding, or self-branding, also enjoys the same “cause-effect” relationship as corporate branding. Now, for the first time, personal branding, like corporate branding, can be effected with repetitive exposure on TV as inexpensive as the cost of a newspaper classified ad! Now with the assistance of the Internet, efficient use of TV branding can be combined with a web site for extremely inexpensive personal branding. “Triggered Markets,” even niche markets, sparked with prime-time commercials and night-time TV airings can be linked to an Internet site that can “tell the story” necessary for self-branding. FCC-mandated “leased access” stations and “selective area” cable networks can brand your image and your service or product on TV for less than the cost of newspaper ad.

The most powerful venue ever available for branding – as with a “scorching red-hot branding iron” seared in the mind of public awareness – can now linked with the Internet to provide personal self-branding that was once only affordable to the corporate giant.