Motivating Mum

Giveaway Monday – Review of an eBook for mums in business

Thank you Motivating Mum for giving me the opportunity to review “Talk about Creative – DIY SEO: The Small Business Guide to Free SEO”.

This ebook provides great insights about SEO and has a lot of great hints and tips.  It certainly opened up my thought process about SEO and the importance of making sure you get it right.  Importantly, it talked about the process taking a long time and how crucial it is to chip away at it.

Some sections need concentration for the novice, particularly ‘No Follow’ and ‘Deep Linking’ but reading it through a couple of times helped. I was concerned that the ebook might be targeted more towards web designers rather than the DIY small business owner, but trying the suggestions helped clarify the tips.

In a nutshell, good SEO takes time, it is not a quick fix solution, but it can be beneficial for your business.

If you use a third party to build your website then it is worth a phone call to them to discuss SEO with them, and reading this ebook will help you talk about what you need a much clearer understanding.

A little more on Talk About Creative:

Talk About Creative brings more visitors to your website and then converts them into buyers. We provide strategic SEO Copywriting, Social Media Marketing, SEO Content and Branding services and we specialise in small business.

Reviewed by Anne Clark, First Step Virtual Assistant:

First Step Virtual Assistant works alongside business owners and managers’ allowing them to focus on their bigger pictures, whilst I diligently work behind the scene attending to their administration needs.  With a 20 year background as a Corporate Personal Assistant/Office Manager, I pride myself on maintaining strict confidentiality, building trust, a strong attention to detail and forward planning.

The giveaway:

DIY | SEO is a step by step, plain English guide for small, local and WAHM businesses to improve their Google rankings without paying expensive monthly SEO fees. Talk About Creative is giving away two copies of the ebook. To win, leave a comment below on what you would do to get your hands on a copy of this ebook!

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

Giveaway Monday – Review of a product for mums in business

Social media is just about a part of every business – with most businesses these days having a Facebook page and increasing numbers of Fans. How amazing would it be if you could sell directly from your Facebook page?

I recently got to road test a great Facebook Store by aradium.

The great features of this Facebook Store App…

• It was really easy to install the App on to my Facebook page, Paul and Ryan the App developers walked me through it over the phone
• Once your Facebook stall is installed it is really quite simple to add or delete products
• If you have any questions you deal with the App developers themselves not customer service representatives
• The Facebook store app enables you to have the ability to load different prices e.g. if you wish to offer a discount instead of the RRP of your product
• aradium provide additional support after you have installed your store with newsletters on how to promote your Facebook store and make sales!!!

My personal experience

When I launched the Facebook shop it did get a bit of a buzz with my fans and I have started to make sales through my Facebook page. I love the way the products rotate around on the store. This ensures that they are profiled and it seems to create interest.

At the start Paul and Ryan from aradium were very helpful when it comes to setting up the store, loading product pictures and general advice.

Just a tip, when I launched the store it was a comparatively more difficult to profile the Facebook store to Fans as the store icon was embedded down the side panel and not as easy to see.  Now that I have upgraded to the new Facebook Timelines it makes it much easier for Fans to see the SHOP ONLINE icon at the top of our Kiddie Concepts page.

A little more on aradium:

aradium is the easiest way to sell on Facebook. Use your Facebook page to sell directly to your customers easily and for much less than the cost of a website or traditional online auction site.

Reviewed by Lisa, Kiddie Concepts:

Kiddie Concepts  -The  Adaptable Kiddie Bottle – a 3-in-1 stainless steel bottle that can be fitted with a nipple teat for newborns, a sippy top for toddlers and a sports lid for older children. The adaptable lid means less waste for the environment and less spending for parents!!

The giveaway:

aradium are offering you your own store on Facebook – free for 12 months (normal value $239 or $19.95/month). You will have access to unlimited free online support and receive our free monthly e-newsletter as well, filled with useful information and ideas to help you get the most out of your Facebook store.

To win, leave a comment below on what products or services you like to buy on Facebook – winner announced Friday, April 13.

Cheers, Alli x

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

Giveaway Monday – Review of an e book for business

I read the Successful Blogging e book and found it to be a useful and informative guide in learning how to set up a Blog that really gets results.

I myself am a virgin blogger, setting my own up last year but failing miserably. If I had read this Successful Blogging beforehand I believe I would have had many people following my blog now.

Author of Ebook, Annabel Candy

What I liked the most about Successful Blogging is that it explains everything in clearly stated steps which are easy to follow.  I really liked how It starts at the very beginning asking the question, why do you want to Blog and what do you want to Blog about, which I believe is an extremely important question, because if you are not passionate about what you are blogging about what’s the point!

The ebook is attractive to me because it communicates how to go about the process and what must be done to achieve success.  The layout is excellent and the Hot Tips are a great eye catcher!

I believe Successful Blogging is a great tool for people who want to start blogging, as well as people who need help in getting results, as it is highly motivational and inspirational, giving the reader a comprehensive step by step guide through the process, plus giving you invaluable information to set up your own successful blog.

A little more on Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps:

Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps teaches small business owners and writers how to effectively market or sell their products online through blogging. The clear tips and well thought out information is designed to save you time and money.

There are chapters on: topic and goals, branding, planning your blog, blog set up, writing static content, writing blog posts, writing for the web, reality check and add value, blogging and social media, online networking, SEO, statistics and rating Progress and guest posting.

Reviewed by Maree Shefford, Director of Dance 4 Fitness:

Dance 4 Fitness – fitness and fun rolled into one! Dance 4 Fitness Burlesque classes allow women the chance to embrace their femininity, and connect to their inner self, teaching them how to display their natural beauty, create positive energy and exude radiance to those around them!

The giveaway:

Author, Annabel Candy founder of Successful Blogging, is giving away three copies of her ebook. To win, leave a comment below on who is your fave blogger and why?

Hosted by Three Lil Princesses

There’s no doubt, one of the most challenging parts of doing your own PR for business is contacting the media. From figuring out who to contact to making that cold call, it’s made more difficult if you don’t have existing relationships with media contacts. However, that’s not to say it’s impossible.

Here’s a bit of a guide to help you connect with the media:

1. Do a search online or visit your local newsagency to find out what publications are the right fit for your business, then start reading them. As you read, take note of the byline (that’s the line that tells you who wrote the story at either the beginning or end of the article).

2. Find out the Twitter handle of the appropriate journalist and start interacting with them on Twitter, comment on their blog posts and share their articles via your networks.

3. Search the contact page of the publication’s website or the publication itself to find a phone number, email address and any other details that might be relevant.

4. Buy a media list from a site like Handle Your Own PR. If you have the money, it’s well worth buying the outlay for the amount of time it takes to find individual contact details.

5. In most cases, it’s best to contact the appropriate journalist rather than an editor, chief of staff or producer. This means your story has a better chance of being heard and enables you to build a relationship with the person who will actually be doing the story.

6. Phone the organisation and ask to speak to the journalist. Twitter, their blog posts or articles then becomes your ice breaker. But beware: journalists are busy people, so don’t waffle on. Move onto why you’re calling and ask to send through more details if they’re interested. It also pays at this point to ask what the best method is for future contact. Some journalists prefer email, so it doesn’t disrupt their writing process. Others appreciate building relationships via the phone.

7. Aim to get a direct email address rather than a generic news address. If you’re only provided with a generic address, make sure you attention it to the journalist.

8. If phoning the journalist direct is too daunting for you (just remember though, they’re no different to you and I), there’s a few options. Use Twitter to ask to send them information via email. Phone the publication’s front desk and ask for the direct email address. Or an online search can often yield clues as to the makeup of their email address. For example: first name, last initial @ newspaper’s name .com.

9. When you send a press release or media pitch, copy and paste it into the body of the email. Due to the risk of viruses, many journalists won’t open email attachments by unknown sources. However, it also pays to attach the press release as a PDF file just the same. Few publications have issues with PDFs, as opposed to Word. Photos are best in jpeg format.

10. For the email, include a “clickable’’ but non spammy headline. Within the email, include a short introduction as to why the story would interest their readers, a paragraph about the story itself and finally a call to action with all your relevant contact details.

11. Follow up is one of those tricky things. To be honest, as a journalist, I loathed people making follow up calls. If your story is good enough, I’ll call you about it. However, there are ways around this. Rather than the tired old “did you receive my press release?’’ (journalists see through this), try asking whether they have all the information they need to help them with the story. Sometimes journalists simply forget they’ve been sent the story idea, so it acts as a prompt.

And hey, if at the end of this they say no or don’t respond, it’s not the end of the world. Pick yourself up and move on. Contacting the media is often about timing.

For a step-by-step guide on pitching the media, you can sign up to the Mum PR eNews to gain access to the free Get Your Business or Blog the Media Attention It Deserves eCourse.

Kellie O’Brien is a journalist, blogger and director of boutique public relations business Mum PR. She specialises in new media, blogger outreach and social media and has 16 years’ experience in newspapers. Her business blog, Mum PR, provides SMEs with free information on how to do their own PR. You can connect with Kellie on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Like some tips on preparing for a media interview? Click the link to read a great article.

Following my recent appearance on The Morning Show I had lots of people ask “How did you get on National TV?”

There are 2 answers to that question …

THE SIMPLE STORY

It was a Friday morning, it happened to be the Friday our house in Melbourne was being loaded onto the back of a truck  to send us back to Sydney. I was sitting on my bedroom floor (because all furniture was gone) doing a little bit of work and managing the removalist team. I happened to be on Twitter thanks to my iPhone and noticed a Tweet from The Morning Show that said something like “Do you work from home? We want to hear from you – what are the pros and cons?”. So I clicked on the link to their contact page, wrote a quick reply about the pros and cons of working from home, hit send and got back to managing the removalists.

A couple of hours later my phone rings, it is a junior producer from The Morning Show wanting to ask me a few questions. Then tells me she would love me to be part of the segment and could I be in the Studio (in Sydney) on Monday morning?

After explaining to her that I was in Melbourne until Wednesday we agreed that I could do the segment as a live feed from the Channel 7 studio in Melbourne. Not ideal for ether of us but the only way I was actually going to be able to manage it.

“I’ll send you the script on Sunday, be in the studio at 9am Monday morning” the producer says before hanging up.

Hooray … I am going to be on National TV!! Oh, but I have no one to look after my kids because they are going they finish crèche today. And I have no clothes, shoes or makeup because it is all loaded onto the back of that huge truck.

THE REAL STORY

So was it as simple as seeing a Tweet, responding and being asked to come on the show? Well yes, but no.

Really this was the result of 12 months very committed and conscious focus on raising my Media profile.

For 12 months I have diligently:

• Created and updated a Media page  on my website to add credibility to my media reputation. I also found this helped me be accountable to my commitment to increase my media profile because an empty Media page would look pretty awful!
• Monitored SourceBottle  for any relevant opportunities no matter how small
• Fostered relationships with journalists to become known as resourceful, responsive and easy to deal with. I often help journalist connect with other Mums and families needed for their stories.
• Started writing and submitting more Media Releases 

All of these things are time consuming and challenge me to do things in my business that are outside my comfort zone. To be effective I knew I had to be consistent, committed and ensure I made it a priority no matter how busy I was.

I am absolutely sure that if I hadn’t been doing these things in my business already The Morning Show would not have responded to my email on that crazy moving day Friday.

ps – I did manage to find someone to look after my kids and borrow clothes and shoes from. The local chemist solved the absence of makeup issue.

Linda Anderson is the founder of Mums on the Go , an online child-friendly directory covering Sydney and Melbourne. Linda has a long history of supporting and empowering people – particularly mums – all across Australia.

Like some tips on preparing for a media interview?  Click the link to read a great article.