The WAHM Shack Blog

The halloween season is a festival many of our pets could do without. To most of them, the evening is a frightening collage of trick-or-treaters and party-goers who noisily shuffle from house to house, pound on doors, and engage in a variety of mischief. Even worse, pets who remain outside on halloween are subject to becoming the targets of pranks ranging from the comic to the cruel.

Animal rights groups say both black and white cats are often used for pranks, party props and for satanic and sacrificial rituals around halloween.

Cats in general, particularly black cats, are avidly sought by members of “satanic cults” who engage in the mutilation, torture, and killing of cats in celebrations associated or coincident with halloween. Although black cats are at greater risk when it comes to cult sacrifices, white cats, because of their link to purity and virginity, have become a target in recent years.

Because of all the myths and superstitions about black cats, they are simply not safe from some people around this holiday. Halloween bans have been in place for several years in order to prevent people who have ulterior motives from adopting black cats.

People looking for animals for halloween pranks or sacrifices generally steal them or respond to ads offering them for FREE rather than going to shelters. PLEASE use caution and discernment when rehoming your pets, especially cats during October.

The SPCA recommends keeping cats, especially black or darkly colored ones, indoors during the halloween season for their protection.

PLEASE HELP PROTECT ANIMALS, SPECIFICALLY CATS DURING OCTOBER, thank you.

Please share this and help spread the word in hopes of saving lives from ending tragically and unnecessarily this halloween.

For further research, visit http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/blackcat.asp

by seomul Evans

This is that time of year — you know, the time for buying supplies for school, getting new clothes and reorganizing everything to fit with your children’s busy schedules. Most parents do not look forward to the rush of buying school supplies and wandering through endless racks of clothing to find the clothes that fit both their children’s tastes and sizes. What they look forward to is having a little time to breathe when their children get off to school on their first day, prepared with the necessary school supplies and looking great in their new school clothes.

Saving on Supplies for School - The Essentials

If you have a complete list of supplies for school needed by each child, do not deviate from the list. Yes, children will always want the coolest things, like gel pens, colored pencils, an iPod. But they do not need these things. Stick to your list and if your children are insistent, suggest nicely that they save their allowance and buy these things themselves.

If you have the ability to pass things down from one child to the next, do it. But make it a point to let the older child know that the new backpacks and trendy lunch boxes are going to their younger siblings because they are the one getting new clothing. As the youngest child, I know what it is to have to wear hand-me-downs from my big sister. The only thing that saved the day was the prospect of getting something new that she would not have. These things are important to children and to you if peace is on your priority list for school supplies.

Of course each child needs at least one new outfit for school. The horror of going to school on the first day wearing old clothes would be traumatic for most kids. As a mom, it is your duty to make sure each child wears new clothes for the first day of school. To kids, school supplies are less important. Seek out discount clothing at outlets and sales. Smaller children will be happy with a nice outfit from a consignment shop. Just make sure the clothes are stylish and don’t tell them where you got them and everything will be fine. Shoes are also non-negotiable. You can find great sales on shoes this time of year and most of the offer bargains on multiple pairs.

The best way to get great deals on supplies for school is to go to the least expensive places. One of these places just might be your own house. Look around. Do you have extra folders, notebooks, pens, pencils or paper lying around? Gather everything you can that is on your children’s list of supplies for school before you head out to go shopping. Look in dollar stores for the smaller items. Obviously you won’t find the big binders there, but you may find one subject notebooks and are sure to find pencils, pens, rulers and paperclips. If you’ve never checked the dollar store for school supplies, you will be pleasantly surprised when you do. Hit the best sales by checking the buyer’s guide as soon as you get it. When you see a sale on school supplies, try to get there bright and early on the first day. If you wait, you will likely miss out on the best bargains and end up staring at empty shelves where the 20 cent notebooks used to be. The best way to avoid the problem is to purchase school supply items throughout the year. Buy in bulk when it saves you money. If you have a little extra one day at the grocery store and you notice a sale on pencils that can’t be beat, buy them up. Who cares if it is June? This fall, you will be that much ahead of the game.

Saving on school supplies can be easy if you use your imagination and prepare ahead of time. Don’t wait until the last minute if you really want the best bargains on supplies for school. Seomul Evans is a SEO Services Company consultant for leading School Supply Store retailer (American Classroom Supply).

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by Mark A Briody

Every website owner wants to believe that their site is unique, but for the most part there are hundreds of sites selling the same products or services with very little uniqueness between them. The key to uniqueness is in your internet marketing campaign. You must not only tell your potential customers what you have to offer that’s unique from others, you must also offer something they need to change a personal situation. All of this begins by first getting traffic to your website. Every website achieves this in their own way. Here are 15 ways to bring traffic to your website:

1. Submit to the search engines - There are many big search engines including Google, MSN, Yahoo, Ask, AltaVista, Alexa, and more. You can either submit manually or you can use a paid service. Don’t multi-submit the same site in a short period of time, as this could get your site blocked.

2. Submit to Google Reader - Submit your site’s RSS to Google reader and it will quickly be crawled by the Google Blog Search.

3. Use My Yahoo Service - Here you can submit your website’s RSS feed on My Yahoo to assist your website in quickly getting indexed.

4. Submission to web directories - Submit to the top web directories like Yahoo Directory, or dmoz. There are other directories, so hunt them out.

5. Use pinging services - Use a pinging service such as ping-o-matic each time you add new content to your site. This will give you more visibility and extra links for your website.

6. RSS submission - Add your blog or website to the many RSS submission directories and search engines. You might not be able to submit to all, but you should be able to submit to plenty. Use one of the directories as a tool.

7. PPC programs - Pay per click is a form of advertising that can get great results for your site. When you use PPC, your site gets listed in the sponsored sections on the search engines. All of the search engines such as MSN, Yahoo, or Google offer this type of advertising.

8. Comments on blogs and forums - Making comments on the other blogs and websites of others is a nice niche that allows you get some very valuable one way links to your website. These comments need to be of value or you can expect webmasters to quickly remove them. Not only should your comments add value, they should be unique and not spam. In other words, don’t write something like “nice site.” Good comments bode well for your site, as other visitors will read these comments.

9. Article submission - this is one of the fastest grown components of bringing traffic to a website. It brings in one way links too. Articles are submitted to article banks and when others find the information informative, they are likely to use the link at the bottom leading to your website. Goarticles, findarticles, ezinearticles, and articlecity are just a few of the sites available.

10. Squidoo and Hubpages - You can go to these sites to create your hubs and lens. In under a half hour you can get this up and running.

11. E-mail signature - Linking back to your website using an email signature. You can use this signature on all your outgoing email. It’s a great way to create a traffic flow to your site and it’s completely free.

12. Social Media Marketing - This is one of the fastest growing forms of internet marketing. Sites like Digg, Facebook, Reddit, My Space, and Newsvine all offer great opportunities for your website.

13. Press Releases - Are free and a great tool for building traffic to your site and branding your name, as well as what you offer. If you think this has to be complex, you’d be wrong. You simply have to be able to write good copy that gets printed.

14. Traffic Exchange Programs - There are all kinds of traffic exchange programs on the net. All you have to do is a quick search on one of the search engines and you’ll have a long list. It’s a good way to get traffic to your site.

15. Yahoo Answer Services - Answerbag and Allexperts are question answer systems. You can go through the posted questions and when you provide an answer, you get a link. This is a terrific internet marketing tool.

There you have it - 15 ways to bring traffic to your website - an important part of your internet marketing.

If you’re consistently confused and need a little guidance with internet marketing. Take note: As a prominent internet marketer from Australia I’ve developed a totally free internet marketing course for struggling online marketers which can be found at The Free Internet Marketing Guide. This course was developed with the beginner in mind and as the author I am always contactable to help.

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by Michelle Howe

Just the other day I had to go grocery shopping and I met a young lady outside the store entrance who was a representative of a nonprofit collecting food for a local food bank. I noticed that she already had food items filling two shopping carts. She asked me if I would consider buying some food items for the non-profit organization while I was doing my own grocery shopping today, as she handed me a bright blue plastic bag with a flier about the organization.

She appeared startled when I reacted in such an excited and buoyant manner. “Why, your current idea and actual actions are absolutely admirable,” I remarked. “It was brilliant!” She did not ask me for money, she asked instead for just what she needed (food) and made herself available at a place where she can be sure that I can deliver.

It was easy to decide and donate to her; she made it almost a “no-brainer.” The only thing I had to do was do my own shopping and fill my bright blue bag with groceries as well, then hand her the blue bag as I exited the store. I didn’t need someone to come to my house for a pick up, or have to drive to another location or call a phone number. I went in, I came out, and I was finished.

The story is a proof that you don’t have to make marketing complex or tough. These techniques are really simple, and if you break them down into simple steps, anyone can use it to create effective online marketing.

Know Where Your Audience Is

Like the grocery store example, people who come there normally have the money and already prepared to buy food. If your target audience has the money and desire to buy, where do they turn?

It is always easier to make a sale after people have already reached the stage of making a decision to buy, and are now selecting the kind of products they need, as opposed to whether to buy it or not. Right after you have made the sale, you have an opportunity to make another, but most people don’t realize it.

Do not complete your sale with only a page saying “Thank-you;” instead offer them a chance to make another purchase. In all probability their credit card is still out of their pocket when you show them a page which shows a product or products related to the one they just bought. It’s the very old line that consistently works well, “Now that you have purchased this, what else can I sell you?” — similar to “Would you like fries with that?”

Backup your offer

People want to know and feel that they are going to make a right decision. Noticing that other people were profiting from the product, made it an easy sell to others. Seeing that other people have already donated food made me confident that I am doing the right thing when the representative of the nonprofit approached me outside of the grocery store.

Your sales through your website will increase if you have a forum for buyers to post their reviews of your products. You will also improve your credibility with your potential customer. The very fact that you are ready to publish all reviews irrespective of whether they are good or bad, will give your customers the confidence to deal with your company, and your product.

Yet another way is to create a short demo video in which a successful person can endorse your product. For most people that are visually induced to learn, to have them see how a product works is an excellent way to market your idea or product.

Make it Easy for Your Customer to Deal with You

If you don’t make it difficult, most people would want to do business with you online. Examine how many steps it takes for you to make a purchase off of the site. You will probably lose customers if it takes more than three clicks to complete a purchase.

Potential online customers are looking for a streamlined ordering process. If you make it easy for the customer, they will be more likely to buy. The moment she gave the blue plastic bag to me, I knew just what to do and how to go about doing it. For the two of us it was a good result.

Conclusion

Marketing information should not sound like a sales pitch. Even though it’s product information your audience asks for, their real need is to be able to trust that they are making their purchase from a reliable source, and that they are right in making that decision.

Michelle Howe, MBA, president of Internet Word Magic, specializes in writing irresistible copy for websites. Transform the way you do business. Visit her website at www.InternetWordMagic.com for a FREE chapter download of her new book “Turn Browsers into Buyers”.

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by Bill Miller

Every blog needs readers to remain profitable. You need people laying eyes on your blog to make sales. But many blog readers prefer to read your blog through RSS. These readers may never see your blog, but crafty bloggers know how to make RSS subscribers come to their blog. So don’t ignore RSS subscribers, they can be the difference between a profitable blog and a ho-hum blog.

Here are 7 tricks to increase your RSS subscribers:

Start a contest for RSS Subscribers only. Many bloggers have used this technique very successfully. People will want to take part in the contest and sign up so they can participate.

Publish RSS Subscriber only posts. Other bloggers have used this baiting technique to get people to sign up to their RSS feeds. All you do is every once in a while, publish a list or a list of tips only to your RSS subscribers. Make sure you post about these “special tips” to your regular readers on your blog. This will make them sign up so they don’t miss out on the special tips.

Submit your RSS feed to RSS directories. There are many RSS directories out there. You need to submit your RSS feed to each of them. To find them, just go to Google and type in ‘list of RSS directories’. It will be time consuming, but well worth it!

Use those RSS Subscription icons. Yes, they do help! These icons make it very easy for readers to your blog to sign up under their favorite RSS reader. If you make your readers work to get signed up to your RSS feed, many won’t go to the trouble.

Publish your feed count. If you have over one hundred RSS subscribers, show the feed count. Other bloggers seeing that other people have signed up to your feed feel that they should also. It’s a funny thing, the more RSS subscribers you have, the easier it is to get them.

Use Full RSS feeds. If you make your RSS subscribers click on a “more” link to finish reading your blog post, many will unsubscribe. Make it easy for them to read your entire blog post by publishing full RSS feeds.

Use FeedBurner and sign up email subscribers. I use FeedBurner so that my readers can sign up with their email. Some just prefer to read the post in their email, so I make it easy for them. It only takes a second to put a sign up form on your blog.

RSS subscribers are a very profitable part of any blog. Learn how to increase your RSS subscribers and watch your profits go up. Don’t let these people get away!

The website AffiliateWatcher.Com brings you these traffic tips. He reviews affiliate programs and other money making ventures that helps beginners get started in Affiliate Marketing. You may also enjoy his popular article on how to make quick cash online in a week!

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If you’ve been working from home using the Internet for any length of time, then you’ve likely heard about information products. Perhaps you’ve even purchased some, or maybe you’ve even thought about creating your own.

The reason information products are so popular, is because it means that you only have to do the work once and you can continually make money from that same product over and over again. Once you have it set up, it’s basically hands-off.

Your shopping cart system will take care of all the orders automatically, even if it’s 2am. That means you have more free time to do the things you enjoy, without sacrificing your income. I mean, no matter what type of business you have, whether you sell products, services, or are an affiliate marketer, adding information products to your business is a great way to create passive income.

Unfortunately, it can take a lot of time and money to create your own product, and if you’re currently running a business, then you may not feel as though you have what it takes to pull it off.

However, there is a way that you can sell information products without investing a lot of time and money. You may have even heard of it . . . PLR eBooks are a great way to sell a ready-made product. But I can tell you from experience, there aren’t a lot of good membership programs out there. Most of it is rehashed garbage that you don’t want your name on, and the ebooks are on a wide variety of topics, like rock climbing and how to breed small dogs.

If your target market is moms, then the chance that you’ll actually be able to sell those types of ebooks to your current market is slim to none. I’ve never come across a tightly niched PLR eBook membership, until now!

Wendy Wood has taken over the very first PLR eBook Membership for work at home moms. Her membership is designed specifically for wahms who market to moms. That means that every eBook is on a topic of interest to moms, which makes it super easy for you to sell these eBooks to the market you already have.

Whether you sell products or services, you can use this PLR eBook membership to create a stream a passive income without spending a lot of time or money. Each month you’ll have access to a quality PLR e-book, sales page, graphics, ecourse to promote your e-book, and so much more! CLICK HERE to learn more about MomPLReBooks.com.

by Henriette Martel

Have your product sales slowed down?

Do you want to give a new lease of life to one of your digital or small-ticket products?

At home, I’ve earned the title of ‘Queen of the left-overs’. Did you know that left-over spaghetti sauce can be recycled? Add a bit of cumin and chili, it becomes taco sauce; mixed with a bit of white sauce, you have a lasagna sauce; add a few veggies, wrap the lot in puff pastry and you get a pastie, etc.

Using the same principles, you can recycle a product and market it using a different mix: change your promotion, sell it elsewhere, use it to barter, bundle it with another product, etc.

Start recycling a product using one of the following strategies:

1 - Auction your product on eBay or another auction site. How much are customers prepared to pay for your product? Use this strategy to research your market and to experiment with a new selling outlet. Who knows, people in their bidding frenzy may pay more than you ever imagined!

2 - Reposition your product. Review your promotional and pricing strategies and give your product a new image. Change your sales letter (including words and graphics), add testimonials, increase or lower the price, etc. Now sell your ‘new’ product.

3 - Offer your product as a bonus with the purchase of another product. Sell the bundle as ‘this month’s special’, ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘value pack’. The bonus should boost your sales especially if you point out the dollar value of the bonus e.g. ‘valued at…’ and add a sense of urgency ‘limited time offer till (date)’.

4 - Give to get. Ask visitors on your website to complete a survey and reward their effort with a gift, your product. Provided your product is relevant to the type of information you are seeking, this should yield a list of qualified leads and supply you with new ideas to create products and boost your business.

5 - Sell your product as a promotional item. This is a strategy I have used very successfully. I’ve bundled signed copies of my book from my first printing batch into packs of ten. Businesses bought them at volume discount price and gave them as gifts to their loyal customers.

6 - Increase your database by giving away your product for free as an incentive to join your mailing list. Your offer can be advertised for free on the online free stuff sites. When visitors are picking up their freebies, capture their email addresses and you will gain a valuable mailing list. (Note: this database building strategy will only work with digital products or else you will be out of pocket if you have to pay shipping costs.)

7 - Swap your product for things you need for your own business e.g. exchange your ebook for a software or another ebook. Your savings will make up for your profit loss. At a conference, I swapped my book for books from my colleagues.

8 - Organize an online contest and offer your product as the winning prize. This a cheap price to pay for free advertising for your product through online contest directories.

9 - Donate your product for an attendance or raffle prize at non-profit associations’ events. In return, the organization usually promotes your business by giving you an advertising space on their website or promotional flyers.

10 - Approach businesses with complimentary products and find out if they would be interested in bundling their product with yours. Build on each other’s equity and share promotional costs and profits.Left-overs are delicious. Recycle your product for a new lease of life.

Henriette Martel is a website strategist, author of 200 Marketing Ideas for Your Website and director of the Australian Training Guide, Australia’s A to Z Training Database and Resources for Speakers, Trainers & Coaches.

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by Veronica Robbins

There’s no doubt about it - operating a small business can be stressful. This may be troubling since so many entrepreneurs start their businesses to get away from the stress of working for someone else. Because of this, you may not be prepared for the stress, and that just makes it worse.

Why is it so stressful to start and operate a small business?

There can be many reasons.

If you are working your small business part-time while you are still working your regular job full-time, you are really working two jobs. The pressure of trying to do a good job at work, get your own business off to a solid start, and maintain your relationships with family and friends can be overwhelming.

If you have transitioned to running your business full time, there are ongoing pressures related to sales, cash flow, time management, and simply getting everything done.

If you have employees, the added issues related to managing employees contribute even more stress to your life.

Fortunately, small businesses have been around a long time, and the many entrepreneurs who have come before you know dozens of ways you can keep the stress level down and your work quality up.

Here are a few:

1. Keep your priorities straight. When you are excited about building or running your business, it’s very easy to get caught up in work and forget about what is really important in your life - family, friends, faith (you determine the order of importance). The better you keep your priorities in order, the more easily you’ll be able to manage the stress associated with your business. Yes, it’s that simple. Take some time right now to think about what is really important to you. Reorganize your schedule to reflect your commitment to those things at the top of the list.

2. Get plenty of sleep. Many small business owners will start early and work late, then try to have a family life before falling into bed for four hours or so and doing it all again. This is ultimately counterproductive. A tired entrepreneur is less smart, less effective, less quick on his feet, and less creative. Get more sleep, and you’ll find you actually get more done. Sleep is also vital to your health. Be very careful before you skimp too much in this area.

3. Learn time management skills. There are many books and websites that can help you develop excellent time management skills. You can start managing your time effectively by simply making lists every day, and keeping a time diary noting everything you do in a week and how long it takes. Go over this diary and find the things you can eliminate. Then eliminate them from your daily life one at a time.

4. Learn to delegate. Entrepreneurs are do-it-yourself people. However, you need to accept that you can’t do everything for yourself. Find vendors or subcontractors who can help with some tasks at a reasonable cost. If you have the resources to hire an assistant or other employees, delegate tasks to them. Spot-check what they’re doing if you must, but let go of a little of that control. Delegating authority is one of the most important executive skills, and you need to learn that anyway.

5. Start your day right. Start your day with some personal reflection or inspirational reading, not checking email. Then, prioritize your tasks for the day and address critical issues. Spend about 30 minutes each day centering yourself and preparing for your day. While it may seem like a waste of time at first, you’ll find that not only are you more productive and focused, but you will be better equipped to handle the stress that appears in your life.

6. Focus on the positive and what you have accomplished. If you do nothing but focus on what you don’t have and how much you have not accomplished, your stress level will rise dramatically. Be positive. There is some truth to the statement, “What you think about, you bring about,” so keep your mind focused on positive things.

7. Don’t neglect your physical health. Stay physically active. Get regular check-ups. Eat right. Not only does exercise relieve stress, but if you get so run down that your health suffers and you can’t work, you will experience even more stress.

8. Take some time off. All work and no play is a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs typically take pride in how hard working they are, so taking time off is often viewed as a weakness, rather than a positive thing. The truth is that the more tired and stressed you become, the less productive you are, no matter how many hours you “work.”

9. Finally, look for the joy and sense of accomplishment in your business. If you find that your business is only bringing you heartache and no satisfaction, it’s time to change businesses. If you can’t make an immediate change, start making a plan for a change. Simply making a plan and taking some action to get started with implementing that plan will make a big difference in helping to decrease your stress level.

Even though operating a small business is a lot of work, it doesn’t have be excessively stressful.

Veronica Robbins is a successful entrepreneur who has started and operated several successful businesses. She now shares her success by helping others start their own businesses. Read the many tips she has for new business owners at www.your-small-business-guide.com.

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I just want to take a quick moment to tell every mom…

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

No matter what age your children are, or how you’ll be spending your day, I hope it will be very special for you!

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