The most awsome, popular social networking site SK*RT has changed it’s name to KIRTSY!

Get there as fast as you can to check out all the fab information available! I love the banners that say “For Women ~ And the Men that want to Get In Their Heads.”

You’ll find information on Arts & Entertainment; Designs & Crafts; Parenting & Family; Fashion & Style; Food & Home; Internet & Technology; Mind, Body & Spirit and Travel & Leisure.  So sign up now!

Bloggers - upload your latest posts for all of us to see!

What more can a dame ask for? ~ Plus, a chance to enter some fab contests!

I’d like to acknowledge special thanks to my recent Entrecard and Red Hot Drops Advertisers! If you missed them the first time around, please take a moment to visit these special Blogs!

Make Money Online ~ Work At Home
My Two Cents Worth
Up the Hill Gang
The Sewing Mom
Roxiticus Desperate Housewives
Confessions of an Organized Mess
Life and Me
This Side of Eternity
The WAHM Blog
Crayon Writer
Mommy’s Little Corner
Mom Reviews
The Mom With Brownies
Moms ~ Check NYO
Is 8 Enough?
My Thousand Loves
Regina’s Family Seasons
Thinking Outloud

Moomettesgram’s Musings is proud to offer this special graphic award to Super WAHM-owned Websites!

Celebrating how far Women have come - and how much farther they can go!

Here’s to all the recognition that women have sought to achieve and deserve!

Once you have won please link back to http://moomettesgramsmusings.com

What is a Best WAHM Website?

You must have your own WAHM or WAHG Website, Blog and address.

No Affiliate Websites will be considered.

No Adult Party sites will be considered.

You must have an ecommerce, ebiz website or blog that is 100% Family Oriented.

Your website or blog must be easy to navigate and interesting.

Your website or blog must offer specific products and/or information, or interesting, informative advice specifically targeting women, families, Working Moms (or Dads), WAHM or WAHG, or Baby Boomers, without pop up ads, or Splash Pages.

You must permanently place your Award in a prominent place on either your home page, or Award Page, and be able to link back to http://moomettesgramsmusings.com

Periodic site checks will be done. Any site that doesn’t have the award posted as indicated above will be removed from the Award Winner List.

Please email us at:

moomettesmagnificents06@yahoo.com

CLICK HERE TO VISIT PAST AWARD WINNERS

A new highlight of my Blog will be featuring and offering site reviews of WAHM (Work-At-Home Mom) eBiz ventures. I would like to try to offer a “Best Of WAHM Site Award” Banner to a WAHM who’s site has been featured.

It’s great to see so many young women taking the plunge and becoming business owners and self-employed. This was essentially not an option when I was younger!

I’d like to start out by letting you know about a young, WAHM who is venturing into the Virtual Assistant services field.

Erin Hall has recently launched her EH Virtual Assistant Services website. Proud mom of a toddler daughter, Erin and her husband are expecting their second child . Describing herself as a team player and Varsity College Lacrosse Letter Winner, Erin’s drive and determination are certain to assure this mompreneur success in whatever she sets out to accomplish!

A Virtual Assistant (or simply VA), is an independent contractor providing administrative, technical, or sometimes creative assistance to clients …Wikpedia

Erin holds a B.S. in Communication, concentrating in Advertising and Marketing, with a Minor in Business Administration. Erin is experienced in all aspects of the sales and marketing area, with extensive experience in the Advertising and Pharmaceutical fields.

A sampling of the services that EH Virtual Assistant Services is able to offer are:

- Marketing/Advertising /Cold Calling/Mailings

- Business Promotion/Event Promotion & Conference Planning

- Advertising Copy and Articles

- Press Releases

- Creation of Training Materials

- Consulting Services

- Travel Arrangements

As each business has a different budget and need, one can request a free initial consultation.

Please take a moment to visit Erin’s site and see what areas she may be able to assist you with in your business!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you would like the opportunity to be a featured WAHM on my blog, please drop me a note or comment to have your WAHM site or Blog reviewed and be considered for an Award Banner!

Recently I’ve been reflecting on what I was up to when I was both of my DD’s ages. When I was single back in the ’70s, one of my future inlaw’s favorite pastimes was wanting to go to NYC. We spent many a wild time there, and sometimes would drive down just for the night. They’d treat the whole family to dinner at Jack Dempsey’s on Times Square and a night on the town.

Sometimes we would go down for New Year’s Eve and stay over. We’d do dinner at some of the most famous haunts, and do a jaunt through Times Square before the ball dropped. My future mother-in-law, father-inlaw, brother & sister-in-laws would all pile into shared cabs. It was great. We knew the City inside out. Those were some wild times.

If you’ve been thinking about visiting the Big Apple, but have never been before, you can plan your trip tour easily through Trusted Tours & Attractions. Sign up and make arrangements for some sightseeing tours of all the well-know attractions, such as the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Shopping District, Diamond District, Broadway & more!

Trusted Tours and Attractions offers discounted tickets to the best sightseeing tours in 23 cities across America. If you can believe it, DH and I are the only ones in the family who’ve never been to the Left Coast. One of these days I’d like to visit San Francisco . I never did get to visit the Golden Gate City back then!

So are you planning your next vacation? Looking for ideas on what to do? Checking out Things to do in Las Vegas? Sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter and enter to win a $150 iTunes gift card.  Offer ends Saturday, May 31st, 2008.

When my DD was pregnant with ‘Lil Moomette, she developed preeclampsia and was relegated to bed rest for the remainder of her term. Now, mind you, when this child was 2, I purchased the book entitled “The Difficult Child” for my easy reading pleasure. To envision her on total bed rest doing puzzles or watching TV…I have to say I’m glad she was finally induced.

I belong to several networking forums, and one of the gals indicated she is somewhat of a shut-in and recovering from surgery, on bed rest and is looking for a way to pass time. Forum members wished her a speedy recovery and mentioned that we’ll be looking forward to her posts on her progress. I suggested she start a blog or ezine to promote her eBay business!

Why The Most Popular Home Based Business Opportunity These Days Involves A Blog

by Carael Knight

Today more than ever, chances are that if you have found a successful home based business opportunity, then most likely it involves either the heavy use of a high traffic blog or two or alternatively you’re making use of some effective classified ads to generate your targeted traffic.

It is no secret that popular search engines love blogs because of the fresh and constantly updated content found in plenty in this amazing new medium. Most bloggers have no problem enthusiastically updating their content daily or on a regular basis because they love their blogs since they give them “a voice” and a unique chance to publish their views and comments on a subject that they are usually crazy about. This powerful combination of factors has ensured that blogs have grown in leaps and bounds. The result has been the emergence of a powerful and effective medium that is by far the best for promoting any home based business opportunity.

In actual fact what happens is that the blogger uses the blog to work their home based business opportunity by directing some of the huge traffic to appropriate affiliate programs they have already signed up for. They mostly do this by making good use of affiliate links pasted at prominent and very visible positions all over the blog site.

So what happens is that the blogger has lots of fan blogging while at the same time working their home based business opportunity.

But blogging admittedly is not for everyone. And that is why there are those who use carefully selected effective classified ads to direct targeted traffic their home based business opportunity site.

Why just about anyone can make money online

Most people think that making money online is one of the most difficult things in the world and yet the reality is that anyone can make some serious money online. It really is easier than you think.

What makes it difficult is the attitude and the approach of most people. Many have plunged in blindly and inevitably the have failed. The net is full of these failures and they are constantly busy telling others that it cannot be done, just because they themselves failed.

Actually one of the biggest hindrances and obstacles to folks making money online is that most of us want to do it overnight and without having to learn anything first. This is a really strange mindset when you think about it because doctors train for years before they can be allowed to practice and commercial airline pilots also train for years before they can be allowed to fly passengers. So why should you expect to start an online business today and start making money tomorrow. Is that really realistic? Is it any wonder that so many people have failed in their efforts to make quick money online?

The big secret here that should not even be a secret is that anyone who takes a little time to learn the ropes and takes their minds off making money for a short time only will quickly find that they can earn much more than doctors and airline pilots after just a few months (instead of years) of learning. In other words anyone who is prepared to take the time to learn can make money online.

Carael Knight is a very aggressive Internet marketing expert.

MajorEnterprise is an Independent Internet Marketing And Advertising Company That Specializes In Boosting Website Sales.
Article Source: The WAHM Shack Article Directory

I’ love eBooks. I have several favorites, from recipes, cookbooks, How-To eBooks on a variety of topics. It’s great being able to download them immediately by digital delivery, and have them right on my computer to refer to when I need to. I’ ve even sold them in my eBay Store, Moomette’s Magnificents where I’m a Power Seller. But recently eBay changed their policy and no longer allows digital delivery as the means to transfer the product to the consumer. This has thrown quite a few eBay sellers out of business.

As a result of this policy change, like a good soldier, I now sell all of the eBooks on my Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes site, and still offer Free digital delivery.

Additionally, I belong to several forums. Here’s a post from eBay Coach Free Forum, that I feel is worth mentioning for the purpose of fostering discussion. I’m a Moderator on this forum, (which by the way ~ come visit ~ it’s an active community of eBay sellers that’s a breath of fresh air!) What’s nice about this forum is, although everyone may differ in their opinions, everyone’s genteel & polite if they aren’t in agreement.

Although I may not be in total agreement with all of the comments posited by the author of the following post, I feel the post is worth mentioning. The part that I’m in agreement with is going “Green” and conserving and saving the planet.

EBAY ECO-FRIENDLY ATTITUDE SENT DOWN THE RIVER

April 1, 2008, eBay announced a ban on digital delivery products through its core auction site.

At a time of consumer concern for reduction in unnecessary waste, eBay, the international auction giant, is encouraging sellers to enlarge the carbon footprint of literature. Sellers are being told to move away from computer delivery in favor of selling unsustainable physical products shipped by snail mail.

Sellers are boycotting eBay over the new policy in addition to price increases, and many are on the front steps of Amazon.com.

As a purported “green” company, eBay is now permitting only physical information products in their core selling categories in the U.S. and other countries. The move is seen by buyers and sellers alike, as an inefficient, backwards, and ecologically unsound position for the global auction Goliath.

Sellers of digital products must now use separate $10 per month classified ad listings to sell their digital delivery goods, compared to pennies per month in an eBay store listing. This amounts to eBay charging 100 times more after April 1 than it did before April 1, for listing an identical product.

After years of telling buyers and sellers to not do business outside of eBay for security reasons, they are now expecting sellers to build consumer trust for eBay in this new selling category. Purchases through classified ads are consummated directly between buyer and seller.

eBay’s new policy also blocks sellers from putting adequate contact or purchase information in their classified ads by not allowing links to leave the eBay platform or redirect to PayPal for purchase payments. PayPal is the payment and credit processing service used by eBay buyers and sellers, primarily at eBay’s urging. eBay owns PayPal.

Classified Ads is now the only category in which the digital delivery format may be sold, making the shopping experience for thousands of buyers less than friendly.

It seems eBay is willing to risk its reputation with this politically incorrect posture by establishing and enforcing policies that belong in the middle of last century.

Among many eBay members, the company is seen as being as ecologically foolish as they were greedy with fees increases, another issue that has irked eBayers into staging boycotts.

This may be the misstep that will peeve eBay stockholders even more than buyers and sellers who wish to use the digital format. Sellers of digital delivery products are welcomed at Amazon.com. Last holiday season Amazon beat out eBay for the first time as the leader for internet holiday retail sales. eBay’s blunder may put Amazon in the number one spot for good, as sellers of digital delivery products leave eBay for a friendlier environment and an even bigger buyer base.

eBay buyers and sellers have long thought the company to have an eco-friendly orientation. New eBay policies bring this thinking into question as digital format sellers jump the eBay ship to sell down the Amazon River.

-END-

This article presents one view of the current direction of eBay, that of the author, Annie Haselwood, April 13, 2008,
http://www.FirstVarietyStoreOnTheMoon.com

If you’ve been a buyer of eBooks from eBay in the past, what do you think? Where will you go to buy your eBooks now?

I’ve been busy, busy lately! My DD, Moomette’s mom, is not only between jobs, but is expecting her second child in August! She say’s that although she & DH will find out ahead of time whether it’s a girl or boy, she’s not planning on letting us know until the baby’s born, so it’ll be a “surprise.” Ha. If it’s a boy, I bet I’ll be writing about it here sooner than the arrival date!

In the meantime, I’ve put all my “venture”s under one roof and you can see them all at MOOMETTE’S MAGNIFICENTS OLDE TOWN SHOPPES.
I’m employing many of the wonderful techniques that Betsy, over at Smart Moms shares. A great way to empower & market your WAHM eBiz. Come exchange Links with me and PLUG your site!

Online Marketing Strategies for Home Based Businesses

If you own a home based business, more than likely you are looking for creative ways to market your business. Thankfully with the internet, there is a whole online world just waiting for you! By creating an online marketing strategy you can essentially market your business for free and drive traffic to your site. And the great part is that most of these routes are few and don’t require a lot of time or effort.

Here are just a few simple ways to market yourself and your business online!

Blogs: A great way to get started is simply to start a Blog. A blog is completely free and is a glorified online journal. Blogger and Wordpress are two of the more popular hosts. Look around and see what you like and then just get started. Keep in mind the goal of your blog. Is it to promote yourself, your business or simply to talk about your daily life? You can start out slowly by just posting a couple times a week, however, if you really want to utilize your blog as a resource for traffic, make it a goal to post something worth reading on a daily basis.

Forums: Forums have become an increasingly popular way to network with other people. There are thousands to choose from, so just start looking. Whether you go to Yahoo and type in groups or Google “forums”, you will be amazed at what you find. Try to find groups that will allow you to promote your business as well as gain insight and knowledge from others. It might take a while to find a good fit, but don’t give up. A good forum can be an excellent resource for you when you’re first getting started as well as an excellent tool once you’re established!

Articles: The purpose of articles is to drive more traffic to your site or blog. To do this, you simply write an article on any subject, include your bio with links and then submit them to various article submissions sites. Once accepted, your article will be on these sites for anyone to read or use for their site, blog, eZine or other publications. Whether your article is viewed by curious readers or is published on other sites, the traffic you generate can be very rewarding.

Since articles are a free resource, be sure to write articles often. Make it a goal to write at least one a week, if not more. Post them on several different article submission sites and then site back and watch your hits and sales go up!

Blogs, forum, and articles are just a few simple ways to start generating traffic and creating a presence online. All three are simple and free ways that you can begin to target a cold market on a daily basis; reaching potential customers from around the country and world! If you begin to focus daily on these three sources for marketing, you will quickly start to see your traffic increase. Be consistent and offer helpful information and you will surely see your sales increase!

Betsy Canevari is a Work at Home mom with a toddler. Her passion is to help other women learn how to make money by working at home. For more great tips for marketing online, visit her Work at Home site.
_________________
Betsy Canevari
Smart Moms ~ Smart Business
Join our free 7-Day Fitness
Boot Camp
Visit our 4FabMoms Blog.

As a Boomer, not having grown up with computers as the younger generation today has, I know that I had heard quite a bit about eBay and the wonderful buys that people could get at auction. I’d also heard of the success others have had selling. But I was hesitant to get on the Internet!

At first I signed up for an Adult Ed class on eBay at my local high school at night. But I didn’t feel I got that much out of it. So ~~ it was by trial & error that I learned! It really isn’t that intimidating!

Here’s some info on getting started from
The Fainting Couch”Newsletter

Never used eBay before? Don’t worry; it’s not so scary. Here, we’ll go through it together.

Easy eBay Signup 1-2-3
Work on getting positive feedback, especially when you first start out. Provide great customer service, answer all questions in a timely manner and of course ship asap. Don’t forget to ask your customers to leave you feedback and do the same for them. Prospective customers will be more likely to buy from you if you have a high feedback score.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Helping you take your eBay business to the next level… www.jennihunt.com

Good! You’ve signed up! Now it’s time to start your holiday shopping!