Continuing my little expose on how I’m doing in wally world as a WAHM, I’m going to further expound on my adventures in Twitterville.

First, I’m going to say this work-at-home Gram from Dysfunction Junction, CT is finding it’s a ton of fun ~ I enjoy getting the little pop-ups on Twitterfox, and getting to know the personalities of all my Tweeps.  While working late at night, I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the Olympics.  However, there’s one gal who updates regularly, every 10 minutes or so, on what exactly has been going on!  She’s so entertaining (besides being the author of a terrific blog, Send Chocolate, that I suggested last night that she bottle all the commentary on the Olympics into an eBook!

But I digress.  Seriously, Twitter is an excellent platform for micro-blogging and marketing your product, be it a blog, service, eBay store or mission.

If you find yourself in a position that you need to understand your target customer as well as keep up with various ways of marketing to those potential customers, Twitter is one of the most powerful and popular tools out there right now!  This new type of network communication has been taken up by companies and individuals alike in recent months and for good reason.

To get a better understanding of Twitter, let’s first take a look at the format.  Essentially, Twitter is a program that allows you to make very small, public posts.  Because these posts are so limited (they max out at 140 characters) they can easily be sent to a number of different locations all at once.  When you have written a Twitter, it can appear on the twitter website, on short message services, instant messaging sites or even on third-party applications like Facebook or Twitterific.  Folks can even add a script to their blog or website to show their most recent posts and the posts of others!   I have a blue widget box on my right sidebar.   Your Twitter messages, also known tweets, will appear to anyone who has chosen to follow your updates.

There are several advantages to this type of communication.  The first thing that you’ll discover is that it allows for a much more immediate relay of information.  The shortness of the message forces you to be very brief, and this alone can create interest in those reading.  Because tweets are so short, they often lead to frequent posting, which is excellent when you’re looking to communicate with people and to get to know them.  While Twitter is, by default, public, you can restrict the people who see your material with the ease of checking a box in your profile.

Actually, although I rarely have to do this, last night and so far tonight have been the exception.  I believe it’s a full-moon this week, and true to form, the crazies are coming out of the walls.  I, along with a few of  my fellow Tweeps, have had to block several people.  If these folks have a trillion people that they’re following, and only 1 or 2 followers of their own and no website listed - that’s a sure sign of a Spammer or bored teen, and an instant BLOCK.  But don’t let that discourage you.  It happens in e-mail programs too.

You’ll find that not only can you post tweets, you can also receive them.  Once again, the immediate nature of this service lends greatly to its appeal.  Want to follow someone’s updates and see what they are up to with their business or life in general? Simply sign into your Twitter account, type in their Twitter address or username and click the “Follow” button.  That’s all there is to it!

The amount of time that’s spent reading the messages is very short, and you can be in contact with people a great deal more than you otherwise might be. In essence, you can get to know each other much more quickly than if you were just reading each others blogs or profiles.  The look and feel of an instant messaging service helps add to this ability.  Think about it for a minute, do you feel more connected to those on your messenger list than the blogs you read? Twitter is the same way.

I used Twitter extensively this week with my website designer for my Virtual Assistant website.  We both are on Twitter and when I sent her an e-mail either responding to her design questions, or making suggestions on the site design myself, I sent her a Tweet to let her know that ‘you’ve got e-mail.’  Simple!

For many, whether they’re looking for friends, clients, or someone to help them out with a problem or workload, getting in touch with others is important.  With Twitter it’s never been easier!

Don’t forget to Follow Me!

Are you looking for more traffic to your Blog, online e-Store or eBay Store?  Have you jumped on the Twitter bandwagon yet? If not, read on!

I signed up just recently and I’m having so much fun! Not only have I met new friends, but I find that it’s the perfect medium to stay on top of things. It’s also really easy to communicate with my fellow bloggers that I’ve met through Entrecard.  Hey ~ even this Baby Boomer tries to stay ahead of the curve on all the latest technology!  Here’s why I think it’s great for WAHMs to use to promote your online businesses, blogs or eBay business.

Whether you are just getting started with an online business or you have been around for a while and looking for a new way to network, have a look at Twitter. Part chat program and part tiny blog, you will find that the Twitter interface is one that can change the way you interact with your current customers and potential customers worldwide.

Here’s 5 reasons why Twitter’s a powerful marketing tool for online WAHM business owners like you.

1. It’s Short, Sweet & To the Point
Have you ever heard the phrase, less is more? You’ll find that one of the best things about Twitter is that it keeps all messages very short and sweet. You’ll have to give your customers and clients the gist of what is going on in short tweets (messages similar to instant messages) that allow their interest to be piqued in such a way as to make them investigate further. You won’t bother them with long-winded messages that make them yawn and move on. Instead, you’ll be able to catch their attention quickly and make them want to know more.

2. Immediacy
Much like a blog or an RSS feed, you can get access to the people that use Twitter regularly. In some ways, this is like making sure that you can reach them no matter where they are, and you’ll find that this is very important when you want to make marketing one of your biggest priorities. You’re making sure that they have all of the latest updates to what you are doing and what’s going on by simply sending a tweet their way.

3. Everyone’s Doing It
In many ways, Twitter is a social program more than it is a marketing one, and you’ll find that using Twitter can help you feel a great deal closer to your client base and other’s in your online community. If you are looking to make sure that they see you as a person rather than as simply a company or service, you’ll find that Twitter encourages them to think of you as someone they can get to know. This can be very important when it comes to establishing a customer base and customer loyalty.

4. You Get to Hear a Lot
Remember that it goes both ways; you can put information out on Twitter and you can also learn a lot too. By following other’s Twitter accounts, especially if it looks like they have a lot to offer, you can keep in the know about various products, services, and other happenings online. This can be a great way to keep an eye on what is going on in order to keep yourself in the know of your industry.

5. Make Them Laugh
You can also use Twitter to tease people a little bit, in a fun way, of course! When you use Twitter, you have to keep your messages short, and in many ways, a little mysterious. Pique their interest, joke around, and you’ll find that you gain a lot more followers and hopefully website traffic and customers as a result.

Be warned, just as with any other social networking site, Twitter can quickly become addicting if you let it. Don’t go overboard and get so involved in all the tweeting that it takes away from your intended purpose. Used wisely Twitter can be a great and powerful marketing tool to help create online business success.

Sign up for my Newsletter for more updates about Twitter.

Want to know what I’m doing now?  Just read my Twitter Box on my right-hand sidebar!  Follow Me!

Interested in saving money with the downturn of today’s economy?  I know I am!  Whether you’re a young mom or a mid-life Boomer like myself,  every penny helps.  I even take advantage of Senior Citizen days and discounts, whenever I can!

I’ve added a new content section featuring Freebies & Contests!  Check in often and see what’s new!

For starters, visit My Savings, as I’m sure you’ll find something of interest ~ whether you’re shopping online, or looking for FREE Samples, Coupons, Sales,  and Special Offers & Deals!

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“When the walls came tumbling down
When the walls came tumbling down
When the walls came tumbling down
Everybody ran as they screamed at the sound’… Def Leppard

More titillating tidbits on my WAHM Affiliate Marketing experience!

Today I resigned from all but maybe two, of the small WAHM companies I belonged to as an Independent Consultant for Affiliate Marketing.

That’s it, I’m done, I’ve heard, seen and had enough of it.

I got an e-mail today from a company I was a rep for ~ Beautiful Diva.

The email indicated that affiliate links would no longer take a customer directly to your shopping cart, but rather a “landing/splash” page.  The customer would then have the option to search for a representative by entering their zip code, name or other methods.

WTH?  I’m going to put up a banner link to a site ~ have a potential customer click through to it ~ and then have that potential customer enter their zip code to find a different rep?

Who are they going to search for under “name” ~ Moomettesgram?  My full name used to be displayed before they did a U-Turn on their marketing tactics.

I don’t think so.  Down came that banner and ~ exit, stage left.  No more rep for that company.

My advice to anyone who’s thinking of becoming an Affiliate Rep, is this:

Before you sign up with a new WAHM company, check to see where your customer is going to land.  Otherwise - all you’re going to be doing is putting up a banner for the company gratis, and you won’t see any sales.

How many of my readers know what my zip code is?  I speak often of living in New England ~ Connecticut specifically ~ but I don’t think anyone is going to find me through that method.

If you blog and use banners, do all your readers know what state you live in?  Do you use your real name, or a by-line?

Really, young ones, think this one through.  Don’t just blindly do everything these companies ask you to do.  You are going to be taken for a ride if you do.

Another reason I’ve left several companies is that many are signed up with JROX.  One particular company made their reps sign up at least 3 times for a new JROX affiliate ID.  Talk about confusion.  No sales there ~ the website was down ~ the affiliate IDs didn’t work~ excuses, excuses.  I’m outta there.

Nope.  The only companies I’m with now are basically through big-name affiliate sites.  I’ll stick with those for awhile, and see how it goes.

No more small potatoes.

If anyone has any other experiences and you find you’re rolling in dough, speak up, and add yourself as a subscriber if you’d like to hear my continuing saga!

I’ve been so busy lately, I can’t even breath! Between getting ready for the birth of my new grandson; trips up to Vermont for Charming Son-in-Law’s mom’s 50th birthday party ~ plus we have a wedding coming up that I have to find a dress for!

That’s left very little time for me to try to get any eBay listings done for my eBay store. I’m trying to list things for Back-to-School, along with all the vintage collectibles, sewing patterns and other items I picked up on my recent trip to Upstate New York when I visited my brother.

I also offer Hard-To-Find Health, Beauty & Cosmetic items.  If you’re looking for something in particular or a special brand and can’t find it, e-mail me here and I’ll try to locate it for you and add it to my store!

Here’s a great tip to have fantastic, awsome auctions if you are a SAHM mom, new to selling on eBay, or want to learn how to start selling your household items on eBay to earn a little extra money.

Check out Seller’s Source Book. They literally have thousands of terrific templates to help you have a professional looking auction.

A professional looking listing is no longer a “nice to have” it is a “need to have.” Let us help you maximize the potential of your auctions!

You can schedule your listings to launch directly to eBay ~ have matching About Me templates ~ Host your own images without any additional fees ~ and be privy to Product & Services Reviews,  Articles, Hints & Tips and a Seller’s Community Forum.

Want to see how beautiful the templates are?  Click on any of my auctions and see all the different examples!

Check out SSB if you want to maximize your sales! I’m sure that’s part of what helped me to become an eBay Power Seller!

If you sell on eBay and have an eBay Store, you may or may not be aware that there have been some recent changes to the advertising policy toward About Me pages.

From the current talk about town, on forums and other sites, live links to outside sites are no longer allowed.

For example, I can no longer have a clickable banner pointing to this blog on my eBay About Me page. Nor can I have live links to my Shoppes site, or my direct sales affiliate links, such as Auction Sniper or Sellers Source Book (which, by the way, is a great source for beautiful templates for your auctions!)

So last night I spent quite a bit of time “killing” the live links to my sites, while still keeping the banners up. I had to figure out a way to point my customers to my other sites, and hope that most of them are computer savy enough to know how to find me from the dot com breadcrumbs I’ve left for them! Being a creative WAHM with an ebiz is hard enough already!

My “new” About Me page is here.

If you still have live links on your site, you might want to re-think doing your own About Me page so you’ll be in compliance with eBay’s new policy.

Wow, I recently got approved and signed up for the social networking site SocialSpark!

This is going to be my first paid post about the site!

As all my faithful readers know, I’m trying to retire from my day job. Social Spark from IZEA gives me the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers, and helps to monetize my blog by enabling me to post for honest, reputable companies.

Similar to Pay-Per-Post, once your blog is approved, you can browse the marketplace and apply for any posting opportunities that you may be qualified for. When you submit your blog for approval, you can choose which categories you would like to qualify for to be shown on your blog.

What’s equally nice, is that Social Spark maintains a very high standard of ethics. This means:

* 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
* 100% Transparency
* 100% Real Opinions
* 100% Search Engine Friendly

Since I am a WAHG with several online ecommerce sites, I try to give tips and promote my businesses through my blog. I’ve become an avid blogger, and the social aspect of Social Spark enables me to visit other bloggers, and leave and receive comments on my blogs and theirs. Here’s my profile that I’ve created so other bloggers can find and network with me.

Lastly, Blogging is becoming mainstream, and more and more people are looking towards bloggers to receive their news and garner new opinions. Advertisers are recognizing the value of this new social media, and taking the opportunity to create buzz for their products. It’s a way for advertisers to reach a whole new target market and generation of potential customers who are familiar with technology.

If you’re a stay-at-home Mom or Dad, Work-at-Home Mommy or Dad, or Baby Boomer such as myself looking for a supplemental source of income, or simply looking to reach out, network and explore new horizons, sign up for Social Spark now! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at all the benefits!

Here’s my disclosure policy that I’ve developed:

One of the goals of this blog is to provide credible information to WAHMs. I consistently see questions crop up frequently on several of the social networking sites and forums that I belong to from members asking where to find affordable, cheap web hosting for their home based businesses.

As a WAHG, I originally started out selling on eBay with a store, where I quickly became a Power Seller. I then decided to open my own boutique online ebiz to sell handcrafted items and vintage collectibles. Finding an affordable web host with tech support, load time and bandwith was very important to me.

I’d like to tell all Moms, Dads, and Grams who are considering opening their own online ecommerce sites about this site discussing  cheap web hosting which provides all the reference points you need to know, as well as information about web hosting specifications and tutorials concerning finding affordable, cheap web hosting.

After perusing the site, I think you’ll find that you’ll have a good background to determine what’s right for your needs. Additionally, you can comparison shop for web host information at Web Hosting Rating. Check it all out.

I recently did a post about the sluggish economy and how it might affect businesses. I’m a Bronze eBay Power Seller, as well as an affiliate independent consultant for several companies, and recently formed a Virtual Assistant Services ebiz.

Whenever I package an item to ship to my eBay customers, I cross-promote my Shoppes site and the companies that I rep for and include my business cards.  In order to qualify to be a Bronze Power Seller, I have to sell a minimum of 100 items per month. That’s quite a few business cards that I hand out ~ and that’s just to my eBay customers alone!

Though various eBay forums and business forums I belong to, I found out about Vista Print. Vista Print is a once-stop source for all your promotional business needs. I get many of my company business cards for FREE! There’s a wide selection of nicely designed templates that you can customize to personalize your cards and make them ‘your own.’ There’s also the opportunity to upload your own logos to design your business cards. Vista Print has a category design for everything – boutiques, mineral makeup, spa, beauty, gardening services, house cleaning services – you name it, they have it!

Additionally, VistaPrint offers a wide array of very affordable printing services including:, checks, rubber stamps, announcements, and car magnets! They even offer window decals. You can customize all of their products to your liking!

Since many are free, I order often, and leave my card in  the establishments I patronize: local hairdresser; restaurants; banks; and also supply the whole family with cards to pass out to anyone they think might be interested in my businesses! Grow your business with Vista Print!

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