How Mommy Bloggers Can Increase Their Technorati Authority

One of my favorite groups to get info on all things Blogging is Mom Bloggers Club, the latest Web 2.0 Social Networking site.  I’ve been a member since the very beginning.  There’s plenty of smart Moms and Baby Boomers who blog about Parenting, Recipes, Product Reviews, Fashion, Photography, Pets, Frugal  Lifestyle, Contests  & More!

There’s quite a bit of useful information that’s been posted to help Mommy Bloggers and others increase and gain Technorati Authority ranking on their blogs.  One of the benefits is, the higher your ranking and authority, the more likely that PR advertisers find your blog beneficial to them.

Technorati Ranking relates to the number of sources that point to your blog relative to other blogs. The more sources referencing your blog, the higher the Technorati ranking. The Technorati Ranking for a blog is displaying in URL Search results, Blog search results, and is displayed in the account profile for all claimed blogs.

Make it easy for your readers, and grab a Technorati button or chicklet and place it where your readers can see it.  You can then go back into your account and see which of your readers have Faved you. It looks like this ~ go ahead & click it!

Here’s a list of many of the wonderful blogs that can be found who belong to Mom Bloggers Club.  Please visit my friends, and Favor them to Technorati if you’d like!

For More info, visit Mom Bloggers Club, and don’t forget to Friend Request me when you get there!

If you found this post helpful ~ Fave me to Technorati (Button on sidebar or at bottom of post) I’d appreciate your leaving me a Comment!  I love Comments!

More Info:   How to Start a blog

http://heritageremedies.com/serendipity/

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Thanks for visiting! Comments are always appreciated! This blog is Do-Follow Links!

How to Advertise and Gain Exposure and Traffic for Your Blog ~ Visit Mommy Ranks

Mommy Ranks is new and improved ~ come see the new face lift!

If you’d like Free Advertising and see increased traffic to your blog, add your blog posts to Mommy Ranks.  It’s similar to Stumble Upon or Digg.

Mommy Ranks is described (from it’s About page) as:

…web application that allows you to submit an article that will be reviewed by all and will be promoted, based on popularity, to the main page. When a user submits a news article it will be placed in the “unpublished” area until it gains sufficient votes to be promoted to the main page.

You’ll even be able to create your own profile page.

If you do see any of my posts for Moomettesgram’s Musings, the screenshot is captured by Shrink The Web, and is picking up my Shoppes image rather than this blog image.  Hopefully that will be corrected.

Now who doesn’t like more exposure for their blog?  Visit at http://mommyranks.com

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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What is Social Networking and Why It Is Important If You Work From Home

Wow ~ it’s been one full year since I started this blog!  I still intend to get a Blogoversary post up, but had some WordPress technical issues the night before the actual date ~ of all things!

In that year’s time, I’ve learned so much about promoting my eBay business from the Community Boards, Forums and all the various social networking sites I’ve joined and participated in.  I was formerly a Moderator on eBay Coach Free Forum.  If you check my archives, you’ll find that some I’ve dropped out of for various reasons, and also that I’ve joined new ones.  The new ones are very different than the ones I’ve first joined, and for that reason ~ I’ve become very active in them.

Social Media Networking is no longer a buzz word, but an Internet phenomenon. It represents a way for people to interact without traveling half way around the globe or even leaving their home’s comfort. Read on to find out exactly what social networking is and its potential to enhance your life.

Think of it like this. We all have at least one friend. To keep in touch with that friend we call, write, and meet face to face. Through our jobs we meet other friends. The more interactions we have with people, the more chances we have of meeting more folks.

Social networking sites provide the platform for getting to know more “friends.” It is like our job or school or church. They supply the venue and we mingle to find people who have similar interests. Someone had the bright idea to package this not unfamiliar social concept into a cyberspace platform. Now, people can meet others they already know but have lost contact with and new people.

Social networking took off among the younger generation first. They found a way to talk to their friends when they weren’t within sight of each other. For guys, it meant meeting girls in a non-threatening social situation. For girls, the feeling was mutual.

My daughters graduated high school in 2001 and 2005, but while they were both in high school they were on AIM Instant Messenger night and day.  We only had one computer at the time, and it was impossible for me to coerce them to give up AIM so I could go online.

But, social networking is not just for the tweens or teens. Adults enjoy social networking as well. The first social networking sites we all heard about were Facebook and MySpace. This was mostly due to controversy surrounding what some Generation X kids were posting, but it made parents aware of the social networking craze.

Adults use social networking for a number of reasons. First, it is personal. We reconnect with busy friends and family. If you can’t reach Aunt Pookey because she’s always off around the world on one adventure or another, post new pictures of the kids on your MySpace page. Auntie can view them when she comes down from Mount Kilimanjaro.

Social networking gurus discovered that while finding old friends, business owners could form valuable alliances through their associations on social networking websites. Now, social networking has become valuable to anyone wanting to develop a website presence for their business. Social networking for business is akin to going door to door and telling people about your product. Create a compelling business profile and draw in the people you know by joining social groups with similar interests.

Social networking has a place in the life of both young and old alike. Use it to meet new people, make business contacts, stay in touch with family, or just to beef up your Internet presence. The wave of the future is social networking. Makes you want to join, doesn’t it?

Keep in mind though, that if you join too many, it can become overwhelming and time consuming.  The key is to focus on those forums you can actively participate in and develop a camaraderie with like-minded individuals.

Yes, this Baby Boomer is a social net-worker now.  You can find me at Mom Bloggers Club and Twittermoms as well as many others listed on my sidebar.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Stay Focused: How Phones Can be a Distraction to Online Business Owners

Long before I started both of my blogs,  opened my eBay Store and established my Virtual Assistant business,  my sister-in-law was a work-at-home mom.  Always marching to the tune of a different drummer, SIL completed her undergraduate degree in her 30s; then her Master’s, and became a self-employed Graphic Designer.

My sister-in-law’s graphic design business became very successful, and she worked virtually 24-hours a day, and well into the wee hours of the morning.  It was very common for family members and friends to feel it was OK to call her at any time, as she was “usually home.”  It wasn’t until I started working at home that I realized how important it was to convey the message to family and friends that “working at home” is actually just that…Work.  The setting may not be a traditional office setting, but nonetheless, one is still working.  Therefore, it’s important to keep in mind several factors to keep yourself focused rather than distracted.

No matter what type of online business you are in, or how you communicate, you will find there are a number of reasons that you will need to use a telephone. You may need to soothe clients who need to hear a real human voice or you might need to find a way to communicate with your colleagues that is more immediate than that of a simple e-mail or chat session. The problem is, however, that phone use, whether it is through a landline or through a cell phone, can cause you plenty of problems, especially if you let it get out of control.

For many of us, nothing is more simple or instinctive than calling someone up to chat. While we may want to keep it professional, there is a good chance that we will spend a lot longer on the phone than we thought we would, and before we know it, the day has sped by and our efficiency is shot. The work we intended (our intentions are always good in the beginning aren’t they?) to get done is being put off until later. Have you ever experienced this? This may be a sign that you need to think about your phone use and how it is affecting the bottom line in your business.

There are many tell tale signs that your phone calls are distracting you from your real work. One way to determine just how much affect phone usage has on the productivity of your business is to time your phone calls. How long are you spending on the phone? Keep in mind that when you get on the phone, you are breaking up your work. Once you finish the call and head back to the task at hand, time is also spent refocusing on what you were doing prior to the phone call. Put together all the time that is devoted to your phone calls during the course of the day, from getting the number, to talking on the phone, to getting back to work. The time that you spend “on the phone” just might surprise you.

Next, think about how often you actually take calls. Do you feel as though the number of calls that you are taking detracts from your ability to work, or do you feel as though it contributes? You may find that other phones ringing is enough to distract you, or that if the phone stays silent for too long that you get nervous or antsy. Any of these symptoms might be a sign that you need to form a plan to get out of this productivity killing dilemma.

All hope is not lost however, even if you live with your phone what seems like attached at your ear. In order to combat the time wasting telephone and start making your phone calls and in turn your other tasks productive for your business, try putting this practice into place.

Begin by setting up a rough call time limit based on your average call time. You will need to find out just how much time you spend on the phone using the steps mentioned above beforehand.
Next, make sure that you know what topics need to be discussed before you call anyone. This is an important way to make sure that your call is not out of control and lasting longer than it should. This step alone will make planning your time better and get more done during your work time.

Although it’s not always easy to determine when someone else will call, you can implement these same strategies for calls you receive. Screening calls will also help reduce or even diminish wasted talk time. Remember that your time is valuable and your business is important, so don’t let the telephone distract you anymore than you have to.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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Web Hosting Checklist for Moms: This Decision Can Make or Break your Business

If you’re a work at home mom like me, you may also have struggled with finding reliable web hosting. Well, over the years (and many headaches later), I’ve come up with a checklist of essentials that your web host must have before you even consider working with them.

1. Excellent Reliability.
There is nothing more frustrating than finding out your website is down, and has been for hours. Although no time is a good time to have your site down, the timing can be just terrible. That sinking feeling when you’ve purchased advertising and you know the ad is about to be sent out and you go to your website for last minute touches and … it’s down.

That is not cool. That is not acceptable. You must make sure that the web host you select not only has good reliability, but superior reliability. This is your business on the line, not some hobby site. Treat it as such and get hosting that works for you when you need it. But, you can’t just trust a website that says they are reliable. Make sure they can prove it.

2. Superior Customer Support.
When you do need help, make sure that your hosting will provide it. One thing I recommend is to contact support to ask a simple question about the hosting, before buying. That will give you an idea of what the customer service is like before you make a commitment. Yes, customer service has a difficult job – making sure they do not confuse less-experienced customers, yet, at the same time, also making sure not to talk down to the geek types. However, you should never feel like you are a “bother” or that your question is not as important as anyone else’s.. or worse, dumb. You should find a web host with superior customer support.

3. The Stats You Need.
Several of the most popular hosts do not offer the web stats that every online business needs. You may not think that you need stats, but, how else are you going to know what is working – and what is not? You need stats that tell you where your visitors are coming from, how long they are staying, and which pages they are coming in and going from. Does your web host offer that? If they have a CPanel as their control panel, they do. Find a web host that uses a standard CPanel.

4. Affordable.
Why spend more if you don’t have to? When looking for a web host, price is always a factor. So, shop around and make sure that the web host you decide upon offers a great price.

5. Room to Grow.
The web host you choose should offer unlimited hosting. This means, that, if you add more websites to your package down the road, the price does not increase drastically for each one. Many online businesses start with one site and grow over time. Can your host grow with you?

6. Bandwidth and Disk Space.
Also, make sure that the host you choose is in the ballpark for bandwidth and disk space. Most programs offer approximately the same amount, but, especially if you plan to add a lot of audio or video, be sure to look into this, as well.

7. A History of Happy Customers.
New hosting companies are popping up daily. Some are being run by a couple of teenagers in their garage. Obviously, that’s not who I want to entrust my business to. Do you? I want to know that the company I’m choosing has been around a few years, and has a history of happy customers to show for it. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, and you shouldn’t either.

Those are the key features that any web host should offer before you consider doing business with them. Choosing a web host can be more important than any other decision you make in your online business – if you choose wrong. So, take the time and find a web host that will work with you, and help you to succeed.

Nicole Dean is co-owner of Mom Webs Hosting -  where you’ll find the host that offers everything a work at home mom needs – reliability, unlimited hosting, and customer service that never makes you feel intimidated — all at a price you can afford.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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You’ve Decided to Tweet ~ Be a Model Twitizen: A Twitter How-To

By now you’ve either decided to sign up for Twitter, or you may still be on the fence.  I would say ~ Go For It!  I actually came across this valuable information by being referred from a Tweet, and thought, I must share.  It’s the most succinct set of guidelines that I have seen yet.  Don’t forget to Follow Me on Twitter ~ Moomettesgram ~

Be a Model Twitizen: A Twitter How-To

by LaSara Firefox, MPNLP, www.lasarafirefox.com
(Follow me: http://www.twitter.com/Yoga_Mama)

I was skeptical at first, but now Twitter is my golden city. As a busy mom and entrepreneur, I can take a few minutes and digest a handful of posts from my favorite Twitter friends, or post a bite-sized delight about my own day – all condensed to 140 characters or less. Who doesn’t have time for that?

Yes, often those posts will contain a link that may lead to an off-site exploratory mission, but so far it’s the most organic and dynamic way I’ve found to keep to my finger on the quick-beating pulse of the magical and diverse interwebs, and at the same time keep a constant stream of interest in what I have to offer.

If you’re new to Twitter, or have yet to join the chorus, here are a few ground rules that will help you to make your tweets harmonious.

1. Follow me, and I’ll follow you…and vice-versa:
If I follow you, please do the community-oriented thing and follow me, too. That way it becomes a conversation, a collaboration, a community. For us dedicated tweeters, Twitter is about building relationships. Build one with me!

Most of us don’t tweet to hear the sound of our own voice. No one wants to be shouting into a well. Consider my follow an invitation into my world, as well as a tip of the hat to your skill in presenting a doorway into yours.

2. Write a good bio:
In the beginning, this tiny bio is all we know about each other. 160 characters of character. The bio is often an under-utilized aspect of Twitter. I’m encouraging a bio revival! Make me want to know you. (It’s great practice for your elevator pitch, too, right?)

I encourage you to include something about your openness to new followers, or the reason you’re on Twitter. I put “Follow me, I’ll follow you,” in my bio. If you only want people you already know to follow you, you can protect your updates. In addition, you could say “I only follow people I know.” This little step will save both of us time, energy, and pride.

In addition to the bio, there’s a spot for a url. Add a link to a place where I can find out more about you; your blog, your website, an article you’ve written, your facebook profile.

3. Building your “Twitterverse”:
The way to build your network is to follow people. Yet, you ideally want a good balance between following and followers. So there’s a rhythm to building your twitterverse. Here’s how mine goes:
a. Find prospective Twitter friends (see step 4 on some tips on that), and follow them.
b. Allow a few days for the prospective community member to follow me in return.
c. If they follow me back, I make personal contact through a direct message (aka, “dm”, see section 6 for more info) and all is good. If they don’t, I evaluate whether they’re worthwhile to follow without the benefit of a two-way conversation. If they are, I keep them on. If not, I unfollow them.

4. Finding your twitter-posse:
You want to follow people you find interesting. You want to be followed by people who will find you interesting. Whether this is for work, fun, community building, or all of the above, your skill in creating your personal Twitterverse predicts how rewarding your Twitter experience will be.

There are worlds of possibility in every moment, but even more so in Twitter. Bloggers, and moms, and marketers, oh my! Really, you can find followers and followees from all walks of life, and with interests that run the gamut. These people are going to be getting into your head, and introducing you to new worlds day by day. Choose accordingly!

First off, click on the Find People tab on your home page (upper right, see it? good!) you might want to follow your irl (in real life) friends. You can search them by name or e-mail address. You can also invite them to join twitter, if you think they’d enjoy the experience.

Next, you’ll want to choose a few terms that indicate shared interests. For me, those terms were mom, mommy, mama, momma, and the dad variations, too. Then yoga. You can either search by terms at http://search.twitter.com/, or you can use the Find People tab again.

When you search your terms, the search will bring up profiles that list terms in the Twitter user name, in a tweeter’s bio, or even sometimes in a tweeter’s tweets. I found pages and pages of members listed on most of the terms I searched.

I chose selectively from the tweeters listed. Some of the parameters I used to decide whether I should follow someone or not were;
* The date they last tweeted – if someone hasn’t been on in months, what are the chances they’ll respond to a follow alert from a stranger?
* What their most recent tweet said; for example, if the tweet said “Why the hell are all these strangers following me? Creepy!?!”, that member is not a likely candidate for community building!
* Their bio, and whether it sounded like we’d be a good match.

Most often I would choose not to follow people with protected updates, but in rare cases I’d risk it and request permission to follow. I recommend that you judge that one on a case-by-case basis.

Another way to find like-minded tweeters is to go to a like-minded tweeters page, and follow the tweeters they follow, and those who follow them. You can see bios by placing your cursor over a tweeter’s name.

I would follow as many tweeters as I felt inspired to in one fell swoop (I think my “following” list got up to around 2000 once), and see who followed back. After a few days, I’d go back check out which tweeters had responded, and go through the evaluation of whether I would keep following tweeters who had followed back, or not.

Through this strategy, I built my list of followers up to over 700 in a matter of days.

5. Ethics for business (and personal) networking:
Some disagree with me on this, but I believe that even – or perhaps especially – if “you” are a business, you should follow in return. Yes, Twitter is free advertising, and it’s SMART advertising – JetBlue, Zappos, Vans and thousands of entrepreneurs can’t be wrong!

But, as always, there needs to be some buy-in. In this case, imnsho (in my not so humble opinion), the buy-in is this; I’ll pay attention to your posts, but I expect you to pay attention to mine, too. It’s a give and take, baby!

Besides, think of the marketing information you’ll be able to gather. Two-way communication with your demographic is just plain smart business sense.

Also, it’s not good manners to follow me, and then turn around and unfollow me when you think I’m not looking. I will come back and check from time to time, to see if those I follow are following me. (I do the same for those who are following me, too. I go and check my followers and make sure I’ve returned the follow.)

Not only that, there are tons of third party systems coming into being that are created to augment the Twitter experience. One of these even helps twitterers keep track of their follower activity. And, there are sure to be more of them as time goes by, and Twitter’s popularity continues to soar to new heights.

There are a few exceptions to the rule, but I generally don’t follow those who aren’t willing to follow me in return. I cast a line out, and if you grab hold I’ll hang on too. However, if there’s no resultant tug on the rope, I’ll reel it back in and cast in another direction.

If you have something amazing to say, and I just can’t live without your voice, I’ll stick around. But I tell you, it’s so much more fun when we can all sing out together!

6. A few easy commands that will be useful to know:
@username: this creates an automatic link to a tweeter’s profile, and alerts the user that you have sent a public post that cites them. If you’re replying to a tweet, including @username (like @yoga_mama) is great. It both promotes the tweeter, and creates a connection between you and the tweeter in question.

#tag: (like #gratitude, #palin, #debate, etc.) makes it easy to search an item, and get all the tweets that are relevant. It’s also is an easy way to see relationships between tweets by multiple tweeters.

rt, or retweet: when you repost someone’s tweet, it’s proper to add “rt @username” and then the retweet. Basically, it’s a way to give credit where credit is due. And again, it promotes tweeters who are tweeting things you appreciate or agree with.

d username: direct messages are the way to send a private note to another tweeter. Remember, it’s “d(space)username(space)message”. You’re only able to “dm” tweeters who are following you.

In closing:
Twitter is a community. In some way more profoundly than any other networking site I’ve ever been part of, the tweeters I follow have worked their way into my heart.

Maybe it’s the often unguarded, haiku-like quality of the “microblogging” experience. Maybe it’s the frequency with which I see the words of a given tweeter. Maybe it’s the fact that the Twitter experience has the contour and context of a conversation drifting in through the kitchen window.

And this in a country (the USA) where we often don’t have a sister or best friend living next door, or a neighbor we could easily ask for advice on a moment’s notice. Much less, hundreds of neighbors, many of whom might send well wishes when you need them, and heartfelt advice when you ask for it. (Or, just like any family, sometimes even when you don’t!)

Twitter has brought us into one another’s living rooms. It’s allowed us to share our vacations, our kid’s Big Game, our successes and heartbreaks.

It’s opened a window into a community that never goes to sleep – tweeters live all over the world, as one tweeter tweets her last missive of the night, another wakes up to a brilliant new day. A community that is always willing to give a shout out, send a smile, talk about politics, and lift one another up in a challenging moment.

Remember this as you build your personal Twitterverse. You are creating a new world, from nothing. Build it, grow it, nurture it with intention and care. And you know, everything will be just right.

About the author:
LaSara FireFox, MPNLP, is a coach, trainer, and published author. LaSara helps clients find balance in their lives, and alignment with their personal and family-held values. She teaches and coaches internationally. She’s wife to an outstanding man, and mom to two brilliant girls.

You can find out more about LaSara at www.lasarafirefox.com. While you’re there, be sure to check out LaSara’s weekly conscious parenting podcast; Yoga Mama Satsangha.

(Please feel free share this article, in its entirety. Repost, send to your list, share with your friends. Please include all links, and LaSara’s bio. Quoting is always welcome, and should be executed in accordance with basic MLA quoting guidelines.)

Related:

So You’re a New Blogger: What Makes Twitter so Hot?

How-To Tips for Incorporating Twitter into Your Daily Business Routine

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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So You Want to be a WAHM: Get Your Family on Your Side

Continuing in my chronicles of trying to develop a work-at-home lifestyle in preparation for retirement, I’m going to address the issue of “getting your family on-board” and used to the idea that the dining room table is no longer for dining.  It has now become my “staging area.”

Years ago when we were young, childless and full of energy, I used to entertain quite frequently (and quite elegantly, I might add.)  Those days are over, and I now need my dining room for my eBay Store shipping area, as well as for all the items for my product reviews.  Convincing the family that I am indeed, quite serious about this venture, has been to say the least, challenging.

Taking on a home business venture is difficult enough. Getting your family to support you may be the difference between your business success and failure. From your family’s point of view, this working at home thing has both it’s good and bad points.

Your “too young for school” age children love having you at home because they like doing things with you, whether it’s baking cookies or playing in the sandbox.

Your school age children find it pretty handy having mom at home to drive them to their soccer games or have their friends over to play. They even like having you come to school to volunteer in their classroom.

Teenagers are a harder sell. They like that you can drive them to the mall or bring them to work. They however may not be really fond of the fact that you always seem to be around.

If, like me, you might be a Baby Boomer Grandma, working at home might seem like an open invitation to drop the grandkiddos off at a moment’s notice when a babysitter is needed.

Now your husband probably sees both sides. He loves that his wife is home taking care of the house and the kids and making a nice supper each evening. He’s even proud of what and says he supports you in what you are doing and may even be amazed at how you manage to pull it all off and make it seem easy.

He’s not as keen on the fact that your income has dropped if you used to have a “real” job and are not making the same amount of money as a WAHM. He probably is not too crazy about the idea of having to pitch in more in the evenings so that you can get some work done. You’re busier when he wants some attention and he has trouble understanding why, when you’re home all day, you need to work in the evening.

The hardest person to get on-board may be your husband. He may not be convinced that you’ll actually make any money with your venture.

So how do you overcome your family’s objections to your working at home and get them on your side? Holding a family conference to discuss the issue is probably a good first step. During this conversation it’s important for everyone to have their say and to share their feelings. By hearing what your children and husband think and how they perceive your home business venture, you’ll know how best to explain your ideas.

Try to elicit a promise of your spouse’s support for at least a period of several months, so you will have some time to get up and running. If he is very much opposed to your venture at least try to arrive at a compromise with him. Perhaps suggest that if you’re not showing an income after a specified period of time, you’ll give it up, put it on hold for awhile, or go back to work.

Come to some mutual agreement that you can both live with. This is how it becomes a win/win situation. You’ll work even harder to prove you can do it and he’ll be happy knowing that there will be a resolution.

Your family needs to realize the benefits of you working at home rather than outside the home. Point out how much extra help you’d need and the extra chores they’d have to do if you weren’t working at home. This is usually a pretty persuasive argument when it comes to the kids and maybe even your husband too.

Talk about your feelings regarding having your own home business, whether you are considering a career as a real estate agent, eBay entrepreneur, boutique online store owner, or Etsy owner.  Discuss how important it is to you that they support you. The guilt card, when used properly, can be very effective.

Involve everyone in the decision about your venture. Listen to each and every family member and take their feelings into consideration and ask that they do the same for yours. You can even try offering rewards for their support. They don’t have to be monetary awards either, spending time together and showing them how readily available you can be to them when they need you will help you be on the way to getting and keeping your family squarely on your side.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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eBay Seller Tips ~ Find Those Hard To Find Toys for the 2008 Holiday

We’re coming into the 2008 Holiday Selling season now on eBay ~ my favorite time of year, as sales in my eBay Store, Moomette’s Magnificents, really start to jump! As a Grandma, I’m always on the lookout for that special toy that’s sure to be a big hit with the kiddie set. I’m going to rely on my copy of the 2008 Holiday Toy Guide.

The 2008 Holiday Toy Selling Guide is a resource for eBay sellers that provides a list of the toys expected to be the most popular this holiday season. This list is compiled from industry experts and compares the retail prices to performance on eBay and then this information is provided in a weekly report.

Want to get a heads-up?  Here’s 9 Tips For Finding Those Hard To Find Toys:

Just because you may not see a toy on the shelf in a store, doesn’t mean it is out of stock. Use these nine tips to find even the toys that are the most difficult to get your hands on.

1. Communicate with your local stores to learn stocking patterns

2. Talk with store stockers just to learn how they run their store

3. Store employees are more likely to talk with collectors than dealers – Be very careful of your wording ~  They will figure out that you are a dealer/reseller when you visit buying the same things over and over.

4. Talk with customer service folks – Don’t assume all employees have the same level of information. Sometimes they have information the stockers don’t have. Where a stocker may not know when they are getting a shipment of a specific toy, the customer service folks may be able to tell you.

5. Avoid the big stores – check out drug stores, grocery stores – even smaller online toy stores

6. Visit grocery stores/drug stores in less affluent areas

7. Visit out-of-the-way cities

8. Look behind other toys on the shelves

9. Look under shelves in hidden storage areas – and places employees would hide toys.

The 2008 Holiday Toy Guide provides you with a list of the most popular toys – many of these toys are going to get harder and harder to find as we get closer to the Holiday Season. Be sure to use these tips to find these great selling toys.

Hurry! Weekly updates to the Holiday Toy Guide start the first week of November… and joining before November 4th will ensure that all 8 updates are received.

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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How to Increase Blog or Website Traffic ~ Join Slogbite Site Directory

My good friend Shinade, from the Painted Veil is back online again!  I was so happy to see her post a comment on my Mama Mentor blog recently.  I met Shinade through Entrecard dropping.

Shinade tagged me with a Meme, and tipped me off to a new site that’s going through a soft launch.

Slogbite is a new concept in Directory Listings.

SlogBite is a Site Directory where you can:

“See the Best before you see the Rest”

I’m already listed, and am tagging 7 of my blogging buddies so they too can get in on the ground floor of all the action:

Roxiticus Desperate Houswives

Brain Foggles

That Crazy Mom

April Tara

Mature Not Senile

Housewife Hiccups

Small Town Mommy

Be sure to visit my blogging buddies websites ~ they’re all good reads ~ and be sure to leave me a comment and let me know if you signed up for Slogbite (it’s Free!)  Tell them ‘Moomettesgram’ sent you!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

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@Moomettes

Reasons Why You Should Use Twitter for Internet Marketing to Gain New Clients

The Holidays will soon be upon us and we’ll all be in full-swing mode.  Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally signifies the start of the Holiday Shopping Season.  As a work-at-home Boutique online store owner, and also an eBay Power Seller, I’m already getting my inventory ready to move. This will be the first selling season that I’m going to be employing the powers of Twitter to help me out.

Many people look around for good marketing tools to help spread the word about what they do and the Twitter service is gaining a lot of ground as one of the most popular ways to market your online business. For those looking to gain more clients, Twitter is an awesome way to do so. The best part is that it really isn’t all that hard and doesn’t take a ton of time or money to do so.

Maybe you just want to reach more people, or perhaps you’re in a situation where you want to make sure that the people around you understand what it is you do in order to help them decide if they can use your product or services. In any case, have a look at the growing popularity of Twitter.

A combination of a chat or instant messaging service and a micro-blog, Twitter is a great way to gain a broader audience. Simply by being yourself and showing others what it is you do via tweets (messages) or from word-of-mouth from current customers, you stand the chance of gaining more clients.

The thing about Twitter is that the abbreviated length can do you a great service.  You have the chance to convey the information that you need to get across without being too wordy or having potential clients get distracted while looking at your website. Because of this short and to-the-point way of communicating, you have the ability to pique your potential client’s interest so that they will click your links to learn more. Sending them back to your website to learn more about you, the service you provide or the product you sell is what you’re after here.

A case-in-point was when I added an exclusive line of artisan hand-crafted destination bead jewelry to my Moomette’s Magnificents Olde Towne Shoppes, I sent an announcement out with a link to the site.
You also have the ability to send potential clients to specific areas of your website in order to find the information they need. This will save them time and that’s always a plus. They want specific information and if you can give it to them with a few words and a link to the direct page on your site with this information, they’ll love you for it. For instance, if you’re a service provider, the next time someone asks you what your rates are, you can send them directly to your rates page to find the answers they need immediately.  As another example, if someone’s looking for low-cost advertising rates, I send them through Tiny URL directly to my Advertising Page.

After you’ve been on Twitter for awhile you’ll start to see the word-of-mouth concept flying around everywhere. If one of your current customers is a member of Twitter and you’ve just returned an awesome project to them, especially if they happen to be chatting on Twitter when they get the email, they will more than likely sing your praises to their followers. Twitter has quickly become a place where many business owners go to ask for recommendations of service providers for certain tasks they need completed. You’ll even find some businesses recruiting Virtual Assistants, or Writers, Blog Installers, Logo Designers and more when they need something done.

Twitter has a viral nature and quickly your name and what you do can be passed on to many people.  If you contribute to conversations and let people know you’re out there, you’ll find that your tweets as well as your website URL will be passed around and shared. Make sure that you take advantage of this positive way to get your name out there.  Many people use Twitter, and you’ll find that this familiarity is one thing that can help you distinguish yourself from the herd.

Here’s a great article from DoshDosh to further explain the benefits of Twitter.

Want to know more about what I’m doing?  Follow me on Twitter and Subscribe to my Newsletter!

Copyright 2010 Moomette’s Magnificents – All Rights Reserved

Follow Me on Twitter
@Moomettes

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