So here is a list of the tools I use and recommend that will help you run your business more effectively including tools to help you to market and grow your business, automate your business, sell products online…and many more. Some of these tools are also free to use.

I will add more tools as I come across them, but if you have any suggestions that you think would be great to share with other members, please let me know. Click here to check them out…

Related Websites

What are keywords?

When searching for information on the web, a person will enter words and phrases to describe what they are looking for into a search engine, like Google. These search words and phrases (search terms) are also known as keywords. The search engine will return results that best match the words submitted. The more defined you are with your search term (keywords), the more relevant the results will be.

For example, type the keyword women into a search engine and you'll get thousands of results, some relevant but most irrelevant to you. However, if you type the words women in business Australia, you'll get a much more targeted result.

Why are they important?

In order for a search engine to display your website when people search with certain keywords, you need to include keywords on your website. If your website is displayed in the search and people click on it, guess what – that is a free source of targeted traffic to your website.

How to determine what keywords to use

There is no point in just including any keywords; they must be relevant in order to target potential visitors to your website. Therefore your keywords need to be clear and concise. First of all you need think like your customers and determine what keywords they would use when on the web to find your product or service. There are several ways of doing this:

• You can guess, or
• You can do some research

So let's assume that you wish to find the right keywords for your business and not just guess. Firstly you need to find the core keywords that people would use to find your website. The most specific your keywords are the better.

For example, a business that offers services for business women could have keywords of – women in business, business women, women working from home, work at home women, women with small businesses.

The best way of doing this is to use a keyword research tool. There are several great free tools available that you can use and here we are going to show you how to use two of them.

Here is a video by Andrew Edwards from Online Marketing Solutions on how to use Wordtracker

You can also use the free Google Adwords Keyword Tool Once you have your keywords, you need to use them to drive traffic…

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But now what… How do you make sure you have not wasted your time and money getting people to visit your business by not being able to convert your potential customers into actual customers?

Do you know how many visitors you convert into customers? If not, why…

This is the first thing you should be finding out. You need to track the amount of enquiries you receive against the amount you convert into customers (the % of visitors that actually convert to customers) – this is known as your Conversion Rate.

Once you know this figure, it’s easy to start improving it.

Many business mums think they have a good conversion rate, and if asked will say something around the 50% mark and upwards. However, in reality when they actually take steps to measure their conversation rate, they find it’s more likely 20%. This is still good but just think how much more you could make if you could improve your conversion by 5, 10 or even 20%

So, what steps can we take to increase our conversion rate?

1. Write up a phone script. This gives you control over the phone conversation and helps with any nerves that you may have in talking with a potential customer. This step also is one of the first in systemizing your business so that you can delegate answering of phones to someone else!
2. Capture your visitor’s details and send them newsletters with great offers. Generally people need to see something 5 times before they will act. Some industry professionals say this figure is as high as 7 times. It’s also a known fact that most people will not purchase from your business on their first visit. (Unless they come with a bag of recommendations from previous customers!) So you need to ask them if you can have their details to send them special offers. Use a capture device (more about these on the Business Essentials website). After they start to receive a few emails from you, they may then convert to a customer.
3. Special Offer promotions. Hardly anyone hates a bargain!! A good way to convert a visitor to a customer is to hold a special offer promotion. This needs to be more than just a 10% discount, something like a buy one -get one free, or receive a free gift with every purchase. Ensure you put a deadline on this!! That makes them feel the need to buy then and there!
4. Increase Average Spend by Up-selling, Cross-selling and Down-selling. Bundle products together to increase your customers’ average spend. Someone may have just come into your store to buy a hand cream worth $15, but they see you have a bundle offer where they get a nail care kit as well for $35. You now have them spending $35 in your store, rather than $15. If someone wants you to explain your products to them, always start with the most expensive one you have. That way, when you give them cheaper alternatives, they feel as though they have got a good deal. You may have just gotten them to spend $25 instead of 0$!
5. Customer Service. If someone can see you are genuinely interested in helping them fulfill their needs, they may not actually purchase from you then and there, however they will remember you when they need to come back, Or, even better will send their friends to you. Take a little time to excel in servicing your customer or potential customer and it will come right back to you.

These few simple things could make a huge difference to your home based business.

A great way to help you learn how to convert more visitors into customers would be to access our mums in business resources at http://www.mumsinbusiness.net where you will discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mums just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

Alison Basson – Mums in Business and Business Women Unite, for women who are serious about business

It is a well known fact that a high proportion of businesses fail within the first year, and business mums are no exception. There are many reasons why businesses are not successful, but here are 7 of the most common ones made by mums, that you should avoid.

1. Not organising your time
   As mums we already have a busy life but becoming a business mum takes plenty of organisation, if you wish to create a successful business and lifestyle. Planning your day is crucial to achieve this. Write down everything you need to do and achieve. Include personal and business goals and then put together a weekly action plan and daily task list. It will make it easier if you can dedicate set days to your business and then you can do all your business tasks on those days.
2. Starting a business with no money
   Many work at home mums start a business to generate a necessary income for the family. Because they are short of funds in the first place they have insufficient funds to actually get the business off the ground properly. I often hear the words “I have no money to market my business, what should I do?” If you are a business mum with no or limited funds, you will need to be very creative and have plenty of time available because you will have to use all the no cost/low cost marketing strategies available to promote your business. The best thing is to make sure you have some funds available or funds that you can access so that you can cover your set up costs and the first few months of business whilst you are trying to make sales.
3. Blindly marketing your business
   You are so excited at starting your business that all you want to do is start generating sales. You book your advertising in newspapers, magazines and online, book to attend an expo and order your flyers all in the first few months of business. What then happens is you realise that you have spent more money on advertising and promoting the business than you recoup on sales. This is so common and yet so deadly to your business. What you need to do is research all the marketing activities available to your business and then determine which ones are best for you. The best thing to do first is to use no cost/low cost marketing strategies such as strategic alliances, competitions and online forums. Try not to let the excitement of starting a business cloud your judgement.
4. Discard the myth that you can do it all yourself
   As mums we often think we can do it all but when it comes to being a mum in business you will pay a high price if you try to do it all. You will end up working more and more hours, leaving you tired and fed up with your business, which has a huge impact on your family life. Getting help early on and learning from people who already run successful businesses will help. You will be able to avoid the mistakes that they made and take an easier route to success. Also ensure you have a good support network – family, friends and business group.
5. Not taking time out for yourself
   As mothers how often do we hear, “you must look after yourself and take some time out for yourself’. To which our response is often, yeah right when do I have time! It is even more important when you run a business as well. We often get lost in our businesses, especially when it is new, so try and take time out for yourself on a regular basis. This will help you to stay fresh, motivated and confident. Treat yourself to lunch with friends, get your hair/nails done, play golf, go shopping etc. If you look good you will feel better about yourself, you will be more productive in your life and business. The reverse is also true.
6. Trying to juggle the business around the children
   Mums often go into business so that they can stay at home and spend more time with the children. Here is a reality check, if you think that you can run a business and look after the children full time or run your business around their sleep times, then think again. If you want to create a successful professional business you will need to make some decisions about when you are going to work in your business and who will look after the children at those times. Make a clear distinction between the two and avoid working in family time.
7. Not setting up an office environment and staying professional
   It is a common misconception that you can start a business without having to set up a separate office environment that is away from the children. Making calls or answering the phone is not professional when you can hear playing or screaming children in the background.

The information contained above is only an overview of things that might need to be addressed. In business you need to take one step at a time so if your business is suffering due to any of the above mistakes you should take action to correct this.

A great way to help you get advice on creating a successful business would be to access our free mums in business resources at www.mumsinbusiness.net/free.html where you will discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mums just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business

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• Have a routine and plan your day. Write down everything you need to do and achieve. Include personal and business goals and then put together a weekly action plan and daily task list. It will make it easier if you can dedicate set days to your business and then you can do all your business tasks on those days.
• Separate your work and family time and balance your time. Make a clear distinction between the two. Set time aside for your family and avoid working in family time. Trying to work with children in toe is not a great recipe for success and not very fair on your children.
  • Set up an office environment away from the children. – This will help you to focus on work and be professional.
  • When making phone calls – children will always interrupt so make your business calls when they are asleep or when someone else can watch them. It is not professional to make calls with noisy children in the background.
  • Do the day-to-day running of the business. If you look after your children full time, working when the children are asleep can be a great option.
• Have set working days. This will help you to focus on your business with no interruptions from your children. If you need some additional time to concentrate on the business then consider having your children looked after for a period of time each week by a relative or friend, Childcare or Family Day Care or Au Pair or Nanny?
• Get help from experts. If you try and do everything yourself, you will pay a high price – your health, family time and an unsuccessful business.
  

  Find experts who offer help for small business;  use their knowledge to help you grow your business. Outsource tasks by recruiting a PR person, a bookkeeper, an admin person etc.

• Know what you want to achieve from your business. Having definite objectives will help you to work towards your goals. Break them down into smaller goals that you can achieve as you work towards your ultimate goals. It is much better than having everything going round in your head and being unsure whether you are actually achieving anything.

By following these few steps, your home based small businesswill develop the strong foundations it needs to succeed. Remember, building a wahm business takes time, and you must be patient and dedicated to be successful.

A great way to help you successfully juggle being a MUM and an Entrepreneur would be to access our free mums in business resources at www.mumsinbusiness.net where you will discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mums just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business  

Related Websites

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So, how do we do it?

Physically clean and tidy - First thing is to physically clean and tidy all of your desk and office. Put all of your papers to one side in a big pile and clean your computer, phone and accessories (not forgetting the desk itself). For those who have a computer on the kitchen bench or similar, this might be a great time to re-evaluate making an office space.

Organise your time – Next you need to work out a time schedule for your days and week. This is also commonly called a DMO- Daily Method of Operation. The aim of this exercise is to ensure that you have set aside and blocked out work time. Investing in a daily diary is a great idea. In your dairy

a. Block out time for your essential personal tasks like family time, pick up and drop off of kids, any cooking, bed times etc. Ensure you block out time for you as well.

b. Then, with what you have left over, start choosing blocks of time that you can set aside to work. These may be whole days or part of days depending on your circumstances.

· Make a list all the tasks that you should be doing on a daily and weekly basis.

· Enter what tasks you will complete in each blocks of time. I.e. Answer emails 9am-10am Tues – Thurs, Process orders 3 times a week.

c. Next, after you’ve blocked out your times, put them up where you can see them! Make sure your family can see them as well, and ensure that your work times are ok with everyone and don’t clash.

Focus your mind! – Now it’s time to focus on your mind! Having a positive mind set is crucial to success in business. A great way to clear your mind and to focus is by writing affirmations. An Affirmation consists of the following:

• Visualize your goals and dreams, picture yourself actually achieving your goals
• Specific details for each of your goals
• A step by step plan

Set some goals – Once you’ve defined your affirmations, it’s time to set some goals. It’s a great idea to set some short and long term goals.

• Follow the acronym – SMART- Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed
• Always make sure your goals are in the present tense and have a timeframe on them
• Review your goals every 90 days and amend if necessary

A great way to help you get organised and focused would be to access our free mums in business resources at www.mumsinbusiness.net where you will discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mums just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business

More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

It comes as a real shock when business mums find out that they have been working for the last year for no money or even worse that the business has been costing them money.

There is no point spending time, money and energy on your business if it doesn’t make you any money.So how can you easily evaluate if your business is making any money if you don’t know a lot about finance.

Well, first let me say why it is so crucial. If you don’t know how you are doing, how can you improve it and how are you going to stay in business? I am going to show you a few basic things you can do to monitor your business and improve its performance:

1. First the basics – you need to have more money coming into your business than what goes out of your business. I can hear it now – well that’s simple, everybody knows that and yes they probably do but you will be amazed at the amount of people who have no idea how much they spend each month but continue to spend money they don’t have.
2. Have a working budget that help you to identify number of sales required, expenses, breakeven point and profit or loss.
3. Complete your accounts on a regular basis so that you can compare them against your budget. This can be a really simple process and you don’t have to purchase expensive software, you can even do it on an excel spreadsheet if you don’t have a lot of activity.
   
   Monitoring them on a regular basis will allow you to identify early on areas of your business that may need to be improved.
   • Look at your sales. The figures should be improving – if they are not, ask yourself why. What are your strategies for making sure you achieve your sales budget. How are you going to generate more sales?
   • Look at your costs. Are your costs in line with your sales – if you are not getting the sales you need, reduce your costs or increase your sales?
4. Know how much profit you make on each of your products/services. The aim is to make as much Gross Profit out of each of the products as possible. The higher your gross profit percentage the more money you will make.
5. Know your business break-even point – this is how many sales you need to cover all your costs. If you cannot cover your costs you are going to lose money and eventually go broke.

Doing these few things could make the difference between making money and losing money.

Here is an example: AXY business makes $2,500 in sales per month and makes a guess that their costs are around $2,000 per month. So they know that they will make $500 per month. However, when they checked their costs they realised they were actually $2,500 per month which meant that they had not actually made any money at all. They had been working for months for nothing.

If they had known these figures before hand, they could have done several things. Reduce their costs and/or increase their sales. As I mentioned earlier if you don’t know how you are doing, how can you improve it and how are you going to stay in business.

A great way to help you get advice on creating a successful business would be to access our free mums in business resources at www.mumsinbusiness.net where you will discover proven, easy-to-apply strategy that mums just like YOU are using every day to start & grow profitable businesses!

From Alison Basson – Mums in Business, for mums and women who are serious about business

More than a mum, I’m a mum in business

.

If you’re a business mum like me, then I think we are probably a lot alike. I find it a challenge constantly looking for new ways to promote my business. To tell you the truth, I am not a marketing expert and don’t have a ton of money to sink into employing one. But with the help of some fantastic people I have to tell you I have figured out how to do this stuff. As I know you share the same frustrations I had, I created a solution which I want to share with you.

Imagine if you can have an interactive business community especially for women like you’ve never seen before where you can join for F’REE that gives you in one place…

So listen up as I know you are going to love this.

• Your own business profile page
• The opportunity to create your own group of friends, business associates and even potential clients for F’REE!!
• Access to expert business advice
• The ability to learn new skills from amazing business articles

Imagine the growth and exposure your business can get from that!

This is a dynamic community where business women can unite to fulfil their business goals by sharing ideas, creating business opportunities and chatting to other members. As a member of business women unite, you will be able to connect with thousands of women who are serious about business and enjoy the support, advice and resources you need to succeed.

Well, imagine no longer…it’s here. As a valued subscriber of Mums in Business I would like to invite you to take advantage of Business Women Unite. Remember it is totally F’REE for you!

Benefit from business women unite today, it’s free and start connecting with other business women just like you. Join at www.businesswomenunite.net

Enjoy!
Alison Basson

More than a mum, I’m a mum in business