Karla’s Online System Blog

In the movie “Mean Girls” starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams, the main character Cady talks about “word vomit”.   That is when you start saying things that you really do not need to be saying, but you cannot help it.

So what on earth does that have to do with your home based business?   Well, I believe that when almost all new home based business owners are talking to people about their business, they have a severe case of “word vomit”.

It is really not your fault, you actually think you are doing the right thing.  After all, if someone wants to know about your business, you should give them as much information as possible right? Wrong.

When talking to someone about your opportunity, less is always, always, always more.  This is not to say that you should keep important information a secret or act like you are ashamed of your business. Does a prospect need to know the type of business you are in? Yes. Do they need to know what they will be doing if they become involved? Yes. Do they need to know how much money they make on their 3^rd level? NO!

I know that it is super easy to get excited about your new business, but do not say too much and risk overwhelming a prospect. This can cause them to back off big time.

Try to answer only the questions that are asked of you in an honest and professional way, without giving people too many details that they do not need.

This is especially true when it comes to marketing online.   I cannot tell you how many times I see people advertising their home based business and giving WAY too many details. Think about the way big fortune 500 companies advertise. They talk about their product, service, store, whatever and then stop.  They do not tell you the starting salary for their employees, the directions to get to their nearest location and the name of the college their CEO attended.   It is just too much information!

Are you starting to get what I am saying?   Less really is more when it comes to promoting your business! The next time you are talking to someone about your business remember to:

- Answer the questions they ask you honestly and then stop

- Do not get bogged down in the little details

- Do not assume prospects want to know something. Wait for them to ask

Follow these tips and avoid the “word vomit” that can kill your business. You will see that it will increase it instead.

If you need help with getting your business started or ongoing support, contact me.  I am always here for you.

Karla

Karla@KarlasPlan.com

Did you play Monopoly as a child?  Do you still like to play this game?  Marketing a business on the internet is a lot like a giant Monopoly board . If you know how to play the game you will do very well, which should be your goal.   Everybody knows that in the game of Monopoly you can’t start to really build on your property until you have all of the same color. If you own Boardwalk and Park Place, you will do very well and make a lot of money, but if you only own Park Place you won’t make as much. The same goes for your online business. It is important to own as much matching real estate as possible.

When you are deciding on the name of your website and you are branding yourself online, you want to make sure that you are using something that you can monopolize. That doesn’t mean that you have to be 100% original and unique, it just means that you need to find a name or a niche that you can make your own.

Let’s say that you won the domain name MyHomeBusiness.com (this is of course just as an example, I am not sure this is even a site). You would then want to find every place possible for you to use MyHomeBusiness on the internet. You want to name your Youtube channel youtube.com/ MyHomeBusiness, your Twitter name to be MyHomeBusiness, your blog to be MyHomeBusinessblog.com, and any other sites. Do you see what I mean?

Whatever you call your site, you want to brand yourself with it as much as possible. You want to make sure that whenever people type in My Home Business into the search bar, they come to your site and not another. By picking a name and niche that can be almost totally yours, you will be able to dominate and brand yourself in a much more effective way.

Whenever you buy a new domain name or you think of the name of a new product that you are going to be promoting, you need to be thinking about all the different ways that you can use that name online.  Just the  dot com isn’t enough by itself anymore.  With so many social networking sites and keywords playing such a big part in your success online, you cannot afford to just have a great domain name.   You need to brand yourself completely on the internet.

Building a business online is just like a game of Monopoly.   When you have all the right pieces in place, you can’t lose!

While building your home based business online, I am sure that you know the importance of blogging. Having a business blog can be one of the best things you can do for your business to attract people to you and gain more prospects.

Blogging can also be used as a team tool to stay in touch and build a relationship with people already on your team that may be scattered around the country or the globe. I recommend that you have a separate blog for this purpose, so that you can keep it private if you desire, yet have your people have access to you and be able to make comments.

If you’re wanting to build effective and popular blogs it is quite easy.

The first thing you will need is a good domain name.  I recommend using a domain name that is keyword optimized. Rather than AmysBlog.com perhaps go with something like AmysHomeBusinessSuccessBlog.com or AmysWorkAtHomeBlog.com. There are multiple possibilities. Remember that keywords are best, because they will get your blog in the search engines faster.

You will need to find a company to host your blog. When I first started, I used Wordpress.com, but later found out they do not want business blogs on their site. They blocked my blog, and left me scrambling to find something else.  I would not recommend this. The company that I use now helped me to set up my blogs and get them up and running, and the cost is minimal.

The real trick to building an effective blog doesn’t lay in the domain name, or the layout, but in the content–the posts themselves.

How do you write more effective blog posts that will not only captivate your current readers and keep them coming back, but help you gain a bigger and bigger audience and at the same time raise your blog in the search engines?

Here are a few ideas to help you write better content for your blog.

Keywords

This can not be said enough. If you want to build a popular and effective blog, you can not do it without the use of keywords. Take some time and do your keyword research, because it will pay off when you do it right! Use keywords in the categories for your blog as well! Wherever you can fit in a keyword do it!

Get Original

Nobody is going to come back an visit a boring blog. Make sure your content is original and exciting. The most effective blogs I have found  have a mix of helpful content and personal stories. You want your readers to know and trust you as a business person, as well as care about you as an individual.

Don’t feel as though you have to post as you write. You can start writing a few words and come back to it at a later time.   I do all of my writing in a writing program and save them there until I am ready to post to my blog site. I often do several when the mood strikes me, so that when I am busy or not inclined to write, I have things waiting for me to post. You can also go online and post to your blog, but don’t publish until you are happy with the results. This way, instead of posting several things in one day, you can spread it out over time.

Use Pictures

I can not stress enough how much adding pictures will add to your blog. Breaking up your text with pictures will make people want to read more.

If you have products for sale, show a picture of the product when you talk about it. This helps a reader to know what you are talking about.

Personal pictures can be an aid. If you are talking about your trip to France with the family, use one of you and your family at the Eiffel Tower, not a picture of the tower alone! Keyword optimize the titles of your pictures before you post them as well!

Those are just a few simple tips that will help your blog become more popular. Make sure you work on your blog at least a couple times a week and follow these tips and you will start seeing results!

If I can be of assistance to you, contact me and I will attempt to help out.

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

Karla@KarlasPlan.com

Are you a college student looking for a way to make money? Today, college students and 20 year olds are finding that a network marketing opportunity can be the perfect way to make some extra spending money or even 5 or 6 figures a year. There once was a time when there were very many young people in network marketing. It was mostly middle aged men and a few women who chose to join a traditional network marketing company. However, that is quickly changing. So why is it that so many college students are finding themselves being drawn to the network marketing or multi level marketing industry?

Whether you’re a college student or you just want to know how to approach the young adult in your life about your opportunity, this article will give you some great things to think and talk about.

Time freedom is probably the biggest factor if a young adult is going to choose to become part of a home based business. Being able to set your own hours and work around your own schedule is a huge plus for anyone, but especially a busy college student.

Most part time jobs aren’t willing to accommodate a student’s schedule, at least not 100% of the time. That’s when working for yourself becomes a big plus.

The wide variety of products that you can now market with a home based business are another factor. There are so many different types of network marketing companies out there right now, that anyone can find one that they are passionate and excited about.

Also, almost all companies are now marketing their businesses online, which is great for college students who are already extremely internet savvy. Young people are realizing that they can use the internet and start a career for themselves. In reality, almost all home based businesses these days can be run with a laptop, an internet connection and a cell phone.

The ability to make a large amount of money in a relatively small amount of time is what draws so many young adults to home based businesses. Why would you want to be making minimum wage at some part time job when you can be making a whole lot more in just a few months of hard work and effort?

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

karla@KarlasPlan.com

The key to success working from home or online is not just to work harder, it is to work smarter. It is important to work hard, but the person who is working smarter AND harder is the one who will reach their goals the fastest.  Here are three highly effective tips that will help you to stay on task and that can help you to work smarter and accomplish more.

1.    Take Breaks

One thing that can really help people become more effective is to take short breaks throughout your work day. This is recommended for a regular job, but it is especially helpful when working from home. Every two hours, give yourself a 10-15 minute mini break to relax, breathe and maybe get something done around the house before you start working again.

This will help you work a whole better once you get back into things. People who work and work and work and work and never stop are not going to be nearly as effective as the person who works hard for a while, takes a break and then starts back up again. It doesn’t seem to make sense, but it really does make a huge difference. I know for me, when I fail to stop for a while, I fine myself floundering around and not accomplishing much.

2.     Make a To Do List

To be more efficient, make a list of everything that you want to accomplish that day. After doing this, prioritize the list, so that you do the most important things first. The thing about owning your own business from home is that you have nobody telling you what is expected of you. Some people find it hard to make that transition from employee to business owner. Now you are the boss, so make it work for you.

When you write down everything that you want to get done that day, it will help you feel more accomplished because you can be checking things off the list all day long. You will be able to look at the finished checklist that evening and feel like you’ve really done something. You do not have to accomplish everything on your list, but you will have done the most important things and what is left can either go on tomorrow’s list, or cross it off as unimportant. This will just make you an all around more effective person!

3.     Set A Work Schedule

This does not have to be rigid, but you must have time to work.  Let everyone in the house that you are going to be working during certain hours. This can vary from day to day, or even hour to hour. Working for yourself allows you to not have to work 9 to 5.

Obviously you cannot leave your small children unattended, but older kids can learn to respect your work hours and your spouse can also help by watching the kids while you are working.

This saves so much time and helps you get much more done when you are not being interrupted by a husband, wife, roommate or children while you are trying to get things finished.  Many people post their “work hours” on their home office door and that lets others in the house know that they are working.  A white board is great for this, as it can be erased and changed.

Just doing these few things can help you become much more effective working from home. Remember working hard is important, but always work smarter first!

There are many ways to make money in online marketing these days. The internet has opened up so many different possibilities for people. However, all of this new stuff can really scare some people.  I understand not everyone is internet savvy. When I first started I knew very little.

How does someone who really doesn’t know that much about the internet learn how to make money online?   Is it possible for someone who can barely check their email to become a jack of all trades in internet or online marketing? YES! It is possible. This article will give you some tips on how to make that possible.

First you must start learning just one thing at a time. This sounds simple, but more often than not people want to go from knowing nothing about the internet to knowing everything. That can cause a lot of frustration and many doubts. It can also cause you to stop completely, feeling totally overwhelmed.

The best thing to do is to learn one technique at a time and once you master that, move on to the next. It is easy to stop once you know one or two online marketing strategies that are working, but don’t. If you want to be successful you cannot EVER stop learning. There is always more out there!

Article marketing is a good place for many people to start, because it is effective and it is not complicated. I recommend doing about two weeks of article marketing and then once you have the process down (it probably will not take you two weeks, but you will have some good articles out there) move onto something else. Once you have mastered the next thing pick something else… this goes on and on. Just do not stop doing what you have been doing.

Before you know it, you will have a wide range of ways to market your business online. If one thing isn’t working for you anymore, you can quickly move on to something else.

Remember that just because you are learning new things does not mean you should forget the old. To be successful marketing online you should be doing many different things. This way you are leaving your trademark all over the internet in many different ways.

Learning how to use the internet and become a jack of all trades is much easier than it looks! Just take things one at a time, don’t get overwhelmed and be fore you know it you’ll be an internet marketing master!

If you want to join a team that offers free internet marketing training, contact me. Our team offers some of the newest and best training available. Or if you want to go it alone, I highly recommend purchasing a training package that is very inclusive. It can take you to the next level and beyond.

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

Karla@KarlasPlan.com

There once was a time when Myspace was the biggest and baddest social network of them all. However, these days it seems that social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook have taken a bit of the wind out of Myspace’s giant sails. So the question that many people want to know is…. is Myspace marketing dead?

If you’ve taken the time to build up a huge following on Myspace, that might be something that you don’t want to hear. Could it really be possible that the king of social networking has been de-throned? Is it even really worth marketing on Myspace anymore? My answer is yes! It is definitely still worth marketing on Myspace.

Though it is very true that Myspace has lost some of it’s popularity due to the Facebook and most recently Twitter phenomenon, there are still insane numbers of people using Myspace every single day. If you’ve worked hard to gain a huge friends list and made your profile look perfect, you don’t have to despair because there is still a lot of marketing to be done on Myspace. Facebook is very adamant about keeping their site as free from marketing as possible. You can market on Facebook, but Myspace gives you a whole lot more freedom. That is why it is still the best for marketing your business.

If you really want to get the most out of social networking, I would recommend that you be a part of all of them. Each social network has their own particular strengths and weaknesses, so joining all of them is really best. Obviously there will be people who are on Twitter who aren’t on Facebook. There will be avid Myspacers who aren’t on Twitter and so on.  At the end of the day the more people you can reach the better!

Social networking is one of the best ways to build your business online. Learn how to use all of the social networks and start growing your business online today!

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

Karla@KarlasPlan.com

A friend of mine, Brittany, wrote this article and offered to allow me to post it on my blog.  I think it is well worth reading!

A social networking website is something that allows you to connect with lots of people from your computer. Two of the most popular social networking sites out there right now are Twitter and Facebook. Both of them give you the ability to promote your business online and both of them have a huge following in the home based business arena. So which one is better for your business? This is a smack down between Twitter and Facebook!

Here’s how it’s going to go down. There are 5 categories: How easy is it to use, popularity, freedom to market, ways to market and number of people on each website. We’ll go over these categories one by one and then the winner will be crowned! You ready? Here goes…

Round 1 - Easy To Use

While both sites are extremely user friendly and can be figured out without much trouble I have to give this one to Twitter. There are really very few things you can actually DO on Twitter which is what makes it so easy to use. While Facebook is by no means hard to understand the simplicity of Twitter makes things a while lot easier.

Round goes to - Twitter

Round 2 - Popularity

At the time this article was written Facebook was the 4^th most visited site online beat only by Yahoo, Google and Youtube. Twitter, while very popular was number 49… Not even close.

Round goes to - Facebook

Round 3 - Freedom to market

While you can certainly market on Facebook, Twitter gives you much more freedom. Facebook will penalize you if you add too many friends at once and you also can’t send out very many messages. Twitter doesn’t give you those restrictions so the round has to go to Twitter

Round goes to - Twitter

Round 4 - Ways to market

This one is Facebook all the way. With Twitter you are limited to the things you can do and while you can post links to pictures it’s just not the same as Facebook. There is just so much more you can do on Facebook that we had to declare them the winner and that brings us into a dead heat as we move to the final category…

Round goes to - Facebook

Round 5 - How many people are on it

Obviously the more people that are on any site the better because it gives you a better opportunity to talk to more prospects. When we did our research we found that of everyone on the internet 1.8% of the people online visit Twitter daily. When we ran the numbers on Facebook we found that over 17% of internet users visit Facebook! This is hands down Facebook’s round.

Round goes to - Facebook

That means that while it was a very close race the winner and champion is…. FACEBOOK!   Of course you can market with great results on both this was really just for fun but we believe that for marketing your business online Facebook is a better choice than Twitter.

http://www.karlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

karla@KarlasPlan.com

If you’ve never been a part of a home based business before or even if you have, it can be hard to spot the scams vs. the real deal opportunities. You want to change your life, but you don’t want to lose money in the process.

As I have said before, not all home based businesses that require money up front are scams. I have read many an article saying that if a company asks for money up front it’s not legit. This is just not true at all. There are plenty of good, decent, honest and most of all legal companies that require a start up fee.

In fact you would be hard-pressed to find a legitimate business that doesn’t require some sort of investment up front. So don’t let that scare you away from something that could be really great. One thing you do want to look at is the product. All real businesses will have some sort of product or service that they offer to their customers.

If they don’t have a product, they are a scam. Many cash gifting schemes will tell you that they are legal, when they are not. Just remember… no product… no good. People who just get paid for signing people up are not in a real business.

However, it’s important to know that many legal and ethical businesses will give you some incentive when you bring new members on. This is how you will build a team. There can be a thin line, but just remember that yet again it all comes back to the product or lack there of.

Finally, do not be afraid to ask about a company’s corporate headquarters. Call and talk to them. Ask to have someone call you back, to explain the business to you. Most reputable companies have a corporate office, while almost all schemes and scams do anything to avoid putting down roots. You can bet that if a company has a big corporate office, they are the real deal.

These are just a couple of ways to spot an online scam. Follow these tips and you will be much less likely to get duped by the scammers.

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

karla@KarlasPlan.com

If you are thinking about starting a home based business, there are a few questions you are probably asking yourself. Can I really do this? What will my spouse think? Which business is right for me? And of course… how much money will I have to spend to have success in a home based business?

All of these questions are important and should be thought about, but right now, I would like to elaborate on the last one. I have spoke to a lot of different people who want to work from home. Almost all of them believe that working from home either has to be

1. Free

2. Extremely expensive.
   

It does not have to be either.

The first one really is a huge misconception. There just is not a business that you can start and not spend a dime. That is called a JOB and there are plenty of them out there. A business always…. and I stress ALWAYS costs money to start.

You cannot open a clothing store or a restaurant without money up front. A home based business is no different. I have seen articles that say that if a business asks you for money up front, it is a scam. That is far from the truth. If you do not invest some money, you are not in a business… end of story.

It is said that it takes money to make money. That is true. After your initial investment, you may have to spend some money just on basic marketing needs. Not a fortune, but a little here and there.

That brings me to the second misconception. That starting a home based business costs a fortune. If you are going to start your own business, a home based business is the way to go. You will not find another legitimate business you can start that will be any more cost effective. Generally, we are talking less than $1000. To start a real… honest…. can make you filthy rich business! It just doesn’t get any better than that!

So in the question of how much money will it cost to make money from home, here is my answer… less than $1000 to start (in many cases less than $500) and probably $50 - $100 a month to maintain. Now that is a life changing opportunity that most anyone can afford!

http://www.KarlasPlan.com

http://www.KarlasEnterprises.com

karla@KarlasPlan.com