Showing posts with label build an online business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label build an online business. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Work from Home Avon

Excellent article by Melody Schafer, national recruiter for Avon



If you have been looking for a work at home business opportunity, you may want to look for an opportunity where you can work online, with little start-up cost, no inventory, free online training, free web store for your customers, and whatever else may be on your list of important credentials to meet your needs in finding that perfect fit for you and your family.
The economy has been in the dumps for a few years now, good paying jobs are difficult or impossible to find and working for someone else, definitely is not the answer in reaching our dreams, especially without jeopardizing the time we want to have, so we can spend more time with our families.
Being one's own boss has more to do with freedom than it has to do with money. Being your own boss allows you to spend more time with your family, allows you to go places and do things you normally couldn't if you were checking in and out of a 9-5 job.
Set your own schedule so you can work as little or as much as you want, and WHEN you want. You are your own boss, so how much you make will be up to you. Do you want a raise? Give yourself a raise by doing the things that need to be done to grow your business?
Think you are too busy to have your own business? Think again. Many work at home businesses can be worked COMPLETELY online, so all you have to do is get your customers to your website that may be provided to you, or one that you create yourself. Many businesses, such as direct sales companies or affiliate programs are fairly simple to do online.  All you have to do is get customers to your web store and the company handles the payments, orders and shipping. All you have to do is collect your paycheck or direct deposit to your bank account.
There are other options, such as owning your own web store on e-bay, Amazon, Etsy, Artfire and so many other well known sites where you can post items that you either make or are re-selling. With this type of business you either can carry the inventory in your own home and ship to customers OR use dropshipping, if it is available, for the product you sell.

I will be writing future articles breaking down the pros and cons of using dropshippers versus carrying inventory and shipping items yourself, versus finding a company, such as a direct sales organization to work with, and other choices you may have.
Remember, being your own boss, is about freedom. With freedom comes great responsibility. You must use your time wisely and to also remember working from home is not a "get rich scheme". This will take time and lots of patience. You will have failures along with success in your venture. If you want to succeed, the one thing you should remember is: "NEVER GIVE UP".



A stay at home mom of 2 homeschooled teenagers and married over 19 years, Melody Schafer, also known as MelodyAtHome across the Internet, has almost 30 years of business experience, both online and off. Her goal is to help others in finding the freedom that they want and deserve by being their own boss and owning a business they can love. Post and find business opportunities on her new message board http://www.WorkAtHomeInfo.US

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Selling Online-Facebook!


How would you like to have an online Avon business on a day like this?  ANOTHER major snowstorm!  To say that we here in Michigan have had a brutal winter so far is an understatement!
Why not have a business you can sell and recruit  from coast to coast? 

Here is one way!

Millions of people are on Facebook!  Are you one of them?

If you have a Facebook personal page, that's great, but to enhance your business you will need:
A Facebook Business Page and Facebook Fan Page!

What's the difference?

A Facebook Fan Page is an excellent way to brand yourself as an Avon Representative! 

15 Benefits Of Having A Fan Page On Facebook Book

1. Unlimited Friend Count
While the amount of friends you have on your personal profile page is limited and capped at 5,000, your Fan Page can have an infinite number of fans. This is probably one of the most important reasons that you should be using a Fan Page and not your personal page. Why would you ever want to limit the amount of fans your brand can have?
2. You Have The Option To Keep Your Personal Life Private(-ish)
In creating a Fan Page you are, essentially, keeping your personal page separate and not connected to it. For those who want to keep Facebook for friends and family, this is an important feature. It's vital. You can control the privacy settings on your personal page and optimize publicity for your Fan Page. It can become incredibly annoying to your friends and family who are constantly seeing business updates from you. This option is a great way around it.
3. Search Engine Results
Facebook Fan Pages are indexed, which means that some of the public content is indexed as well. As a business, you want to show up on the search engines. Of course, you want to direct traffic to your website first, but having a social presence is very important.
4. Tagging Your Brand
Your fans and other Fan Pages can tag your Fan Page. Only your friends can tag your personal page. As you want to show up on as many newsfeeds as possible, you definitely want the option to be Tagged in photos and posts by others. This increases your engagement, not to mention your fan base.
5. Facebook Insights
Facebook Fan Pages have great analytics. You can tack the amount of views a post receives and monitor your weekly reach all within the Facebook Insights. To be a smart marketer means knowing how to maximize each post and learning which posts work best for your brand. This is the insight you need to deliver the right content to your fans.
6. Facebook Tabs
Facebook tabs are only allowed on Fan Pages. Enough said?
7. Facebook Contests
Facebook contests are often seen in tabs. You can't host a successful contest on your personal page because the software and third party apps are just not there. Contests build engagement and engagement is your friend.
8. Profiles Look Like You Don't Know What's Going On
Plain and simple. A brand that directs to a personal page just looks amateur. You only get one first impression. You don't want it to be this one.
9. Advertising
Facebook advertising, while expensive, is very targeted. Advertising to a Fan Page is more effective than an outside landing page because Facebook wants to keep the traffic within the network. You can promote your Fan Page through ads, but not your personal page.
10. Admin Connections
By granting select people access to your Fan Page, you avoid giving out your password to multiple people. You can chose what rights they get to finagle with and what they can do within your Fan Page. This also allows for a pretty nice checks and balances system for your brand.
11. Check-Ins & Location Services
You can allow people to check into your brand through your Facebook Fan Page. You can't do anything like this on your personal page. If you have a location for your business, this is crucial for social proofing and newsfeed marketing. You always want to get people to interact with your brand. They can do so by checking in.
12. Promoted Posts
Okay, you can promote your posts now on your personal page, but they aren't as strong. Your personal page is often less targeted than your Fan Page. In being able to promote certain posts you are able to garner more exposure for whatever it is you're trying to push. You'll also have analytic access to this promoted post. If you promote posts like I do, you'll notice a definite leap in Likes.
13. Showcase The Other Pages You Like
Fan Pages give you the option to like pages and showcase them on your page. These should be brands that you have relationships with or brands that have a similar following. See tip #15 for more on this.
14. Newsfeed Marketing
Newsfeed marketing is the basis of social media marketing. By having a regularly updated Fan Page, you'll be seen and noticed on the newsfeeds of your fans. When they interact with your posts and brand, you'll show up on their friends' newsfeeds. This is your key to gaining new fans.
15. Comment As Your Brand
This is great branding. As long as you Like pages officially to your Fan Page, you can comment on their content and posts as well. In doing so, you're increasing exposure for your brand and providing valuable (read: priceless) insight and conversations with a new audience.

A Facebook Business Page is where you promote your products/offer your visitors the opportunity to join your team!


Creating A Facebook Business Page

After writing a couple of columns about the advantages of creating a Facebook business page, I thought I should tell you how to go about doing so. This won’t be a detailed technical tutorial. Some companies are building whole e-commerce storefronts around Facebook’s application programming tools, but you can get started much more simply.
You want to get started now, so you can capture your business “username”–a short address like www.facebook.com/carrcomm that you feature on business cards, brochures or your e-mail signature. Some marketing experts believe capturing your Facebook page name (along with your Twitter URL) is proving almost as important as capturing your Internet domain name (See “The Facebook Opportunity” and “ How Facebook Changes Marketing and Sales“).
The first three things to do are the simplest:
–Register your page.

–Invite friends and customers to “Like” the page (register to get your updates).

–Secure a unique page username.
No. 2 is a prerequisite for No. 3 because Facebook will not let you establish a username until you have a minimum number of people register. At this writing, you need 25 Facebook fans. And just like with dot-com domains, you want to secure the name that’s the best match for your brand before someone else gets it.
A Facebook page is also known as a “fan page” because until the Like button came along, Facebook asked people to click a button saying they wanted to “become a fan” of a page. Although it looks much like a personal profile, a page for a business, nonprofit, political campaign or other organization has different ground rules. An individual can only have 5,000 online friends, but that limit does not apply to a page. And where “friends” have to be approved individually, Facebook’s Like button functions more like the “Follow” function on Twitter, where no such approval is required. A Facebook page is also a natural destination for any Facebook advertising campaigns you may choose to run.
Step 1. Create A Facebook Page
Since Facebook changes its page layout and menus on a regular basis, the quickest way to get to the form for registering your page is to follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
Note that it’s important that you do this yourself, or have it done by someone you trust implicitly. Whoever creates the page is registered as the owner of the page. That is, the ultimate right to modify or delete the page will be associated with that individual’s personal Facebook login. After the account is set up, you should assign administrator rights to other users, so no single person becomes a bottleneck.
Facebook asks you to identify your page with one of three broad categories:
–Local business

–Brand, product or organization

–Artist, band or public figure
Give some care to the selection, particularly between “local business” and “brand, product or organization,” because you won’t be able to change it later. Categorizing your business as local might be an advantage if you want this page to show up in regional directories. But if you sell nationally, you may want to identify yourself as a brand. Before you decide, also study the drop-down list under each category to see the best match for you. Some options that are available under local business are not shown under brand, and vice versa.
After choosing your category, give your page a name and check the box that says you are authorized to create a page for this brand or organization.
You will then be taken to the basic page template, a blank Facebook profile for your business. Follow the onscreen instructions to customize the page. Then create a few starter messages before you start inviting people in, so there will be something there for them to Like.
Step 2. Get Your Facebook Friends To “Like” You
Now, it’s time to Like your own page, invite in friends, family and colleagues to populate it, and then start spreading the word more broadly. Click on the “Suggest to Friends” link to call up the dialog box for inviting people who are in your existing personal network.
Because you haven’t yet secured your Facebook page username, your page will have a long messy Web address, but you can still put it in an e-mail and send it out to customers you’re not personally connected with on Facebook. Once 25 or more people sign up for your page, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
Step 3. Set The Facebook “Username” For Your Page.
In Facebook terminology, you can set a “username” for either a personal profile or a page. You set this by going here:
http://www.facebook.com/username/
Facebook first displays the option for setting the username for your personal profile. If you haven’t done that yet, you might want to do it now, as a way of building your personal brand.
There’s a separate link on the same page for setting a username for a page. This will display a drop-down list of any pages you have registered.
If you try to do this before racking up those 25 Likes, you’ll get a message saying your page “is not eligible for a username at this time.” If your page is eligible, Facebook will display a data entry field where you can type in the desired page username and click “Check Availability.”
If the username you want is not already taken, you will then get a chance to lock it in. Think carefully before you do so, because you won’t be able to change it later, you’re not allowed to transfer it to someone else, and you can’t infringe on anyone else’s trademark. Essentially, Facebook is trying to avoid getting into all the complications associated with domain name registration and ownership disputes–although these will doubtless arise anyway.
Enhancing Your Page
Now that you’ve established a home for your online identity on Facebook, you can start enhancing it. You can do a lot with the built-in tools, such as The Wall for your page. There are also many options you can configure within the basic setup, before you get fancy.
The initial setup includes a few default page tabs, including Wall, Info, Photos, Discussion and Reviews. There are others you can readily add, such as a tab for videos, and you can also go shopping for applications, created by Facebook or independent developers, that will add more tabs to your page. For example, if you’re an independent consultant, you might want to add a tab displaying your LinkedIn profile. And if you want to get more ambitious, you can create your own custom tabs, or hire a Web developer to create them for you.
 This page is strictly business! 

To buy my award winning products or join my award winning team:
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Monday, January 20, 2014

Online Marketing - Facebook

Do you market your Avon business via Facebook?

If not, why not?

Facebook is a fantastic way to network as well as promote your business and all the fantastic Avon products, including sales, and special "deals" Avon offers. 

There are several ways to promote your business with Facebook.

1) Place your store link on a post! 
(Mine is http://www.youravon.com/estanton)

All your Facebook friends will see the link.  Direct them to your online store!)

2)  Have an Avon Fan Page
Create a Facebook Avon page for your friends and customers! Invite them personally!  Keep them apprised of all the products, including your favorites! 

3) Join as many groups: special interests groups, networking groups, church groups, etc as you can and use your online store link in your signature!

4)  Go to your own online store and select a product you would like to promote.  Click on the product and you will see buttons to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter.  Click on them  and they will automatically go to the proper network!

Networking is, as Avon has always stated, about building relationships!

Please check in often....the series on Networking will be continued with interviews from successful representatives and network experts who will tell us how to create a great online presence and build a huge Avon online business!