Guest Blog Post:: The Christian Moms Business Resource

Hi Market Mommy Friends!

I’m excited to meet you all today! My name is MariLee Parrish and I own the Christian Moms Business Resource and also Mommy Bag Marketing.

Here’s a little background about my company:

The Christian Moms Business Resource (CMB Resource) was founded in 2009 to help other moms start and promote their own small businesses from home. From small business training and freelance writing resources to step-by-step instructions on using facebook and twitter for business, CMB Resource offers tried & true “ideas that work.” These include Small Business Ideas, Seminars, Free Webinars, PR & Advertising Packages for Mom Businesses, including participation in the Mommy Bags that are distributed nationally!

If you are a Christian Business Owner, we have tons of opportunities to help you get the word out about your product, event or service. If you’re interested in becoming a Mom Partner with us, you can view the details here.

We help you navigate social networking sites, we provide a forum to answer all of your questions, and we support one another as Christians in business. When you partner with us, you are immediately introduced to our network of Christian moms who come and fan your pages, follow you on twitter, and become your friend. It has been amazing to see the friendships and mentorships that have come about through our partnership. Our faith in God binds us all together in ways that other groups do not.

Our inspiration is the Proverbs 31 woman. Have you heard of her? Let me share a little bit this amazing woman:

'She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for the task. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night...She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.'
Proverbs 31:17-18,27-30

I must admit that I am a far cry from this strong woman, but it is my prayer that I can honor the Lord in all that I do and that my work would be pleasing to Him.

One more thing: Our blog is a fun way to connect with all of our Christian Mom Partners. We also host the Friday Favorites Giveaway each week. I hope you’ll stop by and see us at: www.wahmblog.info

Thanks for letting me share today! I hope to get to know you all better.

Blessings & thanks,

MariLee Parrish
www.christianmomsbusinessresource.com
www.mommybagmarketing.com

Are you using Twitter effectively?

Twitter is easy and it’s fast. It’s pretty much a gateway into your business, your blog, your life. It’s a great way to get more exposure. But, are you using it effectively?

First of all, do others you regularly connect with know you are on twitter? You should be telling others about it. Your twitter handle, or ID http://twitter.com/MarketMommy}, should be on your blog, on your About Us page, on anything you publish, on your facebook page, in your e-mail signature, etc.

Do you have followers? How many people are you following? One of the most obvious ways to increase your relevant followers is to first seek out others who you want to network with. Find other mom business owners that you’d like to connect with, learn from, sell to, etc. When they get the notice that you’re following them, chances are they’ll check out your profile and maybe follow you back.

In my opinion, one of the most effective ways to make twitter work for you is to make personal connections with others. Read others’ tweets and respond to them. Reply and make conversation, build friendships. You should already have multiple things in common with those you are following, use that to your advantage. You can also use direct messages to exchange e-mail addresses and other information more directly.

It’s been said that microblogging is the future of the internet. On some level I’m sure that’s true. Twitter really is a great tool and there are so many neat things you can do with it. You can search for people, find conversations about things you’re interested in, automatically follow others, track your tweets, automatically tweet your blog posts and add badges to your site.

Keep in mind that everything takes time. Building an effective network won’t happen overnight, but with a little effort twitter can be a lucrative networking tool.

The Business of Being a Mom

You've probably heard of Boogie Wipes, but you may not have heard about the Boogie Moms behind the product. If you are interested in learning all there is to know about starting a business while raising a family, they have the blog for you!

The Business of Being a Mom offers a wealth of information, resources and links. Literally, you could spend hours scanning all they have to offer! They talk about a multitude of topics; legal issues, branding, marketing, inventing, inspiration, mom guilt, confidence and much, much more.

The most impressive page, I thought, was their resources page. Everything from legal help, manufacturing help, to books, to networking sites and business planning and funding, and everything in between. Extremely helpful!

The Boogie Moms {I just love calling them that} can also be found on Facebook and Twitter!

Marketing Definitions

Our main site, MarketMommy.com, is a great marketing resource with a lot of helpful information. Topics include; budgeting, marketing materials, public relations, advertising and more.

Educating yourself about the world of marketing can go a long way when you are trying to promote your business. That’s the sole reason Market Mommy exists, to help you market your business more affordably and more effectively.

We are very proud of our Quick Reference page. It’s a condensed dictionary of marketing-related terms. Now, when you read an article on marketing, you’ll know what they’re talking about! Here are just a few excerpts from the page, visit it for many more definitions!

Click Through Rate:: The percentage of impressions that resulted in a click through; calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions.

Media Kit:: Information offered to potential advertisers by publishers to help advertisers understand the publisher’s rates, visitor demographics, terms, etc.

Niche:: That part of the market consisting of those people most likely to be interested in a product or service you are selling. Often referred to as ones target market.

Rate Card:: The published rates and ad space availability for a particular media such as a web site. Usually subject to change and often negotiable. May also include technical details regarding the banner specifications.

Reach:: The number of unique visitors that visited a site over the course of the reporting period, expressed as a percent of the universe for the demographic category.

ROI:: Return on investment (ROI) is the process used to determine whether the monetary benefits from an expenditure, such as an advertising campaign, are above or below the amount of money spent on the campaign.

SEO:: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of promoting a web site through a search engine’s organic listings.

Have a happy, productive day!

61 Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs!!

Who can't use more marketing tips? The Toliet Paper Entrepreneur has put together a fantastic list of 61 tips on their blog today. You can check it out here. And, of course I'm sending you there for a reason! Market Mommy is lucky enough to be one of the featured contributors! There really is some fantastic advice given by some great entrepreneurs, so be sure to bookmark it!

Where to network?

You've heard me talk about networking a lot! I truly believe it is the best {and cheapest} marketing tool out there. Personal and local networking is definitely important, but so is online and virtual networking. It's 2010 and it's become easy and quick to connect with someone across the country or even the globe.

Wikipedia has quickly become one of my favorite online resources. And, they are not lacking when it comes to social media and online networking. Check out this comprehensive list of social networking sites!

Now, of course all of these sites aren't going to be relevant to your business or your life. And, it would be exhausting and impossible to try to engage in each one. However, I highly recommend reviewing the list and seeing what some may have to offer. This list is also great because it gives the genre of the site as well as the number of registered users.

Here is a brief list of the more popular sites::

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• BabyCenter
• CafeMom
• Flickr
• MySpace
• Ning
• StumbleUpon

Happy networking!

Support a Blogger

Some of the best ways to market yourself and your company online are increasing links to your website, serving as an expert source for articles and having lots of rich, original content on your site or blog. There is now a new service available that can help you with all of these, and more!

It's called Support a Blogger. The concept is simple, sign up for the newsletter and receive up to two e-mails a day with requests looking for guest bloggers. You then can respond to the requests that fit you the best. Before you know it, you could be submitting posts for publication in several blogs!

Support a Blogger is easy to navigate and understand. There is a short basic form to fill out if you'd like to be a guest blogger and a separate one if you'd like to request a guest blogger. And, if you'd like to have bloggers review your products, you can request that too! What a great tool!

Head on over and sign up, and be sure to have a fabulous weekend!

'Tis the season

For the past few days I have been busy organizing and putting the finishing touches on our 2009 Holiday Gift Guide at Market Mommy. {Note:: this link will expire in just a couple days. After that, the actual guide will be found here.} I am SUPER excited for it to be published in another week. Oftentimes it is hard to compete and get your products included in various gift guides. That is why I created a guide at Market Mommy exclusively for mom entrepreneurs. And, I’m happy to say that we had a great response, and no mom business owner was turned away!

So, keeping with the Holiday Gift Guide spirit, I thought I’d let you all know about a few other great gift guide opportunities that are still available for the upcoiming season. Check them out, and submit, submit, submit. But, remember to follow their requirements and read all the details first! Happy submitting!

Gifts for everyone::
· Mom Fuse
· A Cowboy’s Wife
· Our Ordinary Life
· Rockin’ Mama
· Mama Cheaps
· Through Hazel Eyes
Gifts for children and babies::
· Mission Mommy
· Baby Friendly L.A.
· Posh Little
Foodie gifts::
· My Wooden Spoon
Techie gifts::
· Tech Savvy Mama

And, don’t forget there are just a couple days left to reserve your spot in the 2009 Market Mommy Holiday Gift Guide! Click here for details! Have a fabulous fall weekend!

New Premium Partner!

We are so happy to have Christian Work at Home Mom on board as our newest Premium Partner in the E-zine category! Please visit the site for awesome information, resources and advertising opportunities!

Jill Hart is the founder of Christian Work at Home Moms, CWAHM.com and the co-author of So You Want To Be a Work-At-Home Mom (Beacon Hill Press, 2009). She graduated from Grace University with a Bachelor's Degree in Human Development/Family Studies and Bible. Jill has worked from home since 2000 and started her own home-based business to assist other Christians who desire to work from home while maintaining a godly life. Jill and her husband, Allen of CWAHD.com (Christian Work at Home Dads) reside in Nebraska with their two children. Jill's articles have been featured on websites like DrLaura.com, ClubMom.com, and she is an expert author on EzineArticles.com. She is also a contributing author in four books. Jill is the host of the podcast, Christian Work at Home Moment and co-host of the LIVE internet radio show, The CWAHM Network.

Visit CWAHM and check out everything they have to offer!