Sharon Hurley Hall

I’m always browsing around, looking for new things to try, so it’s nice for me to get paid for my obsession. My latest gig is reviewing sites for CenturyTel. For this gig, I need to use the site, research power user tips and fit the review into a specified format. Here’s my first review, of Ustream.TV.  I’m writing the second one now. Stay tuned for updates.

Well, I couldn’t resist adding my name to another site, especially when it comes from Google. I’ve just published my first Knol using a sample article on off plan property that I had lying around.  It was very easy to publish and I think I’ll put more of my work there in the future. To go along with it, I’ve also published Written A Knol Yet? – my review of the process on TechGerm.

If you are starting out with a home based business, the chances are that your budget for promotion does not exist. When you are new to working at home, you may be lucky to afford all the electronic equipment you will need. However, promotion is essential if you are to grow your business and make a success of it. Here are some tips which can help you to promote for free.

First of all, set up a website or blog. Although it is better to spring for the cost of registering and hosting your own domain, you can also take advantage of free blogging sites such as WordPress and Blogger. WordPress is slightly better because there is less spam and you can set up a static home page that looks like a normal website.

Use your site or blog to publish details of your skills, services and products so everyone can see them. Be sure to do some research and include keywords relevant to your home based business in your site content. That will help people to find your site through the search engines.

Next, let people know it is there. Write an article related to your business area and submit it to a free article directory such as EzineArticles or GoArticle. Be sure to include a bio box at the end that says what you do, links to your site and includes a call to action. This article will be reprinted on hundreds of sites, all of which will have a link to yours.

Register with forums that relate to your business. Post and comment regularly, using a link to your site in your signature. People will click on the link and will find your business.

With any luck the word will start to spread, but you can still help it along by commenting on relevant blogs and including a link to your website. No spam, please – keep your comments targeted and relevant and that’s exactly the kind of traffic you will get.

Of course, not all your promotional efforts have to be online. You can also put a sticker in your car window showing the address of your website or blog. You can also take out free ads both offline and online which will describe your business and make it attractive to prospective buyers.

All of these strategies will help you to raise the profile of your home based business and they won’t cost you anything but the time it takes to do them. This time is well worth spending if it means that your business is a success.

Want to use this article on your site?  Contact me about licensing rights.

Men with Pens wrote today about how a great reputation can ruin your business, making the point that sometimes the work you publicize creates a particular image of the skills you have. It occurred to me that all of us have skills that we don’t promote, but which we use competently. Here are some of the things I have done that are not on my resume:

• I have bought domain names and arranged hosting for several sites.
• I have customized WordPress themes, including changing the colours, sidebar and footer on this one (the banner design is from Men with Pens)
• I currently manage a website on a volunteer basis, as well as several of my own.
• I write resumes for people.
• I advise people on managing their writing careers.

In other words, I do more than just write SEO articles and ebooks and blog.  So if you’re on this site because you’re wondering what I can do for you, these are a few things to add to the list – and I will add them to my resume one day.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I thought I’d bring you up to date on what I’ve been doing in June.  I started the month with articles on eco-friendly travel in Florida, and wrote some new posts for Daily Writing Tips, where one of the posts that got the most attention was on travel writing resources.

For a site which should go live in the next couple of months, I’ve written on safety for children and pregnancy ultrasounds. Meanwhile, I’ve continued to work on a book on management and on posts for Daily Tech Bits. I wrote a report on Twitter and have been writing about eco friendly living in Canada, as well as penning a couple of articles on writing for a books site.

I recently had the chance to write about one of my favourite social media/networking sites, Twitter. It’s amazing how much information is out there. Although I’m a Twitter user, I started out not knowing as much as I could have about what makes it tick. I knew a lot about how people used it, and was able to use that information to produce a well researched report.  The client loved it. This is an area that I enjoy working in, so I’d love to do more of this kind of research.

If you can write the news, you can write a press release.  As I’ve shown in my posts on Daily Writing Tips, the techniques for writing news stories and press releases are identical. As a former journalist and editor, I have read and written plenty of press releases, and the secret is simple:

• a killer headline
• a good angle
• decent quotes

Here’s how I work. You hire me to write your press release. I will ask questions about the purpose of the release, the target audience, and the company. I will try to find out what will give us the best angle for the release, and I’ll create a release that will meet your needs.  I am fast, accurate and reasonable.  Check out the top of my testimonials page for feedback from my latest client.

Here’s one of my latest pieces on Lake Anna, Virginia. It’s part travel piece, part real estate piece and it’s on the home page of a new site on this beautiful area.

In a post on Writing White Papers I explain why writers need to take control of the client relationship to give clients the best service.

I think the English language is fascinating, which makes being a freelance writer even more fun. I love to play with words, coin new ones and find out what old ones mean. That’s why my gig at DailyWritingTips is perfect.