Oh, Yeah, Gourmet Applesauce.
Applesauce? Really?
Rudys Fruity Applesauce, an endeavor that caters to gift basket stores and gourmet niche foods, almost never happened. In an odd way, we had to thank a tanking stock market for our success.
Several years ago I had been working at mutual fund investment firm and the stock market was doing its typical volatility thing (anyone remember Y2K?) and things were looking fairly bleak for the investment industry. The dot com boom had just busted and many investors were literally frozen with fear about trying to make any more decisions as to where or how to invest their funds. Many had great losses (albeit on paper) and were sitting deathly still.
Now, an applesauce business was nowhere on my radar, but, I had managed to save a little bit of cash and discussed with my wife the idea of doing some type of business for ourselves. With a high probability of a layoff looming in the not too distant future we decided to start looking around as well as brainstorm for ideas. It was the fall season and here in New Hampshire that means many things, but, one especially: apple picking.
Making Applesauce
One day I had gone to a local orchard and bought some apples, took them home, found my favorite applesauce recipe and started churning out my favorite food. I had cooked enough of it that I was giving some of it away to relatives and my sister-in-law, who LOVES our homemade applesauce, joking said that we ought to consider selling our applesauce to local gourmet stores.
It was one of those “Sweet Baby Jesus!” moments. Thank goodness we had never owned a business before that time!! We began a very arduous, but, ultimately, rewarding process of trying to establish a home based business. It took us to places and people we never thought wed ever go or meet. The research alone was brutal. Government licenses, cooking processes, jars, recipe trials and errors, creating a logo, marketing, safety procedures, sales, internet presence, etc. The list now seems HUGE looking back.
The Applesauce Name
But, we were successful! The name for our gourmet applesauce business, Rudys Fruity Applesauce, is a homage to my father-in-law who passed away while we were in the early stages of establishing the business. The flavors came about through extensive family food tastings to see which combinations of fruit worked with our apples.
Some of our greatest times have come from the many trade shows and product samplings at stores that weve been able to do around New England. Weve been honored with doing a tasting/presentation at an inauguration for one of New Hampshires governors, at the State House! That was a hoot AND we were named as The Best of New Hampshire by New Hampshire magazine a few years ago.
Weve seen folks use our gourmet applesauces in cookies, oatmeal, bread, with granola and warmed up served on ice cream! Applesauce is loaded with fiber and nutrition so ranks as a top health food.
Were still a small business. Weve had a few set-backs. But, weve revamped our website, taken a few more deep breaths and continue to march forward. Ya gotta love this country!!
Tomorrow I’ll write about trying different fruit combinations. Kiwi/Pear? Coconut? Who knows!
Have an applesauce day!
Evergreen Seo Tricks For The Internet Home Based Business
The home based business SEO can be complicated or simple, so it is smart to choose the simple way. The core idea is, that all searches are done using words, the search terms, so the SEO must be done using these same words. It is also important to use accepted, white hat, methods to build backlinks, otherwise your site gets Google penalty.
The target is to do everything so, that your internet home based business shares useful information. Only the high quality presence has the power to build strong brand authority. And you honestly need the brand power. Only that will guarantee, that the site gets repeating visitors.
1. Start To Research The Search Terms, The Keywords.
The keywords are the most important elements of a successful SEO. They will determine, how targeted traffic the site gets and how strong authority your site can build. You cannot do the keyword research without a decent tool. My recommendation is, that you will use Google keyword tool.
The target is to get the amount of the monthly searches for each search term. This requires, that you must use “Exact Match” alternative, because only that gives the amount of the monthly searches for that particular term. “Broad Match” will give you an exaggerated search amount, which is not the amount of the monthly searches for your chosen keyword.
2. Get An Idea Of The Competition.
It is natural, that every internet home based business has an idea about the competitors, i.e. with which sites it will share the business. And more importantly, against which sites it will compete on the search engines result pages.
When you want to measure the authorities of the sites you can use Bing search engine and to submit “site:www.sitename.com”. It will give you the real number of pages, which the site has. When you compare your own site with the competitors, yoiu can find out some differences, which give you ideas about what to do.
3. Write Your Title Tag In A Smart Way.
The title tag is very important. It has to be able to stand out from the crowd of other title tags in the directories, for instance, and to temp the reader to read more. There must be a keyword included and a promise about the benefit, which a reader can utilize. Every page of your iste requires its own title tag, because every page is unique.
Many SEO experts say, that the keyword should come first in the title tag. Some even say, that the whole title tag should contain only keywords, the different versions about the root term. Some recommend the site name at least into the home page title tag to build the brand awareness.
The inbound links are important too with the anchor texts. It is important to build the links so, that the system follows the white hat tactics and do not hurt the policies of the search engines. It is smart to use a variety of linking sites, because the search engines can change the algorithms overnight and it is not nice to loose the major part of your business.
[Top]How To Increase Your Home Based Business Leads
Everyone knows that businesses require customers in order to make sales and generate revenue. This is the case from large corporate organizations right down to one man operations. However larger corporations tend to have much larger marketing budgets than home based business owners.
No matter what business you are in, you need customers to buy from you in order to create revenue. Leads are the fuel that power your business and ensure that you keep making sales. Clearly not all leads are going to turn into a sale, but the law of averages says that the more leads that you have, the more you are likely to make a sale.
If you are wondering where you are going wrong with your business then perhaps you could look at one or all of the following areas.
1. Are You Taking Full Advantage Of All Possible Marketing Channels?
If you are reading this article then it is likely that you are marketing your business online. If not then you should start right away. There are 1.5 billion internet users, a number which is growing by the day, all looking for the solution to a problem or researching their next purchase. You want to ensure that you are there when prospects are ready to make their purchase with their credit card in hand.
Firstly you will need a website in order to attract and capture your leads details. If you do not have a website, consider working with an Internet Marketing company that will provide you with a website and sales funnel in order to attract and capture leads.
A low cost option to generate leads online is leveraging social media. You should be using social media to establish relationships with your prospects and offer them something of value. Bear in mind that this is a longer term strategy as you need to build rapport with others prior to pitching to them.
Create a Facebook fanpage for free and use this to brand your business and market your product. Facebook has a viral effect so you can quickly spread your message to your contacts. You can also use Twitter to establish an online presence as well as other social media sites like Digg and Reddit.
As you are a home based business owner you will have a wealth of information on your product and service to share with others. Use this as a key advantage by sharing your knowledge with prospects online. You can turn this into articles and publish them on Ezines.com and start a WordPress blog in order to create awareness. You will be surprised how many people will visit your website if you deliver high quality content and ensure it is syndicated.
Another online marketing channel to consider is Pay Per Click marketing through one of the major search engines or Facebook. Pay Per Click marketing is highly targeted as your prospects are looking for a specific solution to their problem online. You can easily open an account with Yahoo or Google and start marketing that day. Make sure you research what other people are doing and aim to stand out from the crowd. Try and capture your prospects interest over and above the other advertisers. This is a more advanced marketing strategy and requires some work to optimize your campaign and ensure that you dont overspend. You can set a daily budget as a safety precaution.
There are many other marketing options to increase your leads which can be low cost such as door drops These are less effective as they are relatively untargeted but it wont cost you much if you deliver them. Depending on your product or service there is nothing to stop you taking to the street and speaking to business owners to see if they can stock your product or take advantage of your specialist knowledge.
2. Is Your Product Offering Appealing?
Are you offering a real service to people that stands out from your competition? If you look at your product or your marketing, does it look like all the rest? If so you should think about how you can differentiate your offer. If you are struggling to generate leads then perhaps look at what the industry experts are doing. Its not a good idea to copy what they are doing but you may find inspiration in their marketing and spark some new ideas.
3. Are You Clear About Your Niche?
Most home based business owners struggle with understanding their niche or target market and try to target everyone. However this is a critical error and one that will be costing you a lot of money. Whilst you dont want to be so narrow that you have no one left to market to, you want to have a good idea about who are your best prospects. Do some research with your current customers to find out what appeals to them about your product and where they found you. You want to focus all your efforts on finding more of your best customers.
4. Are you using Public Relations to promote your business?
It is a misconception that PR is an expensive channel and only available to those who work in media. PR can actually increase your sales significantly if you are mentioned in the right publication. Have a think about the type of publications that your target market read and develop a plan to gain a slot. You will be surprised how much coverage you could receive with an interesting, thought provoking article.
These are just a few ideas to increase your Home Based Business leads. David Anthony Watson runs his own successful home based business and coaches professionals to market their business online and increase sales. Go to his site for more information on how he could help you.
[Top]Explore And have Fun Cooking Lutong Bahay Recipes Online
In the Philippines, one of the most important facets of tradition that bring families together is food. It is a customary practice for Filipinos anywhere in the world to celebrate all kinds of occasions with food, be it a momentous welcoming of a new born baby or an unfortunate loss of a loved one. Any occasion for that matter is always observed with serving of even the simplest Filipino foods, that a humble homemaker is most glad to offer to all visitors, strangers even, a gesture that is proudly Filipino which is true and genuine hospitality.
For Pinoy balikbayans or homecoming Filipinos, aside from the excitement of being in the company of family and friends once again, what they look forward to the most are the traditional Filipino or Pinoy foods which they missed and have been longing to eat while away in a foreign land. Of course by going online via Pinoy recipes online, they are also able to cook these Filipino dishes by themselves while in a foreign land. But indulging on these Filipino foods while in abroad would not be as satisfying and fulfilling than when they gulp them down in their own homeland. Especially in the provinces, the thrill of gobbling up all these Pinoy meals and delicacies with people they love can be felt during picnics and when eaten ala boodle fight. During boodle fights, long tables are prepared where the hot steamed rice, viands, usually consisting of pancit, chicken and pork adobo, grilled tilapia and pork chops, and broiled mussels are spread on top of banana leaves and are eaten by everyone with bare hands. This outdoor food experience is patterned after a military style of eating and is best enjoyed by everyone especially during the summer months of the year when fruits like the famous Philippine mangoes, watermelons and pineapples are ready for picking and harvesting.
Philippine recipes and Pinoy cuisine are characterized by a diverse influence of neighboring Asian countries like China, India and Japan as well as the countries from the West and Europe like the US, Britain, Mexico and Spain. These foreigners reached Philippine shores either by reason of trade and commerce or by colonization. Every Philippine food has its own character but almost always, there is an undeniable presence of another countrys cuisine that smudges every here and there in the best Filipino food. Like in the case of home cooked or lutong bahay recipes of mechado, picadillo and afritada, these are all Mexican and Spanish in nature. It is no joke to be colonized by Spain for three hundred years, hence, the influence in Pinoy cooking is a matter that cannot be avoided in any way. The Chinese came to the Philippines for reason of commerce long even before the Spaniards came ashore. From them, Filipinos learned cooking pancit, shanghai rolls, dumplings and such delis like hopia and tikoy.
The list can be endless as to what kinds of foods Filipinos anywhere enjoy the best. For anyone who wishes to learn about these lutong Pinoy recipes, one just needs to explore using the internet via online Philippine recipes. Websites are easily accessible and anyone who is interested in dipping his or her hands at cooking a lutong Pinoy menu or easy Filipino recipes will find that cooking them is not at all complicated. Instructions are simple and easy to understand while ingredients are most commonly found at Oriental stores if one is based in a country other than the Philippines. Otherwise, local markets proliferate with fresh seafood, meats, fruits and veggies that are all part of the Philippine cooking tradition.
Lutongbahay.com Free Filipino Food Recipes
Website: http://www.lutongbahay.com/
Lutongbahay.com is an interactive cooking portal site that highlights regional Filipino food recipes.
Toll free numbers and start up businesses
If you are concerned about the accessibility of your business to different clients in this age of tight competition, the best way to reduce your concerns would be by taking the toll free number. Once you have the toll free number, no longer you have to worry if the customer will not place orders and will not communicate with you by phone because they don’t want to spend their money. By taking the services of a toll free number, you will get more accessibility to the clients all the time.
There has been a misconception that the toll free numbers are quite expensive. But they are actually affordable and the services are available for comparatively lesser prices. Since they are affordable, the playing field can be leveled with large business. The marketing strategy plays an important role in the success of any business firm. Image building and professionalism that you project would surely boost the success of your firm. Here the toll free numbers come for your help as they attract customers to your business by giving an air of professionalism. They also increase the customer’s confidence with the company in matters related to the security of financial transaction. Even if you are doing a home based business, the toll free numbers would help you to create a virtual office.
Most of the times companies would face geographical limitations while selling their goods and services. One of the greatest benefits of using a toll free number is that it provides an excellent option to sell your goods and services to those who cannot be reached otherwise. This extends the sales scope of your product. People would feel comfortable contacting you and they would not stick to the local business firms anymore. Customer service would also be excellent in this case. When a customer is having equations or concerns about a product or service, they would contact you without hesitation. Thus you would get an opportunity to build a relationship with the customer as well as give troubleshoot ideas. In the absence of such toll free numbers, you would not have received so many calls from customers.
If you have used toll free numbers, you would easily say that one of the most useful factors of such numbers is the portability nature. When you are moving your business from one place to another, you can always reach your customers without any troubles or interruption if you use a toll free number. There is yet another add-on benefit; you would be able to carry out the daily business activities as the toll free number allows forwarding the calls to your cell phone, pager, and email or even to your landline.
The package offered by the toll free services would also be economical. You can select a plan in which you only have to pay for the usage and the calls made to your number. Hence there would not be a huge bill if just a small number of calls come in. The charges would shoot up only if there is a vast increase in the number of calls. For small, start up business, this package would be a great relief.
To get more information about Virtual PBX Service as well as finding more information about Toll Free Number and Fax Services. Please visit our web site at http://www.ringcentral.com/
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