Seasonal Business: Make the Most of Your Slower Months

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Seasonal businesses don’t have to be viewed as a business that only operates during a few short months – there are ways to help boost business all year long, and make the most of those slower months.  Even after your presumed key season has passed, you can use your resourcefulness to learn more about the needs of your customers and try out new ideas.  Here are some specific ways to maximize the months when you have a little down time:

Have a blog and maintain it.

To build page rank, focus on your blog during the slower months. While it’s important to treat your blog like a queen all year long, it’s crucial not to neglect it when your business is slow.  Write posts that are full of great content and are relevant to your target audience.  Your page rank will increase – just remember it doesn’t happen in a day.

Extend your season.

Sell something specific to cold weather?  Instead of the typical November through March sales months, try to extend your season by one to two months both before and after that time frame. If you offer your products or services for a slightly lower cost your customers will take note and business will likely boom.  Your season is probably longer than you think.

Seek niche markets.

If you bake cookies, pies and muffins that sell like crazy around the holidays, find a way to increase revenue during the other months too.  Consider adapting your products to a niche market.  Contemplate developing gluten or sugar-free products that a smaller audience will adore. There's a lot of reasons why you should serve a niche market.

Hold an event or cross-promote.

As you work hard to stay afloat during the less-than-prime months, remember you are not alone.  Team up with a complementary business and co-market an event or promotion with them.  Think outside of the box -- a photography business could cross-promote with business that sells photo props or headbands for children.  A bed-and-breakfast could cross-promotes with a nearby restaurant or offer deals to a play or movie.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to other businesses – you just may form a successful partnership ally.

Seek customer reviews and feedback.

During your slower time, concentrate on how to earn new, or repeat business during your next busy season.  Customer reviews are priceless.  Ask for testimonials and success stores from past sales seasons and feature those in your e-newsletter, your blog or social media websites.  Not only will this speak volumes about your business, but your customers will also enjoy the recognition.

While your business may have months that are significantly more profitable than others, don’t write off the other months of the year.  The slower times can be a great way to build clout around your business, try new products and seek feedback from your customers.  Your customers’ needs are different all year long – so do your best to serve those needs in ways your current business allows.

How do you maximize the slower months of the year to help your seasonal business?

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Tips to Help You Start, Maintain and Grow a Business Blog

Blogging has literally exploded over the last few years.  In fact, even back in 2005, BusinessWeek proclaimed that Blogs Will Change Your Business – and the publication was right.  If you’ve been holding off with the belief that blogs are a fad, it’s time to realize they’re here to stay and your business needs one.

Why are blogs important for business growth?

Blogs reach and engage large audiences in a way that traditional one-way information doesn’t have the capability to do.  At the same time, blogs put a face to your business name while highlighting your expertise and passion for your industry.  Another bonus: blogs are collaborative and they encourage interactions.  Soliciting comments from readers is a great way to engage with customers.

Here are some tips to help you start, maintain and grow a small business blog:

Identify a goal and blog intention

While you want to promote your business, don’t make the plugs too obvious in your content strategy.  Decide what your purpose is and allow it to drive your content.  Most blogs are centered on sharing information that their readers find useful.  Define your goal, and adhere to it.

Start your blog with the right software

Once you decide you want a business blog, consider your hosting software options.  Free blogging software can be a simple and cost-effective solution for small businesses.  If your blog takes off, you may consider integrations with existing business Wed domains (and remember to communicate to your readers of the host changes).  Remember to make sure your blog is simple for users to navigate.

Dedicate yourself to regular and relevant blogging

Two signs a blog has lost its way are when there are no active posts for more than two weeks, and

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when blog content is off topic from previous posts.  Blog inactivity and irrelevant posts give an unfavorable impression of your business.  Keep your posts consistent with the use of a calendar and research current issues so your blog is compelling and relevant.

Develop a traffic-generating plan

Last, but far from least, is finding a way to move visitors to your business blog.  There are a number of ways to generate traffic to your blog, both non-traditional and traditional in nature.  Add built in RSS feeds and remember that your email signature and main business Website and great places to link your blog.


Your blog is worth the time and effort it takes to start and sustain. By sharing content via your blog with your visitors, you’ll establish a strong reputation for your business within your industry.  Happy blogging!

What has helped you maintain and grow your blog following?

Lori is a work-at-home mom living in Noblesville, a suburb of Indianapolis.  She is mom to two young children and enjoys spending time watching them grow.  Lori enjoys shopping, spending time with her husband and kids, reading, and traveling.

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Why You Should Guest Blog (or Hire Someone to do it for You!)

You have figured out ways to make your blog get real attention.  But do you contribute guest posts to other blogs?  While it may seem like the last thing you have time to do, or counter-intuitive, guest blogging is worth it.  You can reap huge benefits from guest blogging, or hiring someone to guest blog on your behalf.  Guest blogging allows you to take what you do and love and spread knowledge into other areas of your target market.  It spreads your reach and builds an authoritative reputation for you and your business.  Here are some ways content outside of your virtual walls can benefit your business.

Reach a broader audience.

Through writing guest posts, you create added awareness with people who are interested in the topics you’re writing about.  These people may not know about your business, but will see you as an expertise and in turn, want to check out your business.  So you will…

Attract new leads.

There’s no double that guest blogging provides a perfect opportunity to generate leads.  The readers of the blog you contribute to are likely looking to solve a problem – and your post may help them.  It’s a win for all.

Build strong relationships.

Relationships are the foundation of a strong business.  Contributing guest blogs is one of several ways to establish new relationships with other bloggers in your niche.  It allows you to join an already-established community, and share what you know.  Plus, it could also lead you to new partnerships with the blogger for future business opportunities. You never know what doors it may open. 

SEO benefits.

Guest posting is good for search engine results.  As you write guest blogs, you prove that you are well

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informed about and have experience related to the products or services you provide.  This means that people who enter a search into Google for the topic may find the post you wrote.  Yes, this happens when you write on your own blog too.  However if the blog you guest post on has larger readership and significant social media following, it’s more likely to be shared socially – a SEO indicator that the content is high quality and relevant. 

Guest blogging, whether you’re the author or you hire someone else to write the posts on your behalf, is a great way to build credibility and receive greater personal and business exposure.  Consider the many benefits of guest blogging as you ponder whether or not to invest the time in writing for another business.  It’s time well spent.

How has guest blogging proved beneficial for your business endeavors?

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Why You Should Hire Work from Home Professionals

Are work from home individuals capable of completing work at the same level and quantity as those who work from a brick-and-mortar building?  Many people may have this question run through their minds as they contemplate hiring a work from home professional.  But the answer is yes; individuals who work from home boast a lot of positive attributes that may them the perfect addition to your team. Let’s explore some of the reasons why you should hire work from home professionals:

They’re highly motivated.
Work from home professionals are given a great sense of freedom.  Many of them find this type of work environment extremely desirable.  A standard office has its distractions such as loud co-workers, numerous phones ringing and distractions when simply filling up a water bottle.  Those who work from home tend to work more hours than those who work in a typical office setting with higher productivity.

They are more productive.
Many work from home individuals are great at time management.  They may check their email after hours, just to prepare for the next day.  This means questions may be answered on timely basis.  The human brain does best when it focuses on things for about an hour and a half.  When you’re a slave to your cubicle, that doesn’t work.  Traditional job structure doesn’t allow for individuals to maximize their productivity according to the way the human brain best functions.

They have no commute.
There is no commute for work at home individuals, which means your employee won’t be late.  They

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save on gas and wear and tear on their vehicle.  Hiring work from home professionals means you’re helping make the world a little more eco-friendly.

They’re empowered.
Individuals who are trusted to work from home are instantly empowered, which means they a lot of pride in their job because they feel trusted.  Work from home individuals are more creative and more enthusiastic about their work than those who work in a traditional office setting.

Save on overhead costs.
When you hire a professional who works out of their home, you actually save money.  You don’t have to have the office space to accommodate the individual, nor any of the other costs that come along with housing an employee in a brick-and-mortar setting for forty or more hours per week.  There are a lot of ways companies save money when employees work from home.

While it may be hard to step back and hire an individual who works in a different state or even a different part of the country, you’ll be glad you did.  Professionals who work from home are experts who are both productive and able to produce high quality work.

Why did you hire a work from home professional?  Was your experience excellent?

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Lori is a work-at-home mom living in Noblesville, a suburb of Indianapolis.  She is mom to two young children and enjoys spending time watching them grow.  Lori enjoys shopping, spending time with her husband and kids, reading, and traveling. Feel free to leave her a comment.

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Page Rank: The Basics

Page rank is a term that many of us throw around without truly understanding.  Everyone uses it but no one really understands how it truly works. Billions of pages exist and millions are generated daily and the search issue is more complex than you probably think. Pared down to the basics, it’s a numerical value that indicates the importance of any page on the Web.  It’s an algorithm named after Larry Page, the name of its developer and one of the founders of Google.  This algorithm used by Google web search engine ranks websites in their search engine results. Page Rank is one of hundreds of factors used to determine search results.  But how does it work? 

Pages that are more “important” carry more weight than pages that are deemed as less important.  You may wonder if it really matters to your business and the answer is yes, it does!  Page rank is an important factor as it relates to a site’s ranking in the overall organic search results. Plus websites in the top three organic positions on Google receive over 58 percent of all clicks from Web users according to a study from Optify.

The rank of a page is determined by three factors; the first is the number of pages linking to your page. The next is the Page Rank of the pages linking to your page. The third is the total number of outgoing links from the pages linking to your web page. 

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You gain the most Page Rank boost from pages that have high page rank themselves and link to only a few other websites.  Incoming links from pages of low page rank with many outbound links boost your pages page rank – as long as you don’t link back to them. 

As the Internet grows, the scales that determine Page Rank constantly evolve.  This results in changes in a page’s Page Rank, where the measures will increase or decrease for no apparent reason.  Called the “Google dance”, this phenomenon is just another reason why it’s essential to continually build your site by adding fresh content and to work on building the site’s number of inbound links from other highly ranked sites.

The reason Google works is simply because it relies on the millions of people who post links on website to verify which other sites afford valuable content.  Google then assesses the significance of every web page with the use of several techniques.

Fun Fact: Page Rank is derived from the name of its developer Larry Page.  He’s one of the founders of Google. 

Hopefully this info provided some clarity about what it is and does.  Remember that Page Rank tells the importance of a page in relation to other pages. It’s just one of many factors that determine ranking in the search results. 

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