The most popular social site on the internet today is Facebook. With literally millions of user world wide it is essential for anyone with legitimate online businesses to understand how this phenomenon can be used to promote their online businesses.                                          

There are many home based online business owners who avoid Facebook for some reason, but if you are an online business owner then you should be on Facebook. It does not mean that you need to spend every minute of every day there in order to benefit from it, but by spending an hour or two a week there you can promote your business for better success.

Here are 5 ideas that you can use to promote your legitimate online businesses on Facebook.

1.  To begin with you can use Facebook as a way to become known, to highlight yourself as a real person and get your business in front of more people. The thing to remember though is that Facebook is first and foremost a social site, so by just telling people to buy something it is not going to work very well.

This is your opportunity to engage with prospective customers and begin building a relationship with them. A good way to do this is by setting up a fan page for your online business. This will give people an idea of the type of product or service you are offering and how they can benefit from it.

2.  As another alternative you could add Facebook to your blog so that people who read it who are not yet customers of yours can still share your posts with their Facebook friends. There are numerous plugins that you can use to perform this task and not only will you get backlinks, but you will also have the advantage of being able to leverage Facebook users to increase your online exposure.

3.  Why not run an online contest? Social sites are all about interacting, and Facebook is no exception. Just be sure to read the Facebook guidelines before you break any rules and get banned, as this will not help anyone. If you are short on ideas, then try something simple such as getting people to share which of your products they favor the most.

Not only is this an excellent way to get people involved, but it will also give you more reviews, and as a reward you could give away a free gift voucher or a discount on their next purchase.

4.  Create a social circle of people who are involved in the same industry as you are and maybe try to have one online business in each city in your state. You can all connect that way and have a network to build partnerships with businesses that compliment yours within your own community.

5.  Finally you can advertise your online business with Facebook ads. These ads are relatively cheap when compared to other PPC advertising offers, and well targeted ads based on interests can increase your profit, even if they are not the main part of your advertising campaign. Spending a few dollars to test this type of advertising out may just help you to find a breakthrough, and you won’t know unless you give it a try.

These are just 5 ideas on ways to promote your legitimate online business using Facebook. There are many more ideas that can be used, but keep in mind that no matter what tactics you decide to use, Facebook is a social network and people go there to connect with others and enjoy themselves, so it is essential that you concentrate on creating an inviting and friendly experience and worry about the sales later on.

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Today I’d like to tell you about a great new competition that will:

1)  Help you get lots of free targeted website traffic to your online business website
2)  Keep you motivated for the rest of the Winter
3) Give you a chance of winning prizes worth over $1500 (including cash!)      

It’s easy to get demotivated from time to time when you are running an online home business, especially in the dark dreary months of winter! That’s why the Affiliate Power Group have organized this competition.

To enter the competition all you need to do is join the Affiliate Power Group before Monday 24th January and follow the instructions to register.

Affiliate Power Group

Each week you’ll receive a step by step challenge designed to get more visitors to your website. The challenges are designed to get more traffic to your website and they come with full instructions that are suitable for newbies. You’ll receive points for every challenge you complete and at the end of the four weeks the people with the most points will win:

1st Prize: Value $631.95
- $100 Cash
- 3 month free membership of the APG (worth $109.95)
- Web Page Overhaul from Ken Troyer – Ken will critique a web page of your choice and make the changes for you to improve the look and sales copy (worth $200)
- A done for you squeeze page with a 52 week follow up series in a choice of one of at least 3 niches, including affiliate marketing (worth $97)
- 250 Backlinks (worth $75)
- Your name and a (do follow) link to your website on the Affiliate Power Group Login page listed as the winner of the APG Winter Challenge 2011. This will stay in place until the next competition, in approximately 3 months time (Value $50)

2nd Prize: Value $364.95
- $50 Cash
- 1 month free membership of APG (worth $39.95)
- 1 hour coaching call on Skype from Cynthia Minnaar on the topic of Article Marketing and/or Backlink Building (value $100)
- 250 Backlinks  (worth $75)
- Any service from WebsiteUpdateServices.com (worth $50)
- Your name and a (do follow) link to your website on the Affiliate Power Group Login page listed as coming 2nd place in the APG Winter Challenge 2011. This will stay in place until the next competition, in approximately 3 months time (Value $50)

3rd Prize: Value $247
- $25 Cash
- 250 Backlinks  (worth $75)
- Any service from WebsiteUpdateServices.com (worth $50)
- Free copy of Master Affiliate Blueprint or 3 Steps to Search Engine Success EBooks (worth up to $47)
- Your name and a (do follow) link to your website on the Affiliate Power Group Login page listed as coming 3rd place in the APG Winter Challenge 2011. This will stay in place until the next competition, in approximately 3 months time (Value $50)

4th Prize: Value $172
- 250 Backlinks  (worth $75)
- Your name and a (do follow) link to your website on the Affiliate Power Group Login page listed as coming 4th place in the APG Winter Challenge 2011. This will stay in place until the next competition, in approximately 3 months time (Value $50)
- Free copy of Master Affiliate Blueprint or 3 Steps to Search Engine Success EBooks (worth up to $47)

5th Prize: Value $97
- Your name and a (do follow) link to your website on the Affiliate Power Group Login page listed as coming 5th place in the APG Winter Challenge 2011. This will stay in place until the next competition, in approximately 3 months time (Value $50)
- Free copy of Master Affiliate Blueprint or 3 Steps to Search Engine Success EBooks (worth up to $47)

Even if you don’t win a prize, you will reap the rewards of targeted free traffic for many weeks and months to come!

Affiliate Power Group

As the job market continues to be unstable more and more people are turning to home based businesses. Although this is a popular and viable means of earning an income while working from home, and being your own boss sounds great there is a question that you need to ask yourself.

Is running a home based business the right thing for me?

The truth is that unfortunately there are some home based businesses that would be better off if they were run from either an office or a storefront. Here are some indicators that your home based business would most probably be more successful if it was moved out of the home and into a more appropriate setting.

The main thing to look at here is the type of needs that apply to your particular business. This includes things such as workspace, storage any equipment that may be necessary and the number of employees you need. There are times when it is just impossible to cram all of this into just a few rooms, never mind a single office.

In certain cases though, many of these businesses that need a lot of equipment such as a catering business can be very successfully run from home, but eventually the need to move to bigger premises will arise as the business expands.

Another point to take into account is whether your home offers a client friendly environment. In many cases a home based business will at some stage need to be available for a client to visit. Of course they will understand that not only will they be entering your place of business but that it is also your home, but this does not mean that sitting in your living room surrounded by all sorts of equipment and noisy kids is acceptable. At the very least you should have a designated area that affords you the opportunity to create a professional setting so that your clients can feel comfortable.

When making a decision about whether or not your business idea is viable to run from home, you must focus on not only the present but also the future. When first starting out there can be a number of possible benefits to running a business from home particularly the fact that your overheads will be less, but this may not be sufficient reason to justify not getting a storefront or office.

When you run a home based business, there is little chance of getting any walk in business other than people who may answer your ads. People don’t usually walk around in residential areas looking for particular services.

Over a period of time not only will your business hit a ceiling that it cannot get past, but there are other physical restriction that will hold you back especially when it comes to equipment and employees. It is important if you start off at home in a business that would be more suitable elsewhere, that you set up a plan to move when the need to expand arises. Don’t leave this decision until it is too late; make sure that you have it in place right from the beginning so that when the time comes you are ready for it.

In theory every business can be run from a home base. The point here is that this does not mean that every business should be run from home. When deciding what will work best for you, make sure that you go through all the facts and be realistic before making your final decision.

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