As if being a mom isn't hard enough, many women have also taken on the role of entrepreneur. This is where the phrase, “mompreneur" comes from. 
It's a tough but generally rewarding lifestyle choice. Moms can be there for their children and family when they need them. They can create an online business and generate an income for the family.


However, sometimes being a mompreneur can seem as if you're standing on the edge of a cliff. A crisis can hit and depending on your business model, everything can go wrong at once.  


For example, a mompreneur who suddenly finds that a family member is having a health crisis may need to drop everything to care for that loved one. The business goes on the back burner. There is no time for online work and when the health crisis is over there's little or no business to come back to. 


That's an extreme example but it can happen as I found out when my mother-in-law became ill and I was offline for almost a year and a half. 


Here are 3 steps that I should have taken to help prepare for any potential crisis.


#1 Have a Backup Person to Help with your Online Business


You don't have to have a partner or divulge everything about your business to another person. However, it is helpful if you have a virtual assistant, friend or family member that can help you. That way, if a crisis occurs, you can quickly contact them and they can handle any communications and manage things while you're away.


#2 Network and Build a Community


Another way to help prepare for a potential crisis is to make sure you have connections in your industry.


If you're a blogger or information marketer, then make connections with other bloggers and writers in your industry. If you're going to be unavailable for an extended period of time, you can hire or partner with a writer so the content continues to flow on your site. 


For example, if you're a professional coach and are unable to meet your coaching obligations for a period of time, you might be able to offer your clients a substitute coach while you're away. They don't miss out on the coaching experience they've paid for and you don't lose clients. 


#3  Your Mindset Is Everything 


Having a positive mindset is what will help you not only come through a crisis personally but also professionally. Being able to stay positive and focused on your priorities helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed and out of control. 


Before a crisis happens, make sure to create strong connections with your niche community. Then you'll be able to quickly make a plan, know what you can handle and what you cannot, and know who to ask for help.  

Many people will find your blog posts through search engines.  They'll google their keywords and end up on your blog, reading an article or maybe two.  If you've got great longtail keywords it might bring you lots of targeted traffic.

While organic traffic is great, and you want to get as much of it as possible, why not try something that will keep people coming back instead of just hitting your site once and going away? One idea is to write a blog post series.  I recommend at least 3 parts to your series, although it's going to depend on what you're blogging about.

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An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. To connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog.

What is a Blog?

A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.

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Blogging is a great way to connect with your audience and prospects on a different level. Blogs offer you a more personal interaction with your audience. An interaction that lets you ask questions, provide answers and even debate online.

Blogs enable you to offer an opinion, good or bad, and to simply rant or rave about something should you choose to do so. By offering a myriad of communication options unrivaled by other content forms, blogs make it easy to market a product.

Here’s how:

• Reviews.   One of the most powerful forms of marketing is to write a simple review as a blog post. This works particularly well if you’re an affiliate marketer because a review of a product comes across as unbiased, as it should, while at the same time demonstrates the benefits of a product. It presells a product or service, which is the primary responsibility of an affiliate marketer. However, you can also ask outside parties, guest bloggers, to review your products or services and then either post their reviews on your website or link to them in a blog post written by you.
  

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As you may have discovered, there is an art to writing blog posts for the viewers who read your blog. Before you write each blog post, you first must decide what outcome or what result, you are looking to achieve.

• Do you want people to buy a product you're promoting?
• Do you want to get comments and feedback?
• Are you looking for Diggs and Stumbles and Tweets?
• Maybe you're trying to build up your image as the expert in your field?

In addition to writing for a desired outcome, you need to know who your audience is. While you might think you know, you can find out for sure by doing a poll or survey to gauge the level your readers are at.

• Are they beginners, intermediates, or fellow experts?
• Which group buys the most from you?
• Which group tends to comment the most?

Figure that out and you'll have a better idea of who you are writing to and for. Of course, you'll have readers coming from many different directions, but you'll understand the major group you want to target.

Once you know the who you are writing for, you have to find your own voice. Instead of thinking about every single person who will read your blog post, try putting a picture of one person in your mind. That's right, you're going to write as if you are writing to one person. He/she can be fictitious, another marketer you are friends with, or one of your customers who you've had some past conversations with. Just make sure it is someone friendly.

As you think about this friendly person, write your post in a friendly manner and don't forget to put your personality in it. Travis Sago, of Bum Marketing fame, fills his emails to overflowing with his personality, and his subscribers love him for it. He comes across as real, honest, trustworthy, and funny. But make sure you don't try to be Travis or someone else; you have to be yourself or it won't ring true.

Think about some of the posts you've read at other marketers' sites and what you've liked about them. The best ones are usually when the marketer puts some personal info in them. Don't make it long, boring or too personal, just some little ditty that happened to you lately or maybe some-thing that pokes fun at you. People like to know who they're dealing with - it brings trust into the equation, and that can convert very well indeed. And not only that, it's more fun for you.

So to repeat: Decide what results you want before you write. Know your audience. Write to one friendly and interested face. Add your personality and include glimpses of your life.

If you can do all of this then you've got the makings for some awesome blog posts!

(No affiliate links were included in this post)

If you would like me to add your link, exchange links or for your comments to be approved, there are a few simple rules that will need to be followed.

Links and Link Exchanges:

Most of the links on my sites are ones that I liked or thought that my readers would like. I have never contacted them and ask them to link back to me. If those sites choose to link back to me, great.

If someone requests a link exchange, usually I am very happy to do so, if it is compatible to the blog it is being requested for...but there are limits.

• Someone sent me an email request for a "link exchange". I liked what they had on their site and added their link to my site. Replied back to let them know that I had done so. I then received an email back stating "If their link was still there after 24 hours they would then consider adding my link to their site" . Excuse me? That is not a "Link Exchange". Their link has been removed.

• Someone left this comment on one of my posts: " Your posts are waaaay to general. My site is much better than yours. Would you like to exchange links?". Ummm...No thank you and the comment was not approved.

• Someone left the same thing on 5 different posts in one day. It was not a comment, but an ad for an affiliate product that went to their affiliate link. They ask me to "exchange links" with them. Are you kidding me? No thank you and the comments were not approved.

• One person left 10 messages in a row at Blogcatalog "telling me" (not asking) to add their link to my sites. What? No thank you, their site was not compatible to any of my blogs.

I will not link to sites that have absolutely nothing to do with what my blogs are about. Nor will I link to any gambling or adult sites. Don't even bother to ask.



Comments:

I will approve any comments:

• That add to the conversation of the post they are left on.
• That don't agree with what I have written. (You can disagree with someone without being rude and condescending to them and their readers).
• Telling me about memes or awards.
  

I will not approve any comments:

• That are rude, condescending (to me or my readers), hateful or blatant ads. (If you can't say something in a nice way, don't say anything at all).
• That just says "hello, I was here...with a link to their site" and nothing else.
• That are 5 paragraphs long and have nothing to do with the post they are left on.

What's the hardest thing about blogging? Coming up with fresh, new content! And you have to publish new posts frequently - twice a week at the very least - to keep readers interested and earn search engine love.

If you're feeling stuck, here is a list of 50 blogging ideas that are sure to inspire you to come up with new content for your blog. Most of the ideas can be used more than once, so you won't run out of blog posts for months to come.

And by the way, if you want to make more money from your blog, Blogger's Paycheck shows you how to make passive income from your blog without spending all day at it.

1. Special events - Relate your blog topic to a special event, national day of, or holiday.

2. News - Subscribe to Google news alert on your keywords and write about the latest news in your niche.

3. Book review.

4. Respond to a post on another blog in a niche similar or related to yours.

5. Blog milestone - Write about your blogging milestones, such as publishing your 100th post, getting your 1000th comment....

6. Niche heroes -Blog about a person who made a positive contribution in your niche.

7. Blog memes - Join in blog memes such as "Wordless Wednesday". There's at least one for every day of the week!

8. Product review - An excellent way to work in some affiliate links.

9. FAQs in your niche - Write a short Q & A based on FAQs about your niche.

10. Blog comment response - Write a long and expanded response to a comment on your blog.

11. Predict trends - What do you see happening in your niche in a year? 5 years?

12. Historical view - What was your niche in the past? Or what past event influenced your niche?

13. Top tips on any topic of interest to your readers.

14. Best of... - A good year ender, make a list of your best posts for the year.

15. Contests - Organize a contest for your blog readers, or make a list of contests your readers can join.

16. What I learned from... a current event, a person you met, or an experience you had.

17. Definitions - Define terms that are commonly used in your niche but a beginner may not understand

18. New products - Not a review but simply an announcement of a new product relevant to your niche. This is another good opportunity to drop in some affiliate links.

19. Biggest problem - Ask your readers what their biggest problem is about your blog topic or niche. They post their answers in the comments section.

20. Biggest problem follow up - Summarize the comments from #19 in another post.

21. Biggest problem follow up series - Write a separate blog post tackling each question from #19.

22. Interview somebody knowledgeable in your niche, or has succeeded in it, or is otherwise interesting to your readers.

23. Big list - Compile a big list of various resources, just like this one. The bigger the better!

24. Reader Survey - Put up a brief survey online and blog about the results.

25. Be Provocative - Challenge a common belief or widely accepted idea in your niche.

26. New Idea - What new idea about your blog topic or niche have you come across lately?

27. YouTube - Embed a funny, moving or insightful video on YouTube. You can even have a "video day" once a week.

28. YouTube version 2 - Make YOUR own YouTube video. Publish it on YouTube then embed on your blog. This way, you can attract traffic from YouTube to your blog.

29. Freebie - Scour the 'net for freebies that your readers will love. Or create a freebie of your own, such as a checklist or special report.

30. Personal story - Use a personal story to illustrate an important concept or principle in your niche.

31. Free to publish articles - Check out relevant articles in article directories such as Ezine Articles... but don't publish them entirely on your blog. Instead, use an article or a group of articles as your take-off point for a blog post, or several.

32. Link love - This is a post with links to other blogs. Some bloggers set aside one day a week to publish a list of the best blog posts on their topic.

33. Photo - A picture is worth thousand words, right? Search Flickr for creative commons pictures that your readers will like.

34. Hot topics - Look at Digg for hot topics in your niche

35. Pros and cons - Examine what's good and bad about something related to your blog topic

36. Respond to relevant questions you find in Ask.com

37. Guest post - Invite another blogger to write a guest post for your blog

38. Reader's post - Invite blog subscribers to submit an article or post to be published on the blog

39. Inspirational post - Write a motivational post for your readers.

40. Update an old post with fresh ideas, new learnings and current research findings.

41. Beginner's guide - What do beginners in your niche struggle with? Write a post to guide them through it.

42. Best list - Patterned after "best dressed lists" make a list of the best ___ in your niche.

43. Worst list - Make your version of the "worst dressed list" for your niche.

44. New uses for - Think of new ways your readers can use gadgets and other stuff.

45. Write about a live event that you attended and what you learned from it.

46. Bribe post - Bribe your readers with a freebie in exchange for subscribing to your newsletter or RSS feed.

47. Around the world - Compare how people in different countries do something related to your niche.

48. Seasonal - Relate the month or season to your blog topic.

49. Blog carnival - Join or host a blog carnival, where several publish posts about the same topic on the same day.

50. Host a virtual "conference" on your blog - Invite "speakers" to publish their post on a specified date and time. Q&A happens in the comments section.

Now that you've got a steady flow of fresh content, how do you actually make money from your blog? Visit Blogger's Paycheck for a step-by-step guide on blogging for profit.

There are many different ways to make money online and many successful internet marketers use more than one method. I've listed fifteen ways to make money online here. If you find any of them interesting, follow up with further research and take action.

1. Offer a service - Examples include ghostwriting for marketers or creating graphics for their websites. Other services include virtual assistant (VA), web hosting, or website building services.

2. Affiliate marketing - Sell other people's products and receive a percentage of each sale. You can do this with or without your own website. Ways of marketing the affiliate products include Pay Per Click, article marketing, creating Squidoo lenses and/or Hubpages.

3. Blogging - After you get your traffic consistent you can make money selling ad space on your blog and also sell affiliate products that could help your readers.

4. SEO - Offer your search engine optimization skills to others who don't have this knowledge or don't have time to implement the strategies involved.

5. PLR - Write, or hire someone to write private label rights articles or products and sell them through your website.

6. AdSense - Put up blogs or websites with content and AdSense ads and make money every time someone clicks on the ad.

7. Copywriting - This can be a big money-maker if you're good. It takes skill and knowledge to become an in-demand copywriter. The sales copy is what sells a product and is so very important.

8. Transcription - Another service option, but growing because of all the people doing recorded interviews these days and wanting them transcribed.

9. Consulting to offline businesses - Many offline businesses are not yet online. If they are, chances are they're not optimizing their website and gathering leads. This is where you come in with your knowledge of how internet marketing works.

10. eBay - You're selling physical products and there's money to be made here. Many internet marketers have used this business model successfully.

11. Flip websites - Create websites, add content, and sell them to the highest bidder. This can work well if you just like setting up websites but don't like to maintain them.

12. CPA - Join performance-based CPA (cost-per-action) networks and make money with their ads.

13. Online coaching - Develop a coaching program your students can follow online and make money with each new student who goes through.

14. Create your own product and sell it - You can do this successfully in any niche, as long as you've done your research and determined there is a desire for your product.

15. Joint venture broker - Be the one who brings together two business people and get a percentage of their joint product earnings for structuring the deal.

This is an incomplete list of the many various ways to make money online. Some can make you more money than others, but you shouldn't let the amount of earnings be your total guide to which one(s) you choose. Do some more research, start with one model, and then go for it!

If you're a blogger (or want to be one) and are looking for ways to create more content, traffic and income opportunities for your blog - this free report is going to come in handy.

It's called: "Fire Up Your Blog with PLR Content"

...and it explains 6 attractive benefits to using PLR (private label rights) content with your blogging, 12 creative ideas for using PLR and more. It's a quick 3 page report with plenty of ideas you can use right away.

Click here to download your FREE report*

*This is a PDF document and you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view it. If you don't have this software, you can get it here.

Note: 1/10/09 Link has been fixed!