Small Business Ideas, Start A Blog, Make Money Online

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Buying lottery tickets, getting sucked into an MLM or thinking you can make tonnes of money from selling basic SEO to your local plumber. These schemes are very tempting when you're down on your luck and can do with some extra money FAST. But the problem with "get rick quick" schemes is that the only people getting rich are the ones taking YOUR money.

Most people will know that the chance of winning the Lottery is slim. (In the UK it's 1 in 45,057,474 according to the Lotto website). But why should you avoid these other get rich quick schemes?

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Avoid the Get Rick Quick Scams (Build A Profitable Business Instead)

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Buying lottery tickets, getting sucked into an MLM or thinking you can make tonnes of money from selling basic SEO to your local plumber. These schemes are very tempting when you're down on your luck and can do with some extra money FAST. But the problem with "get rick quick" schemes is that the only people getting rich are the ones taking YOUR money.

Most people will know that the chance of winning the Lottery is slim. (In the UK it's 1 in 45,057,474 according to the Lotto website). But why should you avoid these other get rich quick schemes?

…

Avoid the Get Rick Quick Scams (Build A Profitable Business Instead)Read More

Start A Business From Home (And Get Your Life Back)

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Bringing up young children can be the best time of your life, and it can also be the hardest. I remember juggling childcare and commuting to work as an Engineer. Here's the dilemma, you want to be with your child, you can't bear to be away from your child, but you're not willing to abandon your career. Plus let's face it, most of us have to pay some bills.

Setting up my first business was my way of getting my life back. It was a chance to work on my terms, minimising time away from home and spending as much time as I could with my child. And I'm not alone. We're going through a work from home revolution.

Think it's just parents? Think again. Congested roads and exorbitant house prices are driving people out of the cities. Working from home, in a rural location, is a win-win for most people. Plus even in rural Northumberland, you get a half decent broadband connection...

It's time for a rethink about how we work.

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YouTube Videos, Using YouTube To Promote Your Blog

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I've had a go at most of the social media channels over the years. I'm currently a big fan of Pinterest, I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook, I've dabbled at Instagram and never had much success with Twitter. YouTube is the one social media channel I've never been brave enough to try.

I wasn't the only one. My young trendy staff for my last business looked appalled when I talked about creating videos for YouTube. It quickly became obvious that I would be the one in front of the camera. And somehow it just didn't happen...

There was always an excuse. Something urgent would crop up and my plans for incorporating video on the business website just didn't quite materialize. Deep down I knew the truth. Making YouTube videos is scary. You can hide behind words and a carefully selected picture on a blog, but making a video is like putting a piece of your soul out into the Worldwide marketplace.

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How To Start A Blog (The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide)

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This step-by-step guide on how to start a blog will get you set up and ready to start blogging in 10 minutes or less. I'll show you how to come up with an idea, choose your blogging platform, pick a domain name, find web hosting, select a theme and write your first post.

Of course, you can take a little longer and make sure you set off with the right idea, but if you're ready to get going, start your blog now! Why is blogging the best way to grow ANY business? I'll cover that too...

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From 39 Pinterest Followers To Over A Thousand (In Just 6 Days)

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I have a brand new Pinterest Account. It's just over a month old. Pinterest wasn't on my radar when I first launched Simply Hatch. I was thinking about all the usual suspects where my customers might hang out, FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Completely forgot about Pinterest.

Which is surprising really.

I've always underestimated Pinterest. With my last business, I'd put together a few boards and tried to remember to Pin regularly. It never quite happened. But our wonderful customers would do the work for me, pinning and repinning the clothing they loved from the Rich Pins on my outdoor clothing website. It helped that we were selling just to women.

My last business never had a lot of Pinterest followers, but the organic traffic from Pinterest was huge. All it took was a little Save It Button on every website image. So yes, it was surprising that I'd forgotten about the Power of Pinterest.

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Everyone Is Blogging, You Should Too

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With my last 7 figure ecommerce business, I was really lazy about blogging. I started the blog early on using the free Blogger platform. Big mistake.

It was a while before I realised that attracting visitors to a separate platform did absolutely nothing for my business website. The blog traffic was going to Blogger.com and all the links in the World weren't the same as hosting the blog on my own site.

With a bit of technical help, I added a blog to my own website. (It's much easier today using WordPress). Even with my laidback approach to writing, organic traffic to the blog section grew from Day 1.

It was ten years ago when I started the blog for my last business. That ecommerce site always generated huge amounts of organic traffic. Today generating traffic to your business website is much harder. BUT a blog really helps. It can help you stand out from your competitors and it can help you engage with your customers.

You just need to go about it the right way.

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How To Choose The Best WordPress Hosting in 2019

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Choosing hosting, for your WordPress blog or website, is a minefield if you don't know what you're looking for. When I started this blog, Simply Hatch, I struck lucky with my hosting company.

I've had websites in the past such as a big ecommerce site with a 7 figure turnover. With an unreliable shared host, sleepless nights and ruined holidays taught me that cheap isn't an option when it comes to hosting. You get what you pay for.

If your blog or website goes down you don't make any money. If it's too slow, customers don't stick around.

Speed, security, and reliability are the three amigos of website hosting.

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Start A Business Blog in 9 Easy Steps

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This is Part 2 of a 2-Step Guide. Part 2 shows you how to start a business blog on a brand new website. If you have an existing website you'll need to read Part 1. 9 Steps to Add a Blog to Your Website.

Part 2 Start A Business Blog.

Congratulations! You've decided to start a blog for your business. Or maybe you've decided to start a blog like this one, (Simply Hatch), to build a business and make some money from blogging. This post will walk you through setting up your business blog.

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Add A Blog To An Existing Website (And See Your Sales Grow)

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This is Part 1 of a 2-Step Guide. Part 1 is about adding a blog to an existing business website. If you haven't got a website yet you'll need to read Part 2 Start A Business Blog In 9 Easy Steps.

Part 1 Adding A Blog To An Existing Business Website.

Do you have an existing website? Does it need a blog? (The answer to this is YES if you want to grow your sales). If it's a WordPress website you're in luck. Adding a blog is easy. This post will walk you through the steps.

(If you want to add a WordPress blog to a non-WordPress site it's still possible, but it does get a bit techier. I suggest you get a web developer involved).

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How To Create Your Business Website

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Creating a business website can be anything from a few simple steps, up and running in less than a day, to the hardest project you've ever undertaken.

The good thing about building a website is that there's lots of information available on the web.

The bad thing about creating a website is ... there's lots of information available on the web.

We're talking information overload...

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Starting A Business? You Need A Job Description.

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You're launching a business. Starting out in the Big Wide World as a business owner or self-employed. Why on earth should you write a job description?

Yes, I know you're going to be the Boss. For perhaps the first time in your life you get to choose what you want to do. There's no parent saying you should do this, no teacher bossing you around at school, and no-one is telling you what to do in your job.

There's just you.

And that's the whole point. There's only you. At least to begin with. Whatever job needs doing, you'll be the one doing it. If you open a cafe, you'll be the one making the cakes, pouring the coffee, washing up the plates and putting the bin out.

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How To Start A Business (With My 32-Step Checklist)

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It's not easy to start a business but this guide will walk you through the steps you need to take. The most important part of starting a business is knowing who your customers will be and where you can find them. If you don't have any customers, you don't have a business.

Starting a blog first is a terrific way to build up your raving fans before you quit your well-paid job, plus a blog can become a lucrative business in its own right. Read my post How To Start A Blog (The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide).

Finding out “How to Start A Business” is a minefield. It’s not so much that there’s no information to be found. It’s more that EVERYONE seems to be an expert from your Gran to the woman in the seat next to you at the hairdressers.
I remember when I started my first business with a friend, a clothing brand. We both tried to avoid the “What do you do?” question.

Not because we were embarrassed about starting up a business. We just knew that as soon as you mentioned “starting a business” everyone felt they had the right to give you advice.

Even if they had no business experience.

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