For many direct sales consultants, selling at craft shows is a great supplement or alternative to home parties. Success starts with choosing the right craft show and in her article below, Chris Carroll offers tips to help you choose.

Why Use Craft Shows in Your Direct Sales Business? Part 1
by Chris Carroll

The greatest thing about home businesses and the direct sales type of business is the flexibility in how you can market your products. We are not relegated to one type of selling so therefore the opportunities are endless! Brick and mortars stores are somewhat limited as they wait for the customers to find them. We on the other hand, go and find ours.

One of my favorite ways to increase customers, hostesses, business partners and newsletter signups is through craft shows and expos. Looking at the venue of the show, it becomes apparent that this IS your target market ~ Female; usually with extra disposable income And looking for unique products. All of these attributes fit our business perfectly.

Choosing the right venue will be important to your success. Make sure the show is in your market area. Traveling 50 miles to do a show looking for customers may not be a good idea if you have to deliver products after the show. Think about parties as well. If your hostess is an hour away and then her guests are a no show Or maybe you get 5 bookings, Are you willing to keep driving to that area to service those customers? Set yourself a radius of how far you are willing to travel.

Another thing to check out when choosing the right show to do is the amount of the booth. Figure out how much you have to sell to re coop your expenses. If you are doing a one day show for $150 and you sell $2 – $5 items, you are going to have to move a heck of a lot of items to break even.

Make sure that you are selling product that goes along with the theme of the show before writing that check for the entry fees. Specialty shows like scrapbooking or quilt shows may not be the best return for you if you are selling makeup. Several years ago I did a Home and Garden type of show and while my product line fit in wonderfully; there was a cosmetic company there. She was not moving a heck of a lot of product and did not do very well at all. I am actually surprised the promoters allowed her in. So make sure you are not wasting your time with the wrong show.

Check to see how long the show has been in existence. What type of turn out do they get? Sometimes doing a newly formed show is a good risk if it is a local show. Traveling great lengths to go to a new venue may not be something I would recommend. Also check on how they advertise the show. Very important in that you can have a huge amount of vendors attending, but if the event is not publicized well, you will not so well.

Overall, craft shows are an awesome tool for your business if they are researched and handled properly. Building your business in unique ways is the key to the longevity with your business.

Copyright Chris Carroll All Rights Reserved
Chris Carroll is a sales professional that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing with others. You can sign up for tips on managing and increasing your business at her site DirectSalesTalk. You can also find her at her business site ShopOnYourSeat If you would like to use this article for your newsletters or website, all links must be live and clickable.

by Ben Johnson

Once upon a time your sales were good and you were very happy with your website, but then things changed and for some unknown reason your sales declined. Even though you are still getting traffic from search engines through the same keywords, but still your bounce rate is increasing and conversion rate is decreasing.

Well, it’s about time you revamp your website.

Long gone are the days when people actually tried to dig and find the required information. Now, people want things fast. They need access to the required information and products fast. So, you need to design your website accordingly and make it fast.

Recently Designed Your Website?

Even if you have recently designed your website, if it’s too crowded with hundreds of links and pictures and unorganized content, then you need to revamp your website as well.

Here is the Big Question:

Now, the question is: How to revamp your website to get the desired results?

There are several factors that make a website successful. Let’s discuss them here now:

Your Business Website Must Depict Your Business Model:

Let’s say you are searching for electronic equipment and you Google some keywords to find relevant websites. You then click on a few links. You then come across a website with pink color and pictures of clowns. Your instant reaction will be that you have visited an irrelevant site. The same thing will happen to you if you fail to convey your business model via your web design. Don’t make your visitors pause and think, “Ok…So, where have I come?”

Keep in View the Mood / Tone of Your Business when You Design Your Website:

There should be a clear difference between a site selling toys and a site selling surgical equipment. Hence, you need to evaluate your business and your target market first and then create your web design accordingly.

Don’t Make Your Visitors Wonder How You Have Organized All the Information or Products:

Your website navigation should be easy to use and it should look clean as well. Having links everywhere will only make your visitors wonder what to do and where to go. They may also have trouble finding the desired information. So, prevent them from getting a headache by providing easy and user-friendly navigation. This will also decrease your bounce rate.19

Create a Powerful Business Identity:

Make sure you create a professional and attractive logo design to create your business identity in an effective manner. Without a logo, your business will be faceless and your website will be incomplete. So, make sure that you hire a professional logo designer to build your business image.

So, folks, these are some powerful tips that will allow you to revamp your website in a professional way.

Article by ben
Ben Johnson is the Alliance Manager at Logoinn, a custom logo design company. He writes about the effect of design on marketing and brand identity and helps small businesses find design solutions for effective marketing.

Image courtesy of Sarah_Ackerman.

It’s the middle of July. Am I really suggesting you start a Santa Letter business now?! Yes I am!

I’m not going to suggest you start advertising your Santa letter business now, but it’s a great time to plan and prepare so that you’re ready to launch your business and take orders the minute the holiday selling season starts. The article below will help you get started.

Start a Santa Letter Business for the Holidays

With the uncertainty surrounding the economy these days, many women are trying to think of ideas to make money from home. You don’t want to fall for a scam but you do want something that is easy to do and still have time for your families. Starting a Santa letter business may be the answer you’re looking for.What Exactly is a Santa Letter Business?

Each year thousands of children write letters to Santa Claus and never get a response, but your Santa letter business can change all that. By owning your own Santa letter business, you can give children something to cherish for years to come. A parent pays for a “letter from Santa” for their child and you write a personalized letter in response.

What Type of Equipment and Supplies are Needed?

There aren’t a lot of equipment needs for this business. In fact, you can get started with nothing more than a computer, Christmas stationery, a printer, and a way for parents to contact you. You may want to consider getting a post office box for your business so you won’t have people sending letters to your personal address.

What Skills and Attributes Will You Need?

A good command of the English language and the ability to type are all the skills you’ll really need. If you love children and can relate to them, you’ll do well in this business.

How Do You Decide What to Charge?

Parents want their children to be happy and to encourage the magic of Christmas as long as they can. It’s not unusual for Santa letter businesses to charge as much as $10 per letter. Of course, you may be able to find them cheaper online, but the quality of the letter leaves much to be desired. Deliver great quality and command a better price.

Think about what you would be willing to spend to have a personalized letter sent to your child from “Santa” and that will give you a good starting point for the price. Factor in your costs – stationary, postage, and printer ink – then add a little to the price of the letter to help pay for those items.

Use Creative Marketing Ideas.

Don’t wait too long to start advertising your new business. In fact, if you haven’t started by the first week of November, it may be too late. Sell letters from Santa on auction sites. You can also create order forms that can be given to schools and preschools to send home to parents.

Consider creating a website and advertise there, send out postcards to people in your hometown, or put up fliers in local businesses. Set up your computer in a booth at a Christmas craft show and have letters made on the spot for parents and grandparents to take with them.

To Learn More:

Setting up a Santa letter business is a fun and lucrative business to start with a minimum of money and equipment. Get step-by-step help, download letter templates and more, by grabbing your “Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Santa Letter Business”

Sorry. This guide is no longer available.

How to Use StumbleUpon to Grow Your Online Business

StumbleUpon operates like a social networking and bookmarking website allowing users to rate and rank pages and share them with fellow users. It also helps users find relevant and useful websites based on the pages they like and share.

As a business owner, StumbleUpon’s unique user driven approach can drive tons of traffic to your website. It’s ranked as one of the thirty largest social bookmarking sites with almost 10 million members and more than 500 topics to search through.

This report breaks down how you can use StumbleUpon to grow your business, step-by-step. And it includes a handy checklist to help keep you on track.

If you’re looking for a direct sales party plan company with a proven track record, Watkins, Inc. may be the perfect choice. Founded in 1868, the “J.R. Watkins Medical Company” originally sold health “remedies.” While the company still sells it’s premier Red Liniment pain reliever, the product line now also includes gourmet food products, natural cleaning products, personal care products, and more.

In addition to their commitment to providing natural products for its customers, the company works hard to protect the environment through responsible manufacturing and recycling programs, and they help the community through charitable programs.

Some of the benefits of becoming a Watkins, Inc. Associate are:

• You’ll be joining a proven, well-known company.
• Consumers are more and more interested in natural products.
• Selling consumable products makes it easier to gain repeat customers.
• You can get started for under $50.
• The company offers rewards and bonus programs.

For more information and to contact a consultant who will help you get started, visit the Watkins, Inc. page in the InternetBasedMoms.com direct sales directory.