The 4 Things I Did to Uplevel My Home Business
I always do plan to take my business to the next level to achieve success. My business has definitely been built in stages. There is no
overnight success to be seen here, just a lot of long term planning,
hard work and consistent effort. In each clear stage of my business
there have been changes or upgrades I have made that ultimately resulted
in my business growing into the next stage, and in time I have always
been able to look back and see that it was this a specific catalyst that
helped me grow my business to the next level. Today, I want to share
with you 4 things I did to up level my business that had a clear impact
on my growth, the impact it had on my business and provide some analysis
for why it was a game changer.
Hopefully, you can spend some time
reflecting on these items to determine if you also are ready to up level
your business in a certain area and reap the rewards of upgrading tools
or strategies.
What I did: Upgraded to a self hosted website from a free Blogger site I had been using for years to host my blog.
Impact on my business: Sky-rocketed my blog traffic and page views, and then later gave me a ready made platform to create my online shop.
Analysis:
For years I had used a free Blogger/Blogspot account to host my blog,
but eventually I knew it was time to upgrade to a self hosted WordPress
site if I wanted to go from hobby-blogger to serious-blogger. Luckily,
WordPress has many free plugins available to help make that migration
from Blogger to WordPress much simpler and it only took me a weekend and
an investment of about $200 to get my new site up and running. Almost
immediately I could see the impact it had on my traffic and page views.
Having a self hosted website is much better for your SEO (search engine
optimization) than a free blog site, and my page views grew steadily
over the coming months and years.
Although I have garnered a pretty
large following through social media, I still find that the majority of
the traffic to my site comes from organic search results and SEO, and I
know I have many regular readers who came to me, not through YouTube or
social but through a search engine to my site and shop. SEO has been
integral for helping the passive income for my business grow and
upgrading to self hosted WordPress was the catalyst for this growth.
What I did: Purchased a DSLR camera and learned to use it!
Impact on my business: Greater following on social and YouTube.
Analysis:
Once I started using a DSLR camera, the quality of my pictures and
videos increased dramatically. This had a positive affect on many areas
of my business, including my blog, Instagram and YouTube. Almost
immediately, I began to see my followers on Instagram increase as I
posted nicer pictures regularly. My blog page views increased as well as
my images were getting more hits in search and they picked up
significantly on Pinterest as well which in turn drove traffic to my
blog and shop. Once I started using my DSLR for video, it took me some
time to find the sweet spot for filming and the right lenses to use, but
the improvement in the quality of my videos was noticeable. Online
marketing has become increasing visual and the quality of your images
and video really make a big impact in the polish and professionalism of
your business as well as the marketability of your content online.
What I did: Began working closely with a business mentor.
Impact on my business: Greater clarity for my business, generated new products and revenue streams.
Analysis:
I found a business mentor early in 2015, or should I say, she found me!
We clicked immediately and through our frequent chats, I gained new
insight into the direction I wanted to take my business. 2015 was a big
year for me revenue-wise, I was able to introduce many new products and
revenue streams that helped propel my business forward in leaps and
bounds. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and to challenge me to
think about my business in different ways was a priceless experience
that really helped empower me.
What I did:
Began using social media automation tools that allow me to pre-create
and schedule content to fill my feed in certain platforms.
Impact on my business: Established a promotion plan for specific platforms while also giving myself back time.
Analysis:
Whenever you can automate actions in your business it is a time saver
and it frees you up to do something different or more productive with
your time. I started using the social media scheduler Edgar earlier this
summer and since then I have put my promotion for Twitter and Facebook
on autopilot. Since Twitter and Facebook are not two of the platforms
that I actively create for, it was helpful to me to establish a regular
posting schedule in these peripheral platforms while also spending as
little time as possible managing them. Since implementing this change, I
have seen sales of certain products rise, which shows me that these
promotion efforts are working, even if I’m not working on them!
I
hope you gained some insight from this post in understanding how
certain changes can help you up level your business in different ways.
Whether it was increased revenue, more traffic or just time I gave back
to myself, every once in a while you advance your business in ways that
have a positive collateral affect that changes the way you do business
for the better!
overnight success to be seen here, just a lot of long term planning,
hard work and consistent effort. In each clear stage of my business
there have been changes or upgrades I have made that ultimately resulted
in my business growing into the next stage, and in time I have always
been able to look back and see that it was this a specific catalyst that
helped me grow my business to the next level. Today, I want to share
with you 4 things I did to up level my business that had a clear impact
on my growth, the impact it had on my business and provide some analysis
for why it was a game changer.
Hopefully, you can spend some time
reflecting on these items to determine if you also are ready to up level
your business in a certain area and reap the rewards of upgrading tools
or strategies.
#1: Moved from Blogger to WordPress
What I did: Upgraded to a self hosted website from a free Blogger site I had been using for years to host my blog.
Impact on my business: Sky-rocketed my blog traffic and page views, and then later gave me a ready made platform to create my online shop.
Analysis:
For years I had used a free Blogger/Blogspot account to host my blog,
but eventually I knew it was time to upgrade to a self hosted WordPress
site if I wanted to go from hobby-blogger to serious-blogger. Luckily,
WordPress has many free plugins available to help make that migration
from Blogger to WordPress much simpler and it only took me a weekend and
an investment of about $200 to get my new site up and running. Almost
immediately I could see the impact it had on my traffic and page views.
Having a self hosted website is much better for your SEO (search engine
optimization) than a free blog site, and my page views grew steadily
over the coming months and years.
Although I have garnered a pretty
large following through social media, I still find that the majority of
the traffic to my site comes from organic search results and SEO, and I
know I have many regular readers who came to me, not through YouTube or
social but through a search engine to my site and shop. SEO has been
integral for helping the passive income for my business grow and
upgrading to self hosted WordPress was the catalyst for this growth.
#2: Upgraded to a DSLR Camera
What I did: Purchased a DSLR camera and learned to use it!
Impact on my business: Greater following on social and YouTube.
Analysis:
Once I started using a DSLR camera, the quality of my pictures and
videos increased dramatically. This had a positive affect on many areas
of my business, including my blog, Instagram and YouTube. Almost
immediately, I began to see my followers on Instagram increase as I
posted nicer pictures regularly. My blog page views increased as well as
my images were getting more hits in search and they picked up
significantly on Pinterest as well which in turn drove traffic to my
blog and shop. Once I started using my DSLR for video, it took me some
time to find the sweet spot for filming and the right lenses to use, but
the improvement in the quality of my videos was noticeable. Online
marketing has become increasing visual and the quality of your images
and video really make a big impact in the polish and professionalism of
your business as well as the marketability of your content online.
#3: Found a Business Mentor
What I did: Began working closely with a business mentor.
Impact on my business: Greater clarity for my business, generated new products and revenue streams.
Analysis:
I found a business mentor early in 2015, or should I say, she found me!
We clicked immediately and through our frequent chats, I gained new
insight into the direction I wanted to take my business. 2015 was a big
year for me revenue-wise, I was able to introduce many new products and
revenue streams that helped propel my business forward in leaps and
bounds. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and to challenge me to
think about my business in different ways was a priceless experience
that really helped empower me.
#4: Automated my Social Media
What I did:
Began using social media automation tools that allow me to pre-create
and schedule content to fill my feed in certain platforms.
Impact on my business: Established a promotion plan for specific platforms while also giving myself back time.
Analysis:
Whenever you can automate actions in your business it is a time saver
and it frees you up to do something different or more productive with
your time. I started using the social media scheduler Edgar earlier this
summer and since then I have put my promotion for Twitter and Facebook
on autopilot. Since Twitter and Facebook are not two of the platforms
that I actively create for, it was helpful to me to establish a regular
posting schedule in these peripheral platforms while also spending as
little time as possible managing them. Since implementing this change, I
have seen sales of certain products rise, which shows me that these
promotion efforts are working, even if I’m not working on them!
I
hope you gained some insight from this post in understanding how
certain changes can help you up level your business in different ways.
Whether it was increased revenue, more traffic or just time I gave back
to myself, every once in a while you advance your business in ways that
have a positive collateral affect that changes the way you do business
for the better!
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