Operating an online magazine can be quite a daunting experience for someone who doesn’t have an idea on how to generate traffic (visitors) or keep them coming back for more – especially not when the portal is designed by designers and web developers who know nothing about search engine optimization.

 
Rima McDonald, publisher/ owner of Women’s Online Magazine, also an Internet Marketing expert among other women business owners in the United States, knows what it takes to run an online magazine successfully. (more…)

It is well worth entering awards: look at all the publicity around the ITV mumpreneur awards. You can raise your business profile even if you don’t win. Why not get someone to nominate you and your business for Practical Parenting’s Amazing People Award: Businessparent of 2008. Good luck, and do let us know how you get on.

You  find out about how other mumpreneurs do it in our new Mumpreneur Profile slot on Family Friendly Working. First to be featured is Nanette of Lily Rose designs. If you’d like to be featured on the site, answer the questions here and email them to antonia@acpr.co.uk.

From The Telegraph, Saturday:

“Chitty, 38, from Bexhill, East Sussex, is typical of this trend for a flexible approach. She relaunched her career after having two children (now aged six and three), but cheerfully calls herself “unemployable”, in the traditional sense.

“I’m 19 weeks pregnant with my third child, so after a stint at the computer I like to sit in a comfy chair and have a cup of tea,” she says. “Add in my ideal of a job that’s 9-3, that works around school holidays and one that I can take time off for inset days, school plays and assemblies and, like a huge number of women, I’m basically unemployable.”

Nevertheless, since leaving full-time work five years ago, Chitty has forged a career as an author and in public relations. She specialises in promoting the start-up businesses of women with children.

“I was doing that classic thing of spending all my money on child care while resenting someone else bringing up my daughter,” she says. “I volunteered myself for a magazine article on women who were unhappy with their work/life balance and had a session with a life coach.

“She pointed out that I had all the skills to work from home and that people would pay for those skills. Now I get to choose the hours I work and spend time with my children.”

Why do you work? Most of the women I know who run their own business have a passion for whst they do, even if it is tough at times. But new research shows that some mothers are having to go back to work, due to the economic recession

www.Workingmums.co.uk found that in a survey of 505, 79 per cent were looking to go back to work or increase their present working hours due to the credit crunch. For many, this will mean that they are looking for jobs that will allow them to balance their family and work life. This includes flexible or part-time working, school time jobs and working from home. If this is you, have a look at the ideas on www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk, or sign up to the ‘Start Your Own Business’ course at www.themumpreneurguide.co.uk  

Working Mums have a message for employers based on their survey results. Bosses should who re-examine their working culture and look at more efficient and effective ways of working such as flexible, part-time working or working from home. Employing skilled workers in these different ways can make their businesses more efficient and productive, cut office overheads, minimise overtime and reduce travel expenses.

Mandy Garner, spokesperson for WorkingMums.co.uk says, “The present economic situation is not all doom and gloom and actually presents some good opportunities for mothers to assess their working options and look at what is available to help them meet their needs. It also key that employers should look at more efficient ways of working and how this can help them to become more cost-effective whilst remaining productive. Employers should not get caught out by reducing their resources. Working mothers are a fantastic pool of talent that many businesses should be calling upon.”

Lilach Bullock is a renowned virtual PA who helps to support business people from her own office. And the successful entrepreneur is offering telephone seminars on how to set up similar ventures. She said: “These are a great way for people to find out about setting up their own VA (virtual assistant] company - which has to be attractive in the current economic climate.

“People simply dial in from the comfort of their own home and participate in the session.”

The next phone seminar hosted by Lilach, a finalist in the National Virtual Assistant of the Year Awards 2007 and Mumpreneur of the Year Award 2008, is on Friday, November 14 at 8pm. Lilach also runs one-day workshops on setting up a virtual assistant business. For more information and to book a place on a free phone seminar call Lilach on 01442 231663 or email info@asklilach.co.uk

From Hemel Today