April Tara » Writing

‘Tis the Season for lots of great deals

April — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 23:09:33 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

I am just overwhelmed with deals to share with you! Some of my friends and colleagues have some specials going on that I have to tell you about.

First, I have to say “Happy Birthday!” to Lynette Chandler and tell you about her birthday wish. She recently launched the Blog Energizer program and, of course, I immediately signed up for all of the blogging tools and opportunities. But Lynette has a specific goal in mind. She made a little birthday wish and with your help, it’s going feed a lot of families this holiday season. Lynette has promised that if Blog Energizer reaches 2,000 members by December 31st, she’ll donate 8000 bowls of food to the food banks through “Feeding America & Kraft Foods” program. Un-be-lieveable!! Way to go, Lynette! Now all you have to do is visit Blog Energizer, sign up, and start downloading this month’s resources, browse through topic ideas, even find some guest blogging opportunities.

Oh, speaking of Lynette, I have two more offers from her:

One free month of BlogEnergizer and pay just $10/month after
50% off BloggingStarterPack using coupon code BSP0812

I’ve also got another good deal for you from my friend Carrie Lauth, the Natural Mom. Carrie is one of those successful (single!) WAHMs who enjoys helping other WAHMs grow their businesses. Right now she’s adding a little bonus to her coaching program. If you purchase one hour of coaching with Carrie, you’ll receive a FREE copy of her “Mini Course Money” program. This offer expires on December 16th so sign up for your coaching session soon!

Another WAHM and Mom Masterminds member, Wendy Wood, has put together two special offers. First, she is offering a 35% discount on any PLR Food Content PLR packs. Just enter coupon code A7E16 when you check out. She also has an awesome collection of Christmas and holiday graphics you can use in your blog designs, posts or even your holiday family newsletter and craft projects. Just visit her website, go to the Products page and on the right sidebar you’ll see the ad for her Christmas graphics…click it! Be patient, it may take a while for the page to load because there are SOOOO many graphics. When you get to her checkout page, enter coupon code XMAS30 for 30% off.Both of Wendy’s offers expire on December 15th.

Now I’ve got just one more set of offers from Melissa Ingold. She’s offering a discount on her Special Report Club so instead of the usual $19 per month, you’ll only pay $12.97 per month. Just leave me a comment or drop me an email (April@AprilTara.com) and I’ll send you the signup link that’s exclusive to this special price.

Melissa’s also offering a great price on her content marketing kit, Earn With Content, for just $12.97. That’s $83 worth of info for less than $15! That deal also includes a copy of her soon-to-be-released “Earn With Product Descriptions” pack when it becomes available.

Melissa BEST deal, by far, is her copywriting package. This package includes:

Sales letter
Opt-in page offering sample, free gift to build list
5 related articles for article marketing or to provide to affiliates
Keyword research
3 blog posts for marketing or to provide to affiliates
5 pay-per-click ads
5 forum/email signatures
5 day ecourse to capture visitors who don’t buy. Ecourse will give them tips/info, and refer to your product.
1 promotional email
1 follow-up email (sent after promo email)

Now usually she provides these services for $997…but she must be totally into the holiday spirit (or the eggnog!) because she’s offering all of that for just $500! That’s almost HALF of the usual price! Wow. Just use this link to sign up for the discounted amount, but you better make it quick because all of Melissa’s offer expire on December 16th.

And, of course, I am joining in all of this holiday discount stuff. Throughout the month of December, any purchases of a Blog Design Package or Blog Makeover Package will include a free Custom Graphics Package consisting of three matching graphics to promote your website, blog or services. You can choose from any combination of a 125 x 125 button, 468 x 60 banner, or any other specific size you may need.

So check out all of these special offers from these amazing ladies, treat yourself and your business to some holiday deals, and get 2009 off to a GREAT start!

Update to “30 Articles in 30 Days”

April — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:00:39 +0000

Did you see my post a few days ago about writing 30 articles in 30 days? More importantly, did you sign up for the challenge too?

I gave myself until tonight to come up with a list of topics and I decided the best way to go about this would be to divide the 30 articles up between my various projects. With 5 projects, that’s 6 articles for each one, some of which can be cross-posted. So here’s what I plan to write about during the month of September.

AprilTara.com

Backups!! Be prepared
Freelancing – finding the time, finding the jobs
Marketing on a budget – getting the most “bang” for your buck
Business mentors – do you have one? have you been one?
Finding your niche – how general and how specific should you be?

Advantage Virtual Assistant

Marketing your blog – done!
What is your time really worth?
Taming the inbox beast
Think outside the blog – using newsletters and ebooks
Productivity – some of my favorite blogs
Attorneys & Web 2.0

(*UPDATE* Wrote an article this morning about an unplanned topic, thanks to a survey published by the ABA magazine. So now I can add “Attorneys & Web 2.0″ to the list and then cross it right back off!)

NAVLA

How to get the most out of your VA hours
Software as a Service (SaaS) for attorneys
Security issues with working virtually
Ethics for the Virtual Legal Assistant
Welcome to the world of “blawging”

Single WAHMs

Finding extra sources of income
Healthy eating can be cheap and easy – the what, when, where and why of grocery shopping
Online dating dos and don’ts
“Support Kids” a scam?
Planning for success – how planning everything from menus to marketing can help you in both your personal life and your career

But What About the Kids…

Picking your battles
Dating after divorce
Is joint custody always the best choice?
Parenting plans – don’t fall into the accounting trap
Taking care of yourself – parents are people too

Now I know that’s only 25 26 but I wanted to leave myself some room for inspiration, I wanted to write one article about my experience at the end of the 30 days, and I have a couple of surprise articles planned.

(Another update: I wrote 3 freelance articles so I’m behind on my own articles, especially since I’m not counting those as part of my 30.)

30 Articles in 30 Days!

April — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:16:41 +0000

As soon as I hit the submit button after leaving a comment on Carrie Lauth’s blog I wondered what I’d gotten myself into!

Carrie is challenging everyone to write 30 articles in 30 days. I can do that, right? One article per day? Or maybe write 5 or 6 on the weekends? Sure, why not!

Oh boy. I’m scared. But it’s a good scared. Its going to be the challenge I need to get two of my projects – NAVLA and SingleWAHMs – officially launched and bring another old project – But What About the Kids… – back to the front burner.

I’m giving myself until Sunday evening to come up with some topic ideas. (Kelly McCausey is WAY ahead of the game already! She posted her topic list on Sparkplugging WAHM and has already completed 2 of her 30 by outsourcing them.) So if you happen to see me on Twitter this weekend, ask me if I’ve got my list of topics yet! Nothing like a little guilt and pressure to keep me motivated.

P.S. You can also nag me about cleaning out my car and changing the litter box too if you want.

P.P.S. Sign up with me!! Just leave a comment on Carrie’s blog letting her know you’re taking the challenge too!

Marketing Your Articles

April — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:03:16 +0000

Its one thing to be a talented article writer but what do you do with your articles after they’re written? Its not enough to have good content if no one is going to read it.

The next step after writing your articles is promoting them. And if you’re not sure how to market your articles then picking up the Easy Article Marketing guide by Nicole Dean and Kelly McCausey is the smart thing to do.

Nicole and Kelly just announced a Back to School discount on Easy Article Marketing. You can now get it for just $20. By reading the guide, you’ll be on your way to more publishing (and getting paid for it!) and more clients. And with the new Back to School price, the guide pretty much pays for itself.

As someone who is an admirer of both Kelly and Nicole, I can tell you that the advice and information they provide in their guides is worth a lot more than $20. If you’re a freelance writer or blogger looking to make more money with article writing, you’ll want this guide!

Using PLR

April — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:29:52 +0000

You’ve probably heard the saying “If you build it, they will come” from the movie ‘Field of Dreams’. While that may be an appropriate concept for some situations, it certainly doesn’t apply to your business website.

In order to bring traffic to your website, it needs to be active and constantly growing. One of the best ways to do this is to add a blog to your website. You’ve probably already heard this but maybe you haven’t added a blog because you don’t know what you’ll write on it or how to set one up. (By the way, I can help you with that!)

This is where PLR – Private Label Rights – can help. PLR is a great way to add content to your website or newsletters when you don’t know what to write about, you’re out of ideas, you don’t like to write, or you just don’t have the time. Let someone else do the writing for you!

Here’s an example of how PLR works:

Natural Mom PLR produces PLR content for the natural niche market, bloggers who write about “green” living, parenting, homeschooling, and natural health.

From their website, Natural Mom PLR, you can purchase articles on topics such as these:

Back to Homeschool
Natural Remedies
Breastfeeding Article Pack

This is a great way to pick and choose material that’s relevant to your target market or niche. Each PLR pack contains articles that you can then publish on your website without spending the time to write articles yourself or pay someone to write them for you.

PLR is extremely affordable. For example, Natural Mom now has a PLR Package Deal offering ten of their bestselling PLR packs can be purchased for $55. Normally those packs, if purchased separately, would be worth $113.73. Package deals such as this one will provide you with several months worth of content for practically pennies per article.

The Internet market grows more competitive every day. Purchasing PLR and providing your website visitors with high-quality, professional content will give you the advantage your business needs.

Note: If you don’t currently have a blog set up on your website, Advantage Virtual Assistant offers Word Press installation and customization services. Whether you need the whole nine yards – domain name, Word Press software and plugins, graphics and custom colors and fonts – or just a new look for your current Word Press site, we can help!