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Submitted by LinktoPro.com Team

You have no doubt seen the commercials for Apple’s iPad and probably even know a few people who have purchased them.  But what you may not realize is that the iPad is quickly becoming an increasingly popular tool for CEOs and other leaders in the business world.

Because of its light weight design, its plethora of features and its ten hour battery life, the iPad is developing into a convenient device for business leaders who are constantly traveling and on the go.  To capitalize on this growing trend, Apple has launched a “A New Way to Work” campaign on its website targeting the iPad to professionals and asserts that “iPad is the best way to collaborate with colleagues, deliver and display presentations, and access, create and share business information.”

So what exactly is it about the iPad that appeals to executives and professionals?  One of the major things is the fact that iPad offers a ton of different features and apps that make it easy to conduct business while on the go.  Tools such email, calendar, notes and the Safari internet browser make it easy to work remotely and stay productive from almost anywhere—as long as you have access to an internet connection.  In addition to these features, the iPad also offers programs you would find on your Mac such as Pages, Keynote, Good Reader and Drop Box to make document and presentation creation, editing and review simple.  There has also been an influx of business related apps which make it that much easier to use the iPad for work, including a GotoMeeting app, a Citrix Reciever app and an iTeleport app.  One down side to the iPad though is that its users do not have the ability to use MS Office programs, so it can prove a little challenging for those switching between an iPad and a PC.

Other technology companies have taken note of iPad’s success with the professional set and are beginning to create and market their own tablets.  HP’s Slate is one example of a tablet that is marketed to the enterprise clientele, targeting professionals who don’t work at a traditional desk.  One distinguishing factor of the HP Slate is that it uses a Windows© operating system and MS Office programs, making it much easier to interface with a PC.

As the business and technology worlds continue to evolve, we can expect to see more and more of these devices appear on the market which will appeal to the on-the-go professional set.

Submitted by Michelle Cramer, LinktoPro.com contributor @michellecramer

New year – new opportunities. While it might seem irrational to start a business in a struggling economy like we have today, there really is no better time if you have the right idea, and the drive of a stay-at-home mom. As Maria Bailey, host of Mom Talk Radio, states, “The downturn in the economy opened the gates to a new generation of mompreneurs who are tech savvy and innovative. Mothers have always been the leaders when necessity appears, and many moms who were in the home when their spouses lost their jobs stepped up.”

Here are some of those innovative and tech savvy ideas to get you brainstorming about your own business.

Get People Connected

Social media participation is at an all time high. While the first thing that comes to mind when this is mentioned is Facebook or Twitter, connecting on the Internet doesn’t stop there. Why not start your own social media website?

All you need is to come up with something that will cause people to connect and then build a website around that concept. As a business, your goal is to get enough people accessing your website that advertisers will want to pay you for space so they can reach the market you’ve put right at their fingertips. You won’t have to save much to get started, especially when you utilize hosting sites like WordPress and Ning.

Possible topics that people love to connect around include:

Fitness
Losing weight
Raising children
Pregnancy
Home maintenance
Gardening
Going green

These are just a few of the endless possibilities. Of course, if you come up with something that doesn’t have a lot of competition out there for social media connection, you’ll easily corner the market.

Speaking of Going Green…

As moms, we feel a strong pull to do things for our family that help them to be as healthy as possible. Additionally, many of us try to instill in our children a desire to help the environment. Put these passions together and create a business that encourages everyone to go green, helping the planet and ourselves to be healthier.

Consider creating eco-friendly products or services. Here are some examples:

Make stylish, reusable grocery bags
Create all-natural skin-care products
Start a line of all natural baby food
Make clothes from reusable materials
Providing maid services using only green products
Start a recycling service
Offer a diaper service (something my city needs)

Join the App Craze

There are so many stories of people making a fortune of smart phone apps they created. While the majority of app creators tend to be men, more and more women are surfacing with great ideas. It takes some technical skills to master, but this would be a great way to make money for your family; after all, once the app is created and takes off, you’re free to pursue other things.

Why not create an app that:

Tracks the stages of pregnancy
Helps you decide on a baby name
Provides fun travel games
Helps preschoolers learn their letters and numbers
There are many more possibilities for stay-at-home moms for entering the entrepreneurial industry. Brainstorm ideas and you’re bound to come up with something. Research the industry and make sure there is a demand for your idea. Just make sure it’s something you’re passionate about so you can have fun doing it, too.

Submitted by Michelle Cramer, LinktoPro.com contributor @michellecramer

Studies conducted last year by Facebook and Nielsen Co. (Advertising Effectiveness: Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression) revealed that utilizing social media advertising campaigns can really boost ad results, if done correctly.

With the use of opt-in polls (a survey process where those participating choose to do so of their own action, rather than a random sample of a population) and 800,000 participants on Facebook, Nielsen used it’s BrandLift research method to get feedback on 125 ads.

The results showed that ads placed in the context of social media, something that more and more people are growing increasingly comfortable with, lend to better results for the business. More specifically, “lightweight endorsements from friends displayed within the ad units,” – i.e. ads that show which of your friends already “like” the company advertising – helped those polled to recall the ad 1.6 times more than ads without the endorsement, bumped brand awareness and, most importantly, increased the viewers likeliness to purchase the product or service advertised.

Essentially, what these study results boil down to is that, when others already use and support your business, then their friends and family are more likely to use you as well. Word-of-mouth advertising is always the most successful, but when you utilize an ad service through social media and have endorsements from users, this is a more reliable word-of-mouth campaign. Your business is taking the initiative with a social media ad, creating word-of-mouth without having to depend on others to actually do anything on your behalf.

When you create an ad for your Facebook business page, it automatically ads the endorsements for you and then places the ad on the pages browsed by friends of your current fans. Simple – very little work. The key is really having a lot of fans of your business page, so that your ad shows up for more and more people to view.

To utilize these great social media ad results, first check out my previous blog posts on Advertising on Facebook and Increasing your Facebook Fans to Boost Business.

Submitted by Jennie Brown Hakim, LinktoPro.com contributor, @JennieBH

January brings the start of a new year, and many freelancers feel optimistic about new business and new opportunities. It is also one of the coldest months of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, where most of us live and work.

The freelancers in the northern part of the United States are no doubt grateful that they do not need to commute under raging snow and winds. Those in the southern part are avoiding roads slick with rain. What all of us face, however, is a lack of sunshine and a monochromatic gloom when we look out of our windows. This makes us more vulnerable to Seasonal Affective Disorder – or, appropriately enough, SAD.

SAD mimics the symptoms of clinical depression – lethargy, oversleeping, a dwindling of interest in favorite activities. But it is not the same – clinical depression is a serious disease which needs professional intervention.  Nevertheless, SAD can sap the joy, creativity, and motivation right out of your life – unless you take action. You can take steps to alleviate SAD without medicine or even talk therapy, such as:

• Be prepared. Keep up-to-date on local weather reports, and stock up on the things you need and want (food, beverages, office supplies, magazines, etc.) before it’s too difficult to drive. You will feel better when you know you have all the coping tools you need under the roof of your dwelling.

• Use a light box specifically designed to alleviate SAD. This kind of light box gives off intense white light, similar to natural sunlight. The key is to keep the light box near you (about 2 feet) – but don’t look directly into it. In other words, treat your light box like the sun itself.  The Mayo Clinic has an excellent article about light boxes.

• Supplement your light box with brighter light in your home overall, especially in the places where you spend the most time. Work in a place that has overhead or track lighting, and use fluorescent bulbs.

• Be wary about eating too much sluggish food – that which is heavy in starch and fat.  In the afternoon, I like a meal of steamed broccoli, tilapia, and rice, or a spinach salad with thin sliced beef and balsamic vinaigrette. Tea and water (still and sparkling, with cucumber or tangerines as flavoring) is a good accompaniment.

• At some point in the day, find physical movement which is fun. I cherish my dance DVDs – such as Hemalayaa’s Bollywood Dance Workout (Acacia Video), Soul Sweat Dance (www.soulsweatdance.com), and The Nia Technique (www.nianow.com) when it’s cold and/or wet outside.

• Incorporate extra special treats in your day. How about getting right into a warm, bubbly tub right after your work is done? Or using chopped chicken, spinach, one egg, and chicken-flavored ramen for a tasty winter soup? Or downloading a feel-good book or two on your e-book reader? Treating yourself with TLC will keep at bay the SAD.

SAD is just one of the challenges we will face this winter. Fortunately, we are as strong enough to deal with this as we are with temporary brain freeze, late-paying clients, and the millions of tiny distractions waving their arms on either side of the work path. Remember, too – winter is still a season, and seasons have ends. January is nearly done, February is the shortest month of the year (even in leap years), and March brings the first day of spring. That is something to look forward to!

Submitted by Michelle Cramer, LinktoPro.com contributor @michellecramer

About this time last year, I had 170 fans of my photography business page on Facebook. I was seeing more and more that Facebook was becoming a key element in establishing new clientele for me. So, I knew 170 fans wasn’t enough, especially in a city of over 200,000 people, where the competition in the photography market is fierce (a photographer friend once told me that it’s worse here than it was for him in Chicago). Something had to be done.

Just a year later I have over 1,700 fans of my Facebook page. Granted, they aren’t all local residents, but it means that the word is getting out about my business. I’m establishing a brand and a name for myself in a competitive market. The last year has been twice as busy for me with photo shoot bookings, and I truly believe that I have my fans on Facebook to thank for that.

So, you may be wondering by now how I was able to do it. Well, I’m going to share my Facebook marketing secrets with you, all of which won’t cost you a dime in advertising funds. Are you ready?

Prizes, Prizes and More Prizes
The key to spreading your business virally through Facebook “suggestions” is to give stuff away. For me it’s photo shoots, prints and the like. For, say, a landscaping business, it might be a free design scheme or a $100 credit on a landscaping job. For a graphic designer it could be something as big as a free logo design or even a website.

Whatever you choose to give away, it needs to be something great – the better the giveaway, the more people that you will have participating.

Friend Suggestion Contests
Contests are the best way to get more fans. Yes, you want them to come by “liking” your page naturally, but people have to know it exists first. The way that I have built my fans so quickly is by conducting friend suggestion contest. Basically, your current fans suggest your page to their friends and then, when they’re friends “like” your Facebook page, they post on the wall who referred them. The person with the most wall post referrals, wins the prize.

Voting Contests
Another method for bringing in fans of your business page is conducting a voting contest. I do a baby photo contest every year. Not only does this bring in more people because the pictures used have to be ones that I take, but the winning pictures are those with the most votes or “likes” in the contest album on my Facebook business page. The catch is, people can’t post comments on photos or like them unless they are a fan of my business page. Facebook rules working to my benefit!

What about other businesses – how will the voting contest work? Well, if you have a landscaping business, you should have people submit pictures of their yards in need of a makeover and fans can vote on who is the most deserving of your services. Then the winning photo could receive a huge credit on your landscaping job, or, dare I say, a free landscape makeover.

What about the local cake lady? Well, she could have fans submit pictures of their disaster cake creations and the winner receives a free cake. The possibilities are endless; you just have to be creative.

These are just two sure fire methods for increasing your Facebook business page fans, thus increasing the awareness of your business. You certainly can’t beat how easy, cheap and effective they are. Social media to the rescue!

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