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DRMom
Two in Blue
Member since 5/05 20223 total posts
Name:
Melissa
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by MrsMessina
Posted by Shelly
DH is self employed and started his business on Craigslist- no joke. He is a carpenter who does custom made furniture.
Who is your target audience? Once you figure that you, you'll find the best way to reach them.
I have an idea, why don't you try sending a targeted e-mail to event planners on craigslist. I woudl imagine that event planner would be able to use your services.
I was thinking about your target audience question--- I HAVE NO IDEA. It COULD be brides--- it COULD be wine drinkers--- it COULD be someone that just bought a house and needs a mailbox--- it COULD be someone who is going to a bridal or baby shower and wants something personalized like someone's pattern... that's what confuses me...i don't know who to target. 
Well your target audience is mostly women that narrows it down some. What about joining some community groups. What about making some samples and taking them to wedding planners, caterers to display? Advertise on here-you can FM client services for pricing
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Posted 1/7/08 1:53 PM  |
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Long Island Weddings
Long Island's Largest Bridal Resource |
MrsMessina
Thankful for our miracles!
Member since 2/07 7254 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by melijane
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Well your target audience is mostly women that narrows it down some. What about joining some community groups. What about making some samples and taking them to wedding planners, caterers to display? Advertise on here-you can FM client services for pricing
Thanks for the suggestions. I already advertise on LIW - can't afford to do both at the same time. Wondering if I'd do better on here than there. Any thoughts?
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| Posted 1/7/08 4:00 PM |
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ChrisDee
My Girls
Member since 11/06 9543 total posts
Name:
Christine
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by MrsMessina
Posted by ChrisDee
The internet is the way to go. You need to "optimize" your website for keywords with all the major search engines.(ex. google,yahoo,monzilla, alta Vista etc.) So when people do an internet search, your website pops up based on the keywords.
Thanks - DH was talking about this as well. Is this expensive to do? Do you know how I should go about doing this? TIA!!!
I am unsure of the cost, but DH told me there are companies you can hire to do it for you(thats the easiest way). You should Google "optimize" my website or something like that. She what comes up.
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| Posted 1/7/08 5:38 PM |
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Tine73
Member since 3/06 22093 total posts
Name:
*********
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
I thought of a few more ideas -
What about talking to some of the Vineyards out East? maybe make a glass special for a couple of the vineyards with your business card in it?
Or even LI Wine Tours. Maybe make a few baskets that they can give to their customers as gifts with your info on it.
Hotels out east - lots of them have wine/romance packages. Have them include your glasses in them.
Wedding planners - send them samples. Ex.. Laura from LA Productions. She can show your samples to brides and potential favors.
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| Posted 1/7/08 6:47 PM |
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Don't know how well it would work, but you could try Etsy.com.
I like the vineyard idea. There are also many up in the Hudson Valley of NYS.
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| Posted 1/7/08 7:53 PM |
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MrsMessina
Thankful for our miracles!
Member since 2/07 7254 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by mzsocialworker1
Don't know how well it would work, but you could try Etsy.com.
I like the vineyard idea. There are also many up in the Hudson Valley of NYS.
I'm on there already- for almost a year now. Not as much business as I had hoped for but I got some extra orders from around the country for Christmas. Thanks! 
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| Posted 1/7/08 9:22 PM |
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MrsMessina
Thankful for our miracles!
Member since 2/07 7254 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by Tine73
I thought of a few more ideas -
What about talking to some of the Vineyards out East? maybe make a glass special for a couple of the vineyards with your business card in it?
Or even LI Wine Tours. Maybe make a few baskets that they can give to their customers as gifts with your info on it.
Hotels out east - lots of them have wine/romance packages. Have them include your glasses in them.
Wedding planners - send them samples. Ex.. Laura from LA Productions. She can show your samples to brides and potential favors.
Thanks Christine!
I actually live on the North Fork. I've approached a lot of the vineyards out here about a year and a half ago when I moved back out here. Some of them stopped me at the door and wouldn't even let me in and those who did LAUGHED me out the door.  They told me that "it's ALL about the WINE". I explained that there are a lot of wine tours and events and I thought people might like to purchase them and was told again "IT's ALL about the WINE!".
Approaching the hotels is a great idea!!! I've approached other vendors but they don't seem to want to market hand-crafted items- they have their suppliers that they buy things from and that's that usually.
I approached one of the wine tour places to see if I could also get a link to my webpage or do specific baskets for them and the guy was so abnoxious and abrupt with me on the phone. He never even called me back and I was glad b/c he def. wasn't someone that I want to do business with. Thanks for your ideas!!!
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| Posted 1/7/08 9:25 PM |
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MrsMessina
Thankful for our miracles!
Member since 2/07 7254 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by ChrisDee
Posted by MrsMessina
Posted by ChrisDee
The internet is the way to go. You need to "optimize" your website for keywords with all the major search engines.(ex. google,yahoo,monzilla, alta Vista etc.) So when people do an internet search, your website pops up based on the keywords.
Thanks - DH was talking about this as well. Is this expensive to do? Do you know how I should go about doing this? TIA!!!
I am unsure of the cost, but DH told me there are companies you can hire to do it for you(thats the easiest way). You should Google "optimize" my website or something like that. She what comes up.
I looked this up and am so lost....
I don't think I'm finding the right sites- I'm finding info about it as opposed to someone to do it for me (or figure out how to do it myself).
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| Posted 1/8/08 12:45 PM |
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PreshusSmurf
So in love with my little guys
Member since 1/07 2963 total posts
Name:
Jess
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by MrsMessina
I looked this up and am so lost....
I don't think I'm finding the right sites- I'm finding info about it as opposed to someone to do it for me (or figure out how to do it myself).
What you actually want to search for is:
Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO)
Here is the beginning of the definition from Wikipedia, before it starts to get technical
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
This website has some decent articles:
http://www.seochat.com/
Message edited 1/8/2008 1:25:12 PM.
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| Posted 1/8/08 1:18 PM |
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MrsMessina
Thankful for our miracles!
Member since 2/07 7254 total posts
Name:
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Re: Anyone here self employed?
Posted by PreshusSmurf
Posted by MrsMessina
I looked this up and am so lost....
I don't think I'm finding the right sites- I'm finding info about it as opposed to someone to do it for me (or figure out how to do it myself).
What you actually want to search for is:
Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO)
Here is the beginning of the definition from Wikipedia, before it starts to get technical
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in the search results, or the higher it "ranks", the more searchers will visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
This website has some decent articles:
http://www.seochat.com/
thanks so much! I'll start there then!
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| Posted 1/8/08 2:55 PM |
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