New Blog... I've been ignoring this one LOL

I bet you thought I'd totally disappeared..

Nope - I'm still here!! I have set up a new blog site however and would love to invite all my blogger friends to come on over for a visit :-) My new site incorporates info about me as well as 3 seperate blogs... Wahm Cafe, Choose Health and The Fratscher Family Blog.

The software I'm using for the blogs is called Thingamablog - I encourage everyone to check it out. It does have some limitations, but it's a terrific, convenient and easy to use software package.. and best part is it's totally free!

Your Partner In Success..

Dianne Fratscher

Free & Affordable Advertising!

My friend Kara Kelso over at Moms Market Online created a new Free and Affordable advertising list - pick it up free at http://www.momsezine.com/advertising-list.zip

~ Dianne ~

Ok... so I dropped the ball ...

It's been a very long time since I last posted here - yup, I did it - I dropped the ball bigtime.

As a work at home mom, life can often get in the way of business, and that is definately what has happened to me in February & March.

First our 2 y/o son came down with a very nasty cold. It was over 2 weeks before he started feeling better. In the meantime, I experienced the joy of an absessed tooth - uuugghhhh. Pain is definately NO FUN!

My 9 y/o daughter is a figure skater. This year I'm the Secretary of our Skating Club and on March 19th is our annual skating carnival. So, we've got practice at least twice a week (and during March break - this week - the schedule is Monday, Wednesday & Thursday practices, dress rehearsal Friday night from 5 - 8 and then 2 shows on Saturday at 2 pm & again at 7 pm. Friday morning at 9 am starts the set up at the arena. At noon I have to be in the city to pick up the radio system, then back to the arena to make sure everyone knows how to use the radios (I called in a favor from the company I worked at for 10 years for the radios!). Then at 5 we start the dress rehearsal. Oh... did I mention we have a 2 y/o son??? I'll be running around trying to get kids into the right costumes on time, my husband is on spotlight duty, my daughter is one of the skaters... and then there's my son. I'm thinkin we forgot about him somewhere along the lines LOL. Oh well - no babysitter - so we'll have to try to keep him occupied with something :)

AND... in amongst all this somewhere, I signed up as a consultant for Creative Memories - what am I NUTS? Well, my goal with this was to get me offline & out of the house more. In 2 weeks I achieved my 30 day Success Plan, I only need another $100 retail to make my second goal by the end of March, and I should be about $400 in towards my 60 day goal, so we'll see how that goes. However, it has already taken me more offline than I anticipated. I know it will settle down after my first 90 days, but right now trying to make those goals has taken my full attention.

I'm a little bummed about the fact that CM is so strict about advertising online. I mean, I can totally understand that they want to push the offline part of it - but honestly, what is the harm of online advertising??

Did I mention I also caught a cold at some point during all this??

So, Saturday is the big, exhausting day and I'm hoping after that to get caught up on everything I'm so far behind on.

Priorities - finally getting my website overhauled. My current template just isn't expanding with me the way I'd like it too, so a mega update is coming. Then with April being right around the corner, I'm co-hosting the 2nd Annual Celebrating Home Business Expo again this year at the Expo Connector, which should keep me hopping. On top of that the first entire weekend in April is all CM stuff - a meeting Friday night, a Home Class on Saturday & a Bridal Show on Sunday :)

Does anyone have a few (or a few dozen) extra hours every week I could borrow??

~ Dianne ~

Very cool desktop search tool!

Easily search your entire hard drive in less than a second to pinpoint the right file, e-mail, music or pictures.

Copernic Desktop Search brings the power of a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use search engine right to your PC and allows you instantly to search files, e-mails, and email attachments stored anywhere on your PC hard drive. It executes sub-second searching of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, Acrobat PDFs, and all popular music, picture and video formats. CDS also searches your browser history, favorites, and contacts.

I know that Google also has a desktop search tool, and though I've never personally utilized it, I've heard that it isn't as good as Copernic for the main reason that Copernic searches so many more file types.

The Copernic Desktop Search tool is completely free, so set up your copy today - I put it through it's paces yesterday and am absolutely loving it! No more searching through folder after folder looking for that darn file :)

Dianne >:o)

Wahm Newz - Feb. 4th edition now online

In This Issue:

* Message from Dianne

* Article - What’s In A Name

* What’s New On Wahm’s United

* Home Business Hosting

* Recipe

* Sponsor Ad

* Link Trader

* Marketing Using Forums

* RSS For Beginners



We have switched to a new blog-style format, so please stop by & have a look!

Do you have a business plan?

In August of 2002, I was one of 'those' people... someone that was starting an online business, without any real clue of how to start or where to start even.

I didn't know that free websites weren't all they were cracked up to be, didn't know a thing about html (or what it was for that matter), didn't know a thing about marketing, and yet, here I was creating a website. Think I was nuts lol!

One gift that I have been blessed with is the ability to learn quickly - anything that is computer related. I've had this gift since I was a kid, and my former boss used to remind me of it on a regular basis :)

It didn't take me long to create my vision - I knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish and started creating that vision online. I learned, soaked in all the information I could find - and am still learning today.

The difference today is, I know what html is, and I know how to code. I also know php, cgi.. what my path to perl is and a lot more technical stuff that many work at home moms have never heard of.

I don't like having to rely on someone else to do things for me... I'd much rather ask someone for help to walk me through it so I can learn it for myself.

Now back to business plans. I mentioned that I had no idea what a business plan was when I first started. Well, it didn't take long for me to find more information on what they are. Even though I knew it was something that I needed, I still held back on actually taking the time to sit down and write out my own business plan.

Until yesterday I still only had my vision in my head. However yesterday I decided to sit down and start to seriously figure this out, with the help of a good friend, Patrysha Korchinski from Incredible Impressions.

Most of what we discussed during our hour & a half chat was pretty much what I already knew I should be doing... but discussing it with someone else that could add to my vision, and clarify my goals really helped a ton.

I realized that my financial goal really was set too low. Having someone actually take the time to break it down into $$/time/people was incredibly eye opening! I also made the affirmation that I will start setting business hours online (I'm here 24/7 right now it seems lol). Patrysha was also able to help me set up a schedule of hours in a day & goals.

I highly recommend that everyone talk to Patrysha - you will definately come away with a great feeling - excited and ready to move your business forward!!

AND... here's a great deal - let me know that you're definately going to speak to Patrysha - email me about it, and I'll send you a Referral Card that will save you 10% off every service that Patrysha offers!!

Keep in mind that Patrysha only charges $25 for press releases, and in the last few weeks, two that she's written and submitted have been picked up BIG TIME!!! Never thought about Press Releases? YOU SHOULD!! Visit Incredible Impressions for more information on the Power of Press Releases!

~ Dianne ~

What’s in a name?
By Dianne Fratscher
www.WahmsUnited.com

We’re not talking about people names, we’re talking about Domain Names!!

Domain names are extremely important for every business that wants to join the many millions already online today. The domain name that you select for your business will be the identity that your business is known by. First impressions count, and in order to turn visitors into customers having your own domain name vs. a free address is crucial.

Having your own domain name has many benefits.

Some people believe that they just can’t afford to pay for their own domain. In truth, you can’t afford NOT to. When starting a business online, your goal is to let as many people in your target audience know about your website. If you’re promoting a lengthy free domain, it makes it that much harder for your visitors to remember and return to. Domain names are also very important to search engines. In many cases, search engines won’t even spider your website if it’s hosted on a free domain, and if you’re not listed in search engines, you’re completely eliminating anyone finding your website via internet searches (i.e. Google).

Purchasing your own domain allows you to create email addresses such as you@yourdomain.com which is also helping to establish your business identity and make you and your business look professional. Customers want to know they can trust you, and having both your own domain name and domain email address will help to build their trust. When using either a free domain name or a personal email address from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), you are only promoting them, and not your own business.

When selecting your domain name, there are a few things to remember. Shorter is always better, however short domain names are extremely difficult to come by today. If you find it necessary to use multiple words in your domain name, separate each word by a hyphen ( – ). Some search engines such as Google see the hyphens as a space whereas using and underscore ( _ ) to separate words will be treated as being the same as if the underscore was never there. Using hyphens instead will help Search Engines differentiate the words in your domain name. Also try to place a keyword or two into your domain name for increased impact.

The small fee that you pay per year for your own domain name is peanuts compared to the overall benefits that you receive by having your own domain. You can check out the availability of domain names and register new domains at Home Business Hosting (http://www.wahmsunited.com/homebusinesshosting).

.~*~ .~*~ .~*~ .~*~ .~*~ .~*~ .~*~.

About the Author:
Dianne Fratscher is a work at home mother of 2 children. A full time online entrepreneur, owner and founder of www.WahmsUnited.com, a leading informational resource site for work at home parents. For further information about Dianne, WahmsUnited.com or how you too can run a successful online business visit www.WahmsUnited.com.

This article may be used at no cost providing the resource box is left in tact and all links are active. It would also appreciated that you send a copy of the publication you are using this article in to: info@wahmsunited.com. If this article is to be used online, please send an email with a link to the location of the article.

Interesting discussion on *Guru's*

I've recently found myself involved in a rather interesting conversation with friends Anita DeFrank, Kara Kelso and Alice Seba (whom I can't actually call a friend, but do know *of* her lol).

It started over a rant that Anita had about *Guru's*, and has grown into quite the discussion!

Check it out here

Today will be one of those days...

My daughter woke up during the night not feeling well :( She was ok, never sick or anything, but this morning she was still complaining about her tummy hurting and now a headache - in this family, migraines are a big problem. I've suffered from migraines since I was just a kid, my dad also had migraines, as well as other relatives on my side. On my husbands side, his mother and one of his sisters suffers from them as well, which means for my daughter she's getting it from both sides - not a good thing.

So, today my daughter will be home from school. My husband will be home from work and he's not feeling so great either.

I have an absolute ton of work to accomplish today, and no idea where to start (I'm thinking it's a lack of focus thing lol). Which is why I thought I'd start here, and get back on track with my blogging.

My two year old is going to play at the babysitters today, or I'll have absolutely no hope of getting any work done. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but this week I actually have deadlines LOL... so I can't avoid getting the job done.

I'm luckier than some work at home moms I know.. many don't have the luxury of an occassional babysitter! How does everyone else deal with deadlines and family?

~ Dianne ~

Link Trader

I made a decision recently... one that I've considered off and on for a while, but finally started the ball rolling. I'm expanding... growing if you rather.

The main focus of Wahms United was, is and always will be to help fellow business owners succeed. I'm thinking however that trying to roll everything into one massive website is probably not the wisest move.

So, I'm beginning to grow my network of resource websites. The first two are now online, though admittedly I haven't made any changes to them at all (ie: copyright info etc).

The first is www.Womens-Portal.com which is pretty much a search engine for women's issues. I really liked the looks of the site when I saw it, so hopefully it's useful! I do plan on selling advertising in the form of banner ads etc on here, and the forum needs to be changed as right now it's linked to some third party site which I'm really not a fan of... but hey, things will come in time ;)

The second site and the one I have a lot of hopes for is www.Link-Trader.net. It's a text traffic exchange. It allows you to add your text link and specify your target catagories (websites) that you'd like your ad to be seen on. You then generate your own html code to your specifications, making it much easier to blend into your existing website - very unobtrusive ;)

So please feel free to check both the Womens Portal and Link Trader. Hopefully you'll find them both useful resources too!

~ Dianne ~