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I started the Savvy Doula blog last summer to provide birth professionals with free tips to grow their businesses. As we start 2009, I would really appreciate your feedback to make this blog and the services I offer better for you. Please feel free to do one or both surveys. My goal is offer more value and additional opportunities to connect with me as well as other birth professionals. Your answers are anonymous.

Survey 1 - This survey requests feedback about the Savvy Doula Business Blog and asks how I can improve the site and your experience.

"How Are We Doing?’ Survey

Survey 2 - I am expanding the types of services and products I am offering to birth professionals and would like to know if I’m going in the right direction. Please let me know what and if you’re interested in additional products to help you grow your business.

"Savvy Doula Products and Services for You" Survey

If I have not asked a question you want to comment about and/or would like a personal response from me, please send me visit the contact page for my email address or phone number.

Thanks so much for taking the time to do this! Have a great day.

Related posts:

1. Announcement: Introducing the Savvy Doula Community Wisdom Circle
2. Resource: Marketing Materials Maven
3. Resource: The Brewer Pregnancy Diet Site

Image by Ferdi’s World via Flickr

31 days of business tips to help you get organized. I’ve given a lot of information, and I hope you will access the archives to refer back to past articles. I also hope you will subscribe to my e-zine and take advantage of programs that will be coming up in 2009.

My only tip for today is this. There is a lot of information out there to help you build a business. Dedicate some time each week to research and implement ways to make your business stronger. The beauty of having your own business is that you are the boss. You decide what to do. For everything. So, don’t be afraid to try a new method for anything. If it doesn’t work, stop and try something else!

Finally, you may be familiar with this little mantra from La Leche League: "Take what works for you, and leave the rest." What works for Jane or Pam or Sue may NOT be what works for you in your business. You have your own style and personality, your own unique history and experiences. Bring your strengths to help nurture this baby, your business, and you’ll be sure to fly!

2009 is going to be a powerful year. Set some intentions and go for it!

Related posts:

1. Day 18 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz - Pricing Strategies
2. Day 26 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - What Do You Say After Your Elevator Speech?
3. Day 23 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Building Your Referral Network

In order to build our businesses, it’s important to consider whether it makes sense for you to join a professional group. Examples of professional groups include:

• Your local Chamber of Commerce or Women’s Chamber of Commerce
• A doula association or birth network
• Your certifying organization such as DONA - some communities create local chapters of larger organizations
• Business groups that form to offer education and networking opportunities

How Can I Find A Professional Group?

Many professional groups can be found online through an internet search. Some groups may be in your local area, but others may have an online presence only. Some groups with a national or international presence may have chapters in various areas.

In addition to finding such organizations online, check with your colleagues and ask to see what groups they are involved with and like. Trade publications may also offer information about groups that may be of benefit to you.

What Should I Look For In A Group?

Here are some questions you can consider when looking for groups to join:

• Is there a fee to join?
• If there is a fee to join, may I attend my first meeting free or at a discounted rate?
• Can I afford the group’s fee?
• Will this group add me to a directory and offer me exposure online or in print? Who will have access to this directory?
• What is the goal for this group? Is it purely for networking mixers, or will there be educational opportunities to take advantage of?
• What kind of people join this group? Do they just want to pay to have their name in a directory and not participate in group activities?
• What will I gain by joining this group?
• Does the group put on conferences where you can learn more about business, your field, and meet new people?

All groups have a different dynamic and feel about it. If you attend a meeting or social event and you don’t like it at all, don’t give up! There may be another one out there that makes you feel right at home.

In addition, consider joining groups that don’t have anything to do about birth. Finding a group of woman business owners can be very valuable. You not only have a stronger referral group and potential clients, you will have an opportunity to connect with other business owners whose services you may be able to use.

In order to build connections and business referrals, professional groups are a great way to meet other like-minded people. If you are not participating in any groups, consider joining at least one in 2009 and see how it helps your business.

Related posts:

1. Day 19 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz - Business Expenses and Taxable Deductions
2. Day 28 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Article Writing as a Marketing Strategy
3. WANTED: 100 Referral Partners

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Do you know you probably already have already written material that is ripe for an article? Here are some places to consider looking for original material:

• Do you participate in any online forums or Yahoo Groups that have to do with birth? Look at old posts and emails that you have written.
• Have you written any handouts for your doula clients or childbirth classes? There is a wealth of information you can share.
• Do you maintain a blog? What blog posts can you use to create an article?
• Look for old emails to clients that offer useful information. What could be transformed into an article?
• Do you produce an email newsletter for a group of subscribers? Take that material and turn it into an article.
• If you have conducted any surveys regarding your work, write an article about your findings.

Once you have compiled material from these sources, put together some articles that are 250-300 words in length, think up some catchy titles and start submitting them to online article directories. If the original material you are using is much longer than 300 words, see how you can break it up into multiple articles.

If you are starting from scratch and want some inspiration, here are some ways to find inspiration:

• Think about what you are passionate about.
• Make a list of topics you already know a lot about.
• Visit online forums for pregnant mamas and find some hot topics.
• Identify some trends about birth or that are occurring in the media, or find recent news stories that talk about a new study or statistics.
• Visit some online article directories like Ezine Articles or Associated Content and do a search on some topics you are interested in. Consider writing about a topic that you DON’T find on these sites.
• Choose a topic and create a Top 10 list.

I hope this gives you a good start. I’d love to find out what you’re inspired to write about. Please comment below!

Related posts:

1. Like to Write? Become an Online Author
2. Day 28 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Article Writing as a Marketing Strategy
3. Day 22 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Marketing Basics for The Birth Professional

Image by churl via Flickr

One way of marketing yourself and your birth business is to write articles that could attract potential clients. On Day 22, I talked about Writing as one of the strategies one can use to market a business. Writing gives business owners visibility and credibility.

Writing Articles for Visibility

Articles serve as a means for you to be seen by potential clients. Articles can be featured in print publications or published online on your business’ website or blog, in your email newsletter, or in a free online article directory such as Ezine Articles or Associated Content.

How does this increase your visibility? Large online article directories such as the two mentioned above have the advantage of having extremely high rankings on search engines. What this means for you is, if you have an article in one of these directories, there is a good chance that when someone does a search for the topic you wrote about, your article will be found high in the search results.

So how will someone find out more about you, the author, once they reach your article in the search results? All authors create a Resource Box that is placed at the end of each article, where you will write a sentence or two describing who you are and what you do. It is here that you would put your website address, where readers can click and be directed to your site.

Each time you submit a new article, you will get another incoming link to your website. The more incoming links you have to your site, the higher your search engine ranking becomes, making it easier for people to find you in an online search.

Another advantage of having articles in online article directories is the possibility of having your article picked up by other online publishers, who will use your articles in their own publications, giving you yet more visibility.

Writing Articles for Credibility

When your articles offer useful content, readers will see you as an expert on the topics you write about. After reading a few articles, they come to know, like and trust you. This know/like/trust factor will eliminate several barriers to the selling process because more potential clients will be coming directly to you, already interested in your services.

Return on Your Investment

By investing a small amount of time to write articles that can benefit the types of clients you serve and placing them online strategically, you will find these articles will work for you for a long time to come. According to Ezine Articles, submitting an article to their directory is "7-10 times more effective than regular advertising." You will do it once and won’t have to do anything else to maintain your online articles. Isn’t that easy enough?

In my next post, I’ll give you some tips on figuring out what to write articles about.

If you’ve had marketing success with articles, please share your experiences in the comments or on the Savvy Doula Business Group discussion board on Facebook.

Related posts:

1. Like to Write? Become an Online Author
2. Day 29 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Article Content is Likely Right Under Your Nose
3. Day 22 of Reorganize Your Doula Biz for ‘09 - Marketing Basics for The Birth Professional