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I’m a learning mama who runs online business, Kidzpuzzle. I have seen the trend that stay at home or work at home moms who start their home based online business think of free hosting blog as their website such as Blogspot.com or WordPress.com. You can’t own your website and you have to use their domain extension blogspot.com or wordpress.com. You choose a good domain name for your online business such as: Kiddies Store.blogspot.com or Green Baby.wordpress.com. You may not know that other people watch what you are doing and steal this domain name for their business. They use the same domain name and go for paid hosting: Kiddies store.com and Green baby.com. By the time you are ready to move your website to paid hosting, you can’t use the same domain name. Other people already use your domain name as their business. Remember that your domain name reflects your business. What if you have spent time for branding your products, you create labels and packaging bearing your business name. Please do register your business before you brand your products. My advice for moms who wish to run home based online business is register your business domain name and host your online business with a Reliable but Affordable Business Class Web Hosting. Your website will be listed in search engine earlier than your competitors. It takes time to climb the rank in search engine. The earlier you start, the higher rank your website will be in search engine.  I hope this sharing will benefit as learning resources for stay at home or work at home moms who wish to run home based online business.

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If someone had asked me that question few years back, I would have said: YES. But none asked me and none showed me how to do it. I had been a stay at home (SAHM) mom for 6 years. I used Internet only for emails, connecting with my friends, fun and information search. To break the comfort of being at home and to be able to work again, it really needs a strong will. I’ll share my experiences as a mompreneur. It may not be perfect but it can be learning resources for stay at home moms who wish to work from home.

Start Up Tips for Working from Home:

• Motivate Yourself. If you work alone, you may give up easily if things don’t work out.
• Decide what kinds of home based jobs you want to do: work independently for a company such as Multi Level Marketing (MLM) or start  up a home  business. You may consider your skill, expertise, your hobby or your passion to start up a home business.
• Willing to Learn Attitude. Because you work alone, you need to learn everything by yourself. I find Internet is great learning resources for moms like me. If you need a help, take Online Coaching to accelerate your learning. I’m taking Internet Business Coaching Online because it is easy, convenient and not costly compared to an offline workshop or course.
• Network with Moms. Let your friends know what you are doing and join moms networking sites to gain support and make new friends.
• Market Your Business Online. Online marketing is cheaper than offline marketing. You need to build a website and set up a blog to market your business. Do find the right Business Class Web Hosting to host your site.
• Find your uniqueness not copycat others.
• Educate your kids that you are now working from home and set DON’Ts rules. Kids, preschooler and above, will understand that mommy needs to work from home.

Do the tips sound hard for you? Yes, they do.  But if you look at the benefits of working from home, the benefits outweigh the hardship.

• You are working at your own pace and you are working at something that you love to do.
• Freedom to work at anytime and at anywhere. Your Small Office Home Office (SOHO) is the best place to work from. You can set your flexible working hours.
• Self-esteem. Back to work brings you new skills and expertise. You will have a self-esteem and pride of what you’re doing.
• Your success depends on your work. When you’re working for a company, you need to cooperate with other people to get a result. I can tell you that not all people are cooperative. There are always good and bad people in the company. Sometimes the boss is not good or the subordinate aren’t cooperative.
• You become a multi-task person because you need to oversee everything.
• You earn an income. Your income depends on how hard and smart you work.
• Less stress. Home environment brings less stress. You can work while you listen to music or snacking. There are no arguments with colleagues or boss.
• Cost saving. You save on the building rental and staff costs.
• Your kids have your presence at home and they learn a real life situation from mommy working at home. They may lend you a help or you may find them imitate what you’re doing.

Finally, if someone asks me: what kind of home business is low risk and safe? My answer will be: Internet Business. It is a business with the low start up capital and you can work at home independently with no inventory.

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When I started blogging, I used free hosting and user-friendly Blogspot. But they have  limitations. There’re 2 columns only. I couldn’t create sub-categories and more pages. When I decided to market my blog, I learn to blog the right way and took up Internet Business Coaching.  I came to know that WordPress is the best solution for a blog website. WordPress software comes FREE because it is an open source project so people are free to use it. They always upgrade their version. Here’s the excerpt from WordPress: “WorPress is state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.”

 Please don’t confuse that there are WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

WordPress.com: If you use free hosting for your blog, you can get it from WordPress.com.  Your domain will carry their name too, http://yourdomain.wordpress.com. Using free WordPress-based blog from WordPress.com is less flexible than if you install and host the blog by using a paid web hosting.

WordPress.org: If you choose to host the blog by using a paid web hosting, you use software from WordPress.org and you can have your own domain name, http://yourdomain.com or http://www.yourdomain.com.  It is advisable to choose a web hosting company that provides you with script installer such as Fantastico to install open source software with just a click in their control panel. Otherwise, you have to figure out how to install the software into your domain name by following the guide from WorPress. My Business Class Web Hosting is one of the web hosting company that provides Fantastico installer in their control panel to install open source software to my domain name with just a click. I chose Business Class Web Hosting because they provide unlimited disk space for my blog and host multiple domains and sub domains. They always have the latest version of the open source software and the choices are plenty, not just WordPress. Upon installation, I can customize my blog and have the complete control of themes, plugins and widgets. Now, I see unlimited possibilities building my blog using WordPress.org.

Is it easy to build a website with open source project software like WordPress? I say “NO” though documentation is provided by WordPress. I can ask a help from my web hosting provider but they offer limited support because the software is from the third party. So, where can I get a help? I get a help from Internet Business Coaching, because they have expertise and knew exactly how to build a blog website using WordPress. I would prefer to take an online course than offline course. Online course is much cheaper than offline course because all materials are delivered via internet and there is continuity. They guided me everything about building a blog using WordPress. I can ask questions by email if I don’t understand how to make it work. It accelerates my learning and I couldn’t believe myself that my blog layout was ready within one week.

Domain or Sub domain  – You can install a blog within your domain, it is called sub domain. I have an online store, http://www.kidzpuzzle.com and my blog for kidzpuzzle is located at http://blog.kidzpuzzle.com. The advantage is I don’t need to register for a new domain and it means free (no additional charge). My Business Class Web Hosting provides hosting of multiple domains but additional domain name has to be registered and it cost $7.95 yearly per domain for .com.

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I have experiences of  changing from one web hosting to another.  I came across  different types of web hosting companies during my search to find the right one.

• Web Hosting & Web Design Company. When I started my online business, I had zero knowledge. I had  my website, http://www.kidzpuzzle.com,  designed by web design cum web hosting company. I had to pay dearly and I didn’t have the control over the content except for databases.  We revised our website once a year because each revision was costly. They only hosted one domain.
• Web Hosting with Web Site Builder Packages. I came across a web site builder. I loved it and they offered full support but my website experienced slow speed/upload frequently. They said because the location was in Asia, it was not their fault. They said that it might be due to our ISP (Internet Service Provider). After 6 months and there was no improvement, I decided to  move to another web hosting. I used Yahoo Ask Answer to get inputs of reliable web hosting company. 
• Web Hosting with Simple Scripts or Fantastico Installer.  Simple Scripts or Fantastico Installer means that they have an installer to download  GNU General Public License free software to your domain fast.  I searched the Internet to read their reviews before engaging their services. Finally, I chose a web hosting company that offered unlimited disk space,  unlimited domains  hosting  with Simple Script  installer at affordable price. Who could refuse this irresistible offer ? But I found it very hard to build a website using this free software. Documentation is available but where I could get a help.  I experienced slow response from the support. I had to add note: urgent or please reply soon in order to get a reply quickly.

Finally, I found the right  web hosting,  Business Class Hosting – Starting at Just $6.95 – InMotion Hosting which offer unlimited disk space, multiple domains hosting,  easy to use web site builder and Fantastico installer. You are assured of  their credibility because they  received Top Business Host Award 2009. Read more….

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Stop Searching ! If you have been searching high and low for the right web hosting package, the answer is only Business Class Hosting – Starting at Just $6.95 – InMotion Hosting , which received Top Business Host Award 2009. Please don’t go for cheap or personal web hosting as Business Class Hosting is supported with Max Speed Zone Technologythat makes your website and email upload fast. If you have streaming/interactive application in your website, max speed zone will make upload faster. Your website will be 99.9% up-time and they schedule regular maintenance twice a month without causing downtime on your website. The technical support is superb, I normally receive reply within 4 hours after the ticket submission. The The good thing about InMotion Hosting Business Class is they provide choices between Web Site Builder and Fantastico Installer.

Web Site Builder. For non-IT person like me, building a website and e-commerce using web site builder is really easy. I can list one item under multiple categories. Choose over 500 themes, add the contents and with just one click, you can publish the website in a short period. You can upload your own picture and logo to personalise your website.

Fantastico Installer. With Fantastico installer, you can download your choice of GNU General Public License free software  to your domain straight away.  You can build a blog, a website or an e-commerce. You don’t need to figure out how to download.

Please view my website, http://www.kidzpuzzle.com which is built using Web Site Builder from In Motion Business Class Hosting.