Sometimes, after a while, it becomes necessary to get a new look for your home business Web site -- or even change your brand. It can be a daunting task, but if you think it through, it is possible to change the way you've been doing things with your home business Web site.

Whether it's just a bit of a facelift, or whether you are going all out, a fresh change can be helpful. Just make sure that you accompany that change with a new "launch," and that you make sure your network knows what you're doing.

Congratulations to Sparkplugging (formerly eMoms@Home) on the new look!

One of the things you can do to help boost traffic to your home business blog is to takes steps to boost your online credibility. This is not done just by offering relevant and useful content on your home business blog. There are are things that you need to do in order to increase your credibility and your visibility.

Problogger points out that it takes time to build online credibility, and that it can't be rushed. Here are some other tips that Darren Rowse has with regard to building online credibility:

*Leave useful (and not self-promoting) comments on other blogs in your niche.
*Build relationships with others in your home business niche.
*Offer to guest post (and also accept guest posts) on related blogs in your niche.
*Have an opinion about what's happening in your niche.

Second Life is becoming a bigger and bigger trend. It is possible to attend jobs fairs and even get exposure real-world items and businesses when you create a Second Life.

And now, some experts are saying that ignoring virtual worlds like Second Life may be a bad idea. After all, if you want your home business to appeal to an under-30 crowd, it is important to start connecting with them on a variety of levels.

Learning Second Life can be time-consuming, though, so you need to carefully evaluate your home business and decide whether other avenues of social networking may be better for your time.

Still loving those Monster.com commercials. Enjoy this one about the guy with the big legs.

Happy Friday!

One of the tools in the home business Web site arsenal is the blog. Your home business blog can help you drive traffic to your site, and increase your sales. Having a home business blog can be very helpful to nearly anyone.

But it does require effort.

You need to figure out how to make the posts to your home business blog useful and informational, as well as interesting. Over at ProBlogger, Darren Rowse shares his blog posting workflow, and there are several comments as well. These can give you some great ideas for arranging your own workflow.

When it comes to a home business, marketing can be tough stuff. However, over at Biz Chicks Rule, they've got some good ideas kicking around from readers. However, be warned: Most of the marketing ideas are geared toward those whose home business is writing.

But you can head over and get some good ideas, as well as leave your own marketing ideas.

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd share some tips on conserving energy with your home office computer. These energy saving tips come from The Simple Dollar, and many of them are fairly easy to implement:

1. Use a SmartStrip for your computer and its peripherals. You plug the computer into the main "outlet" and when the computer is on, everything else on the strip gets energy. When the computer is off, everything else is as well.

2. Change the energy settings on your computer.

3. Put chargers (including your laptop charger) on a timer so that they only come on for a limited time.

4. When you replace home office equipment, do star with EnergyStar 4.0 equipment.

5. Dim your computer monitor's brightness.

Every little bit helps.

Happy Earth Day!

Sometimes it is worth it to have a home office, just to escape some of the weirdness that is possible in office decorating. (Or maybe you embrace the weirdness in your home office.)

At any rate, Kathy over at Shak & Jill sent me a link to 10 interesting offices from PoPFi. Really, this is some great stuff.

Does this stimulate your creativity? Or stymie it?

I love this Monster.com commercial about kids and "When I Grow Up." Kills me. And I thought it would be nice since next Thursday (the 24) is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work day.

Happy Friday!

One of the biggest items that cuts into the productivity of working from home is checking my email. I have a little sound that goes off each time I have a message. And I check it almost compulsively. Which is why I'm thinking I need to make a change.

One of the ways I can increase my home office productivity is to change things around so that I only address my email at certain times of the day. Preferably after I've finished a project or a segment of my work. Then I go through and answer everything at once, rather than interrupting my workflow to look at every new message.

And I can prioritize. If it can wait til the end of my "work day," I think from now on it will.

What's your biggest home office productivity problem?

With Earth Day coming up on April 22, it is no surprise that "green" is being talked about a lot right now. And if you are looking for a green job, you are in luck.

Head on over to Interview Chatter, where Darlene McDaniel has posted a list of places to go if you are looking for a more eco-friendly work environment.

Today is Tax Day. And if you have a home business, you probably owe taxes. You can reduce your taxes by switching from a sole proprietorship to an LLC or an S-Corp.

Another thing you can do to make paying your taxes less onerous is to pay quarterly. You can find payment coupons at www.irs.gov that allow you to make quarterly payments. Not only does this make paying your taxes more manageable, but it is also required.

If you plan to save up all year, and earn interest, the IRS expects you to pay interest on your "late" payments for earlier quarters.

There are many different ways to start a home business. And one home business idea is to start a collection agency. Michelle Dunn, in her new book Starting a Collection Agency, How to Make Money Collecting Money shows you how to do just that.

This is an interesting book that takes you through the steps of setting up a collection agency. And, in these times, where debt is a fact of everyday life, it can be a lucrative business. If you can handle the stress of making phone calls demanding money from others. 

I love the IBM commercials about "doing." And I about died when I saw this buzzword bingo commercial a few months ago. I've sat in those meetings (pre-WAHM, of course) and heard the buzzwords. They are almost completely meaningless and accomplish very little.

Happy Friday!

Over at Accounting Solver, I saw this great Albert Einstein quote:

We cannot fix our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.

I love this. This applies so well to the home business -- and just about anything else in life.

My home business is freelance writing. And, at this point, it is mostly professional blogging. Most of my livelihood comes from blogging. But the überexpert on making a living from professional blogging is Darren Rowse. And he's got a book coming out at the end of the month: ProBlogger Book -- Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

While it can a while to get going with professional blogging, it can be a great home business choice. And, as Liz Strauss points out at Successful Blog, the gold rush is just beginning...

Here is a look at integrated product management from Ryma Technology Solutions:

One of the keys to growth in any company, whether a home business or a large multi-national corporation, is to leverage technology in a way that allows you to provide maximum value to your customers. For home business, this is especially important, since technology is often what allows you to get your products and services out to the world.

Integrated product management allows you to combine a variety of processes is an efficient and innovative manner. Even if you are more geared toward services, there is a lot to be learned from integrated product management. The principles can apply in nearly any home business setting. The principles of cooperation and information exchange are especially important. Not only does it help in large corporations, but it can apply to small groups of home business owners working together.

Ryma Technology Solutions is part of the Integrated Project Management Alliance. Seminars on applying integrated project management are being offered by the IPM Alliance on April 24 in Minneapolis and April 29 in Jersey City.

Hee, hee.

Sean Kelly over at FranchisePick.com put me on to this great Web site, blaugh.com. If you are looking for a funny way to lift the spirits of visitors to your home business blog, or if you are looking for a clever addition to your "error" page, this might be the way to go. (cartoon source: blaugh.com)

This guy claims that outside his home office is a squirrel highway. It is mildly entertaining. And cute.

Happy Friday!

Your environment can actually affect your productivity. This means that it is important to set up your home office in such a way as to allow you to maximize your productivity. This is especially important if you are a work at home mom or a work at home dad. I know that every minute of productivity counts for me.

There are some great tips on increasing productivity with home office design from Darrell Zahorsky. Here are five things he suggests:

*Create a home office that matches the "brand" that you offer -- even if no clients ever see it.

*Limit the amount of noise that enters your home office while you work. (This is why I do most of my work early in the morning and while my son is at preschool.)

*Add nature to your home office. A window, plants and pictures can be soothing and helpful.

*Make sure there is a barrier between your home office and the rest of the house.

*Think of ergonomics when you are setting up and furnishing your home office.

One of the more successful home business ventures in recent years has been U-Handbag. The founder of this business is Lisa Lam, and she recently did an interview with Wendy Piersall at eMoms@Home.

I encourage you to read this interview, as it has some great insight and home business advice.

One of the biggest challenges of working from home is creating a schedule -- and the sticking to it. The Indianapolis Star points this out about creating a work from home schedule:

One of the biggest reasons schedules get thrown out the window is because we are unrealistic when we create them.

The article in question goes on to share some great tips on creating a realistic work from home schedule.

My favorite? Create a diary.

The article suggests that you keep a diary for two weeks, noting how much time you spend shuttling people about, working and even messing around on the Internet. This way you can look at what time you are most likely to be doing something -- and how long it will take.

But the main reason I like keeping a diary of what I do is so that I can "prove" to my husband that working from home isn't all surfing the Internet...