Facebook is hugely popular. Many people love how it allows them to keep in touch with family, friends, old classmates and so forth with little effort. It’s an easy way to share those fun little moments you wouldn’t call and tell people about, but want to brag about anyhow… hopefully without sharing too much information.

Facebook is also great for many home businesses. Just as with your personal life, you can use Facebook to keep in contact with people about your business.

Don’t mix your business with your personal stuff on Facebook, however, or at least not too much. Facebook makes it easy to set up a page for your business, so that people who are interested in your business can follow it there, rather than being a part of your personal page.

It’s not that business acquaintances can’t become personal friends – they can. It’s that you want most of your business contacts separate. You don’t want to hit your Facebook friend limit due to business contacts and then not be able to friend your friends when your business page can be liked by as many people as care to do so.

What Should You Share on Your Business’s Facebook Page?

You probably don’t want to share what your kids or pets just did, or talk about your vacation plans on your business Facebook page. That’s not what most people are after when it comes to your business.

You do want to share what’s going on with your home business. Link to new blog posts. Announce sales and new products.

Interact With Current and Potential Customers

Facebook is one of many places you can interact with your customers. They may contact you with questions or problems through Facebook. Sometimes you’ll even get a rave review there.

How Do You Get People to Like Your Page?

The frustrating part at first can be getting enough people to like your business Facebook page. It’s frustrating trying to get those first few likes.

You can ask your current personal friends to like your page. Odds are many of them already know what you’re doing, and it’s a simple way for them to support you. Some may even be curious about what you do with your business anyhow.

You can also pay people who will build your account to a certain number of likes. I’m not a fan of this, as you really want people who are actually interested in your business to hit the like button, not just random accounts. This gives a nice looking count for your page, but if it doesn’t give anything more than that, what’s the point?

Facebook lets you post on the site using the name of your page rather than your own name. This is useful for some careful, polite marketing. You don’t want to spam all over Facebook, saying “visit me, buy from me!” Just as with any other site, you want to be interesting enough that people visit your page because you sound like someone who has something they want to check out.

Be careful what you post on other people’s and businesses’ walls. The nice ones just delete you if they don’t like how you posted on their wall. Others mark your posts as spam, which can lead to the loss of your account.

One problem with running an online business is that you have to think about security in ways not everyone really thinks about it. You have to keep your site as safe as you can manage from hackers. While there’s no way that’s perfectly safe from someone determined to break into your site, you can make it more difficult by using strong passwords.

Problem is, many people don’t. Others think they have strong passwords but don’t quite have it right.

You’ve probably seen sites telling you if you have a strong or weak password by the number of characters you use. That’s one factor, but it isn’t the only one you should be considering. “123456789″ may count by length as a fairly strong password, passing the rule of 8 or more characters, but it’s also #3 on this list of the 20 most common passwords.

What Makes a Strong Password?

Eight characters minimum is a good place to start for creating a strong passwords, but it’s not enough. Many long passwords are still easily guessed and commonly used.

A mix of capital and lower case letters, along with numbers and at least one special character, such as @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, and so forth is better. Length is still needed, but these improve your security. Make sure that you aren’t using words, names, a row of letters or numbers, or other very simple to guess combinations.

All that sounds like a headache to memorize. It doesn’t have to be.

The infographic I linked to above suggests that you think of a sentence you can remember easily, and make your basic password out of the first letter of each word in the sentence, then make some letters uppercase, and add in some numbers and punctuation to make it more complex. That’s a pretty good way to make a more secure password that you can remember.

That said, there’s one more thing that makes a password strong. It’s that you don’t keep using the same password over and over again. Talk about a pain if you log into a lot of different sites.

That doesn’t mean it will be impossible to remember all your passwords. Add in something that makes the password unique to that site. Many people use a part of the website’s name to help them remember the password while making it unique from their passwords on other sites. This keeps it memorable, yet you don’t have to worry that one site being hacked will expose your password to every other website you log into.

One challenge can be that some sites won’t let you use punctuation or special characters. You should have fairly complex passwords available for such sites, although I think that’s getting to be less of a problem.

I’ll be the first to admit that changing your old passwords to more secure versions is tedious. Really, really tedious, in fact. And while you may never have a site you own be hacked, it can happen to anyone, and that includes other places you log in. Better to have your password be unique to a particular site so the hack of one site doesn’t leave you scrambling to change your password all over the place.

Secure Your Business Logins the Best You Can

Sometimes passwords can be figured out with what is called a brute force attack – that is, a software keeps trying to log in until it succeeds. If you have WordPress installed on your site, for example, you can make that more difficult by installing a plugin to limit how many login attempts someone can make before being locked out for a time. There are other things you can do to protect your own WordPress installations, and this article at WP Beginner has some good suggestions.

And of course, there’s sadly no such thing as perfect security online. You can try your hardest, but sometimes things are out of your control. Just do the best you can so that your sites, your business and any other place you log in online is as secure as you can make it.

Sometimes I get asked what the best home business is to start. Some home businesses even like to claim to be the “best home business.” Is there really one home business that is the best one to start.

Certainly not, at least not if you mean best for everyone. There may be one that is the best for you, but it won’t be the best for someone else. That said, there are certain factors you should consider when looking for the best home business.

1. What Do You Want to Do?

I enjoy doing affiliate marketing online, mostly by providing relevant content. I think it’s fun. But that doesn’t mean it would be the best choice for you, especially if you don’t want to spend a ton of time writing on your computer. You might hate writing. You might not enjoy spending a lot of time on the computer. You may want faster results and not mind the risk of more expensive marketing methods. You might want to spend more time with other people.

Your best choice in a home based business is one you’ll enjoy working on. That’s a product you believe in, selling in a way that makes you comfortable.

2. What Kind of Time Will You Spend on Your Home Business?

The amount of time you can spend on your home business makes a big difference in the kind of business you will do well with. If you’re adding a home business into an already heavy daily routine, you don’t want something that adds too many hours to that day. You’ll probably be happier with something that you can do for a half hour or several hours at a time, depending on what you have available that day.

Never assume that you’ll have great success working a home business just a few hours a week, however. Most times that doesn’t work out, especially if that’s all you’re doing from the start. It’s very common for home business owners to work 12-14 hours a day every day of the week. If you love what you do, and you don’t have other obligations in the way, that’s entirely doable.

3. Don’t Be Desperate

Sure, you’re probably looking to start a home business because you need the money. Maybe you need the money really badly. That’s probably the worst reason to dive headfirst into a home business, and a great way to get a bad start.

Should you be eager for success? Absolutely!

That doesn’t mean you should be desperate for it, no matter how difficult your personal financial situation is at the moment. If you’re that desperate for money, a job outside the home is a much safer bet. At least you’ll know what you will earn for your efforts.

A home business can do wonderful things for your personal income, but it can also lose you a lot of money and time if it doesn’t work out. That’s not a great combination when you’re desperate. Get some money coming in other ways, and spend any time you can spare on your home business on the side. It’s a slower start, but you probably won’t starve in the meantime.

4. What Do You Want to Spend on Your Home Business?

Your typical home business costs money. Make no mistake abut that. There are very few ways to earn a living with a business that don’t cost any money, and those cost a whole lot of time. That mansion, yacht and sports car the hype masters like to pretend we’ll all get from our home business endeavors don’t come easy even for the few who do that well.

Spending money doesn’t guarantee success, but it helps you appear more professional, which is appealing to potential customers.

That said, you need to know your budget. Are you going to start on a shoestring or take a chance with more serious money?

Most times, you are best off being a little cautious financially as you figure out the basics. You can get bolder as you better understand what you’re trying to accomplish and just where you can most effectively spend money. It’s very easy to throw money away on a business by plunging in too quickly.

5. Ignore Outrageous Claims

As you research the many opportunities out there, you must remember that many outrageous claims about how wonderful, how easy and how profitable a business opportunity may be. The FTC is working on cutting that down, as are many vendors who process the payments for popular home business products, but the claims are still out there.

Theoretically, they’re supposed to clearly state the normal result for people using their product. I’ve always said that’s difficult in areas such as home business, because the usual result for buyers is that an info product sits on their computer, maybe gets read once, and a very few take action on it. That’s just how it tends to be. Add in how rarely product creators get feedback, and figuring out the normal result is not easy.

That said, I also don’t really care what the income claims are or how easy they claim it is to earn money from home in a particular way. I’m more interested in the method being taught and whether or not it’s something I’d be interested in doing. That means I don’t buy products from vague sales pages promising marvelous income and not a hint as to what the work would actually be. Asking for refunds isn’t too difficult with many products, but it’s one more step to take, and I’d rather not do that.

I like the product review section on Warrior Forum for internet marketing products. No affiliate links allowed, and sometimes the product owner participates. You can get a pretty good idea as to whether or not the product has a chance of being worth buying. That said…

6. Don’t Buy Too Many Information Products at First

A good quality information product that helps you get your home business started is a wonderful thing, well worth the money. It saves sifting through the entire internet looking for tips on how to start earning money. But don’t overspend, and don’t buy a whole bunch at once looking for the shortcut to success. You aren’t going to find it.

Only buy information when you’ve figured out what your information needs are. There’s plenty of free information out there to get you on the right path – buy when you need more detailed information on the subject, and only buy after you’ve researched the product you’re going to buy so you know it will probably be worth the money.

7. Don’t Be Too Disappointed If You Don’t Pick the Right Business the First Time

You often hear that most businesses fail within the first year, first five years, whatever. The most common stats may not be all that accurate, just check out this chart, but keep in mind that the chart doesn’t indicate when the businesses become profitable, just when they shut down.

It’s still very common to have to try more than one opportunity to find the right one for you. You don’t really know what the best fit is until you’ve actually tried it. Just keep trying and don’t be too quick to give up. You will eventually find the right home business for you.

Having one parent, usually the mom, stay home with the kids is often seen as a benefit to the family. One parent is always there for the kids, you don’t have to spend money on daycare, it just sounds better.

The only problem is that when finances get tight, you have less flexibility. There’s a certain financial sacrifice already when you have one parent stay at home, and when the one income drops or disappears suddenly, your family may be in trouble. How can you, as a stay at home mom or dad, help?

I’m going to assume at this point that you’ve already cut back on spending in the usual area. It’s the most obvious and simplest step to take, even if it’s not without discomfort. When money’s tight, don’t spend on the things your family doesn’t need, and know the difference between needs and wants. There’s a lot of ground in there, but you can find what works for your family.

Here are some other ways to help out with a money crunch while still being a stay at home mom.

Find a Way to Earn Money From Home

Whatever you do, don’t be desperate about this one. It’s easy to get scammed when you’re trying to get a work at home job or start a home business. You have to pay attention to what you’re getting yourself into.

Don’t expect miracles. Most people earning money from home don’t earn millions, or even thousands per month. If you find some good work to do, it’s still something you can contribute financially to your family.

I have a post on how to earn money from home if you’d like more ideas on how to get started.

Increase the Income You’re Already Earning

You might be earning money from home already, in which case it’s time to step things up and bring in more money. That can mean increasing your rates if you’re a freelancer, working harder on getting more sales if you’re an affiliate or if you sell your own products, or asking your employer for more hours if you have a work at home job. Find a new affiliate product to offer that complements the products you’re already offering.

The thing to remember if you’re already earning money is that you can find ways to increase it. It may not be easy, and may add to the stress in your life, but that’s often what it takes to dig yourself out of a bad financial position.

Get a Job Outside the Home

This can still be compatible with one parent staying at home. If your spouse is still working, just with a decreased income, consider taking on a job at night, and being the at home parent during the day. Working opposite shifts from your spouse sucks big time, but if that’s what it takes to support your family, you may have to do it.

If your spouse is completely out of work, it may also pay for both of you to look for work. It might just be that you trade who’s the one at home, assuming the parent who had been working can stand the switch. Not all can.

Sell Things You Don’t Need

Selling things you don’t need only takes care of the short term, but that can be important in the long run. When my old car broke down, we didn’t have the money to replace it, but we also realized we didn’t really need it. Selling it for the little bit it was worth not only brought in a little money, it cut down on insurance and gas costs. I almost hated replacing it when the time came that my husband’s car was no longer enough.

Garage sales can be pretty easy to organize, although you do have to be aware of the over enthusiastic bargain shoppers. Some areas require you get a permit in order to hold a garage sale. The money is quick, and you get rid of things you truly no longer need.

Same for selling on Craigslist. It’s a fast way to get some money, but probably not a complete solution.

Try Not to Rely on the Credit Cards Too Much

While it may be necessary to put more than usual on the credit cards when times are tight, do what you can to minimize that. Credit card debt can take a very long time to pay off, and can keep the financial stress up even after your income improves.

The most important thing you can do when your family has money troubles is to find a way to work through it together. These things don’t last forever; they just require some extra effort to find your way through.

A well organized home office is a big help when you’re trying to be productive. It doesn’t matter if everything you do is on your computer and you never have to dig through the clutter on your desk – clutter is a distraction. Most people are more productive with an organized home office.

I’ll be the first to admit that my own office isn’t perfect. The kids often drop off their schoolwork on my desk. Mail gets left there. Don’t even ask me  how the random toy parts got there; I probably don’t even know. But when I take the time to clean things up, I still notice that it’s easier to be productive without all the stuff all over my desk.

Step 1: Get rid of the stuff that shouldn’t be in your home office anyhow.

As I said above, my kids put their schoolwork on my desk, and the mail ends up there a lot. That’s because it’s the first flat surface you come to in my house. Makes it an easy target.

While it hasn’t completely stopped the constant flow of schoolwork, it helps that I bought each of my kids a bin to keep their school papers in. I take a look at how they’re doing, but aside from that, they get to choose when to dispose of their papers if they keep them in the bin. Anything left on my desk is fair game for me to handle as I choose. The kids are still young enough to be pretty possessive of their schoolwork, so it doesn’t take much to get them to move it.

Step 2: Consider declaring the area off limits.

If you have a home office area that is a completely separate room from the rest of the house, consider declaring it off limits. The fewer people come into your work area, they less they’ll mess it up for you.

Obviously, this won’t work for everyone. My office space doesn’t have a door, and it’s also where the kids do their homework and crafts. I have a separate desk in there for them, not that they put their papers there often. Since it’s the second largest room in the downstairs area, I can’t keep it just for me. Just wouldn’t work.

Step 3: Separate professional and personal.

It’s not at all unusual to have a lot of your personal papers in your home office, although if you’re going for the tax deduction you should be trying to keep more of a dedicated office space. But separating your personal and professional paperwork and life in general is important for more reasons than that. It helps you to keep a more professional frame of mind if you don’t have too much personal stuff in the way when you’re trying to work at home.

Step 4: Organize your papers.

My office also has the file cabinet where we keep all our important papers – that’s the other reason the mail ends up in there. Shredder is in there too, so I don’t much mind having the mail in there, so long as the “to be shredded” pile and the “needs filing” pile don’t get too out of control.

Set up a filing system so that you can immediately put new papers in their place. The closer you can get it to a “touch once” system, the better.

My system, for example, has a place for important things that need more handling, such as bills to be paid or checks to be deposited. I don’t want to lose those, so they get a special place away from other papers that may clutter up.

Step 5: Organize your computer work space.

Clutter impacts your computer too. How many downloads do you have that you just haven’t made the time to read yet? How full is your email inbox? If someone emails you, how hard is it to spot that email?

I’m a big fan of filtering my email. This makes it easier to find personal emails as well as professional ones from sources which have contacted me before. Sorting those out makes it a lot easier to scan through the rest, deciding what’s worth reading, what’s just spam and so forth.

Do the same for your work computer files. Set up a system so you can find the files you need when you need them. If you run websites, keep separate files for each site, for example. If you have clients, set up a file for each, and subfiles as necessary for individual projects.

Step 6: Make sure your home office is a pleasant place to work.

Your home office doesn’t have to be a bland, colorless space. It’s yours, after all, and you don’t have to obey any corporate rules about how your office should look. Plants, pictures, whatever you like to make your space more comfortable, just so long as they don’t make the place too cluttered to work in.

I have an orchid I’ll be adding to my home office space just as soon as I get a little more clutter off my desk, a birthday present from my husband. A little green is always nice to have, and the blooms are lovely… I hope I can get it to bloom again in future years.

Step 7: Make sure it’s working for you.

Your organization system for your home office may not work for you the first time you try it. If it isn’t, try a new system after giving yourself enough time to have really tried out your first thoughts in the area. There’s no rule saying you can’t change things up.