We hear stories of start-ups working in garages all the time. Well, this is the house where Google started.

Susan Wojcicki is reminiscing about her old home in Menlo Park, Calif.

“It’s a very humble house, less than 2,000 square feet,” she recalls fondly. A cozy, four-bedroom home — and incredibly historic.

After earning her MBA in 1998, Wojcicki bought 232 Santa Margarita Ave. for about $600,000. She rented the garage to two Stanford students for $1,700 a month to help with the mortgage. The renters: no ordinary slackers, but the Google Guys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who incubated Google right there.

“It’s a good reminder for the company that we did come from a small house, not a fancy house,” says Wojcicki.

Read the article here.

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Chris Guillebeau’s book, The Art of Non Conformity was released today.

So I headed over to my favourite free shipping bookshop and bought myself a copy. If you’re into doing your own thing I suggest you do too.

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Darren Rowse from Problogger.net and Glenn Murray from Divine Write have released a new eBook called “The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers”.

Overall, I think it’s a great little eBook that will keep you focused on the reasons why you’re writing each and every blog post in order to move you closer to achieving your goals.

Read the full The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers eBook Review.

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Am delighted and thrilled to see that I’ve been included in 50 Netsetters You Should Know About over at TheNetsetter.com

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Secure your place in the Online Business Overhaul training course now

Enrollment has opened for my first online training course. The 5 week course is run entirely online giving you the flexibility to learn at your own pace.

The course is designed to help solo and small business owners improve their website, attract traffic, build an audience and maximise the conversion of visitors into customers.

The online course is run over 5 weeks with 3 lessons per week posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You can work at your own pace, with downloadable worksheets to help guide you through the process.

If you don’t complete the course work in the 5 weeks – you’ll still have access to the material for 2 weeks after lessons finish.

Over the course duration you’ll:

• Review your website

• Make a simple online marketing strategy

• Learn how to use search engines to attract free targeted traffic to your website

• Learn how to use your time on social media and networking effectively to help build an audience

• Implement a low-cost email marketing campaign that builds relationships and adds value to your audience

• Learn how to improve your business results from your web presence

There’s less than 20 places left in the first intake. As an incentive to join the course as part of the first group I’ve taken $100 off the regular price of $397 so you can enroll now for $297. The next time this course runs it will cost $397.

The course outline has hit a nerve with solo and small business owners – attracting an incredible amount of interest. Head over and check out the full details or enroll now to secure your place.

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It was a long time coming. It started as a “What if…” then grew into a “I think I should…” and now the time is here.

After months of deliberation about my next move with womeninbusiness.com.au I’ve decided to launch my first online training course.

Online Business Overhaul is a 5 week online training course that helps solo and small business owners take their online business results from ho-hum to pow-pow.

In regular words – that means I help you:

• Get back to business basics
• Create a simple online marketing plan
• Review your website from a business, marketing and customer perspective
• Create a search engine strategy to attract free targeted traffic
• Learn how to use your time on social media and networking effectively to help build an audience
• Implement a low-cost email marketing campaign that builds relationships and adds value to your audience
• Improve your business results from your web presence

There are 5 modules consisting of 3 lessons each week and there’s only 35 places available for the first intake. Enrolment opens Wednesday 25th, March and classes commence Monday 5th, April. Full details including course outline and costs here.

If you’re after a course that gets your online business goals back on track and leaves you with step by step action plan to attract more traffic, build an audience and maximise meaningful transactions then I’d love you to consider my new online training course – Online Business Overhaul.

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$27.95 AUD | 27 pages | 1.7Mb | PDF

How to use Twitter for business

The rise in popularity of Twitter means that business can no longer ignore this social media platform.

This article teaches you how to use Twitter for business to increase website visitors, leads & sales by connecting with people. Note: This article is an updated version of the eBook “Using Twitter for Business”.

What you’ll learn

• What is Twitter?
• Why using Twitter for business is personal
• The 5 golden rules
• Why limiting self promotion will grow your business
• Practical ways to use Twitter for business
• Real world examples
• Personal branding vs business branding and which is better
• How to get started & build your network
• How to build solid relationships
• How to manage your reputation and find out what’s being said about you
• Glossary of terms
• Tips from other small business owners successfully using Twitter
• Which Twitter tools to use
• Answers to frequently asked question

About the Author

Practical Mag articles are written by Clare Lancaster, a communication design professional with over 10 years of online business development and marketing experience.

Clare runs several online businesses, her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and she is a regular columnist for Nett Magazine.

Shop more articles

Visit the shop to browse more online business & marketing articles.

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$27.95 AUD | 27 pages | 2.5Mb | PDF

How do I get more website visitors?

It’s one of the most common questions I get asked and an important issue for any business with a website.

There’s a million and one ways to get more website visitors.

This article is designed to introduce you to the only 2 strategies you need. Based on these strategies, it takes you through 12 online marketing tactics that you can use to attract the right type of visitor to your website.

What you’ll learn

• The two vital things you need to do before you start marketing your website
• How to find your ideal visitor
• How to connect to people looking for what you’ve got
• What search engine strategies to use
• How to engage your visitors and encourage word of mouth marketing
• If social bookmarking websites like Digg are really the holy grail of traffic
• How to create a sales team to market your business
• The power of link building
• How to approach forums as a source of website traffic
• How to use social media to grow your business
• The value of other people’s blogs
• The truth about advertising & traditional media

About the Author

Practical Mag articles are written by Clare Lancaster, a communication design professional with over 10 years of online business development and marketing experience.

Clare runs several online businesses, her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and she is a regular columnist for Nett Magazine.

Shop more articles

Visit the shop to browse more online business & marketing articles.

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Hi guys, I want to let you know about a project I’ve launched over at Women in Business.

Practical Mag is a digital magazine published one article at a time for people who want practical online business and marketing advice without the fluff.

Doing business online can be daunting. There’s a mystery that surrounds it – from secretive service providers to people out to make a quick buck. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Practical Mag is designed to give you accessible advice without the hype. It teaches you the ‘know how’ you need to establish an online business and grow it using solid marketing techniques.

Who it is for?

• Small business owners who know there’s incredible opportunity online but don’t know the steps required to take advantage of it.
• People who don’t have time to trawl through thousands of articles to find the right info.
• Anyone who wants simple, accessible online business advice that will save them time and money.

What’s it about?

Practical Mag offers you a reliable source of quality DIY online business and marketing solutions. The magazine is published one article at a time so that you can pick and mix the articles you require.

The articles explore the answers to your online business and marketing questions in depth. If you’ve got a question or problem you want help with – please submit it here or leave a comment below.

Each article is an in-depth tutorial, Q&A or case study packaged into a PDF suitable for viewing on your computer screen or for printing.

About the Author

Practical Mag articles are written by Clare Lancaster, a communication design professional with over 10 years of online business development and marketing experience.

Clare runs several online businesses, her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and she is a regular columnist for Nett Magazine.

Coming up next

The first article I’m publishing is the most common question I’m asked – how do I get more website visitors?

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The Ladies being Australian women in business and female entrepreneurs – of course.

I’ve just released the advertiser kit for womeninbusiness.com.au. There are opportunities to advertise on the website and in the weekly newsletter.

I designed the advertising spots to be affordable and give options for micro businesses and up.

Check it out here or drop me a line with any questions.

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