My-Store DIRECT

Downloads and Free Stuff

2010-06-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome back

"Motivate Me" is SIMPLY a great web site with downloads and free stuff plus lots of other motivational material.

http://www.motivateme.info/downloads-and-free-stuff

Why not check it out? I know that you will be glad that you did!

Smiles :o)

Gary

Long Tail Keywords: Using Keyword Phrases That Make Sales!

2010-02-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

Long Tail Keywords: Using Keyword Phrases That Make Sales!: "

Writing Content is one of the easiest things you have to do in your online business, and also one of the most difficult at the same time.

Anyone can write words and create content. But writing SEO Content that converts visitors into buyers does take a bit of skill & intuition.

It’s easy enough to write optimized content to get rankings & website traffic. But traffic alone doesn’t pay the bills. You want to write content that attracts buyers and makes sales…

“I’m researching keywords, writing content, getting backlinks, have some good rankings and I’m even getting traffic – but still no sales. Help!”

All Long Tail Keywords Are Not Created Equal

Long Tail Keyword Phrases are phrases with 3 or more words. In some of the broader niches, a 3-word phrase is barely considered “long tail”. The phrase will be a very specific search, compared to the usual broad searches.

So it’s less about the number (“3-5 words”) and more how specific the search is.

These more specific phrases convert at a higher rate than general search queries, because the searcher knows exactly what they want. Writing content or creating pages around these long tail keyword phrases gives you a better opportunity to create a strong message to market match.

Imagine the difference between creating a page for “shoes” and one for “jimmy choo bridal shoes”. Even though “shoes” gets a lot more searches, it’s too general to target. You have no idea what kind of shoes your website visitors want to buy.

To give you an example, I recently wrote a blog post for an 8-word long tail keyword phrase. The phrase is How Can I Promote My Website For Free? which gets approximately 235 searches a day according to WordTracker.

That blog post ranks in the top 10 on Google for that phrase.

Mission accomplished, right?

Commercial Keyword Phrases vs Informational Keyword Phrases

In the 8-word phrase I gave above as an example, there are two words that peg it as an informational search: how and free. The searcher is obviously looking for free information (credit card tucked firmly away in wallet).

Compare this to a phrase like “buy online advertising” (15 searches/day). Or “should I buy a website template” (30 searches/day). These searchers are trying to make a buying decision (credit card close by, if not in hand).

While it’s tempting to use long tail keywords with higher search volume, if your goal is to make sales then you want to target the commercial keyword phrases. And don’t let low search volume deter you – write the content once, and let it continue to work for you for years. It is worth it. If your target market is searching for it, you are doing them a disservice by not ‘responding’ to that query with content.

It’s not impossible to convert visitors who are looking for information, into buyers. But it is harder – and you’ll see a much lower conversion rate. When you are writing content specifically to promote a product or to make sales, you want to target and optimize for the commercial keyword phrases.

The main point is that you analyze the keyword phrases from the searcher’s perspective, and determine the intent of the search. What is it they are most likely looking for? Your goal as a content publisher is to offer them exactly that.

Using Informational Keyword Phrases

When writing SEO Content, you want to make use of both Informational and Commercial Keyword Phrases. You’ll focus on the latter for creating content that contains a strong call-to-action for a specific product or service. But info-searches have their place in your web content development plan as well.

It takes both types of content to fully serve your market.

Informational search queries can be used to create content or copy for:

Opt-in Incentives (reports, guides, etc)

Newsletter Titles

Internal links for your “money pages”

Articles for Article Marketing

Forum Topics (for inbound links & networking)

Squidoo Lenses

…etc. In addition to being a great source for content ideas that can generate quality inbound links, the info keyword phrases are good to use on a blog where you are trying to build a loyal readership or establish a reputation as a market leader.

But when it comes to making sales… target the keyword phrases that show obvious intent to buy.

This is really only a slight shift in mindset when you are doing keyword research. We’ve been taught to focus on the search volume, analyze the competition in the search results, and if it looks like an “easy rank” then create a page or blog post and get backlinks.

It’s easy enough to stay busy going through the motions and create keyword-optimized content that ranks well. But if you’re getting good search engine rankings, and you’re starting to get traffic to that content, and still not making sales – this (the intent of the search) may very well be the missing ingredient.

Continue to target your market through their queries for info, but use that content strategically to build up your “money pages”. And put a strong focus on creating commercial content for those in your market that are specifically searching for help in their buying decision.

We’ve actually discussed SEO Content & Long Tail Keywords before in great detail, but over the weekend at the NAMS Workshop I discovered it still wasn’t super clear for everyone. Understandable – it actually took me awhile to wrap my head around the concept as well. But boy did it ever make a difference!

Here are two recent posts on this topic that contain even more examples and ideas:

SEO Content | Affiliate Marketing Tips

I put together 4 downloads for those that wanted guides to work with after my presentation at NAMS. You’ll find both of those posts as PDF Files, along with 2 others, in the protected post. The password is “nams3″.

Study the tutorials & posts, look over your own keyword content strategy, and then let me know if you have any questions – you can leave a comment below. Include the link to your site in the comment field for your URL if you would like me to take a look as well.

Best,

p.s. Next we’ll discuss Keyword Qualifiers to help you identify and cater to the buyers in your niche. Subscribe below to receive email notification of this and more great tutorials that will help you take your online business to the next level:

Learn Internet Marketing: “What Do I Send My List?”

2010-01-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Learn Internet Marketing: “What Do I Send My List?”: "

I received a question from one of my readers that I’d like to answer today.

Andre Arnett said:

“Hi Melissa, One of the biggest problems I have is when I get people through my squeeze pages setting up emails to send out. Any suggestions on what to send them. I use your Special Report emails but there are only 5 in there so what do I send out after they are used up? Thanks, Andre Arnett.”

This is something that we all struggle with at one time or another, and it’s completely normal to feel like you just don’t have anything to say. With that said, sending an email to your list once or twice a week is really important in order to maintain your relationship with them. Even if it’s just a quick note letting them know what you’re up to.

Think of your subscribers as friends. The more you stay in touch with them, the more your relationship grows. But when contact with your friend slows, or stops altogether then you grow apart and your friend moves on. And sometimes, after an extended period, they no longer welcome your contact because they just don’t know you anymore.

Treat your reader as you would a good friend. In how you write your emails, how often you send them, to the products you recommend to them. Do that, and the whole process becomes easy. This should be you thinking -> “Hey, I just wrote a great blog post. I’ll email my friend about it”.

Now, of course I couldn’t end this blog post without giving you some ideas on what to send your subscribers Andre, so here you go…

Stuff You Can Send Out:

-> Articles: You can put articles inside your email or link to articles on your website. For monetization, your articles can include links to relevant products, bylines can include promotional links and if you send readers to a website to read the article, you can include Adsense ads and other possible monetization.

-> Blog Posts: If you’ve made an interesting or helpful blog post, invite your subscribers to read it, leave commentary and ask questions. I like to send readers to my blog to engage them in discussions that benefit all my readers and to make my subscribers feel like they’re involved. You can monetize blog posts much the same way you do articles.

-> Reports / Ebooks – Not everything has to be for sale. In fact, giving away free and helpful information can be an incredible sales tool. You can include product promos at the beginning of your report/ebook, at the end and definitely in context, where appropriate.

It doesn’t matter if you sell info products, consumer products or are an affiliate marketer, informing and teaching people is an excellent sales tool.

For example, if you sell cameras and camera accessories, you can giveaway a guide on digital photography. You can talk about different camera features, make recommendations for certain types of photography. If your guide includes information on editing, talk about software recommendations. Be sure to recommend printers and paper as well, if applicable.

-> Workbooks/Worksheets – Provide your readers something useful and practical like a workbook. For example, if you provide homeschool lessons, add a practical workbook to boost the value. You could also offer a workbook as a bonus to anyone who purchases a course/information product through your affiliate link. It’s just something relatively easy to make and taking the time can produce great results.

You can promote other products at the beginning of the workbook (as an introduction), in the page footers and at the end of the workbook. In addition, if product links are appropriate with certain sections/questions, put them in.

-> Checklists: Checklists are not only handy for your readers, but they’re something they’ll print out and use frequently if they find them valuable. Make a useful checklist with a product/website promo, so they’ll see it each time they refer to your checklist.

For example, if you sell a environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies, make a household cleaning checklist.

-> Audios / Podcasts: Audios are a great way for your readers to take your info and marketing messages on the go. Many will listen right on their computer, but others will load it to their iPod or even burn it to aCD. Encourage your readers to consume the content in the way they are most comfortable.

Audios and podcasts can be entertaining, informative or a combination of both. The best part is they can be used to recommend/sell a variety of products. Be sure to use memorable URLs as your listeners will have to type them in and give them a downloadable info sheet that includes any URLs mentioned.

-> Live Teleseminars / Webinars: Much like a recorded audio, live telseminars are also very useful. Being live also often makes it easier to build up excitement and get your listeners to take immediate action on an offer. An element of interactivity is also added if you allow listeners to ask questions.

-> Live Streaming or Recorded Video: With increasing broadband speeds, video is much more accessible than it was a few years ago. It’s a great way to add a visual element to what was previously limited to audio. You can use various software programs to get video onto your website or you can use services like YouTube.com to post recorded video or Justin.TV to stream live. You can talk about products in your video, include a watermark on your videos for promotion, etc.

-> Screen Capture Video: A little different than live-action video, screen capture video allows you to demonstrate things on a computer. Whether it’s to show how to use a particular website, some software or demonstrate a membership site, there are many possibilities for screen capture video.

-> Transcripts: Realize that not all your readers will be able to or will want to watch video or listen to audio. You can provide transcripts or notes on the broadcasts to people who prefer to read.

-> Comment on news / blog posts: Instead of completely coming up with your own topics and content, you can piggy-back on what’s going on in the news or on other blogs and share your own viewpoints and commentary. Your readers will appreciate your perspective.

-> Patterns, Flowcharts, Spreadsheets: Provide all kinds of practical tools for your readers. What you provide will depend on your topic and products you’re promoting, but do think outside the box.

I hope that helps!

P.S. If you have a question you would like me to answer, I would love to hear it! Submit Your Question.

Have you Ever Thought This about StumbleUpon?

2010-01-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

Have you Ever Thought This about StumbleUpon?: "

Have you ever heard or even thought about these statements before?

StumbleUpon.com just doesn’t get me any traffic.

StumbleUpon.com is a waste of time.

I don’t have time to use sites like StumbleUpon.com.

What’s StumbleUpon.com?

Do you have any idea what StumbleUpon.com can do for your online business?

Have you ever heard of “Social Media Marketing”?

I know for many of you these questions may be a bit rhetorical, but you’d be surprised at how many big businesses have NO IDEA what I’m talking about right now.

I’ve been a “Member since Aug 06, 2007“ and StumbleUpon.com (SU) has treated me really well. If an online business isn’t using tools like StumbleUpon.com, now is the time to “get off the bench!”

5 Ways Every Business Should Use StumbleUpon.com

SOCIALIZE: Make friends with SU users who aren’t new to the SU scene. One of the reasons this will help you get your “foot in the social media door” is because, chances are, these users have lots of subscribers, lots of connections, and can really help you “push content virally”.
Going Viral is one of the overall goals I see with social media, to get your name out there in as many valid places as possible. Find stumblers who are already discovering articles, websites, and pages related to what you are all about. Don’t just add all the top stumblers – see what they have in their favorites, compare it to what you plan to favorite, and make sure it’s a fairly reasonable “good fit”.

Build Business Relationships: How? – stumble blog posts other SU users create, discover their stuff. Send them message via the SU email letting them know you appreciate what they share.
Just beware: If I got a ton of friend requests and messages from newbies, I’d probably just ignore them until they got their feet wet a bit. StumbleUpon has a function which makes it even easier to see how close you “match up” with other Stumblers:

Be an Active Member: This is what SU and all the other “social networks” are all about – activity! Once you add friends with common interests, don’t be afraid to chat with them, send them a message via the SU message box, ask them to Thumb Up and review something, etc.People will say no, you’ll be ignored, and once in a great while one of them will actually do something to help you. This will probably happen more than you expect if you’re persistent and personalize your message.

Do Unto Others: Don’t just book mark your own stuff! I know, to most of you this is a “no-brainer” but come on – if you just add your own stuff you will be tagged as a first class SPAMMER! Besides that, the “important” SUers will ignore everything you do and you may get banned from SU.
To avoid this beginners mistake, find stuff you like that’s related to your website and add it to your favorites: become a part of your industries community! If you don’t know where to look, go to the SU search bar in the top right corner of the SU screen and type in one of the keywords that relates to your industry.Don’t be too specific in your keyword search, and you’ll find other sites that will actually provide you with great stuff you can write about for your own blog.

Plan to Succeed! “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!” Yep, that’s right, if you don’t have a social media marketing plan of attack, you’ll waste a lot of time and, just as the complaints at the top of this post say, SU (or any other social media site) won’t do anything for you.

If, after you implement this advice, you are still echoing the same sentiments found at the top of this post, you probably haven’t put each step in to practice fully Happy Stumbling!

The Power of Stumbleupon Links

One of the articles I wrote awhile back was about why to-do lists are essential to entrepreneur success. Because of StumbleUpon, this article CONTINUES to get views and links (written in May of 09).

Entrepreneur Success

How do YOU plan to use StumbleUpon.com in your online marketing strategy?

This is a guest post by Nate Moller. Nate has consulted with thousands of clients from all over the world, helping them build and effectively market their online businesses. He specializes in social media consulting and search engine optimization. Follow him on Twitter (@mollermarketing). Contact him today for a free consultation.

Marketing on Squidoo

2010-01-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Marketing on Squidoo: "

Since I have not done much with Squidoo as a marketing tool myself, I asked my friend Jackie to step in and share some Squidoo tips with us… Enjoy! ~Lynn

Jackie Lee is a work at home mom who breaks internet marketing strategies into simple steps so people can overcome overwhelm and take action to move their business to a new level.

3 Simple Ways to Use Squidoo in Your Internet Marketing Strategy

While it can be easy to dismiss Squidoo as an integral part of your promotion strategies, I would caution you to give it a second thought. It is a very flexible and powerful site, and well worth the minimal time it will take to add it to your list of promotion possibilities. There are many ways you can use Squidoo in your promotion strategies, but let’s take a look at three…

1. Affiliate marketing

If you are new to the game of affiliate marketing, a little short on money but long on time, Squidoo is a fantastic place to start. Find a product you’d like to promote, do a little keyword research and get started. You can put a new lens up in less than an hour with the easy to use wizard.

Use your basic on page SEO techniques to optimize your page and then build some links to it. You may be surprised how quickly it will rank in the search engines, and how quickly and easily you can drive traffic and make sales. Once ranked these lenses can continue to bring you traffic and make sales for months, even years to come.

2. Link Building

If you already have a website or blog, Squidoo is a fantastic way to build backlinks from an authority site. Find a keyword that is more informational than promotional and create some content. Within your content create a link back to your blog or website using your targeted keyword. This is a great way to do deep linking and create links to your internal pages.

You can also use the RSS module from within Squidoo. This will show people the last 5 posts from your blog and allow them to click through. While they will not count as links they will help drive traffic back to your site.

3. Creating Authority

It’s always nice to take up the whole first page of Google with your stuff! Squidoo is a fantastic way to do this. Create lenses on topics that will help you build authority in your niche. Here’s a few ideas to help build authority using Squidoo:

Use it for an FAQ area for your site, answer questions that people ask you frequently.

Use it to give great content for a specific topic in your niche. The more valuable content you can provide the more you will be seen as an authority in your niche.

Use it for a services page or an about page

Use it to tell your story and connect with your readers

Squidoo is great for getting ranked, but it is also a very active community. Not only can you get traffic and build authority using Squidoo in combination with Google, but also from the Squidoo community itself.

If you’ve never built a Squidoo lens I encourage you to give it a try. You can follow my step by step how to squidoo tutorials to get started.

- – - – - – - – - –

Thank you, Jackie!

Have comments or questions about marketing on Squidoo?

Leave a comment below

Free Download: 2010 Binder Planning Sheets

2010-01-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

Free Download: 2010 Binder Planning Sheets: "

Each year, I plan for my business in advance. And this year, I’ve put together a package of downloadable planning sheets you can use for your own business. Or feel free to take the ideas and adapt them into your own personal planning style. There is no right or wrong on how to plan…but effective planning is always right.

Here’s what you’ll find in this download:

=> Affiliate planning sheets and 5 checklists

=> Article marketing planning sheets, article writing checklists, article directories list

=> Blog post planning sheets

=> Monthly increase goals planning sheet

=> Yearly calendar

Plus, a copy of my 2010 Business Outlook report to help you give your business butt kickin’.

Click here to download your 2010 Binder Planning Sheets (zip folder – 987 KB)

If you want additional help in your business, be sure to check out the Sweetie Saturday Report Club.

9 Vital Statistics for Tracking Site Traffic

2009-12-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

9 Vital Statistics for Tracking Site Traffic: "When you know who your visitors are, you can turn them into customers."

5 Easy Ways to Ramp Up Your E-Book Sales

2009-11-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

5 Easy Ways to Ramp Up Your E-Book Sales: "

Once you’ve written your E-Book, got your Website up and integrated your shopping cart, you can sit back and start waiting for the money to come rolling in, right?

WRONG!

These days it’s getting harder than ever before to be able to get people to notice you – and just because “you build it” doesn’t mean they’re going to come.

So what’s an author to do?

Actually, thanks to all the tools that are available to you – including Web 2.0 – marketing your book – and ramping up your sales – is not as hard as you might think.

In fact, here are a few ideas to get your juices flowing. Add them to your sales plan, and use them as a jumping off place to help you make even more sales.

Create a long-term plan before you write even one word of your first book. The truth of the matter is that you’re probably never going to get rich from writing one E-book. So before you start writing your first book, start thinking about your second book. And the first product that will tie into your first book. And the second. And then the third.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Come up with as many different income streams as you can and plan to build them into your plan. For example, can you create a workbook from your E-book? What about recording some audio files that go into further details or give more information. What about doing a joint venture with other experts in your industry?

Sell more books at one time. If your book covers any one of a number of popular subjects – self-help or development, home improvement, business, religion – there are probably corporations, organizations or niche markets that are always on the look-out for inexpensive gifts or bonuses for their employees, clients or associates. Your book could be just the ticket. Although you might have to go down in price – what do you think sounds better? Selling one or two books at a time or selling box loads of them?

http://4u2bn.com/lh79

Once you’ve built up your credibility as a published author, it’s time to take things to the next level. Have you ever dreamed of attending seminars or workshops as a presenter? What about having a speaking career and being flown all over the world speaking to people in your niche market? If you don’t like traveling or crowds, consider putting together teleseminars or holding intimate bootcamps.

Create joint ventures. This is the fastest and easiest way to leverage your expertise and start raking in the cash. Find people who are in similar – but not competing industries as yours. Explore ways for you to provide value to both of your customers while you’re cross-selling or upselling.

For example, if you own a restaurant, what about creating a special Valentine’s Day promotion with the local florist. Offer free drinks or desserts to any of the florist’s customers who bring in a special card (that you’ve provided to them) when they come to your restaurant. And your joint venture partner (the florist) gives you roses or carnations that can be given out to any women when their companion gives you the special dessert card.

See how simple that is? Real value that makes your customers happy, and builds loyalty and trust – and positions both of you as the first people your customers think of when they need flowers or want a romantic restaurant or a place to eat during a special occasion

http://4u2bn.com/lh79

Thanks
Joseph Vaughn

Want To Make Passive Income While You Sleep?
Discover How You Can Now Quickly Create Your Own
Branded Cash Producing Viral Ebooks With Just A Few
Clicks That Spread All Over The Web
http://4u2bn.com/lh79

Social Bookmarking"

4 Ways To Package Your Content For High Sales

2009-11-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

4 Ways To Package Your Content For High Sales: "

Experienced information marketers know that creating the product is only half the process. Learning how to effectively package your content so that it is attractive to buyers is just as important as finding your niche. It doesn’t matter how good your product is if no one wants to buy it. The same pages of information can be packaged in many different ways. Look over the following options and determine which method would be right for your niche and their needs.

Remember the acronym P.E.R.M.

P – Physical Products

E – Ebooks

R – Reports

M – Membership Sites

Physical products: Physical products offer you the ability to put something real and tangible in the hands of your buyers. Physical products are often marketed as “home study courses” which can be set at a higher price point than an eBook or a set of online videos. Although you will have to pay for the production of the book, the videos or the audio CDs, you can more than make up for those costs with your price point. With certain topics, physical products just make more sense.

eBooks: Can be anywhere from 30 to 200 pages long. They normally offer a more widespread look at a topic than a short report, but they have the potential for covering a lot more topic areas in the niche. The advantage of eBooks is that they can be priced at higher rates than short reports. They are automatically delivered to your customers so they get the instant gratification of having the product immediately. eBooks can be paired with supplemental reports, audios or videos depending on the niche and how many resources you want to offer your customers.

Reports: Short reports are typically between 5 and 20 pages. They go in depth on a small part of a topic instead of giving a general overview like most large eBooks do. With a short report, you’re normally giving someone an actionable plan that they can use to fix an aspect of their life. “How to Calm a Colicky Baby”, “How to Improve Your Golf Slice” and “How to Lose 5 Lbs this Weekend” are all examples of the narrow focus of short reports. If you have a larger topic, sometimes breaking it down into short reports and offering them separately is a great way to make more money and establish your authority in the niche.

Membership sites: If you have a lot of information on a niche and feel that you can provide month after month of content, you can create a membership site. The benefit of making a membership site with your content is that you earn money each month from multiple members. Instead of having a one time sale for your content, you can earn from it continuously. Your membership site can take many different forms. You can offer weekly or monthly reports delivered to your members’ inboxes. You can host a forum where members can meet and discuss the niche. You can also offer training through a private blog. The options are endless!

Before you decide on your product delivery system, make sure to research your niche to see what the norm is. Figure out what would be best for your niche and proceed accordingly.

Market Research in 5 Simple Steps

2009-11-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Market Research in 5 Simple Steps: "

Ready to conquer a new niche, but want to make sure you’re on the right track? You can’t just build a site on underwater basket weaving – you’ve got to make sure that:

People are looking for information on the topic

That there are buyers (not just freebie seekers)

There are actual products you can sell or affiliate with

1. KEYWORD RESEARCH

Initially, you’ll do your keyword research. That is, identifying a possible niche and running it through Market Samurai to see if it’s got potential. You want a keyword that has a decent number of people searching for it (so your new site gets traffic) but also doesn’t have too much competition.

I’ve put together a series of videos to show you how to use Market Samurai to dig out profitable keywords quickly, the most recent one is below:

For all the videos in this series (and more free niches you can steal) check out the Steal This Niche page.

2. MONETIZATION

Next, we ensure that the niche can be properly monetized. Are there products you can create and sell, or simply affiliate with, within the niche? If not, the niche is dead and we should move on to another.

To check that a niche can be monetized, we can use the “Monetization” Module inside Market Samurai.

We can also do a Google search and see if any of the top results or Adwords ads displayed on the right have affiliate programs.

Checking sources like Clickbank, Datafeedr, Ebay, Amazon, Commission Junction and ShareASale can identify further affiliate opportunities.

You want to have a laundry list of products you can sell on your site, so when it’s time to build, you know you have an offer for site visitors.

Also, make sure the products you’re identifying are a tight match for the keyword you identified with Market Samurai. If you identify people as searching for “How to make your own soap,” you don’t want attempt to sell them a candle making kit. Yes, people interested in making their own soap might well be interested in making their own candles too, but it’s not a perfect message-to-market match. You need a perfect match from what your users are searching for and what you’re selling to encourage sales.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA BUZZ

Checking the social media buzz for a niche serves two purposes:

Ensuring that people are talking about your niche. If they’re not, it’s dead. People must be interested enough in it to talk about it, otherwise they’re probably not buying.

Give you a point of entry to use social media marketing in your campaign. Checking the buzz allows you to identify the social media sites, forums, blogs etc. that are most active within your niche. When it’s time to promote and build links, you’ll already know the hotspots for your niche.

You can go to each social media site individually and use the search function to check if there’ buzz, but that’s tedious. Plus, it leaves out blogs and forums, which can be a huge source of conversation and potential traffic.

Instead, use the service WhosTalkin. You simply search for your keyword and you’ll get a look across all kinds of social media platforms where people are sharing images, articles, thoughts, videos and chatter. Plus, it gives you an RSS feed for your search so you can subscribe to it in Google Reader and catch everything people are saying within the niche and respond to it once your site is up.

Another place to check is SocialMention. While this service isn’t as comprehensive as WhosTalkin, it gives you a look, in the sidebar, of the reach, passion, positive & negative percentages and top users talking about your topic.

4. TOPIC TRENDING

You don’t want to climb on a niche bandwagon when it’s just about to die. So check with Google Trends and Google Insights to identify any patterns in your niche. Does it peak at certain times? Is it generally climbing upwards or downwards? Where is it right now in relation to where it’s been in the past?

Don’t beat a dead horse (or niche). If it’s time in the spotlight has ended, take a pass on it and find another niche with a longer lifespan.

5. VERTICALS & RELATED MARKETS

You may have identified other related markets (that may be more profitable, or could provide you with other categories, topics or subtopics for your site). We’ll investigate those further to ensure we’ve covered all our bases in our keyword research. Simply follow the tips above for any related markets, keywords, niches or sub-niches you’ve found.

To identify additional related markets, check with the following sites:

Keyword Spy

SpyFu

SEMRush

With each of the above resources, you’ll be able to get an idea of the advertising spend in the market, as well as other, related keywords you can look into further.

CrowdMountain members, check your members area over the next few days – we’ve got some pre-made markets ready for you so you can just jump right in to site building!

Telecommuting in the 21st Century: How to Implement or Improve Virtual Teams and Flexible Work in Your Organization (Part 7: Where Do We Start?)

2009-11-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

Telecommuting in the 21st Century: How to Implement or Improve Virtual Teams and Flexible Work in Your Organization (Part 7: Where Do We Start?): "

Welcome to Part 7 of our 13 part audio series on Flexible Work and Telecommuting - Telecommuting in the 21st Century: How to Implement or Improve Virtual Teams and Flexible Work in Your Organization“.

When looking to roll out telework or flexwork in your organization it often helps to start with a pilot program. This can help you gather important feedback, make sure you have the right technology in place, and help you recognize any speed bumps that might arise when expanding your program throughout the rest of your company. The size of your company will dictate how formal and involved this process needs to be. However having some type of trial period is always a good way to start.

In part 7 of our podcast we look at steps for successful telework implementation and how to get started.

So listen in to Part 7: Where Do We Start?

OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS:

Jeff Zbar : Founder of ChiefHomeOfficer.com (and faciliator for our discussion on telecommuting).

Rachel Hastings: Vice President of WFC Resources Inc.

Phil Montero: CEO of Montero Consulting and Founder of YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com and TheAnywhereOffice.com.

Want the whole story?

Listen to all 13 parts of Telecommuting in the 21st Century.

We hope you find this audio series useful – please take a moment to post a comment and share your thoughts and feedback with us below!

Subscribe (in the right hand column) to be sure you don’t miss anything!

What to Look for in a Telework Candidate?

Beyond Articles: 10 Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

2009-11-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

Beyond Articles: 10 Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content: "So you’ve got a great article written. You’ve done your keyword research and placed it in strategic but natural places throughout your article. The article is informative and engaging, and it has a compelling call to sign up for your newsletter.
What next? Put your article to work – again and again. Of course, you would [...]"

Beyond Articles Part 2: 10 More Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

2009-11-14T15:49:00.000-08:00

Beyond Articles Part 2: 10 More Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content: "Last week, I gave you 10 ideas for spreading one single article all over the Internet without having to rewrite or spinning it.
If you take the extra time and effort to rewrite, you’ll get even more content out there to promote your business. It’s much easier to create new content when you already have something [...]"

3 Ways To Find Ideas For Your Next Information Product

2009-11-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

3 Ways To Find Ideas For Your Next Information Product: "

Once you’ve written a successful information product, you should follow up on your success with another product. Whether you write a product in the same niche or go on to conquer another niche, it’s important that you use the momentum from your first product to fuel your second, and so on. If you’re stuck for ideas on where to find and idea for your product, you’ll find that creating a new eBook is as easy as A.B.C.

A – ASK your list members

If you’ve built a list from selling your first information product (and you should have!) the keys to creating your next product are just a few e-mails away. Your list can be a goldmine when it comes to product ideas. Create a survey using a free online survey program (like SurveyMonkey.com) and ask your customers what topic they are most interested in learning about next. You can make the questions multiple choice and give them a few different options. Add the link to the survey in your autoresponder program and then gather the results from your previous buyers.

This product idea method works really well because not only have you already established yourself in the niche, but you know that you have ready made buyers if you can create a product your list is looking for. Since surveys are so easy to set up, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be using this for product creation.

B – BROWSE through the product affiliate networks.

A great way to find a surefire product idea is to look at the product affiliate networks, like Clickbank, Ejunkie or Paydotcom. I’m not talking about ripping off ideas. I’m talking about finding existing gaps in the market and filling those needs. For example, if you’re looking through Clickbank and notice a lot of products on growing your own organic garden you know that those sellers are tapping into a profitable market. However, you also notice that not one of these books talks about how to store the abundance from your organic garden. This is an important part of making the most out of your garden. Since so many people are growing organic gardens these days, it’s going to be a profitable niche. On top of that, you can contact one of the people who have a gardening eBook and do a joint venture.

C – CHECK out peaking trends.

Tools like Google Trends can help you find out what topics are growing in popularity. By jumping on a rising topic, you can be the first to the market with a topic. Being the first product in a particular niche can secure your dominance in that niche, even after other people jump on the bandwagon. Keep an eye on peaking trends and see how you can create a product to meet the needs of those in on that trend.

Any one of these methods could give you enough topics for your next ten products. Don’t sit on your laurels after you’ve created your first product. Use that momentum to jump on the next product idea and you’ll be able to build a long term infomarketing business.

If you need some more guidance or you’re just getting started, be sure to pick up your copy of: Information Product Sweetie. You’ll learn everything from how to conduct market research, how to create awesome products and how to follow it up with a great marketing campaign. Comes with training guide, checklists, bonus audio on info product creation, website templates. PLUS, you’ll also get a cool bonus report, audio, and checklist on generating more product launch sales.

Business Plan Mistakes

2009-11-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

Business Plan Mistakes: "

Affiliate Post of the Week: Business Plan Mistakes

By Palo Alto Software, Inc.

Often you may hear about what a business plan consists of. While including the necessary items is very important, you also want to make sure you don’t commit any of the following common business plan mistakes:

1. Putting it off: Don’t wait to write a plan until you absolutely have to. Too many businesses make business plans only when they have no choice in the matter. Unless the bank or the investors want a plan, there is no plan.

Don’t wait to write your plan until you think you’ll have enough time. “There’s not enough time for a plan,” business people say. “I can’t plan. I’m too busy getting things done.” The busier you are, the more you need to plan. If you are always putting out fires, you should build firebreaks or a sprinkler system. You can lose the whole forest for paying too much attention to the individual burning trees.

2. Cash flow casualness: Cash flow is more important than sales, profits, or anything else in the business plan, but most people think in terms of profits instead of cash. When you and your friends imagine a new business, you think of what it would cost to make the product, what you could sell it for, and what the profits per unit might be. We are trained to think of business as sales minus costs and expenses, which equal profits. Unfortunately, we don’t spend the profits in a business. We spend cash. So understanding cash flow is critical. If you have only one table in your business plan, make it the cash flow table.

3. Idea inflation: Plans don’t sell new business ideas to investors. People do. The plan, though necessary, is only a way to present information. Investors invest in people, not ideas.

Don’t overestimate the importance of the idea, particularly the importance of the uniqueness of the idea. You don’t need a great idea to start a business; you need time, money, perseverance, common sense, and so forth. Very few successful businesses are based entirely on new ideas. A new idea is much harder to sell than an existing one, because people don’t understand a new idea and they are often unsure if it will work.

4. Fear and dread.

Doing a business plan isn’t as hard as you think. You don’t have to write a doctoral thesis or a novel. There are good books to help, many advisors among the Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), business schools, and there is software available to help you (such as Business Plan Pro, and others).

5. Spongy, vague goals: Leave out the vague and the meaningless babble of business phrases (such as “being the best”) because they are simply hype. Remember that the objective of a plan is its results, and for results, you need tracking and follow up. You need specific dates, management responsibilities, budgets, and milestones. Then you can follow up. No matter how well thought out or brilliantly presented, it means nothing unless it produces results.

6. One size fits all: Tailor your business plan to its real business purpose. Business plans can be different things: they are often just sales documents to sell an idea for a new business. They can be detailed action plans, financial plans, marketing plans, and even personnel plans. They can be used to start a business, or just run a business better.

7. Diluted priorities: Remember, strategy is focus. A priority list with 3-4 items is focus. A priority list with 20 items is something else, certainly not strategic, and rarely if ever effective. The more items on the list, the less the importance of each.

8. Hockey-stick shaped growth projections: Have projections that are conservative so you can defend them. When in doubt, be less optimistic.

Source: bplans.com

Technorati : Business Plan, Marketing, Marketing Plan, Palo Alto Software, Planning

Facebook Pages the Impact Marketing Way

2009-10-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

Facebook Pages the Impact Marketing Way: "

by Guest Blogger, Maria Reyes-McDavis

Whether you need a Facebook Page or not is no longer in question. The real question is how you’ll use a Facebook page in the big picture of your online marketing to create Impact and results. There are 3 steps to get to the right answer for your business. This is the first of 3 posts that will explore the reality of marketing your business with Facebook pages.

Impact Marketing:

Connect + Engage + Impact = Results

Connect

Every business, large and small, must have a Facebook Page, period. There is no way to get around this reality. If you’ve already heard that before, you may not understand why or you’re being told this for all the wrong reasons. So, let’s explore…

First, building business starts with being visible. Meaning, your first task in online marketing is about getting found. If your audience cannot find you – game over. You get found by being where your audience is at all times. Of course you need the right message, but that’s an entirely different post

In the Impact Marketing equation referenced above, getting found is about the Connect. It is the first of 3 steps you have to take to build your business online. A Facebook Page is required because it adds to your Connect along with your ability to be found in the world’s largest social network of people and within search engines since Facebook has opened its network in recent months.

Facebook Page Connect Tip: Your FB page is an extension of your online hub (hopefully a blog site). Make sure your page is not only set up to connect with fans on Facebook, but to also direct them to connect with you at the center of your world, your blog site. One way to do that is to add an Impactful welcome tab to your page:

Note the connection opportunities present throughout.

The Connect game is all about reach and intelligent automation, especially for the time-starved solo-professional. Tie your hub to connect points like your Facebook page by using services like Hootsuite, which ties to Ping.fm, which will then automatically update a significant part of your entire social media presence quickly and easily, including your FB pages.

In the second part of this series, the Engage game, we’re going to take you past the Connect, past visibility and automation into the world of marketing that creates leveraged relationships so that your reach begins its transformation into revenue. See you then!

About the Author:

Officially, they call me the insanely brilliant @WebSuccessDiva. {wink} I’d rather you know that I’m a Child of God, wife, mother of 3, serial online entrepreneur, digital marketer, advisor, teacher, tech-geek, and classic car lover. In that order I help small businessES, non-profits, and ministries build profitable legacies that Impact the communities they serve using blogging, online marketing, and social media.

I work with Impact agents who are leaders not followers, self-believers not self-promoters… We can connect on my Impact Agent blog or at the Impact Marketing Zone. I’m looking forward to it

The Course in Mastery – Day 8 – How to Listen

2009-10-24T16:24:00.001-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 8 – How to Listen: "The Course in Mastery - Day 8 - How to Listen

How to Listen: Day 8 of a 30 day challenge designed to help you gain balance in your life.

Today, Tom Wood describes the amazing impact actively listening has on your ability to communicate and Dr. Tony Alessandra gives specific ..."

The Course of Mastery – Day 7 – How To Take Action

2009-10-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

The Course of Mastery – Day 7 – How To Take Action: "The Course of Mastery - Day 7 - How To Take Action

How to Take Action: Day 7 of a 30 day challenge designed to help you gain balance in your life.

Today, Tom Wood gives steps to follow in order to take action effectively and Dr. Barbara De Angelis gives ..."

The Course in Mastery – Day 6 – The Unlimited Power of Belief

2009-10-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 6 – The Unlimited Power of Belief: "The Course in Mastery - Day 6 - The Unlimited Power of Belief

The Unlimited Power of Belief: Day 6 of a 30 day challenge designed to help you gain balance in your life.

Today, Tom Wood and Dr. Janet Lapp explain the impact that faith has on your level of ..."

Get Your Brand on Every Social Network with KnowEm

2009-10-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

Get Your Brand on Every Social Network with KnowEm: "One of the biggest advantages of social media is the ability to get your brand Web-wide recognition among very active consumers across any number of niches, large and small. One of the biggest disadvantages is the massive amount of time it takes to get these profiles set up and keep them maintained. You can also run into problems when someone else...

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AddThis - the #1 Bookmarking and Sharing Service

2009-10-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

AddThis - the #1 Bookmarking and Sharing Service: "

AddThis - the #1 Bookmarking and Sharing Service

Source: www.addthis.com

Increase traffic with the easiest, most popular sharing tool in the world. Served 30 billion times a month to 500 million people in 50 languages.

This looks like a valuable service???

Apps for SalesForce: Free, Popular and Downright Nifty

2009-10-23T05:20:00.000-07:00

Apps for SalesForce: Free, Popular and Downright Nifty: "If creating and maintaining positive relationships with customers is your focus (like it should be) then you won’t need convincing that CRM software is a key to your success. While there many vendors touting their wares, market leader SalesForce is where many companies are turning. In addition to being the most robust solution available,...

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Web Content Writing Resources

2009-10-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Web Content Writing Resources: "

As promised, I’m also going to share some of my favorite resources for developing web content. Writing doesn’t come easy for everyone, but you may be surprised to learn that even some of your favorite writers use checklists, outlines and even PLR (private label rights) content.

I do myself, and I shared my outline for blog posts in my How to Write A Blog Post tutorial. I also recently shared a detailed PLR Article Rewrite.

And while I’ve been writing web content for years (more than a decade, actually), I am still constantly looking to learn and improve my writing skills. What follows are some of my favorite, and most used resources…

Write That Report

This report by Jonathan Leger is only $7, and is one of my personal favorites. It provides an outline for writing reports, which is the style I work best with, and also teaches you how to come up with topics and the technical side of publishing and selling (or giving away) your reports.

I sell short reports to make money and to build targeted lists of buyers, and I use free reports as part of my affiliate marketing strategy. I have also been creating rebrandable reports lately, which is great for those who have affiliates – or for viral marketing campaigns.

Article Marketing for Beginners

Don’t let the title fool you – this tutorial is not just for beginners. In fact, there are several of us way beyond beginner stage taking and loving this course. It’s by Jeff Herring (THE Article Marketing Guy), and you can read my review here. See the comments after too, to hear other people’s thoughts on it.

Article Marketing is incredibly important to your overall marketing strategy, and is one of the easiest ways to get high quality relevant backlinks to your website or blog (or your individual posts or pages). Considering how successful Jeff Herring is at this particular strategy, from titles to bylines, it pays to study from the best.

PLR Secrets (Free Report)

Another great resource that I read, and found a lot of inspiration in, is PLR Secrets by Jimmy D Brown and Nicole Dean. This is a great free starting point if you’re interested in exploring PLR and/or the idea of creating your own short reports. A great companion to Jonathan Leger’s guide (above).

Easy PLR

This is Nicole Dean’s PLR site, and it’s one of my personal favorites (yes, I’m a customer!) because she offers such a variety in niche content. You’ll find PLR content for niches like fitness, diet, holidays, blogging, frugal living, membership sites, pregnancy, ecommerce, Feng Shui – you name it. She also offers a variety of formats such as ecourses, articles and reports. I do a lot of mix and match there…

Internet Marketing Special Report Club

Another great source that I use is Melissa Ingold’s special report club. She has some quality PLR reports & articles, and often runs special offers. Check out her Free PLR Package here for a test-drive.

Nicheology

This is one of the original PLR sites, and has been around for years. I was a member when it was originally started by Jimmy D Brown and Ryan Deiss. It is now operated by Paul Evans and Mark Thompson – and you’d be hard pressed to meet two nicer guys. Not only do they offer tons of exclusive content with private label rights, but they also offer a lot of training and tutorials as well.

They recently instated a $197 sign-up fee due to the wealth of content and resources available immediately once you join, but this link will give you back door access to join without paying the sign-up fee.

Need-an-Article Writing Service

You can have content written for practically any purpose, including: articles, press releases, blog posts, website content, etc. And you can have this content written for as little as $5. They even offer re-write services for your PLR content. This is a very cost-effective writing or re-writing service for those of you that prefer cheap outsourcing.

I also want to recommend two blogs you should follow – and these two blogs are written by members of my own private mastermind group:

Web Copy Results by Trish Lindemood. She is currently doing a 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge. Also, Affiliate Treasure Chest by Susanne Myers.

Both of these ladies are currently running a content challenge and their blogs are chock full of resources and ideas for developing consistent content. Susanne’s latest post is How To Come Up With Article Ideas That Are Perfect For Deep Linking, for example. Great stuff!

I hope these web content writing tips & resources proved helpful for you, and sparked some new ideas you can use to create fresh content for your blog or website. These are the same ideas and resources that I use every single day across my own blogs and websites.

Best,

p.s. My next post in the Web Content Writing series is a Q&A. Feel free to leave your own questions on creating great content below for potential inclusion. You may also want to sign up for my upcoming report titled Easy Unique Content.

June Holley and The Art of Being Rhizomatic (The Practice of Network Weaving)

2009-10-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

June Holley and The Art of Being Rhizomatic (The Practice of Network Weaving): "

Meeting June Holley for the first time!

Last week, as part of my work at the Packard Foundation as visiting scholar I had the opportunity to participate in a face-to-face convening of the 'Network of Network Funders,' facilitated by the Monitor Institute. The most exciting moment for me was to meet June Holley face-to-face - the guru of network weaving.

What the heck is network weaving? Here's a good basic definition from a blog post titled 'The Power of Network Weaving' from the Network Weaving Blog

Network weavers are people who intentionally and informally - and often serendipitously - weave new and richer connections between and among people, groups, and entities in networks. They also weave new and richer connections between among networks.

Note that the definition uses the plural form, network weavers versus network weaver. That was one of my ah ha moments from June's presentation and subsequent discussion. You want everyone in your network to do network weaving on different levels. Take a look at June Holley's list of characteristics and you'll quickly see that network weavers wear a variety hats - networkers, project coordinators, facilitators, and guardians. I might also add 'technology stewards.'

June urged us not to think narrowly about Network Weaving as a specific job description, but rather as a role. 'You don't hire someone to be a network weaver. You want someone who is open to learning and a good listener and can teach others network weaving skills. You want to spread the capacity throughout the network.' You extend networking weaving skills by using a peer learning model not a traditional training model.

June Holley used the metaphor of 'Being Rhizomatic' and explains it as where every bud contains the nourishment for other buds. She used an image of a single tree. A single tree can be cut down or die from lack of water. But in a bamboo forest (a unique rhizome) -- the trees are connected through the roots and if one tree gets nutrients and supports others.

The image that came to mind for me was from the movie Fantasia and the scene in The Sorcerer's Apprentice when many brooms come to life from the one chopped up broom. (Go 5:49 in the clip)

Source: Flickr Photos

June Holley emphasized the importance of self-organizing, she said 'Network weavers catalyze small joint actions between groups of two or three people. She talked about the importance of online collaboration and project management tools as a way to support those self-organized actions. (My single next action step is to set up a sand box with June and others to explore some of these tools in the context of network weaving.)

She also introduced a new (to me) concept: Network Guardian. This is someone who isn't doing the day-to-day work, but thinks about how the network could be more than it is. They think about the network structure, evaluation, communication, training, opportunities, and reflection.

June also described some of the tasks that network weaving may include. One might be drawing the map of the network's connections and facilitating a discussion about what the network looks like. Angus Parker from Wiser Earth recently blogged about this in 'How To Weave A Tighter Network.'

One connection I made is that nonprofit social media strategists like Carie Lewis from the Human Society, Danielle Brigida, NWF, Wendy Harman from the Red Cross, Apollo Gonzalez from NDRC, Constance DeCherney from Planned Parenthood, and others are doing some form of network weaving - whether it be their Facebook or Twitter networks or possibly internally between departments. It also made me wonder whether there might be a hunger for a professional peer group of social media network weavers.

I took that idea into a small peer assist session. My question: Is there a network of peers who do network weaving for nonprofits to support external communications? For starters, I'm going to ask Holly Ross at NTEN that we have a birds of a feather table at the NTC10 or if I get ambitious I will sign up to lead an affinity group meeting. As we discussed this, I realized that perhaps the frame was too small.

Maybe we need to do some field building for nonprofit network weavers in general as well as consultants who work with Network weavers. And while this would include those who work for nonprofits on social media strategy for external communications, it would include network weavers more broadly. There might be a sub-group or interest area on technology. Maybe this conversations could take place on an existing community of practice (Iscale).

Are you practicing network weaving skills in your nonprofit or network?
What are you learning about network weaving?
What inspires you about network weaving potential?

Why Companies Shouldn’t Block Social Media in the Workplace

2009-10-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Why Companies Shouldn’t Block Social Media in the Workplace: "Over half of U.S. businesses block social media sites at work, yet 94% of businesses are acknowledging the importance of social media and are starting to invest in it? It’s kind of like being a retail business that doesn’t let its employees buy anything."

Creating Facebook Fan Pages – by Monique Cloutier

2009-10-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

Creating Facebook Fan Pages – by Monique Cloutier: "*These videos were created today as a response to immediately helping out a new facebook friend and fan Chris King. She is a great friend and I recommend that you also become her friend and fan on facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/chris.king1 ) and beyond. *

Here is a video in 2 ..."

Social Media for Small Business

2009-10-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Social Media for Small Business: "

Here is my presentation from today, helping to kick off Small Business Week. It was an early morning breakfast with the Summerside Chamber of Commerce and only about 20 minutes long. Enjoy!

Social Media for Small Business

View more presentations from Kerr Consulting.

The Leader in You by Dale Carnegie - Free eBooks Download

2009-10-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

The Leader in You by Dale Carnegie - Free eBooks Download: "

Gary Gray

The Leader in You by Dale Carnegie - Free eBooks Download - http://www.ebook3000.com/The-Lea...

14 hours ago

from Facebook

- Comment
- Like

The Course in Mastery – Day 5 – The Power of Associations

2009-10-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 5 – The Power of Associations

The Course in Mastery – Day 4 – Taking Responsibility

2009-10-14T20:27:00.002-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 4 – Taking Responsibility

The Course in Mastery – Day 3 – The Slight Edge

2009-10-14T20:27:00.001-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 3 – The Slight Edge: "The Course in Mastery - Day 3 - The Slight Edge"

The Course in Mastery Day 2 – The Power of Goal Setting

2009-10-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

The Course in Mastery Day 2 – The Power of Goal Setting: "The Course in Mastery Day 2 - The Power of Goal Setting"

The Course in Mastery – Day 1 – The Psychology of Success

2009-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

The Course in Mastery – Day 1 – The Psychology of Success: "The Course in Mastery - Day 1 - The Psychology of Success"

Vaynerchuk: Use Social Media to "Crush It" in Business

2009-10-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Vaynerchuk: Use Social Media to "Crush It" in Business: "Gary Vaynerchuk, aka @GaryVee, says being successful doing what you love is now much more possible, provided you are willing to work tremendously hard - and leverage sites like Twitter and Facebook."

Fulfillment Solutions for E-Commerce

2009-10-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Fulfillment Solutions for E-Commerce: "For e-commerce business owners, product and marketing are typically core competencies while managing inventory and shipping solutions often are not. But not focusing on these parts of a business can often result in a poor consumer experience. This is where fulfillment companies step in as partners with expertise to allow merchants time to focus on...

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Our Canada

2009-10-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hi

An example of how doing business in today's world of web 2.0 (social media) technology is changing.

"Our Canada magazine" Part of the Readers Digest Canada family.

The business world is changing. Are you?

Smiles :o)

Gary

Only 12 Percent Leverage Video in News Releases

2009-10-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

Only 12 Percent Leverage Video in News Releases: "Despite the growing use of online video among U.S. consumers, businesses have yet to fully leverage the use of video in press releases, according to a new report by PRWeb. The results of a new PRWeb survey showed a huge disparity between those who find it valuable to implement video in press releases and those who actually do it. Of the 1,817...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]"

Making the Transition to One-to-One Marketing

2009-10-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

Making the Transition to One-to-One Marketing

Shared via AddThis

One-to-One Marketing on the Web

2009-10-07T23:25:00.001-07:00

One-to-One Marketing on the Web

Shared via AddThis

Must-Have Skills For IT Leaders

2009-10-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

Must-Have Skills For IT Leaders: "Seven tips to help you manage effectively."

Creative Facebook Page Marketing

2009-10-05T19:54:00.000-07:00

Creative Facebook Page Marketing: "

I like to find creative ways people promote their Facebook fan Page (see the Bath and Body Works Facebook Page - just started this month and over 60,000 fans already).

I went to Bath & Body Works recently (amazing marketers — they get you in for a free product and before you know it you’ve spent $50 on lotion you didn’t even need!), and on the bottom of the receipt…

Facebook marketing

You can see their pitch for being a Facebook fan and to sign up for text messaging. I think they call this receipt marketing.

The other is from an NPR show called, “In the Loop with Jeff Horwich.” He sings a charming song about his Facebook Fans.

What creative ways have you seen people promote their Facebook Page?

10 useful video sites to teach you new tech skills

2009-10-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

10 useful video sites to teach you new tech skills: "Here are 10 video sites that will improve your tech knowledge, starting from amateur tips and tricks at the top, to more advanced techniques and tech skills towards the bottom of the list."

5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love

2009-10-05T05:52:00.000-07:00

5 Types of Web Content That Readers Love: "

There are 5 types of web content that your readers will love - that are also very easy to write.

This quick list, with tips & examples, should get your creativity flowing with fresh ideas for new web content you can add to your blog or website.

A consistent combination of these 5 different types of content will keep your readers interested and coming back for more…

HOW-TO

How-to Content is instructional, and teaches your readers how to do something specific. This content will usually end up being your most read and your most linked-to posts or pages.

Tip: To find ideas for how-to content, add the word “how” with your main keyword when you’re doing keyword research. For example, if you sell curtains online you could type how curtain into your favorite keyword tool.

Using the ‘how’ qualifier in your keyword research will tell you exactly what people want to read: how to make curtains, how to hang curtains, how to measure curtains, etc.

Example: How to Write A Blog Post

REVIEWS

Product reviews are the first thing that come to mind, but you can publish a review on practically anything: popular websites in your niche, new blogs or a blog post series, news stories in the mainstream media channels, discussion forums, magazines, meet-ups - basically anything of interest to your readers that you can write an opinion about.

Example: 7 Small Business Ideas Most Likely To Fail

Tip: While you may worry that you’re sending your readers to your competitors, they will actually start seeing you a go-to source for cool new things to check out. Keep an eye out for new or interesting things to share with your readers.

Writing Product Reviews is a great way to monetize your site or blog. Check out that link for the 7 elements that go into a great product review that will help your readers make their buying decision.

Example: Article Marketing For Beginners Review

QUICK TIPS

Not every piece of content you write has to be a thousand word essay. Sometimes a simple paragraph or two, maybe 300 words minimum, will suffice to share something interesting or to get a simple point across.

Example: New Free Video From John Reese

This works particularly well with blogs or email newsletters, and can be mixed in between your longer meatier types of content. It’s helpful when you need to write in a hurry, and still gives your readers something new and interesting to check out.

Sometimes, if I’m in a real hurry, I’ll simply pick an interesting video to share from YouTube. Example: Internet Marketing Humor

With a blog, you can also use these shorter pieces of content to ask a question and open a topic up for reader discussion.

Example: What do you use to create a website?

LISTS

Lists are very popular and make for very easy content. You can list a number of resources on a particular topic - such as other people’s blog posts about a particular subject - and just write a short description in a sentence or two for each.

Example: Content Marketing: How To Write For The Web

Lists are fun & easy to write. Some examples to get your ideas flowing: 10 ways to get your ex back (which - that could have more than one meaning), Top 3 children’s gifts for Christmas 2009, 7 best grilling recipes, 20 best short jokes ever, etc.

Tip: To find ideas for lists, try adding the word “best” or “top” to your main keyword when you’re doing keyword research. For example, if your website or blog is all about software you could type best software or top software into your favorite keyword tool.

This will tell you exactly what type of lists your readers want to see most, such as: top 10 antivirus software products, top video editing software, best dvd burning software, best photo editing software, etc.

Example: Magazines for Writers

INTERVIEWS

Interviews make for great easy web content. You can start with just 3-10 questions, and the person you interview basically creates the rest of the content for you. They’ll be willing to do this for the exposure to your readership, and for the relevant backlink to their website.

Tip: Poll your readers to find out who they’d love to hear from, and what they would most like to know from these people.

Write out your questions. For long answer type questions, 3-5 is a good number. For short answer type questions go with 7-10. You can send an email to potential interviewees worded something like this:

Subject: Hi Nancy - Quick Email Interview?

Hi Nancy,

I follow your work and love what you do. I know my readers would love to learn more about you. If you have a moment I’d like to publish this Q&A with you on my blog. It’s 7 quick questions. Please include a photo and the website URL you would like for me to share with my readers.

You can also record audio interviews over the phone or Skype, with video or at BlogTalkRadio. Get interviews transcribed to turn them into text content as well.

Example: Interview With Social Media Link-Building Specialist, Nathan Ketsdever

—

That should give you plenty of ideas to get started writing great content. All 5 of these types can work well on your website, on your blog, as guest blog posts, as content for a squidoo lens, or for writing articles for article marketing.

If you still need a bit of help getting past that blank page, see my tips for How to Write Really Great Content.

Best,

p.s. Want even more great web content ideas? Sign up to get notification about my new guide at Easy Unique Content.

Improving The Customer Experience

2009-10-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

Improving The Customer Experience: "

In a previous post we discussed the buying decision, and how to know when you should or shouldn’t buy a product online.

Now we’ll look at it from the flip side, and discuss your website and products - and your visitors’ experience and buying decision.

Let’s start by looking at an example outside of Internet Marketing that we can all relate to: the restaurant experience.

Going out to dinner is not just about eating food. It’s about the experience. Consider all of the elements of that experience - the atmosphere, noise level, service, anticipation, expectation, quality of food, etc.

If even one element is “off” it can easily ruin the customer experience. In Internet Marketing that equals abandoned shopping carts, unsubscribes, or your visitor clicking the back button…

The Customer Experience

The customer experience is directly related to the customer’s expectation. If you meet or exceed that expectation, they have a positive experience. If you fail to meet that expectation, they have a negative experience.

One of the easiest ways you can improve the customer experience is to influence their expectation. The more information you give them about your offer upfront, the more likely their expectation will match their buying experience.

Post-Sale Experience

The customer experience goes way beyond the point of sale. Your goal is to create a relationship with that buyer and turn them into a lifetime customer. A positive experience leads to repeat sales and word-of-mouth referrals.

A positive post-sale experience begins with delivery, quality of product, your follow-up material, and your customer service/support.

Unfortunately many merchants stop at the point of sale, ending the relationship with cash in hand. Implementing a simple follow-up series can dramatically improve both customer experience and profit potential.

As a merchant your job is to design your funnel, start to finish, for the best possible customer experience. This begins with first contact, and continues for the life of the customer.

As an affiliate your job is to add value to that process. For you, happy customers equal more commissions, and in some cases recurring or repeat commissions.

On the front end, affiliates have the power to influence the customer’s expectations and answer any lingering questions that affect the buying decision. This can be as simple as how you frame your product reviews.

On the back end, affiliates can offer how-to content or communities to keep customers engaged and buying product.

Take a good look at your online business, and search for opportunities to improve the customer experience. As a good starting point, I recommend reading these tips on how to treat your customers:

The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service

In the 10th tip, the word “employees” can be interchanged with “affiliates”.

Consider your own experiences as a customer when you set up your systems or your online promotions. Walk through your funnel as if you were your ideal buyer and look for ways to add more value to their experience.

Best,

10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project

2009-10-03T20:25:00.000-07:00

10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project: "

One of the most common questions I'm asked as a social media consultant is, 'Which tool is the best?' Unfortunately, there isn't an easy answer to that question. If you have a do-good project, or a small nonprofit that you want to promote, fundraise for, or build an online community around using social media, your first step is to create a plan.

If the idea of creating a social media plan sounds scary to you, just think of it as: 10 Questions to Get You Started Using Social Media for Your Nonprofit or Do-Good Project.

1. What is the goal I'm trying to achieve by using social media? Raise awareness? Build web traffic? Attract new donors? Raise money for a specific campaign or initiative? Increase membership?

2. Who is my audience? Who are you trying to reach? Are they new members, or your tried and true supporters? Are they already tech savvy, or will they need training to use the tools? What are their interests? How old are they? (Be careful making assumptions about age. Did you know that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is people who are 35 years old and older?).

3. What are people already saying about my cause, or organization?
Search on Google, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Twitter Search, and Social Mention for your cause, the name of your organization (if you have one), and the URL of your website (if you have one). Search on Facebook too to see if anyone has already created a Facebook Page for your cause or organization. You may be able to achieve your goal, and reach your audience simply by commenting and participating on social networks that already exist.
4. How much time do I have to spend on social media? Check out Beth Kanter's post, How Much Time Does It Take to Do Social Media? to help you estimate how much time you might need, and compare it with the time you have to give. Also, what is the time line for the project? Is it for a short-term campaign, or part of your organization's long-term strategic, communications, or development plan?
5. How much money do I have to spend on social media? Many social media tools are free, or low cost to use. Basically, the more features, functions and customization you want, the more you'll pay. Your biggest cost will be your time, or a staff person's time.

6. What skills do I have? Are you, or the staff person who will be in charge of social media, using social media already, or will training be needed? Are you a natural writer? A blog may be a place to start. Do you love connecting people? A social network like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Ning might be a tool to leverage your talents. If you are a visual person, check out photo or video sharing.

7. What social media tool(s) should I use? Given your goal, the audience you want to reach, what is being said about your cause or organization online, and your time, money, and skills, what social media tools are the best fit for you?:

Blog (i.e. WordPress, Blogger)
Podcast (i.e. Libsyn, Hipcast)
Video sharing (i.e. YouTube, Vimeo)
Photo sharing (i.e. Flickr, Photobucket)
Microblogging: Twitter, Tumblr
Social networking (i.e. Facebook, Ning)
Social bookmarking (i.e. StumbleUpon, Delicious)
Wiki (i.e. Wikispaces, PBworks)

Using more tools isn't necessarily better. Putting limited resources towards building community around one tool will be more effective than barely engaging on multiple platforms. That said, many tools work well together. For example, videos can be embedded in blog posts, which can be fed into your Facebook newsfeed.

8. How will you measure success? Based on your goal for using social media, how will you measure your impact? How will you know if the tools you chose are working for you? Below is a sampler of ways you could measure success. Pick 2-3 to track on a regular basis:

Subscribers
Page views
Page visits
Downloads
Referrals/links
Comments
Bookmarks
Actions taken
Money raised
Number of donors
Campaigns created by supporters
Content created by supporters
Community growth and strength
Individual relationship growth and strength

9. What is your exit, or growth plan? There are no guarantees that using social media will help you achieve your goals, so when choose your tools, think about how you could stop using them gracefully if they don't work for you. Do you know how to delete your Facebook Page? If your blog is integrated into your website, can it easily be removed? Where will people be redirected to if they come to a site that no longer exists?

On the other hand, what if you are wildly successful and build a bustling online community, or an avid group of subscribers to your Youtube channel? Will the tools you've chosen allow you to grow?
10. How can I have fun using social media? This might seem like a silly question, but the number of clients I work with who come to me and sigh, "So, I guess I have to start a blog," is astonishing. No one wants to read a gloomy blogger, or interact with a reluctant Facebook friend, or subscribe to a YouTube channel that is never updated. Social media tools are social. They require your interacting with other people so pick a tool, or tools that sound interesting to you, and have fun!

For more information about creating a social media plan for your nonprofit or do-good project, check out:

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Britt Bravo, also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good, WE tv's WE Volunteer blog, The Extraordinaries, and the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog. She is a Big Vision Consultant.

Sharing or Creating Video with Facebook

2009-10-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Sharing or Creating Video with Facebook: "

Facebook is a great way to share information with your community. Most of us use it regularly to provide quick updates about what we’re doing, where we’re going, or a news story that interests us. Most of us also regularly upload pictures to share with our communities. You know what I’ve noticed, though? Not many people are using Facebook’s video features. I’m not sure if that’s because not many people use video (really? I find that hard to believe--where are the vloggers?) or people just don’t know how (which I think is more likely). If the lack of video stems from the former reason, I can’t help; if it stems from the latter, read on! I’m going to explain how you can upload video to your Facebook account or create a completely new video on the fly on your Facebook profile.

If you think video isn’t important, check this out:

161 million U.S. internet users watched online video during [August], the largest audience ever recorded. Online video reached another all-time high in August with more than 25 billion videos viewed during the month, with Google Sites accounting for more than 10 billion. (via Bizzia)

Not only can you post video quickly and easily to your Facebook account, you’ll be jumping on the new wave and making the most of this trend.

Upload video from your computer

Go to your Facebook profile. On your wall is the text box where you usually update your status. Below that box is the word Attach with a line of icons next to it.
Click the icon that looks like a video camera. You’ll see two choices: Record a video and Upload a video.
Click Upload a video.
Click Browse, find your video on your hard drive, and upload it to your profile.

Record a new video on your Facebook profile

Go to your Facebook profile. On your wall is the text box where you usually update your status. Below that box is the word Attach with a line of icons next to it.
Click the icon that looks like a video camera. You’ll see two choices: Record a video and Upload a video.
Click the Record a video. You'll see a box asking if Facebook has your permission to access your computer's camera and microphone. If the answer is yes, click the radio button (the circle) next to Allow.
Click the 'Close' button in that box. You'll see a picture of yourself in that box. Position your screen in a way that centers you in the box.
Click the red button with the dot in the middle to start recording. To stop recording, click the button again (it's a square now).
You'll have the option to play the video, save the video, or reset the video. To see how the video came out, push the play button (the triangle). If you're happy with it, click Save. If you want a do-over, click Reset and re-record your video.

Once you've saved your video you will have the opportunity to tag people in the video, give the video a title and description, and choose the thumbnail that will accompany the video (these are stills from the video).

Finally, you have the option to Save (publish to the group), Delete (delete the video permanently), or Skip for now (which means you want to publish the video, but haven't actually given it a title, description, or chosen a thumbnail).

Once you get over the initial horror of seeing and hearing yourself on video, it’s actually quite fun to make a daily Facebook vlog and share a moment or two of you with your community. Why not give it a try? It couldn’t be easier.

Want to learn more tips for Facebook? Check out Why Facebook? by Mari Smith. But before you go, leave me a comment about whether you use Facebook’s video feature or not. If you’re one of the many who don’t, why not? Is it because it never occurred to you? Or because you don’t want to see yourself up there? Or because you weren’t sure how? Now that you know how easy it is, will you try it? How do you see the video helping you promote your brand? Thanks for reading; I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101.

On Speed #30dc

2009-10-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

On Speed #30dc: "

Don’t Worry, I’m talking speed of business, not the drug.

As I was stirring the porridge this morning and using google reader on my iPhone (don’t try that at home kids, I’m a professional!) I read an item from John Gruber about a magazine created full of photo’s about last weeks crazy dust storms here in Australia.

It went from concept to sale in two days.

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

Here is the story on how it was done

Wow.

Many of you know I have a horrible view of magazine publishing ( I love magazines but a couple of decades ago I was almost made bankrupt in a good intentioned but horribly naive attempt at creating a magazine - turns out I was just 20 years to early!)

How do you create a SMALL fortune?
Start with A LARGE fortune and start a magazine. It will become a small fortune in short order!
BOOM BOOM (Basil Brush reference for the Commonwealth readers!)

Here’s the problem.

I LOVE MAGAZINES!

Seriously, If magazines didn’t exist I’d probably be working at EB games selling the latest Mario Ware on the Wii.

I grew up in Beechworth, Victoria. It’s a small town (population sub 3000). I had the extraordinary luck to live in a town that had an incredible newsagent (think Magazine stand for my American friends) - when I look back it was an incredible fluke - the shop was my lifeline to the world. The Internet was still and academic oddity and would be for another 12 years at that point.

I was able to read about a world of the Sinclair zx80, Tandy TRS 80’s, The Unobtainable and only for super rich kids Atari 400 and be still my beating heart - the Commodore Vic 20.

Now I’m reading this I realised another extraordinary fluke. I had the one part time job in town - delivering medicine after school, which gave me the cash for the magazines (I was living in a trailer park), the other piece of luck was,
Gwyn Morris - the local chemist and my boss - inexplicably in a town of 3000 decided to get a commodore vic 20 dealership and then offered to let me have one and work it off (which I did over two years!!!) I was dead broke but I had a computer. The rest is history.

Thanks Mr. Morris!!!

Back to magazines.

Fast forward today. Magazines are a horrible business. Their lag times (meaning breaking news is just not possible) are prohibitive, all those magazines in the PC area in particular are closing down with a frighting regularity.

Now, some magazines I grant you have it worked out - look at National Geographic, I can see that being published for decades, it’s secret is the articles and the extraordinary images are timeless and it’s built up it membership over decades.

(notice I said membership - the magazine is a function of your membership to the Geographic society - a VERY important distinction)

Starting a magazine is just terrifying to me, the incredible up front cost, the logistics, the delay in payment (this is what killed me - the revenue lag in publishing is horrific - all our costs are upfront/30 days - your lucky to see any revenue from anyone for at least ninety days - the horror!!) just make starting a magazine an insanity`.

Or is it.

This is where speed comes in to it.

Derek Powazek put together this magazine from photos gathered online, laid out the magazine (put it together on the computer) produced a PDF and uploaded it to
Magcloud - an on-demand magazine service.

The only cost - Time and some sort of deal with the photographers.

20 years is a long time and of course we now have “national geographic” quality on-demand printing!

It’s unreal - if your prepared to wait just over a week - for four bucks you get the magazine delivered to your door - plus $6 for the magazine.

This is extraordinary (and thirty day challengers - trust me - there is a big can of “big-forehead slapping opportunity” about to be opened up here.

Let’s just remember - the costs so far to the publisher - two days of time.

Coincidentally - I’m showing you how to do create magazine style PDF docs at www.thirtydaychallengeplus.com - membership is ridiculously cheap. (Iin fact because you read this far - here is a little code to get a discount “30dc” - don’t spread it around please!!!)

I’m not going to bore you with how much this would cost traditionally, Well over $20,000 dollars at least and you pay up front Laddie!

Now, I was speaking to a very clever chap from Manchester last night… and he was telling me about a very short term, seasonal web site that was doing really well. Sure it was short term, but it will do great in the season.

We also talked about some of the issues with affiliate promotions, remember here in Thirty DC land we use affiliate stuff to test the market - you need to develop your own product when you know your on a good market.

That’s when the idea hit me while I was stirring the porridge.

It’s all about Speed.

With the tools in the Thirty Day Challenge, once you have got the practice under your belt, you can have a test market up in a day EASY. (I did say with Practice and the the holy troika of Samurai, Wordpress Direct and Traffic Bug)

There is a huge opportunity here. If you get over your fear of product creation (I did mention Thirty Day Challenge Plus…) you can move quickly to create product to take advantage of an upsurge in interest.

For Example….

The Leica M9 has JUST been released and it has gone off like an atom bomb in the camera world and in my pants. If I wasn’t busy creating compelling content for you lot, I would create a magazine in the style of the Japanese Camera Mags (They are soooo awesome BTW) I reckon it would take me a week and a bit to produce and it would sell like HOTCAKES.

Let’s say I sold 500 at $10 bucks - $5000 bucks for a weeks work is better than a kick in the head! Up Front Cost to me - TIME.

BUT because I know a thing or two about product creation, what if i spent a little bit more time putting together some videos and perhaps some audio interview with photographers using the M9.

All of a sudden, I have a 97 dollar product and selling 500 of them in a month or two is more than 95% of the population make working full-time.

I LOVE THIS BUSINESS.

BUT

Remember the Magnificent Symphony of Four Parts

Market is first - Product is last.

To make this really rock - you want to be able to have your tribe/ your Fan Base/your community already built.

And we might just have an awesome little surprise for you on that front shortly…

Way Cool Test

2009-09-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hi

We received a new isue of the trade magaxine "Cleaning & Restoration" today. (snail mail)

I found three interesting marketing articles inside that I wanted to add to my marketing swipe file. BUT! I really didn't want to photocopy ten pages and file those photocopies in a file folder. (that is so old school)

Hence I went looking online to see if I could find the magazine. Who knew! Yep there it was, an online version with some social media tools built right in. Way cool!

So...now to conduct a little experiment

Testing to see if this link works by taking the "clickee" (person that clicks the link) direct to the magazine article, but online. (now that's Cool!)

The top five mistakes of Social Media Marketing

Marketing in 2009 - Thinking Outside of The Box

Five facts to know about SEO and PPC

If it works... Wo Ho!!! it works...

Click the links above to read the respective articles right on the on line version of the magazine.

For more great direct marketing do's and dont's just sign up to follow this blog. Thanks!

Gary

One Light Bulb At A Time....

2009-09-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

I received an email today that went something like this...

A physics teacher in high school, once told her students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn't slow a train very much, a billion of them would. With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a Canadian. One light bulb at a time . . . .Check this out. I can verify this because I was in Lowe's the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments. They were all made in China . The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the heck of it I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in Canada. You can start looking too. In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else - even their job. I think this lady is on the right track. "My grandson likes Hershey's candy. I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more. My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest." You have to read the labels on everything.This past weekend I was at Wal-mart. I needed 60W light bulbs. I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, "Everyday Value. " I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this -in Canada in a company in Ontario .So throw out the myth that you can not find products you use every day that are made right here. The challenge is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in Canada - the job you save may be your own or your neighbors! If you thnk this is a no-brainer then pass this on to others so they can all start buying Canadian, one light bulb at a time! Why buy from overseas companies if we can buy local!

A personal example: Two bags of candy on my desk right now. One is Sweet Shoppe Scotch Mints (less expensive) Dollarama Montreal, Quebec H4P 1M3. The other is "Werther's Original" (more expensive) made in Germany.

What more can I say. We really need to not only watch what we buy at the store but we also need to communicate with the store owner just how important this sort of thing has become to us. Customer to store direct communication.

My-Store DIRECT can make this sort of communication possible in real time.

Interested? Simply follow this blog to find out more.

My-Store DIRECT

2009-09-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Welcome

My-Store DIRECT is an idea. An idea that's time has come. With the power of technology at everyone's fingertips today why would my store still be communicating with me through junk mail?

I mean really, Why?

My store has computers everywhere.... Those computers are connected to the internet right? I have a computer that I turn on every day and it is connected to the internet. So why are we communicating with each other using junk mail, the telephone and snail mail?

That is where My-Store DIRECT comes into the picture. "My-Store DIRECT" uses the power of today's internet technology to allow me to have "real time one on one" communication with my store. Imagine!

In this modern age of connected communication I don't need the hassles of junk mail, missed sales, being put on hold when I phone, listening to elevator music and waiting in the customer service counter lineup FOREVER. I want the information that I need when I need it. NOW!

My-Store DIRECT gives me that real time communication with my store so that they know what I need and when I need it. It gives my store the power to provide me with the joy of never being disappointed because of sold out items, mismatching my preferences with sale items and promotions that don't work for me and much more. I feel like I am one of the team helping to provide the best products and services to meet customer desires. ME! A win-win-win situation. I win as a happy customer, the store wins with more happy customers and we both win with our happy customer-happy store relationship.

If you are interested in this marketing and communication model for off line bricks and morter businesses please feel free to contact me.

My full contact details are available here

Smiles :o)

Gary

P.S Stay Tuned as we take this simple idea to the MAX!

Become a follower of this blog and/or put it in your Google Reader Feed.

You deserve respect for your time, not junkmail!

Gary

Why Your Company Needs Social Media

2009-09-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Why Your Company Needs Social Media: "

Why Your Company Needs Social Media: Sales, Retention & Customer Service

There are case studies abound of how big brands such as Zappos, Jet Blue, Comcast, etc. have put social media into action and the success that they’ve had with it. Can small businesses be just as successful using social media? Absolutely! There are many advantages of using social media during the sales process for customer service, sales prospecting and customer retention for small businesses.

With the state of the current economy, social media networks are even more critical to companies, especially small businesses. Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Ustream and Youtube, are all extra avenues that a small business has at its fingertips to increase sales.

Sales Prospecting

Most small businesses aren’t aware that they can use social media for sales prospecting. Using social media networks like Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook can actually allow you to do just that. Each time that you engage a potential customer on one of these social media networks you’re exposing your small business to thousands of other possible connections through the friends and or followers of the person you engage. This could range from hundreds to thousands of people.

About a month ago, I needed some information on direct mail promotional companies and how the services worked. Instead of just trying to google it to see what I could find out, I figured just maybe some of my friends and followers on Twitter would have some personal insight for me. So being the Twitter addict that I am, I tweeted my question instead.

Within minutes I had quite a few Direct Messages from my followers who had contacts that could help me with my search. After a few DMs and emails being sent back and forth, I now knew the answer to my question and I had a few leads to follow up on. I was glad I choose to tweet about my questions instead of trying to just research it myself because I got personal insight from people who have used direct mail promotional companies in the past and I had a chance to engage my followers on Twitter.

However, one thing stood out to me though after all was said and done was that not a single direct mail promotional company like infoUSA, VistaPrint or Experian contacted me based on my tweet.

Triggering sales prospects can now just be a matter of engaging in conversation with your audience. Companies that are not engaging with their audience when keywords related to their products, services or even their company names are mentioned are missing out on potential sales prospects. That is why it is so crucial to monitor social media for mentions about your brand and its products.

So, how do you engage in these types of conversations? One way of monitoring keyword mentions on Twitter is through the use of Twitter Search; another online service called TweetGrid allows you to set up separate search columns using search terms, without having to download software to your computer and allows you to see results in real time. However, using a desktop Twitter application like TweetDeck or Seesmic is very convenient and allows you to set up a column for a Twitter Search so that when someone tweets about certain keywords i.e. “direct mail marketing” or “outer banks” you’ll receive those searches in a column dedicated to that search. Every time a person tweets about your “keyword/key phrase” you’ll be able to courteously engage with them. Thus, you’ll have your sales prospects inquiring directly with you about your small business.

An example of this type of sales prospecting happened to me just before the Labor Day holiday. My wife and I were interested in going to the Outer Banks for the long weekend, but we weren’t quite sure where we should go. Like I said previously, I’m a Twitter addict so I tweeted about my wife and I being open to suggestions on where to visit on the Outer Banks for the holiday.

Soon after tweeting it, a local vacation rental company on the Outer Banks messaged me back and gave me some suggestions on where to go. After a few tweets between us, they had given me some very helpful insights on Corolla and Duck. Notice how they didn’t suggest getting a rental unit with them in the tweet below.

Though they provided a lot information to me, never once did they mention the fact they I should stay in one of their vacation rentals in those areas. Granted, we elected to go to Atlantic Beach since it was closer to us, but if we had gone to Duck or Corolla chances are we would have stayed in one of their vacation rentals. Why? Because of just how helpful they were to me. That ’s an example of just how much engagement matters to your audience.

Other Sales Prospecting Tools

Twitter is not the ONLY social media tool to use for sales prospecting. Other tools that you can use for online reputation management can actually be used for sales prospecting as well. Here are some examples.

Jive Market Engagement – Is the first to combine buzz monitoring software with the power of Social Business Software, enabling enterprises to strengthen their brands and implement a unified social media strategy.

Raven Tools – Is the ultimate tool for managing SEO and social media campaigns.

Trackur – Is a suite of online reputation monitoring and social media monitoring tools.

Who’s Talkin - Helps you search for conversations in social media, surrounding the topics that you care about most.

BuzzStream – A new platform for building more effective and more human relationships online, without all the overhead and bandwidth.

TweetBeep – Enables you to receive email alerts when a specific word or phrase is tweeted on Twitter.

Google Alerts – Allows you to get email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Facebook Lexicon – A tool that keeps you updated about users are talking about on Facebook.

Social Mention – A social media search engine that searches user-generated content such as blogs, comments, bookmarks, events, news, videos, and microblogging services.

Trendrr – Lets you automate tracking and reporting around social and digital media. Garner real time ROI and actionable data.

Customer Service

Now that you’ve turned those sales prospects into actual sales it’s even more crucial how these new customers perceive you and your brand. Failing to meet their expectations can actually damage your brand. That’s where social media comes into play. From monitoring your online reputation to engaging with your customers to attracting potential customers, social media can assist you in helping meet your customers’ expectations.

One social media network that can be beneficial to small businesses is Facebook. Fan pages do allow you to interact with all of your “fans” but that is not ALL that can be done with it. One thing a small business can do is to turn their fan page into a resource page for their customers. You can share product information, company information, and any specials you may be running currently. The information being provided will allow the customers to create a great connection with your small business’ brand.

Also, by featuring contests on your fan page, it will create not only interaction with you and your fans, but also create interaction between your fans. Facebook fan pages are the perfect place to reward your fans since they have chosen to associate with your small business and its brand in front of all their friends. Make sure if you have a Facebook fan page that you keep monitoring it. If not, you are missing out on a huge opportunity and more than likely doing more damage than good by setting it up and then not monitoring it.

Another great network that is great to engage with your customers is Twitter. If your customers are on Twitter you can guarantee that they will be tweeting about one of two things when it comes to your brand. Either they will have had terrible issues with your products or services and those frustrations will get aired on Twitter or they will be actively seeking information about your products and services.

If you’re on Twitter, you’ll be able to answer those questions as well as be able to assist them with any issues that they have had with your brand. By engaging with them and helping them with any issues they may have had they are more likely to be happy to share information with their friends which will build word of mouth amongst the twitter community. Thus, it will increase your chances to convert more of those sales prospects into actual customers.

Sales Retention

So now that we’ve shown you how to convert your social media strategies into actual customers and how to interact with them, how do you get them to keep buying your products or services? Just as there are social media tools that you can use for sales prospecting and customer service, there are tools that you can use for sales retention. One of the more popular tools is Future Tweets.

Future Tweets allows you to schedule a tweet to be posted on a date in the future. Using the Outer Banks example I mentioned above, let’s pretend that we actually stay at one of their rentals. Another way they could have continued the conversation would be to schedule a future tweet for a day or so after the holiday weekend and ask me how my stay was on the Outer Banks.

The same rule applies for a small business who sells products instead of services. If you saw someone tweet that they recently bought your product what better way to retain that sale for the future than to ask what they thought of the product after a certain period of time has passed, say somewhere between 15-30 days. Using Future Tweets not only allows you to create sales retention with clients, but it’s quick and easy allowing for more time that can be devoted to the other aspects of social media.

Other Sales Retention Tools

Besides using Future Tweets, there are other tools that you can use for sales retention as well.

SocialOomph – Provides you with tools to boost your social media productivity.

Twuffer – Allows a Twitter user to compose a list of future tweets, and schedule their release.

TwitResponse – Gives you the opportunity to setup unlimited messages to be delivered to your twitter page when you want.

AutoTweeter – Is a light weight tweet scheduler desktop application. AutoTweeter can send automatic tweets to your twitter account.

Now can you see why using social media is so crucial to a company especially a small business? There are so many advantages that small businesses can gain from using social media during the sales process for customer service, sales prospecting and even customer retention. It can impact not only their sales, but also their company brand in a very positive way if done correctly.

Casey Yandle, an Internet Marketing Consultant for Creative Daylight in North Carolina, is an experienced Internet Marketer specializing Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Google Adwords Consulting & Thesis Designs. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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