The Productive Entrepreneur

Breaking Through Writer's Block

Writing is one of the creative arts.  A writer uses words to paint beautiful pictures for others to see.  Unfortunately, like any other creative process, there can be obstacles.  If you are suffering from writer's block, it doesn’t have to last any longer.

What exactly is writer's block?  If you’re a writer you know that it’s when all of the creativity seems to leak out through a hole in your head.  You sit down to the typewriter, computer, or pencil and paper but nothing happens.  How can that be?

There are several reasons for writer's block and most of them have to do with how we prepare to write:

1.  Tiredness – you sit down to write after a long day at the office or in the evening after you’ve put the kids to bed and done all of the household chores.  The brain gets tired too and when you are exhausted is not the time to try to concentrate and write.

2.  Procrastination – a major deadline looms but for some reason you just couldn’t get going on the project until the last minute.  Some people work well under pressure but the creative juices can dry up on you. 

3.  Getting it right the first time – no one is perfect.  Even the greatest writer didn’t start out that way and not with their first draft.  The words that you ultimately want will come in time but if you try to find them at the outset, you won’t get anything down on paper.

4.  Clutter among us – there is something to be said for an environment conducive to writing.  A desk full of papers, old coffee cups, bills and small toys (if you have kids) doesn’t inspire the next bestseller. 

5.  Fear of everything – fear is a powerful deterrent to creativity.  Whether it is fear of failing at writing or fear of success, it can immobilize you to the point where you can’t even get the title down on paper.

Now that we know about some of the reasons for writer's block, it’s time to find out how you can avoid having this nerve-wracking situation happen to you. 

Here are some tips:

1.  Learn to concentrate.  Writing, just like anything else, requires that all of you be present during the creation. 

2.  Perfectionism is a writer’s worst enemy.  The first time out of the gate you are writing to get your ideas down.  Resist the urge to correct misspellings, grammar mistakes and anything else that would look wrong to an editor. 

3.  Write because you love it.  When writing becomes a job, the creativity is stunted.  Sure, you may write for a living, whether it is articles or novels, but the joy of writing keeps you going, happily.

Writers block doesn’t have to keep you from producing top-notch blog content.  If you are experiencing it, find the root cause.  If you haven’t yet had the experience, learn with the tips above to avoid it.

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

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I love a good book...

The best books for business owners aren't always the ones about business... here's a great list of 100 NON-BUSINESS books that business owners should check-out.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2009/07/100-non-business-books-every-entrepreneur-should-read/

Check out the list and let me know which ones YOU've read... or if there's an important one missing, tell us about it!

 

Traffic Building Tips for Your Website or Blog

Online, one of the most significant keys to success is getting website traffic.  The more visitors you have, the better your sales and profits.  This applies not just for traditional websites, but blog sites as well.

Presumably you have a niche and you know your keywords, and regularly conduct keyword research to stay on top of what’s popular. 

Based on those assumptions here are five quick and easy tips to get website traffic fast!

Tip #1  Make sure you’re actually tagging your blog posts with keywords.  Do you spend a lot of time optimizing your content and then neglect to tag them on your webpage?  Tags are where search engines look and if there are no tags they’ll pass right by your web pages.  Here’s a quick brief on tags.

There are a number of tag types including,

* Title tags.  Title tags are quite possibly the most important place to situate your keywords.  Here’s what they look like - <title>Primary keyword phrase here. </title>

Your title tag is where you place your primary keyword or keyword phrase.  The sentence will describe your business in less than 90 characters. 

* Header Tags.  Header tags are next in order of importance to search engines.  They’re ranked in order of importance and look like this - <h1>Primary and/or Secondary keywords here</h1>  The “1” designates this header as the most important header on the page.

* Meta Tags. Meta tags provide the small descriptive text found underneath the title tag on the search engine results page.  Like title tags these should be kept brief, informative and up to date.

* Alt Tags.  Alt tags are used to provide a text description of a graphic.  Each graphic on your site should have a description and an alt tag. 

Tip #2 Add content to your site daily. Content is essential for traffic and a top search engine ranking.  Content is what search engine spiders look for and index - without it there’s nothing to index or rank.  Give visitors and search engines a reason to visit and index your site. Make a commitment to provide daily, optimized content and your traffic will soar.

Tip #3 Procure valuable and relevant incoming links.  The more websites which link to your webpages the more valuable search engines perceive you to be, though not all links are created equal. 

Search engines give more leverage to links from sites which are popular and credible and from sites which are relevant to your website topic. 

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

3 More Headline Tips

Yesterday, I wrote about the types of headlines that sell... today, let's talk about how to begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One – Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems?  Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Step Two – Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems.  For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three – Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines.  Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline.  And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Marketing and copywriting experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece.  Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling, headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

 

Tips for Creating Powerful Headlines

You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention.  One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline.  There are several keys to a compelling, and selling, headline and a few tips to help you get the job done. 

#1  Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions.  Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction.  Some possible emotions are:

For example, The 20-Minute Step that Will Make You a Business Genius taps into readers’ desires to feel smart and powerful.

Other emotions you can tap into are a desire to feel:

1. Attractive
2. Sexy
3. Assertive
4. Confident
5. Energetic
6. Pampered
7. A sense of belonging
8. In control of their own destiny
9. Wealthy
10. Proud
11. Respected
12. Safe

#2 Make it Active

To compel it’s important to use active language - language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions.  However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.”  Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word.  Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

#3 Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word.  It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires. 

Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You.  Using the headline example above, compare the two options:

“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step"  or
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them and when they can assess that information in the headline, they’re going to be compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise - Earn $1000 a day

* Make it newsworthy - New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day. 

* Ask a question – Do you want to ensure your financial future? 

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

 

Ezine Advertising Know-How

In order to have a successful ezine, you need a great layout, original content, and of course advertisers.  No matter what else you have, it’s pretty difficult to get there without any income.  That’s why finding people and products to advertise in your ezine are so important.

Before you get started looking for advertisers, you’ll need to figure out exactly how much space you have to advertise in and how much you’ll charge.  Space depends on the layout of your ezine.  It’s important not to overwhelm the reader with so much advertising that you leave out content, but you also need to have enough to pay to produce the magazine.

You may be tempted to make up for lack of space with charging a lot for your advertising, but you may not be able to sell the space you have that way.  Whatever you choose to charge for advertising space, make sure you can back it up.  You’re trying to convince someone to spend their money; they need some sort of proof that it will be worth it.  You need to be able to back up your sales pitch with numbers and results, not meaningless guarantees.

When putting your ezine together, you need to have an idea of who your target audience will be.  This audience is your jumping-off point for who you want to advertise in your ezine.  Once you know your market, do some research.  You can do this in the library by reading marketing journals, or you can go online and look at web pages, ezines, message boards, and anything else that has the same audience.  This will give you a good idea of what types of companies you’re looking for.

Once you find specific areas you want to target, pick up your phone and start calling.  This is going to take a lot of time, finesse, and a whole lot of persistence.  If you have the resources to hire someone to do this for you, it would probably be worth the price, especially if they have experience in the area. 

So, you’ve put out the call and have loads of advertisers coming in with offers.  Now you just pick the most profitable ones and go with it, right?  Not quite.  Having a quality ezine means not only offering quality content, but also offering quality products advertised.  If someone buys something advertised from your ezine and receives a substandard product, that’s not only going to reflect poorly on the seller, it’s going to reflect poorly on you as well.  By the same means, if they find a quality product, they’re not only going to recommend that product, but also your ezine to their friends and associates.

Before you advertise something, take time to sample and review their product if possible.  Do some research into their company.  Does it really agree with the image you’re trying to promote on your ezine?  If not, you might consider looking elsewhere. 

While you might want to be picky, in the beginning you might have to make some compromises.  While keeping up standards is great, you still need to make money to keep your business afloat.

How to Blog for Profit

An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. to connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog.

What is a Blog?

A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.

Here we are going to talk about business blogs. This is a blog that you begin to attract traffic in order to sell products or services.

To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

• Have updated content for visitors
• Be marketed to draw traffic
• Register with search engines so it can be found in the rankings

 

Where to Start

If you are new to blogging, you may want to use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com, Wordpress.org, Blogspot.com and others offer free blogs to users.

Depending on the site you choose, the themes and plug-ins (added features) will vary. Most will walk you through the process step by step so that you can be up and running in no time.

Before you start posting, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts, that can be your niche.

Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable and so on. Once you have decided on a path, it is time to create that great content.

 

How to Make Money

In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. That is where marketing comes in. to draw traffic you have to get the word out about your blog. Tell all of your friends and family members that you are online with your blog for a start.

Any money-making venture will take place once you have built your readership with interesting posts. Then you can put into play a number of profitable additions:

• Google AdSense
• Selling Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• EBook Marketing

The simplest one to pursue is Google AdSense. You are using targeted advertisements to create revenue for your blog. You are paid per clicks on the ads.

There are other options where you can get paid when someone makes a sale on that website. That is more likely to happen when you join an affiliate program. Join affiliate program that work well with your website niche.

EBooks are short downloadable electronic books that you can create yourself and sell on your website. They can be on a variety of subjects but in order for them to sell, you must be able to offer new information to your customers.

Blogs can be used to build revenue. Start with your chosen niche and market your blog to find the traffic you need. Then, utilize these ideas to turn a profit.

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

Top 10 Blog Traffic Ideas

Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for personal and business reasons. You can build a blog for free and begin posting content right away. But, what good is that content if no one is reading it. Here are ten ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive.

Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, hundreds more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you are willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging long.

That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging. Mostly, new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will necessary come to you. You pursue the audience and give them a reason to see what you have to say.

1. Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

2. Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you.

3. Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.

4. Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.

5. Use RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.

6. Submit Blog to Search Engines – doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn’t guarantee top ranking, though. You’ll have to do a little more work for that.

7. Joining Forums – You have to think of blogging as an entrepreneurial pursuit all on its own. Right now, you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums, work at home forums and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.

8. Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments.

9. SEO Marketing – whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche.

10. Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.

Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time but you will build the readership you want.

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

 

Advertising Your Blog in Your Email Signature

If you have a blog that you are particularly proud of, and that you want to share with other people, there are a lot of free ways that you can get your blog noticed.

One of those ways is something that you do everyday, and that you may not even consider as a way to share your blog. Put the link to your blog in your email signature.

Chances are that you send out emails more times than you can count during the day, Each time you send out an email, you can advertise your blog by putting the address of your blog in your email’s signature.

It’s always a good idea to write something catchy like, See what I am up to now, or Read my latest chapter of my fanfic here, depending on what type of blog you have.

The thing to remember about putting an adveritsement in your signature for your blog is to make it short, but eyecatching.

You want people to be interested enough to want to click on it, but you also don’t want to scare them off.

Just like it is with any adveritsement, you want to give them just enough to be interested and take a closer look at what it is that you are advertising.

Think about what it is that your blog is about. What is really going to interest people abuot it and want to visit That is what you should include in your signature, and that is what is going to get people to go to your blog.

 

 

Learn to generate blog content... FAST! 

Go to http://tinyurl.com/mb9xeu to learn more.

Using a Diary as an Organizational Tool

Deciding to use a diary to help keep track of various business needs and assignments takes journaling to a whole new level. Not only will it help you by means of personal development - it can also be that breath of fresh air to your internet marketing or home-based business.

You may not be able to envisage your business life amongst the pretty pastel pages of a diary. You know what I mean. The one you used to stuff between mattresses in the hope that your siblings didn’t find it. It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. There are many styles and sizes available to you which can give you the look of professionalism while showing the creative side of you.

Imagine the full potential of a diary or journal. Whether paper or digital, it’s a tool which can keep you on track at the frequency you need. From daily reference to mind-mapping exercises in regards to your newest project, this diary or journal is above all else a place to keep your ideas on track.

So why, you ask, is this diary or journal such an important tool? Look at it this way. Have you ever had the idea you’ve been waiting for concerning a new project at the precise moment when there is not a pen or piece of paper to be found?  That’s exactly when errors or lack of comprehension seemingly appear. You then spend the next couple of hours trying to remember what that idea was. A diary or journal is perfect for not only keeping track of deadlines and appointments but also for taking notes and keeping everything in perspective.

You can use journaling as a tool for personal development of any kind. But don't overlook its value in career development. This type of diary keeps you focused on aims and goals you have not only for yourself personally, but also the direction you want your business to follow. Everything you need, from your contact list to start-up costs, can be entered into your career-based diary. Imagine never having to search for that tiny piece of paper you wrote an important phone number on again!

Other possibilities for your career diary could fall among countless directions. From keeping records of upcoming events, to tracking ideas, to blowing off some steam, and countless other opportunities in between, your best choice for keeping it all together remains the vital tool of a diary.

There are no limitations in your chosen tool for a diary. It can be a notebook or software - as long as you actually use it, the possibilities are in fact endless. One main consideration is whether or not it needs to be professional looking or not. If this diary is coming with you to a business meeting it may not quite look professional to the others in attendance if all of you invaluable business data is housed in a folder with teddy bears. This is where you may wish to spend the extra few dollars to invest in something a little more appropriate.

The primary goal of using a diary for organizing your business, whether home-based or not, is to choose a method of tracking all aspects mentioned above easily and effectively.  Don’t choose a means of keeping a diary that you won’t use. Trying out more than one is better than not trying one at all.

 

5 Tips for Choosing Effective Marketing Content

Content marketing is the best way to get information to your clients or customers. This is also the perfect way to gain the trust of your customers and increase your sales. The problem is choosing the most effective type of content and presenting it in an attention getting manner.

Here are some tips on choosing the most effective content for your content marketing.

1. Point out the competition’s mistakes. People, in general, want to avoid painful experiences as much as possible. Pointing out all the ways your competitors fail to make life easier for your potential customers works to your advantage.

Top ten lists on this kind of thing such as “10 most common mistakes” or “10 things you don’t want to do” are especially effective in driving people to you, rather than your competitor.

I’m not saying you should specify or point fingers at specific competitors here. That’s not professional. Instead, use general statements and point out what makes your company better than others.

2. Give out industry “secrets.” They are not really secrets but if you let people think they are then their trust in you grows. Create content with bulleted lists showing how to do things faster and easier or how to make something work better. People love lists about things because lists are easy to filter through and pick out those points that pertain to them specifically. They also help people retain the information.

3. Organize it for them. One of the biggest hurdles for some people is the organization of certain things. Do the work for them by giving them plans and ways to organize things to make their life simpler.

If you can make something straightforward and easy for someone, they will appreciate it and repay you with their business.

4. Answer common questions. When you're discussing a common problem or situation, people tend to have the same questions. By providing the answers before someone even asks the questions, you make them feel more comfortable. It gives them the impression your company truly cares about them and their needs because you’ve taken the time to learn what they want or need.

5. Latest trends reports.  This is a way to help your clients and customers keep up to date with the latest information from your company. This type of content lists the newest information or technologies and explains them in an easy to understand fashion.

Effective content marketing is all about continually giving the client or customer whatever information they deem useful. It demonstrates to prospects your company is paying attention to the needs of their clients and responding in an resourceful and expeditious manner.

If the frequency and/or quality of information begins to slow down, your client base will begin to find another source of information, taking their sales dollars with them.

Making use of a freelance writing service is a good way to fulfill the needs of consistent and effective content writing. By using writers to help create your content, you can easily continue to provide fresh, new content. Once you have the articles, reports and other documents, offer them to your customers freely through email or a blog.

Not only will your customers thank you in replies and comments but, more importantly, with their continued loyalty. 

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business? 

http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

Effective Ways to Use Email Marketing

Most businesses in today’s technological world use email to some extent in the daily workings of their company or business life. It has proven to be not only an effective, but also a cost-efficient way to keep in touch with business contacts, whether in the same building or around the world.

However, many companies have yet to realize the marketing potential they have at their fingertips when it comes to email. You can do much more with email that sending a company notice or memo regarding the next team meeting. Let’s consider some of the other ways email can be used from a marketing standpoint:

* Launching new products. This is definitely something you want to keep your clientele up to date on. By sending out an email a few weeks ahead of launch date, you could start getting people excited about something new in the works. A few days beforehand another email could be sent informing them of more details regarding the product. The punch comes when you give out all the details and attach a coupon for a rebate.

* Sending out email greetings. Put that information you collected for your list to good use. Keep track of birthdays and anniversaries given to you by each customer, and send out birthday or anniversary cards (either paper or electronic) to show how important your clientele is to you.

This can also apply to the holiday season. However, generic holiday greetings should be sent to avoid any misunderstandings. We recommend you go with the “Season’s Greetings” type messages. Little gestures such as these will leave a lasting impression. Your customers will know their patronage is valued, and will likely continue to do business with you.

* Giveaways and discounts. You can build your list by using it for the addition of incentives for your current list members. Offering a free gift or discount on their next purchase in relation to the number of referrals they provide may be just the right approach. This type of offer can also be passed down to any new member signing up for email updates. This is just another great way to get more traffic to your site, allowing more people to become aware of what you have to offer them.

* Company branded email. Just as companies and businesses have their own letterhead for memos and correspondence, you can achieve the same thing with outgoing email pages.  Email newsletters or ezines are perfect outlets for promoting the company  name. While getting updated information out to your current and potential clients, it’s a very cost-effective way to keep everyone up to date on new products and services you have to offer.

* Email marketing campaigns can provide you with tracking tools in order to allow a view of visitor statistics. This means you will see how many of your email recipients actually click through to your website or sales page. With this information you can judge what is useful information in your campaigns, as well as what isn’t.

Although these aren’t the only ways you can use email messages as part of your marketing toolbox, they are a good start. By taking the time to implement some of them in your business routines today, you will see how easy it is to grow your dream business of tomorrow.

5 Ways to Distribute Your Content for FREE

Once you have your content ready for people to read and use, you need to make sure they are able to find it. There are a number of ways to get this accomplished for a price but there are also ways to get your content distributed free.

Here are five ways to distribute your content that won’t cost you anything at all.

1. Social Networking - Social networking is the hottest promotional tool available online at this time. There are a lot of sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Digg and others who have opened up a world of marketing for online businesses.

Through these tools you can establish trust, expertise and gain a sold following of people who want to know what you think and can do for them.

2. Article Directories – These sites are comprised of article listings written by just about anyone and on any subject. The articles are placed specifically for use on these types of sites. They rank well on search engines because they rely heavily on SEO and also provide links back to your website. This is another great and free way to show your expertise and knowledge in your chosen field thus bringing more people to you and your site.

3. Blogging - Blogging is probably one of the most useful ways to bring someone to your information and website, specifically, guest blogging on other websites. Doing this can increase your exposure to an increasing number of people as you are able to link your information in your blog posts.

The owner of the blog can also promote your site by placing links to your site around their blog. You can also offer to swap posts with other blogs and increase your traffic by bringing their followers to your site.

4. Give it Away on Your Website - One of the easiest ways to distribute your content is to offer it as a free bonus on your website. Everyone loves getting something for nothing, so package your content as a PDF or even an audio download and let your site visitors download it for nothing.

Don't even ask for an email address in exchange. Instead, just give it as a gift and you'll generate good will.

5. Using Local Listing Services - This tactic is especially useful if you have an offline business with an online presence. Google and other search engines have local area listings, so when someone does a local search they will find your website.

This increases your chances of being closer to the top of the first page in search engine results. This is also a great way to increase your online visibility with absolutely no cost to you.

When local customers find your website, they will be even more likely to look to you for their information needs, which will in turn lead to more sales.

The biggest tip is to never stop the process of using new content to promote your business. There are always new ways to get your name out there, but providing free content that solves a problem for your customer will never go out of style.

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business? 

 http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

Five Ways to Increase Self-Motivation

While self-motivation is a simple concept, we all know that it’s one of the hardest things to attain.  Despite purely good intentions, most of us are better at slacking off than getting motivated.  But, no matter what your attention span it is possible for you to motivate yourself and reach your goals; you just need to follow a few simple steps.

Know what you’re doing

A to-do list is nice to have to help you get things done, but it doesn’t do much to help you stay motivated.  Before you can make your to-do list, you need to set goals and priorities.  They may be short term like “finish this project to attain more work” or more general like “increase workload to attain promotion”.  If you give yourself a goal or vision to work for, you’re going to be more motivated to finish things than if you’re simply completing tasks.

Stay positive

A positive attitude can go a long way.  People have probably told you this over and over, but you’re still not inclined to believe it.  Take a little extra time each day to remind yourself of your accomplishments.  It is also a good idea to try to surround yourself with positive and encouraging people.  If you don’t have any at work, find positive and encouraging statements from successful people and post them around your office. 

Set mini-goals

Finishing a project can be a daunting task.  If it’s a large amount of work, you’re likely to look at it, get overwhelmed, and give up or put it off before you even get started.  An easier way to accomplish a project is to break it up into smaller tasks.  This way you’ll be looking at a bunch of small goals instead of one great big one.  While it’s the same amount of work, it helps to keep you from getting overwhelmed.  Plus, each time you accomplish one of your tasks, you’ll feel successful and motivated to keep trekking on through the rest.

Reward yourself

To help keep yourself going, set up rewards for each task you complete.  They don’t have to be anything big; they could be going to see a movie over the weekend or spending 15 minutes on the phone with a friend you haven’t talked to in a while.  It’s just something positive to help encourage you.  You can also set small rewards for your mini goals and have a large reward for when you finish a large project.

You can also punish yourself to achieve goals.  For example, set up a mini-punishment, like snapping a rubber band on your wrist.  Every time you find yourself drifting off and not paying attention, or doing something counter-productive, snap the rubber band.  This will help train your mind to stay on track. 

Have a backup

While we may have the best of intentions, most of us really aren’t that good at sticking with our self-motivating methods.  If this seems like you, you may be in need of some backup.  This is a friend, co-worker, or associate - anyone who is dependable and trustworthy.  Let them know what your goals are (and even your rewards and punishments) and set up a plan for them to check up on you. 

It could be as simple as giving you a call to see how much you’ve gotten done, or maybe have them be the keeper of some reward and administer it when you reach your goal.  This way, if your resolution wavers, you’ll have someone else there to help out.

Content Marketing: How to Generate Leads

Content Marketing is a type of marketing used to increase sales by creating and delivering high-quality information to potential customers as well as current ones. Content marketing goes hand in hand with another type of marketing called network marketing (or social networking) because more people can be reached by using both together.

With the use of network marketing, you are able to reach out to more people and create more leads. This can also generate more sales over time. By combining the two types of marketing, you are able to reach more people with your valuable and informative content. This will create more interest in your products or services thus increasing sales.

You can generate ongoing leads using both content and network marketing. You can create your content in almost any form imaginable, using articles, videos, audio, e-books and teleseminars. All of these forms of content can be spread across a massive social networking base using websites such as MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Here are some important things to remember when beginning this form of marketing:

Set yourself up as an expert in your industry. When people feel more comfortable coming to you for information they are more likely to listen to your suggestions. They will see you as someone who is giving them loads of useful information and content they can use to solve problems, save time and make money.

Over time, they will begin to follow you and want to know more about you and your business, which will lead into sales down the line.

Your prospects or customer base will begin to share what you have taught them. This is called viral marketing. The basic premise involves people becoming so impressed with the information you have shared with them, they then share it with other people. This process goes on repeatedly.

In fact, through the Internet, it can go on for years. This is, without a doubt, the best part of content marketing since the information is being shared with no further interaction from you.

It is very important the content you are sharing is valuable and informative. If you are providing people with useless information, no positioning in the world will matter because they won’t feel as if they are being helped in any way. 

Generating leads with content marketing is not hard to do. The process just takes a little practice to find the right places to place your content for your target market and the right type of information to share.

Once you have some ideas and information, get involved on social networking sites. Join like-minded groups and start contributing tips and tidbits to the group. Don’t go in for the immediate sale or use spam as a selling tactic or this will immediately turn people off.

Start slowly and offer short nuggets of highly informative content and then offer a link to read more. Once people go to your collection of articles, video or audio collections you can really let loose and bring them to you and your products.

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business?

  http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

5 Content Marketing Tips

There are a lot of different ways to get your product, service or website in front of potential customers online. Marketing with content is one of the most effective ways to do it. Here are 5 tips to making your content marketing stand out from the rest and work in your favor.

1. Varying Media Types - Don’t just rely on one specific style of delivery for your content. While articles are very useful and the most common form of content marketing, using video, audio and holding teleseminars are all equally appealing options to readers. Some of these take a little longer to create, but they all have their advantages. Using multiple forms of content delivery makes it easier to reach a larger audience.

2. Social Networking - Social networking sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Digg are perfect vehicles to create your business networking contacts. You can link up with people who are interested in your service and even create partnerships with other people to increase your exposure.

3. Referral Programs - Use your clients or customers to help bring in more people through referral programs. You can offer a reward for the people they bring in or make it a contest for whoever brings in the most over a certain period of time.

4. Affiliate Programs - Set up an affiliate program so you can have other website and blog owners online market your content for you, while also referring people to your products or service. The ability to earn a commission on any sales they send your way is a must for this type of program. This costs you nothing unless the affiliate sends you a sale, but drives people who are interested in what you have to offer to your site and increases the chances for a sale. 

5. SEO - Search Engine Optimization is the means to better placement of your website at the top of online search results. This is a fantastic way to position your content in those search results directly related to your product. The more keywords you are linked to, the more likely people will find your content through online searches. There are free tools available to help you streamline your keyword efficiency.

Using one or all of these marketing techniques, will bring the customers to your website and have them already interested in what you have to offer.

 

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business? 

http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

Go After Your Priorities with Confidence

Let's face it, we could all use a little help achieving our goals and improving our productivity. The key to doing this is to figure out what you want and make a list of your priorities. 

The first step in accomplishing your goals is to set them.  A long-term goal is essential, but also include steps you need to achieve that goal.  This way, you not only have small goals to help monitor your progress and motivate yourself with your achievements, but you also have a built-in way of knowing that you’ve thought in depth about what you’re doing and are acting wisely.  Once you have your steps, turn them into to-do lists.  It may help to have daily lists, along with weekly and monthly ones as well.

Once you’ve set your priorities and made your to do lists, you need to stick with it.  Sure, if things change, you may need to do some tweaking here and there, but you put a lot of thought into your lists and you need to trust your own judgment.  If you keep backtracking and reprioritizing, you’re never going to get anything done.

For most of us, it is generally easiest to make a list and then pick and choose which things we’d like to do off the list.  The problem with this is that something you like doing more may not be as urgent, and the more important items will be put off until the last minute when you absolutely have to get them done.

A better idea is to look at your list and pick the one thing that you’re dreading doing.  Sure, it might take you a while to get it done, but once you do, you’ll not only be less likely to procrastinate, you’ll also have a sense of accomplishment and momentum to get through the rest of your work. 

A key part of time management is being realistic.  Many people think that if they set lofty goals, they’ll get that extra push from the perceived time crunch and actually meet them.  The truth is, if you set unrealistic goals, you’re rarely going to meet them.  If you continue to not meet your goals, you’re going to become discouraged and actually lower productivity and work quality. 

One of the most important steps in time management is taking responsibility for your actions and how you manage what you do during your days.  When we fail to meet a deadline, many of us blame it on other things, like a distracting co-worker or a great show that was on TV.  This leads us to believe there is nothing we can do about meeting deadlines, which just isn’t true.  You need to own your own time.  If you don’t meet a deadline, figure out what you did wrong and what you can do better next time to fix it.

With a little effort and a lot of conviction, you can stick with your plans and achieve your goals. 

10 Ways to Market Your Content

The best content in the world won’t do any good unless there are people who are reading it. Marketing the content written for a website is one of the most important aspects in creating a site of value.

Knowing which form of marketing your content isn’t as tricky as it may seem. The Internet offers tons of effective marketing strategies and most are easily accomplished. The following are 10 ways in which you can market your content and start building your customer database in the process.

1. Create a Blog – A blog allows a marketer to constantly add new information targeted to a particular audience. Many potential customers will use a blog to get a better idea of the company they are dealing with. They also find out what you have to offer, such as product reviews, articles, reports and more.

2. Write an eBook – An eBook about your product or service can be written and distributed to current and potential customers. A fee could be charged, it could be offered as a free gift with a subscription to the site, or as a free gift to get people to your website, also known as viral content. 

3. Create a Forum – Create an online forum where your customers can discuss the topic of your products or services.

4. Write a Newsletter - Create an newsletter detailing the latest happenings within your company and distribute it weekly or monthly.

5. Start a Podcast – Talk about your product or service and record it as a podcast. Require your customers to subscribe to the podcasts in order to capture possible leads or simply use it as a way to generate buzz about your products.

6. Put a Video on YouTube – Create a short but informative video about your website and post it on YouTube. Creating a link in your user information will allow people to go directly to your site after they have watched the video. 

7. Set Up an RSS Feed – If you update your content on a regular basis, offer an RSS feed option on your site so customers can be alerted when you post new information.

8. Utilize Social Media – Social networking is on the rise and is one of the best ways to market your product to the masses - for free. Popular sites include Twitter, Stumble Upon and Facebook.

9. Webinar – Hold a live webinar on a topic that relates to your business. Charge a fee for customers to attend. Offer the webinar for a nominal fee of $1 to generate interest and build your client base.

10. Teleseminars – Record a sales presentation as a teleseminar and charge a fee for listeners to gain access. Yet another great way to capture lead information.

 

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business? 

 http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

How to Produce a Successful Ezine

A popular ezine is a great way to make money, sell new products, and increase your web traffic.  The key is putting together a quality product.

The first step in starting an ezine is to pick a topic.  This sounds easy enough, but is a very important step.  You need to find a topic that people want to read about so you get subscribers and advertisers, but you also don’t want something that everyone else is already putting out material on.  That is, unless you have some new edge that no one else has. 

Another important and often overlooked part of picking your topic is finding something that interests you.  While you may or may not be writing the content yourself, you’re going to have to review it, research it, verify it, and probably come up with new topics and viewpoints on it.  That means, if it’s something that bores you, you’ll probably be bored a lot, and it will show.

Once you’ve picked your topic, you need to identify your audience and figure out what they are looking for.  People may be itching for a quality ezine on a topic, but that doesn’t mean any old quality ezine on that topic will do.  You have to know what specific information and products they want. 

To accomplish this, you need to do some market research and determine what people are looking for in an area.  If you already have customers in a related area (like say, visitors to a related website), you may be able to simply poll them.  You can also do this by looking into popular search engine terms within a topic.  In addition, you can go to chat rooms and message boards on the topic and either look around, or specifically ask people what they want to be available.

A common practice for businesses is to find out who the leader in the market is and copy them.  I mean, they already have a winning formula, so they must be doing something right.  This may help you a little; you’ll pick up the customers who just can’t get enough and possibly some bargain hunters who don’t want to pay for the in-demand brand, but it’s not going to get you a winning ezine if it’s exactly like something else. 

The key to success is to start with a successful model and figure out what you can do better.  This will require a lot of research and even more creative thinking, but all it takes is one good idea to make your business explode. 

Just because you have a quality product doesn’t mean anyone is going to read it.  One of the most important things when starting a new mailing is to get as many readers as possible very quickly.  This will boost sales of your advertisers and should increase the quality of your product.  If you don’t know how to advertise online products - research, research, research.

It will be well worth the effort.  If you’re just not having luck at it, you can always look into hiring someone to increase readership for you.  While the costs might be high up front, many people guarantee results.

How Often Should You Produce New Content?

Producing web copy for a site is something, which if done correctly, takes some time to create. Many copywriters know the value of well-written copy and are constantly changing the copy on their websites to keep up with the demand of their targeted audience. The question is, how often should you produce new content?

It all depends on the type of content you are talking about and how well it is or isn’t performing for you. Let’s take a closer look. 

 

Sales Copy Content

There are a few factors in determining how often you should change or produce new content. If you follow your rankings on any of the popular search engines and you see your rank drop, then you may want to freshen up your content to help move you back up the ranks.

Creating keyword rich articles that can be distributed throughout cyberspace will help to increase your rankings and put you back in the spotlight.

If your site offers something for sale, it is wise to change the content up when you have a new offering such as a free or discounted offer.

There is no need to completely re-do your entire website as this may confuse dedicated visitors when they come to the site in search of something they had found there before.

Obviously, if your site is doing well in attracting new visitors and subscribers, you probably won’t need to change your copy.

However, it wouldn’t hurt to tweak it here and there to keep it fresh and on the search engines radar.

Tweaking the sales copy on your site and performing maintenance is suggested. However, if you’re one of the lucky ones whose copywriting produces quality leads and your sales are through the roof, then leave it and think of the old adage “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

 

Blogs or Informational Site Content

If your content is in blog form, it is imperative to your readers to have fresh content an either a daily basis or every other day. A blog is something where readers want and wait for new content to be published. You need to keep this content as current as you can so in order to keep and increase your readership. 

As for informational sites and article marketing techniques, the more information you can give visitors and potential customers, the better. Search engines love fresh content and so does your audience.

Keep the quality content they’ve come to know and love coming and they’ll keep coming back again and again.

 

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business? 

http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

 

Five Tips to Creating E-products

While the dot-com boom has pretty well subsided, savvy businessmen and women are still making a pretty penny using the internet.  The key to making money is to know what you’re doing and how to market yourself.  One great way to make money is through e-products. Here are five tips on how to achieve it:

1.  Go with what you know - There are certain products online that are going to sell better than others.  You can probably figure out what these are just by looking at the number of available products.  The problem is if you go with a popular topic, you’re going to have to compete with a lot of other products, so you’ll need something to stand out. 

That’s why it's good to at least start with something you know.  An e-book about dogs is going to sell better if it’s written by someone who has been breeding dogs for ten years rather than being written by some guy who thought he could make a lot of money researching and writing about dogs. 

2.  Big technology, little prices - There are all kinds of programs out there to help you make quality products easily and effectively.  Contrary to popular belief, they don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.  They just require you to do a little research and know what you’re looking for ahead of time. 

For instance, do you want to make instructional videos?  You can now get quality digital video and lighting equipment online.  How about instead of describing how to do something on the computer, just buy a program to record everything on your computer screen as you do it?  This is also a great option for the camera shy.

You can also buy affordable software to record audio conversations through your computer.  This means you can do an interview or conference call and have it practically ready to sell right away.

If you do some product searching and mix in a little creativity, there’s no telling what you can do.

3.  Start small - If you try to create a stellar product right away, you’ll probably fail miserably.  Start on a scale you can handle.  Once you start the money coming in, you can use it to upgrade your equipment while you also improve your skills.

4.  Marketing, Marketing, Marketing - Making a good product is a great way to bring in money.  But if creating that product is all you do, there’s a 99% chance you will make precisely $0 (minus any production costs, of course).  The key to making money is marketing your product.  You can do this by paying someone to do it, or by learning to do it yourself.  Paying an experienced person is going to get you a better start in the beginning, but depending on how much time you can devote, learning to do it yourself may be a better investment in the long run. 

5.  Be creative - When people are purchasing e-products, there are generally tens, if not hundreds or options for them to choose from.  In order to stand out, you have to do something different, something special.  Often, you just need to be a little silly.  When creating your product, take some time to think about what you can do to make it really pop.  It might take a while, but it will be well worth your effort.   

Increasing Online Sales Through Quality Content

The simple task off adding quality content to a site can mean the difference between generating more sales or driving away prospective customers. Creating something unique and creative enough to grab the attention of the reader is the key to a successful business.

There are a few simple ways you can increase your sales with content. The following are a few examples of ways to bring in the customers and keep them coming back for more.

List Capture – The easiest way to build a list of potential customers if to offer something on your website for free. It could be as simple as a free report detailing more information about your product or a free copy of an eBook you have written.

Enticing the customer to want to sign up for something will allow you to retain a list of customers to use to further in your marketing efforts.

Promotion – Promoting your product throughout the content of your website is the best way to get a customer interested.

Place a graphic of your product and make it clickable so when a customer clicks on the image they will be taken to a sales page about the product.

Once the customer is there, give them the option to either buy the product or receive more information about the product. This again, allows you to develop a list of potential customers who you can then market to.

Keywords – Perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site and gain customers is by writing content rich content with keywords for greater search engine optimization (SEO). Providing these keywords will help your website reach the top of the search engines and bring more customers to your site.

Knowing which keywords to use requires some research on your part.  There are many sites on the web, which will allow you to plug in a word and display how many people search for it on the web.

Use these tools to plug in some of the keywords from your content and then properly place them throughout your content. The words need to be placed organically so the content remains in a natural, flowing manner and not forced.

Implementing one or all of these strategies will help get sales coming in and keep them coming in the future.

 

Want to put content marketing to work in YOUR business?    http://tinyurl.com/mavdax

Are Your Registered for Tomorrow's Free Teleclass?

Tomorrow, June 5th at 12 pm, the Midwest Business Academy is offering a free teleclass with Tom Marquardt, “The Profit Repairman®.” In "Unconventional Marketing Strategies for Small Business Owners", you'll learn:

• How to market less (and sell more) by targeting your demographics and differentiating your products and services

• When should you jump on the band wagon to coordinate marketing campaigns with trends and when you shouldn’t

• Creative, practical ways to prospect and generate new revenue which will leave your competition scratching their heads in amazement

• What is the #1 source of business you have at your fingertips to make your revenue soar

• Proven techniques to boost revenue with results you can take to the bank, but where most business owners drop the ball

If you're not already registered, click here! 

Upcoming "Unconventional Marketing Strategies" Teleclass

Small business owners are struggling now more than ever to grow revenue. Cash flow is limited and return on investment (ROI) dictates where this money is spent. You need to question where to invest marketing dollars…how to measure performance…and what to expect from ROI. Your marketing budget must be invested wisely or you will suffocate your business-- your pipeline will dry-up and your existing client base will disappear.

Tom Marquardt, “The Profit Repairman®,” understands the struggles small business owners have in determining where to invest marketing dollars to get the biggest bang for the buck. With over 20 years experience as a successful small business owner and consultant, Tom shares his knowledge and experiences with you as he teaches how to reach your ultimate goal…Profit!

On Friday, June 5th, at 12 pm, the Midewest Business Academy will feature Tom in "Unconventional Marketing Strategies for Small Business Owners. You will discover:

How to market less (and sell more) by targeting your demographics and differentiating your products and services

When should you jump on the band wagon to coordinate marketing campaigns with trends and when you shouldn’t

Creative, practical ways to prospect and generate new revenue which will leave your competition scratching their heads in amazement

What is the #1 source of business you have at your fingertips to make your revenue soar

Proven techniques to boost revenue with results you can take to the bank, but where most business owners drop the ball

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Speaker:

Tom Marquardt, The Profit Repairman® is a Dynamic Speaker, Results Driven Motivator, Educator, Successful Business Owner for over 13 years, Expert Business Analyst and Consultant, Published Author and Columnist, Radio Talk Show Host, a Radical Sales and Marketing Professional and a graduate of Indiana University. Tom’s latest book for increasing success rates is titled MY little BLACK BOOK TO SUCCESS and he is known as “The Profit Repairman®.”

You can learn more about Tom at his website: 
http://www.theprofitrepairman.com 

5 Tips for Choosing Effective Marketing Content

Content marketing is the best way to get information to your clients or customers. This is also the perfect way to gain the trust of your customers and increase your sales. The problem is choosing the most effective type of content and presenting it in an attention getting manner. Here are some tips on choosing the most effective content for your content marketing.

1. Point out the competition’s mistakes. People, in general, want to avoid painful experiences as much as possible. Pointing out all the ways your competitors fail to make life easier for your potential customers works to your advantage. Top ten lists on this kind of thing such as “10 most common mistakes” or “10 things you don’t want to do” are especially effective in driving people to you, rather than your competitor. I’m not saying you should specify or point fingers at specific competitors here. That’s not professional. Instead, use general statements and point out what makes your company better than others.

2. Give out industry “secrets.” They are not really secrets but if you let people think they are then their trust in you grows. Create content with bulleted lists showing how to do things faster and easier or how to make something work better. People love lists about things because lists are easy to filter through and pick out those points that pertain to them specifically. They also help people retain the information.

3. Organize it for them. One of the biggest hurdles for some people is the organization of certain things. Do the work for them by giving them plans and ways to organize things to make their life simpler. If you can make something straightforward and easy for someone, they will appreciate it and repay you with their business.

4. Answer common questions. When you're discussing a common problem or situation, people tend to have the same questions. By providing the answers before someone even asks the questions, you make them feel more comfortable. It gives them the impression your company truly cares about them and their needs because you’ve taken the time to learn what they want or need.

5. Latest trends reports. This is a way to help your clients and customers keep up to date with the latest information from your company. This type of content lists the newest information or technologies and explains them in an easy to understand fashion.

Effective content marketing is all about continually giving the client or customer whatever information they deem useful. It demonstrates to prospects your company is paying attention to the needs of their clients and responding in an resourceful and expeditious manner. If the frequency and/or quality of information begins to slow down, your client base will begin to find another source of information, taking their sales dollars with them.

Making use of a freelance writing service is a good way to fulfill the needs of consistent and effective content writing. By using writers to help create your content, you can easily continue to provide fresh, new content. Once you have the articles, reports and other documents, offer them to your customers freely through email or a blog. Not only will your customers thank you in replies and comments but, more importantly, with their continued loyalty.

10 Ways to Market Your Content

The best content in the world won’t do any good unless there are people who are reading it. Marketing the content written for a website is one of the most important aspects in creating a site of value.

Knowing which form of marketing your content isn’t as tricky as it may seem. The Internet offers tons of effective marketing strategies and most are easily accomplished. The following are 10 ways in which you can market your content and start building your customer database in the process.

1. Create a Blog – A blog allows a marketer to constantly add new information targeted to a particular audience. Many potential customers will use a blog to get a better idea of the company they are dealing with. They also find out what you have to offer, such as product reviews, articles, reports and more.

2. Write an eBook – An eBook about your product or service can be written and distributed to current and potential customers. A fee could be charged, it could be offered as a free gift with a subscription to the site, or as a free gift to get people to your website, also known as viral content. 

3. Create a Forum – Create an online forum where your customers can discuss the topic of your products or services.

4. Write a Newsletter - Create an newsletter detailing the latest happenings within your company and distribute it weekly or monthly.

5. Start a Podcast – Talk about your product or service and record it as a podcast. Require your customers to subscribe to the podcasts in order to capture possible leads or simply use it as a way to generate buzz about your products.

6. Put a Video on YouTube – Create a short but informative video about your website and post it on YouTube. Creating a link in your user information will allow people to go directly to your site after they have watched the video. 

7. Set Up an RSS Feed – If you update your content on a regular basis, offer an RSS feed option on your site so customers can be alerted when you post new information.

8. Utilize Social Media – Social networking is on the rise and is one of the best ways to market your product to the masses - for free. Popular sites include Twitter, Stumble Upon and Facebook.

9. Webinar – Hold a live webinar on a topic that relates to your business. Charge a fee for customers to attend. Offer the webinar for a nominal fee of $1 to generate interest and build your client base.

10. Teleseminars – Record a sales presentation as a teleseminar and charge a fee for listeners to gain access. Yet another great way to capture lead information.

What are your most productive content marketing techniques? What doesn't work for you? I'm always interested in what my readers think! Leave a comment and let me know!

How Often Should You Produce New Content?

Producing web copy for a site is something, which if done correctly, takes some time to create. Many copywriters know the value of well-written copy and are constantly changing the copy on their websites to keep up with the demand of their targeted audience. The question is, how often should you produce new content?

It all depends on the type of content you are talking about and how well it is or isn’t performing for you. Let’s take a closer look. 

Sales Copy Content

There are a few factors in determining how often you should change or produce new content. If you follow your rankings on any of the popular search engines and you see your rank drop, then you may want to freshen up your content to help move you back up the ranks. Creating keyword rich articles that can be distributed throughout cyberspace will help to increase your rankings and put you back in the spotlight.

If your site offers something for sale, it is wise to change the content up when you have a new offering such as a free or discounted offer. There is no need to completely re-do your entire website as this may confuse dedicated visitors when they come to the site in search of something they had found there before.

Obviously, if your site is doing well in attracting new visitors and subscribers, you probably won’t need to change your copy. However, it wouldn’t hurt to tweak it here and there to keep it fresh and on the search engines radar.

Tweaking the sales copy on your site and performing maintenance is suggested. However, if you’re one of the lucky ones whose copywriting produces quality leads and your sales are through the roof, then leave it and think of the old adage “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” 

Blogs or Informational Site Content

If your content is in blog form, it is imperative to your readers to have fresh content an either a daily basis or every other day. A blog is something where readers want and wait for new content to be published. You need to keep this content as current as you can so in order to keep and increase your readership. 

As for informational sites and article marketing techniques, the more information you can give visitors and potential customers, the better. Search engines love fresh content and so does your audience. Keep the quality content they’ve come to know and love coming and they’ll keep coming back again and again.

Last Chance to Register for Today's Free Teleclass

Be sure you are registered for today's free teleclass, "Unlocking the Secrets of LinkedIn" with Raymond Chip Lambert! The class begins at 3 pm today, May 22nd.

If you still need to sign up, click here now!

Content Marketing: Using SEO for Better Exposure

Once you have decided to populate your website with great information through content marketing, you need to make sure people can find the information. The best way to do this is through Search Engine Optimization. Also known as SEO, this is a way to properly optimize your website for search engines which can bring more hits to your website via your content.

SEO is mainly accomplished using keywords throughout your articles and website. Keywords are specific words picked up by search engines when people are looking for a certain term and the more you use them, the more likely you will be placed near the top of search engine results. There are ways to see how effective your keywords are through specific tools available online.

The first of these is a Google keyword analysis. You can run this program on any site you have. This tool will scan you website’s content and list all of the specific keywords contained on the site. It will appear with a rating showing how competitive the particular search is at the current time. This tool is designed to help you discover what keywords on your site are the most commonly searched to find the type of services you offer.

Another tool is called Wordtracker, and it does a little more in depth searching than the Google tool; however, it’s not free. This software works through inputting either your entire site or the individual keywords you want to use. It will then scour the net and deliver the most commonly used variations of your keywords so you know what words to add to your site to increase traffic.

Using keywords based on your website's content is the key to having SEO be truly effective in bringing more people to you. Using keywords just because they are popular, but are not related to your content won't bring you any traffic interested in your services or products. You can also add keywords in several ways, other than simply adding them to your content. One of the best uses of keywords is within the titles and subtitles of your pages, as well as the meta-tags of your site.

One trick is called keyword bubbles. They are a collection of your keywords, all of them, in one spot. These bubbles can be placed on every page of your content. This opens up the site to more potential search hits, which will list your site higher up on the search results pages. While bubble keywords are visually appealing and will help with your search engine rankings, the most effective way to use keywords is by including them in relevant content on your page. Bubbles of keywords that don't relate to useful content won't keep you in the higher search engine rankings for long.

SEO is important for bringing people to your content because, without traffic, your content does you no good at all. It may take a little time and effort to get the keywords in place, but once you do, the traffic to your content will increase.

Unlocking the Secrets of LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be an extraordinarily powerful part of your overall sales and marketing strategy, but you have to know how to use it.  As a business networking site, it's the optimal place to distribute your content marketing material if you want to target business professionals. There are literally millions of professionals are on LinkedIn.

Learn how to use this powerful resource to get EXACTLY the kinds of clients you desire.

Join the Midwest Business Academy on Friday, May 22 at 3:00 pm for a free teleclass, "Unlocking the Secrets of LinkedIn" by Raymond Chip Lambert. Register here!

In this session you will:

Learn what LinkedIn is and why it can work to your advantage in developing strong referral relationships.

Uncover the networks you already have and powerfully tap into them for anything you need.

Identify where to get started and the dangerous mistakes you may be making if you are already on LinkedIn.

Learn the secrets that the top users employ to leverage the system to make more money.

Understand how to position yourself in your networks so that people are magnetically attracted to you.
Join us as we unlock the secrets of LinkedIn.

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About the Speaker:

Raymond Chip Lambert, CEO, Network 2 Networth

Raymond Chip Lambert is a Business Development expert who works exclusively with seasoned professionals to leverage their existing relationships and catapult them into the business they truly want.  Through his programs, Chip guides professionals to translate complex business development concepts into actions that grow their businesses exponentially.
  
Chip is recognized for immediately establishing rapport with audiences which not only deepens the learning experience for participants in his programs, but also has been a critical function of his success.

A professional speaker, trainer and business coach since 2000, Chip regularly consults professional firms on melding time tested Business Development strategies with online Social Media strategy and unlocking the value of their existing network connections.  Over 10,000 people have been touched by his regularly scheduled webinars and live training events and programs.

 

Increasing Online Sales with Content Marketing

The simple task of adding quality content to a site can mean the difference between generating more sales or driving away prospective customers. Creating something unique and creative enough to grab the attention of the reader is the key to a successful business.

There are a few simple ways you can increase your sales with content. The following are a few examples designed to bring in the customers and keep them coming back for more.

List Capture – The easiest way to build a list of potential customers if to offer something on your website for free. It could be as simple as a free report detailing more information about your product or a free copy of an eBook you have written. Enticing the customer to want to sign up for something will allow you to retain a list of customers to use to further in your marketing efforts.

Promotion – Promoting your product throughout the content of your website is the best way to get a customer interested. Place a graphic of your product and make it clickable so when a customer clicks on the image they will be taken to a sales page about the product. Once the customer is there, give them the option to either buy the product or receive more information about the product. This again, allows you to develop a list of potential customers who you can then market to.

Keywords – Perhaps the best way to drive traffic to your site and gain customers is by writing content rich content with keywords for greater search engine optimization (SEO). Providing these keywords will help your website reach the top of the search engines and bring more customers to your site. Knowing which keywords to use requires some research on your part.

There are many sites on the web which allow you to plug in a word and display how many people search for it on the web. Use these tools to plug in some of the keywords from your content and then properly place them throughout your content. It needs to be placed organically so the content remains in a natural, flowing manner and not forced. I'll take more about SEO for your content marketing in my next post. Check back later this week!

In the meantime, tell me how you have found success with these content marketing strategies. I'd love to know what works for you and to share new dieas with my readers!

 

How to Make Your Competition Irrelevant - Free Audio Download

If you're a small business owner, you'll enjoy adding this audio to your library.  It's a teleclass that I did a while back. 

"How to Make Your Competition Irrelevant" - http://tinyurl.com/ogpkf4

 

 

Last Chance To Register for Tonight's "Red Hot Internet Publicity 2.0" Teleclass

Don't forget! Tonight is another great education session sponsored by Midwest Business Academy.  Registration is quick and easy.

We hope that you'll be able to join us for "Red Hot Internet Publicity 2.0" with Penny Sansevieri! It all starts tonight, May 18th, at 6 pm!

Register here:
http://midwestbusinessacademy.camp7.org/ViewEvent.ashx?eventId=59055

Content Marketing: How to Generate Leads

With content marketing, your goal is to increase sales by creating and delivering high-quality information to potential customers as well as current ones. Content marketing goes hand in hand with another type of marketing called network marketing (or social networking) because more people can be reached by using both together.

With the use of network marketing, you can reach out to more people and create more leads. This can also generate more sales over time. By combining the two types of marketing, you reach more people and create more interest in your products or services thus increasing sales.

You can generate ongoing leads using both content and network marketing. You can create your content in almost any form imaginable, using articles, videos, audio, e-books and teleseminars. All of these forms of content can be spread across a massive social networking base using websites such as MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Here are some important things to remember when beginning this form of marketing:

• Set yourself up as an expert in your industry. When people feel more comfortable coming to you for information they are more likely to listen to your suggestions. They will see you as someone who is giving them loads of useful information and content they can use to solve problems, save time and make money. Over time, they will begin to follow you and want to know more about you and your business, which will lead into sales down the line.

• Your prospects or customer base will begin to share what you have taught them. This is called viral marketing. The basic premise involves people becoming so impressed with the information you have shared with them, they then share it with other people. This process goes on repeatedly. In fact, through the Internet, it can go on for years. This is, without a doubt, the best part of content marketing since the information is being shared with no further interaction from you.

• It is very important the content you are sharing is valuable and informative. If you are providing people with useless information, no positioning in the world will matter because they won’t feel as if they are being helped in any way.

• Generating leads with content marketing is not hard to do. The process just takes a little practice to find the right places to place your content for your target market and the right type of information to share. Once you have some ideas and information, get involved on social networking sites. Join like-minded groups and start contributing tips and tidbits to the group. Don’t go in for the immediate sale or use spam as a selling tactic or this will immediately turn people off.

• Start slowly and offer short nuggets of highly informative content and then offer a link to read more. Once people go to your collection of articles, video or audio collections you can really let loose and bring them to you and your products.

Red Hot Internet Publicity 2.0 Teleseminar

The Midwest Business Academy has a fantastic opportunity for you coming up on Mondy, May 18th at 6:00 pm Central time. We will be continuing our conversation with Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc.

During this 60-minute teleclass is Penny will be covering social networking. If you think you have your Internet marketing covered with just a web site, you might be missing out on a bucket of Internet gold. This class is packed with information with everything from understanding social media to monetizing sites like Facebook, Squidoo, and Twitter.

We’ll also talk about what you should never do on your web site and why a blog is a must-have part of any Internet campaign. We’ll also look at some of the hottest online trends too!

• The secret to getting thousands of hits on your web site and then converting them into sales!
• Top internet promotion techniques that won’t cost you a dime!
• The Virtual Author Tour™, how you can “tour” yourself on the net
• How to use site like Facebook and Squidoo to build your customer base
• What is Twitter? We’ll talk about Twitter and how to use it to drive more sales to your web site
• How to create a web site that sells your book
• Simple steps to blogging effectively!

BONUS: We’ll even include some time-saving hints to maximize your online efforts without spending HOURS online!

Penny's company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Her company researched, developed and implemented the first comprehensive Internet publicity campaign called The Virtual Author Tour™.

Penny began her career in the publicity, book marketing, and literary field over 15 years ago. During that time she has been an author, freelance writer, publicist, and instructor. She has been instrumental in creating several highly successful marketing and publicity campaigns for author events and book launches. Penny is also President and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. and has developed and implemented countless marketing and publicity strategies.

She has worked with such high profile clients as world renowned psychic and ghost buster, Jane Doherty, Barney Rosenzweig creator of Cagney & Lacey, Fred and Kim Goldman, owners of If I Did It, Jac Flanders (of the original Fantastic Four) and Tammi Menendez, wife of Erik Menendez and the first eBay auction of a Princess Diana gown (lot “9” from Christie’s New York). Her firm has worked with numerous bestsellers including: Happy for No Reason, The Go-Giver, The Laws of Thinking and such high-profile books as: Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul. Her clients have been featured on The View, CBS The Early Show, The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, CNN Showbiz Tonight, National Public Radio, Something You Should Know, The Heloise Show and in Publishers Weekly, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, Essence Magazine, More Magazine, The Bridal Guide, Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC… and many others.

Penny's diverse background enables her to bring a multitude of talents to the table as well as a myriad of marketing techniques.

Once again, this event is Monday, May 18th at 6:00 pm Central time. Register at Date: 18 May 2009,
http://midwestbusinessacademy.camp7.org/ViewEvent.ashx?eventId=59055.

Can't wait to have you on the call!

5 Ways to Distribute Your Content for Free

I've already talked about the concept of giving your content away for free to help build interest and excitement about the products and services you have to sell. But, you may be wondering how to tell people about your free offer. There are a number of ways to get this accomplished for a price but there are also ways to get your content distributed free. Here are five ways to distribute your content that won’t cost you anything at all.

1. Social Networking - Social networking is the hottest promotional tool available online at this time. There are a lot of sites such as Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Digg and others who have opened up a world of marketing for online businesses. Through these tools you can establish trust, expertise and gain a sold following of people who want to know what you think and can do for them.

2. Article Directories – These sites are comprised of article listings written by just about anyone and on any subject. The articles are placed specifically for use on these types of sites. They rank well on search engines because they rely heavily on SEO and also provide links back to your website. This is another great and free way to show your expertise and knowledge in your chosen field thus bringing more people to you and your site.

3. Blogging - Blogging is probably one of the most useful ways to bring someone to your information and website, specifically, guest blogging on other websites. Doing this can increase your exposure to an increasing number of people as you are able to link your information in your blog posts. The owner of the blog can also promote your site by placing links to your site around their blog. You can also offer to swap posts with other blogs and increase your traffic by bringing their followers to your site.

4. Give it Away on Your Website - One of the easiest ways to distribute your content is to offer it as a free bonus on your website. Everyone loves getting something for nothing, so package your content as a PDF or even an audio download and let your site visitors download it for nothing. Don't even ask for an email address in exchange. Instead, just give it as a gift and you'll generate good will.

5. Using Local Listing Services - This tactic is especially useful if you have an offline business with an online presence. Google and other search engines have local area listings, so when someone does a local search they will find your website. This increases your chances of being closer to the top of the first page in search engine results. This is a great way to increase your online visibility with absolutely no cost to you. When local customers find your website, they will be even more likely to look to you for their information needs, which will in turn lead to more sales.

The biggest tip is to never stop the process of using new content to promote your business. There are always new ways to get your name out there, but providing free content that solves a problem for your customer will never go out of style.

Have you downloaded your free mini-report from me yet? Be sure to go to http://www.crazysimplemarketing.biz/ to get your copy of Content Marketing Explained: Why Your Business Needs Content! 

"Red Hot Internet Basics"

Social networking is the perfect way to distribute your free marketing content, but the whole concept can be quite intimidating. My Midwest Business Academy partner Jennifer Tobias and I want to help you sort it all out!

Join us for a free teleclass, "Red Hot Internet Basics" presented by Penny Sansevieri. This 60-minute teleclass is Part 1 of a 2 part series, in which Penny will be covering social networking.

If the idea of blogging, social networking, and Twittering has your head spinning, you’ll love this class!

We’ll look at easy ways to start a blog or podcast and tricks for keeping them going. Did you know that most bloggers or podcasters only keep the momentum for a month? This class will show you simple things you can do so you never have to worry about running out of ideas or ways to market yourself!

All your Internet questions answered:

• What the heck is RSS and why you should use it

• Blog, blog, blog – the best and fastest way to get a blog
• What’s “social media”? Understanding what this, and how to navigate it
• What and how to use social bookmarking

Come with ALL of your Internet questions, this class will get them answered! 

To register: http://midwestbusinessacademy.camp7.org/events?eventId=57380&EventViewMode=EventDetails

We look forward to having you on our call!

Give It Away!

Did you know that the most successful Internet marketers give their stuff away for free? Yeah, it sounds crazy, but the premise behind it is soooo simple! By giving entrepreneurs a little free help, they get a glimpse of the incredible products and services you have in store for them. And they want more! So, offering 5 tips here and 10 how-tos there can attract attention and build excitement for the products and services that you actually sell.

That's how content marketing works. While you're not outright promoting a product up front, you are giving readers an opportunity to learn more about you and what you can do for them. You give them insight into solving a problem or explain a new strategy or way of thinking, generating interest and possibly sparking ideas. When your content starts working for them, they'll seek out more information from you. And you've just connected with a potential client or customer who sees you as the expert!

I'd love to share more about content marketing with you so you can understand how to make this concept work for your business. I've created a free gift, just for you! Go to http://www.crazysimplemarketing.biz/ to get your free mini-report on why content marketing matters to you. You'll learn why content is crucial to your business, how to save money marketing with content, and much more!

Have a great Friday, and make it a productive one!

Speak Now & Forever Get New Clients Teleseminar Tomorrow!

Join me tomorrow, May 8 at 12 pm, as I talk with Elizabeth Hagen about speaking! If you're nervous about putting yourself out there and worried that your speaking skills aren't up to par, Elizabeth will put those anxieties to rest and show us how to make it easy! You'll be amazed at the ways you can develop your speaking skills to bring in a steady stream of new clients.   

Register now if you haven't already! I look forward to hearing from you tomorrow!
 

Creating Compelling Content

Content marketing is one of the best ways to get your name known throughout your industry. If you want to establish yourself as an expert entrepreneur in your field, providing helpful, up-to-date, and relevant  information is the way to do it. However, one of the questions I always get is, "What should I write about?" I find the entrepreneurs are willing to market and often have tons of potential topics, but they're just not sure how to write content that is unique and interesting.

Here are few to think about when planning the content for your articles, blogs, white papers, reports, and even your Web site:

• Keep it simple for the reader. Write so that readers from your target market can understand and apply the information.

• Try to connect with the reader by telling a story in relation to your product. 
• Think of commonly asked questions about your services or products. Write down your answer, include a few examples, and then format it into a step-by-step article.
• Write a review about a new book, product, or vendor.
• Choose Web sites that you visit often and write about why you like them.
• Think of what you "wouldn't" or "shouldn't do to build your business. Try topics like, "The top 5 mistakes made by..." or "5 Surefire Ways to Drive Customers Away".
• Engage the reader by using humor or an upbeat attitude throughout the website. No one likes a monotone speaker and the same goes for boring, dragging content on a site.
• While writing, use an active tone to call the customer into action.
• Pepper the copy with SEO rich keywords to increase page rankings.

The main goal is to keep the reader interested in what they are reading. The customer wants to feel a connection to what they are reading, so presenting the content in a casual tone and providing valuable content will keep them coming back.

Compelling content doesn’t have to just be in article or sales copy form. There are other ways to create quality content and keep the reader interested in learning more about your product or service.

Non-text options to add to your website: 

• Graphics and Pictures
• Videos
• Podcasts
• An Interactive Forum
• Outside Links
• Online Games
• eBooks for Download
• Testimonials
• Newsletters

The more compelling, quality content you have to offer, the longer amount of time your visitor will spend on your website. The more interactive the site is, the more someone will recommend the site to a friend. Quality content and compelling text and visuals will not only make your site stand out amongst the rest; it will solidify your place in your market.

May's Focus: Content Marketing

Happy May Day! How many of you are wondering where April went? It's amazing how fast time flies when you're having to much fun working on new projects and ideas!

With the new month comes a new focus here on the Productive Entrepreneur blog. First, let me say a special thanks to ALL of you who shared your personal success stories about working with virtual assistants. The response was incredible, and I really hope you were inspired to find ways to integrate VA services into your business. Your productivity will soar!

For May, we'll be looking at content marketing. If part of your marketing strategy is to build your Web presence, then you will find this month's articles, tips, and stories very helpful. For starters, let me define content marketing for you....

Content marketing is the technique of creating and distributing valuable and relevant content to attract a defined target audience, with the over all objective being the creation of sales. Basically this is a way to reach out to your customers and potential customers in a way specifically designed to attract them to you and keep them coming back.

Content marketing is accomplished without overtly trying to sell a product; it is intended to educate and inform your customers. With typical marketing, the goal is to make a sale and the product or service is the main point of the approach. Content marketing is very different from this approach. Your main goal with content marketing is to deliver consistent and useful information to the customer. In return, they will reward the company with their business and, over time, their loyalty to the brand. This form of marketing creates a bond between the customer and the company, and this connection is tough to break, resulting in a loyal customer.

Traditional marketing is becoming less and less useful as customers skip commercials or change the channel on the TV. Ads in papers and billboards are not interactive and provide no real help to the customer. Pop-ups on the Internet are another way advertisers try to market their products, but this can be ineffective as more and more people use their pop-up blocking tools to avoid these invasive marketing tactics. 

Content marketing breaks the mold completely. As odd as it may seem, the customer is the one who searches for the information they need. Not only do they remember where they found what they needed, they remember who provided the useful information as well - and this is where the marketing comes in.

Potential customers will buy from a company they trust and perceive to have the same interests as they do. This is why providing helpful advice and information is so very important to this marketing strategy. Most of the time, the people reading information on a web page don’t realize the marketing that happens behind the scenes as they read the content.

Recent studies have shown 70-80% of people who were surveyed, felt more comfortable buying something from a company they trust. Content marketing builds trust, because the customer begins to look forward to your next content installment and may make decisions based on the information given.

In the next few weeks, we'll be offering tips and strategies to help you develop a content marketing plan that will boost your business, attract new clients, and create loyal customers. Have a great weekend!

Fearless Start-Up Teleseminar Tomorrow!

Don't forget! I'm hosting a teleseminar tomorrow called, "Fearless Start-Up." It's specifically for people who are in the start-up stage of a new business... or those who are launching a new piece of their business.  I'll give out a full 60 minutes of my best advice to anyone who is on the call and has a question.

If you haven't signed up yet, you should now! Go to http://tinyurl.com/c2r9ju to learn more and register for this FREE class!

 

Virtual Assistants Offer a Wide Variety of Services and Talent

One of the great things about the virtual assistant industry is the wide variety of services that VAs can provide. While all are administrative professionals that will help your business office run smoothly, many of them have other skills and interests that add to their service offerings.

Some specialize in customer service and can provide professional, personalized receptionist services.  Vince Collura of Gotham Photo Company, used a VA to extend their office hours. "We started using Team Double Click to extend the business hours to cover weekends, which made sense in real estate at the time.  after a few weeks, we were able to train the VAs to be almost as useful to our clients as our own people were.  Once they were up to speed, we started using them to cover lunch breaks for receiptionists and support, as well as extend our weekday hours to cover late night."

If you are looking for help in one particular area, there are likely VAs out there that can help. In fact, VAs typically work with several different types of clients at one time.

"My clients have included life transformation coach, business leadership coach, speaker and author, academic, financial services, non-profit, media products manufacturer, and software reseller," describes Tassey Russo of Virtual Support Solutions. 

Darcy Meinke of DLM Virtual Solutions also supports a variety of entrepreneurs. "I support a business coach, a non-proift association, a business association group, Web designers, a professional photographer, professional organizers, and a special interest organization. While I use many of the same skills, the variety in subject matter and topics keeps my day interesting," she shares.

So, no matter what professiona you're involved in, and no matter what type of support you're looking for, you can typically find a virtual assistant with just the right skills, education, and experience. Need help finding a VA? Review this month's blog posts at The Productive Entrepreneur. We've featured a ton of successful VAs who would love to hear from you! And if they can't help you directly, they are sure to know colleagues that can.

Get Your Very Own Publicist

As I've said many times, virtual assistants are experts on the Internet. They know how to research and find credible answers, and most of the time, they already have a book full of resources and know right where to send you. Lucky for you!

One area that VAs know well is how to generate publicity. These days, the Internet allows you to create your own publicity, if you know where to look. And the right virtual assistant will know.

Phyllis Harber-Murphy of More Than 9 2 5 specializes in this task. "I have cued my client, Carla Rieger  of Artistry of Change, into a number of internet talk radio and print/blog opportunities. This increases her media exposure and has the potential to improve her bottom line," Phyllis shares.

Carla agrees. "She is constantly on the lookout for media people who are looking for what I offer, which indirectly lead to income," explains Carla.

And as a member of the International Association of Administrative Professionals, Phyllis uses her network to help Carla find speaking opportunities. "I have put Carla in touch with the people who book speakers for my association’s divisional and international conferences," Phyllis explains.

In addition, Carla appreciates Phyllis' support in other areas as well. "She has located the names of various meeting planners who ended up hiring me. She sent out postcards to bookstores that ended up buying my book. She summarizes my evaluation forms and sends me a list of referrals from those evaluation forms that lead to work.  Because she is doing a lot of the administrative work that I used to do, it now frees me up to do more writing , to improve my presentations, and to make more sales calls."

Why should you, as an entrepreneur, spend hours looking for these opportunities when you can turn to a virtual assistant who already has an established network of resources? Leverage their experience and put it to work for you!

Virtual Assistant Makes the World "Small"

Jennifer Wong, a virtual assistant and owner of Business Solutions Plus, helps her clients and is especially valuable when they travel -- internationally. While her clients may be meeting with their clients half way across the globe, Jennifer is working from her own office to support their efforts to gain new contracts.

"Most of my clients are on the West coast, and I am on the East coast, and one of my clients in particular is a management consultantcy business based in San Francisco.  They frequently travel for their client work to such places as Mozambique, Italy, the Philippines and most recently, Malaysia.  One particular thing I do to help them retain their big contracts is while they conduct meetings offsite, such as their recent  Malasyia trip, they take pictures of their notes (either flip chart notes or on their notebooks) from their sessions and email them to me to transcribe, edit and format.  I then send them back so that the next day, they have a finished product to hand to their clients.  This really helps them be able to demonstrate to their clients that they are ahead of their game and recently won a rather large contract from this global client."

Sure, if you're travelling you can take your laptop with you and do this yourself. Or, you could hand you tasks over to a VA who can complete them while YOU sleep and return a finished product before you even wake up the next morning!

The morale of the story -- don't leave the country without a VA!

VAs Think "Outside the Box"

Virtual assistants are creative people, and they enjoy doing a variety of tasks. While you may think it's an unusual request, many VAs are happy to expand their skills and showcase their ingenuity.

Bobbie of Your Virtual Parnter helps her client choose gifts.  "One client primarily uses me for gift buying/sending because of my creative imaginations ... from special flower arrangements to a fruit arrangement made into a flag to celebrate the election!" Bobbie shares.

"I've hunted down the perfect vacation rental, taken the dog to the vet and created top-of-the-line executive presentations. I've participated in video shoots and made instant adjustments on-site to a doctor's lab coat that's too long and needs to be shortened with and iron and mending tape while the actor is waiting!" You never know how a VA will be able to help!

Michelle Mangen, owner of Your Virtual Assistant, shows the same creativity. "This year, just three days before Christmas I got a request to find the Wii console for a gentleman who wanted it as a Xmas gift for his nephew. 45 minutes later I had found one (surprisingly) and had it on it's way to his house. 
Another time I had the pleasure of doing research for a group of electrical linemen in Michigan to find them an inexpensive play to stay while they were in Ripon, WI putting in electrical lines for the local utility company. There are so many fun ways that a VA can assist small business owners." Michelle says. 
 

Being On the Road Is Easier With a Virtual Assistant

One of the common characteristics I have found with many small business owners is that we spend a lot of time out of our offices and on the road. We use our cells phones, iPhones, and Blackberries to receive client phone calls, return voice mails, and even check our e-mail.Technology certainly makes it easier to be away from the office, but it certainly isn't reliable! You can easily be chatting away with a client and then realize that you've been talking to yourself for the past  minute because you've lost cell signal.

And just as worrisome, we are constantly hoping we have packed our briefcases full of everything we need for the day and just hope that we don't have a client with any urgent needs. There's no one in our office available to fax an important piece of paperwork that we've left behind or take a phone call from a client who needs immediate help.

All of these situations can be handled by a virtual assistant. Kristen Ruiz, owner of Cantate Voice Studio, shares her story:

"I was on my way to the studio when I learned that the road in front of where I work was flooded.  As I was making the u-turn to go back home I called my virtual assistant from Daybreak Virtual Office to cancel my appointments (tedious work that would normally take me over an hour to do).  A few hours after I returned home I checked my messages and all of my appointments were cancelled, rescheduled and even a few lingering follow up questions were answered.  It cost me one call of about 2 minutes to initiate a workload of about 2 hours."

Another example comes from Jeff Mehl of Daybreak Virtual Office. "I know of a client was lost and did not have a GPS.  He called his Virtual Assistant, and she was able to guide him to his destination by phone using Mapquest."
 
How much time do you spend on the road? Who's holding down the fort when you're not there? How could a VA help you travel worry-free? 

Reminder of Tomorrow's Free Teleseminar

Don't miss out! Be sure to register for tomorrow's free teleseminar at 10am with Tim Piccirillo.

"Direct Marketing for All Businesses"

In this teleseminar, Tim will discuss the 3 main components of direct marketing while justifying why ALL businesses should use this form of marketing. Register here!

The Value of a Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant can make sure your routine business tasks are completed like clockwork, keeping your business running smoothly. But virtual assistants don't stop there. They can often add another perspective and act as a true team member who makes a genuine effort to help you build your business.

Tammy Neumiller, owner of Staff a'la Carte, considers herself an extention of her client's business. "My clients value my skills as well as my opinions, and together – with a good synergy – it can benefit both sides with brainstorming and information sharing," Tammy shares.  "I have felt sometimes that I should be a bar tender," she jokes, "as I have helped many entrepreneurs gain some insight to troubled situations or light to the end of a tunnel – or even a solution to a problem that seemed out of reach."

This is where the true value of VA becomes evident. It's not just the tasks he or she completes. It's the genuine support that they provide. Tammy has many examples:

"Marlene Chism, owner of Stop Your Drama, is the  author of Success is a Given and creator of the Stop Your Drama method. She finds that using a VA allows her to focus on creating her workshops or programs instead of maintaining a database, getting the weekly ezine out, and managing the shopping cart.  We also have brainstorming sessions to help her round out her offerings and bring out ideas that she may not have thought of.

"Another client of mine, Annabelle Bondar, author of Messages From The Heart: Learning To Love Cancer and founder of It’s Me Annabelle Inc. which is a not-for-profit organization in Calgary, Alberta   is happy she does not need to know all the computer stuff.  She is not technically minded and loves to work directly with people and obtain sponsorship for her events.  Last year she raised over $30,000 in sponsorship for her fall event without worrying about the behind-the-scenes items.  I arrange her book signings, help with the events, and am a sounding board for her when she needs someone to bounce ideas off of or to vent to. 

"I also work with Donna Dahl (www.makoye.com), author of Tradeshows: Building Your Thirty-Second Business and Demystifying Marketing: Bridging the Gap Between You and Your Customer, where I have helped to edit and format her second book for publishing, then physically came to her open house and book launch to work with her to promote her newest publication."

The personal touch that her VA provided resulted in new business for Certified Professional Organizer Porter Knight of Organized By Knight. "Wanting to collect data regarding from past clients regarding the long-term impact of the work we did together, in 2006 I had my VA, Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant, call about 100 former clients from the previous decade to do a survey.  Not only were the results fabulous (meaning I could leverage that data for future marketing) but I got a significant amount of new work because her warm touch to the client motivated them to contact me for additional services."

Consider the difference this could make in your business! Isn't it time to see what a VA can do for you?

VAs - Your Internet Marketing Resource

Virtual Assistants work through the Internet everyday, and they are intimately familar with marketing techniques and social marketing trends. If you want to boost your online presence and establish a consistant persona across the Web, you can find a virtual assistant to create and implement these strategies just for you.

Tassey Russo of Virtual Support Solutions LLC uses her knowledge of the Interet to support her clients. "For several of my clients,I  was able to provide input to key strategic planning for the 2009 year, including internet marketing strategies, new media or social networking techniques, multimedia presentations, product or program development and publication design or development.  I have also been able to lend assistance in idea development for articles, workshops and teleseminars. Or I have often been able to guide my clients to online tools that will make a significant difference in their working processes and productivity using online collaboration or distribution tools such as WebOffice, Airset, Highrise, Aweber, and InstantTeleseminar."

Patti Wood of The Body Language Expert has a VA to keep her Web site current and find hot new blog topics. "Melinda Janicki of On Demand Virtual Services makes sure my website is at the top of the search engines by posting my articles and teleseminar announcements on various websites and keeping my web content current and by telling me what topics are hot so I can blog about them."

Steve Silberberg, owner of Fatpacking.com, just hired a virtual assistant, who lives in another state, to manage his company’s Facebook presence.  He just started, so no amazing new revenue stream to tell you about yet.  My business takes moderately overweight people on backpacking adventure vacations to get in shape and lose weight. Facebook is a great tool for him to reach out the those interested in creative solutions to losing weight.

Virtual Assistant Diane Coville of Alternative Office Assistance helped one of her clients maximize his profile on LinkedIn, a professional networking site. "I recommended beefing up his presence on LinkedIn.  He already had an account but hadn’t used it. I started providing Social Media Marketing services to him – fleshing out his profile, joining him in groups, making direct connections through his groups with the same target market in mind.  I also sought out “questions” posted on LinkedIn and sent them to him so he could post responses – technical responses that I wouldn’t have been able to answer.  He received responses from those posts and formed some solid connections.  I then sent out a post on each individual group recently.  The post was:  “I am seeking partnering relationships….”.  Within 24 hours, he had received 40+ responses and is now using my services to do the email communication with these connections and has already formed a few solid partnership collaborations in the industry."

With the huge growth of social networking, especially in the business sector, you owe it to yourself and your business to establish your presence on this networks. A virtual assistant can get you online and networking in a hurry!