July 9th, 2009 by admin
As a working mom, you may already feel overwhelmed, juggling dual responsibilities of work and family. When it comes to networking – yet another task – you may feel that “the time I’ve spent at networking has never really paid off.”
Creating a personal and professional network is essential for your work + life success. That’s why working moms need to approach networking with a different paradigm, explained below as a three-part process.
Relationship Building
Networking isn’t just about collecting business cards from people you think may help you. It’s about planting seeds and nurturing long-term relationships that mature over time.
As a mom, you may understand this process well because it calls upon the same nurturing skills you already use with your family.
Empowering Actions
How many times have you attended networking events and seen others jabber on about themselves and frantically hand out dozens, if not hundreds, of their cards? This frenetic approach only makes them look weak. As a working mom, draw on that “Mommy” authority to engage in empowering, networking actions.
They include:
* Give – Adopt a giving attitude. When you meet someone ask, “How can I help you?” Always think, “Who could I connect them with to help them meet their goals?” It’s a natural principle: The more you help others, the more others will help you.
* Ask – Be bold. Always think, “you never know what will happen” and “it’s worth a try.” If you meet a new contact and find you have an instant connection, don’t be afraid to ask for help.
* Follow up – Getting introduced to the “right” people is important, but it’s what you do after the introduction that really counts. If you’ve felt a connection with a new contact, phone, email or send a thank-you note within one or two days. Then, keep in touch periodically, even if just to say, “Hi, it’s been awhile…”
Efficient Use of Time
You may be thinking, “I’d like to stay connected with people, but I just don’t have the time.” Here are three ways to efficiently find time to network:
* Lunch Hours – I’ve historically used my lunch hour, a coveted ME time, to run errands, walk a mile or two or get my hair or nails done. Yet, many associations and groups schedule networking meetings during this time. So, I began to add networking lunches. It’s a great way to preserve early-morning and evening family hours by substituting networking lunches for breakfast meetings or evening mixers!
* “Coffee/lunch over the phone” – My business partner, Jo Della Penna, introduced me to the idea of networking by scheduling “coffee over the phone”. What a great idea! This is a more efficient way to meet. Plus, neither party has to invest in driving time. When you want to spend time with a colleague, try a relaxing “lunch over the phone” by scheduling a lunch appointment, packing a lunch that day and calling at the appointed time.
* Schedule in advance – Earmark your calendar to remind yourself to re-connect with a contact periodically. If you meet a new contact today, schedule the follow up call for two days later and plan a “check-in” email within 60 days.
Remember, the key to networking is building a relationship over time. By using the steps above you should succeed at establishing good relationships that empower you and your business, and yet, don’t use hours and hours of your time.
July 6th, 2009 by admin
The art of writing advertisements is something most people think they don’t possess. I hear so many people say that they don’t possess the ability to create ads that get results. The proverb that writers are born and not created takes over the thought pattern. I’m telling you to put those thoughts aside and open your eyes and your mind.
If you are in the business of Internet marketing, you probably read many advertisements each week. If you have the desire to improve your ad writing abilities, take the time and look at other ads. Don’t just skim over them and dismiss them. Actually take the time and study which ads grab your attention. Take those that are appealing and copy them to a file.
Continue reading ‘You Can Write Ads Too’
July 4th, 2009 by admin
How many free autoresponders have you tried? Really how many? And how many emails did you get through using them? How do you know? How many people opened your followup message?
My point here is that if you have no clue for the answers above you probably are not operating a followup campaign successfully. These are crucial element that must be explored when you are choosing an autoresponder.
Some good steps to take to ensure you are getting what you need out of a autoresponder include… Compare your autoresponder with those of top marketers, chances are they are using the best in the business. You can’t go wrong with this step!
Other observations you might make are related to spam filters. Have you ever gotten an e-mail and seen something like this…”F`R`E`E” Yes this is a good way to beat the spam filters as they won’t read Free they will read something totally different. However it can be time consuming going through your article and finding which words are “Danger” words. This can go along way in your marketing efforts. So make sure you find an autoresponder that has a spam rating feature… these features will automatically show you where in your article your “Danger” words are.
Another crucial element of e-mail marketing are your statistics. How many e-mails are being opened can tell you if your subject line is any good or if you did a good job branding your name. If you know your e-mail statistics you are one step in the right direction in optimizing your potential sales. Finding an autoresponder that shows in depth analysis with your followups are also key.
What should a followup contain? Good question… My personally experience suggests directing your subscribers to a full article located on the web. There are some good reasons for this. You can create an excitement teaser in the followup e-mail and beg your article to be read on the web. There is also the chance that since you have an article archive on the web many subscribers will often read more than just your original article. Your subscriber might not be interested in one article but they may find what they are looking for browsing through your previous articles.
Broadcasting! So your subscribers are finished receiving their original followup series… now what? Find an auto responder that allows you to broadcast an update or an offer to the entire subscriber list. Don’t let your subscribers go to waste, this feature is a must!
Remember not to bore your hard earned subscribers. Present them with a problem and offer them a solution! Its that easy…
Find my recommended autoresponder on my marketing blog!
July 3rd, 2009 by admin
And is having a logo really that important? My answer to both of these questions is an emphatic YES!
A logo is a graphic or visual representation of your brand. Your brand is your business, product or service and what it stands for. It’s whatever you are out in the marketplace selling.
Why do small businesses need a logo?
Why can’t they just market using their company name? Logos are expensive, right? Can a small business owner really afford to get a logo? Or at least a good logo? Lots of questions. Some I’m sure you’ve pondered yourself at one time or another.
I believe ALL businesses should have a logo
You need a graphic element that captures the essence of your business and communicates an idea to your prospects and customers. A mark that can lead the look and feel of all of your marketing materials.
You only have a split second to grab someone’s attention
You need to make the most of that time. A good logo mark can communicate a message or intrigue a prospect to want to find out more.
Before you decide you can’t afford a good logo
Let me assure you that is absolutely NOT the case. Look, I’ve been in the ad agency business for 20 years. During that time I’ve worked with some of the most talented graphic artists and designers in the business. But even I did not turn to them when I needed a logo for my small business. Why? I couldn’t. They were simply too expensive for my small business budget. So what did I do? I found a great alternative that’s inexpensive, fast and good.
LogoWorks
For $300 to $500 you’ll get a variety of logo designs to choose from and you’ll have them within just a few days. Plus you’ll get several rounds of revisions to make sure you are completely happy with your final mark.
What I like most about Logoworks
They require you to complete a creative direction worksheet that ensures their designs are strategically on target with your brand. This is KEY if you want your logo to be a good representation of your business. If anyone offers to design a logo for you without some form of creative brief or direction worksheet, don’t do it!
If you don’t have a logo, or if yours is in need of an overhaul
July 1st, 2009 by admin
I just bought a artefact afterwards accepting on a account for over two years. I hadn’t spent one red cent with this guy for two years, but like clockwork, his e-mails just kept coming.
Day afterwards day afterwards day. Anniversary afterwards week.
I assuredly gave in and purchased his artefact afresh (it’s in a acreage WAY alfresco marketing).
Why did I break on his account for so long? And why did I assuredly pony up the cashola for his product?
It’s because he had accomplished me to respond. Just like he accomplished anybody on his account to respond.
How did he do it? Lucky for you, I’m a administration guy.
Here are three things he did to body a acknowledging list…
1. He Built Affinity With His Readers
2. He Created Excitement And Anticipation
3. He Expanded His Line Of Products
Let’s attending briefly at anniversary one
1. He Built Affinity With His Readers
The guy told stories. He fabricated it personal. Over the two years, I got to apperceive him through his emails. And here’s the clincher…
I attending advanced to accepting his emails! Even admitting I get hundreds a day, I apprehend his first.
That’s powerful. If you can get your readers to attending advanced to accepting your stuff, you can tap into that monee timberline like a faucet.
So, body affinity with your readers by authoritative your being personal.
2. He Created Excitement And Anticipation
It never failed. He told me all the time…
“Hey, watch out for what I’ve got planned next Wednesday.”
or…
“During the endure anniversary of this month, I’m gonna do something absolutely appropriate for you. Watch your e-mail.”
He got his account aflame about things he had planned. I bent myself consistently adulatory the day would bustle up and get actuality so he’d bare his abruptness for me.
My associate Jeff Walker does this brilliantly. If you’re not on his account at…
http://www.sixinseven.com
… you should be. Apprehend the e-mails you get from Jeff. You’ll apperceive EXACTLY what I’m talking about here.
When you body YOUR lists, try to accelerate and burn them by authoritative ‘em attending foward to your stuff.
3. He Expanded His Line Of Products
One affair that consistently fabricated me appetent about this guy is how fast he created articles for his list. The dude was like a machine!
It seemed like he was advancing out with something every brace of weeks for us to buy.
Now, this is important, so accept up here…
If you wish to advise your account to RESPOND, you accept to accord them something to acknowledge to over and over.
Read that endure book again.
Give your account something to buy (either your articles or associate products). Accord them something to do (fill out surveys, acquaint you what they want, acquaint you area to being your latest product).
Then, do it over and over. Train your account to RESPOND.
Last Thoughts
Building lists is great. But, if you body a asleep list, you’re just crumbling your time.
You accept to body RESPONSIVE lists. You wish humans to WANT to buy your stuff. You wish them to attending advanced to affairs your stuff.
I accept a acquaintance who makes added bill with his account of beneath 1,000 than added knuckleheads accomplish with lists of 100,000.
I’m serious.
A acknowledging account can abutment your absolute business.
June 29th, 2009 by admin
There are many advantages you and your business can collect to publish your own bulletin.
1. To remain in contact — Your customers and customers are the vital element of your business. Which best manner of remaining in liaison with your existing customers than by a bulletin? A bulletin enables you to add personal contacts to your report/ratio and to celebrate big steps, your clean and your customer ’s. in addition to promoting your relationship with your customers, a bulletin can also enable you to present the products, to offer special sales or discounts to your existing base of customer, and to encourage references.
2. Hook in new customers — Unless they have an immediate need or came on your premise by a powerful reference, majority of the gained potential customers ‘purchase of T immediately. Often they will compare the prices and will compare that the means you will probably never re-examine them. However if you have a free bulletin which gives to the interested customers the opportunity to learn more about you, your business, and your products for free and they can also learn more about your interaction with your existing customers. A bulletin can be a very simple strategy to transform a disposable visitor into customer of life.
3. Establish your expertise — Nobody knows any more about your businesses that you made what does you an expert. Probably the construction of your own businesses has more left you with much of expertise in your field. Divide your nuggets of knowledge by your bulletin to look further into your relationship with your existing customers and to convince the potential customers who you are the answer to their problems.
Now that I convinced you that you must publish your own bulletin, I want to go above some questions that the writers and the editors of budding always pose.
Which is exactly an electronic bulletin?
Just like their paper counterparts, the electronic bulletins provide the messages usually written concerning a common topic or a matter. The principal difference is that an electronic bulletin exceeds paper and ink and most probably only never exists on a screen of computer.
A certain electronic bulletin are delivered only via the email while others are delivered only on the Web. The majority are delivered in a certain combination of both. The majority of my electronic publications and bulletins are provided via the email but also available immediately via the Web page (or rather of the page of blog) and of the food of RSS.
You can choose the method is adapted more to you and your assistance.
How do you publish an electronic bulletin?
It is much easier to begin the publication of your own electronic bulletin than it is to start to the top a publication of impression. You simply must decide on a matter, call your publication and start to write. It is easy to find an assistance (beyond your own user base if you choose) by the various directories of electronic publication and bulletin around the Internet as well as to go directly to the source, for example the discussion embarks for people interested in your matter.
You will have to determine a method of the delivery, which means the establishment the most likely your Web own site or page on your existing Web site; creation of the files for your exits once they are created, which could mean to install a blog; and detecting your readers, who average probable installing a sending or a service of autoresponder. However you can use the free tools to make unspecified among these things.
June 8th, 2009 by admin
Budget is the biggest problem for the business owners, especially the one with limited capital, to promote their service and/or their product to the world. Many campaign techniques have been try to reduce the cost for this part.
Social media marketing has been touted as one of the cheapest campaign methods that reach customers worldwide. Producer or service provider should register themselves into hundreds of different social media sites to start promoting their products as soon as possible.
As a first step, you need to build your brand image by creating particular identity on social media sites such as social networking, video sharing, social bookmarking, etc. Social media identity should be protected to avoid wrong usage of the identity when your business growing fast.
Submitinme.com help you to keep your social identity safe. They are very experienced with their job and know what they are doing. With cheap price, you can assure yourself that your identity in social media sites are yours and ready to use. Start growing your business with social media marketing.
June 3rd, 2009 by admin
To achieve sales target, you need some important tools. For you online marketers, I will write short review about one very important tool. Which is email marketing tool.
Email marketing is general yet powerful tools to build your brand and put it tight straight into your customer’s email address. There are obvious advantages when you using this tools for marketing purposes.
- Build strong relationship with customers or leads. With good email campaign, you will get not only one time customers but also returning customers that might use your services or your products over and over again.
- Rapidly achieve your customers. Speed of email is unbeatable. Since email has been one important tools for everyone and everywhere, your campaign will arrive in their inbox in seconds and might be read in the same day. Campaign with printed media or online advertisement may have same speed but but too costly.
- Easily update the information and/or special offers for your customers. For old customers, there are always a space to make them comeback with special offers. Email marketing will do better in this case.
- Free to put your links everywhere. You an put your promotional links everywhere you want. This fact differ email marketing with another advertisement methods which limiting us to place our links at strategic places.
- Fully monitoring each feedback from customers. Any comments, feedback, and requests easily monitored and the responses are always updated.
Those advantages above should assure you how important email marketing is. And with help from Marketing Automation tools and proper usage, it will help you to achieve your target in sales. I will write about another marketing tools on the next post. So stay tune.
May 28th, 2009 by admin
In the marketing world, there is the statement “Customer is the King.” I fully agree with the statement, because without customers, a company or the seller will not be able to sell their products. In the blogsphere, there is also the statement “Content is King.” But for this statement I do not agree.
Content or content of a blog article is important, because from the content people will see characteristics and quality of a blog. Even as the once mentioned in the article – previous article, that the content quality, the opportunity to get more traffic and backlink will be very large. But whether the only writing articles that can guarantee quality blog has become a successful blog? The answer of course impossible.
In addition to quality content, 1 thing needed is another Marketing (market or promote the blog). Without doing marketing, as well as the content of any blog, we will not have people who know her. Sebagai contoh : Someone has a bakery and able to produce delicious cakes, but if the owner didn’t promote their product to the public, no one want to buy their cakes.
Two words combination, the Content + Marketing is the right combination in the basic of a successful blog. The rest is depends on how good we do two things with the appropriate, effective, and efficient. How about you? do you agree with the term Content is the King?
May 12th, 2009 by admin
This is the 1st articles from the How to Improve Your Website/Blog Traffic series.
Niche is the niche here is the truth – true niche (niche market, a rare, unique) but at the same time many people sought in the search engine. Is there a such? Clearly, there is, but it is easy to obtain. But at least there are a few tips that can help guide us to make it easier to find and choose a niche topic for the blog and our article content.
1. For the first step should be to ask ourselves: “What is the field I feel enough cock, quite advanced, expert enough, experienced enough, or simply have a high interest?” That is the basic capital in select niche. Akan better we choose the right topic – true enough we kuasai although much less than we sought people choose a topic that is very much sought our own people, but less control. Why? Because in the end we will experience impasse, running out of ideas, and running out of creativity if we choose the topics that we kuasai less. Ultimately, the failure will be obtained.
2. If there is still confusion in a niche in the selection step number 1 above, there are some sites that may be able to give an idea of the selection:
- Http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers
- Http://pages.ebay.com/sell/whatshot/index.html
- Http://pulse.ebay.com/
- Http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm
- Http://www.google.com/products
- Http://magazines.com/
There are several products and topics that might provide inspiration for us ..
3. After some – get some topics that are quite niche, go to google’s site to check the following topics keyword whether the niche is good or bad:
- Http://google.com/trends?q=&ctab=0&geo=ID&geor=all&date=ytd&sort=0
- Https: / / adwords.google.com / select / KeywordToolExternal
It can be said if the search results and the trend is quite large.
4. Check also google.co.id or at google.com (for the target market abroad) about the niche keywords that have been through the three points above, see the level of competition. To check to see its number of search result. Too many competitors is not good, but there is no competitor is not good. Why? Come try it yourself why ..
In addition to viewing a number of search result, other factors that can be considered is the AdWords ads on the keyword in the search results. Btw, I just do what the ad is AdWords? Yah I like the tau aja ya, so I need to explain again what is AdWords. Logically, if there is a brave advertiser in keyword advertising is, there is a prospect, and traffic there.
I think the guide points – points are above tolerable can help us choose a good niche topic. The last step is to live to optimize and maximize the niche is. Points – points above can be used as preparation in choosing niche topics for the article (content-pillar) and the theme for the blog (for those who will make the new blog).
