Tops 10 Tips on Building Your Blog – and Advancing Your Business Online

We all want to have a better blog – and we all want to help drive traffic to the blog we create – so how do you do that?  Here are 10 tips on how to build your business by better blogging (alliteration is so much fun!) 1. Show how you were a super hero – with case studies…take a few minutes to explain how you helped clients and what you did for them that no one else could do.

2. Find areas you can carve a niche in – specialties you know you are good at, and that can benefit you both in pay and in consistent business.  Focus on those in special features on your blog – it helps with your SEO and helps with your referral-ability.

3. Write articles about things that are hot industry topics – and be someone that stands out – make a statement – even if they don’t agree, they’ll often listen.  Some of the best clients I’ve ever had were people who didn’t agree with me, either to start, or ever – at least not on the issue they found me through.

4. Forumlate a Top 10 “Questions I Always Answer” – and then replies and a quick 2-3 paragraphs on all of them, to give the standard reponse – yes it’s a BLOG-FAQ. 

5. Pass along the best of what you’ve heard and learned.  It is very helpful to the readers of your blog to know that you also credit others – for instance, a lot of what we learn here comes from blogs out there – and when we borrow info, we give credit – so here we will thank the E-zine Queen, the folks at Duct Tape Marketing and Yanik Silver.

6. Letterman isn’t the only one to make Top 10 Lists that are popular.  Call it the “ADD” or “Follow the Shiny Object” syndrome of America, but people love top 5 or 10 lists.  Build a list of things people need to know about and place it on your blog.  C’mon, it isn’t that hard.  There are plenty of things you know about that, broken down into 10 subsets, makes for an interesting entry in your blog.

7. Post reviews of products or services that compliment what you do for a business – and see if you can work out reciprical blogroll links with the people on the other end, or perhaps some sort of shared referral agreement.
8.  Interview a competing associate for a blog spot – ask 3-5 questions that matter to the readers of your blog – and get their input on how THEY would handle things (I’d use this tip about once a month, personally.)

9. Find Books,  Blogs, Speakers, others, that you can write reviews of, and that you can crosslink with.  This ties into #7 but is different in the fundamental approach and reason for doing.  With Authors, Bloggers and Speakers, you have an unlimited audience of people who will Google that person’s name and find your review or comments.

10. Actually ask for people to write you – and listen to the people you write for each week – take questions – answer and post.  This is a great way to lend credibility to your blog and to your audience.  I try to answer posts whenever I can on the blogs I help maintain.

BONUS TIP:  Be sure to do “reader activities” or “spotlights” – guest articles, testimonials and other info is vital to the continued success of your blog.  This is another great weekly, bi-weekly or monthly feature on your blog. And then, to go Gitomer on you – here’s 10.5 – be consistent with your output – be sure to post one or two times a week, at minimum.  And finally, when we figure it out, we’ll post about WordPress’s widget for expanding your blog even further. Thanks for listening!

Andy, Lee and the crew at www.uniquenessispower.com

Live Thursdays at 6 pm est – www.uiplive.com

 

Remove Your Opinion, Increase Your Sales

While there is very little that gives more satisfaction to a small business owner than hearing their radio ad on air, there is ONE thing that certainly surpasses it – hearing the register ring as a result of that ad. 

Ironically, most of the time, the spot that earns the sweet cha-ching sound, isn’t always the one the owner would have picked.  Most people are not born marketers.  Yet, so many C-Level executives and small business owners assume since they know how to run their business, they know how to market it as well.  Thus, they have trouble keeping their personalities and individual likes and dislikes out of the mix when it comes to crafting spots, placing ads or designing other creative to support their company. 

Would you rather have ads that you like or one that drives traffic consistently to your business?Often, the best copy and creative gets left on the cutting room floor, not because it wasn’t the best for the job, but because the head honcho didn’t “like it.”   It’s reasonable that because emotions drive our likes and dislikes that they can get in the way of logic. 

So, how would you know if in the event you don’t like an ad – that it has potential to be effective? Simply put – place yourself in the shoes of your audience.  If only the decision maker could remember, they aren’t very often the end user.  Simply because the spot is running on a station they don’t listen to, or using colors they don’t like, is irrelevant.  The owner’s like or dislike of the ad represents the tree, not the forest.  The massive forest is the target audience – the end user.

If you allow personal marketing preferences to interfere and simply address “your tree”, the money spent on the effort will not be anywhere nearly as fruitful, if it succeeds at all once it goes out to the proverbial forest.

Don’t get wrapped up in whether you like the creative or not – worry about if the creative will drive sales.  This isn’t, after all, about you (unless you are the sole customer of your company.)  It is about most effectively reaching your target customer and growing your business.  It is about finding the best manners and methods with which to earn your customer’s actions and loyalty.

It is about all these things, but ultimately, it is about making the register ring.

How to Harness the Internet and Own Online Customers

This year’s big buzz is around rich media and online advertising; which leaves little doubt we will see this medium takeoff in the coming months as more companies embrace this method for reaching customers. Rich media represents a way to reach the masses, and with accountability to show ROI on advertising dollars. Despite all the positives; overall efforts will not be as successful as they should be.

Why not?

Despite the onslaught of online advertising, much of it will be heard and seen as noise and flashing graphics, ignored as millions of potential viewers cruise on by. Throughout today’s online advertising environment, the message simply isn’t expedient enough, and doesn’t provide what the internet user covets – something that is fast, moving and fluid.

So what happens?

There sits your extremely expensive flash presentation with streaming video and eye-poppers, just waiting for your target to click; meanwhile they are 5 pages away in 30 seconds flat. When you are building an online campaign, you need to understand what your customer seeks, and how their mind works while they surf. Play to that mindset. Your message must hit hard, fast and be very relevant. In addition, to get the most return for your marketing dollars, your online foray should be coordinated with support for your other communication initiatives, building your brand and forwarding your business plan.

Sounds tough, right?

That’s because it is. Maybe that’s why so few companies in today’s marketplace have yet to produce a good online rich media campaign – let alone a great one. Most have created one, or worse, dozens, where the traditional rules get kicked out the door. Customers are overlooked, the message and integration with other initiatives is pushed aside and cute gimmicks that rule the day take center stage. You may end up with something that looks cool, but if the customer never clicks, who will know? If they click, but don’t take action, what good was the effort?

What Can You Do?

Resist the urge to change the strategy and the rules. To realize the power of rich media in expressing your brand and offering to the world you must remember: Online advertising is faster than TV, more engaging than radio and most present than print. It is a powerful medium for the future, but your technique has to be near perfect. Success is measured in fractions of seconds. You have less room for error than ever before.

Yet, the answer has never been more evident. The traditional marketing morays have never been more important – know your customers and their tendencies. Hit hard and fast. Experiment and be interesting, but ultimately, keep it simple – promote your brand while creating action that sells your service or product.

The Future Belongs to You…

Make rich media an integral and dynamic piece of your marketing and branding arsenal, instead of the money pit it will become for most companies. Capture those nano-seconds potential customers will see your message online, and own them. Grow your brand, elevate your company and sell your product or service – today. Your online market – whatever field you are in – is wide open and ripe for the taking.

 So, what are you waiting for?

Andy Greider
Home Business Owner and Coach (www.saveyourbottomline.com)
Entreprenuer, Marketing and Business Consultant (www.carrollwhite.com)
Radio Show Host, Author (www.uniquenessispower.com)

Qualify Hard, Sell Soft – Getting To Yes, Through Next…

We all know that time is money.  When you own a small business – it becomes more and more apparent when you find yourself saying, “there just aren’t enough hours in the day” or “I couldn’t get anything done today with all the interuptions.”  And in the end - the person that directly effects is you – and your bottom line.

So, how do you get through the day with more time on your hands?  There are dozens of tips and ideas for doing so, and making your business more effective, but we’ll begin with:

Qualify Hard and Sell Soft -

So, what does this mean?  Well, in the past, businesses selling things and especially the sales people making the approach, were encouraged to qualify soft and sell hard (present the features, and then apply heavy handed tactics to close the sale.)  This progressed to Qualify soft, sell soft – where the sale takes on the feel of a relationship – albeit a somewhat laissez faire one.

In today’s marketplace, you can save the potential client and yourself a great deal of dancing (read “wasted time”) by asking pointed direct questions that will help qualify the sale, so you can ask 5-10 minutes later – “are we now in a position to do business together?”  Most people frown on this approach, but it is far and away the most effective method.  People don’t want to use it because it seems almost sure to cause some people to walk away.  But really, if they walk away due to a few tough questions – would they EVER have been a customer – and how much time would it take to find out?  This is what we mean by getting to yes, through next.  Instead of hearing no – hear next – and understand the customers who are qualified are the ones you want in the first place.

Qualifying hard isn’t meant to upset – it is meant to engender honesty, integrity and trust right upfront, and show the potential client you care more about the business being right for BOTH of you, than you do anything else.  And personally, that will get me to “be someone’s friend” much faster than anything else.

So, what questions do you want to ask?Understanding what the customer wants, if they are new, or shopping around, if they’ve ever bought widgets before, if they enjoyed that experience, if not – why not, and more are all key to bringing them into your world and making them your customer – oftentimes, when qualifying is done right, it means they are yours for life.

If you want to know more about the idea of qualifying hard and letting the sale fall into place by sharing, you can drop me a line with questions or thoughts.

Inking the Deal?

35 trillion dollars is a lot of money, folks….and that’s what’s at stake in the new black gold market – printer ink refills.  We did our research and we have two recommendations for you – one is the established franchise company who resells refilled catridges – Catridge World.  They have over 700 locations worldwide and are reputable and reliable from our experiences.  The other is an entreprenurial startup which has unlimited potential for changing the way in which those who like to do-it-themselves can refill cartridges, and can even provide a business of it’s own.

 

Option #1 

Cartridge World allows you to save up to 40% under the costs of new cartridges – which is impressive – and helpful to the bottom line.  In addition, by working with them, you can help save the environment – one cartridge at a time.  Schools also can benefit from the catridges for cash program.  The refilled cartridges carry a warranty stroger than most new cartridges and delivery can be arranged.  Learn more and find the Cartridge World nearest you.Option #2

 

Next up, we found a great new company that serves the SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) crowd as well as small-medium sized companies and the entreprenuerial DIY (Do-it-Yourself) crowd.  Founded by Lenny “Inkman” Greene - who has been in the imaging business over 30 years – and built three companies from the ground up – FreeInk4Life is pretty amazing.  Most of the DIY kits we’ve seen from here all have a few fatal flaws – mostly low quality ink, or hard to follow instructions (or no instructions at all, even!) 

In addition to providing a world class series of instructions on cd-rom and updated online, the FreeInk4Life system includes some other amazing perks (now and ongoing, as in “for life.”) 

The kit is in an easy to carry, easy to work from briefcase style box.  All inks are top quality, and run the gamut from photo to dye and pigment inks – and are all in 65 ml bottles.  There is an included tool kit and no syringes, either.  Guesswork of where to drill each cartridge is eliminated, and this makes the system easy to use, while the 3 ml delineations on the bottles make overfills and miscalibrations a thing of the past.

• But the REAL kicker is holding true to “Free Ink For Life” – unlimited free ink for life (including the pigmented/archival ink) – and you can re-order your free ink online any time 24 hours a day @ FreeInk4Life.tv

Finally, for the entrepreneur out there, this is a prime opportunity to be your own “InkMan or InkWoman” – an opportunity to start your own personal inkjet refilling (with a price suggestions for your customers), with experienced professional tech support to answer all of your refill questions, so you can earn as you learn.

Top 9 Trends for Marketing

Top 9 Trends For Marketing

Get moving on mobile – by 2008, almost 90% of all brands will send text and rich messages to mobile devices, which now include phones, web browsers, mp3 players and will soon begin to replace the plastic cards in your wallet.  Seriously!

Big Ole Boomers – this is the only segment of population growing right now, and 25% increase in next few years.  Boomers are retiring earlier, and wanting more – find a niche and drive it home – especially if you can find a way to help meet their needs.

Learn to keep it simple – really simple – for syndication – RSS feeds can reach people more than email, and easier, for wanted info from a trusted source.  This will replace opt-in email’s current role and allow people to get the info they request.

Friendly Encounters – finding friends on the social networks has never been easier as they boom and grow – invite folks to come hear more, learn about you and find the good stuff they would otherwise be missing.  Don’t be afraid to be real – the internet online networking community requires a large degree of transparency.

Get Smart – with Smart Bomb Marketing (go Agent 69 on them!)– as in, messages that work within the space they are seen, on articles people didn’t expect to find them on.  Be creative – use Sidewalks, Hubcaps, parking tickets, more.

Take a step up. Take a new level with your brand, for a better price. But still keep the same midlevel offering. Given a choice, people often take the best value. “They may not always remember what they pay, but they will always remember what they got.”

Blog is a 4 letter word, but one that gets used more than the others. Leverage the power of free speech with solid info to get the traction you are seeking.  Blogging along with podcasting lends instant credibility to your position.

Although you can’t be everything to everyone, you should help people see your service and image in as many lights as possible – be sure to cross cultural boundaries with your messages, images and ads. This will position you to capture the AA and Hispanic buying power, which is, by 2010, expected to exceed Canada’s GDP.

Live your brand – once you know what it is. ID your target market, walk a mile in their shoes, and then, live your brand with the client.  This will help you express the idea of who you are through words and actions – which is a much more powerful delivery mechanism.

Taking Your Publication Online

While I was in a meeting the other day, I was turned on to a really cool new online company, called Blue Toad – by my friend Josh Felix.  I was amazed when he told me he’d found a company that could take his publication online for $3 a page(use code SYBL for discount beyond $3/page) I know many other magazine publishers that have paid a pretty penny (10-30k – yes, 10-30 thousand dollars) to install and then $5/page to update their magazines.  So I called Brad at Blue Toad, and asked him more. 

Turns out not only is there no set up fee, but the cost is $3 for uploads per page (Brad offered a .25 cent discount – use the promo code – coupon code SYBL) , plus his company hosts the content.  So, there had to be a catch, right?  Charges for streaming video or links or something?  Nope – $3 (use SYBL and get it for $2.75) and Blue Toad does all the work.  In addition, all ads are hyperlinked and so is email – giving advertisers in the publication a chance at double value, and through some new twists, even a ROI tracking option.  Plus streaming video is included, so is some Flash and other components competitors to Blue Toad charge for. 

Drop Brad an email and check this service out – it will blow your mind – but not your pocketbook – and bring more value to your readers and your advertisers.

How Do I Attract More Customers On A Shoe String Budget?

Working on a shoestring budget oftentimes makes people feel like there is simply nothing they can do to help attract customers or to grow their business.  They don’t market, because, they rationalize – it doesn’t work unless you have a lot of money.  This simply isn’t true.  There are a myriad of ways to generate business that don’t need to cost a small fortune (or a large one, either.)

Let’s begin with some reflection on a simple rule – people covet that which is around them.  In general, establishing good connections with your community is essential as a small business owner, in order to make it.  Some thoughts on how to do this – reach out to the people within a square mile of your business. 
A simple flyer or note delivered to the door, with a handshake and smile, can do wonders.

Work with other businesses in area who are interested in the same prospects you are – but who don’t compete with you – this can lead to opportunities in immersion branding, and to potentials with networking.

Speaking of that, start a networking group with others who also want to grow and expand, with customer relations at the heart of the matter.

From there, begin to work on information that will benefit your customer – and listen to what they say – and to what your competitors clients complain about.  This is one of the most powerful ways you can tweak your business to make it appeal to the competitor’s current clients.

Write online and off.  Start a blog – write some press releases (see below for tips on how.)  Oftentimes, writing can be used to help you position as an industry expert.  Also, you can tap the power of the internet through podcasting and vcasting.  To combine all of these into one locations, check out Hello World.

Keep in touch with your customers with a newsletter, blog or other form of communication.  Along with quick announcements of sales, or new products or other items of interest, a newsletter online can allow for affiliate links to related services and testimonial or endorsement space for those in the networking groups I already mentioned.

Use the power of technology to leverage your email list – and to get regular attention.  First, find an autoresponder you like – I use MMG.  Then build capture pages (it is very VERY easy to do) – and then send the page address to people who would be interested in the tips or ideas you place in the autoresponder.  For instance, my 5 free tips to increase sales and save the bottom line won me 150 subscribers to the larger, 52 tips – weekly for a year, in text, audio and video format.

One final thing you can do – earnestly offer a guarentee – place yourself in the customers shoes of being slightly wary of a new experience or service – and give them some confidence.  I tell people that if they implement 5 of my tips a year, out of 52, and don’t make back their $100 or $150 they invested, I will refund the money.  Period.  No questions.  (Honestly, I know there is NO WAY they can honestly tell me that, as any two implemented over a year, will raise $100 each or more.)

If you do advertising, make sure it is not something you just “try.”  Work on solutions oriented sales copy, and not feature based rhetoric.  No one cares that your product complies with Code 15T7Y – what they care about is “Since our product is registered properly to make sure you are in compliance with all local state and federal mandates, you won’t have headaches there.” And a laundry list of the neat things your product does is virtually useless…instead tell the consumer how what those features do benefits them. 

Obviously, this is just the start of the possibilities – but it is a good way to get some traction established with a lower budget – and then work towards bigger ideas on down the line.

Identifying “Real” Work From Home Opps

We all have the same dreams – spending more time with our kids, more time on the beach or wherever YOU relax, or just having more freedom, financially and in general.  Unfortunately, there are those out there who prey on those dreams and others who help advance them.  How can you tell the difference? 

Many different “work from home” and “independent consultant” businesses exist in the marketplace.  And if you are new to the scene – it can be very overwhelming.  We’re going to take a look at a few tips to identify ways to establish what is a good home business and what is a fraud. Here’s a quick overview:A “real” home business almost always has a startup cost of some sort.  There is no free lunch. Also, be sure they are asking for your social security or EIN #.  If not, this isn’t a real business opportunity.

Is this company led by real people who Google well?

Is this company a strong contender in its field – or is the offer “like many others – what makes it unique?

Do you believe in it? – if your friend of cousin or coworker does, that doesn”t matter – it won’t propel you past the first meeting.

Is the compensation plan solid? If you have questions, I can help you understand what to look for – both pro and con – contact me with any questions.

And finally, is this in front of, in the midst of, or falling off of a growth curve?

Some resources I’d encourage you to watch and read would be Brilliant Compensation and any books by Robert Miyasaki.

Save Money on Shipping Costs

For any business who sends between 1 package a month and $5-$7k a month in shipping – there is a unique option out there for you - saving you money on costs for shipping – whether at a corporate rate (or even more from a UPS Store or other shipping outlet.)  If you use the code ATL101 in the signup process, you’ll support this free resource, as well as the show Uniqueness is Power.

Introducing InXpress – a DHL backed consolidator – who allows you to send those same $14.95 packages for about $9, plus massive savings on all other shipping as well.  These guys are amazing, and I can not see, for the life of me, how someone would not be interested in utilizing their services – unless those people are THAT attached to the movie Castaway – or to the color brown and perhaps, recently whiteboards.Give Dustin a shout at the link above and ask him how he can help you save your bottom line.