Starting Your Own Small Business: Tell Your Story
In advertising and in business, familiarity doesn’t breed contempt -it breeds business.
Telling your business story is an essential part of your marketing efforts. James Chartrand writes in his post Creative Storytelling
A good story grabs anyone’s attention. We love stories. We listen to the tale and imagine everything in our mind’s eye. We experience emotion and are compelled to take action because of the stories we hear.
Matt McGee seconds shares in his post 12 Tips on Creating Content for Social Media that sharing stories is a GREAT way to leverage social media.
Heck, I even wrote about the importance of sharing your business’ story in my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results:
You must be familiar with your customers. Know who they are, where they live and what they like to do. Then, be sure that they become just as familiar with you. Tell them your story. If you don’t think you have a story, consider these questions:
• How did your business get started?
• If yours is a family business, why did your ancestors get into this line of work?
• What factors led you to enter into this business?
If you’ve got your own small business, then you have a story to tell. How did you get started? What inspired you? What would you do differently if you could do it over?
I’d love to share your story of how you started your own small business with readers of this blog.
Just fill out the form and I’ll be happy to share your story. (I will reserve the right to final editorial approval.)
Virtual Impax Contact Form
What Can You Do “Out of the Box”?
I’ve recently been reminded that sometimes, selling a service isn’t all that different from selling a physical product. When buying toys for Christmas morning, the three little words that strike terror into a parent’s heart are SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.
When it comes to hiring help, the similar phrase SOME TRAINING REQUIRED causes equal dread.
Since I’m not looking for more involvement with the IRS, the last thing I want to do is to hire any “real” employees. I prefer to work with fellow freelancers. I’ll 1099 you… you can 1099 me. When I hire you, I won’t tell you when, where and how to complete the project and you do the same for me. That way, we can avoid W-4, W-2’s and any other W forms that might indicate a more significant relationship than we really have. That more “significant” relationship would mean that I have to pay federal withholding, FICA, Medicare, workman’s comp and the other delights associated with a formal “employer/employee” relationship.
I recently got an email from someone who used to work for a client of mine. She had heard I was busy and wondered if I needed help. After all, she’s eager to learn and I could easily TRAIN her to do what I needed done.
Let me get this straight… I’m busy doing work for people who are paying me money to perform certain services. You want me to teach you how to provide those services. I’m to invest my uncompensated time (which is currently filled performing services for people who PAY ME) into training you so I can then PAY you to do those services for me?
Not that I haven’t tripped lightly down that path a time or two or ten over the past 12 years. At one point, I was burning through sub contractors at an alarming rate. I am surprised how many self proclaimed freelancers I’ve hired who then expected to be trained to do the job they told me they could perform. Something I found even MORE alarming was the number of people who expected me to pay them on an hourly basis as they learned a new skill.
Asking an employer for training is something you can expect as an employee. As a freelancer, you had better come to me ready to work right out of the box with minimal supervision… just as the IRS requires.
As a business owner, you expect to train your employees to do a specific task which they will perform for you on a regular basis. When you hire someone to run the cash register, you don’t hire those people on an “as needed” basis.
“Jan! Hey, it’s me. I’ve got a customer here getting ready to check out. Can you run into the store and ring up this sale for me?”
That’s not how business supposed to work. (Although I have shopped at a couple of stores where that appeared to be the business model.)
I don’t need someone to run the register. I do sometimes need the services of other freelancers to help carry the load. That’s when I recognize the value of trustworthy contractors.
Blog Diagnostic Tool - Wordle: Graphic Illustration of Your Blog’s Content
One of the basics of internet marketing is to recognize that keywords play a huge role in internet branding. Use the right keywords, and your blog will find it’s target audience quite easily. Use the wrong keywords and you’ll be left wondering why more people aren’t reading your great blog posts.
With that in mind, here’s a great big SHOUT OUT of thanks to Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog for introducing me to the very cool and very illustrative blog toy er, I mean tool Wordle.
Wordle will take any text you plug in and create a cool graphic of the keywords contained within. You have the option of choosing random text or you can pull text from your blog’s RSS feed.
To the left is the Wordle created from this blog’s RSS feed.
Not only is a Wordle visually interesting, your blog’s Wordle can also act as a diagnostic tool to answer the question “Why is my blog not working?”
In order for your blog to act as a powerful marketing tool, you must focus your (marketing) message. Focusing on the right keywords is the key to blog marketing success.
For example, you can see in this blog’s Wordle image, that the keywords “marketing” and “credibility” play a HUGE roll in the content on my blog. That’s good because those are the drums I tend to play in my business… so seeing those words appear in “large print” pleased me.
The term troll is a bit more prominent than I’d like… but then again, it’s a recent blog entry AND contained in the title as well. I have to ask myself, what did I expect that particular post to do to my Wordle?
Since I didn’t know about Wordle then, I couldn’t have thought much of it. However, the World of Wordle can help you to get a clear perspective of the role each post plays as you build your blog.
THIS IS A KEY TO SUCCESS AS YOU ARE CREATING AND BUILDING YOUR BLOG!
Often, when we’re blogging, we don’t think of each blog post as a part of the whole. It’s easy to view blog posts as standing on their own - when in fact, they are essential building blocks. Each building block makes a contribution to making up the blog as a whole.
From the looks of my Wordle, I’ve been focusing upon marketing, selling and credibility here. The whole troll reference actually fits into that theme if you read the post. I just should have named it something different to fit better into my Wordle.
So Wordle gave me good news on this blog. On to my other blog holdings.
I have another blog where the focus is EXCLUSIVELY upon using blogs as marketing tools for small businesses. The Wordle for that blog is pictured to the left.
Seeing the Wordle for this blog allows me to see that I’ve been focusing too much on the “blog” aspect of blogs as marketing tools in the content on that blog.
Not exactly good news, but useful news none the less.
With this information, I know that I need to start featuring the “marketing ” aspect of blogs in this blog’s content.
On to my next blog.
I created the Wordle to the right for the blog which I use to promote my book (Beyond Niche Marketing).
Ouch again. It looks like I’ve been focusing a bit too much on that magical marketing word “free” in the content of that blog and there’s not enough focus on the term niche. On the other hand, marketing is playing a nice role on the keyword parade for that site.
Informative and fun. This is great.
Just for kicks and giggles, I ran a Wordle for a client who is complaining that her blog isn’t “working” for her. She’s frustrated and with good reason. So I ran a Wordle for her blog. The image to the right is what Wordle came up with for her blog.
Now, if my client’s business had ANYTHING to do with gardening, then this Wordle would be a good sign. But her business isn’t gardening nor is it focused on kitchens. Her ideal prospective clients wouldn’t use ANY of those words featured prominently on her Wordle to find her business.
Unfortunately for this client, her business is about journaling and writing as a way to achieve spiritual healing. I say unfortunately because it doesn’t appear that is what she’s communicating via her blog.
So I ran a Wordle for another client who specializes in executive training.
To the right is what her site looks like through Wordle’s eyes.
Rosemary will be pleased to see how the posts on Miboso Training are shaping up, thanks to this tool!
Then, just as I was playing with this tool, another client emailed me and was wondering why despite consistent blogging her blog isn’t picking up any readers. So, I ran a Wordle for her blog.
This client’s business is coaching people who want to lose weight. Lose weight is an important keyword for her and is included in her domain name.
Yet, when you look at her Wordle, the word YEARS is by far the most prominent and coach does play a big role too. Weight does make it to the hit parade, but lose doesn’t.
Maybe it takes a bit of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) to build a blog full of the “right” keywords, but I’m really beginning to see a pattern here.
For kicks and giggles, I run Darren Rowse’s Problogger.net site through the amazing Wordle tool.
Hmm… blog, people, community, readers, campaign, advertising… those all look like words that readers of Darren’s ProBlogger.net blog would want to read about.
What I find fascinating is Darren has achieved this ideal “mix” while having guest bloggers write posts for his blog. Now THAT is the sign of a blog with a vision!
Wordle may appear to be a “toy” but in fact it’s a powerful blog diagnostic tool you can use to see the word picture you’re building with your blog’s content.
Take your blog’s content for a Wordle spin and see what you can see. It might be the best blog diagnostic tool yet!
Increasing Blog Traffic: Trolls and Drive By Readers
There’s a new “increasing blog traffic” tactic being touted (I wish I could remember where I read this now) where leaving troll like comments is being encouraged as a way to increase blog traffic.
When I use the word “troll“, I’m not talking about a fictitious, mythological creature who is obnoxious, hideous and dedicated to achieving evil ends.
Instead, I’m talking about someone who fits this description of a troll at Wikipedia
An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
In essence, an internet troll does share the mythical creatures bent for evil, but it’s important to remember that a troll is not offering his/her authentic opinions, which may or may not offend someone. Instead of commenting to share an opinion, the troll offers comments with one intention - to stir the emotions of other readers.
While troll like behavior is being touted as a great way to increase blog traffic, I’d have to guess that instead, this kind of post just merely creates Toxic Conversation.
The quality of readers you attract with troll like comments are what I call “Drive By Readers”. They may subscribe to your RSS, but they provide little value to your blog other than boosting your RSS subscriber count. If they came as the result of your troll comment, they’re seeking emotional juice. They’re at your blog to see more of what you delivered via the comment section they just read. They’re at your blog with the purpose of seeing who you shredding now.
If your goal is to be a Blog Shock Jock, then leaving troll like comments will be a great investment of your time.
However, the other side of that coin is the blog owner where you’re making those disruptive comments. As a blog owner, it’s hard to know what to do about Trolls. Defining troll like activity is the first step and sometimes that’s the hardest step of all. Wikipedia has an explicit DNFTT (Do Not Fee The Trolls) policy.
Trolling is a deliberate, bad faith attempt to disrupt the editing of Wikipedia. Ignorance is not trolling. Genuine dissent is not trolling. … They are only trolling when they are motivated by a program of malice rather than ignorance or bias. This requires a judgment of the personal motivation for another’s action.
And that my friend is the problem with defining a troll. A troll is defined by his/her INTENTIONS and usually it’s hard to determine those intentions with a single comment. Is the person leaving frequent comments really a troll, or just someone who needs educated?
The advice I frequently share with clients is this: your blog is YOUR playground. You provide the playground so you can make the rules. If you think someone’s comments are troll like, then it’s your right and privilege to enforce a strict DNFTT policy. In other words, if you think it’s a troll, then it’s a troll.
Have you had problems with trolls on your blog yet? If so, how have you handled it?
Comcast Changes Outgoing E-Mail Settings
If you’re a Comcast High Speed Internet customer, you’ve probably noticed you’re not able to send emails anymore. Turns out, they’ve change the outgoing port they’ll allow for email.
I noticed I wasn’t able to send email from my computer, but I was up to my arse in alligators and didn’t have time to “diagnose” the situation. I switched to Webmail mode and kept on chugging forward.
I don’t use my comcast email for anything, so I hadn’t checked it for quite some time. However, after spending the weekend fielding calls from clients who thought something was wrong with their webhosting, I decided to check and see what messages I’d gotten from Comcast lately.
Sure enough, they sent me an email alerting me to the change in the outgoing ports allowed to send email. When I tried to click on the link in the email which was to take me to the page with the new port settings, I got a “This address looks suspicious. Are you SURE you want to open this link?” from Thunderbird. NICE. My ISP is telling me how they’re subverting spam and they send me a spammy link to do so. I’m feeling the love.
I practice safe browsing and copy the URL and paste it into my browser. The page takes FOREVER to load. I mean we’re talking 1995 era 14.4 dial up modem type of a page with video load time. Finally, I get the new magical port settings. Fortunately, I don’t have to endure their customer tutorials to apply the settings.
I’ve written before about the trials and tribulations of being a Comcast customer.
The thing is, Comcast desperately wants to sell me more of its services… including better access to their High Speed Internet and their Digital Voice products. To which, I’ve got to reply, “How stupid do you think I am?”
SERIOUSLY! My current internet experience is being throttled during the brief periods of time when it’s working. I lose internet at least 3 times a week as do my neighbors with unsecured wifi connections. (Yes, I check to see if I need to reset my routers!)
Let’s see if I have this straight Comcast - you do an AWFUL job of delivering the services for which I already subscribe but you want to sell me more?
The longer I spend on the planet, the more I recognize that business is based on building trust. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose which makes it a difficult proposition.
