June 27, 2007

Make like a scout and be prepared

I have a client who is truly a dynamo.  She is a registered dietician who is passionate about helping others become fit and healthy.  She came to me for help BEFORE she launched her coaching business, which in and of itself illustrates her incredible forsight.

So, we got to work preparing her business for launch.

  1. We registered a descriptive domain name.
  2. Her talented son created a logo.
  3. We launched an attractive and professional blog.
  4. She had a professional portrait taken and we put it on the site.
  5. We set up a newsletter with a "legal bribe" to encourage blog visitors to sign up to hear more from the client. 
  6. We created a compelling "warm" letter for distribution detailing the specifics of my client’s new business.

Last weekend, a collegue of hers contacted this client to let her know about his own radio talk show on Sirius radio. His show is on a health related topic so it’s a perfect fit for her nutritional behavioral coaching business.  She sent him to her web site (a.k.a. blog) where he saw not only an attractive, professional design but he also saw relevant content.  The result?  He mentioned her web site address on the show and encouraged his listeners to visit the site.  As a result, her traffic figures showed a significant spike.  

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Filed Under: Marketing Magic
June 26, 2007

Buzz Worthy Blog….

According to Wired, two years ago Michael Arrington was a 35 year old former attorney and entrepreneur.  In the eyes of the media and the world, he was a "nobody".   According to the about page on his Tech Crunch Blog,  Arrington created a blog that is "dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies."

According to the Wired story, Arrington earns an estimated $200K per month from his blog and has entertained an offer of $8.5 million for the resource. 

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Filed Under: Blog
June 21, 2007

A Really Scary Word: Consequences

A great post over at the Runner’s Lounge in Running Has Its Consequences.

While the word consequences does indeed have a "bad boy" connotation, according to word smyth, the word consequences simply means:

1.    that which follows; result.

2.    the conclusion drawn from a logical argument; inference.

 3.   importance or significance.
       Example :an issue of great consequence.

Whether you’re running, blogging or building a business, your actions (or lack there of) are going to have consequences.  Whether those consequences are pleasant or painful really is decided by YOU.

No one (in their right mind) who is overweight and out of shape is going to sign up to run in a marathon.  Instead, competing in a marathon or triathlon begins as an idea.  Then it moves from being an idea to being a GOAL.  Once it’s a goal, then you begin working towards the goal.

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Filed Under: Business Basics
June 19, 2007

Unknown Territory: What do I do now?

A huge problem for all of us is when we enter unknown territory.  When we venture "outside" our comfort zone, we enter a place of uncertainty.  While there are some people who CRAVE the area "outside the known box," most of us prefer to live inside the confines of what is known and comfortable.

Yesterday, I ventured outside my know culinary boundaries when I purchased a Papaya.  I had read an article on paypaya’s health benefits and decided to try something new.  The article which recommended this exotic fruit even told me how to eat a papaya.  (Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and eat it with a spoon.)  I really don’t know if I would have purchased the fruit without that simple how to which was included in a sidebar.

As I was scraping the seeds from the papaya, I realized that without those simple instructions, I would have been LOST!  The seeds of a papaya (at least the one I brought home) were rather soft and I’m not sure I would have known to discard them without some instruction.  (I then did a bit of research and discovered that the seeds of the papaya are used as a folk remedy to induce abortion!  WHOA! )

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Filed Under: Blog
June 18, 2007

Who are you to tell me what to do?

I got an email from a client in which I discover this client is now working with a "business development coach".   In her email she writes:

My business development coach said that I shouldn’t respond to any blog that doesn’t have a Page Rank of at least 4.  He says Google robots check contact validity, and if I ‘hook up’ to a weak blog, that my Page Ranking will ultimately suffer.

Oh how I HATE it when this happens. 

My first draft back to my client went along these lines:

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Filed Under: Business Basics
June 11, 2007

Just Do It! Defeating Perfectionism as a key to success

One of the reasons I ADORE working with clients is that by working through THEIR marketing issues, I’ve found that I get insight into my own productivity issues.

The most recent "affliction" I’m seeing: the perfectionist bug.  It’s an affliction with which I am VERY well acquainted.

I love the idea of perfection.  I even like to believe that it’s a achievable goal.  My desire for perfection delayed the publication of my book by at least a year and that’s only if you don’t count the near DECADE DELAY they played in WRITING the book.  For many, many years my upcoming book had to be perfect, or I wouldn’t write it at all.

I know that I had worked on the issue with several coaching professionals, each tried DESPERATELY to cure me of the affliction.  However, the real start to my recovery began when I picked up a book at Barnes and Noble.  I can’t even remember the name of the book or even the subject matter, I just remember finding more than one or two typos.  TYPOS!!!  (It wasn’t a self published POD type book either!)  The difference between that gentleman and myself:  his book was published and had been purchased by a total stranger.  My book was still living in my head as a fantasy and nothing more.

It’s only then that all the advice began to sink in… how launching a good marketing campaign today is infinitely better than launching a GREAT one next year.

There is so much I’d do differently if I were writing my book Beyond the Niche today.  (To begin with, I’d name it something more "compelling" like, "How to supercharge your marketing in 10 days or less")  However, had I waited to write the perfect book…. well, I’d still be tweaking the title.

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Filed Under: Web Site Success
June 5, 2007

Does your Word Press Latest Activity Box tell the whole story?

Most of my clients are boot strapping solo entrepreneurs who want their web site to act as a high voltage marketing tool and while their goal may be to change the world one small act at a time, they don’t see that they have the TIME to blog AND run a business.

I recently ran the visitor statistics for one such client. This client was at a function, handing out her business cards, which included her web site url. We had recently migrated her web site to the blog format so she could make frequent additions to her content. She had dutifully done so, though she wasn’t convinced of the value… until I looked at her log files.

The day of the function, her web site had a LOT of activity. This isn’t unusual, but the number of page views per visitor was. Each visitor was literally CONSUMING the information on her web site… excuse me, her BLOG. It came out to each visitor was reading, on average, 10 posts. (Note: Not ONE of these readers left a single comment on the blog!)

Shortly after the event, she began regular contact with someone she met at the event, probably one of those heavy blog content consumers. I probably don’t have to tell you that her enthusiasm for blogging skyrocketed after that conversation. Just like the person who has been faithfully exercising for weeks or months who pulls on a pair of pants that were previously too small to find they now fit… my client’s enthusiasm for blogging skyrocketed.

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Filed Under: Blog Basics, Word Press Blogs
May 30, 2007

Blogging Metaphor: Blogging is like Exercise

Liz Strauss has issued a Blogging Metaphor challenge on her blog.  Essential Keystrokes has joined the call with a great analogy on her blog as has Word Sell.

These two blogs use blogging as food metaphors while mine talks to the other side of the coin… exercise.

Yesterday, during a conversation with a client, she commented, "You make it sound like work!" 

My response was, "I’m assuming that if you had an innate love of blogging, you would already be doing it and I wouldn’t have had to work so hard and so long getting you to this point."  (This client’s blog was launched 6 weeks ago and we were working on her very first post.)

There are people who exercise just for the love of moving their bodies.  I am not one of these people.  I exercise because I LOVE what it does for my mind and body.

When I bring up blogging with a client or potential client, the first objection I seem to get is "I don’t have time to blog."  My response is "OF COURSE YOU DON’T! But do you have time to exercise?" 

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Filed Under: Blog
May 29, 2007

Blog Design: How Important Is It?

I have to admit, since I converted my web site to a blog, I’ve been feeling more than a bit sheepish about  the first impression my blog makes.  

See, I’m really, really, really BUSY creating pretty blogs for my clients. 

BUSTED!!!

As I write that line of BS, I see what I must REALLY think of the design issue.  That design is an also ran.  I MUST if I’d allow my blog to appear looking like this. 

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Filed Under: Design Discussions
May 25, 2007

Is your WEBSITE is a waste of time?

Great post about When Is Blogging A Waste Of Time? 10 Nasty Examples. The first two are more than enough to weed out about 60% of the blogs I see.

1. When you publish a blog post that provides little or no value to your target audience.

2. When your blog has no clear target audience.

Which got me to thining that these two rules also apply to "When is your WEBSITE a waste of time?"  Because, in essences, blogs are just easy to manage web sites.

I confess.  I am guilty of putting together more than a few web sites for clients that had no clear target audience.  I tried to exorcise those demons by writing a book on the subject.  Because if you want to break through the cacophony that is modern media, you’re going to HAVE to define WHO your target audience is and provide material that the audience finds valuable.

Of course, content is only the first step in the successful web presence.  It’s truly the diamond in the box.  Sure, the presentation of an engagement ring is much more spectacular if the ring is presented in a beautifully wrapped gift box… but if the box contains a ring from a gum ball machine…. well, the pretty wrapper is soon forgotten.

I’ve always told my clients, great web sites are like a three legged stool…. there’s the content leg… the design leg and the coding leg.  Each is essential to keeping the three legged stool standing. 

There are other essential elements to web site succes, but the all have their roots in tightly targeted content that is of signficant value to your target audience.  Your NICHE MARKET, so to speak.  Once you’ve got your niche carved out, then it’s easy to fill in the gaps.

Filed Under: Web Site Success