Three Mistakes That Are Hazardous to Your Blog’s Health

There are three mistakes which can seriously limit your blog’s success and you may be making them without realizing it. Then, before you know it, your audience dwindles and you’re left scratching your head.

Here are the three mistakes you want to avoid:

1. Overestimating Reader Interest

Some bloggers believe the old “Field of Dreams” line, “If you build it, they will come”. No, they won’t. It sounds harsh, but if you assume that people will care about you the moment you start your blog or because you’ve been around for a while, you’re wrong.

Building an audience takes time and there are many variables. Make sure to interact with others and promote your blog constantly. Fresh, interesting content, delivered frequently will help make readers want to return AND spread the word.

2. Too Much Promoting!

Yes, you may have started blogging to build your brand, sell your products, or market your services. However, this doesn’t mean you should advertise constantly! If most of your posts are just thinly veils ads, then your readers won’t come back. Remember you want to deliver high-quality information which cements you as an expert. Build trust by providing value and your will be rewarded by a tribe of loyal followers who will buy without you having to sell them.

3. Not Providing Quality Content

Do not use any plagiarized content, or material you don’t have permission to use. It can land you in court and in debt, destroy your reputation, and cause your blog to be deleted.  I know it seems like this should go without saying, but you’d be surprised how many times this happens.

Content shouldn’t be too short or two long.  Few people read fifty-word summaries of news, and an essay of two thousand words on the same topic will probably get even less attention. A happy medium is best.

Avoid useless, poorly written, and infrequent content. All of these types of content will harm your blog as your readers won’t receive any value and your credibility will suffer.

It’s not  difficult to keep your blog healthy and flourishing. Keep your audience in the forefront, remember your objectives, and strive to provide value.



5 Tips To Position Yourself As An Expert

Yesterday I wrote about adding value by sharing  your knowledge and expertise.   Today, I’m going to piggyback on that and share you a few ways you can position yourself as an expert.

1.  Narrow your area of expertise – This is where the saying “Jack of All  Trades and Master of None”  comes in. Find one area  where you  really excel  and use that as your leverage point. You can always  partner with experts in complementary areas and offer your audience additional specialized information.

2. Earn trust and reputation – A good reputation is extremely important to be considered an expert. No one is going to listen to someone they don’t trust.  Make sure to build a positive reputation with your clients by over-delivering and maintaining open lines of communication. Respect others, act with integrity and practice the golden rule. Obvious but you’d be surprised how many professionals and corporations don’t do this.

3.  Handle Criticism Like  A  Professional – Criticism and negative feedback comes with the territory. Don’t get defense, just take a deep breath and LISTEN. This can be a real opportunity to convert  a disgruntled  customer into a raving.  Is the criticism or complaint valid? If so,  this is  a great opportunity to make changes that  can avoid  future problems. If not, take the complaint with a grain  of salt  and move.   But don’t take it personally and make matters worse by engaging in a dispute  that  can have  nasty  ramifications.

4.  Be visible – You need to be visible by actively participating in your industry, niche or field. Attend networking and industry events, conferences and other opportunities to meet the people who can benefit from your  knowledge.  Start speaking for groups and offer workshops or seminars. These  are excellent ways to become well-known.

5. Become an  Infopreneur – There  are numerous ways to  package  and share your  information and the benefits are two-fold. First, you increase your audience by shifting the way you reach them from one-to-one to one-many.  Secondly, you’ll  create additional income streams. Write a book, build a membership site, offer an online or offline  course, start blogging,  or launch a multi-media information product.

Provide Value by Sharing Knowledge

SMART Business Owners know that providing value to their prospects and clients is one of the best ways to build and grow a profitable  relationship.

Here are just a few ways to provide value by sharing your knowledge:

1.   Reports or white papers They don’t have to be War and Peace, instead your readers will appreciate brevity as long as you’re providing valuable content.

2.   Checklists Almost everyone appreciates a good organizational or time management tool and checklists are one of the bests. Real estate agents can offer a checklist on the documents you need to have to apply for a loan, a  life coach can offer a list of the issues they can help clients with, an accountant  can provide information on deductible business expenses.

3.   Resource List Share the names of  high-quality resources that you can confidently recommend.  For example, a marketing consultant can include web designers, public relations firms, advertising agencies, business  coaches, and accountants.

4.   Templates A web designer can offer simple blog templates and a business  coach can provide a  one-page outline  that can be  completed to provide users with a simple business plan.

5.  Interviews Find  well-known experts or “celebrities” in your industry and interview them. You can then provide downloads and transcripts to your clients.

Put yourself in your client’s shoes and brainstorm on more ways to share your knowledge.   What do your clients really want  to know? Which tools or information can solve one of their issues?

Good luck and  please  share your ideas in our comments section.

Thanks!

Is Creating Content Stopping You From Using Social Media?

Today’s post is by my good friend and colleague, Amy Hoppenrath.  She is a marketing powerhouse  based in Kansas City whose phenomenal success as the principal at AH Marketing, led her  to launch Acceleraction with Kristen Wing.  Together they’ve taken the Kansas City business  scene by storm and were nominated this past February, for the title of Kansas City’s Small Business of the Year.

She has a great article on the challenge of creating  content that highlights your expertise and having enough time to engage in social media promotion.  However, as she eloquently  points out,  you CAN do both!

Face it, one of the best ways to build trust and credibility is to establish yourself (and your company) as an expert. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to publish articles, blog postings, newsletters, e-newsletters, etc. 

Does the thought of having to create content for each of these vehicles make you cringe? Is the mere thought of this strategy overwhelming to you?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to take over your life.

First, develop a plan and determine how frequently you want to send out communications. Then, build a calendar for the year. Brainstorm ideas for articles. What do your clients want to learn more about? What are their most frequently asked questions? What problem did you solve for your client last week? To help with your brainstorming, set up some Google Alerts. For example, if you are an accountant who focuses on the construction industry, you might want to set an alert for “trends in the construction industry” or “construction industry accounting.” Then let Google do your work for you. It will continually surf the Web for new content that just might spur an idea for a great article.

After You’ve Developed a Plan
 If the thought of writing is overwhelming, consider hiring someone who can ghostwrite articles for you. Most writers can usually produce a short article after a brief conversation. A writer can often produce several articles for your upcoming issues, helping you to stay ahead of your deadlines.

You’ve Got the Article, Now What?
  With a bit of repurposing and some technical assistance, you can turn your once-used article into an editorial workhorse. Here’s how you might want to use that e-newsletter article you wrote:

• Use the article as your blog post.
• Set-up share buttons to encourage readers to forward (via e-mail, Facebook, etc.) your articles.
• Set up your blog with an RSS feed so that it automatically posts to your Facebook page.
• If you’re particularly proud of your article, you may want to submit it to article directories.
• Send the article to local business publications. They might use it when they need to fill some extra space.
• Promote it. Share the article link on your LinkedIn status bar. Don’t forget to check the box, so that it will automatically post to Twitter. Also, encourage your employees to post the link on their Facebook and LinkedIn pages. 

Sound like a lot of work? Yes, it may be a little time-consuming at first, but once you set up your processes and allow technology to do the work for you, you should be able to accomplish this communication strategy in a few hours a week.

Amy Hoppenrath is a principal at AccelerAction, the only agency in Kansas City dedicated to fueling successful professional services firms by creating powerful branding messages, developing strategic lead-generation campaigns and driving business development programs. www.AccelerAction.com

Happy Memorial Day!

Today is  Memorial Day in the United States, and I would like to thank all the veterans, active-duty service members,  and their families for the great sacrifices they have made and continue  to make for  our country.

It is often a thankless job, little appreciated, and sometimes disparaged, so I want to let them know that many of us do appreciate  their service even  if we  don’t always demonstrate it.

And  of course, to those who gave their lives we owe  a debt we will forever benefit from but cannot repay.

The 3 Things You Must Do To Ensure Your Emails Get Read

The death knell  for email marketing has been ringing for some time now. We hear how people are tired of overstuffed in-boxes and who hit the  delete button even before skimming the subject.

There’s an alternative say the marketing gurus:  social media.  This is supposedly the best and brightest way  to reach prospects and customers.

But how long before people get burned out on Twitter and Facebook?  I know I’m getting close to the saturation point.

Technology may change but marketing  principles DO NOT.

In order to experience success, an e-mail campaign must consist of three key steps. If one is missing, you’ve got a recipe for failure on your hands. Here they are:

1. Avoid the Hard Sell at All Costs

Your readers aren’t going to read e-mails that come from the shallow salesman in the tacky plaid jacket. You’ve got to build trust with your readers.

Intelligent consumers are wary of the hard sell. They use their e-mail to keep up with personal and professional contacts, read a few newsletters from valuable, informative sources, and go on with their day. They have no time for hype and sales pitches.

Most internet user experiences are so saturated with advertisements that their brains turn off the minute they even sense that  you’re trying to sell them.  That’s why it is vital that you offer something of value to your e-zine readers. It’s okay to promote your service or product, but do so in a way that’s informative.

2. Provide Real Value

If you aren’t providing value then you’re just contributing to the noise. Unfortunately, many business owners using e-mail marketing have become so hungry for the sale that they don’t even know how to provide value. Let me clue you in; it’s not by writing ten paragraphs that state the many reasons customers should buy from you or use your services.

Use your profession or expertise wisely. If you are an attorney promoting your firm, offer a newsletter that answers often asked legal questions instead of just sending out massive, generic e-blasts promoting your services.

Printable coupons or discount codes are also appropriate for certain types of businesses. Be sure that these are also realistically valuable. Offering a mere 10% off of a $5.00 purchase isn’t going to bring the masses to your door.

Whatever you do, the point is to remember that old adage, “give to get”. Give your readers something they can use, and they’ll remember you. They may even pass your content on to friends or colleagues, so you’ll get the added bonus of new referrals.

3. Compelling Content for the Subject Line Scanners

Most internet users are already busy people. You could be offering the best deal in town, but if you don’t grab your reader’s attention in your subject line…no sale. That is one of the main reasons why conversion rates of some email campaigns are so low. You’ve got to get in the game and grab your readers.

How do you write a compelling subject line that is ‘click-worthy?’ Try this experiment. The next time you are looking for something online, whether it’s on AOL, Google, or an online magazine, be aware of the titles YOU click on. Remember those days that you started off checking your mail and ended up ordering that new movie release? You ended up there somehow. Next time pay attention to what grabs YOU and try the same technique for your own subject lines.

Your subject line must do one of the following:

• Make an enticing offer
• Answer a real problem
• Give something away
• Spark extreme curiosity

If you’ve got one of those going on, you’ve got a good chance of being opened and read.

E-zines and newsletters are certainly not a dying breed, but your approach may need a little refreshing in order to capture the attention and loyalty of today’s savvy internet users. Engaging, useful and problem solving content is the key to getting noticed, and the key to increasing your bottom line.

Asking the “Right” Questions Leads You To Success

Asking the “right” questions will greatly improve your odds when it comes to any endeavor.  When it comes to marketing having the right answers will mean more clients at a lower cost to you.  Here are some examples of questions which can maximize your marketing efforts and dollars:

1.  Who are your ideal clients? Most business professionals have a very vague or far  too general idea of who their “best” clients really are. If you know where to “find” these clients and understand their characteristics (demographics, psychographics, affinities, etc.) then you can develop targeted programs which will increase sales more effectively.

2.  How do your ideal clients respond to certain words statements, or ideas? How can you use this information to connect with them?

3.  How much information will your prospects actually read? Do they prefer short articles with 5-10 tips or white papers?

4.  Who are the authorities in your industry or field? Are you one of them?  If not, how can you become an expert and share your knowledge?

5.  What are the biggest challenges faced by your clients and potential clients? What is their “pain” and do you have the solutions that they need?

These are just a few questions which will provide important answers which will help determine which business development strategies are best for you and your business.

I’m certainly not advocating getting lost in the discovery phase and not taking action!  Information overload is all too common today and can lead to a fear of doing the wrong thing.

But these five questions will give you a good base and by working the answers into your action steps you will ensure a much stronger  (and favorable) response to your marketing efforts.

Blogging for Clients – Why Every Small Business Needs a Blog

If you’re like most of my clients, you’re NOT an aspiring professional blogger.  Your main focus is to attract more clients.  If blogging can help with that, then hey, let’s talk about it.

Well, good news: blogging is a BIG boon to client attraction. Why? Three Reasons:

1.  Attractive Articles. Blogging involves writing helpful articles for your target audience on the topic of your expertise.  The great thing is that the content attracts those who are interested in what you do – perfect clients!  (Those who aren’t interested wouldn’t be good prospects, would they?)

2.  Brand Self-Discovery. Through the discipline of writing articles regularly, you’ll find you gravitate to the same ideas, topics, points of view, theories and perspectives.  You’ll notice what kind of people and responses are invoked by certain posts.  You’ll find your voice.  That voice is a big part of your brand.

3.  Dynamic content is magnetic! Search engines love to find new stuff on your site, and guess what? So do humans!  If you have a 10 page brochure site and wonder why you don’t get many visitors, it’s because they’ve seen it.  Post an article once a month?  Whoop-de-do.  Your target audience wants to absorb cool info in small chunks on a frequent basis.

Bad news: like most marketing strategies, blogging requires some actual work.  Darn! Here are 3 ways to make it easier:

1.  Think strategically. If you want to attract clients through a website, you first need to be sure your site is ready to serve them.  Put your contact info in a visible spot.  Have a form so people can get in touch without having to compose an email from scratch.  Offer a free welcome gift in exchange for an email address.  There’s no sense in getting 1000 visitors a day if they all bounce away after 29 seconds with no way to follow up with them.

2.  Get found. You’re publishing useful articles, because your prospective clients want that information.  To find it they’re going to search for keywords and phrases, so learn what those are.  Optimize each post by blogging on a single keyword or phrase.  Make sure the title tag and url contain that exact phrase.

3.  Systemize. Get ideas for blog posts from your keywords – that keeps you on topic, and your topic is what will attract the clients. Write a few short posts (250 words each is plenty) in a sitting on one day and program your blog to auto-post them throughout the week.

Look, I know you’re busy.  I’m a small business owner too, NOT a full-time blogger.  I’m doing a pretty good job with some of these points and not-so-great with others. But you wanna know something?

I consistently attract clients from my website. Many have specifically said they read several posts on my blog before contacting me.

But I already knew that about them, because I use a free tool called Statcounter.com and I can see how visitors move around my site.  (I prefer it to Google Analytics, although I use both.) I see which posts attract visitors, which keywords they use to find them and whether they sign up for my ezine or use the contact form.

For example, last fall I posted an old article from my ezine archive, but I gave it a new title, “Does a Solopreneur Need a Brand?”  A few days later someone found that article using the keyword phrase “branding for solopreneurs,” and a week later she became my client.

If you’re ready to transform your old, static website into a client-attracting salesman who works 24/7, it’s time to build – or improve – your blog.  To learn about any of the points discussed in this article, just contact me at samantha [at] enlightenedmarketing.com.

Or, share your thoughts on my blog.

“By Samantha Hartley of Enlightened Marketing. For effective marketing strategies that align with your values visit http://www.enlightenedmarketing.com/.”

Photo courtesy of Foxtongue

5 Reasons Your Business Needs A Website

It may difficult to believe that there are still businesses and professionals that don’t have a website. However, there are some people who don’t understand why they need to be “online” or have a very basic website which doesn’t serve them or their clients.

Here are five reasons you need to have a website (that works!):

1.  So  that you can be found (either locally or globally)

Once  you have a website highlighting your products and services you can reach thousands of people. The internet is the standard “search” tool whether people are searching for local or global businesses.  Online searches continue to replace the yellow pages because they are seen as faster and more efficient..

2.  It helps lower business costs – Other than the cost of setting up the website, you will find that once you’re online, it will cost you almost nothing to stay there. Compare this with “hard” marketing  where you are continuously producing marketing materials, making sales calls, buying ads n newspapers and magazines and so on. This doesn’t mean that  a website will replace your other marketing efforts but in many cases it can occupy an important place in your marketing funnel and will eliminate the need for expensive printed materials.

Another place to save money is on delivery costs.  If you are selling a physical product, your clients pay for shipping and all you have to do is Fedex or DHL the product to a given address. If you are selling a “soft” product, all you have to do is e-mail it  to them. It’s convenient and much less expensive than having a truck and driver available for local deliveries.

3. To generate referrals – Imagine someone visits your site and sees a product or service that they like. They buy it and they are very pleased with you and your company. Chances are they will  recommend you  to someone else (a friend, colleague, an internet group). The easiest and least intrusive way to do this is to send them to your website. If you have system to entice them to give you their name and email address you now have a prospective client list that WANTS your information!

4.  A website allows you to constantly keep in touch with your clients at almost no cost – Well built  and managed websites will have a built-in system of contacting customers as frequently as you like.  This contact allows you to talk about your new products, any improvements that you have made, and to offer clients bonuses, coupons and invitations to “client only” events. This type of client outreach would be very expensive if you were to use traditional methods such as direct mail or telephone calls.

5.  For credibility-  A well-written website including testimonials, case studies, and detailed information about you and your team will enhance your reputation and improve your credibility. By including articles on your products, services, and industry you demonstrate your expertise and sets you apart from the competition.

These are just a few reasons why you need to be online.

Fundamentals for Business Success in 2010

Fundamentals for Business Success in 2010