Archive for February, 2010
Is your Computer Properly Protected?
Posted by: | CommentsBy Anita Wong www.wsdnw.com
Strangely, I’ve heard from several people in the last month that had acquired a computer virus and had lost all of their data. This is a gentle reminder to remember to 1) back up your data regularly; and 2) if you have a PC, follow these tips to help protect your computer. If you have a Mac, you may not be as susceptible to an attack, however it is still important that you protect your system.
1. Use an Internet firewall.
Note: Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP with SP2 have a firewall already built-in and turned on by default.
2. Visit Microsoft Update to verify your settings and check for updates.
Note: If you’ve installed the most recent version of Microsoft Office, Microsoft Update will also update your Microsoft Office programs.
3. Subscribe to antivirus software and keep it current. Some more reputable software names are Norton Antivirus and McAfee, that cost somewhere around $40/year. Microsoft has come out with a new FREE download, Microsoft Security Essentials, for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.
4. Never open an e-mail attachment from someone you don’t know.
5. Avoid opening an e-mail attachment from someone you know, unless you know exactly what the attachment is. The sender may be unaware that it contains a virus.
Keep your business (and personal) documents and systems safe and avoid the headache.
What Olympians Have in Common with Successful Entrepreneurs
Posted by: | CommentsThe winter Olympics are off to an interesting start, as always. And while I’ve only caught parts, I did manage to watch short track skating when Apolo Ohno miraculously won silver. From the qualifying heats to the final race he was pretty amazing to watch.
While his competition in those qualifying races wasn’t super stiff, you could still see the mark of experience…As well as how strong and fit he is going into this competition. In both of those early heats he calmly hung out in the back of the pack waiting for the chance to make his move.
Then, when that chance came, he made it in a big way. In the second qualifying heat he passed all five other skaters with one huge burst of speed…flying past them so fast he easily gained, and held, a half-lap lead for the rest of the race.
Pretty impressive for a guy who’s old enough—and medaled enough—to retire happily. Yet here he is again, past the age when most speed skaters retire, and he’s never been more prepared to compete and win!
In a recent Seattle Times profile of Apolo Anton Ohno (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/olympics/2010986192_ohno07.html ), Ron Judd said “In his 13 years in the sport, Ohno has become an advanced student of short-track. He watches race tape like a football coach. He studies other teams’ training regimens. He has soaked up all the sports-performance knowledge thrown his way in a decade of residence at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and used it to retool his body to compete with younger racers whose legs don’t scream as loudly at the end of the day.”
By now you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with marketing your business. Well, there’s a lot you can learn from Ohno’s example.
Here’s a guy who has been competing successfully since he was 14 years old, yet he’s still trying to get better. And he does it by studying the competition, seeing what others have done and are doing today, then changing his own training regimen as a result. And practicing hard.
When was the last time you truly studied your competition’s marketing? Or analyzed what worked and what didn’t in your last marketing campaign?
If you’re like most entrepreneurs, the answer to both of those questions is: “Never!”
What about training? What are you doing to make sure your next marketing effort is more successful than your last? If the answer is nothing, then the chances are good that you’re not going to be any more successful down the road.
If you want to grow your business you’ve got to practice, train, and frankly, do what most other entrepreneurs don’t. Below are three things you can do right now to help turn yourself into an Olympic caliber entrepreneur:
1) Watch your competition. Ohno regularly looks at other teams training regimens. Then he takes what he learns and applies it to his own skating.
Most entrepreneurs never take the time to see what their competition is doing. Yet that’s one of the best ways to figure out what you could or should be doing to grow your business.
So take some time to do a bit of Internet research and see what your competition offers, how they offer it, what they charge, and how they market themselves.
2) Study. Marketing is one of the most important aspects of running a business. Because if you don’t market your business effectively, no one will know you exist or what you have to offer and you won’t have any clients. Without clients you don’t have a business.
Yet few entrepreneurs spend any time at all studying marketing. While you can’t exactly watch and analyze race tapes, you CAN review books filled with winning advertising and marketing campaigns. Many books written by Ad greats John Caples or David Ogilvy are packed with sample ads and breakdowns of what made them great.
3) Practice. Olympic athletes practice a lot…WAY more than most entrepreneurs for sure. Apolo Ohno practice three times a day. And even then he still doesn’t always win in competition.
Few entrepreneurs practice marketing at all, yet they expect to win all the time. And are discouraged when they don’t.
Need to write new content for your Website? Don’t expect to get it perfect the first time. Create many practice drafts, then edit until it’s the best it can be. If you’re planning to send out a sales letter, write a few versions and test them. Then refine them until you’re getting the results you’re after.
To Niche or Not to Niche…?
Posted by: | CommentsDoes it really pay to be a jack of all trades?
Or should you focus on a small, specific group of customers?
If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve probable heard (or read) people saying the money is in the niche markets. And that you need to focus on serving one, highly defined group of potential customers—those most likely, willing and able to buy from you.
Yet so many entrepreneurs run themselves ragged trying to market to everyone they can find or anyone with money…Or trying to be the “go to” guy or girl for all of their customers’ problems.
Typically this is because they are afraid that if they focus on one, specific niche they’re throwing away all that other potential business. So they try to be everything to everyone. Then they wonder why they’re struggling to make money.
Face it…These days most people don’t go out looking for a generalist. They want someone who has exactly what they need to fix their problem, fulfill their wants, fill their needs, or achieve their goals. In other words they want a specialist—and chances are they’re willing to pay more for one too.
This means it really is in your best interest to focus on one, specific niche market and be seen as the specialist or expert.
But how do you choose a niche that’s right for you? And what do you need to differently to market your business once you do?
Find out this month when I interview internationally-known speaker Susan Friedmann, author of “Riches in Niches: How to Make it Big in Small Markets” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Target Marketing”.
And the best part is, you can listen in for FREE! Just go here to register:
http://www.success-stream.com/teleseminar-20.htm
I’m going to ask Susan exactly what it takes to grow a big business by focusing on small markets. She’s promised to cover:
- What is niche marketing and why is it a necessity for your business in today’s economy
- How to pick the niche that’s right for you
- How to establish yourself as an expert in your area of expertise quickly and easily
- Why you should be a specialist rather than a generalist
- Common marketing mistakes that small business owners make and how to fix them
- Powerful niche marketing strategies that will put you miles ahead of your competition
- And much, much more!
Plus, as always, I’ll be opening the line up for live Q & A at the end. So you can have Susan answer your specific questions about niche marketing.
If you can’t make the live call I will be recording it. But the only way to get the recording is to register:
http://www.success-stream.com/teleseminar-20.htm
Already have questions about niche marketing or choosing the right niche for you? Post them here in the comments and I’ll be sure we cover them on the call.
Got a success story or tips about choosing a niche for your business? Please do share by leaving a comment below…
Do Other People Think Your Website Works Well?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen was the last time you had other people test your Website? If you’re answer is never, there’s no time like the present. Because while you may think your site makes perfect sense, you’re too close to it to be objective. It might not seem the same way to someone who doesn’t know thing one about what you do or sell.
The solution? Ask a few other people to review your site and answer—at a minimum—the following questions:
> What do I sell or do?
> Who is my target market?
> On a scale of 1-10, how easy it is to find and buy what you want, or take the next step towards hiring me?
> What’s the single, biggest idea or piece of information you’ve taken away from my Website?
You’ll be surprised at how often people’s answers won’t match your own beliefs about your Website. But armed with this knowledge you can make your site better.
Make Your Marketing More Effective by Peering Deep Inside Your Ideal Client’s Mind
Posted by: | CommentsDay in and day out, we humans live inside our own heads. It’s normal and it’s all well and good. Until it comes to marketing.
Here’s why…
As humans, we’re egocentric by nature. We go through most of our day thinking about everything we have to do or want to get done… Whatever’s stressing us out…Basically our own wants, needs, problems and goals.
Sure, you might think about your family or friends, and how you can help them or meet their needs. But it’s still always going to be in the context of your own life, your own skills, your own needs, your own problems, and your schedule. That’s just reality.
Your prospects and clients are no different. So the best way to get their attention is to talk about what’s most important to them. Then show them how you can help them with their wants, goals, needs or problems.
All too often entrepreneurs create products, or write marketing materials, based on what they think is important. Or on what they think their prospects need.
The reality is, and I hate to burst your bubble on this one, what you think is important may not be that important to your clients and prospects. What always matters most is what’s important to them—not you. Because if you don’t give them what they need, you’ll never achieve your own business goals anyway.
So if you want to market and grow your business more easily, you have to take a trip far away out of egocentric land and into the mental landscape of our ideal clients and customers.
You’ve gotta know: Exactly who they are…What they’re thinking about…What keeps them up at night…What stops them from taking action…And what they’re dreaming about.
Understand what’s really on their minds and most important to them, and you can create marketing messaging that slips right into the conversation that’s already going on inside their head.
Do that and you come across as someone who really understands them and their problems, wants, needs and goals…Because you do! If you can meet their needs and speak their language, you’re going to be miles ahead of the competition.
After all, who doesn’t want to stumble across a business or Website that miraculously understands where you’re coming from AND offers solutions to your most pressing problems? We all do, of course.
Plus, once you understand what’s most important to your ideal client, you can design your products, services, payment options, offers, marketing and more to speak specifically to that.
What’s really cool is…You’ll start to function almost as if you’re a mind-reader. Then you won’t have to work nearly as hard to get new clients or sell your products or services because you won’t be guessing, or focusing only on what’s important to you. Love that!
On the other hand, try to shoehorn in your own message or agenda—or push something they don’t think they want or need—and you’ll be ignored at best. At worst, you’ll create a reputation for being obnoxious, salesy, pushy or annoying. And I promise you, your ideal clients won’t give you the time of day.
To help get started identifying your ideal client and what’s on their mind, grab a pen do the simple exercises below:
1) Describe your ideal client or customer as though you were describing someone (a single person) to a friend. Be sure to give them a name to keep your focus narrow.
2) List your ideal client’s top 5 major pains or problems. This is what’s keeping them up at night or what they share with only their closest friend. Be specific.
3) If you already have clients or customers, conduct a survey by phone, in person or via email (use a service like Surveymonkey.com) and ask them what their biggest struggle, worry or problem is that’s related to whatever you do. This way you’re not guessing.
Whenever you get ready to create a new product or service, or write a marketing or advertising piece, keep this information in front of you. Then speak directly to that one person and problem, and explain how you can help.
Basically, give ‘em what they want! Trust me when I say this is a way more effective way to market your business than taking wild stabs in the dark. Or creating marketing, products and services based on what you think people need.
Get More Web Traffic and Click Thrus by Making Sure Your Links are Live!
Posted by: | CommentsAnytime you put a Website link in an email or anywhere online, you want to do your best to make sure that link is live and clickable. That way people can click on it and go straight there.
To do that, make sure you:
1) Always include the http:// before the www.
2) If you include your link in a sentence or paragraph, make sure there is no punctuation following it. So if it’s at the end of a sentence, don’t put a period (or comma, or parenthesis, or anything else) after it or you risk having a computer include the punctuation as part of the hyperlink and it won’t work properly.
When possible, put your link by itself on its own line. This makes it easier to see, and reduces the chance of it being corrupted by punctuation.
Hot Tips from the Small Business Success Telesummit – Part 2
Posted by: | CommentsThanks to all the powerful, business-building tips shared by the experts at the Small Business Success Telesummit, I could write an entire book. Instead I’m dedicating this, the second of two articles, to sharing ideas from each of the speakers with you. That way, even if you weren’t able to make the live calls, you can still benefit from the wisdom of the 12 fantastic small business experts who participated.
So today we continue with golden nuggets from the second half of the Telesummit:
1) Paulette Ensign, “The Booklet Queen”, shared so many priceless ideas about creating tips booklets and using them to market yourself and your expertise it’s hard to choose just one. In fact I have a whole list of ideas I’m going to incorporate from this interview alone! But if I have to pick one, and I do, it would be:
The seven ways to use one tips booklet…
Create a print version; Turn it into a PDF; Record it as an audio; Burn it to a CD; Turn it into an autoresponder series; Create a card deck; Reformat as a journal with one tip per page; Flesh it out into a print and electronic book.
2) PR Expert Nancy Juetten gave us her foolproof formula for creating a compelling bio. Simply combine: stunning results, a succinct story, sassy sound bites, and social information to help them connect with you. Mix all these parts together to take your bio from boring to better than the rest.
3) From Erin Blaskie, the head of my VA firm, comes some sage words of advice on getting started delegating to Virtual Assistants and other professionals…
You want to give your new team, even if it’s virtual, the time to get to know you and the time for you to get to know them. And a lot of people kind of give up early thinking it’s not working…The team isn’t getting me.
But if you think about getting a normal job outside of the entrepreneur world, you get like a two to three week training period, right? Same thing when you outsource. It’s going to take time to learn how to work together and what you both want and need to achieve your goals. You have to give it time to really allow that natural relationship to grow.
4) Leanne Hoagland Smith, the “The Results Coach”, hit the nail on the head when she talked about the power of knowing the numbers then planning to reach them…
Making sales is all about knowing the numbers. For example, let’s say you go out and speak locally for free, or a very nominal amount, and consistently get one client worth $3,000 annually each time. If you want to make $36,000 more this year, you need 12 new clients. That means doing one speaking gig a month.
So you break it down that way. Once you know what a client is worth annually, and how many you can bring in or work with, you can easily make a plan to reach your financial goals.
5) Nancy Fox, consultant and founder of HUBstreet social networking site, and I talked in depth about your personal brand. And the conversation couldn’t have been more timely, because while your personal brand has a huge impact on all your marketing, it’s especially critical when it comes to your social networking efforts.
So what is your personal brand? According to Nancy, it’s far more than just a tagline…It’s your mission, personal values and the benefits of working with you all rolled into one and represented by everything you do, say, wear and provide.
6) My own topic was how to get more marketing done and grow your business—while still having a life—by outsourcing to Virtual Assistants. And today I’m going to share two of my tips on this subject that I believe can have the biggest impact on you:
1 – In order to outsource happily, you have to understand that while someone else may not do things the way you would, there is a good chance they’ll actually do it better.
2 – Outsourcing doesn’t always go as planned…Not everyone will be a good fit for you, your needs or your working style. And some folks are just plain flaky (Plus, you have to learn to outsource correctly. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic.).
Rather than get discouraged, keep in mind that finding good people to outsource to is a lot like dating—you’re likely going to have to kiss a few frogs to find a prince (or princess).
Or, get all the juicy, business-building info from 12+ hours of interviews and lectures now and start applying them to your business right away!
Just click this link now and pre-order a copy of the audio and transcripts at a special, low price:
http://www.smallbusinesssuccesstelesummit.com
As soon as my team has everything edited and uploaded to the Web, then turns it all into stand-alone products for sale, the price is going to have to go up to cover my costs. So order right now before you forget and miss out on all the amazing, business-building information these experts shared.
http://www.smallbusinesssuccesstelesummit.com
Get More Marketing Done than Most Small Business Owner with this One Tip
Posted by: | CommentsFirst thing every morning, before you check emails, do one thing to market and grow your business. Think: posting a comment on a blog or in a forum…Calling a client or prospect…Sending a thank you card…Writing a blog post of your own, etc.
You only need to spend about 15 minutes making it happen. You don’t need to spend a dime. And I promise you’ll be way ahead of most of your competition by taking this one, small action each day.
Hot Tips from the Small Business Success Telesummit
Posted by: | CommentsWow! So much fantastic info was shared by the 12 small business experts (including me) at the Telesummit I feel totally inspired and excited to get to work taking their advice. It was like being handed a whole bucketful of golden nuggets to invest in my business.
In case you weren’t able to be on all the calls live, I thought I’d share a sampling of my favorite tips and ideas here. There were so many powerful bits of wisdom offered by the speakers that it’s going to take me more than one newsletter to even give you a taste.
So this week I’ve got tips from the first half of the Telesummit. Be on the lookout for more tips from the second half of the Small Business Success Telesummit next week…
1) Shannon Cherry “The Power Publicist” shared an incredible idea for getting your business written up in major magazines…
Rather than relying solely on press releases or responding to PR queries (which are great too!), write a letter to the editor. Editors are always looking for letters to publish since they serve as testimonials and/or social proof that people are reading their publication. And letters to the editor is one of the most read sections of any magazine or newspaper.
So choose a magazine that you know your ideal clients read, and start keeping up with the latest news, articles and reviews. Then when you read an article you either agree or disagree with strongly, or have something to say on the subject, write a letter and send it in. Be sure to include your Website URL and business name in your signature.
Simple. Smart. Powerful. LOVE IT!
2) Turn that busyness into more business. “New Business Mentor” Leah Grant shared a terrific formula for deciding how much time you should be spending on various tasks in your business.
She suggested you track how you spend your time each day in 30 minute to 1-hour increments (I use the time clock in QuickBooks to do this).
Then look at your task list and divide it into these five categories:
> Cash Creation/Marketing
> Admin
> Foundational, Big Picture Strategy and Planning
> Service Delivery (or Product Creation)
> Management
According to Leah you should be spending 85% of your time on Cash Creation/Marketing and Service Delivery/Product Creation (and I couldn’t agree more!). Admin should get 10% or less, and the rest of your time should be allotted to Foundational work and Management.
I know that might not be what you signed up for when you started a business, but it really is what you need to do if you want your business to thrive!
3) From “The Savvy Networker”, Zita Gustin, came these words of wisdom that work equally well whether you’re networking live or online:
— Networking is not a sales activity…It’s a marketing activity. If you enter any networking situation solely trying to make sales you’re going to be disappointed with the results. However, if you network in an effort to build brand awareness, meet new people and be a helpful connection (or connector) then you’re going to be thrilled with the results. —
So true. So true.
4) From social networking expert Nancy Marmolejo comes this tip that’s resonated with a number of people on that call (judging by their tweets on their subject). This is one you can apply in every aspect of your life—not just your social networking efforts or business-building efforts…
“If you’ve made mistakes, forgive yourself and move on.” These are words to heed indeed, because you can always change things for the better, right?!?!
5) Here’s one that made me feel much better about the piles on my desk. This powerful tip is from Susan Lannis, founder of Organization Plus!
Susan says, “Organization isn’t about being tidy per se…It’s about having good systems and processes to support your workflow.”
Basically, those piles are fine as long as you can find what you need, when you need it. Whew! See, I told you you’d feel better.
But don’t kid yourself. If you’re constantly wasting time and getting stressed out searching for things, you need better systems.
6) PR expert Dianna Ennen, founder of Virtual Word Publishing, shared a terrific little tip I’m excited to make use of….
Both ideamarketers.com and ezinearticles.com – two of the best known article submission sites—now also accept press releases.
If you’re already doing, or thinking of doing, article submissions online you might as well take advantage of this helpful feature to create more links back to your site. And even if you’re not, these sites and other PR submission sites like businessportal24.com can help you spread the word.
Stay tuned for tips from second half of the Telesummit in next week’s Bright Ideas.
Or, get all the juicy, business-building info from 12+ hours of interviews and lectures now and start applying them to your business right away!
Just click this link now and pre-order a copy of the audio and
transcripts at a special, low price:
http://www.smallbusinesssuccesstelesummit.com
As soon as my team has everything edited and uploaded to the Web, then turns it all into stand-alone products for sale the price is going to go up to cover my costs. So order right now before you forget and miss out on all the amazing, business-building information these experts shared.
http://www.smallbusinesssuccesstelesummit.com
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