Promote U Guru Blog

Posts Tagged ‘small business owners’

Lisa Orrell Voted “Top 30 Brand Gurus in the World”

June 01st, 2011

Hi All!

Okay, so I have some cool news to share, therefore this post is a bit self-serving…but I can occasionally share news about me, and not just helpful tips, on my own blog…right???

Here’s the news I wanted to tell you about…it’s the actual Press Release that was deployed on PRWeb.com:

Lisa Orrell, Branding Expert and Marketing Consultant, Recently Voted “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World”

Voted on by over 22,000 industry peers and business professionals, Lisa Orrell makes BrandGurus.net’s prestigious Top 30 Brand Gurus List along with other globally known marketing experts, such as: Stephen Denny, Martin Roll, Sally Hogshead and Dan Schawbel.

Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is a well-known 20-year Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Certified Success Coach who works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, entertainers, professional and aspiring speakers, and book authors. And, based on her track record, she was recently included on BrandGurus.net’s “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” List. According to BrandGurus.net, the winners who made their final Top 30 list were voted on by more than 22,000 industry and business professionals around the globe. 

“I didn’t even know I had been nominated to be considered for this list. Apparently they had a rather large list of candidates and then put it out to their industry database and social media networks for voting,” explains Lisa Orrell. “I wasn’t notified until the Top 30 List had been selected, so it was a total surprise! And, after looking at the experts who were on there with me, I realized I was in great company. I actually know some of them personally or I have read their popular business and branding books.”

Aside from coaching and consulting with clients, Lisa is also the author of 3 business books: “Millennials Incorporated”, “Millennials into Leadership, and of her highly anticipated new one coming out in August 2011, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. And, as a professional speaker herself, Lisa conducts popular workshops and seminars on Personal and Business Branding, Marketing, PR, Publicity, Social Media, Book Marketing and Publishing, and launching a Speaker Platform.

“I think Lisa totally deserves to be on that list,” says one of Orrell’s clients, Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Coach, founder of the Timestyle Time Management Approach, aspiring author, and professional speaker. “She has been amazing at helping me create my branding and positioning, launching my coaching and consulting business, building my speaker platform, and helping me develop the concept for my first book. Lisa is so good at what she does…it’s what she’s done her entire professional life!” 

Because of her vast business experience and notoriety, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, U.S. News & World Report, Cosmo, China’s Her World Magazine, BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and countless others. Plus, aside from being selected for The Top 30 Brand Guru’s List, Lisa is also the recipient of over 75 national and international awards for marketing, creative and strategic excellence.

People follow Lisa’s business insights, tips and advice on Twitter @PromoteUGuru, through her Promote U Guru blog, and on her Facebook Fan Page: Facebook.com/PromoteUGuru.

For media inquiries, to contact Lisa about her services, or to have her speak at your next Professional Association event, contact her at: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com, phone: 408-340-8789, website: PromoteUGuru.com

OKAY! So that’s the cool news I wanted to share!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

How I’m Celebrating 2011 National Small Business Week

May 16th, 2011

Hi All!

This week, May 16-May 20, is National Small Business Week! It’s an annual event, mandated by the President of the United States, and was started in 1963 to pay tribute to all the small businesses across America each year (now totaling 27.2 million in 2011!).

Other quick factoids: More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses also create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country…so we contribute to the economy big time!

And, because I coach and consult with small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors, and I see how much they struggle with their branding, marketing, PR, sales, book marketing, and/or social media strategies (prior to hiring me, of course!), I wanted to celebrate this annual event by providing you with a special offer to help your business succeed.

Special Offer Details:

- Receive a 15% discount on ANY consulting package that I offer. I provide a wide variety of package options ranging in cost so you are sure to find one that fits your budget!

- In addition to the special savings, I will also ADD one “bonus” consulting session to any package you choose!

- This is limited to the first 5 people who contact me by the end of this national event (by Friday, May 20th).

So if you are struggling with your branding, marketing, PR, social media, sales and/or book marketing efforts, contact me right away. I can also help you develop a “topic expert” personal brand platform to attract paid public speaking opportunities and media interviews…I help most of my clients with that!

Again, this is limited to 5 people and you need to contact me by May 20th. Just send me an email or give me a call and I will email you my complete Services & Options Overview Package. Contact info: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com or call 408-340-8789.

Let’s get your brand, business and bottom-line booming in 2011!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

How to Write Articles for Branding and Web Traffic: Part One

March 07th, 2011

Hi All!

A very powerful strategy for building your topic expert brand positioning, and for driving traffic to your website, is to write articles and submit them to online article distribution services. Some small business owners also choose to do this for additional income (because there are some article services and media that will pay for your articles), but many experts don’t do it for pay; they write articles for the 2 other key reasons I mentioned.

In Part One of this 2-part series I’d like to outline 12 ways to make your articles compelling and how they can become significant traffic-drivers to your website.

I’ll then conclude this 2-part series next week by providing you with a list of some popular online article submission and distribution services that you can use to get your articles distributed to the masses.

12 Ways to Create Articles for Brand Building: 

When you write interesting articles in your area of expertise, it immediately positions you as an expert in your field. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and this can attract clients to you, as well as attract media interviews for you. But, if you’re not a great writer, don’t panic! You can hire ghostwriters (inexpensively) who will write them for you, and you can simply provide them with the topics you think will benefit your target audience.

However, regardless of whether you write the articles or someone does it for you, here are 12 tips for making them compelling and a valuable marketing tool for you:

  1. Grab The Reader’s Attention Fast: Make sure to create an interesting title for your article, and you can even make it a thought-provoking question. Also, in your opening paragraph set-up the “pain point” you’re going to solve and why it’s important to them. Writing articles that will solve a problem for your target audience is a great strategy for the angles you develop.
  2. Keep the Articles Simple and Easy to Understand Quickly: People want to read quick-hit information that they can grasp fast and benefit from. So make sure the articles you write provide good, helpful information and are written in a succinct style. A good way to achieve this is to use bullet points or numbered points so that your key messages and tips are easy to reference and follow. Having your key points “buried” in paragraphs will make it frustrating for your readers.
  3. Add Keywords for Online Search: Your articles will be posted in numerous ways online and will often be found by people doing keyword searches on your topic matter. So you want to make sure that you use the Google keyword tool that I mentioned back in the chapter about writing an effective Press Release, and add those popular search terms in the body of your articles. I know many experts who rapidly increase their search rankings because of writing articles, and oftentimes their articles start ranking higher in search results than their main websites do. Therefore, you want to implement this strategy!
  4. Make Your Articles Short: You don’t need to write super long articles to make them good. This is about quality not quantity! Most articles that I, and other experts write, are around 400-700 words. Keeping them short not only makes it easier for your readers but makes it easier for you to write them on an on-going basis.
  5. Don’t Pitch Your Services and Products: When you write articles it’s only about providing helpful info to your target audience. It is not about making your articles big infomercials to pitch yourself and/or your products. If you write good articles that people truly learn from, they will typically want to learn more about you and they will visit your website. The fastest way to kill your credibility and lose a potential “fan” is by trying to sell them on something in your article content.
  6. Be Yourself in Your Writing Style: Conveying yourself as likeable is important! If you’re a fun person, be sure to bring out your personality in your articles. This is the same advice I give to clients who hire me as a coach and consultant to launch their speaking careers! Don’t be one person on the stage and another person off stage. People can see through that because you’re not being authentic. And when you write articles, it may be the FIRST contact anyone has with you; even before seeing your website. So you want to make sure who you really are comes through in your writing. A good example of this is my writing style. I write in a very conversational way, and write very close to how I speak. I’m not afraid to add in sarcastic comments, casual verbiage or silly phrases to anything I write because that’s “who” I am…and I want my readers to get to know “me”!
  7. Don’t Quote Other Experts: The purpose of your articles is to showcase you; not someone who could be a competitor. You normally only want to quote other people in your articles if their information really adds to your message and content quality. Sure, you can quote stats and research results from studies you find, but try to avoid quoting or mentioning other experts who are similar to you.
  8. Offer Your Articles on Your Website: When I submit articles online, I also add them to my website, in Word, so that people can download them to use as content on their blogs, ezines, websites and newsletters. And, on my article web page, I clearly state they can use my articles as long as they are shown in their entirety, and the short bio about me provided at the end of each article is included. I also ask that they send me a link to it when it’s used. Millions of people are constantly seeking for content and understand they have to source the author who wrote it. This is great for driving their traffic to you!
  9. Create an E-book: Once you have several articles done, you can also compile them into an e-book and either offer it as a free gift on your website (as long as people provide you with their contact info to download it), or you can sell it. Either way, this is a good strategy for creating simple products and for building your contact list.
  10. Write Them Consistently: If possible, try to write and submit at least one article per month online. I know experts who do one-per-week because they receive so much benefit from doing so, but that may be tough for many of you. Start by writing a few, and after you get the hang of it and start developing a “formula” for cranking them out (or hire a ghostwriter to do them for you), you can start to increase how many you publish monthly.
  11. Share Your Links: Many article distribution services will create a web page for your article that will be found through online searches. You’ll have a unique url for your article’s page and can share that link to drive traffic to your article on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and in emails to your contact database.
  12. Embed Links in Your Articles: When you write an article, make sure to have certain words or phrases that have hyperlinks to pages on your website, your blog posts, Twitter page, Facebook page, and/or to other articles you have written and that are posted online. Just make sure the links take them to info that is relevant to what you’re writing about and to points you are making.

Okay! Get started on creating a list of article topics that will interest your target audience and showcase your topic expert knowledge. And be sure to read Part Two of this series for services that can distribute them for you to obtain massive website traffic and readers!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

4 Steps to Leveraging Other People’s Audiences for Big Exposure

January 14th, 2011

Hi All!

I saw the following blog post on ByBloggers.net (an amazing resource for learning effective strategies to create and market digital products), and received permission from them, and the article’s author, to share it here. It’s loaded with great information to help you expand your brand to the followers of other bloggers and online broadcasters (ie: People with podcast shows) who have large audiences.

No need for me to go on about this topic…author, Mike Tiojanco, does a fine job on his own! But before you dive into his info-packed article, here’s some info about Mike: He is an entrepreneur, blogger, and partner at BlogcastFM Premium. In January, he is launching his new project, 8 Hour Rebellion, aimed at helping people break out of the 9-5 and live a life free from the chains of an office desk (so he can spend more time with his wife, two kids, and Xbox360). And you can follow him on twitter: @mtio.

So, without further delay…here is what Mike has to say about:

Leveraging Other People’s Audiences

Most entrepreneurs are familiar with the concept of using leverage to make money.

Use other people’s time (OPT) or, more commonly, other people’s money (OPM) to push your business.

However, when I launched a membership site, it wasn’t OPT or OPM that made it a success.

It was OPA. Other People’s Audiences.

Anatomy of a Partnership

Last November, I helped launch BlogcastFM Premium – a membership site that helps people take their blogs to the next level.

None of that would have happened without a partnership between myself and the BlogcastFM founders, Srini Rao and Sid Savara.

Let’s go step-by-step through the partnership/joint venture (JV) process as I experienced it:

1. Build Your Network

Way back in February I heard about a new podcast series that was launching – BlogcastFM. I had been reading Sid’s personal development blog and following him on twitter. I was just starting my own blog at the time, so the podcast content was perfect for me.

I ended up following Srini on twitter and reading his blog.

A couple posts into my blog I shot him an email asking him to take a look. He was kind enough to take few minutes to check it out and give me some feedback.

I kept in contact with him via twitter, and eventually pitched him on my very first guest post.

At the time I had no clue that these initial contacts would turn into a partnership, but at the time I was just looking to connect with people who were doing what I wanted to be doing.

The takeaway: Work on building your network early and often. Many successful bloggers advise that you spend 50% of your time writing content and 50% of your time networking.

2. Listen to People’s Needs

Like I mentioned before, I am a devoted listener of BlogcastFM.

I listen to just about every episode the day it comes out, sometimes more than once (I’ve got a 45 min. commute).

After listening to that many episodes, a common theme appeared.

In just about every episode, Srini commented, “If I could put into action the ideas I get from every interview, my blog would be way more successful than it is.”

So even Srini, the host of the podcast… the interviewer himself… needed help pulling the best tips out of every interview and figuring out how to implement them.

Surely their audience was having the same issues.

I could help with that.

The Takeaway: Find something that someone’s audience needs that the blogger doesn’t have time to create (or has no interest in creating).

Dave Navarro did this with Naomi Dunford’s audience.

Her audience at ittybiz.com consists of small online business owners. She offers marketing and business development advice – a lot of which is focused on creating ebooks and other digital products. However, her material didn’t really focus on how to launch the ebook once it was created – Dave’s specialty.

Before partnering on “How to Launch the **** of Your eBook,” Dave Navarro was mostly unknown. It was the partnership with Naomi that put him on the map.

3. Pitch the Idea

Back in September, I approached them with an idea for the product – a membership site offering action worksheets for each of their 100+ interviews on BlogcastFM.

They said yes.

I think what really put them over the edge is that I provided a sample of the product – an action worksheet for the interview with Sean Ogle.

This let them see exactly what I had in mind, as opposed to an abstract description in an email.

The Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to pitch the idea. After my pitch, the feedback the guys gave to me was that this was something they really wanted to create for their audience, but they didn’t have the time to do it themselves. Worst case scenario, they pass, but now you’re really on their radar.

The last step:

4. Make Them Love You.

This is something I’m still working on, and will continue to work on as long as BlogcastFM is around.

Do the best work you can.

Make them feel lucky to have you on their team.

Remember, your work is a reflection on their reputation.

The Takeaway: After someone says yes, provide the best work you can so that they feel that the partnership was the best business decision they ever made.

Like I said, I’m still working on this one. I had some family issues that prevented me from doing this over the past month or so, but you better believe I’m going to work my tail off showing them that this was the right decision for them.

That said, I’ve got some interviews to listen to and some worksheets to create…

BIG thanks to Mike, and to Jonathan, founder of ByBloggers.net, for allowing me to share this! GREAT ADVICE and useful info!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

7 Easy Steps to An Effective Marketing Strategy For 2011

January 01st, 2011

Hi All!

The New Year is here…are you ready with a Marketing Plan and Strategy to enter 2011 organized, poised for revenue growth and career success? If you are, fabulous!

However, if you’re like many of the new clients who hire me, you’re probably “hoping” 2011 will be better but don’t really have a plan to make it happen. You may even know your previous marketing efforts have been ineffective, but have no clue what to do to fix and improve them.

Oftentimes, I find that small business owners, speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, etc. are good at what they do in their profession, but aren’t that great at marketing themselves, their businesses, and/or their products. They run in circles in a “reactive” mode (versus create a strategic plan) and then wonder why they are struggling to land new clients, sell books, secure speaking opportunities, or generate more income for their businesses through other avenues.

If any of this resonates with you, keep reading!

Here are 7 steps to help you create an effective Marketing Plan and Strategy for the New Year:

  1. It’s time to really research your target audience. Do you really know what your customers and potential customers want? Do you have a profile that describes your “ideal” customer/client? Or, perhaps you want to expand out of your current target audience and find new types of clients. For example, maybe you’re a Coach or Consultant and want to start attracting clients who are willing to pay higher fees for your services. Do you know “who” they are and where to reach them? You can’t effectively market to them if you don’t know all of this important information first!
  2. Research your competition. Sure, this may sound like common sense but many small business owners don’t take the time to do this. What do your competitors offer? What do they charge? What products or services do they offer that you don’t? What types of marketing strategies are they using that could also benefit your business? Not only is it good to know what they’re offering and their pricing, but you can get fresh ideas for marketing your business by learning from their strategies.
  3. Focus on what makes you “unique”. Back in college when I was an Advertising Major, one of the key phrases mentioned in my classes a lot was “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP). It’s still a key phrase and used by major Ad Agencies a lot when working with a new client. What’s your USP? Great, you’re a CPA, lawyer, landscaper, speaker or executive coach…but so are many other people! So, what makes YOU different? Find your USP, focus on it in your branding and marketing communications, and “own” it. Making yourself different from all the other people who offer what you do can be the difference between struggling or excelling this year.
  4. Outline your marketing goals. You can’t create an overall strategy if you don’t know what you want your marketing efforts to accomplish! You want to write down specific goals, such as: Secure 2 paid speaking engagements per month; land 4 new clients per month; get 75 new subscribers each month for my e-newsletter; or attract more targeted fans on my Fan Page and get 100 new “likes” per month. These types of targeted goals will enable you to start thinking about “how” to accomplish them…and this leads to determining the strategies, messaging offers, and marketing mix you’ll use.
  5. Determine your marketing mix. Once you’ve determined who your target audience is, what makes them tick, where you can find them, what your competition is doing, and what your USP is, you can develop your strategy for reaching your marketing goals. Create a list of 3-6 strategies, ranging from email, social media, sales calls, direct mail, online services, speaking at events where your audience attends, writing articles, PR, finding strategic partners, etc. Don’t feel like you have to use everything! Pick a few, focus on them, and implement them.
  6. Develop your plan. Once you’ve determined the mix of tools you’ll use, you can focus on implementation, messaging, frequency, budget, etc…this becomes your actual Marketing Plan! Work backwards from your goals, and chart your map for the year…what will you be doing each day, month and quarter to reach your goals using the mix of tools you determined? Example: You want to do eblasts. How many per month and what will you send? You want to speak at association events to reach potential clients. But what are the associations and what is the presentation topic you’ll pitch them? You want more “likes” on your Fan Page. Will you develop more strategic partners to help you achieve this? Run ads on Facebook? And if you decide to run ads, what is your budget and what will your ad say? You have to write your Marketing Plan so you have a direction!
  7. Evaluate, measure and assess regularly. Marketing Plans are not set in stone! You can change a strategy in your plan if it’s not working well. You have to! But you can’t even get to the point of “being strategic” about your strategies if you don’t start with a plan and monitor the results.

Sure, this 7 step process is a simplistic approach (there are some Marketing Plans that are much more detailed and complex), but you don’t need to make it complicated; that’s what can scare you from even trying to create a basic plan! I’ve helped clients outline an effective Marketing Plan in an hour, so trust me when I say this doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process.

I don’t care whether your plan ends up being one-page or 50…just make sure you have some sort of strategic plan so you enter 2011 feeling more organized and in control of your new year! And here’s a link to a Marketing Plan software solution that can help you: Marketing Plan Pro.

Cheers to a Prosperous New Year and Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

7 Business Coaching Tips You Can’t Afford to Neglect

October 24th, 2010

Hi All!

Over the past 20+ years, I have presented to, met with, mentored, coached and observed hundreds (probably thousands) of businesspeople. And I am still always amazed at the lack of professionalism many of them display.

Highly successful small business owners strive to be perceived in the highest regard by prospects, clients, colleagues, vendors and employees. And as a certified Success Coach, I see many of my clients struggle because they neglect these tips. Sure, some of these may come naturally to you, but there may be one or two that will benefit your business building efforts. I hope so!

7 Business coaching TIPS You Can’t Afford to Neglect:

1. Be prepared and do your homework. If you tell a client or prospect you’ll have info to them (e.g. a proposal) by a certain day/time, do it. And prior to meeting, have all of your information organized and review it carefully so that you can easily explain it to them.

Note: I have personally had people pitch me (for things like insurance plans, printing services, etc.), and they were a mess. Things like: Their information was incomplete, they were late to the meeting, they spelled my name wrong on the proposal, they didn’t present the info I asked for, typos in the doc, etc.

Why would I invest my money in someone like that?

2. Each morning start by determining the most difficult task facing you, and do it first. Is it making follow-up calls to prospects? Asking clients for referrals? Putting together a complex proposal for a prospect? Whatever it is, do it FIRST! It gives you an edge over the competition…chances are they are avoiding the task! And if it’s a task that will benefit a hot prospect (or client) you will impress them with your initiative and speediness.

3. Don’t be late for phone or in-person appointments. It tells the prospect or client you do not value or respect their time. Successful business owners arrive to in-person meetings 10-15 minutes early and use the time to “get grounded” for the meeting. Also, this time cushion comes in handy if you get lost trying to reach your destination. It always sounds really unprofessional when you’re late and you say, “I’m sorry. I got lost.” The time cushion (normally) gives you enough time to find your way and still arrive on time. Being 15 minutes early for an in-person meeting is WAY better than being 15 minutes late!

4. Never pull a “no show”. If you cannot make an in-person or phone appointment, call the person BEFORE (not after the time) and reschedule. A good friend of mine works for a loan leads company. They screen people looking for a loan, determine the “hot leads”, and then schedule a meeting/phone appointment WITH A LOAN AGENT (the loan agents pays for these pre-screened leads).

She told me that loan agents blow-off these prescheduled meetings all the time! Can you even believe that??? Here are qualified leads that the loan agent is paying the lead service for, and he/she basically throws the hot lead away by pulling a no-show! This flaky behavior costs these loan agents thousands of dollars in commission… money that could have been theirs (not to mention all the referral business they lost)!

5. Successful business owners act confident (NOT cocky!). Here’s a simple concept that I see many business owners neglect: BEING NICE! You don’t need to be a tyrant to succeed. Be genuine, be kind and be caring.

Note: When I owned my ad agency for 20 years, I sometimes had client contacts that were junior-level marketing coordinators and they went on to become VP’s of Marketing. If I had been rude to them when they were “junior”, they wouldn’t have kept hiring my firm as they climbed the ladder.

By being nice and sincere, I not only received millions of dollars in business (and referrals) from them over the years, but they also grew to become great friends of mine.

6. Successful business owners greet people with a firm handshake. There is nothing worse than a weak, limp handshake. It irritates me to no end. When you greet someone, immediately extend your hand, offer a firm (not crushing!) handshake, smile and make eye contact. Successful business owners make people feel comfortable and build trust right away through their confident, friendly greetings!

Note: I have actually made my clients practice this. If they had a wimpy handshake, I fixed it!

7. Being organized is BIG amongst successful business owners. You must be able to keep your client/prospect files organized and your schedule organized. Successful business owners use a schedule book or electronic device (e.g. PDA) to keep track of appointments, phone calls, follow-up, to-do lists, etc. If you are scattered and disorganized, you will be less effective and sell less. And you are more apt to make mistakes. Good luck getting repeat business or referrals from a client if you miss a critical deadline or constantly have to apologize because YOU keep losing or forgetting things!

Note: There are VERY successful people who are totally disorganized, but they have a personal assistant that keeps them on-track. However if you can’t afford an assistant, then it’s UP TO YOU to create a system! You can even hire an expert to create a process for you. Someone I highly recommend is Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Expert & Coach. She helps her clients create a time management system, customized for their needs, so that they are more effective and productive – personally and professionally.

Yes, hiring someone like Stacey will cost you money, but it will cost you more money in the long run without an organized system!

Okay! There are your 7 tips…please don’t neglect ANY of them!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

Free e-Book to Improve (or Start) Your Social Media Efforts

September 12th, 2010

Hi All!

Social Media Strategist, Chris Tompkins, CEO & Founder of Go! Media International, has written a very comprehensive “how to” e-book that clearly maps-out the steps and strategies you need to know to improve, or start, your social media marketing efforts. This is ideal for small business owners and solopreneurs!

Here is a brief overview of what he covers in this terrific e-book, “Social Jump Start”:

1. How to create a clear picture of what your social media marketing environment will look like

2. What your “voice” and purpose is

3. Creating an organized marketing strategy

4. How to identify your target audience(s) and know what makes them tick

5. Determining your “schedule strategy” for your social media efforts

6. How to ethically interact online

7. And MUCH MORE!

Plus, he concludes the e-book with his Top 30 suggestions on how to effectively get started. These quick-hit tips are also loaded with great strategies about effective copywriting, creating easy products to generate traffic and build your list, starting online groups, info about blog tours, and a ton more.

Again, this e-book is FREE, so CLICK HERE to check it out. You’re not even required to provide your contact info to download it! The link takes you straight to the PDF.

Even if you only learn ONE tip, it may be one that makes a big difference in your branding, sales and business building efforts!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

Ways to Improve, and Generate Income From, Your Blog

September 04th, 2010

Order This Great e-Book for Only $9.99!

Hi All!

Are you a small business owner or entrepreneur struggling with how to make your blog better for business building? Or, do you want to start a blog but a bit overwhelmed about how to do it…and how to do it effectively? Or, are you trying to figure out ways to generate income online with your blog?

Many new clients who come to me fall into one of those categories. So if that describes you, I recommend picking up this terrific e-book (it’s only $9.99!): “A Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Blog” by Kiesha Easley, founder of WeBlogBetter.com.

In this info-packed guide, she covers strategies and tips for people who already have a blog but want to improve their content, traffic, and features (like what powerful plug-ins you should add). But there is also great info for beginners who don’t have a blog and are seeking guidance about how to start one–easily and effectively.

I picked-up a copy of the guide and found it to be very helpful. Heck, for only $10 bucks, why not???

Also, for those of you who have a blog already, or when you get one started, be sure to read this article: 5 Sensible Ways to Monetize Your Blog by Evelyn Parham. I’ve tweeted this link and shared it on my Fan Page. It is a GREAT article with quick and easy tips about how you can actually make some extra money from your blog. Read it!!!

If you pick-up a copy of the e-book, and read the article I mentioned, you will definitely benefit from the tips you’ll learn. We bloggers, newbies or experienced, spend quite a bit of time on our blogs, so personally I find it worthwhile to learn as much as I can to improve mine.

It’s an on-going process and there’s always new strategies to check out…good luck!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

Ten Easy and Affordable SEO Tips for Small Business Owners

August 24th, 2010

Hi All!

Many new clients who come to me have spent a significant amount of money getting their websites designed and developed by a webmaster. Or, they have designed it themselves using many of the templates available. But regardless of “how” their website was done, one thing MOST of them have no clue about is SEO (search engine optimization).

The excitement for their new website quickly fades when I have to coach them about SEO; explaining that without an optimized website (or blog) their chances of being found in online search results are greatly reduced…by a TON!

Personally, I look at SEO as a science. So I outsource my SEO work to a specialist. However, if budget is an issue for you, and you handle your own SEO, or plan to, here is a great article I recently came across with 10 great tips you can easily implement without breaking the bank.

The title is: “10 Quick and Affordable SEO Tips”. It was written by Karen Scharf, the Small Business Marketing Consultant, and her company, Modern Image Communications, also offers affordable SEO services.

Here are the FIRST FIVE TIPS she shares:

1. Submit to Search Engines

You want to make sure that your website has been submitted to search engines. SEO is all about optimizing your position in various search engines, but this is only relevant if you are actually listed in the search engines. When your website is brand new and it has no incoming links yet, it can be difficult for the spiders to find it, so it’s a good idea to hand submit your site to the search engine.

2. Clean up Your Site

Make sure your website is organized and clear. It is especially important to clean up any dead links. Fix any errors that may appear on your site and double check to make sure your entire site’s html is up to par. There are online services that can help you do this. Since search engines primarily work and rank websites through the use of robots it is important to make sure all of the technical aspects of your website are in good working order. This helps ensure that the robots can quickly and freely crawl through your site and they won’t encounter any errors or roadblocks that force them to abandon your site too soon.

3. Use Good Keyphrases

If you’re trying to optimize your brand new website for a single keyword, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. Try longtail keyword phrases instead (a phrase that is four words or longer) because they are less competitive and easier to get started with. Be sure to research the phrases that your target market is actually searching for, and then do the competitive research to ensure that you actually have a chance of ranking for those phrases.

4. Create Good URLs

Creating readable URLs is especially important if you’re using a content management system or otherwise generating dynamic URLs. While evidence suggests that Google’s new algorithm does not apply much weight to keyword rich URLs, other search engines do. And since it’s such an easy step to create relevant URLs, it’s worth the few seconds of extra time it might take, if only to make it easier on your human site visitors. Make sure that your URLs are indicative of the kind of information that your visitors will encounter on that page.

5. Improve your Title Tags

Title tags are still an important aspect of search engine placement, and since they are so extremely easy to update this is a step that definitely needs to be included in your affordable SEO plan. Make sure that your title tags are keyword rich and appropriate to the subject matter of the particular web page. And make sure you use a unique title tag on each and every page in your site.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FINAL FIVE! You definitely need to know ALL 10 of the tips Karen suggests!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share

Queen of Twitter Shares Social Media Tips for Small Business Owners

August 01st, 2010

Hi All!

Are you curious to know what it takes to get 70,000 (yes, I wrote 70,000) followers on Twitter? Are you interested in knowing basic tips that can potentially generate an increase in traffic to your website of over 5000%? Then you need to know about the fabulous Jessica Northey! She is pushing 70k followers and she has helped some of her clients see an increase in their web traffic by that gigantic percentage using Twitter as the driver.

Jessica recently wrote a quick-hit list of around 30 tips that can help small business owners, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs (such as: coaches, consultants, trainers, speakers and authors) have more success using Social Media in their overall Marketing Plan. And she gave me the thumbs-up to share 15 of those tips here…and, sure, you may already know some of them. But, you may not. And unless you’re totally content with the amount of followers you have, and you’re totally happy with your web traffic numbers, keep reading!

But before we jump into the tips, just who IS this Queen of Twitter on the verge of hitting a mega amount of 70k followers? Well, aside from being a Social Media Expert who is contributing a chapter to my new book due out this fall, “The Promote U Guru Guide to Branding and Marketing”, Jessica has 20 years of experience in the Media industry, including Television, Radio, Internet and Print sales, as well as being an on-air personality.

Now, as The SocialMediologist, she is known for being able to create complete successful marketing campaigns and bridge partnerships. Plus, she is the Associate Editor and Social Media Expert for the popular entertainment industry blog, FullThrottleCountry.com. In her weekly column, Finger Candy Friday, she offers advice and opinions on social media trends and topics.

So what are 15 of the 30′ish quick tips she advises? Here you go:

1. Set a strategy for Social Media optimization and be consistent. Nothing looks worse than months without activity!

2. Take advantage of the free applications like ping.fm to streamline your Social Media efforts.

3. Don’t forget the blog! It is such a great way to control your own content & establish yourself as an authority in your industry!

4. Think of Social Media like you were scheduling radio commercials. When is your target audience listening?

5. Don’t spray and pray. Narrow your message to your target audience.

6. Connecting with other people should be your number one goal.

7. Educate yourself and understand how your target audience uses Social Media.

8. Don’t put all your “eggs” in one basket. Diversify your Social Media efforts and use multiple platforms.

9. Add Social Media Platform Participation links to Business cards, letterhead, vehicle wrap, Broadcast and Print Media.

10. On Twitter, register with wefollow.com & twellow.com and use to find people w/similar interests to get social with.

11. Define your goals and manage your own expectations.

12. Don’t get caught up in the Social Media drama & try to stay connected to positive people.

13. Budget at least half an hour a day to Social Media efforts.

14. Download Tweetdeck, Seismic or Twitterific for a better understanding of how to use Social Media platforms to their full potential.

15. Use Social Media to have discussions w/followers. Ask them for feedback and see what they want!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FINAL 15!

And don’t miss the last 15 tips…she shares names and links to tools to support and improve your social media marketing efforts.

Want even MORE great tips to build your personal brand or business brand awareness, increase traffic to your website, and drive your target audience to your social media communities? Then also be sure to CLICK HERE to access my YouTube Channel! View short “how to” videos loaded with marketing, PR, social media, book marketing, and branding tips.

Thanks for the great info, Jessica :)

And to all of you…

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

Share
« Older Entries Newer Entries »