Friday, November 27, 2009

Writing to Develop Your Online Business Identity


While I'm still taking a hiatus from writing for a bit, I am up at 3am working and decided to post a little golden nugget that I've discovered while building my business.

Writing

Some may not realize it but writing is a great way (and recommended) to establish your business identity. What do I mean by this?  Well, let's take my business for example.  I have an online stress and pain relief store.  However, in order to establish myself an authority on the subject, I write. I write about everything from stress relief tips to easing back pain with natural remedies.

You see, when a potential customer comes to your website, they may not come by way of the home page. They may come by way of an article you have written and included your website link in.  If your article is rich enough in information, the reader will click through to see what else you have to offer on your website.  However, it works both ways. If you are not writing anything, you aren't establishing anything and if you aren't establishing anything, how can you stand out in the crowd known as the World Wide Web?

By writing in your "voice" and still maintaining your professionalism, you are establishing your business identity.  Of course, you want your writing to speak volumes to your professionalism and knowledge of the topic, so researching and planning is key.  After writing a couple of articles, you get the hang of it and start cranking them out easier than ever.

Now, get writing!  Having trouble? Check out an Article Marketing Course, Articology that I have been taking. It is VERY helpful.

Cheers!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Break out of Traditional Article Marketing

So before I go on hiatus, I wanted to share something I just read in an ezine I subscribe to.  If you are using article marketing to promote your business (and you should), then this will be helpful:

5 Reasons Why Using Traditional Article Marketing Is A Bad Idea
by Eric Gruber

Here’s why most of what you have been told by other so- called article marketing experts and gurus is dead wrong when it comes to writing and submitting articles online.

1. Traditional article marketing rarely results in any new traffic to your site.

Links from hundreds or thousands of unimportant article directories and sites are only going to build an army of  low-quality links that do nothing for your page rank in the search engines. And it certainly will NOT bring you any more traffic. This is a mistake that tons of people are still making everyday on the web, and most of them don't even know it. They just assume what they are doing will eventually work – because that’s what other experts are telling them.

2. Traditional article marketing does not establish you as an authority in your niche.

One of the biggest advantages of article marketing is that as soon as you publish your first article, you become a published writer in your marketplace. You will soon be considered an authority in your niche, which is great - but only if you are published at reputable sources. For example, my articles can be found on top websites like About.com, SiteProNews.com, MarketingProfs.com, Microsoft Community Dynamics and many more. Blasting out articles to a lot of low-quality sites makes you appear to be an amateur and not an expert, something that traditional article marketers tend to do.

3. Traditional article marketing promotes going for the quick-fix. There are a lot of marketing "gurus" out there who claim to have the magical solution for helping you obtain thousands of links back to your site just by the push of a button. There are others who claim to have a solution for the duplicate content problem - and promote something called spinning software, which will produce several variations of an article. The problem with these "old-school" quick fixes is that article submission software results in the low- quality link. And spinning software creates articles that read unnatural. This is Not an effective way to create REAL
traffic. It’s a waste of your time and money not to do article marketing the right way.

4. Traditional article marketing doesn't result in dollars earned.

Traditional article marketing is all about producing content for the sake of quantity and not quality.
Mediocrity is not the way to attract new business.  Article marketing done right will grow into a powerful viral
machine that will continuously bring you fresh new targeted traffic and qualified leads day after day. Especially, once you learn what your market wants to learn.  Writing quality articles to meet those needs is like money in the bank!

5. Traditional article marketing doesn’t give you a system for maximizing your article marketing efforts!

You spent time writing the article. Even if you used my article templates at http://www.StartWritingArticlesFaster.com to write your articles in 30 minutes – That’s 30 minutes that you could have been doing something else. So why not get the most use from your articles. Getting your articles published on top websites will give you the ability to…

  *  Mix your social media efforts with your article marketing efforts. You can Tweet about your new article placement. You can link to the article placement on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can answer people’s questions on forums and send prospects to your article for even more information.

  *  Get in front of your prospects face again. Send the high authority site’s link with your article to your
     list. That’s how Kevin Berchelmann received a new, mid 5-figure client!

  *  Enhance your credibility on your blog. You can link to your article placements from your blog and show that you are the expert. Show how you’re different by getting published on a top website or online publications and not just sites like EzineArticles.com  where everyone can get published as long as you follow the editorial guidelines.

  *  You can mention these placements in an auto-responder series. You can take the main take away lessons from your articles and turn it into an e-course. And than at the end of the day’s message, link to your articles
     so people can get even more information from you.

*  Turn your articles into videos. And, within these  videos show how you’re published on top websites as
     this will build instant credibility.

Now, if you’re ready to stop writing and submitting articles the traditional way – then check out my Online Article Marketing Course at http://www.onlinearticlemarketingcourse.com.

And, don’t forget that I have resources like my customized article marketing database and my article marketing service. Email me at Eric@articlemarketingexperts.com or call me at: 908-380-8564 for more information.

******************************************************************
Reprinted from “The Article Marketing Expert’s Secrets &  Breakthroughs Newsletter”, a free ezine featuring tips, tricks, tools, news, developments and trends that will help  you generate free online publicity, build credibility,  increase web traffic and boost your SEO ranking. Subscribe at:  www.IWantMoreProspects.com/articlenewsletter

Privacy Statement: Article Marketing Experts will NEVER distribute your address to anyone. Period.

Short Hiatus from the Blog

Fellow Business Owners-

I love giving you all free information and I welcome any information you would like to share.

I did however want to let you know that I am putting my posts on hiatus until around November 15th due to an upcoming launch for my Fresh Radiant Skin site. I don't want to drive myself nuts trying to do everything.

If you would like to post information pertaining to home businesses, please let me know by filling in the form below and if your information is note worthy, you can guest post while I'm gone.

I will be back with tons of stuff to share. Don't go away!

Michelle

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Your Business Plan - Simple and Basic


If you've been in business at least 5 minutes, you've heard that you have to have a business plan.  What does that mean exactly?  A 30 page document that looks like a legal brief?  A set of post it notes?  Neither. Both.

Your business plan doesn't have to be complicated when you are first starting out.  It just needs to answer the following basic questions to keep it simple:
  1. Who - Name of your business & how are you different from other businesses in your industry
  2. What - What do you want your business to accomplish? What's your mission statement?
  3. When/Where - Where do you see your business in 1, 3, 5 years
  4. How - How do you plan to accomplish those goals? (What are your plans for marketing?)
Now, if you are trying to obtain funding to further your business or get any other type of assistance, it will have to be more professional and detailed, including a detailed Executive Summary and detailed marketing plan.  But for the sake of aligning your business in the direction you want it to go, a simple one pager will suffice with simplicity.

I realize that what I've just listed is not a Business Plan in it's professional format.  However, the purpose of this blogs is to help newbie business owners with little finances to start somewhere.  As your business grows, you can go for more of the "professional" stuff.

****************************************
One of my small business websites is located at www.FreshRadiantSkin.com
If you are a woman of color, this site is for you.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Are You Ready To Listen?


Hello all my fellow business owners out there!  Today's post will be short. It's more of a short lesson but it's highly important so Listen up....

Learning to listen has it's benefits.  Listen to what your customers are saying.  Listen to your suppliers.  Listen to what is going on in your industry.  Even listen (pay attention) to your competitors.

Listening helps you learn what's in demand, what you should be focusing on and what you need to do to improve your home business.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Do You Have Strong Leadership Traits?

You may have heard the saying, "A leader is not born." Well, contrary to that saying, I disagree and I'll explain why.

There are certain traits that identify a strong leader. Some people ARE born with these traits and others may need to develop them  Some of these leadership traits include:
  1. Self Control
  2. Excellence
  3. Commitment
  4. Goal Oriented (including understanding & regularly reviewing goals)
  5. Accountable
  6. Personable
  7. Decisive
 A classic differentiation of one being born with strong leadership qualities and one needing to develop them was displayed in the life of two of my old high school home girls, Candee and Mandee (names changed to respect privacy....ok the substitute names are a little corny but I'm making a point here!)

Candee and Mandee are twins.  Candee was more focused on fun, fashion, boys and partying.  Mandee always appeared to look toward the future and knew what she wanted to become in life before she even graduated High School.  Mandee was born with a spirit of excellence, regularly exercised self control and was committed to her future goals.  She did not learn how to be this way by the age of 14.  It was a part of who she was.  Her sister, Candee was also a "good girl", and fun loving but she was like the average teen girl, focused on the hear and now.  Of course, both women now lead successful lives but as you can see, one started out focused, decisive, and committed.

Today, Mandee is an attorney and Candee is a social worker. The twins were distinctly different in that one exhibited many of the traits of a strong leader naturally and early on, while the other learned to develop those traits later in life.

If you aren't a natural born leader, that's ok. You can become one by learning to develop the traits I mentioned above.  Becoming a leader may take some time but it's well worth it to be successful in your home business and any endeavor in life.

Running your own business is not easy. There will be set backs and discouragements. Believe me, I know. However, staying focused on your goals and developing the traits of a leader I mentioned above, will help you tremendously when it feels like the rug is being pulled out underneath you.

I'm building my online stress relief site as a way to show my knowledge in this area. Stop by some time, read the articles in the Learning Center and shoot me a note to let me know what you think. I would LOVE your feedback!

Michelle

Monday, October 12, 2009

Meet Up Groups to Network


Networking is a great way to increase the exposure to your business.  There are so many avenues for networking where do you begin?

Well, first off you need to know where to find networking events. I found a great place to find people of like minded businesses at Meet Up

At Meetup.com, you can join a meet up group and start networking right away.  If you don't see a group of interest (and I highly doubt that since there's one for every thing...except maybe Ground Hog lovers), then you can sign up to be alerted as to when a new meet up group is started in your field of interest.  Even better, start your own Meet Up Group and start networking right away!

Join me by checking out one of My MeetUp groups.
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Contact Michelle:

Your Name :
Your Email :
Subject :
Message :
Image (case-sensitive):