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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Insight of the Day 07/17/2007
"When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind, and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power."
Phyllis Bottome
1884-1963, Novelist and Lecturer
For Audio, Click here
Phyllis Bottome
1884-1963, Novelist and Lecturer
For Audio, Click here
Monday, July 16, 2007
Insight of the Day 07/16/2007
God intended every individual to succeed. It is God's purpose that man should become great. It is God's will that man should not only use, but enjoy every good in the universe. The Law of God denies man nothing.
Man is born to be rich. The powers inherent in him are inexhaustible. Each normal person is endowed with a complete set of faculties which, if properly developed and scientifically applied, will ensure success, ever-growing success.
Man is made for progress. Every man contains within himself the capacity for endless development. Advancement into all things is the Law's great purpose. By learning to work with the Law in promoting that aim, man may build himself into greater and greater success.
All the processes of Nature are successful. Nature knows no failures. She never plans anything but success. She aims at results in every form and manner. To succeed in the best and the fullest sense of the term we must, with Nature as our model, copy her methods. In her principles and laws we shall discover all the secrets of success.
Infinite resources are at man's disposal. There are no limits to his possibilities. He focuses and individualizes the elements, forces, and principles of the whole world. He can develop a wonderful intelligence; thus, all life's questions may be answered, all Nature's secrets discovered, and all human problems solved. Nothing is impossible.
Higher faculties, remarkable talents, superior insight, and greater power are dormant in all, and by special psychological methods, these exceptional elements can be developed to an extraordinary degree for actual and practical use. Every mind can develop greatness. It is simply a matter of knowing how. True self-help, self-discovery, self-knowledge, and the proper instruction in applying one's faculties and using one's forces will advance any person. Practice will ensure efficiency; use will bring forth results. Success, therefore, is within the reach of every aspiring man.
Do you wish to succeed? You can. You possess all the essentials within yourself; all you need is to gain a right understanding of the principles and laws upon which success is based, and then to apply the right methods of operating these causes until success is earned.
From Working With The Law
Man is born to be rich. The powers inherent in him are inexhaustible. Each normal person is endowed with a complete set of faculties which, if properly developed and scientifically applied, will ensure success, ever-growing success.
Man is made for progress. Every man contains within himself the capacity for endless development. Advancement into all things is the Law's great purpose. By learning to work with the Law in promoting that aim, man may build himself into greater and greater success.
All the processes of Nature are successful. Nature knows no failures. She never plans anything but success. She aims at results in every form and manner. To succeed in the best and the fullest sense of the term we must, with Nature as our model, copy her methods. In her principles and laws we shall discover all the secrets of success.
Infinite resources are at man's disposal. There are no limits to his possibilities. He focuses and individualizes the elements, forces, and principles of the whole world. He can develop a wonderful intelligence; thus, all life's questions may be answered, all Nature's secrets discovered, and all human problems solved. Nothing is impossible.
Higher faculties, remarkable talents, superior insight, and greater power are dormant in all, and by special psychological methods, these exceptional elements can be developed to an extraordinary degree for actual and practical use. Every mind can develop greatness. It is simply a matter of knowing how. True self-help, self-discovery, self-knowledge, and the proper instruction in applying one's faculties and using one's forces will advance any person. Practice will ensure efficiency; use will bring forth results. Success, therefore, is within the reach of every aspiring man.
Do you wish to succeed? You can. You possess all the essentials within yourself; all you need is to gain a right understanding of the principles and laws upon which success is based, and then to apply the right methods of operating these causes until success is earned.
From Working With The Law
Friday, July 13, 2007
Attracting Success Vs. Seeking Success
What is the difference you ask? Well, ask yourself this series of questions:
1. Is your phone ringing off the hook with people wanting to know what you do, how you do it and how much money you make? No? Then you are not attracting...you are seeking.
2. Is your inbox full of people requesting to get more information from you about your business ideas? No? Then you are not attracting...you are seeking.
3. Do you find yourself researching all the newest traffic strategies only to figure out that you have to $pend $pend $pend only to get the same same same? You see, this is the feeling that one who attracts success NEVER gets.
4. Are you happy with the financial return on your time invested in your business? It's funny that many people get involved in an online business so that they have more free time. But most end up spending MORE time working for LESS money!
5. Think about those you work with in your business...those above you. What are they doing? Are they attracting success or are they seeking it? So you see, you didn't exactly have the best model there did you?
So, are you attracting your success or are you seeking success?
If you are like I was only a few short months ago, you are a seeker. Most everyone is. My inbox wasn't full of people begging to find out more about me and what I did. It was full of hyped up marketing messages promising to make me rich if I would join this or that program (other seekers, SEEKING ME...lol!). All in all, I realized that getting into the next "big thing" was pointless and I was beginning to think you had to BE rich to GET rich with online marketing.
So what happened to me? What changed that I now get several calls each day from people I have never met that want to know more about one of my programs? What happened that now my inbox ALWAYS has a message from someone wanting to ask me "one last question" before signing up?
I met Robert. Robert seemed to have it together. Robert and I are in an online business together and participate in some message boards and I have seen him around the trenches so to speak. I mean, I was watching as this guy was getting TONS of leads to his business' without ever even mentioning what he was doing. I just stood back for a while and watched. I tried to figure out what his "catch" was. But it was strange. I just kept on reading testimonials about the guy and how he had changed people's lives just by sharing a "Formula" with them. I was intrigued...but skeptical.
Not to long before meeting Robert, I remember hearing a young guy on the net one time brag by saying "people beg me to join my business!" I thought to myself - "riiiiight, suure they do"! Then I made the connection. I saw this guy on Robert's myspace page! THEY KNEW EACH OTHER???? OK. What could they POSSIBLY be doing that I don't do already? I have over 600 subscribers on my youtube channel where I teach the law of attraction FOR FREE and I am STILL struggling!!! So what is this big secret "formula" they speak of.
So I finally gave Robert a call and I learned about a group of people that call themselves "OHANA" which means "No one is left behind".
WOW! Read that again! That is the name of this group of leaders!!! OHANA - No one is left behind!!!
Then he shared the formula with me. I got chills as I listened because I knew exactly what I had been doing wrong. Not just what I was doing wrong online...but what I was doing wrong IN LIFE! I was a seeker! I was chasing it. I was frustrated and confused and I was tired of "faking it till I made it"! Sound familiar?
Well guess what? Now people literally BEG me and chase me down trying to find out what I do and how I do it! So what was this magic formula that Robert taught me? I will share that with you soon enough. DON'T WORRY! I am not going to charge you a dime for this formula! So relax! But before I show this to you, YOU have to acknowledge that SEEKING SUCCESS WILL NEVER EVER WORK! Even if you get a little bit here and a little bit there, you have to keep those burners lit to keep getting it! There is no light at the end of the SEEKING tunnel! Believe me! I know!
So I immediately stopped seeking and chasing and worrying. I simply stopped subscribing to everybody's great idea and I stopped listening to all of the naysayers (including the biggest one...ME!) and I opened my mind to the most powerful formula that I have ever been taught in my life. Before I share this formula with you...I HAVE to tell you something. I am not new to the law of attraction. I have been studying and teaching these principals my entire adult life! 13 years I have been utilizing the lessons I learned in Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich and I have done some amazing things. But because I was seeking and chasing and "working hard", when I let off the gas those amazing accomplishments quickly turned to amazing failure's. I will go more into that at another time. Suffice it to say that my life has been a roller coaster of supreme highs and very deep lows. And you know what...those lows really suck. What really sucks is that you REMEMBER THEM! And those highs...when they are in your rearview mirror only exist to torture you and remind you of all that you LOST! I promised myself last year when I stepped away from the world of suit and tie business' that I would never again settle for failure. How many of you have made that promise to yourself and your family. How is it going? I mean, really. How is that bank account doing?
I want to teach you this formula and you know what...I am willing to do it for FREE! Nada! Nothing! I just want you to promise to DO WHAT I TELL YOU TO DO! That's it! Just do what I tell you to! Listen, I am not going to babysit you. I am going to give you insider secrets and ongoing tips on attracting success to you for free. I will teach you how to have leads and prospects jumping into your business JUST LIKE THIS GUY DID WITH THESE FISH!!! WATCH THIS AND TELL ME HOW GOOD IT IS GOING TO FEEL WHEN YOUR BUSINESS EXPERIENCES THE SAME THING! I LOVE THE END WHEN HE IS GETTING BEAT SO HARD THAT HE HAS TO COVER HIS HEAD!!!
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWAS3d3RbSg]
One thing...I am not going to hold your hand! I am going to teach you to be a leader! That's right. I am going to teach you HOW to be a leader and attract everything you have ever dreamed of into your life. I will not hold your hand and you will never worry about holding the hands of others as you begin to attract other leaders JUST LIKE YOU into your life! As a matter of fact, this formula is going to require only one major change in the way you do things. What is that? LOL...YOU HAVE TO BE YOURSELF! That's right! You have to stop the BS and just be yourself! Can you do that? Now that is not the formula but it's a very important piece of it as you are going to see! I have cracked the code to online marketing and my primary objective is to make you do the same thing! Yeah, I am involved in several AWESOME online business'. But I don't care if you ever get involved in any of them! If you want to, you will ask me. You see, I only want to make myself available to as many people as possible and I want to change the lives of everyone I can for the better! That is my purpose.
So here is the deal, I will email you the formula and then I will follow up with ongoing tips and ideas that will shoot your business (no matter what business you do!) to the moon and have qualified leads BEGGING to get in! Are you ready?
Just message me your full name and email address and you will have that formula to you within minutes! If you ever need me...I am a phone call away! I STAY on the phone. If I don't answer, just leave me a message and I will call you back!
678-231-4419 - 678-231-4419 - 678-231-4419
I live in Atlanta GA...call me anytime!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
BOB LIVE SGR WEBINARS - DON'T MISS THIS!!!
Session One is sold out so we will do 5 more! This is going to be incredible! Bob himself is going to talk about the heralded SGR Program! DO NOT MISS IT! You have late night sessions tonight and you have early ones tomorrow. Go and register now. BUT FIRST MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR THE FREE LESSONS ON HIS SITE!!!
SO,
STEP 1: GO HERE AND GET THE 7 FREE LESSONS! EVEN IF YOU HAVE GOTTEN THEM BEFORE, YOU NEED TO SIGN UP AGAIN!
STEP 2: GO HERE AND REGISTER FOR THE LIVE WEBINAR! GO DO IT NOW AND DON'T MISS IT!
THURSDAY - July 12, 2007
10:00 PM - Eastern Time Zone (SOLD OUT!) REGISTER
11:00 PM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
12:00 AM - (MIDNIGHT) Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
FRIDAY - July 13, 2007
10:00 AM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
11:00 AM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
12:00 PM - (NOON) Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
SO,
STEP 1: GO HERE AND GET THE 7 FREE LESSONS! EVEN IF YOU HAVE GOTTEN THEM BEFORE, YOU NEED TO SIGN UP AGAIN!
STEP 2: GO HERE AND REGISTER FOR THE LIVE WEBINAR! GO DO IT NOW AND DON'T MISS IT!
THURSDAY - July 12, 2007
10:00 PM - Eastern Time Zone (SOLD OUT!) REGISTER
11:00 PM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
12:00 AM - (MIDNIGHT) Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
FRIDAY - July 13, 2007
10:00 AM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
11:00 AM - Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
12:00 PM - (NOON) Eastern Time Zone REGISTER
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Insight of the Day 07/11/2007
Insight of the Day 07/11/2007 Click Here
"Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone."
Thomas Carlyle
1795-1881, Philosopher and Author
"Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone."
Thomas Carlyle
1795-1881, Philosopher and Author
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Insight of the Day 07/10/2007
Insight of the Day 07/10/2007 For Audio click here
"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."
Margaret Thatcher
Former British Prime Minister
"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."
Margaret Thatcher
Former British Prime Minister
Monday, July 9, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
How To Use The Power Of Blogs To Promote Your Products
Spark Your Readers' Interest Through Valuable Information And Then Lead Them To Your Site To Make The Sale!
What is a Blog?
A blog is a type of online journal or diary, typically containing personal stories arranged in chronological order along with images and web links. Many people use blogs as a means to express themselves and to share news with friends and family, but they can also be used to market your business. Blogs are increasing in popularity and can prove to be an effective and inexpensive way to reach more customers.
There are millions of blogs currently on the internet, with topics ranging from technology and product reviews to political commentary to recipes for Mom's apple pie. The number of people reading blogs is continuing to grow as people seek information and don't always trust corporate advertising.
Blogging expert Robert Scoble identifies 6 differences between blogs and any other communication channel.
Blogs are:
Publishable - easy to publish and directly available worldwide.
Findable - they can be found through search engines. The more content you post on your blog, the more likely you will be found.
Social - blogging is one big social interaction. Blogs enable people with shared interests to engage into conversations on different issues related to the topic.
Viral - "Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a news service. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog."
Syndicatable - through RSS you can enable blogs being linked to your email software. This way you'll be notified the minute a blog gets updated.
Linkable - every single blog can link to all the other blogs out there. That's why a blog can tap into the huge resource of the 'blogosphere.'
Why Your Business Should Have a Blog
Blogs are powerful marketing tools that can help you reach more customers, establish credibility, increase sales, and share company news without having a huge advertising budget. Blogs have a number of advantages that make them highly effective in promoting your business:
1. You don't have to be a tech geek to start a blog. Anyone can do it, and sites like Blogger can help you create and publish your blog in less than 5 minutes.
2. Blogs can boost your search engine ranking. The content of your blog is ripe for the search engines and encourages other bloggers who write on similar topics to link to you. Regularly updated, keyword-rich content (not spam) and linking will help boost your site's visibility and in turn attract more customers.
3. Blogs offer multiple ways to deliver your message. If you're not the best writer, you can start an audio or video blog and can therefore still reach your customers in a personal way.
4. Blog posts encourage immediate responses from your customers. Questions, comments and feedback from your customers can help you better address their needs, adjust your campaigns, and react to the market's changing demands.
5. Blogs help you expand your reach online. By pinging search engines and using RSS feeds you can syndicate your content online, boost your reach and influence, and allow customers to control their communications with your company.
6. Blogs increase transparency and help you establish credibility. Blogs are much more personal than a corporate website and because they are regularly updated, customers can remain informed about your business and feel more connected to you.
Your blog can be your selling point and can sway prospective customers to choose you and your services over the competition.
How to Efficiently Market Your Business using a Blog
When you start writing a blog, don't push for the sale upfront. Too many people use their blog as a sales letter and end up turning readers off. People are not stupid. They know when they're being sold.
Blogs are about communicating and building relationships with your readers. Use your blog for branding your business, building your reputation and communicating with your audience - not just for making a sale.
There are a variety of ways you can use your blog to communicate with your readers and promote your business, while unobtrusively going after the sale. You can use your blog to:
Write product reviews and link to product pages
(consider signing up to be an affiliate)
Write insightful articles or tips relevant to your audience
Recommend products and services (yours or someone else's)
Post and archive company newsletters
Share company news and product updates
Offer special incentives and promotions
Ask customers to complete surveys and provide feedback
Generating new content for your blog does not have to be a daunting task. You don't have to worry about writing it all yourself. Instead, you can directly post your company newsletters as well as relevant third-party articles, reviews, and links found using sites like BlinkList and Google News. Remember to include links where appropriate to your own website and product pages.
Having a blog also allows you to make regular updates quickly and without needing a webmaster. As you find new content online you can publish it to your blog in a matter of minutes which makes maintaining your blog a breeze.
Hosting Your Blog - Whose Job Is It?
Should you host your blog or let someone else do it?
In most instances, having a third-party host your blog is best. This frees up your time to focus on other tasks, and keeps your blog online in the event your server crashes. Free hosting is available on sites such as Blogger(this blog is hosted on blogger.com!), TongueWag, and Xanga.
However, in some situations it might be better to host yourself. For example:
If your content or functional needs go beyond the scope of normal blogging and require features not offered or supported by existing blog services. You may need to perform testing in an offline mirror site.
If you have doubts that the third-party hosting service will go out of business before you do, or if you want to change hosting software.
If you plan to post complicated HTML (tables, formatting) that requires the use of an online editor.
If you do decide to host your own blog, we recommend creating it through WordPress, a customizable personal publishing platform.
How to Promote your Blog
Once you've established your blog, how do you get people to go there and read it?
The best way to promote your blog is to become THE expert in your subject area. Establish yourself as the authority on the topic through valuable information.
Let's look at the sites of three hugely successful bloggers that are quickly becoming 'the voice' for their respective domains that people listen to.
www.seobook.com - the SEO expert
www.micropersuasion.com - the public relations specialist
www.divamarketingblog.com - expert in blog marketing
Let's first take a look at the example of www.seobook.com.
As you can see they have a very simple site on which they provide information on search engine optimization and the products available. Although this site hardly looks very professional, they have a Google PageRank of 6! This is a much higher number than most e-tailers will ever reach.
As explained in our search engine optimization tactic, such a high PageRank will do wonders for your search engine ranking.
Look at how they added the little post-it on the left on which they ask for questions from readers. This simple method stimulates an open dialogue through which a relationship with the reader can be built. The blogger Aaron Wall also interacts with readers by allowing them to leave comments on the posting by clicking on the link 'Your Thoughts?'
Did you notice the date on the left of the text? Adding the date conveys to the reader that the content of the website is updated daily. This is a clever way to tell your reader to keep coming back for more!
Another example of a successful blogger in a completely different subject domain is Steve Rubel on www.micropersuasion.com.
As you can see, he focuses less on writing a story, but points people to valuable resources within his domain through short daily postings. Copy writing probably isn't Steve Rubel's strongest point. Did you see how every posting offers the opportunity to interact with the readers through comments?
The PageRank of this website is even higher than that of seobook.com, an astonishing 7!
Finally, let's look at www.divamarketingblog.com.This is once again a completely different blog from the two examples discussed earlier.
This blog captivates the reader through short quirky postings in which the blogger Toby cleverly integrates links with different websites and resources. As on both of the previous blogs, Toby communicates with his readers through the possibility to leave comments on each short message posted. This third site once again has a very high PageRank of 6.
So how did these bloggers succeed?
All these bloggers have a couple of things in common. The most important element being that they posted great informational content! Did you notice the absence of salesy language?
Furthermore, you could see a couple of other similarities:
Blogs are updated on a daily basis
There's ample opportunity for interaction
A great book on the art of blogging that we strongly recommend is 'Naked Conversations' by Robert Scoble.
The book identifies very valuable tips on how to blog, with nice sections on how to:
1. Get found easily
2. Read and comment on blogs before starting your own
3. Keep it simple and focused
4. Show passion
5. Demonstrate authority
6. Allow comments
7. Be accessible
8. Tell a compelling personal story
9. "Be linky"
10. Build real world relationships
11. Use your referrer log
Blogs and Search Engine Rankings
Blogs like those methioned above tend to get high rankings in search engines. Why? Because of content and linking.
Search engines like Google love regularly updated, content-rich sites - which is exactly what blogs are! Most blogs are updated with new articles and information on a daily basis; over time the search engines recognize them for their wealth of information and boost their ranking.
Blogs also contain a rich supply of links. Since bloggers are always looking for ways to keep their blogs fresh, they are likely to use links rather than create all the content themselves. Links to quality sites, including blog search engines and directories, can lead to high search engine rankings.
In our tactic on search engine optimization we'll spend some more time on how a blog can boost your search engine ranking.
Pinging - Notify The Search Engines That You Updated Your Content
Once you have posted a new entry to your blog, you can "ping" search engines and blog directories and have your blog re-assessed and indexed in as little as 48 hours.
Pinging alerts the search engines and directories that you have updated your content and gets them to scan your site again and use the new information in their placement algorithm. More on this in the tactic on search engine optimization.
Be sure to submit your blog to Google as well as to the following blog search engines and directories:
DayPop
BlogSearchEngine
BlogHop
Blogarama
BlogWise
Technorati
Blogs and Tags
Many bloggers add tags at the end of their posts. A tag is like a subject or category associated with a blog post. For example, if your latest post was a product review for XYZ product, you may associate the tags "XYZ," "review," and "product reviews" with your post.
Using tags can help readers find your blog in the directories and search engines. For example, people searching for specific blog content on Technorati can find your blog if you use tags with your post.
Social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, BlinkList and Reddit, rely on users to tag their favorite sites, and as more users save and tag your blog, you can experience a boost in your search engine ranking. The tags associated with your blog can also give you an idea about how your readers use and classify your information.
Summary
Having a blog to market your business is a great way to win over customers, build relationships, and extend your reach online. Simple and quick to create, a blog will get you in touch with your customers and can be a powerful tool to beat your competitors.
The key characteristic of a good blog is that it focuses on offering great content. Furthermore, it's important to interact with your readers through allowing them the possibility to leave comments or ask questions.
Because blogs tend to have great search engine rankings they will attract a lot of traffic. If you can capture these readers and interest them through the information that you provide, you will be only a small step away from leading them to your site and boosting your sales.
What is a Blog?
A blog is a type of online journal or diary, typically containing personal stories arranged in chronological order along with images and web links. Many people use blogs as a means to express themselves and to share news with friends and family, but they can also be used to market your business. Blogs are increasing in popularity and can prove to be an effective and inexpensive way to reach more customers.
There are millions of blogs currently on the internet, with topics ranging from technology and product reviews to political commentary to recipes for Mom's apple pie. The number of people reading blogs is continuing to grow as people seek information and don't always trust corporate advertising.
Blogging expert Robert Scoble identifies 6 differences between blogs and any other communication channel.
Blogs are:
Publishable - easy to publish and directly available worldwide.
Findable - they can be found through search engines. The more content you post on your blog, the more likely you will be found.
Social - blogging is one big social interaction. Blogs enable people with shared interests to engage into conversations on different issues related to the topic.
Viral - "Information often spreads faster through blogs than via a news service. No form of viral marketing matches the speed and efficiency of a blog."
Syndicatable - through RSS you can enable blogs being linked to your email software. This way you'll be notified the minute a blog gets updated.
Linkable - every single blog can link to all the other blogs out there. That's why a blog can tap into the huge resource of the 'blogosphere.'
Why Your Business Should Have a Blog
Blogs are powerful marketing tools that can help you reach more customers, establish credibility, increase sales, and share company news without having a huge advertising budget. Blogs have a number of advantages that make them highly effective in promoting your business:
1. You don't have to be a tech geek to start a blog. Anyone can do it, and sites like Blogger can help you create and publish your blog in less than 5 minutes.
2. Blogs can boost your search engine ranking. The content of your blog is ripe for the search engines and encourages other bloggers who write on similar topics to link to you. Regularly updated, keyword-rich content (not spam) and linking will help boost your site's visibility and in turn attract more customers.
3. Blogs offer multiple ways to deliver your message. If you're not the best writer, you can start an audio or video blog and can therefore still reach your customers in a personal way.
4. Blog posts encourage immediate responses from your customers. Questions, comments and feedback from your customers can help you better address their needs, adjust your campaigns, and react to the market's changing demands.
5. Blogs help you expand your reach online. By pinging search engines and using RSS feeds you can syndicate your content online, boost your reach and influence, and allow customers to control their communications with your company.
6. Blogs increase transparency and help you establish credibility. Blogs are much more personal than a corporate website and because they are regularly updated, customers can remain informed about your business and feel more connected to you.
Your blog can be your selling point and can sway prospective customers to choose you and your services over the competition.
How to Efficiently Market Your Business using a Blog
When you start writing a blog, don't push for the sale upfront. Too many people use their blog as a sales letter and end up turning readers off. People are not stupid. They know when they're being sold.
Blogs are about communicating and building relationships with your readers. Use your blog for branding your business, building your reputation and communicating with your audience - not just for making a sale.
There are a variety of ways you can use your blog to communicate with your readers and promote your business, while unobtrusively going after the sale. You can use your blog to:
Write product reviews and link to product pages
(consider signing up to be an affiliate)
Write insightful articles or tips relevant to your audience
Recommend products and services (yours or someone else's)
Post and archive company newsletters
Share company news and product updates
Offer special incentives and promotions
Ask customers to complete surveys and provide feedback
Generating new content for your blog does not have to be a daunting task. You don't have to worry about writing it all yourself. Instead, you can directly post your company newsletters as well as relevant third-party articles, reviews, and links found using sites like BlinkList and Google News. Remember to include links where appropriate to your own website and product pages.
Having a blog also allows you to make regular updates quickly and without needing a webmaster. As you find new content online you can publish it to your blog in a matter of minutes which makes maintaining your blog a breeze.
Hosting Your Blog - Whose Job Is It?
Should you host your blog or let someone else do it?
In most instances, having a third-party host your blog is best. This frees up your time to focus on other tasks, and keeps your blog online in the event your server crashes. Free hosting is available on sites such as Blogger(this blog is hosted on blogger.com!), TongueWag, and Xanga.
However, in some situations it might be better to host yourself. For example:
If your content or functional needs go beyond the scope of normal blogging and require features not offered or supported by existing blog services. You may need to perform testing in an offline mirror site.
If you have doubts that the third-party hosting service will go out of business before you do, or if you want to change hosting software.
If you plan to post complicated HTML (tables, formatting) that requires the use of an online editor.
If you do decide to host your own blog, we recommend creating it through WordPress, a customizable personal publishing platform.
How to Promote your Blog
Once you've established your blog, how do you get people to go there and read it?
The best way to promote your blog is to become THE expert in your subject area. Establish yourself as the authority on the topic through valuable information.
Let's look at the sites of three hugely successful bloggers that are quickly becoming 'the voice' for their respective domains that people listen to.
www.seobook.com - the SEO expert
www.micropersuasion.com - the public relations specialist
www.divamarketingblog.com - expert in blog marketing
Let's first take a look at the example of www.seobook.com.
As you can see they have a very simple site on which they provide information on search engine optimization and the products available. Although this site hardly looks very professional, they have a Google PageRank of 6! This is a much higher number than most e-tailers will ever reach.
As explained in our search engine optimization tactic, such a high PageRank will do wonders for your search engine ranking.
Look at how they added the little post-it on the left on which they ask for questions from readers. This simple method stimulates an open dialogue through which a relationship with the reader can be built. The blogger Aaron Wall also interacts with readers by allowing them to leave comments on the posting by clicking on the link 'Your Thoughts?'
Did you notice the date on the left of the text? Adding the date conveys to the reader that the content of the website is updated daily. This is a clever way to tell your reader to keep coming back for more!
Another example of a successful blogger in a completely different subject domain is Steve Rubel on www.micropersuasion.com.
As you can see, he focuses less on writing a story, but points people to valuable resources within his domain through short daily postings. Copy writing probably isn't Steve Rubel's strongest point. Did you see how every posting offers the opportunity to interact with the readers through comments?
The PageRank of this website is even higher than that of seobook.com, an astonishing 7!
Finally, let's look at www.divamarketingblog.com.This is once again a completely different blog from the two examples discussed earlier.
This blog captivates the reader through short quirky postings in which the blogger Toby cleverly integrates links with different websites and resources. As on both of the previous blogs, Toby communicates with his readers through the possibility to leave comments on each short message posted. This third site once again has a very high PageRank of 6.
So how did these bloggers succeed?
All these bloggers have a couple of things in common. The most important element being that they posted great informational content! Did you notice the absence of salesy language?
Furthermore, you could see a couple of other similarities:
Blogs are updated on a daily basis
There's ample opportunity for interaction
A great book on the art of blogging that we strongly recommend is 'Naked Conversations' by Robert Scoble.
The book identifies very valuable tips on how to blog, with nice sections on how to:
1. Get found easily
2. Read and comment on blogs before starting your own
3. Keep it simple and focused
4. Show passion
5. Demonstrate authority
6. Allow comments
7. Be accessible
8. Tell a compelling personal story
9. "Be linky"
10. Build real world relationships
11. Use your referrer log
Blogs and Search Engine Rankings
Blogs like those methioned above tend to get high rankings in search engines. Why? Because of content and linking.
Search engines like Google love regularly updated, content-rich sites - which is exactly what blogs are! Most blogs are updated with new articles and information on a daily basis; over time the search engines recognize them for their wealth of information and boost their ranking.
Blogs also contain a rich supply of links. Since bloggers are always looking for ways to keep their blogs fresh, they are likely to use links rather than create all the content themselves. Links to quality sites, including blog search engines and directories, can lead to high search engine rankings.
In our tactic on search engine optimization we'll spend some more time on how a blog can boost your search engine ranking.
Pinging - Notify The Search Engines That You Updated Your Content
Once you have posted a new entry to your blog, you can "ping" search engines and blog directories and have your blog re-assessed and indexed in as little as 48 hours.
Pinging alerts the search engines and directories that you have updated your content and gets them to scan your site again and use the new information in their placement algorithm. More on this in the tactic on search engine optimization.
Be sure to submit your blog to Google as well as to the following blog search engines and directories:
DayPop
BlogSearchEngine
BlogHop
Blogarama
BlogWise
Technorati
Blogs and Tags
Many bloggers add tags at the end of their posts. A tag is like a subject or category associated with a blog post. For example, if your latest post was a product review for XYZ product, you may associate the tags "XYZ," "review," and "product reviews" with your post.
Using tags can help readers find your blog in the directories and search engines. For example, people searching for specific blog content on Technorati can find your blog if you use tags with your post.
Social bookmarking sites, such as Digg, BlinkList and Reddit, rely on users to tag their favorite sites, and as more users save and tag your blog, you can experience a boost in your search engine ranking. The tags associated with your blog can also give you an idea about how your readers use and classify your information.
Summary
Having a blog to market your business is a great way to win over customers, build relationships, and extend your reach online. Simple and quick to create, a blog will get you in touch with your customers and can be a powerful tool to beat your competitors.
The key characteristic of a good blog is that it focuses on offering great content. Furthermore, it's important to interact with your readers through allowing them the possibility to leave comments or ask questions.
Because blogs tend to have great search engine rankings they will attract a lot of traffic. If you can capture these readers and interest them through the information that you provide, you will be only a small step away from leading them to your site and boosting your sales.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Do you want MORE MYSPACE FRIENDS???
Hi everyone! Well look, I got sick and tired of clicking and clicking and clicking to get friends on Myspace and even when I clicked them, I would get very little feedback or response which just means that people would accept my friend request but have no real interest in finding out about what I did. So I was ready to just move on from Myspace. I was just spending WAY too much time requesting friends and getting no return. Then a friend introduced me to FriendBlaster. Now, I always send a comment about myself ALONG WITH my friend request and I get TONS of feedback. My inbox is full of people wanting to know more about what I do. And the great news is that I don't have to click my fingers to the bone anymore! If you promote ANYTHING on Myspace and you are tired of clicking until your fingers ache, then you need to check out the #1 Rated MySpace Friend Adder!! It's totally cheap and you can TRY IT OUT FOR FREE (with limits on many of the features). If you know me, you know I would only endorse something I have used and that I believe in. I can tell you that this allows me to send timed bulletins, friend requests, comments, accept friend requests and much more and I spend less than 1/10 of the time clicking! It's awesome! It is loaded with features and they update it constantly to keep up with the changing tide of myspace marketing! Let me know what you think! Oh...did I mention that you can make money by telling others also? I made $200.00 last week just from telling some people in one of my online business' about it! The money was put into my paypal account right on time! If you want to ask me about it first, just message me! Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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