I’ll come right out and say it: keywords sometimes mystify me.
Sure I know all the web design tricks for embedding keywords and using alt-tags and other ways to make keyword rich content. But I always require my clients to provide the keywords and I just set to the task of making them whiz on the back-end of their website or blog. That’s not to say that through my work with clients, I haven’t learned a great deal about keywords but there was always something missing. I couldn’t just apply the SEO strategies that were developed for my clients to my own website. It seemed that something was always missing in my SEO strategy and the missing piece was an understanding of how to choose a killer set of keywords formy own initatives.
That is until I discovered the Killer Keyword module in the Marketing-for-Life Tribal Seduction course. The information and exercises in the Killer Keyword module really helped me learn how to select good keywords and, more importantly, how to use them effectively in my online efforts.
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be co-hosting a telecast on Wednesday, July 8th at 7 PM ET to focus strictly on the Killer Keyword Selection process from the Marketing-for-Life Tribal Seduction course.
Come and learn:
The 5 critical areas of a blog post for inserting your Killer Keywords
The 3-step process for creating your own Killer Keyword list
The two types of keyword research tools you have at your fingertips (with recommendations)
The #1 key to turning your Killer Keywords into cold hard cash
COME AND JOIN US WEDNESDAY
July 8th, 2009 - 7:00 PM Eastern (US)
IMPORTANT: Be sure to fill in your name and primary e-mail address below to receive the dial-in details and the special handouts before the class
Anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE to talk. Sure it may take me a while to warm up to you but once I get to know you (or get a caffeinated beverage in my system)… watch out! I’ll talk your ear off.
I left the Corporate World close to a decade ago and thought I’d miss live one-on-one interactions but e-mail quickly became my substitute for fellow co-workers and in fact, I developed a few deep bonds with friends and clients that I probably would not have in the “real world.” There’s something about the annonymity of e-mail that lends itself to an easy flow of conversation.
And then came Twitter.
Twitter took my conversations to a whole new level. With only 140 characters to spare, you have to pick and choose your words wisely. Messages are much more concise and more relevant. And conversations are suprisingly more persusasive… because conversations are the most persusasive business tool. And Twitter is where the conversation is happening.
If you’re not tweeting in your business, you’re missing out on an incredible opportunity to engage directly with your customers and potential customers. Sure Twitter is fun but you can’t overlook it’s value as a branding tool, traffic generator, customer service secret weapon, and online reptuation manager.
Yes Twitter is all those things. But for me it’s just another way for me to talk your ear off!
Why not lock up your Twitter account today and get schooled in the lost art of conversation.
I’m a fingerstyle guitar enthusiast! So much so that I volunteer to write the Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar weekly newsletter. I’ll post my articles here for your musical pleasure. Be sure to check us out online at http://www.fingerstyleguitar.ca This article was originally printed in July 2009.
Thursday, June 25th will forever be burned in my memory banks. I’ll always remember the disbelief I felt when the news of Michael Jackson’s passing flashed across my Twitter screen. I didn’t believe it. It had to be a hoax. We had already lost one of our cultural icons that day in the passing of Farrah Fawcett. Surely we didn’t just lose another – especially one who was not known to be ill. I immediately stopped what I was doing and Googled for details – convinced it was all a terrible mistake.
It wasn’t – Michael Jackson had indeed passed away at age 50.
Now I’m not going to go into details about his death or his life or even his music. I’m sure you’ve all seen one of many news programs in the past week offering exhaustive coverage on the subject.
But what I will say is this: if you are not sharing your gifts with the world, you are doing the world a great disservice.
Say what you want about Michael Jackson the man, one thing cannot be denied – he had an incredible talent. Whether or not his style of music was your cup of tea, it can’t be denied that he had an incredible gift. And he had such passion and dedication for sharing his gift with the world. Anyone who has seen any of his videos will agree. Anyone who has seen him perform live will agree. Michael Jackson loved what he did.
The same can be said of Farrah Fawcett. She too had a talent, a gift she shared with the world. Same for Ed McMahon, or David Carradine, or even Billy Mays. Each had a gift that they shared with the world.
If you are not sharing your gifts with the world, you are doing yourself a great disservice.
It doesn’t matter if your gift is Fingerstyle guitar, song and dance, acting or writing. In fact, your gift may not even be in the field of arts. Maybe you’re a great mathematician. Or a fabulous cook (and if you are, let me know when I can come over for dinner!). If you’re not sharing your gifts, you’re wasting them.
You may never reach the level of Michael Jackson – few ever will – but there are ways to share your love and passion for something. Come to an open stage if you’re a guitarist, volunteer your time to tutor or teach a child, perform for your family and friends – whether the performance is a song or a four-course meal. Share your gift – share your passions – do what you love to do and watch as the people you love share in that passion.
If you have been blessed with a gift (and we all have), it should be shared… before it’s too late.
Last Thursday, Coach Deb Micek presented a live broadcast that I was lucky enough to host.
Now that Oprah is on Twitter and a number of other celebrities like Ashton Kutcher with a million followers and counting, has the Death of Twitter arrived for business owners using social media to grow their business?
If you’re not a member of this Tribal Seduction Tribe, you may have missed the LIVE show Coach Deb was on this week talking about Twitter and the controversial debates in the Twittosphere. But you can catch the first 30 minutes of the show right here:
Every Friday, Twitter is all a buzz with recommendations on cool tweeps to follow. It’s one of the most popular Twitter memes (trends associated with Twitter). There are no rules to Follow Friday. You can participate or opt-out - it’s up to you. You can recommend a string of people, or one at a time. You can recommend the same people week after week or introduce someone new to your followers.
I haven’t participated in a while - not only have I been to busy to post, I’ve also been a little too busy to tweet. But I’ll be back soon to join in the ongoing party that is Twitter. In the meantime, if you want to join in the Follow Friday fun (it is Friday after all), here are some things to keep in mind:
You can opt out: Just because there may be a lot of #followfriday tweets, doesn’t mean you need to get involved.
Categorize your recommendation: If you feel like sharing a bunch of recommendations, it helps to categorize them to provide more value to other tweeters. For example: Social Media @CoachDeb, @JPMicek, @MariSmith… and so on.
Introduce new tweeps: Recommend a tweep (or more) who is new to your stream and who made an impact on you in the last week.
Helpful tweeps: If anyone has given you a helping in the past week, be sure to share!
Chattiest Tweeps: Twitter is about engaging people in a conversation. If there are no conversations, twitter is irrelevant. I always love recommending tweeps with whom I’ve had the most conversations or interactions with in the past week.
Many of you have been in touch with me to share the progress on your info products. You’ve all been doing some amazing work!
Now that you have your product ready, the next step is to get a salesletter online. I’m not going to teach you the specifics of how to write copy in the next few issues of this newsletter. There are others out there who have already created amazing resources to show you how to do this. I highly recommend any of Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero’s products. Derek Gehl’s Insider Secrets also includes a module on copywriting.
So while I won’t teach you how to write copy, I will go over the basic structure of an online salesletter and encourage you to create a swipe file of salesletters that you like. In fact, any time you order a product online, you should save the salesletter because chances are if it was good enough to persuade you to buy, it’s a good indicator of the strength of the sales copy.
Salesletter Template
Headline: Your headline is a concise summary about the benefit of the offer you will be making. Writing an attention grabbing headline is key to your online success. I myself have bought many a product based on the strength of the headline alone. I mean who has time to read 30 pages of salescopy? More often than not, I’m sold on the product based on the headline alone and a few other key elements on the salespage.
Opening Sentence: Your opening sentence builds upon the benefit, or problem-solution, spelled out in the headline. Some copywriters use a sub-heading to expand upon the benefits of the headline. Others use the first sentence of their copy. Test both to see what works best with your target audience.
Big Promise: You may choose to outline this in your headline or opening sentence. But if you’re using those elements to set up a problem and your salesletter is going to walk your prospect through your solution, then you want to make your big promise close to the top of your salesletter.
Proof: Another key persuasive element of your salesletter is proof. Proof comes in many forms. Ask yourself: What will make my reader / prospect believe what I am saying is true — what will make them believe I can deliver on my promise?
Structuarly, any combination of the following elements can be used:
• Bullet points
• Testimonials
• Facts
• Logic
Build Value: Your price point doesn’t matter much. Crazy claim, right? Here’s why: No matter what you’re charging, people will think it’s too much unless you make a reasonable (and believable) comparision showing that finding similar information or a comparable product or service any other way would cost far more. Study online salesletters for good examples. Look for phrases like: How much is information like this worth to you? or How much is all this going to cost you?
Make the Offer: Your offer is the unique, most compelling expression of the best combination of features and benefits of your product. This is also the area where you can highlight any special bonuses.
I know a few info-preneurs who say to write the salesletter first before you create your product and focus on designing the most compelling offer and then creating your product so that it delivers on every benefit and offer. But it takes many info-preneurs years to get to that stage. Just make sure your salesletter matches your product and you’ll be fine.
Call to Action: This is where you ask for their order. I’m always amazed at how many copywriters miss this step. Study your swipe files, especially for products you’ve personally ordered, and see how they close the sale.
Guarantee: Your Guarantee is very important, because it eases the worries that come right after your prospect has made a decision to buy. Many first time online entrepreneurs do not offer a guarantee on their products. They could be curtailing their sales. Again, study the guarantees on the salespages of products you’ve personally ordered.
P.S.: Your PS is your last chance to miss the sale. I feel it’s as important as the headline. You can shortform the main points of your benefits, value and offer in two or three impactful PS statements. I’ve personally bought many products based on the headline and the PS.
That, in a nutshell, is all that’s needed to write a compelling salesletter. I know I haven’t given you a lot of specific instructions. There are other teachers with a proven record of writing great conversion content who can fill in the gaps.
I do have a few tips I can share from my work with successful online entrepreneurs:
Before you start to write copy, you need to know your customer and how your product applies to your customer or market. Not only that, you need to talk to your market in their own language. Use words and phrases that they would use.
Using the format above, go through your product and find the features, tell your customer what those features will do for them (benefits) and then create your offer - which is essentially what does this combination of features provide in terms what it will do for the customer - and what’s unique about it.
IMPORTANT: This is a step that’s often missed. Once you’ve written the copy, read it out loud. Silly as it is, it will help you catch mistakes and also clue you in on whether the salesletter sounds personal and conversational - does it read like you’re talking to your customer
One more word of advice: The hardest thing about writing copy is getting started. Staring at a blank page can be intimidating. Follow the outline above and write blocks of copy. Deal with one element at a time and then write the filler copy in between each block.
If you’ve been following my Twitter-stream, you know I’ve been testing a new service called PitchRate.com and so far I like what I see. Tired of waiting at the back of the media line when you know you’ve got the goods? PitchRate.com moves the best experts to the front of the line!
It’s free. It’s simple. Here’s how it works:
For Journalists
• They make a cloaked “Request” to share their story needs. Experts respond.
• PitchRate.com rates the pitches. Journalists contact the best experts immediately.
• Once they’ve found the perfect match, they stop incoming pitches by simply turning off their “Request”.
• Journalists rate their experience with experts so the next journalist will benefit.
For You
• Are you a perfect match for a media request? “Make a Pitch”
• When journalists contact you, be amazing so you’ll get a great rating.
That’s pretty much it. Signing up is easy-peasy. Takes 30 seconds or less. If you have time to poke around and do searches once you login, go ahead. Otherwise, you’ll get an email daily with pitches directly to your inbox. If you find one that matches your specialty, you log in and fill out a pitch. Doesn’t get any easier.
If you’ve been waiting for a spot to free up in my practice (and I know many of you have), I have great news for you! The doors are open, come on in!
The last six months of 2008, my weekly eZine walked you through setting up a squeeze page, building a website, getting your first audio product together, choosing a broadcast service and more.
And many of you wrote asking for help. Some of you wanted one-one-one training to master the techniques yourself. Others of you wanted someone to take on marketing tasks so that you could focus on serving the people you were meant to serve. Makes sense, right? After all, long time readers will know that I often write about focusing on your brilliance and outsourcing the tasks that aren’t your core competencies.
Many of you took me up on the offer last month of one-on-one training sessions but many more of you got in touch looking for more specialized ongoing support.
That’s why I got busy building a team.
I want to see you succeed. And I know I can help. But I wouldn’t be able to do it alone so I’ve been busy training a team of internet marketing and new media specialists to help me help you.
Meet the new Virtual Partner team:
Sarah specializes in online customer care. She’s trained in Kunaki and 1ShoppingCart but above all, she is personally trained in my world class customer care standards.
Delaine is also a Customer Care Specialist and provides backup support. Her main focus is web maintenance and has been personally trained by me to be a Web Coding Ninja. She can put togethers eZines and optin pages in a flash and can also handle many web maintenance tasks (blogging, adding testimonials from AudioGenerator or AudioAcrobat, integrating opt-in forms, etc.). I’ll be personally training her in all the tools she’ll need to support any Online Entrepreneur.
Spencer is my meticulous editor and proof reader. I don’t know how he does it but he catches stuff that I just don’t see. He’s good. No he’s beyond good - he’s great! The best proof reader I’ve ever worked with.
Edward is my secret weapon… and my brother :-) He’s a programming genius and an excellent web server admin. He’s helped me with many projects that require specialized skills such as Kayako installs, membership program installs, and PHP coding (when I get busy and can’t do it myself).
Jason is my go to guy for web graphics: website headers, custom Twitter backgrounds and more. He’s an experienced graphic artist and also a pro at photo restoration and editing. And soon he’ll be dabbling in online video editing. We’ll keep him busy for sure!
And then there’s me. I’ll still be doing all of the things you know me to do (and do really well). You’ll still have direct contact with me so if you need to discuss a project, no matter how big or small, I’ll be the one smiling on the other end. But now I’ll have a team I can count on to help me deliver projects faster and keep me on track when projects with my online business management clients require immediate attention.
I’m so excited to have my Dream Team in place. And the best part is, they’re all old friends and have seen me on my best and worst days :-) And I’ve known them all long enough to know where their strengths and passions lie. I’m excited to be able to introduce them to you so that we can help you make 2009 the best year for your online business.
Get in touch with me today! I can help you get your project off the ground or take your business to the next level.
I look forward to hearing all your great ideas! Let’s talk soon.
We’ve all completed a product, right? Ready to sell? Right? Anyone?
Nope… right?
It’s okay. Chances are you’re not alone.
You’re stuck. You don’t know what the next step is. You’ve listened to (and chances are paid a hefty price for) so much advice about what you should be doing that you’re overwhelmed and confused and afraid to take the next step.Or worse, you’ve got a virtual team in place and you’re too busy to manage each contractor. In both cases, you’re spinning your wheels and not getting it done.
All too often, I see online entrepreneurs fall into one camp or the other. And it gets me fired up because I love how full they are of terrific ideas but they just can’t get past the obstacles in their way.
Which means that their products stay trapped in their head and don’t get out to help the people they’re meant to help. Or they get tucked in a file folder or buried on a website because the business owner is much more excited about the creation process than the acutal marketing process.
So great speakers and coaches and online entrepreneurs stay small and don’t share their amazing talents with the world… all because they’re stuck.
I’ve worked with some amazing teachers over the years. People who coach others to build an online business. But each of these courses fails in one key area: they don’t show you exactly how to do the technical things you need to do to run your online business.
Almost every program tells you to hire a virtual assistant, or go to Elance and outsource the project. And while I agree in principle with the advice, I also think that it’s important for a business owner to have a basic understanding of how to do a task.
So here’s what I’m going to do. I know I’ve been teasing you for close to a year about my DotCom Mechanics tutorials: step-by-step video instruction on the basic internet marketing tools that you’ll need to get your online business up and running.
Well I’ve been so busy helping my clients build their businesses that I haven’t had time to record these tutorials for you. I know, shocking… given that I’m really good at project managing my clients projects to completion. I guess I’m stuck myself
So I gave myself a good kick in the you-know where and have changed my approach because I know that many of you are waiting for this training and have been asking me about it.
Instead of doing a formal product with pre-recorded tutorials, I’m going to offer live one-on-one training. So no fancy salespage to sell you on the benefits and full of irresistible offers. No fancy graphics or packaging. No product launch campaign. No packages to buy or confusing payment plans or hidden monthly member fees. Just me and you—one-on-one—training you on what you need. And if what you need is coaching, then I’m availabe for that too.
I don’t call myself a coach but a lot of what I do when I work with clients involves “coaching” - working with them to plan, strategize and offer feedback. Keeping them accountable to their goals and deadlines. Helping them get over their blocks and fears and challenges.
So here’s the deal: if this sounds like something you need, then let’s get started. If you need training, we’ll meet via webinar and I’ll get you up to speed on what you need to know to use tools like 1ShoppingCart, blogging software, AudioGenerator, web building programs, article marketing - you name it!
If you need a sounding board, we’ll meet by phone (or VoIP if that’s easier) and talk one-on-one and get you moving towards your professional goals.
The only thing I ask is if we’re doing one-on-one training, you allow me to record the webinar so that I can eventually turn it into training materials that others will benefit from.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve noticed that in the past year (particularly in the past six months) I’ve been talking about social media and social networking. Internet marketing, and marketing in general, is changing. It’s taking a page from the old days of network marketing and becoming more about the relationships you create with your followers and customers rather than what you can sell them. The following article offers tips on how to leverage the new social media tools to market your business and how to create a memorable online presence. Enjoy!
Leveraging Social Media To Market Your Business
By Stuart Crawford
Social media and networking are all the craze in the marketing world today. Professionals and small business are moving over to social networking and online marketing in droves. However, many IT professionals today still do not understand the power of the Internet to market their business nor do they share this power with their client base so that they can become the expert in this field and help their clients. Not only do they not understand the power of the Internet and what it has to offer to their business they may also be afraid of letting their hair down on the Internet.
The online social networking world is all about building relationships. Exactly the same way you would create friendships at a kitchen party or at a social event. Online networking using social networking tools like Facebook, LinkedIn or Plaxo is exactly the same as going to your local Chamber of Commerce or networking club and meeting new people or reconnecting with those colleagues in your local community.
Online social networking and media follows the same set of guidelines as you would find in any face to face interaction. You need to be yourself; you need to add value and most importantly you must be authentic.
How do we take our business online and attract new business opportunities using social media services?
The first step is you need to be memorable; you must create that memorable experience so when you follow up with a new contact they instantly remember you. Just like in a face to face networking event, you have to create that memorable experience. How are people going to remember you? What memorable experience are you creating so that they recommend you to their friends and family when they have an opportunity for you? You must create that memorable experience, you need to be unique and you must try to help everyone in your circle of inspiration, never sell to them.
The next step is exactly that: Never sell your services and push your products using social networking tools. Again, just as in a real life face to face meeting, if you come across as an aggressive sales person, people will run away from you and you will find yourself being awfully lonely. The same thing happens online, if you post links to your products on Twitter or on your blog, you run the risk of pushing people away from you. We must educate and only focus on teaching or sharing our knowledge with others.
Talk about current events and the affect that is has in your world. It is also OK to be a little controversial, controversy will attract readers to your blog. Current events and the impact that it has on your clients and your industry are also great ways to attract new people to your blogs and Web sites. Engage yourself in conversations with others in your industry and offer your insight into their postings. By combining your own writing and participation in what others are talking about in your local community and industry will attract followers to your sites.
When leveraging social networking it is important to add value. You do not have to create content all the time on your own. Leverage existing content that is out there today that your clients, friends and contacts would find value with. You do not have to create the content yourself. This is the power of the Internet. There are many sources of content out there;you need to find what content your followers would find interesting.
Leveraging social media is exactly the same as networking face to face, you want to exhibit the same behaviours that you would at your local networking club or Chamber of Commerce. It is important that you approach the online world this way. Be helpful, offer assistance and whenever possible follow up. Follow up just like in a real life meeting is critically important, if you can meet face to face following an online meeting great, if not, leverage tools like instant messengers, e-mail and online communities to take your new relationship to a whole new level.
The number one sin in marketing is to be boring; the same rules apply when you are marketing online. You cannot afford to be boring; you need to be exciting; people are attracted to those that are offer fun and exciting things. If you are looking at attracting new business opportunities online, do things that are fun and will attract potential clients to visit your site, post fun contests on your social networking sites that drive traffic to your Web site. The number one rule is to be fun and exciting and make it your number one intention not to be boring.
Online and social media can bring a tremendous amount of value to your business if done correctly. Remember these basic tips and tricks to help you with your online experience. Leverage the tools available to you and your business today, create those memorable experiences and help out those that are hungry for the value that you can bring to the world.
_______________________________ ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stuart Crawford freelance consults with You Factor Inc. helping Small Business, IT Firms deliver their consulting services to their local market. Stuart has helped many IT partners throughout the world and he can help you win in today’s marketplace, sign up for his daily email of the day to help your business at http://www.stuartcrawford.com. He can be reached through e-mail at stuart@stuartcrawford.com or through his blog at http://blog.itsuccessmentor.com.
