1. Define your specific skills, passions and expertise that sets you apart from the rest of the people who offer what you offer. Differentiate yourself, show your uniqueness.

2. Add a professional photo. Of course, on some sites a professional photo can have a looser meaning, but remember your photo should be tasteful and appropriate for how you want to portray yourself.

3. Provide your “30 Second Elevator Speech.” Tailor this to the specific social network your profile is on.

4. Be interesting and memorable. But be careful your profile isn’t memorable for the wrong reasons.

5. Tag your profile with relevant keywords for your business. Use keywords that you want your business to show up under if people are doing a search.

6. Include key links to your blog, your website, and even other social networking sites. You want to highlight and promote your web presence.

7. Make sure your profile is readable and easy to follow. Keep your paragraphs short and concise, 2-3 sentences max.  You want your profile to be something someone can read quickly to learn more about you and your business.

1. Social networking requires “active engagement.” You can’t just drop in every few months and expect people to line up to use your services. You can’t log on to Facebook only to ask people to buy your stuff, as great as it is. You have to actively work on building relationships, offering help and information, and connecting with people.

2. Be a community builder. Give back to your audience or your network, and always be relationship-oriented.

3. Don’t spread yourself thin. Experiment with which social networks work for you and for your goals, but then only focus on 3 or 4 sites at a time. It’s not going to work for you if you’re trying to be on too many sites at once. You can’t be everywhere, nor do you want to.

4. Consistently add value to your networks, your connections, your groups. Share your expertise, add great content, write recommendations. Always be thinking about how you can help others.

5. Be selective and strategic about inviting or accepting friends, followers, connections. Think of quality as opposed to quantity.

6. Avoid any aggressive marketing tactics. You can’t be a pushy salesman and expect to see any results with social networking.

7. Build memorable profiles. Let people know about you, see what your passions are,  what special skills you have, what you do well. Let your personality show.

8. Establish a routine/regular schedule. Set aside 30 mins/1 hour/15 mins (whatever time works for you), and then stick to your schedule. Identify your priority tasks and make sure those get done first in the time you have. And don’t let yourself get distracted.

9. Be professional and personable. One place to be sure to do this is with your photos. I recently turned down a friend request because the photo was a bit too “revealing.” Sure, maybe the person was all business and had the best intentions, but I definitely didn’t want that picture showing up on my wall. So think about how you want to portray yourself and make sure everything backs that up.

10. Don’t forget why you’re in Social Networking in the first place. Remember your goals and follow your action plan. Like I said before, don’t get distracted. Keep focused.

And don’t forget, if you need help figuring out what your online marketing action plan should be – contact me and I can point you in the right direction.

Have a great day!

Once you have this system in place, what do you do with those emails? How do you actually turn your list into business and make money from your list?

Here’s a quick step-by-step process on how to make money with your email list. I’m going to just a list today, but over the next few days I’ll be breaking down each one of the steps in more detail. So stay tuned…

1) Create a “hook” or a “bribe” to get people to sign up for your list.

2) Set up your email list and your autoresponders to deliver your hook.

3) Follow up with your list on a consistent basis.

4) Offer information, resources, and work on building up a relationship with your list.

5) Start making money from your list. Offer your own products and services, send out affiliate promotions.

It’s really that simple. Ok, it’s a little more work than this list makes it out to be – but this really is the basics of using your list to make money. Again, I will be going into more detail about some ways you can actually complete each of these steps in future posts.

But get started now thinking about what you can offer as your “hook.” You want something simple to create, but with real information. Don’t just send out fluff. And make sure it relates to what your product or service is.

Have a great day!

I see this not only in my own life, but in many of my clients and peers. And as I get busier and have more tasks, it seems that technology can start to become more of an enemy than a friend. So this week, when I was reading “Eat That Frog” again, this particular chapter about technology time sinks seemed very appropriate.

Here’s some tips on how to keep technology on your side, and not have it working against you.

• You have a choice – You can be plugged in or you can unplug at any time. You need to unplug from your phone, your email, the internet, Facebook – detach on a regular basis, so you don’t become overwhelmed and so that you stay calm, clearheaded and able to perform at your best.
• Don’t get addicted – I see this a lot with Facebook – you know who you are, those people who play Farmville 24/7, who message you the second you get online, are Tweeting about their dr. appt in the middle of the exam. Don’t fall into this trap, don’t let technology (whether it’s Facebook, your phone, checking your email constantly) suck you in. The whole goal of technology is to make our lives easier. It’s meant to help us improve our lives by helping us to accomplish things and communicate with people faster and more efficiently. So remember that, and don’t allow it to take up your time by obsessing over the use of it.
• Standardize and delegate – We all feel like no one else can do it as well as we can. That might be true, but at some point those small tasks are going to cost you time and money. One of the huge benefits of technology is that you can easily hand off many admin tasks without having to actually hire an employee. How would your life change if you had an extra 20 hours each week to think, work, plan, talk with clients and prospects, or even go to dinner with your spouse?  Use technology to hand off tasks you really don’t need to be spending your time on.
• Treat technology as a servant,  not a master – Technology is there to help you, not hinder you. Just because that notification on your Outlook goes off, it doesn’t mean you need to respond right now! One of the best ways to get a handle on technology – just turn it off. Don’t check your email as soon as you get to work or sit down at your desk. Turn off the cell phone.  Just unplug, even if it’s for a few minutes!
  

It’s a lot easier to turn a ship that’s moving in the wrong direction than it is to turn a ship that’s not moving at all.

If you’ve been getting “analysis paralysis”, scratching your head and trying to figure out what your direction is, just pick a purpose and start heading toward it. If you’re off course, the market will correct you.

If you’re not heading in the right direction, the market will quickly give you feedback that will help you adjust. Just don’t get overly concerned that what you decide today is going to be cast in stone.

Don’t worry about picking the wrong area or niche at first. Don’t worry if you find that you’re being called an expert on something that you don’t want to be known as the expert on.

Areas of expertise can change. But you can only change your direction if you have already set out in one to begin with.

Bob Burg is the author of a book called “Endless Referrals.” He is now positioned as a referral expert and an expert on helping people to generate referrals for business.

When he first started out, his niche was memory experts. He noticed that people who took his memory courses wanted to improve their memory to remember the names of people they’d met at networking meetings and events. They wanted to improve their memory to achieve better business results.

As he spotted that connection, he started to focus more on being the referral expert. No one accused him of being a fraud because he was now a referral expert instead of a memory expert. The market let him know in which direction to steer his business.

When you set course in your chosen direction, look for niches and markets where it’s going to be easier for you to establish personal relationships and position yourself as an expert.

If the niche you do choose turns out to be an enormous amount of effort, you have to weigh whether or not it’s worth your while to continue down that road or take a different road to get business.

When Dan Kennedy, the marketing expert, was invited to submit a proposal to give a speech in Switzerland, he opted out. While plenty of other people would jump at the opportunity, and spend a day putting together a proposal to bid, that is not the way he wants to go after business. Perhaps it didn’t seem worthwhile to spend the time writing the proposal. The point is that you have to make the determination of how you want to do business.

Your niche will evolve with your business. It’s an actual evolution that happens in most any business. Look at my own situation. I started out as specializing, by trial and error, as a cold calling expert. But I didn’t stop at that. Today, I’m teaching people how to find new business and triple their income! The way in which I’m helping people and the types of people I’m helping is completely different from what I started out with.

But it’s turned out for the best for everyone!

What is marketing, really?  Marketing is just communication. And who do you want to communicate with? Obviously, I’m going to say your target market – a group of people who have common interests and common problems and that you can find hanging out (online and offline) in the same places. And hopefully this niche or target market is something or someone you’re passionate about helping, glad to spend time with, passionate about working with.

So why do you need to pick a target market, why can’t you just market to anyone/anywhere? Because if marketing is simply communication, then NOT choosing a target market is like trying to get your voice heard by the rest of the world over all the noise being made by all the other people communicating (marketing). This is especially true when you’re communicating (marketing) online.

I recently read this book, and I loved how she put this. It really made it clear to me, so I’m going to put my own twist on it and use it for you:    Trying to reach everyone/anyone online, it’s like going out in your front yard right now and yelling at the top of your lungs that you have a fantastic teleseminar going on next week. Almost no one is going to hear you! Maybe your neighbor to the left or right will hear you, but they probably aren’t interested in your amazing teleseminar. You think you’re going to reach everyone (hey, I’m yelling really loud!), but you’re going to end up reaching no one that’s actually interested in what you’re yelling about.

If you want to communicate something to someone, whether it’s to get them to do or buy something, think something, feel a certain way or believe something, you need to know who you want to communicate that thing to. And the clearer you are about your target market, and the more passionate you are about it, the more likely your income is going to start growing.

So stop yelling in your front yard – go get yourself a niche!

If you want more information about picking and marketing to your target market, check out my free webinar this Friday. There’s no pitch, it’s not a preview call, it’s just good information that will help you market your business online. See you there!

One of the biggest reasons I hear is time. Lack of time, not enough time, don’t want to spend the time, wanting to spend the time doing something else. You can’t make more time, no matter how much you learn about social networking and online marketing. You have time or you don’t. If you need more time, you have to find it or spend less time doing something else.

So if time is what’s standing in the way of marketing your business online, you basically have three ways to resolve this time issue. Which way you choose depends on which means more to you, time or money.

1. Just jump in and figure it out on your own. You’ll make mistakes, it will take time, but it’s the cheapest way to get it done – money wise.  This is probably the most expensive if you’re talking about the time you’ll need to spend.  One positive point to this method is that you’ll know how to do it, so even if you decide to outsource at a future date, you’ll have a good idea of what should be happening. I used this method to get my basic foundation in understanding how social networking and online marketing really work, and to see the results once you finally learn how to do it right. But believe me, it took more hours out of my day (and night) then I even want to remember!

2. Learn from others who have already spent the time learning. Like I mentioned above, there are hundreds of products you can buy, listen to, read online (and offline) to see how others are using social media and online marketing. This will also take time, time to read – time to listen – time to learn – time to implement, but no where as much time as Option 1. Of course, in exchange for less time and benefiting from the time others have spent, you’re going to spend more money than Option 1. So your cost increases but your time decreases.

If you take this route, just be aware of what you’re purchasing. Talk to other people who’ve bought products, ask for recommendations. There’s a ton of information out there, but it doesn’t mean that all of that information is good or that it’s going to fit your needs.  And don’t forget to take advantage of the tons of free information out there, to get you started for free.

3. Outsource your online marketing. This is going to save you the most time, of course. And, consequently, cost you the most of the 3 options.  A huge benefit to outsourcing is that it allows you the time to do what you really enjoy, what you’re best at.  My clients usually come to me after spending some time trying out Option 1 or 2. But even after getting training, or spending the time to learn on their own, they find that they still don’t have the time or the desire to take on the task themselves. What they like is that I come up with a strategy and then make it happen for them.

My final note for you is that online marketing has to be done consistently, so whatever option you decide to try out, make sure you commit to a consistent schedule. Social media can have a huge impact on your business, allowing you reach out to people you otherwise never would, to teach people you’d normally never meet, to grow your business in ways you never thought you could. So whatever way you decide to integrate online marketing into your business, whether by spending more time or more money, as Nike says – Just Do It!

Have a great day!

Nowadays almost everyone knows about Twitter, Facebook and all the other hundreds of ways you can promote yourself and your business online. But which of these sites actually works, how can you market yourself without seeming “salesy” or “pushy?” And how do you find the time to fit all of that online stuff with your day-to-day activities you’re already having to juggle everyday?

On February 19th, I’m going to be sharing with you some simple steps you can follow to make your online marketing efforts successful.  I’m offering a free webinar to show you how to get more clients, make more money, and still have time to run your business. This webinar is truly free, no pitch, no sales talk, just really good information you’ll be able to put to use right away.

Click here to go get signed up.

See you on the call!

Please enjoy our guest blogger today. She has some great tips on using online marketing successfully.

Everyday more small businesses wake up and realize how crucial it is for them to master Internet marketing if they want to significantly increase sales. Whether you are already dabbling in Internet marketing and learning about it or the concept is new to you and a bit confusing, ignoring it is no longer an option.

Whether you’re a coach or consultant, a service provider, or a bricks and mortar business like a retail shop or restaurant, driving targeted traffic to a well written, compelling website is essential if you don’t want to leave lots of money on the table. There is so much conflicting information to be found about where you need to spend your time and money creating an Internet marketing program that I’d like to help you with a few basic tips.

First of all you are probably not a professional Internet marketer. Professional Internet marketers look for underserved niches and create websites that sell products or information that will serve that niche in some way. They create multiple sites that are not limited to just one topic or market. Successful Internet marketers are masters at finding markets that they may know nothing about, and then finding an expert with knowledge or a product that they can sell to buyers in that market. They are experts at building compelling websites and driving traffic to those websites through online marketing methods and search engine optimization. Many of the courses and programs you’ll find online teach people how to become professional Internet marketers.

Instead, you have a passion or skill around which you’ve built a small or solo business and you simply want to know how to use some of these tactics to drive qualified traffic to your website. So instead of focusing on multiple markets and websites you really only need to focus on a few and they are markets you know well and that are directly related to your business. Here are some simple tips to help you focus on what Internet marketing you need to master for your small business.

Your Website

Preparing your website for visitors is like preparing your house for a party before inviting the guests. If you get lots of visitors but they come and go and don’t take action then you’ve wasted all the time you spent bringing them there. Before you begin traffic generation:

1) Create a website where the content is compelling, customer focused and talks to the visitor about THEIR needs, challenges problems and the results and benefits they want that you can provide. Avoid language like “welcome” and “we do this and we do that”. People want to know you understand what they want, not that you are telling them how great your business is.

2) Include an opt-in form on ALL key web pages. Ask visitors to sign up to receive a free downloadable or deliverable gift that gives them some knowledge or information they really want.

3) Include glowing testimonials on each page. These are a priceless tool to establish your credibility.

4) Have basic search engine optimization built into your website so that you’ll start ranking in the search engines for your most important keyword phrases. Make sure that includes an ongoing program to develop back links to your website.

Driving Traffic

5) The fastest way to drive traffic is to invest in pay-per-click advertising with Google or Yahoo. Money buys speed. You can easily find a local Pay Per Click expert to set up your first ad campaign and tweak it until you’ve created an ad that drives a stream of visitors to your site who are qualified and willing to take action once they get there. The great advantage to PPC is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad and you can put a limit on the amount you spend each month.

6) Spend time each week on traffic generating activities like some combination of

* social networking (Twitter, Facebook. LinkedIn to start),
* writing and submitting articles to article directories,
* posting comments on highly trafficked blogs in your niche,
* posting to your blog and listing your blog in blog directories, and
* submitting videos to video sites
* submitting audios to podcast sites

Once you decide which activities will work for you, do them every single week. Schedule them into your calendar or train an assistant to do them.

7) Do regular keyword research using the Google Keyword Research tool to find out what your potential clients are actually searching for on the web so you can use those keywords on your web pages and as blog, article and video titles. This is becoming more crucial all the time. A blog post is very likely to come up in the search engine results more quickly than your web page since it has fresh content which the search engines love. Often, keyword research is the missing piece when people tell me their online marketing isn’t working!

Driving traffic isn’t rocket science. It’s not mysterious. It simply requires a bit of strategy and real consistency. So put a plan in place now and in a few months you’ll really start seeing the results of the increased traffic reflected in your sales.

I follow tons of blogs, so many that I always have a 1000+ articles to read on my Google reader page. But as I was skimming through some of those articles this weekend, this series really caught my eye. It’s a series that was done by Therese Skelly on her “Happy In Business” blog.  She ran this series over 3-4 blog posts, but I’m going to highlight the 3 mistakes here in one quick post for you.

Mistake #1 – This is really about your own self-limiting beliefs. Do you ever hear yourself saying any of the following:

“I’m not that unique…loads of people already do that.”
“What should they hire me?”
“I feel a bit like an imposter because of __________”
“I can’t charge that much, because _______(fill in the words here. It could be I haven’t been in biz long enough, haven’t gotten a degree, etc)
“If I don’t give away the farm, my customers will leave me.”
“I can’t say NO because what if that opportunity doesn’t come around again?”

These thoughts cause you to get in your own way. You’re limiting your potential by allowing these doubts to dictate what you do and don’t do.  You need to start thinking about any of these beliefs you have in a positive way. Why should the hire you – because you’re great at what you do. I can charge that much, because what I offer is worth more than that. Ask your current clients, talk to your coach, your mastermind group. Figure out a way to turn these negative thoughts into empowering, positive statements.

Mistake #2 -  This is about spending too much time on low-to-no income producing activities, and not focusing on those activities in your business that have a high-income potential. Outsource those activities that take up too much of your time and can be farmed out to someone for less money than you’re losing by spending time on them vs. spending time marketing or working with clients. As Therese says in her post about this – “set a goal to be working only in your brilliance and doing the tasks that you love and that generate you the big dollars.” I couldn’t have said it better.

Mistake #3 – Bad habits. Eliminate those bad habits that are holding you back. Here’s a few examples:

• Saying yes to every opportunity
• Following every guru and buying tons of programs (without getting a good ROI)
• Not following up with contacts
• Being in touch with your list only sporadically
• Thinking that you have to have all your marketing materials just perfect
• Getting swept away in distractions
• Pricing too low
• Spending too much time on FB and Twitter

Make a list of your top 10 bad habits, and then commit to a plan to change/stop them.

So that’s her list of the Top 3 Money Killing Mistakes in Business. If you want to read the whole series in full – you can find the first post in the series HERE.