Short cuts….short sighted.

Short cuts….short sighted.

ShortsightedAs people search the internet to find the answer to “how can I start my own internet business” the answer they find numerous times are “get rich quick” schemes. Often the new internet marketer sees an ad, buys a product, takes a few steps and finds discouragement. They are starting in the middle.

An internet business or online business is no different than any business. It has to have a beginning point. It has to have goals, milestones, and a business plan. But, even before that, it needs to have a vision. Without vision, your business probably won’t succeed.

I think of vision as being able to “see” a clear picture of your fulfilled goals in your mind. It is like the box cover of a difficult puzzle….you must begin with the end in mind! Almost every success in my life has come after having a vision for it. I saw myself winning a golf tournament; I saw myself winning a race; I saw myself changing the way people could make phone calls. Moreover, the successful business owners I have known all have vision.
It is what I call the 10,000 foot view. You see the big picture, and not the obstacles. You cannot allow obstacles to cloud your vision. If you lose sight of your vision your lose hope. And if you lose hope, it’s game over.

Write, draw or mindmap your vision for your business and bring it to life by employing your senses.
• What will your business look like?
• What will you and others think about your vision?
• How will you and your clients feel?
• What colors do you associate with your vision?

Create a vision whiteboard. Start to collect images from magazines, postcards or downloaded from the internet, that represent aspects of your vision. Piece the story board together and place it somewhere you can look at it regularly…post it where you can see it. Feel free to add to it and keep it fresh as your future unfolds.
Through a visioning process you can get clear on a bigger picture for your business, become passionate and excited about the future and then make that a reality by chunking it down into realistic and achievable goals. (We will discuss that in another post.)

When I consult one of the very first steps the client is asked to undertake from the outset is to define a vision to work towards. Keeping fingers crossed, “going with the flow”, drifting or just letting life happen to you are not effective ways of getting what you really want out of life. I often will tell a client that I can make you famous….but; I need to know what to make you famous for! To my surprise, many times they don’t know.

So often we can lose ourselves in a fog of indecisiveness and confusion that procrastination or surrender takes over from drive and focus. Fear keeps us stuck and our dreams go on hold, perhaps never to see the light of day, rendering regret and dissatisfaction as our destiny.

Having a clear goal is not always about pushing ruthlessly ahead for grand and impressive achievements but sometimes just a quiet knowing what you want, how you’d like to be and why you are doing what you are doing, all attach meaning and purpose to life.

We will talk later about how to move forward step by step, but if you don’t start by getting a vision, added efforts could be somewhat futile.

Dream a bit. If you set your target too low, you may hit it, but there is almost no chance that you will surpass it. Alternatively, if you set your target too high, you may fail, but you will be further along than the low target. So dream!

For now, focus on the big picture. Don’t worry about the details of how you will get there. We will discuss goal setting and business plans in future posts.

“You mean the size of my vision will dictate the size of the result?”

Precisely.

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A Powerful Way RSS Helps You Stay Ahead Of Competition

A Powerful Way RSS Helps You Stay Ahead Of Competition

 

One of the biggest concerns most marketers have is staying ahead of competition. Using RSS feeds to engage and program your readers as well as interact with them on a regular basis, is a great way to stay way ahead of the curve of your competition.

Why does this work so well? Marketers have problems getting most e-mails delivered on a regular basis to prospective clients. Having to then create other methods to interact with their niche is at best hit or miss. Relying on traditional e-mail marketing can only be a difficult and losing proposition.

On the other hand, submitting regular content to your blog or website and then turning this content into RSS feeds does all the heavy lifting for you. Just imagine one blog post being repurposed into a single RSS feed that can then be read and shared by tens of thousands of RSS readers!

RSS feeds are wonderful because people can subscribe at any time. Whatever content you are sending via the internet; they have a choice of whether or not to engage with you. Because you can have literally tens of thousands of potential readers, simply publishing a daily RSS feed can keep the newsfeed engaged and turn them into clients.

As a marketer, you often have to work very hard to have a single sale. It is difficult to reach your niche in a way that is both comfortable and highly interactive. When you publish regular RSS feeds, your niche literally comes to you and if you follow up with your program on a daily basis it is significantly easier to convince these people to look at your products and services.

The real value of RSS feed comes in the ability to syndicate content and constantly publish multiple updates that people actually look forward to. If you publish content to the same people on a mailing list, and they receive more than one or two e-mails a day, you could actually upset a portion of your list. Ask any marketer if they were there to send out more than two e-mails a day to their marketing list and you will hear a resounding no. Now asked the same e-mail marketers if they can send out two or three newsfeeds a day, and they will say certainly!

If you haven’t tried RSS feeds in your business. I highly suggest you do so. You can find out more information at the link below.

RSS Syndication Mastery

Or, you can learn from a free ebook at  The Truth About RSS Feeds.

Precisely.

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Habits form futures….

Habits form futures….

Thanksgiving is an emotional time. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then sometimes discover once a year is way too often!  Well, that is not the case for our family, quite the contrary we often have to share our gratitude remotely from different cities and miss the time together.  When our kids were young we often spent our “prior” turkey indulgence being grateful for all the little things that we had…our health, our family, our home, our bed…you get the idea.  Things were simple and it was a nice break from business and work.  We were truly thankful for what we had.

We live in an age of distraction.  Today, the great contradiction is that on Thursday the very same people who are purportedly thankful for everything that they have… on Friday are up before the sun to drive to the closest mall to treat themselves to the biggest (most certainly busiest) shopping day of the year!

The very same folks who on Thursday we so grateful for everything , now on Friday just a few belches later, need everything and are willing to go without sleep and fight to get it.  Help me understand?  On Thursday I was so thankful for everything, on Friday there is so much I was secretly complaining about in my spirit that I have to have; and I have to have it now while it is on sale!  If only the stores had opened for a while on Thursday (oh, they will), I sure hope they stay open late today.

It gets more fascinating.  On Monday the “powers that be” will calculate the retail sales for Friday and give us a diagnosis of whether “America is sick” or whether “America is well” based upon how much we spent.  Think about it.  If we stay home and are truly, truly thankful and don’t spend a lot in the stores…well, there is a huge problem.  The economy has slowed, something is terribly wrong.    If we spend a lot of money on stuff we don’t need with money we don’t have, the diagnosis is a robust economy and it is growing, things are looking up…. America is happy!

Of course, if we don’t spend enough, then the “powers that be”, those in a helpful position, will say what can we do to help them?  Clearly, they will say “let’s lower interest rates so they can buy the stuff the wish they had …that stuff that they complained about in their heart on Thanksgiving Day that they didn’t go out and buy on Friday.”  But, if we spend alot, well “maybe we’ll raise interest rates; actually charge them a little more for the things that they are buying because evidently they don’t care how much they spend on this stuff.”

So,  the heartbeat of America will be judged based upon how much we spent, because of course if you spent a lot, you must be happy.  Please, take my pulse.  Why? You have got to be dead to think this way.  Happiness does not equal spending or money.  It certainly does not the equivalent of foolishness.  Money certainly allows us to handle our problems more stylishly, but the problems…well, they normally are still there.  How about a change in attitude using gratitude; how about a habit that will give us the presence of focus; it will change our focus from what we don’t have to what we have, and from that foundation we can craft understandings that help create the new level of living.

So, let’s get off the hamster wheel. (I simply hate rats!)  After all, what is Thanksgiving without peace and gratitude? Isn’t that what the holiday is all about?

It is, yet many of us forget that fact. Too often, we don’t remember to be grateful for what we have or receive on Thanksgiving or on any other day. We become so involved in the negative dramas of our lives that we see only the stress-filled job, the uncaring relationship, the stack of bills we can’t pay, the doctor’s prognosis, the misbehaved children, or perhaps the lack of time. If we take another look at our lives, we can always find something for which to be grateful – the sun in the sky, a friend, the weekend, a warm place to sleep, the five dollars in our pocket, the dog who licks our hand in passing. It really doesn’t matter how much we have or how little. We still can be grateful for what we do have.

Thanksgiving offers a wonderful opportunity to remember the things for which we are grateful and to practice having what some have called “an attitude of gratitude.” Some say a prayer of gratitude represents the strongest prayer of all, and I would agree. I was taught to include gratitude in my prayers and thoughts every day – gratitude for what I have as well as for what I will receive. And what better time to start such a practice or to deepen an existing one than on a holiday created solely for giving thanks.

To begin with, try this just for Thanksgiving. First, before the meal even begins, go around the table and give each person a chance to offer gratitude for at least one thing. Begin simply by saying, “Something I’m grateful for is….” and fill in the blank. Let people share as many specific things for which they are grateful as they can think of. They can continue after their first sharing by saying, “And something else I’m grateful for is…” If someone’s turn has passed and they suddenly think of something else they want to add, let them do so between other people’s turns or at the end. This practice will set the whole tone of your meal. And don’t let anyone slide!   Everyone must share at least one thing for which they feel grateful.

The second step involves prayer. Joining hands and offering a blessing on the food and the company at the table, along with thanksgiving of some sort, always sheds a warm, spiritual light on any meal. And it puts God into the picture, reminds us that the Divine might have something to do with our good fortune.

Third, ask people to bring to the table their favorite quotes or stories about being grateful or about Thanksgiving itself. During the meal, take turns sharing these aloud. It’s nice to hear the words of others or to share touching memories about a holiday. It gives depth to the holiday and a positive overall feeling to the celebration. In addition, such stories remind us of other things for which we can be grateful.

Fourth, before everyone gets up from the table – maybe over coffee and pie, focus some attention on the things you expect to receive over the next year. Vocalizing our intentions to manifest things in the future provides a wonderful vehicle for actually having them manifest in our lives. And the best way to allow these wonderful gifts into our experiences lies in affirming that they already are coming to us. In fact, it’s a most powerful exercise to offer gratitude for them as if you were experiencing them right in the moment, right at the Thanksgiving table. For example, you might say, “I am so grateful for the new job,” “I am so grateful for the wonderful health I am now experiencing,” or “I am so enjoying my sleek, trim, body which weighs just 150 pounds.” The more specific you get about these goals and desires, the better. Not only will it make you feel better, because it will affirm that what you need or want is coming your way, but they have a way of actually attracting these things into your life.

With just a little effort, you’ll find you can fill your Thanksgiving experience with a heaping portion of gratitude.

Now, that is just an excellent beginning!  It’s a question of Habit? The quality of our life is largely determined by the quality of the questions we ask.  Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.  Nothing wrong with dreams, plans, and desires.  But start your day, not just Thanksgiving day, with gratitude.   Call it your happy hour; your shower power; your hour of power.

Wake up and take a hour for yourself first thing in the morning. During the hour you can do things like pray, walk and take in the freshness of the morning, listen to the sounds of the birds, feel the air, etc. The goal is to be conscious that you are alive, to stay present in the moment and to really BE ALIVE, to be human. Ask some great questions: What are the ten things I am most grateful or thankful for?    How have I been blessed?

During that time you can say things to yourself out loud, or in your head.  You say things to yourself that you are thankful for; “I’m grateful for the sun coming out each day.” “I’m grateful to have such a fantastic mom/dad/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend, for being ___, for ___, for laughing at my silly jokes, for challenging me when I need to be challenged, etc.” You begin to consciously recollect things, people, and situations in your life. The goal of this is that you become more conscious on a day-to-day level and your gratitude becomes more about the most simplest things; a smile that someone gave to you as they passed by, someone letting you in when the traffic was tight, for being strong enough to say, “no” when you knew you were overextended, for having an undo key on your keyboard, etc. The gratitude begins to build and becomes a part of you.

When you pray, start your prayers with thank you.  You may also have a gratitude journal in which you can record the things that you are thankful for.  When you have developed it as a habit, the power of gratitude will work in your life. You will begin to see that:

The Habit  of Gratitude Helps You Overcome Self-Pity.

Where you may have had a tendency in the past to reel in your misfortune, having a habit of gratitude keeps your attention focused on the worthy and the beautiful.You will find that you no longer feel the need to complain all the time. The power of gratitude has taken that away. In its place, you may find optimism and a positive outlook. You may even rediscover your sense of humor and that proverbial spring in your step. You may stop taking yourself too seriously.

The Habit of Gratitude Helps You Keep Things in Perspective.

Being thankful for your life and the things in it is a habit that can help you keep your head.

While other people choose to be stressed over work, you instead are thankful for your job. While other people complain about the imperfections of their spouses or children, you find yourself being thankful for the love that your spouse and children bring into your life.

The Habit of Gratitude Makes You More Aware of the Source of the Things You are Grateful For.

Even if you are not overly religious, being grateful inevitably makes you realize that the good things in your life come from a source and that source deserves to be acknowledged.

Although gratitude is ultimately a gift that you give to yourself, it enhances your spiritual awareness and your relationship with the ultimate gift-giver.

The Habit of Gratitude Helps You Appreciate the Things that Other People Do For You.

You will find that you see fewer faults in others and you will be less critical of them.

Improving your relationships with the people you care about is a natural effect when you harness the habit of gratitude.

Gratitude is key to a living a life you’ve always hoped and dreamed for. Being thankful and appreciative of the all the things you have in life is extremely important aspect of attracting more happiness, success and abundance towards you.

As you develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, you realize that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Looking at what you have and being grateful for it shifts your energy.  When you are grateful fear disappears and plenty appears.  Remember, people form habits, and habits form futures.  Use this holiday season to develop a habit of gratitude and thankfulness.

Ah, that was an excellent meal!  I feel a very unusual sensation – if it’s not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.

Successful people develop habits of doing things that failures don’t like to do.

Precisely.

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14 SEO Copywriting Tips to Impress Both Search Engines and Readers

14 SEO Copywriting Tips to Impress Both Search Engines and Readers

14 SEO Copywriting Tips to Impress Both Search Engines and Readers

Elegant Themes Posted on March 8, 2017 by in Tips & Tricks

SEO copywriting is an essential skill for anyone who wants to be successful online. It is the art and science of creating content that is loved by readers and search engines alike. Doing so is the key to rank high and convert well.

SEO copywriting is a relatively new field. In former times you were either an SEO specialist or copywriter. It’s only in recent years that SEO has gotten less technical and the importance of quality writing has gone up.

If you haven’t really dealt with this topic yet, don’t worry. Our SEO copywriting tips below will teach you all you need to know to get started. You will learn exactly what we understand under SEO copywriting and how you can start using it on your WordPress website.

Ready? Then let’s get going.

 

What is SEO Copywriting?

 

When trying to understand SEO copywriting, it helps to examine the two parts the word is made up of.

SEO, naturally, stands for search engine optimization. It is the method of optimizing your site and content to achieve high rankings in search engines.

Copywriting, on the other hand, is about the human side. A copywriter tries to find the right words and sentences to get visitors and readers to take a desired action. For that reason, to be an effective copywriter, you need to understand human psychology and have a keen insight into the audience you are writing for.

SEO copywriting combines these two disciplines in order to create compelling content that targets both search keywords and the hearts and minds of human readers. In order to do so, the discipline touches up the following elements:

Technical SEO — That means all technical aspects of search engine optimization. Includes proper markup, fast loading times and mobile friendliness.

Audience and keyword research — The bread and butter of SEOs. Finding out what people type into search engines, their intent and what else there is to know about them.

Content creation — Taking the knowledge gathered in the step before and turning it into high-quality, relevant, compelling content that readers will love.

On-page optimization — Putting the finishing touches to content to make sure search engines can understand what it’s about.

Clear so far? Then let’s see how to put this into practice. We will mostly concentrate on everything that deals with content creation as technical SEO is really the job of your theme (e.g. the Divi theme).

Read more….

Precisely.

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What makes Great Copy?

What makes Great Copy?

Copywriting is the practice of writing copy for the purpose of selling or marketing a product, business, or idea. “Copy” is the word used for any written or verbal set of words used to sell something.

Great copy is more than just a sales pitch. It might tell a story such as the way the product came about, or it may describe the author’s own experience with the product.  Skilled copywriters will try to find a unique angle that their readers will relate to and weave this into their sales writing.

First-rate copy pushes the heart.

By discovering something that consumers can relate to, copywriters are able to appeal to their readers’ emotions. Research shows that people buy first with their emotions and then look for a rational reason or justification for their purchase later. High-quality copy spells out the benefits of a product to prevent the customer from having to think for themselves. Great copy overcomes the consumer’s objections before they surface.

First-rate copy is informal and conversational.

When you start copywriting you can forget a lot of that grammar you learned in school. To engage your reader they need to feel you are actually talking to them, and so you should write in the same style as you speak.  Here are some thoughts that your English teacher might not have agreed with:

  • Use fragmented sentences if they create impact
  • Use acceptable slang if it is suitable (no inappropriate words)
  • Use hyphens and character separators
  • Use variable fonts and colors
  • Use short punchy words rather than long complex ones
  • Explain your meaning in simple terms rather than using clever word plays or understated clues

On the other hand, don’t get too comfortable or your writing will lose credibility:

  • Don’t overdo punctuation…exclamation marks lose their impact if used too often
  • Check your work for typos, these are unprofessional and reflect poorly
  • Don’t use too many capital letters, this is seen as shouting in cyberspace

The length of good copy needs to be appropriate for the product

There are advantages to both long and short copy. How do you decide? The simple test is to always make sure your text is long enough for the value of the product you are selling. A more expensive product typically will require longer copy.  Just like you, customers will take longer to decide whether to buy. You don’t want your readers to reach the end of the page when they are still undecided about whether to buy.

Advantages of long copy are:

  • Long copy with bolded or emphasized points can allow some of your visitors to skim, while others more interested in specifics can find all the information they want. In this sense, long copy gives visitors more options.
  • Information-based products often benefit from longer copy. This will grant you ample opportunity to show your potential customers the QUALITY of your information.
  • More information makes your customers feel comfortable about their purchase.  Your visitors will have most of their questions answered and will have less anxiety about ordering from you.
  • Giving your customers the facts upfront may reduce your customer service work.
  • Long (and interesting) keyword-rich copy often performs well in natural search engines…there are more opportunities for search engine optimization and including keywords.

Some might say that there is no such thing as long copy only boring copy.

Advantages of short copy are:

  • You get your message across before your customer loses interest
  • Your web pages are neater and more compact
  • You avoid repetition and the appearance of a hyped sales pitch. Of course, it’s certainly possible that carefully designed long-copy pages can avoid this perception as well.)

In the end the quality of your copy is more vital than the length. You can incorporate links in short copywriting to provide more information to customers that want it, or you can emphasize key phrases in long copy for visitors that don’t want to read the whole page.

The Best Copy

If you weren’t in honors English, or you have never written anything longer than a text message, writing sales copy for your new product can be very intimidating. With the number of freelance copywriters advertising their services on the web, it can be tempting to outsource this task, but there are many reasons why you are the best person for the job.

  • It’s Your business and you know your business and your product better than any out-sourced writer.
  • You know the personality of your target audience, and what your clients or potential consumers will want to know about your product.
  • You are sincerely passionate about your product and this will stand out through your writing.
  • Relationships are typically consistent. You will want to build up a relationship with your customers and this is easier if they are familiar with your ‘voice’, instead of the many or different voices of freelance writers.

Certainly you can pay a writer to produce your copy if you are really laboring to do it yourself. This might be expensive, although there are inexpensive alternatives. Notwithstanding, you can use the time you would have used writing to focus on other areas of your business. If you do use a copywriter, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

  • Provide them as much information as possible about your product and market.
  • Request that they test your product if at all possible.
  • If you have written anything before, give them an example of your ‘voice’ to imitate.  If not work with them initially so they can get a feel of what your tone and style might be.
  • Before you post the copy ensure there is nothing in it you wouldn’t say yourself.

Get Started

Start to accumulate landing pages, sales letters and other copy that catches your attention and feels like you. Place the items in a folder or save them electronically. This is called a swipe file and it will come in handy when you write some of your own copy!

Precisely.

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10 Types of Social Media Posts That Drive Engagement

10 Types of Social Media Posts That Drive Engagement

10 Types of Social Media Posts That Drive Engagement – and leads!

Posted by Michael Auer

If generating leads is the primary objective of social media marketing, engagement is the driving force behind doing so.  Each post represents an opportunity to drive visitors to your website and open the lines of communication.  Every click, follow, like or share is essentially the beginning of a conversation, whether it be by direct means or through information sharing.  Since acquiring quality contact information can be expensive and risky depending upon your source, social channels offer an opportunity to communicate directly with the people who have shown interest in your company.  Social media posts come in many shapes and forms and a diverse selection will provide a dynamic environment for thought leadership.  Think of your social pages as individual websites built to educate and entertain your target audience.  Each site serves a different purpose and the type of content will vary but your message should remain the same.

Company Blog

Company Blogs are best suited for LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  If distributed properly they can serve as a key source of lead generation.  Sharing your posts to relevant discussion groups will open up conversations about the solutions that you provide.  Pose questions along with your attached blog to invite people to interact with your post.

Infographics

Infographics are a great way to communicate analytical data in a more aesthetic form.  Charts, graphs and time lines are much more appealing and help you to highlight meaningful statistics.

Memes

Memes are some of the most shared pieces of content and many have become iconic pieces of the online world.  It’s not to say that posting a humorous meme will make you an internet sensation, but a quality piece can help you stand out from your competitors and get noticed.  It’s important to know your audience and ensure you represent your company in a positive light.

Video

Video has become essential for online success and it gives you the ability to display the human side of your company.  There are several types of videos you can post including company overviews, client interviews and education pieces.  While videos are featured on YouTube, they are well suited for nearly every social channel.

Unpolished Content

Unpolished content consists of posts that are spontaneous and speak to a certain event or occurrence.  Although not as highly edited these posts allow you to take advantage of the newest trends and hot topics.  These types of posts can include comments about an experience at a tradeshow, an ongoing sporting event or a charitable function.  These types of posts will work best on Instagram, SnapChat and Twitter as the shelf life of posts on these platforms is relatively short.

Surveys

Surveys encourage visitors to share their opinions and can provide you with valuable information about your target market.  They should be short and easy to complete.  Be sure to communicate the results and provide something of value to the participants.

Contests

Contests are a fun way to increase and engage your audience.  Those that may have been reluctant to download your content may be persuaded to share their contact information in exchange for a prize.  Depending on your industry this could include a new product or free service.  This will also give you the opportunity to show off the quality and reliability of your company.

Redirects

Redirects are posts that are created to promote the different platforms where your content is available.  When someone follows you it’s a good idea to send them a message that thanks them and provides a link to your website, alternate social pages or content.  When someone comments on a post, include links that help to further the conversation.

News Releases

News releases that highlight strategic partnerships, new clients and charitable contributions help your online reputation and can bring attention to a worthy cause.  Showing the human side of your company will help you develop trust with your prospects thus encouraging further engagement.

Social media is a an integral part of any inbound marketing strategy.  Click below to download our Free eBook “Are You Playing With A Full Deck: 52 Tips To Improve Your Inbound Marketing Strategy”.

Read the full article here.

Precisely.

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