MicroBusinessSpecialist

As many of you will know, I have been taking Doug Champigny’s PowerStart 2010 course the past few weeks. It’s a four week course and we are in week three.

This week we are working on podcasts and video as well as continuing to pursue article marketing in support of the new blogs we have each created as part of the course.  Last week we focused on getting a product created using both Master Resale Rights and Private Label Rights.  The first week was real heavy duty with a lot of article writing as well as blog set up and much more.

I have just finished the podcast section of this weeks work and am about to move on to the video section, but thought I would do one more quick Flip Camera video today to sing the praises of this course, and what it has done for me so far.

Unfortunately, my little Flip Camera is catching all my explosive S’s and you will hear them when you watch.  But please don’t let that get in your way.

Doug is going to be offering the course again starting the first week in March. It may be right for you, it might not be. That’s why I created the video below.

Listen and if it is for you, sign up at

http://askearlabout.com/PowerStart2010.php

By the way be sure to visit my new blog,  its at

www.TopPublicSpeakingTips.com

[tags]powerstart2010, internet marketing, internet marketing training, Doug Champigny[/tags]

Technorati Tags: Doug Champigny, Internet Marketing, internet marketing training, powerstart2010

In my last blog posting I discussed one of the Free Traffic resources I have been testing.  Today I want to mention another. It’s called Leads Leap.

Leads Leap is a type of Viral Blog, that allows you to place free ads on it.

If you look in the bottom of the far right sidebar, you will see a widget that I have installed on this blog which lists recent blog posts from Leads Leap.

These are well written high quality posts, that are well worth reading. Every time someone clicks on one of the posts there I earn an advertising credit. Since I have multiple blogs, I have put this widget on a couple of them, and earn ad credits on auto pilot as a result.

In addition to using the widget, you can post links to individual blog posts that your like to your list.

For example:

http://www.leadsleap.com/blog/how-to-come-out-with-innovative-ideas-that-sell/?r=earlnetwal

Again, every time someone clicks on that link, I will get a credit.  So in addition to getting credits, I can share useful information with my blog readers.

Leads Leap also rewards you for recruiting others.

Once you have recruited 20 other Leads Leap members, you get 500 Free Ad credits per month, and this number builds as you recruit more.

You get credits for the actions of the people you recruit and the people they recruit up to 10 levels deep. This is ultimately very significant, but as with all such programs it takes a while to get established. But once you have built the specific gravity, it grows rapidly.

How to use your free ads?  I tend to focus on free offers that have strong appeal and a back end that pays off.  Just like a paid Google Ad, you need to start with an attractive offer that gets people to click, leading to a landing page that inspires people to opt in, and then a follow-up that makes it all worth your while.

Another thing to understand about Leads Leap, is that it’s not a flaky newbie to the scene. It has an Alexa ranking of 23,212 last time I checked which puts it pretty high in the Alexa Universe and should help to give you a sense of how big a deal this is, and could be for you.

I recommend you check out Leads Leap yourself.

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, lead generation, Prospecting

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, internet marketing references, online marketing

Squidoo – Rank on Top Twice! Podcast

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Getting your web site to be top ranked on Google and the other search engines is a complicated task. Particularly, if you are one of many within a given market area.

A little known tool for many main street businesses is an internet portal called Squidoo.

It’s similar in many ways to sites like Facebook, and Myspace in that it allows people to create a web presence easily, but unlike the aforementioned, it unabashedly permits commercialization.  That means you can put up sites that advertise your business.

The easiest way to do so is to reuse much of the content you have on your web page now.  Just rephrase and reorient it to fit the new medium.

Squidoo calls it’s pages, lens.  There are a group of modules that you can create and edit in minutes once you get the hang of their system.  There are a lot of interesting things you can do with the various modules. The main thing you want to do is use your Squidoo lens as additional advertising tool for your services and as a funnel to send traffic to your main web site.

The most critical point when setting up your first lens is what you call it.

If you are a butcher in Minneapolis, you want to do some keyword research as to the best term to use for your market. It may be “butcher”, it may be “quality meats”, it may be any number of things.  What ever it is, you want your first lens to use the best of the picks and then add the words, “in Minneapolis” or what ever the top geographical term is in your market. Then after you set up a lens,  “Quality Meats in Minneapolis” set up another for “Best Brats in Minneapolis.”   Since Squidoo is free, there is no reason for you to not set up multiple Lens on your best keyword phrases.

If you do, you will often find that your Squidoo len(s) will get higher ranking than your own web page, even if you have optimized your web sites meta tags geographically, as I do for my clients.

That’s because Squidoo itself has a high PR or page rank in the eyes of Google.

Now what you want to do is include links in your Squidoo Lens to your web site’s home page.  This helps raise your web sites ranking in Google’s eyes as well.

It sees Squidoo as an “authority” site and gives more credence to links coming from it.

There is a lot more to internet marketing than just having a web site.  That’s what keeps internet marketing consultants like me in business.

While Squidoo is easy to use, like everything, there is a learning curve.  Once you master the basic mechanics you also need to learn the strategies to make it work for your particular needs.  There are a number of eBooks about Squidoo out there.  I publish one called Squidoo Basics. It is a general introduction to Squidoo.

There are other formats beyond Squidoo, like Hub Pages, but Squidoo is probably the best place to start building a broader internet presence.  To get started all you need do is open an account at www.Squidoo.com

In due course, you will not only get your web site on the top of the Google Rankings in your home town, you will also have a Squidoo page there as well.  When prospects see you listed not once, but twice, in the top of the local listings, they will begin to understand that you are the person to go to locally for home staging services.

And that’s where I intend my clients to be.  On top of their local markets.

Technorati Tags: Google, Internet Marketing, mainstreet business, page ranking, Squidoo

Internet Video Advertising is Hot!

Sites like YouTube and Google Video get millions of visitors every day and many of them are looking for information on local businesses in their area. They want to find out about the pizza place down the road, a contractor, or a new hair salon. They could be looking for anything, the point is, they are looking for local businesses.

Nothing attracts massive amounts of traffic and prospective clients to your website the way that an Internet video can. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend big bucks to get a Great Promotional Video for your business! For only $149 we will produce an attractive and informative 30-45 second Video Ad promoting your business and the fine products or services you offer.

Your video ad will be produced and uploaded to all of the Top Video and Social Media Sites and will be seen by hundreds or thousands of people in your area that are looking for a business like yours.

Your Video Ad is going to give your business more exposure and will appeal to your target audience better than any other form of marketing. Your video advertisement will get people to take action and visit your website, walk in your doors or call you for more information.

Take A Look At Everything That Is Included for Only $149 and You Will See There Is No Better Way for You To Bring In New Customers!

An Eye-Catching and Informative 30-45 Second Video Advertisement for Your Business That Gets People To Visit Your Website, Walk In Your Door or Call You for An Appointment

We Will Submit Your Video To The Most Popular Video Sites and Make Sure It Get’s Picked Up By The Major Search Engines

Increased Visibility for Your Business, More Visitors To Your Website, More New Customers and Higher Profits

Easily Add Your Video To Your Website With One Simple Line of Code. We Also Give You A Hard Copy of Your Video and Easy To Understand Instructions On Adding The Video To Your Website.

Discover the Awesome-yet Simple – Secrets of Slashing Your Advertising Costs to the Bone, While Quickly Exploding your Sales, Profits and Success!

Check out this link to see some sample Videos and get more information.

Technorati Tags: advertising, intenet marketing videos, Internet Marketing, local business, marketing, Video

Market Maker Launches

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I have been focused on my home stagers blog the past week as I prepared for the launch of Market Maker. Market Maker was designed to specifically address the needs of the Home Staging Industry, but it is applicable in many other businesses as well.

The fundamentals of Market Maker are little more than what I have been preaching here for some time.

Effective use of an ethical bribe, and solid follow-up. It’s easy to preach, because it works. And I get a lot of people who will nod their heads and say it makes sense, but will they follow-through? Often not, because it’s work and more importantly because it takes them out of their comfort zones.

With Market Maker I hope to alleviate most of those obstacles, by doing the work for them. I will do their keywords to get them more traffic. I have provided a great ethical bribe, and even a selection of follow-up messages. I will create a opt in box for them that won’t require them to change their existing web pages. All they will need to do is to get their computer person to upload some code. And provide some basic information about their business so I can present it properly.

I’m willing to do the same for most any other business as well. The advantage of the home stagers is that they are a scattered industry. And multiple people can use the same tools without a conflict.

The genius of the home stagers program is that I have transferred to them the ability to sell the eBook of which the ethical bribe is a sample and keep half the proceeds. It should be a no brainer, but it may take a few pioneers to lead the way.

It will be a new idea for many, and in these economic times many will be afraid to invest in their businesses. I hope I’m wrong about that. Time will tell.

Technorati Tags: home stagers, home staging, Internet Marketing, keywords, Market Maker, marketing, web pages

Normally, I focus this blog on internet marketing tools that can be adapted by offline businesses. Last Friday, I came across a new approach to finding relevant keywords that amazed me in terms of its simplicity and power.  The technique is called the Money words matrix.  Two very successful young marketers discovered and refined the technique.  It has ton’s of applicability to many offline businesses.

They gave the idea away for free as part of a series of promotional videos for a new membership site they have opened.  The site is designed for folk who are looking to build an internet business, and in today’s economy that’s a lot of people.

On the strength of their free promotional videos, they had their new membership site explode.  They initially hoped to attract 250 people, within a 2 weeks they had 1500. I am one.

They just plain have a solid approach to internet marketing that will work for a lot of people. But whether you are interested in finding a new way to make money online or not, you have to check out their Money Word Matrix.  It will transform the way you think about keywords and keyword advertising. Whether you are primarily an on or offline business.

Now that is covered in the second of their promotional videos, so you will need to sit through the first as well. But I think you will find that interesting too.  (Even if you’ve never met a Beta Fish before.)

Click on the banner below and relax, listen and learn. Be sure to sign up for the second video, and be blown away.  I was.  You may even decide to join the Niche Marketing Classroom.  Like I said, I did.

Technorati Tags: business, Google Ranking tactics, Internet Marketing, internet marketing tools, keyword advertising, keywords, marketing tool, membership sites, niche market, Offline Business

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The “It’s Aliiive!” line from the scene in which Dr Frankenstein’s monster comes alive has been parodied thousands of times. I am borrowing it for an upcoming speech to my Toastmaster’s Group.

In my speech I will be discussing the alchemy necessary to turn a dead web site into a living marketing machine capable of generating tens of thousands of dollars worth of effective advertising at a fraction of the normal expense.

Unfortunately most business web pages are deadly dull one way communications. Many are little more than an electronic brochures. Retailers will maybe have their hours posted, and maybe a help wanted form to recruit entry level clerks. Professional sites tend to read like resumes. And neither offers much of a chance for interaction with the person browsing. Oh, they may offer an email address or even an email form to ask questions, but surprisingly often these email go to an email account that only gets checked intermittently since so few people use it.

If your web page is to be more than a stale brochure taking up cyberspace you need to add a little chemistry to the equation. You need to add something. In this case it will take more than adding vinegar to baking soda to get your web site to fizz. You need three ingredients, added in combination to bring your web site to life, to turn it from a dead brochure into a powerful living marketing machine.

And those three things are an ethical bribe to capture your viewers interest and email address. A double opt-in autoresponder system that can build a data base of your opt-ins respond to them. And a series of follow-up messages that can drip on your visitors over time.

These three elements when properly combined make up the magical molecule that is the sorcerer’s stone that can transform a dead web page into a marketing marvel.

The ethical bribe must be relevant to your business and appeal to your browser, its content will vary depending on your business type. A retailer may offer coupons, a business with a longer sales funnel will want to offer information the buyer needs to understand the issues surrounding their buying decision.

The auto-responder itself is the heartbeat of the system. I recommend www.BuildRelationships.aweber.com

The follow-up is then critical. The purpose of bringing your web site to life is to be better able to converse with your prospect. They came to your web site originally for some purpose. They were intrigued by your ethical bribe. This suggests that they are at least potentially customers. Now you need to followup with them. Tell them what they need to know and/or make them an offer they can’t refuse.

But don’t do it once. Instead think about the life time value of this person who like your web site has been transformed. Before they were a browser, now they are a prospect. Treat them to relevant information and treat them well.

Any web site can be set up to take simple orders or list the hours you are open. It takes an auto-responder system to convert a dull lifeless internet brochure into a living and breathing marketing machine. Do you want your web site to be dead and dull, or do you want it to be alive?

Listen to the Podcast of “It’s Alive.”
[display_podcast]
It\'s Alive!

Technorati Tags: auto-responder, autoresponder system, effective web sites, ethical bribes, Internet Marketing, Offline Business, web page design

This afternoon I am giving my short version of my “trade show as web pages” talk to the board of a local business group. My goal is to find additional speaking opportunities where I can present to larger audiences of business people. Because as my report says, I think most small business web pages stink!

In preparation for the meeting, I checked the web site of the host location as well as the associations meta tags. I offer businesses a free worthwhile tip just for listening to my pitches and felt I should offer the same to these good people as well.

It turns out the association had no keywords or site description in their meta tags at all.

But perhaps even worse was the host locations web site. It is a private housing facility offering student housing. Its meta tag keywords were totally irrelevant to its web site and mission. It included keywords of voting, survey, course evaluations, census, segmentation, and others that clearly were intended for a totally different site.

Presumably someone copied a desirable format as a template and plunked the residence halls content on someone else’s framework.

I’m not sure which is worse to have no keywords or bad ones. What do you think. I’d appreciate any comments you might have as I will probably use it as a bad example in future presentations. I will of course keep the people involved secret so as not to embarrass anyone.

As I spend more and more time looking at local business web sites, I find such omissions and or errors are not uncommon. Usually, people just plain have ineffective keywords.

Some will argue that meta tags don’t matter, but they would be wrong. While Google may spend less attention to them than in the past, a good 40% of all computer searches still use other search engines that do.

Outside the internet marketing niche’s internal wars, most main street businesses are too busy getting product out the door and struggling to meet payroll to worry about meta tags. Their web pages are built by their son’s or nephews of techies who may know how to put a page together but are clueless about how to market.

No wonder most small businesses are disappointed with their web pages. They don’t get the traffic they should, and then when they do get traffic, most people don’t seem to do anything.

In the resources section of this blog, I offer a report for sale called HTML in Simple Terms. It’s only $9.97 and well worth the price if only to get the information on pages 16-18 on Using Meta Tags.

My guess is that over 80% of all small business web sites need work in this area alone.

Technorati Tags: business web sites, effective web sites, Internet Marketing, internet marketing references, internet marketing tips, local business, marketing, meta tag code, meta tags, online marketing, recommended tools, relevant keywords, small business marketing, small businesses, web page design, web pages, web site

This might not be appropriate for you.

But rather than deciding that for you, I feel obligated to share it with you. Then you can decide.

As you know, I am a big believer in the maxim, “Give and you shall receive.”

That’s why I promote Giveaway Events, and products like Jeff Dedrick’s Instant Bonus Pages.

Now while I have benefited from participating in Giveaway events, the organizer of such events does way better.  They end up with everyone on their list.  Contributors and Members. And they know which contributors promoted the events and which sat on their hands.

Think about the power of that.

Now, Imagine you were the promoter. Not in internet marketing where a new Giveaway event launches every other day, but in your niche.  Whether that niche is online or offline, you could take the same free giveaway idea and over night build a massive list of both people interested in the niche and joint venture partners who you can work with to mutual benefit.

Now I said overnight, and the truth is it won’t actually happen overnight. It will take effort and a strategy and follow through.

Frankly, I don’t know if you have the vision and maxi to make it happen.  Now I’m not saying you don’t. I’m saying I don’t know if you do.  Do you?

Well to make it happen, it will take that maxi, some determination and a workable plan. And that’s the reason for today’s post.

Jason James has just released his “Giveaway Riches” Manual.  This is your key to unlocking the locked door that is holding your back.

If you access this material and put the plan into action, you will be able to use the power of the Giveaway to catapult yourself into a dominant position in whatever your niche market is.

The cost of this key is only $37 during launch week, which began today Tuesday February 3, 2009 at noon EST.  The price will be going up next week and then again the following week.

If you have been exploring internet marketing while working in another niche or job, imagine the power of being the first to bring to your field the power of the giveaway.  This is the type of technology – the type of idea – that can take a 1or two person company to the top of the heap.  By passing the established “Old Style” firms virtually overnight.

Do you have the guts to transform your industry?

Those who accept the dare and take action will be winners.

The innovators who lead their sector, their industry, their niche out of the current economic downturn.

They will be the ones others will marvel at and wonder how they managed to become so successful overnight.

And the answer to that question will be, as it always is… you had a plan and you took action.

Now I still don’t know if you are up to this.  Frankly I have my doubts. But if you are go to Giveaway Riches

Technorati Tags: dominant position, free giveaway, Give away, Give Away Technology, Giveaway, Giveaway Niches, Giveaway plans, Giveaway Riches, Giveaway technology, Giveaways, Internet Marketing, jason james, joint venture, joint venture partners, mutual benefit, niche market, workable plan