Month: February 2007

Categories
Website How To's

Why I Will Succeed

Found this quote the other day in my list of notes.  Could be helpful to all of us:

I will succeed because I am a winner
I will succeed because every lesson I’ve learned has prepared me for this challenge
I will succeed because I want to succeed and because people believe in me and trust me
I will succeed because success will help me grow into a bigger and better person
I will succeed because I know what I must do
I will succeed because my family is the foundation of my success
I will succeed because success is the most important legacy that I can bequeath to my children
I will succeed because my [spouse] and I are inseperable, unstoppable and uniquely talented
I will succeed because I’ve faced opportunities before and I have triumphed
I will succeed because success is the birthright I inherited from my parents and ancestors
I will succeed because I’ve always wanted to expand the range of challenges in my life
I will succeed because I have family, friends and acquaintances who want to and will help me
I will succeed because I am young, healthy and dynamic
I will succeed because my plan for success is flexible and my thirst for success is unquenchable
I WILL SUCCEED!

– Charles Surasky

It’s all about belief!  “If you think you can or you think you can’t…you’re right!”

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Sales quotes that motivate

Yes, you may have read some of my posts before about sales. Everyone should have at least one sales job in their life if they want to feel complete! People that say sales isn’t for them are full of it: everyone sells something every day of their life. Have you ever had a job interview? You had to “sell” the interviewer on why you were the best for the job, didn’t you? Have you ever had a disagreement with a friend or family member? Weren’t you “selling” your foe on why your opinion or idea was the more correct? That’s what I thought!

So, to help you in your “sales endeavors”, here are a few great quotes I like to read from time to time. Use them!

I have never worked a day in my life without selling. If I believe in somethin, I sell it, and I sell it hard. – Estee Lauder

Every sale has five basic obstacles: no need, no money, no hurry, no desire, no trust. – Zig Ziglar

Consistency is a critical key to your success in sales. Whether you are making telephone calls, visiting clients, or direct marketing you have to hit your numbers everyday. A consistent sales work ethic will mak you more successful than the sporadic every third day over-achiever hands down. – Dennis R. Kyle, International Speaker

Are you convinced yet, or do you need more reasons why sales is a key part of success in any business? Nothing starts without a sale! If you haven’t developed a sales mentality yet, what better time to start than now…

Categories
Website How To's

Are you enthusiastic enough?

Enthusiasm is defined as “absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by any interest or pursuit; lively interest” (http://dictionary.reference.com) Why is enthusiasm so important when building a business? Why is it important in any aspect of life?

I like to compare most things to sports. As I watch professional athletes in their area of expertise, the best, most “valuable players” all have this key characteristic: enthusiasm. These pictures should help prove my point:

Tiger Woods

Lebron James

Roger Clemens

Roger Federer

Need I say more? All of these successful professionals are definitely “absorbing or controlling possession of the mind [in their]…interest or pursuit.”

How does this apply to starting a new eCommerce Business? Here are a few questions I ask myself as I assess my enthusiasm level:

  1. Do I continually radiate enthusiasm? The very best in any profession realize that enthusiasm can be highly contagious; they look to spread it around at every opportunity. There’s no doubt about it, an enthusiastic approach to life will motivate and inspire those around you.
  2. Do I share a constant supply of optimism and encouragement? Winners believe they can do anything. Their energetic approach gets others around them believing they can do anything too.
  3. Do I radiate a sense of self-confidence? A winner’s quiet self-confidence reassures one and all that he or she is in total control of their future success.
  4. Do I focus on being friendly to others, making sure I treat them the way I’d like to be treated? I know, the golden rule, but it works. You’ll discover that when you continually treat others with dignity and respect, your relationship and success will flourish.

After seriously evaluating my current level of enthusiasm, here are some things I try to do to improve:

  • Surround myself with positive people
  • Speak with enthusiasm and optimism
  • Strive to enjoy people and relationships
  • Accentuate the positive things in everyone and everything I’m around
  • Track progress, take notes, and set small goals I can achieve

Enthusiasm and mindset are so crucial. If we are always trying to improve these little aspects of our day to day routine, the “big successes” will come. As the saying goes – “Small Success leads to Big Success!” Here’s one more quote that talks about enthusiasm:

Every memorable act in the history of the world is a triumph of enthusiasm. Nothing great was ever achieved without it because it gives any challenge or any occupation, no matter how frightening or difficult, a new meaning. Without enthusiasm you are doomed to a life of mediocrity but with it you can accomplish miracles. – Og Mandino

What effects have you all seen when you have a positive and enthusiastic outlook?

Categories
Customer Engagement & Retention

Is blogging really worth it?

This is a valid question to those just getting started in eCommerce. I’ve known about blogs for some time but until about eight months ago I hadn’t really done much with blogging. What a great marketing opportunity; what a great way to share ideas and learn new information; what a great way to make additional income via the internet. Wikipedia explains blogs in the following way:

A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most early blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media. The term “blog” is derived from “Web log.” “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. As of November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs.

Other explanations I’ve heard about blogs include “online journal”, “digital newspaper”, and “web logs”.

So why are blogs so important when it comes to eCommerce? This is a common question too. Isn’t a blog just something else you have to work on and spend time doing? You betchya! However, the return on investment of a blog can come in a variety of ways. Here are some of my favorite things about blogging:

  1. Free (or very inexpensive) Targeted Advertising: there are many free options out there. My favorites are WordPress.com and blogger.com. I use both of them but am leaning more and more to wordpress.com because of all the functionality. Having multiple blogs, in relation to your website, can be so helpful: it’s a way to build additional quality links – ways that search engines can find your website. (ie. I have 2 blogs specifically used to promote my dance bags website: clogon.blogspot.com and bestdanceshoes.blogspot.com. I also have a new blog for my customized DVD and photography website: highlightsports.wordpress.com.) As you make posts on your blog, you can create anchor links to specific pages of your new website using keyword phrases. This is offsite advertising at it best! If you want even better recognition, purchase a domain name from GoDaddy and host it with BlueHost. That’s what I’ve done with this blog.
  2. Build Industry Credibility: the more quality information you post about products, services, and information within your industry, the more your visitors (and potential buyers) can see that you know what you’re talking about; they can trust in the products you are offering. Without content and quality information to back up buying decisions, buyers will probably look elsewhere.
  3. Affiliate Marketing Opportunities: as you can see at clogon.blogspot.com and bestdanceshoes.blogspot.com, I have a few different ways to actually make money with these blogs. The first is through Google Adsense, a pay-per-click campaign that makes money as visitors click on the advertising links. Google Adsense is free to set up and can be a great supplemental income to your business plan, at least to start. The other affiliate marketing campaigns on those blogs are the products on the side navigation. These affiliates were found through Commission Junction (www.cj.com). Sign up as a Publisher and start applying for affiliates within your industry or that compliment what you are doing. The pay may not be as good as getting products at a wholesale price and reselling at a retail price but at least you give yourself the opportunity to make money (and the cost is minimal if at all).  Before you start adding tons of ads to your blog, you should probably read about why it is not best to monetize your blog right out of the gate.

To finish up, make sure you remember the key word for effective blogging – Consistency:

  • How often you post – whether it’s once a day, week, or whatever, it’s important that you post new information on a consistent basis if you want readers to come back.
  • What you write about– if you have questions about this see my post about Focus
  • Anchor links – we don’t want to overdo the anchor links to our website, but it’s important to make keywords links to your pages
  • Product Reviews – if you are selling products on your website, it’s a good idea to do reviews from time to time – tell visitors why your products are better than the competition (use testimonials and feedback from clients)
  • Posting to other people’s blogs – find blogs you like that relate to what you are marketing and make good comments; use the Trackback tools if you have a lot to say: this can get your comment to show up on the blog you made the comment on and on your blog too.

What are your thoughts (if you can still think after all this…)?

Categories
Customer Engagement & Retention

SEO and Creative Marketing Blogs I Follow

Who needs a newspaper anymore? Especially when you can spend late nights reading about SEO, SMO, internet branding, creative advertising, and other useful strategies for eCommerce and blogging. Of course, I have to make time for Sportscenter on ESPN, but the following are some of the blogs I watch and study frequently. I’m sure there may be some I’m leaving out, but these are some of my favorites, in no particular order:

Jim Westergren

Aaron Wall’s SEO Book

SeoMoz

Jim Boykin

Marketing Pilgrim

Matt Cutts

Lee Odden

Mat Siltala

Michael Gray – Gray Wolf

What do you all read?

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

42 Million Visits and Dancing Strong!

Talk about Internet Branding – the video below has been viewed over 42 Million times on You Tube! It’s been commented on 22,162 and Favorited 150,885 times. Can you believe that? I’d be interested to know where this video has taken this comedian, Judson Laipply. With that type of traffic, I’m sure he’s had some amazing things happen with his business. All this funny stuff and he’s actually a professional motivational speaker.

Video posts, as we can see here, are another way we can market our products and services. Video advertising have definitely helped this guy get seen. Here’s some of the reason why:

Creativity – Also know as differentiation in the marketing world. As you think about your product, service or idea – are you one of millions trying to market the same thing? What differentiates you?

Wide Target Audience – Everybody likes comedy; everybody has at least danced once in their lifetime; This video was a compilation of different eras of music and dance that we can all relate to.

Hilarious! – Everybody likes good, clean humor. Just like I talked about the other day – word of mouth advertising can have a huge effect on the traffic you get to your website, repeat business, and bottom line income. I’m sure word of mouth advertising played a huge role in over 42 million people viewing and sharing this video. Then it was favorited 150,885 times.

Check it out!

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

Word of Mouth Advertising at it’s best or worst!

When you see a great new movie, how many people do you tell? Why do you tell them? What’s your intent? Most likely you want them to see it too. No other type of advertising is more powerful than word of mouth. Your friend probably didn’t pay attention at all to the Hollywood hype about the movie, but they know you as a friend and respect your judgment.

If the show’s terrible the negative vibe will spread even faster than the positive. Statistics say that: “Negative word of mouth influences future patronage up to five times more than the person who experienced the problem first-hand…meaning that the original problem description is continually embellished as it passes from person to person.” (Verde Group and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania).

If you’ve been involved in marketing for some time, or even if you are just getting started, you probably know the result of negative word of mouth advertising too. Why do we tend to tell people a lot more about bad experiences we’ve had with people, businesses, or services? We all hate confrontation don’t we? It seems that some actually must like confrontation – they continue to be jerks over and over again. These business owners must have no idea about the effects negative word or mouth advertising can and will have on their business plan.

If I’m unhappy with a product, service, or employee of a company, I’m going to whatever I can to get things resolved. If they don’t make any changes or solve the problems, I’ll warn everyone I know to stay as far away from them as possible. My thought is that you never know the effects a bad product or unfriendly service may have on future business. Just like the smell of a stinky diaper, bad news spreads all over the place. You’d think someone would take it out to the trash sooner than later!

So, the point I’m trying to make is this: if you want your business to really prosper, to really get to a level you may have never dreamed of, be nice to people and follow the “golden rule!” It’s not really a new concept. Everyone likes friends; not many people like jerks. The effects of negative word of mouth advertising will have effects that we may never be able to track with our business.

Categories
Digital Presence & Marketing Strategy

What’s spam?

Had a great question from a client who is busting her butt on her new website: www.artistichomeowner.com: What is spam? This is a great question that needs to be cleared up, especially as you get a website started. Many of us have heard pharses like “keyword stuffing”, “black hat SEO”, “GoogleBombing”, SEM (Search Engine Manipulation), etc. All these describe spam. I found some good content by typing “What is spam” in Google.

Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send — most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.

What do you all consider spam?

Categories
Website How To's

Success in the making with Joint Ventures!

I got this “Success Story” the other day from a client who is amazing! She runs a wall murals website and is an extreme “Success Story in the Making!” I look at this story as great proof that “Small Success leads to Big Success!” I really love what she shared about her experience with a joint venture or partnership pursuit. It goes to show that there still are really nice people out there waiting to give of their time and talents to help others without any expectation of return. Thanks for letting me post this Lisa! I’m sure it will help others to if they implement it in their business endeavors.

I am in the process of looking for business partners for my product. I have had to approach major corporations and the process has been interesting. Most executives are very hard to reach, and I usually have to make several phone calls to get a direct phone number or email.

Two days ago a Sunday I emailed the owner of the largest real estate agency in Orange County, New York. I had met the owner at a few social engagements, including a wedding, bar mitzvah and baby briss. As I do with all my emails, I followed up with a phone call. As usual, I was put through to a voicemail. I explained the nature of my business and asked if she would have any contact information, leads, information on anyone she knew who might be interested in my business. This was essentially a routine cold call.

To my surprise, this very busy woman called me back within the half hour. She said of course she remembered me and my husband. She was extremely friendly and said she probably didn’t get the email as she gets over 150 a day and deletes them for fear of viruses.

She said, absolutely, bring over business cards and she would have her secretary distribute them to all her brokers. I was so happy.

Then she offered advice: she said “Even though I don’t have to, I still work about 70 hours a week because I love what I do. In the beginning (1988) it was just a job that supplemented my husband’s salary and kept us knowing where out next meal was coming from.”

She said to distribute business cards to all the real estate agencies in the area. She explained that agents and brokers are salespeople and are usually very accommodating.

I came away from that phone call with such respect for this lady. It was easy to see how she was a self-made millionaire. She was very friendly, obviously a people person. She listened to me and said, “I love to help people whenever I can.” She freely gave of her time and knowledge. (bold added) And she said “I don’t ever want to guess where my next meal is coming from.” Humility, kindness, and sincerity–what a great work ethic.

This lady is how I aspire to be. She is still a regular person, but she is living her dream through her hard work and effort.

Categories
Website How To's

Attitude reflect leadership, Captain

I found this cool information on Christer Edwards blog and thought I’d share it with my clients too.

How important is attitude when learning how to start an online business?  Here’s a little mathematical equation that says it all:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K is 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E is 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But,

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E is 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

How true, how true this is!  I can’t express how important attitude is in the success anyone has in any endeavor. One of my favorite shows, “Remember the Titans”, was all about attitude.  Two of the main players and co-captains were not getting along at all.  There were racial issues and their attitudes were extremely negative.

As the season began, one of the captains said to the other, “Attitude reflect leadership, Captain!” This has got to be one of my favorite quotes.  Not only does attitude reflect leadership, but attitude also plays a huge role in overall success of an online business.  “If you think you can, or you think you can’t: you’re right!”  This cliche is all about ATTITUDE!

Hardwork and Knowledge can take us quite a long way; however, as we see by the math (and I don’t thinks it’s coincidence), Attitude is the key to maximizing our true potential 100%.

Think about this…