2010 | Solo Mompreneur

How To Reach Desperate Buyers

By Melanie Kissell 36 Comments

Before becoming an online marketer, the word, “Desperate”, would leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

It reminded me of moments in my life when I was …

Desperate for clear skin!

Or …

Desperate for money!

Or …

Desperate for a date to the prom!

(Never did get that date, by the way)

Now that I have some years of online marketing experience under my belt and a clear understanding of what it takes to be successful, “Desperate” has taken on a new meaning and stands in a much more positive and flattering light.

What it really means is “highly anxious”. People with throbbing problems, pressing issues, and insane drives (impulse buyers) are who you should target.

Marketing information to people who live with these types of problems is easy because the problem is clear, obvious, bothersome, and quite possibly embarrassing to the person who has the problem.

As long as you’re selling information to help people solve a desperate problem, they’re going to buy it.

If it seems like nobody wants to wait for results anymore, it’s because nobody wants to wait for results anymore.

When you’re trying to sell how-to information, you’ve got to jump through a bunch of fiery hoops.

How to plant tulip bulbs, how to polish your car, or how to craft your own Christmas ornaments, etc., aren’t “pressing” issues.

No one lays awake at night or paces the floor wondering or worrying about how to do any of these kinds of things.

Would you like to come up with a topic to write about (in most cases, in less than an hour) and learn how to reach desperate buyers?

Ordinary to us can be extraordinary to someone else who desperately needs the information.

Give Me Desperate Buyers Only was recommended to me by a well-respected professional copywriter I met about four years ago and this 174-page, power-packed e-book has earned my highest recommendation.

This is one e-book that won’t be forgotten or tossed aside!

Filed Under: Brand yourself online, Copywriting, Making money on the internet, Online Marketing, Small business owners Tagged With: Affiliate marketing, Blogging, Copywriting, Creating infoproducts, Give me desperate buyers only, Internet business success, Reach desperate buyers, Writing e-books that sell

Email Marketing: Unhappy With Your Open Rate?

By Melanie Kissell 16 Comments

Have you felt the disappointment (sting) of sending out a broadcast to your list and having only a handful of subscribers … or maybe even no one … open your email?

Ouch.

If you’re anything like me, you go back to your contact management system and re-read your message about a hundred times, hoping to figure out what went wrong.

You may have sent out a very special announcement, a super duper freebie offer, a biz tips video, an invitation to a teleclass, a survey, or an inspirational story – or something else you felt your list would find valuable.

And yet they’re not responsive.

Hardly anyone opens your emails and you’re left, puzzled, as to what you should do to improve your open rate. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Building relationships online, Email Marketing, Email Marketing Campaign, Internet Marketing Tools, Online Marketing Tagged With: Autoresponders, Email Marketing, Email messages, Email open rate

Inspired Action Is Sparked By Your Creativity

By Melanie Kissell 16 Comments

Guest Post by Life Coach Sheri Kaye Hoff

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Michelangelo

I find that I am inspired to action when I am tapping into my creativity. Creativity is often an elusive concept. It is difficult to define or teach, but we know creativity when we see it.

When you are trying to come up with new programs, new products, or new ideas, it is tempting to try to force the solution. I like Michelangelo’s quote because his creative process decreases pressure and allows free-flowing action and thoughts. He also reveals what we know to be true in our hearts – that a creative idea is often the result of uncovering and releasing something.

Some ways to tap into free flowing creative thought are to:

Practice relaxation techniques- deep breathing/meditation/prayer
Read a variety of sources
Listen to others
Keep a notebook close by to record ideas
Read through past journal entries
Tap into nature- sit by a stream, a lake, the ocean
Listen to music – yoga, meditation CD’s ,soft classical
Quiet your spirit
Write or create without prejudging- let it flow – you can streamline and edit later
Engage in physical activity- walking, dancing, stretching
Sleep on it

If you still feel blocked or uninspired, change your focus to a different project and revisit your project when you feel refreshed. Accept a creative idea as a great gift and fill your heart with appreciation. Enjoy the creative moment, act on it, and celebrate it.

As you tap into your creativity regularly, you will find that more and more of your actions are truly inspired and come from the real you- the authentic you.

For more ideas on working with inspired action- get my new eBook Living Successfully and Joyfully Everyday: 90 Days of Inspiration

Filed Under: Creativity, Following Your Passion, Happiness, Infopreneurs, Inspiration Tagged With: 90 Days of Inpsiration, Life Coach, Living Successfully, Sheri Kaye Hoff, Taking Action, Tapping into your creativity

Is It Too Risky To Change Horses Midstream And Shift The Focus Of Your Business?

By Melanie Kissell 31 Comments

I don’t know. But I’m about to find out.

Have you ever felt like your online marketing business is in transition or maybe you need to go back to the drawing board and reassess your focus, your purpose, or your goals?

Change is inevitable in life and I’m finding the same to be true in business.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been reaching out to single mom entrepreneurs who want to start an online business and those that are struggling to achieve success in their current business. I love my niche and it’s become a very comfortable nesting place for me. After all, I’ve been a single mom for almost two decades and I have mounds of online marketing experience so I feel justified in deeming myself an expert in my niche.

Good for me, right? So why would I consider the notion of changing horses midstream? Why take such a risk?

I have tremendous compassion and a sincere affinity for mom entrepreneurs. I’m a nurturer by nature and nothing makes me happier than helping others – especially moms. But in the process, I’ve discovered I’m shortchanging myself by disregarding a lifelong passion with thirty years experience attached.

So what am I getting at here? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Plan, Following Your Passion, Moms in Business, Niche marketing, Online Marketing Tagged With: Internet business success, Marketing your services online

Integrity vs Scarcity

By Melanie Kissell 11 Comments

Guest Post by Yvonne Jones

I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal Sunday edition entitled “Sales Pitches You Can’t Resist – and Why?” The first paragraph alluded to the fact that many shoppers head to the mall with good intentions, but retailers know how to get inside their brain and derail their good intentions.

The article mentioned some triggers and their appeal. I selected just two:

1) “Our Big Sale Ends Tomorrow/Today/In a Few Hours!” This is aimed at your survival instincts, and its appeal is that you want to grab what’s available or be left behind.

2) “Save $250! (New Price $500)” This is aimed at your price-sensitive side. According to Lars Perner of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, you fall for it because the idea of big savings puts the deal at the center. Your brain often perceives the actual price as more reasonable because of that big price difference.

The article made me think of those of us who market our business online, whether we are in the Internet Marketing niche or some other niche. Do we consistently demonstrate integrity or do we feed on other’s scarcity mentality?

There are lots of marketers with tremendous integrity. We know that if they announce a limited time offer with a deadline, they will adhere to that. If they say a particular offer is limited to a certain number of copies, we can trust that will be the case. I confirmed the truth of such an offer recently as there was a valuable PLR product I wanted to purchase and kept putting it off. When I finally got to the sales page they were sold out.

Many of us are on various e-mail lists and often receive warning notices of pending price increases or removal of a product or service after a certain date. Some of these may be products or services that you genuinely want to take advantage of.

The challenge may be that some small business owners are operating their business on a budget, whereas others have a specific budget for how much they will spend on products or services in a given period. How do you feel when you exceed your budget to make the purchase and find that weeks later the price remained unchanged? Or the product or service that was going to be taken off the market is still there? Do you feel cheated? How do you feel about that marketer going forward? It certainly erodes any trust you had in that person.

Relationships in business, and especially in our online business depends on the know, like, and trust factor. Promoting a scarcity mentality for personal gain is hardly worth sacrificing your reputation as someone of integrity.

Has this ever happened to you and how did it make you feel? What action, if any, did you take?

Yvonne says: I’m a Solo Entrepreneur who teaches Relationship Building and Marketing skills to entrepreneurs and small business owners by helping them to see the value in building and maintaining long-term relationships with their clients and customers. I’ve recently begun actively working with work-at-home moms, other home-based entrepreneurs including Direct Sales consultants with the goal of helping them to cultivate an entrepreneur’s mindset and build their brand online.

You can follow Yvonne on Twitter at @YvonneAJones and visit her at Maintain A Success Circle.

Filed Under: Building relationships online, Small business owners Tagged With: Integrity, Internet business success, Marketing your services online, Sales tactics, Scarcity, Yvonne A Jones

Why Blog If Your Niche Is Already Stuffed To The Gills?

By Melanie Kissell 24 Comments

Simple …

You have something to say.

Just the thought of knowing there may be thousands of entrepreneurs in your same niche can be pretty intimidating.

Like it or not, unless you are selling one-of-a-kind handmade items, expect to have tons of savvy competitors hovering around who are working diligently to grab your target audience by the lapels to gain their attention!

So start thinking about your competition in a different, meaningful, and positive way. Consider your business “You, Incorporated”.

There’s only one of you in this world and “you” CAN’T be duplicated.

Study your competitors and determine what you can add to what they’re already offering or what you can do differently or better than them. Identify your “competitive advantage” – your leading edge.

Sometimes the biggest difference between you and the competition in your niche isn’t “what” you have to say, it’s “how” you say it. Maybe you have more effective communication skills, a powerful edginess to the copy you write, or a welcomed sense of humor your competitors don’t possess.

Maybe the ONLY difference between you and the next guy in your niche is that you have mastered how to boost your online visibility - which will place you MUCH closer to the finish line in the race to win over the attention of your target audience!

Don’t be scared off by competition. Embrace the notion and use it to your advantage.

Give your prospects, customers, and clients something they can’t get anywhere else. Give them YOU.

Filed Under: Blogging, Brand yourself online, Niche marketing, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: Blogging, Boost online visibility, Denise Wakeman, Online Visibility Secrets, Social Media

Sheila Atwood & Kathryn Griffiths: Special Premier “Internet Sisters” Post

By Melanie Kissell 20 Comments

Partner Up and Double Your Assets

Is it possible to double your online assets when you partner up?

GUEST POST by Kathy Griffiths and Sheila Atwood

Yes and yes! I have been lucky enough to partner up with by sister, Kathryn Griffiths. Although there are times when it seems like the blind is leading the blind, this partnership really has doubled my assets.

We partnered up back in 2007. Feeling much like Laurel and Hardy, we jumped into the car and attended the Salt Lake City Geek Club for the first time. The goal was to find some WordPress geeks to help us get our sites on line. Well, it worked and the rest is, as they say, “history”. (By the way… we can now attend the meetings and can actually contribute to what’s going on.)

My Partner Up Assets

Time: Having a partner has increased my time. I have someone that can learn one thing while I learn another.
Skills: Kathy has computer skills I do not need to learn. For example, she is an expert in Photoshop. Need a graphic…got a graphic.
Editing: Two sets of eyes are better than one. Kathy will edit my blog, reports, and sales pages. Let me tell you, I need an editor. I can’t see my own mistakes.
Copywriting: When it comes to needing a magic headline or the perfect piece of text, I can rely on Kathy. She has copywriting ideas I would never even think of.
Comments: There is always somebody to comment on my sites. All I have to do is ask.
Backlinks: We have a system of backlinking to each others sites. This works well on both our main sites and on our niche sites.
Encouragement: When the going gets tough (and it often does) I get encouragement. I get support. Kathy helps me to stay on track and push through those times that I just want give up.

“It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.” ~Marlene Dietrich

Sheila

——————————————

My Partner Up Assets

It’s been a great business asset to partner up with my sister, Sheila Atwood, and the journey has been fun. There have been a lot of laughs between the two of us as we’ve made our way through the maze of Internet marketing.

Balance: I once heard it said… “In a partnership, you can’t afford to be crazy at the same time.” It’s nice to have someone bring me back to reality when I’ve had some “woo woo” idea that’s not practical. We sort out different strategies until we find out what really works.
Information: Sheila has been a great source of information. She’s always searching the web for the most current and helpful information that she can pass on to her readers. I benefit from that research first.
Tech. Issues: I’m amazed how tech savvy we both have become and how much we can figure out when we put out heads together. It’s saved a ton of money not having to call a web master at every turn. However, we both know when to cry “Uncle” and get more advanced help when needed.
Immediate Communication: I love the fact I have immediate access to someone. When I’m excited about something I’ve just learned or when I run up against a problem … I can pick up the phone and get instant feed back. We visit several times a day. I can also count on finding several Twitter DM messages a week pointing me to helpful information.
Encouragement: It’s easy to get discouraged when everything gets overwhelming. Sheila helps me sort out priorities so I can get back on track again. And that relates to family matters as well as business.
Joint Venture: I have access to a joint venture partner I trust. We’ve had several ideas in the past, but I think we’ll have a winner when our new project is completed. It’s fun to work on an idea together.
Support: I think the best thing about the “partner up” concept is that I get full support. I know I can always count on a comment on my blog and having my “Tweets” passed on to her list.
Mastermind: We are a mastermind group of two. It cuts quickly to the chase. There’s no lag time in getting correction or encouragement.

Thanks Sheila… my partner in crime.

Till Later,
Kathyn Griffiths

P.S. If you want to double your assets, I suggest you find someone you can partner up with. It sure makes business more productive, doubles assets … and best of all ….it’s more fun.

You will find these partners busy writing their own blog at:

Kathryn Griffiths – OnlineMarkeingAndPromotionBasics.com

Sheila Atwood – Newbie Lifeline.com

Thank you for an exceptionally special treat! You’ve created a hallmark moment on my blog, I love you both, and your guest post is filled with tremendous value.

Filed Under: Blogging, Joint Ventures Tagged With: Blogging, Copywriting, Joint Venture Partners, Kathryn Griffiths, partner up, partnership, Sheila Atwood

Business Building Strategy – Smaller Is Better

By Melanie Kissell 9 Comments

You might suspect this post is about …

Chunking down your bigger projects into smaller, more manageable bite-size tasks for better organization and to help you stay on track.

Or …

Having a smaller number of words in your blog posts than most other bloggers doesn’t mean your message is any less powerful or has any less impact on your readers.

Or …

Instead of trying to accomplish some daunting, humongous goal – having a series of smaller goals leading up to that giant one is a more sensible approach.

But …

It’s none of the above. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Building relationships online, List Building, Making money on the internet, Online Marketing, Small business owners, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking Tagged With: Blogging, Internet business success, List building, Social Media

Blogging for Dollars

By Melanie Kissell 12 Comments

Almost any day of the week you’ll find someone online who’s asking, “How do I monetize my blog?” or “What’s the best way to make money with my business blog?”