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Promoting Invisible People

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That’s what article writing challenges and blog challenges are designed to do – make you VISIBLE!

Do you ever feel like an invisible person whose talents, passion, and expertise are just floating around out in cyberspace and no one seems to know you even exist?

Would you describe your blog as looking more like a ghost town than a hot vacation spot?

Is your mom and your best friend the only two people supporting your success online?  Let’s face it.  They love you, but they’re probably not even in your target audience.

So what’s an invisible entrepreneur to do?!

You need “exposure” … and you need it NOW.

There are two events going on starting today that can get you out of hiding and bring you, your brand, and your business into the spotlight.

Don’t dilly-dally.

Sprint on over to check out the Ultimate Blog Challenge and the Article Marketing Success Weekend!

Sign up for one or both events and say goodbye to being invisible.

Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Blogging, Internet Marketing Tools Tagged With: , , , ,

Duplicate Content or Fraternal Twins?

By 7 Comments

Most of you know I’m a single mom with four daughters and my youngest are twins.

The question I’ve gotten hundreds of times since they were born is, “Are they identical?”

The reason people have asked this so often is because my twins are what’s known as “look-alike fraternals”. Sometimes I can’t even tell them apart!

After nineteen years, I still can’t distinguish their voices over the phone.

Having fraternal twins reminds me of the issue of publishing duplicate content online.

It seems to be a big concern of bloggers and article marketers and anyone who fears getting penalized or labeled by search engines as a content deceiver.

Lisbeth Tanz of Savvy Freelance Writers did a fantastic job of defining duplicate content and outlining the steps you need to take to avoid any problems.  If you’ve been worried about this issue and you want to ease your mind, read Lis’s post, “The Myth of Duplicate Content”.

Keep in mind that syndication is always a good thing!

Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Blogging, Freelance writing Tagged With: ,

7 Stifling False Impressions of Marketing Products and Services Online

By 10 Comments

“I don’t like marketing” or “Marketing is too hard” is the mindset of many small business owners, especially those just starting out.

That’s a shame because marketing needs to be at the top of your priority list every day.  If you don’t plan on devoting the majority of your time to marketing your products or services, you may as well fold up your tent and leave camp!

Most of the time, a negative attitude toward marketing stems from misconceptions and a misunderstanding of the difference between advertising and marketing.

Let’s run through just seven (there are many more!) false impressions of marketing your business online:

1)  Marketing is a big bother and an interruption to
people.

Actually, that statement pertains to “advertising”, NOT marketing.
Television advertisements are bothersome, for example, because they
interrupt the viewing of a program.  I haven’t met anyone yet who’s said, “I
love T.V. commercials!”  Marketing is not a blatant “in your face” method of
making sales.  Marketing is a much softer and palatable business-building
tool.
2)  People won’t be interested in what I have to offer.

In other words, “People won’t buy what I’m selling”.  Not true.  If you’ve
taken the time to study the demographics of your target audience and
you’ve done some thorough keyword research, then you can market
confidently knowing there’s a flock of potential clients or customers that
want what you have to offer.  Marketing is about establishing and nurturing
relationships with your prospects through a crystal clear understanding of
their problems and the solutions you offer.
3)  It probably won’t work anyway, so why bother?
Oh, brother.  I’ve heard this one more times than I care to count. 
Developing the right kind of “marketing mindset” matters.  Giving up before
you even try is a one-way ticket to failure.  If you maintain a defeatist
attitude, your business will not thrive.  The only way to get past this type of
thinking is to dig your heels in and take some action!  You need to “test” a
marketing strategy or platform first, give it a fair amount of time, and see if
it’s working for you.  
4)  Marketing is way too expensive.
Rubbish!  Advertising can empty your wallet pretty quickly, but marketing
can easily be done effectively on a tight budget.  The majority of the
successful marketing strategies I use cost $0.  So even if you’re on a super
slim budget, don’t sweat it. There are literally hundreds of free marketing
platforms.  Want to learn more about marketing on a zero-dollar budget?
Download a Free Shoestring Marketing Kit.
5)  Only business owners with sub-standard products or services need
marketing. [Read more...]
Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Blogging, Building relationships online, Improving writing skills, Internet Marketing Tools, Online Marketing, Service Business Owners Tagged With: , , , , ,

Because Bobbye, Martha, and Heather Asked

By 15 Comments

Nothing spells disaster faster than not having the right tools to market your business – especially if you are trying to market on a shoestring budget.

This is a sequel to a recent post on the Solo Mompreneur blog entitled, “What’s Your Business Building Cast Iron Skillet?”

I’m writing this because Bobbye, Martha, and Heather asked. :-) These are three exceptionally talented bloggers and small business owners I met through joining a 30-day blogging challenge.  (Be sure to click their names and check out their amazing talents!)

These three lovely ladies asked me to share the tools I use to market my business – my “Cast Iron Skillets”.

So here’s what I use to cook up some tasty marketing messages and spread the word about my business:

Free Headline Analyzer: I love this tool and consider it a must-have.  It measures the “emotional marketing value” of your words.  It’s great for crafting blog post titles, landing page & sales page bullet points, and article headlines.  And it’s fun to use!

Social Oomph: This is the best time-saving tool in my arsenal.  I use it to preschedule Twitter updates – a day or two or three in advance!  So when I am away from my computer or working on other projects, my Tweets will automatically show up in my Twitter stream at specified times throughout the day.

Ping.fm: With one click of my mouse, I can send out a post/message to ALL of my networks at once!  I’m currently subscribed to 15 different networks.  It’s another time-saver and a real convenience.

Survey Monkey: I really like this free easy-to-navigate platform for creating surveys and polls.  Google Docs are also a great choice.

Audio Acrobat: I have lots of fun recording Audio Notes here to send out to my list, publish in my ezine, or post on social networking sites.  They have some really cool templates, too.

My Marketing Cornerstone: This is a series of OUTSTANDING webinars and accompanying workbooks created by my mentor and colleague, Jessica Swanson.  I return to this information again and again!!  This $97 bootcamp took me from ZERO success to targeted subscribers and sales!

To search for other bloggers in my niche and to keep up-to-date on what people in my niche are talking about, I use:

1) Icerocket

2) Blogpulse

3) Technorati

So there you have it – My business building Cast Iron Skillets!

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Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Blogging, Build an online empire, Internet Marketing Tools, Small business owners Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Are You A “Great Post!” Commenter?

By 12 Comments

Everyone appreciates a compliment, right?  I call them “strokes”.

We all could use a few strokes once in a while, especially when we’ve poured our hearts and souls into something we’ve written.

Ask any article marketer, author, or avid blogger – we love to get feedback from our readers, especially when they say something positive and complimentary.

Think back to how many times you visit someone’s blog, scroll down to the comments area, and what do you see?

There it is – that infamous and over-used comment:  “Great Post!”

Maybe the reader really enjoyed the post.  And that’s terrific! But “why” was it great and “what” resonated with the commenter?

In some instances, I suspect the commenter may not have even read the post and is just looking to create some backlinks. Not a good idea and certainly not very thoughtful or professional behavior.

I wrote an article for Natural Baby Pros entitled, “Do’s And Don’ts Of Posting Blog Comments”. It’s brief and to the point and I think you’ll enjoy reading some worthwhile guidelines for getting the most mileage out of the blog comments you post!

Oh, and if you actually got this far …

How about leaving your mark in the comment box below?

I read and respond to EVERY one of them!

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Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Authors, Blogging, Building relationships online Tagged With: , , ,