Or are you getting served bland and tasteless cafeteria food?

If you’re like me, you subscribe to about a gazillion blogs, ecourses, podcasts, white papers, reports, and newsletters. And I bet every time you sign up, you’re expecting some meat and potatoes to land in your inbox – something hearty, palatable, and filling.  Doesn’t always turn out that way, does it?

I’ve been in the “unsubscribe” mode lately and for good reason.  There’s only so much any one of us can digest in one sitting. I’ve been trying to weed through so many email subscriptions every day that I’m starting to develop heartburn and indigestion!

So today I’m starting with a newsletter purge.  I’m going to plow through my entire list of subscriptions, take one final quick peek at the contents and focus of each one, and narrow it down to five.  That’s it.  And trust me, the ezines I hang on to will be ones that serve me best – the ones with all the scrumptious meat and potatoes.

Without question, one ezine a team of wild horses couldn’t get me to say goodbye to is Online Success News by Dr. Jeanette Cates. It’s like a staple in my kitchen cupboard – can’t do without it.  Not only does it provide meat and potatoes, it comes with lots of gravy, too.  The articles really draw me in and I’ve never failed to read every issue, cover to cover.

Okay, that leaves me to find just four other newsletters to keep. In a future post, I’ll let you know my final  “meaty” choices.

Do  you have an all time favorite newsletter you’d never part with? Post it in the comment box and share why it’s so valuable to you.

Growing really tired of attending rubber chicken luncheons, paying for ineffective classified ads, mailing out postcards that bring no results, and spending countless hours doing cold calling? Then you’ll want to learn about the important benefits of marketing your business online.

The internet provides you with a slam dunk opportunity for massive visibility. Handing someone a business card is fine, but creating your big “electronic” business card through online marketing will get you and your services in front of hundreds of thousands of eyes.  I’d say that beats the heck out of walking around parking lots putting flyers on windshields, wouldn’t you?

As a service professional, marketing your business online will allow you to:

1) Showcase Your Expertise – Put yourself in the spotlight and toot your own horn. Authentically tell your story and reassure your prospects that you work with people just like them.  People don’t want processes, they want solutions. Add results-oriented testimonials to your marketing strategy and allow your current clients to sell for you.

2) Stand Out From The Crowd – As strange as it sounds, you really have no competition when you promote yourself and your business online.  After all, there is only one YOU in this world. Take this prime time opportunity to demonstrate your unique juicy benefits and what differentiates you from everyone else.  Each of us has our very own special character, style, and persona. Let it shine! Be yourself, be creative, and have fun.

3) Save Lots Of Money – There are so many different internet marketing platforms to choose from and the majority of them are FREE. You can build your business online very cost-effectively through blogging, video, podcasting, article marketing, social media, teleseminars, and webinars. You can even host your own internet radio show or T.V. show.  Cost?  Zero dollars.

Give potential clients the chance to know, like, and trust you. Whether you are most comfortable using your voice, writing, or being in front of a camera, marketing your business online will help you build visibility and credibility and establish you as the go-to expert in your field.

Do you Tweet? I’d like to invite you to Follow me on Twitter.

Marketing no longer means going to the grocery store. It’s a broad term used by businesses that can encompass everything from letterhead and logos to contests and tradeshows. Is it any wonder that people with great ideas for products or services often get tripped up or discouraged when asked about their marketing plan?

In a nutshell, your marketing plan is the strategy, or actions and materials, you use to attract new customers and sales. Ideally, you develop an ongoing relationship with your customer by building a foundation of trust in you, and in your product. The process can feel complex and somewhat overwhelming at its inception, but, once mastered, can yield amazing results.

The truth is if you have any successful friendships (which I know you do) you already know the basic premise behind building solid relationship foundations. It is that relationship that compels your potential customers to take action and purchase your products and services… again and again.

To help you develop a winning formula and create a successful marketing plan, follow these guidelines:

• Strategize your method of delivery. You have to get your message and your brand into the marketplace. When deciding how and when to deliver your materials, remember that people are busy, suffering from information overload and you have a limited amount of time to capture their attention. (Usually just a few seconds.) Once you pique their curiosity you can provide them with more material but don’t overwhelm them by asking them to digest it all at once.
• Understand your buyer and their needs. Take the time to research, listen to feedback and predict what your customers want and need. Flexibility is the key here. Your buyers might want more from you than what you originally had to offer… figure out how to get it to them and you’ve got a repetitive and reliable customer.
• Highlight your uniqueness. Let your customers know what makes you different and emphasize those differences in your messages. Small differences presented effectively can be the determining factor.
• Concentrate on developing the emotional connection. Invite your customers to get to know you on a personal level. People prefer to do business with other people rather than invisible corporations. Make sure you have a visible and personalized profile. Write about yourself in your blogs and newsletters and include photos of yourself.
• Monkey see, monkey do. There’s no need to start from scratch when developing a marketing plan. Analyze successful tactics from other businesses and mimic the strategies they utilize. Choose a method and modify it to fit the needs of your audience and the products and services you provide.
• Telling versus selling. Connections are easily established when people feel they have something in common. When you market your message by telling a story your audience can more easily relate to you. And besides, who doesn’t love a good story?

Think of your marketing plan as your roadmap to success. Figure out where your audience wants to go (understand your buyers needs), describe why they should go on this trip (tell them a story), emphasize why riding with you is the best option (highlight your uniqueness), select a comfortable and reliable mode of transportation (your method of delivery), find out what they hope to see along the way (give ‘em what they want), choose a route (no need to build new roads to get from point A to B), take some photos along the way (enhance the emotional connection), ask them where they want to go next and remind them of all the fun you had on your trip.

Until next time… happy trails and I hope to see you on the road!

Donna Kozik is a two-time award winning author who has been featured in Woman’s Day, Women’s World, Teen People, The L.A. Times, The Baltimore Sun, NPR’s “Marketplace” and other media. She now shows others how to write and publish a book fast and easy to use as a “big business card.” She does this through “Write a Book in a Weekend” live and virtual events.

To find out more —> GO HERE

Podcasters and Internet radio show hosts can use private label rights content in a variety of ways to help boost their listenership. PLR articles aren’t just for information sites and here are a few ways podcasters can put them to use on their own site.

1.) Use the articles to post to a blog or website in between shows to keep your show fresh in your listener’s mind.

2.) Use PLR to brainstorm future show topics.

3.) Make recordings of the articles and post them as bonus or mini-podcasts.

No matter how you choose to use your PLR articles to boost your podcast, it’s extremely important that you realize you need to rework the original content to make it your own. Add your own thoughts, rewrite the content to make it fit your audience, add your own personal research and data, etc.

Looking for more tips to give your subscribers about getting the most use out of their PLR? Check out the 9 Uses for PLR Articles.

Many people want to write a book, yet don’t know where to start or don’t consider themselves “good writers.” These five tips will give you food for thought when it comes to writing yours.

BOOK WRITING TIP 1: Select a topic that’s an “inch wide, mile deep.” It’s easier and faster to write, and readers like books that are very topic specific.

BOOK WRITING TIP 2: Keep your book short & powerful-it doesn’t have to be your version of “War and Peace.” The upside of this type of book is that it’s easier for people to read in one sitting or while on a plane ride.

BOOK WRITING TIP 3: The key to getting finished is getting started! It sounds simple, yet it’s very true. There’s power just in getting started.

BOOK WRITING TIP 4: Start writing where you’re most passionate. It might not be Chapter One and instead could be Chapter Five. Again, the key is to get started and build momentum.

BOOK WRITING TIP 5: Don’t consider yourself a writer? “Talk” your book. Record, transcribe, edit and – wah lah – you have a completed manuscript.

For more book writing and book publishing information, join in a special teleseminar series being conducted by my friend and colleague Donna Kozik. You can find out more here, plus see a cool video Donna put together with a tip on how to build buzz for your book-before you even start writing it!