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.

William Bernbach said, “An idea can turn to dust or magic depending on the talent that rubs against it.”

Here are 6 ways to give your inner being a makeover and increase your visibility and credibility:

1.)  Become an expert at “stating” your expertise – Step up and Claim it!

What problems do you solve?  Who do you help?  What real world training or life experience do you have?  What awards have you won or books have you written?  Have a sense of self-worth. Experts with sizzle share information “memorably”.  Draw upon your creativity, sense of humor, and energy.

2.)  Understand where your target market gets information

Start a “wish list”.  Identify three venues where you want to be known.  Become the Go-To person.  Don’t be ORDINARY.  Set yourself apart from others in your field.  Personally brand YOU.  Your personality and unique FLAIR are as special as your fingerprints.

3.)  Create an ROI (Return On Investment) Plan

Figure out what you want in return.  More web traffic?  Increased opt-in rate?  Increased credibility?  Publicity?  Fame leads to fortune.

4.)  Be a trend watcher

Open yourself to new venues, formats, and opportunities.  Follow the top ten bloggers in your niche.  What are they talking about?  Subscribe to a weekly ezine that will keep you updated on the latest trends in your industry. Utilize social media to stay informed – what are the  latest hop topics of discussion on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.?  Awareness is powerful.

5.)  Toot your own horn

Create some Buzz!  Create some Fans!  Exude confidence.  Find your passion and work with your strengths.  Share your accomplishments.  Get powerful testimonials to serve as social proof and increase your perceived value.  Accept invitations to do presentations, teleclasses, or seminars. Become a sought after, recognized expert.

6.)  Publish or Perish

Get seen by more people.  Publish articles in online article directories.  Blog, blog, and blog some more.  Take a look at the VALUE of the information you supply.  Through writing, you can bottle and sell your expertise.  Imagine your ideal visibility level and focus on CREDIBILITY- the quality of being believable, trustworthy, transparent, and authentic.

Travel Off the Beaten Path, Stand Out and Sizzle!

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.

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.

I want to let you know about something special from my colleagues, Dr. Jeanette Cates and Connie Ragen Green. They are holding a hands-on workshop in January, and I know you will be interested in finding out how you can attend.

The event is called the Online Revenue Workshop, and it is different from anything you’ve heard of before. For two and a half days you will be a part of a select group of people who want to learn the winning combination of strategies necessary to achieve the success you want in your internet  business.

The workshop will be held in Las Vegas from January 22 through January 24. The location is the only hotel in Las Vegas that offers wireless internet in all of the public areas, including the meeting room, allowing you to implement what you learn immediately!

YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO:

* choose a niche that serves the group and the message you want to share

* craft a story to connect with your target audience

* use marketing in the most effective ways for your business

* develop the right mindset for success, so that you can build a business based on your passion and interests

If you have been online for six months or more and are still not making the money you would like to be earning, the Online Revenue Workshop is for you.