Social Media | Solo Mompreneur

I Don’t Want To Be A “Lead” When I Grow Up

Imagine holding a baby and telling that precious child this bedtime story …

Life is colorful and full of adventure. When you grow up, you’re going to become a “lead”.

You’ll feel very special to be part of a “highly targeted” audience and an “autoresponder list”.

Oh, what fun you’ll have traveling through a “sales funnel”!

Not as thrilling as riding a roller coaster, but a fun ride nonetheless.

Online marketers and small business owners from around the globe will be competing for your attention. So you’ll need to become an instant pro at dodging “sales pitches” and recognizing “hype and fluff”.

Be careful! Those “bright shiny objects” can mesmerize and allure you.

Once you become someone’s “prospect”, your inbox will be overflowing with mail. Won’t it be wonderful to awaken every day to loads of correspondence from “internet marketers” who love to stay in touch with you?!

Some days they’ll send you off to a “squeeze page”. Don’t worry. The squeezing doesn’t hurt. I promise.

Other days they’ll ask you to enter an “opt in box”. It’s easy to get in and relatively painless.

You’ll have lots of opportunities to exercise your visual and auditory senses with all the invitations you’ll receive to attend “webinars” and “teleseminars”.

Your reading skills are sure to be sharpened, too! Everyone will ask you to visit their “blog”, read their “posts”, leave “comments”, and share their pearls of wisdom on “social media”.

It’s inevitable, at some point, you’ll be encouraged to pull out your credit card, make a purchase, and download an “info product”. But let’s not think about that right now. You’re looking pretty sleepy.

One more thing before you nod off and head into slumberland.

If you don’t want to be a “lead” when you grow up …

That’s okay and no one will blame you for feeling that way.

Traveling through that sales funnel sounds kinda scary, doesn’t it?!

People shouldn’t be referred to as leads, anyway. The term isn’t very endearing and it doesn’t have much of a friendly ring to it.

Now go off to sleep, little one, and “Dream Big!”

Filed Under: Blogging, Storytelling Tagged With: Autoresponders, generating leads, Internet marketing, opt in box, sales funnel, Social Media, squeeze pages, Target audience, Teleseminars, Webinars

My Biggest Marketing Mistake In 2011

By Melanie Kissell 48 Comments

I didn’t “ask for the sale” nearly enough times in 2011.

I didn’t stay laser-focused on making money this past year — BIG mistake. As you know, without sales, you can’t stay in business.

Believe me, I don’t plan on repeating that mistake in 2012.

Does that mean I’m going to pitch, push, prod, and pounce on people at the turn of every corner?

No.

Am I going to include a promotional offer in every blog post and social media update for the next 365 days?

No.

Will I transform myself into an abnoxious unrelenting spammer?

Heavens, no!

But I do intend to work a lot harder on asking for the sale.

What will that work involve?

Raising my level of confidence
Acknowledging my expertise has value
Charging what I’m worth
Targeting the right people
Testing new marketing platforms and modalities
Getting my marketing messages out there in a bigger way
Collaborating with colleagues for joint venture success
Building more brand awareness
Creating more Buzz!

Your turn …

1. How do you plan to increase your sales in 2012?
2. What was your biggest marketing mistake this past year?

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: Building brand awareness, Joint venture partnerships, Marketing, Online marketng mistakes, Online Promotions, Sales tactics, Small business, Social Media

Delivering A Pregnant Idea

By Melanie Kissell 35 Comments

Have you been growing pregnant ideas you haven’t delivered yet?

Ones that are way beyond their due dates?

If you don’t deliver them soon …

It’s going to be really hard to get them out.

Just ask any mom who’s carried a baby past her due date! It’s a cumbersome, back-aching, can’t-get-comfortable-to-sleep-at-night experience.

Not to mention babies lay down a half a pound of body fat per week at the end of a pregnancy. Yikes!

The problem with entrepreneurs is that we’re so darn creative, we’ve got a never-ending wellspring of ideas in our heads (and on paper) all the time. And some of us even have EverNote and Google docs stuffed to the gills with them!

Even though being hardwired to inspiration sounds like a wonderful advantage (and it is), there are downsides to being an inspired, creative entrepreneur.

Ask yourself these two questions if you have pregnant ideas you haven’t delivered yet …

Do your big ideas eventually become boring to you?

Do you find yourself caught in the “All or nothing trap”?

The typical entrepreneur has a tough time seeing an idea through to completion because she can become bored with it before it’s implemented.

It’s time to trust your heart and Transform Your Ideas Into Income.

I do a lot of reading online and lately I’ve noticed more and more people expressing their thoughts on “ideas”.

Dan Zarrella, The Social Media Scientist, is quoted as saying …

“The concept that ideas spread simply because they’re good is completely false. There are tons of good ideas that go nowhere, and even more bad ideas that spread like wildfire.”

Then there’s Alex Whalley’s words of blog post “idea” wisdom …

“The salt is further rubbed into the ‘too many ideas’ wound because you will ultimately never have time to publish said post anyway, and it will sit in your drafts folder as nothing more than a title and an idea… for as long as you both shall live.”

And Marnie Pehrson of Ideamarketers is asking …

“Have you experienced the exhilaration of a new idea only to have your zest for it wane as it came time to implement all the details to make it happen? Are you easily distracted from one idea to the next or have trouble deciding which idea to pursue?”

I’m the guiltiest party of all.

I’ve been growing a pregnant idea for three years!

My first profession is in the field of perinatal education. My idea is to bring my offline expertise onto the internet to share the wonderful world of pregnancy, birth, and infant care with parents-to-be.

My overdue pregnant idea is scheduled for “induction” soon.

Your turn to speak up …

Do you consider yourself an “inspired creative”?
What pregnant ideas have you been growing and haven’t delivered yet?
What’s holding you back from following your ideas through to completion?

Follow @MelanieKissell

Filed Under: Creative Ideas and Inspiration Tagged With: Alex Whalley, Dan Zarrella, entrepreneurs, EverNote, Google docs, Marnie Pehrson, Pregnancy, Pregnancy and Birth, Social Media

Meet And Potatoes For Saucy Social Media Success

By Melanie Kissell 42 Comments

I’ve got a question for you today I bet NO ONE has ever asked you …

“How do you meet potato people online?”

These are the members of your target audience, fans, followers, and fellow bloggers who add the “starch” and the “thickener” to your social media sauce.

They’re the people who are vital in “congealing” your social media success!

Potatoes spend their life underground.

You may be feeling like the people you need to meet are hiding underground. Maybe your blog isn’t seeing much activity these days and you’re hearing crickets chirp when you publish a post.

For starters, you’ll want to grab some pointers on how to develop those all-important relationships with other bloggers.

Kiesha Easley of “We Blog Better” has just the H.E.L.P. you need! She explains how this four-letter word contains the critical components of builidng relationships online in her article, “The #1 Secret to Getting the Most out of Social Media”.

Bloggers form a very special bond and they’re some of the neatest potato people around!

Potatoes can be red, yellow, white, purple, and brown and they come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures.

You can’t expect to have any semblance of success by participating in just one social media activity. Blogging may be your all-time favorite social media platform and that’s great. It’s my favorite, too.

But you need to create a presence on a variety of platforms if you want those potatoes to come up out of the ground.

Give podcasting a try. Your target audience will love hearing your voice and it adds a nice personal touch.

Join some groups on LinkedIn that are related to your niche. LinkedIn is currently the best business-to-business social media venue and the members are very responsive professionals who value interaction.

Create some videos and post them on video-sharing sites like You Tube, Vimeo, Viddler, and One True Media.

Or you might enjoy turning your blog posts into a series of slides on Slideshare, writing press releases, article marketing, or doing book reviews on Amazon.

Make it your goal this week to meet some potato people and start creating saucy social media success!

Your turn …

What are you doing to build strong relationships with other bloggers?
Do you have a social media success story you’d like to share?
Who are some of the coolest potato people you’ve met online?

Follow @MelanieKissell

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media Success Tagged With: Blog, Kiesha Easley, LinkedIn, One True Media, Potato, Slideshare, Social Media, Viddler, Vimeo, We Blog Better

Grab A Pen And Write This Down

By Melanie Kissell 33 Comments

Always fun to share some great news.

I was recently interviewed on Heather Bestel’s blog, “Mum’s Got A Business”. Some of my loyal readers have already stopped by and posted comments. So, thank you!

If you’re interested in adding a genuinely good soul and one smart cookie of a marketer to your center of influence, look Heather up.

The quote I posted in my interview as one of my favorites was a big hit.

This one seemed to touch a sensitive and meaningful chord.

So grab a pen and write this down …

“Now that it’s all over, what did you really do yesterday that’s worth mentioning?” ~Coleman Cox

Did you do something to take care good care of yourself? Did you add value to the lives of others? Did you do anything yesterday you would deem “noteworthy”?

I’m going to ask you to post this quote somewhere you’ll be able to set your eyes on it every day.

And every “tomorrow”, look back on the day before and answer Coleman Cox’s question.

Although you won’t see me plastering my social media profiles with tons of quotes (or even use them very much in blog posts), I’m the quintessential quote junkie. When Heather asked me to pick a favorite one, I had to think about it long and hard.

I’m famous for saying, “All the yesterdays are cancelled checks”. Feel free to quote me. In other words, we can’t go back and live them again, right?

BUT …

“Reflection” is a magnificent tool.

Looking back on your yesterdays will help you build and enrich your tomorrows — and maybe even help you appreciate your loved ones more, revel in a warm breeze across your face, take more time to pet your dog (who won’t be around forever), linger in the bath a little longer, and slow down the pace of this crazy thing we call life.

So, tell me …

Now that’s it’s all over, what did you really do yesterday that’s worth mentioning?

Filed Under: Moms in Business Tagged With: Business, Coleman Cox, Heather Bestel, Marketing and Advertising, Mum's Got A Business, quotes, Social Media

Be Social Be Rich

By Melanie Kissell 33 Comments

Guest interview today – enjoy!

Martha Giffen speaks out on social media marketing and her book, “Be Social Be Rich”.

What is your personal definition of “social media marketing”?

My definition of social media marketing is reaching out to others and expanding my sphere of influence.

How do you leverage social media to build your business?

Well, the wonderful thing about social media platforms is they give you so many different ways to get your message out. The internet is truly a “web” and the more places you interact with people, socially, the more intertwined in the web you become. Others begin to see your work, like it, and refer their friends and clients to you.

Congratulations on your book! What prompted you to become a published author?

You know, “Be Social Be Rich” isn’t my first book! Ok, it’s my first solo book, but I got the bug when I was a contributing author to two other books, the latest being “Money From Anywhere” with Pat O’Bryan and a host of other influential marketers.

What were your greatest challenges in getting your book into the marketplace?

My challenges are always personal. My personality is such that I usually create my own obstacles and this was no different. Writing the book was the easy part. Putting myself “out there” was a little more challenging. You know, when you do something new for the first time, that self-doubt can sometimes seem like a mountain!

In fact, I have a chapter about it in “Be Social Be Rich”. I thought it was that important! It’s entitled “Taking Risks” and I am honest about how it shows up in my own life and what I do about it. I think many readers will relate.

What are you hoping will be your readers’ biggest takeaways from reading “Be Social Be Rich”?

I’m hoping that they will increase profits to their business, of course, but I also hope they will begin to enjoy their own network and find that it’s fun connecting with others. There’s a “richness” that comes into your life with your social sphere. I would hope they would find the truth in that. Of course, increasing the bottom line is a great perk!

In what ways do you plan to use your book as a marketing tool?

Books always give the author more credibility. At least, if you write an informational book, which this is. I will use it to increase my own business (imagine that!) and use the enhanced visibility to expand my social networking, teaching programs, and speaking gigs.

What’s next for Martha Giffen? What can we look forward to seeing from you in the future?

My passion is helping others. I enjoy encouraging and motivating people to be successful entrepreneurs. You can look forward to seeing more top-notch programs and books to help and inspire new biz owners on their way to a lucrative business.

Martha Giffen is the author of “Be Social Be Rich”. She has built a successful online biz using social networking as her focus. A popular blogger, Martha dishes out plenty of southern charm as she helps entrepreneurs build their own lucrative businesses using her proven formula. You can find her at MarthaGiffen.com

Filed Under: Social Media Marketing Tagged With: Business, Facebook, Internet marketing, Marketing, Marketing and Advertising, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter

How To Get More From Google Analytics

By Melanie Kissell 41 Comments

Google Analytics is one of the best known analytics tools. Although there’s now plenty of competition, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get everything you want from this fantastic Google tool. Here are some of the things you can do to improve your use of Google Analytics.

Leave Yourself Out

If you’ve ever spent some time installing a new WordPress theme or tweaking your site design, you’ll know that you spend a lot of time on the site. You may also spend time adding content, checking that it looks good, tweaking and checking again – and that activity shows up in your site stats. Since you don’t really need to know how often you visit your own site, then it’s best to leave those visits out. Google Analytics makes this easy by letting you exclude your IP address from tracking via a custom filter.

Check Social Media Activity

Ever wondered how you could track all those likes, tweets and shares to see what kind of social media pull your site has? Once again, Google Analytics has the answer with the track pageview function. Add the right piece of code to your social media button (suitably customized so you can tell where the source of the click is) and you will be able to find out how people are sharing your content via social media in your Analytics dashboard. Check this post on on Hongkiat for more detail.

Compare and Contrast

When you log into Google Analytics, you don’t have to stick with the default view. This shows you stats for the past month up to the previous day. There are two things you can do to make this data more relevant. The first is to manually select the last available date to give you stats up to the previous hour – which means you can figure out what’s happening with your site in almost real time. The second is to click the ‘compare to past’ check box to see how interaction with your site has changed month on month. It’s useful to be able to see what content is increasing in importance and what content is less popular so you can make changes.

Report Back

One often underused feature in Google Analytics is custom reporting. This is a great way to drill down into the really crucial data on your site. Want to find out how many people are really engaged with your site? Check out and customize the Non-Flirts report available on Occam’s Razor. Want to know how many people search specifically for your brand? Or how many people came to your site via the links you tweeted, liked or shared? Custom reporting can help you work it out. The feature is easy to use with drag and drop parameters and the ability to test your report to see if it’s giving you anything useful. And to make your Google Analytics reports even more useful, you can email them to yourself (or anyone else who needs access to them).

This was a post by Lior Levin who works for an applicant tracking software company and also advises to a neon signs online store