Monthly Archives: July 2008

Sell Yourself with a Website

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Posted by admin on July 31, 2008 – 2:01 am
Filed under Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized, online marketing, web traffic, website

Websites are extremely beneficial to authors. Say you’re shopping your novel. Give agents and editors your web address, and they can easily find you online, read your bio, view your previous work and awards, and learn more about you. You can only put so much in that query letter, and your website can sell you a lot better than a one-paragraph bio. 

 

Agents and editors are looking for writers with marketability. A professional website shows them that you are serious. It says that you know how to connect with people, that you are a go-getter and won’t sit back and expect someone to do it for you.

 

Laura Benedict, author of Isabella Moon (Ballantine Books, 2007), wasted no time in creating an online presence. Within two weeks of signing a two-book contract, she hired a designer to create her website, http://www.laurabenedict.com. 

 

“There is a mythology built up among writers that a big publishing house will do all kinds of promotions for its authors,” says Benedict. “While that may be true for some very big names, it is not true for the vast majority of a house’s authors.”

 

“I do not regret one dime I’ve spent on web promotion,” she says. “My website is unique, and it presents a professional, public face for me that a publishing house could not give me if it tried.”

 

And publishers know this.

 

For the freelance magazine writer, having a website is a great place to market yourself and your work to potential editors. It also makes the querying process a lot less messy. No more attachments. Simply query with a link to your samples.

 

In early 2007, I decided to build my own website to display my magazine feature samples, my resume, and my bio. The challenge was to create a site that was professional, easy to navigate, and captured my personality. I figured the last thing an editor wants to see is a boring writer.

 

And I was right. But the results weren’t what I expected; the benefits of building a website surpassed my expectations. Not only did I sell more magazine jobs, but editors also started to call me. Yes, you read that correctly. Editors looking for solid, experienced writers in the Charleston area googled “freelance writer Charleston” and up popped my website. I even had a small publishing house call and hire me to write a coffee-table book on Charleston.

 

**The above is an excerpt from the article “Why an Online Presence Is Vital to Your Writing Career,” which was published recently in the Missouri Writers’ Guild newsletter.  

The Power of Organization

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Posted by admin on July 28, 2008 – 4:24 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Marketing Strategy, Small Business, small business organization

Does your small business cause you to feel stressed, moody, and overwhelmed? It could be because you have too much work to handle. More often than not, lack of organization is the problem. 

When you organize your tasks and priorities, I can guarantee you’ll feel some sense of relief. So sit down with a pen and paper, take a deep breath, and begin organizing your thoughts. Make a list of ways to organize your office. Do you need more filing space? Do you have a stack of paperwork that needs to be filed? What can you do today to organize important information? 

Ways to Organize:

·        Spreadsheets with Contact Information: Organize your contacts, clients, employees, and business partner information into a spreadsheet in alphabetical order. This eliminates the extra work of always having to look up an email address or phone number of a company by visiting their website.

·        Spreadsheets with Tasks to be Performed: Use categories such as task, date needed to be finished, cost, priority, etc.

·        Spreadsheets with your Monthly Budget: This will help you keep track of how much money you plan on using during that month, monthly pay, monthly earnings, outsourcing costs, etc. Also, focus on future projects and how much those may cost.

·        Spreadsheets with Stats: You could have a dozen different items on this spreadsheet, such as your blog stats, website traffic, number of clients (increase or decrease from the previous month), success of a product or service, etc.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with work. Figure out what you can organize today. Doing so will help you prioritize important tasks that need to be done and help you figure out where you can and should outsource. 

Want more small business marketing advice? Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips and informative articles.

Are You Sure Customers and Businesses Can Contact You?

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Posted by admin on July 25, 2008 – 11:34 pm
Filed under Business Communication, Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, web traffic, website, website navigation

One of my biggest pet peeves is going to a website, which contains minimal contact information.

The internet is too vital a place to neglect this important information, as virtually all people use some aspect of the internet to communicate with others. It’s crucial to give customers options for contacting your company.

Customers love options because it allows them to choose the most convenient way for them to contact your company. Many people use email everyday, and it might be easier for them to send your company an email with an inquiry, comment, or suggestion rather than picking up the phone and waiting through a recorded message and being on hold for five or ten minutes.

Items that should be on your “contact us” page:

·       STAFF: I can’t tell you how many websites don’t have a list of their most important staff members listed. This is important because it adds a personal flare to your company and allows the customer to feel as though they are contacting an actual person and not just a company. People may be discouraged from contacting your company via email if they do not have a specific name or title to use.  

·       PHONE NUMBER: Provide a phone number for those who want questions answered immediately and who want to speak directly with a person.

·       EMAIL ADDRESS: Provide an email address for general questions and staff email addresses for more specific inquiries and comments.

·       MESSAGE FORM: Provide a form so that the customer can fill in questions and comments right there and not go through the trouble of creating an email. A message form should have boxes for customers to fill in their name, company name, cell or business number, email address, and their questions or comments.

·        EMAIL AND MESSAGE FORM COMBO: Sounds like a meal at a fast-food place, doesn’t it? An email address and message form would add even more options for your customers to contact you. 

Want more small business marketing advice? Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips and informative articles.

 

How Well Are You Communicating?

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Posted by admin on July 23, 2008 – 3:02 am
Filed under Business Communication, Small Business

How many times have you had a meeting with someone who has made direct eye contact only 50 percent of the time?   

Everyone is guilty of this at some point.

Body language is a great indicator of how a person feels about a conversation. Frowns and furrowed eyebrows can make the speaker feel as though his  message isn’t getting across or is being disagreed with. This isn’t always the case. Many times the nonverbal cues could be misinterpreted by the speaker.

Avoid body language that may discourage the person speaking with you. Make direct eye contact, keep a neutral facial expression, and give nonverbal cues, conveying that you understand what the speaker is saying, such as nodding with understanding.  

Also, be aware of proper personal space. In America, a business conversation should happen about four to twelve feet apart. This space differs from country to country, so if you are planning to attend a business meeting with foreigners, it would be beneficial to observe their speaking distance before the actual meeting.

Want more small business marketing advice? Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips and informative articles.

Communication: The Key to Success

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Posted by admin on July 21, 2008 – 4:01 am
Filed under Business Communication, Small Business

The act of selling, persuading, and buying products and services is always driven by some form of communication. Most businesses would cease to exist without successful communication.

One of the most commonly used forms of communication is oral, either face-to-face or via telephone.

It’s more effective if done face-to-face because you are notice the receiver’s facial expressions, eye contact, and body language. These cues can help you understand if the receiver is picking up on the things you are saying.

Sometimes this can be deceptive.

How many times have you acted as if you were listening to someone? If your mind is somewhere else during a conversation, you may miss most of the message.

As a small business owner, it is extremely important to be an active listener and teach yourself to tune out other things going on in your mind during a conversation. And after a conversation, write down the most important details if you think you won’t remember.  

Stress Less and Outsource

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Posted by admin on July 18, 2008 – 9:13 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Copywriting, Small Business, small business marketing

Overworked? Not enough time to finish your daily, weekly, monthly to-do list? The solution is to outsource some of your work. It’ll save you time, money, and stress.   

 

Three ways to outsource your work:  

1. Ghostwriters are specialist who take ideas and put them on paper. Hire a ghostwriter to write letters, articles, ebooks, ezines, and the list goes on. Want to know more about ghostwriters? Check out a previous blog from Copy Doodle. 

2. Copywriters have the talent and the knowledge to phrase web copy, articles, ezines, etc. in order to reach your target market. Writing SEO and organic web copy is an important talent copywriters perform because the right web copy can bring your website a major increase in traffic.

3. Editors are a vital element for all small businesses. Nothing looks worse than grammar and spelling errors on marketing materials . . . write? That’s a joke, but see what I mean? Why risk turning off potential customers and having a word spelled wrong?

 

Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips, market trends, and informative articles.

Time to Take a Break?

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Posted by admin on July 17, 2008 – 6:32 pm
Filed under Business Goals, Small Business, small business marketing

When’s the last time you took a vacation sans cell phone, email, and paperwork? Spent time with friends and family—really spent time with them, being present in the now—without worrying about work, deadlines, or your to-do list? Whether it’s been four years or five months, do yourself and your business a favor and take a relaxing vacation. 

Everyone needs time for himself / herself. Business owners included. Stepping away from daily operations often allows a fresh perspective on your business. There’s nothing like a vacation to bring back the creative juices that once flowed—before the stress and agony reached its peak.

But it isn’t always as easy as picking a date and booking a flight.

Instead of asking, “What’s the worst that can happen if I go?” ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen if I don’t go?”

Here are a few tips to make your time away less stressful on you, your staff, and your customers:

  • Contact clients in advance and advise the people who contact you on a daily basis that you will be out of town for personal reasons.
  • If you absolutely cannot leave your BlackBerry behind, notify customers you will be away and appoint someone you trust to take care of small things that may arise during that week. Then, if the secretary or employee can’t manage the task, he / she can contact you wherever you may be. Therefore, you will have the power to manage the situation. (Ahh. Feel better?)
  • Book your vacation in advance. Notice of three to six months allows ample time to forewarn people of your departure. It will also give them the opportunity to work around your schedule.

This excerpt is taken from my bimonthly newsletter, Your Marketing Solution. Discover simple marketing strategies that will increase your income and boost your business. 

How-to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Website

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Posted by admin on July 14, 2008 – 8:26 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, ezines, increase site traffic, online articles, online marketing, press releases, small business marketing, web traffic, website
Every company wants more website traffic. Here are a few tips to get your numbers up and get more customers. Three tips to drive more traffic to your website:
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1) Place or swap ads with other ezines in your niche
Seek out other ezines in your niche whose publishers might be interested in swapping ads. In addition to, or instead of swapping ads, you could also purchase ad space in an ezine in your niche that has a large circulation. If you pay to place an ad, for the best results, run it for a minimum of three consecutive issues.
2) Write articles and post them online
An excellent way to drive traffic to your site. It’s simple: write an article that offers people useful information. Often times, people will use these articles in their ezines or post them as content on their websites. People read online articles and click the link to your website provided in the author bio box.
3) Write a press release
Press releases are another way of getting targeted traffic to your site. It’s important that the release be newsworthy and not an advertisement / plug for your service or product. There are numerous press release directories online where you can post for free. Also, don’t forget the power of your local media. Research the proper person at local papers and magazines, then send them a release.

Integrating Your Business

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Posted by admin on July 11, 2008 – 11:24 pm
Filed under Marketing, Marketing Tip, Small Business, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, website
Ways to integrate yourself into the online community:
• Write a blog and comment on other blogs
• Post audio and video on Youtube and look at other Youtube videos related to ones you post
• Take videos and photos of your products or services and post them on a photo sharing site (Flickr or Buzznet)
• Join a website that allows users to post reviews for local businesses, such as yelp.com
• Join a social bookmarking site, such as del.icio.us or stumbleupon.com
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Two great ways to get more traffic to your site is through www.yelp.com and www.stumbleupon.com. These two social media sites, although slightly different, can easily integrate you into various online communities.

Subscribe to Your Business Marketing Solution, a bimonthly ezine filled with marketing tips, market trends, and informative articles.  

 

Double Sales with Web Copy

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Posted by admin on July 8, 2008 – 3:13 pm
Filed under Copy, Copywriting, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Small Business, Uncategorized, online advertising, online marketing, small business marketing, web copy, website, website navigation

Selling products and services online can be a tricky task. Don’t shy away from it though because it could be the most effective way to sell your products, doubling and even tripling sales.  

The key element in online sales is to know how to promote your products in the best light. One of the greatest problems small companies have with their websites is a lack of traffic. Translation: there are not enough potential customers viewing their products or services online.
 
Many of the sites having these problems are ones created by companies that have only a basic knowledge of web design and web copy. A website with a few pictures and a couple of words describing a company and its products isn’t going to cut it.When people visit a website, they are attracted by the aesthetics of the site, such as layout, design, and photos. People reach these sites by typing keywords or phrases into their favorite search engines or clicking on links from other sites.

Websites with effective web copy will bring these people into their sites from search engines, increasing traffic. Once potential consumers are at a site, their attention must be grabbed immediately with the words, also known as web copy. These words can persuade a viewer to make a purchase from your site, subscribe to a newsletter, subscribe to an RSS feed, and or bookmark your site.

The harsh truth is, if a customer’s attention is not grabbed within the first few seconds of viewing a site, he or she is on to the next one that will keep his / her attention and evoke a response.

Web copy is also important in promoting navigation through the site. Your goal is to have the viewer click on certain links, such as contact information, newsletter subscriptions, and the company’s blog. You need to have well-written web copy to motivate viewers to further investigate your site.If your company isn’t getting the traffic you need to further your business, then it would be a good idea for you to hire a copywriter. Many freelance copywriters who specialize in web copy. Copywriters investigate the most beneficial ways of marketing your company and design web copy to reach the right target market, pushing more traffic to your site.

What a good copywriter will do for you:

• Create a profile for your target market
• Utilize key words in the web copy (tags and links) that will push your site to the top of search engines
• Write a smooth and fresh web copy that contains no fillers, just vital information
• Create a personal and approachable style of writing, which connects to the viewer
• Put a creative spin on your marketing approach, making your site stand out above others
• Edit the web copy, so there are no mistakes