Biz Tips Blog: Online Marketing, Visibility and Business Blogging Tips

Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop is ON! (#NAMS)

For the next several days I'm attending the Niche Affiliate Marketing System Workshop (#NAMS 3) in Atlanta, GA as a speaker and eager participant. The brainchild of David Perdew, this is fast becoming one of the premier online marketing training events and I'm honored to be on the faculty.

This event will be tweeted about like crazy with lots to tips and nuggets of gold being shared in real time. I've set up a live stream for the tweets if you care to check in now and then to attend the event virtually.

NAMS, as it's affectionately called, is divided in to three tracks for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. I'll be doing a presentation on how to dominate your niche with blogging, followed by a hot seat workshop where I'll review 2-3 blogs live, showing the audience how to optimize their blog to get the best results for their business.

I am just as excited about meeting some of the star trainers like Willie Crawford, Bob The Teacher and Lynn Terry, and seeing long-time friends and colleagues, like Kathleen Gage, Jeff Herring, and Ellen Britt, meeting some for the first time in person. I also get to meet one of my virtual assistants, Kathy Colaiacovo, who lives about as far from me on this continent as possible, in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Enjoy the stream. I probably won't blog much while I'm busy with the event, but I promise to take pictures and videos to share on my return. And in the meantime, join my fan page where I will continue to post business blogging, online visibility and social marketing resources.

Testimonials Are a Gift of Celebration and Acknowledgment

Have you made a vendor or service provider happy today? Huh? Aren't they supposed to make me happy, you say? One of my clients inspired me to do the happy dance today when she sent an unsolicited testimonial about the Online Visibility Secrets program:

I wanted to let you know that the thing that I did right at the start of your course that's changed my visibility the most, is by far the excel spreadsheet!*

Before the chart, I didn't have any way to see clearly where I was currently at, to be methodical about what to measure, and to have a quick way to check (and celebrate!) my progress every week. Now I get excited about checking my stats every Friday and plugging it all into my chart and then thinking about how the week went, what worked and what to do for next week's numbers. This one thing has changed EVERYTHING! I wanted you to know that I got more than my money's worth in that one step alone!

~Susan Johnstone, The Heart's Voice
* [social media tracking sheet provided in Lesson 1]

Susan made my day and reminds me that what I'm doing and sharing is worthwhile.

Testimonials are a huge motivator. They are a gift to the person you are celebrating. Part of my weekly routine is to post recommendations for colleagues, clients and vendors on LinkedIn. I do one or two per week to acknowledge and show appreciation to the people who make a difference in my life and business. They don't ask me to do this, I just do it.

Another thing I do is use MrTweet.com to write short tweets about why I think someone is worth following or what they're doing to make a difference in my life. Again, unsolicited and always appreciated. And, I want to be clear that I'm not doing this so the person will reciprocate. Many do, but that's not my motivation. I simply want to acknowledge great people.

I usually attend to this routine on Fridays and it takes me about 30 minutes to scan, review, recommend and tweet. I keep a running list of people I want to recommend and choose 1-2 each week.

How do you celebrate the people in your business? Do you give unsolicited testimonials or some other form of appreciation and acknowledgment?

Related posts:

Testimonials Add to Your Credibility

Video Isn't Just for Blogs and YouTube

Instant Teleseminar vs. Audio Acrobat

Does your blog need a mobile app?

I recently read a post on Chris Brogan's blog that he had an iPhone app created for his blog. Interesting.

Being the curious gal that I'm, I had to check it out. Turns out a company called MotherApp can turn your blog into an app. It's free if you agree to have ads (they split revenue with you 50/50) or pay $99 per year. 

Their BlogEngine turns your blog into an iPhone app and integrates your twitter feed and YouTube Channel if you wish. Then, MotherApp takes care of submiting the app to Apple for approval. Just occurred to me...I wonder if they also create apps for Android phones. I have a first generation Google phone so I wouldn't be able to use an app for my blog on my phone unless it's developed for the Android operating system.

Well, I have to see how it works, so I submitted my information. The application process is simple: provide your blog feed, your twitter ID, your YouTube feed, a description, keywords and images. Press Submit and wait.

With mobile marketing gaining steam and something like 3 billion people world-wide using mobile devices, it doesn't take a genius to know that the future is mobile and you want your content to be accessible where your readers hang out.

I'll keep you posted on if/when my Blog Squad app gets approved.

Related:

How to Mobilize Your Blog (audio replay with Kim Dushinski)

Recommended Reading

The Mobile Marketing Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Mobile Marketing Campaigns (affiliate)

A quick lesson about how you can create online visibility with video...

Here’s a gift for you today...a quick lesson in how to boost your online visibility...something I was thinking and wanted to share with you. I sent this out to my email list and posted on my Facebook page, but you may not see my content in either of those places if you aren't on my list or don't follow me on Facebook, so here it is...

If you read my blogs or are a fan of my Facebook page, you know for the last few months I’ve been posting short videos with tips about how you can boost your online visibility.

You can find them on this blog.

You can find them on my YouTube channel.

You can find them on my Facebook Page.

You can subscribe to them on iTunes.

Why so many places?

My Secret to Success

In the last two weeks I've been asked to share my secrets to success. Both requests are for events I'm attending and/or doing a presentation. While there are many things that contribute to my success, the #1 thing is this...

My #1 secret is that I invest in working with mentors and coaches. There's nothing like spending time with someone who has been there, done that. Not only do I want their support and insights, but I want to fast-track my own business and personal growth and development. I've invested a lot of money on coaches and every penny has been worth it. Usually I realize there is something missing in my business or something I need to do better.

Then I match it with the person who is expert in that area. I'll often start by getting to know a person I'm interested in learning from. I'll follow them, subscribe to their ezine, buy a starter product to see their style and content. I watch and listen to what others are saying. Then, generally after meeting the mentor/coach in person, I'll know whether or not we're a good fit. I've worked with a lot of exceptional people and each has contributed to an element of my success. If you want to grow, you need to invest in mentoring/coaching. Period.

For the last 9 months I've been working with Terri Levine. I had the good fortune to meet Terri in person at a mastermind meeting after having followed and known her for at least 9 years. I was at a point in my business where I was doing pretty well and I knew I needed to take it up a few notches. Terri has an amazing knack for cutting right to the core of the issue and then offering valuable solutions and ideas that create new opportunities and more revenue. She's tough and loving and doesn't shy away from giving me a kick in the butt when I need it.

Terri's in Los Angeles this weekend presenting a two-day workshop on Entrepreneurial Bootstrapping. I know I'll soak up a lot of great content and be inspired and mentored to continuing achieving great things.

What's your secret to success?