Biz Tips Blog: Internet Marketing Tips

Radically Transparent Arrives in My Mailbox

I love coincidences.  A couple of weeks ago I listened to an interview with Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim, and author of the recently published Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online (interviewed by John Jantsch). I ordered the brand new book and received it yesterday. I can't wait to get started reading it.

Today in my Feedblitz updates, there was a post by Paul Chaney about an online reputation management tool called Trakur, developed by Andy Beal.

Trakur takes Google Alerts to another level. Why use Trakur when Google Alerts is free?

Google Alerts only monitors content available through one of Google's search engines. Trackur monitors many more web channels than just Google. In addition, Trackur allows you to save items, sort them, share them via email, and subscribe to an RSS feed--Google Alerts offers none of these features.

I've set up a 14 day free trial on the keyword phrase "Blog Squad" so I can test how the tool works.  What came up in the initial search were blog posts, web pages, videos, photos on Flickr and much more.  Very complete.

Burning Business Questions continued...

We're getting some interesting responses to our request for questions to ask entrepreneurs at  Adam Urbanski's InfoProduct Intensive this week.

Ruthan Brodsky: How do you organize and prioritize what you've recently learned about technology and marketing approaches for your online business?

Bruce Bair: Was there some advice you did not heed early on, that is still valid, that you wish you had done because it would have saved/made you money or saved lots of time getting to the place you are now?

Yvonne DiVita: Where do you get the funds to grow when banks don't want to talk to you, and your family doesn't have money you can borrow? What other resources should (can) entrepreneurs explore, to help grow their business?

Wendy Belancourt: When you were learning about what worked and didn’t work for your business, did you find an easy way to determine which information sources and products would be helpful and which ones were going to be a waste of your time?

Here are some of the questions we came up with:

Recession-proof your business and life

My friend and colleague, Master Developmental Coach, Mike R. Jay, just released his latest print book today, UPPING the Downside: 64 Strategies to Create Professional Resilience by
Design.

I’m helping Mike get the word out as I believe resilience is a much needed antidote to all the conversation about a recession just now.

I could go on and on about why you should buy this book, but the bottom line is this:

The book is discounted to $9.97 today only, Friday, March 14. And, when you buy the book today, you’ll also receive a huge collection of Resilience Bonuses generously provided by leaders around the world. This is Mike’s way of saying thank you for buying his book today.

Bonus contributors include: Ken McArthur, Ben Mack, Eva Gregory, Hannah Wilder, David Matthies, Kevin Nations, Tara McGillicuddy, Ken Foster, Ellen Britt, Reed Floren, Trevor Crook, Maria Reyes-McDavis, Warren Whitlock, The Blog Squad, Rhoberta Shaler, and many more!

For the complete list of all 50+ Bonuses you get with your purchase, click this link.

Here's to your resilience!

P.S.  Remember, you’ll need to get Mike’s book today only to be eligible for this special package.

Women Entrepreneurs...this one's for you

If you are a solo woman entrepreneur having a hard time getting your business going, not connecting with people, frustrated that it's taking so much time in the administrative details, keep reading!

Beginning February 19, is a great new tele-seminar series with 6 professional speakers designed especially for you, that's going to show you tried and true techniques on how to get more free time and make more money.  Patsi and I are presenting on how to use a blog to gain expert status on day 6 of the program.

The Marketing Secrets teleseminar series is normally $197 and it's fully expected to sell out.  However, as a special guest of The Blog Squad, we are offering you a  VIP coupon that will give you $100 off the price of the seminar - that's over 50% discount! 

Remember to put in 'blogsquad' in the discount box. 

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the free bonuses worth over $180, at absolutely no cost to you.  Also, if you're ready to take advantage of this offer in the next 48 hours, we've added two more valuable bonuses valued at $37!  That's a $474 value for only $97.  Take a look to see all value we have in store for you and sign up, go to:

http://www.simplysuccess.ca/marketingsecrets/blogsquad

Backup your data...all of it, including your blogs

At this time of year there's always a plethora of content about making resolutions and setting goals and planning your business. It's all good. One thing NOT to forget is to back up your data. All of it.

Here are a few of the systems you need to backup for your business:

1. Your customer list is one of your biggest assets so this is critical. If you use KickStartCart or any one of the private label versions of 1Shoppingcart, this is really easy. Click on Clients and then on Export Clients. I also export the list of sales and affiliate reports at the end of every month.
2. Your accounting system. I use Quickbooks Pro and back up at least every month. And, now's the time to back up last year's accounts. If you use PayPal, you also should export your monthly records to your hard drive.
3. Your blogs! Wouldn't you hate to lose all the amazing content you've created??? In TypePad, you click on Manage and then Import/Export. You'll be exporting a plain text file with content only, not formating.
4. Your email contacts. I use gmail for my email and it's simple to export your contact list in a csv file. Click on Contacts and at the bottom of the page there is a link to export. I'd hate to have to recreate my email address book!
5. I haven't figured out how to save my email yet, on gmail. I have at least 20,000 emails and most serve as important documentation of client projects. Have to figure that one out.
6. For my computer, I use Carbonite, an online backup service that automatically backs up every file I create within minutes. It's total peace of mind for $49.95 per year. If you'd like to test drive the system for free, let me know and I'll send you an invitation.

Sallie Goetsch, the FileSlinger has a backup reminder email and blog. Check out her post on year end backups.

Can journalists find you online? Do you have a media plan?

From: The Blog Squad

RE: Our Next Blogging & Beyond Member Call is Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 5:00 pm Eastern

TOPIC: "How to Create a Media Plan for 2008" with The Blog Squad and special guest Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound.

If you want free publicity for your book, product, service, cause or issue, and you don't have a plan on how you're going to achieve it, you've lost the battle even before you've started. Without a plan, you're simply reacting to news events, pitching blindly, and missing opportunities to target the media when they're planning things like seasonal gift guides, and special sections devoted to topics that are a perfect fit with your expertise.

During this 60-minute teleseminar, The Blog Squad will interview publicity expert Joan Stewart (The Publicity Hound). Joan will discuss the importance of creating a media plan that will serve as your roadmap every month of the year.

This call is FREE for all member of the Blogging & Beyond Mentor program. Not a member? Join now to access this call with our special $9.95  30-day trial. 

Join the Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program here.

You will learn:

Do you know your audience?

When is the last time you surveyed your audience?

Do you know who your ezine and/or blog subscribers are?

Do you know your ideal client?

Polling or surveying your network is an important element of of having a successful online business and should be done at least once a year.

Recently we conducted a survey of the participants who registered for our Law of Action mentor program. We wanted to know their biggest challenges and who was attracted enough to our program to sign up.

The results were pretty interesting.

3 Action Steps a Week with 3 Web Women

Back in the day before GPS, I used to be the navigator for my hubby on road trips. Well, he liked to call me his "nagavator"... It's easy to find where you're going when you have someone to tell you..."slow down, right turn coming up."

I don't know how I would be running my business today if I hadn't paired up with the best partner in the world, Denise. She keeps me on track, focused, and lets me know when deadlines are approaching. Not that I couldn't do this myself, I did for years. Now it's easier because we have a plan, with action steps to take each day.

The same thing should happen when you're marketing your business on the Web. You have goals, you have priorities, you have steps you must take to get from A to B to...Z. And it helps to have people who care about your progress, to keep you on track.

Unfortunately, many professionals are overwhelmed by all that goes into successfully marketing on the Web, and many get stuck in the website building stage. There's more to it than having a website. In fact, you may not need to start with a website...!

Only three days left before we kick off our Law of Action teleseminar series. Denise and I, along with the Street Smarts Marketer, Kathleen Gage, have simplified and prioritized 3 Action Steps you can take each week to build your business on the Web.

There's 3 of us giving you 3 Action Steps each week during the month of January.

Will you be ready to rock your Internet marketing world in 2008?

The Law of Action: Attract Clients and Build a Money-Making Business with the 'Net. Starts Monday January 7 at 6 p.m. ET.

Create a Wow: Free Virtual Conference Starts on Tuesday

Are you struggling to make a splash online? Need some fresh ideas or expert advice? If so, you won't want to miss the Create A WOW Virtual Conference at www.CreateAWOW.com. Patsi and I are presenters at the conference and hope you’ll listen to our class about blogging as a marketing tool.

The free virtual conference will be held online from January 8 - 11, 2008 and will be a collection of audios and videos  you can listen/view at your convenience. Each presentation is about 20 minutes so you get lots of actionable-value in bite-size chunks.

We're honored to be included alongside this highly talented group of professionals who will be sharing their knowledge and expertise with you -- giving you tons of quality information for creating your own WOW online. There's no charge for this online event which includes the following classes:

How to Get The Most out of the Create a Wow Conference - Learn how to implement what you learn!
Presented by Rory Cohen, President

Kick Butt Internet Marketing: We're here for you

Action counts. No matter what you've resolved to do in 2008, the only thing that counts is what you do today, and then what you do each day after that.

For your business, especially if you're working solo, you may need a kick in the pants. Well, we're here for you! And ready to kick start you into Internet success for 2008.

You've probably heard about our Law of Action program which starts Monday January 7: www.actandattract.com. Here's why you'll get results from your Internet marketing when you implement our 3 action steps a week.

The Law of Action isn't like the Law of Gravity. When an apple falls from a tree, it hits the ground. The Law of Action says that any action you take will move you in some direction. It doesn't say which direction is best.

The apple doesn't have to decide where to fall. With your Internet marketing, you have a lot of choices to make. Let us prioritize and simplify the steps for you.