Today’s business owners are faced with an enormous problem.

1. Google Ad search results are dominated by large corporations and major chains.
2. Small to mid-size businesses lack the knowledge to develop an effective web campaign.
3. Unable (or refusal) to make the transition from "traditional" advertising to "online" marketing. (Do not be afraid! The web in your friend! LOL!)

BEFORE the Internet, connecting with your prospects meant advertising via:

However; TODAY... traditional advertising methods are losing their effectiveness.

Now It's YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I'd love to know what you think!

Hi Friend,

As a coach or consultant, attracting and converting leads and generating referrals is the lifeblood of your business. Yet when business is bustling, it can be difficult to focus your time on marketing your business. Learn how to manage your marketing more efficiently and successfully during this free webinar.

WEBINAR: How to Successfully Grow Your Coaching Business

July 21st | 11:00 AM PST/2:00 PM EST

Register Now: http://crm.infusionsoft.com/go/coaching/dpayne

Infusionsoft’s marketing manager Tyler Garns and a special guest will show you how to implement strategies for:

• Creating lead magnets that attract the right customers
• Converting leads with three follow-up tricks
• Automatically generating referrals
• Using video as a powerful conversion tool
• Managing and grow your business with scalable solutions

You don’t have to be a marketing expert to successfully expand your business. Register for this free webinar and you’ll learn how a clear automation strategy can help you grow more effectively.

Register Now: http://crm.infusionsoft.com/go/coaching/dpayne

See you there!

Why?

Those with high Klout Scores have the ability to impact a large audience.

Genius!

Bet lets talk about you and me.

Marketing agencies aren't the only ones who benefit from Klout - you can too!  Here's how.

Curious who has high Klout scores?

Now It's YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I'd love to know what you think!

I wrote earlier about What Mobile Phone Users Do With Their Smart Phones and found that 2011 will be the year of Cross-Channel Marketing and mass implementation.

The mobile phone is arguably the most personal device that we have with us at all time.  Like AMEX, we don’t leave home without it.  Consumers moving, changing their email address and dropping their home phone lines have all been natural disruptive forces for marketing.

The mobile phone has become the only common device capable of wrangling multimedia, social networking and commerce.

What Does This Mean To You, The Solo-Professional?

If you are into email marketing, then SMS (text messaging aka. Short Message Service) is a great companion to your ezine.

If you are into social media, then SMS is the best way to link followers to your page at the latest social destination.

• Ninety-eight percent of SMS are opened and responded to within 60 minutes versus only 5 percent of emails that are opened.
• Only 10 percent of SMS are unsolicited versus over 90 percent of emails.
• More than 7 trillion SMS messages are expected to be sent globally in 2011, according to ABI Research

Here Are A Few Sensible Tips For Mobile Marketing:

1. Do not overdo the graphics. The majority of mobile Web sites only have one banner ad that displays at any given time, giving that ad unit a unique opportunity to capture users’ attention.
2. Make the call to action obvious. Do not make users guess what will happen when they click on your banner ad
3. Write clear and concise copy. When creating your mobile banner ad unit, it is important to remember that the screen of the average mobile device is much smaller than a desktop computer.
4. Time-sensitive.  Both the call to action and the SMS content should answer the question, “Why now?
5. Value. What’s in it for us? What’s in it for the customer
6. Message flows. What happens after the consumer responds – e.g.  opt-in, coupon, poll, contest, survey.
7. Engagement. If you are a marketer  looking to create deeper engagement with your customers, it is easy to see how multimedia such as mobile video, slideshows, how-to videos and other digital assets can better.  Flip-cam style content works well delivered to handsets. Think authentic, original, unique and never seen before.

In addition, YOU as a consumer, should make yourself aware of your favorite retailers mobile coupon programs.  Start your own Mobile swipe file of clever mobile ads and texts to model to lend inspiration.

For more info: Here are Free and premium WordPress Mobile Themes.

• iPhonsta 1.1
• Smooci 2
• WordPress Mobile Theme
• jQuery Mobile
• Mobius
• The dotMobi WordPress Mobile Pack
• Carrington Mobile

Premium:

• touchPress
• 1ST Giant Leap
• WPtouch 2.0 Pro
• Mobility WordPress Theme for Web and iPad (iPad)
• Simple Mobile
• PadPressed (iPad)
• My Mobile Page <— This one is sharp!

Mobile plug-ins for your wordpress site.  These plug-ins are relatively easy to click and install thru your dashboard.  Just be sure to test your site from a mobile browser before you set it, and forget it.

• WPmob Lite
• WP Mobile Detector
• BuddyPress Mobile
• BAAP Mobile Version

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

You may have noticed strange looking squares on signs, magazines, billboards, webpages, and more commonly, store shelves. These squares are QR codes. QR (Quick Response) codes are kind of like a barcode, similar to what you see on every day products. Many QR codes have URLs and other hidden information that can be very helpful to research a product while you’re mobile.

Susie Blackmon's QR tag

QR codes have become so popular because nearly everyone has a camera phone, or “smart phone.”  If you have a smartphone, more than likely, you already have a QR code reader.  All you have to do is take a picture with a QR code-compatible application, and you will be taken to a site with more information about whatever it is your looking for.

A couple examples of their use might be to get the layout of your favorite theme park (Cedar Point @cedarpoint doesn’t have one on their website – tsk! tsk!)  Or, maybe you strike up a conversation with a really cool gal and she has a QR Sticker on her laptop or car.  Instead of digging for business cards, you can snap a pic of each others QR code to import contact info.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezie.

QR codes may look like complicated gibberish, but they’re easy to create. I created mine by going to the ZXing Project web site, selecting CONTACT from the drop down, entered my deets, and clicked on Generate.

To read more about QR tags check out these pages:

13 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes for Marketing – Fast Company
7 things you should know about QR Codes – Educause

Get QR software for your Blackberry, iPhone, or Droid.

**UPDATE** May 17, 2011

Mobile bar code scanning has increased by 4,549 percent in the first quarter of 2011 on a year-over-year basis, according to a Mobio Identity Systems study.  Women also show a higher interest in using QR codes, accounting for 68 percent of users.

For marketers, this means QR codes can provide a way to have an ongoing conversation with consumers.

“QR isn’t a one-off medium anymore,” Mr. Binns said. “Marketers can change their QR codes in ads each day, week or month, and have an ongoing dialogue with their consumer.”

Have you gotten YOUR QR code yet? 

More info about QR codes:

How to make your QR codes more beautiful @Mashable

Dubai to Give Every Building a QR Code

Starbucks & Lady Gaga Team Up On Scavenger Hunt

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

#1 BEST NETWORKING TIP

While big events like this are a wonderful opportunity to meet and network with others, I often feel shy at the beginning, or closed or worried about what people think of me (and I know I’m not the only one!).

When that happens, I have a technique that works EVERY time to get me into “rock star” networker mode!

I call it “becoming a reporter.”

I LOVE this technique, because I learn SO MUCH and always meet fascinating people doing interesting things.

And I don’t have to go ANYWHERE NEAR the kind of activities that often pass for “networking” but are really just disguised and desperate-feeling attempts to drum up business.

Now, I have a background as a newspaper reporter, but that’s definitely not a requirement for this technique.

All that IS required is that you shift from “shy or worried” to CURIOUS!

Just flip a switch in your brain and turn on your curiosity. Really. Just flip a switch and “become a reporter.” It gets you immediately out of your “stuff” and into a place of genuine connection with others.

Ask questions. Not an artillery barrage or an interrogation, but a simple “I’m interested in you” inquiry.

Where does she live? How long has she lived there and/or why did she move there? What does he do professionally? How’d he
get into that? What’s an interesting project on the horizon that she’s excited about? How did that come about? When is it going public? Does he have children, and if so, what are their ages?

The subjects are endless. Mix personal with business questions. And watch people’s faces light up as they talk about what is
near and dear to them.

You’ll make a wonderful new connection, both human and business, and you’ll be remembered for the great conversation.

BE THE CHOOSER

Don’t wait for people to come to you. Take the first step, even if doing so is out of your comfort zone.

For example, identify in advance a person or people you’d like to meet or get to know better. Make plans BEFORE lunch starts to
eat together. Take the initiative.

Or, do like I did this past weekend: I didn’t make plans in advance. As we broke for lunch or dinner, I simply asked my
inner guidance to lead me to who I should share my meal with.

It didn’t ONCE fail me! I deepened relationships with some I already knew and met for the first time some GREAT new
connections. Synchronicities abounded!

HAND OUT SOMETHING MEMORABLE

When asked for a business card, I handed people a 5×8 postcard that contained on the front a free offer for my “75 Best Newsletter Success Strategies” report and a great testimonial.

Yes, a couple of the URLs on the back were outdated, but the postcard did its job: it stood out.

That’s why I always advocate – in ANY networking situation — an oversized postcard or printed newsletter or Ready2Go Article Brochure.

The brochure is particularly effective because it’s surprising!

People are used to a traditional tri-fold brochure, with bullet lists of your specialty areas and the schools you attended, etc.
(Boring stuff to the recipient/reader of this stale format.)

But the tri-fold Ready2Go Article Brochure has an inviting graphic image on the front and a FULL ARTICLE on the inside…
an engaging, educational article geared to the reader!

Yes, we include your photo and other branding, but the main thrust of these brochures is the article. That’s why our clients like them so much.

In fact, they’ve told us that the people who receive these unique Ready2Go Article Brochures ASK FOR MORE to give to co-workers!

Don’t forget that our 2-for-the-price-of-1 Ready2Go Article Brochure sale ends TODAY. Use the code AB241 when you check out.

www.ready2goarticlebrochures.com <http://www.ready2goarticlebrochures.com>

IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING…AND DOING!

Follow-up. It’s the critical piece of networking, yes?

Yes. But unfortunately, it’s also the part that most often goes undone.

I’m as guilty as the next person of not always following up on all the contacts I make at events. But I have a new vow:

Within 3 days of an event, I follow up in one form or another with everyone whose card I took or contact info I otherwise
gathered.

I’ll either email them directly or put them on my email list (if I got their permission) so that I can begin sending my
newsletter.

At the very least, I’ll invite them to connect on Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn, in the hopes that they will eventually make it over onto my email list so that I can keep in touch
more regularly and with more value.

Especially today, we have so many ways to stay connected with people that it’s a shame not to!

P.S. I was kicking myself for not bringing a Ready2Go Article Brochure of my own to this weekend’s event, as they truly are unique and stand out from the plethora of business cards. Oh well, next time…but it’s not too late for YOUR next event, whether a speaking gig, conference or networking meeting.

###

Linda Claire Puig

Linda Claire Puig is a newsletter marketing expert and founder of Ready2GoArticles.com, Ready2GoArticleBrochures.com and Ready2GoEzines.com, which provide coaches and personal development professionals who don’t have time to write – or don’t like to – with high-quality done-for-you article, brochures and newsletters that help them more easily connect with their audience and grow their businesses. She also teaches unique, action-oriented programs on how to create newsletters and use them to make more money. An award-winning writer since 1983, Linda’s articles have appeared in newspapers, magazines and newsletters throughout the world. She has produced newsletters for small businesses and professionals since 1990 and has trained thousands of individuals in “the way of the newsletter.” For a free copy of her special report, “75 Best Newsletter Success Strategies,” click here.

by Steve Shaw
Content makes the web go round. Think about it: emails, videos, articles, audio, ezines, newsletters, blog posts, tweets, web pages, and more. Every one of them led by content.

Without the ongoing delivery and production of content, it is difficult to exist in any meaningful way online. And without content, it’s certainly difficult to market yourself. You attract traffic with it. You build relationships with it. Essentially, you build your whole online presence with it.

Despite all the benefits, what stumps most business owners is the ‘A’ word – ‘About’. What do I write about? What do I create a video about? What do I tweet about? Sure, they may have the odd moment of inspiration. They may create some content … on occasion. But then they’re back at the A word again. The blank page staring at them. The pressure of being out of ideas. The knowledge that, without the content, they’re losing online visibility they would otherwise have.

But fear not, it doesn’t have to be like that. There is a never-ending source of inspiration. The best bit is, it’s right under your nose!

Where? Your customers, your prospects, your visitors — they contact you and ask for help, for information, for knowledge. They tell you exactly what they want you to produce content about: the information they are looking for you to provide. Sometimes, the incoming questions and dialog create the spark of an idea. Sometimes, several ideas. You just need to be aware and ready to record them. And sometimes, in providing an answer, you will have produced an almost complete piece of content. You can then use it in a myriad of different ways. Use it as the basis of a blog post or an article in next month’s newsletter. You can distribute it to article directories, communicate it to your list, develop a video or tweet it to your followers. And there’s an interesting side benefit: the more content you produce, the more ideas it tends to generate for further content.

Blogs are a great example of this. Here is how it works:

• You publish a great piece of content as a blog post and attract comments.
• You start getting questions you can then answer with further content.
• You get comments that spark further ideas for content production.
• And so the cycle continues.

In effect, a blog can provide you with an idea generation machine!

The starting point is using a simple ‘Idea Collection System’. And ensuring you get into the habit of using it.

For example, create a folder in your filing system where you can quickly drop ideas in. Here are some ideas on how it might be used in practice:

• You are speaking with a customer over the phone, and you get a content idea from your conversation. Scribble it down and drop it in the folder.
• A few paragraphs sent in reply to an email enquiry could be used as the basis of future content. Print it out and drop it in the folder.
• What if you’re asked a great question at a networking event? Phone your own voicemail before you forget. Then when you’re back in the office, pick the message up, note it down and drop it in.
• If you have people taking care of your customer support, train them to forward you questions that could form the basis of great content as they come up.
• If you notice a suitable comment on your blog that triggers a content idea, again print it out and drop it in.

It doesn’t have to be a physical folder, although I find that works best for me.

You could use a folder on your computer. You could email ideas to yourself and set up a filter so they’re easily retrievable in future. Or set up a separate email account. Even a pen and notepad can work well if that suits you and they’re always close at hand.

Get into the habit of using your Idea Collection System as soon as you think of an idea.

Otherwise, two things happen.

• Firstly, you’ll likely forget completely, and a great idea will be lost forever.
• Secondly, your subconscious mind will stop scanning for ideas. It will stop alerting your conscious mind when great content ideas arise.

When adding ideas to your Idea Collection System, make as many notes as you can at that time. When you go back to it in future, you will then know exactly what you were thinking at the time. It will also be easier and quicker to start creating the content right away. Otherwise, when you return to the idea later, you may find it obscure and discard what could have formed the basis of a great piece of content.

Once you are in the habit of collecting ideas like this, you will eradicate the ‘A’ word. You will start seeing ideas everywhere. The trickle of ideas at the beginning turns into a torrent. The ‘About’ question will never arise again!

So here is what you should do now:

• Decide what your Idea Collection System will be. A physical folder? A separate email account?
• Set it up, right now. Yes, right now.
• In the next hour, make sure you drop at least one idea in. This starts to get you into the habit. It’s the start of the trickle that will turn into a torrent. If necessary, review customer communications over the past week or so. Find something you can use.
• Train your subconscious to bring you content ideas by adding a new idea every day. It will soon become part of your normal routine.
• Finally start using these ideas to create some content. Set up a regular schedule of content production by blocking out time on your calendar on a regular basis. Ensure there are no distractions, and focus 100% on content production. (If you are not comfortable with producing content yourself, forward your ideas to a writer or someone else in your business to produce the content for you).

Start using the ideas in this article, stick to a regular schedule of content production, and you will start to get all the benefits content can bring you. For example:

• Regular communication with your list: this allows you to start building better relationships and become more ‘front of mind’ in the minds of your prospects and customers
• Regular content syndication: this starts attracting targeted traffic to your site from other sites as well as from the search engines
• Regular publication of new posts on your blog: you will improve the position of your site in the search engines, attract new traffic, and allow your visitors to feel more connected with you
• Regular tweeting of updates: build up your followers and enjoy the benefits of Twitter through having something useful to tweet about
• A regular offline customer newsletter: improve your relationship with your customer base, your most important asset, through improved communication with them

And of course there are many other ways you can start putting your content to work. Give content production the priority it deserves, and feed the benefits back into your business.

Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw is the founder of SubmitYOURArticle.com, the web’s leading article marketing service, used by thousands of small business owners worldwide to build traffic, leads and sales for their websites. You can grab a free report on how to attract sustainable, dirt-cheap, long-term, targeted traffic to your website at www.submityourarticle.com

Now It’s YOUR Turn! What are your thoughts? Post below, I’d love to know what you think!

• cformsII – go to deliciousdays.com to download zip file to your computer, then upload into plugins via upload link. (see “install plugins” pic –>)  cformsII can be intimidating at first, but it’s all very logical if you think your steps through.  Some clients use this for their “Coaching Request” questionnaire, others for their client “Work Out Log.”
• WP Greet Box – I like this because it gives a greeting to the visitor, and reminds them to subscribe to my RSS feed.
• Do Follow - The plugin lets you remove the evil no-follow attribute from your comments.  And we like to share the love, so… do follow!
• Disqus Comment System http://disqus.com/ – Way cool commenting, and importing of mentions of your post from other sites, ie. Twitter, Facebook, etc.  You’ll need to set up an account at Disqus first – then check your settings in WordPress.
• Google XML Sitemaps – Because Google likes sites/blogs that are neat and pretty with sitemaps.  Don’t be caught without one.
• Raw HTML capability – sometimes you need to put code in a post and wordpress tries to strip your code – highly annoying – with this plugin, you just tick the box and wordpress will leave it alone.
• ShareThis http://sharethis.com/ – neat and tidy way of sharing your content with the world.  I like ShareThis because of it’s uncluttered look.
• Similar Posts – will add 3, 5, or however many similar posts with the same tags to the bottom of your post.
• TweetMeme – this is that cute little “retweet” box by your posts that enables the reader to only click once to retweet.
• WordPress.com Stats – You will become addicted to this feature! Stats gives you real-time data regarding your site/blog… how many visitors, where they came from, what search terms they used to find you…etc.
• Yoast Breadcrumbs - if your site is “deep”, meaning you have multiple levels of navigation, you’ll definitely want breadcrumbs to show your readers where they are.

1. Thou shalt use WordPress for your website/blog.

2. Post to your blog often.

3. Use social media - Facebook, Twitter.

4. Use lots of videos.

5. Be real and personable.

6. Make sharing easy.

7. Create a kick @ss  freebie that over delivers.

8. Always respond to comments.

9. Sharpen your saw.

10. Create evangelists.

BONUS: Learn to sell.

• "The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less" by Mark Joyner
• "Integrity Selling for the 21st Century: How to Sell the Way People Want to Buy" by Ron Willingham
• "Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness" by Jeffrey Gitomer