Successful Blog

4 Success Keys for Female Entrepreneurs

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Kate Endress

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Practical Advice for Female Entrepreneurs

American society seems to have finally reached the commendable tipping point where the number of women receiving advanced degrees and finding high-paying jobs is leveling out with men. And despite a scary statistic that women lead just 8% of venture-backed companies, I believe that the tide has also shifted in Silicon Valley.

It’s hard to ignore the wave of successful startups with strong female customer bases. Women make up 60% of Zynga’s customers, 77% of Groupon’s customers, 82% of Pinterest’s users and 70% of all ecommerce buyers. Those are numbers that even the old boys club of venture capital can’t ignore. I am a huge online shopper myself, and I was able to leverage that authenticity to attract venture backing for my ecommerce startup last August.

4 Success Keys for Female Entrepreneurs

While admittedly I’m pretty new the game, I’m often asked if I have any advice for aspiring, young entrepreneurs. What follows are 4 success keys for female entrepreneurs.

Seek out strong female role models.

I got some great advice early in my career by a female colleague who told me to find the women I want to emulate and get to know them by offering to buy them a cup of coffee. At first, I was a bit nervous to pick up the phone or write the email, because I knew they were busy women. But in the past seven years, I have reached out at least once a month to female bosses, leaders and entrepreneurs and only once to date has the recipient not been able to fit me in. I’m often touched at how openly and warmly they share experiences both professionally and personally. Ask about their management styles and their tactics for achieving the elusive work/life balance. It is through these meetings that I have honed in on my vision for the kind of female leader, mother and wife I hope to someday become.

Take advantage of a growing number of organizations and resources dedicated to promoting women in technology.

Women just one generation ahead often had to rise through the ranks without a support system. And yet these trailblazers have turned around and paved a path for the younger generations by creating organizations that open doors and facilitate connections for young females in tech. I subscribe to Women 2.0, a Kauffman-backed organization that offers content, community and conferences for women founders in tech. It’s inspiring to keep tabs on other female entrepreneurs, and I’ve attended several events in San Francisco where I got to connect with other female founders. I also applied and was recently accepted to Springboard’s program, which matches female entrepreneurs with coaches, industry contacts and investors. Take advantage of these incredible resources!

Be good at what you do.

Seek out opportunities that might give you a second look because you are female, but don’t depend on that to get the job done. I’ve had several female engineers apply to my company, and I was rooting for them. But at the end of the day they weren’t as good on merit, and they didn’t get the job. Be self aware about your weakness and take advantage of online and local courses to improve everything from your coding to your public speaking skills. Deep down, you know when you are really good at something, and this competence is the crux of the confidence that will make you successful.

Speak with conviction and work on your handshake.

I’ve noticed many women do themselves a huge disservice by raising the inflection of their voice at the end of sentences. It makes everything sound like a question and gives others the perception of a lack of confidence. Make sure your statements really pack a punch. Along the same lines, don’t start an introduction with a wimpy handshake. You don’t need to have an Arnold-grip but make eye contact and shake hands like you mean it. Let others know you are confident in yourself, your team and your idea.

Author’s Bio:
Kate Endress is a private equity investor turned entrepreneur and e-commerce pioneer. After graduating from Stanford Business School in 2011, Kate cofounded DITTO.com, an ecommerce site selling designer sunglasses and eyewear which features cutting edge new “try-on” technology

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Talk About Your Goals: Goal Setting Success

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Andy Crestodina

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Talk About Your Goals

Research shows that writing down a goal increases the chance of achieving that goal. The same research shows that talking about your goals makes success even more likely.

When Dr. Gail Matthews conducted a study of 149 participants, she found that committing to your goals in writing has a positive impact on your chance of success.

Here’s how the study worked

149 subjects were divided into several groups and each subject was asked to select a goal. Some were asked to simply think about their goal. Other groups were asked to write their goal. A final group committed to their goals in writing and shared that commitment and progress reports with a supportive friend. At the end of four weeks, each subject reported the extent of their goal setting success. (see the research summary here)

Sharing with friends makes goal setting successful

When goals are written and the commitment and progress updates are shared with a supportive friend, the likelihood of achieving the goal was the highest. Why? It may be fear of disappointing them. It may be a fear of embarrassment. Or it might be that encouraging boost of confidence that only a friend can give.

“There was support for the role of public commitment: those who sent their commitments to a friend accomplished significantly more than those who wrote action commitments
or did not write their goals.”
– Dr. Gail Matthews

Find an Accountabili-Buddy

Find someone supportive whom you respect. Someone you don’t want to disappoint. Schedule a regular time to meet or talk on the phone. Tell them your goals and ask them to hold you accountable. Or make it mutual and work on goal setting and success together.

Personally, I hope to one day be an author, so I found a friend who has published books. I meet him twice a month at 8am. We drink coffee and share progress. He holds me accountable and I hate to disappoint him!

What are your goals?

You are moments away from leveraging this simple but powerful principle. Right now, you can state your goals to the world. Just tell us your goals with a comment below. But be careful! We may hold you to it…

Author’s Bio:
Andy Crestodina is the Strategic Director of Orbit Media Studios, a web design company in Chicago. You can tell Andy your goals on Google+ and on Twitter.

Teens, the Financial Crisis, and Lack of Summer Jobs

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Ideas and Infographics

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Mihaela “Mig” Lica

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Signs Of Our Times & Not So Good Trends

You are all feeling it, aren’t you? The weight of the financial crisis, creeping in past even the most positive attitudes, this has become as prevalent (almost) as the morning alarm clock. Politicians talk of recovery, so do bankers and Wall Street titans, every news day some new hope of a full recovery hits our sensibilities. And then the next morning arrives.

Indicators abound to tell us the ups and downs of our current existence. But the real telling details arrive in the form of news friends and relatives are having a tough time. Out of work, homes foreclosed, blah, blah, blah, are you immune yet? The infographic below focuses on some more news from the negative side. For those who have teens headed into the workplace this Summer, be grateful, many don’t get the chance. Check out this economic indicator.

Cruel Summer - Where the Jobs are this Summer Infographic
Via: Bolt Insurance

This Summer will be “cruel” indeed for a lot of young and older Americans. Just because things seem to be holding together, this does not mean we should lose sight of our problems, the problems of our neighbors. Infographics, as you can see, are a great way to solidify and remember information. You already knew the neighbor’s teenager was having a tough time finding work, now you know he or she is not alone. And even if you want only good news in your day, it’s a good idea to act on this bit of bad, just as a start. Please share your good and bad news Summer stories with us.

Author’s Bio:

Author’s Bio:

Mihaela “Mig” Lica founded Pamil Visions in 2005 where she uses her hard won journalistic, SEO and public relations skills toward helping small companies navigate the digital realm with influence and success.

You can find Mig on Twitter as @PamilVisions

Targeting Customers with Your Online Email Marketing Strategy

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Olga Ionel

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Targeting Customers with Your Online Email Marketing Strategy

If you are like most that have a business online, or at least a site for your business, you know just how important online marketing is going to be. Marketing on the web might have some similarities to traditional marketing, but there are enough differences that it takes a new approach. In addition to marketing through content, advertisements, and word of mouth, one of the best options for a business owner today is going to be email marketing.

Using email for online marketing has been around since the advent of email, and it can still be quite effective. However, you have to be careful if you are going to use it, and you have to make sure that do the marketing the right way. Otherwise, you risk alienating and angering the very audience that you are trying to reach.

Why is Email Marketing a Good Idea?

When a customer visits a website, there is no guarantee that he or she is going to buy anything or come back to read more content. Rather than having only one shot with a customer, you should offer an email newsletter signup that is going to let you keep in contact with those customers. This will provide you with the email address that you can keep in your database, and you will be able to provide the subscribers with more content that they can use.

You do not have to offer a newsletter, but it can be a great online marketing tool. People want to feel as though they are getting something when they provide their email address, and this is a good option.

Getting Visitors to Provide Email Addresses

Visitors do not often part with their email addresses. They know all the tricks in the online marketing book by now. They fear that you will sell their email address or that you will send them spam. You have to be very upfront about what you are going to do with the email and what you are going to be emailing to those who provide their email address.

Having a trustworthy site is the first step. You have to have a site with a good reputation, and that has content that the reader finds useful or interesting on the first visit. This is going to make them more likely to provide you with an email address. If you do offer a newsletter, you need to make sure that it is just as valuable as your site. Those who sell products might want to get provide some coupons or discounts in the newsletter, thus adding even more value to it. Perhaps offer an extra 5% off for getting others to sign up for the newsletter.

You can have an opt-in form on your site. It should be easy to integrate a form for email signups with many of the premium wordpress themes available today. If you can’t find a plugin or feature that can accomplish this with the theme, you can always have someone build the form for you. Make sure that you have the form on more than just one location on your site too. While you don’t want to inundate them with the form, you should have it on your homepage, about us page and other key locations on your site. If you sell products, have a form on the checkout page as well.

Using email addresses certainly isn’t the only type of online marketing that you are going to do, but it can be quite helpful. When it comes to online marketing strategies, you want to do everything possible to give your business the best advantages.

What success have you had with using customer email addresses to connect with them?

Author’s Bio:
Olga Ionel is a creative writer at ThemeFuse.com. She is passionate by WordPress, SEO and Blogging. Don’t forget to check out stunning Premium themes for wordpress. (warning: no boring stuff)

Thank you, Olga. Too many of us are overlooking the opportunity that email marketing offers our online business.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Write Powerful Content that Powerfully Connects

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How to blog series

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Chris Nosal

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How To Write Powerful Content

Being able to connect with your customers is one of the most important skills you could possibly learn in both blogging and in business, because your ability to connect with your customers is what translates into dollars, keeps your business running, and adds value to your customers’ lives.

In this blog post I want to detail some simple and easy but very powerful tricks that you can use to really connect with your readers and customers.

How to Really Connect with Readers

Basically, I’m going to show you some psychological “hacks” that you can use to capture people’s attention, and literally captivate them with every word you write (or say).

If you’ve ever watched Steve Jobs give a presentation (such as his presentation on the iPhone in 2007), you’ll notice he does one thing that 99% of speakers don’t:

He does’t start by focusing on how powerful the phone is, how fast the processor is, or how it’s different from all the other phones.

He starts by talking about how it is something revolutionary that is going to completely transform and revolutionize the way we (as humans) live our lives forever, and the incredible changes that are going to take place, for the first time in history, in our lives as a result of this groundbreaking discovery.

Now, which is more exciting:

A new electronic phone … or something that is going to change the way every person on the planet lives their lives forever for the first time in history?

Can you guess why people were lining up by the millions to get the iPhone yet, while no other company has ever had such a response to their products?

This same formula worked time and time again for the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad; with people obsessively lining up by the millions sitting out in the cold for 14+ hours just to get their hands on one.

Which leads me to my next question:

What did Steve Jobs do here that was so powerful?

Going back to the iPhone example, Steve knew that people didn’t want just a phone; they wanted a story to emotionally connect with their phone.

The idea was that by buying an iPhone, you’d be among the first to experience something revolutionary and new that is going to transform your life like never before.

You weren’t just buying a piece of plastic that could make calls and manage your daily activities — you were buying something that was going to change your life, and change the world, and you were part of a revolution that was changing the world.

This is so powerful because, on a mental level, humans don’t connect with logic.

We want to FEEL like we’re a part of something; like what we’re doing has a purpose.

How to Write Powerful Content that Powerfully Connects

So, now that we’ve covered the basics, how do you personally apply this information (and this formula) to write blog posts that really pull your readers in, and literally compel them to read everything you write?

While there’s a lot of information on this topic, I’m going to break down the main points here in to a very simple formula that you can instantly use to skyrocket your results in just two simple steps — and here they are:

Use Visuals

If I use vague, bland, abstract words like communication, potential, integrity, or commitment, how do you feel? Now, how do you feel when I use words like ice cream sundae, swimming pool, or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?

Did you notice what I did there?

The second list of words creates a FEELING, and activates your imagination through mental pictures already associated with those words. Use imagery like that and you’ll move just talking to communication where your reader is actively involved and participating in what you say.

Create A Story

If I mention a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, you’ll notice you get a picture of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in your head, as well as the emotional experience that goes along with the image; I’ve just completely gotten your focus on what I’m talking about, and I’ve captured your attention using your emotions.

Now, let’s make this ten times more powerful by adding a story to this image

If I say, “I was sitting at home after a long day of driving, and as I sat at my kitchen table I wrapped my hands around the wrapper of a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup. As I slid the wrapper open, and slowly slid the chocolate out, I began to put it in my mouth, and then proceeded to softly chew on it as the peanut butter flavor soaked up in my mouth.”

Now how does that compare to just say or writing, “I ate food yesterday”?

With the second option, you’re just reading text on a page.

But the first example takes a vague piece of text and brings it to life by getting your emotions and your imagination involved, and holds your attention and focus on exactly what I’m talking about.

Even more powerfully, what I did in the first example actually built an emotional connection with the reader.

The Keys To A Powerful Blog Post

The most important thing about your writing is that it captures people’s attention on an emotional level, and that your writing really connects with them at a one-on-one level. Do this by connecting a clear and specific mental image with a story that emotional involves your audience.

The best part is that it takes practically no effort to make these simple but very powerful changes as you’re writing. And the more you apply these techniques to your writing, the better you’ll to become at communicating and connecting with people.

What sort of content powerfully connects with you?

Author’s Bio:
Chris Nosal writes about social skills and communication mastery at popularitysecrets.com. He is the author of Popularity Secrets, and also does personal coaching and consulting.

What Makes a Link-Worthy Blog?

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Tara Hornor

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What Does Link-Worthy Mean?

When creating a blog, it is essential for the content on the blog to be link-worthy. What does link-worthy even mean? It’s a standard you should consider for every single post — link-worthy means that your content is good enough that site visitors would want to bookmark your page, share with friends, or use as a reference piece on their own blog. It means that your blog will build a great amount of backlinks, and thereby increase its visibility online. When people link to you, your site receives many benefits from added social credibility to search engine boosts and more.

To ensure that your blog and its content are linkable, focus on writing about topics that truly interest you as well as your visitors. Some people dive right in to creating a blog without focus and then end up short of the success they hoped for because they were not fully dedicated to a specific topic or niche.

Key to Link-Worthiness: Passion

Starting with a topic you’re passionate about will help you to keep your blog up-to-date with quality content — content to which others will create backlinks. If you love a topic or know a whole lot more information than other people know, use that to your benefit and write about the topics you love and know best. In doing so, you are teaching what you know and sharing your passion about it. Offer content that is informative and useful that connects your passion to others, and people will be linking to you.

So make sure you love what you write about first and foremost. This will drive the rest of the content generation and energy behind your blog. When you’re excited about a topic, you’ll go the extra mile to make the post amazing.

Always before you hit “Publish,” ask yourself, “Is this the kind of resource that I would want to revisit?” If not, what’s missing? What extra bit of information would take it over the top? Now go add it to your post!

Setting Your Blog Up for Success

When your blog is set up in a professional manner, you are more likely to have success. The following is a list of a few aspects you need to consider:

  • Choose a domain name for your blog that is professional, catchy, and easy to remember.
  • Choose a blog layout or template that matches up with the content and is visually appealing.
  • Offer only original content on your blog. nIf you quote someone be sure to link to their work.
  • Write with a friendly and conversational vioce because that is what people tend to look for.

Promoting Your Link-Worthy Blog

Other people are the most important part of helping you build a blog that is linkable. Many well-established blogs already have strong readership. Owners of these popular blogs know to look around to see what other bloggers have been saying about them. If you are write about them and link to their work, you can easily get noticed by these bloggers and sometimes in return, they may link to you. This means more success for you because links from established bloggers often carry more google juice which can raise your visibility and help you to become more established too.

Guest blogging is also an ideal way of building a link-worthy blog. As a blogger, you can offer to guest blog on other well-established blogs and instead of being paid, you can ask that the blogger link to you. That link back will ultimately help you establish credibility with search engines and increase traffic to your blog. With more traffic, you will find people who are following your blog on a daily basis because they are so interested in what you have to say.

So how do you make sure that your blogs are link-worthy?
Do you have a specific set of ideal pieces of content you always try to provide?

Author’s Bio:
Tara Hornor writes about marketing, advertising, branding, web and graphic design, and desktop publishing for PrintPlace.com a company that offers online printing for print marketing media. Find her on Twitter as @TaraHornor .