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Setting Goals for Your Business Website

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goal-postsThis is the question you should be asking yourself every day:

How effective is your website at achieving the goals you have for your business?

If you do not know the answer, it may be because you have not set your goals properly. Do you know what the purpose of your site is? What are the benefits for you and your business?

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Lets take a look at these questions, and potential answers.

  • Your website should position you as an expert in your field. Perception and reputation are everything to your potential customers and clients. Having a website that effectively conveys that expertise to your visitors improves your visiblity in the marketspace, your credibility as a business-person, and begins to build trust in your products/services.
  • Your website is a starting-point for the identity of your brand. It is a starting point because it is impossible to control all aspects of your brand identity anymore. Your customers have blogs, forums, and Twitter now – where they can and will discuss your product’s price and quality, your customer service interactions, even your advertising strategies.
  • Your website expands your marketspace beyond yesterday’s geographical boundaries. Depending on the products and services that you offer (shipping may be a consideration) you can now offer the services of your business to a global audience, not just the people within a few minutes’ drive.
  • Your website is a tool for expanding your list of potential clients. Due to the expanded nature of the marketspace and the rapidly growing number of people who do their research online before making a purchase. Having an e-mail capture/site registration application on your site can help you to build a list of self-selected potential customers.
  • Your website is a venue for providing value to your market before you ever make a sale. E-books, white papers, product reviews, service explanations – all of these marketing tools can be made available throught your site. For free, or for the price of an e-mail registration. When your visitors see your site (and your business) as value-added then doing business with you is an opportunity, not a risk.

Does your website do these things? If not, do you need help putting them in place? Let us know how we can help.

The Possibilities at SOBCon 2009

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This is a guest post from one of our attendees, Gail Lynne Goodwin, Ambassador of Inspiration:

Gail Goodwin
Gail Goodwin

Just a few short months ago, my husband and I had a visioning session together where we dreamed BIG dreams without limitation. We asked ourselves one simple question- “What would I do if I knew I could do anything, and knew that I couldn’t fail?”

That one simple question has opened doors and knocked down walls. Imaginary walls that only we saw- until we eliminated them with an easy change of our thoughts. What if there were no barriers? If you knew you were going to be successful, what would you choose to do? What’s the biggest contribution you could make?

In just 3 weeks we’ll be together at SOBCon09. In the meantime, I invite you to answer that question for yourself. What would you do if you could do anything and you knew that you couldn’t fail? Anything!

At SOBCon, we have the opportunity to get together with mentors and peers to brainstorm ideas, look at the possibilities and make life-enhancing decisions. I believe now is the perfect time to really look at what we choose in the world, rather than what has shown up by default.

Many of the masses lead as Thoreau said, “quiet lives of desperation”. As entrepreneurs, I’d like to think that our lives are more intentional and that we are all following our dream. Even so, when my husband and I asked ourselves this question, things expanded and our lives grew exponentially. Our Global Hug Tour launching this fall came from this exercise.

But hold onto your hat, for when you ask this simple question, your world will shift. Don’t believe me? Just try it.

When you ask this question out loud with another person you’ll be surprised at the result. You might have to remind each other- there are no limitations- you can’t fail.

Share your dreams. Vision together the “what if’s” of life. Pretend that you are ten years old and have that amazing, unlimited imagination where you still believe in unlimited possibility.

I don’t believe it’s possible to sincerely and intently ask this question without all kinds of possibilities coming up for you. It might be scary, but just remember the guidelines of the exercise. You can have anything. You can do anything. You can be anything. Anything! No limits. No restrictions. Just wide open space to fill to your heart’s content. How cool is that?!

The Universe will never give you a dream without the ability to make it happen. Therefore, if you have the dream, you already have the resources to make it happen- even if you may not be able to see it just yet.

This is so much easier than you think. You get to say “WHAT” and the Universe gets to say “HOW”. The most important step is in asking the question, “What would I do if I knew I could do anything, and knew that I couldn’t fail?” and all else flows from that.

Today, take the first step. Act and the Universe will follow. Take one baby step closer to your dream and watch what happens. It’s like the floodgates of the heavens open up and shower blessings down upon you just for taking action. One baby step turns into another until you’re jogging through life with a huge smile on your face, living your dream. Woohoo!

Above all, don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams. Your dreams are yours and yours alone. No one else can bring forth the dream or the light inside of you, so go ahead, and let it shine! The world needs your dream so feel the fear and do it anyway!

Please bring your dream to SOBCon and share it with me. I’m looking forward to not only meeting you, but supporting you to help make your dream your reality.

With gratitude and hugs,

Gail

The ROI of Relationships: David Bullock Talks with Jay Deragon

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

The ROI of Relationships — David Bullock with Guest Jay Deragon

Until they heard him speak at SOBCon08, people thought David Bullock was the SEO guy I brought in to teach them about analytics. He changed their minds and their hearts by showing that analytics is about relationships with people. Listen in to what he’s doing now.

David will be back at SOBCon09. Can’t wait to see him there!

David Bullock explains the analytics and intelligence of social media at DavidBullock.com and now at Social Media Connection.com His Twitter name is: @DavidBullock

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Experience the ROI of Relationships

More Stars to Shine at SOBCon09!!

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I’m over the top excited about SOBCon09!

SOBCon09

32 Days Away!

 Can’t wait to see you again!

Look Who Else Is Bringing Their Brains to SOBCon09!!

We’ve added a keynote panel on Saturday. Wow!

 
 

and the spectacular news that
 
 
Rajesh Setty will launch
his book "Upbeat Now!" at SOBCon09!!
 
 

AND even more is happening behind the scenes. 
I’m SOBCon serious about that.  

 
 

Be There Before the Sale

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

Be There Before the Sale
by Chris Brogan

Greg Cangialosi is one of the very best salesmen I know. He hasn’t sold the biggest dollar product ever (I think that would be David Bullock). He doesn’t sell thousands of accounts a day. Instead, he gets the title from me because he taught me a powerful sales technique, so powerful that Julien Smith and I wrote about him in our upcoming book, Trust Agents. He taught us to be there before the sale.

Greg was one of the very first confirmed sponsors of PodCamp, long before anyone knew that we’d have an international success story on our hands. When we called Greg, we had never run an event, didn’t really know what sponsors wanted, and had no idea how to communicate professionally about the give-and-take that is event sponsorship. Greg was kind, friendly, and supported our event. He didn’t ask for anything unreasonable in return.

Since that point, I’ve run into Greg at several events. He uses another trust agent move, be one of us, quite often as well, by hanging out at our events, by creating content and contributing to our space. He’s not some company owner; he’s a guy who spends time with us, has drinks with us, and who we know and care about.

The ROI of Relationships

Greg also gets the sales. I am personally a customer. I bought another account for my company. PodCamp co-founder Christopher S. Penn is a customer, and has sold the service to his company as well. Both of us refer Blue Sky Factory to anyone asking about email marketing. We love the service, and it’s cost-effective and all that, but most important to us, we have a relationship with Greg, and his service is the product of record for us with regards to email marketing.

Given Chris’s audience, my audience, the people who will buy Trust Agents, and all the time between now and the end of his business, Greg gets free, passionate advertising all the time from a growing legion of fans. For the price of a few beers here and there, Greg has an army.

If that’s not a return on investment, I don’t know what is.

Chris Brogan blogs at [chrisbrogan.com]. He is president of New Marketing Labs.
His twitter name is: @chrisbrogan

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Hear Chris Brogan speak in person!

Sponsor Love: Buzz Corps and Allstate Join the SOBCon Sponsor List!!

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Sponsor Love Is Contagious

At SOBCon09 What fun to announce this! SOBCon09 has two new sponsors!!

My relationship with Buzz Corps started with track I managed for BlogWorld Expo. I asked Geoff Nelson if he would speak on a panel about the sponsoring deals Buzz Corp makes For, By, and With the community of Blogger. One of the first things he said to me was that he and his partner Chris Aarons are champions for bloggers because they believe they learn most of what they know from blogs. We got to know each other at Gnomedex and through the months after — Geoff, Chris, and Nick, their third partner talked to introduce our event. I’m thrilled Geoff and Chris will be joining us at SOBCon.
Their contribution will provide

  • funding to help the conference — allowing us to better serve participants
  • visibility and new conversations for Buzz Corps
  • Geoff’s participation — a chance for participants to find out how Buzz Corps works with bloggers and perhaps how Buzz Corp might work with them.
  • A new kind of expertise brought to the SOBCon table.

Kudos to Beth Rosen who helped connect me back with Marcia Hansen, a woman I sat next to at BlogWell. Marcia and I got a chance to extend our relationship recently and now Allstate is sponsoring SOBCon. I’m delighted that Marcia will be fully participating in our event including

  • funding to help the conference — allowing us to better serve participants
  • visibility for Allstate
  • Marcia’s participation — a chance for participants to find out how Allstate is using social media.
  • The Allstate entry in the “Show the Sponsors Challenge”

Because They Invested in Us We Can Invest MORE in YOU!

Thank you to our new Sponors!!

Thank you also everyone who took the Blog It Earn It!! Discount

If you don’t have your promo code, please leave a link to your post below (with your email in the form) and I’ll make sure that you get it.

We’re sincerely grateful to everyone who makes this such an incredible event!!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

That many incredible people make it incredible!!