Successful Blog

Turn Procrastination into Business Building Ideas

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You Know You’re Procrastinating When . . .

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. . . cleaning the refrigerator takes on a new and miraculous sense of urgency with a heavenly glow.

Go ahead give in and do it, but don’t lose to procrastination. Turn that refrigerator chore into an exploration for ideas. Here are three things you might think about.

  • What is your customer experience of the products that you are tossing out? Can you use those experiences to seed an article for your blog?
  • Refrigerators are filled with products. How do the companies who make those products promote them? Can you rethink any of their ideas into ways to promote your business or your blog?
  • Is there a brand in there you are attached to? What do you value about that brand? Can you put those thoughts and feelings into words? How can you use that brand value you feel to strengthen your personal brand and the experience people have when they meet you?

Procrastination just became an idea session, and on top of that you’ve cleaned your refrigerator! That’s productivity where you could have been doing what I’ve done — standing in front of an open refrigerator door thinking about how the light goes on and off.

Bet you can think of more ideas to find inside of that Big Box. How about sharing some with us?

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

How To Create One Way Inbound Backlinks

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Successfully Working From a Home-based Office

Backlinks are those links which directs users towards your website or blog. Backlink is an important term with respect to SEO; it effectively increases the creditability of your website. Search engines tend to look for these backlinks to rank the websites in their page. But the backlinks should be from the niche where your website resides. Effectively backlinks is considered a tool to increase the page rank of a website.

How To Create One Way Inbound Backlinks

There are methods to create inbound backlinks of your website:

1. Creating a blog is one of simplest way to generate backlinks for your website. A blog is a dynamic website where the content keeps on changing. A professional blog can help you attract traffic as well. Post quality and researched content about your services or products to glue in your readers. This will also compel others bloggers to link to it and you can benefit with the quality backlinks.

2. Participating in forums in your niche can help you in gathering backlinks. Forum participating exposes your website to a different set of audiences. Readers from these forums will increase the bounce back rate of your website too. While registering for different forums do link your website as you submit the solutions for different queries. Register in multiple forums and participate in them regularly. You can even submit your articles to different web directories. If your article gets selected, web directories are a fast means to attract the backlinks.

3. Guest posting is an important step in gathering quality backlinks for your site. There are number of websites and blog which exchange one or two backlinks in exchange of a guest post. When guest posting the articles, target those websites which rank higher in your niche. Higher ranked websites will help you in bringing not only traffic but will expose your brand as well.

4. Creating free products or services can help you to create a buzz in your niche while driving backlinks as well. Creating professional videos can be another method. Upload a quality video on you tube and let the users share them on their websites. While uploading videos be certain that they are of professional quality, this will increase the number of backlinks.

5. Social media submissions can help in gathering the inbound backlinks. Social platforms such as Digg and Google+ are few examples of such media. If you mange to reach the front page of Digg, you might be getting heavy backlinks and traffic in quick time. Start commenting on various articles, acknowledge the shouts of various people and submit unique and catchy articles on the community. Making to the first page of Digg will require hard work and most importantly smart work.

While looking for inbound backlinks concentrate on the quality and not the quantity of the links. A 100 low quality backlink would be equivalent to 5-6 high quality backlinks. Be aware of the low quality websites as links from these sites will work as a negative factor. Apart from these tips, commenting on other websites and blog will increase the number of backlinks as well.

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Author’s Bio:
Brianne is a freelance writer who often writes about acronym maker and ipad docking station. She also has written a number of articles on technology and social media. You can find her on Twitter @Brianne.

Thank you, Brianne!

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

3 Email Subject Lines Lies that Lose My Business

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Give Me a Thief Before a Liar

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I don’t like liars.

My mother used to say,

Give me a thief before a liar, because then I’ll know what he took.

I don’t like people who say things to purposefully mislead my thinking.
If you want me to read what you send me, then do the honest work that will get my attention.

Don’t lie to me.
It will backfire every time.

3 Email Subject Lines Lies that Lose My Business

Sometimes I wonder who’s teaching the folks who write email subject lines that if they trick us into opening the email, that we’ll be so excited about what’s inside we’ll forget that the subject line was a lie. Here are three lies that come in subject lines, that had the emails had other subject lines I might have considered what was offered.

A Special Offer for Only Our Best Customers

One big company likes to use this one. The first time it came to me. I thought I might find something special, but I clicked through to find an ordinary sale — a sale with prices available to anyone who visited their site. I didn’t feel so special. It made me feel like they thought I was stupid. No sale!!

A Partnership Opportunity

They send an email saying if we’re interested in a partnership, we should respond. Then. they’ll send details. Even the smallest research reveals that what they want is someone to write blog posts for $5.00/each. That’s less of a partnership than working a register in the food service industry.

And then my favorite …

Following Up

To received an email with this subject line, from someone who’s never contacted me is an outright lie. Not only will I not do business with the person who sent it, but I’ve on occasion been moved to call her to tell her why.

A lie might get me to open your email, but it won’t get my business.
It will make you unforgettable as someone I don’t want to do business with.
It’s clever in the same way as shooting yourself in the foot is.

Do you know other email subject line lies?

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

Construct Your Post or Presentation Like a Three-Course Meal

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How to blog series

The Key is Know What You Want to Say

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Recently someone told me that he’s been trying to write a a blog post for almost a week now and every time he tired he ended deleting it.

“Everything I write sounds like a valley girl talking to alien first grader. Nothing makes sense. It’s all over the place.”

“What is it that you want to say?”

He started at me and then admitted, “I don’t know.”

It’s hard to write clearly if you don’t know what you want to say.

Try constructing an idea like a three-course meal.

Construct Your Post or Presentation Like a Three-Course Meal

If you think of an article or a presentation as a fine meal, the middle is the main course. That’s where the fine dining is. It’s the centerpiece. The entree takes the longest time and the most care. The executive chef is the one who plans it and prepares it. Put your best effort there–where it counts.

So decide what you’ll be serving as the key part of the meal first thing.

  • Is it something you’ve just learned, observed, or read about that’s set you thinking?
  • Is it a pattern of behavior that keeps appearing that you want highlight and encourage or discourage?
  • Could it be your view about an event you’re about to be attending?
  • Have noticed something in another industry that seems to apply to the one that you work in?
  • Have you found a solution to a common problem or a problem with a commonly promoted solution?

Gather the thoughts and proofs that will make the message of your post or presentation delicious to take in. Once you’ve got that underway, you can choose the appetizer and the dessert.

Maybe you’ll whet the audience’s appetite with a story that brings them to the problem you’re solving or a question that you’ll answer fully in a very satisfying ending. Take the time to see how the beginning and end compliment each other to tie all together.

In this manner …

  • Course 1: Give readers a taste of your topic. This gives you a chance to capture their attention and focus their minds on your ideas. You can draw them in and prepare them for what you are about to say. By starting in the middle you already know what that is. So writing this part is much easier.
  • Course 2: Serve up your ideas with facts and details to support them. By starting in the middle, you can spend your time polishing the finer points and placing your brand in the best light for readers to discover its value on their own.
  • Course 3: Leave your audience satisfied with tidbits of why your ideas are important to them or give them reason to reflect back on what you said. Show that you fulfilled your promise. Let your audience savor the fact that your article was a service to them, and they’ll understand why coming back to see you is a good idea.

There’s added value in presenting your information as a three-course article. Starting in the middle establishes a clear structure that’s easy to follow. It frees your audience to concentrate on the information that reveals your story and shows your expertise.

How do you structure your blog posts and your presentations?

Be irresistible.

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

5 Things to Do BEFORE You Launch Your Business

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Congratulations! You’re ready to take the plunge, ditch the J-O-B, and pursue your dream of launching your own business. Chances are, you’ve spent a long time, perhaps even years, to reach this decision and set the wheels in motion. Before you propel down the path of entrepreneurship, consider these tips:

1. Save some money.

You’re going to need a chunk of change to invest in a variety of necessities. The costs you’ll face will vary based on the nature of your business but some typical costs most entrepreneurs face are advertising, insurance, rent, equipment, licenses, and legal fees. You should make a list of all the items (and prices) of what you think you’ll need. Undoubtedly other expenses will crop up. And if you are the main wage earner in your household, you’ll need cash set aside for living expenses for approximately 3-6 months. If you don’t have enough capital, you may want to consider applying for a business loan with a modest interest rate.

2. Decide on your niche and get to know your target market.

It can be tempting to grab any work that comes your way in the quest for new clients and the fact that the bills need to be paid. But most business owners claim as soon as they focused their niche, success followed. It’s important to find out who your current customers are, and why they buy your product or service. The best way to decide on who these people are is to make a list of the benefits that your product or service provides. Once you have this list you need to make a list of people who have problems that your benefit solves. Clients want to work with an “expert” and when you specialize, you position yourself as an expert. Chances are, your niche may change as your business evolves, but commit to at least one year. Remember to F.O.C.U.S.: Follow One Course Until Successful.

3. Create your marketing materials.

A website, logo, and business cards are the three essentials you need when launching your business. You don’t need to drop a bundle on a fancy website design when you’re first starting out. Forego the bells and whistles for a clean, error-free, navigable website. A company like Free Logo Services, can give you logo design ideas or help you create a look that’s professional and distinctive. Use this design to create a sharp business card can make you stand out when people are considering your business. Having a solid design on the card is crucial but you can’t forgo a great 2-line description on what your company does.

4. Get informed.

Knowledge is power: If you don’t have a degree or first-hand experience in your industry, don’t despair. Take online courses, download e-books, follow blogs, sign up for (and read) e-newsletters, join online groups, and educate yourself. There are many resources that small business have access too for free. The Small Business Administration offer many services for free to small business owners! Reaching out to your local office will get you access to free counseling and advice from professionals.

5. Design a roadmap for success.

Be crystal-clear on your goal for the first year. Develop 4-6 actionable objectives for your goal and then write out measurable tasks each month that will help you accomplish your objectives. Your work plan should address the following areas; Specific and concise goal, Measurement: how will your measure whether you achieve your goal, major problems anticipated, work steps: 3 or 4 essential steps and completion dates for them. Once you have written this out follow this roadmap! Revisit it monthly to assess your progress, make adjustments, and write new tasks for the upcoming month. Having an individual to help you be accountable to your goal and objectives is tremendously helpful. If you’re a solo-preneur, find a mentor/business coach/trusted friend to bounce ideas off of and provide mutual support.

You feel READY. Now you’re SET with these five tips. Before you GO, don’t forget about shifting your attitude. Becoming a business owner is vastly different from the life of an employee. You’ll gain autonomy over your schedule and freedom to make all the decisions…and there’s no one to blame but yourself when something goes wrong. Anticipate some setbacks, but believe you will succeed. Pour on the hard work with a mega-dose of patience, and.. Ready, set, go!

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Author’s Bio:
Dylan Mazeika is an online writer with a background in marketing and small business. He enjoys writing about the latest business and design trends, and assisting small business owners with logo design. Find him on twitter @dylan_mazeika

Thank you, Dylan!

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

How Long Term Thinking Makes You a More Accomplished Internet Marketer

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Successfully Working From a Home-based Office

One trait that hurts human beings more than anything else is impatience, the impulsiveness, the haste to get where we want in a flash and that too without moving a muscle?

How funny it’d be to see someone promising to get moving, only after he reaches the destination? Ironical, to say the least, and still majority of us keep doing it all the time, hoping for the destination to come our way without even starting to travel. Short-term thinking stems from this human characteristic of being impatient, because we are not ready to go the distance, we opt for the short-cuts, looking to get there quickly, but what do we get? A constant state of disgruntlement, just because we cannot put up with the “pace of nature”…

If you are one of those young ones getting into the field of Internet marketing, one virtue I’d like you to take up is thinking long terms, no matter what you are doing. From content creation to link building, and from social media to email marketing, thinking long term will help you devise strategies that will work, and save you from wasting your time and resources on goals that wouldn’t even matter after some time.

Following are some ways thinking long term will bolster your internet marketing endeavors.

You will be looking to form relationships:

Thinking long term means that you will invest time and resources on building relationships with the right guys in the cyber world, instead of wasting your time on sending spam posts to numberless websites for link exchange or getting paid links. Those tactics might bring you some garbage links resulting in a very short lived boost to your rankings, but in the longer run, it will do more harm to your website than good. On the other hand, a healthy relationship with a blogger or well-connected person can be of help in more than one ways.

Guest posting on the right blog:

Guest blogging is one of the very few ways of link building, which is still in grasp of common bloggers or website owners. If you are thinking short term, you will be missing some great opportunities on blogs which are fairly new, just because they don’t have the page rank or number of back links to boast. When you are choosing a guest blog, it is imperative to look at the potential, and not on the current standing, because you never know which blog will go on to become a considerable force in blogosphere and a most-wanted platform for guest bloggers.

Milk an opportunity before it implodes:

Internet Marketing is all about detecting the opportunity and making the most of it before it gets overdone. It’s better to take up a tactic and get on a platform when it’s fairly new, as compared to trying and taking some advantage when everybody and their grandmothers are trying to get their share of the pie.

Being proactive:

Thinking long term means that you will be proactive in your planning and implantation, instead of being reactive. If you look around, you will notice that a big majority of SEO and Internet Marketing professionals are busy doing the damage control (e.g. trying to revive the drop in rankings because of some Google update); however these drops wouldn’t even have occurred only if they were proactive.

Hardly any trend or change in algorithm is sudden in nature, it happens that we keep reading about the upcoming changes or trends but continue to ignore just because our short-term tactics seem to be working, and then our websites are throttled by one of those updates. Thinking long term will help you take the right decision at the right time, because Onlline Marketing is not about damage control, it’s about seizing opportunities before they become commonplace.

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Author’s Bio:
Natasha Mesty is an Internet Marketing expert, writing mostly on topics related to link building, guest blogging, Link Tracking and how to use link reports to evaluate your Internet Marketing campaigns.

Thank you, Natasha!

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