Successful Blog

Using Social Collaboration to Produce and Share Your Blog’s Content More Efficiently

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By Sarah Evans

Time is money, right? Wasted time is like throwing money down your kitchen sink (or anything with a deep, dark hole). When you blog for a living or as part of your professional role, you may be wasting time. How? By using outdated or inefficient workflows to brainstorm, create and share your content. Most bloggers recognize the need for a better work flow, but they fear a steep learning curve. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. I’ll tell you why.

Productivity

Have no fear, the productivity junky is here.

In full disclosure, I’m the chief evangelist at Tracky, an open social collaboration platform scaled for the enterprise and accessible enough for anyone to use. I eat, breathe and sleep this stuff. Here’s the secret: the productivity platform (yes, platform, not a tool) you select is the key to working and sharing better, not more.

First, you must acknowledge that they way you work isn’t working. It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s really, but it’s a broken process. Say, “stop!” Demand change and replace older, less effective habits.

I use Tracky to:

  • Create a shared editorial calendar for our team, including delegating tasks for various articles (see image below);
  • Work on content real-time via Google Docs that I create from within a track; and
  • Manage all tasks in my professional life, including urgent media queries, team meetings and various professional affiliations.

Tracky productivity platform screenshot

If you’re ready to make the change to an open social collaboration and productivity platform, here are a few features to look for:

  • No desktop software. Say no to software. Use a platform that is browser and app based.
  • Easy on-boarding process. All productivity platforms have a learning curve, but it shouldn’t be so complex that it deters you from using it.
  • Open. Allow for contributions even from those not using the platform. If you can’t freely and easily bring people into collaborate, there’s no sense in using the tool.
  • Custom notification settings. In order to reduce email, your platform should send regular email updates and allow you to respond on your time.
  • Real-time document editing. If you’re working on a project that has many rounds of edits and various documents, the right platform allows you to easily create or upload, comment and edit — together.
  • Public and Private. You should be able to create both public and private tasks and groups in order to work seamlessly within in one place. Once you finish your project and want to share it with the world, you can share it publicly in the platform and via social networks direct from within the platform.
  • Publishing. People become authoritative by sharing what they’re getting done. Platforms should allow for direct publishing to your blog or website and sharing via social networks.
  • Schedule meetings and reminders. A basic feature for any collaboration platform should allow you to add tasks to shared calendars.

Making the shift to a social collaboration platform will improve communication, simplify workflows, engage team members (if applicable), provide an element of fun, reduce email overload, increase real-time collaboration, decrease unnecessary meetings and connect you with your external audience. It’s a decisive business decision that can bring you into the age of collaboration and ensure that you’re competitive for the long-haul.

Author’s Bio: Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) is the chief evangelist at Tracky and owner of Sevans Strategy, a public relations and new media consultancy. She’s the author of new book, [RE]FRAME: Little Inspirations For A Larger Purpose (published by SlimBooks).

How to Live with Intensity

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By Robert D. Smith

Behind the scenes, most people who are truly successful live lives that can only be described with one word—intense.

They are intense about their work, their time, their money, and life itself. They use a different thought process than most people.

On the outside looking in, you may not always be able to notice. After all, we usually imagine successful people as these incredible individuals who just seem to have everything together and nothing at all to worry about.

Really, it’s the opposite. Successful people only appear to have it all together because of the intensity it takes to create that appearance in the minds of others.

But what exactly is that intensity, and how can we activate it in our own lives?

Intensity is:

  • Living with an extreme sense and awareness of your purpose. Successful people have a vision of which they remain intensely aware.
  • Acknowledging that you have a limited amount of time to accomplish your vision. Nobody lives forever.
  • Possessing extreme focus on two things: what’s important now and what’s next.

What most people miss, however, is that intensity is not a state of mind…it is a state of emotion.

Pursuing anything with intensity requires that you be emotionally connected to it. You must possess a fanatical commitment to follow through.

Here are a few easy things you can do on a regular basis to keep the intensity trending UP in your life:

  1. Count your days. This is something I started doing a few years ago. I remind myself of this daily, and I can’t recommend it enough. You will gain a new appreciation of what can be accomplished in a single 24-hour period. If you’re interested in figuring out your number, there’s a simple calculator on my website that will tell you.
  2. Ask yourself two questions that will keep you in constant motion: What’s important now? What’s next? If you focus on these two questions, it will be almost impossible for your intensity level to drop. They will get you up early and keep you up well into the night.
  3. Honor your family members and close friends. When you keep the people who matter most as top priorities in your life, you will constantly be reminded of a major reason to strive to do better. Seek to honor them in all that you do.

Keeping your intensity level up will not only make you more productive, it will make you more aware. Time will no longer just slip away and get wasted on the things you know are not important, in both your professional and personal life. When you’re able to focus in on only the things that truly matter, amazing things will happen.

What do you do to keep your intensity level up?

Robert was gracious enough to share a copy of his new book, “20,000 Days and Counting,” for our community! Comment below if you’d like to have the free copy; best comment as judged by me wins the book. –Rosemary

Author’s Bio: Robert D. Smith is the author of 20,000 Days and Counting and a consultant to numerous best-selling authors, speakers, and entertainers. You can find out more at TheRobertD.com.

Do Images Encourage Interaction?

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By Rob James

compelling imagesIf you own an online business and want to optimise your website, it’s important to consider the many benefits of using images to encourage interaction from users. Images can add an emotional connection to websites, and when combined with excellent layout, typography, and animation, can help to build a compelling website for your business. How do images engage users, then, and what are some of the more specific actions you can take to use images as part of your own site?

The building blocks of images on a site can range from anything from an effective logo to icons and animation, as well as images in side bars and articles – in most cases, these graphics and images serve a functional purpose – they grab the attention, and they provide a complement to the copy on your site. A basic page layout can consequently use images as sparingly as possible, and can rely on stock pictures tailored to your business, or ones that you’ve taken yourself.

Emotional Images

However, images on a site should be more than just functional – they should be able to provoke an emotional response from users in the shortest period of time. One way in which this becomes more effective comes when images are animated, or when they can be navigated like a game, and broken down to include click throughs and pop ups that produce videos – some examples of where images can become more animated can be found here. Producing interactive image maps, where information for a business is spread across a whole image with different clickable sections – a map of an office or a city with separate sections activated by clicking on different parts of the screen represent examples – can also make a site more engaging.

Chuck Longanecker has emphasised the importance of ‘emotionally intelligent interactions for encouraging conversions on sites; this involves using professionally created graphic design and high quality photographs to make a site look more like a glossy magazine lay out than a traditional web page. Longanecker cites examples from error message screens that use rich graphics and images as good examples of how even the most mundane parts of a site can be made more effective.

Remember User Experience

What this adds up to are sites that are tailored to your business, but that take the process of web design further by using HMTL5 and Flash coding to make a site rely on intuitive graphics, where drop down menus, sliding bars, and videos embedded into the site, rather than loading separately, promote a clean user experience. One good example of this in practice are sites that use full size backgrounds, and the minimum of copy, on their landing pages – fashion and car brands are particularly effective at this approach.

What can you do, then, to boost your own site? The first step to take is to either find or commission high definition images to use on your site, which can ideally be blown up to act as a full screen background – sites that take this approach look particularly great on HD tablets. Alternatively, look to a web design company that can take your existing site and rethink its graphic design – so much of what’s important now about a site is looking less and less like a simply laid out set of information, and more like an interactive puzzle that users can navigate.

Going forward, it’s also important to remember not to overload your site with different images, and to always make sure that you have the rights to use an image or graphic; Creative Commons images are available through sites like Flickr, while you can also license images from the Getty and other collections for a small amount of money. In addition, you can test out the success of new images and image layouts for your site through Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) – this involves running tests where users see different versions of the same site, and then checking to see which had the highest rate of conversions or click throughs.

Are you integrating compelling images in your site design? What’s your favorite resource?

Author’s Bio: Rob James is an online marketer who highly recommends Boxmodel mobile web development agency. Rob can be found blogging about a variety of technology related subjects, including computer hardware, mobile apps, web development, and SEO techniques.

Image: Flickr CC albdruck

Getting out of Bed on a Dark Day

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By Chris Brogan

I got diagnosed with severe clinical depression over a year ago, and for a while, I really hung to that diagnosis. It helped me frame a lot of what had been going wrong in my life. But then, I realized that I was really clinging to it. A lot too much. And so I decided that I’d try a new tack.

“YES AND” THINKING

Improv actors have a rule: you must never say no in a performance with another improv actor. If they start with, “You seem tired today,” you may not say, “No, I’m not.” You must say, “Yes, and…” and say what will keep the performance moving. I decided that with my depression, I’d adopt some “Yes, And” thinking to the process.

If it’s a dark day, and if I feel down, I don’t want to get out of bed. Bed makes for a great sanctuary when you’re depressed. But here’s what I’d tell myself: “I want to stay in bed. I’m depressed. I have severe clinical depression.” Pause. “Yes, and though I want to stay in bed, I’ve got work to do, and I really like to eat, so I’d best do some of that work. Let’s start by just getting out of the bed for a minute and see if you can walk around.”

SHAKE THE LABEL

I found something else out: once you earn a label, you really hold onto it, good or bad. If you’re labeled as the show-off, you start thinking about ways to do so. If you’re labeled the rebel, you ask, “What would a rebel do about this?” If you’re labeled as severely clinically depressed, it’s easy to say, “Well what do you expect? I’m depressed.”

But my girlfriend, Jacq, got me thinking about ways to shake the label. She said, “You’re down. You’re not feeling well for a moment. That’s okay. But let’s not let it shake the rest of the day.”

Now, realize that when you’re suffering from depression, the last thing you want is for someone to cheer you up. That’s not okay. But what I did take from her perspective was that I didn’t have to stay depressed. And just that one thought got me to really shake off the label. Now, even if I’m really feeling bad, I don’t immediately label it as “depression.” Instead, I look at what’s hurting, acknowledge it, and then try to let that hurting continue while I go about my day. I don’t tamp it down. I try to feel it.

THIS IS JUST MY RECIPE

Everyone is different with how they face their day. But in figuring out these few little details, I’ve been able to get more done. As someone working on being the SOB that Liz wants me to be, that’s how I accomplish as much as I can. I’d love to hear your own recipes for getting out of bed on a dark day.

Author’s Bio: Chris Brogan is CEO & President of Human Business Works. We help you learn to do work the way you want to do it. He’s the author of a new book, It’s Not About the Tights: An Owners Manual for Bravery. See him at SOBCon!

Revenue is the Small Business Livesaver

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By Elaine Love

The facts are set in concrete; at this point it is wet concrete or perhaps quicksand because it can change. As it stands now income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes and employee health care benefit expenses are all increasing. With these indisputable facts in mind, what is the small business owner to do?

If you are like me, you concentrate on increasing your market share and your sales volume within your current market share.

Analysis, not Paralysis Wins

Think like your customer. If you were in your customer’s business, what would you like to have? Ask yourself honestly if you are delivering that ideal product or service. If the answer is regretfully ‘no,’ then what do you need to change to make it a ‘yes?’

GM suffered a devastating bankruptcy in 2009. Just two years later, they reported a record profit. With the announcement recently of a totally redesigned and improved Corvette, they are demonstrating their commitment to improved quality going forward. Even though the Corvette represents a miniscule portion of GM sales in comparison to its truck line, it demonstrates the resurgence of quality. The Corvette is the first vehicle to be launched since the bankruptcy. The customer demanded better quality and GM is responding.

What does your customer want? What are you delivering? If there is one place to cut corners, it has been proven throughout history that it is NOT in product quality, customer service or effective marketing.

Market Growth Sectors

When you started your business, you researched what was currently available in the marketplace, what you could improve on the existing offerings and what unfilled niche remained. Go back to basics and do exactly the same research all over again.

Market research studies, interviews of your customers and intelligent observations pinpoint areas in which you can improve your current product or service and add additional products or services to fill niches. Sometimes you need to create the niche by informing them of a benefit they had not fully realized they needed.

Remember Apple’s introduction of the first iPhone? Steve Jobs presented the advantages of the iPhone before the marketplace even knew they needed those features combined.

Sales Revenue

Once the areas to improve and expand are identified, take action. Make the improvements and launch to fill the niche. Keeping capital liquid allows small business owners the ability to capitalize on marketing opportunities.

Small businesses can react very quickly to sales opportunities. An unexpected but delightful powder dump (several inches of light fluffy snowfall for the non-ski informed) is an excellent opportunity to push the word out to get to Steamboat Ski Resort quickly. Take advantage of a last second deal with the airlines to offer an incredibly low rate for Valentines, ‘take your sweetheart for a spring ski trip’ deal on airfare and lodging. Search for new marketing opportunities and capitalize immediately.

Don’™t Get Ready –“ Stay Ready

If you have your postcard campaign ready to launch, call your printer and issue instructions to print and mail the campaign. Blast the offer out to the social media network; ‘the postcard is coming. Present the postcard for an extra deep discount or special bonus.’

Create a new brochure for the newly discovered market niche using brochure design templates. Create a sales campaign to highlight the benefit your product or service offers to fill the market niche, why you are the best one to offer that benefit and a compelling reason to contact you immediately for more information. When you create an impressive marketing piece and produce it through the services of a top quality printing company (for example, check out PrintPlace.com), you are proud to present your marketing materials to your sales force and the marketplace.

Consistent Brand Recognition

Expand upon the highlights of your new brochure and create booklets as additional distribution pieces. Duplicate the elements of your brochure and booklet into your website. Providing a consistent high quality image creates brand recognition. Customers need to see a consistent company image multiple times. They see your company online, see you in social media and hold your brochure in their hand; this repeated consistent image solidifies your brand in their mind and paves the way for a buying decision.

Combining high quality printed marketing materials with your online presence captures the marketplace.

Action Steps

Keep your money liquid and be ready to pounce on marketing opportunities. The best way to mitigate increased expenses is to increase revenue. Increase revenue through delivering superior products and services which fill market niches and high quality marketing to distribute your message to the marketplace. Increasing revenue is the small business owner’s lifesaver.

What is your strategy for growing revenue this year?

Author’s Bio: At home in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Elaine Love writes about small business and the mindset for success so essential for an entrepreneur. She is the author of Emotional Ice Water. Find her on Twitter @elainelove44 or Elaine4Success.com

You Get What You Pay For

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Running a small business brings with lots of excitement, hard work, and even a little head scratching at times.

As anyone who has ever run a company knows, each day pretty much brings with it a new set of challenges, circumstances, and results. For those who seize the moment, the rewards can be endless.

So, what kind of business owner are you when it comes to money? When referring to money, it means paying your employees.

For many business owners, these last few years of a challenging economy have meant that worker salaries have either been frozen or even reduced. In many cases, new employees coming into companies are seeing offers that they would typically turn down, yet a struggling economy means many are taking jobs at lower salaries.

In other instances, some employees are seeing small increases in their current pay or job offers from a year or two ago, but it typically depends on the industry, the conditions that each specific employer is dealing with, and how much competition there is for each position.

Being a small business owner, are you increasing, decreasing, or keeping your respective employee salaries about the same from last year at this time? As the well-known saying goes, you typically do get what you pay for.

For example, take a look at the field of jobs that encompasses marketing, social media, content writing and other related positions.

If you go on Craigslist or some other sites that post jobs, it is not uncommon to see marketing, social media, and content writing positions (with experience) starting for as little as $10 an hour. While that figure may sound good to someone living at home with their parents, the same someone who has little college and/or related experience, someone else will balk at such an amount.

 

Avoid the Revolving Door of Employees

If you want to avoid a revolving door of workers in and out of your office, increase your salary offers so that someone has incentive to stay with your company more than just a few months, that is until something better comes along.

Secondly, you may want to consider outsourcing some of the work to contractors and/or consultant, those individuals with experience in the field, yet who are looking to work outside an office setting.

Should you choose that route, you avoid things like medical benefits, 401k plans, and having to manage one more person in the office. With that being said, make sure you get someone who is disciplined and organized enough to work on their own.

Lastly, offering salaries that barely allow someone to put food on their table and keep a roof over their heads opens you up to potential negative publicity.

In today’s social media age, it isn’t uncommon for word to spread quickly that your company is not a good one to work for, especially given that you are paying so little and asking for so much.

So, how do you as a small business owner go about setting your worker salaries? Have you gotten positive or negative feedback from applicants in recent years?

Would love to hear your thoughts….

Photo credit: ehow.com

About the Author: With 23 years of experience as a writer, Dave Thomas covers a wide array of financial topics, including payroll outsourcing.