After a couple of months of spending more time in FaceBook deleting junk messages (invites to classes and groups and time-wasting applications that let me send ice cream to friends) than building relationships , I think I’ve finally figured out one way to make it more fun and less work.

I’ve seen folks adding updates to FaceBook via Twitter, so I thought I’d try it. I didn’t really get it at first. But since Twitter made some changes Read the rest of this post »

You’ve put a lot of investment into your website and marketing to drive traffic. Now you need to turn those visitors into subscribers – it’s the only way you are going to make money from your online efforts!

The secret? Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. Here are five steps to help you do just that.

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“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.” True. But you can surely increase your chances if that horse is thirsty in the first place!

You want your website visitors to be thirsty, too. Getting lots of traffic isn’t the point; you need traffic that is potentially interested in what you have to offer, and hence willing to subscribe. In online marketing, building a responsive list is how you are going to make money. It’s also the most time-intensive task, but extra effort spent on this step will also pay off handsomely. Read the rest of this post »

I just got my THIRD full of hype canned phone call from a well-known internet marketing guru!  I recently spoke on a Team call for this (products class I’m in) of how I really despise recorded phone call messages from the mega stars in my field.  I know Internet Marketing isn’t the only way.

But, not being really there and hawking a new program?  I don’t feel unique, special or all warm & fuzzy and I’m very likely to not hang on to even listen to the tinny well-crafted marketing hype!

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Online Video is here to stay, so it’s time for you to join the party! Fortunately, with the proliferation of free video hosting sites like YouTube, Blip.tv, iFilm and Veoh, today anyone with a camcorder and an Internet connection can produce a video and share it with the world. Best of all, you don’t need to be Martin Scorsese to create a video for the web! Online Video viewers are very forgiving…

Producing video for the Web can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Some benefits include:

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MarketingSherpa published a wonderful list of seven free (and one paid) search engine optimization tools, most of them user-friendly and valuable for the solo entrepreneur as well as small businesses! I love this list not just because it’s a great collection of tools, but because of the ideas they share for HOW to use the tools, too. For instance I’ve had SEOQuake for months and didn’t know you could use it to sort your search results!

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Want to get the name and website of your woman small business in front of thousands of potential clients AND honor the gift of gratitude? Easy…give enthusiastic, honest, “results-based” testimonials.

At first, I had no idea this strategy could be as powerful as it is. It wasn’t until I started hearing how new clients enrolled in my success coaching programs “found me” via testimonials I had on other woman small business owners’ websites that I realized the potential testimonials have to create new leads.

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Creating a profitable business online is a process, just like creating any other business. Regardless of what it is that you’re offering, your cash flow is based on your sales. Once you know and implement the online business sales cycle (which anyone can follow), you’ll be able to create consistent cash flow for your business, too.

Here are the six basic steps in the online business sales cycle:

Step 1. Choose Your Prospects

“Prospects” is basically business-speak for potential clients and/or customers. So, who is the person who is ideally suited for your product, program or service? Who’s your ideal client or customer? Who makes up your target market? Is it parents, health professionals, copywriters, dancers, artists, entrepreneurs, boat owners?

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Are there ezines that you receive that you just can’t wait to read? I know I have 3 or 4 that I read as soon as they hit my inbox, and others that I print and put in my “reading box” next to my desk.

What do you think makes me want to read those few right away?

It’s the personal connection I feel to the author, even if I don’t know that person (some I’ve met, some I haven’t yet). Besides the valuable content I get each time I read their newsletter, I am most interested in finding out what’s happening with them, personally and professionally.

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Packaging your knowledge, skills and methods and giving it away for free is a wonderful way to market your business. So how do you give it away effectively and profitably?

1. Use multiple channels and formats. For instance, give away information on your blog, in articles posted on other sites, in free giveaway ebooks, in audio teleclasses and excerpts.
2. Get something in return when possible. Encourage blog visitors to sign up for blog updates via email. Put a subscription box to your newsletter on every page of your website (particularly where you post your newsletters, etc.) For bigger “chunks” of information like ebooks and audios, require that they sign up for your newsletter to get these freebies. In ebooks, make a link to your website prominent at the bottom of each page.

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