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Internet Marketing Is Everywhere

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What’s Marketing Without Customer Reviews?

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The Biggest Event of My Career: July 21st, 8PM

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Marketing Tip: Go the Extra Mile

It never ceases to amaze me how a customer’s experience is often less than ideal. You hear stories all the time about rude customer service agents or front line employees checking people through the register while simultaneously talking on their cell phones… HELLO!!!

Today’s quick marketing tip is about going the extra mile. As a Napolean Hill follower and someone who has benefited tremendously from understanding where to focus my energy, it’s always on going the extra mile. The good news is that the concept, as simply as it may be, carry’s great value.

I recently had a very good experience with this when visiting a local retailer. I asked someone if they had any more items of a particular kind in the back of the store. After waiting a few minutes, the clerk came back and said ‘no’. But she didn’t stop there. She said, “let me call another store to see if they have any in stock.” After calling the store and discovering that they were out of stock as well, she called a competitor to see if they had the item – which they did.

She was focused on making me happy. And because she went the extra mile, I will be back to her store many times over. The lesson to be learned here is to treat each and every customer with dignity and respect. And, most importantly, to go the extra mile. This pays dividends time and again.
When you are putting together your marketing program, work diligently to ask the question, “how can I go the extra mile?” Collaborate with people on your team, your customer service group, and even your customers. By baking additional value into the marketing and purchase process, you’ll build everlasting loyalty among your customers!

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Internet Marketing For Free: Are You Kidding Me?

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Where Marketing Goes Wrong

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Referral Marketing Can Push You Over

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Marketing In a Recovering Economy

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PPC Made Simple: Book Number 2

A couple of years ago I wrote my first book, SEO Made Simple. For those of you who read the book and have followed me via this blog know that the book was developed for those who wanted practical advice for achieving number one rankings for their Web sites or blogs.

For more free marketing advice, visit the marketing experts at http://www.MarketingScoop.com.

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9 Proven Tips For Creating An Extraordinarily Successful Blog [Lady Gaga Edition]

A Guest Post by Karol Gajda from Ridiculously Extraordinary.

I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m a Lady Gaga fan.

I didn’t really know who she was until about 6 months ago. I knew the name, but hadn’t heard the music or learned about the artist. Then I heard the music and my first thought was: “pop genius.” That said, it wasn’t until I heard/read a few interviews and witnessed how she carried herself that I actually became a fan.

Lady Gaga isn’t just a pop genius, she’s an unapologetic strong-willed marketing genius as well.

There is a lot to be learned from someone like that.

Here’s the tip of the iceberg …

1) Be opinionated. Take a side. Lady Gaga isn’t afraid to speak out on issues she feels strongly about. In doing so, she keeps herself in the public eye. Even more, she attracts her right people.

2) Don’t be afraid to make money. Blatant product placements in the biggest video of the year? Sure, why not? There is nothing wrong with making ridiculous amounts of cash if that’s what you want to do. There is no such thing as a sellout. If you want to put ads on your blog, do it. If you want to sell products, do it. Don’t apologize. You should be paid to create art. Being a starving artist is nothing to be proud of.

3) Don’t call your fans fans. Give them something unique to connect with. Gaga calls her fans Little Monsters. Chris Guillebeau has a Small Army. Adam Baker has The Militia. And I have the Freedom Fighters. (Whoa, I just noticed a bit of a military theme!)

4) Be different even if it’s obvious you’re trying to be different. But don’t state that you’re different, because if you have to put it into words then it’s not true. Confusing? How about this: there are too many normal people with normal blogs and normal writing. You are extraordinary so show it. (Show, don’t tell.)

5) Be good to your Little Monsters. Treat them well and they will reciprocate and make you a superstar. During concerts, Lady Gaga calls a fan in the audience from the stage and invites them to have a drink with her after the show. Whoa! What can you do to connect with your people on a deeper level?

Personal example:

For the Version 0.9 launch of How To Live Anywhere, if you were one of the 132 who bought in the first 24 hours you got a hand written postcard from Goa, India.

Why? 3 reasons:

1) I wanted to thank the Freedom Fighters for changing the world, because every sale in the first 24 hours got doubled (by me) and sent to Kiva.org. I ended up sending $1600!

2) I wanted to thank the Freedom Fighters for taking quick, decisive action. Because that’s really what the Ridiculously Extraordinary Movement is about, action.

3) In this ever expanding online universe I wanted to connect with the Freedom Fighters old school. Yeah, it took me a good 6 hours to write out those postcards, but it was worth it.

6) Piss lots of people off. You can’t please everybody, right? Take it a step further and piss off the people that you’re not going to please anyway. It keeps Gaga in the news and reinforces her message.

7) Befriend the right people. Lady Gaga has, among others, people like Perez Hilton on her side. Having someone like Perez, who influences pop culture strongly himself, in her corner is a perfect ally in her quest for pop world domination.

Produce killer content. Gaga writes ridiculously good pop hits. Undeniable. She doesn’t produce an extraordinary amount of content, but everything she does is done very well.

9) Don’t be ashamed of the mainstream. Gaga straight up admits her pop sensibilities are calculated. Everything she does is on purpose. Shoot for the top of your niche with your blog or don’t take a shot at all.

What did I miss? What other lessons can Lady Gaga teach us about blog domination?

Read more from Karol Gajda at Ridiculously Extraordinary.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

9 Proven Tips For Creating An Extraordinarily Successful Blog [Lady Gaga Edition]

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Blogosphere Trends + Being Opinionated

This column is written by Kimberly Turner from Regator (a great tool that gathers and organizes the world’s best blog posts). – Darren

Man alive, I hate bringing you a list of blogosphere trends that includes both Lindsay Lohan and Jersey Shore—not to mention Sarah Palin. But I report the list, I don’t decide what’s on it (neither does Regator—it just calculates what’s being blogged about most this week). Then again, you might love Lohan and eagerly await the next episode of Jersey Shore. You may have voted for Sarah Palin. My distaste for those things is merely my opinion and, in giving it, I have given you a better sense of who I am. As a blogger, I am all for that. And you should be too.

If you look at the web’s top bloggers, you’ll find they have a couple of things in common: a unique voice, which we talked about recently, and opinions to share. As Darren pointed out, “Expressing opinions on your blog is like adding seasoning to food. Without it, your blog could end up being quite bland and blend into the crowd.” Reporting the facts is useful but adding commentary helps your blog stand out from the dozens—or hundreds—of blogs covering the same story. If you all have the same facts, it’s your viewpoint that will help remove you from the echo chamber. You are providing your translation of the story and encouraging your readers to see it in a new way.

Let’s look at examples of posts about this week’s top stories to see how sharing your opinions can enhance your blog and engage readers:

1. Shirley Sherrod – Michelle Cottle of The New Republic pulls no punches in “The End of Andrew Breitbart.” She rails on “conservative pseudo-journalism” and refers to Breitbart as a “toxic tantrum.” Be warned though: This technique is not for the timid. Cottle has a long history of writing highly opinionated pieces that have, no doubt, helped her build a tough skin when it comes to antagonistic comments. The most frightening thing about going from a blogger who reports news to a blogger who reports news with a viewpoint is that you will offend someone—particularly if you phrase your opinions in such a confrontational way. But you will also build a stronger relationship with the rest of your audience, particularly those whose stance is similar to yours (and those who enjoy a healthy dose of debate).
2. Facebook – Epicenter’s “Five Things That Could Topple Facebook’s Empire” is a far more subtle approach. Since no one knows what will (or could) harm the social networking behemoth, Ryan Singel’s list comprises his own ideas about the challenges Facebook faces. This sort of opinion-sharing/hypothesizing is far less likely to ruffle feathers than the first example. While searching for a post that shared original thoughts on Facebook, I had to rifle through literally hundreds that were simply repeating that Facebook has reached 500 million users and Facebook was being taken to court and Zuckerberg was interviewed on television. They all had the same facts with nothing to differentiate one from another. That is what you want to avoid.
3. Lindsay Lohan ­– Crushable’s “Poll: Should Celebrities Always Do The Right Thing?” shares the opinion that, due to her background, jail-bound Lohan should be allowed to make mistakes. The post follows up with “But maybe we are wrong!” and an invitation for readers to take a poll. One advantage of sharing your viewpoints is that it opens the door to the opinions of your readers and provides a venue for productive conversations. Your enthusiasm for a topic is contagious and much more likely to elicit a response than a straightforward repetition of the facts.
4. Comic-Con ­– While other nerd blogs were rejoicing in the glory that is Comic-Con, Techland’s Lev Grossman was busy writing “The Guy Who Hates Comic-Con Goes to Comic-Con, Part 1.” It stands out among the posts on the event and the humor of it is a fantastic cloak for what might otherwise have been construed as a bit of a whiny perspective. It is fun to read and, most importantly, it is the author’s brutally honest assessment of the convention.
5. Inception – Jim Emerson’s “Inception: Has Christopher Nolan forgotten how to dream?” post from Scanners does contain spoilers, so beware of that. But it also contains a unique perspective on the movie that I found compelling enough to share on my social networking pages. Emerson’s post shows the importance of providing supportive evidence to validate your opinion. Even those who do not agree with your assessment of a situation before reading your post may find themselves saying, “That blogger really has a point” if you provide enough reasons for your ideas.
6. Mel Gibson – Rufus F.’s “In Defense of Casting Stones at Mel Gibson” from The League of Extra Ordinary Gentlemen is a direct response to E.D. Kain’s “In Defense of Mel Gibson” from the same blog. That is the beauty of opinions; they are likely (particularly among dissenters) to provoke discussions in the comments and, if they are divisive enough, to prompt entire posts providing an alternate position. For the record, I’m not encouraging flame wars or knock-down, drag-out arguments; I’m advocating respectful two-way conversations between adults with different viewpoints. Keeping your tone positive and staying open to contradictory viewpoints will help maintain a healthy community and positive vibe. I learn a great deal from listening to those who disagree with me, and you will too.
7. Oil spill – “Gulf of Mexico,” which has been on trending for several weeks, has been replaced by “Oil spill” thanks to news that China is dealing with a spill of its own. How depressing. But I digress… Treehugger’s “In Defense of the Offshore Drilling Moratorium” takes the safest path to stating an opinion by defending the drilling moratorium. Sharing opinions is one thing, but sharing opinions that will alienate most of your readers (for example, a post titled “10 Best Steak Restaurants” on a vegetarian blog) is simply unwise. You don’t need me to tell you that.
8. Steve Jobs – Flip the Media’s “On Media and AntennaGate” cites the author’s own history as support of an opinion, making ample use of phrases such as “I don’t think so,” “I agree with him,” and “I doubt it” to make it clear that the blogger is providing her personal opinion. There’s no need to go overboard, but be sure that you aren’t phrasing your opinions in a way that could be misconstrued as fact.
9. Sarah Palin – From the moment you read the headline “I’m Telling You, Palin Has No Chance,” it is clear that Daniel Larison’s Eunomia post is providing a personal opinion. He acknowledges that “it’s risky to make absolute statements about anything…” but goes on to provide several reasons based on his findings. Again, this is a post that is a rebuttal to a post from another blog.
10. Jersey Shore –Portfolio’s “Here’s the Situation: Fire the ‘Jersey Shore’ Cast” provides its reasoning in the form of bulletpoints in what amounts to an open letter to the makers of the reality TV show. Open letters can be a fun and creative way to share your thoughts.

Are you opinionated on your blog or afraid of offending people? Let’s chat about it in comments.

Kimberly Turner is a cofounder of Regator.com and Regator for iPhone as well as an award-winning print journalist. You can find her on Twitter @kimber_regator.

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Blogosphere Trends + Being Opinionated

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Christmas in July Special – Get 25% off 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Today

The 25th July is tomorrow and at our place we’ve invited a group of friends over for a Christmas in July dinner (we do it as an annual thing and exchange gifts and do a full Christmas dinner).

On the spur of the moment today I thought it might be fun to extend the ‘festivities’ to ProBlogger and offer you – our wonderful community – a little gift to celebrate the ’season’.

For the next week I’m offering 25% off the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog eBook/workbook. To get it just use this discount code in the shopping cart.

chrisjuly25

It will give you 25% off the workbook bringing it down to $14.95 (under 50 cents per day over the 31 days) for some great teaching and activities to improve your blog. Each day in the 31 days gives you a little bit of teaching and a practical and tangible activity for you to do that day to improve your blog.

Get full details of what the workbook includes here OR add it straight to your cart where you can apply the above discount code by hitting the button below.

I hope you find the workbook to be useful and join the many thousands of bloggers who’ve worked through it already in improving their blogs.

PS: I’m doing the same 25% discount on our 3 best selling photography eBooks over at Digital Photography School – check them out and use the same discount code here.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Christmas in July Special – Get 25% off 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Today

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10 Common Spelling Mistakes That Haunt Bloggers

Whether you like it or not, people will judge your blog by the quality of your writing. The first thing you should do is to avoid the most common spelling mistakes, as they can turn off first-time visitors to your site. Below you’ll find 10 such mistakes to get you started.

1. accept / except

INCORRECT: Please except this gift.
CORRECT: Please accept this gift.

Except, as a verb, means to exclude or leave out. As a preposition it means “with the exception of.” Accept means “to receive willingly.” For example: We visited every landmark except the Eiffel Tower. The school is accepting only those students who have had their shots; all others are excepted.

2. advice / advise

INCORRECT: He refused to take my advise.
CORRECT: He refused to take my advice.

Advise is a verb. The s has the sound of “z.” Advice is a noun. The c has the sound of “s.”

3. all right / alright

INCORRECT: He’s alright after his fall.
CORRECT: He’s all right after his fall.

Although arguments are advanced for the acceptance of the spelling, alright is still widely regarded as nonstandard. Careful writers avoid it.

4. effect / affect

INCORRECT: His death really effected me.
CORRECT: His death really affected me.

The most common use of effect is as a noun meaning “something produced by a cause.” The most common use of affect is as a transitive verb meaning “to act upon.” For example: The disease had a lasting effect on the child. The family’s lack of money affected his plans.

5. every day / everyday

INCORRECT: Dan walks the dog everyday at six p.m.
CORRECT: Dan walks the dog every day at six p.m.

Everyday is an adjective that means “daily.” Every day is a phrase that combines the adjective every with the noun day. For example: Walking the dog is an everyday occurrence. I practice the flute every day.

6. its / it’s

INCORRECT: Put the saw back in it’s place.
CORRECT: Put the saw back in its place.

It’s is a contraction that represents two words: it is. Its is a one-word third-person singular possessive adjective, like his. For example: The man lost his hat. The dog wagged its tail.

7. passed / past

INCORRECT: The car past the train.
CORRECT: The car passed the train.

Past is used as an adverb of place, or as a preposition. Passed is the past tense of the verb to pass. For example: The past few days have been hectic. The deadline has passed. He passed her the biscuits. The boys ran past the gate. As we stood in the doorway, the cat ran past.

8. quiet / quite

INCORRECT: We spent a quite evening reading.
CORRECT: We spent a quiet evening reading.

Quiet is an adjective meaning “marked by little or no activity.” Quite is an adverb meaning “to a considerable extent.” For example: The children are quite amiable today. Quiet can also be used as a noun. For example: We enjoyed the quiet by the lake. (The suffix “ness” should never be added to the abstract nouns quiet and calm.)

9. then / than

INCORRECT: I have more eggs then you.
CORRECT: I have more eggs than you.

Then is an adverb that indicates time. It can go anywhere in a sentence. For example: The man paused by the door and then entered. Then the noise started. As conjunction or preposition, than will always be followed by a noun or a pronoun. For example: I like Melville better than Hawthorne.

10. who’s / whose

INCORRECT: I don’t know who’s dog you’re talking about.
CORRECT: I don’t know whose dog you’re talking about.

Who’s is the contracted form of “who is.” Whose is the possessive adjective form of who. For example: Who’s your daddy? Whose car are we going in?

Maeve Maddox holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Arkansas, and she is the editor of DailyWritingTips.com. The mistakes mentioned in this post come from her latest book, 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid.

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10 Common Spelling Mistakes That Haunt Bloggers

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Reach Out and Touch Someone: How the Power of Personal Connection Creates Blogging Success

A guest post by Barrie Davenport.

If you look at recent posts on Problogger, you will find a plethora of practical and useful tools and ideas for creating a blog, growing a blog, and making money from a blog. Like me, you have probably read and absorbed as many of these pearls of blogging wisdom as your brain will allow. However, as bloggers, we sometimes get so immersed in the business of blogging that we lose sight of what should be our primary focus in blogging — serving people.

There are many valid, self-serving reasons to blog. We all want to make money. We want the satisfaction of creating something that others read and having our ideas appreciated by thousands. But if you boil down the motivation for blogging to its essence, you come to understand that we each have a unique gift, and we want to share that gift with others.

There is tremendous emotional and spiritual satisfaction in that act of sharing and serving. If you’ve ever gotten a comment back from a reader remarking, “Your latest post helped me tremendously, and I can’t thank you enough for sharing that,” then you know what I mean. Suddenly, it all becomes personal.

And isn’t that what life is supposed to be anyway — personal? Being connected with others, even in the blogospohere, is what provides the uplifting and rewarding satisfaction that gives life depth and meaning. The truly amazing part about serving others through blogging is that these efforts will propel your blogging into the stratosphere of success. Look at Darren as an example. Or Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, Mary Jaksch of Write to Done, or so many other wildly successful bloggers. They give and give and then give some more. Their ability to give and connect with people has created real relationships that are mutually beneficial and deeply satisfying.

Many people start blogging because they are introverts and may not like interacting with people in a traditional work or social setting. Others (like me) enjoy connecting with people any way we can, and the internet provides a huge pool of potential new friends. Either way, it does take attention, effort, and careful tending of relationships to be a successful blogger.

6 Ways to add a Personal Touch to Your Blogging

Here are some ideas to help you reach out and touch your growing community of readers and fellow bloggers.

1. Be Sincere

Making connections and building relationships is not going to serve you or others if it is just a means to a financial end. You must believe in the inherent value of serving and of what you have to offer. Your sincerity and passion must shine through in everything you do, or people will see through you. You may not make a lot of money in the beginning, but you are building a treasure of trust and respect with your readers and fellow bloggers. That is worth its weight in gold.

2. Always Serve Your Reader

In every idea you develop, in every post you write, in every comment you respond to, serve your reader. Give them something valuable and immediately usable. Give them more than they expect. Awe them with your gifts. Look at all of the free information, ebooks, and advice that Darren gives to you, his valued readers. Here’s an article I wrote for Write to Done on how to serve your reader.

3. Connect with Bigger Bloggers

You already know that this is a way to build your blog. Solicit guest posts, ask them to Twitter something, comment on their blogs. But what about reaching out to them as one human to another? Write them an e-mail congratulating them on a success or letting them know how they inspired you. Make contact with them with no ulterior motive except to reach out. Offer them something useful with no expectation of something in return. Be real and friendly but not gratuitous.

4. Connect with Blogging Peers

Bigger bloggers always started out as smaller bloggers. Treat all bloggers with equal respect, because you never know when someone’s small blog will take off and become the next Problogger! Communicate regularly with other similar-sized or smaller bloggers. Share ideas, frustrations, and resources. Blogging forums are a great way to do that, but one-on-one contact is even better.

5. Arrange Virtual Meet-Ups

If you’ve been communicating on-line with other bloggers or readers, arrange a meet-up through Skype or some other phone or video conferencing software. Hearing someone’s voice and seeing their face immediately makes the relationship more real and personal. It’s the substitute for the business lunch or golf outing! Through these more personal interactions, you are building friendships and networks of people who will support you and you them.

6. Arrange In-Person Meet-Ups

Connect with your readers and other bloggers who live near you and organize a dinner or meeting. If you are traveling, arrange to get together with people you have met through your blog. (Of course, be safe about this. Meet in groups or very public places.) Nothing can beat an in-person, face-to-face meeting for true relationship building. Life-long friendships can be developed with people in wonderful cities all over the world.

7. Attend Blogging Events

Darren has already discussed Blogworld, the social media conference to be held in October in Las Vegas. I plan on attending this event, as do many of my network of blogging friends. This will be my first in-person connection with most of them. Attending these events offers so many opportunities for learning and for networking and socializing with bloggers. These events could be considered Relationship Immersion courses where you have the opportunity to build many great connections in a short span of time. If you haven’t already, please check it out.

8. Always Be Kind and Professional

This is worth repeating though I know it’s intuitive. Communicating through a computer makes it very tempting to say things that we would not say in person. As a blogger, you are still a business person, a real person who has integrity and a reputation. If you receive a snippy e-mail or comment, resist the temptation to lob a snippy response back. Be kind, gracious, ever-professional. Don’t gossip about other bloggers or undermine them on a public forum. It will serve you well in the long run, and you will serve as an example for those who read your blog or who look up to you as a blogger.

9. Share Your Connections

Unlike any other business I know of, blogging is the most mutually supportive and interactive. When bloggers help and support each other, they are creating a larger network of connections and potential readers. Isolating yourself or hoarding your connections doesn’t help you — in fact it undermines your growth. I serve as the editor for The Daily Brainstorm, an aggregate blog that links to a large pool of other blogs (including this one). Every contributor benefits from the readers driven to the blog. It is a great group relationship where everyone benefits.

If you want to build your blog, read everything Darren writes on Problogger about how to do that. But also, take a good look at how he conducts himself, what he gives away, and how he connects to people. Follow his example, not just as a blogger but as a person. Find other blogging mentors to emulate and connect with. Don’t hide your real, flesh and blood self under a bushel. Reach out, connect, make friends, share, be of service. If you do all of these things, blogging success can’t help but find you.

Barrie Davenport is a personal and career coach and founder of Live Bold and Bloom, a blog about bold and fearless living. Download her FREE e-book, How to Live A Meaningful Life.

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Reach Out and Touch Someone: How the Power of Personal Connection Creates Blogging Success

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How to be the Life of the Social Media Party

“Being good on social media really has a lot to do with being good in relationships and conversation.”

I made this statement in a presentation really and have been pondering it ever since. While there are a lot of great techniques for increasing the effectiveness in your use of blogging or social media – much of it does really come down to relational skills.

This video explores some of the similarities between being the type of person people are attracted to talking to in ‘real life’ and being the type of person people want to interact with on blogs and other types of social media including:

• Being interesting and interested
• Being engaging
• Having something unique to say
• Taking initiative and not just being passive

Notes: See the full sized video here. Video shot on a Panasonic Lumix DMC GF1 (aff) – here’s why I use that camera.

Transcript of Video

I’ve had this video transcribed below for those who prefer to get it that way. The transcription provided by The Transcription People.

Last week I was at a conference speaking about social media – half way through I made a statement off-the-cuff that being good in social media or in blogging was really just about being good in life and good in relationships.

Social media is, as its name suggests, the social interaction that one person has with another person or a group of people. It’s a communal activity and, as a result, a lot of the things that apply to just being good at relationships apply to social media as well.

This morning I was thinking about what makes someone attractive in terms of conversation and what makes someone good at being in relationships. I was thinking about when you go to a party and you come away from that party either having had really good conversations with people or really bad ones and I’m beginning to think about some of the dynamics that make a someone the life of the party, someone who is, that draws others to them at a party because a lot of those same characteristics actually fit within the social media space as well.

Now, I’m not saying that you need to be an extrovert to be good at social media, but some of the things about good party-goers actually do apply.

Something Interesting to Say

I was thinking back to some of the parties that I’ve been to recently and the people that I’m drawn to at parties are people who are, one, they’ve got something interesting to say. They have experiences or they have a knowledge or they have just the ability to be able to talk about interesting things. Sure, it’s fun sometimes to talk about rubbish and to have a bit of fun with that but, really, I come home from parties thinking about the good conversations that I’ve had that have actually been interesting, that have been about things that I perhaps didn’t know before.

Interesting but also Interested

So, these people are interesting but they’re also interested. They’re people who are not only willing and able to talk about themselves or to be able to talk about life from their own perspective but they’re actually interested in what others think, in what you think. They look you in the eye, they ask you questions and then they listen to what you’ve got to say and then what they have to say builds upon what you’ve said.

They actually show you that they’ve listened to you and are able to build upon that and that’s what a, that’s when a good conversation happens is, it’s not just when two people talk in monologues and then don’t interact with what each other have said; it’s actually something that builds, that gains momentum and that takes listening, it takes being interested as well.

They’re entertaining, quite often, they’re willing to be a bit playful and perhaps have a joke at themselves, at you and in a friendly kind of way.

They’re engaging, they ask questions.

They’re personal, they don’t just talk as if they’re talking to strangers in a room, a crowd of people. They actually look you in the eye, they actually will share something of themselves in a personal kind of way and add to the conversation in that way.

They’re inclusive, and this is one of the things that I think really is applicable to social media is that these types of people, they quite often will not only be talking to you but they’ll be engaging others around you in the party. They’ll be making introductions, they’ll be making, they’ll be connecting other people together and in a way that actually sets those two people up for a conversation, by introducing two people and pointing out some common interests and facilitating conversations not just between them and one other person but they almost create a community around themselves at parties.

And this is one of the things that I think is particularly applicable to the social media space is that, not only can you have a great conversation with an individual, but you can actually create a community and introduce your readers, your followers to one another.
I’m seeing this happen at the moment through the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge that’s being run by SITS Girls. There’s this community happening there and, sure, I’m a part of it – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog’s going on – I wrote that, I’m trying to participate in that, but there’s this whole thing happening almost without me participating at all and it’s really a powerful thing to see a community build up around something that you’ve created.

These type of people, they take initiative. They don’t just let conversations happen and then chime in where they want; they actually drive the conversation forward. They’re taking initiative and thinking about what else they could say, what questions they could ask. They’re not passive in that way. And sometimes they’re actually quite surprising in the directions that they’ll take in a conversation. It’s often those conversations that end up in a completely different place that I think about as being good conversations. They’re not just predictable, they’re unique. They’ve got something unique to say and they’re quite willing to go and explore those types of angles to the conversation.

These people, they’re not arrogant, they’re not aloof and they’re not boring, they’re not passive; they’re actually taking initiative, they’re interesting and they’re interested. They’re the type of people I’m interested in chatting to at parties and also in social media. I’d be interested to hear about some of the characteristics that you find attractive in, both in real life but also in the social media space. If you’d like to leave a comment, we can interact around those in comments below.

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How to be the Life of the Social Media Party

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Brainstorming Activity: What Could You Sell from Your Blog?

Today I’d like to suggest an exercise to think about the future of your blog. It’s a brainstorming task to get you thinking about the types of products and services you might one day add to your blog.

I remember doing this for ProBlogger 4 or so years ago and coming up with a long list of potential things I could add to the blog including a job board, membership area, eBooks, ‘real’ book, events and more.

At the time I wasn’t ready to add any of these new products, services or featured – but having that list in the back of my mind enabled me to keep moving my blog forward towards achieving some of them.

The other benefit of identifying these potential income streams that you could one day develop is that others may already be developing them. This might feel a little like you’ve missed the boat but it could also be an opportunity as those with these products might be potential advertisers and/or might have affiliate programs that you could promote.

Once you’ve come up with your list of ideas feel free to share some of them in comments below – it’ll be great to see what everyone is thinking.

PS: stuck for ideas? I don’t blame you – it can be hard to think of how to add a product or service to your blog. Check out the list of products and services that other bloggers have added to their blogs in the results of a poll I ran here on ProBlogger exploring this very topic.

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Brainstorming Activity: What Could You Sell from Your Blog?

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How to Take an Idea to Launch in 4 Steps

“How do you know which projects to go with and which to leave behind?”

This is a question I’ve been asked almost every time I’ve spoken at events recently so I thought I’d jot down a few thought on the process that I find myself going through when looking at opportunities to expand my business with new projects.

Of course I’m over simplifying it a little with this diagram – but it’ll illustrate the basics of how I work.

I should also say that this isn’t really a process that I specifically take myself through each time I launch a new project – rather its something I’ve noticed myself doing naturally as I look back on previous projects. Let me say a little about each step.

Idea – For me – idea generation is the easiest part of the process. I have them every day and have a long list of potential projects that I’d one day like to take through this process fully and explore.

I find that the more I start things the more ideas come naturally as you see how readers are using your site, as they ask for advice, as you observe trends in your industry and as you receive and answer questions from others exploring your topic.

The other thing that I find is that as your blog grows you start to get pitched ideas from others. As you become seen as a credible and authoritative source of information and as someone with influence – people want to align themselves with you and explore partnerships.

The keys with this stage is to have a way of capturing the ideas, to not rush in to do every idea that comes along but to be willing to take the best ideas and explore them.

Test – The temptation when you get what you think is a great idea is to just go out and do it. I’ve seen a number of friends move from having a great idea into investing (sometimes quite a bit of money) in developing that idea within hours. In some cases this might pay off – but in my experience most ‘ideas’ could do with some testing before moving into the development stage.

There are many ways to test an idea – here are some that I’ve done:

• Ask someone – whether it be a trusted friend, your partner, a reader, another blogger – bouncing your ideas off others can be very valuable. Getting another person’s perspective will often help you filter out the crazy ideas and add depth to the good ones.
• Write a Blog Post – it may not always be appropriate to completely spell out your idea publicly (once they’re out there you never know who might take your idea) but a blog post can be used to test whether there is a need for your idea to fulfil, can be used to gather data from readers responses on how your idea could help them most or could just be a good place for you to think out loud and get a little perspective.
• Tweet it – I often test ideas with my Twitter followers. Again, you probably don’t want to spell out your idea in too much detail but use your social networks to test the things you’re thinking about.
• Do a Survey or Poll – this is one of my favourite things to do and something I’ve done regularly over the years. If you’re not sure whether your current readership or network will respond to your idea – test it by running a survey with a small group of them. For example I recently released a travel photography eBook with my photography site. Before commissioning it I did a quick survey with 1000 of my readers to see what topics they’d like more written about. One of the topics I suggested was Travel Photography – the response was that over half my readers said that they wanted more information on that topic – I then went ahead with it.

Testing need not be a long or involved process. A blog post, tweet or survey could all be put together in 24 hours. For us entrepreneurial types 24 hours might seem like an eternity – however the information you gain by doing it could either improve your idea significantly or show you when your idea is not something worth pursuing (which could save you a lot of time and money).

Tweak – Once you’ve done a little testing you’re in a position to tweak your idea. This might actually be culling it all together or it could be about making big or small improvements.

Ultimately your ‘testing’ is about putting your idea ‘out there’ to some degree and your ‘tweaking’ is about taking on board the feedback that you get and making improvements to the idea so that if you do take it to a full launch that it is the best it can be.

Sometimes the ‘test’ to ‘tweak’ stage can be a bit of a cycle before you launch and something that you need to do numerous times to get to launch. In fact sometimes the ‘test’ and ‘tweak’ approach continues after launch as well as you continue to try new ideas and gather feedback to continue to improve what you’re doing.

Launch – With a mixture of fear and excitement you gradually move your idea forward towards launch.

I can’t tell you exactly how to launch a product or service because it’ll vary hugely from situation to situation – however what I have found is that if you’ve gone through the test and tweak process well that you’ll end up launching something that is not only a better quality product or service – but you’ll hopefully have ended up with some ideas on how to market and launch that product.

For example as part of the launch of the travel photography ebook I mentioned earlier a survey I did found that many readers had regrets around previous photography that they’d done when traveling. This gave us a hint as to how to market it (which you’ll see on the sales page).

You’ll also find that if some of your testing/tweaking has been done in public (ie your readers know you’re developing an idea towards launching something) you’ll hopefully have also created some nice pre-launch buzz to assist with your launch.

Some examples

As mentioned earlier – I’m certainly over simplifying things a little here – nothing is quite as simple or easy as I’m making it sound. However I do find that this cycle is pretty typical of the things I’ve done. Let me give some examples.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

The 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook that I currently sell from ProBlogger did not start out as an eBook. In fact it started 3 (or was it 4?) years ago as a series of 31 blog posts. The initial idea was to take my readers through a month of activities to improve their blogs. The first year was very basic.

That first ‘test’ of the idea revealed that people loved the idea of doing a project like this together. It also showed me that some of the activities that I did connected better than others.

I then ran it again two years later with improvements. I added a forum area, started an autoresponder email list to help participants keep on track and changed around some of the activities. Again I learned a lot. I also began to gather feedback from participants that they wanted it as a workbook.

I tested that idea with a survey and found that a good percentage of my readers would be willing to pay for such an eBook so I had it developed (with extra content, design etc).

WIth all this testing and tweaking done I was pretty much certain that I’d not only cover the costs I put into the development of the eBook but make a healthy profit from it on launch (which is how it has happened).

In essences 31DBBB has been through 3-4 different ‘test’ and ‘tweak’ cycles to get it to its current form (and I’m currently testing and tweaking it again and hope to offer a live version of the course later this year).

ProBlogger Live Event

The 31DBBB example above is one that has taken years to go through. Another more recent example is the ProBlogger live training day that I’m running in Melbourne. This is an example of a much speedier process.

The idea came 2 weeks ago.

I tested it with a quick email to two friends (Chris and Shayne) who both added their own ideas into the mix but reacted very positively.

I then tested it with a blog post asking for expressions of interest by inviting people to sign up for more information.

I then followed up those who responded to that call by inviting them to do a survey on their situation and needs as bloggers. Around 50% of people did the survey which gave me some amazing data. The survey revealed the topics we should cover on the day, helped us work out what styles of presentation we should do in the event and also told us that there was much more interest in the event than we’d previously thought (ie we needed a bigger venue).

All of this was before we’d booked a venue, decided on a schedule for the day or even committed to running the event.

Then came the launch – we knew approximately how many would come, what they wanted from such a day and how to cater for them. As a result we’ve had no problem pretty much selling it out.

TwiTip

This same process was how I launched TwiTip (my twitter tips blog).

The idea for a blog about Twitter had been something I’d pondered for a while before launching it. I decided to test whether people would be interested in reading tutorials about Twitter before launching by posting some posts here on ProBlogger – Twitter Tips for Bloggers.

These posts were very popular and got a lot of interaction.

As I began to plan the blog I started surveying my Twitter followers on the type of needs that they had and the questions that they’d asked themselves when they first started. In doing so I began to gather ideas for future posts but also began to see what categories I should have on the new blog.

I launched Twitip with a fairly ’soft launch’. It was on basic hosting and on a fairly simple theme (I used Thesis). I could have invested into a custom design from day 1 but wanted to test the topic before spending too much on it – so went with a solid premium theme but one that wasn’t going to break the bank.

It was actually around a year before I fully launched the site with a full custom theme.

I could go on and on giving personal examples

The more I think about it the more I realize that virtually every time I’ve launched a new blog, product or service that I’ve been through this type of process. Perhaps it’s partly because I’m something of a cautious person and like to test before I fully commit – but I think it’s also a fairly solid approach.

I’ve seen so many people launch businesses that have not been thought through enough that I just think a little extra time to do some testing would be well spent.

What about you – do you go through similar processes? What would you add or subtract from the process above?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

How to Take an Idea to Launch in 4 Steps

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The Disney Experience

I’m writing this on Sunday, July 17, 2010. Exactly 55 years after Disneyland opened its doors to the general public. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. What they promise and deliver go beyond almost every other business out there, not just in the amusement park business. It’s a learning experience every business owner should experience.

Earlier this year I heard marketing legend Dan Kennedy speak. At that event he said Disneyland makes more money per visitor per day than the entire city of Las Vegas. I haven’t been able to verify the facts of that statement but, comparing our last trip to Disneyland vs our last trip to Las Vegas, Dan’s correct from my personal experience.

My family had the fortune of visiting Disneyland twice in the past year. Last month, instead of getting too caught up in the wonder and amazement, I wanted to watch how employees moved and what was going on from a business and marketing perspective. What makes their business so special? And, what allows them to bring in more money per person than Las Vegas? I’m sure I didn’t catch half of what goes on behind the scenes however here are couple points I noted.

Take Your Customer For A Ride

Only Disney makes every ride a full sensory experience. In Star Tours as your “space ship” goes into an icy meteor the room gets cold. On Indiana Jones as you’re truck is traveling by you hear the notice of the darts being shot out of the wall and feel the puffs of air from the guns simulating they just missed you. It’s similar with Captain EO and when the little elephant type creature blows his nose air blows in your face (this is a movie type theater you’re sitting in too). Last is Mr. Toads Wild Ride which tells the story of Mr. Toad and at the end he ends up in hell the temperature of the room gets very hot.

While these may not seem like a big deal, and they’re probably never consciously noticed, it injects another sensory experience and brings the rides to life. When a visitor gets off they feel different. Yes, you know you’re on a short ride, in a tiny part of a small amusement park but, your physical body has experienced some very physical changes that are, well, out of this world.

If you’re selling a product or service, take your customer on a ride. You may not be able to alter the physical surroundings but you can use stories and emotionally charged language that engage your buyer’s senses. Use sensory based words (see, hear, feel, taste, smell) interchangeably to add flavor and unconsciously make your presentation or sales copy dance.

You’re Selling an Experience

Disneyland itself is an experience.

When all is said and done, all we have are some photos and fuzzy memories of the trip. Our home is cluttered with a few more toys. My daughter has some sparkly shoes from the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and my son has a new Buzz Lightyear laser gun. But, the money was really spent on the smiles and laughter that brought us joy as a family.

Every movement in the park makes you forget the world outside. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Tomorrow Land, Adventure Land, Fantasy Land or walking down Main Street. The only place you are aware of is your immediate surroundings. Every detail is in proper place.

Of course, I can’t leave out the rides. The rides are like mini product launches.

As I said above, Disney creates an incredible sensory experience on each of their rides. Many of the popular rides exit into a small theme store. So, when you exit Star Tours or Pirates of the Caribbean you have this charged feeling from the ride still bouncing around inside you. Then, it’s only a natural and logical step to build your own Light Saber or get a pirate hat as you’re leaving the ride. There’s no pressure to buy. It’s just the next logical step on your way through the park. Just like a good product launch.

Now, think about what you’re selling and how you’re selling it. Are you building that experience so the customer takes that next natural step? Have you thought about what the experience is the buyer wants? Are you selling a product or the experience you can provide your buyer?

Use Systems

At Disney, the employees are called “cast members.” They have a “Role” and “script” to adhere to. They don’t have lines to read but they have a specific understanding of their role and authority to act within that role. They’re job is to make sure the “Guests” (customers) have the best experience possible while there.

As Mickey’s Street party comes through the area cast members rope off the area for you to safely watch. As it rolls away there’s Mickey shaped litter is everywhere and, out of nowhere, men and women in white uniforms with blowers and vacuums come out and in a few minutes the place is spotless again as if nothing happened.

Disneyland is simply beautiful. The flags hanging in main street have crisp colors, as if they were just taken out of the box that morning. Sleeping Beauty’s castle looks like it was built yesterday. Every light and doll on the It’s a Small World ride blinks and moves in sequence.

None of this is by accident. They don’t wake up and think about which product they’re going to sell today. Or, maybe they’ll try something different in Toon Town to see if it will increase traffic to that area. Everything is well documented and thought out long before executed. Even the placement of the shops at the end of the rides.

But, That’s Disney…

It’s easy to shrug your shoulders and say, “Yeah, but that’s Disney. I’m just a blogger selling (fill in your product of choice).” That’s okay. You don’t have to aspire for a Disney size empire. However, if you want to run a business, not just a website, and experience the things you want in life, then I would pay attention to what Disney is doing. They’ve figured out the trick to happily part you from your money.

What other Disney business secrets can you share? Are there any online businesses out there that you think of as Disneyesque?

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Headway Themes is now licensed under the GPL

As many of you may have noticed, over the last few days there has been a lot of discussion going on on twitter and elsewhere about premium WordPress themes and frameworks.  Especially centered around the question of licensing and the GPL.

For those of you who don’t know, WordPress is licensed under the GPL.  Headway on the other hand, was not until a few days ago.  Headway Themes was launched on July 31st, 2009.  Not that I want to use ignorance of the GPL as an excuse.  But, I was really not aware of any questions on the GPL until Clay and I went to WordCamp New York.  I was aware of the GPL, just not how passionate Matt and his crew are about it.  That was when I was asked to be on a panel where we discussed the GPL license, WordPress and premium themes.

After the panel discussion, Matt Mullenweg and I had a chance to visit some more about the GPL and Headway and where we all fit together.  I also had a chance to meet and discuss this with Brian Gardner in more depth too.  To be very frank, I came away from both of those discussions not convinced putting Headway under the GPL was a smart business move.

I am not going to get into the “its the right thing to do argument” nor that premium themes do or don’t fall under the GPL.  My position on the GPL was my own and it was coming more from a business model and scaling question.

First, I was not convinced that as a premium theme or framework, we fell under the GPL. No, I am not going to back this up with any thought out legal or ethically argument.  Simply put, no one had shown me nor convinced me we were in violation, nor that there was controlling case law showing we were in violation of the WordPress license.

Second, I was worried from a strictly business stand point that if we were GPL, we would go broke.  Headway would be stolen and downloaded by thousands and we would be building a kick butt WordPress framework for nothing.

But you are selling support…

To that I continued to say bull crap.  Like a lot of the premium themes and frameworks out there, I was and continue to be of the position that we build a quality product which comes with support.  I was not convinced making people pay for support alone was the answer to my business concerns of going GPL.  While we do offer support with each and every license purchased from us by our members.  I was not of the position that selling support was a valid business model. And I still don’t believe this.

Let me explain a bit further. Take for example products like iThemes, Press75, StudioPress and Thesis.  It is my firm position none of them are selling products based on the fact they provide great support only.  They all are offering great products first and foremost.  And that is why people are buying their products.  Great support comes with the purchase of a great product.  Not the other way around.

Further discussion and research on my part

Over the last number of months, one person I have confided in a lot on this subject has been Cory Miller of iThemes.  In fact, Cory and I have become great friends. However, Cory has been very open with me as we discussed my own concerns as to the GPL and Headway Themes.  iThemes did the same thing as we did in the beginning, moving from non GPL to GPL.  With Cory’s help and guidance, I have become convinced that my fears of going GPL were not based on any solid evidence.  And actually my concerns were based on my own self-imposed fears and pride.

I also spent some time talking to Jason Schuller over at Press75, Brian Gardner of StudioPress and Carl Hancock of Gravity Forms.  Michael Torbert from All in One SEO Pack has also been a great source of information too.

I talked to all of these guys at the Boston Wordcamp. And I spent some time in Miami talking to Michael Torbert.  Clay and I even drove down to Oklahoma City to personally visit with Cory about this subject.  My point, this was a process we spent a lot of time and energy on and we wanted to make sure our decision was the best for us, Headway Themes and our own community.

In addition, part of my own problem with going GPL was the fact I am one stubborn SOB and very prideful.  Mainly very proud of what Clay, my son has built with Headway and I did not want anyone telling us what we could or could not do.  And all of that was misguided to say the least.

The solution to the Headway GPL question

Needless to say, I and Clay have been discussing and cussing this issue and question for almost a year now.  While it may seem we made the decision solely on the events of the last week or so, this is not entirely true. And it would be wrong of me to not admit, yes the last week or so certainly caught my attention and perhaps spurred me to give this my utmost attention.

And let me clear up any question as to whether I was personally or if Headway Themes was as a business entity threatened in any way by Matt Mullenweg or by anyone at WordPress or Automattic.  The answer to that question is no.  No, we were not threatened this last week or so with a possible law suit.

That being said, witnessing what transpired between Thesis and WordPress was a bit troubling and certainly got my attention.  While our timing on making the switch may seem suspect, this was a business decision we have been in the process of deciding and now seemed like a good time

Now was a good time as we are in the process of releasing a huge update to Headway which we feel is light years ahead of where Headway was just one year ago.  Not only are we releasing a huge update to Headway, we are completely redoing the Headway website and brand.  And if we were doing all of that, now was a good time to move on putting Headway under the GPL license.

Split License

While I know Matt would rather we would have gone 100% GPL, we felt more comfortable with a split GPL license.  We actually modeled our license which we have included in a revised TOS after what Jason has at Press75.  Below, you will see the exact language we now have which according to Matt Mullenweg is “100% legal.”

HEADWAY THEMES LICENSING

All WordPress themes produced by Headway Themes are released under the GPL version 2.0 license (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html GNU/GPLv2). Specifically, the PHP code portions are distributed under the GPL version 2.0 license. If not otherwise stated, all images, cascading style sheets, and included JavaScript are NOT GPL, and are released under the Headway Themes Proprietary Use License v1.0 (See below) unless specifically authorized by Headway Themes. Elements of the themes released under this proprietary license may not be redistributed or repackaged for use other than those allowed by the Terms of Service. Please review the Terms of Service for further information on these usages.

THE HEADWAY THEMES PROPRIETARY USE LICENSE (v1.0)

The Headway Themes Proprietary Use License is a GPL compatible license that applies only to the theme images, cascading style sheets, and JavaScript files in WordPress themes produced and distributed by HeadwayThemes.com. As stated by the GPL version 2.0 license, the elements of product that are not compiled together but are sent independently of GPL code, and combined in a client’s browser, do not have to be GPL themselves. These images and cascading style sheets, and JavaScript files are copyright HeadwayThemes.com (Headway Themes, LLC) and can be used and manipulated for your own or your clients purposes. You cannot redistribute these files as your own, or include them in a package of your own without prior consent from HeadwayThemes.com (Headway Themes, LLC).

The split GPL license still allows us to retain enough teeth that we can bite someone in the butt if they violate our own license for Headway.

The future for Headway is bright

Now that we have put to rest the question of Headway, WordPress and the GPL we can get back to what we really want to focus on.  What Clay and I and the rest of the Headway team want to focus on is building the best and most innovative Premium WordPress Framework out there.  And we firmly believe the next version of Headway is going to back up that focus 100%

If you would like to learn more about Headway Themes, you can visit our website.

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Blue is the New Red and Sucky Sales is the New Yellow Highlighter?

Hey there…don't remove the yellow highlighter from your sales page just yet!

In an effort to be less “pushy”, we’ve seen some changes in sales pages lately that I don’t understand. Maybe you can help me.

• We’re seeing a lot less yellow highlighted text. This has been cited as a high pressure, “salesy” tactic.
• Marketers are using blue, grey or black headlines instead of red.
• The long time favorite Tahoma typeface is being used a lot less often.
• Sales pages have been getting shorter and using alternate formats. The “long sales page” format is falling out of favor.

All these changes are aimed at being perceived as more “legitimate”, and less “pushy”, correct? But we still use headlines, right? We just don’t want them to be red. Blue is the new red. Here’s my question…why? We still want people to buy our stuff, right? We just don’t want to do the things that have been effective in the past at getting sales. We want to abandon those “old” tactics, because we don’t want to be seen as “pushy”. How do you feel about these changes?

I think these changes are well-intentioned but ultimately flawed.

Change is Good

I’m not writing this post as an argument against change. But here’s the thing, how many marketers are now sacrificing conversion for the perception of not being “high pressure”? Is low conversion the new yellow highlighter? To me, this is a bad trade. Am I in favor of being a sleazy salesman? Certainly not, but it seems to me many marketers are making significant mistakes as to where the problem really lies.

The sales process, when conducted well, is transparent…and unwarranted pressure never enters into the equation. I think it’s important to realize it’s not the color or typeface of your sales copy that is the problem.

Good Products vs Good Marketing

You cannot turn a bad product into a good product by changing your headline from red to blue, or by removing the yellow highlighter from your copy. Conversely, a good product is good. Period. If you’re out there hustling the good stuff, then people will buy it. They will love it, and they will refer their friends and colleagues (provided you have a good referral system in place). Can we agree on this?

Whether or not you used red headlines and highlighted text in your sales page is the furthest thing from a happy customer’s mind.

I wonder if the changes we’ve seen in sales pages recently are actually focused on offering our customers value, or are they more bent toward simply making ourselves feel better about “selling”…when selling is really a good thing after all?

Why would you be ashamed to solicit sales of a product or service you TRULY believe in? And likewise, if you DON’T truly believe in your offer…why are you trying to sell it at all?

Top Marketers vs Top Results

If you look around, you’ll see my argument here pretty much flies in the face of what a lot of top marketers are doing right now. Many A-listers are all apparent advocates of the “new” sales techniques I’m criticizing here. I can’t argue with the success these bloggers and marketers have had, and I don’t have a single bad thing to say about them. Importantly, I don’t feel like I could write this post and ignore the fact that a lot of top marketers have been teaching the opposite of what I’m saying. So what gives?

Here’s the thing…try convincing me that both approaches don’t work. In fact…the whole “red headline, yellow highlighter, long page sales letter” thing DOES work. So why has it fallen out of favor?

The REAL Reason a Lot of Marketers are Changing their Sales Pages

As a sales trainer I’ve seen it a million times…people are just scared to death to sell. Scared to the core. So scared in fact that when faced with the prospect of asking people to buy stuff, they become physically ill. I’ve literally seen newbies vomit before a sales call. That’s how scared we are to sell stuff. A huge part of the draw internet marketing offers is that it removes the necessity for human contact, so as a result internet marketing draws a lot of people who want to “sell without selling”.

But while internet marketing does allow you to sell at a distance…selling must still occur. People must still be genuinely engaged. Offers must be made, and conversion must take place.

I want to point something out. What we see the top marketers doing right now works. It does. But it doesn’t necessarily work better than the “old school” stuff. I’m not writing this post to challenge the wisdom of the A-listers out there who have been supporting these recent trends in selling strategy; I’m writing to challenge YOU.

Are you changing your sales pages because testing has proven that the conversions are better for you? Or are you changing because you’re afraid to sell?

Don’t be Afraid to Sell

The color, typeface, etc of your sales pages are all crucial marketing elements. Can it be true that some typefaces, colors and such are actually evil? I can’t imagine how. If a tactless, sleazy used car salesman removes the gel from his hair and takes off his pinky ring, is he all of a sudden more “legitimate”? His is pinky ring…evil? Or are his selfish motivations and lack of regard for the customer’s best interest actually at fault?

Every element on your page will either serve to increase conversion or lower it, and if your offer is solid, why would your goal be anything other than maximum conversion?

Don’t sacrifice conversion. Test red. It might work! After all, it’s worked for years, so go for it. This isn’t me saying that red WILL work for you. I don’t know. Every product, niche and audience is different. But this mentality that red headlines and yellow highlighter are somehow evil is beyond me.

The “Hush-Hush” Secret to Making a Lot of Sales

I want to share a fact about marketing that a lot of people aren’t willing to put out there. And I’m totally willing to hear arguments to the contrary, but after selling professionally for over 10 years now…both online and offline, I’ve found this to be true. In order to get quality stuff out there, people usually need a little nudge in order to push them over the edge to where they actually make a purchase. Where the heck do you think that nudge is going to come from, if not you? Having the kahunas to ask for the order is a characteristic all top marketers share. Are you asking for the order? Does it make you feel like a sleaze? Does it make you feel “pushy”?

Consider this: making sales is only sleazy when YOU are sleazy. If you’re not an ass, and you’re selling good stuff for the right reasons, then it’s a GOOD thing to make sales.

• Selling junk is sleazy.
• Going for the sale without regard for the buyer’s best interest is sleazy.
• Offering a guarantee and not honoring it is sleazy.

But you don’t do these things, do you? That’s because you’re a legitimate marketer with real value to give people. As such, you have no reason to hold back or do anything to impede your own success. Yellow highlighter is not sleazy or pushy. In fact, it might even get you more sales.

And with regards to whether or not we should abandon “old school” marketing tactics in favor of “new, improved” marketing tactics…this is my favorite myth of all. There are no new tactics. It’s ALL old school. Is blue new? No. It’s just as old as red.

Sell good stuff, and sell lots of it

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Published by: Grant Griffiths

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Just released, Headway Themes 1.7 Beta

We have been teasing everyone now for weeks about all of the cool new features coming in the next version of Headway.  And we even gave a few a sneak peek to get some feedback.  The overall reaction was WOW!  And that has been my reaction every time Clay showed me each of the new features he was adding. Below is a short list.  We will be putting out a complete change log soon.

In the meantime, those of you holding a developer’s license to Headway can go to the forums and download your very own copy. Enjoy!

Here are a few of the major changes that 1.7 brings:

Quick Start Wizard

Starting from a fresh install, the quick start wizard will show immediately after loading the visual editor. Otherwise, you can run the wizard through the Tools menu in the visual editor.

The wizard will guide you step-by-step through choosing your layout, uploading your header image, building your site’s color scheme (it’ll even detect colors from your header image!), and selecting fonts. At the end, you’ll click a button to build your site and it’ll all be done in a snap!

Column System For Leafs

Those who have a more column-based layout will find the new columns system to be incredibly beneficial. Instead of jogging all of your leafs around, you can put them into columns and move and resize the entire columns with ease. Don’t fret, the previous layout system is still present. You can specify whether or not you want columns for the particular page in the visual editor.

Styles Manager

Before Headway 1.7, Headway came with 1 layout and you had to work from there. Headway 1.7 comes with 4 pre-loaded styles in the new Styles Manager, which allows you to save and load styles. You can also import and export styles just like before, but in a much more organized way!

Leaf Templates

Instead of linking pages and being locked into the layout of the page you are linking to, you can now save your leafs (and columns) into Leaf Templates. Leaf Templates can be loaded onto any page. Once a template is loaded, you can modify it just like any regular page.

Automatic Upgrades

Even though we think all of the other features in 1.7 are incredibly cool, we REALLY think this one is cool . No longer do you have to go to the Headway site, download the latest version, upload it, and activate it. Oh, and if you ever did any custom.css or used the custom folder in Headway, you won’t have to worry about transferring that to the new installation either. The automatic upgrader does it all with only a few clicks!

HUGE Speed Improvements and Optimizations

In 1.7, we rethunk (hey, we’re from Kansas!) how many things were coded in Headway. We’ve made major improvements to the visual editor to drastically reduce the amount of conflicts from third-party plugins and also make loading the visual editor MUCH faster. Also, we completely rewrote the content leaf to be more efficient and more stable than before.

Feature Removal: Photo Gallery Leaf

This was a difficult consensus to reach amongst the team here, but we decided it would be best to remove the Photo Gallery leaf from the Headway core. We felt that the leaf was too complex to be in core. Also, the photo gallery was the only leaf that used the advanced leafs panel, making that a waste of space in the admin panel. If you’re screaming at us now, don’t worry! If you use the Photo Gallery leaf on your website (or wish to use it anyway), you will be able to download the leaf from the Headway Marketplace for free.

Download your copy of Headway 1.7 Beta here.

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Writing for your Right People

I post daily, and this post is always the hardest one I write every month. Here’s the comparative process:

Writing for my blog

Get up, load up the New post window, stare at it for 1-2 minutes while I come up with an idea, mentally write the structure while choosing an image, easily write 600 or so words, publish and done. Total time taken: 35 minutes or so.

Writing for someone else’s blog

Review recent posts to make sure I’m not duplicating, stare at the screen for ten minutes with no inspiration, wander around the house pulling weeds and ruminating for three-quarters of an hour, finally come up with an idea, spend another fifteen minutes thinking about how to structure the post, come inside, stare at the screen for another couple of minutes, slowly and hesitantly start writing. (Progress is slow due to a lot more second-guessing and reviewing and deleting.) Schedule and done. Total time: 3 hours or so.

Why is it so different?

When I write for my blog, I’m writing for my Right People. I know what they want to know about, the right tone to choose, how to pull ideas together, what problems they’re wrestling with. To come up with the germinating idea for a post, all I need to do is think about the emails and comments of the last few days, a consulting session, an exasperated tweet, or a new pattern I’ve noticed.

When writing, I know how to phrase ideas so they will be effective. I know what cultural references will engage them, and which will make them say, “Wha?”. I know what tone to use, what specific language triggers are useful, and when not to push.

In short, I am plugged into my Right People. My instincts have been honed until they’re spot-on.

When I’m NOT writing for my Right People…

When writing for someone else’s blog, I have to figure out all this stuff the hard way. Have you ever tried a physical skill that’s not in your muscle memory yet, like riding a motorbike for the first time? It’s so awkward and intensive. There’s no flow, just a buttload of hard hard work as you laboriously go through the steps.

It’s still doable (as proven by the fact that I’m still here) but it never gets easy. And generally speaking, the hard posts are less effective for the readers, too, the same way that a new skiier is less fun to watch than a more experienced one. There are awkward jerks. There are lapses. And many people fall over on their butts.

Can I mention your Right People again?

Seriously, this is where it’s at. I haven’t even begun to talk about the benefits in terms of creating and promoting your products, building communities, simpler branding, or satisfaction! Once you find your Right People everything just starts to flow: posts, comments, and cash.

Who are your Right People? Tell me in the comments!

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Published by: Grant Griffiths

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10 Ways To Get More Comments On Your Blog Posts

I know exactly what you are going through.  Anyone that is blogging and has been blogging for any length of time understands too.  You write what you think is a kiss butt post.  You do all the right things.  The new post brings in traffic so you have the feeling people are reading the post.  But, you received only a few comments if you received any at all.

Don’t dispair and don’t give up.  For the most part, you haven’t done anything wrong. After all, you are well ahead of most who are blogging.  You are at least posting good stuff. And your problem is not uncommon at all either.  I first wrote about this very topic here and here.  And yes, I am going to repeat some of what I already wrote before. This is a topic which is brought up daily and I want you to get comments.

How to get comments on your blog post

1.  Ask for them

Seriously, this is one way to get comments too many of us forget to use. Not rocket science by any means.  But, it is the first step in getting comments.  Simply invite your readers to leave comments by just asking.

When I end most of my post, I use some key words I try to live by, “lets keep the conversation going.”  This conversation is one of the huge advantages a blog has for both the business owner and your readers.  The cornerstone to blogging is the fact it is a web site where you have the ability as a business owner to carry on a conversation with your readers.  The conversation you can have provides you an openness and transparency that can create trust and respect with your readers.  This is the same trust and respect which we hope will turn those readers into customers.

Want your readers to comment, ask!

2.  Ask questions and seek opinions

How many people are going to ignore the opportunity to give their opinion?  Very few as we all think ours is the best.  In addition, asking questions in a post can be construed as an indication you might need some help.  And people just have a natural urge to help by answering questions.

For example, at the end of this post I am going to ask you a question, “how do you get comments on your blog post?”  Ask questions, you just might get some answers.  And best of all, those answers you are getting can become fodder for future post too.

You can also ask questions in the post title and in sub-headings in the post.  The key is to just ask.

3.  Comment on the comments you are getting on your blog

In other words, participate in the conversation you started and reply to the comments.  Your responsibility as the blogger does not stop when you hit the post/publish button and send your post to your blog.  If you expect to get comments, you have to participate in the conversation too.  How can you expect your readers to engage in the conversation if you don’t.  Yes, you started the conversation with the post.  But, don’t let it die there.  Engage your audience.

I try to make it a point to respond to as many of the comments we get here on Blog For Profit.  If you have taken the time to stop what you are doing to read one of our post and leave a comment, I feel we have an obligation to do the same back.  If you are not getting comments, stop and ask yourself if you are responding to the comments you do get.  If you are not, then why should your readers leave any in the first place?

4.  Allow your readers to subscribe to comments

Giving your readers a way to subscribe to comments gets them involved in the conversation and engaged in it too.  Hopefully they will come back and continue to take part in the conversation as others comment on your post.

On this blog, we use the Disqus commenting system and I love it.  Disqus gives our readers two ways to subscribe to comments, RSS or email.  Another popular tool is Subscribe to Comments which is a WordPress plugin.  I know both of these tools work as I subscribe to comments myself to see if anyone might respond to a post I have left a comment on.  Remember, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to engage in the conversation.

5.  Give your commenters something in return for leaving a comment

Keep in mind, people leave comments on your blog for at least two reasons.  One, they want to leave a comment because they do want to get involved in the conversation.  Two, they leave comments to get noticed.  There are tools you can use which allow you to give both of these commenters something in return for engaging in the conversation.

As I mentioned above, we use the Disqus system.  And with Disqus comes a pretty cool widget you can put in your sidebar which gives your commenter some credit with a link to their own site.

I know first hand these type of tools work for your commenters.  I personally get traffic from sites who use one which I have commented on.  Once you have them setup, it is really a no brainer way of giving credit where credit is due.

6.  Don’t require your readers to register to comment

If you want to see me blow a gasket, require me to register to comment.  Actually, a better way to show you my dislike for registering to leave a comment is the simple fact, I won’t.  And most busy bloggers won’t take the time to register either.  All you are doing by requiring commenters to register is driving away comments and killing the conversation before it even gets started.

And don’t use those stupid CAPTCHA spam filters either.  For one thing, spammers are finding ways around them.  And two, they are a pain in the butt for the commenters too.  There have been a number of times I have tried to enter the required letters and it does not work.

If you make it difficult for your readers to comment, they won’t. It is your responsibility as the blogger to moderate your comments anyway. See number 7 coming up.

7. Moderate your comments and take care of spam

Instead of using the two methods we discussed in #6, you should be moderating your comments as they come in.  Once again, my favorite comment tool comes into play here.  Disqus has a great way to moderate comments. You can even do this using your email.  And I can also say that my spam comments have decreased since I started to use Disqus.

Another great tool for spam is Akismet.  I also have this activated on this blog.  Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not.  You can also moderate those comments it sends to spam or not.

Oh, and moderate your comments.  Don’t allow them to publish until you have checked them all to make sure they are proper for your blog. Yes, this is going to take some time and effort on your part.

I and a lot of other bloggers I know moderate our comments. And we do so because we want to protect our readers.  We also don’t want some of the crap some put in comments to be on our blogs.  Your readers will appreciate the fact you are moderating comments and they will feel you are paying attention too.

8.  Stir the pot and be controversial from time to time

Everyone of your readers have a topic they are passionate about.  As you do.  Don’t be afraid to get the “juices” flowing by bringing up such topics and giving your take on it.

I have found when I do a post that might be a bit controversial or where I am calling someone or something out, I get a lot of comments.  Just be careful.  While some of your readers may appreciate this.  Others may be turned off and not come back.

One such post I did a few weeks ago was called, Don’t be a blogging whore — Stop asking for links! That post generated some great comments and some great conversations on twitter too.

Also, be very very careful talking about politics or religion.  Two topics that most likely should not be discussed on a business blog.

9.  Don’t give them all the answers in the blog post

Leave it open and don’t say everything that needs to be said on the topic you are writing about.  But, don’t be too eager to leave too much out.  Your post may not make any sense if you leave too much out.  But if you leave room for your readers to add to the conversation, they will do so.

10.  Make sure commenting is easy

And just as important, make sure you allow comments.  I do moderate comments as we discussed above.  I do this to control spam. I never not post a comment just because someone may disagree with me.  I don’t post comments that do nothing but flame a commenter or a guest poster.  I know it sounds like a no brainer that you have to allow comments to get comments. I added this one as number 10 because there is and will continue to be an ongoing conversation in the blog world about comments being on or off.

Comments are not road kill.  And for a business blog, comments are a gold mine of interaction between you and your intended audience.  Allow them, moderate them and engage in the conversation they bring to your blog too.

Now it is your turn. How do you get comments on your own post?

What are some of the ways you use to get comments on your blog post?  And don’t be shy.  Especially if there are ways you have found which are not listed in the list above.  Let’s keep the conversation going!

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Running for Your Blog… (Or is that Running Away From It?)

I recently started running in the evenings as a way to get some exercise after sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time.  Now, I should tell you right from the beginning that I hate running.  I have always found it difficult and tedious, and I would much rather do just about anything else to get exercise; but my schedule doesn’t allow for team sports, I’ve never been able to motivate myself to get to the gym, and there aren’t any good bike trails near my house… so running it has to be.

You might think that blogging and running aren’t really related, but a couple weeks after I started running I noticed something interesting happen: I started getting ideas. While my body was doggedly keeping the pace and my conscious mind was focused on breathing evenly (as opposed to gasping for breath and falling to the ground in exhaustion)—my subconscious mind was running amok!

I was suddenly remembering things I hadn’t thought of in years, making connections that seemed completely random and exploring ideas I would normally dismiss out of hand.  By keeping occupied my body and my conscious mind (the Spock-like part of it that usually says “that idea is completely illogical.”) I was giving my subconscious mind permission to follow those crazy and illogical threads and see where they ended up.

Half the time those crazy threads don’t go anywhere—they are illogical, and they drift off into the ether never to be seen again. But sometimes, sometimes… they lead to great ideas, powerful breakthroughs or keen insights.  Sometimes illogical is just what I need to give my creative process a kick in the butt.  And regardless of whether I’ve had insights or breakthroughs or a foray into the completely ridiculous, I always come back from a run feeling mentally refreshed; the exercise jump-starts my brain.

Obviously I can’t say that running is going to improve your blogging—it might not be your cup of tea.  But I can assure you that by taking regular breaks from your business and your blogging to allow yourself to zone out—and by this I mean occupying your body and conscious mind, I don’t mean sitting in front of the T.V. or surfing the internet—you will see an improvement in your work.  You will have better focus, more creativity, and clarity of mind.

So I hereby give you permission (if you ever needed it) to put down your work, step away from the computer, loosen your tie and go play.  Go run, jump, spin, stretch, daydream, brainstorm, whatever.  Utilize your body and free your mind.

(And once you’ve done that, dear reader, and you return refreshed and eager again, please come back and leave a comment letting me know which activity works for you.  For me it’s obviously running, but I’d love to hear what works for others: hiking, driving, knitting, gardening—the possibilities for the therapeutic mental zone-out must be endless.)

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