The promises of old-school MLM and “life-long” residual income are all but dead for the average person in this industry. They have been cut down at the knees by an unlikely culprit whom you need to know about. This Letter Tells All. Frankly, When My Friend Showed It To Me, It Made My Stomach Churn.
We bloggers love our WordPress blogs! Me, I’m already planning another blog site and going a little crazy that I haven’t got more time or resources to manage a bunch of sites yet!
I read a great blog today on Copyblogger.com which offered great tips to get over your struggle to find something to say in articles or on your blog and which led me to share some of my own simple tips on getting over writer’s block and creating the kind of blog your reader wants to come back to.
Copyblogger’s first tip on writing content for blogs is a personal favourite of mine, because it’s kind of like the speed-dater’s approach to getting over word-shyness and is a great ‘brain-storming’ technique. The idea is to give yourself a short time slot to write as much as you ca,n about any given topic or topics, which works because it focusses on the AMOUNT you write, rather than the QUALITY. Freed from worry about whether what you write is ‘good enough’ just allows the free-flow of your expressing own thoughts, however they come out on paper.
So if you worry about your own writing, go and get a piece of paper and pen, or open a new word document on your P.C. and set your timer on your watch or phone for about three minutes and just START to write whatever comes into your head!
The idea is to not focus on the results, but to just get into the physical act of putting pen to paper or fingers to keys. The trick here, is to write as if talking to someone you know well, like a friend or family member. Ask yourself, are you afraid of talking to your best friend and saying what you really think? Probably not. So for this exercise, pretend you are speaking directly to someone who is already listening to you in your real life. Chances are when you have finished writing, you will have written some pretty good basic ideas on which to build a decent blog.
Being natural is what will interest people enough to read what you have to say. We all like to feel as relaxed as we can in any new social situation, even if it is only trawling the internet from the safety of our living room! So, be yourself and you will attract other people thinking along the same lines as yourself or wanting to learn about the information and ideas you are sharing. This is a mental hurdle you can practise your way over.
Another adaptation of this simple writing exercise for those a little more comfortable with their own ideas, or for when you are progressing, but still needing to build confidence in your own ability to say something ‘worth reading’ by others, is to think of a specific topic first off that you would like to talk about a little more at length, before you put pen to paper. Then give yourself ten seconds and NO MORE to come up with THREE key words, phrases or concepts involved with your idea. That done, start the clock again and repeat the first exercise, but this time giving yourself five minutes and using your key terms, with one of them being used at least twice in your text.
If you are want to be a little more confident people actually want to read your material, then you can always cheat and borrow the words off Google’s free online Keyword tool and use these terms which other people are using to search with, when they go online to look for your chosen topic. Use Google key word suggestions to ‘speak your mind with. This way, you can select those terms which suit you and which you would like to use to attract visitors to your site with.
The other good thing about this second method is that it gets you used to writing within the ‘frame of reference’ of your ideal readers. So, if 10,000 people locally are looking to find out about ‘grooming my dog’, according to the Google tool, then putting these words into your writing is not only going to give you practice of writing for its own sakes, but it can boost your confidence in terms of being able to speak to those people who search for information on your canine care blog topic anyway.
When you are done, your next step is to put it out there in a safe environment for feedback. If you are not ready to ‘publish’ on your blog yet, read your article aloud to someone whose opinion you trust. This way both you and they get to hear your voice and you can learn a lot just by hearing yourself speak. Don’t worry about stopping and tweaking; it’s all good.
The important part of sharing your writing with another, is that this person has to tell you truthfully whether what you say sounds like you! Simple as… If they think it does not sound natural, or quite right, then your next step is to put the paper down and just speak aloud for a few minutes on the same topic, (referring to words or phrases you have written down already if you need to). Get your friend to then scribble down which words or phrases they like as you speak and then give you feedback on why they liked these parts of your mini-speech.
This two way dialogue is how we naturally ‘find our voice’ during normal conversations as we grow up, without the fear we may attach to our ability to write those ideas down. The trouble comes in the voices we have in our own heads about what we have written in the past. Just for a moment, think back to the red scrawl your English teacher penned all over what you thought was a really good piece of work and how crushed you felt. It felt pretty crappy, right? Chances are there was part of you deciding right then that writing was not for you.
Sadly, many people bring this rubbish about ‘rules’ of writing through to writing on their blog.
NEWSFLASH! The world has changed since then, thank goodness! So WHO CARES about old fashioned rules? They do not apply to blogging!
Writing conventional, formal articles is fine, once you develop and want your work syndicated on Article Directories or when you want to produce a press release for the launch of your latest service or product, but at this stage your focus should be purely on YOU feeling O.K. to speak freely and clearly. Nobody is going to criticise you heavily at this point. On a blog, they will merely hit the back button on their computer and you will never know they were even there. Even if they do leave negative comments, chances are they will be drowned out by the positive feedback anyway, OR they will even actually offer constructive advice and you can continue to learn from your new fans… even better.
Copyblogger sums it up perfectly here:
“Yes, writing must communicate a message, and to that end the conventions of standard English are important. But in many instances, those rules actually hinder our ability to create a realistic voice… the rules of our language evolved over time with the specific purpose of creating clarity. If breaking a rule will enhance the clarity of their writing, then they should break it — and so should you.”
So for instance, your teachers taught you that a ‘paragraph’ meant a few sentences put together before you left a space for the next subject.
RUBBISH!
It all depends is the truth here. The short answer to this ‘rule’, is that you OWN your blog, so you can say what you want. So for instance, I just highlighted my personal response to an idea about ‘accepted’ rules of writing in a line and paragraph all of its own, by saying “Rubbish!”… I wanted your attention focussed on my opinion… and that is fine…Did you get irritated when you saw me doing it? (If you did, then need to get with the program here!)
As for all the ‘dot, dot, dot’, stuff I often use in my own blogs, we never got much of that in our school essays without being told to complete our ideas or to put it ‘in quotes’. I put them in my blog because I want my readers to fill in the gaps for themselves as they read, so I am not just talking to them, I am acknowledging that they may also have a reaction to what I say and I am making room for that… Make sense? : )
So writing fragments rather than complete sentences might break the received wisdom of writing in traditions of written English, but like adding an apostrophe (‘) or missing out letters of words to speak with a regional accent in colloquial English, breaking and bending rules of writing is GOOD. It conveys YOUR personality, which is after all, what people like to connect with when they choose to hear YOUR voice over the next blogger.
Your blog is written with YOUR rule book. It’s your party and you can blog, blawg or blarg… if you want to! Forget the rules. Write in your own way, without worrying about correctness and then re-read it. If it sounds good to you, it is because it SOUNDS like you and will sound good to someone else (or why else would people bother speaking to you day-to-day at all?!)
O.K. So now you are moving from a few short paragraphs hastily thrown down in five minute bursts and you are now wondering WHAT you can possibly write 500 words or more about. First piece of advice, take a deep breath and ask yourself if you ever went on and on at somebody about a subject you cared about and which you thought you had a valid opinion on. You opened your mouth and came out with it until you had made your point, right?
So, what is so different about finding a subject about which you are passionateand putting that passion to paper? Mine’s reading and writing, in case you had not guessed already! So much so, believe it or not, we are currently at over 1,000 words. OK, perhaps I have had a bit more practice, but the point here is that all I am doing is speaking digitally to you about a subject I know something about. And THIS is YOUR KEY to writing what other people WANT to read.
If you are not confident about knowing ENOUGH, then simply do a search online for other people blogging about what you are interested in. Copy and paste tit-bits and then re-write them (DON’T COPY OTHER PEOPLE FOLKS! You will not gain popularity for that!). Do your research. Look up some facts and start sticking the bits together in a way you would explain about a new subject to your best friend, so that they follow you and understand what you are telling them even though they perhaps knew nothing about the subject before.
One of my teachers advised me at school to write about a subject assuming the reader knows nothing. This advice stood me in good stead for years. I still apply that principle partly, but also I assume that the reader of my blog knows something, or they would not even be interested enough to visit in the first place. People sometimes just need gentle coaxing to remind them of stuff they know already, but perhaps have forgotten.
Remember that rule of writing you were told about not repeating yourself? Well here’s another rule you can throw out if writing online. Guess what? Your friend does not always ‘get it’ the first time you tell them something new, so sometimes you have to translate what you are saying by paraphrasing into words they can understand. You make it SIMPLE and GIVE EXAMPLES from your own life perhaps: “Remember that time when…well that’s what this is.”
So by now, you are rocking and roller-penning! You are almost there! Gradually getting all unblocked and blogged-up! (There’s another freedom I permit myself in blogging right there… the liberty to make up your own new expressions or words that folk will understand and enjoy… Us bloggers LOVE creativity!)
I love learning new words…
ANORAK CONFESSION: I love it when the Oxford English Dictionary up-dates their latest edition annually and hearing their latest additions that have entered our everyday language. I remember when ‘skanking’ was included and the officionados wanted a definition, so they called on the poet, Linton Kwesi Johnson. He turned up with his ghetto blaster, switched on a killer reggae song and proceeded to skank for about five minutes. When the reggae song finished, he turned to the lexicographers and said: “now describe that!”. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall; it always makes me laugh when I picture it.
But I digress (because I can without fear of red penned lines across my page!) The point is, you can say what you like as long as you are getting your ideas across and speaking as yourself, with your own true perspective and your own voice. We can all tell a faker when we hear one; the same applies to the written word. If it is not in your own voice, people will generally know and this is off-putting amongst the bloggerati.
I am saying this also because I recently had my own personal revelation about writing… Now reader, I think I am lucky… I was a curious child and read far too many books than was healthy for one who could have been climbing walls and showing off how clever I was with other kids… I kept a diary as a child and wrote letters to friends of family abroad. I felt O.K. to say my own stuff… I was fearless. It didn’t matter even if the words were a little jumbled, as long as I got the news across. The thing is I was RELAXED with what I wrote for the most part and felt ok to be myself. This is the heart of many peoples’ writer’s block.
It is this psychological hurdle you have to simply write your way out ofby just doing it. The first time I made cheesecake, it was pretty disgusting and fell to pieces as you tried to eat it. The next time was marginally better, but still didn’t taste great. I was never going to be a great cake baker, but I improved with practice. could probably do a half-decent one now if I put my mind to it. What’s interesting though is that I do not enjoy everyone’s cheesecake either: too sweet, too buttery, too rich… But my sister… well now… it’s what she loves doing and she makes cheescake to die for… It’s all a matter of practised skills and taste.
So, my tips for getting over blogger’s block: Firstly, find a subject with which you are comfortable; if you are passionate, even better, you will research it and become an expert people seek out. Second: Practise being that ‘passionate pen’. People appreciate it, the more real you are. Third: Ask readers for feedback. Fourth: BREAK THE RULES and limits you didn’t realise you had set up in your mind all those years back. They no longer apply. The more renegade you are as a writer, the more irresistably readable you become to a growing number of fans.
Welcome to the world of blogger’s writes! Have fun!
Such a cool education video for this girly time I am having in my life again
If anyone ever doubted their capacity to effect the lives of those less fortunate and lift them into a better life, here’s your food for thought………
Sometimes I get a little weary of affirmations which trip off the tongue and whilst having some powerful motivational value, can over the longer term, serve to undermine that very drive their advocate seeks to stimulate. So, it has been that occasionally on days when I am taking a step back to look at the big picture, in true passive-aggressive personality style, I look for potential pit-falls, as well as calculating the value of what would otherwise be purely ‘positive affirmations’.
When I first heard “Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win” it gave me a real rush of “let’s do it” hormones. It was a phrase I boosted my activity with when I felt somewhat over-whelmed by a steep learning curve. I still like it enough to find myself repeating it internally, when frustrated by one challenge or another.
Nevertheless, life is never simple, so whilst I am all for seeing my glass ‘half-full’, let’s be realistic… When taken in context of the fuller picture, singing ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ and carrying on regardless is just going to get you further into deep water. So for instance, we can tell ourselves little lies in order to maintain the status quo, because the familiar is comfortable and predictable for us, when what we need more than anything is to step out of a potentially destructive relationship with whatever activity, person or business we are involved with.
This fact extends to you and your business. In the words of Perry Marshall:
” Let’s get something straight: Some businesses don’t work. Some enterprises aren’t worth doing. Some products are so weak that nothing can save them. Some ventures are doomed from the start, and even if they *appear* to be worthwhile.”
I recommend that as single business owners, without any team, you adopt two or three marketing strategies that you are comfortable with and can build on your learning with, only moving onto new marketing strategies, when you have consolidated those initial techniques. As a newbie entrepreneur, you need to be checking and testing your results for whether you are successfully building your list with your tecniques. If you tweak and alter a particular technique, like video marketing, but are just not getting clicks to your site, you either need to learn from other video marketers or think of something else, because, sexy as video is, it just isn’t your forte perhaps. You can always come back to it, having mastered an easier marketing method.
The reality in terms of your results achieved should serve to sharpen your mind and allow you to let go of sentimental attachments to situations or strategies which no longer serve their purpose. In business, we must regularly evaluate whether the good outweighs the bad, with a constant eye to the bottom line. Knowing when to cut our losses or move on is not necessarily about ‘being a quitter’. Having the strength to make uncomfortable decisions is a strength.
If your business is not profitable, it’s time to take a long hard look at what you are in it for. If however, you are ‘moving on’ because in reality, you were just not prepared to learn from mistakes, then you will find yourself in exactly the same mess further down the line in another failing business.
If you sincerely believe that you are on the right track and need to just get through some practical obstacles, but feel like running away because it’s all ‘just too much’ (We’ve all been there), this is the time to say “Winners never quit, quitters never win!”
It’s natural to have days when we call into question the direction we are going in and is even healthy to do so, rather than burying our heads and telling ourselves “It’s fine. It will be alright” knowing full well that your doubt has been daily now for over a month!
Effective business management in terms of our marketing means looking at the real numbers and results to differentiate between successful and losing propositions. Are you looking at your CTR and analysing the cost of acquiring customers to get down to the true cost of your business and overheads, for instance?
If the amount of work and time involved, taken with the true cost of achieving sales is devaluing your time and eating into profit margins, it’s time to drop the destructive habit and learn from it before finding a better option. So if you ‘quit’ and gain by that, how can you be a loser? People quit bad habits daily, why not apply this same evaluation process to your business and marketing?
OK Here I want to get into some of the nitty gritty of search engine optimisation for your website, which I have been implementing little by little over the past year, since starting my blog with the help of a Judo and SEO partnership, who go by the name of Ferny and Ray of SEO Networker. (That’s this pair of masters of manoeuvrings in the picture here! Seriously, you want to listen to these guys!)
So, first off, I want to offer my linkiest love toFerny Ceballos and Ray Fongfor their no-nonsense, easy to learn approach to teaching on the subject of SEO. (Let’s face it, when I run into them one day, I want to be on their good side! ; D )
I am no techy gal – although I am working on my propellor headset in my home office work-shop daily and Ray and Ferny graduated as techy types and should probably be developing a franchise on serious head-kit!
To give some of you technophobes some comfort here, before starting my own blog, I knew basic Microsoft software applications for general office use. You know: Word, Excel, Outlook and even a bit of powerpoint. OK for some, even that is pretty advanced, but I became confident to learn new techy skills only through a history of continually learning something new over the years. I grew professionally alongside Microsoft’s evolution from about Version 3.0 (in fact I learnt about computers when they were still analogue with black screens and lovely green text in the early days!). Apple is still a mystery to me!
Trust me when I say there are still occasionally days when I want to launch my lap top out of the window. Nevertheless, it is crucial to stay ahead of the competition online if you are serious about building your business empire from your home. These days though mainly I get a lot of actual FUN out of learning something new that simplifies work I do or enhances it in some way. (Simple pleasures like getting the gap right between image and text for instance! lol) Seriously, though I am just constantly amazed at how simple solutions can be these days to do extraordinary things in terms of speaking to complete strangers on the other side of the world, just because you learnt some new tool today… I love it…even the stuff that still foxes me!
So today, I am going to start to really focus on my SEO. ( I go into the reasons why this is important in previous blogs on this site and if you need any more reasons, click the links in this blog to SEO Networker for the big picture.
Today’s blog is a lead on from my own learning about the importance of search engine optimised KEY WORDS for attracting website traffic and making Google rank you as popular and relevant with the online answer seeker. Learning the SEO of keywords was my first hook into the technical side of how our web-site content links with the spiders on Mars (Bowie was always ahead of his time, right?!) For further information on Key Word Optimisation, check out my blogs and articles on key word optimisation.
So now, let’s look at your web-pages from Google’s perspective… you need Google love as much as website crowd worship, after all if you want to rank in that top half of the search results, you need to give the Gods of google good reason to rank you as worth loving.
So your starting point for entering the mysterious nether world of technical stuff, is that you need to be aware that in the code used on your website – HTML -there are particular structures and elements of your site picked out for special Google attention i.e. it is in this structure and language that your site is broken down for Google to check over in its preferred way to see if you are worthy.
So today’s learning is about How To Use Keywords in HTML generated structures such as:
Title Tags : Definition – on the search engine results page when a seeker types in their search terms, the TITLE TAG is the BOLD heading (title) in each of the page listings which show up. ( It is also what appears at the top of your page when the seeker clicks through to you; it is situated in the browser.) It is what the searcher sees at the very top of the page, confirming the logical progression from their findings in their search, so they know they are in the right place. Try it for yourself… I would put in graphics here, but Jing just changed the rules on me, so for now at least if you see the top of this page, you might see ‘Be Do Have People’ at the very top of your screen.
Meta descriptions: i.e. your sub-heading / description / page or site big (meta) overview, which tells the seeker more of what they can expect if they click through onto your site. This sits below your title tag, described above. The point here is to make this COMPELLING with your key words. What you are aiming for is to generate interest here to get the click through. With plug ins such as AllInOneSEOPlugin, you can begin to get some more flexibility and control on your Title Tags and Meta Descriptions.
Header tags (H1, H2 and H3 Tags). The H1 is the big attention grabbing headline at the top of the page you click through to E.G. “The SIX BIG SECRETS OF SEO MY UPLINE NEVER KNEW UNTIL RAY AND FERNY THREW THEIR HEAVY-WEIGHT SCIENCE TRAINING AROUND IN AUTOMATING MARKETING ONLINE – you get the picture… Self-explanatory, then that H2 and H3 are sub headers drawing the reader into the ‘sales page’ and further into a sales funnel.
Spread key words throughout all of the above structures and over pages in articles and content. Now, this is both ART and SCIENCE. Don’t stuff your pages with lots of different terms. Each page can focus on ONE word or up to five, but NO MORE. The aim is to rank your page for that key term. Increasing the key terms to up to five spreads the risk, but also dilutes impact.
Get up to ten keywords which are relevant for your site Insert these terms as naturally as possible, spreading them into your page contents (Go after one key term per page). The point of doing this is that the flow of reading throughout your site will seem natural. If the reader’s experience of reading is not smoothly transitioning them to act on your information, Google will know how little time your visitor spends with you and your quality score is effected.
You see, here’s a little known secret, that only the geeks over at the Google HQ and their cousins at Bing and Yahoo whisper to each other about. It’s all about the LOVE! If your visitor is liking spending time with you, then their match-making has all been successful. Search Engine bots want to see you getting on with your new friends and lovers!
Fortunately, WordPress makes Search Engine Optimisation basics easy with features such as Tags and and allowing you to classify your content into subcategory of topics. WordPress developers are also romantics at heart under those sturdy anoraks you see…
Now, from listening to these gurus of Search Engine Love, my site includes All in One SEO plugin; this plugin makes putting in Title Tags and Meta Descriptions easy on WordPress blog (in fact they are not even described in these terms; the plug in is VERY user friendly. This was one of the greatest techy plugin tips I got from one training session with Ferny and Ray.
On Page Organisation: Another element of your ‘On-Page Optimisation‘. SEO Networker takes you through the steps to making it easy to navigate and link to form outside, because of your set up internally on your site. The important thing here is to organise your pages neatly always with your least techy user in mind. Make movement around your site EASY and ACCESSIBLE. People do not want to work too hard. Your website blog page categories for instance narrow the focus e.g. Network Marketing Training may be your main theme; then sub-topics can include: advertising, industry news, lead generation, companies, background or context / tools, etc.
Organise for Google spiders and your human readers i.e. Be USER FRIENDLY TO CUSTOMERS! If Google, Yahoo and Bing know your market, you will also be listed for more keywords as reward for your attention to detail here. Your website should reflect your market, so your articles and pages will show up for more terms.
The bottom line is that people will find what they are looking for because your navigation links are made easier and spend more time on your site and even send links.
The second part of your SEO learning is not just about attracting traffic, but also that all important income generation function of your web-site; you need to consider is how to CONVERT the visitor with a compelling Opt In offer once you have their attention. You want people to value your content and find it easier to take steps as they do their research on your web-site, with your well-written and connected content which gives them the confidence to then take the next step towards getting out their credit card…
Link Building: If monetising your visitor is one return on investment of time spent on SEO set up, then Link Love from fans is another pay off you are looking for. Linking is like digital voting i.e. this is how people want to link to you and so Google ranks you higher; it’s a bit like paying Google for Pay Per Click advertisements, only you are FREELY rewarded for the number of links you are granted by your fans.
Google spiders crawl links from e.g. your social media profile, article directories, website partnerships. So aim to GET MORE VOTES or TESTIMONIALS. Google thinks this is a social thing happening because you are popular and rewards you with Google love… (ranking)
Aim to get a mixture of artificial and natural votes. Google puts wight on links differentially. (Social media, other website, article directory, etc.). Consider: Where is the link pointing to? Is the link relevant to the page it points to? So, for instance at one time George Bush used to rank for a ‘Miserable Failure’ , because of external links in anchor text, but the link needs to be relevant these days, as Google now considers this. Other factors Google takes into account are: Is it a reciprocal link? Did you trade links? One way links are better than two way, but reciprocal links are still good.
Anchor Text and Destination; the clickable link should use your RELEVANT keyword and take the viewer to your relevant page. Your goal is to point to most relevant web page, as I have done elsewhere in this blog. If the subject is generic, point to your home page; this is ok. For more specific topics, point the anchor link to a specific page. Insertion of links to generate click through, without making them relevant risks click back and Google penalising you.
Quality Links: Your aim needs to be to get quality links form a related website. Partner up with e.g. an multi-level marketing news blog, i.e. so there is not competition. Agree to share content on each others sites. How this works is to perhaps publish an article onto someone’s site and then put an anchor link back to your pages.
Publish content externally on article directories, press release sites, or Squidoo. Put two or three links if possible in there pointing back to your pages. There are thousands of directories to choose from, publish on multiple directories. When it comes to MLM there is not much competition out there in this field.
Social Media Links: Aim to achieve Syndication via social media channels; this provides an opportunity to create links back. So for instance, utilise: You tube, digg.com, delicious.com. ShareThis.com Publish content and link to website. Give people an opportunity to share your content.
LEARN TO USE WIDGETS such as social bookmarks on your site. Yes this requires copying and pasting code, but for WordPress blogs it’s simple.
TODAY’S IMPLEMENTATION ACTION STEPS: Research and fix any widget issues on blog for syndication. Take a look at All In One SEO plugin or others out there which automate some of the techy processes for you. See if other bloggers rank the plugins before you install as I have learnt form painful experience that some drastically alter the functioning of your computer…
Next: Organise your content neatly. Start to set up your Categories on your WordPress Blog and Sub-Categories.
Put these tasks into some kind of schedule if you are a bit hap hazard or lacksadaisical on this front.On my ‘RememberTheMilk’ memo’s to me, I schedule ‘Widget Wednesday’ to tackle the techier side of web-mastery. That way, I remember to do something I might otherwise avoid, but giving it a user friendly name and regular slot in my week, it will get done…
Let me know how you get on : ) I’d be interested to know whether men and women favour taking on which tasks first. Try to move out of your comfort zone and do the trickier one first then reward yourself with the apparently easier one. (Having done a tonne of administrative roles over the years, tidying up is too easy for me; it’s the techier side I find more challenging!) Have Fun!If it isn’t fun yet, commit to learning from the guys at SEO Networker who know how to teach SEO in an easy to learn way!
CHOICE OF KEY WORDS
There is a step before your key word research, that some marketers do not always communicate to their new team members who may be just starting to learn about the importance of this vital technical language online. Before choosing your key word terms, you need to know WHY you are doing your research, so that you understand WHAT counts.
There is a concept Raymond Fong and Ferny Ceballos of SEO Networker and Cherie Yvette of Urban Cowgirl call money key words. First off, let’s just say that these guys are at the forefront of the science and art of SEO with key words right now. If they recommend a strategy, you’d profit by implementing their suggestions.
So ‘Money Key Word Research’ is about focussing on those TOPICS and COMMON TERMS that will convert to traffic to your site, business leads and marketing revenue money. Ferny and Ray suggest beginners follow the 80-20% rule i.e. 20% of your key words will convert; Cherie quotes similar statistics for successful search terms. Adwords practice will also teach you this. So, guess what? Do your Google searches and see which PPC ads remain consistantly on Page One or high in the rankings and copy these market leaders. Find a handful of the 20% and you’ve dominated your market. Focus on regular sweeps to build up your list of money key words!
Three Simple Strategies of Search Engine Optimisation with Key Words
1. Rank for your name: Prospects will search your name before joining your opportunity to see if you are legitimate or not; control the top 10 search results for your name for credibility and status online. People want to join with a successful person. They want to know if you have something of value to offer THEM. If you cannot do your own marketing successfully, why should they join you?
2. Rank for Company / People’s Names. Stand on the shoulders of Giants. Your prospects want to join leaders, especially if you have a top tier opportunity. You have to have visibility and be associated with the best in the industry.
3. Rank for Generic Industry Terms – E.G ‘Work From Home’ / “Entrepreneurs” / “Online Businesses” / “Home Business” / “MLM” / etc for your long term strategy. This long-term strategy is easier than you think – even if you are just starting a new business online! Remember this useful fact: Statisticallythere is more traffic available through organic search than Pay Per Click!!! Because there are so many key word terms with high traffic, there’s scope for anyone to get ranking, no matter how new you are to SEO.
Key Words Gold
Some of the most targeted KWs are: multi-level marketing company names, (Amway, Herbalife, etc) multi-level marketing related products, books, courses, names of leaders, ( Eban Pagan, Donald Trump, Mike Dillard, Kim Kiyosaki etc) multi-level marketing or direct marketing hot gossip or newsy items.
Using these terms keys into where other people are up to in terms of who they are seeking to link up with or learn from. At the point that they find you through their search terms, they are doing their due diligence and CRUCIALLY are wanting to ACT on their research.
Why are these terms so profitable? Firstly the mindset of the person searching; some are online seeking solutions to a problem they have and are perhaps considering joining a company or team or considering BUYING. These seekers are your HOT PROSPECTS. So it makes sense, then that you want to capture people when they are ready to solve their problem and pay for it, as they are just doing their research.
Be aware, that in the long term you can hurt your business by pitching your business, so OFFER SOLUTIONS to their discomfort. Don’t be tempted to go for the easy option and undermine your competition or make direct comparison.
Make a list of the NEWEST companies, or those in your niche (10 or less years in existence or even 5 or less years) list multi-level marketing leaders names; list leaders’ training products, book names, training organisations, marketing systems. Chances are the leaders names are not very competitive.
E.G. Ellie Drake, etc
Amazon Key Word Research Technique
Do a search for multi-level marketing / Network Marketing and other search related terms. Compile a list of the popular books you find. These are your Key Words which are Potential Topics. You want to give value based around these. Compile these into categories and organise by group.
We are not creating an ad, we are adding value for people.
Key Words Research for Top Tier Opportunities -Money Key Words Method 2
Make a list of top tier companies, list the leaders and trainers, top tier organisations, direct sales news or gossip, top tier courses or books or systens. These are potential topics for content. Use KEY WORDs to dig deeper into the industry.
E.g. Rich Dad Company / Robert Kiyosaki / Conspiracy of the Rich / Rich Dad, Poor Dad
Trump Network / Donald Trump/ Why We Want You To Be Rich
Guru Marketing / Eban Pagan / etc
Wealth Masters International / Kip Herriage / Karl Bassey / 1% Solution / Conspiracy Against Your Money
Kim Kiyosaki / Rich Woman
You get the picture
Some of your terms will speak to a higher calibre audience than e.g. the general MLM market, so you must speak to them about their interests and concerns. Learn to use their language. Be aware there are lower quality leads but in more abundance for MLM. The reverse is true for Top Tier. But if you are in a top tier opportunity, with a higher ticket product, you are trying to attract people with money by speaking of their world and aspirations. People are looking for someone to join with who understand their pains and problems. It is also worth considering that prospects who are considering top tier opportunities have money and they have a history of investment in that sphere.
Say for instance you might want to target would be franchisers or people with an existing business, because people going buying your high ticket products or services is no big deal for this niche market.
The Good News
The differences then are thus in the marketing business models: multi-level marketing have more abundant key words and potential leads, but they are of lower quality – Versus Top tier opportunities using different key words. The key words are less abundant, as are the leads, BUT they are of a higher quality, with more investment capital available to go to the top with your opportunity.
Top Tier Sales Keywords are therefore, far less competitive than multi-level marketing search terms. In other words, there is potential for a lot of money to be earned, with little traffic and fewer key words. You just need key words that will achieve a good CTR (click through rate) andconvertto sales.
It is worth noting that many top earners in ht edirect marketing industry online will invest in AdWords to identify Money Key Words. They will test and tweak to find those which bring the highest ROI.
MLM is still an immature market with regards to Search Engine Optimisation. It is more competitive and still do-able but you need high traffic and many key words. This is an opportunity for anyone who learns the language of SEO!
So’s and Don’ts When You Implement Search Engine Optimisation…
Key Words are the building blocks of information marketing
Lots of traffic is nice, but ask yourself are they good quality leads? The right Key Words can generate a lot of income by attracting highly targeted hot prospects. Your goal is to be an information resource NOT to promote your opportunity, especially in blogs. (Hmm… yes, I’m embarrassed to admit I have done that too in the past!) So be unbiased. Ignore your opportunity and YOU. Focus on the needs of your customer. (Interestingly, this is where women online marketers are really coming into their own. They are applying these learned skills from other areas of their life to edge ahead of men these days in terms of successes of online business start ups. – See my latest blog on Forbes Women Billionaires)
Secondly, your goal of Search ENgine Optimised Key Terms is to generate the lead. On the right hand side of your blog, give them a compelling offer of a freebie or a COMPELLING USP OFFER, or place a banner in sidebar which then points to your opportunity or to your newsletter. Let your readers make their own decisions what exploration and research is right for them.
Promoting in your content, you are are seen as biased. Nobody likes to be sold. They like to decide to buy. There is a difference. You want people to share your information and to help people i.e. key word research is also about RELATIONSHIP BUILDING or ATTRACTION MARKETING. As your prospects warm to you, because you have something to offer them, you are building the foundations of a solid relationship that they will come back to for answers and to buy. Your leads are your life-blood in any business, without lead prosperity, you have no business. Getting the science and art of keyword research is about being able to pt yourself in the shoes of someone seeking answers you can provide. You too were there once, so how hard can this be?
When online marketers are building their presence online, Search Engine Optimisation can be like that irritating little medical condition that you keep ignoring and refusing to go to the doctor’s to get help with because you have “more pressing priorities”. You think: “It’s too complicated” “What if I can’t fix it” “I might need specialists to advise me and that’ll cost”. There’s a whole host of excuses to not look into getting yourself sorted out online which comes under a simple condition, I call ‘Search Engine Optimisation Anxiety Disorder’.
I’m an expert on the subject of SEO denial. I’m like the person who picks up the leaflets about that sticky problem in the surgery, but if it gets worse… I read the articles in the magazines, concluding it’s not too serious right now. Then, I’ll do a few searches onlines, all the time thinking I’ll sort this technical stuff out sometime. I will…
So if you have been there, this is for you. Let’s take this one step at a time…
Problem solving begins with thinking about what the thing is and how the future will look when you are in the peak of lead generation health right? OK.. So let’s do it… OK, well, Search Engine Optimisation is a traffic strategy for achieving higher ranking on the search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN Let’s look at the
In terms of BENEFITS of learning Search Engine Optimisation, one of the great benefits is that it not only complements any Adwords campaigns you may have started, but the main advantage over this marketing strategy is that it is free. In that sense it also complements any free online marketing strategies you are doing… Chances are you are already doing some of the healthy lead generation you need to do if you are marketing already online.
So, Search Engine Optimisation requires a shift of focus from marketers online; it is somewhat technical and people can be put off by that, but it is not too difficult to learn. And ‘no pain, no gain’, right?
Other Benefits of SEO Strategy:
* Free highly targeted, quality traffic to your website
* Attracts ongoing leads and customers because it is hard to be knocked out of your position by competitors who also suffer from Search Engine Optimisation Anxiety Disorder. So consistent ranking can be achieved through Search Engine Optimisation
* Increases chances of getting your share of the huge online profits to be had in potential traffic available online
* Difficult for competition to compete with you, because people cannot be bothered to learn something outside their comfort zone (unlike paid advertisements, where competition is hotting up all the time).
Don’t get me wrong, Adwords – i.e. sponsored ads – should be part of your marketing strategy too, especially if you have made a significant financial investment in your online business, because of the returns. The organic search content is, of course, free. Consider, this like paying for herbal remedies or aromatherapy, whilst also increasing exercise and changing your diet to get healthier!
If you know anything about how people search websites, ‘eyeball chart’ based research shows that clicks are concentrated on particular areas of web-pages; for instance, with a Google search page i.e.the viewers attention is in the top left predominantly, so to get yourself ranked highly in organic search, gives you a higher chance of achieving a better CLICK THROUGH RATE. This is the lion’s share of profits for the determined Search Engine Optimisation fit web-site owner.
Some folk may think that focussing on one marketing ‘fitness’ strategy is better than another, but online marketers need to be taking a more ‘holistic’ and integrated approach – think: marketing mix. Remember at all times, we are constantly finding new ways to enhance our lead generation health. So, whilst, not excluding paying for lead health, here’s some FREE food for thought.
Comparison on Search Engine Optimisation vs. AdWords (Pay Per Click)
* PPC costs. SEO is FREE; $0.03 – $10.00 per click through for high value key words
* Ongoing maintenance – i.e. if Google or search engine changes the rules or competitors knock you off your ranking by paying more if they are as popular and relevant as you. V. Difficult for competitors to overtake your position due to their own SEO anxiety
* Instant traffic V. Passive on-going traffic
* Forces you to optimise for conversions V. Generally more traffic through organic searches than Pay Per Click
* Focussing on two or three strategies for marketing is about right.
Rank for high value key words; Ferny Cebalos and Raymond Fong of the dynamic digital duo, ‘SEO Networker’ suggest that there could be up to twenty times more income if you get top two rankings (In Pay Per Click advertisements you can only have one postion). i.e. you can achieve 20x times more $’s per click.
If you currently do Pay Per Click, all well and good; this is after all, WAR on your competitors for high placment! You are battling with competitors who want those eyeballs and you need to be using every piece of arsenal available to you to stay at the top of search engine results, so keep doing it; it’s also good way to hone your key words by split testing and tweaking to test CTR. Once you have Converting Money Keywords, Search Engine Optimisation should be your next goal. Get free traffic for KWs that convert; maximise your exposure. This buffers you against any potential Google slap due to diversification of exposure. The slap only applies to advertising generally.
Search Engine Optimisation Anxiety Disorder and Antidote
* “TAKES A LONG TIME”.There are in fact short term strategies which require minimal research. It is possible to set up a new web-site fairly quickly, create a surge in sales and build an instant downline using various strategies together.
That being said, there are strategies for long term. These will enable you to takeover competitive markets. This lead generation strategy involves research on Key Words and your niche market. You need to be careful how you organise content on website; you need a lot of links from other websites.
* “TOO TECHNICAL”. Yes it is somewhat technical, however, if you can build a website, you can do Search Engine Optimisation . Jargon is one of the common off-putters for online marketers; it makes Search Engine Optimisation intimidating. Grassing fundamentals is not so hard however. But here’s an exercise to start with. Learn how Google works, what Google likes, e.g.: popularity, RELEVANCE. Take steps to implement these principles into the practical nuts and bolts of your site e.g. Copywriting and structure of articles, sales-letters, lead-capture pages.
5 Keys To The Search Engine Optimisation Medicine Cabinet:
1. Feel the fear and learn it anyway!
2. KEY WORDS : research what words are being searched for and what your competitors are doing. Learn about the technicalities of key word usage: density, sites currently optimised, similes, etc . The important thing to grasp is that key words searched on Gives Away Intent (prospect mindset). You must get in sync with the mind of your target market. Know what words they will key in and use them.
3. Content of your website: KEY WORDS in: title tags, descriptions, meta descriptions and content, website organisation (Don’t get hung up on these concepts…just know they are important to begin with)
4. Links form other websites. Use relevant Anchor Text, again involving key words from well ranked, complementary sites
5. Implement what you learn
As the subject of key words is a whole topic in itself, I’ll go into this in more depth on my web-site or in other articles, so if you do want to learn more on the subject, I’d love to see you over on my site sometime and feel free to fire over any questions.
Meantime, just make that commitment to yourself and the lead generation health your business. List building health is the life-blood of your profits. If you don’t pay attention to it, it’s a little like watching yourself bleed daily and telling yourself you are going to be fine! Check the banner here on my site for SEO networker is you feel you want some common sense, user-friendly extra learning from the two acknowledged leaders of this topic.
It’s that woman’s time again, coming round faster and faster the deeper into THAT time in a woman’s life that I get. So I wanted to give my readers a peep through the microscope I have looked through consistently over the years, tracing back (sometimes irregularly) back to teenage years, when hormonal righteous indignation led me to researching the wrongs done to woman kind and building my commitment to redressing the injustices and imbalances I discovered to be more common than I ever could have imagined sitting in my room merely pouting about how unfair it all was!
So, here’s my latest dip into the male-dominated under-belly… Specifically looking at wealthy women and woman business owners… the richest, in particular. First off, the only UK female billionaire, JK Rowling. Well done her from daily eating beans to hiring someone to count them for her. “But why so flippant and dismissive?”, you may ask…
Here’s why… Louisa Kroll of Forbes Woman just posted her latest in their online magazine on the ‘plight’ of women’s wealth compared to men, specifically in terms of rich women entrepreneurs . The facts and figures make powerful reading for even the hardest sceptic of feminism, holding fast to crumbling arguments that ‘women have as much opportunity as men.’ l think it’s always worth staying on top of statistical developments, to keep a truer perspective of the bigger picture…
So how are we women business owners and female entrepreneurs doing? Well, of 1,011 billionaires globally, it seems that as we crawl steadily towards the second decade of the twenty-first century, there are still only 14 women billionaires in the world, (ie rich women who have amassed personal fortunes of $1 billion or more). This accounts for a measly 2% of all self-made billionaires.
Here’s another fact I gleaned form Louisa’s Forbes Woman article: 20% of businesses, over $1 million, are women owned businesses. O.K. that’s something I guess, but the article does not make clear whether this figure is turn-over or profit. My thoughts, are that the proportion of this wealth created invested into further wealth creation strategies to build real wealthto last beyond the grave for loved ones is not likely to be hugely significant as far as I can see. Perhaps I am wrong..? Certainly, I’ll be one happy lady to earn a cool million (in sterling) as and when I get there!
So, back to the bigger question: how does womens’ entrepreneurial performance compare with our male counterpart business owners? 14 self-made women v. 665 self-made men i.e. there are nearly FIFTY men making it to become super rich, for every single woman who gets there.
What is even more interesting to me is that a significant proportion of these entrepreneurs began in partnership with brothers, or hubbies / partners, splitting roles. This confirms to me what many women will privately admit to amongst their single lady friends, i.e. that it is far harder to make it as a single woman when there are so many responsibilities and challenges to juggle, without having a hystericalectomy or cutting off from family involvement, as men apparently find it easier to do.
I remember reading the the biography of Anita Roddick of The Body Shop empire and first woman on the London Stock Exchange – now sadly no longer with us, rest her soul – and her referring to her initial meeting with her bank manager. She turned up, as herself, in homely attire and was given short shrift by him. When she later turned up ‘suitably’ attired with hubby in tow, the meeting went a lot smoother… Funny that, don’t you think?! 
Why so few women billionaires and rich women generally? Well of course, Louisa sticks to facts and avoids speculation or references to available research. (Here‘s one possible source to delve into). God forbid Forbes magazine risk alienating the more conservative readership, with potential accusations of seeming too perjorative, man-hating, radical, subjective, … (fill in the blanks). To be fair to Louisa, she does obtain a somewhat vague quote from a spokeswoman from the Centre for Women’s Business Research in the USA.
However, given hormonally-charged, feminist over-spill on this page today, the words ‘devalued‘ and ‘spread too thin by socio-economic structures built to support the advancement of men over women‘ springs to mind here…. But that’s just my opinion and thank goodness written from my specific narrow focus point in history. Another decade from now may see women entrepreneurs and women business owners proportionally in a better position and less frustration at on-going gender inequality in wealth ownership … perhaps?
My question to my reader today is this: If you could sum up in THREE words, what you think is needed to shift the balance in womens’ favour, what would you suggest? Here’s three of mine: Financial Education, Activism Oh erm, Community too (Sticking to the rules was never a strong point) ; D
“There is no scientific answer for success. You can’t define it. You’ve simply got to live it and do it.” Anita Roddick (mere multi-millionairess, but rich in so many ways!)
There’s an advertising crisis at the moment, as publications on the news-stands feel the pinch of the recession on their revenue budgets. Sales and readership are reducing, as more people go on line to get their answers. It’s a toss up for many between buying the daily or having that coffee and cake in the morning before work. In the wider business world, companies are reducing their marketing budget previously allocated to classifieds and advertorials.
We have been here before… About a decade ago, recession bit and companies experienced a drop in their sales, as belts were collectively tightened. Marketing, because poorly understood by many small and medium enterprises, is the often the first area to pull back on. Ten years ago and no doubt in every recession which has gone before, companies, unsure of the return on their investment, reigned in their budget for marketing and advertising. It was a vicious circle, as sales dropped as those same companies dropped off the radar of the consumer, distracted by the messages of their competitors heard all the more loudly in the reduced clamour.
When the economy is suffering, there’s a downward spiral that business owners feel powerless to prevent. Customers buy less, so there’s less revenue monies available for marketing, which means in turn that there’s less investment in persuading customers to buy in the first place, and eventually the ripples continue to spread into darker pools of self-fulfilling prophesies.
Unless of course your marketing has been proven to work in your business. You are confident that your marketing results are specific and measurable and you know the direct correlation between your advertising budget and your return on investment. These businesses continuing to be out there during recessionary cycles know that advertising can be both the first point of contact for new business and it is also the connection to their existing customers and more importantly, their copy-writing has delivered ‘message-to-market’.
Ironically, the reality of marketing is counter-intuitive. Whilst recession sends some businesses running for cover, in fact, innoculation by reverse psychology is needed in your marketing and it is based on this simple tenet. We create the very conditions we seek to avoid through fear. Beware of self-fulfilling prophesies. Ask any therapist and they will verify this simple cognitive principle. Transfer these same lessons which apply to individuals to organisations or businesses… In fact the outcomes might be greater via economies of scale!
Here’s another interesting psychological lesson for those gripping the advertising purse strings with white knuckles and holding on for dear life on the present roller-coater ride. Behave ‘as if’, until you get the results you desire and become the ‘thing’ / ‘person’ you wanted to be in the first place! Call it faith, belief, positive thinking… FACT: You will attract those people (or customers) who seek those qualities and the cycle of ‘poverty of thinking’ is broken, as is the financial spiral downwards for your business.
But here’s the rub. In hard times, companies cut back on advertising, when they are not fully convinced of a direct correlation to their return on investment, i.e. they fear that their hard earned returns are potentially wasted on empty marketing, so they withdraw from that business operation which they believe hurts them and in so doing shoot themselves in the foot at a time when it can really count!
So how do you get over this psychological and financial pain barrier? In short, to borrow a phrase from one of my mindset heroines, Susan Jeffers: “Feel the financial fear and face marketing facts anyway“. Look at those advertisers in your industry who are still in the marketing game in spite of recession. What are they doing? Chances are they are simply telling customers why they still need to consider buying their product, how purchasing their products or services benefits the buyer and what their particular company offers now / next week only / this coming holiday season. In short, the smart marketer will be promoting SPECIFIC FEATURES and BENEFITS they know their customers respond to, no matter what the economic climate.
Some sceptical business owners might be reading this thinking, “but that kind of advertising space COSTS!” Well, first off, remember these publications wanting your advertising custom are suffering too right now, through desperation brought on by diminishing advertising revenues. Times are hard for them too, so your business is now in a stronger negotiating position with sellers of advertising space than in otherwise normal market conditions. Tell the advertising agent you “want a ‘suck it and see’ trial run”. Then if your marketing works, they will benefit from a continued commitment from you thereafter – and you know “much of (your) custom is generated online anyway!”
Second – and this is crucial – remember if your product is so great, that the market gobbled it up before the recession hit, those hungry consumers are still out there; customers just need stronger reasons perhaps to buy now… So give them what they want… REASONS… FACTS
As a teen, I was a HUGE music-head. If I was a fan of any particular band, I wanted to know everything about them and wanted to hear EVERYTHING they produced and buy whenever I could afford it. If necessary, I saved up to indulge my passion! OK there was a blip when Roger Waters dampened my passion momentarily with ‘The Final Cut’, because he had run out of interesting ideas and the music followed suit…Still, I moved onto other musicians and bought their records instead! This is my point – Pink Floyd had nothing more to say that I wanted to hear… I haven’t bought an album by them since…The power of lyrics?
My point is this. Marketing messages should be about sharing value and information people want to know about. A loyal customer wants to indulge their passions; fresh prospects may want to find solutions to their problems that you have. Any quarter page advertising in a well-selected journal is going to get the eyeballs of your fans – old and new! Your fans are your repeat buyers who pay for your advertising! Your loyal customers are who you produce your products for, right? So take a leap of faith, invest in them and let them pay you right back!
You need to keep that love affair alive and trust in your customer’s commitment to buying from you. If you do not believe your customers have a good enough reason to act on your advertisements, you just need to re-focus your own passion and get over that fear holding you back from giving your ‘message to market’. Your repeat customers AND those you have not reached out to yet are definitely worth your marketing investment right now whilst the market is quiet.
As your competitors drop off, your opportunities to grab attention, generate fresh interest and even incite new curiosity could significantly increase your market share! When your message is clear and your target audience responds, your apparently expensive investment can more than pay for itself.
So, think afresh about what excites you about your own products or services. Make a list of features and benefits you can offer consumers, then put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Do they still want to know about what you can offer? OF COURSE they do! So: What do they want to know? Be specific! “Does it save me money?” “How much can I save by buying now?” “ Is there a unique production or delivery process involved?” “What inspired the company to create your (unique) product?” “What is the story behind the story?” But just stick to the facts and drop the frippery and fluff! Be proud of your business and share what you have to say with people who will still seek you out and plan their next purchase.
In short, information marketing can be your anti-dote to market depression if you take a more clean and clinical approach to your message delivery.
(My thanks to Perry Marshall for his marketing messages about the importance of Information Marketing which inspired this blog today – ‘Sense and Nonsense in Business To Business Marketing‘)
Direct mail, whilst one of the more time consuming methods of direct marketing, can be extremely effective for a relatively low cost – less than £0.40 in the UK. When that marketing message comes through your door, if you are not a huge brand, managed correctly, it can generate curiosity about who you are, whether they know who you are already and what you can offer that reader. It is certainly a powerful direct response marketing tool.
As the well-worn marketing tenet goes: “The fortune is in the follow up”. Direct mail is an excellent marketing strategy for following up on sales leads and keeping your company at the forefront of a prospect’s mind. I recently signed up for some information online about a conference hosted by the well-known national marketing expert, Chris Cardell. I did not sign up immediately, but a week or so later, I received what looked like a personalised and hand-written note from this marketing guru, which made me curious enough to open it up. What had got my attention, was that the script on the envelope looked as if it had been a hand written letter originally – it was of course printed, but he had the ‘novelty factor’ combined with the flattery factor: “Ooh, someone has written me a letter!”
Generating interest can also involve printing your sales message on a customised graphic post-card template, such as a money bag if the reader is being offered opportunity to win or earn money, an ironing board for the local dry cleaners; you get the picture. This of course, increases price, but it also increases eye-balls on you.
Ideally a target prospect should hear from you immediately for instance, after they have signed up for a newsletter from you and once or twice again at least that week via email if possible, whilst they are still hot prospects. Thereafter, Perry Marshall, international marketing guru to many big-hitter direct marketers out there, recommends getting in touch with your prospect at least 6 times a year.
Direct response marketing this way does not have to be expensive; with a letter and a stamp you can communicate with your target market relatively inexpensively; compare this marketing strategy to sending out brochures regularly, which can get costly. Of course, if you sell large ticket items, this might work well. One particular national home furnishing company sends out a brochure twice a year to all local domestic residences with a mail shot about offers in the local store. It must work for them to continue doing so.
Some tips Perry Marshall offers for your direct mail marketing strategy are as follows:
Letters are more effective than brochures at generating action. Sales letters are more personal than a brochure; they make the reader feel that you care about your customers’ needs. Perry Marshall claims: “A sales letter… will often generate 2-10 times as much response as just sending a brochure.” This is because the tone will be more conversational, as if you were communicating face to face and it conveys more of the personality of the small business owner. This works well, as people like to buy from people. We might love the convenience of the super-store, but we still enjoy the intimacy of corner-shopping.
A sales letter is a letter that answers Four Key Marketing Questions. AND importantly invites the prospect to do something which brings her closer to buying from you (e.g.fill in a survey in return for a limited period coupon or call the office to receive a special bonus). In other words, it gives the reader a good reason to galvanise them into action.
What differentiates a sales letter from a mere covering letter for a brochure is that a “cover letter” doesn’t say much of anything at all, except perhaps give contact details and refer the reader to the attached brochure. Confusing the two makes a difference in response rates.
That being said, choice of marketing media is not mutually exclusive. Sending a sales letter and a brochure is likely to get a greater response than merely sending out one or the other. Remember all marketing should always be part of a MIX.
Direct marketing is increasingly moving towards building relationships with your target market; i.e. ‘Attraction Marketing’ . Bear in mind that personal always gets more responses than corporate mail.
There is a massive double-glazing firm in the UK ,who are certainly a market leader for their product, but I find myself getting irritated every time I receive mail from them. I know it to be junk mail and it goes straight to the recycling bin. Their offers might be great, but I have never had contact with them and have no need for their information, as I already have double glazing I am happy with, thank you very much! Their profits must be pretty huge too in order to afford mass mail out of marketing information at least every few months and offer at least 40% price reductions! (Sure I opened it once, to analyse their marketing techniques… OK I’m an anorak!)
My point is, however, that the UK marketing guru, Chris Cardell, had a great technique – it was apparently hand-addressed in a white envelope and was written in apparent long-hand, in an unusual colour and not standardised type-font. He got my attention and held it for at least five minutes with a few pages of written persuasion! (Sorry Chris, no sale this time, but definitely in the future!)
This brings me to gimmicks…Sexy chicks, empty slogans and groovy logos do not great sales make! They may momentarily grab attention from all the competing demands on a person’s time, but if you are all style and no content, you will be binned by discerning customers who are seeking good value!
Digital donkey work automation is increasingly attractive to marketers. Owning an internet marketing business can make it tempting to use email instead of traditional mail marketing methods. Certainly you cannot dismiss this potentially powerful form of sales communication. Bear in mind, however, that if you’re dealing with people you don’t already have a relationship with, you are increasingly competing with a gazillion other digital media marketers out there stuffing in-boxes full of unwanted time wasting junk!
Sure your message may be entertaining and informative, even making compelling offers, but put yourself in the shoes of your over-worked prospect who is juggling limited time at work or just wants to get on Facebook to chat to friends. This is a really strong plus in favour of snail mail – it’s easier to hit the delete button than resist taking a peek in the journey from the front door to the recycling bin!
Furthermore, with increasing postage rates and the public being more savvy about services to unsubscribe from junk-mail with their post, there seems to be a trend at the moment; is the pile of snail mail on your doormat shrinking? Mine is… Increasingly online marketers are opting for automated mass email strategies, so more and more and email boxes are filling up with spam. Smart email filters and a nifty delete button can give short shrift to e-spam.
Finally, seriously, you should consider sending out a monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly newsletter. It doesn’t have to be long – about six hundred words is ideal. Use the newsletter to build up your own expertise in the mind of your customer. Give them information about the products or services you offer and news about your industry that speaks to them. Talk about your customers’ needs, troubles and possible solutions. Talk about the things they’re thinking about; the more topical the better.
Remember, your headline is crucial to getting your prospects attention, whether you choose email or snail mail in your direct marketing strategies. You have seconds to encourage your prospect to read on, so don’t blow it on showing off with jargon or gobbledegook: “Check out the latest Zingram multi-purpose hyperlingua xl, model T600x”! Impressed? OK maybe if you’re a little boy who cannot grow up…
Your headline and first few lines in your marketing message should tell the customer the benefits of reading on: “Today only 50% off carpet-cleaning equipment!” Or “Need your car valet fast? We come to any home within ten miles of Sparklesville. Total clean within the hour. Top service or your money back!”
Of course, copywriting is a whole new subject, which I explore elsewhere, but you see how it works in principle.
Other types of direct mail employed by marketers include post-card campaigns – with or without gimmicks; for instance: signed photographs of yourself with your customer, reminding them of when you met, or pictures of you leading a seminar; this builds your leadership credibility and expertise; photograph post-cards with photo’s of you and well-known celebrities; these generate curiosity about the lifestyle of the rich person included in the image.
Some firms specialise in sending out birthday or anniversary wishes on behalf of businesses to their customers whose personal data that business may have collected.
Watch your own mail box for those sales letters and emails which grab your attention. Start to build up your own list of favourite headlines and notes on what you think works and what doesn’t.
Whatever marketing method you choose, remember, it needs to be part of a mix. There are no simple solutions to marketing in today’s markets and you need to get it right. The market is NOT getting any easier folks.
Alternatively, invest in your own marketing skills and knowledge with online marketing training . Possibly your best investment for your long term success in direct marketing.
