Tips and Insights for Successful Entrepreneurs

Here are nine examples of how you can integrate your social media activity into your website for maximum results.

#1: Add social media buttons to your home page

A few years ago, the idea of sending people to another site from your home page after you had worked so hard to get them there in the first place seemed boneheaded. However, many companies now see the long-term benefits of gaining a follower, fan or subscriber on a social media platform, even weighed against the short-term risk of sending them away from the website. Businesses commonly link to their social media profiles, even from their home pages. By getting someone to follow you on Twitter, become LinkedIn with you or subscribe to your YouTube channel, you have the opportunity to keep the lines of communication open long after they’ve left your website.

Advice: If you’re concerned about losing that prospect, consider having the site open in a new tab or window, keeping your own website available for later viewing. Also, make sure you have a social media profile that will engage your audience.

#2: Connect your blog with your website

The line between blog and website has never been blurrier, with many businesses choosing to build their entire site on platforms that were traditionally meant for blogging, such as WordPress.

Whether your blog shares a domain with your website or not, you can improve the interactivity of your website by teasing your blog posts from your home page.

Advice: Although services like Posterous and Tumblr are great and their prices can’t be beat, I prefer to have my blog under a domain I control. That way you can move from one platform to another without hurting your search engine visibility, and you’re more insulated against a third-party blogging platform going out of business.

#3: Embed videos on your website

There are few things as engaging as a well put-together video. Imagine adding a how-to or explanatory video to your product or services pages… How much more compelling would they be? How much could you increase your conversion rates by showing examples of other customers finding success by using your products?

#4: Make your website shareable

Retweet buttons and Facebook Like buttons aren’t just for blogs. You can add them to any page of your website to get visitors to share the content more easily with their networks.

#5: Add your presentations to your website

If you market your business through public speaking, you can maximize your results by putting your presentations on your site. The best way to do this is to set up a free account at SlideShare (think YouTube for PowerPoint). Once you’ve uploaded your slides, SlideShare will allow you to embed that presentation back into your website or blog. This creates an interactive experience for visitors who can now click through your slides.

#6: Socially bookmark new content

As you add new articles or archive your email newsletters to your site, make sure that you add them to appropriate social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit and Delicious. These popular sites can drive huge amounts of traffic to your website in a short period of time.

Advice: It’s always best when someone else bookmarks your content, so it might make sense to have a small “bookmarking club” with friends where you promote each other’s work. This “seeding” will often encourage others to bookmark your content.

#7: Add a Facebook Like box to your website

It's easy to like I Love to Gossip with a Like box on their page. We’re all influenced by other people, a concept often referred to as “social proof.” When we see our friends or people we respect liking, supporting or promoting something, we’re more open to liking it ourselves

Adding a Facebook Like box to your site adds accelerant to the idea of social proofVisitors can quickly see how many people have liked your business on Facebook, get a sense of your level of commitment to social media (by the posts you’ve added to your wall), and may even spy some of their friends and connections through the Like box.

#8: Feed your website

Websites tend not to get updated as often as they should be… something that has probably been exacerbated by the rise of blogging and social media. If the framework of your website is fairly static, you can still keep it fresh by adding feeds from your blog, Facebook, Twitter and just about every social media platform that generates an RSS feed.

Advice:Not all of your feeds may be website-appropriate. Your tweets about American Idol, your love of bacon may not be appropriate for first-time visitors to your website who are just looking for a reliable plumber or a trustworthy veterinarian (or whatever you may happen to be).

#9: Use QR codes to drive traffic

QR codes like this one can drive traffic to your website.

QR codes are two-dimensional bar codes that can be scanned by smartphones with cameras. Once scanned, they can redirect people to a website (among other tricks). Check out QR Code Marketing for Small Business and How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business

Whether you post QR codes on one of your social media profiles or in the real world (i.e., direct mail, a business card or poster) you can use them to drive people to your website.

Advice: To maximize the impact of a QR code, consider sending people to a special landing page or a mobile version of your site, rather than just the home page. This will improve your conversion rates and help build your lists.

By: Rich Brooks 03/2011

3 Simple Tips To Help You Get and Keep New Clients ^

By. Mike Pisciotta

While connecting and engaging on LinkedIn today I ran across a very interesting question that got the gears turning;

"How do we find that first client/contract? What is the best method to approach companies in order to sell our expertise in BI consulting? Cold calling, networking, advertising in IT presses?"

How many businesses are starting up and getting into the marketplace today without really knowing how to get and keep new customers? I shared just a few poignant insights below:

Connection, Connection, Connection!!

First and foremost people and businesses do business with people they know, like and trust!! Developing this rapport and relationship should be first and foremost; the business will easily follow. Platforms like Linkedin and Facebook will give you a digital medium to engage and connect while using face to face networking to develop closer connections.

Develop a website that provides value and addresses your target market's questions, concerns and resistances. Avoid tons of sales fluff and pointless verbiage while focusing on the real needs and problems of your audience. Give your audience a reason to come back to you and to tell others about what you do!!

Give, Give, Give!!

Find a niche topic you can begin to position yourself as an expert on. Using this niche begin to develop content and material you can give away in exchange for an email address or opt-in. Focusing on giving and providing value is a great way for people to remember you and forward your information to those they may know who would need your services!!

Above all be customer centric!! Why would they need you, what will you solve in their business lives and how will you make them more profitable? Using these questions as a perspective guide for your target audience will definitely help position your business as a resource instead of just a vendor!! Customers turn to those they consider "resources" much faster than they do just "vendors".

3 Simple Tips To Help You Be More Productive^

The world of productivity is pitted with paradoxes and dilemmas. For many people, deciding whether or not to use tools and applications for productivity is one of those dilemmas.

While applications and tools can boost short-term productivity, they often end up creating more problems than they solve and building distraction during work time.

These three tools aren't designed to take your attention away from your work, they're designed to make sure that you maximize the amount of time you spend working, and keep your mind in the right place.

Power Personal Productivity Tool #1: A very short to-do list.

Why 'very short'? When you've got a to-do list with hundreds of items on it, you're never actually going to get them all done.

Sure, you'll tick off one or two, but the swarm of activity completely dilutes the amount of time and effort that can be spent on each individual one.

Distance yourself from the long to-do list and try to limit yourself to five or six items on your daily to-do list.

Power Personal Productivity Tool #2: Add-ons and browser enhancements.

These fall into iffy territory. On one hand, they can save you huge amounts of time when you need to fact-check and process data.

On the other hand, they can distract you since there's information in front of you all the time. The best add-ons for productivity are "LeechBlock", a selective website blocker, "Definr", a dictionary search engine, and if you're a Mac user, Stickies is a great choice for simple productivity and task monitoring.

Power Personal Productivity Tool #3: Paper.

That's right, paper. Why is paper such a great personal productivity tool? When you free yourself from the computer, you free yourself from the world of limitless options.

Paper is limited -- it can only be used for one task -- and that's what makes it such a great personal productivity tool.

Turn off your computer and work on paper. You'll be amazed at how devoted you become to single, individual goals and projects.

*Important Note* => We only have 24 hours a day. Check out one of our virtual assistance packages and today and be more productive!!

5 Productivity Tips and Tools For Busy Entrepreneurs^

As busy entrepreneurs we all the one commodity we seem to lack the most; TIME, right? Well learning to make the most of each minute and hour you spend is highly pivotal to increasing profitability and being more productive. Below are just a few tips I have found to be extremely helpful.

Most personal productivity issues arise from the same basic types of issues like distraction, inability to prioritize and plan, or in some cases, psychological barriers.

1. Mind mapping software

Mind mapping is one of the most versatile techniques for improving creativity and problem-solving skills. Mind maps can be used to plan projects, manage task flow, and brainstorm new ideas. One great piece of free mind mapping software is X-mind from Xmind.com

Some truly innovative mind mapping software services also double as knowledge management systems. The one I use is a free service from TheBrain.com (of course it’s known as “the brain).

2. Teleconferencing Tools

Virtual meetings with partners, assistants and vendors are a great way to save time, and get more stuff done. These tele-conferencing tools allow a lot of flexibility for collaboration and even for sales tele-seminars.

3. Google Apps

Of the tools mentioned here, the applications suite from the folks at Google may be the single most important set of tools to be found online. They included Gmail (for email), Google Docs (for online document sharing and project collaboration), as well as Google Sites (with which you can develop an intranet or website).

4. Backpack

Backpack is a very highly regarded tool from the guys at 37signals.com. It is designed to be a lightweight project management and task tracking solution. It features a very elegant and intuitive design for organizing and sharing your information, and they offer a 30 day free trial. The basic plan with 4 Gigabytes of allowed storage (and up to 6 users) is still quite affordable.

5. TadaList

This free solution is also from 37signals.com and allows you to create and share lists. As long as you stick to one solution and use it consistently, then a tool like Tadalist should be very effective.

Taking advantage of the power of leverage and delegating those tasks that are keeping you constrained and bogged down is also a great way to achieve greater focus, profitability and productivity! Check out one of our virtual assistance packages today and let us help you grow!

Measuring Internet Marketing Campaign Success:^

Success comes in many different forms depending on what your business model or goal is. When you first embark on the journey to market your business online you are going to have to be patient in order to see results. Whether those results satisfy your need to fill the void of your efforts in succeeding is entirely up to you, but it is important to acknowledge that there are other forms of success other than just sales.

Here are some unique ways to measure success with your new internet marketing campaign:

Increasing Sales

Plain and simple, if you generate more website conversions from your internet marketing campaign then this could (and should) increase sales for your business. At the end of the day it is all about increasing business.

Decreased Bounce Rate

Are you noticing that as you strengthen your company’s internet marketing efforts your website traffic is starting to spend a little more time on your website? If you see your bounce rate decreasing because your audience is starting to become a bit more inquisitive on your website that is a great move forward.

Increased Page Views

Are people moving around more on your site? Perhaps they have bumped into some of your external marketing efforts and want to see a bit more about what your business or company is all about. If you are noticing that your website traffic has been bouncing around to different pages of your site that is a good beginning sign of increased web success.

Increased Referring Sites

Part of the overall goal is to really increase the frequency of referring websites. Each referring site is a new link and the more links, the better the flow of inbound traffic coming to your website on a continuous basis.

Increased Returning Visitors

An increase in returning visitors is also very important because depending on your business it could just be a numbers game. If your returning visitors are increasing, that could mean that a potential customer or client is really mulling over working with you or buying something from your website.

Internet marketing success can mean many different things depending on how you look at it. The best way to measure is to really look at your website analytics information because that is your proof of how things are panning out.

By: Nick Stamoulis – June 2011

Top Two Ways To Profit From Your List^

Once you start growing your opt-in list, you’ll want to ensure it is profitable. There are many ways to go about doing this. You want to make sure all your hard work. The top two ways to profit from your list are also the easiest, so let’s look at them:

1. Build trust and loyalty among your customers. Your customers will not buy from you unless you are able to prove your worthiness. So, you have to spend notable time working to build their trust. You can do this many ways. You can join forums that talk about the products or service industry you have an interest in, and look for experts in your field to offer their advice and recommendations to your subscriber list. Also, make sure your website is clear and offers your visitors relevant and important information they will find helpful during their journey. If you are practicing affiliate marketing, and even if you are not, make sure you tested or tried any products you plan to sell so you can provide your subscribers honest reviews of them. This is the #1-way to build trust, and trust always leads to higher profit margins. You should also build a user-friendly website, one that has a navigation bar placed in a prominent location. Make sure you provide your customers with a contact us page and always respond to customer or visitor inquiries within 48 hours if this is possible. The sooner you get back with your visitors, the better reputation you will build. When responding to customer’s that contact you through your website, make sure that you remind them to sign up for your free newsletter if they haven’t already, which will contain more information on the subject they are looking for. Don’t automatically assume they want to be subscribed to your newsletter just because they asked a question on the topic. Tell them what your newsletter offers, and how they can subscribe. When you build trust and loyalty, your customers are also more likely to refer your business to their friends and their family. Some web owners design a page after the order page that allows the customer to input the names and emails of two to three of their friends that might also be interested in your products. This is another simple way to build your list. Make sure you provide them an incentive for checking you out, in the way of a free report, book, checklist or newsletter subscription.

2. Fulfill your subscriber’s needs. Everyone has needs. The whole point of doing business on the web is to fulfill the needs of people surfing the Internet. If you want to make money selling a product or a service, you first have to find out how that product or service will fill your prospect’s needs. How will they benefit from the product or service you offer? Have other people benefited? If so, how and why? Providing your customers with this information will help you create a profitable opt-in list, one that will transform visitors into paying customers. One of the simplest ways to tell your customers how you can fulfill their needs is by listing the ways you do this on your landing page, or on another prominent place on your website. Make sure you bullet each benefit and explain to the prospect exactly how you plan to serve them, and why your product or service is better than that of the competition.

The more content you provide, the more secure your customer will feel about their purchase. They are also more inclined to believe you are fulfilling a need they have. Let us take a moment to look at the first bullet, trust. Many people fear that building trust among strangers will prove difficult. Realistically speaking, anyone can build trust easily. How do you build trust?

First, run a legitimate business that you know something about. Don’t try selling aromatherapy to someone just because it is a hot trend. You have to know what you are selling to sell it well. Next, if you want to encourage your customers to buy, offer them some form of guarantee. You can for example, offer them a 90-Day money-back guarantee on any products they use on your site, provided they use the products in the time frame appointed and have a legitimate reason for returning them.

Statistics show that even when customers do not feel satisfied with a product they will often not return it because they either (1) forget about it or (2) are too busy to mess with it. Nonetheless, when you build a guarantee into your sale, you put your customer’s mind at ease, and they consider their purchase less risky.

Lastly, provide your customer’s helpful hints and guidelines that will help them get the most benefit from your product. This shows your customer you have a vested interest in helping them succeed. This builds trust and loyalty, and converts subscribers to buyers. That is your goal to begin with.

By: Mike Pisciotta

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