Denise just posted info about our Thursday Blogging and Beyond radio show with Roxanne Darling, Are You the Next TV Star?
Check out Roxanne’s TV show over at BuildaBetterBlog.com. At the end of her show each day, Roxanne leaves a clue and you can call into the radio show and claim a prize.
Really cool, spending a few minutes on a beach with the lovely Roxanne, waves and Hawaiian music in the background… What will we be able to do next on our blogs? Your choice!
We just learned that The Blog Squad is mentioned in a new book by David Meerman Scott: The New Rules of Marketing & PR. What an honor…you can see a list of all the others included and we’re in great company!
Scott writes an excellent blog called Web Ink Now, about online thought leadership and viral marketing. We’ve sent Scott an invitation to be a guest on Blogging and Beyond. Stay tuned…
The Blog Squad are guests of Jerry Hart, Hart Creative Marketing, this week…
Build a Professional Blog That Gets More Traffic to Your Website and Turns Prospects Into Paying Clients…
with Jerry Hart, CEO of Hart Creative Marketing, Inc. featuring the Blog Squad (Patsi Krakoff and Denise Wakeman)
Des Walsh of Thinking Home Business inspired me to write 5 things I love about working from home.
(In fact, I’m thinking about making Fridays a day for posting more personal things. Hey, it’s my blog! While I’ve always focused on keeping this a business blog about writing, part of smart blogging includes being real so people can get to know you. Besides, I like writing about me, me, me…)
1. If I wake up at 3 or 4 a.m. with an idea, I don’t have to take notes til I get to an office. I can start writing at my computer whenever I want. In fact, I often start my day at 4 a.m. and then I don’t feel guilty when I take a few hours off in the middle of the day to enjoy the sunshine or a tennis match.
2. The view from my home office window includes palm trees, a swimming pool, and not many cars.
3. I can snack on healthy foods from the fridge instead of using a vending machine in some cafeteria.
4. I don’t have to get in a car and sit in traffic to get to work, although some days the walk downstairs to the coffee pot seems long and far away. Hmmm, maybe put the coffee pot upstairs…?
5. Obviously, not having to wear panty hose and real shoes is a plus, although I only work in my p.j.s when I first get up. I get dressed appropriately around 9 a.m., even put on a little makeup and pretend I’m facing real people. Of course "dressed appropriately" means in tennis clothes and tennis shoes, ready for a match at all times.
Des mentions not having a boss is another good thing, although we answer to a higher boss: the client! And of course, then I have Denise, but we’re each other’s bosses or co-bosses!
I share my desk and work space with Huey and Dewey, the kitty owners of my house who reign supreme over all things.
Love to hear what you love about your work space and life…please share.
This week I posted a series of blog posts: 6 Steps for Successful Online Marketing for Your Business. While it is impossible to be comprehensive in 6 steps, I believe I cover many of the essential skills and tools you need to thrive online, no matter your profession.
Two of the posts were published here and here, because they relate to writing; the others were on our sister blog that focuses on Internet marketing, www.BizTipsBlog.com. The final post, Step 6, is important because I talk about the right tools for each step.
Here’s an excerpt of those:
Remember, for online success you have to: attract, give, convince, compel, sell, and up-sell. And you need to use the right tools for each job, as in:
Step 1, to attract, you need a website, a blog, and/or a landing page. You need bait (keywords) everywhere in the cyber pond: articles, press releases, podcasts, blog posts, web pages, archived newsletters, etc.
Step 2, to give, you need a database management system that helps you build a list of prospects, deliver digital downloads, segment your lists by interests, and follow-up with email confirmation and autoresponder messages. For us there is only one tool that does this job, and that is KickStartCart.com.
Blogging and Beyond with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman
With Guest Expert: Jim Turner, One By One Media
Thursday, May 10th 2007
3:00 p.m. PT (6 p.m. ET)
Bloggers for Hire: An Emerging Profession
The days of hiring a public relations firm and buying advertising are
going the way of the dinosaur for companies that want to get noticed
and make a splash. They are turning to business blogging, podcasting,
video and social media tools. But most companies don’t have the
resources or knowledge to use these tools.
A new industry of tech-savvy
professional bloggers and social media experts are meeting the need.
The Blog Squad interviews Jim Turner of One By One Media about the emerging trend of social media experts for hire.
This is step 4 in our 6-step formula for getting clients and making money with your business online. This is the bridge between writing for your business and getting results. How well you write irresistible offers to your readers will persuade them to buy. But without a seamless sales process to reinforce your credibility as a business, the sale will fall through. 
Step 4: Make a Compelling Offer and Convert Your Visitor to a Client
Some say it takes 7-12 contacts with a prospect before he/she is ready to buy. Others say it takes much more than that when the only contact you have with the prospect is through written words on a Web page.
Why? Because your words lack the credibility and trustworthiness of a human face or voice. You can understand the popularity of audio and video blogging for just that reason: people trust people they like and feel an affinity to. It’s hard to do that with words on a page.
This is why copywriters earn such large fees. They aren’t writing about ideas or features or even painting a rosy picture of whatever it is you’re selling. They are connecting on an emotional level with your prospects.
If you’ve landed here through StumbleUpon or some other way, I hope you’re looking for tips on writing better for your online business. I’m Patsi Krakoff and I write about online writing for ezines, business blogs and marketing on the Web.
Want to learn more about the best way to get your business found on the Web? Let me send you our free White Paper: The Great Internet Marketing Challenge: register here. You’ll learn a few things for sure, just sign up at www.onlinemarketingchallenge.com and we’ll send it to you immediately.
Be sure to subscribe using the Feedblitz sign up form in the upper left corner. You’ll get an email notice each time I write new stuff about writing online.
If you need help with all or parts of your online marketing, (and who doesn’t?) join Denise and I in our Blogging and Beyond Mentor Program. Until May 8th at midnight ET, you can get the help you need on your blogs, newsletters, shopping cart, web writing tasks, and sales processes for less than $10 for the first month. Access tutorials, videos, audio files, and documents that break down the steps you need to follow for online success, plus monthly coaching calls. Details: visit www.theblogsquad.net/mentor.
We’ve been reviewing a 6 step formula for online success over on our sister blog, Next Level Biz Tips. If you’ve missed the first parts, you can read them there:
6 Steps for Successful Online Marketing for Your Business
Step 1: Attract the right people
Step 2: Give People Something for Free to Grow Your Database
Step 3: Write Content that Convinces People You Are a Savvy & Trustworthy Person
Once people opt in to your list, you must stay in touch with them through email. Email marketing is an art and a science because you must be respectful, give plenty of value and still let people know you have products and services for them.
Chris Baggott’s new book Email Marketing By the Num8ers lays it all out for anyone wanting to learn how to market using email. (Shameless plug: I contributed to chapters 2 and 7!)
How do you write content for your email marketing messages? Many marketers focus on getting the results they want: a purchase, a registration, a new client.
If you go about it like a drunken frat boy at a party, you’ll get the door slammed in your face. Both Baggott and Seth Godin (Permission Marketing) say to approach your marketing like you would woo your future spouse.
Here’s a short list to guide you when writing a follow-up email message to people on your list. Make sure you:
1. Focus on the reader
2. Focus on the benefits to the reader of what you are offering
3. Write to inform and educate, not to tell or sell
4. Write to build a long-term relationship not a one-night stand
Why are your email messages so important?
