Many of my readers are busy professionals who don’t have a lot of time for blogging or social media. But marketing is vital, especially if you’re growing a business, want to get found, get known, and get clients.
For those of you who have the bare minimum of time, and still want to get results, here are a few social media tips and tricks I’ve used. I must be doing something right: these tips have resulted in new clients directly from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Many people who fell prey to the Auto-feed short-cut introduced by Facebook found that it did much more harm than good. And it’s understandable why they did it: how can you have time for social media, when you struggle with creating consistent, relevant blog content?
While it may have saved time initially, there were costs in the long run. The same is true for auto-feeds to LinkedIn, Twitter, and all the other social media sites. Although this seems like a good idea, it may do you more harm than good.
Here are 4 reasons why you should NOT automatically feed your blog posts into these social media sites: Read More→
In order to impress visitors and showcase your business expertise, your blog must pass the “blink” test.
As I mentioned in my previous post, your blog design must incorporate three critical elements:
Does your blog pass the blink test? Content is king, but if your design stinks, visitors won’t get past the banner. They won’t stay, they won’t get to know you and they won’t subscribe to your blog.
I mentioned this in my previous post: in order to impress visitors and showcase your business expertise, your site must pass the “blink” test. If it doesn’t, you could be spending a lot of your valuable time blogging for nothing.
Bad blog design = bad marketing = no new business. Stinks, doesn’t it?
The three critical blog “must have” elements you need to consider:
What goals have you identified for your blog and website for 2015? Have you created a map to help you reach your goals?
It’s true, I don’t believe in making new year’s resolutions. But after 15+ years working with executive coaches and consultants, I know that having clearly defined goals and expectations for a business blog or website is critical to help you get found, get known, and get clients; it will improve how you show up on the Web.
I’ve found that many professionals are vague when it comes to setting their business blog goals. They haven’t clearly identified their expectations, or what they want their blog to do for their business. If you fall into that category, and you haven’t identified your goals (or you want to refine the goals you’ve set), consider this checklist: Read More→
If I’ve said it once, I’ve
said it a thousand times: your business newsletter content must solve problems for your readers or help them meet a need. So, if your newsletter topic is something that you can’t cover in an e-newsletter, don’t be the Newsletter Grinch: give it the attention it deserves and cover it properly on a blog page. Your audience will appreciate your attention to detail, as long as you provide value.
In my previous blog post, I shared tips to get your business newsletter read, specifically, how to grab attention with a compelling subject line and headline. But once you get your readers to open your email newsletter, make sure they keep reading by offering compelling, relevant information.
For example, I create and distribute a newsletter called Biz Book Nuggets (if you haven’t subscribed, you can sign up in the upper right corner of this page.) This newsletter includes insights gathered from all the leadership business books I read. Read More→
Does anyone read your business e-newsletter? How do you get your clients and prospects to open that email? In a previous post, I asked if you were sending a holiday newsletter for your business. Here are a few timeless tips to help you get your newsletter read.
Grab Attention with a Compelling Subject Line and Headline
Remember that the singular purpose of a subject line is to get readers to open the mail. The purpose of the headline is to get people to start reading. That’s it.
Research has found that the most compelling subject and headlines cater to:
You may have heard me say it before – my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. It’ a fairly big holiday in the U.S., and a great way to celebrate gratitude. This year, I updated my gratitude list, and perhaps you can relate and it will inspire you to make up your own list.
I’m grateful for (in no particular order):
I wish you the best for Thanksgiving and for the end-of-the-year festivities in your own countries!
Shortcuts to Newsletters
Are you sending holiday newsletters for your business? Even though you may be tempted to put all your time and energy into maintaining your business blog, a newsletter is still a vital, viable way to stay connected to clients and prospects. Holiday newsletters are a great opportunity.
Don’t take my word for it. Ask other professionals if they’re getting results from sending out an emailed newsletter, for the holidays, or any time of year, and then judge for yourself if it’s worth the time and effort (and money).
Here’s a great example of what I hear: Read More→
Have you found your business blog sweet spot? In previous posts I shared how storytelling and personalization are key to creating a blog with personality, and that the biggest mistake business bloggers make is ego-centric blog posts. So how do you find that sweet spot, just between the two?
First and foremost, you must clarify your topic, and keep the readers’ needs in mind as you write each post.
One way to understand their needs to is to know their online habits and interests. This will allow you to create blog posts that area engaging, and you can focus your content on the keywords your readers, and prospects, are likely to use in searches.
You can’t do that without asking them what their interests are. Yet how many of us post on a blog or upload a video to YouTube without taking time to survey what are our target audience‘s interests, wants and needs?
Here’s a quick list of survey questions to ask your target audience to help define what they want to read: Read More→
