Archive for Attracting Clients – Page 18

Why Use Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn for
Content Marketing?

True confession time: I am not even close to being smart about using social media for online marketing. No big surprise for those of you who know what an introvert I am. But still, I am using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and I think you should too. Here’s why…

I am a psychologist who helps others get found online, get known in their niche, and get clients. If you’ve read my story, you know how I started using the Web ten years ago, as a complete techno-klutz. All that changed in 2004 and 2005 with the popularization of blogging platforms like Typepad and WordPress.

This ushered in new business success for me and my former partner as The Blog Squad. If you’ve been online for a few years now, marketing your business using the Internet, you probably experienced the same phenomena… all of a sudden you don’t need to be a computer geek to get a site up and start making money.

Around 2004, sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter came along, but they didn’t really pick up steam until 2006 and later. What happened is beyond comprehension on some levels… and totally natural.

Now Facebook boasts one of the highest web traffic numbers and Twitter has become a news source re-broadcast on network TV news stations. Read More→

How to Choose a Fascinating Photo for
Content Marketing Purposes

What should you look for in choosing a photo to illustrate your blog post? Or to illustrate any other type of web content, such as web pages or sales letter pages?

It’s rare that I don’t take an extra ten minutes to select a photo for each of my blog posts. Yes, no more than ten, but often it’s done in under a minute. I’ll share my tips for saving time on this. (This photo, from iStockPhoto.com took 35 seconds to find and upload…)

Why bother? Because the brain is attracted to photos and if you choose an interesting photo that evokes curiosity, you’ll draw more people into reading your blog.

Go to any photo site and register as a user (free). These are royalty-free photos you can use. If you’re using any photos for commercial purposes, you should purchase credits.

Use the search box to type in what you think you’d like to use as a photo. If you don’t know, just type in a keyword, especially an emotion or an abstract concept that you’re writing about. You’ll be surprised the variety of photos a word pulls up.

For example, in my previous post about grabbing readers’ attention, the emotion I wanted to convey was curiosity. A search for “curiosity” provided 787 pages of photos that included people, animals, babies… Most of which I wouldn’t want to use. I chose one of giraffes because it looked curious.

I’m looking for one or two photos that are attractive to the eye and pull in the kinds of readers I target – smart professionals. So I don’t want any boring photos of people who look happy and content. That may sound strange, but there’s nothing that’s compelling about happy and content people. It doesn’t trigger any reaction on an emotional level. Read More→

7 Ways to Grab Blog Readers’ Attention
and Engage their Brains

What’s the first thing you need to do to grab readers’ attention when writing a fresh blog post?

1. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I always say, “Start with a question!” Ask the reader the problem you’re going to solve for them in your post. The brain is hard wired to seek out answers to unsolved questions or riddles.

That will engage them to think and create a desire to know more.

…But it’s not the first sentence that blog readers see. It’s not the first opportunity readers’ have to decide if they’re going to read your post or not.

2. The headline is. It is THE most important part of your blog post, and I recommend writing it last. There’s a whole bunch of tips you need to know about writing great headlines, but because it’s written AFTER you finish your post, I’m going to talk about it later. Tips 4, 5, and 6 apply to headline writing. Read More→

Traffic Optimization: SEO’s come a long way, baby

What did you think about the Ultimate Traffic Formula workshop yesterday with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger? I was amazed, quite frankly, and I don’t say that because I’m a big fan of his blog or think he’s just a down-to-earth nice guy who’s smart about business blogging.

I was impressed because he made me think. He opened up the windows about what traffic optimization is about.

(P.S. If you missed this workshop, you’ll have a chance to buy the recorded audio file and get access to the 3 ebooks in a short while.)

SEO used to have a bad name in the sense that new web site owners and innocent small businesses could fall prey to guys who promised to put you on page one of Google using hidden keywords, etc. Smart SEO tactics have come a long way.

In fact, the best traffic optimization techniques are common sense marketing tactics. It’s all about marketing and content and social media. It’s linking your message to the people whose problems you solve. It’s getting connected with the maximum people interested in your topic and expertise. Read More→

3 Drivers of Blog Traffic: The ICE Effect

It doesn’t really matter if you call your online efforts content marketing,  online marketing, blog marketing, or a chihuahua. What matters is results.

Are you getting results from the Web? If not, where do you need to improve? The minute someone lands on your blog, do they say, “Hey, a chihuahua I could really love!” Or, “This blog’s for me!”

What’s your challenge when it comes to using the Internet to attract clients, sell them your products or services, and profit in your business? For many of my clients, the problem is how to stand out and how to get found.

You may be unique, but unless the right people are finding you on the Web, your efforts are wasted. There are really two challenges, as I see it:

  1. Branding: you need to clearly and quickly identify your uniqueness in a memorable way
  2. Visibility: you need to be easily found in multiple places on the Web

When good branding is combined with good visibility, you get great findability.

This Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 4 p.m. ET, I’m presenting a workshop on how to get more blog traffic. Read More→

What’s Your Search Story? Patsi Krakoff’s Google Video

Wanna have a little ego-strokin’ fun? Here’s a video creation tool provided by Google and YouTube… try it out, I swear it only took 5 minutes to create.

Recently YouTube debuted a video creation tool called Search Stories. The idea is that every search tells a story. It’s super simple to use and outputs a 35 second video – with sound track – that tells your story via Google search results.

It’s not perfect… I have no idea why there’s a photo of someone else and a pic of the forest in there… but then that’s what makes searches interesting.

Here’s mine…

Get More Blog Traffic: the Workshop

Here’s a quick video clip from the folks at iFlashVideo.com, my favorite video service. And no, it’s not really my voice, I hired a professional with really smooth delivery…;-)

The workshop registrations are open. Attend The Ultimate Traffic Formula live next Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 4 p.m. ET and get your questions answered for your own blog with Michael Martine.

Michael Martine’s Best Blog Traffic Tips

(News Flash: I hate last minute changes to my schedule, who doesn’t? Especially when one of us (that would be me) gets a date mixed up… The teleseminar workshop on how to get more blog traffic is not this week, but next: Wednesday May 19 at 4 p.m. ET.  The very popular Michael Martine @Remarkablogger, will be teaching The Ultimate Traffic Formula then. Hope you’ll join us!)

In the mean time, it’s been an opportunity for me to brush up on all the traffic tips and trends that are currently being used by smart bloggers. Michael generously shares his best blog posts with us here:

Guest post from Michael Martine of Remarkablogger:

I went and collected all my best posts on blog search engine optimzation and traffic analysis and put them together here in a big list for you. I want you to have these handy as a resource you can turn to anytime to boost your knowledge about improving your blog’s search situation.
WordPress SEO – Why Should You Care?
Read More→

Scattered Marketing, or Content Marketing Google Map?

I can get lost for hours over on Google Maps, what about you? I love the way you can zoom in from a 10,000 foot view down to the cars (or horses) on your street.

In my case, I can see boats out on Lake Chapala.

I was surprised to find they even have this in Mexico now, although it’s limited to certain areas. I can’t zoom in to see the horses down the street, but I can get as far as to see the swimming pools in my neighborhood.

Which would be a great feature to have for your business, right? Imagine you could get a bird’s-eye view of what people see of your business on the Web, then zoom in to see the different places you’re showing up on the Internet…

Do you have a map for your marketing? Most people I talk to don’t. In fact, some people I know use the spaghetti strategy: throw a lot of stuff out there and see what sticks, what works. Read More→

5 Content Marketing Goals for Your Website & Blog
… and One Big Challenge

What do you want your website to do for your business? No really, it’s not as obvious a question as it might at first appear.

I’ve been working with executive coaches and consultants for ten years now, helping them improve how they show up on the Web. In those 10 years, I’ve seen a number of changes to the way websites look and function. It doesn’t matter if you use a traditional website, or a blog, or a blog as a website, the principles are the same.

Yet many professionals aren’t clear about the goals for their online content marketing. I made some notes for one client and thought I’d share them with you here.  I came up with 5 goals your site should strive to accomplish in the first minute or two. One of them is a big challenge… Read More→