If you missed the Blogging and Beyond show last Thursday, Denise has just posted it on the site. We interviewed Ellen Britt of Marketing Qi about her tremendous success with teleseminars and how you can use this low cost tool to grow your business. Despite some technical challenges, it was a good show.
In the second half of the show we brainstormed with Ideal Client Erik Feder about he could use teleseminars to expand his WheretoFindParking.com business. You might get some good ideas too!
There is a bronze mural on the side wall of the fire station at Ground Zero dedicated to the fallen heroes and those left standing. I couldn’t help but shed a few tears; it’s an eery feeling to remember the devastation and horror of 9/11.
Denise and I spent the day as tourists in Manhattan, and after a few solemn moments of reflection, returned to contributing to the economy at the Century 21 discount store – "NY’s best kept secret." Denise wore a step counter, and 8,000 steps later we returned to our trendy hotel.
The BlogHer Business conference was a big success, and I’ll share a few nuggets with you over on our Build a Better Blog. We had a blogger get together at the Champagne Flute, an old speakeasy, thanks to CK, of Marketing Prof’s book club last night. It’s so much fun to meet face-to-face with other fun bloggers.
I have many fond memories of NYC… when I was a fashion model and part of the party set! Now I’m just lucky to get back to the hotel without blisters. We’re having sunny days, but cold. There was even some snow piled on the ground down at the Seaport Exhibition Center, where we saw the Bodies exhibit.
Now that’s something to see… every imaginable part of the body dissected and dyed for easy viewing. What an education. The most beautiful parts were those of the blood vessel system, dye red, of course, and looking very much like sea anemone.
The most surprising was the brain and brain parts. As an avid student of the brain, I found it to be smaller than I expected. It’s quite small.
We’re skipping the theatre – too many loud musicals, not my cup of tea. Perhaps a quiet evening catching up with email and blogging instead. Hope you’re having a great weekend, be well.
For all you executive coaches and consultants, here’s a conference which sounds interesting for top quality business information:
The Wharton Economic Summit in Philadelphia April 12 & 13 will feature 70 Speakers to discuss Economic Challenges in ‘07. If you’re interested, pre-registration is open until April 8th online at http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/alumni/wharton125/events/finale/phila-registration.cfm
Newsletter Nuggets – March 22, 2007
…tips and tricks for writing great ezines and blogs from Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D.
Table of Contents
1. A Note from Patsi – A Whack Up the Side of the Head- What Blogging Has Done
2. April 07 Featured Article: Good Boss, Bad Boss: 20 Habits Leaders Should Stop Doing Now
A note from Patsi – This week Denise and I are in New York for BlogHer Business conference and as I prepared notes for our presentation, I couldn’t help but reflect on where blogging has taken our business in the 2 ½ years since we started writing on blogs.
It’s been phenomenal. I knew I wanted to have a platform to write and communicate to potential clients. In fact, coming from an academic background that includes psychology and journalism, that was my main interest in blogging: to write about the topics I loved.
I wasn’t prepared for what happened: huge increases in traffic, people finding and hiring us, being invited to give teleseminars and conferences, publishing chapters in 3 books, and earning five times more money than before blogging.
I share this with you not to brag or to beat you over the head with our blogging evangelism stick. You may not want to start blogging (and the only reason I can think of is that you don’t have ½ hour a day to write on it or read other blogs in your field). But if you want to get more clients, more speaking gigs, more book contracts, more traffic, more money… then you just might want to try blogging.
I’m a slow learner sometimes. So now I’m doing what I love AND earning good money doing it. Can’t beat that. Sometimes you need a whack up the side of the head before you “get it.” Consider yourself whacked.
To read more about business blogs, visit our blog here.
Top 10 Reasons to Do an Ezine and a Blog, read this.
Are you ready for a blog? 20 question assessment, go here to take this test.
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Featured Article for April 07:
No More Jerks at Work:
Preventing Desk Rage
It’s a sign of the times when a well-known Stanford professor and best-selling author publishes a book titled The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t (Warner Business Books, 2007). Robert I. Sutton argues that variations of terms like creep, jerk and bully don’t carry the same authenticity or emotional appeal.
I’ve been researching ways to monetize your blog, in preparation for an Ask the Experts panel at Business BlogHer this week in NYC. And I’m discovering all these websites and lists where writers can find additional freelance work. Check out Anne Wayman’s AboutFreelanceWriting.com blog where there are 53 jobs posted.
I have my plate full, writing for The Blog Squad and Customized Newsletters, but if it wasn’t, boy, I’d sure send some emails out. Some of these writing gigs pay peanuts, but if you’re creative and a fast writer, you could have a ball. Think of all the learning you’d have while researching, for example.
There are ads on Craig’s list for bloggers to write for Hilary Clinton, the Dodgers and Angels, financial services, business plans, fiction and non-fiction books, and for nanny, mom and working mom blogs.
I see full or part-time blog writers having more work in the future, as companies and professionals wake up to the power of blogs and realize that they do take time to write and manage.
The Internet is truly making it easier for writers to make a living.
Denise and I decided to spend the weekend just for fun in Manhattan. I haven’t researched yet, but on my list of things to do would be shopping, museums and a good play. I’m wondering what good plays there are to see, anybody have some recommendations?
We’ll be in the theatre district until Sunday. If you’re in the area, let us know. We’ve reserved a table for breakfast on Friday March 23rd at 8 a.m. for friends, just drop an email and let us know you want to join us.
Michael Stelzner asks How Do You Capture Skimmers over on his Writing White Papers blog today, and it got me thinking. It’s true, everyone’s busy, and admit it, we don’t read things carefully, we skim. So what’s a writer to do?
Michael suggests using lots of good subheadings and short paragraphs. I’ll add this:
Use Bulleted Lists
Make a list. Bulleted lists, either numbered or not, make it easy for skimmers to read your paper, ezine, blog post. Case in point, here’s how you format for skimmers:
Here’s another tip: I’ve seen writers put the number of words at the top of an article along with the minutes it takes to read it:
Writing for Skimmers
(c)2007 Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D.
163 words, reading time: 1 minute
This reassures people in a hurry that they have time to skim your work. What do you think about this technique?
Blogging and Beyond
March 22, 2007
8:00 a.m. PT (11 a.m. ET)
Blogging and Beyond with The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., and Denise Wakeman
With Guest Expert: Ellen Britt of Marketing Qi Intensive and author of Teleseminar Jumpstart
Low-Tech Promotion: Using TeleSeminars to Build Your Business
TeleSeminars are an easy, affordable way to attract interested prospects into your sphere of influence and grow your business. You provide valuable information, for a fee or free. You deliver the program on the telephone, record the event, get it transcribed and turn a one-time program into a profitable info product that generates income long after it’s over.
The Blog Squad interviews Ellen Britt who started with a few fans last year, increased her database by 2000 and made $9000 within two weeks of launching her teleseminar series Marketing Qi.
In the second half, we check in with Ideal Client Erik Feder and brainstorm how he can implement this marketing strategy for his business.
I hadn’t heard the term "presale closing phrase" before I read it on Mitch Harpz’ blog this morning. It’s when you get an email or call from someone asking questions about a product or program. Sometimes I get the feeling that people pick up the phone and call just to see if a real person will pick up the phone. Their questions aren’t often that complicated, but it’s sort of like they are just checking to see if someone’s there that really cares.
Here are 5 ways to end the conversation or email that can help increase sales:
"Does that help? If not let me know which part doesn’t make sense."
"If you have any more questions please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to help in any way I can."
"I hope I’ve answered your question for you. If not just let me know and I’ll be happy to address any outstanding concerns."
"If I haven’t answered your question just let me know and I’ll do my best to clarify."
"Does that make sense?"
When you think about it, these are great phrases to use at anytime and make for good customer relationships.
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