Writing On The Web by Patsi Krakoff, The Blog Squad

Content Marketing Strategies for Smart Professionals

Oh no! We’ve Got ANOTHER Blog!

It’s spreading…the Blog virus got ahold of Denise and I again. This time, it’s even more specialized, for coaches and those going to the International Coach Federation conference in San Jose Nov. 9-12.

Check out www.BlogSquadLive.com. We’re inviting a few select coaches who will be at the event to become guest authors. We will all be blogging the conference, making this the first ICF conference where participants can record their experiences live, in person, in real time!

CJ Hayden is a guest author, along with Suzanne Falter-Barns, Sylva Leduc, Barry Zweibel, Dee McCrorey, and Andrea Lee. More coming on board in a few days.

If you’re not going to this event which will be attended by 1600 global coaches, you can stay tuned to what’s happening by reading daily blog posts.

Of course, we had to use lots of hot pink on the new blog, the colors of The Blog Squad!

P.S. Come by our booth and get a free Blog Squad "Blog On!" button if you’re in San Jose!

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

The Blog Squad Goes Live at the International Coach Federation Conference in San Jose.

If you’re a coach and are going to ICF conference in San Jose Nov. 9-12, here’s an opportunity to get your voice heard at the conference and over the Blogosphere.

The Blog Squad will be at the Conference and we’ll be blogging on our new blog at The Blog Squad Live! We’re looking for 4-5 coaches who would like to be guest bloggers on the blog.

We’re looking for blogger coaches who will commit to blogging about the conference before, during and after — reporting on your experience and observations about the conference.

What do you get? Lots of great exposure for you, your business and your blog, of course. You’ll get a link from our blog to your blog. Your posts will be categorized by your name and we’ll be promoting this blog/event heavily over the next few weeks before the conference.

Interested? Contact Denise and Patsi ASAP. Send us a link to your blog and tell us why you want to be a Blog Squad Guest Blogger during the ICF Conference. Send an email.

See you in San Jose!

P.S. If you’re not going to be at the Conference and you know coaches who are attending and may be interested in this opportunity, please let them know. Thanks!

Ezines & Blog Ebooks Featured in Choice Magazine

By Patsi Krakoff in E-Books

The current issue of "choice", the magazine of professional coaching, features reviews of Secrets of Successful Ezines and Build a Better Blog ebooks, by Marcy Nelson-Garrison of Coaching Toys. You can read the reviews here:

Download choice_v3n3_0025.pdf

A Conversation with Dan Janal on Teleseminars

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

Dan Janal, Great Teleseminars
How to Build Your Business with Teleseminars

You won’t want to miss Wednesday evening’s Conversation with Expert Dan Janal on Teleseminars. As many readers know, since starting the weekly teleseminar series in April 2005, Denise and I have grown the number of people we are reaching to extraordinary numbers. We are giving away valuable information on how to grow your business both on and off line. Teleseminars are an easy to use and powerful tool that any professional can learn to use.

But like anything, there are a few tips you need to know before going off and trying to do one.

Teleseminars are today’s hottest tool to build businesses and sell more products and services. Many coaches, authors, consultants and small businesses use several different tactics to build their businesses with teleseminars with great success. The technology is easy. The marketing can be simple. The payoffs can be great.

From the comfort of your home or office, you can produce teleseminars and build your business at almost no cost; and create products you can be proud of for less than $200. In this fascinating conversation, you’ll learn: the two major business models and when to use each one; pricing strategies that can make or break your business; how to get people to come if you don’t have a big list, and much more.

Please join Denise Wakeman and I for this informative and free call. Register at http://www.customizednewsletters.com/CE/cesched.htm.

Sponsored by The Build a Better Blog ebook and services, and the Blog Squad.

How to Work While Gone…

By Patsi Krakoff in Managing Your Ezine & Blog Tasks

Okay, I’m going to let you in on two of my secrets to running a business while away on vacation.

Have an ecommerce system set up to run your marketing and sales on auto-pilot
Have a great partner who can back you up

Over two years ago, I hired Denise Wakeman to set up my marketing and online sales system with 1ShoppingCart.com. This company is one of the best around. You can’t beat them for pricing, efficiency, customer support, and ease of use. All the same, with my techno-lame brain, I got Denise to train me how to use it properly. I don’t have patience with reading tutorials or instruction manuals.

Using the 1ShoppingCart system, I am able to send out email messages and newsletters while vacationing down in Mexico.

Denise and I discovered blogging a year ago, and saw immediately the power of blogs for independent professionals who want to get known, and get clients by leveraging the Internet. Blogs can be posted on from anywhere in the world.

So we partnered up and formed the Blog Squad, helping professionals to set up and optimize their blogs for building business.

This month we have targeted Annie Dennison’s Smart at Love blog, and are giving her a blog makeoever.

It just makes sense to have automated systems in place so that even if you are working as a solo entreprenuer or professional, you can take a break. Having a great partner also helps (thanks, Denise!).

What are you doing to automate your marketing and sales? Are you able to sell info products over the Web while on vacation or busy consulting elsewhere? Need some help on setting up and learning to use an ecommerce system? Send me an email, we can help.

There’s Something About Mexico…

By Patsi Krakoff in Patsi's Story

This is way off target, so my serious readers searching for good content on writing better ezines and blogs will have to forgive me.

I’ve just spent 10 days in Mexico, and there’s no way I can jump back into work mode without telling you about this. There’s just something so relaxing and magical when you are in the central parts of Mexico. It is really quite stimulating for the mind and rejuvenating for the body.

I’m not talking about the hot beaches of Puerto Vallarta. That’s another story. Actually the beaches are not my favorite at all. Too many vendors bothering you all the time, too many hotels, too much loud music and people drinking, yuck.

Ah, but if you go into the interior of Mexico, now that’s magic. We have a home in Ajijic, (pronounced "ahhh-hee-heek!"), on Lake Chapala about a half-hour out of Guadalajara. Up 5000 feet among pine trees mixed with palm trees, the little village has about the finest climate world-wide.

There’s a community of Americans and Canadians, with a few Europeans. Lots of artistic activities, tennis, charities, and little theatre provide plenty of action for retirees.

It’s perfect for reading, thinking, conversing…and writing. There’s a club for just about any hobby or activity. The Lake Chapala Society is an old homestead nestled in gardens to support the growing community of expatriates.

I didn’t blog while I was away, but I could have easily, with DSL and wireless connections available in several of the village cafes. Packet 8, Skype, and Vonage also make telecommunications easy.

So now, I am refreshed and ready to take care of my clients’ newsletter and blogging needs. But stay tuned, I shall soon be returning to Mexico and posting to you from there.

When’s the Last Time You Asked for a Referral?

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

This Wednesday, join Patsi and Denise as they have a conversation with Denise Kotula, DK Strategic Consulting, Inc.

Seal the Deal Quickly and Make More Money:
The Unbelievable Power of Business Referrals

How much business are you losing every year because you don’t stay in touch with clients and prospects? How many more clients could you easily obtain if you actively cultivated referrals from people who already know and trust you?

The fact is the average business person leaves 60 percent or more of their business on the table because they don’t have a marketing system in place to maximize the value of existing and emerging relationships. Referrals are prospects that have been pre-sold on you by someone they trust. But too few business professionals actively cultivate referrals.

In this conversation, learn how to maximize the value of your database and leverage the good name you’ve made for yourself in order to actively attract business by referral. You will learn a simple-to-use marketing system that will help you build productive business relationships, create client loyalty, generate referrals, and boost your bottom line.

Conversations with Experts: how to build your business both off and online is a weekly teleseminar sponsored by the Build a Better Blog System and Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

To register (free), click here: you will get the teleconference number to call in and join the conversation.

We’ve Been ‘Splogged!’

By Patsi Krakoff in Promoting Your Ezine +/or Blog

Steve Rubel, master blogger (www.micropersuasion.com), cites a great article on 16 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Blog, by John Percy. Since Denise and I wrote an article by the same name, I checked it out. Well, it was our great article, the very same as appears on page 103 of our ebook, Build a Better Blog.

Checking further, the blog where Steve found the post turns out to be a "splog", a blog that reprints copy on the web in hopes of generating key word traffic, supposedly for spam purposes. That blog doesn’t allow comments, so my investigation hit a dead end.

So I left a comment to Steve. He is an ethical sort who writes one of the best blogs around and would never misrepresent or misquote, at least not intentionally. I found other comments indicating that the so-called author John Percy has nothing to do with the blog that printed the article.

This is the first time I’ve heard about a ‘splog’ and I’m only guessing at the definition.

In any case, John Percy, wherever you are, I hope you’ll speak up and let Steve and his huge readership know that proper credit to this article belong to The Blog Squad, yours truly and Denise Wakeman.

Plagarism is up there with imitation as a form of flattery. My guess is that the Blogosphere will cry ‘foul’ and sort this out in a matter of a few days. Blogs and bloggers like to set the records straight and are able to do so fast, fast, fast.

What about you, dear readers? Have you been ‘splogged’ yet?

The Importance of Systems for Professionals

By Patsi Krakoff in Teleclasses & Seminars

A Conversation with Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy on Oct. 5, 2005

The Secret Weapon to Maximize Your Profits

Beth Schneider is an expert at helping small business owners and independent professionals track their processes to improve the bottom line. Don’t miss this unique and enlightening conversation with Beth, it will change your ways of doing business!

I have personally worked with Beth to help me document the processes in running my newsletter service business, and it will enable me to license Customized Newsletter Services as a "business in a box." This means that I will be able to generate additional income by showing others how to do what I do. If you’ve ever thought about ways to retire, or to add other streams of income to what you are doing, pay attention to Beth.

Here’s what Beth asks you to think about:

Why is it that success comes so easily for some and is such an uphill battle for others? Those who are making it know the secret. The money is in the system! Find out how you can find the money, free time and prestige hiding in your business. All successful businesses have one thing in common; they have business practices in place that:

* reduce errors
* bring in business
* and save money

Business process isn’t just for the Fortune 500. Small businesses must also have business systems in place to effectively grow and stay focused on what matters – MAKING MORE PROFIT!

Conversations with Experts: How to Build Your Business On and Off-line Hosted by Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff.

Conversations with Experts is sponsored by Build a Better Blog System: www.BuildaBetterBlogSystem.com

Mastering the Art of Writing

By Patsi Krakoff in Writing Better Ezines, Writing Great Copy

These fine words come from John Jantsh, Duct Tape Marketing. Whether you write copy to sell something, or copy to inform your readers and potential clients, there is some effort that goes into writing well.

Writing Is A Master Marketing Skill
By John Jantsch
Sept. 27, 2005, from Duct Tape Marketing newsletter

Few things are sold without a prospect reading a written word or two.

Business owners often ask me what they should be looking for in a marketing assistant and I always say – find someone who can write.

Now, let me back up and tell that what I really mean. Find someone who will write.

Many people claim that they are not good writers, and my take is that they simply don’t write. In order to become a good writer, in order to use writing as a marketing skill you must write. You can always have someone edit what you write, but it’s the act of writing that starts the marketing ball rolling. (I know my editor friends out there wish I would take that editing advice.)

Here’s what I have found.

Writing creates ideas. It’s rarely the other way around. Many times I have no idea what I am going to write, but once I start, ideas just happen. What comes about is often far greater than anything I could have simply thought and then transferred to paper or screen.

Writing will help you have something to say. The more you write, the better you will sell.

Writing will help you listen more actively.

Write speeches, write notes, write essays unrelated to your business.

Okay, write sales letters, write web pages, write white papers. Just, write first, and then see what you had to say.

Your business and your marketing will thank you!

John Jantsch is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing, small business marketing system.His Duct Tape Marketing Blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business and was twice named "Best Small Business Marketing Blog" by the readers of Marketing Sherpa.

Here’s how to subscribe to John’s newsletter:

Subscribe to Duct Tape Marketing – weekly marketing tips, tactics and resources from small business marketing coach and award winning blogger John Jantsch.
Visit http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/7stepsreport.htm to subscribe.