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Internet Business Mindset – Do You Have a Dream or Are You a Dreamer? – A SPN Exclusive Article

03 2011 Wednesday

By Cathy Henry in Featured

With all the buzz about the latest Google algorithm change, dubbed the Google Farmer Algorithm by many, it is time to really take a serious look at the difference between having a dream and being a dreamer when it comes to creating success for your business online. Most of the content that has been the hardest hit is content created by dreamers. The difference between the two can be easily defined by your mindset.

The mindset of a person with a dream:

* You realize that having a dream is the same as having a goal.

* You can visualize yourself achieving your goals.

* You have taken the time to thoroughly research your market to ensure you will have a viable product or service that is in sufficient demand to generate enough profits to sustain your business and your needs.

* Along with your dream you have created an action plan that is structured, measurable and realistic with clear timelines that is designed to turn your dream into a reality one step at a time.

* You are passionate and focused on making every effort to push your business forward.

* You understand that in order to achieve success your efforts must equal the expected outcome. In other words, you know that you only get out of it what you put into it and you are prepared to work round the clock if necessary to make it happen.

* You realize that you must gather a team together to make up for your lack of knowledge or skills in certain areas or you must take the time to learn the technology and skills necessary for delivering your content and products to your market.

* You know that you must be able to provide your customers with quality and value in order to compete in your market.

* You are aware that it takes money to make money. While an internet based business may not carry the same costs as an offline business, there are still operating costs involved and you must be able to cover those fees until your business is paying for itself.

The mindset of a dreamer:

* You have a dream of what you wish your life could be like but deep down don’t really believe it is possible.

* You have unrealistically set a goal of $10,000 per month income (because the gurus tell you that is what you can make) but you have not created a structured road map to get yourself to that goal.

* You only have 4 hours per week to spend on your business but that is okay because you believe making money online is easy and takes almost no effort. You just need to find the right system or a guru who is willing to show you their secrets.

* You want to only use free services because you either do not have any money to invest in your business or you would rather spend your money elsewhere.

* You have bought every automated money making system available because you do not want to have to spend hours and hours working on building a solid business.

* You have, or want to have, hundreds of automated websites because the law of averages says that the more websites you have, the more your chances are of getting lucky and having one or two websites that will make you a few bucks.

* You don’t like to write content but that’s not a problem because you can get your website content by scraping other sites, spinning PLR articles or adding RSS feeds to your site so you never have to actually create original content yourself.

* You believe that every bit of help or service you need can be outsourced for $5 but you expect to get top notch service for that price!

* You have purchased every guru product under $47 but have not really put them to use because they involved too much time and effort to implement. You quickly demanded a refund because they did promise a 30 day money back guarantee, right?

Where do you see yourself in the above mindsets?

The Google Farmer algorithm was put in place to weed out the dreamers and to allow those with a dream to rise in the ranks. In my opinion it is a change for the better.

When I started marketing my first website 12 years ago, the goal was to become an authority within my market. I knew that if I could reach that status, the income would automatically follow. I knew this was not realistically going to happen overnight. I threw myself into building a solid online business. I worked my offline business 8 hours per day and then worked my online business 8 hours per day when I got home. My initial goal was to add $250 per week to my bottom line through online sales.

When it took only a few months to achieve that goal, I was in heaven! I pushed onward and within a year or so my online business surpassed my offline business. When the recession hit and my offline business saw a drastic reduction in sales, I was able to still prosper and grow because I had taken that time to really build a solid business online.

For those of you reading this article who really dream of building a solid business online, the best advice I can give you is to follow your dream. Learn what you need to learn, do the work you need to do, surround yourself with an experienced team and get advice from those you can trust who have achieved what you hope to achieve. (Not self-proclaimed gurus.)

For those who only want to make easy money online, I advise you to just go get a part-time job. You will save money by not buying anymore hyped up info-products and systems and at least you will be bringing in a few bucks.

Cathy Henry is a seasoned online business veteran with 12 years of online business success. She now focuses much of her time helping other business owners achieve online success. http://cathyhenry.com

Do You Know What Success Is?

03 2011 Wednesday

By Jim Daniels in Featured

So many people are struggling to succeed these days, they lose sight of what success really means.

Exactly what is the definition of success?

Well, the Merriam dictionary defines it as such:

Success: favorable or desired outcome; also : the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence

A dreadfully incomplete definition in my opinion.

I like to think that success has very little to do with wealth, favor or eminence. Instead, it has everything to do with attaining your own personal goals.

Success should NEVER be measured through the eyes of others. Who cares what others think of you! All that really matters is that you achieve what you want to achieve in life.Sure, its easy to think of people as “a success” or “a failure.” It’s human nature to want to wrap everything up in a neat little package like that. But every life without wealth, favor or eminence is certainly not a failure.

So many people think of success on too big a level, their whole lives. And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with dreaming big, the fact is, many of them were successful all along and didn’t even know it.

That’s right. Too many people relate success with wealth, power, stardom, etc.

That’s a sure recipe for failure.

Here’s an example of success that many people never consider…

Let’s say when you neared adulthood your main goals were simply to find and keep a good job. That’s what you set out to achieve. Maybe a few years later you were in a job you didn’t exactly love, but it paid most of the bills.I’ve got news for you… you succeeded at what you set out to achieve. You should consider yourself a success.

Oh, you may not be as wealthy as some of your neighbors.

You may not be famous or a celebrity. You may not even have a lot of friends. But you set a goal and accomplished it. That means you are a success. Even in the eyes of Merriam dictionary. (A favorable or desired outcome!) So now you may be asking… if that’s success, ow do people reach higher levels of financial and emotional wealth?

And I have an answer for you.

Now that we know success can be as simple as setting a basic goal and achieving it, let’s talk about something that takes people to NEW LEVELS of success. Specifically, what is the secret to reaching the highest levels of financial and emotional wealth? Well, believe it or not, the secret is simply…. Setting New Goals After Each Success!

You see, once you achieve even the most modest goal, you gain a bit of confidence. You may not feel it all the time, but it is in you, believe me.With this confidence, you become empowered to do more. Specifically, you can now set new goals and dreams.

And through your first experience with success, no matter how small or how large, you hopefully will have noticed the plan that was responsible. It probably went something like this….

1. Identify What You Want Next From Life

In order to succeed at something new, you need some idea of what you want to achieve. If you don’t know what you want your destination to be, how do you expect to get there? So, the first thing you need to do is decide what you want accomplish. All successful people have at least some idea what they want to achieve. Maybe it’s a better paying job.

Maybe it’s a business of your own. Or a loving relationship with a significant other. Or a household full of loving, caring children. These are all great successes that people attain in their lives.

2. Take Action

When thinking about your dreams and goals you must be motivated and excited by them. Then you must take action towards achieving them – regular action preferably on a daily basis. This is where most people fail. They talk about what they want, but never actually take the steps required to succeed at their goal. Taking action is what separates the successes from the failures. It can be as simple as making a list of things required to accomplish your goal and staying focused on this list. Then each day, taking another step towards achieving your success.

3. Do Not Give Up

There will inevitably be roadblocks that get in the way of your goals. You will sometimes feel that you are going backwards not forwards. But you must remain totally committed to your goals and never give up. If you stay focused and keep taking regular daily action in the direction of your dreams then you will ultimately continue to move towards achieving them. Keep your dreams – your target – in the forefront of your mind and your creative brain WILL provide solutions to any problems you face along the way.

4. Pat Yourself On The Back, Then Set Another New Goal

Life is about living, not accomplishing things then stopping. Whenever you achieve one of your goals, recognize it as a success, give yourself a pat on the back and then set a new goal. That’s right, go back to step one and start all over again. You can do this as often as you want! The most successful people in the world do it more than anyone.

Just imagine how many times famous people like Thomas Edison set new goals!

In closing...

A lot of people fail to live the life that they desire.

Some fail to plan properly, some give up after a few setbacks, and some stop making new goals along the way. If you want to be happy and successful on your own terms, try using those steps above and you’re practically guaranteed to succeed – over and over and over.

Remember, everyone who has ever achieved success in their lives is really no different from you. They are just ordinary human beings. But they are ordinary human beings who took the time to work out what it was they wanted from life and then took regular, consistent action to get it.

Are you going to join them?

Jim’s been making his living online for more than 15 years, maybe he can help you do the same. Visit Jim at www.bizweb2000.com

Tips and Tools on How to Grow Your Twitter Following

03 2011 Tuesday

By Vince Peek in Featured

Growing a large following is something many new Twitter users struggle with. They see all these big accounts with 20, 50 or even 100K followers and wonder how did they ever get there?

Today we will give you some tips and tools on how to grow your following steadily and we’ll also make sure that you stay within the Twitter guidelines to avoid account suspension. There are certain practices that are not allowed and the last thing you want is to get your account suspended after you worked hard to get a decent following.

Quality or Quantity?

This is the first thing you have to ask yourself. Do you want a small group of followers where you can easily keep track of the timeline and interact with everybody or do you want to grow as big as possible and utilize Twitter lists to keep up with the tweets you care about?

Mobile App Marketing 101

03 2011 Monday

By Chris Haycox in Featured

Let’s be clear, marketing a mobile app is not the same as marketing anything else. In order to make people aware of your product you must rise above an estimated 350,000 iPhone and 140,000 Android apps – and that is without the consumer even having a good idea of what it can do. There are hundreds of apps that all claim to do what yours can, so why shouldn’t they choose the one at the top of the list? How can you get your app to be one of those ‘recommended by users’? The ways to successfully market a smartphone app are simple, even logical. Unfortunately developers often overlook these easy steps to successful mobile app marketing.

Shine

Make your app shine. Listen to what smartphone users want and cater to it. Anybody can be unique if they try hard enough, after all, isn’t that why we have silly apps like Shotgun and Angry Birds? For example, the biggest feature smartphone users want is security. They want to know the information they store, transfer and send on their phone is safe from hackers. If you are building a business related app, go out of your way to make it secure. Then tell everyone. A business app that functions efficiently and is secure will out shine all the others.

Be Diverse

If you develop an app that only services Androids, then you are shutting out a huge portion of the smartphone market. When we were launching our mobile apps we did launch our Android application first but followed that just a couple months later with the launch of our iPhone version. This will broaden it’s success and allow for marketing to a much larger audience.

Spread the Joy

You know your app is great. Your co-workers know your app is great. Even your family knows your app is great. They are all tweeting, blogging and Facebooking about its greatness, yet there are still not as many hits at the app store as you would like. Unless your app is simply an add-on for your current services it needs to be marketed on the web and while the app stores are great, you need your own web presence where you control the message.

Does your app have a dedicated website or a dedicated page on your business site? Is it just as great as your app or did you build it at 2 am the night before the launch? Your app’s website is just as important as your app. It shows just how serious you are about development, and in turn how good the app will be. If the app site is less than great, then perhaps the perception will be that your app is full of bugs and not very usable? Yes, people do judge a book by its cover, so spread the joy of your app to your business website and the site dedicated to the app itself. Offer as much information as possible, even as an extension of the app.

Launch Like NASA

When NASA is going to launch a shuttle into space they begin a countdown 43 hours before liftoff. The launch team is saddled with a specific set of tasks to complete before the shuttle can launch. Take a cue from NASA and schedule the launch of your app in much the same way, with a concise set of tasks to occur in a certain order and at a specific time.

Post some teaser tweets or blog posts that incite interest, but don’t give away the secret of your app. Canvas review sites for a cover story on your app. Don’t be upset if they don’t have time to review right away, a little publicity down the road is good too. If possible, coincide the launch of your app with a popular event or conference, especially if it relates to your category. For example, if your app is related to global business why not launch it during the Asia Business Conference 2011 (ABC 2011) at Harvard Business School? Having a large presence at the conference will not only draw in those attending, but also those watching what goes on there. At the same time, hold a live online event to showcase the app. Having it all centered around an event like the ABC 2011 will bring together many respected
industry icons, so why not try to get their attention? Also have your team begin posting tweets with promotional keys for your app. Launch a contest related to your app and give away prizes your users would find useful. Highlight ‘new additions’ to your website that include links to your app and its site.

The key to any successful product launch is word of mouth (even if that takes place via the social web). If you can get people talking about your app before, during and after its arrival on the market, well then you have it made. Create interest with hints on social media sites, even start a few rumors. People will always be interested in rumors, even if it is just to prove the rumor was wrong. To get people talking it takes creativity and interest. Make your app shine so that it becomes interesting. Make it diverse enough to appeal to everyone’s preferred methods of smartphone use. Spread the joy and greatness of your app. No one will know how great it is unless you tell them through your business website and the app site. Prepare your launch in a calculated manner with clear goals specific to a certain schedule of events. Incite excitement about your launch and your app. Get people talking.

Marketing your shiny new app doesn’t end at the launch, it just hits a point of climax before leveling out. Keep on talking, tweeting, blogging, promoting and sharing news about your app and its popularity will continue to grow exponentially.

Chris Haycox works for MetroFax Internet Fax as their head Network Administrator. MetroFax has just launched their iPhone app to enable their clients to more easily and securely access their faxes from anywhere.

Niche Marketing – Narrowing Your Path to Success – A SPN Exclusive Article

03 2011 Monday

By Cathy Henry in Featured

Almost every single client that contacts me for help with their website laments the lack of traffic and buying customers. Aside from SEO issues, 99% of the time their main problem is they are tackling an enormous market that is way beyond their experience or marketing budget.

For some, the idea of digging deep within their market and targeting specific smaller pockets of traffic is a concept that they do not understand. They assume that they need to have a very large audience to get the most traffic and make the most sales. This might be the case when choosing a location for an offline store, but the world of internet marketing is far different. In this article, I will explain why your chances for success depend on narrowing the field and finding micro-niches within that large audience.

For the purpose of explanation, I am going to choose the digital camera market to demonstrate how to effectively grab search engine traffic using micro-niches. For the record, the numbers I will use as examples are purely fictional. I have not researched this market but am throwing numbers out there as an example. The purpose of this lesson is to explain why niche marketing works and not to help you find your niche. You will need to do that research yourself.

That being said, let’s look at the numbers.

* “Digital cameras” is a very broad keyword. Because it is very broad there will be a huge amount of competition. There might be 750,000,000+ other pages competing for this keyword. It is pretty safe to say you will never be able to crack that market no matter how much SEO you do. It would take thousands and thousands of dollars and a large staff to get anywhere near page one in the search engines for such a broad search term. Your research tells you that this keyword gets 34,000 search queries per day, but if you can’t get near the first page you will never see any of that traffic to your website.

* Now let’s dig a little deeper within that market and look at “Nikon digital cameras”. The competition may be 3,000,000 for this term. That is a bit better, but still pretty stiff competition. You may be able to get on page 10 of the search engines for this term, but since buyers rarely go past page one or two, again, you will never see any buying traffic to your site if you base your SEO and marketing campaigns on this keyword. It would take a hefty advertising budget to bring any traffic to your website if you make this the main keyword for SEO and ad campaigns.

* You have done your market research, and with your experience as an electronics store owner, you know that the “Nikon Snappy Dappy Doo SLR 360″ model is the most popular selling camera. (Can you tell I made that model up?) Your research also tells you that there are only 150,000 pages competing for this keyword and that the search engines get 150 search queries per day for that specific term. The numbers all indicate that this is a micro-niche that is not only doable but can bring buying customers to your website. With some focused
SEO and a bit of work, you can realistically expect to be on page one of the search engines without too much difficulty.

Another great benefit of using this method of developing your marketing and SEO strategies is the fact that the majority of the visitors to your website will be buyers. You don’t want to waste your valuable resources on browsers or researchers. If you focus on too broad a term you may get visitors who are looking for information but are not necessarily looking to buy. They may be looking for tips on using a digital camera, troubleshooting a problem they have with their camera or they may just be in the beginning stages of researching the best digital camera for their needs.

Since your website’s main goal is to sell cameras, you want your visitors to already be in the buying mood when they land on your page. Let’s look at the stages that your customers go through when shopping for a camera. You can do this by thinking like a typical online shopper.

* When researching a product, the typical shopper will first type in the broad keyword of digital camera. This is just their starting point; they are not ready to buy yet. They are looking for reviews and features to find the one that best suits their needs and budget.

* Next, they may type in SLR digital cameras. Now they are comparing the different models available to narrow down which camera they like best. They are still not quite ready to make the leap.

* Once they have decided what they want, they will type in “Nikon Snappy Dappy Doo SLR 360″ because they are ready to make their purchase. This is exactly the time you want them to arrive at your website. They have their credit card in hand and are simply looking for the website they want to make their purchase from. Assuming you have competitive pricing, excellent customer service, a well designed site to instill their trust, and compelling ad copy, they will buy from you.

Now you should understand why it makes more sense to focus your efforts on that small pocket of buying customers within a very large market. You get targeted buying traffic to your website and you convert them into more sales. A smaller field increases your chances of a home run.

Cathy Henry is an expert in SEO and organic traffic. Her SEO Services Company focuses on helping website owners achieve success online. Visit www.cathyhenryseocompany.com to read more of Cathy’s articles.

The Leading Article Marketing Blunders You Have To Avoid

03 2011 Monday

By Brad James in Featured

If you own as well as operate a web-based enterprise, you have surely come across countless recommendations on how you could make it lucrative and sustainable. It is also likely that you’ve heard about the various ways for you to secure traffic and revenues for your corporate site, along with the knowledge that traffic is required in any type of enterprise. Article marketing is one of the most robust and affordable methods to market your services and products, and bring in consumers from around the world. But few people and sources look into the usual mistakes that rookies do while executing article marketing. This article covers article promotion and what you should not undertake if you utilize this strategy for your company.

In essence, article promotion is made up of two activities: writing articles on a given theme, and publishing these content pieces using numerous media.

Since you are a businessman, your article subject ought to be associated with your business, services, and products. In addition, there are few people who know that article marketing can also be conducted off the web! The conventional approach calls for the use of newspapers, journals, and leaflets, which are accessible to countless consumers and carry an abundance of information for assorted fields. But with so many consumers getting Internet access, online article marketing by means of websites and article directory sites has become the norm for nearly all business owners. It is far more economical, provides a wider consumer reach, and delivers long-term favorable outcomes.

Most people reckon that content creation is simple. In many ways, it’s an extremely clear-cut approach, but there are also a lot of blunders that are frequently done by inexperienced and uninformed marketers and business proprietors. Ultimately, these mistakes would cost them considerable money and time if not corrected. Therefore, you must be aware of these errors before you begin executing article promotion for your internet company!

Firstly, you will need to choose a specific topic, and stick with it. Don’t try to come up with content pieces on multiple topics at the same time. Nearly all business owners and writers try to tackle lots of themes, and this won’t work as it becomes tough for them to investigate and elaborate on every topic, as well as display their know-how and trustworthiness.

Content creation requires you to focus on one topic, present illustrations and crucial details to your viewers, and make them learn things they cannot pick up anywhere else.

Another common article marketing blunder is pulling in varying viewers. Just like our prior example, you have to craft a precise sales message that’s targeted to a single market and is conveyed in a succinct way.

In addition to having only one theme for your articles, concentrating on one type of audience will increase your likelihood of getting the traffic, profits, recognition and search rating that you desire for your web-based venture. Pulling in an audience that is really interested in what you have to offer and is more likely to buy your services and products would be more worthwhile compared to aiming to please everybody.

The next article marketing blunder concerns the caliber of your material. Most folks these days possess a limited attention span, so your material must be brief, fresh, logical, insightful, and compelling. All these characteristics are going to make sure that your niche market reads your write-ups from start to finish, plus make the purchase after your subtle marketing pitch.

This is what is known as ‘high-quality traffic’. This brings about a common issue for businesspeople: they might not be outstanding copywriters, or do not have any energy and time to spare for article promotion. If you have this concern, you should consider using content creation applications and / or engaging freelance copy writers and virtual office assistants. They will get the job done for you and also guarantee that you obtain recurring website traffic and sales.

If you want to submit your content to various article banks, you have to recognize that most of these directories reject cloned content pieces. In addition, an article created for web publication could also be utilized for conventional media, and vice versa. Novice article promoters create content that isn’t versatile; you’ll need to avoid this mistake! Reworking content pieces for article submission services and repurposing them for other marketing tools (for instance, blogs, e-books, classes, etc.) will be advantageous, particularly if you plan to branch out to other niche markets down the road. A top article submission firm, publisher or campaign manager can help you out with this aspect.

By bearing all these usual article marketing blunders in mind, you can build your very own business empire and generate favorable results more quickly!

Further research is going to present you with more details on the things you ought to avoid when implementing article promotion for your enterprise.

The search engines thrive on content and backlinks. Without article marketing your site is dead! Learn how a good article marketing campaign can promote your website by getting your FREE Marketing Report at www.Unique-Article-Wizard.com

A Realistic Timescale For Would-be Internet Marketers

03 2011 Monday

By Graham Bray in Featured

We live in an age of increasing instant gratification. We expect to get whatever we want, when we want it. We know that we can access the internet at any time of night and day and we can search for anything that interests us and satisfies our curiosity. Do we expect such instant success in our internet marketing?

I will readily admit that when I first started dabbling with an online business I expected the rewards to be easy.

I expected to put up a website, produce a good product, and then sit back and wait for the orders and profits to pour in. I’m sure that many people who attempted to set up a marketing site on the internet expected a similar outcome.

Why do we have this strange attitude towards internet marketing? Away from the online world, nobody would expect to start a business overnight and see a profit. A typical offline business plan would involve months of planning, a period of setting-up and attracting customers, potential losses for a period of time, and then eventually the profits would start to trickle in.

The problem primarily lies with the internet itself. We are constantly being tempted with online offers to create instant wealth. We are bombarded with stories of internet ‘gurus’ who generate profits of “$21,878 in 21 days!”. We are our own worst enemies because we believe all this hype, and we constantly search for the next get-rich-quick-scheme. The ‘gurus’ then get richer, and the myth of instant success perpetuates itself, but only for a very select few.

Time for a reality check. Developing a successful internet marketing business takes months, probably years. The ‘gurus’ will never tell you this, but here’s a more realistic timescale:

Pre-launch …………………… 1 – 4 months

Launch (stage 1) …………… 1 – 4 months

Stage 2 ………………………. 3 – 18 months

Stage 3 ………………………. 6 – 12 months

Stage 4 ………………………. ongoing

Based on this timescale, from initial idea to an established web business will take a minimum of 11-12 months, and more likely stretch into 2 – 3 years. If this information was made readily available to would-be internet marketers, I wonder how many would still embark upon their quest? Success rates for internet marketers are remarkably poor. Only about 5% of those who begin the journey actually sell a single product.

With a more enlightened attitude to internet marketing I am sure that this failure rate would be much lower, because only the realistic and dedicated few would actually have the gumption to start out in the first place. The rest would go elsewhere to find their instant ‘fix’.

There are many successful internet marketers, but when you dig beneath the surface you will always find that they have paid their dues. They have struggled for months or years to get a web presence. They have had product failures, and many times they will have felt like giving up.

So, how realistic are you? Are you expecting instant gratification, or will you pay your dues and expect to be in the internet marketing business for the long haul. If you want to be successful then don’t expect overnight success. Look to the long term, commit to your business, and dedicate your efforts to future profits.

Graham Bray is an enthusiastic internet marketer, and for nearly five years he has been developing websites as part of his Multiple Income Pathways. To learn more about internet marketing and how you can download a *free report* visit his blog at www.easierinternetmarketing.com

On-Page Optimization Tactics You Don’t Hear About – A SPN Exclusive Article

03 2011 Sunday

By Ben Jackson in Featured

Backlinking, backlinking, backlinking – it seems to be the only part of SEO anyone ever talks about these days! Let’s get our noses out of everyone else’s sites and back into ours.

On-page optimization is often overlooked and neglected, but your on-page SEO builds the foundation for all of your off-page optimization efforts. We’re going to cover some of the basics here: domain names and title tags, but we’re also going to get to topics less discussed when dealing with on-page optimization. I’m talking about things like stemming, your outbound links, your use of synonyms and more. Let’s get to it!

Domain Name

Your domain name has a powerful effect on how you rank. Having an EMD (exact match domain) for your keyword is going to do a lot for your ranking. However, this is not crucial to your ranking success. Many people, such as myself, choose to have a domain name that they can brand. It depends on what you’re looking to do with your site. If you want to make a small niche site targeting a single keyword, then clearly you will want to get an EMD.

But what if the EMD is not available?

5 Simple Steps to Social Media Start Up Success

03 2011 Friday

By Katrina Sawa in Featured

So many women entrepreneurs come to me and ask still “I don’t know how to start up a fan page for my business or how else to promote myself on social media.” It is for this reason I am writing this article today…there are just too many of you out there still not familiar with what social media and social networking can do to jumpstart your business.

So, let me put it like this. If you go to in person networking events and strike up a conversation with someone there who most likely could be your target market, at some point you’re going to get to the point where you might ask them if you can follow up with them, meet for coffee, would they’d like to receive more information about your services, or, possibly on occasion, you could have them commit to becoming a client right then and there if they really connect with you and need what you have to offer right?

Picture the same scenario happening not in person but in a chat room, forum, fan page or between private messaging on one of your social sites. The same situation can happen if you structure your social networking in a way that invites that type of conversation and interaction. The key is though to have a system on what to say to whom and when.

Then how to follow up and continue those interactive conversations privately so the prospect gets to know you, sees what kind of advice you can bring to the table, you start establishing that trust until then they feel comfortable taking some kind of action with you.

This can take one or two messages back and forth or it can take multiple, the point is that you become consistent about your online communication efforts and you do it in a way that doesn’t take too much time, which means you’re organized and you have a system. My business as a Big Picture Business and Marketing Coach actually does quite well from my social networking and marketing online. I get an average of 2-3 prospects per week and I really don’t do that much at the moment to be honest. The people that I do end up communicating with personally on sites like Facebook are either all hot or warm prospects and by the time we get to the messaging stage (which is where I step into the system) they have already identified themselves as needing my expertise and assistance. This low level of time investment for me to gain this small number of prospects however also results in anywhere from $4,000-10,000 per month in revenue for me now. How would THAT help YOUR bottom line?

So, in the system you develop you need to make sure you’ve built in the right information to attract the right prospects, not just everyone; this takes some creative copywriting, you don’t just want to say ‘hello, let’s be friends’. I teach this in depth in my group coaching programs and private mentoring and keep in mind this is just ONE marketing strategy out of hundreds that you may want to consider; don’t discount everything else just because this happens to be free and easy to do from home.

So there is much more to this that I can share in one article but here is my 5 simple steps to social media start up success:

1. Outline Your Goals – what do you want to accomplish by communicating online? Do you want more customers? Do you want more exposure for your website? Do you want to sell products? Do you want to just be social?

2. Choose Your Sites – you don’t just want to get a profile on every social site out there, you should be somewhat strategic where you put your information and how you spend your time based on your overall goals.

3.Determine Your Strategy – this is more than just ok I’m going on to my sites 3 times a week for 30 min each, you need more than a strategy than that. You need to know what to say and how to reach MORE target prospects or people and how to build a following, get people to interact with you, etc.

4. Schedule Your Time – this is huge, so many people waste countless hours every week because they don’t have a strategy on what to do on social media, they aren’t focused and yet they don’t see the value in investing in learning more how to do this effectively but I think I’ve shown you above what could be possible for you if you paid more attention to this aspect of your marketing right?

5. Provide Consistent Interaction - you’ve got to be consistently out there, talking, typing, texting, blogging, commenting, messaging, posting, liking, following and more!

This marketing strategy doesn’t have to take a lot of time when you have a system.

A small team or at least one person to help you manage some of the front end communicating could provide you many leads for your business and pretty quickly at that. But trying to do this on your own I can tell you will be extremely time consuming and more difficult than you think to reach thousands each month which is what you want to build a bigger business.

(c) Copyright 2011 K. Sawa Marketing International. Katrina Sawa is an Award-Winning Author & Speaker who’s helped hundreds of small business owners take dramatic steps in their businesses to get them to the next level in business, revenues & their personal life. Get her Free Entrepreneur’s Success Kit at www.JumpStartYourMarketing.com!

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