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By Donna Gunter in Featured

marketingWhen I began to market my business online, I just started to do things that were pretty natural to me. I’m a great teacher, so I held teleclasses, and I’m also a great writer and researcher, so I began to write about what I knew. Holding teleclasses was definitely a strategic marketing move, but not so much with the writing. Once I found my own voice, I wrote because I enjoyed it, was good at it, and got high praise for my efforts. I never envisioned it as my primary marketing strategy.

What many introverts fail to realize is that they have all that they need at their disposal to effectively market their businesses online. All they have to do is tap into their quiet gifts, which tend to revolve around writing, researching, and listening, and they are good to go! However, if you’re like me, you may be slow to realize that what you do naturally is a gift and what you know is unique. For so long, I thought everyone knew what I knew or could do what I do. It never occurred to me that not everyone was like me.

By Donna Gunter in Featured

businessTired of the day-to-day struggle of chasing one client to the next? Want a better way to run your business that enables you to better predict your monthly income? One of the best ways to stabilize your income when you’re a self-employed service professional is to create a monthly recurring source of income for yourself, commonly referred to as a continuity program.

Many continuity programs focus on providing products each month (think of any number of beauty product clubs you see on infomercials) or providing coaching or information (think of an Inner Circle Club where the members get one call per month from an expert, along with a CD and transcript of the call). While there’s nothing wrong with these continuity models, I think that an independent service professional builds the strongest business when the business contains multiple streams of income, or in this case, multiple streams of recurring income. I’m in the process of updating my business model to include service-based recurring revenue, all related to Internet marketing tasks.

By Donna Gunter in Featured

Even though I use an amazing article distribution service, not all publications or blogs serving my industry or my target market are on the distribution list for this service or for the well-known, high traffic article directories. So, to ramp up the syndication of my articles yet another notch, I also submit them to specialty or niche publications that I have discovered over the years.

It’s not always easy to find these publications and sites. Here are my 7 best out-of-the-box ideas to find publications and sites that are frequented by your target market and might publish your articles:

1. Blogs. Research blogs written for your target market at Blogcatalog.com, Technorati.com, and Google Blog Search. Many of the blog owners will willing publish posts of guest authors. And, if you subscribe to Cathy Stucker’s BloggerLinkUp.com, you’ll receive weekly notices of bloggers looking for content for their blogs.

2. Associations and print publications. Research the trade and professional associations for your target market. You can create a query in your search engine for combinations like “target market” + “association” or “target market” + “magazine” to get you started.

When you locate the associations, examine their trade publications, newsletters, and industry-related magazines for information about online blogs, ezines, forums, or the online edition of their publication. Many publications well-known for their print versions now have online versions where the publication lead time is much shorter and the stipulations for publications aren’t as restrictive. And, don’t forget to look at the online versions of your local newspaper, magazines, and media outlets. They are often seeking experts with content to beef up their online offerings.

3. Your competition. Google the name of your competitors and examine the results. Note where their content is being published. Chances are that you can be published on the same sites, as well.

4. Trainers of your target market. In your search engine look up “training” + “target market.” Whatever associations, portals, training companies, consultants, etc. that are providing education and information for your target market probably also need content for their sites and blogs.

4. Gender specific or business specific groups. If your target market is women, there are countless numbers of women’s business and networking associations and portals online. Simply search for “women” + “networking” or “women” + “association” or “business networking” + “association.” Many of these sites need content for their blogs, ezines, or web sites.

5. Niche article directories. You might find article banks or expert sites geared for particular niches, so look up “target market” + “article directory.” Some of the better known niche article directories are SelfGrowth.com, for self-improvement and holistic healing experts. Many of these sites will let you create a profile and publish your articles free of charge but require a fee to move your articles to a prominent place on their site.

6. Large portal sites. Look for portal sites like About.com and iVillage.com where the sites have guides, editors, or experts in specific areas. Many times these experts must publish a regular ezine or blog and are constantly seeking content. One of their editors at About.com used to publish a lot of my articles on her section on Online Business. Check out information portals like Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com as well for ideas on where to submit your articles. You might also find large portals geared specifically for your industry or your target market.

7. Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a large online encyclopedia to which the public contributes. Some areas are very well documented on Wikipedia. Additionally, Wikipedia’s References section, See Also section, and External Links area are often good online sources as well.

The content that you create is a primary business asset. Don’t let it languish on your computer’s hard drive. Make it work for you over and over again by seeking out new sites seeking useful content like yours.

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

By Donna Gunter in Featured

marketingYou may feel as though you’re on a hamster wheel when it comes to measuring your marketing. You run, run, and run some more, but don’t seem to be getting anywhere. That feeling is perfectly natural if you’re not measuring your ROI (Return on Investment) with your marketing. For years, I’ve been on this hamster wheel myself, without a system that I liked to help me measure my marketing results. Numbers and statistics have never been my strong suit, and even though I got A’s in most of my math classes, it took every brain cell I had to do so. :)

Late last year, I finally determined what was important for me to track in my marketing, and now have created a system so that I can track my marketing from week to week. Whether you set up your system in a document or spreadsheet, you’ll be amazed at the power that you feel when you view the numbers from week to week and can spot trends developing or problem spots that need a solution. I was amazed to discover that when I started paying attention to my weekly stats, I actually found myself engrossed, fascinated, and excited! Now that I am tracking these numbers, I know exactly where to spend my time and efforts to receive the highest and best rate of return.

By Donna Gunter in Featured

Even though I use an amazing article distribution service, not all publications or blogs serving my industry or my target market are on the distribution list for this service or for the well-known, high traffic article directories. So, to ramp up the syndication of my articles yet another notch, I also submit them to specialty or niche publications that I have discovered over the years.

It’s not always easy to find these publications and sites. Here are my 7 best out-of-the-box ideas to find publications and sites that are frequented by your target market and might publish your articles:

1. Blogs. Research blogs written for your target market at Blogcatalog.com, Technorati.com, and Google Blog Search. Many of the blog owners will willing publish posts of guest authors. And, if you subscribe to Cathy Stucker’s BloggerLinkUp.com, you’ll receive weekly notices of bloggers looking for content for their blogs.

2. Associations and print publications. Research the trade and professional associations for your target market. You can create a query in your search engine for combinations like “target market” + “association” or “target market” + “magazine” to get you started.

When you locate the associations, examine their trade publications, newsletters, and industry-related magazines for information about online blogs, ezines, forums, or the online edition of their publication. Many publications well-known for their print versions now have online versions where the publication lead time is much shorter and the stipulations for publications aren’t as restrictive. And, don’t forget to look at the online versions of your local newspaper, magazines, and media outlets. They are often seeking experts with content to beef up their online offerings.

3. Your competition. Google the name of your competitors and examine the results. Note where their content is being published. Chances are that you can be published on the same sites, as well.

4. Trainers of your target market. In your search engine look up “training” + “target market.” Whatever associations, portals, training companies, consultants, etc. that are providing education and information for your target market probably also need content for their sites and blogs.

4. Gender specific or business specific groups. If your target market is women, there are countless numbers of women’s business and networking associations and portals online. Simply search for “women” + “networking” or “women” + “association” or “business networking” + “association.” Many of these sites need content for their blogs, ezines, or web sites.

5. Niche article directories. You might find article banks or expert sites geared for particular niches, so look up “target market” + “article directory.” Some of the better known niche article directories are SelfGrowth.com, for self-improvement and holistic healing experts. Many of these sites will let you create a profile and publish your articles free of charge but require a fee to move your articles to a prominent place on their site.

6. Large portal sites. Look for portal sites like About.com and iVillage.com where the sites have guides, editors, or experts in specific areas. Many times these experts must publish a regular ezine or blog and are constantly seeking content. One of their editors at About.com used to publish a lot of my articles on her section on Online Business. Check out information portals like Squidoo.com and Hubpages.com as well for ideas on where to submit your articles. You might also find large portals geared specifically for your industry or your target market.

7. Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a large online encyclopedia to which the public contributes. Some areas are very well documented on Wikipedia. Additionally, Wikipedia’s References section, See Also section, and External Links area are often good online sources as well.

The content that you create is a primary business asset. Don’t let it languish on your computer’s hard drive. Make it work for you over and over again by seeking out new sites seeking useful content like yours.

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

By Donna Gunter in Featured

Unfortunately, this scenario is a reality for all of us who use social networking — it’s not a matter of IF your Twitter or Facebook account will be hacked, but simply WHEN. I’ve been on the receiving end of messages from my friends whose accounts have been hacked. The message typically compliments me on some body part or requests me to click on a link to view a video of myself. Also, there are usually a number of misspellings in the message.

Be very careful when you get those kinds of messages, even when they are coming from trusted friends who would normally not engage in this type of behavior. Many of the messages are linked to a virus or some type of malware that either infects your computer or will gain access to your account and send all of your friends and followers spammy messages. If you do slip and click on one of these links, pay attention to what your virus scanning software tells you, especially if you get a security warning about a site.

If your Twitter account is hacked:

  1. Visit Twitter’s information page for problem resolution.
  2. Log out of Twitter
  3. Clear your browser cache (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close down your browser.
    1. For Internet Explorer: Go to Tools — Internet Options, and then click on the “Delete” button under Browsing History. Check all of the boxes (except InPrivate Filtering data) and click on the “Delete” button.
    2. For Firefox: Go to Tools — Clear Recent History, and then click on the down-arrow next to “Details”, check all of the boxes, and select “Everything” for the time range to clear.
  4. Open a new browser window, log into Twitter, and change your password. You can also use the Twitter password reset feature to set a new password before logging in again.
  5. Visit your settings page and check your Connections. Revoke access for any third-party application that you don’t recognize.
  6. Submit a support request to let them know you have taken all of the proper steps to reset your account and to request that your direct messaging capability be restored. You can also include info on any statuses that weren’t posted by you in the body of the request.

7. Update your password in all of your third party applications as well. If a third party application (like Facebook, Twitterrific, Twhirl, etc.) is trying to use your old password to access your tweets, it will lock you out of your account.

If your Facebook account is hacked:

  1. Visit Facebook’s information page for problem resolution.
  2. If you are still able to access your login email address, then use the “Forgot your password” link to prompt an email from Facebook with a password reset code. If you can’t access your account, then use the link above.
  3. Clear your browser cache (your browsing history and cookies and private info) and close down your browser as described above.
  4. Your account could also have been phished/hacked by a phishing web site, worm, or malicious software. To ensure that all is safe again, refer to the “Warnings” section on Facebook.

Take care when using Twitter and Facebook. Trust your intuition, and if something doesn’t look or feel right, ignore it or delete it before clicking on it. You will have probably saved yourself hours or headache in trying to restore a hacked account.

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

By Donna Gunter in Featured

All of my clients are exceptional at the service they provide for their clients. However, many of them come to me for coaching because they’re having a hard time filling their practices and finding clients. Almost without fail, they tell me that this is a marketing problem. It is a marketing problem, but not the type they think it is.

When I ask them to describe their ideal client or target market, I’ll get a very general and all-encompassing answer like, “Oh, I want to work with entrepreneurs who are kind, loyal, courteous, have a great sense of humor, financially stable, etc.” — you know, in essence, the Boy Scout motto that covers a very large percentage of the world population. That’s a great beginning general descriptor about the type of client with whom they would like to work, but the description is, unfortunately, flawed.

Why?

Because it’s simply not specific enough.

Oftentimes, I’ll respond to their answer with, “I want you to open open up your local telephone directory and turn to the yellow pages listing with the heading ‘Loyal Entrepreneur’.” They are momentarily stumped, as, of course, no such listing exists in any phone directory I’ve ever seen.

Then we begin to work on the process of finding ideal clients in their target market by determining the demographic, industry, income, position, etc. I know without a doubt that the more specific they can be in their description, the easier their marketing becomes. So, I encourage my clients to identify as many specific characteristics as possible so that they can actually reach out and “touch” their ideal client — they know where the clients hang out on- and off-line, what they read, what groups they belong to, what they do for fun, etc. The point of the exercise is for these business owners to determine where they can obtain names and contact info or lists of people who are real, living, breathing, members of their target market that they can call, email, invite to a meeting, or send a mailing.

Once my clients have gathered this very specific info on their target market, the next move is to articulate the top 5 challenges of this group. Since my clients continue to tell me that they have “marketing” problems, I have more specifically defined “marketing” into these specific challenges:

  1. determining what business you’re really in (i.e. you’re not selling career coaching but instead are selling a proven system to help someone land a dream job)
  2. defining and refining your target market with very specific descriptors
  3. determining how to find the members of your target market
  4. understanding your ping vs. your pie (the benefits of working with you as opposed to the features of the services you offer and what makes you unique and different enough that they should work with you instead of someone else)
  5. determining how to creatively and inexpensively promote your business online to your target market

Does this sound like anyone that you know?

Take some quiet time and determine the top 5 challenges for your target market. If you don’t know what these challenges are, ask members of your target market. Once you’ve articulated these challenges, focus your marketing efforts around these issues. You can address them in your web site, your elevator speech, your business card, the articles that you write, the talks that you give, the flyers and brochures you design, and in the conversations you have with prospective clients. Your target market needs to know you feel their pain and you’ve got the remedy that will help make that pain disappear.

So, now I’ve revealed to you the true secret of online marketing. Are you ready to harness the power of that secret and take your business to the next level?

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

By Donna Gunter in Featured

Once you have created an information product, you may think you’ve completed all of the hard work. Unfortunately the most challenging piece of product creation is yet to come — the creation of the sales letter landing page where you talk about and sell your product.

Creating an effective sales letter is really all about following a formula. If you look at enough sales letters, you realize that most of them follow the same template. While there aren’t necessarily any hard-and-fast rules, here are 13 steps to help you create the perfect sales letter for your product or service:

  1. Headlines. First create an intro headline, which appears in smaller font just before your primary headline and gets your reader warmed up for the headline to follow. Then comes your primary headline, which is a large font in a different font color that must grab your reader’s attention. The best way to get your reader’s attention in your headline is to tug at an emotion, like fear, insider secrets that no one else knows, or how to do something.

    Then, you have mini-headlines that are scattered throughout your text. Usually they contain a benefit and are meant to draw the reader’s eye to a certain section of text. They are in a larger font although smaller than the primary headline and in a different color than the text of your letter.

  2. Greeting. Start your letter with “Dear Target Market Name”, a date, and your geographic location.
  3. Introduction. This is section where you reiterate the details of a particular problem suffered by your target market, empathize with those who have a similar problem, outline why it’s important to seek a solution, and begin to drop hints that you’ve got the solution to this problem.
  4. Your story and credentials. Elaborate on your background and credentials that make you qualified to sell this product or service, as well as the story that led to the creation of this product.
  5. Product introduction. Here’s where you talk more about your product and begin to list and explain the main benefits (not features), or what’s in it for your reader if your reader buys the product.
  6. Bullet points. While this isn’t technically a part of the template, you’ll want to make full use of bullet points throughout your sales letter as a way of cleanly listing the many benefits and features of your product. Bullet points make it very easy for a reader to scan your page and pick up the pertinent information she needs to make a decision to buy your product.
  7. Testimonials. Testimonials serve as social proof that your product works. If others have purchased and used your product and gained the benefits that you promise, the reader feels more certain that they can purchase it, too, and receive similar benefits. Make your testimonials believable by including a photo, web site URL, phone number, audio, or video of the person giving the testimonial. The more that your visitor can identify with the person giving the testimonial, the more likely she is to purchase from you.
  8. Product details/benefits. Here’s where you get to break everything down for your reader, with all of the details of all of the specific components of your product.
  9. Your offer and bonuses. Your offer can make or break the sale of your product. Make the offer so irresistible that your reader can’t help but think, “I’ve gotta get that!” When you add bonuses to the mix, you increase the value of the offer immediately. Make sure that your bonuses are directly related to your main product so that your reader sees the enhanced value.
  10. Guarantee. Make your reader feel safe by offering an iron-clad guarantee that takes all the risk out of the purchase.
  11. Price justification. Compare your pricing to other products/services that you sell, or to items your reader might use regularly. Your goal here is to make the price a non-issue for the reader by reminding her how much continuing to deal with this problem is costing her.
  12. Final call to action. Again make your offer here, with clear, specific instructions on how your reader can purchase the product. Remind her of your guarantee and any bonuses she receives for purchase. Remind your reader why she should take action now, and include a sense of scarcity here, as in time limits, product limits, or limiting the bonuses to the few xx number of orders.
  13. Closing and postscripts (P.S.). Sign off on your letter and include at least one post-script. The post-script serves as a a powerful place where you give readers a reason to go back and consider the offer. Believe it or not, the P.S. the third most-read section of your sales letter, so don’t forget to include at least one. The P.S. is also the last place many of your readers will end up after reading your offer – just before they leave. Your P.S. needs to be the last persuasive offer to get them to stay and buy.

When you follow these 13 steps, you have now created a powerful sales letter. By following this 13-step formula, any online business owner can create an effective sales letter that sells her product or service.

Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

By Donna Gunter in Featured

businessA new year always brings New Year’s resolutions, as well as the urge to purge things from your life and business and begin anew. I caught the decluttering bug between Christmas and New Year’s Day this year and removed from my office many boxes of physical materials that had served me well once upon a time but I had now “outgrown.”

The physical act of removing clutter from my workspace left me free to focus on what remained. Much of what’s left is not physical, however. Like me, many online business owners have more electronic items in their business than physical ones. This is the point where many independent service professionals get stuck — trying to organize and take inventory of all those electronic assets and determine how to best utilize them in the coming year.

How can you track these electronic pieces of your business? By taking an inventory. You can take this inventory on paper, on a white board, on your computer, or wherever works for you.

By Donna Gunter in Featured

marketingOne of the most difficult concepts to grasp for online business owners who are writing their own sales copy is to write about the benefits of your product/service, rather than the features. Even though this skill is critically important, I would guess that less than 10% of business owners truly understand it. Not surprisingly, it’s also the primary reason that so many marketing campaigns fail.

Think about the products and services that you buy. Why did you purchase them? One of the reasons I go to the local Firestone auto servicing center to buy my tires and get my oil changed and my car maintained (despite the fact that it’s 30 miles from my house) is because Dale, the customer service manager, told me when I first visited this center, “We take care of you so you don’t have to worry about breaking down on the side of the road.” That sealed the deal for me — no other explanation was necessary.

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