Leveraging Google+: It’s Not the Largest Social Network

by Nicole Munoz

Google+ is billed as the largest social network in the world. However, that is because Google counts every person who signs up for a Google email address as a user, even if they are not actively using it. But, Google+ is so much more than a social network, it’s a way to identify and connect with people all across your web activities including search, maps, YouTube and other Google products with just one log on.

1-google-products

It can be hard to determine how many truly active Google+ account holders exist, but it’s somewhere around 343 million active users. Facebook still leads, with over 1.15 billion users, and even Twitter has more active users at over 500 million, it’s important to remember that Google + is not trying to be Facebook or Twitter. Google is still trying to be a search engine, but it’s using all their other products such as Google+ to return better, more relevant and personalized search results. Once you learn how everything is interrelated you can truly begin to leverage Google+ to grow your business.

Major Benefits of Google+

2-organize Google Plus is not really a social networking website. It’s much more than that. It’s a way to communicate, organize, and personalize your experience on the web. Before we talk about the benefits of understand that Google Plus is unlike any other destination on the web. Understanding the benefits and how you can use it will be key in realizing how you can leverage Google+ to increase traffic to your site and connections for your business.

Google Plus is so advanced in its offerings it is important to let go of all of your expectations when experiencing it. It’s not going to act like other social networks that you’re accustomed to, and you really don’t want it to, because it’s so much better. Google Plus is truly a game changer. It is, as Google likes to say: A Social Destination. For a business owner, being part of Google Plus is an imperative.

Some of the major benefits of Google+ are:

You Can Organize Your Connections

3-circles Using Google Plus Circles you can organize your customers (and any audience) easily by simply creating what is called a “circle” which is simply a way to segment contacts based on their relationship to you. Their relationship to you could be that they’re a customer of yours, or that they are a colleague, or even a family member.

You can have a circle of “all customers” and then segment them into smaller circles based on what they’ve bought. For instance, you may have customers who have bought product A from you and some customers who have purchased service B. You can put them into a circle specifically for them. When you share a post on Google Plus you can choose to share it with one or more circles or the general public.

By creating circles, which is really just another way of segmenting, you can choose what you will share with whom easily.

You Can Improve Your Search Engine Results

Google Search adds weight to its Author Rank and authorship tag in search results. The +1 feature is a great way to give more social proof for your content’s popularity. Adding the Google + One Button to your content will increase SEO dramatically. Creating a Google+ Brand Page and personal profiles is another essential element to increasing your search engine page results (SEPR). Google+ is also a great way to get high quality backlinks to your content.

Not only that, Google+, since it is so good at connecting and identifying people, can let you know what your friends like all across the web. Just like you can see what pages your friends like on Facebook, you can now find out what websites, articles, and other content your friends (social circles) like all across the entire Internet.

This enables Google Search to return search results not just based on the search terms you use, and the location you reside, but also on what pages your social circles are recommending via Google Search Plus Your World. These very personal results for search terms and phrases are given to searchers signed into their Google+ accounts, which remember, every person with a Gmail account now automatically have a Google+ account, and if they’re signed into their email, they’re signed into Google+.

Google+ Status Updates are Indexed Immediately

You can help this process by including important keywords within your status update, as well as optimizing them with awesome headlines to create even better and more targeted search results. The people in your circles will be a lot more likely to see your status updates on Google+ too, over Facebook. At least right now Google+ is not requiring funds to “boost” your posts to people who have chosen to follow you. They will see your updates if they are looking.

Understanding Google+ Integration with the Rest of Google

The fact is, Google has done a great job integrating the rest of its products with Google+ the Social Network. You may or may not be familiar with the range of Google products. Many are listed below.

6-integration These Google products work together to create a very powerful interconnected way to do just about anything you want to do on the Internet. Understanding this interconnectedness is important if you want to use Google to get more business. Opportunities for business are truly unlimited when you understand how your activities and the activities of your target audience affect your impact and your search engine page rank.

The best way to explain how everything is related is to consider Google Email apart from Google+ for a moment. You automatically have a Google+ account when you get a Gmail account. So, any of your customers or potential customers who have a Gmail account are already connected to Google+ even if they don’t know it. Let’s say you have 200 customers who have Gmail accounts and only 40 of them are active on Google+.

One of the 40 reads a blog post you wrote about something they are interested in, and they use your +1 button. You will know that they +1’d your blog post, and now when they search for anything on the Internet Google Search recognizes that they already +1’d some of your content so Google will be more likely to return more of your content to the searcher.

But, that’s not all. Anyone that your customer who +1’d your content is connected to either via Gmail, or via Google+ as an active user will also be more likely to receive a search result with your content that your customer +1’d. Did you understand that? With just one person using the +1 button on your site, they’ve made it more likely for you to show up in SERPS to not only themselves, but to their friends, customers, contacts, whether or not they’re in their circles. Pretty awesome and powerful, isn’t it? Now, times that by 40. Excited yet?

Top 10 Reasons Social Media is Important for Search Engines and Website Traffic

by Nicole Munoz

Search engine optimization and ways of driving website traffic have changed dramatically over the last few years. It used to be all about the algorithms. Then Google’s all-powerful algorithms were over-ridden by the phenomenon of social search as social media developed, grew and exploded into the collective consciousness.

Google fought back, creating, scrapping, re-creating and refining its own social media platforms and apps to compete with its major competitor, Facebook. In fact, the two giants are running neck and neck, miles above every other social network. Facebook holds # 2 ranking – both at home and globally, according to Alexa.com.

The emphasis Google has been putting on its own social networks should give us the biggest clue why social media is important for search engine and website traffic.

Namely, it works.

1. Social Media Keeps Up with – and Enables – Trends

What’s the one consistent fact about internet culture, social platforms and technology nowadays? It’s always in a state of change. And one fact that is quickly becoming self-evident: Whichever social network can adapt to the cultural mindset the quickest draws the biggest audience.

Have you ever seen documentaries that show how certain fish not only school together, but move as one fluid entity, shifting this way and that as if they possess one mind? Well, social networks in today’s cultural climate operate exactly like that.

These networks go with the flow and are not manipulated by algorithms. In fact, algorithms are being feverishly adapted to keep up with popular online connection practices and habits.

Both social media developers and Google programmers know this. Changes in algorithmic practices have resulted in a shift away from rigid formulae to the phenomenon we all know by now as “social search”. If even Google is rushing to follow social platform leads, that’s a powerful message about the importance of social media.

2. Social Sharing is the New SEO

What makes Google sit up nowadays is the sharing capacity and performance of a site – not backlinks. In fact, Google now penalizes backlinks from exact anchor text, boosting sites in the ranks if their content is fresh, original, authoritative, comprehensive, spam-free – and above all, shared.

Want to rocket up in search rankings the easy way? Follow the example of top-ranking sites such as Social Media Examiner here and install the Google+ “+1” button, as well as the “g+” follow icon.

And do install share buttons for the other major players – Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn.

3. Social Networks are where People Spend Their Time

Hanging out on social networks has become as common in this era as watching “I Love Lucy” on TV was in the 1950s. If you aren’t sure what “I Love Lucy” is, at least now that times certainly have changed. It’s what people did, back then, to unwind after their work day.

Nowadays thanks to mobile phones, people don’t have to wait until “after work”: They can – and do – quickly check Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter feeds any time, day or night.

In fact, Mashable published an infographic in November, 2012, showing that “social media accounts for 18% of time spent online”. (But did you know that fastest growing segments are “males of all ages and people over 55”?)

People now habitually ask friends for opinions, check in at local businesses, complain about poor service – and visit websites promoted through social ads and social media Business Pages.

4. Social Networking Improves Your Google Rank

There are two things you must do, to quickly advance in Google’s search rankings. Number one is purchase a domain in your own name (if that is not already taken). Next, join the top social networks and optimize your profile within each one.

Why?

Let’s take an extremely common name – say, “Ann Johnson” – and type it into Google’s search bar. We have 243,000,000 results. And out of that 243,000,000, which results come up in the top four positions?

Let’s take a look…

Top place goes to the Ann Johnson who was lucky enough to secure her namesake domain – www.annjohnson.ca.

Second, third and fourth results belong to Ann Johnsons who have profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. That’s a great example of leveraging the power of strong social sites – and the particular Ann Johnsons featured here didn’t just sign up and create any old profile.

They optimized their profiles, right down to the “Twitter” Ann Johnson creating a custom URL, “https://twitter.com/VoteAnnJohnson”.

(It’s more than probable that “https://twitter.com/AnnJohnson” was already taken, so she got creative and used a keyword –i.e. “vote” – relevant to her Twitter goal.

5. Social Media Arouses Curiosity – and Sharing

If you are wondering how to make sure your content is frequently or virally shared (which can increase the value of your profile to Google over the profile of someone else who has the same name), then it’s time to pause before you press the “post” button.

The million-dollar dollar question to ask yourself is…

“Is this content share-able?”

If you don’t know what “share-able” constitutes, take a look at:

Posts that reap a storm of comments and shares from your target niche
Types of posts that gather more shares in your niche: A particular website’s? An incendiary topic? A frustrating challenge? Cute kitten photos? Shabby-chic décor? Your YouTube Videos? Photographs? Instagram shares?

And above all, if people like your content, they share links to your site.

Dynamic, interactive and emotion-catching content is definitely one of the top ten reasons social media has become important to your search engine ranking

6. Social “Rich Media” Apps Make Your Content More Share-able

One of the biggest advantages social media endows, when it comes to driving traffic to your website, is in the number of rich media apps they allow you to easily install; as in videos, photos, links and sound clips.

This brings not only a degree of interactivity to your site – always a good thing when it comes to share appeal – but helps your site stand out and grab attention.

Not only that, but you don’t have to pay for developers or spend hours slaving over code: The social networks have done all that for you.

Take, for example, Twitter cards. These go in your website HTML so that when readers tweet or retweet your content, they don’t just tweet the link; they tweet your rich media too, as Adam Burrell shows in our example, left.

Not only does this drive traffic to your site, it gives you complete control on how it is presented. To install the snippet of code for Twitter cards, visit the Twitter developers link.

Best of all, you can easily add Twitter cards through a dashboard-searchable WordPress plugin.

7. Social Networks are Developing More Rich Media Resources All the Time

If there’s one thing social networks and developers do brilliantly, it’s creating apps designed to outdo the competition, send people to your website – helping you show up at the top of search results.

For example, not only does Twitter offer Twitter cards for your website, they sweetened your links by incorporating rich media into their own platform so you can instantly add a photo or location to your tweet.

8. Social Networks are Competitive

And that’s good news for you! The major players have the big bucks, staff, experts and resources to spy on and analyze each other’s results. If you see a strategy such as rich media copied from one network by another, you can pretty much bet it’s a viable traffic-generation and engagement strategy – particularly when development competition seems to be fierce.

Another tip: When people start blogging about a strategy or app and creating SlideShare presentations, you know that one is here to stay. (Till the next one comes along, that is…)

9. Social Networks Drive Online Traffic to Local Businesses

This should come as no surprise to anyone, but for local businesses who create online presences (as more and more of your competitors are doing nowadays) social media such as location apps (e.g. Foursquare) can really give an edge.

Apps such as these prompt people to “check in” and announce where they are via mobiles. And people seem to love to do this!

10. Reviews Drive Traffic

If you have a local business, social apps and networks are invaluable for providing your customers or clients with the opportunity to easily post reviews – particularly via Google+ Local.

Claim and optimize your Google+ Local space to attract people to your website or business, instead of your competitors’. And one side effect will be that you attract targeted customers or clients who never would have found you, any other way.

Location, reviews, recommendations, “Likes” and photos or videos of your products or business – and most of all, the opportunity to let a wide market hear your unique “voice” – make social media not only important for driving traffic to your website, but vital to search engine rankings and results.

5 Brand Centers You Need to Have

by Nicole Munoz

Time and time again, many online businesses seem to miss the basics of branding. Before you do anything else, be aware there are five brand centers you need to create and maintain.

Here’s how to position them…

1. Your Website

Visitors shouldn’t have to scramble around, click multiple tabs or scroll down looking for clues. What your website is all about should be obvious at a glance, as with Knorr here. And what should stand out the most? Exactly how you can do something nice or needed for each visitor.

But that’s not enough. Don’t neglect any opportunity to brand your web pages.

Think of your logo and colors as a type of shorthand, providing instant visual identification. People should see your colors and even shapes, and instantly think of your business – and how helpful it is.
Every photo should show what you do or provide
Every app or widget should appeal to your customers

You’re making a promise to the people visiting your website landing page, so make sure the rest of your site, blog, social networks, newsletter and information products all deliver equally and consistently on that promise.

2. Create Your Blog – and Use It

If you already own and operate a blog for your business, this title of this tip may seem redundant, but make no mistake: Blogging is essential in branding most businesses.

The key lies in making sure your blog is active – something Problogger wrote the book on.

There are many ways to plan for engagement and activity. But before they will interact, you need to capture your visitors’ attention.

Use powerful, relevant photos, videos, polls, contests and sound-clips to increase interaction from your viewers
Make sure photos tell an instant story or pique curiosity
Choose photos that are lively, dynamic, eye-catching and relevant to your topic
Schedule expert, interesting Guest posters
Run a series and pre-load your series installments
Regularly re-purpose and feature “Oldies but Goodies” (evergreen blog posts from the past that gathered comments and feedback)
Update published posts with new developments (especially posts that incited comment activity on initial release)
Re-visit popular topics
Write a weekly “Top Ten Tips on…” feature, slanted to your ideal reader’s niche interest
Write regular “how to” posts, to help your readers find solutions
If you have to, pay for top experts to guest post – even if that’s a once-a-month feature or you have to plan for it further down the line

Remember, a blog and its branding are only as good as its activity level. But even if your blog doesn’t seem to get much action, remember that people are busy and make sure you set up every post so that people can use your blog as a resource when they need to.

Post material that is evergreen and useful, such as your “how to” posts; or high-value tips as well as “how to” posts on common tasks.

Finally, make sure all your post types and elements are consistent – especially when it comes to voice.

Planning your month’s content in advance should help greatly in ensuring this last but most important detail.

3. Create a Newsletter

A newsletter provides you with a wonderful way, reason and excuse to keep in touch with customers or clients. And – best of all – you can brand it with your colors and logo.

It does not need to be the be-all and end-all of newsletters. It simply has to:

Remind your subscribers that your business is alive, well and active
Reassure subscribers that they are important to you, and that you are thinking about them

But there’s a third function your newsletter can perform, to help you step up your branding a notch. And that’s provide you with a repetitive, ready incentive for people to sign up and subscribe to your list.

Include a signup web form on every blog or website page (top-right corner is the preferred spot)
Make sure your newsletters contain valuable content and time-limited offers, discounts, news and resources highly relevant to your target visitor
Have these same elements in every newsletter (e.g. always a “Product of the Month” discount; always a seasonally-time-sensitive tip, etc.) This turns them into a branded feature, as Ego’s Garden Centre of Orillia, Ontario, demonstrates admirably here…

Try to solve at least one current problem for your target visitor per newsletter
Point people to your Archive section for past newsletters, so readers can see how valuable your content can be (while the visual consistency of the newsletters reinforces how trustworthy your brand is)
Point out the advantage of signing up to get newsletters as they’re released, so visitors won’t miss any more time-limited valuables

Creating regular newsletters and branding, promoting and archiving them is an efficient use of your time. You have to create your newsletter for existing subscribers anyway… so why not let it double as a sign up incentive and a branded, trustworthy resource for visitors too?

4. Your Information Products

Creating information products and not branding them is like throwing away advertising you’ve already paid for.

Branding your information products makes them – and you – stand out.

It’s not a question of a good product standing out from bad ones or an exceptional product standing out from good ones: It’s usually a question of a good product standing out from other good products.

What makes one eBook on wine hit the Amazon best-sellers list and another lurk in limbo, so far back in the search results it remains unseen?

One major factor is branding.

Take the “Dummies” books, for instance. Seeing the words, “For Dummies” on a book – backed by that distinctive yellow-and-black background – immediately tells people they are getting a useful guide on a topic (in this case, wine) that is going to be easy to understand, broken down into nice, bite-sized pieces.

“For Dummies” has become synonymous with not just easy, but “easiest”.

Notice how “Dummies” brands each information product with:

A relevant, appealing tag line that sums up their main mission (“Making Everything Easier!”)
Their colors and “header” design
Their unique Title fonts

So simple, isn’t it?

And what you don’t see – but everyone knows – is that the “Dummies” books are presented as a series.

Creating a series is a great way to start branding your information products from the word go: You can use the same elements in Title fonts, header backgrounds, colors, taglines and logos for every single information product in your series – changing only the specific topics.

Naming products allows another opportunity for branding. Again, the “Dummies” series is a perfect example of this. The company can now produce any type of “how to” book in the world… and simply by adding “For Dummies” at the end, each book becomes instantly branded and searchable, not only by its own topic keyword (.e.g. “Wine”) but also the keywords “For Dummies”.

Keep this example in mind when branding your books. Use it as the ultimate example

5. Your Social Media

Yes, you can – and should – brand your social media. Use the same colors, logo, signature, and above all, Profile photo (preferably a recent headshot).

Using your company colors even in your headshot is a simple strategy that helps cement in peoples’ heads the fact your profile is related to your company.

Example: For years Facebook and social media expert, Mari Smith always wore turquoise clothing and even accessories in every headshot. Recently she has relaxed this rule – but her trademark turquoise color still appears in the background of her latest Profile photo on her Facebook Page.

Most important, however, in social media: Creating business pages and branding them with your logo, colors, Profile photo and custom backgrounds.

If you are unable to use the exact same background in each network because of size differences, as with Twitter and Facebook, decide on key graphic elements from your website colors or photos that will carry across all social media backgrounds. (For example, the gold color and little bee graphic that always appear in Burt’s Bees social media pages.)

But all the branding in the world won’t help if you don’t regularly interact via your social media pages and feeds. A Facebook page never visited by the owner is less than useful. In fact, you can turn people off, if they take the time to comment or (especially) ask questions and never receive an answer.

Build these five brand centers into your daily life. Interact often and let people hear your unique voice.

And that will be your strongest social brand reinforcement strategy of all.

Top 10 Tips for Creating a Deeper Bond with Your Subscribers

by Nicole Munoz

A mailing list is one of the most important tools an internet marketer has. It offers the opportunity for ongoing contact with customers and prospective customers. But it’s about much more than just getting sales. A mailing list allows marketers to connect with their audience and earn their trust.

In order to get the best results from your mailing list, it’s important to form a bond with your subscribers. This will make them look forward to seeing your mailings in your inbox, increasing open and response rates. It will also make them more comfortable giving you their business. Here are ten ways that you can create a deeper bond with your subscribers.

#1: Ask What You Can Do for Them

If you want to know what your subscribers want, the best thing you can do is ask. Asking readers for suggestions for future mailings
lets them know that their needs are important to you. And when they respond, it gives you the information you need to create more relevant and targeted campaigns. It’s truly a win-win situation.

#2: Take Questions

Another way to get your subscribers more involved is to ask them to send in their questions. You can answer them in future mailings to benefit not only the sender, but all of your subscribers.

As a bonus, the questions that readers send in could give you ideas for blog posts or information products.

#3: Invite them to Connect through Social Media

Social media makes it possible for marketers to connect with their audiences in ways that once were not possible. So why not promote your social media pages through your newsletter? It will give subscribers a new way to receive information about your products and services and to interact with you.

#4: Continue the Discussion on Your Blog

One of the shortcomings of an email list is that it doesn’t offer much opportunity for discussion with your audience. How can you overcome this? By directing readers to your blog. Send them an excerpt or a brief synopsis of your latest post along with a link where they can read and comment. By replying to their comments, you can strengthen your bond even more.

#5: Link to Your YouTube Videos

YouTube videos are excellent marketing tools. You can use them to put a face to your marketing campaigns and make yourself more accessible. Sharing them with your subscribers gives them something to connect with beyond their inboxes.

#6: Incorporate Their Comments into Your Newsletter

When you pay attention to your audience, you are rewarded with increased loyalty. Using their comments in your newsletter lets them know that you are listening. If a subscriber emails you directly, it’s a good idea to get his permission before including his comments in one of your mailings.

Comments found on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are generally fair game, but letting the commenter know your intentions gives you an additional opportunity for interaction and conveys respect.

#7: Invite Them to a Subscribers-only Webinar

Exclusive events are great for creating a deeper bond with subscribers. One of the easiest and least expensive ways to hold such an event is to have a webinar. A webinar allows you to present information via audio and video and allows the opportunity for participants to ask questions and make comments. Having a subscribers-only webinar can also help you get new subscribers if you send the word out via social media or your blog.

#8: Offer Exclusive Discounts

Want to increase your sales and make your subscribers feel special at the same time? Offer them an exclusive discount on your
products or services.

You could even encourage interaction by taking a vote on which product they would like to receive an exclusive discount on.

Whenever you give your subscriber preferential treatment, you win in creating a stronger bond with them.

#9: Make Personalized Offers

Another way to increase sales while keeping your subscribers happy is to send them personalized offers. For instance, you could ask for their birthday or birth month and send them a special offer in honor of their special day.

Or you could send offers for discounts on new products to customers who have purchased complementary products in the past. Such offers let subscribers know how much you value them.

#10: Run a Survey

Some subscribers simply aren’t interested in interacting with marketers on a personal level, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want
to know that they value their opinions.

A good way to engage these subscribers is to take a survey. This allows them to share their opinions, ideas and concerns anonymously if they so desire. You get valuable feedback that you might not have otherwise received, and they get the assurance that you want to keep them happy.

Bonding with your subscribers requires some time and effort, but it is well worth it. It will go a long way toward ensuring that they stay subscribed, and when it comes time to make a purchase they will have no qualms about doing so.

20 Ideas for Marketing Your eBook

by Nicole Munoz

Get your book reviewed by review clubs. Each book store (E.g. Kindle store, Nook store, iBookstore,) has an active community of people who’re happy to review books for one another.

Get bloggers to review your book. Pay them to review the book if necessary. (Note: This isn’t a bribe, as you’re only paying for the review, regardless of what the review actually says. However, they should disclose the fact that they’ve received a free copy.)
Get on the radio. Buy an ad in the Radio Television Interview Report (RTIR) to promote yourself as an expert.
Contact podcasts and offer to be interviewed. Send them a free copy of your eBook first so they can make sure they like what you have to say. You may be asked for a sample of you on audio so they know you sound good when recorded. Look at PodcastDirectory.com for some ideas.

Do a search for your competitors’ books. Look at who’s promoting them and contact those websites. Offer a generous affiliate payout if you’re selling on Clickbank, or try to find some other “in” with them.
Tap into a pre-existing community. For instance, if you’re selling a fishing eBook, get involved with online fishing forums. Build a reputation for yourself, then promote your book.
Try to push your eBook to the top of your category, if you’re on an eReader platform. Have all your readers buy your book on one day and give them a bonus if they do so. This can send your book skyrocketing into the top charts, which gets you even more visibility.
Start your book cheap. Start your book at $0.99 cents, even if you eventually plan on selling it for $4.99. Starting it off cheap lets you get a bunch of reviews and initial traction right off the bat.
Buy ads on reader-oriented websites like Goodreads. This gets you in front of people active book lovers who’re already in the habit of buying books all the time.

Guest post on other blogs in your industry. Contact bloggers you know and ask if you can write a free article for them. If you don’t know many bloggers, write a brief line about yourself and what makes you credible and offer to do a free content piece for them.

Create a compelling affiliate program for your book. Be unusually generous. For example, offer a 100% payout for the first 3 books, or offer a $50 bonus to anyone who sells ten books. This can attract a lot of new affiliate talent towards your book.
Comb your LinkedIn and Facebook network. Look for people you know that have audiences, host events or have a large online presence. See if they’d be willing to promote your book. Make sure to phrase it as a win for them as well by offering to help them in some way.
Send your first chapter to BookDaily. This site gives avid readers one free chapter every day, on books topics they’re interested in. If you wrote a business book for instance, your first chapter can be sent out to everyone who’s interested in business.

Lookup conventions and conferences in your industry. Go to all of them. Meet other influencers in your niche and see if you can work together to promote one another. Who knows? You might also sell a few book copies.
Head to Twitter and search for questions that someone who needs your book might ask. For example, if you have a book about making your computer faster, you might type in “computer so slow” or “why is my computer slow” and so on in Twitter. Find people who recently asked relevant questions and shoot them a message.

Keep publishing! Publish lead-in books. If your main book is a $6.99 book, consider publishing a slew of $0.99 or free books just to get more traction and to build more of a brand. All of those sales will feed into the sales of your larger book.
If you’re publishing the book on Clickbank, try driving some traffic from Google AdWords and from Bing. Paid traffic can convert extremely well. This works much better for Clickbank than Kindle, because Clickbank books tend to sell for a lot more money.
As a long term strategy, create a blog. Post high quality content to that blog every week. Get ranked in the search engines and build a loyal following. This is a great way to sell books on a recurring basis, as well as a great way to launch new books.
Create a competition. The competition should be related to content within your book. Prizes can include free consultations with you, ten copies of your book, your help on their next project, a personalized plan for their project, etc.
Use Google Alerts to keep tabs on your topic. If someone writes a new blog post about something related to your book, be one of the very first people to respond to the post. Link to your Kindle book from your “name” and “website” field.

50 Tips for Marketing Your Website

by Nicole Munoz

As amazing as your website may be, it’s not going to market itself. If you want people to come to your website, you have to get the word out there. Once a few thousand people see your website, it can start to pick up steam and spread through reputation. In the beginning however, you have to do the ground work.

Here are 50 tips for marketing your website.

1. Add a ton of original content. There is no better way to market your website than having content that people love to spread. This method doesn’t work overnight, but in time is extremely powerful.

2. Pick keywords and put them in your title tag. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find good keywords and put the in your title tag. Note: use only several relevant keywords.

3. Write a good META description tag. Your META description tag goes under your title tag in the search engines. It helps convince people to click on your ad.

4. Look at your analytics logs and see who’s sending you traffic. Use these traffic sources more readily.

5. Contact people who comment on your blog. See if you can get them to link to you or talk about you in a blog post.

6. Start a YouTube channel. Upload videos that people in your industry would love and want to pass on to their friends.

7. Submit your site to directories. Use DMOZ and Yahoo! Directory for high powered backlinks and smaller industry specific directories for targeted traffic.

8. Write for offline newspapers and magazines. Reach out to editors and let them know that you’re an expert on a subject and would like to do an editorial or opinion piece.

9. Write a press release and submit it to online press release services like PR Web. Bloggers and editors will receive this release and potentially write about your company.

10. Get in contact with traditional press editors. Pitch them a story about why your company is unique, or find a way to help them in a story they’re already working on.

11. Submit a high quality piece of content to Reddit. Make sure you submit it to the right sub-reddit to get as many interested people as possible.

12. Submit your content to StumbleUpon. If your content is good, this can send tens of thousands of visitors your way very quickly.

13. Create a Facebook page. Use your website to promote your page. Your page will allow you to stay in touch with your fans, as well as launch new viral campaigns.

14. Use Twitter regularly. Befriend other Twitter influencers and ask them to retweet things when you’re doing a promotion. Likewise, do whatever you can to help others succeed, as eventually they’ll want to reciprocate.

15. Search for people to reply to on Twitter. Search for common questions people in your industry might ask and @reply them directly.

16. Join internet forums and contribute. Find relevant forums in your industry and post high quality content replies.

17. Put your site in your email signature. Anyone who interacts with you should see your content website in your email.

18. Create an email newsletter. Use it to follow up with your guests, to build a long term connection and to make regular sales over the guest’s lifetime.

19. Do an online contest. Give away amazing prizes that people would want to fight for. If your prizes are really top notch, people are going to talk about the contest and pass it along to other people.

20. Advertise in other people’s emails. Advertising opportunities start as low as $25.

21. Launch your own affiliate program. Get other people to promote your products for you.

22. Buy pay-per-click advertising. Buy relevant keywords for products that you’re selling and get traffic from Google and Bing.

23. Contact local businesses about joint marketing opportunities. Look into advertising together, doing products together, doing local promotions, etc.

24. Speak at events related to your topic. Ask the event organizer to link back to you. Mention your site when you’re speaking to bring in more traffic.

25. Use Pinterest. It’s one of the hottest social networking sites at the moment. It’s great for attracting a female crowd.

26. Add your business to Google Maps. If you run a local business, it’s essential that you have a well setup Google Places page.

27. Post on newsgroups, Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. Don’t spam, instead look for ways to add value by giving advice and answering questions. Have a small link to your site at the bottom of your messages.

28. Comment on other people’s blog posts. Make well thought out, intelligent comments that add to the discussion and get people curious about you and your site.

29. Interview a well known person. Make the interview available for free.

30. Have great guest blog posts. Often times your guests will link to their own article, driving a lot of quality traffic.

31. Create an RSS feed. This makes it easy for people with RSS readers to follow your blog.

32. Advertise on Craigslist. If you run a local business, this could bring a lot of targeted traffic.

33. Use My Blog Guest to find opportunities to write for other websites. Write for those sites and include a link back to your site.

34. Review products and books. Especially try to review products and books while they’re hot.

35. Answer questions on Quora. Not only can you get good traffic from Quora, but you also position yourself in front of a very high powered crowd.

36. Cover a live event. Update frequently, once every hour or so. People who can’t make it to the event can still feel like they’re there by reading your coverage.

37. Post on portfolio sites. Look for places where you can showcase your work or your ideas. If you get good reviews, a lot of people will come to look at your site.

38. Start a podcast. Publish once a week to start. Build a list of fans who listen to you every week.

39. Get a custom designed header. It can really make a big difference on how people see your website.

40. Comment on current events. If a major shift is happening in your industry, talk about it and give your opinion. If you have a unique take, it could gain a lot of traction.

41. Give something away for free. Give away a free eBook, a free audio MP3, a free DVD, a free software package, etc. Free stuff always gets a lot of attention, especially if there’s a high perceived value.

42. Break a record. Pick a record in your industry and try to break it. If you do, you’ll get a ton of press and blog coverage, which will all translate into website traffic.

43. Ask your customers what they want. Then give it to them. When you do this, customers will often be so surprised and thrilled that their request was heard that they’ll tell a lot of their friends about you.

44. Do a weekly roundup of your industry. At the end of each week, go through and pick out the best posts in your industry and link to them. You can write a small summary as well. Make your blog a resource for people to go to for good content in your industry, even if you don’t write the content yourself.

45. Answer questions on HARO. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a great place to find reporters who need to interview people for their stories.

46. Organize a local meetup. This will bring you a small amount of connections, but get you a ton of valuable connections.

47. Do a free live chat Q&A. Doing these live Q&As regularly will help you build your connection with your audience as well as get a lot of people linking to you.

48. Spend as much time growing interest in your content as you do on writing. After all, what good is content if you nobody sees them? Split your time in half: Half on marketing, half on content.

49. Promote your content on Social Buzz Club and Triberr. Submit your blog posts or videos to these two sites to have the chance to be promoted by leaders in your industry.

50. Create infographics. Gather relevant data, create a scenario and ask a graphic designer to give life to the data you have collected. Promote the infographic on all available channels: infographic sharing websites, Pinterest, social media sites, bookmarking sites.

50 Ways to Get New Clients

by Nicole Munoz

1. Speak at local events. Look for groups, meetups and gatherings of people who’re in or related to your industry. Speak at these events to position yourself as an expert and gain more exposure.

2. Speak at seminars and conventions. Offer to speak at seminars and conventions. If you have a recognizable brand name, most organizers would be thrilled to have the opportunity.
3. Sponsor an event. If you’re a solo service provider, sponsor a small event in your area. If you’re a large service provider, sponsor a bigger event.
4. Get covered by the press. Come up with some unique angle and pitch it to reporters. Use tools like Help a Reporter Out (HARO) to find reporters looking to do stories.
5. Take out a small newspaper ad. This works great if you provide services to local clients.
6. Network and follow up. Go to minglers, mixers and professional events and meet people in your target market.

7. Give free advice. Do it both online and offline. Demonstrate your credibility first before trying to sell.
8. Answer questions on LinkedIn. This helps build your credibility online, which often translates into real world contacts.

9.Build a professional website. Having a great looking website helps create trust with people who’re considering hiring you.
10. Ask for referrals. Talk to people you know, including but not limited to past clients and ask for referrals.

11. Run a mailing list. Develop a relationship with others in your field over time by mailing useful content regularly.
12. Run a Q&A mailing list, blog or website. Become known as the person to go to for questions in a particular arena.
13. Copy your competitors. How are your competitors getting clients? Do what they do. In fact, see if you can do what they do, only better.
14. Join a Business Networking International (BNI) network. BNI can be a great source of leads for offline service providers.
15. Get on Yelp. Try to be the most positively reviewed provider in your area. Yelp profiles often rank very well in search engines.
16. Put your USP (unique selling proposition) on your business card. People who look at your card should instantly understand your value offering and what sets you apart.
17. Get to know university professors. Professors are fantastic connectors and know people in all kinds of different fields. They often know very powerful people. Reconnect with old professors and see if they can help connect you with anyone who could help your business.

18. Network with lawyers and accountants. Every business needs a lawyer and an accountant. If your clients are businesses, networking with lawyers and accountants can be a potential gold mine.
19. Mail your legacy clients. Most people only ask for referrals or sales from current clients or recent clients. But your legacy clients, meaning clients that dropped off a long time ago, could still harbour a lot of good will towards you. See if you can tap into that for more business or for more referrals.

20. Cold call. Many Fortune 100 companies were built initially by some guy in his bedroom, cold calling. Humana is one prime example, as was Microsoft. Bill Gates just cold called both the programmer of DOS and the buyer of DOS. Cold calling might seem scary, but it does work.

21. Offer to write guest posts. Write fantastic articles for other people’s sites and send the traffic back to yours with a link in the article.
22. Offer to write for small time publications and trade newsletters. If you have experience, reputation or background in the industry, they’ll often be happy to have you.
23. Start a blog. Help people in your target market by providing great content.

24. Be active on social media. Regularly post great content to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ profiles. People who follow you will come to see you as more and more of an expert.
25. Call in to a radio show. Give your name and either ask a well informed question or make a comment that really helps listeners.

call

26. Ask past clients to give you credit on their website. For instance, if you did some graphics for a client, ask them to put that the graphics were by you on the bottom of their site. If you were their coach, ask them to talk about their experience on their blog.
27. Join your local chamber of commerce. You’ll often meet valuable contacts that can either become clients or people you can work business deals with.
28. Advertise on popular message boards. Look for message boards in your industry where your target market gathers and advertise there.
29. Submit proposals on oDesk and eLance. Look for jobs other people are posting up that fit your specialty.
30. Offer to work for a freelance shop. For example, if you’re a freelance writer, look for a freelance writing agency and offer to be one of their writers.
31. Practice your elevator pitch. Have a strong 30 second answer for the “what do you do” question. Sometimes your best clients come from chance meetings.
32. Wear a T-Shirt to locations where potential customers are. For example, go to a trade show with your brand’s logo on your shirt.

33. Befriend connectors. Develop connections with Twitter users, bloggers, Facebook page owners and other individuals who have a lot of connections. See if you can help them, so sometime later they might help you.

34. Buy Google AdWords. Bid on keywords related to your industry. Focus on “buying keywords,” words that someone who’s ready to buy might type in.
35. Buy banner ads on related sites. Find websites that your target market frequents and buy banner ads on those sites.

36. Write a free eBook and give it away. This helps you build credibility. Put as much great content as you can in your free eBook.
37. Produce a big virtual event with other people in your industry. For example, if you’re in the social media business, get 10 social media consultants together to do a big online workshop about social media. Use the leads to market your services.
38. Do a publicity stunt. Google publicity stunt examples and see if you can do something similar for your business.
39. Join competitions and win. If you’re a writer, look for writing contests. If you’re a designer, look for design contests. Consultants could look into speaking contests. Put a lot of time into your entry, as a winning placement could mean a lot of exposure.

40. Use Craigslist. Post in the services section and respond to posts in the “gigs” section.
email1

41. Mail or email companies with free advice. If you’re a website conversion specialist, mail possible conversion improving advice to companies.
42. Yellow pages advertising. Buy an ad in the appropriate section in the yellow pages.
43. Co-work with other freelancers. Working with other people is a great way to network and meet both potential clients and people who could refer you to clients.
44. Host your own meetup. Go to http://www.meetup.com and create a meetup on your topic. Having your own meetup is a fantastic way to get more exposure, meet potential clients and build your network.
45. Publish a book. Write a book about your subject and get it published. Even if you never sell over a thousand copies, being a published author will still massively boost your credibility. Nobody will ever ask you how many copies you’ve sold.
46. Get your work featured on a compilation site. For example, if you build websites, enter a website you built into a website that compiles examples of great website designs.

47. Create a referral reward system. Give clients and other referrers rewards for sending you new clients. Rewards can be financial or non-financial.

48. Play with your prices. Sometimes when you raise your prices, you actually get more clients. Working with a few high priced clients might be a better model than a few lower priced ones. Alternatively, you might be priced to high and might need to lower your price to attract more clients.
49. Contact your former employer. Your former employer can be a fantastic source of leads. They could even be your first client.
50. Put flyers up in relevant local boards. For example, post a flyer on your chamber of commerce’s board, or post flyers on boards in co-working spaces.

10 Blogging Mistakes You Are Probably Making

by Nicole Munoz

Blogging can be an incredibly rewarding way to make an online living. You get to build a community of people who listen to you and love what you say. You create a community of people who discuss your ideas. You make a lot of money. You get invited to speak at conferences. Your traffic goes up organically and you don’t have to spend anything on advertising.

That’s the dream, of course. Many bloggers live this dream today and more still will live this dream in the years to come. Unfortunately, not everyone makes it to the dream life.

Many bloggers get started – Then simply never reach the finish line. Some stop before they build a real follower base. Others build a follower base, then make a mistake and alienate their readers. Still others manage to reach a certain level of success, then hit a wall that they just can’t break through.

This happens mostly because bloggers make one of these ten mistakes. These ten mistakes are common blog-killing mistakes that bloggers all over the internet make. If you’re starting a blog (or already run a blog,) avoid these mistakes at all costs.

Mistake #1: Blogging Irregularly

Blogging is all about building a loyal base of followers that want and expect to hear from you. Once you have a successful blog following going, you’ll literally have thousands of people who would get angry or worried if you don’t post on time.

In order to build that kind of supportive audience, you absolutely need to blog regularly. Regularly simply means you post on a set schedule that you don’t change. It could be once a week, it could be twice a month, it could be every single day.

Your audience needs to be able to rely on you to produce content. When you’re beginning your blog, start off with a manageable load like once a week. If you’re sure after a couple months that you can handle a higher workload, then go ahead and increase it. Don’t start off trying to blog every day, or you’ll most likely burn yourself out.

Regularity is more important than post frequency. Set a regular schedule and stuck to it.

Mistake #2: Writing for Search Engines

It’s not hard to spot a blog post written for search engines. Their keywords tend to be in the title tag or bolded in the subheads. The author bends his flow to fit the exact phrase of the keyword in the text. They might publish several similar articles with similar content because they wanted to target several similar keywords, each with its individual page.

The difference might seem subtle, but it actually makes a huge difference. Your readers can tell that you’re not flowing naturally when you write for search engines, even if your content is good.

The irony is that it’s the websites that consistently and regularly publish high quality content written for real human beings that actually end up ranking in the search engines. It might seem like optimizing your content for search engines is a wise idea, when in reality you’ll end up alienating both the search engines and human beings.

Write for people, not search engines.

Mistake #3: Not Carefully Analyzing Your Blog Analytics

Your analytics data can tell you a lot about your audience and about how to better run your blog. Yet many blog owners don’t look at their analytics at all, or only give it a cursory glance.

Here are some of the important things your analytics can tell you:

Where your traffic is coming from. Is it from search? Is it from referring sites? Is it something else entirely?
What keywords people type in to find your blog. They might be completely different than the keywords you were deliberately targeting.
Who’s linking to you and who’s sending you traffic. If someone went out of their way to link to you, there may be other opportunities for partnership there.
Your best posts and your worst posts. What kind of topics did people like and what did they not like? Which posts get people to stay the longest?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Your analytics data can give you all kinds of insights into how your audience operates and where you should take your blog next. Don’t make the mistake of overlooking this treasure trove of information.

Mistake #4: Not Having Reserve Posts

If you’re writing every blog post as you go, at some point that’s going to come back to haunt you. Life will get in the way. It could be a car accident. Or perhaps you get sick. Maybe something in your romantic life happens that throws things out of balance. Or perhaps an employee stole your money and you have to spend all week dealing with the fallout.

Whatever the case may be, there are going to be times when you just won’t have the time to write new content. It’s not a matter of “if” but “when.” If you don’t have backup posts for these times, then you’re going to be late on posts or miss posts completely.

Don’t let that happen. Have at least three, preferably five backup blog posts you can turn to whenever you need a quick break. Whenever you use one of these backups, make sure you replenish it within the next few weeks.

In addition to helping you in a pinch, knowing you have a backup plan can also help you relax around your blog upkeep.

Mistake #5: Doing Your Own Design or Using Templates

Doing your own design or using a pre-set template is perfectly fine for the first few months of your blog. If your blog is less than 6 months old, it absolutely makes sense to save the money and use a template.

But once you’re ready to take your blog to the professional level, that’s when you should scrap your old design and go straight to having a designer do a custom design for you.

Why is this important?

First, unless you’re a fantastic designer, chances are you just won’t be able to create a design that’s all that great. Even if you use templates, you’re still not going to have a design that truly reflects your core brand.

Having a great designer re-do your website isn’t cheap, but it’s not horribly expensive either. It makes a big different on how people perceive you and your website. If you’re blogging seriously and professionally while having a site that looks unprofessional, you may not keep your audience’s attention.

Mistake #6: Not Moderating Comments Quickly

There are a couple considerations that tie into this mistake.

First, not moderating comments at all is a mistake. If you let your comment stream get filled up with spam, people aren’t going to take the time to read the comments or to respond to them. Even with spam filters like Askimet, you should take the time to moderate comments by hand.

The second and more common mistake is taking too long to moderate comments. If you don’t get someone’s comment up and online within 12 hours, chances are they’re just going to lose interest. When someone responds to their comment, they’re not going to come back to participate. They also likely won’t comment on your content again in the future.

The answer is to moderate comments, but make sure you do so in an efficient and timely manner.

Mistake #7: Not Responding to Comments

If you want to cultivate a community of avid readers, you must respond to your comments. The type of person who takes the time to respond to your post in comment form is also the type of person who’ll share your content on social media or backlink to you from their own websites.

Furthermore, people respect bloggers who take the time to respond to comments. When someone scrolls down and sees that you actually answer your commenters, they feel like you actually care about them. They’re more likely to read and more likely to comment as well.

Get in the habit of responding to every single comment on your site. This is what builds audiences and followers.

Mistake #8: Ignoring Social Media

Having social-media-phobia is no longer an option for bloggers. Just a few years ago, it was possible to succeed using just blogging. Today, the internet is intimately tied to Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.

In the past, backlinks were built through blogosphere relationships. Today, often time’s backlinks are built through social media relationships and tools.

Readers also expect to be able to relate to you through social media. They want to be able to easily share your posts or like your fan page. They want to be able to interact with you regularly through Twitter. If you’re not on social media, you’re missing out on links, traffic and reader connection.

Mistake #9: Not Using Multimedia

Just as the world is getting more social, the world is also getting more multi-media. If you’re only presenting your content in text media, you’re going to miss out on a lot of viral opportunities.

For example, creating an infographic is a fantastic way to take advantage of social bookmarking sites like Reddit, StumbleUpon or Digg.

Creating videos is also a great way to gain more traction. Videos can help you get more visitors through YouTube, as well as get more shares on Facebook.

Podcasting allows you to gain access to iTunes’ massive user base. Audio also allows you to get your content into the hands (and ears) of people who don’t have time to read blogs, but enjoy having an audiobook to learn from when they’re on the go.

Don’t just use text media. Use multiple kinds of media to really engage your user base.

Mistake #10: Not Building a Mailing List

Head over to the site of any successful blog and you’ll almost invariably find an email signup box. Successful bloggers are meticulous about collecting email. It’s one of their secrets to success.

Having someone’s email allows you to get them to come back to your website over and over and over again. If you don’t collect their emails, the majority of your readers are just going to read your content once, then leave and never return.

Start building a list now, even if your site gets less than 100 visitors a month. It’s one of the fundamental building blocks of building a high traffic site.

These are the ten most common mistakes that bloggers make. Avoid these mistakes like the plague. If you post high quality content on a regular basis and don’t make any of these mistakes, there’s a good chance your blog could be the next leading resource in your industry.

Mistake #1: Forgetting to Promote Content

If you’re like many content publishers, you take great pride in your work and painstakingly create awesome content for your readers. But no matter how great our content is, if we don’t actively promote it then we’re cutting our opportunities short.

When you publish any content, make sure you put in as much effort into spreading the word as you did to creating it in the first place.

Share your content with your mailing list.
Announce your content on your social media accounts.
Redistribute your content to other websites.
Ask friends in your niche to share your content.
Make sure you have social sharing options for the readers of your website.
Provide affiliate links to your content, so your affiliates can share it too.
Use paid advertising options to promote your content even further.

The important lesson here is that creating content is only one piece of the puzzle. You also need to work to get people to read it.

Mistake #2: Failing to Reuse and Repurpose

If you’ve been publishing in your niche for a while, you’ve probably created a ton of content and covered a wide variety of topics. The great thing about all the work you’ve done is that you can use it over and over again. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time you create new content because you’ve already done a ton of the legwork.

Here are a few ideas for you:

Articles can be bundled up into a special report and given away freely, as a bonus, or even sold as part of a product.
If you have a report, it can be broken up into articles and redistributed.
Submit your content to print publications like newspapers, magazines and local newsletters.
Create a video or slide show presentation out of your how-to articles.
Have your audio and video materials transcribed into written format.
Build on existing content by expanding certain points, introducing new ideas and more.
Share older popular content with new members of your audience.

There’s no sense in letting your hard work just fade away. Keep your content working for you instead.

Mistake #3: Missing Call to Action

For many, content creation is a labor of love. We love the topics we cover and are passionate about our subjects. We just hope that somehow that passion will turn into profit. We’re told that if we create content, people will see us as experts and they’ll buy our products and use our services.

But here’s the problem with that idea.

If you don’t tell your readers about your products and services, they aren’t going to know they can buy them.

Each piece of content should have a purpose and a call-to-action. Whether it’s to get a quote for your roofing services or an opportunity to get a free crochet pattern, it doesn’t matter. Content should always have a purpose and you should know what that purpose is.

Mistake #4: Not Understanding Your Target Market

Having a deep understanding of your target market is key to content marketing success. If you don’t know what makes your readers tick, how can you possibly create the content they’re looking for?

An understanding of your target market can come in a number of ways:

Keyword research that shows you what people are searching for in your subject area.
Paying attention to blog and social media comments.
Asking your readers questions. What are they concerned about? What do they want to know?
Consulting published market research, but understanding that this is just a start point because your unique audience may have different interests.

Know who you are marketing to and the right topic ideas will be easier to find.

Mistake #5: Creating All Your Own Content

We’ve already established that content marketing isn’t simply about creating content. There’s plenty of planning and marketing involved outside of what gets typed on a screen.

The most successful content publishers get help with their content and rarely write it all themselves. Guest writers can add fresh and new perspectives to your website.

When you get help in creating your content, you can focus more on getting results from your content.

Mistake #6: Lack of Relevance

Have you ever signed up for a mailing list and then scratched your chin at some of the stuff the list owner sent to you?

For example, you sign up for a mailing list about work at home and suddenly the owner sends you offers for weight loss products. Sure, we can make the connection between working at home and weight loss. After all, those of us who work at home can attest to the fact that getting enough exercise and maintaining one’s weight can be an issue, but it’s not what we signed up for when we subscribed.

The more relevant you can be, the better your results will be in the long term. Your readers will know what to expect and you will continue to grow your understanding of what your audience really wants. Be relevant. Every time.

Mistake #7: Not Prioritizing Content

There are many options when it comes to content publishing. You can write and distribute articles. You can blog. You can email your list. You can post a video to YouTube. The possibilities are nearly endless.

But one thing becomes quite clear – different methods will work better for you than others. It’s important to focus on those methods and make them a priority.

There’s no sense in trying to juggle too much and do everything in a mediocre fashion. Figure out where you really shine and put your focus there.

Mistake #8: Not Sharing Other People’s Content

It’s natural to stay focused on one’s own content. After all, we’ve taken the time to create the content and it has been designed to promote our business. However, there are a couple of benefits to sharing other people’s content.

First, by sharing content with your audience, you can be seen as a valuable resource for great content. Introducing your readers to new perspectives and ideas is a good thing.

Second, by sharing you’re forging relationships with your fellow publishers. If you readily share content, people are more likely to share yours.

Take the time to find some useful content for your readers and share it via email, on your blog or through your social media accounts. Make it a habit and see what happens.

Mistake #9: Not Interacting With Your Audience

There’s no getting around it. Today’s web is interactive and our readers expect interaction. As a content publisher, you should be prepared to respond to comments, answer questions and engage your audience frequently.

This doesn’t mean that you have to open yourself up to answer phone calls and individual emails every day. That’s not a good use of your time. But do be available through the content channels you operate on. There is no such thing as a one way conversation.

Mistake #10: Quantity over Quality

It’s true that more content gives you more opportunity to be seen, but focusing on quality means your content can go even further. Take time to produce more detailed content. Make it more visually appealing. Publish it in a variety of media. Take the time to do things well.

When you do things well, people will recommend your content. They will come back for more.

If you instead publish thin and barely helpful content, they won’t tell anyone else and they sure won’t be back for more.

If there’s anything that’s clear from these 10 content marketing mistakes, it’s that you need to put your focus into what works and to put in a complete effort to reap the full benefits. Publishing content…even great content…simply isn’t enough to grow your business. There are many pieces to the content marketing puzzle, but once you put them together, the results can be amazing.

LinkedIn Guide For Beginners

by Nicole Munoz

LinkedIn Account Signup & Profile

LinkedIn is a great place to connect with like-minded people, from past classmates to potential JV partners, the connections are unlimited. The first step to making the connections is to set up your account and profile so others can find you.

Let’s start by visiting, http://www.linkedin.com to join.

Step 1: Account Setup

When you visit the LinkedIn home page, you’ll see this image. Simply fill in the requested information and click the Join Now button. Or sign up with your Facebook account.

Step 2: Create your professional profile

Add in your country, zip code and if you’re currently employed, seeking a job or a student. Then add your job title and your Company name (if employed), otherwise you will get other options, as add in your college or your last job.

Step 3: Search via Email Contacts

This step allows LinkedIn to connect with your email account to see which of your email contacts already have LinkedIn accounts. Those that do, you will be able to instantly connect with and those who don’t, you can choose to send an invitation to join.

To do this step, simply enter your email address and click the continue button or click “Skip this step” to go to the next step without connecting with your email account.

You will be asked to confirm your email address by clicking the link in an email sent to you when you registered.

Step 4: Proceed to Profile

From here, you will be presented with a few screens asking you to connect with others. We are skipping these steps so that we can set up our profile first. After all, we don’t want to invite people to view our blank profile.

So when we see this page, we click “Skip This Step”

Then we get a Congratulations box, with options to Share on Facebook and/or Twitter. Let’s skip this step.

Step 5: Profile Setup

Once you reach your dashboard, mouse over Profile in the upper navigation and select Edit Profile.

Here, you’ll see a summary of your profile information and be able to edit each section.

You can either click the + sign next to each section above to edit the information or scroll down the page and add the information there as shown below. Each section has an explanation for what you should include in it.

Once you finish filling out your information, you can view your profile by clicking Done Editing.

Step 6: Contact Settings

The final step before making connections is to set your contact settings. It’s important to do this step or your inbox may be flooded with emails from LinkedIn.

In the top, right-hand corner of your dashboard, mouse over your name and select Settings.

Step 7: Email Preferences

Now, down on the left side of the screen, click Email Preferences and a box will open to the right with more options as shown below.

Clicking the options to the right will bring up a new screen for each one allowing you to adjust the settings. Below is the frequency of emails screen.

Following the same instructions outlined in Step 7, you can also adjust your groups, companies and application settings as well as make more advanced account settings.

Find Connections & Accept Connection Request on LinkedIn

In order to make LinkedIn work for your business, you need to regularly make new connections. This is simple to do and only takes a little bit of time each week.

Step 1: Add Connections

From your dashboard, mouse over Contacts and select Add Connections.

Step 2: Options for Adding Connections

There are two ways to connect to people you already know. The first is to allow LinkedIn to scan your email address book to see which contacts are existing members of LinkedIn.

To do this, simply fill in your email address and password and click Continue.

It will scan and give you a list of everyone who has a LinkedIn account. Simply select the ones you want to connect with and click the “send invitations’ button.

You’ll be redirected to your dashboard where you’ll have a new success message.

If you aren’t comfortable with that or simply prefer to manually enter each person, you can enter the email address of each person you wish to connect with – each address should be separated by a comma. Click the Send Invitations button when you’re ready.

Once you send the invitations, a new success message will appear at the top of the page.

You can also choose to upload a contacts’ file. You can upload a .csv, .txt or a .vcf.

Step 3: Accept Connection Requests

When someone wants to connect with you, they will send an invitation to you. When you log into your LinkedIn account, you’ll also have these notices in your inbox. Just click the Accept button for each person you want to connect with and you will have the option to connect immediately or ignore that connection.

Posting & Viewing Updates in LinkedIn

Now that you’ve made connections, you can post updates to keep people informed of what’s going on in your business. You can also view updates of those you are connected to and post comments to their updates. Here’s how…

Step 1: Post Updates

When you visit the LinkedIn home page, you’ll see this image. Simply fill the box with your update and click the Share button. You can choose to send to LinkedIn, LinkedIn and Twitter or your Connections.

Step 2: View Updates of Connections

Your account will show the most recent updates of those you are connected to. When you log into your account, directly below where you post your own update, you’ll see a list of updates from others.

Step 3: Like, Comment & Share on Updates

If one of your connections posts an update that you like, you can “like” the update. You can also comment on their by clicking the “comment” link. You can share an update you like with your connections simply by clicking the “share” link.

When commenting, a box will open where you enter your comment. Then you simply click the “comment” button.

Step 4: Send Messages

Move your mouse to the envelope icon in your dashboard, and click Compose message.

Enter the email address of the person you want to send the message to or click the icon to select from your contacts.

Your address will automatically populate in the “from” field.

Add a subject, your message and click “send message” as shown below.

Sending Updates/Tweets to and from Twitter and LinkedIn

When submitting updates to LinkedIn, you can also send these updates. In addition, you can send your tweets to your LinkedIn account as updates. Please note, that in order for this to work, your Twitter account must be set to “public”.

Step 1: Add Your Twitter Account

Go to your settings.

Then, on Profile, click on Manage your Twitter settings.

Then click on Add your Twitter account.

A pop-up will open asking you to allow LinkedIn to access your Twitter account. Enter your Twitter information and click Authorize app.

Step 2: Updating your Twitter status from Linkedin

Now that both accounts are connected, you can update Twitter directly from Linkedin by selecting the LinkedIn + Twitter option when posting a new update in LinkedIn.

Step 3: Updating your LinkedIn status from Twitter

When you post a new tweet in Twitter, add the #in hashtag to the end of your message. This will ensure your tweet is also added as a LinkedIn update.

A word of caution: Be selective in which messages you send to LinkedIn. Typically speaking, professional business associates don’t want to know what you are had for breakfast.