Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

So, you want more enquiries from your blog?

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If you want more sales leads or enquiries from your blog, the following tips may be just what you are looking for!  What I am about to share with you, is based on years worth of testing and measuring feedback. (I’m too good to you!)

Many business bloggers find that they put a great deal of time and energy into writing great blog posts, but they get very few sales leads or enquiries for all that work.  I get email enquiries all day, every day of the year via this blog and would like to share some of my secrets with you.

So, here they are!

Stop placing so many barriers in the way

Most sites use some kind of a form, in order for people to contact them.  Although many people like putting these forms on their blogs or websites, I’ve tested and measured the impact of forms, as opposed to just offering my email address and the results show (every time) that forms reduce the number of enquiries I get.

Why?

Forms generate a number of additional barriers, between you and your readers.  We know, for example, that people do not like giving too much personal information away on sites.  Some worry that their details will be sold on or shared with marketers.  They also know that those forms are used by people who sell data, because forms collects people’s data in a format that’s database friendly – ready for selling.

Then, to make prospective customers even less likely to contact them, many bloggers insist that the person using their form includes; their full name, email address, company name, phone number, location etc, etc.  If you really must use a form on your site, just ask for their email address and name.  Each additional piece of data you insist on, makes them less likely to contact you.

Also, make sure that you CLEARLY state that you will not share or sell their details to anyone.

By the way – Almost everyone who emails me after visiting this blog, includes their full contact details, as part of their email signature file or simply to show they are serious about connecting with me.

If you want people to approach you, be approachable

Some bloggers are very smart and really know their subject, but they come across as distant or hard to approach.  Some are confrontational in their posts and in their comments.  Others write in a way, which distances them from their readers.

In my experience, the best bloggers are like a host at a party.  They mix with (and look after) everyone.  They want people to have a good time and so they work hard to create a great experience.  The party host approach is what I aspire to.  Friendly, professional and approachable.  In my opinion, you should try to make people feel as comfortable about contacting you as possible.  Aim to make them feel like they already know you.

Ask people to get in touch, but only at the right time

If you want people to get in touch, remember to ask – but ask at the right time.  For example, if you look at the bottom of this post, you will see a box that asks people, who found this post useful, to think how much better their marketing results would be, if I was working with them.  If they click the link, it takes them to this page, which makes it super-easy to find out what I do AND get in touch with me.

By putting that box right at the bottom of every post, I get my marketing message in front of people at the exact time, when they are thinking how useful my information is.

This is exactly when you should give a call to action – when people are ready!

Build trust.  Don’t hide behind an email address

Too many legitimate business bloggers, lose the trust of their readers by failing to give their full contact details.  They hide behind an email address.  We’ve all heard people say that they liked the look of a provider, but felt it odd that they worked behind an email address, rather than a “real” address.  This is why I believe it’s a good idea to show people you are totally open.

If you look at my contact page, it has everything you need to get in touch with me, from my full postal address and office phone number, to my email address and Twitter account.  This shows people I am out there, in the open, nothing to hide, a “real” business.

Why your Google ranking may soon start falling!

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How serious are you about the success of your website or blog as a business development tool?

The majority of small business owners I speak with, claim they are serious about the marketing value of their sites, but then they place their sites on cheap hosting plans.

Here’s why this matters: Google now punishes slow sites with lower search rankings!

Google has announced that as of last month, your site will be penalised if it doesn’t load nice and quickly! That’s right, if your site loads slowly, it will now receive a lower search ranking from Google, than a site that loads quickly.  This makes the true cost of using cheap web hosting providers a lot easier for people to see.

The true cost of cheap web hosting plans

Long before Google’s shock announcement, cheap web hosting plans were a really bad idea for commercial sites.  That’s because no matter how nice your site looks or how good the SEO is, if it loads too slowly, people will NOT hang around and wait. Internet users get really frustrated at having to hang around for pages to load on slow websites.  This is definitely not the frame of mind we want people in, if we are about to give them an insight into our business.

Why are so many small business sites so frustratingly slow?

I used to believe it was because the site owners didn’t think it mattered; that cheap web hosting was just an ill-advised, cost saving measure.  However, this is certainly not always the case! In many instances, the site owner has no idea how unreliable or slow their site is, because they visit it too infrequently to notice.

Bloggers, for instance, who only blog a few times a month, will often only visit their blog when posting or responding to comments.  As a result, they miss well over 99% of their sites performance.  The same is true for business owners, who have websites, which are not regularly updated.  These sites too can be down or too slow to respond for extended periods, again, without the site owner even knowing.  I strongly advise you check out your site regularly and at different times of the day, so you get a more accurate picture of what your prospective customers or clients see.

QUICK TIP

Don’t fall for the “we promise 99% up-time” claims of low end web hosts.  In web hosting, 99% is a very poor service.  This actually means that they expect your site to be down for 1 full working day every month or down for 3 full working days, every 100 days!  What is that worth to you, in lost business, lost enquiries, lost sales?

The bottom line: If you have a commercial site, get it on the most reliable web hosting package you can.

So, you want more blog readers?

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I wrote a very popular post recently, about getting more blog comments.  This post is all about how to get more blog readers and it starts with a question:

“Have you noticed how some blogs and websites are really difficult to read for any period of time?”

You know the blogs I mean, right?  The blogs where you find yourself just skimming the content because after a glance of the page layout, you just don’t feel like reading the whole thing?  If you want to attract more blog readers and increase reader engagement on your blog, you need to make reading your posts a comfortable experience.  Otherwise, people will just skim your content and miss what you have to say.

There are already millions of posts that explain how to get more readers via SEO / social media etc.  This post offers you some easy, yet super-effective ways to massively improve the readability of your blog and by extension, it’s reach, impact and readership.

So, let’s go!

Column width

There’s a lot of research, including my own, which suggests that once the width of a content column (that’s the part of the blog you are reading now) goes beyond a certain limit, it becomes less and less readable.

Although some have said that the maximum width should be just 65 characters (including spaces) I have found that there’s almost no difference until you go past 85/90 characters.  I did a test a while ago, where I increased the width of the content area on one of my blogs to 100 characters and had to stop after just a week, because of the massive drop in every reader-based metric!  I saw a huge drop in the average number of pages per reader, fewer comments and a drop in the number of times a post was shared.

So, if your current blog layout goes beyond 95 characters – consider reducing it.

BTW: The content area here is 502 pixels wide and I use a 15px Arial font, which equals a limit of around 85 characters.

Fonts

If you want people to be able to comfortably read your blog content, they need to be able to see what you’ve written without squinting!  Many blogs use very small font sizes and as such, are way too hard to read on normal monitors and almost impossible to read, on smaller laptops and netbooks etc.

I use a 15px font size here, similar to that used by many other marketing and social media bloggers.  You may want to use something a  little smaller, but I strongly advise you not to go too small.

Black and white? Not quite!

Most new blogs use black text on a white background.  Although black text on a white background REALLY stands out, it can be harsh on the eyes; especially tired eyes!  That’s why it’s a really good idea to use a dark grey font on a white background, as used on many popular sites, like; The BBC, Seth Godin’s blog, Problogger and many other leading sites.

On this blog, I use the same shade of grey as The BBC, which is #464646.

Don’t let Bob or Mary screw up your blog

Whenever you make changes to the layout of your blog or website, you will get feedback from people, like Bob and Mary.  Bob’s a great guy and has a passion for blogs with really wide content columns and super-small fonts.  Mary’s also a wonderful warm human being, who loves those blogs that have jet black text on snow white backgrounds.  They are both entitled to their opinions, but you must not change the basics of your blog design based on what Bob or Mary might prefer.

The vocal minority will often unintentionally lead you to make piss-poor decisions about the look and feel of your blog.  As bloggers, we need to be a lot smarter than that.  We need to look at the facts – The metrics we can measure.  If after making a change, you notice; greater engagement, more comments, more people sharing your content, an increase in the number of pages the typical reader reads – then you are on track.  Even if Bob or Mary’s intentions were good, they were simply expressing their unique preferences.

Listen to all your readers, not just the vocal minority!

Some advice on making these changes

If you are like me and know nothing about HTML or CSS coding, it can be an expensive pain in the rear, to have to make changes to the layout of your blog.

This is why I recommend you consider doing what I did, and start using the Headway wordpress theme; which will allow you to make changes to your blog, without learning how to code.  Headway (affiliate link) lets you make the kind of changes mentioned here, in seconds.  In fact, I built this blog from scratch, with zero need for expert help, using Headway.  It’s given me total control over the blog and saved me a fortune.  It’s also the ONLY product I have ever endorsed here!

Summary

Ultimately the decision regarding the look and feel of your blog, is down to you.  However, there’s an old saying in business, which assures us that; “success leaves clues.”  There’s a reason why so many of the world’s most respected and popular blogs do things in a certain way.  They have already done the testing and measuring.  Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but when it comes to the readability element of your blog, it’s a wise move to make the experience as good as possible for your readers.

I’d like to know what additional tips you have, for making content more readable.  Equally, do you have any experience of changing any of the elements mentioned in this post?

Let us know what you think!

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Image: TEIA MG

So, you want more blog comments?

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One of the questions I get asked a lot by new bloggers, is how can they attract more comments from their readers.  So, that’s what this post is all about.

I have posts here with as few as 6 or 7 comments, many with over 80/100 comments and one post with almost 700 comments.  Here are a few of the things I have discovered about comments, which you might find useful:

  1. You don’t attract comments, simply by inserting “what do you think” at the end of each post.
  2. It’s a good idea to give your fellow bloggers a thank you for commenting on your blog.  For example, if a blogger comments here and they include their blog’s URL, they get a link at the end of their comment, which promotes their most recent blog post to all my readers.Check it out, it’s in that box at the end of each comment.  The software I use is called CommentLuv.
  3. The posts I write that ask questions, typically attract more comments than those that give answers.
  4. If someone is kind enough to comment on your blog, take the time to respond to their comment (if it requires a response.)  Many bloggers ask people for feedback, then pretty much ignore most of them.
  5. The more heavily you moderate your blog, the fewer comments you get.  If all comments are held for moderation before they are published, your comments section will lose momentum.  It can take hours for people to see their comments published on moderated blogs and then hours longer, to see replies to their comments.
  6. Some of my most read posts have the fewest comments.  This is interesting, as one of the reasons bloggers like to get comments, is to show how popular their blog is.  This is the most read page / post on this blog, BTW.
  7. The more often I write blog posts, the more comments I get – Though the FEWER I get per post.  When I was getting 100’s of comments per post, I was only blogging 4 or 5 times a month.I get more comments these days, but they are spread over a lot more posts, as I currently write 4 or 5 times or more a week.  So, overall comment numbers are higher, but average comments per post are down.
  8. Only a very small percentage of blog readers, actually comment.  So, even if you have the correct balance in place to encourage comments, you will need a sizeable readership before you get a high volume of comments.

There are many, many different blog comment strategies and the key is to find the right balance for you and whatever you want to achieve.

Members only

For example, a number of bloggers use a members only approach to comments.  You have to join their blog before you can comment, by registering your contact details (and getting them validated.)  This is sometimes called the velvet rope approach and is intended to create a feeling of exclusivity, whilst eliminating comment spam and trolls.

Seth Godin’s blog strategy

Some bloggers have copied Seth Godin’s blog comment strategy, to completely block his readers from commenting on his blog.  From a marketing perspective, this approach is not as crazy as it may first seem.  If you want to discuss something you read on Seth’s blog, you will probably do it on Facebook or Twitter etc; which spreads the word about Set’s blog and generates more new readers.  If you made that same point on Seth’s blog, only you and his existing readers would have seen it.

If you are a blogger: What are your tips for encouraging readers to comment and get involved?

If you are blog reader: What motivates you to want to leave a comment?

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Content marketing: What is it and how does it work?

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This is a quick post about content marketing and how to get great results from it.

Content marketing

Millions of small business owners (including me) use content marketing as a way to market their services.  They produce content for; newsletters, blog posts, articles, audio, video, social media sites etc.  The idea is that their content will engage prospective clients or customers and generate enquiries sales and also position them as an expert in their field.  Make no mistake, content marketing is extremely powerful when used correctly.

However, as many small business owners discover, there’s an enormous difference between producing content and producing content that actually helps them grow their business.

In marketing, we know that the messages that resonate with us most powerfully are those that make us think or capture our imagination in some way.  Generic messages do the exact opposite.  They pass us by, undetected.  They wash over us, because they’re predictable.  Yet these generic messages are the stock-in-trade of most of the content marketing pieces we see each day from small businesses.

Why?

I believe one of the reasons, is that it feels a lot “safer” to toe the line, follow what the crowd are saying and just blend into the background.  It takes courage for a blogger, for example, to offer their unique perspective on a topic or allow their personality to shine through their work.  After all, what if they are wrong?  What if their point of view generates negative comments?  It would surely be the end of their world as they know it!  So, rather than risk ruffling too many feathers, they opt to rehash generic ideas, which feel safer, because most people seem to agree with them.

Here’s the problem with that approach: It acts like camouflage and stops you getting the visibility you need!

To be visible, we first need to have something to say, which is worth listening to and sharing.  People only pass on content to their friends or network, if they find it useful or interesting and believe that others will too.  In short, people share the good stuff!  The most successful content marketers never seek a full consensus.  They just try hard and deliver content, which will be as valuable as possible to their target market.

Some important content marketing questions

  1. Who am I writing to? You need to know your target audience and focus your content exclusively on what they will find value in.
  2. Why am I writing to them? You need to know your desired outcome or outcomes, so that you can check if you are on course or not.  You can’t manage, what you can’t measure.
  3. Does my content showcase my expertise? Give genuinely useful information to your readers for free (and do it with a smile)!  Don’t send a watered-down version of your expertise into the marketplace.  Why?  Because how on earth are your readers supposed to know that you are any good, if all they see is a half-assed, diluted version of how great you are?I give away tons of free information on this blog, which encourages my readers to share my work with their friends.  As a result, I get business enquiries every day, from people who want to work with me.  This post, for example, gives links to over 140 marketing tips and ideas.

So, what are your content marketing tips or experiences?

Whether you are new to content marketing or a seasoned campaigner, it would be great to hear your feedback.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Dealing with critics!

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How well do you handle criticism?

If you use blogging, newsletters and/or social media sites as a way to market your services, you will receive varying levels of criticism.  Paradoxically, the more successful you become, the more criticism you will receive, because your work will reach more people.

I wrote a post in January, about the criticism bloggers receive, which readers never get to see – emails etc.  Today’s post covers other forms of criticism, and offers some ideas on why it happens and how to deal with it effectively.

I would also like to encourage YOU to add your tips at the end of the post!

Genuine, informed criticism

This is when someone, who knows the subject in question, believes they have found something in what you are doing or saying, which is incorrect.  Their motives are well intentioned and their feedback is often of great value, even though many people greet it with hostility or sarcasm.  In my experience, genuine, informed critics almost always tell you their opinion via email, the phone or face-to-face – Rather than via a social network or blog comment etc.  That’s because their intention is to help and nothing else.

Genuine, yet ill-informed criticism

Some people are going to tell you that you are doing something wrong or that you “don’t get it” and their intentions are good; yet their feedback is from an ill-informed perspective.  Like the people in the above example, these guys mean well, but unlike that example, their help is more likely to hinder you than it is to help you.

If we act on criticism that is factually wrong, we make bad decisions.  This is why it’s really important to check the source of the feedback we receive, before we decide to take action.  If someone with no expertise or experience in something is criticising you in that area, get some more feedback from an informed source.

Non-criticism, criticism

Just because someone disagrees with our point of view, does not mean they are being critical of us.  It’s easy to regard those who see things differently, as being negatively critical, when they are simply offering a different perspective.  This is especially the case with blog comments, where readers will often take a counter-point from the blogger or a fellow commenter.  The whole point of asking for comments and feedback, is to get different opinions and ideas.

Finally, consider the motivation behind negative criticism

People do what they do for a reason.  If we take a moment to consider why someone might make a critical comment about us or our work, it’s easy to see the point they are making in the correct context.

Some do it to attract “traffic”.  For example, the best-known bloggers often find less established bloggers writing extremely critical posts about them, in the hope that the popular blogger mentions them and in so doing, delivers a ton of traffic to the critic’s blog.  Some do it to get noticed.  Others do it because they just LOVE to look for the negative (I get lots of these, whenever I make a spelling error.)  Some do it just to have a little fun, at our expense.

The bottom line: There many reasons that people feel compelled to negatively criticise and many different types of criticism.  If you use (or plan to use) blogging, social networking sites and newsletters etc, as part of your marketing mix, negative criticism is all part of the feedback you will receive, as your audience grows.

Who owns YOUR name online?

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How many Internet users have the same name as you?

For most of us, the answer will be in the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or more.  Right now, this represents a challenge for a growing number of consultants, entrepreneurs, trainers and authors etc, who trade or work in their own names.  That’s because right now, it’s almost impossible for them to register their name on social networks or to buy theirname.com.

Whilst there is something nice about owning yourname.com, there are also a number of good reasons why it’s useful for some people to own a version of their name online.  For example, if you are an advisor and trade in your name, it’s easier for people to remember your URL / web address, if it’s yourname.com.

Also, as Gina Trapani, the founding Editor of lifehacker.com recently pointed out, there are some great SEO benefits from owning at least one version of your own name online, IF people are likely to be searching for you, by name.  I experienced this myself, when I used JimConnolly.com as my primary website and was the number one result on Google for anyone searching for me.

Social media name grab

Until quite recently, it was pretty easy to get yourname.com.  I was able to buy JimConnolly.com with zero effort at the first attempt.  However, in more recent years the Internet “got social.”  Today, hundreds of millions of people are building social networks and blogging.  For example, I was the first Jim Connolly to register their name on Twitter, so when my friend, who’s ALSO called Jim Connolly (From Thomas, Connolly & Phelps in Bloomington Illinois) joined Twitter, “his” name was taken.

To resolve this name issue, there are stories of people creating unique names for their unborn children, so that they can get them their own .com address and social media accounts!

Some possible answers

Here are a few suggestions for businesspeople, who do not already own their own name based URL, but would like to:

  • The most obvious suggestion, is for you to check now if your name is actually taken.  This is especially the case, if your name is uncommon or uses an uncommon spelling.  Even if your name was not available the last time you looked, it could be now.  I use 123Reg.co.uk to check URL availability.  By the way, that is NOT an affiliate link.  It’s just a service I use.
  • You can also try and get an alternative to the .com top level domain or TLD.  For example; yourname.me, yourname.biz, yourname.org etc.  However, some TLD’s come with restrictions on how you can use them, so check before you buy.
  • Another suggestion is to get creative and add something to your name, such as JaneSmithMarketing.com or MrBobSmith.com or Mary JonesOnline.com etc.  This is still pretty effective and provides an easy to remember option, when giving out your web address to people you meet or in radio interviews etc.

So, what if even the most creative versions of your name are taken?

Don’t panic!

As you can see, even though I own JimConnnolly.com, I still choose not to use it here on my primary marketing website.

Why?

By including the words marketing blog in the URL of this site, almost every link that points here also includes those 2 words.  This means there are thousands of links, which point here and tell Google that this is a marketing blog.  As a result, anyone searching for marketing blog or marketing blogs etc on Google, will find this blog on page one; even though there are over 100 MILLION results listed.  It’s also pretty easy to find me here using Google, just searching for Jim Connolly.  BTW: Keep an eye on JimConnolly.com!!

With the annual price of a URL around the same as a quick trip to Starbucks, there’s no reason for business owners not to try and get at least one version of their name.  Even if it’s not something you plan to use immediately, it could prove useful for a future project.

A short comment on short comments

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Have you ever left a comment on a blog and wondered why it was not published?

There are many reasons why this can happen, including:

  • Your comment included links, words or phrases that triggered the blog’s software to block it.  Like most wordpress blogs, this blog uses a trackback  / comment spam plugin.  The one I use is called Akismet.
  • The blogger deleted your comment for some reason.
  • Your ip address, website or email address is somehow listed in the popular comment spam databases.
  • Your comment was too short. This is the one I want to focus on here.

Comments too short?

Yep! Legitimate comments like yours, can get trapped in blog spam filters, simply because they are too short.  Blog comments like; “I totally agree” or “This is a great blog”, are regularly used by some SEO’s, as a way to build backlinks for their clients sites.  They simply paste the same generic phrase into thousands of well ranked blogs, hoping they will find some, which do not have comment-spam  / trackback spam plugins installed.  Whilst these brief comments are pretty harmless (in my opinion), some bloggers really don’t like them and as a result, filters now try and stop them appearing.

Here’s an example of how a genuine comment can get lost.  I just found a legitimate comment in my filter, which contains only 5 words; “what’s your bookmark plugin Jim?”  This was instantly filtered it as spam and it would have been missed, had I not spent 20 minutes reading through the last 12 hours worth of comment spam, for this post.

By the way: 99% of the spam I get is NOT from SEO’s! The SEO comments I see are largely benign and tend to point to regular sites.  No, the vast majority of the comment spam I see (and don’t want published) is sent via zombie computers and links to everything from porn sites to drug sites and malware.

So, if you want the best chance of seeing your comment published on a blog, use more than 3 or 4 words if you want to avoid the blogger’s filter.  This also helps you add to the conversation and adds value to your input.

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

Over 180 marketing and business development ideas!

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marketing ideas, business development, ideas, marketing

Here you go: Access to over 180 220 ideas and answers to help you with your marketing and business development – all in one post!

21 Powerful habits behind successful business owners.

10 examples to make your business massively more valuable.

5 Quick and easy wins for your business.

21 Tips to build a better business.

7 Naked truths about marketing.

4 Proven ways to quickly attract more sales and enquiries.

10 Ways to create unstoppable momentum for your business.

3 Things you absolutely must know, before marketing your business.

7 Habits of the most influential leaders.

25 Reasons to write a business blog.

12 Things every business owner needs to know.

10 Inspiring reasons to get things done.

10 Reasons your business isn’t growing… and how to fix it.

7 Proven ideas to attract more sales or client enquiries.

5 Power tips to keep your business growing.

7 Motivating tips to help you get things done.

6 Ideas to make clients fall in love with your business.

10 Amazing ways to get people talking about your business.

3 Critical steps for a profitable, successful business.

15 Proven ideas to help you grow your business.

7 Ways to improve your sales results… right now.

10 Facts about your business that will make you feel totally inspired.

4 Ways to attract more client leads or sales from your website.

7 Ways to make your marketing more powerful.

Tip: If you found this useful, you can get my latest ideas delivered direct to your inbox, for free, right here.

 

Another reason why I love blogging

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I switched my computer on this morning and was amazed with what I saw!

Last night, while I was sleeping, there were interesting conversations going on here; across 4 different posts and with dozens of comments.  That kind of feedback or interaction, is one of the things I value most about blogging and yet another reason why I believe blogs have a bright future, as a marketing tool.

Marketing and blogs

There are many reasons why blogs are extremely powerful as marketing tools.  One of these reasons, is that it is easier to build a targeted community around a blog.  For example, each of those 4 active conversations last night were directly relevant to the theme of this blog; which is marketing and business development for small businesses.

Now, some of the people involved in these debates, shared the debate on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, which saw a massive increase in new readers and blog subscribers.  In simple terms, if I had written those posts as traditional articles on a website, with no comments section and no way for readers to contribute, there would have been far less interest and far fewer people would have seen it or shared it.

My posts acted as a catalyst, but it was the interest caused by the reader comments, which created the real surge in interest.  In addition, the people who commented on those posts increased the value of those posts enormously, with their insights and ideas.  I will be writing a lot more about the marketing benefits of blogging in the future.  For now, I simply ask business owners that are not already blogging, to consider the opportunities.

Lost for words? Here are 10 ways to find inspiration!

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Do you ever find yourself suffering from writer’s block?

If you just answered “yes”, take a look at the following 10 ideas and see if you can find something, which will help you flood your mind with inspirational ideas:

  1. Go for a walk. This one works for me every time.  Just remember to bring something with you, to record your thoughts.
  2. “Write for the waste paper basket.”  I’m paraphrasing Ernest Hemingway there.  The idea is not to allow the need for perfection to stop you getting started.  Get going and THEN refine what you have written.
  3. Listen to some music, preferably something without lyrics.
  4. Read some of your own, previous material.  It’s amazing how many times I read something I’ve written before, which gives me an idea for a brand new piece of material.
  5. Exercise.  Just like number1, be sure to bring an audio recorder with you.
  6. Change your environment.  I write 99% of my material outdoors.  Sometimes, I will write from a quiet location and other times, a busy coffee bar.  If quiet isn’t working for you – Go somewhere noisy, and vice-versa.
  7. Go for a drive.  I know a lot of people who get some of their best ideas, when they are driving.  Just make sure you wait until it’s safe, before you record your ideas.
  8. Take a look at some of the emails, tweets or messages you get from people, seeking your advice.  This can sometimes provide very useful food for thought.
  9. Listen to (or watch) something that’s REALLY funny!  I find that often, just after enjoying a great comedy, (Big Bang Theory is my current fave) my mind feels like a hard drive, which has just been de-fragmented.  I’m told that laughter reduces stress and floods our brains with endorphins , which then changes our mental state.  Whatever the science is, there’s no doubt that it’s extremely effective (and fun!)
  10. Try getting your ideas down using pen and paper, rather than a computer.  As I mentioned recently, I do ALL my problem solving and creative thinking on paper.  I know manyt, many people who find this form of thinking on paper to be extremely effective.

What would you add to this list?

I would really appreciate it if YOU would share your best ideas for overcoming writer’s block, with your fellow readers and myself.  So, what did I miss?

Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!

32 Questions to kick-start your business!

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Would you call yourself a creative person?

Creativity plays a big part in the development of any successful business.  In fact, your ability to creatively solve problems and spot opportunities will to a large part, determine just how far you and your business will go.

In my experience, one of the best ways to kick-start our creativity, is to ask ourselves questions, which lead us to creatively search for answers and new ideas.  So, here are 32 questions, designed to help you think creatively about the development of your business.  Remember to share them with anyone in your network, who you think might find them useful, using the links below!

  1. What additional, valuable products or services can I offer to my existing clients or customers (herein called clients)?  This is the fastest way to generate a massively profitable boost to your revenue and profits.
  2. Am I fully utilising technology in my business?  Are there processes that I could streamline, which would give me more time to deal personally with my clients and prospective clients?
  3. How can I improve the way I deliver my services?
  4. Do I take time out, to thank people as often as I should?
  5. What new markets could use my products or services?
  6. How can I improve the quality of my products or services, so that they are of even more value to existing and prospective clients?
  7. Am I associating with the right kind of people, for what I want to achieve?
  8. What three things could I do, which would improve the visibility of my business?
  9. How can I reach 500% more prospective clients with my marketing message?
  10. How can I make my day-to-day work more fun?  This is really important!
  11. What’s the best way for me to encourage more people, to recommend me to their contacts?
  12. Is my marketing focused enough?
  13. How can I improve my time management?
  14. Do I take action on the ideas I generate, so they have a chance to make a real difference?
  15. Should I be thinking about doing some kind of joint venture with another, high quality company?
  16. Am I limiting the development of my business, by not investing in professional help in the areas where I am weakest?  If so, which area do I need to invest in first?
  17. How often do I ask my clients for their feedback, regarding the service they receive from me and what additional services they would like me to offer?
  18. When was the last time I sat down and studied my marketing goals?  If you have not got any written, measurable, specific marketing goals, stop reading this and write some down right now!
  19. Is it possible that my services look too similar to my competitors?  Most service providers look way too alike, so the marketplace uses their fees as a way to judge their value.
  20. If my services do look too similar to my competitors, how can I differentiate myself, so that I have something uniquely valuable to bring to the marketplace?
  21. Do I get enough leads and enquiries via my website or blog? If not, how can I increase this, so my site becomes a lead generating machine for my business?
  22. When was the last time a client sent me a “thank you” note?  If this has not happened for a while, it might suggest that you have not exceeded their expectations lately!
  23. Who would make a good endorsed relationship partner for me?
  24. Do I attract enough word of mouth referrals?  If not, what is this telling me?
  25. How aware am I, of my client’s problems and challenges?  You need to know what’s happening in your client’s world, if you want to be able to really help them.
  26. Do I have a shallow a network, spread over a wide area – Or a deeper, more meaningful one?
  27. How many other websites or blogs link to my website or blog?  This is important, as inlinks account for the massive majority of your search engine optimization (SEO)
  28. Am I working to a marketing strategy or am I simply doing tactical marketing?
  29. Just how good is my customer service?  Remember, you don’t compare yourself to what your competitors offer – But to the finest level of service you can possibly offer.
  30. Do I still have the same passion for my business that I used to have?  If the answer to this is yes, get passionate again!
  31. How many of the people I network with on Twitter, have I actually spoken to or met?
  32. Are my online marketing activities producing bankable results, or just a ton of meaningless, social media numbers?  If you have the friends, followers and fans but not the bankable results, you might want to review your strategy.
  33. Do I exceed people’s expectations?

OK – What would you add to this list?

What would you add to this list, as a question that might help get people thinking creatively about the development of their business?  Please leave your suggestions below!

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How focused are your marketing messages?

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That’s an important question for you to consider.

Why?

Because the more focused your marketing messages are, the more effective they will be and the more business they will generate for you.

Here’s what we know:

  • A focused marketing message speaks directly to the reader (viewer or listener), in a language they understand. It connects with them at a far deeper level than a poorly targeted message.
  • A focused marketing message makes the reader feel as if you knew exactly what they needed. This makes you relevant to them, which is extremely powerful.
  • A focused marketing message captures the reader’s attention. This is of huge value to you today, when people’s attention has never been so scattered.
  • A focused marketing messages has the power to motivate people to take action… to buy from you, call you, email you or visit you.
  • A focused marketing message has the power to inspire and compel the reader in a way that vague messages can’t.

Review your written marketing. Look for opportunities to make it more focused, so that it’s only relevant to your ideal profile of client. Be less inclusive. Talk directly to them.

Business is all about people and people really notice, when you’re speaking directly to them, in their language, about what matters to them!

Leo Laporte: 3 lessons from an Internet success story!

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This post contains 3 lessons, which have helped Leo Laporte become one of the Internet’s biggest success stories of recent years.

Who is Leo Laporte & what can we learn?

Leo is the massively popular guy behind a network of mainly tech-based programs, which can be watched online or downloaded.  Leo started his online broadcasting network after his mainstream TV show was cancelled.

His network is known as TWiT (This Week in Tech.)  Just 5 years later, Leo’s shows are listened to and watched by millions every month and his advertisers and sponsors include the likes of Visa and Ford.

He now employs a dedicated team of professionals and produces and amazing TWENTY PLUS shows a week.  He’s aiming for a full 24-hours a day “CNN for geeks” service and I know he will do it. More info on Leo can be found here.

Learning from Leo Laporte?

I can see 3 BIG lessons from Leo Laporte’s growing success, which we can all learn from.  Here they are:

1. Quality.  Leo focuses on delivering a very high quality product.  From the beginning, Leo insisted on investing in the best quality equipment possible, and then reinvesting, as the business grew.  He has also worked hard to attract the most entertaining, knowledgeable guests he can.  As the success of his network grew and he was able to start employing people, he brought in the best people he could.  At every step, he has focused on quality, rather than speed or “cheap.”

In my experience, quality does not come cheap, but quality costs far less than when we take the cheap route.  For instance, it can often seem like a wise move to go for the cheapest web host, but what about the cost of all that lost business, if our site is down too often or too slow for people to use?  It might seem like a wise move to hire a cheap accountant or CPA, until you find out that by saving a few hundred a year, you have been overpaying thousands each year in taxes.

It’s about getting the best you can afford and then when you become more financially secure, reinvesting in even better quality.

2. Community. Leo Laporte understands the importance of building a community and engaging with that community.  He takes messages from his listeners and viewers during most of his programs and asks them for suggestions / feedback.  He sets up dedicated chat rooms, where the listeners and viewers can chat with each other and contribute to the show.

There’s a real community feel to Leo’s network, something that helps retain his audience and engage them.  Some of his advertisers have been with him for years, because Leo’s community appreciate that the advertisers are who fund his shows and they are vastly more likely to use and recommend their products.  The advertisers and the listeners are thus, part of the same community. It’s amazing to watch!

As I said yesterday, a community is far, far more commercially valuable than a following or an audience that you broadcast too.

3. Work.  Leo has worked extremely hard to build the TWiT network.  Having come from a mainstream media background, Leo was used to big studios and teams of professionals to get his shows on air.  It must have been hard for him in the beginning, to go from that, to being the guy who made the coffee, wrote the scripts, fixed the equipment and booked the guests.  Until relatively recently, Leo fronted all his shows himself; as well as working with his advertisers, booking guests, writing show plans, working the control desk AND doing a daily tech radio show for an FM station too!

The lesson here is as old as commerce itself.  The best plan in the world will not work for us, if we don’t work for it.

Business leaders are often the first people into the office in the morning and the last ones home; at least during the earlier stages of their business.  All too often, we see people who want to get the result, without putting in the work first.  This is why scammers and con artists have always found an endless stream of people to fool out of their savings, with the promise of easy money.

Quality, community and work.  Three simple words, which bring with them a lot of challenges – But also the promise of something amazing.

Social media rock stars? Get real!

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I have already had several books sent to me this year for review, written by social media experts or gurus.  The most recent arrived this weekend.  One thing all of them have in common, is that they contain a version of the following advice, which is, in my opinion totally incorrect:
Build a following and market to that following.

Here’s what I have found to be better advice:
Don’t build a following. Build a community instead!

This is not just a play on words.

FOLLOWERS are like the audience at a rock concert.  They are set apart from the rock star on stage.  They see the rock star as distant.  They are part of the event, but a very small part.  The rock star might get the crowd to sing the occasional verse, but we all know they are REALLY just broadcasting THEIR VOICE to the crowd! I really don’t see a lot of value in positioning yourself as a rock star, if you actually want to get involved with people.  Ironically, the people I see using this approach all the time, are social media experts!

COMMUNITY members are totally different.  They are like the guests at a really enjoyable party.  The host of the party is not a “star.”  The host is not set up high on a stage with the spotlight on him or her, but on the same level as the rest of us.  The host interacts with the guests – speaking AND listening.

The host at that party will not have had tens of thousands of people attending, like the rock star did.  But here’s the thing: How many of us actually NEED tens of thousands of people around us, that we will never know or connect with in any meaningful way?

Here’s one way of seeing it

Let’s be serious for a moment.  The typical small business owner, using social media to develop new clients or customers and gain feedback, will never need tens of thousands of followers or fans.

  • How many of those people can Bob EVER REALLY connect with or know?
  • How many will want to use Bob’s services, simply because Bob added them to his too-big-to-connect-with network of people he will never speak to or meet?

How many? FAR fewer, than if Bob had built a targeted, manageable network of people, which he actually connected with.  I know it sounds a little old fashioned, but it really isn’t about the numbers.

Those numbers represent people. Real people. Real people, with real lives, real needs and real dreams.  Business is all about people too.  If we forget that, and just go for the numbers, we place a very low ceiling on our potential.

Link Building on blogs: Keep it personal!

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Have you noticed how some of the people who comment here, do so without using their name?  The reason you are seeing this, is because they are trying to build links back to their websites or blogs, which contain anchor text, that will help their SEO.

From an SEO perspective, this can be effective, however, by commenting with a marketing phrase, which does not include their name at all, it makes the comments seem impersonal.

It’s hard for the readers or myself to build a dialogue or connect with someone in the comments, who calls himself “Cheap PC Spares!”

I like to see commenters here include their name or nickname in the anchor text they use when commenting, not just a SEO friendly phrase. Especially as this blog uses CommentLuv, which will include a contextual hyperlink back to your blog or website, every time you comment here anyway!

In future, if you want a comment published here, please include your name or even a nickname or your company name.  Feel free to include some SEO friendly words if you want to, but let the readers know there’s a real person there too.

Photo: atp tyresus

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What do your contacts say about you?

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I have a question for you:
Which people or companies do you publicly associate with?

The reason I am asking you this, is that potential customers and clients often look at the people or businesses we associate with, as a short-cut to determining the kind of people WE are.

Trust and credibility can either be destroyed or boosted in seconds, depending on the individuals and companies we are aligned with or associate with.

Bad company

I recall being at a local business exhibition, when a young man joined a small group of people I was speaking informally with, before we entered the main exhibition area.  He introduced himself and joined our conversation.  One of the guys asked him what line of business he was in and he said he owned a local printing company. After about 5 minutes, the group dispersed.

Interestingly, just before the printer joined us, one of the guys said he was looking to get some promotional flyers printed and needed to find a local print company.  I was curious why he never asked for the print guys business card, so when I saw him later, I asked him.

“I noticed he arrived with (persons name.)  That guy’s little better than a conman.  If he hangs around with people like that, I don’t want him near me or my business.”

It’s possible that the print company owner never knew about the reputation of the man he arrived with and later sat with.  He was almost certainly unaware that he had just damaged his reputation with a large number of people in his local business community – his potential clients.

The bottom line: We need to be extremely careful before we associate our name, brand or reputation with another individual or company.

It’s just the same online

I am not an active user of Linkedin, but have an account there purely as a way to study it, for my work as a marketing coach.  It’s a good service, which is why I study it, but one that I have zero need for right now.

However, I get emails every day from people via Linkedin, whom I have never heard of, asking if I will join their ‘network’.

The thing is, at least 90% of these invites claim that I’m someone they have worked with, even though they know it’s a total lie and I don’t even know them!

Why do they do this?

Because IT WORKS!

If they send that spammy message to enough people, some will accept, in an ill-judged attempt to build their own network.

Guess what kind of people send those requests? Right – the kind you do NOT want to be linked with!

Here’s a great question to ask ourselves

If a stranger wanted to build a picture of the kind of person I am, JUST by looking at who I associate with, what kind of a picture would that be?

If you are not happy with the answer – disconnect from your toxic contacts and replace them with honest, credible people like you!

Email marketing and blog marketing – A quick tip!

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If you use email or blogging to market your services, I believe you will find the following information really useful.

It’s all about the importance of avoiding certain words or phrases in your emails and blog posts, which could get them blocked from reaching your readers.

Whilst there are many different things that can lead to an email getting trapped in someone’s junk mail or spam filters, I’m going to focus on just one of them; the words you use in your blog titles and your email subject lines.

What does blog marketing have to do with email filters?

Many people subscribe to blogs via email.  For instance, around 40% of this blog’s RSS subscribers read it via email.  So, if the title of one of my posts contains words or phrases that email filters are looking out for, there’s a good chance the post will get trapped in either the readers junk mail folder or it may never reach them at all.

I wrote a post last Friday, which had a title that was essentially a “toxic” phrase.  The title was “REVEALED: The fast rack to wealth.”  You can see the post here.  It also had the opening word written in caps, which is another, lesser, junk mail trigger.

I was curious to see how many people opened it, compared to an average post.  There was a drop of around 25%, pretty much what I had expected.

So, whilst it’s a great idea to use blog titles that will capture people’s attention – you need to also ensure that your titles are email friendly (if you offer the option for people to subscribe via email, which I believe you should.)

Email marketing and filters

Titles are also a key element in getting your marketing emails and newsletters past filters and in front of your readers.  On my marketing newsletter, I opt for a very simple title: The Jim Connolly Newsletter.  Keeping this very basic title format does 2 clever things.

  1. Because it’s familiar, it immediately alerts my readers that the newsletter has arrived.  If I used different titles every time, it would be harder for my newsletter to get noticed for what it is.
  2. It contains nothing that’s likely to get trapped in a junk mail filter.

As I said earlier, there are a number of things, which can lead to your marketing email’s getting trapped in filters.  Here’s a simple email marketing tip, from one of my first blog posts.

Blogging and critics

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How do you feel about people, who criticise you or your work negatively?

Well, if you are thinking of using a blog as a part of your marketing mix, (and you should), you will need to figure out how to deal with them.  This is especially the case, if your blog becomes popular.

The 2 sides of blogging

There are 2 sides to blogging: The side the readers see and the side the blogger sees.  Readers only see the published comments and the blog posts.  The blogger sees everything.  We see the spam and in some cases, the abusive emails too.

I generally just get smartasses telling me about typos – I call them The Typo Police!  These people love passing on negative criticism, but they are harmless.

Naturally, as a blogger’s success increases, so does his or her reach. In reaching more people, you become a target for those who are either envious, bored or usually both.

For instance, when I started this blog, I used to get around 10 emails a week from people, asking me general marketing questions or enquiring about my services. Today that’s around 70/80 emails every day and often over 100!  Just 2 or 3 emails a month are abusive and I hardly ever get any kind of abusive blog comments here.  I’m very fortunate to have attracted the right crowd; people who will debate and critique, but without the abuse.

Compare this to what famous people get!

For example, last year I found myself exchanging emails with the massively talented IT Journalist, broadcaster and American TV personality, Natali Del Conte.  Natali had been mentioned in a post I wrote and received some totally uncalled for criticism via the comments section of that blog.

Some of the comments were really abusive and insulting.  Natali’s only crime was to be both talented and beautiful (how dare she).  Sadly, when you mix the kind of success Natali has earned, with envy and (the supposed) anonymity of the Internet, some people will say things that they would never say to your face.

With increased visibility, comes increased exposure to the good and the bad – the positive and the negative.  I believe you need to develop a broad pair of shoulders, if you want to develop a high profile blog or business.

Jims Marketing Blog – Now with added love!

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Here’s some good news for those of you, who are kind enough to comment here and share your opinions with my readers and myself.  As from right now, when you leave your comments, you will be able to share YOUR most recent blog post with MY readers!

How come Jim?

The CommentLuv WordPress Plugin

I have just installed the CommentLuv WordPress plugin.  The CommentLuv plugin automatically visits your site when you comment here, as soon as you enter your web address (URL).  Then, as you type your URL in, this little program retrieves a selection of your last blog posts, Tweets or digg submissions. (By the way, I have also added it to the AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT Ideas blog too!)

You can then choose one, which will then be included at the bottom of your comment.  See the example below, and check out the box just under Danny Brown’s comment:

I’m always looking for ways to make the blog genuinely more valuable for you.  This latest addition will hopefully help commenters attract some new readers – as many of the people who comment here have superb sites!  This is just a way for me to say “thanks!”

What do you think?

I would love to know what you think.  Leave a comment and show your fellow readers your most recent post, Tweet or digg in the process.

As always, it would be great to hear from you.

(UPDATE: I found this plugin attracted a huge amount of spam, so have removed it.)

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