Jim Connolly Marketing

My name’s Jim Connolly and I am a blogger!

By |

Last month, someone introduced me to one of his friends.

In his introduction, he said:
“This is Jim Connolly, he’s that marketing blogger I’ve been talking about.”

This REALLY made me think!

Why?

This may sound nuts, but here goes:  You see, although I own a blog and write posts most days, I have always seen myself simply as a marketing guy, who uses a blog as a way to share ideas and connect with people.  When I think of a blogger, at least a commercial blogger, I have always thought of those people who attend the blogging shows, have lots of ads around their sites and make their primary income via their blog.

Then it dawned on me…

Maybe I don’t attend the blogging shows or have lots of ads here and no, my primary income is not connected with the blog – BUT I DO market my coaching services here, which is my second largest income stream and what I am best known for.  I also post here regularly and have made a number of fantastic business contacts, directly via this blog.

Perhaps just as importantly, I LOVE blogging.  I see it as a wholly pleasurable experience and something that is actually a lot more important to me than I could have imagined, when I started out 19-months ago.  Of course, all this happened slowly over the course of almost 2 years.

So yes, around 5 weeks ago I came to the conclusion that I am a passionate, commercial blogger.

Interestingly, in the weeks since I changed my perceptions about being a blogger, reader numbers have grown faster than ever before – with a 57% increase in the past 4 weeks alone.  I have also written a lot more regularly than before, and found that the posts have come to me effortlessly.

I always find it amazing, how the way we perceive things has such an enormous impact on our performance and results.

Have you ever experienced anything similar?

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

Google, link exchanges and you!

By |

Do you get emails from people you don’t know, asking you to do link exchanges with them?  If you do, before you decide to do the exchange, please consider the following very carefully.

Link Exchanges: A brief overview

The reason people want you to exchange links with them is simple: The more links pointing to a site, the higher it will rank with Google and Co.

In fact, the number (and quality) of links pointing to your site, is the single most important part of your SEO (search engine optimization).  So, SEO companies regularly send emails to thousands of people asking for links, hoping to increase the number and quality of links that point to their customer’s websites and blogs.  Usually, the higher your Google Page Rank, the more requests you will get.

Link exchanges: The risks

Link exchanges and the old “Switcheroo”: Increasingly, people are building what look like regular websites and asking for link exchanges.  Then, after a set number have been gathered, the site is transformed into a scam site.

This switch tactic is starting to gather pace and as I will explain in a moment, it’s not a good idea for you to link to sites, which Google considers “spammy”, as they call it. If you HAVE already offered links to people you do not know, it might be worth checking their site out again.

Link exchanges into bad neighbourhoods: Linking to the wrong kind of sites can also see YOUR site penalised (see below.)  Bad neighbourhoods exist on the Internet, just like they do in the off-line world.  In online terms, a bad neighbourhood is a site that is considered by the search engines to be spammy or dubious in some way.

Google does not like link exchanges: If you want to attract visitors from Google, you need to know that Google considers link exchange schemes as a violation of their guidelines and that they will penalise sites, which they believe are involved in them.  You can learn about Google’s policy on link exchanges here – Along with a link that you can use to resubmit your site, if you are already being penalised.

Why is Google so strict on these exchanges?  It sees them as a way of deliberately trying to manipulate their page ranking system.  This system is how they deliver search results, and those results are what keep people using Google – and allows Google to make the BIG advertising bucks!

Legitimate linking?

The general consensus is you should link to people, when appropriate for what YOU want to achieve.  If you want to share other sites, posts, articles or online resources – link to them.

Where do I stand on this?

I get link exchange emails at least half a dozen times every day and I delete them.

Why?

Because I refuse to associate my name or reputation with someone I don’t know.  I don’t really care what Google thinks about my blog, but I DO care passionately about the 15 years I have spent building my business and my brand and I won’t risk negatively impacting that.

Ultimately, you need to do what you believe is right for what YOU want to achieve.  I just think it’s useful to have some additional info, so the next time you get a link exchange request, you can make the right judgement for YOU – NOT the other guy!

Say it like you MEAN it!

By |

Have you ever noticed how powerful it is, when someone talks to you about something they are passionate about?  It makes a massive difference to the effectiveness of their message and the energy created can be really infectious.

So, why do so many business owners totally fail to inject REAL passion into their communications with people?

Marketing and passion

Whether you are speaking with people, recording a message or writing about your product or service, you should be doing it with passion.  After all, how the heck do you expect other people to be interested in you or your business, if you don’t sound like you are?

I decided to write this post, after watching a video presentation on a guys website, where the guy sounded half asleep.  There was no energy or passion when he spoke.  He talked about his services, like he was reading a shopping list.

Marketing and motivation

Equally, I read copy every day on websites and blogs, which is supposed to motivate the reader to take action – Yet the copy is pedestrian and lacks impact.

The bottom line: If you want to compel people to take action; to buy from you, call you, email you or click a link – you need to inspire them to do so. You need to motivate your site visitors, so they go from being a reader (passive) to a being a participant (active).

Are you getting bankable results from your blog?

By |

Fact: Very few small business owners who blog, generate anything like the results they could.

Why?

This is the easiest question I have ever answered here! The reason so few bloggers attract the volume of sales, leads or enquiries they should, is that they copy what they see other bloggers doing.

Here’s what I see all day every day:  I see bloggers writing a valuable, correctly optimized blog post, before heading off to their preferred social networking sites to try and get the post noticed.  Sound familiar?  If it does, I hope it’s not because you are using that same approach.  If you are, you are missing the most important elements – those rare, additional steps that make all the difference and get people spending money with you!

I was explaining this to a new client of mine yesterday afternoon.  She’s intelligent, charismatic and a specialist in her profession.  However, like many specialists who use blogging as part of their marketing mix, she had been using the same approach that I outlined above – which failed her (which is why she hired me.)

An hour into our meeting, I showed her what’s possible when you use the right approach.  I quickly checked the email account, which gets all the enquiries generated from this blog.  In that hour alone, there had been 3 emails, including an enquiry for my services.  By the end of business yesterday, that enquiry became a confirmed, new client and I’m really looking forward to helping them achieve bankable results too.  I’m not telling you that to impress you, but to impress upon you just what’s possible, when you use the correct strategy.

Of course, there are 2 major problems with trying to achieve success, by copying what you see others doing.

  1. You might be copying what does not work.  It’s easy to see a blog with lots of comments or lots of retweets / facebook “likes” etc – and assume this means the blog is also commercially successful.  It doesn’t!All those measurements show you is that there are people who commented there or retweeted the post.It tells you zero about how commercially effective that blog is at generating new business for it’s owner.  Many of my clients come to me with large social networks and active blogs that they have worked really hard on, with nothing to show for it.  You know what?  People will have been copying THEIR approach too, because it looked successful from the outside!
  2. Not only may you be copying what does not work, but even if you found a blog that was doing things right, the untrained eye will miss it completely.That’s because the many differences between a blog that’s an income generating machine and one that’s not, are extremely subtle.For example, I don’t know much about golf, so when I see a golfer hitting a golf ball, that’s all I see.  When a professional golfer sees that same guy hitting that same ball, they can identify exactly what’s happening – what’s failing, what needs removing and what needs to be added to the golfer’s swing etc.

When it comes to marketing, a blog is like any other tool.  If used correctly, it can easily become your best source of new, targeted business.  However, just like every other marketing tool, only a tiny fraction of small business owners use blogs correctly, for what they want to achieve.

The rest just dabble and as a result, it costs them a fortune in lost business and YEARS in wasted time.

In short, if you want to enjoy better results you need a better strategy.  You need an effective strategy that’s been developed for; you, your business, your industry, your unique resources and what you want to achieve.  Whatever you elect to do, if you are not currently getting the regular stream of new business from your blog that you deserve, please change course.

As I have said here many times before; if you are rowing your boat in the wrong direction, no matter how hard you row, you will simply end up further and further away from where you want to be.  You deserve far better than that!

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

7 ways to improve your Internet presence!

By |

Here are seven quick tips to help you improve your online presence.

  1. If you have a section on your website or blog, called “news” either update it regularly or delete it.  When someone clicks on that page and sees that the last entry was 6 months ago, it hardly makes you or your business look dynamic.
  2. Write the copy (wording) of your site exclusively for your target prospective clients and no one else.  If you are reading this, it’s almost certain that you are the owner of a business – that’s because you are the person I write for.  Everything I do here, is designed for you.  A message that is 100% relevant to a target group of people will generate massively better results, than a message that tries to be all things to all people.  If you want to work with your ideal type of clients, write just for them and stop trying to please everyone.
  3. If you ask people to comment on your blog or email you, you owe it to them to reply (if a reply is necessary.)  I find it amazing that even the top social media gurus get this wrong.  They ask for comments and then ignore 75% of them.
  4. Look before you link!  What do you think it says about you and your professionalism, if prospective clients visit your site and see that you link to sites that are unprofessional?  The power of association is incredible.  Show that you associate with great people and brands.
  5. If you have a blog, it’s nice occasionally to tell your readers how great some other people or companies are.  Don’t just talk about yourself.  It shows confidence and class.  BTW: Most of the people I tell my readers about on my blog are fellow marketing guys; my supposed competition.  If they provide useful, valuable content, I want you to know about them!
  6. On the subject of blogging, it’s not for everyone.  I find it amazing when I hear social media gurus telling everyone to get a blog.  Here’s the problem with that: Not everyone wants to write or enjoys writing.  If you don’t like writing or find it hard to come up with interesting ideas – leave it!  A poorly written blog that’s seldom updated, is not going to help you achieve anything.
  7. If you make a claim on your site or social network, make sure you can back it up.  My friend Irene Koehler from almostsavvy.com met the top tech journalist and blogger Robert Scoble at an event in San Francisco last year.  She introduced herself to Robert, by saying that they had a mutual contact; Jim Connolly from the UK.  Scoble smiled, said yes and asked her to say “hi” to me.  Can you imagine how bad I would have looked, if I had told her we knew each other, and he told her that he’d never heard of me?  If we make a claim about who we know or what we have achieved, it better be true; because it’s never been easier to bust a fake!

So, what tip or tips would you like to add to that list?

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

 

So, you want more enquiries from your blog?

By |

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.