Archive for May, 2009
Reach Your Goals Utilizing a Support or Mastermind Group
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Reach Your Goals
It has been stressed that achieving goals is not a solitary process. Help in some form, for example coaching and support groups, is needed to make the process easier. Develop your support team or find a group of likeminded individuals to enhance your goal achievement.
Keep in mind that you are not reinventing the wheel. Just because you have a goal doesn’t mean that everything has to be done the hard way in order to claim it as yours. Few original ideas remain in this world. It is your personal take on them that makes your goals unique.
In order to make reaching your goal a simpler process that doesn’t have you pulling your hair out or feeling like you have to do everything all by yourself, create your own support team. This is a group of people that can be counted on at different times to help you reach the end of your goal. The team can consist of anyone that you trust implicitly to have your best interests at heart.
Start with those closest to you. Family members can take an interest in your goal. To make it official, have them sign a contract that states they will assist you in specific ways during the achievement of this goal. These contracts are like pacts between people to support one another.
You might find that family members are willing to help, until they have to tell you the hard things. Instead they may sugar coat or even downright lie to you about something for fear of hurting your feelings. In that case, family members are perfect as your pep team. They can be there to cheer you on and pick you up when you are down in the dumps about your goal.
Next, call on the help of friends. It isn’t necessary to give them all the details about the goal but ask them to check in on you from time to time in an effort to keep you focused on the goal. That doesn’t require specifics just a willingness to be a caring partner in the process.
Church groups can help achieve goals as well. Become a part of a prayer group to increase your spiritual strength as you undertake this goal. For religious individuals, the spiritual component of the support team is an integral part of achieving their goals and should not be left out.
Another great way to get support in reaching your goals is with a mastermind group. What exactly is a mastermind group? It is a group composed of people who are all working towards the same or similar goal. They may be taking a different path to get there, but each person in the group is united in the fact that some day they will all achieve that goal.
These groups can be found on the Internet or you can create your own if you have the time and the drive. Mastermind groups are helpful for business and personal goals. They share ideas, experiences, resources, and motivation to help all members get to the next level of completing their goals.
Everyone in the group has a common goal and realizes that many heads are better than one. Mastermind groups form alliances that can be helpful and productive beyond just your current goals too. If a goal is particularly trying at times, it is a tremendous relief to know that someone else out there knows exactly how you feel. These groups are also great for being honest with you when it comes to the hard times of achieving your goals. Members won’t be afraid of hurting your feelings, like friends or family might be, and will simply tell it like it is. Sometimes, whether we like it or not, that’s exactly what we need in order to overcome hurdles and get to the finish line.
Putting your best foot forward
Posted by: | CommentsAs an online business owner, a Web site is crucial to your business. But it can’t be just any Web site; it must be a Web site with killer copy and visuals that draw your customer to you again and again.
Studies show that when visitors land at a Web site, more often than not, most are faster than Clark Kent–or a speeding bullet.
They’re there; they’re gone!
And what did they learn? Or did they find what they want?
Thus, when you write your web copy use tips like these to encourage your visitors to get comfy in their chairs, and stay at your site a whole lot longer:
Write headlines that grab attention
• Many, many Web sites “Welcome” the visitor. While it’s nice to know you’re welcome somewhere, the greeting does little to assure your reader about a benefit they’ll receive from your products or services
In your headlines, if possible, as well as your copy, include the “benefits” to your reader for using your company, not the “features”
• For instance, you might say something like: “Using such and such product you will grow more hair in 30 days”
• Instead of: “I provide speedy service so you’ll get your hair product order quickly.”
Write in a conversational tone, and write like you talk
• In other words, forget the “stuffy” and the “boring”
Use “you” often
• And lose the “me, me, me” and the “I, I, I”
Make your web content easy to read
• Use words with few letters, include short sentences, and even shorter paragraphs
• Bullet point your sentences or phrases so your readers can quickly scan the page
• The font! The font! Pay attention to the size of your font, and to how the color of the font connects with your site’s background/color. If your copy disappears into the site so you can barely see it or read it, you may need to rethink your colors.
Add visuals, but do so with discretion
• Nothing turns off a visitor faster than the blinking and the flashing. While colorful and eye- catching, they slow page loading and can be off-putting for readers on dial-up.
• Use an occasional photo or image to help tell your story or to introduce you, your product or services. Too many, though, will also distract from your message.
Before you say you’re done in your mind’s eye, make sure you really are
• Edit your work and edit it again
• Read your copy out loud from the end to the beginning to hear how it sounds
And review your site often to keep it up-to-date to your industry’s standards and current events.
Increasing Your Website Traffic
Posted by: | CommentsI was recently asked the question, “How do I increase website traffic to my website?” Here are a few of the tips that I gave.
• Create a site with valuable content, products or services.
• Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.
• Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.
• Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.
• Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.
• Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.
• Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.
• Use reports and logs from your web hosting company or other stats program to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you. Another option for reports and logs is utilizing Google Analytics.
• Make sure your customer’s visit is easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, coupons (if applicable), etc.
• Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles to article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field. Be sure to include a well written resource box which includes your name, website address and information about you and your service and/or product.
• When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.
• When not you’re not sure what to do, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly, it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.
• Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like you would a brick and mortar store…treat your web presence with the same seriousness and attention to detail.
It Really Is Worth a Thousand Words
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Give Your Posts Curb Appeal: The Visual
Part 5: Giving Your Posts Curb Appeal: The Visual
As important as content is to any web site or blog, do not overlook the need for the visual stimulus. Attraction is part of the overall strategy of selling your products or services to any Target Market. This is just as true for online marketing as it is for offline marketing. Seeing is believing! The message of your marketing should be conveyed in text and in pictures.
Say It in Pictures
The use of strategically selected pictures is very important. They should be used to help tell the whole story or just part of the story, but it needs to be memorable. Many businesses use images as a way to capture the attention of people who are visual. Why do you think there are so many television commercials, newspaper or magazine ads, billboards, placards, etcetera ad nauseum? Companies use them because many people are visual beings.
The Eye of the Beholder Should Be Coaxed
Since many people are Visual readers, you should use this to your advantage. If you want to highlight a section of text, draw an arrow or a box around it. If you want to make a point about a topic, use an image that either spells it out or signifies that point. If you want a reader to feel a certain way, use a picture to “set the mood” but whatever you do, do it consciously and with purpose. Do not select a random image that has no meaning but rather choose to accentuate your message. If your image has captured the attention of a Visual reader they will likely take the time to read whatever message is related to that image.
