Author Archive
How to Increase Website Traffic
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Website traffic is always a priority for online solopreneurs – without some type of web traffic people won’t know your business exists. So just what is the right formula for more website traffic?
Here are our top tips:
1. Write and distribute articles. This may seem like a simple strategy on the surface but it can be very powerful. Just writing one or two articles a week will quickly add to a lot of incoming one-way links (the type of links the search engines love most) for your business.
Once you write the articles distribute them to a few top ranking directories, but don’t stop there. Think about distributing a few articles to large online traffic websites directly. Give them exclusive use of the article in exchange for the incoming link. This is a great strategy you can easily apply.
2. Make your pages search engine and reader friendly. Striking the balance between writing for your human visitors as well as the search engines is simple if you stick to this rule – write for the reader first and then naturally insert your keyword phrases into your copy.
It’s also a good idea to include all the appropriate SEO tags on all your pages. These tags help the search engines find you.
3. Set up a search-engine friendly navigation structure. For the search engines (and your human visitors) to find the content on your website, you need a clear navigation structure. This structure should consist of your top topics which are also your keywords and then for each of those main pages you’ll have sub pages including extensions of that main keyword.
By having the main keywords as your top topics on your navigation structure, your readers and the search engines will easily find your deeper pages of content. It’s also a good idea to include a back link to your home page on each page of your website. A clear and well-defined site map is a great addition as well.
These three key steps are the starting point to your traffic success. Apply them regularly and ensure that your content is fresh and up-to-date and you can’t help but to win over both the search engines and your human visitors too.
Tips for Repurposing Your Content
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Content is an investment. You spend a lot of time writing it. You probably also spend a lot of time planning and researching it. It makes good business sense to make the most of your investment. When you repurpose and reuse your content, you maximize your return. Here are five tips and ideas to repurpose and reuse your content.
Build it up - Gather articles that fit together nicely and create a report. You’ll want to add an introduction and a conclusion. You may also need to add some transitions and polish the content to fit a cohesive theme. To monetize the content, consider adding affiliate links where appropriate. You can also include the occasional product or service promotion for your own business.
Break it down – If you have existing reports, then they’re perfect to create articles and blog posts. You have many options here, too. You can simply pull apart segments of the report to create articles. Add an introduction and conclusion paragraph and you’re ready to publish. Or you can take it further and create lists and other information-packed articles.
For example, if you have a “how to” report with ten steps and ten pages of content, you could create an article that’s a much abbreviated version of the report. List the ten steps with a one or two sentence explanation. You could also write a “three things you need to do to…” article. In fact, with ten steps you could write three of those articles.
Republish old content with updates - Often evergreen content isn’t as evergreen as you hope. The world moves quickly and most industries grow and change regularly. Take a look at your “evergreen” articles and blog posts. How can you refresh them with updated content?
Partition ebooks - This method is similar to breaking down reports to create articles and blog posts. You can break ebooks down into reports, articles or blog posts. In fact, you can get quite a lot of content from an ebook. Take a look at the ebooks you’ve purchased or written and brainstorm content ideas.
Group reports – If you’re looking to create a new information product, consider grouping them to create an ebook. You’ll want to organize the reports in a logical manner. You’ll likely also need to add an introduction as well as a conclusion. Transitions will be necessary and you can add some nice graphics. Add checklists, worksheets and lists to add value to your ebooks and reports for extra value.
Repurposing your content is a smart business strategy. With each new piece of content you create, consider how you might be able to use it in the future. Content is essential for online business success. Make the most of your efforts and maximize your content to the fullest.
Kim Clausen Shares Her Business Plan Secrets
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s time for the January Easy Biz Teleseminar call for coaches and we’ve convinced Kim Clausen to join us once again – this time to share behind the scenes ideas that lead to success. It’s the time of year to make plans about how your coaching business will grow in 2012 and highly successful coaches know that having a solid plan is absolutely required to reach your dreams.
Here’s what Kim says:
“ Too many business owners
haphazardly invest their time, energy
and money without planning and forethought
and often end up feeling frustrated because
they see only marginal success for their efforts.
Then they get frustrated, overwhelmed
and start to think that maybe they don’t have
what it takes to be a successful business owner.
But it’s not your fault. All you really need is a plan.”
Join global marketing expert Kim Clausen for this free call. Kim will show you how to create a powerful plan for your coaching business, and make it so simple that you’ll have a new level of confidence, energy and excitement moving forward into 2012.
Here are the details:
Date: January 12, 2011
Time: 1-2 pm ET (10am pacific, 11 mountain, 12 central)
Registration: http://easybiztelesummit.com
The Easy Biz Teleseminar is a monthly series that I host in order to help coaches succeed. My expereince is that planning is one of the keys that can turn a business from survival to flourishing. If you’re not planning for the future and your business growth – it probably won’t happen. As I tell my clients, enthusiasm and hope are not business strategies.
Join Kiim and I for this powerful call. We will make time for questions and answers at the end of the call so try to be there in person if you can. Of course the call will be recorded and will be available at no charge for one week only. Be sure to register at http://easybiztelesummit.com in order to get access to the recording.
Hope to see you on the call!
Energize Your Business in the New Year
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It’s now 2012 and I’m sure that creating a plan for energizing sales in your business is in the forefront of your mind. Energizing your sales isn’t a one-step solution; instead it’s a full scale approach. Each area of your sales and marketing strategy can be used to energize your sales.
Your Email List. Create energy with your email list. Offer a free online learning series. Give away free downloads that offer value. Integrate promos, offers, and discount coupons in your email series.
Launch a New Product. One truly spectacular way to energize your sales is to launch a new product. Information products are often the easiest to create and they can offer the most value. If you’re “not a writer” and don’t want to write an eBook, consider recording a series of expert interviews or create a workbook. Announce the new product to your email list. Advertise it. Share the good news on your social networking pages.
Affiliates and Referrals. If you don’t already have an affiliate program or a referral program, create one. Put others to work making sales for you. If you do have an affiliate program, reinvigorate interest by creating a competition. Offer your affiliates additional content and promotional materials so they can make more sales.
Build Your List. Create a new promotion or update your existing promotion to boost your email subscribers. Consider partnering with others and promote each other’s giveaways.
Tweak Your Sales Copy. Make small changes, or big ones, to your existing sales copy and track the results. Often a small change can make a big difference in conversions. Tweak your ad copy too.
Upsells and Back End Offers. If you don’t currently have a process to upsell or make back end offers to your customers, create one. Often the best time to make a sale is right after someone has made the decision to buy. For example, have you ever been in the store and ready to go to the register with your purchases when a sales person identifies a product that compliments the product you’ve already decided to buy? You’ve already committed to spending money and it’s easier to spend a little more for a complimentary product. Embrace that buying trigger and motivate more sales.
Content Commitment. Take a look at your content strategy. How can you amplify it for the next thirty to sixty days? What about a blog series? Can you go big and publish a case study or short report? What about article marketing or press releases? There are many ways you can go big with your content. Consider using guest writers to create excitement.
Inexpensive Ways to Promote the Solopreneur
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Getting new clients doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. The old axiom of “it takes money to make money” just doesn’t have to be the case when it comes to small business marketing.
If you want to give your business an infusion of clients without over spending, read these ideas carefully. Here are several different ways you can promote your small business – all with little to no cash investment.
Networking
Networking is one of the most effective strategies to both build and grow a business. Meeting the right people can practically ensure long term success. Additionally, networking helps you learn and grow personally too. However, finding business networking groups online or off can sometimes be a challenge. Here’s how to go about it.
Search online. This probably seems like an apparent step and perhaps it’s one you’ve already taken. Simply type your industry and the words “organization” or “association” into your search bar and see what comes up. Often, you’ll hit the jackpot with dozens of top level organizations to research.
Look at business networking directories. Yes, there are directories for just about everything under the sun and there are business networking directories you can search through too. For example, the Chamber of Commerce has a directory of other Chambers you can join (www.chamberofcommerce.com/).
Social media. Connect with other people in your industry and ask about networking groups they belong to or recommend. You can find great, like-minded people, this way.
Offer to Write for Publications
If you’re an expert on internet marketing, why not start writing a column for your local newspaper’s business section?
Or perhaps you might want to see if you can get a recurring writing assignment in a small internet business related magazine.
Being invited to write a column isn’t as hard as you might imagine. If you have the qualifications, editors are always on the lookout for more content. Because the better the content, the better their publication.
Finally, try also approaching bloggers to do guest blog posts. Make sure you state your qualifications upfront so they know you know your stuff, and make sure to suggest a few potential post topics in your introductory email.
Speak in Public
Public speaking is one of the most powerful and least competitive marketing methods around. Why? Because almost everyone is terrified of speaking in public.
Speaking in public requires honing your presentation skills. It involves mastering your fear of looking bad. It involves quite a bit of personal and professional development.
It’s a lot of hard work to become a great speaker. However, once you do become a great speaker, marketing will likely become a non-issue for your business.
Speaking in front of groups generates so much curiosity and credibility that if you do it on a regular basis, your business is more or less set up for success.
Promoting a small business doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. If money is your main reason for not promoting your business, let it stop you no more. Instead of using your money to promote your business, use your smarts, wit and determination to do the job.
