Archive for the ‘FAQ’ Category

Guest post by Angela Wills of MarketersMojo.com

As I started thinking about what to write for the Internet Marketing Sweetie blog I began thinking about what I needed to do to write a great guest blog post. Then it came to me: A guest blog post about the topic of guest blogging!

Not only do you want to guest blog for more traffic and exposure, you want to do it so well that you get invited back again and again.

7 Tips to Write Guest Blog Posts That Have Them Begging For More:

1. Know Who You’re Writing For – There’s nothing worse than a guest blogger who doesn’t understand the audience they’re writing for. If you’re not already a reader of the blog you’re guest blogging for do your homework and start reading a dozen or so posts plus comments. You could also ask the blog author who their target market is to get straight to the point.

2. Write What You Know – One of my favorite writing tips is writing about what you know. When you write from experience you won’t struggle with what to say. Just let the content flow from your fingers without censoring and edit it later.

3. Write From The Heart – I have a report called ‘Market From The HEART’ where I talk about infusing your personality into your business. When you write guest posts you have the opportunity to let a whole new audience get to know you – make sure you use that opportunity to shine through with the ‘real’ you!

4. Write on Topic – Before you write your guest post, check the blog categories to make sure you are on topic. If the blog has a tag cloud or popular posts section check that too to find out what the readers really respond to. Another tip for figuring out popular site topics is to use the Google Analytics Keyword Search Tool (link: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) and use the ‘website content’ function to find relevant keyword phrases based on the website content. Here’s a screenshot:

5. Link to Relevant Posts – If you want the blog author to appreciate your post even more, relate to other relevant posts within the blog or other materials created by the author (such as products, services or programs). For example, in the roundtable contribution I wrote yesterday (link http://www.internetmarketingsweetie.com/blog/roundtable-chat-affiliate-marketing-tips) I referenced a product of Melissa’s.

6. Set Your Post Up For Success – Ideally you want to generate traffic for the blog. Therefore, you need to do what you can to set the post up for maximum results. That would include doing keyword research, linking from your blog, emailing your list, tweeting or adding a link to your facebook account. If your blog post generates more readers, comments and/or traffic you’re much more likely to be invited back again and again.

7. Join The Conversation – Your guest blog post doesn’t end after you submit the initial piece. Many popular blogs get a number of comments. You’ll want to join in the conversation going on by posting replies and comments on your own post.

So you’ve written a great blog post and followed these steps to make sure it’s killer. What’s next? Don’t leave your new readers hanging. Let them know where they can find out more about you and your business. You could invite them to come read your blog, sign up for your RSS feed, download a free report or anything else that will add great value.

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With that being said I want to invite you to learn more about how to ‘Market From the HEART’. I’ve written a short but powerful report that covers how to be you, be honest, be ethical all while making a great living on the internet. Here’s where you can grab the report for instant download by entering your name and email: http://www.MarketersMojo.com

Love Your Business and Your Life,
Angela Wills

I received a question from one of my readers that I’d like to answer today.

Andre Arnett said:

“Hi Melissa, One of the biggest problems I have is when I get people through my squeeze pages setting up emails to send out. Any suggestions on what to send them. I use your Special Report emails but there are only 5 in there so what do I send out after they are used up? Thanks, Andre Arnett.”

This is something that we all struggle with at one time or another, and it’s completely normal to feel like you just don’t have anything to say. With that said, sending an email to your list once or twice a week is really important in order to maintain your relationship with them. Even if it’s just a quick note letting them know what you’re up to.

Think of your subscribers as friends. The more you stay in touch with them, the more your relationship grows. But when contact with your friend slows, or stops altogether then you grow apart and your friend moves on. And sometimes, after an extended period, they no longer welcome your contact because they just don’t know you anymore.

Treat your reader as you would a good friend. In how you write your emails, how often you send them, to the products you recommend to them. Do that, and the whole process becomes easy. This should be you thinking -> “Hey, I just wrote a great blog post. I’ll email my friend about it”. 

Now, of course I couldn’t end this blog post without giving you some ideas on what to send your subscribers Andre, so here you go…

Stuff You Can Send Out:

-> Articles: You can put articles inside your email or link to articles on your website. For monetization, your articles can include links to relevant products, bylines can include promotional links and if you send readers to a website to read the article, you can include Adsense ads and other possible monetization.

-> Blog Posts: If you’ve made an interesting or helpful blog post, invite your subscribers to read it, leave commentary and ask questions. I like to send readers to my blog to engage them in discussions that benefit all my readers and to make my subscribers feel like they’re involved. You can monetize blog posts much the same way you do articles.

-> Reports / Ebooks – Not everything has to be for sale. In fact, giving away free and helpful information can be an incredible sales tool. You can include product promos at the beginning of your report/ebook, at the end and definitely in context, where appropriate.

It doesn’t matter if you sell info products, consumer products or are an affiliate marketer, informing and teaching people is an excellent sales tool.

For example, if you sell cameras and camera accessories, you can giveaway a guide on digital photography. You can talk about different camera features, make recommendations for certain types of photography. If your guide includes information on editing, talk about software recommendations. Be sure to recommend printers and paper as well, if applicable.

-> Workbooks/Worksheets – Provide your readers something useful and practical like a workbook. For example, if you provide homeschool lessons, add a practical workbook to boost the value. You could also offer a workbook as a bonus to anyone who purchases a course/information product through your affiliate link. It’s just something relatively easy to make and taking the time can produce great results.

You can promote other products at the beginning of the workbook (as an introduction), in the page footers and at the end of the workbook. In addition, if product links are appropriate with certain sections/questions, put them in.

-> Checklists: Checklists are not only handy for your readers, but they’re something they’ll print out and use frequently if they find them valuable. Make a useful checklist with a product/website promo, so they’ll see it each time they refer to your checklist.

For example, if you sell a environmentally-friendly cleaning supplies, make a household cleaning checklist.

-> Audios / Podcasts: Audios are a great way for your readers to take your info and marketing messages on the go. Many will listen right on their computer, but others will load it to their iPod or even burn it to aCD. Encourage your readers to consume the content in the way they are most comfortable.

Audios and podcasts can be entertaining, informative or a combination of both. The best part is they can be used to recommend/sell a variety of products. Be sure to use memorable URLs as your listeners will have to type them in and give them a downloadable info sheet that includes any URLs mentioned.

-> Live Teleseminars / Webinars: Much like a recorded audio, live telseminars are also very useful. Being live also often makes it easier to build up excitement and get your listeners to take immediate action on an offer. An element of interactivity is also added if you allow listeners to ask questions.

-> Live Streaming or Recorded Video: With increasing broadband speeds, video is much more accessible than it was a few years ago. It’s a great way to add a visual element to what was previously limited to audio. You can use various software programs to get video onto your website or you can use services like YouTube.com to post recorded video or Justin.TV to stream live. You can talk about products in your video, include a watermark on your videos for promotion, etc.

-> Screen Capture Video: A little different than live-action video, screen capture video allows you to demonstrate things on a computer. Whether it’s to show how to use a particular website, some software or demonstrate a membership site, there are many possibilities for screen capture video.

-> Transcripts: Realize that not all your readers will be able to or will want to watch video or listen to audio. You can provide transcripts or notes on the broadcasts to people who prefer to read.

-> Comment on news / blog posts: Instead of completely coming up with your own topics and content, you can piggy-back on what’s going on in the news or on other blogs and share your own viewpoints and commentary. Your readers will appreciate your perspective.

-> Patterns, Flowcharts, Spreadsheets: Provide all kinds of practical tools for your readers. What you provide will depend on your topic and products you’re promoting, but do think outside the box.

I hope that helps!

P.S. If you have a question you would like me to answer, I would love to hear it! Submit Your Question.

Flickr is an online digital photo sharing site, which has become a great place for professional photographers to showcase their work.

If you haven’t tried it yet, here’s a step-by-step guide to uploading your digital photos on Flickr.

(Note: This describes the basic steps to upload your pictures in Flickr, without using the uploader tools for PC and Mac.)

1. Get a Flickr account. If you already have a Yahoo! account, then all you need to do is sign in using your Yahoo! ID and password.

2. From your flickr homepage, click on the “Upload Photos & Video” button.

3. Click on “Choose photos and videos”

4. Select the file you want to upload. You upload more than one picture, by clicking “Add More”

5. Choose the privacy settings you want (private or public). Then click the “Upload Photos and Videos” button.

6. A progress bar will let you know how the upload is going. When it’s done, you will see, “Finished! Next: add a description, perhaps? Click on the link if you’d like to add a description.

7. From this window, you can do several things: add a description, add tags, save the photo to a set (or create a new set, if you like). You can also change the privacy settings of the picture.

8. If you’re satisfied with everything, click on “Save”. You can go back and change any of the settings, and even delete and reorganize photos later.

Wasn’t that easy? Now you can show off your best photos to the world. You could even have your photos used in websites and other materials – that is, if you want them to.

If you’d like to take digital photographs worthy of being displayed, shared and spread all over the Internet, check out “Shoot Digital Pics Like the Pros.” It’s a free report with plenty of tips for taking digital picture you’ll be proud of.

I don’t know if it’s the emergence of the “new media” or what. Or maybe people finally realizing the power of press releases, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately on that very topic.

Now, I can’t possibly go through each and every question (my baby and my 2 boys would be REALLY annoyed that I’m cutting into Mommy Time), but I can tell you that I have a tutorial that answers a LOT of your questions about starting a press release campaign with YOUR marketing objective in mind.

In fact, this tutorial has been around for a long time…but I’ve just recently gone through it to ensure it’s up-to-date and ready for you to consume.

It’s delivered via email, so you have to sign up and you can do that by go ing here.

It covers:

• What a press releases are and why you need them.
• How to put the pieces of your release together.
• Making sure your press release is newsworthy.
• Where to send it.

…and a bunch of other stuff. Anyway, it’s here if you need it.

It’s been a little while since we gave you an update of what’s happening at Business Idea Library and here are some recently added business ideas:

Open You Own Boutique: This can be a traditional brick-and-mortar with an online component…or just run it online.

Open a Bookstore – another brick-and-mortar option that could be taken online (sell printed books or even ebooks and information products)

Art Gallery – Work with a clientele that has plenty of disposable income.

Become an Archaeologist – It’s contract work that won’t likely make you rich, but sure is thrilling for those interested in human history.

Open a Home Store – brick-and-mortar or try online…the choice is yours.

Sometimes great things just start with a simple idea. There are plenty of business ideas just waiting for you.

If you’ve got about 3 minutes, drop by for our new quiz. This one is all about improving your sales pages to get more of your FIRST-TIME visitors to say YES to your offer.

Here’s the quiz.

It’s quick and easy 8 questions (they’re multiple choice for ultra-simplicity!). Upon completion, you get a customized action plan based on your responses.

—— IMPORTANT ——

IMPORTANT: The quiz is delivered via email and your customized plan will be in that email. Due to the length of the email and other factors, it’s possible it might end up in your junk box…so check there if you don’t see the email right away.

If you still have problems…just let us know. The best place to submit your request is at  http://www.internetbasedsupport.com – be sure to include the email address you entered for the quiz and note which quiz you took (The “Sell More to Your First-Time Visitors” quiz).

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Again, the link to the quiz is at:
http://www.copywritingsweetie.com/quiz.html

If you’re tired of wasting your hard-earned traffic, take the quiz and get more customers…the FIRST TIME they visit your web page.

And pssst…quiz takers receive a pretty sweet offer themselves when they complete their quiz. You don’t want to miss it!

When you say the words “keyword search” to most internet marketers you’ll get one of two responses. You’ll see them groan and shudder or you’ll simply see them shrug their shoulders. The fact of the matter is that many don’t know how to or have never taken the time to do a little keyword research. It’s not difficult and the information can be invaluable. Once you know what keywords your audience is using to find relevant information, you can position your company so they the find you instead of your competition.
The first step in any keyword research project is to come up with a few words to start with. You can pull them out of the air, do a bit of brainstorming – what do you think your clients might be using to find your business? You can check your Google analytics to see what they’re using or you can check the meta data on your competition’s websites to see what keywords they’re using. Pretty sneaky, right?
Once you have a handful of words to start with the next step is to choose your keyword research tool. They’re in abundance so you’re not stuck with the first one you land on. Google and Yahoo both offer keyword research tools and there are tools you can subscribe to. Make sure if you’re choosing one which you have to pay for, that they offer a free trial so you can make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
Once you’re in the tool of your choice the next step is to plug in one of your beginning keywords to create some results. For example, let’s say you’re creating a surf instruction school and hunting for keywords to optimize your website. You may use ‘surf instruction’ for your beginning keywords.
You hit enter and now you have anywhere from 10 to 10,000 more keywords. Some have potential and some do not.
Look for keywords which have good popularity. Meaning they’re used often. Yes some people may use the words ‘riding the waves’ but if only a handful are using those keywords they’re not going to generate much in the way of traffic or profits.
You’ll also want to look for keywords which don’t have a lot of competition. That doesn’t mean you don’t use the words “surf instruction” to optimize your website if that is the single most popular keyword phrase people use to find surf schools however if everyone is using that keyword to optimize their website it might be difficult for you to rise to the top of the rankings – which is ultimately the goal.
If you’re searching for keywords to use for search engine advertising then it will also be important to pay attention to the cost of the keyword or keyword phrase. It’s easy to blow an ad budget in a day with the wrong keyword! Not all keyword tools provide this information. If you’re going to be using search engine advertising, use that search engine’s keyword tool to generate results.
Keywords change over time so it pays to make keyword research a regular process. Some business owners are fastidious and are often looking for the next best keyword phrase, while others prefer to analyze their SEO on a quarterly or annual schedule. Take the time to make sure you’re optimizing your site and do a little keyword research – it’s really not so bad.

Think the only place a business logo can be used is on your website and business card? Not true. There are many creative and effective places to use your business logo for maximum results.

Let’s begin by looking at the basic or ordinary places you can place your logo:

- Your website. This is kind of a no brainer. If you don’t have your logo on your website then where to you use it? Your website is quite often the first place people become aware of your business – it’s their first memory and your first opportunity to brand your business.

- Your blog. Again, this is a chance to link your blog brand with your website brand.

- Your business cards. Business cards are becoming less and less common however you still don’t know when you’re going to run into your next great customer. Keep a few up to date business cards in your wallet and make sure they have your logo on them.

- Your product packaging. If you ship any products then include your logo on the packaging. This doesn’t have to be elaborate; it can simply be included in your return address.

- Your letterhead. Okay if you have an online business chances are you’re not communicating via snail mail too often however even if you’re emailing an agreement or a proposal it can have your logo in the header.

- Your invoices too can have a header with your company logo.

- Direct mail pieces. If you utilize direct mail like postcards or even long sales letters, there are many opportunities to include your logo.

- Your company newsletter. Your logo can be used in your newsletter’s graphic header to unify your brand.

- Promotional giveaways like Frisbees or pens.

Now let’s explore some of the not so ordinary locations to place your business logo:

- On your car. Many business owners have taken to painting their car as a rolling advertisement. While you don’t have to go so far as to make your car look like a rolling billboard you can have a magnet created to stick to your car when you feel like doing a bit of drive by advertising.

- Twitter, Facebook and other social media often allow users to upload avatars or images to represent their business or themselves. You can use your logo as your avatar or image.

- Email signature. A little creativity and you can include your logo in your email signature. This way each communication helps increase brand awareness.

- Sponsor a team or organization locally and place your logo on promotional tools like t-shirts or hats.

Have your logo travel with you. If your business is represented anywhere your logo can tag along. It doesn’t matter if it’s something as simple as a business card or more advanced like your social marketing avatar. Just don’t paint it on your dog!