The Internet offers many, many opportunities to make money by selling your products and services.

Some people choose to sell a low-priced single ebook with just a clever sales page. But they are only going to make a little bit of money by doing this. And once the customer makes a purchase, they are gone forever.

When it comes to building a profitable and sustainable business online, it’s all about creating relationships. To build a loyal list of responsive customers, it’s about making connections. Just like every other kind of marketing.

People want to buy from who you are before they want to buy what you sell.

Think about this concept for a moment.

And then consider the blogs that you visit, the people you communicate with on Facebook, and the the ezines you read. Why do you keep returning?

When you made your last purchase on the Internet, was it from a person or company that you trusted and liked?

For me the answer is “Yes.” I am participating in a cool program run by Laura Roeder. I saw her on Twitter. Then I went to her website. Then I signed up for her video blog and ezine. I listened to what she had to say. And I thought to myself, “Wow, this woman has some great ideas.” Then she offered a program and I slapped down $600 because I felt that I knew her and I like her.

Now I’m in her program and learning quite a lot. That’s the power of the Internet for your business.

If you are like most buyers, you are selective in your buying. You know there are many variation in the same types of services and products.

So you want to be sure that you making the absolute best decision. Especially when it’s a big-ticket item.

And the same thing is true for your customers. They want to make sure that you are the real deal. Once they trust you, they’ll not only make one purchase, but many.

That’s why social media is so incredible - it strips away the facades and quickly connects two people. It starts a dialogue. And ultimately, it builds a tribe of like-minded people.

But you have to have systems in place so that when people come to your website to visit, you can keep the relationship going. Give them something valuable - and keep giving it to them.

Join me on my f.r.e.e call on Tuesday, May 18th and I’ll tell you exactly how you can build exceptional connections with your online community. You’ll learn the right steps to take to reach and engage your target audience to sell more (much more) of your services and products.

Learn more about the call and sign up at: http://budurl.com/k2n5

Best, Wendy

P.S. You don’t want to miss these tips. Even if you can’t make the call live, sign up to get the recording: http://budurl.com/k2n5

Twitter Love Me! 

Welcome to all the new readers who discovered me through TheMetroMom! I am so excited to have you as part of the Maven Community.

Here are some tips to help you begin to write your blog:

1. Your blog is about the reader. Always remember this: It’s not about you. Always ask yourself – “How does this add value to my reader?”
   
   Remember, it’s all about them - you’re building relationships with them.Use the word YOU often and liberally in your posts. If you get too involved talking about your company and how great it is or how great your products are, you’re going to lose your readers.

   Instead, emphasize how your products and services help people.

2. Don’t be scared to rock the boat. Don’t be afraid to be you with all of your glorious quirk, opinions, and unique personality eccentricities.

   Take a stand. A lot of bloggers are scared to go against the crowd.

   Write about something that you read in the news. Talk about someone who is an expert in your industry and say, “I don’t agree with him/her and this is why…” or, “I think so and so is right, but they’re wrong on this point.”

   What you are doing is starting a conversation with your readers (i.e. your prospects and customers).

   You are letting them know how you feel about things and you are taking a stand.It will help them understand you and build your credibility.

   So have an opinion - a big one! Because that’s what keeps your blog fresh and interesting.

3. Stay on topic, but be creative. It’s easy to get rangy on your subjects. So, make sure that your blog stays focused on your area of expertise.

   This doesn’t mean you can’t be creative. Just be sure to bring it on back home.

   Here is an example. Last year, I wrote an article about Sarah Palin. Now obviously this isn’t a blog about politics.

   But in my post, I wrote about Palin’s personal brand, so it still related to my core topic of marketing strategies, branding, and business success.If you keep asking, “What is of value to my customers?  What is of value to my reader?” you shouldn’t have much of a problem with this.

4. Be patient. Some new bloggers make the mistake of expecting to have a successful blog within…oh…about three weeks.

   Don’t forget - there are millions of blogs out there.What are you doing to stand out among those millions of blogs? How are your getting links back to your blog? Keep driving traffic to your blog (commenting on other blogs in your industry is a GREAT way to do this) and continue to think of lots of different ways to do that.

5. Post frequently and consistently. It’s best to adhere to a schedule. Posting once one week, five times the next week, and then skipping three weeks is not a good way to establish consistency with your readership.
   
   Ideally you want to post two or three times a week. If you find that three times a week works for your readership, then try to get on a schedule of posting Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday - whatever works for you. (You can use Google Analytics to track your blog stats).

6. Develop a blog personality. Every blog has its own persona and voice. This is something that is developed by you.

   Everything on your blog from its look, the colors, the tone in which you write your posts – it all comes together to give your blog its own personality.It lets your readers know who you are and what you’re about.
   
   The exciting thing about this is that you can really get into character once you’ve determined your personality.

   Whether you decide to be the snarky “I’ll tell you what you need to do” guy or the well-dressed, ultra fashionable “It’s like this daaahling…” gal, it’s all possible! And every personality will attract an audience.

   It’s your blog and you can do what you want!

   So have fun with it.  After all, if you’re going to be contributing posts to it week after week, you’ve got to have a blog personality that you will really enjoy (and it doesn’t have to be like you are in person).

Best of success and happy blogging!!!

Twitter Love Me! 

Let me start today’s article out with a confession.

I am recovering from a bad case “perfection-itis.” You may know this disease - perhaps you have it too. If so, we’re not alone. This is an affliction that thousands of entrepreneurs suffer from on a daily basis.

Symptoms include the following:

1) An itching need to get everything right before you send out an ezine, launch a new program, post an entry on your blog, and so on.

2) A burning desire to learn everything there is to know before you try something new such as Twitter, podcasting, direct mail marketing, etc.

3) A feeling of guilt and inadequacy if anyone lets you know you have a typo or they unsubscribe from your ezine or stops working with you as a client.

4) Depression and self blame when your new program or marketing campaign doesn’t go the way it was intended.

And - ugh! - it’s no wonder that before long, the perfectionist in us leads to procrastination and non-action. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. And if you are a perfectionist, you’re not going to like it. Believe me - I am still getting used to the idea.

Here it is: as an entrepreneur, action is more important than perfection.

In fact, perfectionism will great limit your success and, most likely, it will keep you poor. I know this is a bitter pill to swallow. For those of us who hate to make mistakes and are scared to let anything out of our sight that isn’t 100% error free, this feels like a defeat.

Perfectionists spend so much time on each project that there is no time left over for anything else. In business, good-enough is actually better than perfect. The reason is that success thrives on speed. And, it requires ongoing action.

But if we get stuck proofreading our document for the hundredth time or editing our latest teleseminar for every single “um” and “ah,” then all of a sudden our efforts take us hours and hours. It actually begins costing us money.

Perfectionism is also a way to procrastinate.

We use our obsessing over typos to keep us from being bigger in the world. Inaction is safe because you don’t have to face possible criticism. However, the longer you procrastinate, the more difficult it becomes to create the kind of success you really want for yourself.

Don’t let your need to be perfect hold you back any longer.

If you are engaged in an activity and start to obsess, ask yourself this: “Instead of revising this one more time, can I generate more income if I were to spend the next hour on something else?” Then, move into action and send out that ezine or release your new service to the world.

Taking action is what will allow you to reach the success you desire.

Leave a comment and let me know how perfectionism has gotten you stuck and how you are successful in the fight against ‘perfection-itis…’

Twitter Love Me! 

I’ve been practicing yoga for about 15 years. And, I love it.

However, with a four-month old baby, I have NOT been on the mat in months and months and months.

Not so very long ago, I would have berated myself.

My 23 mind monkeys would have screamed at me, “I can’t believe you’re not doing your yoga, you stupid, lazy girl! You aren’t sticking to you’re yoga routine and you are SUCH a spiritual loser. You lack real commitment and discipline.”

“No - we don’t care if you have a baby and  you are breastfeeding and you aren’t getting sleep. Look at Madonna - she can do it and she’s OLDER than you!”

Nice self talk, eh?

One of my yoga teachers helped me when she said, “Observe your mind while you are on the mat. How we are on the mat is how we are off the mat.”

And so I began to listen to what those monkeys were saying during my yoga practice. They said things like, “You’re not in as deep of a forward fold as that lady over there!” and “You still can’t touch your heels to the ground during down dog - your practice sucks!”

Yes, I was self-deprecating on my mat. And so I began the work to quiet the mind monkeys a little and to begin to be my own advocate.

I started to say to myself, “Good job, Wendy, you’re really paying attention to your breath.” and “”Everything is ok - it’s just yoga. Have fun with it!”

And wouldn’t you know? This began to spill over into the rest of my life. I learned more compassion for myself.

Because there is no separation. Yoga does not begin and end when I step on and off my mat.

I can practice yoga ALL the time.

My life is my yoga. My relationships are my yoga. Motherhood is my yoga. Entrepreneurship is my yoga.

It all is a continuous yoga practice. It requires all requires balance, patience, discipline, and mindfulness.

And at every moment, I have the choice to be in a yoga mindset. I can work to be compassionate to others and to myself.

Do I succeed? Sure - at times.

And a lot of times I fail. I get all nasty inside my head.

So, I don’t think I’m going to reach enlightenment any time soon. But, I can keep practicing. Because that’s all it is…a practice.

Whether you practice yoga or not, start to see that how you are in any situation is how you are in every situation.

Do you react to external circumstances with anger? With anxiety? Fear? Do you play the victim?

There is no separation between who we are and how we show up in the world.
Our shit comes up.

And this includes our business.

As entrepreneurs, we typically reach a point where we are stuck…when there is no movement…when we aren’t achieving a goal that we really, really want.

But because it’s our business, we often blame something external. It’s the economy or it’s my stupid assistant or my clients are difficult.

But it’s not. It’s us.
It’s our shit.

We are getting in our own way, again.

It’s time to acknowledge that building a business and achieving our goals is about working on our stuff, telling our mind monkeys to SHUT UP, and getting the hell out of our own way.

Then this is when things begin to unclog. It’s a place where movement happens.
We step into the flow.

And then - like magic - we reach a new level of success in our business.
Everything gets easier. We have clients who want to pay us more.
Our assistant suddenly got less stupid. Everyone loves what we offer.

Life is so good and we’re doing the Snoopy happy dance.
We’re dancing, we’re dancing, we’re dancing!

And then we hit another wall. And the brakes go on.
And we are back to our same ‘ol patterns.
We’re angry. Or anxious. Or victimy. Or paranoid.

And business sucks because gas prices went up…because stocks went down…because nobody wants what we are selling…because our stupid assistant quit.

Blah…blah…blah…

We have the opportunity to once again listen to ourselves. And to once again return to our practice.

Because that’s all it is…a practice.

Twitter Love Me! 

The longest stint I’ve ever managed to hold down a job was for 10 months as a technical writer at MCI - and that place was exactly like a Dilbert comic strip.

Every time I tried to work for someone else, I hated getting up in the morning.

For a long time, I thought I was screwed up.

I wondered, “What is wrong with me? Why can’t I hold down a job?”

I got bored easily. And I hated conforming to another person’s rules.

I was like that in school too - always getting in trouble for talking while the teacher was talking or getting up and walking around during lectures.

Then through a series of interesting events (that I will save for another day’s post), I became an entrepreneur.

And as an entrepreneur, I found myself constantly challenged.

I had to figure out systems and contracts and marketing and client interaction and staff management.

I also had ongoing client projects, which meant I had to analyze the clients’ issue and come up with a solution.

It was ever changing.

I wasn’t bored.

I was analyzing and strategizing and visionizing.

Not being bored kept me going. And now - almost 10 years later - I am holding down the same job. My own.

And nothing is wrong with me.

I’m just not built to work for someone else.

Pay attention if you are having thoughts such as, “Why am I so bored? Why is it so hard to do this everyday? Why do I feel like an alien?”

This is a sign that you are not in the right job or relationship or city.

It’s a signal that things in your life need to change.

Sometimes we stuff down what we really want, but it comes bubbling to the surface as feelings of boredom.

Boredom is a gift - it is a deep whisper in our core that says to us, “There is something more…”

And by listening to this whisper, even if we don’t understand it yet, we begin to shift directions. We move away from the boredom and search until we find something scintillating.

And this is our true calling. It is our right place to be.

Twitter Love Me! 

Lately, I’ve been in a love affair with a number of other bloggers.

Well… it’s not really a love affair because:

1) I haven’t told them.

2) They don’t love me back (only because they don’t know anything about me or I’m quite sure they would really, really love me.)

3) I’m quite fond of my dear husband because he does sweet things like make my dinner and rub my feet. He might not appreciate me having love affairs with random bloggers.

So perhaps it’s not really a love affair, but more like a one-sided crush….or an obsession…or a stalking.

I have a crush on these bloggers because they are so friggin’ awesome and they inspire me to be a better person. I’ll tell you more about other bloggers in later posts.

But for now, I want to talk about Naomi over at IttyBiz. Oh, Naomi…

Naomi is so cool because she shaves her head and writes cursewords on her blog and she’s still invited to speak at events.

And I’m jealous ’cause I want to be that gutsy. But I doubt I’ll shave my head any time soon.

I might curse on my blog, though…

Dammit!
(ooooh)

But in addition to being that cool, Naomi also is helping me to get a different perspective on blogging and being a business owner and a marketer.

Naomi writes:

“Let’s say you have a thing. Sometimes your thing is a small thing — you want to spend more time with your kids. Sometimes your thing is a big thing — you want to stop world hunger. But you have a thing because everybody has a thing.

No marketing = no sales.

No sales = no business.

No business = no resources.

No resources = no thing.

The world needs your thing.”

So my marketing thing can help other people do their thing - like helping to rescue dogs or making poems or singing great music or solving problems with techy stuff.

Naomi has made me feel bigger.

I feel bigger because I know my marketing thing has a big impact on you.

The people who are in service professions are the people I help with their marketing.

You are all doing stuff to make other people do their thing better. And marketing helps you let people know about how your thing helps their thing. And that’s my thing.

How cool is that?

Twitter Love Me! 

This is a continuation from my first post on Blogging for Business with Flair - Part 1.

There is also a creative aspect to many business blogs that is missing. Let me explain…

Let me go on a tangent for a moment. There is another aspect to my life…one you may not know about. I love art. As you may imagine, I get to be around a lot of beautiful designs at my company, Kinesis. But, that’s commercial art. I also like to do my own. I love to paint and create mixed-media art (I’ll post one of my pictures here in the near future).

As part of this interest area, I read books and magazines on collage and mixed media. I also look at artists’ websites and BLOGS! And as I began to review more of the artists’ blogs, I knew one of the key elements that business blogs were missing!

Artists typically write their blog as a creative endeavors. They blog to change others’ lives AND their own. They write and post their art to become better at expressing themselves. They blog to become aware of what is beautiful (or ugly) in their lives and in the world. They connect with other bloggers to enrich their lives and friendships. They exude authenticity and inspiration. And they weave in visual eye candy - illustrations, photographs, and videos.

But, let’s not forget that artists are working to sell as well. Most of the art blogs that I visit have multiple streams of income to support the artist/blogger. The blogs ARE ultimately commercial endeavors. They have online stores, gallery shows, workshop offerings, affiliate products, and so on.

They also have a very loyal blog audience because their posts are so interesting, creative, and beautiful. And one of the amazing things is the high level of comments and sharing that goes on between the bloggers and their loyal audiences. And so this is an industry that I think most business bloggers can model.

A business blog can truly be inspired and inspiring - no matter what the industry. I’ve looked at amazing blogs by people in all types of fields. Some that come to mind immediately are a taxi driver, a tractor company, a geeky computer programmer type, and a London paramedic.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: people want to do business with other people. They don’t care about a faceless company. They care about you. They want to know why you do what you do, what makes you get up in the morning, and what really makes you dance in delight. They also are interested in learning why you love the color red, what cute things your kids did yesterday, and what really gets your goat.

And when you understand how to weave all of that back into your business interest, you’ll have a compelling blog that brings people back again and again. And when you have a loyal following, great things begin to happen. Tune back in for my third installent of Blogging for Business with Flair - and I’ll give you the details about my upcoming program (hint: the course will start in February.)

Best, Wendy

Twitter Love Me! 

My company, Kinesis, creates branded blogs for our clients on a regular basis. We typically install WordPress software with selected plug-ins to allow them to easily accomplish their blogging goals. As part of our process, I tutor people on how to use the blogging software. And I provide recommendations on topic ideas and themes.

Using this experience, combined with my years of writing Kinetic Ideas, I am in the process of completing a program for entrepreneurs and marketing professionals to learn more about blogging for business. As part of my new program, Brilliant Blogging for Business, I will be teaching people how to use the software, build a blogroll, get your blog listed, use keywords, be well connected in the blogosphere, and all about the technology aspects of blogging. I’ll also be guiding participants on their blogging style, how to generate new business from their blogs, how their blog attracts visitors, and lots of new ideas for topics. (related post: How a Blog Can Help Your Business)

As part of the process of putting together this program, I have been studying many, many different types of business blogs. And the more I read business blogs, the more I realize there are many issues with them.

Here are some of the specific problems I’ve see on business blogs:

• Saying the same things as everyone else in your industry
• Not using a true authentic voice in the posts
• No pictures or videos in your blogs
• Writing posts that don’t engage your readers into a conversation
• No comments on the trends in your industry
• No posts that take a stand leading to a middle-of-the-road, hum-drum blog
• Talking too much about business and company accomplishments
• Selling to your readers in most of your posts
• Blog posts that are written like sales letters
• Simply posting an ongoing stream of articles

When a business owner begins a blog they have such an amazing opportunity. But when your posts have one or more of the above issues on a regular basis, you are losing out on this opportunity. You are missing out on most of the power of a blog.

You see, a blog is really a dialogue with your readers. Therefore every single post that you write should be intended to engage your readers, make them loyal to your blog, and keep them coming back for more. In addition, you have this tremendous opportunity to get your readers to start talking back to you via the comments section - this is something that isn’t an option with a website.

A blog allows you to get instant and ongoing feedback from your potential customers. This is a very underutilized aspect of many business blogs. Your posts allow you to establish yourself as an expert. And, you get to make new connections with other bloggers - done the correct way, these can become extremely powerful business connections.

In my follow-up post, Blogging for Business with Flair - Part 2, I’ll discuss the creative aspect that is missing from business blogs…

Tell me about your blog. What do you like about it? What are you missing? Why do you visit your favorite blogs?

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