While putting together a web event I am authoring, I’ve been reading a great many blogs, books and comments on the subject of online marketing. A common thread among novices is their desire for immediate results. There appears to be a massive disconnect when it comes to the notion of hard work through considerable effort. Rock star successes online have contributed to the fallacy that riches are fast coming and easily gotten. Even if a massive opt-in list were to fall into your lap, you still have to have a strategy in place to some how use these contacts to…

Recently I posted on Emotional Intelligence and thought I would follow up with some ideas on staying connected with your customers. The advantage to being an internet entrepreneur is you earn money around the clock. Technology enables you to bill and even respond to people while you’re sleeping, hanging out with your family, planning your business and simply enjoying life. However, in order to earn money around the clock and build your business, it’s important to be connected to your customers around the clock. Here are seven tips to be connected to your customers online 24/7. 1. Automate blog posts…

Do you happen to have a bad attitude towards your business? Is it not getting you where you want to go — right now? What’s your Attitude? Here’s the definition of attitude: position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, etc.: a threatening attitude; a relaxed attitude. According to this your attitude is directly reflected to your body posture or position. It’s like my husband said to me tonight, “Hun, what’s wrong? I can tell you’re upset.” I said nothing about being upset, but the way I was sitting tonight on the couch made…

Have you ever wondered why some very smart people don’t do so well in business? And how other people with moderate intelligence succeed beyond their wildest dreams? A lot of success has nothing to do with standard intelligence but rather with what’s called Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence, according to Merriam Webster, “describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups.” Or put in layman’s terms, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and work with your own emotions and the…

How to Avoid Entrepreneurial Burnout Entrepreneurship is a dream for many, and a reality for comparatively few. Though many like the idea of starting a business and becoming their own bosses, it takes a special type of person to succeed as an entrepreneur. You’ve got to have a high tolerance for risk, a healthy self-esteem, and truckloads of motivation. Not every successful entrepreneur is born with these traits, but all must develop them if they do not come naturally. It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get a business off the ground. That’s why it’s so important…

Many blogs are not written just by the owner. There are others who come in as guests to give the readers a new face to watch now and again. But, be careful about how much guest blogging you do. It may be costing you more than you think. Why do people use guest bloggers? For one, they are having a hard time keeping their blog up to date. A guest blogger fills in the gaps that are sometimes present. Your readers get fresh content and you get a break. Also, guest bloggers can increase your reputation. If a popular blogger…

“A Bookshelf Brand” – it sounds like it might be a compliment doesn’t it? We might think that our bookshelf is where we keep our important stories and reference resources. I can see how one could think that way, but I’m referring to brands that are inactive for any reason. You might be a bookshelf brand if: 1: You have no idea what your brand values are, let alone understand whether management’s values compliment them or not. 2: You’ve actually gone through a branding process and the report is gathering dust on that bookshelf. You’re a planner not a doer.…

We are all familiar with visual brand images, but have you ever considered audio brands as part of your image? Every brand has a visual image including their logo and color palette. These elements are often developed with a special consideration given to establishing an icon. Icons are a form of sensory trigger that immediately reminds the customer of a brand the moment they are exposed to it. Color icons are UPS’s brown, ING Direct’s orange and Mac’s golden arches. Audio branding is a sound. Hearing it immediately makes you think of the brand exactly the same way a visual…

Maximize Your Time with Guest Bloggers When you operate a blog, with or without the online business to go with it, it takes up a lot of your time. Readers want fresh content on a regular basis. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with their voracious appetite unless you have help. Blogging Help Seek out writers for your blog. Think of it as another writing project. If you are familiar with ghostwriting services, you can hire writers to write posts for you that you can then publish yourself. With this type of help, you are asking a writer or…

Guest blogging means that you are writing blog posts for someone else. It may be that they asked you to do it and they are paying you. Or you are living out your dream of writing for a high-profile blogger who can get you noticed. Either way, blogging for others can become a drain on the creative juices. There are advantages to writing blog posts for others: •    Exposure (the good kind) •    Name and brand recognition •    Business opportunity •    Chance to write on new topics This is only a few of the reasons. But, when you decide to…