Top 5 Internet Marketing strategies

In yesterdays blog post I spoke of the proper use of Social media marketing and how it can help your business however there are many people out there that sill believe Facebook and the other social networks should be left for today's youth.  I believe that you would be elated if you truly understood what social media could do for your company.  However if you still refuse to jump on the band wagon I have  5  Internet Marketing strategies that will drastically change your business


Top 5 Internet Marketing strategies

1. Basic Search engine optimization
2. Blogging
3. Online video
4. Free reports
5. Auto-responders, creating an e-mail list and following up

Internet Marketing Strategy #1 SEO. 
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of optimizing your blog or website to rank highly in the search engines. It consists of using keywords, back-links, quality and relevant content. A lot of people believe that once they create their website they can just sit back and wait for the traffic to roll in.  This is simply not true.  Using pay per click can get you traffic if you have the budget but using proper SEO can help you get to that coveted 1 page of Google where all the traffic is.



Internet Marketing Strategy #2 Blogging
I cannot begin to tell you how much blogging has helped my business grow. Once I actually got into blogging I found it to be extremely fun for me.  It opened the doors for a wealth of information for me to share and read as well.  It's like ongoing training. Blogging also helps to create an on-line presence for you. You may have the best product in the world but many people may be reluctant to buy from you because they don't know you. Blogging can help establish you as the professional that you are. By providing your niche market the quality information they are looking for you are building a trust factor. This builds up a following of people that are looking for what you have and since they now trust you they are less reluctant to buy your products. If you have optimized you blog for the Search Engines using strategy #1 you can find yourself quickly moving up the ranks of Google.  Did I forget to mention that this is a great way to meet awesome people that can help your business grow.



Internet Marketing Strategy #3 video
Ever heard the term Viral Video?  This happens when individuals see a video online and share it with their friends who share it with their friends who share it with...Okay you get the point.  Think about the power your message could have if every one wanted to share it with everyone else.  You could produce a video blog where you speak in front of the camera as opposed to writing it down. Or maybe a good how-to video. You-tube has become the premier source for videos on the net. People flock to this free service in the millions for everything from learning business, to their favorite music video, to funny animal videos, learning how to play the guitar, and anything else you can think of. Not to mention the traffic those videos can bring to your website.


Internet Marketing Strategy #4 Free Reports
This is similar to the concept of blogging in the respect that you are giving people something for free to build up your online presence, reputation, and following.  People love getting stuff for free.  I mean hey who doesn't.  But the key is to give them something of value.  If your niche is dog lovers it makes no sense to give them coupons for  50% of cans of cat food.  Therefore you give information relevant to the field you are in.  That way when they give you their contact information you know it is someone searching for what you have.




Internet Marketing Strategy #5 Auto Responders
Ever heard the expression "the money is in the list"?  Well they are right,  your list is your client base.  The Auto Responder got it's name from the way it operates.  You create a series of emails and when someone opt's in by giving  you their email address the auto-responder automatically responds to them with the series of emails you have created. This is an invaluable tool that saves countless hours and also makes sure that you stay involved with your client base.  The key with auto responders is to make them sound very personal don't make your client seem as if they are just an email to you.



Understand for maximum results these internet marketing strategies should be used in conjunction with each other.  Take your time and learn each method and how it can help your business.  To help you I will create a series of posts over the next few days going over each one in detail.  Thank you for your time and don't forget to pick up your free copy of "Success in 10 steps" over in the left hand column



“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Abraham Lincoln

Don't let your Social media marketing plan ruin your business

                                                   

Social media marketing has become one of the most important tools used in both small businesses and corporate America.  It is extremely useful because it gives you access to a high number of people that may be interested in your product.  It gives you the ability to meet and greet people while at the same time compiling an extensive contact list.

Sites like Facebook and twitter have proved to be massive tools in the industry.  They both provide detailed information about their members.  This is very helpful to marketers in finding new prospects because it allows you to search for the particular type of client they are looking for in their business.

However most marketers fail to use the social aspect of social media marketing by Spamming their lists.  The key is to come up with valuable content and use it as your voice.  You may have great information that could be the breaking point in someones life but they look at you as someone that doesn't know what they are doing because all they get from you is spam, not quality content.  It is for this reason that you should interact with those members that you consider prospects.  STOP TREATING THEM LIKE PROSPECTS (so for now on we shall call them new friends)!  let your "new friends" know what you do. BUT DON'T PITCH! let them know that you are here for them if they need you.  Get to know them by asking them what they are into.  Try to avoid using questions that can easily be answered by a yes or a no.  But avoid making it seem as if you are drilling them.


Once you find that you have a good following you should update your content on a regular basis.  A blog is a great place to accomplish this as it gives your readers value and therefore more of a reason to trust you because you've added value to their lives not just a sales pitch.

It is very easy to get wrapped up in the social aspect of your social media marketing campaign and forget that you are running a business.  It may be beneficial to you to keep a business account separate from your personal account.  It would pain you greatly to know that you've ruined your business because you said something to one of your Facebook friends that was never meant to be displayed to your "New Friends".  Also realize that even if you are able to keep all of your business sense in order, being tagged in a pic of one of your friends doing drugs or something is very bad and remember the old adage  "you are guilty by association".

Coming up with the right social media marketing strategy may take some trial and error but don't give up. With the right method you can reap great rewards in your business.  If you need to know where to start you can download the free eBook in the column to the left entitled  "Success in 10 steps"

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude".

Thomas Jefferson

What is a Wealth Accountability Partner?

Success can be done alone but why make it harder?

As an employee you have a supervisor to track your progress and hold you accountable to do the job you were hired to do.  However as entrepreneurs we have no one to make sure that we stay on point and do whats needed to get the job done.  Could this be the reason why so many fail in their first year of business?  Hmm, its definitely worth looking into statistically.  A great way to make sure you stay on track is to write a  to-do list.  But at that point you still have to hold yourself accountable.  How hard is it to do that?  Well for some it's very hard.  The concept of an accountability partner generally started around the 1960s as a way for people to help each other lose weight.  It is a beautiful concept and for many the only way for them to reach their goals.

But this concept spans far greater than just weight loss.  Why not have a "wealth accountability partner"?  Someone that helps you to stay focused and on the business at hand.  Someone that can encourage you when it starts to get hard and all you want to do is crawl under the covers and wait for it to be over.  Having an accountability partner can really mean a lot for your small business.  For some it motivates them to do more, out of fear of embarrassment  to the partner for lack of progress.  However, your partner should never belittle you or make you feel ashamed, the goal of an accountability partner is to motivate.  Besides, as an entrepreneur you must remove your self from toxic conversations and  eliminate people that gossip or talk negative.

My accountability partner and I text each other every day at 1:00 PM with a simple question.  "What have you done for your business today?"  That time is perfect because if nothing has been done it's still early enough to get a jump on things.  It really means a lot to people to know that there is someone out there that genuinely cares about them and their success.

The person that you choose does not have to be in your business although that may be best (unless that person is competitive and does not want to see you succeed. If that is the case why are they in your life anyway?).  You just need a business minded person that wants to see you succeed through increased  productivity.  However you choose to interact with your partner is truly up to you because you know what works best for you.  Whatever you choose, make sure it stays consistent for at least 21 days.  It is said that anything done consistently for 21 days becomes habit.  However, if you miss a day you have to start over.

Starting out in business you want all the help you can get. A wealth accountability partner can certainly help.  However it is just one of many tools needed for success.  If you take a look over to the left you will see a book called "Success in 10 steps"  by Michael Dlouhy.  click the image to download this free e-book and find out some other tools needed.  HERE'S TO YOUR SUCCESS!

"We are accountable for our decisions in our personal life so why shouldn't we be just as accountable in our work life." Catherine Pulsifer

A day in my life

I just wanted to take you guys on a quick tour of my day. This is the entrance to my 1.6 million dollar house. I generally wake up around 6:30 to wake the kids up. I love the look on their face when I kiss them good morning and the wife loves it because she doesn't have to get up early.  I always tell her that she doesn't need the beauty rest but she loves her dreams.  She tells me that she dreams in color (what ever that means).  Then I like to check my bank account while the kids get washed up.  luckily I have 5 bathrooms, so no one has to fight over them.  Generally over night I usually make between 5-8 thousand dollars.  Depending on how late I worked the night before it may be $10,000.   Then I set up the automation for the day.  The tweets and social media messages I want to go out and at what time I want them to go out. At 7 AM I go down to the kitchen where my chief has breakfast ready for the kids.  I heard breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I always tell him to make a meal for him instead of me because I've never been a breakfast person.  I just take a shot of LIMU PLUS and my VITA ONE, don't worry I'll grab a big lunch later.

 At 7:45 my driver is at the door to take them to school. After he drops them off he's headed to the airport to chauffeur for several companies that I rent him out to. It doesn't pay a great deal after it covers his full salary plus benefits which include his housing, medical, tuition for his children as well as the insurance for my fleet of 6 luxury cars.  I'm not going to talk about my cars here because I don't want to seem as if I'm bragging. At that point my chief goes over to my restaurant to start on the lunch menu and to get his staff ready to cater what ever wedding or event is being held.  I keep telling him to hire a bigger staff, but he likes the crew he has and since he makes the meals for my family I like what ever makes him happy.

At about 8:15 I take a tray up to my sleeping beauty.  I like to make her breakfast in bed myself.  She actually has gotten spoiled by it because I see the smile on her face as I step off of the elevator.  I always wonder how long she's been up waiting on this.  And although the juice is freshly squeezed from our own orange trees I still say her kisses are the sweetest.  I log back on to my computer to make sure that everything is set up for the day and to read my emails and put together a revised TO-DO list.  I always make one before bed for the next day but  a new day brings new ideas.  So I add them as well.  My wife holds conference calls while she eats and it's funny to say that at any given point I have no idea which of her nonprofit organizations she's on the line with because she hardly ever talks. she just listens and occasionally gives an idea. I asked her about it and she says that's why she hires those people because they can run the company with little input from her.  She was the one that let me know how much money could be made in non profit. Go figure.  After I log off and place her tray in the dumb waiter we bounce ideas off each other while the recorder tracks those golden nuggets. Then we hold each other and go back to sleep.

This is about the time that most of you wake p to go to your hum drum 9-5 robot like no future having job where you are reduced to the likes of a battery. Now understand I've told you this not to brag or make you feel bad about your life because of the way I live only to open your eyes to show you what you can have if only you stop blaming yourself and do something about it.  I can provide you with the tools.  I can give you the mentor-ship you need to achieve the life style of YOUR dreams.  I'm no different than you. I recieved my high school diploma from one of the worst schools in Detroit.

The difference is that I never gave up. And I will continue to work my business until I get all of the things I wrote about in this post.  Now this story is not the life I live but this is the life I see for myself.  and who said I cannot have it.  I will continue to work my business until all of those dreams come true and at that point I'll have to replace them with new ones. This is what motivates me to continue to work late into the night and continue when it gets hard and stressful.  I will not be satisfied until my children's, children's, great, great grand children are set for the rest of their lives.  This is what motivates me.  What about you?  No I did not write this post just to gas you up.  This is actually the life I see for myself as I glance at the pictures on my Vision board. If you have never heard of one or would like to know how to create one, check out my post   Can a vision board help your success.  And remember "your dreams are not in danger of being to big, only in danger of being too small.