Watch this video to see what past Creating Famers are up to and how have their businesses changed. You’ll also hear the story of how I went from a struggling web designer to the business that I have today.
Guest post by Alicia Rittenhouse
Putting your eggs in one basket is a risky move. Putting your business marketing efforts into one network that you hold no control over is riskier.
You must create your own social network of fans and connections with your brand. Social networking was created to help you share, connect and converse. Think of using your website the same way.
Your website allows you to bring all your connections to one place. You website is Your Social Network. You just don’t need $100K to start it.
We know how quickly the latest trend can switch to the newest has been. This is why it is important to create your social network.
Benefits of using your website to create a social network:
Here are some ways you can turn your website into a social network:
People are now accustomed to looking for those key social sharing buttons when they read something they like or something that helped them! Don’t be left in the dust by not having this simple feature loaded to your website. Facebook gives you all the tools you need when you are connecting on its platform. Make sure you give your readers the same! Installing this feature on your site will help attract a new set of members for your network.
Send your fans, followers and friends to a sign-up page on your website. You can set up a separate page or a squeeze page on your website that snags their email addresses in exchange for your big banana freebie. Adding your connections from your social networks will help bring them to one place: your social network.
We know that an important step in marketing is creating that “Call to Action” to direct your buyers to the next step in the process. You can use your call to build your network. When you send out your weekly email message to your list, direct them to what you would like them to do next. Ask them to share with friends that could benefit from the information, have them leave comments on your blog, or encourage them to like, tweet, share with their social networks to bring their friends to the party. When you provide unique information that has helped them, they will in turn help you — just be sure to ask!
Comments are not only a great way to receive feedback on your content and to hear from your readers, but are also a great way to build your network with conversations! Social conversations are a huge part of social media. Use your comment sections to allow your followers and readers connect with each other.
When you create your own social network, you become a community leader. I invite you to join my social network!
Alicia Rittenhouse is the Geek Goddess of Online Empires. After five years of success as a virtual assistant, she is now the media-maven who women entrepreneurs have manage their online empires while growing their online presence using savvy marketing tactics. Alicia lives in a smaller town in Ohio but has reached entrepreneurs all over the world with her weekly social media and online presence tips.
Check out how my site got hit with a burst of traffic all originating from ONE social media message on twitter that was spread over and over again.
When I say that social media marketing is easy this is what I mean – it doesn’t have to be difficult to gain a following. This sort of thing happens on social media all the time.
On the most basic level, the only “trick” to this is to give away FANTASTIC content that will get people talking. Oh, and no one is going to tweet about you if you aren’t on twitter!
By request, here’s a link to the tweet mentioned in the video
Guest post by Avelina Marshall
Cyber world is indeed a magic land that can do wonders for your wholesale business. Unfortunately though, this magic land does not offer you a magic wand that you can wave and turn your business into a success story. However, there are some tried and true marketing techniques and strategies that can help you get more business and increase your business exposure. Both of these things are vital for just about any business, especially the one operating on small scale.
Effective marketing on the web has its perks. One of the biggest advantages of social media marketing is that it helps you save or steer clear of huge costs, which are generally associated with traditional marketing mediums. Most of the techniques and strategies discussed in this post are free of cost, which means they are a ‘must’ for small wholesale businesses.
For starters, it is a good practice to get your business listed in one of those online B2B marketplaces, out there. These websites serve as Yellow Pages for businesses and can prove to be helpful for expanding your business. While some of these B2B networks are free, there are others that may charge a small fee. These platforms are very popular amongst wholesalers who do not want to spend any money.
You might ask if there’s a need to pay for becoming a member when there are free networking platforms available on the internet. That is a very valid question, but it also has an equally simple explanation. Since free platforms do not charge any fee, they do not really care whether or not their listings and members are dependable. Paid services, on the other hand, take due care in making sure that they are featuring only verified, credible, and authentic businesses.
The Internet is huge, and the only way to find some specific and relevant information is to search via the search engines like Google. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help you increase your online visibility to a great extent. Various SEO tools and techniques are used to help you drive more traffic to your website, and helping more and more people find your business.
In order to help people find you on the search engine, you should optimize your wholesale business website and acquire some back links to get on the first page for your targeted keywords. Remember that no one bothers to go beyond the first 10 results. There are various tools and techniques that can be used for this purpose. Bear in mind that these techniques keep on changing since the search engines are constantly working on ways to improve their service. So, you must always try and stay abreast with the changing SEO techniques.
The various social networks on the web are turning out to be the next big force after Google. As per an estimate, Facebook alone has over 600 million active users! The count for Twitter may not be as big but still, getting to the mark of 200 million users is no mean feat. Social networks, such as the ones mentioned above, carry huge marketing potential. With a bit of effort and effective marketing, you can reach out to any number of targeted customers.
The ease with which these social networks provide access to the multitudes, often dupes businesses into thinking that they have got the license to go crazy with the idea of mass advertisement (spamming). Spamming is repulsive and it backfires. Rather than just flooding irrelevant people on such platforms, it is advisable that you engage only targeted or potential customers such as retailers or eBay users. Social networks can prove to be a useful resource for finding partners.
Pay per Click or PPC is a popular form of advertisement on the web. It is widely used for generating traffic and is employed by small and big businesses alike. In a typical PPC program, you will have to bid for your desired keywords and you will have to pay for each visitor who lands on your website by clicking on your ads. There are many platforms offering this service but Google AdWords is easily the most commonly used one. For small businesses, this model can be a bit expensive but if you’ve chosen your keywords wisely, it is definitely worth giving a try.
Email marketing is another, very effective way of engaging your customers. It is an effective method to reach new and old customers alike. Wholesale is a dynamic business where you are constantly offering new products and promotions for your clients. If you have got an opt-in list of subscribers, you can use it to let your customers know about new products and promotions.
By this technique, you can also regain some of your old customers who, for whatever reasons, have stopped purchasing from you.
Avelina Marshall is the director of Wholesale, Drop Shippers and Wholesale Suppliers. She has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.
In this video you’ll learn…
Guest post by Prime Sarmiento
I believe it is safe to assume that if you are reading this blog, you are an entrepreneur (or an aspiring entrepreneur) who is using the web to sell products and services, promote relationship with your customers and establish your expertise.
But whatever your business is – personal chef, acupuncturist or digital marketer – you know good design alone won’t keep you in business. You also need well-written content to attract your target readers to your site and convert them into clients.
So unless you’re prepared to hire a copy writer who will charge at least 1,000 U.S. dollars to produce a sales page (and that’s just a one time fee), you’ll be ahead of the game if you have strong writing skills. To develop and polish this valuable skill, look into finding a writing coach.
List just one writing project that you wanted to finish for the longest time but for some reason have not done it. It could be an e-book, a script for a video tutorial, a press release or a series of pillar posts for your blog.
You have to stick to one project as writing coaches have different specialization. A writing coach who usually coaches memoirist and novelist may not be the coach that you want to hire if your priority project is to write a high-converting sales page.
I’m not talking about testimonials here or even their profile page. But instead, read the creative products of that prospective writing coach. Does he or she have a blog or have they published a novel? Perhaps they have articles in print publications that you can find online. Read them and see if you like his or her writing style.
Choosing a coach is deeply personal. You won’t like being mentored by someone who you neither respect nor admire.
You and your writing coach will work together to finish an important project. So it’s better to know beforehand if the prospective coach is the right fit for you. Invite the coach for coffee and see if the two of you share the same vibe.
Take note: if you both live in the same place and the coach refused to meet you, drop her from your list of prospects. If she can’t spare an hour to meet a client then it’s doubtful he or she will give you the time and attention you need to critique your work or motivate you to complete your project.
If it’s not possible to meet the coach in person due to proximity, then you can talk over Skype, read and comment on his/her blogs or follow his or her tweets. Bottomline: in today’s work environment, you need not live close to your writing coach. With skype, email, blogs, even Twitter, you can check out their vibe and find a connection.
Once you chose “the one”, both of you need to set the rules on how the two of you will work. What are the goals that you want to accomplish and how will the coach help you in attaining that goal?
Are you looking for a detailed critique or do you need someone to motivate you because you are insecure about your skills?
You also need to work on a schedule that suits both of you. Do you have to contact her every day or is a monthly update enough? Does she have to be in every step of the project (highly recommended for people who tend to procrastinate)? If you’re quite disciplined, you can just contact her if you need to attain a certain milestone.
You also have to determine the mode of communication. Do you meet up in a café once a week, chat over the webcam, or send e-mails with each other? Choose what is the most convenient for both of you. My coach and I chose to communicate with each other via e-mail because of the huge difference in our time zones (she is in Europe and I live in Asia so skyping isn’t feasible ).
Learning something is useless if you don’t act on it. Your coach is there so you can be accountable to someone, gently pushing you to apply what you learned. So let’s say you are writing an e-book with ten chapters, you need to write and finish each chapter, and have each chapter critiqued. After getting a critique, be sure to apply what you learned in rewriting that chapter and writing a new chapter. Then let the coach look at both the revised and new chapters. You will then see if you improved as a writer.
As Laura teaches, when it comes to getting things done in your business, you have two choices, hire someone or learn how to do them yourself. Working with a writing coach early in your business will help tremendously with your long term growth.
Prime Sarmiento is a journalist and freelance business blogger. She writes on learning and the craft of writing for online tutorial company. You can follow her writing tips and tweets at @GypsyPrime.
Curious about exactly how I drive traffic to my website? Where my traffic comes from? And how SEO (search engine optimization) comes into the picture?
Then you MUST sign up for this webinar. I’m taking you behind the scenes (and into my google analytics account) to reveal my personal SEO strategy. This is how I get 50-100 new FREE leads every single day.
Register to now for this free LIVE hour-long online workshop to get the full scoop. You’ll also learn more about my Zero to SEO program.
Guest post by Kat Csengo
Before we dive into this, let’s define “on a budget”. It means you have some money to spend but not a whole heap. For what I will tell you now you’ll probably need around $300. Some would argue that this is not “on a budget” while others can sniff a cheapskate scam here, right?
I leave it up to you.
Let’s get to it.
Can you see how easy it is to create an awesome e-course on a budget? There are plenty of free resources out there. There are talented people in countries where your dollar will buy you more time or service (thanks to dollar-friendly exchange rates). Plus, never forget to tap into the skill set and knowledge of your friends and biz buddies.
So, do YOU have a tool or tip up your sleeve that we can add to the list? Share it in the comments below. I’m curious!
Kat Csengo is the driving force behind Paperclip Fox, a virtual assistant business based in Berlin, Germany. She’s been helping wildly creative busy folk manage their online businesses as well as create e-courses with them since 2009. Connect with Kat by email, on Facebook or Twitter.
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