Friday Success Tips

“Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist.“ Mary Kay Ash

There are no shortcuts to building trust.  Trust is cultivated and developed over time based on mutual experiences.  However, it can take just one action for that trust to be lost.  This is true in just about any type of relationship: romantic, family, friendship, or business.

Many persons have become disillusioned with large corporations.  John Gerzema of Young & Rubicam’s, a New York advertising firm noted that trust in brands has plummeted over the past five years and added, “People stopped trusting all kinds of companies.”  Most of us as entrepreneurs have a company of one – we are the company and it’s imperative that we are known by our customers and peers to be honest and dependable.  This will go a far way in keeping us in business.

What are some ways entrepreneurs can build trust with their customers and encourage customer loyalty?

1.            Get to Know Your Customers: Find ways to make every customer or client feel special.  Keep good records and include (more…)

Featured “Monday Writer” – Melanie Kissell

This week I received a fabulous and totally unexpected surprise in my inbox – not the typical kind of mail I’m accustomed to weeding through every day.

Sheri Kaye Hoff of Life Is Joyful invited me to be a presenter in her Fall Success Summit.  Welcomed opportunities like this don’t come down the pike every day!

Now please don’t run away – this is not a pitchfest.

This is a prime example of what can happen when you understand how your business blog can bring you the successful results you’re looking for.

The biggest goal for business blogging is never give up – keep blogging!

We all want to be successful at what we do, but we must remember that to have a successful online presence takes time, as well as a considerable amount of energy, determination, and passion.  A willy-nilly approach will lead you straight down Disappointment Avenue.

So what’s the big secret to business blogging success?

Simple – Just keep adding logs to the fire.

Not only do you need to keep the embers burning with your target audience and your loyal readers, you need to make a heart-centered, conscious effort to connect with other bloggers.

Establish a “core” of bloggers in your niche or industry and start building community.

Just do it!  It works.

Read their posts, leave worthwhile and valuable comments, subscribe to their RSS or opt in to receive their freebie offer, invite them to be a guest blogger, follow them on social media venues, brainstorm with them, link to their posts when possible, and ask what you can do to help them.

In other words, to keep the fire burning …

“Engagement” and “Interaction” with the authors of blogs in your area of expertise and what you’re passionate about are the two best strategies for business blogging success.

If you’re interested, here’s a Free Blogging Tips E-book by James King.  I am not affiliated with James in any way and there’s NO opt in required.  I just happen to think he’s got some doggone good advice that can help you enjoy more positive and long lasting results with your blog.

Melanie Kissell

“Attending to your personal survival as a woman entrepreneur”

Melanie shares blogging tips and budget-friendly marketing strategies with tenacious and passionate women entrepreneurs who are short on time, exhausted, and tapped out financially. Stop by and knock on her door at Solo Mompreneur.

Recently someone communicated to me that he felt Article Marketing was not an effective marketing strategy for online marketers.  How about for those of us who are in Direct Sales?  Do you feel that Article Marketing can be an effective part of your marketing strategy?

It's important to keep in mind that regardless of what type of business you're in, as long as you are marketing on the Internet there are four basic things that all businesses need:

1.  Content Creation: This is the only way people will get to know what you do and what you have to offer.  Your blog should be your main home for your content.

2.  Traffic:  Traffic or readers are essential to our business.  We want to invite and encourage visitors to our website to read and comment on our posts.  At the same time we want to return the compliment by commenting on the blogs of fellow bloggers.

3.  List Building:  This takes traffic a step further because it's a way to capture this traffic so that we can build a relationship with them and market to them.

4.  Product Creation: The goal for which everyone who markets online should strive is to create your own product.  If you are in Direct Sales, you realize that this means your own product, and not one that the company you market for produces.

All of the four basic needs mentioned above can be met through Article Marketing.  Let's look at the first need:  Content Creation.

As noted previously your blog should be your main home or hub on the Internet.  Every time you write a blog post (more…)