Saturday, February 18, 2006
Happy Birthday Jon!
Let's have a little departure from my usual today. Since it's my son Jonathan's birthday, I thought I'd invite you to visit his blog.
Jon's a freelance artist and actor and eBay entrepreneur. His mystery auctions specialize in creating entertainment and suspense out of such simple items as a wallet found on the ground, or an old pair of pants, or nothing more than his active imagination.
His blog features a sampling of what's going on in his life. It has twice been nominated for Milwaukee's blog of the week and reviewed by another Milwaukee magazine as one of the five most interesting blogs by Milwaukee residents.
So stop by and check it out. And leave a happy birthday comment on his blog if you're so inclined.
Jeff
P.S. to Jon,
Enjoy your birthday present of new visitors!
Let's have a little departure from my usual today. Since it's my son Jonathan's birthday, I thought I'd invite you to visit his blog.
Jon's a freelance artist and actor and eBay entrepreneur. His mystery auctions specialize in creating entertainment and suspense out of such simple items as a wallet found on the ground, or an old pair of pants, or nothing more than his active imagination.
His blog features a sampling of what's going on in his life. It has twice been nominated for Milwaukee's blog of the week and reviewed by another Milwaukee magazine as one of the five most interesting blogs by Milwaukee residents.
So stop by and check it out. And leave a happy birthday comment on his blog if you're so inclined.
Jeff
P.S. to Jon,
Enjoy your birthday present of new visitors!
Friday, February 17, 2006
Finding the Right Voice for Your Writing
Are you turning potential customers away with your writing? I wouldn't have thought I was. Writing has been central in every job I've had.
But I recently got "schooled" big time on my writing. And if I, with 30 years of experience writing for a living, can fall into a rookie mistake, you might want to check whether you're making the same one.
My daughter was home for a weekend recently. She's come to me a lot for advice on her business, so I figured a little turnabout was in order.
I had just finished my newsletter. It had a couple of new product reviews that I was pretty pleased with. But I thought, why not get her reaction to them? After all, she's exactly the kind of small business owner that reads my newsletter. So I asked her to read them.
She finished. Silence. I could see her trying to figure out what to say. Finally she said, "I guess they're OK, but..."
"But what?" I asked.
"But that's not the way you usually write," she replied. "I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be different when you write a newsletter, but I like the emails you write me a LOT better."
BAM! I had gotten so overconfident of my writing that I had fallen into a real beginner mistake: writing formally.
You know the way you always used to write in school? Well, you don't want to write that way in ANY of your online business writing.
When you wrote for your teachers, your goal was to make the teacher think you're smart. So you wrote with big words, complex sentences, abstract thoughts. You wrote very formally.
When you write for your online visitors, the last thing you want to do is come across like you think you're smarter than they are. You want to win their trust, not alienate them.
You want to write on their level—warm, accessible, helpful. You want them to feel like you know their needs and genuinely want to help them. You want to write to them in the same way that, say, a father might write an email in response to a question from his daughter.
I've been applying that test to my writing ever since. Before I consider anything that I write done, I reread every paragraph, every sentence, every word with one question in mind: "Would I write this way in an email to Rachel?"
And whatever doesn't pass that test gets simplified, gets "informalized," until it sounds like the way I write to my kids. That reminder to keep it casual has helped me catch a lot of overly formal writing and improved my results.
And it's a test you can apply to your writing, too. After you've written something for your potential customers, think of someone you genuinely care about and reread everything you wrote. And as you reread it, ask yourself, "If I was writing an email to this person to explain this same thing, is this the way I would write it?"
I'm sure that you can improve your writing immensely with this little test. It certainly improved mine.
Jeff
Are you turning potential customers away with your writing? I wouldn't have thought I was. Writing has been central in every job I've had.
But I recently got "schooled" big time on my writing. And if I, with 30 years of experience writing for a living, can fall into a rookie mistake, you might want to check whether you're making the same one.
My daughter was home for a weekend recently. She's come to me a lot for advice on her business, so I figured a little turnabout was in order.
I had just finished my newsletter. It had a couple of new product reviews that I was pretty pleased with. But I thought, why not get her reaction to them? After all, she's exactly the kind of small business owner that reads my newsletter. So I asked her to read them.
She finished. Silence. I could see her trying to figure out what to say. Finally she said, "I guess they're OK, but..."
"But what?" I asked.
"But that's not the way you usually write," she replied. "I don't know. Maybe it's supposed to be different when you write a newsletter, but I like the emails you write me a LOT better."
BAM! I had gotten so overconfident of my writing that I had fallen into a real beginner mistake: writing formally.
You know the way you always used to write in school? Well, you don't want to write that way in ANY of your online business writing.
When you wrote for your teachers, your goal was to make the teacher think you're smart. So you wrote with big words, complex sentences, abstract thoughts. You wrote very formally.
When you write for your online visitors, the last thing you want to do is come across like you think you're smarter than they are. You want to win their trust, not alienate them.
You want to write on their level—warm, accessible, helpful. You want them to feel like you know their needs and genuinely want to help them. You want to write to them in the same way that, say, a father might write an email in response to a question from his daughter.
I've been applying that test to my writing ever since. Before I consider anything that I write done, I reread every paragraph, every sentence, every word with one question in mind: "Would I write this way in an email to Rachel?"
And whatever doesn't pass that test gets simplified, gets "informalized," until it sounds like the way I write to my kids. That reminder to keep it casual has helped me catch a lot of overly formal writing and improved my results.
And it's a test you can apply to your writing, too. After you've written something for your potential customers, think of someone you genuinely care about and reread everything you wrote. And as you reread it, ask yourself, "If I was writing an email to this person to explain this same thing, is this the way I would write it?"
I'm sure that you can improve your writing immensely with this little test. It certainly improved mine.
Jeff
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Looking at the Trees
Ever feel overwhelmed by all you want to get done in your business? I've been feeling that a lot lately. Every task I do seems to be only a small step toward some larger goal. My impatience—and my frustration level—just builds until I'm no use to anyone (just ask my wife!).
But it helps to step back from the forest sometimes and just look at a few trees. When you feel overwhelmed at the enormity of what you're trying to do, it's a good time to give yourself credit for completing the individual steps along the way.
Beating yourself up because there are so many more steps to take doesn't accomplish anything. But recognizing—and celebrating—the steps that you complete can energize you to take the next ones as opposed to letting a growing frustration level sap you of the energy you need.
Taking a moment to appreciate each task I completed worked wonders for me today. And it led to a much more productive day than those I've spent trying to whip myself into taking ten giant steps at once. And I'll take productivity over frustration any day.
Jeff
Ever feel overwhelmed by all you want to get done in your business? I've been feeling that a lot lately. Every task I do seems to be only a small step toward some larger goal. My impatience—and my frustration level—just builds until I'm no use to anyone (just ask my wife!).
But it helps to step back from the forest sometimes and just look at a few trees. When you feel overwhelmed at the enormity of what you're trying to do, it's a good time to give yourself credit for completing the individual steps along the way.
Beating yourself up because there are so many more steps to take doesn't accomplish anything. But recognizing—and celebrating—the steps that you complete can energize you to take the next ones as opposed to letting a growing frustration level sap you of the energy you need.
Taking a moment to appreciate each task I completed worked wonders for me today. And it led to a much more productive day than those I've spent trying to whip myself into taking ten giant steps at once. And I'll take productivity over frustration any day.
Jeff
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
The Double-Edged Sword of Working at Home
Working at home is great. I love it! But there are also some drawbacks.
Lately, I've taken to blocking off certain times of day or even certain days that I absolutely forbid myself to work. It's not perfect, but it does provide some structure that keeps me from letting work chip away hour after hour of family life. Is there anything that you do that others can put into practice? Let us know by posting a comment below.
Jeff
Working at home is great. I love it! But there are also some drawbacks.
- The good—you don't have to commute to work every day
- The bad—you never get to go home and get away from work
Lately, I've taken to blocking off certain times of day or even certain days that I absolutely forbid myself to work. It's not perfect, but it does provide some structure that keeps me from letting work chip away hour after hour of family life. Is there anything that you do that others can put into practice? Let us know by posting a comment below.
Jeff
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Connections
What better day than Valentine's Day to look at one of the biggest myths of running an online business. What I refer to is the myth that an online business lets you hunker down in the anonymity of the Internet and make money off of nameless, faceless visitors.
It just ain't so. Life is all about connections. And I'm not talking about knowing and using people who are strategically placed to get you what you want.
Just as Valentine's Day celebrates the joy of sharing yourself with someone special, running a business online is all about sharing of yourself and developing relationships with those whose needs you can meet.
It's about benefitting one another, meeting each others' needs. True, it's not nearly as romantic as what we celebrate on Valentine's Day, but it's just as real. Without your customers, your website is nothing more than an obsolete signpost on the Internet. It's the connections that you establish with your visitors that gives your business life.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thans those who bring my business alive: those of you who read this blog, the subscribers to my newsletter, the visitors to my site. I deeply appreciate your interest and I hope that I am meeting your needs.
And, on a personal note, I'd like to give special thanks to my wife, Joanne. Jo, I would not be where I am today without you. You have made my life special.
Jeff
What better day than Valentine's Day to look at one of the biggest myths of running an online business. What I refer to is the myth that an online business lets you hunker down in the anonymity of the Internet and make money off of nameless, faceless visitors.
It just ain't so. Life is all about connections. And I'm not talking about knowing and using people who are strategically placed to get you what you want.
Just as Valentine's Day celebrates the joy of sharing yourself with someone special, running a business online is all about sharing of yourself and developing relationships with those whose needs you can meet.
It's about benefitting one another, meeting each others' needs. True, it's not nearly as romantic as what we celebrate on Valentine's Day, but it's just as real. Without your customers, your website is nothing more than an obsolete signpost on the Internet. It's the connections that you establish with your visitors that gives your business life.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thans those who bring my business alive: those of you who read this blog, the subscribers to my newsletter, the visitors to my site. I deeply appreciate your interest and I hope that I am meeting your needs.
And, on a personal note, I'd like to give special thanks to my wife, Joanne. Jo, I would not be where I am today without you. You have made my life special.
Jeff
Monday, February 13, 2006
Win-Win Vs. Win-Lose
Ah, yes. Monday again, which means I spent the day in my client's office, discussing strategies (the fun part), managing his dropship program (generally good, but with an occasional headache) and managing his reciprocal linking program (pure purgatory).
I don't know if the kind of trash link requests we get are typical of the state of the reciprocal linking world, or if, like my client says, we simply got on a really bad list. Every Monday, there are 50 to 100 link requests for me to review. On a good week, I might accept three or four of them.
Really pathetic! Most of them are automatically generated sites with no worthwhile content. They're created in the hope that visitors will click on the glut of AdSense ads that fill the page and "reward" the site-builder for tricking them into coming to a site that offers them absolutely nothing.
I found a grand prize winner today for blatantly worthless sites. Some loser submitted about a half-dozen sites that were on topics completely unrelated to us. The "content" of each site consisted of one two-word phrase (the keyword they were targeting). That was it. The rest of the page was made up of as many AdSense ads as Google allows.
Dealing with site owners who submit such total junk always amazes me. Their attitude clearly is one of Win-Lose. Namely, they feel that for them to gain, someone else has to lose.
In this case, any visitors who find their site lose. They lose time when they discover that the site has nothing to benefit them.
Other site owners lose, too. They lose time that they waste reviewing these worthless link exchange requests.
Then, too, Google or any other directory that sends people to those sites lose. They lose credibility when searchers find that the links they relied on weren't as relevant as they expected.
But the most baffling part of this Win-Lose mentality is that the builders of those worthless sites lose, too. It doesn't take long for Google to discover that a site is worthless and remove it from its listings.
So the site-builders who rely on this Win-Lose mentality ultimately have to work twice as hard as other site-builders. They remain in a constant loop, throwing up site after to site to replace the ones that get de-listed, and hoping that each site makes a couple of bucks before it becomes worthless to them, too.
Me? I'll stick with a Win-Win approach. Build a site, make it better and better. Benefit others and earn your money by giving them something they need and benefit from. In my book, Win-Win wins every time.
Jeff
Ah, yes. Monday again, which means I spent the day in my client's office, discussing strategies (the fun part), managing his dropship program (generally good, but with an occasional headache) and managing his reciprocal linking program (pure purgatory).
I don't know if the kind of trash link requests we get are typical of the state of the reciprocal linking world, or if, like my client says, we simply got on a really bad list. Every Monday, there are 50 to 100 link requests for me to review. On a good week, I might accept three or four of them.
Really pathetic! Most of them are automatically generated sites with no worthwhile content. They're created in the hope that visitors will click on the glut of AdSense ads that fill the page and "reward" the site-builder for tricking them into coming to a site that offers them absolutely nothing.
I found a grand prize winner today for blatantly worthless sites. Some loser submitted about a half-dozen sites that were on topics completely unrelated to us. The "content" of each site consisted of one two-word phrase (the keyword they were targeting). That was it. The rest of the page was made up of as many AdSense ads as Google allows.
Dealing with site owners who submit such total junk always amazes me. Their attitude clearly is one of Win-Lose. Namely, they feel that for them to gain, someone else has to lose.
In this case, any visitors who find their site lose. They lose time when they discover that the site has nothing to benefit them.
Other site owners lose, too. They lose time that they waste reviewing these worthless link exchange requests.
Then, too, Google or any other directory that sends people to those sites lose. They lose credibility when searchers find that the links they relied on weren't as relevant as they expected.
But the most baffling part of this Win-Lose mentality is that the builders of those worthless sites lose, too. It doesn't take long for Google to discover that a site is worthless and remove it from its listings.
So the site-builders who rely on this Win-Lose mentality ultimately have to work twice as hard as other site-builders. They remain in a constant loop, throwing up site after to site to replace the ones that get de-listed, and hoping that each site makes a couple of bucks before it becomes worthless to them, too.
Me? I'll stick with a Win-Win approach. Build a site, make it better and better. Benefit others and earn your money by giving them something they need and benefit from. In my book, Win-Win wins every time.
Jeff
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Finding Joint Venture Partners with SearchIt! Free Research Tool
The SearchIt! free research tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared previously, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
Last week we started covering some specialized search tools, including ways that SearchIt! can show you at a glance how you rank for specific search terms across multiple search engines. This week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you see what people are saying about your site on the Web and how it can help you find potential joint venture partners.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under Advanced Search and select Discussions/Groups.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
Both options operate in the same way. Type your keyword in the Step 3 box and click the SearchIt! button. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to get your results.
Your results may be tightly focused discussion groups on your topic, or they may be nothing but ads. But they will show you any discussions where your topic has appeared on the major discussion groups. And any groups you find give you a wonderful opportunity to build relationships that can turn into all manner of benefits for your business.
Next week
This Sunday, we looked at how SearchIt! can help you see what people are saying about your site on the Web and how it can help you find potential joint venture partners. Next week we'll conclude our series on SearchIt! by looking at how SearchIt! can help you find images, videos and sound online.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
The SearchIt! free research tool consists of a window with two dropdown boxes and two text boxes. In the two dropdown boxes, you select the type of search you want to do. In the two text boxes, you select the search criteria (such as keywords or URLs) you want to use.
Rather than repeat the introductory info about SearchIt! that I shared previously, I suggest that you see the October 2nd blog for this information. Or simply realize that it is important to click all the links and read all the instructions that SearchIt! tells you to do.
You'll find SearchIt! A LOT easier and more valuable to use if you do that.
Using SearchIt!
Last week we started covering some specialized search tools, including ways that SearchIt! can show you at a glance how you rank for specific search terms across multiple search engines. This week we'll look at how SearchIt! can help you see what people are saying about your site on the Web and how it can help you find potential joint venture partners.
In the Step 1 dropdown box, scroll down under Advanced Search and select Discussions/Groups.
Click the dropdown box for Step 2: Select Search Type. You'll see the following options.
- Google Groups
- Lycos Discussion Search
Both options operate in the same way. Type your keyword in the Step 3 box and click the SearchIt! button. Click the link at the bottom of the intro page to get your results.
Your results may be tightly focused discussion groups on your topic, or they may be nothing but ads. But they will show you any discussions where your topic has appeared on the major discussion groups. And any groups you find give you a wonderful opportunity to build relationships that can turn into all manner of benefits for your business.
Next week
This Sunday, we looked at how SearchIt! can help you see what people are saying about your site on the Web and how it can help you find potential joint venture partners. Next week we'll conclude our series on SearchIt! by looking at how SearchIt! can help you find images, videos and sound online.
All in all, SearchIt! can find you lots of valuable information. The main thing to remember is to READ THE DIRECTIONS. With as many tools packed into this one interface, you're not going to take one look at it and intuitively understand how to use every one of them. But the directions they give are easy, and they do more than just tell you how to use each tool; they also throw in tips on how to use the results you receive to make your site more successful.
SearchIt! is one of these free tools that really produces value for you. I recommend that you check it out and make it a part of your web marketing arsenal.
Jeff
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
