Month: April 2011

Article Marketing Debate – Is the New Google Smack Down a Good Thing?

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date April 8, 2011

Article Contributed by Eric Gruber

Every time, Google changes its algorithms – it causes a frenzy among those internet marketers relying heavily on the search engines. The latest change made many marketers stock up on Maalox and Pepto Bismol as it made them literally sick to their stomachs. Google’s latest change was an attack on article directories and content farms like Ezinearticles.com.

You see, many internet marketers were writing 150-200 word articles that gave no informational value whatsoever, just to get the link. They were after the SEO benefit and not taking full advantage of what article marketing has to offer. But now, because of the new Google algorithm change sites like EzineArticles.com lost a lot of its visibility on Google and it has many internet marketers up in arms.

Now, unlike many internet marketers, I think the change is a GOOD thing — and here’s why…

4 Reasons Why I Think the New Google Algorithm Change is a Good Thing

1. It forces article directory sites like EzineArticles.com to enforce stricter editorial guidelines. Google wants quality! Your readers want quality! I can almost guarantee this is why EzineArticles.com now requires you to write articles at least 450 words. And, it’s why they are going to review your articles even more thoroughly for spelling, grammar and formatting errors. They are increasing their quality control – and that’s usually a good thing.

2. It forces you the article marketer to go beyond the article directories – and target the best websites, ezines and blogs. Now, as the Google algorithm change focuses on article directories (and I’m sure this is only the beginning!) you cannot solely focus on SEO. You need to start putting your content on targeted websites, ezines, blogs and forums that your audience is going to every day. This way, you go directly to your audience instead of you hoping they find you on the search engines. Plus, these sites will give you the credibility and expert status you need to build your business. To find out the correct way to submit your articles so you can get published on more websites (and not just the article directories) go to:

http://www.articlesubmissionsecretsrevealed.com/special

3. It forces you to use other mediums to get your content out in front of your prospects’ faces. If you didn’t have a reason to start engaging in social media before – now you do. Besides trying to get rid of the “junk”, Google is changing its algorithms based on the way people search. Now, your prospects are gaining the information they need from social media sites like LinkedIn. If you want to be found and if you want to be heard, then you need to engage in social media.

4. It forces you to start creating articles that give prospects the perception that you are the thought leader. You think sites like Entrepreneur.com and WomenEntrepreneur.com (which my article submission clients have been published in!) want to publish regurgitated content that is already all over the Web? No way! So, if you are going to go beyond the article directories and get your articles published on top websites, then you need to up your game. You need to start offering information that is usually held back – and you need to “wow” publishers and readers with the information you are revealing.

How to Embrace the New and Upcoming Google Algorithm Changes..

Understand that article marketing is not what it used to be. No longer can you submit an article to thousands of article directories and expect the traffic to come pouring in! Whether you’re just starting out in article marketing, or you already run an article marketing campaign, you have to learn how it should be done in today’s world if you want it to succeed.

If you need help, remember that my online article submission secrets course, will take you by the hand and literally walk you through setting up and executing your new article submission campaign from the very start.

Here’s to submitting articles the right way – that won’t have you affected by the recent Google algorithm change and any upcoming changes.

About the Author:

Article marketing expert Eric Gruber creates online marketplace opportunities for authors, internet marketers and small business owners who want more website traffic, publicity and prospects. If you’re looking to build your business with article writing and article submission, check out Eric’s free ebook: How to Build Your Business Just with Articles at: http://www.FreeArticleMarketingBook.com

Operations

Small Business Growth Quiz – 7 Market Focused Questions You Must Ask To Help You Grow

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date April 7, 2011
1 Comment on Small Business Growth Quiz – 7 Market Focused Questions You Must Ask To Help You Grow

Article Contributed by Sara Laforest and Tony Kubica

There is a lot of attention directed at small businesses this year. President Obama talked about the need to help and support small businesses in his State of the Union address. And one outcome was the launch of Startup America. Also, states are talking about easing regulations and the tax burden on small businesses in their quest to reduce unemployment.

Is this the year of the small business?

Possibly.

Is this an opportunity for you as a small business owner?

Maybe.

Now, a warning to Small Business Owners…

As a small business owner, however, it is not a good strategy to hope that the federal or state governments will pass the right legislation and write regulations, which will help you succeed in the next 12 months. Hope may spring eternal, but it is not a good business strategy.

Be wary of generalizations about how the economy is doing: who the winners are and who the losers are or will be. It’s distracting and frankly, it’s filled with conflicting information.

It’s like trying to decide on what is the best way to add 10 years to your life. You would be correct if you said – it depends on whom you ask. A dietician will tell you to focus on good nutrition. A trainer will tell you to exercise and use protein supplements. Some physicians would say hormone therapy. As the adage goes: when all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.

Yes, we’ll admit that the economy is showing signs of recovery, but the real question is… whether it’s showing signs of recovery for you and your business. To answer this question you need to stop thinking like a small business owner and start thinking that you are running a multi-million dollar enterprise. Why, because many small business owners tend to think like a small company. And the answer to growth is to think big.

Here Are 7 Questions to Think About and Respond to When Planning for Business Growth:

1. Do you have a strategic vision that outlines your business direction for the next 12 – 24 months? And if you have employees, do they know it?

2. What is your stated mission (or purpose) statement? How is it communicated to your employees, and how does it help drive business decisions?

3. Do you have stated, written and practiced company values to align how you and your employees work together and serve your customers?

4. Do you have a branding strategy that promotes how you want to be seen by prospects and clients and articulates your competitive advantage or differentiation from your competitors?

5. Do you have standard monthly financial reports to track the financial health of your business and to help drive your decisions?

6. Do you have outstanding customer service? If you can’t answer based on your customer’s feedback, loyalty, references and testimonials – your answer is not yet.

7. Do you have an exit strategy for your business? Every business needs to have a sense of what the end game will look like. It drives growth and helps focus business decisions.

How did you do in answering these questions? Did you have thoughtful and detailed answers for each question? When we talk to small business owners about these questions they often remind us that they are small businesses and not GE, Nordstrom’s or Zappos. And that’s the problem.

We have also seen companies that believe answering questions such as these is a waste of time.

Why Our 7 Vital Questions for Small Business Owners Who Want to Grow Their Business Is NOT a Waste of Time?

A small research oriented company who had been in business for 10 years was modestly successful. They were concerned, however, that although they were able to come up with a strategic plan every year, they were not disciplined enough to implement the tactics required to achieve the plan. And they really didn’t have to. Business came in and they were comfortable. You have likely heard us reference that success can be your greatest inhibitor to growth. And, the issue for them was that they weren’t growing.

They decided to re-focus their efforts on growth. To do that they:

1. Looked deep inside themselves and their business and discovered they were missing a number of ingredients for small business growth success. They uncovered this realization simply by honest answering our 7 questions.

2. Established company values to guide their work together and in serving their clients

3. Created their strategic vision (ideal future state)

4. Refined their purpose (or mission) statement

5. Identified key strategies and tactics to implement the vision and created accountability by assigning those to lead individuals. Progress on tactics was reviewed quarterly, with general updates given monthly.

6. Candidly discussed how they worked together and how work should be distributed to take advantage of each partner’s strengths

7. Identified their target market and the market niche

8. Created tracking and reporting tools and a process to monitor sales

9. Created a financial reporting system, reviewing it monthly and using ratio analysis to do a year over year comparison

10. They are embarking on a re-branding strategy

11. They are working to identify and develop an exit strategy

They started this initiative in 2008. 2009 was the best financial performance year they had in the company’s 10-year history. 2010 was almost 40% higher than 2009. And note this was accomplished in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

So what really happened? Were they lucky? Were they in the right place at the right time? No – neither of these can explain their growth. What they did was stop thinking small. They stopped behaving like a “mom and pop shop” and decided to focus on growth.

So, we encourage you to take a dispassionate view of your business. Stop listening to the generalities and honestly and thoughtfully respond to your own market-focused questions we suggested. Thinking small will keep you small; thinking big and planning big will lay the path to your growth.

About the Author:

Management Consultants and Business Performance Improvement Specialists Sara Laforest and Tony Kubica have 50+ years of combined experience in helping small and large entrepreneurial businesses accelerate their business growth in record times. Now, you can learn how to think big and avoid the self-sabotaging behaviors that most owners possess at: http://www.kubicalaforestconsulting.com/report.php

Communication Skills

“What Side of the Ball Do You Want to Play On?” The Importance of Listening

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date April 6, 2011

Article Contributed by Jeff Beals

At the beginning of 1991, Marshall Faulk was a wanted man – wanted by many of the nation’s most prestigious football schools. He had just finished a stellar senior season as a star high school player in New Orleans, and college coaches were camped outside his front door 24/7.

Faulk had a rough childhood, growing up in one America’s most notorious housing projects. As a youngster, football was his passion. From an early age, he was good at the game and caught the eyes of several college scouts. Recruiters courted him as a junior, and by the time he was tearing up the fields as a senior, scholarship offers were pouring in.

As 1991?s National Signing Day drew nearer, Coach Tom Osborne and his staff at the University of Nebraska were high on Faulk and confident he soon would be wearing the Huskers’ scarlet and cream. After all, Faulk liked Nebraska. So did his mother, his guidance counselor, and even his English teacher, who had a great deal of influence on him.

During an in-home visit, Osborne sensed he made a connection with Faulk and his family. As an experienced recruiter, Osborne knew when personalities “clicked” in a player’s living room. There was no doubt in the coach’s mind that Faulk felt good about Nebraska. In fact, Osborne admits that he thought it was almost a done deal – Faulk was practically on his way to Lincoln, Neb.

On National Signing Day, Marshall Faulk signed with San Diego State University, far away from and far less prestigious than the many football powerhouses that were courting him. Osborne was surprised.

“It turned out we had been recruiting him as a defensive back, which most people had,” Osborne said. ‘But Marshall deep down always wanted to be a running back.”

Of course, SDSU told Marshall they would be delighted to have him play running back, but with his blazing speed, Nebraska would have loved to have him in its backfield too. Faulk had the talent to excel on either side of the ball.

“Although we had been thorough, and we had done our home work,” Osborne said, “we hadn’t asked him a key question: ‘Marshall, which side of the ball do you want to play on?’ That’s why it’s really important to do a lot of listening. I think we could have had Marshall Faulk if we had just recruited him as a running back.”

The rest, as they say, is history. Faulk flourished at SDSU, running for 1,400 yards and scoring 23 touchdowns in just his freshman year. During a 13-year professional career, Faulk amassed 12,279 rushing yards and scored 136 touchdowns, some of the most impressive statistics in NFL history.

Surely, it must have been frustrating for Husker coaches watching Faulk’s career from afar, knowing they came so close to signing him. It’s a feeling that haunts many coaches.

It’s a feeling that business people deal with too. Like football coaches, professionals must listen carefully to their “recruits” – their clients. How many deals does a salesperson lose, because he or she talks too much and doesn’t respond to what the client really wants? How many star employees does a hiring manager miss out on, because he or she doesn’t truly listen?

So remember, always ask your clients, “What side of the ball do you want to play on?” Then listen carefully to the answers.

About the Author:

Jeff Beals is an award-winning author, who helps professionals do more business and have a greater impact on the world through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. As a professional speaker, he delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. You can learn more and follow his “Business Motivation Blog” at www.JeffBeals.com.

Branding

From Stuck to Unstoppable: 5 Reasons Why You Should Build a Strong Client Capturing Brand

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date April 5, 2011

Are you running a service-based business and believe your branding is all about your logo, tagline and brochures? While these are important elements of your brands ‘touch points’ when I refer to your business’s brand what I am talking about goes much deeper than your stationery and tagline.

So what is a brand? Your brand is your reputation; it’s the promise of value you offer a client and the immediate thought that a prospect and/or client has when your business name is mentioned.

While it can take time and commitment to build a strong brand, it is well worth the effort if you want to build a thriving business.

Here are 3 signs that your service-based business has a weak and incoherent brand:

1. Your ideal clients/prospects are not investing in your services

Sending out weak, mixed messages will only confuse a prospect and a confused mind says ‘no’. If you are unsure of what makes you unique, what sets you apart from your competitors, and the value/benefits you offer your clients, then your brand communications will be ineffective in showing your prospect why they should be investing in you and not your competitors.

2. You feel on the verge of marketing burnout, exhaustion and desperation

What often occurs when businesses are not generating the results they desire is that they increase their marketing efforts. However, the problem is not the amount of marketing being done but the fact that their marketing message is confusing and not speaking to the needs of your prospects, which leads us back to our previous sign of clients not investing.

3. You struggle to charge what you’re worth

A business owner with a weak brand will often find it difficult to charge a premium fee because they fail to demonstrate the value, benefits and results clients will achieve through hiring them. For this reason the level of income the business generates is often considerably lower than a business with a strong reputation and brand.

Here are five benefits of building a strong, authentic brand

1. Position yourself as an expert

Having a strong brand will enable you to position yourself as a specialist to build a reputation as a credible authority in your field. Showcasing your knowledge and expertise in your articles/blog posts and through sharing your success stories and that of your clients is important.

Q: What are your strengths and talents? What makes you unique and sets you apart from your competitors? What stories can you share to showcase your expertise?

2. Charge a higher fee due to increased perceived value

It’s a well-known fact that experts and specialists are able to charge a higher premium for their services because of the perceived value.

When I first started the career coaching arm of my business some 15 years ago and compare it to where I am now, through building my brand and positioning myself as an expert I have been able to increase my fees by over 12000%. I would never have been able to achieve this if I had a weak and incoherent brand message.

Q: What’s the value you offer clients? What solutions can you offer them to help them overcome their issues and problems? Are you writing about this convincingly in your marketing materials?

3. Create a powerful, clear and consistent message

Having a clear understanding of your brand and your brand message will ensure that everything you write, including your articles, blog posts and social media messages continues to portray a clear and consistent message.

When planning my content I know the topics I write/speak about (including branding, marketing and mindset) will help service-based business owners in getting noticed, hired and paid what they’re worth. This is a consistent message that I continue to share with my community therefore building my reputation as an expert in my field.

Q: What are the topics you are an expert in? Do these topics relate to one target market? Is your target market interested in this topic? How frequently will you connect with your audience?

4. Attract your ideal client

A strong brand and brand message will enable you to attract and speak directly to the needs of your ideal clients. It’s vital you understand the problems and issues your clients are experiencing and demonstrate that you have the solutions to support your clients in overcoming these problems once and for all.

My ideal clients are service-based businesses that have amazing value to offer their clients however continue to struggle with generating the level of income they desire. My clients can see that I provide a solution to their issues in my article/blog posts and videos/podcasts and when they’re ready to take action and generate the level of income they desire they know where to find me.

Q: Are your communications attracting your ideal client? If not, is your message focused on the needs of your target market? Are you explaining the benefits and results your clients will achieve through investing in you?

5. Create a unique brand that is difficult to copy

While your competitors may try to emulate what you are doing, it will be difficult to maintain because an authentic brand is one that is unique to you and very difficult to copy and maintain in a believable manner.

Q: What makes you unique? What qualities and characteristics do you possess that have enabled you to generate amazing outcomes and can become your promise of value to prospects? Remember, these things are unique to you and will become an important element in building a strong brand.

To start building a powerful and authentic brand, ensure you identify your unique qualities and strengths; communicate a clear and consistent message that speaks to the needs of your ideal client; and continue to showcase the value and benefits your clients will achieve through investing in you.

About the Author:

Annemarie Cross is a Branding Specialist and Business helping ambitious business owners to get noticed, hired and paid what they’re worth, INSTANTLY! Are you doing these 7 must-do business building strategies? Find out here: http://www.AnnemarieCross.com and access our free audio mini-series ‘7 Easy Steps to Build Your Brand, Your Biz, and Your Income.’

Newsletter

BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 113

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date April 3, 2011

Cover Story
Peanut Butter Museum

A pop-up gallery in New York City is dedicated to the art of the peanut-butter sandwich, reports Marshall Heyman in the Wall Street Journal. The Nutropolitan Museum of Art, on Mulberry Street, is sponsored by Peanut Butter & Company…

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 113 >>>