That being said, if you use blogs as part of your online marketing strategy, you will want to make sure that your blogs are cataloged with different blog sites.  I don’t register my blogs with any places that charge money, but I do register them if the blog registry site requests a link back and it appears reputable.  So, I will give a shout out to one of my favorite blog registering sites BlogCatalog.com.

About The Author

 Are you looking for Web Marketing Experts to help your small business with it’s online marketing?   Someone to help you create and implement your social media strategy?  I know what you are up against.  You need to find the right fit that is within your budget and trust that person to know what he/she is doing and to get it done.  You want someone to market your business online.  You want to end each day knowing your online marketing strategy is successful and expanding.  You want to give that worry to someone and spend time on the parts of your business that you enjoy.  You want to tell other internet marketing experts, “thank you, but I already have an amazing internet marketing system in place that is bringing me all the business and money that I need.”

My name is Alison Elliott and I help small businesses succeed online.  You can read more about me, my internet marketing system and how I use social media strategy and web marketing expertise to create, implement and manage your online marketing and presence, on mylocal internet marketing experts web site. 

To help move you in a positive direction, I am offering you a free thirty minute consultation to see if my services are the right fit for you.  If nothing else, you will leave the consultation with a clearer idea of what you are wanting and how to attain it.

I hope this helps you build your empire, whatever your empire looks like to you.

About The Author

 Are you looking for Web Marketing Experts to help your small business with it’s online marketing?   Someone to help you create and implement your social media strategy?  I know what you are up against.  You need to find the right fit that is within your budget and trust that person to know what he/she is doing and to get it done.  You want someone to market your business online.  You want to end each day knowing your online marketing strategy is successful and expanding.  You want to give that worry to someone and spend time on the parts of your business that you enjoy.  You want to tell other internet marketing experts, “thank you, but I already have an amazing internet marketing system in place that is bringing me all the business and money that I need.”

My name is Alison Elliott and I help small businesses succeed online.  You can read more about me, my internet marketing system and how I use social media strategy and web marketing expertise to create, implement and manage your online marketing and presence, on mylocal internet marketing experts web site. 

To help move you in a positive direction, I am offering you a free thirty minute consultation to see if my services are the right fit for you.  If nothing else, you will leave the consultation with a clearer idea of what you are wanting and how to attain it.

Business Secret #1: Focus on Your Uniqueness. Marcus Samuelson, winner of Top Chef Masters, was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden. For his final entrée, he cooked a traditional African sea urchin, a risky move, but it told his story, illustrated his unique point of view, and made him stand out from the other chefs.

Business Secret #2 Be Teachable. Put together a stellar Success Team of coaches, colleagues and mentors. The most successful contestants on American Idol are the singers who listen to their vocal coaches and the judges.

Business Secret #3: Make Decisions Quickly. Reality shows force contestants to act on their choices. The highly successful business owners I interviewed for my book, Bags to Riches, had vivid visions, made decisions quickly and took action.

Business Secret #4: Spotlight Your Sponsors. I love to watch the masterful way that reality shows feature their sponsors. On Project Runway, they had the fashion designers go to the Saturn Showroom and make dresses out of car parts. On Dancing with the Stars, they have the Macy’s Stars of Dance showcase. Give credit to the people and companies who make your dreams possible.

Business Secret #5: Give Back.  The new generation of reality shows focus on giving back. Oprah’s foray into reality shows was the Big Give. Her contestants gave away money to deserving people and causes. The winner, Stephen Paletta, got $500,000 for himself and $500,000 to give away. Celebrity Apprentice and Top Chef Masters also have the contestants give back to their favorite charities.

To learn more about Linda Hollander, check out her web site Wealthy Bag Lady.

This post is short because I am busy online shopping … and I already noticed two things:

1.  I got some discount offers from Gap (they have the greatest customer retention marketing)
2. More and more of my friends are buying their gifts online and enjoying the holiday

What can you do with this information for your business?

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  She helps small businesses market themselves online by setting up social media and optimized blogs for small business owners and solopreneurs.  She then trains small business owners to use their blogs and social media to drive traffic and increase interest in their business. 

To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.

Sometimes in the strategy of building your business you forget about all the amazing people you know: business owners, friends, friends of friends, social media friends, businesses you use, potential clients, you name it, they are out there.  Start looking at who might make a great partner and what you can bring to the relationship.  Then, contact them with an offer of how you can help them and have an idea of how that person might help you.  You never know how it could turn out.

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  She helps small businesses market themselves online by setting up social media and optimized blogs for small business owners and solopreneurs.  She then trains small business owners to use their blogs and social media to drive traffic and increase interest in their business. 

To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.

Think about why you would read a blog.  Perhaps you love motorcycles and you want to read about all the latest and greatest parts to new bikes.  More specifically, you love Harleys and want the latest and greatest on Harleys.  So, you find a blog that talks all about new Harleys and now, you are a reader.  It is all about great content.  But a question I often receive from small businesses who are trying to increase their blog traffic is … how do I get there? 

It is as simple as – get started with a blog – and as complicated as permalinks.  Here are ten things you need to increase your traffic, visibility and readership of your small business blog:

1. Start by finding the right keywords for you target market.  In the case of a Harley Lover, your keyword might be New Harley Information or Harley Motorcycles … to find that, you need to find your relevant keywords at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal (You can also receive my free 10 day marketing e-course that goes through this in more detail.)
2. Relevant Content  – make sure your content reflects your blog title and the overall branding of your blog:  what you are about?  Does each blog post reflect that?
3. Submit every post to blog search engines You can start with Blog Catalog as a great resource.
4. Post comments on others blogs with similar content and so the comment links back to you and that person might check out your blog as well
5. Bookmark your blog on places like Digg, StumbleUpon and Delicious
6. Participate in forums as a way of becoming an expert
7. Write articles and submit them to free e-zine services (this is called article marketing)  Your articles are then available for other web sites to post, making you an expert and linking back to your blog.
8. And, of course, promote your blog and blog posts on your social media – like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

Overwhelmed?  You can always start small or outsource this vital part of your marketing.  Success is within reach – please contact me if you are ready for some help.

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  She helps small businesses market themselves online by setting up social media and optimized blogs for small business owners and solopreneurs.  She then trains small business owners to use their blogs and social media to drive traffic and increase interest in their business. 

To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.

To get started, look for local networking opportunities … a lunch networking event, a BNI group you might get involved in, an upcoming conference or any opportunity to get out and meet other business owners doing the same thing you are doing … living life.

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  She helps small businesses market themselves online by setting up social media and optimized blogs for small business owners and solopreneurs.  She then trains small business owners to use their blogs and social media to drive traffic and increase interest in their business. 

To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.

1.  Events sell + deadlines are important

2.  You need to connect and bond with all your customers, even those you never physically meet (maybe even more so with those online customers of yours!)  This is where automated marketing is a god send!

3.  You  must measure everything that is going on in your marketing – because if you don’t, you might scrap an entire campaign when really you just needed to give your customers more options or change one thing or alter the price ever so slightly . . .measure who gets the message, what they click on, how long they stay, when they leave, how far they get through your sales process, if they open your bonding emails, what they buy from you and so on . . .

4.  Know that your products will sell if you get them in front of the right audience (you can test this online too)

5.   Know who your target market is with a demographic, psychographic and egoic label profile

6.  Use good copyrighting to incorporate trigger words for your target market

7. Be Genuine

… lastly, hire someone who really knows how to implement this (and no, it isn’t the kid in college who knows the Internet).  It is the professional who is probably more than you want to spend but will save you in aggravation and make you more money.

Until Next Time – Alison

2. Deadlines make a difference

The absolute best system out there for small business lead follow up … think automated marketing system, email and broadcast capability, list segmentation, online store, plugins to work with everyone, tons of training, a professional and helpful staff and the ultimate goal to make the small business owner successful: Infusionsoft.  Everyone uses it – from Michael Gerber and Dan Kennedy to me and everyone I can convince (who then love me later for it). 

Once you start using Infusionsoft, you will need a follow up sequence (you know, the thank you email, how is it going email, education email, did you know email, other offers email and so on) for:

Leads – to create a relationship and turn them into customers
New Customers – to bond with them
Existing Customers – to create long term nuturing, repeat purchases and raving fans

Can you keep in close contact with all your leads and customers?  By the way, I help people who make the leap to Infusionsoft and then needs some help maximizing their potential.  Let me know if I can help you!

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Unique, Interesting and Great Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.

1.  No Specific Audience – meaning you don’t have the right words or labels (sometimes called egoic labels) to show your audience that “YES, this is me”  … example would be a mom, a small business owner, an entrepreneur, a health nut, a wife, a woman, a man … you get the point

2.  No Specific Problem – meaning you aren’t giving them the answer to a specific problem you will solve … example would be “I need to get a valentines gift for my wife” or “I need to lose 10 lbs”  or “I want to be healthier”  or “I am not saving enough for retirement” or “my kids need more exercise” or “am I getting all the nutrients I need for my body” or “my sex life is not satisfying” … you can put problems into five categories:

Wealth
Identity
Health
Relationships
Sex

3.  Not using Education Based Marketing … I like to think about this as an excellent persuasion tactic (and again, don’t feel like marketing is meant to be misleading if you intentions are true.  The point is that someone needs to hear your message and you are educating them so they hear you over all the other chatter).  When I think of myself here, I like to relate my decisions to this use … some recent examples:

30% THE ANSWER IS NO AND THAT IS OK:  I have a next level coach and am always looks for new training, but I don’t do well with the hard sell.  So, when I recently saw all blatant tactics on display with a speaker (selling education based products), I wasn’t interested.  I was in the 30% of people who will not purchase here and he was right to pass over me as a potential buyer.

30% FUTURE NEED: I will begin to shop for holiday gifts soon, so when those commercial come on or I see a product that I am interested in, I put it in my mental holding cell for later.  Those advertisers may not get my money today, but if I see them often enough to remember them, they will get it in the future (so marketing to me now brings future results)

30% NOT EVEN AWARE THAT I NEED THAT OR THAT YOU CAN HELP ME:  I am in the market for an App Developer but I really haven’t done much about it but a little online research.  It is how I imagine business owners feel about diving into a web site. So, when I was at an Infusionsoft conference, I struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me and found out that he owns an Apple store – I then had the excellent opportunity to LEARN (opperative word here) about what I should be looking for in a developer.  I was being EDUCATED and would have proceeded to purchase if he was a developer. 

Another example – a speaker who was educating us at the Infusionsoft conference about particularly complicated but effective prospect sequencing.  I was LEARNING and being EDUCATED.  At a few points, I became aware of a new product that would solve some problems with metrics and time in sequencing.  The important part for you here is that I wasn’t aware until I was educated that what they were teaching would solve a problem of mine – I purchased their product to help me, fully aware of the marketing technique but grateful for the education!

7% WELL THAT IS INTERESTING, I WILL THINK ABOUT IT  … maybe I just need a little more time, maybe deposits are coming into my business next week and I can buy it then, maybe I get a little nervous because I want to research you to make sure you are what you say you are … regardless, thank you for the information and keep in touch (there is real opportunity for you here, if you aren’t too pushy)

3% I NEED THIS, WANT THIS RIGHT NOW … the 3% people fight for in Google Adwords.  The amazing instances where someone wants to buy from you with question, without objection, without negotiation – right now! 

So, there you go.  I hope this is helpful in establishing the right products and the right message before diving into your Internet Marketing Plan.  If you need help, please contact me.

Alison Elliott is a Marketing Expert and founder of Corner Your Market Global Marketing.  To get these tips along with tips on SEO for Small Business, Social Media Marketing for Small Business, Unique, Interesting and Great Marketing Ideas for Small Business ,  Help Creating Online Marketing Plans for Small Businesses, and Businesses and Software to help Market your Small Business online , you can sign up to our small business marketing e-guide here.