School of Creative Business - Creative Entrepreneurship

The Dos and Don'ts of Working a Room

The Dos and Don'ts of Working a Room

 
Hey I know you and me both want to be successsful creative entrepreneurs, but to do that - you gotta' start meeting people who’ve already succeeded.  Actually, this is the sole difference between success and failure. You have to learn how to work a room, how to network with others- so you ask how do I network locally and at networking events?

I got the answers for you.. this dos and don'ts of working a room list will help you build relationships that’ll help boost your network and your business.

Make Friends First
People prefer to do business with people they like. If you want someone to share with you their success techniques for building a creative business, then the first step is to build a friendship with them.
Get to know them as a person and allow them to get to know you. Show a little vulnerability, as well as curiosity and interest towards them.Once you have a bit of a relationship, then talk business.

Give As Well as Take
If you’ve discovered a marketing technique that’s been working really well for you, don’t keep it to yourself.
There has to be a give and take relationship in any kind of business relationship. Share your knowledge and your contacts freely and others will do the same.

Join a Mastermind Group
Meeting with other likeminded people on a regular basis can really help drive you forward.
There are two important things that happen when you’re around other people like yourself -you get to share ideas, techniques and stories that’ll help you figure out more ways to be successful and you start to build off of each other’s momentum. If one person in the group is making more money than the others, everyone else will start making more money. Everyone  in the group will start taking more action.

Find a Mentor
If you’re making $500 a month and want to be making $2,000 a month, then find someone who’s making $10,000 a month.This relationship can be a paid relationship, a friendship or a mastermind group relationship. Do whatever you need to do, just make sure you have someone in your life that’s where you want to be spiritual, emotional and financially. This will have a very powerful magnetic effect on your creative business.

Final Thoughts: Here's the deal.. who you spend time with has a great deal of influence on your success. Make sure you’re networking properly so that you’re spending your time with the right people.

 

Talk to You Guys Later,

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Looking for more solid tips on business ideas, internet & social marketing, and personal branding? Check out the School of Creative Business free email newsletter, Creative Business Ideas. It jumps off with a Social Marketing Tips E-course. Sign up here. If you know anyone who might like this post- pass it along to other creative entrepreneurs by clicking below on Tweet This or Facebook Like buttons

 

6 Ways to Pimp your Social Media Profile

Building social media profile on Facebook or any other social media site is a great way to brand yourself, tell more people about what you do and how it can help them. It also will help you build credibility as a solution-provider, a business owner, an entrepreneur or coach.

What most creative entrepreneurs don’t realize is that it’s just as important to build your online profile on social media sites as it is to build the profile on your blog or website.

Why?, You Ask.

Because the people who find you on online need to know that you’re the real deal and that the information you have can be trusted and is true.

What this means is that your social media profile is a  commercial for the people who are looking for you online. The more consistent your social media profile is – and the more places it is seen – the more likely others will believe those messages.

6 Ways to PIMP your Social Media Profile

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This is where I started... I do a quick search for my name in Google to see what sites show up. When I search for “alease michelle” in Google, here are the top 5 websites that came up as of this writing:

• https://profiles.google.com/AleaseMichelle — my google profile
• www.aleasemichelle.typepad.com/ — my blog
• aleasemichelle.typepad.com/studio_2229/ — my art studio blog
• aleasemichelle.com — my personal website

Once I know what web pages show up, I can start tweaking my message on each of those pages.

Here are 6 Strategies to Pimp Your Social Media Profile:

1. Revise Those Profiles with current information about you and your business

2. Focus on the top 5 sites that appear in Google. 

3. Tell people what you can help them with.

4. Be Consistent on all profiles. Make sure to say the same thing on every profile you've created.

5. Create a call to action to get people to visit your site. 

6. Have others say good things about you. Ask friends or clients to leave positive comments on your profile. Naturally if you are doing what you say you are doing- this should come easy.

 

Alright there's 6 ways to Pimp your social media profile. Leave a comment below with others ways you have PIMPed a social media profile.

Talk with you later,

 

 

How to Improve Blog Traffic:Podcasting

Well guys, we are almost done. This is the last How to Improve Blog Traffic tutorial. Today is all about podcasting, what is it, why you should use it for your business and how to create  and host your first podcast. So lets get to it...

What and Why a podcast?

Podcast means - Portable On Demand and broadcast. Any MP3 player can be used to create and listen to a podcast. Its like having your own radio station. Your words, your thoughts, your world all delivered through a RSS feed. That's is what I call super star status. 

Now it should be clear why you should create a podcast for your creative business, but just in case here are a few reasons why...

1. You can quickly gain a very focused target audience

2. The sound of actually hearing your voice brings about a personal connection to you and your content

3. You could soon become a recognized expert in your chosen niche. Like I said before a Super Star.

How to Create a Podcast Video Tutorial

How to Create a Podcast with Audacity

 

 

Publish your First Creative Business Podcast

Alright guys, you are now ready to publish your podcast online. To do this, you need a place to host your podcast- there are several free podcast hosting sites, below are 3 highly recommend hosting sites.

Podbean

Blog Talk Radio

PodOmatic

Get the Word Out about Your Podcast

The next and last thing to do is to share your new podcast content with your readers. Generate a RSS feed code of your podcast. The hosting site you've chosen should have instructions on how to create a RSS feed for your podcast. 

Submit your RSS feed to podcasting directories. One popular podcast directory is iTunes. Learn how to submit a podcast in iTunes - watch the very short video below:

 

Once you have uploaded your podcast to iTunes, you can easily post the link on your blog, or even send it in your email newsletter.

Action Steps to Improving Your Blog Traffic

Will take about 1 hour to complete.

• Pull out one of your best articles
• Download the necessary podcasting equipment
• Record yourself reading your best article (add a little personality)
• Upload podcast to hosting site
• Submit to iTunes
• Share your podcast on your site and on your social media sites

Hey did you missed the last 6 lessons on How to Improve Blog Traffic?

The How to Improve Blog Traffic Tutorial has come to a end, if you are just tuning into this tutorial, then you've missed a lot, but don't worry you can go back and catch up by click on the links below.  

Blog Traffic Tutorial 1: Choose Target Keywords

 Blog Traffic Tutorial 2: Submit Blog to Social Bookmarking Sites

Blog Traffic Tutorial 3: Ping a Hubpage

Blog Traffic Tutorial 4: RSS feed and Press Releases

Blog Traffic Tutorial 5: Create a Squido Lens

Blog Traffic Tutorial 6 : How to Create Short Video and Submit to Youtube

 Blog Traffic Tutorial 7: Submit to Classified Advertisements

 

 P.S.

By any chance, if you have any questions, please feel free to Holla at me by leaving a comment below.

Talk with you later, 

 

 

The Basics of Link Building

Building great links to your blog or website is one of the most high impact skills you can develop in your online marketing career. But how do you actually build links that convert?

 Below are few proven tactics you can use to get links back to your blog or business website.

 

Building Direct Relationships

This is the “old fashioned” way of doing it – Building genuine relationships with other site owners. This method may be as old as the internet itself, but it’s still one of the most effective ways to go about it.

 In the web marketing community, many of the experts often trade links on their sites and send emails out to their lists for one another. The same is true in many other industries.

 Who do you know that’s in a similar industry? What might you be able to do together that will create a win-win result for both of you?

 

Article Distribution

One great way to get your links out there is through article distribution. Write an informative, high-quality article and post it to a variety of article directories, including EzineArticles, and Go Articles. Once you’ve submitted your articles to several directories, try also submitting them to various directories that specifically host articles in your industry.

 

Forum Links

If you’re active on forums related to your industry, having backlinks back to your site can make a big difference. Most forums don’t approve of links in main posts, but links in signature files are often just fine.

 

Directories

 Another great place to get links, often high quality links is through directories. Directories like the Yahoo! Directory and DMOZ often have very high PageRank. They can send both organic traffic as well as search engine link power your way.

 

Blogs

Another great place to get links from is other blogs. One good place to leave your links is in the “website” section of a blog when you’re leaving a reply. Make sure that you leave an informative, useful comment rather than just a random comment.

 

Press Releases

Having great press releases can result in massive bursts of traffic if done right. Unfortunately, most people don’t do press releases right. Send press releases when you have something that’s attention and newsworthy to send out. Don’t send out press releases just to build links.

 If you send out something that’s newsworthy and it’s picked up by news media, that one news article will draw incredible amounts of traffic to your site.

 

Learn more about the basic of link building in the How to Improve Blog Traffic tutorial - start with tutorial 1: Choose a Keyword

 

 

Talk to You Guys Later,

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Looking for more solid tips on business ideas, internet & social marketing, and personal branding? Check out the School of Creative Business free email newsletter, Creative Business Ideas. It jumps off with a Social Marketing Tips E-course. Sign up here. If you know anyone who might like this post- pass it along to other creative entrepreneurs by clicking below on Tweet This or Facebook Like buttons

 

How to Improve Blog Traffic tutorial: Submit Classified Advertisements

How to improve blog traffic tutorial for today is all about submitting your blog's services and/or products on free classified websites.

 

How Can Free Classified Ads Improve Your Blog Traffic?

The best answer to this question is those who are able identify the target audience and create sales copy which entices the reader will find advertising on free classified sites to be a place to get traffic.  There is also an opportunity to gain financial benefit through advertising on these free sites. Many of the free classified ad sites already receive extensive traffic.

You know companies have been placing ads in newspapers for years, but actually placing a blog in advertisement format, just escaped me. Silly me... but anyway free classifieds are a wonderful way to advertise a product or service. Use free ad sites listed below to place an ad. It really is a good way to get traffic to your site, but I want to warn you, please don't spam- even these Free Classified website hate spam.

 

Free Classified Websites to Improve Blog Traffic

Craiglist

USFreeAds

AdlandPro

FreeAdsweb

EPage

How to Write an Effective Ad for Classified

When you start to write your ad , there are two critical points you must NEVER, forget:

1. Most people don't buy  based on logic. Buying decision are based on emotions.

2. People don't want to feel like they're being pushed into buying. They want to feel like they arrived at the buying decision on their own.

Actually, writing effective sales material has become quite simple for me.  In fact, I'm going to teach you what I've learned from the advertising pros. And if you apply these basics techniques, you'll see a difference in your sales writing.

You GOTTA write every  ad using the following classic AIDA formula:

A=ATTENTION     I=INTEREST      D=DESIRE      A=ACTION

ATTENTION: The very first thing your ad must do. The very best way to do that is with an effective headline.

An effective headline is any headline that answers this question: "What's in it for me"?

INTEREST: After you get their attention, you want to get them "INTERESTED" in your product or service. You do this by immediately telling them what your headline promises.

DESIRE:. You have to make your customer "DESIRE" your product or service. And the way to do that is with benefits. 

Remember, just keep telling them what your headline promised. Also, tell them what they stands to gain by purchasing your product or service. More importantly, tell them what they stand to lose, if they doesn't purchase.

Push the emotional "hot buttons", by using selling words like: 

new, save, amazing, free, guaranteed, security, no-risk, look younger, feel better

ACTION: You want to close your ad with a call to action! Ask them for the order. It's important to ask for the order at least 3 to 6 times.

Here are a few examples of Call to Action statements:

"Don't waste another minute! Order NOW"!

"Just click on the button below to order NOW, Risk-Free"!

"To get your FREE gift, Order NOW"!

 

Hey did you missed the last 6 lessons on How to Improve Blog Traffic?

Don't worry you can get caught up: Click on the blue links to get started

Traffic Tutorial 1: Choose Target Keywords

 Traffic Tutorial 2: Submit Blog to Social Bookmarking Sites

Traffic Tutorial 3: Ping a Hubpage

Traffic Tutorial 4: RSS feed and Press Releases

Traffic Tutorial 5: Create a Squido Lens

Traffic Tutorial 6 : How to Create Short Video and Submit to Youtube

 

Action Steps to Improving Your Blog Traffic

Will take about  1 hour to complete.

• Write an ad for a product or service your business offers
• Sign up for 2 to 3 classified sites
• Read over site rules and regulations
• Submit your ad to these sites
• Share this post with friend    
• Tweet this post!
• Share on Facebook

***Next Thursday will be the last How to Improve Your Blog Traffic tutorial: Podcasting

 

 

How to Write to Connect with Your Blog Readers

  
There’s a big difference between promotional sale writing and writing in a way that really builds a genuine relationship with your readers. Can you guess which one generates more sales and traffic to your site? You guessed it – when you write to build real connection, you’ll see the difference in your site traffic and bank account.

 How do you write in a way that actually builds relationships? Here’s how.

 How to Write to Connect with Your Blog Readers

Share Yourself

Be the real you.  Chances are, you’re not the only person selling what you are selling! But if you write in a way that’s real then people will listen to what you’re saying, not only because of your content, but because they enjoy hearing you share your experience.

 If you had a specific experience that relates to what you’re writing about, share it. Believe it or not, this actually have a big impact on people feeling like they can trust you. Because they feel like they know you more.

 

What’s In It For Me?

The “WIIFM” question is a question that you should answer in the first paragraph of your blog post. Blog content that rambles on and on without being clear about why the reader should read it  does not get read, period.

 

Be Conversational

Write like you talk. Don’t use corporate boring speak. You’re having a person to person conversation, so there’s no need to speak corporate. When I first started blogging- I thought I had to sound super professional- but actually it took me longer to write my post and a lot times I just felt like it wasn’t me. 

 Now I use slang. I start my sentences with “and” or “because” it sounds natural to me.And most importantly, my passion and spirit is behind each and every word I write.

 

Let It Sit

Before you publish your content, let it sit for a day or two. Then, come back and review it one more time before you publish it. Often times the second time around you’ll pick up on things you didn’t the first time. These could be grammatical mistakes, or it could just be more information you can put in that’ll make your content even better.

 

Credibility

One important element to having readers listen to what you have to say is credibility. There are so many other bloggers on the internet giving different advice; it’s hard to know who to listen to.

 Have you helped over 100 people solve a specific problem? Make sure they know that. Have you been featured on top ranking blog site? Make sure that’s plastered all over your website. Have you done exactly what you’re teaching? Make sure they know that.

 

In short, the question of “why should I listen to you” and “why should I trust you” should be answered before you ask your readers to take your word on something.

Here’s the bottom line: If you write in a way that really connects with your readers, you’ll build more traffic, more loyalty, more referrals and more sales. Write to connect with your readers.

 

Talk to You Guys Later,

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Looking for more solid tips on business ideas, internet & social marketing, and personal branding? Check out the School of Creative Business free email newsletter, Creative Business Ideas. It jumps off with a Social Marketing Tips E-course. Sign up here. If you know anyone who might like this post- pass it along to other creative entrepreneurs by clicking below on Tweet This or Facebook Like buttons

How to Improve Blog Traffic Tutorial: Creat a short video and submit to Youtube

 
P.S. Did you missed the last 5 lessons? Don't worry you can get caught up: Traffic Tutorial 1 , Traffic Tutorial 2 , Traffic Tutorial 3  , Traffic Tutorial 4 and Traffic Tutorial 5

Today's How to Improve Blog Traffic Tutorial is one of my favorites. Any creative business large or small would benefit from creating videos around their services and products. A business that uploads a couple of videos a month can expect an increase in traffic to their site which can draw in potiential customers.

A Few Video Ideas You Can Create Today:

Company updates: Video news releases or video messages from you that will inform your readers of your creative business's latest products, projects and achievements.

 Industry news: There's no need to limit your videos to what's happening with your business. Create videos on your personal view point on a specific industry trend or product. Your readers will love to hear your thoughts on related topics that interest them also.

 How tos: Create videos that show readers how to use the products you sell. If you are a service base business, then create an advice/solution video. Offer tips and solutions to a common problems in your industry.

The Benefits of Creating Business Videos:

Better customer communication: You already know the benefits of sending out press releases. A video is just another means to do that, and one that appeals to many creative people. 

A more personal image: If you create  videos on a regular basis you'll be giving your business a personal face that customers can connect with

Increased web presence:  Videos give your creative business's  web site more in-depth content. Good videos can increase your web audience and your google ranking. 

 

 From the Video Guru Himself: Gideon Shalwick

 
Gideon Shalwick offers advice on the latest and best video technology, how to grow your business using video, tips and strategies for increasing traffic to your videos, and the latest information on video SEO.

He's amazing. I've learned a lot from his X-Factor Video: 7 Killer Youtube Tips. I believe you too will learn just as much as I did. Click on the link to learn how to Use Youtube to create more traffic to your site.

 

Video Creation Resource List

Making Video For YouTube With Windows Movie Maker

What Camera To Use For Online Video... And Other Bits Of Essential Equipment

Tips For Recording, Editing, Exporting And Embedding Your Video Onto Your Website

Other places to submit business video:

www.Revver.com

www.RealPeopleRealStuff.com

Action Steps to Improving Your Blog Traffic

Will take about  1 to 2  hours to complete.

• Watch a few of Gideon Shalwick video on equipment and video software
• Create your a short video 2 to 3 minutes long 
• Sign up for  Youtube
• Upload your video to Youtube. 
• Bookmark your video channel Onlywire.com
• Share this post with friend who's interested in creating videos for their business.    
• Tweet this post!

How to Improve Blog Traffic: Create an Squidoo Lens

Alright- I'm back! It's time to show you another way to improve your blog traffic. I am suggesting you create a Squidoo lens. Hey I spelled it correctly - SQUIDOO.

Squidoo is an increasingly popular Web 2.0 websites that offers new and exciting marketing opportunities for creative entrepreneurs. Squidoo is made up of single web pages known as "lenses" which are generated by the user. Squidoo allows the page owner to voice their opinion, provide information, or recommend products they like.

Squidoo is based on the assumption that everyone is an expert on something and a Squidoo lens allows you to share this expertise and provide links to various resources on that subject.

You see- Squidoo is GREAT for you! Below I've included a video on how to Set up a Squidoo lens. Look and listen, then create your own. Get your keywords ready because you will need them to set up your first lens.

How to Set Up a Squidoo Lens

Tiffany Dow, author of Social Networking on Squidoo, shows you how to set up your first lens. Which is very easy. Once you get your first lens set up then the rest is up to you. I suggest you create several lens through out your traffic campaign.

Video: How to Set Up a Squidoo Lens

 

Action Steps to Improving Your Blog Traffic

Will take about  1 hour to complete.

• Create your first Squidoo Lens 
• Create a RSS Feed for your new lens
• Submit your Squidoo RSS feed to FeedAgg.com
• Bookmark your Squidoo lens on Onlywire.com
• Share this post with friend who's interested in improving blog traffic.    
• Tweet this post!

P.S. Did you missed the last 4 lessons? Don't worry you can get caught up: Traffic Tutorial 1 , Traffic Tutorial 2 , Traffic Tutorial 3  and Traffic Tutorial 4

 

 

6 Social Media Tips for the Creative Entrepreneur

Hey Guys- Wanted to share 6 simple social media tips you can use in your creative business. Nothing fancy - but simple, pracitical and effective.

After the list - I've included a presenation presented by Erica Swallow of  Mashable- which goes into a lot more detail for each social media tip.

6 Social Media Tips for the Creative Entrepreneur

1. Share Content

2. Curate Conversation

3. Engage Audience

4. Promote Your Presence

5. Customize the Experience

6. Track Everything (I need to work on this one)

 

Six Social Media Tips for Traditional Media

View more presentations from Erica Swallow

How to Improve Blog Traffic: RSS feed and Press Releases

 Hello Creative Entrepreneurs,

Here's our next  How to Improve Blog Traffic Tutorial Series. If you missed the first 3 , you can click here to get caught up: Traffic Tutorial 1 , Traffic Tutorial 2 & Traffic Tutorial 3 .

Today's Tutorial is about submitting RSS feed to directories and writing a press releases.  So lets start with RSS Feed.

Why Create a RSS Feed?

Well - you know that you aren't the only blogger out in the internet world? Right? Actually there are over million other bloggers out there and readers get confused on who is doing what. So many reader just subscribe to their favorite bloggers - usually through RSS feeds. 

*** To catch up on how to create a RSS feed for your blog - check out this post.

Creating a RSS feed for your blog provides your readers a way to keep tabs on what you are doing and writing about and it also helps your readers share it with others who they think will benefit from your information. But to further your blog's reach you must also submit your RSS feed to RSS feed directories  .

Why submit your RSS Feed to Feed Directories ?

• They help you to build up inbound links to your site
• They increase your search engine rankings and online visibility
• They bring in more qualified visitors to your site
• They help you reach untapped markets and increase your exposure to niche communities

One feed submission directory I recommend  to submit your RSS feed is FeedAgg.com. Below is a video demonstration on how to submit RSS feed to FeedAgg.com. Watch and Learn.

Video: Submit RSS feed to FeedAgg.com

 

Writing and Submitting Press Releases

Writing a press release about you, your blog or the products and services you offer an serve as a great marketing tool that can bring in lots of traffic to your site. Below are 3 really good reasons why you should use press releases to promote your site.  Press Releases bring...  

Quality links to your site. Many press release directories allow anchor- text links (use your targeted keywords as anchor text links), which can help increase the authority of your blog. Just don't overdo it with links in your press release. Darren Rowse from Problogger.net recommends one link per 100 words.

Exposure from the media.  Although you may think most people are found through social media efforts , traditional media platforms still rely on press releases for newsworthy events. The media still looks for attention getting stories. Even if you press release doesn't become a story in a popular newspaper,or on a television, it may still catch the attention of a journalist who may easily write about you or products/services later.

 Qualified organic traffic to your site. Press release wire services with big distribution channels can bring in niche specific traffic which could possibly place you on the first page of Google.

Lets start this How to Improve Blog Traffic with Press Releases with video demonstration on how to write a press release for internet marketing promotion.

Video: How to Write a Press Release for Internet Marketing Promotion

  

   

List of sites to submit Press Release:

www.Free-Press-Release.com

www.webwire.com

www.24-7pressrelease.com

www.PressReleaseSpider.com

Action Steps:

Will take about  1 to 2 hours to complete.

• Submit your Blog RSS feed to FeedAgg.com
• Submit your Hubpage RSS feed to FeedAgg.com
• Bookmark your Hubpage on Onlywire.com
• Write your first press release. Include 1  keyword in your press release. Use it at least 3 times in your release
• Submit your press release to 1 or 2 press release wire services.   
• Share this post with friend who's interested in improving blog traffic.    
• Tweet this post!

 That's All Folks!

 

 Next week - How to Improve Blog Traffic Tutorial : Squidoo for the Creative Entrepreneur.