Blog Marketing Works For Getting More Sales And More Clients

Blog Marketing is about getting more exposure for your business or for what you’re selling and it’s more than just about getting lots of traffic.

What’s the point of traffic if you can’t convert them into sales right?

In terms of blogging and blog marketing, my main focus is helping people who already have an offline business get their business online.  So, the initial focus is on attracting more clients and, making more sales whilst we strategize for how to get passive income from information products, based on their service.

For weeks now, I’ve wanted to talk to you about one of the ways a client of mine is approaching blog marketing but, until now, I’ve had to bite my lip ….

Gavin Ingham of www.GavinIngham.com is a sales trainer and motivational speaker and since building his blog last year, Gavin has been consistently blogging and making his presence known online and then earlier this year after each show of Sir Alan Sugar’s “The Sales Apprentice,” Gavin sat down and wrote a review of the program for his blog.

In fact, I know that on one occasion, Gavin was so tired, he didn’t do the review but woke up to about 25 emails asking “where’s the review of last night’s show?”

Don’t you just love it when your readers beg you for more content!

Anyway, I digress … As a direct result of Gavin’s reviews, two of the Apprentices have been in touch with him about partnering on a project or two.  You can see Gavin’s post, The Return of the Sales Apprentice for more information.

The real point I want to make here though is that blog reviews extend beyond trying to make a quick buck from an affiliate product.

It seems to me that small business owners, entrepreneurs and independent professionals are still a little slow adapting to blogging and blog marketing.  It’s not seen as a serious business building tool by some and others just complain that they just don’t have time to blog - these are generally those that don’t have time to build their business either.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if you’re marketing online and doing great with the online strategies you’re implementing, then blogging may not have to be a serious consideration to you right now.  I will say however that I personally believe in the long-term, if your competitor is blogging and you’re not, you’ll lose out.

But back to my business of reviews …

I think Gavin’s approach of reviewing The Sales Apprentice program after each show was not only an excellent idea and credibility booster, indirectly, he was making more sales.  He’s a professional speaker and he’s selling himself essentially in selling his services.

But, he didn’t need to litter his blog posts with links to products or even his services.  He just provided an honest and frank review, gave away some great sales tips and not only do I know he has been booked for speaking gigs as a direct result of these reviews, he’s now been contacted by two of the apprentices theselves.

Dave Taylor of AskDaveTaylor.com told a true story last year of a lawer who didn’t have a blog but left a comment on Dave’s blog.  The comment was read by either a news reporter or authority in a large organization (can’t remember for sure) but the result was that he landed himself in a very high position job.

One comment and no blog but one helluva reward at the end … can’t be bad for a few minutes work.

So, what business are you in and what can you review to get some more exposure for your business?

Is it the last book you read?  Maybe the last ad you saw on TV, a seminar you attended or even a company review that would help your readers see you as a potential giant or even giant in your field?

As a service professional, you are seeking authority and credibility because people buy from those they know like and trust and I’ve proved over and over again that blog marketing works for getting clients and making more sales and isn’t just limited to selling $29 eBooks.

In my blog post  Easier To Sell A Product Than Your Services Online, I pointed out technically, it’s harder to sell your services online than a product … so many will tell you anyway but most of my clients are acquired as a direct result of my blog and, my services cost way more than the average information product that is launched online.

So, if you’re looking for more clients, if you’re looking to make more sales and if you’re trying to sell products, I highly recommend that you add blogging to your marketing mix sooner, rather than later.

To Your Success,

Blog Marketing Tips and Insights
www.trishjones.com

You new here? If so, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Eban Pagan’s Ebook Publishing Business Model

Yesterday I spoke to you about the importance of surveying your prospects before you create your first product.

Today, I want to get into the product creation process and talk about ebook publising …

If you sell information online as a service provider in my view, one of the best ways of packaging your information is by publishing an ebook.

Why [tag-tec]Ebook Publishing[/tag-tec]?

Ebooks really help you establish credibility in your market and, because they’re digital, they can be distributed fast and, at minimal cost. They certainly have a higher perceived value than a business card and, by creating one ebook, you can create the foundation for a multi million dollar business as well as use it as a lead generator to attract new clients.

Even if you are sceptical of whether ebooks present a viable business model, I want you to watch this video of Eban Pagan, pen named, David DeAngelo and creator of the ebook “Double Your Dating,” explain how he went from zero dollars to millions with one this one ebook.

Still sceptical?

Whilst Eban Pagan doesn’t go into detail of what he did to create a multi million dollar business from one ebook, here are some suggestions for turning a $29 ebook into a profitable business:

1. Create an online coaching program teaching people how to implement the content in the ebook
2. Take that same coaching program and deliver via a teleseminar series … same content but different audience because depending on the topic (and I highly recommend “how to” ebooks), you might sell an online course for $497 but packaging an 8 week teleseminar series using the same information may command $1500 or more
3. Take the teleseminar and package it into a home study course that you can sell for $997
4. Take snippets from the ebook and create a $7 report - again, same target audience but different type of buyer … maybe for the director personality types of this world who want you to cut to the chase and just give them enough to implement within 60 minutes or less
5. Get your ebook published as a paperback or hardcover copy. By doing this, you’re creating a different avenue for distributing the same information
6. Create workshops around the ebook.

And, I’m sure the list can go on.

Christan Carter, Catch Him and Keep Him is another online marketer who has used this model successfully. I know, it’s dating again but, this subject is in popular demand!

Best of Success,

No One Knows Your Product Like Your Users

I have a six year old daughter and right now she’s into Zoey 101 and Disney Channel etc and it means I can’t help but watch sometimes … excuse over now so I’ll get on with it!

Today on Zoey 101 as their assignment, the class are asked to come up with a TV commercial for a new scooter called the “Jet X” and I learnt some important marketing lessons whilst watching that I wanted to share with you …

One of the developers from the Jet X company rides in on this super cool scooter and asks the class ”who want’s this scooter?”  And of course, they all put their hand up.

He then tells them that there are three things needed to sell a product:

1. great hair - a joke obviously
2. a great product - which he was very confident in and,
3. great advertising

But one of Zoey’s classmates is confused … she asks “don’t they have special people who get paid to do this kinda stuff, like make these kinds of commercials”

He said “that’s the point …”

“They Think They Know Teeneagers And They Don’t, But YOU Know Teenagers”

So now these teens are pumped because they want one of these which, they can win if their team comes up with the best TV Commercial and, the ad will be aired on TV.

So here’s what happened next …

The girls team up as do the boys but Logan, one of the classmates is loaned all the props for a movie set and even gets an actor for his commercial because his dad is a TV producer and he all but leaves his team-mates out because they know nothing about TV right?

As for the girls, they’re struggling.  They find out about Logan and his fancy equipement and complains to their teacher who gives them an important tip ..

“It’s Not About The Fancy Equipement or What You Put On The Screen, It’s About The Content”

Logan overhears this conversation which is when he introduces the oh so handsome Jeff Garrett, a celebrity spokesperson who will appear in their TV commercial and this of course make the girls even more upset and feeling they have even less chance now of ever owning a lovely pink Jet X.

I’m going to skip chunks of the program now and take you right to show time.

It’s the night before the viewing of the teams DVD movies and the boys have their professional cut movie whilst the girsl have nothing but some disasterous clips from about 20 different shoots and some uncut footage where the camera girl didn’t know how to turn it off.

Zoey decides she’s going to go through the entire video and cut and paste but by 7:00am in the morning, they still have nothing.

Everyone except Zoey is now in class watching the boys movie complete with great graphics, props - including the bikini girl since of course an ad for a motorized machine would be no good without the shapely blond right?

At the end everyone claps and the producer tells them well done.  But now the girls look embarrassed and Zoey hasn’t turned up so they start making excuses.  They’re about to say they have nothing when Zoey runs in with her DVD and puts it into the player.

She has put together a movie of the girls having conversations about what the Jet X means - freedom, go wherever you want whenever  you want, you look cool and will get noticed and it’s about being in control.

All of these clips are actually from the footage “camera girl” (not sure of her name) shot when she didn’t know how to turn off the camera but Zoey also included the clip that was scripted … the shoot of Zoey meeting her friend riding her new pink Jet X:

“Wow, is that a Motorcycle” (friend)
“No” (Zoey)
“Is it a scooter” (friend)
“No it’s a Jet X” (Zoey)

The screen goes black and in red text it says “did you get that?” Meaning, it’s not a motorcycle or a scooter, it’s a Jet X.

Now there’s silence from everyone except the guy from Jet X who can’t clap loud enough.  He says “oh my gosh, this is it!  This is exactly what we need,” but shocked Logan exclaims “you liked that?” To which the Jet X developer answered …

“Yours was entertaining, yes … for Hollywood.”

The girls on the other hand spoke to their audience - high school teens which is exactly what the makers of the Jet X were after and why they didn’t pay thousands to a company to create the add for them.

In wanting the best equipment, props and of course the Celebrity who would kiss the half naked girl, Logan lost the plot.  He forgot his audience and went for the “look good, sex appeal.”

Zoey and her team-mates on the other hand talked about what it would mean to them to own a Jet X - the freedom, looking cool and getting noticed etc.  And from whose point of view were they speaking?  Other High School teens like themselves … the target audience for the Jet X.

Both teams were given a Jet X for the purposes of the ad and had Logan and his team spoken to a dozen of his peers, he would have known that it was less about getting the half dressed chick and more about freedom and image that would sell the Jet X High School teens.

They may have overheard the teachers comment regarding it not being about the fancy equipment and what you put on the screen that matters, it’s the content, but in the end, Logan and his team did exactly the opposite and focused on look good rather than content.

What’s my point …

Before you go spend a penny on a product launch or even write the copy for your next product, give away some copies and ask for feedback.

Better yet, don’t even create the product until you survey your prospect users.

A blog post with a difference today but I hope you get the idea.

Going Full Feed Ahead …

Why I’ve Changed My Stance On Publishing Full Feeds

I received a very nice email from one of my subscribers this evening asking why I had decided to publish only the links to my post rather than the entire article.  

My response was simple really … “I was experimenting” since I wasn’t sure which format gave the biggest benefit.

In truth, I had noticed that whilst I received way more trackbacks from suspicious sources when publishing full feeds, my RSS subscriptions increased.

For those of you who read my blog via RSS reader, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m going forward “Full Feed Ahead” from now on.

So, what changed my decision?

Two blog posts really, one from Marie Langer at http://www.marialanger.com/2007/01/31/full-text-vs-summary-feeds and of course, it wouldn’t be right to make such an important decision before going and checking the site of the “Mighty Blogger,” Darren Rowse.  I had already made up my mind prior to reading this blog post, but this was the clincher.

I’m satisfied that whilst there are some negatives to publishing full feeds, the benefits far outweigh them.  Since I don’t sell ads on my site at the moment, it’s not such a big deal to me to get people to the site but besides this, I’m of the opinion that when subscribers are ready, they will come!

If you’re a blogger and you’re either sitting on the fence about publishing full feeds or, you’re adamant that your subscriber just has to be satisfied with the Feed format you decide to serve up, it really would be worth your while checking out the above posts.

Best,

Is 3 Way Linking Acceptable to Google?

Back in July, I wrote an article about link building and since that time I’ve done a lot of research but also had some negative results on my blog that has made me rethink the whole 3 way linking strategy.

I suppose the question isn’s so much “Is Link Building Unethical” as much as it should be “Is It Acceptable To Google,” and the other search engines for that matter?

First of all, let me go over my history of using a three way linking strategy on my blog:

I was one of the early adopters of 3WayLinks back in July 2007 and in a few months, my blog went up from a PageRank 5 to a PageRank 6 and, as you can imagine, I was ecstatic! 

Weeks later, it went back to a PageRank 5 and after weeks of scrathing my head, I discovered that having moved my blog to a new server, I had forgotten to add the resource link to the bottom of my blog which displays all the sites I was linking to in the 3 way links network and, without my knowledge, I was kicked out of the network.

So, I thought, Google must think I’m playing games here … 170 links here today … 170 links gone tomorrow.  Of course it looks suspicious!  Even I would ban me!  Okay Google, don’t take that as red!

I of course added the link to the bottom of my blog, sent a support ticket to the team over at 3waylinks.net and I was now back in the network.

A couple of months on and my blog has now gone down to a PageRank 4!  It hasn’t been that low for what feels like an eternity.

Now, I’ve no doubt I’m going to get comments like “why should you care about PageRank” and, “PageRank doesn’t matter anyway.”  Well, you keep thinking that … it matters to me! 

But that aside, the only thing I could think of (and that’s not saying it’s correct) was my three way linking strategy.

What Is 3 Way Linking?

For those of you who may not know what a three way linking strategy is, it’s a system that uses a method of linking where site A links to site B, site B links to site C, and site C links to site A, like this:

Therefore, rather than one site benefitting from a one-way link, all 3 sites get what Google sees as a one-way link to their web site.

This also differs from the old reciprocal linking method, where site A links to site B and site B links back to site A, a strategy which Google seems to no longer value.  

The power of linking three ways is that Google sees each link in the 3-way link exchange as a one-way link
and gives it the same full ranking value of a one-way link.

So the story goes anyway.  And, I say story, not to discredit the validity of 3 way linking, but more to question whether this really is an acceptable strategy by Google.

Well, over the weekend, I spoke to a good friend of mine Srini Saripalli who had implemented a 3 way linking strategy to one of his blogs which, in a short period of time, lost it’s PageRank entirely.

So naturally, this not only got me thinking, it got me worried and so I searched the Internet for information on whether this strategy was good or bad and of course, you have the extremist on each end of the scale … those who bless the day 3 way linking was born and those who curse it.

But the most interesting site I came across was a page on … Google’s Webmaster Central.  Whilst the article is mainly in reference to paid links, Matt Cutts makes it clear that “Google’s official quality guidelines have advised “Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank.”

I personally now believe that 3 way linking is one of the very schemes Google is against since ethical or unethical, it is a scheme designed to increase your sites ranking or PageRank.

Now, I’m also going to say this …

“The Proof Is In The Pudding.”

Not a technical blog term I know, but had I not been slapped twice by Google, I would have had no cause for concern and, in the past when other sites were moaning, Google was loving me!

If you’re asking why my blog went to a PageRank 6 initially, I think my only logical explanation is this:

Google hadn’t caught on to the 3 way linking strategy I’d implemented back then and just saw each link as a one-way link.  It’s also interesting that my second “slap” followed shortly after I’d published my article about 3 Way Linking.  Did I hand it to them on a plate?  Did I expose myself to Google?  Who knows!

The Google Bots may not be that intelligent to spot the linking strategy but Google uses human eyes to spot violations of their guidelines too. 

Anway, yesterday, I cleaned up my blog.

I removing my blog from both three way link networks I had participated in and, I also removed the links pages on my site.

Not sure what the consequences of my actions will do just yet since Google may think I’m playing games again, but the view I took was “do it now and start building your site credibility with Google again.”

I understand there is a place at Google’s Webmaster Central where you can write to and ask specifically why your PageRank has decreased but I haven’t found it yet and have been looking for weeks.  If someone knows where the link is, I’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, I’m sticking to practices that build my links naturally.  The tortoise won back then and he’ll win again!!

  

Next Page »