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Whose Blogs Are You Reading?

Reading blogs is part of what we all do. Not everyone, of course, but certainly you. After all, here you are, reading mine.

The question now is: What blogs are you reading? There are almost as many kinds of blogs as there are people writing them. For my purposes they can be categorized as follows:

• Businesses like mine-of course it's always a good idea to stay abreast of what people in our industry are doing so we don't fall behind on the current trends and technologies
• Current affairs-reading political commentary or getting in-depth opinions on current events helps many of us feel more in touch with what's happening than what we can get in the paper or on TV
• Learning or improving skills-blogs are a great place me to keep learning what's new in your field or how to learn more about promoting your business.
• Entertainment and personal-it's always fun to have a blog to go to that will make you smile or laugh out loud. Some people like to read about their spiritual belief system. Others may be interested in what's happening around their neighborhood.

All of these types of blogs have a place in our lives but how do you keep from having so many blogs you like that you never have time to read all of them or, if you do read them, have no time to actually put anything they say into practice because you spend so much time reading blogs.

The one obvious thing to do is keep personal blogs restricted to personal time. Sure it's easier to take a look at them while you're reading your business-related ones but that's not where they belong.

Next, limit the number of blogs you follow. Only you know how many you can comfortably handle. If you consistently leave some unread, you have too many.

Finally, learn to scan the posts to see if this is one you want to read carefully or if you can just move on.

How to Write Articles That Get Noticed

You all know how much I love ArticleMarketer but I also know you may not be ready to invest that much money in your article marketing budget.

In the meantime, the very best of the free platforms is EzineArticles.com. Article marketing truly is the very best way to get customers to your site right now and for years to come. Once your article is in there, it's in ther e forever. That's the beauty of it. You write it once, it pays off for you forever.

Keep that in mind, though, when writing your bio/resource box. Putting links in there is essential but be sure you're not going to send them to a page you plan to take down-ever. It's best to send them to your site and/or your blog. Those are the two pages we can be fairly certain aren't going anywhere.

Now, all you have to go is get out your pencil-uh, wait-that would be your laptop-and start to write.

How to: A Lot Is Never Alot

The word alot doesn’t exist.  If you mean a bunch of something it’s “a lot.”  If you mean to portion out something it’s “allot.” 

Memory jog: if you mean a bunch, it’s a lot—or, since it’s never “alittle,” it’s never “alot.”

Once you get your head around this one you’ll suddenly see how many other smart, even brilliant, people are guilty of this.  It may not matter to a large percentage of the population but if you lose even one person because of it, it’s important.

Blog Post Worth Reading

Other people's blog posts are frequently so good that I simply must share them with you.  This is one of those posts.

He's Doing His Best is one of Seth Godin's little bits of wisdom.  If we read every blog post Seth writes, we would soon be changing the way we do business and we would be doing it in a way that benefited both the seller and the purchaser. 

This, in my opinion, is the way all business should be done--every transaction benefits all parties involved.

Enjoy the read.

Comments are always welcome.

Support Systems: Both Personal and Business

The moving plans continue.  I've gotten a lot done, though none of it includes packing.  I have lists, I have plans, I have a support system.

OK, I knew I had a support system but I didn't know just how large it was.  When I started talking to my friends and the lovely women in my spiritual and my book groups, I discovered just how much support I truly have. It was heartwarming.

This got me to thinking about what kind of support system my business has.  That, of course, led very quickly to the obvious: What kind of support system does your business have? 

I think this is such and important topic, I'm going to start a series of blog posts around it.

Some of the topics I'll be covering are:

• Do you have a support system in place? 
• What does a healthy support system look like? 
• How do you start to build your support system or improve the one you have? 
• What does your support system plan look like--specifically?
• Do you have a plan that continues to build on that support system?

Now you know what I'm up to this week--looking at my business support system and how I can help all of us build one that helps protect us in times of stress and distress.

This is an area where I truly need your input to help me craft a series that meets your needs rather than what I imagine you can use.

The Social Media Option That Gets the Most Bang for the Buck

We all keep hearing that in order to make Social Media Marketing work we have to be on Facebook and Twitter.  There are even formulas for how many times per day to show up on each of them AND a ratio of what kinds of updates you should post while you're there.

I agree that both of these venues are important for building the kinds of relationships that bring in business over time.  I, too, believe it's effective only if you show up more often than once every day or two. Having this kind of exposure is important to your business but only if you're present often enough to be remembered.

Now, on to reality.  I know that many of you have so many things on your plate right now that keeping up with these tools is more than you can handle.  The best option is to have a Virtual Assistant take over part of the "showing up" process for you but if you're not ready for that, you have to make a decision.

To maximize your marketing punch while minimizing your time commitment, I recommend using Facebook and let Twitter go until you either have the opportunity to utilize the services of a VA or have more time. Facebook requires a far shorter time commitment than Twitter, both in number of minutes expended and the frequency of your visits.

Let me know if you'd like more ideas on how to gain the most benefit from Facebook and Twitter. These are two of the major players in your optimum marketing strategy.

Live well and prosper--

What’s Up This Week?

It’s been quite a week here in Bremerton, WA.  I decided I’m just not close enough to my family.  They all live in Minnesota and I’m nearly 2000 miles away.  I see all of them once a year and only for one week.  That’s not enough time to spend quality time with everyone—it’s barely enough time to see everyone and there are years when I don’t see them all.  I have my mother, father, two sisters, two step-sisters, one step-brother, and, most importantly, my daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters within 100 miles of one another.

So, why do I live here when they all live there?  The weather.  Yes, I know it sounds lame.  I probably is but if you’ve ever lived in north-central U.S. you know it’s not just weather, it’s WEATHER! 

It frequently drops below zero in the winter—there are times when the temperature doesn’t get above zero for days.  If you haven’t experienced this kind of cold, there is absolutely no way I can adequately describe it.  If you have experienced it, there’s no reason to describe it.

Then there’s the summer.   Temperatures up into the 90s, humidity to match, and mosquitoes big enough to gang up on small animals and carry them off to suck their blood in the comfort of their watery home.  My sister tells me the humidity was 100% the other day and it wasn’t raining.  Again, if you’ve been there (or somewhere like it), you know what it’s like—if not, think about what your bathroom is like when you get out of a nice, long, hot shower.  It’s warm and steamy and you can’t get dry until some of that moisture dissipates.  That’s not quite what it’s like but you get the general drift.

I’ve spent far more time and space on this than it deserves but it illustrates how I feel about something that sounds as insignificant as the weather. 

Here I am, realizing that I’ve missed watching one granddaughter grow up and the younger one is almost a teenager and we hardly know one another.  It’s time to get over the weather and head to Minnesota.  Since I’m not one to take weeks or months to mull things over and things are quiet enough with my business right now to allow me more time than usual for things like packing and planning, I’m doing this nearly immediately.  Five weeks from today I’ll be on the first leg of my trip, in Spokane, spending the night with a friend.  Six weeks from now I will be surrounded by boxes, wondering why in the world I thought this was a good idea.

Of course the thing that really ends up taking a backseat is the website.  I’m going to be doing what I can to keep working on it, to post semi-regularly, and work on some of the other things I need to do to get the online part of this adventure up and running.  I know you’ll understand when I get behind on things.

Bottom line—I’m busier than I imagined possible, a little stressed out, and loving every minute of it.  I’ll keep giving you great information to help you make your business run smoother, more efficiently, and most importantly, more effectively.

Have a great week!

All Things Seth Godin

I think it's appropriate that my first blog post that makes a recommendation be Seth Godin: his blog, his website, his books, his whole philosophy of business and life.

No, I'm not really a groupy but possibly only because I'm far to old for that sort of thing.

You may think you haven't heard of Seth Godin before (I sincerely doubt it but just in case), but you've undoubtedly heard about stuff he pretty much started or, if he didn't actually start it, he's the one who brought it to the attention of tons of folks on the web.  Think about:

• The Long Tail
• The Idea Virus
• Tribes
• Squidoo

He's one of the most popular bloggers out there, he's written lots of books (many of which he has just given to us rather than selling them), and has very strong opinions.  He doesn't care if you like what he has to say or not. If you don't like it, don't read it.

How do you find Seth?  Easy--do a quick Google search and you can't miss him but you can also click on the links I put in up above and see what you find.  From there, you're on your way.

I'll look forward to hearing what you think of him

Article Marketing and SEO

I know you've heard me talk about article marketing before but I'm going to hit on it one more time for those of you who weren't paying close attention or just started reading the blog.

There are two big reasons to submit articles.  The first is to get people directly to your site and the second is to get better search engine rankings.  Search engines love links to your site and every single article you publish has at least one link to your site (and if it only has one you need to find a way to add another).  If you're submitting your article to more than one site, each one gives you a better rating at Google and all the other search engines.

I'm going to share a little story that has to do with linking and search engines even though it has nothing to do with an article.  I have an article-writing story as well but let's save that one for another time because this one is just a whole lot more fun.

Way back when, back when buffalo roamed the plains--

What's Up This Week?

This is a busy week for me and for Virtual Internet Professionals.  To say I have a lot to do is an understatement of the magnitude not seen in my world for a while. 

What's on my plate this week? I have to start practicing what I preach.  I've been sliding along, waiting for my website to get done.  I mean, after all, how can I be expected to write articles when I don't have a website to direct people to?  How can I do much with Twitter and Facebook without a web URL? What am I supposed to give my friends who have offered to promote my business if I have no site to send them to? There's more but you get the idea.

Well, the website is about a minute-and-a-half away from being completed.  I get to:

• Finish writing copy for it
• Set up my Amazon page(s)
• Write a few articles (yes, I could have been doing that all along and just waited for the launch of the website before submitting them but I didn't--I'm really not all that different than you)
• Get my act together with Facebook and Twitter
• Start leaving cogent comments on the blogs I've been reading for months, sometimes years, including the link to my site
• Start creating my newsletter
• Write one heck of a lot more here, on this blog
• Start looking for JVs (Joint Ventures)
• Create teleseminars and record them to create products
• Oh, and let's not forget to write that eBook

I feel like I'm missing something but it escapes me right now and I don't have a clue how I'm going to do 1/4th of what I've listed here already. It won't be hard to see how I'm doing. If you don't hear about some of this stuff in the next few weeks you'll know I haven't done very well.

It would be so much easier to do all this if I had a really great VA but for the time being I'm on my own. (Well, me and the rest of my team but I told them they don't have to do any of this stuff--what was I thinking?!!)