Digg it UP - Writing and Speaking

List Building-Top 5 Techniques for Massive Growth
List building is the backbone of any marketers’ arsenal. To effectively grow online, you must have a list, and that list must be responsive.Therefore, there are two aspects to work on.The first aspect is growing a list, and all things being equal, the bigger the better. But when the focus is only on building a bigger list, it is easy to forget about responsiveness and allow just anyone to subscribe. When one builds a list just for the sake of the numbers, responsiveness often goes down.The second aspect, of course, is responsiveness. A list must be developed from a source of buyers and then cultivated.So it is important that you steer clear of list building via buying lists or simply getting on a bunch of lists and putting their owners on your lists. You don’t read their emails, nor do they read yours. Go for buyers when list building!So what are the top 5 techniques for building a list?In order of my preference:1) Article marketing. This really works. I write a lot of articles, and track my responses, and my list is growing as a direct response of the articles I write and send out. Simply write articles on your product’s topic, send the articles to several of the article directories online today, and watch your subscriber count go up.2) Google Adwords. This really works. People who search on Google are buyers. Yes, it is expensive, but if you are willing to work at it, you can develop a campaign that produces a return on your money. The thing with Adwords is that you cannot just find 100 keywords and write an ad and bid a random amount. You must study the tracking numbers, rotate different ads for effectiveness, and bid effectively. Know what your cost per subscriber is, and your revenue per subscriber.3) Ezine advertising. The key with this is testing. Some ezines go out to unresponsive lists, others to highly responsive lists. The only way to find this out is to test. Put tracking links on every piece of advertising you do.4) Search engine results. This takes a lot more time, but when you build links through the

t actually completing something to the point where it can have a use in the world and can stop being a secret. The other 20% is okay to do after. There are still lots of imperfections in the book. I embrace those imperfections, because it’s written with that spirit in mind. The information is too important not to get out, because the margins or page numbers or type font isn’t just perfect.

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

More specifically, I took the content that was going into my book and gave people another way to experience it before the book came out. I did that in the form of a membership site called www.multiplestreamsofcoachingincome.com. It was a mirror image of the content of the book. I was delivering, expanding, refining and correcting the material I was generating for the book with real live people who would tell me, “Hey Andrea. That stinks! That was terrible.” It was all about completion, not perfection.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you eve

How Affiliate Marketing Programs Work
By now just about anyone that wants information about how to make money with a website has heard of affiliate marketing programs. It may not be exactly clear, though, how these programs work and how you can make money with them. The idea behind this strategy is to steer customers towards a company website where they make a purchase. When thy do buy, you get a percentage of the amount of money that each customer spends.However, you do have to do your homework when you look for the perfect affiliate marketing program. There are many affiliate programs available, but do they sell something that people want to buy? In order to get into this type of business, you have to set up a website dedicated to one or more products. Then you can write articles about this product. Once you have the website up and running, you can apply to an affiliate program to see whether or not they will accept your website for referrals. The program is free and each affiliate program pays different amounts. If you are accepted, the affiliate will send you the code to enter into all the pages of your website.Check out the list of affiliate marketing programs to find one that interests you. Then you can start making money while you sleep. The only cost is the web hosting of your site. You can join a pay per click service, which will direct traffic to your website based on your keyword optimization. It is also possible to have affiliate marketing without writing anything on the website. If you just place ads from the marketing company on the page and direct customers, you will still get paid, but only if they buy. You can also have Google Adsense on your site, but it is best to get accepted by an affiliate first because it may be a conflict of interest.

An interview with Andrea J. Lee, Author, Multiple Streams Of Coaching Income

Interview conducted by Rosemary Hauschild, MBA, Owner & Principal, Impact Coaching International™.

Impact Coaching™: Why did you decide to write a book?

Andrea: There are actually quite a few reasons. The main one was that I had all this stuff going on in my head, and I needed to get it out. I’m a fairly creative person and tend to do a lot of reading. I also journal. But somehow that wasn’t feeling very satisfactory. I felt compelled to be more cohesive and linear about the information I had in my head. And, you know what? I said, “I’m just going to start it. I think there’s a book here, so let’s go for it and see what it becomes.”

And there were business reasons, too. Writing a book is good for business. I’ve sold several hundred copies, and that has helped sell other products on my website. Plus, it’s helped attract more one-on-one clients and consulting opportunities.

Writing a book has a certain cach?. It’s a great credibility builder. It’s almost like you’ve got a little bit of that pixie dust. Wow! You did something cool! It greases the wheels for everything else that goes on in your business.

Impact Coaching™: At what stage in your career did you write your book?

Andrea: I’ve been in business since 1999. So, I was a couple of years into the experience of actually living the information that I wrote about in the book. I think I wrote it at that particular point in time, because I felt as if I had walked my talk to a significant enough degree that I felt confident that the information was true and good and worth sharing. I didn’t want to write a fairy tale. I wanted to write something that would really help. I published in November, 2004 – not even six months ago. Along the way, I did a lot of pre-promotion, talking about the fact that the book was coming. That began in April and helped create a good launch in November.

Impact Coaching™: How does this book fit into your overall business activities?

Andrea: I follow the marketing funnel model of doing business, so the way I see the book is as a wonderful vehicle for the top, widest part of the funnel. In many ways, the book is like an introduction to everything else that I do. If someone comes to me and says they want to coach with me one-on-one, now one of the wonderful things I get to say is, “Have you read the book yet? Read the book first and our work will go that much better if you have that as a foundation.” So everything gets filtered through the book. There’s a common body of knowledge, a shared mind space that everyone comes to me with, having read the book. So we’re able to cover ground a lot more quickly.

One of the biggest compliments anyone paid me about my book was that it bent their brain. Of anything I could have asked for my book to do, it would be opening the mind space and the hearts of readers so something in the book would lodges in their minds and change and open the world up. So, once a person has read the book, if it’s right for us to be working together, their mind has been opened by it, and we don’t have to work as hard.

Impact Coaching™: What were the main writing obstacles you encountered and how did you overcome them?

Andrea: One of the main obstacles, really, was confidence. In the book I talk a lot about confidence, so it was only fitting that I should have a crisis of confidence while writing it. Even though I had been a consultant and coach for many years, when I started to put things onto paper, I started to ask myself, “Does this make sense? Does it actually connect the things I’m trying to connect?” I asked those questions as a natural process of caring about the effectiveness of my intellectual property. It wasn’t that that all of a sudden I worried that it was bad material. Rather, I cared enough about my material to make it as good as it could possibly get.

Now, “how did I get over that” is an interesting question. I come from the school of thought that there’s nothing truly original. It’s just that someone is filtering it through a different experience. In actual fact, whenever you are creating something, if you will finish it to 80% completion, it’s ready to go. The other 20% can be finished along the way. I believe it’s about actually completing something to the point where it can have a use in the world and can stop being a secret. The other 20% is okay to do after. There are still lots of imperfections in the book. I embrace those imperfections, because it’s written with that spirit in mind. The information is too important not to get out, because the margins or page numbers or type font isn’t just perfect.

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you eve

Web Hosting Reseller Plans
Some web hosting companies sell large amounts of hosting space with the understanding that their customer will turn that space into a business. These web hosting reseller plans offer another dynamic in the web hosting industry, because it allows for the existence of other hosting companies and also provides people with business opportunity.Web hosting reseller plans are perfect for someone such as a web designer or graphic designer who also creates websites. It is often valuable to offer customers the option of using the same person who developed the site to provide the web hosting and also the website management. This option isn’t necessarily less expensive, but it is more convenient. Also keep in mind that these companies or individuals may also offer to manage your site for an extra fee.You don’t need to be a web designer or graphic designer to utilize the web hosting reseller plans, and it is also an excellent home business opportunity. Find a web hosting reseller plan that seems to deliver the best product at the highest value. You will need to create a business plan that will help you analyze the market and create a fairly unique service. You will also need to figure out how to market your business and also create a website. You can search the Internet or find a book on starting a home business to do your initial research. You can also take a class.Web hosting reseller plans are the perfect option for someone who wants to buy a large amount of web space to either start their own home business or enhance an already existing business. This seems to be an excellent way to increase your income. This option can also help benefit your customers because it may offer a more affordable option for them.

’s almost like you’ve got a little bit of that pixie dust. Wow! You did something cool! It greases the wheels for everything else that goes on in your business.

Impact Coaching™: At what stage in your career did you write your book?

Impact Coaching™: How does this book fit into your overall business activities?

Impact Coaching™: What were the main writing obstacles you encountered and how did you overcome them?

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you eve

Direct Marketing Strategies for Holiday Email Promotions
Tis the season to leverage customer interest data for successful email marketing.All of the information gathered throughout the year from customer purchases, customer feedback surveys, and other behavior offers direct marketers necessary direction for conceptualizing a successful email campaign.Further, these customer data strengthen email promotions, ensuring the best possible message targets each individual customer. In the audio book, “Sound Advice on Email Marketing,” author Peter McCormick sites the example of a sporting goods retailer that uses customer knowledge to devise a series of successful promotions. Offers for discounts on golf clubs, golf vacations, and pro golfer apparel specials speak to a particular set of customers’ affinity for golf.As with any direct mail campaign, one key to optimizing customer response is compelling each customer to open the email. Here, McCormick says attention to the email subject line is crucial, and suggests one winning strategy is to incorporate the call-to-action – what you want your customer to do – into the subject line. McCormick says, “Don’t let your message get lost on the customer. The key to making the message obvious to the customer begins with a dynamic call to action in the email subject line that is carried throughout the body of the email.”For the golf fanatic, combining knowledge of recent purchases with a call to action might result in a subject line, ‘John, pack your new clubs for these golf vacation discounts’. Within the email promotion, the body content would reinforce taking specific action on these discounts – from clicking to learn more about the featured golf resorts to reserving accommodations and tee times.According to McCormick, “Leveraging this [customer] data with the correct promotion is the key to a successful email campaign.”

see the book is as a wonderful vehicle for the top, widest part of the funnel. In many ways, the book is like an introduction to everything else that I do. If someone comes to me and says they want to coach with me one-on-one, now one of the wonderful things I get to say is, “Have you read the book yet? Read the book first and our work will go that much better if you have that as a foundation.” So everything gets filtered through the book. There’s a common body of knowledge, a shared mind space that everyone comes to me with, having read the book. So we’re able to cover ground a lot more quickly.

Impact Coaching™: What were the main writing obstacles you encountered and how did you overcome them?

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you eve

Why it Pays to Specialize
Someone once said that you can’t be all things to everyone. What is true in our personal life is equally true in business.While it may seem counterintuitive to specialize and consciously limit the scope of your target market, it’s actually a very wise marketing strategy.A niche consists of defining the target audience for your business and the more defined your niche, the more specific your audience, the easier and more cost effective your marketing will be.For example, a virtual assistant who advertises that she can do just about anything for just about anyone, if she is good, will get some clients from referrals, but will likely not get all the clients she otherwise could have if she had a defined target audience and targeted marketing.It is far more effective to develop a campaign and strategy aimed at coaches (or any market subset) than it is to scatter marketing over the internet with the hopes that you will find someone who is interested in your services.“Why it pays to have a defined target audience.”The simplest way to explain this is by illustration. Compare the following:A generic brochure-style website for a virtual assistant which portrays her as being all things to everyone, a “jack of all trades” if you will – she is, for all intensive purposes, a generalist.VersusA tailored website for the same virtual assistant which portrays her specialization in working with coaches – she has tailored the language on her site to be “their” language, she addresses “their” needs and she focuses on “their” goals.The first, “I can do anything and everything” type of website, tends to invite skepticism. It creates a “too good to be true” feeling from your reader and, more often than not, leaves an uneasy feeling in your prospect’s mind. After all, how can anyone do everything and do it ALL well for multiple clients?The second website, however, gives you a more comfortable “right at home” feeling of security. You know you will be taken care of here. She has listed her strengths and they don’t include everything plus th

you encountered and how did you overcome them?

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you eve

The Elusive Practice of Search Engine Optimization
Search engine technology has completely revolutionized the way we retrieve relevant information. Mastering the algorithms that drive these marvels of technology is the challenge, and assures the webmaster complete marketing success. In 1990, Alan Emtage at McGill University developed the first search engine, named Archie. Its purpose was to create a database of web filenames that could be queried, and retrieved by any user. Archie helped address this data chaos by integrating a script-based data collector with a standard expression matcher for relevant user query retrieval. Contemporary search engines use software 'spiders' that go out into the internet, and retrieve content and data. Armed with this retrieved data, search engine algorithms rank content based on the relevance of what the user is searching for. It is the job of the webmaster to optimize a web site based on relevant keywords, so that search engine algorithms list their URL as close to page one as possible. This is the practice of Search Engine Optimization, determining how search engines think, and if successful could lead to very lucrative returns. The process of search engine optimization is plagued with unscrupulous scammers, spammers and deceptive practitioners. This is referred to as Black-Hat Search Engine Optimization, and it hurts the search engines as well as the users who query them. Black-Hat techniques employ techniques that trick the search engines with thousands of meaningless articles loaded with keywords carefully chosen to draw traffic, and generate quick revenue. In addition to link farms that artificially inflate the importance of an otherwise irrelevant web site. Some black-hat hackers attempt to negatively influence competitor’s rankings by exploiting various search engine vulnerabilities. All these practices dilute the true value of legitimate web sites, and realize only short term gains. Gradually search engines started recognizing these techniques, and have taken proactive approaches. Algorithms have been developed to uncover and ban sites that employ those practices. Search Engine Optimization is a long term

Each person needs to make their own choice about whether this philosophy works for them. But, that’s how I got over the crisis of confidence.

Impact Coaching™: During this very public process, were you ever concerned that someone might steal your intellectual property?

Andrea: No. I held the attitude that, hey, if you can do it and get it to market faster than me, then bless you! Life is not about policing other people’s actions, so I focus my energy and strength into going for it. In doing so, it’s almost like there’s an aura of intention around it and people get that it’s going to happen, so there’s no one around who’s going to steal it. Plus, nobody is going to be able to put it quite like I do.

Impact Coaching™: Once you were ready to publish, you registered your copyright in the United States. What was that process like?

Andrea: You know what? I’m woefully ignorant about that stuff. And I’m happy to be so. I enlisted the help of a book shepard. It was a process I was very grateful for. A book shepard is a person who takes you through the process of self publishing your book, guiding you through all the various gates and fences to lead you to where you want to go. So, I was actually able to entrust to her handling the copyright application, getting a cover, getting an ISBN number, finding a printer, pricing that printer out, deciding on how to typeset my book, what font to use – all of those great things that normally would have taken me quite a bit longer to do myself, including the copyright stuff.

Impact Coaching™: What method did you use to publish your book?

Andrea: I self published. I did not go to an existing New York publisher and pitch my book. I decided to go my own route. I found a small press that guided me through the process. As a result, I retain control of my intellectual property, how I package/repackage it, whether or not I want to read it onto CD and sell it. I can do any of that without having to go back and renegotiate with a publisher. Plus, I keep 100% of my earnings.

I also published the book in the United States. I live in Canada (Calgary, Alberta), but I wanted all of my book operations to operate out of the US, because my target niche market and most of my clients live in the U.S.

Impact Coaching™: Why did you self publish instead of doing an e-book?

Andrea: I think that a print book still has a great deal more to offer a business than an e-book. From the point of view of leverage, there is still more credibility in the public’s mind when you are the author/publisher of a print book rather than an e-book. And I don’t think it’s a distinction that’s ever going to go away. An e-book can be a great way to do an excerpt from your book. But if you are have a body of knowledge that’s going to be significant, that’s going to present your primary message, go for the brass ring and try a print book. I would sit down and do the numbers and get with an intellectual property coach and make the decision, because there’s going to be a big fat difference between the impact of a print book and of an e-book.

Impact Coaching™: Isn’t self publishing extremely expensive?

Andrea: Actually, self publishing ended up being much more affordable than any other route. In total it cost no more than $5000 to get it off the ground. It really was a business decision. Of all the different business development or promotional things I could do for my business, I wanted to invest in this book.

Impact Coaching™: How did you decide what roads you would go down with your marketing?

Andrea: One of the wonderful things that happens when you embrace the phrase “done is better then perfect” © * is that it applies just as much to the marketing process as the writing process. So, by starting a membership website where I was already in dialogue with a lot of people who were developing an interest in the book, the word spread about the book and created a little bit of a bubble of anticipation before it even came out. That’s one of the benefits of figuring out what it takes for you to just go ahead and do it.

Impact Coaching™: When you launched the membership website, did you already have a strong data base of people who knew you?

Andrea: Yes, I did.

Impact Coaching™: How many people do you need to have in your data base in order to attract people to a membership website?

Andrea: To make anything significant beyond onsie-twosie types of leads, I use the number 1,000 at minimum. There’s something that happens at about 1,000

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