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Get more results in Social Networking using Keywords

Keywords - Less is MORE!

Keywords is something a lot of business professionals overlook when they begin their Social Networking efforts.  When you start to use the same phrases (or keywords) over and over again, the search engines start to pay attention.  It also helps with all your marketing.  You begin to be recognized as an expert in these keywords.   Another way to think of keywords would be to think about 3 problems you solve for your target market.  The more focused and narrow your target market is, the easier it is going to be to generate referrals and be recognized as an expert.  Many business professioanls are afraid of going to narrow as they might miss out on business.  The opposite is actually true.  People are wanting to refer you business….they just aren’t clear about who to send to you because you haven’t been specific enough for them. 

Here is a quick exercise for you:  Find 10 Keywords (Words and/or Phrases) for your business that you will integrate into all of your marketing and sales efforts online and offline.  

For a moment, pretend you are your target market….step into their shoes….experience what they are experience….what challenges are they experiencing?….what problems do they want solved?….what questions do they want answered?

Write these down. 

Since 82% of all consumers are turning to the Internet to research products and services, pretend you are your potential client.  If they were to search on the Internet for help…what might be some of the things they would type in? 

Write these down.  Start to look for words that consistently show up in these answers.  They might not be what you think they are.  For instance….if someone is a parent and they are having challenges with being an effective parent.  The problem they want to solve is:

  •             Creating more love with my child
  •             Getting my child to listen better
  •             Getting my child to talk more
  •             Being a better parent
  •             Having time to learn to be a good parent

 Questions they want answered:

  •             Why is my child doing bad things?
  •             Why is my child not listening?
  •             How can I be a better parent?
  •             Where can I learn to be a better parent?
  •             What is the most effective parenting program?

 Things the might search for:

  •             Help for parents
  •             Parenting Classes
  •             Tips for being an effective parent
  •             Is my child bad

The keywords would be:

  •             Better Parent
  •             Child Listening (and any variation of this)

 The more you type, the easier it will be to find keywords.    Once you have a list, you can research the keywords by using some online tools.  Here are a few sites that might help.  Please keep in mind it might be easier to pay for someone to research the information for you and deliver recommendations. 

http://www.KeywordTrak.com 
http://www.Google.com/sktool
http://www.WordTracker.com

Once you have your top 10 keywords begin to use them in everything you do.  Include them in your blog posts, your status updates in all your Social Networks, your website, your articles, your comments on blogs, etc. 

Ó2009 Sabrina Gibson. All rights reserved.

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11 Tips when using Twitter for Business

Simple Tips for Twitter Business Professionals

It is amazing how many business professionals get into Twitter and throw their common sense out the window and proceed to share with the world their bathroom habits, the coffee choices and even their bedtime routine.  The question I ask myself is this….would they do this in a business meeting?  Can you imagine a sharply dressed man going into a powerful networking meeting with other sharply dressed professionals and having him say “I ordered a Carmel Macchiato at Starbucks this morning”.  The response might have some great looks or random outbursts of laughter (thinking it was a joke) or a “Uh -huh”.  How is it that becomes interesting online? 

Here are 11 Tips when using Twitter for Business…..yes, ideas you can tweet.

  1. Share your resources, favorite websites, great quotes, funny thoughts, what you learned, etc.
  2. Toot as many people’s horns as possible.  Compliment everyone you love. Share who is helping you learn, who is inspiring you, etc.
  3. Be personal….share who you are so others can connect with that.
  4. Be responsible and responsive.  If someone DMs you….respond back.
  5. Follow who you want to learn from ONLY if you can follow them.
  6. Be honest.  If you don’t know something ask.
  7. Retweet (RT) as many great things as you can.
  8. Play Twitter as a Group Sport with this group. 
  9. Be grateful to others tooting your own horn.  Thank them for recognizing you.
  10. Be interesting.  Share things of VALUE.
  11. Repeat your tweets….only the really good ones.  Every 3 months is appropriate.
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Great ideas for “Tweets” or Content for Twitter

Content for Twitter

Tips for Tweeting

  1. Make a list of your top keywords that describe you and what you do.  HINT: If people were doing a search what words would they be typing to find you.
  2. Tie in your keywords to as many tweets as you can. 
  3. Every Friday, recommend people to follow.  Make one person per tweet.  Indicate why someone should follow them.  Include the #FollowFriday in the tweet.
  4. Try to create 10-12 tweets a day, 7 days a week. 
  5. Tweets can be: inspirational, funny, thought provoking, links to useful tools, links to great articles, links to favorite recipes, links to incredible videos, links to funny pictures, famous quotes, scriptures, invitations to events, updates of great places you are going, questions you have about what you want to learn, questions about places you are thinking of going, suggestions for places to go and much more.
  6. Tweet about as many other people as you can.  HINT: Start with the people you already know and are connected to.

Creating Tweets

  1. What are some of your favorite websites you use for your business? 
  2. What are some of your favorite quotes, scriptures, sayings, etc.?
  3. What books have your read recently that you really love?  What did you love about the book?
  4. What is something funny – what has made you laugh out loud recently?
  5. What has shocked you?
  6. What are some of your goals this year?
  7. What question do you have about Social Networking?
  8. Why did you decide to start Twittering?
  9. Who are your 3 biggest mentors?  Write a tweet about each one.
  10. Where are you traveling to this year? For work? For pleasure?
  11. What are some of your favorite hobbies?
  12. If you could have 3 wishes for the world what would they be?
  13. What or who is your biggest inspiration and why?
  14. What places would you recommend people visit and why?
  15. What is a favorite video or picture you recently saw?
  16. What was your biggest A-HA! Last year?
  17. What have you learned from…..getting married, having kids, getting a divorce, getting promoted, starting our own business, failing, etc.
  18. What are some ways you have found to save money or time?
  19. What is your viewpoint on something in the news?
  20. Do you have a controversial point of view on something?
  21. What are you excited about?
  22. Who are you meeting this month that is exciting for you?
  23. What places are you going to for learning this year?
  24. Repeat something you heard that made you laugh, cry, get mad, etc.  Share your feelings (guys…do I hear you groaning?  Tweet that) (The song feelings playing ever so softly in the background.)
  25. What are your top 3 most favorite songs to sing in the car where you feel like you should be on American Idol.
  26. What is your opinion about American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice or any other reality show?
  27. Share “Did you know” facts with others.
  28. If you could only have one techy gadget – what would it be and why?
  29. What is the best thing you have learned about your business?
  30. I am grateful for……
  31. Here is a really cool freebie…..
  32. If you are a ___________ (fill in your target market) you have got to check this out (put a link to an article, website, etc)
  33. The one person I would love to meet in business would be >>>>>> and this is why.
  34. What I am doing differently in business this year is…..
  35. What is something amazing you noticed about your industry.

 

Examples of tweets….feel free to R&D (Rob and Duplicate with your own spin)

(HINT:  You can go to my twitter account and see what I have tweeted about.  Find people you love and see what they tweet about….just as long as they are following the do’s and don’ts)  Can you tell what some of my keywords are?

  1. www.CheckYourUsername.com You can secure your brand and check to see if your username is available in 150 social networks.
  2. My grandma use to always say “I finally got it all together and now I forgot where I put it”  Can you relate?
  3. Reading “Twitter Revolution” – great tips on Twitter.  Looking forward to interviewing Warren Whitlock.
  4. My daughter said she was making her own “thunderstorms” after we ate bean burritos. Kids say the funniest things.
  5. How many social networking sites are there?  I am shocked at how many seem to pop up every day.
  6. Increase your sales with this simple tip. http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=174
  7. What is your favorite Social Networking tool and why?
  8. Finally got on twitter after getting about 74 invitations.  I am scared and excited at the same time.  Kind of like riding a rollercoaster.
  9. One of my biggest heros is my mom….she always seemed to have more than enough time to spend time with me.  And still does.
  10. Is there really such a thing as competition? http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=165
  11. Just for one day, I wish that everyone on this earth could experience unconditional love. 
  12. I love to put on some good music and then “dance like no one is watching”
  13. Everyday I see the smiles on my 2 girls face….I am suddenly inspired to do something really amazing.
  14. One of the most amazing places I have ever been is the top of the St. Louis Arch. It is truly a wonder how they built it.
  15. Have you been validated? This is worth watching.  http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=266
  16. What was your biggest AHA for 2009?  Mine was “FOCUS on one thing at a time”
  17.  I think the word business was misspelled it should have been BUSY-ness!
  18. Create momentum….write down 3 things that will help you generate money the night before and then do them first thing the next day.
  19. So when are they going to start a news channel with only positive stories?  Would it sell?  Are people that driven by doom and gloom?
  20. 95% of all websites are completely useless to a business.  http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=24
  21. If they took out all the bad stuff in rap songs I am pretty sure all that would be left would be the base thumping.
  22. Today I sang “Suddenly I See” at the top of my lungs in the shower.  Where is American Idol when you need them?
  23. Did you know that 78% of all searches on the Internet include blogs!! Time for me to really get blogging more.
  24. Know why most professionals fail at Social Networking? Find out in this free article http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=155
  25. I am grateful for being a part of the Social Networking Mentor Group.  So many amazing people I get to share and learn from.
  26. Can you handle an honest review of your website?  http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=14
  27. If you could ask only one question to Donald Trump what would you ask?
  28. What I am doing differently in business this year is working more with affiliates.  One plus one really does equal eleven.
  29. There are so many amazing Social Networking experts out there…who is your favorite and why?
  30. You don’t need a website any more….find out why.  http://socialnetworkingrockstar.com/?p=177

  ÓSabrina Gibson.  All Rights Reserved.

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Have you been validated?

With each new year, I take time to look back on the year and review what was good and what could have been better? Looking forward, I make a promise to myself about how I am going to “show up” in my life and in others life. Can you imagine having such a profound impact on a person’s life that it becomes contagious. I love this short film as it is a powerful remind of just how one person can make a dramatic difference.

This is definitely worth watching. As you watch it, think about how you are making a positive difference in the world and how does that look with your Social Networking efforts.

You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business. http://www.SocialMaximizing.com/socialnetworking

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Increase your sales with this simple tip

Which style are you selling?

Which style are you selling?

Closing more sales and creating great content for a website, landing page, blog or article can be a challenge.  For me, I come from a strong sales and marketing background.  I look at everything online and ask “How does this help the company’s sales and marketing strategy?”  One of the most overlooked pieces of information when it comes to content is understanding how a person gets to a point where they want to buy.

Most of us have heard of the different styles of people.  There is the DISC program; there is Myers Brigg and a whole number of other pieces.  The one I learned was based on 4 styles:  Driver, Expressive, Amiable, and Analytic.  The style has to do with what they need to hear to make a decision to buy.  If you can identify the style and present to them that way, your chances of helping them buy will greatly increase.

What does all of this mean?  Okay….let’s look at styles.  By the way, if you were to take all the CEOs of the top companies in the world, they would fall into each one of the categories.  (Drivers have a tendency to think they are the most dominant style and, of course, the smartest so they tend to think top CEOs are in the Driver category – if you are laughing….you are a probably a driver or married to one.)

Drivers – Like to control the situation at all times.  They like choices.  They don’t want to be told what to do.  The biggest question they want answered is “What is it?”  Good rules to follow:  Come with an agenda that you got approved by them before the meeting.  Stick to the agenda.  Get straight to the point.  Talk about business first and personal matters later.  Ask them questions.  Give them choices.  Do NOT give them your opinion…ask them what they think.

A driver’s desk will have a ton of files on it – it may seem a little messy. There will be very little family or personal pictures or items in the office.

Expressive – Appearance is everything to an expressive.  Style matters.  Status is very important to an expressive.  The biggest question they want answered is “Who has it?”  Good rules to follow:  Come with an impressive portfolio that is beautifully presented.  Show lots of testimonials and talk about who works with you.  The more recognized the name, the better.  Yes, name dropping works with this style.  Talk about social events first and then ease into business.

You can tell an expressive from a mile away.  They are all about bling.  They will be incredibly dressed, drive flashy cars, and wear expensive jewelry.  Their desk will be messy and organized at the same time.  You will see pictures of people, probably famous, articles about them in the paper, awards they received, their diplomas in beautiful frames.

Amiable – People are everything to this style.  They are very in touch with their emotions.  The biggest question they want answered is “How it feels?”  Good rules to follow:  Be soft and gentle.  Take your time.  Speak slower.  Bring pictures of your family.  Bring stories of your clients and talk about how what you are doing is affecting their lives on a personal level.  Tell them what you think.  They want your opinion.

An amiable’s office will be filled with family pictures, drawings from their kids and grandkids.  They will have eco friendly items (careful…sometimes an expressive will go there too….as this is a cool status thing right now).  They will be very quiet.  Don’t ask them what they think, tell them what you think.  Be careful not to be to abrasive with them.  They won’t tell you.  They will be very quiet and then just go away.  Be sure to relate how what you are doing to how it will affect their family and make a positive impact on the world.

Analytical – They really aren’t interested in being social.  The biggest question they want answered is “How does it work?”  They want details and lots of them.  They want step by step information on how something works.  They like the technical details.  Good rules:  Take your time.  Don’t rush through your appointment.  Talk business, leave out the personal stuff.  Share diagrams and flowcharts.  You may want to bring a technical specialist with you depending on the topic and level of knowledge.  Use the words, “here is how it works…..”

An analytical’s office will be very sterile.  It may have some technical drawings.  There will be no real design or design flare.  Everything will be organized….maybe a little too organized.  There will be tons of files stuffed with every detail.

The more you can talk the talk of each style the easier it will be for them to get to a buying decision.  This is not about manipulation or head games.  This is about presenting in a way that a person can truly hear what you have to offer.  TRY THIS:  As you write your content for websites, blogs, landing pages and status updates for your social networking sites, think of each style and see if you can write to each style.  As you meet new people try and figure out what their style is.  You can look for clues and listen for language.

What have you found to be an effective way to learn people’s styles and relate to them in a more powerful way?

You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business. http://www.SocialMaximizing.com/socialnetworking

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Can you handle an honest review of your website?

Get a review of your website

Get a review of your website

95% of all websites are completely useless to a business in terms of generating results, building a prospect list and creating new revenue.  Every time I meet a person and they find out what I do they instantly ask me if I can “review” their website.  My answer to them is usually this, “Do you want me to review it or give you an honest opinion?”  I learned to ask this after offending quite a few people.  Okay, so I wasn’t born with being tactful.  Honest, yes…..Tactful, no.

There was a movie where they said, “You can’t handle the truth!” and that is how I feel about reviewing someone’s website.  In fact, my company use to charge to do web reviews as I thought it would be a great way to share our knowledge and gain some clients who really appreciated what we did.  We did over 150 web reviews and ended up with 2 new clients.  YIKES!  Most of the people were really upset and discouraged with our comments.  I heard a lot of “Why didn’t someone tell me this before?” or “What do you mean search engines can’t see flash…I just spent $4000 on my flash website” and “I can’t afford to make an upgrade to my website so I will just leave it”.

Yes….you might as well stop reading if you aren’t planning on doing anything different with your website.  You can save yourself the time.  I have never understood why people want an opinion if they aren’t going to do anything.  Man, I had no idea this post would turn into my venting session.  Okay, so let’s get to the review.  Below are just a few things to look at in your website.  This is just my opinion based on my 20 years of sales and marketing experience (of this, 15 is directly online and websites).

So here it goes…..(brace yourself)

  1. Pictures – you have to have a nice balance of pictures and content.  If your pictures are just there for the sake of being there, change them.  Use them to tell a story.  Test….if you only had pictures could your visitors tell what you do and who you help?
  2. Content – you should look good and have great copy.  Speak in headlines and stick to the “7 second attention span”.  Yes, I probably just lost you….pay attention.  SMILE  In 6 seconds or less I should be able to tell who specifically you help and how you help them.
  3. Stickiness – if you want to build relationships with your visitors, offer some juicy freebie (free report, free goodie, etc.) in exchange for their name and email.
  4. Prime Real Estate – the top 3 inches of your website is considered Prime Real Estate….treat it that way.  This means you should have stickiness, a call to action and/or interaction with your visitors.  Make your visitors crave to talk with you.  The goal of a website should not be to share your company’s novel, it should be to get visitors to say “Yes! I want more!!”
  5. Jargon – speak to your visitors like they are 3rd graders.  Watch phrases and terms that seem cool to you.  One word can lose a visitor’s interest.  Make it fun to read.  Speak to them as an individual who is just learning about your business.  I call it the “Yada Yada Yada Syndrome”.  It would go something like this “We help small business owners make sense of their online presence…..Yada Yada Yada…..get your “thangy majig whirly gong today!”  HUH????  Exactly.  I see this all the time.  People are really impressed with their own language….yes, I am talking to you! Or they jump right to a conclusion that really doesn’t take the visitor along with them.
  6. Less is more. Period.
  7. Don’t have things that move, jitter or shake.  The minute someone gets online they have ADD.  They may have not had it
    before….but now they do.  All it takes is some “pretty little bird”
    for them to take their attention away from your site.  Keep your site
    clean and simple so visitors stay focused on you. Imagine if I was shaking my hand while talking with you.  You would be thinking, “Why does she keep moving her hand” and would not be paying attention to what I was saying.  Same goes for websites.  If something is moving that is where the eye will go.
  8. Make it easy for someone to know where they are in your website.
  9. Create several easy ways for a visitor to connect with you.  Phone number and email link on all pages and a contact us button are a couple of suggestions.
  10. Testimonials are your best friends! Make a point to get them and add them to your website.  Have testimonials appear on every page.  You can easily add audio testimonials with this tool.
  11. Automate your website – if you collect a name and email address, have an automated system to follow up with them.
  12. Update your content FREQUENTLY.  We make all our client’s pages updateable. Meaning, they don’t need any special software or a developer to make changes to their content.  Search engines love fresh content so be sure to update often.
  13. Add audio and/or video to your website.  This helps you connect with your visitor’s.  It is personal and entertaining.

I hope you find this review helpful.  There are about 37 things I look for when reviewing a website.  If you were able to make it past point 3, congratulations.  I invite you to take action on this list.  What additional things would you add?  Find a site that has all of these….please share.

You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business. http://www.SocialMaximizing.com/socialnetworking

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9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 6)

Computer handshakeIn the last post, we talked about having stickiness in your website.  This means you have some attractive offer that compels a visitor to want to give you their name and email address for the offer.  Before we talk about the 4th and final ingredient of a successful website, let’s talk about other ways to make sure people want to stay at our website.

Did you know that you have approximately 7 seconds to capture a visitor’s interest once they get to your website?  This means you have to IMMEDIATELY grab them.  How do you do this?

First, you want to make sure your website is tuned into the WIIFM.  Yes, What’s In It For Me!  This means you are talking about what you can do for your target market and how you can help them.  If you are talking about how long you have been in business and how many awards you have won, no one cares.  Did you notice that I also said “what you can do for your TARGET MARKET” not any and everyone?

Tip#7 Go back and review your content.  Can you easily tell who your target market is?  Make it easy to understand who you help and how you help them.  Be specific.

Second, look at your pictures.  Do they tell a great story?  Pictures are literally worth a thousand words online.  I went to a site where I saw a bunch of dogs.  Figured the site could be about dog grooming, dog adoption, dog walking, etc.  If the website owner would have put a picture of a dog digging up a yard and the owner standing next to the dog with an awful face with a label, “before” and then put a picture of the owner holding up his hand (like a stop signal) and the dog sitting in front of the owner with a label, “after”.  I could instantly see this was about dog training or dog obedience.

Tip #8 Don’t use pictures for the sake of using pictures.  Use them to tell a story.  Go through your website and see how you can integrate pictures that tell your target market a great story.

Third, every page should have a clear call to action.  Meaning, you are inviting your visitors to take the next step with you.  This might be “Call today for your no obligation review” or “Email us now to find out how you can qualify for a $300 evaluation for FREE”

Finally, less is more.  This means, find the least amount of words to say what you want to say.  A website is NOT a blog.  You should not be writing novels.  A good rule of thumb – content should not take more than a minute to read.  The idea of a website is to tease a visitor enough so that they want to say “Yes….tell me more” or “Yes…I can see how you might be able to help me, let’s talk.

By taking a closer look at what you are saying and who you are saying it to, will help you create clarity with your website.  The more targeted the message, the more results you will get.

The idea is to “keep ‘em coming back again and again” so they eventually buy from you.  If you information overload them right from the beginning, you may lose them forever.  Any online marketing should be done in Sound Bites (Bytes).  Meaning, short and to the point.

In the next post we will talk about how to maximize all the tips so far and you will be given the last tip.  What challenges are you having with your website?  What challenges have you had with other websites?

You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business. http://www.SocialMaximizing.com/socialnetworking

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What are Email Capture Pages?

Goldfish_and_money_hook_email_captu
These pages have also been referred to as Landing Pages,
Squeeze Pages, Splash Pages, etc. The
main purpose of this page is to provide some compelling text that will entice a
person visiting to leave their information.

Here is how they work:
You create a page that has sales or marketing copy on
it. Of course, it is loaded with
benefits, benefits, benefits. To get
this beneficial information, the person would give their information. Sometimes it is just a name and email. Sometimes it is full name, full address,
phone number, email and answers to a couple of questions. The goal with this is to build a marketing
list that you can then sell to for life.

Some key things you will want to know:

  1. Autoresponders: An autoresponder is tied to your
    email. They can be built right into
    your email capture page. An autoresponder is exactly what it sounds like. It automatically responds to anyone sending you an email. EXAMPLE: A person signs up for a free report on your email capture page. An email is sent to your email address with a specific subject line. This triggers the autoresponder to send a message back to the person who signed up. It happens without you having to do anything.
  2. Opt in: Refers to the legitimate way of gaining people in your list. It means the visitor has agreed to sign up for your information and is aware that you are going to be emailing them. The opposite of this would be spam.
  3. Double Opt-in: This is identical to #2 except an email is sent to the email provided and a link is included. In order to receive the information they must click on the link. This prevents anyone from signing up other people who may not be interested. Once the link is clicked then they are added to your list.
  4. Opt out: When a person chooses to discontinue receiving emails from you. It is important to make this easy for them.
  5. Mailing List: Refers to the entire list of people requesting your information.

There are some keys to help you create a successful email
capture page:

  • Have the content be short and to the point. Include testimonials from others who have
    already received the information.
  • Have pictures that really tell a good story.
  • Once the user has signed up be sure to have an
    automatic way to deliver what you promised. You will want to let the visitor know to add your email to their safe
    list. You might want to let them know
    how often you will be sending them information. Example: Once a month, twice a
    month, once a week, etc.
  • Make it easy for people to unsubscribe or
    opt-out of your list.
  • Plan out the messages you will be sending to
    them for 3 months prior to starting. Ongoing communication is key to getting a high conversion into sales.
  • What are you going to offer that is value added?
  • How are you going to earn their trust so that
    you can then invite them to buy from you?
  • Think about adding audio and video to your pages.  These make it more interesting.

Click
here to see an example of an email capture page

Do you have a great email capture
page you want to share? What successes
or challenges have you had with email capture pages. Please comment.

You are invited to an online class for FREE (a $97 value) on how to build Strategies so you can leverage Social Networking to grow your business. http://www.SocialMaximizing.com/socialnetworking

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