Work Better, Not Harder

If you want to reach a wider audience than just your own contacts, you will need to create content that people WANT to share. This is the primary way to grow your audience and make new contacts in the online world. How do you create content that people want to share? Here are some tips that apply not only to your newsletter, but also to your website, blog, and social media strategy. Appeal to your readers’ motivation to connect with each other – not just with your brand. Build community among your clients, prospects and colleagues. Trust is the cost of entry for getting shared. Your content has to be trustworthy and so do you – and that will mean different things in different industries and to different market segments. Make sure you know what trust means to your target market. Keep it simple ... and it will get shared. And your message won't get muddled as it gets passed along. Appeal to your readers’ sense of humour. If you can make your readers laugh, yo...

example of sharing buttons I'm such a critic - an enewsletter critic that is. Of course, critiquing other newsletters is partly how I get better at my job. I'm often disappointed when I receive a newsletter or promotional email that doesn't give me buttons for easy sharing, especially when it's something I want to share. In many cases, with the amount of information to read these days, I will shrug and move on. I would have shared the information but the sender turned it into a job. Another job I don't have time for in my already busy day. How often do people shrug because they can't share your information easily? Think about your own activities, what encourages you to share? And how easily do you give up? Click to Tweet this Article

Is email marketing an untapped component of your marketing strategy? Here’s what an eNewsletter can do for you. It can... Enhance your reputation. Increase lead generation. Provide invaluable information about who is interested in what, so you can follow up with contacts in a more strategic way. Be a very cost-effective communication channel with your clients, customers, colleagues and prospects. Quickly identify obsolete contact information, so you know to re-connect to get an update. Leverage your other marketing efforts: website, social media, blog, etc. Provide immediate measurable results. Give your contacts the opportunity to easily and immediately interact with you. Provide a higher response rate because it is being sent to a receptive audience. Be more cost-efficient and environment-friendly than a printed newsletter - no printing or mailing costs.  Which of these benefits are important to you? Click to Tweet this Article

How do you spell it? During a recent workshop with Twirp Communications , I was updating the keywords on my LinkedIn profile . After proudly doing the update quickly, Anita searched on one of my keywords. Immediately she spotted a disconnect. I had spelled 'email', but she had spelled 'e-mail' when she searched. Now I have to admit, I'm prejudiced against hyphens. I don't know why, but I try to avoid them unless they're necessary. We had an 'internal communication' here at Daley Progress (Danielle and I talked) about it just a couple of days before the workshop and we had decided to standardize all our usage to the un-hyphenated versions of 'email' and 'enewsletters'. How foolish of us to think that prospects and colleagues will use the search terms we want them to use! Now we will have to re-visit all of our online content, with a view to making it more 'search friendly' - rather than about what we like. Who knew ...

If you’ve been in business for more than a few months, you’ve had the discussion about accountability with at least one other business owner – and will continue to have that conversation with other business owners. We all struggle with staying focused and getting things done. One way that we combat this is by setting up systems of accountability. Our systems vary greatly, from detailed plans and deadlines to mastermind groups and more. One strategy that can be effective is bringing another person into your system to be accountable to. Telling someone else about your goals and deadlines is a step in the right direction. But accountability works best when it’s more than deadlines and reminders - when there’s the real potential for loss. That could be the loss of money, if we are paying someone to keep us accountable. It could be the loss of opportunity, if we aren’t acting fast enough. It could be the loss of integrity or trust, if the opinion of the person we are letting down is i...

Recently I have been doing a lot of web research which had me landing at many different websites. I noticed some common problems that are easily corrected. Although none of these tips are new, here are 3 tips that are worth repeating: Make your website easy to maintain and maintain it. While it might be appealing to pay a lot of money for a flashy website and hand over the updates to someone outside your organization, take a good look into it first. Make sure you pick a company that will process your updates inexpensively and quickly. Make sure that you keep control of the branding and look of your website. If you are handling your website in house, make sure you are updating it quickly as changes occur within your organization. Events and resources are particularly frustrating for web users when they are not current so it is best to always include a link to the organization's website rather than a link to a document they have provided. Audit your website. Busine...

I discovered last year that everything on the web is not accessible to people with disabilities. In my case, I was designing a website for a wonderful client who is blind. I was using an application that was somewhat new to me. Once I had the first draft of the website all ready, I sent a link to my client for her feedback. To my dismay, she couldn't read the website! (Perhaps I should clarify that her JAWS software couldn't read the website, but the result was the same.) At this point I should clarify that I'm not a bonified website developer - I use website builder software. This means that I had absolutely no idea how to go about making the site accessible. Logging a help ticket with the website builder folks elicited the response that their sites are accessible. Say what? So I went back to my tried-and-true website builder software and built the website there. It was quite a relief to get the report back that the site 'worked'. Here is where I admit...

I’ve started off the year by getting rid of things. Jane, my organizer friend, would say that’s a good thing. But I’m not talking about emptying closets and trips to the curb. I’ve been shedding bits and pieces of my business. It feels like a weight off my shoulders; casting off the old to make room for the new, a fresh start… and many more clichés. This year I am focused and oh boy, am I getting in control. Some decisions have been difficult ones – like finally putting my training career to rest. Some have been much easier – like getting rid of my Yellow Pages ad after 7 years of no payoff. (Can you believe this? The rep actually said, “Well, what’s $16 a month?”) All have been the result of the Plan I developed at bootcamp last month. I have never understood the terms ‘niche’ and ‘specialize’ like I do now. What a pleasant surprise: decision-making has now become so much easier and straight-forward. No waffling. Does it fit with the Plan? No? Then, out the door with it, ...

A good friend recently asked for my best advice for a young colleague of hers that wants to start a home-based business. I surprised myself a bit by being able to zero in on the two key success factors for growing my similar business. Networking Yes, you've heard it before and are probably doing it. I could be doing more of it but I’m definitely making the most of what I do. Joining a weekly networking association has been a definite boost in a lot of ways: support and advice, friendships, referrals, and of course, some of the members have become clients. Networking takes me where other small business owners are, since they are my ideal clients. In recent months my networking has gone online and I've made some great connections through social media and my newsletter. Don’t ignore that venue. Find Your ‘Debi’ Most who know me, also know that Debi Hartlen MacDonald at New Life Business Solutions is a close colleague and that she and I regularly exchange our expertise and op...

There are many reasons that a business should have a website.  Some businesses will have more reasons than others.  If I was going for quantity, I’m sure I could come up with hundreds of reasons.  But not all of those reasons would apply to every business.  There are some reasons that apply to EVERY business – big or small. Promote your products/services 24/7/365 worldwide Showcase your products/services for everyone to see. Explain the benefits. Show comparisons, testimonials, and FAQs. Bonus: your website works for you while you’re busy doing other things. Promote your business and yourself People favour organizations and people that they know, like and trust. Your website should convey trust and credibility, making people want to buy from you and support you. Build your community, reputation, and contacts A website can be a powerful way to build a following of like-minded people and show off your expertise. It can also be a powerful tool for gathering...

OK, so you're all set up with your branded design, great content and a bunch of subscribers that want your emails. What about paper newsletters? So 30 seconds ago? Rethink that. Depending on what you do, you may be able to get more mileage from your electronic newsletter in paper form. Here are 3 ways: Prospecting and Sales Print paper copies of your newsletter to take on sales calls and to networking events. Include an issue in kit folders. If you do speaking or training, take copies to hand out to participants. Your newsletter shows off your expertise - put it in people's hands. You can also use it to encourage new subscribers. Point of Sale If you have a cash register, put paper copies of your newsletter beside it. Use it as an example of what subscribers can expect. Even better, make it easy for your customers by offering to sign them up right on the spot. If you have office space, place paper newsletters in the reception area. ...

All big projects have the potential for scope creep - uncontrolled changes in project scope. It results in missed deadlines, budget overruns and altered deliverables. We entrepreneurs can be guilty of this when it comes to operating our businesses. It’s easy to get distracted by new opportunities and ideas. It’s sort of what small business is all about: being flexible enough to jump on opportunities. I’ve been guilty of doing this myself. It can be fun and challenging but sometimes not very productive. I’ve created 30 or so workshops that I have no desire to sell. My branding and website have undergone many renditions. Was I being productive during those hundreds of hours? It felt like it. I was busy but, oops, I wasn’t making any money. In January 2010 I set my theme for that year to be ‘FOCUS’. It stayed my theme for 2011 and I’m finally seeing the results of my intentions. (In fact, I’m satisfied enough to pick a new theme for 2012.) I did it by creating simple rules for ...

Most people have email boxes that are overflowing and not enough time to read it all. If you are like me, a day out of the office can bring dread when I finally get back to my desk... and my inbox! Your subject line needs to prompt your subscriber to open your message. To avoid spam filters, a quick Google search will unearth lists of words not to use in an email subject line. Getting past the spam filter is just the first step - you still need to encourage your recipient to open your email. Help your subscribers save time with your email subject line. Make your subject line instantly recognizable in their inbox and include the main topic contained within. If they are really busy, they can file it for later reading or delete it without having to take the time to open it. Although they may not read every issue, they will appreciate your effort. Better still, if the topic is of interest to them, they are more likely to open and read it later. Your subject li...

OK, so you might need 34 letters to say "I feel good!" in some circumstances. But I can't ever imagine needing 340 words to say "expect glitches". A client of mine received this email below from an online service provider. No, you won't want to read it anymore than she did. Want to know the short version? Scroll down. Salesforce.com is committed to providing a highly available service to our customers. We are committed to continued investments to increase the overall uptime of our service, to deliver optimal value to our customers. With that, we are excited to announce a major advancement in this area for our major releases, effective with our Spring '12 release. W hat is the change? We are happy to inform you that we are improving our major release upgrade process. This improvement means that your organization will be generally available during our major release upgrade windows. Note: The term "Generally Available" means that we are...

You may have several goals you want to achieve by way of your newsletter (substitute website, blog and/or social media as it applies to you). Probably you want to increase sales. Here are some other possible related goals: 'Touching' your customers, prospects and colleagues on a regular basis Building strong business relationships Developing your reputation and sphere of influence Sharing your valuable information, products, and services Being seen as an expert Growing your fans, followers and blog readership Keeping up with your competition These all may well be good reasons to have a newsletter. The ones that are most important for you will depend on what type of business you have, how long you’ve been in business, what your competitive situation is, and more. You should be able to pick 2-3 goals to specifically focus on - then match your content to those goals. (It's simple logic, but sometimes we forget.) For example, if building your reput...