Own Your Niche by Building a Niche CommunityWritten by Steven Van Yoder
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You get idea...any niche you can think of for your practice is a candidate for a niche community. How a Niche Community Can Benefit Your Business Once you establish a niche community around your business, you can enjoy following benefits: Increased visibility. Community participation is a low cost marketing strategy that can yield enormous exposure for your business. Virtual communities provide free or low-cost gatherings that attract more people and create more prospects. Increased credibility. The success of your niche community reflects upon your abilities as a service professional. It provides a chance for you to "show your stuff" and impress prospects who don't feel like they need to ward off a sales pitch. Word of mouth. Virtual communities stimulate conversation. They get people talking. Participants tell their friends more readily about your business as a "community resource" than a private service. Transform a "practice" into a "business". By reaching more people through your virtual community, you will develop a platform to sell more products and services. Your community can open door to multiple income streams through group mentor programs, information products and other passive revenue streams. Getting Started The first consideration is how you will structure your community and bring people together. You have two choices: create a "live" community that meets in a physical location; or establish an online community that meets virtually through telephone and Internet. Live communities are straightforward. Taking David's cue, develop a statement of purpose for group. Then, market group to niche market prospects within reasonable physical proximity to one another, choose meeting times and a location, and bring them together around a structured agenda. Whereas live communities are more limited by location, virtual communities offer possibility of attracting members from all over world. Online or virtual communities gather people in an online 'space' where they come, communicate, connect, and get to know each other better over time. The idea is to bring members of your niche together virtually where you combine on-line interaction (e-mail, web forums) with telephone conference calls and classes, as well as information and support services. Online group interactions do not always 'happen' spontaneously. They require care, nurturing and facilitation. The core of facilitation and hosting is to serve group and assist it in reaching its goals or purpose. Some describe this role as a gardener, a conductor, distributed leadership of jazz improvisers, a teacher, or an innkeeper. It can be this and more. If you take plunge, be patient. Online communities don't happen overnight. Often they take time to coalesce and form themselves into something valuable and sustainable. It's crucial that patience is exercised, since it WILL take time for momentum and a critical mass to develop whereby community becomes solid and established.
Steven Van Yoder is the author of Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort. Visit http://www.getslightlyfamous.com to read the book and learn about 'slightly' famous teleclasses, workshops, and marketing materials to help small businesses and solo professionals attract more business. contact@getslightlyfamous.com
| | Internet Nielsen RatingsWritten by Bryan Brandenburg
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Other Statistics Alexa also has a variety of other useful statistics about websites. It lists number of important links to website which is a factor when it comes to Search Engine Optimization. This would not include most "link farms" and relatively less important website links. It also shows where visitors are spending their time on a website and what other websites visitors are surfing. Top Website Listings There is also top website listings and top category listings for a number of vertical markets. Want to find out top sports sites, business sites or even photography, it's all here. This is really useful when you're looking at dominant players in your market and trying to emulate best in your category. Install Toolbar Now Although anyone can get great information on Alexa just by going to website, you'll want to install toolbar for real-time analysis of every website you visit. Not only will you be able to determine relative ranking of every website you visit, but you'll instantly see related websites that may aid in finding whatever you're looking for. You can download toolbar now at www.alexa.com.
Bryan Brandenburg has published 5 books as well as a number of articles both in print and on the internet. He has published almost 30 software programs both for consumers and business. More information and articles can be found at www.vmmg.net
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