Where's All of Our ContentWritten by Chris Haslego
Where’s All of Our Content? Chris Haslego Zeus Online Marketing www.zeus-online-marketing.comHow many websites have you been to in last week that sold products, but offer absolutely no other reason to visit? Considering that everyone involved in internet marketing knows that it often times takes between five and eight “contact sessions” to make a sale to a customer, why aren’t more people giving customers a reason to come back? The answer is relatively simple: it takes time, effort, and commitment. Simply having a newsletter that your visitors can sign-up for just doesn’t help if you don’t have content on your site to tell them about. Now, it’s inevitable that some of you are saying, “I sell wind chimes on my site, what kind of content could I possibly have?” Good question! Ask youself what topics people who buy wind chimes might be interested in. Most of them may be interested in home exterior tips, learning about history of wind chime (such as how it came to be), or maybe content on some of best locations for wind chimes outside home. No matter what you’re selling, there is content that your visitors will find useful! So, content is a great way to keep your customers coming back. But, remember, if takes time, effort, and commitment. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to sit down and write a five page article with groundbreaking information every week (although, that would just fine). It could be something as simple as passing along solutions to one customer’s problem to other customers. For example, if sell software and you’ve helped a customer make a “tweak” that fits their business better, post a short article on your site and tell your other customers how this made product better. Start a knowledge base of content for your site, you might be surprised how quickly you’ll compile little tidbits that can really add up to quality content.
| | Boost Your Business and Personal Success by Creating Your Own Luck Written by Jack Humphrey
Jason Zweig wrote a great little article in Money Magazine called "R+U Lucky? Some Guys Do Have All The Luck. Here's How to Join Them" (Money, August 2003 pp85).In it he describes patterns that "lucky" people follow and how to increase your odds of success by basically placing yourself in "right place at right time." Can you always be in right place at right time? Not really, unless you broaden your definition of that phrase a bit, as I have. My Definition of The Right Place at The Right Time: "Putting yourself in every corner of your market niche in some fashion so as to be in front of customers and people who can further your business through partnerships, buyouts, joint ventures and many other opportunities that only come through luck you *create* by being active and involved in your niche." Zweig talks about fact that some people seem actually "skillful" at being lucky. A British psychologist, Richard Wiseman, even wrote a new book on subject called "The Luck Factor." (See www.luckfactor.co.uk) Wiseman did a study on over 400 people who thought of themselves as either very lucky or unlucky. "He found that some are indeed luckier than others, that lucky people share similar attitudes and that many apparently random outcomes can be controlled" says Zweig. Think of first person that comes to mind who owns an online business and who you think of as "lucky." Actually, think of about 5 people. Should be an easy list to make - they are your competition, or business owners you admire, most likely. Now, what trait would you say your list of 5 lucky people share? I would venture to say they all share same trait of being, at one point or another, "in right place at right time." How did they do it? Was it really blind luck? Are odds dismal? The same as winning your state lottery jackpot? Not even close! Although there are some people who really cannot explain their luck, and who truly were just "touched by an angel," most successful people are successful because they are engaged to hilt in their business. They are active promoters of their businesses in a radical way. They all have a fanatical involvement in networking themselves and their businesses. The biggest mistake I see people make with their online businesses is that they separate their "self" from their business. They let products speak for themselves, which is ok as one component of a marketing campaign, but that's not enough. They also successfully market *themselves* as well as their business. They see themselves as important factors in success and identity of their business. "Lucky" people see no separation of two in fact. Products and services are inanimate "things." They are nothing really, without people behind scenes who put themselves in front of scenes as much as possible and let others get to know THEM.
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