Why Entrepreneurs Get Nothing Done & Spend Too Much Money

Yup, I said it.

Entrepreneurs everywhere are spending a FORTUNE on info-products, coaches, teleseminars, in-person events, membership-programs, etc. and it’s getting them NOWHERE.

Now, I’m obviously not advocating spending zero dollars because let’s face it, we all do need a bit of help. What I AM encouraging is to stop spending your money with everyone on the planet and find one person you resonate with, is where you want to be and gets the latest stuff happening on the web.

Otherwise, you end up like most entrepreneurs. You hire a coach and then another coach and then a guru and then you buy big group coaching programs and then you attend in-person events with high ticket prices and then you hire an online business manager and then a web designer and then an SEO expert and… and… and…

You get the point (I hope)…

What happens is that instead of listening to ONE person who knows what they are doing and is where you want to be, you are listening to ten or twenty or thirty people who all tell you DIFFERENT things and make your head spin. All of these ideas that you’re paying for are great except nothing is being implemented because you just don’t know where to start.

So, if you’re not making any money and you’re scratching your head trying to figure out why, even after all of this great advice you are getting nowhere, FIRE half (or more) of the people you’ve hired to “coach” you and find yourself an awesome coach, strategist or someone who can lead you alongside your own amazing and brilliant thoughts and ideas.

Do so and I guarantee that you’ll make more money this year than you ever have.

Put down your wallets… and watch this video.

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Erin Blaskie is the owner of Business Services, ETC - A Global Internet Marketing & Implementation Firm. Her company helps businesses from around the world take their practice online and create huge success using various internet marketing tactics. Erin herself has been featured in three print books (”Becoming an Online Business Manager” by Tina Forsyth, “My So-Called Freelance Life” by Michelle Goodman, and “The Official AWE Emerging Trends Guide 2009” compiled by the Association of Web Entrepreneurs), honored as Office Arrow’s 2008 Runner-Up Business Woman of the Year, interviewed by countless gurus and media personalities (John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, Sheri McConnell, Stacy Karacostas, Gina McNew) and featured in major news publications (ABCNews.com, Ottawa Citizen and Employment Journal).

The Three C's of Building an Audience with Social Media

What's the biggest difference between people who are successful in social media and those who are not?  Simple--the successful people have built themselves an audience. 

An audience doesn't necessarily mean having 10,000 followers here or 5,000 friends there.  At its most basic level it might be that.  But what's a bunch of friends and followers if they aren't helping you to grow your business? 

Consider this: what if your "audience" isn't anyone who would be interested in what it is you offer?  What if they were people just looking to boost their numbers without any interest in engaging with you in any sort of dialogue?  What if they were primarily focused on promoting their own stuff the majority of the time?  These types of scenarios are clearly not ideal.

So what should you really be looking to achieve?  Building the right kind of audience with social media means your participation there is leading you to be seen as a credible, trust-worthy source who may be able to help others solve whatever problem they may be having.

It means you are reaching a market of people you have deliberately sought out through search strategies who might need what you have.
When you've grabbed the attention of your followers and friends and built interest and credibility, you now have a way to gain traffic to your website, capture more leads and continue building and strengthening the relationship.

It's all in the three C's:

1.  Content:  Content is the lifeblood of successful social media marketers.  What reasons are you giving people to listen to you? This goes two ways: sharing your own helpful posts, links, tips and resources--and promoting and sharing the content of others.  This does three main things: establishes your expertise, drives traffic to your site, and provides your audience with helpful information.  Remember, the content you are sharing should not always be your own.

2.  Conversation: Simply by being seen as someone who provides great content in the social media space you will naturally find yourself engaged in conversation.  Having these one on one conversations is what is going to make you stand out among the noise and deepen the relationship.  In addition, when you make it a habit to promote others, this brings more "social appreciation" your way.  These interactions cause others to seek out more information about you beyond where you've made the initial connection.

3.  Conversion:  Once you have converted someone to a newsletter subscriber, blog subscriber or paying client or customer, you've taken the steps toward acquiring another raving fan.  These loyal folks will not only bring you more sales, but will be much more likely to sing your praises to others out in the social media universe.  This is how you grow your "tribe."
Do you see how simple and effective it is to build an audience of captivated friends and followers?   Do you see the difference this could make to your bottom line?
I know you do. :)

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

The Journey of Online Marketing and Social Media

We're a society of want-it-nowers, always looking for instant results. We love our credit cards, microwaves and drive-thrus too much for this mentality not to creep into our online marketing activities.

It takes time to build a list, to put out good content, to be seen as an expert in your niche. Conversion of the leads you capture through social media is almost never immediate.

One of the most frequent complaints I hear from small business owners looking to get more clients and customers by building an online presence is that it "takes too much time."

"Oh, yeah, that would be nice but I just don't have the time."

Many of these people have an existing offline business and are either struggling to attract more business, or are burning themselves out dealing with day to day responsibilities, endless networking meetings, seeing one-on-one clients and generally putting out fires. Therefore, adding online marketing into the mix sounds like one more "thing" they just can't imagine juggling.

The irony is that the internet can provide the leverage that would allow these small business owners and solopreneurs some of the relief they are so desperate for.  It's not a magic pill and it does take time. (I know, they don't want to hear that.)

The other group consists of those who are trying to build an online business and grow impatient with not seeing those quick results.  Sorry, but it's not going to happen that way. In my experience, success comes as the result of consistently doing small, sometimes boring tasks day in and day out.

You might not see any fruit from your labor for weeks or months on end.  But it is a result of those consistent actions that momentum will build and progress will be made.  This is especially true with social media.

"But I have 5,768 followers and 2,987 friends!  No one is buying from me!"

"I've been on Twitter for 2 months and I'm not making any money!"

In this case, it's not only time, but what you are spending your time doing there.  Are you providing value, having conversations, driving traffic outside of these sites?

Yes, there is a lot to learn--but there is so much information available out there.  Online marketing and social media can be absolutely amazing for your business IF you are willing to learn how to do it right and make the investment of time.

What are you spending your time on?

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

How to Make Your Blog More Social Media Friendly

Having a blog is a great step in the right direction if you are looking for ways to dive into social media.  Conversations are at the core of what it's about, after all.  However, there is a lot more that you can do once you've got that blog up and running.  You can think of your blog as a hub connecting all of your social media activities--and you'll want to encourage visitors to interact with you socially in as many ways as possible.  Here are some ideas that you can run with:

Social badges, buttons and widgets (oh my!): Why not advertise your social presence while you have your readers' attention?  There are many different ways to do this. 

Facebook recently introduced Fan Boxes for those users with Fan Pages. These allow Page administrators to embed the most recent activity from their Page right in their website or blog.  If you don't have a Fan Page and want to let people know about your personal Facebook profile instead, you can also add a badge to your site provided by Facebook.  Use the "Create a Profile Badge" link all the way at the bottom under your picture. 

Facebook Connect is another option--this is a tool that allows software, websites, mobile devices and more to integrate with Facebook and send information between them.

Want to encourage your readers to follow you on Twitter?  A simple Google search shows that there are many different badges out there to add to your site.  Twittercounter.com has one of my favorites--the "big bird button" has a sleek design that displays your number of followers. 

Finally, Google Friend Connect and MyBlogLog are two online services that allow web users to connect with their friends on different websites.  These free services help foster community around blogs and blog authors.

Submission buttons: If you use the Wordpress blog platform, a wonderful plugin to use is "Sociable."  This adds a row of buttons to the bottom of your posts for various social sites and tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon and more.  This way, readers can easily submit your content to be bookmarked, voted on and shared.

If you aren't a Wordpress user, the ShareThis or AddThis buttons are a great alternative.

Share-friendly content: It goes without saying that you want to add content to your blog that provides lots of value for your readers.  This is what builds your subscriber base and ultimately determines your success.  Some content is more "shareable" than others.

As one example, people just love lists.  "Top 10 tips on...." "7 Ways to...." -you get the idea.  Consider adding these types of posts to the mix, because readers are more apt to share them. 

It's also worth mentioning headlines. Keep in mind what might be attention-grabbing when you write your blog posts' titles.  People will be more likely to not only read further, but to share it with others and have those people share it too.

These days, people expect to be able to interact with you when they visit your site.  Make it super simple for them and they'll be back for more!

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

How to Avoid One on One Client Burnout with Multiple Streams of Income

When it comes to one on one clients, I often see solo professionals either exhausted from working with them all the time--or frustrated and not making the money they want because they are focused on selling services or products at the highest price point they offer.
If this sounds familiar, you may adore your clients and love helping them, but are feeling burnt out or stuck because one on one sessions are all you are offering. 

So what's the solution?

Leveraging your time and talent by diversifying the ways you earn income in your business.  One of the greatest things about running all or part of your business online is how easy it is to do this.  Let's be honest, it's no fun when a few of your clients all quit in the same month and you're left scrambling to replace that income.
Similarly, if you are finding prospects saying they can't afford what you offer, you still don't want to lose them completely.  They've shown interest in you already--wouldn't it be great to still be able to help them at a price they are willing to pay?

Some marketers refer to this as the "funnel" system of marketing and it is really quite clever.  Because not only does it allow you to still be able to make a sale, if you've provided them value at that lower price point, they are more likely to come back and buy from you repeatedly--and at higher prices.

So what do these multiple streams look like and why are they considered leveraged? It is all about reaching more people without spending more of your time.   Here are some specific examples:
E-books: These are simple to create.  Just PDF a Word document and you're good to go.  This type of offering is usually the lowest priced item in the funnel (often between $17 and $47 depending on how comprehensive they are), and the best thing about it is that you write it once but sell it over and over.  This is definitely a smart use of your time.

Teleseminars: All you really need is a phone for this.  There are plenty of free conference call services that also record the calls for you.  Once you have a recording, you can also sell that as a product afterward or offer it as a bonus with another offering.  Teleseminars can be done as a one-off call or a series of calls.

Group coaching/training or e-coaching:  We all have valuable knowledge we could teach and share with others.  Believe that others would be very willing to pay to learn what it is you know!  A great way to accomplish this is to train or teach a group of people all at the same time.  This can be done by phone, interactively by webinar, or even by email.

Membership sites: Sometimes referred to as continuity programs, these are private sites that people pay a fee, usually monthly, to be a part of.  It's a way to provide useful, exclusive content to paying members and it's a win-win: they get valuable tips, lessons and strategies from an expert and you get paid consistently and by multiple members.

Affiliate marketing:  Have you used products you've loved and would be happy to rave to others about?  Consider becoming an affiliate if a program for that product is offered.  Essentially, because you are helping to spread the word for the creator of that product, they are giving you a percentage of the sales they make.  Pretty easy!
Next time you are stressed over a lack of clients or simply worn out from one on one appointments, commit to getting going on at least one of these streams.  If you still need convincing, think about all the time it will help you free up to be with friends and family. 
After all, isn't that what it's all about?

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

6 Ways to Integrate Twitter and Facebook

Twitter and Facebook are not the only social media sites out there--not by a long shot.  But they are of course two of the most well known and widely used.  They are also very similar in that they both essentially function as "status updates."  Because of this similarity, some really great tools and applications have come out which allow users to integrate the two.  Here are six of the tools I have used and like:

Twitter clients like Seesmic or Tweetdeck: These are two Twitter desktop clients that allow you to browse your friends' Facebook status updates and update your own status right from their interface--no need to have a web browser open or be logged into the Twitter or Facebook sites.

Twitter or Selective Twitter Status applications: These two Facebook applications allow your tweets to automatically be posted to your profile.  Selective Twitter Status is great because you decide which specific tweets go to update your Facebook status by adding #fb after them.  This way your friends who aren't familiar with Twitter lingo aren't confused by your frequent status updates.

Vlingo application: Vlingo is a free application for the Blackberry, Nokia and iPhone.  It allows you to update your Facebook or Twitter status using your voice right from your phone!

FriendFeed application:  If you use FriendFeed, which consolidates all of your social media activities across different networks in one place, you can add the Facebook FriendFeed application.  If you are importing your Twitter feed, every time you tweet it will post to your Facebook wall.  This may be preferable to updating your status with every tweet such as with the Twitter for Facebook application.

Tweetpo.st: Tweetpo.st is a very cool site which allows you to post tweets as Facebook status updates, post links you tweet on your Facebook wall (so your friends can watch videos and see pictures right in their News Feed), ignore @replies, change @mentions to real names and more.  It does all of this by using Facebook Connect.

Custom Profile Box or Extended Info applications: Finally, if you are just looking for a way to let your Facebook friends know that you tweet and encourage them to follow you, you can add one of these Facebook applications.  They both allow you to insert a graphic or text, which you can then easily link to your Twitter profile.  For example, I added a clickable Twitter bird logo that reads "follow me on Twitter."

Now you can save time and expend less effort on the two most popular social sites by using these helpful (and free!) social networking tools.

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

Simple Ways to Get More Visitors to Your Blog or Website

You've picked the domain, decided on the design and started posting great content that showcases your expertise.  The hard work is over, right?

Not exactly--after all, you need people to actually read that useful content that you're diligently cranking out. So how do you get those eyeballs to your site? There are literally hundreds of ways to drive traffic to your blog or website, but here I will highlight just a few of the ways to drive traffic and generate interest in what it is you have to offer.

Write articles: Most of the article directories online are free to submit your articles to. They usually allow you to add a resource box at the end, which can include a blurb about you and your business and a link back to your site.  Some of the directories I like to use include EZine Articles, Go Articles, Idea Marketers and Articles Base.
Comment on other blogs: When you comment on other high-traffic blogs in your niche you not only get a link back to your own site, you're also boosting your site's visibility in front of the blog owner and the others leaving comments.

Social media: Provide links to your latest posts on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and invite your friends and followers to leave their thoughts on the particular topic in the comments.  You don't want to do this for every post as it might be viewed as spamming--but it's perfectly acceptable to occasionally encourage others to click through and read a post you feel particularly proud of.  Also, be sure to include your site's URL in all of your profiles.
Hold a contest: A great way to generate interest in your site is to hold a contest where the entries are comments left on your post.  For example, you could give away someone else's product in exchange for writing a post about it and then publicize the contest through your social networks.

Email signature:  Most of us send numerous emails in any given day--capitalize on this by adding a link to your site in your signature line.
Basic SEO: You don't need to be super-knowledgeable about search engine optimization to benefit from it.  If you use the Wordpress blog platform, install the All in One SEO Pack plugin. This post gives some simple and easy to understand tips on SEO in general.
Post in forums:  Many online forums and message boards will allow you to use a short signature line at the end of your posts.  You can include a link to your site here.

Blog directories:  A simple Google search will reveal that there are many blog directories online where you can list your site for free.  These sites are important because they provide a way to get links to your site--which boosts your ranking in the search engines.  A good list of some of the best directories is here.

Guest post:  Reach out to fellow bloggers in your niche and offer to guest post for them.  Make sure you find out specifically what kind of topics they are looking for and that your audiences both compliment each other.  Offer them a spot guest posting on your blog as well.

Link to other blogs:  It's a good idea to give "link love" to other bloggers by mentioning them in post once in awhile and providing a link to their site.  Think of it as good blogging "karma."

Post valuable content regularly:  I've saved what is probably the most important strategy for last.  Many times, this is what makes the difference between blogs that succeed and those that fail.  The above tips are effective for sure, but in the long run this is what will keep people coming back for more as well as draw new readers in.

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

Social Media Benefits 101: Back to Basics

As a small business owner, it's important to your success to understand social media's benefits and why it's worth the time to learn and make a part of your marketing routine.
So why care about social media right now?
Proves You are a Living, Breathing, REAL Person
It sounds kind of funny but it's crucial.  Humans need to feel they are connecting with others and that their voices are being heard. You can't really get away with being a faceless entity doing business on the web anymore.  Those who are still doing it that way risk alienating those making the buying decisions.

Branding
There is plenty of opportunity to build and make visible your particular brand--while still being human. You don't need to think of this in terms of the big boys like Starbucks or Pepsi-type branding.  It could even just be colors, a logo, your avatar picture or tagline.  If you use the tools regularly, each impression strengthens others' awareness of what your products or services are about.  Keep your messages and branding activities consistent and cohesive and you have a powerful way to promote yourself and what it is you offer.

Viral Word of Mouth
Is every friend or follower you have on social sites going to be a member of your target market?  No, but it doesn't matter.  If you are providing good content, helpful links and regularly contributing something useful to the community, the viral nature of social media will help push this content through to the people who
need to hear it.

Speed of Results
While building up the ranking of your website takes time and often can't be predicted, the impact of social networks and tools can be instantaneous.

Traffic
When you list your link in your profile or direct people to your latest post or article it is just another way to drive traffic to your blog or website.  I've had great results with Facebook and Twitter by looking at the traffic source stats in my Google Analytics page.

Value Contribution
You have something of value to offer others--that's why you're in business.  The conversational nature of social media makes it easy to engage others in discussions which naturally reveal what you may be able to help them with.  Be authentic, stay involved, an give regardless of how much you get back.

It's Not Going Away
The names and faces of the latest tools and networks may change but the benefits that their interactive nature provides are real and working very well for countless small business owners.
Isn't it time you discovered that for yourself? :)

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.

10 Easy Ways to Make Your Time on Twitter More Interactive

When it comes to Twitter, I always stress to clients that results don't happen overnight.  This is not to discourage them from using it to enhance their marketing--but to help them understand the power of regular, personal interactions and the cumulative effect this can have on their business.

Each time you engage others on Twitter, you are planting seeds that can have potentially big payoffs in the future.  Once I explain this concept, the next concern is usually that this will be a huge time investment.  It's not--if you leverage your time by applying a few of the select strategies I discuss here.

1.    Re-tweet: Re-posting others' interesting tweets is one of the simplest and most effective ways to be discovered and gain more followers.  For the people that already are following you, it's a quick way to get on their radars.

2.    Thought-provoking quote: People just love great quotes.  You have a good chance of being re-tweeted with these.  The ones you choose also help you share a slice of your personality.

3.    Feedback on someone's link: Take a minute to visit a link someone has posted.  They will often preface the link with what it's about.  If it interests you, check it out and share your thoughts with the poster afterwards.

4.    Answer a question: Know the answer? By all means, share your expertise. If the question pertains to your niche, that's even better.

5.    Ask a question: By the same token, people like to share their own knowledge.  Give them an opportunity. 

6.    Thank someone for their re-tweet or compliment: Gratitude is powerful and people appreciate and tend to remember when you've expressed it.

7.    Respond to @ replies and direct messages: Try to respond to both the public and private messages you receive.  It's just common courtesy.  Plus, there are many people who unfortunately do not do it--so exceed others' expectations by making a habit of doing so.

8.    Participate in #followfriday: FollowFriday is simply a fun event every Friday on Twitter where people recommend others to follow.  They add the hash tag after they've given the Twitter usernames.  If you have people in mind you think would be good to follow, tell others--there's a good chance those you've recommended will return the favor.

9.   Use Blip.fm: If you're a music lover (who isn't?), try using Blip.fm.  All you have to do is set up a free account on their site and you can start playing DJ.  Choose the option to send the songs you've "blipped" to Twitter.  Music really does bring people together.  Of course, you don't want to fill up your entire Twitter stream with blips, but once in awhile share your musical tastes with others.

10.    Post a poll: Do you need feedback on something? Yep, there's a hashtag for that: #poll.  People love participating in these.

By choosing to put a few of these strategies in place each day, you'll build momentum, raise your profile and start to notice others engaging and re-tweeting you more.  As in real life, it's about personality.  Let that come through and it will pique others' curiosity, drive them to seek out more information about you, and eventually cause them to click through to your site.

Commit to implementing these techniques regularly--it essentially comes down to two things, interacting and providing value--and you will begin being perceived as an expert, see yourself getting recommended by others, and be well on your way to building your own "tribe" of raving fans.

Now, you can't say you don't know what to tweet about. :)

© 2009 Communicate Value. All Rights Reserved.

Christine Gallagher, The Online Marketing and Social Media Success Coach, is founder of Communicate Value, where she is dedicated to teaching small business owners and professionals how to conquer the overwhelming aspects of online and social media marketing to increase business and maximize profits. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her weekly marketing & success articles on leveraging technology, building relationships and boosting your profits, visit http://communicatevalue.com.