After spending hours creating content for your website it can be frustrating when nobody comments on your post. In fact it can be deflating at times. But what is actually worse than having no comments at all is attracting spam comments by the boat load.

Here are some of my least favourite types of blog comments.

1. Your Brother, Cousin or Auntie’s Pet Dog told you about this website.

Your brother, your cousin or your auntie’s pet dog did NOT tell you about this website, and I am positive that neither they, nor you have ever been on this website.

2. You have the Audacity to tell me my page is “rife” with spelling mistakes.

OK, so every now and again a spelling or grammatical error slips through the cracks. It happens.

Heck, I am open to criticism as much as the next man. In fact I wouldn’t be posting anything online if I couldn’t accept positive and structured criticism. Criticism is as good as praise. It opens up a conversation and as blog writers that is what you want.

If you want me to believe that you are real then point out where the mistake is I will approve your comment and thank you for publically shaming me.

3. Your URL is an Affiliate Link

Worse than the URL being an affiliate link is the fact that the affiliate link is for a program that supports blog spamming. Seriously, are you having a laugh?

4. You are Faceless

If there is no image associated with your comment and by image I mean picture of you, then chances are I am not even going to look at your comment, let alone approve it. Most genuine, REAL people on the internet have a gravatar associated with their primary email address. You don’t.

If it is a serious comment then stand behind your name and be proud of what you write. Same goes for any social media profiles out there. Make sure the image is complete.

5. Your comment is as spun as a spider’s web

“Definitely imaging that that you stated.”

What? What does that even mean? Are you for real?

The obvious answer is no but hang on a minute. The answer is really yes. Someone somewhere actually entered the text to be spun in the first place. They physically sat there typed this out, looked at it (actually I am not sure they did check their work before sending it!), felt satisfied that it was a great comment and hit submit.

6. The anchor text keywords have an Adult theme

I have no reason to expose myself, or my readers, to subject matter that is going to be in any way offensive or devalue the content that I have spent time producing.

Go and find other adult related niche sites and post comments there. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out there will be more interest for your offerings on a similar themed site.

7. You Obviously Haven’t read the post!

The comment that you have left is a copy and paste job from a word template. Thanks but no thanks I am not interested and would rather have a post with no comments.

8. Your comment is full of links

You have the opportunity to enter anchor text as your username if you so choose. Therefore stuffing your comment full of URL’s is not going to get you approved.

9. You stumbled across me on Ask Jeeves

Really, I don’t think you did. Because if you did you would be the only person ever to do so and the chances of you actually reading the post and leaving a comment are about the same as winning the lottery.

10. You “instantly grabbed my RSS Feed” and submitted to Digg.

Nobody grabs RSS feed, this is another case of using the thesaurus incorrectly when you are populating your comment submitting software.

11. You have made $60,000 last night when you were sleeping and you had to tell someone.

That lucky person was me.

Honestly, I don’t want to know. I am happy being ignorant about it. But feel free to share it with your brother, your cousin and your auntie’s pet dog because I am sure they will be interested.

Leaving blog comments is a good thing to do, it helps connect people, build communities and can also help with SEO and as a blogger it is always nice to receive blog comments it makes you feel that your words are not falling on deaf ears.

Go ahead leave blog comments, but do it right.

If you have had a website online for any amount of time you will be able to attest to the fact that online marketing is, and for that matter always will be, prone to change. A website that is attracting targeted traffic and converting one day may suddenly disappear from the search engine pages overnight and leave you wracking your brain to come up with a reason why.

Or maybe one of the social media sites decides to change the rules slightly and as a result your targeted lead generation campaign no longer complies with the terms of service. This puts your lead generation on stop and sales go into free fall.

This is the reality of the internet, the largest marketplace on the planet. When change happens it happens fast, wiping away months of hard work and leaving many business owners out in the cold.

There are however certain things that you can do in order to protect yourself and your business on the internet and in this post I will reveal to you the three new, most important and significant things that you can do to keep on top.

In fact the headline is a ruse! It’s a lie, I have cheated you! There are no “NEW Rules”, there is no new push button technology or new killer strategy. To succeed you have to do what has always worked; you have to earn the right to be at the top.

3 Ways for Your Online Marketing to Earn the Right to Be Number 1.

1. Create Killer Content

Google receives several hundred million search requests every single day. People are on the internet for a reason: that reason is to find information. It could be to solve a problem, it could be to learn how to fix a dishwasher or mend a leaking fuel pipe, it could be to locate a business service in their local area. It could simply be to connect with friends and find out what they have been doing and share photos or videos of where they have been.

That information has to be there to found. So make sure it is you who is putting that information out there. Why? Because if it is your information that’s gets found in relation to your niche then a percentage of people will take note of who wrote it and want to learn more about you, resulting in a  growing interest in your business.

What problems do people in your niche have?

• Research a number of different ways to solve the problem.
• Present your findings in a clear and logical fashion.
• Give the reader exactly what it says on the tin.

Make it a habit to create content on a regular basis and you will soon find that you will have a variety of ideas that you can use to create further content. Try writing a series, a whitepaper or an eBook, the idea being to further increase your online reputation and your position as a thought leader.

2. Keyword Research

Your content is created with the end user in mind, much like when you start a business you do so with the intention of solving a particular problem experienced by individuals. Your content is the supporting material to answer the question, “why you”?

You know the problem and you have addressed it in a human fashion, but how exactly are people searching for that problem? What I mean is this: if you are providing advice on the best company providing SEO in Altrincham, then pitching that information to teenage girls who only have eyes for Justin Bieber and live in Idaho is not going to win you any plaudits!

You need to make sure that you present your valuable content to the correct audience at the right time. To do that you need to conduct proper keyword research. You need to know how many people are searching for the information, you need to know who you are targeting the information at and what level of competition there is. How many authoritative websites are trying to rank for the same information?

Keywords, and therefore keyword research, are fundamental to the success or failure of your online presence. When keywords are done right and optimised in the correct manner so as to be visible to both human and non human readers your pages stand a great chance of being indexed where they can be found.

One of the best tools to use for keyword research is Google’s keyword tool. This allows you to find out how many people are entering specific search queries amongst a whole host of further metrics.

3. Promote Promote Promote.

Let me repeat that one more time: promote!

Unless you are Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, or Sir Richard Branson, even your best written, search optimised copy will remain unread.

Contrary to popular belief, uploading content to the internet does not result in a windfall of traffic and sales.  The right to drive traffic, leads and sales is earned. Yes, you can pay for advertising via search engines or other paid media and at the very beginning of developing an online presence that is by far the quickest way to get traffic.

If paying for advertising is not within your budget then you will have to really work hard to get that content in front of as many people as possible by sharing it through social media and asking the people you know to also share it for you.

• Send an email out to your email list
• Find blogs or websites in your niche and contribute on them (Guest blogging)
• Write an article and submit to article directories
• Produce a video and distribute internet wide.

This list is not exhaustive, there are hundreds, if not thousands of ways to promote your content but they all come back to having the quality content to promote in the first place.

Get your thinking cap on and start creating content today. The sooner you start creating content the more references and links that are on the internet pointing back to your website therefore increasing your authority on that specific topic.

Online marketing is much, much more than just having a website; it is about feeding that website with content that is recognised by search engines and desired by human readers then distributing that content far and wide so it gets in front of as many eye balls as possible.

Then all you have to worry about is conversions……

All businesses and entrepreneurs want their website to enhance their professional reputation. After all nobody develops a web presence to make themselves look foolish. Do they!?  A credible website, with great content and with plenty of loyal visitors will repay its’ investment many times over.

Here are some tips for establishing a professional online presence.

WordPress.org

Yes there are other platforms out there, Blogger, Typepad, Tumblr, but as far as I am concerned WordPress.org is far and away the best platform for any entrepreneur to develop an on line presence. This blog is a WordPress blog and it serves me very well.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of templates that even those with no online skills can adopt and make their own. Plus, due to the popularity of WordPress there are many great sites that provide “how to” video tutorials on everything from creating menus, adding your first post and changing the size of an image.

If the thought of widgets, plugins and footers brings you out in a cold sweat then there are many experienced and skilled web developers who will be able to help you develop a professional looking website.

Keep it simple and professional

Just because other websites have flashing images or fancy colour schemes and font types it does not mean that you have to. Keep in mind your audience, and design and develop your website around what they would expect.

A simple web site that helps establish who you are and what you do will build trust with your readers and make your business look good. Make your site clean and simple, with just a couple of bold images per page. Keep it easy-to-read with well optimised text and a tasteful colour scheme.

Get Social

Social networks such as Twitter, Google+ and Facebook are a great way to increase the awareness of your brand and build a community of interested ‘followers’, making your business and your website more popular and more trustworthy in the balance.

Social media is not something that needs to be taken lightly and does require an investment of your time each and every day to build and enhance relationships to the point where you have fans who are willing to share your work with their friends and following.

Think back links

A backlink is when another web site refers back to your site. This referral acts as a positive vote that what you are writing about is good and therefore people should go and take a look because it is useful.

When this happens the search engines look at this referral and rate it based on factors such as site authority and relevancy. If there is a good match then this link is seen as a positive affirmation and over time the search engines will reward you with an increase in traffic.

For search engines, links from other sites to yours (called ‘backlinks’ or ‘incoming links’) act as a sort of ‘positive vote’, building credibility. The more relevant and well-respected the site that links to you, the greater the effect.

Methods to build backlinks,

• Issue a press release when you have juicy content to share about your business.
• Become a valued contributor in topic related forums using your website link in your bio.
• Provide content for other blogs or websites in your industry. This is known as Guest posting.
• Use Social media and post your content in Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn
• contact site owners who share relevant content and ask if they could link to you in return for you linking back to them

Write outstanding content

Finally, the best way to build credibility, popularity and to enhance the online reputation of both yourself and your website is simply to provide outstanding, educational, informative or entertaining content on a regular basis.

Yes, outstanding content is in the eye of the reader but if you commit to providing great content then over time people will take notice and spread the word.

Establishing an online presence is not easy, it takes consistency, hard work and dedication but if you do it the right way then you will build credibility and enhance your business reputation making you a prime contact when people need your services or expertise.

Grow as your business grows

You may find that after a certain amount of time your business outgrows your existing online real estate, and just like in the real world where you might move to bigger and better premises, you can change and enhance your online presence by updating what you have or quite simply by developing a new website that supports and leverages your existing efforts.

This a position that I am pleased to say I’m in at the moment, and although I will be continuing with my Big Thinking Online blog at JamesDebono.com I am currently in the process of developing a new website to support my business as I move in a slightly different direction. Needless to say it’s a very exciting time and I shall update you all as soon as I can!

If you are a blogger I am going to say something here that you might baulk at!

Getting traffic and prospective customers to your blog isn’t that difficult!

There, I said it. Do you agree or are you one of those in the camp that constantly struggles when it comes to knowing the exact methods of how to increase blog traffic?

In this post you will learn 8 ways to drive new visitors to your blog, but (and this is a big BUT!), you have to be consistent, thorough, unrelenting and committed to your blogging or else your blog will simply be the next ghost town.

This is a multipronged approach that includes both online and offline marketing efforts, some paid and some free. You can use these techniques to master the art of increasing traffic and bumping up conversion rates.

1. Organic Search

Google still is, and for a long time will be, the main traffic driver on the web. In order to benefit from Google’s generosity of sharing their customers, as that is essentially what search traffic is, you have to play by the search engine’s rules. Therefore getting your site to rank high remains an important way to drive traffic. Search engine optimisation is a critical strategy to drive organic search results.

2. External Links

Your website is an island a vast ocean that is the internet. In order to attract more traffic you need to build more bridges for people to come visit. These bridges are what are known as links and links play a vital role in determining the credibility of your website to the search engines.

One thing to mention here is that not all links are equal. If your site discussed pony trekking then a link from a cake baking article is not really a valid citation. If your theme is eighteen wheel trucks and you have a link from Barbie dolls, again that’s not valid. You want to make sure that the site where the link comes from is a good match for what your blog discusses.

The next three items on the list are paid methods of attracting more traffic to your blog, which if you know your conversion rate and you have a monetisation strategy then these will work for you. If you are still getting started then until you master the art of tracking and conversion which is a different topic altogether then you might want to skip to number 6.

3. PPC Advertising

Paid keywords, such as Google Adwords, have proven themselves to be cost effective methods for driving targeted traffic to your site. Although cost can be prohibitive for many niches, providing you know your conversion rates and are constantly testing and tweaking, adwords is a way to drive instant targeted traffic to your site.

Google offers a lot of resources to help small business owners learn everything from the basics of using adwords to mastering advanced user strategies and tips. Google Adwords Small Business Center

4. Affiliate Traffic.

Affiliate traffic is when you pay a third party a referral fee for getting targeted traffic to your site. Affiliates use their own online marketing techniques, methods and internet real estate to advertise your product or service and send the traffic to your site. You may not want to take on this task until you are more established as affiliates want to know expected conversions in return for their investment.

5. Paid Banner Advertising

Banners are perhaps the oldest form of advertising on the internet. They act much like billboards in real life. You place a banner in an area of high traffic and when some someone shows interest in what you are offering then they click through and are taken immediately to your site or landing page.

6. Offline efforts

Not everything you do has to stay online. Promoting your site offline though business cards and networking can help drive traffic to your blog.

Every time you meet someone who you feel could benefit from your content then let them know that you blog and direct them there. If something comes up in a conversation that you have covered on your blog, say , “I wrote a blog about that you should check it out” or after the event drop that person an email.

“We were talking about offline marketing efforts during the networking event and I thought I would share a blog I wrote discussing the exact same issue. Once you have read it leave me a comment at the bottom to let me know your thoughts”

The more people that know about your blog the more likely other people are to find and share it and at the same time you establish yourself as a thought leader.

7. Content

If you don’t have any content then there is no reason for people to check out your site. They’ll hit back on their browser and move on.

Quality content is absolutely fundamental to the success of your blog. Having bad content is like inviting people to a party and then telling them that there is no food or drink. People get disgruntled and leave.

Give people a strong reason to visit but more importantly to stay, subscribe and share. If you don’t have the content then this will not happen, so prior to inviting people and certainly before attempting any of the paid advertising methods make sure there is plenty of juicy content for people to find.

8. Email Newsletters.

When you have gone through all the hard work of attracting people to your site then you want to be in a position to take that relationship to the next level. For some that may be buying your product or service or joining your membership program, but whatever it is you want to get people to subscribe to your email list.

People who have subscribed to your email list have shown an interest in what you do and what you talk about. They have expressed a desire to learn more about you and these are the most valuable type of blog readers.

When you publish a new blog you can send your subscribers an email to let them know you have new content for them to consume. If you make the email compelling enough then you will automatically have a flood of traffic to your blog.

As stated at the beginning, knowing how to increase blog traffic is not difficult! There is a multitude of ways to promote your blog both online and offline, what is important is that you produce top quality content, be consistent, thorough and unrelenting.

If you are a small business owner that leverages the internet for advertising purposes, then you will understand that in order to be seen you have to be heard.

To be heard you have to create compelling content on a regular basis and get it in front of the right people at the right time.

Articles, videos, blog posts, pillar content, follow up emails, presentations and proposals: the list is endless!

This may seem quite daunting, and trust me it is; there are no two bones about it. If you make a commitment to developing a web presence that engages your audience in both heart and mind then the amount of work that you need to put in can be overwhelming.

To say that you have a website is not good enough. It is not. A website on its own is nothing. It’s like having a Ferrari sat on your drive. Yes, it may look impressive but if there is no fuel in the tank and you can’t drive it, it’s as useful as a chocolate fire guard! In fact it is worse than that, it’s an asset that is literally losing value by the second.

The content that you create is the fuel, it brings your website to life and without freshly created content on a regular basis then you will get fewer and fewer visitors and more importantly even less subscribers to your mailing list or prospects for your business.

If this alone does not convince you that content marketing is a worthwhile investment or asset for your business then maybe these three reasons why businesses need to embrace content marketing may help.

3 Reasons You Should Embrace Content Marketing

Thought Leadership.

When you publish top quality content, on a particular niche on a regular basis, then over time you develop your image as a thought leader in that niche. A thought leader becomes the go to person in that industry and when that happens opportunities and business relationships come your way.

Your position as an influencer becomes a unique identifier as to why other people and businesses would want to start relationships with you.

Staying in the spotlight at the top is not easy. It requires attention to detail, original ideas and, of course, constant updating.

Social Proof

If you claim to be the biggest, the best or the fastest in your niche or industry you’d better make sure there is evidence out there to support those claims.

It is not difficult for anyone to search the internet to find out information about your business and with the invention of social media there are more and more ways that people can talk about you, your business your service.

Make sure that if you say you are the best, you are the best. If that is the case then proof will occur naturally to substantiate those claims.

Organic Search Engine Optimization.

Being in the prominent organic search rankings is quite literally like sprinkling gold dust on your website. Business owners know this and that is why there is such fierce competition for the few coveted spots at the top of the page.

The more content you produce which is related to your core competencies, the easier it is for you to place in context links and also get your articles published in leading sites within your niche which again helps your content marketing strategy by raising your profile.

Content marketing alone will not bring a horde of business but it will certainly help your online presence and reputation, which in this day and age is probably the biggest and most important asset that any growing business can have.

Social Media has taken the business world by storm and changed the way that companies of all sizes interact with their customers. But is it all a good thing? While there are certainly major benefits to using social media for business, there are also some pretty major pitfalls too. In this article, we outline the advantages, and disadvantages, of Social Media.

It’s free!

One of the best things about using Social Media for business is that it is free! You can sign up to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and countless other popular sites for nothing, build endless lists of followers and post as much or as little information as you like, all for nothing.

It’s not Free…

Signing up might cost you nothing, but that on it’s own won’t get you anywhere. You need to factor in how much time it takes to work on those new relationships, come up with great ideas to catch peoples’ imagination and make your sites look great. And it’s not a one off job either.

The more sites you sign up to, the more work it takes. If you’re not careful you could easily spend hours every day moving from social network to social network updating statuses, replying to comments, accepting new requests, or just reading comments.

Think carefully about how much your time is worth and what return you get back from Social Media. It’s only “Free” if you’re getting back far more than you put in.

Everyone uses it

According to recent comScore data, 98% of the online population of the USA use Social Media sites and worldwide 6 out of every 10 people use social networks and forums. So yes, pretty much everybody uses Social Media and if you want to reach out to new audiences and marketplaces there is no other platform that compares. With so many Social Networking sites to choose from, including smaller, lesser known and niche sites there really is a platform for everyone.

You’re just a needle in the Haystack…

Image by Naughty Architect via Flickr

With over a billion Social Media users worldwide, it’s very hard to stand out in the crowd. Anyone approaching social media for business without a carefully thought out strategy will soon become frustrated with the lack of response and engagement. Unfortunately, you can’t expect to set up a Facebook Page and have fans come rushing to “like” everything you do; the internet is afar too crowded for that to happen now! Take the time to plan, build your relationships and grow your following. It won’t happen overnight so don’t expect it to.

It’s easy!

Anyone can open an account, learn the basics and be up and running within half an hour. There are plenty of online tutorials in case you get stuck or want to learn something a little more complicated. Likewise, there are plenty of success stories to emulate, people who have learned how to generate social media engagement the hard way so you don’t have to.

It’s really tough…

Social Media is a very competitive medium. People who use it a lot and are successful with it are few and far between in comparison to the general population. Having a clearly defined set of goals as to what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it really helps.

More Social Media Networks = Bigger and Better Audience!

Why limit yourself to one site? You will notice that the users and personalities that come through are different on each social network, even if you have the same friends on several sites. You might want a LinkedIn site to be more professional, or a Facebook page to be more friendly and informal, and then use Twitter for quick updates and Google+ for defining your circles. Then there’s the added advantage that not everyone uses every site so by using more sites yourself you automatically get more followers and friends, which will ultimately lead to more for your business. It’s Win –Win!

Don’t spread yourself too thinly.

Image by Stuart Lozowick via Flickr

Every social media channel is different, and so not every social media network will suit you. If the informal style of Facebook works for you then great, but likewise, if you struggle to make relationships work on LinkedIn then maybe you should close that account. Everything you do online needs to be a true reflection of you and your brand, so if something isn’t working then either figure out how to get better results, or try something new.

Pinterest is hugely popular at the moment, but don’t feel the need to jump on the bandwagon if what you do isn’t visual and wouldn’t look great on a pinboard! Don’t feel you need to have an account on every network you hear of just because it is there: you don’t, and it could do your reputation more harm than good if you’re seen to be inactive or putting out low quality content. Always play to your strengths!

It’s here to stay

The number of people, and the amount of money invested in social media is really staggering. Use of smart phones, WiFi being so widely available and ease of use of social sites have all contributed to engraining social media into our society and culture. “Tweet” is no longer just a noise made by a bird, you don’t have to be a Twitter user to know that! Even when watching the news the reporters all have their Twitter names given on screen alongside their name.

Social Media really is going to be here long term, and if you’re still not on board with it then you need to be.

Which sites are here to stay?

It’s fair to say that a year ago the majority of people had not heard of Pinterest, yet as of January 2012 it had grown to almost 12million users making it the fastest site ever to break through the 10 million unique visitor mark. The very nature of social media means that it will always be changing and reinventing itself. Just as fashions change and technology improves, so will social media marketing. Facebook and Twitter may have been popular for some time now, and quite possibly will be around for some time to come, but look at MySpace and Bebo, and who remembers Friends Reunited?

If you find a site that works for you then great, but be aware that your audience may soon find another and move on.

As with anything, there are many advantages and disadvantages of social media. Make sure that  you reap the benefits by being aware of the problems.

What are the biggest advantages and disadvantages of social media for your business? Let’s start the conversation in the comment box below!

Main Image by Ms Phoenix. Via Flickr

Many people grow up wanting to be a fireman, a nurse or an airline pilot but I am sure very few at that age say they want to found the next Virgin Group, revolutionise the hand held device market, or put a desktop computer in every home on the planet! To accomplish those things you need some truly great ideas in addition to having specific entrepreneurial skills.

Leadership

Although an online business often consists only of the owner, the industry itself is constantly courting new leaders. A leader is a successful entrepreneur who can assist others in achieving success. For this reason, anyone who embodies the principles of leadership can become an effective online influencer who teaches, guides and leads fellow entrepreneurs on the road to success.

Motivation

This is a big issue for many people. Make sure you know what your goals are. Even people who are incredibly confident and very thick skinned will struggle if they lose the motivation.

Self motivation, personal pride and happiness are all tied up in the realisation of our goals, so whenever you have a bad day remember what it is about your goal that will make you happy. Keep that image in your mind or stick a picture on the fridge, anything that will remind you of why it is that you do the things you do.

Marketing

When you run “My Own Business Ltd” then each and every project that you work on is with someone new.  You have no global brand backing you up and opening doors for you. It is all down to you. Therefore you need to take a much larger appreciation and understanding of the role of marketing your brand and driving sales.

Self Discipline

Self discipline is an essential characteristic of entrepreneurs because when you are self employed, if you don’t provide excellent value to your customers, you don’t earn money. If you don’t earn money then you don’t get paid – so make sure you use your time effectively.

Clients won’t come back to you if you miss deadlines, and keeping a good reputation is your own responsibility – not like in the corporate world where there is often someone else to hide behind or blame!

Personal Development

Personal development is not something that can be scoffed at. In order to get better at something you have to take the time, invest in yourself and learn.

As a business grows, so do the challenges that an entrepreneur will face. Having the right mindset to embrace and overcome those obstacles when they occur is more than half the battle.

The right mindset will also change your perspective on situations and increase the amount of value you can bring to others.

Work ethic

Many people dream of the 4 hour work week. Few will actually realise it. Even those who have billions of dollars work more to accumulate more.  It is an entrepreneurial skill in itself to have the desire to want more, to do better and to strive for further success!

If you are not willing to work longer hours than almost anyone else you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you will never make it to the top!

Creativity

Having the ability to see a solution to a problem is paramount to success as an entrepreneur. The very dynamics of a small business mean that there are not hordes of colleagues with specialties in certain areas to turn to when a problem arises. An entrepreneur needs to be creative and think of ways to solve a problem using the resources available to them. One of the greatest assets that an entrepreneur has is their network.

Relationship Capital

With a below par economy it is now tougher than ever as a new business or firm to strike new relationships and bring in new customers from the cold. Today’s buyers are savvy and they are less interested in being trapped by old fashioned sales techniques and manipulation and more interested in deciding whether or not they trust you and your company to deliver on your promises.

In the new economy one of the greatest entrepreneurial skills you can have is knowing how to capture relationship capital, fast, preserving and growing it or you’re going to get left behind.

Flexibility

It is so easy to focus solely on results and walk down a solitary path. The problem with this is that if that path leads to a dead end you’re quite literally stuck.

Small business and entrepreneurs have the ability to be able to turn on a six pence while their larger rivals flounder and have turning circles of steam liners.

People change, environments change, policies change and as an entrepreneur you need to be able to embrace that change or you’ll go the way of the Dinosaur.

Leverage Information

The internet, email, video, social media, books, news broadcasts; an entrepreneur is bombarded with information on a daily basis about the right way to do things and the most glaringly obvious ways to do it wrong. You can watch videos teaching how to change a leaking tap to how to write a novel in minutes.

An entrepreneur must be able to sort through this information downpour, tune into only the most relevant sources and act upon it in a timely fashion.

Time Management

The one thing that is constant throughout life is time. It can’t be changed, manipulated or created. That is why one of the key skills of an entrepreneur is knowing how to master time efficiently.

Create goals and objectives with specific timelines aligned to them. Construct a daily method of operation and stick to it. Use checklists or set reminders on mobile phones. Do whatever it takes to make sure that time is not wasted!

As an entrepreneur time is quite literally money. Time wasted is like throwing money down the drain so make sure you are using time and not the other way around.

When you break it down each and every one of us possess entrepreneurial skills but only a select few will be able to go through life, look back and say “I am happy with the result that I got!”

This is not the defacto list of entrepreneurial skills but with your help we can make it better. Leave a comment below telling everyone what you feel is the most important entrepreneurial skill!

How the heck can spinach have any effect on your social media influence?

It goes without saying that if you are using social media for business then you desire influence in your chosen field or niche. Let’s be honest, the more influence you have the more people will take notice, the more people that take notice, the more relationships you can develop.

Why Would You want Social Media Influence?

Apart from the reasons already discussed above, if you are deemed a Social Media influencer then studies report that when you share a link your open rate will increase 400%! If you add commentary, the open rate of that link you share will increase by a further 20% to 500%.

The fact that you are reading this suggests that you have a business interest in social media and you would like to become a social media influencer.

You would like your tweets, Facebook shares or your online copy to be opened, read and shared by hundreds if not thousands of people.

How Can You Increase Your Social Media Influence?

It is just natural that those who want to learn something look to those that already have that skill or knowledge. That is no different to how it works online. People who are just getting started watch, learn and listen how people who already have influence online operate in social media and what methods they use.

This might make sense – somebody who has social media influence showing somebody else how they arrived at that level of influence. So you watch webinars, read eBooks, blogs and articles. Some of the information is useful and you start to get a better picture of how social media really works.

In fact this approach “what works for one, works for another,” does not ring true and here’s why:

Visualize this: You are standing at a super market queue. In your hands you have the following:

• a pack of cookies
• a bumper pack of potato crisps
• water
• A chocolate cake
• Brown Rice
• 2 Litre bottle of fizzy drink
• A bag of spinach

What message do you think that puts out to people about your diet?

It’s healthy? It’s varied? I don’t really have a specific diet?

What if you add a filter to the items in the list? The filter being that your mission is to get fit and healthy, and as part of that mission you have identified eating healthy and only buying healthy food at the supermarket.

Now when you go around the supermarket, before you put an item into the basket you ask yourself, “Does this fit with my healthy eating plan? Does this item help my diet?” If the answer is yes, you add it to the trolley. If the answer is no,  you put it back and move on.

So when you get to the check out your basket only has the water, brown rice and spinach?

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What do you think people looking at your basket will say about your diet then? What in turn does that say about you?

Not only will you spend less time and money in the supermarket, but to anyone else in the queue they will look at you and be able to say unreservedly,

“That person is a health freak” or “that person eats really well” or “that person follows a healthy living plan”

It is clear what your persona is all about and what you stand for, and when that happens you naturally become more approachable to people who follow the same belief system. Someone may come up to you, tap you on the shoulder and say,

“I notice you are into healthy eating. What do you think of……….”

Bingo, you have suddenly attracted somebody who is interested in what you do and how you do it. That single engagement could lead you to developing a long term relationship. That relationship all stemmed from the fact that it was obvious to other people what you stand for, and on social media, relationships are the capital that build influence.

Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that you should never indulge in a chocolate cake, a glass of fizzy pop or cookies. What I am saying is stick true to what you believe in. The closer you can stay to your social media marketing objectives, the easier it is for others to identify with you.

The key takeaway is this. If you want to be seen as a person with social media influence in your niche, attract relationships and have your links and content viewed 400% more, then stick to one or two topics. Stick to what you believe in. Talk about things that are relevant to your business and niche!

The more you digress, the more people will become confused and the more your message will become diluted in a stream of a million other messages.

Social media influence is not about what you say or even how you say it. Social media influence is defined by why you are on social media in the first place, and if you don’t know why that is then how can you expect anyone else to engage with you?

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Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google+, Pinterest and who knows what next week will bring. As a business owner or entrepreneur how are you supposed to know which social media channels to invest in to get the most return?

That is one of the most common questions that gets asked and let’s be fair it is a very good question. The honest answer is, as with life there is no guarantee that any social media channel will produce a return for your business.

You could have a Facebook Page….Great

A Twitter profile….Fantastic

Be on Linked in….Good on you

The point is that just being on these sites is not going to automatically drive hordes of screaming customers to your door. It really isn’t, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.

What you can do is do your research and get a solid idea of which of the social media channels will best suit both your target customers and your business needs.

5 Rules for Picking the Correct Social Media Channels

1. Know the Target Demographic of the Social Media Channels

I am going to make a huge assumption here that you as a seasoned business owner and entrepreneur know the demographics of who your typical customer is. If you don’t already know that then stop reading this and go find it out. Without this information you will literally be throwing resources down the drain.

An easy way to do this is conduct a short survey of your best customers. Ask them;

• Which social media networks they visit?
• How long do they spend on them?
• Do they buy from Social media channels?
• Would they buy from you?

Compare the target demographic of your customer to the demographic of the social network, Men under 30 you might pick Facebook, Women over 30 you might get some correlation with Pinterest.

2. Go for a test drive

Next thing you want to do is get involved yourself, plug into the social media channels that you are investigating, set up a profile and just literally browse, LISTEN, and observe what is going on.

• What people or brands are getting attention?
• What are they doing to get this attention?
• What type of content are they sharing?
• How often are they sharing?
• Which particular content gets the most interaction?

This undercover work or guided tour of the social media channel is not something that you can do in one night or over a single weekend. Take some time to really get to understand the layout and feel of the network and use this research as fuel for social media marketing ideas that could work for you.

3. Set a Budget

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One of the biggest myths about Social media marketing is that it is FREE. It is not. This is one of the biggest pitfalls to avoid with social media marketing.

To establish a presence, build a fan base and engage and interact with people on a regular basis takes an investment of time and money. Be prepared for this and set aside a budget to attain this.

Look at the other assets in your business. Do you have technically gifted people within the business who could help design and implement your social media presence?

Is there someone in the business who is already a maven on social media, who seems to get lots of interaction and would be a good spokesperson for your business, is responsible and more importantly you could afford to allow an allotted time each day to manage the social media channels.

If you do not have the resources in your business then you may have to outsource the design and management of the social media to someone else or take on the challenge yourself. Either way it is still going to be an investment of your time and money.

4. Set Goals

Simply trying can waste time. What is the measurable result you hope to attain? A social media marketing plan should be clear so you can get to a certain point in time and analyze whether the intended result was achieved

What kinds of results are you looking to achieve from your social media marketing? When would you know

a) it is working and it’s time to invest more and

b) it isn’t working and it’s time to cut your loses?

Will these decisions be based on KPI’s such as leads generated, community growth and website traffic or direct sales?

Another important aspect is to make sure that your social media marketing plan aligns with your overall business goals.

5. Implement

Time is one of the biggest enemies when it comes to business and on social media time moves even faster. The companies that adopt first will garner a lion’s share of the social media market but by proving you can offer something unique and different you will be able to take a piece of the action.

Being perfect is not a prerequisite of a social media. Things change all the time, the networks themselves bring out new design and user related features each and every day that could impact the way you market with social media and interact with your audience.

Whichever of the social media channels you choose to build a thriving audience on, aim to stay ahead of the curve and remember the social media network can change the rules at any time to further their own revenue generation and business goals.

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Last Year Internet Ad revenue hit $31bn. Q4 saw the best quarterly result ever at $9bn with a 20% increase on spend from the same period in 2010.

Figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau, which is the trade association for online advertising showed:

• 46.5% of the spend was on search advertising on websites such as Google
• About 8.1% was on online classified advertising
• 34.8% was on display advertising which includes banners and digital video commercials.

5 of the Best Online Advertising Methods Today

1. Websites and Blogs

If you want to make the best of online advertising then you need to have a website or blog. Most online advertising is geared to direct people to your website, a central hub if you will. A large percentage of internet users use the internet as their preferred choice to find information about goods and services. Your website or blog is a permanent shop window that is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Tip: Just having a website or blog does not mean you will get traffic, leads, sales. You need to be 100% clear on the purpose of your blog before starting.

2. Social Media Websites

Social Media websites such as Facebook and YouTube are constantly seeking to increase their advertising revenues. Both provide full details of their advertising possibilities on their websites;

• Facebook

Facebook allows you to select your audience by location, age and interests and to test out simple image and text based ads. It suggests that companies advertising on Facebook can:

• Advertise their own web page
• Create demand for their products by creating relevant adverts
• Publicize an event such as a product launch or anniversary.

Payment is either made by “pay per click” or by “impression” (visitors see the ad whether they click it or not). You can set a daily budget that can be adjusted up or down at any time.

• YouTube

YouTube offers a host of resources such as “how to” Guides and advertisers playbooks that will show you exactly how to set up and run your first successful marketing campaign with it.

Twitter also recently announced that it allows users to place self serve ads. You can find out more about Twitter Advertising here

Tip: Any Advertising on social media networks should only be undertaken as part of a coordinated social media strategy.  if you are still unsure read this: 13 Reasons Using Social Media for Business is Non Negotiable

3. Banners and Display Advertising

Display Banners, or Banner ads, were the first major method used for online advertising. By 2009, they had dropped to less than 23% of online advertising spend as pay per click or keyword advertising became the predominant force.

Display banners still have merit and are good for special offers or for reinforcing a brand. Banner ads are small adverts that normally come in various rectangle forms. They appear on websites and serve as a link directly to the advertiser’s website: when you click on a banner your browser instantly redirects you to that site.

The popularity of banner ads is partly due to fact that they are simple to produce and publish. They are also highly measurable. Depending on the ad and the producer or service, advertisers can calculate the cost per sale – this is the amount of advertising money that is spent to make one sale.

4. Pay Per click (PPC) or Keyword Advertising

Search engines and many websites (including social networks sites such as Facebook and YouTube), carry small adverts with embedded URL’s. When someone clicks on these adverts, the company that put them there is charged. This is considered by many to be the best online advertising method by far and has been growing at a remarkable rate. Unlike traditional advertising pay per click is user activated. Users like it, because it costs them nothing and they only use it if there is something that attracts them.

The advantage of pay per click for advertisers is that they only pay for the actual click through to their site. With other methods of advertising, both offline and online, you have no particular idea of how much it will cost you to attract each visitor. A user that clicks through into your site is likely to be interested in what you have to say, because these users are actively looking for information or researching what you have to say, your product service or offering.

The largest Pay per Click advertiser by a long way is Google and they have a large library of information available to walk small business owners through the process of starting a successful PPC campaign. Google

Tip: As promising and as exciting as having instant customers sounds, don’t think PPC is as easy as it sounds! There are many different facets that you have to consider when designing and implementing a successful PPC campaign. Which if you ignore or get slightly wrong could have a significant impact on your investment.

5. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

With the huge increase of companies operating online and selling on the internet there has been a dramatic increase in the competition between companies to get visitors to their websites. When carrying out research most people will only look at the first page of search results and quite often only the first two or three.

An article on Search Engine Watch shows that 36.4% of people click on the first result and only 2.2% click on result number ten, the last result on the first page.

Making sure your site gets high up in the search results is important to the success of your website. There are ways to improve your search engine rankings, and search engine optimization is the method of doing this.

Tip: Search Engine Optimization is a long term strategy one that will require constant attention. ( When your website starts to move higher in the rankings, those that you displace will try to recover their ground.)

The best online advertising methods can and will only be the best if you in fact have a sound, well thought out plan for your advertising campaign; whether that is SEO or social media. The simple fact is if you go running ahead online without due care and attention you could end up with a whopping great investment of time and or money for little to no return.

What are the best online advertising strategies or methods that you use for your business? Leave a comment below.

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