Entries Tagged 'Infopreneur - General' ↓

My 3 picks from the 67 excellent articles on The Litemind Writing Contest are these:

• 5 Surefire Ways To Increase Comments On Your Blog
• 18 Tips to Become a Productive Blogger
• 21 Punching Tips On Social Media Marketing and Social Media Optimization

I’d have loved to vote for all - but you can read them anyway here on the Lists Group Writing Project website.

So, you know how to capture an A-list blogger’s attention.  What next?

1. Paint yourself in a positive light.  Say and do things to them that will show your best face - and strengthen the weak bond that has formed between you.

2. Engage them in conversation.  Ask for advice.  Share a helpful resource or experience.  Comment on mutual interests.  Aim to get some response.

3. Offer to help them.  Ask not what _____ can do for you; instead ask what you can do for ______ .  Giving first is a guaranteed strategy to long term wins.

4. Respect their time and space.  Don’t waste a busy person’s time with trivialities or stuff that’ll take up their time.  Stay at a distance - until you’ve been invited into the ‘inner space’.

5. Evangelize them - yes, now it’s ok.  Because, now that you have their attention, they’ll be watching what you say and do.  Well, maybe!

6. Give them an advantage.  Let them break early news you’ve heard about.  Or get extra special profit shares on co-promotions they do for you.  Or send them more traffic, clients, subscribers.

7. Pitch yourself - sensibly.  Yes, after all you’re in the game to get something in return.  And the best way to get is to ASK.  So pitch yourself - but do it subtly, gently and after you’ve shored up your position.  Or you’ll ruin all the hard work that went before.

And of course, don’t do any of these things!

It’s been a while since I last did one of these “A Day In My Life” style posts, and thought it would be of some interest (value?!) to new readers to this blog.

So here goes, a step by step account of how November 15th, 2007, went for me…

07:00 a.m. - Woke up - and went through my ‘Morning Routine’ - a sequence of activities I created after reading Leo Babauta’s ZEN TO DONE. It includes looking at these sites of mine:

• The Infopreneur Blog
• Money.Power.Wisdom Blog
• 2 of my niche blogs
• The IM Inner Circle Private Forum
• Twitter
• StumbleUpon
• Google Adwords (Analytics Stats)
• My help desk for any support issues

To make this easy and fast, I have set up a web-based DASHBOARD - a simple HTML page with links to each of these sites opening in a new window… so I go click-click-click!

07:30 a.m. - Phone call. Bad news. A colleague who worked in our heart surgery team a couple of years back died last night. Called other friends to share the news and plan a visit there.

08:00 a.m. - Quick round of blogs - posted comments on a few. Replied to Caroline Middlebrook’s email with some thoughts about her promotion of ZEN TO DONE.

09:00 a.m. - Shower, breakfast, dress and leave to pick up some papers at a Government office.

10:30 a.m. - Typical sloth and slovenliness results in a 10 minute procedure being dragged out for an hour and a half. Forced to rush to hospital to keep an appointment.

11:00 a.m. - Arrive at hospital, listening to Janet Switzer’s ‘Publishing Mavericks Mentoring Program’ on the drive down

11:30 a.m. - Consult with a patient with Atrial Septal Defect we will be operating on next week, running tests and scheduling visits with other specialists. Spend some time on administrative tasks related to the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation and settling some bills due from previous surgeries sponsored with the support of our generous donors.

12:15 p.m. - Drive with friend to attend our colleague’s funeral.

02:00 p.m. - Back home, taking a while to take a walk part-way in the sun, to enjoy Nature and reflect on what it all means. My thoughts are in a short blog post called “The Use of DEATH”

02:30 p.m. - Checked stats, delighted to find another surge of visitors from StumbleUpon - but it ended abruptly 2 hours ago. Why? Clicked to visit the page. And found it didn’t display. Spent a ‘fun’ 45 minutes trying to track the reason, opening a support ticket with the host, and getting increasingly frustrated.

03:15 p.m. - Got email from host saying their server had crashed, but was back up. The site worked - but the traffic vanished. Why? My page had been removed from the StumbleUpon BUZZ listing, probably because it wasn’t showing up when clicked!

04:00 p.m. - Finished replying to some urgent emails (including an invitation to participate in a list building JV) and browsing a few blogs. Daughter back from school - which equals ‘no work for a while’

05:00 p.m. - The little one is having dancing lessons, so I catch up with the news at home with my wife, and then curl up with a Perry Mason novel and a cup of hot lemon tea.

06:00 p.m. - Short walk around the neighborhood with family to burn off the Snicker’s candy bars we gorged ourselves on!

06:30 p.m. - Suddenly remembered it was Friday - which is always one of my best days for online sales. Start work on a sales letter - and get it done in record time, simply by copying and pasting from prior samples I had on file. See the finished version here.

07:15 p.m. - Crafted an email promotion that went out to my pruned down list of just over 3,000 subscribers through my trusted autoresponder service, Aweber.com

08:00 p.m. - Finished an early dinner and back to work on some niche websites and blogs, pausing from time to time to watch a movie that’s playing in the background - ‘The Black Beauty’, based on the childrens’ story.

09:00 p.m. - Back to Perry Mason - left it hanging at an exciting page, and now must finish it fully before anything else.

10:30 p.m. - All done with the novel. Everyone’s in bed - and that’s when I get most of my work done! Quick round of Twitter, StumbleUpon and my blogs to see if any comments need moderating or anyone needs assistance with orders they’ve put in.

11:00 p.m. - Spent some time reading the thoughtful posts on abeautifulrevolution.com

11:30 p.m. - Posted a follow up to my earlier “7 Ways to Catch an A-list Blogger’s Attention” post on the Infopreneur Blog. This one is titled “7 Things NOT To Do After You Grab an A-List Blogger’s Attention!” This post should have gone online in the afternoon (which makes it early a.m. in the U.K. and U.S., when I’ve noticed the biggest impact happens… but that’s when my host was down! Murphy’s Law - gotta love it)

12:05 a.m. - Got done making my list of MIT’s - Most Important Tasks - for tomorrow. As Leo suggests in ZEN TO DONE, I’m making 3 every day… and then just getting them done. Today’s tasks were almost fully done, the few small ones left over will be moved to the next day.

12:15 a.m. - One last quick look at email inbox, StumbleUpon (a few messages in my inbox, replied briefly, “processed to zero” as “Zen To Done” suggests), Twitter - and then get ready for bed.

It’s not a ‘typical’ day - when I’m operating, a large chunk of time would go in the operation and post-op care, leaving even less time for working on the websites and other things.

However, the balance of time expenditure is nearly always the same. And strangely enough, the productivity doesn’t drop because of the lesser time available - meaning when there’s a lot of time, I tend to waste more of it, just like almost everyone else! (Parkinson’s Law - “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”)

To sum it up, here’s a list of what I did to grow my business/traffic today:

1. - Posted blog comments
2. - Learned from Janet Switzer’s course
3. - Networked with a few other bloggers
4. - Arranged to participate in a list building JV
5. - Wrote a sales letter
6. - Sent out a promotion to my list
7. - Updated some niche websites and blogs
8. - Posted to the Infopreneur Blog
9. - Planned tomorrow’s action

This in addition to handling professional, personal, social and family commitments - and getting 6 hours sleep.

Tough?

I don’t think so. It’s become routine over the years. And is how I get stuff done.

With ZEN TO DONE, I see this becoming more streamlined and efficient. After all, I have a bookshelf full of excellent titles waiting to be read - and efficiency will give me time to do that long-pending task soon!

Imagine you want to catch the attention of an A-list blogger - like Darren Rowse, or Brian Clark, or Maki, or Yaro Starak, or Andy Beard, or John Chow, or… oh, you get the picture

What will it cost?

Here’s a short list of attention-grabbers… with a note on the economics involved.

1. Write Outstanding Content. On their specific niche. It could take between 5 and 20 hours of research and writing. At $10 an hour.

Cost: $50 to $200.
Chance of success: 50-50

2. Comment Frequently on Blogs. Their blogs. Often. As in daily, or at least 3 times a week. Try and be among the first. Do it for 3 or 4 weeks. At 15 minutes per comment (to read the post and comment intelligently), that’s 5 to 6 hours a month. At $10 an hour.

Cost: $50 to $60.
Chance of success: Good

3. Become a Customer. Buy their stuff. Preferably niche products related to your interest in them. Then establish contact personally. Your cost - $10 to $200, depending on the product or service.

Cost: $10 to $200.
Chance of success: Excellent

4. Become a Donor. Most have favorite causes they support. Contribute to them. Be generous. Remember, the amount impacts the chance you’ll capture attention. Your cost - $50 to $500 or more.

Cost: $50 to $500.
Chance of success: Excellent - and often paints you in a positive light

5. Become a Joint Venture Partner. Make it all about them. Can they make money, or look like a hero to their audience, or extend their reach? If you can make them look good, you stand a good chance. Or have powerful connectors who can introduce you. Your cost - intangible, measured in ‘zero profit sales’ against ‘future profits’.

Cost: intangible
Chance of success: 50-50

6. Evangelize Them. Talk about them everywhere. On your blog. On forums. In social media. Offline. Via email. In your newsletter, ebook or at seminars. Hope enough of that spreads to get back to the person, who will then notice - and remember - you. Your cost - time. Lots of it. Hard to quantitate.

Cost: intangible
Chance of success: Poor

7. Buy Them. It’s easy only if your surname is Ambani, or Gates, or Buffett, or Jobs. Otherwise… Fuggeddaboutdit!

Cost: astronomical
Chance of success: abysmal

Got any other ideas of your own to grab an A-list blogger’s attention? Share them here.

My recent article ‘17 POWER Tips For StumbleUpon Beginners’ was a hit with many readers, some of whom have started using StumbleUpon after reading it.

Not surprisingly, I received many questions about the article. To answer the most frequent ones and to give more detailed information about the process that helped even a beginner at StumbleUpon like myself get such amazing and fast results, I decided to write this in-depth guide to getting more StumbleUpon traffic.

You can read this long article on my Money.Power.Wisdom blog here - http://www.MoneyPowerWisdom.com

Hmm…

Information for infopreneurs - click here

Infopreneurs need more traffic, more visitors to see the information they have created or compiled.

StumbleUpon has MILLIONS of interested users. They want more information. They are waiting to hear about you.

Here are 17 powerful ways you can let them know.

1. Commit to making the effort to become part of the StumbleUpon community.

2. Don’t obsess over becoming a ‘power Stumbler’. Content is what matters most.

3. Become an active stumbler. Review and rate as many sites as you can.

4. Install the toolbar. Choose your subject preferences. Start stumbling sites that interest you.

5. Stumble your own stuff from time to time.

6. Don’t lead stumblers to your blog or website main page! Link deep to individual posts or articles.

7. Target your audience. Focus content to their interests.

8. Create longer posts with more links. Every thumbs up you get increases traffic.

9. Label and tag your submitted pages appropriately. Broad tagging helps. Go after keywords that are popular and often searched.

10. Don’t overwhelm your page with ads or distractions. Don’t ‘hard sell’ SU visitors.

11. It all happens ‘above the scroll’. Use a powerful title and visual cues to grab interest.

12. Build relationships on StumbleUpon. Don’t take a narrow, short term view.

13. Your StumbleUpon profile is important. Get more exposure/fans to your SU profile.

14. Link out to other bloggers who use StumbleUpon. Stumble the posts that link to you.

15. Thank people who stumble you. They’ll remember you - because not many do it.

16. Personalize your ‘About’ page. Plan what goes on it carefully.

17. Join the communities relating to your interests and your business.

By following these simple, common-sense POWER tips, you will get thousands of StumbleUpon visitors to your website or blog - even if you are a beginner to StumbleUpon.

Add to this list - let’s make it ‘27 Power Tips for StumbleUpon Beginners’.

Are you a ‘power Stumbler’? Do you have a favorite StumbleUpon technique or strategy that has worked well? Know of a resource, article or tool readers will find useful? Please share it here. Or just share your thoughts about this blog. Post a comment. Thank you.

RELATED POSTS:

How To Get MORE StumbleUpon Traffic - A Guide For Beginners… And Experts

QUESTION: Dr.Mani…I just cant seem to get the hang of the process to get it all together. Is there any where I can get information on the terms that you use and the process? I have just retired and need to do something to supplement my retirement.

I can imagine just how confusing it must all sound to you if you’re getting started. Stick with it, things get better as you go on. Ask for clarification when there are terms you don’t understand - or better yet, do a search on Google and you’ll often find the answer.

The process is as complex or simple as you want to make it. In essence, it is all straightforward and easy. But each component has multiple smaller processes, some of which can be pretty complicated, if you want to get fancy with them.

In my course, the Internet Infopreneur SYSTEM, I take an approach that handholds a beginner through every step of the process. That’s why it is so comprehensive, the printed matter alone goes to almost 250 pages. And there are video and audio tutorials to explain the more involved bits.

If you are not yet in a position to buy the homestudy, you might want to sign up for the premium ezine, Internet Infopreneur SECRETS, which gives a broader based overview - though each individual detail is not explored in as much depth as the homestudy.

My best advice, though, is to take things one step at a time, understanding each bit before moving ahead and not being afraid or shy to ask questions, even if they apparently are silly ones. The only really silly questions are the ones that are not asked. Forums and discussion lists are really helpful in this respect, I encourage you to participate in many of them to learn more.

Got an infopreneur question of your own? Ask me here… and I’ll try and answer it.

QUESTION: How important is having expertise in your field of info marketing at all?

Good question. It is quite important - especially if you are following the strategy of wanting to sell your clients more than one product or service over the course of your relationship.

If you are only selling one product, one time, to a client, it likely matters very little. Good marketing and copywriting can convince a buyer to order. And if your product delivers on the promise, your refund rate will be low.

However, if your goal is to build loyal client bases who keep buying more and more from you over time, it is critical to position yourself as someone who knows a lot about your subject.

It’s simple when you think about it. Who would you learn investment strategy from? A successful financier - or a guy who’s broke?

Who would you go to for advice about dressing in style? A smartly dressed socialite, or a bum?

Would you take advice about relationships from someone who is going through a divorce - for the 4th time? Or dieting advice from a morbidly obese person?

You want to learn, study, follow an expert. And so do your prospects. If you are marketing information products or resources, being an expert talking or writing about your area of specialization makes it easy to convince prospects that you are the ‘real deal’.

Got an infopreneur question of your own? Ask me here… and I’ll try and answer it.

QUESTION: Learning the technicalities  of handling a web page. I can’t get started and get flooded with emails that I can’t get to reading.

It is NOT easy to get started from scratch, especially if you cannot focus on what needs to be done.

If you can afford to hire or barter with someone to design your website for you, it may be the best way forward.

If not, then you have to learn web design - and focus on it exclusively till you get your site up, because without it you can’t move ahead.

There are many HTML and web design tutorials - just do a Google search.  Don’t get too caught up in the technical details.  Get your first website up and running.  Send traffic to it.  Test your sales conversion rates.  Tweak the design to enhance responsiveness.

Ugly websites can make a fortune, while pretty ones can stink at bringing in revenues.  Don’t decide what will work - just test it.

With dedication and focus, you can get your website up (especially if you use a WYSIWYG HTML editor like Dreamweaver or FrontPage to handle your design) within a week.  It won’t be easy, but you can get it done.

As for scripts, forms and other bells-and-whistles, the learning curve is steeper, and unless you really need to learn to do it yourself, it may be well worth getting an expert handle it for you.