Copywriting News

LinkedIn The Social Network of Choice For Professionals

LinkedIn is where it is at for professionals of my age and caliber. Facebook is for college and newly employed persons. Yes I have a Facebook site and keep it updated, but by far the number of colleagues, clients, and prospects at LinkedIn beats Facebook four to one.
I have found that more of my [...]

LinkedIn is where it is at for professionals of my age and caliber. Facebook is for college and newly employed persons. Yes I have a Facebook site and keep it updated, but by far the number of colleagues, clients, and prospects at LinkedIn beats Facebook four to one.

I have found that more of my peers are on LinkedIn and if not eager to join. LinkedIn is easy to join and set up, but the real power is in your connections. I sent out my Outlook contact book at LinkedIn and in less than 30 minutes I had 30 connections. People are actively using LinkedIn and want to connect with you there. As a comparison, I sent out the same number of invitations on Facebook and got three connections in one day. Professionals are simply using LinkedIn more than Facebook.

So what’s the benefit of using LinkedIn to connect with others? Wow, there are many benefits to using LinkedIn, here are just a few:

1. People are hungry to connect - no really starving to connect! I have not had a single person turn me down, not even those who did not have an account, they set one up to get into the fun.
2. The ability to use Questions and Answers is fabulous - wow, that is a powerful tool. I asked a question and got extremely savvy answers from professionals who really took time to point me to links, answer my question, give their personal experience in less than 12 hours. What an excellent way to not only poll others on a topic but to connect with others with common interests.
3. I sent out a few requests for recommendations and got four in less than 30 minutes. I was able to then ask to be able to use their comments beyond LinkedIn for marketing on my own website. The recommendations that I got from clients were worth their weight in gold. Not only do they appear on my LinkedIn profile, but with the speaker’s permission I will be able to use them any where and any time. Wow! That alone was worth the 10 second investment to send out a mass request.
4. LinkedIn is very easy to use. LinkedIn shows you what to do to complete your profile, add business history, get referrals, and any additional information to make your profile really work for you.

If you are not using LinkedIn yet, now is the time to jump in and see just how easy and fun this network can be, you may end up as surprised as I am at how friendly, sharing, and interactive it is.

What Exactly is a Ning?

I have been testing out a Ning for a client to check its viability for his particular use and so I set one up for myself to see just how easy or hard it was to do. The first question that I got from people who looked at my Ning was what exactly is a [...]

I have been testing out a Ning for a client to check its viability for his particular use and so I set one up for myself to see just how easy or hard it was to do. The first question that I got from people who looked at my Ning was what exactly is a Ning?

A Ning Is:

1. A private label branded social networking site built around one particular brand or topic.
2. It allows people to interact with your content or topic in a social manner and create a personal page on your topic within your Ning to share with others; drawing others into conversation.
3. It allows you to create forums or groups within your network to engage others and allows them to create groups to share or comment on your content.
4. It creates a rich experience for users and allows full interaction in a new manner.

What a Ning is Not:

1. It is not a blog, although one of its components is a blog or blog RSS feed. It is more than a blog, it is a true social network.
2. It is not Facebook or LinkedIn, it is a private label network and so its success is based on your promotion of the content and use of your Ning through selling its use to others who are interested in your topic.
3. It is not a website. It is more restrained than a website in that you have compartmentalized content and not full freedom of use as you would with a website. But the expense to create some of these applications within a single website would be cost prohibitive.

A Ning is exciting, it is fun, it is interactive, but it really relies on member interaction. If you have a Ning and no members, you have nothing. If you are going to consider doing your own Ning, check out mine first at http://webauthority.ning.com/ This fairly simple Ning took around 6 hours to create and is a work in progress. It uses one of the Ning templates and includes many of the free modules customized for my use. You can create custom advertising sections with images on your own Ning.

Feel free to join my Ning if only just to check it out and run it through its paces and see what a Ning is. I won’t pester you at all to interact or with spam mailings. This way you can see if a Ning is for you.

Social Media: People Are Hungry, No, Starving to Connect

I am shocked really, today I worked on my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and sent out some invitations and requested for LinkedIn recommendations. Within minutes I had a slew of question responses, tons of new friends, and six recommendations. The response has staggered me. I have toyed with social media networking, it has seemed like [...]

I am shocked really, today I worked on my Facebook and LinkedIn profiles and sent out some invitations and requested for LinkedIn recommendations. Within minutes I had a slew of question responses, tons of new friends, and six recommendations. The response has staggered me. I have toyed with social media networking, it has seemed like a time pit to me without any selling value, but I have to say I am strongly rethinking my viewpoint.

Here’s what I have found so far:

1. People who are acquaintances, colleagues, and clients really want to know you better.
2. People want to share what they know through LinkedIn questions and answers.
3. People want to share resources that they have found to help someone they know.
4. People are not afraid to give you a recommendation, if you ask for it.

Interesting, as I thought people would just be too busy to do any of these things and that Facebook and LinkedIn were only for people who had a lot of time on their hands. Not so, clearly.

My big question has always been, and has been shared by other professionals, is that the time you invest in social media, specifically social networking, may not translate into sales. But based on what I have seen this may be a concern that I may need to reconsider. Most of my business comes from referrals of other satisfied customers. With these new networking tools, I may be able to tap into the second degree of separation to my colleagues and clients to garner additional clients and access to news and emerging technology through my own connections. This would provide more value to me personally and warrant the time investment not only with increased sales and contacts, but access to new emerging trends and technologies.

As I got responses from others in from my LinkedIn question on how others are effectively using social media, I am finding that use of the question and answer tool is very important and video continues to pop up as a very important aspect as well.

You can click in and join my three social media networks from the badges on my right side bar right now and I’ll accept you. This way you can be part of the conversation as I do additional research on how to effectively use social media and social networking for your business. I’ll be sharing my findings with my networks and offering ideas and suggestions.

The Color of Your Money Does Not Determine Your Organic Placement

This is a truth that you should remember especially when you get contacted by search engine optimization firms from a cold call. You cannot buy organic placement on Google!
Google placement is not for sale! This is not the first time that I have heard this story, a client calls and says for $xxxx a month [...]

This is a truth that you should remember especially when you get contacted by search engine optimization firms from a cold call. You cannot buy organic placement on Google!

Google placement is not for sale! This is not the first time that I have heard this story, a client calls and says for $xxxx a month this firm guarantees top placement on Google and Yahoo because they have a special partnership with the search engines. Just these statements alone should put up a red flag for you and you should not buy into the scam. That is what it is, a scam to separate you from your money.

Google has over 150 different factors that determine organic search placement and the color of your money is not one of them! Google does not partner with SEO firms to provide organic placement. Actually that is one of the best things about Google. A small firm can actually compete with a large firm for great organic placement through great content, regular updates, and slow link building strategies. The playing field is leveled by considering what really matters to readers - targeted and great content.

Now, notice that I have not said the same about Yahoo. This democratic mentality does not apply to Yahoo. You may possibly be able to buy your way on Yahoo. We know that Yahoo preferentially will show websites in organic placement results that have bought into their local non-PPC programs sold through advertising agencies, but Yahoo is closed mouthed to even us, professional webmasters, on the real details here and how to participate. So you may be able to buy your placement on Yahoo, but be very careful over what you buy in to.

The bottom line is, if a firm says we can guarantee top organic placement on Google, you should question the program as they CANNOT guarantee this, Google is not for sale!

PPC Strategy 101

If you need extra push for your business, then you should seriously be looking at Google AdWords first. Yahoo is a good second choice to consider, but for most people, you really don’t need to consider MSN at this time.
MSN has lost so much traction in the world of pay per click, that I have [...]

If you need extra push for your business, then you should seriously be looking at Google AdWords first. Yahoo is a good second choice to consider, but for most people, you really don’t need to consider MSN at this time.

MSN has lost so much traction in the world of pay per click, that I have to say I just don’t think that investing in the set up and management of a program there warrants the expense. There is a very narrow market there and the return on investment is simply not happening.

It used to be that for the majority of accounts you would receive nearly half of your AdWords conversions on Yahoo and then again about another half of what you got on Yahoo on MSN, but now the figures are even more dismal. Here is just one very pointed example for one high tech client:

Google AdWords: 4725 clicks, 209,254 impressions 2.26% CTR

Yahoo: 1536 clicks 87,136 impressions 1.76% CTR

MSN: 69 clicks 1,970 impressions 3.50%CTR

This program is just showing on search and search partners, no clicks are coming from content. Clearly MSN simply does not have the technical search traffic for industrial and high tech customers that Google and Yahoo do.

If you are selling entertainment products, beauty products MSN may still be a solution for your needs but if your PPC program is for technical and business don’t waste your time with MSN at this point.

Join Our Private Social Network

Hey, I am testing out my own private social network on Ning. I’d like to invite you to check it out and join if you want.
I have a several forums there, blog posts, cool viral videos, photos, and notes and tips. Check it out, join, add your own photos, videos and tips. Have fun! It [...]

Hey, I am testing out my own private social network on Ning. I’d like to invite you to check it out and join if you want.

I have a several forums there, blog posts, cool viral videos, photos, and notes and tips. Check it out, join, add your own photos, videos and tips. Have fun! It is a very cool application and it’s all free. I’m trying to identify if clients and readers like it and would use it to connect with others.

Leave me a note and tell me what you think and if you think that you would use something like this on site’s you visit.

Escalating Costs Push Businesses to Raise Prices

We’re not alone when it comes to getting the “squeeze”! It’s all around you - higher gas prices, pending winter fuel price increases, rising food prices, increases in Internet service, changes to credit policies, the list is endless and growing.
It is not surprising that many businesses are trimming down, cutting back or being forced to [...]

We’re not alone when it comes to getting the “squeeze”! It’s all around you - higher gas prices, pending winter fuel price increases, rising food prices, increases in Internet service, changes to credit policies, the list is endless and growing.

It is not surprising that many businesses are trimming down, cutting back or being forced to raise prices to offset the increase in costs to just stay in business.  So what can you do, anything to stay profitable in this changing and shifting business climate?

Here are a few tips to help you weather the storm and stay profitable.

1. Trim your overhead first any way you can before you automatically consider a price increase passed on to customers. It may be as simple as moving from 24 pound paper to 22 pound paper, not ordering office supplies that simply sit on the shelf - ordering only when needed, to installing a programmable thermostat in your office. Trim where you can smartly first.

2. If you do feel that you must raise your prices to cover your overhead, be sure that you can afford to do so. It is naturally for some clients to simply decide to chop your services when you increase prices. If losing any clients will mean real trouble for you, consider layoffs, payroll cuts, and dropping perks before raising your prices first. For some raising prices may simply mean better efficiency and improved quality of life, for other raising prices may start a downward spiral that will be hard to stop.

3. Work smarter, try to share the load when you have multiple tasks. Here’s one example it may be more cost efficient to turn over routine reporting tasks to a person who you will pay $25/hour to and then have the higher paid team members start an ad on selling program to existing clients with their new free time. Make sure that all clients know about your service offerings. You may be able to very easily pick up extra business with a few phone calls offering expanded services to your existing client base. You may even want to consider adding services to your offerings to complement what you do sell or provide now looking to sell more to the clients you do have now.

Anyway you look at it, the business client is tightening, pulling in, and adjusting. Make sure to look for creative options before you try to put the “squeeze” on your own customers.

Building Sales Through Your Web Authority

If you have worked hard to become the authority in your field or industry, now’s the time to use that clout to leverage sales. But exactly how do you do that?
By using your platforms of course! If you have created web authority with your blog, your e-newsletter, or your own website, now is the time [...]

If you have worked hard to become the authority in your field or industry, now’s the time to use that clout to leverage sales. But exactly how do you do that?

By using your platforms of course! If you have created web authority with your blog, your e-newsletter, or your own website, now is the time to add the marketing push to make it all translate now into sales.

What I routinely will do is to create a timed promotion and then heavily promote what I am offering or selling on my platforms. If you have the ear and readership of your audience, you will not alienate them with a judicious use of self promotion.  I mainly use my monthly e-newsletter for my special promotions and not my blog but you may choose otherwise.

In fact, as you have worked hard to establish yourself as the authority in your field you have shared, tips, strategies, and your intellectual capital. Now’s the time to call in the “chips”. I don’t mean change your message all the sudden and use your platform for a “spamming marketing machine”, but I do mean, making sure that client’s and prospects know what you sell and service, and that you want them to call you when they need help. Done in a non-threatening, non-pushy way, you will find that you are providing a real service to those reading or watching your platforms.

So here’s my little “bug in your ear” on this specific topic. We provide webmaster services if you didn’t know. We don’t need to have designed your website to provide content updates to your website or to tweak it for performance. Webmaster services are a core business for us and we employ two contractors to assist us with updates. Typically updates are completed within 24 to 48 hours and sometimes even on the same day. Although we are not a good technology match for every website, those that we do work on, we are attentive to detail, and provide very affordable fast service. Our minimum billing is only $7 and our hourly rate is $68 per hour rounded up in 6 minute increments. So, if you need a responsive webmaster on your side, think of McCord Web Services! Now that was painless wasn’t it?

August Newsletter is Posted

We’ve just posted our August e-newsletter. You can view it here.
Topics for this issue are:
Ghost Blogger Spotlight on Sue Guirl, Director of Writing
Give Your Browser a Tune Up
How to Set Up Email Member Groups
We’ve returned from vacation at Myrtle Beach and are ready to roll. Stay tuned this week for posts on how you can [...]

We’ve just posted our August e-newsletter. You can view it here.

Topics for this issue are:

Ghost Blogger Spotlight on Sue Guirl, Director of Writing

Give Your Browser a Tune Up

How to Set Up Email Member Groups

We’ve returned from vacation at Myrtle Beach and are ready to roll. Stay tuned this week for posts on how you can turn your “Web Authority” into sales.

Does It Hurt You to Post Three Times a Week?

It may not hurt you to drop from five days a week to three, but go less than posting to your blog three days a week and you will definitely lose readership and subscribers. It is definitely a tough road to hoe to build back up after you have had a significant drop in traffic. It [...]

It may not hurt you to drop from five days a week to three, but go less than posting to your blog three days a week and you will definitely lose readership and subscribers. It is definitely a tough road to hoe to build back up after you have had a significant drop in traffic. It takes time posting five days a week and great content.

Once you have arrived at the level of activity that you desire, then you need to balance the time you expend on your blog with your other business needs. This is what I do. When I had started posting sporadically for nearly six months due to personnel issues and sheer blogging burn-out, my traffic took a dive. To rebuild, it has taken will power and work. For over four months I have now blogged five days a week and now I am simply ready to move back to three days a week. Typically I blog ahead and do one week ahead on Saturday. If I find something great to write about in the middle of the week, I just do an additional post. If the post is not time sensitive, I will simply use it as one of my write ahead posts.

Personally I found blogging five days a week exhausting. For professional clients typically we will break a five day a week gig into a project for two writers. It is simply tough to consistently write great content every single day on one topic. Try it for an extended period and you will understand what I mean.

If you post less than three days a week some portals like My Yahoo will collapse your RSS feed on the page and post a note saying “no new posts in the last seven days” even if this is not exactly true. Post on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule and feed collapse is prevented.

So should you write three, four or five days a week? I recommend if you are starting your blog five days a week for the first three months to build content and readership, then cut back to a long term plan of three days a week to maintain what you have and not lose headway.