Nick Usborne: http://www.excessvoice.com/articlex4.htm
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Write Better Emails
If you do any sort of email communication or marketing with your customers, this is a good read I thought was worth sharing.
Nick Usborne: http://www.excessvoice.com/articlex4.htm
Technorati Tags: email marketing, copywriting
Nick Usborne: http://www.excessvoice.com/articlex4.htm
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Ever feel like Superwoman one minute and the village idiot the next?!
Being a small business owner can be rewarding and humbling. Here are a few tips I picked up from a print publication I get at home. I thought they were worth passing along. They will have you working smarter, not working more!
Stay Informed - take time to peruse your industry's journals, print publications, forums, blogs,Twitter, etc. The better you know it and the upcoming trends, the better you'll know what your customers want. Use your street smarts when you're looking at online material...much of it is nothing but someone else's opinion. And be careful with this - it can be a HUGE time sucker; set aside a small amount of time (daily or weekly) to dedicate to this and then move on.
Feed Your Relationships - Networking with colleagues, vendors and others that are important to your business is important relationship development. Be an active participant, be giving and honest. The golden rule applies here - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Do Your Best and Leave The Rest - be wise about leveraging the experience of others and delegate what you can. Yes, sometimes you will wear all the hats, but at some point it really isn't going to be better for your bottom line to be scrubbing the toilets!
Put Systems in Place and Have a Backup - one of the biggest time savers is having processes for the regular things you do. If you document them well, then you have a great training tool for delegating the task to someone else. If you use your computer to run your business....have a backup offsite. That way when your computer crashes you aren't stuck.
Renew - make time for you! You are pulled in many directions. You need to take time away from your business to think clearly and let all your ideas come together. Running your business is just a means to an end. Give your brain a break from constantly thinking it. It is a great stress reliever and it will help you maintain some balance.
Ciao, Paula
MarketYourBizOnline.com
PaulaBonelli.com
Technorati Tags: small business owners, time management, business development
Stay Informed - take time to peruse your industry's journals, print publications, forums, blogs,Twitter, etc. The better you know it and the upcoming trends, the better you'll know what your customers want. Use your street smarts when you're looking at online material...much of it is nothing but someone else's opinion. And be careful with this - it can be a HUGE time sucker; set aside a small amount of time (daily or weekly) to dedicate to this and then move on.
Feed Your Relationships - Networking with colleagues, vendors and others that are important to your business is important relationship development. Be an active participant, be giving and honest. The golden rule applies here - do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Do Your Best and Leave The Rest - be wise about leveraging the experience of others and delegate what you can. Yes, sometimes you will wear all the hats, but at some point it really isn't going to be better for your bottom line to be scrubbing the toilets!
Put Systems in Place and Have a Backup - one of the biggest time savers is having processes for the regular things you do. If you document them well, then you have a great training tool for delegating the task to someone else. If you use your computer to run your business....have a backup offsite. That way when your computer crashes you aren't stuck.
Renew - make time for you! You are pulled in many directions. You need to take time away from your business to think clearly and let all your ideas come together. Running your business is just a means to an end. Give your brain a break from constantly thinking it. It is a great stress reliever and it will help you maintain some balance.
Ciao, Paula
MarketYourBizOnline.com
PaulaBonelli.com
Technorati Tags: small business owners, time management, business development
Monday, April 13, 2009
A better explanation of optimizing your web site (SEO)
Seth Godin does a better job than I've been doing......
He offers 2 common ways to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Ciao, Paula
Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, seo, website optimization, website promotion
He offers 2 common ways to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Synopsis -
Step by step:
1. Make an incredible product, offer a remarkable service.
2. Associate a unique term or trademark with it. (Something that isn't generic, and preferably, not a crowded search term already).
3. Assuming that you do #1 and #2, you'll end up owning that word in the search engines. If you don't, revisit the first two steps.
Read the full article here so you can see the background behind these steps.Ciao, Paula
Technorati Tags: search engine optimization, seo, website optimization, website promotion
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
More Web Writing and Usability Tips...
OK - so I talk about this a LOT! But I can't tell you how many web site owners I still see that are not writing for their users when they write their content, links, etc.
We've talked about the content copy in general, but what about the micro-content on your site - your navigational links, headings, etc.? - the elements that help your visitors find their way around.
The article I'm sharing (from author Jakob Nielsen) digs into this. He shares a test he performed to see what parts of a web page users really see/interpret when scanning quickly. His results show that users only saw the first 2 words (or what he calls nano-content) of the micro-content items . It's really fascinating and it will give you some good direction and food for thought for the next time you sit down to write. :-) Read the full story on Jakob's site.
--Paula
We've talked about the content copy in general, but what about the micro-content on your site - your navigational links, headings, etc.? - the elements that help your visitors find their way around.
The article I'm sharing (from author Jakob Nielsen) digs into this. He shares a test he performed to see what parts of a web page users really see/interpret when scanning quickly. His results show that users only saw the first 2 words (or what he calls nano-content) of the micro-content items . It's really fascinating and it will give you some good direction and food for thought for the next time you sit down to write. :-) Read the full story on Jakob's site.
--Paula
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Chicago Internet Marketing Conference
I just returned home from an amazing Internet Conference in Chicago. My head is buzzing with new ideas. Look for some to be passed along in the coming months.
Paula Bonelli
MarketYourBizOnline.com
FaceBook
Follow me on Twitter
Paula Bonelli
MarketYourBizOnline.com
Follow me on Twitter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
