By Bill Platt (c) 2008 the Phantom Writers
Some people find great success with article marketing, while others think its proponents are full of bull. The difference between the winners and the losers in article marketing is most frequently defined when the writer sits down and begins to write. That is right.
Success and failure is most often determined by the writers' motivation, and more importantly, by the writers' commitment to the reader.
Flawed Strategies
In 2005, a few of the Internet Marketing gurus took notice of the success people were having with article marketing, and they passed this news to the Internet Marketing newbies of the world. But, there was something missing from the advice given.
In a lot of cases, the people preaching the power of article marketing hadn't used the technique themselves. Even today, few of my article distribution competitors utilize reprint articles to promote their own businesses. Most of my competitors rely upon affiliate marketing to promote their websites.
Unfortunately, the Internet Marketing newbies of the world were given a lot of bad advice. It was said that:
The only purpose of article marketing was to build links, and link popularity for search engine rankings;
The writer only needed to write enough words to meet the minimum word count requirements of publishers;
It wasn't necessary for the content to be well-written, since the publishers do not
read the articles they approve for publication;
Anything that can be done to reduce the time/cost of article writing would benefit the marketer.
The only suggestion that bore any resemblance to the truth was the first item about
"building links for link popularity", but the error in this statement was to assume that there was no other purpose for article marketing.
The Bigger Picture
I have been using article marketing to promote my own websites since 1999, and I have offered article-marketing services professionally since 2000 and under my current domain since 2001. I had been using article marketing and providing services for at least five years,before the gurus started leading the uninitiated Internet Marketers astray in 2005.
As one of the pioneers in this industry, I have always attributed three benefits to article marketing, in this order:
1. Publication in a newsletter ensures that thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands
of readers, can read ones' article when it is published. (Frequently, publication
day for my articles will generate phone calls from many potential customers and multiple sales, sometimes thousands in sales.)
2. Publication on a website increases the likelihood that your article will be found
and read on websites that have targeted and loyal visitors.
3. Building links for link popularity and improved search rankings.
I haven't ever denied the ability to use articles to build ones' link popularity and
to improve ones' ranking in the search engines. In fact, my website ranks in the top 20 results in Google for hundreds of keywords.
About The Author
Bill Platt has been helping online marketers with article ghostwriting and article distribution services since 2001, through his website: thephantomwriters.com . If your small business finances are being pinched during this era of high gasoline prices, get your copy of the ebook, "How to íncrease the Fuel Mileage Of Any Vehicle" to learn how to improve your gas mileage by 30% or better:
Showing posts with label online promotion strategy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online promotion strategy. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Myth Of Being Successfully Solo In Business
By Mark Silver (c) 2008 Heart Of Business
There's a breakneck pace that many new solo business owners assume. With an infinite number of things to do, and about a dozen hats to wear, it gets overwhelming, fast.
And, that's nothing compared to what happens once the business actually has some momentum under it. That's why one of my clients with a brand-new business was asking me: "Mark, how do you get it all done? Your business has about 100 times more going on in it than mine does, and I'm overwhelmed just with what I'm trying to get done."
Here's my answer: "I don't get it all done."
Which strikes at the heart of the most dangerous myth in business: the bootstrap myth, known in this particular instance as the myth of the successful solopreneur.
Why This Myth is so Dangerous
The myth says that you can do it on your own, you can bootstrap your way to success, and that when you go solo, you don't need anyone else. That's the whole point of being self-employed, or running a personal-sized business, right?
This rugged homage to individualism isn't just in the U.S., as some have claimed. I have seen this myth in action across the globe: Canada, the UK, mainland Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
It seems as if it's just hard to get it: we can't do it ourselves.
The Physical Reality
When you're an employee at a company, you get to do your job. And, unless you think upon it, you might not realize how much other people do just so you can do your job.
Who prints and signs your check? Who makes sure the office building gets cleaned?
Who stocks the office supplies closet, or goes out and sells to clients so there is revenue to pay you?
It's humbling, but when you become self-employed, all of those functions fall into your lap. And it is impossible, literally impossible, to do them all. If you're overwhelmed trying to make your business work yourself, there is good reason for it.
Frustrating - but don't despair. It may help to understand why it is this way.
The Spiritual Reality
As my Sufi teacher tells me, "Be the earth for your brothers and sisters. If you don't carry them, who will?... When you look into another's eyes, see the reflection of God looking at you."
The depth of this teaching really struck home when I realized that he wasn't talking to me personally - this teaching was for everyone. We're all asked to carry each other.
Which means that we also need to allow ourselves to be carried.
When someone offers help, do you say: "Yes!" or do you say: "Nah, I can get it."
If the bootstrap myth is operating in your business, there may be a hundred subtle and not-so-subtle ways that you avoid or turn away from help."
Lord knows I do.
And yet we are meant to both help and be helped by each other. This is one of the ways that we experience the Divine in our lives, through the actions, support and love of others.
Yes, I mean you. :-) You are supposed to receive the Divine through the actions, support and love of others. You can't do everything yourself. And that's as it was designed to be.
Watch the wing-stretching and contortions you go through as you learn to receive more help. It will do much more than help your business, it will be a real experience of healing and growth for you as well.
Who can afford to hire an entire company of help?
Of course, not all of the help you get will be free, and there's so much of it to get. And you can't hire it all, especially early in your business. So what do you do?
After going through some big transitions ourselves, having grown up in a small retail business, and having worked with hundreds of clients, let me share some insights into how to prioritize.
Keys to Being a Successful Pseudo-Solo
First, Invest in Information and Learning.
I know, I know - it seems like a lot needs to get done, right now. Remember -millions of people have already done what you've tried to do. So, the best thing to do is to learn from some of them.
Get books from the library, or buy them. Take classes, free or otherwise. Find people you admire who have successfully navigated what you're trying to do and take them to tea or lunch and ask them questions. I've done about a dozen interviews with folks I admire and have them up in our online community for just that reason: The Business Oasis.
Make sure the information resonates with you. As just one example, marketing professionals out there are all saying more or less the same thing, so you can find one that your heart really resonates with and is speaking your language.
Second, Get Help With the Numbers.
I'll say this once: if you're running a business, you shouldn't be doing your taxes yourself. There are too many deductions and pitfalls and details. You want to hire it out,even if you think you can't afford it.
Related to that, as soon as you can, hire a bookkeeper to keep your accounting clean from month to month. Not only will it help you at tax time (imagine filing your taxes in the beginning of February!), but it will also help you understand your business better, simply knowing how money flows in and out.
Third, Experiment With a Virtual Assistant.
You may not be able or ready to hire out help. You also may have no idea how or where to start. I suggest finding a virtual assistant you like, who has strengths in areas that you get overwhelmed by easily, and hiring them for a very small project, maybe an hour or two. Then repeat in a month or so.
Over some months, as you both get to know each other, you'll get more comfortable with asking for help, and receiving it. Your business may need to develop before you hire a significant amount of help, but if you start small, it will be a much easier transition. And you'll get there much more quickly.
Getting help in your business is a huge topic. The trick is to face the simple truth that you can't do it all yourself, and that spiritually it's enormously beneficial to receive help.
Then, first get help by learning through books, classes, and other resources, second get help with the numbers with an accountant then a bookkeeper, and finally practice outsourcing to a virtual assistant in small, do-able, bites.
And watch how much more successful you can be as a 'pseudo' solo business owner.
The best to you and your business.
About The Author
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money,
Marketing and Sales can Deepen
Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped
hundreds of small business owners
around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free
chapters of the book online:
HeartOfBusiness.com
There's a breakneck pace that many new solo business owners assume. With an infinite number of things to do, and about a dozen hats to wear, it gets overwhelming, fast.
And, that's nothing compared to what happens once the business actually has some momentum under it. That's why one of my clients with a brand-new business was asking me: "Mark, how do you get it all done? Your business has about 100 times more going on in it than mine does, and I'm overwhelmed just with what I'm trying to get done."
Here's my answer: "I don't get it all done."
Which strikes at the heart of the most dangerous myth in business: the bootstrap myth, known in this particular instance as the myth of the successful solopreneur.
Why This Myth is so Dangerous
The myth says that you can do it on your own, you can bootstrap your way to success, and that when you go solo, you don't need anyone else. That's the whole point of being self-employed, or running a personal-sized business, right?
This rugged homage to individualism isn't just in the U.S., as some have claimed. I have seen this myth in action across the globe: Canada, the UK, mainland Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
It seems as if it's just hard to get it: we can't do it ourselves.
The Physical Reality
When you're an employee at a company, you get to do your job. And, unless you think upon it, you might not realize how much other people do just so you can do your job.
Who prints and signs your check? Who makes sure the office building gets cleaned?
Who stocks the office supplies closet, or goes out and sells to clients so there is revenue to pay you?
It's humbling, but when you become self-employed, all of those functions fall into your lap. And it is impossible, literally impossible, to do them all. If you're overwhelmed trying to make your business work yourself, there is good reason for it.
Frustrating - but don't despair. It may help to understand why it is this way.
The Spiritual Reality
As my Sufi teacher tells me, "Be the earth for your brothers and sisters. If you don't carry them, who will?... When you look into another's eyes, see the reflection of God looking at you."
The depth of this teaching really struck home when I realized that he wasn't talking to me personally - this teaching was for everyone. We're all asked to carry each other.
Which means that we also need to allow ourselves to be carried.
When someone offers help, do you say: "Yes!" or do you say: "Nah, I can get it."
If the bootstrap myth is operating in your business, there may be a hundred subtle and not-so-subtle ways that you avoid or turn away from help."
Lord knows I do.
And yet we are meant to both help and be helped by each other. This is one of the ways that we experience the Divine in our lives, through the actions, support and love of others.
Yes, I mean you. :-) You are supposed to receive the Divine through the actions, support and love of others. You can't do everything yourself. And that's as it was designed to be.
Watch the wing-stretching and contortions you go through as you learn to receive more help. It will do much more than help your business, it will be a real experience of healing and growth for you as well.
Who can afford to hire an entire company of help?
Of course, not all of the help you get will be free, and there's so much of it to get. And you can't hire it all, especially early in your business. So what do you do?
After going through some big transitions ourselves, having grown up in a small retail business, and having worked with hundreds of clients, let me share some insights into how to prioritize.
Keys to Being a Successful Pseudo-Solo
First, Invest in Information and Learning.
I know, I know - it seems like a lot needs to get done, right now. Remember -millions of people have already done what you've tried to do. So, the best thing to do is to learn from some of them.
Get books from the library, or buy them. Take classes, free or otherwise. Find people you admire who have successfully navigated what you're trying to do and take them to tea or lunch and ask them questions. I've done about a dozen interviews with folks I admire and have them up in our online community for just that reason: The Business Oasis.
Make sure the information resonates with you. As just one example, marketing professionals out there are all saying more or less the same thing, so you can find one that your heart really resonates with and is speaking your language.
Second, Get Help With the Numbers.
I'll say this once: if you're running a business, you shouldn't be doing your taxes yourself. There are too many deductions and pitfalls and details. You want to hire it out,even if you think you can't afford it.
Related to that, as soon as you can, hire a bookkeeper to keep your accounting clean from month to month. Not only will it help you at tax time (imagine filing your taxes in the beginning of February!), but it will also help you understand your business better, simply knowing how money flows in and out.
Third, Experiment With a Virtual Assistant.
You may not be able or ready to hire out help. You also may have no idea how or where to start. I suggest finding a virtual assistant you like, who has strengths in areas that you get overwhelmed by easily, and hiring them for a very small project, maybe an hour or two. Then repeat in a month or so.
Over some months, as you both get to know each other, you'll get more comfortable with asking for help, and receiving it. Your business may need to develop before you hire a significant amount of help, but if you start small, it will be a much easier transition. And you'll get there much more quickly.
Getting help in your business is a huge topic. The trick is to face the simple truth that you can't do it all yourself, and that spiritually it's enormously beneficial to receive help.
Then, first get help by learning through books, classes, and other resources, second get help with the numbers with an accountant then a bookkeeper, and finally practice outsourcing to a virtual assistant in small, do-able, bites.
And watch how much more successful you can be as a 'pseudo' solo business owner.
The best to you and your business.
About The Author
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business: How Money,
Marketing and Sales can Deepen
Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped
hundreds of small business owners
around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free
chapters of the book online:
HeartOfBusiness.com
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