Virtual tips for the savvy business owner!

Last week’s NAOEM Success Summit was a big success.

The Summit, put on by the National Association Of Entrepreneurial Moms, was put on to help current or potential entrepreneurs find the inspiration and tools to start or build their own business.

Champion Assistants founder Heather Nelson was one of the presenters on hand to speak to the audience of small business owners, and those looking to become small business owners.

“There was a great turnout,” said Nelson. “I think people got a lot out of the experience. Even I came back excited to dive back into my business!”

Also speaking at the Summit were the world-renowned entrepreneurial guru David Neagle, Joy Chudacoff, Therese Skelly, Marla Dennis, Debbye Cannon, Allana Pratt, and DeAnne Flores Chase.

“It’s always great to see different perspectives and find out more about the challenges and successes people are facing with their small business,” said Nelson. “I thought David Neagle’s speech was very inspirational. I was very pleased to meet him.”

Those in attendance were treated to two days of inspirational business advice, as well as some one-on-one coaching time.

NAOEM, who’s goal is to “empower you to consciously create a balanced life” provides coaching and information to entrepreneurial moms all over the country. More information can be found at www.NAOEM.com

It’s easy to tell yourself that you know more than your competition, and in many cases, that’s probably true. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore the tactics and qualities they have. There’s a reason that you still call them “your competition” and not “the company I left in my dust years ago.”

Watch their practices. Analyze their site. What are they doing well that you could work on? There’s usually something there, and if you find it, it could be the first step in setting yourself apart.

This doesn’t mean you should abandon your strategies and methods; these are the reasons you are where you are today. Just make sure that you’re not missing an important share of your market because they have it covered.

My background is in the newspaper industry, and most recently, with The Seattle Times. If there’s one thing I learned during my time there, it’s that people will go where the product is.

When the other Seattle newspaper, The Post-Intelligencer, folded last year, we were concerned that this would lead to a decline in subscriptions. For decades, people had identified themselves as either a “Seattle Times reader” or a “Post Intelligencer reader” and we didn’t want to see those people stop getting their paper, like many media analysts were suggesting would happen. To the contrary, we found that when people enjoy a product, they’ll turn to whoever is supplying it.

Make sure you’re the one your customers turn to. If they look online, do they find you first? If they ask a friend, are they hearing your name? If the answer is “no” more oftehn than “yes”, take a look and find out what your competition is doing. It could be the key to taking your business to the next level.

As I watched the news of the now-infamous “balloon boy” and his spotlight-crazy parents, I started to think about how easy it is to slip into that habit once you’ve had  a taste of the air up top.

This same insanity can take over a business-owner when they get a taste of success. You always want to get back to that point, and to an extent, that’s good. That’s what the free-market economy is based on, and it should be a part of your business strategy to strive for more…but at what cost?

Dishonest, invasive and scare-tactic methods have always been a vice of the marketing world, but with the anonymity that comes with internet sales and marketing, it’s all too easy to get caught up.

Sneaking in sales offers, the “you have to buy this product to access that report, and by the way you really need that report” window, hidden fees, etc. The list is endless.

But at some point, we have to sit back and ask “am I being honest with my customers?” because even though you’re selling online, you’re still selling to real people.

There are lots of ways to maintain a successful business and client relationships while staying ethical. And shouldn’t that be what we strive for?

Rarely do we have a client who needs help with only one aspect of their business. It’s with this in mind that Champion Assistants has added our new Grab ‘N Go Marketing Packages.

One of the most impressive benefits of the packages will be the price point. By grouping services together, the client will be able to take advantage of some great services at a lower cost. And of course, upgrading or adding services is still an option!

Our packages are geared specifically towards businesses that follow strategic sales and marketing techniques recommended by top-notch experts including Ali Brown, Dan Kennedy, James Roche, and David Neagle.  We understand the techniques they recommend as well as how to implement them for maximum business exposure and sales.  With our Online Business Success Packages you ensure that the money you’ve invested in learning these strategies actually pays off by implementing them in your business.

In the spirit of the Olympic year, we’re launching three packages: Bronze, Silver and Gold.

The Bronze Package will be the most basic, offering help to develop a six-month sales plan, monthly tutorials on valuable online marketing and presentation topics, and other great services. Click the link to read more and learn about pricing.

The Silver Package will include everything from the Bronze Package, as well as some help with development and implementation of autoresponders and squeeze pages.

The Gold Package is our premier package. It offers everything you’ll get with the bronze and silver packages, as well as help setting up and managing affiliate programs and major social networking. We’ll even help identify key audiences to market to each month and explain the best ways to do that!

Take a look at the detailed descriptions, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask: info@championassistants.com.

• Does the marketing maze overwhelm you?
• Are you running ragged trying to figure out the best investments of your time and money?
• Do you wish you had some basic strategies, tips and templates that worked for quickly to get you the best marketing bang for your limited bucks?

Whitney Keyes and Maria Ross from Red Slice are offering a marketing workshop in Fremont on the 28th for anyone looking to put these questions to rest.

Visit the event page on the Red Slice website for more info. It should be a great tool for any business owner trying to maximize their marketing efforts.

Heather Nelson, founder and owner of Champion Assistants, is excited for her trip to LA to speak at the NAOEM Success Summit on Thursday.

The Summit, which is put on by the National Association of Entrepreneurial Moms, will be a two day event designed to help “mompreneurs” find the tools and resources they need to help grow their business.

As a successful small business owner, Heather will be sharing her insights through her presentation: “Make the Connection and Close the Deal: The Optimum Strategy for Online Sales.”

Also speaking at the Summit will be the world-renowned entrepreneurial guru David Neagle, Joy Chudacoff, Therese Skelly, Marla Dennis, Debbye Cannon, Allana Pratt, and DeAnne Flores Chase.

For more information on the Summit, and to find out how you can register, visit www.naoemsuccesssummit.com.

We wrap up this series by stressing the importance of understanding the analytics of your website and blog. If you don’t know which pages receive the most traffic, which sites are your biggest referrers, you can’t capitalize on this information in order to improve your results. If you’ve spent time and effort ramping up your social media efforts but don’t know how they’re paying off with web traffic, then you’re missing out on an important piece of the marketing puzzle. Google Analytics (which is free), identifies your top referrers. Many times one of a site’s top referrers is it’s blog. Sometimes Facebook is in the top five. You should know who is coming to your site and where they’re coming from. It will help you better define your social media marketing plan and capitalize on your efforts that are paying off.

It’s much more than a game of the number of eyeballs on your site or your blog. Your goal is to convert those visitors into leads and then into customers. You do that on your landing pages, which are simply designed and have no navigation to entice them to browse other pages of your website. Every landing page should have a call to action and the form that visitors fill out must be visible on the screen when visitors land on your page. Do not expect them to scroll. They won’t and if the form is not visible, they will not know there is something to fill out. Landing pages are a powerful way to capture a web visitor’s attention. Use a strong call to action at the top that will entice the visitor to read further and ultimately sign up for your product, service, special offer.

Make sure you include a call to action on every landing page and at the bottom of every blog post. If someone’s just read and appreciated your blog post and you’re inviting them to download a copy of your latest article at your site, then you’re capturing their information and have turned them from a blog reader into a lead. You really should put a call to action in all of your content (web pages, ezines, emails, articles). Include a link or offer designed to drive traffic to your landing page, your product page, your download pages.

Emails and ezines convert visitors to leads and customers because they entice with compelling content and offers. You should have a strategic email campaign in place that converts visitors on your site. Promote product launches, your next ezine publication, industry news, and more in your regularly-scheduled emails that go out to customers, leads and others who’ve inquired about your products and services.

Converting social media visitors takes a concerted effort on all fronts, but it is worth your time and effort. It is an effective and budget-conscious way to generate sales online.

Don’t watch from the sidelines; get in there and participate in a meaningful way in the online conversations that are taking place. We’ve said it before: don’t just Tweet; listen to the conversation that’s going on and jump in by replying to others’ posts. Rule of thumb: don’t promote your company, products and services in your posts. It turns your audience off. Give them smart information that they are looking for. Figure out what solutions they are looking for and offer information that can solve them.

For instance, Champion Assistants blogs, Tweets and Facebooks about topics such as social media marketing, new shopping cart technologies introduced into the marketplace, how to sell online, and more. Our social media audience appreciates this valuable information and if and when they’re ready to employ our services, they seek us out. The others are just listening to the conversation and learning important information. That’s fine. As you grow your audience, you increase your pool of potential leads and customers. The more who listen, the more you have an opportunity to convert.

So, let’s refresh: Goal 1: Listen to the conversation that’s going on. Goal 2: Meet people and begin to build relationships. Goal 3: Develop a strong reputation online through these interactions. Now, back to attracting more visitors.

Distribute your content everywhere you can. Videos to Facebook, Revver and YouTube. Photos to Flickr. Presentations to SlideShare. Distribute your blogs and EzineArticles by linking them to your Facebook account, your blog, your Twitter page. Consider podcasts, ebooks, teleseminars, webinars and news releases. You will attract your target market if you provide them with relevant content they are looking for. If you do, they’re more likely to share it with others they think will be interested.

Test different calls to action in different places to see what works in different mediums. Blogs, industry news, videos are all viral marketing tools that companies use to spread their message. People who enjoy a video or blog or new tidbit tend to share it with others who in turn share it. Do not use social media to promote your business. Product information and free trials are not viral and are not of interest to your target market using social media. You can increase your online authority by talking about things that solve problems for your customers and prospects.

You’re already Twittering, Facebooking, using LinkedIn, but there are hundreds of other online social networking tools available to you to use. How to choose between them? As we discover new technologies, we will bring them to you, but in the meantime we’ve listed a broad assortment of social media productivity tools for you to consider.

Ning

Founded in 2004 by Marc Andreessen (of Netscape fame), Ning users create and join Ning Networks. The idea is to bring people together to share interests and passions and together explore new ideas and meet new people. Classroom 2.0 is a a Ning social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies for education. Apple Certified Professionals bring together that group of professionals to learn together. Join an existing Ning Network or create a new one of your own with your specific goals in mind. Its growing fast with more than 1.5 million networks created and more than 33 million users. Are you a life or business coach interested in networking with your peers to gain new insights? There are several groups for you to consider joining.

Digg

This is a social bookmarking platform that allows you to find great content that you might not find in a traditional search. Content is discovered, shared and voted on by users, so the most popular (and likely most useful and interesting) rises to the top, with the most popular reaching the front page for millions to see. The service was designed to provide a tool for people to use to create an online community in order to discover and discuss topics they’re interested in.

SlideShare.net

This is the world’s largest presentation sharing community. Users upload presentations and slideshows to share with a group privately or to post for everyone to see. From PowerPoint presentations and Microsoft Word documents to PDFs, you can gain greater exposure for your presentations and develop a community of users around a theme.

EventsListed.com

This site is used by huge media conglomerates to promote concerts and by solopreneurs promoting free teleseminars. You can create an event on this site for a physical event like a workshop or a virtual event like a teleseminar. You can even create an event for product launch of a physical or digital product (an ebook). Create buzz by creating a pre-launch event, a launch event, and a post-launch event. EventsListed.com is a social networking site where you build a fan base who you promote your events to and who in turn promotes to their fan base.  It’s viral marketing in action. We will cover all of the essential details of this social networking and marketing opportunity in a future post, so stay tuned!