Overcoming Distractions

I am having a difficult time of late staying focused on my goals and intentions with my online interactions. I find it hard to focus on many tasks at once when trying to keep up multiple websites.

If you have been reading any of my previous posts on the blog, you will know I recently went through an intern program for internet marketing. I learned enough from this endeavor to know this is something that I want to research further and grow my own business.

Through this short period of time I learned there was money to be made as long as you persevere, have goals and tracking procedures in place, and keep focused on the task at hand. Being a business coach, I preach this to my mastermind group, my clients that have come to me with specific projects, and those who have an inquiries about moving forward.

I recently purchased a program offered by Terry Dean, the Internet Coach. The program is the
Internet Lifestyle Retirement System. It is filled with so much information that I have decided to focus the majority of my time getting through his program and successfully implementing the techniques.

When I received the box via UPS, I was overwhelmed with the amount of information in the box. There are DVD's and CD's, not to mention the files you download upon ordering the information. It can never be said when you order products from Terry Dean that you do not get your money's worth.

I learned through his intern program that there is a lot involved but it is manageable if you stay focused and write your goals down daily. If you do not, you will be like me and start to wonder what you are accomplishing day-to-day.

So today, I am starting step one and cutting back on my subscriptions to blogs and newsletter. At this time I have about 8 different subscriptions and I am cutting back to three.

What If...?

“The next time you make an assumption, see what happens when you do the opposite.” ~Brian Clark.

I subscribe to the feed from Copyblogger and the post today What's The Ultimate Creativity Killer? is worth sharing with everyone.

It made me think what if they had listened to the nay sayers.

Great Advice for Website Publicity

You have launched your website so now what. Having website presence in business today is important and can be done fairly inexpensively. But for proper utilization there is more to it than just having a website. As in the movie Field of Dreams where the man kept saying "If you build it they will come"--this normally does not happen. You might get a chance visitor but to draw traffic requires some work.

In the article below, Sue Currie has given some great information on creating publicity for your website. I hope you get great ideas from what she has written.

Create Website Publicity Buzz

Having a website is an important element of your public relations mix but it needs to be working for you. What else can you do to get people to click on your site? Well you could incorporate some PR activities around your site. Public relations is essentially communication, letting people know what your do, why you do it and how you make a difference.

One aspect of PR is publicity. Creating word of mouth interest in your business by getting free editorial coverage of your business in the media.

Publicity stories in the media are very effective but you won't get one for your website unless you have a new idea, controversial story, sensational aspect to your website, something unusual or completely different. Get the idea? Some story ideas: are you the first to use this technology? Have you made a huge sale through your website? Does your website help or benefit people in any way? Are you running a unique online competition or survey? Have you a heart-warming personal story to tell? My point is that you need to have a point.

Let me give you an example of publicity that was designed specifically to attract people to a particular website.

There's an online travel company Zuji.com.au and what they did was implement a publicity campaign to drive traffic to their website. It was a simple idea really. They put together on online competition asking people to write in their travel secrets of their favourite destinations throughout the world and they could win a valuable travel prize. They told the media about it and although a simple idea it captured the attention of the travel media.

Consequently the media promoted the competition quite heavily resulting in heaps of visitors to the Zuji website. And of course it involved real people telling their own stories so the human interest element worked. It worked brilliantly for the company. Firstly they were successful in getting lots of free publicity from the competition and they also collected the email addresses of all of the people that visited their website. Plus they captured some really interesting stories and content to put on their site. So an online competition works well but you do need tell the media about it. Once you've developed a good newsworthy story you'll need to contact the relevant journalists who will help you reach your target market. Don't contact everyone, just the media that are appropriate to you and your product.

Contact them by sending a media release (it of course includes your website address) or just telephone them. Research your target media by checking out the newspapers, magazines and wherever else your competitors are being featured. You can buy media directories.

Don't forget to let journalists know there is a media room on your website where they can obtain further information.

Another way to publicise your website is to put your domain address everywhere. Anytime you do send out a media release or newsletter or write a letter to a potential client or sponsor an event, not only is it really important to put your name on everything but put your website address there as well. So for instance you might have some fantastic caps or t-shirts designed for your business that you want people to wear that look great and effective and but why not on the back of that cap put your domain name. Every where that you communicate, put your web address. Include on your voice mail, stickers, business cards, your car, caps, t-shirts on everything!

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Sue Currie, the director of Shine Communications Consultancy and author of Apprentice to Business Ace ' your inside-out guide to personal branding, is a business educator and speaker on personal branding through image and media. To learn more about how you can achieve recognition, enhance your image and shine, sign up for free monthly tips at http://www.shinecomms.com.au/subscriber.html

Customer Satisfaction Survey

I believe feedback is one of the best ways to learn, improve, and grow in your business. When working with clients I frequently ask them if they have ever done a customer satisfaction survey or asked for feedback from their customers. The majority of them tell me no. They had thought of it but just had not gotten around to it.

I am currently in the process of surveying a current client's customer database and am preparing the survey. I have written many surveys but had never thought of asking opinions on what should be on the survey. So today I want to learn from you. Would you put a comment on this post listing the most important question, in your opinion, that should be asked on a customer satisfaction survey?

I appreciate any and all comments that are made!

Importance of Effective Communication or Team Communication

I am presently working with a client and we are in the process of recreating his business image. Part of this process is to train his employees' on professionalism but also in the process putting the most effective people in place to enhance his goals. So in essence, we are starting the process of reorganizing his organization to place the most effective people in the right positions for their strengths and skills.

Having been an employee of a couple of companies who reorganized, I recommended starting the process of communicating with his employees to get their feedback and opinions on the growth of the company. If an employee is allowed to give an opinion, whether it be in writing or verbally, the feeling of being part of the process is portrayed and welcomed. Everyone likes to give an opinion. It is a sign of team communication.

Your employees are your team. If you have effectively communicated your goals in the beginning of their training and they adopted the rules, they are your team. Perhaps not all employees' are part of the team. This will become evident as you open the communication with your employees.

I recently ran across a blog entry concerning communication and a chair. The essential concept is:

"Two chairs. A topic. No technology. The whole world of business broken down to its simplest form - face to face, honest communication."

"She plopped down two chairs in the heart of this busy corporate campus and put a sign over the two chairs calling out a topic for the day. She occupied one chair and then waited. And waited. And waited for another employee to sit down and discuss the topic she had posted. No technology. No motives. Just a person genuinely interested in her co-worker’s thoughts and feelings."

This young lady came up with an original idea and the efforts from her idea were a welcome format. The employees' thoroughly enjoyed sharing and talking with her. You can read the full story at The Lonelymarketer.

Have you ever considered trying a chair concept in your business? If not, why not? Perhaps it is time to gather feedback from your employees.

10 Reasons Why Your Customer Service Fails

I receive a newsletter from Marketing Professionals and it had an excellent article called "Top 10 Reasons Why Your Customer Service Fails" by Valerie Maltoni.

Here is a brief on what she wrote:
1. You’re doing all the talking – my grandmother used to say: “we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. They are meant to be used proportionally.”

2. You are not doing anything about it – you don’t follow through with the feedback you request.

3. Your customer service reps don’t have the power to help – you are putting the most junior and least supported staff up front.

4. You have no idea of the cost to you of losing customers – if you were paying attention, you would know that good service means you retain more customers. Acquiring new customers costs more.

5. You see customer service as a cost, not a benefit – when you look at your department as overhead, you tend to under fund it and under staff it.

6. You are not keeping your brand promises – it does you no good to spend millions in advertising when customers find you difficult to deal with. A good experience is one of the best investments in your brand.

7. Your product needs help, start there – it is quite natural to think that your baby: your product or service is the best. Well, it may not be and that’s where you need to start helping customers, by providing a better one.

8. You did not notice the problem, so you’re behind on fixing it – this is how crisis get started.

9. You don’t have customer service – nobody is assigned to it, nobody owns it.

10. You don’t listen to your customer service reps – they know what’s going on and they would tell you.

She made some excellent points and all that I agree with. To view the whole article, you can visit her blog at: Top 10 Reasons Why Your Customer Service Fails. Take time to read the whole entry.

Business Plans: Five Ways to Benefit From Your Road Map

Is your business running according to your plan? What, no plan? Or perhaps you have a plan but haven’t looked at it in a while. When is the last time you went on a road trip without a map? You need the same tool in your business.

A business plan, if used properly, can be one of the most effective tools that you will utilize in your business. It is the road map for your present and future business growth. Your business plan is your business road map. It helps you to remember why you started in business, your vision for the future of the company, and the steps you plan to initiate to reach the growth expectations.

How can a plan help? Here are five ways a business plan can benefit you:

1. It will help you to put in writing your objectives and determine how to implement them.


2. It is a tool to share with your employees, business ventures, accountant, and others, informing them of your mission, vision, and strategies.


3. To build upon your strengths in your business and to identify the weaknesses.


4. To determine your cash flow needs and projections for future growth.


5. To determine short term goals and long term goals. Short-term being a few months or year, and long-term being 3, 5, or 10 years in the future.

Many people consider starting a business and just jump in. No plan, just talk, and a dream. After the launch of the business they get overwhelmed and cannot remember why they started a business or the original idea. Somewhere along the way they lost their vision.

When you have a plan in writing it helps to keep you focused, track progress, and modify when needed. The results of your business tracking will help you to be aware of what is working and when change is needed. You learn from your experiences and modify when sharp curves are in the distance.

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.” Earl Nightingale

If you have not started your plan, find a source and get started. Put your dreams, plans, and vision for your future on paper. Once written, re-evaluate it monthly. Modify when needed and keep it updated.

It may seem overwhelming in the beginning but if you take it one section at a time, your plan will be accomplished in a short time. It will be there to keep you on track and give guidance. It is always better to know where you are headed then to wonder where you have been.