So how do you participate in the most effective marketing available without draining your budgets and bank accounts?

By Blogging! I sometimes wonder if people refuse to blog because it is so easy and people don’t believe it will actually work. Blogging is simple, and what is easy to do is often too easy not to do.

Why do we see more and more businesses moving toward blogging as a solution to their marketing crunch? I can think of two reasons that in my opinion provide the best reasons.

1. Cost (it really is cost effective)
2. Effectiveness (it works!)

There are other reasons, but when you lay it out the big ROI that everyone always wants to see and especially in this economy is will it work,  how much will it cost me and when can I expect to see a profit from this?

You know, blogging is not always the fastest tool, for example if you need to drive traffic to a new product or service and need sales tomorrow then just writing a blog post might not yield the immediate results that you want (unless you have a huge subscriber base built up). But if you want long lasting results and have some time to develop those results then spend your marketing time and money on blogging.

I have addressed the subject of blogging as a cost effective tool which you can read about here;

• Blog Marketing
• How to Market a Biz with no Money

But I never have (or I don’t think I have) addressed the ROI that blogging provides.  And part of the reason for that is because the results are different for everyone. And I have never guaranteed anyone a return on their investment because blogging presents a lot of variables.When I say I don’t guarantee ROI I am not saying that it wont happen, I just mean that what we might expect to happen wont and you will see a completely different (still affective) result come from your blogging efforts.  All due to the variables presented with blogging.

I can reassure you, by promising that we can control the situation and the variables to an extent and have the abilities to make your business blogging efforts worth your while.

Just the other day I was in a consultation with a new client who was continually interested in finding out what kind of results he could expect from my companies efforts. I had done some keyword research based on his services and had determined that his targeted audience was a unique one and that with the proper blogging efforts his blog would be very successful in reaching his target market.  Do I have a percentage, No I really could not provide that, but I can point out certain trends and holes that we can effectively target to make his blogging campaign a success.

Now to define what I mean by proper blogging efforts:

Some people expect, and want to believe  that all they need to do is set up a blog and throw a few pages of content on there and they will start to see some amazing results.  But sadly that is not the case.  A blog needs to be nurtured over time, it takes some effort to make your blog a success.  Things that might be required;

regular review of statistics -  One thing that I do every day is check to see if there are any new search terms that brought someone to my site.  If there is, the I write a new post targeting those keywords.  If I have key terms that continually bring traffic to my site I write more articles on that subject.  I write about my clients and often I see a lot of traffic coming to my blog from people searching their keywords.  If their was not a click through to the clients site or blog (because each article I write about a client is set up to be a landing page, redirecting traffic) then I evaluate and write a new article or fix the one already written about them.

fresh content on a regular bases – What is a regular bases?  Well that is up to each person, but really if you want maximum results then I say daily!  But for good results on a time budget once a week is enough.  Just make sure those articles are written well!!  Lots of keyword love.

comment reply’s - This is very important because you will want to build up your subscriber base, and if you don’t talk to your readers when they leave comments they might not stick around.  Blogs are about communication, and if you communicate to your readership you will have a group of people ready to try anything you put on the market.  Or they will be ready to recommend someone else use you/your product.

Most of my clients think that their ROI is based on the work that we do setting up the blog, and there is a lot there, we develop a blog with SEO built in and we optimize our clients sites to be search engine friendly, but ultimately the ROI comes from their efforts as they continue to use/expand their blogs.

How do you do it?  How do you promote your business with a blog?

I am sure that you have seen a few of these weirdos in your town, usually standing on a street corner somewhere and fortunately only at tax time.  Does this marketing approach work, I often ask myself as I pass them on the street.  And I am sure that it does drive traffic to their offices at tax time, or they probably wouldn’t do it.  But what kind of traffic, is it the last minute oh shoot I forgot I need to do my taxes still, and ding the light goes off in their head and they remember the weirdos they pass every day on their way home from work.  Or does it drive the type of traffic most businesses want, the repeat customers?

I don’t know the answer to that, but it works either way.  I am sure that it works enough to pay someone 8 dollars an hour every day for 3.5 months to stand on the street looking ridicules.

Some times ridicules works, and that goes for blogging too.  But each company is going to need to find their own approach.  It seems like most businesses want to keep the professional feel to their blogs.  Either way as long as the message is delivered in a way that matches your business it will work.  Standing out will always benefit you and what you are trying to do.

A lot of my clients are afraid that a blog will open their company up to vulnerability, because it provides commenting and what if some leaves a bad comment or has something negative to say?  I always say that it is better that the negative comments are on your blog where you can control them and address any issues as apposed to somewhere you may never see them and cant fix the problems.

Here are some keys to using your blog as a marketing machine for your business…

• Promote your products or services with regular articles
• Talk about your clients and customers
• Provide valuable information and potential solutions
• Promote conversation, encourage participation, get your readers involved
• Talk about new business strategies and goals

If you have not noticed the 5 things above, are relationship driven.  Improving the relationship between you and your customer is a huge part of blogging.  Improve your relationships and you will see an increase in repeat customers.  And where there are loyal happy customers more are soon to follow.

It is also important to learn a few search engine optimization tricks that you can use in your articles.

• Learn how to research keywords
• Then learn how to implement those keywords effectively into your post
• Create catchy yet informative titles

As a business owner you have probably done some sort of marketing and advertising in the past.  Direct mail, yellow book, magazines, telemarketing, email marketing, press releases, tv ads, billboards, and so on…

Blogging is the middle ground that brings outbound and inbound marketing together.  Where outbound marketing is  the traditional form of marketing where a company initiates the conversation and sends its message out to an audience.  Inbound marketing is the practice of connecting directly to an audience of potential customers who are already looking for your products and/or services.

When writing a blog article, typically you are reaching out, to subscribers, regular readers and also to people looking for an answer to a question or the solution to a problem.  You want everyone to look to you as the solutions, as the answer.  No, you are not going to cover everything, but you should be covering the things that are related to your business, and your target audiences needs.

But how many people are really going to read my blog?

How interesting is it?  Will people want to read it?  Your overall subscription is really going to be up to your ability to attract readers and keep people interested and informed.  But from a statistical stand point, here are some very interesting stats regarding blog readers…(unfortunately they are from 2005 but if you think about how quickly things change you can imagine how much they have improved);

Fifty million Americans, or 30 percent of all American Internet users,
visited a blog in the first quarter of 2005, according to a new report
from Comscore, and sponsored in part by SixApart and Gawker Media.

?The average blog reader viewed 77 percent more pages than the average
Internet user who doesn’t read blogs (16,000 versus 9,000 for the
quarter), the report found. Blog readers average 23 hours online per
week, compared with the overall Web user’s average of 13 hours.?

?Blog readers are 11 percent more likely than the average Internet
user to have incomes of or greater than $75,000. Similarly, blog
readers are 11 percent more likely to visit the Web over broadband
either at home or the office.?

Clickz: August 2005
http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/demographics/article.php/3526591

30 Percent of Americans Read Blogs

?Three In Ten Online Americans Claim That They Have Read A Blog

Thirty percent of the online population said they had read a blog at
least once. Among those who read blogs, 38% do so at least once per
week. More than two in five of those aged 18 to 34 (41%) and those
with a college-education (41%) have visited blogs at least once.
Geographically speaking, blogs are most popular in the western United
States where 37% of residents reported visiting a blog.?
Urban Semiotic
http://urbansemiotic.com/2005/05/29/30-percent-of-americans-read-blogs/

Ten percent of consumers read blogs once a week or more, said
Forrester Research at the opening of its annual Consumer Forum. That’s
double the 5 percent who browsed blogs in 2004.
http://jklgroup.blogs.com/agenda/2005/09/1in10_consumers.html

According to Forrester Research six percent of online consumers read blogs.

?Today, only six percent of online consumers read blogs and two
percent use RSS, while 70 percent of online consumers use the Internet
to research products for purchase. Marketers should focus on
identifying the early adopting tech optimists who read blogs to tap
effective viral marketing opportunities.?
Planet Analog: august 2005
http://www.planetanalog.com/press_releases/bizwire/showPressRelease.jhtml?HeadlineId=351885&CompanyId=2

According to a Pew Research Center Survey, only 27 percent of Internet
users actually read blogs.
http://www.adobe.com/education/designschools/trends/massmedia.html

19 percent of online teens keep a blog, and 38 percent of online teens read blogs
Pew Trusts
http://www.pewtrusts.com/news/news_subpage.cfm?content_item_id=3119&content_type_id=7&page=nr1

?The international adoption curve for blogs is as uneven as anything
else. while in America over 60 percent of the Internet citizenry has
not heard of blogs, 20 percent of Japanese users read blogs at least
once a month.?
http://rss.weblogsinc.com/2005/05/21/japanese-blog-adoption/

The Bottom Line for every Business interested in survival;

The Internet has profoundly transformed the way people learn about and shop for products. Today, buyers start their purchasing experience by looking on the Internet, in search engines, the blogosphere and social media sites.  In order to remain competitive, businesses’ websites need to be found online by the people already searching for the products and services that you sell.

Think, marketing, publicity, exposure, free listings, word of mouth advertising, direct mailers, and a whole lot more, but the best part it can all be done with one tool…YOUR BUSINESS BLOG!

I would like to wish everyone who has read all the way to the end of this post, the best of luck!  You read this entire article looking for answers and direction and I hope I was able to provide some.  I realize that not everyone is committed enough to take action and do things that need to be done to reach the success they want.  And to those that are, I am always willing to help!Similar Posts:

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Leili Mckinley of Soaring Phoenix L.L.C

Leili came to us seeking help with wordpress blog development for her and some of her clients.  Leili’s experience and background is in business development and branding.  Her and her company focuses on helping small businesses reach their goals.  She and her company offer professional and exceptional business consulting and coaching.

Some of the work that we have recently done for Leili and Soaring Phoenix;

- We have started redesigning and developing a membership blog for Leili.  One that she can use to publish her coaching tools and provide advice for business owners in need of her services.

- We designed and developed a blog for Dr. Doug Welpton, a psychiatrist offering relationship advice and council.  For him we have also developed a landing page used to gather questions from those in need of love relationship advice.  We will also be developing an extensive membership website for Dr. Welpton.

We look forward to more great opportunities to serve Leili and her clients.

American Explorer Motorcoach

American Explorer Motorcoach, also associated with Project Exploration Inc. provides a bus charter service along with guided tours of Arizona and other surrounding states.

We are currently redesigning their website offering a more search engine friendly design with more SEO support.  The new look of the site will provide a much more convenient atmosphere for their visitors and clients.  It will help them to improve their lead generation and hopefully improve their CTR!

Future projects for American Explorer Motorcoach will include redesigns of their other sites Project Exploration.com and CopperState Tour.com.

Turner Group Consulting

Turner Group Consulting provides a very unique type of consulting services.  Their target market is medical practices.  They work with doctors, helping them improve their practice.

The Turner Group came to us from Larry Levenson of Sigma Web Technologies.  Larry came to us and asked if we could provide him and his clients with effective blogging designs and techniques.

We are looking forward to more opportunities to work with Larry and his company!

Breezy Seat

Breezy Seat, if you have not done so yet, you really should click on the image and visit their site.  This is a very unique product one that might even make you laugh a bit.

We did not design the Breezy Seat site, but what we have been doing is making adjustments and improvements here and there.  We have also been implementing SEO tactics to help improve the sites performance.

Breezy Seat came to use from Steve Himsath of Synergy Sales & Marketing Solutions.  Steve and I have done lots of work together, and we look forward to more opportunities to work with Steve and his clients.

Just Tattoo Removal

Dr. Phil at Just Tattoo Removal contact us about building him a new website.  Dr. Phil’s business, tattoo removal is a franchise that he runs in Glendale Arizona.  As part of a franchise, Dr. Phil shares a website with the corporation, and he is hoping to start improving his internet presence and build a larger client base with a fresh new website.

We are hoping to help Dr. Phil continue to grow his business with a new search engine friendly blogsite.
 
 

Sonoran Sun Resort

A resort in Rockey Point Mexico.  We were hired by the HOA to develop a website for their association to help promote the resort and provide a way for the HOA members to network.

From the picture you can see that this resort is beautiful, build on the beach and only feet away from the ocean.  The HOA is hoping to drive torist traffic to the condos that they rent, providing an opportunity for the condo owners to rent their properties.

We have just started this project and it has been an exciting one so far.

Touch of Tranquility Massage

We were hired by Touch of Tranquility Massage to do a couple of things for them.  They would like to redesign their site, and they are hoping to improve their search engine rankings and findability.

With compitition like Massage Envy we are hoping to help this company take over some of the very competitive market.  Increasing sales and helping them to continue to grow their business.
 
 

The Valley Ads

The Valley Ads has redesigned the idea that Craigslist started.  Providing a local site for Arizona residence to list teams they are looking for or selling. The idea that makes this site a bit unique is that it is for Arizona cities only.  Making it easier to narrow down your search.

The Valley Ads hired us to build two landing pages for them, one as the home page for their site, and another as a separate page to drive sales for the ad space that they will sell.

They have also retained our services to help them optimize their site, and improve their search engine rankings.Similar Posts:

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I do not even want to look and see the official date of out last blog post, mainly because I am ashamed that it has been so long.  But I want to go back a bit to get things up to date.  But first a little background on Blogging For Business 101 for those that might be new to our blog or just passing through.

Background on Blogging For Business 101

I started my company as a consulting firm in January of 2008, working with small businesses and start up ventures.  I quickly saw a need for a targeted approach, internet marketing and building an internet presence.  With the economy on the way down and companies cutting marketing cost and looking for new ways to expose their services and products, I turned to something that I loved and felt would be a great benefit, BLOGGING!

What ended up happening was, I got my first client in January of 2008, but he wanted me to design three websites for him…so I made a bit of an addition to the services I would offer.  With that little addition came 3-4 months of uncertainty, where is the business going to go, I started to drift way from what my focus truly was, helping companies implement blogging into their marketing and branding plan to expand the business.

From May to August another 3 months I struggled to find much business at all.  The company was still in this, ‘I am not sure what I am doing’ stage so I made a decision, my blogsite needed an overhaul.  I spent about 2 months adding content about services and business practices to my blogsite, so that people could really understand what it is Blogging For Business 101 really does.

At about the end of September I started looking for new ways to promote my business and find new customers, I wasted over $500 with an ad campaign that resulted in not one lead!  I then, some how was turned onto Craigslist!  I started browsing Craigslist for jobs and gigs related to web design and blogging, especially wordpress blogs.  And I started sending emails regarding job after job after job!  I new that I was in a huge bidding war with 50 maybe even a hundred others, but I kept it up.  Eventually I closed a couple of deals, made some money and kept at it.

Moving into 2009

Then I hit the jackpot twice with my Craigslist hunts, I found two other companies that were looking for a company or freelancer to outsource their blogging and website design work too!  That has been the source of most of my current work, which I must say has been keeping me busy.  I also have started to see a lot of people that I placed bids for on old Craigslist ads start to contact me 2 even 3 months later.

2009 has already proven to be a better year then 2008, but I can say that I got a lot of growing pains out of the way, and most of the start-up disasters taken care of early.

What is next for us in 2009

It is only February and most of my focus is on moving from a completed year 1.0 to year 2.0,3.0,4.0,5.0…etc.  With more and more success each year!  Thus far 2009 has proved to be more successful then 2008 by more than 200%.

I do not think that we are completely out of Beta, (end of 2008 closed beta 1.0)  but we are going to launch a new version of Blogging For Business 101 Beta this year.

Beta 2.0, and I am not complete certain what all of the changes or additions will be just yet, but I think that we are still a young enough company and that it is absolutely necessary for the growth of the company to launch Beta 2.0.

My goal is to be completely out of beta by 2010.  So that we can roll into year 3 with a completely functional version of our company, version 3.0.

Right now we are working on the schematics of this new release, I foresee the launch of Beta 2.0 taking place by the end of the first quarter, March.  Then an updated release 2.1 by the end of the second quarter, June.  Another and hopefully final updated release 2.2 by the end of the third quarter, September. Which will allow us to launch Blogging For Business 101 version 3.0 in January of 2010!

With the beta 2.1 version will also come some very unique things from us.  The details of which can not be discusses at this time, but it will be a very unique service that will move companies to new places in 2010.

What you can expect from us as a reader in the 2.0 versions

• More content, fresh & unique content
• A fresh new approach to blogging
• More how to articles
• Podcast/Video Cast
• A new look/design
• Free local business blogging conference
• New business network launch
• and there is more…

For you the reader, I want to make sure that I am providing you with what you need!  With new ideas new suggestions, better ways of blogging and so on.  I don’t just want to be another blog you subscribe to that has the same content as everyone else.  I want to be a resource, my vision was always about helping other people grow their business and be successful with their dreams.

Because I believe that a blog is only as successful as it makes its readers, I want to make a special offer.  To anyone that subscribes to our blog while in beta 2.0 or 2.1 I will giver you free access to all of our future content that will be for members only, and I will give you sneak peaks and first dibs on special programs that we are currently developing.

I have given you a few of our plans, but I want to know what you would like to see, what is something that you have not been able to find that would help you improve your business blogging or even just your business goals?

Just leave your ideas in the comments, and I will be sure to follow up!

Summary

Keep an eye out for the new changes and the new additions, which I will always blog about, so you will want to subscribe to our feed to stay informed. And let me know what I can do to better serve you as a blogging for business reader!Similar Posts:

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What is Branding?

Well, my favorite definition for branding comes from wiktionary.org,

branding – process in which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living personal or animal.

I picked this definition because I believe that it gives us a visual image of what branding is, when you create a brand and then spend time building that brand, exposing that brand you want people to know that that brand belongs to you! It’s not a pride issue, its business! People remember brands more often then they remember the CEO of that brand. Oh, as a side not, I have a little suggestion, if you can come up with a catchy jingle to go with your brand people will start singing it at the most inappropriate times without any warning.  Its strange, it’s like they can never get it out of their head!?

Every time a farmer or rancher purchases more livestock they have to brand it. Well, I guess they don’t have to, but if they want to be sure to keep it, it is a wise idea for that farmer or rancher to mark his property.

A clothing designer would always be sure to place their brand on the clothing somewhere.

Every company has a logo, a tradename or trademark…something that they use to distinguish themselves.  If you are business owner with out one of these things, you should work on it, get one soon.

To answer the question, What is Branding?  A brand is your mark, the mark that represents you, your business, your style.  Who you are and what you do!  And branding is the process of marking your property, so people know who it belongs to.

Why is having a brand and branding your business important?

Its simple really.  You want to separate yourself from your competitors.  You want to stand out, and the bigger the brand (meaning popularity), bigger the price tag.  And maybe its not about the price tag as much as it is about being a leader.  For example, I think that MAC computers has done a great job of branding themselves and their products as the better solution.  They have been providing great products for years, and so when they slap their brand on something, most people want it.  And the other important thing about branding is customer service or customer relationships.  If you want people to want your brand build relationships with them, be willing to solve their problems.

How to market or expand your brand?

First off, let me start by saying there are wrong ways to build your brand, and not every effort will end successfully.  Look at this attempt;

**Disclaimer, no animals were hurt while filming this video.

Clearly there is a right way, and a wrong way to brand something!  And I can a sure you that it is more painful to do it the wrong way and then to try and fix your mess later.

So lets talk about expanding your brand.  When I talk with business owners and CEOs, they always want to know how they can reach out to more of their market.  How can they drive more conversions.  Now most business savvy people have already started to take advantage of a advertising method that was often not thought a lot about.  Internet Marketing.  I work with a lot of business owners that want to use google adwords and other advertising methods to expose their brand to consumers on the internet.  I think that google adwards are effective and we use them in almost all of our marketing campaigns, however, something is changing in the way consumers make their buying decisions.  It use to be that ads could sell just about anything, but now, with the use of the internet and all of the information available, consumers are becoming more aware.  Content is driving consumer awareness more then ads. And the good thing about google adwords is the fact that it is content based.  Meaning, ads are displayed based on relevance to searches made in the search engine.

When it comes to expanding your brand, I like to discuss, what we call The Big 5.

1. Authority
2. Presence
3. Findability
4. Consumer Relations
5. Cost Effectiveness

All 5 are important aspects to expanding your brand, and there is one way to combine all 5 into one marketing campaign. 

Starting a business blog!

Here is the offer, if you are interested in finding out more about how a blog can help you build your business and possibly save your business in this economy, do one of two things,

1. Call me Directly for a FREE consultation – 480-652-7414 – 877-90 Blogg
2. Fill out the form below and I will contact you!

If you do chose to take advantage of this FREE 30 min consultation then I will give you 20% off any of our blogging packages.  I will also provide you with the complete report on The Big 5, for FREE.  Which will explain how Business Blogging can help you take your business to the next level.

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About PRC - We at Power Ranch Chiropractic are dedicated to making the patient a number one priority. We have a state of the art facility with rehab equipment; passive modalities such as interferential, cold laser therapy, micro current, and a professional atmosphere that we invite you to experience first hand.

Project details

Most Chiropractic practices stick to general marketing, things like direct mail brochures, advertising in local ad magazines that are distributed directly to thousands of homes at a time.  There is always the word of mouth approach, encouraging patients to invited their friends and neighbors to visit their chiropractor for a FREE exam and x-rays.  And these types of advertising work well for chiropractic offices because they are reaching a targeted market.  Their ads are being placed directly in the hands of thousands of potentially new patients.  And there is one other place to reach out to your target market, somewhere that is not often utilized by the medical field.  The Internet!!

The Internet

Sure most Chiropractors have a website, and in these cases that website is used in the way that websites were originally designed for.  An online brochure, somewhere for people to gather information, but there is a problem with this approach.  How is anyone going to find your website if they don’t know the url, or anything about you?  Enters the wonderful world of Search Engines!

The problem still remains, who are people going to find Power Ranch Chiropractic, with a search using the keyword ‘chiropractic’?  There are millions of results, in one search.  Even with a more targeted keyterm search like ‘gilbert chiropractic’ you are going to have tens of thousands of searches, and if your web brochure (website) is not properly optimized and designed, then it wont really help you out much.  Which leads us right to Power Ranch Chiropractic and their current internet presence.  They don’t have one!

The Solution

There are always a couple of options that companies can do to improve their current internet presence.

• The best place to start is with their current website.
• Is the site properly optimized?
• Was the site designed to be search engine friendly?
• Does the site easily navigate?
• Is the information up to date?
• Would people want to visit the site?

Then once you work on answering those questions, you can begin to find the best solution. 

Enters the next step of building an effective internet presence for Power Ranch Chiropractic.

Business Blogging

We chose to use blogging as a marketing tool to improve Power Ranch Chiropractic’s internet presence because of the personal nature of the relationships developed between a doctor and patient.  Business blogging is all about humanizing a business, and finding a new way to communicate with your current and future clients.  Dr. Foote at Power Ranch Chiropractic does a great job of building relationships with his patients and making them comfortable so that he can provide the help that then need to improve their health.  We want to be able to do two things immediately with this new marketing approach, 1. We want to target that huge market of internet searchers who are potentially seeking for chiropractic care, and make it easier for them to find Power Ranch Chiropractic, and 2. We want their potential patients to feel informed, and welcome before they ever even meet Dr. Foote and his staff.   There is a number three to our focus, which is, we want to provide a resource for current patients to reach out, and also provide a more effective way for them to be informed.Similar Posts:

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I have been very much impressed with a company called Project Exploration, located in Phoenix Arizona.  Who knew education can be fun!!  This isn’t like any filed trip I’ve been on!

Project Exploration’s purpose:

“Project Exploration Inc. exist to bring to life learning through unique and exciting hands on field experiences.  We strive to create outdoor learning “classrooms” charged with positive energy.  Project Explorations aim is to enhance the educational lives of young students while instilling in them a deeper appreciation for our natural world and the necessity to preserve it.”

www.projectexploration.com

Growing up I was never taught the connection between fun and education.  I never considered education to be fun, nor was I ever taught about things like the state I lived in and the amazing historical events that took place there.  I did not learn about the fascinations of the sea and other parts of nature.  Well, maybe I was taught these things, but I sure don’t remember them.  I think, however, if I would have been given a chance to experience education the way that Project Exploration provides I would have grown up in a different world.

When educators book a trip with Project Exploration they get a 12-48 hour field trip that will last a life time.  These trips provide fascinating learning experiences for children in areas such as;

• Oceanography
• Animal Kingdom
• Archeology
• Geology
• Space
• Arizona History
• Architecture
• Theater & Drama
• And More…

My experience with the company has taught me more about the state of Arizona in only 2 days, and I have lived here for more then 4 years.  The instructors are educated, and great with the kids.  I am fascinated by the companies focus of safety and making sure that everything they do is first thoroughly thought-out and planed.  Evaluating any safety issues and finding solutions, to provide a safe and fun experience for these children.

Who is Project Explorations for?

• Educators that want to be a hero for their students!
• Educators that want a new way of educating their students
• Educators that believe education is meant to be fun
• Students of all ages that want to learn new interesting facts
• Students that don’t believe education is fun!

To learn more about Project Exploration, visit their website www.projectexploration.com.

Find out for yourself just how great it is, book a trip!  Take your class on a magical filed trip….Similar Posts:

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Well don’t worry, just in case you did not know, not every business owner knows everything that it takes to run a business.

I can’t say that I am the smartest when it comes to finances and taxes and those other fun things that change a bit when you are a business owner.  And it would be dumb to just let those things be neglected and consider them less important.  Which could easily be done if I wanted to avoid a headache.  But instead of trying to cram a bunch of knowledge into my brain and risk it, I hired an Accountant.  He has an education in finance and knows the tax laws.  Now, I don’t just sit back and let him run the show, I have been educating myself so that I can understand what it is he is suggesting and doing with my money.  The key is to not let those things consume your time.  I spend my time focusing on the things I am good at!

When you start your business I would recommend that you find your strengths. Play on your strengths and then find others that can add to your weaknesses.  You see for a lot of years people have been writing books that tell us how or teach how we can improve our weaknesses.  But how many books are their that teach us how to play to our strengths?  Don’t get me wrong it is important to improve ourselves and get learn new things, but it is easy to get caught up in what we cant do or those things we are not good at, and we forget the things that are our strengths.

Consider your strengths your talents, or those things that you are naturally good at.  And don’t just think in business terms, step outside the box.  I talk a lot about relationships, because they are important in every aspect of our lives.  If you can not build and maintain relationships you are not likely to succeed.

In Tom Rath’s book ‘Strengths Finder 2.0′, he talks about 34 themes of talents.  We do not poses all the talents associated with these themes, but you will find that some of these themes fit you.

Here are the 34 themes:

1. Achiever
2. Activator
3. Adaptability
4. Analytical
5. Arranger
6. Belief
7. Command
8. Communication
9. Competition
10. Connectedness
11. Consistency
12. Context
13. Deliberative
14. Developer
15. Discipline
16. Empathy
17. Focus
18. Futuristic
19. Harmony
20. Ideation
21. Includer
22. Individualization
23. Input
24. Intellection
25. Learner
26. Maxamizer
27. Positivity
28. Relator
29. Responsibility
30. Restorative
31. Self-Assurance
32. Significance
33. Strategic
34. Woo

I do realize that none of this really makes sense, but let me give you a few definitions of these themes, I will use my top 5 strengths.

1. Responsibility – People who are especially talented in the Responsibility theme take psychological ownership of what they say they will do. They are committed to stable values such as honesty and loyalty.
2. Achiever – People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.
3. Ideation – People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
4. Maximizer – People who are especially talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something strong into something superb.
5. Relator – People who are especially talented in the Relator theme enjoy close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.

When you know your strengths you will know what areas you should focus on when building your business.  They can also tell you, what types of people you should relay on for advice and support.  For example, my number 5, I find satisfaction in working with friends to achieve goals.  If I was going to develop a mastermind group, I would look to my friends for support first.

There is one other valuable step that Tom provides in his book that should be applied in your business, an Action Plan! For each of your strengths you are going to need to establish an action plan.  Plan to make your strengths your core, or to make them more prevalent in the way you manage and run your business.

When you play to your strengths you will see a much higher level of success in your business, family and all areas of your life.

I think that when we are running a business, especially a new business we have our hands in too many cookie jars.  We are trying to perform ever act at the circus, when our perfected act is to perform the walk across the high-wire.  Just like pretending to be the lion tamer can prove to be fatal, so can pretending to be the accountant when you know nothing about tax laws and business money management.

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What are those other options?

PPC (pay-per click) – using tools like Google adwords to advertise in search engines.  Other options for PPC include Facebook they offer an advertising service as well.  More Info…

SEO (search engine optimization) – this is a process of optimizing your website to be more search engine friendly. More Info…

Social Networking – a process of plugging into online communities where people discuss different topics and share ideas and information.  More Info…

There are other methods, some not worth the time and others I just don’t want to mention, but I think that out of all the options the above three are the most important out of all the options.  However, I do believe blogging to be the power house!

Let me explain the term power house…blogging requires a consistent effort, for example, daily content.  And these daily efforts result in new opportunities for your blog or company to be exposed in new ways.  And those “opportunities” and “new types of exposure” extend from your post titles, so the things you write about.

You can only effectively optimize each page of your website for 1-2 keywords max.  i.e. Lets say you have a 5 page website, you can use a total of 10 keywords on your website.  2 per page and each page is going to need different keywords.  And 10 is not bad!  But lets say you have 100 blog post (articles) that’s at lest 200 keywords, if you hold to the two a page.  And ideally because you are writing and article that should have more then 400 words, its likely that you could optimize that page for more then 2 keywords.  i.e. Lets say you are writing a post about business relationships, you could use all or some of these key terms;

• business communication
• business relationship (s)
• managing business relationships
• business relationship management
• developing relationships

And on top of these words could be hundreds more if you narrowed down your topic to something more specific like, building business relationships with a blog.

Now the trick to making the multiple keyword strategy work for you is to know how to properly place your keywords.  Lets use the list and topic previously picked.  The blog title is Business relationships.  You main keywords should now be ‘business relationships’ and that has become your <title> & <H1> tag which search engines are going to see first and that will tell them what your post is about.  Now that ‘business blogging’ is your main keywords, lets branch off from there…

Note:  You don’t ever want to force any keywords into your post, it will read poorly and search engines could catch it.

You want your first 3-4 sentences (or the first paragraph) to be chalked full of your keywords (naturally).  For example using the above keywords you could start off like this;

Business relationships, are they a good thing or a bad thing and how do we manage those business relationships?  There seems to be a thin line that is constantly moving (depending on where you work) that defines the type of business relationships you can have.  When you go to work somewhere, do you bother to develop relationships, or just remain quiet and do your work?  Maybe the focus of business relationships should be on your clients and customers, developing relationships of trust with those you do business with.

So you can plainly see that nothing in that paragraph is forced, but our keywords are mentioned at lest 6 different times.  Now as you continue to develop the article you will want to strategically use your keywords all the way through.  Maybe its once ever other paragraph it really does not matter as long as you continue to use them.

Note: Your blog articles are only as affective as the results they produce.  You have to ask yourself, what do I want my readers to do now?

You need a call to action…What is going to make your readers read this whole article, or to read the next one?  If you want them to subscribe to your feed, you will need to give them a reason too.   A great way to get reader interaction is to put a poll into your post.  Ask a question that can be answered in the comments section.  I think that it is beneficial to have two action calls in your post.  One above the fold, the fold being everything that you cant see above the point where the screen ends.  To continue with our example, after the first paragraph I could insert a poll such as;

[poll id="16"]

The reader will answer the question because it is easy, and it might even keep them reading to find out if they are wrong or right.

Another favorite tool of mine is using images and videos in my blog post.  With videos, you will find people will look at the video before they even start to read the blog post.  And images, they draw attention to the post.  You can also use the alt= tag & title= tag in the image code as a search engine tactic to place your keywords in additional sections of your post.

Once your reader is done with one post, you need to consider how you can get them to read another post.  It’s simple, because we (humans) are lazy don’t expect them to go looking for more content on their own, some might, but don’t risk it.  Give them a list of related post at the end of your articles or throughout the article in strategic places, maybe using your keywords as anchor text.

For example, we are writing a post titled business relationships, and I happen to have another post titled building business relationships with a blog, so I am going to mention that post in my article and make those keywords a link, building business relationships with a blog…

Note: When inputting a link into the text of your article, it is wise to set that link to open in a new tab or window. (click the link above for an example) That way the reader is not distracted from the article they are currently reading.  If you are providing a list of articles at the end, again their is a benefit to setting the links to open in their own window.

The final steps to making your new article a success, include promotion, and conversation.  Promotion is easy, if you have other blogs, or a social network account like Facebook, tweeter or any of the others, be sure to post links or the whole article in different locations to promote it to audiences that might not see it otherwise.  The other option is to add your articles to your favorite article directories.

Once the conversation gets going, be sure to stay in the mix, readers may ask questions or leave a comment that needs addressing, either way they want to know that you are interested and listening to what they have to say.  Answer their questions, or respond to their comments by leaving a comment of your own.

Summary

Use a blog as a personal marketing tool.  Write keyword rich content, but write your content for your readers and not the search engines.  Having repeat visitors and RSS subscriptions is more important to the longevity of your blog then how well the robots can read your blog.

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• Leaving a Legacy – Its not to late Act Now

I was reading the news today and I saw this quick video and I found something to be very interesting.  At the end of the video Kevin Palmer says, ” This is the time when fortunes are made.” Referring to our current financial and economical crisis.  But he gives a quick bit of advice immediately after making the above statement, he said, “Put your plan in place.”

Everyone is feeling a bit of a pinch in these hard times, and some are better positioned then others to benefit from the current national crisis.  But I am willing to bet that in these moments some think of ways to save their money, fearing that if they are not careful they cold lose it all.  Others see opportunity!  Looking at the low cost of investing in the stock market (yet noticing the high risk of loss) or some seeing an opportunity to invest in a failing business that has great potential if it can just make it through.

Now the trick is not deciding if you are going to lock your funds in a safe place, or try and find opportunity.  The challenge is not where to look or what to do, the challenge is in the process of establishing a successful plan.

In this short yet motivational video, we received some of the best advice, “put your plan in place”.  It does not matter if you will hide your funds or invest them, you still need to put a plan together in order for your decision to be successful.

Business owners are walking away from their businesses because they have failed to plan.  Maybe they did plan, but a plan that gets you through stable economical times will not provide success in an economical crisis.  So the answer, time for a new plan.

I have heard it a thousand times, ‘if you fail to plan you plan to fail.’

What your business plan should cover:

Executive Summary: A review of your entire business plan

Business or Product Description: Detailed description of your business, what you will do services you will provide.  Include a mission statement, and explain what makes your business unique.

Market Analysis: Thorough description of your target market, both industry and customer.

Competitive Analysis: Much like the above analysis you are going to provide an in-depth view of the competitors in your market.

Management Team: Whether you are solo or working with a team, discuss each individuals value and the expertise they bring to the team.

Operations: This is where you will describe your marketing and operational strategies.  Then detail how you will implement these strategies.

Financials: Money Talk, include projections on how much the business will earn and what your expenses will be.  Also known as a Profit-Loss Statement.

Appendix: Conciser this area a catchall for important documents that support your business plan.  Contracts, loan agreements, etc..

Tips to establishing a personal plan for success:

Responsibility Analysis: Describe your commitments, wife, children, mortgage, other loans and bills.

Evaluate Your Income: How much money comes in, before and after taxes, and where does it come from.

Spending Analysis: Take a 3 month review of all expenses, categorize them, and really try to pinpoint the non-essential expenses.

Credit Debt Review: Evaluate all credit cards, total debt owed, types of purchases, eliminate card usage.  Enroll in a debt settlement program.  Rise Above Debt Relief

Eliminate Non-Essentials: Start canceling credit cards and non-important expenses, things you can do without.

Map Out Savings & Assets: This is an actual account of your current savings and assets.  Then establish a plan to pay 10% of your earnings to savings each month.

Develop 2 Budgets: Start with the essentials, and work out.  One Budget will outline how you would like to spend and live (still based on your actual income), the other a more realistic approach to how you can afford to live.

Policies & Procedures: In other words establish rules and guidelines to keep you on your budget.  It only works if everyone commits.

In a family it is a team effort.  And in all cases it is a personal commitement.

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Business blogging is more about bringing your business to life, humanizing everything that your business stands for and does.  For example, we are currently working with a Chiropractor, his concern when first coming to me was, marketing.  I need to generate more business he said, I need to retain more patients.  Doctor, patient relationships tend to be a personal thing.  There is a lot of trust and commitment from both parties.  Here is what I told him, there are two parts to making this work, first, when people come to your office they need to instantly feel welcome, they need to feel comfortable and they need know that everyone that works their cares about them.  The office environment needs to be fun, people are going to the chiropractor because of pain, but they need to experience fun and laughter while they do their rehab.

The second process is making sure that they can experience those things long before they even get to your office.  When someone finds your practice through a Google search they need to instantly feel welcome, they need to feel a personal interest from your site and know that they wont just be another patient, but they will be treated like your only patient.  And this is where blogging comes in!  A blog filled with pictures of staff, the office (what they will see when they get to your office), testimonials written by patient, informative content that is read and commented on by patients.

Bring your business to life for your customers before they even call or stop by.  Give browsers that human interaction before they call or stop by.  Provide for them the connection they need to make a positive and informed decision.

What does your business blog need to be successful?

1. Daily content (useful and genuine information or stories)
2. Real interaction (promote your blog to customers, let them market your business)
3. Passionate voice (the person writing for your company should be passionate about the business)
4. Success stories (customer testimonials, satisfied clients, or business achievements)
5. Stepping stone for new relationships (if you want customers to keep coming back, you need more then just a pretty face and charming smile.  you need to develop a relationship of trust.)
6. Honest desire to help people (its easy to use a blog for marketing, but showing a true interest in others will draw people to your business)
7. Multiple voices (a business should allow their employees to share their stories about working with the company and the customers.)
8. Daily content (new, interesting information)

The benefits;

Do you think that Walmart has greeters just to provide jobs for retired people?  Not most likely, Walmart has people to greet you because they understand the value of making people feel welcome.  Your company might be operating on a much small level, but do you have a receptionist in your lobby?  Is she friendly, and inviting?

The times are changing, people are using formats like Google, Yahoo, MSN to find what they need and who has it before they leave their home or office.  No longer do we get out the phone book, run down a list of 20 organizations and start making phone calls.  Its not effective, there are easier ways.

Blogging will put you on the Google, Yahoo, and MSN map.  It will plug you into more search engines for more keywords then your website could ever do.  But most important (if it is done right) your blog will give you the chance to make people feel welcome and important before they even meet you.  It will open doors to new opportunities.  Your blog will become the foundation of your business, soon people will open their months and tell their friends about the interesting things they read on your blog, or how something your wrote made them laugh or helped them find a solution.  Soon people will start coming to you for the things you offer, not because you’re cheaper or closer, but because you are real, you have built a relationship of trust, you have gained their interest, made them feel welcome, and you have the most effective advertising available, real customers telling their stories.  And you can do all of this, before physically meeting a single individual.

The Truth

Launching a business blog may seem easy, but there are techniques and strategies that you should learn about before taking the plunge.  Your results will only be as beneficial as your initial efforts. So don’t move forward with blogging before you understand the right way of promoting your business through a blog.

I wish that I could write one post that would outline the full process of launching a guaranteed successful business blog.  But each business is unique, and each business blog must match that unique business to be successful.  Because their are so many unique business practices, I typically provide an individual business analysis outlining the benefits of blogging for a specific company.  No 2 businesses will or should blog the same.

Free Offer

If you want to see how blogging could benefit your business, please allow us to contact you and provide a free 30 minute consultation and a free blogging report.

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Learn how the blogging and publishing your voice on the internet can change the way you do business.

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