Love this article I received today from Donna!
....simplifying the many tasks including social networking!
Marketing Plan: How to Create an Internet Marketing Action Plan That Gets Results
by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)
There's no doubt about it -- keeping up with your marketing tasks can be overwhelming, whether you choose to market via networking, print advertising, or through a strategic set of online techniques. As I have a virtual company and can work with clients from around the globe, I don't like to limit my marketing to local efforts. Having a viable presence online is more important to me and seems to work best for my company. Therefore, I primarily concentrate on things I can do to bring visitors to my website and demonstrate my expertise to them while they are on the site.
Recently inspired by a blog post that I had read, I decided to create a regular daily, weekly, month, and quarterly marketing to-do list. First, I brainstormed a list of ideas of marketing tasks that I perform regularly, and others that have remained on my to-do list for awhile, as I've never gotten around to them. Then I categorized them into either a quarterly, monthly, weekly, or daily task. On the third examination of these tasks, I went through and culled all but those to which I thought I could realistically commit on a regular basis.
Below are the tasks that comprise my online marketing action plan. Add them to your own online marketing to-do list as appropriate, or substitute other tasks that are a better fit for your business.
Quarterly Tasks
1. Send out post card campaign to targeted national media list promoting myself as an expert. Prior to mailing, have VA call contacts to update list.
2. Request testimonials from new coaching clients, membership site members, product purchasers, and speaking gig hosts and update appropriate pages on my sites.
Monthly Tasks
1. Update my blog with new reading lists, recommended resources, products, etc.
2. Update the media page on my site with links to new press coverage I've received, press releases I've submitted, and story ideas I can offer to the media.
3. Write promotional copy for free list building teleclass and have VA submit teleclass to major event promotion sites
4. Create handout for free teleclass and conduct teleclass.
5. Send out at least three feelers for potential online collaborations/strategic alliances or joint ventures with other sites, speakers, etc.
6. Create one new information product and upload it to my sites for sale.
7. Check click-through and conversions with ezine and banner ads and determine whether to renew for another month.
8. Research and find one new online advertising resource to try.
9. Write a press release based on one of my articles and submit through PRWeb.com.
Weekly Tasks
1. Check on my Google, MSN, and ClickRiver PPC ad campaigns to ensure they are still current and relevant and update any bids for any keywords on my list where I have been outbid.
2. Write an article for my email newsletter.
3. Find a great resource to recommend in my newsletter and write a personal article for email newsletter.
4. Send out the email newsletter to list.
5. Publish the article on my website.
6. Archive the ezine to my site.
7. Have VA publish the ezine content on my business blog and on my social networking blogs at MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Ning.
8. Have VA submit the main newsletter article to articles banks and distribution lists.
9. Create a podcast from my article and distribute to podcast sites.
10. Answer a reader-submitted question and post response in blog.
11. Create one additional blog post on Monday and set it up to publish on Tuesday.
12. Review my Google Alerts and find a new blog with a respectable Google Page Rank and comment on a post.
13. Do a Google search for keywords that best describe my business and see where my site shows up in organic search. As needed, conduct SEO tweaks on my sites for betting rankings
Daily Tasks
1. Read the blogs to which I subscribe and post comments as appropriate.
2. Review the emails from the discussion lists/forums to which I belong and post comments/questions as appropriate.
3. Log into my social networking profiles at Facebook, Linked In, SelfGrowth.com, Twitter, and Ning and approve friend requests.
4. Spend about 15 minutes each at Facebook and SelfGrowth.com making friend requests, commenting on pictures or videos, or responding to emails.
5. Send 1-2 updates to Twitter and Facebook profiles about what I'm doing at the moment.
When you have your Internet marketing action plan outlined with quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily tasks, your prospecting well never runs dry. Many online business owners are so wrapped up in working on their business that they don't make time to work in the business, like performing regular marketing tasks. Consequently, they often experience slow times in their business because they begin to market themselves only when the prospect pool has dried up. If you create and follow an Internet marketing action plan, you'll never be hungry for clients again!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it: Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Can you live like a millionaire today?
Do you remember the television show from many years ago entitled "The Millionaire"?
Perhaps you're too young to remember! I LOVED that show.
A representative of a millionaire would go to someone's house and give them a million dollars. The story developed as the recipient of the money reacted to this new wealth.
There were some very interesting stories of both positive and negative experiences. I don't think that at that time we had the lotteries that we have today. So the idea of having this wealth (and at that time, a million dollars was a HUGE amount of money) was quite a novel concept for the show. Now we hear many stories about the impact that sudden wealth has on lottery winners.
One of the greatest joys I have is giving to several charities. You may have noticed this as I've shared in the past. I have a vision of being able to give even more abundantly as my wealth increases. And for now, I feel totally abundant.....like a wealthy person.....as I choose where I would like to donate from my income. This mind set is what opens us up to the abundance that is available to us. We can get so used to feeling like we "can't afford" something or "just don't have much financial freedom".
Even consumers who run up huge credit card bills are not feeling abundant. They know they are spending beyond their means and are settling on having "stuff" for their happiness. There's always one more great thing they just have to have to be satisfied and then one more and one more.
The joy of giving is not joy that fizzles away quickly. There's a deep feeling of fulfillment that you are able to support others in this way. And this applies to the gift of our time and talents as well as our financial support.
Let me share an experience that I had today. As part of a series of talks about abundance at our church, each member of the congregation was given a task. Every month our church tithes one-tenth of what they take in. This goes to community causes as well as those on a national and international level. As part of this month's tithe, they decided to have all of us (about 1200 people) take an envelope with a five dollar bill and a card in it. We were to give the money to someone who fed our spirit in some way.
I have to say that my immediate reaction was, "Five dollars. That is such a small amount that I would be embarrassed to give that to someone in this way. It's certainly not a million dollars!"
As I listened on, I started to see that each small impact of the five dollar gift, six thousand dollars total, would have a trickle effect of many people receiving that small token of appreciation. We are to return the cards that we received with the money to share where we gave the money.
I could feel the excitement building in me as I thought about where my five dollar bill would land. In the past, I've done some random acts of kindness. (We'll talk about those on another day.) That always felt so great to be the anonymous giver. This had another dimension of actually handing the bill to the person.
I had a return to make at a nearby store. Those clerks at the return desk have a rather thankless and sometimes unpleasant job. People often try to take advantage of the generous return policies at some stores.
We went through the process of my return and when that was complete, I handed her the five dollars and she first held up her hands saying, "Oh no. I couldn't." I explained further about what our church was doing and it was a joy to see her look of amazement that someone actually just gave her money for no reason at all! This experience is a totally different one from donating to a charity or doing a random act of kindness. And so much fun!
I went about my shopping and when I was ready to go through the check-out line, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I had a five dollar bill of my own and I couldn't wait to give it to her. I was holding my credit card and the bill in my hand as she completed ringing up my order. As she completed the process, I handed her the money and explained what was going on. She was totally amazed as well!
I felt like a millionaire, giving just this token amount of money! I have the intention of keeping my wallet full of five dollar bills and giving them out on a regular basis. And I look forward when I will be giving out one hundred dollar bills instead. What fun that will be!
I challenge you to try this exercise. As I gave the money, I encouraged them to buy themselves a coffee. It's the most fun I've ever had with $5.00!
Perhaps you're too young to remember! I LOVED that show.
A representative of a millionaire would go to someone's house and give them a million dollars. The story developed as the recipient of the money reacted to this new wealth.
There were some very interesting stories of both positive and negative experiences. I don't think that at that time we had the lotteries that we have today. So the idea of having this wealth (and at that time, a million dollars was a HUGE amount of money) was quite a novel concept for the show. Now we hear many stories about the impact that sudden wealth has on lottery winners.
One of the greatest joys I have is giving to several charities. You may have noticed this as I've shared in the past. I have a vision of being able to give even more abundantly as my wealth increases. And for now, I feel totally abundant.....like a wealthy person.....as I choose where I would like to donate from my income. This mind set is what opens us up to the abundance that is available to us. We can get so used to feeling like we "can't afford" something or "just don't have much financial freedom".
Even consumers who run up huge credit card bills are not feeling abundant. They know they are spending beyond their means and are settling on having "stuff" for their happiness. There's always one more great thing they just have to have to be satisfied and then one more and one more.
The joy of giving is not joy that fizzles away quickly. There's a deep feeling of fulfillment that you are able to support others in this way. And this applies to the gift of our time and talents as well as our financial support.
Let me share an experience that I had today. As part of a series of talks about abundance at our church, each member of the congregation was given a task. Every month our church tithes one-tenth of what they take in. This goes to community causes as well as those on a national and international level. As part of this month's tithe, they decided to have all of us (about 1200 people) take an envelope with a five dollar bill and a card in it. We were to give the money to someone who fed our spirit in some way.
I have to say that my immediate reaction was, "Five dollars. That is such a small amount that I would be embarrassed to give that to someone in this way. It's certainly not a million dollars!"
As I listened on, I started to see that each small impact of the five dollar gift, six thousand dollars total, would have a trickle effect of many people receiving that small token of appreciation. We are to return the cards that we received with the money to share where we gave the money.
I could feel the excitement building in me as I thought about where my five dollar bill would land. In the past, I've done some random acts of kindness. (We'll talk about those on another day.) That always felt so great to be the anonymous giver. This had another dimension of actually handing the bill to the person.
I had a return to make at a nearby store. Those clerks at the return desk have a rather thankless and sometimes unpleasant job. People often try to take advantage of the generous return policies at some stores.
We went through the process of my return and when that was complete, I handed her the five dollars and she first held up her hands saying, "Oh no. I couldn't." I explained further about what our church was doing and it was a joy to see her look of amazement that someone actually just gave her money for no reason at all! This experience is a totally different one from donating to a charity or doing a random act of kindness. And so much fun!
I went about my shopping and when I was ready to go through the check-out line, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I had a five dollar bill of my own and I couldn't wait to give it to her. I was holding my credit card and the bill in my hand as she completed ringing up my order. As she completed the process, I handed her the money and explained what was going on. She was totally amazed as well!
I felt like a millionaire, giving just this token amount of money! I have the intention of keeping my wallet full of five dollar bills and giving them out on a regular basis. And I look forward when I will be giving out one hundred dollar bills instead. What fun that will be!
I challenge you to try this exercise. As I gave the money, I encouraged them to buy themselves a coffee. It's the most fun I've ever had with $5.00!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
OPRAH's online class starts soon. Join me in a weekly group call!
Join My Global Phone Study Group!
Not only is Oprah launching a new show Sunday, March 2nd, but she is also starting a 10-week worldwide online class with Eckhart Tolle Monday, March 3rd!
When I heard about Oprah's Online Class with Eckhart Tolle on his book,
A New Earth, I knew I wanted to be part of this powerful worldwide study. They will have archives of the webcasts available for those who can not be on the computer live.
On Oprah's site you can sign up to lead or be part of a study group.
I decided to offer a Global Study Group via teleseminar. This is an international study group that will run concurrently with Oprah's online class with Eckhart Tolle, that will be every Monday for 10 weeks starting March 3. The purpose of the teleseminar is to give participants from all over the world the opportunity to share their thoughts with others taking the online class.
Our calls will be Fridays at Noon Eastern Standard Time starting February 29, 2008. It is early enough in the day to accommodate residents of UK and Greece who are interested.
There is no charge for Oprah's class or for the phone study group.
A New Earth is available in book form or an unabridged audiobook read by Eckhart Tolle.
Join the online yahoo group to keep up on details of the calls and to communicate with others in the group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalStudyGroup/
Call Information
February 29, 2008
12 Noon, Eastern Standard Time
605-990-0700 974762#
I'm looking forward to this amazing experience! Come join us!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Oprah's Big Give
How does it feel to hand money to someone you don't even know for no reason?
Did you decide to have that experience as I described last week? I love it!
After Oprah had a show in December of 2006 giving $1000 to the audience members and having them go out and use that money to create a worthwhile project, she was inspired to take it to another level. She loves the feeling of giving money to people and seeing their reaction and wanted others to experience that as well.
I just heard about the new series she created: "Oprah's Big Give" It premiers in a week, Sunday, March 2nd. In the end, there is only one rule in "Oprah's Big Give": YOU EITHER GIVE BIG OR YOU GO HOME! In every episode, the contestants must each find innovative and ingenious ways to impact the lives of strangers, or they risk elimination at the hands of the judging panel.
The series premiere, "Episode 101," kicks off in Los Angeles, where Oprah hands ten contestants sealed envelopes with only a picture and the name of a complete stranger. Under intense pressure, they must give big to change this person's life in just five days. The contestants must use their creativity and resources to generate the most powerful and sensational ways to make a real difference, and with the clock ticking, the competition, drama and emotion mount and the contestants' stamina, creativity and drive are tested. This first dramatic challenge will send one person packing.
Did you decide to have that experience as I described last week? I love it!
After Oprah had a show in December of 2006 giving $1000 to the audience members and having them go out and use that money to create a worthwhile project, she was inspired to take it to another level. She loves the feeling of giving money to people and seeing their reaction and wanted others to experience that as well.
I just heard about the new series she created: "Oprah's Big Give" It premiers in a week, Sunday, March 2nd. In the end, there is only one rule in "Oprah's Big Give": YOU EITHER GIVE BIG OR YOU GO HOME! In every episode, the contestants must each find innovative and ingenious ways to impact the lives of strangers, or they risk elimination at the hands of the judging panel.
The series premiere, "Episode 101," kicks off in Los Angeles, where Oprah hands ten contestants sealed envelopes with only a picture and the name of a complete stranger. Under intense pressure, they must give big to change this person's life in just five days. The contestants must use their creativity and resources to generate the most powerful and sensational ways to make a real difference, and with the clock ticking, the competition, drama and emotion mount and the contestants' stamina, creativity and drive are tested. This first dramatic challenge will send one person packing.
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