Bulldog Marketing

It's that time of year again Part II

Like I promised, here is the Top 5...

5. Not using a "real URL"
I know I am a bit picky, but hey, if you are truly serious about your blog, get it a real name and be proud of it!

4. Not enough content on a regular basis
We all get busy, right? But again, if you are serious, you can check in on your blog at least once a week and post. If you think this will be an issue, create posts, and then schedule them for future delivery. That way, you will be able to stay ahead of the curve.

3. Not Sharing information and other sites and blogs with your readers
For some of you, this may seem counter-intuitive, but that is really the purpose of a blog. You are the expert in your niche, and you probalby have a few sites that you visit to get ideas, inspiration and content. So share it! If you find a good shoe store, you tell your friends about it right?

2. Blogs that never launch. Ever.
If you have started a blog, I congratulate you. If you are waiting until you get everything perfect before you post anything, shame on you! It never will be perfect. Get your message out there, and don't worry about what other people will think. If you are that afraid of critisim from people you don't know, then blogging may not be for you.

1. Blogs that aren't blogs, but just another 'HEY-YA' Marketing Campaign
I have said it before, but it is worth repeating. When I think of my blog, I think of my clients, readers and prospects, first, then I figure out what they might want to know about, and then I write something with them in mind. A blog is supposed to be more personal and actually impart real, usable information that people can take action on, and I don't mean action like going to the next seminar or buying an expensive tape set. If you have a blog and give people valueable content, when you have a product to sell, or a seminar for them to enroll in, you will have loyal, raving fans who will support what you do.

WOOF!!
Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

It's that time of year again...

You know what I mean. There is the reflective part, where we look back at the year behind us and swear we will do things differently next year, which becomes the resolution part. So I thought about the things that I learned this year and have my Top 10 list of the Biggest Mistakes Bloggers Make. To give you time to reflect, I am posting 5 of them now, and will give you the other five later this week. In Times Square Fashion, think of Dick Clark and give yourself the count down.

Tag, You Are It!!

Have you discovered the power of correctly tagging your blog posts? I started playing around with that last week, and the activity on my blog doubled. Yes, doubled. Here is what I did:

I tried to tag the post the way I would search for the information. If you notice my feedburner posts, I used tags like feedburner for non-technical people and how does feedburner work as well as the more generic tags like feedburner.

I wonder if this is one of those very small things that makes a very big difference. Try this for yourself, and let me know.

What do you believe?

When I was young, I had some pretty interesting beliefs about the way things worked; like listening to the radio. One day, when we were driving in the car, I asked my mom a question that had been on my mind for several days. "How big is the lobby at KSFO radio station?" My mom looked a bit surprised, and said, "Why do you ask?" I launched into my question, "I was just wondering where all the bands and singers sit while they wait to play their songs?" My mom kind of laughed and said, "The bands and singers don't have to show up at the radio station because the radio station plays records." That never occurred to me because I had made a picture in my mind of how things were. I shrugged and thought, 'Hmmm, that makes a lot of sense'. But the cool thing about being a kid is that you can let go of something that you think is a certain way when you discover it to be different, and you don't beat yourself up for thinking it was the way it was. When we get older, I think it is strange how people hang on to their beliefs, even when contrary evidence is staring them in the face. If we understand that things are always changing, we can exchange stale thoughts for fresh ones that honor where we are in our evolution, without dissing where we have been. That is the sweet spot.

Feedburner for Dummies- Part 2

Hopefully you have rested up from your hard work yesterday, and are pulling at the leash to have people get your feed via email. To make it easy, lets finish this one together, OK?

Log into your feedburner account, and meet me over at the Publicize Tab.

1. Look down the left hand navigation bar, and you will see Email subscriptions about 3/4 of the way down. Click on that.

2. You will see the Subscription Form Code box which has a lot of code and stuff. No worries, skip through that and go to the TypePad AutoCopy.

3. Now you are right inside TypePad again, and you just click your blog, hit Add Widget and then you can preview your blog. Remember to go into Design and Reconfigure your Categories so you get your Email subscription near the top.

Not using Typepad? Here is what you do with all of that code- just copy and past the Subscription Form Code in the box into your blog, and you should see a cool box with a subscribe button just waiting for you. I will cross my fingers, hit save and then preview, and hope it works like it says it will.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Look! It works!

Feedburner for Dummies

You know what it's like when people keep asking the same question? I figure it is a trend, and my job is to address it. So thanks to all of the "What is RSS?" or "How can I send my posts to subscribers by email?" inquiring minds that I bumped into last week. So in Bulldog style- keep it simple and as few steps as possible- here is the low down on how to get feedburner working for you.

1. Go to Feedburner.com and under burn a feed now, enter the address for your blog.

2. You will see three different types of feeds- atom, index and rss. Click on the first choice which is atom. Don't worry about what that means, just click it, and hit next.

3. You will see that your feed has a web address that will look like this: http://feeeds.feedburner.com/yourblog. Now enter a user name and password. If you are like me, write it down because I already forgot mine.

4. Go to continue, and now you are going to see some options. Under the free StandardStats, click on Clickthroughs and then next. Now here is where it gets fun!

What do you get your blog for Christmas?

Yes, it's that time of the year again. You know...where you take time to honor and acknowledge people around you with a gift, maybe even a fruitcake. But what are you going to get your blog? Here are some cool ideas that your blog may appreciate.

1. Talkr- Turn your blog into a podcast. Some people don't have time to sit and read your posts but by using Talkr, with the touch of a button, your subscribers will recieve your latest posts verbally, just like subscribing to a podcast.

2. Blurb- How many times have you thought about turning your blog into a book, but the thought of copying and pasting makes your head spin? Well, stop spinning because Blub will slurp (that's their term) your blog and turn it into a book! How cool is that? I tried it and it works great.

3. Treat yourself to a Blog Makeover or better!- The blog squad is looking for an ideal client to do a complete makeover for your blog. They will walk you through all the processes, and feature you on their radio show. It is a great opportunity for someone to get great mentoring from the real deal.

Will the REAL Decision Maker Please Stand Up

This occurred to me the other day while I was doing some Christmas Shopping. Sometimes the decision maker for products isn't the only beneficiary of the product. The most obvious example of this is Victorias Secret. Even though women will wear (or not) the lacy thing with feathers that they get for Christmas, the gift is really for the person that gave it to them. But Vic's takes it one step further than the obvious- they know HOW to treat men when they come into their store, they make them feel comfortable, and they understand how to market to their decision maker. So what does this have to do with you?

Most of my clients deliver certification trainings that can last anywhere between 7-21 days. I don't know how it works in your world, but being away from home and kids, including the canine type may make it difficult for some people to attend the training. If you do trainings like that, you may want to consider how you can satisfy the needs of the REAL decision makers, who are most likely the family members of the person who wants to enroll. When planning your training and deciding on your venue think about:

1. What hours are the most beneficial for allowing people to have a life even while attending your training. We typically do trainings from 1-8pm, which allows most people to get work done or do other things during the morning hours.

2. If the majority of your participants are local, consider splitting the training up over several weekends and doing the training over a 3 or 4 month period instead of 8 straight days.

3. If you know people will be traveling for the sole purpose of attending your 7- 21 day training, consider having it in a nice location that would be a fun place for family members to hang out. Go the extra mile by arranging cool things for them to do while they are there.

3. Likewise for pets. If you are booking a hotel for your participants to stay in, check out options in the dog friendly category. More and more hotels allow dogs, and believe me, people will feel better having their dogs with them than leaving them at a kennel.

Even if you don't do trainings like this, think for a moment about who may play a role in the buying process of your typical client. How can you educate them on the benefits of the work that you do?
Take a moment and step into the shoes of the people who surround your client. What can you do to get them on your side. You just may find that by doing that, you have smoked out some of those 'hidden objections' that you never really hear about. After all, how many times will a prospect admit they can't work with you because their wife, husband or significant other won't let them?