Bulldog Marketing

Choosing the right provider

I have  been working like a dog lately, not like a bulldog, but more like a Jack Russel Terrier who knows there is a small rodent in the backyard.  What am I working on? (Thanks for asking) I am building a membership website.  A membership website that ties into a shopping cart, gives people private access to download-able products and will automatically deposit money into the bank account while I sleep.  I am excited about it, but let me tell you, I have learned a lot in the process.  Here are a few tips for you to consider if you are looking at brining a new piece of technology into your life.

TypePad Domain Mapping

Here is Part II of Domain Mapping with Go Daddy and TypePad and I have to admit I have a dilemma. I have mapped several URL’s in the last few months, so I know how I do it. In order to write this post, I had to go back and think about how I learned how to do it in the first place. I tried a few times to write this post, and found that I didn’t have a lot of motivation to write it. The reason is, I used this from The Blog Squad to map my first URL, and quite frankly, it is a very good tutorial. So why reinvent the wheel! This is the power of blogs and linking. If you find something that somebody did that is of value, share your resource, and give credit where credit is due. Let me know if you have any questions about it when you try it, but take it from me, it works like a charm. Thanks again to Patsi and Denise for being a wonderful resource!Download TypePadDomainMapping.pdf

DNS forwarding vs. Domain Mapping

What a juicy topic! In a recent post about the 10 mistakes bloggers make, I said that one thing you need to do is get your blog a real name, and point it to your blog. That way, people can find your blog with a normal address, such as www.kirstenfarris.com vs. a long URL like
http://bulldogmarketing.typepad.com All this seems to make sense. but HOW should you do it?

Going Ugly Early and More!

The mantra around here is to Go Ugly Early. By now, you may have read enough about that, and you know that you need to just try a few new things and see how they work. But when it comes to rolling out a new piece of technology that you and your clients will be using, the following rules may help you avoid potential trainwrecks.

1. Try the stuff out first. Always. Even if it something small like playing a recording into your teleclass, you will want to take time to rehearse how it works. Try to 'break it' and see where you end up. The more you know about how to get the stuff working again the better. It always amazes me how calm I can be when I am doing something by myself, but if I have to push a button to queue something up with live paying clients on the line, I can 't find the right button.

2. If the application is something that you need your clients to use, have somebody else try it out for you. My clients and friends span the technology spectrum from people who write code to people that use a fax machine to send hand written documents. Know where most of your clients fall on the technology curve and err toward the non-technical side. Then pick somebody who fits that profile, and have them execute the basic commands that your users need to be able to do. That way, if you are writing some type of user guide for people, you can address the sticky points along the way.

3. Go with the basics, and add features as you go. When you are rolling something out, even if it is an internal application for your self, begin by using only the essential elements of the program. Once you get familiar with that, you can venture off into the land of bells and whistles. If this is something that your clients will be using, doing it this way will keep them from going into overwhelm and having tons of questions about very unimportant features. The best part is, when you add the right feature at the right time, you get another chance to surprise and delight your clients, and in this case, the surprise is a good one!

4. Have a back-up plan for what I call the complete Power Failure. What can you do if the whole thing just crashes in the middle of your presentation? For example, If you are a large user of Web Conferencing, then sending people a copy of your presentation ahead of time will allow them to look at the slides the old fashiioned way, on a piece of paper.

If for some reason, the technlogy side lets you down, just remember that unless you are in the business of coaching people on using technlology, they aren't paying you for that area of expertise. You will be forgiven as long as you make a speedy recovery and get back on track and fulfill your purpose which is to deliver valuable, usable information.

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.

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!

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.

Audioconferencing is more than a conference call

It can be your new best friend! I am sure you all have been on a conference call before, but there are a few other great uses for audioconferencing. For Example:

1. If you don't want to try and figure out how to record an audio clip or podcast, you can use your conference call service. You simply dial into the bridge and use the record feature. When you finish your call, you can download the file and Bammo! you have a nice information product that you can use for marketing, or turn it into a product. Some of you may find it easier to talk into your phone instead of into your computer.

2. It is a great way to create interviews and have guest speakers contribute to your content. Most people are happy to spend 15 minutes on the phone and you will be providing your clients tremenous value by being a great resource for new information.

3. Offering Teleclasses is one of the best ways to build your practice, and if you apply the principle of recording everything that you do, you will have 2 products- the class and a product. We use this strategy in our business, and it is a great source of passive recursive revenue.

4. Are you having a hard time creating a brochure for an upcoming seminar or service offering? Then do a 'Talking Brochure'. Invite people on your interest list to participate on a 30-45 minute call and you will be able to answer specific questions that they have and get some great feedback on your offer. Then if you want to, you can edit the recording (because you record everything, remember) and highlight the main points by using a combination of audio clips with powerpoint. If you want an example, check this one out. It takes a while for the file to load, so be patient, it will start eventually.

Hopefully you agree that using audio conferencing is a good thing. So how should you select a company?

Technorati

OK. I have been doing more research, and figure that I can't bury my head in the sand like an ostrich any longer. I went to a great site called the blog squad and got an article on the 17 Mistakes Professionals Make with Their Blogs, and got busted with the whole blog directory listing and linking thing. So now I am going to venture off into the world of Technorati and see what happens.

Hopefully my blog won't blow up.

Look, it worked! I got a widget on here.

So many Choices...

As I dig deeper into the world of 'social media & social marketing' I realize that there is a lot of stuff to figure out. According to the experts, you need to syndicate your blog, optimize your site, add widgets, technorati tags, learn how to make money with google ads, and get people to link to your site otherwise you will feel like the biggest loser in bloggerville...or NOT.

I went down that rabbit hole only to realize that doing all those things is valuable, but you don't need to do them all at once. Maintaining a balance between writing useful content, and getting the word out through your network of friends, family, clients and prospects is a better use of your time. Once the word spreads, then guess what? People will know how to find you, without a lot of effort on your part. Keep yourself focused on one topic at a time, and go from there. Before you know it, you will have a content rich site that people would love to spend time on because it is a wealth of information. Guess what you can do then? You can hire someone to do all of that optimization stuff for you!

PS. Look! I have Technorati tags on my post! Wow!!