All started out pretty good….but…

Then she tasted that nasty toothpaste…

I’ve been reading a friends blog from time to time about viral marketing.  These two pictures made me think, “If I had a website and I was a Dentist, this would be a perfect viral marketing campaign to get people to come to my site and book mark the funny pictures…I could title the post - “Will your dentist make your kid do this?” or “Toothpaste that makes you twinge“.

I’m sure there are other directions you could head with these pictures but I think Mat’s viral marketing ideas and suggestions are contagious.  Some may ask, “How can this really help my website?”  Links, links, links!  As we talk about social media marketing (saving articles and web pages to your favorites in StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious and the like), a big part of viral marketing and SMO is encouraging people to add your pages to their favorites.  By doing this, you are creating links all over the internet that help Google and other search engines find you.  The more they find you on relevant sites, the better chance you have of moving up the charts for keywords you are using on your pages.  We don’t want to SPAM these sites, but creative strategies like this really do help build links and increases traffic.

What ideas are you testing?

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Is your business “turned on”? Are you making consistent sales every day? Are new and more exciting opportunites coming up around every door? Why (or why not)?

A few days ago I wrote about stepping out of your comfort zone and making things happen with your business. One of the toughest things about being an entrepreneur is that many times you’re on your own. There’s no one there that’s going to kick your butt, call you on your laziness, or motivate you when things aren’t going as well as you’d like them too.

Here is a fun update I just received from one of my clients who sells awesome wall murals and photo murals:

So, you want to know about how changing my attitude directly affected my sales? Last week, my mentor Nate from Prosper and MollerMarketing.com gave me a little phone call. It was a kind of business kick in the butt talk. And man did I need it.

I was spending 8 to 11 hours daily at my website, fixing keywords, adding new content, videos, podcasts, crunching numbers, and analyzing things to death. Truth was I hadn’t made a single solitary sale in 30 days. I felt like crap!

When Nate called, I sure let him know my sad story. He didn’t buy it for a minute. “Lisa, one year ago our attitude and enthusiasm was contagious. Why aren’t you making sales?”

Why indeed. I have known Nate long enough to get the message. I was not focusing on what I can do every day to make sales! Because of the 30 day business slump, I was not believing I could achieve big things. I was sabotaging myself and my business by staying on the proverbial pity pot.

The phone call gave me cause to look at myself and realize I needed to re-focus my attention on what I could change (my cruddy attitude!) The next day, I was back on my game. I got my moxie back ( or mojo for all you young-uns out there.) Was it uncomfortable? A little. By the end of the day I was a changed woman.

I went out to local businesses with my business cards and networked. I made things happen. I told people what I do and what I sell. The cool thing was, out of 8 businesses I approached that day, only 2 said no ( and I could hear Nate in my ear saying, “Who cares? Welcome to business!.”)

It has been 4 business days since that phone call. In addition to feeling great on the inside, I have made 3 sales, each for over $350. I also have 5 – 8 other sales in the works as well as 4 to 5 prospective joint ventures. Is this magic? Hardly! It’s simply what Nate reminded me: Believe it and you can achieve it. And small success leads to big success!!

Thanks Nate! Your old pal, Lisa

So what can we learn from this: a positive attitude has a direct correlation with success. Lisa’s business didn’t really change; the economy didn’t all of a sudden take a turn for the better; gas prices didn’t drop; but a slight change of attitude “turned the business on” again.

Thanks for the great case study Lisa. It’s stuff like this that I encourage clients to print out, pass along, and read from time to time as a reminder.

Add this to your favorites and email it to 5 people to help them get “turned on” too

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I just received an email from a good friend and former (or ongoing) client.  This is what it said:

Nate,
I just went out and got 6 local businesses to let me look at their websites and make recommendations, in return they will give me ringing endorsements and testimonials so I can [get] started…  I also posted on craigslist, I also applied for my local Rotary…Nate when I started I was shaking in my shoes! By the end of my trip down main street with my 6 yes and 2 no’s, I was singing!! I gave out my business cards to everyone and I now remember how good all this feels!! (bold added for emphasis)

Thanks again, I’ll keep you posted!

What can we learn from this email?  How can it relate to YOUR BUSINESS?  Why is having a positive attitude crucial to your business success?  Is a positive attitude enough?

The point is, in order to see success in ANY endeavor, you have to learn to not let fear hold you back.  I recently read an article that said “Fear is the antithesis of faith.”  Faith is confidence; confidence is key.  The only way to gain confidence, in my opinion, is by making a few mistakes, learning from them, making adjustments, and then taking the “bull by the horns” and making it happen.

As you can see by the quote above, my friend was “shaking in her shoes”.  Like all of us when we do something new, she was nervous - afraid of the unknown.  What were people going to think?  What if they said no?  My answer to those questions…WHO CARES!  Nike’s “Just Do It!” slogan is so fitting for business owners.  You just have to step out, take a risk, and EXPECT SUCCESS!  Having a positive attitude, in and of itself, will not pay the bills - you have to TAKE ACTION and DO!

To make this post a bit more fun and to encourage readers to “step out and be heard”, MollerMarketing.com will be doing a drawing.  Anyone that makes a valid comment letting us know what you’ve done to “Step Out of Your Comfort Zone” will qualify for the following:

• 2 Free Text Links on MollerMarketing.com (PR4 Website with High Traffic)
• 1 Free SEO Review of your website.  (30 minutes via phone)

Look forward to hearing from you.

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I’ve talked about meta tags before; this video from Aaron Wall explains page titles in detail. Questions and comments welcome!

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Today’s the day for the exciting conference call by Mark Kaye! He’ll be teaching us how to get free publicity on TV and the radio. I know there are only a few seats left so sign up while you can. (and no, this isn’t a paid promotion or affiliate campaign - I’m really going to take advantage of this education)

Did you know that Dr. Phil, Martha Stewart, Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul) and even Sean Hannity stated out with free advertising as guests on somone elses show? I feel like the education I’m going to get today could save my companies lots of money in advertising budgets as we practice what I’m going to learn.

Here’s how I plan to use the information from this call today:

1. Test it out! I’m going to do a “case study” on Free Radio Advertising. After getting all the information I plan to create a detailed plan on how I’m going to implement it. I’ll include deadlines, details and track progress to prove to myself, Mark, and all my readers that these concepts turn in to REAL MONEY! I can’t wait to share the positive results.
2. Duplication! After it works with one business, I”ll do the same thing with the other websites I have. We are headed to Door County, WI this summer for a family vacation. The first thing I’ll do is contact the local radio station and set up an interview to indirectly promote our site.

Again, tonight is the night for the call. It starts at 7:00 p.m. EST and will run for about 2 hours. If you are as excited as I am but can’t attend live, you will be given a replay at no additional cost. Mark also plans to provide documentation that can be printed out and followed step by step.

One other cool thing is this money back gurantee:

So really, there’s no risk - it’s a win/win for everyone.

If you’re serious about taking your business to the next level, both on and offline, this class is highly recommended. Talk to you then.

Save 25% with this link

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For Christmas this year I got my first MacBook Pro. I’ve been really excited about all the functionality and ease of use. As they say, “Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back!” So it is with me.

However, lately I’ve been getting this pop-up and it reminds me of Windows:

So, why is Apple trying to subtly force me to install Safari? I read an article about Firefox being really ticked off about this.

What Apple is doing now with their Apple Software Update on Windows is wrong. It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s bad — not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web. What they did yesterday was to use their updater for iTunes to also install their Safari Web browser –what follows is some background and analysis. - John Lilly

What’s the status? Is Safari really that good? Is is better than Firefox?

What’s worse than this initial pop-up is the 2nd one I got:

Persistence can pay off I guess.  But is Apple really that desperate to get Safari on everyone’s computers? I’ll bet many people have uploaded Safari without even knowing what they did. Interesting strategy Apple - please don’t fall in to the Microsoft or Windows campaign…

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I’ve been working with clients for a few years now and am always intrigued by the ideas people come up with. It’s really fun to put a few minds together and see the result of a powerful brainstorm. I’ve been really impressed with many of my clients for their hard work, dedication, and committment to succeed. Keep up the great work and Expect Success!

One of my current clients is really using his talents and skill-set to make things happen. He is a professional radio and TV announcer by trade and has interviewed some of the stars, including ShoeMoney. As we’ve talked about his ideas and worked on staying focused, I feel things have really come together for him.

One of his ideas that I think many of my clients could benefit from is a teleseminar about getting free advertising from the radio. Offline marketing is acceptable for an online site I know some of you may have never thought of that concept but offline marketing really does work for a website too.

Here’s a brief synopsis of what he’s offering:

Radio and TV Talk Show host Mark Kaye will show you why spending money on expensive radio and TV advertising is a total waste for you and your business. Especially when there are BILLIONS of dollars worth of FREE air time that radio and tv producers are STRUGGLING to fill! Do you have a product, service, website, store, book, blog, opinion, invention, or theory that you want to publicize? You can reach millions of people all over the world from the comfort of your own home and without spending a dime.

In this EXCLUSIVE Teleclass, Mark Kaye will show you just how easy it is to become a credible “expert guest” for radio and TV shows across America and the World! He will teach you how to refine and pitch yourself so that you are guaranteed bookings! He will explain step-by-step how producers decide which guests make it on the air and which don’t. Plus, he will tell exactly what to do to turn your publicity into sales and secure repeat appearances.

Learn from a radio insider. Mark has booked hundreds and hundreds of guests. He reads thousands of press releases. He knows what works and what doesn’t, and he can make you a radio and tv publicity star!

The best news is, for my readers only, he is offering a great discount of 25% off the regular price. I’m definitely going to take advantage of this great information on getting free advertising. Here’s the information:

Date: April 17, 2008

Time: 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. EST

I know spots are limited so sign up today. I’ll be on the call for sure.

Congrats to Mark for doing what he loves to do and seeing the fruits of his labor.  I plan to use the information I learn from this call for my cheerleading photography website and other sites too.  I’ll keep you posted on how it works out.

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