Mobile marketing fascinates me.   I have been a true gadget junkie since the first Palm pilot came out (I have a whole museum of used PDAs in my kitchen drawer).

It amazes me how quickly mobile technology has developed and what is now possible with a device that is just a tiny bit larger than a deck of cards…  I probably spend as much time on my Droid as I do on my laptop these days.  As phone prices go down, access will increase… and mobile will become even more important to all businesses (not just local businesses that can take advantage of location based marketing).  Over the next 2 years, more people will access the web via their smartphone than via their computer.  Isn’t it amazing how quickly things change?

Here is a quick video with some tips on how to make your online business more mobile friendly.

Stay tuned, I’ll be posting more tips about this important topic over the next few weeks.

Four years ago when I started working online,  I never would have imagined that video would become so important.  Video makes it possible for your audience to get to know you even better (because they can see and hear you).  Video is also treated very well in the search engines (this may be because there is less video content than written content.   Unlike articles, which need to be certain length to be effective, with video, shorter is better.  Videos can also be easily recycled into audio, podcasts, blog posts, etc.

New to video?  Not quite sure where to start?  The good news is that you do not have to have fancy equipment or even an in depth knowledge of video editing to start adding video to your promotional tool kit.   Here are some easy ways to get started with video.

1. Powerpoint/Keynote Both powerpoint and keynote (mac) give you the ability to add either music for voice over to your slide shows.  You can create videos using this method that are extremely impressive if you know a little bit about how to do animations.  The key with these videos is to remember to keep them short.

2.  Animoto Animoto is a cool program for creating photo-montage videos to music.  You don’t get a lot of customization — but you can crate something that is very attention-getting  very quickly.

3.  Mini – video cameras Although many people are a little nervous about putting videos of themselves on the Internet – realize that the purpose is soley for people to see that there is a real person behind the website.  The best way to create a getting to know you video is to to use a small video recorder (flip cameras, Kodak z18, your digital camera or even your iphone).  The production value doesn’t have to be high.  People just need to get a quick snippet of who you are.

4.  Jing The Jing Project – -http://thejingproject.com  is a free screencast service  from the makers of camtasia.  Once you install the program, you can very quickly and easy record screencasts of up to 5 minutes from your computer.  When you are finished, the program processes your video and gives you a choice of either a code to embed the video on your website or a simple share link that you can e-mail

Now that you know some easy ways of creating videos, why not give it a try?  You can submit the videos to You Tube or just put them on your website or Facebook page.  Who knows you might be the next Cecile B. DeMille!

I guess I’m an ice cream daredevil.  When I go to the ice cream parlor, I never ask for a pink spoon taste.  I just go ahead and order what seems good — if it isn’t absolutely scrumptious — it is a risk I’m willing to take (besides I don’t really need to be eating ice cream anyway!!)

Buying an ice cream cone don’t require a huge upfront investment of time or money.  Investing in your business is usually a bigger commitment.  How do you know which product or service is the right fit for you?  On the flip side, how to you convince your customers that you are a wise investment.  Enter the pink spoon.  The pink spoon is a simply delicious taste of your services that you give away for free to potential customers.

The concept of the pink spoon is not new in the online marketing community.  Most websites with a mailing list offer you a “free report and newsletter cock full of invaluable tips (worth $97!).    That’s great — and sometimes enough to give people a taste.   But, people have widely differing learning styles and preferences for taking in information.  For example, I actually hate videos — I usually have them play in a different tab in my computer and just listen.  Some people really hate to read.  What if you offered your pink spoon in a variety of flavors (like video and transcript)  to allow you to connect with potential clients with differing learning styles.   My pink spoon  - a video on coming up with your USP offers a video and worksheet exercises.  The exercises can be used by themselves and you can get a lot from the video without working through the exercises.

Some other easy ways of increasing the number of flavors available to your “taste testers”:

Add interactivity.  In my experience, one of the best ways to build up a strong list is to hold a monthly free teleseminar and promote it like crazy.  My clients hesitate on this because they believe that having free teleseminars devalues their paid events. I have found the opposite is true.  Clients with regular free event build up an engaged following that is willing to pay more for their offerings.  Other ways to add interactivity are specifically continuing conversation from your teleseminars using social media  (see this video on how one guru uses his facebook wall to build community).

Record your content These days it is very easy to create audio content. know you better. Potential clients love to hear your voice and get to  One of the easiest ways is to just record your blog posts into audio segments.  AudioAcrobat makes recording audio as simple as picking up the phone and talking (you can also record your teleseminars to use as a freebie later).  If you have an iphone AudioBoo makes it dead simple to make quick recordings and distribute them via Twitter.  Video recording is also easy enough.  You can record your webinar or use Jing to record quick videos from your computer screen or a Kodak zi8 to record quick “talking head” videos”.

Have something to read Sometimes, when I am in stealth mode (watching TV with my family while working on the computer) – I don’t really appreciate audio and video.  It is easy enough to create something to read. You can have your last teleseminar transcribed (not as expensive as you would think), or you can create companion worksheets that give much of the same information – possibly with the addition of some do at home exercises.

What is your current pink spoon?  How can you increase the number of “flavors” it comes in?  Chime in below and let me know.

My baby is turning 7 today.  Time goes by *so* fast  It honestly seems like just last week,  we were assembling her crib and painting her nursery.  Now Suzanne is a not a baby anymore but a real live full-fledged little girl.

Maybe it is because she is an only child — but my daughter seems very wise for her seven years.  I think I have learned as much from her as she from me.  She has a natural flair for sales, negotiation and marketing.  Here are some lessons about marketing that Suzanne has taught me.

1.  Keep Inviting More People One of the hard things about having a summer birthday is that people are often out of town on your birthday.  School ends early in New Mexico – and the lead time for getting invites out is almost too long.  Suzanne was not daunted by the possible low turn out at her party.  She just kept inviting more people. Her party is tomorrow and I made new invitations this morning.  If  you aren’t getting the sign ups or clients that you want  - just keep asking.

2. Approach People I’m not at all sure where she gets her extroversion — but Suzanne is not afraid to walk up to any kid that she sees and strike up a conversation.  She’ll walk right up and ask to play.  She’s made a lot of friends that way.  I think when we grow up – we become shy in some ways.  When I watch her  - I think — well, what is the harm in being friendly and approaching other people?

3.  Maintain Brand Integrity Suzanne is one of the few 7 year olds I know with a consistent brand.  Suzanne’s brand colors are pink and she is a “princess”.  Princess to her means someone who is kind, caring and smart.  Suzanne is always true to her brand.

4. It Pays To Be Nice Suzanne is probably the only kid in her first grade class who didn’t get in trouble in school.  This is because she was very nice at the beginning of the year.  By the end, I think she “got away” with a little more because she already had a solid reputation for being well behaved.

5.  Ask for A Commitment (Preferably in Writing) Suzanne is great at getting down to brass tacks.  She’ll say — “Mommy, can I go — yes or no… and then present me with a piece of paper with two checkboxes on it — yes and no.  Once the box is checked, the commitment is made.  No wishy washiness in Suzanne’s world.

What marketing lessons have you learned in unexpected places?

“Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think” – John Paul Sartre

I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a Harry Potter fan.  One of my favorite parts of story are the silly faux-Latin spells that the young wizards use to work their magic.

Blogus Postus Writus…

Is the post done?  no?  Too bad Harry Potter spells don’t work for Muggle bloggers…

Spells may not work to magically complete blog posts– but word choice is a very powerful internet marketing tool indeed.

Using the “right” keywords in your posts and on your site can help get your information in front of more of your ideal clients. The more people who see what you are up to – -the better chance you have of making a connection.

When I talk to my clients about keywords, the reaction I usually get is either –”what I do is so unique – I wouldn’t even know where to begin to find keywords”  or “I know I should be paying more attention to keywords – but using them seems too complicated to me”.  There is almost an aura of magic and mystery surrounding the whole keyword concept.

It really isn’t magic — and using keywords doesn’t have to be complicated.

The quickest path to keyword success is to use the words in your content that your potential client types into google to find the solution to their problem.

The trouble is… if you’ve been “doing your thing” for quite a while– it is sometimes hard to know (or remember) how someone who isn’t immersed in your topic would describe what you do.

Here are some tips for finding those magic keywords:

1.  Ask A Question One of the most effective ways I have found to elicit keywords from clients is to include a short “ask me a question survey” as part of my opt-in process.  I put the survey either on the “you need to confirm your e-mail address” page or on the thank you page after they’ve confirmed their address.

2.  Get Social Spend some time on social media (reading people’s blogs, twitter, facebook, etc.) – how are people talking about your subject area?  Those are the same words they will use to find you.

3. Use Internet Marketing Ninja Tricks Since keywords are so important – there are tools to help you find what people are actually searching for.   A very good place to start is google’s free keyword tool.  This tool analyzes your website (or a competitors website) and suggests keywords.  It also gives you an idea of how many people are searching for that particular keyword AND how many people are buying pay per click advertising around the term.

Another great tool is Market Samurai.  Market Samurai can give you a bounty of keyword ideas, tell you which words actually translate to more sales, give you a sense of who your competitors are for given keywords, find affiliate programs for you based on specific keywords and more.  I have used Market Samurai for about 6 months.  I find it to be really helpful – even though I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of all of its features.  Market Samurai offers a 2 week free trial.

In the end, there is no real magic in keywords.  Listen to your customers and use their language to describe your offerings.

I admit I was enthralled with the possibility of being able to get serious client work done from my iphone while waiting for my daughter to finish ice skating, gymnastics, whatever…  Lack of iphone tethering is one of the greatest banes of my existence so morphing my  business to do things that didn’t require a full laptop intrigued me….

I don’t usually buy the products being promoted in these big “so simple a monkey can do it” launches – but I wanted to learn more about social media marketing so I went ahead and purchased Let’s Get Social for a mere $97. (note I am NOT an affiliate — I’m doing this review just to let you know what I think about the course.).

Let’s Get Social is a joint venture between Ryan Deiss (very famous) and Kate Buck (pink haired social media rising star).  Over the past year and a half, Kate has built herself a burgeoning business as a social media virtual assistant (or social media manager – depending on what circles you travel in).  The super-hypey launch materials intimate that if you purchase the course — you too could very quickly be making a full time professional income from your iphone.

Is that true?  Nah… but Kate and Ryan admit that in the first module.  I also suspect that Kate’s phenomenal success is due mostly to Kate’s vivacious personality, ability to teach. business savvy and a good bit of luck.

Is the course worth $97.  Yep.

Let’s get social provides a wealth of information for a very reasonable price.  There are six modules which cover everything from “what the heck is a social media manager” to branding yourself (Kate explains this especially well), finding clients, doing the work and setting up your business.  You also get rights to us the logo — but since self-branding is important – I don’t see this as a huge bonus.  The course also includes a ton of demo videos, checklists, resource links, etc.

To me, the biggest value is the client checklist and suggested packages.  Having a value-added social media package with specific tasks was worth the course price to me.  The demo videos on how to create profiles on the different platforms (twitter, facebook, linked in, and youtube)  were also very helpful.   I am going to incorporate much of this into my service offerings.

I get the feeling though that it might be tough for a beginner to take this course and immediately start a successful social media management business. For someone already doing something similar, this course is a bargain.  I am going to start using the checklists with my current clients tomorrow  – and will make back the $97 this week.

If this were my course — I might split it up even more and do an in depth video module on each platform and then one on how to link them all together.  There are 8 or 9 how to videos within the “doing the work” module — but they seem sort of hidden.  I expected the main focus of the course to be “how to” rather than promotion.

Also, I would include a forum in the membership site section of the course.  It would be great to brainstorm and connect with other soon-to-be social media managers.

I feel lucky to have “met” Kate  signed up for this class in the beginning — I am sure it will be offered again at a higher price point.  I would recommend it to virtual assistants who want to expand their service offerings or to people who are already a little tech savvy.

Has anyone else signed up for Let’s Get Social?  What did you think of it?  What is your favorite training class for aspiring social media assistants?

Ever just decided to go for something out of the blue? I was innocently reading my e-mail yesterday morning and I saw an e-mail from Dave Navarro – The Launch Coach offering his super-well written free e-book on how to make money selling products in three days.. I read it and thought — OK, Meredith — maybe you are making everything *way too complicated*. Any product I ever contemplate releasing is huge, multi-faceted, and complex. And, therefore, I never release any products!

Later that morning, I got another e-mail from Paul Evans with Nicheology challenging us to get something up and running in 24 hours. Hmm… could I do that? Maybe…

Well, finally, I get an e-mail invite  to participate in a half marathon for Team in Training.  The event is  Day of The Tread which is local to me in Albuquerque.   To participate in the race through TNT,  I need to raise $1,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

I have done TNT events before (a century ride and a triathlon)  and it is a good program – and I really want to learn how to walk fast…  But, I also don’t want to rely completely on friends and family for donations again… So, since things happen in threes, and I want to get this new phase in my business started in a “good for all of us” way – I am thrilled to present…

A way for you to reach your goals (by listening to my goal setting workshop), a way for me to reach my goal (of getting a product out), and a way for us to work together to reach an important goal of helping to support cancer research.

To get my 40 minute audio goal-setting workshop  filled with goal setting wisdom (plus worksheets!) all you need to do is click the donate button and make a donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.

How much? Totally up to you… I’m doing a half marathon so $13 would be appropriate. If you give me $50 I’ll write the name of someone of your choosing on my running shirt on race day. No matter what you decide… you’ll be helping yourself AND helping others!

Thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy the audio and reach your goals!

I don’t want to say I took a complete vacation from the Fat Loss Quickie experience when the invaders (oops – houseguest) were over — but having them in my space and having to be quiet in the morning — put a small crimp in my workout plans.   I think I actually only  missed a workout or to put I felt like I was off track and off balance.

Today I need the FLQ cardio and weights AND my regular weight training workout. I am amazed at how much I can accomplish in my home gym.   It feels like I can do about 85% of what is possible at the real gym (chin ups are tough for me — I like having the assist machine — at home I end up just jumping up to the bar…)  All I have is a set of dumbells, weights, a weight bench and bar, bands and a TRX (really cool hangy strappy exercise thing).  I guess I could also put my bike and trainer downstairs — but the Fat Loss Quickie workouts are some awesome intervals you can do in a very small space.

I’ve also been listening to the motivational audio that is part of the program.  Great segment today on goal setting — not just how to set goals — but how to really visualize yourself going through all the steps.  Suzanne was listening and asked me what my goals were… Her goal is to learn a lot in school (which I think is admirable…)

You have a strong but steady virtual assistant practice with a stable client base on retainer.  Why bother keeping statistics for your business? Because you attract what you focus on and keeping metrics allows you to set and see yourself move toward your business goals. Since I’ve started tracking statistics for my business, I have nearly doubled my monthly business income (of course, a lot of that is also marketing and taking on new clients, but without my magic spreadsheet, I wouldn’t have known how much room I actually had in my practice.

Until recently, I was a dyed in the wool member of the non-spreadsheet brigade.  I had a solid virtual assistance practice filled with ideal clients who had me on retainer. Yes, I did lose a few solid clients due to the economy, but my practice was generally humming along. One day though, I noticed that I just wasn’t bringing in as much as I used to.  I decided to track a few key metrics in my practice – hours committed, hours billed, affiliate income and billed income.  Just for kicks, I also added in lines for Send Out Cards, size of my lists, twitter followers and facebook followers.

That is when the magic started to happen. By taking a snapshot of my business and putting it all down in black and white, I could make some strategic decisions about how to grow.  I learned that I had a few clients who had room in their budgets for more virtual assistant hours, so I added new services.  I also discovered that I had room for a few more clients — so I added them.  As a result, my business income has nearly doubled in the past few months.  I like to see the numbers on the spreadsheet going up each month and it is a basic law that empty spaces get filled — by making spaces on my sheet for what I wanted, I was also making room in my business and in my life.

So, to get started, all you need is a simple spreadsheet (or just a piece of paper will work too).  In the first column put the things you would like to track (# of clients, hours billed, etc.), then put your baseline numbers in the next column.  Each month, add a column with the new information for that month.  Here are some things you can track:

* Number of Clients
* Retainer Hours (or committed hours per client)
* Hours actually billed
* Affiliate income (I include Send Out Cards in This)
* Hours subcontracted (if you have an assistant VA)
* Mailing list size
* Twitter followers
* Facebook followers

Add whatever else makes sense for your and your business.  Add new columns each month, track your results and watch your business. grow.