I work with people who have meaningful work they love to do, and who want to stay focused on it…but, argh, keep getting hung up on the marketing and the technology of taking a business online.

It all holds such promise doesn’t it?

Using the internet to reach more people with ease. Then when you try to get a handle on it, it turns into a full time job all it’s own…and one you may not be particularly enjoying. Now that’s an energy drain if I ever saw one.

We should all be bouncing out of bed in the morning, happy with the work ahead. At the very least you want to be spending your time doing the work you love which is more than likely, also what you do best. This blog is here to support you in making the difference you try to make every day without getting overwhelmed by all that technology.

The biggest goal of internet marketing consulting is to help you think strategically about your business and to provide you with the tools and resources you need to make your business thrive while you get back to the work of serving your clients and customers.

I see coaches in this dilemma all the time…artists, writers, designers and therapists too…all feeling pulled from their work to do business development, networking and marketing.

My goal is to make the marketing piece as painless as possible. Much of it can be outsourced but you do need to be able to think strategically about your business so you know how to direct the people working for you.

My name is Susan Fuller, and I’m a former retailer, therapist, creativity coach, and author who has struggled endlessly with marketing until I finally decided to honor my closet geek…she’s sticking her head out right now…who has fallen in love with internet marketing…not internet marketers (some of them are just creepy) but value based, ethical internet marketing.

Having made just about every mistake in the book…and learned from each and every one of them, I feel compelled to share what I’ve learned with others of a less geeky nature.

I hope you’ll hang out and explore…sign up for the Prospering Biz mailing list or grab the RSS feed. I also announce new posts on Twitter.

Find the way that works for you and join the conversation.

Technorati Tags: internet marketing consultant

I see online businesses make this mistake all the time. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a new business or an established but struggling business. I see businesses with great potential flounder because they get too attached to their idea of a niche market or product before they’ve done any research or testing to see if it’s really a good idea.

This seems to be especially true with folks who are looking for meaning as well as money from their business endeavors. They get all wrapped up in their inspired idea and then end up wondering why they can’t get any traction in the marketplace.

The tenacity with which these folks hang on to their ideas is really quite alarming. This is probably the fastest way for a business to fail, and they’re great big belly flop failures.

Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t follow your inspiration and passion. You should absolutely, but you also need to understand that just because it gets your juices going does not mean there’s a market out there. Without a market you don’t have a business no matter how hard you work at marketing it.

More of Are You Getting Too Attached?

Talk soon,

Susan

Online market research can only tell you what’s been happening in the recent past. There is no guarantee that it will hold true going into the future.

Things change. I’m writing this in the summer of 2009. Last fall we had what amounted to an economic collapse. Some markets that had been doing well tanked without warning and others increased dramatically.

So keep in mind that you are researching past behavior that may or may not hold true in the future.

The data you collect is just a snapshot in time. This is even more
true with the competition numbers which tend to be much more fluid than the number of searches.

1. Test.

Once you have a group of keywords, test them. Throw up a no frills website (Wordpress blog recommended) and see if you can generate the kind of traffic you thought you could.

Read entire article at New Niche Finder

Technorati Tags: Online Market Research

Recently I heard a small business coach, suggest to folks that you just keep trying things until you find something that sticks.

I don’t really think it was meant like it came out, but I had to cringe…more

Talk soon,

Susan

P.S. If you’re tired of just trying one thing after another without
much success, let’s talk. You can sign up for a free 30 minute
consult at ‘New Niche Finder‘.

Technorati Tags: Online Market Research

Argh! I signed up on impulse, and I want the information now…right now, and not getting that information immediately left me feeling ripped off.

E-courses have long been recommended and used very effectively as freebie or ‘pink spoon’ offerings (think Baskin Robbins samples) for building a list, but observing my own reaction I’m wondering if their usefulness has passed.

I’ll never buy anything from this person nor will I refer to her. To be honest, I wasn’t going to buy from her anyway, but I might have liked what she had to offer enough to make a referral.

Here’s what I’m thinking…

The internet offers up immediate gratification for whatever information you seek so expecting a subscriber who just heard of you and signed up on impulse, to happily wait around for 3 weeks to get the information seems rather silly. It’s not how the internet works.

Now don’t get me wrong, ‘pink spoons’ are essential. In fact I think ‘pink spoons’ actually need to give more than a taste…more like a free ice cream cone or even a free ice cream cake.

Certainly the trend in internet marketing circles is to offer lots and lots for free…with a huge, expensive launch to follow (more on those some other time - not overly fond of them either).

The point is that offering large amounts of information for free is becoming the norm and, honestly, it’s a great way to let people really get to know you which is exactly what you want. People buy from people they know, like and trust so rather than teasing them with hints about who you are and what you have to offer, give them a substantial experience.

Rather than an e-course, I would suggest offering a substantive report, a video, an audio recording (interviews are awesome) or even an audio or video with a written transcript.

Give your new subscriber something that really shows your stuff that can be quickly and automatically delivered. That person has just cracked the door open to see who you are. Don’t waste the moment by asking them to wait around because they won’t and you won’t get a second chance.

So what do you think? Do you like e-courses? Have they outlived their usefulness? When you sign up for something do you prefer a pdf report, an audio or a video? I’d love to see your comments below.

Talk soon,

Susan

Technorati Tags: Starting an Online Business

When I began really learning about online business and internet marketing, I knew a lot about building an offline business and about retailing, but nothing about websites, keywords, SEO and PPC.

I went looking for teachers and found what you’re probably finding…lots of people willing to take your money and teach you nothing useful.

Read more A confession - how I know what I say I know

Talk soon,

Susan

Technorati Tags: Starting an Online Business

There’s another kind of reaction I’ve been getting recently that is
just as disturbing as the ones I mentioned yesterday. These are
the reactions from people who are just getting ready to launch
their websites or have done so recently.

Most of these fall into the category of a little bit of knowledge is a
dangerous thing…

These folks have got it into their heads that keyword research and search engine optimization are something you do after your site is up. The prevailing view is that I can then do something (they know not quite what) to their site to make it rank in Google.

Yikes! This is more ass end backwards nonsense that’s been perpetrated on the unsuspecting and ignorant online businessperson by the so called “SEO experts”.

Read more When a little bit of knowledge is definitely dangerous

Talk soon,

Susan

Technorati Tags: Online Market Research

I got another one of those horrible emails today…deriding keywords and keyword research because it’s just about SEO.

I hate these emails especially when they come from people who should know better. All it does is spread a whole lot of misinformation that leaves new online business owners confused and overwhelmed as they try to sort it all out. It’s not right.

So let me see if I can shed some light on the issue without adding to the confusion.

First, keyword research is not just about SEO.

Second, SEO does matter if you want traffic to your website.

Read more of I hate it when people say keyword research doesn’t matter

Talk soon,

Susan

P.S. Find out whether your product idea has a market before you
spend your time, energy and money developing it. Check out
‘New Niche Finder‘ for keyword, market & competition research.

Technorati Tags: Online Market Research

The way to make the most of those 20 hours is to know when you are at your best. Some of us work best first thing in the morning. Others do best late at night after the kids have gone to bed.

It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you know what part of the day it is and you use it for your money making activities.

Every time you squander those precious hours when you’re at your best, you are losing money.

Sit with that one for a bit and then figure out when is the best time to do your most important work.

When is your most productive time? And what are you doing to make the best use of it?

Talk soon,

Susan

Technorati Tags: Starting an Online Business

Nope. Don’t get me wrong, it is hard work but the key is to stay focused on your most important money making tasks.

Here’s what you need to do…

1. Identify those activities that are directly related to making money. (Hint - Email is not generally a money making activity)

2. Track your time. Write it down, Use a computer program. I expect there’s even one for the iPhone/iTouch.

3. Here’s the trick…Only track your time for those money making activities, and figure that you only have 4-6 genuinely productive hours a day to get them done (and personally I think 6 is high).

That means you only have about 20 hours a week to actually get the important stuff done even if you’re working a theoretical 40 hour week.

Plan accordingly.

Email, administrative stuff, meetings, reading to stay current, social networking etc you do off the clock. All that stuff gets done but when you focus on the 20 hours of productive time you have every week…and 20 hours isn’t much…you have to get very focused on the stuff that matters.

Let me know what you think,

Susan

Technorati Tags: Starting an Online Business