And this is where creative entrepreneurs have a really great advantage in online marketing – all you artists, sculpters, anyone who makes gorgeous handmade items – you all have a wealth of beautiful and interesting pictures and images you can use to enliven your site, your blog, your videos. Even authors have book cover images to use.

But if you are a service based ‘expert’, coach, consultant and so forth – it is a challenge to find relevant and interesting pictures and images to use in your online marketing. And many people advise against the use of those stock images we can buy, they are not very realistic. Better to have similar images of your own staff, yourself, your work and your ideas.

So I would like to share a couple of links that I came across  the other week with some good ideas from Mike Capuzzi on using images and different types of photos of you within your online marketing content. I thought there were some good ideas in there, some I had not seen before, and some which kicked off some ideas for me to use in by online marketing.

I hope you find some useful ideas in there too. If so, make a note of them, and plan some photos for yourself. 

I’ve booked a photographer for next week .

What action are you going to take to personalise the photos to use in your online marketing?

http://www.mikecapuzzi.com/unique-ways-get-attention-photos/

http://www.mikecapuzzi.com/pictures-for-effective-marketing-advertising/

Have Fun !

You provide a service, or you create things, art, writing – either way there is the constant tension between doing what you do, and developing your business and doing your marketing.

I am always fully busy providing my online marketing and video marketing services to my clients, and admit to neglecting some aspects of my own online marketing.

BUT NOT ANY LONGER !

I have made it my main objective / goal / mission to start spending much needed time building my business and have started becoming more selective in the work I accept. I am doing this so I can invest time into my business, to re-position my services, and re-align my business with my professional and my personal lifestyle needs.

There have been a few catalysts for this change,both  business and personal. I recognised that I have been busy creating a service rather than building a business.I see the difference, understand  how I have drifted.  And although my service offerings have kept me busy, have served me well, paid the bills, the time is now right for me to do this.

So I have been

• planning the changes I needed to make,
• mapping out the shift in emphasis,
• defining my target market,
• and scoping out the packages & products that I was going to develop

and whilst doing this, I came across an interesting challenge  /event which has really helped me continue with the momentum of making changes whilst keeping a full client load going…

I discovered the Firepole Marketing Great Online Scavenger Hunt.

Playing a game to get stuff done – lightens the mental load, adds something new to what can become dull online routine…….

An online marketing challenge, running over 5 weeks (note to self: check the end date !).

With loads of different challenges to complete, for points.

Its a wide-ranging list of things to do which provide a great focus and motivation to keep chipping away at those small little tasks, we keep promising ourselves we will ‘get round to it’ !

Sections on networking, blogging,social media,multimedia,writing & research, and ‘real life’ stretch, prod and challenge us all to get stuff done…..

There are also opportunities to connect with other players, and we have to keep score for 3 fellow competitors, which also encourages participation and meeting new online friends.

Here is the link to Firepole Marketing Great Online Scavenger Hunt

And here is the tumblr blog I set up to participate and record my progress http://virtualityworks.tumblr.com/

All-in-all I think this is an excellent idea.

It encourages learning by doing, and also making connections, building online presence and networking.

It will certainly be an idea that I am keen to adapt and include in my forthcoming projects.

What about you? Do you think you could take this idea and use it in an interesting way…

• to attract potential clients
• showcase your creativity
• build community
• encourage people to learn new skills?

I would love to know your thoughts, to see how you can take this idea and adapt it for your business.

Leave a comment…..share your thoughts – I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Positioning. Platform. Profiles.

Like so many other peas in a pod.

So how DO WE describe ourselves, make it obvious what we do, how we help…. in an interesting and unique way ?

There are millions of words written about it, free reports, seminars, info products by the ton, but an article on LinkedIn caught my eye last week, which also made me smile.

It was talking about the grandiose way in which people describe themselves, how easy it is to fall into the trap of using overworked, meaningless waffle. It listed 16 particularly overworked words to avoid when describing yourself.

The link is at the end of this post.

Just this evening I was looking for inspiration for new words to reflect my evolving business, for ways to express what I do, how I can help.

Yep – my new positioning.

And yes, trawling through LinkedIn I came across some absolute ‘classic’ descriptions.

But the thing that I come back to every time

is that if you want people to find you in some sort of online search, are more people going to find you if you call yourself a blue sky visionary thinker inspiring blah blah whatever…. or …… a business mentor ? Like it or not, you need to build some form of keywords into the words you use to describe you, what you do for others, and what you call your ‘stuff’.

What you do, what results you get,  is more useful to people than what you ‘are’.

I like the ‘I (verb) X to Y even though Z’ format that Mike Koenigs & Paul Colligan propose as part of their Author Expert Marketing Machines training. They give an excellent example such as “I teach busy new mums how to loose weight even though they only have 5 minutes a day”

My latest version of this statement for myself is:

“I help busy but overwhelmed artists,authors,experts, coaches to become known as the expert in their niche and to boost their online business, whilst removing stress & creating success, even when their online presence seems to be in a mess “

I will keep tinkering….. what about you?

How could you create a statement like this for yourself?

Here are 4 things for you to do 

•  Checkout the article, Stop Using These 16 Terms To Describe Yourself!
• Hop on over to your profiles and see what words you have used
• Ask yourself – Is it time you re-positioned your positioning?
• Think about your positioning statement  - remember its…  ‘I (verb) X to Y even though Z’

What do you think about this topic? Want to leave a comment?

In fact these other services greatly complement my TG services, as there are times when clients need general internet marketing services in addition to help with their TG projects and challenges.

Here is a recent example.

I was asked to set up a basic website, from which my client wanted to sell a download-able e-booklet. That was it.

The client is also not very technically confident, so I wanted a solution which needed little or no input from them.

I looked around for a simple shopping cart, a fellow VA mentioned that she had used e-Junkie, and recommended I give it a try.

I am happy to report that it was very quick and easy to get started and implement, and very cost effective (prices start at $5 per month), and integrates easily with PayPal, Ebay and other forms of payment. There are simple easy to use features and more complex features depending on what you are wanting to do.

For us, selling one simple downloadable product from a simple wordpress-based website, and processing payment through Paypal was perfect.

• You register
• add the product(s) you want to sell,
• add the electronic file
• link to your paypal business account
• get the button code for ‘add to cart’ and ‘buy now / checkout’  buttons
• put the button code on your website

I created some new buttons that fit with the ‘look and feel’  of the site, and easily substituted the image location in the code to use my new buttons rather than the standard buttons generated by eJunkie.

The only slight issue we had was setting up a couple of simple parameters within Paypal so that the payments were processed immediately.Once they were set up, following clear advice from the eJunkie help system, it all worked beautifully.

Oh, and I would just like to point out that this is in no way any form of affiliate promo – I just liked using it and thought it very useful. I would use it again.

If you would like me to do something similar for you – please get in touch!

And finally, I would love to know your experiences with simple shopping carts?  Any Coments To Share?

Bye For Now, Susan

I am proud to announce that I am listed in that directory as a Traffic Geyser Certified Virtual Assistant.

Prior to that, I had been one of a small number of virtual assistants trained and certified by Traffic Geyser (and VAClassroom) working through a subcontract relationship, providing virtual assistant services to traffic geyser members who purchased VA packages direct from Traffic Geyser. Whilst this was a good starting point for my new virtual assistant business, it was not without its complications.

So I was feeling a mixture of excitement and trepidation when I heard the news that the Certified Professionals Directory was going to be launched. Now us VA’s would be ‘on our own’ so to speak.

But it turned out to be the perfect next phase for my own business development.

It also coincided with the hugely popular launch of  Mainstreet Marketing Machines 2.0 Fusion.

…And what an experience it has been…

The volume of enquiries and work has rocketed – I can look forward to some great longer term client relationships, and I am working with great clients around the world.

I have taken the decision to specialise in providing full-time Traffic Geyser Certified Virtual Assistant services.

I have spent time over the last few weeks talking with many potential clients, particularly regarding how I can support their planned ‘Fusion’  business…as Mike Koenigs frequently highlights

‘you make money using Fusion and outsourcing’.  ’Focus on the quality, the value, the turn round time and the experience’.

Well that’s why I have committed to this program, and its where my many years of professional IT, project management, technical training and training management experience start to add great value to your goals of launching and growing your successful Traffic Geyser ‘Fusion’ business.

So as you move into ‘launch mode’ for your new business venture,

• are you feeling overwhelmed,
• are you running out of time to get everything done,
• struggling to keep up with training,
• learning and using new functionality to your best advantage ?

And of course getting busy

• finding those clients,
• selling more services
• and developing your business

…there is such a lot to do isn’t there?

Now is the time to start searching for a strategic outsource partnership with the VA of your choice - someone who can work with you as a key part of your business growth strategy.

I would love to talk to you, find out more about your business plans & ideas, outline how I can help you.

Get to know you, your background and experience and for you to discover the same about me.

Let’s see how we can work together – Let’s Connect & Get Started !