Clarity of Vision

A few months ago, I discovered an online group called the International Association of Web Entrepreneurs (www.aweconnect.com), what I saw as a perfect way to learn new information, as well as connect with other business people who make their living online. The expert advice, and the benefits offered, were well worth the investment.

The connections have grown, and last month I was invited to become a Founding Partner and Social Media Expert for the association. Along with my co-founding partners, Sheri McConnell, CEO; Lisa Manyon, Copywriting Expert; and Susan Daffron, Web Development Expert we are pleased to announce the re-launch of the website, with even more information and benefits for members.

And now I’m inviting you to check out the new look and benefits. You can join for two full months for free to see if it’s a fit for you. Here are just some of the benefits:

1. You are eligible to call into a weekly Q & A session where you will receive weekly laser coaching and to have an opportunity to joint venture with other members. You also receive a printed copy of the AWE Newsletter every month.

2. You receive a live teleseminar every month with one of our AWE Experts (includes downloadable audio). CDs of the monthly teleseminars are sent every month in the mail.

3. You receive immediate access to our AWE Resource Rolodex: links to over 100 of the best companies on the web in over 50 categories.

4. You have access to thousands of dollars’ worth of educational products and services from our AWE experts such as

• You receive our CD program, Striking Internet Gold, with Penny Sansevieri.
• The Five Massive Mistakes That Can Put You Out of Business…And How to Avoid Them Special Report, Business Assessment, and Audio Program with Melanie Benson-Strick. PLUS 24 must-have success tips to catapult your revenue into six and seven figures.
• You receive 52 Different Kinds of Information Products eReport by Terry Robert.
• You receive the eReport, Poynter’s 112 Secret List of Book Promotion Contacts by Dan Poynter.
• You receive Raleigh Pinskey’s eReport, 101 Tips on How to Promote Your Books and InfoProducts on the Internet and her audio on Promoting.
• You receive the eReport, Online Business Essentials: The 5 Keys To Make the Internet Work For You by Tina Forsyth and Andrea J. Lee.
• You receive Email Promotions That Sell (audio and transcript) by Alexandria Brown (The E-Zine Queen).
• You receive the audio program, How to Get on Radio and TV Today by Penny Sansevieri.
• You receive the eReport, How a Virtual Assistant (VA) Can Help You Increase Your Profits by Andrea J. Lee. You also receive a FREE hour of VA service when you buy 10 VA hours.

5. You have access to our global network through our online Facebook group–receive support, expert advice, and industry resources.

6. You receive up to 20% off Wyndham Hotel Reservations when you travel. At most locations this is a savings of $25 a night!

7. You receive thousands of dollars’ worth of discounts on web-related services and products you need to build and promote a successful online business like

Free merchant account set-up–you save the $49 set-up fee at Practice Pay Solutions (PPS) when you open a merchant account. Through our partnership, your set-up fee is completely waived.

Discounted shopping cart technician–Practice Pay Solutions (PPS) will set up and customize your shopping cart for you too! The rate for non-PPS clients is $50/hour. Through our partnership, you only pay $30/hour. And most carts can be built in a couple of hours!

Website design (save over $100) on our 5 page web/blogsite design packages.

To read more about AWE, go to www.aweconnect.com.

In the meantime, when you visit the site, you can get a copy of the free downloadable audio and report, “10 Mindsets Web Entrepreneurs Must Have to Succeed”. Just visit the home page and you’ll see the e-book in the right column.

Enjoy!

Marilyn

One of the hottest topics in business, whether online or offline, is how to increase your list, the most valuable asset of your business. To do that online, you have to get people to find you. That involves driving traffic to your site, whether it’s a blog or website. The concept seems simple, but why aren’t people flooding to your site?

What I hear often from my clients is that they don’t know what to focus on first. There are so many options in social media, there’s a lot to consider. Since traffic doesn’t come from just one source, where do you start?

Here’s my tip: Create a strategic plan!

What does that involve? Here’s a quick overview of how to get started…

1. Remind yourself about the purpose of writing for social media (no it’s not to drive traffic; that will be the result, but the purpose is to build credibility and trust!).

2. Know your target market so you can write in their language.

3. Niche your market to its narrowest target. For example, targeting “writers” is too broad. Targeting online writers is still broad. Social Media Writers is better. Social Media Marketing Writers is much more specific.

4. Once you zero in on your target market, make sure they exist! Compile a list of 50 - 100 keywords. Use Google Alerts to test the frequency of those keywords, and what sites come up when searched. You’ll see if anyone is actually searching for what you offer. (Doing this will also give you information on who is talking to the same audience, so bookmark those blogs for commenting on later.)

5. If your target market is alive and searching, find the social media they are using (blogs, networking sites, etc.).

6. Focus on one to begin. There are more things to think about and do in your overall strategy, so focusing on one in the beginning will help you avoid overwhelm. Having a target market also alleviates this overwhelm. You’ll know where to place your energy.

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Even without a blog, you can utilize this method to start to drive people to your website. Once your blog is up, you can exchange links with those blogs and build your expert status.

That’s a good start. I’ll be sharing more in future posts.

For now, Write On!

Marilyn

You’ve been writing for years. What could be different about writing for the web that you don’t already know? More than you might think, trust me. If you simply move your print documents onto web pages, you will not be using this powerful tool to its best use.

For the past 10 years I’ve coached authors to become published in the traditional book publishing arena. For the past 5 years, I’ve used the web as my main marketing tool. Now I’m diving in to sharing what I’ve learned that’s different when writing for the web for fun and profit. What do you need to know to make your writing effective?

Here are 10 ways that writing for the web is different:

1. Web readers tend to scan text online, rarely reading a page from start to finish on the computer screen. They are much more apt to quickly determine if what they are looking for is there, then print out the page to read offline.

2. Make your message clear immediately. Don’t bury it. The typical web reader scanning your page will either miss it or not even bother to look for it.

3. Summarize first. This is referred to as the inverted pyramid or journalistic style of writing. Put the main point of your writing in the first paragraph.

4. Be concise. Use lists when you can. Scanning is easier in this format.

5. Write for scanning. Readers look for relevant words rather than reading word by word. Highlight main points using headings, white space, and bold/italic emphasis.

6. While writing for the reading habits of online visitors is important, don’t sacrifice information to be accommodating. Get their attention with key words, highlighting, etc., then make it easy for them to print out your material. They’ll happily do this if what you have to say is comprehensive and you’ve provided needed information.

7. Web readers do not necessarily read pages in sequence. Again, use of headers and summary of the topic on different pages will make it more likely that they will find the necessary information.

8. Chunk information into segments. Much of what is written for the web is reference material. Chunking allows readers to quickly locate what they are looking for.

9. Include links to related or supporting pages for additional information, breaking up the writing into shorter, more digestible pages. (One caveat: don’t break your narrative into small segments if you think users will want to print the information; if you can’t predict printing, offer a link to a pdf file. Also, readers should not have to follow links to understand what you are saying; links are for pursuing more information about the topic.)

10. Be succinct. Write half as much as you would in a hardcopy publication.

Keep in mind your own reading habits on the web. Then apply your experience to your own writing. Keep it simple and clear!

Write On!
Marilyn

Have you ever been talking with someone you thought knew you really well, and they suddenly look at you as though they’d never seen you before, and ask, “What do you actually do for a living?”

That’s happened to me twice in the past week. These are people I’ve known for years, and have had many conversations with – and not just a few glasses of wine (okay, that might be part of the fuzziness).

They know I’m a writer, but they are not so sure how I make money. And my business is constantly evolving. So, I started to explain…

“I teach people how to write for the web for profit.”

“How do you do that?”

“Veeeeeery carefully (bada dum).”

“No, seriously. I teach people how to increase income by using their writing to connect with and provide information to people online.”

Then I lose them with, “First, you start with a blog…”

That isn’t always what you start with first, but that’s what I’m suggesting you do, if you want to start capitalizing on using your writing to create profit on the web. Because a blog gives you the opportunity to write, everyday if possible. A blog is also the perfect tool to combine your social network sites, your social bookmarking, and your website into a continual information stream that will give people an opportunity to know what you and your business is about, as well as what services and products you offer. That’s not even going into the topic of online articles, press releases, and copywriting.

So, let’s start at the blog for the moment. You have a website, but no blog? Or you don’t have either? What’s your first step? If you just want to get up and running and don’t want to spend a lot of time or money, you can go to www.Blogger.com. It’s a free service (although you usually get what you pay for). It’s easy to use, but more involved if you want to spruce it up and you are limited in the widgets and plug-ins available (I’ll explain these in my next post). I started with Blogger, but recently moved to Wordpress.

There are two versions of Wordpress. Both versions are free. Wordpress.com, like Blogger, is very simple to use with templates you can choose from and the basics in place. If you want to change the design or add more widgets and plug-ins to the picture, you will want to go to Wordpress.org. At that point, you will want to contact your webhost or web designer and have them help you with the setup on the host server. While Wordpress.org offers a lot of expansion and design features, for a newbie or a nontechnical person, setting it up might be more than you want to deal with.

I’m still working out some of the bugs in Wordpress.org. I did it because I wanted to use the banner from my original website, and there are many more widgets available designed only for Wordpress. I’ve been able to add HTML code to some areas and do some minor alterations myself. But, for anything significant, I have to rely on my Wordpress coder guy. That takes a little longer for me to do that. So, while the tool is free to use, it’s not necessarily free to operate.

Another blog service I use is www.Typepad.com. I have my Stumbling Into Grace book writing site there, which I am preparing to relaunch in June. Typepad is a membership site, starting with the basic package of $4.95 per month, which allows me to have a basic blog. If you want to change the look or add media, you need the Pro package for $14.95 per month, with an unlimited number of blogs to your account.

The key is, just get started. You will have to build your readership and use other techniques to be found, but that’s true for your website and any other type of marketing you are doing to promote you and your business. Ah, another topic for a post…

Write On!

Marilyn

What is it that captures your visitor’s attention, whether it’s your blog, an online article, or a web page? A pretty design might make them feel good, but in the fast-moving attention span of readers on the web, it’s the content that is most important. If you write poorly, you’ll be less likely to be taken seriously. However, few web writers are experienced.

To help you, here are my 10 tips for writing well for the web…

1. Laser Your Focus. Write what you want to convey to the reader in one sentence. If you are having trouble, try again with emphasis on one clear topic. Rewrite it until that one sentence is clear. This is now the theme of what you will be discussing. Use anything else that doesn’t relate to that theme for another page/post/article.

2. Keep it Concise. Web readers are looking for quick reading. If something needs more explanation, offer a link to a download so they can read it later.

3. Keep Sentences Short. Don’t write down to the reader, just let them know your point, then move to the next point quick, before they leave!

4. Clear up the Clutter. Remove repetitive and unnecessary words. Keep it simple and direct. High falutin’ words can be irritating and create a distance between writer and audience.

5. Know Your Audience. What are they interested in reading? Talk to them in their language. Make it personal. That’s how you speak in person, so speak to your reader and they will hear you!

6. Serve Your Audience. If you have what your audience is looking for, they will appreciate it and return often.

7. Keep Your Voice Active. Use present voice to describe the experience. Your descriptions will be clear and the reader will feel connected.

8. Leave White Space. White space allows the reader’s eyes to rest. Break up long paragraphs to make scanning easy. If you can’t break it down, use bold to highlight your main points. Break up long copy with subheads or bold the beginning of each section.

9. Refine and Polish. Never publish your first draft. If possible, have someone else read it. A small typo can make a big difference. When you are ready to publish it, spell check it!

10. Get Started! You can do it. Write simply, clearly, and with your own style. You speak to people all the time. Just write the words down!