3 Reasons Why You NEED YouTube For Your Business

February 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Guest Blogger: Ana Levley

A lot of businesses still are debating whether or not to do social media. I understand the concern. When you come from a “traditional corporate” background, it may be really hard to imagine personalizing your business. But let’s take a look at one of the biggest social media sites out there: the amazing YouTube. It is not JUST a social media site. It is not JUST a place to find videos of cute cats and kids. It is also a search engine (the second most popular search engine, actually) – yes, really!

Are you on YouTube? If not, here are three reasons why you should be if you have a business:

1. YouTube is FREE. It is a free channel that billions of people view every day. That’s right! In fact, Mashable reports that YouTube just surpassed 2 billion views daily. YouTube is like basic cable now because everyone who has Internet can access it and watch it. So your business could have free promotion and ads with thousands of views at no charge.

 

 

2. YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world according to UPI.com. 28% of Google’s searches are referred to YouTube.

 

 

 

3. YouTube is great to boost your Website SEO by embedding the videos. Google helps out its own comrades, (which, YouTube is, since it is owned by Google). Google loves YouTube and will help anyone who searches for your keywords find your videos in the search results. With the keywords tool on YouTube you can easily reach your target demographic.

 

 

 

 

With YouTube videos, you will be able to reach your target demographic and spread your brand. Now, knowing this, all you have to do is create a YouTube Video!

Don’t know how to make a YouTube Video?

Don’t care how to make a YouTube Video (and just want it boom, done)?

We can help.

[Also - if you are in the Los Angeles or Orange County Area (or will be), Ana is available for filming.] 

Ana Levley is the resident Go2Girls Video Guru. Her social media experience comes from a broad background including, film and comic books. She is great at driving traffic in niche markets. Ana graduated from UC Irvine with a major in Drama and minor in conflict resolution, which we are convinced is the driving force behind her sense of humor and ability to deal with Laurie’s “Ana! I have the BEST idea for a video!” late night calls.

Ana believes in giving back to the community. She is involved in a variety of charities including Walk for Alzheimer’s and Relay for Life and also donates time working with Families Forward and Invisible Children. A lover of all thing outdoors, Ana enjoys camping, hiking and kayaking. She also knows how to cook tofu. All around, she is an impressive gal.

Filed Under: building a list, SEO, videos, YouTube

How to import contacts from Excel to Address book

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Soooo – you’ve scanned in all your business cards from that trade show, and put them in Excel. How do you get your contacts from Excel to Address Book. (Address Book is where contacts are stored on the MAC – just in case “you are a PC” and you are reading this).

So, here’s what you do:

1. Make sure your Excel file uses the first row as headings (first name, last name, street address, etc), and then save your Excel file as a .CSV, preferably somewhere that you can easily find it, 45 seconds from now.

2. BACK UP your address book by clicking on File –> Export –> Address Book Archive.

 

 

 

 

3. Save it somewhere that you can quickly recover it in case something goes awry (you never know!)

4. Import your .CSV file by clicking File –> Import

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Navigate to where the .CSV file is, and then click “open” (Leave “text encoding” to Automatic)

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Make sure that the little box in the lower left that says “ignore first card” is checked (this is going to refer to your header column that you made sure was there in step 1)

7. Take a look at the left window to make sure everything looks like it is matching up right. If it’s not, you can change what gets imported where by clicking the up/down arrows next to the thing you want to change.

8. If you want to see the first few cards that will be imported, you can click through them by using the left and right arrow buttons in the bottom center.

9. Click ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boom, done!

(Welllll…. almost…You still have to follow up with all those people) :-)

Filed Under: how to, MAC Tips

What the heck is SEO, anyway?

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We get a lot of questions about SEO and SEO basics. Here’s a summary of how the conversation usually goes:

Client: “Does your team do S-E-O?”

Me: “Uh, you know, SEO is a pretty big subject. What sorts of SEO support are you looking for?”

Client: “I don’t know…I just heard I should do it.”

Me: “Do it? Do what?”

Client: “You know, turn on my SEO! Can you do that for me?”

Me: “Err…”

I know, a lot of you are waiting for the answer, right? Can we turn it on, or not? Seems like a simple yes or no question… Here’s the answer: It doesn’t quiiiite work like that. Optimizing a site for the search engines is a wee bit more complicated than “turning it on.” Getting the most out of the content you post is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about. It sounds simple, right? The “How to do it” part though, that takes some work.

SEO Basics, and keeping it simple

Listen – It took me quite a while to figure out the SEO basics too. It’s complicated, and everyone has an opinion on it. So, what we’re gonna’ do, is a series of posts to cover the SEO basics for you. We certainly can’t include absolutely everything you need to know about SEO. Heck, there are books galore on the subject, big books too, as well as online and college classes. So, we’re just going to hit the high spots for you and – keep it simple.

We’ll share some ideas about website SEO; why it’s important and how you can help yourself with some basic SEO techniques and strategies. Next, we’ll go over the basics of content SEO; how to do it, why you should, and how it will help you improve your ranking in the search results

First – here are some things you should know:

SEO traps to watch out for

  1. No one can promise to get you to the top of Google, except Google – and those ads at the top of the page are paid for, folks. So, ignore anyone who makes you that promise (to get to the first page of Google, because it is…what’s the word…We’ll just call it “B.S” :-)
  2. You can’t hire a company to “do SEO” for you for a month, and then expect to get big results. You have to keep doing it…and revising it…over and over and over…endlessly and relentlessly.
  3. Your friend’s teenage son, who is “good with computers,” might not be the best choice to hire to do your SEO (even if he DOES know how to use Facebook).

The basic summary is that this is a big specialty, with many parts, and if you want to see results you need to go with a pro. After all, if you’re going to bother to spend money on it, and also expect to get something out of it, don’t skimp. If you don’t really care, and just want someone to categorize your blog posts then, yeah, your neighbors’ geeky son might be the right choice after all.

As we move through this little series on SEO, we’re also going to provide some resources for you to grab more SEO info from the web, if you want it. In fact, Let’s do that right now.

SEO basics on the web

When you want to know more about SEO, the best place to begin looking is the web, specifically at companies who offer this service as a specialty. One of these is: SEOmoz blog. These guys are the go-to-guys of SEO. Go ahead and check them out to begin your SEO education. If you don’t care how it works, and want someone to check out your website and tell you what to do, I also think the folks at Titan SEO are great too!

We don’t know if we’ll be able to answer all of your, “What the heck is SEO, anyway?” questions in this series of posts we have planned. Admittedly, we don’t have ALL the answers about content SEO or website SEO ourselves. But, we know some stuff. We do promise, however, to share the SEO basics with you.

(This post 1 of 4 in a series on SEO and SEO Basics – more to come!)

Filed Under: SEO

What’s The Big Deal About Sales Anyway?

January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How to sell

(you don't have to be this guy)

(Written by Guest blogger, Jane Garee)

If you’re a business owner, you may have come to the realization that your business is not making enough money.  Often, people don’t see the direct correlation between “sales” and the revenue that’s coming in.  Although I understand the bad rap selling often gets, it’s really just a way of saying, “My company is making money”. If you own a business, this is rather necessary, don’t you think?  Although sympathetic to anyone who doesn’t want to sell, it still has to be done.  Kind of like when you don’t want to do the cardio but want to eat the cake.  So, here are two of the top items you may want to check off your list on your way to becoming a salesperson (also known as, “Hey, I can keep my company going!”):

1. Get comfortable with the language.

It’s become very popular to change the semantics so that we are no longer required to sell, we can just “share”, “explain”, “inform” or “educate”.  The fact that people are now wandering around doing this and are surprised that they are not thriving financially may be the biggest sales job of all.  If you share, explain, inform or educate anyone about what you do and they don’t pay you for it, is that going to keep your business afloat?  The very definition of selling is that there is an exchange of products or services for money.  I love goodwill as much as the next person but when it comes times to pay the bills, well.  I don’t know about you but I’m only allowed to send money, not testimonials from people who say I’ve imparted great information.  I’m of a firm mindset that you can’t say you want to prosper financially and hate sales and expect to see a happy outcome.  If you keep in mind that selling is an exchange of something (money for goods or services) and that’s all it is, you’ll be one step ahead in embracing sales as a profession.  Go on, just say it.  “I sell!”  “I’m in sales!”  No one has to hear it but you.

2. Be you and not some cheesy “salesperson”.

You don’t have to be one of them to succeed in sales.  Embrace sales as something you do, not some personality you have to become!  We’ve all experienced the pushy, insincere salesperson who has you screaming for joy when they leave.  That’s NOT what I’m talking about and in the long run, this doesn’t work anyway.  You can be everything you strive to be in your business; real, sincere, caring, genuinely interested and still close a deal. To do that however, you will need solid sales training to get you the tools you need to be successful. Great sales people aren’t born, they’re made.  When you get good sales training, you’ll understand there is a system and specific language that can influence the outcome so that your client’s life will truly improve.  I can’t think of anything sadder than someone needing you and not having the chance to understand how much you can transform their life or business.  What’s the downside of that?  “Gee, Mary. I’d love to help and can but to do that, you’d have to pay me and that just goes against my integrity.”  Really? Again, if you love being self-employed and love being able to pay your bills, start to love sales…fast. Believe it or not, good sales training with a good mentor will actually start this process.

The bottom line is, every business has a bottom line and that alone determines your success as a business owner.  If you’re serious about your business, you need to get serious about sales.

 Jane is part of the Go2Girls 2012 Speaker Series!

Join us for her call, or download the recording: If you’re in business, you’re in sales: How to discover and unleash your inner Sales Rockstar!” 

Who is this “Jane Garee” Chick?

Known as the “Sales Strategist for the Non-Sales Person”, Jane teaches business owners and entrepreneurs how to discover, unleash and embrace their inner Sales Rockstar so they can earn the income they deserve and live the life they’ve always dreamed of. She is the founder and owner of Lilyflower Entreprises, which includes the brands Write Expressions Inc, Lilyflower Publishing and the widely popular “Rockstar Sales Strategies” courses. Jane helps business owners gain confidence to take their brand and services into the world through sales strategies that don’t feel sales-y or pushy. Her sales training teaches her clients how to uncover their strongest business traits, position themselves for success and how to stand out in a crowd so their companies prosper.

 

Filed Under: business

Why I talk about my personal life in business

January 10, 2012 By 2 Comments

I was working on my ezine today, and got to thinking… In my “personal note” section I often talk about, well, my personal life. My thoughts, my kids (okay, a lot about my kids), my husband, my vacations, or whatever comes to mind. I often debate whether it’s okay to share these things. After all – this is business, not a mommy blog, right? I decided, after much debate, that it is okay to share personal stories because of these reasons:

  • I personally enjoy getting to know the “human side” of the people I work with or admire – especially since a lot of my connections are made online. I feel that there is a lack of human connection these days, and it’s just nice to know that there are…real people out there. (NOTE: there is a fine line between “ooooh, look at that cute puppy he bought” and “OMG, why did he tell us about the hairy wart on his toe?” TMI people – know where that line is, and DO NOT APPROACH!)
  • Most of the people I am connected to are solopreneurs. They are business owners, founders, and CEOs that are going it alone. More than I probably know are parenting kids. I hope that some of what I share inspires you on some level. For us business-owner-mom hybrids, it’s important to know that there are others out there doing the same thing. More importantly, it’s important to find out HOW they are doing it. I love hearing the creative ways that people find time to create great memories with their families. Life is important. Our kids, our families, and the things we do, are all important. For many of us, our businesses provide a way for us to do these things that we want to do, and it’s important to know how to balance it all.

That’s pretty much it. My short and sweet philosophy.

You, on your own entrepreneurial journey have to decide if it’s okay for you and your “peeps”. For me, you know the deal.

What do you think?

Filed Under: blogging, business

Google and WordPress – Love at First Site

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The question of the moment these days is: Should I use WordPress for my website? The answer is probably, yes.

The Number One Reason to use WordPress for your blog or small business website is…wait for the drum roll here…GoogleLoves WordPress. Of course, WordPress also loves Google, but that goes without saying.

As it turns out, the developers of WordPress and their company Automatic, were smart enough to design the platform with the full intention of seducing Google. It worked too. As a result, WordPress has quickly become the most popular blog and website platform in the world, servicing about 12 % of the entire web and, it continues to grow. In fact, at this point, it looks like Google and WordPress will be together forever. There is definitely no divorce in sight here.

Google and WordPress, a match made in heaven

Why do Google and WordPress get along so well?

  1. Google loves text because text is easy to read.
  2. Google loves blogs because blogs are text-based and…text is easy to read.
  3. Google loves logical architecture in a website and WordPress is designed logically.
  4. Google loves cheap crawling and text is easy – therefore cheap – to crawl.
  5. Google loves good SEO and WordPress, because of its structure and blog-based design is very SEO-friendly.

Google and WordPress, a great match for you

What does all of this mean for you, the novice blogger or website owner? It means that being found by Google, and any other search engine for that matter, is much easier when you place your blog or business website on WordPress.

  1. WordPress is free for blogging, and as a small business website.
  2. WordPress is easy to use for the novice, with no coding involved.
  3. WordPress has wonderful features like themes to enhance the look and plugins to broaden its functions.
  4. WordPress has an international group of programmers creating new and exciting additions to the basic design.
  5. WordPress will only get better over time, based on the history.

For even more on the love affair between Google and WordPress, expand2web.com has a great article on the subject.

Using a blogging and website platform that the search engines love, especially the most popular search engine, Google, makes so much sense that it should not have to be mentioned by anyone. There are other platforms available, after all. With the relationship between Google and WordPress being so strong though, it just doesn’t make sense to go with any other platform. Really, it doesn’t.

Filed Under: blogging, SEO, websites, Wordpress

Newsletter Basics – Don’t Overdo It

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bad Ezine Layout Example :-)

How many newsletters do you receive per month? How many do you actually read? How many do you even scan, for that matter?

A newsletter that looks like the New York Times Sunday Edition is going to scare people away faster than a timeshare salesman offering one of those “free vacations” (BTW – if anyone wants to buy a nice timeshare in Vegas, just email me) :-) . lol One of the simplest newsletter basics is – don’t overdo it.

Newsletter Basics – What to Include

  • KISS is the rule of thumb for a newsletter these days. Keeping it simple will get the best response, and will improve the chances that your newsletter will actually be read.
  • Do not complicate your newsletter message. It can just be a simple “Hey, look what I posted on my blog last week, and here’s what we’re up to lately.” People appreciate brevity more than ever these days.
  • The more complicated your newsletter message becomes, the less likely that you will actually write it – AND the less likely that anyone will actually read it. If you’re too busy to read a long newsletter message, you should assume that your readers are too.
  • Offer value for value. Your readers have given you something valuable (their email address). In return, you should offer valuable information (if you wish to keep them on your list).
  • Think about the newsletters that you read – and brazenly copy them (no, I don’t mean the CONTENT!). Do you read the newsletter that has 15 sections of four page articles – or do you read the simple message that offers value?

People are simply too busy today to spend an hour or two reading your newsletter; or they think they are, which basically amounts to the same thing. A shorter newsletter published more often will be of much greater benefit than a monthly tome. Remembering these newsletter basics will improve your relationship with those on your list because you are not demanding more time than they have to give.

Filed Under: blogging, ezine, newsletter

Top 5 SEO Secrets that “Everyone Knows”

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There are certain things “everyone” knows about SEO, or should, or claim to, but which techniques and strategies are the most effective? Here is a list of the Top 5 SEO Secrets that “Everyone Knows” you should use to improve your placement on your search engine results pages (SERPs).

  1. Be consistent and relentless in the practice of SEO. You must practice, practice, practice the techniques and strategies required by the search engines for improved ranking on the SERPs. Since they are constantly searching, indexing, and ranking new content, you must constantly provide fresh content which will attract them. You cannot rest if you wish to be successful.
  2. Use well-researched keywords and phrases. Single words have virtually no meaning to the search engines, or are simply so general as to have no meaning. Phrases are the key to finding an audience. Think of how you do your own searches and you will understand this. Be as specific as possible when using keywords. If you need help, pay for a keyword research project.
  3. Highlight your keywords and phrases within the text. By using the bold, underline, and italics features when creating your text, you will highlight your keyword phrases for the search engines. This makes them easier to find. Do this once each with three uses of the keyword phrase within your text.
  4. Create relevant, timely, well-written content. Since the sharing of information on the internet began as nothing but text, content is king. Google especially loves a good blog, but all search engines are biased toward text – and they always will be. Keep your content fresh and lively and they will find you more easily.
  5. Remember your audience. Not just the reader, but the search engines, too. Yes, you are writing for a dual audience. One is alive while the other is a machine. One will read and share your content because it resonates with them, the other will share it because it matches an unknown formula, or algorithm. Do you research, here and elsewhere, and learn to write for both audiences; your visitors and the search engines.

Simply by following these Top 5 SEO Secrets that “Everyone Knows” you will make it easy, or easier, for the search engines to find you. Of course, there are many other things you can do to improve your site’s SEO, but these are simple steps which will give you a boost in the SERPs – and most people never use them.

Filed Under: how to, SEO, tips and lists, websites

Blog Content – 5 Things You Can Do to Blog Consistently

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

There you were… 4 glasses of champagne into the night, and the clock hadn’t even struck midnight.

And there were your friends…declaring their resolutions left and right.

Suzy: “I’m going to lose weight!”

Betty: “I’m going to clean out my closets!”

Jane: “I’M going to clean out my WHOLE HOUSE – and DONATE all my un-used items to charity” (somebody always has to one-up someone, don’t they?)

Lauren: “I’m going to fix world hunger!”

Everybody looks at you…Awk. ward. 

“I’m going tooooo…..ummm….Blog!” (friends=not impressed) “er….3 times a week!” 

The party erupts with applause. You are cool again.

Oy. So here you are – a new month, a new week, a new day… and it’s time to think of something to blog about…again.

Creating blog content consistently is one of the most common problems bloggers complain about. How do you keep writing when you’ve said all there is to say on a subject? Well, chances are, you haven’t. Plus, there are varieties of ways to write about the same thing which will appeal to different audiences, or to different segments of the same audience.

Creative blog content

  1. Write a series of blog posts on a single topic. Chances are, you know WAY more stuff than you should be shoving into one blog post so, create a series of posts which will thoroughly examine a single subject. This is a great way to “keep ‘em comin’ back for more.”

  2. Do a quick-tip series in your niche. A series like, “Blog posts don’t have to be long!”, is a great way to generate interest and get readers to share and follow your blog content.

  3. Pre-write a bunch of posts in one sitting and schedule them to post automatically at a later date. You’ll free yourself from the stress of trying to generate new ideas on a weekly basis and, if you’re blogging in WordPress as you should be, this is very simple to do from your dashboard.

  4. Dictate your ideas and send them to a writer. Hiring a writer to create blog content for you is becoming more popular every year. Feel free to jump on the bandwagon and find yourself a ghostwriter.

  5. Or – Don’t do anything – and just leave it all to your ghostwriter.

Fresh blog content

Fresh blog content is the key to being found by the search engines and by readers. Without it, your blog will fail. Step outside your comfort zone and get creative, or your blog may soon languish in the ignored-due-to-boredom realm of the internet.

Filed Under: blogging, goal, tips and lists, writing

The Best of 2011

December 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Some days, you just don’t need to reinvent sliced bread. :-) We did a lot of great articles over the past year (if I do say so myself), so today I’m highlighting the top 10 for you (the top 10, according to me).

How to’s:

1. How to Synch iCal with Google Calendar – calendar syncing… If you don’t do it, you TOTALLY should. Here’s how (instructions for PC users on there as well!)

2. How to share files using Dropbox – We all know that email is NOT the best way to try and send someone a ginormous file. (and if you didn’t, now you know). Dropbox is the solution. It’s free, and all the cool kids are using it.

3. How to Manage your email (part I) – Productivity takes practice. So does managing your email. Do you get sucked into the email black hole on a regular basis? Does your inbox have more than 0 emails? If so, read this! It will change your life. Or…your email habits anyway.

4. How to manage your email (part II) – a continuation of the email conversation with more details on how to manage it.

5. How to create and publish a blog post from Microsoft Word – This is by far one of the coolest things I learned this year. For some reason, I just prefer to type in Word sometimes. And, it’s easier to drag pictures into my posts too.

Lists:

6. 7 tips on how to be productive – Does productivity elude you? Take baby steps, my friend. Baby steps.

7. 5 things you can do with a teleseminar – My grasshopper, did you know that teleseminars are useful for things other than JUST … teleseminaring?

8. The difference between a teleseminar and a webinar – Teleseminars, Webinars, and Bears, oh my!

My favorite tools:

9. Where does that Short URL Really Go? – Sometimes, evil hacker people will hide malicious websites beneath those weird little short URLs. If you suspect a short URL goes somewhere funny, you can check it out here.

10. Cool Microsoft Word Trick – Ever need some filler text, and want to type something other than blah blah blah? Here’s how.

Filed Under: Dropbox, email, how to, productivity, tips and lists
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