Letters From Dan

Ever want to know who’s following you on Twitter? There are several services that will give you that information.

But if you’re just looking to find out who because it would be fun, you’re missing the real value. What you really want to be looking for are the brands and personalities in your niche (or related to your target market) that are following you. These are the people who can see your tweets and engage with you.

And sometimes it indicates researching you as well.

This is a chapter from our Marketing Calendar Blueprint product (which I’ll also be talking about at the SMAC event you see above in the blog header). The Marketing Calendar Blueprint teaches you how to strategically plan your year so you always be providing to your audience what they are looking for.

The idea is simple . . . and so is the execution. One of the chapters is about deciding which social media site to work on. . . there are so many, aren’t there? Here’s a sneak peek:

Whether you’re just starting out or have been trying for some time, if you’re not making money then you’re frustrated. Now there’s no shame in making money online. You don’t have to be a spammer or a shark. All you have to do is provide what people want, when they want it with a design they like and trust. That’s it.

So if you’re frustrated I want you to do these 5 things to make concrete repeatable progress online:

1. Google Analytics. Get Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools on your site. Don’t worry about setting up the Analytics goals and funnels yet. Just make sure that you’ve got visitor and keyword tracking on your site. If you use WordPress get the Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools plugin and add them both to your site.  That’s not too difficult, is it?

One common mistake small business owners make is failing to outsource what isn’t aligned with the goals of the family and the business. While that often means accounting, legal and things like fulfillment, it can also mean domestic duties.

What I found most interesting at conferences I’ve attended lately is that talk of hiring a housekeeper is akin to killing one’s identity. Somehow our ability to maintain our own homes ourselves is part of our pride, it’s part of what makes us who we are.

But I argue that’s the wrong way to think about it:

Now you’ve heard my case for a housekeeper. What’s yours?

Anyone ever offer to write a guest post for you? I imagine you were either daunted by what to do or very excited that someone else provided content for you. Either way, I bet your first response wasn’t strategic.

After creating a keyword theme map for a client this week, I was asked by the client what she was supposed to do with guest posts. She wanted to know if she was to put them in their on silo on site or if she was to stop accepting them. The answer is neither. Armed with a keyword theme map you won’t have to wonder about accepting guests posts.

Instead you can start offering and accepting positions for “blog post substitutes”.

I’ve spent a lot of time learning about advertising on the radio. I understand ROI as well as MER (Media Efficiency Ratio). I understand the point of 30 minute long form ads verus :30 second spots and prime placement versus remnant space. These are all radio terms that help businesses get good at advertising on the radio.

But here’s something I don’t get. When I was a kid growing up in Anchorage, Alaska I first heard “That Song” by Genesis on KGOT. During College in Omaha I listened to Rush Limbaugh on KKAR. Here in Nashville I listen to Phil Valentine on WTN, or I’ll press preset button #3 on my car radio and listen to Top 10 Hits on JackFM.

But for the life of me I have no idea where to find these stations on the dial. Is it 99.7, 101.3, 87.1. . . I  have no idea.

I came across a keyword string this week that was unbelievable. I mean I thought about giving up all the work I’m doing to pursue this niche. I’m talking about tons of keywords in this niche that had 1,000+ searches and virtually no competition. Just astounding.

Two things stood in my way from tackling this “Jewell of the Nile”. The first was ethics. I was doing keyword research for a client and couldn’t turn around and use that research for myself. However, I did give that person notice that if they chose not to take on that line of keywords, I was going to do it myself.  (insert Facebook appropriate happy face)

The second thing standing in my way was Lynn Terry.  I mean look at this picture:

The most important part of putting together your business continuity plan is the original offer. Why is that the case? Because the original offer brings the customers into the “funnel”. And the original offer is what sets the tone for the continuity program and the price.

For instance, our antioxidant nutritional supplement has a front end offer of “Buy 2 Get 1 Free”, which comes out to a 90 day supply. With a 90 day supply on the front end, the continuity plan doesn’t begin until the 91st day, and in theory the customer will have been taking the supplement daily and will need new product.

I say “in theory” because this continuity program doesn’t work unless the customer is truly interested in improving their health. We learned the importance of that the hard way several years ago.

Prior to going to BlogWorldExpo I’ve maintained the position that trying to build an audience in a new, unrelated niche wasn’t the best idea. The whole point of list building and empire creation is culling together an audience of similar interests to which you can create a community.

Starting a second site in a related niche means you have the power of your community behind you. Emailing your loyal fishing enthusiasts about your new rainbow trout site makes a ton of sense. You get instant engagement and typically great testimonials from the old people. And doesn’t it make more sense than inviting all your fishing enthusiasts to your new quilting website?