The fact is that it does take time to write blog posts and share on social media and implement the many other internet marketing tactics that can help you build a bigger audience for your business. It takes time, persistence, and dedication. But these efforts can pay big dividends.

There are tasks that we all tackle daily in our businesses. We check email, return phone calls, meet acquaintances for coffee or lunch, talk to prospects, attend business events, file paperwork, develop marketing materials, create new products and services, and the list goes on. It only makes sense that we couldn’t possibly fathom adding another responsibility to the list.

But what if I told you that these tasks you don’t have time for—blogging, social media, etc.—are actually more important than many of the things you’re currently doing on a daily basis?

I believe it’s a matter of priorities and if you could see the rewards that these efforts can bring, you would reconsider what tasks are really important. Over the past few years, I’ve taken charge of my schedule. I cut out many of the networking events I used to attend. I rarely accept invitations for coffee or lunch. I check email just a few times each day. These tasks that I once thought were so important to my business actually turned out to be major time suckers. And when I looked at the return I was getting for the time spent, it didn’t add up.

For me, blogging and social media are two huge priorities in my business and this commitment has paid off big time. My website traffic has more than doubled in the last year alone. About 75% of my business revenues come to me as a direct result of marketing online—the things that I once thought I didn’t have time for.

I’m betting that if you really wanted to, you could carve out an extra 45 minutes per day to start ramping up your online marketing efforts. And if you did that for 60 days, you’d begin to see results and your perspective would change.

Then you’d realize that these are tasks that are worth making time for and that perhaps your priorities need to be reevaluated. Business is changing. Blogging and social media are no longer optional—they are essential. Give it a try consistently for the next 60 days. I think you’ll be glad you did.

By the way, if you’re frustrated, overwhelmed, or confused by online marketing strategies, I bet you’d love my new book! Grab a copy of Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business.

Sacramento, CA, February 15, 2012 – Best-selling technology author Karl Palachuk announced today that he will be holding a 3-day online conference for computer consultants in June. The conference will focus on building successful business processes and will feature some of the best business and technology speakers in the U.S.

The online conference – Managing for Success 2012 – is the first event of its kind targeting technology providers and computer consultants. The conference registration and information site is at www.smbonlineconference.com.
“We have a great line-up of speakers,” said Palachuk, “Including several international super stars from the worlds of marketing and technical innovation.”

Two of the keynote speakers are Stephanie Chandler and Patrick Schwerdtfeger. Chandler is the author of seven books, including Own Your Niche on the Internet and Beyond (Authority Publishing, 2012). Her Business Info Guide web site – www.BusinessInfoGuide.com – is an extremely popular destination for small business owners. Patrick Schwerdtfeger is an internally recognized authority on social media marketing and the author of several books, including Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (2011, Wiley).

Other speakers include some of the most influential pioneers and opinion leaders in the world of technical consulting. But this is not a technology conference, says Palachuk. “This is a business focused conference for I.T. Professionals. We want to help computer consultants to be better business people, with a vision for the future and strategies for success.”

“That’s why we named the conference Managing for Success 2012,” he says. “Conference sessions will cover managing a business, marketing a business, creating standard operating procedures, building a strong team, and even buying up your competition.”

The conference is online only and will run 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM on June 26-28, 2012. Attendees can choose to listen live or also have access to the recorded sessions. In all, the conference will broadcast eighteen hours of programming in three days.

The online format is new for this kind of conference, says Palachuk. “We’re well into the fourth year of a recession and the large national I.T. conferences just haven’t had the turnout they used to. People have smaller budgets. Consulting companies are stretched thin. So an online conference saves time, travel, and money. It also means we don’t have to charge as much since we’re not paying for hotel meeting rooms and catering.”

Palachuk will start each conference day with a presentation of the “theme of the day” and then provide a discussion of some standard operating procedures related to the theme of the day. Palachuk is a prolific blogger and is well known for his SOP Friday series at smallbizthoughts.com. The SOP Friday series picks one topic each week and explores the standard operating procedures that technology consultants might adopt.
To learn more about Managing for Success 2012, visit www.smbonlineconference.com.

About Karl Palachuk
Karl is an author, speaker, and trainer who focuses on helping computer consultants and I.T. Professionals improve their business practices. He is widely regarded as someone who provides click-by-click instructions on how to be a successful technology consultant.

Karl is the author of nine books (available at SMBBooks.com). His blog – SmallBizThoughts.com – has more than 40,000 visitors a month and is considered a training resource for many I.T. consultants. The blog has experienced an audience growth rate of almost 600% over the last year.

Karl has been named SBSer of the Year by SMB Nation; he has been on the MSPmentor 250 list every year since it was started; and was named to the SMB 150 list by SMB Technology Network (SMBTN) and SMB PC magazine.

About Small Biz Thoughts
Small Biz Thoughts is the training and content division of Great Little Book Publishing Co., Inc. Their programs are geared specifically for the Managed Service Provider and SMB Consultant communities. Their focus on future trends has helped them to build a reputation as a trusted advisor to fans and friends around the world.
Media Contact:
Karl W. Palachuk
916-248-4301
sales@smallbizthoughts.com

The fact is that if you want to play a bigger game in your business, you’ve got to get on the court with better players.

Finding better players means that you surround yourself with people who know more than you do or, perhaps more importantly, people who are doing things differently than you are. For me, building friendships and alliances with other business owners who are driven to win has been essential. There is nothing I love more than brainstorming business ideas with smart people over a sushi lunch or getting together with my mastermind group and getting new perspectives on something that hadn’t occurred to me before.

I don’t want to surround myself with people whose businesses are stalled or who aren’t driven to improve their game. I want to surround myself with people who challenge me to play a better game.

Take a look at your networks and who you’re spending your time with. If you don’t have at least three business owners in your world who inspire you, go out and find them. Invite them to lunch or form a mastermind group and watch how much your game improves as a result.

Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business

Links within your website and pointing to your website from other sites can have an important impact on your overall optimization with the search engines.

Inbound Links

One of the criteria that the search engines use to rank website pages is the number of inbound links pointing to your website from other websites. More importantly, they look at how many links from high-traffic websites are pointing to your pages. If a popular website features a link to your site, it shows the search engines that your site is relevant.

Other important incoming links are from industry-related sites. When another site in a related industry features a link to your site, it helps Google see your site’s relevance. For example, a website that covers news about the spa industry would be an ideal link to have pointing to a salon and spa site.

Government sites (with a .gov extension) and education sites (with a .edu extension) also have high priority with the search engines. If you’re able to get incoming links from any of these sites, it can help your ranking.

The key to success here is to make sure your link is listed in as many places as possible.

Where to Promote Your Website Link:

• Update the free online profiles provided by any trade organizations that you belong to by including your website link.
• Ask colleagues and business partners to swap links with you. They can publish your link on a “Recommended Resources” or similar page on their site, and you can do the same in return.
• Publish articles and include your bio and website link. The more articles you push out across the internet, the more links you will have pointing back to your site. The same is true for guest blog posts.
• Engage in social media sites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
• Take advantage of every opportunity you can find to post your link online!
• Some services offer to add lots of inbound links to your site—beware! Adding dozens of links at once can be viewed by the search engines as spam, and many of these services are scams in their own right.

It takes time to get your link out there, so always be on the lookout for opportunities to add links.

Anchored Links

An anchored link is a link to a web page that is embedded in text. For example, when “Click here for more information” is an active hyperlink to a web page, it is an anchored link.

Anchored links are a boon for SEO because they tell the search engines what content is found on the linked page. Because of this, links should incorporate keywords instead of the generic “Click here” example.

For example, a high-traffic site with a link embedded in the text to “Visit Happy Times Day Spa in Toledo, Ohio” would be an ideal anchored link.

The hardest part of this strategy is getting others to link back to your site in the first place, and then to do so with an anchored link. But because anchored links are so valuable, it’s worth your time to ask your link partners to do this whenever possible.

You can also weave anchored links throughout your own site to the different pages within your site. For example, from your primary services page, you could include a link that says, “Find out more about massage therapy services.” You can also incorporate anchored links on your home page in addition to your site navigation links.
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The above information on website traffic and the importance of links is an excerpt from the book: Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business. Got your copy yet?

As I began to compile this last of tactics for building an audience, it occurred to me that this will also make a great list of topics for future blog posts (though I’ve already written about many of these on the blog). So here’s a handy list of ways to build your audience for your business. Good luck!

1. Know Your Audience So You Can Better Connect with Them
2. Participate in Online Groups
3. Capture Email Addresses
4. Send Captivating Emails
5. Host Free Teleseminars
6. Conduct Webinars
7. Host an Internet Radio Show
8. Be a Guest on Internet Radio Programs
9. Be a Guest on Teleseminars and Webinars
10. Send Direct Mail Campaigns
11. Give Away an Information Product
12. Sell Products and Services that Make People Rave About You
13. Ask Clients for Referrals
14. Ask Peers for Referrals
15. Partner with Others Who Reach Your Audience
16. Create Killer YouTube Videos
17. Write an Irresistible Blog
18. Become a Professional Speaker
19. Get Involved with an Industry Association
20. Focus Your Networking Efforts on Events with the Right Audience
21. Write a Buzz-worthy Book
22. Get Media Exposure
23. Comment on Other People’s Blogs
24. Build a Following on Twitter
25. Retweet Your Blog Archives on Twitter
26. Repeat Tweets on Twitter
27. Post Engaging Content to Facebook Three to Five Times Each Week
28. Expand Your LinkedIn Profile with More Details
29. Create a LinkedIn Company Page
30. Ask Clients to Write Recommendations for You on LinkedIn
31. Import Your Contacts to LinkedIn and Build Your Connections
32. Create an Account with Google Plus
33. Share Content on Your Google Plus Account Daily
34. Hold a Contest
35. Promote Your Blog to Content Directories: Networked Blogs, Blog Catalog, Technorati
36. Optimize Your Website with Relevant Keywords to Increase Traffic
37. Distribute Information Products for Others to Give Away
38. Publish Articles to Content Directories: EzineArticles, Idea Marketers, Scribd
39. Publish Articles on Websites that Reach Your Target Audience
40. Publish Articles in Print (small magazines, trade association newsletters, etc.)
41. Write Guest Blog Posts
42. Be a Contrarian – Take a Stand for Something You Believe in
43. Conduct Surveys to Learn from and Engage Your Customers
44. Develop Memorable Marketing Collateral
45. Expand Your Boring Business Card into Something Worth Keeping
46. Host Live Events
47. Host Virtual Events
48. Teach Your Own Classes and Workshops
49. Teach Classes and Workshops for Schools, Learning Centers, etc.
50. Become a Trusted Resource for Your Audience
51. Enter to Win an Award or Contest
52. Lead a Group – Live
53. Lead a Group – Online
54. Host a Booth at an Industry Event or Trade Show
55. Host a Podcast Series and Publish to iTunes
56. Pay Referral Fees
57. Add Social Bookmarking Buttons to Your Blog
58. Respond and Engage with Blog Commenters
59. Launch a Fundraising Campaign on Kickstarter or Indiegogo
60. Add Video to Your Website
61. Update Your Website Several Times Each Week (will increase traffic)
62. Post Irresistible Photos to Social Media Sites
63. Take Photos of People with You or Your Logo and Tag Them on Facebook
64. Be Uniquely You (this has more appeal than trying to be someone you’re not)
65. Post Free Classified Ads on Craigslist
66. Join a Trade Association Where You Will Have Few Competitors
67. Create Content that Can’t Be Found Anywhere Else
68. Contact Local Media Regularly to Build Experience and Gain Exposure
69. Publish an Ebook
70. Give Prospects a White Paper or Workbook Instead of a Brochure
71. Write a Business Plan and Get Clear About Your Message
72. Create a Free Business Listing on Yelp
73. Create a Free Business Listing on Google Places
74. Create a Free Business Listing on Superpages
75. Ask Clients to Post Positive Reviews on Yelp
76. Ask Clients to Post Positive Reviews on Google Places
77. Ask Clients to Post Positive Reviews on Angie’s List
78. Promote a Product or Service to a New Market Niche
79. Hire a Virtual Assistant to Handle New Marketing Campaigns for You: International Virtual Assistants Association
80. Share Your Presentations on Slideshare
81. Make Sure Your Website Rocks: Review Navigation, Sales Copy, and Overall Appearance
82. Teach People How to Do What You Do
83. Send Out Frequent Press Releases
84. Start a Group via Meetup.com
85. Hold a Contest on Twitter
86. Hire the Help You Need So You Can Focus on What You Do Best: Elance
87. Write a Consistent Bio and Share it on All Public Profiles (i.e. Amazon, Google, etc.)
88. Participate in Contents that Can Generate Business Exposure
89. Analyze Your Marketing Campaigns and Do More of What Works
90. Attend Business Conferences and Events Where Your Target Audience Will Be
91. Participate in Blog Carnivals
92. Be Bold and Pursue Corporate Sponsorships and Alliances
93. Pre-Schedule Some of Your Social Media Content Posts with Hootsuite
94. Subscribe to Help a Reporter (HARO) and Respond to Media Opportunities
95. Send a Mail Campaign to Your Past Customers
96. Send a Mail Campaign to a Rented List of Targeted Prospects
97. Write a Regular Column for a Favorite Publication (print or online)
98. Host an Open House or Party
99. Conduct a Fundraiser for a Favorite Nonprofit
100. Offer a Featured Product or Service at a Special Rate Each Week or Month

By the way, many of these topics are discussed at length in my new book! Grab your copy: Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business.

Want a printable version of this list? Here you go: 100 Ways to Grow Your Audience (PDF)

Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business

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Once you have your website up and running and a shopping cart system in place, the next step is to make sure your website does its job. Here are some tips to get your sales cranking:

• Make it easy for visitors to find your products and services. Easy site navigation is important, so make sure your primary product page is listed on the main navigation menu for your site.
• Cross-promote products throughout your site. For example, on your services web page, you might add an anchored link that says, “Purchase a Gift Certificate for Consulting Services.”
• List all of your products on a single shopping cart page along with separate anchored links to complete product descriptions on individual pages.
• Include real user testimonials (not the manufactured kind from friends and peers) throughout your site and on sales pages for maximum impact. Never underestimate the power of testimonials!
• Depending on your target audience, you may want to include a printable order form for people who don’t want to place orders online. Give them a way to mail and fax the order to you.
• Make sure your purchase process is simple and easy to use. Test it out by making a purchase yourself. Are there any steps missing? Is the information confusing?
• Set up a thank you page. When a customer completes an order with you, make sure they are returned to a thank you page. Industry reports indicate that the thank you page is a highly effective place to up-sell additional products. For example, the thank you page could say: “People who bought product ABC also rave about product XYZ. Click here to order XYZ at 25% off!”
• If you are promoting multiple services or products, put a “Featured Service” section on your home page or in the sidebar of all of your web pages. Change the offer each week or month to keep it fresh and interesting.

The above information on how to convert site visitors into buyers is an excerpt from the book: Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business. Why not pick up a copy or two? Bet you’ll like it!

A friend told me about his recent experience at a concert for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. After the show, the band came out with the audience to sign autographs and take pictures. As my friend put it, “They were willing to sign anything and weren’t in any hurry to leave.” That’s audience cultivation that also leads to word-of-mouth. My friend told me about it, and probably told a lot of other people too.

How can you do something unexpected, dazzling, or buzz-worthy?

Could you throw an amazing party for your clients?

Could you send prospects and clients something unexpected, like a box of chocolates or a framed photo?

Following your next speaking gig, could you offer to stick around afterward and chat with attendees?

Could you hop on to Facebook or Twitter and give something amazing away for free—just because?

How can your business achieve rock band status?

Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business

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Before you settle on a niche, it’s important to investigate the demand within that niche, the opportunities and risks, plus the competitive landscape. Following are several ways you can research a potential niche.

Conduct Surveys and Interviews

One of the best ways to understand a market is to go right to the source. You can do this by conducting surveys, interviews, or focus groups with your intended audience. Ask important questions about what influences their buying decisions, how much they spend on related services annually, what they like and dislike about competitor solutions, what issues they need solved, and how you can meet their needs. A tool like http://surveymonkey.com makes it easy to collect information online. You may also want to purchase a mailing list or find other ways to reach your intended audience directly.

Look for Industry Data

Use Google to research your target industry or demographic through trade associations and related firms that conduct surveys on market demand. These organizations can help determine if your niche is growing and how much demand there is for related products and services. In addition, check your local library for a copy of the Encyclopedia of Associations.

If you have trouble finding what you need online, head on down to your local library and ask a librarian for help. There are all kinds of reference books and databases available free of charge.

Investigate Search Demand

Internet search data allows you to understand the demand for a keyword or phrase. You can interpret this information one of two ways. First, a search term that’s extremely popular demonstrates that there is market demand. The downside of this information is that the competitive landscape will likely be greater online because other website owners are also using this data.

A search term with slightly less popularity can still show you there is market demand, but may also be easier to penetrate as the competition will likely be smaller.

Google’s free keyword tool is a great place to start: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. Type in a search term to find out about its popularity on Google, along with similar key phrases that are related. For example, a search for “life coach” shows 368,000 global monthly searches. This proves that there is great demand for this term and thus, the life coaching industry. However, Google also indicates that this search phrase is “highly competitive,” meaning that there are many others vying for traffic from this search phrase.

A search for “life coach health” shows 1,000 global monthly searches, which indicates only a medium level of competition. So if you’re a life coach considering the healthy living niche, you can see that market demand exists and the competitive landscape may be easier to penetrate.

Another free tool by Google is http://trends.google.com. Here you can type in a keyword and get a graph of historical data showing how popular that term has been on Google search in recent years. You will also find demographic data showing the cities and countries that most search for the term.

Also check out Google’s Insights for Search: http://google.com/insights/search. Here you can discover search trends by location, category, product, or seasonality.

Evaluate the Competition

Understanding your competition is essential to determining whether your business can find a competitive edge in a new market. When I was in software sales in the Silicon Valley, we were urged to study competitors. This helped us position our strengths against their weaknesses, while also allowing us to prepare answers when asked about potential advantages the competitors had.

You can use the internet to find out all kinds of information. Start with your top five to ten competitors. Find out what products and services they offer, how much they charge, and what advantages they might have against you. You can also sign up for their mailing lists or call to inquire about additional details. Don’t be shy about this kind of research. You can bet they will be watching you, too.

Additional Resources

http://trendwatching.com – Provides monthly reports on a wide variety of consumer trends.

http://wikipedia.org – The user-generated online encyclopedia may provide some details and stats for specific industries or keyword phrases. Beware, since this is user-generated and data isn’t always completely accurate; however, sources are often listed and you may find links to additional research data.

http://pulse.ebay.com – A list of the most popular searches currently conducted on eBay.

http://forrester.com – Provides consumer and business data with technology, IT, and marketing categories.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html — Find consumer census data by region including state, county, or city.

http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/guide.html — List of census data, including by industry.

http://infoUSA.com – Sells mailing lists, though you can use its search functionality to get insight into the size of your target market.

http://www.marketresearch.com/ — Database of market research reports (fee-based).

http://www.marketingresearch.org/ — Provides market research data and a directory of certified research professionals so that you can find and hire help for conducting market research.

http://www.scip.org/ — Association of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals, where you can find firms to hire for assistance.

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The above information on how to research a niche market is an excerpt from the book: Own Your Niche: Hype-Free Internet Marketing Tactics to Establish Authority in Your Field and Promote Your Service-Based Business. Get your copy today–and while you’re at it, pick one up for a friend, too!

And THANK YOU!

I use a lot of clip art and photos for this blog, and I do so thanks to a monthly subscription to Clipart.com. If you want to include images in your blog, you should consider a service like this one. You can also purchase clip art software from your favorite retailer, though I find that having a subscription service makes life much easier.

Images can also be useful when producing books, PowerPoint presentations, business cards, and marketing collateral. Make sure you purchase and obtain the rights to images you use. Here are some additional sources:

istockphoto.com

123RF.com

photos.com

fotolia.com

dreamstime.com

bigstockphoto.com

Keep in mind that each of the image retailers have their own rules and guidelines for how you can use an image or how it should be attributed. Be sure to read their guidelines so you stay in compliance!