Web Content and Social Networking Experts

When your clients are not online, use a cheap cell phone for their feedback.

Okay, you know by now that we believe in the net, the Web, and social networking. However, what do you do if your clients are not online? A cheap cell phone, that's what.

Your Cheap Cell Phone Solution

To gather customer feedback using you main phone is folly. These phone calls you do not need to take, they only need to be recorded. You can follow up later, or not at all. Up to you.

It Works Like This

1. You buy a cheap cell phone. Something like a TracFone will do nicely. Cost? Ten or twenty bucks plus another hundred or so for a year's worth of minutes. Why? This "protects" your main phone number as you do not need to take these calls. So, you are not bothered as you go about your business day. Just check the phone when you feel the need. You leave it at the office as there is no reason to carry it. It is not your main phone and is only used for voice mail.
2. You use direct mail. Yes, it's pricey, but remember your clients are not online. So, you use the mail to ask for comments, and publish the number of the cheap phone. Tell them that this connects to voice mail. Hopefully, this is likely cheaper than returning a questionnaire by U.S post. If not, just use return mail.
3. Your clients use the published number to inform you of what's good, and what can be improved. You can even leave a short ad on your voice mail.

Your saying, "But, but but . . . ." I know, we get it. This is far from perfect. Yet, it does give business people, with a clientele that is not online, an affordable way to gather client feedback, and stay in touch. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

As you may be using direct mail. Your feedback may be a postage paid card that accompanies your packet, but that gets expensive. You will need to cost it out, and see which is better.

Please let us hear from you on this. Just click the title of this post to write a comment.

Note: We mentioned TracFone because we've used their products for years. They are inexpensive and do the job nicely.

Does your business need social networking to succeed?

 

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This question is difficult for me to answer because I do a great deal of social networking, writing for the Web, and provide support to authors and business people. Much of my support involves social networking, Web sites, and the online world.

I tell you all of this so that you do not think my answer biased. I've met people who run successful businesses with no online presence. None. They do not even have a Web site. That these people are running a successful business, using only a free email address, cannot be denied.

So, do you require social networking and the online world to be a successful business person? No, you do not, but look at what you're missing.

The net offers you an around-the-clock marketing machine that cannot hurt you. Further, it will cost you the time it takes to use it. This is like me giving you a new Rolls Royce, a Cadillac, and a Lexus - totally free of charge forever. All you need do is keep the tires inflated. That dollar amount pales when you consider the cost of the Internet, the Web, social networking sites, search engines. You can use all of that, and more, at no charge.

If the above disclaimer is not enough to show you where I stand let me say this, I believe in the net. I know and see what it can do for any business, that includes your's.

Soon, without a Web presence people will wonder if you are real. Soon being online will be needed because that is where clients will find you.

To use social networking or not is your choice. One way or the other we wish you the best of good luck now and forever, but it takes more to be and stay successful.

If you need no more than a phone to do the job, read tomorrows post where we discuss how you can use a cheap cell phone to collect customer feedback because some companies deal with clients who are not online.

    Tomorrow: When you clients are not online, use a cheap cell phone for their feedback.

 

 

Six simple ways to generate buzz, and make your business more successful.

Promote other people's products.

We do this with products that we believe in and have first hand knowledge of only.

1. See these posts published on:
   • January 26, 2012
   • January 24, 2012
   • December 9, 2012/
2. Run a contest with lots of precontest buzz. Be sure to give away something of acknowledged value, and make winning a prestigious event.
3. Have an online scavenger hunt.
4. Give free lectures.
5. Collaborate with a complementary company.
6. Engage in cause marketing.

What do you think?

Market and sell your eBooks online.

Before you can sell anything you need to:

• make your target audience aware of it
• tell them what it will do for them
• tell them where they can buy it
• what it costs
• why it offers excellent value for the price.

Know what value is? Here is the best definition we've seen. It's from the excellent book, Words That Work, by Dr. Frank Luntz, page xxvii.

"VALUE" = price + convenience + reliability

Your job is to convince buyers that your product has "VALUE."

If you are marketing a product that never existed before you have the added duty of making people aware of the problem your product solves, and why they need a problem solved today that they did not need solved yesterday.

The Web

The Web provides you with an around-the-clock marketing machine par excellence. All you've got to do is take advantage of it. The tools, capability, and reality of the Web's ability to market and sell if beyond reproach. As far as business people are concerned, the Web is the real deal.

Your Customers

Okay, you've got your product and you've done your market research. You know who will be buying your product(s). You should also know if traditional advertising, social networking, and/or online ads are best to reach your buyers. If you don't know that yet, you need to find out, or be prepared for a trial and error campaign.

If your customers are online (and they may not be), what sites do they frequent? Here are some ways you can reach them and connect with them online. You can pick and choose the ones that work best for you. Be sure to do a integrated campaign. Tie everything you use together, including your company Web site, and maybe a product Web site as well.

Smart Phones and Tablets

In addition to computer screens you will want to develop for (what we call) the small screen. These devices are making real inroads into the laptop market, and you don't want to leave them out of your marketing plan. Be sure you design a your Web site to address these devices because they provide much of what a laptop does. And for many people offer an alternative that fully meets their needs.

Social Networking

The online world of social networking is not to be ignored. Facebook will have one billion members by the end of 2012. That's one in seven of all the people on the planet. It is very likely that your customers are there. Twitter is nearing 500 million, LinkedIn has about 131 million. So, social networking needs to be addressed.

You can advertise on search engines, and on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and likely Twitter in the future. You may also want to advertise on blogs that compliment your products, are popular news sites, or cover the industry or subject of your eBook. Be sure the blog gets lots of traffic.

Further, you can sell at Amazon and other online book sellers. Include testimonials from people who are in the know about your subject matter.

Using a blog is a good way to stay in touch because it's interactive. Use it to place the first chapter of your book online for comments. This is an excellent way to tune the book to the needs of your audience as it is being developed. This provides you the ultimate in market research.

YouTube and videos provide superb marketing opportunities and are inexpensive. Be sure to SEO your YouTube account so that it will be found by search engines.

For more on setting up your social networking campaign, download our Nine Steps To Social Networking Success.

Your Web Site

A site that sells a book is not your normal corporate Web site. It is a sales site and not to be under estimated as a marketing tool. It's job is to sell your book, so it only presents material on the book. Include endorsements, where to buy it, and information about you the author as your expertise pertains to the book.

Article Marketing

Publishing articles that relate to the book is one of the best ways to make people aware of it in a non-threatening environment. Look to publish the article in magazines that are a good fit for the product. Be sure to use the About the Author section to your advantage.

Want more on anything you see here? Does article marketing sound good? Post a comment and we can cover more on what's important to you. And, if you read out Nine Steps to Social Networking Success let us know what you think. What would you like to see added? They are not designed to give you answers, but to generate questions that, when answered, lead you to the development and implementation of a customized social networking campaign.

E-Publishing, traditional publishing, self publishing, which is best for you?

E-publishing

E-Publishing is publishing on platforms like amazon's Kindle or Barns and Noble's Nook. this requires you to literally become a publishing house as you will be doing far more than writing your book. You will be responsible for cover design, uploading and getting the product accepted for publication. You will need to set up your financials so your publisher has an account to deposit your sales income into, and you will need to be aware of the commission your are paying on each sale.

E-publishing formats include Portable document Files (PDF) and e-readers like the Kindle and Nook Apple and Sony products and others.

Perhaps the simplest way to publish is to put a PDF file on your Web site and charge people to download it. This is very simple to do. You can use the WordPress blogging platform and handle the money with PayPal. Any Webmaster can set this up for you. Not to worry, the Webmaster will not have access to your money. that is between you and PayPal. You put the material online and the money gets deposited to your PayPal account, minus commission. How cool is that?

If this interests you, respond to this post and we can discuss it further.

Traditional Publishing

Here you will be dealing with a publisher for sure, and maybe an agent. Both the agent and the publisher will have input into your finished book. Also, you will be paying both for their services and your book will be expected to make enough profit for everyone to make enough money to be worth their time.

Having a book published by the traditional system is nice, very nice, but no longer the only way for your material to see print. In fact, traditional publishing is declining. Here's proof that book sales are declining and that major book store chains are hard hit.

This quote is from THE 10 AWFUL TRUTHS ABOUT BOOK PUBLISHING.

"Book sales in the U.S. peaked in 2007 and then fell by nearly five percent between 2007 and 2009, according to the Association of American Publishers (April 7, 2010 AAP Report). Similarly, bookstore sales peaked in 2007 and have fallen since, according to the U.S. Census Bureau (Publishers Weekly, February 22, 2010). The major bookstore chains have been especially hard hit, with a 12 percent sales decline between 2007 and 2009 (Publishers Weekly, April 12, 2010)."

There are real advantages to having an agent who shops and sell your work. Also, to working with an established publisher. However, that the world of publishing has changed and will continue to change can not be ignored. Draw your own conclusions.

Self Publishing

Here you hire a publishing house to print your book. Some houses have distribution chains, some don't. You will find out right quick that a distribution chain is a beautiful thing because without it you must sell and deliver the books yourself.

Other ways to sell are to hire a fulfillment company to handle sending the books to the buyer. This relives you from taking checks, wrapping and addressing books, and sending them through the mail. You are still required to do the selling and to pay the fulfillment house, but you can spend your time selling.

Closely consider how you will sell, distribute, and deliver your product. Should the cost of doing all this exceed your profit you grow to hate it because you will be losing money on each sale. This must be well thought out up front.

Your sales tools are a Web site, a social networking campaign, advertising, personal networking, and word of mouth. Here too, you must consider the cost in time and dollars to set up, get running, and maintain your sales effort.

We highly recommend these books by Brian Jud. Brian is a founder of the Connecticut authors and Publishers Association and a book marketing guru.

• Beyond The Bookstore: How to Sell More Books Profitably to Non-Bookstore Markets
• How to Make Real Money Selling Books Without Worrying about Returns: A Complete Guide to the Book Publishers' World of Special Sales

These books are available online. A Google search will return Amazon and other sellers where you can order them. Also we highly recommend that you join the Connecticut Authors and Publisher Association. I'm a member, and will be speaking again this year at CAPA-University in May. This is an excellent organization and I recommend it to you without reservation.

Thick Face Black Heart, A superb read and a truly fine self help book

This is the best self help book I've found. Truly superb. It's author, Chin-Ning Chu, is a best selling author in Asia. Based on thousands of years of work by chinese thinkers it's the real deal,not mumbo jumbo or pop psychology.

Read it. You won't be sorry.

Ebooks, copyright, SOPA PIPA, security, online theft and our solution.

A few days ago we blogged on SOPA PIPA. We don't support SOPA PIPA, as we said so in the post, but do want the online theft of intellectual property to stop. We've personally lost revenue to online theft, as have many other artists, writers, movie makers, and others who put the fruits of their labor online.

Ebooks

We like ebooks for lots of reasons. Many concern the process of publishing and don't concern us here. Also, we like it that ebooks are harder to steal, not impossible, just harder. Also ebooks need something other than a computer to run on. so a simple download to your PC or Mac won't work. The end user has got to make an investment in a device to view the book.

We realize that, sooner or later, someone will develop a hack to get around this. Until then, eBooks must come from a trusted source that charges for the product.

For these reasons our next book will be an ebook. We will follow it with others; many others. All will retail for 99 cents.

SOPA PIPA bad and ugly, or a blessing in disguise?

I am not in favor of SOPA and PIPA. Yet, the online theft of intellectual property, including mine, has got to stop. I don't have the answer. Wish I did. I want the net to remain free, but right now it offers the unscrupulous a license to steal. From me and others.

Here is why I feel this way.

Yesterday, I Tweeted, "SOPA? If you create stolen content you're for it. If you access stolen content you're not."

A little harsh, perhaps? You see, I published a book and I'll tell you from personal experience that it is being stolen every day. My intellectual property is being used to provide income for criminals, and there is nothing I can do about it. That book represents six months work, years or expertise, experience, and knowledge gained from writing for the Web and for print publications.

Further, I teach writing for the Web and social networking. I'm published in:

• the World Future Society
• The Society for Technical Communication
• Fate Magazine
• and other prestigious works.

And for all this effort I can only watch the fruits of my labor stolen because there is nothing that can be done. to give the devil his due, I do make content available totally free of charge and obligation, not even requiring an email address to download it. That will change later this year when I do begin requiring an email address to download my work.

Believe me, those of us who want the theft to stop love the net as much as anyone, but if you want the content to continue, the theft has got to stop.

Now lets scale up a bit, to the movie Avatar . (I did not "steal" the image of Avatar you see here, I linked to it.) Avatar claims to be the highest grossing movie of all time with 601.1 million dollars as of February 3, 2010. Can you imagine what a stolen 5, 10, or 30 percent means in lost revenue?

They can afford it you say? Very nice of you to decide who can afford what.

Theft is theft. Would you walk into Walmart, pile your cart high, and expect to be granted leave from the store without paying? Of course not. That's theft. That's illegal.

No one wants your digital rights reduced. People just like us, who create content only want to be be paid a reasonable fee for our work.

We heard a news item yesterday (Thursday, January 19, 2012) that said SOPA and PIPA pitted Silicon Valley against Hollywood. Interesting, I don't see Silicon Valley allowing their products and services to be stolen. What? Hollywood is not the bad guy here because they expect to get paid. how long would Silicon Valley stand still for having their products stolen and shipped the world over? Not long I expect.

You likely don't agree. Tell me why.

Ebook publishing is the future of publishing. Position your books and marketing to take advantage of it.

Ebook publishing is killer. There is a marked decrease in the number of hard, that is paper, books being sold. Our first book was done the traditional way. We successfully published with Career Press. They were great to work with and we will miss publishing with them again. I did send them a proposal but they have not had good luck publishing social networking books, so my project was not brought to the board.

We are going the ebook route for several reasons.

1. Time from manuscript completion and final editing to a money making product is much reduced with an ebook.
2. We control the cover art.
3. We control the quality of the final editing.
4. We control the number of words and ensure that no portions of the manuscript are lost, become missing, only to be found later.
5. Our portion of the income from the book is deposited directly into our PayPal account. We do not need to wait for twice yearly payments.

What We Lose

• The ability of worldwide publication of a hard cover book.  
• The professional input from people who know and understand the book business.  
• The ability to give prospective clients a signed copy. 

Our platform of choice id the Amazon Kindle. It is a wireless product with more and more functionality being added all the time. For example, there is the ability to send files from you Windows PC to the Kindle. also, there is the acknowledged success of amazon and their ability to stay abreast of technology and publishing. As far as marketing is concerned this is the place to be. Consider these sites.

• eBooks.com
• eTextbooks where you can rent or buy textbooks

See a trend?

We think you do. So do we. And so our next work and many to follow will be eBooks. We mentioned 99centTECT. We've purchased 99centTECH.com. Our first ebook is about 50 percent complete, and will retail on Amazon for 99 cents. Many more will follow. All created and edited in-house, including cover art, and online and offline publicity.  

Page Count and Retail Price

On January 4, 2012 we blogged on how many pages to include in your eBook in relation to the retail price. Publishing a Kindle book? How many words do you sell for 99 cents? We read comments online stating that for 99 cents you should provide 50,000 words. We do not agree. Our book retailed at $17.99 and contained 75,000 words. At 99 cents per 50,000 it would have retailed for about $ 1.50. Can't do that.

 What do you think? Click on the title of this post and let us know.

150 Facebook Aps at Mashable. Yeow! Check it out!

150 Facebook Aps at Mashable. Yeow! Check it out!

No dening that Facebook is one of the major social networking players. Want to make your Facebook profile or business page even better? On course you do. Here is a link to 150 Facebook applications for you. For this we thank the excellent work of the folks at Mashable. Well done, very well done.

Here's your link

Mashaboe 150 Facebook Aps

What can you expect to find?

• Firefox Add-ons
• Greasemonkey scripts
• Best Facebook Apps
• Business
• Food and Drink
• Fun
• Games
• Media Players
• Messaging
• Miscellaneous
• Politics
• Quotes
• Travel
• Utilities
• Desktop Applications

Will ebooks replace blogging as a social networking tool? They just might.

As print book sales continue to slump, electronic publishing, ePublishing, gains ground. The question for us business people is, does ePublishing offer us any advantages, and if it does, how do we take advantage of them?

If you're blogging now, you're very likely creating enough content for an ebook. Certainly enough for whitepapers that you distribute online. More on this below.

Blogging Versus Ebook Publishing

At the end of a year you've written the equivalent of an ebook. You're doing the work. That's a given. All you need to do is take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of using ebooks in your social networking campaign. Don't forget, you may well decide to use blogging and ebooks. No reason to lose a blog that's an asset.

Blogging

• Excellent way to stay in touch with your clientele, of that there is no doubt.
• Great way to show your expertise, especially when combined with Twitter.
• You need to post at least once per week, more is better.
• You can respond to clients questions, comments, and establish an interactive conversation.
• Takes time to develop a following.
• May, or may not, never pay off financially.

Ebook

• Requires an effort to write, create the cover, and convert to ebook format.
• You sell this for money from day one.
• You need to promote it online and offline. This promotion may include Twitter, a blog, a media release, personal networking, YouTube videos, and definitely your Web site.
• Establishes you as an author, an expert, and a publisher of professionally relevant content. This will significantly set you apart from the competition whether the book makes money or not.

A PDF Whitepaper

Let's not get tunnel vision and only see ePublishing on an ebook reader. You can write whitepapers as PDF files. This is a powerful technique. We do this with documents on social networking and writing for the Web.

Whitepapers can be anywhere from two three or four pages to twenty pages or more. so, the length, if short, is not a disadvantage.

Portable Document Format (PDF), files are easy to make. Likely your wordprocessor will do just fine. Also there are converters you can download. and placing them on your Web site is not at all difficult. If you don't do this your Web master can easily do this for you.

Whitepapers do not have the cachet of a book, but so what? They can still establish your expertise. Cast you as an expert. And that, my friend, is the whole point.

Up To You

Only you can decide if this is right for you and then find the platform best for you. Here is a list of eBook publishers at eBook Crossroads.com. Be advised that this is a list of publishers.

There are other venues to consider like: Amazon and publishing on their Kindle, and Barns and Noble and their Nook. If these products do not work out for you, search Google for ebook publishing.

Let us hear from you. what do you think? Just click on the title of this post and lets us know.

Can Facebook Timeline trigger an epileptic seizure?

While surfing at WebMd^®, I found their Epilepsy Community and this post, Facebook Timeline Issues. I was surprised to learn that many things can trigger an epileptic seizure, including computers, television, and other things as well. Like blinking lights.

Facebook Timeline, is a computer and Web product, and apparently computers and what they show onscreen can be involved in seizure status.

No insult or aspersion against Facebook, or Timeline, is intended. Follow the link and read what's said and you will see that for yourself.

What's your opinion?

Yoono, an excellent social networking add-on for Firefox.

If you use the Firefox Web browser, take a look at the Yonno add-on. We've used it for some weeks now and like it very much. Yonno, sits quietly on the side of your browser and only opens when you want it to. To capture back the tiny orange vertical bar that shows you Yonno is ready to go to work, simply click on the Yonno icon an the bar disappears. to get the bar back just click again on the icon and you're in business.

Yonno shows you activity in your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, GTalk, and AIM accounts. Simple, effective, and easy to use Yonno is good stuff.

If you don't use Firefox, it is available free-of-charge at http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/. Firefox is an absolutely superb Web browser.

Write professional looking email, make yourself look good, and create a superb tracking system.

We all write email. We all know and believe in the effectiveness of email as a communications tool. It is truly the ultimate killer app running on the net. So, let's make the nest email you write look like the professional you are.

What not to do

Forgive me for starting with the negative site. How many emails have you sent or received that look like this:

Thank you

See you there

See you at 6

I'll be there, Bob

Gee, aren't they cute? Try to figure out what's being said a week later when the context has been forgotten, or who the email is from and they are not so cute. Many email addresses can be very difficult to figure out who the author was.

When you send a complete email for every reply, you create your own tracking system. You can see right-quick the message you received and your complete reply. This has saved us more than once, believe me. Below you will see that we write out the full date, time, and place when we meet with anyone.  

What to do

Write your email with a header, date, who it's sent to, the body, and a signature. For icing on the cake set up a signature in your email software with your header and footer and all your emails will look like this:  

Web Content Rx
Wayne English
info@WebContentRx.biz

January 12, 2012

Bob FictionalMan bob@FictinalMan.zzz

Re. Meeting to Discuss Fictional Man Web Content and Social Networking Campaign

Bob,

I will meet with you on January 13, 2012 at your office located at 1200 Main Street, FictionalTown, at 9:00 a.m. I look forward to working with you.

Best regards,

Wayne English
President
Web Content Rx

Make your blog a success with keywords, topic, and quality content.

The key to a blog is quality content, and the key to getting your quality content found, read, and subscribed to is keywords.

Keywords

Use Google's excellent keyword tool to see how many people are searching for the main words in your title. Your title means everything. To be found you need to appear in search engine results. That takes keywords. So research them and choose ones that people will use to search for to find content like yours.

Topic

You will pick something that you are an expert in or have strong opinions about, and:

1. lots of people are interested in
2. or your target audience is interested in
3. or supports your professional needs.

Quality Content

Content is your stock and trade. The quality of your content literally determines your success. Proofread ruthlessly. Punctuate scrupulously. Verify the meaning and spelling of any unfamiliar words. How you write what you write reflects on you. Your readers will forgive the occasional typographical error. They will not tolerate poorly written content on a daily basis.

As we've said on this blog many times before: "If you don’t pay attention to the needs of your audience, they won’t pay attention to you." Believe it. Believe it because it's true.

It is better to seek forgiveness than ask permission. Here's how use your name to connect to socially acceptable corporate Web services.

Many people tell me they aren't allowed to use social networking tools because of regulations. Good thing the regulations cripple an entire industry, else those using social networking would put the others out of business.

Do your have a socially acceptable online presence that you can use? Sure you do. So le's get some mileage out of it and give you an advantage.

How?

Funny you should ask. The answer is called domain name forwarding.

If your name is Joe Schmo and you work for BigFictionalBusiness.com, you simply buy JoeSchmo.com, and forward it to your Web space at BigFictionalBusiness.com. Now when anyone goes to jowschmo.com, they see your Web space at BigFictionalBusiness.com. Is that cool or what?   

See what you've done?

Your clients see your name and your domain name and go to your Web address. Should you ever leave BigFictionalBusiness.com, all you do is remove the pointer to the BigFictionalBusiness Web site and put your own Web site on JoeSchmo.com. All of those clients you've developed will still come to JoeSchmo.com, and to you.

So what about asking forgiveness? Should BigFictionalBusiness.com start to squeak that you are your site has your name on it. You say, "Sorry."

Want more PR, more buzz? Use TV and radio. Here's how.

Getting publicity is what it's all about. Buzz, baby. We mean getting yourself found, known, followed. One of the best ways to do get your buzz is on radio and television.

Less is more

People listening to you want to be informed or entertained.

1. Do not get too technical, this is media not a classroom.
2. Do not relate statistics and percentages. The audience can't keep up. This is your area of expertise, not theirs. Always speak to an intelligent, but not as-well-informed-as-you-are audience.
3. Keep the conversation lively. Have passion for your subject.
4. Speak in everyday words. Communication is your goal. This is not the place to show how smart you are.

Web Addresses

Spell out Web addresses completely. Don't say, "information for you dot com" because the listener won't know if it's information4you, informationforu, or some other possibility. Spell out your Web address and say it in a way that leaves no doubt.

How to get started

Look for community television and local or Internet radio stations. Get on the phone and call. Arrive 30 minutes early dressed to look good on camera. If on radio, bring something to drink and don't expect a big beautiful studio. Don't expect to have a computer, Web connection, or anything else.  

Want practice?

Want to be a better speaker? Find a Toastmasters Club near you by clicking on the graphic.

How often should you blog? How often should you bathe?

People ask me, "How often should I blog?" Well, I say, at least once per week. Some folks think that's to often because they are looking for the easy way out. They want to hear the easy way to success. It might be a good thing for them to look at blogging as though it were bathing, or showering if you prefer.

Blog once a week, bath once a week. Well, okay, maybe. Blog once per month, bath once per month, and you're going to spend a lot of time alone. Your blog will be lonely too.

Blog once per week, at least. That's 15 minutes work. Not to much to invest in your future.

Your success requires tenacity and mental toughness. Watch this free video to discover how to take your business to the next level.

Marketing. Sales. Customers. Clients. Email. Social networking. Where does it end? It doesn't. Don't lose heart. It's all part of being in business.

Here's a link to a video titled Mental Toughness by Courtney Taylor. She tells it like it is. We like that.

Publishing a Kindle book? How many words do you sell for 99 cents?

We will be publishing content on the Kindle and so were looking for information on how many words to include for a 99 cent price tag. An online search revealed 50,000 words for 99 cents. This is a vast undertaking and terribly under priced.

Here's why we say that. Our book, Web Content Rx, was published by Career Press. It contains a little over 75,000 words and retails for $17.95. This works out to 4,125 words for 99 cents. That is a much more reasonable price point for a 99 cent product.

From personal experience, I can say tell you that a 50,000 word project is serious undertaking. No one would do that much work for a retail price of 99 cents. Remember, that from your 99 cents you must pay Amazon a commission. This further reduces your revenue.

What is hidden in all this is the time spent on research, editing, rewriting, structuring the book, and keeping track of the material you've used. Not to mention the graphics you may need to create. Further, your editing of the manuscript and that of the editor you will likely hire further reduce your profit.  

We feel that it is reasonable to sell a 4,125 word Kindle product for 99 cents. What's your opinion?  Does it seem reasonable to you?

Writing for a political candidate is selling, marketing, persuading with a soft touch.

As the 2012 campaign season bursts into bloom writing for a political candidate, or in support of a candidate will become more and more important. This year, more than any other in our nations history, much depends on the outcome of local, state, and national elections.

Will we be a socialist nanny state? Will capitalism give way to something else? Will state taxes be raised? Will your town vote to replace a bridge, build a firehouse, repair a school?

These questions, and others much like them, affect each and every one of us. Having your say in how things turn out can depend on your ability to write.

The Electorate

In the audience of any politician, or candidate, there are only three people you need to consider, and only one you need to write for.

1. Those who will not vote for you, and cannot be convinced to vote for you.
2. Those will vote for you, no matter what.
3. Those who are undecided.

There is no point in writing for those who won't ever vote for you. Likewise, those who need no urging to vote for you. As far as convincing them to vote for you is concerned, writing for either is a waste of time and resources.

It is number three, the undecided, where you put your efforts, for there lies success or failure. In this game, like all others, numbers count.

Demographics

People vote their self interest. So, you must know what is important to every demographic that is important to you. The larger the base of voters, the more demographics you will need to contend with, of course. But, no matter the demographics, we all vote alone. So, write for the individual with words that speak to that individual. It's up to you, as a writer, to show and convince voters that your candidate is the best one to represent his or her needs.

Your opinion? Just click on the title of this post.

Marketers, sales people, advertisers, use a spork, not a spoon.

I got this really great present for Christmas. It's a spork. Here's a picture. As you can see its a cross between a spoon and a fork. Made of titanium, so it's super light weight and stronger than steel. Came from Think Geek. Also got a way cool coffee cup, and a Green Lantern tee shirt.

So, I'm watching TV a couple nights ago and what do I see? An advertisement for sugar, or a sugar substitute. This struck me so hard that I could not tell you more than that. A spoon was pouring the product. So, I said to myself, "They should be using a spork, not a spoon."  

Why use a spork?

Because you see spoons everywhere. At home, in restaurants, in stores. Everywhere. Where's the last place you saw a spork? No where, most likely. You may not even have heard of one. So, Mr. Advertiser, if you want to get the attention of the people who buy your sugar, don't show them what they expect to see. Show them what they do not expect to see.

Imagine the ad with a spork rather than a common spoon. The comments:

• Wow, a spoon with teeth.
• A spoon with tines.
• A spoon that thinks it a fork.

Phrase it anyway you want. The point is that people would be watching for te ad. Looking for the ad. Wondering what the spork is, and in doing so generating lots of buzz.

Rather than a run of the mill ad with a spoon, a spork might have taken the ad viral with everyone everywhere watching for it on TV, viewing it on YouTube, Tweeting it, blogging it, and talking about it on facebook.

What could be better than that? Do what's not expected and find out.

Want your blog to be successful? Keywords, topic, and quality content.

Writing a successful blog means reaching hundreds or thousands of people. The more the better. So how do you do that?

Keywords

Use Google's excellent keyword tool to see how many people are searching for the main words in your title. Your title means everything. To be found you need to appear in search engine results. That takes keywords. So, do the research, and choose carefully.

Topic

What topic you pick to write about is no less important. Pick something that:

1. lots of people are interested in
2. or your target audience is interested in
3. and, of course, material that supports your professional needs.

 

Quality Content

Content is your stock and trade. The quality of your content literally determines your success. Proofread ruthlessly. Punctuate scrupulously. Verify the meaning and spelling of any unfamiliar words. How you write what you write reflects on you. Your readers will forgive the occasional typographical error. They will not tolerate poorly written content on a daily basis.

As we've said on this blog many times before: "If you don’t pay attention to the needs of your audience, they won’t pay attention to you."

Sell yourself and you sell your products.

What do your customers want to find in your social networking campaign? You. They want to know what you know. You are an expert in your field. Share the expertise.

Your competition can provide similar products. However, no one can provide another you.

Sell you, by giving away your knowledge, your expertise, your experience and you will sell your products. While it seems counter intuitive, actually it seems downright crazy, but you can make a lot of money giving away your knowledge. And there's no where better to do that than your social networking campaign. See our December 28 post below.

Don't recite specifications on your products unless those specs are required in the buying process. To do so shows your ignorance, and forces the customer to learn why one product is better for them than the other. That's your job.

For example: do not simply say, "This machine has 8 Gig of RAM. That one has 6 Gig of RAM." Show the customer why the 8 Gig machine is better for their needs, if it truly is. Should the 6 Gig machine do the job, show how you saved them money with a less expensive machine. This builds loyalty by showing that you are not out to maximize their expenses, but are a valuable member of their success team. Who do you think they will call next time? And the time after that?

Concentrate on what value your products and services provide. Differentiate yourself from the competition with your experience. When your customers buy your products they are also buying you. Sell you and you will sell your products.

Customer questions are a gold mine. Answer every question in your social networking campaign. A blog and Twitter are superb tools for doing that.

Make your knowledge, and your in-depth expertise indispensable to your customers. Do you remember the line in the movie Ghost Busters? "Who you gonna call?" Who do you think your customers will call? A salesman, or someone with brains and expertise who saves them money? Who would you call?

Social networking, it's not all done online. Read Step Nine in our Nine Steps to social Networking Success.

Many people see social networking as something new and as something that is only done online. Both are wrong. Social networking has existed for hundreds of years and was certainly well established before the current online iteration of the technique.

Off line activities

In Step Nine of our Nine Steps to Social Networking we show you numerous ways to enhance your social networking campaign offline.

Here are a some of the techniques we include that enhance your offline activities.

• Attend conferences where your target audience can be found.
• Cause marketing benefits both of you. Collaborate with a cause you believe in.
• Join Chambers of Commerce, networking, and business groups. Start your own networking or mastermind group. Use your business address to host these events.
• Send Christmas cards and thank you notes to your clients.
• What’s In It For Me? (WIIFM) Tell people what you can do for them, not what you do. The difference in wording may be subtle, but the effect is not.

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"If you don’t pay attention to the needs of your audience,
they won’t pay attention to you."

Read, Shift World,
Dark Fiction at it's Best.

Do you want your social networking campaign to be successful? Here's how.

    To be successful there is only one thing your social networking campaign must do.

    It must contribute to the success of your audience, entertain them, or inform them.

    What do you know that your audience needs to know? What do you know that will make your products and services more valuable to those who pay for them?

    Answer those questions in your social networking campaign and it, you, and your audience succeed. Everyone wins.

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Safe and Prosperous 2012. Please take a moment to help those in need.

Christmas and New Year's are traditionally a time to be with the ones we love, and who love us. This year many of our friends, neighbors, and colleagues are out of work as we face the worst economy since the Great Depression.

Helping Others

This is the true meaning of Christmas. It's not about getting. It's about giving. This year there are many people hurting. Won't you take a moment to help? Contribute to a fuel bank, help at your church or place of worship, do what you can for someone in need.

What is a little thing, an insignificant thing, to you might just be absolutely a miracle to someone else.

We, at Web Content Rx, wish you a safe, happy, love filled Christmas and New Year's Eve, and a prosperous 2012.

Do you speak in public? You should, it can take your business to the next level, and it's fun - eventually.

Many folks speak just fine in a group of five or six people, but put them in front of the room and they freeze. I know how it is because I was that way when.

It was a long time ago, and I was learning how to teach first aid at The American Red Cross. Wow, was it hard. My first time up in front I just stood there and shook. So, please understand, when I say this is good for your business, right now for you it's like taking medicine, tastes terrible but does good things in the end.

If you want to get better at this here are a couple things you can do.

• Join Toastmasters. Where ever you are there's bound to be a chapter near you. There you can get better at this with others who were just as scared as you are when they started.
• Do more networking, and when it's your turn to speak stand up. Just the practice of standing in front of a group, no matter how small, will increase your confidence. Make no mistake, this is all about confidence. When you've done this for awhile, you will wonder what you were ever afraid of. Practice really does make perfect.
• Work with someone who is a good speaker and share presentation duties. You might present a short portion of the program, greet people as they arrive, or introduce your partner.
• Just do whatever you can to speak just a little bit once a week, or once per month.

These techniques can work for you. Soon you will be speaking and making presentations with poise and confidence. There is nothing more attractive in a speaker than self confidence and you, my friend, will soon have plenty of that. Yes you will.

Please click the title of this post and let me hear from you. Your comments are most welcome.

Be well. happy holidays.

Facebook timeline. A step forward, or just a waste of time for business people? A waste of time we think. For business people.

Facebook Timeline, Tell your story with a new kind of profile. Here is the newest addition to Facebook. With Facebook Timeline you can literally tell the story of your live in words, pictures, and video from birth to the present moment. We applaud Facebook's efforts in this endeavor. This is truly an impressive product, and we mean that sincerely.

But

For business people needing an online presence for business reasons this product will likely offer little in the way of value added. After all, our clients are not interested in the history of our company, or in our personal history either. No, the Facebook Timeline product is aimed squarely at Facebook's clients. That is you and I. We will have to wait and see if this has any B2B application because right now it is a Facebook 2 you application.

Are we wrong, incorrect, or just missing something? Click on the title of this post and have your say. The comments box is all yours.  

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"If you don’t pay attention to the needs of your audience, they won’t pay attention to you."

Read, Shift World,
Dark Fiction at it's Best.

Do you Tweet? Here's a video we made on how to change your background, or add a custom background.

Judging from the fact that a Saudi prince just invested 300 million dollars in Twitter it will be around for a while. So, we thought you might like to know how to change the background image on your Twitter account, or add you own custom graphic of course. This is particularly valuable for your business.

Here's a video we did a couple months ago.

Click the title of this post to leave us a note. Love to hear from you.

Should social networking sites be shut down during social unrest?

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are used to set up and manage social unrest and to promote criminal behavior. Should the government shut these sites down to hamper criminals or those taking part in the unrest.

Here is an article discussing the question in Great Britain. You may be surprised to see that most people want the sites shut down. What they think of shutting down social networing sites in Britain.

To get an idea of how social networking tools are used read this article #Riot: Self-Organized, Hyper-Networked Revolts—Coming to a City Near You in Wired Magazine.

What do you thing we should do?