My Travels on the Net

No matter how much we wish it were true, you can’t just hang out a shingle and wait for clients to show up. Yes, it’s anxiety provoking but in order to find clients you have to network face-to-face. Even if there isn’t an entrance fee, networking isn’t free. At the very least it costs you time; the time in attending the event and the time in preparation. So when attending a face-to-face networking event you wouldn’t put on your best suit, get a haircut, make sure you’ve got your business cards, practice your elevator speech – and then go stand in the corner. So why do you do it on the internet?

You don’t think you do that, eh? I bet you put dozens of hours and hundreds if not thousands of dollars into your website. Then when that didn’t get your phone ringing, you spent more time and money on search engine optimization, a newsletter and maybe a blog. Phone ringing yet? If it is, it’s probably not enough to cover the expense of all that work.

Maybe you’ve come to the conclusion that you can’t find clients via the internet. That’s not true. The reason why you “can’t” find clients via the internet is that you’re lurking in the background.

You Are a Wall Flower.

Don’t think you’re a wall flower? Let’s start by looking at your blog. (This example could apply to your website and your newsletter too.) Here’s the litmus test: of the two questions below, which did you spend more time thinking about?
What will I write about?
How will I get people to read this?

If you spent more time on the first question, you are a wall flower. It’s easy to do. You spend more time thinking about infrastructure than connecting. You ask yourself: What blogging system or newsletter system will I use? When will I post to my blog or send my newsletter? What will I say? How does it look?

Not that these questions aren’t important, but in these questions you have focused on what you can directly control instead of what seems nebulous i.e. getting people to read your blog, sign up for your newsletter or visit your website. That’s only half the equation.

“If You Build It They Will Come” Only Applies to the Movies

Yes. You have to build a website, blog and newsletter. But, that’s not enough. You have to think about “Who do I want to read this?” and “How do I get them here?” The answers to those questions are longer than I fit in this post. But you can start to answer those questions by asking yourself “Where does my target market hang out on the internet?” Then go there. Really. It’s that easy. Stop being a wall flower and go say “Hi.” If you can do it in person, you can do it on the internet.

Labels: blogging, enewsletter, internet marketing

I live in a house built in 1935. It was built for mail sent in 1935. My mailbox is a hole in the wall next to my front door that takes a sharp downward turn. It’s great for expending expensive heat and terrible for accepting mail. My magazines get mangled and my important mail winds up hanging in the breeze waiting for anyone who wants it.

Now that the Holiday Season is approaching, I know the mail hole is going to get really bad. I do most of my shopping online. Unfortunately retailers assume that because I buy things online I buy from catalogs. I don’t. But these “savvy” retailers send me catalogs which clog up my 1935 mail box.

So, Guy Kawasaki, I’m sorry you had two hours to kill in the Monterrey Airport, but you’ve probably saved my sanity this holiday season with your mention of www.CatalogChoice.org/. I signed up for it. It was easy. And now I won’t have to put these catalogs in the recycling pile.

Labels: catalog, opt out

I'm working on an article about blog promotion and needed a definition of "social media" so of course I looked it up on Wikipedia where I found the following message:

So, if you're an expert on social media, you might want to sign up to be a Wikipedia editor. (Personally, I wouldn't want to paint such a big target on my back but maybe you're braver than me!)

Labels: social media, wikipedia editor

It seems like every service professional has either written a book or is planning to write a book. They’ve heard time and again that writing a book will build credibility and attract new clients. And increasingly, they are turning to self-publishing or print-on-demand as a way to publish their book.

It seems to me that professionals turn to alternative types of publishing because it’s less intimating than the traditional publishing process. When you self publish you don’t have to write a book proposal, you don’t have to pitch your book and you don’t have to deal with rejection. However, there are real drawbacks to self publishing you need to consider before you inadvertently waste all the hard work that goes into writing a book.

Mike Schultz of “The Service Insider Blog” has an excellent article “The Self Publishing Fascination” that includes points to consider about self publishing. He also writes about at what sales point you can expect various business benefits. I strongly recommend reading this article if you are considering writing a book.

Labels: print on demand, self publishing