Marketing Mistakes Checklist and some Examples

Posted by Riggie Freyer · 69 Comments 

Many entrepreneurs make basic marketing mistakes either because they don't know about these mistakes, or they don't have an effective system to avoid them.

This article is about the simple, basic mistakes you must avoid in order to make consistent profits with your business.

1. Failing to Master the Primary Function of Your Business

It amazes me how many businesses don't master their core business. By this I mean, if you own a grocery store in town, do you have the basic items and brand names your customer buys on a daily basis… in stock all the time?

You should, as your customers rely on you to have these items in stock when they need them. And if you don't, they'll shop somewhere else.

Now think about your business. Do you have a system in place for you business, which allows you to master the primary functions in your business so your customers are happy in their dealings with you?

You don't need to master marketing or become a business guru. Simply set up a solid system and master your core business, so your customers get what they wanted from you in the first place.

2. Not Specializing and Targeting a Specific Market

Small business owners seem to 'forget' who their customers really are and don't realize they need to specialize. Seeing they don't have a huge advertising budget, almost all small businesses need to specialize.

This allows them to compete with a small advertising budget.

Decide what you what to specialize in and decide which customers you want to go after. And then simply go after your target market every day.

3. Failing to set up a Database of Prospects and Clients

You may think this is obvious, but I still come across many entrepreneurs who are too lazy to set up a database of prospects and clients. If you have a brick and mortar business, you too can easily do it too.

Simply collect the email addresses of every prospect and customer you meet and add them to an autoresponder program such as aweber.com.

Then build a relationship with them by sending them valuable content and offers you can sell to them.

4. Not Systematically Following Up on Leads

Make sure you keep in contact with your existing prospects and customers at least twice a month. I notice many small business owners 'forgetting' this step too. If you don't keep building a relationship with your prospects and customers, they'll forget about you and buy elsewhere!

Remember they've already purchased from you and trust you. Selling additional products to them is easier than find and selling to new prospects.

5. Failing to improve the Usability and Conversion of Your Website

How many visitors on you blog or website are you converting to subscribers or customers? How easy is it for your visitors to understand what to do on your site?

To improve the usability of your website, make sure all links are blue and underlined, for example. Web visitors are used to seeing blue links.

You can also increase the size of your "Buy" or "Subscribe"buttons. It almost always increases conversions. Also make sure you eliminate all distractions which will stop your visitors from buying or subscribing on your site, especially on the order pages.

Distractions could mean links to other sites or any unnecessary things which distract your visitors from buying or subscribing on your site. This also increases conversions.

So study your websites and blogs, and make sure it's clear what your visitors must do on your site. Also investigate how you can increase the conversion rates so you can turn more visitors into buyers.

Do you have any additional marketing mistakes we should watch out for?

Filed under Blog Promoting, Marketing Strategies · Tagged with

7 Steps To Write A Business Plan

Posted by Riggie Freyer · 53 Comments 

Do you own… or intend to own an internet business?

And do you have a written a business plan for your business? Most entrepreneurs don't have one. This is an expensive mistake. You need to know exactly where you're heading with your business if you want to succeed.

Take simple steps to put together a business plan today. You don't need to go into great detail. Jot down easy steps of information to keep you on track… and accountable for taking action in your business.

Follow these 7 Steps To Write a Business Plan

Step 1: Reflect on The Previous Business Year

In a few statements, reflect on how your business performed during the last year. What were your successes? What were your setbacks? What exactly is working and what not? What do you need to change and improve for the coming year?

Step 2: Write Your Business Plan On A Single Page

Are you focused enough on your main business activities?

You need to define your business, your target customers, and your major goals on a single page. And only on one page, please. This helps you to have a quick overview of your business planning.

I also have my plan saved in the Microsoft Word software on my computer, so I can change and improve the plan quickly.

Step 3: Write Down A Vision Statement

Everybody is building some kind of vision and business. What kind of business are you building? Make your Vision statement very specific. This is your vision of your company. Create your vision precisely, so you know it step-by-step, and you can share it with a team if you need to.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • What type of company is this?
  • Who is my perfect customer?
  • What kind of business am I building?
  • How big will my company be and what profits do I want to generate?

What are my most important products and services?
What will my marketing strategy look like?

Step 4: Define Your Mission

A mission statement always answers the question: Who will you serve and what can your do for them?

Then think ahead and answer the question: Why will my customers purchase my products and services? Which problems do I solve for my clients and what makes my solutions unique?

An sample a mission statement for a Ranch Management company could look like this:
“Healthy Land, Happy Families, Profitable Business… Ranching for Profit”

Step 5: Write Down Your Action Oriented Goals

Write down your specific goals you want to achieve for your business. And then write down action-oriented goals. I've found the most effective goals to be an action-oriented, as it helps to accomplish the most important task… taking action daily.

Once you've put down your yearly, monthly and weekly goals for your business, consider additionally writing action goals. They state which action you'll take on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. And then focus on these action goals every day.

Another guide to track how you're doing in your business is to write down your goals with numbers attached to them, so you can compare your goals to the years before. Examples could be:

- Reach a gross profit of $200,000 for this coming year
- Get 10 new clients every month

Step 6: State Your Business Strategy

Which strategy are you going to choose to achieve your business goals?

Your strategy is simply a definition of what steps you'll take to make your business successful. You need to set a specific direction and follow that direction without side-stepping along the way.

For example, you should decide how you're going to:

  • Position your Business in the marketplace
  • What pricing policy you're going to follow
  • How you're going to attract targeted customers to your business
  • How you're going to find joint ventures

You need to define a simple strategy and follow it. You can't market your business in 150 different ways, for example. You'll probably have to choose up to 10 ways initially. So be clear what your strategy is and do it.

Step 7: Create An Action Plan

After you have defined your goals in Step 5, you'll also have defined your action-oriented goals. Now simply create an action plan from these action-oriented goals. Make an action plan for at least the next year, and break it down to all the way down to a daily plan.

I have a daily action plan with only 3 or 4 things I must do. If all else fails on that particular day due to an emergency, I've achieved the most important action goals for that day. Remember, do them first thing in the morning, and you'll be surprised how much you can achieve in a year.

So again… focus your the priorities for the day and do them first!

Take these seven simple steps to write an effective business plan and raise the productivity in your business! Should you want more information on how to create your business plan, check out Jim Horan's great book "The One Page Business Plan".

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How to Set Up a Blog with Wordpress

Posted by Riggie Freyer · 56 Comments 

Most entrepreneurs need to set up a blog to get traffic for their particular niche or business. Internet marketing folks generally know this, however many entrepreneurs and small businesses are lacking the know-how in setting up a blog that will result in more traffic and profits for their business.

I've set up Blogger, Movable Type and Wordpress blogs, and Wordpress wins the race by a mile. It's easy to set up a Wordpress blog… even if you're not technically minded. And it's easy to add content to a Wordrpress blog too.

This article is about how to set up a basic Wordpress blog to get you traffic and customers for your business. Even if you have a website already, consider including a blog in your site too. The search engines love blogs and generally index the new information faster than website pages.

9 Basic Steps You Need To Set up Your Wordpress Blog

1. Find a Domain Name and Register It

I use Moniker.com. It's an excellent domain company. Use them to register your domain names and keep them locked up safely. Next, setup your blog web hosting. Find a reliable web host make your blog available 24 hours a day, all year round. Here I use iweb.ca. They have the best support I've ever experienced with web hosts,

2. Install Wordpress

The easiest way to install Wordpress is to make sure your web host offers a cPanel and Fantastico with its hosting. Wordpress can be installed automatically with a click or two.

If you can't get hold of a web host with the above features, you can go to Wordpress' website to download and install the blog manually.

3. Find And Install A New Wordpress Theme

Once you install Wordpress, it looks very basic. You then need to go to a website on the internet to find a theme to make it look like a nice looking blog. A theme essentially adds colors, and graphical elements to your blog. Many themes are free and some websites offer professional-looking paid ones. For free themes, check out http://themes.wordpress.net/ and http://www.wpthemesfree.com.

If you intend to make money with your blog consider purchasing the semiologic wordpress software. It has many great looking themes and it takes only a few clicks until your theme is up-and-running.

4. Install Widgets On Your Blog

Once you've installed a theme, install what's called widgets. These are simply additional functions to make your blog more useful to your visitors. For example, you can add a "Recent comments" widget which will enable your blog to display the recent comments of your visitors. Or you can add a "Links" widget which enables you to add links in the sidebar of your blog. Once you've added your widgets, add Plug-ins to your blog.

5. Find and Activate Plug-ins For Your Blog

Plug-ins are amazing, as they add very helpful capabilities to your blog. For example, you can download and SEO plugin which will optimize your blog for the search engines. Or you could install a plug-in which would help you to manage the comments your visitors leave on your blog. These plug-ins automate a lot of functions and saves you loads of time. If you choose to get the Semiologic software, a lot of these plug-ins are already set up and you're ready to start working immediately.

6. Add Your Personal Details to Your Blog
Remember to add your name, your physical address, your email address and your disclaimers. If you're setting up a blog for lots of readers, this information is essential.

7. Write Your First Post and Add Your Categories

Now you can start writing information, tips or articles. In blog terms, this is called a post. If you're not used to writing, you may find it tough at first. Simply keep your posts short. And keep going. Thanks to the internet, you can get a lot of information and advice from other websites, so it's easy to do research and develop more content to write about.

Also tell your story about how you got started in blogging. You don't have write a big manual, simply have fun and share your ideas with your readers.

After writing your first post, you'll see you can then add different categories. Add relevant categories to the topic of your blog. If your blog is about marketing, you may have categories such as "Online marketing", "Postcard Marketing" etc.

8. Write At Least 2 Posts per Week

People look on the internet primarily to find information. Update your blog often and your readers will read your posts regularly. Don't worry if you only have a couple of readers in the beginning. Keep going. Create more content and you'll get more traffic from your articles in time.

Also don't worry if you don't understand all the terminology such as Digg, RSS Feed etc. you hear in the blogging world. Plod along and you'll grasp their menaing at a later stage.

9. Use A Step-by-Step Wordpress Training to Get Up to Speed Fast

I'm in the process of setting up a video course called "How to Setup A Wordpress Blog", to help you create a professional Wordpress blog quickly. The videos are kept online and are always updated with the latest information. It will be available on the 1st July. Click here to pre-order it at a reduced price now.

Filed under How to Get Traffic, Marketing Strategies, Writing Content · Tagged with ,

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