The intuitive website blog

I have been “attending” the Social Media Telesummit, hosted by Leesa Barnes. Yesterday was the first day of the telesummit. The first part of it ran from noon until 3:00 PM. I am very happy that they will be posting podcasts of the sessions, because, to be honest, my phone rang off the hook with client calls all afternoon and I missed the majority of what was said besides a general gist that even if you are a one person business, you can reach a global market through social media, and that linkedin.com is a good way to network for business. An evening with the family conflicted with the evening speaker, so I am anxiously awaiting those podcasts and looking forward to re-digesting everything at my leisure.

Today my office phone was amazingly quiet and I was able to listen to the telesummit from noon until 3:00 without interruption.

The way this telesummit is put together is a testament to the power of social media and the importance of mixing up your different medias (if they weren’t posting the audio archives of the guest speakers - I would be unable to benefit from this summit). It is hosted on a blog (http://wordpress.com is the platform used). It uses a wpmember interface works with 1shopping cart to create membership levels in wordpress. (Your intuitive-website also has the membership component that you could use to create premium/ members only content for your visitors.). It uses a forum, as well, that attendees can post questions on. It combines written content with audio, and interactive elements.

It is wonderful to be able to hear a panel discussion and to submit questions. The speakers today had pdf handouts that we could download and refer to during their discussion, and an archive of the telesummit will be posted in podcast form to re-listen to at our leisure. There was a LOT of information given to us today - so it will be nice to have the pdf files and the audio to refer to later.

• What I learned #1 - combine media: use written, printable, audio (and video) to disseminate your content
  

The first speaker today was Jason Van Orden and his topic was: Using Social Media and Premium Content to Create New Profits Centers for Your Business

Jason was eloquent and had some great advise which I will start to summarize here, but will go into more detail about later. He outlined several steps:

1. Find a niche market
   • Find a niche that you are familiar with - that you are a member of or understand very well
   • Find a market that has a need that you can fill
   • pick a market that has money to spend
   • narrow down your niche
2. Realize that you have valuable information to offer and that you don’t need any body’s permission to be an expert in your field.
3. Use as many different media channels as you can to get your content out there.
   • Create a web presence using social media tools best practices.
     Your web presence should be RSS ready (by the way, your intuitive-website allow you to publish rss feeds of your content)
   • You should regularly create valuable content for your market.
   • Establish through leadership - post fresh content, offer tutorials and step by step tips for people.
   • Use as many different media channels as you can and always link back to your home site or blog.
4. Create a relationship with your target market. Relationships and trust are the new branding. Maintain your email list, but also, start a community.
   • inform your relationships - give them valuable content
   • entertain them - through anecdotes that illustrate your points, through the passion that you bring to your area of expertise
   • offer them a place where they belong - offer belonging.
5. Find out what your niche wants - not what you think they need. Ask for feedback. You can use services like http://surveymonkey.com or the custom form builder in your intuitive website to create questionnaires and find out what your audience is looking for.
6. Give your niche premium content at a premium price.
   • through membership areas
   • e-books
   • archives of content and podcasts
   • consulting

Session 2: Branding and Blogging: The “New” Success Secret for Attracting More Clients and More Money with The Blog Squad

The blog squad talked about the importance of establishing an online brand, and that branding in combination with blogging is a powerful tool. The blogs that thrive are ones that have mastered the branding with the blogging. The blog can help you control your business identity, what people see of you online.

My first question might be, “What do you mean by branding?”
This is what I think they mean, and we can combine this with Jason’s wise words: What is your niche market and what do you have to offer them? That is your brand. Ask yourself, “who is my ideal reader? how do I solve their problems? what are the core reasons for reading this blog?”

My second question might be, “How do I incorporate my branding in my blog?”
One way is to write smart titles to your posts and pages . The blogsquad said that you need to be strategic with your keywords - using words that are specific to your niche - specific to your customers and your expertise - when people do a search on those keywords that are specific to the problems that you solve - in all likelihood you’ll be found much easier.

What is the core message of the blog? what is the brand? Make sure the blog includes that brand statement, a consistent design and what you want people to know about you and your business and your services.

Communicate consistently with passion and focus, and stay on topic. Stay focused on your expertise.

Make sure your blog reflects the look and feel of your other marketing material.

Include a photo of the author, an about statement and contact information. Blogs are less formal, so use the first person - this is your story - not a cv or resume.

Include links to other social media pages- facebook link etc.. so that people can see where your active (professional pages).

Remember what the purpose is - is it to build your business? to get leads? to get sales? to establish yourself as a thought leader? use common sense about what stays on and what goes off.

Include testimonials from your clients.

To develop your brand through blogging requires ongoing activity, over time. It doesn’t happen writing once a month - or with one blog post. You have to post several times a week.
Professional blog etiquette
In my notes I have written:

a blog is a public forum - keep in mind - anyone can find this content - future clients etc.. which is what you want - so keep it professional. Make sure you are professional. It is okay to reveal personal information but make sure it supports your objective, and tread lightly around religion and politics unless you are in that business.

Some of the last advise from the blogsquad was to mention your blog everywhere. Drive traffic to your blog. Find other blogs that are in your niche, read them, and leave comments on them (respectfully and without overtly marketing your business), including your blog url in your signature. Start building relationships.

Starting to build relationships segues into the next speakers.

5 Ways to Use Social Media to Find & Create Your Next Joint Venture with MaryPat Kavanagh & Michele PW

Michele and MaryPat spoke about the importance of networking and finding people with similar business interests to work with. I am going to have to comment on their input later, however, because it is almost time to listen to the final speaker in today’s telesummit schedule.