Joint Ventures 101

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Filed Under Online Marketing, Revenue Generation, Traffic Generation

Joint Ventures 101
by Alicia M. Forest, MBA
Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™

Do you know that one of the best ways to build a successful online business quickly is through joint ventures?

I know this concept can bit a bit hard to grasp to those of us who like being a lone ranger (kind of one of the common traits of being an entrepreneur, right?). But I hope you’ll join me as I more fully embrace the “no one reaches success alone” philosophy myself.

To begin, what exactly is a joint venture?

Simple: a joint venture happens when two or more business owners decide to do something together that benefits all parties.

For example, when two authors write a book together. Or when three colleagues produce a live event together. Or when twelve experts come together to hold a telesummit.

The purpose is for each of the business owners to promote the others’ wares. In other words, you tell your list about my stuff and I’ll tell mine about yours.

Besides the obvious benefit of helping each other build your email list of potential clients and customers, there’s also the added value you give to your own list by introducing them to something that can benefit them in addition to your own offerings.

And you simply make more money!

How? Well, if you’ve been following along with me for awhile, you know that the way to build a successful and sustainable business online is to 1) find out what you niche wants; 2) create it; 3) offer to them via the list you’ve been building all along.

Because it’s those people on your list who have raised their hand to tell you that they want more information from you. They are the people who will tell you what they want and then buy it from you when you offer it.

Joint venturing can also make the work you do easier, more creative, and more fun simply by sharing the idea and tasks involved.

To get you started, here are some things you should do when considering a joint venture:

1. Get to know your potential partner first.

Sign up for their Free Taste and/or ezine. Do some research and reading to see what they are about and how you can potentially complement each other.

2. Partner with someone who shares the same audience as you.

A great potential joint venture partner is someone who already has an email list whom they’ve developed a relationship with and to whom they can and do make offers to periodically.

3. Pick 1 or 2 potential partners to approach first.

Create a list of 5 or so potential joint venture partners, and pick your top 1 or 2 to approach with an initial “I was wondering if perhaps we could do something together – here’s my idea” email. Be sure to tell them what’s in it for them, but keep this first contact simple and somewhat casual (yet professional) in tone.

Once you do your first successful joint venture, you might find that it was so easy and enjoyable that you’ll start doing more and more of them. I know I will!

I’d love to hear about successful joint ventures you’ve done already, and/or your comments or thoughts about teaming up with other like-minded colleagues. Feel free to share them with me at http://www.aliciasplog.com.

Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™ and creator of “21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System,” teaches coaches, consultants, and other solo professionals and online entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in your business, visit http://www.clientabundance.com/

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Skip the Resolutions!

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Filed Under Motivation

Skip the Resolutions!
by Alicia M. Forest, MBA
Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™

Did you take some time this past week to think about and perhaps even write down your resolutions for 2007?

To be honest, I’m not exactly a fan of resolutions – really, what’s so different about December 31 than January 1 that’s going to make a dramatic difference in whether or not you keep your resolutions? If you just have a list of things you’d like to accomplish, well, the answer is ‘not much’. But if you have a PLAN to go along with your list, well, that can make ALL the difference.

What I’ve done for the past several years, as part of a much larger strategic planning process, is create what I call My Simple Business Plan. It includes just 4 goals that I I want to achieve in my business within the next year. I review the previous year’s goals before setting down the next set for the upcoming year, and what I’ve found from doing this process over and over is this: I’ve reached AT LEAST those 4 goals within the year (and usually quite a few more). How? Because those were the ones I created a plan around to achieve.

So even though 4 goals may not seem like a lot, if it’s 4 more than you usually reach, wouldn’t that feel great?

This year, instead of creating resolutions for your business, try the following steps to create your own Simple Business Plan:

1. Create your 1 year vision

One of my favorite exercises is creating a vivid vision of what I want my life to look like over the next year. I include anything and everything I can think of, letting my imagination run wild while my fingers try to keep up with my mind.

If you’ve done this or a similar exercise before, review what you’ve written previously. Acknowledge the progress you’ve made, but don’t get stuck on the goals you didn’t reach either. Move forward with your new or revised goals for the future.

2. Choose a theme

Usually from the 1-year vision exercise, a theme will immerge about what seems most right to focus on over the next year. It may be finances, relationship-building, or a specific piece of my marketing efforts that I want to implement or increase.

3. Choose 4 goals to focus on within that theme

Choose one goal that follows the overarching theme of your year to work on each quarter. For example, if your theme is ‘increase market reach’, your first quarter goal may be to get exposure in a media outlet you haven’t tapped yet. Your second quarter goal may be to develop 3 new strategic alliances.

4. Break down each Quarterly Goal into monthly, weekly and daily tasks

Now that you know what you want to focus on each quarter, figure out what you need to do each month, week and day of that quarter to reach your goal. Then write down those tasks in your planner.

This step is huge – and it’s also the step that most people skip. But I promise if you set aside the time to do this, you will reap the rewards. Doing this will almost effortlessly PULL you forward towards reaching your goals.

5. Get support

As entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to want to go-it-alone. But nothing will increase the likelihood of actually reaching your goals more quickly and easily than if you have someone else holding you accountable.

Buddy up with a colleague, or hire a coach, to keep you on track and moving forward. Check in at least once a week to ensure forward progress. And don’t forget to celebrate your victories, whether they be big or small, along the way.

I know this sound simple, but for some reason, we have a tendency to make everything much more difficult than it needs to be. If you follow the 5 steps I’ve given you, when this time comes next year, you’ll be astounded that you actually reached, at the very least, your 4 goals of your Simple Business Plan.

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Make Your Thank You Pages Do Double-Duty

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Filed Under Online Marketing, Traffic Generation

Make Your Thank You Pages Do Double-Duty
by Alicia M. Forest, MBA
Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™

I have a question for you: When someone signs up to receive your ezine or other Free Taste of what it is that you’re offering, where do they end up?

Do they see a polite thank you page from you? Or do they see the default confirmation page from your list service? Or do they see nothing and are left wondering if the registration went through?

People who are signing up for your list expect to see a page afterwards as a normal part of the transaction. On that page, it’s important to thank them for signing up and make them feel good about their decision. Also, if you’re using a double opt-in for your list, let them know that they need to confirm their subscription before they will receive the information they requested from you.

But there’s much more you can do with this page, so why not leverage it? Here’s a few ideas as to how:

1. Add Tell-A-Friend

Most people are happy to refer you to someone else they know who might benefit from what you’re offering, if you’ll just ask them.

You can do this easily by simply asking them to point others to your sign-up page, or by using a simple referral software program, like TAFPro, which creates a simple form to fill in with a name and email address of the person they are making the referral to. Once they hit send, an email gets sent directly to the recipient and a copy comes to you as well.

This is a great way to add new subscribers to your list without you having to do more work.

2. Make another offer

The best time to make an offer to someone is when they are already engaged with you. Someone who has just signed up to receive information from you is likely to be interested in something else you have to offer. Use this page to make an offer on one of your lower ticket items in your funnel. By doing so, you’ll gain sales that you wouldn’t otherwise.

3. Ask a question

This is a prime time to gather a little market research from your readers. Ask a simple question, like “What’s your biggest challenge with X?” (X being your niche or what it is that your offering). Add an email link where they can send their answer, and then use this information as you continue to develop offerings for your target market.

Doing this also helps in starting to build a relationship with your readers, and it keeps you up-to-date as to what they are struggling with right now so you can offer the solutions they most want.

4. Refer them elsewhere

Hook up with a colleague to start trading some thank you page traffic. On your thank you page, say something like, “I know you’ll also benefit from (name of ezine) published by (name of publisher).” Then give them instructions on how to sign up. Your colleague would do the same for you on their thank you page.

I implement all four of these strategies on various thank you pages, which are helping me build a stronger relationship with my readers, find out what it is that they most want my help with, build my list faster and easier (while helping a handful of colleagues build theirs), and make more sales by making more offers.

I encourage you to leverage your thank you pages this way in your own business. Making them work double-duty for you will absolutely create the same results for you that I’m enjoying, so pick one and start working it today.

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Measure Your Results for Faster, Easier and More Success

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Filed Under Business Management

Measure Your Results for Faster, Easier and More Success
by Alicia M. Forest, MBA
Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™

When I was studying for my MBA, my most challenging class was statistics. And even though I managed an A- in the class, it took very one of the few analytical brain cells I had to do so.

So imagine my pleasant surprise when I sat down to analyze the statistics of my business over the last 12 months and found myself engrossed, fascinated, excited and practically dancing for joy. Armed with this critical data, now I know exactly where to spend my time and efforts going forward to receive the highest and best rate of return!

I ran a total of about 20 reports, but let me share some of what I learned specifically from my shopping cart’s reports:

Shopping Cart Stats

The shopping cart system I use (1ShoppingCart) has the ability to run sales reports in a variety of ways. Below are four of the reports I ran, what my results were, and what I will do with those results:

a. My Monthly Sales Totals…

…showed me that my best month financially was December, with a close second in February and a third in October.

I reviewed my marketing and sales (making offers) activities for those months, and what I found was this:

In December, my best financial month, I held my 50% off holiday sale – and I didn’t have to do a thing to bring in those sales, other than promote it. So, if you’re hesitating about having a sale, and even more so if you’re hesitating about giving a big discount, don’t. You’ll not only make sales that you wouldn’t have otherwise, you’ll likely make MORE sales than you would have otherwise, which of course means more money.

In February, I launched the first edition of my “21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System” – and it’s become my bestselling product. Those are two solid reasons to do an updated and revised version, which I am right now.

In October, I held my “How to Make Your Teleseminars Make You Money” teleseminar. Obviously this was, and is, a hot topic, for my market, so I packaged it into a product for immediate purchase (click here for details). I’m also considering adding it to my list of live programs to offer this year.

b. My Sales by Ad Campaign…

… showed me which special offers were the ones you were most interested in taking advantage of. Now I know which offers to consider repeating, or offering on another product or program in the future.

c. My Sales by Clients/Customers…

… showed me who my top clients/customers are, what they’ve bought, and how much they’ve invested in my offerings. And since I know that one of the most effective ways to grow a business is to make additional offers to those who have already bought from me, you can bet that not only will I do that, but I’ll do it in a way that makes them feel special – because they are to me – by offering them special access or discounts or additional benefits as my way of thanking them for their continued business and loyalty.

d. My “Where did you hear about us” Report…

… showed me that even though I thought that some of my online networking efforts weren’t really paying off, mainly because I didn’t think I was focusing enough time on them, I was wrong. It seems even the small amount I had been doing was making an impact.

So now I know the top 4-5 places to really focus those efforts going forward. This makes what can seem like an overwhelming marketing activity (some lists are SO active) into an extremely managable and once-again enjoyable one.

I gleaned all of this information from just four reports from my shopping cart. And this doesn’t include the reports I ran from my email list service (Aweber) or from my web stats (Google Analytics).

Measuring the results of your business activities is critical to your success, and anyone can do it (it’s really one of those “if I can, anyone can” kind of things). I really want to encourage you to take a look at where you’ve been over the past 6-12 months, analyze that data, and make some strategic decisions about where you want to focus your efforts going forward to get where you want to be.

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5 Easy Steps to Leveraging Your Articles

Posted on September 30, 2007 | Filed Under Revenue Generation, Search Engine Optimization, Traffic Generation

5 Easy Steps to Leveraging Your Articles
by Alicia M. Forest, MBA
Multiple Streams Queen & Coach™

Writing valuable content-rich articles for your target market and submitting them to article directories and other publishers is one of the best ways to market your business, become known as an expert in your field, and add subscribers to your list.

For example, if you regularly write an article for your ezine, you can get a lot more mileage out of it if you submit it to article directories and other online publishing services. And making every piece you write work more than once for you is one way to work smarter and not harder. That’s called leverage.

There are several reasons why you want to do this. One is to get your name and your business out there so people will learn who you are and what you do, and it helps to position you as an expert. No more keeping yourself a secret and hiding behind your computer! Another reason is that your articles give people a taste of your style, what it is that you offer, and it gives them an opportunity to get to know you a bit without risking anything.

At the end of each article include a resource box so if people want to find out more about you and your business, they have that information at their fingertips. Once someone reads your article, if they like your stuff, they will likely visit your website and sign up for your Free Taste (your free offering that gets people on your list). And writing articles is one of the fastest (and FREE) ways to get lots of exposure, especially if a publisher with a large list picks it up!

Want to get started? Here are the 4 easy steps:

1. Write the article or recycle one you’ve already written, giving it a fresh edit (it never hurts).

Write or revise an article targeted at your niche that is full of valuable content. A couple of tips: Articles can be anywhere from 400-700 words in length for the best chance of being picked up (if you have a longer article, consider chopping it in half and making it two shorter articles). Also, articles with lists, steps, or mini-chunks of information seem to be the most read.

2. Add your copyright.

Don’t forget to protect your work by adding a copyright. At the end of each article, put a copyright notice with the date of when you first published the article. For example, copyright (or ©) 2007 Alicia M Forest.

3. Write the copy for your author’s box.

After your copyright notice comes what’s usually referred to as the “resource box” or “author’s box.” In order for others to publish your work, ask that they include this information at the end of your article, keeping what you provide in it whole and intact. As this is standard practice, you’ll find most publishers will honor this request.

Write 3-5 lines that entice people to find out more about you by providing the web address to the sign-up page for your Free Taste. You don’t need to use this valuable real estate to promote your business, but do use it to encourage people to join your list by signing up for your ezine or other free offering.

A tip: Again, don’t send your article readers to your home page. Send them to a page set up specifically to add them to your list. For example, say “for more articles like this, please visit www.yourezinepage.com to sign up!”

4. Submit your article.

Although this is one of the most time-consuming marketing tasks, it can be made much simplier by either hiring a VA to do it for you, or using an article submission service. The service I use and recommend is:

SubmitYOURArticle

There are literally hundreds of websites that offer free content for publishers who are in need of quality articles for their own publications or websites. Here are some of the best ones:

www.ezinearticles.com
www.ideamarketers.com
www.goarticles.com
www.article-host.com
www.articlecity.com

5. Turn it into a blog post and/or podcast

If you have a business blog, be sure to leverage your article by posting it to your blog. Not only will this give you more exposure, it will also increase your search engine traffic because the search engine spiders LOVE blogs and will read and index your blog URL every time you post new content.

If you’re podcasting, use your article as a script to record and offer as a podcast as a way to increase your market reach to the audio learners in your target market.

Bonus step:

If you want to see stronger results from submitting your articles, contact directly those publishers of ezines and websites in your niche. Google publishers of ezines in your target market and then send a query to the editor/owner about submitting an article. Present yourself as a professional and offer your article for their use, provided the resource box remains in tact. Paste your article under your message (attachments can get blocked, and if the receiver doesn’t know you it’s unlikely they will open and read it anyway).

Writing and submitting articles is one of the tried-and-true, if slow-and-steady, ways to build your list, become known as an expert, and offer value to your target market.

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Joint Ventures 101

Skip the Resolutions!

Make Your Thank You Pages Do Double-Duty

Measure Your Results for Faster, Easier and More Success

5 Easy Steps to Leveraging Your Articles