Social Media Connection, Even For Your Blog Webinar

It’s not too late to register for my upcoming 60-minute, free webinar called Social Media Connection…Even For Your Blog! It’s scheduled for Wednesday, November 4, 2009 from 1:00 PM ET to 2:00 PM ET. This is something you don’t want to miss if you are looking for simple ways to maximize your visibility of your WordPress blog or website.

Here are just some of the topics that will be covered on this webinar call:

• Which popular social media plugins are available for download to your WordPress blogsite

• What the definition of social bookmarking is and how you can apply it to your own blogsite to increase traffic

• How to get clients to stay on your blog site once they have come to you via social media

• How article marketing can also connect you with social media marketing

I wouldn’t pass up this opportunity as I reveal what tools you need to connect your social media marketing and see how these tools increase your site traffic.

So reserve your spot now for this *FREE* info webinar!

Click here to register.

What Makes a Good Webinar?

After holding my second webinar last week, I didn’t take into consideration how the participants perceived how well (or how poor) the class went. I had a colleague suggest to me to deliver a survey to those on the call to see how they felt about it and whether or not they received any value from it. This will be a great idea to follow through on after my next webinar or teleclass!

However, I do want to share with you how others view what a good teleseminar or webinar should be like. This is what I compiled from other coaches and VAs:

• A webinar is an ideal means of conveying to a captive audience the value you deliver as a host and the relevant expertise you can share, which in turn, can bring in new clients that want to work with you. If a webinar is performed well, a participant should be able to walk away with information they can use.

• What will help make the webinar interesting is to arm your participants with an agenda beforehand so they already know what you are going to deliver and they are on the call to “catch” what you have to say. What will make that audience happy too is knowing they will receive a follow-up recording of the webinar or call. I know of several participants that went back and listened to my most recent webinars. Then they contact me to discuss their needs or ask questions.

• A speaker should feel like that he/she is conversing with the audience; sort of like having an interview with the callers. I personally like to get to know my participants by having them introduce themselves at the beginning of the call. You want to make your callers feel welcome and comfortable.

• Have fun with the webinar. Adding a sprinkle of humor throughout your call will also grab the attention of your callers. I have definitely had to break out the humor “card” when I felt like my audience was starting to fade away from me!

• Be sure that you are speaking to your target audience. Even before you have the webinar, you want to promote your event that YOU know will target those you want to bring to the call. Otherwise, you are doing yourself a disservice and not “preaching” to the right audience. You will get little or no response after the call.

So before you schedule your next webinar or teleseminar, take into consideration these participant tips so you can deliver your expertise to your audience and keep them on the call. Better participation leads to more potential clients for your business!

Your Planning To-Do List for a Teleclass or Webinar

Before you decide to hold your own *free* or paid teleclass or webinar, be sure to sit down and write out a to-do list beforehand. Trust me…I’ve done this before and plan on hosting more and more *free* and paid webinars in the future.

Take these five tips in consideration in the planning phase of your event:

1. First off, research a topic or create a survey and send to your target market to find out what they want to learn more about. You can also “google” key words that will help you search the top sites or articles that would identify what your market is looking for in terms of resources.

2. Listen in on a few telecalls or webinars to get an idea of how to host a call. Usually you start the call with what the call is about. If there is a guest, they will be introduced, followed by the objectives of the class. The call ends with what the caller needs to do to take advantage of the offer or bonus. I even recommend having the offer in the middle AND the end of the call.

3. Subscribe to a *free* or paid conference line with call recording capabilities. You can always use this recording as a complimentary download or bundle it with another offer and sell it as a product.

4. Design and host a landing page (and I recommend using WordPress for this). This is the page where you make your pitch to have them sign up for your teleclass or webinar. Some will use testimonials, bullet points, objectives and bonuses on this page. Also, make signing up simple. Use a web form that requires a name and email address only. Include a 1-year subscription to your newsletter in order to keep them on your mailing list.

5. Lastly, send a broadcast or special announcement to your existing subscriber list, to the listservs or online network groups you belong to. You can even subscribe to a teleclass announcement service such as Planet Teleclass. Then watch the registrations come in!

But before you follow the five steps above, take inventory in your business and your personal life and make sure you are ready to host your own teleclass. If you plan the date, the time and you’ve done everything you can to market the event, e sure you are ready to “sell” yourself on the call. Remember, your listeners are picking up on whether or not you can clearly convey that you are an “expert” in what you are teaching or informing your audience about.

Go “Back to School” to be Your Own WordPress Expert

Go Back To School To Be Your Own
WordPress Expert!

Who says you cannot go back to school and learn a new skill, especially if that skill is a well sought after content management system and self-hosted program known
as WordPress?

You NO LONGER have to be intimidated by the thought of using WordPress for your website or blog.

You can now be your own WordPress Expert!

Join me, Aletha McManama, your WordPress Expert and Website Builder, and I will demonstrate to you via a live webinar presentation a sample training topic from a beginner’s standpoint, all the way to an advanced WordPress user level.

As a lot of us are visual learners, and we don’t learn a thing by listening to hours and hours of boring audio recordings that we purchased (HUGE WASTE of MONEY!), then being a part of this webinar would be perfect for you!

I will cover on this webinar call the following topics:

• Benefits of using WordPress for your blogsite or your client’s blogsite (for those who just don’t know)

• A brief tour of the WordPress dashboard (beginner level)

• Creating additional users in your WordPress dashboard (intermediate and advanced level)

• Downloading and installing a plugin (intermediate and advanced level)

So don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about WordPress training opportunities during and after the call. If you do, the call will be recorded and videotaped so you can download and listen to the presentation later on, but it would be so much better if you can be there “live” and on the phone with me!

So reserve your spot now for this *FREE* training webinar call on Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 3:00 PM EST (12 noon PST)

Click here to register.

Can a Joint Venture Benefit Your Business? Part 2

In my last newsletter issue, I covered what the definition of what a joint venture is and the advantages of forming a joint venture with a business partner or partners. Again, I’ve listed the definition in case you didn’t see if the first time.

Definition of a Joint Venture:
A joint venture is working together with another interested party so that both sides can benefit from the combined effort. This can be a project that is for a set period of time or even long term.

So in this article, I want to cover how to form a joint venture and some key points to keep in mind when you are forming this joint venture.

Here is a list of a few ways to form a joint venture:

1. A good place to begin is to try networking in discussion groups/forums. This is a great way to get your business and name out there and get recognized as a key player. You can build relationships with other business associates and learn about their business and what they offer.
2. Ezine (Newsletter) directories are another great resource to finding joint venture partnerships. Most newsletter publishers will welcome the opportunity of a joint venture providing it parallels with their business and your approach is professional.
3. You can also perform a search with the major search engines to find potential joint ventures. Just implement your targeted keywords and visit the websites. When you find ones that you would consider, look for the contact information and contact them.
4. You can search for sites that promote link exchanges, cross promotion forums and ezine exchanges. Many of these types of sites are interested in joint venture partnerships.

Key Points to Remember:

• When searching for a joint venture, capture as much contact information as possible, including the phone number, if given.

• After you have formed a joint venture and worked out all the details, its good business sense to build on your new relationship.

• Always make sure that the products your partner will be promoting for you are all in working order.

• Pay your partner the proper commission that you both agreed upon and that he/she gets paid on time.

• Always treat your business partner with respect and professionalism, be honest and upfront at all times. Remember in a joint venture you are instilling trust with one another. If you agree to promote your partner’s products or service, make sure you follow through on your commitment.

WordPress Website Packages Now Available

It’s official! I just rolled out late last week WordPress website (or blogsite) design packages to those small biz owners looking for an all-in-one solution to their website and online marketing needs. You will find these design packages on my new website, WordPress to Website.

Come check it out. Let me know if you are interested in learning more about WordPress sites. Of course, please pass this information on to your business colleagues and clients that need a quick and easy website solution!

Can a Joint Venture Benefit Your Business? Part 1

Absolutely! I wish I had thought about partnering with another like-minded business individual sooner than I did. Here are some tips on how a joint venture can benefit your business model:

Definition of a Joint Venture:

A joint venture is working together with another interested party so that both sides can benefit from the combined effort. This can be a project that is for a set period of time or even long term.

Advantages of a Joint Venture:

• This is a specific targeted form of marketing, so you can capture a selective niche’ audience.

• You increase your income potential and profit margins dramatically.

• Depending on the type of joint venture, most of them will cost you next to nothing.

• People have a tendency to respond better to endorsements, rather than buying a product or service outright.

• You can build credibility from other successful marketers and establish new business relationships.

• You can endorse products or services on your website or newsletter and receive a percentage of the sale (affiliate marketing).

• If you are advertising a joint venture in ones newsletter, you are not paying for the ad, shipping or printing.

• When you promote a joint venture on other business websites, you are gaining link popularity.

In my next newsletter, I will cover how to form a joint venture and some key points to keep in mind when you are forming the relationship with one or more business partners.

A Joint Venture Opportunity

As a professional Virtual Assistant and website designer, I have the opportunity to work with other colleagues in my industry to form a joint venture (or JV) and offer a complete package of services that would include all of our expertises rolled up into one deal for small business owners. And I’m not just talking about two people here. We’re talking four individuals that have a lot of creative services that would round out what a client would need.

So not to let the cat out of the bag too early, I will tell you that I will be offering WordPress site packages, coupled with training services for the program. As the venture starts to shape up, I will share my experiences in how well it’s coming together. I believe that not only will it be a fun, collaborative effort, but it will also be an opportunity to make another source of income for our businesses. Really…it’s all about making multiple streams of income and this is just one of the many avenues that I will be focusing on this year.

Can I Make Other Sources of Income in My Business?

The answer to that question is a resounding YES! If you are someone like me, a hard-at-work Virtual Assistant, then you can understand that biggest desire for my business is to bring in more income and work less hours. I’ve got to slowly step back from my business and bring back that time I need to spend with my family, now more than ever.

So how do I make this plan work? Do I increase my hourly rate to existing clients and prospective new clients? Then I could reduce my hours, but make about the same income each month. That is one solution, but it may not be accepted well with current clients that are really watching their spending dollar right now.

There are a number of ways you can bring in additional income without working more hours. It’s called “dollars for hours” instead of “hours for dollars”. It’s a phrase I picked up from my business coach, Suzanne Evans.

What I am noticing more and more is my VA and coach colleagues are finding ways to market their business through the use of teleseminars and products. Because more prospective clients are not willing to commit to your services on an ongoing basis, they are now turning more towards participating in workshops and purchasing products to help them in their business. They want to learn how to set up their own products and services and they are willing to spend the money to have someone teach or consult them in that process. They are arming themselves with the knowledge they need to set up their own administrative processes.

Having this knowledge of the small business industry, you should already be thinking of ways you can reach out to your market and promote yourself and what you can offer in the form of products or teleseminars. The possibilities are endless. You could create a survey and send it to your VA or coaching community and get their input on what they would like to learn and that could be basis of what you could put together and market for your business! So it’s not as difficult as it sounds. What can be challenging is actually putting the program together. You will need to invest more time in putting the program or product together, but once it’s done, it’s done! Other than you having to tweak or improve upon what you already have, you have a new stream of income potential for your business.

As a VA, I can also look at investing my time in learning from other VA’s that have managed to grow their business, using a mutiple stream of income model. And that’s the Six-Figure VA System. It is worth a look if you are a VA looking for ways to build your business, but not spend more time in doing so.

So if you have ideas you want to share on the subject, please feel free to comment or drop me a line at aletha(at)dcvirtualoffice(dot)com. I would love to hear your advice and stories on what you are doing to increase your bottom line, but not sacrificing your personal time with family and friends.

This Small Biz Owner Has a Life/Work Balance Now

It seems lately that there has been a lot of conversation around the topic of having a life and work balance if you are a business owner. And one aspect of being able to make the balance work is to set boundaries within your business. The boundary concept was put best in Vickie Turley’s recent blog posting, How does a Small Business Owner Have a Work/Life Balance? But what I want to focus more on is not necessarily the boundaries you make, but the kind of schedule you can create for yourself that will allow you to work at a certain time of day and still have time to spend with family, particularly your children if you have youngsters in your life (like me!).

What makes a usual work day productive for me is to have a set daily schedule of the number of hours I work that day, the clients that I will be working with and times within the day that I can take breaks, especially a lunch break. It is important to also nourish and take care of yourself so that you are a productive and happy biz owner. I cannot stress that enough. Sometimes you catch yourself skipping breakfast, followed by a sparse lunch and you wonder why you feel so sluggish and lethargic by the end of the day. It doesn’t make for a great attitude towards your family when you haven’t taken care of yourself. Trust me…I’ve been there.

One other thing I want to add about having a set schedule (and it can be as simple as a Word or Excel document you create) is that it cuts off at the same time my office closes. Before I stop working on client tasks at the end of the day, I go ahead and answer any emails that need my attention before the following business day. It sure cuts down on emails I need to reply to first thing the next morning! That also means that I do not work on client tasks in the evening. That time is my family time. It allows me to prepare meals, help my children with their homework, make sure they are fed and bathed each day and it allows me to relax after a busy day working with clients. And sometimes, I need to have that “away” time as I attend women’s meetings or prayer meetings at my local church.

So being a business owner doesn’t mean you have to work 24/7 to make your business work. You will find the time to continue to work your business AND build your business. But it also means you take care of what is really important FIRST: that’s you and your family. They come first whether you have a business or not. Succeeding at the life/work balance is not a science. It’s like a see-saw. It does have its ups and downs! But once you start to take action and make subtle changes in your schedule and set the boundaries that Vickie speaks of, you will start to see that see-saw balance out and you will see the difference it makes in your daily interaction with your clients.

I would love to hear from you if you have success stories (or horror stories) that have challenged your life/work balance. There’s not a wrong answer here. Your comments and questions are welcome!