Is Blogging A Viable Sales Tool?
Copyright © 2008 Gavin Ingham

As an author, sales motivational speaker and sales force development consultant, it is very important that I walk the talk and continue to learn and develop myself.  One activity which I am always recommending to clients, friends and everyone alike is to keep reading new, old and interesting ideas to keep yourself stimulated and on top of your game. My personal favourite subjects for reading about are personal development, sales training, sales force development, motivation and mindset, general business and marketing.

Nowadays I read a lot of blogs and am subscribed to several via RSS feeds. One blog which I read regularly is Trish Jones’ blog. She recently posted two interesting posts on blogging as a sales tool and whether blogging can sell services or just products.

These are great questions and ones which every sales person, business owner and entrepreneur needs to consider and as with all great questions there are probably several answers but first a little “sermon” about blogs and blogging…

Many blog marketeers have an inherent interest in positioning blogs as the second coming, as the only marketing required in your mix, as all you need to succeed in selling your products, services, or indeed anything  that you want to sell.

For most people and for most businesses this is, at best, misleading and, at worst, dishonest. Blogs are a great form of marketing but they are only one form of marketing. Even if your business is your blog you still need to understand how to market your blog in the same ways that you might market a normal website.

Blogs do not market themselves!

What’s worse is that you can market a brochure style, static website and if you do it well people will visit and when they do they may well buy from you. When you market a blog site people will read your blogs first, before they buy anything. This means that you have to write well if want to make any sales. For you to make sales on a blog site people have to want to read what you write, see value in what you write and like the way that you wrote it too.

And they still have to like, want or need your product or service enough to buy it or to make that call!

If your blog is not well written and people do not like it they will not buy anything off you even if they do come to your blog!

If you only market in the “blogosphere” and your target prospects and clients are in the “real world” you are not going to bring in shed loads of new customers. Many of my clients do not even know that my site is a blog, they just like reading it! They don’t post comments, they email me and I respond!

Blogging also needs to be consistent. It is not a quick fix. Indeed it is probably one of the slowest routes to market and requires far more effort than many other instant fix marketing options (think Google adwords).

In my opinion, blogging also needs to be personal. Your content needs to be yours if you want to sell your services and you need to read and respond to your “community” on your blog. This is all very time consuming.

So why would anybody blog?

To demonstrate expertise… To share a passion… To promote long-lasting marketing content… To build a following… To set themselves a cut above everyone else…

But it’s not easy.

Everyone and their dog seem to be setting up blogs these days. Blogging is highly competitive. Whatever your industry is there will already be good blogs with reader bases up and running. To compete with this you need a good subject, a passion about your subject, real knowledge, good writing ability, a strong message, design skills, marketing skills and a connection with your audience. Perhaps most importantly you need to be able to add value for your readers constantly walking the line between interesting and factual. This is the minimum that you need (or need to buy in) to even get you off the starting line…

But can a blog sell a service?

Well… After converting my website at www.gaviningham.com to a blog some 18 months ago I have blogged consistently and on theme. Traffic has grown, readership has grown, enquiries have grown and conversion ratios have upped.

But does my blog sell my services?

Partly.

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. I think most times my blog pre-sells people on the idea of working with me. They read my blogs and they know what I am about. They get my message and they like it. I guess that those who don’t, never call.

But those who do are pre-sold to a certain extent. You still need to know how to sell. You still need to solve their pains with your solutions. You still need to position your solution effectively. You still need to do all of the other good stuff.

As with all areas of sales and marketing, blogging is not a quick fix super drug that will turn your business around over night but if you have time to commit to it, if you are passionate about it and if you make it part of your overall sales and marketing mix then blogging is a powerful weapon for selling whatever it is that you’re selling.

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Gavin Ingham is an author and motivational speaker. Find out more and join his free Success newsletter at http://www.gaviningham.com .

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So how was that for a good find?  Did you agree with what Gavin had to say?  I say totally.  Now let’s start blogging at least every two days.  I myself seem to have time to make a post only two or three times a month.  I am finding I have put too many tasks on my list to complete each week and this means blogging gets pushed down to the bottom.  I have post-its to remind me to keep posting regularly -  blogging creates natural traffic, the search engine spiders come to my site on a regular basis.  You can do this too, plus if you can’t find something to talk about, go to an article directory and pick up a short article to add some variety to your own blog.  I did it today to see how it would look here.  Dare to try something new once in a while, add a bit of spice to life.

Thanks for visiting,

Theresa, the TLCgirl

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Theresa Kannenberg is helping people around the globe be successful with their home businesses on the internet.  “Creating Profits for Life, One Person at a Time.”

Sign up for the TLC Profit Business Ezine and start profiting today.

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 Ok now on to our business topic for today.  I am going to give you a comprehensive list of methods to start getting FREE traffic to your site.

These methods are what I use to drive traffic to my website and are now the top ways to get top quality traffic and leads.  Let’s get to the meat.  Now this is where you have to start doing some work. What did someone say Work?  Well, we all know nothing is Free, right?  Think of this - ‘Do the work now, work for free, to reap the residual rewards later.’

For Guaranteed Success, Do these actions Everyday:

1.   Post in Forums 

Look for forums you like and start posting at least once a day to them.  First get to know the forum by reading around, and then write a ‘new member’ introduction and a worthwhile comment without promoting your business.  Remember forums are for sharing ideas and information and NOT advertising your opportunity, you will lose respect doing that.  Create worthy topics for discussion ask questions of other members and build a name for yourself as a trustworthy individual.  Make sure you add a signature and let that link do the work for your business.

2.   Article Marketing

Start writing articles about your niche which you think will interest your readers at least once or twice a week.  Write about your passion, tell them what you know and this will inturn create interest in what else you know thus they will click on your link in your information box at the end of your article.  This will create highly targeted traffic for you and your website for years to come.  Keep your articles around the 500 word mark and divide the article into readable chunks that can be scanned quickly by someone looking for certain information.  Submit these to article directories so they can be picked up by newsletter or ezine distributors.   You can do it manually, for instance www.articlemarketer.com or you can find a site to submit them for you,  for example www.articlesubmission.com . There are many more to chose from so use your google search bar to find more submission sites.

3.   Create a Newsletter & Ezine

 If you want to build your opt-in mailing list, you must create a newsletter or ezine for people to receive weekly or monthly.  These publications deliver fresh quality content to your subscribers’ email boxes.  Remember you are creating a community of readers.  Be friendly and use a conversational manner.  Listen to your readers and offer solutions to their problems, once you do this, they will become your customers for life.  Before you start your own, subscribe to another newsletter and observe how they are written, take a few notes of what you like and don’t like, then get started creating your own.  Try this one:  www.TLCProfitSolutions.com/newsletter-signup.html .  And just for signing up you can have your choice of 1 or all 6 ebooks.  That’s it.

4.   Blog Your Way to Success

Get a blog set up right away, stop heeing and hawing about it.  Action and practice is all it takes to be on your road to success.  I was afraid of blogging at first but it is getting easier the more I do it.  Get yourself a WordPress.com or blogger.com blog, they are fun and very easy to use…any newbie can use them.  Get your free blogger ebook here:  TLC Profit Solutions.   You can develop your own style as you blog, you can make it professional or you can make it personal or you can use both together like I do.  I prefer using both because I can add a bit about my life and I feel I can connect with readers as a real person.  I am real and my readers are too.

5.   Add RSS - Really Simple Syndication

A free marketing tool, RSS, if used correctly, can skyrocket your sales.  Do a read up on Wikipedia.com or google it to find more information.  If you have a blog attached to your website, then the RSS feeder can be part of the blog as well.

6.   Use Social Bookmarking as a Marketing Tool

Because of the high volume of visitors to Social Bookmarking sites such as MySpace, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook and many more, this is definintely an effective tool for marketing your opportunity.  These sites may not create immediate results but they do create visibility of your products to visitors who may later be converted into buyers.  Back links will be automatically created when other visitors tag your site.  Be careful with being too commercial, the social sites will bury you deep.  Read the rules and then start clean.  Hey, what are you waiting for?  Go Now and create your profile at the ones you like best and start getting free traffic right now.

7.   Send a Press Release

You can write a Press Release like you are writing a newspaper article, you have to have an edge and a catchy headline.   Capture the reader, keep them reading and then mention your product at the end.  One release read by hundreds of readers can mean sales by potential customers.   To read more about how to write a press release do a keyword search on Google or Yahoo to find tips for writing a good copy.  Or read pages 274-282 of Dotcomology.

8.   Use SEO and Keywords

This is more work and takes a bit of study to master Search Engine Optimization to get your site ranked on the internet.  Get a really good ebook and read up on it, as this will be the most effective form of online marketing for your business.   One of the first steps to SEO is selecting Keywords for your site.  Now one of the keys here is NOT to select highly popular words due to competition but less used longer phrases which you can use to rise to the top of the search engines with little or no competition.  Use a good Keyword search site such as www.wordtracker.com or try www.websitetips.com/seo/tools/keywords/ as this site is offering valuable information and they keyword search is instant and free….a good place to start. 

9.   Link Building

Links are the core of your SEO campaign.  Links are natural connectors based on quality not quantity of incoming links.  The best way to get quality backlinks is having good content on your site, the saying goes ‘content is King.’   Create a Blog and upload it to your website, by blogging every week with your insights and hot discussion topics, you will get quality visitors voluntarily linking to your site.  Add the articles you have written to the first page of your website, brand yourself as a trustworthy business person who is helping others be successful.  Those who help others first and foremost will create abundance beyond their wildest dreams.   Read up on other ways to get backlinks here:  www.seochat.com/c/a/Link-Trading-Help/Link-Building-Methods/  Make sure you stay away from Link farms they will destroy your ranking.  Links from other websites with similar content is the key to getting google to love your website.

   Hope these 9 methods help you on your road to success.  Remember stop getting ready to get ready.  Do one or two of these everyday and you will start seeing the fruit on your tree of success before you can count from 1 to 9.  Cheerio and thanks for visiting.

From Theresa

a.k.a the TLCgirl

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Theresa Kannenberg is helping people around the globe be successful with their businesses on the internet. 

Sign up for the TLC Profit Business Ezine and start profiting today.

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Does your boss look over your shoulder?  Not anymore!  Be your own boss with this Plug In Profit Site.  Set your own work hours and plan your own holidays with your own online business.  Get your own domain name, start building a list, use the free 400 day pre-written auto-responder to start bringing in an income from the comforts of your own home office.  Work the way you want, when you want, and most of all be the person who you want to be.

2.  Ride the Wave of Proven Success

Have no idea how to start?  Not anymore!  Learn from all the information provided by Stone Evans, one of the top internet marketers today.  The marketing system and ideas he has gives away in his Docomology ebook have been tested and proven, so use what has been given to you.  They work and make running your business a whole lot easier.

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Worried about being a Newbie?  Stop!  This is fun and exciting because all the information is provided in a 30 day training package, plus this system comes with 47 training videos to help you with technical jobs related to your business such as html and blogging.  It is all free with your Plug In Profit Site.

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Worried about having quesitons and no one to answer them?  Not!  We offer two online support groups to help you get through from day to day - the Warrior Forum and the Pips Power Group.  The Warrior Forum is a place the gurus and other professionals hang out.  The PPG is one of the best sites to get online mentoring.  6 top Pip site owners help other members get their businesses into the profit zone within a 3 month period.  These two sites respond to questions instantly or within 24 hours.  Phone consultations are also available but most can be done here right online through email or live chat. 

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Worried about spending alot of money?  Stop!  This Plug In Profit Site is one of the lowest cost programs available.  Expenses are minimal and sign ups in turn pay for your memberships.  This business can be operated on a strict budget.  No postage, no long distance calling, no brochures and no commuting which means less gasoline for your car.

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Are you tired of working for a paycheck from month to month with no pay raises?  Stop!  With this global internet business, your income will come from many countries — no matter where you live, you will generate a steady rising and secure income.  When it comes to the internet, your income can be anything you want it to be.  The sky is the limit - become a millionaire, go ahead, I dare you.

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Want a better lifestyle and more freedom?  Get it here.  Regardless of age, background, education or experience, the Plug In Profit Site is the system which shows results almost immediately.  By following the step-by-step training tutorials, you have an equal opportunity to reap the rewards of success this site offers.  This system creates income for life from the productivity of people from all over the world not just from yourself.  So start profiting from your actions today.  That’s right, action speaks louder than words.  Make your dreams a reality by doing, and doing it now.

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Theresa Kannenberg is helping people around the globe be successful with their businesses on the internet.  Her business motto is “We provide Profit Solutions for creating Profits for Life, one person at a time.

Sign up for the TLC Profit Business Ezine and start profiting today.

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From the middle of July Gifu got so hot and humid that I just could not stay there anymore, so I packed up my family and moved to sunny British Columbia, Canada.  The kids are spending time with the grandparents on the lovely beaches in the Okanagan.  I am here at my computer taking a break before dinner to send out a post about what I have learned about traffic exchanges over the past month.

Good Traffic Exchanges are really hard to find now that there are so many to choose from.  Here are a few hints to managing your time when surfing for credits.

1. Choose the ones that suit you best.  I find that some sites just do not give enough credits for time spent. 
2. Surf 3 to 5 sites at the same time.  Have at least one auto surf to save some time.
3. Assign credits at peak surf times of the day or week.  Check your Statistics to find peak days and times.
4. Work with a team.  Sign up under each other and send traffic to each others sites - The More the Better.
5. Promote Traffic Splash Pages at other Traffic sites to get signups to Get more Free credits.
6. Keep your visa locked up.  Try not to get sucked into all the opportunities.  You are there to get Credits.
7. Set a surf time limit to 1 hour at start and end of your online business day.   Use your time wisely.
8. Join a list, surf for credits then send out an email Ad to random members on the list using your credits.
9. Sign up for a Gmail account.  Click on email ads for high credits through the TE of your choice.

Happy surfing.

To get the best results, surf for credits on 5 exchanges at one time. 

TE sites  such as Traffic Swarm ,  Traffic Splash,  Web Traffic Genie,  Smiley Traffic and List Joe show excellent results by the end of the month.

Have a nice day,

From the TLCgirl

Theresa

Be comfortable, Work at Home

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Japan is steeped in History and we are able to experience a variety of events related to history throughout the year.  I will be posting more about Japan here, so stay tuned for more little tid-bits about my life here.

Well, since it has been getting to be very wet around here (I hate getting my best suit wet), I have decided to spend more time at home on my business.  I have found a couple of interesting sites and this latest one is a promote and get-traffic site. 

Totally new, it is still amazingly free and you can get a Pro-members account for nothing at least until a thousand members join.  Then it will be free to join and a fee will be required to upgrade.  Would you like to part of that?  I did, so I signed up right away and got some amazing freebies. 

Like 1000 free credits, 4 traffic link display credits, 20 cloaked links, 4 banner spaces for promotion and much much more.  When you surf for credits at Value Added Ads, they give you 20 each time you open an ad, plus you will receive 50 credits for viewing mail ads.  Now how can you go wrong with that?  Surf happy, and display your own links for free, well only until….1000 members sign up.

Check it out and if you are in the first of 1000, you will get it all free. 

Click here to get your free Pro account at Value Added Ads, before they start charging for it.

So it was nice seeing you here, hope you drop me a line.  Together, Lets Communicate!  And this means sharing and winning together.

From Theresa

a.k.a. the TLCgirl

Pursue Life with eager feet, always!

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An experienced business woman, Theresa Kannenberg is the owner of TLC English Center and TLCProfitSolutions.com.  She is the co-author of “A Symphony of Words and Images.”   This book was created online with her sister and can be previewed at Views by Linda Photography.

Theresa is dedicated to providing up-to-date information related to online business, and she is helping ordinary people all over the world make money online with affiliate programs.  If you can follow 3 easy steps, you can start your own home profits business with your own custom website with an autoresponder and pre-written email marketing campaign professionally designed and ready to make you profits in 24 hours.  If you are interested sign up for the TLCgirl’s newsletter.  She is looking forward to working together with people who desire to change their lives for the better — more money equals more freedom AND that means more time spent on helping others do the same.

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I would like to introduce myself.  My name is Theresa Kannenberg and I am Canadian but presently living in Gifu, Japan.  Gifu City is located in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan and is surrounded by Aichi, Mie, Nagano, Shiga, Fukui, Ishikawa and Toyama Prefectures.  I am married to a Japanese national and we have two children who have dual citizenship. 

I have an honors degree in Applied Linguistics with a Specialty in TESOL.  Presently, I’m an EFL instructor teaching 220 students at 2 universities.  In 2004,  I took the leap to open my own language school;  it is called TLC English Center and I grew it from one student to 40 students in less than 3 years, not bad considering I gave birth twice and am now raising two small children.  

Running a business has been an interesting journey and I continue to educate myself on the know-how of management and material design.  Having a membership system in place is the best thing going as it has created a permanent cash flow system, plus I have created a community of like-minded families who believe in the continued English development of their children. 

Since a 40 member school has been manageable in terms of time, I have decided to maintain this and maybe even set a new target of 50.  Presently my target is 45.  I have discovered that goal setting has been one of the most important factors for growing my membership numbers.  If I hadn’t set my first goal at 15, I may never had considered 25.  So far it is working.  I use visualization as well.  I visual my school at the next targeted number as well as write it down in my business journal.  Do any of you keep a business journal? 

My future vision is to open a Bilingual Center where English is the main medium of communication - it will contain a coffee shop, book and resource store, TLC English Learning Center and a conference room for monthly gatherings.  My husband and I are also planning to build a log cabin with camping facilities for guests.  I have already bought a small piece of land up in the beautiful mountains an hour away from where I live in the city.  Yeah! Another small step towards the bigger picture.  Are my dreams big?  Big dreams are always worth aiming for, aren’t they?

Of course, this is not all I do.  In my evening hours, after my children have gone to dreamland, I have been immersed in learning about doing business on the worldwide web.  My brother who runs his own online business at  LGKan Enterprises , as well as my sister at Views by Linda Photography, have been my mentors and great sources of love and encouragement.  

Both my sister and I successfully published a book of poetry and digital photography in August of 2007.  We did most of the work online through live chat on MSN.  It was challenging and fulfilling and it brought both of us closer together.  If you or any of your siblings are quarrelling, creating a book together is a definite way to get your minds off the small stuff and really get on living your dreams.  This was the biggest of dreams come true for both of us.  Some of you may have already done so, but those of you who haven’t, you should try this sometime - it is a total thrill and heart palpitator.  

Our book is everything we hoped it would be and more.  The thing to remember is to have a step by step plan and move ahead slowly, nothing ever goes as scheduled, however, the key is to stick to the road ahead, keep the vision of holding the finished product in your hands, and Voila!  It’s magic. 

The universe usually gives you what you really want.  I was told that the universe is one big genie and he says with a permeating voice, “Your wish is my command.”  If you say, “I am tired,” the genie will give you a bed or bench to sleep on, so be careful what you wish for with your each and every thought.

Now keeping my thoughts focused on creating a life of abundance has brought me full circle here.  As you already know, the internet is a vast abyss.  Do you find yourself getting lost in it?  I do.  What do you do when you finally get yourself out of it  and find 4 hours or more have passed in a blip of a moment?  I just go to bed (usually around 2 or 3 in the morning, one time at 4am, yikes). 

Despite this fact, I have taken a second leap into another business.  This time online.  Another exciting moment in my life….the thrill of all that information just at my fingertips, wow!  But the hours I spend are phenominal.   I never imagined it would be this exciting.  Are any of you finding this as well?  The promises of riches keeps me at my screen for hours, and I NEVER get tired for some reason.  My adrenalin  seems to be way up there.  I guess this is what gamblers feel when they are winning at the tables.  Yeah! 

In the past I have learned that word-of-mouth spreads news fast which grew my own English Center business into profit in just 3 years.  Now I’m curious about applying similar techniques online.  My question is, what will the results of my continued efforts be in 3 years?  I have heard from others that it can be huge.  Therefore, I am delving into this with both feet, however, cautiously and carefully with my rubber boots and gloves on as some of those sites seem to be pretty sticky, pun intended, hehe!  

Running your own online business is like playing chess, it takes alot of time thinking about strategy before making the next move.  Creating this blog has been one of those moves.  It only took me 10 minutes to do my first blog, heehee, NOT!

I will be posting, hopefully regularly, from here on in.  I aim to be a useful, informative and active contributor here on TLC Home Business Blog.  Please do drop me a note from time to time to share information, as well as share your thoughts, ideas and most of all your dreams.  I will do the same.  TLC means Together, Let’s Communicate!  And I mean this with all my heart.

From Theresa

a.k.a the TLCgirl

Pursue Life with Eager Feet, always!

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