1. Easy – Let the visitor know it is easy to do business with you. Easy to order, easy to buy, easy to subscribe, easy to phone, easy, easy, easy. Don’t we all want everything to be easy? This is a buzzword for sure.

2. FREE – yes, put this word in big, bold capital letters at least once on your home page. Everyone can give something away for FREE. The Internet was built on the premise of FREE. What can you give away for FREE?

3. Today – Why delay? Order today! Now is good, today is better! This word invites the visitor to take action today. Tell them why today is better than tomorrow and that’s even better. Encourage them to buy from you today.

4. Buy – Yes, tell them to buy or take action. Use this word and make this prominent on your site. Order, Buy, Subscribe or Call. These are all action-oriented words that educate the visitor on where to click to “buy”.

5. Questions – Ask a question to get a response or interaction from a visitor. Use emotional words within the question to get a greater reaction. Which sounds better: “Make those hits multiply like rabbits.” or “Are your hits multiplying like rabbits?” See the difference?

6. Bullet Points – People tend to scan rather than read when they are online. Bullet points are good because they separate the text and are easy to scan quickly. Statistics show that odd numbered bullet points work best using 3-5 rather than 4-6.

7. Social Media Icons – Place these in the footer or sidebar of your site so they appear on every page. This encourages people to follow you on Twitter, friend you on FaceBook or connect with you on LinkedIn.

8. Benefits – Don’t tell me you’ve been in business for 25 years, tell me what that many years of experience is going to do for me. What makes you special? How will I feel when working with your company? What type of experience am I going to have that is different from your competitors?

9. Sign Up – OK, it’s two words, but they really work. Sign up for our free ezine; sign up for our secrets, tips or free sample. By having the visitor “sign up” you get their email address and maybe more if you have them fill out a short form. This gives you permission to market to them in the future. These are the people who are truly interested in what you have to offer.

10. Thanks – Yes, make sure to thank your online customer or potential customer for stopping by your site, placing the order or signing up. People thrive on appreciation. One company I deal with online, goes a step further and sends a handwritten thank you note every time I place an order.

10.5 Bonus – Include a special bonus for your visitors. This could be a bonus offer when you order two for one or a bonus report or a bonus coupon. Visitors love extras!

You’ve got to sell your site with WORDS because the visitor is sitting in front of a screen instead of meeting you face-to-face. The right amount of words and the way you say it is so important. Have fun playing with words on your web site and start seeing results today!

What online newsletters aka ezines are worth reading? I like newsletters that provide valuable information, resources and do-it-now action tips. I unsubscribe quickly from newsletters that continually try to push their products or services on me. Since I spend a great deal of time online, I print the newsletters and read offline later. However, stats show that the majority of people DO read online. Here are the top five newsletters that I read faithfully. I will often share information and resources from them with our clients.

Barbara Winter’s Joyfully Jobless News
www.joyfullyjobless.com
Her ezines are written from a truly entrepreneurial heart. They are filled with resources and inspiration for anyone who has their own business or is aspiring to have one. She is a brilliant, fabulous writer. Barbara also publishes a printed newsletter that is just terrific at www.barbarawinter.com/winning-ways.html I have been a subscriber and solid fan for two decades.

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Caffeine
www.gitomer.com
If you’ve got a website, you are in sales. His no-nonsense, direct approach is worth reading every week.  He has a special link at the bottom for the Printable Version and I love this! If you ever get the chance to see him in person – GO! His presentations are entertaining and educational.

Jill Whalen’s High Rankings Advisor
www.highrankings.com
Common-sense logic for search engine strategies. Have a question? Search through the forums for answers to about everything you can think of regarding search engines. Her SEO philosophy is what we also believe in and recommend to our clients. She is a genius and really knows her stuff!

Joan Stewart’s The Publicity Hound
www.thepublicityhound.com
This ezine is packed with creative ideas and useful information. Her tips, tricks and tools for free publicity really work. I particularly enjoy reading the “Help this Hound” section where you can submit a query for other businesses to give you advice on how to promote your product or service. You’ll find a wealth of products at her website to help you with every area of publicity no matter what your industry. I am a rabid fan of the Publicity Hound!

John Kremer’s Book Marketing Tips
www.johnkremer.com
For all authors or those wannabe authors – this ezine has a plethora of information for you. He lists bookstores that want to know about your books and how to contact them. His marketing ideas are priceless!

And of course, I must mention that the Muse News – our own monthly ezine is filled with great resources, web marketing ideas and inspiration. We’re in our 11^th year of publishing this ezine. Peruse the archives and subscribe here: http://www.thewebmuse.com/muse-news.html

Happy Reading! Do you have a favorite ezine that I need to know about? List it below and I’ll check it out!

What are you most grateful for? Take a few minutes to create an alphabetical Gratitude Journal.  Here are just a few gems of gratitude that I jotted down.

Appreciation of art and artists.

Birds. I love to watch birds, especially finches. They are so bright and colorful.

Convertible Just getting in the car and putting the top down makes me smile.

Dogs. I love dogs. They love you unconditionally and are always happy to see you.

Enlightened. A wonderful way to be in the world – I am enlightened every day.

Flowers – Wild flowers in the mountains are spectacular! Fresh flowers in the home are so beautiful.

Grandma and Grandpa. Loved them so much and grateful for everything they taught me.

Home – It’s like a big hug, warm and welcoming.

Intuition – Listening to the inner voice.

Jenny – My fabulous friend and massage therapist. Aaaaah!

Knowledge – It’s good to know what I know and I’m always learning!

Larry – my handsome husband and best friend.

Motorcycle riding. Hoppin’ on the Harley and hittin’ the road clears my mind.

Nieces and nephews – all sixteen of them!

Office – Enjoy a beautiful home office with mountain views.

Positive attitude. If I were to pick just ONE attribute I am most grateful for – this would be it!

Quiet time – to just be – meditation and reflection.

Rocky Mountain National Park – especially when the elk are bugling in the fall.

Seasons – the changes in weather, clothing and seasonal foods.

Talent. Appreciating the talents of others and recognizing my own.

Unconditional love.

Visionary. Ability to see the big picture and not sweat the small stuff.

Websites. What a wealth of information can be found online.

Xanadu – heaven on earth.

Yesterday. Learn and move on.

Zen – meditation, beauty and simplicity.

Gratitude is the best attitude.  ~Author Unknown

There are so many different methods to organize our busy lives. Some people like to use old-fashioned paper calendars, others like iCal, Blackberry, iPhone or Outlook. I decided to spend two hours with Google Calendar and share my experience.

It’s pretty easy and user-friendly. Since I already use Gmail – I installed the Google app so a mini calendar shows up on the left sidebar below my labels. The Quick Add feature allows you to type in something like: 3pm 7/19 Meeting with Client Name, location, phone.  It can be typed in any order that makes sense to you. Then Google Calendar automatically places it on that date with a default of 1 hour. If I type in the time frame like 3-5 pm then it blocks out that time on the calendar. I put everything on one calendar – both business and personal. There is the option of creating several calendars though and that may make sense for your activities.

After I entered all my meetings, phone conferences, social events and other appointments I posted all the birthdays and anniversaries I want to remember. Here’s how I did that:

Click on Create Event

What: Mary Williams BD
When: I typed 10/9 then clicked the box that says All Day
Repeat: this is a dropdown box, so I chose every year
Ends: This automatically says Never
Then I clicked SAVE

The birthdays show up at the top of that particular day and don’t interfere with appointments that I enter throughout the day. It took about 15 seconds to enter each event.

Anytime I got stuck on something I clicked on Help and found the answer right away. I like being able to access my calendar when traveling. I started using “Tasks” however, as a company we really like HiTask for scheduling projects, timeframes, completed tasks, etc.

What’s your favorite method for organizing online?

How do you like to communicate with potential clients who visit your website?

If you prefer email, here are a few tips:

• Include your email address more than once on your Home Page and several times throughout your site.
• Consider having your email address in a larger font to make it stand out.
• Ask your web person to use an anti-harvesting script on the email address so you won’t get spammed.
• Forget the cute graphic envelopes or postal boxes that say, “Email me”. When the page is printed, the recipient won’t know what your email address is.
• Check your inbox several times a day and respond promptly to all inquiries. If a potential client sends you an email they will expect an immediate response – no later than 24 hours. The quicker you respond, the more likely you are to get the sale.

If you prefer to communicate with potential clients via phone consider these suggestions:

• Place your phone number in the upper right corner of your site in a large san serif font that is easy to read. Include the words: Call me today at 000-000-0000. Place your phone number in the Blue Browser Title Bar. When the search engine robots visit your site – your phone number will be included in the verbiage printed for that search engine’s listing of your site.
• Do you have a professional voice messaging system that you change and check regularly? Try calling yourself today and see what type of impression your message leaves. When recording a new voice message – SMILE – this simple act of smiling while speaking will actually come across in your voice.
• Return all phone calls within 24 hours. All kinds of negative assumptions are made about a business or person that does not return calls. Years ago I received a voice message from someone wanting me to volunteer my time for a political campaign. Since I do return all phone calls, I called this woman back. After politely explaining that I would not be able to volunteer my time because of my business obligations – she casually mentioned that her mother was a pattern drafter. WOW! I knew someone who was looking to hire a person with those skills. A connection was made all because of me returning a phone call. What amazing thing will happen to you today when you return phone calls?
• Speaking of phone numbers, try typing yours into the Google search bar. If you’ve had the same phone number (landline) awhile, your name and address will come up.

Include both your email and phone on your Contact page. Keep your business and website positive, prosperous and professional by returning all calls and responding to all email inquiries. Word will spread quickly that you are courteous, responsive and professional. Those are very good qualities for any business or website to have.

I grew up on a farm in Nebraska and my dad was a diversified farmer. This meant we had cows, pigs, chickens and a variety of crops. With this type of diversity we were always insured of multiple profit centers. If it was a bad year for soybeans then the price of corn may have been higher and carried us through. If hail wiped out an entire crop then we had the beef or pork to rely on.

Every business owner is similar to a farmer. Here are my top 3 analogies.

1. Are you putting all your eggs in one basket? In other words, relying on one big client or one method of marketing for all your business income? This is very risky. What if it’s a bad year for soybeans?
2. Are you giving away the farm? Do you continually give away free information and unpaid consulting time to help others? This practice cuts into your time and directly impacts the flow of income. People who take advantage of you this way are not ultimately whom you want to work with.
3. Are you trying to do everything yourself? This is the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make. They try to feed all the chickens, plant the corn, bale the hay, do the books, work on the website and still spend quality time with the family. It’s impossible to do it all WELL and it’s exhausting. This is the best recipe for burnout and failure that I know of. We can only “do-it-ourselves” with the help from others.

I think I learned the true meaning of #3 when I was a teenager. A tornado ripped through our farm and destroyed everything around our home. It picked up buildings reducing them to toothpicks, livestock was destroyed, equipment was tossed in the air and smashed, some big oak trees were twisted and uprooted. To this day I am terrified of high winds and still hear that freight train sound in my head. When we emerged from the basement to see the destruction we were all devastated to tears. We were also thankful to be alive and that our home was spared. None of us slept that night. At dawn the next day the entire town showed up to help. Again, we were moved to tears and this time it was for gratitude. What an outpouring of human compassion! The thought of doing this entire cleanup ourselves was overwhelming. With the help of friends and neighbors the task was accomplished in 48 hours. Maybe you’ll think of this story when you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to do it all yourself.

Six questions to answer regarding YOUR business:

• What are your multiple profit centers?
• Can you create another one as an extension of what you already have or are doing?
• Could you turn those monthly ezine articles into an Ebook for sale?
• Do you have enough information to conduct a teleclass?
• Would a club or preferred membership work for your business?
• What is your BEST profit center?

Post your ideas about profit centers and multiple streams of income by clicking on the small icon that says “Leave a Comment” below.