Sherry Tingley

Internet Entrepreneurs Strategic Success Plan

August 26, 2009 By Sherry Tingley

jay-leno Preparing for success is a process that may take longer than you think. It seems that with any worthwhile endeavor, there are things to accomplish that take you much longer than you had planned for. Some people would have you believe that being an Internet entrepreneur is a simple thing to do and that being successful at it is a cinch.

Let’s use Jay Leno as an example. Although he is not an Internet entrepreneur, he is a successful business man. After watching his nightly current events monologue you probably felt better about life because you had a few good, perhaps great laughs. That ten-minute television dialogue is something people used to love to hear and would stay up late at night to tune in to.

It was recently revealed in a Wall Street Journal article about Jay Leno’s upcoming television show that the short segment of comedy actually takes quite a bit more preparation time than you or I might think. Apparently there are six hours of preparation time and discussion with twenty experienced writers to produce this short comedic dialogue. Even with all that effort put into the short segment, Jay Leno often runs his monologue by his high school and home town friends to see what they think.

So what does that teach Internet entrepreneurs about becoming successful?

A lot can be learned from this revelation about the preparation time it takes to be successful. Preparing for success can take more than the 30 minutes you might have planned. In fact even after you have had years of Internet training, successful projects may take a tremendous amount of time to arrive in the winner’s circle.

When you think you are prepared, ask yourself what kind of effort you put into your current entrepreneurial project. Did you converse with anyone else about the feasibility of your Internet entrepreneurial project? What kind of expert advice did you receive and did you take that advice? Will people benefit from what you have prepared and how will they benefit?

To be successful as an Internet entrepreneur, you are going to need a good plan and a realistic prediction of the time it will take to accomplish your plan, You are going to need to discuss it with other successful Internet entrepreneurs and perhaps your old friends from long ago. You will need to plan for your project to benefit others and the degree to which that will occur will be the degree to which you are successful.

The Social Media Golden Triangle

August 23, 2009 By Sherry Tingley

If you have been baffled and confused and just don’t know where to start with social media, you must not have heard of the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle was lost thousands of years ago… Wait! That’s a different story, this one was discovered within the past two years!

This is a story of how the Social Media Golden Triangle can completely transform the way you communicate with your clients and customers and your business. We all know that economic times have changed. You have been hearing about Social Media, Social Networking, Viral Video and many other social media outlets that you wish you could leverage and turn into business.

What I’m about to discuss is nothing new, but it is a strong force that if used properly, will change the course of your business.

You have undoubtedly heard a lot of hype and hoopla around Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. These three sites make up “The Social Media Golden Triangle”. Now is the time to put them to work for your business. Using the Golden Triangle can help you identify, attract, and interact with your target audience. This powerful combination of websites can take you from just barely surviving to thriving in the current economy.

Let’s look at each piece of the Golden Triangle separately so we have a basic understanding as to what each piece does:

Twitter

Twitter is a new tool designed to keep things short and sweet. There’s no time for industry jargon, just tell me how it is and I’ll decide if it’s worth my time to view your full message. Part branding strategy, part relationship development, Twitter is one of the most popular and fastest growing websites on the Internet today. Twitter is a pitch free zone, don’t bother pitching your products or service, think and write frequently and consistently. Be sure to offer value, how can you help your followers.

Facebook

Social media marketing, actually, marketing in general shouldn’t be about you!

Yes I said it, in fact your company isn’t about you, it’s everything to do with your customer or client. Your website isn’t about you it should be about your clients or customers problems and how you can solve them.

A strategy to leverage Facebook is to create groups around the problem you solve, not the product or service you offer. People aren’t looking for the solution by name, they are searching for the solution to their problem, so start by talking about their problems .

YouTube

Know it, Like it and Trust it…If “you can’t believe everything that you hear,” “seeing is believing” and a picture is worth a thousand words, then video must be the “it”.

Done right, you can connect with, and get your audience to know, like and trust you.

Again, we are in a NO Pitching Zone, where people are more concerned with content and value than hearing what you have to offer. In videos, be yourself, talk about the problem your target audience may be having and ways you can help solve them. Educational videos position you as the expert and help you attract the right people, they also help people solve their problems, making you look like problem solver.

Bringing it All Together

Think about it, what we are addressing here is the need for communication with the people you want to get in front of, how to leverage you website better how to leverage all of these people flocking to these social media sites. How to get your message in front of them without pissing them off and just posting advertisements Social media isn’t just a new way to communicate, it’s a completely different culture and needs to be approached carefully when used as a marketing tool for your business.

Before jumping in and starting a campaign, learn each piece of the triangle’s culture first, social media users want value, not fluff and advertisements.

By Dan Beldowicz
Article Source
Dan Beldowicz is the Senior Marketing Consultant at Single Throw Internet Marketing. Online for over 11 years, Dan is helping companies develop websites that generate business and social media campaigns that connect with customers. Follow Dan on Twitter at http://twitter.com/danbeldowicz or on the Single Throw Blog.

Launching a new website – days 14-21

August 21, 2009 By Sherry Tingley

This article is a continuation of a 30 day plan to launch a new website offering bank checks. The goal of the plan was to do something every day to promote the site and see what kind of traffic we’d get. Unfortunately on August 8, the site went into the Google sandbox and none of the pages that were being listed with top positions in Google were being listed anymore. The site is still in the sandbox unfortunately. It’s not hard to tell when your site is in the sandbox because your pages won’t pull up for the search terms they were originally pulling up for.

As you can see from the graph the site is going through ups and downs in traffic. Most visible is the drastic decrease in traffic on August 8. There is a steady increase, but this is not due to getting out of the sandbox, it is due to some promotion efforts through a company I hired to help.

Originally, I planned not to spend any money during this first thirty day period, but I caved in after the drop in traffic. I hired a company that helped me with this website and asked them to do the same thing for my new site. If you are interested in knowing who they are and what they do, be sure to email me.

The goal is to get between 500 and 700 visitors per day. At that point, the site will be pulling in some decent income.

Sites can be in the sandbox for three to six months so the plan now is to build high authority back links which means getting the site listed in different directories.

The plan now is to:
1. Add quality content to the site through a blog.

2. Work on increasing the number of inbound links (quality links not just any old link).

3. Tweak and improve the SEO quality of your site.

4. Write articles.
So you should be seeing some changes coming soon to the site which will include a WordPress Blog.

Again, the biggest mistake made with this site was to wait until the entire site was done before submitting the site to Google. So if you are working on a new site, be sure and get at least a few pages presentable with a sitemap and submit it. Hopefully that will shorten your stay in the sandbox.

Here Are 5 Dream Killing Stumbling Blocks to Avoid at All Costs

August 14, 2009 By Sherry Tingley

Is anybody out there – especially in this day and age – not looking to create a more fulfilling, abundant life for themselves? To ask this question in a different way, are you completely happy with the direction your life is headed or is there room for improvement?

I’m going to assume you said that there is room for improvement. I know I’m not going too far out on a limb making this assumption. After all, who doesn’t want to get the most from life? We all only have one shot at being on this big, blue marble called Earth so why not make our time here all it can be?

Getting more from life is the result of applying learned skills. It doesn’t happen by chance and you better not leave it up to luck. Oh yeah, and hoping things get better for you will not make it happen either.

In large part, learning how to get more from life will come about in one of two ways. The first way is in learning how to do something and the second is in learning what not to do. Think about it, learning what to do will help you develop a plan for success while learning what not to do will help you to avoid the stumbling blocks you’ll encounter along the way.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at 5 common dream killing mistakes you’d want to avoid at all costs.

Dream Killer #1
Don’t hold back – Whether or not you’re attacking an area beyond your current scope of expertise, dive in head first. By not shrinking away from the new task at hand you will find areas of strength you didn’t realize you had. You can then allow yourself to carry these new strengths with you into your future endeavors.

Dream Killer #2
No Excuses – You and you alone can propel yourself on to live a life of prosperity or you’re the one to hold yourself back to live a life of mediocrity. Which direction you choose to go will be determined by whether or not you make excuses. You see, you can make things happen for yourself or you can make excuses but you’ll never be able to do both.

Dream Killer #3
Do not fear the unknown – Everybody has a unique gift to share with the world. Through treading unknown waters you’ll be giving yourself permission to discover your own unique gift. When that gift is found, and applied on a daily basis, a fulfilled and successful life naturally follows.

Dream Killer #4
Do not blend in with the crowd – Success is derived from distinction. If you can find a way to separate yourself from the pack you will be able to service others in a way nobody else can. Once successful, competitors will start to follow you but your positioning will keep you a few steps ahead.

Dream Killer #5
Accept That You Are Not Perfect – The heck with perfection, it does not exist. Unless you are an Olympic athlete there is no reason to expect a perfect outcome every time you attempt something. As long as you get into the game of life and put yourself out there unabashedly you’ll find that the world really is your oyster.

Yes, there is no doubt about it, in life you can achieve great success by developing yourself a roadmap to follow. That roadmap can stem from being aware of what kinds of mistakes you’ll need to avoid along the way.

Get the book FREE: This article is based on the book “A PLUM IN THE SYRUP: 17 Observations, Suggestions And Truths You Can Adopt To Live A More Fulfilled Life.” In his book, author Daniel Herzner delivers practical advice which anybody can use to live more successfully. To get a free copy of this empowering, 101 page book please visit: http://www.APlumInTheSyrup.com/

By Daniel Herzner
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Launching a new web site – days 11, 12, 13

August 13, 2009 By Sherry Tingley

Well, unfortunately I believe that my new site is officially in the “sandbox” which is Google’s way of controlling sites.

At Webconf.com the Google sandbox is explained in detail.

It’s never easy for newcomers to enter a market and there are barriers of different kinds. For newcomers to the world of search engines, the barrier is called a sandbox – your site stays there until it gets mature enough to be allowed to the Top Positions club. Although there is no direct confirmation of the existence of a sandbox, Google employees have implied it and SEO experts have seen in practice that new sites, no matter how well optimized, don’t rank high on Google, while on MSN and Yahoo they catch quickly. For Google, the jailing in the sandbox for new sites with new domains is on average 6 months, although it can vary from less than a month to over 8 months.

There are hurdles to overcome, just because the site is new. It might have been helpful to have submitted a few pages to Google when I first got the site going so that it would have time to get out of the sandbox.

Cpanel Stats are:

01 Aug 2009 29
02 Aug 2009 26
03 Aug 2009 36
04 Aug 2009 43
05 Aug 2009 67
06 Aug 2009 35
07 Aug 2009 50
08 Aug 2009 11
09 Aug 2009 11
10 Aug 2009 24
11 Aug 2009 9
12 Aug 2009 12

You’ll notice the drastic drop in visitors due to the sandbox effect. It’s very frustrating to go through these growing pains. My goal is to get back into the “top position’s club.”