According to a recent study from ABI Research, North American sales made via smartphones added up to about $544 million in 2009.

The fastest-growing activity on cellphones is shopping directly from the handset. Retailers in every niche — from Amazon to CVS have launched software applications that enable shoppers to browse many products and buy directly from their iPhones and Blackberrys.

Gartner Market Research reports that retailers are getting the applications right — shoppers are able to place orders and either pick them up, or have them delivered to their home or hotel without ever having to deal with crowds or salespeople directly.

Some apps deliver even more value. At book retailer Barnes & Noble, users can snap a picture of a book with their iPhone, and bring up reviews on the handset’s screen. Stores report they have seen increases in both reservations and purchases in stores, as well as purchases from the iPhone app.

Interested in creating an iPhone app for your business? This self-service solution may be just what you are looking for. For those who may prefer to have someone design an app for you, check out this service.

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In this Issue:

• Popular Stories at ESB Journal
• Cleaning up Twitter Clutter
• Save Face with Wall Backups
• 31 Days to a Better Blog
• See Your Site as Visitors Do
• Google Sidewiki
• Engage & Connect with Sprout Buzz
• Weebiz Business Community
• 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces Competition – Deadline is approaching!

I don’t have a problem with caffeine — I have a problem without it!

Popular Stories at ESB Journal

Here are a few of the most popular stories at Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal:

• Ten Steps to Create “Ready-to-Buy” Customers
• 5 Small Business Tax Tips for 2010
• Get Off the Perch with New IPEVO USB Camera
• Small Business B2B Marketing Trends for 2010

Cleaning up Twitter Clutter

If you are tired of spammers among your Twitter followers, or are just plain feeling overwhelmed, help is on the way. I recently c ame across a free tool that analyzes your Twitter followers, and creates a report of those who you may wish to consider unfollowing. You can then either remove those folks yourself, or have Twit Cleaner handle it for you for a nominal fee (starts at just $5.00).

• Analyzes all the people you follow
• Finds time wasters, spammers, the boring, bots etc
• Creates a detailed report of everyone you’re following
• Increases the integrity & authenticity of your brand or personal image
• Clears up the ‘background noise’ of Twitter
• Enables you to focus your time & energy

Save Face with Wall Backups

Facebook has over 300 million users currently — there is a very real possibility that information could be lost if their server were ever to crash. Items like user photo albums, friend lists and profile data could potentially be lost. If you are using Facebook for business, you may even have more to lose.

A new tool called SocialSafe allows you to back up your Facebook friends, photos, profile data and wall status updates to your own computer. The process takes literally seconds to do, and the application is currently being offered for just $2.99. Check out the video below to see how it works.

31 Days to a Better Blog

If you have big dreams for your blog but have been putting improving it in the “one day” basket – you’re not alone.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable e-book designed to help you revitalize your blog by giving you 31 tasks that will all help to turn it into the page view powerhouse you’ve always dreamed of.
Each day in the project contains:

1. A Task – something to DO that day.
2. Teaching – each day you’ll be given great instruction on both the WHY and HOW of the task of the day.

This two-pronged approach is designed so that you come away from the challenge having not only learned how to build a dynamic a blog but you’ll have actually DONE something with the knowledge.

Who is this Workbook for?
31 Days to Build a Better Blog is for bloggers at different stages of their blogging including:

• those who have just started a blog but who don’t know what to do next
• those who have had a blog for a while but it’s stalled in its growth
• bloggers with bloggers block and lacking inspiration

This workbook is NOT designed for bloggers yet to start a blog (PreBloggers). It doesn’t cover setting up a blog.

By the end of the 31 Days you’ll have:

• written a variety of different types and styles of posts
• learned techniques for coming up with new post ideas
• promoted your blog in a variety of ways
• built relationships with readers
• reached out to and developed working relationships with other bloggers
• developed an editorial calendar for your blog going forward
• discovered ways to be more connected to your niche/topic
• designed a plan for the next month of your blogging

All in all the daily tasks are 31 steps to transform you blog into a valuable online asset. Download Your Copy of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog for an Investment of $19.95 This 94-page resource (actually it’s 188 pages as there are two pages on each page really) is ready for your download right now.

“In Seattle, you haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.”   – Jeff Bezos

See Your Site as Visitors Do

Are you struggling with your home page layout? Ever wonder where the prime real estate is for items such as multimedia or advertisements?

A new study released by The Poynter Institute observed 46 people for one hour as their eyes followed mock news websites and real multimedia content. While the study was limited in scope by typical standards, it does offer insights that webmasters can implement now to begin enjoying higher conversions on special promotions, CPA offers and affiliate links.

Combined with other site metrics already used by news website managers — usability testing, focus groups, log analysis — the Eyetrack III findings could provide some direction for improving news websites. To read more about homepage layout, visit this link.

Google Sidewiki

Google Sidewiki is a new add-on for Firefox and Internet Explorer that enables users to leave comments and information about any webpage. Users can comment about service that they receive on websites via the Sidewiki, and then share their comments via email, Facebook, or Twitter.

With the advent of Sidewiki, you may no longer be able to control the conversations about your brand; in fact, the possibility exists for competitors to utilize Sidewiki to bad mouth you. The tool is very new, and there are likely to be similar tools introduced in the future. In the meantime, downloading Sidewiki and building a strong presence can help to eliminate potential problems, as well as allow you to monitor conversations about your brand.

Engage & Connect with Sprout Buzz

Sarah Prout is the director of Sprout Publishing, an award-winning entrepreneur, author, publisher, business coach, online socialite and mother of 2 little darlings.

Sarah knows more than a thing about creating buzz. At age 14 she was labeled ‘Hallmark’s Youngest Designer Worldwide’ when her vibrant gift wrap designs were available in all major department stores around Australia and New Zealand. At 19, she founded her own greeting card company which is when the SPROUT brand first emerged. At 22, Sarah won a major prize from the  SHELL corporation for writing an award-winning business plan that funded the first print run of SPROUT products. Today, Sarah is an author, online socialite, and entrepreneur that has helped many other business owners follow in her very-successful footsteps.

Her Sprout Buzz eCourse has been specifically designed to give you 30 days of publishing tasks that will rapidly improve your level of exposure online. Each day give you an exercise to complete or contemplate that will form the backbone of intense content proliferation for your business and your brand.

Other Topics Covered in Sprout Buzz:

• How to create a press kit
• Affiliate marketing secrets
• Social media tools, tricks and tips
• Writing killer sales page copy
• Blogging ideas and monetization
• eProduct concepts
• Plus much, much more in 75 jam-packed pages of information.

Save $5 at checkout when you enter coupon code “SUCCESS.”

Weebiz Business Community

Think of a business fair and picture it with all the capabilities of an online social network, that’s Weebiz. Register your company and you will instantly have access to an easy and free tool to find business partners or clients, share valuable industry information or promote your products and services.

Instead of simply waiting to intercept a good opportunity by chance, Weebiz places companies at the center of a hub where opportunities converge. Best of all, it’s free to join!

• Create your own community of business relations
• Interact in a free and permanent business expo
• Promote your business
• Sell your products and services and find new ones
• Find business partners and opportunities
• Promote and evaluate your products
• Manage business contacts
• Stay up-to-date on news about your market

2010 Top Small Company Workplaces Competition

The research is clear and compelling. Organizations that build great work environments deliver better business results. Organizations that invest in the success of their people have employees that are invested in and committed to the success of the business.

Winning Workplaces and Inc. Magazine are seeking compelling examples of organizations with outstanding cultures for our 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces competition. The winners will be featured in the June 2010 issue of Inc. Magazine.

The application deadline is January 22, 2010.

Share the Love

As I close out this issue, I’d like to ask you to do me a solid — click on the little green button below, and tweet about the Marketing Espresso to your friends and associates. I sure would appreciate it.

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From bubble-gum popping tweens to silver-haired grannies, a huge majority of households in the United States own at least one computer with Internet access.

The Internet has become an integral part of our daily lives — consumers use it for everything from looking up words on http://www.merriam-webster.com/, to checking email and stock quotes. Plugging in and logging on has become second nature.

As a home business owner, perhaps you convinced yourself that you don’t need to have a web presence. Nothing could be further from the truth. So, if you are one of those folks who are still riding the fence, let me be perfectly clear:

If you aren’t utilizing the tools that the Internet can provide to your business, you are leaving money on the table. Can you really afford to do that?

I didn’t think so.

So, c’mon, Desperado — hop off that fence and get on the program. There’s plenty of good reasons why your business should be on the web — and every day you delay is costing you money.

You Simply Can’t Beat the Exposure
Whether you are selling products you make yourself, reselling other people’s products, or providing a service, you do not have to limit your sales to customers in your area and neighboring towns. With a website, you can start selling your products to customers from out of state or even in other countries. If you offer your writing and editing services, you can expand your client base and reach more customers with a website.

You’re Always Open for Business
Your home business website isn’t only good for posting photos or information about your products or services. It can also include information about you and your home business. A website can be a place where prospective customers can go to learn more about what you do. You can also post the latest news about your business, as well as new product or service offerings and even special offers.

Best of all, your website is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your website can be generating business for you even while you sleep. This is particularly true if you decide to create an online store and make your products available to online shoppers, no matter where they are located in the world.

Overhead Costs are Low
Advertising and marketing your products or services via traditional methods can be quite expensive. The costs of printing banners, paying for magazine ads, and putting up billboards can quickly rack up and drain your funds. On the other hand, you do not need to spend as much when you put your business online. You will only have pay for a domain name and a website hosting fee that rarely exceeds $75 a year, which is even less than what you have to pay for a month’s worth of running your ad in newspaper. Blogging platforms have made website design and maintenance much more manageable, with many service providers offering startup packages that are well within reach of startup business owners.

Fast & Efficient Communication with Customers
When customers have questions or want to place an order, all they have to do is fill out an online form or leave you a message on your website. You will not have to worry about missing out on customers when your phone line is tied up or you do not have people to  entertain their queries. You can even create a Frequently Answered Questions page on your website where customers can go to if they have a question about your business.

Levels the Playing Field
Practically everything these days is on the Internet and there is a huge chance that your competitors will also have a website of their own. If you are not convinced by the other advantages of creating a website for your home  business, this one should. Without a website, you will find yourself lagging way behind your competitors. If you want to achieve success in your home business, there is no better time than now to get online and get your home business noticed by more customers.

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From mommy bloggers and affiliate marketers to big brand infomercials on late-night television, the new FTC guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials have widespread implications you need to know about.

The last change to these guidelines came in 1980 — long before the internet had risen to such mainstream prominence among consumers. The 1980 Guides did not explicitly state that endorsers and advertisers could be liable under the FTC Act for statements they make in an endorsement. The revised guides, however, reflect Commission case law,  and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. In addition, the revised Guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.

The new guidelines will take effect December 1st, 2009.

Keeping an Eye Out
The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. One such example that I recently noticed was for the prescription eye drops Restasis®. Dr. Allison Tendler, a board-certified ophthalmologist from Sioux Falls, SD, appears in the commercial, and lauds the benefits of using Restasis®, a product she herself uses “twice a day, every day.” Within the first few frames of the commercial, a disclaimer noting that Dr. Tendler was paid for her endorsement is shown.

A Weighty Issue
Weight loss is a perennially popular market, and there are an abundance of programs and products that serve this “hungry” niche. From Marie Osmond touting the taste-tempting menu from NutriSystem®, to Valerie Bertinelli’s new beach bikini bod (courtesy of Jenny Craig), readers have grown accustomed to seeing the fine print in these ads noting “results not typical.” Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. The safe harbor notation of “results not typical” is no longer permitted.

Why this Should Matter to You
If you do any affiliate marketing, you’ve probably already received notices from your advertising partners regarding the new guidelines, and how it will impact their program. Don’t be too quick to hit the “delete” key on these messages — advertisers will no doubt be much more diligent in enforcing these guidelines moving forward. As the guidelines hold both the affiliate marketer, as well as the advertiser responsible, it doesn’t take an MIT grad to deduce that advertisers would sooner drop an affiliate than drop a small fortune fighting a deceptive ad practices case with the FTC.

Taking Lemons, and Making Lemonade
Like many site owners, I do a fair amount of affiliate marketing. At first blush, several of my friends and clients responded quite vehemently that this was just another example of unwanted government intervention — and I was inclined to agree. After giving this additional consideration, however, I changed my mind. Indulge me a moment, and I’ll explain why.

Good-old-fashioned word of mouth advertising has taken on a life of its own. The dawn of social media has given consumers an unprecedented all-access pass to discovering brand data and consumer evaluations with the ease of a mouse click. With so much at stake, is it any wonder that reputation management services are cropping up all over the country?

In all honesty, full disclosure need not be a sour business. In fact, you may be surprised to find that such honesty may be welcomed by your customers, and actually improve your conversions. Of course, how you choose to convey your disclosure is up to you, but make no mistake — it is something that you need to take the time to do. Whether you add fine print to your outbound newsletters, beneath product reviews, or on your policies page (or perhaps in all of these places), taking the time to meet these new guidelines now is sure to save you time, frustration and money down the road.

Oh, and for the record…your affiliate purchases help keep me caffeinated — a fact that my husband is most appreciative of.

UPDATE: 16 October, 2009
In an open letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz, Randall Rothenberg, CEO of Interactive Advertising Bureau, states that the new FTC guidelines “unfairly and unconstitutionally” impose a set of ethics rules on bloggers and other social media practitioners, while giving traditional media a pass. Read the full story here, from PaidContent.org.

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Growing up in the 70s, I used to love listening to my collection of Disney book and record sets.

My sister and I amassed quite a treasure trove of titles — including all of the most popular princess stories, as well as many of the popular cartoon characters of the day.

Regardless of whether the story centered around a hobbit, a princess or a heroic pair of mouse detectives, one thing they all had in common was the opening instructions.

“You will know it’s time to turn the page when Tinkerbell rings her little bells like this: (sound of ‘chimes’ ringing). Let’s begin now.”

We’d sit for hours in front of a red briefcase-style record player, and anxiously await Tinkerbell to cue us to turn the page.

If you were reading along with the story, you probably didn’t need the little chime reminder to tell you when to turn the page — but for those who weren’t yet able to read, or ones who simply got swept up in the story, it was nice to know that Tinkerbell would be there to remind you.

You see, knowing when to turn the page isn’t always easy, particularly when it involves your business.

Over the last ten years, there have been occasions when I have struggled with turning the page. There was the particularly expensive display advertisement that didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped; or a business idea that just missed the mark. Or, maybe it was a website that I never found the time to fully develop. Each of these examples were costly in their own way — yet, each of them provided me with valuable experience that has strengthened my business, and my resolve.

I wasn’t able to see that until I turned the page.

Some of the greatest minds of our time have long and storied histories of failed attempts before they enjoyed the success for which we now know them. Imagine how different our lives would be today if they had simply decided not to turn the page, and keep on trying!

It’s easy to get caught up in the daily stories of our businesses — what with the deadlines, the technology to learn, and the endless to-do lists. Understand that you will inevitably make mistakes…everyone does.

Magical as she is, I doubt that Tinkerbell can make the rounds and get to all of us when we need her. My advice would be to find your very own “Tinkerbell” — someone you know will tell it like it is (even when it hurts). Sure, it would be easier to find someone who will always sugar-coat it for you — but then your business would be nothing more than a fairytale.

Get mad if you need to. Have a good cry if that helps. Then get over it and turn the page.

The real tragedy would be if you allow the record to get stuck there. You could very well be standing in the way of your own happy ending.

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In this Issue:

• Increase Adsense Revenue & Weed Out the Riff-Raff
• A Little Birdie Told Me
• Identify the Adwords Achilles’ Heel for Your Niche
• Last Call – Cash for My Clunker Sale

Do you remember the perennial essays on “What I Did This Summer” when you were a kid? I do.

As I run down the mental laundry list of my activities of the last few months, one common theme emerges — consolidating.

I have dramatically reduced my activities (at one point I managed over 20 of my own blogs, in addition to clients’), and I have transitioned all of my clients over to WordPress.

In doing just these two things, I have conservatively estimated I’ve extended my lifespan by a couple of years, and reduced my Miss Clairol usage exponentially. YAY!

While I still don’t advocate putting all of your eggs in one basket, I think that there is much to be gained by working smarter. That said, I have focused this issue on a few tools that I think will help you accomplish this.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Increase Adsense Revenue & Weed Out the Riff-Raff

No, I am not talking about the well-known character of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. When I refer to “riff-raff,” I am talking about those MFA (Made for Adsense) sites whose sole purpose is to steal your lunch money.

Don’t worry, though — help is on the way.

I’ve recently learned of a tool (the basic version is free) called Ads Blacklist. It is a project designed to enable you to dramatically reduce the amount of MFA and LCPC (low cost per click) sites which appear through the use of PPC systems like Adsense, Yahoo Publisher Network, and Chitika.

Here’s How it Works:
You sign up for your free account at Ads Blacklist, and then enter your URL and keywords. Moments later, it will generate a list of sites that are known MFA and LCPC sites within that niche. Simply highlight and copy the list, and then paste it into the Competitive Ad Filter field within your Adsense control panel. Voila! Those sites will now be blocked from displaying on your site.

Four words — how cool is that?

A Little Birdie Told Me

Building on our theme of working smarter, our next resource was featured this week on the ESB Journal.

Many of you are using article marketing as an affordable promotional tool for your business (and if you aren’t, shame on you!). Ezine Articles has added another cool tool for those who use their service — you can now enable your Ezine Articles profile to auto-tweet your recently approved articles to your tweeps!

Why You Should Use This:

• Your tweeps are already interested in what you have to say. This is a way to give them more content, with no added work.
• You can further demonstrate your expertise in your niche.
• Allows ezine and newsletter publishers instant access to the most recent content you’ve created.
• Allows you to provide education about your products/services, and build trust among your tweeps. We all know that folks buy from those they know, like and trust. Use this tool to accomplish that!

For a quick video tutorial on how to set this up, visit the ESB Journal article. Then, go set this up on your profile — before you forget.

Identifying the Achilles’ Heel for Your Niche

Times are tough — and many of our clients have found themselves facing much lower revenues than in years’ past. In fact, many that have never had to do any PPC advertising have now found themselves considering this option. If you are in a similar situation, this may be a helpful tip to consider.

First, accept that you don’t need all the customers in your niche. This is a common mistake that many new PPC advertisers make. They go crazy with their keyword selection — using words that are too broad or too vague — and end up spending too much for little or no results.

I don’t want that to happen to you.

Here’s what I recommend:

• Make a list of targeted phrases that a consumer would use to find your niche. If you sell hypo-allergenic vacuum filters, then you would certainly want to use that phrase. What you should also consider is adding your local geographic area to that phrase (i.e. Kalamazoo Michigan hypo-allergenic vacuum filters).
• One by one, begin entering your list into the Google Adwords Keyword Selection Tool. You may find that after entering the first one or two, you’ll have plenty of other suggestions to work with.
• Sort the list by clicking on the top of the column marked “Global Monthly Search Volume.” Scroll down through this list, and look for those that have search volumes 20K to 50K.
• From this range, determine if there are any keywords or phrases that fit your niche, and write them down.
• Open a new window, and go to Google.com. Type in one of the phrases you identified from the previous step. How many listings does it say appear in Google for this phrase?

The Goal:
The goal of the exercise outlined above is to identify 5-10 keywords or phrases that have a lower search volume per month (meaning, they will not cost as much), and have a low volume of competition in Google (meaning, it will be easier to appear on the first page for this term).

We combine this information to create a list that has a consistent monthly search volume, and we optimize your site or landing page for those terms. Then, you work to convert that traffic into customers.  As your business increases, you can then go after some of the more competitive search terms.

The point of this exercise is to keep you in the game without going broke doing so. You may even find — as many do — that this strategy could easily become your secret marketing weapon.

Tips:

• Be sure that when you set up specific search phrases in your Adwords control panel that you set them as “exact match” or “phrase match.” This will help control costs, and send more qualified leads your way.
• Don’t forget to use the Negative Keywords tool. Use this to remove any keyword searches that you want to be excluded from. For instance, if someone were looking for “free hypo-allergenic vacuum filters,” you wouldn’t necessarily want them — especially since you are SELLING them, not giving them away.

I hope that you’ll be encouraged to do a bit of keyword research using this method. If you do, I’d love to hear about your results! Drop me a note and let me know.

Last Call – Cash for My Clunker Sale

Wait a minute — didn’t the news announce yesterday that the Cash for Clunkers Program ended Monday?

Yep, they sure did.

You see, I have a “clunker” of my own — one that I planned to hold on to until next year. And, mine is in need of some repair work that I suspect is going to get a bit pricey.

Much as I’d like to, I’m not some highfalutin guru that can go out and plunk down the cash for a new vehicle right now.

So, here’s the bottom line. I decided that I’d slash the prices on my collection of Squidoo lenses to the bone — in fact, you’ll see that most are slashed between 50-75% off.

The sale ends at midnight tonite (August 28th), and the only place you can find them at this price is on this page. Whatever is left I will just hold on to.

This is a great opportunity to snap up aged and indexed lenses that you can use to leverage for traffic, list promotion and sales. Lots of niches still left, so act fast for best selection!

You’ll find all the details here:

http://plrsavvy.com/squidoo-lenses/

Share the Love

As I close out this issue, I’d like to ask you to do me a solid — click on the little green button below, and tweet about the Marketing Espresso to your tweeple. I sure would appreciate it.

Until Next Time — Stay Focused, Positive and Caffeinated!

Traci

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In This Issue:

• Quick Clicks & Cool Tools
• Social Media Nutjobs Live
• Grab These Freebies
• Getting Some FACE Time

As I sit down to write this issue of the Marketing Espresso, I have to laugh out loud. It’s only Monday, and the week is already shaping up to sound like a country song — complete with car repairs, upset dogs and an aggravated spouse. Swap out the caffeine for a cold draft beer, and I believe I have all of the essential elements covered.

Someone please get Willie Nelson on the line!

Thankfully the car has been repaired (ka-ching!), the storms passed, and my dogs are no longer terrified. As for my husband — he’ll probably forgive me once the newness of Facebook wears off.

More on that in a minute. Let’s get to the good stuff, shall we?

Quick Clicks & Cool Tools:

You already know that I am a sucker for cool office supplies — but I bet you didn’t know why. You see, I typically keep a notepad handy to scrawl down cool resources that I find during the day. Some come by way of press releases or books I am reading, and some come from sheer dumb luck. Whatever the case may be — some make it to my bookmarks folder, and some don’t. The notepad is my own system to investigate the links as time allows, and then decide which ones make the grade.

So, hot off the notepad, here’s two sites you may want to add to your own bookmarks:

• Radio Guest List – Radio talk show, podcast, online radio show, satellite radio, and TV program bookers and producers use this free service to find exciting, timely new talk show interview guests. Oh, and best of all — it’s FREE!
• GCF Learn Free – GCFLearnFree.org® is supported by the Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc. (GCF®) whose mission is “to create and provide education, employment, and life enrichment opportunities for people who desire to improve the quality of their lives”. GCF provides quality, innovative online learning opportunities to anyone who wants to improve the technology, literacy, and math skills necessary for them to be successful in both work and life.

Social Media Nutjobs Live

Two good pals of mine — Jimmy Vee and Travis Miller — are marketing guys that are “anti-marketing.” You may remember when I first met these guys, and interviewed them about their smash book, Gravitational Marketing. Since then, this dynamic duo have continued to turn heads (and manage to make more than a few scratch their heads, too…) with their unconventional methods. Come to think of it, that’s probably why I like them so much.

But I digress.

I make it my business to keep tabs on what these two are doing. This coming Wednesday night at 9pm EST, they are hosting a free live webinar that you won’t want to miss.

The title of the webinar is “The Maximum Wake Zone: How To Make Waves, Get Noticed & Accelerate Your Success Using Online Video & Social Media.”

Long title, yes — but hey, I’m just the messenger. Believe me, if anybody is qualified to talk about making waves, it’s these two.

I’ll be attending this webinar myself, and I strongly encourage you to join me. We’ll BOTH learn some serious cash-producing strategies from these guys.

Here’s the registration link. Remember, this is a no-cost webinar.

Grab these Freebies

In case you aren’t signed up to receive the RSS feed for Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal, I wanted to pass along a few time-sensitive free downloads that I recently shared with our readers. While you’re visiting, you may want to check out some of the excellent articles we’ve recently published — written by some of the web’s leading marketers, coaches, authors, and business owners. Good stuff!

• Book Excerpt, Twitter Means Business
• Book Excerpt, I’m on LinkedIn — Now What?
• Marketing Brief: 12 Essential Tips for Social Media Marketing
• Book Summary: Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae
• Ebook: PHP Anthology – 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks – Free 207-Page Preview

Getting Some FACE Time

Earlier I mentioned that my husband may be a bit aggravated with me. In all fairness, I suppose I deserve it. You see, after hearing me go on and on about the many benefits of social media, he finally caved in and set himself up on Facebook. This is the same guy who had “no interest” in Twitter, and is now a bona fide Twitter addict.

So, you can see why I’m not all that worried.

If you’re like John, and haven’t yet succumbed to the siren song of Facebook, perhaps you should. This article outlines just a few reasons why this may be a smart marketing move for your business.

I am still discovering all of the neat tools that are available; however, I have already noticed the traffic boost to my sites that I have linked to my Facebook profile.

Share the Love

As I close out this issue, I’d like to ask you to do me a solid — click on the little green button below, and tweet about the Marketing Espresso to your tweeple. It’s good karma, and it helps fight tooth decay.

Okay, not really — but I sure would appreciate it.

Until Next Time — Stay Focused, Positive and Caffeinated!

Traci

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It’s that time again.

It’s time for school age children to begin dreading every sunrise, and for the parents of said children to begin the countdown…

Yes, my friends — it’s back to school time.

For the record, I never minded back to school time when I was growing up — but that was primarily because I loved the thought of getting new paper, pens, and various and sundry organizational school supplies (strange, but true — explains a lot, doesn’t it?).

Last week I had the rare pleasure of having possession of the remote control. During my cursory scanning of the channels, I happened to catch a Staples commercial that employs some of the most savvy back-to-school marketing that I have seen in quite some time. In trying to locate this clip, I came to find out that this commercial isn’t new — in fact, it originally aired in the 90s. It just goes to show that when you have a great concept, it will often stand the test of time.

Aside from giving you a nearly-midweek-chuckle, why am I sharing this? Well, I’m glad you asked. This commercial is a fantastic (and brilliantly creative) example of how you can cash in with seasonal marketing. There are certain times of the year when it is easy to tap into the collective mind of society — and whether you are underscoring the shared joys (such as the holidays), or the shared headaches (tax season) — a bit of creativity can often make your message resonate even stronger.

Without ruining the clip for those who may not have seen it, I will set it up just by saying that I swear I saw my folks do a similar dance when I was young…and I sincerely doubt it was because my mom was hopped up from sniffing markers.

I’m just sayin’…

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In this issue:

• The Miracle of Self-Discipline
• Twitter for Business Owners
• 5 Fab Follow-Up Ideas
• Earning with e-How
• Commission Junction Launches PayPerCall Program
• A New Concept in Creativity at crowdSPRING

If you have landed on this page by way of the search engines — don’t risk missing out on another weekly issue! Visit our home page to sign up to receive our web feed.

The Miracle of Self-Discipline

There is one special quality that you can develop that will guarantee you greater success, accomplishment and happiness in life.

Of a thousand principles for success developed over the ages, this one quality or practice will do more to assure that you accomplish wonderful things with your life than anything else. This quality is so important that, if you don’t develop it to a high degree, it is impossible for you to ever achieve what you are truly capable of achieving.

The quality that I am talking about is the quality of self-discipline.

Check out the full text of this excellent article by author and motivational speaker Brian Tracy at our newly relaunched business site, Entrepreneur & Self-Employed Business Journal.

Twitter for Business Owners – (5) PLR Article Pack

Twitter is the undisputed champion of social media, and everyone is talking about it. It’s no wonder that bloggers, business owners and marketers are scrambling to find Twitter PLR articles. After fielding numerous requests, I put together this package of private label articles to allow you to use this content without restriction. The catch? There are only (150) packages being offered, and once they are gone, I will be pulling the package forever.

These articles are excellent for use in newsletters, blog posts, added to existing ebooks, or compiled to create a short report. Remember that if you plan to post them online, we do recommend that you rewrite up to 30% of the text to make your version unique. With (5) articles totaling just over 1750 words, these are the perfect length to offer sound tips and keep a readers’ attention.

Topics covered include: automating your market research with twitter, helpful twitter tools that business owners should know about, tweeting FAQs, twitter automation, one twitter tool that can your competition doesn’t want you to know about, twitter success tips, number of followers, and more.

For more information, or to grab your copy, visit the PLR Savvy website.

5 Fab Follow-Up Ideas

How many of you make it a practice to send a follow-up message after you send out an email to your list? Between voracious spam filters, and a crowded inbox, your prospects may very well have missed your first message. We know from the old “Rule of 7″ that prospects often need to be presented with your offer multiple times before acting upon them. Below are five helpful tips that you can use in following up with your prospects. One side note — be sure that when using these tips you are being genuine.

My personal favorite is the “more bonuses added” idea. By contacting your prospects to alert them that you’ve sweetened the deal even more, those that may have been on the fence previously may be provided with the impetus to purchase. These can be bonuses that you’ve decided to add on, or ones from joint-venture partners, etc.

The “ad extension” is a common technique that many markters use. Perhaps you were surprised at how quickly the original offer has been selling, and you’ve decided to generously extend the deadline to anyone who may have gotten busy and missed it. Whatever your reasoning for extending the deadline, when it is framed with a generous offer to help your subscribers take advantage of a deal, chances are it will be well received.

We all know the power of the word “free.” Why not consider offering a free sample of your offer? It could be an excerpt from a report, a trial version of the software or service, etc. Sometimes this one simple gesture can mean the difference of a successful campaign, or one that languishes.

Do you have an affiliate program? Announcing that your offer is available for affiliates to promote can significantly impact your sales volume. Some marketers may offer a private affiliate program that is only available to purchasers — I’ve seen a mixed bag of results with this tactic. If the payout for affiliates is generous, this may put you over the top; however, if affiliates have to pay hundreds of dollars for a product only to make a $30 commission, it’s a safe bet that you won’t have many takers.

Perhaps the most common tactic used by marketers is “email overload.” Your follow-up is framed in the context that you know how much email your prospects receive every day, and you want to make sure that they don’t miss out on this offer. Because of how often this particular method is used, I recommend you pair it with something else — either a trial offer, a quick informational video  — anything that you can offer to get a prospect to visit your site. Without it, this tactic could receive a lukewarm reception.

E-Learning with e-How

eHow.com is an online community dedicated to providing visitors the ability to research, share, and discuss instructional solutions that help complete day-to-day tasks and projects.

On Friday I decided to sign up with e-How, after hearing how others had experienced success in submitting their how-to articles and earning some cash in the bargain. I haven’t submitted any articles yet, but I had to share my experience with you. In the less than 24 hours since I signed up, I have fielded over 70 “friend requests.” If this is any testament to how active the community is, this may well turn out to be a smart marketing decision. Will keep you posted on my progress.

Commission Junction Launches PayPerCall Program

Commission Junction has recently announced the introduction of CJ PayPerCall — a great new opportunity for publishers to earn even more with CJ. With currently more than a dozen advertisers, such as ADT and ServiceMagic, CJ is anticipating a very large financial services advertiser launching soon just for the pay-per-call program.

Why should you be as excited as we are about CJ’s new pay-per-call platform? Pay-per-call isn’t all that different than other affiliate marketing methods — yet, the average per-call commission is over $10, and some advertisers pay up to $100 per call.

Pay-per-call doesn’t take the place of your online CPA campaigns with these large advertisers. Pay-per-call campaigns are IN ADDITION TO existing CPA campaigns.

In order to get affiliates up to speed on the new program, CJ is hosting a live demo to answer all of your questions, as well as provide you with the materials you need to start earning commissions with these top brand advertisers. The demo is scheduled for August 6th at 1pm Pacific time.

To register, click on the PayPerCall graphic located inside your Commission Junction user administration panel.

A New Concept in Creativity at crowdSPRING

Need something designed? crowdSPRING says name your price and watch 13,000+ designers compete for your biz.

crowdSPRING is a little company with big dreams based in Chicago – and was started to help people from around the world access creative talent, and to help creatives from across the globe find new customers.

With backgrounds in both the creative industry and law, crowdSPRING is a labor of love for a team that believes strongly in the creative process and the protection of intellectual property. From free, binding legal contract generation for every transaction and advanced digital watermarking to a built-in, secure escrow service and a feedback rating system – they have tried to make a safe environment for both Buyers and Creatives alike.

By helping Buyers reach countless creatives across the globe, they are changing the game for the little guy. Now small businesses, one-man shops and individuals anywhere can tap into a global pool of creatives. In fact, they are so convinced that global talent pool will give your project new ideas, different perspectives and a far better final product – they guarantee it. Check out this innovative new service today!

Until Next Time — Stay Focused, Positive and Caffeinated!

Traci

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In This Issue:

• Is this a Hobby, or a Business?
• Online Video Ads
• Excellent Resource for Video Marketing
• New Social Networking Platform for Publicity Seekers
• TweetMeme
• Coffee Break: Free Coffee Giveaway

Is this a Hobby, or a Business?
For those who straddle the line between business and hobby, this helpful guide from the IRS will help provide some much-needed clarification.

Before you fluff this off as one of those topics that you’ll “deal with later,” consider this rather stern sounding message taken directly from the guide:

“In general, if a taxpayer has hobby income and expenses, the expense deduction should be limited to the hobby income amount. About 1.5 million taxpayers, many with significant income from other sources, filed form 1040 Schedules C showing no profits, only losses, over consecutive Tax Years 2002 – 2005 (4 years); 73 percent of these taxpayers were assisted by tax practitioners. By claiming these losses to reduce their taxable incomes, about 1.2 million of the 1.5 million taxpayers potentially avoided paying $2.8 billion in taxes in Tax Year 2005. Changes are needed to prevent taxpayers from continually deducting losses in potentially not-for-profit activities to reduce their tax liabilities.”

To read the entire guide online, visit this link.

Online Video Ads
Reaching new customers can be challenging for most businesses. While tried-and-true methods such as newspaper advertising remain popular, a new ad medium has also taken the business world by storm.

Online video ads–short-form commercials that run on Web sites–are proving to be one of the most effective ways to advertise online, with some video ads generating twice the clicks of banner ads. In fact, advertisers report planning to allocate about 35 percent of their budget on the ads by 2012, according to Borrell Associates.

Small businesses are looking to follow this trend, and do-it-yourself Web sites such as Jivox are helping to fill that need. Jivox offers inexpensive, locally targeted, online video ad programs — enabling advertisers to get started for as little as a few hundred dollars per campaign and make developing an online commercial simple and fun.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes time to produce your own ad:

• Keep It Simple–Viewers don’t want to read large volumes of text on their computer screen. To stand out, your ad needs to be short and sweet.
• Call Out The Benefits–Research shows that people decide if they want to read more about a topic on a Web site in eight seconds or less. Ads that contain specific, immediate benefits, such as a promotion or discount, can be highly effective.
• Be Smart About Type Size–Use no more than two type sizes in one ad, with the largest type size on top. Also, never use more than two fonts and avoid using all capital letters.
• Use Relevant Visuals–The visuals in a video ad should communicate a relevant message. Clean, simple graphics are more likely to catch the eye of the viewer.
• Test And Retest–Set aside a portion of your budget to test different approaches so that you can see how response rates fluctuate when you change the visuals, call-to-action or price points, or add a promotional offer.

Excellent Resource for Video Marketing
We’ve already established that video marketing is both popular and lucrative. Suppose you’d like to create your own videos, but don’t have the startup funds to work with an outside firm — does that mean you have to be stuck on the sidelines while your competition scores the touchdown?

Absolutely not.

In fact, if you are ready to get off the bench and get in the game, I’d like to share a super resource with you that can help you kick your marketing efforts into high gear — in less than the time it takes to watch a halftime show.

Featuring (6) instructional videos and (2) companion audios, you can listen and watch at your leisure, and quickly refer to these materials if questions arise. They are helpful, step-by-step instruction designed to help you create effective video promotions for your own promotions, affiliate products, list building, and more.

And the best part?
This little gem will cost you less than (1) of those fancy coffeehouse drinks — you know I never joke about caffeine!

New Social Networking site for Publicity Seekers
Sourceables.com is a free social networking platform that allows its members to share their viewpoints, expertise, and insights through short text posts and links. Journalists can search for and connect with the expert sources they need for the stories, features, blogs, or programming they produce.

Featuring an advanced search function and follow capabilities, Sourceables has positioned itself to be an extremely useful tool for media seeking experts, professionals, or anyone who can offer insights or commentary. Read full story here…

Increase Site Traffic & Twitter Followers with TweetMeme
TweetMeme is a service which aggregates all the popular links on twitter to determine which links are popular. TweetMeme is able to categorize these links into categories and subcategories, making it easy to filter out the noise to find what you’re interested in.

The TweetMeme retweet button is for website and blog publishers who want to encourage their audience to tweet their content on twitter. The button shows a live count of the number of times your webpage or blog post has been tweeted. This is something I have just added myself, and I will be anxious to see if it impacts my retweets. Will keep you posted.

Visit the site to get more information, or to obtain a button for your site.

Coffee Break: Free Coffee Giveaway through August 3rd
In support of the launch of McDonald’s new McCafe line, they are offering US consumers the chance to sample a free Hot Mocha or Iced Mocha at any participating McDonald’s restaurant.

The offer is available on any Monday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Aug. 3, and the complimentary drinks come in special, promotional sizes: 7 oz. for the iced version, or 8 oz. for the hot variety.

McDonald’s anticipates that it will likely give away some 10 million samples during its Free Mocha Mondays campaign, making it “one of the largest sampling initiatives we’ve taken on as a company,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s USA. Guess where I am headed next Monday?

Until Next Time — Stay Focused, Positive and Caffeinated!

Traci

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