Reverse Tough Question Tuesday - YOU Ask ME!
Let's turn the tables this week. I'm having kind of a crazy, backward week, so this will fit right in.
Usually on Tuesdays, I ask you a "Tough Question" regarding being an at-home Internet entrepreneur. This time, I want you to ask me any tough (or not-so tough) question you want.
Here's a Few Rules: I want to be able answer every single question I receive, so let's lay out a few ground rules.
1. Please keep the questions simple and precise. Please don't ask for reviews of your site or ask me general questions about getting traffic, etc. Tough Tuesday is meant to be a quick Q&A type thing, so again, let's keep it simple and precise.
2. Please ask me questions about me and my business. The idea of tough question Tuesday is to reveal something about the person answering. Although, my answer might be helpful to your own business...please don't ask questions about your own business. Sorry to be selfish, but let's keep with it in the spirit of Tough Question Tuesday.
3. Personal questions are okay, but be reasonable. You can ask me how many kids I have, what my favorite color is (not that those are TOUGH questions...LOL)...but don't ask for my Social Insurance Number (SSN for my American readers), my home address or the details of my last tax return. Sound fair?
Okay, what's your question for me?
30 Comments:
Hi Alice, my tough question is...
how many websites do you have counting partners?
What are they if you want to list them?
Hope that's not too tough :0)
HI Alice,
My tough question is - how do you compete with competitors with money? What are some tips on getting the word out there when some people have money for marketing and you don't.
Over the last few months, you've "unloaded" some of your staple websites (internet based moms, mom masterminds, etc.)
Why did you decide to turn over these sites and how did you determine who would obtain these sites? Without going into monetary details, how did you determine the price to sell these sits (provided that you did sell them.)
On a personal note, I've seen a personality change in you (you're letting your hair down a little more -- at least in my eyes) and you're a little more "fun" for lack of a better word in your emails and on your blog. I think it's great!
Heather
Oh Jan...that is a tough question because I don't think I know the exact answer.
Taking a quick look at my records, it is definitely over 50. There are a number in the process of being sold, but if you want to find my projects...you can find links to them from:
http://www.internetmarketingsweetie.com
...it links to all my product pages, services I offer and even my freebie tips lists. To keep this simple, I'm going to say "Happy Hunting" from there. :-)
...and there's my parent/mom stuff at:
http://www.becausemomsaidso.com
http://www.babyandtoddlerville.com
There are more parent/mom-related sites but they're up for sale and will hopefully soon not be mine (and Mila's)
Alice,
I know that you are an expert at marketing to stay at home moms and that you have said that typical internet "hype" marketing does not work. What does work? What "sells" to stay at home moms?
Thanks
Melissa - By being a Sweetie, of course. I differentiate myself from the competition, create a connection with my readers/customers which in turn gets others talking about me too.
I honestly spend very little money on advertising, but that is my shortfall. There never seems to be enough time to do it even though I think it's important to reinvest in your business and make it bigger and better!
Heather: That was a lot of questions, so I'm going give you an answer that kind of touches on everything. If time allows (picking the kids up shortly) and I know I'll get more questions...I can try to answer a bit more.
My hair has always been down, but because of time I might not have been as fun. For a while, I kind of dropped the ball over here at internetmarketingsweetie.com. I was spreading myself too thin which made it necessary to unload a lot of extra stuff and refocus.
I decide that I was going to focus in on one main market and what was already working well. Everything else had to go. Although I still work with moms and women, it now here under the "Internet Marketing Sweetie" name.
Price was loosely based on 1 year's revenue of each site.
Christy: You know, being a great example has worked very well with me.
Hype doesn't work, but if you totally succumb to a common WAHM-mindset that you shouldn't/can't spend money on your business...you won't sell anything. By showing "how you do it" and spend your money wisely, you can gain trust.
A couple ago, I offered an extensive course called "Marketing to Moms in Business". It is no longer for sale, but I may have a mini-course promo available for that. If I can locate it, I will post it to my blog by some time next week. If I forget to do it (sorry...gotta rush out here), put another comment on my blog next week to remind me.
Do you know of a good software program for a not-for-profit small business that pays for services and colects donations?
Thanks for the opportunity Alice...Here is my question - 'If you had your time again, is there anything in internet marketing business that you would do differently?'
Sandy
Hi Alice,
Not so long ago, I left my job and went full-time on my internet business.
My question is how and when do you plan your day's activities?
What has to happen for you to consider a day well spent?
Huge Thanks,
Mark
Hi Alice.
With you having 50+ websites, how on earth do you manage all that is involved with keeping your content current, marketing, etc?
I'm often overwhelmed with a blog and a podcast, never mind adding 48 others!
Hello Alice,
You are doing a wonderful job, helping me and others understand on line business. I just have one question for you at this time. I downloaded your free sweetie reader, however, I don't know anything about rss feeds. I don't want you to tell me everything I need to know, however, could you explain, what I should do to use it for myself. Thank you in advance. ...Barbie
pbscf news Unfortunately, I don't, but you might look at Sandra Sim's Step-by-Step Fundraising website for possible guidance.
Sandy: I would have learned more traditional business concepts (as opposed to just "Internet Marketing") and learned more about financial management. I think that would have helped me plan my business a whole lot better, but better late than never, right? :-)
Hi Alice,
You might not do alot of direct, paid advertising, but you do go to seminars and tradeshows. Which, in itself, is direct marketing and promotion, even if you are not a vendor at the show.
How many outside shows do you think you attend per year on average?
--Brian
Assist.com
Mark: I actually wrote a Three Thoughts Thursday on the topic recently: Organizing Your Day.
That's specifically for each day and I always do it the night before. It helps my focus immensely to know what I have to do before I wake up.
Outside of that, I also have an erasable yearly planner on my wall where I post all product launches, important deadlines etc.
Then, on my desk I have a monthly desk pad where I put some more detailed planning, appointments, etc that I can see in advance.
The actually detailed daily planning goes into a day planner that has one full page per day.
I consider it to be a day well spent when I keep putting lines through all the tasks in my planner. It's okay if I don't get them all, but that I did some with minimal distraction.
Other things I do are to make sure I have my work hours planned. I know what time I'll be going to the gym, getting the kids, going to the bank or whatever...and then exactly what time period I'll be working. Makes a world of difference.
ALSO - Outsource a lot of the little and technical tasks...staying bogged down in those can be very demotivating. :-(
Hope that helps!
Christina: The thing to realize is that most of those pages are inter-related and don't all require a lot of upkeep.
Putting the parent/mom stuff aside, the Marketing Sweetie domain is the one that gets the most frequent updates. With few exceptions, the rest are product/service sites, opt-in pages, etc. and are related to what goes on here at InternetMarketingSweetie.com.
I'm just a believer in creating highly-focused sites to get the results you want. Whether it's a sign up in an opt-in page or a sales on a sales page, I want my visitors highly-focused on what I'd like them to do.
So while it may seem a lot, you might also think of it as one big giant site on a bunch of different domains.
Barbie: You'll love the reader when you get a hang of it. Did you get the step-by-step manual with it? It includes screenshots and lots of help for using the reader. Maybe that will answer your questions?
Download the guide here (PDF)
For anyone who doesn't have the Sweetie Reader, you can get it here: Free RSS Reader
assist.com moderator: I go to very few seminars and actually no tradeshows. I actually love having my business at home and on the net, so I don't venture out to work on it too often.
I do enjoy seminars and have gotten a lot of attending a number of them previously, I've just slowed down and really focused on what I need to be doing here.
What is you and your family's favorite thing to do together?
Nell Taliercio: That actually is a bit of a tough question as there are lots of things we like to do, but I think the favorite is reading books together. Whether it's story books, information books or talking about the books, we have a great time together.
Hi Alice,
I love it when we can ask you questions! I've noticed that you've talked about Web 2.0 and used some of the techniques like YouTube on your Sweetie Blog lately. Do you think it's important to incorporate Web 2.0 into a blog experience and if so, why? And on the lighter zany side, do you think you might use The Monkey(since you like him ALOT) who promos an ad for DealDotCom.com in a promo for your Internet Marketing Sweetie Site? LOL (http://youtube.com/watch?v=QHruFXoO6iw) If it works for DealDotCom.com would it work to advertise a blog as well?
Karen: I think the monkey is silly! I love silly, but the monkey is just a bit beyond...LOL!
As far as incorporating Web 2.0 into a blog, I think a blog designed for interaction IS Web 2.0.
As far as the extra Web 2.0ish thingamijiggies go, you can see my blog doesn't really have much to speak for. Part of it is that I use Blogger and many interesting widgets aren't compatible. Would I like to try some of those things? Sure I'd consider them, but do I think my blog suffers without them...not really.
Yeah, I post videos...but sometimes its painful to find relevant ones that are worth watching, unfortunately. And therein lies the problem with video, I think it needs to be done RIGHT. A lot of people with their video cameras are doing it really, really wrong.
I love watching movies, TV is pretty cool and I get into YouTube (but usually not relevant to this blog). However, I've never owned a video in my life and it's not a medium I'm comfortable with working with. I'm pretty much just a writer.
I have toyed with the idea of my own videos a few times, but nothing ever got off the ground. Perhaps I should since my brother in law went to film school and has some minor credits on quite a few Hollywood movies (but don't think he was actually involved in the production...LOL...we're still proud!).
In the end, I think connecting with your readers, making them feel like they're part of the blog experience is what makes a cool blog. Blending that with some selling and crafty self-promotion is what makes for a nicely padded pocketbook. :-)
I asked you 5 questions yesterday, Alice, though I'm not sure my blog pinged you correctly!
They are part of a 'tag series' where Dena tagged me, and you are one of 5 people I tagged in turn.
5 Questions About the ONLINE You!
All success
Dr.Mani
Hi Alice,
It's me, Jarod. Yes, the same guy who recently joined your AllHealthContent.com.
If it's any consolation, you're not the only one having a bad week. But I'll spare you the details.:)
My question is what's your policy on promoting affiliate products in your ezine? What's your criteria for selecting products to promote?
I'm asking because I noticed you hardly promote affiliate products in your ezine.
Hmmm...5 questions, Dr. Mani. That's a little over the legal limit, but cuz you do such great things with your biz talents, I'm going to do this.
It's 11:14 PM PST...so if not tonight, tomorrow.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Jarod: I don't have an ezine...I have
Internet
Marketing Prescriptions...or Sweetie updates if you will.
Regardless, I had more affiliate promos in the early days. Now, I have my own
products and I'm even more selective than ever.
Best thing to do is:
Read this
2. If you want me to promote,
submit
here. No guarantees unfortunately.
Thanks for your question!
Homework complete, Dr. Mani.
I don't think I missed anyone above, but if I did - just shout.
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