If You Could Turn Back Time

Over at my mom’s mentoring community, Mom Masterminds one of our newer members asked a great question a few days ago.

She wanted to know, if we had it to do all over again from the beginning, where we would start and what information we would put to use first?

The response was huge and everyone had their own opinions of what things they consider most valuable to their particular businesses. Almost all of those who replied had at least one thing to say about their lists and how they would have concentrated on that more. But that wasn’t the only thing the other members had to share. Here are just a few of the many replies.

“All in all I wouldn't do that much differently, I think making mistakes and learning from them as you go along is part of evolving as an entrepreneur. The trick is to know when to let go of something that isn't working and when to keep persevering.”

“I would have not spent so much money learning tactics that I did not apply only to find out none of it was the magic bullet.”

“Not wasting the lists that you do have.”

“Always be hungry. Never stop trying to be better, faster, more organized. Never get comfortable. Constantly challenge your plans and goals. Always acknowledge your weaknesses and embrace them by finding ways to minimize them. You can't do everything. You have to learn to let go.”

“Staying focused on one thing instead of splintering off into hot new ideas. I probably wouldn't change a thing because the process is just as important as the end result. It's who you become in the process of building a business that makes you successful... and some of us have to learn more than others!”

And for those of you who want it here’s my two cents on the subject.

I would have concentrated on building and working with my mailing list from the beginning. It took me a long time to realize how profitable my list can be. Don't get me wrong, my traffic and content have been excellent producers too, but you can really learn a ton by connecting with your list, by providing them with excellent content and getting them to buy stuff.

How about you? If you could jump into a time capsule and go back to the beginning of your online business ventures, what would you have done differently?

Short and Sweet Goes a Long Way

I am often asked what I recommend be included in a newsletter to make sure everything gets covered in the “right” way, but without over taking the owner’s time. Many people think there is a set checklist of sorts for setting up a newsletter. There are no set rules for newsletters, but here’s what I prefer and have found works best for me.

Personally, I’ve found a lengthy Ezine to be too much work. I would rather give my subs short, sweet, and to the point emails for a few reasons.

1. It’s easier, for me, to focus on one thing at a time. This in turn means my readers are only focusing on one thing at a time. By giving them less to do, they tend to act more. If I overload them with information all in one email, they can feel overwhelmed and therefore do nothing. Not exactly what I’m wanting.

2. By keeping my emails short I am not limiting myself to just one contact a week or month. I can send more if I find it necessary. If I were sending them a long winded newsletter and then needed to send them time sensitive information that I came across later that week the chances of them opening the email are low because they are either busy reading the newsletter and doing all the things in it or they don’t have time for yet another lengthy email from me.

3. It works better. Bottom line, I’ve tested both and the short and sweet emails allow me to give my readers good advice without all the hype. They appreciate that and therefore take the info I give them and put it to use. It doesn’t hurt that many more readers actually click thru to any product I’m promoting this way as well. Sales for me, knowledge for them. Win-Win!

Each newsletter is unique to the owner and the content inside, just like each market is unique. Some readers prefer a few short emails a week and others prefer to receive a jam packed Ezine only once a month. Find out which work best for you and the majority of your readers and you’ll have a winner either way.

Sign up for my free Email Marketing Tips for more help with your list.
http://www.EmailMarketingSweetie.com

More on Community Blogs - How To

Last week I talked about community blogs and the reasons they can be good for you and your business. You can read the community blogs post if you missed it.

Adriana left a comment and asked about how to get multiple contributors set up on a Wordpress blog. As I didn’t set up the Mom Masterminds Blog, which is done as a Wordpress format, I can’t explain it to her. However, I know someone who can. I told her I would see what I could come up with to help her out with the technical side of setting one up.

Who better to ask than the blogging expert herself? Lynette Chandler, the creator of the Blogging Starter Pack, was more than happy to help me out and has compiled a guide, complete with screenshots for the set up of Wordpress community blogs. Thank you Lynette!

I do, however know how it all works on the Blogger platform, as I set up multi-authors at my community blog over at BecauseMomSaidSo.com. Since I have experience with this particular platform, I could (and did) create a guide to help those of you who use it through setting up a Blogger community blog.

The screenshots in the Blogger guide are from the new Beta version of Blogger, so there may be a few things that look a tiny bit different if you are using the older version, but the process is pretty much the same for both. It really is as simple as sending an email to the people you want to invite to become co-authors on your blog. I have also included screenshots and step-by-step instructions for the entire process.

Here’s where you can find instructions for both Wordpress and Blogger:

Adding Contributors to a Wordpress Blog

Setting Up a Multi-Author Blog in Blogger

Oh yeah, one more thing. Feel free to share your community blog (current one or one you’ve set up with the guides) with everyone in the comments area.

Just a Few Days Left for Your Free Holiday Gift

Last month I told you about the opt-in builder software that Lynette Chandler and I created.

If you have a free e-course, newsletter, special report, etc. you want to offer your visitors in exchange for their email address for your list? A one page opt-in is the way to go! With the software you give your readers the chance to focus on the one thing you want them to do most while at your website, versus looking at your whole site and leaving before they have done so.

The builder gives you simple, step by step instructions on how to build an opt-in page. The best part is that it doesn’t just tell you how either; it actually builds the page for you!

Simply decide what elements you want in your page such as the page name, what colors, text and font size to use as well as any graphics you need. Fill in the corresponding blanks and leave the rest to the builder. Within a few minutes, you’ll have a complete, ready to upload, one page opt-in site without all the stress of guessing or coding with HTML.

When Lynette and I introduced the software last month, we decided to give it away for free, but only for a limited time.

Well that time is almost up. You only have until this Sunday, December 24th to get a copy for yourself. As of Monday, we will be adding a price tag to it.

Before you get wrapped up with friends, family, gifts and good food, hurry and get your free copy. It’s ok to play Santa for yourself, especially when you don’t have to spend a dime to do it and the rewards you could reap from using it will be great.

Happy holidays to you from you! Get your opt-in builder software for free here => http://www.copywritingsweetie.com/tips.html