Be a Whiz at eBiz!
This Is Not A Newsletter
Be a Whiz at eBiz!
No-Nonsense Tips and Resources to Grow Your Business Online
December 09, 2004
Priya Shah, Editor
http://EbizWhizPublishing.com
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I know, I know...
I'm supposed to be cramming for a PR (that's Public
Relations, not Pagerank ;) paper now.
But being the workaholic I am, its so hard to
stay away from my PC, and what I love doing best - publishing.
:)
So this is not really a newsletter, just the ravings
of an internet marketing lunatic ;)
I wasn't planning to send out a newsletter this
month, but I've been such a busybee that I thought I'd keep you
up to date with all the stuff I've been doing.
For starters, I've put all my articles on blogging
into an email course that you can sign up for here.
Free
Email Course on Blogging
You'll receive the articles below in your inbox.
1. How to Write A Blog... And Survive
2. It's a Blog, Not A Sales Letter
3. How To Build Traffic To Your Blog
4. Search Engine Optimization For Blogs
If there's one reason why every business should
start a blog, its because it's a way of letting your visitors
and subscribers get to know you better as a person.
A blog puts a human face on an otherwise cold
and impersonal business website.
And why do you need a human face on your business?
Simple: Because people buy from those they know
and trust.
But I'll let Nick Usborne elaborate on that in
his superb article. It's really something to keep in mind at this
time of year.
The Art of Being Human
By Nick Usborne
This isn't the first time I have written about
the benefits of inserting a human voice or presence into your
online communications. And I make no excuse for writing about
this again.
Site visitors crave the sense that someone is
there, within and behind your Web pages, your emails and newsletters.
Dealing with the bare technology of online interactions
is a cold experience for many, or even most of us. It makes us
feel anxious. Technology isn't warm. It has no heart. It neither
understands us, nor cares for us.
For many Web sites, whether for businesses or
organizations, we simply plug in and play the bare technology
- the super-duper means of information delivery.
All the site visitor sees and feels is the design,
the interface, the links and the clicks. The experience is about
as warm and human as banking with an ATM machine.
And then we sit in our expensive offices and wonder
why it is that we get such terrible conversion rates on our sites,
why so few people continue to open our emails or read our newsletters.
Well, perhaps it's because we're bringing an 'ATM'
style to the most interactive, vibrant, networked, warm and essentially
human communications space imaginable.
But what if you enabled your visitors to catch
just a faint scent of humanity in your site?
What if you did a few small things to show that
your business is more than just a cold room, filled with servers?
What if you showed that the heart of your business
is about people, and not technology?
Would that be such a bad thing?
In fact, it would be a very good thing. Your readers,
prospects and customers will feel relief, they will smile, feel
reassured. And they are more likely to sign up, to register, to
buy and come back.
Can I prove this? No, not with certified, verified
figures, charts and signed affidavits.
But I have corresponded with and listened to so
many business people who know very well how 'being there' and
'being human' has helped them online.
They have seen how conversion rates, sales and
levels of customer loyalty can rise and fall in response to the
level of 'humanity' expressed through their sites.
Here are a few, very simple examples of how different
businesses have sneaked a little humanity into their sites and
emails.
- A second level page at 1800Flowers.com features
a photo of the CEO Jim McCann, and a personal message to his customers.
(You might consider this to be an unoriginal and mundane idea.
Well, do you have an equivalent page on your site? Would it harm
you to give it a try?)
- At iQVC.com you can see how they have included
images of and short messages from a variety of hosts and experts.
(Are you too cynical to believe that visitors can really relate
to paid 'hosts'?)
- At Foolmart.com they use simple words and phrases
that tell you right away that a 'real' person wrote that content.
Have a look at the text for their Customer Service Pledge. See
how the word 'leap' and the phrase 'burning questions' transforms
this from corporate-speak to something very human and a lot more
credible.
It's not hard to take a few steps that will add
a sense of humanity to your sites, emails and newsletters.
You can do this with images, a few carefully
chosen words or a combination of the two.
And if that works for you, take an audit of all
your online communications.
Take a look at all the places where you could
add a more human voice.
Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker
and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter
articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess
Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how
to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance
Writing Success site.
There's a lot going on in the internet marketing
world this month.
Rebecca Hagel's having her "Triple
C Workshop: Concept to Creation to Cash."
It's a 12-week interactive, online multimedia
workshop that teaches you her product creation and marketing system
in detail.
She's even managed to get together a team of the
field's most brilliant marketing minds -- including Ted Nicholas,
Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver, John Reese, Willie Crawford, Rosalind
Gardner, to guide you through the publishing process so you can
not only convert your ebook into a print product, but maybe even
become a best-selling author.
You'll learn how to :
* Quickly break into ANY market
* Immediately position yourself as a sought-after
expert
* Forge relationships with your competitors so
they help you create and sell a product fast
* Make money via upselling, affiliate marketing,
search engine marketing, and more...
* Turn this project into a full-time, profitable
business
* Plus, you'll ever learn how to get your ebook
published into a print book
But reserve your spot soon, because registration
ends when all spots are filled or by January 20th, whichever comes
first.
A word of warning though:
This workshop isn't for everyone. It's for Do-ers,
not Dreamers.
If you'd rather read ebooks and attend seminars
but never apply what you've learned, or if you're not willing
to actually put in the work required to make your dreams a reality,
then this workshop isn't for you.
In fact if that's the case, you shouldn't be in
business at all. Seriously! :)
But if you have an eBook or info-product in you
and just need a little push and how-to knowledge to get it out,
Becky's workshop may be all you need to take your business to
the next level.
I can tell you honestly that publishing my own
eBook has opened a whole world of new opportunities for me - but
that's fodder for another article ;)
Join
the Triple C Workshop here
Thanks to my exams and stuff, I haven't been able
to jump onto any giveaway bandwagons this year.
Actually the truth is, I consciously chose to
avoid these deals. But there are a few ongoing spe.cials that
are definitely worth taking a look at - like the Grinch Spe.cial.
For the next few days, that grouchy chap, the
Grinch is giving you an opp.ortunity to pick up close to $1200
worth of products for a measly $27 bucks.
There's a lot of good stuff there too. Hmmm...
maybe the green guy does have a good side after all. :-)
Check
out the Grinch Spe.cial here (temporary link)
And did I say I don't have any giveaways?
Oops, I forgot. My fully brandable copy of Article
Magic is still up for grabs.
That's a value of $27 (much more if you know how
much moolah branded eBooks can make you) coming to you.
Pick it up before it's gone
Article
Magic Brandable version (temporary link)
And I'll leave you with this Hot Tip
EzineArticles.com - a top article directory that
charges $49.95 per article submission - is now allowing the first
five article submissions at no cost - for a limited time.
Read my post on the Number One In Your Niche blog
to learn why I HIGHLY recommend submitting your articles here.
How
to get a PR6 Link back to your site for Free
Get a starter
basic membership and submit your articles
Well, that was a nice break. It's back to the
books for me now.
Warm regards,
Priya Shah
http://www.PriyaShah.com
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