People are saying that this year’s season was the best ever. I might have to agree, even though Colby didn’t win and how can you not love that smile?

Anyway. If you watched the finale, you know that Russell was sitting there thinking he had the whole thing in the bag. He brought Sandra and Pavarti to the finale with him (as if he really believed it was him that was in charge of the game) because he assumed he would have all of the jury’s votes because he was “obviously” the best player of the three.

What he didn’t take into account, however, was that nobody liked him. He screwed over every person on the jury and they hated him.

He really believed that the deceiving way he played the game would be rewarded. His strategy centered around lies and betrayal and not everyone respects that as much as he thought they would.

At the end, Sandra won. She always seemed to know what people were thinking. She knew where she stood and everyone else playing knew where Sandra stood. She outsmarted them all and she can be proud of the game she played.

That being said though, if I were on the jury (maybe someday), I would have voted for Parvati. Not only did she work her butt off during the entire game, but you can’t possibly discount the greatest move in Survivor history – giving not one, but two hidden immunity idols away to her fellow teammates during a tribal council to keep all the villains safe. It was simply brilliant.

Now where was I going with this again?

Oh yes.

Remember when I said how Russell assumed everyone would put his name down?

They didn’t. Not one single person thought he deserved their vote for one million dollars.

And what does this have to do with business?

Well. How many assumptions are you making today in your business? Is your process streamlined – as streamlined as it could possibly be? Are your clients’ needs being met? Are you meeting their expectations?

Do they like you?

How do you know? Unless you’ve asked them recently, that is. So have you?

If Russel had considered the fact that everyone on the jury could possibly hate him, he may have changed his strategy and who knows? He could have won.

I challenge you this week to implement a step in your process to ask your clients how they enjoyed their experience dealing with your company. You’ll learn ways to improve the way you do business and you might even get a client testimonial or two in the process!

I’ll be working on mine this summer while I’m in the process of doing a little business revamping…you heard it here first.Similar Posts:

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Just over the past few weeks, my pre-schooler suddenly started having real conversations with me…not the usual one-word answers when I ask a question, or her ignoring me when I’m asking her to do something she should have already done. So this past weekend I was in total awe of her while we were on our way to my surprise Mother’s Day picnic.

We’re riding along in the car, the girls are in the back, and the baby drops one of her toys on the floor. We’ve had this toy since my 5-year-old was a baby so it’s nothing new. It has a cloth strap with Velcro that you can strap onto a stroller, shopping cart, or whatever. The strap is white with black, outlined circles scattered around. My preschooler said, “Mommy, did we buy that toy at Target?”  As I turned around to look at it, I said, “I don’t remember sweetie.” She immediately says, in an authoritative voice, “Mommy, I KNOW we must have got it at Target because it has circles just like Target.” I looked at my husband and told him I felt a blog post coming on!

Remember when my daughter mentioned the circles on the toy and immediately associated it with Target? The circles on the toy were not red, they were black. There are also other colored circles that resemble a target. She knows her colors, but she does not know how to spell other than her name and a couple of other short, easy words. She knows Target because we shop there a few times per month. But the fact that a 5 year old can associate thick circles with Target stores says a LOT about branding. It’s way more significant than her recognizing a McDonald’s from a mile away…which she can because of the big, yellow arches towering over everything else in sight and the fact that she would probably eat there every day if we let her.

Another example that didn’t hit me until this weekend with the whole Target branding was a few months back, when she was still 4, told me daily that she wanted Yelly Kelly shoes. I had no idea what she was talking about and started doing research online for these shoes that she saw on TV. I couldn’t find anything and then remembered that sometimes she has a problem correctly pronouncing certain letters. After a few days I thought, oh they must be Jelly Kelly’s because she sometimes pronounces the letter “J” like a “Y”.

So I did some more research and came up with nothing. The only thing she could tell me about them was that they had Strawberry Shortcake on them (one of her favorite characters) and sparkled like jewels (she is her mother’s daughter!) Finally one day I happen to be in the room with her when the commercial came on…for Lelli Kelly. The commercial featured a few young girls sporting the adorable Lelli Kelly shoes with a cute little ditty that my daughter had been humming for weeks. They have a ton of styles from hi-tops to boots to sandals to pumps.

First, the shoes she mentioned that had Strawberry Shortcake…didn’t have anything to do with the character at all. They simply had cute little strawberries all over the canvas shoes…another example of associating an item, the strawberries, with a character, Strawberry Shortcake. Needless to say my research on the shoes proved to be a disappointment for my daughter because I’m not willing to pay $70 for 1 pair of shoes for a 4 year old that she’ll only wear a few months at best no matter how darn cute they are. But one day we were at JC Penney’s to shop for a spring wardrobe and she spotted a pair of Lelli Kelly shoes…or so she thought. They actually weren’t Lelli Kelly’s at all, but Sketchers that looked very similar. But as far as she was concerned, they were Lelli Kelly shoes and wanted them badly.

In business, we are not only defined by our products or services and how we conduct our business, but sometimes business owners forget that our branding is just as important. It is all about the image whether you choose to believe it or not – even an iconic symbol that can be recognized worldwide like the red circles of Target’s logo. It doesn’t even matter if you use the product or service of a particular company because their image stays with you. If you see a swoosh symbol, chances are you immediately think Nike. If you see an apple, then you think…Apple of course.

Have you ever noticed that you recognize those companies by their icons alone? Nike and Apple don’t use their name in their logos at all, probably a couple of the only companies to do this, yet they are both recognized throughout the world. And if you visit Target.com, you’ll notice they only use their icon, not their name on the website.

So does your business need an iconic image as part of your logo? Not necessarily. There are plenty of well-renowned companies out there with textural logos: Google, FedEx and Yahoo to name a few.

Are you making the same mistake as many business owners do by trying to over-complicate things? Can you apply the wisdom of a 5-year-old into your business? Look at your logo from a 5-year-old’s perspective. Is it visually striking? Is it memorable? Is it simple? Because if not you should go back to the drawing board? Or, of course, I’d be happy to help!

By the way, my 5-year-old graduated from pre-school today and I am one PROUD momma!

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Last Thursday I gave you some ideas of ways you can diversify the content you create for your business, in an effort to reach more members of your target audience and today I have some more suggestions for you.

• Don’t forget the dessert. Not all readers are created equal and they don’t all utilize RSS feeds. Offer your readers another option that allows your readers to subscribe to your blog via email. Feedburner offers this option within your administrative settings. But if you really want to show off, Aweber takes this to another level by allowing you to create Blog Broadcasts! Similar to a Broadcast message, the same where you would send out your e-Zine, a Blog Broadcast allows you to use or create your own custom template (hello…branding!) and send your blog posts out to subscribers at whatever intervals you choose. I use it on my blog and love that it is totally automated so my subscribers never miss a post…you know…because they’re so busy they may not have time to visit my blog to see what’s new.
• Articles. There are many ways to get your content out there and publishing your articles to various sources is definitely a must. How do you do this? Let me count the ways: 1) submit them to article directories, 2) republish your e-Zine’s main article to your blog, 3) republish your e-Zine’s main article to its own web page, thus creating an article directory on your own site, 4) create an RSS feed specifically for this article directory that people can subscribe to, and 5) allow others to use your content in their own publications – just remember to specify the rules first.
• Give your content a voice. When you’re ready, try adding audio and/or video to your content. People can read your e-Zine, blog, or articles all over the Internet, but nothing compares to being able to hear or see you. No, it may not be live and in person, but it is definitely the next best thing to being there. With video and audio, people can relate to you so much better, they can feel your enthusiasm, and they can hear the tone in your voice.

To say that your business should encompass ALL of the above and suggestions I offered last week  might be a stretch…or is it? You’re not expected to create all of these forms of distribution in a day…a week…or even a month. Can it be done? Sure, but it isn’t necessary. Remember the Tortoise & the Hare? Slow and steady wins the race, and if you can begin incorporating just one new form of content distribution each month, or every other month, then you have a powerful, viral mechanism to grow your business, increase your subscribers, and build a following.Similar Posts:

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Today I’m going to go over some different types of content you can create to connect and communicate with all of the different types of people who make up your target audience:

• Electronic Newsletter (also known as an e-Zine). I know this one is daunting to some business owners, but it doesn’t have to be. Set up a schedule, stick to it, and send pertinent, relevant, and useful information to your subscribers. Besides being a great tool to keep in touch with your audience, it is so easy for them to share it with others, putting your message in the inbox of more people than you sent it to.
• Archive it. Not publishing your previous electronic newsletters in an archive on your website would be like having a library with one shelf of books…only the most current one out there. Ridiculous, huh? Well imagine someone visiting your site for the first time. They see you have a monthly e-Zine about how to make widgets…and they are really into widgets. But they want to make sure you know what you’re talking about and that subscribing to your e-Zine won’t litter their inbox with a bunch of rubbish, so they look for your newsletter archive. When they can’t find it, they move on. Why? Because they wanted to SEE exactly what they were signing up for. We forget sometimes that in a world full of email, instant messaging, and being behind the scenes that people still actually want to see, touch and feel what they’re getting. And since they technically can’t touch, YOU can give them the opportunity to SEE past issues and get a FEELing of what it is about.
• Post your expertise on a Blog. Posts do not have to be full-blown articles. Short entries are great – remember we live in an information world and we are overloaded already. This also makes it easier for you to keep up with a regular schedule…and you MUST post regularly or you’ll lose your audience.
• Feed your subscribers. Having a blog without an RSS feed is like not asking, “Would you like fries with that?” It’s actually kind of pointless. Show your readers how to subscribe to your RSS feed and make sure it is prominent on your blog. If they can’t find it, they’ll lose interest and you’ll lose a possible subscriber.

Now, in a perfect demonstration of how shorter entries are just fine, I’m going to leave you hanging here and you can come back on Tuesday for some more ideas. Really, do you have time to read anymore at my little old blog today anyway?

Didn’t think so! See you next week.Similar Posts:

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Marketing is not a one-way street and your audience does not fit into a tiny little one-dimensional box. Each of your prospects has their own way of learning, sharing and listening. It’s up to you to make it easy for your customers and potential clients to access your information, act on it, and more importantly, share it.

All Marketing Is Not Created Equal

Creating various forms of content is imperative to your business, but distributing content to your audience from different directions gives you a better chance of standing out from the crowd.

All Prospects Are Not Created Equal

There’s another phrase that I KNOW you’ve heard: “You can’t please everyone.” Ok, now I know I’ve touted this before when it comes to business owners trying to please everyone by doing everything themselves…you just can’t. It’s impossible. Your efforts are best served by sticking to what you know and outsourcing what you don’t. Otherwise you’ll never be truly happy in your business and you most certainly will never get ahead.

But in this case, you can throw it out the window because you actually can please your entire audience. How? By making sure you cover all your content bases so they are working together…in tandem…for your business and your target market.

Make it EASY for your audience to:

• Find your information
• Read your information
• View your information
• Listen to your information, and
• Subscribe to your information

Because remember, your audience has its own preference of how to obtain that information.

20% of them might love reading electronic newsletters, 35% might go for RSS feeds, 10% might react to video, 25% may respond to social media connections, and so on and so forth.

If you’re only distributing an electronic newsletter once a month, where does that leave the rest of your audience?

On Thursday I’ll tell you about some forms of content you can create to connect and communicate with your audience. In the meantime, think about what you’re currently doing to market your business and how many different learning styles you might be catering to.Similar Posts:

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I was excited when Jaime contacted me last year to bring her personal “UnModern Mom” blog to life with a logo and WordPress theme design. I’ve also recently set up a Café Press store for Jaime; the UnModern Mom Boutique, where I designed all of the products in there based on Jaime’s ideas.

If you’re a mom or would like to see inside the workings of a successful work at home business, check out the UnModern Mom blog. You’ll find some great recipes for home-cooked meals, ideas for keeping your kids entertained or you can just have a chuckle at her expense!

Check her out:

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Free Vector Art

Blue Wind vector background

Grunge Vector on Vecteezy

Seamless Pattern from Designious.com

Floral illustration on Vecteezy

Floral mega pack 4 sample from Designious.com

Free Vector waves and bubbles background

And here’s a little bonus freebie for you.

I literally just discovered this really cool tool called Slick Plan. It appears to be a free tool intended for creating sitemaps and flowcharts. Something like this is helpful for me because I am a visual person and I spend a lot of time messing around drawing objects in MS Word when I’m working site maps for my web design clients. Other web-based flowchart creators I’ve come across are very expensive or too clunky to bother with. This one looks promising so I will be signing up and I’ll review it for you sometime in the future when I know if it’s good or not!Similar Posts:

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In this post, we’re gonna focus on electronic newsletters, also known as the sophisticated and sleek-sounding “eZine” or the regular old email newsletter.

An eZine is a really great tool for many reasons:

1. It’s cheap. No commercial printing with a hefty price tag involved.
2. You can send one out almost instantly. You don’t have to wait 7-10 days for it to be printed, then another 3 days to prepare the mailing, then another 7-10 days for the recipient to receive it via snail mail depending on whether you mailed it 1^st class or bulk mail, and again, no postage required.
3. It works. It’s the ideal opportunity to keep in touch, gain feedback from your subscribers, customers, and potential customers, and to gain new subscribers…a new audience for your business.

Now just hold on a second. Before you decide to jump on the newsletter bandwagon, there are a few crucial elements to consider. Even if you already have a newsletter, you should be following these tips so consider this a refresher and if you’re not doing the following, then make it a point to rework your publication so your readers get the most value.

Tips to be the best you can be-Zine:

• Stand out: People receive tons and tons of email every day and there’s a lot of junk to wade through. If you want your electronic newsletter to get opened, your email subject line better catch your reader’s attention in an instant because if it doesn’t, it’s never getting read.
• Size Matters: HTML emails can be great…unless you’re using font size 4. You’re not sending a newsletter to a 13 or 20 year old in most cases. Be sure to use fonts that are easily readable for all of us and at size that is appropriate for everyone.
• Build it like Cliff Notes: No one has time to read everything that comes into their inbox, especially if it’s the length of a Stephen King novel. Your newsletter should allow subscribers to easily scan the document to determine which parts they are really interested in. Your text should not be crowded, paragraphs should be spaced and headings should be easily noticeable with larger text and/or a different color.
• Personalize It: Lose the business or corporate tone and have a real conversation with your subscribers. Kind of like I do here with my blog. The way I write to you is the way I would actually speak to you face-to-face. Make your newsletter fun to read, interactive, and involve your reader by asking questions or for participation. They’ll make yours the newsletter they’re sure to read every time it arrives.
• No News is Better than Fluff and Sales: If you don’t have anything to say, then skip it all together. If all you’re doing is broadcasting how great you think you are, or your entire newsletter is nothing but buy this and buy that, you’re better off utilizing your time doing something else. All you’re doing is talking and never listening and your subscribers know the difference. They won’t be fooled with all your sirens of “only the first 10 people who purchase,” or “get this but only for the next 2 hours.” They’ll unsubscribe faster than you can say “My friend, so and so, is offering my subscribers the world for only $19.95.”
• Lighten Up: Skip the oodles of images and media and give them what they want…great content. If you have an audio or video, link it back to your website.
• Full Disclosure: Your subscribers want to know their email is safe in your hands. Be sure you have clearly stated your privacy policy and they know where to find it. Also make it easy for them to unsubscribe by making it easily visible at the bottom of your newsletter.
• Plano Text: If you’re intent on having an eZine design that is dependent on tons of images, be sure to always include a text version as well. Not everyone turns images on in their email client and some opt to receive text only emails just to keep things nice, tidy, and neat.

Last but not least, you need a good distribution company to deliver your newsletter and so you can track your subscribers as well as who is opening what messages and clicking on what links.

We’ll talk about that in detail another time. Until then, I hope you’ll take what I’ve given you today and apply it in your own newslettering!

Ciao ‘til Thursday!

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It’s not rocket science, really, it’s just something many of us don’t take seriously…until it’s {insert dramatic “da-da-da-daaaaa”} too late.

Here are some more tips to keep your WordPress blog or website as secure as Alcatraz.

• Keep your WP version up-to-date. Good Lord people, this really should be a no-brainer. Why are you still using out of date versions of WordPress? Do you realize how much time those slimy little hackers spend, sitting in their parents’ basements, eating M&M’s, drinking Red Bulls and trying to find vulnerabilities in older versions of WordPress and many other applications? Download the latest version. Now. Or if you installed WordPress through your web host’s one-click install or Fantastico, then you can upgrade from there (but remember to backup before you upgrade!) Geez, at least make it challenging for them to break into your site.
• Secure your wp-admin folder. It should only be writable by your user account! If you don’t know how to change directory permissions, then do yourself a favor and find out or call your web hosting company. This practice is called chmod where you can change the read and write permissions on files and directories.
• Change your table prefix. Many SQL-injection attacks assume your WordPress table_prefix is “wp_,” which is the default. If you’re installing a fresh WordPress and you have the option to choose your table_prefix, please do it and don’t choose wp_ or wordpress_ or wrdpress_ or any variation. This is not to guarantee your tables are secure, but it may keep many SQL-injection attacks at bay.
• Read this step-by-step account on hardening your WordPress site. It advises that you do the obvious and the not-so-obvious, like securing your wp-config.php. Most people only use the one-click install and leave it at that. By doing so, they leave themselves wide open for an attack. Pay special attention to the fact that in most cases, you’re site is hosted on a shared server and just because you are taking precautions to protect your site doesn’t mean the hundreds of other sites being hosted on the same server are which makes you vulnerable!

Now remember, all of my excellent advice does absolutely NO good unless your actual computers are secure. If you don’t have antivirus software that includes protection and detection of malware, spyware, and trojans, as well as Internet and email controls then you’re setting yourself up for hours, days, or even weeks of cleanup after an attack on your computer. That is, of course, if the attack didn’t completely wipe out your computer all together.

I’m pretty conscious about security and I have 3 computers at home, one of which is a laptop that I don’t use very often. It’s older, slow and I really only use it to check email or grab a recipe online when I’m away from my office or just piddling around the house.

One day a few weeks ago I opened my laptop and there was a message from Microsoft that I had been infected…or so I thought. Me being the expert at spotting suspicious messages, I quickly noticed that not only was the message not using proper English, something Microsoft would not dare let slip, but there was also a misspelled word. I wouldn’t have noticed any of this at first glance and I actually read it several times as it was hounding me to “click here” to download a fix. At that point I knew I had a virus.

Next thing I know this little virus or trojan or whatever it was kept opening Internet Explorer and trying to connect to something. I immediately disconnected it from the Internet and then began the cleanup process. See, I had let my antivirus software lapse on the laptop. Not because I just didn’t want to, but because I hardly ever use it and I just kept thinking I’ll take care of it next time. Well the little buggers got me before I got around to it.

Since then I have installed Trend Micro Internet Security Pro and it has far surpassed my expectations as far as any antivirus program I’ve used in the past. It has everything you need, protecting your computer, you from downloading infectious files online but it won’t even allow me to visit a url if that site has been flagged as suspicious, containing malware, spyware or is just plain bad.

Bonus is you don’t need a copy for every computer you own. You can install it on up to 3 computers which saves you money as well as headaches. I highly recommend.

Now go forth and protect yourself.

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to our RSS Feed.

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You can catch up by reading that post about WordPress login security here. Today, though, I’m going to share a few of my favorite WP plugins with you that you can either snag yourself or ask your web developer to install for you.

Now, there are tons of plugins out there that claim to secure your site but I can only vouch for the ones I use on the blogs I manage for myself and my clients.

Best WordPress Security Plugins

WP Security Scan: Their site claims that this plugin, “Scans your WordPress installation for security vulnerabilities and suggests corrective actions. –passwords – file permissions – database security – version hiding – WordPress admin protection/security.”

WP Malwatch: According to their site, “WP Malwatch is a WordPress security plugin scanner designed to help alert you when hackers have been at work inside your blog.

Bad Neighborhood Login LockDown: From their website, “Login LockDown records the IP address and timestamp of every failed WordPress login attempt. If more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range. This helps to prevent brute force password discovery. Currently the plugin defaults to a 1 hour lock out of an IP block after 3 failed login attempts within 5 minutes. This can be modified via the Options panel. Administrators can release locked out IP ranges manually from the panel.

AntiVirus: This basically is a plugin which will provide antivirus protection for your blog.

As I mentioned, I’ve seen these plugins work and I recommend you install them…sooner rather than later.

Now another important thing to do whether or not you are worried about your blog being hacked is to do regular backups.

BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP. I can’t say it or stress it enough.

Even if your site, database or server gets hacked, if you have a good backup of your site files AND the database, at least you have a fighting chance of restoring everything with only some minor headaches.

My favorite backup plugin is WP EZ Backup. It allows you to backup archives of your site file as well as your database, all from your WordPress dashboard.

If you’re relying on your web hosting company to backup the files on your server, then you’re going to be very surprised when you actually have to contact them one day because:

1. Unless your hosting company specifically tells you they do daily backups, which is highly unlikely with most hosts, then you are going to be limited with what they have. It might be weekly, monthly, or even longer intervals in which they perform backups on your server.
2. You will probably have to pay a hefty amount for them to restore a backup.
3. You just lost any custom changes you made to your site or blog since that backup point.
4. There is no guarantee your site wasn’t infected at the time of that backup point.

You must make or schedule backups of your files regularly. Just as you should be doing with your computer, this is key to keeping your files safe, secure and up-to-date.

Database Backup

Backing up your database is even more important than backing up your files. Why? Because everything you enter into WordPress (i.e. pages, posts, comments, registered users, activated plugins, WordPress options, etc.) is stored in a database. If your database is lost, corrupted, or hacked into, you will lose all that information or spend the next few days or weeks cleaning it up.

Trust me. It’s not fun but you can avoid a major pain in the a*s by being backed up regularly. Errr…

Anyway. Tune in again on Thursday when I share some extra tips on securing your WordPress blog.Similar Posts:

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I was consumed by the meticulous clean-up of several hacked sites, all built on the WordPress platform, and incidentally, all of which are hosted by GoDaddy. Now, I won’t go into a tirade about GoDaddy because that is a blog post for another day and today’s post is the first in a series of how to secure your WordPress site or blog.

Before your eyes start to glaze over because you don’t want to deal with this type of thing or because you’re smarter than the rest of us and you think you already have it all under control, I’m telling you, you NEED to read this post. Don’t you want to know you did everything you could to prevent your site from being hacked? Cause take it from me…clean-up sucks.

Know how much time I spent cleaning up those hacked sites for new-to-me clients I mentioned earlier?

8-10 HOURS EACH! Imagine having to shell out that kind of moolah to pay someone like me, who works on an hourly basis, and who knows what they’re doing, to clean up your site after it’s been hacked. It’s much cheaper for you to read this post. But if you’re going to stop reading here, though, at the very least Bookmark this post or put my contact information in your address book because one day you are going to need it!

Secure your WordPress Administrative Login

Your login is as good a place as any to get started. If you’re still using that same old password you’ve been using since 1992 (you know who you are), or if you’re still using the standard ‘admin’ username and ‘password’ password, it’s time to wake up! You couldn’t possibly be more vulnerable.

Change your username and change your password to NON-dictionary words. Don’t use your blog’s name as your login either – it’s too easy for those Internet hackers who apparently have nothing better to do all day but to wreak havoc on us poor, unfortunate, unsuspecting souls.

Your password should be at least 8 characters including uppercase, lowercase, symbols, and numbers. I know, I know. How are you supposed to remember stuff like that? Simple. Get a password manager. I personally love RoboForm Pro and they even have Robo2Go if you bounce around from computer to computer. Or you can use an old-school notebook and write them down! P.S. You can download these programs directly by clicking these links: RoboForm or Robo2Go

A big problem with passwords is many people use the same one for all their five million online access accounts and that is bad (again, you know who you are). If someone hacks your computer and guesses your password, it’s their lucky day! You’ve just given them access to your entire life.

I know it’s hard to keep up with all those passwords for your five million accounts but you have to do this.

Remember, your password NEEDS to be 8-10 characters, contain letters AND numbers, and preferably at least one symbol such as ! & % @ $ or #. Remember to mix upper and lower case letters, too.

Check back next Tuesday and I’ll share my favorite WordPress Plugins to help keep your site as secure as possible. In the meantime, go change your login information. Please!Similar Posts:

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I was focused on my list and only getting what was on it but the baby was getting cranky and my eldest caught me in a moment of weakness and I just didn’t fight it. I put the art set in my cart with all the other items I had and went to the check out.

But when I got there I told the cashier that I didn’t want to pay the $30 for the art set. I said I could get it on Amazon for less so I offered them $20 for it.

Have I caught your attention?

Of course I didn’t do that, but it makes a really good point, doesn’t it?

Target sets their prices based on their profit margins. There’s a formula, people. They tag their merchandise and the price stays the same until they advertise a sale or mark something down for clearance. Target is a business. They aren’t running a full time tag sale over there.

You can’t negotiate prices in a brick and mortar store and you shouldn’t try it with a designer or other “virtual” or online professional.

Haggling prices with a professional is not only insulting but it’s a complete waste of everyone’s time. Telling me that you can get a designer for $10 less than my rate is fruitless, annoying and it isn’t going to make me lower my rate. I did not pull my prices out of thin air. A lot of thought and strategy went into setting my rates and putting together my packages. The prices are set based on my skills, level of expertise, and past experience of performing these tasks day in and day out. And honestly my rates are much lower than other designers that produce the same quality of work. How many designers do you know who actually post their rates on their website for the world to see anyway? Not many. Mine are there in plain sight so you know what to expect or can fit within your budget.

You should actually be wary of any “professional” who is willing to dicker their rates because it’s really not something that people who are worth their rate do and frankly, I’m worth it. That is not me being vain, in fact I don’t even possess that gene. And anyone who knows me will tell you the same thing.

Does this mean I can’t work within a budget or alter my packages for you? No, of course not if that budget is within reason and you’re not asking for the moon in return. I also advertise discounted ratess through my Signature Specials newsletter each month…hint, hint.

If you like my work but you don’t like my prices or policies then sorry if it sounds harsh but I really don’t care. You get what you pay for and if you want garage sale prices expect some dents and scratches. Although I don’t recommend it in the branding and marketing of your business. Your business image is a direct reflection of you and how others perceive you do business.Similar Posts:

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Many business owners aren’t aware they can request samples of promotional products prior to purchasing them, but reputable promotional companies offer just that. And there’s a very good reason why you should be taking advantage of it.

If you plan to order personalized pens bearing your company’s message for a trade show, request samples of an assortment of pens in advance. You want to be able to see, touch and inspect them for quality. Determine which ones don’t write well, break easily or are just cheap looking.

Same goes for any promo product you have in mind. If you’re considering paying $4 for a leather bound notebook to give out to your event attendees don’t you want to make sure it isn’t a piece of crap before you order 4000 of them?

Clearly, not everyone requests samples because I’ve gotten a lot of junky stuff from various events in my day. And I’m not the only one. I’ve heard from many business owners who were quite unhappy with the promotional products they ordered, but there’s not much you can do when they didn’t request a sample before making that investment. If you think it’s a waste of time, consider how your giveaway fares when your audience receives a t-shirt where the printing faded almost completely off after one washing, or the magnet that doesn’t actually stick to anything. (true stories)

Marketing dollars for small businesses have to be wisely spent, and while promotional products are fun and can help establish your brand or support your current campaign, it can also give your company a negative impression if you didn’t do your research. And well…you don’t want to be known as the company that always gives away the crappiest stuff now do you?

Seriously if you’re going to spend hundreds or thousands or dollars on a giveaway item to promote your company, how would you feel if you knew that every single one of those items ended up in the trash because everyone thought it was crappy? What a waste of money that would be, not to mention the negativity you generated for your company.Similar Posts:

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Good call! But keep in mind why you did this in the first place.

Most likely it’s because you know this area is not your forte and you’ve been muddling through it for long enough. You’ve been spending your “spare” time reading everything you can get your hands on regarding the subject and you’ve tried to emulate others’ success, but it just isn’t working for you.

Or maybe it did for a while, but we all know the only thing about technology that stays the same is that it’s always changing and it’s just too darn hard to keep up with those changes on top of everything else you do.

If you’re going to go through the trouble of hiring an expert to take something over for you then please listen to the suggestions and recommendations offered by the person you’ve hired to give you advice.

Don’t pretend you know everything and tell this person how you want things done when you’ve hired them for their expertise. You’re paying for that expert’s authority in her field for a reason so don’t jeopardize your end result by micromanaging and being overbearing. In a few months when you don’t see any results, you blame the service provider, and then move on to the next one…only to repeat your same mistakes over and over.

Don’t make this your story! This has happened to me time and time again when someone has contacted me with a horror story from their experience with a different service provider. I mean, I really have heard it all…from the high school or college students who couldn’t get the client’s website to work the way it should, to their 6-week web project that is now in month 10 of development, to the SEO expert who couldn’t get them anywhere near the top 10 on Google in a month, etc.

The thing is that while some stories I hear are legitimate, many of them are a product of having too many cooks in the kitchen. The head chef, with years of schooling and experience in top rated restaurants is working alongside the self-proclaimed chef whose family and friends always brag about their macaroni & cheese casserole. How do you think it goes over when this self-proclaimed chef is spewing out cooking tips to that head chef?

Your expert is an expert because they’ve been performing and perfecting their methods for a long time. They get results and they come highly recommended. So why waste time and money telling them the way you want something done – in many cases the same way you’ve been doing all along and getting nowhere? You’re pretty much setting yourself up for failure, aren’t you?

Do your business a favor. Listen to your expert and their recommendations. Have trust in them. Let them map out a new plan of action and then sit back and let them do all the work. Monitor their progress of course, but don’t interfere. Ask questions, ask why they’re doing something this way…go ahead, ask away, but let them do their thing. See where you are after a month and unless something is just horribly wrong, you must give it at least a couple of months to measure the success.

If you’re tired of the broth you keep ending up with, trust the person you hire to make it better and stay out of the kitchen.Similar Posts:

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As a graphic designer, printed materials are no exception. In fact, it is a must. If you use crappy paper, substandard ink, or just have poor quality control, you won’t be getting any business from me or my clients.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I don’t want you to take this offer lightly and I want you to know that when I recommend a company or service, it is because I use them, have used them, have experience with them, or just can’t get enough of them.

So here’s the deal. You can get 250 premium business cards absolutely FREE from PrintPlace.com just by clicking HERE. This is NOT an affiliate link and I do not get commissions of any kind…what kind of commission would I get on FREE anyway, right? And these cards will not be printed on flimsy paper. You can choose ANY option, paper type, coating, and EVEN rounded corners…my favorite option ever!

PrintPlace.com is my TOP pick for commercial printing for just about everything. They are the first online printer I check when quoting customers and 90% of the time, they are who I select.  They are fast, inexpensive, but most importantly, they’re products are first-rate quality.

So what do you have to give up for these FREE business cards? Your first-born perhaps? Hardly, all you have to do is enter your email address on THIS page. They will send you a coupon code via email with full instructions on how to redeem it…they even include clear screenshots that anyone can follow. And of course you can unsubscribe at any time.

Of course f you are looking for a one-of-a-kind, fabulous business card design that you can have printed for FREE, I probably wouldn’t turn you down Similar Posts:

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The first sentence of the article had me up on my feet in disbelief. It read, “Still think spending all that time updating your Facebook page and twittering is going to help your business? Have I got news for you!”

The author goes on in this piece called, “Why No Business Should Be Involved In Online Social Networking” to basically say that social networking should be reserved for teenagers and individuals, not businesses.

Um. What?

The writer believes that businesses are participating in social networking solely to push products. He claims there isn’t a social aspect, per se, for business owners and that it should be called social marketing for those of us participating instead of social networking.

The author says that regular joes are using social networking in the truest sense of the word because, “Their goals are nothing more than to belong, share, and socialize.”

Of course I’m participating in social media to broaden my horizons and put my business in front of more people, but that’s not the only reason I’m out there.

• I love to share information.
• I genuinely like to help people.
• I like to feel connected to my friends and customers all around the world.

Like other Internet-based business owners, I crave the type of interaction that social networking brings me. But is it wrong that it’s also a great way to learn and help build my business?

I don’t think so.

I found myself in disagreement with what this article was saying throughout the entire thing, until the very end. After the author’s tips for business owners interested in getting started in social networking…er…”social marketing” he states that “Social marketing is less about what you can get and more about what you can give.”

I am one entrepreneur out of a gazillion hanging out in the world of social media and I’m telling you that not all of us are out there using social media purely to push products and sell. Look at this sharing of information, for example…what you’re reading.

This blog post will be up on my Facebook page and I’ll tweet about it and let me ask you. Do you think I posted this purely to get a sale?

No siree. I want to share my opinion about something I feel passionate about with people who may or may not agree with me and get a discussion going. Tomorrow I may be sharing some fabulous free icon sets that I found in the blogospere, or how to hack proof your blog before it’s too late.

By the way, that regular joe who tweets all his friends and followers that his car is for sale so he can get the word out to as many people as possible…is he still socializing or has he now crossed the line into marketing I wonder?

Social media, social networking, social marketing…I don’t care what you call it. I think they’re all under the same umbrella.

All I know is that whatever you call it, when done right it’s effective and serves its purpose.

The end.Similar Posts:

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I can’t tell you how many people have come to me over the years asking for a website (yesterday) without having any idea of what they want.

It usually goes something like this:

Client: I need a website, I want to launch this month and I hope you can help because you’re the greatest website designer in the entire universe.

Me: That’s a tight deadline but flattery will get you everywhere, so I might be able to help. I have a website analysis form I’ll need you to fill out first. Have you given some thought to what you want in a website?  Do you want to maintain it yourself or will someone else be maintaining it for you? Will it be WordPress or a static site?

Silence. Crickets chirping. Tumbleweeds.

Client: Well, I just want a basic 5 page website with a contact form.

Me: OH, why didn’t you say so. If that’s all you want, I’ll have something to you next week.

No, not really. Could you sense the sarcasm there?

In all seriousness, most people have absolutely no idea how much thought goes into building a website. Planning is SO critical in ensuring a successful outcome and it’s almost a guarantee that you end up with a website you love (unless you choose Signature Worx which is a 100% guarantee that you end up with a website you love ).

A well-planned site will suit your needs and grow with you as you grow.

I’ll be thrilled to help you with your website but I’ll be super thrilled if you know something other than you just need a website.

It will be even better if you know what you would like your navigation will look like, what pages you need, and how you want people to take action. You get bonus points if you have your content all ready and if you know your keywords. Of course if you’re one of those people who would rather have a root canal because it takes you 16 hours to write a paragraph and it still doesn’t sound perfect, our fabulous copywriter has you covered

Sounds like work on your end, I know. But here’s a big fat WARNING. If you hire a website designer and they do not take you through some sort of planning process, run as fast as your little legs can carry you in the opposite direction. Know why? Because any professional website designer will require some sort of analysis and planning before they get started and if you aren’t asked any questions about what you’re looking for, you probably won’t get what you want. Makes sense, right?

Now don’t worry. When you get in touch with me for your website needs, I’m NOT going to intimidate the heck out of you. I don’t expect you to know as much about building websites as I do, that’s not your job. If you don’t understand CMS, WordPress or HTML, I’ll explain as much (or as little) as you want.

The most important takeaway for you here is that there is a lot of work that goes into planning a website and if you go to your designer the day before you want your site launched, without having done any preliminary legwork, you will be out of luck. Or you’ll get a crappy website that looks like a dog’s breakfast. And that, guys, is a guarantee!Similar Posts:

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I love to read a good blog and one of my favorites is the Mann Made Blog by Jaime Lee Mann. It amazes me how she can spin an everyday happening or event into a blog post that teaches you a life or business lesson. Seriously. She can be cooking, gardening, playing with her children or visiting a local coffee shop and she thinks of something about the situation that sparks a great blog post about business. Things we already know, but forget or choose to ignore.

Jaime’s latest entry revolves around her 4 year old preschooler bringing home a picture of a penguin she drew, or so Jaime thought. You’ll have to read the whole story over at Jaime’s blog, but the morale of the story involves copying off of someone else. Something that happens way too often in business.

I couldn’t tell you how many business owners, many have been potential clients, literally want me to copy someone else’s logo, website, marketing piece, or even web content. This is something I cannot wrap my head around because it simply isn’t something I would do. For many reasons. And the fact of the matter is, I have morals and blatant copying is just plain wrong.

Some people think imitation is the highest form of flattery, but it feels more like a slap in the face. It happened to me a couple of years ago when someone decided to not only copy my website content…word for word mind you that also included my personal bio…but this individual also decided to steal my design.

Think about how that felt. This was something that I poured my heart and soul into. I spent many hours, weeks, and months working hard to set myself apart from other business owners in my industry. Do you think I was flattered that my copy and design was so good that they wanted to copy it? Hardly. Not to mention that this person didn’t even have the decency to apologize when I contacted them to remove it immediately.

Jaime makes an excellent point and one that everyone should pay attention to. It is the same thing I preach to my own clients and they love me for it. I push them to think past their own comfort zone, to set themselves apart, to be the one that their potential clients want to work with. But Jaime said it right on target: “Market with your own personality. Be authentic. Be yourself. Make your own unique, individual mark on the world and be proud of it.”

So what are you doing to set yourself apart from your competitors?Similar Posts:

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There can be only one of you and your brand which is why you should always hire an actual graphic designer (ahem) when it comes to developing your brand.

You don’t have to look very far to see the work of a wannabe “designer.” Every time you see a piece of clipart in a website header or a brochure, that’s the work of someone who might aspire to be a designer one day, but has found a way to make a buck in the meantime by piecing together pretty fonts and clipart and calling it design.

That is not a true designer and you don’t want this person mucking around with your brand.

Someone like this might have fun playing with design elements and that’s fine if it’s kept as a personal hobby. I think it’s great. I encourage it. But, I don’t think it’s cool when someone like this decides to call him or herself a designer and starts offering to design logos and websites and taking money for it.

See, design is a lot more technical than most people think.

Besides the tremendous amount of forethought required, you need a firm grasp on color analogy and some sort of background that helps you understand why you’re incorporating certain elements into a design.

A real designer never uses clipart or a template. One problem with doing so is that these are free images that a million other people (with bad taste or a bad “designer”) could conceivably be using in their own “branding.” To brand yourself is to set your business apart from your competitors and the world by portraying an identifiable icon or design that directly identifies with you and your company. Clipart totally defeats the purpose.

A designer who specializes in branding knows how to use professional design software. They understand color and fonts and how to make different elements work together. They know what file formats you need for different applications.

When you trust your brand to a real graphic designer (ahem) – a professional artist rather than a wannabe – you will be blown away by your own corporate image because it will seem as though your designer has been inside your head.

That’s because they’re going to ask you questions and probe a lot about your business and your aspirations for the future. Branding is about the whole picture. The big picture. And it’s about making your image match your mission and your goals, all the while resonating with your target audience.

Don’t put your business into the hands of a serial clipart user. It’s not worth it.

It can cost more up front to hire a professional designer to develop your brand, but it will work out to be more cost-effective in the long run because you won’t end up hiring someone to redo it when the day comes and you realize your image sucks or you don’t have one at all.

Remember, there is only one. One chance to get it right. One chance to stand out. One chance to make your impression. Do it right or don’t do it at all.

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Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

So how can Wordle help your business? For starters, it can help you identify the frequency of words that appear in your marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, websites, or any other advertising material you currently have, or more importantly…plan to have. You can take things even further by using Wordle to analyze your business plan or mission statement. By doing this you can visually see the prominent keywords that reflect your business message…and what kind of image you’re portraying to your clients or potential customers. Heck, you could even use it to create a graphical representation of your products, services, or business values to use in your marketing materials.

You may be wondering why you wouldn’t just use a free keyword density tools to analyze your website pages for frequently used words. First, you only get a list of words – they’re not visual like Wordle. Second, you also have to typically enter a URL to get that information which doesn’t do you any good for all your off-line copy, while Wordle on the other hand allows you to enter text, a URL, or del.icio.user name to create a cloud. Last, but not least, you certainly won’t have as much fun as you would with Wordle.

What can you do with Wordle?

• Change color schemes and even create a custom one
• Change the fonts
• Change the font style (lowercase, UPPERCASE, etc.)
• Change the layout
• Set a maximum number of words (default is 150)
• Instead of single words, use phrases by inserting the tilde sign (~) between the words you want to keep together. For example if you want to use the phrase “Hooked on Wordle” simply enter it as Hooked~on~Wordle.

How do I use Wordle? Besides using it in many of the examples mentioned earlier, I also use it to brainstorm. When I’m working on a new tagline for a client or strategizing a new marketing campaign for them, I love to use Wordle. And I actually use it in conjunction with the Visual Thesaurus. These tools allow me to visualize my thoughts and notes, as well as to get better results by tweaking here and there.

I have to admit that I get a little caught up with Wordle, but it sure is fun and actually feels more like playing than work…which I don’t get to do much of these days unless it’s Duck, Duck, Goose with my 4 year old or peek-a-boo with my 10 month old.

I created a couple of “Signature Wordles” based on my Design and Marketing websites. I think Signature Worx is represented quite well as a Wordle. Take a look at the finished products [hint: you can click on the images to enlarge them]:

Have you used Wordle yet? How do you use it in your business?

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to our RSS Feed.

Similar Posts:

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What’s included in this month’s Signature Specials?

• Over $500 off our Signature WordPress Site & Blog Package!
• Celebration BOGO! Buy one service and get a second one for FREE!
• Web Hosting Special Invitations

Check out the full version of this newsletter online, complete with promotional codes and active links today!

Better yet, subscribe to our Signature Specials newsletter here.Similar Posts:

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If you’re tired of spending money on self help ebooks, video training courses, or Internet marketing products available online, then this IS your chance to download hundreds of gifts absolutely FREE.

If you’ve had enough of plodding along year after year and you want to improve yourself to make 2010 your BEST ever year, then you need to go here:  Self Improvement Gifts

Registration is free of course, and this is your chance to get your hands on the largest selection of FREE ebooks, audios, videos, courses, memberships and more relating to the Self Improvement, Business, and Marketing niches that you will find anywhere!

Self Improvement 4 will be open only for a VERY LIMITED TIME – until January 19th 2010. When you go there you’ll find a multitude of products – all FREE – provided by Self Improvement and Internet Marketing experts from all over the world. Here is just a small sample of what you will find:

• 6 Simple Steps to Guilt-Free Eating – Gillian Hood-Gabrielson
• Personal Development Tips – Paul Klein
• NLP – Love Your Physical Self – Elizabeth Benson
• Dynamic Personality – Alex Perez Pratt
• Transformational Fitness – Amy Lundberg
• Anger Management – Giovanni Farotto
• Managing Stress – Heather Step
• How to Stay Focused – Piet Venter
• Unlimited Abundance – Gary L Glasscock
• 110 Self Help Super Tips – Jack Brown
• Outrageous Health – Charly Leetham
• Secrets of the Subconscious – Alvin Huang
• Law of Attraction – Dechen Lau
• How to Reinvent Yourself at Midlife – Iyabo Asani
• Peak Performance – Frank Bauer
• Personal Transformation – Tony Dovale
• Easy Meditation – Esdee Penn
• And TONS (OVER 400+) MORE!

Get all of these and 100’s more here: Self Improvement Gifts and the best part is that you can download all of these products TODAY. I’ve already downloaded some pretty amazing ebooks on things like WordPress, Twitter, and Internet Marketing…things that I use and work with everyday. I’m a junkie when it comes to knowledge and I like to keep up with all the latest and greatest tips and techniques. I’ve also found many other great topics that sparked an interest in me that I can’t wait to read.

The organizers of the event are Stephanie Mulac, Rodger Hyatt and Gary Simpson.

Just briefly, this is Stephanie’s 4th Self Improvement Giveaway. Stephanie started this style of event in 2006. It’s in the form of a “Giveaway” which is sort of like a giant electronic trade fair where 100’s of experts offer their products free to the public.

Because it has become so popular, this year Stephanie has enlisted the services of Rodger Hyatt, a very experienced internet marketer, and Gary Simpson who has a copyrighting and self improvement background of some 20 years.

You only have to walk into any book store in any country to see how popular the subjects of self improvement, self awareness and personal development are. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry churning out hundreds of new books, audios, CD’s and other paraphernalia every year.

These can be very expensive but at Self Improvement Gifts you can pick this information up completely FREE.

With 2010 upon us, what better time is there than right NOW to set yourself and your business up for future success? This event is a life-changing experience for those who take it.

Come and join Stephanie, Rodger, Gary and me and see for yourself.

If you want to grab the largest collection of self improvement and internet marketing products you’ll find ANYWHERE – all FREE – then go to Self Improvement Gifts NOW and claim your bounty!Similar Posts:

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What’s included in this month’s Signature Specials?

• Get up to $300 in Restaurant Gift Certificates with every order in December!
• The Santa’s Logo Special is Back! Up to $120 off our Logo Design
• 20 – 30% Off Select Design & Web Services
• Web Hosting Special Invitations

Check out the full version of this newsletter online, complete with promotional codes and active links today!

Better yet, subscribe to our Signature Specials newsletter here.Similar Posts:

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50% off my hourly rate and almost every design and marketing service I provide.

Seriously, you will never see this offer again so check out this month’s Signature Specials newsletter now HERE.Similar Posts:

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Twitter isn’t just about what are you doing anymore. Organizations are using it to get the word out about their cause or event, businesses are using it for giveaways and promotions, communities are using it to get organized and share information.

Just recently, XBox was giving away a new game room to the top 3 voted for children’s hospitals. Here in Jackson, Mississippi, we have the Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children…the only children’s hospital in the entire state. Blair E. Batson used Twitter to their advantage to get the word out so people could vote for them to receive the game room. It was weeks of twittering and retweeting to get other people voting that pushed Blair E. Batson to the top of the list. After all was said and done, the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital for Children was one of the top 3 children’s hospitals in the county that received a brand new XBox game room. This is pretty significant considering we are certainly not one of the biggest states, and well people tend to forget about little ol’ us down here

The point is using Twitter is a very powerful marketing tool…and well, it’s quite fun which is a big fat bonus. So what is this post really about? If you want to get started on Twitter, or maybe you signed up, but just haven’t had time to mess with it or feel it’s beyond your comprehension, then I have the solution for you. Head on over to Mashable for The Twitter Guide Book. Seriously if you want to know everything about Twitter, but were always afraid to ask, THIS is your chance to redeem yourself.

The Twitter Guide Book isn’t even a book, although they do have a handy PDF to download. It is a web page with categorized links to the best information on how to use Twitter and it is easy to understand. They have it all…The Basics, Building Your Twitter Community, Twitter for Business, Sharing on Twitter, and Managing Your Twitter Stream.

So if you’ve been teetering on the fence about Twitter, this is your chance to put your fears aside and get twittering. Tweet. Tweet.Similar Posts:

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