If you do have a connection who can put you in touch with a reliable ghostwriter, then you’re all aces, full speed ahead! If not, here some simple steps to get you started.

1) Perform an online search using “ghostwriter” in the subject box. You will have to filter through the search results. As with most search engine results, the top spots are often not what you’re looking for, or slightly gamed. Dig a little deeper and you will be able to make a short list of worthy contenders.

2) Visit various ghostwriter sites and review their portfolios. If a ghostwriter has an online site without any samples, you’re probably safe simply moving on to the next one. They don’t necessarily need page after page of content, but they should have something to offer other than an About Page.

3) Email the ghostwriter to initiate an introduction. Email is a tremendous first line of communication. Chances are, you will learn all you need to know about whether to proceed from that first email. Read between the lines for tone. By now you should be narrowing your list quite a bit.

4) Be specific with every ghostwriter you contact. The more detailed you are, the better job the ghostwriter will be able to do in helping you to determine if they are right for the job. Not just in personality, but in the precision of their experience with the specific type of content you wish to create.

5) Begin filtering your prospects to determine the best ghostwriter for you. Even if you started out with a fairly long list, by the end you should have it narrowed to only a few. Use all your cues and clues to arrive at the ghostwriter that is the best fit to help take your project to the next level.

One final word of advice – it is highly advisable to stay away from offshore writers. Yes, they do offer a compelling price point, but you will also be left dealing with varying differences in culture and language that can (and probably will) severely impede the progress of your project. Whatever amount of money you may be able to save by using a writer from India or Argentina could easily end up costing you a multiple in time and money if you need to go back and fix their work, not to mention the unneeded frustration.

Ghostwriter Dad

Related posts:

1. Why Would Anyone Want to Be a Ghostwriter? Be a Ghostwriter Everyone has heard the term ghostwriter, but...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Finding the best ghostwriter from the beginning of your project can be an essential element to your eventual success. Finding the best writer you can will only mean you’re off to a great start. You will end up spending a considerable amount of time with your ghostwriter, working with them through every stage of your project from first thought to final draft. It is important that you not only know what to look for, but that you know what pitfalls you must look out for as well.

The first step in finding the ghostwriter that’s right for you is to understand the totality of your project. Only then can you look for the ghostwriter that best suits your requirements. Knowing your needs will help you to clearly articulate them to your writer, while helping your writer to guide you toward the project’s best potential. Every ghostwriter or ghostwriting firm is different, with varying services and specialties. At Ghostwriter Dad, these are our most often requested projects.

Traditional manuscripts: many people love the idea of writing a book. Perhaps they have a story they are burning to tell, but have no idea how to best articulate their narrative or lack the essential storytelling skills required to fully flesh their ideas into a page turning novel. A ghostwriter knows how to solve the problem and can do everything from polish awkward chapters to providing the book with a bit more punch, to writing the entire novel from basic a basic outline or list of bullet points.

Business manuscripts: increasingly popular, this brand of book is often called “the $25 business card.” Entrepreneurs and speakers understand the extraordinary power that comes with having their name in print. This type of book is not designed for book sales, it is designed to provide the author with an exponential increase in speaking fees or accepted authority.

E-books: with some mind-blowing sums now being regularly generated from high-quality information product downloads, there is no wonder that e-books are considered the new gold rush. Currently, e-books stand as one of the most popular reasons for hiring a ghostwriter. Traditional print publishing is not an option for most entrepreneurs or would-be authors, but the advent of the PDF has made the trafficking of information not only simple, but accessible to everyone. There are countless uses for e-books, both professional and personal. Whether you are branding your business, promoting your products and services, or selling information as a direct download to an eager and willing audience, a ghostwriter can help you to articulate your message and multiply your income.

Articles or blog posts: blogging has become the not-so-secret weapon for the most recent wave of entrepreneurs’ online successes. Blogging offers a remarkable method for spreading influence and helping online personalities to build and traffic their brand. However, though many experts do have amazing insight into their subjects and are able to clearly articulate their ideas verbally, they do not necessarily possess the ability to craft the compelling content that is easy to read and therefore easy to pass.

Marketing materials: letters, direct mail and e-mails; auto responders, landing pages and free cookie content. Marketing material is the written alchemy that helps your name to stick in the minds of your prospects, then turns those prospects into clients and eventually into raving fans. Having a ghostwriter handle your marketing materials means that instead of manufacturing junk mail, you’re crafting advertising that is simply too good to throw away.

Ghostwriter Dad

Related posts:

1. How Using a Ghostwriter Can Help Your Business Multiply Profit Both successful business owners and serial entrepreneurs alike understand that...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Take for example the racks and stacks of celebrity books that come out each year. Nearly all of these are written with the assistance of ghostwriters, if not penned by them entirely. Sometimes these writers receive credit, but far more often they don’t.

Once a ghostwriter has been able to establish a name for themselves, and have proven they can work across a wide spectrum of subject matters, the game may change. At that point, the writer can not only charge more money per project, they can sometimes request credit as collaborators or co-authors as well.

This is, however the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, ghostwriters are comfortable surrendering their byline, and even the most well known are usually willing to release it for the right price.

Is ghostwriting considered an ethical practice?

Some people may draw the parallel between ghostwriting and cheating in school, or turning in work that’s not yours and eagerly accepting the good grade you didn’t deserve, but of course this is not the same. Though it is possible to find ghostwriters who will do academic work, it is in no way considered an ethical practice – even by fellow ghostwriters. Yet there is no ethical issue with using a ghostwriter for business writing or to help an author polish their fiction, at least no more than there would be in hiring a mechanic to fix your car or a chef to cook your meals.

It is a common practice that is widely accepted. Intelligent business understand that it is mutually beneficial for one professional to hire another to help them accomplish those things they could not do as well themselves. When success is on the line, using the best tools available is often the best practice.

There is zero shame in using a ghostwriter. There would be far more shame in neglecting to use a ghostwriter who could help you to make your dreams come true, or provide a large benefit to the bottom line of your business simply because you were too afraid to make the leap.

Ghostwriter Dad

Related posts:

1. Good Ghostwriters Have it Great Ghostwriters Ghostwriters are often hired to write books for people...
2. Why Would Anyone Want to Be a Ghostwriter? Be a Ghostwriter Everyone has heard the term ghostwriter, but...
3. Is Ghostwriting Cheating? Is Ghostwriting the same as cheating? Well, if my daughter...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Of course, if you own your own business then you are likely excellent at making sharp decisions on the fly and can regularly run circles around most other people. You can probably articulate yourself with razor-sharp precision when speaking and have exceptional communication skills when it comes to short, detail-oriented written communication such as e-mails or short business letters.

While this is enough to run the day-to-day operations of your business, it isn’t enough to do the heavy lifting of creating in-depth websites filled by personality fueled by high quality content, or when writing those money magnets, presentations, or books (either traditional print or digital download) that will be distributed to both spread and strengthen the authority of your name.

By hiring a ghostwriter to do what they do best, you can concentrate on what it is that you do best – running your business and attending to the essential needs of your bottom line. That’s why having a good ghostwriter as part of your team is like having a silver tipped arrow ready in the quiver.

A ghostwriter can bring an endless wave of benefits rolling toward your business. The trick is in knowing what you want to achieve ahead of time. Though a good ghostwriter should be able to manage most types of copy, it is best to recognize your individual expectations ahead of time. This will help you find the best writer for your goals, timeline and overall budget.

Even if you have worked with writers before; copywriters, marketing specialists or ad agencies, it is the essential difference between ghostwriters and every other type of writers which allows your ghostwriter to become one of the most powerful secret weapons for your business that you could ever imagine. A ghostwriter, by definition, enters every project with the understanding that the final product will be published under the client’s name.

It is a ghostwriter’s job to stay invisible.

Whether your dreams are personal or professional, hiring a ghostwriter can help you reach them in ways that would not be otherwise possible. Imagine you have a great idea for a book, but have no idea how you could ever bring that idea to life. By hiring a high-quality ghostwriter, you can provide your writer with the essential elements of the story, then allow the writer to string them together in page turning prose that would have taken you years to do yourself, if you could have ever done it at all.

When the book is finished, it will be your name embossed upon the cover. You may not have written the book, but it was your story nonetheless. It was you and your ghostwriter working in tandem that gave life to the project. Whether you are hiring a ghostwriter for personal or professional reasons, the words you purchase are yours forever. Rewrite, redistribute and reap the royalties. A ghostwriter’s job is to deliver their best before they disappear.

Ghostwriter Dad

Related posts:

1. How to Find and Profit From a Ghostwriter It would be easy to assume that with the abundance...
2. Time to Hire a Ghostwriter! Hire a Ghostwriter Imagine you have a book idea bouncing...
3. So Who Uses Ghostwriters Anyway? Ghostwriting is far more common than most people would ever...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers (my favorite book so far this year) is a fascinating author, each of his books managing to say something rather profound about the human experience. In this TED talk, Gladwell talks about the food industry’s quest to find the perfect spaghetti sauce. Well, at least on the surface. Gladwell is actually discussing human choice and its relation to happiness.

Anyone in business or marketing would get a return on their 18 minute investment by watching this talk.

I hope you enjoy.

Ghostwriter Dad

Related posts:

1. Why Giving Free Samples is Great For Business Consumers are spoiled, especially those of spending the majority of...
2. What Kanye Can Teach You About Business On occasion, being a father can dictate your creative direction....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Don’t worry, I’ll still try to get as many of those in here as I can.

Last week, when I saw the clip of Kanye at the MTV awards stealing Taylor Swift’s moment like a bank robber with a mic rather than a Tommy Gun, it rattled the writer inside me something fierce. Turns out, this is the fourth post I’m going to write about Kanye today.

I wrote about the Kanye West fiasco from a father’s perspective over at Writer Dad, asked young writers to share their opinion at Children Write the Future, then took the same two songs I’m about to compare here and set them toe to toe in a creative cage match across the way at the Inkwell.

At Ghostwriter Dad, I would like to ask, “What can Kanye teach us about delivering our best business?” I don’t care to vent on Kanye anymore as it’s pretty much out of my system. Instead I’d like to ask, “Now what can we learn?”

Earlier this year the Fray covered Kanye’s forgettable synth vocal single, “Heartless” with their own version of the song that managed to bring heart and soul to the surface where it never existed before. I found this remarkable, not only in the context of one artist breathing life into the carcass of another, but as a parallel to how each of us can implement the same principles when it comes to running our own businesses.

There’s no arguing, Kanye is obviously a great businessman. Though I consider him to be a perfectly lousy rapper, he is a genius in the studio and, I imagine an expert when discussing marketing and strategy with his team. He understands his target market and hits the bulls-eye most every time. Kanye clearly understands there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Of course, Kanye can afford it. He’s no longer trying to make a name for himself, merely trying to fan the flames of his infamy. Your business is probably not in the same situation. In my estimation, Kanye is just a few years from burn out. His fans will grow up and away from him, gradually losing interest in what he has to offer. The Fray fans on the other hand will continue to mature, remembering where they were when they first felt the shudders of that cover, or the many other original songs which strike a similar chord.

Maybe the Fray isn’t for you, and perhaps that cover of Heartless doesn’t give you the chills, but there’s no denying there is something real inside it. Does your business spend all its time in the studio, polishing product into the perfect looking package, but missing the soul, or a room filled with a few spare instruments, wearing its heart clearly on its sleeve?

More and more people are competing for our ever diminishing attention. Those businesses that are not real will have zero chance of getting heard.

Ask yourself, is your business more like Kanye or the Fray?

Ghostwriter Dad

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Referrals and word of mouth have never traveled faster, and though there is no such thing as instant success, you can clearly see from any of these real life Twitter success stories – it’s never been easier to achieve.

Blogs, in addition to a million or so social media hubs, have burst the damn into brittle shards when it comes to singular expression, allowing individuals to easily brand themselves and advertise what they’re best at for the first time in history.

This creates unlimited opportunity, but you will only truly tap it if you are willing to pay attention. If you are engaged in social media for fun, then go ahead and have a ball. Answer to know one. My only warning would be to be careful not to say anything you wouldn’t want to see quoted on later. Remember, search engines and cached pages means things you thought deleted can hang around in cyberspace forever. Otherwise, have fun.

HOWEVER …

If you are using social media to better the bottom line of your business or raise your online profile for potential and profit, there is one fundamental question you must ask yourself.

What is my purpose?

If you can’t answer that, you won’t pass GO and you can’t collect your $200. It’s time to get off the board. Twitter is a great place for sales, both direct and indirect, but if you spend every minute pitching, you’re never going to hit a thing.

• Twitter, above all else, is about relationships. Retweet those articles you find interesting and exchange some banter with your peers. There is an organic reciprocity to Twitter that is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Be genuine, see what happens. Eventually you will have plenty of people helping you with the hard work of selling yourself, but you have to start the engine.

• Be honest. Promote your new book or product line and link to all the affiliate products you want, but always let people know where you’re sending them first. If you avoid this cardinal rule, not only will you deserve a swift ticket to Nowheresville, you’ll also be likely to get downgraded to coach.

• Work inside the net, don’t get lost in idle chatter. A handful of M&M’s is delicious, but a giant bag each day will make you fat. Know what you are doing and why you are doing it, otherwise you’re only wasting your time. There are a plenty of people saying money can be made on Twitter. I agree, but it isn’t being made by over-sharing or telling people what you had for lunch.

Like anything that can reap infinite rewards, properly using social media is a skill to be sharpened. Though it can be a playground in which we frolic, it is best served as a network. Don’t forget, “work” is hanging out at the end of that word.

Related posts:

1. 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Website Does my business really need a website? This million dollar...
2. Direct Response Copy and Social Media Marketing Links #1 Here is a quick hit of some of the finest...
3. Why Giving Free Samples is Great For Business Consumers are spoiled, especially those of spending the majority of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Enjoy!

I don’t know if this is the most comprehensive guide for Twitter and small business there is, but I haven’t read one better.

I love what David Wright wrote about getting more creative with your blog in 7 Ways Craig Ferguson Can Make Your Blog Awesome.

This post on 6 Things They Don’t Teach in School is close to my heart. I left high school early and bored myself out of college a few months later. I’ve never for a second believed I needed higher education to succeed.

A high level of trust between business and customer is essential to success. Hierarchy of Trust Portals for Small Business Social Media Marketing may be a mouthful of a title, but it is a post on trust well worth reading.

What are my customers saying about me? If you’ve ever wondered the same thing, this post will teach you how to place your finger on the pulse.

Trend watchers are always among the first wave to make money with something new. This post on emerging trends in marketing can help you cut in line.

I could not agree with this more! This list post on social media SEO lays it out perfectly, with a color wheel and everything.

Your online reputation could mean everything to your business. In this post, Karen Swim  teaches you how to monitor for the best and prepare for the worst.

Looking for fresh ideas on social media marketing? This post from Mashable has 5.

If you aren’t already getting free updates to Ghostwriter Dad in your RSS reader or inbox, what are you waiting for? Click here to start!

Related posts:

1. Is Your Direct Response Marketing Skipping its Baby Steps? Once upon a time my wife and I ran a...
2. The Right Way to Use Twitter For Business For the right business, tapping into the heart of social...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Right now, I’m writing content that will be uploaded to WordPress, a free blogging platform that will automatically tweet my post a second after it’s published thanks to a free plug-in. Earlier today I spoke with someone half way around the world, for free, using Skype and they spent five minutes telling me all about a new (free) app they had just downloaded for their iPhone.

Music, TV shows and movies; news, games and books – the Internet offers such an avalanche of readily available complimentary content, it would be easy to wonder how anyone makes a living.

The answer is easy.

Plenty of people are making mountains of money by playing it smart, same as the strategic businesses that have been giving out samples forever already. Offering a free sample is a healthy part of hardy business. It works, and has been part of the way smart business is done for decades before there ever was an Internet.

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but hit Costco during sample time and you might leave with a semi-satisfied belly. Strategic end caps throughout the store are positioned to present passerby with a free taste, hopefully prompting them to go for the full package.

You liked it here, right? Well, now you can take it home… for a price.

A couple of weeks ago, my family was doing our Saturday stock-up at Costco, the wholesale club where one can buy Mayonnaise by the bucket load, should you be so inclined. As we rounded the final aisle of frozen foods, our children started chirping, begging us for a box of chicken nuggets. Fortunately for them, a kind woman with something close to a century on her face was set up at the head of the aisle, handing out samples of Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets with a toothpick thrust into his forehead.

The children eagerly took their samples, said their thanks, and we proceeded to the end of the aisle.

In the freezer case we were faced with two choices: dinosaur nuggets or Mickey Mouse nuggets. Both boxes were all white meat and held exactly the same weight. The dinosaurs came with a wide assortment of extinct creatures to gnaw on, while the Mickey’s offered only the three small circles in a loose interpretation of the famous rodent’s face.

Oh yeah, the Mickey nuggets were also a dollar more.

My children might have hesitated for all of five seconds before they started arguing. “I want dinosaurs,” my son announced. “I want Mickey,” my daughter countered.

I explained to my daughter that the Mickey nuggets were a dollar more, even though they offered the exact same thing, but she didn’t care. She was adamant, and offered to pay the dollar difference with her hard-earned allowance money. This was especially uncharacteristic seeing as how she has an excellent understanding of money, loves to buy things at the dollar store and presently has only three of the greenbacks left.

I used what little Jedi mind powers I had left at the end of a long shopping excursion, then put the dinosaur nuggets in the cart and we continued on our way. Curious, I asked my daughter why she held such a strong preference for the Mickey nuggets. My daughter has reasons for everything and rarely minds sharing them, but her answer was not immediate. She spent maybe a minute in thought.

“It’s because they gave me Mickey on a toothpick,” she finally said. “I knew exactly what I’d be getting.”

We reminded her that the nuggets were almost exactly the same and she said that of course SHE KNEW that, but getting the Mickey nugget on the toothpick had made all the difference.

Free samples work. And not just with children.

What if your business does not offer things that are easily sampled or endlessly refillable such as e-books or downloads? Can “free” still fill your bank account?

Absolutely.

No matter what your business offers, there is a way to give your prospects a cookie. Offer free shipping for first time buyers, or even better, for your repeat customers too. You could give away item A for free with the purchase of items B and C. Either way, smart businesses know how to leverage the consumer’s innate desire to get something for free with their own need to drive dollars.

And one last thing, make your offer genuine and don’t resent your customers for taking you up on it.

There is no shortage of free products available online. Be inspired, not afraid. And remember, if a child is willing to spend one fourth of their net worth on Mickey nuggets, then you can win over your customers, too.

Related posts:

1. Malcolm Gladwell, Spaghetti Sauce and Giving Your Best Business I LOVE the TED conferences. I think they are extraordinary....
2. 10 Reasons Why Your Business Needs a Website Does my business really need a website? This million dollar...
3. What Kanye Can Teach You About Business On occasion, being a father can dictate your creative direction....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Does my business really need a website?

This million dollar question is not only one of the most often asked questions in the digital age of business, it is also at the core of all that matters. And this isn’t one of those questions carrying a complicated answer either.

If you have a business, you need a website.

It doesn’t matter what your business is selling, you need a website if you want it to reach its potential. There is little that can’t be sold via online commerce, and with more than 20 million shoppers presently buying everything from books to buildings online, if you don’t make your product available online, someone else will.

We’re not suggesting that brick-and-mortar businesses should suddenly start pouring all their efforts into the Internet. However, if your company’s product in any way lends itself to simple online sales, you are only shorting yourself by not establishing a strong online component. These days a web presence is necessary If for no other reason then to strengthen the name of your brand and add to the character of your corporate image.

Every business can benefit from a place to gather clients and partners, employees or investors; a place where the casual passer-by can quickly turn to avid fan or die hard client.

Here are the 10 reasons every business needs a website.

1) Can you imagine being able to count every customer that peeks into your store? With a website, you will be able to measure every click and page view. The data is simple to gather and easy to read. With just a few minutes each day, you can see how long people spent on your site, what pages they viewed, and how they got there. This fundamentally alters the methods in which you are able to market to your audience. By continually tweaking your site, you will be constantly increasing your chances for success by concentrating on the things which work best.

2) For the average small business, the Internet has an audience so massive it can never be truly tapped. Small businesses without any sort of web presence are most often restricted to a market within their region. By just dipping their finger into the proper stream, a small business can reap the benefits to an infinitely wider base.

3) Running an online business is practically free when compared to the startup costs for brick and mortar locations. Depending on your resourcefulness, abilities or access to people who have some web design and site creation talent, costs can be kept very low for a high quality site running on the popular WordPress platform. With a premium theme and custom design, establishing a laudable online fingerprint has never been easier or more affordable.

4) Learn what many traditional media clients are just now figuring out. Advertising is both more cost effective and easier to quantify on the web. Advertising on conventional media such as television, radio and print is difficult, if not impossible, to track the results. On the web you can track views, clicks and conversions while using banners, links, and affiliate referrals. Done right, there has never been more yield available for lower cost when it comes to marketing.

5) Fact: your competitors have a website. Fact: Your competitors are profiting from the Internet. Fact: You will never beat them if you don’t join them.

6) Having a website is not only like having a business that is open to your clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is also like having an employee who will work for next to nothing. A friendly employee who stays in the shop to show people around and answer their questions. Not only that, but his cousin Billy is standing out on the SEO corner directing people right to your shop.

7) A website can offer an endless showcase for all a business’s goods and services. Printing is expensive, in both creation and distribution. Why commit countless dollars to brochures and catalogues when every page is pulling from your profit? The only thing it costs to publish to your website (besides the time spent on content creation and layout) is the single second it takes to press publish. Not only that, but an online catalogue enables you to update or modify it at any time. Try adjusting information on the fly in a batch of 80,000 flyers you just had printed.

8) One word – streamlining. People are busy. Their time is valuable. The easier it is to find and order your product online, the less hassle for them and the happier they are with you. This is a benefit to both you and your customer. You can spend your time focusing on your products and improving customer service. Your customer doesn’t have to get in the car and take a trip to a store and hope that the store has what they’re looking for. The whole process from ordering to payment is all automated, saving time and expenses and increasing your profits and multiplying your customer satisfaction.

9) Increases and strengthens brand awareness. By using a well developed website, your business can solidify its brand image and spread it to new audiences. By using blogging platforms such as WordPress (we mention it again because it is our favorite), your business can keep current customers informed while also publishing regular content that allows new people who are searching for (and often ready to buy) exactly what you’re selling.

10) A website is a conduit to connect with your customers. Social media has exploded and if you‘re not utilizing it, your competitors may leave you in the dust. The best websites are merely launching pads for your business to engage in low cost, high yield investments with social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, just to name the big three. The proper foothold in social media allows your business to increase its level of customer communication while also revealing your authenticity. The best part about a good social media strategy is that if done right (meaning you are continually developing authentic relationships), your customers will help you spread your brand. It’s the whole “tell a friend” thing taken to a new millennium level.

It is essential that every business have a website, but it is not enough to register the domain and let your dotcom sit in silence. If you allow your website to sit idle, it will act as little more than an online business card when what you really need is an online outlet.

The Internet has leveled the playing field and Goliath is getting wobbly. No one knows how big your business is but you. A good website can help you cast the reflection and professionalism of a much larger company. The opposite is also true. How many large corporations have you seen with horribly designed websites? You wouldn’t open up shop on a run down shack when you can get a nice, beautiful new storefront in a high traffic area for similar costs, would you?

Whether you’ve been reluctant to wade into the online business world or if you’re new or have only made half hearted efforts, the time is now to develop your online identity. Designing the perfect online store, creating customer friendly content, and developing a social media strategy can all help to ensure your business has a fighting chance to both succeed and soar in this new economy.

Email us at Ghostwriter Dad today for help taking your business online.

Related posts:

1. The Right Way to Use Twitter For Business For the right business, tapping into the heart of social...
2. Why Giving Free Samples is Great For Business Consumers are spoiled, especially those of spending the majority of...
3. What Kanye Can Teach You About Business On occasion, being a father can dictate your creative direction....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.