Use Testimonials to Build Website Traffic

In this Issue

1. Use Testimonials to Build Website Traffic
2. Get the Family Behind You
3. Help This Brainy Marketer
4. Resources for Entrepreneurs and Marketers
5. Quote of the Week
6. Join Our Forum
7. A Little Fun
8. Smell the Coffee

PLEASE TELL OTHERS!
Please forward this to anyone who wants to attract more customers, close more sales, get more website traffic, and find resources to help them compete more successfully in today's market.

Guess what?
Angela Strosnider of Virtual Office & Business Solutions says, "I appreciate your works, and don't think I've found a site yet that has helped me on a higher level as a beginning
marketer. Thank you!"

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1. Use Testimonials to Build Website Traffic

See this related information:

 

When people like what you do, they are happy to say good things about you. I'm sure you know that getting written or recorded testimonials for your products or services is an
excellent way to build your credibility. But did you know that you can increase your website traffic by sending or recording testimonials for others, too?

Often when I receive happy comments from my readers or website visitors, I include them in my ezine and post them to my website. I include the person's photo if I have it,
their name, company name, and a link to their website. And other webmasters do that, too!

When you've visited websites that sell ebooks or products, I'm sure you've noticed the many testimonials from happy customers, touting the many advantages of the ebook or
product. Ever notice the photos and links?

Those links are generally very relevant and Google loves them. So consider offering testimonials to anyone you admire!

If you have any of my products and would like to offer a testimonial for a free link to your website, please email me. We can help each other get better search-engine rankings.

• Want to Add Audio to Your Website or Email?

The easy way is the way I do it. I just make a phone call, record a clip, and then upload the AudioGenerator code to my website. I can make as many recordings as I want, too. And
you can try it for just $1.

You can see how I used audio on my websites. I have a welcome message on my home pages, and I also use it for testimonials. Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, recently
attended a teleseminar that I did with Janet Switzer and thought it was so great, she recorded a testimonial for me. Listen to her testimonial here.

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2. Get the Family Behind You

Last week, Heather Scones, who owns a wellness company, wrote that she has trouble enlisting the support of her family for her business. She said, "I know I have an awesome
business; it's just that making it all work together is hard sometimes. Lack of family support chips away at my motivation. Do you have any ideas to help me get my family
behind my business efforts?"

What I've found is when things change in the household, nobody likes it—especially when the change means that your family is going to have to start doing things they haven't done before. But there's no reason a child 8 years old or older can't help out by doing his own laundry, cleaning up after dinner, and so on.

Years ago, I wouldn't have said that. But then I met Carol Fay, my mother-in-law (first marriage). She had nine (yes, nine!) kids and she gave them each a laundry basket, showed them how to do the laundry and left it up to them as soon as they turned 8 years old. I was shocked when I found that out! But it worked fine. And I remembered going to college with ditzy people who were 18 or 19 years old and they didn't know how to do their laundry. So I decided my children would follow the Fay tradition and learn to do the
laundry at an early age.

I'm no expert, but I do have a few ideas for enlisting the support of your family.

• Communicate Rationally

Communication is the key to success in a family business. Let everyone know what your goals are and why you are working so hard. Explain to your loved ones how much you
love your business and what having a successful business means to you...and to them. Focus on the positive, but don't ignore the changes that are required to make your business successful. Stress the advantages of running your own business, such as a flexible time schedule, potential to earn more money, tax benefits, and your personal happiness.

• Get Creative

Family members will try very hard to get your attention whenever they want it. Unfortunately, most people think, "Me, me, me" instead of "Can this wait until later?" So
sometimes you have to train them.

A few years ago, I had a problem with my two youngest kids, who were 11 and 12 at the time. I'd be working in my office, busy trying to complete a project, and the kids would either just come right in or they'd knock on the door every five minutes. There was no reason for it except that they wanted my attention. I begged. I pleaded. I offered to do things with them later. Nothing worked. I finally resorted to charging them $1 every time them interrupted me and they weren't bleeding, dying or having a major crisis. That
worked like a charm. Another way—and this one's more positive—would be to give them a list of things to do (chores and fun things) and reward them for accomplishing
everything on the list.

Negotiating with your spouse can be much harder. I know from experience if your husband doesn't value what you're doing, it's pretty darn hard to get him behind you—especially if
you aren't substantially contributing financially to the household. So, if you're just starting out, you might have to get a full-time or part-time job to keep up your end of the finances. And just like with the kids, reward your spouse for good behavior. That way, he is more likely to do it again!

All too often, women business owners use every bit of their leisure time working. They get up earlier than everyone else to get a project done, or they stay up later than everyone
else to finish a job. It's a good thing that an interesting and exciting business works like the Energizer Bunny for business owners, giving them lots more energy than most
people.

• Make Your Business a Priority

If you make your business a priority, your family will begin to understand its importance to you. By being organized and business-like, you will become more efficient and accomplish more. As you start to earn more money or garner local, regional or national attention, you'll find that your family is really quite proud of you.

Consider what tasks and duties you are doing now that do not have to be done by you. Assign them to someone else in the family or hire someone to do them. Try to remember that not everything is your responsibility. Your husband and children can do their share, and they will, but only if you ask them. If you don't jump right in to do something—I know it's
hard—you'll find that someone else will do it.

• But Know When to Take a Break

Remember to set aside time to spend with your family and time for yourself. If you work all the time, you work will become sloppy, your relationships will suffer, and your health will deteriorate. Plan at least a few hours each week to "vegetate," exercise and enjoy your family. Consider setting dates with each family member to make sure they feel cared for and you'll likely see an improvement in how they support your efforts.

One way to find that extra time is to start cultivating passive income. Try to focus your business efforts on things that bring recurring income and that don't require time and
energy. For excellent ideas on generating passive income, read these articles:

Creating Passive Income, Part 1

Create Passive Income, Part 2

How to Save Time and Achieve More by Creating High- Leverage Marketing Assets

When Passive Isn't Paired with Aggressive...

Would You Like to Retire Early? Or Just Retire?

Lynn Terry and I covered generating passive income in depth during our recent teleseminar, "Creating Passive Income: How to Work Less and Make More!" It's available on CD, MP3 or a downloadable transcript. Read more or buy it here.

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3. Help This Brainy Marketer

Subscriber Anya Feinberg of Murray Hill Tax Center in New York, NY is having trouble figuring out what makes her unique and special. She does tax preparation, but narrowing down her unique selling proposition is hard. She's wondering if anyone can give her a list of questions or some guidance on how to determine her USP.

Many people find creating their unique selling proposition to be a tough one, but let's see what our Brainy readers suggest. How about it, subscribers? Can you help Anya? Send your ideas, and I'll print the best ones next week.

 

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4.Resources for Entrepreneurs & Marketers

• Google AdWords Confusing?

  Google has a system that makes it possible, for the first time in the history of the world, to deposit just five bucks, write a couple of ads, and instantly get access to over 100 million people—in less than 10 minutes.

  It's called Google AdWords and it's hot. In fact, it may be the first and best thing to do to get traffic to your site.

  But it's not always as easy as is sounds—AdWords has some nuances, and most people have a rough time at first.

  My colleague Perry Marshall has written a very helpful e-course called "5 Days to Success with Google AdWords" and there's no charge for it. You can find out about it and sign up here.

• Send Articles Here

  Mark Cabaniss of Article Central recently wrote, "We have just added your article, 'A Dozen
  Tips for Writing Good Articles,' to our article directory." And he asked me to let you know that Article Central is accepting articles, so get writing. Visit the website to submit your articles. You can view my article here.

• Need a Mentor?

  A mentor can keep you on track, give you ideas, point you toward resources and get you to the next level. You'll get personalized attention, discounts on products and free membership in the Success Secrets Forum. Learn more about the Marketing Idea Shop Mentoring Program and
  sign up now.

• Virtual Meeting Place for Brands

  From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ "Pigsback.com operates as a virtual meeting place for its clients’ brands and bargain-hunting consumers, offering rewards to its 200,000 members for purchases made through the site, in the form of redeemable "piggypoints" and printable online vouchers. It is the sixth-most visited Irish website of those audited by the Joint National Internet Readership (JNIR) body."

  You'll have to join as a member (FREE) to check it out:

  http://www.pigsback.com

   

• Get $3,200 in products from Tom Antion

The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Small Business is Tom Antion's new book. I know Tom, and I own several of his CD sets and ebooks. This is a no-brainer for just $13.57. Help me help Tom's book become a bestseller. And, if you follow this link, you can get tons of bonuses.

• Want Better Search Engine Rankings?

Then get more traffic coming to your site! You can learn how with John Reese's all-new "Traffic Secrets" course. Read how LOTS of people jumped to number one after following John's advice!

• FREE Video on Niche Markets

If you are searching for niche markets to start or improve your business, this short video by James Jones will help you research niches and find public domain works that you can
turn into a business for yourself. His new ebook also shows you how to quickly find every book published so if you're thinking about writing a book, this video is for you. It's FREE. Go on, watch it.

• Is Your Business Suffering From a Lack of Capital?

2004 Venture Funding For Women Entrepreneurs is available. Need to grow? Not enough capital? No angels in your family? Find them with this 400-page downloadable ebook, where you'll have all the contact information for 200 venture capital firms and people who recently invested in companies that are women-owned or women-led. You'll also have access to all contact information for the 671 women-led companies
that received funding. This is a wonderful tool for you. Read more about 2004 Venture Funding For Women Entrepreneurs or buy it here.

• Another Way to Master Pay-Per-Click Advertising

If you don't have your own website, or your own products, you'll want to consider affiliate marketing. By promoting other people's products YOU can cash in on online sales,
too! And no -- it's definitely not too late to start.

You'll want to check out the latest Guide—titled GOOGLE ADWORDS 123—by Greg Heslin. On his site he says, "The following charts will show you an example of what I have
earned, as an affiliate marketer, in 1 day, using the revolutionary insider techniques I reveal in Google-Adwords-123." A must read! Once again, you don’t need a
website to earn big money.

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5. Quote of the Week

"From birth to age 18, a girl needs good parents, from 18 to 35 she needs good looks, from 35-55 she needs a good personality, and from 55 on she needs cash."

~Sophie Tucker
Singer and Entertainer
1884-1966

What's your definition of success?
Email your comments to me.

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6. Join Our Forum

It's time to start talking! Let's get some conversations going. The Success Secrets of Women Entrepreneurs Forum now has 113 members. You don't want to miss out, do you?

Learn how other successful women have created and built their companies. Chat with them in our Success Secrets of Women Entrepreneurs forum. Ask a question, find a resource, or help someone else analyze their business idea.

Join our forum and with your membership, you'll get:

==> 9 terrific bonuses valued at $491.00
==> Attendance at all our teleseminars at half off. ($449.00 value)
==> The ability to network with successful women entrepreneurs. (priceless!)
==> The ability to post classified ads F~REE. (priceless!)
==> Free access to my large library of audio seminars (priceless!)

All for just $12.95 per month. Read more about it and subscribe to Success Secrets Forum now!

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7. A Little Fun

Jo DeMars of Demars & Associates, Ltd. (who's from the North where I'm from but lived in the South for awhile) sent me this:

A Southerner

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is— as in: "Going to town, be back directly."

Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a "large banana pudding."

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.

Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines. We don't do "queues," we do "lines;" and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.

Southerners never refer to one person as "ya'll." Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.

Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that redeye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you're in the presence of a genuine Southerner!

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it—we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart" and go your own way.

To those of you who're still a little embarrassed by your Southerness:

Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!

And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!

And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, ya'll need a sign to hang on ya'lls front porch that reads "I ain't from the South but I got here as fast as I could."

(Me, too! And I've been here 10 years now.)

Be sure to visit our past jokes and trivia at:
Marketing Jokes and Trivia and Fun Stuff

Take a look. You'll have fun!

Help keep the smiles coming...please send me your marketing, PR or sales jokes. I'll be happy to give you credit and list your website! Email me.

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8. Smell the Coffee...

My daughter Erin put an offer in on her first house on
Friday. After a bit of negotiating, the offer was accepted.
It will be a wonderful house for her and her
"family." (She has a sweetie, two dogs and two cats.) It's a
big one in New Berlin, a nice suburb of Milwaukee, Wis. I'm
looking forward to seeing it and staying there when I visit.
The house she lives in now is cute, but it's very small.

Roni survived her week cooking at Shiloh Quaker Camp (and
all the kids and staff are still living!), and she had a
good time. We did receive one phone call asking how to make
ranch dressing (her favorite) and I managed to find a
relatively healthy recipe for it. The head cook, Betsy
Krome, let me know that it was delicious. Here it is for
you:

Ranch Dressing

1 3/4 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/8 teaspoon monosodium glutamate (optional)

Blend all ingredients, refrigerate for 1 hour to blend
flavors. Can be stored for several weeks. (Counts as 1/2 a
fat serving if you are diabetic.)

From: The American Dietetic Association Family Cookbook,
Volume II

I know you are now wondering if I'm diabetic. No, I'm not;
I'm hypoglycemic, so I'm supposed to eat like a diabetic.

This weekend we hung a few pictures in our family room and
did a few other little projects around the house. Friday
night we watched "Legally Blonde" on TV. That's a fun movie.
The weekend was relaxing.

Have a good and profitable week.

Peace & Light,
Lois

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