How to build your authority on-line

The fabulous Gihan Perera gave a wonderful list in his weekly newsletter today of the things you need to have in place to build your web presence.  Gihan has shared so much valuable information over the years and I can personally say, he is spot on with everything he recommends.

This an an excerpt from Gihan's article "How to build your authority on-line"

"Don't start with social media - that's the third step in the process.

The first step is to build a high-quality Web site, which identifies your ideal site visitor and their key problems, and leads them to the solutions you offer.

But that's just for starters. Many people won't find your Web site first - they will find you on-line in other places. So build up a body of work that demonstrates your expertise and authority. In particular:

• Publish a high-quality e-mail newsletter every week or two weeks (or every month at worst).
• Post regularly to your blog.
• Write high-content articles that address your market's problems, and publish them on your Web site, blog and article directories.
• Write a special report or "white paper" discussing the key problems of your target market.
• Create short, high-quality educational video clips and publish them to YouTube.
• Publish a regular podcast, which is an audio newsletter.
• Create short, high-quality educational slide shows and publish them to Slideshare.com."

This is only a brief overview. If you'd like more details about this process, you can learn more from Gihan's generous gift of a chapter of his new book "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business".  You can download a chapter for free here

The Lo or No Cost Solutions to Online Business Set Up That Any Gumby Can Master

MP3 File 40:18mins

The early days of your business are the hardest.  Generally there is a lot of set up cost and little income flowing in.

There are certain critical tools you need at the start of your business but it can all become too daunting and hard.  Then valid but show stopping excuses begin to form as to why you aren't actively promoting your business.

I’m over hearing excuses from people who say they either don't have the money to get started or the computer skills to get online to grow their business.

So I’m giving you “The Lo or No Cost Solutions to Online Business Set Up That Any Gumby Can Master”.

Gumby was a piece of green clay that became a very famous cartoon character back in the 50s but a Gumby also is a tongue in cheek way to describe someone who can't use a computer.  So even if you are a piece of green clay when it comes to computers you will be able to either set these tools up yourself or bride a teenager or 5 year old to do it for you.

Marketing your business is about getting your message to as many people as possible in your target market.  The time to start is always yesterday.  When I speak to people who tell me they are WAITING for business cards or WAITING for a website or WAITING to finish their logo BEFORE they get serious about their business because they don't have any money or don't have IT skills, I want to cry.

• Firstly because every day they aren't working on their business is another day they won't be getting the opportunity to help someone and 

• Secondly there are some great free or lo cost products available on the Internet that make it SO easy to set up an Internet presence and they make it really easy to get started.

 
The truth is you can probably create a full online presence in a weekend using free or lo fee products which are freely available to anyone.  I recommend you start small and build up as opposed to “waiting” for the perfect time to get out and about or online.

Technology can be your friend and I’ve seen people who are complete IT gumbies get these systems set up and working for them within 24 hours.

So lets get over the excuses and get over the seven deadly excuses and get going right now!

#1 Excuse “I don’t have (have run out, the dog ate them, my details have changed blah - blah - blah) any Business Cards”

Excuse Buster:  Vista Print 

Vista Print will give you 250 free business cards with a choice of 42 designs – yes they stamp their branding on it – but don’t let that stop you.  A vista print brand on your card is better than scribbling out your old email address and writing on your cards in Biro which I see many people doing - that's a sin.

If you dont' want the Vista Print branding then there prices are ridiculously cheap, so #1 excuse handled.

Click here for more info on VistaPrint

#2 Excuse “I’m waiting on brochures.....”

Excuse Buster:  Vista Print

Again Vista Print will do a standard basic DL card for next to nix.  Anything else at the start of your practice is a waste of money.  A clear, basic message on the top of a DL card so it jumps out at people whilst sitting in a rack at your local coffee shop is much better than a fancy brochure.

Still can't afford it - then there is still a lot of sales to be made from a flyer that comes off your ink jet printer – there really is not excuse.

Click here for more info on VistaPrint

#3 Excuse “I’m waiting for my cousin/husband/wife/mate from work/teenager to finish my website”

Excuse buster: Blogger

Having a web presence these days is crucial – any presence is better than none.

At base level you can create a great looking site on Blogger for free

I just knocked up an information website this week for a Retreat I’m having in Daylesford http://www.sanctumforthesoul.com/ - I’ve already sold four tickets and to date haven’t invested one single dollar in the event.  By the time it comes to paying venue deposits I will already have the money in the bank to cover it.  I’m not ashamed to have a blogger website promoting a Retreat – and everything I have on that site is standard blogger issue.  Send me an email if you can’t figure out how to get something I have and I’ll tell you how I did it.

Wordpress is another way to create a similar product but frankly it does my head in and you need more IT experience to make Wordpress work - if you are a beginner don't go down the Wordpress route.  

Click here to enter the 3 step process to get your own blog


Excuse #4 “Getting a proper web address and professional email is too confusing and expensive”

Excuse Buster: GoDaddy:

GoDaddy hosts all my live websites, my email and my other 25 non live domain names.

Quite frankly I have little idea how all this stuff works.   Whenever I want to do something I phone up their 24 hour, 7 day a week hotline and they talk me through how to do everything.

They pride themselves on the person answering your question AND solving your problem on your first phone call.  I can confirm I have NEVER needed to phone back and they have ALWAYS delivered on their promises.

Their marketing is weird and their website has race car drivers promoting it but you just got to remember their target audience is mostly male IT geeks – having worked alongside a lot of big IT departments I can confirm you couldn’t find an IT geek in a corporate office when The Grand Prix hit Melbourne.  But non-nerds are well supported by the help desk, who are honestly some of the most patient and knowledge people I have ever met.



Find out more about GoDaddy here

 

Excuse #5 “It’s too hard and expensive to get a newsletter out”

Excuse Buster: Mail Chimp:

Still today with all the social networking and ways to push your message out – the humble newsletter is still being used by the gurus around the world.  When they stop – I stop and so can you.

Mail Chimp is awesome.  I use it for my Retreat database and I also use it for a community event I run each month.  It is dead easy to use.  They allow you to store 500 subscribers and give you 3,000 emails a month before they even think about charging you anything.

The product they produce looks awesome AND this includes autoresponders AND the ability to set your campaign to run in advance AND it allows you to easily publish your newsletter to social media sites.

It’s also quirky as all get out and frequently encourages you to “eat a banana” and to “stop flirting with the monkey”.  They also have pre-designed forms to send out specials and birthday cards to members – and so long as you stay under 500 it’s free and well frankly if you have more than 500 people on your database you need to start getting serious about your business and paying for services.

Free is great in the early days but remember likes attract – if you aren’t prepared to pay for quality service neither will your clients be.

Find Out More About Mail Chimp here

Excuse #6 “I don’t have time or energy to do the admin for a workshop”

Excuse Buster: Eventbirte

I LOVE this site and it really helps sell events and workshops and they don’t charge you anything until you sell a ticket and then it’s just a small percentage of the price of the ticket. 

In return – your attendees type in all the info so you are assured your spellings are correct and that you have the right email address.  Anyone who has ever had to type up a registration list and name badge list will be jumping with joy at this news.

It has helped me sell out most of my events and the waitlisting function allows you to know who missed out and might like to attend your next event before you even release it.  It also posts your event on social media sites looking hot to trot and takes interested people directly to your registration page.

They also have an iPhone app that lets you check your participants in via your phone on the day of the event – gotta get an iPhone first  :-)

If you sell a ticket outside the site, they don’t even charge you to enter the person’s name but the details still print out on the rego list.  It saves a HEAP of time, energy and effort and your workshop goes out to the public looking really hot and will delay your need for a personal assistant or VA.

Find out more about Eventbrite here

Excuse #7 “I don’t have a way to collect credit card payments online”

Excuse Buster: PayPal

I still don’t have a formal Payment Gateway with my bank because it costs and arm and a leg to set up.  My shoppingcart simply connects to good old PayPal and they keep taking people’s money online without hassle or stress to me.  To be honest there have been a couple of people who had trouble with the system but I suspect user error was the cause because 99% of transactions flow without error or stress.

You can do recurring billing, have Buy Now Buttons which just sit on your website without you even needing a shoppingcart or you can simply do an email request for money if everything gets too much for you.

You can transfer funds internationally and it takes care of all the exchange rate nightmares. 

The only downside of PayPal is that it takes a couple of days to transfer funds to your bank account, whereas a full Gateway fill transfer overnight.  I can live with that.

If you want the hoots and whistles shopping cart I recommend and use 1shoppingcart.com
 


You do need a bit of IT nous to get 1shoppingcart working and to be honest I'm still only using a very small part of it. It is a big system that I recommend you either use or upgrade to if and when you are ready to very serious about online sales. Click here for more details

If you have found any free or lo fee resources that helped you get started I'd love you to add a comment and share your resource with others.

Full disclosure:  The above links are affiliate links and these people do give me coffee money if you sign with them.  It is not why I recommend them and I only ever recommend things I either use myself or have personally experienced or someone I trust has used the product.  

Amazing Things to Learn From a “Do It Yourself Jigsaw from Hell (Audio)

You can now listen to my newsletter article here or download the file to your favourite mp3 player - I trust you take me somewhere interesting :-)



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I’ve found the best and easiest way to get clients is to interact personally with them by using small workshops and talks to grow your business BUT that is not always possible. You could be limited by distance, time, confidence or the funds to start your first live workshop. Your message might still be too murky to speak in public, but what I’ve found is that everyone knows something about something.

So the second best way is to run a workshop or course that interacts with people on the phone.

They are called teleclasses and are basically “learning on the phone”.

Read the full newsletter here

How to Start Using Writing as a Way to Get Your Business Known

Starting out as a writer is a daunting thought.

Where do you start?

How do you find ideas?

When do you publish?



Robert Rabbin of RealTime Speaking came in to the MOSH Pit as our special Guest GURU back in August 2008 to start to answer some of these questions. Robert is a favourite of MOSH Pit members and little wonder with a list of credentials like these:

Robert Rabbin has published 5 books and more than 200 articles, achieving more than 1,000 placements in magazines, journals, and newsletters throughout the English-speaking world. Some of his works have been translated into Portugese, Italian, Rumanian, Japanese, and Russian.

He was commissioned to write original essays for three anthologies, including the forthcoming Spirituality in the Workplace: A Multi-Dimensional Approach.

Robert has been a featured columnist for The New Leaders, a subscriber-based executive newsletter describing emerging trends and innovative practices in leadership and management, and for PlanetLightworker, HealthWorld Online, and Insight magazine.

He was also interviewed for The Awakening West, a collection of conversations with contemporary Western wisdom teachers.

His books have been endorsed by internationally renowned leaders in the fields of business, education, health, and personal growth, including Byron Katie, Ram Dass, Anita Roddick, Lynette Palmen, Drew Ginn, Bernie Siegel, M.D., Larry Dossey, M.D., Jerry Jampolsky, M.D., and Jeffrey Mishlove, Ph.D.

Robert is the author of RealTime Speaking and I was priviledged to have my story included in the book, along with several other RealTime Speakers.

You can find out more about Robert Rabbin here

Interviewed by Margaret Gill of Abundant Private Practices - helping health and wellbeing practitioners grow abundant & harmonious natural therapy businesses.
http://www.abundant-private-practices.com/ you can listen to the audio of the hour long call here:

Robert Rabbin Writing Interview

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Its all in the stars and ITS TIME

Podcast of my October 08 Newsletter Feature Article

Its all in the stars and ITS TIME



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The full newsletter is available on my website - click here to view



Or You can read the full articles here:
Its all in the stars and ITS TIME

No time to read the article – why not listen to the 10 minute podcast above.

Doom, gloom, darkness and dreary forecasts grab the headlines and shout out from news stands all over the world. There is no doubt that the financial markets are taking a pounding at present and all the structures around the world are falling. The media are having a field day.

BUT for natural therapists, healers and emerging heart leaders we have something very big to celebrate and NOW IS THE TIME to get our fingers out of our butts and go to work!

Currently we are watching history in the making and are very honoured to be seeing the spiritual prophecies come true. (Please note when I say spiritual I do not mean religious).

For years now many of the spiritual and indigenous teachings have said there will be big shift in Dec 2012. That is four years away, no co-incidence we are starting to get some reaction on the planet now in the areas that the shift is predicted to impact.

The prophecies I’m talking about are not “end of the world” predictions but precise astrology measured by wise ancient civilisations.

For those of you who aren’t up with what is happening – I’m about to give you the Mz Margz in a nutshell description. If you would like to research more, please visit Simone Matthews’s site – she will give a much more detailed and accurate version. What is important for you to remember is that there is a LOT OF GOOD NEWS in this for natural therapists.

Here is the Mz Margz in a nutshell description

Planet Earth circles the Sun but our solar system doesn’t stop there. Our Sun is also part of a larger circular path. So as we turn within a system so does our system turn within a bigger system. Earth takes 365 days to circle our Sun and complete a Zodiac cycle. It takes 26,000 years for our Sun to complete one cycle of its Zodiac. The Sun spends a little over two thousand years in each house of its Zodiac.

What happens in December 2012

In December 2012 we will move into the sign of Aquarius. Remember the song from the 60’s – yep this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and the 60’s were a very good example of Aquarian energy, creative and revolutionary. Lets hope we don’t have to do the clothes again!

On the Summer Solstice in December 2012 we fully align with the new energy and it will start to build strength from that point on. But we also get a double whammy with a planetary line up that hasn’t happened for 225 million years. Our solar system, the Milky Way and Alceyone (the sun located in the Pleiades constellation that our Sun circles) all line up in the skies. It will come and go like any other planetary alignment and there have been several in the past few years but it will herald a new energy and a new way we can choose to live. Choose is the operative word in all this. If we choose to move into this energy freely, it will be easy. If we choose to fight it, then it could cause some discomfort. It’s our choice how we react, but it’s coming ready or not!

Where are we going?

Aquarian energy is very much focused on humanitarianism; it is visionary, highly geared toward technology, the future, unity, community, social justice and freedom and anything unconventional like natural therapies. Its ruling planet is Uranus which demands freedom, equality and social change. In the tarot deck, Aquarius is ruled by The Star and its sign is a Water Carrier, all very positive but there is also a negative side in that Aquarian energy can be eccentric, fanatical and rebellious.

What is happening right now?

Because we are moving into Aquarian energy the planet is simply getting rid of the things that won’t work in the new energy. In layman’s terms the planet is having a “de-clutter”. The corporate world is crumbling because the Aquarian energy won’t need the big earthly structures the corporate world are so prone to live in, hence why they are failing right now – significant past examples have been the fall of the Berlin Wall and more recently 9/11 when the twin towers fell.

People who have not being playing fair, have been dealing in corrupt, unfair behaviour and most certainly have not been living in integrity and truth are now paying the price.

The biggest thing to remember is that the markets always go up and down. I worked as a financial controller when the stock market fell back in the 90’s. It was an ugly time fuelled by property developers spending money they didn’t have. This crash is being fuelled by people doing deals with money they didn’t have and its extra scary that it is hitting banks that have been established for hundreds of years. But what you need to know is that the market always self corrects. In every other recession it corrected itself and it will correct itself again – it always does. So why all the fear? Quite simply because it sells media.

What does this mean for the Natural Therapy Industry?

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he."

Proverbs 23:7

If we can remain positive and living in integrity and love and focusing on the good things that are happening in the world, we will eventually hold the answers for a lot of the people who are struggling at this time. But it is really important that we hold our energy together and don’t go into fear and despondency. In the next few years we are needed more than we have ever been before. We need to hold steady and be available for people to find us and ask us questions and we will be totally in our purpose if we are there for them. More than ever it is a time to be marketing your business and being visible so people can find you.

There will be a lot of fear in the next few years. By holding the love and standing firm in our own power and being there to administer the new (for most) therapies which encourage people to take control of their own life and be free from disease and physical, mental, spiritual and emotional discomfort will see most of you smack bang in the middle of your purpose for being here on the planet at this time.

What should we do?

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

It is VERY IMPORTANT that we don’t go into fear at this time and think our practices will fall apart. In fact we are safer at this time than the many thousands of people in “real jobs” who are currently being retrenched from failing banks and corporations. Back in the 90’s I was retrenched three times but eventually managed to find work each time but swore I would take control of my own destiny as soon as I could. Being in our own businesses we get to make our own decisions and take our own actions. People employed by the machine are at the whim of the management whose previous incompetence got them in this situation in the first place. Even on our worst days we couldn’t create the same level of devastation that is occurring in the financial markets right now.

Now more than ever it is important to stay in the light and work in the light. Here are ten things you can do right now to ensure the least amount of discomfort as we move into a new and exciting time.

1. Stay away from the media

2. Stay away from people who are negative

3. Stay on track with your practice

4. Spend more time and effort in marketing

5. Commit fully to your practice and to seeing a lot of people

6. Be a positive role model for people around you

7. Energy flows where focus goes – be sure to focus positive thoughts on the current situation and don’t further fuel it with your negative thoughts

8. Get professional advice if your financial situation isn’t the best, create a plan to get out of it and do one thing every day to ensure a positive future (do more if you can!)

9. Understand that all this is a “normal” adjustment in the market and it will come right.

10. Continue to be the change you want to see in the world (thanks Gandhi)

The Power of an Ezine or Newsletter

This morning a promotional email came into my inbox from Global Training and they were advertising Dr. John Demartini’s Australian events in October, along with an article that interested me about the things he was doing wrong in the early days of his chiropractic practice.

That one article interested me enough to read some of the promotional stuff at the bottom of the email and I realised John is doing a free seminar in Melbourne next week. I’m a sucker for a free seminar so guess what? I’m booked for the free event.

Maybe now are you are thinking – big deal – you still haven’t given him any money yet.

Correct! BUT he has managed to get me out of my house, it’s a three hour round trip on a train and in return I get to spend a couple of hours observing a master in action. There is a high chance once I’ve seen him in person that he will sell me one of his courses in the future or at least one of his books to read on the train ride back to the Cute House.

This is how ezines work. In my Practice Building Success System I talk about creating a Marketing Train. Ezines are a guards van or caboose activity - what we call “keep in touch strategies”. If you are persistent and work your ezine strategy with your other marketing train activities, eventually the money tap will turn on.

I’ve been getting Dr John Martini’s ezine for about a year now and it took this article to spike my interest enough to react.

Never underestimate the power of a free newsletter or ezine. You might think no one is reading it because no one is reacting but all of a sudden, something you do will change the way your readers react.

I think there were ten things that made me react:

1. John had built trust in previous communications

2. He was on The Secret and I liked his message

3. His article told the truth about a time when he wasn’t doing so well

4. The article was aimed to help others who are coming up the ladder - not to sell

5. It was timely – only a week out from the event so I knew time was running out and it is his last 2008 tour

6. He created scarcity – only 200 tickets for free

7. There was a strong call to action

8. It is in a nice venue that is close to a train line (important for me)

9. He used several different ways to speak with me – words, audio, visual etc

10. He made me feel special “as a member of his community”

PLUS - the name of the event is catchy - HOW TO MAKE ONE HELL OF A PROFIT AND STILL GET TO HEAVEN – he made me smile and even with his level of success it shows me he isn’t taking himself too seriously and gives me an idea that it will be an entertaining evening.