Here are some ideas that we recommend:

Do it yourself

If you don’t happen to be made of money, you can try writing your own content. This is a hard option for some, and one that can derail many a beginning entrepreneur with the sheer volume of the project, depending on the project.

Outsourcing to the rescue

You can hire others to write personalized content for you – namely a ghostwriter. Don’t try to do everything yourself, when it’s not your strength. Know in advance that this is a more expensive option…one that can cost you hundreds of dollars for a not-terribly-impressive amount of work. Hey, writers have to make a living too.

Take your time to find someone who you can successfully work with, and who will produce great content for you. You can have your ghostwriter create content from general topics. If you want more specific work, it helps to provide notes and research, whenever possible.

Article directories

Another way of finding content for your site is to go to article directories. There are many to choose from on the Internet, and many of them allow you to use their articles for free or for a small charge. Sites such as Ezine articles and Article Dashboard can provide content for you. The downside to promoting duplicate content on your website could be lowered page rank in the prominent search engines. Make sure to monitor your results when using content from these sites.

Private label content

Private label content is another option. You find a membership site where private label content is offered. Get what you need and apply it to your website – no writing required. That’s not to say that there’s no reading required, however. Before you purchase pre-made content, always read it first to make sure it’s the right quality level of writing that you require, as well as appropriate to the content you’re trying to market.

You may also want to do a search of the Internet to see how many other areas have the same content you’re considering. If your content isn’t unique, you’re going to have a difficult time drumming up reader interest and having them want to return.

Reconsider the written word for the spoken word

Written words are showing no signs of dying out anytime in the near future, but we have other ways of providing content as well. If you’re developing severe writer’s block when it comes to writing your own content, have you tried speaking it instead? Record yourself speaking what you want to write about, and then simply transcribe your own ideas, in your own voice, or hire someone else to do it for you. What could be more original?

Create a process that is ongoing

Information marketing thrives on newness. Whatever way you get content for your business – whether it’s created by you or by someone else – plan on a regular schedule of updates, to keep your business evergreen.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

How do you gather content for your business?

Here are some ideas that we recommend:

Do it yourself

If you don’t happen to be made of money, you can try writing your own content. This is a hard option for some, and one that can derail many a beginning entrepreneur with the sheer volume of content required.

Outsourcing to the rescue

You can hire others to write personalized content for you – namely a ghostwriter. Don’t try to do everything yourself, when it’s not your strength. Know in advance that this is a more expensive option…one that can cost you hundreds of dollars for a not-terribly-impressive amount of work. Hey, writers have to make a living too.

Take your time to find someone who you can successfully work with, and who will produce great content for you. You can have your ghostwriter create content from general topics. If you want more specific work, it helps to provide notes and research, whenever possible.

Article directories

Another way of finding content for your site is to go to article directories. There are many to choose from on the Internet, and many of them allow you to use their articles for free or for a small charge. Sites such as Ezine Articles and Article Dashboard can provide content for you. The downside to promoting duplicate content on your website could be lowered page rank in the prominent search engines. Make sure to monitor your results when using content from these sites.

Private label content

Private label content is another option. You find a membership site where private label content is offered. Get what you need and apply it to your website – no writing required. That’s not to say that there’s no reading required, however. Before you purchase pre-made content, always read it first to make sure it’s the right quality level of writing that you require, as well as appropriate to the content you’re trying to market.

You may also want to do a search of the Internet to see how many other areas have the same content you’re considering. If your content isn’t unique, you’re going to have a difficult time drumming up reader interest and having them want to return.

Reconsider the written word for the spoken word

Written words are showing no signs of dying out anytime in the near future, but we have other ways of providing content as well. If you’re developing severe writer’s block when it comes to writing your own content, have you tried speaking it instead? Record yourself speaking what you want to write about, and then simply transcribe your own ideas, in your own voice, or hire someone else to do it for you. What could be more original?

Create a process that is ongoing

Information marketing thrives on newness. Whatever way you get content for your business – whether it’s created by you or by someone else – plan on a regular schedule of updates, to keep your business evergreen.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

It’s easy enough to understand the need for content optimization, but how to do it?  There are so many choices of context that it’s very easy to become overwhelmed, and either end up doing too much and spreading yourself thin, or never getting started in the first place.

There are some organization questions you can ask yourself when getting started in the process of content optimization.  These questions can focus your efforts and help you make the most of your time and investment in content optimization.

Here are what we call the six easy questions to content optimization:

1)    Who in my market is this going to reach?

It’s important to consider the demographics of your market and how they’re going to receive your content.  If you have information published in a book, who is likely to read a book?  Who might not?  Books reach a certain kind of consumer, while television commercials reach yet another, and podcasts and websites reach another.  Where are you most likely to achieve success with your content, considering your market?

2)    What context will the content be in?

Where will your content be most effective?  Not all kinds of content successfully translate to all contexts.  A mime show won’t make much of an impact on the radio, but in a live seminar, it could be very effective as a visual illustration of a spoken point.  Are you aware of the different kinds of contexts that are available?  You may need to educate yourself on your options, so as to be able to reach as much of your market as possible.

3)    Where does my market want this content?

Everything done in business has to respond to the needs and wants of the market if you want to have any hope of being effective in your efforts.  Would your book work better as a series of shorter articles?  Perhaps you would wish to consider such a method if you’re marketing content to a demographic of people who are known to be very busy and not likely to take time to sit and study a book.  Maybe you could do a series of autoresponder messages instead, or make your information available online in a way that could be accessed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

4)    When is my market going to consume this content?

Time of day can be a factor.  If you’re running television or radio ads, and your market is mostly at work when those ads are being aired, they’re not going to be as effective as you may want.  Would evenings be better?  Lunchtime?  Weekends?  Should it be available in a format that could be found anytime, or would a specific, targeted time be more effective?

5)    Why is it important for my market to get this content?

What are the reasons?  Where is the need that you’re ready to fill for your market?  Why are you interrupting their day at work or at home to share this information with them?  What will be the benefit to them?

6)    How do I optimize my content into this context?

Here’s where you get down to the technical details…how to move your content into the context you’ve chosen.  There are techniques and tools for each kind of context, and you’ll have to understand the workings of each and get comfortable in that format in order to succeed.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

The following are some research tips for those who are looking to create useful content:

Define your content sharply…

If your research topic is broad, your job is a lot harder than it is when you're more specific.  Doing research on “apples” will take months and years, while research on “diseases that specifically affect Granny Smith apples” is much more focused, and the research is not nearly as daunting.

If your knowledge on the broad topic is sketchy at best, then checking out the broader topics will be necessary until you come across an angle you can use to cut away the information you don’t need.  When Leonardo da Vinci was asked how he made his carvings, he indicated that the statue was already in the stone, he just cut away everything that wasn’t the statue.  Your content is out there… it’s your job to cut away all the unnecessary information to find the content you need.

When to go deeper into your research:

Once you find the topic that needs researching, your research should start to center around questions.  When you’re scanning through other content, take notice of what information isn’t there.  What questions are coming to your mind when you think of that specific topic?  What would be useful to your market?  Getting those questions answered will peel away all other information that isn’t useful to you, and get you closer to what you need.

Remember that your market has questions; sometimes even questions they haven’t put into words yet.  The more questions you can anticipate, the more knowledgeable and credible you will be to your market, and the more useful your content will be.

When to get offline when researching:

Not all valuable content is on the Internet.  It’s time to go offline to do your research when you’re unable to find a credible answer in the different websites you go to.  The key word here is credible.  If you want your content to be taken seriously, it has to be reliable and credible.

Reliable and credible content doesn’t come from someone who throws up a website and claims they know what they’re talking about, when they have no specific expertise and no credible organization as their sponsor.   Anyone can put an opinion on the Web.  When you can’t find reliable sources to answer your questions, step away from the computer and pick up the phone or visit the library instead.

When to stop research:

There does come a time when research becomes procrastination.  If it’s time to write, but you’re still doing research, it’s time to sit down and produce content.  Researching to specific questions will go a long way towards reducing the tendency to procrastinate.  It also helps to set deadlines when the content has to be ready.  If you get into your topic and you’re finding lots of interesting information, make a note to yourself to continue your research…AFTER the specific content you need is produced.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

You’ve got your content presented, ready for people to benefit from it, and you’re marketing diligently.  So… how do you know your content is being effective?  That is the golden question, and one that’s very difficult to answer, simply because information marketing hits so many different places.  Unless you ask your customers directly (which isn’t always practical), it’s hard to know how many times they were exposed to your content and from what directions.  Your customers may not even know themselves.

So how can you tell if any one kind of content you’re presenting is as effective as it could be?
The following tips may help:

Make a simple marketing chart

Your information content is meant to steer the market to buy what you’re providing.  If you’ve communicated effectively, then purchases will happen.  A simple chart with three columns can give you the general idea of whether or not you’re going in the right direction.

Create a three-columned chart.  In the first column, list the month and year of your business activities.  In the second column, list any and all marketing activities you did.  In the third column, list your sales figures.

It’s best to begin with specific content in place, and track results for at least six months before you draw any conclusions and make any changes.  This is business research.  If you were working on a science experiment, you know that changing the control part of the experiment will keep you from understanding the results.  Too many changes will muddy your marketing results.  If the sales figures increase or decrease as a result of changes, you won’t know why they happened if too many factors changed too quickly.

While seasonal changes and other economic factors are too complicated to achieve really specific results, this process can help you to get a ballpark idea of the impact of your content in the marketplace.

Feedback from customers

Other factors to consider are your bounce rate (“bounce” meaning how many people click on your site and then immediately click away, instead of interacting with your content).  A high bounce rate could indicate that either the content of your site needs improving, or the layout needs to be manipulated to optimize the impact of your existing content.  A low bounce rate could mean a higher customer interaction with your content, and could potentially lead to greater sales figures.

The great thing about doing business online is that feedback can be set up to be immediate.  If your customers don’t like something, the anonymity that the computer provides will provide you with lots and lots of recent, raw feedback.

If you want to know where content can be improved, looking for patterns in the feedback your content receives can be very eye-opening and, if acted upon, can lead to greater customer satisfaction, which leads to greater sales.  It can also create new, specific ideas that can lead to the creation of great new content, which is what your market is hungry for.

Ultimately, remember that the main feedback you’re looking for is the monetary kind.  Who’s buying?  When?  Why?  Would they buy again?  How could you entice them to buy again?

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

We have simplified content optimization into four distinct types. Here are what we call the four R’s of Content Optimization:

Re-use – using the same content in different places

Just because content is already in one context doesn’t mean it can’t move to another.  Let’s suppose for this illustration that we’re dealing with a person who’s written an article on weight loss, and wants to optimize their content.  The easiest change to make might be to simply take the same information and put it in different places.  The information from the article could be updated slightly and moved over (or re-purposed) into a blog, or an ezine article.  If the article was posted online, the same article could be posted to different directories, which would then get referenced on different blog posts.

Re-purpose – moving the same content to a different context

Suppose that this same  author wanted to expand on the weight loss article that had been written, and transfer this information to a completely different context.  A teleseminar on weight loss might be considered, which would incorporate more audio, bringing in a completely different audience.  An interactive video could incorporate the written word and audio recordings, and perhaps also a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, which would incorporate visual, audio and kinesthetic stimulation for a more well-rounded learning experience for the market.

Re-package – revising the same content for a different market

The same weight loss article could appeal to a wider audience if the content were refashioned towards a different angle or demographic group.  Perhaps the article on weight loss could be pointed towards beginners or those who had already lost weight and were trying to keep it off.  Maybe the article could be slanted towards weight loss professionals, on how to be more effective with their clients.

Remember that content is only as valuable as the relationship it has to the market.  In the final analysis of your content’s effectiveness, the market is the key.  The most important thing is that the market “gets it”.  Coming to the market is your responsibility, not the other way around.

Re-cycle – using the same content on a regular cycle

This same weight loss article might be set on some sort of cycle.  It could be repurposed into a series of emails, setting a year’s worth of weight loss tips on a 52-week autoresponder system.  The material could be conceived into a course (online or offline) that repeats itself every few months.  Making regular blog posts on weight loss at regular periods of time would also be a way of recycling your content at regular intervals.

Bonus way to use content – Re-peat all of the above

Everything old is new again.  Content can be repurposed and repeated for maximum impact.  Make it better, and bring it out again.  Lather, rinse and repeat.  Continue to expose your content to the market again and again, finding new customers on each exposure.  The only limit to repurposing your content for maximum optimization is your own imagination.

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

The following questions can help you in avoiding too much duplicate content:

Can I add something different to the conversation?
You always have your own expertise and perspective to add that is unique. What questions have you noticed that aren’t being addressed about your topic? What questions aren’t being sufficiently answered?

Does my content answer questions or provide information my market needs?
The way to success in any business is still the same, whether on or off the computer… see a need, and fill that need. When your business is information marketing, what information does the market require to fill a need? Do you have that information, and can you provide it in a way the market can understand and assimilate it?

Can you make connections between old and new information?
The basic mode of learning in any field is to take new information and connect it to older information. This provides a basis of understanding that builds on the past and prepares for the future. Does your content provide that for your customers? Is your content presented in a way that its importance is comprehended by the potential market?

Can you present a viable alternative to the way something’s been done in the past?
Improvements in systems fill a great need for better ways of doing things. Differentiation of your online pages will help you to be found more easily when those in your market use the different search engines. Make your presence as uniquely yours as possible, so that you will be remembered and more easily distinguished from other information marketing businesses similar to yours.

Can you present reasons why this content is important?
Sometimes you may have to present the reasons why your market needs your information, since they may know of the problem but have not properly defined it yet. Provide that definition for them and they’ll rush to find your answers.

Have you balanced information with persuasion?
In the information marketing business, content marketing is often more effective than interruption marketing (i.e. commercials). That doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t tell your customers about what you have to offer them, and guide them gently to the “Buy” button. Remember what, where, when, how, and why when you’re providing your content. Give them the reasons to go there. Provide answers to questions they may have, so any possible objections can be overcome. Don’t make what you have to offer a mystery, or make it difficult in any way to be obtained.

Sales and the bottom line are your barometers to determine whether or not your content is truly effective within your market. Avoiding too much duplication will increase your effectiveness with customers.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

What Will Hook Your Audience?

If you can find that rare perspective that hasn’t been explored beyond the boundaries of usefulness, you will be able to captivate your audience and accomplish the goals you are working toward. This can be a daunting and unnerving task. It requires one to look for information outside of the box.

Where Is Outside the Box?

• Blogs - Along with putting blogs on your website, you can also research for content on other people’s blogs. By visiting a number of blogs related to the topic you are writing about, you can find people’s opinions, references to other sites containing information that may interest you, as well as many interesting facts. You may be able to post to a blog and ask for opinions about a particular subject and obtain your own survey results from that.

• Social Sites – Another unexpected place that you may find excellent content are sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, and the like. Use caution in this area. Although you can find fresh information, you must verify its validity before you end up providing incorrect data to your reader.

• Off-Internet Documents– Because the internet is so easy to use and convenient, most people limit their research to internet options only. Therefore, if you leave the web to find your content, there’s a good chance that you may have a fresher view. Don’t be afraid to use newspapers, magazines, reference books, pamphlets and brochures that you may pick up anywhere out in the public domain. Depending upon the topic you are researching, government offices and supporting offices may have useful material that they are willing to give you.

• In Person – There is still no substitute for human contact. If you have the opportunity to discuss your topic with an expert either via telephone or in person, don’t pass it up. Taking information from a personal interview with a guru is always fresh. Since no one else will have the exact conversation that you will, you have an edge.

There are roads less traveled on the content creation journey. If you take the extra effort and seek them out, you will find opportunities to produce top quality, reusable content that will enthrall your reader and draw them back time and time again. When you produce return visitors on a regular basis, you know you’ve created content that is among the best.

Are you up for the challenge? Do you have enough desire for top notch content to go the extra mile to search it out? The results can be very fulfilling and benefit you in multiple ways. Dig in and create some content that you can be proud of!

Creating content is a necessity in the Internet world. The cost of the tools may have dropped considerably, but the value of your time continually increases. Creating content can be as easy as editing text with the help of modern text editors; however that depends upon your standard of quality.

There are programs out there that claim to create high quality articles out of thin air for you. However, it doesn’t take much article reading to find that there are plenty of articles out there that have poor grammar and don’t really seem to make sense. Much of this comes from software that doesn’t have the human ability to blend the information that has been accumulated into a logical, flowing, and interesting series of words, sentences, and paragraphs.

Creating content is easy, and can be done by a computer program. Creating intelligent, reusable and quality content is not quite so easy and requires human participation. Creating content can be the fun part of designing your website. This is where you get to add everything you want to share with the world on your site.

Suggestions on how to gather your content information…

• Researching newspapers, magazines, books, and other forms of hard copy.
• Interviewing or questioning those that are in the know regarding the topic that you wish to write on.
• There are many facets of online research to choose from, which include search engines, article sites, blogs, social sites, and statistical sites maintained by governmental and other such bodies of authority.

What to do with the research?

Once your research has been completed, you then integrate the information from all of your sources, along with any that you retained from personal experience, organize it into categories and present it in a logical and appealing manner. Your presentation must flow fluidly from paragraph to paragraph and it all must relate to your main topic.

This is where the content creating software falls short. It doesn’t have the ability to take the information and group it into categories and flow effortlessly from one paragraph to the other. Often times, the sentences are choppy and broken with grammatical errors. A paragraph or sentence will sometimes seem as if it doesn’t really fit the theme of the whole article.

Five Steps to Creating Quality Content:

1. Decide on your topic and keywords.
2. Research your topic using any or all of the sources mentioned above.
3. Decide on one or a handful of points that you wish to expand on in the article.
4. Categorize and organize the information that you’ve collected.
5. Present your information in an appealing, logical, and flowing manner.

Creating content can be time consuming and may seem futile in the beginning. However, you will find that if you commit to steadily producing quality content, you will reap the rewards of your efforts. A software program can produce the appearance of paragraphs and may sometimes even have one or two pieces of valuable information, but there is no substitute for the human brain when it comes to creating QUALITY content.

And of course it is the time for resolutions, plans and the setting of goals. Not only do people set personal goals, they set business goals as well. Great! It is much easier to direct a business when there's a plan or "road map" to follow.

Along with all the "usual" plans for a business…

… an essential question to ask is "What is the focus of our business?"

Believe it or not, there is one answer to that question that can apply to any and all businesses.

That answer is… "To provide value to our customers."

Business success would be much more prevalent if this simple motto was followed.

This motto has been and will continue to be the focus of our business at TheCoolestCouple.com.

So to all we wish a Happy and Prosperous New Year! May 2010 be all that you hope for and much, much more.

We would also like to thank all of our friends, clients and customers for the blessing of having you touch our lives. You are all very much appreciated.

To a Spectacular 2010!

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Creating quality content requires a human touch and can be a costly expense. It’s hard to financially justify spending your time and energy on writing every-day content as profit-gain from content is only measurable over time. However, it is a worthwhile endeavor that will pay off in the long-run.

It is best if you create your own content in establishing yourself as an expert in your niche. It is important to consistently compose current and accurate content that will draw in today's online consumer. As well… to be successful you must build an atmosphere of enjoyment.

One way to get the basis for your content is to research other online sources.

One method of gathering information for your content is to research sites online. It is easy to find a handful of sites where you can research facts, figures and information that relate to your topic, and then collect, organize and expand on it to create an informative and pleasing conglomeration of all of the collected information.

Steps to Creating Content using Online Sources:

1. Choose a topic and keywords - Decide on a topic and keywords for your content. This is very important to attract the readers that you are looking for. Make a careful selection by researching which of the key words that you are considering rank high in the search engines. Be sure to use your keywords in your title.

2. Choose the sites to research - The next step is to visit a handful of sites that focus on the keywords you have chosen. The most popular sites can easily be found through any of the major search engines. After reviewing some of the sites matching your criteria, select three to six sites that have information that is appealing to you as a reader. If the information is appealing to you, it will most likely be appealing to others.

3. Take notes - Take brief notes from each of the sites you’ve chosen, calling attention to the points of interest that you wish to expand upon.

4. Organize – Put your notes into categories and group facts that apply to the same point of interest. This will help you to make paragraphs that flow fluidly and help your readers to understand the point.

5. Prepare Your Content For Presentation – Now that you have all of your information collected and categorized, it is time to present it. Be sure to integrate your keywords into any subtitles and throughout your text in a natural conversational manner. Do not over-use the keywords or phrases as this will put off your reader.

Creating content should be your job. However, researching for content information can be delegated or outsourced to others. If you actually enjoy the research and going through the steps to create the final product, then go for it! If you're enthusiastic about going through the whole process of content creation, you will produce an informative and entertaining final product that will attract and retain your reader. After all, this is the ultimate goal of your masterpiece isn’t it? Have fun.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Articles have become an onslaught of keywords and key phrases with little attention paid to the content value. People are just looking to increase their website rankings by having more links to their site. This tends to leave readers frustrated and annoyed – not good for traffic creation.

Raising the bar on content standards…

Don’t flow with that crowd. Make your articles count. Help raise the bar regarding content standards. It is necessary to provide your readers with information they didn’t have previously or a new perspective on the topic. It is hard to find new resources for information because the internet is flooded – some good, some not so good.

Where can you capture high quality content?

One place that you may be able to get a new perspective on your topic of interest is from video conferences and video lessons that are offered on the internet. It has become increasingly popular to produce video lessons and conferences or interviews online. Many are through opt-in lists or free memberships. If you are willing to subscribe, you may have a new content resource that will raise the standard of your articles.

Make sure you’re within your rights.

This gives you a perfect opportunity, but always be sure to inform your reader that the information is taken from a particular lesson or conference and be certain that you are not violating any copyright laws. In some cases, it may be necessary to obtain permission from the producer of the conferences or lessons before creating your article.

Depending upon your subject, you may be able to get some very good information from television too. With all the channels now offered, you can usually find information on just about any topic at some time throughout the day.

Once you are certain that you are within your rights and not violating anyone else’s rights, sit down, listen up, and start taking notes. Just like in school, take good notes and be sure that you get your information correct. If you specifically quote someone, be sure that you give the appropriate reference and credit. One of the benefits of the recorded lessons is that you can rewind and be sure that you get your facts straight.

As we mentioned before, the quality of content has greatly diminished over the past couple years. It is now more important than ever to be sure that your facts are correct, your grammar is better than average, and you offer some information of value. Those that actually have high quality articles will shine above the rest and create more traffic to their sites.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Websites are usually built to resemble company brochures. Websites are a core ingredient to nearly any type of business. They are easily the number one resource people use to learn about you, your products and services. They allow people to do research and review products before they make a decision. Websites that are popular and profitable are useful.

New and unique content…

You really have to find and magnify the unique value that your company provides and do something innovative. The quality of a page and the uniqueness and value of its content is the sole responsibility of each Webmaster.

Often sites are designed with idea that the ideal content can be created and maintained past initial launch without making any major changes. This is rare. For your website to not only attract initial traffic, but to also retain its visitors, the content of its pages as well as outside articles that direct traffic to it must be kept current. This is a tremendous and continuous task.

What type of content should I provide?

When you build a website, you want to create content that will help your reader in some way, shape or form. However, you have to be cautious that you are not so helpful that you turn an otherwise would-be client into a do-it-yourselfer. It is up to you to decide when your content provides too much information and much of that will depend upon the type of business that you are in.

For example, if you run a roofing company and have a website that is designed to secure clientele, you would choose your content accordingly. You may want to create articles that will help your potential customers decide on the best type of roofing material for their particular roof. The business owner may even decide that it would be acceptable to provide articles that give step by step instructions for doing a certain type of minor repair, knowing that if you help a would-be client to save money by doing their own repair, they may well turn to you when it’s time to replace the entire roof.

Where can I obtain content?

While you may be able to find information on the internet to create content, you want the content to line up with your business’s advice to your clients.

To determine what content to use for your site, start by asking yourself lots of questions. Each time you see content of interest; ask yourself if that topic or idea could apply well to your own business. Take notes for each and every article that you want to include in your site. Put the information into a useable and educational form that will benefit the reader and create trust in the company.

Content creation is your responsibility.

The responsibility for the content of your site and any outside sources that you create to direct traffic to your site is yours. Do your best to be certain that the information provided is current, accurate, helpful, and interesting to the readers. When that is accomplished, your website will begin to fulfill its purpose.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

The words below may be simple… but oh so true. It rolls right into our favorite saying, "Life is simple, people complicate it".

It's amazing how a simple way of looking at things can bring such deep insight to life.

So please enjoy… we definitely did!

Cowboy's Guide To Life
by Bob Hardison

• Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
• Life ain't about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.
• Words that soak into your ears are whispered, not yelled.
• Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
• Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
• Don't sell your mule to buy a plow.
• If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with ya.
• Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. You cannot unsay a cruel word.
• Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
• Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
• Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
• The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swaller.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
• The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with looks at you in the mirror every mornin'.
• Don't worry about bitin' off more 'n you can chew; your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
• Remember: Don't squat with your spurs on.
• Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
• If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
• Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
• The best sermons are lived, not preached.
• Keep skunks and politicians and lawyers at a distance.
• It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
• If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.
• It's better to be a has-been than a never-was.
• Meanness don't jest happen overnight.
• When you wallow with pigs, expect to git dirty.

And our additions to the list

• If you step in a cowpie (shit), make sure it's well aged.
• Don't say "giddyap" before you have your boots in the stirrups and your hands on the reins.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

That is why optimizing content is a brilliant way to make the most out of the content you already have. Not only that, it enables you to reach more people within your market. How does that work? Let us explain…

In order to define content optimization, let’s start out by defining exactly what content is. Content is information and experiences created for an audience that is presented in a way that entertains, educates, and informs to derive emotions. Optimizing is to improve or make better. Therefore, content optimization would be to convert information and experiences from its original form into a format or product that will better convey its purpose to its audience.

In other words, taking the original content from a teleconference for example and converting it into another format such as a study guide that will improve the comprehension of the audience. Because people have different learning styles, it becomes necessary to present information in multiple contexts. Some people understand more readily through their sense of vision, others by hearing, and still some by touch or doing. If the information is received through multiple senses, it is much more likely to be understood and retained. This is summed up in a Chinese Proverb – “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me I will understand.”

Why is Content Optimization Important to Business Growth?

• If you do it once, you benefit from it forever. By creating the content one time, you are able to convert it into as many different contexts as possible.
• Content applies to learning methods. By understanding how your audience takes in information, you will be able to more effectively deliver it.
• Maximum content productivity is achieved with minimum effort. It is much easier to convert content into a new context than to create new content. This saves you time and energy. It also allows you to relate with a broader audience because, as mentioned before, each person absorbs information differently. Therefore, a single context will not reach every available audience.

How do I determine how to optimize my content?

By answering the following six questions you will be on your way to content optimization. This will help you understand your market and how they think and receive information most effectively. When you understand their thinking processes, you will be more readily capable of reaching them where they are.

The six questions are:

1. Who – Who in my market is this going to reach?
2. What – What format will the content be in?
3. Where – Where does my target market want this information?
4. When – When is the audience going to take this in?
5. Why – Why is it important for my market to get this information?
6. How – How do I get my current content into this format or context?

By focusing on content optimization instead of content creation, you will benefit in a multitude of ways. Not only will it take less time and effort on your part, but your audience will be able to more completely comprehend and understand the message that you are trying to convey to them. They will have the ability to consume the same information through multiple sources, and repetition is key to comprehension.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Let’s look at the many forms of context:

There are an infinite number of contexts that the content can be formatted into. We’ll name the thirty-two most commonly thought of:

1. Spectacular Presentation
2. Blog Post or Page
3. Podcast
4. Article
5. Telesemina
6. PDF
7. Book
8. E-book
9. Binder
10. Booklet
11. Inner-Circle Call
12. Coaching
13. Consulting
14. Audio
15. MP3
16. Media Player
17. CD
18. DVD
19. Course
20. E-Course
21. Assessment
22. Certification
23. Ezine Series
24. Online Video
25. Email
26. Fax
27. Guide
28. Newsletter
29. Thumb Drive
30. Live Seminar/Workshop
31. Membership Site
32. Bonus Gift

What happens when all this is applied?

Wow! That’s a lot of formats. Originally created content can be converted into all those formats, and that’s just the beginning. There are more that you can probably think of on your own. There is no limit to the creativity that can be injected into the context arena. The only limit is your own imagination, so go crazy.

When you apply the four R’s (reuse, repurpose, repackage and recycle), actually all five R’s (add repeat to the previous four), to the original content thirty-two times, you could use that same content to produce each and every form of context listed above. Can you imagine how many people you can reach through that many different formats?

In addition, some of those in your market will not only consume one, but several formats of the same information. That means that their ability to comprehend the information and their likelihood of putting it into practice greatly increase. The power of words is tremendous and when it is increased exponentially through multiple forms of context it is out of this world.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

What is Content Optimization?

Content optimization is simply using or converting content for use in another format or product, also known as context. Context is the surroundings, circumstances, environment, background or settings that clarify or specify the content. It is different from content creation and much simpler. There are four basic principles of content optimization that we will take a look at.

1. Reuse – The first principle of content optimization is reusing the same content in different places. For example, you can serve the exact same content up in the form of an article, and ezine article, blog posts, directories, emails, and so on.
2. Repurpose – In this instance, you use the same content in different contexts or formats. The same content that is presented in a teleseminar could then be formatted to a spectacular presentation, multiple articles, or multiple blog posts.
3. Repackage – The same content basis can be revised and polished for different markets. An example of this would be using the same content from a course on teleseminars being revised into a course on book tours or internet optimization.
4. Recycle – The same content can be cycled through again. This would be illustrated in a 52 week autoresponder. It could be repeated at the end of the year.

If there were a fifth R to these principles it would be to Repeat. The first four steps can be done over and over and over again. Once you have quality content to work with, your optimization can be endless.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

There is one software tool that we use every day and it is called PersonalBrain™, but we just call it "The Brain".

PersonalBrain™, organizes the way you think. You can organize all your ideas and information the way you think.  See new relationships. Discover connections. Go from the big picture to specific details in seconds.

Watch the video below to give you a high level overview of what The Brain can do for you.

PersonalBrain: Accelerate Your Mind

See and do more with PersonalBrain’s award-winning user interface and advanced linking software. Organize ideas, projects, files, and Web pages associatively to capture your unique thinking and perspective.

Use PersonalBrain for business projects or as an “everything in your life manager" so you can get the big picture and find the right detail within seconds.

Benefits

• See key relationships and ideas at a glance
• Map out your thinking and complex business processes
• Visualize folder structures, business relationships, contacts and ideas
• Navigate across all key topics and information within your Brain's thought network and connections

Key features include:

• Must see animated visual interface
• Expanded Information Views
• Easy Drag and Drop of files, folders and Web pages
• Advanced search and editing features

We use PersonalBrain to keep track of almost every aspect of the information that crosses our desk everyday. It helps us to organize our information into "The Digital Home for Our Mind".

(Look for the FREE Download Button)

Versions:

• Personal Brain – Free
• Personal Brain – Core     $149.95
• Personal Brain – Pro       $249.95

Download Personal Brain – Free Edition:

Windows
PersonalBrain Installer

Max OS X
PersonaBrain Installer

Linux/Unix
PersonalBrain Installer

Purchase PersonalBrain Now

We hope you like TheBrain as much as we do, it's the one tool that we have open all the time. And if you took our Brain away, we know for sure that we would be lost without it. Download the Free version above to get started using TheBrain today, it will be well worth your time and engery.

Stay tuned, we will be providing more in-depth reviews of PersonalBrain and WebBrain.

And let us know how The Brain works for you.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

It goes without saying that if someone gets a lot out of your information they will be inclined to purchase more from you. We call converting your content into a format that will reach more of your market, “Content Optimization”.

Benefits of Content Optimization

If you started optimizing your content right now, what would the results of that be?

• Massive Reach – By converting your content into multiple formats, you will be able to relate to a wider variety of people than by a single context.

• System Creation – By going over the same content multiple times, you will begin to develop templates and methods. You will polish and perfect the communication of certain points of the content each time you revisit it. As you observe some techniques working better than others, you will be able to hone your skills for the most effective delivery of your information.

• Know Your Market Better – By repeatedly going over the same information, you will begin to know your market better. On the flip side of that, they will also begin to know you better. The more familiar you are to them, the better your chance of obtaining their trust and loyalty.

Roadblocks of Content Optimization

There are stumbling blocks that can prevent you from optimizing your content. Just what could stop you from doing something that sounds so simple? Let’s take a look:

• Breaking Your Comfort Zone – When you have spent much time working with one particular format of content, it can be intimidating to convert to another. For example, someone that writes articles all the time may be uncomfortable presenting that same content in a video presentation. This can hold some people back from exploring other contexts.

• Context Confusion – Deciding which context to convert to can be difficult. There are so many choices it can be overwhelming. The most difficult part is starting out.

• Multiple Context Personalities – Because there are so many contexts to convert to, people often find that they spread themselves too thin. Because there are so many great ideas running around in their head, they find themselves trying to do it all by themselves, working on one thing today and another tomorrow. Without focus, none of them will be accomplished.

Strategies to Overcome Roadblocks

• Always review Kipling’s Six Servants of Content Optimization – Know who your market is, what context the content will be in, where the audience wants the content, when they’ll want it, why it’s important, and how to get it into the context desired.

• Never invent the content – Always improve your content by reusing, repurposing, repackaging, or recycling. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. The same information is simply reformatted to a different context.

• Outsource – Strengthen your strengths. Continually work toward improving those talents that come easily to you while you outsource your weaknesses. If one form of context is extremely difficult for you to convert into, outsource it to someone that actually enjoys doing that.

By overcoming the roadblocks and optimizing your content today you will extend your reach massively. You will develop a system for converting your content into other formats and you will know your market better and become better known by your market. It is worth the effort and will become easier as you go.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Working Online Equals Freedom

Going online opens a path to massive amounts of information at the click of a button or mouse. There is no end to the kinds of information you can find on any given day. Going online also gives you freedom of choice. For instance, you need to buy a birthday present, but you don’t have a car or your city is small with a limited choice of stores to shop. Online, the world literally becomes a giant shopping mall with an infinite number of stores. You choose where you want to shop and the best part of all, you don’t have leave your house to do it.

Convenience and Choice Power Online Sales

When filling a website with content, it is important to build these items into your homepage. Give your potential clients information as well as several different choices of products or services. Make your lists logical with built in links and buttons to click back, if the selection is not the correct one for this particular occasion. Keep the information short and concise and make maneuvering your site easy. Remember, reading online is slower than reading a book offline. So be kind to your clients once they’ve found you. You want them to come back.

Creating a Headline that Sells

A good headline will seduce your visitors. If crafted well, a good headline will grab their attention and convince them that your information is what they are searching for.

Here are some tips for creating a real attention-grabbing headline:

•    Use real facts within the headline, especially when the fact pertains to the whole consumer market
•    Use attention grabbing phrases like; “tips and resources”
•    Name one of your products as an example in the headline
•    Focus on the product’s uniqueness
•    Associate your product with a feeling or emotion

First Things First

Time is of the essence in surfing the net so place the most important items and information first on your website. People who land on your page will see that information and make a decision about whether to scroll down or stick around to investigate your offers. Be very specific in your content. The harder it is to decipher information the less likely you will get the sale.

Researching Your Niche

Choosing your niche is only the first obstacle. It is necessary to stay on top of changes and innovations within the niche, too. You will need to engage in ongoing research in order to keep your website at the top of everyone’s search. Periodically go back through your pages and eliminate outdated items and redundant items. Change your keywords to utilize the current buzz words in your slice of the market.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

In a business, if something is done over and over again it is very wise to create a system for it. The key to this, however, is to break it down to its simplest form.

People can and do spend a lot of time and energy on business tasks and systems that could be done a lot more quickly, easily and with a lot less effort.

When you decide to create a system for something in your business, look at it this way; I start from here and I want to get to there, what are the basic steps I need to do in between? The key word in that statement is "basic". Keep it simple. Anything that is accomplished can be broken down into very simple steps.

A task that seems difficult or almost impossible to accomplish, when broken down into simple steps, can actually seem easily achievable. So not only can you create simple systems for the tasks you do on a regular basis in your business, you can also break tasks yet to be done into systems to make it easier to get started and accomplish them.

One method you can use to outline a system is to create a mind map. A mind map is a basic planning tool where you start with one thought or topic in the middle and create the associated thoughts or topics around it. Start with the desired outcome as the main central topic and then outline the basic steps in the associated topics around it.

We use this tool a lot in our business and find it invaluable.

The bottom line… keep it simple. Break down business systems into basic steps and you'll be amazed at how much you can accomplish faster, easier and with a lot less effort.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

• Massive Reach – By converting your content into multiple formats, you will be able to relate to a wider variety of people than by a single context.

• System Creation – By going over the same content multiple times, you will begin to develop templates and methods. You will polish and perfect the communication of certain points of the content each time you revisit it. As you observe some techniques working better than others, you will be able to hone your skills for the most effective delivery of your information.

• Know Your Market Better – By repeatedly going over the same information, you will begin to know your market better. On the flip side of that, they will also begin to know you better. The more familiar you are to them, the better your chance of obtaining their trust and loyalty.

By presenting your content in multiple formats or contexts, you will gain a much larger market reach and your customers and clients will better understand your message and be able to put it to use.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

This means that you can now have your name on Facebook like this www.Facebook.com/PatAndLorna You can see our facebook page below using that link. We also grabbed www.Facebook.com/PatShanks & www.Facebook.com/LornaShanks.

You might not realize it, but there are many people on Facebook with the same name. So we would suggested that you go and get your name before it is taken.

So if you want your name, you should go get it now. And here’s how you do it:

• Log into Facebook.
• Go to http://www.Facebook.com/username
• Once you are there, it will show you the names you can pick from. And if you click on the ‘more’ link it will let you select a different name.
• Select the name you want by checking the box or typing in your full name.
• You are done!

(For example we picked ‘PatAndLorna‘, 'PatShanks' & 'LornaShanks' as one word instead of ‘Pat.Shanks‘  or 'Lorna.Shanks' with the ‘.’ in the middle)

If we were you, we would do what we did… now.  It will only take ~ 2 mins.

Go to this special page on Facebook www.Facebook.com/username

and pick the name you want for your vanity URL before someone else grabs your name.

Friend us on Facebook, so we can friend you back

You can friend us on Facebook here www.Facebook.com/PatAndLorna – www.Facebook.com/PatShanks – www.Facebook.com/LornaShanks

Our friend Paul Colligan did a great video on getting a Google Profile and getting your Facebook name. See it below…

So our Google profile is www.google.com/profiles/PatAndLorna

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Understanding how people receive information is imperative for optimizing the reach of your content.  If they are struggling to absorb your message, they won't find any value in it and they sure won't find any success in implementation.

Here's how people receive information – also known as their learning modalities:

1. Visually: (55% – 75% of the population) These people learn by seeing. Reading text, charts, graphs and watching any type of video are some of the ways by which these people learn or consume information.
2. Auditory: (20% – 30% of the population) These people learn by listening or speaking. Listening to recorded audio, hearing a live speech or reciting are ways by which auditory learners consume information.
3. Kinesthetic: (5% – 15% of the population) People in this group learn by doing or touching. By writing, typing, clicking the mouse, or any other type of physical action,  information will make way more sense to these individuals.

The message here is… don't put your content out in one format only. If all of your content is presented as audio files, then over 60% of your market will not be able to effectively take in what you are saying. That's a huge number of people that won't "get it".

So look at many different means to present your content. For example, there are  Spectacular Presentations, teleseminars with PDF handouts, DVD's, questionnaires, live workshops, seminars, etc… the ideas are virtually endless.

If you visit www.HubAndSpokeVideo.com, not only will you experience a great marketing message, you will discover many interesting and effective ways to present your content.

Remember, it's not what you want, it's what your market wants… and adding value for your market is what it's all about.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Now it's been discovered that it has been working very well in cartoons too. Cartoons? Yes, cartoons. Disney has successfully been using this concept for years, yet very few people realize it.

It's motivating to see a successful, mega giant like Disney successfully implementing this concept. It makes it so clear that repurposing works. Why start from scratch on every new project when reusing, rerpuposing and repackaging existing content can be done quicker, easier and with a lot less effort?

Don't believe us? Take a look at the video below to see how Disney has successfully reused, repurposed and repackaged its cartoon content.

Please click the image below to start the presentation.
(Duration: 3 min, 28 sec)

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Let's take a look at a few of them…

1.  Video:

There are more than one way to use video on a blog, and more than one type or style of video. There is the standard Talking Head variety… just film yourself talking about a subject of choice and post it in your blog. Pretty simple.

Then there's the next step up… a "YouTube" type of video. One with a little more in it than just you. This may get the visitors to your blog to stay a while longer than they normally would have.

There is also another format that looks like video, that really engages your visitor and allows them to abs0rb the information from your post in a user-controlled, searchable presentation. This is what we call a Spectacular Presentation. For an example of what this looks like, please visit… Question 12-What is creative imitation?

2.  Pictures:

OK… we've talked about video… the "moving pictures", the presentations that have "action". But still pictures are still an awesome addition to a blog post. A picture is worth a thousand words, and they stay in your readers' minds longer and have more impact than just words.

3.  Audio:

There are programs that allow you to record audio and then place it in your blog. This is another good way to get the visitors to your blog to hang out a bit longer. Instead of having to take the time to read text, they can listen to it. Again, involving them in a different way.

Basically, the main point here is this… mix it up! Have fun! Use other formats of information and content delivery in your blog. There's a great chance your visitors will spend more time there and make return visits more often.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

]]> http://PatAndLorna.com/your-blog-not-just-a-place-to-write/feed/ 0 http://PatAndLorna.com/remember-the-know-like-and-trust-factor/ http://PatAndLorna.com/remember-the-know-like-and-trust-factor/#comments Mon, 23 Feb 2009 21:00:06 +0000 Pat & Lorna Shanks http://www.patandlorna.com/?p=814 When two people meet, is the first invitation, "Would you like to go for dinner?" or is it, "Will you marry me?" It's pretty obvious that it is the former.

Well, maybe it's not so obvious… when it comes to connecting with people online it seems that maybe it isn't. It appears that a lot of people don't understand that people have to get to know, like and trust you before they'll "check out" your offer, give you a testimonial, or tell other people about you.

More on Remember the "Know, Like and Trust" Factor!

When two people meet, is the first invitation, "Would you like to go for dinner?" or is it, "Will you marry me?" It's pretty obvious that it is the former.

Well, maybe it's not so obvious… when it comes to connecting with people online it seems that maybe it isn't. It appears that a lot of people don't understand that people have to get to know, like and trust you before they'll "check out" your offer, give you a testimonial, or tell other people about you.

Appreciation… one word, but so much power. Show people that you appreciate them first… for whatever it is they do. They choose to follow you or spend some time on your blog or website. It doesn't have to be a huge thing.

"Thank you for following me." Simple, but so very effective. Yes, we may have an amazing offer, or trying to grow our list,  but there's time for that later. First things first… the other person.

Sometimes the shortest path to a destination is going the other way. To help ourselves, the shortest way is to help others first. Think first, what can I do for you? The other side of it… what's in it for me, will come.

Okay, so back to the "know, like and trust" factor. Offer others assistance, show interest in what they do, have some dialogue with them… and before you know it, they will know, like and trust you. Then they will be thrilled to take advantage of your amazing offer, provide a persuasive testimonial and tell everyone on their list about you and your business.

By getting people to know, like and trust you first, you and your business will flourish. Karma? Most definitely!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

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We couldn’t stop the traffic and visitors coming to our websites and blogs even if we wanted to… and we really don’t want to. We’re pretty sure you would love to have the same flood of traffic to your sites as well. Read on to see how to get this result…

"SPIT IT OUT"

SPIT IT OUT stands for Spectacular Presentation Marketing Including Twitter will Ignite endless waves of Traffic and viewers will go OUT of their way to get to your blog. Here's how you do it:

1. Auto-Tweet Your Blog Posts & EzineArticles Submissions – You can set up a free account to automatically send a “tweet” to Twitter each time you add a new blog post or when one of your new articles is published. This auto-tweet will go out to your followers announcing your blog post or new article.

This is spectacular, but don't stop there…

2. Follow up the Auto-Tweet – Like in all other areas of business, your fortune and future lies in the follow up. Don't just rely on the auto-tweet to announce your blog posts and articles; direct your followers to your posts and articles yourself. You could say something like… "For 3 tips on how to… check out…" and then give the URL of your blog or article.

3. Others will "Re-Tweet" Your Blog Post or Article – A huge part of being social on Twitter is "re-tweeting" (RT) messages you can relate to and want other people to read. An amazing thing is that many people will do this for you without even being asked. So how do you get other people to RT for you? You ask them… and then return the favour with their tweets. It’s like Twitter karma.

Here's how you do it – "Get free instant access to…" whatever it is you are giving them in exchange for their name and email address.

4. Direct Them to Your Opt-In Page – You can also invite your Twitter followers to go directly to the opt-in page that you send people to from the Resource Box in your articles. If you aren’t sending people from your Resource Box to an opt-in page, you seriously need to correct that.

In conclusion… "SPIT IT OUT!" Use Spectacular Presentation Marketing Including Twitter and you will Ignite endless waves of Traffic and viewers to go OUT of their way to get to your blog!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

It's Simple If You Know "How To"…

We get questions on how we Auto Tweet our Ezine Articles to our Twitter account. Chris Knight and his team over at Ezine Articles have put together a Spectacular video showing exactly how to do this!

There are even written instructions if need HERE or if you would like to see a larger version of the video.

If you want to see some of the articles that we have written please visit ArticlesByLorna.com or GreatArticlesByPat.com

You can see where we are on the Twitter.EzineArticles.com list.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today recaps our 7 part series on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 1 – It's Social – One of the rules in a Social Network (SN) is to be 80% social and 20% informative. Twitter is one SN where your current customers and potential customers can learn to “know, like and trust” you. When you are being helpful with your presentations and articles you are also being social, and as you are being social you are also marketing and informing.

Reason 2 – Extends Your Reach – Extending your reach means to get your marketing message and influence in front of as many eyes and warm bodies as possible. When you tweet your presentations and articles on Twitter, you are not only reaching those who are following you, you are also reaching everyone that follows each person who follows you. We call that Compounding Social Networking and that can happen when someone Re-Tweets (RT) your information to their SN group.

Reason 3 – It’s Present Marketing – In many ways Twitter is like Instant Marketing Messaging – you get an instant response from many people who are using Twitter at that point in time. Many internet marketers are beginning to notice that their Twitter list is many times more responsive than their email list.

Reason 4 – Gives You Expert Status – Mentioning your presentations and articles and using them to answer questions increases your expert status in the eyes of the tweeting public. And with some of the latest tracking services you can find out what people are responding to. Because this is a new frontier, there is still time for the majority of you to get in and establish your expert status in your niche.

Reason 5 – Spread The Word – If you send out more than one email message a day to your list, people will unsubscribe in droves. With Twitter you can send out multiple 140-character tweets (which contain marketing and informational tips) in one day. In fact, we encourage you to, because your followers are on at different times throughout the day. And don’t forget they are also on different time zones as well. People can choose not to follow you, but we have found those numbers to be quite low.

Reason 6 – Be Helpful – "People don't care how much you know–until they know how much you care." ~ John Maxwell. So when you are having conversations in Twitter and you see a question where one of your presentations or articles could help, you are being very helpful to someone when you refer them to your information. How's that for increasing your "know, like and trust" factor?

Reason 7 – It's Automatic – You can set up your blog to automatically tweet your blog post titles (which contain your presentations) to Twitter. If you have an EzineArticles.com account, you can also automatically repurpose your brand new articles (about your presentations) onto Twitter as well. So when your blog and/or article is publishing, it will automatically show up on Twitter without you having to lift a finger. That is magic!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 7 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 7 – It's Automatic – You can set up your blog to automatically tweet your blog post titles (which contain your presentations) to Twitter. If you have an EzineArticles.com account, you can also automatically repurpose your brand new articles (about your presentations) onto Twitter as well. So when your blog and/or article is publishing, it will automatically show up on Twitter without you having to lift a finger. That is magic!

We'll recap all 7 reasons tomorrow.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 6 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 6 – Be Helpful – "People don't care how much you know–until they know how much you care." ~ John Maxwell.  So when you are having conversations in Twitter and you see a question where one of your presentations or articles could help, you are being very helpful to someone when you refer them to your information. How's that for increasing your "know, like and trust" factor?

We'll be back tomorrow for final Reason 7…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 5 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 5 – Spread The Word – If you send out more than one email message a day to your list, people will unsubscribe in droves. With Twitter you can send out multiple 140-character tweets (which contain marketing and informational tips) in one day. In fact, we encourage you to, because your followers are on at different times throughout the day. And don’t forget they are also on different time zones as well. People can choose not to follow you, but we have found those numbers to be quite low.

We'll be back tomorrow for Reason 6…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 4 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 4 – Gives You Expert Status – Mentioning your presentations and articles and using them to answer questions increases your expert status in the eyes of the tweeting public. And with some of the latest tracking services you can find out what people are responding to. Because this is a new frontier, there is still time for the majority of you to get in and establish your expert status in your niche.

We'll be back tomorrow for Reason 5…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 3 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 3 – It’s Present Marketing – In many ways Twitter is like Instant Marketing Messaging – you get an instant response from many people who are using Twitter at that point in time. Many internet marketers are beginning to notice that their Twitter list is many times more responsive than their email list.

We'll be back tomorrow for Reason 4…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today continues our series 2 of 7 on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 2 – Extends Your Reach – Extending your reach means to get your marketing message and influence in front of as many eyes and warm bodies as possible. When you tweet your presentations and articles on Twitter, you are not only reaching those who are following you, you are also reaching everyone that follows each person who follows you. We call that Compounding Social Networking and that can happen when someone Re-Tweets (RT) your information to their SN group.

We'll be back tomorrow for Reason 3…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Pat & Lorna on Twitter

Today begins a brand new 7 part series on The "Top 7 Reasons to Repurpose Your Presentations on Twitter". Do these small things and you will increase your traffic, reach more prospects and connect with your market.

Reason 1 – It's Social – One of the rules in a Social Network (SN) is to be 80% social and 20% informative. Twitter is one SN where your current customers and potential customers can learn to “know, like and trust” you. When you are being helpful with your presentations and articles you are also being social, and as you are being social you are also marketing and informing.

We'll be back tomorrow for Reason 2…

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Check out this scenario… family time, important time-sensitive project, and day-to-day business activities… all at once! We don't believe we are alone in this predicament. Have you been there… or somewhere like that?

The cure for this situation? Systems!

While you are working to get your project completed, the other activities in your business start falling behind. But they don't have to. If you set up systems to handle your regular business activities they can happen almost automatically.

Write down the activities you do in one day, then do it again the next day, and the next, and so on. After a few days you should be able to discover which activities you do over and over again… on a regular basis. These are the activities that you can and should systematize.

If these activities can be completed automatically for you or if the time to do them can be cut to a fraction of the normal time, wouldn't that be beneficial? We believe it is.

Some activities that we've developed systems for:

• Blog Posts – We write a few when we have time and then have them scheduled to come up in our blog on specific dates.
• Spectacular Presentation Creation – We have a specific system and assigned duties when it comes to presentation creation.
• Article Writing – Our system for writing articles at times also involves outsourcing, which is another way to get things done faster, better, and with the least amount of effort on your part.

These are our examples. Think about it… what can you systematize?

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.

Please click the image below to start that presentation.
(Opens in a new window, duration: 9 min, 14 sec)

21 Uses of Spectacular Presentations

Some of our prospective clients see the benefit of using Spectacular Presentations, but aren’t quite sure “how” one of these presentations can be used in their business. So we put together this list of “The Top 21 uses of Spectacular Presentations” to fully answer that “how”.

Number 1: Presentations
Sounds fairly obvious, but yes… for making a presentation they work extremely well.
An example would be a stage presentation or seminar that you’ve done in the past and want to use it to “Engage Your new Audience and have them Experience Your Message”. These presentations can be delivered robotically over and over again. So take your best presentation and make it Spectacular.

Number 2: Course Previews
Online and offline courses can be previewed in a Spectacular Presentation. Highlight what the course teaches, and peak the interest of the prospective student.

Number 3: 52 Week Coaching
Automatic delivery of a weekly Spectacular Presentation can be used as an ongoing coaching tool. Our good friend Alex Mandossian has used this concept for his TeleSeminar Secrets course. If you want to learn more or see his 52 Week Coaching program in action then visit Alex at www.ToTeleseminarSecrets.com

Number 4: Converted Teleseminars
Recorded teleseminars are perfect for being converted into Spectacular Presentations. The “listener” will get more out of it through the added visuals and user control. Our friend Alex Mandossian has used this concept for his Action Secrets telesemianar.

Number 5: Viral Marketing
Do something different… do something that gets people buzzing… then put it online in a Spectacular Presentation. Peak their interest then demonstrate what your business has to offer.

Number 6: Prospecting
Demonstrate to prospects what your business has to offer through the visuals of a Spectacular Presentation. This will create a more compelling and lasting impression in their minds than text or audio alone.

Number 7: Affiliate Marketing
Create your marketing message once and all your affiliates can use it again and again; a powerful marketing tool for your affiliates to use.

Number 8: Traffic Generation
From within a Spectacular Presentation, live links can redirect the viewer to a promotional or affiliate web site, a sales page, or any other site that the presenter desires.

Number 9: E-Coaching
What better way to coach than to be able to visually demonstrate the methods and techniques spoken of within the coaching session.

Number 10: “How-To” Course
Showing “how to” is extremely more effective than telling “how to”. A Spectacular Presentation is the show and tell of “how to” education.

Number 11: Quick Start Training
Training can begin at any time. Whenever the student is ready, the training can be delivered instantly. Start now… learn now. For any new student starting any NEW course the most asked question is “How or where do I start?” Give them that answer, make your courses easy to consume. You’ll get less refund requests but more importantly you’ll get happier students, engaged and using your courses.

Number 12: Expert Interview
Having an expert interview delivered as a Spectacular Presentation is a great way for the audience to really “get to know” the expert. There’s the intimacy of hearing their voice, but even more intimacy with being able to put a face to that voice.

Number 13: Public Web Critiques
The actual web page can be displayed with notes, pointers, callouts, etc. As well, sections of the web page can be isolated or enlarged to allow the reviewer to focus in on them. It is so much easier to be able to see what they are talking about rather than having to try and follow a description of what they are talking about.

Number 14: Affiliate Training
What a great way to train affiliates. They all get trained the same way, see the exact same information, and then can use the same presentation in their affiliate campaign. Basically it is “Robotic training”.

Number 15: Inner Circle Training
The Inner Circle is the “elite” clients of any business. The are your Evangelists. Give them something a little more special than simple audio training. Allow them more vivid and in-depth training with a Spectacular Presentation.

Number 16: Free Bonus Training
With free bonuses, the value is dependent on what the client perceives it as. By adding visuals and graphics to audio training, the perceived value of the “free” training increases.

Number 17: New Client Introduction
Introduce prospective new clients to your business. Introduce them to what you do, and how you can help them solve their problem. Also, you can state any requirements you may have for working with a new client and what their initial investment will be. This will save you and them a lot of time in getting to understand what’s involved in a business relationship with you. You can both see if there is a fit between you and them to create this new relationship. If you would like to see our New Client Introduction and our requirements of working with us then please visit www.SpectacularPresentations.com/newclient

Number 18: Tips and Tricks
Save time for clients, employees, etc. by showing them tips and tricks. With a spectacular presentation, they will be able to actually see how it’s done, and you won’t have to be hovering over their shoulder to show them.

Number 19: Live Seminar Follow-up
After you’ve made a presentation at a live seminar, and it’s been recorded, you can roll it out into a spectacular presentation. It gives you a product to sell… a kind of “remember this point” or “since you weren’t there” type of product. It’s a great tool for seminar follow-up or for people who couldn’t be there.

Number 20: Frequently Asked Questions
People get a huge benefit from listening to others get answers to their questions. They find out things that they never thought of asking, or answers to questions that they had as well. Putting FAQ’s into a presentation enables people to get the benefit of listening to others questions, being able to see graphics that show them the answers and clicking on links that take them to solutions.

Number 21: Limited Only by Your Imagination
The ideas of how to use a spectacular presentation are almost endless. Whatever you can imagine, you can create. A spectacular presentation is a great tool to use in your business for training, marketing, information and bonus gifts. These presentations can be delivered robotically, Faster, Better and with the least amount of Human Effort.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks are "SPECTACULARIZERS" of great audio content. They teach entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners how to attract more clients and make more money using Spectacular Presentations and Robotic Internet Marketing. For more "Spectacularizer Tips", go to www.PatAndLorna.com or follow us on Twitter.