Get Your Direct Selling Year (and Rear!) In Gear

Hi Everyone!

My post today is actually an audio! If you want to grab some instant and profitable tactics for your business and get the “inside scoop” on exactly what strategies I teach to my intimate Get Your Year In Gear class, give this audio a listen: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/Wt52qSmk

And, it isn’t tool ate to register for my Get Your Year In Gear class that is starting April 3! If you are curious and want to know if this class could be what you are looking for, check it out right here: http://www.directsellingleaders.com/gyyig.html

Love & Success!
Sarah
www.directsellingleaders.com

Fear Pay-Per-Click No Longer

If you’ve ever used pay-per-click advertising, such as Google Adwords, for your business, you know it can be intimidating at first. Many of us, including myself the first time I tried it, have lost our shirts because we willy-nilly bid and wrote ads that we hoped would get people to click on them. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work so easy.

That being said, pay-per-click doesn’t have to be frustrating or difficult if you take your time and create well-crafted campaigns. As a matter of fact, when done correctly, this type of exposure can help to set us up for long term profits by bringing in many first time customers who eagerly turn into life long customers to our business.

Here are a few tips to help get your Adwords campaign off to a good start without all that hair pulling.

1. Create specific landing pages for each of your campaigns.
What I mean by this is: Don’t link to your homepage with every ad you create. For example, if you sell baby slings and are bidding on the keyword phrase “Moby Wrap” for a specific ad, be sure you are sending your visitors to the exact page of your site that lists the Moby wraps only. Also be sure you are using Google’s “Website Optimizer” tool to create landing pages that perform the best they possibly can.

2. Build your ads around your keywords.
Don’t just throw an ad together that tells what your site or product is about. Spend some time putting together ads that actually incorporate the keyword phrases and searches you are targeting. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customer and create ads that will answer their specific needs.

3. Test different versions of your ads.
Google allows up to three ads per ad group to be used. This is a great way to test various parts of your ads to see which gets the best results. Just remember to only test one part of the ad at a time to avoid confusion as to which component is or isn’t bringing the results you want.

Mila & I have created a Step-by-Step Adwords Tutorial to make setting up your first campaign easy with step-by-step instructions via video and a fully illustrated tutorial.

Let’s See Those Drawers!

Hopefully you saw my post last week where I asked about your work space.  This week I wanted to just give you a few pointers to help you organize your desk and keep it organized.

Lets start with the drawers!  Yes those things that you probably have 4-6 of but only really use 2 (smile). Pull out each drawer and take inventory of what you have there.  Be sure to group like-items together, move things that don’t belong in the drawer to either a new home or the garbage.

Do you see the need for a pencil/utencil organizer in your drawers? If so, jot that down and keep that list handy for when you go shopping.

Be sure to go through each drawer and look at everything to see if it needs to do one of the follow things

• Stay where it is
• Get organized into the same or another drawer
• Move to another spot in your home
• Needs to be tossed

After you’ve done all of this be sure to see if there are things that you need. Do you have enough pens, paper, printer ink, paper clips…etc.  If not, be sure to write that down as well.

Let me know how you are doing :)

Don’t forget about the filing cabinets or filing drawers that you have.  Make sure that all of the papers are in the correct file, be sure the files are labeled correctly and while you are in there - if you see something in there that you no longer need - why not shread it or just toss it out.  If you have a particular file in a drawer that you need access to on a daily basis. You may want to pull it out now and perhaps set up a small filing system on your desk and place it there.  This way it will always be at your finger tips.

Is the Economy Collapsing?

I’m starting to get emails from people telling me to cash in all my assets to get away from banks with as much cash as possible.

“The end is coming so be prepared,” they say.

Something is happening in our country, you can feel it. And I agree that we are near the end. But no one knows when anything is going to happen.

Some are saying the American economy is collapsing.

It may be.

Some are saying that banks are collapsing.

They may be.

Some are saying that what is about to happen is worse than the 1929 Depression.

It may be.

If any of this is true, it is urgent that we start creating our own sources of income.

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, said, “Divide your portion to seven or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.” (Ec. 11:2)

That means, “Don’t put all your economic eggs in one basket.”

If you have a job, you could get laid off. If you have one source of income, it could end.

So diversify slowly by doing one thing at a time to create streams so that if one dries up, six others are still providing income.

One of the best ways to do that, (and which has created 70% of the financially free in
America) is real estate.

You can create cash quickly if you know how to do it.

You don’t need money to buy a house, you need education.

If you think women are only supposed to cook, clean and birth babies, think again.  What is a woman to do when her husband dies at age 47, or 36 or 25.

It’s happening way too often these days.

Look at how women are able to multi-task.

If you want to create streams of income, or if you have teenagers in the house that you would like to prepare to be financially free in our unstable economic world, teach them the basics of real estate in high school.

I don’t know anywhere else for families and homeschoolers to get real estate education for the Internet except one place. That’s because we put it together.

We have invited family-friendly experts to teach you what to know at a live 3-day event where teens are welcome.

If the future scares you, prepare for it now.

Take your teens to our once-in-a-lifetime conference on April 11-13, 2008 in
Huntsville, Alabama.

Don’t let the distance or timing keep you from being there. This information could change your life.

We’re never hosting this event again so if you are interested in real estate and are looking for wise mentors, don’t miss this opportunity. You’ll kick yourself when you hear what others who attend say.

If the economy really is about to collapse, it’s time to focus on the essential, forget about the trivial.

If you’re ready to learn more about real estate, get real education here: http://www.RealEstateDays.com

I hope to see you in
Huntsville!So many books, so little time…

Rhea!
who thinks it won’t do any good to worry; instead, get ready

Podcasting Alphabet Soup: G, H & I

Continuing my Podcasting ABC’s…

G is for Guests

Your podcast format doesn’t have to include guest interviews but having guests on your show does more than provide interesting content for your listeners.  It opens doors for promoting your program to your guest’s mailing list or blog.  Don’t be shy about asking guests to promote their appearance on your show to their circle of influence.  Give them a permanent link to the archive of their appearance for their media page and offer them open ended permission to use their interview audio (with credit to your podcast) on their site.  Have a graphic made that they can display that says ‘Listen to me on _____ Podcast’.

H is for Hosting Habits

Before I started to host my own podcast there were very few things I had to do for my business on a strict weekly basis. I soon learned though that one of the worst things a new podcaster can do is be unreliable.  Nothing aggravates a listener more than having to wait for your show to publish.  You have to develop a good weekly schedule and adopt a habit of posting your shows on time.  Of course, if you’re good at planning, you can prepare several shows in advance and have to think about your production schedule less often.

I is for Ideas

Before you launch a podcast you should sit down and brainstorm a big list of show topic ideas.  If you want to publish a weekly show, shoot for a full 52 episode topics.  The farther out you plan the better you can spot opportunities for series and seasonal promotions.  I find ideas for shows through article directories, forums, ezines, magazines, books, television, movies, blogs, internet surveys, etc.

Add your own G, H or I in the comment section below :) 

How Does Your Work Space Look?

Did you know that having a cluttered and unorganized desk is a huge factor in time management?

When your desk is unorganized it is hard to find the items that you need quickly.  You will end up wasting time sifting through piles of paperwork, envelopes, school notices, art projects bills..etc just to find one document you need at the moment.

By organizing your work space you will notice that  you  become more productive!  You will be more productive and feel less tense because you will be looking at an orderly desk as opposed to a desk piled with paperwork.

Over the next few weeks I’d love to challenge you all to work to get your desk in order.

Why not carve some time out of your schedule after you are done working and start to organize your desk.  I will say that to TOTALLY re-organize and declutter your work space you should start off by taking everything off of your deskand then wiping the desk down with a good cleanser.  Ohh, don’t forget to peek behind the desk (you never know what may have slipped back there.

Post here and let me know if you are up to the challenge of decluttering your desk.  It may take some time to complete but it will be worth it.

Let us know what you need to do, what you have questions about and be sure to let us know how your desk looks before and after the cleaning.

Read “The Go Giver”

It’s not often that I read a book start to finish in 2 days, or continue to think about it afterwards. That was the case with “The Go Giver”, a little story about a powerful business idea. It’s very easy reading, and really forces you to look at yourself closely. Do you have an abundance mentality? The book teaches that changing your focus from “getting” to “giving” will yield surprising results.

I’ve heard this said in other ways, i.e. if you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want. And if you look at some of the most successful people in business, you’ll see that it wasn’t money motivating them, it was their passion that was driving them.

I did a call a couple days ago where I discussed the role of passion in deciding what niche to pursue. It certainly does make it easier to succeed, don’t you think? I’d love to hear from some of our moms out there on how you decided which niche to pursue online and why it was the perfect (or not so perfect) topic for you!

I think you’ll enjoy the book…I bought it from Amazon.com, it’s by Bob Burg and John David Mann.

Real Education

People ask me all the time how I encourage my children to think like entrepreneurs.

I always tell them: we focus on real life.

Yes, we do math and spelling and we read history and science and all that. But we do more than that.

We are students of real life, real business, real stuff.

My oldest son Drew just finished building his and Carol’s new house a few weeks ago and is on to the next project now.

To set the foundation, he bought a backhoe on eBay for $5,000. He used it for two or three months, fixed my drive-way with it, built his sister a pond in her front yard, then sold it on eBay… for $6,000.

Do the math. He used the backhoe for 3 months and made $1000 profit when he sold it.

He learned to think like that from his real estate education.

Then he discovered that his little brother is a very good backhoe operator.

So this past week, he bought another backhoe. A bigger backhoe.

And this summer, those two will tear up all kinds of dirt together in North Alabama.

And they’ll get paid to do it.

Hey, when you’re young, it feels great to try new things.

When they are ready to move on to the next thing, they’ll sell the backhoe… for a profit.

Then they will move on to the next project on their life long To Do list.

I personally believe that the early adult years are for exploring career options. The more you experience, the more you discover what you DON’T want to do.

Once you’ve identified that list, you can move on until you find what you DO love.

And hopefully, you won’t get stuck along the way in some good paying job that you come to hate because it pays the bills but isn’t fulfilling and robs you of your well-deserved joy.

I hate to see people unhappy in their work.

Life is too short to work in misery. Each of us is called to do something of purpose in life and once we discover it, the work brings joy to the soul.

So many books, so little time…

Rhea!
who thinks every boy should have the experience of driving – or owning - a backhoe

http://www.RealEstateDays.com

Finding Your Vision - in Your Business and Your Life

As the Get Your Year In Gear class that I teach reaches it’s second week, some participants seem to hit a wall. I’ve asked them to create a vision for where they want to be in their life and their business (using the techniques in my previous post) and they simply don’t think they HAVE a vision. (One reader made a comment about that last week.)

I believe we all have a vision tucked deep down inside of us - we just need to do some excavation work to uncover it:)

The first step in this is figuring out where to dig. I have two suggestions that really help determine where your heart’s vision resides:

1) Three 15 minute walks this week. Here are the requirements for this walk: no ipod or walkman and no companions to talk to. This is not a walk about exercise either. This is a 15 minute walk to observe the world around you. Notice what captures your attention, what draws your eye. Don’t judge whether it should or shouldn’t - just notice it. You can even do this in a store like Target - notice what makes you say “hmm…..i like that” or “oooo….I want to look at that or smell that or listen to that or touch that.” Your only job is to observe what interests you.

2) Pull out that stack of magazine. Again - this is a 15 minute exercise. As fast as you can, go through those magazines and rip out the images that immediately speak to you. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know why; doesn’t matter whether they should or shouldn’t. Just rip them out. Do this at least 3 times.

Now, pull together what you observed about your interests in the first exercise along with the images you pulled out of the magazines. Look for commonalities. Look for themes. Look for colors. Our inner selves “speak” in images - and the clues you’ve assembled have much to say to you about where you want to go.

If this kind of conversation is interesting to you, check out my next Get Your Year In Gear class that starts April 3: http://www.directsellingleaders.com/gyyig.html.

Love & Success!
Sarah

Podcasting Alphabet Soup: D, E & F

Continuing on through the Podcasting Alphabet…

D is for Demand

Before you launch a new podcast you should do market research to determine if demand exists for content on your topic of interest.  Generally, if there are books, magazines and websites built around the topic, a podcast has a good chance of attracting listeners as word spreads.

E is for Editing

Try as you might to do everything right the first time, you will have audio quirks and verbal flubs to clean up in the editing process.  I don’t believe that you have to remove every ‘um’ and ‘ah’ from your speech, but repetitive ‘filler’ sounds are quite annoying for listeners and should be taken out.  Volume disparity between you and a guest (one of you being louder than the other) should be corrected.  If you recorded with the telephone you may also have some background humm or buzz to remove or your guest may have had to pause to take care of an unexpected intrusion.  Do take the time to do a good job of editing your podcast audio.  It is worth the effort to present the best audio you can as listeners can forgive an occasional audio issue but will soon grow tired of having to work so hard to listen to your content.

E is for Energy

Your listeners will sense your level of energy and excitement when they listen to you.  Make sure that you sound awake and enthusiastic when you record your shows.  Nobody wants to listen to someone who sounds down in the dumps or tired.  One trick to make sure that you sound alert and happy is to have a mirror to look into as you speak.  Note your expression.  If you look bored, you will sound bored.  If you look cheerful and bright, you will keep their attention longer.   If you are tired or feeling sluggish - just don’t record!  No show is better than a bad one.

F is for Fun

Have fun and be fun!  Your listeners will recommend you more and come back every week when they enjoy the time they spend listening to your program.  You may have a podcast dedicated to a pretty serious topic but you can still open or close the show on a light note.  Don’t be afraid of a little levity and humor.

Have a D, E or F idea to add?  Use the comment form below :)

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