Since we are on the subject of blogs and I just gave you a link to an extensive list of awesome mom blogs to check out I thought I would tie today’s lesson into the subject of marketing by “guest blogging”.  We have discussed this marketing tactic a few months ago but since this is such an effective way of getting your name and message out to your target market I wanted to follow up on this marketing tool again.  Guest Blogging is a great marketing tool for several reasons.  One reason is that when you do a blog post on someone else’s blog you are expanding your reach to other’s that you might not normally be in contact with — and the second reason is you are also building effective and relevant back links to your website by providing a link back to your website within the guest post.

There are a few strategies to follow when implementing guest blogging as a marketing tool for your business that you will want to follow.  The first thing is to find other blogs that are relevant to your market, there is no use guest blogging on a motorcycle blog if you sell children’s clothes.  Make sure the blogs that you seek out are relevant to your niche market.  The next thing is to start to build a relationship with the blog’s owner in some form before you request to post on their blog.  It’s just like any other relationship you build–you need to form a relationship of some kind–whether through twitter -retweeting their tweets, through posting helpful comments on their blog, or by emailing them and telling them how much of a fan you are of their work.  Don’t just expect every blog you are interested in to offer you a chance to post something on their site–remember their website is sacred to them, an important part of their business and livelyhood and you will most likely have to earn their trust before they allow you to be a part of their sacred space.  So start to build a relationship with them first and then work on the guest blogging opportunity.  One helpful tip is to find other related bloggers in some of the communities/forums you are already involved with–if you are involved in these communities you most likely already have relationships built that will be beneficial for this strategy. (if you are looking for a great forum to join I suggest this one)

Add guest blogging to your marketing strategy as soon as possible and believe me you will start to see results.  For more helpful information on guest blogging check out the Blog Tour Guide offered by Nicole Dean.  She has some awesome tips and ideas in this guide and this is how I got started with my guest blogging.

If you have a blog that is related to the internet marketing niche or a mom blog that may compliment The Marketing Momma Blog or my Barefoot Bella blog and you are interested in exchanging guest blogging with me please contact me to discuss it further.  I am always interested in having guest bloggers to contribute to my site and vice versa.

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

PS Disclaimer:  The link in this blog post is an affiliate link and if you decide to purchase from it I will make a small commission.  Thanks!  Just remember I only recommend products that I use myself and feel would be beneficial to you and your business!

Back Links are a very important factor in your marketing strategy for many reasons.  The most important reasons are simple:  one – the more relevant back links you have pointing to your website the more importance google gives your site, and two -  the more relevant backlinks you have pointing to your site the more likely your potential customer will find you through one of those links.

Think of it as roadmap –if there are no roads leading to your store then how is anyone going to visit it.  Also if there are roads leading there but there is no clear relevant path like a map people will just be finding it randomly ~ and how effective do you think random is going to be on your bottom line.  As I hoped you noticed I said “relevant” several times in the above sentences ~ that is one of the keys to a successful back linking strategy.  Let me clarify what I mean more below by giving you some examples of the correct way to implement a back linking strategy.

There are several ways you can build back links including directory submissions, blog commenting, forum posts with your link in the signature line, blog posts on your own blog and other people’s blogs, submitting articles with a link to your site in the resource box, submitting press releases with a link to your website, submitting video, Creating Squidoo lens with a link to your site, Posts on Social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Linked in(which by the way are great for back links due to their high page rank), bookmarking, and so on.  To create a successful back link campaign you should try to incorporate several if not all of these strategies into your campaign on a daily basis.  But the key to all of this work is still how “relevant” you make your link.

Relevant back links mean the link pointing to your site has a relevant subject in relation to what your site is about.  So as an example if I am trying to rank well in the search engines for “girls clothes” at my children’s boutique then when I am building backlinks to my website I want my links to be about girls clothes.  So when I submit to a directory I want to use the keyword “girls clothes” as my title because in directory submissions the title becomes the active link.  When I submit an article about girls clothes to an article directory when I write my resource box I want to have a link with the anchor text of the keyword “girls clothes” pointing to my website.  And you want to repeat this process for any of the links you are working on for that particular keyword ~ making sure your active link has the keyword in it usually in the way of anchor text if possible so google and your potential customer knows what type of content that link will be leading them to on your website.

So now that you have the basics of how back links are relevant to your seo and marketing campaign you will need to set up a plan on how you will consistently build relevant back links to your site everyday if possible.  A quick and easy way to find some great back links that you can work on building every day is by using a program like 5000backlinks created by Lynn Terry and Paul Short.  Having a program like this simplifies the process and saves you a ton of time, time that you could be spending with your family and enjoying yourself!

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

The Marketing Momma

PS Disclaimer:  The link in this blog post is an affiliate link and if you decide to purchase from it I will make a small commission.  Thanks!  Just remember I only recommend products that I use myself and feel would be beneficial to you and your business!

This strategy will give you the focus you need to pinpoint your daily marketing to save you time, money, and frustration.

Focus is the key!  Once you know your focus the rest will come easy.

Your Focus 5 Marketing Strategy

1. Who is your target market? The worst thing you can do in business is to try to be everything to everybody.  In order to be successful you need to determine who you are selling to and why.  Once you know that, you can focus all of your marketing to the exact people that are interested in what you have to offer.  Focus on the people who want want you have — and yes I’m sorry not everybody wants it — so you need to find out who does.
2. What is your USP? Determine your unique selling point — why would your target customer want to buy from you and not one of the other businesses that offer a similar service or product.  Why are you different from your competitors — or why are you the same as your customer?  How can you relate to your target customer to make them like, know, and trust you enough to buy from you?
3. How are you going to get in front of your target market? Where does your target market spend their time?  Forums, social media groups, blogs, local events?  Find out where they are hanging out and become active, helpful, and visible in those places.
4. What problem are you going to solve for them? You need to find out what your target client needs and wants and then provide it for them.  How are you going to help them?  How do you find this out?  Well—just ask them!
5. What type of product or service are you going to provide to solve their problem? Now that you know what your target market needs and wants, where to find them , and why you are the right person to provide it to them — provide it to them.

Now that you have the step by step Focus 5 strategy make a plan on how you are going to execute this strategy within your own business.  Go through each step and develop your marketing strategy based on the answer to those 5 questions.

To Your Success!

Kate Wiber

The Marketing Momma

There are so many online marketing tactics available to use that sometimes you can feel like you are running in place trying to keep up with all of them.  Information overload is the number 1 reason why most aspiring internet entrepreneurs fail — so don’t fall victim to this — make sure you have your system in place.

Today I wanted to share with you a quick little system to get the most from your marketing content that will save you time and money.

If you have been marketing online for long then I’m sure you have heard the phrase “Content is King”.  So with that in mind one of the best ways to build a profitable business online is to provide good quality content and to get that content in front of your target market as much as possible.  So here are 6 quick steps to take to create content and massively expose it to your market.

1. Write an informative keyword rich article that will help your target market in some way. (or if you aren’t a writer yourself — outsource it)
2. Submit that article to ezinearticles.com with a keyword rich anchor text resource box.
3. Once the article is approved on ezine use a website marketing tool to distribute your content to several other article directories.
4. Then take that same great information and create a helpful and informative blog post on your blog.
5. Then talk about your blog post with a link to it on the social networks you are actively involved in.
6. You can also bookmark the blog post using a service like socialmarker.com.

When you create great content don’t be afraid to spread that content around as much as possible throughout your internet properties, in doing this you are not only providing quality information to your readers and your potential customers but you are also building important back links that will in turn provide you better exposure with good search engine rankings.

To your success!

Kate Wilber

PS Disclaimer:  The link in this blog post is an affiliate link and if you decide to purchase from it I will make a small commission.  Thanks!  Just remember I only recommend products that I use myself and feel would be beneficial to you and your business!

1. Do a blog post giving 10 tips about a topic related to your target market.
2. Create a short video using a free service like animoto.com featuring some of your best products.
3. Tweet a discount code that your Twitter followers can use at your business or website.
4. Tell your friends at Facebook an interesting fact about your business or niche.
5. Send an email to your existing customer list about an upcoming sale using a service like aweber.com.
6. Submit your site to 5 online directories a day in the appropriate category for your business using a targeted keyword for your title (creates great backlinks and gets your name out there)
7. Create a Squidoo lens focusing on fascinating facts about your company’s background, products, and or services.
8. Use a free service like socialmarker.com to bookmark your favorite webpages about your company.
9. Write and submit an interesting and informative article about a topic your target market is interested in to ezinearticles.com.
10. Create and submit a press release to webwire.com about something new and exciting going on in your business.

10 simple marketing steps that you can do right now for free online to get your business noticed.  Get started today!

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

Here are a few quick tips that will get you started in the right direction to using Twitter effectively and efficiently for your business.

1. Create (or have one created for you) a custom background for your Twitter account.  This will help brand yourself and your business to your Twitter followers and potential customers or clients.
2. Use a personal picture for your profile pic — this is social media — so make sure you are being social by letting your followers get to know you in a personal and social way –what better way to do this then portraying a pretty smiling face for your profile picture.
3. Update several times daily — Twitter likes activity — the more active you are the more successful you will be with your use of Twitter (just remember not to get sucked in for too long of periods at a time –schedule it, do it, and then get out of there and stay productive.
4. Find relevant quotes that you can use that are relevant to your niche that your followers may enjoy (people love interesting quotes).  This also helps you keep your account active without having to tell everyone every tiny little thing you do all day long –but you are keeping them interested and active.
5. Use Twitterfeed.com to automate some of your posts by updating your Twitter account with relevant blog posts that you have created on your blog or even someone elses blog that is relevant to your niche and would be interesting to your followers.
6. Make things easy and efficient for yourself when using Twitter by utilizing free and helpful tools that can keep you productive and organized — here are a few to check out Socialoomph.com and Hootesuite.com both are great and very helpful in your Social Media Marketing Strategy.

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

PS Disclaimer:  The link in this blog post is an affiliate link and if you decide to purchase from it I will make a small commission.  Thanks!  Just remember I only recommend products that I use myself and feel would be beneficial to you and your business!

To help you get started here are 5 top FREE social media sites that every business owner should be using in some way or form.

1. Twitter:  When used correctly (meaning don’t just sell, sell, sell) this tool can be a great lead generating tool and even a sales machine in itself. (Follow me http://www.twitter.com/MommaMarketing)
2. Facebook:  Wow– a potential market of over 350 million users –I’m sure somewhere in that massive amount of people you can find potential customers to build a relationship with. (We can be friends at http://www.facebook.com/TheMarketingMomma)
3. YouTube:  Now the second largest search engine in line behind google itself (also owned by google) A great way to build a brand for yourself and let people really get to know you and your business. (Check out my Barefoot Bella channel featuring new products for the upcoming Spring season http://www.YouTube.com/4BarefootBella)
4. LinkedIn:  A great place to network with other business owners and show what your business has to offer.  Make connections and build relationships. (Make a connection with me @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/themarketingmomma)
5. Squidoo:  You can use squidoo to showcase what you know.  Create a page about your business, your favorite hobby, a new product you are offering, you name it and there is a possibility for a Squidoo Lens creation.(Here is an example of a Lens I did for the new spring girls outfits now available at my Boutique http://www.squidoo.com/girlsoutfits)

Always remember when using social media to use the 80/20 rule.  80% personal interest and building relationships and 20% business.  Nobody wants to be blasted with promotion after promotion — your main purpose of social media is to build a relationship with people, offer helpful information, and to stay connected with what’s going on in your field of interests.

Lets start building a better relationship now — go ahead and become my friend, follow me, and make a connection.  I would love to get to know you and your business better!

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

There are so many things that factor into the reasons why or why not your website will rank well in the search engines.  Some of them only google knows and you could spend your life trying to figure it out — but don’t waste your time — because there are some things that we know for sure will affect how well your website will rank and that’s what you should focus your efforts on.  Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.  Find out what is already known to work and then go full force with that.

The correct use of backlinks is a website strategy that you want to learn, understand, and spend sometime everyday working on.  It is a well known fact that the more links you have pointing to your website the more importance google and the other search engines give to your site.

A few tips to remember when building backlinks to your site are:

1. The more relevant the link has to do with your niche the better
2. Use targeted keywords for your backlink if possible
3. The higher the page rank of the site that is linking to you the more relevance google will give it
4. Try to get at least 8-10 backlinks a day
5. Your backlink campaign can include directories, blog commenting, forum posts, sites like .gov and .edu, advertisements on other sites, reciprocal linking, articles, press releases, and social media
6. Stay consistent and do a few each day and before you now it you will have 1000’s of links pointing to your website and ranking well in the search engines — Taking action each day is the key to success!

A tool that I have found to be helpful for my backlinking campaign is called 5000 Backlinks

Building links to your website can be a time consuming task – that’s why having a tool to make it easier is a necessity.  This tool not only will save you time it will also make it more likely for you to stay consistent with your efforts because it makes it easy.  Speaking from my own experience — once I found this tool my backlinking campaign increased by 10 x’s my normal efforts — because now it is fast and easy.  And if you are anything like me anything that can make my life simpler is what I need and want!

To your success!

Kate Wilber

PS Disclaimer:  The link in this blog post is an affiliate link and if you decide to purchase from it I will make a small commission.  Thanks!  Just remember I only recommend products that I use myself and feel would be beneficial to you and your business!

Wow am I glad I did—because it has made such a huge impact on me and my business success this year that you can’t even imagine.

The event that I attended was somewhat related to my online boutique — it was an internet marketing training event — it didn’t really give me much advice on how to run an online boutique — it wasn’t really about that.  At the time I was thinking of starting this blog and wanted to expand my business into consulting and training other people all that I had learned over the past few years running a business online.  I had seen so many other people have the same struggles that I did when I first started out and I really wanted to provide a place of valid helpful information that I knew worked and that others needed.  So I decided to go to a live event where I could meet other like minded individuals that were working towards similar goals and see what I could learn along the way. What a great decision that was for me!

Since that first live event — I have attended several other events this year — all of them have given me some great knowledge but to be honest with you the best thing that I got out of all of them is the connections I have made with other people in my field. Making those connections has taken my business to a whole new level.

The reason I am sharing these insights with you today is to just encourage you to take that leap—take some time this year to find a live event that is related to your business interests, go to it and don’t be shy, network and meet others, make friends, learn from them, and grow your business not in a box — but out of your shell, out of your comfort zone — and believe me you won’t be sorry.

The next live event I am attending is coming up soon.  I can’t wait to attend — for the networking — and the awesome content that is going to be provided.  If you are looking for a live event or awesome training event for building a business online then you will want to check out this one.

If you decide to go make sure you let me now so we can connect while we are there!

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber

There are several ways to achieve targeted traffic but one of the key things that most people miss when focusing on traffic is consistency. There are so many different ways to drive traffic to your website that sometimes people get overwhelmed or distracted trying out every tactic and they never focus on one thing long enough to make a difference.

Here is a quick list of a few online business tools that you can use to drive traffic to your site.

1. SEO
2. Article Writing
3. Press Releases
4. Web 2.0
5. Video Marketing
6. Link Building
7. Blog Posting
8. Paid Advertising
9. Bookmarking
10. Affiliates

Those are just a few of the ways to drive traffic to your site.  It’s no wonder people have a hard time staying consistent with their marketing — this is a lot of work and each marketing tactic should be done in a certain way to make a real difference — so if you aren’t knowledgeable in how all of these methods work — it is a lot to learn also.

I know how much work staying consistent with these marketing tactics can be and how much there is to learn when applying them correctly so that is why I created a solution.

The Easy Monthly Marketing Package

If you need some help with generating targeted traffic to your website on a consistent basis this is the package for you.  It is an easy solution at a great price.  Take a look at what is offered in this package and see if it is something that would be helpful to you and your business.  Outsourcing is not for everyone but if you need more time to focus on other aspects of your business or you just need a little jump start to your marketing plan this might be just what you have been looking for.

To Your Success!

Kate Wilber