My guess is as good as yours on the economy in 2009.  OK, maybe your guess is better than mine, but this is my blog, not yours.

Many businesses have cut back on marketing over the last year or more.  Many reports show that investing in marketing during an economic downturn is a great investment.  But I am not going to beat that drum – if you are short on cash you have to do what you have to do.

But if you live in the North – as I do – you know what a Spring Thaw looks like.  The day seems like Summer even though it is 38 degrees because of what you are used to.  And the water starts slowly dripping off then end of the icicles.

With some positive things in the news about the economy, it is like that first day of thaw.  There will still be more cold snaps and it is certainly not Summer yet, but good things are on the way.

Which brings me to your marketing.  If you did cut back on marketing for a while, now is the time to really think about increasing your visibility again.  As soon as people feel like the worst is over, they are going to splurge a little bit because they have been holding back for a long time.

Our new Inbound Marketing product is going so well that I have already begun to spend a little more than I was spending.  I even visited a new restaurant (new to me) because of their marketing – I’d really cut back on eating out for a while.

Sure, my new found optimism is related to a new marketing product – but that new product is the result of the economy.  We were forced to look at simplifying our offer and creating the highest value possible.

Marketing is not a situation where you want to jump in after everyone else is in there.  You want to be early and stand out in people’s minds.  Today is the optimal time to pump up your marketing.  If you are interested in online visibility, request our demo of how to make it easier for buyers to find you.

If that is not right for you, then find what is right.  Now is the time.

It is popular to talk about social media, influentials and Web 2.0. But does that mean the old school marketing has stopped working?

No, it means that there are more ways to reach people and depending on your target market, you have more options that all may be less effective than in the past when there were fewer options (and more people condensed into fewer communication channels.)

Here are some old school marketing techniques that still work.

1. Press Releases – When it used to be really read by the press, it was appropriate to call it a press release.  Now I would call it a news broadcast.  I do not believe a press release will usually find any major writers but I do think that you are going to get some good exposure and good back links to your website.  Also, if you focus on a niche or use the more expensive services you may still hit some great media outlets.
2. Email – Way more attention seems to be given to social media than email marketing.  However, email marketing will still generate a lot more money for you.  It is an essential part of your marketing and if you bought the whole Email is Dead crap, you jumped on the wrong bandwagon.  I make most of my money from email and SEO.
3. SEO – Search Engine Optimization is not the new hot thing, but if there is one area that is actually using social media well, it is the people that get how SEO and Social Media tie in together.  The key with SEO is that if you are in a tight target niche with little competition, you can probably pay for a one time project and reap the rewards for a long time.  If you are in an even slightly competitive market, you need someone that goes to war on your behalf every month to increase ranking and get more pages indexed.
4. Old Websites – Do you have one of those old websites sitting around that looks like late 90′s and does date back to then?  Don’t touch it without talking to a professional!  The age of your website is very valuable and the pages should not be changed unless you have someone that can look at your ranking first.  I updated one of these old sites after some research and got fantastic results within 3 days – I am talking #1 rankings where a lot of other people were fighting for it.  These old sites have great credibility in the eyes of search engines and can be ignited by a good search engine specialist.
5. Directories – Things like directories seem out of date, but getting listed in a good directory still gives you a valuable back-link and can generate a steady (if not huge) stream of traffic.  Some of my favorite are technorati and blogcatalog – but the older (less shiny) ones are still effective if you get into them too.
6. Link Exchanges – These things have a bad name, and anything that automates the process I would stay away from.  However, doing an occasional link exchange with someone else in your industry will help – not hurt – your website.  If link exchanges actually hurt websites, most blogs with blog rolls would be thrown out of Google long ago since they often link to each other.  This is one of those things that still works, you just have to be smart about it.
7. Word of Mouth – The oldest of the old school marketing is the new cool.  Finding ways to get people to talk about you are the holy grail of cutting through the clutter.  But it may just not work for you – you really have to be differentiated.

Dead Marketing – Some things are really gone

Yes, there are some marketing techniques that are really gone.  Do not do the following -

• Pass out your audio book on 8 track tape.
• SPAM – Does anyone fall for that now?
• Dressing up as a gorilla and selling encyclopedias door to door – OK, this still works but don’t do it.

Most things will still work with good execution and message.  Just be realistic about how people’s attention has scattered.  You need to scatter your message where your niche market is to make sure they can find you.  But that does not mean you throw the old school marketing in the garbage.

If you have ever tried working with virtual assistants, you know that it is hit or miss.  You have to treat it just as carefully as hiring an actual employee.  You also have to cut the relationship if your gut tells you that things are not going to your liking and you have provided clear directions and expected outcomes.

Getting a Marketing Virtual Assistant – a VA that has been trained in Internet Marketing will increase your odds of success.  Here are 7 tips for better web results with a Virtual Assistant.  You will not like these, because they all involve more work for you.  But get over it and get your marketing plan done in advance of hiring your Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant.

1. Hire 2 or 3 Virtual Marketing Assistants for small projects and test which one does the best job.
2. Either write a detailed, step by step description of how to do the tasks you want done, or provide a video that serves as a  virtual assistant training video.  There is no arguing with clearly documented directions.
3. Set specific deadlines.  For example, do not say you want the Virtual Assistant to write 5 unique blog posts in May.  Instead, state that each Friday the Virtual Assistant needs to mail you the link and keywords targeted for that particular blog post of the week – by noon your time.  Also include a summary of how the last weeks blog post is now ranked for the keywords targeted.
4. Keep talking to your Virtual Assistant.  Do not set them loose and forget about them.  If you want to keep them you need to make them feel like an important part of the team.
5. Do not believe Virtual Assistant resumes – Just like job applicants, people often exaggerate skills and likely outcomes.  If the Virtual Assistant does not live up to how they sold themselves, move on quickly.
6. Expect to get what you pay for.  More than any other position, Virtual Assistants pay rates vary from a couple of dollars and hour to several hundred dollars an hour.  If you go for a cheap virtual assistant, be ready to do more training and management.
7. Treat exceptional Virtual Assistants like gold.  Just like any profession, you have some people that are far and away better than average and if they are motivated, making you money and exceeding your expectations, show them you care.  Send them a gift certificate, a bonus, a card, flowers – and if you are sure you are not going to need them full time, send your exceptional virtual assistant referrals.

Find exceptional Virtual Marketing Assistants.

There are a lot of ways to measure success.  I have had three big successes this week, and thought I would share them to help you think about your successes.

#1: Alltop Virtual Assistant Blog

Our Virtual Buzz Assistant blog has been recognized as a leading Virtual Assistant Resource by Alltop.com.  This is a big success because it will generate much higher traffic and higher online respect, which translates into better SEO and a bigger audience.

#2: iLearning Global

Despite the fact that it is an MLM, I decided to join and promote this great product.  I joined Monday night, and by Wednesday I’d started appearing on Google in the #10 slot, 1st page, for the search iLearning Global.  I revamped an existing site that we were not doing much with.  Liquid Learning, which is our parent company.

#3: Marketing Mastery Advisory Board

Last night was the second meeting of my Akron area Marketing Mastery Advisory Board.  After the first meeting a month ago, one of the members went back after a discussion within the group on Google PPC and revised is campaigns to be profit oriented.  After only one meeting he is now saving over $1,000 per month and increasing his results.  I measure my success by how much I help other people succeed, and this was great to hear.

Did you have some big successes recently?  Go ahead and share them below.

As you probably know, I started a Virtual Marketing Assistant network that trains virtual assistants in internet marketing.  But more than half the members of the network are not virtual assistants.  They are consulting professionals that are happy to help with internet marketing tasks.

The reason that you want to request a free interent marketing quote from the network is because you are going to get more results for less money.  If you go after a specialist, you will pay specialist rates.  If you go after an assistant, you will get quotes from specialists that are looking for some internet marketing work and want will work at a lower rate because they know they are competing with other virtual assistants that can do internet marketing.

Here are some of the tasks the Virtual Marketing Assistants can do:

• Affiliate Management
• Blog Writing
• Blog Commenting
• Social Media Exposure
• Online Advocacy (Contacting bloggers and asking them to write about your product)
• Article Writing and submission
• Website updates
• Podcasts, Video

And there is a virtual marketing assistant there that can do just about any virual internet marketing task you need.  Since it does not cost anything to submit your project, why not go see if there is someone that can help you out?

A Blog Writer is one of the best things your business can do with a virtual assistant.

However, blog writing skills are as diverse as hiring someone that is in construction.

Do you need a handy man to repair your shed?  Or do you need a construction crew to build your garage?

Blog writing is just as diverse.  Before you start shopping for a Virtual Assistant Blog Writer, begin by understanding what your goals are.  Here are some possible goals for a business blog.

1. Provide news and industry information – people come back frequently to the blog.
2. Get great search engine traffic for your keywords and generate leads.
3. Lock down additional slots in search engines to control your brand identity better.
4. Create buzz and linking to the blog with great link bait articles.

All four of these are good goals, and they can all happen to some extent, but it is a lot of work to do these things well.  For example, if you want good keyword written blog posts, you need to do research, measure the results you get and maybe do minor rewrites over time to improve performance.

Writing good link bait articles could take days of research and writing.  You would not expect a cheap blog writer to be able to produce that kind of article.

What are your Blog Writing Goals?

To get the most out of hiring a virtual assistant that is a blog copywriter, you need to understand what the goals are and craft your interview questions accordingly.  Here are some sample questions.

1. What tools have you use to do keyword research before writing a blog post?
2. What is your strategy for writing headlines and explain why?
3. Show some examples of link bait articles you have written.  (You can then measure the number of links to that page to see how successful it is)
4. Send me a link to a post you wrote that had target keywords and tell me what those keywords are.
5. How do you handle writers block?
6. How do you work?  If I want 10 blog posts per month, how would you produce them?

These blog writer interview questions are going to eliminate 90% or more of the potential writer (unless they are trying to BS you) because most blog writers are not writing with a clear strategy and do not know how to do many of these things effectively.  They see blog writing as just writing a few paragraphs to keep the blog current.  That is fine if you are not expecting much out of the blog, but you can get better results with a blog writing strategy and serious writing with a trained professional.

Once you hire a good virtual assistant blog writer, be sure to pay them well and treat them very well.  While there are lots of virtual assistants available, getting one that is a good blog copywriter that can produce great results is very special.

This weekend two very nice things happended.

#1 We went from Google Page Rank 5 to Google Page Rank 7

#2 I moved the wordpress blog to a new server with upgrades of all the software.

You are probably looking at it and thinking nothing has changed, but from my end a lot has.

I just thought I would pose a question that I have been thinking about lately.

Are you letting your skills limit you?

It is easy to say, “I am a marketer, that is what I am good at.” But are you something because you are good at it?

What were you good at in High School? Are you that now?

• I rocked in fast food, but I let the career opportunity slip away.

What were you good at in College?

• I was an excellent waiter and bartender in college. Ahhh, those were the days.

What was your first job after college?

• I quickly proved my technology skills and moved to the top of a small technology consulting firm. Eventually coding other people’s stuff just made me tired.

What was your first big deal success?

• At Ernst & Young I become a Benchmark Analyst and was billed out at $250 an hour. And I knew so much less back then!

When did you stray from the expected path?

• As a Professor of English in the University of Guadalajara, I had a blast. Too bad being a professor in the US is a bit more work.

What are you best at today?

• Now I find myself being a medley of experiences and skills. Marketing, Technology, Training, Speaking, Consulting….

…..But what is next? What is next for you? Are you taking your skills to a new level or are you thinking about trying something completely new? If you think that your skills define you, you are letting your skills limit you.

I am trying a little experiment with my email list and blog.

I like to do experiments with marketing to see what works. This week I am doing a special experiment to see what happens.

I am a parent, and we spend money and do fun things on our kids birthdays, but not really on our own. I am guessing I am not the only one like that out there.

So in about 1 week I turn 40-something.

I decided to package three things together and make them insanely low priced.

Then I would offer it for one day only and whatever I make will be what I spend on this unwelcome day.

If I sell a few things, maybe we will go to the movies.

If I sell 1,000, I will go to the beach. It could happen – I don’t know how many of you will want to take advantage of $20 off of a $29 3-pack of Marketing eBooks.

The 3-pack includes:

- Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing – a PDF of the published book.

- Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Strategy Guide – PDF worksheets to improve your buzz stories.

- How to Look Smart, Important and Attractive Online – PDF on personal branding.

Coupon Code: bday – $20 off of the $29 cost.

Click Here

The coupon expires at11:59 PM on Sept 23rd.

Keep an eye on the Buzzoodle Blog later in the week and I will let you know what happens. I am not sure I will ever offer those three things for $9 again, so if you have been on the fence, this is a good time to jump down and buy.

As always, thanks for reading.

Ron

I recently had an article published in the New Writer’s Handbook.  It was about how to make money with your blog.

The interesting thing about this is that it was just a blog post I did a while back.  They approached me and I made money with my blog because they paid for the article rights and I also got great publicity by being in a wonderful book with a lot of great writers.

If you read that past article, you will see why it applealed to them.  If you are wondering How to make money blogging, you have to realize the  answer is diverse.

I have made money directly from my blog in the following areas:

• Book Sales
• eBook Sales
• Consulting
• Speaking Fees
• Membership Dues
• Article Sales – as in this example of the article making it into a book.
• Affiliate Links
• Reviews (I do not do paid reviews, but I sometimes mention clients as part of the broader effort)
•  Web hosting sales via our reseller opportunity.
• Affiliate Members
• Plus great JV opportunities that eventually lead to making money from the blog.

That does not even include all the great free PR and visibility we get.

You really need to make money blogging if you want to be able to justify the time and effort it takes to do a good job.  And if you want a good income blogging, find many different revenue steams and cultivate them.