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.

This post, Web Marketing Nonprofit Organizations is written by guest writer Hans Strock.

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Non-profit organizations need marketing, and luckily for them, it can be done online for less. It just takes some time to develop. Here are some things charity and non-profit groups can do to spread the word. We’ll Use African United Partnerships for these examples.

1. Start a blog. Yes, this is obvious, but the way you craft it really counts here. To be really effective, talk about what you are doing. Tell stories about what is going on. Most importantly though, show the results that donations are doing. Keep it positive and show people that their donation money is being put to good work, and to make them feel good about helping out.
2. Fundable.com. This site is totally dedicated to fund raising. It allows users to set a timeline and dollar amount for your cause. Its quick and easy to use, to boot. The only thing to be aware of is that if you don’t meet your goal within the deadline set no money gets donated at all. If you are confident you can make it though, this is a great, easy tool to use. For an example of this, check out the page for African United Partnerships .
3. Squidoo. This was originally started for charity groups, so this should be a no brainer. You can eve submit your group to be added to their list of charity/non-profit groups. This means that any user creating a lens can have a portion of any profits made on it go to your group. Be sure to join groups to take advantage of this. Once again, check out the lens from African United Partnerships to see how it’s done.
4. Blog Networks. Once you start a blog be sure to claim it on a blogging community like MyBlogLog.com and BlogCatalog.com. Be sure to follow other blogs here to grab their attention as well.

5. Mingle. Don’t just build these things and sit on it. Talk to people! Read other blogs and comment on them. Send them emails with helpful things. Make them see you as valuable. When the time comes, they will return the favor.

6. Main Site. Make sure you have a professional looking main site that details your cause well. Also, make sure there is a very clear, easy way to donate. It doesn’t help to get people rallied for your cause, but be confused on how to help. Here, we see that AUP (http://africanunitedpartnerships.org) has a professional looking site with big donate buttons on every page.

The important thing to note is that you really have to focus with these and take the time to cultivate them. Use the powerful social aspect of these tools to build links and relationships with other people. It is also important that you look professional. People want to make sure their money is going to a good cause. Leverage the power of relationship building combined with good design on your sites to build that trust and audience. The web has some powerful methods of reaching people around the world. Take advantage of it to spread the word.

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.

Content Rich

by Jon Wuebben

I just received a copy of Content Rich by Jon Wuebben in the mail.  I read it nealy cover to cover the first day.

It is important to keep in mind that I also produce a bit on content on the web, so some of this stuff I already know.

But I believe that this is mandatory reading for anyone that wants to get more results from the interent.  I really wish that all of my clients would read this before I started working with them.  Then they would have a clearer idea of why we spend less time on blinking graphics and more time on killer content.

Jon does a great job of hitting all the key areas chapter by chapter.  He includes clear examples and it is fun to see how he works.  Personally, I think the one chapter he spends on blogging should have been a bit more comprehensive.  I strongly believe that there is a limited need to even have a traditional website.  A well designed blog will do everything he is mentioning, but he is still talking about blogs and websites like there is a big difference.

Content Rich boils down to this:  How do you write content that is good for people and for search engines, and what places should you publish the content.   If you are already a search engine guru, you will most likely not get a great deal more out of this.  But if your full time job is anything other than writing on the web in seo friendly ways, then you really must get this book and learn more about it.

OK, getting on this great list may not qualify as really making the team.  I think it is more of a metaphor.

I feel especially honors to be part of this list because of the comment from Buzz Canuck:

Unlike some of the social media- and tech dedicated marketing and media bloggers, these broad-minded bloggers and company heads (below) have distinguished themselves by helping visitors understand how ideas spread, online and offline, through a range of different strategies and tactics and each recognizes the importance of having brands getting noticed, talked about and advocated in a 2.0 world.

In my opinion, they are much closer to explaining the purpose and benefits of a range of new media, web 2.0, co-creation, social networks and other web, cultural and social phenomenon.

He gets it.  It is not just about the cool tools, its about getting people to care enough to talk about you.  Thanks Sean.

CMS stands for Content Management System.  It is what us tech oriented people say when we are talking about software that allows non-tech people to manage their website effectively.

WordPress is the industry standard software for running a blog.  It is also a CMS.

Blogs are not different from websites.  They are just a certain publishing philosophy.  Many CMS’s have built blogs into their cms.  And now, I would argue that WordPress has become a top cms itself.

I released a new site last week, Marketing Mastery Advisory Board.  It uses wordpress and looks less like a blog than many other sites.  There are a lot of great themes out there that you only have to customize.

Even when I talk now, I tell peoople not to call them blogs.  It has a certain connotation that it is less serious (to the unblogeducated).

If you are setting up a website for anything, you have to look at what you want to accomplish.  WordPress is not the easiest, but it is not bad to use for non-tech.  And it gets great search engine results if configured properly and you know how to write with search engines in mind.

The reasons I would not use WordPress is to create an online community or as an ecommerce site where I was going to have a lot of products.  Otherwise, it is an excellent, cheap cms for you that gets great results.

No, this is not about co-dependency and relationships.

I have had the experience recently of several situations where people kept paying money because they were afraid of losing what they had, even though they were not using it to the full extent.  This is interesting if you think about it.  Can you offer some kind of preferred membership that keeps a reoccuring revenue coming in that people will not want to lose?

Example #1

Cell Phones  – I found that I was not using all my minutes every month and I’d banked many thousands of minutes.  I could change plans, but I would lose most of my banked minutes.  Even though I was never using those minutes, I was also afraid to give them up – I’d already paid for them.  Finally I did make the switch – but many months after I should have.

Example #2

New Pricing – I just got off the phone with a guy that has an aWeber account.  He is still on their old pricing plan even though they have increased the price.  He will probably never change the plan or cancel it because he now feels like he has a fantastic deal.

Example #3

I was in a blog publishing network where I could publish articles to thousands of blogs.  I liked the service and I thought some of my clients might find it useful, but to pay what I was paying just for me was not worth it.  So I thought about it for months and finally did cancel it.  But I was afraid of losing it because I kept thinking that a client might want it, and the group was closed for new members.

In all of those cases, you can see that people were paying for something that they did not want to stop having but could also not really justify as an expense.   It is just food for thought.  Is there a way to make people afraid of losing your service?

I have talked about the importance of providing value to people before.  If you are not providing remarkable value, why would you expect people to buzz about you?

If you are providing life-changing value, you get into the realm of Debt and the Law of Reciprocation.

Basically, it states that if you provide exceptional value to someone, they will feel in debt to you and be happy to spend money with you.  This has roots in general networking strategies (helping other people is the best way to network) and in sales (free trial).

There is a broader impact I would like to talk about here.  The Law of Reciprocation works very well, often with a simple email.  And the buzz it creates can be big.

I sent a private email to my list about a month ago.  It was the very personal story of how I have lost over 50 lb and the amazingly easy way I did it.  (No diets, no pills, no cutting and minimal working out.)

In the email I did not sell.  I used it as a marketing lesson on how one simple blog post by someone else changed my life and how they most likely extended my life, and how I would be deeply in debt to that person forever.

A Big Risk?

It was a risky email.  Very personal and no gain for me.  I was not selling anything.  A few people wrote back and said they were confused about the personal email and the lack of a marketing goal.  One even seemed offended.  3 People unsubscribed.

But I also got a huge number of supportive emails.  My personal relationships with some people deepened.  People started sharing their stories with me.  And several said they were inspired and tried out the same thing.

The Big Reward

Before today I felt like it was a success.  However, it became an even bigger success today because I was invited to lunch by a longtime friend that I only see rarely.  She read the email that came at the right time for her and she used it to make big changes.  She is making great progress.

Let me recap.  I had nothing to sell and nothing to gain.  But I knew if I wrote it with sensitivity, I could inspire some people to make similar changes.

That happened.  And the Law of Reciprocity for those people kicked in, not by anything clever but by human nature.  Today that friend not only bought me a thank you lunch, but she also really wanted to give me something in return and she is referring a huge account our way.  I am sure she would not if she did not think we could do a great job with them, but I might not have been the only choice.

Kindness and Giving Great Value are your best Buzz tools.

I have been in technology for longer than I care to discuss.  Long enough to see the entire evolution of Internet Marketing.  And also to see the evolution of me.

When I started in the 90′s, it was all about the technology.  We were really excited to offer eMagazine Publishing tools that cost us a fortune to build and were very cutting edge at the time.  We were doing Internet Marketing, but it was mostly about the technology.  Now technology is a footnote to marketing results.

Today, Internet Marketing is only about the technology if you are choosing to work with the wrong people.  You have to work with people that are marketing savvy first, and technology savvy second.  Otherwise, they will keep adding technology features thinking the next bell or whistle will get results.  It will not.

Internet Marketing should not have a big technology budget in 99% of the cases.

Instead, it is about publishing, aggregating, mashing and building relationships in your open source web real estate.

I have clients that build their first website with six figure budgets (not paid to us, we were never that high-end).  Today that just seems so silly.

Maybe they thought the big up front investment would mean they would stay ahead of everyone else.

But since the Internet and Search Engines keep evolving so fast, the investment did not stand the test of time.  Usually this kind of investment was for lots of fancy design and eCommerce.  They would have been better off keeping it simple and creating more content.

What does the evolution of Internet Marketing mean to you?

• Don’t spend a lot on technology
• Look for specialized tools already built that you can integrate
• Get everyone involved in Internet Marketing – Employee Evangelists
• Create more great information, but outsource your writing
• Don’t invest one time, invest in continual improvement
• Build relationships first – They will stand the test of time if you treat them well.

Internet Marketing will be very different in two years.  Marketing is going through a huge disruption as everyone tries to figure out what 10% of internet marketing will return 90% of the results.  You should bet on creating quality content and great relationships.  That is your best Internet Marketing long term strategy.

Where are the majority of your new hires coming from? They should be coming from your employees. If not then this is one of your first signs that your employees aren’t happy. They aren’t spreading the word to their friends and family about how great it is to work for your company.

I’ve read that 60% to 75% of new hires are from referrals. I believe that the actual number might be slightly higher, but it all depends on the industry.

If your employees aren’t talking well about your company then you are losing out on the opportunity to create a culture that retains the best employees. And these are the employees who will treat your customers like superstars.  You want to take advantage of employee referrals because good IT people tend to hang out with each other as well as good sales people, accountants, and every other industry. We congregate with like-minded people.

I read an awesome interview of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh over at Stephan Spencer’s blog. He was asked to share a bit of background about Zappos. His response was what I wish to hear from every CEO:

“Our #1 priority as a company is our company culture. We believe that if we get the culture right, most of the other stuff, including great customer service, will fall into place on its own. Long term, we want the Zappos brand to be about the very best customer service and the very best customer experience.”

Your company can create a culture that makes your employees want to tell everyone how great it truly is to work there. How do you do this?

1. Make the atmosphere so much fun that they want to tell their friends, spouses, children, grandparents, and their neighbor.

2. Create a design friendly atmosphere. We are visual creatures and all of us like to work in a physically pleasing atmosphere. So try adding new artwork or a new piece of furniture that’s a little weird to get employees talking to each other. When employees have common ground that spurs conversation they will find reasons to help each other succeed.

3. Give your employees leisure time. Create a room where employees can hang out, not a lunch room, but a fun room. It can be filled with board games, healthy snacks and drinks, and don’t forget the music.

4. Put in a slide from your second floor to your first. That’s if you have a 1^st and 2^nd floor and 15,000 extra dollars to make it happen. Okay, you probably don’t, but how about buying a Wii so the employees can do something else besides watching TV during their breaks. By getting employees to interact together you’ll help encourage friendships.

5. When all else fails just ask your employees how to improve the work environment, then implement the best idea for the next two months. See how it goes then try the next best ideas. You’ll have to be open and honest with all of your employees, making sure they understand what you are trying to accomplish.

It’s up to your company to figure out a way to bring more fun, engagement, pride, and productivity to your work place. Now that you have some ideas, it’s time to create some employee buzz that gets around.

This is a guest post by Karl Staib

Karl Staib writes about unlocking and kicking open the door to working happy at his own blog: Work Happy Now!  If you enjoyed this article, you may like to subscribe to his feed or read one of his most popular articles, Why Every Company Should Appoint a Work Happy Manager.