Tag Archives: marketing

Updated Blogging Series

14 Jan

Updated Blogging Series

Hey folks here we have the complete postings of my latest series on why you need a blog. Every business benefits from a web presence, and as such yours should be brilliant, not lacking or dysfunctional.
I added additional articles from previous posts to aide your transition from novice to blogging machine.

-The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog-
part 1
part 2
part 3

-Why you need a Blog and how to blog

Click here

-What You Blog is as important as How You Blog

Click here

-How To Make Money Blogging

Click Here

#thriveorsurvive.

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

 

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THE MONSTER IS LOOSED!!!

10 Jan

On behalf of Change In Advance and our partner companies I invite you to come see a new venture we have initiated. Sales to begin soon.

#thriveorsurvive.

See something you like?
Reply to this or
Email me @ tony@changeinadvance.com
Or @changeinadvance

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ISSUE 31: HH MAGAZINE GET INSPIRED.

4 Jan

ISSUE 31: HH MAGAZINE.

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Is Your Price Point killing Sales?

2 Jan

Is Your Price Point killing Sales?

Sales are the heart of your business 9 out of 10 times. Bloggers and a few other specific businesses may sell indirectly or not at all. So working from this premise we can assume that you want to sell product consistently and repetitively (we all want customers to come back).
Assuming you want long term cash flow and growth and you aren’t looking for a one hit wonder.
We will also assume your product is killer, has good branding, marketing, and social media presence.
So all of those factors being declared let’s look at a factor a lot of up and coming entrepreneurs overlook, the price point.

A quality product or service has to have a proper price point as well or you risk eroding your profits.

Priced too high.
When you price your product too high you may miss your target audience. Indeed the very people you want to buy or benefit from what you offer may not be participants. This is where knowing your key demographics comes in handy. Data is always your best friend even if its implications appear negative. Let’s say guy X wants his tee shirt line to sell for 35 dollars a piece. Now data shows us people pay way more, 5 times as much in some cases. However you have to have the immersion, the marketing, and PR to make it work. Not to mention the distribution channels and so forth.
Guy Y on the other hand only wants a small profit and undercuts guy X by 10-15 dollars a tee shirt. In this economy especially he may beat guy X. Also at that price point people may buy 2 for 1 which is only a few bucks more. His lower price point has created new price points and may yield greater sales. If 5 dollars more buys an additional tee many people will opt for that deal. Have we not doubled sales on average? I’d say that all factors being equal we probably have.
If we look at the Kardashians we see proof of this. Their mainstream line is at sears and priced to sell. It is not on rodeo drive or 5th Avenue. This is simply to maximize profits. When you appeal to the mainstream you open yourself up to a greater amount of potential clients.

Priced too low.
The opposite can be said as well my friends. If Honda dropped their flagship Accord Model 13,000 dollars people would stop and think. Most would worry. As an Accord owner twice over I know that I pay a premium for value. The Honda brand is synonymous with quality and reliability. To under price that would gut their brand. It all comes down to value. You have to offer it to get fans and customers. But you have to value what you offer and what you create. Establish this before you go to print or sign deals.
Often we get what we expect and if you expect too little you will be little

#thriveorsurvive.

“High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.”
-Charles Kettering

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

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In Case You Missed Me in Moov magazine

11 Dec

Click Here

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The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog- Part #3

3 Dec

The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog- Part #3

Ok folks I changed the title- like it better?
I think its a neater version; concise. So I’m going to round out this trifecta with 4 more tips.

Customer Support Help.
Getting repeat questions from your customers? Are people intrigued by the same issues- or perhaps they are befuddled by one step in your process? Well the easy cool way to fix this is to make a blog post for each issue that pops up often. It takes the burden off your customer support department- which in the early days if your anything like me is just you. Your small business has enough challenges so let’s meet this one head on and kill two birds with one stone. This also shows customers and potential clients that you are dedicated and serious about helping your customers.

Author Credibility.
Want to make your Ceo POP? Perhaps you want to have more of your key employees share their insights and let new ones shine. Well your blog is the place to do it. Doing this will give your employees (and the CEO) some ‘street cred’ and make them feel good. Make this more effective by having every author create a Google+ profile. If they have one, let them take it up a notch. And adding the aforementioned Google Authorship status will really make your business and your blog shine.
Last step- don’t make every post just admin posts.

blog comments and commentors are heaven.. Did I say heaven? I meant pure gold. These comments are essentially you and your customers and clients dialoguing. It gives you key insight and ideas for the future. You can mine this gold for better products or great blog posts too.
It takes a bit of effort and time to comment on a blog post so anyone who takes the time is worth a look. Ask questions, comment, but speak up. These people are potential clients, business partners and more. You may find a twitter worth following or that testimonial for your site you’ve been looking for. Also these comments and your replies add meat to your blog. They also do this for both you and your readers when it comes to search engines. This will make your blog better and easier to index.

Blogging Shows you are still in the game, Still Relevant, Still in Business.
Ever look at a companies website and its obviously dated? You guys know what I mean- the 1990’s theme and scheme aka bad layout. Did you see any social media links or an embed button? Pinterest?
If the site has a blog, is it old with the last post dated 1 year ago or worse? People don’t blog if you won’t do it frequently. Google wants to see you blogging often if you are going to be considered active and worth revisiting regularly and re-indexing. If your site isn’t updated often that tells Google to visit you less. It lowers your sites value to Google. This may even cause Google to rank you lower and lower.

The blog will build for you almost on autopilot, you just have to blog regularly.

For tips and help see my pal @blogheavy. He’s sharp and sets up and manages blogs for small and large businesses. If not feel free to contact me here.

#thriveorsurvive.

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

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The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog- Part #2

2 Dec

The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog- Part #2

Well folks now that you cut your teeth on the first part- let’s embark on part two of this magical journey into why your company needs a blog.

Rich Snippets, CTR and Google Authorship.
Ever seen those pics when you do a Google search of the authors face and then the topic underlined etc etc? Well that guy or gal is hooked up with Google Authorship and that look they have is what you see through Google SERPs.
Why do these rock? They have a higher CTR aka click-through rate. Statistics have shown that that posts with a Google+ portrait in search results are s-5 times more likely to be clicked- and that means more traffic, more hits, more followers and ultimately more conversions. Nice.

Social Media posts rock- but You own your blog content.
And you also benefit directly from it.
Facebook might say you naw bro, you violated terms. Twitter goes down some times and if you’ve seen recent news- they are cracking down here and there. Pinterest may come down with a case of the buyouts and you never know what the new parent company will opt to do. I could make a longer list but this suffices.
When you post to social media outlets you get some benefits. You close some sales. However they get millions and millions of pages that Google will index. Then they sell more advertising, get better stock valuations-and its all thanks to you.
So you should give them their pages to index in my opinion, without question.
Just don’t let blogging be under-sold or left out of the equation.

Obtaining fans/followers on your site is pretty sure to help achieve your business goals.
Want people to buy your products? Maybe call about your services or fill out a lead generation form? Any of the above and more work more friends and I guarantee you want all of it.
Well folks- people who read your blog are twice as likely to convert or more.
Blogging puts the odds in your favor.

Blog posts have much longer shelf lives.
Ezines, tweets, fb pages and the likes are fleeting, and will be forgotten or lost in the comings days, weeks, and months. Furthermore every timeline refresh pushes you to the side..
Your blog is a great place to create timeless content and focus on matters that either you care about or that are extremely relevant. Not to say you shouldn’t tweet and post about current events, elections and the like. However the important stuff is what you want people to see. Now and later, and all published on your blog.

#thriveorsurvive.

“Myself, Right, Through
An ignorant person with a bad character is like an unarmed robber, but a learned person with a blog is a robber fully armed.”
-Mickey Kaus

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

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The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog- Part #1

1 Dec

The Top Reasons Why Your Company Needs a Blog/b>

Everyone needs a blog. A great blog let’s people see what you and your company are about. So let’s make a strong list and get you on the right path. Here’s 5 quick tips.

A blog let’s visitors know you are on point..
Simple and easy folks. A blog will be a simple tool, almost a literary dialog that people can use to get to know you and your brand. They won’t buy products they don’t know. Show your expertise, let it speak for you. This will make them confident in spending both their time and money with you.

A Blog Builds More Traffic.
Sounds like heaven to many of my fellow entrepreneurs. It is real folks. If you blog regularly- and well- heck get it half right and you will draw the world of social media in. This will definitely bring more visitors to your sites. This can even add links to you from other sites, which brings the next point into focus.

Blog = SEO.
The more content you have on your site the better your chances of ranking much higher in Google search results for the keyword phrases Google will be looking for in anything you post. Every search engine is looking for pages that are specific, and from that viewpoint every post is a page. Ex: to rank in 90 different keyword phrases you need literally 90 separate posts. And each post/page has to be dedicated to a single concept aka keyword phrase.
You simply won’t rank well if you have about four pages. You know the typical spiel used: contact, about us, Meet the guy who….

Blog posts are link bait folks.
I’m pretty sure you all know that links from other sites to yours- aka inbound links and or backlinks are a key factor for getting higher results in your sites SERPs. Ill wager everyone also knows its hard to get a site to link from theirs to yours.
Most people won’t want to link to your home page, but you can lure them with great and useful content on your blog.
Lastly- when you see a good piece of content please include a link to that blog. The chance they return the favor rises astronomically.

A Blog is “Eats” For Social Media.
In the same way that you won’t rank well without blog posts its hard to get anyone anywhere to share your links on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ if you don’t blog consistently about interesting topics. Content and consistency in great blog posts will get people posting about your blog posts all over the social media world. Valuable Content gets shared throughout all Social Media. And don’t forget that all those social media links will help with your SEO. Both Bing and Google see the sharing of your posts as proof positive you are your site is considered valuable. And that will be used to rank your sites. Another bonus is you get more direct visitors from these social media links.

One last thought: these blog posts give you something to post on any and all of your social media accounts.
Hey folks even I run out of things to say some days.

#thriveorsurvive.

“Do today what you want for your tomorrows.” ~ Robert Kiyosaki

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

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10 Quotes To Change Your Life- Zig Ziglar

30 Nov

Gone but never to be forgotten, Zig Ziglar passed on November 28th, 2012.

An entrepreneurial phenomenon who went on to become a motivational speaker and trainer, Zig set ablaze the minds and hearts of myriad people.

Below is a short collection of some of the favorites we’ve seen out there.

 

10) “Remember that failure is an event, not a person.”

9) “You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.”

8 ) “People often say motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.”

7) “There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.”

6) “People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”

5) “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”

4) “If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.”

3) “A goal properly set is halfway reached.”

2) “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”

1) “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.”

 

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5 Little-Known iPhone and iPad Apps for Startups

13 Nov

5 Little-Known iPhone and iPad Apps for Startups

Being a small business owner can be trying.  Times are tight, the economy is dreary, and you have to make every dollar stretch.  To add to the general mayhem you have all the day to day tasks of accounting, management, sales tracking and administrative needs on your shoulders.  Find this daunting?  Well I’ve got 5 iOS apps to make you more efficient.

Invoice2Go: This app lets you create invoices and estimates on your iPad and even your iPhone. You can make one complete list of all billable items and store them cohesively. Perhaps you might prefer the Receipts2go plugin to bill for items that are specific only to certain jobs or accounts. To top it all off your completed invoices can be printed right from the app or emailed if you are so inclined.

You can get three free invoices and after that its about 25.00 bucks a year for a 100 invoices.  By the way, you can even see your financials at a glance with this app.

 

Docusign Ink: No more printing and scanning with this app. Sign all sorts of documents electronically and save time you can use your phone or devices camera to take a picture of relevant documents or upload from a cloud drive- cool right?  Docusign Ink even converts documents easily so you drag and drop your signature. Simply save and send to complete the process.

Client forgot to sign? No problem, simply have them sign vial email. The catch is simple: unlimited documents can be signed for free.  However there is a limit of five additional signatories. After that they will ask you to purchase a plan starting at 15.00 bucks a month.

FYI- Doucsign Ink is also available on Android.

 Bento 4 for iPad: A recently redesigned personal database app that helps you present and organize data. What makes Bento 4 stand out from the crowd is that it allows you to combine tables and text fields with images by simply drag and dropping utilizing one of the 40 free templates.  Highly useful in multistep projects or sales meetings, Bento is quite versatile. With a price tag of 9.99 your wallet doesn’t get beat up either.

Concur: An organizational tool/app for frequent travelers. Manage your itinerary, book hotel rooms, check airline reservations. Concur is also great for tracking your expenses on the go.  Input information by hand, or use e-receipts. You can also scan receipts. Trips over? Concur will combine all the info into one cohesive expense report.  While the app is free on iPad and iPhone you will need to link it to a desktop Concur account.  This however is 8.00 bucks per person, per month.  A little more than some want to spend but a great report, and it’s a tax deduction I’d bet (See your CPA for that info though).  Concur is also available on Android for my so inclined cohorts.

Delivery Status Touch: Move a lot of merchandise? Delivery Status Touch can help keep track of them. 4.99, gets you an app that works directly with all of the major delivery companies/services and automatically gets information from Amazon, Apple and Google Checkout. As soon as a package is added it will appear on the the home screen. After that point you can track the progress of each and every package you have; coming or going.

 

 

#thriveorsurvive

Thoughts? Concerns?
Questions? Think I’m wrong?
Let’s chat.
Need ideas?
Want to learn how to invite?
Let’s chat.
Want a mentor or maybe the guy who will bounce ideas back and forth with you?
Let’s chat-
Tony@Changeinadvance.com
@changeinadvance
http://www.changeinadvance.com
Or simply reply to this article.

 

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