ThePodcastSisters

A Simple Tip for Social Media

I was asked today about where a small business should start on social media. They had loads of great ideas - seriously great ideas - but had spent the last few week thinking about how to start.......my advice

Just start....

The best part of social media is that you can test ideas, you can fail fast and move on, evolve and develop.

Social media can be overwhelming but often it is overwhelming when you look at the whole.....choose one area that you feel passionate about, that makes sense for what you are trying to achieve with your company. One thing that I did early doors was try things with my personal name or a name that people could not link to my company...that way I could test it out with low risk.

Free Teleseminar 12 May 2008: Social Media For Solopreneurs

I'm afraid it's been a bit quiet over here on The Podcast Sisters recently as Anna and Heather have been travelling and then Anna has been ill.

If you are missing our voices and views about social media, then you might want to hop on my call this week for Biz Growth Live, where I am in conversation with Peggy Murrah and Chris Muccio about social media for solopreneurs and how it can help you attract more clients.

You can find out more about the call which is a FREE teleseminar masterclass taking place at 1pm ET/6pm Ireland and the UK on Monday 12 May 2008 here.

If you already receive my newsletter you will have the details of the call in number so you don't need to register again.

Hope to hear you on the call soon.

iQ Content Online Marketing Bootcamp: Dublin 22 - 24 April 2008

As I mentioned on The Podcast Sisters show we recorded this evening, if you are in the Dublin area between the 22-24 April 2008, I highly recommend that you check out the details of the forthcoming Online Marketing Bootcamp being hosted by iQ Content. Read on to find out how to avail of a 10% discount on the registration fee.

The online marketing bootcamp includes workshops on the following areas:

• Search engine marketing 202: More advanced techniques for enhancing your website's search engine visibility
• Content strategy: Getting your content mix right to drive traffic, engage customers and increase conversions
• Writing for the web 101: Creating great content – the fundamental techniques
• Writing for the web 202: Beyond the basics – writing to convert and persuade
• Accessibility for web managers: Planning, procuring, delivering and maintaining an accessible website
• Information architecture that works: Essential techniques for structuring and organising your website
• Killer web applications: Designing usable and effective web applications
• Personas – Getting into the head of your customers: Tools and techniques for understanding your customers
• Practical user testing: Planning, conducting and reporting on user tests
• Web analytics 101: Fundamental techniques for measuring the success of your website
• Web analytics 202: More advanced techniques for measuring the effectiveness of your website
• Website healthcheck: How to evaluate the effectiveness of your website and benchmark it against your competitors
• Kick-start your web strategy: Defining and implementing an effective online strategy
• Web governance: Getting your organisation organised – people, teams and processes
• Web project management: How to deliver a successful web project
• Email marketing: Planning, creating and delivering effective email newsletters
• Online advertising: Conceiving, creating, implementing and measuring an effective online advertising campaign
• Search engine marketing 101: Driving more traffic to your website – the fundamental techniques.

You can attend for 1 day, 2 days or 3 days and as I'm speaking at the event, you can use the special code I've been given by the event organisers and can therefore avail of a 10% discount - please note this is not an affiliate link - I asked the organisers if my community of readers could benefit in some way and am delighted that they made this discount available.

All you need to do is put in the code 'speaker' when making your booking.

I'm speaking at the session on the Wednesday afternoon - the iQ FutureNow Seminar where we'll be covering emerging trends and technologies that you need to start thinking about. Do let me know if you plan to be there won't you. I'm trying to clear my calendar as much as I can as  know the content that will be covered at the online marketing bootcamp will be outstanding.

How to Regain the Energy in your Business

When you are a small business owner, you can often hit a wall - maybe in motivation or focus. Here are some tips that have helped me to overcome the "business" wall

• Have strong network of business people who inspire you. My other podcast sisters are a great source of inspiration on those bad days. I stress the word inspire though, as each of us need that person around us who we can feed off from time to time.
• Remember why you started the business...what was your dream? Often admin, tax returns, traveling can drain the energy and we lose focus away from why this business is important to us. Write it down and post it on top of your PC.....keep the dream alive and front of mind.
• Give yourself a break, take yourself away from the desk. It may be as simple as going on a long walk or going to a business networking event that will reignite the ideas.
• Sign up for twitter. I find twitter a great source of support and also font of ideas.
• Set some actions for the next few days that play to your strengths, that you enjoy doing. When we are doing things that we love we recharge our batteries.

Small business can be hard and even lonely. However, the people who succeed are the ones that accept there will be times when it will be tough...and keep going, believing in the dream to change the world.

Social Media Needs Investment - Time Not Money

Social media is a wonderful tool for small business because it opens your business to a world of consumers - not just locally but globally. When I started my business - The Engaging Brand - I did it on a investment of £500. Yes, £500, that is all that I had in the bank at the time to follow my entrepreneurial dream. I did not want to risk my savings, I wanted to start with nothing and see if I could build a business.

Social media meant that was possible. Blogging, podcasting has brought me an array of clients around the world. However, it has not been without time investment. But time is something that I have, as long as I focus, as long as I use my time wisely then I can get my message out there without having to go the traditional marketing route.

Here are my time management tips

• Be clear about your market and focus your time on providing value for that market.
• Use travel time to create social media content.
• Capture ideas when you have them...that just means that when you have time at your computer then you are creating content not thinking about creating content.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help from other bloggers, podcasters etc They will save you time in learning about the new social media tools.
• Learn on the run! I learned about social media through podcasts - whilst walking for the train, driving in the car, working out at the gym. This is time when I wouldn't be able to do "physical work".

Has social media worked for me...well, the business is thriving despite the £500 investment!

Are you an inspirational business mum!

Received a great email from Gerel of Shiny Red that I would share with all you entrepreneurs...

"Just wanted to touch base with you regarding the “Inspirational Business Mum of the Year Award” in the run up to Mother’s Day ... as we thought it might be of interest to some of your readers on PodcastSisters.

The awards, which are hosted by Prowess, celebrates all women in business and I was hoping if you and any of your readers would be interested in entering the awards by nominating themselves, friend’s, sister’s, partner’s or even their own Mum’s in the run up to Mother’s Day. Entries close on April 11^th 2008."

As I fail on at least one account :) then I will leave the field open to everyone else and if you enter...good luck!

Entrepreneur Tips and Stories

We like to bring you ideas, inspiration for how to build your small business. Being an entrepreneur can be tough so each fortnight we bring you articles from around the web to help your personal development.

Holly Ord presents Calling All Women Entrepreneurs posted at Menstrual Poetry.

changeyourtree presents Five Things Racquetball Taught Me About Succeeding in Business posted at Change Your Tree, saying, "No matter what type of business you're in, this article is for you!"

Wanda Grindstaff presents Success vs Failure in a Home Based Business posted at Creating Abundant Lifestyles.

MabelandHarry presents Being First Does Not Necessarily Mean Being The Most Successful posted at MabelandHarry

Dr. Joe Capista presents The Success Triangle™ Can Increase Your Opportunity for Success posted at The Success Triangle, saying, "In order to have a successful business, you have to have a solid foundation. The types of systems you have in place support that foundation. Without a strong foundation, success is fleeting at best. Without systems, you will waste precious time, money and energy. In every business, especially service-oriented businesses, there are certain needs. The need for an extremely solid foundation is key to your success. A business has more likelihood to be wildly successful when using the three-prong approach of The Success Triangle™."

Kingsley Tagbo presents HOW TO OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION IN 8 EASY STEPS posted at HOW TO LEARN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING FAST OR GET A JOB EASILY.

Tina Su presents Your Guide to Conquer Fear of Public Speaking posted at Think Simple. Be Decisive..

Anna presents Are Party Organisers the New Black in Marketing posted at The Engaging Brand

Carol Bentley presents Does your business pass the "Charlie the Plumber" test. . . posted at Carol Bentley.

Vahid Chaychi presents To Succeed As a Business Owner, You Have to Be Tough posted at Weboma.com, saying, "If you have a business owner or you work for the others businesses, you have to learn how to be organized and disciplined. Otherwise you will not have any success."

Mystery presents Mystery Autoincome  -   » IAHBE (International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs)- Review posted at Mystery Online Autoincome Turbo Cash Money Making Systems.

Richard Lee presents The One Thing You MUST Learn To Succeed In Any Business posted at Richard Lee.

Ed Rivis presents How to optimise a homepage. posted at Ed Rivis.

GWN Lifestyle presents Developing Your Winning Customer Service Plan posted at GWN Lifestyle, saying, "Customer service is the key to your success as a small business owner."

Edith presents How to Maintain a Positive Attitude posted at Edith Yeung.Com:  Dream.  Think.  Act..

Andrea J. Stenberg, The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur presents What’s the Key to Entrepreneurial Success? posted at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur by Andrea J. Stenberg, saying, "This article is part wrap-up of what I've learned while researching my book and part reflection on my own entrepreneurial journey."

Sarah Paine presents Earn Money From Your Home posted at Sarah Paine.

Carol Bentley presents Saying thanks. . . posted at Carol Bentley.

Shaun Connell presents Content posted at Make Money Online, saying, "Teenager Shaun Connell explains how he made great content, which resulted in big revenues later on."

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of entrepreneur success stories using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

2 Out of 3 Podcast Sisters Ain't Bad!

Tomorrow night Heather and Anna are talking at a Womens Biz Network event in Carmanthenshire. They will be talking about how they use social media in their businesses and giving a practical training session on blogging and podcasting. (Anna was wondering why Heather asked her to join in!)

It is only an hour but plenty of chance to ask all those questions that you are dying to ask us for the show - we may even take our recorder along to capture the questions for a future show!

Note to the other podcast sisters - maybe we should do a live road show with all 3 this summer - anyone interested?

Social Media Tools

As you know I am becoming a little bit of a twitterholic but one of the great things about it, is that people point you to great resources. Here is a gem of an article about 42 Top Social Media Tools and Tips that is a must read for anyone in a small business.

Entrepreneur Success Stories and Tips

At The Podcast Sisters we want to share stories, help others to build companies like we have - why? Because we believe all the hard work is worth it. The podcast sisters isn't a company it is just 3 female entrepreneurs who want to blog and podcast about our experiences of how we have used social media to grow our very different businesses.

We ask for articles each fortnight from other people, to share tips and experiences that may help you.

Martin Russell presents THE Word of Mouth Dentist posted at Word of Mouth Marketing.

Tina Su presents How to Reduce Information Overload posted at Think Simple. Be Decisive..

Robert Phillips presents Costanza Success Principles posted at CYBERCA$HOLOGY.

Kenton Newby presents Just amazing…and another reason to have a blog posted at KentonNewby.com.

Ron Ruiz presents Virtual Boyfriends posted at The Business Ideas-Making Money Blog.

Kenton Newby presents Google Analytics Goodness…Can You Believe This is Free? posted at KentonNewby.com.

Carol Bentley presents A practical approach to business cards posted at Carol Bentley.

Woody Maxim presents What will you do with the message? posted at Woody Maxim.

Blaine presents Something From Nothing- Think Big, Start Small posted at BlainePower.com, saying, "A lovely article on my success stories as a kid.  I never got rich, but I learned that you could make money *without* a job."

Mark Riffey presents Does your business run at the speed of trust? posted at Business is Personal, saying, "During our campout this past weekend at Lake McDonald in Glacier Park, I had an incident that reminded me of Covey's article about the "speed of trust" which if you think about it, speaks to everything from day to day business to systemic health care issues in the United States..."

Blaine presents Business venture is starting to take root posted at BlainePower.com, saying, "Today marks the launching of a new adventure in my life, my very first call for onsite PC service!"

Mark Riffey presents Entrepreneurs: Are you fried? Maybe this is why. posted at Business is Personal.

Ron Ruiz presents A Salute to Entrepreneurs! posted at The Business Ideas-Making Money Blog.

Tina Su presents Your Guide to Get Spinning in the Idea Tornado posted at Think Simple. Be Decisive..

Emmanuel presents What if...Start posted at Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions, saying, "The focus is on challenging people to come out of their shell and start the business of their dream irrespective of their fear"

Jenny presents November Earnings Report posted at the so called me.

James Alenteal presents Five reasons Why Blogs & Content Marketing Beats SEO & PPC. posted at James Alenteal's Conversion Rate Clinic, saying, "Two Classic Online Marketing Models -- One Depends on blogging."

GWN Lifestyle presents Keeping a Clear Mind for Success posted at GWN Lifestyle, saying, "Top 10 success tips for women entrepreneurs."

Alan K Rudi presents Successful Business Leadership; Care for Customers, Care for Employees posted at Successful Business Leadership.

Jose DeJesus MD presents Online Business - A Source Of Success For Many posted at Physician Entrepreneur.

Debra Moorhead presents Are You Copying Genius?  Or Creating Mediocrity? posted at Debra Moorhead.com.

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of entrepreneur success stories using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.