Time to Mature?

When you’re young people are always saying things like, “oh, there’s plenty of time to mature”, right? I’m sure you’ve heard it. Then you do something (possibly screw up somewhere) and then the phrase changes dramatically to… “I can’t wait until you mature!” Well, the same can be said about your social media posts. They need time to mature. Not necessary written better. They just need a longer shelf life. Have you ever noticed when looking at social sites like Twitter and Facebook there are always a few posters who fire their messages in rapid succession. You start reading one, then another hits you, then another! It’s kind of like putting one jelly bean in your mouth and before you are done chewing it, you put another in there and repeat the process until you’re mouth is stuffed. Too much is ridiculous! You need breathing room! I’m sure you have plenty to say…but rapid fire postings do nothing but overwhelm a reader and get them sick and tired of being overstuffed. Time to mature! Social media is all about the 3 E’s! Educate, Entertain and Engage! You can’t do any of those things if your posts don’t have time to be read. Yep, your posts need time to mature! Like a fine wine…they need time to be savored, sipped and enjoyed! Not gulped down hillbilly style! I can’t tell you the exact time your posts will be read…but I can make some recommendations on how to give your posts some hang time and more “umph”! Instead of posting several times in an hour, cut your posts down to every couple of hours. Sometimes the less you say is more powerful then what you say. It’s not the quantity…it’s the quality! Ideally, four to six posts a day is usually plenty. This gives you plenty of opportunity to share with your fans and followers the newest widget, what your dog did, the latest pics of your kids, your vacation, recommended links or blog posts, and the list goes on. Too many posts all at once and you become the little kid who jumps around screaming “look at me, see what I’m doing”! When people stop watching, you up the ante and increase the frequency, hoping that you will garner some attention. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way! Facebook has done a wonderful job at filtering out the “look at me” type posts and replacing them with a “SEE MORE POSTS FROM” headline. If you want to read more just click the link, if not then do nothing. Decrease frequency, increase response! By decreasing the frequency of your posts and giving them more time to mature you’ll discover more people will respond to your message increasing the chances of developing more fans and followers. Until Next Time,     “Live with Passion!”      Rob Anspach         P.S. Some other posts you might wish to read (related to social media)…    Seriously, Do You Do This? http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/seriously-do-you-do-this/    Disruptive Technology http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/disruptive-technology/    Poor Matt! http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/poor-matt-im-gonna-pick-on-him/    P.P.S. Tired of not booking enough jobs? Frustrated at the quality of customers that are calling you? Maybe it’s time to kick your marketing up a notch. Learn proven techniques that really work. This workshop is open to any service industry (not just carpet cleaning), but seats are filling fast. Hurry! The event takes place this Thursday 4/28 from 6-9pm in Langhorne PA. I’ll be co-teaching along with Jeff Cross. The cost is $139, you can bring a guest foan additional $79  Here’s the link to sign up http://cleaningprofessor.com/philadelphia-cleaning-marketing.html

Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com                                   Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com  today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Deal or No Deal?

They seem to be everywhere! I’m sure you’ve seen them!  Those pesky ads that say you can save 50-90%! I know you know what I’m talking about, right! The Groupons, the Living Socials and the menagerie of other ”deal of the day” coupon sites. Signing up is usually easy! Give’em your name and email address and you’ll start receiving these so-called fantastic deals. But, are they really deals? Well, from a consumer’s point of view, yeah they are! I’d jump on a deal to save 50% off hot, fresh pizza (Italian style, of course)! BUT… From a merchants stand point, they can be a horrible nightmare. Here’s the real deal… Say you desperatley wanted to try it out. You heard the hype and saw the flashy write ups, and thought it would be great to give it a go. Maybe you even received one of those deals and realized your business needs to join in. Well, prepare for a shocker! That deal that looked so promising, could cost you…I mean big time. Say, you advertised a $100 deal for just $49…that’s a $51 savings right. Guess what, you don’t see that $49…nope! As a merchant participating in those special one day only coupon deals…the service gets half that $49 from each sale. Yep, half! So, now your $49 is worth $24.50! Now add in the fees that most charge for credit card processing and your $24.50 is worth about $22.00 You just gave away a $100 service for just $22.00 Sounds crazy! Well, if you’re trying to get people in your store or to try your service then maybe it’s not so crazy. That low price can be justified as “the cost of doing business”. Let’s say for the sake of arguement, you agree to take the plunge and offer up your best deal. A deal unlike any other you’ve ever done. And, you run a 60% off special. (For easy calculations I’ll stick to the $100 value again) That $100 face value coupon is selling for $40 and you figure you’d be happy selling 10-20 of them. But your coupon is such a success that it shoots past the 20 mark and now your excitement turns to worry as you wonder if you can handle the influx of work. Then the unthinkable happens… Your ‘deal of the day” sells a total of 235 coupons! Now, you are in a panic. How the hell are you supposed to handle the stampede of new customers? And, since you are only making roughly $20 on each deal…you wonder if you just sold your soul. The majority of coupon winners will want to take advantage of their special offer within the first 30 days. Will you be ready? A merchant willing to go the route of those deep discount online deals needs to realize that the majority of consumers buying the deal aren’t their ideal customer, and may never come back once the coupon is used. Here’s what I want you to think about… Are the people who buy these types of coupons really the target market your going after? How loyal do you think these customers will be? What happens when they realize you aren’t going to run that special promotion again? Now, if you’ve built your business to attract affluent clients, by doing one of these insanely lopsided deals…you could be diminishing your brand in the eyes of your existing clients. What happens when they scream foul and want that deal too! I know some businesses love the idea of losing money to get people to try their service. But, there are better ways to get people to try your service. If you really want to do a “deal of the day”…do it on your terms! Try it out on your website, or your Facebook or Twitter. Get people to sign up (opt-in) and send them different deals everyday. If they buy, then you keep all the money. No splitzees with anyone. It’s your deal, it’s your service and it’s your name brand…do it the right way! Until Next Time, “Live with Passion!” Rob Anspach P.S. If your business isn’t moving in the direction you would like it to be, let’s talk! Just send me an email and tell me a little bit about yourself and your company. Tell me why you think your sales aren’t where they should be, tell me what you’ve tried and why you think it didn’t work. The more I know about your situation, the better equipped I can be to help you improve and make money. P.P.S. I’ll be teaching the social media, newsletter and QR marketing aspects of Jeff Cross’ Totally Booked University ‘Mini-Clinic’ on Thursday August 28th (6pm-9pm) in Langhorne PA. Although it’s designed around the carpet cleaning industry…any service business will benefit. This is real world advice that is guaranteed to get that phone to ring and put money in your pocket. Click the link to learn more. http://cleaningprofessor.com/philadelphia-cleaning-marketing.html

Contact Information  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Using hashtags in your marketing!

I haven’t written about Twitter lately, so I thought maybe it was time again!  You know, I’m not a big fan! I still think Twitter is chaotic. But, it does have it’s cool tricks that some of the other social media networking sites don’t have! First, there’s that cool search feature. Type in a word, such as “marketing” and blamo, you are now viewing posts that contain the word “marketing” in it. This is neat feature in that it allows you to pinpoint exactly where the action is regarding the search terms you enter. Next, you can add hashtags to your post. I’m sure you’ve seen them! Words that have the number sign in front of them. #marketing, #newsletters, #winning, #emailmarketing, #Ijustmadethisoneup In basic terms, a hashtag is simply a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic. But, it’s also a way to get people to find you if they type in the word you posted as your hashtag. If I tweeted, “Free Report! How to select the right BMW repairman (weblink or phone number) #freereport #bmw” Now I could also tweet, “Free report! How to select the best bmw service in Santa Clara” #free report #bmw #santaclara Those that were looking to get their BMW repaired would type ”bmw” in the search and in most cases the above post would show up. If they typed #santaclara in the search terms, the post mentioning #santaclara would show up and people would see that there is a bmw service center near by. A hashtag makes it easier for people looking for you to find you. And, those looking make for better followers, then those who accidentally stumble upon your posts. There is a whole list of hashtags that people use to create awareness…and then there are those that are made up on the spot. #winning was made popular after Charlie Sheen mentioned it in an interview that he was “winnning”. But that hashtag is now one of the most popular and has made Charlie Sheen one of the biggest celebrities to follow on Twitter. Sometimes the fastest way to see if people are paying attention to your tweets is make up a hashtag!  #rupayingattention2me is one I just made up and posted on my Twitter account. I wonder how fast it will catch on? Word of caution…although hashtags can be a powerful tool in getting followers and finding others, don’t use more than 3 in a post and don’t use them in every post. The whole idea of networking through social media is… educate, entertain and engage. Hashtags are a means to do all three, but you don’t want to seem spammy in your message. My suggestion is use hashtags every 4-5 posts then adjust as necessary to grow your followers list. Until Next Time, “Live with Passion!” Rob Anspach P.S. If your business isn’t moving in the direction you would like it to be, let’s talk! Just send me an email and tell me a little bit about yourself and your company. Tell me why you think your sales aren’t where they should be, tell me what you’ve tried and why you think it didn’t work. The more I know about your situation, the better equipped I can be to help you improve and make money.

Contact Information  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Email: rob@robanspach.com Phone: (717)330-7947 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! Rob Anspach is a “brilliantly savvy” entrepreneur who helps frustrated business owners regain the passion they once had by showing them how to be more effective in the marketplace, how to dramatically improve their business so they enjoy coming to work again and how to win over customers regardless of price. Discover how easy it is to make money in your online or offline marketing, to attract and retain clientele and profit from your passions… visit http://www.robanspach.com today! Rob is also the creator & dynamic force behind Success Secrets TV, the new online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful… check it out by going to… http://www.SuccessSecrets.TV

Seriously, do you do this?

The other day, a client called and asked me how he could get more followers on his social media sites! You know what I told him?

It’s not the size, it’s the content!

Sure, a big list of happy followers is nice to have, but they wont be happy if you don’t do these three things first!

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Sounds simple, right?

Well, I’ve been using various social media platforms now for several years and I’ve noticed a good majority of people screw it up…royally!

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Let’s take educate first! These are posts meant to teach your followers about you, your product, your services, what you stand for, how you operate, what makes you different and why they should use you.

Now the entertain part! Here’s where you bring your personality into the mix. These posts will showcase your interests. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What’s your favorite music, or TV show? You can share videos and articles! Even pictures of your family, pets or places you visit. These posts bring out your human side and allow your followers to get to know you as a person.

And, finally engage! If you can’t get people to respond to your posts then you might as well not even be on social media sites. The main reason to educate and entertain is to get your followers to engage. They need to respond back to you. Think of your posts as conversation starters…you say something and someone responds back. Without engagement, your messages fall on deaf ears.

Educate, Entertain & Engage!

Remember those three words!

By educating, entertaining and engaging you will find people will want to read what it is you are posting, they will tell their friends about you and your followers lists will grow.

Until Next Time,

“Live with Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. If you’re still having trouble figuring out the whole “social media” stuff, maybe I can help. Click here for more info… http://robanspach.com/socialmediamarketing.html

Maybe you saw this?

I thought this was kinda cool and wanted to share it with you!

 

Maybe you’ve seen it.

 

They’re called Social Trading Cards.

 

You can use them for all kinds of things…

…as a conversation starter!

…a networking tool!

…to build your personal brand!

 

Throw that dull, boring business card away and start using these cards and watch how easy it is to engage your customer.

 

Not only are these cards designed to catch your attention, they have some cutting edge features!

 

They utilize the QR (Quick Response) imaging that your smart phone can scan and pull up more information on you in a snap.

 

Don’t know what QR marketing is about… I wrote an article about it back in October 2010 about it… here’s the link

http://robanspach.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/qr-marketing/

 

Anyway, back to Social Trading Cards…

 

You can integrate your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profiles right into the card, add an image, a 160 character bio and… you’re almost done.

 

But wait there’s a bit more…

 

What makes this card a bit more interesting is it gets you to think about your personality.

 

In fact, you are asked what your “special power” is. Think about that! Everyone’s is different! What’s yours? What sets you apart and makes you unique?

 

Just using these cards can have a dramatic impact on how you interact with potential clients. They will see you as an inspired, driven individual using a marketing tool that is new and exciting…that grabs their attention and gets them to take notice.

 

 

Until Next Time,

 

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.S. I almost forgot to give you the link… here it is! https://www.meet-meme.com/

 

P.P.S. Did you see the newest episode of Success Secrets TV yet? It’s about utilizing the power of online coupons! In the episode I interview Andrew Mazer of ModernCoupon.com and get him to reveal why he started such a service, and how you can use ModernCoupon.com to grow your business. To watch it… go to http://www.SuccessSecrets.Tv

 

A video, some Q&A and you’re on your way!

Ping it, baby!

Just ping it!

First I want you to watch this video, where I share with you all why it’s important to ping. Here’s the link… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdzk0EfRhl0

And next, I’m going to do a bit of a Q&A with a Facebook friend Andrew Mazer who wanted to know how to maximize his ping’ing & flickr experience.

(Andrew) Q: Rob, are there any sites you WOULDN’T submit to on the ping.fm list? How did YOU choose the sites you wanted to post?

(Rob) A: Yes!

First I stick with the high response sites to post to (twitter, facebook, buzz, linkedin & plaxo)

Then I’ll add in a secondary tier (myspace, facebook fan pages, tumblr, plurk & friend feed)

I don’t waste my time on all the rest as the time to set up versus getting response from subscribers is low. I keep it to about 10 sites, it’s easier to monitor. I get on my main 3 sites (facebook, linkedin & twitter) everyday -all the rest I check maybe once a week.

Q: I set it up this morning and made a post. Included twitter, fb, jaiku, blogger but I didn’t see any of my posts. Do they show up later? I appreciate your tips and your replies.

A: Slight time delay! Your posts should appear soon! The system is designed to cycle posts asap, but sometimes there is a delay of several hours due to traffic to the site.

Q: Do tagged photos on flickr have any seo to your knowledge?

A: They do if you are searching for photo’s – flickr due to their high submission (of subscribers photo’s) is well liked by search engines…however unless you are specifically searching for photos (which most do not) your photo may end up not being seen.

There ya go!

Until Next Time,

“Live With Passion!”

Rob Anspach

P.P.S. Did you see it? If not, check out our Web Success special episode on

 

Slaying the Zombies!

Two years ago, my life was flipped upside down!

I just didn’t know what to make of it.

My marriage, my kids, my relationships with my friends all changed.

It seemed that normal conversations were being replaced. Yep, things were changing!

At first, I thought it was a fad. Then, I wondered when it would go away.

What I’m talking about feels like a disease, but it isn’t!

Although you’d think with so many people involved it would be an epidemic.

If a disease were to hit 500 million people it would be labeled a pandemic and steps would be taken to subdue and conquer it.

Think Alice in the Resident Evil movies! A virus turns people into zombies and Alice is the heroine who goes on a quest to destroy the zombies while rescuing the normal humans not infected yet.

We are not zombies! But we do hunger… for humans!

What is it you ask?

It’s our need to socialize online.

I was on Plaxo and MySpace when they were considered cool, then I gravitated to LinkedIn and Twitter. But these pale in comparison to the power that Facebook as on society.

Facebook has taken over!

It’s now ingrained in society so deep that people don’t know how to change.

Before this phenomenon occurred people were content…

Now, they are fixated!

People are checking in and engaging in virtual conversations, playing games, posting pics, sharing information, and spying on each other…it’s voyeurism gone wild!

The media uses Facebook as a resource for their stories. Defense attornies are now armed with new ways to discredit their opponents clients. Conversations are centered on what happens on Facebook. Lives are changed!

To be honest I have learned to deprogram myself from the chatter.

I check my “wall” in the morning and again in the evening and I’m trying to ween that down to once a day.

Yeah right Rob… you seem to be front and center to all the action!

It does seem that way doesn’t it?

My posts do appear every few hours.

Yet, I don’t post them when they appear!

What?

I have learned to take back my time and refocus my energies and my passions on real world human things… like vacations, hiking, exercising, coaching, marketing, spending time with my kids and I could go on.

I program my posts to go out when I want them to… and where I want them to!

I use Facebook (and all other social media) as a tool to market to the masses.

It’s like my mom used to say to me years ago, “Stop playing with the Atari, and go out and enjoy the day!”

Disengage from the virtual world and go out and enjoy the real world!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. Learn to be like Alice and slay the time wasting social media zombies! Learn to refocus and take back control of your day!

Disruptive Technology!

Thought I’d keep this short and sweet today!

I was watching a video the other day that stated we are 10 years into a 25 year cycle of disruptive technology. Yes, disruptive.

Think about it, social media is disruptive!

It’s disruptive because it forces us to do things we didn’t used to do and we do them for no other reason than that of getting people to react. Yep, to react!

All of our personal thoughts, likes, friends, places we go and yes, even our marketing are now centralized across the social media spectrum.

Every post we put on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Plaxo and all other social media sites (and even our blogs) is really nothing more than a message that causes a reaction in the reader and gets them to take action. Click a link, respond or disregard!

The video went on to say, it’s during this cycle that wealth generating potential is unlimited! And, how we position and market ourselves is incredibly important.

How will you position yourself to generate wealth?

How will you be successful?

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

P.S. “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination, they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.” – Robert Collier

P.P.S. Coming Soon… Success Secrets TV – the online show dedicated to helping entrepreneurs stay successful.

How article writing can make you money!

Let’s face it, the majority of entrepreneurs couldn’t write a paragraph let alone an article to save their life.

But, it all starts with writing something. Sure, proper grammar helps and so does some punctuation…but in reality, the words just have to make sense to the reader.

Yep, write something! Anything.

It helps to write about something you know. How about your business?

What makes it tick? How was it started? What are some of the frustrations you have running it?

As the headline stated… this is about making money from your articles, not on writing the darn thing.

So, I will just jump ahead and tell you how to do just that!

I will assume that you know how to write and you can deliver great content.

The beauty of what I’m about to share with you will not only help you get your articles published, but will increase your visibility on most search engines.

Yeah, I did say search engines.

You see, there are hundreds of sites you could submit your article to. Not all are created equal. And, frankly some are just a waste of time.

A true article submission site will help you in the long run, by promoting your article. The more promotion the better chance it will get read and the more likelihood your efforts will be rewarded.

I’ve picked out two sites that will help you get your article up in front of the masses and read. The cool part… these sites are FREE! Yep, won’t cost you anything, except your time!

EzineArticles.com – this is the site I prefer…as I have close to 60 articles published

ArticleBase.com – this site was recommended by my good friend Jeff Cross the chief editor of Cleanfax magazine.

But, let’s not forget about blogs!

The best blog service to use is hands down WordPress! Writing to a blog is just like submitting your article to an article submission site…only it gets cycled through Google rankings faster.

The best advice I can give you about submitting your articles is that if you use multiple platforms your chances of getting to page one of Google greatly increase.

Every article I write not only gets positioned on my WordPress blog (…marketing, media & money), but also gets submitted to my EzineArticles account.

Both of these resources are linked to Twitter, so everytime I submit an article a tweet gets shared with the world (or at least my followers). Plus, both sites offer keyword tags that are shared with the major search engines.

Whoa, hold your horses, Rob!

When are you going to tell me how to make money with my articles?

Thought I was…but apparently I wasn’t clear enough!

Writing and submitting articles will drive traffic to your website, your business, your fan page or where ever you’d like it to drive traffic to. The more traffic, the more money made. Right?

Not only am I right, but, the more articles you write, the more you are perceived as an expert in your field, and the more inclined people will be to seek you out.

The more you write, the easier it gets!

So get to writing!

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. I’m going to try raise $40,000 in 30 days, click on my weblink above to learn more and how you can help. Tell your friends! The more people that can help the better chance this will succeed.

It wasn’t an affair…really!

At first it was like a passing fancy…then it escalated!

Oh, boy! I was hit hard.

I couldn’t get enough.

It had gotten so bad even my wife questioned if I was having an affair!

I wasn’t! But, it seemed that way to her, and I’m sure others thought that as well.

I really wasn’t! Well, maybe I was! Just not that way you think.

It wasn’t any one person. Nope! It was a whole group of them.

What? Huh!

Yeah, that’s what most say when I tell them. Followed by “sicko”, “nutjob”, and some other words I’d rather not say. Until, I shared with them what really was going on!

I blame it on social media. Yep, first Plaxo, then MySpace, then LinkedIn, Facebook,Twitter and some I left at the proverbial curbside and have long forgotten.

My need to socially interact online was consuming up my daytime and stealing me away from my loved ones at night. I was going from one social site to another posting about what, I couldn’t even fathom a guess any more. I’m hoping it was the purpose of promotion and nothing else.

Times have changed and I realize the errors of my ways.

Sort of like an intervention. When all your loved ones approach you and tell you, “you have a problem and we are here to help you through it”!

Yes, I’m still on social media…but I’ve found a way to balance my time.

For those of you that are like I was… fully engulfed! You might find what I’m about to say a bit disheartening, maybe frightening…but your family and friends will be glad to see you again.

Limit your time! Or as I like to call it “my exposure”!

If you wish to stay on social media, hey, I’m all for it…I still do it…but, I do it responsibly now!

I limit my time to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening. No more!

To free up my time, I put all my posts on autopilot! I preprogram my posts to go out at selected times of the day and night and make it look like I’m still there for my social buddies.

But, I’m not! Nope, I might be at dinner with my wife, or at a movie with my kids or even on vacation at the beach. It’s a case of being in 2 places at once. The great fake out.

Hey, I’m not trying to deceive anyone…just trying to maximize my time and get the most out of life. Life’s to short to spend it in the virtual world…get out there and have fun.

Until next time,

“Live with passion”

Rob Anspach

www.robanspach.com

P.S. Yesterday I launched my fund raising campaign ($40,000 in 30 days), click on my weblink above to learn more and how you can help. Tell your friends! The more people that can help the better chance this will succeed.