Indecision Cripples Productivity | Small Business Odyssey

Is Indecision Crippling Your Productivity?

February 20, 2012 By Ron Passfield Leave a Comment

Indecision has a major impact on productivity – in fact, it can cripple your productivity.  When you are undecided, your cannot focus or gain momentum in a particular direction.  You spend all your energy on the decision process rather than taking action.

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Many things get in the road of our productivity but indecision can have us going around in circles. When we are unable to decide on a goal or focus we are robbing ourselves of energy and consequent productivity. The tapping pencil symbolizes the uncertainty and inaction associated with indecision.

There are many decision making tools available to help you out so that you can overcome the negative effects of indecision. One of the simplest of these is the pros/cons or benefits/costs comparison of alternatives. This is best done with at least one other person otherwise you may stay in the rut and overlook some of the real differences between the alternatives. Our own biases and past experiences influence our perception of things, so it is worthwhile having someone else challenge our assumptions to get a more accurate assessment of alternatives. For more on how to improve productivity, sign up to my free e-course:
http://www.how-to-be-productive.com

How to be Productive : Overcoming Your fears

How To Be Productive: The Internal Challenges

If you are a small business owner engaged in small business marketing, it is absolutely critical that you learn how to be productive. There are many demands on your time through email and phone communications, staff management, stock control, product and service development, accounting and taxation, relationship building with clients and strategic planning – to [...]

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This post on my small business marketing blog looks at identifying the fears that prevent you from improving your productivity as a small business owner, Internet marketer, affiliate marketer or work at home mum.

It discusses the core fears that prevent people from learning how to be productive. It also introduces a free e-course on improving productivity:
http://www.how-to-be-productive.com/

Finally, it includes an audio introduction to my new membership course on how to be productive:
http://www.how-to-be-productive.com/join

Impacts of Google+ Integration with Search Engine Results | Small Business Odyssey

Google is Integrating Google+ With Search Engine Results

January 16, 2012 By Ron Passfield Leave a Comment

Google is changing the whole landscape of Internet search through integration of Google+ with organic and paid search results.

A number of prominent Internet marketers have reported recently that they are seeing this integration of Google+ in the search results and have screenshots to prove it.  Mike Brooks, for example, shows a screenshot where a number of paid search results are shown above the organic search results, but on the right hand side are the results from Google+:

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

This change by Google to give prominence to its new social network, Google+, has major implications for small business marketing and affiliate marketing. As Bill Guthrie points out, 'Google+ is now mandatory'. If you are not in Google+, you will see your search engine results decline because Google's latest move changes the face of SEO. In this blog post, I explore the implications for small business marketing and offer suggestions about how to take advantage of Google+ and its future integration into search engine results. I also propose a new way of looking at Internet marketing which is illustrated by the image above. This particular post is one of a series of posts on Google Plus..

Small Business Marketing Through the Squidoo Search Engine | Small Business Odyssey

Squidoo is a Search Engine!: Implications for Small Business Marketing

December 18, 2011 By Ron Passfield 1 Comment

Squidoo is a search engine in its own right with other 2.5 Million lenses focused on key topic areas.   Even experienced lensmasters tend to forget this aspect of Squidoo.

As Squidoo grows so does its data base of information.  So if you are searching for information on specific topics, you will increasingly find quality, focused information by searching Squidoo.

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

It's often easy to overlook the fact that Squidoo is a search engine in its own right as well as a marketing platform. One of the drivers behind the development of Squidoo was the desire to produce quality search results. So if you search on a topic on the site, you should come up with some quality information rather than a list of ads or lots of post lifted from elsewhere.

Squidoo has introduced an Originality Pact to reinforce their desire to have lensmasters produce quality, unique content that readers will value. In fact, in these days of Google's algorith changes, originality will be the key to survival of Squidoo and other related sites.

The implication for small business marketing is that the quality of you lenses brands you and your small business. You are branded by other lensmasters, by Google and Squidoo itself - in other words you are given a "value" in the eyes of these stakeholders. If you want people to return to your lenses and visit other Squidoo lenses of yours, you need quality and originality. In a previous blog post, I spoke of the ways you can market your small business on Squidoo and develop lenses with these desired qualities.

The Many Ways to Market Your Small Business on Squidoo | Small Business Odyssey

You are here: Home / Squidoo / The Many Ways to Market Your Small Business on Squidoo

The Many Ways to Market Your Small Business on Squidoo

December 17, 2011 By Ron Passfield Leave a Comment

 Squidoo, as a multimedia platform, offers many ways to engage in small business marketing.  You are really only limited by your imagination so it is well worthwhile visiting Squidoo to see how other lensmasters market their small businesses.

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

Discusses key ways to market your small business on Squidoo. Explains how to start by building your personal profile on Squidoo and then by telling the story of your small business with appropriate images and illustrations. Moves onto explaining how to create a Squidoo lens about your overall product /service offerings and then how to create lenses for individual products or services. Two other key ways are explained - introducing your staff in a lens and developing lenses about the local area of your business. The blog post provides examples and illustrations and shows what modules are best suited for each purpose discussed. This is a comprehensive post about your options for small business marketing on Squidoo.

Outsourcing: Have You Explored In Sourcing as an Option? | Small Business Odyssey

You are here: Home / outsourcing / Is Outsourcing the Right Option or Should You In Source?

Is Outsourcing the Right Option or Should You In Source?

October 18, 2011 By Ron Passfield 1 Comment

 

Small business owners frequently turn to outsourcing instead of in sourcing for their online small business marketing.  However, it has been my experience that in sourcing is a great option.

Have you considered what your staff or sub-contractors are capable of doing in terms of marketing your small business online?  

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Everywhere we are encouraged to outsource our online activity to increase our productivity. Have you thought of insourcing as an alternative to outsourcing for your small business marketing? The benefits of insourcing over outsourcing are many (besides saving you money). You may find that your staff have hidden talents that you can employ not only for small business marketing, but also in other arenas of your business.

Marketing Style: How Do You Market Your Small Buiness? | Small Business Odyssey

You are here: Home / marketing style / What is Your Marketing Style?

What is Your Marketing Style?

October 15, 2011 By Ron Passfield Leave a Comment

Are you aware of the marketing style that you use in promoting your small business?   Developing a consistent and congruent marketing style is one aspect of effective business branding.

This point was brought home to me by Nancy Marmolejo, a visibility expert, who teaches small business owners to “step into the spotlignht”  by understanding and developing their preferred marketing style.  She suggests that if you use trial and error to develop your style it will cost you time, money and effectiveness.   Your marketing style is what you use to persuade people to take action (basically, your influencing style)

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

Nancy Marmlejo introduces us to three styles of marketing that people tend to adopt. Do you know your own marketing style? I think these styles tend to line up with personality differences and associated influencing styles. The trap is to copy someone else's style without thinking. Have you ever wanted to "follow" some guru but felt uncomfortable with their marketing approach? Nancy's core message is to stay true to your own marketing style and you will tend to attract the people you want to attract. If you mindlessly adopt the marketing style of someone else, you can easily deter your own target audience. This is particularly true for marketers offering coaching or consulting but has general application across the board.

Social Bookmarking: Marketing Small Business through RedGage | Small Business Odyssey

You are here: Home / social bookmarking / RedGage: Social Bookmarking with a Difference

RedGage: Social Bookmarking with a Difference

October 14, 2011 By Ron Passfield Leave a Comment

 

Social Bookmarking is designed to create online bookmarks that store information about your small business.

Sites that provide social bookmarking often have a high Page Rank with Google so information bookmarked on these sites can provide quality backlinks to your own small business website/blog.  This, in turn, increases the value of your own site in the “eyes” of Google.

RedGage is a social bookmarking site with a difference:

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

RedGage offers social bookmarking in the form of images, videos, links and a unique blogging platform. One of the distinct advantages of this social bookmarking site is that it encourages cross-posting - using various forms of bookmarking to promote the one article or blog post.

Posterous Alexa Ranking and Demogrpahics

      I was just checking the Alexa ranking for Posterous this morning and found the following information:

 

Traffic ranking globally:       506

Traffic ranking US              453

Traffic ranking UK              349

 

Compared to the general Internet population, the site appeals to people who have graduate education, browse from work and have no children.  Additionally, age groups 25-34 and 35-44 are over-represented on Posterous and over 65's are greatly under-represented.

 

Ron Passfield

Brisbane Australia

How to Create Quality Backlinks for Small Business Websites | Small Business Odyssey

Backlinks: To Buy or Not to Buy, That is the Question!

October 15, 2011 By Ron Passfield 1 Comment

 

Backlinks are one of the core measures that Google uses to evaluate a small business website/blog and determine where the site will appear in search engine results. 

Unfortunately, many small business owners have been convinced by some Internet marketers to buy links to build up the ranking of their websites.

via smallbusinessodyssey.com

Internet marketers are reporting that Google is on the warpath over artificially created backlinks. Some websites have been sandboxed by Google where the owners have bought numerous links, others have been removed from the search engine results (SERPs). This post discusses the issues.