Get More Clients Online

Automate Your Marketing: 5 Most Effective Automated Marketing Tasks for More Clients and Greater Sales

Having to market your business, whether online or offline, is the bane of existence for most business owners. Too many times you get pulled in multiple directions, trying this and trying that, with no real plan or schedule in mind.  Mired down by the details, marketing is often pushed to the side when the demands become too great and your client load becomes too heavy.  It's only when you need to replace income with new clients that marketing again becomes a focus for your business.

The best way to market your business is to do that continuously. Having a schedule and plan in place helps, as does being able to automate a number of your marketing tasks so that they occur automatically for you.

Here are the 5 most effective marketing tasks to automate in your online business:

1.  Social Networking.  Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, oh my!  Who can keep up with all of this?  It's easy
to get lost in the world of social networking.  However, taking a few minutes to link some systems together and then pre-writing content to be uploaded and distributed over time makes it look like you're engaged in social networking more than you actually are. Connect your blog and ezine to your social networks so that anytime you publish a post or an issue of your ezine, your followers and friends are notified. Create a list of useful tips that can be pre-scheduled to all of your social networks over a period of time. Set up your Twitter account to send one of several warm and inviting direct mail messages to all that follow you on Twitter.  Remember, though, that you'll also need to spend at least 15 minutes a day personally networking, as automation can't take care of everything for you.

2.  Social Bookmarking. Social bookmarking is defined as a method for people to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Whole communities develop on places like Digg and StumbleUpon, where visitors avidly search for the latest and greatest info on their areas of interest. With 100+ social bookmarking sites in existence, social bookmarking could easily take up most of your day.  However, there are several free and fee-based services that dramatically decrease the amount of time you have to devote to social bookmarking. Once these systems are set up, social bookmarking becomes much easier.

3.  Marketing Planning.  It's tough to find the time to create a marketing plan for your business with all
the other hats you have to wear as a business owner.  Then, once you figure out a plan, you have to
outline all of the implementation steps and set up and implementation plan. Now there is marketing
software that will let you set your income goals for the year and then design a marketing plan to support
those goals, as well as a step-by-step implementation plan, including all the tasks that must be completed, along with their completion dates.

4. Article Publishing. You've probably heard that writing and publishing your articles on a variety of
article banks is a great way to generate traffic to your site.  In fact, this is the primary traffic
generation strategy I've used for years for my business.  However, there are thousands of article
directories out there, so how do you decide which ones to use?  You can manually submit to the 10 with the highest traffic rankings, but that will still consume a couple of hours of your time.  To get the most bang from your article publishing buck, seek out article submitter software.  What used to take several hours can be reduced to 20 minutes or so when you get your system in place.

5.  Stay-in-touch Emails.  One of the most common complaints I hear from people who search for info online is that they get emails from people from whom they never requested info.  A more likely scenario is that they requested a freebie from a business, and the business did a poor job of keeping in touch with that prospect.  When the prospect hears from the business two months later, for example, she has already forgotten the business, as too much time has passed without any communication.  Sequential autoresponders provide the perfect opportunity for you to automatically stay in touch with prospects for as long as a year after your initial contact with them.  Once you set up a sequential set of automatic followup messages, you can reach out and touch your prospects with very little effort on your part.  Best of all, you remain top-of-mind with them.

The more you can automate, the more you can accomplish, and the more clients and sales you can attract. Take a look at automating these marketing processes and see how your business grows.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Introvert Marketing Coach Donna Gunter helps professional service businesses stop the client chase and create online businesses that drive clients to them. Want to learn specific Internet marketing strategies that can be automated to help get more clients online? Discover how to automate your marketing by requesting the audio download of this program, Stop Obsessing About Your Online Marketing and Automate It at ==> http://www.EasyMarketingAutomation.com

6 Proven Strategies Helping Introverts Easily and Effortlessly Market Themselves

"I hate to market myself" is a very common complaint I hear from many of my clients. Some are introverts, who are naturally averse to self-promotion, while others just don't realize that they also wear the hat of Marketing Director when they start their own business and unhappily discover that they are responsible for getting their own clients and customers.  Trust me, it's imperative that you get over this stigma (or move beyond it), for without marketing, nothing happens.

What are the best ways for introverts to promote themselves in a way that doesn't feel overly promotional?  Here are 6 proven strategies to help introverts easily and effortlessly market themselves:

1.  Stepping into the shoes of your ideal client and target market.  Do you understand what your target market needs and what their problems are?  What about the biggest pain or complaint of your ideal client?  Being able to accurately describe both your target market and your ideal client will help you greatly in understanding them.  Take 30 minutes and jot down some notes about both and see if you can craft your target market profile and ideal client profile.  Once you have created these, your copywriting for your web site, your ezine, and your emails becomes so much easier, because you can create each piece of your marketing content as though you're sitting down and having a one-on-one conversation with a specific ideal client or member of your target market.  What you have to say then feels authentic and not salesy at all.

2.  Discover and use your "profitable essence."  I borrowed this term from visability expert Nancy Marmolejo.  By this I mean discovering what you're brilliant at doing and getting recognition (and money) to do what you do best. Once you figure out what makes you unique, the notion of selling yourself dissipates, as you then find yourself effortlessly doing what comes naturally to you.

3.  Share your knowledge.  Introverts often value knowledge over people, and so what someone knows becomes more important than who someone knows.  Because introverts enjoy research and amassing knowledge, it becomes very easy for introverts to share what they know.  How can you do this online?  Easy.  By writing a new article every week that is published online. Or, by publishing a weekly email newsletter.  Perhaps you offer a value-packed giveaway from your web site that entices visitors to sign up on your list. Or, you offer much of what you know about a topic on your authority web site.

4.  Teach what you know.  Introverts may not realize that skills that they have are unique to themselves and aren't a skillset that everyone possesses. Once realizing their uniqueness, many introverts like to teach others about what they know.  This might mean delivering your signature speech at in-person association meetings, or perhaps holding a teleseminar or webinar and presenting your information online. Or, perhaps you seek out opportunities to be interviewed where you set the tone of the interview by providing a list of questions to be asked.

5.  Seek out for 1:1 opportunities.  Introverts function much better in small groups or 1:1 than we do in crowds. So, seek out opportunities to speak 1:1 with someone.  Perhaps you answer questions on an online forum or ask others to submit questions to you.  Or, you request prospects to set up 20-minute strategy sessions with you so that you can get a feel for what they might need and you can demonstrate to them what you can offer to them.

6.  Network selectively.  Yes, you can network as an introvert, but not all networking opportunities are created equal.  The key here is finding groups in which you feel comfortable. 

One of my favorite networking groups held monthly meetings where there was a guest speaker on a relevant topic.  Part of the meeting entailed being seated with 7 other women where each of us got to deliver a 60-second elevator speech to the others seated at the table.  If we wanted to know more, we passed our business cards with a note on the back to a particular speaker to follow up after the meeting or at a later time.  Each meeting typically involved 2-3 rounds like this, so at the end of a meeting, each of us had a list of people who were eager and willing to hear from us. I loved this group because it structured my networking for me and I didn't have to make idle chit-chat with people I didn't know. 

Another option is to participate in an online social network, like Facebook or Twitter, which gives you the ideal opportunity to connect with like-minded people 1:1 virtually.

Marketing isn't an evil part of business for the introvert.  Think of marketing as an extension of sharing yourself and your expertise with others who desperately need what you have to offer. These 6 strategies will help you successfully market yourself without sacrificing your natural introverted tendencies.

5 Step Introvert Guide to Getting More Clients from Your Industry's Top 20 Influencers

When I first became familiar with the professional coaching industry in the late 1990's, I quickly became a follower of Thomas Leonard, credited with founding the coaching industry as we know it today.  One of the suggestions that Thomas offered for growing a new business was to develop a Team 100 List. To complete this list, you were required to brainstorm the names of 100 business owners in various industries with whom you were acquainted who would be willing to help you promote your business, send you referrals, etc. The goal was to share this list with all of your Team 100 members so that you all became ardent referrers of each other's businesses.

As an introvert, I always found this task overwhelming.  One, I didn't know that many people across all of those industries.  I might be able to fill out a fourth of the list on a good day. Two, having to go out and connect with the other 75% to complete the list was never going to rise to the top of my To Do List because connecting with others doesn't come easily for me.  In fact, I often find the notion quite nauseating.

However, as a business owner, I've come to realize that it's not what I know but rather who I know that will determine my success. Trust me, as an introvert, that is a bitter pill to swallow, as we tend to value knowledge over relationships..:)  The reality is that proactively reaching out to marketing partners will create business opportunities that you will otherwise miss.

So, how could I accomplish this same objective but use my introverted strengths?  Here's how introverts can get referrals and more clients from the top 20 influencers in their industry.

1.  Create a manageable list.  To prevent overwhelm, create a list limited to 10-20 of the top people in your industry with whom you want to develop a relationship. These are people you don't currently know, but who have the capability of being able to make strong referrals for you to your ideal client or endorse you in some way. Your list might include members of the media, prospective clients, association leaders, industry-leading decision makers, or anyone else you want to include.

2.  Keep the list in front of you.  Make sure your list is visible to you at all times, whether it is tacked to the wall next to your desk, sits on your computer as a desktop wallpaper, or is visible as a file on your cell phone. By doing this, your list stays top-of-mind at all times. And, if you come up short of 20 influencers, this action will make you take notice of other potential influencers you can add to the list.

3.  Get contact info.  You can use both online and offline contact methods, so gather the following info for each contact:  email address, social networking profile info, blog URL, and snail mail address.  Add this info to your contact list.

4.  Determine your reach out strategy.  Now that you have your list, how and why are you going to contact the person?  You could

• send an email commenting on something you like on their web site
• mail a card offering congratulations on a recent accomplishment
• post a thoughtful response to one of their recent blog posts
• retweet or comment on a social networking update
• respond by email to something that you found interesting in a recent ezine issue

Remember, this is all about making a personal connection.  Reach out to your list members in a way that is genuine and authentic for you.

5.  Start reaching out daily.  Each day, reach out to the top person on your list.  Once you've completed this, move that person to the bottom of your list, and the #2 person then becomes your new #1. The next day, reach out to your new #1, and then move that person to the bottom of your list.  In this way, you'll continue to rotate through your list, reaching out to each person once every 30 days or so. In order for this strategy to work for you, it is imperative that you become disciplined and follow through on this task every day.

Look upon your Team 20 list as your "Dream Team" of influencers who could have significant impact on your business through their advice, introductions, and referrals.  Follow this strategy daily, increase your sphere of influencers, and watch your client list grow!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing for Introverts Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals who are introverts learn how to authentically market their business and get found online without sacrificing their introverted soul.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results for introverts? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

3 Secrets to Overcoming Your Fear of Self-Promotion

You've got your online business up and running at last, and now comes the part you love to hate--promoting yourself.  This is a huge stumbling block for many online business owners, especially those who are introverts or who may have been in a supportive or back-end role in a company and made the magic happen behind the scenes while the limelight fell on their supervisors or other more outgoing colleagues. 

Think about the people in your company who were promoted or left for a better position.  Were they always the "best person for the job?" Perhaps, but probably not.  What they were good at is consistently being the best at the process of getting the job, even though there were others vying for the same position with more experience, greater skill, or greater knowledge (perhaps that was you!).  Many highly qualified and very smart workers are passed over every day for promotions they deserve because they haven't figured out how to promote themselves within their own company.

This fear of self-promotion follows many service business owners into the self-employment world, as well. However, the reality of owning your own business is this:  If you don't toot your own horn, no one else will.  Waiting around for recognition or to be noticed for your skills or talent doesn't work when you're self-employed.  In fact, it's a sure way to quickly run your business into the ground quickly.

So, if you're an introvert or someone who doesn't relish giving yourself regular accolades, how do you learn to promote yourself without feeling that you are bragging or selling?  Here are 3 tips to help you overcome your fear of self-promotion:

1.  Take stock of what you do well and your accomplishments.  Sometimes your gifts and accomplishments are apparent to everyone but you.  It took me awhile to figure out that I had a unique talent in finding tools and resources to automate a business because I thought everyone could do this.  What kinds of compliments regularly come your way?  What have you accomplished that you shrug off as "no big deal?" If you're having difficulty compiling this list, ask trusted friends or colleagues to help you out.

2.  Use your gifts (writing, researching, organizing, listening) to your advantage.  I've never been comfortable at telling people what I can do, but have no hesitation to demonstrate to them what I can do.  This means that I use writing to my advantage to create authority websites full of content useful to my target market, regularly repurpose my content in various mediums all throughout the online world, answer questions on forums and discussion lists frequented by my target market, hold teleclasses or speak at events where I can teach others what I know, and ask lots of questions both when I do a complimentary "get-to-know-you" session as I decide to whether to take on a new client and when I attend in-person networking events.  For networking events, it makes much more sense to me to ask "How can I help you?" rather than starting a 10-minute monologue about how great I am.

3.  Find someone who is doing what you want to do and copy them. Rarely do I come up with an original idea.  I'm ALWAYS modeling what I'm doing based on what someone else has done but adjusting it appropriately for my style and my business. Because I'm a great scanner (easily pick up and retain lots of ideas) and love to find new and innovative strategies, finding great models to emulate is fairly easy for me.  If I really like what this person is doing and think that I can learn much from her, I pay for access to that person, typically through some type of coaching or mentoring program. If I'm unable to get access to someone, I get as much exposure to her as I can in other ways, like by subscribing to her ezine, blog, social networking updates, or enrolling in her teleclasses.

Promoting yourself may mean that you have to force yourself out of your comfort zone, but you can successfully learn how to do this with authenticity and integrity.  Try these three strategies in your business and watch your self-promotion confidence muscles develop and thrive!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com.

5 Proven Tactics to Uplevel Your Client Base

I hear from clients constantly who say that their clients can't afford to pay them, or that they're constantly besieged by requests for "pro bono services."  Don't get me wrong -- helping those in need is an admirable part of any business plan and business philosophy. However, if your entire client base is filled with people who can't afford to pay you what you need to charge to stay in business, then you've got a major problem.   You are working with the wrong segment of your target market.

Most of my clients are in the helping professions and feel a great sense of guilt and remorse that they cannot help the many people who truly need what they offer but are unable to pay for the service.  The only way that you can stay in business long enough to offer pro bono services on a selective basis is by finding that segment of your target market who can easily afford to pay what you charge. 

Many of my business-to-business (B2B) service provider clients get a different kind of request from other business owners who claim any number of excuses about why they can't pay the full fee or request free help -- they're a non-profit, they're just starting out, they just went through a divorce, etc.  Here's one thing to remember if you're a B2B service provider:  It is not your responsibility to subsidize another business that has not made adequate financial preparations to be in business.  Period.

Here's how you can uplevel your client base to get in front of more affluent clients:

1.  Raise your prices.  There is an inherent value associated with price.  Are your prices putting you at the bottom, middle, or top of other service providers in your category?  You can offer the best service for a premium price, or you can give your services away very cheaply.  I usually urge moving toward the middle of the pack, but not always.  Regardless of the reality, low prices often connote poor service or tell your clients you're not worth it.  And, by increasing your prices, you get yourself out of the segment of the market who could just barely afford to pay you into a more affluent segment who can more easily afford your rates.

2.  Create a packaged value or system.  Rather than offering time for dollars, try to find better ways to serve your clients through a variety of package options or through creating a system. By doing so, you give the customers options so that they focus on the value of what you offer rather than on the amount of time your spend offering the service.  When your rates reflect this value, you increase the likelihood that the customer will stay with you for a longer period, or will return to you repeatedly.  And, people love to invest in a step-by-step system that makes it easy for them to get their needs met and their problems solved.

3.  Offer a variety of price points.  As your business grows and develops, you'll have more latitude to be able to develop ways to serve clients at all price points, from the very low to the very high.  Many times you can help others by offering information products at lower price points and reserving your higher prices for packages and systems that incorporate some 1:1 time with you.  Develop your upsell funnel so that you have a clear vision of how someone comes into your marketing funnel (typically by signing up for something you offer free of charge) and how the upsell process works to get customers to flow into higher and higher price points as they continue to work with you. 

4.  Make sure your marketing materials are top-notch.  Does your web site, blog, or social networking profiles have a customized, quality look to them, or does it look as though you threw these things together with a minimum of money and effort?  When you have an online business, your online reputation depends upon creating a "wow" factor when someone visits your storefront, i.e. your web site, your blog, your video channel, etc.  Andrew Lock of the "Help! My Business Sucks!" web television show says, "Everything is marketing and marketing is everything."  Don't let a sloppy online presence cost your business.

5.  Clearly articulate the benefits and results of working with you.  People rarely buy a service just to buy a service.  What they're buying are the results of the service.  Do your clients understand the benefits and results gained when they work with you?  Even if you offer a service where the results aren't often quantifiable, you can still look at the impact your service has on every part of your client's life, from health to money to satisfaction to relationships.

If you're not attracting the clients you want to attract, try at least one of these strategies and watch how your client base is transformed!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Internet Marketing Automation Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.  Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com.

Marketing with Holiday Cards

Over the weekend we received a Christmas card from our plumber.  It was a lovely card encased in a silver-lined envelope and beautifully embossed with a holiday message and the name of the plumbing company.  The customer inside of me said, "Oh, that's nice." and I immediately threw it away.  The marketer inside me said, "What a sad waste of a card and postage.  They didn't send me a call to action."

What do you hope to accomplish by sending out holiday cards to your customers?  Do more than send out a pretty greeting. Don't create a situation like my plumber did where the only thing I did with the card is put it immediately into the trash.  Make sending holiday cards worth your time, energy, and money and worthwhile for the customer to open by including a call to action.  Here are some examples:

1.  enclose a coupon for 15% off the next call or order
2.  create a tell-a-friend campaign by enclosing business cards or new customer coupons that the customer can pass along to family and friends
3.  offer to do a complimentary inspection
4.  send your customer a link to a free report on your website that will help him/her improve something

Get the idea here?  What call to action can you take in your holiday card campaign so that your card is saved from the circular bin?

How to Stand Out: Differentiate Your Business with Authenticity

I had lunch several years ago with a colleague in a networking group. We talked about many things and were trying to get to know each other so that we could better understand what might make a great referral for the other. One of the things he told me caused me to chuckle because it was so true, but it seemed to surprise him somewhat.

He told me that he liked my website because I was straight-forward, to the point and I just "put it all out there". By that he meant that I outlined what I do, how I do it, the benefits of what I do, and that I let the visitor decide to either buy into it or not. Most surprisingly, I didn't seem to have any attachment to the visitor's decision either way. I didn't waste any time trying to convince visitors that I was always the right choice, regardless of circumstance. However, if the visitor does "buy" into what I'm offering, they have ample opportunities to get on one of my lists and/or purchase something from me.

My response to his observation was that, as a small business owner, I had the responsibility of discouraging as many people as possible from wanting to do business with me. I know this philosophy sounds crazy, especially in this day and age of a downturned economy.

Here's my belief: I'm not out to sell my services or my products to the world, nor do I want to sell my services to everyone. I only work with clients who meet my ideal client profile and only market to those in my target market. Period. And, that's only a very small chunk of the world. Why?  Because I truly believe that there's enough business for everyone.

My business and my life are so much more fun and joyful when I work only with clients that I love. I do that through what I call the WYSIWYG approach, or "What You See is What You Get."  I am who I am and let that center of authenticity come through in all that I do--my speaking, my writing, my website, my coaching, my personal interactions.

If you don't "buy" into the business that is me, that's wonderful! You can continue your search for a coach/consultant/infomarketer that better meets your needs, and I still have room in my practice for clients that I'd love to work with. If you do "buy" into what I do and who I am, you're doing it because on some level, you're buying into "Donna the Person", and the good, bad, and ugly that accompanies that.

Now that I'm firmly entrenched in middle age, I finally feel that I'm fully coming into my own in all aspects of my life, and I have stopped running away from those aspects that I thought others might not like or might be offended by. Being myself for a living is so much easier than trying to live up to an image (or create an image) that doesn't really exist.

When working in higher education, I always felt that I was split in two halves, Donna the Human Being and Donna the Housing Administrator. Rarely did the two Donnas meet -- they were almost separate personalities, and quite frankly, Donna the Human Being (my true self) didn't really care for Donna the Housing Administrator at all.  It's no wonder I felt exhausted all the time in that job -- I was living two distinct lives, and one of those lives I really hated. The creation of my own business -- and my own set of rules -- has freed me to be me -- and probably saved me thousands in therapy fees..;->

My role model in life is the late Ann Richards, former governor of the great state of Texas. Ann was bold, brave, humorous, bright, and embodied the best in a Southern/Texas woman, and made no bones about that. Long ago I decided to embrace my being a "southern girl from the sticks" (English translation--lived in the country in a small East Texas town) rather than trying to make myself over into something more palatable to a wider group.

A former client used to get the biggest kick out of the stories I would tell her about living in a small east Texas town while at the same time telling me I needed to move away from there to a more civilized place. I told her if I moved, she would lose her great source of funny stories that she could incorporate into her speeches, and I would lose what makes me "me."

As a small business owner, how can you incorporate "you" into your business so that your ideal clients are naturally drawn to you? What natural gifts and talents do you possess but aren't willing to acknowledge? I strongly encourage you to tell your story--your parable of why you do what you do. Playing to your gifts and being who you are for a living is an extraordinarily rewarding way to run your business. Most importantly, it's what makes your business distinct -- and helps you stand out in a sea of small businesses.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this blurb with it:  Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==> http://www.OnlineBizU.com

Best return on marketing dollars

Q:  Where do I get the biggest return on my marketing money?
Gwen

Hi Gwen:

In today's economy especially, I think you get the biggest marketing return on online marketing, regardless of your business.  If you have a company where you do business locally, be sure and beef up your local search options.  If you sell a product, be sure that visitors can find you 24 hours a day online and can purchase when they want to.  If you sell your expertise, start telling people what you know by publishing and marketing articles that answer the problems and questions of people in your target market.  Publishing and maintaining a blog is a great way to draw traffic to your site, as is beefing up your search engine optimization.  Video marketing will be strong in 2009, so if you can reach out to your target market in some way via video, whether that's in screencast tutorials or in Webcam shows on UStream, you can reach many, many people for a very low investment in time and funds.

I would take advantage of as many free or low cost options as you can initially, many of which are mentioned above, before you begin to look at Pay Per Click campaigns or at buying banner ads or text ads on other people's websites or ezines.

And, if you need an online business coach to help you determine your marketing strategy, I've got 1 spot available currently for 1:1 coaching.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Marketing Collaboration

Q:  How can I find someone with marketing skills to collaborate with me?

Kate

A:  Hi Kate--

First, you need to get clear on exactly what you need.  Make a list of the areas in which you need help and create a job description for this collaboration that includes all the responsibilities and tasks you want handled.  Realistically, you many not be able to find one person to do all that you need, so take some time to review your needs and see if what you're written falls into categories, such as Internet marketing, social networking, or PR.

Now you've got a couple of options here:

1.  Hiring help.  If you have the means to pay for assistance, this will probably be the most successful route for you.  You can Google some keywords or categories of responsibility to see what sites come to the top and check them out.  Or, you can submit your job description to places like Guru.com, Elance.com, or GetaFreelancer.com if you're seeking contract services.  If the duties are extensive enough, you may want to hire someone as an employee.

2.  Barter. Bartering can be a tricky situation to negotiate.  Both parties must need the service that is being bartered and would be willing to pay for that service if they had the cash available.  When bartering, I advise doing a cash for cash exchange, i.e. $400 of coaching for $400 of web design, for example. And, the barter agreement should be written and limited in scope with a review date attached.  At the time of the review, each party needs to determine if the barter is working and make the decision to continue or quit.

3.  Interns.  You might consider "hiring" an intern. There are 2 sites that I know of that have info on how to successfully do that. One is http://superinterns.com/ and they offer a teleclass series, I believe. The other is an ebook called, Profiting from Internships.  However, I'd urge you to proceed with caution, as I just read a scathing review of this book, http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/365988/the-internet-s-biggest-problem.html that urges people to be wary of violating US Labor Laws.  Fact or fiction? I don't know, but make sure you are legally protected before you proceed..:)

4.  Commission.  You can offer a commission or percentage of sales based on the sales generated after the marketing was implemented.  Of course, it may be difficult to ascertain what's attributable to what, so you'll want to have a clear agreement in place that details when a commission is paid.

Got an Internet Marketing question?  Ask it here: AskDonnaGunter.com.

Ali Brown's New Magazine

I went to the mailbox yesterday and pulled out what I thought was a very skinny copy of Oprah's "O Magazine" and was wondering why I was getting that, as I had canceled my subscription several years ago.  Well, it turns out that it wasn't Oprah's magazine but Ali Brown's (the Ezine Queen) new full color mag.  There's a website listed in the magazine, www.thealimagazine.com, although it doesn't seem to be working at the moment.

She's definitely found the right magazine model, since it appears to be modeled on O Magazine.  I'm in one of her coaching programs and do recall her mentioning a new magazine, so now I see what she meant.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this as a marketing tool, not that she's asked me or anything..LOL.  I'm interested to hear more about her plan for it, as in whether it will serve as primarily a marketing tool, or if she really plans to go into the magazine biz.  If the latter is true, I wish her well, as I understand it's a hard biz in which to succeed.

I guess I'm just waaay too introverted to want to publish a magazine with my likeness on the front on a monthly basis.  It's all I can do to see my pic in my ezine and blog headers each week..LOL  Am I thinking too small?  Perhaps.  Can I do something similar without spreading my pic all over the place?  I hope so..:)

How do you feel about celebrity-centric marketing (i.e. Oprah's mag, Rachael Ray's mag, etc)?