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“How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? How dare you settle for less when the world has made it so easy for you to be remarkable?” Seth Godin

Just Imagine . . .

Posted Dec 13 2011 by in Social Media Marketing with 0 Comments

What could the world around us be like if even a handful of us set out to make a difference in someone’s life today?

Just imagine the ripple effect we could create!

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” Scott Adams

What if social media wasn’t just about us? What kind of changes could we see if we spent some time being kind to people?

“Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.” T.H. Thompson and John Watson

We have the power to be the change we want to see in the world…

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

4 Reasons To Blog

Posted Sep 30 2011 by in Blogging Tips with 21 Comments
Don't forget to play!

 
With so many people giving me reason (excuses) for why they don’t blog, I thought maybe it was time to post some reasons why small business owners absolutely, positively, without a doubt, should blog!

More Exposure

Every single time you post it turns into another chance for your business to be found on the Internet. This is especially true if you make sure to share your blog posts on social networking sites. This type of exposure can become priceless!

We can never predict which post may or may not go viral, but we do know that it will never happen if you never write it. It’s a simple as that.

Wayne Gretzky may have said it best. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Improve Writing Skills

So many people tell me that they don’t think they are a good enough writer to blog.

Are you kidding me?

If you can talk, you can write. Did you think your writing skills would improve by not writing? Seriously, the more you write, the better you will get. I promise you!

Interaction with Target Audience

The more you are able to interact in a positive manner with your target audience, the more likely you are to gain a new customer or client.

The key to this though is not just talking (writing) about what YOU want them to hear (your business) but what THEY want to hear.

Let’s say you own a real estate business in a quaint little town in Florida. If every post is about a new listing, you may gain a few contacts, because as we know, even a blind squirrel will occasionally find an acorn.

But what if we actually cater to our target audience? If they are even considering a move to your area, wouldn’t they want to know more about it? What is the local culture like? What does the town look like? What are the people like?

This doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t still post new listings, but perhaps they should be blended in with the many topics your target audience is searching for. If they are going to spend time searching for it, make sure that search leads to you!

Keeping Focused

The more often you blog, the more focused you are likely to become on the needs of your target audience. Of course that begins a wonderful cycle of more and more people finding you. Fine tuning the results of them finding you will improve your business. As an example, if visitors are reading your posts, but not clicking through to find out more about you, you may not be giving them reasons to stay.

So tell me, why do you blog?

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

Have Fun Doing It!

Posted Sep 27 2011 by in Small Business Tips with 19 Comments
Don't forget to play!

When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.”
Theodore Roosevelt

Far be it for me to disagree with the 26th president of the United States, but I do.

I do so adamantly.

I firmly believe that the road to success is finding something you love to do and then finding a way to make a living doing it. If you’re not having fun working, you may be in the wrong line of work.

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying we shouldn’t work hard. As a single mom, I definitely know the value and necessity of hard work. In fact, I probably work too much. I am simply saying there is no reason we can’t have fun doing it.

What are some things that you do to keep your work fun?

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

Sweating The Small Stuff

Posted Sep 23 2011 by in Small Business Tips with 13 Comments
Lost In Thought

 

It wasn’t a good morning. It seemed like every direction I turned I ran into another roadblock. My frustration level was at an all-time high.

I spilled coffee down the front of me, the neighbor’s bass was pounding in my head, my Internet connection was burping, and the batteries for the mouse died with a few thousand emails yet to be read. All of the right ingredients for a really bad day, right?

I headed over to Facebook to chill for a moment or two.

Scrolling down through my news feed, I came across a father talking about his 15 year old daughter. They were preparing to return to Children’s Hospital for chemo and a follow up MRI. They were praying for shrinkage. They were told to expect growth…

My heart fell as the tears began to roll down my cheeks.

How could I possibly get hung up on sweating the small stuff?

I wonder how many people suddenly found perspective in life again as they read this father’s Facebook update?

I wonder if he knows how many lives he touched….

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

Photo Composition Skills and Blogging

Posted Sep 19 2011 by in Blogging Tips, V7N Topics with 10 Comments
Photography and Blogging Composition Challenge

 

Take at least 5 pictures (each week) which use the skills you have learned (or are learning) about photography composition. You can do each weekly challenge daily, or over a weekend if you prefer.

Each week has a different composition to focus on

  • Week One: Fill the Frame
  • Week Two: Negative Space
  • Week Three: Portraits
  • Week Four: Lines

You can search the net for tutorials and ideas, or you can find help in our V7N Challenge group where we will be sharing help and posting our images.

You can also choose to share your progress over at the V7N in our Challenge thread where you can increase your networking!

Bonus Challenge: Find a way to make at least one picture (per week) from this challenge relevant to write a blog post. BE CREATIVE in how you do this. As an example, filling the frame is all about creating an image in which the subject is the only focus. How could you apply this to running your business? How could you apply it to SEO? Improving your writing skills?

When does it start? I can’t think of a better time than right now.

C’mon! This will be fun!

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

SEO Package Giveaway

Posted Aug 23 2011 by in Link Building Strategies with 52 Comments
Random SEO Drawing

 
Once your site is up and running, it takes all of about 5 minutes to discover that the “build it and they will come” theory is a fantasy. No matter how good your content is, you are going to have to spend some time focused on link building so that you can get your content in front of enough people to get the ball rolling.

Wouldn’t it be awesome to get some help with the more tedious time robbing parts of this process that drive you absolutely crazy?

Are you ready for this?

$740 SEO Package Giveaway

WL Marketing SEO Package Giveaway

Sponsored by WLMarketing.com

You are so going to love this, because one month from today, WL Marketing is going to give away a $740 Starter SEO Package to one lucky winner in a random drawing.

Starter SEO Package 

    • Keyword Research
    • 4000 Directory Submissions
    • 1200 Unique Social Bookmarking
    • 300 Article Marketing
    • 200 Press Release Submissions
    • DMOZ Submission
    • Squidoo Lens

How do you get chances in the drawing?

  1. Sign up for the WL Marketing newsletter and you will automatically receive one chance in the drawing for their $740 Starter SEO Package. Once you have completed this, reply to this blog post with the user name that you used to register for the newsletter.
  2. Go to the WL Marketing Facebook page and click “like” at the top of the page to automatically receive a second chance in the drawing! Say hi to me when you are there! For verification purposes, once you have done this, make sure to reply to this post with your FB user name for verification purposes.
  3. As a way of saying thank you to WL Marketing for offering this wonderful giveaway (you will also get another chance in the drawing) I would love if if you would go to wlmarketing.com and click the Google +1 button in the upper left hand corner of the page, right next to their logo. Let me know in the comments of this post that you did it. C’mon, just do it because you’re cool like that! :)

Final step to qualify for the drawing!

If you haven’t already done so, you need to reply to this blog post (in the comments) to let me know which of the actions above you completed for chances in the drawing.

Could this possibly be any easier?

We would be crazy not to join in on this giveaway!

UPDATE! The participant chosen by random drawing is: Lora Phillippi!

About The Sponsor

WL Marketing provides a suite of web promotion SEO services by people who understand SEO. Since founding the company in 2007, over 600 professionals and newcomers have successfully used WL Marketing’s services to enhance their websites and have found it to be easy and reliable.

This team of professionals is led by Warren Wong (Cornell University Computer Science BS & Masters 2005), who operates and co-owns WMMedia, which runs hundreds of websites.

 

Disclaimer: This contest is sponsored by WL Marketing of 2514 South Blvd Houston, Texas 77098, 832-209-8671. V7N.com of Escalate Media LP, cannot be held accountable for possible issues between contest winners and the sponsors.

First We Must Stop Digging

Posted Aug 1 2011 by in Small Business Tips with 9 Comments
hole

 

So we dug ourselves a nice deep hole that we can’t seem to find our way out of and now we’re looking for advice. Is that about right?

The universal advice seems to be that FIRST we must stop digging.

DUH?

It sounds simple enough doesn’t it?

The problem with that advice is that we are still left down in that dang hole.

We may not be digging any deeper, but that doesn’t actually bring us topside either.

Why is that?

My best guess is that it is because we just kind of stand there looking around.

We come up with all sorts of ideas, and we read every tutorial on ways to build a ladder to take us out of the hole, but we fail to take action.

If our sites are struggling in the search results, we can spend hour after hour reading and studying the V7N SEO Tips of the Day, but it won’t make a bit of difference unless we start to implement what we learn.

Knowing how important it is to blog and use social media to interact with others won’t change a single thing, until we actually do it.

Let’s not tell ourselves that it takes too much time.

How long does it take to build our businesses if we choose not to take action?

We have a choice.

We can either stand there screaming for help and feeling sorry for ourselves, or we can put one foot in front of the other and just start doing what it takes.

What choice are you making?

J. Cricket Walker of CricketWalker.com

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