The best thing with blogging is that it offers the blogger a lot of ways to earn money. If you like our post on the dos and don’ts of successful blogging, you’ll surely love this one on how to boost the income potential of your blog and start generating money even while you sleep.

The other best thing also with monetizing your blog is that you won’t only generate additional income into your pocket, but you also add more value to your brand by offering something truly beneficial to your readers.

Check out these six excellent monetization tips to bringing in some money from blogging.

1. Offer a professional service

This is actually what we’re offering right now at MACs Women. We know that there are many women entrepreneurs out there that need professional help with their social media. So we develop our comprehensive social media solutions that we believe can truly benefit their business.

Aside from that, MACs Women’s Group also offers our members and non-members with a paid 1-hour social media tune up and a free consultation service.

2. Sell an ebook

Or sell any informational or non-informational products for that matter. But selling an ebook through a blog is one of the most lucrative monetization strategies being used today by bloggers. It’s also relatively easy to do. You just write an ebook that you think your audience wants to buy and sell it on your blog.

3. Promote affiliates

This is another great option to generate income. You look for affiliate programs that you believe can really help your readers. You sign up to their program and recommend them on your blog using an affiliate link. If your readers buy the product or service, you will get paid.

4. Use Google AdSense

Pat Flynn’s SmartPassiveIncome gives us an excellent example on how to utilize Google AdSense. Right now, he’s earning over two thousand dollars of passive income every month. Pat shows everyone there’s a lot of money to be had by offering a combination of useful content and Google AdSense.

5. Offer a membership program

Set up an exclusive premium-level program that can only be accessed by members who pay a monthly fee. This is a growing online trend right now that offers savvy entrepreneurs with a steady flow of income.

6. Build your blog and sell it

We know of some people who make a living by creating a blog, building an audience, and then selling it at a profit. In fact, we also know of some people who actually buy blogs and use them for their content marketing strategies.

How about you? Are you generating money from you blog? What monetization strategy or strategies do you use? We’d love to hear your experience.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results. Schedule Your Free Consultation here!

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Your blog is an integral part of your overall social media and content marketing plan. If you’ve been blogging for a year or two, you discover that there are certain intricacies of blogging that you need to pay attention to. 

At MACs Women’s Group, we painstakingly take note of those little goodies that make a blog post work or don’t work. Apparently it’s an ongoing process.

Today we would like to share with you eleven of those dos and don’ts of blogging that can help improve your blog and attract more readers.

1. Do post fresh and helpful articles regularly.

2. Don’t clutter your blog design with unnecessary widgets, plugins and annoying ads. Keep it simple, appealing to the eyes and professional. Look at your blog from the point of view of your readers. If you see something you don’t like, consider some changes.

3. Do make your blog user-friendly and easy to navigate for your visitors.

4. Don’t auto-play your videos or podcasts. 

5. Do add social media buttons on your posts to encourage readers to share your new post.

6. Don’t plagiarize. Even if you credit the source, duplicate contents will only get penalized by Google.

7. Do check your posts for any typo or obvious errors before you publish them.

8. Don’t be negative. Focus on writing positive posts that inspire and motivate readers. Even when replying to comments, avoid getting into an argument with your reader.

9. Do respond to comments and appreciate the time of your readers for participating in a discussion.

10. Don’t write long paragraphs. It will discourage readers from reading the entire post. Break paragraphs into 2-3 lines.

11. Do share what you’ve learned to others. Write a post about the intricacies of blogging that you think can help your readers become better bloggers.

Also don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for more inspirational tips and other goodies. If you want to add other great dos and don’ts, please do so in the comments below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results. Schedule Your Free Consultation here!

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Facebook and Twitter have been providing web marketers with free amazing platforms to gain online exposure. But a new player is on the rise right now that may revolutionize the playing field of social media marketing, and has even become a marketing platform of choice by savvy marketers and small business owners.

You’ve heard it mentioned many times before. This rising player is Google+ and it’s the social networking platform developed by the eponymous biggest search engine in the world.

Google+ is not your typical social network, but a topical one that allows you to organize content and separate family, friends and business contacts. It’s also the second most actively used social media platform in the world, second only to Facebook.

Plenty of good things have been said about Google+ when it comes to building a profitable business. If you haven’t utilized it to grow your brand, it’s about time that you do. Just follow these seven easy steps.

1. Register for a Google+ profile.

Sign up here. It’s pretty easy especially when you are already using Gmail. Create your own unique and great profile with a nice picture. You’ll get more from this fantastic social network if you fill your About page with as much essential information as you can.

2. Link Google+ to your website and other social media pages.

One of the major benefits of using Google+ is that it can positively impact your SEO effort. Constructed by Google as a social media/SEO juggernaut it easily dominates the search results.

With that in mind, you have to take advantage of it by linking your business website, blog and other social media pages.

3. Start connecting with your audience.

Add people to your circle using the Find People.  You can organize them by Circles of your choice. You can have a circle for your favorite authors, marketers or business associates. You can also check out communities on Google+ that you want to join in.

4. Set up your Google Authorship.

Google authorship tells the search engine who is the author of a particular blog or article. This will add more credibility to the said blog post or article, as well as increase its ranking on the search engine results.

5. Create a page for your business.

Go to create a page and pick the appropriate category for your business. The same way you create your personal profile, customize the page’s public profile to make it stand out. Make sure to fill out your Google+ business page with important information

6. Put a Google+ button on your website.

Send a strong social media signal to your web pages by simply adding a Google+ button. This will not only make it easier for your readers to share your post on their profile, but also encourage them to do so.

7. Always be engaging and helpful.

Start sharing helpful tips and information to your circles.

Google+ thrives off its users sharing information and helping each other to reach a goal. Engaging your audience and providing them with a good source of information can definitely help increase your following on Google+.

Do you find Google+ helpful to your business? Do you have other excellent tips you want to share to our readers? We would love to know about them in the comments below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results. Schedule Your Free Consultation here!

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How to Get Your Daily Dose of Business Inspiration

As women entrepreneurs, we always have to be at our best disposition every day. We have to stay positive and inspired so that we inspire and positively affect the people working for us, too. If everyone in the team goes to work with a happy and positive disposition, great things can be accomplished.

But staying inspired on a daily basis can be a challenge, especially when we’re faced with stressful deadlines, demanding clients and other energy-zapping business activities. These things can not only make us cranky, they can also affect our productivity, make us lose focus and burn us out.

At times like these, I turn to my list of ‘daily inspiration boosters’, choose my pick, and then get my inspiration fix. And below, I share my top 4 favorites:

1.       Read a good book.  Open a business book that you’ve dog-eared, bookmarked or postponed reading for some time now. Take some quiet time then start reading.  Some quiet time, a good book and a hot cup of coffee. Nothing beats that.

There are some great business books that you can start reading. Here’s a list of the top business books I recommend you start reading. If you want more selections, here’s another list.

2.       Watch the Ads. Every year, the advertising and magazine world highlights the “best of the year” in TV, radio and online advertising. Not only will you get inspired by how creative and effective they convey their marketing messages, you can also pick some pointers on how to make your own marketing story stand out.

3.       Lunch out. Who doesn't love a lunch out? Every once in a while, invite a colleague you admire and who inspires you for lunch. Enjoy the conversation and stop thinking about closing a deal. You’re not there to do business. Just enjoy her company.

4.       Listen and learn. Check out the podcasts of industry leaders on iTunes and subscribe to their podcasts. You’ll always learn something from every episode you listen to. Get inspired with their ideas and find out how you can apply them in your business.

How about you? What and who inspires you to do what you do? Where do you get your dose of inspiration? Share it with us by commenting below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results. Schedule Your Free Consultation here!

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If you’re looking to build a successful business then you should start cultivating good business relationships with your customers first. A strong customer-oriented approach is one of the key factors to achieving your business goals and growing your company.

Below are 9 rock-solid tips to help you build a strong relationship with your customers and, eventually, win their loyalty:

1.       Customers are not numbers. Treat your customers not as cash cows but as people. Treat them genuinely and respond to their queries in a timely manner.

2.       Give them space. Space in the business world is translated to how aggressive your marketing campaigns are. Most customers don’t like you pitching products every single day and shoving surveys down their throat. They share more and respond whenever they’re ready. Give them space.

3.       Hear them out. Listen to what your customers tell you and always remember the important details they've shared.  When an occasion calls for it, tactfully ask them about those things. Show them that you remember and that you care.

4.       Let them feel they’re important. Some entrepreneurs after they seal the deal, stop wooing their customers. Customers shouldn't be taken for granted.  Repeat business is just as important as new business.

5.        Treat your customers as valued business partners. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your customers – you might like what you hear! And as mentioned in this post, when customers tell you something, take it as a formative feedback to help you create superior products and deliver better services.

6.       Keep them involved. If you want a lasting business relationship, you should cultivate trust. If there are any changes in your business that may affect your customers, either in a positively or negatively, inform them ahead of time. Again, your customers are your partners so they must be kept informed and updated.

7.       Walk the talk. Call when you say you will and deliver products on time. If you’ve customer that you promised to call on a particular time, do it. Your customers’ trust in you is usually diminished and they get disappointed if you don’t follow through on your words.

8.       Take responsibility. As the business owner, it is your responsibility to make sure that customers are getting what they need and that they are satisfied with your products and services at all times.

9.       Thank them. Sincere gratitude can improve any type of business relationship. Thank customers for buying your products and patronizing your business. This makes them feel appreciated and important, which in turn makes them want to do more business with you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results.

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Social networking allows you a greater opportunity to connect with potential customers. It provides you with a perfect springboard to increase your online visibility, build relationships and gain valuable information that you can use to make educated decisions for business growth.

Through strategic social networking activities, you will be able to reach out and engage with previously inaccessible market.

Below are three smart steps that you can take today to help ensure the success to your social networking efforts.

1. Keep looking for new ways to expand your networks

One thing about networking on various social media is that it keeps evolving. Avoid complacency by not settling down with what you’re doing right now. Always aim to get better every day by trying out new ideas and ways of expanding your market reach.

If you’re currently doing great on Twitter and Facebook, that’s well and good. But don’t just settle there. Start building a brand presence on other rising social media channels like Google+ and Pinterest.

2. Be organized

Knowing what you want, right off the bat, is very important. Also equally important is knowing what you can offer to your audience to achieve what you want.

With that said, you have to be properly organized when creating your social networking plan, and go from there.

3. Always follow through

This single easy step can do magic to your sales acquisition efforts. Keep the lines of communication open with your prospects. Touch base every once in a while and be sure to keep on top of your prospect’s current situation.

Apply the 3/6 golden rule of social networking, in which you contact her 3 times in a 6 week period. If she doesn’t engage back within the designated time frame, it would be best to move on.

Final thoughts

One of our goals at MACs Women’s Group is to help women business owners achieve greater success online. Hopefully those tips above would offer up some help with attaining your growth target. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results.

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With the growing popularity of visual content, and, of course, its effectiveness to gain wider exposure and generate hot leads, more and more business owners are seeking for creative ways to capture the attention and interest of their audience on social media, most especially on Pinterest.

At MACs Women’s Group, we treat everyone visiting our site with great tips and options to power their marketing efforts on social media. Today we pick our top 7 best Pinboards that are sure to inspire and help you become more successful on Pinterest.

1. Inspirational Board

It's great to be inspired everyday while sipping a cup of cappuccino, or green tea if you like.  Inspirational Pinboards like this one offer you just that. Be inspired everyday to do better things. Be inspirational to your followers by pinning images inspired by your visits from inspirational boards.

2. Customer Success Stories Board

Don’t miss what it’s like to utilize success stories of your customers on Pinterest. See how customer success stories boards like Haas Automation’s do it, and do it very effectively.

3. Behind the Scenes Board                                               

One of the best ways to connect on a more personal level with your followers is by showing them wacky behind the scenes photos of your upcoming projects. Visit Pinboards like Brian Tracy's and Business.com and see how they take advantage of this strategy to establish more connection to their audience.

4. Contest Board

If you’re good at coming up with contest ideas to motivate followers to take action, then exploit that talent to your best advantage on Pinterest. The best pinboard to emulate when it comes to this is Freshpedition Sweepstakes by GE.

5. Business Resources Board

Become a go-to expert of your chosen industry. Offer great content and resources that your followers can use. Once you establish yourself as a great business resource about a particular topic, people will eventually find out and visit your page often.

6. Statistics Board

Business owners love data and statistics, especially if it involves their industry. Statistics Pinboards like this one could offer you a great leverage when developing a product or service and how to get more from your target market.

7. Business Events Board

Do you have upcoming events like a business summit or a business bake up session? Feature them on your event pinboard. You can also help promote conferences organized by other organizations that you admire. A good example for this is HubSpot’s Inbound Conference pinboard.

Time to get cracking on Pinterest today! If you know of other great pinboards that you want to share with us, please leave a link in the comment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results.

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Looking  for ways to bolster the sales conversation rate of your online business? No matter how good your business model is, if your marketing message isn’t compelling enough or you’re using a scattershot approach to market your product, you’ll struggle to get the sales results you want.

Follow these three tried-and-true steps to get better results from your email marketing, social media and content marketing efforts.

1. Get the message across

First thing first, before you get the message across to your target market, be sure to have a well-crafted, compelling message that will motivate potential customers to take action. People want to read or hear a message that inspires them to take action.

Once you get the message right, it’s time to get it across using various marketing vehicles that have worked for you in the past, as well as new strategies that you think will also be effective.

2. Be specific with your target audience

Many marketing campaigns have failed for one main reason: it does not get in front of the right audience. A shotgun marketing approach can lead to a lot of frustrations. If you want to avoid that, then be precise about who your potential customers are.

You don’t really need a massive marketing list. All you need is a shorter list of prospects that are highly targeted for your business. Being specific with your target audience means doing the legwork of knowing who your ideal customer is, and where you can find them.

When you have the right information, it would be a bit easier to reach out to them with your marketing message.

3. Timing is everything

Get the right timing of your sales cycle. If you think the month of June is the most difficult time to sell a particular product or service, then focus all your efforts on the next month when your buyers are more likely to buy from you.

Just like any successful comedian, if you want to get laughs and applause from your audience, timing is everything.

Over to you…

How about you? Do you have any secrets to ramping up sales conversion that you want to share? Let us know about them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results.

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Five years ago, Kevin Kelley wrote a thought-provoking article 1000 True Fans that caused quite a stir on the internet, and which still holds true today. He said that you don’t really need thousands or millions of fans or followers to live a financially comfortable life as an entrepreneur or artist. All you need is 1000 true fans.

Kelly defined a true fan as “someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce.” He went on to say that if you want to raise your sales ratios all you need to do is connect with your true fans and build long-term relationships with them.

But how do you find your 1000 true fans? Here are some helpful steps to take:

Define your goal

Be sure to have a well-defined mission for your business organization. Why is it that your organization exists? What do people get when they join in your community? What are you trying to improve?

Build membership website

No matter what your business model is, you will need a membership website, like what we have here,  with a members-only back end and publicly-accessible front end. Offer members  real-world benefits and up-front incentives for joining the community.

Make your true fans your friends

Interact with your social media followers and make them your friends. Find time if you can to meet them in person during a business gathering or a summit.  Follow them on Twitter and comment on their blog posts. Initiate conversations and get to know them more both online and offline.

Build a prospect marketing system

You need to have in place a good educational content marketing system that attracts new visitors to your website and social media pages. Build relationship with prospects.

Joint ventures for launch

Develop a killer program with like-minded people in your business circle. They can help you do pre-selling for your new product or service with endorsement from them, which can yield better results than advertising.

You just need to contact and negotiate strategically with your prospective joint venture partners.

Ongoing content and social media marketing

The ultimate goal of content and social media marketing is to acquire new sales. Acquiring new sales also requires ongoing marketing activities designed to connect with your target audience, and establish a relationship with them over time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michelle Christie is a business consultant based in Westchester, New York. She focuses on helping small business owners harness the power of social media to build and strengthen the relationship with their customers online. Michelle is the founder of Motivators and Creators Women's Group a professional membership organization for new and established business women interested in business networking, learning and achieving positive business results.

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