Robbi Hess

Update, Upgrade Your LinkedIn Profle

According to news reports, LinkedIn has seen major revenue earnings increases and that leads me to believe there are more business professionals taking advantage of this professional business social media site.  

LinkedIn profiles can help you stand out from the crowd when you’re looking for  a job or if you’re an entrepreneur seeking new clients. If professionals are flocking to use this site, that means that you should make certain you not only have a professional presence, but you should have a complete profile as well. Here are my tips to making certain your LinkedIn profile is not only complete, but compelling: 

Writers Block? Writing Anxiety? Can You Move Past It? Yes!

Several years ago I taught adult writing classes at a local literary center.  The classes I taught focused on magazine writing, fiction, confession magazine writing and blogging. Whenever someone came to class with the story that they didn't do their assignment it was because they had Writer's Block I countered by saying it wasn't WB, but Writing Anxiety or in some cases, Writing Laziness!

Writers should be avid readers and as an avid reader you should be exposed to myriad ideas all the time that should spark your creativity. If it doesn't and you find yourself with sweaty palms and beating heart when you sit down to write a blog post, it could be a case of Writer's Anxiety.

Here are some tips to overcome that, move forward, and get that blog post written:

Are Your Marketing Efforts Reaping Results?

How often do you look at your marketing and promotion plan for your business? Just as you track the financial health of the organization, so too should you monitor the health and rate of return on your marketing efforts. Are the goals you set for your marketing being met? If not, it's time to revamp them. Even if you’re only setting a baseline of: increase my social media followers by 10 each week, it’s something you need to monitor and rework if it’s not helping you reach your goals.

Here are some items in your marketing arsenal that you should look into and revamp if necessary:

• Do you understand your audience/your ideal client? If you don’t know who your client is, how can you effectively target him? In addition to knowing your demographic’s age and location, you should also understand whether they’re the “on-line” type or if they prefer their news/coupons offline in a newspaper or in a television or radio ad. If you’ve been targeting one section of media and not reaping results, refocus your efforts. Remember too that social media and print media work cooperatively.
• How functional is your website? Do you have a website? If not, we have professionals on trade that will work with you to build a new site. If you don’t have a website, you need to get one as soon as possible because your competition is well ahead of you if you don’t. Consider that your website is your 24/7 business card. Understand the key words you want to target for your business and use them judiciously throughout the site. 
• Do you have a “sales funnel”? Do you know what a sales funnel is? One way to create a sales funnel is through a series of articles/blog posts on your website. Take a look at the goods and services that you provide and consider whether you have a case study you could use as an example for a sales funnel series. As an example, look at an individual that has decided she wants to become a business owner. Follow her trials and tribulations from the “a-ha” moment through to her throwing open her virtual doors. If you’re a website builder, that’s where you come in – the virtual doors. Talk about the steps in business ownership from accounting and bookkeeping needs to the need for marketing and promotion, hiring of employees, social media management and profile building, networking, etc. You’re not specifically telling the readers to “buy me” or pushing your product on them, you’re showing them a person with a dilemma and offering ideas for solutions. You will be known as the solution provider to a potential client.

As a business owner, it’s not enough to have a great website and stellar content on that site if no one is reading it. Harness the power of social media to spread the word about your site and the new blog posts you’re writing. Draw them to the site. Let them get to know, like and trust you and you will be looking at a potential client! Do you need help with your marketing efforts? A reworking of your social media efforts? Let me know! 

Get Your Blog Some Google Love: 7 tips

Google, it sometimes seems, is the be all and end all for business owners looking to be found on the Internet. While the rules change, sometimes before you’ve even implemented them, there are ways to remain relevant, be found and up your Google rankings when you write a blog post.

Here are my top tips for gaining Google love:

1. Always write original content. Don’t be redundant – even if you write and post on more than one website in the same niche market. While you don’t have to recreate the wheel with your posts, you do want to make certain the content has been rewritten even though the ideas may be the same. 

7 Steps To A Great How-To Post

Do you read blog posts because you want to learn something from the blogger? Chances are, that is why you read. In a world crammed full of work, life, spending time with family and pets, giving your time to a blogger and her blog post is a gift. If you like to walk away from a blog post having learned something or if you write blog posts and want your readers to walk away having learned something, writing a great how-to article is the way to go.

Seven Steps To A Better Blog Post

Has anyone ever asked you: How do you blog?  That question was asked of me recently during a blogging seminar I was leading, prompted me to go through my blogging process to try and break down the process. This is what I came up with:

• Write the post aimed toward a “you.” What this means is when you write a blog post use the word you not “we,” “them” or “I”. Your blog posts should make the reader feel as though he is sitting in your kitchen, sipping coffee, and hearing the information you are imparting.

2013 Writing Resolutions: Are You Ready?

Today's the day. January 1. A Clean slate. A New Year. Now is the time to gear up for that new year, don't you agree? If you're like most people, you look at the first of the year as a  chance to start over. A fresh start. A clean slate. You get the picture! It's time now though to step back and take stock. 

• What did you want to accomplish in 2012?
• What did you actually accomplish?
• What goals did you set for yourself and did you meet those goals?
• Were there any goals that you exceeded? 

Pinterest Grows Your Blogging Reach

Pinterest is a great place to, well spend a lot of time procrastinating on the items on your to-do list. Picture this scenario, you log in then start looking at the boards of those whom you follow... and then... you get lost in the pictures of cute puppies and book covers, delicious recipes and yummy photos... and then... all of a sudden you're hungry and darn it, you forgot why you logged into Pinterest in the first place, right? It is a social media landscape filled with distractions, to be sure, but it is also a social media landscape that is a perfect platform for your pet blogging. 

After attending a Greece Chamber of Commerce meeting at which a florist and an event planner shared a lot of hints, tips and tricks for making the most of Pinterest -- even for those businesses that may not seem to lend themselves to "visuals" (think accountants or insurance agents), I decided I needed to harness the power of this social media site. 

How Often Are You Blogging?

Is blogging a "passing fad"? Has it run its course? Do you wonder whether it's worth the effort to keep  putting your fingers to the keyboard? Do you wonder whether people read what you write? Okay, I've tossed a lot of questions out in one paragraph, but the bottom line is: Yes, you still need to be blogging and if, for some reason, you haven't started blogging yet, what are you waiting for? 

How Passionate Are You?

Got passion? Personally, I'd rather "got passion" than "got milk" but that's for another post. I was  pondering the other day what I might be passionate about. I mean chocolate and coffee and my Diva Poodle Henrietta are givens, but what about my work? My life calling? Do I have a life calling? I think I am still figuring that out, but if you're not sure if you're following your passion, here are five questions to ask yourself: 

• Are you an expert at what you do? The more you know about your job, the better you will perform it and the better you will feel about what you do. Be an expert in your field.
• Do you incorporate your hobbies into your work or your outside life? Make certain you pursue your hobbies and passions outside of the office as a way to make the rest of your life more enjoyable, especially if there is no way to work them into your daily 9-5.