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Archive for October, 2007
October 23rd, 2007 by Allen Voivod
 So I was walking to the office this morning, and the Prince song “Trust” from the 1989 Batman soundtrack popped into my head, unbidden. Not a bad way to start the morning - and certainly better than having “The Name Game” song stuck in there instead.
But “Trust” got me thinking about a topic Lani and I have talked about a lot amongst ourselves and with business owners looking to establish an online presence. (Yes, it’s true, even though it sounds like a thinly veiled, Carrie-Bradshaw-esque thematic plot device.)
It’s domain names and email addresses, and here’s the best way I can think of, with only half a cup of coffee in my bloodstream, to describe the difference between having your own domain, and not having it.
If you’re on eBay, with all other things being equal, who would you trust more?
1. A seller with a contact address of service@batman.com
2. A seller with a contact address of batman4203@verizon.net
The answer: Neither. Since eBay has a robust customer satisfaction rating system in place, and if these two sellers have the exact same customer satisfaction ratings, then it makes no difference from whom you buy.
But say you’re off of eBay now. Instead, you’ve gone to two different websites, which each sell the exact same product for the exact same price. One website is www.verizon.net/pages/batman4203, and the other is www.batman.com.
Who do you trust more with your purchase - including your contact information and credit card information?
The hands-down winner is www.batman.com. And what this example shows is, if you want to inspire customers to trust you with their private purchasing information, you’d best be using a domain name that matches your business name - and not the free space provided to you by your Internet Service Provider.
We use www.AhaWebHost.com for our domains and website hosting (that links to 1&1, possibly the world’s largest provider), and we’ve been perfectly satisfied with their service and responsiveness.
Having your own domain - and the email addresses to go with it - is the first step to “A-Ha Yourself!” online, putting your boldest insights into joy-filled action.
And now, I’m off to find my old Batman CD….
Posted in Tools to "A-Ha Yourself!" | No Comments »
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on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:31 am and is filed under Tools to "A-Ha Yourself!".
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October 19th, 2007 by Allen Voivod
I recently wrote something like, “Geez, how many blogs do you write, anyway?” to Patsi Krakoff while we were trading emails earlier this week. I just learned about yet another one of hers, which you’ll find here, and is definitely worth adding to your blog reader if you want to learn more about writing great ezines and blogs.
But I guess I could say the same thing, since I blog for a couple of client websites in addition to contributing to our own. And though executive resumes aren’t all that relevant to this blog, something that came across my radar for Career-Resumes.com also applies here.
The staffing firm Robert Half International just released the results of a work and humor survey, and they found that 97% of professionals believe humor to be a very important quality for managers to have. 97%! Who the heck are the 3% who don’t think it’s important?!
A couple of years ago, I interviewed an expert at the Annenberg School of Communication about the intersection of politics and humor, and she told me about how you have to make a connection in your mind to “get” a joke, and how that invests you in the subject matter in a way.
It’s got to work the same way in the workplace. Though moderation is always key, making the mental fun connections on the job - whether it’s corporate America or your own one-man / one-woman entrepreneurial show - positively increases your emotional investment in the work, and that’s only going to make you more motivated to succeed in whatever you do.
So laugh already! Besides, it’s Friday, and if there’s any day more conducive to workplace laughter than Fridays, it’s not a day that ends in “y,” that’s for sure.
Posted in How do you "A-Ha Yourself"? | No Comments »
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on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 10:16 am and is filed under How do you "A-Ha Yourself"?.
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October 10th, 2007 by Allen Voivod
So the last post Lani wrote, about Rob Schultz and audio and video trends, claims to have been loaded to the blog after 5:00am on Friday, October 5th.
News flash: It was, and it wasn’t.
If the idea of blogging every day, every other day, every week even, turns you off, then take heart! Instead, you can just pick a day, write a bunch of blog posts, and use the WordPress “Post Timestamp” box to future-date your blog posts. And when the future date/time arrives, bang! It automatically releases your post onto the Wild Wild Web.
 And if you don’t tell anyone, they’ll be none the wiser. Obviously, I’m bending that rule a bit, because after 5:00am on Friday, though readers may have thought Lani was up early and blogging, she was actually getting a shot of Nubain to take the edge off her contractions.
And four hours after the blog post went live, our second son entered the world. Of course, it took us five days after to blog about it, but that’s what sleep deprivation’ll do to you.  Maybe next time, we’ll use that timestamp feature to back-date the post, so future readers will never suspect what really happened…
Posted in Blog Bits | 5 Comments »
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on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Blog Bits.
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October 5th, 2007 by Lani Voivod
One of the bummers of being a 41-week pregnant mom, wife, and business owner is I can’t just fly off and attend all the cool content, online marketing, and creative business-building events that take place around this great nation of ours.
Luckily, I can live vicariously through those friends, colleagues, and blogging professionals who are out there in the field, partying with the big, bold ideas of today and tomorrow.
Success coach and info product creation expert Rob Shultz of AudaciousAudio.com is one of those lucky fellas.
Rob just got back from the annual Podcast and New Media Expo (PNME), and scooped the latest news ‘n views of the new media industry. In fact, on his Blogbuster Audio (and Video!) blog, he revealed “The Five Crucial Emerging Audio and Video Trends that can help you boost your profits and more fully leverage your content.”
We’re talking tips and resources for easy, abundant, and often FREE content creation - more proof that there’s never been a better time to be a lifestyle entrepreneur or small business owner.
No more excuses about equipment, or budget, or barriers to entry, etc. You’ve got everything you need to explode onto your chosen scene, make your mark, once and for all.
C’mon - your niche audience is waiting for you!
Have some fun with your marketing. Get creative. Take chances. Break out of your industry’s mold. Be a rebel, a thought leader, a visionary, a renegade. Make up your own rules. Invent, explore, or run away with the forums and platforms that work for you.
In other words…Go ahead, A-HA YOURSELF!
Stuck for ideas on how to get your name, biz, and brand out there to your ideal audience?Check out “The A-Ha Action Guide: How to Turn Your Most Powerful Ideas Into Profitable, Joy-Filled Action” and get the answers, insights, and direction you’re looking for!
Posted in Call in the Coach, Fun With Marketing, How do you "A-Ha Yourself"? | 1 Comment »
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on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 5:13 am and is filed under Call in the Coach, Fun With Marketing, How do you "A-Ha Yourself"?.
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October 4th, 2007 by Allen Voivod
First, the blurb about it - then our own details:
Thousands of entrepreneurs come together to blast through the obstacles and clutter that hold them back. Success Connections’ National Clean Sweep Challenge is a FREE event geared to help entrepreneurs work less and make more. Register to receive a FREE value-filled toolkit, at CleanSweepChallenge.com.
Now, last year we joined in the challenge, and the following week was the biggest financial week we’d ever had to that point - over $6,000 in income, and it was a Labor-Day-shortened week!
 This time around, the Clean Sweep Challenge Day is happening October 5th, but we’re still dealing with labor - namely Lani, who started having contractions Wednesday around 2:30 in the morning.
Even now, as I sit across the office from her, she’s wincing and taking deep breaths every 8-10 minutes. (We were told to go to the hospital yesterday, only to be sent home seven hours later - don’t get me started about that.)
So it looks like the only clean sweep about to happen around here is the inside of Lani’s uterus, but we can’t recommend the Clean Sweep Challenge highly enough. It’s the brainchild of Melanie Benson Strick, “The Entrepreneur’s Success Coach,” whom we’ve mentioned a time or two on this here blog. She was even quoted in a recent Woman’s Day article about organization and the “clean sweep.”
And in the year that’s passed since we did the Clean Sweep Challenge, our home office - which was the target of the sweep - has undergone an extreme makeover. Bunk beds? Gone. Two cloests? Down to one. Two desks? Also down to one. A new paint job, new carpet (thanks to a bit of a water leakage issue), and a whole bunch of crap out of there…voila! Uncluttered and completely efficient.
What’s more, the effect carried throughout the rest of the house, and into our new outside-the-home office. Quite frankly, the only place that needs help now is the attic, since I’ve been throwing stuff around up there in the hunt for baby clothes, furniture, supplies, et cetera. It’s a good thing Lani can’t get up there to see, pregnant belly and all.
I’m counting on being at the hospital during the Challenge this year - so maybe I’ll bring my laptop and Clean Sweep my computer. (How many old files and folders do you have that you don’t need anymore?)
Whether you do a virtual or physical version, though, please go for it! Download your Clean Sweep tools from Melanie’s site today. It truly was a life-changing, business-enhancing event for us. We hope it will be for you, too!
Posted in Dances With Gurus, Entrepreneur Diaries | No Comments »
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on Thursday, October 4th, 2007 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Dances With Gurus, Entrepreneur Diaries.
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October 3rd, 2007 by Lani Voivod
I definitely have a Content Crush on Gerry McGovern. As much as I say Allen and I live and breathe this stuff, Gerry’s entire DNA structure is composed of content-related strands, metrics, and data-deep analyses.
For example, in a recent post on his Giraffe Forum, “Killer web content examples,” where Gerry poses the provocative question:
“Out of 18 choices, why does one piece of content get 49 percent of the vote while another gets 0 percent?“
Gerry shares solid examples gathered from international travel, empirical data, and no-nonsense click-through rates.
He also punches the point with sexy quotables like these:
- “The Web is the ultimate laboratory for content. It allows us to know, with increasing precision, what content leads to a positive action, and what content leads to the Back button.”
- “The content that works on the Web has one key characteristic: it is customer-centric. The content that doesn’t work on the Web also has one key characteristic: it is organization-centric.”
- “’99 cents per download, no restrictions’ is the essence of what people want today. They want an immediate answer to the question: What’s in it for me? They want brutal, pared down content that gets to the point immediately.“
- “Your website is not a murder mystery. It is certainly not a place for we-we content. Short, sharp, second person and active; that’s web content. Get to the point. Then stop.”
Hubba, hubba! (Or am I alone in this visceral reaction to hot, sweaty content talk?)
Psst! Does content talk get you REALLY riled up? Want immediate access to insider knowledge on more than 12 of the easiest, most effective, and most affordable content vehicles for long-term success and profitability?
Check out “The A-Ha Action Guide: How to Turn Your Most Powerful Ideas Into Profitable, Joy-Filled Action” and get the answers, insights, and direction you’re looking for!
Posted in All About Content, Dances With Gurus | No Comments »
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on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 6:05 am and is filed under All About Content, Dances With Gurus.
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October 1st, 2007 by Lani Voivod
I’m writing this post as:
- A woman carrying a baby boy in her belly who’s three days past his due date.
- A Content Lover.
It’s a YouTube video condensing 24 hours of targeted niche content - content that, while niche, happens to also be HIGHLY universal - into under three minutes.
It’s “The Mom” sung to the William Tell Overture.
Now, I wish I could tell you who the comedian is performing this witty, spot-on nagstravaganza, but I simply don’t know. That’s one of the drawbacks of user-generated content - proper attribution too often falls victim to the viral tides. Which, I suppose, is a good lesson for those of us looking to create our own vlog series or YouTube clips for our lives and/or business. PLEASE, let’s remember to brand ourselves - and A-Ha Ourselves! - whenever possible!
“How do I ‘A-Ha Myself!’ with a YouTube video?” you say?
Here are a few suggestions:
- Add a quick graphic at the beginning and end directing viewers and fans to your website
- Include an audio shout-out to your website and/or company name somewhere in your clip
- For the low-tech folks: hold up a hand-written, hand-held sign in front of the video cam
The point is, let’s be sure to give enthusiasts, tire pokers, press, bloggers, and stumble-uponers a chance to find out more about us if they want to take that ride.
Besides, these days, some of the most powerful, dynamic connections and opportunities are happening “by accident,” on a whim, just by clicking a link or writing an email in a little slice of time, spat of daydreaming, pocket of procrastination, or dally into dawdling.
Okay, no more content lectures. Enjoy “The Mom”!!!!!
Posted in All About Content, How do you "A-Ha Yourself"? | 2 Comments »
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on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under All About Content, How do you "A-Ha Yourself"?.
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