Could you go 60 days without using Social Media? No blogging, tweeting, fb status updates, etc.? Well I did it....kinda. Here's what I learned. In some areas I was more successful than others. I haven't blogged in two months. As for tweeting and fb the longest I went without using them was 30 days. Honestly it was harder than I thought it would be. So Why Did I Do It? 1) I wanted to unplug. It was time to take a step back from being "plugged in" and just take time to think.  I turned 37 this past May, which puts me closer to 40 than ever before :) I really wanted to take a break from some of the noise that was in my day to day life and just take some time to reflect on where I've been and where I'm going. 2) I wanted to really see if "technology" was hindering or helping me to have a "better" life.  I can honestly say that being unplugged from social networks for a long period of time left me feeling out of touch with people.  As humans we have a basic desire to connect and have relationships.  I will write on this more later but to sum it up, being connected, even if only by a status update, is a good thing. 3) I wanted to get a sense of whether Social Media was indeed here to stay or just a fad. Without a doubt Social Media is not going anywhere...ever. I know that's a big claim but I believe it. It aligns too closely with basic our human needs to have relationships and be connected. Who we are and who we want to be are all played out using Social Media channels.  It certainly will evolve but it's not just a passing trend. 4) Is Social Media consuming all of my time? The answer was no.  Moderation, balance, prioritize...are all words that come to mind when I think about using Social Networks, blogging, etc.

Are you interested in selling something? Products, services, ideas, brands, charities, organizations, even yourself are all things that as entrepreneurs we focus on selling. In fact the very essence of being an entrepreneur is selling.  If you want to take something and turn it into a business then at some point you will need to sell. Sales is as old as time and while there are certainly timeless truths and techniques to being successful at making a sale, one thing that has changed over the centuries are the methods and tools. 1995 Seems Like Another Lifetime When I started my business career full time over 15 years ago the tools we had at our disposal for making sales were, TV, the phone, fax machine, direct mail, print media and trade shows.  There really wasn't any Internet to speak of.  Sure it existed but it hadn't made its way into the average household. Fast forward to 2010 and the sea of Internet tools available to small businesses is deep and wide.

Where do most of your customers come from? It's a question you should obviously know and I'm sure you do. However have you ever sat down and looked at all the ways in which customers reach your business?  You should list all the ways, then see which ones come to the top as being the best for providing new customers. If the Internet is not in your top two then something is wrong. Over the next 12 months you need to develop a plan to increase your Internet leads to the point of being your #1 source. I wrote a two part article on Internet marketing for small business that addresses some of the reasons why. Internet Leads Jumped to #1 Recently website inquires surpassed trade shows as our #1 source of leads.  This is a trend that's been 10 years in the making.  Slowly, year after year, our Internet leads increased and its now to the point where our website will provide more leads this year than trade shows.  It's not just an "economy" issue either. How about you what are you top sources of leads? Leave a comment below, I would love to hear about them. Photo Credit

Do you get or earn attention online? There is a big difference. The first one goes after, seizes, takes and captures. It's the essence of spam. It's the method behind those hidden opt in messages. It's the motive behind buying large email lists. It's the idea that someones attention is just there for the taking. The latter one gains, merits, receives and deserves. It's the essence behind online conversations. It's the method of using social networking the right way. It's the motive behind listening on the web. It's the idea that someones attention is valuable and something to be gained. Which one of these does your online business philosophy most align with? Earned attention is something that historically wasn't necessary.  There were only so many TV stations, newspapers and magazines that a consumer could get information from. Today though, with more choices, less time and a faster pace of life using old tactics to try to get someones attention isn't going to work. Unfortunately the only thing they will get is...ignored. photo credit

"Attract more leads to your website today! " "Order now! Guaranteed to increase your website traffic!" " Triple your website traffic in 30 days!" I get so tired of these offers, it reminds me of the "half naked girls" tactic.  Every year I travel all around the world to attend boat shows for my company. Without fail every show I go to has one ingenious company that has figured out the tactic to drawing a crowd - half naked girls. By strategically placing women in bathing suits on the boat the crowds grow. It always amuses me to see the crowds gather around, I can't help but think how someone from that company must be saying "look at the crowds, what a great idea this is". The problem is that while there may be a crowd gathered around a) they aren't there to see the product and b) they couldn't afford it.  The tactic is attracting the wrong crowd.  This same principal holds true when it comes to attracting traffic to your website. The quickest sign to me that you have no idea what you are doing is by making one of these hollow, senseless, traffic increasing claims. Gathering a crowd for a crowds sake is not what your business is looking for. Attracting more website traffic is not your goal.  Attracting more qualified website traffic is. One hundred interested, motivated and qualified leads are much more important than boosting your traffic stats. The reality is most sites already get enough traffic, it's conversion to that next step in the sales process that they need to work on. However that's not to say that you shouldn't continually be working on ways of cultivating more qualified traffic to your site. Magnetize More Qualified Leads To Your Website So how do you go about building qualified traffic?  The tools that you want to focus on are many of the Internet Marketing ideas we cover at this website. Here's a list of 9 specific ways you can increase traffic.