Alina Bradford 5/11/15 Alina Bradford 5/11/15

Dipping Your Business' Toes Into Another Region

Conquering the world is every business leader’s dream. Your product on the shelves of every store in the real world and online ecommerce website is what the true ambition is. To be this successful you have to start somewhere. And like all successful businesses, you have to first become well-known and loved in a city, town or even village. You have to first spread your wings over your own patch of ground first and fight the local battle. Then you can venture out and begin to deliver to neighboring cities and towns.

This involves a lot of marketing, a lot of legwork on your part to go to different conventions and meet the local populace. After this, you can think of conquering the nationwide field. However, the first step to this is actually, duplicating what you have just done in another region.

What’s the point behind it?

The pace of business today, will make you question why you should do things in such a linear fashion. If you have set yourself up and became a name in one region, surely with the power of all the online tools and options you can go nationwide right?

Well, first of all you have to not get too far ahead of yourself. A modern country is very large not just in space and distance but the amount of people. It's not as simple as taking your business hundreds of miles in one direction and becoming recognized in a short amount of time.

The space you occupy isn’t always representative of the market share. For example, you could take your business towards another region and go as far as setting up three stores 100 miles deep into it. However if the population of that land is a mere few thousand, it's still a smaller market share than if you were to head 50 miles in another direction and have millions of people living in it. Therefore, moving to towards another region has to be done in a strategic fashion so you can have the maximum amount exposure and success.

The possibility to travel far and wide

It's amazing how powerful the real world side of business still is. In fact, it will never become irrelevant. There may be a time when all business is done online, and only deliveries will be done in the real world. However for many businesses, having a real world presence is in fact the only way their business can stay alive and even, exist. Retail is finding this out as more and more people want to walk into stores and try on clothes before they buy them due to insufficient ways of measuring and sizing methods used online. The food industry simply cannot exist purely online. Restaurants and bakeries need to literally exist in the real world to even function. Therefore taking on a new region in your respective country becomes a major challenge for those who want to expand and grow in the efforts to one day, become a franchise.

You need the logistical power first. Freight haulers like Jayde Transport are companies that offer this possibility. Munching up the miles, they have services that deliver products thousands of miles across a country.

For example, if you're a pizzeria and you want to move from the east coast to the west coast, you will need a company that can make long haul trips with your imported goods to your new locations. The Italian provolone cheese that you import and docks in the east coast, needs to be delivered to your new restaurants in the west. The key is to have the ability to transport what you need to keep running your new locations.

Scope the competition

You have to scope the competition out first and see what you’re up against as you expand. If you move into an area where there is a similar business that does fantastic work and sells some of the best products and services around, you have stiff competition already. If they have been established in the area for a long time and multiple generations have been using it for their needs, then winning over customers will be a difficult task.

This is why you need to strategically plan your moves so you don’t land in too deep water where you can’t swim or keep your head above the surface. Move into areas that seemingly have gaps in them so you fill a void for consumers.

This can be done by tactically locating yourself so you are in distance of multiple towns and cities. Or you can set yourself up on the empty side of a city where aren’t many similar businesses, for example. No doubt the successful companies will already be wanting to move there so if you can beat them to the punch you have gotten yourself a good head start. The local people will know your name before they will of the business that perhaps their friends and family use all the time. This is only won when you are tactically locating your business and timing your arrival at the precise time when there is a gap in the market.

Furthering your influence into another region is a test for any business of any size. It's fraught with many dangers such as being squeezed out of the market share, not having the correct logistics and being unable to compete effectively against established names. However, if done right you can build an empire that will grow and expand successfully.

Alina Bradford 5/4/15 Alina Bradford 5/4/15

Does Social Media Affect SEO?

There has been a lot of buzz about how social media accounts affect the SEO of a brand's website. The 2013 Moz Search Ranking Factors study has already concluded that pages with Google+1, Facebook likes, tweets, and comments rank better than sites that don't. That's not what I'm out to prove, though. I want to prove that by simply having posts that link to your site on social media search engines will send more traffic your way. In 2014, Matt Cutts said that search engines don't care about social media, but still, I wondered...

Flashback: Posting fresh content isn't supposed to affect the ranking of other sites you own, but according to my research and the findings of people I've talked to, posting on one site can boost page views of another site or articles if it is by the same author. Now, this doesn't seem to work anymore since Google Authorship is now defunct, but it was a great, very underused tactics that I enjoyed that had no actual proof backed up by Google. So, when I come up theories I typically test them instead of checking to see if Google has confirmed the information. Call me a rebel.

Now, I'm not here to say I have conclusive evidence, but I did an experiment to see how posting to social media affected my own site's page views over a 96-hour period. Here's what I found.

The Set Up

Setting up this test was pretty easy. All I did was make sure that I had one day were my auto-post system (I use Buffer and Klout) wouldn't post any social media posts linking to my site in a 24-hour period. The next day, I made sure that the auto-post system posted several links to my site on both of my site's Facebook and Twitter accounts.

I know, I know. It's so simple it's stupid. That's what I thought. No way this test was going to find anything conclusive, but...

The Findings

The results blew me away! Take a look at the graph:

Does social media affect SEO? My results say yes.

The yellow bar is the day after. On May 1st, only one social media post that linked to my site was posted (one post slipped through). The next day, site views plummeted. One the days that I posted several links to my site, I got double and almost triple the page views.

Now, you're probably thinking, "Duh! Well of course she got more page views on those days! People clicked on her links and went to her site." Actually, no. The social media link clicks didn't even make a dent in my stats.

I have checked my theory on previous days and have found similar results. The more I post, the more page views I get from search engines.

The Conclusion

My conclusion is that search engines love it when you post links to social media. The reason why? Well, we already know that Google and Twitter have a content agreement. It is believed that Google uses Twitter to aggregate content. Link building and credibility also factor in, according to HootSuite.

I want to test this theory even further. I'm going to keep trying it, but I also I want you guys to do your own test and then tell me your results. You don't need to tell me your specific stats or anything. Just a yea or nay is enough. Comment below, contact me or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.

Alina Bradford 4/30/15 Alina Bradford 4/30/15

The Psychology of Marketing Infographic

I'm always interested in the psychology of marketing, so I was super psyched when I recently got an email from Megan Wilson over at Ghergich & Co. Here's what she had to say:

Hello Alina,Just read your post, "How to Automate Your Social Media Accounts for Free", and I thought that your overview of sites like Klout and Buffer were really great for people looking to get more out of their social media accounts.

Our design agency recently released an infographic with Salesforce Canada. It outlines the ways emotions and cognitive biases influence purchasing decisions.

More than 64% of people who have stated they have a strong relationship with a brand said it was because they had shared values.

Each of the biases and psychological factors listed in the graphic offer clear, actionable tips for marketers to use in their sales marketing strategies.

Would you be interested in posting the infographic on your site?

My answer? Sure, Megan!

I'm sure you guys would like to take a look, right? Here it is, below:

Click To Enlarge

Via Salesforce

Alina Bradford 4/27/15 Alina Bradford 4/27/15

A Tour of My Office: How to Keep Your Desk and Office a Happy Place

Instead of the usual What to Read this Week, I thought I'd go off-topic. I'm pretty sure that most of you who follow my blog have a desk and spend most of your weekdays there. Me too. Over the past couple of decades, I've found ways to make my desk and office a happy place to work. Here is a tour of my office to give you some inspiration.

Me too.

Over the past couple of decades, I've found ways to make my desk and office a happy place to work. Here is a tour of my office to give you some inspiration.

Build Your Own Little Forest

Plants are the very first thing I added to my office decor. Currently, I have an arrowhead plant, two aloe veras, a pineapple tree and a fibrous begonia. They add color and life to my office.

In a Forbes article, Burton Ways, a an interior designer, color therapist, and authorsaid: “Integrating plants in the work environment not only beautifies the environment but has been proven to reduce absenteeism, reduce stress, lower blood pressure, increase positive feelings, lower noise levels, decrease room temperature and lower humidity." I guess I am on the right track with this whole forest in my office thing. Here are my little office babies:

I guess I am on the right track with this whole forest in my office thing. Here are my little office babies:

Okay, so my pineapple tree isn't that big yet...

My aloe decorated with a feather, a china dome, a My Little Kitty clip and a crystal frog.

My arrowhead plant, which I've had since I was a teen.

This aloe vera is decorated with all kinds of stuff. It's like my little office Christmas tree.

I love the happy pink flowers on my fiberous begonia.

Bright Colors

There's nothing like bright colors to wake you up in the morning. My office is decorated in touches of cobalt blue and sunny yellow.

I repainted my filing cabinets so that they weren't ugly.

I have happy blue and yellow pom pom things hanging from the ceiling.

Keep Fun Things On Your Desk

I always have a few fun things on my desk at all times. One item is a vintage Timex watch that I like to play with when I'm trying to come up with an idea for an article.

I also have some beauty stuff like lip gloss and fragrance spray on my desk because...well, just because.

Inspiration Wall

In my line of work, it is important not to run out of ideas. I have a whole wall of inspiration beside my desk. It has blog post ideas, notes, photos, paintings, posters...

Enjoy Your Visitors

The best way to keep your office a happy place is to welcome visitors. My office, which is a sunroom built onto my home, has a regular parade of small humans coming and going.

My youngest daughter making a visit to my office.

Alina Bradford 4/20/15 Alina Bradford 4/20/15

Get Your Pagerank Back, Score a Rocking Landing Page and more this Week: What to Read this Week, April 20-26

Hi and welcome to this What to Read this Week. I want you to be a business superstar. You can't be a superstar without a little help from your friends. So, here are some great reads on getting your pagerank back, scoring a rocking landing page, writing headlines that melt people's faces and more.

Make Your Landing Pages Rock

The best way to sell your product is to make your landing page rock. One guide on landing pages that I think you'll find interesting is Hacker's Guide to Awesome Landing Page with Singup Form. Here is a quote from the guide to give you an idea of its angle:

Growing email marketing list is hard, but it is crucial for your online business. The good news is that there are some really easy places you are already collecting email addresses. All you need to do is make sure these email addresses make it inside your subscribers list. With Zapier, Mandrill and MailChimp that's a piece of cake. By leveraging cloud services to do the heavy lifting - we get a lot of value instantly. The less custom software, the better.

Get Your Rank Back

Do you have pages on your site that used to rank well, but are now in the Google graveyard? Is it knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door? This tactical guide to making old pages rank in Google again by Neil Patel is your antidote. Here is one tip from the article:

Your main navigation menus contains your most site’s significant and helpful pages. When you have a valuable page that you want to rank again, then you can give it more traffic through a high visibility link.

Absolutely Awesome Headlines

Great headlines bring all the boys (and girls) to the yard. So, I recommend reading 36 Outrageous Headlines You Can Not Help but Click. If these headlines don't give you some ideas for your own, then I don't know what will.

Build Your Audience

You can rock all you like, but if you don't have an audience, what's the point? In his article, 7 Methods to Grow your Email List (The Organic Way), Tom Ewer shows you how to build your email list without buying addresses from sketchy services.

Here's a great quote from the article:

Now there’s a new alternative to pop up boxes called ‘Scroll Triggered Boxes’. These are comparable to pop up boxes, but they work by appearing once the user has scrolled down a specific amount of the page, such as 70% or 80%.

Want more great tips and reads? Follow me on twitter- @alinabradford

Alina Bradford 4/13/15 Alina Bradford 4/13/15

Small Business Tips: What to Read this Week, April 13-19

Hey, happy Monday! Welcome to another installment of What to Read this Week. This week, I'm going to focus on articles that will help small businesses.

Free List Building Mega Book

Last week I told you about a massive article that linked to over 100 articles on list building. Well, this week, I've found you a massive guide on the subject. The Definitive Guide to List Building is incredible and covers just about everything you can think of on the subject. The best part is you can download it for free to read on your Kindle or tablet. That's what I did.

Social Media Tips for Small Business

Want to know how to handle social media in 2015? Read Guy Kawasaki's Social Media Insights for Small Businesses. Here's a great tip from the article:

Assuming you have a great product or service, the most effective social media strategy is to establish a presence as a sector expert that creates and curates valuable content. By establishing a reputation for expertise, a small business gains credibility and endears itself to its followers. Hopefully, this will lead to more business.

Getting Blog Traffic

Does your blog need more traffic to drive conversions? Of course it does! I haven't seen but one or two small businesses that didn't need help. Lisa Burben over at Online Super Ninja has some great idea in her article The A – Z Of 26 Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Blog. Here is just one of them:

Kingged – Kingged is a new community of bloggers that truly drives bloggers to your blog. It seems to grow daily and has been around less than a year.

Some Off-Topic Fun

Last week, I offered to feature those who left comments on the last What to Read this Week Post. Here are the winners:

Chris Eirschele clued us in on her new book:

"I am proud of my new book – The Kid-Gardener’s Planting Book for Parents – that is targeted at adults who know children that have expressed an interest in gardening, but they themselves have rarely, if ever, grown plants. It started out in an electronic format in late 2014, and now has gone into paper in two versions: color and black & white. My first ebook was – Garden Truths From My Family’s Stories – which I self-published on Amazon. The Kid-Gardener’s Planting Book was the brainchild of myself and my editor/publisher, Victoria Nicks; Decoded Science self-published the ebook and the printed versions."

Fran Spiegel gets a shoutout for her humorous travelogue – Ride the Rocket – Toronto Enabled. The book is about meeting a newly-discovered family in Toronto and exploring the city with them. She says:

When I explore a city I wear my disabled hat. I ask questions like: Can I get my wheelchair to all parts of that museum? What help is available for anyone who needs a little extra help?"Ride the Rocket is more than just a humorous travelogue. It’s about family. It’s about developing strong family ties and traditions, and laughing at some of the hilarious situations we found ourselves in because of the language differences. And, yes there are some big differences. English English is different to Canadian English!"

Have you read anything interesting? Have written anything interesting? Share in the comments! You may be featured next week!

Alina Bradford 4/6/15 Alina Bradford 4/6/15

Build Your Email List and Please Your Customers: What to Read this Week, April 6-12

Welcome to this installment of What to Read this Week! I hope you had a great Easter weekend. My kids are too old for egg hunting this year (*sad mama*) so we just stuffed ourselves with candy, ham, rolls, mashed potatoes and Netflix.

Let's jump into these great reads!

List Building Supreme

I probably don't need to tell you how important list building is, but to get a great email list you need a good strategy. There's no lack of strategies out there. Jenna Dalton rounded them all up into a super post: The Ultimate List-Builder’s Resource Guide: 111 Links to Double or Even Triple Your Subscribers. Yup, 111. Have mercy!

What Do Your Customers Want?

Danny Iny has a different way of building a business. He lets customers tell them what they want. His new book, The Audience Revolution, details his experience. I read it over the weekend. If you want a more detailed approach, his free video and worksheets can help you figure out what your audience wants, too.

The Code for Content

Wouldn't be great if there was a code that you could use to create fantastic content people love and that draws in visitors? The article Ignite Your Content Marketing With The Content Code is about a code created by Mark Schaefer aimed at doing just that. The article is basically a summary of some of the great tips from Mark's book. One great quote from the article:

Repurpose content. Mark gives a good example of how one of his posts had 7,000 page views but when repurposed as slides it was viewed more than 100,000 times on Slideshare.

Did you read or write something awesome this week? Share it in the comments!

Also, don't miss my free book:

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Alina Bradford 4/2/15 Alina Bradford 4/2/15

How to Fix Your Tweets Infographic

Want some great Twitter tips? Here's my latest infographic! Enjoy and feel free to share!

Use this code to embed the infographic on your site:

<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/690111/BrokenTweets/thumb.jpg"></a><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/easel.ly/all_easels/690111/BrokenTweets/image.jpg" alt="websitewer" title="easel.ly" /></a><br /><a href="http://easel.ly" style="text-align:left;" align="left">easel.ly</a>

Alina Bradford 3/30/15 Alina Bradford 3/30/15

Brand Management Extravaganza, What to Read this Week: March 30- April 5

Welcome to this week's instalment of What to Read. This week there are some great reads to make your brand the best it can be.

Get Your Online Brand Rocking

Want to rock your online presence, but don't want to read a long article about it? This infographic by FabulousBlogging.com is perfect. It breaks down everything you need to do to get your online image popping into daily, weekly and monthly tasks so you don't get overwhelmed. It's best tip is:

Getting Attention for Your Brand

Attention isn't easy to come by in the jam-packed internet marketplace. Luckily though, there are some brand management tips you can use to stand out from the rest. Search Engine Land gives you the low-down in the post How To Get Your Content In Front Of Millions Of Eyeballs by Stoney deGeyter. The best quote from the article is:

SEO is about seeking out and fixing any roadblocks that might be preventing your content from being found. This includes “hidden” site architectural issues, navigation issues, usability issues and, yes, keyword/content issues.

How Google and Twitter will Be Affecting Your Brand

Newsflash! Google and Twitter are teaming up. What does this mean for your brand? Read Social Media Today's article SEO Game Changer: Twitter and Google Finally Agree to a Search Deal. Due to the mash-up:

...Twitter activity is likely to have a direct impact on search engine visibility.

So, if you don't have a strong presence on Twitter, then you need to hop to it. If you need help, just let me know.

A Little Known Way to Market Your Brand

Little known marketing idea

Alina Bradford 3/23/15 Alina Bradford 3/23/15

What to Read this Week: March 23-29 Fresh Content Ideas for Spring

Hey, welcome to this week's installment of What to Read. Spring has sprung and there is no better time to refresh your website or blog with new content. (You really should be refreshing your content regularly, by the way.) If you haven't posted in a while, or you just need some great ideas, check out these articles.

Blooming Blast of Blog Post Ideas

Need a great idea for a blog post? Russ Henneberry has 212 content ideas for you! Check out this post The Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas. The best part is the infographic, which I have printed out and posted on my office wall. I NEVER do that, so you know this post is a good one. Hey, even content experts like me need some inspiration from time to time!

Recycle, Refresh and Reuse

Sometimes fresh content doesn't need to be, well, fresh. It just needs to be new to the audience. That's why I'm digging 11 Ways to Repurpose Blog Content Into New Media by Rebekah Radice. My favorite tip from the article is:

If you have considered podcasting, but don’t know what to talk about, grab a few points from your latest article and expand upon each bullet point.

Repurposing your content is good, but what about posting content verbatim somewhere else? Does it hurt your site? Kim Cooper and Andy Crestodina have the answers in this article: Is Reposting Blog Content On LinkedIn Pulse, Medium, and Other Sites a Good Idea? Here is a great quote from the article:

The idea behind copying and pasting an article into another location is simply to make it more visible to a broader audience. It’s a brand builder and it works. But there are a lot of things that it doesn’t do…

Make Landing Pages Your New Content

I like to share free stuff with you guys each week and this week isn't any different. Why not add some great landing pages to your site content? These pages will drive conversions and help your bottom line. The good people over atLeadpages are giving away three flexible landing page templates that will increase your conversions.

What are you reading this week? Tell me in the comments or hit me up on Twitter.

Photo credit: The man with the moustache says "shut up" via photopin (license)

Alina Bradford 3/16/15 Alina Bradford 3/16/15

What to Read this Week: March 16-22, Free Stuff, Increasing your Site Traffic and More

Every Monday I let you take a peek at what I'm reading. Here's another installment of What to Read this Week.

This week I'm loving me some free stuff and I'm sharing some great articles on increasing your site traffic, using video and some reasons to rethink ads.

Free Stock Photos

Okay, so you really don't read stock photos, but I thought I would share with you some freebies that were offered this past week. Hubspot is giving away 750 free stock photos that are perfect for blog posts and websites. All you need to do is fill out their form.

Why yes, that is one of the free stock photos, above.

Buffer also rolled out a free way to create stock photos with inspirational quotes or copy in just seconds with their tool Pablo. I've given it a try and it's really easy to use. You choose an image, type out your text and share or download the image.

Increase Your Site Traffic with Backlinks

Good traffic flow can get your site noticed, so I rounded up a couple of great articles by Neil Patel on boosting traffic using backlinks.

Can You Grow Your Organic Traffic Without Generating Content? Neil says yes, but you need backlinks. This article gives website owners some great insight and tips.

[bctt tweet="So, what’s the secret to ranking high if you don’t want to focus on content generation? It’s backlinks. -Neil Patel" via="no"]

Of course, after reading that, you'll need a few tips on backlinking. 7 Proactive Ways to Get Backlinks That’ll Actually Boost Your Traffic doesn't give you tips on old hat linking. Neil offers up-to-date ideas for getting backlinks without ticking off Google.

Jump Into Video

Curious about how video can positively affect your site? Check out Let's Get Visual: 7 Reasons to Add Video to Your Marketing Mix. According to the article, 100 million users watch online videos daily. You can be one of the businesses offering those voracious watchers great video content.

Ads Are Silly

Jon Morrow always has the best article titles on his site and this one isn't any different. 13 Reasons Why Blog Ads Are a Silly Monetization Strategy (And What to Do Instead)by Sarah Peterson is great. She points out in this little gem that unless you have tons of traffic, you'll never make much money with ads. So what should you do instead? Read the article!

Once you're done with Jon's article, read 5 Advanced Techniques I Use To Make Money On My Blog by Erin Bender. This article is aimed at bloggers looking to make more money from their blog in unusual ways. It's one of the most creative posts I've read on the subject in a long time.

What are you reading this week? Anything good? Let me know! Oh, and feel free to share a link to anything good you've written this week.

Alina Bradford 3/9/15 Alina Bradford 3/9/15

What to Read this Week: March 9-15 Marketing Tips from the Pros

What to read this week includes curated articles on marketing, branding, content and more.

Here's another installment of What to Read this Week. Every Monday I let you take a peek at what I'm reading. This week there is some really great stuff for you guys looking to brush up on marketing.

Pinterest Marketing Tips

First up, Danny over at Firepole wants to know: Does Your Pinterest Marketing Need a More Personal Touch? The article centers around Pinterest's new feature called Pinterest messaging and how using it can give your Pinterest account a much more personalized feel.

Here is my favorite quote from the article:

Your end sales goal is to expose your expertise to new audiences. The best people to help you accomplish this are your fans who already love what you do, and have a large following of their own! By asking them to repin your content and expose it to their audience, you’re putting your work in front of new audiences.

Do You Feel Like a Marketing Idiot?

Who hasn't felt like an idiot when talking about their business? So it's no surprise that the title of Amy Dunn Moscoso's blog this week was: Why You Feel Like an Idiot When You Talk About Your Blog (and How to Fix It). My favorite quote from the post was:

Look at the most successful blogs in your niche and ask, “Why should people read my blog instead of those?”
If you don’t have a convincing answer, poor positioning is probably to blame.

Get Those Leads!

One of my go-to reading destinations is Social Media Examiner, and this week is no different. Andy Crestodina's article on creating content that generates leads has got me glued to the screen. Now, every marketer has his or her own approach to the marketing funnel. Andy dishes on his take in this article. My favorite part is:

If your conversion rate from visitors into leads is good (above 2%), but your traffic is low, the top of your funnel is weak.

What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments!

Alina Bradford 3/5/15 Alina Bradford 3/5/15

Why Hiring Professionals Prevents Distractions

Is it uncomfortable in here or is it just me?

I hate wearing constricting clothing. I hate it so much that when I'm wearing a tight pair of slacks or a jacket that restricts my arm movements it's all I think about. I can't get any work done because so much of my mental energy is going towards my angst.

I'm not crazy. Studies have shown that multitasking limits productivity. Douglas Merrill over at Forbes wrote a great blog about multitasking and productivity, if you haven't already read about it.

Isn't fussing mentally about something while you're trying to work multitasking? I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.

I'd like you to think about all of the things that makes you uncomfortable.

Are you still with me?

Imagine how hard it would be for a person to concentrate on your site's message or sale pitch if there was something that was bothering them.

Ahh, see I told you all this was going somewhere.

It is important to remove all distractions from your site so that your visitors can concentrate on your message. So what are some things that can distract a visitor? Here are just a few:

Misspelled words
Bad grammar
Cap locks
Poor design
Garish colors
Bad stock photos

You get the idea.

The best way to ensure that your site isn't distracting is to hire a designer to give you a professional, slick site design that focuses on your content and content specialist to ensure that the content isn't distracting from your message. If you don't hire me, then hire someone. Your message deserves a distraction-free environment.

Alina Bradford 3/2/15 Alina Bradford 3/2/15

What to Read this Week: March 2-8, 2015

Content packages keep your customers up-to-date.

Every Monday, I will share with you some of the best marketing, content and business articles on the web. Here's what I'm loving this week:

5 Pointless Marketing Metrics You Can Stop Tracking Today

I think a lot of people have gone overboard with tracking, so I love seeing articles like this one by Rachel Sprung. Email opens, Facebook likes, ad impressions, blog comments and the like don't really tell you if you are succeeding at your marketing goals.

Top 15 FREE Internet Marketing Tools To Boost Your Online Business

Nothing is better than free, especially when you are trying to keep up with the big boys on a startup's budget. That's why I love with roundup by Kulwant Nagi. Some of these tools are even useful if you've been in business for years, like me.

Creating and Optimizing a Profile that Attracts Prospects

Okay, so this is watching more than reading, but I wanted to put these videos into this list. The guys over at Linked University are experts in using LinkedIn to make money, so give these videos a look. Everyone could use a little profile sprucing.

Twitter Chat Schedule

Want to make new connections on Twitter? Then join Twitter chats. This Twitter chat schedule tells you when chats are going down and the associated hashtags.

Do you know of any other good articles, pages or sites? Tell me about them!

Alina Bradford 2/17/15 Alina Bradford 2/17/15

Glen Hovey RedRain Energy Drink Scam

If you have read this blog at all, you know that I like trolling scam artists, then posting their emails here. I know that there are freelance writers out there looking for side income, so that is why I post scams here.

Today, we have one for wrap advertising for RedRain Energy Drink. Here are the emails that were sent to me. No, I made sure not to send him my bank information. lol

Hello,

Wrap advertising is the marketing practice of completely or partially covering (wrapping) a vehicle in an advertisement or livery, thus turning it into a mobile billboard. This can be achieved by simply painting the vehicle surface, but it is becoming more common today to use large vinyl sheets as decals. These can be removed with relative ease, making it much less expensive to change from one advertisement to another. Vehicles with large, flat surfaces, such as buses and light-rail carriages, are fairly easy to work with, though smaller vehicles with curved surfaces can also be wrapped in this manner. Wrap advertising is available to anybody irrespective of the vehicle you drive.

We are currently seeking to employ individuals world wide as we look to expand our market thus, introducing (RedRain Energy Drink) to every nooks and crannies especially in the USA. How would you like to make money by simply driving your vehicle or banner wrapped for RedRain Energy Drink®

How it works?

Here's the basic premise of the "paid to drive" concept: RedRain Energy Drink® seeks people -- regular citizens, professional drivers to go about their normal routine as they usually do - 'which means there are no OBLIGATIONS whatsoever as to how many miles you have to cover' only with a big advert for " RedRain Energy Drink®" plastered on your vehicle. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as "auto wraps,"that almost seem to be painted on the vehicle, and which will cover any portion of your vehicle's exterior surface.

Don't Have a vehicle?

If you don't have a vehicle, you can also participate if you have a bike or scooter.

What does the company get out of this type of ad strategy?

Lots of exposure and awareness.. The auto wraps tend to be colorful, eye-catching and attract lots of attention. Plus, it's a form of advertising with a captive audience,meaning people who are stuck in traffic can't avoid seeing the wrapped vehicle alongside them. This program will last for 3 months and the minimum you can participate is a month.

What is the Contract Duration?

Once the wrap has been installed, minimum term is 4 weeks and maximum is 18 weeks.

Would the wrap/decal damage the paint of my vehicle?

The decal doesn't damage the paint of the vehicle and will be removed by our representative once the contract expires. We will be responsible for installation and removal of the wrap.

You will be compensated with $300.00 per week which is essentially a "rental"payment for letting our company use the exterior space(excludes your windows and windscreens) on your vehicle and no fee is required from you. RedRain Energy Drink® shall provide experts that would handle the advert placing on your vehicle and also the removal. You will receive an upfront payment of $300.00 in check that will be sent to you via a registered courier service for accepting to carry this advert on your vehicle or via DIRECT DEPOSIT.

It is very easy and simple no application fees required. Get back with the following details if you are interested in this offer.

For check payment please fill in the information below:

Applicant information:

Name :

Full Street Address(not PO BOX) :

APT #:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Cell Phone Number:

Home Phone Number:

Age:

Bank Name:

Routing #:

Account #:

We shall contact you as soon as the required information is received. Please note that you do not need to fill in the Direct Deposit details if you wish to be paid with check.

Best Regards,

Glen Hovey harriettk@hotmail.com

Hiring Manager

RedRain Energy Drink®

Hello,

Thank you for your swift response and willingness to participate in this Ad progam. To this effect, you are advise to check your email regularly for updates on your upfront payment and the Graphic Artist information.

1) The first payment will come as a check in the mail. The check payment will cover both the installation, removal fee and the $300.00 accrued to you. We will be responsible for any cost incurred during the course of this program . You are to deposit and cash the check payment as soon as you receive it for the decal wrapping of your vehicle, deduct the $300.00 accrued to you as your up-front payment and, the rest of the funds will be paid to cover the Graphic artist payment for the decal installation and removal on your vehicle.

Nevertheless, it is paramount for you to confirm the acceptance and understanding of this email. Please note that the graphic artist payment covers the installation and removal fee of the wrap on your vehicle. The installation and removal process will be done at your address and will only take up to 2-3hrs. Subsequent payment of $300.00 will come in the mail every Tuesday of the week.

2) You will pay the Graphic artist as instructed, Details of how to make payment will be related to you as soon as you receive payment.. The Information which you will make payment to will also be emailed to you soon.

3) We'll like you to confirm Information about your car as below:

i) Type of Automobile and Color :

ii) Model/Year :

iii) Present Condition and the Mileage:

Note: Please confirm that you receive this message so as to process payment that would be sent to you for the Ad program.

All other instructions will be related in due course.

Please confirm below that you received and understood the content of this email:

I....................Confirm to have received this email and understand the content.

Best Regards, Glen Hovey Hiring Manager RedRain Energy Drink®

Alina,

Report reaching my desk this morning has is that the check payment in the amount of $2450.00 will be delivered to your address today for the decal wrapping of your vehicle. Kindly confirm and track via USPS.com with the tracking number 9405503699300488826160.

Proceed to deposit the check into your bank account as soon as you receive it. Funds will be available for withdrawal 24hrs after the check is deposited.

I will be waiting for a confirmation message immediately the check is deposited.

Further instructions on how to make payment to the graphic artist will be emailed to you shortly.

Kindly confirm in your response if you have

* Received the check in the same amount stated above

* Deposited the check yet, if YES

* Please confirm the day of deposit

The same graphic artist will be responsible for the installation of the decal and also the removal of the decal when the program is completed.

The decal installation will be done at your address. A telephone appointment will be made with you prior to the installation to stipulate a convenient day and time for the installation process.

You will review and sign a copy of the contract that will be handed to you by the graphic artist indicating how long you want your vehicle to be wrapped for, and giving us full consent to wrap your vehicle for this Ad program.

Kindly send me an email or text message as soon as the check is deposited today.

Do not hesitate to email or call me if you require additional information. Acknowledge receipt of this email immediately and looking forward to your email with status update.

I'll await your swift response.

Best Regards,

Glen Hovey glenhovey2@msn.com

RedRain Energy Drink®

(817)523-8956

Alina,

Report reaching me this morning has it that funds have been authorized on the check payment in the amount of $2450.00 that was sent to you for the decal wrapping of your vehicle.

You are to deduct $300.00 which is accrued to you for the first week and forward the balance to the graphic artist head office via Westernunion transfer. A LOCAL graphic artist will be assigned and sent to your address to install the wrap on your vehicle.

The same graphic artist will be responsible for the installation of the decal and also the removal of the decal when the program is completed. Below is the name of the receiver. Kindly get back to me with the transfer information (MTCN # and the exact amount sent).

All transfer charges should be deducted from the remaining balance.

Please visit www.westernunion.com to check agent shops close to you and make transfer through them.

Transfer charges/cost $30 and should be deducted from the remaining funds after you must have taken the $300.00 accrued to you.

Below is the Graphic Artist Western Union Transfer Details to send the Money to:

Graphic Artist Head Office Rep. Receiver's Information:

FIRST NAME: XIAOQIAN

LAST NAME: DENG

ADDRESS: 8 Huguang Middle St

CITY: CHAOYANG

STATE: BEIJING

COUNTRY: CHINA

EMAIL: redrain@graphic-designer.com

Kindly get back with the information below once the transfer has been completed.

MTCN Number & Total Amount Sent

FAQ:

-Why am I sending money to China?

The head office of the graphic artist is China. In addition, the decal wraps are produced and manufactured in China. Cost of sending to china is less than sending within the state that is why they prefer all funds directed to the head office (China). As soon as payment is acknowledged by them, a local person (graphic artist) in your zip code will come to your house and install the decal wrap on your vehicle. An appointment will be made with you over the phone to stipulate a covenient day and time for the installation process.He will also come along with the contract and all other document including preview pictures on how your vehicle will look when installed.

-How do I receive subsequent payment?

Payments will be mailed to you address weekly once the wrap is installed on your vehicle.

Do not hesitate to email or call me if you require additional information. Acknowledge receipt of this email immediately and looking forward to your email with status updates.

I'll await your swift response. Best Regards, Glen Hovey glenhovey2@msn.com RedRain Energy Drink® (817)523-8956

Alina Bradford 2/12/15 Alina Bradford 2/12/15

Spring Clean Your Website and Make it Shine

Just like your home, your website needs a good scouring every now and then, too. As spring slowly inches its way into the present, clear out your site's cobwebs, dust off your content and polish your visuals.

Tidy Up Your Cobwebs

Over time, your site collects cobwebs that need to be periodically cleared out. Take the time to clean these little buggers out, and your site will rank better.

Old code is something that can accumulate and make your site slower. Joe Foley has a great tutorial for cleaning up old code: 10 Quick Ways to Clean Up and Optimize Your WordPress Site

Another thing that can accumulate like cobwebs on your granny's front porch is broken links. Broken links not only frustrate your readers, Google doesn't like them either. You can manually go through all of your pages and posts, check each link and delete the broken links. Another option is installing a plugin to WordPress sites that clears out bad links for you or, if your don't have a WP site, you can use software. There are many software programs and plugins that can help you sweep away your bad links in a jiff, for free. One good plugin is Broken Link Checker.

Do Some Content Dusting

If you haven't touched your site's blog posts or articles since they were published, they're covered with a fine layer of dust. The dust is all of the things you missed adding when you first published the post or things you need to update to make it search engine friendly. Revisit them and squirt them with a little cleanser, then wipe them down:

Add H2 headers to sections.
Add a couple of great images, complete with meta, descriptions and captions.
Be sure that your post has a meta description.
Check for any misspellings or typos.
Add bullet points to clarify any points.
Remove excess keywords, links and ads.
Add Tweetable Text. Here's an example:

[bctt tweet="Cleaning out your site's cobwebs make it rank better. Get rid of broken links and old code. #sitespringcleaning" via="no"]

Look! Your content's all pretty, so share it again! In fact, tweet it to me @alinabradford and use the hashtag #SiteSpringClean.

Polish that Sucker 'Till it Shines

Finally, add some little touches to your site that makes it just a little snazzier.

Change your font so that it is easier to read. Take a look at Avoiding Font Failures: Choosing the Right Fonts For Your Website for tips.
Add links to your social media accounts so your visitors know where they can follow you.
Simplify your menu so that it is easier to use.

Mmm, smell that fresh, piney scent? That's the smell of a clean website.

Alina Bradford 2/2/15 Alina Bradford 2/2/15

Get Better at Business in Just 90 Seconds

Please enjoy today's guest post.

The average American worker puts in 5.2 more hours per week than the average French worker, 4.1 more than the average German, and 2.6 more than the average Brit, according to a recent study by two European Economists at the Center for Economic Policy Research 1.

"We're a nation of strivers," said Jim Fannin, a success coach who has been coaxing peak performance from blue-chip professional athletes, Olympians, and C-Suite executives from many of America's best-known companies for more than 35 years. "The great tragedy is that so many Americans of genuine ability never ask themselves the single most important question that would help make them happier at home and more productive at work."

Those hungry for success would be wise to consider what true champions do differently than their less successful counterparts, he insists.

"Can you think and work less while producing more at work and home? Absolutely. That's how the best in the world do it," Fannin said.

Having coached an abundance of MLB All-Stars, NFL All-Pros and world-ranked golf and tennis professionals, Jim Fannin has made a life-long, detailed study of the champion's mind.

"What surprises many is that an average performer can become outstanding by strategically investing just 3 percent of his or her day in focused 90-second bursts," said Fannin, who developed many of his 90-second tools and techniques while coaching seven professional tennis players - top 0 world ranking - to use the minute and a half between sets to get in the Zone.

Fannin's private coaching clients have used the dozens of 90-second tools and techniques that are part of his thought management system to prevail in the moments that matter most. Fannin's powerful, proven rules have transformed an error-prone rookie shortstop into MLB's highest-paid player. They have helped an LPGA player to win her first major tournament.

Five of Fannin's 90-Second Rules have also been quietly applied by ordinary Americans to rejuvenate marriages, restore strained relationships between parents and children, and create lives of simplicity, balance and abundance.

Here are some tips that you can implement into your own work life.

Breathe Like a Baby

When you need to clear your mind and slow the game down, use this technique. Unhinge your jaw. Relax your shoulders. Place your palm on your stomach, inhale and exhale deeply. Feel the tension melt away as you count your breaths for 90 seconds.

Go to Higher Ground

True champions do not let challenges in one arena of life affect performance in the other arenas. "Going to higher ground is a focused, 90-second weekly review of the written goals for each area of your life so that you have clarity and keep challenges in perspective," Fannin said.

Isolate the Essential Skill

True champions think deeply about their craft so that they can enter the Zone. "The essential skill for a hitter in baseball is to hit the ball solidly with the barrel of the bat so that the ball gets past the defense before they can field it," Fannin said. Because they have isolated the key skill, every baseball player Fannin coaches steps into the batter's box and uses a simple affirmation. Just ask recent Hall of Fame slugger Frank Thomas and he'll respond, 'I hit solid.'

Be the Palm Tree

When seconds count this tools works. True champions must sometimes absorb negative energy to stay in the Zone. "In the winds of a hurricane, the palm tree bends, but it does not break," Fannin said. "By visualizing a palm tree staying strong in the rain, a champion can keep harmful emotions in check."

ABOUT JIM FANNIN

Jim Fannin coaches champions. He has personally coached many of the world's best athletes and top business leaders for more than 40 years. From 26 MLB All Stars to Fortune 500 executives, Jim's client list is a who's who that includes best-selling authors, Hall-of-Fame pro athletes, Olympic medalists, and innovative business leaders. He is the author of S.C.O.R.E.® for Life, Pebble in the Shoe™ and 90-Seconds To A Great Relationship™ and the creator of the 90-Second Rule thought management system. To learn more, visit www.90secondRule.com .

Alina Bradford 1/27/15 Alina Bradford 1/27/15

Make More Money: Master Classes for Freelance Writers

Are you a freelance writer that wants to give your career a boost? Want to make more money? Join my Master Class for Freelance Writers.

On my work site, I recently set up content creation classes for those who want to learn how to write interesting articles and blogs for their brand's website. It occurred to me that freelancers may be interested in signing up, too, so I am announcing a master class for freelance writers.

This week-long class will feature:

-How to hook a client without selling out

-Make your call to action sizzle so your readers can't wait to hire you

-Twitter tricks for sharing your business that no one has told you

-A full critique of an article that you wrote with ways to improve your writing style

-An analysis of your writing brand and tips on improving it

Why should you take a class from me? I have been a freelance writer for almost two decades and have worked with big brands such as Angie's List, Zappos and StubHub, as well as big publishers such as Prevention Magazine, USA Today and more.

Alina Bradford 1/16/15 Alina Bradford 1/16/15

Does RantLifestyle Pay its Writers?

If you are thinking about applying at RantLifestyle, you may want to hold off. This is an email I just received about their pay:

Hello, thank you for contacting me. My name is Chris Gamble and I am the Hiring Manager for RantLifestyle. RantLifestyle is one of the fastest growing websites on the internet with over nine million unique visitors over the last 30 days and over 200 million page views during that same span.

To start, all writers must start as unpaid contributors. There is no quota to meet but writers are working to improve their writer’s score to join our paid staff. If your writer’s score is good (we rank writers on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the best) you could be asked to join our staff as a paid writer. There are two tiers of paid writers. The first tier makes $25 per month with a 50/50 split of the advertising revenue from page views that also comes with a quota of 25 articles per month that must be met in order to be paid. The second tier can be paid anywhere from $150-250 per month plus the 50/50 split of advertising revenue. The second tier comes with a quota of 40 articles a month.

Articles have to be at least 200 words and generally no longer than 750 words. Writers are given the freedom to come up with their own ideas but we do offer suggestions and have some slideshows that our authors sign up for on a first-come, first-serve basis. Slideshows are where authors make the most money when it comes to revenue share since each slide counts as a page view.

If this interests you please send me a writing sample and we can move forward. I look forward to hearing back from you. If you have any questions please let me know.

Alina Bradford 1/15/15 Alina Bradford 1/15/15

100 Content Marketers to Follow on Twitter in 2015

For the second time, I have been named a person to follow on Twitter. This time, I was named one of the 100 Content Marketers to Follow on Twitter in 2015 by Witty Parrot. A while back, I was named one of the 50 Content Marketers to Follow on Twitter by Cision. If you are interested in learning marketing tips, I highly recommend following some of my peers on the list.

Oh, and don't forget to follow me on Twitter, too! I'm @alinabradford .