The ever-awesome Laura Roeder threw a very fun Meetup last evening at Corkbar in Downtown Los Angeles. At one point, she and I stepped outside, where I grilled her with tough questions about her Creating Fame program, as well as her new Facebook Fame e-book:

Check out Laura’s brand-new video at her site: “Creating Fans Out of Thin Air.”

For several years, my websites were hosted by a popular and heavily advertised web hosting service (which shall remain nameless).

At first, I didn’t notice too many problems. The difficulties began when I started my WordPress blogs — VoiceoverNinja.com, and the one you’re reading now.

When a website is a critical part of your business, it’s a disaster when it suddenly goes offline. It’s like owning a store that suddenly disappears. Folks are trying to get in, but they can’t. The “store” isn’t there.

In business, one of your primary challenges is getting customers in through the door. This is true with a brick-and-mortar establishment, and maybe even more so in the online world.

Far too often, I’d receive puzzled emails from readers wondering why my site was offline. Sometimes the outage would last for a few minutes, in other cases it would take hours before it was back up again.

Each time, the hosting company would acknowledge the problem, but could say nothing more than that they were “working on it.”

I finally decided I’d had enough, and searched for a better solution for my hosting needs. Several people I respect in the online community recommended HostGator. They have proven to be an excellent web host in many respects.

HostGator provides outstanding value. You can sign up for their “Hatchling” plan for as low as $3.96 per month — this gives you unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth for a single domain.

If you own multiple domains like I do, you’ll want their “Baby” plan, which you can get for as little as $6.36 a month. “Baby” also gives you unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth, plus you can host an unlimited number of domains.

HostGator’s customer service is top-notch, and their reps are available by phone or live chat 24/7/365. They have a large number of tutorials for their customers on every aspect of hosting, installing WordPress, etc.

Most crucially, HostGator has a 99.9% uptime guarantee — and from what I can tell, they are an extremely reliable host in this regard. I switched all of my sites to HostGator in January 2011, and I’ve been very pleased with them.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to our outstanding live Webinar with Laura Roeder! It was a very stimulating time with many great questions asked, and excellent insights shared.

If you missed the session, or would like to re-experience it, here’s the replay: (50 minutes)

Laura Roeder

Laura Roeder is exactly the one to help you. She will motivate & inspire you — and share some awesome ideas that you can start putting into practice in your small business right away.

In this Webinar, we talk about Laura’s concept of “Creating Fame” — why it’s essential for any small business, and how to make it happen for you.

Some of the topics we cover:

• Why “Creating Fame” isn’t about feeding your ego.

• How to use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn to launch a personal brand.

• Why your website is your most important tool in your marketing arsenal.

• Why small is good — and why it’s a mistake to give your brand too much of a corporate look & feel.

• Using email marketing to stay “top of mind” with your customers & prospects.

In the Webinar, Laura & I place special emphasis on ideas that can help actors & artists in their efforts to get recognized. It’s a session no creative entrepreneur should miss!

Here’s a video from Laura about how she manages her time running an Internet business:

Thanks to all who attended & participated in our live Webinar all about the negativity that creative people often experience from others, and what to do about it. If you missed it, or want to re-experience it, here’s the replay: (53 minutes)

Have you ever felt pressure to convince another person that your particular career path doesn’t mean you’re insane?

Have you been the target of put-downs and guilt trips — since the conventional way of doing things just doesn’t interest you?

In this hour-long session, we delve into why people often react negatively (and unsupportively) when they encounter someone who dares to live their dream.

Some of the topics covered:

• Why fear is behind much of the negativity expressed to you by others.

• How to keep disapproval and dire predictions from draining your motivation.

• How you can still love your family, even when they’re not behind you.

It’s an interactive session, with great comments & thoughts shared by listeners.

This Webinar is not about bashing anyone. It’s about understanding why people do & say what they do — and how understanding this can bring you the internal peace you need to move forward.

As a professional voiceover artist, you’d think I’d have been more up-to-speed on the audiobook market. I listen to spoken audio all the time — the majority of it coming from an extensive collection of tapes and CDs which I’ve manually converted for listening on my iPod.

I recently discovered Audible.com — and I’ve stepped into the future! Audible is like Amazon.com for audiobooks. The awesome thing is you download titles directly to your computer.

How It Works

Audible runs on a membership system; you select either the Gold or Platinum program, depending on how many titles you consume in a month. (Gold gives you one “credit” each month, which can be redeemed for one audiobook. Platinum gives you two.)

You can opt for a monthly or Annual plan, the latter of which gives you all of your credits for the year at once.

If you’re out of credits, you can always purchase additional titles. Audible’s prices are very reasonable, much less than what you’d pay to buy the same titles on CD.

Remembering the Past

I can’t help but recall how acquiring and listening to audiobooks used to be — particularly unabridged ones, which are the only kind true aficionados would ever bother with.

I used to get a paper catalog from a leading audiobook publisher. At that time, everything they offered was on cassette. Since an average-sized book can easily equal 20 hours of audio, that usually meant large clamshell boxes filled with tapes.

Most people wouldn’t buy a pile of cassettes they’d listen to once, so the company had a rent-by-mail program: You’d keep a set for as long as you needed, then ship it back in a postage-paid box when you were finished. It was cost-effective, but cumbersome and slow.

Of course, you could borrow tapes for free from your local library, though especially with the bigger sets, there was always a good chance that at least one would be missing or damaged.

Welcome to Now

Audible.com has over 75,000 titles, and their vast inventory is easily searchable. When you see a title you want, add it to your cart. When you checkout, Audible deducts the credits and starts the download.

There are currently five options for audio quality/file size. I always go with the “Enhanced” option, which delivers the largest file and the best sound. (It also takes longest to download.)

If you don’t want to wait, or have limited space on your iPod, you might select one of the lower-fi options. You can re-download a title at any time at a higher or lower bitrate.

A Great Deal

You can get a free 14-day trial Audible membership, which includes 1 free audiobook download, by clicking here.

After that, if you decide to continue, you’ll be charged $14.95/month.

Audible also has a generous affiliate program you can join, so once you’re a member you can share your own impressions about the service and earn a 20% commission from anyone who signs up. (Will I receive a commission if you sign up through this article? You betcha!)

Click the box to the right to start enjoying the benefits of an Audible.com membership now!

(Don’t worry — this hasn’t suddenly become a culinary blog!)

Last week I attended a great live Webinar by Laura Roeder. Actually, I attended twice — the first session was so popular, she gave an encore presentation of it.

Laura Roeder

Laura’s Webinar is called “Practical Magic: Reinventing the Next Six Months of Your Business.” To experience the full Webinar, head over to her website and register — you’ll get instructions for how to watch the replay.

Thanks to all who attended our awesome Webinar about making this year your best ever! It was great to chat live, and and I appreciated hearing everyone’s thoughts & insights.

It’s a new year! For most of us, this means re-evaluating various aspects of our businesses and our lives, of seeing what’s working, and determining what we need to work on.

In this Webinar, I talk about setting both internal & external goals for yourself, as well as the fear of failure that so often holds us back. I suggest beginning your thinking about what you want to improve in your life by first identifying and appreciating what’s going well for you right now.

I also take live calls from listeners — these are a lot of fun! It’s a great session, and if you missed it (or want to hear it again), it’s available for listening & download (44 minutes):

Join me on Friday, December 10th at 12 noon Eastern (9 a.m. Pacific) for a free Webinar about how to create a strong & profitable Internet presence — for yourself and your business.

Twenty years ago, the concept of web presence would have been unintelligible. Today, it’s essential for anyone looking to build a powerful brand.

If someone were to search for your name (or your company’s name) on Google, what would they find?

Websites I’ll reference in the Webinar:
Facebook
Twitter

YouTube
iContact
HostGator

In this live interactive event, I’ll talk about:

• What web presence is, and why you can’t ignore it

• What it means to craft an identity on the Internet

• The 5 most essential resources for building a brand online

• How to use social media to grow your network, and create a community

Of course, I’ll also answer your questions. This event will be packed with content — you’ll want to take notes!

The Webinar is free, however you must register to attend.

Click here to register for the Webinar on Friday, December 10th
at 12 noon Eastern (9 a.m. Pacific).

Of all the tools you have in your marketing arsenal, none are more important than your email list.

If you’re really savvy, you maintain multiple lists. For example, for my Voiceover Ninja projects I manage several lists, each pertaining to different geographical areas where I host workshops.

To do this professionally, I need a reliable email marketing service. For a while I was using Constant Contact, and briefly tested AWeber, but I’ve settled on iContact, and am happy with it.

Spam: The Bane of Online Marketing

When you send emails often to large numbers of people — and especially when your messages contain commercial solicitations — you must protect yourself against accusations of spamming.

Major email marketing companies like iContact take this issue very seriously, and forbid their customers from using their system to send unwanted messages.

Not to use a service with ironclad anti-spam rules is to court trouble. A colleague of mine who recently started an email newsletter for her business described a nightmarish scenario — someone claimed she had “spammed” them, and as a result her email account was suspended, and she was made to pay a fine!

When you create a new list through iContact, you’re required to declare that everyone on it has consented to receive communications from you. Each message you send contains a link so a person can instantly be removed from future mailings. These zero-tolerance policies help to ensure that your messages will reach their intended recipients without delay, and you won’t get in trouble.

Ease of Opting In

iContact makes it easy for visitors of your website or blog to sign up to receive your emails.

I really like their customizable opt-in box. You set up the form to collect the info you want (name/city/state/zip code), then copy and paste the code into a web page. Readers can register automatically, with no involvement from you.

You can arrange your preferences so that every time someone opts in, you get an email notification. You can also set up autoresponders, so that new subscribers get a welcome email from you, which can contain additional links and info.

Design Visually Impactful Emails

iContact offers many templates for creating an email newsletter. They even have an online editor so you can create your own designs from scratch, with no knowledge of HTML necessary.

I set up my emails using a separate HTML editor, then I cut and paste the code directly into the box. It’s easy, and you can preview your email with one click.

Powerful Analytics

iContact allows you to track statistics about the emails you send. What’s your “open rate”? How often are your readers clicking on the links you provide?

This is crucial information that helps you gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns — and plot out your future moves. Thanks to their system of analytics, you can see at a glance what’s working and what isn’t.

Free 30-Day Trial

If you’re not using an email marketing service, try iContact free for 30 days. If you’re using a different service, check out iContact and see how it compares. (You can transfer lists from other services via .csv files with minimal hassle.)

After you sign up, you can become an iContact affiliate, and earn generous commissions whenever someone joins the service through you.

iContact’s rates are reasonable (if you have 500 or fewer subscribers, it’s just $10/month) and totally worth it for the peace of mind and ease of use. Register for your free trial now, and let me know how you like it!

I’m continually astonished at how many websites commit a very simple error.

If a URL consists of multiple words, capitalize the first letter of each word any time the URL is written or printed.

Which of the following URL’s “pops” and captures your attention more?