Marketing Mastery

How I Increased My Blog's Monthly Traffic By 600% In One Year

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Marketing Mastery is only a little more than a year old now and what a wonderful journey it has been. I have built this blog from scratch, having no following, facebook fans, or web design skills. Marketing Mastery's first month only had 112 pageviews, attempting to keep the blog under the radar until it had a decent amount of posts to release to the public. The following month I announced a contest which brought in 534 pageviews. The momentum carried over into January 2011 where I managed to obtain 1,076 pageviews my third month as a blog. Marketing Mastery's momentum has never stopped. This month has already acquired nearly 6,000 pageviews, nearly 6x as many pageviews as 12 months ago. How have I done it? It was difficult, but very simple.

1. Wrote Quality, Original Content

Before I started letting people know about my blog, I tried to have a number of quality, original content for people to read. I knew that having only a few decent posts wouldn't be enough to capture anyone's attention. My goal wasn't to be a blog to only help close friends, but to help aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans alike. If I was to accomplish my goal, I needed to have plenty of quality content.

2. Held a Giveaway

I've held a few giveaways on my blog, but none were as essential as my first giveaway. Why? Because it created a base following. The giveaway brought people to my blog who otherwise might not have found it. In addition, due to the increased traffic my blog received, Marketing Mastery began to climb the Google ladder and my blog began to appear on the first page of search results.

3. Consistently Blogged

Consistently blogging helped keep my readers engaged as well as my SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Thanks to consistent blogging, my pageviews increased because of my loyal readers which then allowed more opportunities for visitors to find my blog through search engines.

4. Consistently Improved Web Design

If any of you remember the first few months of Marketing Mastery, you will remember how terrible it looked. I'll be the first to admit that. I had no idea how to tweak the design of my blog to make it more appealing, I knew in my mind how I wanted it to look, but I didn't know how to translate that into code. I've since learned many things on how to improve the appearance of my blog, which has helped tremendously with the professionalism of my blog.

5. Leveraged Social Media

Having my blog posts automatically post to Facebook and Twitter were one of the very first things that I learned to do because I knew it was among the most important. In the early days of my blog, nearly all of my traffic came from both Twitter and Facebook.

Conclusion

With small, consistent steps I know your blog will continue to grow, just as mine did.

Is Groupon Right For Your Business?

2012-01-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

The Groupon craze where you can get one ridiculously good deal everyday is slowing down, but why? Because Groupon's policies are forcing small businesses to shut down everywhere by requiring to offer huge discounts while Groupon takes 50% or more of your earnings from the Groupon, forcing businesses to lose money on every transaction. This system is also harmful to small business owners because most couponers or "Grouponers" in this case, have no brand loyalty which means the customers the business just gained from their Groupon promotion will most likely never see that customer again until more Groupons or coupons become available. Do you see how this might be hurtful?

However, Groupon is not harmful to all businesses and industries. For example, a martial arts school could easily leverage Groupon because the martial arts school is going to be holding classes anyway, the school doesn't lose any money by offering a deal, they only gain a potential student. As you can see in this particular case, Groupon could be greatly beneficial.

As you can tell, Groupon is not for every business in every industry. Choose wisely before deciding if Groupon is right for you and your small business.

7 Tips for Hiring the Best Employees

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

1. Pay Close Attention to Their Apparel

How someone dresses says a lot about the kind of person he is. First observe if you can tell whether or not his suit has recently been dry cleaned or pressed. This will tell you how serious he is about getting hired. Also, what style of clothes is he wearing. This is your first hint to know if he will fit in your company's culture.

2. Watch Their Posture

Someone who walks with his chin held high and chest out does not make him arrogant, it means they are confident. If someone can walk into an interview with confidence, it really says something about the caliber of person you could potentially be hiring.

3. Observe How They Solve Problems

You can start off by asking your potential employee how she would solve a certain situation that may have recently come up or may potentially come up. Remember, you're not just hiring an employee, you're hiring a problem solver.

4. Ask to See A Sample of Their Work if Applicable

If you need a graphic designer, ask her to bring samples of her work. This step will make your decision on who to hire, depending on the quality of work brought in for examination.

5. Have Them Do Their First Project

This will help you observe how your potential employees work with others, take to leadership opportunities, and how good of a follower they are. Additionally, it will help weed out the weaker candidates who don't bother to put in their best work, even in an interview process.

6. Mind the Culture

After you've narrowed it down to just a few candidates who all seem to have equal qualifications for the job, become hyper-observant as to how each will blend in with your company's culture. Only you can decide if they will fit in or not.

7. Be Patient

Even if you don't find the right employee by the 100th candidate, don't settle for less and don't give up! Nothing kills a company faster than hiring the wrong people; don't do it.

10 Keys to Summer Sales Success

2012-01-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Many people, particularly college aged students, dedicate their summers to go door-to-door for the dream of making more than they ever have before in their life. Is this dream realistic? With the right skills, I give a resounding yes. Salesmen who don't succeed aren't failures because they lack potential to become great sales reps, it's simply because they lack the necessary skills. That's why I've compiled these 10 essential summer sales skills. I've personally done summer sales in my professional career and I did extremely well and these are the very skills that I used.

1. Confidence

You can develop all the skills necessary to be a great door-to-door salesman, but if you lack confidence in yourself, nobody will have confidence in you or your product either.

2. Emphasize Your Advantages Over Your Competitors

Do not put down your competitor's, that will turn some people off. Just describe to your customers in a logical way why your customer is better off going with you than anybody else.

3. Don't Sell the Product

Many world-class salesmen will tell you they do not sell products, they sell emotions. Great salesmen sell hope, potential, and luxury to name a few examples.

4. Be Brief, But Precise

The faster you can go from sale to sale the more money you can make, it's as simple as that. If your product allows you to be on the customer's front porch for only 10 minutes, then be there for only 10 minutes. Beware, however, not to be in such a rush that you skip over essential information so that your newly earned customer doesn't back out last minute.

5. Push Urgency

Remember the line, "That's the best part about today!" That line alone has earned me a lot of money and I'm confident it can do the same thing for you.

Do everything in your power, without coming across as pushy, to get your potential client to sign up today. The longer you wait, the less likely they are to sign up.

6. Listen

Pay attention to what your customers are saying so that you can meet their needs and concerns, that's the key to customer service, and that will be key to your success as well.

7. What's In It For Them?

Nobody cares about how great your company is or how many you've sold today already, they want to know what's in it for them, not you or your company.

8. Be Excited

How excited about a product are you if you're not even excited about it yourself? If you're not a believer in your own product, then you better become one and fast! When you whole-hardheartedly believe in something you're enthusiastic about it and don't hide that you are while you're on the doors.

9. Use Buzz Words

Use buzz words such as today to promote urgency, customize to emphasize quality customer service, and stability because that is the very thing people are looking for, especially in a shaky economy.

10. Be a Consultant Not a Salesman

A consultant is someone who offers expert advice and opinions and is also not a salesman per say. Consultants are seeking to genuinely help the people they're hired for, you need to do the same thing. To learn more about this read my popular post, "Are You a Consultant or a Salesman?"

Conclusion

There are easily a hundred more principles that we could go over, but these ten will give you more than enough of a head start. These skills are helpful to anyone doing summer sales, whether you're new or a ten year veteran if applied properly with hard work. Good luck!

How Much Traffic Do I Need Before I Can Monetize My Blog?

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is the question that every blogger wants the answer to, "How much traffic do I need before I can start making money on my blog?" The question can only be answered by another question, "How much money do you want to make?" Some will tell you that all you need is 50 highly targeted visitors. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have a real passive income from my blog. In order for you to make a decent living you need to be easily experiencing at least a few hundred thousand pageviews per month, otherwise your ads are just merely taking up space.

For example, a good friend of mine has a blog that now receives anywhere between one million to 1.5 million pageviews per month, making an average of $20 per thousand visitors. The reason why he's able to make so much money per thousand visitors compared to other bloggers is because he's involved with Premium Ad providers.

There are essentially two types of ad providers. The first are Remnant Ad providers such as Google AdSense who fill your blog with cheap ads and pay out is very little. The other type of ad providers are Premium Ad providers like BlogHer who pay the big bucks in comparison; however, you have to show good growth and massive amounts of traffic to even be considered.

In essence, you can make money with only a few thousands pageviews per month, but if you want it to be worth your time, you're going to need several hundred thousand pageviews. Good luck!

Why The Jack of All Trades is Poor

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

In the 1937 classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill spends over 25 years studying over 500 of the wealthiest people in America, including the likes of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. Along Hill's journey he discovered 13 principles that each of these wealthy men had applied to make them wealthy in a wide variety of industries. One of the thirteen principles that each of these men had is that they never settled for a general eduction or general knowledge. Rather they each obtained or hired those with specialized knowledge.

Andrew Carnegie, for example, knew absolutely nothing about the oil or steel industry, so what did he do? He hired people who did. Carnegie hired several people who as a whole, knew everything there was to know about the industry. Because of this, Carnegie became one of the wealthiest men in history in an industry he initially knew nothing about.

We can apply the same principles today. I can guarantee that the majority of wealthy people that you know, or at least have heard of, are specialists of some kind. They can range from being a lawyer who specializes in certain types of cases to a surgeon who specializes in a very small field to a marketer who specializes in social media.

Even if you don't have the specialized knowledge that you need, you can follow the example of Andrew Carnegie and partner with those who do have the specialized knowledge you need. Remember, the jack of all trades is not only the master of none, but is also not the master of money.

3 Most Effective Ways to Advertise Online

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

There are several ways to get your message across to other people. Let's face the truth, the majority of advice given by so called "experts" doesn't work; they offer theories, but no real solutions. This brief article is not based on the cheapest form of advertising, but on getting the highest ROI (Return On Investment). We're going to explore what are the three most effective forms of advertising for your online business and/or website regardless of how long you've had the website or how much time and money you've already put into it.

1. Search Engine Advertising

Search engine advertising is effective because you have the option of PPC (pay-per-click), meaning that you only pay money when someone is genuinely interested in your website or product. To advertise in any major magazine or newspaper can cost over $1,000 for every day you advertise with them, and you pay whether your ad was effective or not. You only pay money when your advertisements are actually working with PPC.

2. Facebook Advertising

Facebook advertising is effective because not only are they advertising your business, you're essentially generating a discrete mailing list where you can be in contact with your fans and easily promote word-of-mouth advertising.

3. Contests and Giveaways

Holding a contest or giveaway is great because you can create a huge response with little or no money. The greater benefit to this, however, is that depending on your event, you can generate huge amounts of free, effective advertising. For example, it is nearly impossible to participate in a Facebook contest without letting their thousand other Facebook friends know they're doing so. Thus, you increase brand awareness and potentially more fans each time a fan interacts with your page. To learn more about this, read my recent post "How I Got 750 New Facebook Fans With Only $25".

Conclusion

Again, price should not be the deciding factor when it comes to online advertising, rather it should be based on ROI.

6 Tips to Search Engine Update Survival

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Webmasters see it all the time. Their Google ranking begins to soar and the next day it plummets because Google changed their algorithm again. My traffic has never been effected by the changes in search engines and yours won't either if you will follow these six tips to help me avoid those disastrous traffic pitfalls.

1. Focus on Quality

Search engines take into consideration several different factors and quality content is one of them. Not only will this help you with your website's SEO, but other sites will also start sending links your way.

2. Avoid Poor Backlinks

Don't invest in the "10,000 links for $10" deals. They rarely work for long and will hurt your ranking in search engines.

3. Invest in Social Media

Google announced that they are using social network indicators such as "shares" and "likes" as a factor to their ranking algorithm.

4. Site is Easy to Navigate

General rule of thumb is that nobody should have to go past 3 clicks to get to any page on your site.

5. Diversify Web Traffic

If the majority of your traffic comes from search engines, don't be surprised if your traffic takes a huge dive one day. The best way to avoid this is to get other people to share your content. Approximately 85% of my traffic comes from other people sharing my content on their own blogs or websites.

6. Stay Current With SEO News

The most efficient way to do this is to follow an SEO expert. Experts will typically take several hours a day researching what's new and coming up and let their readers know in articles or videos which can be read or viewed within about five minutes.

Get the Right Analytics for Your Blog

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Understanding the demographics of your audience is vital to your blog's success if you are going to appeal to your target market. By knowing and understanding who your market is and what they stand for will help you to gear your blog to meet their needs and interests among several other factors.

Most, if any blog services, will not provide you with the amount of detail that is required to understand your target market. So what are we to do then? The answer is quite simple. You use a free third-party service. There are many websites out there that are willing to do it for you and if they're any good they'll charge you a nominal fee. However, there is one service that I've come to appreciate quite a bit over the past few weeks and that is Quantcast.com. Quantcast is not only a free service, but is in my opinion currently the best web analytic service available on the web. The only thing you're required to do is to add a tag to your html code (very easy to do, if you have any questions or help on this just comment below and I'll be more than happy to assist you) and wait for your blog to get quantified and allow a few days for Quantcast to gather data so it can report accurate numbers.

Most major websites use Quantcast and after you visit the site you'll understand why, good luck!

How to Organize a Mastermind Group

2012-01-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

According to the classic book Think and Grow Rich, a mastermind group is in the top two most important ingredients to success. Mastermind groups can benefit every member of it, so long as it is conducted and organized properly.

Mastermind groups can come in many forms. Masterminds can be a Board of Directors, a small group of partners, or even a group of business professionals in similar fields who want to help each other succeed. Whatever or whoever you decide to mastermind with be sure it does one thing for certain: your mastermind group MUST benefit every member of it.

In order to accomplish this task you need have a healthy mix of people who are less successful, equally successful, and more successful than you are. Take caution when deciding who can be in your mastermind group. Success is not the only factor in play. Take heed to potential conflicting personalities between your group members. Also, do not invite those who are negative or bitter towards life, you might invite them to help build them up, but I've seen it before, they do nothing more than drag everyone else down to where they are.

After you've carefully selected who you want to be a member of your mastermind group, approach each individual in person if possible. Let them know what's in it for them and stay far away from what's in it for you. Give precise details as to what will be discussed and how long the meeting will be; the more details you can give about your meeting the better.

Good luck!

The Secret to Becoming a Popular Blog

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

So you want to be a big time blogger do you? Do you have your Facebook and Twitter accounts synced up with your blog? Have you successfully started building your Google Plus page? Have you poured over your blog design for hours and hours on end yet? Have you spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on advertising? If so, then you're likely getting ahead of yourself.

The secret to a successful blog is not the cool widgets and blog designs that are associated with it, rather it's the content. Let's compare our blog to a bird for a moment. What does a bird really need to survive? The obvious answer to this question is bird seed. The content on your blog is just like the bird seed you feed your bird. Without content, your blog will essentially go the way all the other blogs that have passed away and went on to blog heaven. Also, it's important to feed your bird frequently. Your bird can not survive on a week's worth of food for an entire month. So the moral to this story is to update your blog with the highest quality content you can muster, and do it consistently.

After you've given your blog some bird seed, then begin to focus on the "bells and whistles". Nobody's going to appreciate your really cool app for your blog if there's nothing on your blog worth reading or sharing.

Content first, design second.

5 Ways to Effective Online Advertising

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

Advertising online is both easy and in my opinion, fun. Online advertising is not only beneficial to online businesses and blogs, but to offline businesses as well that want to create brand awareness. There are several methods of advertising online and what I've done for your benefit is outline the 5 most effective forms of advertising that I've personally been involved with.

1. Keywords and Meta Tags

Knowing and understanding SEO (search engine optimization) will help you drive more targeted traffic than any other way and will keep your money in your pocket.

2. Giveaways

In my recent post, "How I Got 750 New Facebook Fans With Only $25" I described how a simple giveaway worth only $25 brought over 750 excited fans to join my Facebook page. A great giveaway will always bring in loads of traffic.

3. Contests

Everybody always enjoys contests, especially if they're fun, easy, or both.

4. Reciprocal Links

Reciprocal links are where you and another website/blog display a link to each other's websites. This is not really beneficial to either party, however, unless both are high traffic sites.

5. Banner Ads

This can be done through search engines, Facebook, or individual blogs. This will be the most expensive way to advertise, but it is proven to be extremely effective.

Ditch Your Back Up Plan

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

When young Alexander the Great set out to conquer the eastern world he would intentionally create only two options for himself and his men: conquer or die. For example, when Alexander the Great sought to conquer the Persian army, he set his own warships ablaze, displaying to his troops that the only way any of them could ever go home is if they conquered the most powerful army in the world at that time.

When have there been times in your career or personal life when it appeared you were metaphorically in the same position as these men? How did you act differently comparatively to how you behaved at other times?

Each of us need to metaphorically "burn our ships" if we are to reach our maximum potential in business and life. Having back up plans may be the safe thing to do, but it acts as no more than a crutch for us, making us weaker rather than stronger.

What warships can you burn from your life?

Are You a Consultant or a Salesman?

2012-01-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

We're all in sales, whether we believe it or not; which ultimately means that each of us must acquire sales skills and develop salesmanship. Developing sales skills and salesmanship require knowing what to say and how to say it, reading body language, knowing when to push and when to walk away, and those are just a few examples. However, is the slick salesman approach the best way to make sales?

Everyone is wired into one radio station at all times, WII FM, "What's in it for me?" Anytime we approach someone with an offer, the question is always the same: "What's in it for me?" and vice versa. If we are to succeed in our sales, we must first learn to appeal to that basic human mindset. Take a look at these two definitions.

Salesman: a man whose job involves selling or promoting commercial products, either in a store or visiting locations to get orders.

Consultant: a person who provides expert advice professionally.

Which one is really meeting the needs of those we're trying to sell? If you notice, the salesman approach is all one sided and it's only benefiting one person: you, the salesman. This means that when you're in salesman mode, you're tuning in to your own radio station rather than the person's you're trying to sell.

Now take a look at the definition of a consultant. Whose radio station is the consultant tuned in to? The person they're selling. Every salesman should take on the role of a consultant; doing everything he can to forget himself while desperately try to meet the needs of those he's selling to.

The principles taught here are true for any part of our life. Whether we're meeting our future in-laws for the first time, interviewing for a new job, or even applying for school.

So which are you, a salesman or a consultant?

How I Got 750 New Facebook Fans With Only $25

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I recently launched a new website, Coupon Toucan, which now has amassed over 750 Facebook fans within only a few short weeks. How did I do it? It's honestly quite simple.

The first thing I did was pinpoint my target audience and ask the question "What would my target market value?" Seeing as my website is about couponing and saving money, I decided to give them an item they can readily use while they use the coupons from my website. So I gave away a $25 Walmart gift card. Why Walmart over every other store? There are Walmart's within 10 miles of nearly every person in the United States. In addition, Walmart is currently the most coupon friendly grocery store in America, which tells me that my target audience most likely does the majority of its shopping and couponing at Walmart.

The next step I took was to create a giveaway specifically geared towards my target audience and one that would be easy to enter. In this case, it was to simply like Coupon Toucan's Facebook page.

The final step I took was to publicize the giveaway. In my post "5 Ways to Make Your Company Stand Out" I mentioned the 10 sweepstakes websites I used that helped me launch my brand new website with such enormous success. Use these websites anytime you hold a giveaway of any kind. I also mentioned the giveaway on all my social networking outlets, and even devoted a page of my website to the giveaway.

Like I said, pretty easy right? How can you grow your business with only $25?

The Necessity of Simplicity

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." - Leonardo da Vinci

Simplicity is one of the major keys to success and is, in my opinion, the most undervalued principle taught by today's business professionals and universities. As discussed in several of my previous posts, customer service can make or break any company. A good part of quality customer service is how easy it is to work with you and your company. The fewer the steps necessary to make a transaction, the better. The less amount of time and travel required is also a step in the right direction.

Not only is it a good idea to simplify things for your customers, but also for yourself and your employees. Having easy to follow systems for your business can make your business' day to day functions run as smooth as butter. This is how McDonald's became what it is today. Ray Kroc and others developed the McDonald's order of operations and simplified the procedures to the point that virtually anyone can follow the step-by-step guides put in place.

How can you simplify your business and make everyone's life, including yours, a little easier?

What Makes a Good Company Great

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

There are many aspects to a company that make it go from good to great. It can be anything from great customer service to an outstanding product. Each consumer uses a different company for unique reasons and because of this, it is nearly impossible to pinpoint the key ingredient to a business' recipe for success.

In regards to cooking, it is absurd to believe that any chef has developed a restaurant perfect recipe on the first attempt. Rather, it is developed and recreated several times until it's finally ready.

The same applies to business. You're never going to develop the perfect recipe for success on your first attempt; it's going to take lots of fine tuning.

It is not creating the perfect business from the beginning that makes a business great, it's that they never stop improving.

In what ways can you fine tune business?

5 Ways to Make Your Company Stand Out

2011-12-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2007, there were over 27.7 million firms in the United States alone. This statistic can seem daunting to say the least for many entrepreneurs starting their own business. How could anyone possibly stand out? Well... it's actually quite a bit easier than you might think.

1. Have a Unique Theme

What are the businesses you remember the most? The ones with a unique theme right? For example, I recently launched a new website called, Coupon Toucan, which allows for visitors to come learn more about couponing, converse with other coupon fanatics, and also print local coupons all on one site. Not a very unique concept right? Yet the results have been amazing. People have been clinging onto the unique Toucan idea and telling their friends about it and it's only been live for a little over a week now!

2. Break Away From the Norm in Your Emails

Have you been on squidoo lately? If so, you'll remember how unique and clever their emails and notifications are that they send out to all new users. It is absolutely brilliant and you can do the same thing too. Simply find a way to tweak the words in your email a little bit, add a few images perhaps, and make it fit into your theme.

3. Hold Major Contests and Giveaways

Major contests and giveaways have always been a huge traffic builder for my sites. All that's required is a small gift of value (such as $25 Gift Card to Walmart) and launch it on all the best giveaway and sweepstakes sites available. Here are the websites that have generated the greatest results for me:

BigSweeps.com
CashNet Sweepstakes
Sweeties Sweeps
Sweepstakes Today
Prizey
Win Prizes Online
Sweepstakes Advantage
Online-Sweepstakes
Tip Junkie
Contestgirl

You can learn from reading a previous post "How to Hold a Giveaway on your Blog For FREE"

4. Make Your Website Both Informative and Interactive

There are too many generic websites that do nothing more than talk about the history of their company and what they can do for you. I'm not saying you shouldn't have these pages because they are definitely important, but you should do more than the bare minimum. Your website should have a blog, forum, and games if possible because these will help your consumers become more involved in your company and develop brand loyalty.

5. Have Outstanding Customer Service

According to RightNow and Harris Interactive, more than 82% of U.S. consumers stopped doing business with a company due to poor customer service. Out of the 82%, 79% of consumers said they talked about their negative experience to others. Yikes! On the other hand, nothing creates greater brand loyalty than great customer service.

What are some ways you've found to be effective in making your company stand out?

How Much Should I Charge For Ad Space On My Blog?

2011-12-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

How much should you charge to place an ad on your blog? The simplest and clearest answer I can give you: it depends.

When deciding how much to charge for blog space you must consider two factors.

1. Your Price Should Reflect Your Blog's Monthly Traffic

Nobody's going to pay $100 for a spot on a blog that gets only a few thousands pageviews a month. A typical price among most bloggers to offer for advertising is $2.50/x1000 pageviews their blog receives each month. So if your blog is not receiving at least 100,000 pageviews/month, then I would wait until you do. In the meantime, I would only use Google AdSense and infolinks until you do.

2. Your Price Should Vary on Ad Placement and Type

Ads above the fold (part of screen that is displayed prior to scrolling down) will typically cost far more than those below the fold. Also, ads placed within the body of a post will most likely be the most expensive. Banner ads will vary from the traditional square ads found on the sidebar. Again, refer back to #1 when deciding on pricing.

5 Free Functions That Every Blog Needs

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Blogging gurus will try selling you the "Latest and Greatest" feature that you absolutely have to buy because some guy is now making $10,000/day without having to worry about seo, advertising, or even writing blog posts. For the most part, these "gurus" are selling you nothing more than garbage.

I'm not guaranteeing you thousands upon thousands of dollars, but having these free functions will definitely increase your odds of making money. At first glance these functions may not look like money making features, since they are disguised as traffic driving and retention features, but those are the keys to success in the blogging world.

Most likely you've seen each of the features I'm about to mention, but I'm always surprised by how many bloggers don't take advantage of these. These features are free, simple, and offered to every blogger, no matter the platform. So without further ado, let's get you driving more traffic to your blog with these five invaluable functions.

1. Share Button

I prefer to use "Share This". Share This is perfect for anyone who wants a sleek and easy-to-install functions that can share your content with every major (and small-time) social media network on the planet. Share buttons should either hover (like mine is on the right), or be at the bottom of every post where it's easy and convenient for them to do so before they forget about your post or lose interest.

2. Follow Button

Don't get sucked into believing you need to pay for social media buttons; there are countless sources available for free social media icons. Place your follow buttons at the top left hand corner and only display the most prominent social networks (Facebook and Twitter) as well as Email and RSS Feed; I'd recommend using Google FeedBurner.

3. Recommended Posts

The one I use, which is also one of the most popular resources on the web, is LinkWithin. LinkWithin is a free source that allows you to place related articles to what your readers just read. It's available on every popular blogging platform and looks very clean and professional.

4. Comments

Having a good commenting system allows for discussion on your blog among fellow readers to share their thoughts and opinions on what you wrote. With that being said, it is crucial that you find a good commenting system such as Disqus (which I use and recommend) or CommentLuv.

5. Search Bar

Allow your readers to find what it is they're looking for from your site with an integrated search bar. Most, if not all, blogging platforms come with this option for your blog. Make sure you take full advantage of it by placing it in a prominent location on your blog.

When Should I Expand My Business?

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Some entrepreneurs never expand their business, but for those who do, they typically follow one of two strategies. Business owners either expand their business as quickly as possible, or they take several years to do so.

So which strategy is correct? Well, it depends on your business model. If your business requires little overhead and is generating great revenue, then you're fairly safe to expand whenever you'd like to help further the success of your business. However, several businesses require a lot of overhead and the revenue is only marginal in comparison. "So how do I know when I should expand my business?"

The answer to that question is simple. Whenever your company's initial location (such as a restaurant or movie theater) is generating 3x more revenue than your expenses then you're "safe" to open up a second location. Why does your business need to make so much money before you expand? Because each business, no matter how brilliant its business model, undergoes ups and downs and you want to be sure that both business locations don't go under because of bad timing. Another reason is because most new businesses do not make any money for the first six months of operation. You need to be prepared that if your new location is not taking off quite like you expected, you have enough capital to do what you need to do such as increase the amount of money you put towards advertising.

Another factor that is played in expansion that needs considering is management. For many this is a given, but it bears repeating. Previous to your expansion there needs to be strict guidelines and an order of operations already established there is no confusion on company policies or the roles of any employees.

Deciding when to expand your business is not dependent upon the amount of time the business has been around for, but whether or not you have the necessary funds to do so and if your order of operations have been put in place. Bear in mind that it is always better to expand slower and analyze your business and the market than to rush with the chance of things turning out poorly. What advice would you offer to those seeking to expand their business?

The Turn-Key Process

2011-12-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

In one of my favorite books of all time, "The E-Myth Revisted: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It", Michael E. Gerber discusses the process of freeing up your personal time, franchising your business, and working on your business, rather than in your business. The process for accomplishing this feat is turning your business into a "turn-key"; a process where anyone can easily duplicate your business' success system.

As I've mentioned in my post "How to Identify Your Target Audience", franchising was relatively unheard of before Ray Kroc bought fast food joint McDonald's from the McDonald brothers. McDonald's, the restaurant's, international success was due to Ray Kroc's ability to systematize the process of every day-to-day business functions.

In Gerber's book, he explains that the best way to systematize your business' success and create a turn-key is to first do each job yourself, find the best or preferred way of accomplishing the task, then creating an easy to follow system. For example, you might want to start with how to answer the phone. You first answer every phone call, evaluate your phone calls by determining what works and what doesn't work, then write a phone script for every current and future employee to follow. Repeat this process with every function of your business until every element is systematized.

After you've systematized your business, you're well on your way to becoming the next great franchise. Good luck!

Richard Branson's Approach to Entrepreneurship

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Most aspiring entrepreneurs are familiar with the name Richard Branson. Sir Branson's first successful business endeavor was a magazine entitled Student when he was only 16 years old. From there he created an audio record mail-order business, and two years later opened a chain of record stores called Virgin Records (later called Virgin Megastores). However, despite all of his previous success, Branson is best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies.

Did you catch that? Four hundred companies! So how does he do it? How could any one person possibly handle more than one company at a time, let alone 400? It's quite simple really, and brilliant at the same time. You see Richard Branson understands his strengths are not in management, but in starting businesses from scratch.

The Branson approach to entrepreneurship is like I said previously, simple. Branson starts a business and after the business is stable and on it's feet, he replaces himself as CEO with another CEO; and the cycle continues. Because of this process, Branson, according to Forbes magazine, has a net worth US$4.2 billion making him the 4th wealthiest citizen in the UK and 256th wealthiest person in the world.

How can you replicate Branson's business strategy with your own company?

3 Tips When Budgeting Your New Business

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

There is no "one budget fits all" formula when it comes to creating a budget for your new business. Since each business entity's needs are unique and as a result, so are the necessary budgets. Here are three basic principles that apply to any and every new startup:

1. Plan on Making Zero Profit the First Six Months

Since this is a general rule of thumb for any entrepreneur, you might've heard this one already, but it bears repeating. The reason why I mention this first is because the number one reason why businesses fail is not because they don't have a good idea or they don't know what they're doing, but because they were not properly funded. Online powerhouse Amazon, actually generated no income not just for the first six months, but for the first ten years! Before you launch your new business, be sure that you first have the proper amount of funding.

2. Save for Tough Times

It doesn't matter what industry you're in or how brilliant you are, your business will have it's highs and lows, guaranteed. Have at least enough money put away initially to be able to survive without generating any kind of income for 6 months at all times, not just initially.

3. Re-Evaluate Your Business' Financial Needs Monthly

As inevitable changes occur in the marketplace, you will need to continuously re-evaluate your business' needs. You may need to transfer funds and re-arrange your business strategy; it happens. Simply re-evaluating your company's needs regularly can take your average company to a great company. So what's your next move?

The Definition of Self-Discipline

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

The dictionary says self-discipline is "the ability to control one's feelings and overcome one's weaknesses; the ability to pursue what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it." In essence, self-discipline is doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done whether you want to do it or not.

So is self-discipline the same as self-control? Though self-control and self-discipline are similar in nature, they are not the same. Self-control is simply the abstinence or restraining from temptation, whatever that temptation may be for you. Self-discipline is not only refraining from temptation, but in turn doing what needs to be done. It is impossible to achieve self-discipline without first mastering self-control.

Why is this important? Because in business we are constantly called upon to do things that need to be done, and obviously, we may not always want to do them. The goal for each of us is to do what we love, but even with doing the things we love there typically remains elements to it that we don't love. For example, I love being an entrepreneur, but I loathe doing market research. I love being a creative thinker and visualizing the big picture, but hate doing all the minuscule details. I do them anyway because I know it's important and I have no chance of success without doing them. Without self-discipline neither you nor I can succeed, but with self-discipline, we can accomplish anything.