Your Passion Will Give You The Patience To Achieve Business Marketing Success

July 9, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

“Patience is a virtue that carries a lot of WAIT.” – Anon

Whether you’re marketing online or off the web, one very important virtue you must develop, if you lack it, is PATIENCE. That is, IF you are to succeed with your business marketing for the long term.

You need to be patient. VERY PATIENT. You have to think like a hunter on the trail of nervous wild deer. Successful business marketing requires the foregoing as a basic minimum. That’s what will equip you to extract useful insights from the different efforts you make to sell your products and services.

Rarely can you reasonably hope to get overnight results. You are more likely to engage in testing and re-testing, till you get something that works just right for you.

That nurturing process can be quite taxing and time consuming. If you lack patience, you are likely to cut corners and not do it right. But that will show in what you send out to the market place – and the results will be just as disappointing.

Making sure you are in a business you absolutely LOVE doing, is what determines whether you will be able to find enough PATIENCE to keep going till you get IT.

"Unless the person running your marketing is patient, it will be difficult to practice commitment. View marketing as an investment, be consistent, and make prospects confident. Patience is a guerrilla virtue." – Jay Conrad Levinson in "The 15 Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing" – http://www.gmarketingcoach.com

If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Be Succeeding At It

In order to succeed, a business must make sales. Not credit sales, but sales that result in money received and in the bank. Marketing creates selling opportunities. However, very often marketing must be repeated or continued for considerable periods before the desired sales happen.

Records show that more businesses fail every year, than those that succeed. The latter are usually those able to make enough sales happen to cover expenses and keep them going. The fact that not every business succeeds in doing that proves that it’s not easy to do.

Which is why you will need to creatively leverage unconventional strategies, tools and technology, to get high impact marketing exposure. A willingness to be patient is a crucial requirement for making that happen. Business marketing requires unrelenting persistence, and is unlikely to yield 100% profitable returns overnight. Accept that reality, and be prepared to do what is needed, or you may not make it.

Measuring Your Business Marketing Success : An Index You Can Use

On a final note, it’s useful to measure your progress. You can, for instance, correlate your marketing expenditure to your client conversion. One useful parameter to periodically measure in this regard is your COCA i.e. Cost of Customer Acquisition. With patience, you get enough information to realistically determine what marketing method(s) wins you customers most cost-effectively. You would then improve on it to boost your conversion rates. Your patience would have paid off.

General

Where to Submit Your Guest Posts (Big & Popular Vs Small & Lesser Known Blogs)?

July 6, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 6 Comments

Are you a blogger using writing to get marketing exposure (and traffic/back links) to your blog? If yes, then there’s a good chance you know guest blogging is an excellent way to achieve that purpose – and you probably already use it.

But Just In Case You Don’t Know, I’ll Tell You

There’s always the possibility that someone reading this post will be new and looking to learn. If that describes you, here’s a quick definition: guest blogging involves submitting high quality blog posts you’ve written on a topic related to your blogging niche to specific blogs you identify.

The Key Benefits

Apart from helping you steadily gain name recognition and develop authority status, it also generates for you a stream of new, fresh traffic from other blogs, in addition to quality back links.

All of these will over time make your blog show up more often in search engine results pages.

Now, who doesn’t want that?

Where to Submit Guest Posts: Big/Popular Vs Small/Lesser Known Blogs

Conventional wisdom suggests best results can be had by getting your guest post published on a big and popular blog. If you can pull this off – and your post resonates with the readers – it rarely fails to yield multiple benefits for both the host blog and the guest blogger.

However, I suggest you consider adopting the approach I’m about to describe, especially if you are just starting out, and your blog is yet to chalk up any noteworthy rankings.

There’s no harm in aiming high or thinking big, but when you’re starting out it can help greatly, if you keep an open mind about choosing legitimate outlets to promote your blog.

The way I see it, pretty much everyone will be aiming to get published on the most popular blogs. Let’s face it, we all want to play in the big leagues and rub shoulders with the top guys. But with so many people trying to get in the same door, this can take time.

The truth however is that many not so big or popular blogs get decent amounts of traffic/ranking, and CAN give you good quality exposure, traffic and back links. This is truer even now because of Google’s improved ability to ensure good quality content websites show up more often in searches.

But what is probably an even more compelling reason to focus MORE of your attention, on getting published on not-so-big blogs, is that they have FEWER submissions to sift through in order to decide what guest post to publish next. Many of these big guys are overloaded with submissions. There is a long queue, and you may have to WAIT a while before your guest post goes “live”.

Of course, if the guest post you submit is really great, there’s a good chance the blog owner could send it right to the top of the pile for immediate publication. But that may not happen often – or with every blog. So, spreading your stuff around to other decent ranking, but not so well known blogs can help you make progress.

How Getting Published More Often On Smaller Blogs Can Add Up…To “Big Blogs” Exposure

Now think about it this way. If you submit your new guest post to a smaller blog that’s not over loaded with submissions, it’s likely to go live on the Internet faster than it would on a “busier” blog. Every time this happens, you instantly get at least one new back link to your site (via your byline).

But if you’ve done a good job of the post, it won’t end there. For instance, since everyone knows Google penalizes duplicate content, if the post is good, it’ll ONLY get shared, and linked to by more people – thereby generating buzz.

That buzz would attract the attention of Google bots, so your guest post will show up in more search results for its keywords. In addition, the social media spotlight would get other people (some belonging in the bigger and more popular blog networks) to “discover” and also link to it.

Sooner than later the traffic and other benefits you seek will be yours.

The Best Approach Is Always a Combination of Methods

Of course I’m not saying there’s harm in shooting to get published on large blogs. But NEVER make the mistake of focussing exclusively on big ones, and snubbing the smaller ones. This is because having your guest posts showing up on many different blogs – even if they are small – can eventually ADD up. And it could even leave you better off in the long run.

Having said that, you’ll find from watching a video demonstration I’ve just created for my MS Excel Guest Posts Submissions Manager & Performance Monitor, that I used it to choose websites to submit to, based on Alexa traffic and Google page ranks.

That was mainly for ease of explanation.

In reality, my preferred strategy is to periodically “identify” and submit guest posts to some big name blogs. However, I will actively look out for/evaluate and submit to lesser known blogs that I identify to fit into my target niche.

If you want to get your guest posts published faster, and not have to wait endlessly to reap the rewards for the efforts you put into writing them, you might want to do the same thing.

Any thoughts on this post?

What do you think about the perspective to guest posts submission discussed above? Has anyone got experience on the benefits (or otherwise) of going this route?

Share your thoughts or opinions by posting your comments!

General

UPDATE: MS Excel Based Guest Posts Submission Manager – 2 Videos On Youtube!

July 5, 2012 Tayo Solagbade 1 Comment

Watch the videos and you’re likely to come away with a few ideas of how to become more efficient in your guest blogging efforts. I’ll be writing a useful guest post on the steps involved in building a simple Excel based Guest Posts Manager like this one soon.

Send in your comments/requests: If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this topic/application, I’d be glad if you post them right here. I’m trying to see if I can build this app to be useful to as many guest blogging enthusiasts as possible! (And if you want to send yours in privately, use this form).

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In Video 1 of 4: I point out that you can build an Excel Guest Posts Submission Manager & Performance Monitor like this. Just watching these 4 videos can give you enough ideas to create your own custom spreadsheet based Guest Posts Manager.

In video 2 of 4: Continuing from video 1, I show how the Guest Post Manager can manage a huge list of target blogs. It instantly creates clickable links to each blog’s “Write for Us” page so you can submit with ease. And it also stores clickable URLs, traffic, link backs & other metrics for each published guest post.

Among other things, this application:

(a). stores URLs and Alexa traffic/Page Rank data for up to 1000 websites

(b). automatically generates clickable links for you to open the “Write for us” or “Submit Guest Post” page on the websites in your list

(c). also generates clickable URLs that open each of your published guest posts on the host blog

(d). Autocomputes a Weighted Average Performance Index (FWI) that identifies your best performing guest posts – AND presents it in an easy to understand ready-to-print dynamic
bar chart format.

Watch ALL 4 videos + get a FREE copy of this app ($500 USD value) at : http://spontaneousdevelopment.com/gpmanager.htm

Entrepreneurship, General, Self-Development

Would Your Friends Welcome A “Friendly” LEPER? (How to Discern REAL Friends)

July 4, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

This morning I came across the following quote while reviewing past tweets by Corey Jahnke (@CWJahnke):

“The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything.” – Eleanor Roosevelt.

Do you have dreams or ambitions that haunt you because you keep letting a fear of making mistakes hold you back? Are you one of those who start each year setting ambitious resolutions only to falter when others question your sanity or ability to achieve? Have you ever felt “isolated” by disapproving friends and family members because you persisted in the pursuit of your valued goal, in spite of their advice to the contrary?

If yes, know that you are not alone. People, who achieve success by achieving the uncommon, often have to travel a lonely road to success.

Ask Nelson Mandela about the 27 years it took him (while “roasting” in jail) to bring apartheid rulers round to his line of thinking. The truth – as all success conscious people know – is that your conviction is what will see you through. Mandela’s conviction about his purpose led him to become a living legend today. But the road was not smooth.

When many people start out, they will often have heard stuff like those I’ve outlined above. However, as human beings we hear a lot, but consciously apply too little. Today’s fast paced world makes us even more distracted. We never pay close attention until something hits us where it hurts. Then we start looking for solutions – often desperately.

Human beings have a need to experience things in order to retain what they learn for the long term. That’s the reason why even when we were told as kids that the kettle is hot, very many of us never really listened to our parents until the day we got burnt while fooling around in the kitchen. The cycle repeats itself with our own kids.

To consistently succeed at anything you set your mind on, you must accept that intelligent mistake making will help you learn. You’ll need to take risks. Leave your comfort zone. Do the unfamiliar. Without going out on a limb, it is unlikely that you’ll be doing anything out of the ordinary or note worthy.

Making mistakes means you will not always come across as being “cool” to those other “safe playing” friends, relatives or associates watching from the sidelines. During the time you’re trying and failing at reaching your goals, some may be sneering or laughing in the background…sometimes to your face.

After the news has filtered out that you have (once again) “failed” at your new attempt, even those who stayed in touch may begin to carefully distance themselves. The could for instance fear mockery from others.

It is important that you welcome and relish periods like this, because they present you a perfect opportunity to know those who really like you for whom you are, and NOT just for what you are (e.g. a celebrity) or what you own (riches).

A lot of people miss out on gaining this extremely liberating insight into life. I come from a culture in which “friends” and relatives (no matter how distant) frequently announce their relationship to successful people to gain the respect and admiration of others.

Indeed, some celebrities get accused of failing to pay such friends and relatives visits whenever they are “in town” for instance They’ll say: “So, you’ve forgotten us so quickly now that you’re successful? When was the last time you visited us at home? You’ve got to come over and stay the weekend next month. We absolutely insist.”

Fast forward to 2 years later, after the “celebrity” has run into a patch of bad times. Maybe he’s been the victim of an elaborate scam that forced him to adopt a modest lifestyle while trying to start over. The news would have spread quickly.

And when he shows up at the same relatives’ place to ask for a loan, he may be accorded a guarded reception. Suddenly there may be little if any enthusiasm to see him. And the entire proceedings during the short lived visit would be tense and uncomfortable for all present. When he gets up to leave, they most likely won’t ask: “What, you’re leaving so quickly?” If anything, they will appear in a greater hurry to get to the door than he is!

And that’s probably the closest most people not afflicted with leprosy, may ever get to experiencing what it feels like to be a leper. Like I tell people based on my personal experience, if you want to know those who really like you for who you are, watch what happens if/when bad times appear. If such times don’t show – and you’re keen – try the trick of “pretending” that things are not going well for you.

Note that it may take a while to see the ripple effects. People like this generally stick around to see if things will get better. If you keep it up long enough, they’ll show their true colours. Some will come to see what they can get off you in your vulnerable state. But most will simply disappear – and won’t even return your calls. You would have become a leper in their eyes. And no matter how “friendly you try to act, they’ll be resolute about keeping you at more than arm’s length.

The irony is that when a person is successful, but won’t let them get close to him/her, these same friends and relatives (and even strangers!) readily accuse him/her of being “unfriendly”.

Isn’t it funny how the successful person who chooses to be friendly and makes him/herself available to them, gets conveniently dumped or even ostracized as soon as misfortune befalls him/her?

Here’s what you should take away from this: You can never be sure why people choose to befriend or associate closely with you – especially when you’re doing well. Develop the ability to better identify those who seek you out for selfish gain, so you do not waste energy investing emotionally or otherwise in building relationships with them.

To become successful – and stay that way – you must surround yourself with the right kind of people. True friends will readily support you regardless of what happens – even if you get falsely accused and it’s in the news. When the inevitable challenges come, if you don’t have such people in your inner circle, you could end up being a friendly leper no one likes!

Entrepreneurship, General

Blogging, Article Marketing, & 21st Century Illiterates

July 3, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Since 2003, I have actively used my writing (articles, reports etc) to promote different aspects of my business to potential customers. The (well) written word has always had this powerful effect on people.

I have learnt from personal experience – and observation of others over the years – that creative writing, weaving useful information with promotional copy, in a way that does not offend, can generate valuable sales leads.

In June 2012, after changing hosts, and re-organizing my website content, I launched this Word press blog to manage the changing content I have been serving to my different target audiences since 2005, when http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com first came online.

This blog aims to attract buyers for NOT one, but a variety of services (and products) I offer:

MS Excel-based custom spreadsheet software development
Web Marketing Systems Development (including web content writing)
Best Practice Systems Development/Extension Advisory Services Support for Farm Businesses.
Performance Enhancement Talks, Seminar and Coaching Programs for my target audience of Entrepreneurs, Corporate Decision Makers, Employees, Parents, Teachers & Students.

This Blog Is Part of a Larger Web Marketing System

Using my skills as a multipreneurial service provider, I deliver products and services that help clients achieve their goals at work and in life, with less effort, and at less cost.

This is what I do – and it’s why I call myself a Performance Enhancement Specialist. There’s a good chance that you belong to one or more of the groups I identified above. And that means I may be able to help you.

The above is why even as I publish new posts on this blog, I WILL progressively relocate my over 171 articles from my main website (http://www.spontaneousdevelopment.com) into it, so that they can be more easily found by people who need them. This also will make it easier for me to update them – the static HTML pages built in Dreamweaver over the years, always made doing that a bit tedious in the past.

Data/statistics for my articles have helped me identify topics attractive to visitors fitting my client profile. I’ll be publishing posts here, to serve more of such audiences. By implication therefore, this blog is now an integral part of my re-invented Web Marketing System.

What I’ve enjoyed the most about using my Web Marketing System, is that it has repeatedly served as a SELLING TOOL with which I have closed profitable sales opportunities with clients. In many interactions with prospective clients, I have successfully used different aspects of my web marketing system in face to face meetings, to demonstrate to, and convince them to engage my services, or extend my mandate.

And this is apart from people who have purchased my products online after finding them through an article I wrote on a subject that interested them.

So, if you’re here and wondering why I have IMPORTED my write-ups labeled with dates going as far back as 2003, into this blog, the above clarification should hopefully have answered your question(s).

High Website Traffic May NOT Necessarily Win You Clients

Here’s the most important lesson I’ve learned in using my website as business marketing tool. This is a truth that I always make a point of alerting clients to – IF they listen:

You do NOT need tons of website traffic to sell your services. Depending on the kind of service you provide, it is actually possible to get more business than you can handle from as few as 1 to 3 clients in a year.

So, your website and all your web marketing efforts can be deliberately set up to CONVERT such high value/premium prospects into clients when they visit it.

If ten such people visit your site in one year, and one or two engage your services, you would be better off, than if a million visited but none stopped long enough to buy. Same rule applies when selling products. Some information products cost $29 USD. Others cost $3,500 USD. The two products may not target the same kind of visitors or require equally high traffic.

I operate this blog based on the above insight – gained from experience. And I also put my understanding of this fact, to the best possible use for my clients.

How I Can Help YOU

We all have our strengths. My greatest strengths are my adaptability/work related stamina, quick-learning skills, versatility and resourcefulness. I have used them to the benefit of my employers in the past, and clients MANY times since becoming self-employed over 10 years ago.

It’s those same multiple competencies that I now offer to any visitors to this blog who may seek solutions I offer. As long as you are sincere, and prepared to provide a clear brief about what you want done, you WILL get value for your investment in my services.

Take a tour of this blog, and review the depth and variety of experience based content on offer. Notice the deliberate effort made to include anecdotal accounts ane industry relevant research based information, to enrich your reading experience. That’s what will demonstrate to you that this blog is NOT an ego trip.

There’s more to see on www.spontaneousdevelopment.com

This blog is however NOT all there is. I say this at the risk of stating the obvious. I have set it up to make it easier to create, and maintain NEW useful content to visitors – some of who may fit my desired client profile.

However, I’ll also be incorporating links to different sections of the larger website in some of the write ups that are related to the theme or subject of any post I make.

Four key areas I will incorporate links for are:

(1). Creating automated MS Excel applications

(2). Developing low cost Web Marketing Systems

(3). Providing Farm Business Best Practice Ideas and Solutions

(4). Performance enhancement learning events

(5). Information products

FREELANCE WRITING

As you will see from the link provided at the top of this blog, I offer to write for interested persons. Since 2004, I’ve done A LOT of freelance writing for clients (in a wide variety of industries) in the course of developing web marketing systems for them.

Do You Have A Topic/Subject or Theme You would Like Me To Write A Blog Post About?

If yes, click here to send in details of your request for me to write on it.

You can use this as a risk-free way to evaluate the quality of my writing, if that aspect of my services interests you.

FINAL WORDS: About Article Marketing

From 2005, I leveraged articles marketing online, to attract traffic and generate pre-qualified leads for the services I offer as an MS Excel-VB Solutions Developer and also a Web Marketing Systems Developer.

Articles Marketing helped me achieve name recognition quite quickly. And it also helped me sell many of my information products.

However, following the recent Google algorithm updates, article marketing as a strategy suffered a drastic setback due to the abusive manner (frowned upon by Google) that some people had used it to create duplicate content online.

As a result, I’ve NOT submitted any new articles to Ezinearticles.com since December 2011, because I’m trying to decide on a safe and effective way to continue using that strategy. Some people have already thrown the Article Marketing baby out with the bath water. I believe that’s a mistake. And it might cost them later. A smart way is always to adapt.

That’s what I do quite well i.e. adapt. It is also why I love the following quote:

“The illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write. They will be those who cannot learn, unlearn or relearn” – Alan Toffer

I believe article marketing done with integrity still offers major benefit. And it can be done to complement one’s blogging efforts. You just have to spend time learning HOW.

Now that this blog is up, I’m beginning to gain clarity on how I can use my Ezinearticles.com submissions to complement my blogging efforts.

Tayo K. Solagbade | 02 July 2012

Update(25th Aug. 2012) – I have since resumed publishing articles on EzineArticles.com:

1. 14th Aug. 2012 – Speaking Success: Abuse Your Audience and Lose Credibility (True Story).

2. 15th Aug. 2012 Ideas for Exploring Low Cost Feed Ingredients, When You Have No Laboratory On Your Farm

Click here to view my over 170 other published articles at the Ezine Articles Directory:

Career Development, Self-Development

Why Do People Attend The Same Classes & Get Different Exam Scores?

July 3, 2012 Tayo Solagbade Leave a comment

Unlike machines which once exposed to the same inputs and conditions, are able to turn out similar performances, human beings are incapable of delivering uniform output when subjected to similar stimuli.

Recall back when you were in school. All the students in a particular group attended the same classes/lectures for weeks. Often, the teacher or lecturer would be the same person, possibly even using the same old notes from many years before. Yet, at the end of the semester or term, some students would score “A”s while others would score “C”s – and some would fail!

I have always wonderered what could possibly cause so much variation in the final performances of people exposed to the exact same “learning sources”. Admittedly, some students may do well because they are gifted in “class work” or academics. Oftentimes however, the reality tends to be that those who did not do well actually failed to make adequate personal efforts, to ensure they understood what was taught in class and prepare properly for the exams.

Similarly, whether or not an employee’s workplace performance improves will depend mainly on his/her readiness or otherwise, to use the resources around him to do so. If s/he decides for instance to practice some self-development, then reading a book on “How to apply Statistical Process Control” in the department’s manufacturing process, could prove just as useful as an expensive course on the same subject in a business school class.

Waiting for the company to send you on business school courses each time you want to improve yourself, may however not be realistic. Employees who become high flyers often do so by taking the initiative of managing their own training and development. I recall attending a management-training course in 2001, at Ijebu-Ode while employed as a middle level manager in a large multinational manufacturer.

During the course, we were taken through what my boss later summed up – quite aptly – to be a training on “Best Practice Management concepts”. About 14 management competencies, considered desirable in every good manager were elaborated upon. At the close of the course, the UK based expatriate facilitator encouraged us to read management books that could help us build on learnings from the course.

The books he recommended covered topics such as “Influencing others/Managing disagreements”, “Motivating others”, “Coaching others”, “Fostering teamwork” etc. After listening for some time as he elaborated on the benefits of the books, and the fact that we might have to part with some good money to get hold of them, I raised my hand. He signalled for me to speak, and I said (though not in the exact words below):

“Just a suggestion John, but I believe most of the competencies we’re discussing are actually quite well covered in a book written by Dale Carnegie titled “How to win friends and influence people” in very simple yet concise language. Many people will find the book invaluable as a practical guide to developing most of these competencies. Copies of the book are now locally available in Nigeria at N400.00. It’s that cheap because it is now reprinted in Nigeria – with permission – by an African pastors’ group based in Benin City”.

John went on to express his agreement with my comments, and confirmed that the little book did actually offer useful practical tips in the areas we had been discussing. The point being made here is that oftentimes what we think will require a complex solution, actually might be easily addressed using the simplest resources/methods well within our capability/control. There’s no point trying to kill a fly with a hammer.

Your development into a high flyer in your current workplace, is unlikely to require exclusive attendance of expensive courses. Most of what you need is already in your company – especially the on-the-job workplace experiences you can expose yourself to, in any department you fancy. You also stand to gain a lot from experienced employees (both subordinate and superior), from whose well of wisdom you can reliably drink to quench your thirst for knowledge that will take you to the top.

If you’re not lazy, and you adopt a pragmatic approach, you’ll rise quickly to any position you set your sights on by quietly acquiring useful knowledge and skills, then using them to excel in a way that impresses your company’s leaders. Sooner than later, they’ll call on you to show them more of what you can do. Why? Because your performance will make it obvious you can be more USEFUL to the company, if given a chance.

If your peers who joined the company at the same time as you did, fail to diligently pursue their on-the-job development in the same way, you’ll climb up the corporate ladder to recognition and prominence, leaving them behind.

Then they’ll find themselves getting asked by others in the company how come you’re up there, and they are still down there! The human tendency for non-uniform performance would have again manifested.

But at least for you, it would be a story with a good ending.

Good luck.