Category Archives: Writing/Blogging

Find Buyers for Your Products – Ideas for ANYONE to Get Started at ZERO COST [Featuring a List of 9 Resource Articles On How to Earn Passive Income Selling Your Artwork]

Quick Take-Away

I got inspired to write this piece after encountering several truly gifted artist expressing doubts about how to sell their wonderful art works.

So, this article features efforts of a real life artist to use social media to promote his works, as well as a list of 9 MUST READ Resource Articles On How to Earn Passive Income Selling Your Artwork.

It should however be noted that the ideas advocated can be successfully adapted for use in selling ANY other products, or indeed services.

It Pays to “Buy” Your Own Space On the Web – and Use It as a Launch Pad for Your Marketing

Over the past decade of using the web for business, I’ve learned that it’s smarter to have your own space, that you control, from which you then routinely publish and propagate your content on to any other promotional platforms.

Typically that means having – at least – a website.

I say this because time has shown that third party platforms, no matter how successful can always change how they work (or even fail) in a way that could disrupt the income earning system you setup on them.

If you have your own flagship website (e.g www.yourname.com), it becomes quite easy to modify references and URL on it to reflect such changes, with minimal disruption to your visibility or leads generation.

However, experience has also taught me that a website is not enough.

You see, to achieve optimal long term/sustainable leads generating marketing exposure, you need to harness a combination of web based resources in conjunction with your website.

[NB: I call it having a Web Marketing System (WMS). View a one page mind-map that I used to illustrate what I mean by a WMS here. Also click here to request access to my video explanation of the 9 key components of a WMS: I’ll email it to you]

But all that cannot be done overnight.

Indeed for most people who are good at what they do, but are not so tech or web savvy, doing it all – and doing it right – can be overwhelming!

I know this to be so from years of supporting gifted experts to implement WMS towards achieving improved name/brand recognition for quality sales leads generation.

That’s why I sometimes encourage such persons to start from a social media platform like Facebook e.g with a business promotion page.

For instance, if you are a painter/artist looking to make money, you can begin by setting up and featuring your artworks on your Facebook business page, with description, prices etc.

From there, you can link to a website(s) where your full gallery is on display.

Regarding use of free Facebook business page marketing here’s an example of what I have in mind(click this link): https://facebook.com/kolaartlinks

Regarding use of free Facebook business page marketing here's an example of what I have in mind(click here):

It’s a page setup some months ago by a young artiste based in Lagos.

I’d been seeing his paintings of famous personalities arranged on a church building’s wall along a major road for years, and knew he would get better marketing exposure if he leveraged the web the way I did/do.

NB: I earn over 80% of my income -passively – by selling PDF information products, custom Excel-VB software, audio podcasts and video tutorials, as well as my writing/web marketing services online).

So, one day when I came in from Cotonou, and ran into him at the neighborhood cafe, I told him what I had in mind, and got the needed information and graphics to kick-start the page.

The guy has not looked back since – and has been adding all sorts of enhancements.

His natural Facebook likes indicate he’s getting noticed.

But I notice he’s yet to begin doing the “connecting” with page members that I’ve challenged him to do. By this I mean writing new content to post, beyond sharing photos of products he wishes to sell. This is the key to attracting potential buyers to reach out to you.

Like I told him, all he needs is focused dedication to making creative updates to the page’s contents.

By sharing – for instance – the true story behind each product he showcases, and case studies of different client conversations he’s had, and sales he’s made (like I do on this blog), it’ll only be a matter of time before the inquiries begin to come in via the Facebook page.

The same applies to ANYONE else who diligently and intelligently makes use of the ideas offered in this piece.

You see, before people will buy from you with any degree of readiness, they first of all have to notice, like, and then trust you.

That process rarely happens instantly or overnight. And depending on what you’re selling, and who you’re trying to sell to, it can take a lot of time and work.

That’s why it’s best to do things that help to move as many of your potential clients as possible, towards TRUSTING you.

My success in getting total strangers send payment to me from in and out of Africa, at zero cost, is proof that using the content marketing strategy I advocate here, works.

 

PS: Like I said at the start, I wrote this article with artists in mind. So, if you’re looking for ideas about how to sell your artworks, here’s a list of potentially useful resource articles/pages you may wish to explore. I dug them up via a quick Google search

1.Sell Art Online – A list of the best sites to sell or promote your art

http://www.artonomy.co/creative-resources/sell-art-online-a-list-of-the-best-sites-to-sell-or-promote-your-art/

2. [UPDATED] 17 Ways to Sell Your Art Online

http://theabundantartist.com/15-ways-to-sell-your-art-online/

3. 2 Best Places to Buy and Sell Art Online

https://blog.dashburst.com/best-sites-to-buy-sell-art/

4. 250+ Places Artists Can Sell Online

http://www.artsyshark.com/125-places-to-sell/

5. Websites and Social Networking for Artists: Use Your Online Profile to Sell More Art

http://www.artbusiness.com/webworks.html

6. SPI 096: How to Make a Living Selling Your Artwork Online with Cory Huff from The Abundant Artist

SPI 096: How to Make a Living Selling Your Artwork Online with Cory Huff from The Abundant Artist

7. 10 Ways To Sell Your Art Online

http://www.moma.co.uk/10-ways-to-sell-art-online/

8. Selling Art Online: Information on Where (and How) to Sell Art on the Internet

http://emptyeasel.com/art-business-advice/selling-art-online/

9. Sell My ART! | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/SellMyArt/

ART Marketing for ARTISTS! … Sell My ART!, Dublin, Ireland. … Etsy is not known as a site for selling paintings but some artists do and make money doing so , here ….. Updated for 2016 with our top picks of the best websites to sell your artwork. …. Anyone interested in buying my art Please contact me Here is a sample Mara.

Hope you find them useful – and goodluck :-)

Related Resources

  1. PII 018: Using a Web Marketing System Does Not Require Attaining Perfection [Hint: But There Are Ground Rules You Need to Follow]
  2. It Takes Proven Know-How to Achieve Repeatable Web Marketing Success [True Story: How My 9 Year Old Domain Got Poached In May 2014, and I Used My Web Marketing System On a NEW Domain, to Build My Online Brand/Sales to a Higher Level Within 6 Months]
  3. Back Good Quality Website Content With Delivery of Value Promised, to Achieve Web Marketing Success (Special Offer: Buy My Ration Formulator Software, and get my Poultry Farm Manager Software FREE)
  4. Apart from Boosting Your Credibility, Using a Web Marketing System Can Help Your Target Audience Make Smarter Decisions and Avoid Exploitation
  5. Smart Marketing Systems Move Prospects Closer to Buying, Long After You’re Gone [Hint: Why It’s Better to Let People Convince Themselves to Buy from You, Instead of “Pushing” or “Chasing” Them!]
  6. VIDEO Presentation based on Tayo Solagbade’s Mind Map for Steve Roller’s “Reap What You Sow: 12 Ideas to Increase Your Harvest of New Clients In 3 to 6 Months”
  7. HIRE ME! [Response Generating Writing & Web Marketing Solutions]sow-reap

THE FARM CEO (Issue 59): Useful Ideas for Low Cost Animal Feed Production Using Local Ingredients based on Creative Civil War Induced Experimentation by Biafran Scientists

[Update 11th Sept. 2016: A Buyer’s Feedback About my Audio on Biafran Scientists’ Animal Feeding Innovations!]

In this special issue of The Farm CEO newspaper, I discuss my findings about the story behind the herculean work done by a team of driven scientists to produce low cost animal feed using unconventional feed ingredients in the defunct Biafra, during the 1967 to 1970 Nigerian civil war.
Useful Ideas for Low Cost Animal Feed Production Using Local Ingredients based on Creative Civil War Induced Experimentation by Biafran Scientists
They achieved amazingly creative identification and utilization of alternative livestock feed ingredients in production of feed for rearing livestock towards feeding Biafran populace with badly needed protein based meals.

Sadly, a lot of what they achieved – despite their great value adding potential – is yet to be fully adopted for use in our animal feed production industry as a nation.

Today, we’re currently experiencing SEVERELY HARSH economic times in Nigeria,that in some ways mirror the economic blockade that forced Biafrans to look inwards for their animal feed production needs.

For the above reason, I believe the time has never been better for us to revisit the MANY lessons to be learnt from what the Biafrans were forced to do in order to survive.

In this 2 part audio I explain in detail how NEW kinds of local feed ingredients in forms that we see daily around and ignore, were ingeniously exploited by the Biafrans to develop innovative equivalents of imported feed ingredients they no longer had access to.

Even if you don’t run a farm business, you’ll get a real education in creative perseverance, determination and vision from listenign to my narration of how it all happened.

Fill and submit this form (click here) to find out how you can get a copy of the 2 part (1.5 hour) audio recording.

NB: This is a broadcast meant for members of my Cost-Saving Farm Business Ideas club. If you are interested but not yet a member, get in touch for details of how to join.

[Recommended] Why Facebook founder, Zuckerberg arrived Nigeria – unannounced, yesterday (I.e Tue 30/8/2016)

LAGOS—Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, yesterday, arrived Nigeria unannounced. The 32-year-old tech enterpreneur surprisingly made a sudden visit and inspection of activities at the Co-Creation Hub, Yaba Lagos.

Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg with Nigerian tech entrepreneurs
His arrival to Nigeria is not unconnected to the ‘Facebook for developers’ workshop’ for Nigerian engineers, product managers and partners holding today (Wed 31/8/2016) in Lagos.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/facebook-founder-zuckerberg-arrived-nigeria-unannounced/.

How To Get The URL for a FACEBOOK Post, status or comment

This video demonstrates the steps I described in the answer to my FACEBOOK PRODUCTIVITY QUESTION (posted 4th December 2011) – which was as follows:

“Sometimes you want to tell OTHERS about a certain Facebook post, that interested you. The “Share” feature does NOT work in cases when you need to share the Post in a comment or outside Facebook(e.g. via email). You NEED the URL of the Facebook post. Do you know “How to get the URL or Link of a Facebook post or status”?”

fbk-url

Watch the video (click here now) to learn how…

View the original post of this question at http://www.facebook.com/tayo.solagbade/posts/2630753884206

[RECOMMENDED] Blocking Brute Force Attacks

A common threat web developers face is a password-guessing attack known as a brute force attack.

 

A brute-force attack is an attempt to discover a password by systematically trying every possible combination of letters, numbers, and symbols until you discover the one correct combination that works.

 

If your web site requires user authentication, you are a good target for a brute-force attack.

 

<a href=”https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Blocking_Brute_Force_Attacks” target=”blank”>https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Blocking_Brute_Force_Attacks</a>

 

[MP3 Audio] The Secret to Succeeding Financially As a Service Provider

Preview: Why it never pays to price yourself cheap, and how to confidently offer fees that make you profitable, to clients you carefully recruit based on their need (ability to pay) for the solution you offer.

 

Format: MP3 Audio

 

Duration: 15 minutes

 

Filesize: 6.9 MB

 

Author: Tayo K. Solagbade

 

Web: www.tayosolagbade.com

 

E-Mail: Tayo at tksola dot com

 

Target Audience: Tayo Solagbade’s Inner Circle Members

 

Tip: The ideas discussed here can be successfully adapted for selling products as well.

 

Click here to request the audio

 

 

3 Secret Keys to Make Your Website Sell Successfully

In this article I highlight 3 easily overlooked – yet crucially important – features that, if missing, can drastically limit the effectiveness of a website in generating the desired volume and quality of sales leads to the owner.

First, let me define what I mean by “Volume” and “Quality” of leads:

Volume of Leads:

The rule in online marketing is similar to that observed offline. Basically for every 100 persons exposed to your marketing message, only 1 to 3 can reasonably be expected to respond with an enquiry – which will not necessarily result in a sale.

That means only 1 to 3% of visitors to your site are likely to contact you. Given such low prospects it becomes crucial that you set your website up to harvest that small number of potential clients/buyers, for every 100 site visitors as often as possible.

Quality of Leads

Getting the desired number of prospects in is one thing, but even more important is getting the RIGHT quality of prospects!

This second aspect is also dependent on the “message” you communicate to those visitors that eventually become enquirers. What you tell them on your website, and how you say it will influence the impressions they get about what you can do for them, and ultimately move them to connect with you.

If you fail to do it right, you could end up attracting people with the wrong mindset and expectations from you.

That would mean your chances of converting them to clients after they make contact, will be reduced. And if you succeed in winning them over as clients, it’s likely you may be unable to satisfy them.

You don’t want do that to yourself. Which is why It is in your best interest to address the 3 important features I discuss below:

1. Article Marketing Highlights:

To succeed with markeing online, Article Marketing can boost your ability to generate leads.

To make the most of your writing, you need to publish your articles on a blog, linked to your site, with latest ones preferably auto-displayed on the website.

But how you do that also matters. Specifically, you must not make the mistake of serving article titles alone.

The display of new article titles on the site, without corresponding
display of brief previews under each, denies readers additional incentive to
click and read.

If they don’t have something that draws them in to read, they’re likely to spend less time and eventually click-away without connecting with you.

2. Opt-in form offerings:

You need to make opt-in form offerings that appeal to the range of potential clients you have.

For some of us, our target audiences are multiple in nature. We therefore need to make offers to appeal to their respective interests.

One possible way is to send confirmed subscribers an autoresponse email with
a link to access a downloads page where all the promised “gifts” can be
accessed by each subscriber.
The opt-in form’s “visual display”
will need to be designed to inform visitors of the multiple offers – each
targeted at the different audiences you serve.

If the functionality to put the above in place does not already exist on your site, you may need to have your developer incorporate it.

3. Clickable Slideshow Images:

To make optimal use of the space capital on your website, especially the home page, you can make use of a slideshow.

However, not just any – it’s best you make the individual images clickable in the slideshow.

And you need to know how to access the slideshow from the administrator back end of the site, to add the images you want along with their corresponding URLs.

If that’s not possible, or you can’t spare the time, be sure to retain the services of your developer to do that, because you will need to peridically make those changes, for marketing purposes over time.

Final Words

The 3 features discussed above, if missing from your site, will prevent you from making the most of visitor traffic we’re getting.

This is because you will not be serving them enough “response-generating” information, visually, to draw them in to the extent that they do more than just look around and leave.

You need visitors to feel a need to go a step further and make contact with a
view to learning more from you via other stuff you announce that you offer – apart from articles and other standard information.

A key measure of your success will the volume and quality of LEADS you generate.

1, 2 and 3 if correctly put in place, and used, can boost the results you get, with that regard, over time.

MS Excel-Visual Basic Automation Techniques, Tips, & Tricks for Accountants & Financial Experts [Weekly E-Mail Course PDF Intro – Coming Monday 18/07/16]

NEW! Weekly E-mail Based Coaching Program specially developed for Accounting/Finance professionals in paid or self-employment.

Below: Cover for PDF Introduction going LIVE tomorrow Monday 18th July 2016

*From Tayo Solagbade’s Two-in-One Income-Generating MS Excel Heaven™ Visual Basic Automation Solution Offer for Accounting/Financial Consulting Firms (Get Your Own Custom Excel -VB Software & Training Programs You Can Sell to Clients!)

MS Excel-Visual Basic Automation Techniques, Tips, & Tricks for Accountants & Financial Experts [Weekly E-Mail Course PDF Intro - Coming Monday 18/07/16]

*Tayo Solagbade – Location Independent Multipreneur, Owner of www.excelheaven.biz, Founder of the MS Excel Heaven™ Visual Basic Automation Club, developer of the popular Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator™, the Poultry Farm Manager™ as well as the Automated Payslip Generator™ app.

 

Article Writing Success Depends On Quality of Insights – Not Word Count!

I recently came across a blog post by a famous writer/thought leader that was MUCH less than 200 words – yet still communicated powerfully useful and life-changing insights.

 

By way of interest, the author is one who readily churns out write-ups over 2,000 words long, with deeply impactful messages. So it’s not like he has difficulty writing long pieces.

 

<b>That fact lends credence to the view I’ve always had, that one can make his/her own rules in any chosen vocation.

</b>

 

You don’t have to stick with any particular format or formula all the time. Not even those recommended by experts or so called Gurus.

 

This is because YOU are a unique human being, and your thought processes are peculiar to you – different from what any other person is capable of.

 

As a result, when you diligently apply yourself to a thinking-dependent activity like writing, there will be times when your original thoughts come in a manner that demands they be penned “as is”. No padding or fluff. Just the raw -even if comparatively brief – form.

 

<blockquote>Here’s why you need not resist this impulse if/when it comes upon you…

 

You see sometimes it won’t be the number of words you write and publish that counts. Instead it will be the quality of insights contained in them!</blockquote>

 

My advice: don’t hold back, if you feel the urge to share – publish your new thoughts and ideas in your blog, and help more of your target audience find their way to success.

 

They’ll be grateful to you for it!

 

<B>Having said the above, it goes without saying that you need to apply due diligence in putting the ideas I’ve shared here to use.

</b>

 

Deciding how brief (or wordy) any of your writeups should be, will ideally be influenced by YOUR sound understanding of your target audience, and your intended purpose.

 

Remember: even the rules can be broken by you, if need be, to achieve your goal.

 

PS: This article would NOT be complete, if I did not share the less than 200 word insightful article by the author I mentioned at the start of this piece. There is a lot you can learn from reading it. <a href=”http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2016/07/the-second-time-you-create-that-breakthrough.html” target=”blank”>So click here to do so now</a>.

 

I wish you well

[Spontaneous Coaching™] Practical Strategies you need to Achieve Your Goals at Will: The Secret to Becoming Super Productive!

[Hint: This on-demand coaching program will benefit business owners/CEOs, organizational decision makers, career persons, independent consultants etc]

 

Knowing what you want is only half of what you need to achieve your set goals. Developing the ability to take the necessary action, as and when required, to achieve your set goals is an even more important requirement for success.

 

Without this latter ability, all our visualizing and goals setting will likely to amount to nothing.

 

And THAT is what separates mere dreamers from real life achievers. The former are those who indulge in wishful thinking, instead of adopting repeatable and reproducible strategies that they diligently implement to achieve their ultimate purpose.

 

<h3>I enjoy the unique privilege of being exceptionally skilled in the art of getting things done like that, no matter how difficult the circumstances under which I have to operate.</h3>

 

My verifiable track record in this regard dates way back – over 3 decades – to my days in secondary school, when I did it all intuitively.

 

At that time, especially between the ages of 10 to 16, I would engage in prolonged periods of truancy with gang members, skipping classes and playing dangerous pranks, getting into trouble with school authorities, to the extent of being suspended etc.

 

Despite all that, I always scaled through in my classwork – including exams. I never failed and always kept my grades up. Going on to university, I channeled this ability positively into sports, so that I graduated top of my class while getting multiple awards from the university sports administration authorities.

 

During 7 subsequent years in paid employment I did the same thing, working in a multidisciplinary capacity adding value to co-workers by going way beyond the call of duty to develop solutions to help them work better, without letting my own job suffer.

 

That earned me <a href=”http://tayosolagbade.com/uploads/tayosolagbade.pdf” target=”blank”>wonderful career rewards and rave reviews when I chose to leave and start my own business</a>.

 

<h3>Since becoming self-employed about 14 years ago, I can confirm that this ability, which I have never stopped refining, has been instrumental to my success in serving clients in various industries as a Location Independent Multipreneur, without burning out!</h3>

 

In all the above situations, the results I’ve delivered have constantly made others (who today include clients in/out of Africa) express amazement at my demonstrated capacity for getting things done – especially considering the far-from-friendly socioeconomic environment I work in out here in Nigeria/Africa.

 

Many tell me they would love to be able to get things done the way I do.

 

To help such persons, I’ve written articles over the years – like the two linked at the bottom of this piece – sharing insights about what I do and how I do it.

 

However, I’ve now come to the realization that I can help most people better by providing a more personalized form of guidance and support.

 

Something like a personalized hand-holding coaching session to enable them develop basic mastery they can improve with time.

 

That’s why I now offer my On-Demand Spontaneous Coaching™ Program for persons interested in getting such personalized support to learn how to boost their personal productivity by getting things done at will, like I do.

 

<a href=”http://tayosolagbade.com/contact.htm” target=”blank”>Click here to request details if you’d like to signup</a>.

 

<h3>Related Articles</h3>

 

1. <a href=”http://tayosolagbade.com/sdnuggets/to-effortlessly-do-more-get-into-flow-or-the-zone/” target=”blank”>To Effortlessly Do More, Get Into Flow (Or The Zone)! | SD Nuggets™</a>

 

2. <a href=”http://ezinearticles.com/?Become-A-Habitual-Peak-Performer—Learn-How-To-Get-Into-Flow-Or—The-Zone-More-Frequently&id=481185″ target=”blank”>Become a Habitual Peak Performer: Learn How to Get Into “Flow”(Or…”The Zone”) More Frequently</a>