Need a blog? Need a website? Why? What are you planning to do with it? Are you selling something? Do you hope to make money through affiliate programs or Google AdSense ads? Do you have an existing business and need an online presence? Building a website should be done strategically – (unless you have time and money to “burn”). If you’re serious about your business or being an entrepreneur, you need to think and act strategically.
Knowing who your customer is and how your product or service meets their needs is absolutely critical to being successful in any business. (There’s really no way to get around this.) You need a focused marketing strategy and you cannot do this unless you know who your niche target customer is. Blogging is a great way to drive traffic to your website and to engage your current and potential customers. So, how do you find new topics to write about that will make your readers come back for more?
Paul Colligan (someone you may want to follow if you’re serious about getting your blog/website found online) talks about the ISYOT (“I’ve Seen You Out There”) effect. The ISYOT effect is a lot like the marketing term top-of-mind-awareness but it applies to being seen online – to the point that you’re being recognized on the Internet. Somewhat the same way you would be recognized if you were networking face to face in the brick-and-mortar world. So how do you do that? How do you build confidence, trust and name/face-recognition online? Paul recommends being seen everywhere using social networking sites, podcasting and media channels like YouTube. Participating on Facebook and LinkedIn, Tweeting, posting videos on YouTube…. all things that we know we need to be doing but if you’re a one-person-shop (or even 1 and ½ or 2)…. How do you get started? How do you make the ISYOT effect work for you? Continue reading “Create an Online Presence – Be Seen Out There”