Here's her story… Enjoy!

Greetings, my name is D’vorah Lansky. I’m commonly referred to as “the Relationship Marketing Wizard”. I love people, I love learning and I love to have fun. I’ve come to discover over my 15 years in Network Marketing and Internet Marketing that the best way to enjoy life and experience more success is to love what you do and surround yourself with positive minded people. This will energize you, you will have more to give and people will want to be around you. Have you ever known someone who was selling a service, product or program and truth be told, it wouldn’t matter what they were selling, you wanted to get to know them? Well that is what Relationship Marketing is all about; building relationships and selling people on you, not on your products or services.

I’d like to thank Nicole for inviting me to be a Guest Blogger on her site. Nicole and I met at an event this past Spring which was hosted by Bob “the teacher” Jenkins. I was immediately drawn to Nicole because of her positive attitude, joyful spirit and zest for life. Nicole is clearly someone who is having fun and enjoying her journey. Nicole lives the principles of Relationship Marketing. We see that in her kindness and generosity, in her high level of integrity and in how she treats her family and community.

Over the course of the event weekend and then during the past few months, Nicole and I have kept in touch. I was privileged to have Nicole as a Guest Speaker on my Internet radio show at RelationshipMarketingCafe.com.  During Nicole’s interview she shared with us a unique program that she developed called The Blog World Tour.  This immediately caught my attention as the world of WordPress Blogs is a big part of my life.

The Blog World Tour program was developed as a result of Nicole’s recent Rock Star Blog Tour. Over the course of the summer, she visited 15 blogs as a Guest Blogger.  This concept captured my attention and I decided to explore further. I’ll share in a moment what I discovered but let me share first that this post is my first post in my first Blog World Tour! Over the course of the summer, I will be visiting 9 blogs and writing articles on the topic of Relationship Marketing.

You may be asking yourself, what does Relationship Marketing have to do with a Blog Tour. I propose that developing and participating in a blog tour has everything to do with Relationship Marketing! As you begin to plan out and schedule your blog tour, you will be growing and strengthening relationships with the bloggers who will be welcoming you to their site as part of the tour. While you are a guest blogger on their site, you will have opportunities for building relationships with their readers and members and as your tour progresses through the season, you will be able to make additional connections with people who discover you via the social networks.

You may be asking, “how will people discover me via the social networks”? Well, as part of Nicole’s Blog Tour Guide, she shares unique ways for encouraging viewers to comment on and share links on the social networks to your blog posts. Many new people will discover you this way and begin to follow your progress and your blog tour.

As my blog tour developed I realized that this is program is one that I can participate in not only during the summer, but all year long! In Nicole’s “How to Blog Tour” Guide, I learned about the importance of developing a product that has an affiliate program attached to it.

I’m really excited about the product that will be born as a result of my participation in the Blog World Tour. It is called, Blog Tour Extravaganza (coming soon) and will include the complete collection of all my posts from this season’s blog tour along with lots of exciting bonuses. One of the bonuses is a collection of Audio Interviews and Transcripts from people who speak on a topic related to the focus of this season’s tour.

Many of these speakers happen to also be participating in my current blog tour; Nicole Dean, Bob “the teacher” Jenkins, Connie Ragen Green and Jessica Swanson. Additionally, I’ll be sharing an audio and the transcripts from a recent interview I did with David Frey, on the topic of generating referrals through relationship marketing!

You may have noticed that I made reference to “this season’s blog tour”. What I realized in preparing for my first blog tour, which begins with this very post, is that this would be a wonderful way to focus on specific niche topics and visit related blogs and get to know thought leaders and experts on these topics, throughout the year. It was like a light bulb moment for me when I had this realization. This is how The Blog Tour Extravaganza – Season One; Relationship Marketing was born!

Nicole lays out the blog tour system so clearly in her guide that I was able to personalize it and create a template that I can easily replicate throughout the year on a wide variety of topics. Because this will be an ongoing project, I’ve also set up a membership site as a way for participants to interact and learn from one another.

Have I got your ideas flowing yet? Additionally, in honor of Nicole, as the founder of this program, I have the privilege of being a guest blogger right here on her site, three times during the course of the tour. I’ll be back again towards the middle of the tour, and then again at the end of the tour.

Give thought to what message, thoughts and ideas you’d like to share with the world. What audience, leaders, educators or marketers would you like to get to know personally or get to know better? What do you want to become known as an expert on? Decide on your niche focus, schedule several times a week to write and take your blog tour on the road!

Until next time!
D’vorah Lansky

M.Ed and Relationship Marketing Wizard

If you're new, you can catch up here:  Cross-blog conversation with Trish Lindemood.

In the opening discussion, I mentioned that Trish is a very talented writer and I was immediately impressed with her. Well, I continue to be impressed with her as I get to know her better. Her reply to my question was very much in line with my opinion – so she MUST be smart!

If you missed her second post in our cross blog conversation, here it is:  Cross Blog Conversation Continues

Here's my response to Trish's second set of questions:

Hi Trish,

Before I say anything else, I want you to know that I LOVE your response to my question about why you, a highly skilled copywriter, would support the use of PLR articles when it's looked down upon by so many others in your profession.

You made an excellent distinction between your own online business and the work that you do for clients.  Very nicely stated. And, yes, I certainly never would encourage a copywriter or ghostwriter to pass off PLR content as their own writing on a job for a client, ever.

In your response to me, you asked this:

I’ve been looking at your Blog World Tour program for a while now and am planning to buy it after the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge concludes. In fact, I’m thinking about “packing my bags and heading out” on such a tour after NAMS 3 in January – but was wondering if this approach would work better for someone who already has an information product to promote?

As the creator of this very cool concept, do you feel  this plan would be beneficial to someone who doesn’t have their own info products to promote?

I've got a few thoughts that I'd like to share regarding your question.

First of all, Guest Blogging can be done by anyone in online business, at any time.

Becoming a Guest Expert on a related blog is ALWAYS a good thing to do. Anytime you can get your message in front of potential customers and get exposure and attention as an authority – do it. So, yes.

I know your business has a few different areas so I'll see if I can hit them all.

From what I've seen so far, you are a –

• Copywriter.
• SEO Expert.
• Affiliate Marketer.
• Blogger.
• Newsletter Publisher.

And, I'm sure I'm missing a few areas of your business.

Every single one of those areas can benefit from Guest Blogging, which is what the Blog Tour Guide is *really* about. Yes, having an affiliate program can give you an extra “in” with the blog owner, but just offering valuable content can also get you in the door with many very popular sites that are looking for regular columnists.

So, my answer is “YES” – find a few blogs and get the word out about your business. (Of course, my Blog Tour Guide will help!)

I'd like to ask you another question if that's ok.

I've been participating in a discussion about ethics on another site (which I'll post about in a few days) but one major takeaway for me is that it is not only my goal, but it's my duty to help Online Business Owners to invest their money wisely – especially now when money is tight for so many.

I know that you're a member of online at Lynn Terry’s Elite Mastermind Group. (Since I chat with you in there.)

And, you've mentioned that you'll be attending the NAMS Conference in Atlanta in January – which is awesome, too.

So, tell me. What made you choose to invest in those things? And, do you feel they've benefited you? In what ways?

Looking forward to your reply.

Warmly,
Nicole

PS. Be sure to check Trish's blog: Web Copy Results for her response.

What is the potential of an object? Well, that depends on your attitude.

You may have heard this story before, but it's about a man who traded one red paperclip for a house and how he did it.

Was the paperclip special? Like made of diamonds or with a rare healing power? Nope. It was just a plain old paperclip.

What was special is that the man, Kyle MacDonald, mastered a skill that is highly valuable in business – how to offer a valuable Joint Venture or win-win scenario.  It took him a year, and several trades, including a snow globe and a snowmobile, but he did it – and everyone involved was happy. He only made trades that made both parties feel they got a great deal.

Watch this short 20/20 special about his idea and how he implemented it here:

So, what can we take from this?

You are ONLY limited by your own beliefs. If you have something to offer – anything – and you can figure out how to help others, you can do amazing things.

How can you use this information in your Online Business?

– Barter for things you need in your business.
Whether you have ad space, a skill like writing, technical abilities, software, neglected blogs or websites that you can trade, or even courses at your disposal, you have something of value that you can offer.

– Get your affiliates excited about promoting you by offering them a deal they can't refuse.
Think outside of the box and you'll be amazed at how excited people get about promoting your affiliate program.

– Figure out how to get JV partners lined up to work with you.
Why do you think my Blog World Tour was so successful? I came up with a way to get people to feel silly to turn me down.  Now, I have over 50 people waiting for me to guest blog on their blogs. I honestly am swamped by number of requests – and it's FABULOUS exposure for me.

It's all about figuring out what you want AND what others want. Then, offering value. What do YOU bring to the table? What “red paperclips” do you have that you can offer to others?

I would love to hear your thoughts below.

Warmly,
Nicole

Here's the book, if you'd like to learn the whole story.

Click here to check  out the book.

-> Better than article marketing? Heck yeah.

-> Better than begging affiliates to promote you? Definitely.

-> Better than chocolate? Not a chance.

Here's what Carrie Wilkerson said about my Blog Tour guide on Twitter:

See original Tweet here to confirm:
http://twitter.com/barefoot_exec/status/5217094040

Here's what Lexi Rodrigo said about my Blog Tour Guide. Her blog was one of the ones that I stopped at during my tour.

Hi Nik,

Frankly, I wish you hadn't written the Blog World Tour Guide. I would have wanted to remain one of the few who knew about this secret ninja strategy for getting more traffic, subscribers and buyers.

I know the Blog World Tour works, because I own one of the blogs you toured. As a result of you touring my blog, I had more readers and made more affiliate sales than ever. I also saw an increase in participation on my blog.

But the best part, I think, was that I had terrific content on my blog that I was truly proud to share with my readers and Twitter followers. And my readers were thrilled to win a few prizes from you as well.

It was win-win for everybody involved: the guest expert, the blog owner, and the blog readers.

After seeing these results from your Blog World Tour, I plan to go on a blog tour myself. And now I've got your blueprint to do it, step by step. Including your forms, and emails I can swipe.

I'm glad you have different suggested schedules, because I don't think I could manage to post daily for several weeks. I've been posting daily on my own blog for the whole of October and it's been a real challenge. Not sure I want to keep doing that.

Oh and I'm also going to recommend this strategy to my clients who want to give their infoproduct businesses a quick shot in the arm.

I can't wait to tell you about the results of my own blog tour. Watch out for it!

Lexi Rodrigo
TheSavvyFreelancer.com

Can this method work in niches outside of Internet Marketing? Yep.

Here's what Susanne of  HillbillyHousewife.com said:

“I did a much shorter blog tour than Nicole. Mine is turning out to be 5 weeks long. Some blogs I posted on all week, others preferred one post a week for 4 weeks and I fit in a few single guest posts as well. The results – so far my traffic is up 20.55%, my newsletter readership has increased by over 2,000 and I have made quite a few sales.

By far my favorite part though is that I've gained a few new affiliates that might just turn out to become super affiliates and I was able to get a few others who had joined my affiliate program a while back to actively promote my ebooks.

Last but not least, my own affiliate income has increased by 15% as well, and I've been spending less time than usual on the Hillbilly Housewife website.”

Note: Susanne already had a list and a good readership when starting AND she implemented the info as I laid out in the plan.

If you sell any of your own products or services online – this can help you to get more traffic & more sales.

If you'd like to check it out, here's the link:
How to Get More Traffic & Affiliates & JV Partners Through a Blog Tour

As always, I want your trust more than I want your money, so, if you'll buy this and USE it – you'll benefit. If it'll sit on your hard-drive, then get back to work, and we'll connect soon.

Thank you for your trust.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. If you're a Virtual Assistant and you've studied this guide, don't forget to get on our list of VA's who are Blog Tour Certified. A pdf of VA's will go out to all customers as a special bonus. After you've bought it and studied the guide, if you want to be added to a list of qualified service providers who offer this service that I'll send to past customers in a few weeks, just email helper@mostlysanemarketing.com with your name, URL, and email address.

The concessioners were smart, though. They didn't just sit in the concessions booth and hope that I'd come find them. They came to where the people were already gathered. The Booster Club moms and dads grabbed trays of popcorn and cotton candy and started hiking through the stands, and making lots of sales.

They came to where the hungry people were already gathered.

Smart. Very smart.

I bought. And, bought some more.

There is a huge lesson in this for your business.

You have a blog, squeeze page, or sales page and you are desperate to get people to it. You're the concession stand. You may have the BEST stuff there in the world – the tastiest nachos or the biggest assortment of candy, but the people won't come unless you bring them there – or unless you go and find them.

You may also be adding tons of interesting content to your websites and blogs, or you may have the world's best product, but it's just not enough to attract the amount of web traffic that you're looking for.

So, what's a smart marketer to do?

Take the show on the road. Go to where the traffic is and intercept it.

“Steal” it, if you will.

But, how do you do it? The traditional way has been with article marketing. Now, I'm not knocking article marketing and I'm not going to tell you that it's dead, but I will ask you a question.

How do you stand out?

Right now, at EzineArticles.com their site says they have 210,706 Expert Authors. Wow. That's a whole lot of competition.

Have you ever thought of cutting out the middle man and getting directly in front of your target audience? That's what I'd like to suggest. I did it and it worked like a charm.

Here's the story:

This past summer I hosted a Blog World Tour. You may have heard of Guest Blogging and that's basically what this is, except I found a few tricks to make it even more powerful and effective.

At the end of the summer, these were the results…

• I had been featured in 15 different ezines.
• I had endorsements and links on 15 highly relevant blogs.
• I had gotten 15 active JV partners.

And, I now have a WAITING list of people who want me to ‘steal' their traffic, too.

Want to know how I did it?

I revealed my entire system in my new report: Click here to check it out.

Be sure to send me your results after you put the plan into motion. I can't wait to cheer you on!

Warmly,
Nicole

Here is last week's post that you can catch up on –

5 Things you Can Outsource to Make Blogging More Fun and Profitable

Also, if you missed the now INFAMOUS Star Trek series at my friend, Bob's blog, go check it out.  It's too much fun.

Lessons I've learned about Online Business from Star Trek

The pictures are hilarious. (A huge thank you to Angela Bradley for whipping those graphics up for me on such short notice.) In fact, at NAMS last week, I had several people come up to me and say “Oh my GOSH! I loved that Star Trek series!” – It totally blew me away, but I am sure glad that everyone had fun at my expense. Two words — Man Hands! lol!

Next week is the final week of my 2009 Summer Blog Tour, but don't despair. I've gotten a list of people who would like me to drop by and do a guest blog series, so you may see me around posting in other strange and unusual places — being strange and unusual.

Oh, be sure to drop by the blogs above and comment. I'm still behind in giving away prizes due to traveling so much lately. So you have time to sneak in a few comments before I get together with the blog owners to pick winners.

As always, thank you for reading. Thank you for your trust in me. And thank you for being a part of my online family.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

• You think @BobTheTeacher is gonna kick me off as a guest blogger for this? http://askbobtheteacher.com/blog/ #
• RT & ((hugs)) @SharonMc: A video shout-out to @nicoledean and @lynnterry (keeping my non-video job). http://www.newurbanmom.com <– LOVE IT. #
• http://twitpic.com/co143 – While Bob is away… Nik will play at http://askbobtheteacher.com/blog/ #
• http://twitpic.com/co143 – That is @bobtheteacher & @nicoledean as Spock and Kirk. #
• http://twitpic.com/5ncxp – Yep. She had such good intentions, but it made me look like a totally self-absorbed snot. lol. I still love h … #
• Who likes to make money? Raise your hand! Or just go to http://bit.ly/zOGX0 to learn about Jimmy's latest project. #
• http://bit.ly/yXqyX – Aye, aye, aye! Having WAY too much fun at @bobtheteacher's blog on my Blog World Tour. #
• Thx @MaruxaMurphy re: @NicoleDean I was reading Chicken Soup-Power Moms & it was your story that I opened up to! What a powerful WHY u have! #
• RT & thank you @WillieCrawford: New blog post: Free Report On 6 New Web 2.0 Properties Google Loves – Pulled Soon http://bit.ly/ZUtPJ #
• These afternoon thunderstorms are *seriously* cramping my ability to contact JV partners for http://PrimePLR.com – DM me if interested, pls. #
• Last post in my “Star Trek Marketing” series: http://askbobtheteacher.com/blog/ Thanks @bobtheteacher for being a good sport! #
• RT @ShermanHu – @Nicole Dean & I @ the #StomperNet conference. http://post.ly/2002 <– Great fun! #
• RT my bud @lynnterry: http://twitpic.com/d1peb – Lunch with @nicoledean @nicheology @purposeddriven – Most enjoyable company! #

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• For Busy People: Email marketing made easier. http://bit.ly/dRwa5
  <- @lynnterry's blog #
• RT @SuperAffil: Hey – stop for a sec, take a deep breath and smile – we do this to be happy, remember? <– Thanks! I needed that today. #
• Thanks bunches to @SuperAffil @AureliaW @pambrechlin @AffiliateBus @wwymore @corprebel for Twitter love! #
• RT @lynnterry: Hey @NicoleDean – Got us booked for SNL8! http://tinyurl.com/lkk2jc Look fwd to hanging with you in Atlanta <- back atcha! #
• Psssst… @BobTheTeacher ROCKS THE HOUSE! #
• RT @BobTheTeacher: @NicoleDean the call we did on OUTSOURCING is one of the picks @http://bobtheteacher.com/special That call rocked! <- #
• Do or Do Not. There is no try. Yoda #
• Promoting your Ecourses … http://www.clicknewz.com/1985/ <- Day 2: Guest Blogging @LynnTerry's blog. Keep the comments coming! #
• http://bit.ly/YPwYN
  <– more list marketing strategies posted on @lynnterry's blog. #
• Getting into advanced ecourse strategies on @lynnterry's blog today – http://bit.ly/CbYZL Hope you enjoy! #
• Last post in my Blog World Tour series on @lynnterry's blog -> http://bit.ly/uPiED Love the idea or hate it? Let me know! #
• Looking forward to a profitable week. If you missed my blog world tour @lynnterry's blog, you can still catch it at http://bit.ly/uPiED #

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• RT @KenMcArthur: @NicoleDean September 25th-27th #JVAL San Diego! You NEED to fly across the country. <- Sir, you have a date! #
• RT @stephen_pierce: To succeed, you got to have more than a “wishbone” …you must have “backbone” <– so true! #
• http://tinyurl.com/lfezvf Productivity: Your Time is Valuable <- Latest post in my blog world tour. #
• Latest in my blog tour: Be More Productive! http://bit.ly/jVj8L #
• RT: @casualeveryday Just got off the phone with @NicoleDean and me thinkey she rocks. <– Me thinkey you rock, too! #
• Freebie friday. Listen to this pdf. Outsourcing talk with @AmeliaBrazell –> http://bit.ly/BbOIV (Audio pdf by @themediaczar.) #
• RT @BobTheTeacher: Thx @FeliciaSlattery @NicoleDean @lynnterry @kathleengage @dpinc @JanisPettit .. http://bit.ly/35KKH <- I look dorky! lol #
• Still packing for the week at the Beach. Looking forward to peace, fun, and some time to write with no internet. Cross fingers for dolphins! #

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