This week I asked our panel of experts…

“About” pages. What is your #1 tip for a great ‘About' page on your websites?”

I think you'll find the responses interesting.

Kristen Eckstein of Get Published on Kindle in 30 Days says:

A PR expert once told me to sprinkle testimonials throughout my lengthy bio on my About Page. I did that by taking screen shots of social proof and inserting those throughout. I've gotten many compliments from people who decided to hire my team because I was gently guiding them through why they should hire me.

In addition, I recently added a super fun graphic as my headshot on the page.

I got the idea partially from the word clouds that used to be so popular on websites and my VA, Natalie Collins, who was playing around with adding words to her photos. I created a really fun graphic that captures exactly what I'm all about in a way that draws visitors in and makes them stay longer, then of course, want to get to know me better.

What I've learned is an About Page should never be stuffy, unless that's the market you're trying to reach. Being myself on my About Page, even when it was sometimes against the better judgement of some critics, has helped me build my business in the way I want and attract the types of clients I want to establish a long working relationship with.

Lynn Terry of How to Get Social Marketing Results in Just Minutes a Day says:

I'll make this short & sweet. My top tip for your About page is to make sure you include a call-to-action on that page! Put yourself in the shoes of your visitor. Click on your own About page and read it. Now – what should you do next? What do you _want_ your visitor to do next, after reading this page?

Make sure that “next best click” is very clear and super obvious!

Tiffany Dow of Work Life Balance says:

My #1 tip for an About page is to weed out your non-audience by being highly transparent. I like an About page that uses first person, not something that reads like a sterile biography someone else created, such as, “Tiffany graduated from…” Boring!

I love to use a combination of video and text. Video is GREAT for an About page because it helps people get a feel for your personality better than plain words on a screen.

When I create my About pages, I don’t just talk about what I offer – I talk about what I don’t, or why the visitor may NOT like me. Why do I do that? Two reasons.

First, it helps those who will get offended by me leave early so we don’t have to end up arguing about anything. Second, it helps those who like my style instantly appreciate that I’m going to be myself – and not phony.

On one of my About pages, I specifically tell them upfront “I’m motivating for many people and offensive to a handful.” I tell them I’m blunt.

Tell people what you’re like in terms of teaching – what do you share, why do you do it, and how? Give them a reason to love or hate you – but most of all, avoid being boring and middle of the road. Nobody is attracted to that.

Lou Bortone of Video in a Day says:

I think “about” pages represent a huge opportunity for business owners, but I also think many people miss the boat on this opportunity. An about page is a chance to show off your personality, and give prospects and partners a better sense of what you're all about. An about page is also the perfect place for an “about me” video to show off your skills and connect with your web visitors. My tip for entrepreneurs is to make the most of your about page, and don't settle for the typical (boring) bio and head shot.

I have a ‘one page' website, so my opt-in video doubles as my about video, but I also use a pretty cool LeadPage template that serves as a “bio” page.

Alice Seba of The 30 Day List Challenge says:

Even though an about page is about “Me” or “Us”, it's like any other marketing piece you put together. It has to be about the reader. So while you may be singing your praises and giving some more insight into who you are, you have to show how this benefits your audience. The goal of your about page should be to show your visitor why they should pay attention to you and stick around to learn more.

I cover this in our Persuasive Writing Course and here is an excerpt from that course:

—- START EXCERPT —-

If people are thinking about doing business with you, they’ll often look at your About Me page. They want to know who they’re dealing with and if you’re qualified to help them with what they need. If you don’t have an about me page…make one. If you do have one…let’s see if we can make it better.

Start with a headline other than “About Me” – what can you do for your visitor? What’s in it for them?

Focus on your reader and not you. Obviously, you’re still going to talk about your qualifications and experience, but you’re going to relate that to your reader. So if you have a degree or background in an area, you’re going to show why that matters to them.

For example, “With 20 years experience as a personal chef focusing on healthy foods and promoting weight loss in my clients, I’ve brought together some of my favourite recipes and approaches to meal planning, so you can follow your own path to nutrition and optimal health.”

Include a call-to-action. Where should they go next? I’d recommend sending them to an opt-in offer. Something they can get for free to get to know you better before they buy anything…but they also get on your list, so you can email them some more.

A lot of About Me pages are in the third person and I think that can work, but personally, I think it’s a bit dull and puts a space between you and your visitor. Speak in the first person and use words like “we” and “I” and more importantly, use the word “you.”

In most cases, you can have fun with it…share your own opinions and personal philosophies. Show your personality and let them get a great sense of what you’re all about and why they should stick around for more.

—- END EXCERPT —-

Sorry, I think that was more than one tip, but they all fall under the main idea of showing your readers what they want to know.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

My best tip for an effective and memorable ‘About' page is to always think of it as a work in progress. I like to share a little about how I came to be an online entrepreneur, but I also include up to date information and details about where I will be speaking, my latest published book, and other activities I am involved in. We are so much more than what we do in our businesses, and readers want to know more about our activities away from the computer.

I recommend setting up your ‘About' page with a picture that really looks like you, along with a couple of paragraphs that explain something about your background. Keep it light and informative. Don't let your page get bogged down with details of a job you had during the 1980s! Use this as a starting point to share as much or as little as you are comfortable with to the people who are interested in getting to know you better. I have two main sites and strive to keep both of my ‘About' pages current and interesting.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

Whenever some great web content grabs my attention, I jump over to the site's About Page to learn more about the site and the author. Knowing I do that, I'm pretty sure lots of others do it too, so I've taken time to keep my own About Page updated. I want to make sure it's ready to represent me when someone comes to learn more about Solo Smarts and me.

I've decided to keep the opening focus of my About Page on how I got started in an online business. I'm trusting that many of my About Page readers are new and seeking hope and resources. By sharing how I started small and found success, I'm trying to make a connection.

After my opening, I share a testimonial from a customer. I change this out every so often.

Then, I move into sharing links that I'm proud of under these headings:

• Kelly is Hosting Events: (Beachpreneurs, Exposure & Profit)
• Kelly is Speaking: (Live in person events)
• Kelly is Guest Blogging
• Kelly is Featured

It might seem odd to link out to other sites from my About Page, but I see it as opportunity to show social proof that other smart marketers think I'm smart.

Finally, I invite my readers to curate me. I link to articles and videos they're welcome to take and republish on their own sites and encourage them to do so with an affiliate link back to my site. I'm planning to plump up this area of the page with fresh content that promotes my new courses. Curation is a popular practice these days and I want to make sure my community realizes how easy it is to curate me for profit.

P.S. You can learn more about curation from my course, Smart Curation Skills.

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

I hate most ‘About' pages. Why?

Too many people use it to brag, when an about page is clearly a selling tool.

You see, you should have different about pages that target different audiences. It is impossible that one size can fit all your audiences' needs. If you are a coach, for instance, you should have an about page for your potential clients. It should tell them why they should hire you. But if you also speak, your about page should be geared to those who are looking for a speaker. And if you want media coverage? It needs to show a journalist you have got the right stuff to be interviewed.

For example, here is my about page for my blog.

And here is my info directed at event hosts and those who hire speakers.

Do you see how they focus on the audience needs?

Also, did you see that the bios I shared have separate calls to action? After all, this is a selling tool, so you need to work it!

The bottom line is to remember: it's not about you, it's about the audience.

Yes, some of the information will overlap. But if you have focused on the AUDIENCE's needs, you are more likely to get the response you want.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

One of my goals for this week was to polish up my “About page” on this site. Mission accomplished – although I know it could use another bit of elbow grease to be even better. Hence the reason for asking this week's question.

Here's what I've come up with as of today..

The intro with my main goal for anyone coming to my sites, buying my products, or hiring me as their coach.

I then lead into my Official Bio to show off my mad skillz. 

Then I go directly into the “here's me in real life” pics, like this one:

And on to… 

Where I’ll Be Speaking Next:

• NAMS- Atlanta

Events I’m Hosting:

• Beachpreneurs Live – Daytona Beach
• Beachpreneurs Retreat– Pensacola Beach

Then some of my favorite testimonials that I've gathered over the years – 

A way to connect with me on Social Media – 

Connect with me here:

And I finished with the most important part…

All of the above is important to me, but this is my “Why”:

I'm thinking I'll switch things around a bit, but I'm already much happier with it than I was before.

What about you? Care to show off your “About” page or share someone's that you enjoyed reading? I'm all ears.

Talk soon.

Warmly,

Nicole Dean

PS. If you're interested in this topic, I wanted to tell you about a PLR package that we have at CoachGlue.com about “About Pages”.

It's called “From Lackluster to Blockbuster: Revamp Your ‘About' Page for Increased Credibility and Promotion” and it comes with the following:

* Report: From Lackluster to Blockbuster: Revamp Your “About” Page for Increased Credibility and Promotion (15-pages, 2983 words)
* 10 Checklists to help you revamp your “About” page

Note: This IS PLR. We just call it “Done for you Content” over there.

And, the price can not be beat. Whether you plan on reading this and applying it or creating a coaching workshop around it, it's a steal.

Check it out here:  http://coachglue.com/coaching-content/revamp-your-about-page/

The checklists that you'll get include:

* Your Blockbuster About Page Call to Action
* Your Blockbuster About Page Checklist
* Your Blockbuster About Page Inspiration
* Your Blockbuster About Page Killer Headline Brainstorm
* Your Blockbuster About Page Links and Resources
* Your Blockbuster About Page Opt-In Offer
* Your Blockbuster About Page Social Media List
* Anatomy of an About Page Testimonial
* About Page Video Script
* Your Blockbuster About Page Vision

Here's that link again: http://coachglue.com/coaching-content/revamp-your-about-page/

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“What's something cool in your business that is working really well for you – right now?”

I think you'll find the responses interesting.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I've got two words for you: Micro Continuity.

Back in December I sat down with pen and paper, determined to brainstorm and come up with a new recurring income stream.

If thinking hard could produce sweat, I was sweating buckets. I ran through dozens of scenarios, filling sheet after sheet of notebook paper.

Over and over I asked the question, “What do my people need?”

I decided I wanted to focus on a project that would cost $10.00 or less per month and deliver something subscribers would really look forward to and USE.

After coming up empty on my own, I went to Facebook and asked for input.

https://www.facebook.com/kellymccausey/posts/10153781014775227

As you can see, I got a lot of ideas there!

(Always be willing to ask for help.)

One of the ideas that came up had to do with statistics. It strongly considered offering a stats interpreting service – but scrapped the idea as being too time intensive to ever fit in under $10 per month.

Several people mentioned graphics – so I went back to the drawing board and brainstormed ways to meet graphic needs.

I'm not ashamed to tell you I ran through some ridiculous ideas in my head and on paper. I threw away a lot of silly stuff. Every idea was just too time intensive.

More than once I shoved my notebook away and thought, ‘Oh heck with it!'

Every time I felt like giving up I reminded myself:

“Kelly McCausey, if YOU don't keep brainstorming, someone else will stumble upon the profitable idea you quit just short of – so buck up and get back at it!”

Finally, an idea that didn't scream ‘crazy train' started to form and I registered a domain name.

The results?

Click here to see what I came up with.

A mix of information & useful resources, it can be delivered for $10 or less and appeal to a wide market.

Here's the most exciting part, on the first day we welcomed 50 subscribers. Within two weeks We hit 500 subscribers. Feedback has been excellent and cancellations have been very few.

I've brought hundreds of new people into my funnel, I've given my affiliates a way to generate recurring commissions and I'm providing something truly useful. That counts as ‘working really well' in my book.

Kristen Eckstein of Free Book Promo says:

I've been using various spreadsheets and systems in my business for marketing, promotion, tracking, and more for years. Then when I started working with Nicole I got an idea explosion in my brain to turn each system into digital products for ongoing passive income. I'd never seen anyone sell an Excel spreadsheet before, so I thought I'd try it and see how it does.

I pair each spreadsheet (such as my best-selling Kindle Free Promo System) with a how-to video and sometimes some additional bonuses like a webinar, checklist, mind map, etc., then sell it as an inexpensive $7-27 product. Each system is linked on the back end on the download page to another one of my systems, so I usually make at least two to three sales every time just ONE new person buys one system. It's fun to watch the same name pop up on my PayPal alerts as they go through each system and collect them all.

Free Book Promo System

Now I'm scouring my hard drive for more systems and templates we regularly use in our business to package into products. Some future products will include a social media promotion system, networking tracking system, Adobe templates for book cover designs, and much more.

The best part about this process is I'm also finding new systems I need to implement in my own business, and as I use them and they work, I can turn those into more products. It's an endless web of easy product creation that's generating steady passive income!

Shannon Cherry of Learn How I Get *Paid* to Attend Events says:

My answer may surprise some.

It's NOT working.

You see, I moved to from New York to San Francisco at the end of December with my family. From Thanksgiving until recently, I have only a few scant hours a week – if at all – it work on my business. And guess what? I continued to make money.

With limited hours, I got ultra focused and only worked on what really mattered to bring in money.

And here are the results since December 1:

• 6 invitations to speak on stage (and sell)
• 2 new sponsors paying me more than $10,000 + merchandise
• 8 New people in my Tweak It and Profit ongoing monthly program (recurring income!)
• 3 new coaching clients at my highest level

And more importantly, I have lots and lots of support from people! That has been the best part!

So try not working… not forever, but for a bit and see how focused you can get.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I've got a few things up my sleeve right now that have been working really well for me.

Obviously the first thing was FINALLY choosing a new Business Coach for me. That's always a huge deal and I've been looking for a long time for  my next coach.

The second thing for me was realizing that I love to get paid to mastermind with smart people. So I sat down and tried to figure out how to make that work in my best interests.

Here's what I came up with.

• I made my coaching program affordable and tweaked it so that I work with people who I really like.
• When I go to NAMS in Atlanta, I try to see if I can schedule my presentation in the advanced room for Friday morning. Then, at the end of my talk, I announce that I have 12 spots for free 15 minute one-one-one time during the weekend in the Instructors 1-on-1 Room and give those people first dibs – since they sat through my talk. This ensures that I get people who are at a higher level and very very targeted for spending more time with me. I usually fill a few spots in my coaching program during the weekend. If I chat with someone who is a perfect fit, I tell them about the program. If they aren't a perfect fit for me, I refer them to one of the other instructors. Either way, I help them the best I can in the 15 minutes we have together, give them a big hug, and tell them to let me know their progress the next time I see them.

But – that wasn't enough. I wanted to get paid to travel and mastermind both.

So, Kelly and I came up with Beachpreneurs. And that has been working GREAT.

It was a little scary, finding a 9 bedroom house on the beach and renting it for a week without knowing if anyone would come. But it's become a really exciting and fun ladies-only mastermind weekend.

Here's a hangout that Kelly and I did before our first Beachpreneurs weekend last year.

A big part of my decision to run with the Beachpreneurs brand is because my word for the year is “FUN” – so watch for lots more fun headed your way.

And, the last thing that's been working really well? I'll be announcing that soon.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Last week, we talked about one of the most frustrating parts of publishing on Amazon – getting people to leave reviews of your book. You can read that discussion here if you missed it: Getting More Book Reviews on Amazon.

The other side of the coin is this.

You finally get some new reviews, when suddenly BAMMO! You get a 1 or 2 star review. After you cry a little and then grab a glass of wine, what do you do?

That's my question for the panel this week. I asked our panel of experts…

“For Amazon authors: How do you deal with the negative reviews that pop up every so often?”

I think you'll find their responses interesting. I did.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

On my Solopreneurs are Smarter book there are 16 reviews. 15 are there because I specifically asked for them. The 16th came out of the blue, and it was negative. He criticizes the book for not being something the book never promised to be (a how to guide).

I ignored the negative remark. Sure, I could point out that he apparently expected something not offered in the book's description – but what good would that have done?

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

After speaking with my friend, Joe Vitale, last year about the negative reviews I was receiving for one of my books, I have followed his advice to leave it alone.

That particular books sells very well, so I think the negative reviews have actually made it controversial and more interesting. It's my book on affiliate marketing, so perhaps it is more open to criticism. At any rate, once I let go of worrying about what people were saying it began to sell and my productivity and self-esteem are intact.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

First of all, as an avid reader immersed in the self-publishing industry, some books just plain deserve bad reviews.

However, if you took the time to write and publish a high quality, professionally edited and formatted book, you have two choices: ignore or fight.

I had a bad review on one of our 21 Ways books that claimed the book was “full of typos,” yet couldn't give me a single example. His review was also laden with typos, which made me wonder if the guy knew what a typo was. At first I fought him, because this book, 21 Ways to Skyrocket Your Creativity by Tony Laidig was professionally edited by a developmental editor and went through four complete rounds of editing. Every published book has typos. It's impossible to catch them all. But multiple rounds of editing decreases that number, and I was honestly wanting to improve the book by fixing any typos he found. (By the way, if you click the link and buy that book, let me know if you see any typos and we'll get them fixed!) Eventually I chose to ignore the guy, especially when his last five-word reply had three typos in it.

If it's clearly an issue of formatting or typos or something else within your power to fix, fix it. Then reply to the reviewer and comment your thanks and that an update is available. For Kindle versions you can also notify Amazon to let all purchasers of the book know they can download an updated copy.

Most of the time you can just ignore bad reviews. Sometimes the review has nothing to do with your book in particular. Sometimes they're just having a bad day. However, for ones pointing out obvious issues with your books, take their advice and look into it. If you need to add more solid content, add it. If you need to fix some typos or weird formatting, fix it. If it's within your power to make your book – and your reputation – appear better to the world, do it. But don't let it ruin your day.

Steve Scott of SSS: Internet Lifestyle without the B.S. says:

In the past, I had the mindset to ignore bad reviews. However, in my last launch I had a 1* from a guy who said a specific technique didn't work. Instead of ignoring it, I politely responded and offered to help him figure it out. I even included my email address (using [at] & [dot] to not make the address click-able). He emailed me, and I spent an hour or so helping him out. After that, I politely asked if he'd consider changing the review since it was largely based on one technique. He agreed!!

From this experience, I now think two things:

1) Ignore some reviews. Haters are gonna hate. These are the people who say your books must have been written by chimpanzees. Or how the world must be warned to never buy any of your books because you're a horrible human being. You can't fix these types of reviews, so don't worry about them.

2) Take action on the “customer service” reviews. There will be times when someone doesn't know how to apply a specific technique, so they get mad and leave a negative review. Simply respond to them and offer to help them with the problem. Even if they don't respond, OTHER potential customers see you as someone who genuinely wants to help. (HINT: This is a good thing.)

Also, some reviews point out real flaws in your books. If that's the case, FIX this problem and then respond to the reviewer, showing that you listen to their criticism.

EXAMPLE:

If I could be brutally honest about myself, a couple of reviewers made the critique that my books had some grammatical mistakes. At first, I ignored these type of reviews. But after the third time, I decided to DO something about this problem. Since then, I've hired a professional proofreader to go over all my books. The cost? $50 to $150 per title. Not a bad price for an error-free (hopefully) reading experience.

My point is simple:

If a reviewer points out something negative, see if there is a way you can fix this problem. It shows that you listen to criticism and you’re focused on creating great products.

Note from Nik: I Highly Recommend this Kindle Book that Stever Wrote (It's only $2.99 at time of this post.)

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I think my friends have pretty much summed up my opinion on this.

1. From what I'm heard in Kindle author groups, typically, it's not good etiquette for the author to communicate with the reviewers. I find this odd, because I'd like to at least say “Hey thanks for reading and reviewing to those people.” Do you agree with this?

2. It is ok as the author to vote up or down reviews depending on whether they were helpful – or accurate. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

3. If you get a negative review and it's something you can address and fix, it is ok to respond to the reviewer (as Steve and Kristen mentioned above).

4. If you get a negative review and it's not something you can fix – it's best to let it go and ignore the person.

5. If you get a negative review, and fix an issue – like add a chapter to clear something up, then you can let Amazon know and they may send out a new revision to everyone who has your book. (It has to be substantial changes from what I understand, not like “I fixed a typo on page 101”.) This is a good thing.

6. When you get a bad review, one of the easiest ways to fix the situation is to go out and get some more good ones to hide the one bad one in a sea of awesomeness. Look back at last week's post on “How to Get More Amazon Reviews” for tips.

7. If you get a negative review that is confusing to you – then the likelihood is that the customer is confused. That MAY mean that your title, description, and sales copy isn't in alignment. Basically the customer thought they were buying one thing, when in fact, it's not even what your book is. I've seen many cases of negative reviews like that. In that case, clearing up the confusion is the only thing needed. (This oftentimes requires help from someone outside looking in.)

Talk to me.

What's your best tip for dealing with negative reviews? Got questions about specific instances? Ask us.

Warmly.
Nicole

PS. If you haven't yet, please let me know what your biggest issue with Kindle is – what is keeping you from success?

My Biggest Roadblock to Amazon Kindle Success is…
Please select a valid form

As you may know, last month, I announced to my lists that my new book “Blogging for Profit: The Stripped-Down Naked Truth from 26 Rockin' Online Business Owners” is available. Yay!!!

Well, one thing that I'm finding really hard is getting people to write reviews. (Apparently I'm normal and most people struggle with this.)

So, I turned to my friends for help.

This week I asked our panel of experts…

“For Amazon authors: What's your biggest tip for getting more reviews on Amazon?”

I'm working on tracking down a few more people to answer. So make sure you sign up for updates so you find out when their responses have been added.

I think you'll find the responses from my friends interesting. I did.

Rachel Rofe of Rolling in Reviews says:

One great tip to get reviews is to just ASK the people who have read your book to leave a review.

I put a picture of a post-it note at the end of my books, along with a reminder scribbled on it to leave a review if they liked the book, and a link to my book.

It works really well.

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

My limited experience as a Kindle book publisher has taught me one thing: Not very many people leave reviews!

On my Solopreneurs are Smarter: Why Solopreneurs Rock The Online Business World book there are 16 reviews.

15 are there because I specifically asked for them. The 16th came out of the blue, and it was negative. He criticizes the book for not being something the book never promised to be (a how to guide).

I ignored the negative remark. Sure, I could point out that he apparently expected something not offered in the book's description – but what good would that have done?

I want to be open with your readers Nicole. A LOT of people that I asked to leave a review, never did. I can only guess that it falls under the ‘we're constantly pressured to comment, like, share and vote and now we have to leave Amazon reviews?' category of ‘I'm just too busy'.

All I've learned about the situation then is this: Ask for reviews. Ask, remind, cajole, beg and plead.

Then say thank you, of course. And doggone it, return the freaking favor!

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

To get more reviews for your Amazon books, simply ask for them.

I have lots of reviews for some of my books there, and none at all for the ones I have not asked people to review.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

Here are my Top 5 ways I get more reviews on my books on Amazon:

1. Ask. Ask. And ask again. Often people are very happy to provide reviews. You may have to give them a copy of your book, but friends, family and colleagues are excited to help you out by leaving a review for your book. Tell them it can be as short as a few sentences, and refer to #5 for an easier way for them to say, “Yes.” Make sure you follow up with them every few days to a week or so. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and if they said, “Yes,” don't be afraid to remind them.

2. If your book is in print, send a secured PDF copy to other experts in your niche and ask them nicely for a review. These reviews can be put inside the print book, then when the book shows up on Amazon you can ask them to copy and paste their review on the listing. It's also super easy if you send them their original review in an email so they have less excuses to get it posted.

3. Include a page at the end of your print or Kindle book inviting readers to review the book and share your book with others who will enjoy it.

4. Research. Find bloggers who have an established website and ask them if you gift them a copy, if they would post a review. Most are only too happy to get more free reading material. You can either mail them a printed version or click the “Give as a Gift” button on Amazon for Kindle books. With the Kindle books, you still make money for that book sale even though you have to buy it, so it becomes a cheap way to get quality reviews.

5. Write a sample review for them. Ghost writing reviews is an easy way to get busy people to say, “Yes!” Write what you'd like them to say about the book, then send it to them for their permission to use it and/or tweak it. Include it in your print book and ask them to post it on Amazon.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

What I did was to buy Rachel's course Rolling in Reviews for inspiration first. Yes, that's an affiliate link, but I did purchase the course, too.

Then, I followed these steps so far…

1. I offered a book bonus for my “Blogging for Profit” book when it was first released. People who purchased the book could get bonuses during a certain period of time. When they signed up for those bonuses, they were put into an autoresponder. Seven days after getting added to the autoresponder, they received an email making sure that they got their bonuses, asking them if they enjoyed the book, and then requesting them to please leave a review, too.

2. I asked the contributors who were in my book to leave a review. Some of them did. (Those peeps will definitely be featured in future books.)

3. I waited a few weeks to give time for the people who bought the book to finish reading it – and am now writing this blog post to beg for reviews. Too subtle?

Here goes…

Please Review My Book if you Read It:

-> If you bought my book and enjoyed it, please leave a review here:  How to Have a Profitable Blog <-

If you didn't love the book, then I seem to have misplaced the link. (Go here instead to spend time with Grumpy Cat and get happy.)

Then Share your Tips and Questions Below.

I always want to hear from you.

Warmly.
Nicole

This week I asked our panel of experts …

“What do you do to regain your focus when you get sidetracked
and wander off on side projects??”

I think you'll find the responses interesting.

Lain Ehmann of Crafting Your Business, Step-by-Step says:

Sometimes, wandering off on side projects is procrastination. And sometimes it's a good business move! Knowing which is which is a key to business success.

When I look at my list of tasks and objectives and see myself avoiding the one I've listed as Numero Uno, then I give myself a deadline (and a swift kick in the yoga pants!). I have a pretty high self-discipline quotient, so I remind myself why the task is important to my business goals. That's usually enough to get me moving.

If I'm not procrastinating, then I just might be taking advantage of a more important opportunity. Like if I'm invited on the Today Show, I'm not going to be worrying about the fact that my to-do list says I should be prepping next week's blog posts!

The secret here is knowing your long-term and short-term business goals and knowing when to sacrifice the short-term because something more critical has come up. Don't be a slave to your to-do list; make it work FOR you!

Kevin Riley of  Blogpreneur Training says:

What? Who me? Wander off on side projects… Oh, look! A squirrel.

It depends. If the side project 1. won't eat up too much time, 2. won't endanger a deadline on a main project, and 3. will add to my business, I will follow through on it. That gets it out of my head and out of my way.

Now, I only do this on rare occasion. An example would be my recent “Maximum E-Mail Marketing Profits In 2013“. The idea arose while I was promoting Tahir Shah's “Total Lead Capture” system. I'd already been mapping out an e-mail strategy for my own upcoming new business venture, and I decided that this would be a great time to create a guide that put all the strategy on paper.

Now, since I will be using my own guide as guidance when creating my e-mail marketing campaign for the new business, and I could turn around and sell this guide to other Internet marketers (plus give it away as a bonus to those who purchased the TLC system via my promotion), it was a win-win decision. And, since my timeline for my new business venture stretches out six months to launch, I had the time to take a short side track.

My advice: Consider the value of your side project and the impact on your main business caused by time spent on the side project. If it's feasible to pursue the side project, without negative impact on your main business plan, go ahead (but only for a short-term side track). If, on the other hand, the side project could put you off track for your main business plan, or would take away precious time from an existing project, I recommend doing what I do in such a case – write it down on paper and pin it to a future projects cork board.

Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach says:

Your first goal is to keep these side journeys to a minimum.

I do that in two ways. The first is to become an expert at the word, “No.”

Practice it. Use it. As an entrepreneur you're surrounding by opportunities. Many of them may be home runs, but they're just not right for you. You're likely going to say NO at least 10 times as often as you say YES.

The 2nd method is even more important for me, because it's also how I usually get back on track.

I have hanging a single sheet of paper hanging in my office just to the left of my computers. It's at perfect eye level when I turned that direction. It has my yearly “Internet Lifestyle Plan” on it.

This includes what my mission is, who my target customer is, what I'm passionate about, along with the primary directions and marketing I'm planning for the year. It also lists when I work and when I'm off. I update this sheet around quarterly.

I'm always testing new opportunities, because one of my greatest strengths is curiosity. How does this work and how can we improve on it?

When I get off track on a project I shouldn't be on, that one piece of paper is staring at me. It's almost like a conscience because I can feel its disapproval.

Here's a good example of when this came into play. I was thinking about going into the “life coaching” market. It was new and exciting. I did my research, and even starting writing a course…planned as a Clickbank course for the market.

But my Internet Lifestyle Plan was staring at me. The audience wasn't the same as my core audience. It was a distraction.

Once it bugged me enough, I took what I had written, edited it quickly, and turned it into a Kindle ebook.

I made one mention of the ebook, but haven't really thought much about it since. Except every month I get a nice little check from Amazon for it…and consistent new incoming email leads also.

Plus I have several mastermind partners who I meet with by Skype/phone every month. They'll call me on it if I get off track also.

Really it comes down to those 3 steps for me:

1. Have a short Internet Lifestyle plan that's visible to you all the time.

2. Have a coach or mastermind group you're accountable to.

3. Find a way to “close shop” and profit from being side tracked.

Karon Thackston of Step-by-Step Copywriting Course says:

BIG problem for me I confess to having a major case of shiny object syndrome as well as a mild touch of ADD. I can run down a rabbit trail with world-class precision if I'm not careful.

When I see that happening, the first thing I do is verbally tell myself to focus. (Yes, in addition to all that, I also have a quirky need to talk to myself.) I make a micro to-do list of things that I must get done that day (or even within the next few hours) and I turn off everything else. Email gets closed, Facebook gets shut down and any pressing thoughts or ideas get quickly jotted on a sticky note so I can come back to them later without forgetting what I was so excited about.

Then I remind myself of the benefits of completing whatever it is (client copywriting project, updating my own marketing plan, completing a new webinar, etc.) I was originally working on.

I sit up nice and straight, take a deep breath and off I go!

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

Entrepreneurs get sidetracked? Really? Between shiny objects and new ideas flooding my mind at 100 miles-per-hour, it’s a wonder I stay on track with a new project idea long enough to finish it and not jump to something else!

But that’s actually how I regain focus. Sometimes we’re not meant to finish that project. Sometimes the new idea brings a fresh new energy, and to try to ignore it only makes it harder to concentrate on what we “should” be doing. This happened to me with my 21 Ways series. I still have two books in the series each partially written. And that’s when I got really excited about starting a third one. Now, I’d already published two books in the series myself and had over 18 more outlined. This new idea was completely new. And I chose to use that passion, energy and drive to write it.

Less than 30 days later 21 Ways to Be a Kid Again & Get Adult Results was published. And what I learned from that experience I’ve been able to apply toward new project ideas. Instead of fighting that excitement and energy that comes with a new idea, I allow it to fuel me to take action on it. Can you imagine how many more passionate and amazing ideas will be produced if we quit trying to forget about them and drop everything to take action on them instead?

The important thing is to take action quickly before you get frustrated and begin to lose steam. Fuel your focus with your passion, run with it, and go for it!

Kelly McCausey of Solo Smarts Podcast says:

I axe those projects. ROFL!!

Ok, my real answer…

When I realize I've gone down a rabbit trail I stop everything and evaluate. My favorite evaluation tool is a good ‘brain dump'. I take stock of everything I have my hands in or my mind on. I list every project, from the biggest to the smallest.

Next, I prioritize. Which projects are most deserving of my time? Where are the great profits? What has to be done before a new project can begin making profit? Based on these judgments I decide which projects get to stay active and which need to be tabled or even axed.

Usually, once I make up my mind, I have total peace about it. I can kill a project faster than anyone I know and never look back. Whenever I do, I feel an immediate sense of relief. My ‘main projects' get more of my time and creativity and that leads to a better business overall.

Bob Jenkins of How to Use Mindmaps to Organize Your Business says:

When I get sidetracked, I don't beat myself up too much at first. Usually, it's simply a sign of mental fatigue, and I simply need to take a break for a few minutes or hours.

But if I truly get sidetracked for DAYS or WEEKS, then I know something's up. So I talk to my girlfriend (who happens to be an amazing life coach) or “Friends in the Business” for some sound-boarding. Am I confused about why the project is important? Have I found something that fulfills my goals in this new project? Am I missing a key piece that's holding me back, or encouraging the procrastination?

Ultimately, the tool I use daily keeps me focused: Freemind mindmapping software.

With my “Monetized Action Plan” in front of me when I start my computer, I have my project mapped out, and my action steps visible. I can see the big picture, and know the little steps along the way are going to help me finish the project faster.

Finally, I remember who I'm doing the project for. Every day of delay is another day that someone, somewhere continues to struggle without my solution to make things easier.

Tiffany Dow of The Guide to Shiny Object Syndrome says:

Getting sidetracked can be a boon or a bust. Sometimes what you get sidetracked with can turn out to be something that you really enjoy, that’s really profitable, and that might even replace a less fulfilling business model or strategy.

But if it’s a bust, then that’s when we start feeling regret, kicking ourselves for getting sidetracked, and vow never to do it again.

Personally, I have learned to go with it. It’s a perk of being an entrepreneur for me. If I get a touch of restlessness and need a change, I can get on a different track. If I realize it’s not going where I want it to go, I simply turn around and head home.

If you allow yourself this freedom, without guilt, it becomes less of a struggle. It’s kind of like dieting. Once you truly get rid of food guilt and allow yourself to eat what you want, when you want, it doesn’t cause you to binge and hide food, etc. You’re able to eat a few bites and walk away because you know that without any anxiety, if you want to come back in 2 hours and nibble again, you can.

It’s not an all or nothing mentality.

But during those times when I do get sidetracked and it turns out to be a bust, what I normally do is sit down with a regular pen and paper and jot down the priority of my projects. I do this based on:

• What’s fulfilling – this is a biggie for me because if I’m not happy, it has to go.
• What’s profitable – I’m no dummy, so if my efforts aren’t bringing the cash in, it has to become a hobby or be gone for good.
• What my audience needs – if they’re not considered, then I lose my edge in the marketplace. I have to make sure everything is serving their needs.

I routinely reevaluate my projects based on these three factors and I cut things out if they don’t meet all three – not two out of three, but all three. That sometimes means cutting out things that are making me money – and that’s okay. I’ve deleted sites making me $300 a month before because my heart wasn’t in it or it wasn’t beneficial for my audience.

Don’t beat yourself up if you’re a flitter – someone who goes from one task to the next. It’s a perk! Just don’t let it be your Achilles Heel – keep a leash on it to some degree and you’ll enjoy those moments of getting off the beaten path.

Susanne Myers of  Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

I’m a big list person. The best thing I can do to make sure I stay on track is to make a list. If I’m working on a big project, I like to break things down into individual steps. That will become my master checklist.

For example, let’s say my project is to come out with a new info product. My list may include things like:

• Outline the product
• Write the ebook, record the lessons etc.
• Set up a website for the new product
• Order graphics
• Write a sales letter
• Create a download page
• Create support pages (like contact, privacy policy etc.)
• Etc.

Once I have that one big long list of everything that needs to happen before I can launch my product, I start incorporating tasks into my regular daily lists.

Those daily to-do lists contain a few things for the project along with ongoing tasks like mailing my lists, blogging, approving comments, staying active on social media etc.

I pay attention to how I structure my to-do lists as well. For example, it takes me a little while to get going in the morning and I don’t do my best writing before my second cup of coffee. Instead the first few items on my daily list are easy things I can do and check off quickly. This may involve approving comments, sending out emails to get in touch with a JV partner, order a new cover etc. Being able to check a few items off quickly creates momentum for me.

I also know that I need to get most of the content creation done before 2pm, or it’s just not going to happen, so working on the content for my new product, sending an email to my lists and writing blog posts is next on my to-do list. I wrap my day up with more little “filler” work that can be done while supervising homework for example.

The key for me is to break everything down into baby-steps and have a list that keeps me on track to make sure everything gets done. Days when I stick to my to-do list have always been my most productive.

The other thing that helps me stay focused is to have a deadline. This may involve promising someone that they can promote a new product, or sending out something to my lists letting them know it will be ready by a certain date. Having that deadline will make me push harder and get things done without getting distracted by side-projects.

Felicia Slattery of Signature Speech Secrets says:

As many people who know me are aware, I was sidetracked BIG time last year with lung cancer. My business pretty much ground to a halt, aside from some small continuity and affiliate checks I had rolling in, which kept my business rolling while I dealt with serious health issues for most of the year. I am now 100% healed and doing great.

For me, getting back to work could only happen after I was fully healed (as a speaker, if I can't speak, that's a problem!). How I did it was to announce to my community – email and social media- that I was back, explained what happened while I was away, and then did a survey to gauge people's interest in my plans and content.

As a communication specialist, I communicate with people first. That's just my way and it's always been profitable. Once I had that valuable feedback, I could pay attention to trends and give people what they told me they wanted first and make my plans fall in line with that. It was easy and fun getting back into the swing of work. Today, just three months after being back, I've had three of the most profitable and successful months in my business because I listened to what people wanted.

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow. I guess this is sure a hot topic, based upon the number of responses today.

For me the answer to this question comes down to two things:

1. Knowing where the profit is.
2. Having a daily or weekly plan.

That's really the key.

When I know where I'm making the most money, I can focus my time, energy, and, most importantly my resources into those projects FIRST. What I do with the rest of my day, is really up to me then. That means that everything from my own time, to buying advertising, to focusing on getting affiliates to promote, etc. is all focused where I'll get the highest return on my investments. (I consider time an investment. Don't you?)

If I know my numbers, then I KNOW what to do and I'm not guessing.

For instance, it would be silly of me to wake up and dig into project B when project A is rockin' and rolling. So, I focus on A first, and then only jump into B after I've made progress.

The other area is having a daily and weekly plan. I am 100% more productive and focused when I have my plan in front of me than when I don't.  If I don't have a “Stuff to Do this Week” list – I tend to wander.

Wandering is NOT profitable. Focusing is.

My friends have already shared so much great info this week that I'm going to wrap up with a challenge for you.

Whatever you goals are,  multiply them by 5

Seriously.

• If your goal is to reach $1000 per month in profit, reach for $5000 per month in profit instead.
• If your goal is to write one Kindle book by the end of this year, make it your goal to write five awesome books by the end of the year.
• If your goal is to reach out to 5 new potential affiliates per week, make it 5 per day.

REACH HIGHER.

That in itself will help you to focus.

Post your thoughts below.

Warmly,
Nicole

PS. If you LOVE Expert Briefs, be sure to pick up my new book on Amazon:

Learn How to Start a Profitable Blog

This week, I have Kristen Eckstein, with me.

The audio recording of our interview in this blog post. Just look for the “play” button and listen. It’s free! Also, be sure to check out all of the resources listed below.

If you’re not familiar with Kristen yet, learn more here:

Kristen Eckstein, the Ultimate Book Coach, is a sought-after independent publishing expert, two time best-selling author and award-winning international speaker. Her reputation is to create books that bring you business through Ghost Publishing, a term she coined to define her exclusive done-for-you independent publishing program, “I am Published!” She has been in the publishing industry since 2003, run a traditional publishing company, vanity publishing house, and started her own independent publishing house with a traditional arm. To date she has started 45 publishing companies and published 133 books and eBooks, 13 of those her own.

Find Kristen on the web at Ultimate Book Coach.

Step 1: Check out these Essential Tools and Resources for Online Business Success Mentioned in this Show:

All links will open in a new window and not interfere while you're listening to the audio.

Tools Mentioned:

• Direct to Kindle Publishing
• Podcasting
• WordPress Plugins
• Facebook – for networking
• SendOutCards
• Aweber

• NAMS Workshop in Atlanta
• Fiverr.com
• Bob Jenkins
• Eating Raw Foods
• Smoothie Challenge

Facebook:

• Kristen on Facebook 
• Nicole on Facebook

Step 2: Listen to the Interview.

Be sure to listen to the entire interview.

Prefer to Read?

If you prefer to read the interview, it is available on Kindle.

A Conversation with Kristen Eckstein: Online Business Success Stories

Step 3: Learn More from Kristen.

Head over here to check out more from Kristen ->  Self Publish on Demand

Also, grab a  copy of my book on Kindle or Paperback to see just what beautiful work she does:

Get it here:
Kindle (only $4.99)

Step 4: Share the Love.

If you liked this interview, don't keep it to yourself. Share the link with some friends. (Pretty please.)

Step 5: Make Sure you Don't Miss a Thing.

Either sign up for my blog updates over there –>

Or grab my feed on iTunes so you can get lots more free interviews just like this one. (Please leave a glowing review while you're at it.)

Step 6: Get a free link on my blog

Please post your comments below after you listen to the interview. Show Kristen the love so I can continue to get great guests like her.

Plus, of course, you can include your URL and your Twitter ID in the appropriate fields when you comment, as always.

Thanks again for being part of my business and my day. I'm looking forward to hearing what you learned and will apply from this interview.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. Would you Like to Start a Podcast like Mine and Have Cool People on your Show? If you can make a telephone call, you can have a podcast, too: Click here -> How to Start a Podcast

These are pinnable quotes from this interview:

This week I asked our panel of experts …

“Have you Written Kindle books? If so, what was one
mistake that you made from concept, to creation, to formatting, to marketing that you wished you'd known sooner so you could avoid it?”

The question has been obviously on my mind as I've been releasing my books lately, including my freakingly awesome book:

Get it here:
Kindle (only $4.99)
or Paperback

Before you dig in, please grab a copy of the book while it's till so cheap. If you already have a copy, a review would be ever so much appreciated. Thank you so much!

Here's what my friends and I have to say about Kindle Publishing mistakes. Enjoy!

Lain Ehmann of Crafting Your Business, Step-by-Step says:

People DO Judge a Book by the Cover.

I wish I'd paid more attention to the cover graphic. I released my first Kindle books long before there were tons of ebook and programs on “!!BECOMING A KINDLE MILLIONAIRE!!” and so I just slapped a simple graphic on the cover and called it good. Big mistake.

People buy books based on the cover, and having a more attractive, professional cover surely would have made sales better.

See? You can click on the covers if you want to see them up close and personal.

Interview with Derek Halpern on Branding:

Interview with Paul Evans on Branding:

Check out Lain on the Kindle: – Lain on Kindle

Kevin Riley of  Blogpreneur Training says:

Professional-Looking Layout Matters.

When I wrote “The Clockwork Manifesto” a few years ago, I wrote it for publication in paperback. I never considered how it would look in Kindle. So, I laid out the text and images to look nice in a physical book – setting my images and text side by side at time. I used a lot of tables in OpenOffice to get a great layout on each page. The book looks fantastic on paper.

However, all that beautiful layout does not translate well to Kindle. I ended up hiring someone to re-format it all (384 pages of book – egads) for display on Kindle. I've been told that it still doesn't look all that great on the Kindle reader (Yes, I've not had the heart to look at the my labour of love since I myself obtained a Kindle).

Check out Kevin on the Kindle: – Kevin on Kindle

Rachel Rofe of Easy Kindle Formatting Software says:

Bad Formatting Caused Negative Reviews.

My biggest mistake with Kindle books was not having the formatting done right when I first started publishing my books. I thought they were done right, but bad reviews taught me otherwise.

It ended up being a blessing in disguise though, because it led to the creation of Kinstant Formatter, which has gone on to sell thousands of copies and help many people avoid the mistakes I had to.

Check out Rachel on the Kindle: – Rachel on Kindle

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Case Studies says:

Set up Her Own Publishing Company to Be Taken More Seriously.

I have now published eight books on Kindle, and I have to say it has changed my life and my business in a major way. Authors are perceived differently by others, being considered to have more knowledge and expertise on their topics, and this has opened doors and provided opportunities I would not otherwise have experienced. This includes speaking globally, contributing to other people's books, and having corporations contact me for advice.

The only thing I wish I had known from the very beginning is the power of having your own publishing company for your books. Even though I continue to have Create Space print and deliver all of my paperback books and Amazon's Kindle program deliver my digital books, once I began using my own ISBN numbers through my company it took me to an entirely new level as an author. I am contacted regularly by other publishers, the media, libraries, and companies wanting to know more about me and what I do in my online business.

It's simple enough to set this up: purchase a domain, file a Fictitious Name Statement with your city or county, set up a site, and purchase a block of ISBN numbers to get started. You'll absolutely love what happens as a result.

Check out Connie on the Kindle: – Connie on Kindle

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

I’ve published nearly a hundred Kindle books for other people and several for myself. Here’s what I would change:

Concept & Creation – Two of my Kindle books are transcribed from webinars I conducted. If I could do things differently, I would have either written them from scratch to begin with or made it clear in the marketing that these books are transcriptions of the webinars. Instead I tried to hybrid the two methods by writing some, editing the transcripts, and leaving the overall “webinar” conversational style and feel intact. This caused my grammar to not be quite as good as it should be, especially given my profession, and it shows up in the Amazon reviews.

Formatting – It’s always good to test your eBook out on a real Kindle since the Kindle Preview Tool tends to miss major issues or worse yet, show them where none exist.. If you don’t have a Kindle, get one. Hey, if you’re an author & you’re using it to test your books, it’s a business expense!

I have always tested eBooks on my Kindle(s) since I first started publishing them several years ago. However, technology changes. With the latest change of new software for the Kindle Fire HDs, many eBooks are encountering new formatting issues that weren’t present before. This can be a two-part problem. 1. It’s an issue with how Kindle HDs are viewing the files, and interpreting the code. With this there’s nothing you can do to fix it. 2. It’s an issue in your eBook itself that can be fixed. In both instances that we’ve encountered an issue like this, it’s been fixable.

Bottom line… Always, always, always check your eBook over on a real Kindle before hitting the “Publish” button. And if your file does have issues, hire a professional eBook programmer to fix them up.

Marketing – I’m continually learning in this arena. Honestly I don’t think any of us are ever done learning new things we can do to market! Recently I started an experiment publishing cookbooks under a pen name. I’m using as little of my own influence as possible to market, and chronicling my experience as a “new” author on my blog. My hope is that not only will I learn some new ways to market my new eBooks, but others will see they need to actually do a little work to market their eBooks, especially when they’re first-time authors. I’m also excited to share with them things that have worked, things that haven’t worked, and help others market their eBooks effectively.

The only real regret I have is not knowing sooner how swiftly Kindle would overtake the market. I’m such a die-hard print gal that I ignored the fact this technology would transform my entire industry. If anything, I’ve learned how important it is that I stay up to date on all publishing industry developments so I can be a better resource to my authors, and I encourage you to treat your industry the same. Never stop learning!

Check out Kristen on the Kindle: – Kristen on Kindle

Bob Jenkins of Power Profits Mentoring says:

Hiring a Book Coaching to Do it For You.

I have one Kindle book so far: Take Action! Revise Later… which is an e-book version of my physical book. The biggest mistake I've made is in not doing more Kindle books sooner. I have a boatload of transcripts and other material that I'm sitting on, and hiring a VA or working with an intern to publish more titles is a languishing opportunity for me.

The best move I made was in hiring a book coach and ghost publisher (Kristen Eckstein of Ultimate Book Coach) to get the book formatted and designed so it looks awesome on Kindle.

Check out Bob on the Kindle: – Bob on Kindle

Susanne Myers of  Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

Don't Rush It.

I’ve been creating and publishing Kindle books regularly since the fall and have made plenty of mistakes (and still do). The one that’s had the most impact on my bottom line is not waiting long enough after I’ve hit publish before I start promoting.

I’ve found that ideally you want to upload your book, wait the 12 to 48 hours for it to publish and then give it at least another 48 hours before starting to promote the Kindle book. It will take that long for Amazon to do whatever it is they do in the backend. Whenever I’ve waited, my books have risen in the rankings much faster once I’ve started promoting.

I do go ahead and buy a copy myself after it goes live and look at it on my phone, kindle and ipad to make sure the formatting looks ok. Then I’ll wait before mailing my lists, posting the link on Facebook etc.

Of course there are also times when I don’t get enough work done ahead of time and need to push the book right away. It still works, but I’ve noticed that it takes a bit longer for my books to show up ranking within their respective categories.

Check out Susanne on the Kindle: – Susanne (as Hillbilly Housewife) on Kindle

Melissa Ingold of Solo Masterminds says:

2 years ago I had 28 Kindle books up for sale and I was making consistent sales with no promotion of any kind – they just got published and that was it.

Once the crack down on using PLR for your Kindle books started happening, I got slapped and had to pull all my books down and basically start over.
After letting my account sit for a year, I finally published a new book in early February of this year based on a webinar I hosted with Carrie Wilkerson about video marketing.

One of the things that I decided to do differently this time was keyword research. I figured I do keyword research for pretty much everything else, like the domain names I buy for squeeze pages, the content I want to produce, and more – so why not Kindle books?

Here’s What I Did:

1. Used Google’s free keyword tool and played around with keywords and key phrases that people might use to find information about video marketing.

2. Used Google’s search trends option to see what topics are trending as related to video marketing.

3. Based on that research, I had a list of some really good keywords that I could use to optimize my book.

4. I made sure that I used one of my best keywords in the title of my book. Then I wrote out a description and bullet points that incorporated my keywords naturally throughout.

5. Then I threw some traffic at the book using Fiverr and OneHourBackLinks.com to build some back links to my book, and then I set up some Facebook ads too.

I think I sent out like one tweet and one Facebook post about the book, and that was the extent of my marketing.

I’m not as serious about Kindle as most people. For me, it’s a fun little side project that brings in some passive income and helps me build my mailing list. My whole strategy is a “set it and forget” approach, that I know I can grow by publishing more books. If every book makes me $50 – $100 a month in passive income (plus builds me a list of buyers) that can add up pretty quick.

Since my first book has already reached this point, I’m going to put a little more effort into my second book, and then it’s onto the third. I plan to publish one new book per month, and since I’m pretty close to having my ‘rinse and repeat’ system into place, it’s going to be super fun from here on out 

Check out Melissa on the Kindle: Melissa on Kindle

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

As I mentioned, I just released my latest book this week. And, boy have I made enough mistakes to give myself a roaring migraine.

But before I talk about all the mistakes that I've made in the launch of this book, here it is again.

If you wanted to grab a copy of it, please do. If you already have a copy, please leave a review.

Get it here:  Kindle (only $4.99)

ok. So… first let's start with what I did right.

1. I wrote a very interesting, fun, informative book.

2. I involved very smart people.

3. I had the book professionally designed by Kristen and her team. (It's BEAUTIFUL inside and out.)

4. I planned to promote the snot out of it.

5. I created unique bonuses to give to the people who bought my book during the launch. It's a series of interviews not available anywhere else at this time. Note: If you buy the book soon, you can still access them. Details are here:  Grab Book Bonuses

 All good stuff, right?

Where did I flub up?

Where to begin?

1. Planning.
My husband's family is in town for Spring Break right now. I had cleared my work schedule so that I could be at the beach with them. BUT, then my book was published and I got excited and decided to release it this week. I underestimated the time and effort involved. This has caused me lots of stress because I'm working more than I would like while they are here. Just a stupid move on my part.

2. Jumping the Gun.
Related to the first mistake, I should have waited, as Susanne mentioned, until Amazon had everything in order, tested a few days, ordered a few books, both print and paperback and cooled my horses a week before starting to promote. That would have allowed me to noticed and play a bit beforehand and not just be rushing around trying to figure things out WHILE the book was live.

3. Linking the Books.
I had no idea how Amazon linked paperback and Kindle versions together. So, my books were not linked together as the same book. This caused two problems.

• First, it's difficult to promote, when you have two completely different links. (One link for paperback and one for the Kindle.) Every time I mailed, I had to include both links, rather than one, and letting people choose which version they wanted on that page.
• Second, the way I understand it, sales weren't counting together. So, if I sold 100 copies on the Kindle and 50 of the paperback, Amazon didn't know that it was really 150 copies of the same book. This affected rankings…. which is not a great thing. So… I found in the DTP dashboard an area, where you can request that the books get linked and I did that. I immediately got a response, which was awesome, but the customer support rep said that it could take 72 hours to fully propagate. Not great, but better than nothing, right? So, I would definitely have done that sooner had I known.

4. Not having a Plan for Reviews.
I think know that this book is awesome.  Therefore, I assumed that it would naturally get reviews, at least even just from my friends and the co-contributors. Not quite so.  So, I would have worked on that a bit better and asked for reviews during that week while I was planning the launch. oops. There's that planning word again.

I'm actually going through Rachel's course: Rolling in Reviews now to see what can be done about that, and I'm giving a copy to my Virtual Assistant so she can help me with that process, as well.

5. Related to #4, Not Asking for Help Enough.
I think people assume that I have it all together. Well, yesterday, after crying in the parking lot of a movie theater because I was frustrated and a friend made the mistake of asking “How are you doing?” I decided to write to some friends and ask for help. I  told them that I was tired and frustrated (especially with the Amazon linking issue) and could they please share the book on Facebook or with their lists? Pretty much all the cool kids did and it cheered my heart greatly.

Plus, I got a video in an email from my friend Tracy Roberts marked “OPEN ME NOW”. It was her and her kids yelling “We love you Miss Nicole! Come back and see us soon.” That was the bomb-diggity.

So guys, in all transparency, yes, I'm selling copies of my book. Yes, people love it. But, no, I did not have things go as planned. It's a good thing there's this thing called TOMORROW, right?

So what about you?

Got questions? Got horror stories? Just want to give me virtual hugs?

I welcome it all.

Resources that I Recommend –

These are my favorite Kindle resources that I've personally bought and enjoyed. All just happen to be by Rachel.

• Kinstant Formatter – the tool that my Intern uses to format most of my Kindle books
• Hands Off Kindle Publishing – How to Write Kindle Books without Writing them Yourself
• Rolling in Reviews – 50 ways to get more reviews on your books

With much appreciations –

Warmly,
Nicole

PS. Here are the contributors on Amazon again for easy reference:

• Lain on Kindle
• Kevin on Kindle
• Rachel on Kindle
• Connie on Kindle
• Kristen on Kindle
• Bob on Kindle
• Susanne (as Hillbilly Housewife) on Kindle

One of the absolute surefire ways to make more money in your business is by mailing your list great stuff … MORE OFTEN.

Sure, you'll lose some people, but those people aren't your eager customers who want your stuff – and want to buy it NOW. (Or at least hear from you and have the option to connect – and maybe buy something, too!)

The problem is that, if you don't plan your email promotions, you'll let this slide. Unfortunately. Trust me, I know. I slip up on occasions, too.

When I slip up and don't mail often enough, I notice two things –

1. My income starts to dip a bit.
2. I start to get emails and notes on Facebook, asking if I'm ok.

So, yes, please plan your promos in advance, even if you just have a piece of paper where you sketch them out.

This week I asked our panel of experts to weigh in on this question…

How do you plan your email marketing / list promotions?

Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach says:

This is actually pretty simple. Every major autoresponder has features to schedule emails and promotions in advance. Currently my lists are primarily in Aweber and 1SC.

Even when not traveling, I still usually schedule at least a week in advance. It's part of my “batching” I do. I've found the most effective way for me to work is to schedule several hours on a project and just work on that. So I'll write several emails at once. Then have them all loaded at once into the system for queuing.

Since I use 1Shoppingcart we can set discounts using the coupon system and those coupons can be set to expire at a set time. So everything can be done in advance including giving a limited time discount on a product. I've done as much as a month in advance this way for emails and promotions. It gets it off your plate where you're not thinking about it. Of course WordPress allows you to schedule your blog posts in exactly the same way.

I'd love to tell you I'm super organized and have everything scheduled for months in advance, but it wouldn't be true.

I do plan out my primary autoresponder sequences like this.

When putting up a new autoresponder, I'll mind map out the overall strategy, story, and content that is shared. Mind mapping helps me get all the information out including what the target market's primary problems are, the barriers they have to cross to reach their goals, and the objections they will have to purchasing from me.

The initial email sequence is planned out, and often written close together over just a few days. Pieces are moved back and forth between the emails to get them all in a nice flow, especially for the first 30 days.

When it comes to ongoing broadcasts, my reality is they are rarely planned more than a couple of weeks in advance. I have a journal of stories and notes about topics I want to cover in the future. On Friday mornings, I'll go through the journal and plan at least the next week's emails. Sometimes I'm able to put together emails for a couple of weeks in advance.

There have been multiple times someone has asked me to promote for them, but they still hadn't provided swipes or notes about their offer by the Friday before their promotion. In those cases, they're replaced by something else. The most successful promotions are those planned a couple of weeks out so all the content leading up to them can be focused on the subject. When I'm going to be away, I'll plan and write a few weeks in advance.

The best performers for me are very limited term specials such as a discount or additional bonuses only available for 24 to 72 hours total, but I don't like doing those more often than about every two weeks max.

Terry Dean is pretty awesome! Check out his stuff at – My Marketing Coach.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

My team and I use a single Excel spreadsheet located in a team DropBox folder. This spreadsheet has a calendar for promotions and newsletter schedule in separate worksheets. I have a list of promotional items in the newsletter worksheet, and my amazing Online Business Manager synced those fields to the promotions calendar worksheet so when I update one, the other populates simultaneously. My OBM (Online Business Manager) monitors the spreadsheet each week and lets me know when I need to go update the newsletter content, since I try to schedule posts and videos out in advance.

Some promotions require much lengthier copy, so within that same folder in DropBox we also have a folder for copy. Each MS Word document containing copy is labeled to match the title in the promotions calendar spreadsheet so it's easy for my VA to find, place in Aweber, and roll out to my list. My Aweber account is linked to Facebook and Twitter, and Twitter is fed to LinkedIn, so I can literally get messages sent everywhere at once through one simple gateway.

Kristen is my Book Coach. Check out her program at Self Publish on Demand

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Organize Your Online Business says:

I use a paper calendar (printed in Word from WinCalendar.com) for planning. On the digital copy I put in all of my training sessions, travel schedule and time off. Then I print it and “take it to lunch” where I do my thinking.

If I have advance notice of an affiliate promotion I'll schedule it on the calendar. Otherwise, I'll promote if there is time when I hear about it. But I think a lot of marketers miss out on leveraging their affiliates because they don't give advance notice of promotions coming up.

I try to have two focus products of the month, one for the first two weeks of the month, the second for the second half of the month. During that focus period I will write 3-5 articles/blog posts on that product, then email my list pointing them toward those. I'll try to record one or two videos on the product.

I'm trying to not create any new products, but when I do, I generally plan those one or two months in advance. Then build up to their launch with specific dates on the calendar.

Email marketing is a flexible area (unless you're out of town and have pre-scheduled all of your messages), so I don't plan to mail daily. That leaves me space to work in an extra message here and there. Plus I have a year-long sequence that goes out every Monday – because I rarely mail on Mondays. (No scientific reason. I just don't get in gear that early in the week.)

Let Jeanette help you organize your business with her free tips -> Organize Your Online Business

Alice Seba of Step-by-Step PLR Guides says:

Email marketing is the main part of what I do in my business, so it's a central focus for me in my planning and work week. And it's funny, because it is basically what I do for a living (with the help of others to fill in all the important tasks that make my business a whole), I find it hard to explain how I plan it. At least it's hard to explain in a paragraph or two, but let me see if I can do it.

Each month, I plan the informational topics we'll be covering, the products we'll be releasing and create a promotion plan around that. Content and product promotions are generally tightly related as I want my audience to be as informed about and as interested as possible in what we have for sale. So each month, a basic plan is put together with rough dates for everything.

Then each week, I write a more detailed plan of which emails will go out which days to which lists and which segments of those lists. I will often write all the emails for a week in one day, so that it's out of the way as much as possible. I also finds this helps me keep a nice flow going between each email that a subscriber will receive.

A few important things:

– I always try to give a heads up about stuff that is coming up, so my subscribers will be ready and excited when it happens.

– I always follow up on stuff. Sometimes multiple times and try add a bit more value each time I send a reminder.

– I try to target my emails as much as possible. I have set up a customized system in Amember, where I can include and EXCLUDE certain people and buyers of certain products from emails. This allows me to really pinpoint people's interest, make special offers to people who haven't yet taken action and so forth.

– Customers are key. Opt-in subscribers are great, but customers are people who are proven to want your stuff. They always get special treatment, special offers, coupon codes and so forth.

Everyone will come up with their own system, but it's important that they pay special attention to email. People often lose sight of this as they see the web going more “social”, but trust me, email is social and it CONVERTS.

Alice has some really cool visual step-by-step PLR here -> Step-by-Step PLR Guides

Shannon Cherry of Quick Tweaks for More Profit says:

Check out Shannon's Cool program (and get a special discount here: Quick Tweaks for More Profit

Lain Ehmann of Business Love Potion says:

I would love to say that I'm more organized than I am. But I've found that if I work too far out in the future, I actually lose the opportunity to take advantage of “surprises.” And in the internet world, there always seem to be surprises!

My calendar is driven heavily by several large, regularly scheduled events, and then I work backwards from those. Then I try to leave room to add those “surprises” I mentioned earlier. I don't like to send too many promo emails simultaneously, even for really great offers, so I often have to let opportunities go by for fear of over-promoting and burning out my list.

It's a constant juggling act. But since there aren't many really great affiliate offers in my main industry, it allows me to focus on my own products and events and really build those up.

Nancy Marmolejo of Viva Visibility Blog says:

In my business, we have a master calendar with all the promotions scheduled to go out. I can't tell you how valuable this is, because I used to verbally agree to things without double checking and we'd end up in email promo hell. Mostly it was me promoting so many people that my own promos got shadowed. That was a costly mistake, and fortunately something far in the past.

The general rule of thumb is that during a launch for one of my programs or products, we don't promote anyone else. That means saying no to speaking gigs and some juicy looking JV offers. But at the end of the day, I want my list to remember me and my business, not the 20 other businesses I put in front of them.

We've adopted a “2 is Enough” rule, where I can do 2 external promotions in a non-launch month. That number works for my business.

I have an ezine that goes out once a week, some people get a blog summary sent to them, and of course the occasional promo.

Connie Ragen Green of Affiliate Marketing Secrets Explained says:

I travel quite a bit these days, so it becomes crucial to my business for me to maintain a dynamic – as opposed to a static – marketing calendar at all times. I know which promotions will be time sensitive well in advance, and add those in for the day or days I will be letting my list know about them. Then I go ahead and write the emails and save them in my folder according to the date. Later on I add them to the que, in case I want or need to make some changes to the copy.

If I will be flying one day and not near my computer, I go ahead and write those emails as well. I then que them up to go out on a specific day and time so I know my people will receive them while I am on the road or in the air.

The remainder of my emails are written ‘live'. This means that each day when I wake up and go to my computer I write a personal email about what is going on in my life and how it relates to what I am doing in my business. These emails always get the best response, and I believe that is due to the fact that they seem more natural and personal to my readers.

Be a fly on the wall as Connie coaches her student to 10K per month -> Get to 10K Coaching

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Wow. As usual, my friend shared more than I had expected. Thank you all.

Here's my philosophy.

My goal  is to email my customers and leads something of value (content, offer, etc) a minimum of three times per week. I send more if I think of (or find) something cool to share above and beyond that.

The ONLY way that I can successfully do that is if I plan ahead. However, I'm pretty low tech about my methodology.

Leads and Customers.

I use old fashioned pen and paper.  I write the days of the week and fill in the blanks. For instance, most Thursdays, I know I will be mailing about Expert Briefs. That helps me to have an excuse each week to mail. I can mail about the blog post alone or tie it into a reminder about another offer. Either way, I know that I have that one day per week ready to rock and roll. So then it's a matter of filling in the other days.

If I'm traveling, I'll write my messages and schedule them in advance. If I'm home, I may get a day ahead, but I really like the personalization of writing them and then hitting the send button. It just feels more genuine to me. Like writing to a friend.

Affiliates.

I like to also email my affiliates weekly, but no less than monthly. Again, it helps to plan in advance what I'm releasing or if I am going to run any specials – and that gives me something to mail to my affiliates.  And, if all else fails, I can whip up a quick little tool or piece of content that they can use to promote me. (This is what I sent them today: 101 Blog Title Ideas) You'll see a lot of those pieces of content also posted here in the “Free Content for Your Blog Friday” section.

I don't have a specific fancy method to my madness. I just make sure to prioritize my lists towards the top of all of my business activities. Everything else has to wait.

So, how about you? What do you do to plan your mailings?

Also, would you be interested in a course about list profits? I've been thinking that it would be fun to put one together. So, let me know what you think.

Well, my friends, I am off for the day. (After I mail my lists about this post…)

Hugs and appreciate you much.

Thanks for reading.

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

PS. If you want to know what mailing system I use… it's this one:

Try AWeber's Email Marketing Tool Risk-Free

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

One of my favorite quotes, since I became “Mom” is this:

The days are long but the years are short.

It never ceases to amaze me how the time in a day can crawl by, while a year seems to zoom right past in a heartbeat.

That's why time management is so very important to me.

One of the biggest time drains in an online business can be other people's demands on your time.

It used to be that you could control all of your contact through three places: 1. Email, 2. Phone, and 3. Snail Mail.

We talked about How to Handle the Constant Flow of Emails in a previous Expert Briefs.

Now, between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Forums – and more, there are way too many ways for people to contact us… whether we like it or not.

This question is for those of you who travel a lot and/or have someone else managing
your customer emails for you…

How do you handle Direct Messages (DMs)
from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Forums, etc?

Before we get into this, I in no way, shape or form would ever mean to imply that you should ignore your customers or your fans.

This post is about:

How to manage your time to the best of your abilities, while providing the most value and connection to your “tribe” or as I like to say “your peeps”- without allowing other people to control your time – and without letting the occasional stinkers get at you, derail you, or ruin your day.

On that note… here's what my friends had to say about this topic.

Kristen Eckstein of Self Publish on Demand says:

I both travel a lot and have customer support.

Sometimes my OBM (Online Business Manager) will answer DMs while I'm gone, but most of the time I tend to those myself. Anyone on Facebook or Twitter who's sending me a message probably knows I'm out of town, so when I get back one of the first things I do is respond to them. If it's been a few days and it doesn't seem like they realized I was gone, I apologize for not getting back to them sooner and continue on to answer their questions.

I prefer the personal touch with DMs. My Facebook friends know I trust them – that's why they're my friends. I can block them if they become abusive. Since I've built this level of trust with them, and I'm known for responding to posts personally, I haven't seen any problems with being a few days “late” on a reply. Also, my Facebook profile includes an email address that gets routed through my OBM.

Many times if I haven't replied to a DM within a couple of days (such as when I was without an internet connection for 8 days on the IM Success Cruise), the person sending the DM sends it to me in an email as well. My OBM gets the email, responds that I'm out of town, and answers their questions if she can. This frees me up to not worry about people trying to get in contact with me while I'm gone so I can have a good time – and it's a win for those trying to contact me as they do get a response and know when they can expect a personal reply from me.

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Organize Your Online Business says:

You've caught me! I ignore DMs on all social media. That's why I was surprised to get a “text” from Nicole – who was messaging me from Facebook!

My support desk link is prominently displayed on all of my websites and it is a much more dependable method for getting hold of me than DMs or email.

Alice Seba of Step-by-Step PLR with Screenshots says:

It's probably problematic for people who follow thousands or tens of thousands of people in social media. One way I deal with it is to honestly avoid those types of messages as much as I can.

• I personally don't participate in forums a lot because, at this point in my business, I believe they suck more value from my time than they give back.
• For Twitter, I don't follow everyone back and thus, I don't get a plethora of Direct Messages.
• Facebook hasn't been a very big focus for us, so our current Page following is small…but if private messages got a bit too voluminous, I'd have no qualms about shutting them off.
• As far as my personal Facebook account goes, I keep my personal and business stuff completely separate, so it's never been an issue.

I know that makes me sound unsocial and maybe a bit callous, but I have always been very mindful of time. I strongly believe in getting to know our readers and customers, but that doesn't mean my life has to be turned into one big disruption every time I log in online. We have a support system available and it's easily found from any of my websites. I believe in training our customers to use that support system and not to teach them how to use social media as a support forum because we just don't have the resources to do that. I am not a huge corporation (just a little one) and I don't have a social media team that can turn social media into a support system. So far, our wonderful customers have respected that.

Still, I do get occasional messages and how I handle them depends on my schedule and the urgency of the matter. Most times, I will copy and paste the message and give it to my virtual assistant to take care of. I might reply to the customer and say I'm using my iPhone and I don't have access to the records they need (true) and let them know my wonderful and efficient assistant will get back to them as soon as possible.

I think it's all about boundaries. If you want to be available 24/7 and through every channel, you will be. Personally, I don't want to be.

Connie Ragen Green of Huge Profits Tiny List says:

I have a wonderful assistant who answers each DM (direct message) from my social media profiles personally. She identifies herself by name, and then goes on to either answer the question or send it over to me. She stays up very late at night, so when I am fast asleep I can still be connected with people who need to reach me. This has proven to be a very good use of outsourcing, as I can't possibly answer those inquiries myself and still do what I need to do each day in my business.

The questions from my readers who hit ‘reply' to one of my emails come directly to me, unless I am out of town for more than a day or two. If someone has a question about an offer I am recommending, I prefer to answer those myself as quickly as possible. I believe you have to experiment with this model to see what works best for you, and know that having help in this area is an excellent way to grow your business more quickly.

Shannon Cherry of Quick Tweaks for More Profit says:

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

Well, I asked the question, because I was hoping for some magic tool or answer. Rats.

I have a great customer support system in place that is  checked and answered daily, plus I have a second Virtual Manager who pops in once a day just to make sure my support person didn't get hit by a beer truck or something. So that side of things is handled just fine.

Facebook is really the big problem for me, simply because I use it so much and I love it, but the messaging system is just not efficient for me. Plus, if I travel for a few days, I don't want a customer issue sitting in my Direct Messages, simply because I'm off enjoying life.

When it comes to my Facebook Page messages, I never think of going to read them, so I would hate for someone to really need help and not get it.

Here's what I discovered.

Facebook Page Messages. You Can Turn them Off.

If you've got “Contact” information all over your sales pages and in your emails and on your blog, etc. – and if you're not regularly checking your Facebook page messages (like I wasn't) – then go ahead and turn off the Direct Messages if you need to.

Here's how…

Go to whichever of your Facebook pages that you want to turn off the messaging.

Then go to settings and choose “Manage Permissions”.

On that page, you'll see this line.

Unclick the checkbox and save. Voila.

What about Twitter?

As far as Twitter messages go, they got so spammy that I don't really think that anyone communicates important messages on there anymore.

I don't check mine. Do you?

And, YouTube?

I set my account so that all comments and video responses are moderated unless it's a friend.

So, every few weeks, over a glass of wine, I go through those and approve the ones that aren't totally insane. (Hence the wine….)

Forum DMs.

Forums have been harder for me, simply because I want to be available to help people – BUT I also need to cherish my time (not just protect it, but cherish it).

So, I have had to come up with a pat answer when people DM me for personal help and that is to direct them back to the forum and then alert me of the post. If I can help, I will do so in the forum post, but that I can't personally help in Direct Messages. That's what my coaching clients pay me for.

Squidoo.

I outsource this.

Facebook Profile DMs.

Here I'm still stuck. I am friends with everyone from my Grandmother to my customers and JV partners on my Facebook Personal page. Basically, if I know you, we can be friends. So, it's hard to outsource.

I normally tell people right away to please contact me at my email address (or send them directly to my help desk if necessary).

However, I am definitely open to suggestions here.

Thanks much everyone for reading!

Warmly,
Nicole Dean

Recommended Resource:

Blog CPR:
Because Blogging Should Not Be a Chore.

Check it out here: Blog CPR

If you've missed past Expert Briefs, you can click on the undies to see them all –>

A few years ago, I asked my friends for their tips for working on the road. You can still read that post here: Run your Business from the Road

I wanted to address the issue again, as I now have more experience in travel, having spent 5 weeks in Europe this summer between the adoption travel and visiting friends.

In preparation of my trip, I asked my friends for advice, not just on working from the road, but on longer-term travel.

I asked my panel of experts for the best on-the-road working tips … with a focus on working on the road FAR away from home for longer periods of time.

What do you do to prepare before you go?

Let's see what our experts are up to….

Kristen Eckstein of Finish Writing Your Book Fast: Book Writing for Procrastinators says:

I travel a lot. If I drive more than 6 hours, I try to have a driving buddy go with me so I can take the time in the car to brainstorm new project ideas or work on my iPad. While I'm away at a conference or “vacation,” I put my email autoresponders on alert letting people know when I'll be back in the office, and direct them to my Online Business Manager for support while I'm gone. This gives me peace of mind that they'll be taken care of and them peace of mind that I'm not ignoring them. Also, I always give my active clients a personal head's up as to when I'm leaving, when I'll be back, and the status of their book projects. I've learned that communication is the #1 most important thing in customer service!

While I'm on the road or in an airport, I take time to catch up on reading, go through training materials I purchased and haven't had time for at home, make phone calls to JVs and friends, and I travel with a MiFi card so I can access email and internet from almost anywhere (this is also especially helpful in hotel rooms).

When my husband and I toured the UK in the Fall of 2011, many of the places we stayed did not have working internet. It was especially important to me during this time to have all members of my team on the same page, everyone's jobs planned out in advance, and as a result my email newsletter, blog, social media posts, and customer service calls worked seamlessly while I was gone.

I also used HootSuite to pre-schedule Facebook and Twitter posts to update my friends and followers on where I was and what I was doing. This way they could stay in contact with me, though I wasn't actually present online at the time. When I got back to an internet connection, I'd answer their questions, post pictures and make comments. This increased my exposure, made others feel I was making them a part of my life, and it was rewarding for me to see their comments on what I was doing.

One note – it was extremely important to me that we stayed at places in the UK with an internet connection, so we specifically made reservations at such places. In one place in Scotland we couldn't find such a place, so I focused on relaxing and enjoying my surroundings – equally important as staying in touch with my list.

Lastly, something I've added recently to every conference, seminar or workshop I speak at or attend, is to build in at least one full day after the event for some fun to see the local sights. For example, I attended Radical Leadership in Minnesota recently and stayed almost two full days after the event to hang out with my awesome friend and business coach, Bob Jenkins, and his girlfriend, my life coach, Therese Sparby. We enjoyed some pontoon boat time on the lake, local restaurants, and I finally got to cross riding the roller coasters inside the Mall of America off my bucket list. Even though these days of fun occurred on weekdays, I made sure my clients knew when I would be back in the office, and I monitored email once a day to answer any pressing issues.

My biggest tip when you travel at length, especially if you have one-on-one clients, is to set their expectations of how long you'll be gone, when you'll return, and who they can contact in your absence. I've found when this line of communication is open, my list is more responsive and my clients love knowing I care enough about them to keep them “in the know.”

Jeanette S. Cates, PhD of Organize Your Online Business says:

Packing to work on the road depends on the length of the trip and the purpose of the travel. When I cruise (mostly vacation) I just take my ipad, charger, and hot spot (my iPad is wifii so need the hot spot). On the ship I buy an hour's connection time and that will generally last me a week.

You see, before I go, I set up a special email address that only my staff knows about. They check all of my other email addresses and only forward those things that I am uniquely qualified to answer. Or things I need to know. And when you pare it down that way – there really is very little that you need to do while on vacation.

If I'm staying on land with full Internet connections along the way AND I need to upload or record videos, then I take my laptop, USB headset (for recording), extension cord, and chargers. I also have my Flip or Playtouch video camera. And of course my hot spot (to save on hotel connection fees) and my iPad and wireless keyboard – for taking notes in the meetings.

The ultimate packing load comes when I have to do a webinar on the road. The problem is that when you're presenting a webinar AND answering questions during the webinar, the control panel keeps popping onto the screen. So if you're recording that screen – you have a LOT of editing to do. To save that time, I carry a second computer with me – a netbook. Then I just set that computer up to record the webinar, while I present from my regular laptop.

I've been traveling with technology for many years and feel very proficient with it. But you do NOT want to get behind me in the airport security line! With two computers, an iPad, shoes, sweater, two carry on bags…well you can see why you want to choose the other line.

Alice Seba of Step-by-Step PLR You Can Use to Teach your Audience “How To” says:

The best thing is to plan ahead and have as much of the work done before you head out – and to have a team of helpers and partners on your side working on things while you're gone. When you have a team in place, going on a short or extended trip really seems like much less of a big deal.

When I'm getting ready to be away, I always do my blogging, email writing and other tasks in batches…getting as much done before I can as possible. I also write out a schedule of things that need to be done and gives those to my virtual assistant, so she can bear most of the burden while I'm gone. I don't usually take my laptop with me when I travel, but rely on my iPhone and/or iPad to check on emails and to do a few tasks here and there. I can always say I'll do more work on the road, but it just doesn't happen because I'm having too much fun. That's why I prefer to get it all done before going and when you get really focused, it's amazing how much work you can get done in a short time, so you can really enjoy your trip.

I don't have any picture for you. I am not showing you my unbathed, ratty-haired self after an extended camping trip.

Susanne Myers of  Daily Affiliate Tasks says:

I remember writing about this last summer right after we got back from a trip to Germany… well we went again this summer for nearly 3 weeks, and as always I keep learning new things.

While everything in my previous post still holds true, here are a couple more things that have worked well for me this go around.

Dropbox

I used to drag a portable hard drive around with me with “all” of my essential files on it … It never failed though.  I’d get there, start working on a blog post or wrap up a short report and couldn’t find an image or file I needed. Now, instead, I use drop box and have everything I need at my fingertips. And if something were to happen to my little travel notebook, I could easily replace it or use my husband’s laptop and still access all my files.

By the way … if you’re close to maxing out on storage, go ahead and upgrade to the premium edition and use it to store all your travel pictures and videos as well.

Note from Nik – Check out my video here about how I use Dropbox in my Business.

Have Systems in Place

I mentioned getting as much done and scheduled through autoresponder, blog drafts etc as possible. That definitely helped again this summer. I also do some checks in the weeks before our travels to make sure my existing systems are working well (for example, making sure ebooks are delivered to customers via email etc.).

Anything you are doing manually on a regular basis (like publishing that weekly newsletter) should be looked at. See if there’s a way to automate the process, schedule stuff to go out ahead of time (Aweber is great for this), or outsource it to a Virtual Assistant.

Don’t Schedule Any Big Projects To Work On

No matter what your good intentions are… unless you’re wrapping the project up on the plane ride, chances are it isn’t going to get done. At least that’s true for me. I had the best intentions to finally publish a kindle ebook while overseas, but didn’t work on it a lick.

Enjoy your travel, do what needs to be done and get back refreshed to tackle those big new projects.

Be Reachable in Multiple Ways

I mentioned in a previous post on this topic that having a team in place is a big help. This again saved me many times over this summer during our long trip to Germany to visit family. One of the best things I did was to come up with multiple ways to get in touch with my team including email, instant messages, phone and facebook messages. If one or two lines of communication go down, there’s still a way to stay connected.

Also keep in mind that there may be a pretty big time difference and let your team know if you need certain tasks accomplished sooner than usual (because you don’t want to have to get up in the middle of the night to put the finishing touches on that newsletter and send it out).

Travel Light

All I had with me this time around were my netbook and my smartphone. It worked like a charm. I snapped pictures with my phone, answered email and updated social media from there … I did my blogging and writing from the netbook. Anything else could wait until I got back home.

Cutting down on office stuff and various electronic paraphernalia along with cutting down on how many clothes and pairs of shoes I thought I needed allowed us to travel for close to three weeks with carry-on luggage only. It made getting in and out of the airport much quicker and there was less to unpack.

Share Your Travel Adventures With Your Readers

Last but not least, have fun and share your adventures with your readers. This is the first time I’ve posted a few pictures both from Germany and Paris. I’ve also shared some experiences on one of my niche sites. It’s been a lot of fun and was very well received by my readers. Look at this as another opportunity to connect on a deeper level.

Above all enjoy your trip and get back rejuvenated with all those creative juices flowing!

Nicole Dean of .. here! .. says:

I shared a lot about how I manage to run my business from the road in the blog post from last year which you can still access here:  Run your Business from the Road

However, this post is geared more towards longer-term travel, at least that's what I'm going to focus on.

• When I go to Wisconsin for 4 weeks, I can't run home if I forget something.
• When I went to Jamaica for a week, I pretty much had to work with what I had access to.
• And, when I was in Europe for 5 weeks this summer (half for our adoption in Latvia and the other half to visit friends in Ireland), I had to have my poop together or it would cost me a lot of money.

So when traveling far from home, for longer periods of time, some serious planning has to take place for business to continue to run smoothly.

Idea! I intentionally plan a 3 week or longer trip every year, simply to reset my business. If I don't, then I tend to get sucked back into it. However, if I know that I will be gone for 3 weeks or more it pushes me to systemize, delegate, and automate my business on an annual basis.

When planning a lengthy trip, the most important things to have are, in my opinion…

A plan.

To me, the most important thing to have, hands down, before traveling is a plan. If you can, schedule out all of your blog posts, your product releases and promos, and your emails to your list prior to leaving. Even better, try to have them already done and scheduled to go – without your involvement.

This is BIG. Please don't skip it. If you ignore this advice, you run the risk of running into one of two problems.

1. You will sit in front of your computer too much – because you're having to figure out your plan while you're away.
2. You may avoid work all together because you don't know what to do when you get on your laptop. This is even more dangerous as it can cost you more money than you may be able to afford.

During my time in Europe, I saw what both scenarios looked like.

I  had planned out my first two weeks before I left. But only the first two weeks. So, while I was in Latvia, all was well. I worked about 1/2 hour per day because I knew exactly what I needed to do. However, when I went to Ireland (3 weeks into my trip), I hadn't planned my business out that far, so I avoided work all together. This was definitely not ideal and, while I had a brilliant time with friends and wouldn't trade the experience it for the world, in all honesty I did not meet my financial goals during that time.

Your laptop (and a backup plan in case that breaks or is stolen).

You'll need an iPad, Tablet, or a laptop to work from – unless you're one of those weirdos who can write a blog post on their phone (like David Perdew…)

I pretty much always bring three things.

• My laptop (for writing and scheduling emails to my list)
• My iPad for checking email and Facebooking
• My iPhone for pictures, Skyping, answering quick email, Facebook, and other miscellaneous activities. Oh, I use it to make phone calls, too, if I'm in the United States, too. Imagine that.

Warning! While I was on my most recent trip, a woman sitting less than 5 feet away from me had her bag stolen during continental breakfast. It was a terrible terrible situation and I felt helpless to assist her since I was in conversation and didn't see what happened.

It made me really think about my laptop sitting upstairs in my room and what would happen if it were in my bag and stolen in the middle of my trip. So, be sure to have an idea for what you would do, if necessary, to continue working.

Chargers and Converter.

Be sure to pack your chargers for any electronics you have. If you do not, it may be difficult to find new ones wherever you go.

If you have a USB charger and your laptop, then you can buy less converters, we found. While not optimal, we charged the laptop and then charged one phone in the laptop USB, too. It was slow, but required less converter-juggling.

I would recommend, if traveling to a non-English speaking country, to have at least one converter before your plane lands. lol. We ended up in Latvia, with no converters, and no idea where to find one. I thought they'd be everywhere. I thought wrong. Trying to explain what a converter was in charades was interesting to say the least. Luckily we finally found someone at the Electronics store to help.

Access to your passwords.

You won't get far without access to your passwords. (I use Roboform to manage this.

Unfortunately, I also recommend you keep your Roboform access information in a second secure place, in case, heaven forbid, your laptop is stolen or breaks.

Skype

This is only really important if you're traveling overseas so that you can make phone calls easily. I used Skype in Latvia to call cabs and to call home to the US, too. If you have internet, this is a great alternative.

Note! Don't end up with a $300 phone bill. The thing you need to be careful of is leaving your phone on. Depending on your phone plan, you can get charged major bucks. I had my phone on, but had it set on Airplane Mode so that the cellular part was off and I couldn't be charged for incoming calls or data usage.

Dropbox

I can't live without Dropbox anymore. I don't even want to think about traveling without it. It would be so difficult.

I love you, Dropbox!!!

A wifi connection of some sort.

This is pretty critical. Like Kristen said, make sure the place you are staying has wifi.When we were looking at apartments in Latvia, we knew that we had to have one with wifi so I could check in easily while the kids had down time, or late at night. Be sure to inquire. Don't assume you'll be able to find a quiet place to work otherwise. When we were in Ireland, we were able to find wifi pretty much everywhere, but we still make sure when making reservations that we would have access. Just double check.

A team of trustworthy and talented people who have your back.

I adore my team. Without them, I couldn't do what I do.

Your priorities.

If you have all of the above in place, then the thing you need more than anything else is your priorities. It's WAY too easy to say “One more minute… ” and have your entire trip fly by with your face in your computer.

Don't let work let you miss out on these memories…

  My son and I riding bicycles in Latvia.

At the top of the Guiness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland with my husband.

That's what life is all about. Uhhh… the memories. Not the Guiness.

Much love,
Nicole

PS. Did we miss anything? Please share your thoughts, too!