Attention: To All Business Owners Who Want More Sales...
Here's 3 Reasons Why you must read this entire letter...
1. If you are running any type of business then knowing how to write ads is a MUST! Fail at this and you'd be better off keeping your day job!
2. The tool you're about to discover requires little to NO skill and guarantees you'll be to create all of the ad copy you could ever need for any marketing promotion you create!
3. You'll be shown how to Write or even Re-Write your own Sales Letters from scratch before you leave this page!
Author: John Clark
Why Bother With "LinkedIn" or "Facebook"?
By John Clark (c) 2008
That's what I used to ask myself as numerous acquaintances kept
tagging me to be part of their realm of contacts in FaceBook.com
or LinkedIn.com. It seemed a nuisance until I sat down with an
old contact, Don Tinney from EOS Worldside (EOS=Entrepreneurial
Operating Systems). Don is an EOS Implementer whose job is quite
simple. He says simply, "We make millionaires out of owners of
small to medium size companies". So maybe he has something to
say I should know.
I was in both LinkedIn and FaceBook and didn't see the
significance. My business was humming along just fine and
didn't need the distraction. Don forced my mind open a bit and
so I took it upon myself to find out if there was some gold to
mine there that I had missed. Like hunting for Morel mushrooms,
it went from "none to be found" to being surrounded with all
kinds of uses. Here is my quick rundown of uses in the hopes all
our business partners can begin to take advantage of these
tools.
To begin with, I'm going to concentrate on LinkedIn.com because
I find it the most dialed in of the two for "business
networking". While I'm in Facebook also my contacts there are
almost all personal life related. Sure, we all can use a few
friends but the majority of my day is more about business and
LinkedIn appears to me to have a larger corner on it. So if you... * Are new to LinkedIn and don't know how to use it to help
your business and career * Have been using LinkedIn yet felt like you haven't really
accomplished anything with it * Are trying to persuade your friends to join LinkedIn and
want / need to communicate the value of it * Wondering if LinkedIn type sites can help increase your web
site's visibility * Think there's no real value in LinkedIn ... this is for you! Here is a small amount I've learned about using LinkedIn,
understanding there are millions of users who know a whole lot
more about it than I do. This still should give you a starter
kit on the value. It will also be a great link section to teach
you as much as you can possibly know about this. Off-Site Factors Enhance Your Web Site's Ranking More than
On-Site Optimization
The original criteria the creators of Google used to rank web
sites is still the same as it is today. It ranked sites
according to the value of the web sites that linked to the
evaluated web site. If you have dozens of important sites with
links to your site and those sites are related in subject matter
to what your site is all about, it will out-weigh many of the
things you put (or fail to put) in your site for rankings.
When you have links to your web site in your LinkedIn or
Facebook listings, those are off-site links. If you make
recommendations for other people in your circle of contacts and
include your web site address as part of your signature then you
have even more. Make dozens of good recommendations and receive
them in return. It's truly a "giver's gain" world there.
Add to this some effective Public Relations campaigns and you
can really begin to boost your rankings. Write articles like this
to online magazines and make links to your web site part of your
signature. It takes some real honest to goodness work but the
results can be magic in your rankings. There is more on how all
this works in one of our blog articles: The Most Important Key
to Web Site Traffic!
Business Development - Marketing - Sales We all know that strength of a warm lead. All the initial
hurdles have been jumped. Linked in contacts can help you get to
the right people. Interested in doing business with Acme
Widgets? Do a search in LinkedIn for current and former
employees of the company. Find out if any of them are connected
to someone you know in your circle. If so, ask that contact to
give you a formal introduction.
Before you meet that contact look over their interests if
posted. Going to meet someone who is President of the company
you want to work with? Look them up in advance and discover
their interests and background. See who they know that you may
also know. Create common interests and connections from that
information and start the conversation warmly.
Did you know that ALL 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are
represented on LinkedIn? Either the CEOs or the upper level
management are to be found there. There must be something to it.
Those who are active on it may just be looking for you and who
you are on LinkedIn. If you're not there, they may wonder why.
This is dang near as good as the Mason secret handshake without
all the silly rituals or red beanie cap.
For a good article on warm calling using LinkedIn see A Guide To
Business Development 2.0 (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/
business_development_20.php).
When searching for companies, uncheck "current companies only"
and find out what former employees have to say about the
company. What kind of talent has left the company and how fast?
Contact them and find out things the company may not want you to
know. Learn their weaknesses and how to market to it. The list
is endless.
Increase Your Own Credibility Imagine that before agreeing to see you on a sales call the
business owner checks to see if you are on LinkedIn. Not being
there could be a strike against you because he feels he's
flying a little blind in your regard. If you are there, he or
she may want to see your background, your connections, or your
recommendations. Finding numerous positive reviews from others
who have worked with you can create a positive frame of mind. If
they know some of the same people you do, it can get even better. Here it can get even better - receiving calls from buyers who
found you on LinkedIn and want to buy something from you.
Shocking? See how all this can work in the real world in Using
LinkedIn to Make the Sale (http://www.linkedintelligence.com/
using-linkedin-to-make-the-sale/).
Career Enhancement and Job Search Enhance your efforts in searching for a job or finding qualified
applicants for positions you need to fill. It should be no
stretch to your imagination at this point on how you can take
advantage of this when looking for career advancement. Use your
LinkedIn link as part of your email signature or refer to it in
your resume. A large number of HR people and managers will
recognize it. If you've done your homework and have numerous
recommendations, it can really work in your behalf. Make friends
and get recommendations before you need them. The best way is to
start by recommending others first.
For more on this check out "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn"
(http://www.linkedintelligence.com/using-linkedin-to-make-the-sale/). Increase Your Website's Visibility This will be the subject of my next article because this one's
getting a bit long. In short, there are two main things that can
positively affect your website ranking and visibility with
search engines. The first, and least important are your on-site
factors. The most important is your off-site factors. This
aspect is mostly ignored by business owners and web developers.
It is all part of true professional web development. In this
regard you will truly get what you paid for.
If you are a member of LinkedIn - log out and then search for
yourself. When you find yourself, copy the address from your
browser's address bar. Use it for a link in your signature for
emails. Other Sites for More Education: Top Ten Reasons to Use LinkedIn
(http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/04/03/top-reasons-to-use-linkedin/) How do I use LinkedIn to find a job
(http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_use_linkedin_to_find_a_job.html) How to use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content
(http://www.copyblogger.com/use-linkedin-to-create-content/) Wall Street Journal - The Right Way to use LinkedIn
(http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2007/08/15/the-right-way-to-use-linkedin/)
John Clark is the President of Wow Web Works in Kalamazoo, MI.
This and other articles of interest are posted on his blog at
www.wowwebworks.com/community. His profile in LinkedIn. You can
also contact us at wowwebworks.com or at 269-321-5041.
Home Page Quick Link
Tags:
| 
Print this page
