Sarah Paine

Ok so my last post highlighted a few tips and tricks I have read up on to help marketers climb those hurdles. I want to come back and touch upon another tricky road block you probably don’t even see.  Most times wen you take a look at a problem such as lack of traffic, low conversion etc there are a few pieces of the problem you assume to be true.  Perhaps you feel you have plenty of links or that your ad copy is powerful.

What you will want to do is second guess anything that you take for granted as being evident.  Why the heck would you do this?  Well the issue is, many times we assume something is fact or evident when in fact that is not the case.  Take the extra few minutes to test these assumptions to see if they hold their weight.  Perhaps Google has wiped out many of your article links as duplicate content, or maybe your ad copy needs tweaking.

Any time you bump into an issue throw this step into your problem solving methods and I guarantee you will come out wiser.  In fact, you may begin to drop many of your assumptions - remember that old saying … never assume.  Well you get the point on that!

Have you ever heard of Eternal Return, the theory recently brought back by Friedrich Nietzsche?  What if you had to live your life over and over again from start to end?  Is this a horrifying thought?  I hope not.  In looking at how you have been running your internet business, would you run it the same way if you could start all over again?  The thought process that accompanies this theory may in some ways be painful yet helpful.

If you would not run things the same way then why not change it so that in six months you can look back with certainty that things are moving in the right direction.  As a beginner, attempting to create a path to success can be a tricky one wrought with errors.  Luckily for us, the longer you run the business, the better you should be as you will be seasoned with time.

Use this theory to keep yourself in check every few weeks.  If you find you are lagging in article writing, blog posting or product creation, think about where you will be in six months and make the move to better the business.  The more you stay on top of things the sweeter and greater your success will be.  Good luck!

If you have not come across Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence you may be missing out on some excellent information to give yourself and your internet business a boost.  The book points to the fact that Emotional Intelligence may be more important than IQ when it comes to being successful in business and life.  Today’s post will take a look at the facets presented in the book and what they mean to your internet business.

The first facet is self awareness.  Seems a little strange that you would ponder how self aware you are when it comes to your  internet business however, part of self awareness is knowing what your limitations, goals and strengths are.  Each of these will play an important role in figuring out where your business will go, which aspects of it you can handle and what should be outsourced.

The second facet is self regulation.  Self regulation simply involves keeping your emotions in check and behaving accordingly.  How can this play into internet business?   I for one have found that it is rather easy to make a snap decision and throw in the towel.  Even if you are not yet solely reliant on your internet business for your income, it is easy to make a quick decision that you will regret later.

The third facet is motivation.  It is extremely important to stay motivated in order to succeed. The trick is in understanding how to determine what it is that keeps you motivated to stay on the right path.  If you notice that you are not as motivated as you once were then maybe it is time to take a look at how some new elements of your business can  get you back in motion.

The fourth facet is is empathy.  Connecting empathy into your business may seem a little odd at first if you do not stop to think what empathy really means.  It does not necessarily mean feeling sorry for everyone and everything.  What it means is that you need to have the ability to put yourself in your customers shoes in order to see success.  Would you buy your product?  Does your product solve the customers issues?

The fifth and final facet is social skill.  Have you networked to some of the other successful internet business owners? If not then why?  The more people you know that are successful the higher the likelihood of your own success.  The wider your social network the better your resources when you hit a tough patch.  The same is true in the non-virtual world.  Take a look at each of the facets and see if you could use some work if so then hop to it you will only be benefiting yourself and your business.

A recent viewer was kind enough to drop by and leave a question regarding how to come up with continuous blog posts. In fact the question was simple…how do you come up with blogs posts? The easiest answer I can provide is to simply read and carry a small note pad around with you. In fact, I read almost continuously through out the day and many times the content is not specific to internet business.

Each time I read something new & I find something that strikes me I write it down. Later on in the evening I open up my blog and write a post on what ever it was that was intriguing that day. In some instances, you may find that you come up with more than one topic in a day which is great. Take the topics and use them for future posts the more you have the better off you are!

Today is a prime example of how I churn out my blog posts. I was reading through a Harvard Business review and came across a piece called The Human Side of Management. The piece reflects on how corporations have to shift from lacking a conscience to becoming more personable in order to retain top talent and tenured employees. The piece goes on to list multitude of ways in which this can be accomplished. How does this relate to you business or personal life?

It is simple, be a little more human in how you run things. Your customers will appreciate it as will your employees and family. It is the tie that binds all of us together despite religion, nationality, & economic backgrounds etc. Of course as you expand your business and you hire on employees this will be vital in retaining your talent. Run your internet business as though it were a good personal friend and you will be taking the chore piece out of writing a blog post and things will begin to flow more naturally to you.

If you create a blog that sees success in a year will you wish you had two blogs?  Well can you get too much of a good thing?  Of course you can, but remember good things come in moderation.  So how do you know if you should run more than one blog?

Well for starters, are you putting enough time into the blog you have?  The more you post the better off you are in the eyes of Google so do you have the opportunity to post once every day or two or even every few days on the blog you have?  If this is not an option then stop where you are or plan on outsourcing your blogs to a ghost writer.

If you have the time then take a look at the topics that could occupy the second blog you are thinking of running.  Are you hoping to monetize these subjects?  If so, is it possible to monetize them with products of your own or affiliate products?  If you outsource large portions of your work could you afford to multiply that by two?

If these questions can be easily answered and you feel comfortable moving forward then why not start a second blog.  It is possible to bring two times the income, or if one flops you may also see one succeed.  The trick here is you will never know unless you actually give it a whirl.  So what are you waiting for?  Do a little research and get tat blog rolling!