We’re finally in the home stretch of the Get Clients Now! - Filling the Pipeline program.

I have to be honest… I’m falling back on my old ways again! When I started the series, I mentioned that one of the primary reasons I started posting my process on the blog is that I get all “gung-ho” at the beginning… do GREAT for the first two weeks… then completely slack off at the end. Apparently the old me has returned!

I should clarify though, because this is making me sound like a total slacker - which is far from the truth, LOL. My continuing problem of focusing so hard on client work, makes it difficult to focus on marketing efforts. I’m having a bit of a time juggling the two, which is why my scores (below) for last week are very low.

Success Ingredients - Week 4

If you read my post last week on the business benefits of social media, you’ll know that I’ve definitely done my homework for that particular Success Ingredient.

I’m still in progress on Description of Services and Web Promotion Strategy. I probably took things too far, but I’ve been analyzing my current web site and have a whole new game plan.

Currently, my primary web site is a static (html) site, which uses WordPress for this blog, and CRE Loaded eCommerce software for the Services section. I’ve been working on updating my services, when I realized that no one really uses the shopping cart. They do get rates, but the majority of my clients come to me first requesting a proposal - if they like what they see, I prepare a contract and invoice and we get started!

I realize that most people are not just going to plunk down $1k (or more) through my shopping cart (paying by PayPal no less) without at least talking with someone (aka me) first. Almost all of my clients pay by check anyway (only clients with smaller to mid-range services pay via PayPal - those getting complete site design and development almost always pay by check).

I’m also so completely in love with WordPress and all of it’s features, that I decided it’s time for a BIG change on the main site. I’ll be using the same design, but will be completely re-developing it using WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System).

As for the shopping cart, I’ll be doing away with that, in favor of just providing information on my rates and services through WordPress. While in this process, I’m doing a bit of re-organizing and weeding-out of infrequently purchased services, etc.

I’d like to say that I’ll have this done by the end of the week, but that’s just not realistic. I’m going to have to give myself at least a month for this one. At least this is a major marketing step, but not so much filling the pipeline. More of a re-building the backbone of the site. After all, as a web design company - I need to have the best site possible to entice more customers. If that means re-thinking and updating things in the process, that’s fine by me!

Another huge benefit to making this switch to WordPress, is that it is a GREAT tool for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). WordPress by itself has some great features, but when you add in some SEO related plugins, you have that many more options.

So, this is one combined effort, as far as updating my services, as well as working on my web promotion strategies. All in one (very big!) shot, LOL.

1. Networking Venues - Progress: 100%
   by July 4, 2008
2. Description of Services - Progress: 80%
   by July 18, 2008 - This will roll over into next month…
   
3. Web Promotion Strategy - Progress: 20%
   by July 18, 2008 - This will roll over into next month…

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 4

I was completely swamped with client work last week, so my progress here was VERY poor last week. I have a feeling my numbers will be equally as low this week… I’m going to try my best, though!

I know if I’m not working on client sites, this week - I’ll be working on re-vamping my web site. Good for the SI item - “1 hour a day on SI” - but not so good for the other actions. But hey… if I’m spending 4-5 hours in a day on an SI, can that count for more than one “Y” - Please? LOL

Oh - and I’ll fess up that I actually had two “0″ days last week, so I did a tiny bit of GCN work over the weekend to make up for it a little bit…

• Total (# of 10)
  7 - 6 - 6 - 4 - 3

Program Goal - Week 4

Without a doubt, I set my sights way too high this program. I knew so in week 2, but throught if I aimed high it might happen.

No such luck… only a tiny bit more progress than last week. I haven’t been giving my marketing efforts 100% attention this time around, though, so I am not surprised by the low scores.

Again, I’m wishing I stuck with my goals last month (which were for 10 new prospects / 2 new clients) because then my percentages would be MUCH higher than they are now, LOL. Oh well!

• Program Goal
  20 new prospects / 4 new clients
• My Progress
  40% - 8 new prospects / 25% - 1 new client

Will You Reach Your Goals?

How are things looking for you now that we’re in the last week of the program? Are you closing in on your goals, or do you have a bit of work to do next time around? Please leave a comment below!

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A bit overdue, but I’ve been wanting to write a post about social networking for a while now. Casual Friday is as good a day as any to kick back with a little bit of socializing - so I hope you’ll join me!

More Than Just An Online Water Cooler

Let’s face it… participating in social media can be fun. But, if utilized correctly, it can also be a fantastic networking tool that can help grow your blog and bring in new business. Of course, if you aren’t careful to use it productively, it can be a ginormous time-suck, as well - so you also  so you also need to learn when to disconnect.

Wading Through Open Waters

With all of the various sites out there - for professional networking like LinkedIn, micro-blogging like Twitter and Plurk, social bookmarking like Del.ici.ous and StumbleUpon, lifestreaming like FriendFeed and SocialThing and even good old fashioned messageboards and forums - it can be quite overwhelming to figure out exactly what is what.

And if the current number of social services in existence isn’t overwhelming enough, there are constantly new ones popping up - seemingly on a daily basis! The decision as to which sites you should utilize can be a difficult one to make - one I’m still working on myself, though I do have my favorites.

There are of course pros and cons to using one service over another. You can easily search online to find countless articles listing both the benefits and drawbacks of each.

However, I find the best way to figure it out, is to just setup a profile and test it out for yourself. As with any friendship, you’ll see which of the social services you click with more than others. I just say stick with those and go with the flow!

All About Forming Relationships

Pretty obvious, but the point to social media is… well, to be SOCIAL!

The primary goal behind networking online is to help build relationships. One example of the type of crowd you’ll find utilizing these services are bloggers - the same bloggers whose posts you read as soon as they pop up in your RSS feed reader. In many cases the ones that you look up to and admire.

Yes, you might comment on their blogs and get a reply, but you can only take that so far. Through social sites - in my case, especially with Twitter - I’ve been able to have direct conversations with many of writers whose blogs I enjoy. 140 character conversations that have bled over into emails and such.

Yeah, But Can Social Networking Help My Business?

Ok, it’s fun - but is there any true benefit to networking online? To this I have to give a resounding YES!

It might take a while - and what you find might be very indirect. But in my experience - especially within the last month - I have definitely started seeing a business benefit to my efforts.

I’ve “friended” (yes, that’s a word now, LOL) so many great people - from other designers, developers, mompreneurs, bloggers - from computer experts to online newbies - you name it!

Connecting With Your Peers

I’ve been able to connect with so many great web designers, web developers and programmers, as well as a large number of moms (mompreneurs), bloggers and more.

I’ve had lots of fun working late nights on client web sites, during the peak hours where the other tech type are working as well. There’s a sense of oneness when we’re all at work, making the occasional tweet about whatever project we’re currently consumed with.

As a front-end web developer, there are several technical issues that you’ll run into in the course of developing a web site. I can always count on twitter being on my side in one of these snags… I’ve made many a tweet with a “cry for help” about some issue (usually relating to making a site display properly on IE6 - my fellow techies out there know exactly what I’m talking about ).

Anyway, I can always count on tweeting about a particular issue, and getting one or several helpful responses within a matter of minutes. In the same regards, when I hear a “cry for help” myself, I offer a helpful hand if I can, as well.

Often times help comes in the form of a link to a great web site or blog with helpful information on creating Valid XHTML / CSS… some great WordPress tweak or plugin, etc.

Anyway, not to bore the non-technical readers out there, but this is my own experience with Twitter - certainly NOT a time-waster in this regard!

Strictly Professional

Of course, I can’t leave out LinkedIn, which is primarily known as being a business/professional networking site. I initially used LinkedIn to connect with friends from high school and college, but have since been adding my online friends, too.

More importantly, I’ve been able to connect with several of my clients through LinkedIn as well. One of LinkedIn’s features is that you are able to leave recommendations for people (and vice versa). This is especially helpful because it gives real credibility!

Through professional sites like LinkedIn, you are able to post your resume and professional qualifiations. If you have a public recommendation or two, it just helps show your expertise in your given field. In my case I’ve received five glowing recommendations from clients through my LinkedIn profile.

If you are in business for yourself, I highly recommend getting a LinkedIn profile of your own!

Real Life Examples (And Some Link Love)

Just a few examples below of people I follow and who follow me on Twitter (among other sites)… and I hope they don’t mind me linking to them - I’m forever grateful, though, so figured some Link Love wouldn’t hurt!

• Darren Rowse of ProBlogger
  Lets face it - if you are reading this, and have a blog, you know who ProBlogger is! Making a six figure salary on blogging alone, Darren is THE expert when it comes to being a professional blogger. You’d think someone like this is completely out of reach - this is the type of person you look up to in the blog world! But you know what - he’s a very down to earth guy! Very friendly on Twitter and Plurk, always asking thoughtful questions and such. Darren made a few Twitter experiments a few months ago in a “Re-Tweeted” series. He posed a few questions on Twitter, then linked to the responses on his blog. My responses ended up on two of these posts, and I received tons of blog (and Twitter) traffic because of it!
• Jon Phillips of Spyre Studios and Freelance Folder
  Through StumbleUpon and my old blog is where I first “met” Jon. I noticed he gave a “thumbs up” to several of my blog posts. I was quite thrilled at that, and this was actually my first introduction to StumbleUpon, as well. Since moving to this blog, I’ve connected with Jon on more of the bookmarking sites such as Digg and Design Float, as well as Twitter where I’m most active on. He submitted my 6 Phases of Web Design & Development post to several of the bookmarking sites and all I can say is WOW! This is by far my most popular post, and I continue to receive hits to it on a constant basis. Through Jon’s connections and linking, this post ended up in the “Best of March 2008″ link roundups on both Smashing Magazine and Vandelay Design. A huge accomplishment in my book, considering what a new blogger I am (coming up on 1 year soon…). I was even featured on the Spyre Studios blog as having a “Kick-Ass Blog Design” Better yet, though, especially as far as real business is concerned, I was just referred a potential new client because of the relationship that we’ve formed - this prospect is now my newest client (a big one, at that…). So that’s “proof in the pudding” as they say!
• Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz
  I adore Naomi’s writing style - she knows her stuff and is not afraid to speak her mind! When Naomi started offering her Itty Bitty Packages, I knew I had to get in on the action. I immediately hired Naomi for her home business marketing / consulting - this of course involved several phone calls, and emails, etc. We’ve since linked up on several social web sites as well. It’s through continual networking with Naomi that I’ve hired her several times… she’s also hired me to design several banner ads, as well. Through the relationship that we’ve formed, Naomi also wrote a post on her blog featuring me as one of her success stories. I have received quite a bit of traffic from this post, and have received several inquiries as a result, as well. No definite work yet, but several prospects as a result.
• Wendy Piersall of SparkPlugging
  I had been reading Wendy’s original blog network, eMoms at Home for quite some time - I’d always be reading and would occasionally comment. Then she posted links to some of her social networking profiles, and I took the bait, LOL. We’re connected on Twitter and LinkedIn, for example. We’ve had several little but very helpful chats over Twitter, which have led to some full emails (longer than 140 characters!). Aside from the invaluable advice Wendy gave me, she recently asked if she could interview me for SparkPlugging! It’s an honor to have been interviewed, and I’ve received a bit of traffic from the post - which is doing fairly well on Design Float, as well (“floats” greatly appreciated as well, btw!) Without our prior connection through social media (specifically Twitter), I’m sure this interview never would have happened! Yes, we’ve taken our communications beyond Twitter over to email, but it’s the little 140 character conversations that helped pave the way for something more.

Let’s Connect - Friend Me!

Without further ado, below is my massively long list of social media profiles. There are a LOT here - most of which I am using, although there are a few a few I’ve opened up just to reserve my name… not quite sure yet what I’ll use it for, but all in due time…

Please feel free to friend me! I’d love to connect with you!

Easy Status Updates - Ping.fm

I can’t link to a billion social services and not recommend Ping.fm - this site is still in beta, but you can request an account by using the beta code: dreamofping

With all of the social sites - in particular the micro-blogging ones - the thought of going to each one and individually posting a status update is almost too much to bear…

Enter Ping.fm! You’re able to link many of your existing social media accounts to Ping.fm - just log in, post an update and all of your social accounts will be updated in one shot. A major time saver! I find it incredibly helpful, and I use it all the time now.

Their list of supported media sites is constantly growing, but at the moment you can make updates to 19 social services (including Blogger, Facebook, LinkedIn, My Space, Plurk, Pownce, Tumblr, Twitter and more) via 7 tools (such as AOL, GTalk, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Mobile Applications, Email, and more).

Anyway, I clearly can’t say enough good things about Ping.fm, so you might want to give it a shot!

Life Streaming, Too!

The only downside to Ping.fm, is that this isn’t used for the conversational aspects of social networking. You can post your updates - but this isn’t meant for you to view your friends updates, receive responses or respond directly to your friends, etc.

For something like that - Life Streaming, as they call it - you might want to check out SocialThing (still in beta - I have 1 beta invitation left if anyone wants it…), or FriendFeed might be a better option for you.

I kind of feel that there’s still nothing like getting right into each individual site to converse directly with your friends, though. Twitter is good for replies and direct messages, for example -  but I do find Plurk’s conversation mode to be quite interesting! Much better organized in that individual conversations are grouped together, rather than Twitter’s general timeline.

Anyway, this post has gone on long enough, LOL, so…

Now I Want To Hear From YOU!

Which of the social media sites do you like the best? Why do you use that one over another? Which micro-blogging platform to you like the best? Which social bookmarking site brings you the most traffic (StumbleUpon by far brings me the most traffic, btw).

Please feel free to contact me with a link to your social site(s) of choice, or if you don’t mind it being “out there” go ahead and post the link(s) in your comment below. I’d love to get to know my readers better, and what better way than through social networking!

Welcome to the “other side” LOL - the 2nd half of the Get Clients Now! 28 Day Marketing Program aimed at Filling the Pipeline.

Last week was a good week for me, however I’m really seeing how much WORK marketing really is! I admit my daily scores are not as high as I would have liked. Lack of time is something that continues to surprise me, now that I’ve taken the freelance plunge and have so much more time to spend on marketing efforts…

However, I’ve always had a problem with putting client work ahead of my own - and even now working for myself full time, I’m still putting my clients first. This is great for customer service, of course! And fantastic for meeting (and exceeding) my client deadlines… but not so great as far as marketing goes.

Success Ingredients - Week 2

I’m very happy with my progress on the Networking Venues Success Ingredient. Now, I must say this is something that will probably never truly be complete - this goes for all of my Success Ingredients - as they are something you must constantly be improving upon.

As far as Networking Venues, though, I’ve reached 100% of my goal in that I have narrowed down exactly which social media sites that I think will be of most benefit to me, and which ones I want to pursue the most. I have a blog post scheduled for later this week that will link to all of my profiles, as well as explain some of the benefits that I’ve found by participating in social networking.

1. Networking Venues - Progress: 100%
   by July 4, 2008
2. Description of Services - Progress: 75%
   by July 11, 2008 - I’ve back-tracked my progress here, as I realize I have a bit more to do than originally planned, including re-arranging my services and creating several new packages that will make things easier for potential new clients looking for information on my web design services…
   
3. Web Promotion Strategy - Progress: 20%
   by July 18, 2008

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 2

Not nearly as good as last week, here (and I did give myself a complete day off for the 4th of July! which is why I had a big fat ZERO that day, LOL). I really need to work harder at my daily/weekly actions this week!

• Total (# of 10)
  6 - 7 - 7 - 7 - 0

Program Goal - Week 2

In all honesty, I’m thinking that I set the bar too high on my program goals this time around. I’ve got a long way to go (and I’m wishing I kept my same goals as last time… doubling my goals was quite a bit ambitious, and I’ll honestly be pretty surprised if I reach them.)

It’s always good to have strong goals to aim for, though. I’d say these count as an attempt towards a “scare yourself goal“. We’ll have to see what I can pull out of my hat in the last 2 weeks of the program!

I received quite a few inquires last week. It’s fun to track where these came from - some are from my blog commenting and forum participation. Some are referrals, and some are unknown. I’m wondering if a few of the most recent inquries came to me from my interview on Sparkplugging (I hope you’ll have a look - Wendy Piersall asked me some GREAT questions about the process I went through in making the move to running my business full time).

• Program Goal
  20 new prospects / 4 new clients
• My Progress
  35% - 7 new prospects / 25% - 1 new client

Half-Way Through… Where Are You At?

How is everyone doing at the half-way point? Are you right on track with your program goals? Too ambitious… not ambitious enough…? Please leave a comment below and let everyone know how you’re doing!

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Here we are at the 2nd week of the Get Clients Now! 28 Day Marketing Program aimed at Filling the Pipeline. I hope everyone had a productive first week!

I’ve been doing a lot of work on my Success Ingredient items (specifically Networking Venues). I’m seeing a huge difference this time around as far as being able to spend MUCH more time on the program specifics… maybe a little TOO much time, LOL, but good none-the-less.

Success Ingredients - Week 1

I seem to be putting off the Description of Services (repeat of last month…) this time in favor of the Networking Venues. I’ve done a great deal of work in this area, updating some of my unused social media profiles, and setting up a lot of new ones. I’ve got a post on social media in the works for later this week where I’ll link to all of my profiles…

1. Networking Venues - Progress: 75%
   by July 4, 2008 - Swaped this with Description of Services
2. Description of Services - Progress: 90%
   by July 11, 2008 - Swaped this with Networking Venues
   
3. Web Promotion Strategy - Progress: 10%
   by July 18, 2008

   I mentioned last week that I’m reading Itty Biz’s new eBook:
   SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja to help with this Success Ingredient. If you haven’t bought the eBook yet - today’s the last chance for you to get the $9 discount - so consider getting it at the discounted rate today!

   Get $9 OFF until July 1st with the Discount Code: MovingDay

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 1

I did great last week as far as accomplishing items from my daily / weekly action list. I’ve been able to spend SO much time focusing on my marketing efforts, since taking the “freelance plunge” in order to run my business full time.

• Total (# of 10)
  7 - 9 - 8 - 8 - 7

Program Goal - Week 1

I’m off to a slow start as far as reaching my program goals, but I’m only 1 week into this program, so I expect this will pick up.

On the new client front - I now have new work from an existing client, and am wondering whether or not I should include that in the New Client count?

It generally does take less work to get new work from an existing client, however there is still work involved, which is why I’m considering including this in my Program Goal Progress. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

I’m on the verge of adding a NEW client to the list, but have to wait for the paperwork to come in before I can count this as official.

• Program Goal
  20 new prospects / 4 new clients
• My Progress
  10% - 2 new prospects / 0% - 0 new clients

How Was Your First Week? And A Question…

I’m anxious to see how everyone last week! Please leave a comment below and let us know about your progress. Are there any specific challenges you have been facing with the program?

And a specific question: What are your thoughts as far as including New work from an Old client in your “New Client” list?

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For those of you who have been following along with the Get Clients Now! posts, you know that I’ve just started a 2nd program this weekend.

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, please see the Intro Post on the series - basically, I’m making myself accountable for my marketing efforts by publicly posting my goals and progress on the program found in the book Get Clients Now! A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches by C.J. Hayden

This Month’s Focus

Get Clients Now focuses on the Four Stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle:

• Filling the Pipeline
• Following Up
• Getting Presentations
• Closing Sales

Although my first program focused on Filling the Pipeline. At the risk of being repetitive, I’ve decided to focus this program on on Filling the Pipeline again.

I’m doing this because primarily, with my last program, I was still juggling both a full time day job while running my business part time (approximately 20-30 hours a week on nights and weekends). With only 4-5 hours a day to spend on my business, it just wasn’t realistic for me to dedicate 1-2 hours a day of that time on marketing. So my marketing efforts were often put on the back burner.

This time will be different! I’ve just finished up my first week running my business full time (I recently took the freelance plunge, and am LOVING that I can spend so much time focusing on my business and my clients, etc.) Last week was amazing to say the least - I got so much accomplished, and really do have to wonder how I managed before. I still have so much to do (both in house projects, as well as client work).

Anyway, my last program was hugely successful, despite the fact that I was only able to spend about half of the time that I wanted to on my marketing efforts. This time around, I will be able to dedicate the proper amount of time and effort to the program, and I’m very excited about the potential that will bring.

So, without further ado, let’s begin the program!

Action Worksheet - My Program Goals and How I Will Obtain Them

Below are my program goals for my second Get Clients Now! program. If you are joining along, you can download the FREE marketing plan worksheets from the Get Clients Now web site.

Although I’m working on Filling the Pipeline again, the book has so many suggestions, that I will be varying my program specifics greatly this time. Yes, some elements are the same, but there are some new ones thrown in as well. I’m also doubling my program goals from the last time.

Start Date

• June 21, 2008

What strategies will you use?

• Networking and Referral Building
• Writing and Publicity
• Advertising

Where are you stuck or what needs the most work?

• Filling the Pipeline

How much business do you have now?

• $X,XXX / month
  Yes, I’m still keeping the dollar amounts private
  

How much business do you really want?

• $X,XXX / month x 2
  I’d like to double my monthly business income

What would that get you?

• Enough of a monthly income to not only replace my old paycheck, but to save up for a new computer, as well.

What is your program goal?

• 20 new prospects / 4 new clients

What will be your reward?

• New office/computer/organizational supplies
  $50 maximum
  

Success Ingredients

1. Description of Services
   I got a big head start last month, but still have some finalizing to do. I also want to re-structure my shopping cart so the services are listed in a more user friendly format. As-is now, it’s more suited to other internet professionals who know exactly what they need. I’d like to put together more packages that would be better suited to web newbies.
   by July 4, 2008
2. Networking Venues
   Something else I got a head start on last month, but need to finalize. I’d like to narrow down which social media sites I plan to utilize the most, maximize my profiles on these sites - and start using them!
   by July 11, 2008
3. Web Promotion Strategy
   This might involve some paid advertising, but my primary goal here is to work on Search Engine Optimization. By the end of the month I want to narrow down a few sets of keywords and keyphrases that I plan to target, update my search engine optimization techniques, and re-submit my site to the search engines.
   by July 18, 2008

   By the way - as part of my web promotion strategy, I’ll be reading Itty Biz’s new eBook: SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja. If you like Naomi’s writing style on her blog, you’ll love it in her first eBook - it definitely does NOT feel like school. If you decide you want a copy, you can get $9 OFF until July 1st with the Discount Code: MovingDay

Daily / Weekly Actions

1. Daily: Spend 1 hour on my Success Ingredient Projects each day
2. Daily: Post 2 blog comments each day
3. Daily: Make 2 message board posts each day
4. Daily: Post 1 Q/A Answer each day
5. Weekly: Post 1 Q/A Question each week
6. Weekly: Publish 2 posts on my blog each week
7. Weekly: Make 1 new community contact each week
8. Weekly: Select / maximize 2 social media profiles each week
9. Weekly: Find 1 new place to submit my web site to each week
10. Daily: Plan my day each morning (or the night before)

Special Permission

• I Deserve to be Successful!

A Few Changes

Now that I have 40 hours a week to spend on my business, I’ll be putting a big focus on my marketing efforts. This time around, my goal is to accomplish at least 7-8 daily/weekly actions every day (I had some much lower numbers last time around).

One thing that I found mis-leading about scoring your daily/weekly actions is that C.J. Hayden suggests giving yourself a Y for weekly items that you might not have done on a given day, as long as you had not planned on working on it. I find that to be misleading, because I could just not plan on an item all week, and give myself five Y’s. Some days my scores were elevated because of the freebie Y’s this method gave me.

I’m going to try to be more accurate this time, and only give myself a Y for items that I actually completed. Yes, that means I’ll get some N’s because I have several weekly items that I don’t need to complete on a daily basis. I feel this will be a much more accurate representation of my true marketing efforts, though.

Care to Join Me?

I received some interest from the last program - and I see a few sales of the book in my Amazon Affiliate account, so I’m hoping that means there are more of you out there ready to join me in this round. As you’ve seen from my first program, the book has great suggestions, and I saw great results!

So, if your doing a program, I hope you’ll join along and help create some accountability for yourself! If you just started on Saturday, great! Please post your program goals and daily/weekly actions, etc. below. If you started recently (say a week or two ago) then you’ll be a bit ahead of me, but please feel free to post your program information from your first week, etc. You’ll actually be ahead of the game, but can post your progress from the relevant week.

Good luck to everyone! I hope this is a very successful month for us all!

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Can you believe it’s already been 4 weeks? Time has gone so quickly, and we’re finally at the end of the first Get Clients Now! 28 Day Marketing Program program!

I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone did. Overall, I’m very happy with my progress! I admit that it’s been difficult for me to get as many weekly and daily actions completed as I would have liked. Up until just last week, I was juggling both a full time job, as well as running this business on nights and weekends.

If you didn’t read my big announcement post, however - I finally took the freelance plunge last Friday!

I’m really looking forward to starting a second GCN program, because I will finally be able to devote the proper amount of time to my marketing efforts.

Success Ingredients - Week 4

Unfortunately, last week was such a whirlwind for me that I did not make a lot of progress on my Success Ingredients. Something that I will definitely be concentrating on the next round.

It is such a difficult habit to break, as far as pushing your own work behind that of clients. Something that I made big improvement on this last month, however I know I can still stand for much improvement here.

1. Description of Services - Progress: 90%
   by May 30, 2008
   Missed deadline - Still In Progress
   
2. Networking Venues - Progress: 60%
   by June 6, 2008
   Missed deadline - Still In Progress
3. Blog Concept / Topics - Progress: 50%
   by June 13, 2008
   Missed deadline - Still In Progress

I’ve done best with the Description of Services - I actually have everything written up, but still have to add my new services to my main business web site. There are also several changes that I want to make to the shopping cart - basically a re-organization of services and categories, etc. that will make the cart more user friendly.

All of this is on my schedule for the week, so Description of Services should NOT be one of the items on my Success Ingredient list for the next GCN program. This is my last ditch procrastination effort, LOL. Obviously it is an extremely important item - time to start putting myself first for a change, though, so I have several blocks of time set aside this week for completing this item.

As far as Blog Concepts and Networking Venues are concerned - I’ve done quite a bit here. I have a tentative blog schedule created for the next month. I gave myself such a low percentage score, however, because there were several blog posts that I had intended to write, and they are still sitting incomplete in my Drafts folder. Yet another example of putting your own marketing efforts last (which C.J. Hayden stresses in the book that you should always make marketing the First thing that you do!)

On the Networking Venues, I’ve joined several new social media outlets this month, including Plurk which is the “new Twitter” LOL. My goals for the next program include really taking a good look at all the services I’m setup with - narrowing down which ones I feel will be most beneficial to me, and really start using them to their full potential!

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 4

My daily actions were about average this week - some good/ok days, and a couple poor days in there as well. Several of the higher scores were again to do with C.J. Hayden’s suggestion of giving yourself a Y for an item as long as it wasn’t on your to do list for that particular day.

Overall, throughout this program, I feel my daily/weekly scores could have been a bit higher. Definitely something to improve upon next time around!

• Total (# of 10)
  8 - 5 - 7 - 7 - 6

Program Goal - Week 4

As for the most important part of the program - the final program goal numbers, I’d say Get Clients Now! definitely delivers! Throughout the entire program, I’ve been doing great with bringing in new prospects - in 4 weeks, I’ve received inquiries from 16 new people! If that doesn’t count as Filling the Pipeline, I don’t know what does!

As of last week, I didn’t think I’d reach my “new clients” goal, but some good Karma (no, not the Plurk kind, LOL) must have come back at me, because I signed 2 more clients last week, with a definite yes from a 3rd (just waiting for the final paperwork to come through to make it official - I’m counting it here, though, because all of the hard work of working with this potential client was done during my GCN program).

• Program Goal
  10 new prospects / 2 new clients
• My Progress
  160% - 16 new prospects / 200% - 4 new clients

How Did Your GCN Program Go?

Now I want to know how YOU did? Did you enjoy the book? Was your first GCN program successful? Would you recommend it to other small business owners?

I definitely enjoy and recommend the book (look at my program goals above - numbers don’t lie, LOL).

If you’d like to give Get Clients Now! a shot, I’ll be starting a second program on Saturday. I’m actually on the fence as to whether I should do another Filling the Pipeline program, or if I should move onto Following Up. I think I could greatly benefit from a different stage of the Universal Marketing Cycle:

• Filling the Pipeline
• Following Up
• Getting Presentations
• Closing Sales

However, now that I will actually have TIME to market myself properly, I am very curious to see how the program will go for me if I spend the proper amount of time on my Daily / Weekly Action Items for the Filling the Pipeline program.

Needless to say, I’ll be reading up on the Following Up information, and will make my final decision by the end of the week. I hope you’ll join along!

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I’m very excited to announce that Naomi and Jamie of Itty Biz have just released their very first eBook:

• SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja
  

Note: There’s a discount code at the bottom of the post…

I was lucky enough to know about this eBook well in advance of it’s launch day (today) so I already purchased my copy last week! I can’t wait to start reading it and implementing some if not ALL of the tactics to my web site and blog.

I’ve hired Naomi twice already, with another consultation setup for tomorrow afternoon, so I have no doubt whatever expertise she’s able to share through an eBook will be invaluable to say the least.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn in SEO School:

This is direct from the Itty Biz web site below - I figured it would be best to tell you exactly what’s included rather than try to paraphrase. Naomi is, after all, a marketing expert!

• How to figure out what you want to rank in Google for (it’s not what you think)
• How to maximize the number of people searching for your keywords while minimizing your competition
• When you want to optimize, and when you don’t
• Where to find free tools — what you should pay for and what you shouldn’t
• What to do about the Google sandbox
• How to get creative with your SEO — it’s not just stuffing a bunch of keywords in and crossing your fingers
• How to tell whether your niche is profitable — will you ever be able to rank for what you want?
• Black Hat SEO vs. White Hat SEO — it’s not just for Westerns anymore
• How to capitalize on long tail search terms — the ones that the big guys aren’t even trying for
• Competition reconnaissance — how to know what you’re up against (Hint: ninjas are involved.)

In addition to the background stuff, you’ll come away with concrete, actionable ideas for what you can do to improve your Google ranking TODAY:

• 8 critical optimization tricks you can start using on your own site right now. Even if you don’t know anything about SEO. Even if you don’t know anything about websites.
• 6 ways to maximize the power of your inbound links, the thing Google looks at first

There are also two special sections at the end:

• For Bloggers Only: The 3 reasons you NEED a blog, even if you can’t write - 7 blog-specific ways to improve your SEO
• The Future of Google: What to know and do now so you don’t have to redo this stuff again every six months for the rest of your life.

Special Offer - $9 OFF until July 1st

For a limited time - until July 1st, 2008 - you can get $9 off the eBook with Discount Code: MovingDay

You can’t go wrong with that, now, can you? Be sure to get your copy of SEO School: How to Become an SEO Ninja today!

Welcome to Week 4 of the Get Clients Now! 28 Day Marketing Program!

We’re in the home stretch now! Just 1 more week left to finish up on those Success Ingredients, and to reach your program goal. How is everyone doing this time around?

Success Ingredients - Week 3

Although I’m continuing to make process on all of my Success Ingredients, I have not yet accomplished my goals for these items on time! I’ve got 1 week to finish up, so I know I’ll be a busy little bee this time around!

1. Description of Services - Progress: 90%
   by May 30, 2008
   Missed deadline again - Changing goal to June 13, 2008
   
2. Networking Venues - Progress: 60%
   by June 6, 2008
   Changed goal last week to June 13, 2008 to allow time for #1 above
   
3. Blog Concept / Topics - Progress: 50%
   by June 13, 2008

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 3

Not bad this week. I almost feel like it’s cheating when GCN lets you give yourself a Y for an item you didn’t do, as long as you hadn’t planned on doing it that day. Again, I’d say this is a motivational tactic. Anyway, not too bad last week in terms of my total number of completed daily/weekly actions.

• Total (# of 10)
  8 -7 -6 -7 - 7

Program Goal - Week 3

Going by my results on the “new prospects” portion of the goal, Get Clients Now! definitely delivers! I’m always amazed by how the daily and weekly actions in my “Filling the Pipeline” program does SO well!

• Program Goal
  10 new prospects / 2 new clients
• My Progress
  140% - 14 new prospects / 50% - 1 new client

As far as new clients, I’m half way there - good, but I’d love to get 1 additional client this week, so I’d be at 100% on this area, too. What I realize is that the goal of signing a new client really is more for the other stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle. Specifically the area on Closing Sales.

• Filling the Pipeline
• Following Up
• Getting Presentations
• Closing Sales

I will be focusing my next program on Following Up, however, as I want to learn as many techniques as possible from all 4 stages. Anyway, the numbers above definitely show that the program works to help Fill the Pipeline by bringing in new prospects!

I’d say the numbers speak for themselves, as far as whether GCN actually works or not! To be honest, what I really need to do is focus on the other stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle.

How Was Your Week 3?

For those of you following along this time around - how did you do last week? Do you think you’ll reach your program goal by Friday? Please share in the comments below!

By the way, the next program which will be starting on Saturday, June 21st - so you still have a few more weeks to decide if you like what you see and want to get the book and give it a shot, too!

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Welcome to Week 3 of the Get Clients Now! 28 Day Marketing Program!

Now that we’re halfway through the program, how is everyone doing? I think Nicole is the only other person joining along on the actual program, lol - but if you’ve been reading our progress thinking about joing in on the next program, I wonder what your thoughts are?

Success Ingredients - Week 2

Something I neglected to write an overview on last week (oversight on my part) was my success ingredients. One of my deadlines was Friday, and I missed the boat… I’m 85% on that item, so I know I have to play catch-up this week.

Overall, I’m making progress on all of them, though, so I still think I can reach these goals by the end of the program.

1. Description of Services - Progress: 85%
   by May 30, 2008
   Missed deadline - Changing goal to June 6, 2008
   
2. Networking Venues - Progress: 35%
   by June 6, 2008
   Changing goal to June 13, 2008 to allow time for #1 above
   
3. Blog Concept / Topics - Progress: 25%
   by June 13, 2008

Daily / Weekly Actions - Week 2

I suppose I don’t need to bore you with the specifics of each daily item, lol - the totals should speak for themselves…

• Total (# of 10)
  10 - 8 - 5 - 2 - 6

I’m happy to say that I rocked it on Monday! Of course, that was a holiday, which meant I had all day to market myself. Thursday was obviously a very poor day in terms of GCN. There was a LOT going on that day for me, though (announcement on that in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!)

Program Goal - Week 2

As for overall progress of my Program Goal… I’m doing great! Way past the half way mark!

• Program Goal
  10 new prospects / 2 new clients
• My Progress
  110% - 11 new prospects / 50% - 1 new client

I’d say the numbers speak for themselves, as far as whether GCN actually works or not! To be honest, what I really need to do is focus on the other stages of the Universal Marketing Cycle.

• Filling the Pipeline
• Following Up
• Getting Presentations
• Closing Sales

I’m more than right on with new prospects, which is my goal with this program - Filling the Pipeline. Actually signing new clients are more along the lines of Closing the Sale, which is the last program.

For those of you following along, my next program will be geared towards Following Up, as I want to work through each of the stages in the Marketing Cycle. But of course, you can do any of the programs - whichever is the area you feel most necessary to furthering your business. In my case I did several Filling the Pipeline programs.

That’s the beauty of the program is that you can custom tailor your program(s) to exactly what you need.

How Did You Do In Week 2?

Please post an update below to let us know how you’re doing at the half way point. And if you’ve been reading along - what do you think? Does it seem like a worthwhile process?

I hope you’ll join along in the next program which will be starting on Saturday, June 21st.

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Just a quick post today to announce new advertising spots on the blog!

This blog’s audience is mostly comprised of web designers, web developers, freelancers and other small business owners.

Advertisements are located in the sidebar and will appear on all pages throughout the blog. Ads run for a period of 1 month.

Advertising Rates

At the time of this post (May 2008) the new / introductory advertising rates are below. You can always view the most current rates on the Advertising page.

125×125 Banner Ad

• $50/month
• Introductory Rate: $20/month
• 4 Ad Spots Available

Text Link Ad

• $30/month
• Introductory Rate: $10/month
• 5 Ad Spots Available

Please email to reserve your ad spot today!

Banner Ad Design -$20 OFF (Limited Time Offer)

If you would like to advertise, but don’t have a banner ad, I offer Banner Ad Design Services as well.

Banner Ad Design Services / Rates

• For a limited time, get $20 OFF Banner Ad Design
  with coupon code: IDS-BANNER

Mini-Banner Ad Design Portfolio

Below are is a small sampling of banner ads that I have designed both for myself and for clients. To see additional banners that I’ve designed, please view the Banner Ad Portfolio page on the main site.