Archive for May, 2010
It’s not about picking your Niche!
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The True Key is Discovery!
I wanted to share some insights today about why it’s not really about picking a niche. Especially as it relates to the world of information and Internet marketing. I’ve heard and seen plenty of people including myself say “If I could just decide what niche to focus on!” It’s not about picking a niche, it’s really about discovering the hottest niche and filling it with solutions.
Let’s take a look at what a niche is anyway…If you asked around to your peers you may hear a niche is a group of people that you select to market something to. They are all assuming it’s a group that you choose or decide upon.
Now let’s see the word niche from the view of how it’s really defined… a niche can mean a hollow or recess in a wall or possibly a nest. In biology, the word may be used to define a place in the ecosystem where a particular animal or organism is perfectly suited. A real key to remember as an Internet marketer, especially when dealing with informational products, is that Products Fill Niches in Markets! So a market niche is a need that many people have that your product fills. You’re really looking for the unmet needs.
Coming from the mindset that the product fills a need within a niche, it’s quite simple to see that a niche is not something that just gets picked like a selection off a dinner menu. It’s something that must be found and uncovered or discovered so it can be solved.
One of the biggest things that prevents people from getting their business into high gear or even getting started is the inability to target a good niche. A suggestion so that you’re not spinning your wheels and wasting valuable time would be to not look at it as picking your niche. The way to nail down a good solid niche is to go find an area where there is a group of people who have needs that aren’t getting met.
There are simple ways to find these things out…just ask your audience what their biggest frustrations are or look around at all of the forums in your industry and see what people are saying and asking for. A need that is unmet is a great place to insert value and a solution.
In review it’s simple, don’t think of your niche as something you pick. It’s a process of discovering needs that are not met and then filling in the gap with valuable solutions.
To your success- Sharon Ann Irwin
How to create an effective E-zine that brings value to your readers.
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The basic elements of every e-zine are your business information, a personal greeting, a value section, product information (tie it to your value section if you can), and links for more information embedded throughout. The embedded links can be things like your website, privacy information, and how customers can opt in or out. Let’s take a quick look at each of the main elements and how you can create them.
Your business information area- is where you would put things like your logo, business name and contact information- including your phone number, e-mail address, website URL and a physical address. Simple basic things!
Your personal greeting section- is where you have an opportunity to connect directly with your customers. Keep it in line with your overall theme but do offer an emotional appeal. If you’re planning on outsourcing your e-zine, this would be the area that you still write. There is no way to fake authenticity. Talk about what’s important to you this month, it can be a challenge that you overcame as an example. If you’re introducing something new, you can put it there as something that has been up with you…the work that went into it and the excitement for the new product launch. You get the idea.
The Value Section- this will be the real heart an soul of your e-zine, it is what will keep your readers coming back for more month after month! The main goal is to simply offer information that will be valuable to your readers. This can be something that will save them time, money or it can be insights that will get them going into new directions in business that they may have never dreamed possible before reading your value section! You can include things such as articles, Q & A, reviews, interviews, statistics and even articles written by others. You won’t need each of these in every e-zine you publish, so set up a rotation and have fun with it.
Here’s a cool strategy…work to get customer interaction going within your value section by featuring a customer profile each month. Ask questions about their biggest challenges and then you can provide value when you follow-up in the e-zine with solutions.
Most important is to know that this is just another way to stay in front of your customers and continue to deliver value, which is what people want. Set yourself apart from the average crowd and focus on helping as many people as you can to get to their goals. The best part about the world of New Media Marketing such as an e-zine, is your readers will be grateful and become raving fans of yours. Also, they will be more than happy to send referrals due to the value you put into their hands.
Sharon Ann Irwin
(916) 223-4244
Is the pressure of perfection robbing you of progress in life and business?
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What is really keeping you from your power?
On your journey in life and business there will always be the ups and downs along the way…so why is it so many people expect things to be perfect? If you’re painting a future picture for yourself of what things will look like and how you will feel when you get to your goals and dream that “perfect day”, then you may be robbing yourself of progress.
To truly succeed in life and business and reach your goals much faster, it will take releasing of that “perfect day” picture and feeling! Why? It is not realistic. Do you really believe that someone, let’s say like Bill Gates, has arrived at his “perfect day” in life? No, there is nobody, including Bill Gates, who has had huge success in life and business that has arrived at their “perfect day”. What they have done instead is looked at it more from the “realistic perfect day” view… which comes with the challenges. They work consistently at being prepared by strengthening themselves as leaders to deal with the journey in a way that gives them the freedom to enjoy many “realistic perfect days”. These are days where they can achieve moments of happiness for where they are right NOW with the strength to get around the many obstacles put in their way!
In order to release your want for perfection, you can began by building your leadership skills and deciding you will become more by building muscles of flexibility! It is by building your flexibility to handle whatever may come on the journey that you can truly move out of perfection mode or really what is “procrastination” and into the mode of progress. This is what the journey is all about…making progress each day. Some days will not feel as good as others, but if you’re painting the right picture of reality for yourself, you’re able to build those muscles and get stronger with each and every obstacle that will come your way.
You and your business and life are truly masterpieces in progress! While you’re painting on your canvas of life, it’s important to let go of what the finished masterpiece will look like. If you’re constantly attempting to control the size of your brushes, the colors, and lighting each and every second of the day, you’ll become exhausted and won’t be able to flow within the moment. Let yourself be and enjoy where you are right now and continue to take steps each day towards your goals and you’ll see the masterpiece that is truly meant to be painted reveal itself a bit at a time.
Once you’ve let go of the pressure of perfection, you will feel good about yourself and others are more likely to buy from you. Giving yourself permission to be yourself puts you into a higher vibration energetically speaking and will deliver value to other people and they will feel good about being around you! They will be attracted to your energy!
I challenge you to go out today and decide to release your “need to be perfect” and begin to make true progress in life and in your business! Here is a good question to kick you into gear…What is keeping me from my power? Then get into action and remove the excuses that come with your honest answer to that question!
Sharon Ann Irwin
(916) 223-4244
www.winwithsharon.com # 1 Internet Marketing Leadership Community on the Planet!
