Recently I’ve been meeting people who describe themselves as “internet marketers” or someone who is launching an “online business/portal”. It seems practically everyone has a web project they’re working on for the long term goal of… making passive income! (Except for my 5 year old – her website really is for fun).

And why not, I say! Passive income is so 21st century.
Let’s look at what you can offer, why offer it, and what it may bring you.

Specialise Narrowly
You probably know your niche already – it’s what you do for people everyday. But hey, if you’re sick of what you do professionally you need to find another passion – and supply information that many people are in need of.

Hook into a Demand Area
Obviously there has to be a demand, with limited supply. You can even create a demand by being the pre-eminent authority in your field. Do your keyword research, trend research (Google Trends), and you will find ideas as well as help narrow your niche even further.

What you want is a demand that’s not temporary (like iPhone manuals), but something that’s evergreen, like kids party decorating.

Case Study – Productive Gardens
Our case study shows a clever, practical person hooking into a growing ‘evergreen’ trend.

David Borthwick, a keen gardener, started Productive Gardens to share that anyone can grow herbs and vegetables at home in minimal space. He’s grown his little empire, with both physical products and eBooks called Vegetable Garden Doctor, Raised Garden Beds, Natural Pest Control, Stacking Gardens, and more.

He has a blog, a follow-up email system, video tips, newsletters etc. By the look of his very cute custom website, he’s doing very well. See www.productivegardens.com.au/blogs/news.

When I talked to David at a food show, he clearly talked about what value you get from this garden within a short time. As well, he picked up email details from passersby by offering a tiered garden system as a prize.

So you can see how the alignment of your values, your passion, and a popular trend is the right niche to fulfill your passive income dreams.

Many service businesses and consultants would realise the power of meeting business people at a business networking or luncheon event. Before I give you some more local places to meet professionals, here are three quick tips for making your networking useful:

1.  Don’t thrust a business card out when you are introduced. Save it to the end of a delightful conversation.

2.   Listen and ask questions about the other person’s business. When they tell you about their troubles or specialty, respond with genuine interest e.g. “I didnt know that”, “I can see that”, or “so that’s what a patent lawyer does”.

3.  Open the door to the future. When it comes to your turn to talk, try not to overwhelm them with your industry knowledge, instead speak about what results you have achieved for clients quite like themselves. (This lets the other person connect the dots and ask for your card or appointment).

Local Networking Events – Northside and Redcliffe

Meetup.com provides numerous local interest groups run by individuals, sometimes sponsored by businesses.  The idea is to introduce yourself, see if you and the group is aligned, and then go to a meetup – or suggest your own meetup in the local area.

Families in Business.  Families in Business organiser is presently out of town, but I am trying to organise a meeting at Woody Point monthly (Saturday 18th Sept), particularly for parents in business, who find it impossible to go to morning breakfast meetings. Marketing focus. Please show your interest now!

New! Business 2 Business Brisbane meetup will meet at Chermside South.

For those more centrally located:

http://www.meetup.com/Home-Business-Ideas-Brisbane/ Entrepreneurs unite

http://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Brisbane/ Introduction to WordPress and all it can do.

Other Independent Networking Events

Ray White host a North Lakes networking monthly meeting with no cost or obligation. Next one has a speaker (Renee of Zestee Concepts) but also allows for networking discussion. It’s on Tuesday 7th September 2010, 10 am at Nessies, Evergreen Centre, North Lakes. For more information, call Lem 0404 859 426.

Business Connector hold regular monthly meetings at North Lakes, and Angie is holding a special event for small businesses – a free 3-hour marketing expo at Kallangur. To discuss websites, what is SEO, marketing solutions, etc.

When: Monday 13th September
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Where: Norths Leagues Club, Kallangur

Book with angie@garnish.com.au.

Small business owners are a busy lot; today we consider… do you have time and skills to DIY your content and run a full CMS?

We wrote a little about this when we considered the question, DIY Template or Employ a Web Designer?

Recently I found another web company offering an ‘all-in-one’ solution – where business owners pick a template and do their own content and optimisation. This really assumes that business owners have an eye for design and colour, copywriting skills, and knowledge of keywords and where to put them.

That’s quite of a lot of assumptions. Most people who are very good at what they do, whether plumbing a roof or consulting to business, don’t have the time to research and get good at these varied skill sets. Hell, they don’t even have the time to consult with us on what they want in their website at times, much less always be doing it themselves.

Content Updates to Websites

In our new publication ‘Small Business Websites… Finally Explained’ we express the need for regular website updates if you want your website to be fresh and ranked well in Google. (And we practice what we preach).

If you or your partner can set aside 3 to 5 hours per month and you are a concise writer, please go ahead and pay for a full CMS (content management). If you’re normally in a car or up on a roof for work, then look into getting Hosting Maintenance included in a standard small business website. This means you can send in your website updates every couple of months at no extra cost.

Remember, you can optionally add a WordPress blog to a small business website and easily enough put in articles. Blog writing can be a simple affair and help your site be found for very specific subjects and locations. These can be articles which encourage the reader to purchase from you. When (notice I don’t say if) you realise that you can’t possibly keep up with writing these posts then I’d be happy to do it for you on a regular weekly basis, from $40 per post, or less for editing. Cheers.

How do keywords impact your final sales results for a Small to Medium Business? Glad you asked. As you are no doubt aware, keywords are what users type into their ‘search query’ on Google or Yahoo or Bing. The right keywords (attracting a paying market) can make or break online merchants and also be helpful for bricks and mortar businesses… because they can get Free Organic Website Traffic.

First of all, how does a business owner know the best keywords? That’s easy, you say, I’m a carpet installer so the keywords are “Carpet installation”… but wait. Is that truly what people are looking for?  If I want a new carpet I am not thinking of the term installation, I am thinking “new carpet”, so this is more likely the term. Also I probably would add an area, like “Brisbane” to ensure my results are localised.

When you get a bit more complex a business with several possibilities that could be targets (and more unknown), that is where the confusion comes in. As a busy proprietor, you don’t want to be spending hours looking for the right keywords (with often inaccurate results from the free online tools).

Solution: Keyword Research Service

I have a tool called “Market Samurai” – it’s software that can return up to 1200 search results in one minute. Give it one key term (e.g. web design) and it can return hundreds of related synonyms, which I sort through and find the best twenty, often putting in the best ones manually. These synonyms are then put into the software and it does a live search on the major engines to find out how many searches per day for these words (Australia or worldwide).

Of these twenty, only around five will be your topmost searched words, with results in the hundreds per day, with a high chance of buying as opposed to browsing (this is a calculated variable).

I have had many surprises in keyword research, one that stands out is “Napoleon Perdis” which receives around 230 searches per day in Australia, believe it or not. (It’s the cosmetics they are after, not the man himself).

What great surprises am I going to find for your business?  Is it worth a small fee of $70 to get a specialist to find the correct keywords?… I believe it’s probably worth ten times that to be on the right path to getting the top natural search results that you want.

You can then have me write the copy around these keywords in the way that it persuades your target customers first, and pleases the search engines second. Because it’s no good getting them to your site if your sales copy is not going to excite them into action. Please enquire direct at jennifer@redplanetdesign.com.au.

Dear Readers, it’s becoming clear that Google Adwords adores changes, making it ever more difficult to run your own account. One new feature is “extensions” to ads, which allows you to put your street address (location), phone numbers, or product details in the last line of the ad – and it comes up if the viewer mouses over your listing on Google Maps. All about Extensions explained.

If you are wondering why these do not show any results – well, it’s up to you to customise these. Here’s what Google Help says:

“Ad extensions must be triggered for any data to appear on the Ad Extensions tab. If you see no statistics on the Ad Extensions tab, this means that your ad extensions have not yet appeared with your ads.

Since ad extensions need to meet special requirements to appear with your ad, it’s normal to see lower numbers on the Ad Extensions tab compared to your Ads tab. Only impressions where both your ad and your extensions have appeared together are reported on the Ad Extensions tab.”

I also recommend you implement the Adwords Conversion Tracking tool, to monitor which of your clicks turn into a desired action on your website, such as a sale or request.

Learn More about Adwords with their short videos :

Google Places

Also check that your Google Places listing is still showing for your main keyword. For some reason (still a mystery to some) they do not show some active business listings, especially if they have recently been naughty by putting suburbs in the descriptions or product details sections.

Ensure your categories reflect your two or three main business services (similar to Yellow Pages categories). And remember to activate your My Places account changes as quickly as possible by allowing SMS or phone activation.

Got a problem with these products?  Call Jennifer on (07) 3103 0238.

So you think your logo is your brand. And your signage. OK, and maybe your uniform. Think broader.

You see, everything you do as a business owner publicly affects your Personal Brand. (With Politicians, some things they do privately as well;-)

How about:  What you drive… what you wear… what charities you support… how clean and fresh your building is… what you read… how you shake hands…

Authors of “The Brand Called You” (Peter Montoya & Tim Vandehey) believe that a personal brand makes a promise. Once branding is established, “everything you do will either confirm that promise or contradict it“. Failures are not delivering on those promises, say of great customer service, keeping to deadline, whatever it may be.

Are you living the reality that your Brand commits you to? People can feel authenticity and they can see fakeness.

So when you assess your logo, marketing look and feel, office, attire, car/van, and personal philosophy all together does it give a cohesive message – as Peter says, “does your look suit your brand?”

Things To Do:
1. Talk to your copywriter and graphic designer to create branding tools – slogans, themes, and logo/design look.
2. Attend networking events to get important contacts/referrals.
3. Redesign your “look” (office/clothes/car) to suit your brand.
4. Create a one-year branding budget.
5. Decide on the personal characteristics that will define your personal brand.

(Summarised from P.14, “The Brand Called You”, 2009).

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