I recently read in Wendy Piersall’s blog post, Friendster Patents Social Networking that Friendster received a patent that convers online social networks.

According to the original article, Friendster Wins Patent, it is too early to say what will be happening in the online networking because of this patent. It will be interesting to see how others in the online networking space will react to this.

Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who teaches solopreneurs and online business owners how to get more clients and make more money online. Get marketing advice directly from Biana at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

I was reading in Gautam Ghosh’s post, More on employer branding, that employees can shape an employer’s brand by posting positive or negative comments about the employer on their blogs.

Gautam recommends that you monitor what people are saying about your company on a regular basis:

That is the one reason why organizations need to be aware of and monitor social software. If your company’s name is CoolCompany search for “I love CoolCompany” and “I hate CoolCompany” on Google as well as blog search. Search for CoolCompany on Technorati, Icerocket and Bloglines. See what are people talking about CoolCompany. Search for it on Flickr. Any photographs that you would rather not see associated with your company?

But what if you are a solopreneur without any employees? Are you safe? Well, even though you don’t have employees to post comments about you, you still have colleagues, vendors, customers and lots of other people who come in contact with you and your company.

Take advice from Gautam, and search for your name and your company name for a regular basis. Use the search engines too – see what they are picking up about your company.

Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who teaches solopreneurs and online business owners how to get more clients and make more money online. Get marketing advice directly from Biana at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Many people have asked me for a Complete Marketing System – ONE system, that will teach them everything about marketing online. They want to have ONE reference to which they want to turn whenever they want to use a new online marketing technique – online networking, article marketing, search engine optimization, etc. They also want to have a place to ask marketing questions and get clear answers – not the wishy-washy answers you get at free marketing forums.

I have created the Complete Online Marketing System to give business owners ONE business resource that answers all of their questions.

The Complete Online Marketing System helps you learn step-by-step directions for marketing your business online, getting more clients and making money. AND it gives you access to me, Biana Babinsky, the online business consultant, expert and author for a whole year to ask questions and brainstorm marketing ideas.

The Complete Online Marketing System consists of two of my proven and extremely popular products, Complete Step by Step Marketing Course and MarketingSalad.com, the online business community for solopreneurs.

If you were to purchase them separately, you would pay $167 for these two products. However, until July 14th, you can grab the Complete Online Marketing System for just $97 – save $70!!

Biana Babinsky

P.S. I am tired of seeing people offer specials and not increase their price after the deadline. This devalues their special offers. However, when I say that I will raise prices, I always do. On July 14th, 2006, at 10pm Eastern time the price for the Complete Online Marketing System will go up to $127. Then, on July 31st, 2006, the price will go up to $147. Save and get Complete Online Marketing System for just $97!

Let’s say someone is looking for a Marketing E-book, using search engines. What will this person type in? Sometines e-book, sometimes ebook, sometimes e book. Sometimes a plural form of one of those three.

Which spelling should YOU use on your web page? Which one(s) will bring you the most traffic?

There is a lot of discussion around using correct spelling versus alternative spelling, especially when the alternative spelling brings in traffic. My suggestion would be to first research these alternative spellings with a keyword tool, such as WordTracker, to see how much traffic you can get on those different spellings.
If there are indeed many people searching for misspellings, and you want to capture them, you have a few alternative ways to do that:

– Use them right there in your web site copy. Many people don’t like it, as this makes their web copy unprofessional.

– Create another section on your web site (or a whole new web site), that will have the misspellings, and than funnel the traffic to your clip art. This may be a good alternative if you don’t want to change the copy on your main web site.
You should also get my Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report, that discusses how to drive more traffic from search engines to your web site.
Biana Babinsky

Biana is the online business consultant, expert and author who teaches online business owners how drive more traffic from search engines to their web sites. Learn How to Get More Traffic to Your Web Site from Search Engines, get the Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report

Networking is a great way to get to know your potential clients and other business owners. Networking can help you find new resources, learn how other people do business and create lasting relationships.

And the best part about that is that you can do all of that online. Every day, thousands of business owners log on to networking communities, mailing lists and chat forums to learn, exchange information, network and get more business.

Continuing Reading my How To Network Online To Get Clients Article
Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who teaches solopreneurs and online business owners how to get more clients and make more money online. Get marketing advice directly from Biana at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Did you know that over 70% of your target customers start looking for your products and services by searching for them using a search engine?

This means that if your web site is not optimized for search engines, you are missing out on all these potential customers.

Search engine optimization is really a two-part process. Part one is the optimization, on your web site, which amounts to making changes to your web site content and tags, as well as your web site structure. The second part of the process, which is just as important, is making changes off your web site. This involves creating and executing linking strategies with other web sites.

My Step by Step Search Engine Optimization special report describes in detail how to do both on-site optimization, as well as create your linking strategies. The report is available
at a tiny fraction of the cost you would pay to someone to actually optimize your web site for you. Click Here To Learn More About Biana Babinsky’s Step by Step Search Engine Optimization Special Report

I posted about this before, and Google Checkout is now live. This is yet another way for online business owners to accept payment for their products and services. Plus, if you have an AdWords account, “for every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 in sales for free. For sales that exceed this amount or if you don’t use AdWords, you can process them at a low 2% and $0.20 per transaction”, according to the Google Checkout web site.

The payment processing fee is 2% plus $.20 per transaction.

Are you using this already? What do you think?

Biana Babinsky

Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author, who teaches solopreneurs and online business owners how to get more clients and make more money online. Get marketing advice directly from Biana at https://www.MarketingSalad.com

Join us for the “Five Financial Mistakes Solo-Professionals Make” teleseminar, part of the Business Conversations with Biana Babinsky Teleseminar Series on July 12th at 5pm Eastern time.

Do you know the difference between cash flow and profit?

Do you struggle with saving for your own retirement while trying to build a business?

Do you want to maximize cash flow and reduce income taxes?

Join us for an interview with Kristine McKinley, CPA and Certified Financial Planner, as part of the Business Conversations with Biana Babinsky series. Learn How to Avoid the Most Common Financial Mistakes Solo-Professionals Make. Here is what you’ll learn on this information-packed interview:

– Why most solo-professionals fail
– Cash flow planning tips to maximize your cash flow
– Why you MUST pay yourself first – always!
– How to minimize taxes in your small business

And much more…

About Kristine McKinley: Kristine McKinley is a fee-only financial planner, who specializes in retirement and income tax planning for individuals and small businesses.

She is a CPA and Certified Financial Planner, and the founder of Beacon Financial Advisors, a fee-only financial planning firm. She has extensive experience in taxes and personal finances, and as a small business owner herself, she loves working with other solo-preneurs and independent professionals.

This teleseminar will be recorded.

Price: Free

Register for Five Financial Mistakes Solo-Professionals Make Teleseminar

What do trackbacks, blogrolls and search engine optimization for blogs have in common? We discussed all of them, and much, much more during the Blogging for Business Teleseminar today.

Using trackbacks helps you refer to posts on other people’s blogs and at the same time helps you link your post and a post on another blog.

A blogroll is a list of other blogs you link to from your own blog.

Since a very high percentage of Internet users start their search for products and services by using search engines, it is very important to do search engine optimization for every post on your blog. Make sure that you do keyword research and learn which keywords your potential clients use to search for your products and services. Then, use the keywords when blogging to bring in search engine traffic.

Want more blogging tips? The recording of today’s Blogging for Business Teleseminar is available to members of MarketingSalad.com, the online business community for business owners. Once you join, you will have access to this and other teleseminar recordings, online business worksheets, business coaching with me, Biana Babinsky, and much more. Membership is just $9.97/month. Join MarketingSalad.com and Get Access To The Recording.

A blog is a great tool to promote your expertise, get more people to learn about you and your business, and attract more leads and clients to your business. Here are some of the reasons for you to blog:

– Blogging is a no cost or low cost process. Many people spend a lot of money on advertising their business, while blogging can be no cost (if you already have a web site and can install blogging software on it) or a low cost endeavor. Given such small cost, a blog will pay for itself over and over again very fast, once you know how to use it to your advantage.

– Blogging lets your personality shine through. Because you can be a bit less formal on your blog then you are on your web site, a blog is a great place to show your personality and talk to your readers. Once your readers get to know the real you, they are much more likely to subscribe to your newsletter and consider hiring you.

– Blogging is a great tool for getting leads and clients for your business. Let’s face it – a business owner would use a marketing technique in order to bring in leads and customers for the business. A blog is an excellent way to attract new readers (leads) and convert long time leads into clients.

To learn how to start a blog, or get your existing blog to work for your business, join me tomorrow, June 29th at 2pm Eastern time for the Blogging for Business Teleseminar to learn how to start a blog in under 20 minutes, get more clients with your blog and monetize your blog even further.

Here is what we will discuss:

* How to use your blog to attract clients

* How to navigate the maze of different blogging platforms and to pick the one that works best for you

* How to bring targeted readers, who need your products and services, to your blog

* How to get search engines to send new readers and clients to your blog

* How to use your blog to generate profits for your business

You will leave the call excited and energized about blogging, with the knowledge and resources to start blogging IMMEDIATELY.

Members of MarketingSalad.com can attend this teleseminar at no charge. Join now for just $9.97/month and get access to the Blogging for Business Teleseminar.

Join Now and Get Access to the Blogging for Business Teleseminar