Your business has evolved. 

(I know this because all businesses evolve!)

That means your audience has almost certainly evolved as well. 

In looking at how my business is evolving, I realized I’ve been writing articles that probably aren’t grabbing the attention of the audience I most want to be talking with right now - my current ideal clients.

Which would explain why I get nice comments from readers who don’t really want or need my actual services. 

What about you?  Are you writing articles and blog posts that speak to your current (or even slightly-in-the-future) ideal client?  Is your website focused on who you most want to serve now? 

Or have you – like me – been writing for the people who were your ideal clients a year or two ago?

What do you discover when you ask yourself this question?

Driving home this afternoon from having lunch with two of my favorite colleagues and friends, I was thinking … what does it take to be successful?

We’d talked about this at lunch – not directly, but indirectly in the things we said about our own businesses and about the people we meet at different types of networking events.

What does it take to make a difference?  (It’s the same question, really – just a slight shift in perspective.)

There are a lot of things one could say in answer to this question.

For me, it all boils down to one thing:  Follow-up.

Whether you’re following up with a person, an idea, a project, or a routine task, it’s the presence and quality of your follow-up that enables success and helps you make a difference.

What do you think?

Every marketing expert tells us that headlines are important.  So it must be true, right?

Headlines can also be a frustrating, anxiety-producing mystery, especially when we start believing that our success depends on getting the headline RIGHT.

I’ve studied headlines for years now.  I understand the principles behind what’s supposedly a “good” headline.  I’ve paid attention to writers who’ve had repeated success with articles and blog posts that have gone viral – and who claim the reason is the quality of their headline.  Yes, they agree that the quality of the article is also crucial, but according to most of the people I’ve heard talk about this, without the headline your writing is nothing.

I started feeling uncomfortable about this.  So I decided to try a few tests.

Over the last few months, I’ve been playing with headlines for my articles.  (Not these blog posts – my articles.)  I’ve used some of the supposedly no-fail headline templates instead of my usual less structured, more instinctive approach to writing the headline.

Interesting things happened:  I had fewer opens and more unsubscribes. 

My theory about why this happened is simple, and it’s based observing my own feelings and reactions to email I receive.

I don’t know about you, but when I see one of those no-fail, template-format headlines, I start feeling manipulated.  I immediately think, “Here is someone using one of those supposedly great headline formats.  They’re just trying to get me to open their email.  I’m not going to.”  Childish of me, perhaps, but there it is.

Of course, if it’s someone whose work I like and read regularly, I’ll probably check it out, despite feeling suckered in by the headline.  But I might not.  And if I do, I tend to be more critical of the content and more likely to feel disappointed.

Yes, certain headline structures can work well to arouse curiosity and interest.  But in my experience, both in what I read and in what my readers seem to want, the article needs to come first.  And counter to what those headline experts say, the article needs to have the most time spent on it, not the headline.

If you consistently write top-quality stuff, you don’t have to write template-format headlines to be read.  Your writing will speak for itself, and it will be read by the people you want to be reading your work – the people who appreciate it and spread the word about it.

My experience in running these tests and in watching my own responses is that even if you write top-quality stuff, you’re likely to lose people if you use headlines that are obviously following the “can’t fail” templates.

The short version of all this is, I’m going back to writing my headlines by instinct.  And it seems to me that this puts back what the templates tend to take out:  elements of authenticity and honesty.

Or as Fabeku Fatunmise said in a Facebook post (summing it up rather more succinctly than I have):

{Public service announcement:} You know how everyone’s always saying you should spend at least as much time crafting the headline for a piece as you do writing the piece itself? Here’s an alternative: serve up a steady diet of stuff that’s… so epic/unique/useful/kapow that your people race to read every word you write no matter what title you toss out. Consistent shazam beats clever every single time. (See also: getting attention vs sustaining attention)

What do you think?  What’s your experience writing headlines – and reading the headlines other people write?

At a meeting of local business owners yesterday morning, we talked about what causes us to waste time – and what we do about it.

Unsurprisingly, social media, smartphones, and information overload topped the list of time-wasters.

And probably just as unsurprisingly, the top techniques used to beat those time-wasters were to-do lists, task prioritization, and limits imposed on online time.

So, okay.  I won’t argue:  all those things undoubtedly waste a lot of time.  And staying focused and sticking with priorities are great ways to respond. 

But for me, the biggest time-waster is too much focus and discipline.

The minute I start feeling like I’m forcing myself to do something, pushing through resistance, struggling to get something done – it’s a warning bell to stop.

If I don’t stop, it’s the beginning of a block of wasted time.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in being self-employed, it’s that discipline is not necessarily my friend. 

Forcing myself to stick to something that isn’t working won’t magically make it work.  There’s a reason it’s not working. 

I might just be ready for a break.  (Are you on my article distribution list?  Did you see my recent article “What To Do When You’re Stuck“?)

Whatever I’m working on might need more time to marinate/ripen/grow/develop/percolate.  One of the reasons I quote fixed prices (rather than hourly rates) for writing projects is because so much of my work is done away from my computer, in the middle of the night when I’m asleep, while I’m out for a walk or a bike ride, when I’m reading something that’s (apparently) entirely unrelated. 

Or maybe there’s more research that needs doing – talking to the client, talking to their clients (an invaluable way of gaining insight into someone’s work!), re-reading the written material they’ve sent … or even talking to myself.

The key is:  STOP.

I can pretend I’m working, but all that gets me is grumpy and frustrated.

Taking a break, on the other hand – however that might look in any given instance – saves time.  In the end, I get more done with less frustration – and in less time.

Counter-intuitive, perhaps.  Yet I couldn’t even begin to tally up how much time this has freed up for me – time to spend on far more enjoyable things than trying to force myself to work … when it’s not working!

How about you?

Time wasters and time savers are very personal and subjective.  While I’m pretty sure most people would feel better and be more productive if they took more breaks, you might disagree. 

So – what’s your experience?

Thursday afternoon, I got a phone call from a total stranger.

It was a new client.  He had an emergency project – a brochure with a very short deadline – and needed my help. 

After saying, “Yes!” I asked, “Would you mind telling me how you got my name?”  It was a referral, he replied, and mentioned someone I’d never heard of.

Relationships

That’s the magical solution. 

That’s the marketing silver bullet.

Real relationships lead to real clients

It’s as simple and beautiful as that. 

When you build a real relationship with someone, you’re also building a relationship with all the people that person knows.

The client who called on Thursday had been referred by someone I didn’t know.

But he knows someone with whom I have a relationship:  Tzaddi Gordon of Thrivewire Media.

She’s not a client.  She and I haven’t met face to face.  Our relationship began on Twitter, but it didn’t stay there.  It grew into emails, phone conversations, and collaborations, and the more I get to know her, the more respect I have for her and her work.  Apparently that respect is mutual, since I was the person she thought of when her colleague needed a referral for a writer who could respond to his friend’s emergency.

From my perspective on Thursday afternoon, the call came out of the blue, magically and with no effort on my part.

But it wasn’t out of the blue, it wasn’t without effort on my part, and (despite the title of this post) it wasn’t even magical.

It came out of the time and effort I put into building relationships.

Building relationships is a lot more fun than “marketing”

It doesn’t matter how you build those relationships.  They could begin in person over a glass of wine, or online in any of the many social media platforms.

There are just two things to remember.

Thing One:  it’s not about how many followers you have or how many retweets and likes you get.  It’s about having real conversations. 

Thing Two:  it is about being generous with yourself – sharing who you are and how you can help – and being responsive and ready to engage without expectation. 

With one single exception, all my current clients are referrals from colleagues, friends, and other clients.

Yes, it’s important to have a strong list to which you give high-quality content. 

But if I had to pick between the traditional content marketing that I do (writing this blog, writing my articles, and doing free strategy sessions and classes) and building relationships with interesting, resourceful people whose work I can recommend with confidence … I’d go with the relationships.

Fortunately, I don’t have to choose.

And in any event, I consider traditional content marketing to be an important aspect of building strong relationships. 

Meanwhile, I really do have to stop assuming that strange names on my CallerID are telemarketers!

What’s your experience receiving surprise referrals?  And what’s worked for you in building good relationships with colleagues?

If you do personal work for your clients – whether it’s coaching, massage, copywriting, or anything else where you’re performing a task, a project, or a service  for someone else – you’re trading your hours for their dollars.

And  of course you know that there’s a limit on how many hours you have available for trading.

We all know that, and to some extent, we all bump into it in one way or another.  Typical responses to this dilemma include working with groups and, of course, creating products for sale.

Yet there’s more to this hours-for-dollars dilemma than you might think.

It’s simple:  as long as you look at it as trading your time for their money, you’re stuck in a commodity mindset.

You’ll price yourself as a commodity, you’ll value your work as a commodity, and your clients will view you as a commodity.

What does it mean to be a commodity?

It means you’re always in a price war with the people you feel are your competitors.  It means you’re vulnerable to price negotiations.  It means you’re likely to be worried about pricing.

From that perspective, being a commodity means living in a world of scarcity and anxiety.

But you’re not trading time for money!

You’re supplying your skill and expertise for money.

And you’re supplying your personal, unique perspective for money.

You know this as a consumer.  Whether it’s what doctor you go to, where you get your hair cut, or the live entertainment you enjoy – it’s the individuality and skill of the service that create your experience, and therefore your personal preferences.

Your clients pay you because of your skill, expertise, and individuality.

Not because you have time available to trade.

There’s a shift that happens when you really take this in.

And then you can set your prices accordingly – and with confidence!

Pictures in your emails – your marketing messages, articles, and blog posts – they increase readership and response rates, right?

Well, maybe. 

And then again, maybe not.

The default setting in most email programs is to not download pictures.  Your reader has to specifically request that the pictures be downloaded before he or she can see them.  Otherwise, all they see is a little placeholder icon.

Yes, the default settings can be changed.  And yes, your reader can add you to the “safe senders” list, which in most programs causes pictures to be automatically downloaded.

But do you want to bet they’ve done that?  Are you willing to bet your precious message – the material you’ve worked so hard to develop and write – on your belief (or hope) that they’ve done that? 

Here are three things that can happen.

1. If you embed any part of your message in an image (a picture), you immediately lose some of your readers. Because if they don’t download your picture – and many of them won’t - they can never read your message. 

   If your whole message is in the picture, you’ve totally lost out.  (See the example below)

2. You also risk losing readers if the picture is the first thing in your message. Why?  Because if they’re looking at a preview of your message (i.e., not full-sized), or if they don’t have their email reader maximized on their computer screen, they may see just the picture (or the picture placeholder, if they haven’t downloaded images).

   Remember:  the purpose of your headline is to get someone to read the first sentence … and the purpose of your first sentence is to get them to read the second sentence.  If they can’t see the first sentence, there’s nothing to catch their attention and draw them in to the rest of your message.

3. Finally, if your picture isn’t immediately and directly relevant to your message, it’s nothing more than a distraction. Just think of the last Super Bowl you watched.  Remember all those great ads?  Fantastic images, right?

   Um … do you remember the products those images were supposed to get you to buy? 

Here’s an example

This is the entire message:

The email subject line was “Now is the time to stock up on art supplies.” 

I’m not an artist.  I’m not interested in art supplies.  ::delete::

Turns out this was a promotion for their one-cent frame sale.  Now, I am a photographer, and I do my own framing and matting.  So I am interested in frames and a one-cent sale on frames – lemme at it!

But the only reason I know it was a promotion for their frame sale is because I was writing this blog post.  I needed an example to show, and this was the one I fished out of my deleted items folder.  (Of course, it didn’t help that it has a truly lousy subject line.)

See what I mean?

I’m not saying don’t use pictures.

I’m saying, use them carefully and intentionally. 

Remember that what you see as you design your email, article, or blog post isn’t necessarily what your reader will see.  Design according to what they will see and what they are likely to do – not according to what you see, or according to what you hope they’ll do.

You’ll have much more success that way.

Ideas?  Thoughts?  Comments?  What’s been your experience, either in sending or receiving emails with pictures?

People skim web pages.

We all know that.  We all do that.  And probably most of us complain about it.  All that effort to write persuasively compelling copy, and they don’t even read it!

So, yes, it’s frustrating.  But if your page headers are boring, you have only yourself to blame when your website visitor clicks away. 

Because it’s the headers – the parts in big bold type – that draw a visitor in to stop skimming and start paying more attention … and start actually reading all that lovely copy you wrote.

Don’t waste your headers!

Take a look at your website.  If you have headers – big bold type, or even small bold type – that say anything that isn’t directly relevant to your message, then you’re suffering from boring headers.   And if you have boring headers, your website isn’t producing the results it could.

Replace them with interesting, compelling phrases that you pull out of your content. 

Then your message becomes far more clear – and more compelling – to even the fastest of web page skimmers.

For more on this, sign up for my free teleclass on the secrets of writing compelling home pages.

Also, see my recent article 5 Easy-to-Fix Website Readability Mistakes.

You know those people who only show up in your email in-box when they have something they want you to buy?

Yeah.  Me too.

They may be there with lots of truly high-quality, valuable information that they’re giving away as part of their promotion.

They may be people whom you’ve come to know, like, and trust in the past, when they’ve shown up more consistently.

You may have purchased from them before, and found their work to be useful, applicable, and relevant.

In other words, you may have been happy – or even downright thrilled – with just about everything they’ve sent your way, whether free or paid for.

But then they disappeared.  And now they only show up when they have something to sell you.

Makes it harder and harder to buy from them, doesn’t it?

Don’t be one of those people. 

No matter how successful you may be, no matter how much you make on your product launches, you can still blow it.  You can still lose credibility in a heartbeat. 

Marketing is very personal.  And your customers take your behavior very personally.

Here’s what you may not expect:

Consistency doesn’t require writing a blog post every other day no matter what.  It doesn’t require sending an article to your list every week, no matter what.

In fact, it’s possible to be consistently inconsistent.

Consistency means sticking to your personal pattern AND making sure your audience knows what that pattern is. 

If you only write a blog post when you have something you want to write about, with no particular schedule, that’s fine.  Just don’t disappear.

 On the other hand, if it works for you to write an article every other week no matter what, that’s fine too … and it’s fine to be late one week, or even skip a week every so often.  Just don’t disappear.

Be as random as you want … but don’t disappear.

And especially don’t reappear only when you have something to sell. 

Because even if you lead your sales effort with a week or two of high-value content, your customers aren’t stupid.  They can smell that tactic a mile away, and you will lose credibility.

And there’s a very direct, very straight line between lost credibility and lost sales.

You know more than you think you do – about your business, about marketing, about your clients, and about what to do next to be successful.

That’s true whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been in business for years.

I’ll prove it to you. 

You’ve had at least one, probably several, and maybe all five of these experiences.

1. You purchased a product or paid to attend a workshop from a highly-respected authority in the field. Yet you don’t feel like you learned much; it wasn’t what you’d expected or hoped for.

   It’s not the teacher’s fault for not teaching what you signed up to learn.  You simply already knew what was being taught.  You know more than you think you know.

2. People you respect engage with you on Twitter or Facebook, retweet your Tweets, recommend your articles, products, or services, respond to your comments on their blogs, and/or write comments on your blog. 

   They’re not doing it because they feel sorry for you or because they’re trying to encourage you.  They’re doing it because they respect your work and find you informative and interesting.  You know more than you think you know.

3. You wonder why someone is making what seems to you like an obvious mistake.

   Maybe it’s not as obvious as you think. Whether because you’ve learned from personal experience, or because you have the understanding to recognize that whatever they’re doing isn’t going to produce results … you know more than you think you know.

4. You find yourself strongly disagreeing with someone who’s an acknowledged expert.

   Don’t assume that you’re wrong because they must be right. There’s room for more than one opinion, and there’s more than one way of doing things. You know more than you think you know.

5. Finally, my personal favourite:  you hear yourself saying something about your work that’s completely unexpected, yet it resonates right down to the soles of your feet and the tips of your fingers. You know it’s right – and so does your audience, without question – even though you didn’t know you were going to say it, and you have no idea where it came from. 

   Yep! You know more than you think you know!

Allow yourself to take this in.  Give yourself credit.  Recognize your own authority and expertise.

It’s neither arrogance nor bragging to stand in the truth of your own understanding of what you do.

It’s a gift to the people who need your help.