Ultimate Success Tips and Tricks for Branding Yourself for Profits!

Special Characters in Photoshop

2011-11-14T17:42:00.001-08:00

Here is a great cheat sheet for inserting special characters in your documents and flyers.

Windows Alt Codes for Punctuation
SYMBOL	NAME	CODE NUMBER
©	Copyright symbol	0169
®	Registered symbol	0174
™	Trademark	0153
•	List Dot	0149
§	Section Symbol	0167
†	Dagger	0134
‡	Double Dagger	0135
–	en-dash	0150
—	em-dash	0151
¶	Paragraph Symbol (Pilcrow)	0182

Google+ Fan Pages - competition between Facebook and Google is now getting hot

2011-11-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

Google+ launched fan pages today and for those like me, who has not quite figured out all the tricks of Facebook Fan pages, now is the time to figure out which one will work better for branding, exposure as well as for indexing.
There is a battle between Google and Facebook as facebook is currently being used more effectively to reach specific target markets. This makes facebook a better CPC advertising tool for marketers.
I have several friends who consider themselves "Facebook" addicts. They spend hours online watching information popup every few minutes. They have thousands of "Friends" and spend most of their time hooked on their computer watching the scrolling comments and postings.

Will Google+ add to the addiction, will it convert dedicated Facebook fans? Will it be a better CPC marketing tool? That remains to be seen.
I created a google+ fan page tonight and it looks very similar to facebook. There are a lot of talks about easy integration with YouTube and Google Apps with calendars and more.

If you are interested in creating your own google+ Fan page - check it out and create your fan page:
https://plus.google.com/pages/create to start your own page for your business, today :)
For more information check out this link: https://plus.google.com/101560853443212199687/posts
Google Plus Blog : http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-pages-connect-with-all-things.html

We will see how the Google+ pages rank. I am curious to see how it will integrate with Google Places as well as being able to directly link to Google Calendars and applications.

Facebook Fan Page for Realtors

2011-11-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

It is now time to create a new Facebook FAN page and start the process of SOCIAL MEDIA Marketing with facebook and twitter. Facebook has fast become one of the largest platforms used by REALTORS® to expand their sphere of influence and farm leads – but setting up the right page with the right lead capture and information is another story.

So I spent a few hours searching the web and analyzing what is out there as far as easy to setup fan pages. I want our fan page to look professional and maybe even have a way to search for homes right in facebook. I see some sites have icon navigations and links to their blogs etc. So I decided to outline a plan to evaluate.

First - Before doing anything - you need to define a strategy for this page - the same for all our other websites. What is the main purpose - provide information, capture leads, post blogs, etc..

Did you know: According to CNN, Facebook now produces more internet traffic than Google ...

If you are looking to do lead capture from Facebook, like we are - I had to investigate how I can do that with our marketing tool. I know there are a lot of "Widgets" out there for existing systems but since we created our own platform, I have to ensure that our lead capture system will work with Facebook AND that I have a way to "TRACK" the leads.

One of the main goals for us for the upcoming year is to find out exactly which marketing efforts are working for us. Is it website SEO, Pay per Click, Paid leads, Facebook, Twitter, print ads or others. This is key to saving lots of money in the long run. By figuring out what give you the most bang for your buck, you can eliminate the money and time wasters and focus on what really does work for you.

So we are now evaluating FACEBOOK FAN PAGES...

What is the strategy behind it - obviously to gain exposure, to get ranked with SEO ( only if you do your pages right), capture leads, track leads, offer information ( Put content or link to blogs and twitter etc)

Remember that facebook Terms of Use includes: “You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain”, which is a bit hard for real estate agents but that is why we are now working on a FAN Page. Many Real Estate agents feel that they have kept their personal page, professional enough that they do not need to waste time on a fan/business page. Facebook might shut it down if it finds it a violation of their terms.

So here are some quick steps on how to setup your Business or Fan Page in Facebook:

Go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/browser.php
Click on "Add a Page " or + Create button on top right hand corner of the page.
Once you’ve updated your business’ location and added your phone number be sure to upload a photo of yourself, your office or your team/company logo.
Next invite your friends - this will send a request to all the friends you have on your personal profile – it’s great way to initially get the word out about your new fan page. You can also import a contact list
Then go to http://www.facebook.com/username claim your username
You can now setup pages in your new business page.
Start off with a welcome screen which can also be your lead capture page.

Some guidelines for using your Facebook Fan Pages

Make sure to use them on all your marketing materials.
Post appropriate content with good interaction with the existing members
Encourage feedback and interaction.
Sprinkle your LIKE button everywhere you can.

I will add more on this topic a little later as I evaluate multiple options for creating a great fan page.
I am now evaluating the EZFanPage script that enables you to host your own fanbook page content.
EZFanPageGenerator

Using Facebook for Real Estate agents

2011-11-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

A Real Estate business is just like any other business... A successful business, in today's day and age requires so much knowledge and keeping up with different types of marketing and lead generation. Understanding the new era of marketing like social media and video requires some exploration.

The experience I had with my business was heart breaking. Spending more time on marketing and not enough on actually doing the work was discouraging to say the least. I spent more time "testing" out the marketing techniques and seeing which ones worked than actually working. My passion for helping people is now integrated with Real Estate even through I am still doing NLP, EFT, Hypnosis, Brainwave studies and Sound/Bio-Acoustics Therapy.

Being new in the Real Estate business I consider myself lucky to have a husband who not only knows the area like the back of his hand but has been in the different sides of real estate business. Dealing with investors, builders, clients who are looking to build a new home and then of course the regular clients who buy and sell their new homes in Fairfax area.

Starting in the real estate world, we decided extra coaching might be just the right path to take. After all I am a coach and know the value of a coach who specialized in specific industries. Since I specialize more on mental programming and balancing mind/body/spirit - this coaching program is a perfect add on from someone who is coaching other real estate agents and brokers to be successful.

The great thing about the program we are part of is the expansive coverage of social media and how to integrate it into your business. I am just getting my feet wet with Facebook and Twitter and how to actually use it for lead generation.

At the same time, I am also evaluating various different tools that are specifically tailored towards real estate agents to help them streamline their business. I have to say, there is definitely no shortage of systems and offers out there. My head is still spinning from a week of testing out different products and systems.

The systems and products bring value only if you can streamline them. And some of these have a steep learning curve for someone who has not been in the industry. I honestly do not know how a real estate agent who doesn't have solid technical skills can survive these days.

So today I started our venture on Facebook and attended a meeting on facebook and real estate agents and how to use it. The session was informative but I think I was a bit ahead as I had listened to the facebook training on Lynda.com which was great.

Now comes the integration of everything. I have already integrated IDX on our website as well as live chat and social media stuff. I am currently working on analyzing CRM systems and looking at various systems such as top producer, listing book, market leader and of course infusionsoft. The SEO plan we have outlined for us for the upcoming year is pretty involved and I am lucky to have partners and friends who specialize in the field to help us build our brand, team and exposure. Having a team of specialized people in our team is going to help us explode our business - and that is our manifestation for the next year.

Tonight I will be creating our FAN PAGE or BUSINESS PAGE on facebook. I already found out a couple of widgets you can use on your website such as the REALTOR.com facebook widget called "See My Listings" - you can get it here: http://www.realtor.com/seemylistings/ that will display your listings on your facebook.

I am now off to create facebook business pages and integrate the facebook page onto our website.

Tricks to getting your mouse working with Word!!!

2009-09-03T18:29:00.001-07:00

Well I woke up this morning to a newly updated OS on my computer. Microsoft word would not allow my mouse to function. You could use the mouse to click on the icons but I could not highlight or right mouse click. You do not realize how much of this functionality you use until you don't have it. I was extremely frustrated as I tried to re-install the mouse drivers, reboot in the safe mode and roll back etc. So all the frustrations ended when I finally found a simple way to get my mouse working again in word 2007!
It seems you need to manually delete the word data registry key and restart word. By deleting the registry key, it forces the system to rebuild it on the next boot.

Note.. when you take this action, there might be other setting that are reset to default- some of those include the most recently used file information.

Here are the steps to get your mouse working in Word!
1. Exit all Office programs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type "regedit" - then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry subkey, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
• Word 2002:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Data
• Word 2003:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Data
• Word 2007:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
4. Click Data, and then click Export on the File menu.
5. Name the file WordRegData.reg, and then save the file to the desktop.
6. Click Delete and confirm.
7. Exit Registry Editor.
8. Start Word and check your mouse.. :)

(This is an excerpt from Microsoft Article ID: 921541)

Hope this helps. I am back to editing my book!

Using Amazon's Kindle - New Marketing Channel!

2009-03-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know Amazon gets more than 54 MILLION Hits a month??

Did you know Amazon has now added KINDLE as a new marketing channel that you can cash in on RIGHT NOW?

Did you know on March 3, Amazon announced the Kindle App for iPhone and iTouch users - opening the flood gates for Internet marketers to get their digital media in front of 80 million users!!

How would you like to leverage this new channel to brand yourself as an expert in your niche market?

Famous people make more money! We all know that. How do famous people get famous? Most get great exposure -- how do you get exposure -- one way --is to get published!! Do you think getting exposed to 54 Million people per month can help you or your business? What about a fraction of that number?

So lets get cranking - you can get your e-books, special whitepapers, reports, or interesting juicy articles into Amazon’s Kindle store TODAY! Not only does it have the potential to make you a few bucks, but it will brand you and position you as an authority in your niche market and get you exposed to millions of people out there.

OK you might be saying well there are only a million kindle users but did you know your kindle titles get indexed the same as books?

It is easy to publish your articles andbooks to Kindle. You must first Sign up for a Kindle Account here: https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin then follow their instructions on how to format your existing ebooks, articles and special reports to be marketed on Kindle!

Here are some quick Strategies:
Create a great attractive Cover that will attract your target market.
Hit your Target Market with a SEXY title.
Write a great book description which will include your signature/tagline and website URL
Make sure to incorporate your business and your branding into your Articles and books without it looking too much like a sales catch. :)

Ayda B. Walsh - Ultimate Success Coach - You only succeed if they take action! Do it Today!

2009-03-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

How do you get your book or products on Amazon to be exposed to millions of people?

If you are a small business working on your branding you must get something on Amazon. Amazon offers a great gateway for small businesses or inviduals to get exposed to millions of people while being associated with some of the industries best writers. Just imagine writing on a topic that comes up in the same search as a best seller or an expert in that specific market or topic? You get an incredible amount of exposure by putting your books and products on Amazon.

Amazon not only offers a way for you to get your business exposed, but it also offers a way to make your life much easier by taking care of the entire ordering process. Imagine having to track orders, print labels, package up your products and drive to the post office to mail them - on a daily basis! Amazon takes care of all this for you. They handle all the orderings and shipping processes for you! Is that worth it to you? I guess it would depend on if you enjoy doing the leg work or not.

With Amazon, you ship your products or services to one location and you are done. Of course all this service also costs you - they take 55% of the official price - which is the list price you originally determine. So you are basically left with only getting 45% of your listed price.
Printing 1,000 copies of the average book costs about $3,500 to $5,000 or less than $5 per book. The cost to do this through POD-Print On Demand services, would be about three times as much. Youcan figure out the math. Of course you also have to incur the expenses of: Creating the book, Publishing it and shipping it to Amazon.
Here is my outline for Publishing Your Book or Products on Amazon

Understand that you are not going to be making a living on selling books on Amazon but you can brand yourself successfully which will lead you to be able to charge more and get more famous! Remember the more famous you are the more money you will make.
Create your Book - make sure you have your book edited by a professional.
Use the hypnotic language skills we discussed and create a great Title and a Description for your book so you can use it as an attraction factor.
Check with www.isbndb.com to make sure your title is not already registered.
Make sure you pay special attention to the 3 key areas ; The front cover, rear cover and table of contents. These are the major attraction factors when it comes to attracting your niche market. Focus on using images and wording that hit your target market directly.
Take your time and write the "publisher's comments"
Make sure you order a proof of you book before you publish hundreds of copies. It is always better to be safe in case there are some print or publishing errors
Get a ISBN number for your book or a UPC for a CD or DVD. Get a bar code based one which may cost you a bit more money Where do you get it? Costs: One Book = $125, one CD, $55, one DVD, $89
Get them Printed
Sign up with Amazon if you have not already done so. ($30/yr).
Ship to Amazon - Send two copies of the book to Amazon.com.
Make sure you follow all the required steps to send over the scans and registrations so that the book can be made available on the "search inside this book" feature.
Next, continue on with your branding tactics; start writing well written( Hire a writer if needed) reviews on similar subject books and make sure to add your signature and tagline such as, "Ayda B. Walsh, author, The Ultimate Success Guide." This tagline will not only generate tremendous free publicity to your target market but will also help brand you faster than you ever dreamed of!
Ask all your friends and others to review your book and leave comments. Send them free copies and ask them if they would provide comment on Amazon.
Use your book as an effective marketing tool by offering a free product or service for anyone who purchases your book on a certain date - this will drive your sales up and get you ranked higher on Amazon. Or you can ask people to write comments in exchange for your book.
Make sure your website links to your book(s) or Products. Ask your friends and family to link to your book.
Now it is time for you to aggressively market your book through every makreting channel possible. Use press releases, articles, blogs, websites, and any other way that you can think of because marketing is key to branding and success

When I work with my clients on branding - we focus on Amazon as a way to brand themselves or their business. Unless you can implement some very highly strategic tactics to generate some revenue from Amazon, most of the writers utilize it for building credibility and branding themselves.

Utilize each marketing channel to its fullest. Get your family and friends involved in supporting you with your marketing efforts. Every little bit helps.

Put your book titles in everything you do and send out with a link to amazon.

Think of other creative ways on how you can effectively use Amazon for helping you brand and get famous!

Ayda Walsh - Ultimate Success Coach - Step by Step Strategic Branding System for Profits!

The Ultimate Success Guide to Surviving Bad Economy - 1

2009-03-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

As a strategic business coach, my potential clients ask me how I can guarantee results even in a bad economy. They want to know the details and be ensured they will start to generate money if they obtain my services - even if the economy seems to be tanking.
Most of my clients seem to be service oriented business owners with 1-10 employees. They do not have a marketing department and are convinced that posting up a website is "Marketing".
Before diving into any ideas with my clients, it is very important to understand what they have done up to this day to get them to where they are. Most of my clients are either new business owners or have been in business for a couple of years. New business owners seem to be the ones that are completely lost when it comes to coming up with a strategic plan to put themselves out there. They spend thousands of dollars on a website and marketing collaterals that seem to sit idle.

So one of the first questions to ask yourself is:

Are you REALLY clear of what you want to achieve?

I know this sounds like a simple question but you would be amazed at the confused looks I get when I ask this question.

What will it look like when you are successful? What will you be doing, saying, being?

This is called future pacing. I need to ensure my clients really have a clear vision of what success for their business will really look like. Most people start their business and just follow what is happens. I want them to think about actually being successful and look back to today to see what they had to do.
I utilize a lot of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Progamming/Time Line techniques with my coaching. This gives me an advantage of other coaches because I can read and calibrate my clients more effectively. This is also how I can guarantee results. After all if you are not successful, I am not doing by job as a success coach.

For more information, check out my step-by-step program offerings.