Free blog exposure August 23, 2009

Alpha Inventions.com is a site a techie guy made to combat boredom. Basically, it works like other random-pick sites that flash through blog pages and you click on the ones you like the look of. This site is slightly different, though, in that it rotates the blogs most recently published rather than every blog in existence.

You might see alphainventions as a click-through site on your stats list, even if you did nothing to let alphainventions know you existed. You can, however, sign your site up on the site and get even more clicks, and if you want to have your site rotated more frequently, you can pay a subscription of $9.97 per month.

Here’s a vid. further explaining how it works.

Obviously, just having people see your site is never enough. You must have quality content and hooks—enough material to draw readers in. If you have a writing blog, then your content must be eclectic enough to have people stop and actually read what you have. Yours has to be different, stand out, keep them reading. I’m not going to make any claims to having those qualities in my blog, but at least I have more of an opportunity to have random visits to my blog from unknowns. Now I’m getting free exposure from a kind-hearted dude who was bored.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM

 

 

Contact help April 15, 2009

I’ve been told that iContact is the best way to stay in touch with all of my past clients. If I want to keep my name at the top of people’s memories, I need to keep letting them know I exist. I’m going to try it out for the free 15 days trial to see if someone with my simple computer knowledge can get the hang of it AND not annoy anyone with my e-mails. Here’s the blurb:

iContact Promotional Email

iContact: Do More With Your Online and Email Marketing Campaigns With iContact’s extensive features, you can easily create Email Messages, send them to your subscribers, and track their performance. When you apply Autoresponders to your email marketing campaign, you can stay in the forefront of your customer’s mind with automatic messages based on timed sequences or customer actions. Surveying provides you, the marketer a platform to collect data from your customers and iContact provides you with the real-time results of your data. RSS Feeds are the latest direct online communication tool. Your customers will immediately receive your most recent messages when they sign up for you RSS feed. iContact is a leading on-demand email marketing service. iContact allows organizations of all sizes to easily create, send, and track email newsletters, RSS feeds, blogs, surveys, and autoresponders. Learn More about Marketing Online with iContact with a 15-Day Trial Standard Features (Included free with your account!) Mail-merge Personalization Forward-to-a-Friend SpamCheck™ Bounce-Back Handling WYSIWYG Newsletter Editor Message Scheduling Assured CAN-SPAM Compliance Open and Click-Through Tracking Subscription Management Over 300 Templates Included Advanced Features (Also included free with your account!) List Segmentation Multiple Message Autoresponder Integrated Surveying RSS Feeds Advanced Analytics Event Management Industry Leading Deliverability Public Newsletter Archive Example Templates iContact Screenshots

Let me know if you’d like to join me in this endeavor. I’ll add you to my contact list and we can give feedback here.

Establish an Online Presence March 6, 2009

Online presence is one of those new-fangled things that online-savvy people know about and use. Up to a few month ago, I didn’t even know what it meant. As an editor and writer for other people, though, I need to make sure that I am easily found online, because most business these days is garnered through the internet.

If I have a name that is unusual and googling me will instantly find everything I have ever done, that is fantastic (hopefully!). If, however, I have a name like John Smith, then that will absolutely not happen. Some beginner’s steps I’d like to recommend in order to establish an online presence:

1. Buy the domain name “yourname.com” if it is not already gone. Have it redirect to your business site. Any hosting company will have this option.

2. Buy a second domain name that promotes your line of work. I used the name inksnatcher.com, as all of the names that use write, script, edit, etc. (all the obvious names) were already taken. If you can’t think of a name, get your Thesaurus out and use alternative words that people understand.

3. With that second domain, turn the site into something viable which others can come to and read about the writing services you offer. Be sure to only offer services you are sure you can perform.

4. Set up your e-mail account, with the e-mail being one that is easy to remember. Mine is inkmeister@inksnatcher.com.

5. Tell others about the fact that your website is now up and running—post about it on Facebook, Twitter, in your blog, on other forums you are part of.

6. If getting business is diffcult in the beginning, offer to edit or write for someone for free—that way you will have quotes and a list of work already completed.

7. Design and print good-quality business cards. Be ready to hand them out to anyone who could benefit from your services. A family member designed mine, and I used Overnight Prints to print them.

7. Join a business leads/referrals group. This helps to network with other business owners who know people who know people who know. . . . Meet Up can be a good place to find a group near you.

8. Consider adding reciprocal affiliate links to your blog and site; they will bring you more traffic. This means that you add someone’s link to your page and they add yours to theirs.

9. Write articles on your genre of writing or editing—doing so will help you to appear more professional and knowledgable about the subject matter, and your name will come up more often in online searches. There are many sites you can post your writing on: iScribe, Helium, PostArticles, to name a few.

Overall, what I want is to be seen, to be known, and to be thought of or mentioned when editing/writing work is available. The aforementioned list will be part of the ladder that takes me there.

 

Every piece of writing needs to be clear and precise. With microscope in hand, Inksnatcher’s writing and editing service will hone any work until it glitters in the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. INKSNATCHER.COM