In observance of Independence Day I decided to interview myself for this week’s podcast. I’m Connie Ragen Green, and I’ve been online since the end of 2005. My story begins like that of many other online marketers; I wanted to change my life in a big way and realized that I could do that my becoming an entrepreneur. By 2006 I had resigned as a classroom teacher and had given away my best real estate clients in favor of pursuing my dream on a full time basis.

In the picture of me on the left, I’m at the beach in Santa Barbara working from my iPad. This has become a regular part of what I do, and there are many people there who will stop to talk and ask me about their own online endeavors as they make their way down the beach. Santa Barbara is a city I have spent time in since the 1970s. I love the artistic and creative nature of the people, and for the past several years it is now my second home. I am inspired by the ocean and the gentle breezes and have done some of my best writing right here at the beach.

In this podcast I share how I have been able to change my life, and how you can do the exact same thing if you are willing to learn as much as you can and choose a niche where you will become a problem solver for those you come to you for trusted advice. Yes, this is hard work, but it’s the hardest work you will ever love because of the impact you can have on other people’s lives.

The book I refer to in this call is called ‘What Color Is My Parachute‘ by Richard Bolles and continues to be a bestseller as it helps people to find their life’s passion in their work. I highly recommend it if you or someone you know is searching for a new and meaningful life direction.

If you haven’t already, please click on the link in the right-hand sidebar to subscribe to my weekly podcast series.

Search engine page ranking can help build your online business quickly. On page search engine optimization is an extremely important part of the overall search engine optimization formula. Some people say it’s half the equation. In reality, it’s more like an entry ticket to compete. Having your on-page SEO done well isn’t necessarily going to help you topple the #1 position for your keyword. However, if you don’t have your pages well optimized, chances are you won’t rank at all. Consider it an all-important prerequisite to getting your website ranked on the front page. If you don’t have your on page SEO done properly, chances are you won’t rank at all.

Your Page One Search Engine Ranking

The primary reason you want to do on page SEO is so that Google can accurately tell what your page is about. A poorly optimized page will seem like it’s about everything. A well optimized page on the other hand will tell Google exactly what the page is about, so Google can give you strong rankings for that keyword.

Here’s how to optimize your page for search engines. For the purposes of demonstration, I’ll be using the “Measure My SEO” plugin for WordPress from Jason Fladlien and Wilson Mattos for a number of these steps.

Title Tags

The title tag is the most important tag in all of your SEO efforts. It’s what Google places the most weight on when they’re trying to determine what your site is about.

Your title should have as much of your keyword towards the front of the tag as possible.

Different pages on your site should have different title tags. Do not have the same title tag throughout your entire website. If you do, you waste each individual page’s potential to rank for unique keywords.

Image Alt Tags

Optimizing your alt tags plays a much larger part on SEO than a lot of people think. It won’t single-handedly help you rank, but it is an important factor for your on page SEO.

Give the images on your site good alt tags. Make sure the filenames are meaningful and make sure that your alt tags are descriptive. If you have purely navigational images on your site, such as white space or button backgrounds, name them numbers (111.jpg) rather than a text based keyword.

In WordPress, you can change the alt tag of images by going to that image’s preferences.

Internal Linking

Internal linking is one of the most crucial factors you could pay attention to for your SEO.

Make sure you have links going from all your content pages to other pages on your site. Embed these links within your actual content, or within links on the site or bottom of the article.

Things like “You May Like” boxes or “Related Posts” boxes are all good choices.

High Quality Content On A Regular Basis

Finally, it all comes down to content and content quality. Google is looking to promote websites with high quality content.

Produce fresh content as often as possible. The more fresh content you have, the higher your chances of ranking.

These are the most important on page factors to pay attention to in search engine optimization. Get your on page optimization right before you try and topple your competition.

The ‘Measure My SEO‘ plugin makes it simple for you to attain high search engine rankings for your keywords.

When I think of someone who has built an online empire over the past several years by sharing her ideas and insights with others, the person who comes to mind is Nancy Marmolejo. Viva Visibility is the company she is now known for, but I have known of Nancy since long before that time. In fact, it was in 2007 when she was sharing her insights into using MySpace (remember them?) that I first took notice and joined her list. That was the beginning of our relationship and I have seen her grow into a businesswoman so many look up to when making the decision to get started online.

Over the years I have learned so much from Nancy, and when I began running into her at live events we became fast friends. She usually has her adorable daughter in tow, and the two of them are memorable to everyone who meets them. She has a charisma and genuine personality that put people immediately at ease.

Nancy got her start by helping her father run the snack bar at the local flea market in Hayward, California, and credits him with being her first business mentor. She learned about customer service and running a business, as well as how to deal with people under a variety of circumstances and honor their uniqueness. Nancy’s also a former classroom teacher, so I know that’s part of why I can relate to her so easily. She loves to find the ‘teachable moment’ in her business and reminds me of what I love about working online with people from around the world.

During our conversation we discussed how you build the credibility and visibility you need to establish yourself as an online entrepreneur, and how you find the time to be organized and productive on a daily business in a world with so many distractions. She describes this as a ‘streamlining’ process. She is passionate about helping people to stand out in their field and establish themselves as an expert in their niche.

Nancy Marmolejo teaches a variety of programs, as well as being one of the most highly respected business coaches out there. Listen to our podcast and then decide for yourself. You may sign up to receive her free training on ‘21 Online Visibility Tips for Entrepreneurs‘ to learn more from Nancy Marmolejo.

Are you creating ‘multiple streams of online income‘ for yourself and your family? When I think about how I have set up and built my online business over the past few years I realize that I’ve created eight separate profit funnels that bring me multiple streams of income on a regular basis. This was not my intention in the beginning, but as I continued to learn and implement what was available to me as an online entrepreneur these were the eight areas I resonated with and added to my funnel one at a time. Each funnel brings me a profit stream that has helped me to be successful on the Internet with a lucrative business I can run from home, or from wherever I happen to be.

These Multiple Streams Of Income include:

• Affiliate marketing
• Local business marketing
• My own products and courses
• Services I offer to others
• Membership sites
• Niche sites
• Amazon
• Coaching

Affiliate marketing was the very first way I was able to earn money online. Because I had no product of my own and was just starting to blog and write articles, it made sense for me to recommend the products and courses I was benefiting from to others who were also getting started online. I earned my first affiliate commission in April of 2006 and have never looked back.

Then, because I was learning how to market on the Internet and honing my skills, I began helping a friend to market his insurance business and a family member get started as a handyman. This was my first attempt at local business marketing and since that time I have even created a course where others can learn how to do this as well. Small businesses everywhere need our help so they can stay in business and thrive in any economy.

By the end of my first year online I had created my first product and added this to my profit funnel. This first product was a four part course on how to use blogging and article marketing to increase your visibility, credibility, and profitability. It sold for ninety-seven dollars and taught me that having my own line of products would increase my affiliate income while also adding another stream of income to what I was putting in place.

Helping others get set up online led me to my next area of income production. Soon I was offering my services to others, such as installing plugins and setting up WordPress blog. Even though this involved trading time for money, I saw it as an opportunity to start outsourcing some of the tasks to others.

In 2008 I added membership sites to the mix. I learned that I could add information and training each month to a membership site and that many people would be willing to pay by the month to receive this information. I continue to use the membership site model in my business.

Niche sites soon followed, and I still enjoy the process of choosing a hobby or interest of mine and setting up a site that will earn income for years to come. There are so many possibilities for this. I even have family members who earn online income based on their interests in model trains, skateboarding, fashion accessories, and relationships.

In 2010 I wrote and published my first book, Huge Profits With A Tiny List: 50 Ways To Use Relationship Marketing To Increase Your Bottom Line. This book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobel in both paperback and Kindle formats. This led to my writing several more books as I saw the profit potential and personal satisfaction of creating an income stream with Amazon.

I also run a coaching program. I refer to this as mentoring, rather than coaching, for a few reasons. A mentor takes a few people under their wing and helps to guide them towards success. I only work with twelve people each year and love the way I can be a part of the progress someone makes over time.

Which of these profit funnels are you already using? I recommend making a study of what is possible as an online entrepreneur and then jumping in to get started.

When you mention the name Karyn Greenstreet, mastermind groups are what come to mind, but she is quite a savvy business woman in every aspect of what she knows. Her site is Passion For Business, and she says that being self-employed is the best lifestyle she knows, but that most people are more in love with what they do than in the day to day details of running their business. She has owned a variety of businesses since college, including a portrait studio and online businesses. Karyn stresses the idea of building a business as an asset so that it may be sold or passed on to family members in the future.

I had first heard of Karyn around the topic of Masterminds, and she explains how she started with this years ago. This began at the corporate level when she and others started a group based on author Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People‘. She credits her great success with this process of masterminding with others over the years, and now helps others to put together and facilitate their own mastermind groups.

Karyn and I discuss what makes a mastermind group work, how to find the right one for you, and how to sustain it as a meaningful part of your business on an ongoing basis. We also explore what works best – exclusively online or in person groups. During this podcast she even does a brainstorming session with me to help guide me towards a group that would best suit my current needs. You will enjoy listening to this process as you dig more deeply into how this will fit into your growth as an entrepreneur.

Another service she offers is one where she helps you find others to start your own mastermind group, as well as being able to join an established group or become a group facilitator. They are not only for business’ Karyn has put together masterminds for people from all walks of life, including scouting, the leaders of a city’s fire department, and a variety of non-profit organizations. Sometimes the group members become JV (joint venture) partners, even though this is not the focus of the group originally. She explains how the group becomes a powerful one in your life because their intention is to help you achieve success.

She is also a business coach and SEO (search engine optimization) expert, so you will want to connect further to see how she may be able to help you move forward with your business. Be sure to visit Karyn Greenstreet at her site, check out her blog, and pick up your free eBook on the biggest marketing mistakes.

We all want the maximum value for anything we purchase as consumers. This just makes good sense. The same goes for us as entrepreneurs when it comes to selling our information products to others. In your online business one of your main goals must be to build relationships with your prospects and clients by giving them more value when they purchase from you than when they purchase from anyone else. This can be done very easily with just some small adjustments to what you are already doing every day, and will result in boosting your reputation and credibility as well. Instead of creating additional products, add more value to what you are currently selling.

You can add more value to a product you have already created by remembering that everyone comes from a different place. By this I mean that everyone has a different level of experience and skills, and has a unique way of learning and absorbing information. Whereas one person may be brand new to your list and your niche, someone else may have been on your list for years and have already purchased from you in the past. Either way, provide the maximum value to turn each person into a raving fan.

One way to add value is to offer email coaching to your buyers for thirty days after they make a purchase from you. I was amazed at how popular this was when I first began offering it. Then, someone who is a legend online offered a package that included email contact personally from him and I jumped at the chance to be involved. Offering email coaching shows people you care, while also building a relationship that will set you apart from almost everyone else doing business on the Internet. This works in most any niche, whether it is personal relationships, dog training, health and fitness, or building an online business.

Another way to add more value is to prepare checklists that your customers can print out and refer to quickly and easily. We all have way too much information on our hard drives, so everyone appreciates a checklist of the relevant and salient points of the topic you are teaching. Be sure to include your contact information in the footer of each page so that it will be easy to reach you in the future if your checklist should end up in someone else’s hands.

Also, we must meet the needs of those with various learning styles, which include visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. You will add value to your product while helping people with alternative learning styles and preferences by transcribing your product, creating audio recording, and making videos. I know that I do not do as well with videos as I do with written content, and that my very favorite way to learn is by reading along while listening to the audio recording. Some of my students are very busy and tell me they prefer being able to listen to the audios while they are running, walking, or traveling.

Case Studies add another dimension to your products that is added value. This gives you the opportunity to show specific examples of what is working for you and for your previous students. This also allows you to go step by step through the process of what you teach, showing how others were able to achieve success by implementing what they learned from you.

Follow up webinars or other trainings have worked well for me. Sometimes it is a one-time webinar training immediately after they purchase the product; others times I turn it into a monthly training that can be added to or turned into a membership site. The interaction is fantastic for relationship building.

My friend Marlon Sanders teaches a concept called ‘dollars for dimes’. In it he states that if you offer your customers something that is worth ten times as much as you charge they will be much more willing to get started with your product. This will open the door to a lifelong relationship.

Delivering, or perhaps I should say ‘over delivering’, will always be an excellent way to grow your business. To learn more about earning more online revenue with your online business, check out my friend and colleague Nicole Dean’s training on making money with your information products.

On this week’s podcast I spoke with my friend Jim Edwards. Ebooks have been a part of his life since the late 90, and the first book he ever published was one on real estate. This was years before the term ‘eBook’ had ever been coined. He handed it out personally to prospective clients in order to get more listings. There weren’t any PDFs at that time, so he was giving away an unprotected word document back then. Soon he was online and had domain names when they were over a hundred dollars each and hosting was about a hundred twenty-five dollars a month. This really takes us back.

He started writing and creating his own eBooks, and in 2001 realized that this way the way to build a profitable and sustainable online business. People began asking him how to write, research, and publish their information using the eBook format, leading to his beginnings as a teacher of this profitable income stream.

Jim has one of the largest information publishing businesses in the world, where he publishes eBooks, Kindle books, webinars, and other trainings, as well as having a lucrative niche site business. He believes that only the people doing something should be teaching it, and I agree completely with this philosophy. In 2001 he created (along with Joe Vitale) the first training I ever purchased on how to write, publish, and market an eBook, and he recently updated this course to include detailed information on how to sell on Kindle and Amazon. This is now considered to be the premiere training on the topic of eBook writing and publishing, and it’s priced right for new online entrepreneurs. The screen shots make this an illustrated guide that will increase your results dramatically.

I’ve spoken on Jim’s cruise for several years now, and this continues to be an excellent way to learn while surrounded by friends and family. This is where Jim first had the idea for the training we did together on ‘How To Become A Super Affiliate‘.

His Net Reporter monthly training program is hands down the best value and quality for learning how to build a successful online business. I’ve been a part of this program for about two years and would not give it up for anything in the world. Jim’s message is to take action and get moving on what you are learning so that you can achieve your goals and dreams. Please let me know if you’d like more information on how to get involved.

Why Should You Start Guest Blogging Anyway? 

You may be familiar with guest blogging but find yourself wondering if it’s beneficial and something you should be doing in your business. I first learned about it from my colleague Nicole Dean when she introduced us to her course on  Guest Blogging Secrets. Let’s take a look at 7 important reasons you should be guest blogging.

1. Build relationships with other business experts in your niche – It’s a win/win situation when business owners help each other. Guest blogging now can turn into joint ventures in the future. One thing to keep in mind when it comes to guest blogging is that you want to make sure you have something to offer that is appealing in exchange, so it doesn’t seem one-sided by those you are reaching out to connect with online.
2. Increase your website traffic and get your name out there – Guest blogging is a way to increase your traffic. But more importantly, it’s going to be very targeted traffic!  Meaning, because you’ll be blogging on sites within your niche, these audiences are already looking for you.  Now that you’ve gained their attention and they know where to find you on the web, they can start spreading the word.
3. Grow your reputation as an expert – By guest blogging and sharing your knowledge on your topic, people will be able to see that you know what you’re talking about and start seeing you as an expert.  Make sure you’re giving them quality information they haven’t heard before.
4. Build back links to your website – Building back links to your site is a great way to show Google your site is popular, important and relevant. Find out what the blog owner will allow you, in way of links, in your post.  Normally, they’ll let you add 2-3 links between the content and author bio. Be sure to use keywords in the text you choose to use as a link to your site.
5. Build your brand and reputation – The audience that follows the site you’ll be guest blogging on has grown to know, like and trust the blog owner. Now it’s up to you to garner some of that trust. Share quality content that the audience will be interested in and wants to read.
6. Build your mailing list – Because you’ll be gaining a highly targeted audience in your niche market, it’s going to be important to get them on your list.  Make sure to entice new visitors with an opt-in offer they can’t refuse so they’ll sign up immediately for your list.
7. Gain more guest blogging opportunities – If you follow the rules of the host site, provide relevant, high quality information and bring your “A” game, more than likely you’ll gain more guest blogging opportunities from those that follow the sites you guest post at.

These reasons for guest blogging that we just went over are also some of the benefits for your online business.  Once you learn more about guest blogging and do more of it, you’re going to position yourself and your brand as an expert, the ‘go to’ person, and this will more than likely get you recognized and sought after by other experts in your niche. It will also get you into the habit of writing, a skill that will serve you well as an online entrepreneur. Be sure to take a look at Guest Blogging Secrets to see how you may add this marketing strategy to your business.

Creating content online is the fastest way to building a profitable business if you are just getting started on the Internet. I have been quite prolific since coming online in 2006, but the truth is that I have worked a plan all this time that I will share here with you. Once I realized that my income was in direct proportion to how much content I could create I knew that I had to make content creation my focus each and every day.

The main issue for me was that I was not a writer at that time. It took dedication and hard work to turn myself into a writer, and you can do the same thing by following my example. Write every day until it becomes a part of who you are. This took about thirty days for me, and occurred during one of my article writing challenges.

Your content, in the form of blog posts, articles, videos, audio recordings, short reports, eBooks, books for Kindle and Nook, and paperback books can be shared with your target audience around the world. This will help you to build the kind of relationships that take your business to the next level very quickly.

Here are some ideas to help you produce high quality content quickly and achieve far better results in your business consistently.

Carry a notebook with you every place you go. I always have one next to my bed, by my computer, in my purse, along the side of the seat in my car, and even in my kitchen! By making notes every day I always have a starting point for my writing. I generate ideas when I talk to friends and family members, read through magazines, read through my emails, and watch television. I write down two or three sentences so I know exactly what I was thinking at the time when I look back at my notebook days later. When I sit down to write, I already have a collection of ideas ready to go in my content creation endeavors.

Don’t edit as you write; instead, just let the writing flow. Whether I am writing in one of my notebooks or typing with two fingers (yes, that’s correct) on the keyboard, I just keep moving and go back to reread and edit later on. When I was a classroom teacher I taught my students that writing is rewriting. That was a mistake. Instead, I should have taught them that writing is getting into the flow and allowing your thoughts to take shape on the paper or the screen. Ideas are everywhere, so be ready to tell stories about what you have encountered. My work with various charities and my pets are a ready source of stories for my business.

Readers are writers. Even though you may feel as though you do not have time to read while you are getting your business off the ground, take the time to read on a variety of topics. This will enhance your life and expand your knowledge base in a way that will manifest in your writing. I always have a paperback with me, as well as books on my iPad and Kindle.

Your prospects and clients will want to know as much about you as possible, so share stories that you are comfortable with sharing. I love to tell people about the charities I help, the places I travel to, and about what it was like when I was a classroom teacher and worked in real estate. I try to make a point with each story that makes it more interesting or even a learning experience. The key here is to always relate the stories and principles back to your original message.

You can also write a series of blog posts or articles on a particular topic. This was how I wrote my first book; I started writing a series of fifty ways to use relationship marketing to increase my income. After a few months I had enough content for a one hundred and seventy page book!

Get your momentum going by writing nonstop for an hour to ninety minutes each day. My best time is first thing in the morning. Find your ‘prime time’ and start writing. Once you’re flowing, don’t stop. Keep going. As soon as the first article or blog post is done, start the next one. And keep it up until the inspiration is gone. Getting the momentum going is the hard part. You’ll get much more accomplished if you just hold on when it’s already moving for you.

My writing tends to be about four to five hundred words in length. This is the typical article or blog post so this fits my requirements very nicely. When I write something much longer, such as this post, for example, I know right away that I am going to repurpose it into many different formats. Shorter writing is fine; there’s nothing wrong with 150 words if you can get your message across in that time frame. People have a very short attention span today.

When people ask me questions I most always write them down in my notebook. This give me the impetus to write a longer answer that can be included in the content I will create that day or the next. If one person has the question, others will also. You can then publish the question (or at least the relevant portion) and the answer in your article.

I repurpose everything. Publish your content on the social media sites, in short reports, on YouTube, in podcasts (be sure to subscribe to mine in iTunes), and anywhere else you can think of for best results with this marketing strategy.