Barbara Winter, joyfully jobless and the author of Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love, is an amazing person that I met while in line at the post office one day. We struck up a conversation, I gave her my card, and when she emailed me later that day I was amazed to find out that what she does is so similar to what I am doing online.

As a young mother back in the Midwest, Barbara came to the realization that she was not cut out to be an employee.She was an English major in college and went on to become a teacher, but this was not for her – so she quit. People in her life were not supportive of her decision, as is the case many times when we choose to change our lives in a major way.

She finally visited an employment service center and was hired to be one of the job counselors. This led to a period of research where she learned more about herself and others when it came to having a job that is meaningful. She mentions something the Buddhists call ‘right livelihood’, which is quite a deep concept.

When the student is ready the teacher appears, and Barbara met an entrepreneur who would guide her to personal development books and other materials. This eventually led to her having her own business and changing her life forever. Once your thinking changes, everything turns around. She also shares the importance of connecting with people in person who have the ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ when you are becoming an entrepreneur.

Barbara has taught her methods and techniques all over the country, and continues to be one of the foremost thought leaders in the area of entrepreneurial development and expertise.

This interview will make you think, and will also give you ideas on how you can become ‘joyfully jobless’ as an entrepreneur. You must follow your own plan for your life, and Barbara’s book and trainings will get you there.

This is a quote that says it all:

“If you are an entrepreneur or a wannabe entrepreneur or an I-might-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-when-I-grow-up entrepreneur, Barbara J. Winter’s wise work is for you!”—Huffington Post

After working exclusively in online business marketing for seven years now, I have come to the realization that it’s time for a change in one of my basic marketing strategies in regards to my two main blogs. Instead of doing more than ninety percent of the writing, I am now going to actively search for others to write articles that can be posted here.

Why am I doing this? There are a number of reasons, but first I’ll share the thinking that got me to the place I am currently in my business. When I began blogging in 2006, writing each post was a struggle and a challenge. I was not a writer, and that was blatantly obvious from the very beginning. I could write coherently, with no spelling or major grammar errors, but my focus was on the mechanics of writing rather than the creative aspect. The result was posts that were not very interesting and not read regularly by my followers.

Over the years this changed, primarily because I persevered. I wrote something every single day, whether it was a blog post, an article, an email to my list, a short report, or the books I began to publish in 2010. Practice makes perfect, as the old adage goes, and though I was not even striving for perfection (I prefer to think of it as excellence) the writing did improve significantly.

I now have more than a thousand posts on one of my blogs and four hundred on the other. Less than five percent of these are guest posts or rewritten PLR, and they average about four hundred words in length, so you can see that I followed through with my marketing strategy when it came to blogging. I’ve also learned much about SEO (search engine optimization) and keywords over the years, so the impact has been excellent for my business.

Also, I felt a sense of ownership when it came to these two main blogs, and that kept me from actively pursuing others to write for my sites. This is typical of new online entrepreneurs, and is a natural part of the learning and growing process.

Now I am approaching my business very differently and taking it to a whole new level, and including additional writers and points of view is an integral part of my strategy. Having access to those with a different expertise is vital, and there are many people who are extremely knowledgeable in areas where I have only scratched the surface.

What do you think? Would you still read my blogs if you knew I was featuring other authors more regularly? Which topics would you like to see included here?

Finding keywords for SEO (search engine optimization) in your business is crucial. Learning how to find the right keywords takes some time and effort. I have been able to grow my business exponentially over these past few years through the use of keywords. Using the right keywords on the Internet will help you to grow your business, but learning exactly what those are and how to use them can be a challenge.

First of all, what are keywords?

Keywords are the words and phrases we all use when we are searching for something we need. When you go to Google or Bing or Amazon, or any other search engine, you type in the words that best describe what you’re looking for on that day. For example, when I have friends over and we want to have a pizza, one of us will typically Google ‘pizza delivery in santa monica’. But how can this make a difference in your business?

When you set up a site for your business, whether it’s a traditional website or WordPress site, use your keywords in the domain name (such as HandymanSantaMonica.com), in the site’s header, and in the titles and subtitles found throughout your site. I won’t confuse my explanation here by using HTML (hyper text markup language) references, but suffice it to say that you must use your keywords on every page, in a natural and flowing manner. Overusing them is referred to as ‘keyword stuffing’ and will not be tolerated by the search engines.

How do you find your keywords?

If your business is a brick and mortar one, start out by using the name of your city and your industry, such as ‘Santa Monica pet grooming’ or ‘auto body shop in santa monica’. That’s the first level of keywords. Next, use phrases that describe more specifically what you have to offer, such as ‘grooming toy breeds santa monica’ or ‘smog emission testing santa monica’. If you aren’t certain which keywords might be best for your particular business, take a look at your competitor’s websites to see which keyword phrases they are using.

This can easily be accomplished by visiting their website, right-clicking to go to ‘view page source’, and then reading through the HTML code to see their keyword description, titles, and meta tags. By doing this with the example above, you may find something you had not previously thought of, such as ‘window tinting santa monica’ or ‘dog show styles and cuts santa monica’.

The use of keyword phrases in your business is an art, not a science. This means that you must take some time to experiment with what works best in your industry. Start by making a list of everything your business has to offer. Also, list the zip codes you serve, as many people use that as their search criteria, instead of the city name, when they need to find someone to help them.

The last thing I will discuss here is what is referred to as a ‘long tail keyword’. These are keyword phrases that consist of five words or more and are extremely specific to what the person is looking for. If someone uses a long tail phrase they are most likely ready to make a purchase.

An example of this would be if someone went to Google and typed in ‘need to repair broken windshield in santa monica’ or ‘who does the best dog grooming for yorkshire terriers’. Questions are very common when it comes to long tail searches.

Also, someone may not use a city or community location name at all when typing in their search, such as if they put ‘file an irs tax extension for my small business’. If you are a CPA, this search could be perfect for your business.

I recommend that you learn as much as you can about keywords, and see how beneficial they can be for growing your business with the right clients for what you have to offer.

Marlon Sanders has a brand new Dashboard available. It’s the WP Leads and Sales Dashboard and I’ve created a three minute video to tell you more about it.

Watch the video, think about your own goals for creating an online business, and then decide whether or not this is right for you. Becoming an entrepreneur is not for everyone, but if you have the entrepreneurial spirit this could be exactly what you need to take you to the next level quickly.

You can find out more by going to my link for this program and getting started today with Marlon Sanders’ WP Leads and Sales Dashboard