Debbie LaChusa

Of all the questions I receive from solo professionals and small business owners every week, by far the most common is "How can I market my business for less?"

In response to all of these questions, I'm offering a Shoestring Marketing Q&A Teleclass on Thursday, June 26th.

On that call I will be answering your questions about how to effectively market your business on a shoestring budget.

Over the years, I have found that you don't necessarily have to spend more to get better results. In fact, some of my most effective marketing campaigns have been the bare-bones budget ones!

This Shoestring Marketing Q&A Call is an extra bonus for anyone who invests in my new program, "10 Ways to Market On a Shoestring Budget" by June 20th.

Don't worry if you can't make the live call because I will be recording it. Just make sure to submit your questions prior to the call so I can be sure to answer them.

You can get all the details and secure your spot on the Shoestring Marketing Q&A Call at www.10stepmarketing.com/shoestringmarketing.htm

I'd love to answer YOUR marketing questions on June 26th and help you save on your marketing and improve your results ... ALL at the same time. You can reserve your spot at www.10stepmarketing.com/shoestringmarketing.htm

Here's to your marketing success ... for less!

In my business, 6-Figure Work-at-Home Mom, I work with moms to help them create a home-based business that enables them to be home with their kids and earn a good living doing work they love.

But this weekend is Father's Day so we can't forget about the Dads. Because they too play a very important role in the lives of their children.

My friend Terri Marie just sent me this beautiful video she originally produced for her dad, and then decided to share with all dads out there. So I wanted to share it with you.

Enjoy ... and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

A few months back I interviewed Debi Silber, who has branded herself "The Mojo Coach" because she inspires unfit, overweight and overwhelmed moms to "get their mojo back" through gradual lifestyle change!

I was so impressed with her ability to brand herself, I even included her as a prime example of branding in my 1-Hour Branding System.

Debi, who is a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert just for moms just let me know that she has published a book called, The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best.

If you struggle in any of these areas, as many working moms and busy solo-professionals do, I encourage you to check out her new book or one of her coaching packages. She's motivated thousands of moms in the past to find the right balance between motherhood and womanhood. So I know she can help you.

You can learn more about Debi and her new book here.

Or, you can order her book directly through Amazon using the link below.

Thanks to Christopher Knight of EzineArticles.com and Email Universe for alerting me to 4 new rules amended to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 by the Federal Trade Commission.

These rules go into effect June 30, 2008. If you're an email marketer, you need to know about these rules and abide by them or you're putting yourself and your email list at risk. The last thing you want is to be labeled a spammer and get black-listed.

The 4 New CAN-SPAM Rules:

(1) People must be able to opt-out of a mailing in ONE SINGLE ACTION. This can include replying to the email or clicking through to a single web page.

(2) CAN-SPAM rules apply equally to everyone. That means anyone, including non-companies, can be liable for sending commercial email.

(3) It is acceptable to use a post office box or private mailbox ("PMB") as the physical address in your email messages. This was always a little unclear, so it's nice to know we are in compliance if we use a PMB or PO Box. Especially for those of us who work from home offices and don't want our home address tacked onto every email we send out.

(4) If your e-mailing includes advertisements from third party advertisers, you must also have an advertisement in the email (in which case you become responsible for processing opt-out requests) or all of the advertisers in the e-mailing are responsible for opt-out requests. This is known as the "Designated Sender" rule.

To learn more, I encourage you to read what Christopher Knight wrote on this topic at Email Universe.

I've been blogging for over two years. In January 2006, I decided that was the year I needed to join the blogosphere. It just so happened that very month I was at a networking meeting and the guest speaker was a blogging and podcasting expert.

I wanted to use blogging to develop a two-way conversation with my audience and grow my list. When I shared these two goals with the "blog expert" he assured me that would be no problem.

I immediately invested in his program, worked with his team to create this blog and spent the next 12 months becoming an avid blogger and podcaster.

The numbers don't lie.

As a seasoned marketer I have been trained to track all of my marketing activities to see what works and what doesn't. Common sense says do more of what's working and stop doing what isn't.

After spending countless hours posting to my blog at least three times per week and recording a weekly podcast show, my marketing results were pretty dismal.

While the blog was getting good traffic, it hadn't done much to grow my list and I was hard-pressed to find a ROI on all the time and energy I had invested into it.

While I had gotten very positive feedback on my podcasts, when push came to shove, the ROI just wasn't there for them either.

So I did what all good marketers do, I made changes based on my results.

I abandoned my podcasting show, and cut way back on my blog posting. It was a sad day for me because I really wanted to believe both would provide me a great way to share with my audience, and enable them to share back.

Problem was, NO ONE was sharing back! In two years of blogging I can count the number of comments posted on two hands.

I know I am not alone in this. I frequently visit other blogs, and there is WAY more posting going on than comments.

Yes, some blogs are very dynamic, but in my experience they are few and far between. Just ask yourself how often you've taken the time to comment on a blog post that you've read. See what I mean?

So what is the verdict on blogging? Should you employ it as a marketing tactic?
Well, here are a few things to consider.

(1) Search engines love blogs

Search engines love fresh content and because blogs are constantly updated with new posts, and potentially comments, they are quite dynamic.

Using your keywords in blog posts can help them come up in relevant online searches faster and easier than traditional website content.

I use Google Alerts to track mentions of my name and each of my companies online and 90% of the results I see are from my blog posts.

So from a traffic generating aspect, blogs can be a great marketing tool.

(2) How tight is your niche?

One of the things I realized AFTER I got into the blogging game was that my blog was too general. Small business marketing is a terribly crowded category online, which means lots of competition.

If I had it to do over again, I would pick a much tighter niche for my blog.

(3) A separate blog or a blog on your website?

My blog links to my various websites but it is a separate site with its own URL: www.10stepmarketingConnection.com

This means it's one more "place" I have to market to drive traffic to. AND, more importantly, it means that my main websites don't benefit from all the increased traffic the blog receives as a result of the search engine friendliness.

If I had it to do over again, I would incorporate my blog into my website. In fact one model I am looking at right now for a new business I am planning is to build the website on a blog platform, making the home page in essence a blog.

That way I can drive traffic to ONE site, and I enjoy all of the benefits of search engine friendliness to my MAIN website.

(4) Is your audience a community-oriented group?

If your audience thrives on community, interaction and information sharing, then they may be very likely to comment on your blog posts.

If however, they are merely an information-seeking audience (which is what I determined my audience was) then you can post until the cows come home, and very rarely will anyone comment.

You may be okay with this, as long as one of your goals is not to create a two-way conversation.

As with all marketing strategies, think about your audience and choose marketing that fits them. Sometimes you may not know until after the fact (as in my case), but often if you ask the questions up front, you can be pretty sure of the answer and you can make your decisions accordingly.

(5) Are you committed to posting to your blog regularly?

Maintaining a blog can be a very time intensive endeavor. To create a robust blog you need to post at least several times per week - I know some folks who post daily!

While you can write all of your blog posts ahead of time and schedule them to post every couple of days (a strategy that I used that made it much easier to manage), you still need to commit to setting aside the time to come up with content ideas and do the writing.

If you cannot commit to a regular blogging schedule, or you wonder what the heck you will post about, then creating a blog probably isn't for you.

So, to blog or not to blog?

In the end, the decision about whether blogging makes sense for you is a question only you can answer. These 5 points can help you find that answer.

First and foremost, you will want to determine what your objective for creating a blog is, and then track your results to make sure your blog is delivering those results.

After all, tracking is the ONLY sure way to know what works for YOUR business and what doesn't.

In the end, I am glad I learned about blogging and created my blog. While it was tough to admit that it didn't accomplish the goals I set for it after a significant investment of time and money, I know that as is the case with all of my marketing efforts, there are valuable lessons in everything I do.

The important thing is to learn those lessons and apply what you learn to the next marketing endeavor.

For me, I continue to blog, but I don't spend as much time on it as I used to. Instead, I choose to focus that time on other marketing avenues that have proved more profitable for me.

What about you?

If you've had a difference experience with blogging, I encourage you to post a comment and share.

I wanted to let you know about a special book promotion that is happening today only. The book is by my friend, Sheri McConnell and is called Smart Women Create Membership-Based Businesses. Sheri McConnell is the Founder and President of two national organizations, National Association of Women Writers and the International Association of Web Entrepreneurs.

One of the reasons I wanted to you to check out Sheri's book and take a look at www.smartwomenbook.com is because of all the bonuses her team has put together for you. These bonuses are in line with Sheri's overall mission to help women!

When you purchase Sheri's book today, June 25th, 2008 at www.smartwomenbook.com, you will receive thousands of dollars worth of bonuses for women and by women ... including one from yours truly!

And if that weren't enough, the book itself is "pure gold" for anyone wanting to create their own membership-based business! I should know, I was lucky enough to receive a review copy prior to publication and I couldn't put it down!

Sheri knows her stuff and I highly encourage you to check out this book and all the free goodies you get when you purchase it today, June 25, 2008 at www.smartwomenbook.com