Now that you’ve decided that you’re actually going to start some kind of blog, you’ve bumped up against the BIGGEST barrier to actually DOING it — Getting started.

What’s involved in actually starting a blog?

1. Choose a platform.  To start blogging you’re going to need a blogging software – otherwise known as a “platform.”  There are several to choose from such as Blogger, WordPress or TypePad.  In fact, there are about ten main blogging platforms you can choose from.  Read about the 10 best blogging platforms in 2010.
2. Decide if you want to be hosted or not hosted.  The next decision you’ll find yourself agonizing over is whether or not YOU should host your blog or have it be hosted.  The decision really depends on what your business is and your technical know-how.  One recommendation I would make is that WordPress has BOTH a self Hosted and a hosted option.  They are the most flexible so you can START a hosted blog and move to a self-hosted blog effortlessly.
3. Picking a theme.  If you’re a real visual person – you’ll agonize over what your blog should look like.  I won’t kid you – I’m going to push you toward WordPress because it’s the most flexible and cost effective and sports tens of thousands of developers creating themes — many of which are FREE.  The point I’m making is don’t get caught up in picking  a theme – they are as easily changed as a sweater.  So pick something simple and go.  You can always change it later.
4. Creating a name.  You might find yourself struggling with creating a name for your blog.  This is a great opportunity to do some brainstorming.  Create a list of words that describe topics and ideas for what you intend to talk about.  You can list nouns, adjectives, verbs, colors, animals, anything that remotely describes your topic.  Open a word document and them open the Thesaurus so that you can play around with synonyms and names.  Don’t agonize – just give yourself about an hour to do this and decide that at the end of the hour you will have your name.
5. Buying a domain name.  You have the option of having your blog have its own domain name.  Another place to help you brainstorm a domain name will be searching for a domain name.  I like to use GoDaddy to brainstorm domain names.  Their search system is one of my favorites.   Search for terms as domain names and see what comes up for you.  You can buy more than one domain name and have it all pointing (forwarding) to a main domain if you like.
6. Finding your voice.  Finding your writing voice is a very important aspect of writing blog posts.  You might find yourself being stopped because you don’t feel that you’re as much of an expert in an area.  Don’t let that stop you — that is just an excuse.  Instead focus on what OPINIONS you have about your topic.  It helps to create what I call a soapbox list.  A list of things that you “know for sure” .    Your blogging voice is an opportunity for your personality to come shining through.  For example, if humor is a standard part of your conversations – then put humor into the way you write.  If you are more formal – then be more formal.  The most important thing in creating a voice for your blog is that you have the ability to sustain the personality over the long term.
7. What to write about.  Take the soapbox list you’ve created and start brainstorming ideas.  Another source of ideas is to read other blogs on the subject.   Here is a great list of the different kinds of articles you can write.
8. When to write.  Create an article a day for at least 30 days.  This is how long Google needs to FIND you and decide that you are serious about what you’re doing.  After that initial spurt decide how often you want to post an article.  Do at least an article a week.  It’s better to do two a week if you can.
9. How to promote your blog.  Promote your blog by leaving comments on other blogs, linking to blogs that are bigger than yours, but not so big that they won’t acknowledge you.  Also use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to promote your blog posts.  Another way to promote your blog is by guest-posting on other blogs.

Take these steps and get started blogging.  You will start seeing results within three months or so if you’re consistent.  Remember to BE CONSISTENT.  Do NOT STOP.   Blogging is a lot like gardening and farming.  You plant seeds, water, fertilize and they need time to grow.  So start blogging and keep blogging to build your business

Matt Heinz, the CEO of Heinz Marketing sent me this list that appeared in an article he wrote for his own blog.  His first post on DIYMarketers, 10 Ways to Automate on a Shoestring, has been such a hit that I’m sending you MORE of his wonderful resources!

The following is a list of 10 Free Resources that he pulled together for Small Business Saturday and I wanted to share them with you!

Small business marketing starts with these four steps

Nine steps to a more effective elevator pitch

Nine tools that will help you sell more via social media

The nine (other) people who can market and sell for you

Four keys to building (or improving) your online presence

The three most important components of a retail marketing strategy

Six ways to get more business without directly asking for it

How to keep your small business from acting like a big company

Ten lessons learned for small business success

Free download of the e-book, “Secrets to Successful Holiday Selling”

It might seem crazy to be talking about high net worth clients in an economy that’s tanked.  But it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that high net worth individuals are still spending — and spending big.

There have been several studies on high net worth individuals and they all show that big spenders spend on brand value and not just on price.

In this issue, we interviewed Patti Stanger, who is Bravo TV’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” Her clientele? Strictly millionaires who don’t have time to date because they’re too busy running their businesses. Wealthy individuals usually have higher expectations and can be difficult to attract, especially when you’re first starting out. This issue will explain how to go about being a brand that serves them.

Features: 

• Full paid issue (February 1st):  19 articles total
• Sample issue:  8 articles total
• Interviews with:  Patti Stanger (Bravo TV’s The Millionaire Matchmaker), Ali Velshi (anchor for CNN’s “Your Money), David Novak (CEO of Yum! Brands), Dan Roam (bestselling author), and Meg Hirschberg (Inc. Magazine columnist)

Here’s a free sample of Personal Branding Magazine for you and you can subscribe to Personal Branding Magazine.

If you’ve made the commitment to “Get Organized!” in 2012 — then you might have been exploring the many project management tools that are out there.

It can get absolutely overwhelming when you see all the tools out there and really hard to choose one.

Who should use project management tools and why

• Sales people who are managing customers or key account projects.  Project management tools will keep you on track and make sure your project gets done on budget and on time.  Several CRM systems have project management features – but if you’re budget sensitive – consider using Manymoon for this application because it’s FREE and it allows you to see conversations that your team members have had about your project.  So when you log in — you can see all the latest actions that have been going on.
• Marketing managers who are tracking marketing plans and marketing calendars.  My favorite recommendation for this group is using SmartSheet.  This is a free tool that is grounded in a spreadsheet format with pre-formatted templates such as a Gantt chart.  I love this feature for marketing plans, trade shows and product launches because it allows you to track and collaborate on tasks and budgets.

There are many more out there and to help you make sense of it — check out this very cool infographic that Diego Dacal from GetApp.com sent in.  GetApp is a marketplace for online business software.

Are you still using that same tired business card?  Why not take a fresh new look at your cards and see if a re-design can spruce up your brand.

If you’re one of those people who feel that sticking a fork in your eye might be a preferable way to spend your time to designing a business card, you are in luck!

I just received this FANTASTIC Infographic from Chris Gold via BusinessCards.com.  Now you can create a business card that has both function and style.

Business owners can find themselves easily overwhelmed when it comes to working with a graphic designer on creating a branded business card.

Often enough business owners underestimate the quantity and importance of design decisions (selecting typeface, font, card shape, size and material) that must be made in addition to organizing basic contact information.

We’ve written this visual guide especially for busy small to medium sized business owners that are about the start an identity or branding project that will include redesigning their corporate business card. The guide takes you through 6 major areas of consideration: typeface, font, color mode, the printing map and card material. We’ve found in the past that one of these areas is to blame when business owners aren’t satisfied with their printed final product. Whether this is true for technical reasons (ex-saving design files in wrong color mode) or something being lost in translation from the left-sided dominate business brain to the right-sided dominate creative brain of the graphic designer remains to be seen.

Created by BusinessCards.com

Google+ is still new territory for most DIYMarketers – in this informational piece, Francis Santos reports on Google’s change in policy as it relates to using your name or a pseudonym or company name.

As Google+ matures, it is embracing changes that certainly appear to be for the better. Aside from recently lifting the invitation-only system it started out with and opening the platform to the general public, Google has also decided to support pseudonyms in addition to the other forms of identify according to Vic Gundotra, the company’s Senior Vice President of Social Business. This is very interesting news and a move that differs greatly from its previous stance on usernames.
Singing a Different Tune

From the moment it launched in late June until well, now, Google+ has required that members use a real first and last name when signing up. You could not use a pseudonym or even the name of your company if you wanted to experience this social platform. The penalty for failing to comply? Having your account permanently deleted. This is something Google was very serious about, serious enough to actually deploy a bot that automatically detects and suspends the accounts of users believed to be in violation of the policy, in some cases without offering any explanation.

As you may have guessed, Google’s real name policy is something that did not go over quite well with pundits. Many of them, most critics known to chime in on policy-related issues, argued that the company should not be allowed to force people to use their real names online. It was even brought up how doing so in countries such as Iran could put the user’s life in grave danger. The anonymity aspect in regard to usernames is part of what makes Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter so attractive to users who want to retain at least some sense of privacy in their dealings. Those who oppose Google’s take on pseudonyms believe that this degree of anonymity should be retained within the social space.

Google countered the critics with explanations that defended its requirement to use real names on the service. One of the biggest arguments made by company CEO Eric Schmidt was that using the platform is optional and something that users do at their own will. Though a valid statement, this point didn’t do much to satisfy those left at unease over the privacy concerns. The company also argued that using real names on Google+ improves the quality of discussions and makes members easier to identify. Again, these are valid points that ended up being moot when it was revealed that Google did not take the necessary steps to determine if the names people provided were actually correct.

Potential Marketing Impact

For whatever reason, Google has changed its tune and decided to support pseudonyms. Although Gundotra did not go into detail about the types of names that could be used, one would assume that it will be a policy similar to the one used by Facebook and other social networks, meaning marketers would soon have far more flexibility in terms of how they are represented on Google+. For example, if you are representing a company, you could use the name of its top brand or the organization itself. If you are a writer or artist, you could use the pseudonym associated with your work.

At this time, there is no word on when Google+ will officially allow pseudonyms. With whispers of its imminent death going around, it might be sooner than later.

There is a powerful new course being offered by Marketing Profs University  between January 12 and January 25 on small business marketing.  I’ve been asked to lead a group through the process of implementing their marketing plan.

In today’s post, I’m going to give you a flavor for what we’ll be covering in the course and if you’d like to hear the details, register for the course and you’ll get your marketing off to a powerful start.

Create a place for your ideas with a mind map

As I started thinking about the idea of putting marketing plans together, I started realizing that outlines on paper didn’t work for me.  You can fill out all the outlines you want and all you’re left with is a document that feels flat and doesn’t inspire you to implement it.

Consider using a mind map to give yourself perspective on your marketing goals and what you intend to do to support them.   I’m using Mindomo for this process and I’ve found it VERY helpful.

Here is an example of one that I did for a client of mine – where their marketing strategy was to become the obvious choice by creating the best experience for their distributors.  In other words, their distributors would choose them BECAUSE their product was easier to access and to sell and to order.

When you start your mind map you can choose to put at the center a strategy like we did in the example, you can also put at the center a financial goal.

Regardless of what you put at the center – you will want everything that branches out of that center to SUPPORT the commitment at the center of your marketing plan.

In the example, we decided that we would do research (to find out what really mattered) and then we would create an online community – to support those things that matter to the distributors.  Finally, we would create marketing and sales support kits and materials for distributors to make our product sell itself.

Notice how each of these strategies completely supports what’s at the center of the plan.

Here is a different example using DIYMarketers that has more of a financial goal -

The idea of the mind map is to give all your ideas a place to live and to make sure that they tactics you are considering fully support your marketing strategy.

If you’re focused on generating sales — then focus your marketing on that goal and choose tactics that will drive sales revenue and if you’re focused on experiences – then your strategies and tactics will be focused there.

Convert your strategies and tactics into projects

The other step in the process is to convert your strategies and tactics into actual projects where you can blow out specific tasks and assign them to team members or yourself.  Doing this will help you understand exactly what skill sets you’ll need to achieve your goal.

For example, if we are focused on creating the best experience and then want to design a web site or portal or community to support that — “best experience” will pre-determine how you’re going to design this site and what functions it will have.

If your focus was on generating revenue — the same project of designing a web site will have a completely different focus to it.

How a visual marketing plan will inspire you

A visual marketing plan will inspire you in ways you may not have imagined.  It will simplify all those words from your outline in a way that allows you to see the relationship between your activities and your results.

Another way that it will inspire you is that will give you freedom to explore other opportunities that may come up throughout the year and give you a place to put them.  A visual marketing plan will make it easier for you to remember what you are working toward.

Give this visual marketing plan a shot and see how much faster your plan comes to life!

If you’re not automating your marketing yet, then you are missing out on a cost efficient and powerful way of connecting to a broader audience.

The folks at Capterra, who help people find software for their business  have put together a fantastic and informative infographic on the most popular marketing automation software from several different perspectives.

© 2011 Capterra, Inc.

Have you had that hopeless feeling about your marketing plan lately?  There is a good reason for that — you may not have a process for putting you marketing ideas and plans into actions that actually make your plans come to life.

Let’s say that your marketing objectives are really CONVERSATIONS that have a life cycle of their own.  Once you know the process that these conversations take and what to do at each stage of the process – you will MOVE FORWARD.

State your commitment – what are you up to?

Think of your marketing goals and objectives in terms of a broader commitment of what your business is about.  The companies that are most successful and beloved by their customers are up to something.   Southwest Airlines is committed to giving everyone the opportunity to fly.  FedEx is committed to getting packages there overnight.  Every business is committed to something — what are you committed to?  What is your business up to in the world?  Write that down on a piece of paper RIGHT NOW!

Now you are in the right conversation — what is it going to take to bring your commitment to the marketplace to life?  You already have the answer to this — it’s all those actions that you have on your to do list.  Maybe it includes going to a trade show to launch a new product.  Whatever is on your list is a conversation that you can take through this magical process and that will move it forward.

The three main ingredients to getting your marketing message out

1. Time - Think of time in terms of gestation or how long it’s been on your list or part of your conversation.  Ideas and projects need time to germinate, grow and develop.  The biggest mistake we make is giving up too soon or getting stuck on its being a certain way.
2. Media - Because thinking about things and talking about things are just words and invisible.  You will need “media” something physical to bring those nebulous items into the physical world.  Media can include sticky notes, to-do list items, scheduled meetings – anything at all that transforms the idea and empty conversation into reality.
3. Membership - Bring more people into the conversation.  Just think about how often you keep ideas inside your head and expect other people to get it?  Sharing your idea, your project, your objective of what you’re up to with other people opens up amazing opportunities for bring your marketing plan to life.

Phase 1 – Transform thinking about it to talking about it

What is it?

The first phase of any conversation or idea is talking about it – we call it brainstorming, maybe it’s market research.  You’re feeling your way around and imagining how it’s going to go and how it could be.

How you know you’re in phase 1

Whenever you listen to a presentation or see a new tool you are intuitively saying “yes” or “no” to it based on your commitment.  For example; will this tool make it easier for me to do direct mail?  Will this webinar help me learn something that will save us time and money?  Will this help me get my message out?  If it’s “yes” , then you note it, maybe you write it down, maybe you put it in your marketing plan.  If it’s no – you simply let it go.

What to do next?

• Get it out of your head.  Write your idea down on a piece of paper and paste it up on the wall.  Put it on a white board.  Just get it out of your head and into the physical world.
• Listen for and refine your real commitment.  We are masters at saying one thing and doing something else.  You may have said that your commitment was for helping your customers achieve something – but your time and energy is spent in cutting costs and building efficiency inside your business.  In what ways will these efficiencies improve your customers’ world?  Not only will you make more money, your customers will benefit in some way.  That is the commitment.
• Involve others.  This is the ideal time to involve others in your conversations – start telling people, gathering input and turning that input into action.

Create specific actions.  Instead of “Choose appropriate trade shows” write down – “Review trade show directory and select 5 trade shows” .  When actions are too general and nebulous, they remain ideas and conversations.  Your goal is to transform ideas into actions.

If you haven’t done a marketing plan because you feel overwhelmed — join the club!  I recently heard from Ann Brinkerhoff, a credit union president,  about her experiences with putting a marketing plan together with her management team.  She was kind enough to write her story out and I thought it would be fun to share it with you so that you can see how she and her team adapted a marketing template I created back in 2008 in an  article called “The One Page Marketing Plan Anyone Can Use” for Small Business Trends.

Last April the Board of Directors of our small credit union met for a strategic planning session.  We did a SWOT analysis and talked about what we wanted the credit union to look like in a year, 5 years from now and 10 years from now.  One of the goals that came out of that process was to create a marketing committee who would then create a marketing plan.  No one questioned our need to market, but only having three employees limited our ability to spend a lot of time doing anything but helping members and the unusually low interest rates limited the amount of money we could spend.  So the real task was to create a plan that took no time and used little money.  Perfect.

The marketing committee was formed from members of our Board of Directors.  It included a contract specialist, an engineer, an economist and me, a credit union president.  The amount of marketing experience in the group was astounding!  OK, not so much.  We met and came up with unbelievably funky and original ideas.  OK, not so much.  We met.  And we met.  We came up with good ideas, but nothing ever moved forward because we couldn’t seem to organize the ideas into any type of plan.  We didn’t know how.

In an effort to bring order out of chaos, I turned to the place where I knew there would be astonishing knowledge, Harvard Business School.  I’m kidding.  I clicked on Google and typed in, “short marketing plan.”  Up popped several options but the one that intrigued me was an article by Ivana Taylor written in 2008 entitled, “One Page Marketing Plan.”  One page?  Cool.  I might be able to squeeze in time to complete the number of items contained on one page.  Then I was even more encouraged when Ivana compared marketing to planning a party.  I could do this.  I already knew how to plan a party.

After reviewing several plans and ideas, I chose to start with a template from Ivana’s article that she loosely adapted from notions learned from Philip Kotler and Michael McLaughlin.  I felt the thought-provoking questions that progressed from general to specific would help us focus our attention on the important things like defining who we are, who our immediate target audience is, what we want our audience to know about us and what vehicles we intend to use to tell them.  I hoped it would be like jumping from one stone to another so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming.  I then made the plan even more specific by adding a month by month planning calendar.

It worked!  Well, so far.  Just the process of working through the plan with some of my board members proved to be immensely valuable.  We now have a clear purpose and a list of items to do for each month.   I don’t have to constantly worry about what programs we are going to offer and how we are going to market them anymore.  There is a list and I am a list queen.  In fact, we revised the original template to resemble a list.  And quite honestly, as soon as the list was formed, it wasn’t that hard to roll up our sleeves, get to work and let the party roll.