We all want more traffic to our site, right?

While there are numerous ways to drive more traffic to your site, one of the most effective and far-reachings ways is to link build. Link building is simply the way you get more links to your site. The more links you have, the more traffic you’ll get, the better your SEO and the further your reach.

Many business hire firms or consultants to help them create link building (or link baiting) strategies. However, often the costs of hiring a consultant can be an impediment to the small business owner.

That’s why when I found this list of interviews on Manish Pandey’s blog, I had to share them with you. I haven’t read/listened to them all yet, but those I have are top notch. And just look at the quality of people being interviewed: Lee Odden, Seth Godin, Andy Hagans, Jim Boykin, Loren Baker, Bob Gladstein, Debra Mastaler, Eric Ward…wow…it’s like a who’s-who of link strategy experts. And the interviewers, themselves, aren’t too shabby.

1. Peter Da Vanjo interviews Fantomaster.
2. Aaron Wall interviews Dabra Mastaler.
3. Barry Schwartz interview with Jim Boykin.
4. Lee Odden interviews Eric Ward.
5. Sugarrae’s group interview on link development.
6. Patrick Gavin interviews Loren Baker.
7. Julia interviews Bob Gladstein.
8. Loren Baker interviews Patrick Gavin.
9. Aaron Pratt interviews Stuntdubl.
10. Scottie Claiborne interviews Mike Grehan.
11. Joe interviews Matt Inman.
12. Glen Allsopp interviews Lee Odden.
13. Aaron Wall interviews Andy Hagans.
14. Dev Lakhani interviews Seth Godin.
15. Aaron Pratt interviews Lee Odden.

So there’s a ton of great information. But what’s your own link strategy? And if you have a great resource for information about link building, please share it in the comment box.

I can’t tell you how many calls and emails I get from small business owners who have had a bad experience with their web designer or their marketing coach. It seems so common. Maybe 1 in 3 of the people who contact me do so because they’ve not gotten what they’ve needed from the person they’re working with.

In the past ten years, I’ve seen everything: web designers who take the money and run, have ever-increasing project costs, outrageous pricing for simple projects, horrible design (and over design), and just plain rudeness.

With marketing coaches it’s a little better. At least they’re usually nice to their clients. But usually clients call me because they feel ‘boxed in’ by a marketing program. They don’t feel heard, they’re not really getting it, or their coach simply doesn’t get how to effectively translate a marketing message to the internet.

All-in-all, I end up bailing people out.

Now, I’m not complaining. I love the business. And I love helping people who really need my help in using their websites to grow their business. Yet, I’m not happy that they’ve gotten such poor service before they found me. And I’m definitely not pleased that sometimes they’ve been down right taken advantage of.

That’s why I think it’s important that you’re careful about who your hire to help you with your business. Remember, you’re entering into a relationship; one that should help you with your business needs. So to be sure the relationship has a foundation, here’s a few questions you can ask yourself in deciding whether a marketing coach or web designer is a good fit for you:

• Do I like the person?
  Sure, we’re not always a good judge of character. But most of the time you’ll have a sense as to whether you’ll get along with someone. Even the best marketing coaches have personality ticks (as we all do). And sometimes those ticks don’t jive with our own. So don’t work with someone who you’re not sure you can get along with - regardless of how successful they are or what your friends say.
• Can we communicate clearly with each other?
  Don’t overlook this one. Relationships are built on communication. If you and your web designer or marketing coach don’t communicate well, don’t even consider working together. The frustration and misunderstandings you’ll have will just cost you headache and time. You need to find someone who you understand…and who understands you.
• Do they care about my business?
  Okay, seems trite. But there’s a difference between the web designer who’s just designing another website and the one who takes a real interest in what you do. The former is just doing their job to make a buck - which isn’t wrong by any means. The latter is certainly interested in making a buck. Yet they also take a sincere interest in your success. And you want to work with someone who wants you to succeed.
• Do we share a common vision about how my business growth?
  You know your business. You may not have crystal clarity around it, but you do know what you do. Your coach needs to clearly understand your vision. They should listen and clearly understand what it is you do and then help you refine your branding, your approach, your message, etc. They need to add to your already developed vision, not take from it.
• Am I just a number?
  There’s a lot of programs out there - both for web design and for marketing and business development - that sort of cookie cut the process. Often, these materials or courses can be highly helpful. But some miss the point of really helping your individual needs. Know yourself and what you need. If you thrive by reading a book or working in a group environment, buy the book or take the course. But if you’re someone that benefits most from one-on-one help, spend your time and money getting one-on-one help from a coach, consultant or web designer
• Can I learn what they have to teach me?
  We all have things to teach each other. The question is whether we can learn from each other? Take the time to find out if you can learn what they have to teach. Your web designer may know code up the yin-yang. But do you really need to learn it? And your marketing coach may be an amazing copywriter. But can they teach what they know in a way you can learn? Whoever you work with, make sure you can learn what they have to teach in the way they teach it.
• Can I afford to work with them?
  The old adage is true - you need to spend money to make money. I’ve found that to be true. So the question you want to ask yourself isn’t whether to spend money - if you’re building a business you need to spend money. Just be sure you have a budget. And also try to get clear what sort of return you can get on your investment. Spending money that doesn’t return is one thing. But your budget might be a little different if you consider that what you spend is an investment that can be returned on. Don’t be afraid to spend, just be sure not to overextend yourself.
• Can they really help me?
  This is really the bottom-line question. You want to know inside yourself that the people you hire to help you with your business really can help you with your business. It doesn’t matter so much what they can do. What matters is can they do it for you? And can you mesh together to create a successful relationship that will help you solve your business needs.

Someone once told me that a teacher isn’t just someone who knows some things. A teacher, to deserve that title, needs to be able to teach you in a way that you can gain from their knowledge. Otherwise, they’re not a teacher at all; they’re just someone who knows some stuff.

I feel the same way about the people who you work with on your business. Be sure that you can really gain from your web designer or marketing coach. Ask questions and get to know the person, even if it requires a few conversations. If they’re not willing to meet your needs before you hire them, what makes you think that’s going to change once you do?

I’d love to hear about your experiences with a web designer or your coach. And if you have a good one, feel free to link to them in the comment box.Â

People want to do business with people - not businesses.

A few business owners seem to get this. But don’t seem to get it, though. It makes me wonder how business owners see themselves relating to their target audience.

Perhaps that’s the first mistake…target audience. What image do you create when you hear the term target audience? For me, I’m looking off the deck of a boat at an expansive sea whose swells ebb and flow. What I don’t see are the individual drops of water that make up the sea. In other words, I don’t see the individual people in the term target audience. I can’t imagine I’m alone.

Most marketing copy I read today does one of two things: It either tells me all about what ‘you can do for me;’ or it tries to make me identify the problems I face. Both work to some degree. The former by being straight forward in what we offer. The latter perhaps more so by getting me to feel that you understand me and my problems and, thus, can help me solve them. Yet I think they both miss the boat.

Why? Well, neither are really about having a conversation. When you just tell me about your business, there’s no room for me because it’s all about you. And when you make it about me and the problems I face, it’s still from your perspective. You’re not there, in it, with me. And if you were once where I am, it’s difficult to recapture the difficulties I face when you’re no longer in them.

I think that’s what Colleen Wainwright, the Communicatrix (gosh, I can’t help by love that name), was getting too when she wrote this comment on a recent blog post of mine around having the conversation with your niche.

Most of the time, people are thinking about what they want to say, rather than the people they’re going to say it to. You can’t possibly have a conversation with your customers (or anyone else, for that matter) over the sound of the projector running, if you catch my drift.

And that seems to be the crux of most marketing content I see today. Not all, but most. Business owners seem to spend more time being concerned about what they want to get across to people than they do considering what people want to hear. Yet giving them what they want and need is the key to being successful.

So how do you do that? Make it a conversation. Instead of being so concerned with getting all the right content so gingerly placed so perfectly on the page, engage in a conversation. When you write copy, think about it like you’re sitting down with someone referred to you from a friend. First, listen to them. Figure out what they need. Then speak (or write). But do so as you would in a verbal conversation by adding to it, not trying to turn it into something you want.

You may be the expert on your topic and the referral may be coming to you. But they want to feel honored, cared for and listened too. They want their opinions to matter. And they want to know that what they know has value and merit.

Just remember, your target audience is made up of individuals. Engage them as such and you’ll be doing business with people instead of a trying to reach a marketing buzzword.

What do you do to engage individuals in your business? How does your blog serve the conversation and how has it helped build relationships?

P.S. …I just found out that today is Colleen’s Birthday. Stop by and shoot her a b-day wish.Â

Do we still need email newsletters (or ezines, as some call it)?

Many websites today are setup to get visitors onto a newsletter list. When you read the copy on their site, much of it is geared toward selling you a free report or workbook. And how do you get this workbook? You have to ‘pay’ with your email address. That’s why I say the sites are selling you the workbook. Just because you’re not spending money, doesn’t make it free.

Anyhow, once you’re on the list you get targeted messages meant to get you to buy the next level of product or service. Often it’s an e-book or an entry-level seminar. Many times the marketing in the newsletter is cleverly disguised by a short article that’s meant as a hook to get you reading. Then the sales pitch comes - you need our e-book…

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done it myself. I have a newsletter list and it continues to grow. As a matter of fact, it’s grown much more rapidly since I began blogging. You can sign up for it here.

But I’m beginning to question the need for a list. Who does the list serve? It serves me, right? How can it serve my audience when I’m in control of it? I’m in control of its content, the sales pitch, even when it interrupts your life through your inbox. All this keeps me, the business owner, in control.

Yet the marketplace is changing. Marketing is changing. Email is changing. There’s a wave of backlash growing against interruption marketing - and certainly against spam. Consumers now want to have more control over how they’re marketed too - and when. So is the e-newsletter going by the wayside? Are business owners just afraid to let it go because they’ll loose control? How do technologies like RSS fit into the mix?

Yaro has his opinion. What’s yours?

UPDATE: I’ve added a link to Ted Demopolous’ post, Blogs & Ezines? Complimentary? since he added it after commenting on this post. Thanks Ted.

You’d think the latest question Liz asked me would be simple to answer. And on the surface it is. Yet, I’ve needed an extra day to think about where to take this one2one conversation next.

When you go around the Internet, what mistake do you see most often?

That’s her question. Think about it for a second. Do you see what I mean? I could answer this from so many different levels and perspectives that I’ve actually been stuck on how I wanted to answer it.

Since Liz is asking me for one mistake, I’m going to need your help. So let’s have a discussion in the comment box. I’ll start it off…

Having been a web designer for so many years, you’d think the mistake I’d see most often would have something to with visual design, site architecture, or layout. Sure, there’s plenty of poorly designed sites out there. And we all know plenty of blogs that are poorly organized and cluttered.

But the mistake I see most often isn’t in the way a site looks. The mistake I see most often is how a site owner uses their site to communicate with their audience.

I’m bias, that’s certain. And my bias leans heavily in the direction of conversation and relationship. Yet, I know from experience, that it’s conversations that lead to relationships that lead to business. People want to do business with people - not with businesses. In other words, they want conversation and relationships.

Most website owners, most business owners and a lot of marketing coaches simply don’t get this. They focus on slick or carefully crafted marketing copy that’s meant to evoke an emotional response to create action. I’m not saying that’s bad - not at all. I just think that there’s more.

So what I often see are business owners trying to fit themselves into a method of copy writing that’s not so much about building relationship and which I feel is unnatural. Pick a handful of business websites and read the copy. Tell me if you feel like the business owners want a relationship with you or do they just want your business?

I advise all my clients - even those working with copy writing and marketing gurus - to consider their websites as the beginning of a dialogue with a person in their target audience. Don’t just meet them where they are, engage them in conversation. Write as though you’re sitting with them over coffee, listening closely to the problems they face. And respond with an open, conversational tone.

This is easier to do on a blog because of the chance for conversation in the comment box. The blog has the advantage as well in that you continue to engage in that conversation with your audience each time your write a post. But you can do this on a static website as well. As you write, just picture yourself having a conversation about where they are.

Remember, people want to do business with people. So don’t be afraid to show who you are as a person. You can be a marketing professional and still be person. Anyway, you know from your own business interactions that connection, personality and temperament play an enormous role in successful business relationships. So why not build your personality into your marketing materials. Let people know who you are right out front. Let them see you as a person. Then invite them to sit at your table with their cup of coffee. Who knows what can happen next.

So I think not actively engaging people in a conversation that can build a relationship is the most common mistake I see in websites.

There are many others - certainly - even around content. So I turn my site over to you to share what mistakes you often see was you’re perusing the web.

And I have to be sure to continue our one2one conversation by asking Liz…

What’s helped you go from just being a writer on a blog to becoming a conversational dynamo?

I can’t wait to see Liz’s answers. She is truly a master at writing conversational copy, if you ask me. But until she answers, let’s talk…

How well can your clients, customers and prospects explain what you do?

This is one of the questions that every business owner needs to be asking themselves all the time.

Too often, we focus so much on developing our business that we forget why we’re developing our business in first place. Sure, we want to make a profit - that goes without saying. Yet the most likely reason any of us got into business is because we believe we have a unique and better approach to solving a people’s problems.

Take a moment and think about all the products you see advertised in mass media. Each one tries to solve a problem. Think about Gatorade, IcyHot or Midol and I’m sure you can tell me what problems each can solve for me - even if you haven’t used the product yourself.

Sure, each of these products have massive marketing budgets, catchy slogans and world-wide mass appeal (what women doesn’t want relief from her symptoms around her period). Yet they’ve also clearly communicated the problems each can solve. And they do it so well that you’d have no problem explaining to someone else that IcyHot can relieve muscle pain.

But what would your clients and customers say about your business? Is it clear what problems you can help them solve? Not just clear to you, but clear to them. And clear enough so they’d have no problem explaining what you do to someone else?

If they don’t know, why would they work with you in the first place? And if your clients can’t explain how you’ve helped them, how can they tell their friends?

What Liz and I have been discussing in our latest one2one conversation.

Most recently, I asked Liz the question:

What do you feel is necessary to create an effective strategy to promote a business?Â

Okay, so I didn’t ask a light-weight question. I know that. Just like I know there’s no one right answer. That’s what makes the conversation interesting, if you ask me.

Liz’s answer was great, “…the way I get from strategy to execution is really to have a strategy, one in which outlines in detail what we are building.”

Which somewhat leads me to my answer to the same question - since Liz returned it to me.

For me, the key to strategy in promoting a business lies in clarity. Yeah, I know…you’ve heard enough about clarity. Yet, for me, it’s the foundational stones to creating, promoting and growing your business.

What’s always worked in my business is first to have as much clarity as you can around three points: who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. I’ve seen all my own success stem from clearly defining myself in these first three questions.

It’s taken some time, but I’ve learned not to slouch on these questions. Who I am is very important because I’m, personally, the foundation around my business so I need to know, clearly, what I bring to the table. What I do is far more than what I provide. It’s a look at what problem(s) can I solve for people. And who I do it for considers who are the people who have the problems that I can help them with.

Next I ask myself (and my clients) how: how do you do what you do. I can’t even begin to express how much my business changed when I took a long look at not just what it is I do, but how I do it. My eyes opened to things about my business that I never had considered. And I’ve watched this in many of my clients over the years.

Finally, I ask one final question: where can I find the people whose problems I have the solution too? Since I need to know where to promote my business I have to know where the people I can help are looking for help.

My goal is to get as much clarity around each of these questions as possible. And since I know I’m constantly learning, changing and growing I forget about getting it perfect and just get it clear.

From the clarity I gain through answering these five questions, I now have a light-weight strategy for promoting my business. A little polish on the message and a few decisions around how to reach my target audience, and I’m off to the races.

The key, is to keep everything clear. If I find something that isn’t clear, I stop and track back where it may have become unclear. Then I take the time to clarify that bit of cloudiness.

Which brings me to my next question I’m asking Liz (and you):

I’ve always seen you as having a great deal of clarity around your blogging and your business. What do you lean on to help you keep that clarity?

Please, join in the conversation - either below, in the comment box - or at Liz’s site.