5 Reasons You Should Focus on a Specialty in Your Business

 

What’s your specialty? This is not a trick question—every business owner should be able to answer it in one concise sentence.

No matter how many products or services your business offers, your business has a core specialty (some call it a core competency) and you should know what it is.

Perhaps you are a professional organizer and your specialty is family moves. Or, you are a caterer, and weddings are your sweet spot. Or, you own a garage, and you are known for being the old cars “whisperer”.

As ambitious, energetic entrepreneurs, many of us think that we should please every customer who walks through the door, regardless of whether their needs match our business’s core competency. After all, it’s crazy to turn a willing, paying customer away. Right?

Wrong.

Choosing a specialty, and sticking to it, is a fundamental marketing strategy that will make your business stronger, not limit it.

Here are some of the reasons why you should focus on one area of expertise in your business:

1. It will be easier to promote your business.

When you’re focused on your specialty, you can share with people what you do in a faster, clearer and more memorable way. “I specialize in planning destination weddings” is a much more “sticky” message than “I am an event planner.” Describing your business on your website will also be a breeze—you will be able to communicate what you do in a clear and concise way which your website visitors will appreciate.

2. It will be easier to achieve expert status.

This one is pretty intuitive but let’s discuss it for a minute. The more focused you are on your specialty, the more specialized knowledge you’ll accumulate. If, for example, you are a mechanic and you choose to make fixing old cars your area of expertise, you’ll work on more old cars, you’ll talk to more owners of old cars, and you’ll read more about old cars than most mechanics. Soon you’ll be more experienced and more knowledgeable than most of your colleagues because you stayed focused. An expert status would be much harder to achieve if you chose to be a more “general” car specialist.

3. It will be easier for customers to choose you.

We all look to hire experts. Think about it: if you need a root canal, you go to a dentist who specializes in root canals. If you happen to have a small dog, you look for a vet who is known for specializing in small dogs. Choosing a specialty, and being good at it, will bring to you the exact customers you’re looking to serve. If, on the other hand, you maintain a “general” status, you’ll have a harder time convincing a customer to choose you over a specialist.

4. It will be easier to get to know your customers.

Imagine you own a bookstore. Now, imagine that the only type of books you sell in your store are mystery novels. Clearly, your customers will be mystery novel fans. You will meet and talk with more mystery novel lovers than most people have ever met in their lives. In the process of these interactions, you will get to know a lot about this group of people: you will learn why they like mystery novels, which of the books you sell they like and which ones they don’t like and why, and so on. Naturally, you’ll be able to serve their needs better than any other bookstore in town. This deep understanding of your customer would be difficult, even impossible, to achieve if your bookstore sold books of every possible genre. 

5. It will be easier to show personality in your business.

Because you know your customers very well, you’ll be able to talk directly to them in your advertising—whether it’s a website, a brochure, or whatever other medium you choose. Using language your customers respond to, jokes they find funny and offers they find relevant will keep you close to their hearts and will always make them choose you over the competition. General ads or promotions that some non-specialists may choose to run, meant to attract a general group of people, by promising general benefits would never evoke a similar emotional response.

Choosing a specialty and sticking to it is a powerful way to build your business. So, try to shake the habit of deviating from your chosen niche every time a customer asks you to do something “extra” for them.

All that said, I don’t mean that you should NEVER venture outside of your niche. If and when you’re ready to grow your business, offering additional products or services is a great way to do that. However, such an expansion should not be a casual action. It needs to be planned strategically and launched with diligence and intention, like a pro.

Culled from Built In Chi

Post Tags:#business#business owner#specialty

5 Ways to Come Up with Great Story Ideas

Been racking your brain about great story ideas?

We all have a million excellent ideas for stories, but, without fail, they magically disappear the minute we sit down to write. It seems impossible, but it happens constantly. Hours are wasted staring at a blank page. And, no matter how many cups of coffee are in our systems, we still can’t find the energy to kick our muses into gear and develop story ideas.

Have no fear: I have five ways that will help pump up your creativity muscle and build story ideas that will keep you writing for hours on end. Here they are.

 

How to Build Great Story Ideas

 

1. Reinvent a scene from a book.

 

Take a very small, seemingly unimportant scene from one of your favourite books and consider what it’d be like if that were the opening scene to your novel. Change the characters of course, and add one or more unique elements to that scene. The key is to give you a starting point and then let your imagination run wild.

While there are many ways to stay inspired, this challenge really takes something that you love (an old book) and gives it new life.

 

2. Use junk mail as inspiration.

 

Take the next two pieces of spam mail you receive (either snail mail or e-mail) and use them to determine the profession of your protagonist and your protagonist’s love interest.

I get this type of mail all of the time, particularly from politicians, credit card companies and auto dealerships—and that’s just what’s delivered by the United States Postal Service! When I add in the junk sent to my e-mail inbox, I get “foreign ambassadors from Nigeria” looking for million-dollar loans and women begging me to click through to get “erotic” pictures of them. Any one of these jobs will lead to many fun and unusual situations—and will give you plenty of fodder to write about.

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3. Invent a history for someone with whom you’ve lost touch.

 

We have all had friends in our lives from grade school, high school or college that we knew quite well back then, but haven’t seen much (if at all) since. In fact, most of their lives are a mystery to us. Pick one of those old friends and write about the life they’ve been leading ever since you lost touch.

What happened in his or her family life? What career path did he or she choose? Was he or she involved in something that led them to a life of crime? The possibilities are endless, which should drive you to be as creative as possible.

 

4. Eavesdrop on a conversation.

 

Just because you’re stuck in a bit of a funk when it comes to ideas doesn’t mean that other people are. Take your notepad or laptop out of the house, sit down somewhere and observe the scenery around you—and listen to any and every conversation within earshot. You can do this at a park, restaurant, coffee shop or, my personal favourite, a bar (people who have a few drinks in them tend to share the best stories). Remember, jot down all the stories you hear but be sure to give them a twist to make them your own.

 

5. Find a writing prompt and run with it.

 

Sometimes the best cure for writer’s block is to let someone else start your story for you. #

SOIPublishing has some great creative writing prompts. You can also search the web and find a number of other sites that offer them, and who knows, the idea you get from a writing prompt may be just the inspiration you need to spark your creativity and write a short story or novel that sells.

4 Effective Ways to Market Your Business Online

 

All businesses, great and small, exist for one reason – to make money. Every decision or action that happens in the business is just one step on the way to the ultimate purpose of that business, that is, to make a sale. The difference between businesses that succeed and those that fail is the ability to sell.

 

As important as the processes of creating quality products and building organizational structures are, they do not form the bedrock of business success. The product is nothing if it does not win the attention of buyers. Unless people are willing to buy what you are selling, your entire effort in building the business is wasted.

 

That is why selling, along with everything that goes into making a sale, is the most important function in a business. As a matter of fact, every action the people in a business take will contribute to the business’ ability or inability to market its products or services successfully.

 

This is why successful businesses elevate the art of marketing to the level of strategy, says Funeral Home Media. Strategy is a systematic plan of action designed to increase the probability of success under conditions of uncertainty. Strategy makes your results more predictable in unpredictable circumstances.

 

How should you market your business?

In today’s world, most business is done on the internet. Even if the actual sale does not take place there, cyberspace is where your first contact with customers often happens. There are two things that need to happen to your marketing if your business is to consistently make its mark in the online space:

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• Firstly, there must opportunities for that initial contact between your business and users of the internet. If buyers cannot find you online, how can they buy from you?
• Secondly, people who encounter your business online must come away with a good impression of the business and the products or services it is offering.

 

The ability of your business to repeatedly do these two things well is the foundation for successful online marketing. What are some of the strategies you can use to reach more people online and also impress them with the quality of what your business has to offer?

 

4 tips for successfully marketing your business online

 

1.    Update your SEO game

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is where it all begins. This is what you do to define who you are on the internet. It is what makes it easier for people to find your business among the billions of businesses on the internet.

 

What is SEO? SEO is every step you take to improve the ranking of your business on search engine results pages (SERPs). A great SEO strategy ensures that when internet users enter a search phrase that relates to something your business does, your website or content will show at the top of the search result page. This is important because most internet users do not click past the first page of search results.

 

2.    Engage on social media

A vast amount of time people spend on the internet is dedicated to social media sites. Social media offers the most effective platform for reaching the greatest number of potential and existing customers within the shortest time. But to succeed on social media, you must honor the purpose of those sites and why people use them.

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The three reasons people come to social media are to be informed, inspired, and entertained. A social media strategy that values engaging with people above selling to them will be more successful in the long run. The goal of your social media strategy should be to build a community.

 

3.    Become an authority through content marketing

People hate to be sold something but still want their problems solved. How can you get people to buy something that will solve their problems if you cannot sell to them? The answer is through content marketing.

 

Content marketing is about providing useful information that addresses customers’ pain points without an overt attempt to sell to them. This is often done by creating insightful blog posts or video content that answer the customer’s questions.

 

This kind of valuable content helps to build trust because it positions your business as an authority in that area. When that internet user is eventually ready to buy, they are more likely to remember and buy from your business.

 

4.    Build an email list to foster conversations

Email is arguably the cheapest and most effective way to market online. When marketing on social media, the social media site plays the role of a mediator between you and the customer. Content marketing also depends on the ability of customers to find your content in SERPs.

 

With email, you have a direct communication line to the customer’s inbox. This kind of marketing is personal and people like it, especially if they signed up to receive your emails. But like content marketing and social media, email marketing is best used as a tool for engagement. With time people are more likely to buy from you if they have been sufficiently engaged.

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Writing

 

So you’ve been wanting to write—for your blog, for your company, for industry publications, or maybe just for fun. But you’re not sure where to get started. Or maybe you’ve never even considered writing (or never really liked it to begin with), but you’re quickly realizing that you’re going to have to do it (and do it well) for your career.

As with anything, writing is much less about being born with an innate “talent,” and much more about getting better with practice. So here are a few fun and simple ways to start incorporating writing into your everyday life—and get better at it in no time.

1. Look Around

Many writers cling tightly to the idea of a “muse,” a divine inspiration that hits when she fancies and provides you with the exalted insight for your most inspired piece.

Well, it doesn’t always work that way. While there’s no denying that great ideas can’t always be forced, the mood to write doesn’t always strike when it’s convenient. Instead, take advantage of the world around you for inspiration—your walk to the subway, the stories in your Facebook newsfeed, your interaction with the cashier at Starbucks in the morning (and the afternoon). As writer Henry Miller once said, “Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music—the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself.”

If you don’t think you have anything to write about, think again. There’s inspiration everywhere—you just have to be paying attention.

2. Find Your Space

How and where do you write best? For some people, it’s peace and quiet, while others need music or the chaotic hubbub of co-workers milling about. And most find that different places work for different types of writing: When you have to write for work, you may need to put in your headphones and listen to the crooning of Lana Del Rey, but when you’re blogging, you may prefer curling up on your couch with a glass of wine.

Instead of trying to force yourself to write at a specific location, try out a variety of different spaces until you find what works for you. Then, recreate that cozy, creative environment every time you need to write.

 

3. Write Now, Edit Later

Many times, your own worst critic—in writing and in life—is you. So, when you’re writing, it’s really important not to judge what you write down, at least at first. Even experienced writers don’t often crank out a perfect first draft, so setting your expectations too high from the outset is unrealistic (not to mention discouraging).

A good exercise in nonjudgmental writing is to set a timer for 10 minutes and just write. Write down what you know, what you feel, or whatever’s on your mind. Don’t try to write too carefully or too intelligently or too accurately. In fact, stop trying, period. Writing goes much better when you don’t work so hard at it or criticize your every word.

Even if you need to do some research for what you’re writing, start by just getting some thoughts on paper. Write down what you know, build a skeleton that you can add to, and then research the rest later. Don’t let a lack of immediate knowledge stop you.

 

4. Read it Out Loud

This tip is twofold. First, in most cases, you should write like you talk. Even if you tend to use a casual tone, that’s OK—it will help you sound more realistic and understandable to your readers. Try recording yourself talking for two minutes, then transcribing it. You can correct obvious mistakes later (and edit out the “likes” and “ums”!), but writing that reflects the way you speak often showcases the most authentic version of yourself.

Secondly, once you’ve written something down, actually read it out loud. As silly as you may feel, it’s the best way to make sure what you’ve written makes sense. Anything that doesn’t flow, is confusing, or is missing a word or two will quickly make itself apparent.

 

5. Just Write

If your goal is to truly improve, the more you do it, the better. There are so many ways to get words onto paper (or onto the screen)—so take advantage of these opportunities to hone your skills. Compose well-crafted emails and clever tweets, start a personal blog, or ask for more writing projects at work.

You can even make a game of it. At the beginning of every day, pick two or three words you want to use that day. Write them on post-it’s and stick them on the wall in front of you, and find a way to use them in your writing that day.

Today as much as ever, everyone needs to write—it’s an expected and actually quite useful form of communication. But being able to write well is a skill, and one that’s sought-after no matter what you do. The good news is you can get there. The first step is just getting started.

Culled from The Muse

How to Publish Your Book: Top 3 Options for New Writers

 

If you are reading this, there are three probabilities —

1. first, you have already written your first book and are looking for the right publishing option;

2. second, you are seriously considering writing and publishing your book;

3. third, you are still dreaming of writing a book.

In all of these cases, you need to be aware of different publishing options as there is no singularly best way to publish your book. The book publishing landscape may baffle you as this business has drastically changed over the past decade. You cannot depend on outdated and wrong advice.

Read on to know about various publishing models:

Traditional publishing

Before the year 2000, traditional publishing was the only way to get your book published. In this model, you finish your manuscript; find a literary agent (whose primary job is to sell your crude work) in the hope that they would take you on as a client.

Once your publisher approves your manuscript for publishing, he will pay you typically in the form of an upfront payment. If your book does well, further royalty payments will be given by the publisher. The publisher will handle the physical production of the book as well as the marketing part.

Self-publishing

The self-publishing model has empowered authors, especially new ones more than any other publishing mode.

In this model, you retain ownership of your book, but at the same place, you are the one responsible for managing and controlling the entire process. Self-publishing has shot up in many different forms, but at its core, the publishing work is managed by the author.

Self-publishing has given a platform to millions of authors for getting their books published and reaching millions of readers. Also referred to as independent publishers, multiple independent editors, illustrators, book publishers for new authors, book designers and marketing professionals take part in this model. With the self-publishing option, you choose the professional services you are ready to pay for. When it comes to distribution, you make money whenever someone orders your book. The distributor gets a cut only when the sales go through.

Today, there are many platforms, like The Write Place, offering a new-age destination for authors to arrive with a raw manuscript and fulfill their dreams of getting published.

Hybrid publishing

Similar to its name, hybrid publishing shares some elements of traditional as well as independent publishing. By the year 2000, some traditional publishers started stepping into the game of hybrid publishing.

In this model, you submit copies of your manuscript, similar to a traditional model. If the publisher accepts your manuscript, the traditional publisher invests in the hybrid arm of the parent publishing company and takes all financial risks involved. However, the author can also take some financial risk and contribute some money.

A hybrid publisher usually takes on expenses, like production, marketing, and distribution, while the author pays a set fee. The royalties earned from the sale of the book are split between the publisher as well as the author. Under the best scenario of the hybrid model, your publisher will work in collaboration before and after the book is published to ensure the quality of your book as well as investment.

The journey of becoming an author is exciting. With the publishing industry evolving with time, it is handing over great control and power in the hands of authors than ever before. A few years ago, an author used to wait for the publisher, and in many cases, even some bestseller books underwent several rounds of rejection before they were published. But now, you can self-publish a bestseller (Anangsha Alammyan)and this model of publishing has enabled authors to get published proudly and enjoy their fair share of popularity as well as money.

Culled from The Writing Cooperative

Six Signs You are Meant to Be a Writer

It is possible for you to have a flair for writing but because of some criticism of your work, you feel you are not meant to be a writer. In spite of those doubts you might have, here are some indicators that you are meant to be a writer:

1. You have a childhood passion for writing

There is a tendency that if as a child you loved to use pen and paper mostly to write (and not to draw), then you are probably meant to be a writer. Children mostly know what they love and are meant to do, even if they cannot express it.

2. You daydream about writing

When you find yourself frequently mulling over an unwritten story in your mind especially when you are not in an environment that would permit you to write, you are probably meant to be a writer.

3. You don’t mind writing for free

Do you readily accept or even search for opportunities to write without getting paid for it? That could be another sign that you are meant to be a writer.

4. Your excuse for not hanging out with people is that you want to write

This is quite straightforward; that is, if you would rather stay indoors and write than hang out with your friends, it’s clear you love writing and you are probably meant to be a writer.

5. You have great admiration for writers

When the people you admire most are authors like Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, Chimamanda Adichie and John Grisham, then you are probably meant to be one too. Also, if you also have a natural talent for using elevated language and you tend to use it in your writing and speech, then that is probably another indicator that you are meant to be a writer.

6. You feel empty on the inside unless you write

Do you sometimes get bothered or feel somewhat incomplete because you haven’t written for a long time? That is a sign that you are meant to be a writer.

Now, if you found yourself nodding in agreement as you read this piece, don’t quit writing yet; you are probably meant to be a writer. You just have to keep writing so that you can get better at it.

 

At The Ready Writers Consult, we have seasoned writers who will take you from thoughts to print. Ready to start working on your book? Contact us now.

How to Maximise Your Website

There are myriads of websites popping up daily on Google or other search engines. The world, already a global village, can get access to lots of content just by typing up words in a search bar. There is, however, one thing that helps some people’s websites to rank more than others. It is called web optimization.

Go over to your Google app right now, and type in ‘content writing’. On the first page, you are probably going to see articles written by Backlinko and SEMrush. Why? Because they have properly optimized their website to make sure that their articles pop up first on Google.

 

What is Web Optimization?

HubSpot’s Anna Fitzgerald calls web optimization “a set of actions that can help you improve user experience, traffic, and conversions on your site.” It helps people easily locate your website. Google and other search engines handle millions of searches every month, and with this number increasing per year, there is a need for you to up your game and boost your content visibility – there is a need for you to properly maximize your website.

 

Why is it Important to Maximize Your Website?

Let us imagine this: You love to write and you finally decided to have a blog. You start it up and come up with different blog posts, yet just 10 people in the world read your posts. And only because you posted the link up on your social media handles and they decided to check it out.

There are millions of people out there waiting for you to write. This is one major reason why you need to maximize your website – to reach those millions of audiences and create personalized experiences that will help your customers convert faster. The points below are simpler reasons for you to remember why you should maximize your website:

1. To improve your brand awareness
2. To build trust and loyalty with your target audience
3. To generate targeted traffic from interested buyers, and to increase the sales you generate from paid and organic traffic.

How Do I Properly Maximize My Website?

Now to the main question, how do I properly maximize my website?

To maximize your website properly, you will need to go with a holistic approach. This will involve using the following:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
3. Copywriting
4. Analytics
5. UX Design (the frontend of your website)
6. Web Development (the backend of your website)

 

To properly maximise your website, you need to figure out what your target customers are searching on Google, how to align your content to their searches, and what you need to do to rank pages in search results.

1. Source out your target keywords

Sourcing out keywords that align with your target market is very important. In recent times, there has been improved AI-driven analysis that helps Google to extrapolate user intent based on the search inquiry. This will bring out relevant results and make it easy for you to meet the needs of your target audience. It makes it easy for site owners to think like users rather than marketers when they are creating and optimizing content.

The best way to account for your user content is by typing your keyword into the search engine and then noting the relevant results that come up. This will help you to align your content to your user, especially if it is not your article that pops up first. Read through their content. That will give you an idea of how to optimize your content. However, while you can Google each of your keywords manually, it is not an appropriate approach; instead use third-party SEO tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, and Moz.

2. Optimize your content

For any blog post, video, or digital resource to be relevant, it has to focus on the target market. Yet, while you know your target, it is critical for you to optimize your content for optimization, to increase your ranking, and traffic to your website. This is not a difficult task to do. All that is required is for you to follow by example. To do this:

1. Integrate relevant keywords
2. Add useful images
3. Add keyword-based page titles
4. Manage your keyword density
5. Add internal and external links
6. Create meta-tags that highlight key concepts

 

3. Improve your page speed and experience using UX

For your content to rank, you need to improve your “dwell time”. This is a very important SEO ranking factor. It measures the number of seconds or minutes a user spends on your site. If a user clicks your content and it takes a lot of time for it to load, chances are that he/she will return and click on another content. And if this occurs for a lot of users, Google will rank your content as irrelevant and your position will drop. This can however be prevented. If you own content and you should test the speed right now, using Pingdom Tools, WebPage Test, Pagespeed Insights, or GTMetrix. Type in the URL, select a server location, and click ‘start test’. Once the search is over, fix the issues and scroll through to see the problems a bit of advice here. You might have to keep fixing these issues until you get a score of 90 and above.

If you also have content that is hard for your readers to understand, it will negatively impact the amount of time they will spend on your site. So, always ensure that your user’s experience is on point and give them an experience they will never forget.

 

4. Get more sites to share your content through backlinks

Networking is a growth strategy. And to rank, it is also important that you get a backlink, or link from another domain to your website. This signals to Google that your content is relevant. To get this done, note these two important steps:

1. Let your content be superb so they are worth linking to.
2. Search and contact people with relevant sites who are likely to share your content.

 

Conclusion

As mentioned above, there are several ways you can properly maximize your web. The question for you is – are you willing to go through the process of giving your target audience the best or do you just want to post online?

 

Ifemide Omolawal