Image Courtesy of OrlandoStreetPhotography.com

Once a year we have a standing date to babysit for one of our daughters. You see, she and her husband are “Parrot Heads” – those devout followers of Jimmy Buffet.

Parrot Heads come in all sizes, shapes, and ages. You have the older set, who have been following Jimmy Buffet since he got started. They were actually the ones who started the movement – with people camping out, sharing stories, drinks, food, and memories of their years at Jimmy Buffet concerts.

Then there is the “next generation” – those who weren’t there when Jimmy Buffet started, but got there as soon as possible! That’s the group that Stephanie and Rick belong to.

Finally there are the youngsters – children of the original Parrot Heads or those who have found Margaritaville along the way.

Parrot Heads are rabid. They love their Buffett and they don’t like to miss a beat. But this year, our family Parrot Heads are sitting it out.

Why? Because Jimmy Buffet decided to schedule his concert on a Thursday night – at a location which insists that everyone leave by 2am. Picture that – people who have been camped, eating and drinking, attending a concert – then all of them hitting the road at the same time. Recipe for disaster!

Now there are several lessons here – and a big benefit to YOU as a reader of my blog.

1. Create something that people get excited about. The whole Margaritaville restaurant chain and all of the Parrot Head paraphernalia all started as a song that was repeatable. People love the music and the atmosphere, so they keep coming back. How can you do with that YOUR business?

2. Find something that can go viral. Generations of people attending concerts, inviting their friends, buying the T-shirts and hats. Viral marketing at its best! What could YOU use to start a viral campaign?

3. Listen to your customers. There are going to be some loyal Parrot Heads missing at this year’s concert. Parents who have kids they need to take to soccer practice. People with jobs who need to keep them and therefore need to get up on Friday. Those who understand the danger of requiring everyone to leave at the height of their excitement – and drunkenness.

Had the Buffett group listened to their customers, they would understand the concerns. Yes, the older fans, who have no job or family obligations, and those younger fans who are willing to forget them for a day, will probably be there as usual. But those fans “in the middle” won’t be partying with their hats on, singing their way into the concert.

My Parrott Heads in blue Hawaiian shirts

Needless to say, my kids fall into that category. Which brings me to the BIG advantage for you!

Our monthly Members-Only webinar for the Online Success Incubator has been “on hold” until my family obligations were determined. Now that we know I won’t be going to take care of the tiny Parrots, then we’re all set.

Thursday, April 19 – 8:00 PM EDT
Members Only Webinar for Online Success Incubator
Join Us!

Naturally this is only ONE reason to join the Incubator now – but it’s a really good one!

So are you or any of your family Parrot Heads?

One of the questions I recently received was about how to prevent and eliminate spam comments on your WordPress blog. After all, we all get those irritating, meaningless comments that lead to who-knows-what. So let’s get rid of those spam comments once and for all!

If you are working online or thinking about it, one of the best ways to relax and have fun learning is to set up a fun site. How do you define a “fun site”? It’s a site dedicated to a hobby, an interest, or maybe even one for your kids’ interest or project.

So with fun in mind, here’s your seven day plan, assuming less than an hour a day – and that includes learning time. Remember, it’s just for fun!

Day 1: Do your basic plan – who are you creating this for? What type of information will you include? Where will you get the information? Remember, you can use articles, videos, audios and photos – all about your topic.

Day 2: Buy a domain that describes your topic. If you were doing this for profit, you would definitely want a keyword-rich domain name. But since it is for fun, you can use a creative name.

This is also the day you want to set up your hosting account so that you have a place for your site to “live.”

Day 3: Set up a WordPress blog on your site. Then install a theme that reflects your topic. While you can spend hours looking at themes, remember to keep your “work time” short.

Day 4: Start adding content to your blog. Remember that you can pre-schedule content, so if you get excited and start writing a lot, you can save some of the posts so they trickle out over time.

Day 5: Go over to YouTube and find several videos that fit your topic. Use the embed code from YouTube and add the videos to your blog. Again, you can do a bunch of these at once and trickle them out over time.

Day 6: Add a plugin to your blog that will let people add it to social media sites. Just search for social media plugin and you’ll find a list of them. Remember to choose one that’s easy to use – no point in working when it’s fun.

Day 7: Celebrate and promote! You’re ready to tell everyone about your new site. Of course, you may have been sharing your progress as you go, but now’s the time to invite people over to comment on your content.

Most of all, enjoy this process. While a fun site is not one that you build for profit, it may turn out to be profitable in the long run. Regardless of the outcome, you had a good time doing it and learning along the way.

If there is one thing that will save you time, stress, and blank moments, it’s planning your content in advance. With a simple calendar you can plan and schedule topics in advance – before you’re in a panic about what to write.

But with a few planning tools you can really do a great job of content planning. Here are the tools I recommend.

Calendar in Word Format – I use the landscape layout, one month per page. Yes, I could keep it on my computer, but I tend to plan in restaurants and on the road. So having a paper calendar with me helps the planning process.

Holiday & Events Calendar – Need an idea for what to promote or write about? This calendar has a lot of obscure celebrations and holidays that will tweak your thinking.

Monthly Planning Pack – Alice Seba and her team provide an excellent planning tool. It includes a content plan checklist and instructions for using the monthly planning worksheet. And if you’re a mindmap user, she includes one of those as well, to illustrate the process.

Now that you have the tools, here is the process I recommend:

1. Block off your own holidays first. These are family birthdays, national holidays (if your family takes them off you want to be available, too), vacation time, business trips.  You don’t want to be writing or posting on any of those days, so you now know when you need to “write ahead.”
2. Using the holiday calendar, block those holidays you want to “celebrate” with your readers and subscribers. So you may have a Valentine’s Day customer appreciation sale, a Fourth of July giveaway, a special discount for Mothers’ Day, etc.
3. Plan promotions of your products and the events that you want to promote.
4. Start writing!

You’ll notice that it’s a lot easier to fill your content machine when you know what to write about – and your planning process has just handed that to you on a silver platter.

Every year starts the same – with lots of optimism and resolutions to change things in your life. And guess what – everyone else is thinking the same thing! That’s why this is a great time of year to profit while you’re making changes.

According to a government survey the top ten most popular New Year’s Resolutions are:

• Drink Less Alcohol
• Eat Healthy Food
• Get a Better Education
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Manage Stress
• Quit Smoking
• Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
• Save Money
• Take a Trip
• Volunteer to Help Others

And if you ask them, most people will tell you they have chosen at least three or four from this list!

So how do you take advantage of these resolutions? Here’s a simple 5-step plan to start your year off with a bang:

1. Research keywords for topics related to the resolutions that most interest you. You’re looking for keyword phrases that are searched several thousand times per month and for which there are domain names to match. Buy a domain.

2. Install a blog on your keyword-rich domain.

3. Publish one blog post per day, using related keywords in the article.

One huge shortcut to getting blog posts is to use PLR (Private Label Rights) article packs. By choosing articles that are well-written you can easily rephrase a portion of the article to make it unique to your blog.

4. Use social media to start a discussion on the resolution you are working on. Naturally you’ll want to share your daily article on the topic, as well as encourage others to comment on the article.

If you’re working personally on the resolution you have chosen, you can easily include your personal experiences, as well as encourage others to do the same. The sense of community will actually encourage people to better stick with their resolution, while it helps you, too!

5. Add monetization to your blog in the form of affiliate links, product reviews, ads, and other methods for generating revenue. Since this is a topic a lot of people are interested in, you will likely have visitors who are looking for solutions to their challenges. Provide those solutions for them and profit when you do.

A New Years Resolution blog is not just a one-time effort. It’s something you can profit from year-round. By adding a list-building mechanism to the blog, you can build a list of people who are eagerly waiting to hear more from you on this topic that interests them.

And of course, you can “re-launch” your Resolution blog next New Year’s Day!

I’ve known guest blogger Dan Janal, an expert in Public Relations (PR), for over 10 years from the National Speakers’ Association and the online marketing world. I think you’ll find his 2012 predictions quite interesting.

I’ve added my perspective on his predictions as the first comment. Why not add your opinion as well!

I’ve been correctly predicting Internet marketing trends since 1994 when I wrote one of the first books on Internet Marketing. I’ve been right before so there’s no reason to think I won’t be right again. You can bet the farm on most of these trends and get even money on the others.

1. Mobile marketing will take off in ways you never imagined.

2. People will be saying, “Visit my app,” in addition to – or instead of – “Visit my website.” The app will be the brochure, website and starting point of interactivity.

3. Small businesses on Main Street will have apps that provide basic info and coupons – even if they don’t have a website.

4. Doctors, dentists and other appointment-based businesses will rely on text messages and other mobile communications to confirm appointments so they don’t lose money on no shows.

5. Your prospects will think all types of written or spoken intellectual property – ezines, books, articles, webinars, teleseminars – ought to be free.

6. You will think that all information ought to be free – except your information, of course.

7. It will be harder and harder to convince people to pay for intellectual property that is available online. They will pay for customized services specifically for them. Start planning your services menu accordingly.

8. Entrepreneurs will finally heed Michael Gerber’s mantra to work on the business, not in the business. But they will take action by HIRING outside professionals who can do the work for them instead of waiting to do the work themselves. Productivity and profits will increase while procrastination will decrease.

9. This phrase will be on everyone’s lips and t-shirts: “If you get something for free, then you aren’t the customer. You are the product.” I didn’t make this up. I wish I did. Think about it. We aren’t Google’s customer, or Facebook’s customer. We are the products they are selling to advertisers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being considered an “eyeballs.”

10. Spam will invade social media sites in overt and covert ways, making visits to those sites less enjoyable.

11. There will be more people showing you how to sell speaking services than there will be companies who can hire speakers. Okay, that one was low.
What are your predictions?

Dan Janal helps small businesses get publicity so they can sell more products. My clients get terrific results from my coaching, consulting, done-for-you services and do-it-yourself tools. For info, go to PRLeadsPlus or call me at 952-380-1554.

There aren’t many days left in the year – and most of those are already committed. So here are a few ideas to help speed your year end planning:

What to write about on your blog – I really like these ideas. They’re easy to write about and quick – and don’t require any research on your part. In fact, you’ll probably see some on my site right here!

Update your Twitter profile – there have been some great enhancements to the look and feel of Twitter. And it won’t take much to take advantage of these. Social media is becoming increasingly important to our marketing (yes, I admit it) so it’s in your best interest to look good online.

Create a mobile version of your blog – like social media, mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important. Have you gone to your blog on your smart phone? How’s that working for you? You can easily follow this simple process to create a special mobile version.

Those three things should give you a quick facelift and provide a good start for the New Year. So treat your online business to some year end actions and reap the profits next year.

What else can you think of that you need to do here at the end of the year? Add your comments and ideas below.