MindFrenzy

What would you consider the “normal” thing to do in your life? What are all your peers doing? And the all important question. Is that what your doing? Take a look around and see if you are standing out or just falling into whatever the “norm” may be that surrounds you.

For some people this is just fine. There’s plenty of work for the masses, so take all you can handle. Then there are people that challenge the rules and defy authority. These are the people that move to the top quickly, they refuse to sit back and disappear. They demand to be noticed and don’t stop until they are.

This applies to whatever your choice of careers is. Accounting, construction, finance, doctor, entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter you have to differentiate yourself in somehow to truly reach your full potential.

If you choose to sit back and disappear the system will take full advantage of you. It will get all the work it can get out of you because you were willing to do it without question. 

Those who fit in now won’t stand out later.

8 reasons why social media is worth your marketing time.

1. It’s Free

Who doesn’t like free things? All social media is free and it can lead to some great results when it comes to traffic for your site. This isn’t to say that paying for marketing is a bad thing, there are some good services that you pay for.  However most blogger’s or start-up websites don’t have much money and just want to get their content in front of as many people as possible. Social media is the way to go if you fall into that category.

2. Fast Results

Everything takes time and social media won’t make your website or blog famous overnight. However it is capable of reaching thousands of people with your content in that amount of time. Not many forms of marketing can say that.

3. Predictability

Once you get used to social media you will begin to notice what types of content gets votes thus drives traffic. This will help you provide content that does well on whatever social media sites you are using. This doesn’t mean you have to do/write things you don’t want to but you will learn simple things that helps attract social media users attention.

4. Options

There are countless numbers of social media sites. Whatever your niche is you can probably find one that will work for you. Just Google whatever your interest is followed by social media.

5. It Gets Easier

If you have never used social media it may seem as though your getting no where with it. Just hang in there. As you develop your network of friends and followers you will begin to notice results as people begin to take you seriously as a social media user. You will also learn the do’s and dont’s of social media as you use it.

6. Some Visitors Will Be Targeted

If you are using niche social media sites its likely that a decent percentage of traffic will be targeted for your material. Even on broader sites like Digg and Stumbleupon there are categories and interests that you choose which tries to match up users and content. Even if your traffic from social media is only 10% targeted that could be 10% of 20,000, which is a nice amount of interested viewers.

7. It Doesn’t Take Long

Don’t worry about spending all day everyday trying to keep up with all the social media sites. Find your best sites and master them. Once the initial phase is over you can get great results from social media with only a couple hours a week spent on it.

8. It’s The Future

Social media is everywhere right now and its reach is only growing. More and more you see blogger’s, Linkedin profiles, and website owners providing links to their Twitter or Facebook or Stumbleupon accounts. This is not going to end anytime soon and if you aren’t using it then it’s very possible you will fall behind your competition or won’t be reaching your maximum potential.

Look Familiar?

Remember the days of Netscape? How about Napster? I’m sure you remember but that’s about it. Those once thriving and ground breaking programs are all but a memory today. Since then just think about how many web browsers have come and gone or how many file sharing programs have passed through. Somebody realized that they could make a better program then the original. Netscape was one of the first web browsers, it was great but then somebody made it better. Same with Napster, who didn’t love Napster until a better program came along.

Most of the time the first version of something is not the version that ends up staying. The first version is the ground breaking idea, it turns heads and gets people thinking about the idea.  Once that starts there’s almost always someone with a better way to do it. 

You don’t have to be the first person to think of an idea, you just have to be able to do it better.

Contests can be a great way to create some hype around your blog or project. Just check out Blog Boost where they are giving away an array of prizes on Sept. 20th to the winning blogger.

The genius part about this however is how Miguel Alvarez of Marketing Factor is extending his reach by offering up more chances to win the prize for things like adding him as a friend on Facebook, following him on Twitter, blogging about the contest.  Now he does have a great selection of prizes to attract people to this contest but a contest doesn’t have to be this big to be successful.

Just think of all the people out there who are dying for links to their blog, 1 free SEO lesson, invite to a private group, maybe an awesome connection.  Be creative I bet you can figure out some kind of contest that you could run that would get at least a few people to blog about you.

Support this site in the competition! If you haven’t been to the main site check it out MindFrenzy.com.

Support MindFrenzy in the 2008 StartupNation Home-Based Business Competition

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Thanks!!!

I have had a Twitter account for awhile but I haven’t really gotten into using it yet.  At first it seemed like another annoying social media service that didn’t have any real point to it.  However I began to change my mind after reading a few articles on it.  It’s proving to be more and more useful, you just have to put a little effort into it.

Check out the two articles that got me into Twitter

Twitter for Business

How to Join the Best Twitter Conversations

There’s 2 main things I have begun to explore after these articles that I am finding interesting.

Twellow - This Twitter App allows you to search for people by name and by category. So you can find people in a related field say entrepreneurship, vegetarian, mothers and so on.  It matches keywords from your bio that you provide on Twitter, at times it is a little off so I suggest seeing what it has you categorized as and then maybe tweaking your bio.

Twitter Search - This allows you to search all conversations happening on Twitter.  Simply type in a keyword or words such as “Dell”, “small business” “Miami” and you will see all the tweets involving those keywords. This is a great way to find and answer peoples questions by replying to something they said. This will many times lead to them following you! I am beginning to use it to search for conversations about social networks i am in such as Triiibes and StartupBiz, both on Ning. I can then find other Twitter users on those networks and begin to network with them.

So if you’ve blown off Twitter I would suggest given it another look because even though it can be cluttered with garbage at times if you use the right tools I think you can find it useful.

Anyone else know of useful Twitter Apps???

Follow me on Twitter - My Profile

I think is a simple but useful question. I know my answer would be outside at night with decent weather of course.  I’m not sure why but that environment just allows me to think clearly and I find that most of my ideas come when I’m in a situation like that.

I think its important to understand where you brainstorm the best. Reason being is if your like me it might not be a great plan to settle down or live somewhere where there’s a lot of cold or bad weather. Maybe a city wouldn’t be great because it may be hard to find a good spot outside to relax that’s quiet.  If you base your life around brainstorming and creativity it would not be a good idea to go somewhere that prohibits this.

So think about it. What’s your ideal place to brainstorm?

There’s a better place for your ideas MindFrenzy.com

Pages are something that many blogger’s don’t take full advantage of, myself included. Here is a list of 8 pages I think many blogger’s could find useful in driving and retaining more traffic to their blog.

1. About Page

This is a very simple yet useful page that every blog should have. A brief summary of what your blog is about and why it may be useful to a reader. Not every article you write will come to the table with a clear message of what your blog is all about so clearly defining it for the readers makes it easier to decide if your blog is worthy of a subscription.

3. FAQ Page

Another simple page to set up. This can very quickly help readers out while on your blog. It will also help cut down on the amount of emails you receive regarding certain things about your blog. May not be necessary for every blog but if you find yourself consistently answering emails probably a good idea.

2. Contact Page

Another easy and necessary page for any blog. Give your readers a chance to get in touch with you and provide feedback on your blog. Helps to show your readers that you really do care what they think and are willing to listen to them.

6. Events Page

Speaking somewhere? Maybe just attending a conference somewhere. Let your readers know about it! Not only will it give your loyal fans a chance to possibly meet and talk with you but it will help inform them about events in their field they may not know about otherwise.

4. Advertise With Us Page

Have advertising on your blog? Why not have a page that lets advertisers easily find out what you have to offer and how they can contact you about it. Even if your blog is small it doesn’t hurt to have. You won’t get any offers from advertisers if you don’t have the page at all.

5. Offer Your Services Page

If you offer services to readers this is an easy way to tell them about it. Maybe it will provide links to your website that shows more about what you offer or least explains what you can do. Easy way to promote yourself clearly and directly.

7. Projects Page

Are you working on another blog, website, business? Let your readers know about it. Have a page for your upcoming website launch so readers can follow the process and get excited about it. Easy way to create hype around something your involved with.

8. Most Popular Page

Have a page dedicated to the most popular posts from your blog. Let new users see your best content and let that help them in their decision to subscribe to your blog or not.

Just a good post I came across while reading through the blogs I subscribe to…This one is from Mark Cuban.

Of course, anyone who has started a company has their own rules and guidelines, so I thought i would add to the meme with my own. My “rules” below aren’t just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them as well.

1. Don’t start a company unless its an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cures All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but are cheap

Read the rest at Mark Cubans Blog

So many ideas go to waste because people simple don’t know how to move forward when they have one.  Even more ideas become failures because people don’t properly move forward with their idea. Hopefully these few steps can help you take your idea from a piece of paper to reality.

1. Find out if your potential customers would be willing to buy your product/service.

Now this is assuming you know who your potential customers are in the first place but if you have an idea you probably have some group in mind.  Now will those people use it?  Remember that just because something sounds great to you it may not sound so great to others.  There are millions of things out there and its unlikely you have used or heard of all of them.  However your potential customers may have.  There already may be a useful product or service in your industry and it may be hard to pull users away from it. On that point note that its harder to pull someone away from something they are familiar with then it is to introduce your product/service to someone who has never seen anything like it.

So get out there and tell your potential customers what you are thinking about.  You shouldn’t worry to much about someone taking your idea because in the end it comes down to what you do with the idea not what it is, just be practical .  Don’t give away all your plans and ideas just enough to make someone understand and be able to give a response to your thoughts.

2. Stalk out your competition

Who else is in your market? What are their products like and how is yours different? These are questions you have to be able to answer before you go after your idea. Search online using keywords for your idea and find out whose there and what their offering.  Examine their products or sign up for their web services.  Find out if you really have something different or if you can do it better.  Just because there’s already people in your market doesn’t mean you cant enter it, you just have to know what to say to someone who says why should I use yours instead of theirs.  Also find out how wide spread your competitors reach is.  They may have a great product but maybe you are a better marketer and can reach millions of more people.  Many times its not the better product/service that wins its the one that got to people first.

3. Figure out costs

Seems obvious but it is really important that you truly know what your costs will be.  More often then not people underestimate the cost of making their product or starting their service. Your going to find it very difficult to sell your product/service if you run out of money 3/4 of the way through! Here are some costs to think about.

Products:
- Patent or provisional patent
- Are you selling it? Maybe an LLC
- Graphic designer for product drawings
- Manufacturer for prototypes
- Driving/flying to pitch product
- If graphic designer/manufacturer needs to be replaced (Trust me it happens)

Services: I’m going to focus on websites
- Programming (initial, updates, fixes)
- Hosting
- Domain name
- Promotion (ads, online memberships, SEO)
- LLC

And don’t forget for both TIME and lots of it.


4. DO IT!!!!

It may sound odd but I have found that this is by far the hardest step for most people. People are always questioning themselves. Did I miss a competitor? Am I really a better marketer? Do I have the money? Did I miss something? Is this to risky? If you take your time and go through the basic steps and the numbers and the feedback points to a good project then it probably IS A GOOD PROJECT.  By no means is this a recipe for success there’s a ton of work ahead but if you have the drive you will have a good shot of at least making your investment back. But you will never know if you don’t try. 

Good Luck!!!

Check out the main site MindFrenzy.com for feedback/advice on all of your ideas!