Author Archive
Posted on October 7, 2011 - by Kwame
Steve Jobs: 15 Popular Quotes From the Genius
The world is sad with the passing of Steve Jobs. He was a smart business man and a role model to many entrepreneurs today. Every year, thousands of people would attend his keynotes and millions more would watch them on the internet because of his charisma and influence.
The words of the man who co-founded Apple and made it the company it is today should be taken seriously by business lovers and entrepreneurs.
Here are ten (15) quotes Steve Jobs left us with:
1) “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.”
2) “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design IS how it works.”
3) “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
4) “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules…because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
5) “So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things”
6) “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains. ”
7) “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.”
8 ) “Innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realised something that shoots holes in how we’ve been thinking about a problem. It’s ad-hoc meetings of six people called by someone who thinks he has figured out the coolest new thing ever and who wants to know what other people think of his idea.
And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”
9) “In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
10) “You’ve got to find what you love and that is as true for work as it is for lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you’ve found it.”
11) “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
12) “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
13) “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
14) “You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.”
15) “Almost everything: all external expectations, all pride all fear of embarrassment or failure. These tings just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”
Thank you Steve! We will miss you greatly.
Posted on September 27, 2011 - by Kwame
This Super Facebook App Will Add 100+ Fans and Subscribers to Your Fanpage and Mailing List
There are a lot of Facebook marketing tools and services out there that easily cost $49-$499 per month but deliver poor results. However, there is one app that has a lot of potential when it comes to getting lots of Facebook fans and mailing list subscribers. This app is called Instant Facebook Quiz Premium Application (click here to learn more and see a demo).
Before I share how this app can add more fans and subscribers to your Facebook pages and lists, let me share why it works in Facebook marketing.
- Most Facebook users like to take quizzes and tests. The Instant Facebook Quiz application allows you to create your own quizzes.
- Most Facebook users like to share things with their friends on Facebook. The app allows players to share the quiz with their friends.
- People are likely to “like” your page just after using your app. The Instant Facebook Quiz allows easy integration of a “like” button to make it easier to promote your page (and get more likes since it converts well).
The points above highlight just how important some of the features of the app are and how useful it is when it comes to marketing on Facebook with an app.
Now let’s look at what the app could be used for:
- Can be used for building newsletter subscriber lists on Facebook . It automatically collects user data such name, email, etc. (after they allow the app to connect and collect data from their page) so you can add players to your mailing list manually or embed a newsletter subscription form in the quiz so that users can sign up themselves.
- Can be used to grow Facebook fans. Will convert best when it is used to create competitions whereby people have to “like” your page after the game to be entered into a contest where they win a sample of your products or a trial of your service or another company’s product or service.
- Can be used to increase website visits when you place a link to your website or a banner ad at the end of the quiz.
What more could you ask for? The Instant Facebook Quiz application allows you to achieve the most important internet marketing results and it even supports Qr codes so works flawlessly on mobile devices.
To view the full features and take a demo, click on the image below:
Instant Facebook Quiz Premium Application
Posted on September 9, 2011 - by Kwame
Free Marketing Resource: Landing Page Template
In my last post, I promised to share a landing page template with you guys. It’s ready and I call it, Land’Some. I designed and coded it myself. You can use it for any project without any attribution. It’s free to use on any project but you are not allowed to sell it.
The one feature that makes this a cool landing page is that it has the Facebook “like” and”send” sharing buttons integrated. You will have to change the default Facebook script in index.html to your own landing page ID and URL. The default script points to sociatic.com.
You can download Land’Some by clicking on the preview image below (Don’t forget to share it):
More goodies
My next post will be a review of a fantastic Facebook app that can help you build email lists fast. I will show you in detail, what exactly you can do to get lots of fans and subscribers using this app. Subscribe to our RSS feed and email newsletter so you don’t miss this.
Posted on July 27, 2011 - by Kwame
Cinemagraphs; The Ultimate Invention for Future Online Branding and Marketing
Recently, there has been some buzz surrounding cinemagraphs; still photos with some animated areas. Many people may see cinemagraphs as just works of art/creativity but I see a future where they are used by businesses to introduce their products or employees online.
Below are some examples of cinemagraphs. Click on the images to visit their sources:
1) Could wine and beverage companies be using cinemagraphs to make their products look more appealing on their websites? I bet they can!
2) Can’t grocery shops be using cinemagraphs on their websites to show the freshness of their groceries? I bet they can!
3) Can’t fashion houses be using cinematics to reveal their latest designs? I bet they can!
4) What about phone companies? Can they use a cinemagraph like the one below and say something like, “You just can’t stop using it”? I bet they can!
5) And I bet make-up artists and/ cosmetic sellers can have a cinematic similar to the one below and have a thought bubble over the woman’s head, saying something like, “The new Sociatic lip-stick is fantastic! Henry will love this!” and then there’ll be a link to that exact lip-stick?
Okay, maybe I was a little biased with the “Sociatic lip-stick” thing but I guess you got my point.
I don’t believe there is an easier way to use cinemagraphs all over a site that carries thousands of products. Just one cinemagraph on the homepage or one in each product category might work well.
If it is used to introduce every new product a manufacturer makes,
1) Will it be more sharable across social media? Yes!
2) Will it appeal to people more than just using regular photos? Yes!
3) Will it increase sales? Maybe! Just like video, I don’t see it being a miracle invention! You need to be creative with it in order to get the best out of it but I trust that it will be a better tool than regular (still) images.
So, I have got some work for you to do. Share this post across the social web and let’s see your friends reactions. Do you believe cinemagraphs will be used in future online marketing? Do you think it should? I will like to know what you also think.
If you enjoyed reading this post, subscribe to the RSS feed so that you don’t miss future articles. In my next post, I will be sharing a free landing page template with you. Don’t miss it!
Posted on June 2, 2011 - by Kwame
Online PR: The only mini-guide you will ever need on how to win new customers
It is amazing how some people use smart (cost-effective, efficient, etc.) ways to sell their brands online. Social media has made it more easy to share your brand’s story and also get other people to spread the word about your products and services for free. Unfortunately “the word” people spread about you can be good or bad. It can help you make sales and it can help you lose sales. That is why it is best to master online Public Relations techniques.
Today, I will be sharing with you a short guide about how to do online PR. I’ve listed things you need to be using and doing and I also shared some links to tools you should be using.
Read on and take notes.
Case-Studies:
Case studies are an awesome sales tool since they serve as testimonials and also highlight benefits of your service at the same time. What you need to do first is have some case-study type articles on your business’ blog. When your product or service helps someone solve a problem or do something differently, write a blog post about it.
Share the step-by-step process you used to resolve it and how other people (especially prospective customers) can avoid or solve such problems. You can also share case studies as guest posts on other blogs. This is a powerful way of leveraging some other site’s audience to drive more traffic to your website and sales for your business.
Daily Alerts:
There is no better way to monitor your brand(s) online. Subscribe to daily alerts and respond to questions and rumors about your company. If someone asks a question about your business on Facebook, Twitter, on their blog or any other place on the internet, write blog posts that answers their questions and point them to the article. They might share your answer with their audience.
Some tools for tracking your company online are:
- Google Alerts
- Social Mention
- Trackur (commercial)
Networking with Journalists and Bloggers:
Contact bloggers and journalists via email, Facebook, Twitter or their LinkedIn profiles and start developing relationships with them. You can start by telling them how you loved or hated one of their recent or old articles and continue from there.
Unless you are going to pay them to do it, develop relationships first with bloggers and journalists before you ask them to write about your product or service.
If you are inexperienced with influencing people, I suggest you read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Also, you can read the blog articles below:
Some tools for finding and networking with journalists:
I only knew about Muckruck and Help A Reporter Out; I saw the rest on Ben Lang’s post on Mashable here: 10 Ways For Entrepreneurs To Build Brands Online
If you have money and want to save time, write a press release and go to PRWeb to get it distributed to the news media for you.
Online shows:
Find online shows you want to be on and contact the host to have you on it to share your expertise or advice.
- Get on webinars as a guest host; You can offer yourself for free and teach someone else’s community for free. You get free publicity in return and you increase the value of you and your company just by hosting a webinar because you are perceived as a consultant/ trainer and that lets people perceive you and your business as value deliverers.
- Contact bloggers to interview you on their blogs. Many bloggers do this nowadays. My favorite blogger in this area is Andrew of Mixergy. He does a great job. Ask bloggers in your niche if they will want to interview you and see where it goes.
- Get on podcasts relevant to your business area as a guest and offer free advice.
Conclusion:
What you just learned is basically, the essentials of online PR. Use the lessons in this article to grow a powerful online brand. If you also have something to share about online PR, be my teacher and share it in the comments box. I suggest you share and bookmark this article using the social buttons below. Don’t forget to also subscribe to the RSS feed for more.
Posted on May 18, 2011 - by Kwame
The business blog- Do’s and Don’ts
Today’s article is a guest post by Paul Wallisan from webprofits.com.au. Paul Wallis is an award winning professional freelance writer, working in the US, Canada, Australia and Belgium. He’s published 13 books on lulu.com and some of some of his other work can be found at Digital Journal.
The business blog is unlike other blogs. Business blogs are valued for different reasons. They’re like an SEO search result, geared to motivated readers who want information value and quality. This is a far higher standard than “hobby” blogs, and it’s also a potentially tricky situation for bloggers.
There’s no sugar to be put on this situation: If the information doesn’t measure up to the audience requirements, you can expect serious consequences.
I’ve put together some Do’s and Don’ts to help people avoid those consequences.
The Don’ts for business blogs
This list is a little long, but you’ll see where it leads:
- Don’t recycle information: Old news is just that, and it’s appreciated accordingly. If you want peace and privacy, recycle business news. If you want readers, stay current.
- Don’t dumb things down: Ever. It’s insulting and it’s lousy writing technique. You’re writing to professionals. If they need information beyond your text and the links, they’ll ask. (Even worse, if you dumb down enough, you’ll get real idiots, not real readers. You’ll be writing kiddies investment news, etc.)
- Don’t touch trashy business opportunities: The great new Get Rich Quick In Your Dressing Gown thing is long dead (like a billion years ago), and it’s staying that way. Steer clear, because your reputation will go with it if you don’t.
- Don’t use spiel if you’re selling a product or service. Business people can spot it a mile off, because they’ve heard it and seen it before and usually didn’t like it then, either. If you’re really trying to sell something, stay original.
- Don’t get naïve or “clever” with sponsored materials: If you’re writing for a sponsor or supplier, say so. “I got this very interesting new (whatever) from (whoever) and…” This means your association with both product and supplier is clear, and you’re staying honest with your readers, which is always appreciated. You’ll be suspected of doing an ad if you don’t, anyway.
- Don’t imitate other business blogs: This is real “planned suicide”. It means you’ve lost the brand battle before you even start. Even if you can do it better than the other guy, you’ve compromised your own brand ID and have gone from unique selling point to joining a crowd of look-alikes. You might as well start looking at funeral plots.
- Don’t defame anyone: This modern audience is chronically, permanently, allergic to businesses that defame other businesses (competitors) just to gain trust. Avoid doing this and other mistakes, and never be purely negative and destructive as if you were writing a political blog.
- Don’t forget case studies: As simple as this may sound, case studies on business blogs are a very good way of earning trust from first time visitors. Case studies in the form of interviews work even better. Works better than regular testimonials. Don’t forget to it.
The Do’s for business blogs
This list is much shorter, but also very direct:
- Do be original and stand out: Following directly from not imitating other blogs, make your blog the one that really shows the way with better material, better media and better ideas. You win, they lose.
- Do check your facts: With this audience, you need to write like a journalist to the extent of checking information and verifying your points. If you don’t, expect to be haunted in very unambiguous ways.
- Do be professional: “Cute” doesn’t cut any mustard at all with the business crowd. Professional, expressive, articulate, insightful, and all the other professional characteristics will.
- Do what others are not doing: Experiment with your business blog. Try new ways of promoting your blog, increasing subscriptions, etc. Try and think of how to make your blog fun and sticky. Include some tutorials here and there, host weird competitions, do what others are not doing.
The bottom line
Emphasize your standout skills and always use your best quality as your benchmark for publishing.
Posted on April 13, 2011 - by Kwame
How to launch a new blog or website with a bang and virtually no money
Many people are familiar with the common way of launching a blog or website; get a domain name, buy hosting, get a website design, add content and then that’s it. It’s that easy but you can do more with your launches. Know how to use landing pages?
You’ve seen many internet marketers and businesses use landing pages in their product launches. The reason why they do this is that, it gets potential customers in the door for their products. Some of these people order the product when it finally launches. It is a system that works for internet marketers and it can be used in any other industry to start a community for your blog or website before it actually goes live. So how can you do this with your new website launch?
What you will need
You will have to spend some money but not more than what you will spend setting up a new website the common way. So here is a list of what you will need to set up a landing page for your prelaunch:
- A domain name: I recommend that you get a .com or .net domain name. You can buy your domain names for $10 or less on Godaddy.
- Web hosting: Hostgator is the hosting service I recommend. I use them to host my websites and I haven’t had any problem so far. They also have excellent, responsive tech support too. That is rare with other hosting companies. Use coupon code TEXAS to get the first month for 1 cent. You can sign-up here.
- Landing page template: You can get one for between $8 and $12 on Themeforest. Click here to see some examples.
- Newsletter system: I recommend Mailchimp for this. They allow you to collect up to 2,000 emails before you pay anything for it. That’s the best deal I have ever seen when it comes to newsletter systems. Get it here.
So adding it all up, you can expect to spend less than $25 on everything. After grabbing all these tools, set them up and then build your prelaunch content.
Prelaunch content
Before your prelaunch content, you will need your introductory content; the content that you will send out to anybody who joins your newsletter once it is set up. It can be a welcome message with an introduction of yourself and what your blog will be about. It’s that simple.
The prelaunch content is the content you send after your introductory content. I recommend that it should be a tutorial of some sort or about something you’ve observed in the niche your site will be about. Write 2 or 3 pieces of this content, send them to your subscribers one at a time and then ask them to forward it to a friend. If they do, more eyes will see your content and their friends might actually visit your landing page to join your newsletter too. You can send them one piece/ article each week. You can set this up easily inside most newsletter software. Make sure whatever you teach or show them in your prelaunch content is relevant to what your site or blog will be about. After all, that is why they joined your newsletter.
The next stage is to set up your landing page.
Landing Page set-up
I am going to assume you already know how to set up a website but I have a few tips and recommendations for the landing page.
First of all, make sure you write a catchy headline that showcases the benefit of joining. Your headline is what draws people to join your newsletter. If you need help in this area, Brian Clarke has tons of articles concerning headlines. Just go to Google and put in this query, “site:copyblogger.com headlines” (without the quotation marks) and you will find a goldmine of articles there about headlines.
The second thing you have to look at is your graphic elements. Some experts say that big buttons drive conversions so you want to make sure that your buttons are big. Some also say that arrows also aid in converting visitors to subscribers. Maybe a User Experience expert can explain it further but what I have been told is that, it works so try experimenting with it to see how it goes.
After setting these up, you will now have to promote your landing page.
Landing Page Promotion
In order to get people ready for your launch, you need to send them to your landing page so they can subscribe to your newsletter. I will show you the 2 cheapest and fastest way to get people to your site; it will cost you no money at all.
Here are some tips for landing page promotion:
1) Write guest posts to pre-existing blogs who write about your topic or a similar one. You can use specific keywords you will want your site to rank for as anchor text for the link to your website in your byline. You will need to check with the blog you are writing for to know if they accept this. This will help your site to start ranking for those keywords even before you launch. That’s just one of the SEO benefits of guest blogging. Read my article on 10 Places to Find Blogs to Guest Post On if you need some help finding places to send your guest posts.
2) Turn your prelaunch content into presentation slides and upload them to Slideshare.com and scribd.com and leave a link back to your landing page in the description area and also inside the document itself. You should actually tell people who read this what you want them to do. This will work just fine, “We will be launching a blog soon to teach more of this stuff so you should visit our website at http://www.yourwebsite.com to sign-up for our free newsletter so we can notify you once we launch.”
After collecting some subscribers, you can actually go ahead and launch.
The launch
On your launch day, just email your subscribers and let them know that you’ve launched. If you are launching a blog, I recommend that you have at least 3-5 articles ready to be published on your launch day. Once published, you can send your subscribers to your blog and ask them to interact and discuss the content there.
Set up RSS feeds and social profiles so that you can continue building your community; thereby, expanding your network of fans, followers and subscribers.
Conclusion
I hope I explained this post in the simplest way for you. However, if you have any questions, suggestions or recommendations, I urge you to share them in the comments area below.
Subscribe to our RSS feed and like us on Facebook to receive free future updates. Also, if you loved this post, share it with your friends and colleagues using the social buttons below.
Posted on April 1, 2011 - by Kwame
4 WordPress Plugins to Increase your subscribers, fans and followers
If you are using WordPress for your corporate site of blog, you might already be addicted to plugins. However, not all plugins can meet your business needs. I have found some plugins that can help you build your newsletter list faster and get you more fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter and I’ll be sharing them with you.
All the plugins I will list are pop-ups. Most people have been deceived to believe that pop-ups are harmful tools since people don’t like them. I hope you are not one of them; since there is proof that pop-ups can grow your subscription rates exponentially.
Now to business. Enjoy!
#1 Facebook Traffic Pop:
The Facebook traffic pop WordPress plugin is excellent for growing fans/ increasing likes for your website. When you have many fans, you can sell your business or service to them or even promote your blog’s articles. Grow your fan base exponentially and increase sales. You can see a demo and download it here.
#2 Twitter Traffic Pop:
The Twitter traffic pop WordPress plugin works just like the Facbook traffic pop. Get more site visitors to follow you on Twitter by installing this plugin. Learn more about the plugin and download it here.
#3 SmartPop-up Box:
This plugin is really smart 
. It can help you increase your newsletter subscribers, Facebook fans or Twitter followers. As you may have already guessed from the name, SmartPop-up box is a pop-up plugin that acts as a container for HTML scripts. It also works well with iFrames and you can even embed videos into it. Simply put, it rocks hard for growing just any list or social fans. Oh, you can also use it to promote your product if you like but that’s not the purpose of this article. Let’s go on to the next plugin.
#4 Pop-Up Domination:
Pop-Up Domination is a popular WordPress pop-up plugin that specifically helps you get more newsletter subscribers. Unlike other pop-ups, it is beautifully designed and can be used to build newsletter subscriber lists in just any type of niche. Learn more about Pop-Up Domination here.
Conclusion:
There you have them. If you want to get more tips like this one, subscribe to our RSS feed and like us on Facebook by clicking the “Like” button on the Facebook sidebar widget.
If you use any other plugins that have been effective for you and that you want to share, let us know in the comments area.
Get Free Sociatic Updates
Follow Sociatic On Twitter
-
