Magical Marketing Blog

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

This Blog is Moving

Hi Friends, I'm moving this blog to http://magicalmarketing.blogspot.com
Please follow me there, subscribe and share this new blog address with friends and colleagues who want to attract their most perfect customers magically!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

What Do You Really Want?

Some Questions to Help You Attract Rather Than React

Are you too focused on what's happening right now in your business to think about what you really want? Sometimes when work gets busy and I'm putting out fires and getting stuff done, the next thing I know it's the end of the day and I have excercise and dinner to think about. Does this happen to you? So when do you get think about what you really want long enough to create it? I often ask myself this very question.

All the great mentors of the last century have reminded us that manifestation begins in the realm of thought. We must think about the results we want if we desire to achieve those results in the real world. It is important for us to line up with and expect what we want, and clarifying our desires is the first step.

Here are some questions you can sit down and answer to direct your intention toward what you want. Feel free to post your answers in the comments section below so we can all hold your intentions with you.

What kinds of customers do you want to attract?

What are they like?

What do they say to you?

How do they find you?

What is your experience working with them?

What services and/or products do you love to offer to them?

How many customers do you desire to work with every month?

What resources do you desire for the fulfillment of your business goals?

What kind of income do you want to attract?

What is your desired experience of life?

What else do you want?

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you do not edit the article and you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com

Monday, April 6, 2009

Do You Love Blogging Yet?

Blogging from the Heart is Fun, Fulfilling and Attracts Perfect Customers

Are you blogging yet, or are you just resisting the inevitable? Remember the olden days when you didn't even have to have a website to be considered a real business? Those days are way gone. So now that you (hopefully) have a great website that truly speaks your passion and attracts your perfect customers, you thought maybe you could sit back and field calls all day?

Well, that *could* happen, and I do believe in magic, but truth be told, most people have to market their websites if they want to attract perfect customers from the web. Blogging and bookmarking your posts from social networks is the #1 way to improve your site ranking and create site popularity, so put on your blogging hat!

Discovering Your Magical Keywords

If we must blog, and blog as often as possible (Google rewards fresh, new content) then we want to blog in a way that is fun and fulfilling for us. Also, since we are concerned with being recognized by our most perfect customers, we want to be sure to share what is most important to us, and to use keywords that are not only logical descriptions of our offerings, but also reflective our our mission and message. We understand that our perfect customers are attracted by our unique flair.

Using our chosen keywords in a variety of blog posts and linking to and from our websites will help our ranking for those words. When we choose words reflective of our purpose, blogging becomes a fulfilling and even transformative process that connects us with our life purpose and attracts our most perfect customers to us.

What Makes You Tick?

I suggest that you tap into what really makes you tick, and relate that to your offering in writings directed to your perfect customers. It's not all about selling your products and services, it's about connecting with other people of like mind and like heart and exploring how you can contribute to each other. These are the kinds of connections that foster positive, conscious business relationships. When you think about the result of your blog post, how you will be helping people with authentic shares about things you feel are important, then blogging becomes a fun medium for self exploration.


I am asking you to blog your heart out, my friends. Blog far and wide and create a niche for yourself that is reflective of your true life mission, then watch that telephone light up with your most perfect customers.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com

Saturday, March 21, 2009

To Tweet or Not to Tweet ~ I Confess My Twitter Sins and Answer this Age Old Question

by Julia D. Stege, MFA
@MagicalMarketer


It's Twitter's birthday. The social network is three years old today. At 8 million strong, Twitter is a force to be reckoned with in the online marketing community. It's getting to the point where you cannot afford to ignore the little bird any longer.

I am going to come clean with you. The past few months I haven't really been on Twitter at all. I was pinging posts from ping.fm to all my social networks and not logging on to see what was up in the twitterverse. I was kind of blocked, a one way tweeter without the bandwith to watch all those disjointed conversations streaming past my screen.

I was in love with Facebook anyway.


Even though they're often lumped together, Twitter is a totally other universe from Facebook, and I was grooving on the Facebook friendly. On Facebook you get to see great pictures and tag each other in pics and notes and easily see what's up with each other in a variety of forums, catch up with old friends, and play fun games, that in addition to all the cool marketing tools you can use on Facebook. It's not called 'crackbook' for nothing! It is addicting. I read on Mari Smith's blog that the average Facebook member spends 20 minutes a day on the network. That's a lot of time for a website which translates into a captive audience like none we have ever seen.

But back to Twitter. As I said, I was a one way tweeter. I only sent out messages and didn't read the ones coming in. Looking back on it, I'd have to say it was poor networking etiquette. I don't just go to a networking lunch and say my pitch without listening to and responding to other people, and the social networks are just an extension of the live networks I attend. OK, I'll forgive myself, now that I know better.

You see a couple of things happened to change everything. First, my RL (real life) buddy, Karen Clark (@funfelt), told me she has over 3,000 Twitter followers she's attracted by RT (re-tweeting) other folks' tweets and being an all around tweeterific gal! I'm intregued, but don't know who to RT!

Then I got a VA (Virtual Assistant = Sherene Alexis Curley @VASherene ) who introduced me to a boatload of Twitter apps and explained some basics to me, the most important of which was 1) how to magically unfollow everyone in my list who wasn't following me, and 2) learning what the hey a #hashtag is so I can find and follow simpatico friends.

Now I'm in #Hashtag Heaven!

I knew that a tag was a way to mark a topic with a keyword, but I didn't realize that you could follow and contribute to specific Twitter conversations using #hashtags. First I followed @hashtag on twitter, then I visited hashtags.org and put in a search for various phrases, like #loa (law of attraction) and #fb (facebook) to see not only what people are saying about these topics, but who's saying them. This is a way to find and follow and then RT the most eloquent tweeters in the topics I'm passionate about.

This is great because now I can tweet on topic, and I can click to follow folks based on our common interests and build a more authentic network of like minded people. What a relief. Now I just spent 3 hours on Twitter to commemorate Twitter's 3rd birthday and I'm feeling the love!

So my answer to the title of this post is a resounding YES. I have been reborn as a tweeter. Follow me at http://www.graphicgirlz.com/magicalmarketer and I'll tweet you to heaven too.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE
? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com See Julia's Law of Attraction Marketing Blog at http://magicalmarketing.blogspot.com

Is Your Marketing Uplifting?

I'm a pretty sensitive gal, and it hurts me to see so many people freaking out these days. According to the news, most Americans are experiencing a lot of fear and stress over current events. This is made even worse by a fear-mongering trend in media and advertising. I want to counter that trend with a bit of inspiration.

I want to thrive just as I want my prospects and customers to thrive. But thriving depends on maintaining a positive outlook and achieving happiness no matter what's going on in the world. To contribute to the thriving of my contacts, prospects and customers, I must maintain an uplifting spirit and send out only positive, inspiring messages to them in my conversations, my ezines, blog posts, and social media updates.

What can you do to help uplift your prospects and customers right now?

1) Understand their Challenges: To help uplift your prospects and customers you first want to learn what their challenges and problems are, and meet them there. You will want to ask them what they're dealing with and start noticing trends. You can survey your elist and/or folks registering for your free classes regarding their biggest challenge. You will give people an immediate feeling of relief just by asking, and if you can offer hope of a solution, your customers will start feeling better right away.

2) Offer Words of Encouragement: Let your prospects and customers know they aren't alone in their suffering. Offer examples of those who have overcome similar obstacles, and encourage your peeps to be confident. Inspire them with stories of success from you and/or your mentors.

3) Give Away Effective Tips: Offer your contacts free tips through your ezine, social networks, articles, and free teleclasses / podcasts. Give them enough information to help them to get moving in the direction of their goals and dreams. Consider the information you normally exchange with all your customers at the beginning of your relationship, and see if you can develop that into a free offering that helps people whether they hire you or not.

4) Develop Inspiring Articles - whatever uplifts you will likely uplift your peeps too. Write about what uplifts you and send it out to your contacts. If even just one or two people are helped by your article, it can start a viral campaign of sharing. You will become known as an uplifter and your popularity will grow.

GOT UPLIFTING TIPS OF YOUR OWN? Please post your comments by clicking "Comments" below. We'd all love to hear your ideas.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com
See Julia's Law of Attraction Marketing Blog at http://loamarketing.blogspot.com

Monday, March 2, 2009

Don't Believe the Hype!

I think the worst thing about hypey marketing trends is that they rob people of an opportunity to connect to what really matters. Marketing can be a platform for both sharing and receiving pertinent information and inspiration. But more often than not, the advertisements and websites we see every day are either a generic description of services or an effort by advertisers to lure us away from our intuition and brainwash us into buying something we don't really want or need.

What is Compelling About Hype?

Many people who come to me for help with attracting their perfect customers have been told that their marketing must be slick, professional, and targeted to a specific audience, but they haven't been encouraged to create authentic marketing or share things that are important to them. In fact being personal and vulnerable has been seen as antithetical to professionalism. Even though we have created our businesses as a reflection of our true purpose, many of us strip our marketing of any passion and fall in line with the trends. When we do this, we are holding back what is most compelling about our business.

How Will They Know You When They Find You?

Just imagine your perfect customers who are out there seeking you right now. They are not just looking for that specific set of services or products you are offering. They're looking for someone they can like and trust, someone who understands their problems and can relate to their goals and aspirations. They are looking for the real you. But if the real you is not showing up in your marketing, your perfect customers will not recognize you when they find you. They will only recognize you when you are transparent and real as you market yourself.

What Makes You and Your Perfect Customers Tick?


Recently I hosted a Branding from the HeartTM retreat on a beautiful property in Santa Rosa called Mystic Oak Gardens. I invited a circle of entrepreneurs to come to this cozy setting and share what makes them tick. We all brought good food and we sat in front of the fire drinking tea and sharing our souls. The tears flowed as we touched each other's hearts and acknowledged each other's struggles, our successes and our dreams. We shared like this all day and long past the originally scheduled ending time. As each person spoke, we all paid rapt attention because we were interested, drawn in and inspired by what was being said.

Vulnerable Marketing?

So I asked them why would we not share like this in our marketing? Why would we put forward some generic, polished sales message or image and leave hidden what is most compelling and inspiring about us: our true purpose, our real passions? It may feel uncomfortable at first revealing our vulnerable selves, but as we continue to share, we can build a network of connections who really get us and want to work with us for who we really are. They want to work with us because we are simpatico.

These are our most perfect customers, the ones who are on the same path in life. As we become more authentic in our marketing and share from the heart with those who are attracted to us, the more we realize that what makes us tick is what makes our perfect customers tick. We are here to help each other continue on the right path and shine our true light to the world.

In my next article, "Blogging from the Heart" I will write about how to use blogging as an authentic marketing tool that attracts your perfect customers online. Please follow or subscribe to this blog to be notified of new posts as they arrive.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com

Monday, February 16, 2009

Time to Raise Our Vibrations

I'm doing great these days, but still, I get pretty bummed out when I listen to the news. I generally try to avoid it but my husband watches NPR and I sometimes get drawn in, and before I know it I'm feeling pretty down. Then suddenly everything annoys me and I start worrying about the future of my business. Because I know that thoughts are powerfully creative, unless I want reality to start matching my fears, it's time to raise my vibration.

Not only that, being stressed out will not make me more attractive to my perfect customers, right? I'm sure you can relate to what I'm talking about here. So what can we do to raise our vibration? Here are some simple tips I like to use to help me feel more like myself.

1) Get Into Action: if you're feeling worried about the future, one way to get you thinking along a more positive bent is to do some authentic marketing from the heart, write a blog entry, or plan a new class. Forwarding your purpose and your work feels good and it's practical. Additionally, the result (ie attracting perfect customers) is also a vibration raiser.

2) Just Relax: If you're feeling stressed and burned out, getting into action might not be what you need right now. In this case I suggest some radical self care. When was the last time you took yourself to an uplifting movie or took a nap in the middle of the day? How about a bubble bath with some hydrating oils and aromatherapy, or maybe a massage? Focusing on making yourself feel great will raise your vibration, and when it's time to return to work, you will be refreshed and ready.

3) Get Some Help: If you're feeling overwhelmed then it's probably time to get some help. Today I finally asked my husband to help me get my car smogged and registered and now that's one less thing I have to worry about. I also have someone coming over to help me clean and organize my house and office, someone to help me with my books, and someone to help me create new products for my business. The Lone Ranger days are over for me. It's a great feeling to get help and get relief!

4) Jump-Start Those Endorphins: Excercise is not only good for your health, it stimulates those good-feeling hormones to go rushing through your body. I love to take my rainforest herbs and hit the treadmill while listening to my favorite music. Or when the weather is good, a brisk walk outside can be exhilarating.

Give these a try and then notice how your circumstances start to shift as your vibration rises. I'd love to hear about the results you get when you raise your vibration.



WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com

Expand Your Biz with Facebook ~ It's Fun!

My husband says it's stretching it to call it, "work."

There I am scanning photos from the late 60s saying, "Oh, this one's perfect!" as I upload one to Facebook and tag it with the name of a childhood friend. Or maybe I'm planting a flower on someone's "Little Green Patch," an act that helps save the rainforest. Sometimes I just write a little ditty on what I'm up to and send it out to all 403 (and counting) of my Facebook friends.

Yeah, 403 and more come each day. Sometimes it's a friend from college or high school, or maybe someone from my early childhood, or my current network. A lot of the time they're people I don't know but they find my profile interesting, or they connected with me through one of my websites, or from a Google search. Facebook is one huge community, 150 million and growing by about 10 million per month. I notice my friend requests and suggestions come in by about a dozen per day. This is a great way to let people know what I'm up to, what I care about and to NETWORK!

Facebook is so fun and such a great business tool that I've expanded my upcoming Attracting Perfect Customers Online 10-Week Webinar for Web Challenged Entrepreneurs to include a segment on growing your biz with Facebook. (see my flier for upcoming classes below) You really can do everything on Facebook: create a list, market your offerings, follow up with prospects, post a web page, invite friends to an event, post photos and portfolios, share links. It's quite a robust and amazing social network.

So for those of you who are ready to give it a whirl, here are some Facebook Tips to get you started.

Step One: Get a Facebook account already! Go to http://www.facebook.com and register. Write down your user name and password on a sticky note and post it by your computer so you don't forget it. You can connect with me there if you like!

Step Two: Set up your profile, and upload a photo of you right away. There's nothing as annoying as connecting with someone you haven't seen in a while, and going to their profile only to see that generic blue-boy silhouette. Spend the time to fill out your education and job information. You will be able to find old classmates and colleagues this way. Make sure you post a link to your website too!

Step Three: Have Facebook find your friends. Click on "Friends" and "Find Friends" to have Facebook search through your email account for people you've emailed who are already on Facebook. This is the fastest way to grow your network right off the bat. Once you're connected with friends, check out their friend lists for folks you know and request to be connected. You can also find mentors and people you aspire to be like and connect with them. Facebook makes it easy to create categories so you can sort your contacts.

Step Four: Share yourself authentically. The most compelling thing about you is what is most important to you. Share what inspires you, what you're challenged by, what you've learned. Post your own events and invite people. Create your own page and post notes on your latest discoveries. You never know who's curiosity you'll spark. Maybe your old school chum will show up at your next teleclass! It's happened to me.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, wildly attractive logos and websites, and smart Internet marketing techniques. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A New Day

Hope attracted the whitehouse. As I watch millions of people celebrating Obama’s presidency on the news, I am awed by what Obama himself called The Audacity of Hope. It is impossible to be overwhelmed by doubt when something so unlikely could win the day. Not only are we celebrating the first African American president in US history, we are celebrating a kind of hope that flies in the face of all the daunting troubles facing our country, our world and our lives.

We choose hope. We choose unity. We choose freedom. All the aspects of being American we were taught to be proud of and yet seemed lost over these past 8 years have come streaming back to us. And you can see it in the faces of the over 2 million people crowding the mall in Washington DC.

Imagine the effect of all this happiness and jubilation! I suggest today that we meditate on leveraging this wonderful mood and allowing it to permeate all aspects of our lives. Let hope guide you as you focus on your purpose in life and on your business. Rather than focusing on the bad news of the economy let’s focus on how we can overcome.

Obama is our example of achieving the impossible. Let’s meditate on that today as we take this blissful historic step into the new age.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Time to Create a New Attraction Plan!

Maybe for you it seems like things are not going exactly the way you want. Even though most of the time these days I'm in the flow and loving life, once in a while something happens that hooks me; like when a client chooses someone else, or a project doesn't go the way I expected, or when there is a lull in business. If I notice I'm fixating on what's wrong, I know that unless I want to attract more of what is wrong, i'd better turn my attention toward what I really want. Yet, it's time redo my Strategic Attraction PlanTM* and pronto!

I've been using this tried and true method for over five years to attract my perfect customers and the experiences I desire in business. This plan has helped me to clarify what is perfect for me, what is important to me, what I want my life to look like. It has helped me to see where I'd been settling for less from my work life and then it has helped me to reset my course to attract inspiring people who respect and reward me in ways I'd previously never dreamed. Whenever I experience something is wrong I want to ask, "what would be more perfect for me?" and get it down in writing.

And since a new incredible year has begun, there is no better time than the present to reset our course toward the fulfillment of our dreams.

Though I have plans I've already started, I like to create a fresh plan once in a while for that sense of a new beginning. Sometimes I write my plan in a journal, sometimes just on a piece of paper folded in half so I have 4 sides to write on, or sometimes I'll use my computer. It just depends on what feels right in the moment. Here are the four questions of the Strategic Attraction PlanTM and some instructions on how to use it.

1) What are the qualities, characteristics and attributes of my perfect customers?
This is a long list of what I like about my perfect customers, what they're like, their personalities, how they treat me, the resources they have, how they find me, what is important to them, how they act, and so on. I can think of folks I've loved to work with in the past and what I liked about them, or I can think of client situations gone awry and what I would prefer. What kinds of people have you always wanted to work with? Describe them here.

2) What makes me and my perfect customers tick?
Another way to put this is, "what is my true life purpose?" When you clarify this and begin sharing it with others you will realize that your perfect customers have a mission that is quite aligned with yours if not exactly the same. It is our soul fire that is the source of our attracting power. When our perfect customers get what makes us tick, they recognize us and choose us.

3) What do I want my perfect customers to expect from me?
If you have ever felt at the mercy of other people's expectations, this is your chance to be proactive and determine what you want others to expect from you. Write down the offerings you want to deliver, how you want to be perceived, what you want to acheive, and what you want your days to look like.

4) What am I improving to become more attractive? Who do I have to be to attract this?
For each item under number 3 that you have not yet 100% attracted, write it down here again. Then ask yourself, "who would I have to be to attract this?" What word or phrase describes the way you would be if you attracted this? Write it down next to the item you want to attract. Now go forth and be that quality and watch as what you desire is drawn to you.

Signs of Land

It is important to take note of what we are attracting on a regular basis. When a sailor approaches land from sea, there are signs of land long before actual land is sighted, like certain weather patterns, or particular birds, sea mammals, and plant life. Similarly when we set course for what we desire in life and business, there are signs along the way that what we asked for is coming. Perhaps you asked for clients who are fun and someone calls from a game company, or you have asked for a more spiritual experience of business and you attract an inspiring teacher as a client. Taking note of these "signs of land" will help you to acknowledge your progress and flow toward the realization of your dreams.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Are You Ready to Shine?

Today I was just relaxing while my husband played guitar and the melody he was playing was so true to his real spirit, that tears came to my eyes. I was inspired by the sweetness of his expression and by how well it radiated his true essence. It was pure and authentic and that opened my heart.

While I sat there feeling the music, I started thinking about the challenges we all have faced recently, and the music had washed it all away in a moment of pure expression. I get that way when I'm creating artwork, writing or expressing myself in some way. The inspiration in the moment is all that matters and the bad news slips away. I want to be this inspired all of the time. Don't you?

A New Paradigm for Marketing

Marketing is a form of expression and it too can be this inspiring, this true and pure, and yet still be effective and create sales. I want to participate in a new paradigm for marketing that is authentic inspiring to me and others. Marketing doesn't have to be about hype or 'being professional.' We dont' have to worry about 'turning people off' because those people are not our perfect customers. We want to attract people of like mind and heart so we can all forward our missions together and with greater power. We can shine our true light out to the world and not only will it be effective, it will bring abundance beyond measure.

Now is the Time

Have you heard the news lately? Lots of doom and gloom. I guess that sells papers and advertising, but it doesn't speak to the truth about the opportunity of this moment. While some of the big corporations fail and old structures reveal their instability, there is a new kind of opening available to those who are willing to explore a different way of doing things. Many of my mentors and colleagues who have been promoting a more conscious approach to business, they are thriving more than ever now, and I have to say my business is doing very well too. I believe the reason we are thriving is because we have been willing to take a risk and put our true selves out there and go for our dreams. We have had faith in our offerings and a willingness to be vulnerable and authentic.

So Are You Ready to Shine?

What can you to today to forward your purpose some more? Who can you let know about your heart-felt offerings? Go out there and shine like the crazy diamond you are, and watch what manifests!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Savoring This Moment

Today is a great day; A wonderfully historic day; A day we have been waiting for, seemingly forever. Today is a day to savor, so I am savoring this moment.

It's Easy to Love "Now" Today

It’s easy to savor the moment today of all days, for today a stain has been lifted from our country’s flag. A commentator for ABC News in New York reported seeing an African-American woman and her daughter celebrating Barack Obama’s victory in Times Square. He watched her as her knees buckled and she almost fainted. He turned to see what she was looking at, and there on the big screen was a picture of all 44 presidents, with Barack Obama in the middle. The commentator said to the woman, “12 of those men owned slaves.” The woman replied, “That stain has been washed away today.”

Today is Our Day

That she could say that, that she could feel that the stain of slavery has been washed away, is an incredible and amazing miracle. For anyone who has ever fought for civil rights, for those of us who have marched in the rain against racism, who have stood in the face of bigots and challenged them, who have been discriminated against, or who have risked our status or safety to come out in support of someone who had been discriminated against, this is our day. This is our day to savor. And so I’m savoring this moment.

This Moment and Every Moment

And I am thinking, yes it is easy to savor this moment. The whole world is in a celebratory mood, and they are dancing with us. They are saying, “only in America where the unlikely can become the likely!” We are the home of the brave and the free again. In the face of fear and doom, we have chosen hope and possibility. And the world is with us. It is easy to savor this moment.

So Yes! Let’s celebrate today. We have earned it. And let this day help us to always remember that every day is a day to savor this moment. It may not be as easy on a day when challenges come, or when it does not seem like the world, or anyone, is with us. But it is always a day to savor each moment, to focus on what we desire, and to celebrate being alive.

To Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness! I am proud to be an American today.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Where the !$?BLEEP?*%! Should I Blog?

You have heard all about the importance of blogging by now. Everyone says it’s the way to bring your marketing into the new millennium, and I agree. It's becoming more and more common for business owners to blog as a way to boost their visibility, share information with their customers, and network online. And when you’re blogging authentically, your perfect customers are more likely to recognize you when they find you. They gain trust in you and become more likely to work with you.

What I’ve discovered is that certain blogging or social network sites rank better than others. Though every web hosting program offers their own blog software these days, not all blogs are created equal. It makes sense that a blogging tool owned by Google, or one that hosts Google Ads, would rank better than others. Here are the sites I’ve found most useful for regular, every day entrepreneurs to get to page one of Google for their niche keyword phrases.

Blogger.com
Blogger brags that you can be up and blogging in ten minutes with their program, and that’s true. This is why I chose Blogger as my main blogging tool, and the first one I teach in my 10 week webinar “Attracting Perfect Customers Online.” You can see my Law of Attraction Marketing blog. Since Google owns Blogger, your posts will rank well when you use this tool.

WordPress.com
WordPress is a pretty sophisticated blogging tool with a variety of possible options for customization. I personally find this tool more complicated to use but it is more robust and vastly customizable. I recently designed a WordPress blog for my client the Creative Sage, and if you look at it you will see how robust the sites are. With WordPress you can customize a home page and link it to a blog. In this case, 3 blogs are linked from that one home page. I’ve also created some simple WordPress blogs that even with very little content are getting to page one of Google.

Squidoo.com
Squidoo is a site where you can share your expertise on a topic. Google puts AdWords on these pages so they rank really well. They’re easy to set up and you can put cool modules on them like YouTube videos, Amazon.com products for sale, pictures from Flickr, and the all important links to your main sites. You can see my squidoo lenses here.

HubPages:
Like Squidoo, HubPages is a social network site for folks who want to share their expertise in any area of life. Here’s the HubPage that got to page one of Google in only 22 minutes.

My suggestion is to post to these 4 blogging sites on a regular basis to exponentially expand the visibility of your message. But even creating one blogger post or Squidoo lens that links back to your website will help your site ranking. So what are you waiting for? Get off your bleeping butt and blog!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

What the !$?BLEEP?*%! Should I Blog About?

Part 2 in a 3 Part Series on Blogging

I just learned that over 20% of the world’s population is now online according to the latest report from Internet World Stats. This is a growing potential customer base we can’t really afford to ignore. With the availability of free blogs and social networks, everyday entrepreneurs can speak to a wider base, amplifying our message to a national or even international audience while capturing better placement on the search engines. Gone are the days when only the technically adept could contribute new content to sites on a regular basis and get to page one of Google.

What New Content?

There’s the rub. Many of us have started a blog but only have one or two posts on it. We get to a point where we don’t know what to blog about. Here are some tips on creating blog content that helps you keep current customers interested, improve your search engine ranking, and help you attract more perfect customers.

What Do YOU Care About?

The Law of Attraction says that “like attracts like” so the subjects that interest you are likely to interest your perfect customers. You have access to knowledge that fascinates you and also will captivate your customers. Just sharing authentically about your passions and interests will grab their attention and offer true value.

Answer the following questions and see how many blog post ideas you can create.

1) What resources have you discovered that can benefit your customers?
2) What tips can you offer people that will make a difference?
3) What current events or news items are pertinent to your peeps?
4) What challenges have you faced and what have you learned from them?
5) What marketing messages do you want to promote?
6) What humorous antidotes to today’s reality can you share?
7) What interesting adventures have you taken recently?
8) What subjects are your customers searching about now?

Write down all the ideas you come up with and refer to them when you are looking for a new blog topic. How often you blog is up to you, what is sustainable for you. Consistency is key and if you're offering good value on your blog, you'll be rewarded by your expanding customer base.

Some Keyword Considerations

As you create your blog posts, make sure you consciously and consistently use the keywords and phrases you want to be found by AND that express your true purpose. I call these Magical Keywords and they empower logic with attraction.

It’s most important to use your keywords in the title, headlines, subheads and links on your posts and web pages. And if you submit your blog post to a variety of sites, you will be more likely to appear in searches for those phrases.


Monday, October 6, 2008

Why the @#Bleep?*! Should I Blog?

Part 1 of a 3 Part Series on Blogging

It’s bound to happen sooner or later. Maybe it already has. You’ll find out everyone already has a blog and you feel two years behind! Believe me, it happens to the best of us. Denial may follow. You could be there now. (And I’m not referring to a river in Egypt.) It may present itself like this.

“I don’t need to blog. I already have a website but I haven’t done much with it, and most of my customers come from word of mouth anyway.”

It may all be true, or you could be fooling yourself. In the past few years, Internet use world wide has expanded dramatically, by 40%. And that number is growing in every country on the planet. This is changing our every day habits, including our purchasing habits. Word of mouth is still a very strong marketing method, but I’m telling you, having a blog and a website allows people to get to know and like you before they call you, and more people can find you when you’re online in a big way.

Here are some really good reasons to blog. Check these out and then you can make up your own mind whether now is your time or not.

To Get People Interested in You and Keep Them With You
If you put valuable content on your blog, you will be offering a free benefit to your potential customer base. They are interested in your products and services, but may not be ready to buy just yet. Remember what Dale Carnegie wrote in “How to Win Friends and Influence People,“ that people will do business with people they “know, like and trust.“ Offering real value on your blog will help people get to know you until they are ready to do business with you.

Distinguish Your Brand and Show You’re Passionate About Your Business
With a blog, you can define who you are and authentically share your mission in a way that promotes everything you’re up to. Write about things you care about and let your potential customers get to know you better. Blogs are a great way to create current buzz about your offerings and keep people interested in you. And because you can update them easily yourself, you can keep your blog fresh with new content as inspiration hits.

Get Good Google Page Ranking
Many blogs rank much better than your average new website. That’s because Google, Yahoo and the other search engines consider blogs as ‘authority sites.’ Blogger (which is owned by Google) and WordPress perform extremely well on search engines. And pointing to your website from your ‘authority’ blog can help your website’s ranking as well.

Drive Traffic to Your Website
Create a blog to offer extra information about your product or service and the culture behind it, and then link it to your website or online store. Because blogs rank well on search engines, your blog may come up on searches before your main site, and capture the interest of potential customers who would otherwise not find you.

Be Seen as a Leader in Your Industry
Well, let’s face it. If you have a blog and others in your industry don’t, you have a leg up with potential customers online. Blogging is still new enough that you’re likely to be seen as exceptional if you have one, and you can be seen as ‘the expert’ in your field.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Look Who's On Page One of Google Again

I've been playing around with getting to page one of Google again and just discovered I'm almost completely dominating page one for "Wildly Attractive Websites" ~ ranking 1 - 9 out of over 55,000 for that query. I'm also there for "Attraction Marketing for Conscious Entrepreners" dominating the first 6 spots for that. It's so fun, and the more I do this, the more people find me for other queries, one's I haven't even thought of. That's where the magic comes in, the magic of attraction.

And by the way, did you know I'm number 1, 5, 6, 8 & 9 of over 2.2 million for the query "Law of Attraction Marketing?" That query is becoming more and more popular, too. I'm pretty proud of that because just a while back I was nowhere to be found on Google for this query, but now I'm looking like THE "Law of Attraction Marketing" expert, pushing ahead of folks who were in The Secret. I've really gotten the knack of this.

Do you want to learn how I do this?
If you own a small business and are not taking full advantage of the Internet to attract customers, now is the time to start. Over the past 2 years the number of people purchasing products and services online has increased by over 40%. The problem many business owners have is not knowing where to start. That's why I'm offering my 10 week webinar for web-challenged entrepreneurs, starting this Friday afternoon.

Here's what some folks are saying about "Attracting Perfect Customers Online: 10 Week Webinar for Web Challenged Individuals"

"I've been hearing about blogs for quite a while, but being new technology, I had no idea how to create one or what the purpose of one would be. Thanks to Julia, who demonstrated how to easily create one in just a few minutes, I now have one and am loving it. Writing short informational pieces delights me. And it's easy to maintain." Pamelah Landers www.HandsonCompany.com

"At the beginning of the 10-week class this all sounded like gibberish to me, but now I have a blog, several Squidoo lenses and I'm set up on Facebook. I sound like an expert!" Terri Moon www.educateandempower.com

"Thank you Julia for all your patience and support. Your style of listening for our true purpose and then helping us express that online is inspiring. I feel empowered." Nancy Marin http://www.squidoo.com/MonkeysforHealth

Let me take you by the hand and guide you step by step through the processes I use to get to page one of google time and time again, for various keyword phrases.

Empower yourself to get found online and start attracting now!

ATTRACTING PERFECT CUSTOMERS ONLINE: 10 Week Webinar for Web Challenged Individuals

Early Fall Session Starts Friday, September 26th at 2:30 - 4 pm
Classes run every Friday for 10 weeks skipping a week
for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Autumn Session Starts Tuesday, October 28 at 9:00 - 10:30 am
This is my last webinar of the year. It runs consecutive Tuesdays
through December 30th.

SPECIAL REGISTRATION BONUSES

In addition to 15 hours of live instruction, you'll get over 45 hours of "Home Study" courses in Magical Marketing, Branding from the Heart, and Creating Wildly Attractive Websites so you can master your attraction-based marketing plan now.

I'll also include a free 1/2 hour consultation after the webinar completes to help you with any special requests or questions.

To find out more about the webinar, check out my Flash Video or the Audio Recording of "How I Got to Page One of Google by Sharing Myself Authentically" on my website http://www.graphicgirlz.com/teleconference.html

Or call me at (707) 823-3316
I'm looking forward to empowering you to attract your perfect customers online!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Obama Tweets on Twitter! How About You?

Barack Obama is widely known as the Social Networking candidate. Last year he recruited Facebook Co-Founder Chris Hughes to build his own social network My.BarackObama.com , he was the first of all presidential candidates to capitalize on the strength of his Facebook groups and now he is by far the most popular person on Twitter.com, now surpassing Digg founder Kevin Rose by over 13,000 followers.

This is significant news for anyone studying new internet marketing trends. Obama has been successfully using these social networks to mobilize millions of people and raise tens of millions of campaign dollars. He has unearthed the power of Facebook (where he has over 1.3 million supporters) to organize real-world events and gain the Democratic Party nomination for president over Hillary Clinton, the former party front-runner. Some predict he’ll be able to use his advantage on social networks to beat out McCain come election day.

What Does This Mean for You?

Social Networks are not just for kids or political candidates. Business people can use these fun free tools to network with friends, associates, colleagues and family, and passively market to these folks just by adding short updates, links, and posts. Just as Obama (ok, Obama’s aids do the actual work) uses Twitter to update contacts on what he’s doing and where you can learn more about it, you can use Twitter to let followers know about your latest blog post, what you’re doing in your business right now, or your latest sale. After I publish this blog post, I'll surely go to my Twitter account to announce it and post a link.

Similarly, on Facebook it’s easy and fun to stay in touch with people without inundating them with emails. I’ve used Facebook as a tool to follow up with people I meet at business networking events as well as a fun place to connect with old friends.

Hey, if you’re on Facebook or Twitter, let me know and we’ll connect there! Once we're connected, send me a note if you want to learn more how to use these tools to your advantage.

Want to learn how to use Social Networks to Attract Perfect Customers Online? Check out my upcoming 10 week webinar for web-challenged individuals. I’ll be offering a free introduction to this webinar on September 19th to show folks how I got to page one of google in 22 minutes by sharing myself authentically online. See details at http://www.graphicgirlz.com/teleconference.html

Monday, August 18, 2008

Don't Bother with Internet Marketing

...Unless you want to attract perfect customers online.

You can probably tell I've been listening to those Marketing guys again, the big gun types who psych out their customers with reverse psychology. I know, I know, but I couldn't resist trying that one. But seriously, despite their often distasteful techniques, I always learn new things from these fellows, and I'm grateful they are so free with the latest internet marketing tips. I feel it is my role to glean the best from their strategies and translate them into a more authentic, softer marketing style that is palatable to my perfect customers.

The fact is, more and more consumers are going online for major purchases, including for vendors and service providers of all kinds. It is becoming more and more important to be online for our perfect customers to find us, and to be online in a big way, in more than one place. The more Internet pages we can create, the more easily folks can find us.

So the question becomes, which Internet properties are the best to use?

Thanks once again to my Marketing Shark buddies for answering that question for us.

Do You Squidoo?

Have You Created any
Hot Hubs?

Have You Tweeted a Perfect Twoosh on
Twitter?

Are you
LinkedIn?

If this sounds like a bunch of gibberish to you, you're not alone. But these are some of the Internet properties I use time and again to get to page one of Google and attract my perfect customers online. Chances are if you haven't heard of these sites yet, others in your industry haven't started using them in their internet marketing strategies either.

The time is ripe to get on board with these free sites and start sharing about what you have to offer (authentically, of course!)

But Silly Rabbit, Aren't Social Networks for Kids?

Some of you are thinking, "well, my kids use these sites, but I wouldn't know where to begin to use these for business." Others are thinking, "I use social networks and read blogs for fun, but how can I turn that into profit?"

The fact is that billions of dollars have been spent making the new social networks fun and easy enough for a child to use. As business people, we can use this to our advantage in our Internet marketing, even if we are "Web Challenged."

Because Google and other search engines tend to rank these sites well, linking to your main offering site or blog from these sites will help your search engine ranking dramatically.

See How it Works For Yourself in my Free Webinar

If you'd like to see first hand how I'm using these social networks to attract perfect customers online, come aboard my next Magical Internet Tour and see "How I Got to Page One of Google by Sharing Myself Authentically."

The Magical Internet Tour is coming to take you away on Friday, August 22 from 9 - 10 am pacific time.

To register, email webinar@graphicgirlz.com with the subject "Register Me in Free Webinar 8_22_08" Learn the Steps in My 10 Week Webinar Intensive [more info http://www.graphicgirlz.com/teleconference.html]

Friday, August 8, 2008

Authentic Sharing Attracts Perfect Customers

Have you grown tired of the constant barrage of advertising messages bombarding you each day? The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that the average American is exposed to about 3000 advertising messages a day costing corporations billions per year. In the old paradigm for marketing, businesses are instructed to target their audiences and inundate them until they are brainwashed into buying.

If you’re like me and thousands of conscious entrepreneurs, you’re looking for a new paradigm for marketing, one that is authentic, one that recognizes and honors our intuition and chosen life paths, one that attracts rather than targets perfect customers. I’m here to tell you that we can get the word out about our products and services without brainwashing anyone or producing hype. We can attract our perfect customers by sharing ourselves authentically.

What You Seek is Seeking You

The Law of Attraction states that those with a similar energy are attracted to each other. How we are being, as well as how we are marketing, determines whether or not our perfect customers will be drawn to us, and whether they will recognize us when they do find us! There are people out there who are seeking you, your products and services as well as your personality, your approach, your mission.

When I consciously realize my perfect customers are seeking me now, my marketing takes on a different color. I realize that when my perfect customers find me (or my website, my post cards, my fliers, etc) they will only know me as who they are seeking if I am authentic and come from the heart in my marketing. If I am engaging in competitive marketing strategies or hype of any kind, my most perfect customers will pass right by me. But when I share my true self in my marketing, my perfect customers breathe a sigh of relief. They call me and say, “I know you’re the one I want to work with.”

5 Easy Steps for Attracting Perfect Customers

If you want to attract your perfect customers, there are 5 easy steps you can take today to get started.

Step 1) First, you want to determine who your perfect customers are. Get out a piece of paper and write at the top “The qualities of my perfect customers are…” and start making a long laundry-type list. Everything you can think of that you like in people you work with/for goes there like personality traits, how they find you, their resources, what they say about you, etc.

Step 2) Write a short statement of what your true inner calling is. This is also the true inner calling of your perfect customers, which you will discover as you begin attracting them. When you are authentic to your true passion and joyfully sharing your soul's calling, then you are ready to attract your heart's desire.

Step 3) Create another long list, answering the question “What do I want my perfect customers to expect from me?” Ultimately the question here is what do you really desire in life, what do you love to do and want people to pay you for. Answering this question will help you to create the business life of your dreams.

Step 4) On the back side of your Step 3 list, answer the question “What am I improving to become more attractive to my perfect customers?” Take all the items from Step 3 that aren't fully realized 100% yet and put these on your Step 4 list. Look at these items now and ask yourself, "Who would I have to be to attract this?"

Step 5) Get out there and share your mission authentically. Now that you are focused on what you want and you have clarified your mission, get the word out about what is important to you. Try creating a ’30 second speech’ for the next Connections meeting that truly reflects your purpose and mission. Use words that mean something important to you and watch as your perfect customers flock to you.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

“Isn’t that a stupid song from the 80’s?” you may be thinking.

Yeah, I know, I’m using something you remember from your past to make a point about right now. Are you falling prey to this ‘dooms day’ attitude being promoted now? Are you getting a bit shaky about ‘the economy’ and what the future may bring? Unless you’re like Buddha, you must be reacting to all the negativity being touted about the economy. Even those with a steady job with their mortgage paid are chewing a couple fingernails when they watch the news.

All this makes me want to sing! Seriously, it’s time to ask ourselves if we’re OK in this moment (of course we are!), and to remember that the future hasn’t happened yet! Uncertainty is the only guarantee in life, so let’s not be certain of such a horrible fate. Let’s instead do our best to be happy now.

And surely our perfect customers will respond to our better disposition when we are happy. Feeling good is obviously a worth while venture for many reasons, including financial security.

But how to get there from here?

First, turn off the TV!
Second: Remember Your Purpose


Ah, yes, My Purpose. Whenever I get back to that everything just makes sense and seems to flow. I have spent a lot of time musing over my purpose and I encourage others to do the same. When I focus on my purpose, I am aligning myself with my source, and that is the only time things flow to me that I have been asking for.

“When you can focus on your purpose and line it up with the purpose of your business, your productivity will increase by 40%” Tim White, Author of What’s My Purpose?

Everything is better and the world is brighter when I focus on my purpose ~ Experiencing the magic of life through free self-expression: creating the world of our dreams. When I pay attention to the passions that drive me to action, I’m happier. When I sit around and imagine dooms day scenarios, I freak out. What is the better choice? Hmmm, well, I guess it’s obvious.

So let’s do it. Let’s do what we like and think about what we like and talk about what we like and in the process be liked! We’ll like ourselves better and our perfect customers will recognize us more easily and the flow will start to happen again. It always does.