If it all ended tomorrow, what would you do?

Join me and in Las Vegas July 20-22 for Dr. Ben’s Internet Marketing Event.14 “Survivor” Lessons that teach you how to build your business and take it to the next level (which will help you even if the Mayans are wrong!)

Make sure to stay for the absolute most exciting, inspiring and motivational presentation (mine, of course), as I teach you how to turn your business into an empire in the “Business Scaling Masterclass”.

Great airfares and hotel rates are still available, but you must book now!

See you at the End of the World!

The post It’s the End of the World! (Why is Steve celebrating?) appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

You probably have information like this in your system, too.  What could you do if you could drill down and find the needles in the haystack?

The post Case Study: Actual Sales Automation Internet Campaign Results appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

A carefully crafted newsletter strategy will build trust in your customers and prospects and make them want to do business with you.  Here are 9 easy tips and newsletter ideas to make your newsletters more interesting, and easier to assemble and send out.

1. Build Your List – Everybody you meet should be given the option to join your newsletter.  Several of my clients just finished the Austin Home and Garden show.  They took in hundreds of contacts.  I hope they don’t  make the mistake of thinking all these people are ready to be their customer, RIGHT NOW.  But there’s a good chance that many of them are looking for valuable information that will help them make their buying decision when they are ready.  If you do these types of shows, make your first post show contact an invitation to receive your newsletter… with no obligation.  Also send out a Free Case Study featuring a customer testimonial and interview.  They will appreciate the valuable information.

2. Keep On Schedule – Give yourself deadlines and stick to them.  Schedule time to do your research and write your articles.  Develop a reserve of content so that you can easily find womething to include instead of having to constantly write under the pressure of a deadline.

3. Use Digg and Google Reader – These are great services for finding content.  Mark your favorite articles so that you can always come back to them.  You can include links in your articles to those articles or you can use the information to write your own. Here’s a great article: “How To: Use Google Reader Like A Rockstar”

4. Summarize Your Blog Posts– Keep your newsletters short.  Post your long articles, with details, pictures and links on your blog for everybody to see, and summarize those posts in your newsletter.  Use trackable links in your newsletter so that you can see which posts are most popular.

5. Automate – I use Aweber to manage my newsletters because they have automated the entire process and made it a no-brainer for me.  You can choose whatever look and feel you want from their templates.  They create the summary posts from your blog entries, and they provide the subscription forms for you to capture contact information.  Plus they have all the trackable links and reporting that I need to analyze each mailing.  There are many services out there to choose from, but Aweber is a recognized industry leader.  That’s why I have used them for the past 5 years.

6. Write Case Studies about your Customers – Talk about a Win. Win, Win!  Your readers love success stories.  They want to know how others have solved the problems they are facing.  Who better to tell the story than your satisfied customers?  Third party testimonials are very powerful… when they are authentic.  Your readers will love the stories.  Your customers will appreciate the recognition, and you will get the benefit of the great press!

7.  Sell by Teaching – People don’t like to be sold.  But they do like to be educated, and they will buy from the experts they trust.  Make at least 75% of your content informational and educational, and no more than 25% of your content should be “Salesy”.

8.  Include Resourceful Links – People love to find good new resources, articles and videos.  Share your favorite places with you list.  They will appreciate you for it.  By the way, have you bookmarked my $1,000,000 Rolodex”? There’s tons of goodies for you here!

9.  Pay Attention to Your Numbers – You want to keep track of each mailing and track its performance.  Pay attention to how many were sent, how many bounced, how many were opened, which links were clicked, what time of day and what day of week the mailing was sent.  Track different subject lines and content.  You will soon learn what is most effective for your readers.  Once again, Aweber is a great service that makes this easy for you.

Remember, building trust is a function of time, frequency and quality.  Use your newsletter to keep in front of your audience on a consistent basis, and they will turn to you to solve their problems and do business with you.

The post 9 Easy Tips And Newsletter Ideas To Build Your Following appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Make sure to also subscribe to this blog using the form at right or below, because on Sunday, I am going to send out a study guide to help you tie it all together.  Only subscribers will get the study guide, plus they will be the first to know about each new video.

What do you think of my back end?  Please share your comments and questions below?

The post Show Me Your Back End Video #1 appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

This is important because subscribers of my newsletter will soon learn of my new product that shows you how to use the Google Wonder Wheel to find the best LSI relevant keywords to drive traffic to your site. Subscribe now in the form at right!

The post What happened to the Google Wonder Wheel? [VIDEO] appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Each year, Inman News announces the launch of the Inman News Innovator Awards process with a call for nominations several months prior to the Real Estate Connect conference.

Nominations are open to all and are submitted online. An Inman News review team considers the nominations and selects a list of finalists, and the finalists are drawn from the nominees and a list of other prospects suggested by the Inman News editorial team. The review team selects the winners from the list of finalists.

Congratulations to Krisstina and The GoodLife Team!

The post The GoodLife Team WINS Most Innovative Brokerage Award! appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

And the rest of the country is paying attention, too!

You, can share the spotlight with The GoodLife Team, and also help them win a big award in 2 ways:

First, HGTV has contacted The GoodLife Team to participate on their hit TV show “My First Place”. The GoodLife Team wants to know:
Are you or someone you know:

• Just beginning your search & looking to purchase by the Fall 2010
• Fun, interesting & excited to be on TV
• Willing to share your experience with viewers

If so, The GoodLife Team would  like to help you find your perfect first home AND help make you a star!!! Please email experience@goodlifeteam.com for more information.
If you know of any first-time homebuyers who would be interested, please share this post with them.

Secondly, The GoodLife Team has been nominated as one of ten finalist’s for Inman News’ prestigious Innovator of the Year award.

The voting is open to the public.  All you have to do to vote is visit Inman and “Click on the Blue Button” to vote for The GoodLife Team (Listed under “Brokerage or Franchise”.

Good Luck to Krisstina Wise and The GoodLife Team!

The post Austin Real Estate Agents Garner National Attention appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Can the success of that campaign be duplicated in today’s new media world?  How should businesses use radio?  These were two questions I wanted answered at a radio advertising class I attended Wednesday afternoon.

Border Media, who owns several Austin radio stations, invited me as a guest to learn how businesses should use radio advertising as a part of their overall marketing strategy.

Karen Travis, from Advantage Systems, Inc. delivered a thought provoking presentation with several very interesting facts about radio strengths.  One in particular, really resonated with me:

Radio is the best marketing medium to reinforce a message by combining with other media.

Think about it…  Aren’t you usually doing something else while you’re listening to the radio?  That makes a lot of sense to me.  I often have the radio on while I’m browsing the web, or driving my car.  Wouldn’t a billboard have far more impact if you noticed it at the same time an ad  for the product played on your radio?

How many creative ways can you think of using radio to reinforce your website?

Who is going to leave the light on for you?

Motel 6 capitalized on some of radio’s strongest benefits:

People remember things they hear on the radio.

• Radio has a retention rate of 92%, better than most other forms of advertising.
• Radio plays to the “Theater of the Mind”. Most people have a mental image of Tom Bodett, which helps them remember his name and Motel 6’s name.  If you want to have some fun, look for a picture of Tom Bodett. I bet he looks a lot different than you thought!
• Radio production and airtime is very inexpensive relative to TV and newsprint advertising.  This allows you to broadcast with more frequency and reach to get your message out to a broader audience.

As you know, I am a strong proponent of using all media to reach the broadest audience and to fill your marketing funnel.  The takeaway I got from Karen was that a properly formulated radio campaign is a key component of a successful offline and online marketing strategy for your business.

The post How to create a strong radio ad appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Ryan inspired a bit of creativity in me, as well. You’ll never believe what he got me to do live on the air! Hint: I ended up providing all listeners with a secret link where they can download a free copy of my Big Bad Home Sale book.

Listen to the show below and snatch your BBHS book!

image by oylerdp

The post Innovation Management – How to Inspire Creativity in the Workplace appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Update!

Wow!  What a show! We really dug deep into exploring how to bring innovation into the workplace.  There were so many great examples, that I ended up promising a free digital copy of my book Big Bad Home Sale to all of the listeners.

You can get your free copy of Big Bad Home Sale too, by listening to the the show archive at http://bit.ly/9aMKcP.

The post Bring Innovation and Creativity to your Office – Steve Rosenbaum Today on WCR Live Radio appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.