Content Development

Are You Still Trying to Do it All Yourself?

April 15, 2011 By Cara Lumen

I have a new client who is extremely talented, multi-versatile and filled with great ideas. My job as her coach is to help her make decisions which stay true to her passion, develop a really big vision, and guide her along the journey. With as big a vision as she has in mind I realized she needs to learn to delegate right from the beginning. And here’s why.

Know your job

As the owner and founder of your business you are the idea person, the decision maker, the reason it exists. Your job is to keep on the lookout for new opportunities, create new collaborations, develop new products and expand your services. It is not your job to get caught up in administrative details.

Who can you get to help and what do you want them to do?

For at least one week track your time. How much time do you spend on emails, phone calls, making travel arrangements, writing articles, posting to blogs – whatever you do? How much time do you spend on exploring the potential of new ideas, talking with possible joint venture partners, creating new products and services, developing your own skill set and expanding your own knowledge base? How much time are you spending in your business and how much time on your business?

At the end of the week divide your tasks into the following categories and put the time spent or time you’d like to spend on each task

Things only I can do
Things someone else could do but I enjoy doing
Things I don’t like to do
Things I don’t do well or that are hard for me to do but need to be done
Things that need doing that I don’t have time to do

Go back and put an X in front of what you are willing to give away. These are the tasks you can hire out.

Create job descriptions for the people you would like to hire

Then take some time developing a list of tasks you would hire a person to do. Include:

Job Title
Job Description
Hours Needed
Cost
Type of person who would fit this position

Areas you may hire people to help you with are:

Coach
Virtual assistant – you may need several who specialize in different tasks – blog management, travel arrangements, research for speaking engagements, article and blog posting, web management, video production, social media management, etc.
Financial guidance from a tax preparer or accountant.
Technical support for your web presence
Copy Editor
Proofreader
Graphic artist

What are you willing to release?

In a PTA meeting a long time ago I realized that just because I could do every job on the agenda didn’t mean I had to volunteer for it. I get to choose where I wanted to serve. Your choices need to keep you in your passion. You need to do the work that excites your imagination, that leads to new innovative choices, and that allows you to do your best work – full out – joyously giving your all. To do that you have to give some tasks away so you can do what only you are meant to do. What are you willing to release? What are you willing to trust someone else to do? Who do you know who can do that?

You write the blog post but let a VA post it on your blog and in article submission sites. If you have lots of ideas of places to speak, have a VA research it for you, find the contact person and their information and hand it to you when you are ready to make the call. Let a VA format your emagazine or update information on your web site or manage your Tweet schedule. Let someone else set up your membership site or run the back end of your webinar software. Sometimes using collaborative software helps the process. And no, it’s not easier to do these things yourself when it adds up to time you cannot spend working on your business expansion.

Take the step

Look around at people you know who can provide the services you need, network for recommendations, go online and find resources. As you explore add to the list of responsibilities you might be ready to outsource. Then do the math. If you pay someone to do six hours of work a week what money-making ideas can you put into action in that same six hours? What new products can you produce? What new collaborative partnerships can you form? You are the idea person. Keep yourself free to explore, examine, choose and create your next steps.

How Well Does Your About Page Convert?

February 8, 2011 By Cara Lumen

After your landing page, the second page people most frequently visit is your About Page. They go there to find out about the website they’re on. They want to know who it is for and what’s in it for them. And it’s also where they decide how they want to connect with you next. Here are some tips for helping your About Page convert.

Who Reads the About Page

First time Visitors. They may there because of a Google search or they may have been referred to your site by a friend but they are definitely new to what you offer. They like what they see. They want to decide if they should keep coming back. They go to the About Page to see who the person is behind the content and the service. The About Page is an opportunity to convert a visitor into a user.

Regular Users: These people are connected with you through your RSS fees or emagazine list. The About Page helps them connect with you more personally and can give them reasons to keep coming back. They may be considering buying a product or taking a next step with you. The About Page is an opportunity to tell the visitor what you do and how you can serve them.

People who want to work with you. This group is interested in what you can do for them. They are ready for action. They want facts and your history. They want to see your credentials and the results you have achieved. The About Page is an opportunity to encourage people to contact you to see how you can work together.

The Purpose of Your About Page

The purpose of your About Page isi to let the visitor know why they are on the site and if they are in the right place for what they need and want. You want to :·

Introduce them to the person and the personality behind the blog or web site
Help new readers easily see whether your blog or product or service is for them
Direct the reader to do something specific once they’ve read it.

Introduce Yourself: Your name and photo

Give your name rather than use “I” to discuss what you do. Have a professional photo that represents who you are. If you have a personal brand use it. For instance, I’m Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer.

Who You Serve: Your Who and Do What statement

Your “who and do what” statement lets people know if this site is for them and if it provides what they are looking for. It defines your niche and says what you will do for them. Complete this statement: I help (type of people) to do (your benefits) so that they (do what?)

This statement defines your target audience and what’s in it for them. My who and do what statement is “Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, helps entrepreneurs craft compelling information products that educate, motivate and inspire their target community.”

Be patient with yourself as you craft this statement. It is often an ongoing process.

What You Do: How are you accomplishing what you claim to do?

This is not detailed like your “Work With Me” page but it does need to give an inspired account of the results you achieve. As you write this section be aware of the difference between benefits and features and don’t just list features. This is where you can share your excitement and passion for what you do. This is where you tell them what’s in it for them. And this is where you can put a link to your Work With Me page that expands on the details of your products or service. For instance, in this section I can talk about Magnetic Custom Coaching and the Magnetic Signature Products Guild and perhaps a relevant product. Make this section an overview that focuses on benefits more than features.

Credentials

Which of your credentials apply to what you are marketing in this niche? Can you group them in major categories with sub-lists to give a better indication of what you do? For instance, I might divide mine into Coaching Credentials and Product Development Credentials since both are included in what I do. Using major categories with sub-lists makes for easier reading while it emphasizes the major components of your work.

Testimonials can go here if they are very relevant and from a good source. I use testimonials to answer unasked questions

Call to Action

Like every landing page, you want there to be a specific call to action. And you want the steps to be clearly outlined so they are easy for the reader to do. Preferably give them only one choice – the choice to connect with you though your opt in offer or by phone to talk about how you might work together.

Contact Information

List links to your email, web page and blog URL’s, as well as your LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter accounts. End with your phone number (I like to add the time zone). And Skype address if you have one. Add a “contact me” by email form.

Give yourself a day or two after you write your About Page then read it again with your Beginner’s Mind to see what kind of impression you make and how clear your next step instructions are. The purpose of your About Page is to deepen your connection which those who come. Whether it is about converting first time visitors, encouraging subscribers to connect more deeply or inviting people to work with you, make your About Page warm, inviting, and informative with a clear call to action that coverts each reader to their natural next step.

How to Make Certain You Know Where You Are Headed

January 24, 2011 By Cara Lumen

It’s amazing what a difference a little clarity can make. When you get a really good handle on where you are going and what you want to do when you get there, ideas and action steps fall easily into place. But it’s choosing that original destination that is sometimes tricky to figure out.

Is your business too eclectic?

We are all complex people. We each have different facets of our personality that show up in whatever we choose to do – our business, our relationships, our life choices. But if are not selective in what we share with whom we may not be able to make ourselves heard.

Here’s a concrete example. I started my Passionately on Purpose blog several years ago with the idea of helping people believe they can. Now that’s a pretty clear objective except I kept clouding it up with my own personal interests. There would be an article on stress management one day and the next something about writing landing pages. That’s who I was and what I was interested in. I didn’t realize how confusing that would be to the reader until I started a second blog Magnetic Signature Products Guild. The creation of that new blog did two things – it narrowed my niche and altered my target audience. The niche narrowed because I focused on helping people create information products and that makes it more of a business blog. That allowed the Passionately on Purpose blog to become a personal development blog rather than a confusing combination of personal development and business. Which of your varied interests do you need to separate out? What do you need to drop? What do you need to combine? We cannot be all things to all people. Be eclectic in your personal life but get your business life on target with a clearly defined niche and target audience.

Get clear about who you serve

Now of course, I have to redefine the first blog. Perhaps not redefine as much as limit and focus the content. I used some of the great focusing and decision-making techniques I have developed for my Magnetic Content Development System. The minute I sat down and started writing out my Product Promise and my One Line Content Builder the tweaked direction for the Passionately on Purpose blog came clearly into focus. That included ideas for the Cornerstone Content and even some information products to create. G¬et clear about who you serve and what they need from you. Then stay on target with what you offer.

Write your “who and do what” for your product

For every new project create a who and do what statement. Sometimes that statement organically falls into place, other times you have to make some specific decisions in order to focus your work.

For your who and do what statement answer these three questions:

This product helps: (type of people)
To do: (what benefits occur)
So that they: (what results produced)

This is the most clarifying step you can take when you start any new project.

Here’s where I am right now on the who and do what statements for each blog:

“The Passionately on Purpose blog helps entrepreneurs believe in themselves so that they do their best work and provide deep service to their community.”

“The Magnetic Signature Products Guild provides on-going support for planning, developing and completing information products that educate, motivate and inspire.”

These may change some as I delve more deeply into the contents and intentions for each blog but you can see how the purposes differ. See how that difference will determine the content and more importantly determine who signs up for which blog and what they want from it when they do. Craft a who and do what statement for your business and for each and every product or service you produce. It will keep you focused and will help you deliver your product promise.

Consciously choose your destination

When I became a Reiki Master Teacher I said I wanted to help people who were already making a difference make an even greater difference. I knew that as we worked together on their personal path they would have greater impact on the people they serve. Those are still the people I choose to work with in my business.

Do you want to work with beginners, intermediate or advanced people in your field? Do you want to work with them on their overview, or specifically on one aspect of their journey? Do you want to help one person at a time or inspire rooms full of people? Do you want to be a leader or a helper? Do you want to organize a world-wide movement around your passion, or inspire a small group to take part in an existing group? Choose your destination based on your personal passion and the gifts you have been given to help you serve others. Then plan your next steps to take you there.

Honor your own skills and talent

Get real about what you can and cannot do. I’m not the strongest marketer in the world but I sure am a good teacher. Do I learn to market better or do I partner with someone who has that talent? How do you want to spend your time? I could write forever and be totally happy. Others would find that too confining. Are you an overview person or a detail person? Follow your own ability as well as your passion when you create your business or undertake a project. We do our best work when we love what we are doing. What do you love to do and how will you do that for others?

Where do you start?

Even though I have theoretically narrowed my niche – well my two niches to be exact – I am swirling with ideas about how to develop each one. Where do I start? The most clarifying content you can create is in your landing page and your opt in offer. When you choose the benefits and features and target audience for your landing page you make choices. When you develop an opt in offer you choose the most important element of your product or service to attract people to your work. The choices you make in creating those two basic information products will stop the idea chatter and help you chart a clear path to your destination.

For instance, I put up a few pages for the Guild site and then stopped to focus on teaching my course “How to Craft Magnetic Signature Products that Educate, Motivate and Inspire” which contains the content development system that I teach. But when I went back to look at the Guild pages I realized I was not sending a clear message on that home page. I had been so caught up on expanding my Magnetic Content Development System that I talked about it more than the benefits of joining the free Guild membership. I hadn’t been clear about the purpose of the site and had not created a clear call to action on that home page – I want them to join the Guild. Start with the most clarifying projects you can – your landing page and your opt in offer.

It takes time to become clear

I can’t tell you how many who and do what statements I have had over the past ten years. They are similar, they are all me, they are all valid. Even my personal brand changed once. Look deeply into yourself and identify your values, your passion, and the depth of your desire to serve. Choose who you want to serve and how you want to serve them. That’s where you want to go. That’s your destination. That clarity makes certain you know where you are headed. Then simply outline the best way to get there and start your journey.

What Is Your First Impression?

January 13, 2011 By Cara Lumen

This is a bit of a rant. And a warning. I’ve just looked up four people that were recommended by a major blogger I follow and there is no way I would continue to explore any of them. They all made a very poor first impression.

The main message was not clear

In every case there was no clear message about what they offered. First of all a video is not a clear message when one first gets to a site. It is a screen with a button on it. Why would I push that if I don’t know what it’s about and even what the site is about? Give me words that help me get my bearings at a glance. And it’s not “Welcome, I’m ….” I want to know what they offer so I can tell if I want to continue browsing. Remember people scan. You get less than seven seconds to capture their attention. What can you tell them in seven seconds that will make them read more?

It was cluttered with choices

I cannot absorb six different boxes with colored graphics at once. I need one call to action per page. I’ve certainly had that problem with my own content because I can offer a lot of different things. It helped when I found the broader categories – Business Coach, Content Developer and Educator for www.caralumen.com . Those were words that identified what I do and immediately invited a choice that sent the reader off to a page about that specific topic.

And you know what? That’s still too many choices. I need to narrow my niche. I have just created a new blog so my www.passionatelyonpurpose.com blog can now be more focused on personal development and general business while my www.magneticsignatureproductsguild.com is only about crafting signature information products. I know it sometime takes awhile, but work to narrow your niche and make it clear to your visitors exactly what you do.

The navigation was messy

Nothing is more discouraging that having to hunt for the category that might interest you. When you design your navigation put on your beginner’s mind – use simple words to guide them. I found myself on sites where I did not understand their purpose and the navigation made no sense because I didn’t know what I should be looking for. As I design my Guild site I see categories of interest like Decision-Making, Crafting Content, Product Development, and Marketing. Using those broad headings will help my readers easily find what they need.

The design was unattractive

I can’t believe that with all the great Word Press templates out there that these sites were as truly ugly as they were. There were some really bad color choices and little boxes of content in strange places. When I coach clients on web design we talk about the feeling they want to create when the person first arrives – professional, friendly, action-oriented? And it’s not about your favorite colors although you do want your site to express you; it’s about how others perceive your colors when they arrive. There is a psychology of colors. Look them up as you choose your theme. An important part of your first impression is the design of your site.

The font was unreadable

This is my pet peeve as I get older. White print on dark background is very hard for me to read. Small print and fancy fonts are also hard for everyone. The fonts are part of your design. When I created the Guild site I chose the Prose Theme in Genesis because it emphasized the words and since this is a site for writers of information products that seemed appropriate. Once you design your site, practice opening it and see where your eye goes, what you see first and what you don’t’ notice. I found that in one page I started to put up there were too many headlines. I sort of fell in love with a few phrases but that doesn’t mean I needed to use them all at once! Use font sizes to direct the eye. Use subheads to keep the content flowing.

But most of all there was no connection to me and my needs at all.

Everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me?” Your headline needs to say who you serve and what you do for them. What is the emotional appeal? Is it money, security, health, success? What problem do you solve? I had a problem with the content explaining my Magnetic Content Development System. What I do for people in that repeatable system is help them capture their best ideas and organize them into information products. The problem is that people don’t always realize that one of the reasons they feel overwhelmed by too many ideas is that they have no system for making choices. But since they don’t know that I can’t attract them using the idea that I have a remarkable decision-making process that leads them to their best choices. I have to talk more about how much passive income they might make from information products or how you become more of the go-to person in your field when you give greater value to your community by teaching what you know. Get really clear about what you can do for your visitors and make your invitation very, very clear to them.

So I didn’t stay

I can’t tell you how little time I spent on each one of those sites when I hit these barriers. They had all been recommended by a prominent blogger who had even put their topic beside their names but in every case it was all about the owner of the site and not about what they could do for me. Why are you in business? It’s to serve other people right? Then made sure they know how you can help them when they first visit your site. It’s your invitation to them. You only have one chance to make a first impression. Make it count.

If you liked this you might also like:

Five Ways To Tell If You Need A New Web Site.
How Hiring a Web Content Strategist Can Save You Money

How to Make a Good Decision

December 29, 2010 By Cara Lumen

My interview with Sharon Sayler on Beyond Lip Service

Cara Lumen, Your Idea Optimizer, creator of the Magnetic Content Development System says, “A good decision-making process will consistently help you make choices that produce the best results. Having a conscious system for making decisions is very freeing. Once you establish your individualized technique and learn to trust it you will be unstoppable!”

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