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Fred Smith said, “People with 20 years’ experience really have a one year’s experience which they have repeated twenty times”. I think about the years I’ve spent trying to gain experience, hoping time would go by quickly, so that I could add years to my resume. But, having experience could mean I’ve done the wrong thing for 20 years.

A lot of people set out to accomplish very little with their lofty goals:

1). Learn everything I can about my industry

2). Set a goal 10% higher than last year

3). Obtain goal

Rinse and repeat, year after year.

However, if you observe successful people, you’ll notice that they, like Fred Smith tells us, stretch themselves and take paths that are many times uncomfortable. Have you set a goal or started something new that has stretched you? What have you done to separate yourself from the competition? Hitting a 10% increase is nice, but are you doing anything memorable? Have you considered starting a blog?

If you aren’t a writer, you can still build your personal online brand through creating something unique. Maybe a video blog or podcast is a better route for you. Consider this:

1). What skill do you possess that would be valuable to others?

2). You don’t have to be an expert to give good advice. Most bloggers aren’t saving lives, just improving them.

3). Continually make small improvements.

Keep growing and keep stretching yourself and never give up.

If you want help setting up your online platform, drop us a line.

What skill do you have that could improve someone else’s life?

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What are the Five SEO tips that I can use today?

• You’ve heard ‘content is King’ over and over. But, what does that mean to me? Simply, putting good content on your site is better than any tool, widget, or keyword. There are no shortcuts. TELL A STORY WITH PASSION. If your website or blog is about helping raise money to provide free sonograms and health care to unwed mothers, tell a story about someone who was profoundly impacted by this ministry. On the other hand, if your blog or website is about selling hair care products, show a good story (before and after). If you’re selling candy bars, have fun by telling a story about how your brother used to steal your candy until you pulled a big prank on him. Just as important, is telling a story that is relevant to your target audience.
• Decide upfront what keywords you want to major in. PICK TWO KEY WORDS OR KEYWORD PHRASES YOU WANT REALLY WANT TO FOCUS ON AND STICK WITH THOSE. If you are selling hockey gear, decide if you want to be the top search for hockey sticks or hockey skates or general hockey gear. For starters, do not try to be everything to everyone. Eventually, you can be the top search for lots of different types of hockey gear, but decide what’s most important and excel at that. Integrate those words within your writing at a 3 – 5% rate.
• USE POWERFUL TITLES. Michael Hyatt is a master at this. A great example he used was “Why You Aren’t Dead Yet”? Kind of grabs your attention, doesn’t it? However, if you’re selling fast food, you might want to pick a different title.
• USE GOOD RESOURCES. There are several good WordPress tools available. Scribe SEO. All-In-One-SEO. Also, use good photos, not cliché ones that have been overused. I’ve found a lot of useful photos, WordPress themes, widgets, and plugins at themeforest. Also, YouTube is a good resource for tutorials.
• BE PATIENT. Building a great blog or website takes time. Keep updating your blog with fresh content that addresses others needs, not always promoting your site. And, be giving of your time, providing good solutions to problems that exist. Keep the faith. Eventually, it will work.

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When you are establishing your online platform and beginning to engage the marketplace with a blog and using various social media tools, what are the first steps you should take?

Remember that you do not need to be an expert to give useful advice.

When you think back to the big breakthoughs you had in your life, did you learn more from your successes or your failures? Could that failure help someone else? That’s a blog post!

And, who invented the light bulb? You might suggest, ‘Thomas Edison’. Edison, while holding over 1,000 patents and learning hundreds of ways to use failure successfully, did not invent the incandescent light. He learned how to make it commercially viable.

Social Media, blogging, and SEO are still relatively new tools used to reach the marketplace and engage potential customers.

Have a willingness to take chances and take action. Your brand will withstand the minor mistakes along the way as long as you have three principles in place:

Learn from the Experts

• Success leaves clues – use the tools and suggestions from the experts
• Even the experts make mistakes and many of them will freely admit them
• Even if you become one of the experts, there is always someone from whom you can learn

Serve Others with Compassion (give more than you take)

• Re-tweet, post, and share others’ messages
• Promote others’ ideas
• Give without asking in return

Use Your Failure and Failure of Others as a Guide

• I made a mistake with an e-commerce client recently by trying to spread their ad budget too thin. I can use the lesson learned to take a more firm approach to ad budget planning.
• Many years ago I had a manager who said, ‘if it’s not broken, it’s time to break some glass’. While I respect his enthusiasm for trying to improve an already good product, I learned more from seeing the destruction that followed…I will avoid that.

Like Edison, take Others’ Successes and Improve Them

1). Listen to what the marketplace is wanting.

2). Engage your target market by interacting with them in meaningful conversation.

3). Then brand your message with a targeted approach. Where is your target market hanging out? Serve them and keep learning how to do that better.

4). Who does what you are doing? How can you improve upon their approach?

5). Be persistent and NEVER GIVE UP!

The post My Friend “Failure” appeared first on Platform Creator.

However, I’ve since learned that serious publishing companies don’t want to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars introducing and promoting new authors. They will however consider platform creators, authors who already have a following, or what Seth Godin calls, Tribes. And, the best way to start a tribe is to blog or at least it’s an inexpensive way. So, why would you want to start a blog?

It’s Therapeutic to Write. I could provide you with some basic medical research to support my claim, but writing, on its own, isn’t a cure to fill your emptiness. However, many of the writers I follow do live fulfilling lives. Whether published or not, writing has been a way for me to better understand where my pain and problems originate and how to correct, relieve, or at least understand them. It can help you crystalize your thoughts and become more purposeful about each day you live. If you are interested in becoming a better writer, I’d suggest checking out Ray Edwards or at least, listen to his podcasts on the way into work. Jeff Goins is another great story-teller.

Writing Can Help You Become a Thought-leader in your Industry. Today, anyone can build a platform through twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and blogging. And, some of the best practical advice I’ve found hasn’t come from major media outlets, but from people who have persevered through heavy challenges, and offered practical advice on how to navigate through specific issues that are important to me. Chances are there is a writer out there who is addressing many of your primary concerns in life and who shares many of your values. This blogger wants to connect and help you. And, likely, you have a skill that others can benefit from and a skill that can help mentor others.

Writing is the Right Thing to Do. Most successful writers have two things in common. First, they are good story tellers. Writing directions for installing a new dishwasher may not provide riveting night time reading, but learning how Jeff Goins went from starting a new blog in 2010 to over 19,000 twitter followers is inspiring as well as the stories behind his blog posts. Second, successful writers are giving. A great example of a successful, fulfilled writer who is giving of his time is former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, Michael Hyatt. Michael Hyatt will show you how to launch a new WordPress site in 20 minutes or less.  

 Only you can make a difference in someone’s life. You can’t count on anyone else to do what you are most passionate about. In what area can you add value and start mentoring others today?

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