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Four advantages of Google Reader

1. Ability to track your industry by subscribing to popular blogs or RSS feeds that contain the latest news, trends and product information
2. Ability to share information with your social network via share button, shared custom Google Reader RSS feed or email link
3. Ability to save searches from Twitter to easily identify opportunity to engage with people asking for help on topics you understand
4. Ability to track mentions of you, your company, your brand or your products and service so you can jump in the conversation early and often.

How do you use Google Reader?  What other online tools do you use to accomplish these or similar tasks?

1. It’s free or relatively inexpensive.  Computers today come with most of the tools you need to get started. Notably, Macs come with Garage Band and iWeb, the two primary tools required to easily publish your podcast to iTunes.  You will need to purchase a domain or use MobileMe for $99 a year.  I do both and find them equally effective.
2. Podcasting is a great method for you to explore something that interests you and share with others.  For example, if your intereted in crochet, you can start a podcast to talk about crochet technique, crochet resources, and interview others who crochet to get their ideas.  Think there’s no audience – think again.
3. Podcasts are a great way to promote your business.  You might set up a podcast on one topic that is related to your core business and throughout the discussion reference your business to help increase awareness and drive traffic to your website.  I recommend you not take an aggressive stance with this approach since listeners will feel like your just trying to sell them something.

My new podcast is Entrepreneur Weekly and it’s available on iTunes.  As the name suggests, I’ll be interviewing entrepreneurs on a weekly basis to learn and share their experiences with other entrepreneurs or business owners.  Topics might include:

• realities of starting your own business
• securing funding or bootstrapping during startup
• marketing your new business
• managing a work & life balance
• tools and technology to help manage and grow your business
• business planning and operations

Hope this helps and you think about new ways to get your voice out there and engage with your target market.

Are your podcasting?  If not, why?  If so, how is that working?

Setting SMART goals is a proven approach to achieving success more quickly.  As 2009 winds down, this is the perfect opportunity to examine your goals for 2010 and apply the SMART mnemonic or acronym to increase the likelihood your goals are met.

SMART stands for:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Attainable
R – Realistic
T – Timely

Free Template Downloads:

• Apple Numbers Goal Setting Template
• Microsoft Excel Goal Setting Template

Specific

You want to clearly define your goals to articulate specifically what you are trying to achieve.  The question is what, how and why are you striving toward this goal?

• What are you going to do?  Use action words, such as create, sell, manage, or grow, etc. to bring a sense of energy to your goals.
• Why are you doing this?  What is the ultimate outcome?  Why is this important and what impact will this have on you, your business, or your customers?
• How are you going to do this?  What are the sub-goals or action steps that will enable you to achieve your goal

The more specific you are, the greater your ability to identify success when it occurs.  For example, “I will write and publish 21 blog posts (250-400 words) about skydiving equipment by March 1, 2010.“  In this example I used action words “write and publish”, specified the number, length, and topic of the blog posts and put a date on it.  As we’ll discuss next, this goal is also measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Measurable

If you cannot measure your goals then you cannot manage your progress.  Furthermore, it is far more difficult to achieve your objectives if a) you do not measure your progress or b) you do not measure the appropriate metrics.  In some cases a progress chart, table or simple checklist might help.

For example, you might be trying to improve visitor conversion rates.  Using a web statistics tool, such as Google Analytics, can help track vital statistics but make sure you understand and pick the right metric that defines success.  You can get 1,000 visitors a day, but if no one buys, that metric is meaningless.  Don’t get caught up trying to move the wrong target.

Attainable

Is your goal possible?  Is it limited by your resources or require more time to achieve?  I encourage you to set stretch goals for yourself to push your limits, but keep them within reach.  The benefit is that you’ll see real progress toward success.  The risk is that you do not achieve your goals and lose momentum or hope.

For example, you may have just launched a new blog and you want 20% of your visitors to sign up for your newsletter out of the gate.  While this is a realistic rate that you could eventually achieve, it is unlikely to happen right away.  A more attainable goal would be to grow your newsletter list by 5% each month.

Realistic

Is your goal realistic?  You might want 5,000 newsletter subscribers, which is attainable, but is it realistic to achieve this goal by within 2 weeks?  Maybe not.  Be honest with yourself and your business when setting goals by keeping them realistic or you risk disappointment.

Timely

When is the deadline to achieve your goal?  Next week, 3 months, by year end?  Setting a specific date will help you identify your tactical sub-goals and action steps to achieve your goal within a given deadline.  Map out these deadlines or milestones on a calendar.  Plan rewards for yourself when you cross each line.

A common mistake is to generalize about timing.  For example, avoid using descriptions such as “this year, next quarter, in the next two weeks.”  Without a specific date, these deadlines will slip away.

In my experience, SMART goals help you reach your objectives more quickly with a defined path for success.  I recommend writing them down and revisiting them frequently to check progress and adapt to changing circumstances.  In most cases, you will over-achieve — either beating a deadline or delivering something of greater value.

What’s your experience setting goals for the new year?  Do you use the SMART mnemonic?

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Starting a podcast is easier than ever these days.  You can use some of the free tools that come with virtually every computer these days or make a few modest purchases to improve the quality of your podcast.  I recommend you focus on content creation before buying a bunch of unnecessary equipment.

Here’s are some of the basic elements to consider when launching a podcast for the first time:

What is a podcast? There’s some argument over where the term came from and who produced the first podcast, but i use the definition: audio & video “portable on demand”.  Essentially, this includes new media content that’s available for consumption in iTunes (or another leading podcast hub), directly on your website, or via a mobile device, such as the iPhone.

What microphone should I use for my podcast? Since a podcast obviously involves audio communication, I recommend you use the best quality microphone you can afford or one that at least offers a level of quality your listeners will find acceptable.  I’ve done podcast episodes using my Mac internal mic and my iphone, but when I’m in the office I use the Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic.(aff)

Where should I deliver my podcast? Any website or blog can have its own podcast.  By definition, a podcast doesn’t need to be on iTunes so don’t let that misconception stop you from publishing audio content.  For example, sign up with AudioBoo and record a show – then paste the html or script into a blog post or a web page.  This is an example of a very simple approach.  You could also set up a Wordpress blog, install one of many podcast plugings, and upload audio files from your computer.  I prefer to use the Podcasting plugin, but there are several other Wordpress plugins available.

What should I say on my podcast? All of us have something to say; however, podcasting is not for everyone.  My suggestion is that you find a subject you are passionate about and make a list of potential topics you could discuss.  What are the top 5 questions people ask you about your topic?  What are the top 5 questions they should be asking?  There’s content for 10 episodes right there.

Should I do all the talking on my podcast? Some podcasts are run by a single person who does all the talking, while others are two or more people engaged in a conversation.  Some are discussion style, while others are more of an interview.  It really depends on your subject, what you have to share personally and who else you know that can help liven up the discussion.  Ask your listeners what’s working for them and change as needed.

Is there a show format I should follow? I recommend you establish a consistent format or ageneda for your podcast episodes or shows.  The reason is that a consistent format puts the listeners at ease and builds a certain level of expectation over time.  For example: 1)intro music 2) introduction 3) topic one 4) topic two 5) pick of the week 6) closing remarks with call to action and 7)closing music.  That’s just an example — the possibilities are unlimited.

What file format should I use for my podcast? MP3 is the most widely accepted audio file format, but most podcasting hosts will accept a variety of file formats.

How do I get my podcast on iTunes and how much does it cost? Podcast distribution on iTunes is free.  Just be sure you’re using the correct RSS format.  To learn more open iTunes and go to Store>Podcasts>Submit a Podcast.  You may also have readers subscribe to you podcast through iTunes without actually publishing to iTunes.  Of course, this does not make your podcast available to the general public but is a convenience.

Are you thinking of starting a podcast?  What’s holding you back?  Is there something I can help clarify to get you started?

In this audio I post I discuss the challenge of managing multiple day-to-day responsibilities vs. the opportunity to create unique and compelling content for your readers.  The realty is that created content should be your #1 priority in terms of Internet Marketing.  Everything else is secondary – not becuase it’s not important, but simply because content is proven as the leading tactic to engage your audience online.

The challenge is to find a schedule with which to post new content on a regular basis.  It’s easier than ever these days to quickly produce and publish audio, video, images and text-based blog posts, but many folks simply can’t find the time or don’t have the right tools to make it easy and effective.

For me, it’s about publishing at least one blog post everyday and allocating a few hours once a week to tweak my site.  What’s your strategy?  What’s working for you?

Upcoming events are a great opportunity for you to leverage keywords related to that event and drive SEO traffic to your blog.

If you can, research an event within your niche and identify 2-3 long-tail keyword phrases that a potential reader might use to search for information on Google.  Write a few blog posts about the event and use these keywords in your title, post text, meta keywords, and meta description.  Follow up your post with a link in Twitter, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and your other favorite social media and bookmarking sites.

In my experience, if there is little competition for the event I can usually score a top 3 position in Google if I choose my keywords correctly.  There are several tools to conduct keyword research, but I suggest starting with Google Keyword Tool to familiarize yourself on the topic.

Although events come and go, the benefit of optimizing for them is the ability to attract new followers within your niche.  Give it a try – it’s actually a bit fun.

What’s your experience leveraging events to drive SEO traffic to your blog?  Any success or other tips to share?

In this audio post I discuss Ustream.tv and the new opportunities available to reach your market in a new and exciting way through video.

Ustream has been around for years but many businesses have yet to grasp the potential.  Basically, Ustream offers the ability to broadcast live video over the Internet in a controlled, yet open platform.  Viewers may interact through a closed chat feature or through the new built-in Twitter feed.  Live broadcasts may be recorded and saved for future playback.

Obviously, the implications of this are huge in terms of market reach and differentiation for your business.  Consumers are ready for this new media and comfortable consuming content in this manner – think of it as a real-time version of YouTube.  Of course, if you’re not comfortable creating video in the first place, this may be quite a leap in terms of confidence and risk.  The key is to get started today and practice.  It will get easier – trust me.

I’ll leave with the final thought.  Video creates a personal touch with your market.  If any of you have ever “finally met someone in real-life” after chatting with them on Twitter, then you can appreciate this.  People want to see, talk and interact with others beyond text based methods.  If that makes sense to you, then I encourage you to push your comfort zone and leverage Ustream (or YouTube) to take things to the next level.  You’ll be glad you did.

What are your thoughts?  Is streaming video something that would help you communicate with your market?  Are consumers ready for this?

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The fact is, many business owners still do not understand the power of social media and Twitter in particular. Those active in social media marketing can easily point to at least one if not several businesses that have derived some benefit as a result of their engagement.

How do you come up with topics to blog about?  What’s holding you back from blogging?