Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Be Yourself No Matter What

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

Sometimes people just don't react the way we want them to. Maybe they are not happy with our services, our prices, or our personality. They might come out of left field with a criticism or you heard rumors about them dissing you behind your back.

Stuff happens. People are not always perfect.

In business, we are told to go along, be professional, suck it up, put on a good face. But who has told you recently to be yourself no matter what?

I had a little run in with a vendor recently who was not happy with me to the point of sending me nasty, threatening emails that seemed way out of character. I had the inkling and the urge to respond in kind, to lower myself to that level and give it some good old fight.

But that's not who I am and when I am focused in that way I am not getting what I say I want to attract.

As soon as I realized that I derived great joy in NOT responding in kind, in just being old peace-loving self. I realized this person was there to show me who I really am, and who I am really not.

So next time someone seems ready to succeed at pushing you off your balance, see if you can remember who you really are and be that, no matter what the other people in the world are doing or saying. Staying in your center, connected to your source, is always the fastest way to get what you want!

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Software Review: Tweet Adder

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

If you're in to Twitter at all, you know that you can grow a following faster there than in the other social networks with just a little effort... or automation. Because Twitter ediquette says that "whomever follows me I shall follow in kind," you have a good chance of growing your followers list by following a bunch of people first.

However, you don't want to grow your Twitter with just anyone. You want to follow people of like mind and heart. This is what makes Tweet Adder Software so useful.

BENEFITS OF TWEET ADDER
GROW YOUR FOLLOWING FAST: The main benefit of the Tweet Adder software is that it can help you automatically follow folks by keyword, a lot of folks (up to 1000 per day). Tweet Adder will also remove people who haven't added me yet in a set number of days. This helps me to maintain a reasonable ratio of "following" to "followers." And I can add certain people (like my mentors) to the "safe list" so they won't be removed in my 'unfollow' sequence, even if they haven't yet followed me.

LOCATE PEEPS BY KEYWORD OR ZIPCODE: I use Tweet Adder to grow my following using keywords like "law of attraction" or "#loa", "Consciousness" and "Gratitude". I can select how many people per day I want to add using these words. I can even look at all the people Tweet Adder will add before I add them if I want. If I want to attract local peeps, I can search by Zip Code and keyword simultaneously. There are other powerful ways to find your perfect customers using Tweet Adder.
SCHEDULING TWEETS: You can use Tweet Adder to schedule tweets in advance. (similar to Future Tweets and Tweet Later) Use this feature to plan out your tweets for the day all at once and save yourself time going back into Twitter to send your tweets. I actually still use Future Tweets for this so I can easily see all my tweets at once (see my Future Tweets review HERE.)but on occasion I will use Tweet Adder for this.
FEATURE RICH: There are a host of features Tweet Adder boasts that I haven't used yet, like Automated Direct Messaging to welcome new followers and announce events, a Twitter music promotion tool, URL shortening on the fly, and full Twitter stats. They keep adding features too so this is a robust tool for anyone wanting to maximize the benefits of Twitter.

DRAWBACKS TO TWEET ADDER

COSTS TO USE: This software is not free like some of the other software I review in my blog. You can take it for a test run and check out the various features, then if you like it, you'll be paying $55 for one Twitter profile. There are higher price options for multiple accounts. The upside is that this is a one time fee with updates for life.

MUST LOG IN: Another drawback to this service is that you must log on to the program to use the automated features. You can't just set it and forget it the way they advertise. The program will not run unless your computer is on and you are successfully logged in to the software. Also, if you want to use it on 2 computers, because they don't have a synch mechanism yet, you need to move your Tweet Adder file back and forth between the computers you are using. Best to just keep it on one computer till they create the synch mechanism!

The benefits Tweet Adder boasts are:

  • Increase Twitter and Site Traffic to your event, charity, service, business, band, or website
  • Find Like Minded Twitter Followers in Seconds
  • Auto Follow up to 1000 Targeted Profiles per Day
  • Get up to 500 new twitter followers per day per profile
  • Multiple Accounts, Unlimited Twitter Profiles & Chaining
  • Automate Twitter Posts, Scheduled Tweets, Stay active without actually being active
  • Automate Scheduled Direct Messages
  • Auto Unfollow, VIP Safe List
  • Best Twitter Search, including Global Location and Multi Language Searches
  • Set it and Forget It! Runs Daily, Automatically
  • Every Twitter Feature imaginable!
  • Spend time with your family, take off for the weekend, go on vacation! We’ll do the rest!
GET YOUR FREE TRIAL OF TWEET ADDER SOFTWARE HERE

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Yoga of Marketing


by Julia D. Stege, MFA

In general, conscious entrepreneurs and spiritual practitioners tend to avoid marketing as long as possible. They prefer to focus on their gift and marketing seems like just another thing they don't want to have to do.

The fact is that if you are in business for yourself, you must market. One of my marketing mentors, Fabienne Fredrickson, says that we should be marketing 4 hours per day or just go get a job. I can't really argue much with that.

If you need customers, you need to be spending time marketing.

My suggestion is to set up a sustainable marketing system that stretches you a bit every day. Like in yoga, you don't want to go into the advanced pose on your first try then forget about it the rest of the month. You want to start where you are, work at it every day and stretch a bit more each time.

So the yoga of marketing is to go out a little bit more each day, a bit farther.

That might look like spending an extra 10 minutes to connect with new people on facebook, or spending some time writing a blog post, or exploring a new social network.

Be consistent and persistent and you will see the results.

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Software Review: SocialToo.com

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

I have been using SocialToo, a Twitter application, for about a year or so mostly for the Daily Stats email they send me almost every day. For a one time fee of only $20, I get a daily email including a whole list of all new followers and new unfollowers and info about them including what tweet was live when they followed or unfollowed me and how many followers they have.

They also automatically follow anyone who follows me included in that one time fee. Since it's good Twitiquette to follow everyone who is following you, it's handy to have a tool automatically do that for you.

That would be enough for me, but there are some other features that SocialToo offers at a very low cost.

Catchup Your Previous Followers
For $5 SocialToo will follow anyone who is following you that you have not yet followed. This helps you catch up on followers from before the time you start the $20 service.

Create a SocialSurvey
With SocialToo you can poll your Twitter and Facebook Friends with a SocialSurvey. I have not used this feature yet, but I bet I could come up with some good uses for this. According to SocialToo, you can create a survey, ask your friends a question, and share to Twitter or Facebook. Your friends can comment directly on the survey, and their own comments will go back out to Twitter with a link back to the survey for their own friends to take.

Automiatic DM Filters
Sometimes Direct Messages that are automatic can fill your Twitter DM inbox with a bunch of Spam. You can use SocialToo DM filters to apply actions to specific keywords or phrases, including unfollow and blocking.

Vanity URL Creation with Tracking
Track visitors to your Facebook Profile with a Vanity URL created by SocialToo. This URL tracks people that click on the URL, where they came from, and where they were when they clicked on it.

All in all SocialToo is a useful and inexpensive service that runs without me thinking about it, and reminds me of its existence almost daily. It's handy to have those emailed stats so I can see how fast my Twitter has grown over time.

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Software Review: Hub Pages

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

I learned about Hub Pages about 2 years ago in a free class on how to dominate page one rankings on Google. Since then I have gotten to page one of google for a number of keyword phrases with the help of Hub Pages. When I am hired by solopreneurs, companies and websites to improve their Google page ranking, Hub Pages is often the tool that gets the fastest results. In this review I'll lay out the simple "Do's" and "Don'ts" for Hub Pages and help you get started.

The Pro's: A Great Authority Site

Hub Pages is a free web service that hosts informational web pages for its users. It is considered an Authority Site because it gets high ranking on Google and has lots of visitors; great for getting to page one of Google.

You can create as many "Hubs" as you like, and add text, pictures, videos, and links in your Hub. Hub Pages rewards pages with lots of great content by giving them great ranking both within HubPages (where dedicated Hubbers can find your stuff) and in Google.

The Hub Pages interface is very basic and easy to follow. You start by selecting your title, URL, and tags (make sure to include your keyword phrase in all three areas.) Then select a basic template and Hub Pages will quickly set up a starter page for you.

You can customize your pages with a simple stylesheet as well as bold, italic, underline, sub and super-script, bullets and numbered lists.

Include photos and videos whenever possible. HubPages loves media and will reward your page with better ranking. Other features are available in the Capsules options area, including news, links, text, photos, comments, ebay, html code, quiz, rss, polls, amazon.com search and tables. Using several of these features in your Hub will enhance your site ranking.

Hub Pages: Some Challenges to Overcome

HubPages insists on original, unique content on its pages and punishes you if your Hub is "Over Promotional." That means you have to use unique content and link sparingly. This is a huge drawback to Hub Pages in comparison to blog sites like Blogger and Wordpress, or even Squidoo, all of which allow you to post duplicate content and multiple links.

You can program in links but again, be careful with links on HubPages. I cannot say that loudly enough because if you link to one website more than 2ce in your Hub, HubPages will flag your page and deny your publishing request.

When you have finished your Hub, make sure to promote it. Hub Pages provides forums where you can pal around with other Hubbers and include links to your new hubs. Also invite friend from your social networks using the share button.

Hub Pages continues to be a great tool for Search Engine Optimization. It gets me to page one of Google almost every time. Just be cognizant of the rules and offer real, consumable content.

Here are some links to some of my Hubs:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Attraction-Marketing-for-Conscious-Entrepreneurs

http://hubpages.com/hub/High-Quality-Website-Designs

http://hubpages.com/hub/caring_for_alzheimers_and_dementia
(for icarevillage.com)

http://hubpages.com/hub/Why--What--Where-the-Bleep-Should-I-Blog

Join and start Hubbing now. It's easy, it's free, and you'll love the results.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Tribute to a Pioneering Woman


by Julia D. Stege, MFA

Twelve years ago I saw an ad in a new age magazine that read "Herstar: Feminist Astrology. Kalli Halvorson" with a phone number at the end. I had always been interested in both astrology and feminism, but had never heard of someone uniting the two. I just had to meet her.

That began a magical adventure with both of us sharing our gifts with eachother... with me creating her logo and website for Herstar, and she working with me for years as my astrologer. We even became roomates in Rockridge, a beautiful part of Oakland, for several years at a critical time in my life when I was discovering who I really am. Kalli Rose, as she liked to call herself, was always an inspiring example for me of a purposeful woman on the cutting edge, sharing her unique brilliance with the world. When we shared a home, she was often out on travels to some far off land where she could meet and study with astrologers and spiritual leaders from a variety of diciplines.

She contacted me a few years ago and told me she had cancer and was given only a few months to live. I was shocked and immediately made the journey from Sebastopol to Berkeley to see her in our old stomping ground. I remember she took my hand and looked into my eyes. "The best part of this whole thing is the love," she said. And she assured me that if she is meant to leave this plane, she is ready to go. But if she's meant to stay, she will fight. This morning I got the news she had left us for good. She fought for 3 years and finally, on this Winter Solstice, she merged with the cosmos.

In her passing I am compelled to use my gifts once again to offer her the proper send off to her next magical adventure. Kalli Rose was not famous, but among her peers she was truly admired, respected and loved. For many years she bridged and united the very different worlds of feminism and astrology, always with the intention of merging the two so that women could be empowered in their lives and in the world as a whole. She was always surrounded by an amazing selection of powerful women, many of whom came to her aid when she needed it.

Right before she became ill, Kalli Rose pioneerd a Phd program at CIIS in Feminist Astrology. She was to be the first Doctor of Feminist Astrology, finally bringing her experience as a Women's Studies teacher together with her years of deep study into all approaches to astrology, and forging a path for others desiring a unique approach to feminist sprituality.

Kalli Rose was a shining example of a woman who discovered her passion and shared it without apology. Often the brunt of criticism from both of her favored camps, she bravely shined her Leo-Light without faltering. Her presence in my life was a reminder of what's possible for women in this time, and how best to use our hard-won rights. She taught me that spirituality and politics could be united and in fact they must be if we are to succeed in creating the new world we crave, one where everyone is free.

After I moved to Sonoma County, Kalli Rose delved deeply into feminine consciousness and led numerous Pujas and celebrations of Kali Maa.

In a poem she wrote for the feminist anthology "She is Everywhere" in 2005, Kalli Rose wrote a tribute to the goddess Kali which ends thus:

"Kali, Kali, Kali, help me hold
the totality of your inconceivable Mother Reality
in some warm corner of my own lotus heart
I would find it there forever, and become a great lover like you.
My deep space desire is to unite with you
ever more directly and effortlessly,
the sight, the sound, the sense of you
implicit in all things."

As Kalli Rose flies off on this biggest adventure of all, I cheer her on with the knowledge that as always, she knows exactly where she's going and why. As I look into the night sky on this Winter Solstice evening, I scan the great Mother Bear Constellation for a bright trail of star dust following Herstar into the heavens.

In the late 1990s Kalli Rose Halvorson created a series of journals called "Herstar Invocations" and a website entitled "HerstarTM Feminist Astrology: a solar flare of female mind healing sexual bias and imbalance in astrology and cultural astronomy." See http://www.graphicgirlz.com/herstar for an archived version of the website. Photo of Kalli by Vashti Braha who designed the hat.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Creating Google-Friendly Web Pages


by Julia D. Stege, MFA

One way to help bring more traffic to your web pages is to make your pages "Google Friendly." If Google likes your page, it will bring up your listing on Page 1 of searches for your keywords, resulting in increased traffic to your page.

Here are 4 simple keys to creating Google-friendly pages:

1) One Topic Per Page: Google likes simple, clear content. Keep your pages to one topic each, and include your main keywords in the headline. Also include your keywords throughout your page, but not too much. Just enough to let Google know what the page is about.

2) Use Relevant Content: Search engines love relevant content. That means that your page copy and media match your keywords well. Relevant content is a traffic magnet. Giving surfers good information will help your ranking and create happy visitors. When you are authentically sharing your passion, you can be sure your content is relevant and unique.

3) Include Media On Your Pages: Media like Audio, Pictures, and Videos will help your ranking. Use keywords in the names, titles, and captions of your media files.

4) Get Backlinked from Authority Sites: You want to make sure your pages are linked to from authority sites like Social Media, Blogs, Articles Sites, and Directories. Some high ranking free sites are Blogger.com, Wordpress.com, Craigslist.org, Squidoo.com, Hubpages.com, Ezinearticles.com, Goarticles.com, and Ideamarketers.com.

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Art of Giving On Twitter

by Julia D. Stege, MFA

According to Napoleon Hill, generosity is one of the most important qualities of a successful business owner. To develop this quality in myself, I have discovered ways to easily and quickly contribute to others on Twitter. Here are some tips for the art of giving on Twitter.

1) Follow people of like mind and heart: Most Peeps want more followers, so following folks is the first step to giving. To find simpatico Peeps I search for my Magical Keywords in the search field (to the right of your home page on Twitter.) I frequently search terms that match my vibration, ie #loa (law of attraction), #consciousness, #generosity, etc. Tweets from folks using those terms will show up and I follow the most interesting ones.

2) Re-Tweet the most interesting, uplifting and inspirational Tweets from your Peeps. Re-Tweeting is a very generous activity that gives your Peeps more exposure. To Re-Tweet, all you have to do is scroll over a Tweet you like and click on the "Re-Tweet" link. Then that Tweet will go out to your following, and the person you re-tweeted will see it in their @theirname inbox.

3) Follow Friday (#ff) your Favorite Peeps: Friday is a day on Twitter when many people promote their favorite Peeps using the #ff tag on their post. I promote good Re-Tweeters, friends, and folks I'm helping with their Social Media. Just include #ff at the beginning of the post and then the names of all the folks you want your followers to follow! Your generous #ff 's will be appreciated.

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Are You Being as Steady as aLighthouse?

by Julia D. Stege, MFA
The Magical Marketer

The lighthouse is a romantic symbol for many people. I personally have always loved lighthouses for their beauty, and because I love the sea shore.

Lighthouses stand proudly on the rocky shores of our coasts, beaming their strong lights out to the sea. They represent safe harbor to the boats returning to shore who rely on this steady light to direct them to safe harbor. Year in and year out the lighthouse stands serving the ships with their light. A ship could set sail for far away lands and be confident of finding the lighthouse still there when they return, guiding them safely home.

Imagine for a minute, a lighthouse that has grown impatient waiting for boats to come to its shore, and, sprouting arms and legs, it begins running up and down the beach, waving its arms, doing its best to catch the attention of all the boats. What would happen then to the boats relying on the consistent, steady light of that lighthouse? They would crash upon the rocks! And other boats would still ignore the light of that frantic lighthouse.

So ask yourself as a conscious entrepreneur, are you being the lighthouse standing securely on the shore attracting the ships (customers) to you with your strong, consistent light, or are you running up and down the beach frantically looking for ships (customers) to notice you?

As conscious entrepreneurs our light is our passion, our authentic mission, and our unique gifts. Standing like the steady lighthouse means consistently sharing our light with others in places where our perfect customers can find us (like Facebook, our Blogs and Websites, Twitter, and other social media, as well as local networking events and activities.) When we show up on a regular basis and beam, our perfect customers can find us when we are ready and we can guide them safely home.


This story has been revised from it's original publication in the book "Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity" by Stacy Hall and Jan Brogniez

Privacy on Facebook

Facebook just instituted a new privacy setting on your wall posts.

by Julia D. Stege, MFA
The Magical Marketer

Beginning in early December 2009 whenever you update your wall (by answering the question "What's on your mind?") you can now restrict that post to certain individuals. In the past, when you updated your wall, all of your friends could see your update. Now you can post to Everyone, Friends, Friends of Friends, and also Customize your post to go only to certain friends.

This will solve a lot of concerns my customers have about everything they share going out to all of their network which includes both business and personal contacts. If they want to share something only with specific groups of people, it's now possible.

This new setting on Facebook will make the Facebook experience more customizable and thus more perfect for all. Obviously Facebook is very responsive to the needs of it's users.

To use the new feature, look to the left of the "Share" button on your wall to notice a little black "lock" icon. When you share something you want everyone to be able to see, even people who are not your friends (ie when you are informing your peeps about your latest blog post), click on the tiny lock icon and select "Everyone." When you want to send out an inside joke to your friends, select "Customize" and then type in your friends names. Have FUN!


Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Who Are You Being When You Market Yourself


Julia D. Stege, MFA
The Magical Marketer

When you are marketing yourself with the intent to attract new customers, have you considered who you are being?

Often when we need customers, we act from a place of scarcity and fear, and though we may paste on a smile, the vibration of negativity will emanate from us. That is why when we get really scared, new clients tend to stay away.

Not many marketing gurus discuss the realm of being, perhaps because it seems abstract or ethereal. They focus on the numerous actions marketers need to take to get their products and services out there to the public. But when my mentor, Jan Stringer, came out with her new book, "BEE-ing Attraction: What Love Has to Do with Business and Marketing" I couldn't help but notice her emphasis had shifted to the realm of "Thought" (ie Strategic Attraction) to "Being" (ie BEE-ing Attraction).

When I asked her about this, she said, "it's who we are being that is key to attracting what we say we want." I knew exactly what she was talking about because I have often seen colleagues out marketing without considering their being. Who they were being emanated fear and distrust, and so their messages of success were diluted.

I have learned that checking in on who I am being before I go forth to attract customers is effective not only in receiving sales, but also in how I feel. When I take responsibility for creating a way of being, my life improves in a multitude of ways. When, for instance, I am being Loving and Of Service to Humanity, thoughts of scarcity are pushed aside and ideas for how to contribute to others take their place. I'm happier, healtier, and more balanced.

So next time you venture out to promote your business, make sure you define and declare a way of being that inspires you. You will find that your perfect customers are also inspired by your being, and they will be drawn to you in droves!

Magical Marketer Julia D. Stege, MFA helps people attract their perfect customers with a unique combination of Law of Attraction, Wildly Attractive WebsitesTM, Branding from the HeartTM, and smart Social Networking strategies. If you're ready to start attracting your perfect customers now, get Julia's free Magical Marketing Toolkit at http://www.magicalmarketingtoolkit.com . WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the entire article including this bio at the end.