Step Into Your Greatness and Shine!

I spent the weekend in Santa Fe with the folks who brought us the BEE-ing Attraction Plan (also known as the Strategic Attraction Plan) that I use in all my classes and services.  It was called the BEE-ing Attraction Wizard Retreat and the topic for the weekend was "Stepping In To Your Greatness."

In their typical laid-back, authentic style, leaders Jan Stringer and Alan Hickman guided us through the Attraction Plan and toward a clear statement about what makes us tick and who we're being in life.

The crux of the weekend was really taking a transformational journey into what is perfect for us, and shedding any resistance we had to getting our purpose, our true light. As our work dove deeper and deeper into what is most important to us, it became clear that stepping into our greatness is simply about first getting what makes us tick and then sharing that with others.  What comes naturally as a result are those attractive actions which create the pathway to realizing that purpose.

As each of us shared what makes us tick, we experienced a profound relatedness to each other.

Even though most of us had just met for the first time, we felt like old friends sharing a common path.  And who knows, perhaps we have met even multiple times on the cosmic journey through lifetimes.

And this would not have been possible if we hadn't all shared our purpose, so raw and vulnerable in the early stages of coming to the light.  By the end of the weekend we all declared our purpose and intentions with the group and we said to one another, "I see your greatness."

What a blessing to be so totally seen, gotten, and supported.

It made me want to keep going with it, to extend our retreat online and share our greatness with the world.  Of course it's what I do for a living: helping people share their purpose online in a way that attracts perfect customers.  And I was seeing my vocation in a whole new light, in the light of my tick.

What makes me tick is expressing the magic and beauty of Creation and being a loving presence in the world.

I see that what I love to do is discover the unique magic and beauty of a person and help them express that visually and verbally online, through their brand, their website, their social networking and their whole marketing plan.

That's what my gifted webinar series "Attracting Perfect Customers Online: The Basics" has been about, really sharing your authentic self online to attract the perfect people to you, the ones who truly see and value your greatness.  It has been my aim that those who participate fully in the series feel empowered to shine online and thrive through living their purpose large out in the world.

The magical Internet marketing steps revealed in the series are as follows:

1) Create your attraction plan and balance your energy so you are ready to receive.

2) Clarify your Tick Statement and define your brand message by sharing what's most important to you.

3) Write from the heart, share your gifts, talents and passions on your own blog.

4) Use Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter to get the message out to the most people and attract customers to you.

You may access the webinar video replays for this series by registering at http://www.graphicgirlz.com/teleconference.html

Here's to shining your greatness online!

Julia D. Stege, MFA
www.GraphicGirlz.com
What you seek is seeking you!
707-823-3316

PS: If you know you want to start building your authentic presence online and need help, feel free to give me a call and we'll discuss the possibilities and explore ways I can help you shine your greatness online!

Getting Good Google Ranking is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

photo credit: Suat Eman

Getting to page one of Google used to be hard.  Back in the early days, you would have to hire an SEO expert to do their tricks on your site, and then you would be lucky to have one listing on page one.  Now with the advent of Social Media, getting to page one of Google has become easy as 1, 2 , 3.  Here are the 3 keys to getting great ranking.

Step 1:  Choose your Magical Keywords

Start by making a list of words that resonate with you, that mean something, that sing to your soul.  These are your "Tick Words" - They reflect what makes you tick.  Then make a list of words that represent your products and services, and the outcomes of your offerings.  These are your "Offering Words".  Visit the Google Keyword Tool (Search "Keyword Tool" at Google.com) and enter your words to see how often these words are being searched and note the most popular ones.  Then  create your keyword phrases with a combination of Tick and Offering Words, using the ones most commonly searched. These are your "Magical Keywords" that will attract your perfect customers.  Create "long tail" phrases of 5 to 7 words for which we will optimize your site and social networks.

Step 2:  Optimize Your Website

Optimizing your site is not as mysterious as it may seem at first blush.  All you have to do is make sure your Choose your favorite 5 - 7 Keyword Phrase and populate your site with this phrase. If you don't have a site, create a blogsite on Wordpress.com to get started. Include your phrase in the following places on your site.  Always remember: Google ranks pages, not websites. Each individual page needs to rank and stand on its own, so make sure each page is optimized for your keyword phrase/s.

URL or 'web address' ie http://www.yourkeywordphrase.com/
Page Name ie yourkeywordphrase.html
Page Title Tag
Headline and Subheads (H1, H2, etc in your CSS Style Sheet)
Links
Image Alt Tags
META Tags in the page coding
Labels and/or Tags on your blog posts

Step 3: Create Powerful Back Links

 The secret ingredient to great Google ranking made easy are Social networks: The most powerful way to get to page one of Google is to create pages on high-ranking social networks and bookmarking sites that link back to your site using your keyword phrase.  Make sure to sprinkle your keywords and keyword variations throughout the title, description, web address, headlines, and content of your pages.  The best sites I use for this are:

Squidoo.com
HubPages.com
Digg.com
Delicious.com
Facebook.com (fan page)
Wordpress.com (new one page blog per key word phrase)
Blogspot.com (new one page blog per key word phrase)

Once you have gotten several properties to page one for your keyword phrase, then create new keyword phrases and new properties to link back to your site.   Finally, if this seems either too complicated or too time-consuming to do yourself, hiring someone to do it for you is a good idea.  Usually, one good new customer attracted online can pay for having these services done for you, so get optimizing!

Graphic Girlz provides all the services listed above.  For a complimentary Search Engine Optimization Assessment, please contact Julia Stege at (707) 823-3316 to schedule.

SEO Strategies for Conscious Entrepreneurs

Blogs are known as a wonderful tool for sharing your passion, engaging potential clients, attracting media attention, and building a compelling online presence.  It is also said that certain blogs are good for your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or "Site Ranking" but the standard practice is limited to integrating a blog into your website and updating it as frequently as possible.  Hardly anyone talks about the power of creating one page blogs that are specifically designed to get you to page one of Google.  

I learned about this strategy about 3 years ago when attending a couple of free online courses offered by a group called Conversation Domination. Google really loves blogs and Web 2.0 pages (i.e. social networks) and hardly anyone in the SEO world uses these to get good ranking, so often you can be the first one to grab the main keywords from your industry. It's pretty much a 2 step process.  

Step 1: Choose Your Keywords

I encourage you to select a 5-word phrase that includes a combination of practical words referencing your offerings and words that convey the feeling of your offering.  You can use the Google "Keyword Tool" (just do a search for it at google.com) to see which words you're considering rank better.  Combine those words with those from part 2 of your Attraction Plan called your "Tick Words" to come up with your Magical Keyword Phrase.

Step 2: Set Up One Page Blogs Using your Keywords

Though most people set up one blog and update it often, this strategy invites you to set up multiple one page blogs that you don't have to update.  Use your keyword phrase as your blog title, blog URL, and headline. Also include these words in links that point back to your site to improve your site ranking for these words. Most of these platforms allow for a Twitter widget that feeds your Twitter news stream onto the page, thus updating it automatically whenever you update your Twitter.

Use the following high-ranking blog sites and Web 2.0 properties. These will let you duplicate your own content so you can copy and paste from one source document:

http://www.wordpress.com

http://www.blogspot.com

http://www.squidoo.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages

Another great one is http://www.hubpages.com but this one won't allow you to publish duplicate content, even if you wrote it.  Write unique text for this one and limit links back to your site (max 2 links per site) or Hubpages will not let you publish.

Learn more about the benefits of blogging at my complimentary webinar, "What the Bleep to Blog About, and Why and Where, Too"  Register at http://bit.ly/wtbtba

How Authentic Should Authentic Marketing Be?

People have been asking me this question for a long while, "How authentic should authentic marketing be?" And I always come up with the same answer, "As authentic as possible." But what does that really mean?

There are a lot of reasons to be authentic in your marketing, mostly because being any other way is torture and doesn't attract the right customers. But people often want to know:

• Do I share everything about my private life?
• Should I reveal my business mistakes?
• Is it ever appropriate to reveal my political or spiritual beliefs?

These are pertinent questions, and there is no one right answer. It really does depend on you, your personality, your business, your audience... such a number of things.

That's why I emphasize that by having the right attitude toward your marketing, your authentic self will shine through and you'll easily answer these questions for yourself.

Here are 3 key attitudes to adopt when creating your authentic marketing.

Attitude #1: I trust my true self is attractive to my perfect customers.

The first attitude is all about understanding how the Law of Attraction works and relaxing into your true power. When we understand that like attracts like, and that what makes us and our perfect customers tick is aligned, then being ourselves becomes the practical solution to attracting the right people.

Attitude #2: When I feel good, I'm more attractive (and I feel good!)
The second attitude is all about feeling good. The better we feel the more attractive we are to others, especially others who also feel good. When we understand this

Attitude #3: I know what's right for my business.
The third attitude is trusting your own knowledge and intuition about your business. When you have this attitude, you can listen to the advice of others without being pulled off your center and thrown into confusion and procrastination. Then you can implement what makes sense to you and leave the rest.

When you feel good, trust in your attractive true self, and are confident about your business, then making decisions about what to share and what to keep private comes naturally and easily.

PS: My answers to the 3 questions above would be No (be selective about what to share - use your intuition), Yes (show yourself as a real human being like Bush refused to!) and Yes (see answer to #2)

Don't Leave Out LinkedIn

Though I've been 'on' LinkedIn for over 2 years, I've mostly used it as a professional profile rather than a networking tool. But last Fall I took a free class on LinkedIn and found out that the average income level there is $110,000/year, which means there are a lot of affluent business people on LinkedIn! That's when I started thinking about using LinkedIn more.

The thing is, I didn't jump into checking into LinkedIn daily until last week! Why? Because I had attitude about LinkedIn being only for managers, conservatives, and folks who frankly are not spiritually driven. Though this attitude has a grain of truth to it, with over 75 million active users, there are all kinds of professionals on LinkedIn, including the more magically oriented who are my perfect customers! It was when I shifted my attitude toward LinkedIn with the intention of paying more attention to my connections there that I received a "Sign of Land," ie a potential client called requesting a conversation about working together. I know that when I actually spend more time there, I'll be attracting even more potential clients and perfect customers!

Here are some tips on how to make the most of the time you spend on Linked In to attract your perfect customers.

1) Make Your Profile Shine! Your profile is the most important component of your LinkedIn activities. Make sure to include all your education and professional experience, all the jobs you held, the skills you have, the services you offer, links to your website, blog and other networks, as well as your interests. Upload a professional, attractive and recent photo of you that puts your best face forward.

2) Ask for Recommendations. "Recommendation" are a feature of LinkedIn that allows people to give you professional testimonials about your offerings, thus building your trust factor with the public. Make sure to connect with any clients who are on the network and request a recommendation from them. If you know anything about their work you can return the favor, even if you've never hired them. It's a great way to repay the favor.

3) Answer Questions. "Answers" is another powerful feature of LinkedIn. People ask questions on a variety of topics and you have the opportunity to answer, thus expressing your interests and expertise while directly connecting with others on the network in a helpful way. This is the key strategy I'm implementing now, going on LinkedIn to answer at least one question per day, and I'm already making some great business connections.

If we're not already connected on LinkedIn, visit my profile request a connection. It will ask you for my email, which is julia@lifeismagic. Looking forward to connecting with you there. And if you have any questions about LinkedIn, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer!

Free Webinar: What the Bleep to Blog About and Where and Why

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What Is Your Big Crazy Dream?

by Julia D. Stege

This weekend I went to Vacaville to the Be Love Farm to have a conversation at a long dinner table among folks committed to organic foods, personal expression, and global transformation. We talked and ate good food outide among the warm breezes coming off the grassy hillside. We heard from people who have created conscious businesses, cured themselves of illness with natural means, invented new methods and new products designed to forward human kind.

Being among people who have accomplished amazing things inspired me. But it was also painful.

It was painful because I was acutely aware of my desire to have a postitive impact, to reach millions of people and help them be uplifted and inspired to do their good works in the world, and the contrast between that and the reality of my current limited realm of influence and contribution. When I spoke to the group, I admitted I had no clue how to accomplish what I really desire without having a boat-load of money to do it. The response I got helped me to wake up to the resources I already have, and to start there and move toward my goal one step at a time.

I know, I want to leap, but that is not how change happens (most of the time.)

Being around people who play big makes me want to play big. So when I got home that night, buzzed on coffee and possibility, I lay in the dark pondering how I can get my Big Crazy Dream rolling.

I came up with an idea at about 3am (a good time for inspiration.) It will be an ongoing series of no-cost or by donation webinars where I have conversations with Thought Leaders and Big Players who are impacting the world in positive ways.

I could see how this project could really take off and attract thousands if not tens of thousands of conscious people across the globe. So instead of procrastinating, I reserved the domain and invited my first guest. I'll keep you posted when the series begins.

So what is your Big Crazy Dream? Are you holding back because you think you don't have the resources to get started? Share here what step you could take now to start realizing your dream. Of course, sharing is the first step!