SSWT – Elite Membership now open …

Lynn Terry – Internet Marketer

Today I want to share a great opportunity to take your business to the next level by learning all things online to take your offline business to the next level. Lynn Terry has opened up her Elite membership – the forum that goes on behind closed doors – at the regular forum for SSWT – Self Starters Weekly Tips.

As a Health Coaching Practitioner I know what it is to be technically challenged in making your web presence felt.  Yet Web 2.0 has introduced an opportunity to make a splash and have more than a stagnant page that customers find through your paper marketing, but may never click-through to book.

Instead we can begin to have an open dialogue with prospective and existing clients and it may be the deciding factor that enables a new client to make a better informed decision when they see how you (their prospective health worker) present yourself online, as opposed to a competitor who simply has a ‘going nowhere’ style website.  And as such there is now a greater opportunity to connect.

I’ve been an Elite member since last autumn and don’t really think I would still be online but for Lynn’s forum :) with the brilliant help that she and other supportive members provide there … its such a great resource of wonderful people so willing to share their experiences, information and tips – and of course its a two-way street.  My main contribution has usually been that of encouragement and cheering on from the sidelines.

As someone who has tried to crack the code … I’ve realized there is so much to learn … Not so challenging if you are techie minded … But for a technophobe such as I the forum is usually my first ‘port of call’, and don’t be afraid to ask daft questions, because I’ve probably been there before you!

As an offshoot to the Elite Membership, Traci Knoppe (one of the leading lights in the group with around 10-yrs experience in web design and blogging – I mentioned her on another post) set up a WordPress Skype group – where all questions (from Elite members) can be shot in there and Traci generally answers in no time, she’s always willing to help and has been a wonderful support to me.

In the private forum, Lynn provides members access to some great freebies that can aid your online progress and she gives her group the heads-up on the latest in online/internet marketing … You will also find a massive resource of services that people offer often at reduced rates to fellow members that will allow a fast-track to where you want to be …

For me the best thing of all is the integrity of Lynn’s approach and the people that she Joint Ventures with, which is the measure of her. She’s not stand-offish at all, as around 2-dozen Elite members who recently attended the NAMS event in Atlanta, Georgia (I so wanted to be there and more on that next time) will happily testify and I’ve seen photographic evidence … :)

What makes Lynn Terry different from the rest?

She genuinely likes people and wants to help them similarly obtain the dream lifestyle that she lives … working a few-ish hours per week in a niche that she absolutely loves.  Simple as …

And with that I can highly recommend Lynn Terry’s ELITE membership … Check it out here …

Jane

  • @lynnterry
  • @TraciKnoppe

Learning How to Blog …

Beginner to Blogger in 4-wks

I want to talk about different Blogging packages.  This  is a series of 3-articles that will cover programmes I’ve used and tell you about my experience in using them to get my blogs optimized and monetized etc.

Traci Knoppe is a bit of a WordPress Queen and brought out her package Beginner to Blogger at the beginning of June this year.  It consists of a 4-wk course on how to get a WordPress blog (using your own domain and hosting).

It arrives into your email one week at a time and each one consists of 5-Lessons – the intention being to have something to work on each day.  Of course if you’re enthusiastic or prefer to do things in one fell swoop,  you’ll probably go at it and have them out of the way in a couple of days, dependent on your knowledge from the outset.  This course is designed for you if you’re newly online and want to have an optimized site where Traci’s follow-up course will take you to profit in Blogger to Profit.

Traci’s style

Traci’s voice is quite natural and conversational in approach as she takes you through the course.  She’s highly knowledgeable (with a 10+ years background as a web designer) working with independent business clients, and for her describing the how-to of getting your blog up and running is a doddle.  But hopefully once you’ve done it once or twice and got a bit of a system together, with Traci’s help, you’ll find the same.

There are a plethora of plugins that she includes as recommendations.  These are the oxygen of improving performance in running a blog.  She also asserts the philosophy of not installing tons of plugins just for the sake of it … instead she recommends only installing anything above what she includes with the programme on a needs-must basis.  If you find the need they’ll be a plugin that will fill the need :)   She takes the practical approach and its very welcome, especially when you compare it with a lot of the over-the-top ‘blag’ and ‘blarney’ that a lot of online courses tend to perpetuate.  That’s probably a topic for another day!

Too much information

As someone who can relate to the overwhelm and information overload experienced when first getting online, the only niggle with the program (and maybe its a transatlantic thing) is that there were times when she gave the newbie more credit than warranted.  This is demonstrated where she gives choices, when I may not have the experience to draw from, i.e. when choosing the type of domain for a business or hobby, and whether it should it be a .com .org etc.  It may be me being too literal  :( and  as Traci’s probably forgotten more than I’ve yet learned, its perhaps not too bad of of a thing, that she imagines her students bright enough to know what they want!

And to address that … my understanding is that SEO (search engine optimization) prefers a .com (as numero uno).  However if you live outside the USA then by all means take a .co.uk or .aus when you are wanting an online presence for your local offline business.

Traci is a kind and generous soul and her customer service is responsive and willing and any queries will be answered within a reasonable period, she’s a conscientious lady who likes to help.  When I got online just over a year ago if they’d been a package around like this I’d have snapped at it. Unknowingly I took a rather long and laborious route (when I built my first blog following a so-called ‘guru’ whose simply dropped off the radar!  Longevity rules!

And the problem with learning from someone who adds all the frills and nonsense is that you get lots of unnecessary information and finally require a course like Traci’s in order to check you haven’t missed any vital steps.  Because you can guarantee that all the padding in the route I took was sure to act as a replacement for more vitally important information, that a marketer like ‘the guru’ would have no qualms about omitting … Here today and gone tomorrow … whereas Traci Knoppe (@traciknoppe) is in it for the long-haul.   She’ll continue to be online in another 10-yrs, still giving great service and sharing her extensive knowledge with other people.  Its in her nature, she can’t help herself.

In Summary

The service for the product is swift … everything arrives immediately through auto-responder, therefore you won’t have to wait for a parcel to arrive – and when you have to wait for something to travel all the way from the USA to the UK it can be tedious.  Nor will you have to wait very long for the email with Wk 1 Lessons1-5 and you dive straight in.  The product is clean and clear and the rest is up to you.

If you want to start your first blog in 20-easy steps then you won’t go far wrong with Traci Knoppe’s Beginner to Blogger in 4-wks check this out

Jane