Great places to gain free followers

Posted on September 19, 2015 by admin

By Ericka Simpson

Followers are people who trust you. Think of them as friends who you recently met, people you’ll have to work to build deeper relationships with.

Just as you bump into people who go on to become your friends at different events, there are great places where you can meet business followers. But, before we share those places, we want to point out a few valuable tips.

Treat followers right
Just as you wouldn’t call a new friend a dozen times a day or stop by her apartment several times a day, don’t send a dozen emails a day, or a week, to followers. Don’t call leads several times a day. These actions frustrate recipients.


Schedule time to communicate with followers. Engage in two-way communication. For example, you could post questions at your Facebook page. Or you could post three humorous videos on Google Plus and ask people which one they think is the funniest.

Respond to followers who answer your questions or who vote on videos, contests and photos that you publish on social media networks. Thank followers for commenting and contributing. Take the time to visit websites and blogs of people who support you. After all, communicating with friends is truly a two way street.

Places to get free followers
• Conferences and seminars – Bring a clipboard with you to speaking events. Encourage people to sign up for your newsletters, email distribution lists and social media networks. All you have to do is get their name and email address and, of course, their approval.
• Festivals – Cultural and specialty event festivals attract tens of thousands of visitors. Get out and meet people. Let them know about your blog and/or website. Ask them to follow you. If they have a mobile device, they could follow you even as you’re talking with them.
• Trade shows – While you’re passing out business cards, distribute a flyer that highlights your social media networks. Plainly ask readers to follow you.
• Local shops – Drop leaflets on your social media sites and your business off at coffee shops.
• Alumni meetings
• School (i.e. high school, college or university)
• Meet ups
• Public transportation
• Charity events – This may prove especially beneficial if your business sponsors or supports a charity.
• Newsletters – Some editors list entrepreneurs’ social media accounts or websites for free if the entrepreneur offers free services, etc.
• Your website – It goes without saying that you should add a link to your social media networks on each page of your website.
• Printed material – Don’t consider your brochures, flyers, leaflets, etc. to be complete until you add one or more of your social media accounts (i.e. @dtwriters) to the material.
• Recorded messages – This includes answering service messages, such as recorded mobile phone voice mail greeetings
• Work – If you’re featured on a company intranet, ask if you can include links to your social media pages. In your bio, encourage colleagues to follow you.


Create a schedule for when you’ll reach out to followers. Care enough about communicating with followers as you do about gaining followers. Think of followers as distant friends. Treat them that way and observe what results.

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Book marketing tips for authors

Posted on September 12, 2015 by admin

Bybook marketing tips Rhonda Campbell

Book marketing tips for authors need a holistic approach. Fact is that social media and email have shortened the time that it takes for readers and authors to connect. Yet, more than a few authors have fallen into the trap of limiting their book marketing efforts to these two tools.

Effective book marketing tips

Joel Friedlander shares at CreateSpace that smart book marketing tips cover both online and offline strategies. Koozai says that key to marketing success if integrating offline and online marketing.

Advantages of implementing online book marketing tips include:

  • Reduced printing, postage and distribution costs
  • Shorter time to deliver book marketing ROI reports
  • Ability to reach larger numbers of readers
  • Opportunity to learn about and work with talented graphic designers
  • Static book marketing presence (i.e. author website, blog)

Rewards of integrating offline book marketing tips into promotional efforts include:

  • Establishing deeply personal relationships with book readers
  • Greater reader trust
  • Stronger reader contact systems
  • Media pro relationships
  • Exposure to more writing opportunities
  • New skills and sharpened talents

Get out and meet book readers in person and readers can create a lasting impression on the very people who could become your greatest supporters. Media pros may also become friends, running your press releases and feature interviews.

Actionable book marketing tips

So, what are effective book marketing tips? Imagination and courage take the limits off of book marketing tips that lead to increased book sales. Book marketing tips that you could start using today include:

  • Contact community colleges and teaching creative writing courses (clear with college administrators that you can sale your books at the end of the courses).
  • Telephone or email book club presidents and schedule an appearance at several upcoming book club meetings.
  • Reach out to magazine and newspaper editors. Write a daily, weekly or monthly column for the periodicals.
  • Design postcards and send via direct mail to book lovers. Some design and print firms allow you to purchase vetted mailing lists from them.
  • Attend book and cultural festivals.
  • Attend events that are related to your book’s subject matter.
  • Bring contact lists with you (ruled paper and a clipboard work well!) when you attend events. Encourage attendees to add their name, street address and email to the contact lists.
  • Highlight all of your books in a professionally designed brochure. Mail the brochure to contacts you meet at book festivals, community college classes and public speaking events.
  • Create flyers and pass at least 10 flyers out a day. As part of our book marketing tips, places where you could distribute or pass out your flyers include beauty salons, barber shops, cafes, hotels, airports, bookstores, newsstands and gift shops.
  • Reach out to radio station managers and/or DJs and schedule online and offline radio interviews.
  • Write and distribute a press release once a week or once a month.
  • Develop an online email lists and send contacts a weekly or monthly newsletter.
  • Build social media pages. Book marketing tips indicate that you could gain more traction from your social media pages if you design and add visually appealing front pages to your accounts.
  • Participate in online book club chats.
  • Link book author blogs to Amazon.com and other online book retail websites.
  • Take out an ad in local newspaper (some community newspapers allow you to run ads for as little as $25 per issue).
  • Incorporate SEO strategies in online book marketing tips campaigns.
  • Build a book marketing tips campaign. List out which actions you will take and how frequently. For example, you could build a spreadsheet and indicate that you will send one press release, attend one public speaking event, posts images, quotes and updates to social media accounts and participate in one book club meeting once a month.
  • Measure the results of your book marketing tips action steps. This way, you will know what to tweak and what to continue doing absent any change.


Effective book marketing tips take authors offline. They also take advantage of online marketing tools. Among these tools are social media, email, newsletters, blogging, press releases and online radio interviews. Offline book marketing tips connect authors and readers in a way that online approaches can’t. Authors who incorporate both approaches into their book marketing campaigns could develop richer relationships with readers, potentially increasing their book sales.

Posted in Book Industry Entrepreneurs | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Steps to a successful money saver move

Posted on August 29, 2015 by admin

By Belinda Johnson

Five years ago I moved locally. Now I’m moving out of state. I’ve lived in eight different states. Each move taught me something new and valuable about the process, especially how to create a money saver move.

Simply put, if you’re moving, you’re not alone. Between 2012 and 2013, approximately 35.9 million people moved in the United States. That’s just in the United States. Leading reasons why people move range from job location, better housing and to be closer to family, according to the Census Bureau. Reasons aside, moving to a new house or apartment is work.

The sooner you get started, the better.

To enjoy a successful move that saves you money, develop a plan. Items to include in the plan are the cost of rental trucks, storage facilities, mileage and gas and the numbers of paid time off days you’ll need to take from work.


Take of Housing Early

Put your house on the market as soon as possible. The last thing you want to do is get stuck with two mortgages. Renting your house is another option, especially if the housing market is down. Renting your house is a true money saver if prices on houses where you currently living have dropped significantly.

If you live in an apartment, visit or telephone the leasing office and let them know that you are leaving. Many leasing offices require a 60 day notice. Make sure you notify the office that you are leaving in enough days to avoid having to pay for an extra month of rent.

About Moving Trucks

Call several truck rental firms. If you create a spreadsheet, you can add data points like the cost of the truck, the number of days included in the rental price, if there’s additional charge if you go over a certain number of miles and if you need to pay for insurance. Give yourself at least one to two weeks to get feedback from six or more truck rental companies.

Money Saver Tip:  Professional truck rental services may save you money if you move during spring, summer or early autumn.

Start going through your household belongings. Toss out ragged, torn towels. Toss out expired canned items that are taking up needless space in your kitchen cabinets and lining your shelves. Consider donating old books to local libraries. Clothes and coats that you haven’t worn in two or more years could keep someone warm during cold months or be the clothes that someone can wear to a job interview.

Try not to talk yourself into keeping clothes, shoes and household items that you have not used once in years. Moving is a great opportunity to get rid of clutter. It’s less to dust. It could help you avoid slipping into hoarding habits. The less you have to load in a moving truck, the greater the likelihood that your move will be a money saver.

Moving Saver Tip:  If you decide to drive the moving truck yourself, check with companies like U-Haul to see if you can get two hours of help at reasonable rates.

Money Saver Move Checklist

Download a checklist offline or create a moving checklist of your own. Here are activities to include on your checklist:

  • Contact apartment leasing office, notifying them of move out date
  • Shut off telephone service at old residence
  • Shut on telephone service at new residence
  • Go house or apartment shopping
  • Select new residence and complete necessary paperwork
  • Get enough packing supplies (i.e. moving dolly, boxes, tape, padding)
  • Contact cable and Internet service providers to switch or discontinue service
  • Find out the process to have vehicles registered in new state (if you’re moving out of state)
  • Inform water, electric and/or gas company of move
  • Update renter’s insurance location with insurance company
  • Submit a change of address form at the post office
  • Turn in old cable boxes (save money by avoiding paying for boxes you don’t need, but forgot to turn in)
  • Pay bills off prior to move to avoid having services shut off or receiving late fees
  • Give family and friends your new address and telephone numbers
  • Let the cell phone company know where you are moving to and when
  • Sell old furniture and buy new furniture as you see fit
  • Inform human resources where you work of your move so your payroll and tax records will be accurate
  • Turn in keys at your former residence
  • Change the locks at your new house
  • Let your doctor, dentist, etc. know of your move
  • Take pictures of your new apartment before you start unpacking
  • Get a babysitter to watch your young children
  • Ask a friend to watch your pets on your move day
  • Keep receipts of your move in case you can deduct a portion of the cost of your move from your taxes
  • Box moving items
  • Clean home or apartment
  • Get keys to the new residence
  • Save enough money to cover the cost of the move and unexpected events

This isn’t on the checklist, as you might decide to drive your car or truck to your new residence. However, if you’re moving out of state, see if you can save money by having an auto firm transport your vehicle to your new home. Depending on how far you are moving out of state and the make and year of your vehicle, you could get a deal and wind up only spending $400.

Also, start looking for a new job if you are moving to get better housing or for another reason and you don’t already have another job where you are headed. Build a strong resume and cover letter. Look for and apply to no less than 10 jobs a week. Work through employment agencies to increase your chances of securing employment, even if it’s temporary work.


Identify the resources (i.e. friends who will help you move, professional movers) that you will need to make your move as seamless as possible. Give yourself time to adjust to the change. Moving is change and your inner self may get a little bumpy at times. Be patient with yourself. Enjoy your new home and your new neighbors!

Posted in Personal Thoughts | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Thriving Without Contagious Success

Posted on August 24, 2015 by admin

By Rhonda Campbell

Success is contagious. We all want to be around successful people, admiring and celebrating them. Rack up enough contagious success and you could become a heroine or hero. That’s because we know it takes guts, a rarely seen persistence and tenacity (inner drive few of us are willing to commit to) in order to realize one success after another.


Contagious success also takes vision. Reason being . . . all of us face challenges, experience down periods. Truth is. None of us is always at the top. Even successful solopreneurs that generate thousands of dollars in annual profits go through down periods.

Achieving Success During Down Periods

What do you do when your business experiences a down period? After all, as a solopreneur, you don’t have options other business owners have. For instance, you can’t save money by cutting employee payroll costs. You also can’t ask one or more employees to take on additional work absent a salary increase.

But, you have to do something, because how you handle down periods may determine how your business is positioned after the economy shifts in your favor. Following are steps you can take to make the most of down periods, setting yourself up for greater success after the down period swings up:

  • Network. Network.
  • Attend industry specific conferences, seminars and trade shows. Continue to learn and connect with influencers in your industry or field.
  • Enroll in an online or classroom training course that teaches you skills you can use immediately.
  • Get active at social networks. Be assertive.
  • Start blogging. Add new posts to your blog at least once a week. Active blogs generally get more traffic. Also make sure that your blog content is relevant and SEO optimized.
  • Write and sell e-books. Include your business name, address and website URL at the front and back of the book so readers can find your business.
  • Create business video training seminars. It’s a good way to land paying speaking and training engagements.
  • Get organized (i.e. organize files, taxes)
  • Review and modify budgets
  • Trust your inner guide and keep taking “smart” risks
  • Have faith (the evidence of things that your physical eyes don’t see is already here)

It’s during down periods when heroines and heroes are truly made. It’s during down periods when people learn how to build contagious success. However, it’s also during down periods when you and other successful business owners may be most tempted to sit back and do nothing, hoping and praying that the tide will shift like magic. Don’t do this.

Stay in the game. Keep brainstorming, connecting with other people who are building contagious success, and keep taking the right risks. If you have a solid talent base in  your chosen field, things could swing up, positioning you for a rise all the way to the top.


Rhonda Campbell, an East Coast journalist, is the owner of Off The Shelf radio and publisher of the new books Long Walk Up and Love Pour Over Me.

Posted in Staying Motivated and Inspired | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Freelancers get paid this way

Posted on August 8, 2015 by admin

By Rhonda Campbell

Major firms have been attracted to offshore, contract and freelance workers since the 1990s. The attraction is growing, especially toward freelancers.

Employers who hire freelancers don’t have to deal with payroll taxes, employee healthcare costs or real estate expenses. Shady employers try to get work from freelancers at rates that are well below what they would have to pay the average employee. As a freelancer, if you’re not alert, you could spend years working for $5 or more dollars an hour than an employee who does the exact same work that you do earns.

Underpayment to No Payment
At first glance, $5 an hour might not seem like much. However, log 40 hours and you’d be underpaid by $200. And that’s just for one week.


Contently reports that the average full-time freelancer made between $20,001 and $30,000 in 2015. Only five percent of the freelancers who responded to a Contently survey made $100,000 or more.

Underpayment is bad enough. Worse is not getting paid at all. More than a quarter of freelancers spend time chasing down money that they are owed.

You can reduce your chances of getting stiffed as a freelancer if you research potential clients. Similar to how you check out an employer you’d consider working for, check out potential clients. Do an online search on prospects. Review BBB reviews. Look over professional writer forums to see if there are warnings about the client.

Getting Paid as a Freelancer
It may be easier to check out major clients, looking thru regulatory documents and reviewing their business ratings. Freelancers Union has a client scorecard that you can use as you complete your research.

More actions that you can take to avoid getting stiffed as a freelancer are to:

• Get a detailed contract from each client that you work for. Make sure that the contract includes processes, payment amounts and payment timeframes for each different project that you work on. A good contract will also state the number of edits or revisions that you may have to complete. Make sure that contracts respect you and your skills. If a client doesn’t present you with a contract, draft one of your own. Elance has sample contract templates.
• Submit invoices to clients on time. Include agreed upon payment terms on each invoice (similar to your telephone company or loan department do with you).
• Stop completing new work for a client who hasn’t paid you. There’s no need to add three to four months of unpaid for work to your portfolio.
• Avoid payment scams. If a client sends you money orders or a check then tells you that they accidentally overpaid you and ask you to return the overpayment. Don’t cash or deposit the money orders or checks. Contact authorities. It could be a scam that would leave you holding the very, very short end of a stick.

Take your freelancing career seriously. Remember that you are the CEO of your career. Approach your business similar to how a CEO at a major organization approaches her business. This includes taking a client to small claims court should she refuse to pay you for work that you have already performed.

Posted in Financing Your Business | Tagged , | 1 Comment