Who hasn't purchased from (or at least heard of) Amazon.com? It's one of the most profitable, successful ecommerce sites in the world. More importantly, the site is now providing an opportunity for YOU to monetize your expertise, attract new clients and customers and create massive visibility for your work.

This week, I'm interviewing my friend, Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer, on her insider tips to making your first Kindle product a best-seller overnight. Click the PLAY button to listen to the audio now!

Here's the nitty gritty:    

Whether you want to admit it or not, prospective clients ARE going to look for you online and you need to be in control of what they find.

The foundation of your online presence is, of course, your website.

If you don't have a polished, professional, client focused site now, or your current site is out of date, you likely have wondered how to go about go about creating a quick and easy, money making website.     

I am all for having a custom designed site that reflects your brand and has all the "bells and whistles" needed to make it an effective marketing tool.

But, I also recognize that for some folks, creating THAT kind of website seems completely overwhelming.

If that sounds familiar, you'll appreciate these two resources I recently discovered that can help:

• http://FreeBlogFactory.com/
• http://OnePagerApp.com/

In both cases, you can setup a polished, professional (albeit somewhat minimalist) website in just a few hours. You won't necessarily have all the extra cool features you could have, but it is a place to get started.

NOTE: I have not personally used either of these sites, but if I was starting from scratch I would strongly consider using either resource as a place to get started. Just make sure you maintain control of your hosting account by using a company such as HostGator or Bluehost.

If you are feeling really ambitious, you might check out my friend Christina Hill's Website Creation Workshop, where she'll walk you through creating your own customized WordPress website. WordPress is THE platform to use if you are serious about leveraging the Internet to increase your income.

You can learn more about Christina's workshop at:

http://smartsimplemarketing.com/recommends/wordpress-workshop

The bottom line is this: There is NO, I mean NO excuse for you to NOT have a polished presence for your busines online. I know you are a serious business owner. I know you are committed to your work. Please don't undermine that by not paying attention to your online "digital business card".

My grandmother used to say (actually, she still says it), "better to let them think you're stupid than to open your mouth and confirm it". The same princple applies here. Better to control what your prospective clients are finding about you and your business online, than to have them wondering if you are really a serious entrepreneur.

'Nuff said.

Blogging about your business is an excellent way to drive traffic to your website and attract high-quality leads. You can get even more mileage out of your blog posts, and create massive online visibility for your work, by re-purposing your content into other formats. This strategy will have you showing up EVERYWHERE and standing heads taller than your "competitors" (I prefer to think of them as colleagues) when a prospect goes online looking for the solutions you have to offer. Click on the play button above to listen in as Denise Wakeman, Founder of The Blog Squad, explains how!

If you are a new user like me or considering getting an iPhone, I wanted to share a few nifty tricks I've discovered on how to grow my business using my trusty device:

Sydni Craig-Hart, founder of Smart Simple Marketing, announced that they will be hosting weekly expert conversations with professionals who will help small business owners implement simple, profitable marketing strategies in 2012. These "Take 10" ten minute coffee breaks will be offered free on the company blog and podcast channel.

Emeryville, CA (PRWEB) January 05, 2012 - Smart Simple Marketing, a San Francisco Bay Area marketing coaching firm, will be featuring industry experts over the course of 2012 to offer free, ten minute "coffee break" interviews. These interviews will provide expert marketing advice to small business owners and service professionals who want to increase their profits and get new clients this year.

Sydni Craig-Hart, the founder, said, "Small business owners are looking for actionable and practical ideas that they can put into place right away to get new clients or increase their profits. They don't always have 45 minutes or an hour to spend learning from their mentors. This is a way to get simple, practical, actionable information into their hands FAST!"     

Some of the things the speakers will share:

I strongly believe that every business should have a blog because it allows your target market to get to know you, like you and trust you, which then encourages them to seek out your expertise. Hence, I often recommend this strategy to my clients and students to help them create more visibility for their work.

Often one of the first questions new bloggers ask is, where do I set up my blog for the best results? Excellent questions. There are many, many options available and which one you choose really depends upon your personal preferences and level of comfort with online technology.

My friend Denise Wakeman published an awesome article recently on this very topic AND included a handy comparison chart to help you make your decision. Check it out and let me know what you think!

http://www.buildabetterblog.com/2011/06/how-to-choose-a-blogging-platform-comparison-chart.html

I've met a number of fabulous business people through Meetup and attracted a few new ideal clients as well. After learning more about Meetup, what if you decide you want to step up your networking a notch and attend an event? And instead of just attending a Meetup, what if you decide you want to host your own?

I have just the resource for you! Check out this article published by Mashable.com:    

My good friend Kathleen Gage, The Street Smarts Marketer, has prepared a content-rich special report on this very topic and she graciously has allowed me to share a copy with you!

There's no opt-in required and no obligation! Just top notch content delivered by one of the industries leading experts.

I've learned a LOT from Kathleen over the years and truly appreciate her no-nonsense style, so I'm just tickled to be able to share her expertise with you.  Just click on the following link to download your copy and please, stop back by and let me know what you think after you've read it!

What You Need To Know to Start Your Own Coaching/Consulting Business

Enjoy!

Sometimes the solutions you provide are free - either in the form of answering a question in a social network or in a blog post or an article.  Not everything you do to serve your target audience should be a "paid" service.  Remember, your target audience needs to get to know you and sample your work.  They are more likely to move to a paid service or product when they've had a chance to build trust in you and to "try before they buy."

One key to positioning yourself as the expert in your field, is making sure you absolutely know what problems your target audience are facing and what solutions they're looking for.  The ONLY way you can know that is to do your market research - consistently.

You're not going to know everything you need to know by doing a yearly or bi-annual survey.  Really you should be researching what's going on with your target market weekly, even daily, at the very least monthly.  Doing so will allow you to stay abreast of current trends, what's new with key industry players and allow you to tailor your offerings just so to address current challenges and problems.

Now, in saying that, I know how challenging it can be to manage a market research campaign.  It could seem overwhelming  even just getting started.  But, the good news is, researching your market is much easier than you think.  And it can be actually (gasp!) FUN!

The key to doing your market research consistently is to follow a system.

Following a system allows you to methodically and easily implement a market research campaign, review the results and follow up with some kind of action such as blog posts, new programs, teleseminars, etc.   A lot of folks get "stuck" when it comes to creating that system though.  It's almost like you need a system to create a system.

If you've ever felt like that, I'd love to help you get "un-stuck" in this area.

My colleague, Joshua Zerkel and I want to help you master the skill of creating systems.  Over the last few months, we've created systems in our businesses that have allowed us to improve our marketing activities tremendously, with LESS effort.  Learning how to create systems is a LIFELONG SKILL that you can apply to ANY part of your business.

So, join us on Wednesday, September 8th at 5 PM (PDT) for a FREE teleseminar to learn how to create simple systems for marketing your business.  You'll walk away from that call knowing exactly what to do to create a system to implement your marketing research campaign - and all the other parts of your marketing plan, consistently.  Thus you'll be well-equipped to attract more clients and create more revenue, because you'll  know exactly what solutions to create that your ideal clients are looking for.

Don't worry if you can't join us live, we'll be recording the call so you can review it when you have a chance.  But, you have to register for the call to receive the recording.

Register now!  http://smartsimplemarketing.com/market-your-business/

Oh, and by the way, this week we'll be putting the finishing touches on our outline for the call.  If you have any specific questions about how to conduct your market research or creating systems in your business, please post your questions below.  We'll try to answer as many questions as we can during the call and look forward to having you there!