Here’s a recording of Judith Briles interviewing me on the Rockstar Radio Network last week. When her and I get together to talk websites, we could just go on forever! But force us to only talk about the most important elements of a website today, and an hour radio show goes by mighty quick!

Marc LeBlanc is doing a great job teaching NSA Colorado how to do a better job making a business out of our speaking business. Just a couple of his takeaways are:

-Track Your Numbers! Side-by-Side-by-Side, meaning, track your sales (separated by profit center), along side with your actual deposits, along side by side of your side by your income as an owner.

-Go to GrowingYourBusiness.com – to download a free tool to help you track your speaking business numbers.

-G.R.O.W. = Get Results On Work – Make up your own application for yourself. For me, if I’m getting results, I’m growing. How do you get results? Work! Sometime, eventually, you have to get to work. Period! Love it, great point Marc!

-Don’t wait until you are happy to start tracking your numbers. Start tracking your numbers so that someday soon you will be happy.

-There has never been a better time to be a professional speaker.

-No matter what topic you speak about is in greater demand today than it was this time last year.

-If you are a professional speaker or thinking of becoming one, connect with Marc and start following him on facebook

-If you are a professional speaker living in Colorado, or are even just thinking of being in the business, you should be here! Be sure to come to the next NSA Colorado event. Hope to see you here in February.

You know Google Plus is there. You might have already setup an account on your own and joined a few circles.

But, who’s really making the big money with G+? The big companies for now.

But, there are a few million of us waiting to make it happen!

What is interesting is who is jumping into Google+ like it’s a new pair of jeans now that they’ve added business “pages” like facebook did a while back. Big companies like Ford who have 23,000 followers. Of course, that’s a far cry from Ford’s 5MM Likes on facebook. But, it just gives you an idea of scale. The fact that 61% of the top 100 brands already have established Google Plus pages should be a strong indicator that you need to be spending time on Google Plus.

Here’s a good article about brand name companies getting into Google Plus. I find it very interesting that so many of the same big companies that thought facebook and Twitter were just about talking about the old cliche “what I ate for breakfast” now embrace G+ fully and didn’t even hesitate to sign-up when it pre-released. They all have professional photos, consistent branding colors, active and routine participation in information sharing, coupons, like they’ve been engaged in social marketing for years! Well, they have.

From what I gathered from the article, there are a few motivators why companies are seeing the light with Google Plus. Hopefully this will incentivize you too:

• It’s Google – Probably the most important reason of all. Unfortunately, whatever Google says do, we gotta just do. And, they’re saying “participate in Google+ or your search engine results positions (SERPs) for your website will diminish.

 

• Facebook is Getting Cluttered – I’ve been hearing this a lot lately that people are enjoying G+ because it’s very clean and sleek as compared to its rival facebook. At least it hasn’t YET been hit by the trend facebook has seen lately with their facebook hackers.

 

• Google+ is Easy to Use and Quick to Learn – Facebook seems like they’re adding features and functionality just for the sake of adding new things now. Same thing happened with cell phones. They call it “feature creep.” Users typically whine when new facebook launches happen and the new features they do add often don’t add to the greatness of the system and TOO often happen at the nixxing of features we did love.

 

• Google is Suffering from a Case of the Crud – Google is always making an attempt to clean the “mucus” out of their search results. Spammers are always trying to sneak their junk into top search positions. G+ is an attempt for Google to see what pages and websites people like you and me feel are important and of high quality. That’s why you see all the “+1″ buttons these days. Click a +1 button and you will be telling google “good page!” You can read into how to game that system I’ll bet. Just have all your buddies go to your website and click your +1 button. But, that’s how Google wants it…it’s like being in high school all over again as we’re all out to win a popularity contest now.

 

• Money of Course – It’s all about money with Google. Not saying it shouldn’t be. Heck, I’ll admit it. I play on the Internet all day because it’s my “business” and ultimately I eat leftovers from a garbage can or lobster depending on how well I’ve done “business” over the past week on the Internet. I’m just saying you should be prepared that Google is building out Google Plus for the MONEY it will receive in the soon-to-be-coming integration of Google AdWords.

So, there you have it. Those making money with Google+ right this very minute are the bigger companies who have already embraced it and have used what they learned with facebook to build their presence and following with Google Plus.

But, you don’t have to be left in the dust! Come along for the ride like the big companies are already doing or make the decision to just be content with your social networking efforts by accepting Linkedin invites, begging for facebook likes and growing Twitter follwers. The choice is yours…but I hope to see you soon on G+. Hook up with me when you get there at MartyDickinson.com/G+.

Rory Vaden is doing a great job speaking at NSA Colorado. Rory’s topic is that you “have to start doing some things you don’t want to do.”

Rory’s “deep dive” session after the break will be about social networking really, but what a good lead in for a presentation about social media for speakers than to inspire the audience first to be willing to do things we have to start spending time doing! Great job Rory and good luck with your new book, Take The Stairs.

You’ve heard the saying that “There’s no I in TEAM.” Well, that’s true, unless you’re part of a GREAT team!

I was emailing a potential HereNextYear client a couple of days ago and talking about our amazing team. In one of the sentences I mentioned the phrase GREAT team! and put an exclamation point at the end of the sentence.

And, that’s when I noticed it; that an exclamation point is really an upsidedown “i”.

Although subtle, and something you wouldn’t normally pay attention to, that upside “i” is still there.

That’s when I noticed something else. I would only use an exclamation point when referring to a GREAT team!

Now, any group can get together and become a team. It’s even possible to be a team of one. But, think about the bad teams out there that you are familiar with. I mean the really knarly toilet bowl level teams. Can you think of any one person on the team that over-earns his keep? Anyone that really stands out as the life saver? Of course not.

For crappy teams, there’s definitely no “I” in team. In fact, players of bad teams often blame the other guys on their team to compensate for their own lack of drive or skill.

But, now look at the GREAT teams! The teams that everyone wants to have and be like! On those teams, there is a definite “i” in every single player.

Every player of a GREAT team is completely focused without deviation, driven to success like a magnet, unaccepting of fatigue, compelled to use their off-time to practice even more to better themselves, dedicated beyond compare, and in as many metaphors as the great game of baseball offers…willing to take a line drive to the chest and still make the play at first base to win.

The best players are not usually coached to sustain those traits. For the great players, the drive comes from within.

Those team members are so good, their presence has a sort of subtlety even. You just expect them to be there and you have full confidence they’ll perform. You just sort of get used to their presence and relax knowing if those very special I’s are at work or on the field, everything will be fine. Just like an upsidedown letter i.

You just can’t get that level of drive and commitment and predictable outcome with a team that has no “i” in it.

I’ve been a little league baseball coach for a few years now ranging from casual rec league teams to AA to Majors/13D1. For some teams I’ve served as head coach and other times just helped out with pitchers. I can totally understand how adults gain their understanding of teams as children.

As importantly, I’ve seen how kids on those teams have grown into stars; one of the most rewarding moments for a coach. But, I’ve seen the occasional player retreat and quit the team without notice too, never to touch a baseball again. And, that is truly one of the saddest moments for a coach.

Our Colorado Rockies baseball team is disintegrating before our very eyes here in Colorado. The “i’s” of what resemblance we have of a great team are injured. I can’t even remember the last time we won a game. And, it’s been even longer since I had the confidence that our team would win a game. My own son doesn’t even recognize half the players…and he LIVES for baseball!

I just heard on CNN that the stock market took another plunge this morning after the FEDs announced more economic trouble on the way. Just look at the multiple teams who we’ve relied on over the past several years to get us into this mess. Definitely no “I’s” on those teams.

Another panicking business owner called me on the phone yesterday thinking his web designer didn’t know all he needs to know to really get their business growing from more leads and sales originating from the Internet. I’m sure you know the importance of having “I’s” on your business team and I’ll bet you could tell me exactly who they are too.

In all of these cases and probably thousands of other situations, whether it’s on the baseball field, in your business, or in your church, school or family, there is a bad team behind the cause of the problem and a GREAT team! that takes the reins, plunges through problems, sees you through the hard times and delivers a solution.

Alright already Marty!! What’s your point?

My point is in two parts.

1) Be one of the “i’s” on your own team. Be that person that strives for excellence no matter what the current situation. Learn, try new things, stop being afraid of technology and dive in!

2) Develop a team full of people who are “i’s”. Stop trying to do so much yourself and build a team that will be working with you for years to come. If you don’t have the time or resources to build and train and manage this team, find a team that is already together that you can PAY to help. GREAT teams! are worth paying for.

If you ever talk to me in person, you’ll find I’m a very humble kinda guy as business owners go. I don’t claim to be really really good at more than two things–getting people to trust me and selling.

Those are sure two great traits for doing business on the Internet, but there’s a lot more to running a business than only those two things.

I was just asked through Linkedin yesterday what my key to success is for being in business for more than 15 years. I answered humbly that you have to be willing to make more mistakes you ever dreamed possible and still get up the next day and try again. I also stressed the importance of not trying to do everything yourself and form a GREAT team!

There it was again. That GREAT team! reference.

As we enter another round of a really tough economy, I’m going to bet most people reading this are pretty nervous. You might be putting that new house on hold again or canceling that vacation or at least taking in your old jewelry to get bullion gold rates in cash.

Try not to beat yourself up too much. Rather, take a very careful look at your team. Is it just a ho-hum team with no “i’s” as you’ve been brought up to believe is the key to success? Or, do you have a GREAT team! made of stars who go out of their way to be the best?

Here, let me give you an example of a GREAT team! in business. It’s my own here at HereNextYear.

Then there’s Jeff. Jeff just came back to us from a year in the Army reserves. He couldn’t tell me where he was but we would IM with each other several times a week, me being in a cozy chair in my office and him being in an air conditioned tent in a desert with 125 degree temps outside in the midst of a seemingly ongoing sand storm.

Jeff is one of our PHP/MySQL/Linux stallions who’s been working with me since he was 16 years old. His first project for me was writing a walk-a-thon script for one of my non-profit clients that is still used today. When one of our websites has a problem, Jeff is our go-to guy and the needle in a haystack is fixed within minutes. Just incredible turnaround time.

Ian is one of our newer team additions. Ian has his own set of skills related to WordPress. But, what he has that most in this crazy industry do not is a very keen insight into how things should work behind the scenes. A website can be visible to the world if it’s programmed several different ways. What’s really hard to find is someone that can really see how things should be setup so that they run properly. I find myself all the time just suggesting to Ian to “figure it out and do what you think is best” because that’s exactly what Ian is capable of doing.

Of course, we have to bring Sue into the mix. Sue is my wife of 21 years. She helps me manage my own personal websites (almost 100 of them). After I trained her in the basics of using Google AdWords a few years ago, Sue took pay-per-click advertising management to a whole new level for our company. Imagine having someone that could spend half the time and get twice the result for a quarter of the ad-spend for pay-per-click. Sue is that secret weapon that just a few of our select business clients get to enjoy with Sue managing their ad campaigns.

There are other critical star members of our team, but that gives you an idea of what it takes to have a GREAT team! for your business.

I know this message is getting kinda long, but the combination of the FED announcement yesterday, the sucky stock report this morning, and all this baseball practice and games I’ve been into the past few weeks all came together for me about an hour ago and I just had to get it written out.

So, due to length, I won’t go into here exactly how to build that team as I’m sure you’re curious. Let’s just say it ain’t easy, it’s a lot more than just hiring someone in India through Craigslist and paying $75 to have a website churned out for you.

And it’s taken me 15 years to get this team to where it is now.

What I will say is that there definitely is an “i” in every GREAT team! At least one. Hopefully, your team has many.

Now, bring it in and on the count of three I want to hear you from where I sit. ONE, TWO, THREE….GO TEAM!

So far at Creative Connections annual Expo in Denver I’ve networked with authors, writers, media and video experts, inventors, publishers, promoters and yes even a few more traditional business owners.

If you’re looking for a networking group to attend in Denver, checkout Creative Connections on meetup.com, which meets every first and third Friday of each month. This particular event is once per year where I was asked to speak on various Internet marketing topics. A great turnout.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had more emails from people wanting help with starting a business than I have in the past six months. What’s interesting, is that almost all of these inquiries are from people who do not yet have a product or service in mind to start their business with. How can I help anyone to launch a business when they don’t even have the idea conceived yet?

Well, there is an answer. One of my long-time business mentors Fred Gleeck posted a very interesting blog post on his website called “Selecting Your Niche: 10 Things to Consider When Selling Info Products.” This is a great list and I highly suggest you read it whether you are just starting your business or if you’d sort of plateaued over the past year.

I think there’s an 11th to his list of 10 though. I believe you really must ask the question of yourself whether you are going to start this business of yours on a casual, sort of “rec-league” level, or if you will be going full-boar forward….more like “competitive league.”

You can start a business casually. Just don’t expect the same level of results as fast as someone who has the competitive get-it-done-pnow instinct and work ethic.

Here are two more blog posts I recommend to folks when they email me wanting to know how to get started with a business online. These two I wrote myself since I seemed to be telling people the same things over and over again. Just easier to make a blog post and direct people to it.

The first one is called “Don’t Fall Prey to the Get Started Online Ploys” and the second one is “7 Steps to Getting Started for New Internet Marketers.”

Andy Cleary of Orbit Design, a Denver-based web design company did a great job last night leading the author attendees of AuthorU through the complex steps of the branding process. I really liked the “flip your cow” segment where he had us make a list of 10 things that people perceive about our business and then flip them into “reality statements.” Perfect for creating headlines!

Sign-up now for AuthorU’s Annual Extravaganza and I’ll see you there!

Pamela Gordon is one of my long-time National Speaker Association mentors and she’s doing a great job teaching the NSA Colorado audience this weekend.

One of my favorite quotes from her is “Pick the best and throw away the rest.” She’s now going through the steps for crafting a 35-45 minute keynote. My question for you is…Does your speaker website show that you know the game?

Does your speaker website display that you have a keynote prepared and that it has all the components that the meeting planner expects? Does your web designer and Internet marketing helper know how to showcase these items? Has he or she ever been to an NSA meeting? Or are they a speaker or author?

If you are an author or speaker, and want to be as successful as Pamela Gordon at your craft, you not only need to show you know how to keynote, but you must display that on your website as well. Great job as always Pamela and best of luck in 2011!

Just got back from a lunch meeting with my good friend and long-time merchant account provider Lew Kelly.

I interviewed Lew a couple of years ago about choosing the best merchant account and it became my #2 downloaded item on the HereNextYear website, second only to my 101 Realistic Methods for Getting Traffic to a Website.

Anyway, we were making a mess chowing down on our stromboli with extra sauce at Massino’s, I asked Lew to give me three things about merchant accounts that my clients need to know that they didn’t have to even think about just 3 years ago.

His eyes got big and he gave me a big smile and said, “Only 3?”

Here are the 3 things you really need to know about if you plan on (or already do) sell anything on the Internet…that you didn’t need to even think about 3 years ago:

1. PCI/DSS Compliance is Not as Costly as the Alternative – You as a merchant are fully responsible for your customer’s credit card information. If you have not completely assured your purchasing process is secure (through PCI compliance testing and documentation), you could be fined an “average” of $10,000 per incident and up to $50,000 per incident when someone’s credit card gets leaked or hacked. Scary thing is that you might not even know it’s happening!

2. Ebooks are High Risk - Digital items for sale (things you can’t touch or ship) are now on the “restricted” list. This means, if you are starting a new business offering digital downloads for sale like ebooks, videos, audios, membership sites, you will have to go through a high risk merchant. And, unless you know which merchant company to go through, you will be paying twice or even three times the amount of per transaction fees as merchants with non-restricted items for sale.

Unless, of course, you know which merchants still offer restricted items to be purchased at non-restricted rates.

Apparently, people just starting out always go to the big banks first. When they get turned down, they just settle for anything they can get for a merchant account. Lew says that’s where the big problem starts.

3. Cash on Demand Rates Have Skyrocketed – Did you know you can borrow against the monthly sales you make through your current merchant account? Well, that’s not so new. But, what IS new is that you can expect to pay 22-25%.

So, be careful when you confront your merchant account company when attempting cash on Demand and checkout what your options might be.

Lew Kelly is a merchant account broker and has been for over 10 years. I have never met anyone other than Lew who’s been in that business more than 6 months!

If you have any question about whether you’re really getting the best deal for your merchant account or are wondering where to get your first, Lew is the guy. Call him and tell him Marty sent you: 303-256-7501