by Suellen | Start Your Week With Purpose, Success, Uncategorized
Digital Devices have transformed our lives, and I love them. Yet, often we allow ourselves to be controlled by them, and not the other way around.
Digital noise is a real thing. It’s all those distractions coming from our phones and computers that prevent us from focusing on the important things in life, like our loved ones, our businesses, or our health.
Answer these questions to determine if digital noise is affecting your life.
- Do you feel like you must be online all day every day?
- Yes, otherwise I might miss out on news, events, or speaking to prospects.
- Not sure; I don’t really think about being online. It’s just a part of my life.
- No, I can unplug on the weekends and/or after business hours easily.
- Does your online work on your computer or phone take away from your physical activity?
- I’m the definition of a couch potato with a sedentary lifestyle.
- Sometimes, it all depends on my deadlines.
- I still fit in time for exercise and meal planning.
- Do you use your phone while watching TV, eating dinner, or spending time with your family?
- Yes, my clients need me.
- Sometimes; I’ll turn it off during dinner but then I need to be online.
- My family is more important than business.
- How long do you spend on social media each day?
- I have it turned on all the time.
- Too much; I really need to cut back but don’t know how.
- As little as possible. I outsource my posts, so I only go on to answer questions or to post in my private groups.
- How many times a day are you interrupted by notifications from email, social media, or other platforms?
- Too much; it’s really a nuisance.
- I haven’t noticed.
- Very little. I never sign up for those push notifications.
- Do you take your phone on vacation?
- Yes, my clients might need me.
- Sometimes but I only use it at night when the kids are in bed.
- No, I prefer to stay focused on my family.
- Do you answer every phone call, no matter what time of day or night?
- Yes, it might be a future customer or client.
- Sometimes, it depends on the caller ID.
- I have client boundaries and office hours for a reason.
- Do you miss important conversations or fun activities with family or friends due to phone calls?
- Yes, but my family knows I’m running a business and I have to be on call.
- Sometimes I have to excuse myself to take a call.
- My clients know I stay unplugged after hours.
- Does your work impede your sleep habits?
- I have clients from around the world and figuring out time zones is a pain.
- Sometimes I work late, depending on deadlines.
- No, I have an evening routine that I live by, including no phones in the bedroom.
- Do you actually accomplish work on your phone or are there too many distractions from various sources?
- Yes, my phone is a necessary part of my business and I can’t live without it.
- Sometimes; I use it mostly for phone calls and recording live videos.
- No, I can’t do real work on my phone. I need my laptop.
Now you do the assessment. Do you notice any patterns?
Take a look at the following points to see where you need to make adjustments:
Adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep daily in order to be productive. Televisions, cell phones, email, and social media right before bed can cause sleep patterns to be interrupted.
As a result, we can be sluggish and tired when we wake up.
Daily exercise and healthy eating are also vital parts of living longer but our phones and sedentary lifestyles in front of the computer are hampering that healthy living.
Learning to set boundaries and office hours as well as taking breaks during the day gives you small bits of time for stretching or walking to get your blood flowing.
Lastly, all humans need attention but will feel slighted if you have to work during their special time. Directing your undivided attention to your most favorite people will help them to feel special and will strengthen that relationship.
And if you have children, remember that you are their first teacher and they will follow your example. So, if you constantly have your head in your phone, expect them to do the same thing years down the road.
Take the quiz and decide where you might need adjustments.
When we are conscious of these things, we will be able to improve our lives – and our performance.
2022 Here We come!! Let’s make it great!
Blessings,
P.S. Start your 2022 on the right foot with this offer: 2022 Blueprint for Business Success
by Suellen | Meeting the Challenges, Website Tips
List building can be frustrating. You’ve probably heard the expression, “the money is in the list.” That’s partially true, but not completely.
What do I mean? Well, let’s take a look at two scenarios.
Elizabeth runs an online business designing WordPress themes. She has a mailing list of over nine thousand people and she emails them regularly.
But she complains that she gets no feedback from her list and they rarely message her looking for tips on how to create and manage WordPress websites. So the money she’s making is not enough for a full time job.
Needless to say, she’s frustrated and stressed about this.
April also runs an online business designing WordPress themes. She has a mailing list of just over a thousand subscribers. Like Elizabeth, she emails her list regularly.
But the different outcome might be surprising.
April gets plenty of feedback from her list and she’s always answering emails and messages about WordPress.
More importantly, April is making money and next year she’ll be able to turn her side hustle into a full time business.
You may be wondering what the difference is between Elizabeth and April. Why is one solopreneur seeing so much success that she can afford to quit her job while the other continues to struggle with her profits?
Are Your Subscribers Engaging with Your Content?
The answer is simple Elizabeth focused on getting lots of people on her list. April took a different approach. She looked for subscribers that matched her ideal client profile. She carefully monitored the health of her list and removed subscribers that weren’t engaging with her content. The result is that she has a much smaller list than Elizabeth, but that list is far more engaged.
If you only measure the size of your email list and you’re not taking the engagement of your reach into account, then you’re making a big mistake. Low engagement can be a sign that you’re not connecting with your community.
Are Your Subscribers Buying Your Products?
After looking at your engagement level, you want to start looking at what types of content your list is taking action on. Of the subscribers who are opening your email messages and reading them, how many are taking action? How often do they go on to purchase your product or a product your promoted? If you offer a service like coaching or content creation, are they hiring you?
If you have a new list or a tiny list, then you may not see a lot of activity at first. But as your list grows into the hundreds, you should start seeing some of your subscribers taking action. If you don’t, it might be a sign that you’re promoting the wrong products or that your community isn’t connecting with your messages.
Are You Asking for Engagement?
It takes courage to include a Call to Action. A Call to Action (I capitalize this because it’s important) is the point in your content where you ask your reader to do something. For example, if you run a blog on home schooling, then email your list with a review of your favorite workbooks and ask them to try out the workbooks, too.
Remember that if you want engagement, you have to ask for it. It doesn’t always have to be in the form of asking subscribers to buy something. You might ask them to fill out a survey that will help you create your next blog challenge or you could ask them to leave a comment on your latest blog post.
When it comes to building your email list, make sure you’re filling it with subscribers that are genuinely interested in your content. This helps you grow a thriving community that loves your brand and engages with it regularly.
Keep on Soaring…
Oh, by the way, remember to check out the Christian Cache Bundle Sale. if you want to be a part of this, hurry. The deadline is soon!
by Suellen | Join the Mission, Reach the World,
We have entered a new era, and it’s here whether we’re ready or not. A few years ago, I wrote my first book, and at the suggestion of some savvy people, started a blog to promote it. Little did I know where this would take me.
As I roamed around the internet, looking for like-minded people, I found something very interesting.There are some really great Christian blogs, podcasts, etc. out there, but over all, we don’t have the representation we need – or that our Father wants. Sure, there are some Christian ministries, but we are greatly outnumbered. There are many voices out there, but relatively few Christian voices.
Our presence is sadly lacking.
I have continued to pursue my own presence online, and have learned a few things in the process.
First, I have learned (as you may have also) that the digital world has totally taken over our culture. Just as TV changed the lines of communication several decades ago, the internet and wireless devices now hold the keys to communication in our world. People in their 20’s and 30’s are not watching Christian TV; they are surfing the web – and usually on their phones or tablets.
Second, I have learned that mastering the tools of the digital world is not as hard as you might think. There are so many software programs now which simplify the process. It’s often a matter of discovering which ones to try.
Third, in the process of learning, I have found some great instructors, who are eager to share what they know. Some people who have been online since the inception of the internet are more than generous in sharing how to get the job done. And the numbers of experts who are willing to share their information is growing by the day..
Fourth, I have learned that the internet is inexpensive compared to other means of communication. To my surprise, many applications are totally free.
I am convinced that God had the invention of the internet put into our hands at this moment in time for us Christians. I am convinced that the internet is here for us to reach the multitudes, worldwide. Let’s not miss this opportunity to saturate the web with God’s message and His presence.
Perhaps you already have a thriving blog or internet business. The rest of us could learn from you.
Or you might be saying, “I would like to, but I don’t even know how to start.”
There are plenty of people who would love to help you.
Our new mission is to help you as a minister or lay person fulfill your purpose. We know that you have a message, and we want to help you get it out to the masses.
When you speak to your audiences in person, you can reach hundreds – or even thousands. When you go on TV or radio, you can increase your audience to millions. When you take your messages to the world wide web, you can reach hundreds of millions – and even billions. (Yes, I said, “billions!”) Digital technology can go into places which don’t have TV or radio.
God has provided this golden door of opportunity for us to reach the world, so let’s do this. We hope you will join us in taking up this torch.
We have a world to reach.
We can do this!
by Suellen | Success, Website Tips
Do you sit at your desk all day and look at things online with your dual wide screens?
Uh-oh. You may be making some mistakes. (Just like I do from time to time).
It’s fun to design and implement beautiful layouts. But we need to take a look at this
In the last few years, more and more people (figures are about 33%), are using their smartphones and tablets for all or most of their internet needs. So a beautiful website on your desktop can sometimes look clumsy – and even weird on your phone.
So, as always, we smart people adapt.
We have to design our sites so that they look good – and are readable – on all devices.
So let’s look at a few tips to help us maximize our audience.
Be Minimalistic.
A flashy website is not going to translate well on a mobile device. Stick to the basics, and remember the acronym you’ve learned before. K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple silly)
Consider how mobile readers see your content — Check for yourself on the mobile device that you are targeting to assure yourself that the mobile content translates well to the device. You can’t be sure without looking.
Cut down on ad clutter
You may find that you need to move your ads to other areas that work better with mobile devices. Ads right in the middle of content might not work well with a mobile device like they do on a regular website
Choose a website theme which is good for phones.
Some – like Divi by Elegant Themes – have a means of customizing a page for all devices.
Or if you are a bona fide techy, you can detect platforms that are viewing with proper coding — Learn about special coding that you can do for your content so that it detects what device is looking at the site, and appears in the best format for that device.
(I’ll stick to choosing the right theme).
Have Lots of navigation
For a mobile device you likely need more navigation than on a website. Consider using shorter drop down menus, and think of ways to drill down to the minute information on your site with more menus.
Make short links
As we know, typing on a handheld device is not fun or easy. So make links as short as possible so that no one throws their mobile device across the room in frustration when trying to view your site.
One post or set of content per page — this goes back to being minimalistic but keep the content to one post per page for easier viewing.
Put content front and center —
Instead of having an entry page, put the newest content front and center so that mobile content viewers see what is important right away.\
Reconsider how you put textural links within a post.
While this is great for a website viewed on a webpage it might work better to put links under the post as well as within the text for easier navigation.
Add drop down navigation or hover navigation –
This type of navigation saves a lot of space on the mobile device and makes it easier to actually click it to move to the mobile content that the visitor wants to view.
So there you have a few tips for pleasing your mobile viewers.
We want to keep those mobile viewers coming back again and again.
by Suellen | PLR, Writing Tips
Whew!! You don’t have to be a know-it-all!
It’s important to be an expert in your field when people are paying you for what you provide. I’m sure that you are very good at what you do or what you sell, but running a business is so much more than what you do and what you sell.
You are more effective when you are knowledgeable in related areas of your business.
And these related areas can cover a broad base. That’s where PLR comes to the rescue.
It’s impossible for you to be the expert in every facet surrounding your business, so let other experts fill in for you.
PLR content comes in a wide variety of types. Audio, video, and written content on anything you can imagine… Yes, there’s PLR for that. That means you don’t have to be a know-it-all to run your business and do what is right.
Using PLR makes it possible for you to share important and timely content with your audience without having to do research and invest time and money into writing content. PLR is a great way to expand on what you offer as well as drill down deeper and add value to whatever you already provide.
Let’s look at an example:
You sell products to Homeschooling Moms and Dads. And you really know your stuff.
But think about how your customers can benefit when you provide related materials as well. Such as:
- Emotional aspects of Homeschooling
- How to organize your school day more effectively
- Dealing with different learning styles
- A 30-Day challenge for increasing math skills
- An eBook filled with advice from other homeschooling mothers
- A video series about preparing your children for college
- Exercises to keep children fit
- And more
In this case, you don’t have to be a know-it-all about psychology, time management, health, or even education. Yet you can impact your audience with valuable information thanks to PLR.
You can arrange this content in whatever manner helps your audience best. Use the content as a freebie or use it as part of an exclusive membership that gives extra advice for those willing to pay a small premium each month. You can choose the best way to share the information in a way that educates and creates income.
Let the content creators be your experts and you can glean the best topics and delivery systems for your audience. Your status as a know-it-all will expand with the offerings you make to your tribe while you save time and money providing excellent content for your site.
