Due to popular demand (I’ve always wanted to say that), I am finally launching full-service copywriting.

Brilliant Bio Bundles have always been my biggest seller, so I’ve decided to ramp up the writing portion of my business and expand into all aspects of web-based copywriting—freeing my clients to get back to the work they really love.

(Interested? Rates vary greatly depending on project, so let me know when we can chat about what you need and how I can help.) 

When I decided to add this service, I knew it was also time to look at what else I was offering and clean house.

Here are 6 questions to ask yourself to make sure your business stays in the services sweet spot:

1. What’s my biggest seller? 
The bulk of my business comes from bio writing, so it made sense to expand that service to help people with other aspects of their web copy.

2. What products or services don’t sell well?
When I did my pre-launch market research, people went nuts for my website editing services. They loved having me come in and spruce up the copy they’d already crafted. One client raved about it and said it should be my flagship service. So imagine my surprise when, after launching, not one person purchased it. I finally came to terms with the fact that what people love when it’s free doesn’t necessarily reflect what they’ll pay for, and cut it from my offerings. 

3. What do people keep asking me for, and what do they think I do?
Often when I would talk to people at networking events (which I love), they would say, “Oh, you’re a copywriter? I know someone who needs help with that!” and I would try to correct them and explain that I focus on editing. Now that I’ve embraced copywriting, conversations with prospects are easier and my revenue has increased. 

4. What needs an update to stay relevant?
In addition to copywriting, a lot of my work involves developing and implementing SEO strategies. Organic SEO Glow was the most recent service addition, so it was time to take a look at how it functioned and see how it could be improved. I realized there were opportunities to streamline the process and make it even easier for clients, and who doesn’t love that? 

5. What can I convert to a more scalable or off-the-shelf product or service?
I loved running my SEO Glow Digital Course with an amazing group of entrepreneurs earlier this fall, and I look forward to doing it again early in 2013 (stay tuned for details!), but eventually I hope to convert it to an off-the-shelf product. (Either in addition to the live course, or perhaps in place of it.) By diversifying your offerings to include ready-to-go products that don’t require any further work from you once they’re created, you set yourself up to literally earn money while you sleep.  

6. Do my service packages speak to different price points and client needs?
While you don’t want to overwhelm clients with too many options, you do want to make sure that you give people a low-risk way to vet your work (either an inexpensive product or service, or even a dynamite freebie) and make their way into your sales funnel. At the same time, you don’t want to leave money on the table by not offering premium packages either.  

Once you’ve performed your services audit, go ahead and implement what you figured out. Challenge yourself to pare down your list of offerings if at all possible: you’ll be much better served by cutting an underperforming program than leaving it up in the hopes that someone will buy it. (Unless, of course, it plays into a careful pricing strategy.)

Research (like this great TED Talk by Sheena Iyengar) shows that decision paralysis can lead people to buy nothing at all, so to counter indecision and boost your revenue, limit your products or services to those that do the heavy lifting—it’ll make it easier for your prospects to say yes. 

What changes can you make to your offerings to boost your bottom line? What other questions would be helpful to consider? 

The post When did you last revamp your offerings? appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

I had the honor of being featured on Michelle Ward’s website, When I Grow Up Coach, this week. 

In my article, I talk about the 5 questions I asked myself when my first business went bust–and how they led me to create a profitable business I love on my second try. 

I knew the statistic before I jumped in: over half of all new businesses fail within the first year.

But I’m the daughter of two successful entrepreneurs, and I’m a sucker for research. When I launched my first business in the summer of 2010, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into–and was confident I’d be in the successful minority as a result.

I had a vision of taking the college application essay process–a pretty miserable experience for all parties involved–and using it as a platform to teach students the writing skills too many were missing. By offering careful coaching along the way, I’d help students feel confident that once they got into college, they’d know exactly how to develop an idea, support it with engaging evidence, and communicate it all clearly with the written word. I had experience as an essay tutor, I’m a bona fide logophile, and the college application process means big bucks for lots of consultants around the world. It was a guaranteed win.

And yet, one year and exactly zero clients later, I had to accept that my business, well, wasn’t one. When I realized that what I’d built had gone bust, it was time to ask myself some big questions so I could figure out where I went wrong–and make sure I got it right the next time.

Click through for the full post. 

The post 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Into Business appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

A few weeks ago, I was sharing entrepreneurial frustrations with one of my mastermind buddies, PJ. She mentioned that there was so much she knew she should be doing (Write an about page! Build strategic partnerships! Blog more! Get the message out on Twitter!), she was overwhelmed and didn’t have a clue where to start. I confessed that some days I felt so ineffectual I thought about firing myself.

Thankfully we had our mastermind mojo to buoy us along, and it occurred to me that it may be time to embrace one of the most dreaded hallmarks of corporate America: the performance review. 

But this time, instead of sitting down with someone scribbling notes as we spoke and decided whether or not a raise was deserved, we could sit down with ourselves and figure out what’s working, what needs to improve, and what the top goals are going forward. 

If your initial response is: I know myself and my business–I have all that in the bag, then I have a big high five waiting for you.

If, however, you sometimes feel overwhelmed or that you have so much to work on that you don’t know where to start, you just might want to carve out some time for an annual (or quarterly, if you’re really on the ball) review.

Take out a notebook or open a blank document and jot down the following prompts:

1. What projects are so absorbing, you don’t even notice the time?
2. What task would you like to never do again if possible?
3. How did most clients or customers find you?
4. What are you doing to nurture those leads? 
5. What should you be doing to nurture those leads?
6. How have you been trying to recruit with clients, but not had it pay off?
7. Should that behavior be changed? Or abandoned?
8. Are you meeting or exceeding client deadlines and expectations? Why or why not?
9. How do you really spend your day? 
10. If you were an employee, and not the owner, what would you advise yourself to do differently? What would you encourage yourself to keep up?

Once you have the framework, try to answer the questions. (Feel free to add your own, of course. Let me know in the comments what else you think should be considered.)

Jot down some notes and don’t overthink things, but try to be as accurate as possible. If you don’t know the anwers (#9 might be a bit of a stumper), keep that in mind as you move through the week. (You might want to invest in time tracking software, too; I use Billings, which, at $40 isn’t the fanciest software out there, but meets my needs for now. FreshBooks is also popular.)

You might be surprised by the answers once you give yourself a little distance.

For example, I noticed that I was spending a huge chunk of my day on activities that neither generated lots of new leads nor helped me wow the socks of my clients. I’d fallen into a dangerous mix of being on autopilot and succumbing to Shiny Object Syndrome, and my personal performance review was just the wake-up I needed to restructure my day in a way that was tremendously more fruitful and enjoyable. (I get more sleep now, too.) 

My hope, of course, is that you have a similarly enlightening and empowering experience. I’d love to hear how it goes for you, so if you can spare a minute, let me know what behaviors you’ll keep up, and what’s getting an overhaul.

The post Do entrepreneurs need performance reviews? appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

There’s so much chatter online, at times it can be tough to tell who’s really running the show. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably seen too many headlines like these:

“Top 5 tips to increase your landing page conversion rate!”
“Don’t miss out on this must-do action to boost your sales!”
“The most productive morning: This is what it looks like.”

For the past few years, I’ve been steeping myself in (and contributing to) the entrepreneurial advice-fest found online. My RSS feed would fill up each morning with valuable insight from successful people, and I would make sure to comb through it all by the end of the day; my inbox filled up as I subscribed to newsletters to get the latest free gift that was guaranteed to make my business take off.

But as I followed everyone else’s advice, I realized I was making a colossal mistake:
I trusted the experts at the expense of my own wisdom and judgment, while at the same time cranking out content in an effort to satisfy what all the experts said I had to do.

Enough! I’m (re)dedicating myself to following my own rules and living my own adventure, and I encourage you to do the same. 

Here are some options to put that into practice:

1. Unsubscribe from blog feeds and newsletters that make you feel frantic rather than empowered.

2. Question the advice of so-called experts and ask yourself if it’s truly of service to you and your business.

3. Commit to lending your voice only when you have something valuable to share, whether it’s in the form of encouragement or a lesson learned.

4. Carve out time for movement and active relaxation, even if that means posting fewer blog articles or being less active on social media.

5. Ask yourself what you really need help with and seek out targeted support or insight, rather than opening the floodgates to indiscriminate advice.

The best part? By recommitting to following my own rules and trusting my gut, I know I will be of much greater service to you, and I’ll be a happier, more productive person. Now if that’s not a win-win, I don’t know what is.

So I have a question for you.

Whose rules are you following?

If understanding and implementing SEO (i.e., how to get Google to rank your site) is one of those areas you’d actively like help with, there are still a few slots in the SEO Glow Digital Course, kicking off this Friday. It’s a 4-week, support-intensive program that has lots of flexibility for busy schedules. You can learn more and register here. And if the course isn’t for you right now, but if you know someone who might benefit, I’d love if you could help spread the word.

The post Whose rules are you following? appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

Over the past three years, I’ve read everything I could get my hands on about Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—otherwise known as how to show up at the top of Google search results.

I have to admit, when I first delved into the world of SEO, I was overwhelmed. The experts made it sound hopeless and inscrutable. But ignoring it wasn’t an option, so I had to push through and figure it out.

Here’s the great news: those “experts”? They lied!

Sure, if you want to be one of the top three search results for “laptop sales,” you’ve got a big project on your hands, and it’ll take a lot of advanced strategy. But if you want to get found in a smaller industry, a few basic practices can go a long way towards getting you ranked in Google.

Even though the steps to establish a campaign are straightforward, it still took a ton (oh the hours!) of time to understand some of the nuances. If only I’d had someone to give me feedback and help me along when I got confused, the whole process would have been exponentially more efficient.

Fortunately, once I got the hang of SEO and applied what I’d learned to a variety of campaigns, I started to see impressive results.

The first time I designed and implemented an SEO campaign for a client, she jumped from being ranked in the 60s and 70s (in other words, the sixth and seventh pages of search results on Google—a veritable no man’s land) to the top 20. And she didn’t even implement any of the follow-up strategies I’d outlined and strongly recommend! I have no doubt she’d be on page one of the search results if she’d continued the campaign.

Since then, I’ve helped a range of entrepreneurs cozy up to their SEO, sometimes creating and implementing campaigns from start to finish, and sometimes brushing off my experience as a teacher and showing them how to work the Google magic themselves.

I knew I needed more SEO know-how to rebrand my business the right way, but it felt like diving into a sea of acronyms, techie jargon, and marketing-speak. Olivia gracefully and gleefully dove in with me to polish my message and drive more traffic to my shiny new website with equal parts expertise and encouragement.  Thanks to Olivia, my confidence has been boosted along with my business. She’s an SEO rockstar!

 

-Mikki Davis, shamanic healer and teacher, www.shamanmikki.com - Westchester, New York

All these experiences led me to create the SEO Glow Digital Course. I know too many otherwise savvy and talented entrepreneurs who avoid SEO because they just don’t know where to start or don’t think it will make a difference.

I’m here to promise you (yes—promise) that if you join me for the four-week course, you’ll walk away with the following:

• Confidence that you are, in fact, doing this whole SEO thing exactly right
• Peace of mind that you’re not losing sales because you’re not turning up in Google search results
• A clear understanding of what SEO is, how it works, and why it matters
• A list of specific search terms that you know people use, but aren’t so competitive that it’s too complicated to try to compete if you’re a small shop operation
• An installed and optimally configured plugin (for WordPress users) that helps put part of your campaign on autopilot
• A valuable skill set that prove to employers and clients that you’re savvy and capable
• A website (for WordPress users) that takes advantage of multiple strategies to improve your Google rank
• A specific strategy to help you continue to make progress long after the course ends

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a web designer looking to offer an added benefit to your clients, or someone looking to improve your resume, this course can help you achieve your goals. 

Register now for $197, and guarantee your spot in the SEO Glow Digital Course starting on September 14th.

Register with a friend (just email me that you’re buds), and you’ll each receive a $30 rebate!

Know someone who could use some help getting their SEO to glow? Help me spread the word! (Warning: I’ve been known to show my gratitude by popping random love notes and gifts in the mail.)

For Twitter:

Does search engine optimization leave you stymied? @LivBowen’s got you covered! (Click to Tweet.)

Guess what! Getting ranked in Google isn’t as tough as “experts” want you to believe! @LivBowen pulls back the curtain. (Click to Tweet.)

For Facebook:

Olivia Bowen is teaching people that getting ranked in Google isn’t nearly as hard as other experts want you to believe. Want to learn more? Check out her SEO Glow Digital Course starting on September 14^th. http://www.livbowen.com/seo-glow-digital-course/

Stop ignoring your SEO! Olivia Bowen is kicking off her SEO Glow Digital Course on September 14^th, and showing people exactly how to get some love from Google. http://www.livbowen.com/seo-glow-digital-course/

The post Finding Confidence & Peace of Mind with your SEO appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

Mara Belzer has shared her startup wisdom with us before (previously writing about why you should charge what you’re worth), and she’s back with another dose of salient advice for us today.

This time she’s talking about a classic problem for budding entrepreneurs: 

How to create an offer when you can’t figure out what you want to offer.

Does this sound familiar?

You’re just starting your business and you know you’ve got tons of great skills to put to use, but you’re not quite sure what you’re meant to be doing. It seems like there’s supposed to be THIS ONE THING that we’re each meant to do, and once we figure it out, everything will fall into place.

This whole “finding your purpose” thing equates to a lot of pressure.

After a few years of doing the “what’s my purpose” dance, I came to the conclusion there’s really no one right thing and the search is just procrastination. (Click to Tweet.)

There’s a way we each relate to the world and there are certain things we’re good at, and when we add those two together we get our own unique brand of being alive. If anything, our general purpose as humans is to have fun and learn and keep the momentum going. (Click to Tweet.)

With that said, here is a quick and dirty, three step process for creating an offer when you can’t figure out what to offer.

Step 1: Pick Something.

Pick something you feel super confident in. Confidence tells people you know what you’re talking about. Pick something you’re an expert in. Being an expert means you can start now and it will be easy for you to do it. It’s not so much what you pick, but more that you pick.

Warning: this thing might not be something you’re exceptionally excited about. That’s okay for now.

If you still can’t figure out what the something is, talk to some friends or peers about what you’re really good at. Since this thing we’re an expert at comes so easily to us, sometimes we don’t realize it’s something other people struggle with.

Step 2: Commit to it.

Commitment = Momentum.

If you’re anything like me, new ideas can feel old in a matter of hours, days if I’m lucky! When that bright and shiny feeling wears off, I have a tendency to want to choose something new.

Stop that.

Write your ideas down, but stick with the original something from step one. If you don’t pick something and commit to it, you’ll never get past the initial brainstorming phase. Trust me on this one.

Pay attention to why you want to switch gears: there’s probably a wealth of important information in there for you. But still, as much as you might want to switch gears, don’t.

Note: obviously if the thing from step 1 is making you miserable, don’t keep doing it, but otherwise… COMMIT!

Step 3:  Launch and evolve.

Put the offer together and get it out there. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t overthink it. Just get it out there. Pay attention to the feedback you get. There will be some positive and some negative. Let yourself be fueled by the positive and ask yourself if the negative is really true. (Click to Tweet.) Some people won’t get what you’re doing. That’s okay.

You’ll probably encounter some sort of test. This will come in the form of an experience that knocks you off your high horse and makes you question what you’re doing. You have a choice here: quit or recommit. If this offer is something you want to do, recommit. You’ll be amazed at what happens.

Each person you take through your offer will teach you about what you love to do and what you’re really good at. Ask for feedback. Take notes. Evolve your offer.

And then, do it all over again! Again and again.

Tell me – what has your experience been with choosing what to offer and committing to it? 

Mara Belzer combines brand consulting, web design and marketing mindset coaching to help dreamers unlock their inner entrepreneur. Check out Mara’s latest program, Jumpstart! (marabelzer.com/jumpstart), designed to give you a a full web suite for your business that’s totally you and totally easy to use, plus all the bells and whistles you need to build your mailing list and keep visitors engaged.

The post How to Create an Offering When You Don’t Know What to Offer, by Mara Belzer appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

As we kick off the last full month of summer, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how you’ve been operating in your business and in your life as of late. 

Have you been pushing, reaching, stretching, trying new things and fearlessly moving forward?

If yes, it might be the perfect time to pause, come in for a bit, and take stock of how everything went. Stillness allows information and experiences to integrate, helping us move forward with intention.

Or have you been comfortably settled in your routine, happily plugging along, enjoying peace and stasis? 

If that’s the case, consider making a big shift and just going for it–whatever “it” may be for you. Start taking steps toward your adventure, even if those first steps are just drawing the map. 

So what are you going to do in these next few days? Expand? Or contract? 

The post Expand or Contract? appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

On Monday I launched my SEO Glow Digital Course, a product that makes me wildly proud.

I have been working on this course for months, and while I could have launched it sooner, it sat languishing on my desktop for a while. 

Why? Let me know if any of these excuses sound familiar.

♦ My list isn’t as big as I’d like it to be.

♦ I’ve never launched something like this before–what if I make a mistake?

♦ I’d like to keep building my online community so I have a larger following. 

Those thoughts and dozens of others have been whirling through my head for the last two months, scaring me into inaction. 

As you probably know by now: that is not my style. 

I had to get over myself and share this product.

Because guys? I know it’s excellent. I know it can help adventurous entrepreneurs take control of this vital, but often neglected, portion of their business—and I can do it in a way that’s engaging, supportive, and fun.

So how did I make the leap and finally post my sales page?

I finally decided to listen to the advice I so often give to clients and mastermind buddies:

When you have a small list is absolutely the perfect time to launch a new product or service. (Click to Tweet.)

The very thing that can make a launch so challenging for a budding business is the exact same characteristic that makes the timing ideal.

If you don’t have the returns you hoped for because your list is too small, take comfort in knowing that your embarrassment will be minimal.

The big guys? If they launch and flop, it can be a big PR debacle.

The up-and-comers? Audiences are both smaller and more forgiving. Who doesn’t love that?

Worst case scenario? The product doesn’t take off, but you’ve still gained invaluable experience and have learned plenty to help guide your next launch.

You know, when your community is larger and more engaged. When your mailing list has grown by leaps and bounds. When you have exactly this type of experience under your belt.

So go for it! Take a chance, make the leap, give it a shot. It’s not that you’ve got nothing to lose, but you’ve got so much more to gain.

How have you been holding yourself back? What’s going to change, starting today?

Interested in the SEO Glow Digital Course? Get all the details here.            

The post Tiny list? Want to launch a product? Perfect! appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

After months of working behind the scenes, it’s finally time to announce the launch of my first e-product!

The SEO Glow Digital Course

What if SEO isn’t actually as complicated as many experts would like you to believe?

What if it could be a creative way to help your business grow? 

What if it could actually be fun? 

What if you had someone to walk you through the process, explain the tricky parts, and make sure you were doing it right?

What if you had a community of other adventure-minded entrepreneurs to offer encouragement and bounce around ideas?

In this 4-week digital course, you’ll learn:

• what Organic SEO is, and why it’s so important for your business;
• the best free tool available to help you plan your SEO campaign–and exactly how to use it; 
• my favorite SEO plugin for WordPress websites, and how to configure your settings;
• exactly how to structure the content of your website for maximum SEO returns–from selecting URLs to optimizing pictures;
• the role your blog should play in your SEO campaign (and whether it’s worth it to leave comments on other sites drive traffic);
• how to use the #1 social media tool to boost your SEO–most people aren’t doing it right!

If you’ve been avoiding your SEO because you didn’t know where to start, were afraid you would do it wrong, or just couldn’t bring yourself to work on something you were convinced would be mind-numbingly boring, it’s time to kiss your excuses goodbye and take the next step to propel your business. 

Join me September 14 – October 12, and get your SEO Glow. 

The post Launching! SEO Glow Digital Course appeared first on Olivia Bowen.

Will Shatterly’s words have acted as a mantra of sorts for me over the last few years.

When I worked with students on their college application essays, I would tell them they just had to create something as a first draft; we could worry about making it good later.

When I’m coaching clients to improve their writing skills, we need a first draft to work from–even if it’s terrible. (And it’s usually better than they think it is.)

And yet I have spent the last six weeks avoiding the first draft of something I desperately want to share with you. So today, I’m calling myself out and making myself accountable: this weekend, I’m drafting Parts I and II of this secret project, and on Monday, I’ll let you know how it went. 

After all, even if the drafts are terrible, it’s a starting point. And sometimes that’s all we need.

What have you been avoiding? Can you commit to making a giant leap towards it this weekend? Just think how great Monday will feel with that under your belt! 

The post Just Write. appeared first on Olivia Bowen.