We start with live calls and presentations because these live events are the glue that hold your program together. You build and energy that sustains the entire group when you give everyone a time to come together.

You know that a quality online program offers useful content through all that you’re teaching, but the best programs will offer collateral benefits as well. One important additional benefit is giving participants the chance to be heard and to ask questions.  Offering live calls gives your students the chance to help your student in real time – and shows that you are such an expert on this material that you welcome public Q & A sessions.

Another way to add value to your class without taking on more yourself? Give you participants a chance to meet people who are dealing with a similar problem or who are potential business contacts, and you get credit for making the connection. Live calls build community and help people take the first steps toward getting to know one another.

What details do you need to think about?

• Decide what platform works best. Is audio enough or do you need a video component? Video is important if you are discussing anything technical that would benefit from screen sharing. Audio delivery is often enough if you’re teaching a program related to self-growth or personal discovery.

  • Our video recommendation: Go To Meeting  /Go To Webinar

  • Our audio recommendation: Free Conference Call HD

• Make sure whatever you do is recorded. Though you hope that everyone can make it live, you have to accommodate participants and send along the recording no later than the next day.

  When you promote your class be sure to mention that live calls are a benefit of your program but that live attendance is not essential. In a future post in this series about creating an online community we will cover how you can use the online forum to answer questions for those unable to make the live calls.

• As mentioned above, it’s great to invite your participants to live Q & A opportunities. Depending on the format of what you are teaching, you can allow people to ask questions through your calls or save questions to the end.

  One other set of choices: do you invite questions to be emailed ahead, typed into chat during the call, or do you open lines for people to ask their questions via video or voice? It’s up to you and how many variables you are ready to handle while you’re live on the air. Something to consider: while you could take questions over text only, you really improve your participants’ experience by giving them a chance to interact live.

These tips cover the technical how to elements of putting on live calls for your next group program, but, there’s more to creating a group class than picking the right delivery method and structure.

In the class we’re co-teaching with holistic business coach Cathy Wilke we’ll be discussing how to create and hold space when presenting virtually. You can also expect many other tips and strategies for creating content, promoting your offering, and handling all the tech aspects of your next online groups program.

Learn more and register for Make a Bigger Impact: Grow Your Business with Online Groups http://growyourbizwithgroups.com/course We begin Wednesday, June 26 and we’d love to have you with us!

If you move to a new town, do you expect to meet new people by joining the softball league or by going to the supermarket a lot? You build real connections by hanging out in environments dedicated to mingling, of course.

We all know that content drives online engagement, but first, it’s engagement that drives engagement. That’s your engagement with other people’s content – your perceptive, generous comments.

Now, on some platforms, it is totally acceptable to jump in and comment on strangers’ posts (Google+ and Twitter especially). You can meet great people simply by chiming in and joining the ongoing chat.

But sometimes that is not appropriate – on Facebook, it’s generally not part of the culture. And since your social media style was likely formed by your Facebook experience, you may not feel ready to just jump onto someone’s thread.

The solution? Vibrant online communities that thrive on new energy. A few open groups that we highly recommend:

On Twitter: #MomBizMondays every Monday night at 10 PM ET. Lead by Shelagh Cummins and Lara Galloway, this is the place for mom entrepreneurs. This group helped me “get” Twitter. The best thing? I met Corinna there!

On Facebook: Love and Business Revolution. Lead by Rhiannon Llewellyn, this is the heart-centered entrepreneur’ ideal gathering space.

On Google+: Well, the possibilities are endless it seems! Since Google+ Communities were introduced in January, tons of new groups have been created. We recommend that you visit https://plus.google.com/communities and use the search function to find a community of people who share your personal and professional passions.

What to look for when you decide to join a community (after all, you want to be discerning about this and only join us with those whose vision and style complements yours):

• Is it clear what the mission of the community is? Do the first few posts you see seem aligned with that mission?
• Are there community rules? Do people seem to stick to them? Can you stick to them?
• Who are the community moderators? What’s their style? Are they present in the community?
• Are people talking to each other in this space or are they just using the community as a classified board?

Avoid the self-promo only communities. You cheapen your own message by adding to that noise and you’re wasting precious time when you post there. And if you don’t like the way that people interact with one another, keep shopping. There are too many good people in the world to hang with abusive trolls!

We’ll be talking about wonderful (and not so wonderful) online groups and why they work in a free class we’re teaching with Cathy Wilke tonight (that’s June 10) at 8 PM ET. The session is called Creating Online Groups: the Rewards, the Challenges, and the Strategies.

Register to join us live and/or get the recording. We promising there will dancing, prizes, and great information for all (honestly, all three!)

The moderators of such a community are kind, generous, and magnetic. It seems like a no-brainer: you want to create such an online space for your tribe too. But then… you actually try to do that.

In December 2012, Google+ launched Communities, their answer to Facebook Groups. In the excitement to try it out, people were creating countless communities about every topic under the sun. Some have become hubs and gathering places. Others fizzled after they had their first few dozen members.

I created a community called Healers of G+ because I wanted a spot where holistic practitioners could meet and talk about the business side of their practices. It seemed like a good idea because healing work is something I am passionate about. At the same time, being a hands-on healer is not something that is always front of mind and my current practice is very small. I’ll fully admit that I do not have the time or interest to learn about other modalities right now.

Guess what you need to have in order to successfully run a community? The time and interest to learn about what’s important to the community members.

Truth is, I do not read articles about healing in my spare time unless it is to learn about a concern or condition that is touching my life right now. Instead, I read about business, social media, motherhood, women’s issues, and the organic living movement. When I do study about healing, it’s part of a personal journey that I share with the few clients I see. For me, some material does not get leveraged into the social sphere.

So, if my own work as a healer is not a major part of my social media presence, why did I think I would successfully attract and hold an online space for healers?

Honestly, I created that community to gather together my own pool of prospects… to learn from them and, yes, to sell to them.

This may always be part of the motivation if you are creating a community that is related to the work that you do, but it cannot be the only reason. You have to be passionately committed to creating a vibrant group space where people can share ideas, support one another, and actively learn from one another. Otherwise, it just devolves into a virtual classified board.

Do you have the energy and the vision and the dedication to create and sustain an online community that serves the members and your goals? We’ll be talking about this in depth during a free class we’re leading with Cathy Wilke of Freedom and Fulfillment on Monday, June 10 from 8 – 9 PM ET.

For details and to sign up, visit: Creating Online Groups: the Rewards, the Challenges, and the Strategies.

As for Healers of G+? I think I’ll continue to let it fade away. When I do create another community space it will be for a group whose success I am 100% invested in and who interests I share in the online space and the offline world. I live and breathe Online Empowerment… it would only make sense that, together with Corinna, the vision could expand to include a public community dedicated to helping people balance their conscious lifestyles, their business vision, and their presence in the online world. Stay tuned for that!

And remember: we’re live on Monday night with the tips for how to create sustainable online groups – both free community spaces and for-a-fee web-based programs. Please join us!

When you’re hoping to get from no clients to lots of clients, does it really matter what social media platform you use to attract them?

In both situations, if you’re just focused on the end result, it doesn’t matter what you drive or how to spend your time online as long as you reach your goals.

But is that enough for you?

You have countless options when it comes to transportation because choice and individual preference is important to people. And you have many options when it comes to promoting your work online because different platforms support your message and your personality in different ways.

One of the fundamental aspects of Online Empowerment is enjoying the digital ride. If grit your teeth tell yourself that all that matters is getting more fans or if you put hours in every day to making your online presence look impressive, you’re not empowered. You’re a slave to the Internet taskmaster that will always suck up as much time, energy, and money as you’ll allow.

We invite you focus on the big picture: the final destination, the journey, and the vehicle that enables you to ride in comfort and style.

This means that building your business matters, building a sustainable marketing strategy matters, and enjoying your time online matters.

You lose your way on the Web when you start to focus on the platform instead of the message. Then you’re just trapped in the “gee whiz” loop, endlessly following the next big thing without tuning in to what’s important: reaching your ideal clients and making them part of your brand’s family.

When we talk about finding a platform that suits your personality and your brand best, the decision shouldn’t be based on novelty or whim. It should be based on a balanced look at what’s best for business, your goals, and your temperament.

We’ve been encouraging you to look more closely at Google+, but we don’t just believe in trying something new for the sake of change itself. And it’s not just motivated by frustration over changes in other platforms (Google+ changed radically just a few weeks ago!).

We recommend Google+ because it is an integral part of that bigger picture. Please spend an hour with us on Wednesday, June 5 (that’s tonight!). We’re live on a Google Hangout On Air between 8 and 9 PM ET. The plan is to share with you just why and how you can make Google+ work for your business and for you in a way that’s truly holistic, meaningful, and worthwhile.

See you at 8 PM – or sign up here to receive the recording!

The first rule of social media marketing is probably “create epic content.”

The second rule is most likely “spend time where your ideal clients hang out online.”

Wanna break one of those rules, get really, really great at living out the other, and believe more in power and potential of social media than you ever have before?

Where are you “supposed” to be hanging out online?

If you run a service-based business aimed at educated women in their 30s and 40s, that means you “should” be spending an obscene amount of time on Facebook and a fair amount of time on Pinterest. (Here’s an up-to-date social media demographics breakdown for more of this.)

Thing is, you’re hanging out with a great many like minds with similar offerings aimed at the same crew of potential clients. Even if there are millions of “perfect people” in spaces like these, you’re in a noisy room with many other savvy, dedicated entrepreneurs trying to use engagement strategies that are very similar to yours. (Inviting friends to like you page, using video whenever possible, ending posts with a call to action such as “Like if you’re excited it’s Friday!” – you get the picture.)

You may be getting frustrated really fast in this crowded environment where it’s nearly impossible to stand out without taking your clothes off (and that just isn’t true to your brand and will not turn your ideal clients on!)

Where do you want to be hanging out online?

To add insult to social media injury and loneliness, following your ideal clients around the Web does not take into whether you actually like spending time on those platforms.

Do you hate the way business networking mixes with pictures of you at the junior prom in the Facebook newsfeed? Are you still stressing about how on earth you not-very-visual services can compete with totally pinnable crafts and dresses?

• What if you started hanging out at a platform fueled by grown up conversation about your passions? 
• What if you were no longer victimized by a pay-to-play model that means you have to promote a post to get it in front of people? 
• What if you could express yourself in more than abbreviated comments and bit.ly links?

Though the link to that demographics study above doesn’t mention Google+, I can tell you that this platform satisfies those three point above. And, other studies do show that Google+ is on the rise. In fact, G+ is now the second most popular social media platform in the world. Yep, it’s bigger than Twitter.

So why aren’t you logging in and seeing what it can do for you?

Truth is, your ideal clients may not be on Google+ - yet. But they are going to catch on soon. Wouldn’t you like to be the established voice ready to greet them, make introductions, and be a go-to resource for what is swiftly becoming a must-use social media platform?

We invite you to join the free class we’re teaching via a Google+ Hangout next week – 8 PM ET on June 5. It’s called Your Business Beyond Facebook: Maximizing Your Online Presence with Google+. Don’t worry, you don’t need to log in to G+ to watch – just sign up here: www.YourBizBeyondFB.com

Have you ever stopped asked yourself what your business’s ideal social media platform is?

If you find yourself frustrated with all things social media, it may be time to look at the whole relationship you have with the platforms you’re using. In other words, maybe it’s not the social media network, maybe it’s you. Please, don’t misunderstand – it’s not that there’s anything wrong with you if you cannot make the platforms everybody’s using work.  As internet citizens, we have not figured out how to think about the way we consume information in the conscious way that we think about how we consume things like food. You know some foods don’t agree with you, so you avoid them. What if you looked at social media in a similar way? After all, we’re still exploring the social media garden as we go. Just because over a billion people are on Facebook doesn’t mean that all of them should be there or that they’re particularly happy with the experience. Facebook has been the one-size-fits-all approach, but if it is making you crazy, you have to give yourself permission to rethink it all. To boldly challenge the conventional online marketing thinking that says “hang out where you think your target audience is” I suggest that you’ll get more out of your social media efforts if you focus more on finding a space that supports the personality of your brand.

What Social Media Platform Matches Your Brand’s Style & Goals?

• Is your business a friendly, flitting butterfly that easily rubs elbows with pictures of everyone’s kids in the Facebook feed?
• Are you at your entrepreneurial best when showcasing your lush images on a Pinterest board?
• Does the short, rapid-fire style of Twitter suit your no-nonsense sort of brand?
• Or, perhaps, does your company’s style tend toward thoughtful, in-depth conversations? Tell me, have you considered that your ideal social media platform may be Google+?

Google+ and I have started up what Bogie would call “a beautiful friendship.”

Four reasons Google+ fits my brand and my style

1. I’m not forced to speak in soundbites. I like that I can offer context and a deeper story when I share something on Google+ and that I will be rewarded with more engagement, not less.
2. I’m challenged to think and respond in a way that I’ve rarely used since I’ve started calling myself a copywriter. Communicating in this way brings me back to the bookish side of me that I’ve really missed.
3. I can also bring my silly side – pictures of cats and Star Wars humor are celebrated here!
4. Even if I’m connecting to many who are not the creative entrepreneurs and wellness professionals who make up the Online Empowerment ideal client profile I trust that these relationships matter and are enriching my personal and professional life.

So, these are my reasons. Depending on your personality, your business vision, it could all be different. Would love to hear about what platform suits you best and why in the comments below.

And, if you’re ready to take another look at what social media platform would really support you best and you’d like to think about Google+, we invite you to join our free class on June 5 from 8 – 9 PM ET. Get the details at www.YourBizBeyondFB.com and check out the video we created using Google+’s awesome Hangouts On Air!

We dared you to try this Inspirational Quote Diet. In brief:

Pick one quote per day. Post it. Live it. Then use the rest of the day’s posts to talk about why it’s important, why it should matter to your community, and why it is relevant to your work.

Here’s the quick Online Empowerment step-by-step guide to making one inspirational quote the center of each day’s marketing message. We hope this inspires you to have fun with the Inspirational Quote Diet and really make it part of your own journey through the day.

Live the quote and make it real

So, why did I pick this quote?

“My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.”

The quote is from one of my daughter’s favorite books, The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. This story is about discovering your true self and staying true to your passion and vision no matter what anyone says. In the end, one man’s creative expression inspired a whole neighborhood.

Because Online Empowerment is focused on website creation, when I think “house,” I think “homepage.”

Can you create a website (and, by extension, a business) based purely on your personal mission without a care for what anyone else thinks?

If your purpose is to sell something, the answer might be no.  You have to consider the marketplace and how your vision will connect with real people’s needs and interests.

That said, you still need to stay try to the passions that fuel your work. Your business cannot thrive if it only exists to satisfy the needs you imagine your community. It needs to feed – and be fed by – your creative fire too.

The ultimate goal of sharing this quote? To inspire you to look at your business through the eyes of a three-year-old’s dreams.

The extra bit of insight I want you to get? Hold on to your beautiful personal vision while being an entrepreneur creating something that serves clients and yourself. 

These figures all have their place on the bookshelf and in history, but these days, they have the most prominent places on the Facebook stream.

I’ve just watched lovely one-liners by each of them flash across the screen, all with a nice PicMonkey treatment.

Are we inspired by another quote falsely attributed to Einstein? Maybe. But given the sheer volume of quotes coming at us, it all becomes a little meaningless. It becomes more stuff we only consider for the time it takes to find cursor and keep scrolling. Also, we won’t remember who shared what line from which wise person. If you’re posting quotes like this, the most the you can hope is that the people in social media land will associate you with famous sayings that are not completely annoying. What else do they really know about you and your business when you just post things that other people said?

Am I being really negative here? After all, some really popular pages have been built on sharing little gems from Ghandi one moment and then Queen Latifah the next.

I certainly have spent plenty of time plunking a famous person’s quotable text next to pictures and typing my URL in the corner. At it’s core, sharing lines that motivate us or make us happy is a great way to introduce ourselves to our communities.  We hope that readers will realize we’re of the same since we too find things that Carl Sagan says are really interesting (even we understand nothing about the scientific knowledge from vague high school memories that made Sagan worth listening to).

So, if sharing quotes works, why criticize? Two reasons:

1. It doesn’t work for everyone. Posts featuring essentially the same content with similar pictures may receive totally different response rates. Though you might hit the social media lottery and create a post that goes viral, the success of repackaged wisdom depends on how much social currency you’re holding. It’s true that people love quotes, but you are not going to build a strong online presence – never mind a business – if you’re sharing the same old stuff that is also coming from people and organizations with thousands and thousands more fans than you have.
2. You can do so much more for your image and for the health of the Internet when you create something original.

What? Take away the easiest social media option? Rob your community of the chance to see another cute picture of a mama cat and her babies next to a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt? Would the Internet go on without such things?

Don’t hate me! I have a suggestion!

Now, I’m not saying that we go cold turkey and abandon all of the wise words of the successful, the famous, and the brilliant. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. Churning out half- baked ideas or stressing about trying to beas eloquent as Maya Angelou when writing just isn’t your thing isn’t going to help your business or your social media presence.

Instead, pick one quote per day. Post it. Live it. Then use the rest of the day’s posts to talk about why it’s important, why it should matter to your community, and why it is relevant to your work.

Suddenly, the wisdom of the world is really making us wiser and more connected.  You’re using social media to live and work in a more well-considered rather than just making HootSuite happy with bunch of random one-liners.

 So, will you go on the inspirational quote diet with us and see if you find you’re interacting on social media in a fresh way?

Leave a note in the comments and tell us if you’re on board. Give it a week and see if you’re feeling like you’re getting something more out of social media – both in terms of responses and in terms of personal satisfaction.

Today we’re focusing on another way to measure what sort of impact you’re having on Google+ – real conversations and exchanges of ideas!

It began with an article I shared to my Google+ stream about body image and mirrors. People are most likely to engage with you when you preface an article with your own thoughts (Google+ success tip!), so I prefaced it with a comment about how often we see our own images now thanks to Google Hangouts and FaceTime.

A major Google+ influencer, the SEO & Social Media Author, Speaker, Analyst David Amerland commented on my post with a mention of  “synchronicity” – he’d just posted on how web cams are changing the way we see ourselves. I replied that the word synchronicity reminded me of college when every class, even those that seemed to have so little in common, began to echo the other.

And the rest, some are saying, is social media history in the making.

Inspired by my comment, David put up a post he called “Welcome to the G+ Campus.” Expanding on what I had said, David offered: “At College synchronicity is everywhere because everything there has been engineered to challenge your mind, broaden your horizons and make you learn.” The resulting conversation showed that Google+ really is able to do that too.

The thread was active for days, and it has garnered 212 comments and has been shared 15 times.  Now, over at Facebook, those numbers may not seem all that impressive. But, keep in mind, no one who started the thread was “famous” and the picture David included was of a rather generic looking college campus. The post was popular just because of the quality of the ongoing conversation and a shared interest in going deeper, exploring more ideas, and making more connections.

Several people really did say it was an historical moment in social media.

At first, I just didn’t get the sense of awe that people are expressing over the whole thing. It was a smart, respectful exchange of ideas that have covered the nature of community, knowledge, technology, education, parenting. Isn’t that what social media is supposed to be about?

Hmmm… look at your Facebook stream and tell me if you see an overabundance of thoughtfulness, respectfulness, and substance.

But still, I can point to so many exciting, meaningful conversations that have happened thanks to social media. After all, Corinna and I became business partners thanks to meeting on a Twitter chat. I’ve never met any of the amazing women who were part of the Online Empowerment Hangout Series. The connections we made are very real and the ideas that we’ve shared have definitely rippled through my life and work.

There’s the key phrase: “thanks to social media.” We’re lucky to meet one person because of a Tweet or a visit to a Facbook page and deepen the relationship over time on other posts and on other platforms. Social media does its job of connecting us and we find other ways to move things forward.

In this Google+ case I describe, the conversation all took place within one thread, involving dozens of previously unconnected people who were now talking with one another. Oh, and one other thing that was significant (at least compared to my online experiences) – the participants were 85% male. Yeah, looking back, it was pretty unusual. Community was being created in a new way for a group of individuals who had never coming together in such a way before.

The Online Empowerment community tends to be female and the majority have not found your Google+ groove yet, we know.  But this tale seems important to tell for several reasons:

1. The level of conversation over at G+ really is amazing and it will challenge you to think in a way you may rarely have been called to do outside of the classroom (in a good way). 
2. Maybe it was brief moment of meaningless social media stardom when I was credited with making “the comment heard round the world,” but I trust the magic of these online connections that someday, somehow this will equal some kind of important exposure. 
3. On Google+ you have an opportunity to talk to people you would never chat with otherwise. Does this fly in the face of the marketing advice that says “go where your tribe hangs out.” Totally! But refer to point #1 (it’s good for the brain) and #2 (you just never know), and we hope you consider taking the gamble.

We’d love to see you over at Google+. Please circle me, Corinna, and Online Empowerment Formula.

Just announced May 23! We’re co-leading a FREE online class on June 5: Your Business Beyond Facebook: Maximizing Your Online Presence with Google+. Join us!

First, you need to be empowered to hold these four keys, get to “know what you don’t know,” and take steps accordingly.

To be an empowered entrepreneur who is making the most of the online world, when it comes to your website you need master two key elements of Online Empowerment: a) know when to ask for help and b) know what to ask for when a problem arises.

Also crucial to being the online empowered entrepreneur you want to be: have a website you control, built on the most popular website building platform in the world, WordPress.

Boy, you’d think WordPress was paying us to say that or something! The reality is, WordPress (WP) is not a for-profit company. WP is open-source – it’s shared by the people who have contributed to its success, and everyone else who is using it to power their website.

Here are the 4 keys that will help you gain a little more control over that all important backend of you most important online asset - your website:

#1 – Organize your Keyring: Be sure you have access to all your website-related accounts. This means having the URL to login, username and password for each of the following (but not limited to):

• hosting company
• domain registrar (may be same as above)
• FTP
• WordPress (or other content management system)
• database
• email list system (i.e. Aweber, MailChimp, etc)
• PayPal or other payment gateway
• shopping cart
• any purchased theme or plugin (if you purchased directly. Sometimes web developers have memberships that give them unlimited access – unless you pay for their membership, that access belongs to them)

Be sure that you write down URLs, usernames, and passwords associated with these accounts. Don’t rely on your computer or phone as the only storage point for this information!

#2 Be sure the keys fit the locks. Now that you have all the credentials you need, use them! Take 30 minutes to try logging into each of these places for two reasons:

• so you are sure you’ve got the right information – and can go back to your site developer if necessary
• so you are a little familiar with the interface so that if the need arises and you HAVE to get something done, you’ll know where to turn for help. Look for the Support or Help option at each location. If they have an online chat, send a message to see how responsive they are.

#3 Always have an extra set - your backup plan. Both for your website, and for the people/person you rely on to maintain it for you – even if that person is YOU!

• Schedule regular backups using a plugin (assuming you’re using WP). The one we recommend is BackWPup. It’s free and allows you to send the backup file to multiple destinations (including Dropbox), in a variety of formats.
• If you run a solo business, who is your back up person should something happen to you? Can/should your website keep running even if you are not active in yourbusiness?
• If you run a business with multiple employees, you need to remember to manageyour website too, even if you never think you’ll need to do any of the hands on work.  Be sure that more than one person on your team is empowered to take on responsibilities.
• And, if you’re outsourcing website support, be sure to ask the company about their back up plan. What happens if your contact should leave the organization? If it’s another solopreneur business make sure you have a plan of action should they go out of business or they become unresponsive.

#4 Change the locks just to be safe. There has been series of global attacks on many unsuspecting WP websites recently.

• Change your WP password to a proper, secure password. This means different from all your other passwords, at least 10 characters with letters and numbers, uppercase and lowercase – and request that your web developer and anyone else with administrator access, does the same.
• Install a security plugin. We recommend “Better WP Security.” Again, this is a free plugin. It’s comprehensive, effective, and configurable even for the unseasoned WP owner.
• Check with your hosting provider. Using your ’keys’ (credentials) from above, contact your hosting provider and ask them what kind of security measures, if any, they have in place, and whether they have WP-specific strategies.
• For a more in-depth look at ways to secure your WP website, this is a valuable resource: http://www.copyblogger.com/wordpress-website-security/

What do you know that you need help with? Visit our Facebook or Google+ pages to leave us a question about the back end of your WordPress site and we’ll help connect you with the resources that can help!