Cat's Eye Writer

Do Your Readers Understand Your Business?

Last week, one of my favorite bloggers, Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, threw out a simple question in her blog post, What Do YOU Do? The Un-Meme Redux.

She made me think.

I like that. Thinking is good.

Naomi's question was, "Do your readers understand your business?"

A few days later, a new friend, pajama-wearing motivational speaker (I know, it's kind of weird, but isn't it cool?) Patty K, answered Naomi's question in a post of her own.

Still, it seemed like a silly question to me.

My readers know what I do for my clients.  Don't they?

They must. I blog about stuff every week. Sometimes more often.

What Naomi found out

Now Naomi is one of the smartest Internet marketers in the business and the author of the wildly popular blog, IttyBiz. Still, two years ago, she got an email from a regular reader who asked a question that stunned her:

"So what do you actually do for a living?," she said. 

Could it be that a regular reader and commenter on her blog, someone she has shared emails back and forth with, could not even know what her business is about?

The IttyBiz Challenge

Naomi's wake-up call made her focus on not just what her blog is about but what her business is all about. What she does to solve her clients' problems.

Now, she is challenging us to do the same.

Her questions are good because they help us get to the heart of not only what we do, but why we do it. I decided to take the challenge. 

Naomi's questions, my answers

1. What's your game? What do you do?

I'm a blogger and copywriter. I offer writing and coaching to help people develop a stronger, more unique online presence with blogs and online bios that attract their readers' attention and convert them to customers.

2. Why do you do it? Do you love it or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

People fascinate me—always have. I read every biography and memoir I can get my hands on.  And bringing out each person's uniqueness—through their blogs, about pages and social media bios—is a challenge I jump up and down just thinking about.

Okay, it's also one of those creepy knacks of mine. But isn't it the best possible place to be: when what you love to do and what you do well intersect?

3. Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

I work mostly with crazy-smart, talented professionals with service businesses. The business or life coach. The realtor. The therapist. Anyone who makes a living selling the amazing stuff that’s inside their brain.

They either agonize over every word when they write or they could do a crackerjack job, but they just can't find the time. Some of them just need a little coaching to get into the groove of writing their own blog posts and bios.

Of course, others say, "Please. Just do it for me."

4. What's your marketing USP? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

I was a teacher for many years. I understand all the ways people learn. I know how to show people shortcuts to make them better writers and bloggers. So now I'm the coach who is best at helping people think in different ways so they don't get stuck in The Land of Boring Blogs. 

Oh, and I can say, "Four knives will be sufficient in Swahili." Try to find another blogging coach who can do that. 

5. What's next for you? What's the big plan?

I want world peace, for sure. But after that, I'd like to complete my blogging blueprint book, publish my memoir, write the Big Book for Creative Thinkers, and start an online blogging class.

One more thing.  I want to get that four-ball juggling thing down. I definitely want to do that.

Do these questions resonate with you? Do your readers know what you do?

Try them on for size. You may find some gems that will also work well in your about page. And, speaking of about pages, after my post last week, one of my subscribers, who also happens to be a friend (David Billings, AKA Sparky Firepants),  sent me a message.

"Great post, Judy," he said. "It inspired me to rewrite my about page."

David did an amazing job, without a speck of help from me. You can see his shiny new about page here.

If you take the IttyBiz Challenge, leave a comment with a link to your blog, so we can go see your cool answers.

What's Facebook Got to Do with Blogging?: The Big Facebook Experiment

If you follow the CatsEyeWriter blog, you know that last week I was dragged kicking and screaming into the Facebook universe.

I wondered what the point was.

I didn't understand who was seeing what when I made a comment. I didn't know how to separate family and business pals because, obviously, these are two different groups.

I was confused.

Still, I was seeing many of my buddies using Facebook. And talking about how good it has been for their business. How many new clients they were getting.

But it was the blog post of Michael Stelzner, executive editor of Social Media Examiner, that put me over the top.

If he changed his mind, maybe it was time to give Facebook another try.

But it was so big, so overwhelming, that I didn't know what to do. Until I decided that I needed a goal. Not a big goal.

More like a reason.  

Why should I be on Facebook, anyway?

I needed a reason. And it needed to smack me in the face. Because Lord knows I already have enough social media sites to juggle.

I decided, because I am a blogging coach, that all roads should lead to my blog. I wanted to drive traffic there because that was where the meaty posts, the calls to action and the sales pages for my services were.

That made my goal on Facebook easy. I would give advice, offer tips and because I can't help it, throw in a little strange, weird and funny every once in a while. Things that might make people curious about me.

Breaking it down: my Facebook goals

After I figured out the why, I needed some measurable goals. How would I know if being on Facebook was getting me more blog visitors?

I decided to focus on building my fan base and then see if doing that gets me more pageviews on my CatsEyeWriter blog. And I gave myself 90 days—three months—to reach my goals.

So how did week one go?: 

Goal l: Build a base of at least 1,000 fans by January 15, 2011

The experts say you don't get traction until you have 500-1,000 fans. Because I've always been an overachiever, I chose 1,000 as my goal.

Accomplishment: I went from 0 to 74 fans in week one.

What I did: I focused on my current personal page fans first and asked some of them to "like" my biz page. I also asked a friend or two to click on "Suggest to Friends" to get some more love coming my way.

Next step: This will probably be a mini-campaign across my other social networking platforms (Biznik, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) For that to work, I'll need a landing page to send them to, with a promise of a reward (contest, free information product or something similar). Because they'll need a reason to click on the "like" button.  

Goal 2: Increase overall blog traffic by at least 50% by January 15, 2011

I set these numbers high because the main reason for being on Facebook is to get more people to visit my blog (and hopefully become regular readers).

Accomplishment: Traffic to my blog increased 24% in week one.

What I did: This was amazing growth for the first week. Facebook friends linked to my post. But also, more people were coming from Twitter. It was the direct result of engaging people on Facebook. I also found that when I gave deserving friends a shout out, they reciprocated, linking back to my blog. 

Next step: Set up a regular schedule of Facebook updates with a mix of tips and advice that relate to the topic of my next blog post, links to other thought-provoking posts on blogging and a few updates just for fun. 

Goal 3: Increase blog traffic from Facebook by at least 40% by January 15, 2011

Okay, if I'm going to do this thing, I want a return. Know what I'm sayin'? So, I'm looking for 40% more blog visitors from Facebook than I had in the month before I created my biz page.

Accomplishment: Visitors to my blog from Facebook have already increased by 29% in week one.

What I did: I participated in Facebook discussions, posed questions about blogging and answered questions proposed to me.

Next step: Set up at least 4 blog posts in advance, with lists of resources, tips and questions to build curiosity around the topic of my upcoming blog posts.

Goal 4: Increase blog traffic from Twitter by at least 25% by January 15, 2011.

I'm keeping the numbers in this goal lower for now (may adjust them later) because I am already getting fairly good levels of traffic from Twitter.

Accomplishment: Visitors to my blog from Twitter increased by 16% in week one. And some of those people visited other pages on my blog, such as my about and services pages.

What I did: I haven't quite figured this one out, but I suspect that some of my Facebook fans also tweeted the link to my blog post.

Next step: Find out which of my Facebook "fans" are also on Twitter, send a FB message to tell them I have followed them and, hopefully, get a follow back so we can support each other on Twitter, too.

That's as much as I have thought out right now.

 Please drop by to get periodic updates on my progress in my Big Facebook Experiment. And if you want to fan me on Facebook (I'll have new, relevant content because I despise spam), just click the "Like" button on the top right, in the sidebar, or go here.

How about you? 

If you have a Facebook biz page, what's its purpose? Do you have certain things you'd like to happen there?

About Face on Facebook: Why I Created A 'Fan' Page

Two years ago, I opened up a personal Facebook account.

Then I created a business (fan) page for Cat's Eye Marketing but, sadly, didn't do much with it. Okay, I didn't do anything with it.

Like Michael Stelzner, executive editor of the amazing online magazine Social Media Examiner, I just wasn't seeing the value for business.

I found benefits from spending time on Biznik.com, Twitter and LinkedIn.

But Facebook? Not so much.

I didn't trust my information with them and wasn't even sure who had access to my stuff. Then there was the confusion of personal vs business accounts and who should friend or fan which page.

And there were many options and settings I never figured out. I didn't know what Facebook could do.

Twitter was easier.

I knew exactly who my peeps tweeps were: some were people in my field I wanted to get to know better, some were people I might partner with and others were just colorful, interesting people I could laugh with and learn from.

But Michael's post opened my eyes to what I might be missing. In fact, he predicts that businesses of all types will very soon make Facebook their number one social media tool. 

This powerful statement, coming from such a powerful and smart guy, convinced me.

Why I'm giving Facebook another chance

This writer has a low tolerance level for technology-fueled frustration. What can I say? I've been a Mac addict for 20 years. Apple products I can understand. They are intuitive.

 But even though Facebook has a steep learning curve for the right-brained thinker, I decided to give it another try. If Michael Stelzner could change his mind, well, maybe I should take a closer look.

 If Facebook is not just another place to collect names, if it is a place for engagement and conversations and satisfying interactions with cool people, then I'm in.

 (She clears her throat for an important announcement.):

CatsEyeWriter has a brand new Facebook page!

It's the place where I can find out what you're thinking about, share short newsy stuff, support you and your business— and even surprise you every once in a while.

If you think you might want to join my circle there, I'd be very happy if you popped over and "liked" me there.

I'll keep you posted on my journey. And if you already have a Facebook page for your business, I'd love to hear any and all suggestions for making it work.

Need more fans for your Facebook business page?

Still building your fan list? Leave a link with your Facebook fan page URL in the comments section below (just click on "Comments" and type away), so we can visit and click your "like" button, too.

What about you?

Do you have a Facebook fan page for your business? Is it doing anything for you? How do you engage your fans? 

Let us know in the comments.

Start Small, Show Up Big: 5 Non-woo-woo Results from Using Twitter

There is a term going around in the marketing circles. Some people use it to describe social media.

Woo-woo. 

You know: touchy-feely, makes-you-all-warm-inside, like roasting marshmallows and singing around the campfire kind of stuff. 

In other words, social media—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or whatever—doesn't bring any real, tangible benefits. 

I used to think that, too. 

But, looking at my last 12 months, the takeaways from Twitter alone have been about as non-woo-woo as you can get. 

5 Non-woo-woo Results from Using Twitter

1. Got off-the-charts visibility through 3 high-profile guest blog posts (for amazingly talented bloggers I've never met). 

I met one of the best marketers in the business on Twitter. He invited me to write a guest post for his popular blog. And then an encore post. 

An additional—surprising—result: he added me to his home page list of best small business marketing blogs.

And, through that connection, I met a social media expert who specializes in marketing for rural businesses.

Through a series of seemingly random exchanges on Twitter, she learned that I had moved my business from the city to an island. She asked if I would like to write about that experience on her small biz blog. 

Two blogs with huge readerships and the opportunity to introduce myself to some new folks. I couldn't have bought that kind of publicity. 

2. Grew a close support network of writers I've never met to bounce ideas off of and explore partnerships with.

Both our businesses—Cat's Eye Marketing and Savvy WordPress—are mostly or solely online ventures. Our clients and customers come from across the country. 

So do my friends and colleagues, I have found.

There is something special about tweeting a need for a piece of information or advice and seeing someone in my circle respond with a solution. Whether it's a simple grammar question or a more complex pricing issue I'm grappling with, my Twitter buddies are there. 

The mentoring goes both ways. Sometimes, when Twitter's 140-character limit makes us crazy, we schedule a live phone chat. 

And because we know each other's strengths and niches, we can easily refer work back and forth.

No, I don't do that kind of writing, but I know the perfect person for you.

3. Got help and advice for writing, pricing and promoting my first ebook (see below)—from people I've never met.

This was very cool. Some of my Twitter friends had produced lots of ebooks and shared solid tips and lessons learned: on focusing the topic, figuring out a fair price, finding the right people to help promote it.

Other friends were coming out with their first books themselves. We critiqued each other's drafts, which was hugely helpful because it resulted in tons of insights and suggestions for improvement, all from fresh, objective perspectives.

4. Saw big traffic increases at my own blog when highly respected Twitter followers I've never met retweeted the links to some of my new blog posts. 

Sometimes a blog post will just strike a chord. It comes across someone's Twitter stream at exactly the right moment. And it can happen amazingly fast.

One of my followers will rewteet it to their followers, one of them will send it out again and so on. 

When this happens, it causes a huge spike in my page views and blog visitor numbers. And, more importantly, it increases my chances for more regular readers and subscribers. 

5. Became a member of a close, caring community of other business owners I've never met.

Okay. This one might just be a little woo-woo. 

But I have come to see my Twitter network as my 'support group.' I can have real-time conversations with them. I can take a break from my work every once in a while and just connect.

I can take a moment to share a link to an interesting site that I know the follower of mine who is a history buff would love. Or my photographer friend from Italy might post a "twitpic" of something she calls, "Old Tuscan door."

Kind of the way neighbors used to share stuff over the backyard fence.

Just that moment's break from all my crazy deadlines.

And all these results simply from showing up online in a consistent way. And engaging with people I've never met.

Which brings me to why I wrote a book about 'showing up online'

I wrote Guide to Showing Up Online because I wanted to help people figure out how to start small and develop a strong online presence. You know, the kind that helps them get noticed?

Many people have asked me if I could package up my past blog posts on using social media and emarketing so they can access them, by category, all in one place.

I listened.

And here you have it: my first ebook. In it, you''ll find lots of practical, use-tomorrow ideas, laid out in step-by-step form. 

Step-by-steps for writing online bio's that attract the right customers—the ones you want to serve. For how to avoid writing mistakes that make you look stupid. 

For managing your social media time so you don't burn out.

For creating an enewsletter that your prospects and customers will eagerly consume.

For fixing the number one reason you don't have more blog readers.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, you can buy it here—27 chapters, 91 pages, with photos—for just $17. 

Or learn more here.

Have you seen promising results from using Twitter? Still on the sidelines but thinking about jumping into the waters? Or maybe still trying to figure out if it's the right tool for your business?

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment box.

Don't Burst My Bubble: Why I Think the Social Media Bashers Are Wrong

We are in a social media bubble that is about to burst.

Twitter is stupid.

The hype about the benefits of social media is deafening.

Three comments from three different people. All this last week. Ironic that they were posted on a social networking site. So, technically, they were using social media to sound off on the worthlessness of social media.

Why I think the the social media bashers are wrong

I always have a problem with blanket statements, like, "Twitter is stupid" and "Social media is all hype. As just one of the gadgets in my marketing box, it is there to supplement, to leverage, to add to the building of relationships.

 For me, it's working.

Being active—on Twitter, Biznik, LinkedIn—helps me keep track of what my colleagues and ideal customers are doing. It helps me understand my prospective clients' needs better.

It allows me to reach out and connect when I can't always be there in person. And by sharing what I know, I build credibility and trust.

But every business has to figure that out for themselves: whether it works or it's a waste of time.

Social media coolness: a waterfront walk with a phenomenally gifted woman

I just returned from a trip to San Francisco for an all-day WordCamp conference. So there were workshop sessions and networking, with the chance to introduce our new business, Savvy WordPress, to a whole bunch of casual WP users.

But what happened beyond the conference was even more amazing.

I met Kare Anderson two years ago on Biznik, the business networking site for solo biz owners. She is scary smart—a former Wall Street Journal reporter and now a nationally recognized expert in communication and collaboration. Kare offers amazing insights and thoughtful advice at her two blogs: Say It Better and Moving From Me to We.

We started with just conversations. Commenting on each other's articles. Talking in the forums.

Now I consider Kare to be not just a colleague, but a friend as well. We have bounced ideas off each other and she has generously shared her thoughts and advice about our new biz venture.

And coolest of all? We met for the first time on our trip to SF. We had a three-hour walk-and-talk along the waterfront. We discovered how much we had in common and talked about new ways to collaborate.

And it all started on a simple social networking site.

Who knows where it will lead?

A clever, compassionate dog 

Okay. This one is a little weird. I met @winecountrydog on Twitter, the micro-blogging site. I wrote a post about how excited I was because I was finally going to meet him. And how much he can teach us about branding.

On the Sunday after the conference, Bob and I rented a car and drove up into the green hills of Sonoma wine country. @winecountry dog (and his human) met us at the breathtakingly beautiful Michel Schlumberger wine estate.

We talked for hours at a lovely patio table overlooking the vineyards, sipping incredible wines from organically farmed grapes, all of them grown, produced and bottled on-site. As @winecountrydog, a beautiful Welsh Corgi, lie under the table snoozing, I got to know this amazing person behind the dog.

We learned that we both came from writing/editing backgrounds. We both cared deeply about animals and people in crisis. And we both recognized the power of Twitter to bring people and ideas together.

What will come of it?

I am not one to expect new business to naturally come from growing a relationship. That is the beauty of online networking—or any networking, for that matter. You just leave yourself open to the possibilities and go where it takes you.

We talked about the Louisiana oil spill and its effect on the planet. About the proper way to taste wines (which I needed a lot of help with). About what a magnificent tool Twitter is for building awareness of important issues.

And—just briefly—how a book written by Tilin (AKA @winecountrydog) might help kids understand the way all of us—animals, people, and the land—are intricately connected.

Who knows? That book just might happen.

So, yeah. I think social media works for me.

What about you? What do you think?

Cat's Eye Birthday Reflections: 17 Things I've Learned About Business

Cat's Eye Marketing will be 17 years old on Monday.

Past the crying-burping-spitting-up-all-over-us days. Past making us carry her every freaking place we go. Past learning to walk. And insisting that we attend to her every need.

Now she (yes, I've decided she's a she) is a somewhat independent but very cool teenager.

Every April 19, Bob and I celebrate that marvelous birthday, the day Cat's Eye was born. This year we are giving huge discounts to our clients and even giving away a full blog design and set-up package to one lucky winner on Twitter. You can follow @CatsEyeWriter and @CatsEyeDesign on Twitter and enter simply by retweeting our "Happy Birthday, Cat's Eye" message.

A Lesson a Year: 17 Things I've Learned About Business

When we start our businesses, we can't look past the excitement. We get caught up in the fun stuff because, well, it's fun.

What shall we name our business?

What font shall we use on our business card?

 Where will we put all the awards we're going to win?

The next birthday comes, and the next one, and the next one, and gradually you begin to understand your unique Principles of Business, the things you know are true. Here are mine: 

 

1. I left teaching but I am still in education. Early on, I learned that I am not just a copywriter. I must also educate people about the importance of creating marketing messages that engage customers. And I wish I had a dollar for every client who has ever said, "I wrote this myself. Would you just 'polish it up'?"

2. Joining the Chamber of Commerce won't automatically make my phone ring. It's a cold hard fact. You don't join a Chamber. You join a network of people. So if you get involved, join committees, serve on Chamber boards, you develop relationships with people. And that leads to jobs, Funny how that works.

3. Shy people have to work harder. I must wind up "Talking Judy" and be sure I have enough batteries for the day, especially if I'm going to more than one networking event on the same day. And when I get back home, I am exhausted.

4. I might as well take the $2,000 I paid for a Yellow Pages ad and run it through the paper shredder. When you are a newbie, you can be persuaded to buy things that people (well, really the Yellow Pages rep) tell you that you absolutely must have—until you find out that people don't pick up the phone book when they need a copywriter or graphic designer. They ask around. Or they call you if they met you at an event.

5. Trading out copywriting and design services for restaurant meals just makes me fat. Like $2,500 worth of work taken out in dinners at a steak house. What were we thinking?

6. Starting a business in a town where old men sit on sidewalks and place bets on when the latest store that opened is going to fold probably isn't the best idea. This actually happened in Ocean Shores, Washington. Not your ideal business climate.

7. I can practice saying, "No" in the mirror but charities and nonprofits will always find me. Just like the stray cats who know to show up at an animal lovers' house, the organizations doing good somehow find us. And we give because we love them—and their missions.

8. Never make your voice go up at the end of a price quote. If it sounds like it's a question, surely you aren't certain that this is your price and you can be talked down.

9. Laugh often and long. It helps to have a crazy spouse who is also your business partner. And believe me, if you watch enough movies, there is a line of dialogue for everything you will ever experience in the business world.

10. Having a business partner means I don't have to be good at everything. I have made peace with my incompatibility with technology. But, hey, what's the problem? I have Bob, my tech wizard, just 10 feet away from my desk. When I screw up, his usual line is, "Hmm, I've never seen that happen before."

11. Beware of copywriting clients whose sisters-in-law are English teachers. Because you'll hear, "My sister-in-law says that this is an incomplete sentence." Or, "My brother's wife said that no sentence should ever start with "and." Great for an English composition paper but deadly for engaging marketing copy. 

12. If you name your business Cat's Eye, be prepared for some pretty weird phone calls. We have had phone calls from people looking for witchcraft supplies. Someone else thought we were feline opthalmologists. We should have kept a list because some of the questions were hilarious.

13. My mother told me not to brag but now I do it every day. Well, actually they call it promotion. "Don't talk about yourself all the time," my mom said. "People don't like that." I've learned how to talk about our business without getting all red in the face.

14. If I advise that another copywriter might be a better fit for a prospect, it just makes him want to work with me more. It's strange. Reverse psychology maybe? The less eager you are to take on a certain project, the more persistent the client is.

15. I can't explain my business to a mother who calls voice mail my answering service. She was still back in the days the doctor had people taking phone messages when he was sleeping. "I called you, but I just got your answering service," she would say.

16. When I know who I am and what I do best, it just makes everything so much easier. I finally discovered what I don't like to do and don't want to do, which naturally led me to what I love to do. My niche.

17. I do not need to hide my love for puppets. Because the weird side of me, like the time I made a hand puppet quit my job for me, will be accepted—and celebrated—by the very people I want to work with and get to know better.

There they are. 17 lessons for Cat's Eye's 17^th birthday. What have you learned since you launched your business? 

Google Said I Died: Will That Be Bad for Business?

Every day, about 2pm, my Google Alerts pops into my inbox. It's my free, easy and automated Web search tool that gives me real-time information on the appearance of my name on the Web so I can monitor what is said about me online.

With Google Alerts, I get links to some of the stuff I have said and sometimes to what someone else has said about me.

Through these alerts, I have also come to know some of my namesakes. (Because Google Alerts can't tell us apart, we all appear in the same report.)

The other Judy Dunn's hold a strange fascination for me. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live their life instead of mine.

Take Judy Dunn, distinguished professor of psychology, author and expert on sibling relationships. She wrote a paper on "A cross-study of prosodic modifications in mothers' and fathers' speech to pre-verbal infants" published in the Cambridge University Journal. Not sure what that even means, but I'm impressed.

Okay, I might have been tempted to spend my life wandering the walkways of an ivy-covered campus like the other Judy. Or sitting at my desk, reading freshman research papers. I can see my name etched in brass on my office door: Dr. Judy Dunn. Sounds safe—comforting in a way.

Then there is Judy Dunn, writer of kids' books: The Little Duck, The Little Pig, The Little Puppy. She has a franchise going there, this animal woman. Still, I might get bored and decide to write a book called Mean Old Stingray. And that might frighten the toddler crowd.

Or Judy Dunn, polymer clay artist. Necklaces! Origami clay cranes! Sparkly stuff! This Judy Dunn actually sounds like she has way too much fun.

There is even a Judy Dunn in Canada who thinks her condo association is spending too much money on carpet cleaning. In a strange way, I bonded with her on that.

The day I died

Sometimes a Google Alerts comes in that wakes you up. Like last Wednesday when I found out I had died.

It was kind of weird because I wasn't really expecting it. Just reading along and, bam. There it was.

In the days before Google Alerts, Paul, Jamie's husband on the TV sit-com Mad About You, had his credit card gobbled up by the ATM machine. When he went into the bank to complain, they checked his account and said he couldn't have the card back because he was dead.

He spent most of the rest of the episode trying to prove he was alive. (The woman at the bank just wasn't buying it.)

At the end of the show, he attends the other Paul's funeral. It is that morbid fascination some of us have with death. What will my funeral be like? What will people say about me? A touchy topic played funny.

Today, we don't have to attend the service. We can read about in Google Alerts.

The Google Alerts link took me to my obituary. It was all there in black and white.

I was born in Birmingham, Alabama. I stayed a hometown girl. I was a banker (-e-e-ew!) and worked at six different branches over the years. I had a husband, a son and a granddaughter. And I will "intern" (Don't think that's the right word. Isn't that what college students studying to be doctors and teachers do?) in Austin, Texas to be close to my husband and son.

Okay, I'm a little curious. Why is my funeral in a church in a little Alabama town, but I'll be buried in Texas near my husband and son, who are evidently still living. Why are they in Texas? Are there going to be two funerals? I feel like I deserve answers.

Are all the other you's behaving themselves?

If you are a solopreneur or small biz owner and people totally relate to you—your name—rather than your business, it makes sense to keep an eye on the places you are appearing on the Web.

You may not have died like I did, but one of your name-alikes might have done something truly awful, like embezzling the company receipts or breaking into a house and drinking all their Scotch. Some things you can do to separate yourself from them:

 

1. Set up a Google Alerts account. It's fast, easy and free and lets you keep track of the real you and your name-alikes.

1. Be more focused in your search requests. Put quotation marks around your name when you fill out your Google Alerts request, so the search engine reads it as one phrase and not two unrelated words. It'll save you time going through a bunch of irrelevant results.

1. Consider using StepRep, the free reputation management tool. Having a common name can be a curse. But with StepRep, you can use your widget and profile page to aggregate and link to all sites that refer to the real you, instead of that banker in Alabama who died. And you can influence Google so it's more apt to put your real results closer to the top.

1. Distinguish yourself. Try using a middle initial or middle name in your online identity to separate you from the others.

1. Get your own name and brand out there. Start a blog and post regularly. Comment on other blogs. Participate in forums. The more active you are online, the more Google will want to elevate your results in the searches.

Do you know what your namesakes are doing online? What tools do you have for managing your reputation on the Web?

How to Find Spectacular Free and Low-Cost Images for Your Blog Posts

I've had several questions about how I find my blog post images since my post last week, 5 Ways the Right Photo Can Get You More Blog Readers.

Okay, here it is. 

My Cliff Notes version of sources for intriguing, low-cost photos. Most I have tried at least once and some I go back to over and over again.

Keep in mind that there are tons of other ones out there. If you want to explore some more, just do a google search.

Two more things. When an image is offered royalty-free, that means you pay for the image once and can use it as many times as you like.

Also, some of these companies offer several different versions of the same image, based on lowest to highest resolution. For blog posts, you just need the lowest res one, which, happily, is always the lowest cost.

Visit these sites for lots of great blog photo choices

iStockphoto

This is my favorite. Most of the images in my blog posts come from IStockphoto.

The upside: Wide selection (more than 5 million images); outstanding quality. Royalty-free. iStockphotos is especially good if you are looking for animal images, which I use a lot. All you need to provide at signup is name and email address.

The downside: You do need to pay a nominal fee for usage, usually no more than one or two dollars 

How to get started: I usually buy a number of credits, which become my "bank." I buy my imaged with my credits and restock my credit bank when it runs low. Sign up here. 

Dreamstime

Also have used this one. Quality comparable to iStockphoto. Some free. Most for a fee.

The upside: More than 6 million images by 73,000 photographers. Royalty-free. A limited number of free images.

The downside: Can browse through free images, but it's time-consuming. Most of the better quality photos have a usage charge and, still, ae not quite the quality of iStock. They also requitre more personal information during account set-up.

How to get started: Register for an account here. 

FlickrCreativeCommons

Don't use this one quite as frequently, but occasionally find a photo that is perfect for a specific need.

The upside: Most images are free. Has a good selection of landscape/vegetation photos. Attribution licensing category gives you the royalty-free right to copy, distribute and display the copyrighted photos—as long as you give the photographer credit.

The downside: Consumes gobs of time because you have to wade through tons of images, some of dubious quality, to find what you need. Sometimes the credit and link back to the photographer can spoil the aesthetic beauty of a photo.

How to get started: Sign up here.

 

Stock.xchng

Haven't used this one, but a colleague, Christa Dunk, recommended it and said she loves it.

The upside: Large variety of no-cost, royalty-free images. 350,000 photos by more than 30,000 photographers.

The downside: Like FlickrCreativeCommons, it takes time to browse, sort and find. Need to provide lots of personal information to sign up. Be sure to read the fine print under Terms of Use.

How to get started: Register for an account.

Hope this helps. Do you have sources for good blog post images? If you do, would love if you add to the collective wisdom here.

Oh, yes. And I got the photo for this post from iStockphoto.