One of the easiest ways to win influence on the web is to help your referral sources (or potential referral sources) by giving them piece of your mind.  Or, in a better phrase, work for them for free. Here’s how.  It’s really very easy.

Become a guest blogger. You’ll have an immediate, captive audience and an incredible opportunity to build and refine new relationships with the very people who are potentially most important to your future.

Of course, in the content of your blog, you’ll probably leave a link to two back to your own site.  As you probably know, Google will consider these links to your site as “votes” for your site.  More link juice for you. More power for your site. More power means better chances to rank well in Google’s organic search results.  Same with MSN and Yahoo.

This year, resolve to be a guest blogger at least two times every month. Later, you might suggest a link exchange with the blog owners.  Test the waters today.  I think you may enjoy it. And who doesn’t enjoy new, meaningful relationships.

Seth’s books always deliver the best–probably the essential–key ideas for personal and professional success.  “The Dip” is no exception.  

Here’s the key idea in this book:

Don’t be afraid to quit the wrong stuff and have the conviction to stick with the right stuff.

Seth wants us to remember that “Never Quit” is very poor advice.

Haven’t read The Dip? Here’s a link to a great summary:

http://bookoutlines.pbwiki.com/The+Dip

Earlier this week, Google announced that they are going to implement their Google Suggest search suggestion feature on Google.com this week. This change will help searchers find popular keywords that other searchers recently searched for.  But it may also impact the core search engine marketing strategy for your firm. 

This appears to me to have the potential to be a profound change. If you are a “do it yourself” seo’er I highly recommend you acquaint yourself with Google’s latest updates.  If, not be certain to discuss it with your seo consultant and webmaster.

For whatever it’s worth, I’ve compiled this ongoing list of most of the management and marketing tools I use in our businesses.  “Ongoing” means I add to and update this list as I see the need.  So it’s pretty much always up to date.

I’m quite analytical and certainly not a “shoot from the hip” guy when it come to making important business tool decisions.  But I’m sure this is a flawed list.  I’m also sure many will take issue with my choices.

My biases: I place high value on learning curve (shape and length), ease of use, intuitive character of the interfaces and, perhaps most of all, customer support and on-line help of the vendor. I almost never buy an important tool from a new or otherwise marginal vendor.

Web :  One and One Hosting.  www.1and1.com
I think I pay less than $20 monthly and host between 20 and 30 websites with them.

Domain Registrar: One and One Hosting. www.1and1.com
At this time I own about 600 domain urls and have about 70% registered with one and one. I think I pay about $7 per year per domain.

Accounting Software:  Quickbooks Pro www.quickbooks.intuit.com
Less than $150 (street price). Update it every couple of years.

Blogging Software:  Wordpress www.wordpress.com
This is being posted on my wordpress blog.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Coach: Jerrid Smith www.smithseo.com
Jerrid also owns and manages the country’s largest Injury Lawyer Directory www.InjuryGuide.com

SEO/SEM (Search Enging Optimization/Marketing) Reference Books I use very frequently.  Both are accessed on-line and are author updated very frequently:
Aaron Wall’s Search Engine Book www.seobook.com
Planet Ocean’s “The Unfair Advantage Book…”  www.PlanetOcean.com

Survey software:  www.Zoomerang.com www.SurveyMonkey.com
I’ve been successful with each of these.  Very easy to use.

Technical Training: www.Lynda.com
Learn the latest tools and techniques in digital media, design, and development. They now have over 400 on-line courses.  The ones I’ve completed have been excellent. About $25 monthly.

Directory software: www.eSyndicat.com
Very inexpensive, intuitive interfaces and reliable. Check out some of my directories using eSyndicat.:
http://floridaautoaccidentlawyers.org/
http://floridatruckaccidentlawyers.org/
http://floridabraininjurylawyers.org/
http://floridamotorcycleaccidentlawyers.org/
http://legalcentersusa.com
http://topinnsusa.com

Graphic design:  Whether you need logo design or web site design, you’ll do well to check out http://99designs.com/.  Basically, you’ll set up a contest, offer a monetary prize and get dozens of “entries”.  I’ve been very pleased. Generally, high quality graphic design from all parts of the world.

There are millions of blogs on the web.  Thousands are started every day. Lots of people start blogs but fail to have a plan to attract readers to their blog.  That’s a little like investing in a great brochure about your practice but keeping all the copies in your closet.

Here’s a great article I found yesterday on building and monitoring traffic to your blog.  It also includes information on correctly setting up your blog for those ready to launch a new blog.

Here’s the link:  Blog Traffic Made Easy

Your future clients will be more likely to “trust” and “support” you when they see your name and “call to action” in their group’s bulletins and announcements.

Of course, there’s no rule that says the church, synagogue or club in which your sponsorship appears must be your church or club.

And the cost to rent space for your sponsorship will probably be VERY reasonable. 

Can you think of other affinity or support groups who might need your services?  Contact them and ask how you can provide sponsorship.

No tombstone ads, please.  Include an inticing “call to action” like “Call for our free Estate Planning Guide” or “Call 24/7 to get your free case evaluation”.

www.webconfs.com has a very comprehensive menu of tools for seo / sem. Try a few.  It’s free but they’d appreciate a donation.

Accounting and sound financial management are fundamental components in all small business success. Financial reporting should play a role in every management and marketing decision you make.

But accounting and finance may well be a mystery to you.  Your eyes may glaze over when you just start thinking about determining which type of accounting software to use. If you’re like most people, you lack an extensive background in accounting. So where do you begin? Fortunately, Today’s accounting software options offer great solutions—providing you with the tools and the information you need to keep your financial records accurate and current, while supporting you in making the most of your company’s cash flow.

You’ve probably already found that there are about as many accounting software packages as there are types and sizes of small businesses. So determining which ones best meet the needs of your firm can be a tricky undertaking.

Of course, you’ll want to consider the special needs of you and your firm and you’ll also want to be certain that whatever product you select is compatible with your CPA’s systems.

Unless you have a full time bookeeper, look for ease of use and intuitive interfaces for each of the most frequently modules e.g., accounts payable.

Which ones are “best”?  Of course, the answer is very situational. 

We’ve been using QUICKBOOKS PRO www.quickbooks.intuit.com/ for several years and are quite satisfied. You’ll pay less than $150 (street price). But this is an important decision for you.  Once you pick a program, you’ll be unlikely to switch soon to another. Compare several of the most popular programs. Two other popular programs you’ll want to look into are Peachtree Complete and MYOB Business Essentials.

A great way to educate, influence and impress your clients and potential customers is the use of newsletters. Email marketing services make it easy for you to quickly begin using professional, effective bulk email campaigns that bring results.

You won’t need a graphic designer to create an attractive email or newsletter. Nearly all good services have various email development features to guide you every step of the way. You can import an HTML page and/or use one of the many templates provided by the service. You’ll soon be adding attachments, pictures, sound files, and more.

You’ll finding managing your e-mail list is a cinch.

A huge advantage to using an online email marketing service is the tracking capabilities. You’ll have access to reports on bounced, forwarded, delivered/undeliverable and sent emails; as well as conversions, click-throughs and more.

We haven’t used them all.  But we have used the ones we believe to be the top two.  And we’ve scoured the internet and chatted with scores of users to determine the real opinions of people who have used the others.

We’re now using iContact www.icontact.com and we’ve also used Constant Contact www.constantcontact.com .  You’d probably be happy with either.  Both do about the same things. 

iContact seems is bit more intuitive.  But both ARE intutive and both have a very short learning curve with very ample on-line training, support, forums, etc.

If you’re a newby to blogging, check out the Wordpress site: http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging