Cathy Stucker

Are You Busy or Productive?

Cathy Stucker — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:47:46 +0000

The other day, someone was telling me how busy she has been and all that she has been doing. Her list of activities certainly made it sound as though she is busy, but she doesn’t seem to be productive. There is a big difference. (more…)

Creating a Memorable Slogan

Cathy Stucker — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:36:46 +0000

Great slogans stick in our minds and help us to remember the businesses they represent. You can create a slogan for your business that will capture the attention of customers and help them remember your business when they are ready to buy.

Although clever slogans may be memorable, if they do not make a connection between your business and the customer’s need, they may not be effective. How many commercials have you seen that you thought were great, but later you could not remember what they were advertising? The same can apply to slogans.

A good slogan sticks in your brain with a message that sells your company or your products. The old Timex slogan, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking,” is not only easy to remember (It rhymes!) but it stresses an important product benefit: Timex watches are made to last.

One of the most memorable slogans of recent years is Nike’s, “Just do it.” Although it does not promise a specific benefit, the idea of “just doing it” resonates with the athletic shoe buyers Nike wants to reach.

Here are more tips on creating a memorable slogan for your business: (more…)

15-Minute Projects

Cathy Stucker — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:54:36 +0000

Think you can not get anything done in just 15 minutes? In fact, some of my most productive work is done in 15-minute blasts. Although I use 15 minutes as a standard, you may do some of your projects in 10, 20 or 30 minutes, depending on the time you have available or your maximum attention span. The time you spend is not the key, it is how you approach the project. Here are some ways you can power through your to-do list, 15 minutes at a time.

First, get past the idea that you can not accomplish anything in 15 minutes. Many tasks expand to fill the time available, so if you have two hours it will take two hours. When you only have 15 minutes, you will be amazed what you can do in just15 minutes. Don’t believe me? Think about this: How long would you say it takes to clean your house? Now, imagine that your mother-in-law will be at the door in 15 minutes. How long will it take to clean your house? Get my point? (more…)

Create and Sell an Audio Product - Fast! (Part 4)

Cathy Stucker — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:42:06 +0000

Here is Part Four of my series on how to quickly and easily create an information product.

Part One showed you how to get ready to create your audio product.
Part Two detailed how to produce and package the recording.
Part Three showed you ways to sell your audio product online.
Part Four will give you ideas to market your new product, including pricing.

Let’s start by talking about pricing. The biggest factor in choosing the optimal price is what your customers see as the value of your product. What does your audio program do for them? (more…)

Create and Sell an Audio Product - Fast! (Part 3)

Cathy Stucker — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:12:41 +0000

Here is Part Three of my series on how to quickly and easily create an information product.

Part One showed you how to get ready to create your audio product.
Part Two detailed how to produce and package the recording.
Part Three will show you ways to sell your audio product online.
Part Four will give you ideas to market your new product, including pricing.

If you have been playing along at home, you have recorded and produced an audio program. In next week’s lesson we will talk about pricing and marketing your audio, but here we are going to talk about how to make your audio available online. (more…)

Create and Sell an Audio Product - Fast! (Part 2)

Cathy Stucker — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:48:25 +0000

Here is Part Two of my series on how to quickly and easily create an information product.

Part One showed you how to get ready to create your audio product.
Part Two will detail how to produce and package the recording.
Part Three will show you ways to sell your audio product online.
Part Four will give you ideas to market your new product, including pricing.

In Part One you assembled the tools you will need, including:

A free conference calling account. One I have used is http://www.thebasementventures.com/. They will record the call for you.
Audio editing software. Whether you use Windows, Mac OS, or Linux, you can use Audacity. It is a free download at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
Someone to interview or to interview you. This can be a friend or colleague, or an expert you invite.
A list of questions. These are the outline for the interview.

The next step is to do the interview and record it. (more…)

Free Subscription to Website Magazine

Cathy Stucker — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:58:16 +0000

Do you have a website? Do you want to make your website more successful?

Until now, there has not been a magazine that caters exclusively to the business of running a website. Website Magazine has tapped premier talent in the Internet industry for content and each and every issue will contain practical advice and insights for website owners.

The current issue has features on social media marketing, web analytics, website video on a budget, green hosting, landing page optimization and much more.

You can receive a free subscription to Website Magazine (US only) and get practical advice and helpful tools from industry experts to help any website achieve Internet success.

Get your free subscription here.

Create and Sell an Audio Product - Fast! (Part 1)

Cathy Stucker — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:48:22 +0000

So you have been saying for weeks, months or years that you want to create an information product. You have thought about it, planned and worried, but you still have not done it. In this series, I am going to help you create and market an audio product in the next four weeks.

Part One shows you how to get ready to create your product.
Part Two will detail how to produce and package the recording.
Part Three will show you ways to sell your audio product online.
Part Four will give you ideas to market your new product, including pricing.

Now is the time. Get started today with Part One: (more…)

Make Money Using PayPal

Cathy Stucker — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:48:24 +0000

Download a free ebook with answers to some common questions about using PayPal to make more money on your web site.

One of the easiest ways to take payments for sales at your web site is through PayPal. Although customers can use a balance in their PayPal accounts to pay for products and services at merchants that accept PayPal, customers can buy from you even without a PayPal account. Whether or not they have a PayPal account, customers can easily pay with credit cards or by transferring funds from a bank account.

There are no set up fees, application fees, or monthly fees to accept PayPal at your web site. You only pay a small charge when you make a sale. Compare that to a typical merchant account, where you may pay an application fee of more than $100, then have monthly fees and minimums of $40 or more, even if you do not make a single sale in that month. If I were starting an online business today, I would start by accepting PayPal and only move to a merchant account when I had the volume to justify the expense. In fact, even though I have a merchant account I also accept PayPal, and I find that many of my customers prefer it.

Although PayPal integrates with most major shopping cart systems, you do not need a separate shopping cart to accept PayPal payments. PayPal gives you options with their shopping cart and buy now buttons that can be as simple as copying and pasting some code into your web site.

Want to know more about the nitty-gritty of using PayPal on your web site? Download this free ebook with answers to some common questions about using PayPal to make more money on your web site.

Your 20% Time

Cathy Stucker — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:32:48 +0000

You may know that one of the benefits of working at Google is “20% time.” Google allows their engineers to spend 20% of their time working on projects that are not necessarily part of their normal jobs, but are things they are passionate about.

This is a perk for employees, but the company gets a great benefit, too. According to Google, the results of giving employees free rein to create new things include Google News, Google Suggest, AdSense for Content and Orkut.

Employees do not have to spend that time creating something brand new, either. They can work on an improvement to an existing product, or even fix something that is broken. The point is to do something outside of their normal duties.

If you spend all of your time just keeping things going, you would be smart to implement your own version of 20% time. (more…)