Carol Bentley

You have probably noticed I have been a bit quiet this week. That’s because I’ve been extremely busy on a new project which has got me all fired up! In fact the only reason I am adding this post is because an email just came in I thought you might want to know about.

On February 6th I shared my thoughts about using the mindmapping software from Buzan - iMindMap™ (read the original post at Getting your thoughts on paper - opens in a new window).

Today’s email came from the Buzan team telling me they are soon to release version 3, which contains three new editions of the software. And Tony Buzan is giving a surprisingly generous gift to anyone who already has iMindMap™ before the release date - more about that below. The three new versions are:

Elements: for basic mind mapping
Professional: for businesses and organisations. It includes a high level of integration with Microsoft Office and Open Office
Ultimate: “The ultimate package of features, including an impressive creative and comprehensive Project Management System and publishing tools.” You can import mindmaps created in MindManager and FreeMind.

Naturally I took a look at what the new versions cover - impressive. But I had an ulterior motive because I was invited to get in early by joining their private testing team. If the new features looked good, it might be just what I need for my new project and getting to grips with it now would be great (apart from which I can spill the beans to you on what’s good or not so good! )

So yes, I’ve taken up the invitation to get the early releases (who wouldn’t?)

Tony’s Gift

Giving upgrades at a reduced price is standard procedure for many software companies. Some generously give free upgrades to the next version of the same level of a software package. So I would have expected to get a special deal on this new version of iMindMap™. What I didn’t expect was to be told…

“Tony Buzan is making a once only offer for iMindMap™ users to save over UK£90/US$180/EUR€99 by giving away free upgrades to the ‘Ultimate’ Edition of iMindMap™”

…that’s the top-of-the-range edition - with all the new bells & whistles. And it’s a saving of almost double the current price of a single licence. Not bad.

Plus - the offer applies to everyone who has a copy of the current iMindMap™ before the release date of version 3.

So - if you’ve been thinking about treating yourself to a mindmapping program, here’s one to consider - iMindMap [Affiliate].

I’ll let you know what I think of the new version before the official release date. As they say… ‘Watch this space.’

~ Carol Bentley

Sometimes we forget that we can’t be ‘all things to all men’. And sometimes it is better to concentrate on our strengths and limit our apparent weaknesses by asking for help when we need it.

And it doesn’t matter if the help we ask for is expert knowledge to achieve what we’re aiming at or encouragement and belief from our family and friends to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves.

Many businesses fail because the owner cannot be the expert in everything that is needed to make a business successful. Their passion is usually the service or product they are supplying; that’s where their inherent knowledge lies. But sometimes a business fails because the owner does not know:

• how to create and implement a business strategy
• how to market their business
• how to get sales
• how to control their finances properly
• how to handle customer support effectively
• how to build a website and get it seen by their prospective customers

And a host of other related issues that crop up in business.

And the person that tries to handle all these on their own is creating a huge millstone for themselves.

Getting The Help Needed

The person who asks for help in the area they do not have experience in is showing wisdom. In the early days of a business the funding probably isn’t there to opt for outsourcing.

That’s where networking - talking to like-minded people, offering help and asking for help comes in. And networking can be online and offline.

Offline frequently takes the form of business clubs or groups, chambers of commerce, business support groups - different ones in different countries - and master groups.

Online help is available through forums, discussion boards and blogs, like this one. And sharing those resources can be your gesture of help.

Will you help others?

So - I’d like to ask your help for those people who read this blog.

Which are the most useful online websites you’ve found? And why?

Share your experiences of where you’ve found helpful people who’ve answered your questions and given freely of their expertise - or maybe forums where you already contribute your expertise to help others. In fact if you have a business related blog that I haven’t already discovered, now is the time to let me and everyone else know.

Click the comments link below and tell us all about the support you’ve found, or given, on the net. And, if I believe it is a valuable resource for my other readers, your comment will be approved and will show on this blog.

Thank you in advance for participating and sharing.

~ Carol Bentley

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Wow! You guys (& gals) rock! Your support is overwhelming, I’m really impressed and very grateful. And I’ve had an interesting thought…

Before I tell you what it is, let me bring you up to date with some feedback. I’ve just checked the stats on the www.WriteLettersWinSales.co.uk site to see how my goal to gift my book to 800 business people is going.

Well we’ve had an impressive follow-through with 426 views of the page so far and I haven’t even sent out my offline mailshot or done the press releases yet! They don’t go out until the beginning of next week, cause I thought I’d give you a head start first .

Not everyone who visited has opted for the full book download - but we are getting there

And that’s what got me thinking… and I had a brainwave

Here’s My Idea

Apart from giving you your free copy of the book I’d like to acknowledge the support you are showing me.

So I decided I’d offer a gift to the person who has the highest number of friends accepting the invitation to download the book. And don’t worry - my system has already recorded the number of people you’ve invited and how many have collected their gift, so you won’t lose out if you’ve already been pretty active with this memorial project.

You can send your invitation to more friends at Invite More

What To Give?
I haven’t fully decided what to give - but I’ve got 12 days before the free ebook offer closes so that gives me plenty of time to come up with something really valuable; it may be self-study products (including new ones currently in the development pipeline) or it may be a personal copywriting review with me, which helps to hone your writing skills or - if I’m feeling really generous - I might even offer to write some copy to use in your current sales campaign.

Tell you what - you choose! What would be the most useful and valuable extra gift from your point of view? Click the comments link below and tell me what you’d like to receive and specifically why and how that would help you. If I get a tie between a few people on June 18th I’ll use the comments posted here as a tie-breaker.

Thanks again for your support and good luck if you decide to participate further.

~ Carol Bentley

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Will you help me to reach 800 action-orientated business people with a special gift? I’m just finishing up the web pages and plan to release it within the next day or two. For some businesses this gift can literally turn them around - helping them to generate more revenue than ever before. In fact it ties in strongly with my previous post ‘Ostrich or Hawk‘.

Let me explain. You’ve probably noticed the book graphic in the panel on the right of this page - you may even have the book, in which case I’d like to say ‘Thank You’ for investing in it.

The direct marketing concepts revealed in this book find additional business using sales letters and adverts. It describes the fundamentals of how to make your sales letter more successful, or as Dr Joe Vitale said…

“Outstanding! It shows you an easy way to transform mediocre letters to explosive letters - the kind that get noticed, get read, get sales!”

Unfortunately there are hundreds, No! thousands, of business people who do not understand these powerful principles; who do not use these ethically persuasive techniques and who, consequently, do not get the sales they richly deserve. And, with your help, I’d like to reach out to them with. . .

A Gift To Celebrate

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I lost my Father earlier this year. Dad, who was a gentle and sensitive man, would have been 80 this June. Obviously I can’t celebrate with him, but I know that celebrating his life by helping others (as he always strived to do) is a fitting tribute for him.

But I want to help people in a way that I’m uniquely positioned to do, so

Your Mission - should you choose to accept it..

…is to help me gift a PDF version of this book to 800 businesses (including yours) by June 18th (his birthday); that’s just 10 people for each year of his life.

Will you help me reach this goal by accepting this gift and inviting business people you know to download it completely free of charge and with no obligation?

As I said, the website, describing the book and what it can do for those lucky enough to get a copy, is just going through the final testing stages. It will be ready shortly. Look out for a post entitled Copywriting: A Celebration Gift. And in the meantime check your contact list for the people you believe would appreciate and use this valuable gift.

Thanks

~ Carol Bentley

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Would you like to grab hours of your time back and still get through all the material you need to read, listen to or watch? I share 3 time-saving tips to help you do that!

With so much information; articles, videos and audios swamping us our time is becoming more and more precious, don’t you think?

Yes, we do want to keep up to speed with anything that can help us in our business, our careers or our hobbies/interests – but sometimes it can get overwhelming. There are just not enough hours in the day!

So how can we keep on top of all this; absorb all the material we want without sacrificing the hours we need to do other things?

It’s a challenge isn’t it?

You see, for me, it was important to find a way of minimising the time I spent absorbing necessary information because I’m carrying out huge amounts of research for new products I’m currently working on. I’m talking about checking hundreds of hours of audios and videos; thousands of pages of written material; that’s only a slight exaggeration; I totalled up the pages of the book and articles I’ve researched for one project and it comes to 2,336!

Fortunately I discovered 3 tips to save my time and still get through it all; some you’ll already know about, others may be a welcome solution.

Here they are…

3 Time-Saving Research Tips:

1. READING - I’m pretty certain you already know this one. Speed reading.

Now I’m a pretty fast reader anyway – or so I always thought. Mark, my husband, and I have similar reading tastes when it comes to fiction. So when we buy a new book by a favourite author I always read it first because he takes far longer than I do to finish it.

But I was surprised to discover that my reading speed was only just above average – I say ‘was’ because after going through a program with Patricia Hutchings of Unique Perspectives Un-limited Inc. I’ve boosted my reading speed 2-fold. That has been a huge help. (The training is part of Rich Schefren’s Strategic Profits program - check his blog at Strategic Profits.)

If you have a mountain of reading material you need to get through and you’ve never tried speed-reading training, then give it a go.

Think about it, if it only takes you half or a third of your normal time to read those articles and books what does that mean in saved time for you and your business?

2. WATCHING VIDEOS – More and more self-study and information material is delivered by video these days, especially online. And frequently the delivery mechanism is through Quicktime movies. The problem of course is you are stuck with the presenter’s delivery speed.

Well, actually No – you’re not! I’m watching hours and hours of these videos so I was delighted to find a way of speeding up the Quicktime movie-playback:

When you are playing the Quicktime movie:

Press Ctrl+K to display the A/V Controls (on the menu Window, A/V Controls).
Drag the Playback Speed indicator to the speed you want to play it at.

When you close the Quicktime file it will ask if you want to save the changes. I usually choose Save so I don’t have to reset the playback speed next time I watch the video.

3. LISTENING TO AUDIO - speeding up audio (or video) can give the sound-track a chipmunk effect, which can be irritating to listen to. So I was really chuffed to get a software package that lets you increase the speed of the audio; MP3 or WAV files - anything up to 3.5 times faster (I haven’t tried it that fast!) without the high-pitched chipmunk sound.

What I really liked about this software is it converts and saves your speeded-up MP3 audio file into a new file (leaving the original intact) so you can transfer it onto your MP3 player or even create an audio-CD if you have Nero-Burner or similar CD recording software.

The program is called FasterAudio and Yes! - this is a blatant plug for it - because I’ve saved so many research and study hours with it. That’s why I think anyone who listens regularly to informational audios needs this in their time-saving arsenal.

Up to now there was a restriction on the distribution of the program. It is shortly due to go on general release. The good news is I persuaded the developer to let me tell you about it first.

It’s Not A High Cost

I asked at the beginning ‘How much is your time worth?’

Is saving hours of your listening time worth an investment of £67?

For me it is a definite “Yes!” - but this guy is based in Canada, so he priced FasterAudio in US dollars!

$67!

That means you’re only looking at around £38 for a must-have, easy-to-use, time-saving audio conversion program.

Will I understand speeded-up audio?

That was the question I first asked myself, and I was surprised at how much I actually do.

But why not listen for yourself? On FasterAudio’s website there are audio testimonials from 15 different people - each with different ‘normal’ speaking speeds. You can listen to them speeded up from 100% to 125%, 150%, 175% or 200%. Find the speed that works for you and then calculate how many hours you could save.

OK, ’sales pitch’ over - but seriously it is worth considering the FasterAudio program [Aff]

I hope these tips help you keep on top of the material you need to know in a lot less time. I’m off to do some more listening - I’ll catch up with you again next week.

~ Carol Bentley

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A few years ago I joined the online networking website LinkedIn. Did you? Have you gained anything by being a member?

I can’t say I’ve noticed any particular benefit but I think I’ve been missing an important point here.

You see, over the last few months I’ve been checking how social bookmarking and online networking helps business growth - specifically by encouraging traffic to web sites.

A great many of the bookmarking and networking websites are geared towards the social aspects of interaction. But LinkedIn is, supposedly, geared more towards business networking, which makes more sense to me.

But how to use it? I’m still exploring that, but I wanted to share what I’d discovered so far with you. And this is something that is particularly interesting to anyone selling to the larger companies.

Jill Konrath (I’m sure you remember Jill from my earlier posts) decided to ask the LinkedIn community how being a member had helped them in their business because, like me she hadn’t seen any advantage to being a member. She created a report based on the answers she got. In her report she cites 8 case studies from people who have used LinkedIn to enhance their business activities, as well as passing on some useful tips she received on how to use LinkedIn.

Her report has certainly opened my eyes; and at just 14 pages it’s definitely a worthwhile read.

You can download it for free (she doesn’t even ask you to subscribe to anything, but I’d strongly recommend visiting her blog page at Selling To Big Companies).

Get Jill’s report at http://tinyurl.com/4e293g

Share Your LinkedIn Experiences

Do you have a story to tell about being a member of LinkedIn? Have you made a useful connection? Or got some valuable research from it?

Use the comment link below to tell us what you experienced.

~ Carol Bentley

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Thanks to Phil who emailed to let me know there seems to be a problem with the web address I included in my previous post for Mark Joyner’s book.

If you tried, unsuccessfully, to visit Mark’s website, please have another go with this updated URL.

http://tinyurl.com/4ogohj which describes what he is doing or go direct to the download page on http://www.simpleology.com/training/tio/

~ Carol Bentley

There’s a lot of buzz going on over the Internet at the moment about a new product launch. It gives a strategy to resolve the problem of how to sell online when you haven’t got a list or a connection with someone who does.

You may have already heard of it.. Product Launch Formula 2… it launches today (27th March) at 2:00pm Eastern U.S. time (6 p.m. GMT).

I watched the original Product Launch Formula on DVD as a home-study programme and I’ve seen it put into practice successfully by business colleagues. This version of product launch is for a ‘hands-on’ coaching programme and includes many up to date internet marketing practices.

Pop over to Successfully launching products via online marketing if you want to know more… but you’ll need to act quickly - that’s why this post is going up a lot earlier than normal.

~ Carol Bentley

If you have a website and are familiar with the idea of online marketing you may have come across the term ‘Landing Page’. An ideal web landing page is specifically designed to target a specific audience with an end result in mind; that your visitor takes the action you want.

The design, structure and content of your landing page all have an impact on the outcome of any visit to your webpage. Are you creating a true landing page that makes your visitor feel they’ve arrived somewhere worthwhile - or do you leave them floundering; wondering why they are wasting their time?

• How exciting is your landing page?
• Is the headline so strong your visitor’s eyes are magnetically drawn by it into your message?
• Is the offer you are making compelling? One that no-one in their right minds would dream of ignoring?
• Do you get high conversion rates; you know, the number of visitors who go on to take the action you’re asking them to? That’s the real test of how successful your landing page is.

Testing each element of your landing page moves you closer to the ‘perfect page’ - if there is any such thing - but having a plan before you start also gives you a greater chance of realising your goal.

Get your landing page planner plus…

Ed (I know, I’m always mentioning him - but hey, why not when he’s giving valuable info I believe you can use!) is gifting 3 useful tools for marketing on the web; Landing Page Flow Chart, Web Marketing Tactics and a nifty little tool that calculates the lifetime value of your average customer. And all you have to do is sign up for his blog posting announcements.

So - if you’ve not yet visited Ed’s blog, or if you have signed up but haven’t yet checked out your gifts, I suggest you pop over there and grab them now. Visit his post Three Powerful Resources

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: Internet Marketing Landing Pages Business Resources

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This post is giving you very short notice - and I’m sorry if you don’t see it in time.

I’ve mentioned previously about Ed Rivis publishing his book The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy [Aff]. If you took a look at his blog then you already know about his startlingly low priced 24-hour launch of his book which commenced yesterday (4th March) at 10.30 GMT.

As I write this post that means there is just over 2.5 hours before it goes from £6.99 back to its normal price of £19.97.

The description on the front of the book cover says…

“How everyday business owners can use the world’s most tested and proven online marketing strategies to attract thousands of new customers, hyper-gear revenues, boost profits up to 2.5 to 25 times and grow their business or professional practice within the next 12 months or less.”

I think that says it all - I’ve watched Ed testing and proving these strategies over the last year and, what’s more, in his book he shares how he’s discovered what works as well as explaining what to do.

If you want to take advantage of his ridiculous starting offer pop over to Ed Rivis’ 24-hour Special

~ Carol Bentley

When a well respected UK business coach decides to share his knowledge and experience then taking advantage makes sound sense.

Brian James is just such a person… you may already know him. Brian has recently started his business coaching blog and I know, because I get his regular e-newsletters, his posts will be packed full of useful business tips.

If you don’t know Brian then I strongly recommend you pop over to his blog at http://www.business-coachinguk.com/ and browse his site. You can start by getting 3 chapters from his book for free; he’s gifting them just for letting him send you a notification email whenever he makes a post. Talk about something for nothing!

I’m looking forward to getting great ideas from Brian… you can too if you subscribe.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: business coaching brian james marketing business advice

A little while ago I explained why I migrated to iMindMap from Mind Manager. Chris Ingham sent a message describing the surprising result he gained when he decided to give mind-mapping a try - here’s Chris’ full message (with his permission to share):

Good Morning Carol,

We’d like to thank you for promoting Tony Buzan’s iMindMap.

In an exciting and ‘full’ weekend, we’ve re-thought our Business Plan totally and committed it to paper.

It’s certainly something that I’ve been procrastinating over for a long time and I’ve had some great reasons for delaying: waiting for various marketing to run its course, still running a particular ad., not being able to get everyone focused and on-site, etc., etc.

We’ve found the iMindMap Blue-Print can easily be passed around for input (or not) and with time-limits in place, a speedy result can be on the table in next to no time. I particularly like the fact that the team feel and are involved.

Heading up the particular project is exciting; I (we) can visualise the business growing along with the map. Interestingly, with projects in the past, it’s always been an effort to refocus and concentrate on the job to hand; with iMindMap, you just know what’s down on the paper and you’re (your brain is) in-tune with the content immediately.

For just £58.69 our harnessed, collective brainpower is now a permanent team member.

Thank you for sharing Chris.

If you’d like to get the 7-day free trial you can download it here iMindMap

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. My thanks to everyone who sent their best wishes following my earlier post explaining my ‘absence’. I hope to be able to resume normal service towards the end of next week.

technorati tags: mind mapping sales letters brainstorming

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Your mind is buzzing, your senses are on fire as the ideas come to you thick and fast - you can’t write them down quick enough and you just know that some gems are going to disappear into the ether.

Or you’re listening hard, you want to capture every ounce of wisdom you’re hearing but as you write you’re missing other vital information. Sound familiar?

It was certainly a familiar scenario for me when I used to make my notes in linear form. When I discovered Tony Buzan and his mind mapping it opened up a whole new world. I could capture my ideas, brainstorm creatively and remember what I’d heard with simple keywords on a mindmap.

I remember attending a seminar in 2002 where Ivan Misner was speaking about business networking. I made notes; on a mindmap in a notebook that was no more than 10cm x 6.5cm - that was pretty small! I transferred my mindmap, complete with images to a larger map when I got back to my office. I still refer to that mindmap and in fact have written articles and given presentations to business groups using the material as my foundation.

But I’m not aiming to convince you about how wonderful mind mapping is as a business tool - you may already know that. No, what I want to share with you today is the mind mapping program that has been created by Tony Buzan and his team.

You see, up to now I’ve used Mind Manager from Mindjet. And I’ve got quite proficient at using it for most of my creative work. But today I discovered iMindMap, which has a more organic feel that ties in with Buzan’s concept of mind mapping and the way our brains function.

So I downloaded the evaluation 7-day trial copy and gave it a whirl. And I love it! It is extremely easy to use and - for me - looks just right, completely organic like the mind maps you’d draw by hand.

And, just to show you what I mean, I created a mindmap to match one of my earlier posts: 8 elements of a compelling sales letter. Here it is:

The other point that impressed me is the reasonable cost - just £58.69 per user license compared to £199 for Mind Manager.

I think I’m converted If you like the flow of hand-drawn mind maps you’ll love this software too.

You can download a free trial copy at www.iMindMap.com/drwriter and test it for yourself. And yes, that is an affiliate link. If you’d rather not use the affiliate URL you can just go straight to www.iMindMap.com

I’m off to get some more ideas down using my new mindmapping software, ciao for now

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: mind mapping sales letters brainstorming

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This question came in from Chris Ingham asking how to take control…

Do you have any info regarding Getting Things Done software? Might it be that you’re already using such software yourself?
I’m interested in the different perspectives analysis (entering potential task information into a database, which can be filtered and viewed by perspective, at the click of a button. e.g.

• Context - listing tasks by nature, such as email, call, meeting or shopping, etc.
• Project - listing of current projects.
• Next Action - next action to be taken on each project.
• Waiting For - highlighting tasks waiting for an external event to occur before action can be taken.
• Urgent Now - literally can’t be put off.
• Some Day Maybe - squirrelling away possible tasks

A programme designed for work-life management and not just work. For business owners where the lines between work and life are often blurred ……. like mine!

There are so many different solutions available; some software based, others non-technical and others that are a mix of the two.

My system is a mix and is a process I’ve developed over the years that suits my way of working (part of it is to do with having a brilliantly efficient PA! )

You might like to investigate www.simpleology.com which started off as a very effective off-line system created by Mark Joyner and now has some software tools to go with it. It is a free programme and can be very effective if it suits your working style.

Apart from that I’m not really able to recommend a software solution as such - it’s not my area of expertise.

Your Thoughts?

What advice would you offer Chris? Have you found an effective system you would recommend? Or are there solutions offered that you do not rate - for whatever reason?

Share your experience using the comments link below - I’m sure Chris will not be the only one who values your opinion.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: simpleology time management business resources Mark Joyner

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Today’s blog is a bit shorter and sweet - bet you’re glad about that

How many times have you heard someone say ‘people who take action find the rewards’ or something along the same vein? Well, it is a truism isn’t it? And this post gives you a chance to take a quick and simple action that delivers a valuable (in my opinion) free gift.

You’ve heard me mention my good friend Ed Rivis on occasion. And you’ve seen my comments about the advantage of being a published author. Well Ed is about to join the ranks of being a published author. He has taken his popular ebook, expanded and updated the topics and is about to launch his book; The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy into the ‘real world’.

And to celebrate he’s gifting the unabridged PDF version of the book to everyone who is subscribed to his blog page BEFORE 1st Feb. So you see, a simple quick action and you get this informative book for free. Read more about the book on his blog

Is it worth taking action for?

Well -actually - YES!

Ed is my go-to guru when I want to check anything about Internet Marketing. Whenever I get web marketing advice from someone else I go check it with Ed before taking any action.

Ed helped me get this blog set up - so you can thank (or curse) him for everything you’ve read on here because without his help it would not have been published. And his blog is full of good marketing insights - and not just to do with the web.

But you need to act quickly to be sure of getting a free copy, in fact why don’t you do it now? Pop over to www.edrivis.com and subscribe whilst you think of it.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. Ed has agreed to be interviewed about his journey along the road of being an author - which will give interesting insights if you’re thinking of positioning yourself as an expert in this effective way.