• How to Start a Mastermind Group Effectively

    October 30, 2009 // No Comments »

    Last year I wrote a post how to start a mastermind group that has been on the first page of Google for a year.  I get a lot of traffic to this blog (that I don’t write all to often on now) from this one post.  That’s the power of SEO!   I say that to say that I’ve had a ton of interest from folks online finding me via Google and Yahoo search asking me how to start a mastermind or how to find the right one to fit in to.

    I have started 2 different Mastermind Groups for different niche markets within the last 3 years and have most of the experience in leading them.  I’ve learned from my experience and mistakes what things to understand when you are starting a mastermind group.  Before you start or join any ole’ mastermind group you will want to have at keep at least 5 things in mind (below).

    Both times the benefits of starting and participating in the mastermind groups were immense.  I was more productive, motivated and felt I had a big support system in place.  I did better financially because of them as well.

    As a matter of fact it is commonly said that the income you generate from your business(es) is a direct reflection of the top 5 people you invest your time with.  So let’s get to some masterminding rules of thumb to get you started masterminding on the right track!

    How To Start a Mastermind Group That Lasts Effectively

    From a Mastermind Leader Perspective: Learn from the Online Mastermindress…

    1) Know what your Goal for having the Mastermind Group Is .

    Ask Yourself:

    • Why do you want to start a mastermind group in the first place?
    • Do you want to find a group where you can bounce Social Media or SEO ideas and theories off of?
    • Do you want to find a mastermind group where you can fit in and have them help you with your information product launches?
    • What exactly do you hope to gain from forming the mastermind group?  Is it personal and financial development?
    • Write down your goals and create a mission statement for your mastermind group that the whole team can rally around.
    • Be clear on why you are doing it.  Don’t just follow the pack.  Your group will last longer if you all have a common goal.

    2) How Much Time will You Commit to Leading or Sharing the Mastermind Group Leadership Responsibilities?

    Leading a mastermind group not only means that you will devote an hour every other week to have a virtual round table discussion on the best way to launch an information product, build your SEO and web visibility or influence your social media fans.  It also means putting in the time to make sure you are aware of every single members’ goals and intentions for participation in the group (as well as their evolving goals).

    Be prepared to be a true leader in every sense of the word.  Care about the other members’ goals and aspirations.  Make them feel important by allowing them to run a mastermind meeting.  Leaders also have to follow in order to lead.

    Also, be prepared to invest your time in the weekly/biweekly/monthly agenda.  One thing I’ve learned is that having somewhat of an agenda or at the least outline will help you get the most out of your mastermind group meetings and will also help your partners see the value in continuing to contribute to the group.  If you are not organized it will seem like a waste of your partners’ valuable time.

    3) Build a Mastermind Group of True Givers.

    While we are on the subject of contribution… Find partners who will contribute weather monetarily or with their time and skills to help the group flourish.  Don’t accept any tire-kickers in your group.  Keep the complainers and whiners out.  You want a group of positive minded, success-driven, go-getters who are creative, and will contribute in any way they can.  These folks stick around longer and commit their time and energy into making the group a collaborative success.

    4) Don’t Just Be Mastermind Group Member.  Get to Know Each other on a Personal Level.

    This is something I highly recommend.  It can’t be business all of the time.  Besides mastermind partners are more of like business partners who are also great friends.  Think of Henry Ford , Napoleon Hill , and John D. Rockefeller .  Those folks’ mastermind partners were almost like family.  The more you know each other on a personal level, the more you trust one another and the more the group grows business wise because of it.

    5) Stay In Touch and Grow In Between Mastermind Groups Meetings.

    Depending on how rallied and committed your cause and your group is you will want to possible have accountability partnerships AKA "goal buddies."  Having someone that you can connect with on a more frequent basis in between your meetings will help you on the right path to accomplishing all of your online marketing goals.  Share tips, articles, valuable tweets etc on Facebook or FriendFeed.  Keep each other motivated by staying in touch in between sessions will make all the more difference in a cohesive mastermind group that outlasts and lives out its mission.

    Any questions on how to start your mastermind group? Are you ready to join one?  Let us hear how helpful these tips were for you.

    I appreciate you!

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    Posted in Habits of Entrepreneurs

    Creating Clarity in Blogging

    November 12, 2008 // No Comments »

    Hey All,

    In order to create clarity sometimes it’s necessary to connect with leaders who are where you’d like to be.

    Last Friday I connected with Michael Martine of Remarkablogger for a blogging strategy session.  Michael is a seasoned blogger and blogging consultant.   The blog strategy session was phenomenal to say the least :-)  Michael spent over an hour with me on Skype providing honest critical feedback about this blog you are reading.

    He was super helpful in teaching me some cool SEO techniques as well as in helping me develop a clearer vision for this blog.

    To be honest, when I started this blog, I didn’t do enough keyword research to ensure I had nabbed the best niche and profitable main keywords. I just went with my gut feeling and began to blog about the things I was passionate about.

    Even though I am sometimes on page 2 of Google for one of my main keywords, “online productivity, ” I find that no one is looking for the personal productivity material I have here.  Rather they are looking for internet applications to help save time.  It wouldn’t matter if I were on page 1 of Google because I wouldn’t provide the solution THEY would be looking for.  So, I the lesson here is that I have to define my niche more clearly.

    Michael helped me realize I should narrow my niche even further.

    I could become angry and mope, but I choose to look at it as a moment of clarity.  At least I took action.  I now realize I can give up on that keyword phrase and move on.

    What’s more, you seem to have found me somehow anyway! :-)

    Many of you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, My Blog Log or Blog Catalog.  I have already begun to develop a loyal following in you.  Had I hemmed and hawed about keyword research before beginning this blog I probably wouldn’t even have this blog or connected with you.

    I say that to tell you this…taking any kind of action in your online endeavors will always create clarity.  Imperfect action is better than no action at all.

    It is the way you perceive the outcome of your actions that will determine whether or not you can move on with excitement or disappointment.

    As an online entrepreneur, you must look at every outcome as a learning lesson and move on.

    So, within the next few weeks I’ll be making some good changes to the blog.  My focus will be more on successful mindset development and creative marketing.

    My social media marketing and blogging content will go on another blog.  I am working on with some really neat leaders in social networking and Internet marketing at Secrets to Web Success.  It is also where you will be able to find a range of blogging and social networking consulting services too.

    In addition, I’ll be unveiling a pretty powerful e-book on developing the mindset of a master marketer within the next few days that will be a cornerstone product here at daliburgado.com.  Make sure to check your tweets or your RSS reader for that announcement!

    In the meantime, let me know what else you would like to hear about on this blog. This blog means nothing without your input!

    I appreciate you!

    Dali Burgado

    Posted in Habits of Entrepreneurs, Internet Marketing Productivity

    Achieve Google Page Rank Fast

    October 27, 2008 // No Comments »

    Google Pagerank.

    After subscribers, it’s what all new or seasoned bloggers want.  Whether you are still trying to get your first one or are working on improving your page rank below you will find:

    • The benefits of improving your page rank
    • Its definition
    • And how a new blogger achieved her first page rank in a little less than 3 months (officially it takes 3 months for Google to update page rank but I knew I had one before it appeared). :-)

    Benefits of Achieving Google Page Rank

    The higher your page rank, the easier it is for your prospects to find you.  By working on your page rank you improve your visibility and exposure to the world.  Very powerful!  Although, having Google page rank is not synonymous with SEO (search engine optimization).   It does help somewhat in terms of search engine visibility.

    According to Google:

    • “PageRank reflects our view of the importance of web pages by considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms. Pages that we believe are important pages receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.”

    Before telling you how a newbie blogger of 3 months (that would be yours truly) achieved a Google page rank within her first 3 months as a blogger, let’s get to the definition of the page rank so we are all on the same page! :-)

    Definition:

    A Google Page Rank is the number from 1-10 that Google gives a website or blog and determines that website or blogs’ importance.  The Page Rank (PR) is based on the number of inbound links (or websites that link to your site).   However, Google not only takes into consideration the sites that are linking to you plainly.  It also calculates the number of inbound links that come from pages that are already highly ranked.   The Page Rank of a website or blog is determined also by the Page Rank of other sites.

    If you’ve installed the Google toolbar you’ll see a green bar indicating any site or blogs Page Rank.

    Achieving Google Page Rank is more than just knowing this definition.  One must apply a few techniques consistently in order to achieve one, two or more!

    Below is how I have worked toward achieving my Google page rank fast:

    1) Great Content and Keyword Density

    When I write a blog post I ensure that I have great content and that I have my keywords spread a few times throughout my posts (don’t overkill).   I’ve studied this, and I don’t know exactly how Google calculates this, but I do know that you do have to do some keyword research and make sure you blog title, post, and keywords are all in alignment.  Not rocket science, right?!  :-) In addition, there are several cool plugins that assist you with this (I am listing them down below).

    When I write, I do think about a topic before doing my keyword research.   I don’t let the keyword research dictate what to write about.   On the flip side, I do attempt to find some winnable keywords to shoot for.  I also aim to shoot straight from the heart and from a place of service and value whenever I put up a blog post.  I don’t like fluff or filler, so everytime I blog I ensure it’s a good post.

    When a blogger writes, it should come from the heart.  As an aside, pay attention to what others in your social networks are speaking about.   Tons of great blog post ideas will come from just that.

    2) Title

    Within the last two months I have been creating better titles.  It is important that your main keyword be in your blog title.  It is also important that the keyword be closer to the beginning of the title as well.  There are a few cool plugins that help you optimize your blog title too.  (See Below).

    3) Commenting

    Over the course of my blogging I have made it a conscious effort to leave comments on other blogs in the “productivity” and “entrepreneur” niche.   I have not counted my comments (as I probably should have) :-).  However, I do know that every week I leave at least 10+ comments on other blogs (It was way more when I first started blogging).  I also consciously leave comments on high page ranking blogs.

    An important thing to know is that you’ll want to make sure your comments are full of value.

    What I like to do is read the entire post and comment on my favorite part of the blog or add a thought that can add value to the community there.  I also end by telling them I appreciate them for sharing their thoughts.

    I once heard the greatest need we have is the need to feel appreciated, so I like to say “I appreciate you”.  It makes me feel good, and it makes the other blogger feel great.

    4) Having links to your Blog on Social Networking and Bookmarking Sites

    Within the last three months, I have joined (or increased my presence on) several social networking and bookmarking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Blog Catalog, My Blog Log, and several others, and have added my blog link in everything I join.

    My main two sources of social networking traffic come from Twitter and Facebook.

    5) Articles, HubPages and Squidoo

    I have written a few articles, hubpages, squidoo and one or two videos with my blog url (link) in everything, so I have other sources pointing back to my blog.  I have been slacking in this deparment, but I know this helps too.

    6) Wordpress Plugins that assist with Search Engine Optimization (SEO

    1. All in One SEO Pack -  Probably the most popular one, as it is a recommended plugin as soon as you get your Worpress blog set up.

    2. SEO Title Tag 2.3.2 - Allows you to search engine optimize your blog’s title tags.

    3. SEO Slugs 1.0- Removes common words like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘in’ from post slugs to improve SEO. 

    4. Commentluv 2.5.3 - Shows a link to the last post from the commentor’s blog in their comment. 

    For my favorite resources on how to increase google page rank go to:

    http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/google.shtml

    http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Increase-Google-Page-Rank&id=525462#

    http://wordpress.com/tag/increase-google-page-rank/

    Have any other ideas about increasing or achieving google page rank?  Let us know!  I appreciate you!

    Your Partner in Online Productivity and Success,

    Dali Burgado

    Posted in Internet Marketing Productivity

    3 Ways Online Entrepreneurs Can Use FriendFeed Effectively

    August 29, 2008 // No Comments »

    FriendFeed is a social media and RSS feed aggregator that tracks your every move and activity across 43 social networking sites and makes your activity visible to your followers.

    In a nutshell, it allows you to share blogging activity, books, news, photos, music, video, and other random social networking activity to family or business contacts.  Some of the social media services include, Linked-In, Digg, delicious, Google Reader, and Twitter.  You can use it for personal/family or business purposes.

    It definitely is made for the advanced/serious social networker and online entrepreneur and can most effectively be used to:

    1. Be a part of an “inner circle”
    2. Mastermind with your business partners/peers
    3. Build communities

    I am presently using FriendFeed to follow friends with similar interests (some of whom are in my Internet Marketing Mastermind group) as well as some Internet Marketing and Blogging Gurus.   Every time I log in to FriendFeed I can see what my contacts are bookmarking, sharing and talking about.   I am also using it for my consulting clients as well.

    Please add to this list and let us know how YOU are using FriendFeed and cutting out the “noise” so you stay productive.

    1) The Inner Circle - Using FriendFeed to Stay Ahead of The Learning Curve In Your Niche:

    You can follow the gurus/experts in your niche.  If you’re connected on FriendFeed you’re the first to know what they are working on before the masses.  Additionally, there may be some cool resources you gain access to before they put it out on their email list (or maybe they don’t and you get that “insider” access).

    FriendFeed also allows you to engage in online conversation and interact with your contacts by replying to their posts.  You also don’t have to be approved as a “friend” to follow someone - like Twitter.

    A really nice feature is that there are “rooms” that you can subscribe to where members can post tools and tips to add value in that particular category.   It’s like an online classroom!

    2) Mastermind with Your Peers: You can utilize FriendFeed to share information with a tight-knit group or mastermind.  The sharing will allow you to stay connected more closely and have an opportunity for your group to share Internet marketing breakthroughs and resources to further your collective Internet marketing goals.

    3) Serve as a Place to Add Value to Your Client Base: If you offer consulting services you can use FriendFeed “rooms” to provide valuable information to your clients.  Offering value is what strengthens relationships.  Instead of having satisfied clients you will develop raging fans who will share your business, products and services with others.  That’s free marketing for you too.

    The downside of FriendFeed is that it can become quite “noisy” if you subscribe to too many people.

    Remember, FriendFeed gathers every single move the person you are following has taken on the social media sites they have specified FriendFeed to track.  Therefore, I highly recommend you utilize FriendFeed to stay in touch with a more intimate group than you would on Facebook.  If not you’ll get information overload!

    In addition, you want to make sure you are posting quality information and always delivering value.

    If you are not yet on FriendFeed and would like to learn how to get connected Maria Reyes McDavis (the Web Success Diva) has a great video that shows you how to register for a FriendFeed account and cool tips on how to maximize its use.  Check it out at:

    http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/2876144/8259875

    If you are a blogger using FriendFeed I also recommend reading:

    How Bloggers can Use FriendFeed Effectively by Joel Falconer of Lifehack.

    Again, please share how you are using FriendFeed here too.

    I appreciate you!

    Your Partner in Online Productivity,

    Dali Burgado (Follow me on FriendFeed)

    Posted in Internet Marketing Productivity, Internet Marketing Trends

    Protect Your Internet Assets with RSS Footer WP Plugin

    August 26, 2008 // No Comments »

    If you are like me and you love to write unique quality web content, you’d like to protect your Internet assets.

    This morning I received a Google Alert for a keyword I am tracking and I found a link to one of my ezine articles.

    Unfortunately, I noticed my link had been stripped from my content.

    After looking deeper, I realized it was someone with a new blog who is using RSS Scraper software to add others’ content to their blog.  RSS Scraper software searches RSS Feeds for content, given a particular key word, and adds the content automatically to others’ sites without that person having to create original content.

    When you work hard on creating quality content it can be upsetting to see that someone has stripped your link from your original work.

    Therefore, if you are looking to protect your Internet assets (namely your blog posts from being scraped by scraper software)…you are really going to appreciate the following blog post from Jennifer of Pot Pie Girl:

    Learn to Love RSS Scrapers

    Here Pot Pie Girl talks about a simple Wordpress Plugin (RSS Footer Wordpress Plugin) that allows you to add a link to the bottom of your RSS feed linking back to your blog AND to the original post.   In this manner, you are creating ‘ownership’ of your content and linking back to it’s original location!

    A special thanks to Jackie Lee (Internet Marketing for Mommies) and Jennifer (Pot Pie Girl) for sharing this awesome tool!  I’ve already added this plugin!

    To Our Online Productivity,

    Dali Burgado

    Posted in Internet Viral Marketing