JEM Consulting - Help For Self Employed and Small Business Web Site Owners

I was (now retired) and continue to think like a professional consultative salesperson. I truly feel that the most important factor in keeping you in business and making you successful is profitable sales. Therefore my only goal is to help increase your sales results, not mine. On the WEB this translates into qualified prospects visiting your WEB site and converting to clients or customers.

As before, I confess that I am not the King of Charm. In fact I am the antithesis.  I also confess, I am almost totally left brained so if the following alienates you, perhaps we will never be able to effectively communicate nor collaborate. (more…)

Don’t you wish you could just flip a switch and un-connect those LinkedIn connections who think they received a peddler’s license to pitch you just because you connected with them in the first place? Hey, invite me over for dinner and then ask me to pay at the door, why don’t you? Thanks, but no thanks.

Establish a relationship, provide a solution to a problem I acknowledge, but don’t just assume I need what you got! Nor that I want you to tell me about it either. That’s nothing more than a digital version of junk mail or those unsolicited telephone calls we all keep getting regardless of the Do Not Call List.

Well, now you can easily un-connect once again. So instead of getting mad, get even and ex-communicate them, once and for all!

Here’s my step by step how too if you have been challenged- (more…)

Building a company page on LinkedIn is a free feature and is part of LinkedIn’s new emphasis on helping you to build your business. A company page allows you to brand your business image and gain more visibility on LinkedIn and possibly in general search. You are also able to promote your company’s products and services.

Update followers on what’s happening and interesting information regarding you company and industry and gain public recommendations. You should also engage and empower all employees in helping promote your efforts. You will need a LinkedIn personal profile to set up a page as well as some advanced preparation work as well as general experience on LinkedIn networking.

Included in the slide show are tips about images, character limitations of text insertion fields, where you can add contacts, videos and links to your Web site. Use this feature to brand your company, increase your visibility and be found!
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I developed these ten steps you must follow to enhance your small business networking on LinkedIn. Begin with a complete and expanded LinkedIn profile filled with keywords. Open up more networking opportunities by expanding your connections and joining groups. Further expand your reach through a company page and by developing your own discussion group. Then make use of the available tools to gain visibility and target your market to attain the results you seek.

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As a lot of you know, I have been touting the benefits of LinkedIn for business networking since 2009. In fact my first presentation on LinkedIn was for three levels of sales management while still employed as a commercial sales representative for ADT/Tyco. In 2010 I did my first library presentation on LinkedIn for Indian Trails Public Library in Wheeling, IL. I later re-engineered my presentation to use the same tools from a business perspective to job seekers looking for work. Since 2011 I have been teaching Advanced LinkedIn techniques to be found for job seekers mainly at Career Resource Center in Lake Forest, IL, as well as for other agencies and public libraries. (more…)

You should take advantage of LinkedIn’s new feature, add Rich Media files to embellish your new personal profiles.  The feature allows you to “add media links to images, presentations, audio files, videos, and documents.” These files may be added to Summary, Experience (each individual) as well as education.  It is my experience that this may challenge the average user, as well as some advanced users.

Just what is Rich Media files and wherein lies the challenge?

Typically Rich Media is defined as a large range of interactive multimedia where multimedia is a combination of various content and media forms. A versatile media player is required to view the files if embedded on a Web page such as LinkedIn. When downloaded to your computer, you need the appropriate media player (depends on format) installed to view. LinkedIn also allows simple documents such as photo images, PDFs and word documents. (more…)

LinkedIn is the world’s largest on line social networking site dedicated for business.  And LinkedIn is changing quite rapidly right before our very monitor, tablet or smartphone screens.  New personal profiles are due to be completely rolled out  to all members by the end of the year and changes to the company page format were recently completed.

What does this mean to the small business owner in the greater Chicagoland area?  More opportunities to market yourself and your business with no out of pocket expenses.  It’s what I call networking on steroids.  Sure, it requires a time commitment, what doesn’t?  The thing is this time commitment has an extremely LARGE potential pay off, but only if you are willing to get into the action and work for long term results. (more…)

I had to change my evaluation form after the general December, 2012 updates to LinkedIn profiles. The order sections appear were changed with new emphasis. Some are ‘anchored’ or fixed positions and there are reasons for this. We have new capabilities such as easy editing, expanded drag and drop functionality, adding Rich Media Files, which replaced the third party applications. (I particularly miss Amazon Reading Lists.)

So here is my new form:  My New 2012-13 LinkedIn Profile Self Evaluation Form which is free for you to download (Needs an Adobe Reader). (more…)

I surveyed the attendees at a recent three hour workshop I led for SCORE Chicago on December 11, 2012. I asked attendees to select three to five most important benefits from a list of 24 I listed for either their business or personal networking goals on LinkedIn. You may find the entire list at LinkedIn Tips (Scroll down to:  ”Select Your Target 3-5…”) although I am going to pare it down somewhat and publish the new abbreviated list shortly.

LinkedIn Top 5 Business Benefits

This is their top five, in priority with most important first, as displayed on the Infographic:

#1. Establish your personal brand. That is what describes your credibility and professionalism. What exactly makes you a subject matter expert whom others would be willing to pay for your knowledge or expertise? (more…)

LinkedIn is in process of eliminating many of the former applications you used in your profile with the conversion to the new profile format. My profile was just converted this past Tuesday evening.

One of the applications is, of course, your (and mine as well) WordPress blog. In my case, I wanted to include this site, my newer WordPress.org blog, rather than mu (much) older WordPress.com blog. This formerly allowed me to: “Connect your blog to popular social networking sites and automatically share new posts with your friends.” The path to success is to activate the “Sharing” option in your “Jetpack *” plugin.  (Note: You can also connect with Facebook, Twitter, etc.) (more…)

There is a new feature on LinkedIn, the ability to follow thought leaders. As a recognized business leader, Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, had these reflections on starting a successful business recently.

1. Listen more than you talk. We have two ears and one mouth, using them in proportion is not a bad idea!
2. Keep it simple. You have to do something radically different to stand out in business. But nobody ever said different has to be complex.
3. Take pride in your work. There are qualities they all have in common in those who have gone the extra mile – One was pride in their work, and in the company they represent.
4. Have fun, success will follow. If you aren’t having fun, you are doing it wrong. If you feel like getting up in the morning to work on your business is a chore, then it’s time to try something else.
5. Rip it up and start again. Every successful businessperson has experienced a few failures along the way – the important thing is how you learn from them.

Here is my updated pdf for those interested in launching your own small business Website. I list relevant questions concerning the business goals of the site, your products and services, target marketing as well as competitive analysis. This should get you started along the correct path and will increase the odds and better your chances of success. Getting Started on Your Website – Part 1 – Rev 02 (Needs an Adobe reader.)