All they left out was “it’s great exposure!”

This is for every client who tried to “negotiate” or bring us down on prices. And for every business owner who has a hard time charging what she’s worth.  Enjoy!

the real vendor client relationship

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Fun and useful new marketing tool: Google SMS

I could have used this when I was looking for restaurants with dancers last weekend. You can send a text to Google requesting info on just about anything/anywhere and they’ll text you back with relevant businesses.  Try it–text the words “belly dance” restaurant NYC  to 466453 (Google’s short code) and see what happens.

You can use this to find eateries, airline flight info, zip codes, shoe repair shops in Soho–just about anything you might look up on Google, but you don’t have to go online. The only charge is your normal text charge.

Now, I’m trying to find out exactly how you make sure your business shows up on this service. I’m not sure if it’s based on “Google maps” or being ranked highly on the web or the mobile web or a combination of things…when I find out, I’ll be sure to let you know.

In the meantime, try texting keywords around YOUR belly dance business to Google and see if you show up.

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How does your web site look on my phone?

April 7, 2009

I was in Chicago last weekend attending a marketing seminar, and I found myself with some spare time on Friday night.  I didn’t have a whole lot of extra energy, but I thought I’d try to find some restaurants in the city that featured dancers. I did a quick web search on my Blackberry and [...]

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Providing links without losing traffic

April 3, 2009

Last time we talked about why having a massive list of interesting links is a bad idea when you’re selling on your site. People are going to click them, and then they go away and likely never come back. But you still want to promote your friends’ shows and classes around the country and other [...]

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SEO? SCHMESEO–why are you collecting all those links?

April 2, 2009

The trouble with the internet is the old information is out there floating around with the new information and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.  I’ve noticed a lot of people putting up lovely websites for their businesses and then going out searching for massive link trades. Belly dance sites in particular seem filled [...]

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How to write and use flyers effectively

April 1, 2009

Most everyone uses flyers to advertise classes and performances in the local area, and with good reason. They’re cheap, easy to produce, and most local businesses will post them without a fuss. But just like any marketing vehicle, you can make mistakes with flyers and fail to get as much business as you could [...]

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Old Word…New Meaning

March 12, 2009

I was talking with a friend the other day about dancing as an art form and the words “marketing” and “business” came up. She shook her head a little and told me whenever she hears those terms, things go fuzzy and she just tunes out. This was the second time in a month I’ve [...]

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A Tale of Three Dancers–or why “marketing” is NOT a dirty word

March 12, 2009

Let’s get hypothetical for a moment, shall we?
Meet Dancer A–Let’s call her Miz Diva. She’s all about the money, isn’t she? Her web site is just over the top, full of exaggerated claims about her classes (become a pro in 3 easy lessons!) and her experience–”I’ve been teaching for 47 years” (oh really, [...]

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Just Call Me Uppity

March 12, 2009

  We’ve all heard it before–from friends, family, co-workers, other dancers. It’s insidious. It eats away at your soul. It diminishes your art and your creativity. It’s a philosophy that goes back generations, centuries even. The Starving Artist.
“You can’t make money with dance.”
“You have to suffer for your art.”
“You should do it because you love [...]

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Basic Belly Dance Marketing, part 1: What are you really selling?

March 12, 2009

There’s an old saying in marketing that goes…You’re not selling a drill, you’re selling holes!
Think about that for a minute. You’re not selling a drill…you’re selling holes.
No one wakes up thinking “hmm, I wonder what kind of drills are available today.”  Instead, they wake up, get some coffee, head out to the job [...]

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