I just finished recording my Wrap-Up call for the Metromom Online Success Telesummit where I shared my highlights. It’s been a fascinating two weeks as I interviewed 18 different internet marketing experts who shared tips on how to maximize your online presence.

I think what I found the most interesting was how the expertise of the different speakers weaved together. In the end I discovered consistent references to what it takes to be successful in today’s economy.

Let me share some of my highlights of the four online success principle I discovered:

1. You Need to be Authentic

One theme that kept coming up from was the importance of being authentic in your marketing. I heard it from Nancy Marmolejo as she talked about social networking, Michele PW as she shared copywriting tips, and Wendy Maynard as she discussed blogging. They all said basically the same thing – the key to being successful online is to be authentic and create relationships that are mutually beneficial. Laura West then really pulled this authenticity theme together when she spoke about “Attraction Marketing.”

2. Make Sure You Use Every Avenue to Connect

Jennifer Odear and Caleb Scoville really helped clarify how you can maximize your expertise by using all the different ways of communicating. Jennifer spoke about recycling your content and using it in your blog, articles, press releases, newsletters and more. Then Caleb shared how to take that very same content and use it in podcasts and YouTube videos.

What’s great is that once you have some content there are so many ways to get it out there. Alicia Forest gave great tips on using content to build your list. Amy Miyamoto showed how to tie your content into your social networking, Shannon Cherry shared publicity tips and Ty Downing shared easy-to-implement SEO ideas.

3. Women Need Foolproof Systems

Busy women juggling a business and a family need more then great ideas. They need help implementing proven systems that will get the money pouring in. Beth Schneider and Erin Blaskie gave fantastic tips on how to build a solid team and then create systems to keep things running smoothly. Jennifer Haubein shared how technology can help you set-up a website that helps you build relationships effortlessly. Debbye Cannon shared tips specific to moms on how to keep their family thriving as they build their business.

4. Get Your Mindset Prepared for Success

No amount of internet marketing strategies will help you achieve your goals if you’re stuck with a negative attitude or mindset. Victoria Colligan and Traci Long , from Ladies Who Launch, were truly inspirational as they shared how to take the next step in your business. Gina Bell shared how to identify and eliminate resistance to self-promotion and success.

The Metromom Online Success Telesummit (now called The Online Success Toolkit) is available for you to listen to. Click here to learn more! Once you listen I’d love to hear your feedback so come back and post your comments. What were some of the highlights for you?

When I started planning my Metromom Online Success Telesummit I was torn on whether to focus exclusively on marketing techniques or to expand it to include mindset tips as well. Then I realized that no amount of learning will help you achieve your goals if you’re stuck with a negative attitude or mindset. That’s why I created the final track of the Telesummit to be about – How to Put It All Together With the Right Mindset.

I’m really excited to have two fantastic speakers from Ladies Who Launch join me for this track of the Telesummit: Victoria Colligan, the Founder of Ladies Who Launch, is one of my personal heroines. If you’re hesitating about taking the next step in your business make sure you listen to this call on, 7 Steps to Realizing Any Dream.

Traci Long the Chief Revenue Officer of Ladies Who Launch specializes in competitive marketing positioning. She’ll get you motivated and then show you how to execute your plan during her talk on Building the Foundation of your Brand to be a Lucrative Business. Traci will show us how building your brand isn’t just about your logo and your tagline.

I’m also really happy to have two of my “business” girlfriends sharing mindset tips at the Telesummit:

Laura West, the founder of Center for Joyful Business, specializes in supporting women entrepreneurs in creating a business that is meaningful AND that makes money! She makes marketing simple and takes the confusion and fear out of promoting your business with integrity and grace. I’m really looking forward to her talk on, Attracting Clients and Building Strong Relationships: 5 Easy Attraction Marketing Tools

According to my friend, Gina Bell, “Belief is the bridge between your dreams and your dreams come true!” Gina is the co-Founder of TheNetworkingMasters.com and creator of JVmavens.com. Hers passion is to work with motivated entrepreneurs who are ready to identify and eliminate their resistance to self-promotion and success. If you feel stuck, you’ll love her talk, Not Sure You Can Succeed? Get a Believability Makeover!

I honestly believe that the right mindset is the number one determining factor of success in business and in life. Which why I can’t express how grateful I am that these four wonderful women have agreed to share their “mindset gems” at the Telesummit. Especially now, it can be challenging to stay positive. It’s easy to become negative when faced with negative influences in our life – be it a skeptical friend or family member or the never-ending media cycle of more and more bad news.

If you feel like you could benefit from some positive (and practical) encouragement please join me and listen in on these calls May 1^st and 2^nd – there is no charge to participate in the Metromom Online Success Telesummit.

I’m a big believer in showing my kids what I do professionally, and use any opportunity I can come up with to include them, whether that’s helping me type up blog entries (which my 9-year old son loves to do) or using my postage meter to send out CD mailings.

Fortunately, my local news station in New Haven CT, keeps inviting me back. The timing’s worked well for each of my three children to participate separately and see what it’s like for mommy to get all wired up, and have the commotion of the cameras, buttons and different stage sets. This morning I brought my 6-year old son Dane with me while I was interviewed by Chris Velardi about how women can best utilize the web to grow their businesses. While I don’t think Dane focused on the content of the interview as much as where we were going for breakfast afterwards, I know that these messages are seeping in.

According to a recent article in Time magazine men make up 82% of the recession’s job losses, which means a lot more women are looking for work to make up for the lost paycheck. The problem is there are not a lot of jobs to be found… so more than ever women want and need ideas on how to start their own profitable business.

Thankfully the internet gives us options! There are five steps you MUST know in order to grow your business online AND maximize your time and energy:

-How to Create Effective Design & Motivating Content
-How to Increase Visibility, Buzz, and Revenue
-How to Streamline Your Digital Back Office
-How to Put It All Together With the Right Mindset
-How to Get the Support You Need to Keep Moving Forward

A lot of us are feeling pressure to generate the income we need but we’re not sure the best way to go about it. On Tuesday April 21st, my business girlfriend Laura West and I will be sharing how to use the internet to take control of your income and how to do it quickly during their one-time-only FREE teleseminar!

"Take Charge of Your Economy – 5 Steps on How to Use the Internet to Prosper and Profit," will be April 21st at 2 PM Eastern. All you need is a phone. Reserve your space here.

This is a FREE preview call for the Metromom Online Success Telesummit, taking place May 1st and 2nd.  #mtmm09

Sometimes we hesitate to move forward with our business because we’re afraid that we just don’t have enough experience or skills to implement our ideas. What I’ve learned is that if you know WHAT needs to be done, you can always get help on HOW to get it done.

I’m experiencing the truth of this as I put together the Metromom Online Success Telesummit #mtmm09 that’s coming on May 1st and 2nd. It’s a BIG, multi-faceted event – like nothing I’ve ever done before – so I have little hands-on experience, but I’m loving every minute of it.

Here are the things that help me as I navigate through this new experience:

• Benefiting from the confidence, excitement and support from my team and mastermind friends.
• Utilizing of past experiences that relate to organizing information, content and people.
• Focusing on my end goal of providing women the online information they’re looking for based on my survey results.
• Not worrying about perfection, but more importantly taking action.
• Thrilled at the quality of people who are agreeing to participate.

There are moments of stress (and waking up in the middle of the  night wondering about details I might have missed) but I’m really enjoying the process. We all have doubts about our lack of experience running a business or expanding in some way. And, while experience is important, resourcefulness has a BIGGER impact on your long-term success.

I really want you to benefit from all of my resources and learn how to get the MOST out of your time and energy with a knock-out internet marketing strategy. Please sign up for the Metromom Online Success Tele-summit for F.R.E.E.! #mtmm09

p.s. – a great thing that’s come out of this is that I’m chronicling all my learning through this telesummit process into an information product to share with others about all the steps involved. Stay tuned…

No matter what your business is, you need a website. These days it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity. When you’re in business people expect to be able to learn more about you on the internet. You may be thinking that in order to have an effective website you need to be ready to fork over thousands and thousands of dollars for the latest technology and high-end customized graphics. This is absolutely not true!

I’m not against technology or graphics; in fact I utilize them quite extensively on my own site. BUT that’s not where I invest most of my time, resources and energy and neither should you.

My focus is on communicating with my visitors because that’s where the money is. People do business with those they know, like and trust – this is true online and offline. Which is why I spend my time on articles, blog posts, video and audio recordings – mediums that allow me to communicate my message.

Effective communication doesn’t require thousands of dollars, the latest technology or high-end graphics. So, what do you need to communicate effectively?

Step One – Determine your target audience and how you can help them.

When you’re writing copy for your website you need to be very specific about who you’re speaking to. Who’s that ideal person you want to attract? Man or woman? What age group? Are they parents? What level of education? You get the idea.

Also, get in mind how you can serve this audience. What is their big challenge or problem that you can help them solve? Put yourself in their shoes.

Copywriting Strategist, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero uses an interesting technique she calls the TARKET FACTOR. When she writes copy rather than writing to a group of people she writes to a single person – her "tarket" – who is a representative of the majority of her ideal customers.

Spend some time analyzing your target market – or tarket – (target market) and watch for my next post about the next two steps to creating a website that sells.

(If you would like more in-depth training on any of the tools I’ve mentioned in this article visit the Online Success Toolkit.)

This blog is part 3 of a 4 part series of online success tips.