Stale Bread Crusts and An Empty Jar of Peanut Butter
I am taking some time off to explore the experience of losing my mom. While I am away, I thought I’d share with you my top posts of all time. Whether you have read this particular post or not, I think you will find the content practical and helpful. I am excited to share it with you again! Thanks for sending love and light to me and my seven brothers during this pivotal time.
So you have your blogsite launched and you are doing pretty good navigating the dashboard. You know and like your ideal reader/future client and you are ready to write your posts with her in mind. Good for you!
You may even have 2 or 3 posts up with engaging photos to entertain and engage your readers. A++ you over achiever you!
Before you break your arm patting yourself on the back though, and as much as I am sending you Big Blogsite Love here, I need to warn you about the single biggest blogsite blunder you can make. Staleness.
I don’t know about you, but every now and then, I get a taste for a good old fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Just not any sandwich, mind you, it has to be on toasted Wonder bread with crunchy peanut butter and black raspberry preserves….not jelly, preserves.
I mull it over for awhile to decide if I really want one.
Soon my mouth is watering thinking about the melty hot peanut butter mixing with 
the juicy berries and that’s it….I am off to the kitchen. Grabbing the preserves I turn to the cabinet and find a peanut butter jar with 1/2 teaspoon of dried out old creamy peanut butter in it and a near empty bread wrapper with two crusty old heels in it. Sucks, right?
In the same way, if your future client is having a tough day and feels inspired to check out your blogsite, you don’t want her to find Stale Bread Crusts and An Empty Jar of Peanut Butter.
Your future clients are looking for connection. They want to belong somewhere. Creating your blogsite gives them a place to come when you beckon. A new post is an invitation to your community to come for tea, so to speak.
Instead of stale bread and yucky old peanut butter, think of yourself serving delicious finger food in a beautifully thought out arrangement. You want them to linger and sample your wares.
One of my favorite tools is the LinkWithin plug in. If you notice at the bottom of this post, there are three related articles with engaging photos.
http://www.attractyoursoulmatenow.com/blog/2011/02/i-cant-believe-he-is-gone/
Care to sample?
Do you want to influence your readers and make them hungry for more of your information? You will love using the words on this special list in your own blog posts, emails and marketing: Click here for instant access
Networking Made Easy: 5 Hot Tips
Let’s face it, not many people are naturals at business networking.
Even the most confident looking people in the room battle self doubt and insecurity from time to time. For some of you, it is hard to “toot your own horn”.
That is true for me. I was raised to believe it is poor manners to “brag on yourself” so speaking out about my skills and talents at networking events feels awkward at first.
If you are like me…never fear, in these articles are lots of ideas about how to set your mind for success next time you attend an event.
4 Steps to Getting the Most Out of Networking
Networking for Introverts – 10 Ways to Make Networking Almost Fun
Tips to make networking fun
Three Ways to Make Effective Networking Fun!
7 Tips for Surviving & Thriving at Networking Events
Do you want to influence your readers and make them hungry for more of your information? You will love using the words on this special list in your own blog posts, emails and marketing: Click here for instant access
What I learned about asking for help while hospicing my mom….
It’s ok to ask for help
On June 20 my mom got a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. At noon on July 30, she died, in decidedly Scarlett style.
My mom was a Scarlett through and through and it wasn’t til her last breath that she let me know what I had always wondered. Did she regret her choice nearly 30 years ago to withdraw from my life? My mom was a troubled woman. Hear tell from those who knew her best, deeply troubled.
Arielle Ford wrote today, “In this moment there is nothing for me to do. There is only something for me to be and something for me to remember….to know that right now, I have everything that I need.” Such a timely reminder.
I can’t remember the last holiday I spent with my mom. I saw her three or four times in the last 10 years. I couldn’t give you a chronology of her last 25 years. I was completely out of her world.
Sadly, it was much the same for many of my seven younger siblings. Yet at the end, all of her children got to say their good byes and I had 12 exquisitely and excruciatingly intense days to usher her to the other side. My brothers John and Charlie were at my side representing all of us at that 12th hour on the 12th day…so Joan.
Once upon a time, she and I were soulfully connected. In order to grow up, I began saying no to her when I was 31. A great round of cognitive therapy helped me do what I needed to be mom to my own kids and be responsible for my own life. My role with my mom had to change and she never got over it til the 12 hour on the 12th day.
For some reason, the bond between Joan and I was broken at that time. Is it a coincidence that her mom died when she was only 31, the same age that she withdrew from my life? How priceless that I received hospice training several years ago and had the right tools to bring out what needed to be unearthed.
The amazing thing is, she did let me know she regretted breaking our bond. My biggest sadness is that by time she was really genuine with me, for maybe the first time ever, there was no time left.
The night I got home from San Francisco area where we had hospiced her (Huge hugs of gratitude to the Pathways Hospice in Palo Alto!) it was a beautiful full moon.
I had the first of what I know will be many ceremonies and rituals of healing at the stroke of midnight. This flaming Scarlett mom of mine would have loved it.
I will be sending out a message about this month’s New Moon in Leo Ceremony. It will be at 9 am pst on August 17. I hope you will mark your calendar for this most auspicious ritual.
Oh, as far as asking for help. I am getting a lot of insight about myself and am happy that the fabulous Hospice system has support for me that is affordable and accessible….for a full year after her death.
What I want more than anything is to create the environment I want around me without a struggle. The people closest to me want me to perk back up and be my regular self, or that’s what it feels like. Bless them, I know they are trying to help. I am where I am and that’s ok. Thanks Abraham.
Like I said, I am super grateful for Hospice. Today when the lovely young man took my intake information, it felt really, really good to have him simply take my name and address.
Thanks to all of you faithful, faithful readers who have followed my writing over the years. I deeply appreciate your love and light as I float through this experience in my own time and in my own way.
Oh, in honor of my mom (you can read more about the last 12 days right here, she would LOVE if you would stop by…http://joanscaringbridge.com) if you are a Scarlett or a Rapunzel, please be brutally honest and tell the person you are angry with the truth.
If you are a Snow White, find a way to speak directly to the person you resent. Admit that you have part blame and ask for a reconnection.
I started to ask my mom for what I wanted in 2007, the same year I went through rectal cancer. It took almost 5 years of persistent, clear and concise requests before she could hear me but it sure was worth it. At the end, when her arms couldn’t hug me anymore, she found the strength to squeeze my hand and I knew and felt her sorrow and remorse.
My mom was troubled. We will never understand her true motivations. Her last two conversations with me were unintelligible. Only two words fell into my soul. “Forgive me.”
It took three tries before this so tragically misunderstood Scarlett left her body. Dying as dramatically as she lived, doggone it I am glad I was with her the last 12 days.
Thanks for being on team Behan and cheering me on as I rebound from this rather shocking last three weeks. I will be back to writing my regular stuff real soon….
Love you, seriously, I really do….
Off to receive a little magic,
Catherine
Your Blog Angel Salutes Michael Hyatt
Thanks n2growth.com
I am a big fan of Michael Hyatt CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers.
He has a list of several hundred thousand, he leads the way with leading by example and shares countless valuable tips with his audience.
This morning’s blog (I receive his in my email box…one of the few) was inspiring once again so I am sharing part of it here.
Look at what he has heading up his blog at this time:
“I am currently on vacation. During this time, I am completely offline. I am getting some rest, feeding my soul, and enjoying time with my family. While I am away, I thought I’d share with you my top posts of all time. Whether you have read this particular post or not, I think you will find the content relevant and useful. I am excited to share it with you again!” Michael Hyatt on hiatus….
Good for you Michael….thanks for setting the mark high but achievable as always!
Your Blog Angel Makes The Huffington Post!
And I didn’t even know it.
Ironically, a month or so ago, I started to be curious about getting on Huffington Post. I admire several of the bloggers there and I started putting out some feelers.
I found out today that one of my posts is on the Huffington Post. Not only that, it has nearly 300 comments. By far my biggest engagement of readers so far in my five years of blogging. I am stoked!! How did it happen? I have been writing for an online relationship magazine, http://YourTango.com for over a year contributing blogs a couple of times a month.
It was Your Tango’s connection with Huffington that made it happen. I am still not sure how but I don’t care. It is fun to see the internet magic work!
My writing business just got a huge boost. Huffington Post credibility brings huge value on many levels. What most excites me as a writer are all those juicy comments, especially where people disagreed with me about sex. Now I am actually and finally talking to real people and, as Oprah says, everyone has a story so I have a never ending stream of article ideas….almost 300, right?
What any new expert needs to realize is that you need to position yourself. You need to orchestrate how you are perceived online. This is not only critical, it is pretty easy, once you have your strategy in place. http://YourTango.com is a fantastic resource for you to check out. Experts and Budding Experts create blogs there on relationships, families and health and wellness.
Every time something you put online gets attention and action in the sea of information that your prospect deletes every day without even opening it, it adds another brick to the solid foundation you need to project to be in business on line.
Your expertise is in your hands. You and your family know how wonderful you are but how are your ideal readers, clients, customers or voters going to recognize you when your email comes into their over-crowded email box?
The value of commenting readers is that they tell you exactly what it is they want to know. Some are angry and bitter as they go about it. One commenter said that my husband should divorce me for writing such a piece of drivel. Where there is bitterness, there is pain.
Where there is pain, there is a problem to be solved. Write solutions to problems in your blog posts and you will soon be known as the Expert in your field. How do you know? When you google your name, your articles will be showing up on the first page.
Strange phenomena of our time but so true. When someone shows up on the first page of Google with an internet presence that engages them, most people consider them experts and even minor celebrity status. Believe me, Your Blog Angel has this happen all the time.
Just because my writing is all over the place doesn’t mean I am extra good at anything. It just means that I took the steps to build the credibility online and that my efforts have paid off. And as always, if this grandma can do it, so can you.
Here is the article and thanks for sharing with your network!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/marriage-over-5-questions_n_1587305.html
Good Bye Iphone….
Well I am now in the Droid family with my new Galaxy Note.
Even though I missed my first call trying to figure out how to answer, I am smitten.
This little wonder is so fast it has already paid for itself in time saved. It has voice GPS and Voice to text Instant Messaging which is fantastic. Occasionally it misspells my words wildly, but not often. I love the pen and the ability to diagram on a screen to illustrate my points when talking to clients.
There are more features than I have time to explore but at least I can answer calls…now if I could only set up my voice mail!
5 Hot Blogs about Blogging For Fun And Profit
The cool thing about blogging is that sharing other great resources on line helps you, the other blogger and the reader.
Here are the blogs that caught my attention this morning, enjoy!
5 Simple Ways To Find Out What People Are Dying To Read
6 Ways To Hack Into Your Emotions And Become Infinitely More Creative
Facebook Fan Page Rookies Unite!
Having 5 solid years of Facebook experience wasn’t enough to equip me to jump through all the new hoops Facebook mukkie muks are throwing at us willy nilly.
Photo Credit: onlinephotocollections.blogspot.com
At first I was frustrated at the whole Facebook Fan Page mess and just turned my back. As true with every grass roots marketer, there is always another marketing avenue needing my attention so it was easy to focus elsewhere.
Actually it was beneficial for me. I tightened up my branding message on my blog, http://AttractYourSoulMateNow.com. I created a store front, created a new opt in gift (a 21 day audio course) and set my intention on making visitors feel at home on my site.
Now that I have reached the bottom of my to do list (NOT!), I have decided to take the plunge and birth my new Facebook Fan Page.
It is not easy and I am having to put time in searching through help menus, however that is not the worst of it. What is humbling is to appreciate how much time and effort successful Facebook Marketers must put in on their page.
Here are a few of my Facebook Fanpage role models:
https://www.facebook.com/marismith
https://www.facebook.com/louiselhay
https://www.facebook.com/ladygaga
https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey
LOL! My total of 3, as of this morning, fans isn’t even a drop in the ocean yet…but it is the THOUGHT of fans that is planted in the universal soil of possibility. I will be keeping you all posted as I plow myself through the maze and get my Facebook Fanpage up to speed. I am excited about using it as a public meeting place for special guests, contests and of course sharing what it is that YOU are passionate about.
You, Angel, are a dreamer and that is why I love you. You have a vision and want to make the world a better place through your service or product. Please feel free to visit my baby page and add your comments with a url to your website. I am honored to share your work with my fans!
Here is the link to my baby Facebook Fan Page and next I am going to try to figure out how to add a Facebook Badge to the site! Wish me luck!
https://www.facebook.com/CatherineBehanFanPage
Shameless Blog Procrastinator’s 3 Million Hit Video Spot
There is no other reason for you to watch this video than to stir up some real feel good emotion on this Wednesday. I have blog guilt and have not followed my own good counsel on consistency.
I wrote a post yesterday and it will be posted soon, but more importantly I showed up here and picked the fastest and easiest thing to post so y’all know I am still out here! Enjoy!
Nudity and Oil….The Secret To Writing Compelling Headlines
Nudity and Oil: Naughtiness Always Makes People Peek
I am delighted that you are reading this post. Helps me prove my point.
Headlines with a bit of naughtiness get noticed.
Cheryl Hines was on the Ellen Show this morning talking about her new hit TV show, Suburgatory. I always loved her on Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO, and her performance as new and hot-to-trot divorcee Dallas Royce on the new ABC sitcom is delicious.
As her interview closed, she teased about the content of the series’ upcoming episode. She talked about “real sexy fantasies about Jeremy Sisto” and then right before she left the stage, she said….
“and nudity and oil….I’m just saying….”
Want to guess how many of Ellen’s millions of fans will be tuning in to that episode? (8:30 est on ABC February 29, 2012 and available online at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1741256/….just thought I would make it easy for you!)
So what does this have to do with you, the newbie blogging marketer? Everything!! We all know that sex sells so pulling in your readers with a provocative headline is always a good idea. Especially if you can create a practical post with genuine value for your audience.
The bottom line is that without a good headline in your emails or blog posts…nobody will notice you and that makes building an expert platform near impossible. Luck is on your side though…you live in the internet age and a simple Google search opens a library right on your desktop.
I use Google daily as my modern day encyclopedia. I type my requests into the search window stating exactly what I need. Today to support this article, I typed in “How Do You Write Compelling Headlines?” Look what treasures I found:
1. Top hit on Google: “How To Write Headlines That Work” on copyblogger.com. This is a fantastic article…it is #1 hit in the big game afterall. Not only does it promise info on creating “a compelling headline that must promise some kind of benefit or reward for the reader, in trade for the valuable time it takes to read more,” it goes on to list 8 surefire types of headlines with examples.
2. “I just can’t do it. I am not clever enough to think of good headlines.” Some of you are whining…I can just feel it. Well…this post is just for you! Thanks to Mark Thompson of stayonsearch.com, this post has 150, count them, 150 compelling headlines that work. See, no excuses!!
Here are Mark’s top ten to get you started
1. # Tips To Simplify ______________
2. Greatest _________ Tips of All Time
3. Avoid ______________ Disasters
4. ________________, What It Can Do For You
5. # Things You Didn’t Know about ______
6. # Reasons to Hate _________
7. #Amazing Blogs about ________
8. # Secrets about __________
9. How Does ______ Work?
10. How to be Great at _______
When you go to Mark’s site and check out the rest of the list….be sure to leave him a warm thank you in the comments. From one blogger to the next, comments are always received as a virtual hug!
3. There were over 2 1/2 million hits for my query. If you are a rookie headline writer, spend some time browsing through the Google search results and get some schooling.
Once again, having a mini budget when it comes to marketing is no excuse for a languishing blog. Get up and get going and get yourself a great headline for your next post.
For me, many times the headline comes first. I write regularly for experts on YourTango.com and recently this headline popped into my mind: “Might As Well Face it….You’re Addicted to Shoes” Curious? Google awaits!
