Archive for October 4th, 2009
What to Look For in a Mentor
Author: carlos
Before deciding to seek out a mentor, you must first determine what you hope to gain from the relationship. That means you need to spend time thinking about both your short and long term goals. Once you’re fully clear on where you want to be, the selection process becomes that much easier.
When people think about mentors, they often visualize a classic business setting, where everything is formal and methodical, but mentoring relationships aren’t limited to business. The truth is, you may desire a mentor for any number of reasons.
Consider these types of mentors:
* Life Guidance. These life mentors are often referred to as “life coaches.”
* Spiritual Advisors. You can look to a priest, pastor, or friend to mentor you spiritually.
* Everyday Mentors. Sometimes we even have unofficial mentors who are simply people we admire in our community or peer group.
Choosing a Mentor
When looking for a mentor, seek someone who possesses the qualities, skills, and experiences you hope to one day have yourself. A mentor should be someone who fits your idea of success, has a positive attitude, and openly shares his or her knowledge with you.
You might want a mentor who’s at the pinnacle of success within your field so you can learn from the best. Alternately, you might want to select someone as a mentor who’s only slightly higher ranking than you, this way you can learn what you need to help take you to the next level.
Choosing the high ranking executive helps you with long term goals, while selecting the mentor who’s closer to your own experience level makes it easier to focus on a specific area of expertise so you can achieve your shorter term goals.
An ideal situation may involve both types of mentors. This way you get a well-rounded experience that allows you to benefit both in the short and long term. Either way, you should find someone who isn’t afraid to challenge you to reach your true potential.
Establishing a Beneficial Relationship
When you’ve selected your mentor candidate, draw up a plan to present to them detailing what you hope to give and receive from the relationship. This will help the potential mentor decide if they can provide you with the experience and knowledge you desire.
It’s only fair to both of you to be as upfront as possible about your expectations. If you aren’t clear on what you hope to gain, the relationship has little chance for success.
Successful Mentorship Begins with You
Once the relationship has been established, actively communicate your needs to the mentor in order to take the sessions in the direction you’d like to go.
You should be in the driver’s seat, even though you’re the junior party in the relationship. Without providing your mentor with guidance, the mentorship may not be fruitful for you. After all, if you don’t let your mentor know what you need, he can’t possibly give you what you hope to gain.
It’s important throughout the relationship for the mentor to be supportive. A good mentor will be patient with you. They’ll create an open and welcome environment that allows for earnest questions and concerns while making you feeling safe.
A successful mentorship will enable you to feel more confident, skilled, and knowledgeable. The reward for the mentor will be seeing the results of the positive impact they were able to make on someone else’s life.
Follow these tips to find great mentors in any area you’d like to strengthen and enjoy a relationship that brings fruits to your labor and greater life fulfillment to both of you.
Posted in 
How To Get Traffic To Your Blog With 10 Simple Ideas…..
Author: carlos
Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for personal and business reasons. You can build a blog for free and begin posting content right away. But, what good is that content if no one is reading it. Here are ten ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive.
Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, hundreds more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you are willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging long.
That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging. Mostly, new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will necessary come to you. You pursue the audience and give them a reason to see what you have to say.
1. Fresh Content : no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.
2. Article Marketing : the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. Use the resource box to advertise your blog so people can find you.
3. Social Networking : these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, MySpace, Squidoo, Twitter or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.
4. Viral Marketing :this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them.
5. Use RSS Feeds : RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online.
6. Submit Blog to Search Engines: doing this allows your blog to be ranked. Google and Yahoo! are two of the most popular search engines you want to crawl your blog pages. It doesn’t guarantee top ranking, though. You’ll have to do a little more work for that.
7. Joining Forums : as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of business forums, work at home forums and others to meet new people and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can find you.
8. Visit other blogs: show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments.
9. SEO Marketing : whatever you write, use relevant keywords. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche.
10. Social Bookmarking : submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.
Using any of these ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. It takes time but you will build the readership you want.