This morning as I surfed through the social networks and got a bit of work done, I ran across this interesting article on TechCrunch about how Facebook hacked the NASDAQ button to post a status about CEO Mark Zuckerburg ringing the bell this morning.

One line in the article struck me as very cool: “The finished product wasn’t exactly the prettiest thing, but hacks aren’t supposed to be. They’re just supposed to work.“

It made me think of what it’s like to build an entrepreneurial business.

It’s not always pretty.

Trust me when I say that, having seen behind the scenes of lots of businesses (from tiny home businesses to six and seven figure businesses) in the past 12 years, it’s almost never pretty.

It’s messy.  It’s a fight.  It’s hard work.  Things sometimes fall apart and it takes trying over and over again to get it together.  But entrepreneurs find a way to make it all work.

That’s part of the adventure.

Decide what you want to do and make it happen, even if it’s messy.

My mother had a friend who danced ballet.  I remember her talking about the differences in the behind the scenes and what we saw on stage.  The dancers were beautiful, the dances choreographed to perfection.  From the outside it was pretty.  Off stage their toes were bleeding, they were in pain, there was tension about who got which roles and accolades, they were exhausted from endless rehearsals…  But on stage, in front of their audience, it worked — they danced their hearts out.  We only saw the “pretty” but there was a mess there, too.

Get better at letting go and jumping in with both feet.  Adjust as you go.  There’s no failure unless you give up and quit.

Get a grip on your inner control freak who wants everything to be pretty behind the scenes all the time.  Hack things and make it work.  Create systems from what works.  Then do it again, bigger and better.

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” – Mario Andretti

Ignore the fact that I just mixed hacking, ballet, and race car metaphors to describe your business.

Get out there and go zoom.

Are you feeling scared of Pandas and Penguins lately?  If you follow Google’s changes and updates you might be.

But here’s why I’m not worried about what Google’s up to, other than my usual web marketing geekiness that compels me to keep up with what they’re up to…

If you’re doing things right, building multiple traffic sources (and your email list!) and not trying to sneak in “black hat” search engine optimization techniques, you’re probably going to be just fine.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is to never rely on one source of traffic, especially when you can’t control it.  I don’t control Google, or Bing, or Facebook, or Twitter, or Pinterest, and the list goes on… it’s smart to leverage all of them for traffic back to your website, but it’s not smart to depend on any one source for all your traffic.

The last several major updates that Google’s pushed out haven’t hurt my traffic.  My search engine traffic, as well as traffic overall, has steadily grown for the last several years.

It’s because I focus on two things and follow one simple rule that allow me to get nice streams of traffic not just from Google and the search engines but also from the social networks, links I’ve built online, and my ezine list.

1. Create Awesome Content

Creating awesome content means I focus on answering the questions my readers (and potential readers) are asking and do my best to deliver value in every post I share.

Usually it means I write the content myself.  Sometimes it means I share cool people with you that I’ve run across in my business.

It always means writing headlines and subheadlines that are appropriate and fit my content.  It always means writing for my readers and not the search engines (I don’t have to worry about the “over-optimization” that Google’s after in their latest update, I’m not stuffing keywords into every sentence and my keyword stemming happens naturally).

We’re not robots.  Let’s not sound like them.  Boooooring and hard to read.

It’s not about creating a content farm with thousands of articles.  It’s not about rehashing what someone else wrote with only minor edits so you don’t feel like you copied them (trust me, as someone who regularly spots my content on other blogs, the author knows when you’ve done this) or spinning my own articles.  It’s not about accepting all sorts of paid links and paid posts to make quick cash.  (If you don’t know what content farms, article spinning, or paid links/posts are, that’s cool, they’re all options that require walking very carefully so you don’t shoot yourself in the foot for search engine positioning.)

2. Build Links Naturally

When you create awesome content, then work to get it noticed on the social networks, people will link to you naturally.

And when you interact with others, comment on their blogs, and follow good basic online marketing practices you’ll find that the links you’ve built aren’t “suspect” to Google because they’re to different pages on your site, with different anchor text, and from a variety of websites.

Trying to get 1000 sites (any sites that will swap links, even if they aren’t related to your topic/focus) to link to you using the exact same anchor text, is going to come across as spammy.  It’s not natural link building and it doesn’t drive ideal traffic to you anyway.

Why does Google care?  Because they’re looking to deliver the best content in their results.  If you’re sharing good content, people will link to you and share you, and then Google will spot that and see those links as “votes” for you.  Yes, this means you’ve got to do some work to get your content out there.  Do the work.

3. Don’t Try to Game the Search Engines

This is where the problems start.  When we think we can game the search engines… yeah, it might work this week, maybe even next week or next month.  But eventually the game will be over.

Are good search engine optimization basics worth knowing?  Absolutely!!  If you don’t understand how the search engines work, it’s worth your time to study from a reputable source.  But don’t let the allure of “black hat” strategies that promise to get you to #1 on Google by tomorrow draw you in.  Anyone that tells you that is either going to tell you to buy PPC ads (that can get you on page 1 at Google overnight, of course, and is a legit option), suggest keywords no one is actually searching for, or just might be trying to game Google with sneaky tricks.

Think long term instead of quick gains.  Build up content that will attract ideal readers to you and keep delivering content your readers want. 

Don’t do what seems ”easy” today.  Swapping links with any site that will swap, stuffing in keywords and over optimizing text, and reprinting endless articles or spinning your own like crazy, will hurt you in the long run — and not just with search engines!

Keep your readers as your top focus. 

Do readers want to see 10 versions of the same article on your blog?  Do they want to read text so filled with one keyword phrase that it feels like you can’t speak English?  No!  So don’t do it.

Focus on them.  If you don’t, you’ll lose them and where you rank in the search engines won’t matter because those who do find you won’t stick around long enough to attempt reading your content.

Your Turn…

What do you think?  Do the updates strike fear into your heart everytime you hear about another one that’s out?  Or do you follow an approach similar to mine?  What’s working for you?

Worried about the economy?

Tired of all the gloom and doom on the news?

Thinking no one will hire you or buy your products/services because it’s just a tough financial time for the global economy?

Let’s shift that thinking…

Today I’m sharing another great guest post with you from Shameca Tankerson, the Credit Savvy CEO.

Shameca and I have been around each other’s spaces online for a couple of years in blog challenges, but really connected and started getting to know each other when we enrolled in the same awesome coaching program a few months ago.

Photo on the right is me, Tony Tiefenbach, and Shameca at a mastermind dinner during Overnight Authority live event a couple weeks ago.

Back back to the topic at hand… why you’ve got to start thinking about (and creating) your OWN economy!

Guest post by Shameca Tankerson

Okay…I guess I’m a little indignant when it comes to the stories I here day in and day out regarding money.  And I’ll get even more undignified than this.  Every Where I go I hear the doom and gloom stories:  “The economy is bad,” “The banks aren’t lending,” “People don’t have money to spend”…..

Well, I’m calling everyone on the carpet!

You tell me…

It’s time to tell the truth!  Okay… I’ll start.

The truth:  There ARE banks lending.  There is Money available in more ways than you can imagine.  But the majority of us good old Americans striving toward the American Dream (the pursuit of happiness) need that story to explain why we under charge for our services, don’t invest in our business growth, or why our business isn’t successful .

Are you driven by a Mask that is keeping in the realm of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results? Are you working in your business day in and day out to make enough money to take your vision to the next level… waiting on that next big deal or business model that will skyrocket your revenue?

Are you ready to wake up to and remove the mask  and conditioning that is holding you back so you can get the funding you need to have the business and life  you really want … No Excuses?

Step 1.  Pull your own credit  and see what is really going on.  Know your score.  Don’t be Scurred!

Step 2. Find your financial baseline.  How much money do you need on a monthly basis to keep your business right where it is… to sustain. Hint: Pull out bank statements.

Step 3.  If you don’t have six months cash cushion or a credit line equal to 6 months cash cushion.  You need funding.

Step 4. Get the skinny… the real… the truth on business funding.  Plug into my community http://www.facebook.com/creditsavvyceo (ha ha…shameless plug) but really learn what your options are and make informed financial decisions… ask questions and get in the know.

Step 5.  Bonus: Charge what you are worth… Don’t look at other people’s business models to determine your pricing and don’t buy into the people aren’t spending money mentality.  Why:  It’s not true.  This is the quickest way to stimulate your own economy. Some of the funding options available are based on revenue… don’t minimize your worth or your options.

Remember this: You have something of value to bring to the world.

Shameca Tankerson, is a Speaker, Trainer, Author, and Cash Flow Success Mentor to entrepreneurs and service professionals. Using a proven system, she opens a candid dialogue about money that teaches her clients how to breakthrough to their next income level and expand into a cash flowing business with a new collaborative business model that is liberating, Inspiring and Powerful.  To Get your F.R.E.E. “Spark Your Cash Flow Financial Success Kit”  - Making Room For Money: 5 Financial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make That Sabotage Their Cash Flow (And How To Avoid Them). Visit: http://www.MakingRoomForMoney.com

Your turn to share!

So what do you think?  Are you “tuned in” to the news still?  Or have you chosen to skip listening to what others say?

Got any tips on shifting from letting in the worry and doubt to being confident in your value and knowing your numbers?

Guest Post by Shelley Webb of OnTheWebbSocialMedia.com

I wanted to introduce you to a cool new tool that you can use to maximize the time you spend marketing or promoting your blog.  It can also do many OTHER things too.

It’s called ifttt (if this then that) and could very well become my favorite new tool.  Although still in beta phase, it looks very promising.

This will really date me, but the name of this tool resonates with me because when I took my very first computer programming class back in high school, everything we did was based on “if this, then that”.  For example:  if A ~> B, if D +1 ~>F.  So I completely get this concept.

ifttt creates recipes for putting the internet to work for you by combining tasks, triggers, actions, and channels.

Now this part may sound a bit difficult but it really isn’t.

A task would be: when something happens (this) then do something else (that).

The this part of the task is called the trigger.  For instance, I take a photo and post it to Instagram, or Someone retweets something that I tweeted.

The that part of the task is called the action.  An example of that would be: “send me an e-mail” or “thank the person who retweeted me”.

Triggers (this) and actions (that) are derived from channels.  Some examples of channels would be Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Foursquare, Evernote, The Weather Channel, etc.

When you put one channel’s trigger together with another channel’s action, that would become a task!

For instance, I set up the one that was suggested on the website: Save all the photos that I post to Instagram in my Dropbox.  Below is a photo of how that would look.  Is that not incredible??

photo from ifttt.com

To set it up, you just follow the recipe that is on the website.

Once a task has been created, it becomes a recipe and can be shared with friends and other ifttt users.

You can find lots of recipes on the website under the categories “what’s hot,” “what’s new” and “what’s popular.”

Each recipes lists the creator, the date of creation and how many times it has been used.

Some of the interesting ones I found were:

• When Facebook profile picture changes, update Twitter profile picture.
• Thanking people in Twitter when they mention you or RT.  (BIG time saver)
• Tweet my blog post
• Automatically add posts from an RSS feed to my Readability list
• When a new book is added to Kindle Top 100 Free eBooks, send me an email.
• Add your foursquare check-in history to your Google Calendar (in case you can’t remember where you’ve been?)
• Create a photo post by using Instagram to blog recipe.
• When I like photo on Instagram post this on Posterous.
• Add to your Readability reading list by fave’ing a tweet.
• tumble every tweet that contains an image.

Tasks can be turned on and off.  When turned back on, they pick up as if you had just created them so there will be no data saved when the task is turned off.

Once you set up a recipe, be sure to return to see how that recipe is working.  For instance, I had set up a recipe to thank new followers on Twitter in the @connect section ( NOT in Direct Messages as that is not looked upon favorably by Twitter users).  I went back to check on how it was working and found that my followers were being thanked every 15 minutes!  YIKES

Tasks poll for new data every 15 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention the recipes are VERY easy to use? Really you just follow the pictures.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

If you liked this article by Shelley Webb, you’ll want to hop on over to www.OnTheWebbSocialMedia.com where you can find more articles, resources and social media strategies.  Shelley teaches entrepreneurs and small business owners how to bring their business into the on-line conversation.

Guest Post by Amethyst Mahoney of AmethystMahoney.com

Scammers are now targeting small business owners. There are so many successful (and not-so-sucessful) business owners at there that you are now being targeting.

Most of the scammers are attempting to get various smallish amounts of money from you (up to about $150 or so), and they’re counting on the fact that you are overwhelmed and unorganized in your business – so you may not even notice the charges until it’s too late.

Could you be their next victim? Here are four ways to avoid it:

1. Get organized! You know that you are losing countless hours searching through paperwork, emails, and materials each week. But did you also know that not being organized makes it easier for scammers to fool you?

Keep records handy. You can also keep your passwords and business materials in a lock box or locked filing cabinet so they are close at hand but not accessible to just anyone.

2. Read documents carefully. Scammers like to make their letters, which sometimes come through postal mail (not just email), look official. I received one yesterday from Domain Registry of America, stating that my domains were due to expire soon and I could renew at lower rates.

I happen to know who hosts my domains, and I have no intention of switching (HostGator is awesome). When I looked closer, I realized that in very small print, the letter said to “switch” your domain registry provider. The prices were about twice what I’m paying now.

This morning I also looked around about this particular company and found a lot of information about them, how they are scammers, and how they have already settled with the Feds once but are still sending out misleading info. Beware. This isn’t the only company doing this.

3. Never ever give your information to anyone over the internet or anyone who calls you. These days no one will legitimately ask you for your information over the phone or email. In fact with some companies you actually have to jump through hoops to get things changed or just to provide your new information to them.

If anyone contacts you through email asking for your info, you can be 100% assured that it’s a scam. You can send that email to the Consumer Reporting Agency. There’s also info there about the latest scams.

If you think it’s legitimate, get the person’s name, company, phone number and extension. Then look up the company and call by the info you get off the internet. Ask for the person by name. 9 times out of 10 you will find out that the person doesn’t exist at that company.

4. If you’re unsure, Google it. You can bet that there’s info on the scam out there. I had a very belligerent person call my cell phone a few years ago threatening me with a lawsuit if I didn’t pay for a loan I had already paid off. When I Googled the phone number, I got tons of hits on the scamming company that had contacted me.

These are some great tips to keep you from becoming a victim of a scam. But sometimes things happen. Or people steal your credit card information. Or people hack into a company’s system and get your info. I personally use LifeLock just in case. For $16 a month, they step in when someone tries to scam me.

Some people say LifeLock is a scam itself and preys off people’s fears. But last year we had a series of fraudulent charges on our credit card from Australia. It was great to have someone in our corner and to know that we would not be held liable for the charges. It could have turned into an ugly mess.

Make sure you have your own plan too, and always read the fine print.

This post is not to scare you. But you do need to be prepared. ;-)

Michelle Amethyst Mahoney helps holistic small business owners who are struggling to find clients and are feeling overwhelmed attract more clients and make more money so they can serve their bigger purpose in the World and help more people without burning out.  

Amethyst now offers certifications in BAFB as well as other holistic and spiritual coursework. You can find her at www.AmethystMahoney.com.