Archive for Newsletter Articles
While reading an internet business report this week, I ran across two articles that give excellent advice about using Twitter.
Here are a few great take-a-ways:
“Guerilla Tweetfare” by Dan Nickers
Once you’ve set up your Twitter account, use Twitter’s search tool (http://search.twitter.com) and search for people who are discussing your particular niche or product.
Then, join the discussion and provide useful information and value. Dan suggests being funny, not spammy. He says, ”When you reply with value, the person will most likely follow you, reply to you and thank you.”
When someone replies to you on Twitter, all of their followers become aware of the conversation and may see you as a good person to follow as well.
Dan sums up his article with this, “The obvious goal here is to create buzz. The more value, humor and legitimate feedback you provide, the more followers and attention you will receive.”
“Sweeten Up Your Social Networking” by Carrie Wilkerson
She shares Dan’s perspective and suggests…
- Guard your character. Twitter is a very large fishbowl. People are listening and watching at all times.
- Be conversational. Interact with people, show interest in them and see how you can be of value in their space.
- Be consistent and engaged. If you only go on Twitter when you’re bored, have a promotion, have a blog post or are seeking input, everyone will see right through you.
Carrie ends with…”When your audience knows you, likes you, and trusts you, they will want to know more about who you are, who you know, and what you have to offer.”
I believe Dan and Carrie did an excellent job of really drilling down to the core of how to best use Twitter as a marketing tool.
I admit I haven’t kept up with Twitter much in a few months. Effectively using social networking requires a commitment to spending some time on a regular basis socializing with the members. Remember, it’s all about the people and the community.
Happy Tweeting!
Directories are one source of these links, but there are a few tips to keep in mind as you search for directories.
2) Search for Niche directories. These are directories geared toward your industry. Here are a few ways to find them:
- Check the incoming links for your competitors and see if any of the urls are directories that you may want to be listed in as well.
Reminder… type: link:
www.url.com in Yahoo! (this should
be your competitor’s website address)
Note: You probably shouldn’t pay to be listed anywhere
- Think about offline publications in your industry. Is there an online equivalent? See if they have a directory or if your company is listed on their companion website.
- Search for your target keywords. Are there any directory pages among the top search results. If so, you can benefit from their rank by getting listed in their directory.
- Search the search engines for relevant niche directories by entering “pet store directory” and “Richmond Directory.”
You may also find a directory for a certain part of the city, such as “Shockoe Bottom” a popular area in Richmond, VA.
3) When you submit your website, make sure you can select a category that suits your business.
4) Give submitting your home page a second thought. It may be possible that a different landing page may work better.
These tips, provided by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin, authors of Search Engine Optimization: An Hour A Day should be very helpful as you build quality incoming links to your website.
This week I want to share a tip that I learned in a workshop a few weeks ago:
As you develop your marketing plan, develop informal focus groups. Many people often view focus groups as an organized, select group of people that you gather and ask a specific set of questions.
Well, as long as a focus group achieves the goals you set and answers the questions you have, it can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be a group of people in a room.
It can be a group of people on a conference call. You can conduct individual phone interviews. You can also use Survey Monkey, Zoomerang or many of the other free online survey tools. Social media sites can also be vehicles by which you can gather the thoughts and ideas of your target market or any group of people. Twitter, a Facebook Group or even a LinkedIn group can serve this purpose.
As you brainstorm and develop ideas, run them past a group of people to get real, live feedback.
These examples are easy, free ways to develop informal focus groups that can be as effective as formal focus groups.
This week’s newsletter is just a forward of a great post by Robert Middleton that outlines his policies and plans for marketing using Twitter.
Here are a few highlights:
1. Twitter is about sharing value in a fairly narrow band. For me that band includes ideas about marketing, selling, and succeeding as an Independent Professional. So when I tweet, that’s mostly what you’ll be hearing about.
2. My focus will be on sharing value with you, not talking about me. This will include links to blogs and other web content, ideas, tips, strategies, information and inspiration. If I share anything about me, it will be about insights that I think you’ll find useful.
7. I’ll ask questions and use my followers as a resource, if that’s OK with you. There’s still a lot I need to learn and with Twitter I can tap into this amazing network.
Yes, Twitter is an amazing network and one reason that I like it so much is that it’s okay to “do business” on Twitter. Unlike other social networks, promoting your business (from my observation) is understood, accepted and even expected at times. Tomorrow I’ll give you a few key ways that you can specifically use Twitter, that I learned at a workshop last week.
Here are 7 tips that I received from a local Chamber of Commerce workshop last week given by Mark Di Vincenzo with the Business Writers Group:
1. Brevity is underrated. This is true for anything you write, but it’s especially true for a website. Studies show that internet readers don’t read, they scan. One study said that they only read 28% of the words on the average page. Tip: Write what you need to write as succinctly as you know how.
2. Use short words and short sentences. A website is not the place to impress others with your multi-syllabic vocabulary and your ability to wite compound sentences. They tend to confuse many readers, and when readers get confused, they often feel inferior and move to a site that is easier to read.
3. Use simple words. Avoid jargon that is specific to your business or industry. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Better yet, call it a shovel. Why? Besides the fact that simple words are more widely known, they will make it easier for internet users to find your site when they search.
4. Bullets are your friends. Sentences that begin with bullets tend to pop off the page. That’s why job seekers use them on resumes.They grab your attention and that’s something you want your website to do.
5. Don’t forget Q&A. Speaking of grabbing your attention, readers love the question-and-answer format because they can skip around and read only what interests them. Using this format is a conversational way to tell readers about your company. Just don’t overdo it. One Q&A per site is probably enough.
6. Rewrite often. After you write the first draft of your website, rewrite it. Then rewrite it again and again. Spend as much time rewriting as you can because rewriting usually goes hand in hand with improving.
7. Ask for help. When you feel as though you are no longer making improvements to yoru website, ask a smart person you know to read what you wrote and offer suggestions. Think twice before you dismiss his suggestions because he is the first of what you hope will be millions of visitors to your website. If he finds something boring or confusing or wordy, chances are others will too.
Here are a few more resources for you:
