How to Use Twitter to Build Your Prospect List
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I have a few posts on my blog about how you can use Twitter to promote your business online. For example, you can use it to build your credibility and to get people to your website. But of course, you need to have followers for any of that stuff to work, right? Maybe you’re just starting out on Twitter, or maybe you have followers but you seem to have hit a plateau and your number of followers isn’t increasing. I have a few tips for some simple ways you can build up your Twitter following…
1. Follow other experts in your niche/field – I call these your mentors – other people in your field who have achieved what you’re trying to. By following and interacting with these mentors, you’re going to be reaching out to their thousands of followers who are obviously interested in the field or niche you work in. If those followers like what you have to say, they’ll in turn follow you. Here are some things you can do to start interacting with your mentors and at the same time their followers.
• Tweet about how they’ve helped you – I know that I have taken classes, attended teleseminars/webinars, or otherwise learned some great info from my mentors. So if you’ve learned some great stuff or they helped you succeed in some way, tweet about it. Let them know how they helped you or what they did for your business. They’re going to appreciate the kind words and most likely will re-tweet it. This will get you in front of all those followers, and also work on building your relationship with that expert.
• Re-tweet their messages – This helps you in two ways. They’re probably going to thank you for the re-tweet, which gets your name into their Tweet stream. Also, you’re offering helpful information to your own followers, which continues to build your reputation as a resource of good information.
• Always be thinking about how you can help them. You have to remember that Twitter is about relationship-building, not just about pushing your own information out there. Take your list of mentors you want to build a relationship with, and then start working on that. (Remember that you don’t just want to focus on potential clients or customers, but you also want to develop relationships with people who are already at where you want to be.)
2. Following people – When you follow someone on Twitter, many times they’ll click through to your profile. If they see Tweets that are of interest to them and you’re not just pushing Tweets out about “Buy my stuff,” then there’s a good chance they’ll follow you back. Don’t just follow people randomly though, and be sure you don’t exceed the allowed follow-to-following ratio. Try to keep the # of people your following less than the # of people following you. Now if you’re just starting out, you can begin by following people who are following those experts we just talked about. You can also search at sites like Twellow.com to find people who match your target market.
3. Automate, but automate wisely – You can certainly automate parts of your Twitter strategies, but remember that Twitter is all about interaction and relationships. So be sure you only automate tasks that don’t require a response or that you don’t need to be directly involved in. Once you get to hundreds and thousands of followers, you’ll definitely want to pull some tools in to help you with both the automated and personal tasks involved with using Twitter. Two tools I recommend are Hootsuite and Tweet Adder. Hootsuite is free and used online through their website, and allows you to schedule Tweets and post status updates to multiple sites at once. Tweet Adder is a download to your computer (it costs $55, but has a free trial period), and allows you to automate the process of adding followers. It also allows you to search for the right followers that fit your ideal client profile.
If you’re just starting out on Twitter, or are wanting to really ramp up your followers list, I’ve given you some good ways to get started. Twitter is a great way to start getting more traffic to your website and adding prospects to your marketing list. So take advantage of it! I hope this gets you started.
Using 10 Hours a Month to Build Your Business
By · CommentsYesterday I wrote about what you can expect when you have a limited number of hours set aside to use the services of a virtual assistant. So let’s say you’ve taken the plunge (yes, I know it can be a little scary to hire a VA), and purchased a retainer package of 10 hours for someone to help you with your marketing.
What are some things you could expect your VA to achieve in those 10 hours a month? The short answer – probably more than you thought. Consistency and follow-through is key with online marketing (which is what I offer my clients help with, so that’s what I’m going to discuss here), so when using a smaller amount of hours a month, try to space out that time to about 2.5 hours per week.
Here are some of the ways I can help you increase your business, with just 2-3 hours a week:
- Social Media – I can set up your profiles and fan pages on the top social media sites, or any of the other social media websites you want to focus your time on.
- Facebook/Website Monitor & Maintenance – I can take care of any updates needed for your Facebook Fan Page and your website and/or blog. I can also monitor your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts and make note of any important interactions and provide you with a summary of activity once a week.
- Comment Moderation – I can monitor the comments on your blog and ensure that the appropriate ones are approved and answered to keep the conversation going.
- Google Alerts - I can set up Google Alerts for specific search terms and provide a overview each week of anything important to you and your business, as well as monitor any trending topics.
- Forum Interaction and Moderation – I can interact on and monitor any particular forums that you frequently post on.
- Longer Term Projects – If you have an event/teleseminar/new product you want to promote, I can start to build the buzz and help you increase attendees with online marketing.
- Transitioning to Wordpress – By using some of the hours each month, I can help you with transitioning your website from a traditional html based site to a Wordpress based website. This is a longer term project, but is easily done and usually in much less time than you would expect.
- Marketing Your Business – I can help you develop your overall online marketing strategy, and show you new and free ways to market your business online.
- Article Marketing – I can set up your profiles on various article directories and submit 1-2 articles a week, increasing your exposure to prospects and building your credibility/expertise in your particular field.
There’s a lot involved in online marketing, and there’s no way I (or any other person) could do all it entails in 10 hours a month. But by picking a few simple strategies and then doing them consistently each month, you’ll start to get more prospects, build more buzz for your business, and get more clients. And besides those great benefits, you’ll have more time available to strategize, plan, take care of your current clients and customers, or to create something amazing for your business.
This really is just a small sampling of the tasks I could handle for you with only 10 hours per month. Now imagine where we could take your business with 10- 20 hours more!
For even more ideas on how you can market your business online, sign up for my free February webinar.
Have a great day!
Getting Marketing Results With Just a Few Hours a Month
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As a virtual assistant, I specialize in helping my clients get more customers or clients with online marketing strategies. When I’m working with my clients, of course I want them all to have exceptional results from our work together. And my clients want (often expect) those same exceptional results. But at the same time my clients might just be starting out, or have a small budget available, so they want to know if we can still get good results with only 5-10 hours a month. Realistically, what kind of expectations can you have when you only want to use my services a few hours a month?
Even with a limited budget, a lot of good results can come from just a few hours if they’re used the right way. Here’s some tips for helping you leverage a limited virtual assistance budget:
1. Communicate expectations on a regular basis. “Set it and forget it” doesn’t often work with a virtual assistant. Your VA is an integral part of your business (if she’s doing her job correctly), even if she’s only working with you a few hours a month. You should be having a short conversation monthly with her, letting her know what you want to accomplish each month, at the start of the month. Then make sure your VA communicates with you what can and can’t be done in the time or budget you have allocated for that month. This doesn’t need to be a drawn-out conversation. It can usually be done quickly through email.
2. Keep the momentum and be consistent. When your budget (and thus the time your VA works with you) is limited, it can be difficult to keep the momentum going and in turn see real results. However, this can be overcome by retaining your virtual assistant on a consistent, monthly basis, rather than booking her time whenever the mood hits, with no real plan. This can make a huge difference in the results you see from your work together. Your virtual assistant needs to be in the loop and stay in the loop in order to understand your business and be invested in your business success.
3. Pick your tasks carefully. A virtual assistant can get a lot done (more than you thought possible) if you delegate projects that are defined and manageable. That means they have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Try to delegate projects that are achievable without much input from you, and that also don’t eat up a huge chunk of your budget.
So even if you have a small budget, you’ll still achieve some incredible results by effectively utilizing the services of a virtual assistant. If you want to find out how I can help you market your business in only 10 hours a month, contact me today for a free 30 minute consultation.
3 Steps to Increasing Your Business
By · CommentsIf you are like any typical business owner, you are in search of proven strategies to increase your bottom line. But, with so many revenue generation concepts and strategies available, it can be challenging to know which ones to choose and where to begin. In fact, it can be simply overwhelming.
Here’s three simple steps you can use to get really focused on where you should get started, where you need to focus your time, and who you’re trying to connect with online.
Step 1- Clarify your Online Marketing Goals and Objectives
How can you determine the roadmap to follow, if you don’t know how to define the point you are beginning from and the point you are attempting to arrive at? The first step to defining these points is to define your social networking goals, the results that you hope to achieve and the individuals, or target audience, in which you are attempting to connect with online.
Step 2- Increasing your List
One of the most valuable assets your business currently owns is its lead list. The lead list that you have accumulated represents people who have already expressed an interest in you and/or services. So, it is critical that you learn how to consistently increase the number of contacts on your list. Consider utilizing some of the top opt-in techniques, such as monthly ezines, free gifts, teleseminars, and product or service samples. People will provide you the value you seek when you provide value in return. In addition to using an opt-in function on your website, you could also turn your attention to blog marketing, article marketing and general search engine optimization techniques to boost your website’s regular traffic. Each of these techniques will help you to successfully increase your list.
Step 3- Converting your List to Customers
To transform your list into customers, you must actively work through a process. People buy from people they know, like and trust. So, to turn your list into customers, you must build credibility, let your subscribers get to know you and show them what you do. To accomplish these objectives, you must stay in touch with your list. Invite your list to join you on popular social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn). Deliver constant value and relevant information to your list. Notify your list of special offerings and promotions. And, keep your list aware of what your business is doing. Keep in mind that every target market is different; you may need to employ a variety of techniques in order to achieve the level of results you are seeking.
By following these 3 simple concepts, you will be able to establish an online social networking presence, build your list and convert them successfully into customers.
Figuring out the right way and the right place to market your business online can be frustrating, overwhelming, and confusing. Sometimes it can help to have someone walk you through the process.
If you’d like to get some getting more clients and making more money with online marketing, feel free to listen to the recording of last week’s free teleseminar, “6 Simple Steps to Social Media Success.” You’ll find it HERE.
My First Grandson
By · CommentsThis week was already a very busy week for me. I had the two teleseminars I was presenting yesterday, three new client consultations, and of course, my regular client projects.
But, my daughter decided that wasn’t enough, and this past weekend gave me a beautiful grandson (my first grandchild, and yes I’m way too young to be a grandma!) to keep me even busier. He is absolutely perfect and now I understand what people mean when they talk about how great it is to be a grandparent.
So originally, the recording of my teleseminar was only going to be for those people who signed up for the live version of the call. But my adorable (look at those cheeks!) grandson has put me in a great mood, so I’m going to share it with anyone who happens upon the right link to the call. So if you’re reading this post, you’ve got the link.
http://timesaversvirtualsolutions.com/simplestepsaudio
You’re getting some great stuff here – not as great as my grandson – but still really good. So if you go to the trouble of downloading it, please take some time out to listen to it.
Have a great day!
Crystal
6 Simple Steps to Social Media Success
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As I’ve gotten more and more familiar with social networking and online marketing, and as I’ve helped more of my clients use it to market their own business, I often hear over and over the same frustrations with it.
“I know I’m supposed to be online, or on Twitter or on Facebook. So I set up my profile, but I’m just not getting how it’s supposed to get me business.”
“I see people being successful marketing their business online, but I’m confused on what to do. How come I can’t make it work for me?”
People will try to copy what they see someone else doing on these sites, but they don’t see the whole picture. So they end up missing steps at the end, or in the middle, or the beginning. And then obviously they’re not going to see the results they were expecting or hoping for. So here’s 6 simple steps you can use to get started the right way with social media.
Step 1 – Understanding who your ideal client is, knowing where to find them, and figuring out what their problem is that you can solve. Then figuring out how you can peak their interest, build a relationship with them, and become known as a resource to them using online marketing/social media strategies. Finally, getting very clear on exactly what social media is all about. It’s not about selling, selling, selling. It’s about making connections, working on relationships, connecting with potential clients and eventually getting those prospects back to your hub (your blog). Which brings us to…
Step 2 – Setting up your blog. I am always pushing this issue on my clients and the people I talk to about online marketing. I view your blog as the foundation, the hub, of all of your online marketing efforts. A blog serves so many purposes. It’s a place where you can show your expertise, offer free information, peak prospect’s interest in the service or product you provide. Your blog is also where you can continue to connect with your target market, adding widgets, plugins, badges etc. to connect them to even more of your social media profiles. The whole format of a blog increases your search engine possibilities. And your blog is where you will capture your prospects’ information so you have more than one chance to sell to them.
Step 3 – Set up your social media profiles correctly. You want to fill them out completely. Use the plugins and apps available on different sites to incorporate your different sites and your blog, and to maximize your time by only having to post in one place vs. having to post to multiple sites.
Step 4 – Start connecting. Join groups that share your interests or that are of interest to your ideal client or customer. Find people to follow that you admire and can learn from. See what they’re doing that works and then try it out to see if it works for you. But don’t be afraid to think outside of the box and try something completely different. Do pay attention to the etiquette of each particular site, because you certainly don’t want to irritate anyone. Start building relationships with mentors, prospects, peers – the whole time directing them back to your website where you can continue building on the connection you started developing on the social media site. As you get out on these sites, you’ll find people trying to sell you on the newest trick or tip to get the most followers or friends. But honestly, you want to focus on developing quality connections with people, not focusing on the quantity.
And you have to remember that your ultimate goal is to get people back to your blog, get their contact information, and continue to build up the “know, like, trust” factor with them, until you convert them to a client or customer.
Step 5 – Slowly start adding other online marketing techniques. Don’t try to add everything in at once, because you’ll just get overwhelmed and give up. But once you have the top sites (I recommend Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube), you can start pulling in some other online marketing strategies to ramp up your website traffic even more. Things like article marketing, squidoo, bookmarking sites, forums, teleseminars, just to name a few. Social media isn’t the end all to making millions of dollars a year. It is a great free (money wise, but definitely not free time wise) way to get new business, if done correctly, but it’s not all you should be doing.
Balance it out with some other techniques, be consistent, and follow up with your prospects – and you will see results. You’ll start to see more traffic to your website, which will lead to getting more emails, which will lead to more clients, which of course leads to a bigger business and more money.
Step 6 – Convert those prospects into clients. You can have the hugest list in the world, you can have thousands of emails. But if you don’t do something with those, if you don’t follow up, that won’t mean a thing. This is the final step of online marketing, and without this step, all of your efforts in the 5 steps before won’t mean a thing. Yeah, sure, you’ll get those few people who will sign up with you right away, or buy your product after tweeting with you a few times. But that’s really the exception, and not the rule. The majority of people aren’t going to purchase anything from you until they (what? you know the answer) “know, like, and trust” you. And you build this up with follow-up and interaction with your list. So you have to follow-up, you have to do what you say you will, you have to offer information and resources.
If you want to get more detail on each of these steps, and find out how you can use online marketing to increase your business and make more money – attend my free webinar on February 19th. Click here to sign up.
I got this ezine today from one of the people I learn a lot from – Nicola Bird – a business coach in England. She does a lot of the same stuff I do, and this particular ezine had some great information on using teleseminars to grow your business. So rather than re-invent the wheel, so to speak, I’m going to share it with you. Especially since I know from personal experience how beneficial teleseminars can be to your business.
If you want to generate more leads and get more people onto your marketing list, teleseminars and webinars are a great way to do so. Teleseminars can also help you follow up with leads and turn them into paying clients or customers. You can use teleseminars to add extra value to your services. And you can use teleseminars to create new products you can sell.
Here’s why teleseminars are such a great tool to promote your business:
1. You can ask people to sign up for a free webinar or teleseminar as a way to grow your mailing list.
2. You can let hundreds (well probably tens to start with!) of people benefit from your expertise in the space of an hour rather than reaching just one person at a time.
3. You can offer webinars and teleseminars at a mid-range price to establish your expertise to build confidence that you are the right person to spend LOTS of money with on a 1:1 basis.
4. You can use web- based services and place a link to a product you want to promote that is seen by people before and during the call, and even during the playback of the recording.
5. You can do point 4 above but promote other people’s products with your affiliate link and make money that way too!
6. You can ask others if they would like to be interviewed, growing both their list and yours, and means you don’t have to come up with the content, just good questions.
7. You can pick people you admire and want to learn more from. And then you basically get to pick their brains for an hour for free!
8. You can offer a free tele-class for people who register (first growing your mailing list) and then put the recording for sale on your website straight after the call – another form of passive income for you.
I am making teleseminars (free and paid) a huge part of my 2010 marketing plan. In fact, join me for my first free teleseminar next week, to get some simple online marketing strategies you’ll be able to implement right away in your business.
Do you think teleseminars are something you could implement into your 2010 marketing plan? Or are you already using them? If you are, how have they worked for you?
http://timesaversvirtualsolutions.com/simple-steps-to-social-media-success/
Using Your Blog to Get More Business
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How can you use your blog to get more clients, more customers? Start building a list!
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make when driving traffic to their blog, is focusing on just that – how much traffic is going to their blog. Instead you want to focus on website conversions, how many people are you getting to take some sort of action once they visit your blog. Most often, this action is signing up for something.
You want to get people on your list. You should have 3 levels you funnel your website visitors through.
- Level 1 – get on your list
- Level 2 – convert into customers
- Level 3 – repeat business
So offer some sort of free gift, to get people to give you their email address.
Now let’s focus on how to get people to your blog, so you can offer your free gift to them. Here’s some simple ways you can increase traffic to your blog.
- Write a blog post a minimum of once a week, preferably 2-3.
- Every time you write a blog post, submit it to bookmarking sites.
- Also, you can post your blog posts on groups you belong to, if the post is applicable to their subject. Facebook groups, LinkedIn groups as news articles, Yahoo groups, etc.
- Make sure your blog is integrated into Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. They all have applications that will automatically import your blog into these social media sites.
- Comment on other blogs. Say something meaningful that adds to the post. Not just “nice post”
- Register your blog with blog directories.
- Make sure you have an RSS feed set up on your blog, where people can subscribe to your blog posts. They don’t have to visit your blog everyday to see if you have a new post, they’ll actually get notified that a new post is on your blog.
- Optimize every post. Each blog post gets a separate web page on the blog; therefore you should treat each blog post as a separate web page and optimize it as a single web page. Insert your keywords, make sure you use your categories and tags for each post.
- Turn each blog post (or combine some with same topics) into an article and submit to article directories.
Start increasing traffic to your blog, get your visitors to give your their contact information, and then follow up with something of value to turn prospects into customers.
I’ve been talking a lot about blogs this month, and in one of my earlier posts I touched on using guest bloggers as a way to promote more traffic. Well, in that post I told you to look out for some more posts on guest blogging. I have to admit I completely forgot about it until this weekend, but still better late than never.
So, you’ve decided you want to use the guest blogger strategy. You want to get a different voice/opinion on your blog, you want to expose your blog to a new group of people, or maybe you just want to get a break from having to write your own post day after day. Whatever the reason, here are some ways you can find guest bloggers to help you increase your blog’s visibility.
1. Check out your comments. This is a great place to find potential guest bloggers. First of all, these people obviously know about your website. They’re interested in what you’re talking about on your blog. They’ve taken the time to interact with you through their comment. So look for those people who leave multiple comments, or have something worthwhile to say, they expanded on your post or added something new. Send them an email, all they can say is yes or no.
2. Look for newer bloggers who are blogging about something similar to your blog or something that complements your subject. Newer bloggers can benefit by increasing their blog to your readers, and also getting more practice writing blog posts.
3. Ask people in your community. They don’t even have to be online. For example, I know of one realtor who interviews local businesses in the neighborhoods she sells real estate in. It gets the businesses exposure to her readers and offers another resource to bring more visitors to her website. Get creative, and think of who you can offer the opportunity for free publicity.
4. Your online network. As you develop relationships on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning, etc., be open to potential opportunities. If you like what one of your connections is saying in their status updates, tweets, blog posts they write, that might be a great guest blogger.
5. The big hitters. Don’t be afraid to ask those people who are huge in your particular field. You never know. They just might say yes. If you attend a teleseminar or take one of their classes or connect with them in some way, just ask. If you can get someone who is an expert in your niche as a guest blogger, that will also promote you as an expert and your blog as the place to go for some great information.
So now go out there and get some guest bloggers. And if you use guest bloggers on your site, what other ways do you find them?
Have a great day!
3 Natural Ways to Use Twitter to Promote Your Blog
By · CommentsTwitter is more than a trendy way to chit-chat with people from around the world; it’s a powerful promotional tool that can be very effective if you want to promote your WordPress blog easily and quickly.
There are hundreds of sites and programs that tell you how to make money with Twitter. But if you believe in being genuine, ideally posting and replying to Tweets in real time, then anything that promises to fully automate the process, bring in a huge number of followers within minutes (quantity vs quality), or resorts to sneaky tricks, should be avoided.
Is it possible to use Twitter successful as a promotional tool in a natural way? Yes, if you know how to use it properly. When used properly you can attract new customers and meet like-minded people who can help you to improve your business whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned marketer.
3 Natural Ways to Use Twitter to Make Money with WordPress Blogs
1. Research Your Blog’s Niche
By entering what you want to research in the Search feature in Twitter you can see what people are talking about in the niche you’re targeting. This can help with ideas for blog posts, articles, products or at the very least deliver interesting content to your Twitter followers if you simply retweet what you find.
If you want to conduct searches that are more comprehensive and automated than what Twitter offers out-of-the-box, you can use one of the many free or paid services that give you more options. Twitter search services analyze information on Twitter based on the keywords you specify, e-mailing you the results daily or weekly.
2. Network
Twitter allows you to network with people in your niche(s) from around the world.
It’s worthwhile to be friendly and chatty with fellow Tweeters, to trade tips and techniques or simply use Twitter for entertainment at times, but if you are serious about making money with your Wordpress blog and growing your business, it’s wise to use Twitter to find people who can help.
To learn more about anyone you meet on Twitter be sure to:
- read a few pages worth of their tweets
- read a good number of their retweets
- see how they interact with other Twitter users via replies. Do they reply to other Twitter users or do they just churn out pitches/tweet their own horn for the most part? Are they a real person tweeting in real time, or possibly just a bot or someone a marketer hired to tweet on their behalf?
- visit the website they list in their profile and find out more about them in the About section (hopefully they have one).
- look at who they follow. Do they seem to be doing reciprocal follows (the number of followers they have is close to the number of people they follow) or are they more selective about who they follow? (much smaller number of follows than followers). If it’s the latter, you can get a sense of what and who they value by looking at the profiles of the people they follow.
Tip: Send out personal, relevant replies to other people’s Tweets, not spammy Direct Messages, to introduce yourself. It’s also smart to occasionally retweet other people’s tweets if the information is suitable for your followers. Retweeting is an easy, fast, non-invasive way to show interest in and respect for other members of the Twitter community.
3. Promote your blog and products
I save this for last because you should do it, absolutely, but it’s one of the most misused and abused things on Twitter. If you’re in online marketing, and even if you aren’t, at some point you will get a spammy follower who direct messages (DMs) you with an offer that is neither personal nor useful and just wastes your time. Some marketers tweet offer after offer, often nothing more than an affiliate link, to try to sucker people into buying yet another get-rich- quick system, etc.
Ideally you should promote your blog in a variety of ways on Twitter, not only by posting links to products for sale. Provide value and interesting content, not just offers. Post links to articles on your blog that also promote your products and services, or your views, etc. and share your thoughts about other products and services, even free ones, that your followers might find helpful.
Yes, there are many sites and articles that are devoted to how to use Twitter to make money, but if you care about delivering value to your customers and potential customers and form solid business relationships, then using Twitter in a more natural way, in my view, is the better way to go.
Lillea Woodlyns, an active member of Australian marketer James Schramko’s private coaching forum, offers tips and reviews of the best tools and techniques to make money with WordPress blogs To sign up for her FREE series, ‘WordPress for Success’ visit: http://www.speedonlinewealth.com/blog/about-lillea/
