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Introducing The Successful Biz

Feb 24th, 2010
by admin.
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Learn How A 40/yr Old Out-Of-Work Man Created A Successful Moving Business Starting With No Cash, No Equipment, No Trucks And No Luck And Turned It Into The Fastest Growing Moving Business In Michigan Using Only His Skills With Internet Marketing In Only 8 Months!

I know it sounds like one of those cliche internet marketing get-rich-quick schemes…But, truth of the matter, it is all true! Every last word.

Just want to thank Jae Burnham for his help. He shared some great insight and gave outstanding advice and direction for my website. Look for some changes to it soon. Jim Mahan

I guess I should introduce myself: I am Jae Burnham, and yes I created the fastest growing moving business in Michigan starting from scratch…I did it only in 8 months.

When I say I had nothing; I mean it…I had nothing. I am a 40yr old man that had been recently unemployed ( and I was living with my 70yr old father…yikes!). I had no phone, no computer…nothing. Yet I created a highly successful moving business

So, how did I do that? Great question. I used online marketing to accomplish it.

You see the internet is a powerful tool if you know how to use it. There are so many tools and do-dads that you can create tons of traffic to your business if you just knew how to utilize it. And I did. Of course I learned even more as time went on and I got better and better at driving in traffic to me; traffic that hired me to do their moving for them.

Because I knew this information I created my successful moving business. And I can do the same for your small business!

I have the tools, I have the knowledge and, most of all, I have the EXPERIENCE to make your small business a roaring success. And I know how to make your business so successful that you can delegate much of this work to others giving you time to build your business.

When you sign on with me and TheSuccessfulBiz.Com team we will spend time with you learning what you need and want and learning about your business so that we can put together a detailed plan that will skyrocket your profits and growth making your business what you have always envisioned it to be.

Just some of the things we can do to help blast your business to huge expansion:

You can see my full list of my services and products just by clicking the “service” tab at the top.

Your small business success is my success.

Just because you have a website does not mean traffic will find you or come to on the internet. You have to get your name out there, and my company and I stand ready to help you develop that perfect campaign to do just that…

Would you like a free one-time consultation? Then email me at jae@thesuccessfulbiz.com and ask me all the questions you would like to know in expanding your business.

If you enjoyed this post, then make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed which is found at the top right of this website.

Thank you.

Jae Burnham, Owner
TheSuccessfulBiz.Com
Technorati Profile

Posted in: Business Philosophy.
Tagged: · ·

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-07

Mar 7th, 2010
by admin.
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  • 6 Free Android Apps That Will Make You Drop Your iPhone: The Android Market may still lag behind the iPhone App S… http://bit.ly/bUySla #
  • Twitter Timelines Frozen for Some: Not getting Twitter updates today? It’s not just you – a number of users have … http://bit.ly/9qXM7R #
  • 5 Must-Have Geek Collectibles: While some people may amass large numbers of porcelain figurines or miniature repli… http://bit.ly/cqDgOs #
  • Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]: This past week it seems Twitter was all about entertainment, with Justin… http://bit.ly/c5XNif #
  • The Secret X-Factor For Business Success http://is.gd/9paCz #
  • Gatsby: Connecting Foursquare Friends Who Like Cats and Circuses: Here’s an interesting idea. The recently launch… http://bit.ly/aC8TZx #
  • 5 Best iPhone Apps For Controlling Your Mac or PC: With more than 140,000 apps in the iPhone App Store, finding t… http://bit.ly/ajfqjH #
  • Top Condé Nast Magazines are Coming to iPad: When the iPad was announced, some media partnerships were announced… http://bit.ly/ceR0uu #
  • Movieclips Makes Legally Licensed Movie Clips Available Internationally: Today, video-sharing site Movieclips.co… http://bit.ly/9fT5xn #
  • How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement: Professors who wish to engage students during large … http://bit.ly/cdFbTw #
  • iCyte Creates Sharable Bookmarks from Highlighted Text: This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, w… http://bit.ly/cDWoKT #
  • Twitter Location API to Support Places: I know what you may be thinking: Twitter location API already supports pl… http://bit.ly/dwvUHr #
  • New Chrome Beta Offers Automatic Web Page Translation: There’s a new beta version of Chrome available (version 4.1… http://bit.ly/afey9X #
  • Adobe Opens Up About Apple, HTML5 and Flash [VIDEO]: Adobe Flash has been in the spotlight recently, and not for … http://bit.ly/9J1u1s #
  • RT @usavemoving How Much To Tip Movers? http://ow.ly/1oz5u5 #
  • Could Netflix be Coming to Your iPhone?: Netflix streaming support is on tons of devices — computers, media cente… http://bit.ly/cwH89E #
  • Dr. Seuss iPhone Apps Go on Sale For His 106th Birthday: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! Yes, it’s true, the author and… http://bit.ly/aEpJXb #
  • Facebook Could Surpass $1 Billion in Revenue This Year: If some new estimates revealed today are accurate, Facebo… http://bit.ly/bsfR2p #
  • Roger Ebert ‘Speaks’ on Oprah [VIDEO]: In 2006, film critic Roger Ebert underwent surgery to remove cancer near hi… http://bit.ly/dAKkXS #
  • Apple Wants to Bring Hollywood Into the Cloud, Too: A couple of months ago we discovered Apple was in talks with m… http://bit.ly/cgoeiN #
  • Want to succeed in life or business? Hang out with people that are already doing what you’d like to be doing. Get … http://bit.ly/de7eAc #
  • @KSmreker44 That is sooo true. in reply to KSmreker44 #
  • Google and PayPal to Support New Government Login System: Open Identity Exchange (OIX) is a newly founded non-pro… http://bit.ly/aJVTaF #
  • RT @usavemoving Gas Mileage For Moving Trucks http://tinyurl.com/ydrmaqz #
  • WordPress Goes Real-Time With PubSubHubbub: WordPress.com‘ 10.5 million blogs are about to get a whole lot more r… http://bit.ly/cslkoP #
  • Google Kansas II: Duluth Strikes Back [VIDEO]: Ever since Google announced that it intends to build an ultra-high … http://bit.ly/9c1gDb #
  • Google Releases Gesture Search for Android: Google has just released Gesture Search, a new and experimental featur… http://bit.ly/9PEpGp #
  • Redneck Trailer Park Toys http://bit.ly/5iMYYa OMG 2 Funny. #
  • Send Email and SMS Messages Using Voice Commands With Vlingo for iPhone: Since Vlingo first introduced its voice … http://bit.ly/a46Gq2 #
  • Suze Orman Advises Mark Zuckerberg Against Buying Twitter [SPOOF VIDEO]: Twitter may be valued at $1.4 billion, b… http://bit.ly/dunb6P #
  • Movie Review | 'Alice in Wonderland': What’s a Nice Girl Doing in This Hole?: Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” i… http://bit.ly/cIkc7x #
  • Suite Arrival Delivers Toothpaste (And Other Essentials) to Your Hotel: This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of G… http://bit.ly/9Ficgj #
  • Twitter Hits 10 Billion Tweets: It’s official: Twitter has surpassed 10 billion tweets. While Gigatweet’s counter… http://bit.ly/bh9YPr #
  • A New Meme is Brewing: YouTube Caption Fail: Don’t get us wrong, we love YouTube’s new automatic captioning featu… http://bit.ly/aAIcQF #
  • With all this sunshine, I almost don't what to do…Maybe I'll go and walk the dog… #
  • Wi-Fi Stumblers Disappear from Apple App Store: We wrote repeatedly about Apple’s odd and often unfair application… http://bit.ly/bEaYKd #
  • WTFJeans Have Special Pockets for All Your Gadgets: If you were ever frustrated by the lack of iPhone/iPod Touch p… http://bit.ly/beCYpO #
  • Jon Stewart Blows the Lid Off Chatroulette [VIDEO]: And… it’s over. Dead as a doornail. Completely and totally pl… http://bit.ly/c5xmys #
  • Hulu Users Tag Leno’s Return as “Vomit Inducing” (and Much Worse): Before NBC heralds Jay Leno’s triumphant retur… http://bit.ly/dcSKyL #
  • Major Facebook Investor Hopes to Score with Chatroulette: Digital Sky Technologies, the Russian venture capital f… http://bit.ly/anOfiu #
  • Rocking the Oscar Vote: Since The Carpetbagger has weighed in with her predictions and Janet Roberts has offered s… http://bit.ly/9EAL8r #
  • Xbox LIVE Beats PlayStation Network in Reader Vote: We had a very hotly contested matchup this week in our long-r… http://bit.ly/cvZsL6 #
  • Steve Jobs: iPad Won’t Support iPhone Tethering: Not one to mince words, Steve Jobs squashed all hope of the iPad … http://bit.ly/ce6Q3G #
  • Foursquare and SPIN Magazine Turn SXSW Into Musical Scavenger Hunt: For complete SXSW coverage, check out Mashable… http://bit.ly/9FzPzx #
  • Top 10 Geekiest Decorations for Your Home or Office [PICS]: We certainly wouldn’t advocate turning your office, c… http://bit.ly/cb5sQp #
  • U-Save Moving Was Perfect:

    We just moved Dan today, and we saved him from a high priced move.
    Dan moved fr… http://bit.ly/bYwlZ5 #

  • I really in love with this Michigan weather we are having lately…I hope it continues for a while. #
  • fizzle wizzle bum crumb #

Posted in: Battle plan.

Is Cross-Posting Updates On FaceBook And Twitter Good?

Mar 5th, 2010
by admin.
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Below is a great article that I found from a Facebook friend whom I also follow on Twitter. This article brings up an interesting topic: Should you cross-post updates to your various social media outlets?

I personally do cross-post. I found that it is very time saving. However, I do have multiple businesses and every update is not necessarily appropriate to each of those businesses. So in this regard cross-posting may be limiting me. What are your views?

Should you cross-post updates to Facebook and Twitter?
By Ari B. Adler

Consider your audience before posting the same update to multiple social media channels

The root strategy for any public relations initiative includes creating your message, determining your audience, and finding the best way of delivering your message to that audience. But now, with social media, technology has given people the ability to blast identical messages to different audiences.

LinkedIn allows you to post your status update simultaneously to Twitter. You can automatically feed your tweets to Google Buzz. You can connect tweets with your Facebook status updates or your Posterous feed. And with third-party software like Tweetdeck, you can post the same message to multiple Twitter accounts, Facebook and LinkedIn with the touch of one Send button. Whether that’s a good thing or not depends on whom you ask.

“I don’t cross-post, because I use each tool for a slightly different purpose. Therefore, I target messages for each audience,” says Angela Dockett, marketing and communications manager for the American Cancer Society in East Lansing, Mich.

“I’ve done it, but am starting to back off,” admits Jason Dobson, a professional gaming blogger in Broken Arrow, Okla. “Audiences can be quite different between social media sites, and the messaging needs to reflect that.”

Although there is some mingling of followers and friends from one platform to the other, the style of how people communicate on those platforms differs, especially from a language standpoint.

While Twitter often is filled with abbreviations and symbols, those same messages appearing on a Facebook page could be confusing. Still, that hasn’t stopped some people from connecting their accounts.

“I post Twitter to Facebook, because I have friends and family finally on Facebook that don’t get Twitter. It’s too much of a hassle for me to keep up with both,” says Colleen Lin, senior rich media producer for the Dallas County Community College District in Texas. When asked if the audiences were ever confused, Lin said they were at first.

“I had some complaints, but I find that most people ‘hide’ me (on Facebook) if they’re irritated,” she says.

For some entities, particularly government agencies and universities, cross-posting may make sense.

“We cross-post, using Facebook for students and future students; Twitter for corporations, media and parents,” says Laurie Creasy, a new media specialist at Penn State.

Creasy said they aren’t using quite the same message everywhere, but Penn State hopes all the separate networks see similar messages. She noted the messages on Twitter are “more professional.”

In Rhode Island, the state Department of Transportation uses the exact same message on multiple networks, according to Dana Alexander Nolfe, RIDOT’s chief public affairs officer.

“I have a very broad target audience, and I think my goal is to get my message to as many people as possible. With so many venues, and to ensure consistency, I cross-post my message,” Nolfe says. “Some social media have a good-size audience, and some are very small, but my feeling is if MySpace, for example, is the only place someone is going to go to get RIDOT’s message, then I am going to continue to ensure that the message gets out that way.”

Some argue that business accounts should be given some leeway when cross-posting.

“The audiences are completely different if you are coming from a personal perspective,” says A.J. Teachout, owner of Ulu Marketing in Detroit. “My Twitter followers are likely not my Facebook friends, or friends at all for that matter, so they will not care to hear about what my kid did the other day. My Facebook friends actually know me and care to hear more personal details.

“That being said, from a business perspective, I think it’s a wise move. Your audience is in it for the same reason—to learn more about the business and, likely, your messages will be similar.”

In the end, it’s up to the individual whether to cross-post. With social media being such a new conduit, there’s no proven right or wrong way to do things—yet.

“The bottom line is: Know your audience and how they might be different across multiple networks and social sites,” Teachout says. “How would that affect your message?”

Posted in: FaceBook, Social Media Marketing, Twitter.
Tagged: · · ·

Get Free Backlinks With IMAutomator

Mar 2nd, 2010
by admin.
2 comments

Get Your FREE Backlinks With Caroline Middlebrook’s IMAutomator

If you guys don’t know Caroline Middlebrook then you should get to know her.

Caroline Middlebrook is an online marketer. She started marketing other peoples products as an affiliate then she branched off and started creating her own. Seeing a need to have backlinks Caroline developed IMAutomator. Currently in beta it is a free (for now) service that allows to submit your websites address and it will automatically add your site to twenty five (25) others creating for you of backlinks.

And the best part of this is that it is FREE.

Caroline is not charging for this service right now, but she plans on doing so in the near future, so you should hop right on over and register for free and get your website submitted for inclusion.

If you don’t understand why you should have backlinks then then you should read my article. It is a straightforward lesson on backlinking and why its important for you and your business.

Posted in: Backlinking.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-28

Feb 28th, 2010
by admin.
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Posted in: Battle plan.

How to Get A FREE Website!

Feb 27th, 2010
by admin.
1 comment

Why you have to have a website:

I can’t just tell you that you have to have a website. It is far more complex than that.

If you have any kind of business at all then you have to have some sort of web presence. The most known method is the website.

A website is an online portal to your business. It tells your prospective customer/client all about and your business. It is sort of like an online brochure but way more informative. And if the website is properly set up then there will several pages (at least five) that explain you, your business, the services and products that you offer, how to contact you and your physical location, etc.

And if you are really good or have hired a true webmaster professional then that website is choc-a-bloc with useful hints and tips and information that you customers get for free. This could be useful articles, videos and products. And this information is stuffed with keywords that your customers are looking for when they search the internet. This helps to drive your customers to you. And if you have a physical location then the website is also garnered for geo-targeting; meaning it is geared to bring in local customers and not someone from India.

But why do you need to have a website?

Because, the old tried and true methods are no longer tried and true. They are dying out. Gone are the days where you could pay for a listing in the Yellowpages and put an ad in the local newspaper. In fact, in some places newspapers and phone books are being outlawed as more and more communities go green.

Your customers are now going to the internet to find the stores and shops to visit. And if you have no website then your customers are not going to find you.

Recently a survey was done of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 and they found that 99% of this public have at least one social media profile online. 99 percent. Your future is on the internet folks.

It was also found that 80% below the age of 40 go to the internet before they even think of opening the phone book. So in this case, the future is now.

So have an online presence is your best ticket to drive new and future prospects to your business.

Where to go to get a FREE website:

You can search online and check out the internet for website designers and developers, or you can visit sites like Craigslist.com, Backpage.com or Kijiji.com, which are online classified ad sites to find a web designer. And most of these guys are very good at what they do. But, lets be honest, they are not necessarily going to be cheap.

Typically a well produced nice looking website that will do everything that you need it to do as described above is going to run you around $2000-$5000. That is quite a lot of money and it is worth every penny. But is there an alternative, or free way, to get a website that will do everything that you need it to do? Yes there is. (By the way, if you do want a nicely designed website designed by a true pro, then you need to talk with my friend Paul Starr. Just go to paulstarrproductions.com)

There is a company called Wordpress. They are an online database developers and they have designed and produced a blogging platform that you can use for free to build your own website. I make all my own websites with Wordpress, and the one that I make for my clients all use Wordpress.

There are two alternatives with Wordpress. The self-hosted and the Wordpress hosted choices. Got to wordpress.org for the Wordpress hosted sites and go to wordpress.com for the self-hosted sites.

I used the self-hosted Wordpress. It gives me the options to really make my websites zing. With the Wordpress hosted sites you cannot make it do what you really want it to do, and they don’t allow you to use the site to make money from. Which is not true for the self-hosted Wordpress.

But don’t worry, they are both free.

To use the self-hosted Wordpress for your website you’ll need a hosting service. There are many out there, but only two really cater to Wordpress. You should look into BlueHost or HostGator. I use Bluehost exclusively because I have found that they have the best customer service, and you can call up someone on the phone and talk with a real live technical support person that is not from India or the Phillipines.

I am not going to go into how to make and develop your Wordpress as that would require a lot more than I am willing to do with this quick article. If you are interested in learning how to make your own self-hosted Wordpress website then sign-up for my free newsletter. I am also planning on producing several how-to videos that will go over this step by step. Let me know if you are interested in this.

If you decide to use BlueHost then their customer service people can help walk you through the entire process of hosting the website.

I last thing that you will need with the self-hosted Wordpress site is a domain name. This is your internet address. Again the Bluehost people can help with getting you a domain name. Domains are not free, but they also are not very expensive, maybe $10 total.

How to make your Wordpress website really zing:

There are some things that you will need to really make your Wordpress website standout in the crowd.

Wordpress comes with a website template already installed. You can use this or one of the many very well designed free templates that Wordpress offers. And let me say that there are a lot of beautiful and well designed templates to choose from. Or you can choose to buy a premium website from web designers that exclusively design templates for Wordpress. All you have to do is Google “Wordpress templates” and you’ll get a lot of companies providing those templates. Do be prepared to spend between $75 and $150 and sometimes more for a premium template.

Another thing that you will need to make your Wordpress site explosive are what is called “plugins”. These plugins are small software programs that enhance the functionality of your Wordpress site. They can do all sorts of things like: make your website the bees knees when it comes to SEO (search engine optimaztion), or to add Twitter, FaceBook and/or YouTube integration, Or myriad list of different useful and cool tools.

The best thing is that these plugins are free.

So, except for the domain name and the hosting which adds to about $20, you can have a totally free website that will help you get discovered on the internet and drive in hordes of new customers/clients everyday.

To get more useful and specialized information on creating a website and a social media presence on the internet then please sign up for my free newsletter that will go into more detail.

Posted in: Website Design, Website Design.
Tagged: · · · · · · ·

State Of The Internet Today!

Feb 26th, 2010
by admin.
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The internet is growing exponentially. And with stats like these how can you justify not being on the internet in today’s world? The answer is simple…You can’t.

There was a wonderful article from Mashable today which I think beautifully lays out what I trying to say. You can also check out the video first.

Individual stats like Facebook passing the 400 million user mark, Twitter hitting 50 million tweets per day, and YouTube viewers watching 1 billion videos per day are impressive on their own, but what if we looked at Internet-related stats collectively? Jesse Thomas did just that in his video State of the Internet.

The video — created and animated by Thomas with data from multiple sources — highlights some remarkable figures and visually depicts the Internet as we know it today. It’s a must-watch video for anyone trying to wrap their minds around just how immersed web technologies have become in our everyday lives.

You can watch the video below, but we’ve also included some of the most intriguing figures shared in the video:

- There are 1.73 billion Internet users worldwide as of September 2009.

- There are 1.4 billion e-mail users worldwide, and on average we collectively send 247 billion e-mails per day. Unfortunately 200 billion of those are spam e-mails.

- As of December 2009, there are 234 million websites.

- Facebook gets 260 billion pageviews per month, which equals 6 million page views per minute and 37.4 trillion pageviews in a year.

So if your business is still in the internet darkages then now is your time to get out of it. TheSuccessfulBiz.Com team and I can help you with that. From inexpensive SEO rich websites to a top-notch social media presence that drives in hordes of new and potential customers everyday. Just go to the “contact us” page and fill out the form and we’ll get right back to you.

Posted in: Marketing, SEO.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

10 Reasons Why You Should Use Twitter

Feb 25th, 2010
by admin.
No comments yet

By Dewitt’s Media

The world seems to revolve around the Internet these days, making it vital for Web sites and businesses to get out there and make themselves known. It’s dog-eat-dog when it comes to Web marketing, so you’ll have to do whatever it takes to get to the top. One of the best ways of getting the word out about your business and/or Web site is to use social media networks like Twitter. Here are some reasons why you should use Twitter and how it can benefit you.

1. Creating a Brand: As a company, your top goal is to create a brand that will sell the products and services you offer. Making consumers loyal to you is what keeps a business thriving. On Twitter, it doesn’t matter if you’re a startup or a small business that’s been in operation for ten years — anyone can build a brand. Your best bet is to create a personal account if your company isn’t well-known yet — people don’t like to talk to LOGOs; plus, a personal account will make you friendlier to Tweeters. Humanizing your business is always an effective route. By having your business up on Twitter puts you in the position to show the world that you are a part of the online community. You will become a social personality that will slowly but surely bring in more followers, who can eventually become loyal customers.

2. Touching Base with Customers: Every business wants to be able to connect with their customers on a regular basis and Twitter lets you do just that. After branding, this should be your top priority. The reason Twitter is great for businesses is because it allows them to communicate with consumers directly. It’s like attending a worldwide party and being able to stand up in front of everyone and speak (and everyone actually listens). Those that are following you on Twitter will receive updates on your comments each time you post something up. You can also turn things around by keeping track of what your customers are tweeting. Getting to know them personally will help you to create a better brand and products/services that are more customer oriented. Also, make sure to reply back to customers as quickly as possible — they love that.

3. Getting Feedback from Customers: After working with a few tweeters that you’re connected with, you will likely receive feedback about your companies services and/or products, and how they can be improved. Just make sure that you can take criticism because it can be used for your benefit. Listen to what your customers have to say and try your best to cater to their needs.

4. Marketing for Free: Sounds too good to be true actually, but Twitter allows you to market your company without having to spend a pretty penny. You’ll be able to connect with potentially millions of people who in your eyes are potential sales. Marketing on Twitter is simple, whatever you post on your account will be seen by whoever looks into your profile and by those who are following you. In order to gain more followers, you should take the time to search around for people to connect with. Don’t become a spammer, be genuine and you will steadily build a group of followers. In most cases, tweeters will spread the word about a company they have enjoyed working with, which helps to increase followers and business for the company.

5. Building Links and Traffic: Getting more traffic to your site can easily be done using Twitter as well. Once you’ve created a personal or strictly business persona on Twitter and have developed followers, you will find it very beneficial to post up links to your business Web site. It will help to bring in more visitors and if you create great content for the site, you will be well on your way to building quality links. Developing content that offers information that is valuable to readers will help to keep people coming back to your site. You will even find a great deal of conversions of visitors/readers to buyers. Consider posting up a link to have people follow you on Twitter. When people see that you have a Twitter account, it shows that you are more than just a LOGO. When they follow you they will receive updates about your offerings, which brings us to the next reason why you should use Twitter.

6. Posting up Deals, Coupons and News: Everyone likes a great deal and as we all know, it’s a great way to bring in more buyers. By posting up coupon codes and special deals for products and services that you’re offering, it will catch the eye of many tweeters who could use your business. You can even make it a special deal for tweeters who are following you — that could help to get you more followers you can advertise to. Any company news that you would like to inform customers about can also be done through tweets. Keep customers and employees in the loop.

7. Keeping an Eye on Competition: Unfortunately, you’re not the only business on Twitter who is looking to get some attention. Use it to your benefit — keep an eye on your competitors to see what they’re up to. Whenever they’re offering a deal, try to outdo them, but don’t get too competitive to the point where you’ll end up losing money. You can look at the tweets their customers are giving them — these could be good reviews or complaints. If you see someone having a problem with the competitor, tweet them and see if you can offer a “helping hand”.

8. Increase Sales: Another great reason to use Twitter is to help increase the sales of your business. Since you’ll be receiving more attention than you probably ever have, you will receive the chance to sell more to more people.

9. Networking: Tired of attending local networking events that seem to never work? Now, you can effectively network with companies and individuals that are more likely to help you bring in more customers. Connecting with like-minded people can help to increase peer recommendations and testimonials.

10. Finding Prospects:You can use Twitter to find potential clients; you just simply type in keywords that are related to the services or products that you offer. You can then follow the users that pop up on the search results. Then begin tweeting about topics that are parallel to what you have to offer. Keep in mind that you should use direct messages or offline communications to keep prospects closed away from public channels.

Conclusion: Overall, using Twitter to boost your company’s or Web site’s visibility can be done with a few clicks of the mouse. Most of the work has already been done for you — all you have to do is make an account on Twitter and begin following and being followed. Make sure to stay active with tweeting to ensure that you build a reputable brand for your site or business.

Posted in: Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Twitter.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · ·

3 Things to Tweet that Aren’t About Your Brand

Sep 17th, 2009
by Jae Burnham.
2 comments

September 16, 2009

Last week, I was asked for ideas on ways brands can participate in social media circles despite the fact that they don’t have frequent new product announcements and company news.

It’s a good question that I think keeps some brands away from social media. They realize that ongoing, consistent participation in social media gives their brands the best shot at standing out and connecting with customers, but they don’t feel like they have enough new things to share.

Since social media is not best used solely as another way to distribute news releases, I highly recommend that you outline the types of content you’ll share in your social media efforts as you develop your strategy and identify the places where your brand will participate.

Here are a few ideas to jump start the discussion. Please share your ideas in the comments.

Loosely-related Valuable Stuff

What is the big picture, end benefit that your brand or product delivers that adds value to the lives of your customers? Relief? Joy? Knowledge? Confidence? Health? Bringing people together? Once you’ve identified your end benefit, share anything in your social spaces that also delivers that to the people you’re connected with, even if it’s momentarily.

For example, SunTrust Bank gives you tools and tips to make solid, confident financial decisions. The company is kicking off its social media participation and one thing it’s doing purposefully is starting discussions around everyday ways to Live Solid. If I worked with a baby products brand, I’d spend a little time every day scouring YouTube and other places to find short baby videos and stories that remind parents why they love being parents.

Industry News

Don’t just share your news. Share news related to your overall industry that your customers might find interesting. It’s a way to keep them informed without it being all about your company.

For example, if you’re in a regulated industry, share updates on proposed, pending and new regulations. If something is proposed that would have a negative impact on the ability of you and your competitors to run profitable businesses, share your concerns with your social media connections. If appropriate, try to inspire and mobilize them to share their thoughts with regulators.

Your Personal Side

People want to do business with people. Actually, they want to do business with people they like. Empower your social media community managers to be human and share tidbits about their daily lives. Ask questions and acknowledge and implement the answers from people who take the time to respond. This helps humanize your brand and create personal connections with current and potential customers.

What would you add? What other types of things can brands share in social media spaces to add value to the conversations?

Here is a link to the original article: http://www.davidwmullen.com/2009/09/16/3-things-to-tweet-that-arent-about-your-brand/

Posted in: Social Media Marketing, Twitter.
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Business Websites Need Content To Succeed

Sep 14th, 2009
by Jae Burnham.
3 comments

Content Is King For Business Websites

What a lot of businesses don’t know or won’t do is add content to their websites. This is a BIG killer of sales and leads, especially for service businesses.

At my site for U-Save Moving I have over 200 different articles on the moving business. I could be adding more and more everyday, but I have more than enough to generate between 50 and 100 unique pageviews every single day.

I have found that if I get more than that, then I get overwhelmed with business…horrible problem I know, but it is a problem. However, many of my competitors don’t even have a website, and the ones that do have little to no content on them. Big mistake.

As I consult with other businesses about using the internet to expand their businesses I find that many don’t even have the remotest clue. And unfortunately, a majority even refuse to add content to their sites. Such a shame.

In my town here we have an adorable theater that shows movies and such. Not a great theater but a nice one. For 2 bux you can see any movie showing at the time. Who can’t afford that. They have a website and it is good, except there is NO content. They have no movie trailers on their website. A simple YouTube code could be embedded on their site for nothing and they can have movie trailers of upcoming movies for nothing. How about movie reviews? Nope nothing. How about incentives for coming into the theater? Again, zilch. They have a great opportunity yet they do not utilize it. And with such great movie prices there is no reason they couldn’t have that theater filled to the gills every single night. All they need is content.

The content on my website sells my service for me 85% of the time. If I can just get people to my website there is little I have to do to “sell” my potential customer.

You see my website stands out. With over 200 articles and advices, and moving company reviews…and especially the testimonials, I look like an expert. A leader in my field. My website with all its content makes the others look like blathering idiot amateurs.

When I write an article I write from what I experience as a mover. I know the concerns and considerations of my potential customer and I write an article to allay their fears. I give good solid advice and I try to point my customers to the right choice: Hopefully my services. And trust me they appreciate it.

Now if you are not a great or even a good writer don’t fret. You can get great content from others. Go to the article directories and copy a paste articles from there, just ensure you give the author the proper credit. Or for about $5.00 you can have a writer write up an article for you based on the specific keywords popular for your business.

While I have a lot of content you don’t necessarily need that much. My business started doing well when I had about 20-50 different articles.

So the point here is: if you have a website for your business, especially a service business, then you need to have content on your website. It will give you authority and creditability over your competitors; then couple that will awesome customer service and your business will boom.

Posted in: Business Philosophy, SEO.
Tagged: · · ·

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