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How To Make Money On Twitter Without Spamming

November 12, 2009 By 4 Comments

Unless you are living in a cave, you already know that there are Twitter users making money online with their Tweets. With companies like Ad.ly and Sponsored Tweets, you can make money by tweeting advertisements. The issue most Twitter users run into is looking like spam to their followers, so many people forgo making money on their Twitter account because they are afraid they might put off their followers.

As an internet marketer, I am always looking for ways to monetize my online activities…but…I really hate spam. Since my dislike hatred for spam runs through my veins with an extreme fire, I vowed to myself that I would never take that route in my online ventures. So here is the issue…how do you make money with your tweets and not look like a spammer just trying to make a buck online? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Generating Cash, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Laugh At Yourself and Connect With Your Twitter Followers

November 6, 2009 By 11 Comments

Twitter is a social media outlet that connects all types of people from around the world. With little 140 character excerpts of our lives, we are able to give a little bit of light into our world and what we do on a daily basis. So the situation arises…if you are not marketing a blog post, ebook or some other form of online expression…what the hell do you say?

I tried something out the other day that had fantastic results, so…like any good blogger…I have to share the experience.

Every now and then, I like to tell on myself. You know as well as I do that no one is perfect. There are times where we look back what what we have done during the day and thought…”what was I thinking?!” And at that point, you just have to laugh at yourself.

[Read more...]

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How To Grab Attention On Twitter Without The Auto DM

October 27, 2009 By 16 Comments

I love Twitter. In 140 characters or less, I am now able to interact with like minded people all over the globe. As with anything that grows in popularity as fast as this form of social media communication, there are going to be some headaches along the way.

Now…I like to search out other bloggers on Twitter and connect with them. I wish I had the time and resources to search and hand pick every single one of the several thousand Twitter users on my follow list, but the reality of the situation is that is not possible. So…I end up using a service called TwitSniper to find these interesting Twitter users for me.

Unfortunately, while this method makes my use of Twitter much more efficient, it has rendered my DM feature completely useless because of other users setting up an automatic DM for every new follower. Now…do not take this the wrong way. I am not saying you are a terrible person and I am going to unfollow you right away if you have an auto DM setup on Twitter. What I am saying is that the auto DM is a huge annoyance that needs to go away! There are other, more effective ways, to attract attention on Twitter and auto DM’s are not the way to do it.

When I sat back and thought about it, I have not seen one auto DM that actually made me want to click on their link or reply. 99% of them start with these exact words…”Thanks for the follow!”. If I see that line of words one more time, I think I am going to go insane. So…how can you attract attention on Twitter for your website/blog/brand/whatever you are spending all of your time on without annoying others with an impersonal auto direct message.

Attracting Attention On Twitter Without An Auto DM

Your Twitter Background – Your Twitter background is probably your biggest asset as a Twitter user. While none of the links will be click-able, you are able to grow awareness around your brand in a non-intrusive way to those that actually want to see it! This equals higher conversion rates and it makes you interesting. If you are still using a standard Twitter background and you want to actually grow a profile on Twitter, you are behind the 8 ball.

Need some ideas? Check out this post on Smashing Magazine on Effective Twitter Backgrounds.

Occasional Relevant Tweets – If you are wanting to get more exposure for your brand, ebook or blog, write occasional, interesting Tweets that are related to what you are trying to push with a link. The click through rates will be much higher and…thus…the conversion rate for new subscribers and ebook downloads will be much higher! Think about it this way…are you really putting your best foot forward with an auto DM or does it look like spam? Odds are…it looks like spam, so a better converting method would to actually provide worth as it is related to what you are trying to accomplish.

Be Interesting - By being different and interesting on Twitter, you are going to attract more Twitter users…plain and simple. This means that you are not on Twitter to solely push your goods on people. You are there to create a meaningful profile that portrays who you really are. If you expect to create an account, throw up a bunch of links promoting your brand and then sit back and watch the conversions roll in, you are going to fail miserably and become one of the naysayers preaching how worthless Twitter is. Guess what…just like anything else in life, you get out what you put in. If you put in crap…you are going to get even worse crap out of it.

Reply – Seems simple enough. Reply to other Twitter users tweets! This interaction is going to make the other users want to check out your profile and what you do. Instead of pushing everything you do on people that don’t really want it, attract them to your brand through interaction.

Have A Great Profile – Twitter gives you the ability to write a little bit about yourself and include a link to your website that can be seen on your homepage. If you want high converting Twitter click throughs, have a great, interesting summary of who you are and what you do. DO NOT use the words expert, guru or “I can show you how to gain 1,000 Twitter followers a day”. You should put how you are unique and what you do. Those are your couple of lines to convert that Twitter user into a click to your website and sounding like spam is going to get them to jump off your page.

Now…I can sit on my high horse an say, “if everyone took these tips, I could use my DM function again!”. In reality, this is not going to happen and we are going to continue to be flooded with “thanks for following” messages for the life of Twitter. The web is all about first impressions…have you thought about how people see you for the first time?

Filed Under: Social Media, The Web Tagged With: , , ,

Twit Sniper 2.0 Is Officially Open To The Public

September 30, 2009 By 7 Comments

Twit Snipe 2.0 has officially soft launched and is available to the public. As part of the beta program, I have already been using 2.0 for a couple of weeks and it is a serious upgrade over the previous version.

The Issue for Normal Twitter Users

I say “normal” for a very key reason. Unless you have a massive amount of traffic to your blog or you are a rockstar, finding Twitter users to interact with can be a difficult, time consuming task. Ideally, you would like tweeters to just find you and start following, but that is not the case. You have to search out like minded individuals and follow them with the hope they follow you back. As you can imagine…it can take forever to build up a good Twitter following by relying on standard methods. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Micro-blogging – Are Facebook and Twitter replacing personal blogs?

July 10, 2009 By 4 Comments

With Facebook and the 140 character or under explosion Twitter, are we starting to see a decrease in smaller, personal blogs as these two monsters continue to grow in epic proportions? Are Twitter and Facebook going to take over the micro-blogging world as they continue to compliment each other rather than compete for your eyes on the screen?

With millions of Tweets and updates hitting the web at one time, we now know exactly what everyone is doing and when. In my opinion, we are going to continue to see Twitter and Facebook set sign up records with a continual decline in the “just sharing with the family” blogs, and I believe this is a good thing. Now, let me explain why…

First…what is micro-blogging?

According to Wikipedia:

Micro blogging is a form of multimedia blogging that allows users to send brief text updates or micromedia such as photos or audio clips and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, digital audio or the web.

The content of a micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that it is typically smaller in actual size and aggregate file size. A single entry could consist of a single sentence or fragment or an image or a brief, ten second video. But, still, its purpose is similar to that of a traditional blog. Users micro-blog about particular topics that can range from the simple, such as “what one is doing at a given moment,” to the thematic, such as “sports cars,” to business topics, such as particular products. Many micro-blogs provide short commentary on a person-to-person level, share news about a company’s products and services, or provide logs of the events of one’s life.

Simply put…every time you update your Facebook status, send out a Tweet on Twitter, update your MySpace account or even text message a friend, you are engaging in micro-blogging as you tell the world your thoughts, feelings and daily activities. Over the past couple of years, micro-blogging has expanded rapidly with the aid of new technologies and it is now widespread among all age groups…many of which…don’t even realize they are participating in the act.

Why is micro-blogging going to take over personal blogging?

Stating that micro-blogging is going to take over the small blogging world might be a stretch, but it is absolutely going to cut down on the amount of blogs started per year and it is going to contribute to the amount of blogs that eventually go un-updated. The average Joe blogger is not going to make a significant income from their blog as only about the top 5% even make a 5 figure income. Where does this leave the pleasure blogger that just wants to update friends and family? He basically has two options to choose from…

  1. Start a blog and update it regularly.
  2. Spend that energy toward Facebook and Twitter.

9 times out of 10, even Joe blogger is going to either start or convert to Twitter and Facebook for one simple reason…

Ease of Use

With micro-blogging platforms, you can update in seconds with pictures, video, text or anything else as you strive to update friends, family and followers with your thoughts and dreams. Setting up a quality blog that people will read takes a lot of time and energy that is basically wasted for someone that just wants to share a couple of pictures and what they are doing that day.

As we look at all of the Blogger accounts that are started with all the intention in the world of updating on a regular basis, we often see these blogs fall off the map as people realize that they can reach a larger audience with a more efficient platform to achieve the same goal. Micro-blogging can also be accomplished on the fly through the aid of a cellular device or mp3 player that makes providing instant information easier than fastening your seat belt.

Who is still going to start blogging?

However, there are going to be the select few that still start and update their blogs regularly.

  • Business Builders – Those bloggers with the dream of making it big by blogging. Business builders have a defined goal and the willingness to put in that extra work that creates a successful blog years down the road. These individuals will look to micro-blogging to compliment their blogs, but never replace them.
  • Writers – There are people in this world that just love to write. It is an outlet for their thoughts and they find pleasure in putting words on a page. Blogging has opened a whole new avenue for them as they continue to hone their skills as a writer and share their type with the world. For the writer, micro-blogging will never satisfy the itch to put down some serious content. Like the business builder, they might use micro-blogging to compliment their writing…but it will never replace it.
  • I need more than 140 characters! – Much like the writer, these bloggers need to efficiently distribute much more content than micro-blogging is designed to publish. As these bloggers set up their blogs, they will still only share with family and friends, but they will do so in the form of stories, pictures and video that will not fit on micro-blogging platforms. Due to the mass amount of content, they are willing to put in the sweat and tears of updating, managing and content production that a blog requires.

The great news for everyone else!

All of this is great news for web users that would have started a blog a couple of years ago. We are on the growing trend of a revolution on the web. It has never been so easy to share your life with everyone around you because of the evolving platform of micro-blogging. Who would have ever thought that grandma was going to sit down at a computer and engage in social media?! These are crazy times and individuals from all over the globe are getting involved in the movement. Instant information is on the rise as we can update from mobile devices and computers shouting to the rooftops that we just ate the best steak we ever have. Better yet…I just showed it to you by taking a picture on my phone and uploading it within seconds. Aren’t you jealous??

Filed Under: Blogging, Social Media, The Web Tagged With: , , , ,

How to lose me as a Twitter follower – Quickly

June 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

Twitter is growing a pace that is unheard of in the internet industry. Thousands of people are joining constantly in search of that next useless 140 character or less tweet that they can bestow on the rest of us eager readers.

While Twitter is an excellent social networking tool for family, friends, business contacts and online businesses, there are several ways that you can lose me as a follower…and fast! Now, I am not conceded enough to think that you are going to lose sleep at night if I hit that all knowing unfollow button, but if the following reasons are enough to get me to unfollow…you can bet your ass that it is enough for others too. In your search to build a significant, worthwhile Twitter following, take these points into consideration before you blast out that next Tweet.

  1. Lame Twitter User Name – If your Twitter user name just screams “I am going to spam the hell out of you!”, I am not going to follow. So…Mr. MLMEXPLOSION…if you want to really create some worth in the Twitter world, do not indicate that you are just going to try to push your work from home business with every Tweet. There are a lot of Twitter users (myself included) that use Twitter to promote their brand, but do not make your user name be the first way to shove it in their face. This same theory goes for all of the Make Money on Twitter and Make Money Online’ish Twitter user names…its just bad form.
  2. Too Many Tweets In Succession – I opened up my Twitter app the other day to find out that two users filled up my entire Twitter timeline. Look…I want to hear what you have to say because I checked your profile, but if you continually push everyone else to the bottom of the list with your 10 Tweets at once posting habits, I am going to hit unfollow. Please use some discretion and post…at most…3 Tweets within a 30 min interval. I do not need to know how every bite of your sandwich was or exactly every song you are listening to that day.
  3. Getting in Arguments or Too Defensive – There are many internet drones out there that use their keyboard to instigate fights that they would be unable to finish in real life. When I start to see online bickering that isn’t productive…you are both off the list. I try to do my best to keep a positive attitude throughout the day because there is enough real stuff in the world to worry about. The last thing I want to see is how cool you think you are. Leave the attitude off social media outlets unless it is completely justified, and in that case…you should really be taking the fight out of the public’s eye.

As you can see, there really isn’t that much that keeps me from following or hitting that unfollow button. As you go through the process of testing out Twitter to see how it fits your needs, just try to remember to treat others how you would wish to be treated (<– corny tag line that your mom used to tell you). When it boils down to it…no one wants to be annoyed with how they can add 1,000 Twitter followers a day if they would just use your program!

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Make Money Online Blogs and Tweeters

May 19, 2009 By 8 Comments

I find it incredibly surprising…well not really…how many make money online bloggers there are out there that don’t actually make any money online! If you look at any of the successful MMO bloggers out there…Darren of Problogger, John Chow, Shoemoney, etc….they all MADE MONEY on another blog before they ever even started talking about making money online. Seems like a simple concept really…talk about what you have experience in. How are you going to tell your readers how to race a car if you have never been in a car race? How are you going to instruct and teach them how to cook if the most complicated meal you have ever made is cereal? You can’t! So why are all of these bloggers out there blogging about making money online when they have zero experience in the subject?

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, Lifestyle Design, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,
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