I’ve been at this business for almost 6 years now, and have accumulated a ton of useful knowledge. I’m grateful for that, and just absolutely LOVE learning stuff — new stuff all the time. And I’m very lucky because working for Overcome Everything gets me lots of cool info that I couldn’t afford myself. It’s really a super perk of the job.
So, with all this stuff in my brain, I’m asked to do teleseminars often. I love that! Teleseminars are absolutely the best way to get people interested in who you are and what you know that can help them to move their businesses forward. You gain their respect, trust, and because of those things, you make money. People buy from people they know and trust.
The best of all situations, of course, if having your own teleseminar series. Here’s a link for you: http://easyseotricks.com/13th . I can attest to the fact that this system works, and that it gives you a MUCH bigger list than the one you have now.
The thing is that you can’t be shy. Shy will NOT work in business. So, get over yourself, right now! Anyone can use the strategies that the link above gives you… anyone.
So, last night, I did a teleseminar with someone who started out as a customer of mine and Telman’s and he quickly became a friend. His name is Rick Burdo, and he’s a disabled Veteran. He can’t even type because of his disability, and so does all of his pages with voice recognition software. It’s amazing! He’s really struggled through a LOT to put his whole system together, and now, he’s actually doing it.
What’s your hurdle?
You don’t have to know everything about your topic. All you have to do is assemble a group of experts who do. Then, you interview them. Simple, right? It’s not that tough getting experts in your niche, either, because they want to sell their stuff to your list and get all the cool respect, trust, etc. from new people that they’ve not met before.
Then, when you put all of the interviews together, you have a product, and… it’s a great product because of all the information that the experts have put forth. It has nothing to do with you or your expertise! It’s how Tellman built a multi-million dollar busines and then, he was able to hire me and 14 other folks! So, now, how enticing are teleseminars, huh?
I’m telling you… they’re the BOMB!
Want to know the particulars? Check this out: http://easyseotricks.com/13th Believe me… it’s amazing what one simple teleseminar series can do for your business and your wallet. Amazing.
Thanks for being patient. Sorry I didn’t do my routine 5-day weekly posts this week, but something prevented me… a sh*tload of fun for the past two days, and hey… Tellman only comes to town once in a blue moon. Mea culpa. 
But I’m here to talk about Social Business Networks. You know the ones I mean: LinkedIn, Entrepreneur Connect, Partner Up, StartUpNation, etc. All great places to belong to, if you’re a business owner. You can use these places not just to connect with other business owners in your niche, but to find services that you need to run your business. These networks are not only convenient, but can make a world of difference in your business life.
My question is: How many sites can you join? Well… The answer, of course, is all of them.
You can.
But how many will you actively participate in? How many do you have time to find friends in or write content for, and on and on.
My advice is to find a network that is rich with members of your niche, and then, to work in that one with the limited time you have. Build a killer profile, and make lots of friends. I-n-t-e-r-a-c-t! Don’t just throw a profile up there and expect it to do you any good.
I strongly encourage you to check out some of the social networks. They can be a blessing to new business owners, especially those dedicated to your niche. Not all niches have this option, of course, but SelfGrowth.com, for example is an excellent place for self-help and healthcare providers to meet up and plan joint ventures or whatever. Sometimes, all you need is a little moral support and things start falling into place.
So, I’m always on the lookout for cool new Web 2.0 stuff, right?
Today, I’m over at GotoWeb20 and I found “Twesents,” a whole bunch of cute, funny, rude, and otherwise interesting virtual presents that you can send to your Twitter friends. I just sent my pal Carrie Wilkerson, the Barefoot Executive, a pair of baby seals, just to try the service out. She posted a pic of me on Facebook yesterday, and I wanted to thank her. This was just a fun way to let her know I appreciate her, right?
The downside is that if you have a lot of friends, you have to sift through them all until you find the one(s) you want to send things to. It took me a good 5 minutes just to find her. Or so I thought. I went back and found the “search” function after the fact… duh. I have a tendency to half read instructions, to just blunder ahead on my own, and I often pay for it. Grr…
Anyway, it’s just a fun site that I thought my Tweeple would like to know about.
However, GotoWeb20.net is a much more fascinating site than you can imagine. I heard about it a couple of years back from Jack Humphrey at a Stomper Net conference and have been a huge fan ever since.
You can find any number of interesting and cool things there that have nothing whatsoever to do with Twitter. I can’t tell you how many of them I use and have accumulated over time. The Web just gets more and more fun all the time.
Check out both of these sites. I know you’ll love ‘em.
Everyone is all about Twitter these days. It’s all anyone was talking about last weekend.
I like Twitter, too, as you know, and what’s totally cool is that since JV Alert, I’ve picked up almost 300 new followers. Wahoo!
Yesterday, Andrew Devine (@adevine1) posted an awesome tweet about 14 cool Twitter tools from Kenny Hyder. Some of them I’ve not heard about before, and I thought I’d share. Check this out: 14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users
- Ever wonder if you should follow someone or not?
- Check out the plethora of # tags that exist
- Stalk people on Twitter (Follow them incognito.)
- Get some very cool stats about your usage
- Download and Save a copy of your Twitter account
- Get beyond TweetBacks
- Enter yourself in the Twitter Business Directory
- Host your own short URL
- Add your photographs to Twitter easily
- Post to Twitter from your Firefox address bar (I like TwiterFox for that better, really.)
- Post to your Google Calendar by sending direct messages
- Find stats on your Twitter relationships
- Grade yourself as a Tweep
- Schedule and post Tweets
All there!
I started this yesterday, so sorry I’m behind. We started a new program at Overcome Everything — ListBuilding 411, where members can ask one question per day and a member of our crack OE staff will answer in video. It’s pretty cool for the members, but we’re experiencing some growning pains and guess who gets to manage all that?
Moi.
So, I’m behind.
But not for long. Bear with me.
When you make a post to your blog, do you bookmark it in the social sites? Every time?
Do you favorite anything but your own stuff?
Do you know that you might be link spamming?
I mean, you really shouldn’t bookmark every single post you make, unless your posts are chock full of incredible information. If you’re posting about what your cat had for lunch, don’t bookmark it. People won’t be interested in reading that stuff.
Be discerning. When you write a great post, totally bookmark it through OnlyWire, Tell-a-Friend Social Twist, or whatever you like to use. Tell the world!
Then, other folks will find your blog. They’ll visit you and become interested in what you have to say.
Also be sure to bookmark other interesting things you find on the Web. You can make friends on places like Digg and StumbleUpon, who will check out everything you bookmark. That’s what social sites are all about.
My idea is that at some point, people will decide what appears in the search engines, rather than an algorithm. We can vote on what we like and don’t like, and have the people decide what is important to them and what isn’t.
Cool?
So, I’ve tried the Facebook ads. They’re pretty cool in terms of placement and presentation, but they produced no results. So, I abandoned them. I’m wondering if any of you have had success. I’d love to hear about it. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think made that happen.
The prediction from eMarketer Daily is that Web 2.0 advertising will rise from $1.175M in 2008 to $1,295M in 2009. Not a huge jump, but it shows how people are getting more excited about placing ads on Web 2.0, but they’re predicting $1.64M in 2013, so a constant rise in advertising in Web 2.0.
But who’s doing it?
On MySpace.com, it’s the big boys. There’s a huge flash ad for the new blockbuster movieTwilight spread across the entire screen. There’s another smaller banner at the bottom for that movie, too. And we have Ashton Kutcher, Don Cheadle, and the World Poker Tour. Not one Internet marketer from our circles. Not one. Inside, we have ads all over the page. I really think that MySpace is getting just the tad spammy, and because it annoys me so, I rarely go back to visit.
I like Facebook 100 times better. The only ads there are the pay-per-click ads and they’re unobtrusive. They don’t smack you in the eyeballs like the MySpace ads do. I mean, it makes you wonder whether you’re at MySpace to socialize or be in a virtual mall lined with nothing but billboards. But MySpace is kind of for the younger generation. Maybe they’re so inured to all of the ads they see day after day that they just don’t notice.
HubPages.com has a couple of banner ads on the front page. Not really annoying because I’m banner blind, I guess. I just don’t see them. They’re there when you sign in, too, and from companies like AT&T, so I’m guessing that the HubPages owner is making a tidy sum from those banners. I don’t mind. They should be making some money for their service.
Squidoo? No ads at all on the home page. Very classy. We have some advertising on the lenses themselves, but again, not annoying at all. The banners blend in and well… again from big companies. I’d expect nothing less from Seth Godin.
But, what’s the deal with Twitter? I mean, it’s HOT, hot HOT! And they have NO monetization for that service whatsoever. I mean, how many of us could jump right in and give them a pointer or two? Have any of you guru types contacted the people? You’re missing a huge opportunity there!
Anyway, I’m seeing these numbers and they’re looking pretty good, but we’re talking major companies coming in and making money with Web 2.0. I’m really hoping they won’t come in and overwhelm the sites and make a carnival-like atmosphere like they did at MySpace.
Of course, I’m into advertising and all things marketing, but there’s a delicate balance, isn’t there? We all hate email spammers, so there’s a line that we all, marketer and non-marketer alike don’t like crossed.
When the ads come in to pollute the sociability of Web 2.0 — bad news, and the predictions for big ad revenues? Out the window.
I say keep Web 2.0 sociable. Keep too many ads out and people reaching out to people in. That’s the part that makes Web 2.0 special.
Social media is expanding and contracting at quite a rapid rate. And Pownce announced yesterday that it would be closing on 12/15. I was suprised when I went in to update my account, but also have to admit that I hadn’t been there in weeks.
It’s all about Twitter, after all, isn’t it? I mean, there are apps out the ying-yang for Twitter, Twitter grader, Twitter pix, Twitter this and Twitter that. How could another micro-blogging site co-exist? I know there are others, but am wondering if they won’t suffer the same fate as Pownce.
And what about all the networking sites? I mean, once MySpace was King, now, it seems it’s Facebook. But what about Social Marketing Central? Or, Victory Online University, or Sta.rtUp.biz? Or all the gazillion social sites inundating the Internet? Do we have time for all of them… NO!
I mean, social marketing is great, no doubt about it, and it’s a lot of fun. Yet, Powce is one example of how enough is enough. People like Twitter, cool… so do I. People like Facebook, and so do I. And though I really like all these new places, there are just too many. Being the social butterfly is fun, and good for business, but at one crucial tipping point, spending too much time socializing has to give way to real production.
Plus, the more places that spring up, the less and less likely they will be to succeed.
My advice?
Pick the places where you can relate to the people in the group. Hell, build your group in Twitter or Facebook or wherever, and spend time there. You may have time for a few. But when you get right down to the nitty-gritty of it, you’ll get some traffic, but you’ll also lose sight of your prize. Focus on what’s important to you and then, allow social media to fill the gaps.
Wow! There’s a very cool article in the Web Success Diva’s blog today about…
Social marketing.
First she takes you on a tour, and explains the power of Social Networking. Not all of this is obvious. I mean, you and I know that social media is important for getting yourself out there with a target audience. Bang! Big boost for your brand, right?
But did you think about how cool social marketing is for SEO? If you search for me right now, the first two entries are this blog and My Blog Log. My videos are on that page, including a horrible audition I did last year for Thor Schrock for his Top Affiliate Challenge. That was a kicking and screaming event. It was the end of a long day and it’s just impossible to say no to Thor, but I digress…
Aside from my own sites, there’s LinkedIn, GoodReads, Facebook, and on and on… all social media sites. Anyone who wants to know more about my brand, which is me and blogging, can do that easily.
The Diva also shows you how to use social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Plaxo. And tells you how to find even more stuff specific to niche marketing. You really should go over and read her post. It’s a winner!
Read Social Networking Taken to the Next Level Here. And tell her Pat sent you.
Today is a big day online, and people may not even be aware of the fact.
First, Camtasia 6 was just released, and Wow! The new features are great. You will now be able to separate the video from the audio to make edits, which was impossible with the previous versions. You can do it in Sony Vegas, but Camtasia is just so much easier for new video makers that this improvement really makes sense. Sony Vegas needs a guidebook just to figure it out. Camtasia is so easy that just about anyone can use it right away.
But it has other cool stuff!
- There’s now a YouTube present for production
- They’ve added hot keys for splitting, callouts, zooms, and transitions
- There’s a cool new 3-D effect that lets you twist images
- You can now import .mov files for editing
And a lot more. Love it! See their video on all the great new changes at: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/whatsnew.asp
The other really important thing going on today has to do with Social Marketing. It’s about your blog. You only have until MIDNIGHT tonight to get your blog entered into 9Rules.com for review. This blog site publishes articles only from accepted blogs, and they’re high quality articles. I enjoy sifting through the blog entries there and always come away with cool information.
So, get over and get your blog entered, but only if you have a really good blog. You have to have been blogging for at least 6 months, too. Otherwise, it’s not fair to waste their time. But if you provide great information in a clear, easy to read style…
They only accept entries like 4 days out of the year, so if you’re ready for prime time, you’ve only got a few hours. Run!
So, if you go to the bottom of each of my posts, you’ll see a cool new device. It’s called the “Social Twist Tell-a-Friend” button. If you like a post, you can email, blog, Twitter, or tell your friends about it on Facebook. Pretty Sweet. You can get one for your own blog at http://tellafriend.socialtwist.com/
Cool thing is that it will also give you stats. If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you’ll know that I LOVE stats. So, this very easy to use plugin (all you have to do is upload it to your wp-content/plugins folder and activate it) serves two purposes for me.
The typical chicklets that you see on my blog and everyone else’s don’t allow people to email folks about your incredibly brilliant blog post, either.
Work a peek, even if you aren’t concerned with spreading the social word.
Wait! If you aren’t, you totally should be. Nothing is better than word-of-mouth recommendation.
Oh, and you can use this on websites, too. It’s worth the time to just check it out. Did I mention that it’s a free app? The only thing that could make it better is a diamond tiara.
