Xigaware

With only 140 characters at a time, you can make millions…

Twitter. Why is it that Twitter is only 140 characters by the way? Well, because many cell phones can only text 140 characters, that’s why! And why can cell phones only text 140 characters? Because the message piggybacks on signals already being sent by the phone and it costs the cell phone company NOTHING AT ALL to send the text message! So the phone companies are charging us or per month for something that is absolutely free for them. Smart… infuriating, but smart.

Ok, let’s get back to business. How do I capitalize on the vast popularity of Twitter and get the millions of daily Twitter users to give me their cold hard cash? How can I monetize Twitter??

You don’t!

Monetizing means to make money directly from something with affiliate links, or adwords ads etc. Take a look around on the Twitter.com site; even Twitter themselves have yet to monetize the site!

If you’re new to Twitter you need to learn some basics about how it works and what exactly is going on in the messages that you see.

First off go to www.twitter.com and sign up for an account. I highly suggest using your business or website name, or even your real name for your Twitter user name. Don’t make it something that may be offensive, hard to remember or unprofessional if you are doing this for your business.

- Yes you may have more than one Twitter account, but one is hard enough to manage, who needs more?
– Upload a small image, preferably a small photo of you or your company logo. Now you are prepared to start using Twitter!

Next you will need to know more about how it works and what it is you will be seeing in the tweets of those you follow. Most of what you will see will be garbage of two distinct types: 1) Spam 2) Random worthless updates by strangers and “goodnight” messages. (Don’t waste people’s time by posting “Goodnight Twitter”… please!!)

The information you are honestly interested in seeing will not appear in your tweet stream! The information that you do see will be every update by every person that you follow. Imagine that you follow 2000 people like I do, or what about 15,000 or 25,000… how can you possibly follow all those people?

YOU CAN’T.

You’re on Twitter to get your message across, to speak to your audience, and to respond to only those messages that are actually sent to you and are not spam, but a human that is interested in speaking to you. And, in a nutshell, twitter.com is completely USELESS for doing this!

Now if you follow me, don’t get me wrong; I’m not discounting you as a person or uninterested in what you may have to say, but I can’t possibly be that involved with the thousands of people I would like to reach on a daily basis regarding digital camera repair. Twitter is so powerful that if I could afford to have one person do Twitter full time I would probably do it.

I’m on Twitter daily, and I see pretty much every person that says something about a broken digital camera or digital camera repair. I wish I could message everyone, but when I try I think it looks like spamming. The best advice I can give is to do as much as is comfortable and make it human. You are here to build relationships, not to sell.

Ok now, in your tweet stream you will see messages with different symbols, abbreviations and crazy looking links.

- The most common symbols you will see are @… (a message sent to the person after the symbol so that it shows up in their tweet stream) and the # (a subject like #photography that is searchable)
– Some of the most common abbreviations are TT (Trending Topic: something that is mentioned in many different tweets right now), DM (Direct Message: sent only to you, nobody else can see it), RT (ReTweet: somebody else posted this first and I can ReTweet it letting others know I think it’s good) and FML… I’ll leave it to you to find out what FML stands for.
– The crazy looking links have been shortened so that they take up less space. They look odd, and yes they can take you to any site without your knowledge so you must trust the person that posts it. You only have 140 characters remember, so shortened URL’s are a must.

If you want to seriously use Twitter then you will need software like Tweetdeck from www.tweetdeck.com; it’s awesome. Twitter is completely useless for any sort of business purpose if you try and use it through Twitter.com. Myself, I never actually go to Twitter.com as there’s no need to!

Download and install Tweetdeck, configure it and get it running. You will have columns for tweets where you are mentioned (with the @ symbol before your name) and sent Direct Messages (DM). Beyond these two, you can add new columns for custom searches that are automatically updated and lets you see exactly what people are saying all over the world on Twitter at all times!!

Maybe you have a dog training business online; create a search column for ‘dog training’ and you will see every single message every person tweets with the words ‘dog’ and ‘training’ in any order of the tweet. They won’t always be about ‘dog training’, (I’ve been in training for scuba diving testing… oh the dog has to go out) but most will. Now figure out other combinations of keywords or search phrases… ‘dog training’ won’t show any search results when the person says ‘training dogs’, but the search term ‘dogs training’ will becuase they don’t have to be in order. Hopefully I am able to clarify the difference!

Any time you see a relevant message about something in your area of expertise, you can follow the person that posted the tweet (you aren’t really interested in following them, but they like it and normally will follow you back) and then send them an @ message. You SHOULD NOT try and sell anything to the person you are tweeting with your first message to them. Open a dialog with the person, let them know you are an expert in the subject manor and gently prod to see if there is anything that you may do for them… FOR FREE. Yes you can post a link to your site if you feel you must, but they will ask or figure it out if they are interested. Don’t try and push for a sale!

If you want to be a spammer and annoy people, then by all means please try to monetize Twitter! This is how!

1- Harass people with your first tweet when they follow you, by sending them an automatic DM that spams them with something to buy.

2- Spam the same tweets over and over all day and night, every day. Better yet, spam the same tweets at the same time from multiple accounts every 15 minutes 24hrs a day.

3- Post tweets that are obviously stuffed with TT’s!

4- Never talk with people who are interested in your area of expertise, use software to create every tweet for you.

5- Never give free advice, or post tweets to sites that will help people and have nothing to do with something you sell.

6- Post obscene or controversial messages about relition, politics or bodily functions. Also swear whenever possible.

7- Tweet @ every user you see with your offer and website

and so on and so forth…

I know there is information here that you can use starting today to get started on Twitter. Don’t worry about not understanding everything that’s going on or what you should do or say. Start following some people in your area of expertise and see what they do. Don’t follow celebrities unless that is your area of business; follow them once you know what you are doing and have the time to do your work plus see what Shaq is eating for lunch.

Tweet you later.

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The life blood of all experienced marketers is the list. NO list and you are in liquidation. Wd gather our contact lists in many different ways. Most common currently is having the user fill in a registration form in exchange for a free gift. The registration form generally consists of a name and an e-mail address. Once the form is completed and registered into the autoresponder the free gift is provided.  With the understanding that whom ever collected the name and email address can follow up with you via other e-mails with other pieces of information which will generally at some point in time include another offer.

Other variations included having the recipient forward the offer to 4 to 5 friends or family to qualify for the free gift.  Other times it was an extremely low priced offering.  Viral in nature a single e-mail can explode exponentially as every level of recipient continued to forward the offer to even more and more people.

Social Media

With the ubiquitous nature of the net, you will find the internet marketers active in Web 2.0, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and many of the social media community sites.  This most true with the more personal nature of the video.  Now the viewer can look into the marketers eyes, view his or her product, see how things work all from the comfort of their home.  The marketer likewise does not have to leave his office.

The advantageous far out way those of the straight print media.  Now the expert has face to face contact.  With seemingly a one-to-one conversation happening with potentially thousands of people at the very same instant. The customer feels like they know the marketer.  After all he or she is talking right to me.   Hence there is a better chance of the customer buying.

Consequently it is becoming imperative for the internet market to include video in his arsenal of marketing tools to communicate with potential prospects and customers.

Simple Efficient Video

Interestingly, a new video software system to build a contact list and potential customer list virally has been introduced. Joel Therien, CEO of Kiosk.ws, is in the process of annoucing a video software righty called Easy Video Producer that in a very effective manner also produces a viral list of leads. This system is unique because the software itself is being offered as the free giveaway for this video “tell-a-friend” system. Essentially, the system will offer you free and extraordinarily easy to use video generating software that builds and posts your personally produced video and information capture form on a website or blog. A contact management system is included with the free offer as well.

The viral concept is that you would then attract traffic to introduce yourself to the prospect in a more personal way, offering them the opportunity to opt in and use the same free software that you used to prepare the video. The prospect and new contact would in turn use his free new system to attract even more potential contacts for his list and yours as well.

As in the earlier e-mail systems, the originator of the viral distribution of the free software would have access to every subscriber in the levels below him. So a free and easy system of posting videos on the internet with the specific purpose of gather a network of contacts by giving away a viral software which gives you the opportunity to continue.

Solutions to the Issues

Easy Video Producer software system appears to offer a simple and easy, no cost solution for both the experienced and inexperienced non-technical marketer to make effective use of videos for their viral list building and business needs.

Providing a number of ready made templates from which to not only gather the names and email addresses but allow the prospect in a novel non threatening manner share and use the video and free giveaways. Thereby getting it out to the people who are potential buyers.

The manner in which Easy Video Producer software has made it so simple and easy for the lay person to utilize develops the credibility needed to instill the confidence and trust the prospect is after.  Through the use of the software the prospect themselves begins to categorize exactly what solution they are looking for you to provide.

Again proving the critical necessity of list building with the power of video.

The simple truth is without a list you are in liquidation.

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In our latest research; we found that 53% of marketers are determined to increase their social media budget during a recession, and 42% will keep it the same. These last couple of weeks our RSS reader has seen more and more interesting articles giving help and guidance to companies and brands looking at moving their communications, and customer interactions, on-line through social media.  Social Media Marketing is one phrase in particular which seems to confuse many home based business opportunity seekers. 

As successful business owners, we are continually looking for ways to increase traffic, page rank, and conversion rates to further online growth.  With regard to business growth, we believe that much of what is currently offered is outdated with respect to becoming truly financially free in an ever changing world.  Our focus is on helping you build sites, get traffic, grow your business, make money and market the easy free way online.  However, the success of a simple work from home opportunity is a direct result of the effectiveness of your marketing efforts to a greater extent.

With social media marketing you should always listen first before you speak.  Dedicate yourself to have quality conversations with other people.  Do not concentrate on how many people you need to speak to before the day is through.  You must always give first before you expect to get back.  Do not speak at people, instead speak with people.  Do not automate.  Many home based business opportunity seekers are confused, and it is up to you to direct them down the proper path.

When the idea of social marketing first surfaced, the rest of the marketing community sat on the side lines and looked on uttering snide remarks about geeks and claiming there was no money in social media.  Approximately one percent of all businesses realize the full potential of social media.  The root of the problem is lack of knowledge and know-how.  With the skyrocketing influence of social media, it’s more important than ever to monitor social media buzz. 

While many people still assume that there are no social media measurement tools there are already dozens out there.  Every social media professional knows this to be true: lack of knowledge is the number one barrier to social media.  Some of the best social media ROI(return on investment) might come from smaller or niche uses.  Let this be a subtle hint to those home based business opportunity seekers reading this article.

It is necessary to have a website if a company needs to take part in Internet Marketing.  Internet Marketing is the easiest and a money guaranteed way to earn beyond your imagination.  Most moms new to direct sales (and even seasoned ones) do not know what Internet Marketing is and how it can help their online direct sales business.

Do you have a steady flow of Home Based Business Opportunity Seekers? If not you are not using Web 2.0 to its full extent, get your Home Based Business Opportunity Seekers now!

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