Dear
Friend,
Are you looking for the "next big web thing" to use for your
business? Look no farther than Twitter. If you are not using Twitter you are really missing
opportunities to connect and to promote your services and
products.
Read our article in this issue to find out the best way
for you to use Twitter to promote yourself and your business
from our personal experience and testing.
Best Regards,
Nancy McCord
Two New Websites Launched in
April
We've just launched two new websites this last month. You can see a before
and after picture of the main website below. The second website
launched is the sister site which houses the Institute's store and is called
The Core System™.
 |
 |
| Before Revision |
After Revision |
For the main website, The Taoist Institute, we created a new clean
look that allow the site owner
to promote his martial arts
DVDs provide class information
and allow for class tuition
payments.
The sister site that
houses the store features a
complete detail of his Tai
Chi DVDs and Kung Fu DVDs as
well as information on these
ancient Chinese arts. The store
site is built using PayPal
add to cart buttons and allows
for many typical e-commerce
features with the ease of use
that PayPal is known for providing.
The client tells us that feedback on his new sites has been great.
You can visit both the sites
online at www.TaoistInstitute.com and www.OneCoreSystem.com.
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Twitter Demystified for Business Users
Twitter is
the current top "hot property" on the Web, but its popularity and how to use
it has mystified many business owners. Many people think that they want to,
or should be using Twitter, but simply do not understand the platform, its
use, or its place in building web exposure. This article will demystify Twitter
and help you to learn how to use it in the workplace and to promote your business.
First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit
my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck.
TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status
updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a "must
have" application for anyone who wants to
make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on
Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro
posts) to be shown at any one time, and also allows you to remove all Tweets
you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter
search on a topic makes sense.
Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter
newbie, visiting your own Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists
of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know
much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started
effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting
to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the
forefront of what is happening in your industry and on the Web.
So how do you get started with Twitter? Well the first thing is
to start on Twitter yourself to understand what you like to read, who you like
to follow, and to clearly identify what you like about Twitter. For me, it
boils down to this: I like to follow people in my industry who say something
of value, who provide a link to a new application or point me to an interesting
new article, video, or blog site that I should review but
may have never have found myself. Based on what I like, and the people who
I find interesting to read, I now write my Twitter posts using this same formula
to grow my own Twitter audience.
What I also like about Twitter is that the people who I follow also know how
to show their true personality in their Tweets. Ye,s I do like to know what
Danny Sullivan (famous search engine marketing guru) ate for lunch, but better
yet is the link to the video he thought was funny. I love following Ashton
Kutcher (movie star married to Demi Moore who just hit 1 million Twitter followers
in April). Man, that guy is really funny and is having a ball with Twitter.
His posts are great and he has just earned the status of the user with the
most followers. This is why you can’t
hire someone to "Ghost
Twitter" for
you. It's about showing the real you - you can't fake that!
So how can you use Twitter for business? Twitter is an excellent tool for
linking and this is the real value for businesses. By using Twitter to point
people to content on your website, articles you have written either on or off
your website, or by linking to a service you want to highlight, you drive traffic.
On top of that, Google actually indexes Twitter and so your Twitter page can
appear in the organic search results so make sure your bio is well thought
out. Don’t
waste time using Twitter to point to blog posts, use TwitterFeed to post your
blog posts directly onto Twitter. If you have a blog or website, you'll get
new Twitter followers by posting your TwitterFeed right onto your web pages.
People who may not have known your Twitter ID can simply click the bottom "follow
me link" and start following you on Twitter.
What's
important to be successful in using Twitter is to identify what you personally
like about this new media and then deliver the same type of things that you
like back to your own followers - work to provide value not drivel! So you've
got to play with Twitter and learn how to use it first before you can really
become successful with it for your business.
So how do you get followers? Well, I started by following
everyone (who I found by doing a Twitter search) who had the last name McCord.
Then I searched for web design, search engine optimization, and pay per click.
Any site profile that looked good, I clicked to follow the writer. It was that
easy. Many times people who you follow yourself will choose to follow you.
That's how you initially build up your Twitter base. Over time you will start
to identify your "Twitter voice" and refine the type of Twitter presence you
want to have by changing your content style and the things that you Tweet about.
As you refine your presence, you will build a following.
Another cool Twitter use is that you can reply to any of your followers by
simply putting an @ in front of their Twitter ID. For example to send something
to my attention use @mccordweb at the very front of your Twitter posting and
click enter. Just remember that this post is seen by all followers on my site
and on your Twitter site. If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct
message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name
and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using
TweetDeck you can click on a follower's Twitter ID icon and then select to
send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert
the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.
For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management
using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a
company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests.
As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a
response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas
and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product
ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a
link to your beta version for their testing.
How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice
that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first
to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter.
Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting
and have some fun.
Currently I am following 204 people and 183 people are following me on Twitter.
Personally I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what's
happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see
it in the newspaper. That's the real power of Twitter; you share, you
find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.
This article actually continues with even more details about Twitter applications
and more Twitter tips for your business. You can download,
print, review, and share this complete Twitter article in PDF format by
visiting our website now to grab the full copy.
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Our Blogging Program Has Expanded
We've
got some real writing talent
in our newly expanded blog
writing team. With seven blog
writers in our writer's corral,
we can now provide quality
blog writing for nearly every
business sector.
Not only has our writing team expanded to accommodate the need
for professionally written
engaging blog posts, but our
blogging service offerings
have expanded to address those
needs as well. Not only is
blogging great for search engines
by building fresh new content
that is keyword dense and appears
in organic search results,
but blogging creates link opportunities
that can help your placement
as well.
Here's the low-down on our new blog writing plan:
- Jade
Level - $18 per
post with a three day a week
minimum frequency. Posts
are 150 to 190 words with
an average of 170 words per
blog post.
- Ruby
Level - $22
per post with a three
day a week minimum frequency.
Posts are 200 to 250 words
with an average of 225
words per blog post.
- Emerald
Level - $28
per post with a three
day a week minimum frequency.
Posts are 270 to 320 words
with an average of 295
words per blog post.
- Amethyst
Level - $32
per post with a three day
a week minimum frequency.
Posts are 340 to 390 words
with an average of 365
words per blog post.
The Pricing listed above is for a minimum frequency of three days a week.
This is the minimum number of blog posts per week that we recommend for
any blog for search engine benefits and to help your blog readership grow
over time.
We may be able to provide blogging services on a less frequent
basis but do so at a higher pricing model. To read more information about
our blog writing services and to review sample blog content please visit out Blog
Writing Services page online.
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