Twitter is a useful tool for both personal and business needs. If you are new to Twitter, it may be helpful to learn how to use it to your best advantage. Here are a few do’s and don’ts to get you started.

Twitter was revolutionary when it started. It’s a platform that uses short messages to communicate with others. It could be up-to-the-minute information about you or communication with clients and co-workers on projects and the like. And, you can follow others just like on other social networks.

With Twitter, there are very few established rules. Most of the advice given on how to use Twitter is about etiquette and using the service to connect with other business professionals, clients and the like.

Do’s on Twitter

So, let’s take a look at some of the positive things to do on Twitter.

Follow others – It is not just about you; it’s also about connecting with people. Get involved in what is going on in your area of expertise. Follow people with similar interests. This gives you a higher visibility and can help establish you in that niche on Twitter. If you see something interesting, retweet it so others can follow too.

Tweet – It’s just like posting on Facebook. Leave meaningful information for others. You can talk about yourself, but not too much. Intermingle some useful content with your conversational pieces.

Create a compelling biography – Use your bio to its utmost. You have just a few characters so use keywords that are searchable to describe yourself and help others to search for you and find you.

Be professional – This includes using proper grammar in your tweets. Abbreviations don’t lend themselves to professionalism.

Don’ts on Twitter

Don’t tweet every second – You often hear about people who tweet about eating dinner, inappropriate habits and every other thing they do all day. This is not what people want to hear from you. In fact, it is one way to lose your ranking and current audience. It just clogs up the works for those following you.

Be careful what you say – Once you have entered something on the internet, it will be there forever. Inflammatory tweets reflect negatively on you and can come back to haunt you later.

Don’t be too negative – People who are always looking on the downside crash the party. Misery loves company but you will lose yours if you persist.

Learn to use hashtags properly – Hashtags can help you and others to follow a conversation more easily. But, use them the right way. Don’t put a hashtag on each word in your tweet. And, don’t hashtag a run-on tweet.

Using Twitter doesn’t have to be complicated or hard. Be yourself and use the above advice to make the most of your time there.

You can produce the most compelling, interesting video online, but without a clear call to action, your video is just pure entertainment. Whether you want a viewer to buy your product, sign up for your list, or take another action, you have to tell them what you want them to do.

A call to action can take many different forms. Do you want the viewer to click on a link, click the “buy now” button, watch another video, or take some other step? Know what you want from your viewer before you even create your video so everything you do points to that desired end result.

Some people believe that if you push your message on your audience, they will resist any kind of “sell” and turn away. While you want to avoid the used car salesman approach, remember that when you have the solution to your audience’s problems, you’re doing them a favor by sharing it with them.

Your call to action can take many forms. Here are some examples:

• Click here to download your free report on X.
• Click here to visit X and sign up now for more information!
• Enter your name and email below to sign up for the free teleseminar now.
• Fill out the form below to request your free consultation.
• Enter your information below to apply for this special program.

The logistics of creating a call to action within in a video will vary depending on the type of video you use, the location of the video and the rules of the site where you are hosting your video. Here are some ideas:

Mention in Video – You can include a call to action within the video itself. Create the video to capture the attention of your audience, give them the information they need and then tell them what action to take next.

Text on Video – Another way to tell your viewers what move to make after the video is to add it across the screen of the video. This text can be a link to your website or an explanation of any other action you’d like them to take.

Clickable Video – By using ‘Flash’ software or YouTube’s video tools, you can create video that, when clicked on, can link the viewer to the desired page.

The most important part of your call to action is ensuring it fits with what your audience needs. When the call to action matches the exact needs of your audience, taking your recommended next step will be a natural next step for your viewers.

Are you ready to learn how to use video effectively in your marketing? If so, join me on Thursday, February 2nd for a free teleseminar with video marketing expert, Lou Bortone, about Easy Biz and Video. Sign up by going to:

easybiztelesummit.com

If you have an online business, then you’ve likely considered video marketing. Once you’re convinced of the power of video marketing, the next step is to decide how to use videos to promote your business. Here are just a few examples:

Education – Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.

Case Studies – If you’re involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.

Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.

Product Reviews – Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you’re reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.

Webinars – If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.

Commercial – Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.

Business Overview – One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It’s your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step.

If you want to learn how to create powerful video for your business, check out my upcoming FREE teleseminar with Lou Bortone, Online Branding Expert and Video Marketing Strategist. Click here to find out more!

Search engines matter because without them you would receive minimal traffic to your website. Use them well and you will receive very targeted traffic to your website. Targeted traffic turns into customers and repeat visitors. This means it’s not only where you’re placed on the search engine rankings, but the keywords you use as well. You want to make sure you’re attracting targeted traffic to your site.

The world of search engine optimization and keyword development can feel overwhelming. It seems there’s a lot of information to learn, know and use. However, when you drill down, it’s actually quite simple. You want to optimize your website for a few primary keywords. These keywords ideally will have an acceptable amount of demand and supply. They’ll also be keywords that your audience is likely to use to find your information.

Then you optimize your pages for those keywords. You also choose some secondary keywords to support the primary ones. These may be keywords with less demand and less supply. However, they’re still keywords your audience is using to find your information.

How do you use these keywords? Content, content, content. Content gives the search engine spiders something to index. It also provides material that others may link to. This is an important part of SEO.

To help you manage and master your SEO efforts, there are literally thousands of various tools and gadgets. Some of these tools help you check the keyword density on your web page. They make sure your keywords are represented enough to help but not so much that your content reads poorly. There are also link checkers, keyword research tools, and so on. Here are four SEO tools you might find useful.

1. Keyword suggestion tools – This is where it all begins. Keyword suggestion tools help you learn and research your primary and secondary keywords. The most common of these tools is the Google AdWords tool. It’s free and quite useful. There are also keyword tools that you can pay for. They offer a bit more information than the Google tool.

2. Ranking checkers – Ranking checkers help you determine where you rank for various keywords and search engines. It’s a great tool for setting goals and tracking your progress. For example, you might set a goal to move up two pages in the rankings using article marketing. You can use a ranking checker to test and track your success. (You can also check to see how your competition is doing.) You can get a free rank checker from SEO Book by clicking here.

3. Link checking tools – Link checking tools help you determine the effectiveness of your back links. You can learn who is linking to you and how popular their links are. Again, you can also check to see who is linking to your competition. There are some basic, free tools that provide basic information. Or you can hire a service to analyze your back links for you. Click here for access to a free reciprocal link checker.

4. Keyword density tools – These tools can analyze a page or your URL for keyword density. There are a number of keyword density tools. Again some are free and some are paid tools. If you’re going to pay for this service, make sure it analyzes keyword phrases and not just one or two word keywords. Click here to access a free keyword density checker.

New SEO tools are being developed every day. Take advantage of these resources to strategically position your business. The easier it is for your prospects to find you, the faster you’ll achieve your business goals.

If you’re thinking of sharing about your business via Facebook, creating an effective profile is important. It’s easy to go into Facebook and set up a profile that doesn’t do much to reflect what your business is all about. A few tips can improve that. Here are some tips for using for Facebook profile effectively for your business.

1. Be careful – It’s wise to exercise care when you set up your profile for business use. Facebook terms of service says that your profile cannot be used for business purposes. However, you should be fine as long as you are actively using the profile for personal purposes as well. You may or may not already be on Facebook to socialize, but it’s a good idea to consider how to keep your business and personal information separate. It’s also a good idea to limit who reads your status updates so that your personal news does not conflict with your professional news.

You can use Facebook’s privacy settings to control who sees your updates. You can also specify who sees an individual update as long as you use the Facebook lists feature. And remember, privacy settings aren’t perfect; some cross-over is possible, so take care what you post. Some things you don’t need to share!

2. Your name – Most business people suggest using your real, full name in your profile – another good reason to pay attention to privacy settings. But you’re a business, so you want your name out there so make sure to list your business information on the “About” page of your profile. Using your real name makes it a lot easier for people to find you.

3. Your avatar – You will need to choose an avatar. Some successful business people suggest using a professional picture of yourself, but it’s entirely possible to get a good photo with your home camera. Let your “look” reflect the mood of your business (you don’t want to be pictured in overalls, for example, if your business is a professional marketer; but overalls would be an excellent look for a landscape design business). If you have some photo software on your computer, you can adjust the background and so forth to construct a good avatar.

You do not want to use your business logo as your avatar. This is a clear violation of Facebook policy and could get your account suspended. Whatever your choice for your avatar, make sure it is one you’re comfortable with. Consider your avatar’s look, colors and branding message to see if it makes an effective business-like message or not.

4. Think like a client – If you were a prospective client of your business, what would you like to see on a profile? Be thorough and truthful, but keep your prospects in mind. There are some things your clients don’t need to know, and other things they should know – remember, this is a personal profile being used to help your business. Include those aspects of yourself that coincide with your business intent.

Website traffic is always a priority for online solopreneurs – without some type of web traffic people won’t know your business exists. So just what is the right formula for more website traffic?

Here are our top tips:

1. Write and distribute articles. This may seem like a simple strategy on the surface but it can be very powerful. Just writing one or two articles a week will quickly add to a lot of incoming one-way links (the type of links the search engines love most) for your business.

Once you write the articles distribute them to a few top ranking directories, but don’t stop there. Think about distributing a few articles to large online traffic websites directly. Give them exclusive use of the article in exchange for the incoming link. This is a great strategy you can easily apply.

2. Make your pages search engine and reader friendly. Striking the balance between writing for your human visitors as well as the search engines is simple if you stick to this rule – write for the reader first and then naturally insert your keyword phrases into your copy.

It’s also a good idea to include all the appropriate SEO tags on all your pages. These tags help the search engines find you.

3. Set up a search-engine friendly navigation structure. For the search engines (and your human visitors) to find the content on your website, you need a clear navigation structure. This structure should consist of your top topics which are also your keywords and then for each of those main pages you’ll have sub pages including extensions of that main keyword.

By having the main keywords as your top topics on your navigation structure, your readers and the search engines will easily find your deeper pages of content. It’s also a good idea to include a back link to your home page on each page of your website. A clear and well-defined site map is a great addition as well.

These three key steps are the starting point to your traffic success. Apply them regularly and ensure that your content is fresh and up-to-date and you can’t help but to win over both the search engines and your human visitors too.

Content is an investment. You spend a lot of time writing it. You probably also spend a lot of time planning and researching it. It makes good business sense to make the most of your investment. When you repurpose and reuse your content, you maximize your return. Here are five tips and ideas to repurpose and reuse your content.

Build it up - Gather articles that fit together nicely and create a report. You’ll want to add an introduction and a conclusion. You may also need to add some transitions and polish the content to fit a cohesive theme. To monetize the content, consider adding affiliate links where appropriate. You can also include the occasional product or service promotion for your own business.

Break it down – If you have existing reports, then they’re perfect to create articles and blog posts. You have many options here, too. You can simply pull apart segments of the report to create articles. Add an introduction and conclusion paragraph and you’re ready to publish. Or you can take it further and create lists and other information-packed articles.

For example, if you have a “how to” report with ten steps and ten pages of content, you could create an article that’s a much abbreviated version of the report. List the ten steps with a one or two sentence explanation. You could also write a “three things you need to do to…” article. In fact, with ten steps you could write three of those articles.

Republish old content with updates - Often evergreen content isn’t as evergreen as you hope. The world moves quickly and most industries grow and change regularly. Take a look at your “evergreen” articles and blog posts. How can you refresh them with updated content?

Partition ebooks - This method is similar to breaking down reports to create articles and blog posts. You can break ebooks down into reports, articles or blog posts. In fact, you can get quite a lot of content from an ebook. Take a look at the ebooks you’ve purchased or written and brainstorm content ideas.

Group reports – If you’re looking to create a new information product, consider grouping them to create an ebook. You’ll want to organize the reports in a logical manner. You’ll likely also need to add an introduction as well as a conclusion. Transitions will be necessary and you can add some nice graphics. Add checklists, worksheets and lists to add value to your ebooks and reports for extra value.

Repurposing your content is a smart business strategy. With each new piece of content you create, consider how you might be able to use it in the future. Content is essential for online business success. Make the most of your efforts and maximize your content to the fullest.

It’s time for the January Easy Biz Teleseminar call for coaches and we’ve convinced Kim Clausen to join us once again – this time to share behind the scenes ideas that lead to success.  It’s the time of year to make plans about how your coaching business will grow in 2012 and highly successful coaches know that having a solid plan is absolutely required to reach your dreams.

Here’s what Kim says:

“ Too many business owners
haphazardly invest their time, energy
and money without planning and forethought
and often end up feeling frustrated because
they see only marginal success for their efforts.
Then they get frustrated, overwhelmed
and start to think that maybe they don’t have
what it takes to be a successful business owner.

But it’s not your fault.  All you really need is a plan.”

Join global marketing expert Kim Clausen for this free call.  Kim will show you how to create a powerful plan for your coaching business, and make it so simple that you’ll have a new level of confidence, energy and excitement moving forward into 2012.

Here are the details:

Date:      January 12, 2011

Time:    1-2 pm ET (10am pacific, 11 mountain, 12 central)

Registration:  http://easybiztelesummit.com

The Easy Biz Teleseminar is a monthly series that I host in order to help coaches succeed.  My expereince is that planning is one of the keys that can turn a business from survival to flourishing.  If you’re not planning for the future and your business growth – it probably won’t happen.  As I tell my clients, enthusiasm and hope are not business strategies.

Join Kiim and I for this powerful call.  We will make time for questions and answers at the end of the call so try to be there in person if you can.  Of course the call will be recorded and will be available at no charge for one week only.   Be sure to register at http://easybiztelesummit.com in order to get access to the recording.

Hope to see you on the call!

It’s now 2012 and I’m sure that creating a plan for energizing sales in your business is in the forefront of your mind. Energizing your sales isn’t a one-step solution; instead it’s a full scale approach. Each area of your sales and marketing strategy can be used to energize your sales.

Your Email List. Create energy with your email list. Offer a free online learning series. Give away free downloads that offer value. Integrate promos, offers, and discount coupons in your email series.

Launch a New Product. One truly spectacular way to energize your sales is to launch a new product. Information products are often the easiest to create and they can offer the most value. If you’re “not a writer” and don’t want to write an eBook, consider recording a series of expert interviews or create a workbook. Announce the new product to your email list. Advertise it. Share the good news on your social networking pages.

Affiliates and Referrals. If you don’t already have an affiliate program or a referral program, create one. Put others to work making sales for you. If you do have an affiliate program, reinvigorate interest by creating a competition. Offer your affiliates additional content and promotional materials so they can make more sales.

Build Your List. Create a new promotion or update your existing promotion to boost your email subscribers. Consider partnering with others and promote each other’s giveaways.

Tweak Your Sales Copy. Make small changes, or big ones, to your existing sales copy and track the results. Often a small change can make a big difference in conversions. Tweak your ad copy too.

Upsells and Back End Offers. If you don’t currently have a process to upsell or make back end offers to your customers, create one. Often the best time to make a sale is right after someone has made the decision to buy. For example, have you ever been in the store and ready to go to the register with your purchases when a sales person identifies a product that compliments the product you’ve already decided to buy? You’ve already committed to spending money and it’s easier to spend a little more for a complimentary product. Embrace that buying trigger and motivate more sales.

Content Commitment. Take a look at your content strategy. How can you amplify it for the next thirty to sixty days? What about a blog series? Can you go big and publish a case study or short report? What about article marketing or press releases? There are many ways you can go big with your content. Consider using guest writers to create excitement.

Getting new clients doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. The old axiom of “it takes money to make money” just doesn’t have to be the case when it comes to small business marketing.

If you want to give your business an infusion of clients without over spending, read these ideas carefully. Here are several different ways you can promote your small business – all with little to no cash investment.

Networking

Networking is one of the most effective strategies to both build and grow a business. Meeting the right people can practically ensure long term success. Additionally, networking helps you learn and grow personally too. However, finding business networking groups online or off can sometimes be a challenge. Here’s how to go about it.

Search online. This probably seems like an apparent step and perhaps it’s one you’ve already taken. Simply type your industry and the words “organization” or “association” into your search bar and see what comes up. Often, you’ll hit the jackpot with dozens of top level organizations to research.

Look at business networking directories. Yes, there are directories for just about everything under the sun and there are business networking directories you can search through too. For example, the Chamber of Commerce has a directory of other Chambers you can join (www.chamberofcommerce.com/).

Social media. Connect with other people in your industry and ask about networking groups they belong to or recommend. You can find great, like-minded people, this way.

Offer to Write for Publications

If you’re an expert on internet marketing, why not start writing a column for your local newspaper’s business section?

Or perhaps you might want to see if you can get a recurring writing assignment in a small internet business related magazine.

Being invited to write a column isn’t as hard as you might imagine. If you have the qualifications, editors are always on the lookout for more content. Because the better the content, the better their publication.

Finally, try also approaching bloggers to do guest blog posts. Make sure you state your qualifications upfront so they know you know your stuff, and make sure to suggest a few potential post topics in your introductory email.

Speak in Public

Public speaking is one of the most powerful and least competitive marketing methods around. Why? Because almost everyone is terrified of speaking in public.

Speaking in public requires honing your presentation skills. It involves mastering your fear of looking bad. It involves quite a bit of personal and professional development.

It’s a lot of hard work to become a great speaker. However, once you do become a great speaker, marketing will likely become a non-issue for your business.

Speaking in front of groups generates so much curiosity and credibility that if you do it on a regular basis, your business is more or less set up for success.

Promoting a small business doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. If money is your main reason for not promoting your business, let it stop you no more. Instead of using your money to promote your business, use your smarts, wit and determination to do the job.