Everyone wants to think that once you have a product and a social network that you automatically start making "the big bucks!" This is just not the case. In order to make money you have to work at it. And in some cases you may have to spend some money to make some money. Nothing in this world is totally free, but that does not mean you have to pay cash for everything!
The biggest secret to social networking is that there are no secrets. Be Social! The number one thing missing from social networking is being social! If you have thousands of people in your social network you may find it difficult to talk to each and every one of them on a regular basis. Finding creative ways to communicate with your social network is the goal of every networker.
Find out who is actually listening to you. Whether you are on Twitter or FaceBook or MySpace, it does not matter how many people are in your social network if they are not paying attention to you. Try and ask questions and see if you get a response. Offer prizes or gifts for filling out a survey. Try and see who is paying attention and why, but more importantly find out who isn't paying attention.
Though it may look impressive to your friends, having 25,000 followers/friends/etc means nothing if none of them are paying attention. Make sure that you are adding people that will be interested in your niche. The broader the niche the broader your target audience. If making money is your nich then the sky is the limit! If hand made potholders are your nich you'll find less people who will follow you.
The best friends or followers are the ones that find you! These people sought you out or saw your information somewhere and came to you. Treat them like gold! You want these people to always feel like they are welcome in your network. Be sure to never mislead anyone into your social network. This can cause big problems later on. If you are offering something for free make sure that you delivger!
This is all common sense. Sometimes we forget the core reasons for having the social networks in the first place, to be heard and seen by people that will support your business or cause. I would like to hear your views on this. Please leave your questions and comments here.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Social Networking Results May Vary!
There was a time when "word of mouth" was the only way to get information to people! That time was not all that long ago. We've come a long way in the past couple hundred years. "Word of mouth" is still the most powerful form of advertising available to us. Of course, today, the words have changed and so has the mouth!
You can put an ad in front of a million people and perhaps one or two percent may actually look at the ad and one or two percent of the ones that look will actually look at your product or service. Of that percentage maybe one or two percent will actually buy your product or service. So in the end, you have a few dozen sales from one million views. That may be just fine to you.
On the other hand, if someone buys your product or service and they tell five or ten people about it and they in turn tel five or ten people, well then, you could have hundreds of sales just from one satisfied customer! "Word of mouth" costs very little compared to placing a million ads.
Places like Twitter, facebook, MySpace and all of the other dozens of social networking sites give you the opportunity to builds a buzz about your brand, your service or your product. The time it takes to learn the proper etiquette and build the network is your only expense in most cases. Time is money and companies pay very well to build a social networking campaign. For the rest of us, we must "learn the ropes" so to speak.
Here are a few tips that might help to grow your social network a little faster:
Tip #1: Remember the "golden" rule! Don't do anything that you would not want done to you! I could just stop with this one rule and everything would be great!
Tip #2: If you don't no the answer, ask someone for help! Knowledge is power! The more you know, the more you can do! Asking for help shows just how intelligent you really are!
Tip #3: If you do know the answer, let people know, but don't be a know-it-all! By all means help out your friends, enemies, acquaintances! It will do nothing more than make you look good and increase your reputation!
Tip #4: Always remember that anything that is typed on a social network is logged somewhere! Somewhere, everything is being stored! So, use common sense when writing! If you don't want your grandmother reading it chances are maybe you should not write it!
Tip #5: Remember, there will always be someone better than you! There will always be a better marketer, networker, etc out there. Learn what you can from each and every one of them!
Tip #6: Remember everyone starts out a noobie, n0oB, Newbie, etc! Try to remember this when someone asks you a question that seems really stupid! You might have asked similar questions when you started out!
Tip #7: If someone helps you out, try and remember to help them out when they need it! Or if they don't need help, pay them back by helping someone else out! "Pay it forward" so to speak!
Tip #8: Everything has a niche audience! You just have to find them! Not everyone likes everything! That is part of the beauty of free enterprise!
Tip #9: Cutting corners can often times send you back to the beginning to start all over! Many an account on many a social networking site have been banned for trying to skip the "building process" and jumping rightinto the "spamming process!"
Tip #10: Free advice is the best advice! Take it with a grain of salt and study for yourself! You'll get conflicting advice from everyone! They are all right and they are all wrong! It is your responsibility to seperate what works for you with what does not!
Tip #11: If it costs $97 or $47 or even $1.97 rest assured that the only person making money from that is the one selling it to you! All the information they provide you can be found free of charge. Sometimes you'll have to look harder than others.
Tip #12: The internet is FULL of FREE information, sometimes you just have to search for it! Use multiple search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Altavista. Each search in each engine will provide different results!
Tip #13: Never trick someone by using the word FREE if you are charging for something! Many sites out there offer FREE information until you read the fine print! It is just rude to trick someone into a recurring credit card charge- sometimes it can even be considered a criminal act!
Tip #14: Always give an option to opt-out in every situation, e-mail, subscription, etc. Always give everyone the opportunity to walk away at any time. This will come back as a positive experience for everyone involved!
Tip #15: If you see someone in need, help them out, it will come back to you! Helping others is always a good marketing strategy! You never know when you may need a hand!
Tip #16: Work hard and rewards come! My Crazy old uncle used to say: "The harder I work the luckier I get!" This is very true! Luck always has a part to play in all things!
Tip #17: Set aside time for each social network you build everyday. 10 min for MySpace, 30 for Twitter, 15 for facebook, etc....Good routines produce better results than no schedule!
Friday, April 3, 2009
How do You Turn Your Blog into a Source of Income?
So, you want to make money without spending any. So, you want to make money working only 15 minutes a week. You have come to the wrong place. Those get rich quick scams are just that- scams. Anyone that says you can make money without spending any is trying to sell you something. Hard work and knowledge can keep you from spending money but always remember that your time is worth money. Don't sell yourself short!
Learning how to make money is not always the easiest thing! There are a lot of companies out there that are trying to take advantage of your desire to make some extra money. If they charge money, believe me, the information can still be found for free! You just have to learn to be savvy enough to find it. Ironically, free information can be your cash cow so to speak!
Google AdSense is one of the easiest ways to generate income through your Blog. If you set up your blog through Google it is very easy to set up AdSense on your blog. If you used another blog platform there are instructions on how to set up AdSense either on Google's site or your blog platform site. Either way, go ahead and set it up. The best click through ads seem to be the text ads not the picture ads. You may want to play around with the ads to see what works best for you. The ones that seem to work the best for me are text ads that follow the same color scheme as my site.
Now comes the fun part! Go ahead and try to write as many articles as you can ahead of time. Writing multiple articles at one sitting also gives you a stronger continuity. Some people actually write a very long Blog then break it up into multiple posts. Either way, you want people to come back, so give them a reason to do so!
Write about what you know because you do not want to look like you are guessing. Be sure to spell check your articles. Be sure to not add a lot of jargon or slang that others will not understand. Be sure to have catchy titles that stand out. There are books written about how to blog. There are no secrets other than writing well written easy to read articles about what your passions are.
If you have questions or comments I would love to hear what you have to say!
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