Tools for Success
Managing Your Twitter Account
As wildly popular as Twitter is today, it was not an overnight sensation after launching in July 2006. But the following year, Twitter stole the spotlight at the South by Southwest festival by streaming tweets on huge plasma screens. That was a pivotal day for Twitter. Not only did it win an award in the blog category, it also gained a lot of new users!
At its inception, Twitter was perceived as social networking for personal use only. People were able to stay connected with their friends in real-time and exchange updates through frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
It didn’t take savvy internet marketers long to see beyond the entertaining, personal networking aspect of Twitter. Online marketers quickly discovered that Twitter could be valuable in driving traffic and increasing product sales. By finding followers with specific interests, business owners could connect with like-minded people, start conversations, and promote brand recognition.
Getting Followers on Twitter
If you have business contacts or an email list, invite those people to follow you on Twitter. Put your Twitter URL in your emails, on your websites and blogs asking people to follow you. You could even put your Twitter URL on your business card so that you can gather followers from offline as well.
Don’t be shy; tell everyone you meet about your Twitter page. Make it sound exciting, and let them know that you will be sharing important updates, great tips and information with them if they follow you. You may be surprised to find out that almost everyone will click the follow button just to see what you’re up to!
Follow people who are interested in a specific niche.
You can use the search tool on Twitter to find people who share your interests. Searching by keywords and topics will pull up the top tweets related to your search terms. You will be able to laser target people who are interested in your niche by reading those tweets and looking at the authors’ profiles. Follow a few of these people every day; they may very likely follow you back.
It is so important to have a strategy for managing your Twitter account on a daily basis. Unless you use software tools to automate many of the tasks, such as following and un-following users and posting tweets, you will spend way too much of your valuable time on Twitter. As a result, if Twitter simply becomes a burden, you won’t want to stick with it for very long.
I have five Twitter accounts with over 30,000 followers. Many people have multiple Twitter accounts with large numbers of followers. There is no way anyone could manage that without help; it would just be impossible!
I use TweetAdder – automated Twitter marketing software. It handles the daily tasks: follow and un-follow, post tweets and re-tweets, send direct messages, and tweet out RSS feeds. Another feature lets me do research on what’s trending now, what everyone’s tweeting about, and what topics are hot on Twitter. TweetAdder frees up more of my time for engaging with followers in 140 characters or less.
I highly recommend TweetAdder and encourage you to try it out. Experience the full Twitter professional software for free, and see how all of the features work with your Twitter account. You can download the TweetAdder demo here.
PowerPoint Templates
Presentation software helps you tell a powerful story. Using Microsoft PowerPoint, you can create presentations that entertain and motivate your business colleagues.
A good PowerPoint presentation starts with organizing your material. Adding clip art or photos to your slides will hold your listeners’ attention better than showing text only.
Connect with your audience and encourage them to participate in the discussion. You should not simply read the text on the slides. Your slideshow will be boring and your audience will be snoring.
Finally, whether you are presenting in a conference room or a classroom, keep in mind that listeners can only absorb a small amount of information in one sitting.
I found a great collection of templates and music loops for PowerPoint presentations. Template themes include: abstract, business, finance, general, nature, real estate, and travel. All themes are free to download and include two or more slides ready-to-use. Music loop soundtracks offer a variety: ambient, easy listening, high-energy motivational, jazz, new age, and more. Both the templates and music loops are free and available for download.
Visual aids provide big advantages. A well-crafted PowerPoint presentation will hold your viewers’ interest, and your key points will stick in their minds!
Proximity Marketing Will Drive Demand
for Mobile Payment Services
Proximity marketing has opened new channels for vendors to reach consumers when they are on the go, shopping and running errands. Smartphone users are able to purchase products, redeem coupons, and earn rewards points from select retail partners. These mobile transactions are giving rise to another emerging technology: the adoption of mobile payments.
According to the results of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, many experts believe that mobile payments could eliminate the need for consumers to carry cash and credit cards by the year 2020. One of the primary mobile wallet services being considered is the Near Field Communications-based Google Wallet tap-and-pay application.
But are we, the ordinary, everyday consumers, ready to set aside our plastic and cash in favor of embracing mobile payments? This emerging, high-tech mode of payment sounds very futuristic. Indeed, concerns about banking security combined with privacy fears may make us reluctant to hop on the mobile bandwagon. On the other hand, mobile wallet services offer potential benefits that go beyond convenience.
More than just looking hip and cool, making a purchase on your smartphone via a mobile payment app can encourage financial responsibility. For instance, MasterCard’s app offers money management options that allow you to curb spending by setting limits, approve or block transactions by type (such as clothing or dining), and enable spending alerts.
A recent study from Juniper Research forecasts that consumers will use mobile payments to pay for $670 billion worth of goods and services by 2015.
Demand for mobile payment services will be driven by proximity marketing. Merchants can use proximity marketing to deliver location-specific personal shopper services, targeted discounts, loyalty program rewards, and other rich media content to consumers. The real beauty of it is that proximity marketing provides a valuable service enjoyed by both merchants and consumers alike. The benefits derived from this powerful advertising will ensure the ultimate staying power for mobile wallets.
The future of commerce has already forged a symbiotic relationship between two tech innovations: proximity marketing and mobile payments.
5 Time Saving Business Tools
How often do you wish that there were more hours in the day? Or maybe, that you could sleep less so you could work longer?
These online business tools can help you to do more in less time, be more productive, and do what you do more effortlessly.
1. Copy and Paste – Clean and Simple When you copy text from a document or a web page and paste it into another application, your Facebook wall, for instance – what happens? The formatting is pasted in along with the text, usually creating a result that you didn’t want. Here is a free and very easy way to resolve that problem once and for all. PureText 2.0
PureText is a great time saver. Basically, it’s the same as opening Notepad, doing a PASTE, followed by a SELECT-ALL, then a COPY, and a final PASTE. PureText lets you do all that with just one Hot-Key.
2. Virtual Meetings – without paying for expensive GoToMeeting subscriptions. You can start web conferencing with one click when you keep this free tool in your belt.
Share your screen. See the participants. Conference with Adobe ConnectNow for up to three people per meeting. Get it here.
3. Forgot Your Password? – Do you have trouble remembering and managing your passwords? Keep those secret words private and secure with Password Agent, an easy-to-navigate password management program.
The lite version of Password Agent allows you to store up to 25 entries in your password database for free. If you need to store more entries, you can purchase the unlimited version for only $24.95. Go to Password Agent.
Here is a tip for creating a strong password:
Think of a statement you can remember easily such as when you got married or when your child was born. For instance, I married Steve in December 1986. Taking the first letter of each word in the sentence and adding the last two digits of the year, my password is as follows: !ImSiD86! You can add other characters at the beginning and end if you want to, as I did with the exclamation marks, and make your password even stronger.
4. Mind Mapping and Brainstorming – Let your creativity flow and enhance your problem solving techniques with mind mapping.
One extremely simple and intuitive online mind mapping application is Lovely Charts. You can create professional looking bubble charts and diagrams of all kinds, such as flowcharts, sitemaps, organization charts, and more… for free! Follow this link to the Lovely Charts website.
5. Say Goodbye to Misplaced Notes on Post-Its Here is an extremely powerful way to keep track of everything and remember those great ideas, items to add to your to-do list, or client contact information.
Evernote is an exciting way to stay organized using your computer, phone, and the web. A few suggestions to get you started:
* Keep notes from your meetings all in one place. Take a picture of a whiteboard and you’ll be able to find it later. Leave a voice memo.
* Plan your next trip. Clip web pages, maps, and itineraries. Capture sights, sounds, tastes, and anything else.
* Snap a photo of a business card with your phone, and have an easy way to store and access contacts.
Create your free Evernote account here and remember the things you were supposed to remember.
How about you? Which one of these great business tools will you grab first? I hope you will take a moment and share your thoughts.
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“Lost time is never found again.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
Smartphones Are Saving Trees
In every real estate office, inbox trays overflowed with colorful flyers announcing hot properties. It was standard operating procedure: create an attractive flyer about a home for sale, choose the paper color, get a couple hundred copies printed, and give them to the office assistant to deliver to all of the other real estate offices in the surrounding area. That was one way of creating a buzz about your listing.
An effective flyer sells the dream of home ownership. It sells the benefits of owning the home, not just a long list of features. If the property has a mountain and water view, describe how buyers can enjoy watching magnificent sunsets from their deck. Include photos to show potential buyers what they’re getting. Pictures truly convey more than a thousand words ever could.
Good sales copy is still as effective as ever, but thanks to advances in technology, marketing methods have changed.
Mobile marketing is the newest, fastest growing form of advertising. When you consider the statistics concerning global smartphone sales, it’s not surprising. According to Gartner, Inc., an information technology research and advisory company, worldwide smartphone sales soared in the fourth quarter of 2011 with 47 percent growth. Total smartphone sales in 2011 reached 472 million units and accounted for 31 percent of all mobile device sales, up 58 percent from 2010.
Mobile marketing offers so many advantages. The same beautiful flyer can be distributed to smartphones via wireless technology, saving hundreds of pounds of paper each year. Information on new listings and reminders about open house dates can be sent instantly to the mobile devices of potential buyers. Realtors are quickly adapting to this new technology that will help them generate leads and sales.
Smartphone marketing is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. As more and more people are looking towards a greener future, companies are taking more responsibility for their impact on the environment. Businesses are recognizing that mobile advertising presents great opportunities to communicate with customers, improve their bottom line, reduce paper consumption, and enhance their image – all at the same time!
Building Relationships
It’s all about building relationships. Unless you’re living in a hermit’s cabin on a mountain, without the Internet or a phone, you’re building relationships. Those connections, whether in your business or in your personal life, have to be nurtured over time to develop familiarity and allow trust to grow.
Relationship building is the foundation for all of our success. I have learned so much from reading a number of insightful blogs on this very important topic. They discuss essential qualities: building credibility and trust, earning confidence, making contact consistently, being persistent and patient – just to mention a few.
In thinking about these fundamentals, I realized that I have a teacher in my life every day, someone who has been instinctively modeling those very qualities for years, my sweet dog!
Now Shaz, that’s her name, hasn’t always been my dog. She adopted me. About nine years ago, Shaz wandered into my yard and sat down where I was working – right in the middle of the garden bed. I bent down to pat her and she lay down, stretching out even further amidst the flowers, forcing me to come down to her level. At that moment, I wished that I could have a dog just like her. I was hooked and she knew it. How she persistently and charmingly cultivated that relationship from our first meeting is a story for another day.
Over the years, she has developed an impressive sphere of influence! A self-appointed welcome wagon and good will ambassador, Shaz greets everyone we meet on our walks. That’s another significant element – visibility! We’re all about relationship-building; for some, it just comes naturally.
Better Than Business Cards
What is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and less expensive than business cards? Why, it’s… over-the-air, smartphone proximity marketing!
Imagine what it would be like to speak to everyone who passed by your store in the mall or your restaurant on Main Street. You could cordially invite them to come in to save up to 60% on designer apparel or tell them about the specials on the dinner menu. Compelling marketing like this is not fiction. It is location-based marketing for the 21st century: proximity marketing.
Utilizing wireless technology, your business can advertise to smartphone users within a radius of about 1,000 feet. Creative content is delivered in real time to an audience of shoppers near you who can react spontaneously to your message. You can attract new customers and bring back regular patrons with special promotions and time-sensitive coupons. Speak directly to the consumer in rich media via wireless technology. That’s memorable, powerful direct marketing!
Now you might think that an innovative advertising method of this sort comes with a hefty price tag, but you would be wrong. Over-the-air, smartphone marketing is affordable and well-suited to businesses of every size and type.
Marketing certainly has progressed a long way beyond business cards and flyers to all that today’s cutting edge technology makes possible. Proximity Marketing – the next evolution in advertising has arrived.
Proximity Marketing – Advertising Evolved
Smartphones have made text only SMS messages obsolete. Rich media, encompassing a broad range of digital interactive media, have taken the place of text ads. Businesses can deliver images, websites, mp3 music, phone apps and more rich media content to consumers via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In fact, business owners can broadcast rich media advertising messages to a large audience by making use of proximity marketing.
What is proximity marketing and why should businesses care about this innovative marketing strategy?
Proximity marketing is a service provided by advertising companies that utilize the power of Bluetooth and Wireless (Wi-Fi) technology to communicate to mobile devices. By taking advantage of this means of advertising, businesses can engage nearly all smartphone users within approximately 1,000 feet of their store or event.
Imagine the possibilities for creative advertising:
- Send special offers or merchandise discounts exclusively for shoppers in the store.
- Send coupons or special deals good for the day only.
- Offer promotions for purchases made online to drive website sales.
The technology used to send these advertisements to the smartphone users creates free internet hotspots. If a person chooses to receive and view the ad content, they may browse the Web without accessing their data plans, using the hotspot created by the proximity marketing service.
Small businesses can afford to embrace proximity marketing; it’s not just for the big box stores and Fortune 500 companies with deep pockets. Proximity marketing is an exciting step forward in the world of mobile advertising!
If you like today’s post, I hope you will share it with your friends 
on Facebook or perhaps Tweet it. Thanks for visiting!
Valentine’s Day Trio
Capture your lover’s heart all over again!
Chocolate and cards just won’t cut it this year. No matter if this is your first Valentine’s Day together or your 20th, you want your loved one to feel special, to see that you put in a real effort this year. These romantic and creative ideas are sure to demonstrate your love and commitment to your partner.
No special someone to love? Find a sweetheart by Valentine’s Day in five simple steps with this guide to online dating bliss.
And speaking of bliss… rich chocolate confections are delightful on any occasion. Whip some up and surprise your sweetie!
This trio of books will give you all the ideas you need to make this the most special Valentine’s Day ever for your sweetheart. Get all 3 books for just $5!
Using the Craigslist Search Feature
Find a job using the Craigslist search feature.
The popular website is actually a network of online communities featuring classified advertisements. Since 1996, when the web-based service first began, Craigslist has grown to a point where it now covers 50 countries. Whether you are a fan or a critic of Craigslist, I’m sure that most of you have visited the site and are pretty familiar with it.
Essentially, Craigslist is similar to the classified section of a newspaper where individuals can post advertisements or respond to current ads. Employers can post their jobs openings at a very low cost (free in some locations). That attracts job postings from small and mid-sized companies that might not be able to afford to advertise elsewhere. For this reason, Craigslist is sometimes referred to as the “invisible job market. ”
People hunting for jobs can browse a variety of available listings by selecting a location and a general category. To find the Craigslist you want, select your location from the list of links by country, state, and city found on the Craigslist home page.
Job advertisements are broken down into an assortment of subcategories to make it easier for users to search. Temporary, short-term jobs known as “gigs” have their own subcategory. These postings may include construction jobs, writing and editing, assignments for actors and artists, or working on an Information Technology (IT) project.
The Craigslist search feature can help you to refine your job search terms to find exactly what you are seeking. This may include using search criteria such as whether or not the job is a telecommute position, an internship, a contract position, part-time, or employment with a non-profit organization.
Sometimes the people posting the jobs may list them in a category you wouldn’t expect, so I suggest that you look through the main jobs category just to be sure that you don’t miss something that might be really interesting.
You can search Craigslist anywhere in the United States. Use this formula and your results will pull up jobs from all around the country.
Google the following: your search keywords site:*.craigslist.org
Replace the words “your search keywords” with your actual search term. In the following example I replaced “your search keywords” with “writing/editing jobs.”
Example: writing/editing jobs site:*.craigslist.org
When you answer a job posting, don’t rush. First of all, make sure that the job is legitimate. Take the time to read the entire posting so that you can respond appropriately. Did they specify how to reply to the job post? Did they request a writing sample, ask you to send your resume, or provide a link to a job application on their website?
Protect your privacy if you post your resume. Remember to guard your identity by limiting contact information and the personal details you disclose. Never divulge your bank account information or social security number. Keep your shields up and always use your best judgment.
Whether you are planning your second career or looking for a way to supplement your income, you can efficiently browse a wide selection of job postings using the Craigslist search feature.
I hope that today’s post has given you some ideas you can use! If you like what you read here, then please share my post with your friends on Facebook or perhaps Tweet it. Thanks for visiting!
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