Twitter Marketing Explored

Here is a fine article I found about getting followers on Twitter. I do not agree with everything Trey says, but there is a lot of truth here. Enjoy! (I am away from my office for a few days hoping to get a chance at posting something soon. That's one of the things that makes the Internet so wonderful. You can work while on the road)

Twitter Marketing Explored
Copyright (c) 2009 Trey Pennewell
the Phantom Writers
http://www.thePhantomWriters.com

Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds as people begin to
appreciate its clean and easy-to-use interface. Twitter, at this
point, does not look like one of the many flash-in-the-pan
Internet applications that we have seen in times' past.

Twitter's 140 character micro-blogging platform has gained a lot
of traction, as individuals and business people have learned to
bring together their friends, family and customers under a
communications platform that all users find useful.

Mom and dad find it easier to keep up with the lives of their
grown children through Twitter. The fact that Twitter allows
people to link to other web pages makes Twitter a simple platform
to share thoughts, ideas, and links to stories and pictures.
Grandma and granddad find it easy to check in on the kids'
Twitter account and to maintain daily contact with those across
town and around the world.

Friends can make plans and share common interests through the
Twitter world. One can reply to a message publicly, or if the
message is a bit more private, one can send a Direct Message
(known as a DM) to anyone who has agreed to follow you also.
Through the DM system, lovers can share flirts that no one else
can see, but the persons intended to receive the message.

If you let your kids use Twitter, it may be best to set up their
Twitter Account Settings to "Protect The Tweets". In the
description of this feature, Twitter says, "Only let people whom
I approve follow my tweets. If this is checked, you WILL NOT be
on the public timeline."

The Public Timeline is the messages/tweets that everyone can see.
Anything not on the Public Timeline is private, with restricted
access.

Business People Are Working To Tap Into Twitter Marketplace

Twitter was born in March of 2006. But most of us never really
heard of it or even understood it, until this last year
(2008-2009). A few of the Internet gurus started talking about
Twitter in 2008, and as 2009 got underway, more online marketers
started talking about the Twitter community on a nearly daily
basis.

We have accounts in Twitter that are a couple of years old, but
we never got involved with Twitter really until about April of
2009. In April of 2009, we had 12 Twitter Followers.

In May 2009, there was not a single online business in the Top
100 of Twitter, but those numbers are starting to change. Through
May of 2009, the Top 100 accounts on Twitter were dominated by TV
and Movie celebrities, a few media companies such as @cnnbrk,
politicians and sports figures.

Most online marketers had never given Twitter much thought until
"The Great Ashton Kutcher vs CNN Twitter Race" that ended on
April 17, 2009 with Ashton (@aplusk) getting the privilege to
declare victory. (http://bit.ly/8Nx55) Even now, three months
after the end of the race, Ashton is still the champion - #1 in
the Twitter Follower counts with 2,975,032 Followers. Ashton is
followed by @TheEllenShow - 2,610,357; @britneyspears -
2,553,668; @cnnbrk - 2,431,783; and @twitter - 1,930,821.

When the Great Twitter Race was concluded, I did a backlink check
on Ashton's @aplusk account. Literally, Ashton had bought a ton
of advertising on websites, blogs, forums, etc. Ashton was also
getting tons of free press in print and online in the Great
Twitter Race.

Of course, we marketers should not feel bad if we are getting on
this bandwagon a little late in the game, because @google has
only had their account since Jan 09. Google is currently the 23rd
biggest Twitter account with 1,244,976 Followers.

A surprise for me was seeing @WholeFoods, an Austin Texas based
grocery store, sitting at #38 with 1,094,093 Followers. According
to TwitterCounter (http://twittercounter.com/WholeFoods/all),
Whole Foods had only 322,820 Followers on April 4, 2009. A quick
look at the Whole Foods profile (http://twitter.com/WholeFoods)
indicates that they are using the account to share with their
customers: company news, customer support, and available
specials.

An honorable mention goes to @kevinrose, celebrity and founder of
http://Digg.com. Kevin Rose is the 40th most popular person on
Twitter, with 1,092,920 Followers.

Once you get into the Top 100 List below #40, you finally start
to see a few online businesses in the mix. @zappos CEO is #45.
@woot is #46. @TechCrunch is a web media site at #55. @dooce is
at #60. To see the full Top 100 List, go here:
http://twittercounter.com/pages/100

Who Is In Your Target Market and What Do They Want To Know?

As you look around at those people who are successful building
their own little communities on Twitter, you will notice that
each one gives people what their Followers want.

For example, @cussy is an online marketer, and he has nearly
10,000 Followers. His secret to growth: quotes. He gives his
followers some of the best quotes about business and reaching
goals of anyone on Twitter. I follow him and Retweet him often.

@dave_carpenter advertises himself as a Success Partner For High
Achievers. Dave shares quotes and tips, and he retweets others
who give good advice also. More importantly, Dave encourages the
people he follows. He has nearly 9,000 Followers at this time.

@MattLevenhagen is a professional marketer. His 13,000 Followers
follow because he runs a mix of marketing tips, links to great
articles, and retweets for great advice. He even uses his Twitter
account to give his customer's support.

@SocialMedia411 is a Social Media expert who offers social media
tips, links to social media articles and news. With more than
56,000 Followers, you can bet that the advice given here is
worthwhile to its audience.

When you learn to talk to the people most likely to buy from you,
you have completed the first and most important step to enable
you to develop strong Twitter Marketing habits.

Learn How Others Are Successful With Twitter

As always, when you want to learn to be successful, you should
look to those who are already successful and try to
reverse-engineer the steps that they used to become successful.
Once you have taken the time to study many who have been
successful in the way that you want to be successful, you may
note that success comes from giving people what they want and
doing it in such a way that you offer good value to your
customers.

Those who have been successful with Twitter have done so, because
they put the needs of their Followers ahead of a personal desire
to be boring or silly.

The good news is that other business people have started to find
success on Twitter and you can too. When you learn to provide the
people in your target market with the information that they need
and want, you will have started down the path to building a
Twitter Follower list to envy.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Trey Pennewell works for http://www.thePhantomWriters.com
article marketing service. If you write articles and need
to distribute your articles to higher value audiences, you
owe it to yourself to try The Phantom Writers' services.
If you want to learn more about how to develop a large
list of Twitter Followers, buy the ebook (under $10) at:
http://twitusers.com/autopilot/index.php
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/contentmanager

Is your business website a starving orphan?

It always amazes me how people who should know better do dumb things on the Internet.

My sister, author Mary Alice Monroe, received an email from a newspaper called Charleston City Paper. The email contained an attachment that included Mary Alice's front page photo and two articles from the current paper about Mary Alice's new book release. Fine and dandy.

But why did the rep from the newspaper not send the message with simple links to the pages on the newspaper's website? Seems simple enough to me. Instead she sent clunky .pdf files.

Here is the link she could have sent: http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/author-mary-alice-monroe-loves-the-great-outdoors/Content?oid=1250000

I think too many people consider their business website a separate entity or as a business unto itself and not an integral part of their existing business. Would not it be better to think of your business website as part of your business? Your website is a tool and it can be a very useful tool at that.

How? Many business website owners have no clue about how many people are visiting the site, how their visitors found the site or what their visitors were looking for when they landed on the website. To me, this is a common and very ignorant way to do business on the web. After all, one of the best things a website does is give you hard numbers about how many eyeballs are seeing or not seeing what you toss up there.

You can tweak your website. You cannot tweak an newspaper ad.

Moral - send them to your website to get any detailed information you want them to see. It makes sense and dollars.

In case you were wondering why I put the SEO graphic on top, I think this is an example of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing). In both cases, you improve both of those concepts by sending them to your website.

Make sense?

Greg Cryns

Wordpress and SEO specialist

Work At Home Profiles
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Twitter Loser

Don't be this guy!

Please put something in the picture space at your Twitter profile.

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles
.

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30 things I've learned about the Internet

30 things I've learned about the Internet

1. 99% of the people you deal with are totally honest.
2. If you never had dial-up service to connect, you would consider suicide if you had to use it.
3. The most important discovery for me was "copy & paste"
4. Whatever happened to live chat rooms?
5. Whatever happened to Guestbooks?
6. Making money on the Internet is way harder than you expect.
7. Most self-proclaimed "experts" are not.
8. How pretty your website looks is not important
9. How useful your website is - that's the ticket.
10. The value of social media is not as strong as some people think.
11. The number of people who see your Twitter posts are miniscule compared to your followers.
12. Facebook is not a good place to market your wares.
13. Linked In is underrated.
14. MySpace has tumbleweeds rolling in it.
15. The most important invention is the mouse. (could we live without it?)
16. Most people don't have a clue what RSS feeds are about.
17. Posting for CNN Twitter is stupid.
18. Every day Google becomes more important to my eartly existence
19. Often it is quicker use the telphone for information than to look it up on the Internet
20. When you really want to know something, go to Wikipedia
21. If an email sounds false, it probably is. Check www.snopes.com
22. Craigslist is more useful than eBay
23. If you come up with something new, it's probably not new. Google it.
24. If you MUST remember something, send an email to yourself and also print it out.
25. Good investment: an exterior hard drive for backup
26. Most overrated websites: Digg, Stumble Upon (especially for getting sales), eBay, Alexa, any site that is supposed to help you get more followers on Twitter
27. Most underrated blogs: there are a lot of blogs with great posts that will probably go under because people flock to the gurus who got started earlier
28. Underrated websites: Yahoo (it's still kickin with lots of value)
29. There are a LOT of people who never read any blog.
30. Most people don't care about making money on the Internet

What have you learned?

Greg Cryns

Google changes may affect your rankings

Ouch Google That Hurts! (How Recent Changes Within
Google May Affect Your Rankings)




Recent changes within Google's organic keyword rankings are
sending minor shock waves throughout the SEO community. There
seems to be a major overhaul, especially relating to not only
PageRank Sculpting, which may drastically lower your rankings,
but also in the "very way" Google lists its organic search
results.


Basically, some common search engine optimization on your own
site will no longer give your rankings a boost in Google. It's
as if Google has declared war on many of the old tried and
proven SEO techniques that have worked for years.


Matt Cutts addressed PageRank Sculpting in a recent blog post
so it is no longer a matter of speculation but something every
webmaster has to deal with when constructing the layout of their
site. Manipulating your site's PageRank to promote certain
lucrative "money-pages" on your site has just gotten a lot harder.
Those webmasters with authority sites could see a major drop in
their keyword rankings within Google.


In the past, one of the most effective ways to rank well in
Google was simply a matter of building a sub-section of
themed/keyworded pages on your site directly related to
your targeted keyword. By pooling all the PR juice from
these pages onto your "money page" meant you could rank
well in Google for that keyword, especially if you had
a high PR6 or PR7 site.


Although it is somewhat foolish to draw general conclusions
from specific events happening on your site, since Google
seems to be in a constant "change mode" these days so any
conclusions or pronouncements of what is actually happening
may be premature. But I am a professional online marketer who
has been monitoring thousands of keywords in Google for six
or seven years, and recent keyword movements tell me something
has definitely shifted in the land of Google. Top rankings in
Google for lucrative keywords are essential for me earning an
online living so anything affecting those top rankings has my
immediate attention.


Recent movements in some of my keywords have me scratching my
head in amazement. For example, one URL which had been at the top
spot within Google's organic search listing for over five years
suddenly vanished down to the four or fifth page. Now this is
the Ezinearticles listing when you search my name in Google, that
URL has been at the top for ages - what has caused it to drop.


More than likely, it has to do with either of two things: PageRank
Sculpting or a Keyword Spam Filter. It just may be due to changes
in PR sculpting, since Ezinearticles.com is highly optimized
authority site, any changes with how Google ranks interior
pages on a given site will probably show up on a site like
this one.


Or this may just be a casualty of some Google spam filter or
filters since I have noticed Ezinearticle recently added
this URL at end of each of my article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?expert_bio=Titus_Hoskins


This repeated URL on many sites could cause a spam filter to
lower the ranking of this URL. Many SEO experts believe you
have to be careful to vary the anchor text (clickable part of
a link) to avoid being penalized for keyword spamming.


Actually, this is truly farfetched, but I noticed Google only
changed the top listing for that searched term recently,
and it now matches the one found on Bing. Is Google playing
catch-up with Bing, since the URL in question is the correct
one that should be in the top spot!


Now, of course, those who know me will realize the lowering
of this one URL in Google SERPs is not what has me very
concerned by recent developments within Google. It is a few
of my more lucrative keyword drops that have me very concerned
about what's happening within Google's Algorithm and changes
they're making.


You have to realize, except for the occasional Google dance
and a few major updates - my own keyword rankings within Google
have remained pretty stable over the years. Despite the countless
horror stories you hear about Google suddenly dropping or delisting
a page or site - this has NOT been my own experience. If my
rankings drop it is because I have stopped promoting that
particular keyword phrase and even then the drop in rankings
is fairly slow and predictable.


A recent drop of one of my most profitable keywords did not
follow that pattern or morn. Suddenly bouncing in and out
of the top five spot before finally settling in nowhere land
on the third page. Now we are talking about a very competitive
keyword with over 52,000,000 pages listed but there seems
to be a fundamental shift in the way Google is listing its
rankings or SERPs for very lucrative keywords, I don't see
the same filters, ranking factors applied to minor keywords
or even lengthy "long-tail" keywords. At least, not yet.


Google seems to have made a major and profound overhaul of how
it lists its SERPs. Basically, Google is dividing its listings
up into five different groups or categories on that crowded
first page:


1) News
2) Products
3) Brand Name
4) Videos
5) Information/Reviews


In addition, Google's SERPs have become much more fluid,
changing daily, if not hourly. Half of the URL listings on that
first page could be new listings, next day they're replaced
by others.


For the above keyword, I even had one of my articles listed
on the first page for a brief time. In the past this was virtually
an unheard of occurrence within Google. This article was on a
large online article directory. I have seen other news items
jump in and out of this first page listings. Keeping your
keyword phrase within the top 5 positions will be extremely
difficult.


Perhaps, even more troubling is the new abundance of Brand
Name listings on the first page results. Aaron Wall did an
excellent report on this a little while back. Google seems
to have made a direct move to listing those big name company
sites. The keyword phrase in question now has a link from one
the largest computer companies in the world in the number one spot.
Small site owners and webmasters who play by the rules will
have a much more difficult time to rank high for lucrative
keywords and a lot more trouble keeping their keywords on
the first page.


Large corporate sites with deep "link-buying pockets" will rule
Google in the future. Despite Google's feeble attempt at cutting
out this practice, link buying is much more lucrative and much more
profitable than running any Adwords campaign. Link buying will
be the number one advertising expenditure for most large companies
in the future, if not already.


Even more troubling, besides the dominance of the big brands
in Google's new search engine, is the fact that small webmasters
must now realize the available space on that first page has grown
much smaller - with news, product and video listings taking up the
slack. Suddenly your target has gotten much smaller and your chances
of hitting it much, much slimmer.


If Google applies the same kind of ranking factors and the
way it lists its SERPs to all of its keywords, then ranking
high for your chosen keyword phrase has grown much more
difficult. Competition within Google has always been fierce,
especially for popular keywords which bring in the big bucks,
but now because of these recent Google changes, your search
engine marketing has just gotten a lot tougher. Thanks Google!


The author is a full-time online marketer who has numerous
websites. For the latest web marketing tools try:
http://www.marketingtoolguide.com">Marketing Tools
Copyright © 2009 Titus Hoskins. This article may be freely
distributed if this resource box stays attached.


Greg Cryns Expert Wordpress Design and Promotion .

6 Tips for writing your email newsletter

Here are a few tips about writing your newsletter:

1. Write like you talk. People pick up on your style and become comfortable with it. It makes them feel good about you.

2. Be relevant. Talk about things you know they want to read about. You can be colloquial here.

3. Be different. Try to make your newsletter stand out from the crowd of others they receive.

4, Be real. Ad a dash of what happened in your life since your last email. Tell a little story. Give them pieces of your character.

5. Proofread. Send the email to yourself. Read it the next day. You may be surprised about how much of it you want to change.

6. Links. Give them good links. They will appreciate it.

Hopefully they will look forward to opening your email.

Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles - a membership site

How to Recognize a Bad SEO Company

Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario


Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about getting potential customers to visit your website. It is also about building a quality website full of great content. It uses keywords appropriately and gets links "naturally" because people love what you have on your site. SEO companies can provide very useful services including keyword research, site review, providing technical advice on your website development and also management of online business marketing campaigns. They can also help with content development, article marketing and article distribution. Although it's not brain surgery, it is hard to do and usually requires a lot of thought and real work.

Some unethical SEO firms attempt to manipulate search engine results in unfair ways. These practices could get your website ranked lower or even banned. When looking at SEO - either to optimize it on your own or if you are looking to hire a company, here are some things to take into account.

Be Cautious Of SEO Firms That Say They Will Get Thousands Of Links To Your Site.

It' is not the number of sites that make the difference - it's the quality of the sites. When firms promise huge numbers of links, or say that you' will become part of their "network of sites", it usually means a link farm is involved. A link farm is any group of websites that all hyperlink to every other site in the group. Search engines don't like this and it can lead to penalties. Instead, practice reciprocal linking with legitimate and related websites for better search engine ranking.

Be Wary Of SEO Firms That Guarantee A High Ranking On Google.

No one can guarantee a high ranking on Google. Some SEO companies offer a guarantee on their services. This is fine. What's not fine is guaranteeing high ranking in an incredibly short period of time. When these unrealistic results fail to happen, the company will balk at giving a refund, offer you other services instead, start to become unreachable or disappear.

Be Cautious Of SEO Firms That Send "Spammy" Emails.

These emails are unsolicited and usually begin with "We've noticed that you are not listed in some search engines..." You should be searching for a high-ranking SEO company; they will not be searching for you. Spam means scam. You don't buy your medications from spammers so why buy SEO services from them?

Be Wary Of SEO Firms That Are Secretive Or Don't Clearly Explain What They Are Going To Do.

Most reputable SEO firms are upfront with their clients and like to share their knowledge. They are confident that even if their clients understand their process, they won't leave them. If the SEO firm claims it's too complicated for you to understand, or if they say they have trade secrets and proprietary technology, it's a sign that they may not be ethical in dealing with your website.

Be Wary Of SEO Firms That Say They Will Submit Your Site To Thousands Of Top Search Engines And Directories.

Besides the small fact that there aren't that many search engines, consider that the guidelines of the search engines themselves tell you that it doesn't do any good anymore. Search Engines are good at what they do - searching for sites - and you don't need to pay someone to submit your site to a search engine. If they make this claim, they will probably use Free For All (FFA) junk sites that might damage your site's standings.

Be Cautious Of SEO Firms That Say They Can Optimize And Promote Your Site For A Low, Low Monthly Fee.

Not all monthly SEO or SEM (Search Engine Management) service contracts or monthly fees are a scam. There are real reasons to pay a monthly fee to an SEO expert. These would include conditions when you would require SEO management: when you or someone else is constantly generating new content or new features for your site; implementing link-building campaigns; implementing PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns; or starting a brandcasting campaign. Press release distribution, email campaigns and article marketing campaigns could also require a legitimate monthly fee.

Not-so-legitimate fees could include monthly re-submitting of your site to search engines, "tweaking" your code to keep up with changes and regularly submitting your site to hundreds of useless free-for-all directories. The worthwhile companies that charge a monthly fee will usually be able to tell you exactly how much it is per month to generate blog entries or generate and distribute articles or press releases. And it won't be for the low, low price of $79.95.

Choose Your SEO Company And Services Carefully.

Do your research and don't make the decision lightly. If you were hiring a contractor to remodel your kitchen you would want to see other kitchen projects they've done and speak with the owners about the company's business practices. You should do the same thing when hiring an SEO company. Get referrals and really speak with them.

There are many online tips about choosing and hiring SEO firms that you can check out as well. Remember, SEO is a long-term strategy and you should take the time to do your research before buying or you'll probably be buying again.

About The Author:

Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat, the only online marketing and advertising company employing Brandcasting, the most effective way to brand your company on the web. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. The approach is simple, highly effective and affordable. Learn more at: http://www.Brandsplat.com/

Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress Design and Promotion

Free and Easy Link Building Tips

Free and Easy Link Building Tips

Copyright © 2009 Enzo F. Cesario


Okay, you're the proud mama or papa to your brand new website. Now what? This isn't like the movies - just because you built it doesn't mean they'll come. The Internet is a huge limitless space with ever-growing numbers of websites. You are just one small website among millions. How will anybody ever find you? How do you become visible? Right now, you just exist out in the web, untethered. You need to become visible when someone searches for you and one way to become visible to people is to become visible to search engines. And one way to become visible to search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or MSN is for your site to be tethered, or linked to other sites.

If you've spent any time reading Internet marketing blogs you know that link building is a huge part of a marketing campaign. Backlinks - links that point to your website - are a major factor in determining your popularity or ranking with the search engines. And of course, just like in high school, you want to be popular.

You can buy your way into links, but here we're talking about a few free and easy ways. An obvious and natural way to build links is through content. When you start a link-building campaign for your new website, focus on attracting links that will add value for your website visitors and best represent your most important keywords too. It is invaluable to have visitors go to your site and share your content.

Here are a few easy and mostly free ways to build links for your website.


Blog-Based Link Building

One way to get natural links back to your website is by setting up a blog for your company. Make sure you network online with other blogs that complement yours. If you share industry news and have useful and relevant content, you'll attract links. Reference other bloggers in your content and link to other blogs in your industry.

For blogs, content is extremely important. Every time you add words to your blog or website, you are presenting yourself to a potentially huge audience. How does your blog's content reflect your company? This content could be the page that carries your company's name around the Internet world. Cheap content is just that - cheap. Create content that people want to read and that will make them come back again and again.

Reviewing products and services and posting those reviews on other sites is another way to build links. Your honest evaluations and smart opinions can also build your reputation as an expert in your field.

Link Building with Social Media

Another way to build natural links to your website is through social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter. These sites allow you to set up a user profile where you can add information about you and your company including a link to your website.

Some sites, Facebook for example, also have a way to promote your business with a page, ad or group. Just keep in mind that there are good ways and bad ways to promote your business on social sites and you should observe proper etiquette when you do.

Link Building with Organizations and Directories

If your industry has professional organizations or associations that you belong to, check with them and see if they have an online directory with links to member sites. They may or may not charge a fee for this. If they do, it shouldn't be much.

Check with your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau. Links from sites like these can be very helpful. Check with other local businesses and organizations that have lists of businesses and request links from them, too.

Online directories are another opportunity to look into. Yahoo! Directory is a good one. If your business is in a specific geographical area, you might also find some local directories to submit to that will boost your local visibility.

Links from Charities or Non-profits

If your company makes charitable donations to organizations and non-profits, see if they have a "donors" list on their website and ask if they will link to your website.

Links from Press Releases

Has your business just started or have you just launched a new product? A press release is a great idea to announce your news. There are quite a few press release distribution services available and some have a free first time offer.

Links from Partners

If your website offers information about other partner websites like business directories, you should make sure to use all your linking potential. You could have a badge that your partner could put on their site linking to you and one for your site that links to theirs.

If you have an RSS feed or a widget on your site that has good value to visitors, those can be taken from your website and displayed on another person's website, linking back to your site.

The Internet is constantly evolving and there are thousands of ways to build links. Look around at other websites and see what they have and how they work. Look at your business, think outside the box and you might come up with other ways to develop links. If it all seems like too much, there are many online consulting companies that can help with link building, SEO optimization and brandcasting.

About The Author:

Enzo F. Cesario is a Copywriter and co-founder of Brandsplat, the only online marketing and advertising company employing Brandcasting, the most effective way to brand your company on the web. Brandcasting uses informative content and state-of-the-art internet distribution and optimization to build links and drive the right kind of traffic to your website. The approach is simple, highly effective and affordable. Learn more at: http://www.Brandsplat.com/

Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress Design and Promotion
.

How Google Alerts Help Your Business

What Should You Search For on Google Alerts?

There are many reasons to use Google Alerts. Perhaps the most important is to know what people are saying about you and your business.

I am alerted for my own name "greg cryns" when it appears anywhere on the web. Unfortunately, not too many are talking about me. :(

But when I put in a few popular sites that I own, then I get some action.

Some Alerts you may want to get:

Your blog name

Name(s) of your competitors

Key phrases that people use to find your business

Pending legislation for your business or profession

Your city or town name if you are primarily local

Google Alerts help you come up with cutting edge blog topics as well.

If you want some help with Google Alerts, email me!

Happy Summer!

Greg Cryns

Expert Wordpress design, consulting and promotion

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How to locate the NEW Pay Pal subscription cancellation

Have you tried to find your "Subscription Payments" on Pay Pal lately?

If not, you will be in for a surprise. Frankly, it a pain in the butt to find the "cancel subscription" link at Pay Pal now. The service I've received from Pay Pal over the years has always been excellent.

Until recently you could easily find your subscriptions using the "History" link. I can think of no good reason why Pay Pal decided to bury it on their site. In my opinion burying the subscription cancellation link is a major disservice to Pay Pal's customers.

I called Pay Pal's help center to uncover the new location for the "cancel subscription" link. A very nice and helpful lady led me down the path.

Here's how:

1. Login to Pay Pal
2. Click on "Profile" under the blue buttons toward the top.
3. On the Profile page you will find three columns. Under the middle column titled Financial Information, you will find a link titled "Pay List" - Click that link.
4. You should find a list of your Subscriptions. Click on the subscription (company) you want to cancel
5. Now you will see an option near the top - Status: Active| Cancel
6. Click "Cancel"; then comes the confirmation page.


When I went to the Help section today they had the old directions posted.

To your financial health,

Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress Website Design and Promotion
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Lessons in Business Naming from Newspaper Headlines

Guest Post

Lessons in Business Naming from Newspaper Headlines
Copyright (c) 2009 Marcia Yudkin
Creative Marketing Solutions
http://www.yudkin.com/



Two headlines in the "Home" section of my local newspaper
caught my eye the other day: "Natural floors can be knotty and
nice" and "Serving cheese with ease." Both headlines involve
enjoyable wordplay of the sort that could easily figure in
business names or tag lines. I can imagine "KnottyandNice.com"
as the domain name for a wooden items crafts shop, and "Cheese
with ease" as the tag line for a cheese lovers' online
community.

So I went looking for some tips on writing news headlines,
thinking they might offer valuable insights for naming, too.
After all, news editors need to come up with informative, catchy
headers numerous times every workday.

Even more challenging, their headers need to fit the available
space. They need to be able to condense or stretch an idea's
expression, depending on how many columns an article spreads
across.

My Google search didn't quickly turn up any such tips, though.
Maybe headline writing is an art passed on in secret by grizzled,
ink-stained veterans during the midnight shift.

Nevertheless, by pondering a couple of dozen headlines, I was
able to observe several key points.

1. Newspaper headline writers collect short, vivid verbs, such as
"mines" ("Obama mines small, red states"), "stirs,"
"pushes," "clings," "set," "edges," "sparks,"
"tosses," "sees," "OKs" and much more. Not only can
headlines with verbs tell a complete story, they convey energy.

Because verbs are frequently overlooked as an element in naming,
these punchy little words can help you come up with a
trademarkable name or a free domain in a competitive industry.

2. Long, vivid words can also come in handy. In the headline
"Super Bowl party can be gastronomical success," the word
"gastronomical" rescues the line from dullness. It's a
wonderful word that could be tweaked in a zillion creative ways
for a company name or tag line.

The lesson: long, vivid words can help you convey a complicated
idea concisely, as long as your average customer has an inkling
of their meaning.

3. Short, vivid words come in useful, too. Take a look at the
word "ire" in the headline "Delay in polar bear decision draws
ire of Senate." This is another kind of word that most people
understand yet probably wouldn't think to use.

4. Combined cleverly, ordinary words can please inordinately.
Besides the rhyme in "cheese with ease" and the homonym in
"knotty and nice," I also found "Hoops and hollers" atop a
photo of kids cheering at a basketball game, which illustrates
alliteration - the repetition of initial letters or sounds.

Another headline, "Bush comes clean with former addicts," used
an expression with two meanings that both tie in with the subject
matter - George W. Bush talking openly about his former drinking
problem.

All in all, your newspaper can serve as a source of instruction
and inspiration for naming. Just make sure you screen out
bloopers like these, which have actually appeared in newspapers:

* Blind Woman Gets New Kidney from Dad she Hasn't Seen in Years

* Grandmother of Eight Makes Hole in One

* Quarter of a Million Chinese Live on Water

* Stolen Painting Found by Tree

* Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

* Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges

* Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

* Kids Make Nutritious Snacks


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that
brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines
for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an
appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of
"19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line"
at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm

Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress Design and Site Promotion
Work At Home Profiles (membership site for $3.77 per month)
.
.

When (and When NOT) to Charge for Your Info Products

Guest Post

When (and When NOT) to Charge for Your Info Products
Copyright (c) 2009 Judy Murdoch
Highly Contagious Marketing
http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm



One of my clients recently asked me whether she should charge for
a series of tip sheets she created for families traveling with
young children. Great question.

There's quite a bit of confusion around whether you should sell
or give away your information products. About half the advice I
hear favors giving information away for free. The other half
favors charging.

The truth is, sometimes you should give information and resources
away and sometimes you should sell them. The real question is
WHEN to charge and when not to.

In this article, I'll give you some guidelines around when to
charge and when to give information away.

=======================================
Start with What Your Business Needs Now
=======================================

Asking where your business is at and what you need to be
successful is a great place to begin.

Every business needs customers, right? So let's look at how
strangers become customers. They go through three stages:

~ Stage One: Visibility (V)

To become a customer a person first needs to know your product
exists. You become visible by getting your product and marketing
message in front of people who fit your ideal customer
description.

~ Stage Two: Credibility (C)

Knowing that your product exists is usually not enough to get
someone to pay cold hard cash for it. Nope, they're thinking
"well, that sounds good but how do I know it will really work?"

During the Credibility stage you need to give them information
that demonstrates your product will deliver as promised.

~ Stage Three: Profitability (P)

Once your prospect is convinced that your product will, indeed,
deliver the promised value, they will pay you and become a
customer.

=======================================
V to C to P = Marketing Funnel
=======================================

Picture a funnel with lots of people coming in the widest part
(visibility), a percentage sticking around to learn more
(credibility), and a percentage of those who stick around
becoming customers (profitability).

At any given time in the life of your business, there are people
at different stages of becoming customers. Some are learning
about you for the first time, some are checking you out to decide
whether they will buy, and some are deciding to buy and paying
you.

Ideally, you have a steady stream of people constantly entering
and moving through the funnel. If they don't enter or don't
continue through, you have a problem and it shows up in your
bottom line: You don't have enough paying customers.

=======================================
When to Give Away and When to Charge
=======================================

To decide whether or not to charge for an information product, I
suggest you take a look at how many people are at each of the
three stages.

Your goal is to use information products as an incentive for
prospects and customers to take the next step.

~ When You Need More Visibility

If you're just starting your business or you want to enter a new
market, you probably need more visibility. You need people to
know your product exists.

When visibility is your goal, I recommend you give something away
that provides value and introduces people to your product or
service.

Why? The goal for visibility is to answer the following
questions:

1. What is it ("it" being your product or service)

2. Does it help someone like me?

You want to give something away that will answer these questions
while asking for something minimal from the prospect.

A common example is offering a free Ezine subscription or a free
report your prospects can download in exchange for their E-mail
address or phone number.

~ When You Need More Credibility

Credibility is an issue when you're getting a lot of first time
visitors and inquiries but not enough are coming back.

For most products and services, people need repeated
demonstrations of what you can do for them. They need to trust
you.

When you are building credibility, I suggest you have two
information products: one that is free and one that you sell.

1. A free product that allows you to build a relationship with
your prospects. Products like Ezines are great because you get a
chance to connect with customers once a month or more.

2. Product you charge for which offers a higher level of customer
value.

Ideally, this is a "no brainer" purchase. Something for which
the value is so obvious for what you're charging that most
people don't need to think too long or hard about whether to
buy.

Although you will be making some money, the real purpose is to
demonstrate credibility and build trust.

Warning: The biggest complaint I hear is when someone offers a
free report or one-hour teleclass that turns out to be little
more than a sales pitch.

Again, you are creating value and building trust. Doing both will
enable you to convert more prospects to paying customers when the
opportunity presents itself.

A sneaky sales pitch will undermine the trust you are trying to
build.

~ If You Need More Profitability

If you have a large, loyal base of readers, subscribers, or
members who have been hanging out with you for several months and
like what they're getting, some of them will want to invest some
serious time and money for your focused time and attention.

For example, a consultant I know sends out a free monthly Ezine
to her mailing list and sells low cost Tip Sheets, Checklists,
and so on.

Each month 3-5 of her subscribers contact her to learn more about
her workshops and seminars costing $500+. She usually books 6 to
8 engagements this way each year.

She explained it to me like this, "I try to provide something
useful that my readers can apply right away. For example, I sell
a $5.00 meeting organizer they can use to have more productive
meetings. Sometimes this is all they need."

"But sometimes they're in a situation that goes way beyond the
DIY stage. They need someone from outside the company to step in
and help them set up a new system or to help them hire a new
executive."

Allowing your prospects to upgrade (or escalate) and get a higher
level of support is not only profitable, it's how you can really
serve your clients.

=======================================
Bottom Line
=======================================

Whether or not to charge for your information products depends on
what your business needs in terms of developing customer
relationships.

The less known you are to people fitting your ideal customer
profile, the more important it is to offer free or low cost
information products which provide something of value.

As you build trust and as your prospects learn how you can help
them, you can offer more expensive, higher commitment products
for those who want (and can afford) them.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost,
effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals,
guerrilla marketing activities, and selected strategic alliances.
To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt?
Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers
Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurdoch.com/workbook.htm
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@...

Greg Cryns
Expert Wordpress Design and Site Promotion

How to Get Your Blog Published on Amazon's Kindle

Guest post by one of my favorite people, Merle. Kindle is an interesting phenomenon. When the prices come down it will certainly be more widely used. I want to learn more about this.

How to Get Your Blog Published on Amazon's Kindle
By Merle http://Merlesworld.com

When Oprah announced on her show that she "LOVES" Amazon's
Kindle, millions of people rushed out to get one. First
introduced in 2007, the "Kindle" is Amazon's electronic
replacement for books. It's a portable, wireless device
that allows you to download books, magazines, newspapers,
even blogs instantly and take them with you anywhere.

Since the Kindle can hold over 1,500 books, that's like
carrying around an entire library in the palm of your
hand.

The wireless connection is built in and provided at no
charge by Amazon. There's also a built in browser for
viewing websites and reading emails.

Amazon's Kindle Store has over 230,000 ebooks to download,
plus U.S. and International newspapers, magazines, even blogs.
Almost all of the ebooks sell for $9.99 or less. The latest
model is a larger more improved Kindle DX which was made
available this year. Boosting a bigger screen and longer
battery life, it can even read to you out loud. Now that
makes for a nice bedtime story. It also holds over 3,500
books and sells for about $489.00.

The Kindle can also display PDF's which you can transfer
from your computer with a USB cable. The older versions
of the Kindle could read PDF's and Word documents, but
they had to be emailed to Amazon first to convert them
to a format readable by the Kindle. This option is
still available as well.

So what does all this mean to you? Well, if you're a blog
publisher you can now publish your blogs in the Kindle
Store where users can subscribe to them for a monthly
fee. This is a great way to make some money and increase
your subscriber base all at the same time.

First you'll need to go to http://kindlepublishing.amazon.com
to set up an account and submit your blogs for approval.
Once approved your Blog "goes live" in the Kindle Store
within 12 to 48 hours.

The Kindle gives the user full text and images from the
blogs they are subscribed to, which unlike an RSS feed
only gives you the headlines.

When submitting your blog for approval here's the information
you'll need:

1) Blog Title
2) Blog Tagline
3) Description
4) Image from top of your blog (banner or masthead)
5) Screenshot of your blog (optional)
6) Posting Frequency

It's really pretty simple to get your blogs listed.

So how does the payment process work? Good question,
nice to see you're paying attention. You'll be paid
30% of the monthly blog subscription price. Amazon
sets the price, not you. It's priced on what they think
is a "fair value" for their customers. For example,
my two blogs were set at $0.99 a month.

All blog subscriptions are free for the first 14 days.
Then they're billed at the monthly subscription price.
Blogs are wirelessly updated throughout the day.

You'll be paid by check or EFT, your choice. Electronic
Funds Transfer has no charge, but if you opt for a
paper check and live in the U.S. you'll have an $8.00
fee attached. Payments are sent once your earnings
reach $50.00.

If you publish a blog I'd strongly encourage you to
get it listed in Amazon's Kindle Store. It won't
cost you a thing but a few minutes of your time and
makes for great free exposure..

For more on the Kindle see:

http://tinyurl.com/lqhcug

There's a forum for issues related to Kindle for blogs
at http://forums.kindlecentral.com/forums/index.jspa

------------------------------------
By Merle- The pay-per-click Authority when it comes
to paid search engine advertising. With helpful articles,
how-to's and tips that will help you make the most from
your advertising investment. Download a FREE "How To"
ebook by subscribing to our ezine at
http://www.PayPerClickResearch.com

Photo by JingleFly

Greg Cryns
Beautiful WordPress Websites for YOU
.
.

Handling Twitter followers

Why do you follow people on Twitter? I mean, really, if you have more than 200 people you follow then it is near impossible to see all of their posts or even a small portion of them. If you do have time, then you are spending (wasting) too much time on Twitter IMHO unless you are wealthy with nothing else to do.

I can tell that I follow people hoping that I can eventually meet up with them on the phone or in person some time. I believe that email just does not hack it for really getting to know someone. But sometimes they don't follow me in return.

I used to get angry at those people but now I realize that they are not rejecting ME, especially since they know very precious little about me. They are just keeping their channels clear so they don't waste much time.

There are people who you want to check in on occasionally. I suggest that you keep their Twitter name handy in an email file folder. You can check that folder as often as you have the time and desire to see what they are posting about.

Another thing you can do is send them a direct message (DM). Then they will always be available in your DM page but that can get hard to manage unless you reserve DM just for this purpose.

Yet another technique would be to keep a list of these special people in a reserved section of your blog or website. This way you would have a constant reminder of their presence as well.

How do you handle this situation?

Greg Cryns

Information Products: The Limits of Repurposing

Information Products: The Limits of Repurposing

by Marcia Yudkin

Today I visited the giveaway page of a group promotion and have a lesson to share about do's and don'ts in reusing previously created material for purposes such as this. Simply put: Make sure reports and recordings present you in the best possible light to first-time readers or listeners. Don't go rummaging among the content you have hanging around without first considering whether or not the material makes sense apart from the occasion for which you created it.

The first recording I listened to from this giveaway page was a preview
teleseminar for a weekend workshop that took place last February. The recording
did have some useful content. However, at least 35% of the audio consisted of
promotion for an event that took place last year. This created a poor
impression by wasting my time. It made the person who had selected this item to
be given away now seem thoughtless and absentminded.

The second recording made an even worse, self-sabotaging mistake. It was a
teleseminar interview of an expert in which the interviewer did not introduce
himself. He merely introduced the expert. In the original context, this may
have made sense, if those who signed up for the call knew who he was. (Note,
though, that on professional radio and TV, even the most famous interviewers
always introduce themselves or are introduced.) On the giveaway page, the
interviewer is named and appears to be the one who contributed the interview.
But when listeners hear the interview, they are normally far away from the
giveaway page, making this contributed item useless for the interviewer’s
self-promotion.

I am pretty sure that both of these giveaway participants did not take the time
to listen to what they had decided to give away. The presentations were
probably originally well received, so they figured they could reuse them for the
current purpose.

Four Repurposing Criteria

Don't make their asinine assumption! Before reusing something you previously
created, take another look or listen with the following questions in mind.

1. Audience. Compare the original audience for your item with the proposed
repurposed audience. Did you present your ideas in a way that made sense for
the first and will equally make sense for the second? You may think that
dentists have the same cash flow problems as acupuncturists, but if the
acupuncturists keep hearing or reading “dentist, dentist, dentist,” they
might not be receptive. If the new audience won’t know you, are you properly
introduced in this piece?

2. Promotional offer. Normally it’s rude to reuse material designed to
promote an event that is no longer valid and expect that readers or listeners
won't mind. I always edit promos out of teleseminar recordings before
repurposing them, out of consideration for the audience, unless the promotional
offer remains in force. You should do so, too.

3. Content. Besides an offer, is there anything else that’s now seriously out
of date in your product? To take an extreme case, something discussing online
marketing that refers to CompuServe and Prodigy (services that were popular in
the early 1990s) would be dismissed as dinosaur food now. Likewise, repurposed
material should make little or no reference to current events.

4. Quality. Is the technical level of your product either adequate or
excellent? Sometimes things work well for one purpose but backfire in another
setting. A video that explains something well within a longer how-to product
might not be looked on as kindly out of context, or vice versa. People who
already know and trust you may hardly notice sound interference or garish images
that distract and turn off strangers.

"Create it once, reuse it a thousand times." This saying contains important
wisdom for information marketers as long as you also stop and think before
repurposing!

The author of 11 books and five multimedia home-study courses, Marcia Yudkin has
been selling information in one form or another since 1981. Download a free
recording of her answers to the most commonly asked questions about information
marketing by entering your information into the privacy-assured request box at
http://www.yudkin.com/informationempire.htm .


Greg Cryns
Work At Home Profiles - $3.77 per month with great benefits
.