Wonder what the big deal is with Twitter? Not sure how you would use it to marketing your business? Really not sure what you would even tweet about?

Below are 12 simple ideas of things you can tweet about at any time.

1. Your free report or white paper with a link
2. Articles you’ve posted online or on your blog
3. Events you’re hosting, speaking at, or going to
4. Newsworthy items
5. Inspiring or humorous quotes ( you can even quote yourself)
6. Thoughts on the latest ad, marketing, product or business you’ve seen
7. The latest good book you’ve read or movie you’ve seen
8. Links to other people’s articles, audios or videos that you enjoyed or found helpful
9. Your own questions, whether business-related or general interest
10. Quick and helpful tips
11. Whatever you’re thinking at the moment (it’s better to tweet about what you’re thinking than what you’re doing—though that’s okay too)
12. Retweet other people’s useful, interesting or humorous tweets

If you’re not using email marketing to grow your list and stay in touch with clients and prospects, you’re missing out on one of the best, most affordable ways to grow your business. But good e-marketing starts with the right tool

The most important tool for effective e-marketing is the autoresponder.

What, you might ask, is an autoresponder?

Good question. :-)

Basically, an autoresponder is an automatable, Internet-based email service.

Autoresponders provide you with an inexpensive system for collecting names and emails, sending out email broadcasts to your list, and setting up preset email sequences. And because they distribute your emails through their service, you don’t have to worry about getting your site blacklisted for spamming.

The best part about autoresponders systems is they allow you to automate and implement a whole bunch of highly-effective, low-cost marketing strategies.

You can purchase a basic autoresponder subscription for around $20 a month. Most shopping carts also come with autoresponders. So if you are already doing ecommerce, don’t purchase a stand alone autoresponder without checking to see if you already have access to one.

*****
Nine reasons to have an autoresponder
*****

1) When it comes to creating a successful business (Internet or otherwise), the money is in the list. Because the people on your contact list already know you and what you offer. So they are much more likely to buy from you in the future. Autoresponders give you a sign-up form to add to your site so you can collect contact information and create your own list.

2) Autoresponders make sure you are compliant with anti-spam laws and regulation. They automatically include all the required information, provide you with a double-opt-in system, and add a link to unsubscribe in every email.

3) Once someone is on your list, you can stay in contact with them by emailing them information and offers that might be of interest with their permission. And you can easily implement multi-part email marketing campaigns so you can stay in contact on a regular basis.

4) Autoresponders are just that…Automatic. Once you set them up, they just do their thing in the background without you having to lift a finger. You can pre-write your emails or newsletters, set them to broadcast on specific dates, then go on vacation.

5) Because autoresponders are Web-based you can use them from anywhere. That means you can do a promotion to sell your latest product from the beach, bookstore or backyard. They are a must-have for any who has—or wants to have—a mobile business.

6) The easiest way to publish a regular e-zine is by using an autoresponder service. Most accommodate both HTML (graphics) and text only formats. I’ve used getresponse.com in the past and heard good things about constantcontact.com as well.

7) If you are doing any kind of e-commerce, having an autoresponder linked to your shopping cart is a must. Use them to communicate order status, or follow up with other items that may be of interest at a later date.

8) Autoresponders make it easy to be sure every lead and customer gets the right sequence of follow up emails. This is especially helpful if you are teaching a class online or via teleseminar, or if you have a series of items new clients or prospects should receive after contacting you.

9) You can use your autoresponder to send out f*ree reports, or multi-day e-courses. These giveaways are a terrific way to add incentive for signing up for a newsletter, and they let you increase your credibility while providing valuable info to your prospects.

If all this autoresponder stuff sounds like gibberish to you, I highly recommend you experience it first-hand by buying something from Amazon.com.

They have one of the best e-commerce systems I’ve seen, with all kinds of add-on sales and upsells on their site. They also keep in touch with customers via email to let them the status of their order. And they email past customers regularly about promotions or other items that may be of interest.

It’s like going to e-commerce/autoresponder school for the cost of a book. You can’t beat that with a stick. :-)

Over my many years of attending conferences, I’ve learned two simple tricks that make it much easier to keep both your own business cards organized, and all those ones you collect while you’re there.

1) Always have cards on hand. At a conference you never know where you might strike up a conversation with someone great…The bathroom, the hallway, the coffee stand, the elevator are all possibilities and you might not have your bag with you. So keep a few of your own cards tucked in that little plastic name badge pouch they always give you.  That way you always have one handy.

2) Make notes. If you’ve been to a conference you’ve surely had the experience of getting back to your office, sorting through everyone’s business cards, and realizing you can’t remember exactly who half the people are. This does not help you do great follow-up! So anytime you get someone’s business card, as soon as possible make a few notes on the back to remind yourself of exactly who they were.

My next door neighbor is always talking about leaving her job. She’s very artsy craftsy, and had been making all kinds of different knit, sewn and stitched items—from hats to little beaded bags, to funky zipper pulls.

Each time she starts work on a new type of creation, she says “This is gonna be the one that lets me quit my job.”

Here’s the thing though…

I asked her how long it took to make one, 4” x 4” beaded bag. She said probably 20 hours. When I asked what she thought she could charge, she said maybe $25, and that there was a company selling something similar out of Asia for $9.

When I pointed out that the hours to dollars ratio didn’t look so good, she said “Oh, well I don’t care how much time it takes me.” I, of course, suggested that if she really wanted to leave her job, she might want to think more carefully about the value of her time (I suspect she needs to make more than $1/hour to survive).

On top of that, she is constantly making all this different stuff without ever finding out if anyone would even buy it. Because flea market tables are too expensive and she hasn’t been able to take good pictures of her wares to post on the Web.

I mentioned that she could attend a local networking breakfast or two with no-cost marketing tables—that way she could put out her stuff and see if anyone is interested. But she hasn’t done it and I suspect she never will.

So she continues to set her hopes on one of these accessories being her path to self-employment. Yet she has no idea whether any of her products are viable or how she might sell them. Let alone whether or not she can use them to create a business that pays her bills.

This is not a recipe for success.

—-
Is your business viable?
—-

If you don’t know the answer to the question, don’t feel bad. Most entrepreneurs I run into are like my neighbor—they have absolutely no idea.

How do I know this? Because most entrepreneurs I’ve met haven’t taken even the basic steps towards figuring out what their business costs might be or how much of their products or services they need to sell to make a good living.

If you haven’t answered the following questions, you may run into severe cash flow problems. In other words, your business—as it is today—may not be viable. It may just be an expensive and time consuming hobby.

So take a few minutes to go through these and see how you’re doing…

1)    What are the overhead and miscellaneous costs of running your business (this is rent, utilities, employees, office supplies, bookkeeping, etc.)?

2)    What is your salary (If you don’t take a salary yet, figure out what you need to make to cover your personal expenses and use that number)?

3)    What are the manufacturing costs (or time costs if you deliver a service) associated with the business?

4)    How much do you anticipate each client or customer will spend with you per purchase and per year?

5)    Based on number four, how many customers do you need to cover all of your expenses?

Once you know the answers to these questions, if your business still looks viable you’re in good shape. If not, don’t despair. You may just need to rethink what you are doing, how you’re doing it, what you’re offering and what you’re charging. Then retool your business until it’s making the kind of money you want, need and deserve.

Are you on Twitter? If so, hopefully you’ve discovered the power of hashtags (basically a pound sign # and some letters). Or maybe you’ve
seen hashtags and wondered what the heck they were.

Well, basically they are a way for you to track what others are saying about you, your event, your product or whatever you’ve created
a hashtag for. The most common use is to let you track when someone  tweets about your upcoming event. You just create a hashtag (keep it
short since tweets are limited in size) then let people know to use  it when they tweet about your event. And be sure to use it in your
own tweets so it gets attached to retweets.

Then you can track usage on Twitter or using a service like  SocialOomph and see who’s talking about you.

Going to conferences is expensive. And time consuming. Of this there is no doubt. It is also one of the best ways a know to give you and your business a big shot in the arm!

That’s why I’m on my way to not one, but two awesome major conferences this week. First I’m off to Anaheim for Nancy Marmolejo’s I Heart My Biz event. Then, after a few days visiting family in So Cal I head down to La Jolla for Lisa Sasevich’s Speak to Sell Bootcamp.

Now to some it might seem a bit crazy taking 10 days to travel and attend a couple of national conferences (And it wouldn’t be the first time someone accused me of being crazy). But I know it’s going to be worth it for a whole bunch of reasons. And if you’ve thought about going to conferences but didn’t think you had the time or money, read these reasons and think again…

1) Get new ideas. A good conference—especially one outside of your specific industry— is a great place to get inspired by other people and their business systems, products or services.

2) Get energized. Nothing like being in a room full of like minded entrepreneur—at least a few of whom have achieved serious success—to get you excited and motivated to work on your own business with renewed energy.

3) Get connected. Social Networking is great and all, but nothing beats the power of meeting someone face to face. Whether you’re looking for clients, partners or opportunities for Joint Ventures you can find them all at national conferences.

4) Get updated on the latest trends. Most conferences worth their salt are going to give you a peek into what’s new, what’s hot, what’s working and what’s not.

5) Get respect. Your prospects and peers are going to think more of you because you make it a point to invest in furthering your education—and your business—by attending conferences.

6) Get a break. While a conference can be exhausting in it’s own right, it’s still a nice break from your day-to-day routing. And that’s never a bad thing.

7) Get the heck out of your home office. This one is especially valuable when you’re a solo-entrepreneur. You just need to get out of there and get around your peers to maintain balance and perspective.

Look, you can’t continue to build a thriving business in a vacuum. And that’s exactly what you’re trying to do unless you get out, go to conferences and see what other people have going on. So make a commitment now to attend at least one conference this year and get ready to watch your business grow.

And if you’re going to be at either Lisa’s or Nancy’s events please do get in touch. I’d love to connect with you there!

Sometimes it’s a bad idea to flaunt the rules of proper grammar and punctuation. But the online world is changing that in some ways. One way is that anytime you put your Website URL in an email or online, you should leave off any punctuation that might follow.

So if your sentence ends with a link or URL skip the period at the end. And don’t put commas or anything else after your link either. Otherwise you risk the computer thinking your punctuation is part of the link or URL and then it won’t work.

Have you ever been to a national park, or driven somewhere wild and beautiful, and stopped at one of those scenic overlooks?

You know…Those paved pull offs that provide a fabulous photo op, plus a few signs explaining what you are looking at?

Since I spent years working for the Forest Service as a naturalist (I actually have a degree in leading nature hikes and writing these kinds of signs), and I’m a readaholic, I can never resist reading these signs.

Some signs grab my attention right off the bat. Others don’t.

Now, I’m the kind of person who will happily read the back of a shampoo bottle. So it’s got to be pretty bad writing if I’m not interested in reading it.

In college we spent hours analyzing what makes one sign more readable than another (fascinating stuff). Now, as a copywriter and marketing strategist, I still do the same thing everyday.

Interestingly, everything I learned about writing nature signs works equally well for writing effective marketing materials.

And there’s one secret I learned that cranks up the power of your marketing materials without fail…

—–
The Double Readership Path
—–

Everyone knows that people don’t read anymore, right? We’re all way too busy for that.

Instead, if you’re like most folks (IE in a hurry), you skim and scan to see if the materials at hand are interesting. If the information is well written, and what you’re looking for, you might read at least some of it.

Or, a quick scan might be all you need to find out what you want to know. Then you’re off to something else in the blink of an eye.

When I learned to write signs, we were taught to handle this reading behavior by writing a big, bold headline. Then a couple sentences in a slightly smaller font. Then a subhead followed by more information. Plus maybe a few photo captions.

That way, even if you only read the headline you’d get the idea. But it’s also easy to read a little—or a lot—more.

Your marketing should work in a similar way. In the copywriting world we call this “creating a double readership path” because you are writing for both readers and scanners.

Sadly, most entrepreneurs are still writing only to suit readers. Their sales letters and Web pages are filled with giant blocks of tiny text. And there’s not a headline, subhead or bullet in sight.

They’ve forgotten about the scanners and skimmers altogether. And I’d be willing to bet they’re losing readers’ attention—and a ton of business—as a result.

Now some people, especially if they’ve studied Website copywriting, are starting to figure out the double readership path secret.

They keep sentences short. They use meaningful headlines and subheads. And they know how to write benefits-oriented bullets.

A few even use formatting tricks like highlights, underlines and strategic bolding to increase scanability.

But most fail to think this whole concept through strategically when they write. And that’s the key to making the double readership path work.

Because if you use these tricks willy nilly you can actually make your marketing materials more confusing instead of less.

Let me explain…

—–
Beware the Arbitrary Emphasis
—–

A while back I critiqued an ad where the writer used every double readership trick in the book. Unfortunately, there were so many highlights, fonts and boxes it was hard to know what to read. Plus, random words were bolded, italicized or underlined for no particular reason, while critical info—like the guarantee—was buried.

The whole thing was totally confusing. And worst of all, even the headline “Get your F*ree CD” was worthless.

The ad failed to tell me anything at a glance because I couldn’t tell what to read first. I didn’t know what was on the cd…Llet alone who would want it, or why I should order it.

The sale was lost long before I started reading because I couldn’t skim it first.

Here’s the key to making the double readership path work…You have to highlight only information that’s most important to your target market—or to making the sale. And these pieces have to read well on their own.

So even if all they do is read the headlines, subheads, bolds, underlines and highlights, they get a complete story.

If you’ve done it right, your ideal client should get sucked in to reading the rest of the copy too. And voila! The sale is halfway made.

If you want to make good use of your time, you’ve got to know what’s most important and then give it all you’ve got.” – Lee Iacocca

Activity doesn’t necessarily equal achievement. Rather than trying to get someplace quickly, first you need to know where you want to go. Focus your activities in the direction of your goals. Where are you most prone to being busy but making little progress? Do you know exactly what you want to accomplish today?

SURCE: Donna Amos, Inspirer of Possibilities, http://www.solopreneurs.org

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good.
It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”-Malcolm Gladwell

I love outdoor “extreme” sports. I’ve whitewater kayaked and skied for more than 20 years now, and I returned to mountain biking a few years ago after about a decade off.

Having done the other sports for so long it’s easy for me to get impatient with my biking learning curve. I want to be as good as my hubby and the rest of the guys—but I’m just not. I don’t have their years of biking experience or the skills that go |with that.

While I’ve had some amazing days on my bike, I still regularly have bad days like the one last weekend…

I wasn’t very focused on biking since I was in the middle of a brand launch and had just had my folks in town for a week. Within 15 minutes my front tire hit a big, pyramid-shaped root I should have seen and stopped dead.

My body, on the other hand, kept flying forward until I somehow managed to stuff the end of my handlebar into my thigh creating a palm-sized, immediately Technicolor bruise. Then, not 10 minutes later, I stuck my handlebar end into almost the exact same spot again (OW!).

No matter what my rational mind says in those moments (it’s okay, you’re learning; practice makes perfect, etc.), my emotional side can get really frustrated, fearful and freaked. But I’ve learned I can’t let a couple mistakes and bruises keep me from having fun and being “successful” (I’m still smiling at the end of the ride in the pic above).

Just like I can’t let it stop me in my business. And believe me; I’ve “crashed” enough times to cause more than a little emotional and pocketbook pain. Thankfully I’ve learned a few tricks for getting past those bad days, staying positive and creating ongoing success as an entrepreneur.

1) Practice really does make perfect. Sure, I’ve known how to ride a bike since I was a kid. But mountain biking requires a whole ‘nother skill set that’s taken a lot of time to learn. So when I fall I just remind myself that I’m practicing not failing. Same holds true for marketing and growing a business.

2) Some days are better than others. I can have an amazing day biking where I land jumps easily and cruise over obstacles I’ve never even tried before. Then, the next day I can’t even ride an easy trail without crashing…And that’s okay. Just like some days I’m uber-productive and write a bazillion articles while working with clients and launching a new product. Others I can barely get one task completed. Rather than beat myself up for my bad days I celebrate the good ones.

3) A little coaching goes a long way. A few years into mountain biking again I was ready to quit. I ended every ride beaten and bruised from trying to keep up when I didn’t have the skills needed to succeed. I certainly wasn’t having much fun. Finally, I bit the bullet and attended a weekend mountain biking camp at Whistler. I came back a new rider and—bad days and bruises notwithstanding— I wreck a lot less because I have the skills to truly enjoy riding now.

I do the same in my business…I regularly take classes, attend conferences, buy products, and hire experts to teach me what I don’t know. So I’m way more successful way faster, with fewer bumps and bruises along the way. And it’s a heckuva lot more fun to run and grow my business since I’m not struggling blindly to keep up without really knowing what I’m doing.

Wanna learn more about how I manage to run and grow my business and still have plenty of time to play? Join me for my FREE TELECLASS on “Insider Secrets for Growing Your Business and Having a Life”

Get the deets and register right here: http://theunchainedentrepreneur.com/freecall