Digital Marketing

Since first writing this article back in 2007, the world has changed considerably. As a copywriter, the competition has increased to a point I’m not sure it’s the right direction any longer unless — and this is an important point — you know how to market your copywriting business.

Marketing and selling your services is half the battle. Because most writers are, dare I say, a bit lazy. And if clients don’t knock on their doors, the writer has little to no work.

On the other hand, if you are willing to work hard to attract new clients and constantly out-service to competition and give service that is far and above all those other “writers” out there…it’s still a great way to make a living.

My warning about writing is this:

It seems great. You get to work from home; you work your own hours; you get to do something you love (hopefully), and you’re free from the office environment.

The thing is, some of the things that seem great can quickly become a negative.

1. You’re always working alone. But you get lonely. Really. So you have to find a way to meet humans (face-to-face). Some people don’t need real interaction but most do. You’re at home, alone, writing. Loneliness can lead to depression.

2. You work from home, but you’re not disciplined and instead of being able to focus, you jump from work “stuff” to home “stuff” and never get anything done. You become exhausted and when combined with number one, will burn you out faster than you can write a single page of copy.

3. You love to write, but you’re not typically writing what you want to write. You can pick a niche you feel good about — and you should. But sooner or later, it’s work. You still have demanding clients who want to say things their way. It can be, honestly, frustrating.

4. Yes, you’re finally free from the 9-5 (6 or 7) office world. Crazy people, more often than not. But if you go back up to #1 on my list above, it is possible you will miss it IF you don’t go out of your way to interact with other people who do what you do. Or know what you know. At least 3 times a week, meeting-up with others for a good hour a day is important.

The best way to look at writing is to see it as a step in the right direction. Most successful writers evolve and become coaches, or marketing pros, or find success in a very tight niche and keep doing what

There are 3 things that humans fear most. Death, public speaking..and death whilst public speaking. Okay, so that’s a joke but it does have truth. There are really very few people who really enjoy public speaking, is sort like born to do it this way or at least initially anyway.

A few week back, I have been invited as an Digital marketing speaker, talking alongside some of the biggest names in the digital marketing and personal development space such as Rosalind Gardner, Mitch Carson, Vishen Lakhiani, Tracy Repchuk, Raymond Aaron and many more. Check out the full line up here.

Just 12 months ago whilst sitting in the audience (as a total novice) at the same event I made a declaration to myself that 1 year following I would be up on the Unlimited Power Online stage speaking. I think the many people I told thought I was mad or at least mildly deluded. I knew however that if I was to achieve success within digital marketing one of fastest ways to get there was as a public speaker.

Why you should be public speaking

There are many benefits to public speaking, not least the money. At the high end public speakers can garner hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars from a few hours work. We are not all Anthony Robbins or Bill Clinton though, however it is conceivable that even as a novice speaker you can earn $10,000 or more from a speaking gig. Add to that the opportunity for high value networking and joint venture opportunities that exist when mixing with other successful speakers, this number can increase way further. The opportunity to meet, network and strategize with industry leaders as a fellow speaker is worth pushing your comfort zone for even if monetizing your time on stage was not an option. Fortunately it is, so the profitable relationships I have developed with fellow speakers in my limited career have been a welcome added bonus.

Instant authority

Public speaking is an immediate credibility builder. Simply through the act of being on stage, people will consider you an expert. Add to that the credibility you gain by association with other expert speakers it is an immediate formula for authority.  I found public speaking an excellent way to develop my own personal brand and in turn add followers to my community.

Mindset

Now we all know that public speaking is not for everyone and for most they will need to break through some limiting beliefs before they step out on stage. Truth is, public speaking is no big deal and you have to put it in to perspective. I mean most people get frightened of public speaking without ever having done it. If you have never done something before how do you know how it will feel? I was extremely nervous before my first big event (which was in front of 500 people), however contrary to my expectations as soon as I got on stage I found it to be a real buzz. Now had I just listened to the voice inside my head I would never have experienced that and all the benefits that came from it.

Run towards your fears

Pushing through your comfort zone is what will put you ahead, because the majority of your competitors won’t step beyond their fears. If the thought of something feels uncomfortable, then it’s something you absolutely must be doing. That’s why when the opportunity was presented to me to speak at my first event I said yes immediately, before my mind could persuade me otherwise. Acknowledge that voice then disagree with it.

How to get started

A good way to start is by doing videos. Videos will give you the practice of speaking without the fear of an audience in front of you. Once you feel comfortable and can speak fluently on your subject matter enroll in your local Toastmasters, Rotary or Lions. These places are an excellent practice environment as audience numbers are usually small and they also offer presentation training. Webinars and interviews will also help you to develop your presentation skills without the fear of facing a live audience.

Once you have your skills well polished you will need to go out and get some gigs. One of the best ways to get speaking engagements is by referral. In fact unless you are a big name it will likely be the primary way you get your gigs.

Me, Simon Coulson, Ernesto Verdugo, Simon Leung, Andy Harrington. UPO 2010

How to get referrals

Go to events and mix with speakers, develop relationships and prove your credibility. Then all you need do is ask those speakers to refer you. Promoters hold referrals in high regard, so if you are recommended your chances of securing a slot are high.  It is also important to state you will also need to have a product. Promoters normally make their money through a share of the sales that you do at their event, so a good product and ideally a proven history of selling will hold you in good stead.

Tips for a good presentation

Plan your presentation well in advance and know your material thoroughly. Don’t leave your slide preparation to the last minute or you will be preparing to fail. If you are using slides, use them only to illustrate your subject matter and do not make them the focus of your talk. Put what you have to say in a logical sequence  and ensure your speech will be captivating to your audience. Then it comes down to practice. Rehearse your speech at home or where you can be at ease and comfortable, in front of a mirror, your family, friends or colleagues.  You can even use a voice-recorder or videotape your presentation and then have your peers analyze it.

The key really is knowing your audience and it is very good advice to speak with the event organizers before the event. Some of the key questions you may want to ask them are as follows;

* What level are the audience at?
* What has worked well in the past?
* What is a big mistake people have made in the past?
* What is the sweetspot in terms of pricepoint for your product?
* How long do I have on stage?
* What timeslot do I have?
* Describe a typical audience member.

Use this information to shape your presentation and to match your contents to the audience needs.

Profiting from digital marketing speaking

Whilst being paid in advance for public speaking engagements used to be the norm, front end pay is now extremely rare even for the big guys. Generally most event organizers will require you to sell a product from stage for a share of the revenue (normally 50%). Within the promoters guidelines price is rarely an issue if you have matched your message and product to the audience and have connected with them during your presentation. It can often be as easy to sell a $10,000 product as it is to a $1,000 product, and you certainly don’t need to sell as many to get a great return.

So that’s a short introduction to busting your comfort zone as a digital marketing speaker. To wrap things up, if you want to instantly boost your authority and multiply your profits, then face your fears and take on public speaking.

If you are a promoter and interested to have me speak at your event, contact me here.

 

Twitter is a Social Networking website that is unique in that the communication between it’s users is limited to 140 characters. No matter what you have to communicate, you need to do it 140 characters, so Twitter is not for folks who like to expound on their thoughts.

(Twitter is often referred to as a micro-blogging network, due to it’s 140 character “blog”, or Tweet. On Twitter, “Tweets” are also referred to as “Updates”.)

Twitter is a simple platform that enables users to create their own unique Social Networks. There really is no limit to the kinds, and types, of networks that can be created, so long as they comply with the Twitter Terms of Service, and fit into the 140 character Twitterverse.

Without getting into too much detail, here, a Twitter network consists of folks who “Follow” you, and receive your Tweets on their home screen. If you “Follow” them, you receive their Tweets on your home screen. Folks who follow each other are Friends.

The effect is that you have a continuous stream of Tweets from those folks whom you Follow.

If you have created your network correctly, you will have a virtual ticker-tape of information flowing on your home screen that is tailored to your interests, whatever they may be. Your personal information IQ will sky rocket because, instead of you spending your time hunting, and searching, and mining the Internet by yourself, you have a small army of network friends who are sharing information with you.

It’s really cool. With Twitter, you’ll find scores of sources in your Twitter stream that you couldn’t possible find on your own.

And if you have a question, or need some information, just ask. Someone is bound to know the answer, and/or point you to the solution.

Hints for creating a Quality Twitter Network

Setup a Twitter Account:

1) Decide on a single topic, or subject that you like; do not try to cram several subjects into a single Twitter account.

2) Create a clever, but clear Twitter Username that reflects your subject. For instance, if your subject is about Rail Road Trains, your Twitter name could be “RailRoadTrains”. Twitter names are limited to 15 characters. (This name is not set in stone; you may change it at any time.)

3) The set-up asks for your Full Name. You can use your real name, or a nick name, or a clever “handle”. For instance, if your topic is “Trains”, you might have a name such as “Engineer Bill”, etc Nautrally, real names are more friendly.

4) Create a textual profile that describes your interests. If it is about Trains, you might say that you live in a Caboose, or wish you could. Think carefully on this; you are limited to 160 characters. Look as it as being an introduction by yourself.  Be sure to include buzz words, or key words; it’ll make it easier for  like-minded Train folks to find you. The Profile can be modified any time; you may want to refine it as you gain more experience Do not leave the Profile blank.

4) Be sure to upload an avatar/image to your account. The default Twitter avatars are boring. A photo of yourself is considered most friendly; though it is not required.

5) Eventually, you may want to jazz-up your screen background. A locomotive in the background, or a train track, etc, would work. With the recent changes to Twitter, the background images have lost their previous prominence.

Start Building Your Network:

1) First, before you start searching for folks to follow, post some Tweets (also called “Upates”) of your own so folks will know what you are about; maybe dozen, or so..  Folks will judge whether or not to follow you based on your Profile, and your Tweets.

(See “Creating a Tweet“, below, for hints on creating your Tweets)

In general, the best way to begin building your network is to search Twitter for like-minded folks, and then read their profiles, and Tweets, and, if appropriate to your topic, click their Follow button to include them in your network. (The Twitter search box is found at the top of your Twitter page.)

At some point, your new “Followe” will be notified that they have a new Follower, and they can visit your Twitter page, and decide whether to follow you.

2) Give credit, where credit is due. Tweets that you receive can be re-Tweeted to your followers by clicking a Retweet icon below the Tweet. Since your netowrk is about learning, and sharing, when you read a valuable Tweet, be sure to share it with your followers by re-Tweeting it to them.

You will find that many of the Tweets you recieve, have been re-Tweeted by folks you follow; a single Tweet can be propagated and seen by thousands of followers of followers.

Re-Tweeting is also a way of recognizing another person’s efforts. Folks appreciate the recognition, and you’ve made a new friend.

This is a great way to encourage new follows to follow you. When you find someone new to follow, try to re-Tweet them; they will be more likely to follow you back.

3) As you start to accumulate Followers, view their pages, and see who they follow, and follow the same folkes, if appropriate.

4) Be patient; it can take some time, at first, to accumulate followers, but it eventually snow-balls. In a short time, as your network, and your reputation, grows you will be spending more time vetting new followers, than searching for followers.

5) Do not get hung-up on trying to amass thousands of Followers. Concentrate on creating a high quality network, not a high quantity network. You’ll get more quality information, and enjoyment, from a small group of the right people, than a large group of strangers.

The number of follows/followers depends very much on the topic. A network that concentrates on “Vowel Sounds” would probably garner a few hundred followers, while a network about politics will garner a few thousand.

Realistically, while you may have 1,500 followers, there may only be a core group of steady, and consistent users that numbers in the hundreds.

If you have 30,000 followers/follows, you’re doing something wrong, unless you are a rock star.

6) Be sure to “vet” (approve, or qualify) all of your follows/followers; don’t follow someone just because they follow you. If someone new follows you, vet them, and make sure that they will fit into your network. Read their Profile, and see what they are Tweeting. If they don’t fit, don’t follow them.

When you follow someone who follows you, you are Twitter friends. Friends make for a quality network, and a quality Twitterverse.

There is alot of spamming on Twitter. When someone follows you, you can either follow them back, ignore them and let them follow you, or you can block them so that they can’t follow you.

I tend to block all spammers, so I won’t be bothered with future follows. And I often will not follow someone because I don’t think they will contribute to my network/topic, however, it doesn’t bother me if they simply want to follow me, anyway.

7) Review your network from time to time, and clean-house. If someone is not participating, or sharing, or staying on-topic, then just Unfollow them, and make room for someone else.

Enjoy Twitter, and be friendly, helpful, polite, respectful, and grateful (re-Tweet others). Tweet often, but not too much; don’t overwhelm your followers with Tweets. The quality of your Tweets counts more than the quantity.

Think quality.

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TweetCreate – Creating a Tweet:

When composing a Tweet, do not be afraid of the 140 character limit. Just create the ideal Tweet, regardless of length, and then pare it down to the 140 character limit. It can be challenging, but you’ll get the knack in no time at all.

Do not create Tweets that look like a personalized license plate; i.e., do not be so clever and cryptic with symbols and abbreviations, etc, that it takes a genius to discern the Tweet. Instead, keep it simple; keep it short; keep it clear in 140 characters.

Keep your audience in mind when creating a Tweet; make sure they can discern enough information to want to learn more (by clicking a link). Keep in mind that you want to share infomration with them, so that they will also share with you; so… focus on providing valuable information, and creating Tweets that will peak the curiosity of your followers. It’s fun.

Stick to your topic as much as possible.  For example, perhaps you know of a good website about Trains that you would like to share. You could create a Tweet that looks something like this:

I think this is a great website with tons of Locomotive specifications. http://greatlocomotivesoftheworld.com Must see !

To conserve characters, you should use a URL shortener to decrease the size of the web link (the “http://, etc”); it can make a significant difference. There are any number of shorteners available; a quick Internet search will provide many choices.  A quick scan of Twitter will reveal the most popular URL shorteners.

Anatomy of a Tweet

There is no particular format to a Tweet; it only needs to occur within the 140 character limit.

The Tweet format, above, which I use, is my favorite for sharing information. It is broken into three sections.

The first textual section, ” I think this is a great website with tons of Locomotive specifications.” is the subject/title of the Tweet, often an article, or blog, etc.

The second section is the URL. With Twitter, all URL’s are active links that can be clicked for access to the Internet site. (Be sure the links are correct, and valid).

The third section is optional; I use it for comments, or follow-up information. Something like “Must see” adds your personal stamp of approval. Folks don’t want just a list of URL’s; they also want to know if it’s worth their time.

What About Twitter Tools and Applications

There are a zillion third party software tools that are available for Twitter users; maybe more.

You don’t really need any, though there many that make your Twitter life better.

For instance, it’s nice to send a message to a new follower. You can do this manually, through Twitter’s Direct Message capabilities, or you can send a generic automated message. If you do it manually, it can become very time consuming, and your message doesn’t really change, so why not just send a generic message ?

While an automated message may not seem very friendly, most folks accept them as a given. I use a third party Twitter tool to send an automated message when someone follows me, to thank them, and tell them that I vet all my Followers.

I only use a couple Twitter tools, on a regular basis:

1) I use a third party web service, SocialOomph, to send the automated welcome messages, and track new followers, etc.

2) I  use TweetCreate, a desktop application, to help me create quality Tweets. (This is a tool that I cannot live without.)

Conclusion

Originally, I was a skeptic about the value of Twitter; after all, how can one build a true Social Network, 140 characters at a time ?  I was pleasantly surprised. You really do get to know your folks; their quirks, and opinions, and foibles, and strengths. And they get to know your’s, too.

And it does really broaden your knowledge, and perspective, because you are commiserating with a like minded group of folks who live in all parts of the country, and the world, and you find out that their concerns, and their problems aren’t a whole lot different from yours.

Twitter is fun.

 

More than 3 billion people of the world use internet regularly. Moreover, the number of total internet users is growing rapidly. For many, the Internet becomes one of the most integral parts of their life. That is why; nowadays making money on the internet is a easiest but sensitive matter.

May be some of you already have lost your interest about making money on the internet for being cheated by some fraud people, websites or communities. This article will show you some reliable and effective ways to make money online through internet marketing. It is nothing but patience and dedication to work can help you to earn handsome money online. Of course, you should have the self belief that making money online is possible.

Understanding your own skills and knowledge is the per-condition of making money online.

This is the first and most important step to make money through internet marketing. Also, you have to choose the right work that you like to do online. If you decide to start with the skills that you know and feel enjoy to do, you can go far away on the road of making money online.

5 Reliable Way To Making Money On The Internet

Let’s read out the below discussion and choose the right one for your from all of these internet marketing ways to earn a handsome income.

Blogging

Blogging is one of the most important topic to make money online. For this, you have to set up an excellent designed blog, then monetize it to generate online income. If you are a beginner at blogging, you can utilize some free hosting sites like Blogspot or WordPress.

Preparing Websites

Having a website means you have a store to sell products to the online customers. It requires little invest to set up a website, because you need to buy a domain and hosting. If you are serious about internet marketing, you can earn money from your website by Affiliate Marketing, Adsense Ads or selling your own products. You can also sell your established site to flippa in a good price.

Affiliate Marketing

It is one of the most lucrative and profitable way of internet marketing that can bring huge income for you. As an affiliate marketer, you just have to send customers from your promotional website to the vendor’s site. For this job, you will get commission from the affiliate vendors for each sale. There are some reliable affiliate sites from which you can generate huge commission. eBay, Amzaon and Clickbank are three top-ranked affiliate sites.

Social Media Marketing

It is an another effective form of internet marketing strategy that can provide a huge amount of money into your pocket. Today social networking gains much popularity to the internet users. There are lots of social media sites such as Facebook, Linkedin, Reddit, YouTube, Twitter, Orkut, etc. These social media sites are free to use. Once you set up your profile properly in these sites, you can market your or others products and services, which can turn huge online money.

Bringing Offline Products to the Web

Becoming a sales agent of a company whose product is not yet introduced to the online world. On the other hand, you can sell your own products by bringing it online. For this you just have to create a promotional website and generate huge traffic through internet marketing to that website to buy your products. You can use Drop-shipping & FPA method, which is going to be popular right now

These are all proven methods that you can choose to making money on the internet. Here you have got a compact description about these money making ways. You will get detailed information and advice in the rest of the articles on this site.