The More Clients Blog

MC Blog: My Twitter Policies and Plans

I've been on Twitter a whole week. So what do I know?

Well, I've looked very carefully at Twitter as a powerful marketing medium, a way to promote my brand, increase my visibility and credibility. My brand is about helping self-employed professions who are committed to making a difference be more successful with their marketing. So my Twitter activity needs to reflect that brand. It's a new medium for me, but not so different than my website or eZine in terms of tone or content.

What I like about Twitter is that it's a tool that encourages conversations, interactions, sharing of ideas and resources, and even promotion in real time. Twitter is immediate and moves fast.

Given all of this, I thought it would be smart to develop a set of Twitter Policies and Plans that matches my brand. Here's my first attempt.

My Twitter Policies

1. Twitter is about sharing value in a fairly narrow band. For me that band includes ideas about marketing, selling, and succeeding as an Independent Professional. So when I tweet, that's mostly what you'll be hearing about.

2. My focus will be on sharing value with you, not talking about me. This will include links to blogs and other web content, ideas, tips, strategies, information and inspiration. If I share anything about me, it will be about insights that I think you'll find useful.

3. I'll re-tweet (RT) posts from those I follow that I also think will add value. You won't get spammed with a zillion things just because I think they're cool or because I want to show you how cool I am. Can't imagine you give a damn.

4. I'll sometimes reply to tweets with my comments. This is a great way to build connections but it still needs to add a spark of value. Commenting on someone having lunch seems pointless!

5. I will not quote Socrates, Einstein, Tolstoy or any other wise person. I don't think Twitter is Bartlett's Quotations. Neither will I give you 140 character tweets of my own supposed wisdom. When people do this is, for me it comes of as "the guru speaks" and always seems a little too smug.

6. I will not tell you what I'm doing every hour on the hour. This seems to have been the original direction of Twitter, but it can border on the pathological. If I tell you what I'm up to, there will be a reason.

7. I'll ask questions and use my followers as a resource, if that's OK with you. There's still a lot I need to learn and with Twitter I can tap into this amazing network.

8. I will follow people who I feel have similar interests and who can add value to me and my business. I can't spend my whole day reading Twitter posts, so the number I follow will be considerably smaller than those who follow me. I'll never follow a ton of people in the hopes that they'll follow me. I'm not that insecure.

9. I won't post because I have nothing better to do. Twitter can be another word for procrastination. I have a ton of things on my plate any given day that I need to attend to. And I once in awhile I'll share about those things.

My Twitter Plans

10. A big part of my plan is to blog daily. Sometimes by blog posts will be long, sometimes short. I'll do my best to make them valuable and actionable. I'll blog every weekday and sometimes on weekends.

11. I'll tweet five to ten times a day. More than that is hard to imagine! Sometimes I'll repeat a tweet (say to my blog post for the day), understanding that not all my followers are on Twitter at the same time. First time in the morning. Next time in the afternoon or evening.

12. I'll promote my various products and services regularly but sparingly. I know you want to hear about what I have to offer and I also know you don't want to be hit over the head with it every hour on the hour.

13. Sometimes I'll promote affiliate products and programs. But only ones I've used and gotten value from. I'm not here to make a killing but to make a contribution. There's some great stuff out there that is worth checking out.

14. I'll respond as quickly as possible to all direct messages (DM).

15. I'll spend a little time every day refining my following list. I'll add people and remove others. I'm working on developing a channel that serves me best and that also provides the kind of value I can pass on to my followers. If I find a great person to follow, I'll let you know.

OK, that's about it. I've developed these Policies and Plan to support me in making Twitter work for me. If any of this is useful to you great, if not, ignore it. I do recommend that you create your own Twitter policies and plan as you would any marketing plan. With a real direction and plan of action, you're going to be more successful with Twitter. If you go about participating in Twitter randomly, you'll get random results.

All the best,

Robert Middleton

Blog Post

MC Blog: Rate Your Web Site

Yesterday someone linked me to their web site where she had posted a very good article. The content of the article was great but the site itself had much to desire. Hard to read, boring design, not very good overall content. On a scale of one to ten it was maybe a four.

At a talk I gave last week I spoke about "web sites that look like crap." The thing about these crappy sites is that they are usually owner designed. And because the owner put in umpteen hours on the site, they are very proud of it - because after all, they had never designed anything before in their lives. Sadly, it shows.

So how do you know if you have a crappy web site? Take this quiz:

1. On the Home page is there an initial compelling message that stands out? Some call this your "Value Proposition." It's about what your clients get, not about what you do. "How to Give Presentations That Excite and Motivate Your Audiences" works. "Presentation Skills Training" doesn't. Score yourself from one (bad) to ten (great).

2. Does the design of your web site, get this response from people: "That's a really nice website, who's your designer?" Or do you get few to no positive comments? Score from ten to one depending on the response from others (not yourself). 

3. Do you have a page that talks all about "Our Clients" and their challenges and needs? If not, why not? They want to know if you understand who they are. Remember they are interested in themselves, not you! Ten for a great page about your clients. Zero if you don't have a client page.

4. Do you have a "Free Stuff" page with lots of juicy morsels of valuable content? Remember, on the web, the first thing people are looking for is free stuff. Give it to them!! Ten for a ton of good free stuff. Zero if you have none.

5. Do you have an eZine that you sign up people for on the site? Believe it or not, this is the number one purpose for your web site. No kidding. If you don't capture the name and email of visitors do you think they'll ever return? Keep hoping. Ten if you have an eZine and lots of new subscribers. Minus ten if you don't even have an eZine.

6. Do you have an "Our Services" page that answers, most, if not all the questions a prospect might have about your services? They are not psychic. You gotta tell them. A bullet pointed list of services is less than useless. Ten if your service write-ups are highly descriptive and value-packed. One if you service info is a generic paragraph or two.

7. Do you have a page with a bunch of very good, highly credible, and very persuasive Case Studies that relate real client successes? Give yourself one point for every case study you have.

8. Is your "About Us" navigation button near the bottom of the navigation list? If so, you get an extra five points. If it's near the top, deduct five. This is the least visited of all pages. Remember, they ain't so interested in you. Add points - up to ten more if you have a very personable bio (and picture) on this page that shows you're an intelligent, credible, nice human being, not a boring stuffed shirt.

9. On the "Contact Us" page, do you have nothing more than your phone number or a form? If so, deduct five points. If you tell them what happens when they contact you and how you start to work with clients, and you make it safe and friendly to contact you, give yourself a ten.

10. Do you have a Blog, either within your web site, or as a direct link to it from your home page? If you have one and post to it at least five times a week, give yourself ten points. No blog gets a zero, and lower points for posts that are few and far between.

OK, what did you score? (Some people might be in minus territory!)

Despite all the excitement about social media, the centerpiece of your marketing is your web site. And if it's a piece of crap, it's hurting you more than helping you. I don't know about you, but if I'm looking at doing business with someone and they have a crappy site, it's all over; they don't get a chance. But if the site is great, the odds are tipped in their favor.

This is one of those things you have complete control over. Don't put this on a back burner, planning to get around to it someday. In the current economy you need to stand out, look and act professionally, and give people the information they are looking for on your site. Anything less is self-inflicted business suicide.

Learn how you can get a much better site (that scores a ton of points and attracts scores of clients) at this link: www.actionplan.com/wstk.html

Cheers,

Robert Middleton

Blog Post

MC Blog: We are the New Radicals

I want to turn you on to a great and inspiring book I just read: "We are the New Radicals" by Julia Moulden.

Julia reports on people around the world who are making a difference and making it work in their lives and in their communities. It's full of inspiring case studies and ideas for jumping into being New Radicals ourselves.

According to Julia, there are three kinds of New Radicals:

1. Activists are those who go the non-profit route to make the world a better place. Case study - A woman who started a non-profit pharmaceutical firm for third-world countries.

2. Entrepreneurs are those who develop a business designed to make a difference. Case study - A musician who become a psychotherapist and now uses music therapy as a powerful healer.

3. Innovators are those who work within their companies to spearhead a project that makes a contribution: Case study - Man who invented a new type of "hurricane resistant nail" that keeps houses from falling apart in hurricanes and earthquakes.

The book is inspiring, well written and organized, and very validating to those of us are here to make a difference. We are the New Radicals!

Check out Julia and the book online:

http://wearethenewradicals.com/news

Cheers,

Robert Middleton

Twitter - Are you Follow-Worthy?

Last week I joined Twitter. That is, I rejoined Twitter because I didn't get it the first time.

I did an interview with Jason Alba, a Social Media guru, for my Marketing Club and it finally penetrated my thick skull. Twitter is an amazingly powerful way to both build and add value to your online network of friends, associates, clients and prospects.

Twitter is so much more than posting a note about what you're doing today: "I'm meeting with clients this morning and doing a workshop tomorrow." It's all about having conversations that build your visibility, credibility and brand.

I can't get into all the how-tos of Twitter here. I'll leave that to other experts. The mechanics of Twitter are not the hard part. What's challenging is creating a Twitter plan that actually adds value to your online network.

It All Starts With a Tweet

When you post a Twitter message, it's called a "tweet." You have 140 characters maximum to speak your mind. Your tweet goes out to all of those who are following you on Twitter.

And if you add real value, then you become "follow-worthy." But what you say is less important than what your share. In your tweet you can add a link to a myriad of online content. Here are several things you can link to:

Online Articles - by others or by you. Something relevant that would be of value to those in your network.

Blog Posts - again, by others or by you. Will this information provide useful ideas and inspiration to your followers?

Audio and Video - just another form of valuable content. "Here's something you may find useful in your business/life."

Web Content - this could be anything from a scorecard, to an article, to information on a particular service.

Events or TeleClasses - you are always thinking, "Would this be appreciated by my network?" If so, send a tweet with a link.

Questions and Feedback - people like to contribute to you as well. Give them a chance by asking for ideas, feedback, resources.

Resources - this covers anything and everything. How about books, services, products, biz models, strategies? Anything goes.

You can start with content from anywhere and everywhere on the Internet and you can supplement it with your own content. It's fine to promote your own services, you just don't want to overdo it, so keep the ratio at about 1 to 7.

My Twitter Plan

When I got it about Twitter, I also got it about blogging. The two are a match made in heaven. You post on your blog and then point to that blog post with Twitter.

I've always said that I have enough material to write something about marketing every single day, but I couldn't see doing that though my eZine. But with a blog, my followers/subscribers can check it out when they want. Then Twitter becomes the "heads up" for the blog.

You can see my blog here where I post the More Clients eZine weekly and the More Clients Blog once every weekday right on this page.

In addition, I'll be doing all of the things I mentioned above (and more). I suspect that, like my eZine that transformed my business twelve years ago, Twitter could have a similar, if not greater impact in the next twelve.

Your Twitter Plan?

You don't have to figure it all out before you jump in. Just think of this mantra "share value with my network." Then start inviting those whom you know to start following you.

Meanwhile, I invite you to follow me:

http://Twitter.com/RobertMiddleton

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Twitter may be the most powerful tool yet invented for powerful online networking. Don't get left out. Jump in today and create and implement a Twitter plan that expands your network, visibility and credibility.

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How are you using Twitter to grow your business? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

MC Blog: Tasty Morsels of Content

So you want to get online and start using all the great Web 2.0 tools like blogging, FaceBook and Twitter?

Good for you. But before you start accumulating links, friends, and followers, you need to confront a very challenging word: Content.

What valuable content do you have to share with those in your network?

No content, no impact.

Sure, you can link people to all kinds of great things online, and you should. Some of these include articles, blogs, web content, podcasts, videos, books, services and people.

But if you don't have any of your own content to share, you're missing the most potent and impactful facet of online networking: your own identity and brand. Those in your network don't just want to hear from you and get value from you, they want YOU! They want to hear your point of view, your ideas, your particular take on things.

After all, you're not doing online networking for your health. You're doing it to grow your business. Essentially, your content is a sample of your services.

Ever go to Costco on a Saturday morning? At the end of each aisle is a little old lady giving away samples, morsels of various foods - pancakes, sausages, orange juice. You take a few bites, and say "Yum, where can I get this?" and she points you toward the freezer case behind her.

Samples of food for Costco are like content for you.

Start sharing your content. Show people how you think and how you work; demonstrate that you're an expert; invite them to a teleclass; sign them up for your eZine; give away reports that wake them up to new opportunities and possibilities.

One of my favorite pieces of content is Case Studies. This goes beyond ideas, it shows how you produce results for your clients. Again, it's another thing that will give them a taste of what you do and the value you provide.

Here's a Case Study Sample: Darrell Crawford

If you want your online networking to be potent, you'd better get cracking by creating some tasty morsels of content.

Cheers,

Robert Middleton