Archive for January 2010
If It's Free – Don't Ask for My Credit Card!
One of the down sides to monetizing Blogs and websites is, they try to capture as much of your contact information as possible upfront, including credit card details. I understand why, but it also operates on the assumtion mode or that you will forget that you signed up and gave all that information. Next thing you know you are paying for something you didn’t want anymore. I’m sure I’m over reacting but, I get miffed at sites that say the 1st month is free but give me your credit card information before we give you access.
I won’t name names because just about every site selling a service or product practices this model and it really needs to be re-thoughtout (is that a word?) further in my humble opinion. I rarely sign up for services that practice the credit card collecting up front, if it’s a trial then they can come back to me when the trial is about to lapse. These days trying before buying is an even better way to go, especially with the new Social Media environment claiming transparency practices.
In the day and age of transparency & trust, we should think about the message being sent when asking for credit card information on the marketing of ” The 1st Month is on Us”. If that’s true, let us sign up and try it, if we want it, come to us later and ask us to stay on and then ask a payment method. I know you think thats bad business, but really? I think the opposite, it would tell me you are so sure of your product and you are willing to lose me if its not a good product or service. Of course this doesn’t work with all products and services but, if you are offering a trial opportunity, then make it just that, don’t charge or ask for creditcard or payment method up front.
If it’s FREE! – Don’t ask for my credit card!
Do You Know The Depth of Your Twitter Following?
Have you ever wondered how many people you actually reach through those who follow you? Have you wondered how many of those followers are online at the same time you are? Does the information even matter?
If you are selling a service or product you may want to know some of this data, it can help you target and schedule what time to do promotions. You could be doing research on another Twitter account or follower. At best you will be amuzed at the data, it makes me wonder whats happening in the Blogesphere. But make no mistake, if you’re in marketing the information can be a great asset to your marketing toolbox. It can validate or affirm whether what’s happening is real or has potential.
So why even bring this up, I was wondering about reach, I was wondering who at any given time might see what you were Tweeting when you were Tweeting it. Afterall, you want traffic to your blog right? You want traffic to see what you are about and what you do right?
I have to make a disclaimer here, I used just one site for this excerise, Twitter Analyzer, I’m also skeptical of these kinds of sites, why, accuracy, I have no way of proving how accurate the data actually is.
Anyway, let me share a couple things for you to do, you’ll get an idea of what’s happening when you’re not looking. Oh, and be sure to write the data down so you can look at it later.
TWITTER ANALYZER
Step 1
When you first put your name in the dialogue box you have to wait for a short bit, then you will be brought to a page with all the data it was able to extract from Twitter, the first stat is how many Tweets you made for the last week and the current day. It’s not an important number but interesting to see how active you are any given day.
Step 2
While on the User button click on the Popularity button just above it, you will see total mentions and total unique users monitoring. Click on any date on the graph for the details to posted below.
Step 3
Still on the User tab, click on the Reach button above, You can select a date but it will auto-select the current date for you. Three stats will be shown, Unique Readers Reach, Unique Users RTing and Total Update Messages RTed.
Step 4
Now lets click on the FRIENDS tab on the bottom, Click on On-Line Followers button. Here you will see who is online by the hour, it’s an eye opener if you have lots of followers. Even if you don’t it can be an interesting stat, it keeps you humble too : )
Step 5
The next one to look at is the Followers Density Map, this one shows where your followers live by country. Another very interesting stat depending on where you live, the majority of my followers are from the USA, no big surprise, #2 is, GB – Great Britan, and #3 EC – Ecuador! I didn’t see that one coming.
As you can see you can extract some interesting data, there’s alot more you can do at this site like how many followers your followers have by groups. For example, 32% of my followers have 1,000 – 2,000 followers. 11.27% of my followers have 10,000 – 20,000 followers. That appears to be the highest demographic as that’s all it shows me on the high end. The problem is, I happen to know that The Ellen Show is following me and has over 4 million followers, why doesn’t that get reflected in this section? I’m just say’in. Oh and by the way, Paul Rickett sent me this Tweet:
@paulrickett Notice on Twitter analyzer it doesn’t seem to know abt Canada in density reach? Appears to put all Cdns into US!
Have fun checking your stats and your friends stats, if you work for a corporation this information could be very useful. This site and many others can help you answer the question, do you know the depth of your Twitter following?
5 Stars for Amber Naslund at Altitude Branding
I was over at altitudebranding.com’s website responding to one of Amber Naslund’s brilliant blog posts, she gets 5 stars from me almost everytime she posts something. I think many of us have rants pent up deep down inside, but we’re not sure what it is or where we should put it. I can’t articulate as well as Amber, but I too share her concern and wish list if you will.
Please read her article called, Will The Business People Please Stand Up! You can read my response there too and I am including it here below as well, why, because I think my response is a good blog post too : )
Hi Amber,
OK, You got me on this one, I know what you are trying to say but lets look at who we are talking to in this environment. Forgive me if I come off ranting.
I am only going to draw from my experiences of being here online since the late 80’s when Gohper and WAIS were the tools of the day, FTP was the strongest tranfer tool ever!
It will appear like I’m tooting my own horn but really I’m not, like you, my hearts desire is that I could share my experiences from the trench building sound I.T. Strategies, showing Blog readers how a traditional ROI is calculated, and show you how to determine your businesses breakeven point, but that’s kind of boring me thinks.
Walking through an I.T. Strategic Plan, the steps you should consider working through to at least set the foundation for that plan, that’s not all that exciting either. You can find the above on my Blog, not in great detail but at least at a high-level approach.
There are literally hundreds of, if not thousands of sites on how to do a proper business plan too.
Everything you mentioned plus mine above are badly needed from a professional perspective, but my experience so far, here in Social Media circles anyway, people are not that serious about how to do those things. This is still a place to escape to after the day job, or even during the day job.
The How to build a good blog, how do I monetize it and make millions, the how do I get 10 million followers and so on seem to be the lions share of Internet users and scammers today. Even I want to learn some of those things.
My point is, right now, I would love to see what you have so brilliantly articulated but the reality is, the circle is still too small. Why? Business owners still don’t fully understand what they have in their hands when it comes to the Internet.
You & I know many of the same great people working hard to change the mindset, we want to educate and arm business owners with the right tools, metrics and perspective to succeed here. The problem is, they still don’t take this platform seriously enough, it’s still recreation.
Sorry but I had to get that off my chest. There’s more but it’s a moot point.
So what’s the answer, I think you & I and host of others must stay the course, continue to fight the battles we can win, do our best to educate the business owners if they’ll listen. This is going to take a little longer than I would like to see, but I know eventually this environment will have to be taken seriously because the shift is well under way.
It’s not that different than trying to save people from going to hell, business is changing rapdily, if you don’t change with it, your out of business.
Owen
The Blog Equation
I have been doing far too much reading lately, I mean I’m always reading someones work, how else will I ever learn how things work, and why. I spent two hours pouring over Darren Rowse – 31 Days to Build A Better Blog, my head was so full I had to step away and watch a movie.
After that I poked my nose into another great book by David Risley, Six Figure Blogger BluePrint, getting insight and guidence from David Risley. I have been studying this whole Blogging thing and how to monetize it for a long time now. The hardest part was and is getting focused, figuring out which direction I should be going, what do I know best and is there a need out there. 
One thing jumps out at you after reading alot of material on the topic, almost every book or whitepaper seems to have a common denominator. The table of contents in all of these has some version of what you should do first, the best way to describe the first item would be, First Things First.
In almost every case, the very first exercise is to start writing good content. I’m a firm believer in doing just that, but I don’t spend a lot of time fussing over it, write, spellcheck and post is my style. Now depending on the kind of blog or what your going to sell will determine if you should get professional writing help.
There is a blog equation as well, Sound Blogging (Content) + Marketing + Traffic (List) = Money!
That may be over simplifying things but that’s the very lowest you can take Blogging for Money. Don’t get me wrong, this is hard work and there really isn’t a shortcut, you will work, and work hard you will for every reader, page view and dollar your site earns.
There’s only one way to go down this road, you need a healthy attitude, because if you don’t, the journey will be painful. My recommendation is to have a good plan, a healthy attitude and enjoy the journey. More importantly, have a good understanding of the WHY, otherwise you will not see it through. I can’t stress enough the importance of a plan, without it, The Blog Equation won’t be enough.
What do you think?
The Push & Pull of Social Media
Don’t you get frustrated by seeing or hearing about the same conversations over & over again on Social Media? What the so called Social Media Expert, the Social Media Guru, do we even know what those terms really mean? I’m sure the frustration is only with those who have been around a couple years already, those who have been watching this environment fragment, morph, change shape and even become mainstream.
I took part in Mack Collier’s #Blogchat tonite, what fun that was, if you haven’t taken part or even heard about it, you are missing something. Tonights topic was, How social media consultants should use SM themselves. It was a wild conversation with many people tonight, but thats what it’s all about, sharing and helping answer questions. The chat tonight got me to thinking, so here I am sharing my thoughts.
The fact we are still having the same conversations about Social Media means that a large part of those in the work force still don’t understand or know how it works. When we are still asking questions like, How do I get an SM job, and those asking that question barely know how to use the tools. They want to know because it sounds like a fun job! The truth is, it may be fun, but it’s much harder work than many believe.
Tomorrow’s Social Media Consultants or Advisors must have some experience, must be able to show that they have done what they are selling, teaching or preaching. Just knowing how to use the tools does not qualify them, at best it’s a hobby at that level. The most successful SM consultants have done something in the field of communication, have some marketing experience, understand business and how it truly works. The push & pull of Social Media isn’t going away anytime soon, at least not until we as a people understand it better.
On Tonights #Blogchat was about how Social Media Consultants should use Social Media themselves, that question alone raises the question, is Social Media understood?
Beth Harte made a profound statement tonight, “If you are a consultant that isn’t driving business using smart MKTG that includes SM, how can you do it for me?’ Mack Collier responded to Beth “I think it’s a balancing act, if a consultant has no SM footprint, how do they know what they are talking about?” Beth is on to something there with her question, but this is only one part of the problem, there is more to being a Social Media Consultant than just one expertise of having a footprint. Beth also shared the following, Social Media is more than just tools… Blogs are more than just blog posts/content. Sometimes we have to keep it simple for those asking the questions.
I threw out some bait in the chat and had some interesting exchanges, I said, The truely successful SM Consultants have one characteristic in common – Humility – they know who they are. While that may be true, Eric Urbane also made a great point by responding with, With due respect, this humility stuff has little to do with Results, What CEO hires someone because of humility?
Eric’s point is valid, my point was not about tactics and strategy but more about the person, the softside of the consultant. I said, If a SM Consultant has to look good, they don’t have humility, they have vanity. Humility is rare at the mass level. If SM Consultants know their stuff, there is a quiet calm, peace, and humility within… they will be well liked and hired far more often than not, looking good and being right is not important to them. Solving problems and helping people (clients) is.
The same holds true for SEO Experts, Shannon Evans shared, I also get frustrated by SEO ‘experts’ who don’t even have decent seo on own site! They gotta eat the dogfood too!
Social Media Consultants have to bring something to the table more than knowing how to use the tools. Danny Brown said, Ask for tangible results – any SM consultant worth their salt will have physical results to show you.
A true Social Media Consultant is a student of the works, finds and builds results to back them up, they know who to call and where to look so they can bring accurate sound data to share before promising anything. A good consultant rarely promises, he walks along side of the client and teaches them.
I’m being very general in this post and you need to know this could go much, much deeper, I would recommend contact Beth Harte & Mack Collier to get real insight into what was talked about tonight. They are smart, well grounded humble people that understand the seriousness of what Social Media Consultants should be. They might even be able to answer the question of the night, How social media consultants should use SM themselves. Oh, and they do understand the Push & Pull of Social Media.