DISQUS

So... Guy prompted you to do a "How I Twitter" thing too, did he?! :-)

Mine is here - I called it "27 Months of Twitter - Insights, Lessons and
Suggestions to Make the Most of Twitter"

http://bit.ly/ZTrds

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Dr.Mani

I loved this article! After reading it, I...

1. saved a copy to review later
2. bookmarked this page, as backup!
3. tweeted a link to my list
4. followed you on Twitter :-)

Thanks, Rod.

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Dr.Mani

Great suggestions. Know what? I'm going to put many of them to the test - starting today. Will measure and track my numbers, and maybe do a blog post about it at the end of July. Thanks, Chris. I agree absolutely - it's a 'dollars for time' exchange that may or may not make sense for an individual... and needs to be tracked as such.

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Dr.Mani

Yep, fair.

Dr.Mani

It's often too hard to buck the trend, go against the grain, and believe that YOU have the choice to control what you do with your career and life.

Only when more young doctors realize they CAN fit their professional work in with other passions will 'informed choice' guide the specialty they gravitate towards.

This might help

http://www.moneypowerwisdom.com/dare-to-be-diff...

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Dr.Mani

It took me a while to figure this out when I first imported my blog, thanks for a simple, easy tutorial.

The one thing thar irks me is that only one blog can be imported.

"You can import posts from one external blog so that they appear along with your notes. Facebook will automatically update your notes whenever you write in your blog. Imported blog posts cannot be edited."

Anyone know of a workaround to pull in multiple blogs? Kind of like iGoogle lets you pull feeds from mutiple blogs into your homepage?

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Dr.Mani

Maybe I thought of this idea because I'm right in the middle of promoting my first print book!

:)

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Dr.Mani
Author: 'Think, Write and Retire'
www.ThinkWriteRetire.com

Nice post. Got me thinking :)

The line between 'joint ventures' and 'affiliates' has been blurred in the Internet marketing niche for a long time now.

What many call 'JV' deals are often little more than affiliate joint promotions.

Which, in context of what you've just highlighted (and most product owners have known intuitively for many years now), makes me wonder: why not merge the two concepts into something more valuable, intimate and hands-on?

In other words, as a product owner, work with ONLY a close 'inner circle' of affiliates/JV partners.

Keep your product promos exclusive to this small group. Give them extra perks and special, customized promo tools to use, like interviews/webinars with them, co-authored special reports, virtual workshops done together. Maybe even 'reciprocal promotions' to your own database.

The bit that often gets overlooked by many product owners is that, in the headlong rush for 'quick' profits, they ignore the real goldmine of a satisfied, even delighted, loyal client base. With one of those, you don't need too many 'new' clients to keep the profit pump primed.

Years ago, I scaled down on 'external' or 'outbound' marketing, and in the process, cut down on my own affiliate recruiting efforts BEFORE the 'bonus war' reality hit the marketplace. In this way, I have been insulated against the madness and mayhem, while my business chugs along - maybe not expanding massively, but definitely thriving.

Periodic inflows of new clients come from joint venture co-promotions - and with a good system of delivering value to clients, you don't need too many of these deals to keep things going well.

But what's a beginner to do?

Use this reality of 'affiliate bonus wars' to deliver a killer FRONT-END product - and forego all profits, over-deliver to affiliates, and build intimate relationships with the best performing partners.

All of this would be done with a view to developing and growing a client-base that will be delighted with the quality of your product or service to the point they'll be repeat buyers... and at the same time nurturing relationships based on real benefits and value-delivery with your affiliates (who will later morph into that exclusive group of 'JV partners').

Done right, this strategy will simply bypass the need to 'go back to the well' too often, and lets you siphon off a segment from your broader marketplace to focus on, deliver value to, and mine for continuing value for years to come - maybe forever!

In a nutshell, for a product owner, a strategy build entirely on getting more affiliates to sell more products for you is one that condemns you to either working harder than ever, and/or accepting diminishing returns for this effort.

Build a team that works together. Create a client base that you can help by providing value. And use affiliates ethically to reach that point - by over-delivering to them, too.

Just my 2 cents!

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Dr.Mani

Sometimes mantras and that inner space of deep calm is all
you have to resort to if you want balance!

Having been on the receiving end of some (not as bad as some)
harsh criticism and condemnation, I can attest to it not being
pleasant at all.

But 'walking away' does seem an effective strategy - as is
relying on a medium YOU control (like a personal blog) to
respond to any criticism you want to deflect in as calm and
rational a way as you can manage.

You then have to trust on that being as visible online as the
'hate attacks' - and take solace from the view that at least
you aren't shown up as a reckless and ranting respondent to
the senseless insults and tearing down.

A 'bootcamp' on how to tackle it sure sounds like a good idea
to me :)

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Dr.Mani

I save such info to a text file, saved to my desktop with the name "to-tweet". When I log in to Twitter, once or twice a day, I 'cluster tweet' all info from that file, and then delete it from that file.

Bring on the Whale - she don't bother me no more! :lol:

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Dr.Mani

Andy, you should take breaks more often. You come back with a BANG! Thanks for two outstanding, informative and brutally frank posts. The industry/niche needs it. And in line with it will be my new manifesto, will DM you a link to it on Twitter shortly. Thanks for what you're doing to "keep it all clean" - for all of us :-)

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Dr.Mani

Michel, around 2 or 3 years back, I was almost at a point where
you seem to be today, emotionally. At a point where I was
ASHAMED to call myself an 'Internet marketer'.

So I decided to QUIT. And spent a month reviewing what was at
the core of what I did, stood for, and wanted to be known as.
The answer was: "Creating infoproducts that solved problems
and helped people."

That's when I re-created my online persona as the "Internet
INFOPRENEUR" - http://InternetInfopreneur.com

It has made me happier, and more at peace with what I do - and
not surprisingly, all my copy, product type and marketing methods
have changed subtly to fit that new persona.

Why am I sharing this? Because I sense a growing frustration
with the status quo from your recent blog posts. And while it
is commendable that you are trying hard to spotlight the
questionable practices and behavior that's growing ever so
blatant and rampant in this niche, I would hate to see it
turn you cynical or disillusioned to the point you might
just end up walking away in disgust.

You're that rare, refreshing beacon that guides the less
experienced and 'still not given up on hope' beginner who
so badly needs a role model to not just emulate, but also
respect.

Take a break, if you must. But keep on being the 'leading by
example from a position of ethical success' guy that you have
always been, instead of becoming a 'harsh critic who is almost
giving up' on the industry you're near the top of!

Just my 2 cents.

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Dr.Mani

Ah, but thou doth protest too strongly, Michel.

:)

I have but ONE RULE for Twitter.

It's this:

There are NO RULES on Twitter.

You and I *will* use Twitter differently - and for each
of us, one specific way or style will work better, or
worse.

You have made a passionate case for 'no auto-follow'.

Leave it at that. You've made people think - but imho,
some of your examples (like comparing the owner of a
small home business to a CEO of GM) are a far stretch.

Not everyone will agree with any one point of view
re Twitter.

Individuals use it differently from 'business' users.

And to some 'social' only means 'involving others' -
not personal interaction at all. Hence the strange
anachronism of "social marketing" (Huh?!)

:)

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Dr.Mani

I tweet as @drmani
Follow me if you like, but I
WON'T follow you back!

Why not? Coz of my "Follow FORTY" policy!

Fantastic, Michel.

Now, for your next post, share your thoughts on 'Automated DM' on Twitter.

I did - here: http://Niche2.com/TwuckYou.htm

:)

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Dr.Mani

I’m taking a ’sabbatical’ from the regular work I do online - to pursue a dream.

A couple of movies I watched recently shared a similar theme. Both light-heartedly, yet sensitively, explored the serious subject of dying. More specifically, how to LIVE before dying.

“The Bucket List” was about making a list of things to do before one dies - and then working through it. “The Last Holiday” was about daring to do the things one always hesitated about - until the realization hit that life isn’t forever.

As a doctor, a surgeon, a heart specialist, I have always understood (perhaps more poignantly than most) how tenuous life is, how suddenly it can be snuffed out, even without warning.

And these things convinced me that it was time to live out one of my dreams - to write books. Three of them, actually. One will be a ‘how to’ business book. Another will be in the ‘Self Help/New Age’ genre. And the last will be a fiction novel.

I’ve decided to set aside 6 months to do it. It may take longer - or maybe get done sooner.

It doesn’t matter.

Big Question(s):

1. Are YOU going for YOUR dreams?

2. If not, WHAT is holding you back? And WHY?

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Dr.Mani

John, EXCELLENT post, many lessons in it. I've devised a system similar (though less comprehensive than) yours - and as you say, "work it, day in and day out" (that bit's the key, isn't it?!)

I also wrote about how I set up several social networking sites to integrate in a fashion that lets most of what I do on one gain leverage from others (like you do) - this post is a bit old, so other (better?) technology options may exist to achieve the ends.

Integrating Your Social Networking
http://moneypowerwisdom.com/integrating-your-so...

Another one that may help optimize social networking is a detailed outline of how I manage Twitter in 10 minutes a day...

http://moneypowerwisdom.com/twitter-in-10-minut...

Thanks again for a valuable and instructive guide, John. I appreciate it - a lot. :-)

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Dr.Mani

Oh, I forgot to add this one. Writing a 'Change This' manifesto on a related theme is another GREAT way to build buzz - http://ChangeThis.com

Dr.Mani

After studying many approaches, I had decided Alex Mandossian's "Virtual Book Tours" were best... until I got a Master's level education on how to do a book launch by watching (and being a part of) Seth Godin's release of 'TRIBES'.

Triiibes.com was a kind of crucible for leadership training, which is the theme (I think) of Tribes... and building a social network of passionate fans who are most likely 'sneezers' to put the concepts in a book to the test, own those concepts, get involved in implementing and discussing them - and then, making them a PART of the launch... that seems like a strategy to launch a book that simply cannot lose!

Pre-orders from early members of the social network is probably just icing on the cake. The process is as fascinating as it is effective. Maybe I'll do a short report about insights gained from the observation process. Or maybe, better still Chris, you can twist Seth's arm into getting HIM to do it!

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Dr.Mani

GREAT point, Ed. There's power in momentum. I hope many read this and take note - and get MOVING.

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Dr.Mani

Chris, you just gave me a framework to plan my 2009.

Will post to my blog when it's done, great weekend exercise. Thanks for sharing the process you used to come up with your road map.

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Dr.Mani

Michel, I just read the report a few hours back, and thought it was NOT as good as Part 1. The reason for it came through right at the end, and does indeed explain the WHY. Worth reading for the powerful message it shares, though I wish it had been a 'bit' shorter :-)

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Dr.Mani

I'm with you, Jack.

Both in terms of how I owe the Warrior forum big time for a lot of the help and education I got in the early days of my online marketing growth, and the new social tools that have been added.

To the powerful feel of a Ning.com-like social network, I'll add one more solid benefit for the 'new' Warrior forum as I perceive it - USER self-moderation, which allows for a much fairer system of judging a member's contributions as being worthy of inclusion or being deleted (or moved around) as 'spam'.

For those placing the 'social tools' first and as a priority, here's food for thought - tools are only as good as the people using them.

The Warrior forum always has had a thriving and active membership, which means the implementation of a social network feel, even if it comes later than it might have, will generate plenty of action and energy - because the users are passionate marketers.

To compare the changes with what Tony has done at the Blake boards is an apples to oranges thing. They aren't distinct or mutually exclusive communities. I'm even a moderator at the Blake board, and am 'defending' the Warrior forum improvements here :)

As for 'being first', I'm sure no one is going to be able to support an argument that they were the VERY first to implement most of these networking tools, or that they are doing so in a completely unique or innovative fashion no one before them has ever done.

Nor does it matter.

Want to see cutting-edge in 'plug and play' simplicity? Go to Ning.com. It is even portable to the point you can start YOUR OWN social network using their tools - that's how advanced the technology is.

Both the Blake and Warrior forums are centerpieces of the IM niche because of their membership. Obviously, some prefer one over the other. The rest frequent both, as far as time permits.

Tony Blake himself is an early adopter (like me) of the social technologies (hey, we're both inside TRIIIBES.com - now, which of you reading this is, huh?! :-) ).

Tony is active on Twitter, Facebook and many other Web 2.0 services - and is one of the first who introduced me to the concept of Web 3.0, and is already heading towards there.

He is more 'cutting edge' than just about any other online marketer in the IM niche I know of, with the exception of Jack Humphrey and Howie Schwartz - and yes, I'm including all the other 'big gurus' in this list!

So if Tony did implement many of the things that worked for him on his forum, it's only natural. Just as Allen did add stuff that makes the Warrior community better engaged.

After all, that's the primary objective of the owner of any 'tribe' based service - I'm amazed at how much time Seth Godin spends inside Triiibes.com daily, as the tribe gets entrenched and engaged.

Finally, hat's off to Jack Humphrey's skill in getting fans of both camps to battle this out - ON HIS FORUM! :D

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Dr.Mani

Nice primer on Twitter, John. Have shared it with my Twitter network too. Thanks :)

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Dr.Mani
I tweet as 'drmani'

Sylvie, kudos to you and Michel for putting out a manifesto of the nature you did.

It's time.

:)

I did one a few years back, titled "Dr.Mani & Mr.Snyde" - you can download it from http://EzineMarketingCenter.com/drmani-mrsnyde.pdf

I've already emailed my list about the manifesto.

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Dr.Mani

You just got me all excited about FriendFeed.

Again!

Great article, thanks for sharing.

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Dr.Mani
http://www.FriendFeed.com/drmani