DISQUS

Wonderful article. The best part (and it's core) I think is right when speak about Listen-Create-Connect. Connecting I think carries a great importance, especially because when you have few thousands of followers on Twitter I imagine is not that easy. That is why I appreciate the effort such a person is doing.

Thanks
@TomaBonciu

Hi Andrew,

You can place a friendfeed widget. I'm using a thing like that 2 offer visitors a glimpse of what my social activity is.

Thanks,
@TomaBonciu

Great video. I'm not comfortable when I have to fire people. This is the part when emotions take over me, especially in these hard economical times.

@TomaBonciu

I think that beside the things you just mentioned it really matters if :
1. people are used to tweet with you
2. people see you as a friend and trust you
3. the person that tweets it is a VIP or a celebrity or someone that is very popular.

Thank you,
@TomaBonciu

Thank you for this video interview : extremely valuable information (tweeted and stumbled). Every company needs a purpose that is not related to money. Disney wanted to make people happy and he made millions. Audi wants to progress through technology and they made millions. It's also important to be able to relate your purpose to a need, to something that people really want. Knowing what the purpose is and defining ways to get there I think is a good start.


@TomaBonciu

Hi Jim,

Sounds a little odd. It's like going on a store where the front door opens only from outside. :) Maybe it's not a real newsletter; maybe it's a list of e-mails and the sender uses an automated program to send e-mails by hand.

Hi there Jim,

Thank you for your article. Totally agree with you especially because lately I started to ask myself similar questions. It all started when I launched my new blog and a friend of mine that has over 30k follower on Twitter, posted a tweet about my blog and about me. The next day I only had few more followers and a little over 100 visitors to my blog (the day before that I had about 85). So my question was : how many people really follow him ? (this is also the subject of my latest article :) ). I see so many people with thousands of followers but now makes me wonder if they can help that person achieve something.

I only have 1,2k followers but I would be so glad if 500 of them would click my links. That is why I redefined what I want from Twitter and now I'm only following people that are strictly from my niche. For all the others I will create a "trace" by posting related tweets and related articles - so they can find me via search.

Hi Jim,

Nice one. The reason I place this comment is that I see similarities with small business owners from my country - I have to say I'm surprised - I thought that this kind of thinking doesn't appear in countries that are much more evolved from any aspect are you looking. I thought that competitive economies would polish the business owners and force them to THINK.

Being indifferent to clients will lead you to money loss and maybe missing some great business opportunities.

Thanks for the article

Hi Jim,

Great example. Many times we buy things just because someone told us how great the product is and how it saved him a few times. For example I was watching yesterday a video review on YouTube for Aaron Wall's SEO Book and after seeing the review and the summary of the book I decided that I want to have it. I know many things that are discussed in that book but I considered to be a great way to check if what I know is also right (because I learned everything on my own). So, yes, word of mouth really worked on my but if that review would've been boring I don't know if the effect would be the same.

Thanks

Hi Gary,

I agree completely with you on the impact social media content can have on a customer. I also believe that it depends on the market and on location. For the US this is true 100%.

But I'm from Romania, from a small town where it's more difficult to reach people by social media. In time this will change but the way social media can impact people I think it also has to do with the geo location.

Thanks,
@TomaBonciu

Hi Chris,

I remember that Seth Godin said that people are used to get free stuff on the Internet. Many people see social media as a way of interacting with others and just that. They don't expect to make any money, or they tried and failed and that is why they want others to be like them.

I think that it doesn't matter if you are clear or not about your intentions. For example I know that Gary Vaynerchuk won't tape a bad tip or a bad advice just because he can make some money out of it : the reason is he will lose big time on the long run if he decides to do so.

That is also why I trust what you say. Because the minute you're gonna say something stupid just for the money people will know.

So, keep doing what you do !

@TomaBonciu

Hi Jim,

I've read the article of Mr. Seth when he publish it and this was just the talk I had with my wife.

You may be young and you go to parties and you record your wild nights and post it on YouTube. 5 years later you can't get a job because of that.

And seems that this kind of things are happening more and more : employers Google their employees :-) A few years ago was the other way around.

Google doesn't forgets.

@TomaBonciu

Hi Gary,

Awesome video and great advices. You always have something that really makes me want to go ans work harder on my brand and build more quality content and be more active on social networks and register more podcasts and tape more videos - basically do all those things I postpone.

Thank you for giving me inspiration in these difficult economical times.

@TomaBonciu

Hi,

I think that in time we all find our calling and our blog will set on it's course. But each of us will found his direction in different time periods. The question is : are we determined enough to pursue that course of action ? Are we willing to find all the information possible, read it and then add a twist of our own and publish it on our blog ? Depends.
But I think that if I'll do my best to find all sort of information on the niche market I want to blog about, people will come and read my blog.

Thanks,
@TomaBonciu

Hi Jim,

I also tried to follow more and more people trying to get clients but soon I found out that the only thing I was doing is seeing information I wasn't interested in.

Now I'm concentrating on quality rather then quantity but I decided not to un-follow the ones that tweet about things no related to my niche market.

I also found that I can drive more traffic to my blog by using other social networks like LinkedIn.

I still like Twitter but it's consuming a lot of time if you want others to interact with you and click on your links. I think the basic principle on Twitter is "post every day if you want others to talk to you".

Thank you

Hi Gary,

Great piece of advice there. Indeed to many concentrate on what the future might get them and try to prepare for that moment instead of just using what the present has to offer. I think this happens because in some way it's much more easy to hope for something that may happen then developing an eye for what's already happening and could become the next big thing.

The few that manage to spot different patterns in the present are the ones that will be able to launch successful businesses now. Those who base their business decisions only on what the future will bring will probably lose.

But also we have to give credit to thinking of what future might be and how my business could be influenced. I think that if you think about the future you have to be careful not to miss the real effect that is gonna have over you.

Thanks,
TomaBonciu on Twitter

Hey,

This is a great usage of Twitter. This is something that can happen in a society that really digs social media. Unfortunately in my country we didn't reached this level of involvement.

Great information in this article. Interesting !

Thanks,
TomaBonciu on Twitter

Hi Jim,

I can't talk about how effective marketing was for me because my business is just starting so I don't have the big picture yet.

But I can say that I observe that the basic principles always apply no matter what we are talking about. Just like when we say it's good to develop multiple income streams so that if one of them fails then you still have the other ways of making money. I see that in marketing the same principle applies mainly because marketing leads to more potential clients and finally to more money. So it's a common sense to understand that if one of the ways of attracting clients fails then your business will suffer.

Thanks for the information. My eyes are now opening to some new directions that the basic principles may apply to.

Hi Chris,

Knowing the people that visit your blog and what they expect to find and read is one of the things you can do in order to get them to come back. When you experience something that impresses you in a good way you'll most likely want to experience it again. Especially if the person creating the experience is trying to bring something new for you but in the same boundaries.

In time every blogger develops a certain relation with his readers - but in time. That is why every post you write receives dozens of comments and in my case my personal best is 10 comments. Trust is something that takes time to be earned but once you got it if you play your cards right you'll get only benefits.

Thank you for your article.
WebOptimization on Twitter

Hi Chris,

This is a great collection of things to do in order to obtain a good article.

I think the title is the most important thing. It's weights at least 50% because it can make the users click and also is the most important place to use your main keywords. For me the title of the article has to promise something to the readers and also has to intrigue them enough to click and read the first paragraph.

And I've just landed on another tips : concentrate on the first paragraph. In my opinion it's crucial. Starting with a question is a great idea and I'll take it into consideration. I always try to summarize the content in the first paragraph and also rise the curiosity of the reader. I try to talk about what are the benefits of reading the article - what I have to offer.

Thanks for the article.
WebOptimization on Twitter

Hi,

This idea is really great. People will always be interested in "How To" or "What is" type of thing. Knowing what exactly generated high search volumes can be very helpful in deciding what content to produce.

Thank you

Hi Chris,

First I didn't knew what to write in a comment. But then the more I looked at the picture and re-reading in my mind the article it started to get to me : a warm feeling of a moment when you are siting in your favorite chair and reading a good book. The smell of paper and the possibility to also enjoy a hot coco or some tea or some coffee - what you prefer.

It would be great if you could succeed in transmitting such a feeling when people end up on your page on a social media website.

Thank you for this article
@WebOptimization

Hi Chris,

First time I see a trailer for a book. It's an original way to promote and it certainly makes you wanna read it.

Hi Anita,

I think that your guest post shows very useful information and all that you said should be taken into consideration by any person who blogs. I think the hardest thing to do is to back away from the computer and from the web. Of course that this is depending on the theme of your blog but still I think it's a difficult thing to do. We all are so used to obtain our information over the Internet that we simply can't see it other way.

I'm not a journalist. I've found out that if you think first of what you're gonna write and you block down the headings then it's much more easy to do it. I use a structure like this one : summary, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3 if needed, conclusion and between 500 and 800 words.

Thank you for your tips.

WebOptimization on Twitter

Hi there Jim,

I consider this decision to be a very important one because ads can play a big role on a blog and it can push readers away or make them come in higher numbers and thus making you money :).

But judging by the number of comments you get you don't have any problems with traffic and I'm sure that you have enough clients also.

Even I, who have few traffic, get at least one client at two weeks from my blog.

I support your decision on this and wish you all the best : by that I mean to create a really big and strong community and get some clients also from this.

Cheers. :-)