Twitter sounds really easy.  It takes about 30 seconds to set up an account.  And, you only have 140 characters, so it certainly can’t be “time consuming.”  Or something only a good writer could master.  Right?

And certainly, if you’re just tweeting with your friends, it is easy.

Then good news is ~ when it comes to using Twitter for your online business ~ it also can be easy.  IF you do it right.

I don’t count myself as a Twitter expert, but there are some guidelines I can give you for developing real relationships with people in 140 characters or less.

I call these guidelines the 3 Cs of effective Twitter use in your online business.  They are the things I have done to develop relationships with people on Twitter.

1.  Content

Create quality content.  

It amazes me how many people use Twitter to spam their online business.  A look at their stream shows nothing but links and hyped up claims about “best systems” and “quick money.”

Yes, I know you’ve decided to use Twitter to help grow your online business.  That doesn’t mean you should use it like a drive-by billboard to advertise your business.

Twitter is first and always a tool to build relationships.  It is not about selling.  That occurs, when appropriate, somewhere else at some other time.

Give your followers things they want to read.  Things that will help them.  Motivational quotes.  Quick tips. Valuable links.  Share a personal joy or picture.

2.  Consistency

Tweet consistently.  Which means every day, every 1-3 hours. 

This is especially important in the beginning, when you are working for every follower.

If you’ve been on Twitter for even a minute, you know things move very quickly.  You are lucky if your tweet stays in your follower’s stream for 60 seconds.

But, if your followers start to see you consistently giving quality content, they will seek out your tweets.  They will add you to their Twitter “lists.”  They will begin to engage with you.  This is the beginning of your opportunity to get to know each other.

3.  Communication

Communicate with your followers.  Ever heard that “communication is a two-way street?” 

Twitter is not your own personal TV station where you broadcast your online business to your followers.  It’s a phone line where a conversation occurs.

You pick up the phone when you tweet.  Your desired result is to have as many followers as possible pick up the other end of the line.

In Twitter language, someone picks up the line when they send you an @ reply, retweet your content, mention you in their stream, or send you a direct message.

So, how do you get them to do that?  If you follow the first two Cs and consistently create quality content, it will start to happen naturally.

But the quickest way to make it happen is to step out and do it first.  For every piece of content you post, either retweet or reply to 4 pieces of your followers’ content.

Another good way to start your Twitter phone conversation is to just reach out to one or two followers a day by tweeting:  “@JenniferHerndon Good morning!  How are you?”  You will be surprised how many people will respond.  And, will remember you.

Happy Tweeting!

Let me know how the 3 Cs work to help you grow your Twitter following and develop relationships with your followers.

If you want to jump start your growth, my number one recommendation is to use Twellow.  This is a free resource.  Just enter keywords that are relevant to your online business and it will recommend targeted followers for you.  Many will follow you back ~ especially if you use the 3 Cs!

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with three fabulous kids, ages 3, 4 and 7. She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of working at home for over 13 years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering others to personal and business success through a positive mindset and consistent action.

Jennifer credits the turn-around in her online business to Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan, the perfect tool for planning a successful life. Here’s your chance to be inspired and guided daily by the world’s greatest business philosopher. Create your future with Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan and start improving your life and your business today!

You know all about Twitter and Facebook.  You probably even have a Facebook Page.

Certainly you’re on LinkedIn.  And maybe even on Tumblr or StumbleUpon.

But let’s go old school for a minute . . . and talk about your forum marketing strategy.

When the Web 2.0 phenomenon began ~ now better known as “social media” ~ I’m thinking approximately zero people included “forum marketing” in their social media strategy.  And, as far as I can tell, that number hasn’t changed.

By the way . . . “forum marketing” is defined as joining forums in your market and participating in those forums with the primary purpose of building relationships with potential clients for your online business.

It seems to me, however, that forum marketing is the originator of social media.  If you do it right, that is.

Like other social media avenues, forum marketing is about building relationships with people.  Some of those people will come to know, like and trust you – and will need your services.

And the beauty of forum marketing is that you don’t have to go trolling around the forum looking for “targeted” connections like you do on Facebook and Twitter.  Everyone in the forum is in your market!

To get you started on the path to successful forum marketing, you’ll take 5 steps.

First, find 2-3 good forums

How do you do this?  Enter a description of  your niche + forum into Google and run a search.  For example, if you are in the personal development market, search “personal development” + forum.

To have a chance of being effective, you’ll want to look for forums with at least 1,000 members.  You’ll also want to make sure the forum is active.  Look for at least 15-20 posts a day.

You’ll also want to make sure the forum allows some amount of self-promotion.  A lot of forums don’t allow affiliate links, which is fine and perhaps even good.

But you’ll want to make sure that the forum allows you to put a link to your own business website in your signature file.

Second, create a compelling signature file

Once you’ve looked through a couple of forums, you’ll understand what a signature file is.  Basically, at the end of every post you make in the forum, instead of simply typing your name, your signature files allows you to also put a short message and link to your website.

The signature file is written by you when you set up your profile.  It automatically appears at the bottom of every post you make in the forum.

Your signature file should be unique enough to catch your reader’s eye, compelling enough to make your reader click your link, and free of sale-sy hype.

For example, if you are a copywriter, saying “visit my site for quality copywriting at competitive prices,” is okay.

But saying, “discover the one copywriting secret that will drive your business to six figures and beyond,” is better.

Your potential clients are more likely to click on the second link.  Everyone wants to know a secret.

Of course, in addition to sharing with and educating your market, your website will also sell your clients on the idea that you have a unique ability to put that “secret” to work for them.

Third, create a complete profile

The forum will have a place for you to enter your username, a picture, and various amounts of background information.

Fill the profile out as completely as possible.  The more people feel like they know you, the more they will trust you and your expertise.

Of special importance — use a picture of yourself as your “avatar” or profile picture.  Don’t use a clever drawing, picture of a celebrity, or – worst of all – leave it blank!

Also be sure to use your real name as your username in the forum.  People build relationships with other people.  And that’s what you’re doing here.  If your name is taken, use some easy to identify combination of your first name and last name.

Fourth, ease your way into this new relationship

Many forums have a core group of people who have established good friendships over time.  Don’t come in with the attitude of “here I am, the expert positioned to save you all from failure!”  No one likes a know-it-all.

Introduce yourself.  Be sincere.  Go in with a real attitude of wanting to learn and to serve.

Lurk around for awhile.  Post a few questions.  Answer a few questions.  Don’t be overly controversial.

Fifth, consistently answer, ask, and interact

Finally, be consistent.  People will notice if you only pop in when you happen to have a product launch going on, or for some other blatant marketing purpose.

And, people won’t get to know, like and trust you if they aren’t hearing from you on a regular basis.

Never become the person with all the answers.  But look for questions, and suggest answers.  You may even write a blog post or put up an article to answer frequent or complex questions.  This way you are referring people back to your content (for your benefit), AND helping answer others’ questions (for their benefit).

There is a social aspect in addition to the business done in most forums.  Contribute in this way too for maximum effect.

Remember that although you are marketing here, the focus is on building relationships.  Be yourself.  Get to know others.  Have fun.  The marketing benefit will naturally flow from this.

I look forward to hearing how it goes for you!

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with three fabulous kids, ages 3, 4 and 7. She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of working at home for over 13 years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering others to personal and business success through a positive mindset and consistent action.

Jennifer credits the turn-around in her online business to Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan, the perfect tool for planning a successful life. Here’s your chance to be inspired and guided daily by the world’s greatest business philosopher. Create your future with Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan and start improving your life and your business today!

Do you ever feel like you’re writing and no one’s reading when it comes to your online business?

You post on Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+.  You pour your heart and your knowledge out into your blog on a regular basis.  You’re a content-creating queen (or king!).

And yet the comments don’t come.   The interactions aren’t there.  That “relationship building” that’s suppose to be happening still eludes you.

“What’s wrong?,” you wonder.

While there is no “one size fits all” answer here, there is one thing that you simply have to get right if you ever want things to fall into place.

You must be creating the content that your market wants.

And ~ newsflash ~ this may be totally different than what you know your market needs.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my home business development is that you must give your market what they want and not what they need.

This can be quite a blow to the ego.  After all, you are the expert.  You are the leader in your market.  To help others, you must give them what they need, right?

Wrong.

If you’re not giving them what they want, they’re not going to read it.  So it won’t matter whether they need it or not, because they’ll never see it.  And your online business will continue to feel as empty as the midnight echo of your voice atop a deserted mountaintop.

But how do you know what content your market wants from you?  Chances are, you thought you were giving them what they wanted.

Shouldn’t they want what they need? Surprisingly, want and need don’t often intersect.

Or, maybe it’s not so surprising.  My online business focus has always been solving mindset problems.  Because I find that most home business struggles are remedied with a mindset fix.

But many people come to me insisting that their mindset is great, can I just teach them how to make money?  So I’m shifting my focus to do that a little more.  And then mixing in the mindset stuff like I hide vegetables in my kids’ pasta sauce . . .

“So,” you may ask, “how do I know what my market wants?”

Of course, if you have an email list, the best way to find out is to survey your list.  Most people I work with don’t have a significant list, so let me share some other fun and easy ways to find out what your potential clients want.

∞ 4 Ways to Find Out What Your Market WANTS ∞

• Start an “Ask” campaign.  Simply go to “Ask” and submit the same questions you would if you had an email list of targeted clients in your online business.  You will get answers.  Good ones.

• Send a direct message or tweet to your Twitter followers.  This may take a little work on your part.  You have to experiment with what works.  But remember, having 200 Twitter followers is the same as having a 200 person list.  They may not all be as targeted as your email list, but you’ll get some great input on what your marketplace wants.

• Ask your Facebook, Google+, and other social media friends.  People want to help each other on social media.  Explain to your friends that you’re trying to serve them better and ask what would be helpful to them.

• Every profitable niche has online forums.  Really.  My kids raise hermit crabs, and it initially amazed me that there are entire forums dedicated to hermit crabs.  But there are.  And you should be connected with at least a couple of forums related to your market.  Spend some time in the forums and see what people are asking questions about, as well as what the hot topics of discussion are.  You can create an endless amount of content from looking at forum postings.

Did you notice the common theme in these 4 resources?

Could it be any easier?  Now, go gather the information and start tweeting, posting, status updating, blogging, and product creating about it.   Your online business will never be the same again!

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with three fabulous kids, ages 3, 4 and 7. She has been enjoying the time freedom and financial benefits of working at home for over 13 years. Jennifer’s passion is empowering others to personal and business success through a positive mindset and consistent action.

Jennifer credits the turn-around in her online business to Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan, the perfect tool for planning a successful life. Here’s your chance to be inspired and guided daily by the world’s greatest business philosopher. Create your future with Jim Rohn’s One Year Success Plan and start improving your life and your business today!

I keep going back and forth on this issue.  Do I automatically follow everyone who follows me on Twitter?  Or do I study their profile and tweeting habits first?

There are some people that I respect that say the nice thing to do is follow back everyone who isn’t a blatant spammer.

There are others that I equally respect that say you should make sure you really want to hear what they have to say before you follow someone back.

Mike Dillard caused somewhat of a stir when he reversed his original decision to follow back everyone who followed him.  He unfollowed around 10,000 people in the matter of just a few days.  I was one of them.

And, I didn’t feel angry at Mike.  My life or business wasn’t negatively effected in any way by Mike Dillard unfollowing me.

Mike Filsaime will follow back anyone who follows him.  He advertises this fact to help him get followers, I suppose.

But I gotta ask myself, why should I care if he follows me?  Let’s face it, he’s not going to read my tweets.

Obviously, if he follows me it increases my number of followers.  And I guess lots of followers makes me look more like I must have something good to say since so many people are “listening” to me?

Most likely, I want Mike Filsaime to follow me so that people will think I must be someone special since someone as special as he is follows me.

I have problems with both of these reasons.  First, it’s relatively easy to get a lot of followers.  You can do it “legitimately” by following lots of people you’re interested in and having many of them follow you back.

You can use more questionable methods of finding out who the “autofollowers” are and following them, whether or not you’re interested in what they may have to say.

Anyone who knows anything about Twitter knows that having a lot of followers might mean you’re “important.”  Or it may just mean you work at looking important.

Second, just because someone who has a big name is following me doesn’t mean I’m someone special too.  Again, anyone who knows anything about Twitter knows that many people, including “famous” people, will auto follow you.

To use the Mike Filsaime example, most people wouldn’t be impressed that he was following me, because if you know Mike, you know he’s an autofollower.

I’m realizing I’ve done nothing to answer the question of whether you should be an autofollower.  I’m trying to be more of an autofollower by following anyone back that I share an interest  with.  But it takes time to read all those profiles.

I think it’s personal preference.  Personally, I don’t care to follow someone who shares no common interest with me.  And I don’t care if they follow me.  I’m still naive enough to believe it’s about creating relationships, and not about numbers.

JENNIFER HERNDON has been working at home for over 11 years.  She is a work at home mom with a passion for empowering you to success through positive mindset and consistent action.  Jennifer’s “Twitter interests” are working from home, personal growth, natural family living, and the environment.  Follow her on Twitter if you see any common ground.  Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps for free in Jennifer’s new mini-course.

The fastest way to explode your business is to get to know people, face to face, that you can work with and/or mastermind with.  But, logistically this can be hard.  Most of us work, many of us live paycheck to paycheck, and many have kids and adipex without prescription a million other responsibilities.

Taking a few days off work, getting on a plane, and paying a $5000 fee (or more) generic levitra for a live event registration is impossible for many people.  But don’t worry, I have a secret to share with you.  Because  I feel your pain.  As a single mom of three young kids, going to a live event for me involves additional airfare for the kids and either convincing my mom to travel with me or paying my nanny to come along.  I figured out that the last seminar I attended cost me over $10,000.

While the payoff is there in the end, most of us don’t have $10,000 to “front” ourselves — even if we have the vision to see that we’ll eventually profit way more than that from what we learn and who we meet.

Don’t fret if traveling to a live event to make friends is out of your reach today.  You can still start fostering friendships by being active on social media sites and on forums related to your niche.  You will find that you click with certain people.  Communicate directly with these people, and it can lead to friendship, phone conversation, and business relationships.

A great way to find your new friends is to join membership sites related to your niche.  Most have a forum and regularly scheduled training calls.  The people who are paying to be a part of the membership site and are actively participating in the forum and on the calls are the people amoxil that you want to know.  Because they are the people that are taking action.

Both the List Building Club and buy penicillin target=”_blank”>Blogging4Boomers are great examples of membership sites where you can really get cheap ampicillin buy to know people you’ve never met.  Both sites are essential cheap Amoxil for everyone looking to build a successful online business – no matter what your niche is.

These methods all work to grow your business, but there’s no secret about them.  And they don’t get you the personal handshake we’re striving for.  So here’s the secret — and cheap — way to do it.  Start a Meetup group.  Meetup groups are local amoxil generic groups of people with a similar interest who get together and talk.

My group meets the third Tuesday of every month at a local Bread Company.  We talk about ways to grow our businesses.  We talk about what we need.  And, almost always, someone else in the group has a contact that can help us with what we need.  The internet is great.  But this personal interaction is so much more powerful in so many ways.

It takes action to start your own Meetup.  It can be scary.  What if no one shows up?  (so what, try again)  You have to step out of your comfort zone.  Thanks to Tellman Knudson for empowering me to do it.  Now I hope I’ve empowered you to do it.

JENNIFER HERNDON works at home with her kids.  She is a work from home business consultant specializing in the  connection between a positive mental attitude and consistent action in the development of a successful online business.  Discover the Seven Simple Success Steps in Jennifer’s new free mini-course and start changing your life today.

One of the happiest moments of my home business career was the realization that I didn’t need my Uncle Roy or my best friend’s sister to have a successful work from home business.  And one of the moments that I resisted most was the fact that I do need to sell myself to others to reach the level of success I’m moving towards.

Don’t misunderstand me.  Yes, you can make six figures a year sitting alone at your computer doing PPC, ezine advertising, and article marketing.  But online levitra that doesn’t really impress me.  I have a six figure a year business.  I’m looking for six figures a month.  amoxil online And 99% of us can’t do that alone.

The most effective Ampicillin buy cheap ways of moving your business to the next level — to the real success, real money level –  involve connecting with other people.

Social media plays a huge part in how we do business these days.  Everybody who’s anybody (and nobody) is, at a minimum, on Twitter and Facebook.  You simply can’t be taken seriously in your niche if you don’t have some social media presence.

Social media is the easy part.  You don’t have to “talk” to anyone.  But you do have to have a personality.  You have to be someone that people like on the social media sites.  If all you do is post about your business, people are going to rightly assume that all you care about is the money.  And social media is about building relationships.  Relationships of respect and trust.  And then the money comes.

So even though social media doesn’t require that you pick up the phone, or meet with anyone in person, it does require that you “sell yourself” to people through your online interactions.  And I’ve found that people can’t really be anyone other than who they really are.  At least not very convincingly.

For the relationships you build through social media to really pay off, you’re going to have to take the next step of actually talking with someone.  With your voice, not your computer.  You’ll want to take advantage of these relationships by doing joint ventures together, and through integration marketing efforts.  You’ll have to pick up the phone and talk to your potential joint venture and integration marketing partners.

And for the coup de gratis, you’ll want to attend seminars.  Live events where people network, spend all day learning together and all night playing together.  Forming friendships buy vardenafil in the normal old-fashioned way.  After all, who would you rather work with (and make money with) than your friends?

You can choose to sit at home alone banging on your keyboard all day.  And you can make some good money doing it.  But if you really want to reach the top, pick up the phone.  Talk to as many people as you can.  Make as many friends as you can.  Meet them in person at the top live events in your niche.

An added bonus of this “people approach” is that you’ll have more fun.  You’ll be happier.  As humans, we are social creatures.  We like interacting with people we have things in common with.  So try it.  You’ll like it.

JENNIFER HERNDON is a work at home mom with over 11 years of experience as a home business consultant.  Jennifer’s passion is empowering you to achieve success through a positive mindset and consistent action.  Learn how to implement the “people approach” to explode your business inside the List Building viagra for men amoxil clavulin buy online amoxil Club.